Misbeehaviour in the honey world

The Telegraph reported yesterday regarding the nefarious activities of foreign honey exporters:

"So-called "honey laundering" involves elaborate schemes in which cheap, diluted or contaminated honey from China is brought in after being "laundered" in another country to disguise its origin and evade tariffs and health inspections. A five-month investigation by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer newspaper found the international honey trade rife with criminal enterprises designed to take advantage of the demand for imports created by the mysterious collapse of bee colonies across America."

The rest of the story may be found here. Meanwhile, do check the origins of your honey, since some of the scam products may have harmful chemicals within.

unity pandas

pandas on the move! having survived the earthquake in wolong, they have now arrived at their new home in taiwan. the telegraph's richard spencer reports:

"TuanTuan and YuanYuan, whose names when put together mean "Reunion", landed at Taoyuan Airport near the island's capital Taipei. It was the end of a long day, which began with tearful celebrations in Sichuan, their home and home of most of the world's surviving giant pandas. They were given a last breakfast of corn buns and carrots in the city of Ya'an, where they were taken after surviving the May earthquake which destroyed their birth-place, the world-famous Wolong breeding centre. As they were loaded on to a truck for the road trip to Chengdu airport, they were seen off by a party of dancing schoolchildren dressed in panda suits.

They were guarded by 500 security officers and armed police strung out along the route, along with 20 animal experts and their own two keepers. There were more dances at the airport, from the local Qiang minority group who occupy the mountains that are their natural habitat, followed by speeches. "TuanTuan and YuanYuan will sow the seeds of peace, solidarity and friendship on Taiwan's soil," Zheng Lizhong, deputy director of China's Taiwan Affairs Office said.

The pair were offered three years ago as a goodwill gesture by China, after its anti-secession law which set in stone the national policy of using force to prevent any Taiwan declaration of independence raised tensions across the Straits. They were initially rejected by the then Taiwan president, Chen Shui-bian, who favours moving towards independence. But that decision was reversed by his successor, Ma Ying-jeou, who won election in March on a platform of improving ties with the mainland, which claims historic sovereignty over the island.

Upon arrival at the end of their three-hour journey to Taipei - made easier by the resumption this year of direct flights - they were taken away by keepers for a month-long period of quarantine, before they go on show at a specially constructed 6.5 million pound enclosure at Taipei Zoo.

Their journey was welcomed by the city government. "TuanTuan and YuanYuan are finally setting off for the historic trip to Taiwan," said Yang Hsiao-tung, a spokesman. "This symbolises another major step forward in pragmatic cross-strait exchanges." But Mr Ma’s acceptance of the pandas was attacked in pro-independence newspapers as showing he accepted Taiwan’s “vassal status” to China."

panda lows and highs

jane macartney reported in the times a couple of weeks ago that 90% of pandas are in jeopardy after the earthquake in china:

"Nearly all of China’s endangered pandas are in jeopardy after the earthquake last month devastated the remote mountain corner that is their last remaining habitat. Already boxed into these steep and thickly forested hillsides by the advance of Man, its numbers limited by a slow rate of reproduction and with its food supply threatened by the scarcity of its favourite arrow bamboo, the panda is now facing its most severe crisis in decades. Chinese officials, usually reluctant to reveal the real extent of a crisis, have announced that the last 1,590 pandas living in the wild face a very uncertain future after the earthquake. Yan Xun, an official at the State Forestry Administration, said: “Their living environment is completely destroyed. Massive landslides and large-scale damage to forests triggered by last month’s earthquake are threatening the existence of wild pandas.”

