Are you urine for a treat?

If you can believe it, this is the anniversary so to speak, of my first blog or two after arriving in China and that time is here again.

It's the end of a school day in the eastern Chinese city of Dongyang, and eager parents collect their children after a hectic day of primary classes. But that's just the start of busy times for dozens of egg vendors across the city, deep in coastal Zhejiang Province, who ready themselves to cook up the unusual springtime snack favoured by local residents.

Basins and buckets of boys' urine are collected from primary school toilets. It is the key ingredient in "virgin boy eggs," a local tradition of soaking and cooking eggs in the urine of young boys, preferably below the age of 10. There is no good explanation for why it has to be boys' urine, just that it has been so for centuries.

The scent of the eggs being cooked in urine is unmistakable as people pass many street vendors in Dongyang who sell it, claiming it has remarkable health properties. "If you eat this, you will not get heat stroke. These eggs cooked in urine are fragrant," said Ge Yaohua, 51, who owns one of the more popular "virgin boy eggs" stallS and he is quoted as saying. "They are good for your health. Our family has them for every meal. In Dongyang, every family likes eating them."

Now here's how you too can make Virgin eggs - It takes nearly a day to make the eggs. First you start off by soaking and then boiling raw eggs in a pot of urine. After that, you crack the shells of the hard-boiled eggs and then let them continue to simmer in urine for hours. You must pour on extra urine to make sure the pot does not boil dry.

Mr. Ge said he has been making the snack, popular due to its fresh and salty taste, for more than 20 years. Each egg sells for 1.50 yuan (24 US cents), a little more than twice the price of the regular eggs he also sells. Many Dongyang residents, young and old, said they believed in the tradition passed on by their ancestors that the eggs decrease body heat, promote blood circulation and reinvigorate the body.

The eggs are not only bought from street stalls. Residents also personally collect boys' urine from nearby schools to cook the delicacy at home. The popularity of the treat has led the local government to list the "virgin boy eggs" as an intangible cultural heritage.

So there you have it - we have not tried them and don't plan on trying them anytime soon but now you know how they are made so you can give it  a try.

No matter how tough life might be, don't complain

The Shanghai Daily reported today that a poor migrant worker and his family have been living in an abandoned toilet  for six years.

In that time frame, Zeng Lingjun, now 33, created a home for himself in the restroom, furnished it with simple furniture, got married, and had a baby, who is now 14 months old.

In the space of less than 20 square meters (approx 200 sq ft), Zeng placed planks over the squat toilet and used the planks as a bed, which faced a small television set placed on a table between two urinals. He also hung a clock on the porcelain wall.

On the opposite wall, Zeng has pasted a red paper cut-out of the Chinese character "xi," or happiness - a Chinese tradition to court good luck. "I am satisfied with what I have now," said Zeng, who came to Shenyang 13 years ago with only 50 yuan (US$8) in his pocket. "Life actually is better here than where I used to rough it out."

Zeng has rented the toilet from a hostel near the long-distance bus station for 8,000 yuan ($1300 US) a year since 2006. He was also given, for free (imagine that), a space in front of the hostel where he sits on a stool and polishes shoes for 10 yuan a pair. Zeng earns about 2,000 yuan a month ($300 US) from the job, nearly double the minimum wage set by the Shenyang government.

Zeng told the newspaper that he is so content with life that he named his child "Deyi" - which means satisfying one's desire. But living in a toilet is not always as "comfy" as he describes.

Though the restroom has long been deserted, Zeng said he has to flush the toilet frequently to "wash away" the stinky odors that creep down through the pipes from the functional toilet above his home. And long-term exposure to the humid atmosphere has left his child with eczema.

Zeng said he wants to find a better paying job and move his family into a proper home. But earning extra money is not easy, as he still has to wire money home to his aging parents in the countryside and the family will soon have to spend money on the child's education.

So the next time you are complaining about life in general think about China's millions upon millions of rural migrant workers in cities and towns. Many live in undesirable conditions, have limited access to health care, education, and social security resources.

