Beijing

I managed to add a bit of text and pictures to the DMZ post, so scroll down and have a look.

I'm in Beijing and had a couple of hours today to walk around.

Yards from these symbols of low tech China, the modern world rushes on accompanied by the familiar "Chinglish" warning

I was not walking aimlessly but making for the southern end of the Forbidden City where I'd taken a few cool pictures on my last trip. I found myself with a bit of company as Chinese TV was filming some sort of report.

The haze of pollution and killer humidty drove me back to the hotel.

I'm staying at the Hyatt which sits atop of the Oriental Plaza. This mall has all of the expensive European brands from Prada to Rolex and you can buy knock offs of the same stuff not 50 yards away.

Despite the skyhigh prices the food court was cheap . You buy a little card and go around to the different stalls, hand over your card and they debit the amount.

Its a high tech way to buy super cheap food. My lunch below cost me 19 RMB ($2.38).

After lunch I went to the hotel pool, where I wondered whether I was in China or Las Vegas

Today's news in China Daily, the biggest English language paper in China: (or the odd ones anyway)

Tell me the story below isn't shocking!

Facing tough job market, students seek an edge by going under the knife(China Daily)Updated: 2006-08-26 08:13
Like a growing number of students in China, Pan Ou will go under the knife in a cosmetic surgery procedure she hopes will boost her chances of getting a good job after graduation.
"I want to be more beautiful, to perfect myself," Pan, a student at one of China's most prestigious law schools, told Reuters in the waiting room of the EverCare Xingfu hospital.
"My face is too big and flat, like all Asians. I would also like to make my nose higher," said the attractive 23-year-old.
The EverCare in Beijing is one of thousands of cosmetic surgery clinics mushrooming across China, promising to make patients more beautiful, more successful and more marriageable.
Photographs of women before and after surgery, accompanied by testimonials, are displayed on the clinic's walls. Pan's portrait may soon join them.
The EverCare has agreed to give her free corrective surgery after a 10,000 yuan (US$1,200) breast reduction operation at another hospital left her with bad scarring and one breast larger than the other.
Pan also hopes to receive free operations to sculpt her face and make her nose higher, she said.
In return, she has agreed to allow the hospital to use her face for the next five years to promote its cosmetic surgery.
"The finer details haven't been worked out, but they agreed they wouldn't use images of private parts of my body," she said.
"We are definitely seeing a trend for students having operations," said Dr Liu Yanqun, the EverCare's director. His hospital gives students a 20 per cent discount on cosmetic surgery procedures.
Parents who grew up at a time when cosmetic surgery was unimagined and feminine beauty frowned upon are now encouraging their kids to have surgery in the hope that a prettier face may give them an edge.
"It's an economic age of beauty," said Liu. "A good-looking girl earns 10 per cent more than others."
The EverCare performed over 1,000 operations last year. Around 95 per cent of the patients were women and over 20 per cent were aged under 25.
Like cars and mobile phones, cosmetic surgery is no longer considered a luxury, Liu said. "It has become a need for ordinary people."
Government officials estimate that US$2.4 billion is spent annually in China on cosmetic surgery procedures. They say about 1 million such operations take place every year.
Eye and nose modifications are the most common operations.
"These are the areas for that all-important first impression the place where people first look and where a lover's eyes gaze," Liu said.
Now school-age girls can get "double eyelids" for 2,000 yuan (US$250) a procedure favoured by aspiring stars where a crease is added to the eyelids to make the eyes appear larger.
Bi Shumin, a prominent psychologist and writer on women's health, said the youth boom in cosmetic surgery reflected China's frantic modernization. The sheer pace of change has made first impressions paramount, she said.
"Unlike in the past, when we had a lot of time to get to know each other, we now judge people and are judged within a very short period," she said.
For China's university graduates, cosmetic surgery offers a confidence boost in an increasingly competitive job market.
While the nation's economy charges full-steam ahead, millions of university graduates are finding that the jobs promised when they began their degrees simply don't exist.
This year, 4.13 million students will enter the workforce 22 per cent more than in 2005.
With media reports of this year's graduates taking jobs as cleaners and domestic helpers for rich families, it's no wonder that students and their parents are seeking an edge in terms of their looks, said Yang Chun, a 32-year-old TV anchor.
"Many parents fully support their kids having these procedures done, particularly high school kids going to university," she said.
"They'll say: It's a new environment, no one will know you. Why not enter it with confidence and a fresh, new outlook," she said, after receiving a collagen injection in her lips.

How about this one?

To save face, hire a girlfriend!By Coldness Kwan (Chinadaily.com.cn)Updated: 2006-08-25 17:32
"A beautiful girlfriend wanted for National Day holiday", reads a post on the online forum of a university in Shanghai Municipality, the Chongqing Evening News reported.
The writer, surnamed Li, was invited to a friend's wedding ceremony during this National Day holiday starting Oct. 1st and he had hoped to hire a girlfriend to go with him. "The girl must be good-looking and no less than 1.65 meters tall," Li wrote.
Li is fresh out of university this year with a very good job. But the young man said he was dogged by wisecracks from his schoolmates at get-togethers because he doesn't have a girlfriend yet.
"The girl I want to hire can't be beautiful enough. I want her to make everyone at the wedding ceremony jealous," Li wrote.
Li, however, is not alone. Lately many recent university graduates are borrowing designer clothes or even cars for schoolmate's parties.
A sociology teacher at East China Normal University said it is normal to see students in different stages of life after graduation because they have chosen different roads, but those who are fresh from university don't have significant differences so they don't need to save face.

Or this one?

Theft teaches student to kiss in moderation(China Daily)Updated: 2006-08-25 08:53
A student from Guangdong University of Foreign Studies found his mobile phone had been stolen while he was kissing his girlfriend.
The extended kiss occurred on grassland on Tuesday evening. When it ended, Wang found that his phone, which had been put in his girlfriend's handbag, was gone. The handbag had been left on the ground nearby while they were kissing.
To save face, Wang said he would not report the theft to police.
Information Times

That's it for today.

Tomorrow (Sunday), I have the whole day free and plan to head to the Great Wall, though the weather forecast isn't promising. I hope all of you are having a great weekend!!!

I'm a bit travel weary at the moment, so send me a comment or two to cheer me up.

T