A few days ago, according to Yangcheng Evening News, a gang making fake Hermes totaling over RMB100 million was busted and the court sentenced its leader to life in prison on August 6. Other members were given sentences ranging from seven to ten years and some received fines.

An investigation found the leader of the gang, Xiao, rented a 500 square meter room in a factory in Heyuan last year and ran his counterfeiting business there. Xiao bought the tools and raw materials for bags from Dongguan and Guangzhou. The fake Hermes were sold in Guangzhou.

Xiao has been targeted since February this year when he was first caught by Heyuan’s Administration of Industry and Commerce. After that, the case was transferred to the local public security organs on file. However, driven by huge profits, Xiao continued his counterfeiting activities and rented another 350 square meters of factory space after the first was closed down.

Xiao and his fellow gang members refused to comment on whether they would appeal the sentence.

Guangdong, a thriving manufacturing hub where many manufacturers and exporters are located, has had regular problems with fake and counterfeit goods flooding the market. These goods are known in Chinese as shanzhai. Phones, especially iPhones and iPads, and other shanzhai brands such as Louis Vuitton, Dior and Swatch have proved popular.

The good news is for global brands, however, is Guangdong’s is making progress on cracking down on fake goods.  Related news reports indicate nearly 20,000 similar cases have been busted and 2,950 dens destroyed.

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The purpose of the exhibition is not simply to indulge in vulgarity or to educate people about sexually transmitted diseases, according to the paper. Rather, it is about art and fashion.

The pictures of cattle, pandas, bears, wolves, monkeys, and penguins in happy embraces look like they would belong in a children’s picture book, but their aim is to symbolize love and intimacy.

Designer Mr. Bo, the planner of the activity, says the drawings are interesting in and of themselves. “If they were drawn on a piece of paper or a bottle of shampoo, they would get some attention but not much. But the fact that they’re on condoms adds to the profundity of the statement they are making.”

Bo added that graffiti is not about technique but about self-expression.

Another participant, Ray, who’s paintings include insects crawling around flowers, says he feels excited. “Discussing such things and bringing extra creativity to them makes our intimate experiences more communal.”

Miss. Huang, one of the female participants, says she never feels embarrassed. “Wearing condoms is a responsible thing, there’s no need to be shy. Moreover, this is just art.” Many teenagers attended the exhibition with their parents and none appeared embarrassed.

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A man in Guangzhou’s Baiyun District has accused his wife of beating him, according to the Information Times. The man, surnamed Zhang, is appealing to have a restraining order taken out against her.

Zhang met the woman, surnamed Li, 18 years ago, and after a two-year romance they got married and had a son. However, after they got married, Li became a much more irritable person, and began to get violent. It got to a point where Zhang could not take it anymore.

When Zhang initially suggested getting a divorce, his tearful wife resisted. But after Zhang filed for divorce, Li appeared outside his place of work with a muscular man and demanded he come out. The security guard eventually managed to turn them away. In the end, Zhang applied for the restraining order which will prevent his ex-wife from harrassing him, including by telephone.

Guangdong Province’s first case of a man taking out a restraining order against a woman was in Zhuhai’s Xiangzhou Court in July last year. The reason cited was that the wife had threatened to have male relatives come and beat the husband.

Couples going through messy break-ups are never far form the news in this part of the world. In January this year, one couple threatened to publish each other’s nude photos online after a dispute.

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Kang was enrolled in a college in Guangzhou as a business administration student in 2008. However, after discovering that he wasn’t very interested in his chosen field of study, he left and returned home to look for a job, during which time he taught himself many useful I.T. skills. Urgently in need of money, Kang stumbled upon the knowledge that he could make money by building a porn website and charging subscription fees.

After building the website, he took many pictures and videos from other porn websites. At its peak, the website had 27 special columns of different categories of sexual activity for users to choose from. Yet knowing the website had to rely on outside servers, he contacted a web manager in Chicago. Building on his early success, Kang was about to rent six more domain names overseas to enlarge his business, but was thwarted by police.

The website reached 13,000 visitors per day, and earned Kang RMB27,800 from advertising and subscriptions.

This episode recalls the British blogger who named herself Belle de Jour who put herself through university by working as a call girl.

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Referred to as a “Spinster”, “Australian”, “English speaker and coffee lover”, Zhang remains a passionate, cheerful, vibrant, and humorous woman. Her only qualm is the occasional pain in her knees: “Perhaps Yan Wang Ye, a figure in Chinese mythology who takes away the dead, has forgotten about me!” she says. “I think it is my disciplined lifestyle and hard work that keep me healthy.”

Zhang decided at a very early age that she would be single her whole life, a decision she remains at peace with. And yet despite being separated from her family, and no shortage of adversity, when Zhang reflects upon her nearly 100 years on the planet, a child-like grin comes across her face: “I come from a big family that was very poor,” says Zhang. As a result, Zhang was forced to become financially independent at a very early age. The second of 14 children, and eldest girl, she was sent to live with her aunt in Hong Kong when she was only 4-years-old. There she worked as a live-in maid for a rich family, where life was anything but easy: “I missed home every single day”, she says. But for the sake of her brothers and sisters, she worked ever harder.

After ten years in Hong Kong, Zhang moved to Singapore, where she worked for a British serviceman’s family. Knowing no English and unable to communicate with her employer, she had to study the language in her free time. Several years later, the outbreak of the War of Resistance against Japan meant Zhang once again had to move; this time to Australia. Despite the distance, Zhang thought of nothing more than her family back in Zhongshan, and continued to send nearly all of her money home to support them.

Years of living abroad have left their mark on every facet of Zhang’s life, particularly for the simple things, such as food. Even today, she enjoys bread and coffee for breakfast, serves guests salad, and criticizes the butter in China as “inauthentic”.

