In an effort to further clean up the Beijing Subway, authorities are now imposing several new regulations that aim to crack down on “uncivilized” behavior.

The new regulations, which came into force on Wednesday, target behavior such as entering the subway without a ticket, occupying multiple seats, eating on the train (unless you’re an infant), and selling products or engaging in marketing activities, according to a document published by the Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport.

Certain regulations that first came into effect in 2016 have also been updated and now not only include restrictions on smoking but also a ban on the use of e-cigarettes, using folding bikes or hoverboards, lying down, playing loud music, loitering, and taking advantage of the sweet sweet air conditioning (it will be interesting to see how they determine that one). Additionally, people who refuse security checks will be unable to enter the subway, according to China Daily.

Anyone caught lounging or ducking gates will be docked personal social credit points, which may result in the individual being banned from public transport and even prohibited from flying or taking trains. Luckily, perpetrators can earn back the state’s trust by devoting volunteering hours to the very service they sullied: the Beijing Subway! Fun.

For us foreigners, there’s still no word on how infringements will affect our score, or if we even have one at all. Either way, many are too busy dodging the police on our unregistered scooters above ground to be concerned with what’s happening down below.

Image: Weibo

This week we reported about a hidden statistical nugget in a story from China Daily, claiming that Beijing men spend almost as much time (1 hour 50 minutes) on daily household tasks as women (1 hour and 58 minutes). To test this we conducted a little survey of our own.

Early polling of beijingkids readers show women doing almost 2.5x the amount of housework compared to men, despite this original report stating that men and women were just about equal. Our tally is currently at 117 minutes for women compared to 43 minutes from men.

The original study by the Beijing survey office of the National Bureau of Statistics was created to analyze the rise in working hours of Beijingers, and polled 4,238 people older than 15 in 1,700 households. It stated that while Beijing women averaged 58 minutes less in the workplace, they worked eight minutes more than men doing chores.

While our readers’ numbers might be skewed by their dependency on ayis or mother-in-laws pitching in, the skewed ratio still holds: women in our readership group are doing nearly three times the housework than men. We hope this isn’t the case as there is much that can still be done by men outside of cleaning and cooking to share the mental load. Help us to more accurately determine who’s doing the lion’s share by forwarding our survey to your friends and acquaintances so that we can conclude our ultimate treatise on the Beijing expat family chore wars.

While it might be the tendency to believe that men don’t do their share of housework, times are definitely changing and it is becoming the norm for the patriarch to shoulder more and more of these household responsibilities.

If you are a mother out there looking for more support from the old man, set aside some time to develop a plan or a chore wheel to support each other through equally divvying out these essential responsibilities. Also, check this list out for more ways dads can help share the mental/physical load of parenthood.

Recently Sixth Sense reported that Shanghai hospitals lack pediatricians, highlighting the dilemma from the physician’s perspective. In their article, we are told of all the reasons why young graduates avoid the pediatrics departments of public hospitals, or quit shortly after joining.  The main causes being: low salaries, overtime hours (to compensate for low salaries), the large daily influx of patients that causes doctors to have a tight schedule and short window for diagnosis, and the physical violence directed at pediatricians when their diagnosis is wrong or insufficient.

It would appear as if there are actually only two problems: 1) pediatricians in public hospitals feel they’re underpaid, and 2) Chinese families with only one child give pediatricians too much pressure. All the other problems are self-caused or stem from the hospital’s business model.

Pediatricians feel they need to work 10-12 hour shifts in order to make as much money as the doctors in other departments. The interviewee, Dr. Huiju Yu, counts how many patients she can see in a morning (36), taking no breaks as to squeeze in more because, as the article mentions, this hospital gives an extra monetary incentive per patient. Sixth Sense attributes this as a normal workload for a Chinese doctor (in a public hospital).  As a result, the doctors can’t afford to spend too much time on each patient and have to make a quick diagnosis for each child they see based on the limited knowledge they can gauge from the short visit and their experience.

Dr. Yu also states that her office has no chairs because families ask too many questions when given the opportunity to rest. She doesn’t care that those families probably trekked from the countryside, waited outside the hospital at the crack of dawn for a number, and then stood around waiting in endless lines, as is customary in public hospitals. Dissatisfied parents, grandparents, and relatives then attack pediatricians who fail to help their child, sometimes resorting to physical violence. This phenomenon is attributed to the ignorance of the parents rather than the negligence of the doctors.

