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Man Jumps from Seventh Floor of Guangzhou’s Tee Mall in Suicide

Posted: 07/26/2014 12:42 pm

tianhe shopping mall suicide guangzhou A man is dead after an apparent suicide that involved jumping from the eighth floor of the Tianhe Shopping Mall in Guangzhou, reports iFeng.

At around 8:45 pm Thursday night, eyewitnesses say a man jumped to his death after crossing the safety railing on the top floor of the shopping center, also known as Tee Mall.

Emergency services were called, but the man reportedly died at the scene.

While the area where the man died was cordoned off by police, shops in the mall remained open. The identity of the victim has not been released.

tianhe shopping mall suicide guangzhoutianhe shopping mall suicide guangzhoutianhe shopping mall suicide guangzhoutianhe shopping mall suicide guangzhou

Photos: Sina Guangdong, Yangcheng Evening Report, iFeng

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“Ghost Mall” No More, Dongguan Behemoth Becomes Culinary Paradise

Posted: 07/8/2014 8:59 am

south china mall When you’re in a big mall in China, you’ve likely said, “I’m hungry. Let’s go to the food court and see what restaurants they have.” Somebody has finally taken that concept and made an entire mall out of it

The newly-renovated South China Mall in Dongguan, long known for being an empty, abandoned behemoth, is once again a commercial success, having served 80,000 customers on June 1. However, it’s recent success is in defiance of its humble beginnings as a white elephant.

Having opened to grand fanfare in 2005, what had once been dubbed “the world’s largest mall” was bereft of customers just a year later as stores abandoned their leases. For seven years, the South China Mall remained largely deserted of any life as its own existence remained a legacy to its failure.

READ: Dongguan’s “Ghost Mall”

This year, however, the South China Mall got a new lease on life. Gao Tiechuan, president of the the South China Mall responsible for its restructuring, changed it from a US-styled mall to one that caters to Chinese interests, reports Want China Times. Namely, the focus was put on food offerings rather than clothing shops.

Gao scaled back the scope of the mall to attract local diners instead of trying to cater to the entire Pearl River Delta. Besides hosting branches of popular local restaurant franchises, the mall now offers more affordable domestic brands to attract budget-minded clientele.

The RMB 200 million (US$32 million) renovation also did away with previous mall fixtures like a fountain and a bridge that only got in the way of the crowds.

Now brimming with shoppers, the South China Mall is operating on a customer strategy whereby 40% of sales are from its restaurants, and 30 percent are from “experience stores”. In this new set-up, traditional retailers only account for 30% of the mall’s sales.

Photos: South China Mall

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PRD Today: University Stewardesses, Schoolchildren GIF, Crawling Under a Bus

Posted: 05/7/2014 5:37 pm

stewardesses university guangzhouPRD Today is our daily collection of links and stories from the Pearl River Delta and beyond.

In an annual tradition, Guangzhou university students celebrate their graduation by dressing up in various costumes. This year, some students decided to dress for success as their ideal job: airline stewardesses.

The Shenzhen Economic Daily reports that Shenzhen real estate prices have cooled over the past three months. The sale of 2,936 new homes in April signified a slight increase from the previous month, but is a 25.5 percent drop from April of last year.

A mother refused to disclose her son’s HIV-positive condition when admitting him for treatment at a Shenzhen hospital out of fear he wouldn’t be treated. The revelation upset the six doctors and nurses that treated the boy for a head wound, yet it’s unclear if given the choice, they would indeed have refused him treatment.

bed figure four leg lock meme gifAfter having brought you the “flip kiss” meme last month (as well as its backlash), we’re continually pleased at how Chinese schoolchildren are working hard to provide us GIFs worthy of attention. Here’s the figure-four leg-lock bed.

The owner of the electric bicycle factory that burned down in a spectacular blaze last week says he is confident he will be able to rebuild his factory again despite having suffered a loss of RMB 10 million.

ruzi thief stopper dongguan xinjiang barbeque stall

A Xinjiang barbeque vendor in Dongguan named Ruzi is credited with having stopped two thieves in just half a month.

You know, there’s an app for that: Shenzhen drivers can now pay for parking spaces using their cell phones. Called “Easy to Park” (Yitingche), the app will even help drivers paralell park their cars. The trial program will begin in June.

2,000 Shenzhen families have applied to have another child under the “two-child policy”, perhaps to help fill up the 20 large-scale shopping malls planned to be opened later this year.

The most amazing video you’ll see today: An elderly woman is lying on the street, having trouble getting up when she sees a bus coming towards her. So she does the right thing to do in this case: quickly get up, and then crawl under the bus to simulate having been struck by it. Called the “breaking vase” tactic, this often referred to technique online is seldom documented. Until now.

