Liuzhou - Shanghai Pudong Flights to Begin Aug 9th

Until now all Liuzhou - Shanghai flights have used Shanghai's old Hongqiao Airport. From the 9th they are introducing flights to the new airport in the new commercial and business sector in Pudong.

From August 9th there will be four flights a week in each direction - on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays. These are operated by Eastern Airlines using Airbus A320 aircraft.

Flight times are depart Shanghai at 17:40 and arrive in Liuzhou at 20:20. The return flights leave Liuzhou at 21:05 arriving in Shanghai at 23:15.

2nd August 2010

British Passports No Longer Issued in Beijing

As of May 3rd 2010, the British embassy in Beijing no longer accept passport applications or renewals. Instead all passports will be issued in Hong Kong.

"British passports for those applying in China are now issued in Hong Kong. Please visit http://ukinhongkong.fco.gov.uk/en/help-for-british-nationals/passports/apply-from-ne-asia/china for guidance on how to apply.

Passport applications take 10 working days to process from the receipt of a correctly completed and paid for application, plus 4 days courier time. There is no fast-track service available. Applications are dealt with strictly in the order that they are received and are not prioritised, except for in the most compelling compassionate circumstances. It is therefore essential that you apply for your passport well in advance of your planned travel date.

Applications for full passports received by the British Embassy in Beijing cannot be processed and will be returned to the applicant.“

Taxis Double "Fuel Price Surcharge"

Liuzhou Taxis doubled the "Fuel Price Surcharge", originally introduced in 2006 as a temporary measure, from 1元 to 2元 as of December 25th.

Merry Christmas!

Picture Problems

We apologise that many pictures on this website are not showing. We are aware of the situation and are making attempts to rectify it. The problem seems to be with Imageshack where most of the pictures are hosted. They lose photographs on a daily basis, but this time it seems whole servers have been blocked.

17th July 2009

Liuzhou Bus Fares Reduced from April 1st

The vast majority of Liuzhou bus fares will be reduced from ¥1.20 to ¥1 starting on April 1st 2009.

The fares were increased by ¥0.20 in 2006 because, at that time, fuel prices were high. Lower prices mean that fares can revert to 2006 levels.

28th March 2009

Fake 100 Yuan Notes in Liuzhou

A number of fake 100 yuan notes have been found in Liuzhou in recent days. Described as very realistic, these notes are even fooling the automatic counterfeit detectors used in many shop and banks. The fake notes can be identified by their serial numbers which begin HD90. The People's Bank of China are denying the reports that they are undetectable and say they can be seen to be fake by the naked eye.

9th January 2009

French Woman Dead After Fire

Although there has been nothing in the Chinese media confirming the news, French sources are reporting that the body found in the house belonging to the French woman known as 方芳 Fāng Fāng (real name Françoise Grenot-Wang) is indeed hers. The badly burned body was reported to be undergoing DNA tests.

Fāng Fāng had been living for around 10 years in Dandian, a Miao village in Rongshui Miao autonomous county of Liuzhou prefecture. She first visited the area in 1997 while working as an interpreter for the medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières. Through her charity organisation Couleurs de Chine, she helped put thousands of Miao, Yao and Dong girls into education and was instrumental in establishing eleven new schools in the poor mountainous area. She was awarded honorary citizenship of Liuzhou in 2003. There is an English article about her work in China here. Her blog is here (in French).

More information here.

12 December 2008, updated 16th December 2008

Underground Shopping Mall Opens

Liuzhou's underground shopping mall beneath Longcheng Road (from the main square to the river bridge) officially opened on November 23rd, ahead of schedule. The mall is full of the usual small fashion shops etc. There are several entrances, but once you are underground it is difficult to know where you are in relation to the real world upstairs. None of the exits are marked as to where the lead to.

23rd November 2008

Liuzhou Airport Winter Timetable

The Civil Aviation Authority have issued the new winter timetable for Liuzhou Airport.  It is valid from today (26th October 2008) until March 28th 2009. The airport offers flights to offers flights to Beijing, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Kunming, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Xiamen. Please note that there have been flight time and frequency adjustments. Full details here.

26th October 2008

Roger

We are sorry to announce that American teacher, Roger who used to teach at No 13 Middle School was found dead at his home in Liuzhou on Saturday the 27th. He had been less than well for some time. Because of the holiday, information is a bit hard to find, but I expect to update this tomorrow. If anyone has more information please contact me.

30th September 2008

5th International Stone Festival

Liuzhou will hold its 5th International Fantastic Stone Festival from the 11th to 17th October.

10 September 2008

2008 SCILAB Contest and International Workshop on Open Source Software Research

"2008 SCILAB Contest in China and International Workshop on Open Source Software Research, Development and Industrial Application" will be held in Liuzhou from October 31st to November 2nd, 2008.

More information here

5th September 2008

Nanning Plane Accident

A plane skidded off the runway at Nanning Airport on Monday 11th. No one was injured, but the airport was closed and flights diverted to Liuzhou and Guilin. It is now reported that the airport has reopened and flights are operating normally.

13th August 2008

 2008 Grand Prix  F1 Motor Boats World Championship

Chinese Water Sports Management Center officially announced that the 2008 Grand Prix  F1 Motor Boats World Championship will be held  in Liuzhou from October 10th to 12th.

6th August 2008

Longcheng Road Officially Open

It has been announced that Longcheng Road will officially re-open tomorrow, August 2nd 2008. The road has been closed since last December while they built their underground shopping mall. The mall is not scheduled to open for another year.

Diverted bus routes will also return to normal.

August 1st 2008

Olympic 10 Yuan Note Introduced

The People's Bank of China have announced the introduction of a new 10 Yuan note as of today. The design features the "Bird's Nest" stadium in Beijing and the Greek statue, The Discus Thrower. Surprisingly, Chairman Mao is missing.

8th July 2008

Dr Charles Weilbaker

It is my sad duty to record that Dr Charles Weilbaker, retired University of Cincinnati professor and director of education programming for the Cincinnati/Liuzhou Sister Cities Committee passed away peacefully on Saturday 7th June, 2008.

A long-time supporter of education projects here in Liuzhou and responsible for many exchange visits and training projects for Liuzhou teachers hosted in Cincinnati, Dr. Weilbaker was awarded Honorary Citizenship of Liuzhou in 2004.

8th June 2008

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

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

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