2014 Study by Wei Xu and Shu-Cheng Zhang

What the article fails to mention is the fact that none of the statistics it lists are new. In fact, they all stem from a 2014 study on the malaise state of affairs for public hospital pediatricians, quoting a 200,000 deficit since 2012.  At the same time, the National Association of Pediatricians estimated that it would take five years to train 5,000 practicing pediatricians. Not only has the government been well-aware that the pediatrics department lacks takers, but it has also been common knowledge that many Chinese hospitals have had to shut down their pediatrics departments when they couldn’t find staff to run it.  In fact, according to a 2013 study, China only has 68 specialized children’s hospitals, where most are located in first or second tier cities.  Only sixty eight specialized hospitals catering to 20% of the population? It’s no wonder families flock to major cities for pediatric care, leading to long wait times, lines, and short visits.

In fact, according to Pediatric Society of the Chinese Medical Doctor Association (PS-CMDA), Beijing Children’s Hospital (BCH) can see up to 4,000 outpatient visits in a busy day.  BCH has about 40-50 pediatricians, and each can see about 80-100 patients a day, up to 150 patients in a day if necessary.  One has to wonder, does the problem only lay with the deficit, or with the structure of Chinese public hospitals in general.

Two-child Policy Baby Boom

As the government prepares to sell more baby gear and improve its labor force by introducing a two-child policy, it has made questionable moves to increase interest in pediatric training.  The Ministry of Education has closed all pediatrics departments at the undergraduate level, leaving the training for the graduate level.  Since interest for the department has dropped ever since, the solution has been to lower the threshold for pediatrics compared to other medical departments.  In practice, what this means is that less-than-stellar university students are applying for pediatrics, and the exam is open to any medical student who has failed the general, or other, medical exams.  What’s worse, whether they pass the pediatrics exam and obtain their licenses is based on the combined score of the two exams.   The only other medical department with such low standards is the emergency department (ER).

What all this data tells us is that China has had a deficit for a while, has made moves to reduce the deficit by encouraging students to choose pediatrics as a career (though questionably), and still has an ever-widening deficit.  Pediatricians are underpaid in a salary market where hospitals pay doctors based on the number of tests, equipment, and medication they can sell to patients and consultations start at RMB 10 per visit.

As 90 million women have become eligible for a second child this year, even as 60% will not choose to have one, certain provinces have made changes to accommodate the anticipated “baby boom”. Guangzhou has offered hospitals subsidies, begun building pediatric hospitals, and encouraged universities to train more pediatricians.  Dalian, provincial capital of Liaoning, will hire pediatricians from abroad and train at least 300 more pediatricians by 2019.  Now we’re just waiting for Beijing local government’s response to the existing deficit, lacking training, and upcoming baby boom.

Photo: Nazgul Abazbekova

China’s telecom authorities say the problems China-based internet users are having accessing pages with "Login via Facebook" buttons last week was the result of a hacker from overseas, according to a report in this morning’s China Daily.

Last week users in China began noticing that visits to many overseas sites were being mysteriously rerouted to obscure pages wpkg.org and in some instances ptraveler.com.

The report says the problem had been resolved as of Thursday. Testing by the Beijinger seemed to indicate that the problem is gone, though given the nature of the re-routing — which was intermittent to begin with — means it could still be happening in some corners of the web.

China Daily’s report quotes "a nongovernmental agency that monitors China’s internet safety" called theNational Computer Network Emergency Response Technical Team Coordination Center, as saying that servers in China were "contaminated" by malware from overseas servers.

The hack mainly targeted users of China’s largest internet provider, China Telecom, the report indicated.

Users on our forum (thebeijinger.com) and on Reddit reported possible workarounds to the reroute last week, though comments on both were inconclusive as to their effectiveness.

Rumors were flying all last week as to the cause of the reroute, which happened even when users were using VPNs. Theories included a major web malfunction, a hack, a virus or some nefarious plan to prevent us Beijingers from getting updates from our hometown websites.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, the China Daily said.

Are you still being re-routed? Let us know in the comments below.

This post first appeared on the Beijinger’s site on May 2, 2015.  

Image: Flickr user elhombredenegro

Wow, what commotion the recent 100-day visa-check campaign has created! Granted, it’s unnerving to be spot-checked for the legality of living here (I haven’t endured it yet myself, this time around). If you’re here legitimately and have proof, there is nothing to worry about. But it’s that overall somewhat slimy feeling of being looked at as a foreigner that can be so unsettling. 

There have been a lot of postings online about the current Beijing Municipal PSB (Public Security Bureau) campaign that began on Tuesday. In an attempt to sift out any foreigners who have come here illegally, or who are living and/or working here without proper visas, police will randomly check foreigners’ credentials. Popular areas for expats including Sanlitun and university neighborhoods are expected to be targeted for random checks. Housing compounds may also be affected with police officers asking for paperwork door-to-door.