A fourteen year-old Guizhou girl studying to make clothing had only attended classes for three days before she was kidnapped by a person from her own village and forced into a marriage for two years.

Photo: Dongguan Times

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PRD Today: Loli Goes Viral, Wet T-Shirts, 20 New Shenzhen Shopping Malls

Posted: 05/5/2014 4:59 pm

wet run guangzhou

PRD Today is our daily summary of news and links from around the Pearl River Delta and beyond.

On May 3, 3,000 participants took part in the Guangzhou Youth Wet Run mini-marathon, an ebullient activity not unlike the Color Run in Shenzhen, but with more wet T-shirts.

Sign o’ the Times: there are 20 new large-scale shopping malls set to open in Shenzhen, with half of them planned in Longhua. With an eminent collapse to China’s real estate market long rumored, some have pointed to the construction of skyscrapers as the harbingers of an economic downturn. Maybe time to switch to shopping malls?

A collision between a vessel and a container ship in Hong Kong harbor near Po Toi Island early this morning has resulted in the disappearance of eleven people. More than 10 ships from Guangdong have joined in the search.

A Shenzhen subway car operator jumped to his death from the subway headquarters building in Futian early yesterday morning. In a suicide note, the victim reveals he was suffering from serious illness and couldn’t bear the pressure of trying to purchase a home.

han clothes goddessThe latest Chinese internet sensation are pictures of a young girl wearing traditional Han clothing while posing outside among peach blossoms. Exasperatingly termed a “loli” (SFW), this young girl has been deemed a “goddess of Han clothes”, and what you see is what you get.

Super-size me: To accommodate growth, Dongguan will create 25,119 new positions for students entering its schools this year, a total increase of 11.69%.

Having not been on the job for even a week, Dongguan worker Ma Haiwa is suspected of killing his boss, Du Yanhong. Ma allegedly stabbed Du three times over a dispute about Ma’s working arrangements. Ma current whereabouts are unknown, and is wanted by police.

A street cleaner was killed in a hit-and-run accident yesterday on a road in Bao’an District, Shenzhen.

Liu shaoqiu statue pose stepping on

Sign o’ the Times, Part Two: A man was photographed posing for pictures while standing upon the head of a statue depicting famous Communist leader and martyr of the Cultural Revolution, Liu Shaoqi. Some people online have mentioned Liu suffered much worse in real life.

A train inspector was killed in Shenzhen when struck by train No.1203 after he reportedly violated safety regulations and wandered too close to the track.

“That’s my secret: I’m angry all the time”: Tonight at 10.22pm (22.22) on CCTV-6: The Avengers, dubbed in Chinese with subtitles. Tune in to hear how Loki’s dialog of “being burdened with glorious purpose” comes off in Chinese.

I can feel your every tremble in my arms: from May 10-16, admission to the Guangzhou Provincial Earthquake Science Museum will be free to the public. Visitors will learn earthquake survival techniques, how to make emergency preparation kits, and experience virtual earthquake simulations. No reservations required; located in Huanghuagang Park.

Rain expected to persist until Tuesday. Stay warm.

Photo: GMW, Weibo, People‘s Daily Online

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Give or Take a Day, Shenzhen Jiahua Bargain Market to Close in May

Posted: 04/30/2014 4:26 pm

mother earth jiahua market foreign trade clothingDo hipsters cry? I mean, cry unironic tears? Will they openly weep at the tragedy that has befallen all those that are surly-mirthful in Shenzhen now that the main source of cheap, tight jeans will soon be closing its doors, forever?

The Jiahua Foreign Trade Clothing Market will be shutting down on May 3. Included in this raze of the venerable retailer of the tacky and the counterfeit are the nearby Tongbao and Jijianian markets. Soon, there will be no T-shirts with poor spelling available on sale to fully express the dire consequences at hand here.mother earth jiahua market foreign trading clothing

For 17 years, the Jiahua Market along with its brethen have been providing hipsters, tourists and locals alike with the one true universal language: bargains. Located near Huaqiang Metro Station at the back of Maoye Department store, Jiahua was especially known for providing male clothes in large sizes that are hard to find in China. Referred to as “Mother Earth” for the longest time because of an advertisement out front, Jiahua was also reputable as a good place to find women’s fashions, shoes for both sexes, and outdoor apparel.

mother earth jiahua foreign trade clothing market shenzhen

But the affected are not just the big and tall. Jiahua was well-known as a place to purchase knock-off products: lovers of brand names can walk away from the market with several amazing deals.

However, Jiahua made every trip to browse its shops an interesting one by mixing up the inventory with both counterfeit and authentic branded clothes. If you were lucky, you could have showed up one day and purchased one out of a hundred in stock authentic branded T-shirts before they ran out. This reinforced the hard and fast rule of Jiahua Market: always bargain, and bargain hard.