Early in the last century, Zhang’s home village of Xianlong, whose population was only a few hundred, had a system which saw nearly twenty single women like Zhang move abroad so they could work and provide remittance for their families. But today, there are only three women taking part in the program. Unlike the other two (one went to Singapore and the other to Malaysia), upon her return to Zhongshan, Zhang didn’t seek to regain her Chinese citizenship. She remains an Australian citizen, albeit for one very practical reason: the pension in Australia is much higher than in China.

Here’s wishing Zhang many more years of happiness, fresh bread and authentic butter.

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Far and away the most important of the four stations, completion of the Gongbei station is now well behind schedule. The station is critical as it is one of two ports of entry on land between mainland China and Macau. According to officials, the project’s delay has resulted in serious congestion throughout the port. Moreover, until the station is complete, travellers have no choice but to take a 40-minute shuttle bus to reach the border as there is no other means of public transportation.

From the beginning, development at the site has been plagued with controversy, and construction woes. The high density of underground pipelines has made navigating the terrain incredibly complicated for construction crews. What’s more, following the July 23, 2011 Wenzhou rail crash, new engineering requirements and safety regulations were introduced, all of which have further delayed the project. Yet despite the delays, a recent progress report stated that construction could be completed as early as the end of August, provided there’s no severe weather between now and then, and all final inspections go smoothly.

As to when the station will be open to traffic however remains anyone’s guess. According to the Nanfang’s Danny Lee who recently investigated the story, completion by the end of the year is incredibly optimistic: “From what I could see, the station is far from finished. Major delays to the final leg of the rail line have clearly been influenced by the Wenzhou rail disaster… I suspect the station won’t be operational till sometime in 2013.”

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But there are exceptions to every rule. A student at Sun Yat-sen University, Zeng Peilun, attended her graduation ceremony with her baby and husband, becoming a minor celebrity, according to Guangzhou Daily. After falling in love in her sophomore year and getting married in her junior year, Zeng would have graduated this year, but she had to put her studies on hold to give birth to her son.

“Why not marry while the flame is brightest,” she said. Zeng says marrying her husband, 18 years her senior, was an easy decision. She says her parents are very open-minded and supportive, allowing her to make whichever decisions make her happy. Talking about becoming a mother, Zeng said she finds it hard but worthwhile, “I appreciate my mother even more now.”

As for the gossip she is facing, as a student of media studies, Zeng says she understands and can handle it.

Many graduates even expressed envy toward Zeng: “We can’t judge this young mother, there’s no right or wrong, there’s only what’s good for the person making the choice. Let’s bless this courageous beautiful young mother”, said a former classmate.

According to China’s Marriage Law of 1980, the age at which Chinese can legally marry is 20 for women and 22 for men. Chinese women tend to be under severe pressure to marry before 30. Those who don’t are labelled leftover women.

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It was reported June 12 that according to the world’s biggest human resource managerial consultation company Mercer Human Resource Consulting, the cost of living in the cities exceeded that of New York in March this year. The research method involved comparing payment levels for companies and governmental institutions whose staff work overseas.

The survey covers more than 200 indexes including housing, traffic, food, clothes, household appliances and entertainment. The report ranks New York 33th, the highest in the U.S. Five cities in China are above New York on the list, including Hong Kong which is number 9, Shanghai in 16, Beijing in 17, Shenzhen in 30 and Guangzhou in 31.

The reason for the soaring prices is the appreciation of the RMB and the increasingly volatile housing market, according to the report.

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At the busy event, there were a variety of wedding themes and colours on display for the perusing couples: boisterous Chinese-style in red and white, elegant Western-style in Tiffany blue, or a mixture of both. The Manager of the Exhibition, Mr. Lei, argues that despite the steep price tag, couples are still getting a good deal: “Compared with five-star hotels in Guangzhou, the price is not expensive. Even lobster is included in a 4888RMB feast.”

For interested couples, Canton Tower offers no shortage of reception options. For the thrifty couple, there’s the exhibition hall, which can hold 45 tables, while the 900 square metre banquet hall can hold 30 tables. There are several more options for the more particular couple, such as the Lutece French restaurant on the 105th floor, the revolving restaurant on the 106th floor, or the rooftop terrace. Although the wedding packages may be pricey, Lei added that couples simply visiting the tower to take photographs won’t have to pay. It’s good to know that even amongst such opulence, there’s still a deal to be had.

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There are currently eleven sperm banks throughout China, only one of which is located in Guangdong Province. And while the Guangdong bank has approximately 20 thousand samples, it has to accommodate the needs of ten reproduction clinics scattered throughout the area. Needless to say, in a province with a population of over 100 million, 20 thousand samples doesn’t exactly cut it. In fact, according to the Reproduction & Birth Control Center of Guangdong, infertile couples can expect waitlists of up to a year.

According to Tang Lixin, a family planning specialist at the Guangdong sperm bank, the main issue isn’t so much quantity, but rather the quality of sperm. Over a ten month period, samples are screened for environmental pollution, chemical additives and pesticide residue, all of which compromise the sperm’s reproductive capacity. While the Guangdong sperm bank receives a few hundred samples per month, only 30% pass the screening.

If that weren’t enough bad news for couples struggling to conceive, the Ministry of Health isn’t exactly helping matters. Currently a single donor can only provide samples for a maximum of five women, while in European countries such as Denmark, the ratio is as high as twenty women to every donor.

Tang argues that if China is to seriously address the sperm shortage, the ratio of donors to women needs to change.  He also recommends raising the sample fee. In Guangdong, women and couples pay a fee of 3000RMB per sample, while in provinces such as Jiangsu it’s as high as 5000RMB.

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