The U.S. Embassy sent out a notice to their employees/families alerting them of this requirement, for which they need to have diplomatic identity cards with them at all times (most usually do anyway). For those of us without such cards, passports are required instead, as are police registration forms for your housing.

I have always hesitated to carry my passport at all times, even though I know having proper identification with me is required. Instead, I carry photo copies of the most current papers for each of my family members. This way, it’s one less element to worry about in case of a purse snatching.  Is this good enough, however, if I’m stopped for my papers? (If you know the answer to this, please post a comment below.)

News sources from China Daily to the Wall Street Journal have posted articles about this campaign, and not a single one is published without mentioning the recent arrest of a British tourist who allegedly sexually assaulted a woman before being physically assaulted himself by several Chinese men. Most sources suggest that this incredibly disturbing event was not the reason for the campaign, although the timing is questionable. There are very polarized opinions related to this situation and the subsequent campaign; some foreigners feel concern about possible backlash. With a lot of assumptions made about why foreigners might live here – many not true – people can feel threatened even by the random and simple act of checking ID.

So, for the next few months, just carry your proper identification with you, keep mindful of your belongings, and don’t fret. It’s a tiny bump, albeit an irritating one to deal with, and hopefully those who give being a foreigner a bad name will be sent back home so that we who remain here can continue enjoying our lives in our current home of Beijing.

For more information on the campaign and all things related, see The Beijinger blog post here. Other links include China Daily here, and Wall Street Journal here.

According to a China Daily report, the average annual salary for a Chinese kindergarten teacher ranges from RMB 9,600 to RMB 36,000. However, one foreign teacher from the Etonkids Huizhi Bilingual Kindergarten’s Datunli campus (which opened in 2010 and now has 100 pupils in total ranging from ages 2-6) claimed that a teacher at the school could earn between RMB 120,000 and RMB 156,000 a year “depending on experience and qualifications."

The Etonkids Huizhi Kindergarten, being one of the cheaper kindergartens around Beijing, charges RMB 68,000 a year – however, you could pay considerably more. One parent, Li, who works at a state-owned company, pays RMB 100,000 a year to send her child to kindergarten.

However, it seems that these prices are something many parents are willing to pay, as Chinese parents claim that they “prefer a bilingual environment and believe their children will adapt better to English at an early age” – which is crucial for children to attend international universities in the future.

Photo by mastcharter via Flickr

China’s "Little Emperors/Empresses" may be a hackneyed topic, but it’s very much grounded in reality – you don’t need a degree in sociology to understand how news stories of spoiled rich kids behaving badly underscore the huge social dilemma posed by China’s single-child policy and skyrocketing prosperity.

The issue is painfully and obviously complex. Even if the one-child policy (which was instituted in 1978 and can be viewed as having been quite effective, depending on how you look at it) were to be revoked tomorrow, the long-term effects would take generations to undo – which is precisely why the recent announcement of a nationwide plan to "cultivate one million filial children over the next five years" by officials seems so ludicrous.

According to the China Daily:

The special committee of filial piety under the China National Association for Ethical Studies announced on Sunday that it aims to help 1 million children between the ages of 4 and 6 learn about filial piety, which is deeply rooted in China’s traditional culture.
"Our program will cultivate 1 million filial children and they will set a moral example for all the children in our country," said Wang Haibin, head of the committee.
The 100-day training program will teach the children filial piety through stories and games. Volunteers will check on the children’s performance in three years to ensure that "filial piety can be a way of life", said Sun Chunchen, secretary-general of the association for ethical studies.

Aside from the news that there is actually a "National Association for Ethical Studies" the article is short on details of what, exactly, constitutes "filial piety" (though it does mention "respect and caring for parents and other aged relatives"), much less how lessons reinforcing these notions would be taught (aside from "stories and games").

But let’s just play along and assume that yes, it would be possible to get 7% of the population to go through a 100-day crash-course on being a filial child – and yes, all one million kids will come out reprogrammed and ready to spread the gospel of obedience. How, then, will this behavioral message be spread to the greater population? Weekend courses? Weibo? Cartoons? Osmosis? Trickle-down Voodoo Economics?

I jest – of course – but once again am compelled to ask: Really?

We’re standing at the edge of what is probably the biggest sociological minefield of our times and this is what they come up with? Really?

Next time you reach for some vinegar in which to dip that dumpling, consider this: The China Radio International (via China Daily) recently reported that "industry insiders" are raising concerns "that some businesses make vinegar by using excessive chemicals, even including a form of glacial acetic acid meant only for industrial use."

