Liuzhou HFMD Death

Liuzhou has suffered its first contagious hand-foot-mouth disease (HFMD) fatality. According to the official Xinhua News Agency,

" In Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, southwest China, a boy aged one and a half years old from the rural area of Liuzhou City died on Tuesday, the local health administration announced.

The child began to cough and caught a fever on Saturday. His parents did not send him to hospital until three days later when he went into a coma."

According to the same report, the death toll in China now stands at 32, with 24,934 children infected.

9th May 2008

2008 Clown Festival

The city will hold a second Clown Festival in Longtan Park during the May Holiday. It is scheduled to last from the 1st to 3rd. The first festival was last year. More on that here.

I'm glad to know that Liuzhou is becoming Clown Central for China!

25th March 2008

Underground City Work to Begin

It has been announced that work will begin on the underground shopping area under Longcheng Road and Wuyi Road. This work necessitates some traffic re-routing as they will dig up sections of both roads. South bound traffic will be re-routed down Yingshan Jie then through what is now the pedestrian area between McDonalds and the bridge (Zhongshan ZhongLu). This will take effect from tomorrow, December 3rd 2007 until July 2009.

2nd December 2007

Underground City

Liuzhou has announced that there are plans to build a T-shaped underground pedestrian shopping area. This will cost 200 million RMB and be under Wuyi Road (the southern edge of Liuzhou Square) and Longcheng Road from the square to near the bridge, linking up with the existing underground area at Gongmao Dept. Store. The two footbridges on Wuyi Road will also be demolished.

This will involve the closure of Longcheng Road for several months and lead to major disruption of city centre traffic. The works are scheduled to be completed by July 2009.

The disruption is exacerbated by the fact that the No. 3 bridge is closed. They are trying to speed this up and now hope to complete works on the bridge by Spring Festival (Feb 7th, 2008)

updated 25th November 2007

New Visa Regulations

The US Embassy, Beijing have issued the following statement.

"The Entry and Exit Administration Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security has tightened its regulations pertaining to the issuance, renewal and alteration of visas. The changes took effect July 2007. For the foreseeable future, it will no longer be possible to change tourist (L) and exchange (F) -type visas to other types. Many applications that formerly could be handled by a representative now must be completed in person by the applicant. Additionally, express visa service is no longer available. Enforcement has tightened of entry and exit violations, with recent reports of police, school administrators and hotel staff checking to ensure that foreigners have not overstayed their visas.

Please be advised that current regulations state that the penalty for overstaying a visa is 500 RMB per day of overstay, not to exceed 5000 RMB and/or detention. The period of detention can range from 5-30 days depending on the severity of the violation. Detention may be longer than 30 days in the case that the authorities believe that the foreigner was involved in criminal activity. The Embassy is aware of several recent detentions of American citizens relating to visa overstays and violating the terms of their visas (i.e. working while on a visitor’s visa)."

7th August 2007

Flickr Blocked

The great idiotic internet nanny has decided that Flickr is some kind of threat to survival of the Chinese communist party and blocked access in China. Some pictures on this site are hosted by Flickr and so will not appear if you are in China. I am in the process of moving them to a non-blocked site. Thanks for your patience.

23rd June 2007

Liuzhou Parks Drop Admission Charges

From June 6th 2007, six more Liuzhou parks will drop all admission charges. These are Longtan Park, Queshan Park, Doule Park, Liuzhou Zoo (Leisure Areas), Yufeng and Ma'anshan Scenic Area and Panlong Shan Park.

These are now in line with Liuhou Park, Yufeng Park, Qishi Park and Jiangbing Park, all of which have been free for sometime.

There is a map showing the approximate location of many of these parks here.

24th May 2007

Ronaldo Sues Golden Throat

Brazilian footballer, Ronaldo is suing Liuzhou's Golden Throat Lozenge Company for using his image and endorsement without permission. The adverts, which are all over Liuzhou and are regularly shown on local and national television, have been appearing regularly since 2003. The Golden Throat company deny any wrongdoing.

More here.

26th January 2007

Visa Renewal Problems

In the last few days, I've heard from two completely independent sources that Liuzhou PSB are refusing to renew 'L' visas for those known to be working. 

It is and always has been illegal to work on tourist visas and few schools are authorised to employ foreigners and therefore supply working visas. For some time the local police have chosen to ignore this law, but it seems that, following a few 'incidents',  they are now becoming stricter.

Doesn't affect me. I'm legal! But wanted to pass it on.

24th April 2006

UK Company to clean Liuzhou's Air?

According to Xinhua News Agency, EcoSecurities Ltd of the United Kingdom will provide Liuzhou with services in greenhouse gas mitigation.

"A letter of intent was signed on Friday between the British company and the government of Liuzhou City, information from the city government of Liuzhou said."

15th March 2006