Why we worry about food!

Reports of Chinese cabbages tainted with formaldehyde in east China's Shandong Province, the country's largest vegetable supplier have exposed clandestine market practices and triggered a new wave of food safety concerns.Over the weekend, there were reports that vegetable dealers in Qingzhou had been seen spraying formaldehyde on Chinese cabbages .

In visits to farms and wholesale centers, Xinhua news agency reporters found that using the formaldehyde solution has been a popular, unspoken method of keeping vegetables fresh for at least three years and was not limited to Qingzhou. Many local farmers turn a blind eye to dealers treating the cabbages with formaldehyde. "It's a common practice to keep the cabbages fresh," says Yin Lihua, a farmer in Qingzhou's Dongxia township. "Otherwise, the vegetables stacked tightly in their trucks would rot in two to three days." China's wholesale vegetable dealers are not required to use refrigerated trucks for produce, and few can afford them. Yesterday morning, trucks were lined up near Yin's greenhouse, waiting to take the cabbages to faraway cities for sale.

Zhao Mingli, a dealer from the northeastern Heilongjiang Province, was caught by police while spraying the chemical solution. Zhao told them he used the spray to keep the cabbages in good condition during a 10-hour journey to Langfang, a city on the Hebei-Beijing border. "Vegetable dealers in Langfang openly demand formaldehyde-preserved cabbages because they sell more easily. I just did what everyone else was doing for three or four years. Zhao said 2.5 liters of solution costs only 7 yuan and can keep 20 tons of vegetables fresh. Zhao was one of dozens of vegetable dealers apprehended by police in Dongxia township. They admitted having sold formaldehyde-tainted vegetables to many provinces, and many said they ate the tainted cabbages themselves. "You just do away with the first layer of leaves, cut the root and rinse well," Zhao said.

For the record, formaldehyde is used as a disinfectant and embalming fluid and has been declared a known human carcinogen. It is also a skin, eye and respiratory irritant. In 2008, China banned it as an illegal food additive however that hasn't seemed to concern these farmers.

So now you know why we pay so much for produce that is flown in from Australia or grown on farms managed by expats who care about what they are eating.

Quick, I need a hit of BBQ sauce

I genuinely thought I'd heard it all but this is pretty hard to top. The Shanghai Daily newspaper reported today that an additive that enhances the flavor of braised pork is causing people to become addicted to the dish .

The Shanghai Food and Drug Administration yesterday warned local restaurants after it was found that the additive was also available here in Shanghai. The additive, dubbed "King of Meat" can be found in many food markets and is used by many restaurant chefs who know the secret of the taste and don't eat the pork dish themselves - isnt that reassuring.

The Shanghai FDA said yesterday the three relevant ingredients in the composition of the additive were legal synthetic flavors that can be used in all kinds of food, except raw meat in which the use of the additives is banned.

Makes me feel all warm and cosy to know the law says the additives can't be used to cover food that has gone bad or to make counterfeit products. The Shanghai FDA said local restaurants should avoid using or use a minimum amount of the additive while cooking pork with brown sauce and other dishes.

The additive is made of chemical synthetics that contain chlorine and it can irritate the human gastronomic and digestive systems, Mo Baoqing, a professor of Nanjing Medical University, told the newspaper.

What is so spooky about eating in this country is that China has no clear provisions for dealing with such synthetic additives - that's why we've made a conscious decision to stay away from street food and other local dives.

The "King of Meat" mixture is also being sold online. Online vendors boast the special additive is made of "natural spices" and is widely used across the country. "It should be safe as long as you don't put too much of it into dishes," said a Shenzhen-based vendor. "We don't know what the additive is made of, but we haven't heard of anyone being poisoned or harmed by it." Online stores said the additive can be used in almost all kinds of meat products to enhance their taste and get rid of any bad smell. A 500ml bottle costs about 70 yuan (US$11), and most buyers were restaurant owners, the vendor said.

I'll remember that the next time we eat out.

Talk about monkey business

Seems a member of the staff of the Wuhan Zoo in Central China's Wuhan city went above and beyond the call of duty yesterday to save the life of a rare monkey.

Senior breeder Zhang Bangsheng came to the rescue after a three month old French Langur monkey ate a peanut offered by a visitor. The problem you ask - the peanut was not digested and became lodged in the monkey's tush causing a serious obstruction. Since the zoo did not have access to any laxatives, the zoo attendant did what anybody would do - he licked the monkey's behind to stimulate and arouse it and sure enough, out popped the peanut.

Kudos to Mr. Zhang for the quick action however of all the possible options he might have had to free the peanut, I just wonder how he zeroed in on this one. This brings a whole new positive perspective to the phrase "ass kissing".

Teacher was just having a bad day

Police in Shanghai are investigating a Chinese teacher who threw a mechanical pencil at a nine-year-old pupil, leaving the pencil's lead sticking into one of his eyes. After emergency surgery at 2am yesterday at Xinhua Hospital, the pupil said he could sense some light with his injured left eye, but still could not see things clearly.

The incident occurred at the Shuifeng Road Elementary School in Yangpu District during lunchtime on Wednesday when the teacher threw the mechanical pencil at the student from about a meter away.

The student is reported to have said that his teacher used to be a good and kind who "would not give the students a lot of homework." But he said he couldn't understand why she had become so angry and thrown the pencil at him.

The teacher is now under investigation by both the police and Yangpu District Education Bureau officials.  What is the quote of the day comes from the education authority which said "the teacher might simply have lost her temper." Her behavior was a one-time aberration as she had previously enjoyed a good reputation and was regarded by pupils as a kind teacher, a bureau official said.
 

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.