Alas, we should remember the ones that will be hit the hardest by the closing of these three bargain markets: the hipster. It is the hipster that revels in the proliferation of clothes made at the cheapest cost for the least amount of taste. And while the Jiahua market did have some quality clothes for sale that can be appreciated unironically even by them, it’s the hipster that will most detest what will soon become of Mother Earth: a luxury shopping center.mother earth jiahua market foreign trade clothing

After the initial notice to vacate the premises was first given out last year, the property owners Jianian Company gave each of the stores a month rent-free on top of a four month grace period to help with the move. At least half of the store managers are said to have not yet found new store locations.

Although, we think this shopping mall should sell tight jeans. Beside the food court.

Photos: SZ Home, Bendibao, Shenzhen Daily 

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Scaffold Collapses at Shopping Mall in Shenzhen, 5 Injured

Posted: 04/30/2014 1:29 pm

shenzhen scaffold fallYou know the rickety scaffolding you see at the side of the road that you absolutely have to walk under when entering a building under renovation? Those do fall down.

At 5:32pm on April 27, a scaffolding structure collapsed at the Minlefu Shopping Center in Pingshan, Shenzhen.

The injured include four pedestrians and one worker at the scene. The injured were sent to Pingshan People’s Hosptial, and all are in stable condition. Two have light injuries, while three have received broken bones as a result of the accident.

From the pictures, it appears the scaffolding was not anchored properly but survived the fall intact, prompting comparisons to the Shanghai building that fell down and landed in a similar fashion.shenzhen scaffold fallshenzhen scaffold fallshenzhen scaffold fallshenzhen scaffold fall

Photos: Sina via Weibo

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Dongguan man runs into trouble taking daughter into the women’s loo

Posted: 08/26/2013 3:04 pm

When a parent is alone in public with their child of the opposite sex, which bathroom should they take them into?

A father in Dongguan found out the hard way that it’s probably not a good idea to go into the bathroom of the opposite sex when he took his 3 year-old daughter into the women’s bathroom at a mall on August 20 after checking to see whether the coast was clear.

When a woman saw him in there, she called him a “stinky pervert” and a “retard” as well as numerous other names, Guangzhou Daily reports.

The following day Mr. Chan went on an online forum to explain his actions, saying he initially opted to use the men’s toilets but changed his mind when he saw that there were other men in there and decided that his daughter was old enough to feel self-conscious.

Chan says he then waited outside the women’s toilets for 30 seconds and then peeked in to make sure it was empty. But as soon as he entered, the drama started.

Chan’s online post gained 2 million responses within a few days. Some came out in support, others said there was never a good reason for an adult to go into the bathroom of the opposite sex.

Guangzhou Daily sent some reporters to shopping malls in Dongguan to ask people’s opinions on the matter, and most agreed it was extremely rare for a father to take his daughter into the ladies’ room or a mother to take her son into the gents’.

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Shenzhen’s oldest shopping mall to close its doors for good

Posted: 02/22/2013 7:00 am

Shenzhen Citic City Plaza, Shenzhen’s oldest purpose-built shopping mall, could close in the middle of this year after years of decline, Winshang News reports.

The mall, which is located on Shennan Central Road on the border between Luohu and Futian Districts and opened in 2002, has already seen many shops on the second and third floors close down.

Originally known as Zhongxin Plaza, its nearest subway station is Kexueguan. It is close to Shenzhen Museum, Shenzhen Municipal Committee Building and Shenzhen Lychee Park, which once placed it in a prime position to remain Shenzhen’s premier shopping mall for many years.

Li Yingfu, general manager of the mall, explained that although it is the oldest mall in the city, it is lagging behind in architecture, layout, relations with the local government, security, proximity to a subway station and other important factors.

“Due to the intensity of the competition and the speed of Shenzhen’s growth, Shenzhen Citic City Plaza only had five years at the top instead of thirty,” said Li.

The mall has also suffered from instability due to changes in its management team.

In January 2007, Ping’an Trust bought the mall for 2 billion RMB. In October 2011, the trust changed the name of the mall to Shenzhen Citic City Plaza and pledged to invest 50 million RMB in refurbishing it.

Many long-term members of the mall’s management teams did not like the changes the trust was making, and all but a few left or were let go.

Yang Jingyu of Ping’an explained that the investors planned to have an additional 80 luxury brand stores added and have the mall extended by 50,000 square meters. Yang attributed the mall’s decline to its failure to keep up with the needs of shoppers older than 45.

Li Yingfu attributed the lack of success of Ping’an’s initial investment to their lack of experience running managing shopping malls. Now there are almost 30 major shopping malls in the city and Shenzhen City Citic Plaza has failed to keep up with its newer, sleeker rivals.

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