Ministry of Education Director Yuan Guiren said on July 28 that the ministry plans to make football a priority in schools from now on, reported China Daily.

Nanfang TV: Guangdong’s “football factory” an attempt
to make China a football power

The Ministry of Education says it will raise the number of Chinese schools that actively focus on football from 5,000 now to an eventual 20,000 within three years.

The focus on soccer is part of a larger plan, which involves more emphasis on physical education. There will soon be four PE classes a week from the current three for elementary school students, while high schoolers will move from two to three phys-ed classes.

READ: China Faces a Rocky Path to Football Superiority

Chinese education has traditionally emphasized rote learning in preparation for the gaokao, the university entrance qualifying exam, and has not focused upon physical education. However, Yuan was adamant this needs to change, saying:

No school will be able to use any reason or excuse to take away a student’s time that should be used for physical education class.

Yuan cities President Xi’s national dream for China’s youth to be healthy, but the renewed focus on physical education may also reflect Xi’s personal dream of football glory for the motherland. Xi’s football aspirations were recently immortalized in cartoon form. However, Xi has been clear that China would first qualify, then host, and then ultimately win the World Cup.

If playing football is going to be mandatory in Chinese schools as a way to alleviate the nation’s football woes, then we imagine “winning” should be made mandatory as well.

Related:

• Lionel Messi Says China Needed To Make Football Truly Global
• The Nanfang talks Evergrande and Chinese football with renowned blogger
• Guangzhou to Build 100 New Football Pitches by 2016

Photo: China Daily, Caijing, CCTV

The stakes were high for teams that were fighting for the World Cup championship. The winner can take it all – the glory, the pride and a whopping prize money of $35 million. But the football teams are not the only ones who had their eyes on the game. The illegal gambling bettors and bookmakers in China who had wagered millions on the game were glued to the television anticipating big payouts.

The Ministry of Public Security said 108 people were arrested for illegal online gambling involving a total value of RMB 18 billion after busting a gambling ring in Lianyungang in Jiangsu Province, Xinhua reported on July 12.

The ring operates in eight different provinces including Guangdong, Jiangsu, Fujian and Gansu Provinces through an overseas online gambling website whose server address is tracked to Philippines. According to the report, the website hired bookies and bookmakers in China to take online bets and commissions, and the gambling bets were particularly frequent during the World Cup.

The bettors were able to directly access the website and place bets. The website would calculate the wins and losses and earn commissions from the bets, the report said. The website also introduced a “super membership scheme” for members who placed a deposit worth RMB 200,000.

In June alone, the ring earned RMB 200 million in profit as the football tournament kicked off in the same month.

All forms of gambling, including the lottery, were considered capitalist practices and were banned in 1949. Only the state lottery is now allowed to operate. The ministry has prosecuted 7,267 gambling related cases and arrested 23,000 people since the start of the year.

Photos: Nandu; Getty Images

Here’s what’s happening this weekend in Shenzhen:

June 26th – Thursday Frisbee Throwing Training by the SZUPA – The SZUPA is an organization with the goal of spreading the sport of Ultimate Frisbee to Shenzhen and China. Join them Thursdays if you’d like to learn the basics of throwing and catching a disc. Be advised, tonight may end by 9PM.

June 26th - USA vs Germany World Cup Match at Frankies – Buffet offered with your favorite appetizers and salads for just RMB 70.

June 26th - Raps Open Mic Night – One of the liveliest open mics in town runs late into the night. Great for blowing off some steam.

June 26th – World Cup at the Warehouse on Shenzhen’s Largest Screen - Authentic New York-style pizza, discounted beer, and a 300″ projection TV showing the World Cup.

June 27th-28th - 2014 China (Shenzhen) Import/Export Food and Beverages Exhibition – Go to find opportunities for your business or for the free samples

June 27th – Aloha Beach Resort Beach Foam Party - The party of the weekend. Foam party on the beach with lots of great Shenzhen DJ’s. Shuttle buses from Shenzhen and Guangzhou.

June 27th - DrinkEntrepreneurs Shenzhen June Event – The monthly DrinkEntrepreneurs event will take place this month on Friday at Baia Restaurant Bar & Grill.

June 27th - Muzik BoX: ARUN R (HK) – house & techno producer from India - The Fresh crew keeps its weekly Friday night hang going with house music this week. Come for the music, stay for the kebabs and Mario Kart. 10% of all proceeds go to charity.

June 27th-28th – X-TA-SEA 12 Year Anniversary Weekend – This weekend marks the 12 year anniversary of one of the fixture bars of Seaworld, X-Ta-Sea. The lucky draw has some great prizes for only 50 RMB per ticket, and every ticket gets a prize. Definitely worth a shot.

