Early this morning, a water main ruptured in the vicinity of Panyu and has caused a disruption of service at the South Guangzhou Water Plant and resulted in the loss of 500,000 tons of fresh water, reported Guangzhou Daily.

The ruptured main has compromised service to the southern part of the city including areas of University Town, Tianhe District and Yuexiu District. A rough estimation of areas affected would include areas of Guangzhou going north up to Huangpu Boulevard, west over to Liberation Middle Road, and east over to Huanan Expressway.

As for how bad the situation has gotten, some residents of University Town had already complained of a lack of water this morning while it is currently reported that water pressure has now dropped 30% for residents in Haizhu District. Residents in apartments above five floors now must employ water pumps to draw water up for use.

While other water plants are currently trying to divert a supply over to the affected areas, repairs are estimated to require 1-2 days to complete.

Meanwhile in the “It Can Get Worse, You Know” category, the water supply in Lanzhou has recently be found to contain benzene, causing city residents to panic purchase all of the city’s remaining bottled water.

Photos: Guangzhou Daily

Nanfang readers have let us know that an explosion occurred in the Tianhe area of Guangzhou this afternoon. Xinhua published a story just a little while ago, noting a man killed himself and injured seven others in a residential community.  He was upset at his employer:

The public security bureau in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong, said in a statement that local police received a report of the explosion at a residential community at about 3:53 p.m. Friday.

An initial investigation showed the man came to demand the payment of overdue wages from a company located at the residential quarter Friday afternoon.

He later ignited explosives on his body, killing himself and injuring seven others, according to the probe.

The video below has been posted by Southern Metropolis Daily.

The problem is, relations between Japan and China aren’t exactly cordial this year. Over the past several days, thousands of people have taken to the streets in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Dongguan, and across China to protest Japan’s claims to the Diaoyu/Senkaku islands. In one case in Shenzhen, the windows of Japanese businesses were smashed and police resorted to pepper spray and water cannons to clear the crowds.  That was on Sunday, and today is the anniversary of the Mukden Incident.

Protests have already started outside the embassy in Beijing today, and Guangzhou has set up barriers in Tianhe to handle an influx of protesters.  The photos below are from last night and this morning in Tianhe.

We’ll keep you updated on events throughout the day.  If you happen to be Japanese or have Japanese friends, best warn them to steer clear of public gatherings in the PRD today.

The Paddy Field – that den of Irish beer and pub food – is now officially open in Tianhe, lining up alongside other local stalwarts like the Tavern, the Brew, and McCawley’s in Guangzhou’s increasingly heated pub wars.

Michelle from the Paddy Field told The Nanfang that everything customers have come to know and love about the first location will be replicated at the new venue.  ”The new place is exactly the same Irish hospitality and warmth offered at the mothership. The only difference is that we won’t be having our weekly Salsa nights because of space constraints,” she said.  ”But it will be still 99.99999% business as usual!”

The Paddy Field originally opened in 2004 on Huale Lu, just behind the Garden Hotel.  It moved up to the second floor earlier this year to expand — indeed, there is plenty of space inside the revamped bar.

Michelle notes the new location, on Tiyu Dong Lu, is family-friendly and offers plenty of non-smoking areas.  It has the same (rather extensive) pub grub menu and beers on tap as the original.

The Paddy field is just the latest bar to make a foray into the Tianhe / Zhujiang New Town area.  The Brew opened its second location there and Shenzhen bar staple McCawley’s opened in the area, both within the past year.  The Tavern is also nearby, and Rebel Rebel opened last month, meaning there’s plenty of choices for people who want to get their drink on.

You can get all the info about the new Paddy Field, including the address, map, opening hours, and menu here.

How times have changed.

Guangzhou East now has a Starbucks, McDonald’s, and the venerable Yonghe Dawang (Yonghe King) for hungry people who need to kill time before their train departs.  But there’s an even bigger name moving in: Burger King.

The Nanfang passed through Guangzhou East a few days ago and saw the hoarding up as the staff prepare to open Burger King at the location.  The popular flame-broiled American hamburger chain is expanding faster and faster in the PRD, with several locations now in Shenzhen plus those in Hong Kong.  There are at least two other Burger Kings in Guangzhou as well at Grandview Mall and Tai Koo Hui.

You’ll likely be seeing many more Burger Kings sprout up in the next few years, which will eventually water-down the novelty factor.  The company says it plans to open 1,000 restaurants in China in the next five to seven years.

No word on when the Burger King at Guangzhou East will open, but we expect within the next few weeks.

Guangzhou has been steadily building up its Pearl River New Town, or Zhujiang New City, or Zhujiang New Town (I’ve heard it called so many things) over the past several years in an effort to move downtown away from the Guangzhou East Railway Station in Tianhe. Zhujiang New Town is a beautiful area of gleaming highrises, and seems a bit more planned out. But a new Central Business District can’t launch without a proper logo, right? This is where you might come in:

A global solicitation for Tianhe CBD’s logo design was revealed early today by Guangzhou Tianhe CBD Management Committee. Tianhe CBD, commonly known as Zhujiang New Town CBD, is a convergence of more than 80 top grade business buildings, covering more than 10 million square meters. It also houses about 120 financial institutions as well as most of the headquarters for large corporations.

The reward varies from RMB 20,000 for the 1st Prize (one person), RMB 5,000 for the 2nd Prizes (2 people) and RMB 2,000 for the 3rd Prizes (5 people). The deadline of the solicitation is 12:00 a.m., March 15.

The specific name “广州市天河中央商务区 Guangzhou Tianhe Central Business District” (广州天河CBD or GZTH CBD in short) is required in the logo design.

So get out your pencils, colouring sets, iPads, or whatever it is people use these days to design great new things. RMB 20,000 pales in comparison to the fact your design (and you) will go down in history as the official logo for the CBD, right? Oh, one other thing… you’d better get cracking, because the deadline for submissions is March 15.

You can submit your finished work to the Guangzhou Tianhe CBD Management Committee (Room 6013 Tianhe District Government Building 2, No.1 Tianfu Road) marked as “广州天河CBD标识征集(TIANHE CBD LOGO SOLICITATION)”.

You can also email it to [email protected] or [email protected]. If you have questions, you can call the hotline at 86-020-38622872 or visit the contest website (in Chinese) at: http://www.thnet.gov.cn.