The fate of the pandas has been a cause of concern since the May 12 earthquake, which cut off access to large swaths of mountainous areas, including China’s largest panda breeding centre in Wolong. One giant panda from the reserve was buried this week after its body was found crushed under the walls of its pen. Another is missing. The other 51 are safe, including 14 cubs that were carried out of the reserve by keepers. The fate of the 1,400 pandas living in the quake-hit regions – about 88 per cent of the total – remains unknown and a source of growing anxiety. The tremor damaged 1.9 million hectares (4.7 million acres), 83 per cent of China’s total panda habitat. The real extent of the damage could be even worse because landslides have blocked roads, preventing officials from assessing some areas. Mr Yan said: “Caves and tree hollows where giant pandas live may be damaged, water in the habitat is polluted, and some of the bamboo is buried or smashed.” He said it was almost certain that the earthquake had claimed more pandas among its victims. “There must have been wild pandas crushed to death during the quake and in the aftershocks. But we do not have the number.” It was still far too dangerous for researchers to venture into these remote mountain areas to try to assess the ravages on a population that had grown in recent years.

Of the 55 protected reserves where wild pandas roam, 49 have been affected by the earthquake. Landslides have toppled whole mountainsides, possibly burying many of the animals. Zhang Zhihe, head of the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, the headquarters of China’s hugely successful campaign to save the panda through artificial insemination, said that he was also anxious that the devastation of the mountain terrain could deprive the wild panda of access to bamboo. He told The Times: “The pandas now cannot make their way between different mountains because of the landslides and so they may not be able to find food.” It has taken China years to create these reserves, linked by corridors along which the pandas can move with the minimum of encroachment by man. Now these corridors will almost certainly have to be recreated. Mr Zhang said: “As a wild animal, the panda has the capacity to survive in the short term. But the danger lies in its longer-term survival with the damage to the ecology.”"

on a positive note, tai shan just turned 3 years old at the national zoo in washington d.c.

lunchbreak at the building site

... or pandas rescued from the wolong reserve take time out for a bit of a snack. guess who has been checking out the bbc pictures of the day?!

pics of panda rescue

some of the devastation near the wolong reserve
the pandas were terrified and had to be coaxed down
most of them were saved - only 3 reported missing

pandas can anticipate earthquakes?

the ny times reported yesterday that the pandas in the wolong nature reserve in chengdu "were agitated and pacing" just before the earthquake. so far it would appear that while the human toll is utterly horrific - over 50,000 deaths currently estimated - no dead pandas have been found. the story of the escape of both humans and pandas is recorded in the article. *sigh*

chinglish

as the major influx of foreign visitors to the olympic games in beijing approaches, those in charge want to make sure that the signage is comprehensible and appropriate. this is a sign that at first i thought was one of the facebook photos in the album 'remembrance of things ravaj'. the one below, however, seems quite philosophical to me. what is the nature of suddenness? why do they wish to keep us away from it? etc.



more signs here.

year of the pig

according to my date of birth, i am the year of the rabbit/hare. kind of apt, eh? rabbiT//RAVaj :-) i do not really understand chinese astrology, but then i have not (yet?) studied it. thus, i can only offer yahoo as a starting point for your own exploration.

meanwhile, may i wish you a happy chinese new year - full of health and good fortune.

in honour of this festival, here is my favourite pig, perhaps seeking out his secret self?

the next country about which to worry: china

thanks again to the week of generosity from the ny times, i am able to read the columns of the lovely mr. thomas friedman (he is a sweetie to talk to anyway). he is visiting china, and i present the following concluding paragraph from today's presentation:

"China, in other words, is inevitably going to move back to the center of U.S. politics, because it crystallizes the economic challenges faced by U.S. workers in the 21st century. The big question for me is, how will President Bush and the Democratic Congress use China: as a scapegoat or a Sputnik?

Will they use it as an excuse to avoid doing the hard things, because it’s all just China’s fault, or as an excuse to rally the country — as we did after the Soviets leapt ahead of us in the space race and launched Sputnik — to make the kind of comprehensive changes in health care, portability of pensions, entitlements and lifelong learning to give America’s middle class the best tools possible to thrive? A lot of history is going to turn on that answer, because if people don’t feel they have the tools or skills to thrive in a world without walls, the pressure to put up walls, especially against China, will steadily mount."

don't start worrying yet, though. soon it will be shabbat - the chance to put all worries aside for 24 hours and concentrate instead on giving yourself and all around you a break. gut shabbes!