China has a national standard for blended vinegar that sets a maximum of 50 percent glacial acetic acid. However, both insiders contacted by China Daily said that it is virtually impossible to detect whether producers have added industrial acetic acid, and how much, creating a loophole for lawbreakers.

The allegations, made by an official in the Shanxi Vinegar Industry Association, has been refuted by more senior officials in the organization who insist that all Shanxi made vinegar is "brewed entirely with grain."

The jury’s still out on this one, but the Shanxi Vinegar Association has also announced a possible revision of the acidity scale requirements (the higher the acidity in vinegar, the less likely it will be deteriorate) later this year. Whether or not this move is related to these allegations is unclear, but let’s just hope the association has more credibility than the country’s Railway Ministry.

More on this here.

Common sense dictates that as Beijing continues to grow city authorities should be doing everything in their power to expand its infrastructure, as has been the case with our much-improved subway system and on the flip-side, the high-end housing glut.

But there are other areas where efforts, much less the supply, seemingly cannot keep pace with the demand. Beijing’s beleaguered healthcare system, a woeful lack of roads and the dwindling water supply are at the top this list; but for the city’s growing population of parents, perhaps most alarming is the Capital’s school situation.

A few weeks ago I blogged about a recent article in The Diplomat in which Jiang Xueqin, a writer and deputy principal at the Peking University High School, described how Shanghai’s school system is now considered the world’s best by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and compared it with Beijing’s school system (which comes up woefully short, I’m afraid to say).   

The differences cited (i.e. an emphasis on analytical and creative thinking in the curriculum, a system of "tangible awards" for faculty and administrators to improve the schools etc.) were eye opening.

Qualitative differences aside, one thing Beijing shares in common with Shanghai is a dearth of schools, both public and private – an unfortunate reality my family has learned first-hand after spending a year dealing with administrative problems at our daughter’s kindergarten (I’ll spare you the details).

Quite simply, we’ve found out that when it comes to schools in Beijing, it’s a seller’s market. Of course there are undoubtedly many caring and competent school faculty and administrators in this city; but it seems that there are just as many, if not more, who seemingly operate with impunity by routinely under-investing in competent teachers, facilities and educational resources (lord knows how higher-level regulators might also be personally profiting from all this).

In some ways, it’s easy to understand the jaded cynicism that some administrators must feel – for every disgruntled parent or problematic child they deal with there are probably ten families waiting just to get into the door – call it the "Surly Restaurant Waitstaff Effect." Small wonder that local parents often feel compelled to bribe teachers and administrators just to ensure their kid gets adequate attention.

I shouldn’t complain too much, my family is among the fortunate – at least we have a school for our daughter to attend (for now). The situation is even more dismal for less advantaged families, many of whom are migrant workers, in the Capital. The China Daily reports that around 14,000 students in the city are being affected by a campaign of school closures targeting "unsafe private schools:"

Since June, about 24 schools in Daxing, Chaoyang and Haidian districts have been shut down. With the new semester just days away, the parents of stranded students face a race against time to get them enrolled before classes restart … Reasons for the crackdown on private schools vary. The most common are that there is a lack of permits and that school buildings do not meet safety standards … According to safety standards, a school should be at least 15,000 square meters in size and have a floor space of at least 3,587 square meters, as well as a 200-meter track for sports. "Being realistic, no private school for migrant children can meet that standard," [says]Principal Yang Tuan, whose school was among those ordered to close this summer.

The motivations behind dealing with these schools, many of whom undoubtedly operate under less-than-stellar conditions, are justifiable to an extent – safety, health and administrative problems surely exist at these schools. But what’s befuddling is why local authorities are not constructively working with these schools to improve their facilities, as opposed to allegedly and simply shutting them down – under these conditions the affected students – many of whom have reportedly not been guaranteed placement in other schools – literally have nowhere else to go. Am I missing something here, or are not enough palms getting greased?

The article also cites one NGO worker’s claim that to date, only 63 such schools "have been approved by city authorities" – factor this in to a citywide population of some 20 million and it doesn’t take a math genius to figure out that we’ve got an alarming problem. A lack of adequate educational resources for such a large portion of the city’s population does not bode well for this society’s future, and it brings to mind what’s happened in the US after decades of educational decline (or closer to home, the chaos that erupted in China just a few decades ago). 

Perhaps I’m being too cynical, but I hate to think that this is just another case of "sweeping things under the rug" or, to be more precise, "sweeping undesirables from one pile to another" (e.g. we don’t want your kind around here so we are going to cut you off from the necessities of life). At this rate, such shortsightedness means we will eventually all pay a heavier price in the future – and I’m not just talking tuition.

More info: Chinese Migrant Workers Walled Off From Society (voa365.com)