Maybe things are changing

Just back from Cambodia where corruption is a fact of every day life and this article in the Shanghai Daily caught my eye. It's a small story but I think represents something that will hopefully change soon. It concerns a physically fit candidate who scored extremely high marks in a civil service exam and was subsequently denied the job because he failed a physical. Why you might ask would a physically fit student fail a basic medical check up? The answer in China is easy.

Three government officials and two doctors have been charged with bribery and abuse of power. It is claimed they prevented the top scoring student from getting the job by claiming he was anemic. And why would they do that? It was done because an important government official wanted his daughter to get the job which she did.

So the bad news is corruption at all levels here is still quite prevalent. The good news is these people plus three more involved in the charade are being tried and will hopefully be convicted.



Strong Medicine But Maybe Not A Bad Idea

Far be it from me to support Capital punishment but there is an appeal here for a crime that in the past has killed or injured far too many innocent people.

A few weeks ago two motorcycle drag racers here in Shanghai were detained and charged with dangerous driving under new guidelines that for the first time can lead to the death penalty, the Shanghai Daily News reported. Previously, racers faced a penalty of less than 15 days if they caused no harm.

The two were tracked on surveillance cameras speeding through red lights from Pudong to Puxi on busy and crowded streets. Patrolling officers tried to stop the two but they eluded capture.

The two racers were later identified from surveillance camera footage (big brother has powerful eyes). One of their bikes was unlicensed and the other had stolen plates.They confessed to their crime and the case has now been handed over to the prosecutors.

City police have warned locals not to drag race in the streets, saying they will intensify crackdowns on dangerous driving. "Street racing seriously disturbs the traffic," police said. Now that's an understatement if I've ever heard one.

Not sure how long it will take for this case to actually be decided - can't imagine they will be sentenced to death but I'm sure this new law has given street racers something to think about.

Today is Lei Feng day

Today is Lei Feng day and to celebrate about 1000 Chinese students dressed in 1960s Chinese army uniforms staged an art performance at Shanghai's bustling metro stations this morning to call on the public to follow the example of Lei Feng, the nation's most famous Good Samaritan.

What confuses me is on the one hand, Lei Feng was a soldier of the People's Liberation Army who died at age 22. After his death, Lei was characterised as a selfless and modest person who was devoted to the Communist Party and Chairman Mao. In 1963, he became the subject of a nationwide posthumous propaganda campaign portrayed as a model citizen. People were encouraged to emulate his selflessness, modesty, and devotion to Mao though today scholars believe the depictions of Lei Feng's life was almost certainly a propaganda ploy of the Communist Party.

On the other hand, the law has spoken and yesterday a pizza restaurant that gave its location as "the French Concession" has been fined 47,500 yuan (US$7,541) for violating China's advertising laws. The recently opened branch of Pizza Marzano used the name of the former colonial concession as their address in advertising leaflets. In a statement, the Shanghai Industrial and Commercial Administrative Bureau  said the restaurant had evoked the bitter history of Shanghai under colonial control which humiliated the public and went against mainstream values.

So what really is more important here - promoting a soldier who died along with thirty or forty million others during The Great Leap Forward or punishing a company for evoking the bitter history of Shanghai under colonial rule?

You decide. 

Child Beggars To Be Shipped Out

The above headline comes verbatim from today's Shanghai Daily newspaper. The copy is below and I promise no more depressing posts for a while - next week I'll look on the bright side of life in China - and for those of you wondering why all the posts - Theresa has been travelling all week so I am starting to talk to the walls.

The copy (as it was published today):
All straying minors and child beggars in Shanghai are expected to be sent back to their hometowns by the end of this year, authorities said yesterday. Similar campaigns taken by the city in recent years have met with limited success because the minors often would simply return to the city soon after being pushed out. Officials said it may be different this time, because this year's campaign is a nationwide action. The minors' hometowns will be responsible for not letting them stray into the metropolises again. "We will contact local governments to register their information," said Zhou Zheng, director of the Shanghai Aiding Center.  Several local departments, including police, urban management and civil affairs officials, will patrol the streets, Metro stations, busy business areas and transport hubs to find the children.

I can't really say much more - the article speaks for itself.