June 28th - Summer Salsa Fiesta, 28th June! – If you love to Salsa, this looks very promising for a great night. Free flow beer and soda, a free class, dance performances, and a buffet dinner all rolled into one at the beautiful Hilton.

June 29th - Pizza Eating Contest at Warehouse: 2 people, 24″ pizza, 20 minutes – If you can eat a single 24-inch pizza within 20 minutes with a friend, you can win RMB 500 in Warehouse vouchers. I’m in, who’s with me?

June 29th – Shenzhen Dog Adoption Day by the Shenzhen Dog Protection Association – Twenty homeless dogs are waiting for someone to take them home at a dog adoption event this Sunday at Coastal City in Nanshan District.

June 29th - Ultimate Frisbee in Futian –  The meet will take place on Sunday 2:00 pm at Lianhua Middle School, and then food and drinks will be had at Frankies American Bar. 

If you attend any of these events, please email me at [email protected] and we may include some of your reviews in a future post. Let’s keep your event organizers working to provide better and better events!

Yunnan’s aptly-named “Lucky Air” has decided to go all-in by dressing up flight attendants in the national colors of Team Brazil, which makes sense since China didn’t qualify for the tournament (at least not this year).

Cathay Pacific flight attendants in Hong Kong complained earlier this year that their uniforms are too sexy and draw unwanted attention from male passengers. One wonders how Lucky’s flight attendants feel.

Photos: RocketNews24

Students at the university say the victim is a second-year student that had previously made bets on the World Cup, but his identity has not yet been verified.

Eyewitness Xiao Cai said the incident happened yesterday morning at around 10 o’clock. Xiao was on the sixth floor of the front wing of the Weiyi building when she saw the victim on seventh-floor roof of the back wing sitting on a chair and talking on the phone.

Despite being over 50 meters away from her, Xiao said she was able to hear everything the man said because he was in an excited state. According to Xiao, she heard the man say phrases like “Don’t force me” and “Give me two more days.”

Xiao explained what happened next:

He spoke on the phone for over ten minutes. I saw that he stood up after hanging up the phone, and then all of a sudden he disappeared. This made me very afraid. I hurried downstairs and discovered that he had jumped.

The victim was reportedly sent to the hospital, but succumbed to his injuries.

Students at the university revealed in a video interview that online betting is popular among students, especially at World Cup time. After making bets online, transactions can be completed using a third-party e-commerce system like Alipay.

In other World Cup gambling news, authorities in Macau recently busted a World Cup gambling ring worth approximately $645 million.

Related:

• Guangzhou Workers Get Time Off To Watch The World Cup
• Fake Sick Leave Notices Sell for RMB 100 as Fans Stay Home for World Cup
• PRD’s Contribution to the World Cup: Footballs and Condoms

Photo: Dongguan Times

While the FIFA 2014 World Cup is only a few days old, the number of outpatients at several Guangzhou hospitals is already on the rise. Many of them suffer from indigestion-related problems after gurgling down icy beer and stuffing themselves with greasy snacks while staying up all night watching the games.

A look at the sales figures from Taobao and Tmall, two top Chinese e-commerce websites, show that more than 17 million cans of beer were sold to football fans this week. Or, as Yicai.com reported, roughly the entire population of Czechoslovakia drinking for two days straight. This doesn’t even include sales from supermarkets or convenience stores dotted across the country where buying cheap, icy beer is much easier.

Dayoo.com reported the number of outpatients increased by 10% recently in several hospitals with most patients being youths and middle-aged men. The doctors suspect the sudden increase in patients suffering from stomach ache, vomiting or diarrhea are related to the World Cup.

Meanwhile, the number of fake patients asking for sick leave at hospitals has also increased. Some showing no symptoms of disease or pain have come to hospitals requesting doctors issue them sick leave, the report said.

One 26-year-old man visited an orthopedic doctor in a hospital in Tianhe District and told the doctor he was worried he might have suffered an “internal injury” during a basketball game which left him with several light bruises on his knees and elbows. He later confessed that he just wanted to skip a few days of work to watch the World Cup.

In another case, an old lady in her 60′s in Yuexiu District visited a doctor to ask if it was possible for him to write a sick leave notice for her son.

And of course, when faking an illness, exaggerating a health problem or sending family members as proxies proves fruitless, one can always find online sources selling sick leave notices. One such message group on QQ told a news reporter that he could get sick leave notices issued from various hospitals from all across China with one costing RMB 100 and two for RMB 150.

With all this talk about getting sick for the love of the game, football fans should be careful not to let the love of the game get them sick, or worse. A 25 year-old Suzhou, Jiangsu man was reported to have died suddenly while watching the World Cup overnight on June 14, reports the People’s Daily. Doctors reportedly say staying up to watch the game had been a factor that led to his death.

