Posts by Chris Waugh
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There's some stuff that actually makes sense in this piece, like:
"Their view is they have to do something about their electricity consumption so they're looking to offshore effectively some of the processing cost of some of their industries. So they're looking and saying well, maybe we should invest.
"New Zealand has renewable energy, maybe we should invest there. If it's competitive it also reduces the amount of stuff we're bringing into China."
But then there's the worrying stuff, too:
The more likely opportunities for significant growth and new jobs were in high-value foods and further intensification of agriculture,
If "further intensification of agriculture" is just another "more cows more milk!" or "bugger drought prone! more irrigation!" then please, no. If, on the other hand, he intends to hire people like our Farmer Green with ideas on how to improve the economy without cowshitting all over our own backyard, then ok. But with this government, I'm not inclined to optimism.
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Capture: The Castle, in reply to Nora Leggs,
I go for "laugh like a drain".
Meanwhile, couldn't get a decent shot of the birds, but at least I know where they live.
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爱国 (àiguó, patriotism), 创新 (chuàngxīn, innovation), 包容 (bāoróng, tolerance), 厚德 (hòudé, virtue (but actually, 厚德 isn't in any of my dictionaries)), and in the square at bottom right, 北京精神 (Běijīng jīngshén, the spirit of Beijing).
Still sloganeering after all these years.
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Dancing cranes.
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Pylon, trees, 4th Ring Road, 四方桥/Sìfāng Qiáo (4 Square Bridge?), 'nother pylon and that pointy thing? Some kind of Magic Mountain inside 欢乐谷/Huānlègǔ/Happy Valley amusement park.
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“Fishing and swimming strictly forbidden”
This is how strictly. Well, there's water there in the summer, but I doubt there's ever any fish to catch.
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We also hosted rythmic gymnastics back in 2008.
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Capture: The Castle, in reply to Islander,
As a firework lighter
Cigarettes are surprisingly useful for that. They don't fear wind and they stay lit for quite a long time. Only trouble is getting the cigarette's lit, but that's 2 minutes of yuk needed to get the new year's fireworks going.
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I’ve been here long enough that I can and do bore colleagues with stories of when these newer castles were holes in the ground. Not sure what that dormant electronic signboard is supposed to display...
And that grounded flying saucer cum Olympic badminton gym again. Maybe one day in the distant future they'll take the Beijing 2008 signs down, but I doubt it. It's not that great a piece of architecture, but there's something mesmerising about it, I find.
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Hard News: Merry Christmas, you all, in reply to Kumara Republic,
When I saw "Government Share Offers" I thought you were selling shares in the government itself, not in SOEs. Reminded me of a cartoon in the Listener years ago about the government having been privatised...