Photos: Getty image, Guancha.cn

While these two products have nothing in common, their production exhibits the Chinese pride that won’t be excluded, qualifying rounds be damned.

The “Samba Glory” from Shenzhen

The footballs used in the previous World Cup came under tremendous scrutiny for providing substandard performance. Called the Jabulani, the ball was criticized by Brazilian striker Luis Fabiano as being “supernatural” and for having unpredictable trajectories. This has led to a high-tech redesign of the official World Cup football—called the Brazuca—that has involved NASA wind tunnels and aerodynamic experts.

However, this official football designed and licensed by Adidas has humble roots, hailing from an undisclosed plastics factory in the Gongming Tianliao Industrial Area on Shenzhen’s west side. In fact, there is so much secrecy at this factory that many of its own workers don’t even know that the official World Cup ball is produced here.

A worker named Ah Ju confirmed to a reporter with the Yangcheng Evening Report that the official World Cup ball is made in a second floor workshop near the main entrance by a small group of ten workers, mostly women. The workers are sworn to secrecy, and the workroom is a restricted area that is sometimes guarded by security.

Even though the high-tech research and development that went into this football was very expensive, the production and labor costs at the “Asian X Plastic Company of Shenzhen” remain low. Workers that make the official World Cup football only earn a monthly wage of RMB 3,000 (US$483), and are expected to work regular overtime and half-days on Saturdays.

Called “Samba Glory” in Chinese, the ball retails for RMB 1,299 (US$209) in China, meaning that workers would only be able to afford to purchase two of the footballs they make every month. However, as Ah Ju points out, progress has been made.

As confirmed by a company representative, the same factory had the honor of making the official football for the last World Cup, which cost RMB 1,080 (US$174). As Ah Ju points out, however, the workers were only earning a monthly wage of RMB 2,000 (US$322) back then, meaning things have improved.

World Cup Condom Kings

Moving on from balls and getting to the meat of the matter, the Pearl River Delta’s other connection to the World Cup is a factory in Guangzhou that supplies another vital product, although one used when games aren’t underway: the condom.

A Guangzhou company named Double One (Shuangyi) has been approved by the Brazilian government to be its sole supplier of condoms, reports Southern Metropolis Daily.

Located in Shuangyi, Huadu District, Double One takes up a total space of 130,000 square meters.  The latex factory has eight production lines to meet demand and soon hopes to expand to ten. In fact, Double One has deep roots with the World Cup. Back when South Africa hosted the games in 2010, this same company supplied 35 million condoms.

China is one of the top condom producers in the world. China sold 10 billion condoms in 2012, 25% of all sales in the world at that time.

Brazilians apparently demand high quality condoms, as they were described by the Southern Metropolis Daily as being from an ”extremely sexually-open country”.

Rules for the world’s most popular pastime remain the same: one in the net will end the game.

Photos: Yangcheng Evening Report, Southern Daily, Myactivesg

Here’s what’s happening this weekend in Shenzhen:

June 12th – Thursday Frisbee Throwing Training by the SZUPA – The SZUPA is an organization with the goal of spreading the sport of Ultimate Frisbee to Shenzhen and China. Join them Thursdays if you’d like to learn the basics of throwing and catching a disc.

June 12th - World Cup KICKOFF @ O!Garden – Enjoy the beginning of the World Cup high above Coco Park at O! Garden.

June 12th - Raps Open Mic Night – One of the liveliest open mics in town that runs late into the night. Great for blowing off some steam.

June 12th – World Cup at the Warehouse on Shenzhen’s Largest Screen - Arguably the best, most authentic New York style pizza, discounted beer, and 300″ projection streaming of the World Cup. Seems like the best choice to me.

June 12th - World Cup Central at The Tavern Sports Bar & Grill – The Tavern in Shekou is introducing a loyalty program during the World Cup. Beautiful new bar in Shekou Seaworld with great food and drink.

June 13th – France Folk Singer Elsa Kopf 2014 China Tour @ B10 Live – This multi-lingual talent with a beautiful voice will be performing @ B10 live. Enjoy a large variety of music styles that combine, swing, bossa nova, and jazz rhythms.

June 13th - Muzik Garden: 80s PROM PARTY featuring YEYAN RADIO – This Friday is the prom! So get a date, dress to impress, and relive your high-school days. Mario Kart available to play and 10% of all proceeds go to charity.

June 14th - I’m On A Boat! Party! By love, Shenzhen! – Steam Punk themed Junk boat party shoving off at 7:30AM this Saturday. BYOB but food is included for the bargain of a price of only HK$350. GO GO GO!

June 14th – GET WET 2014 @ The Venice Hotel Shenzhen – The Venice hotel will be starting up their themed, DJ’d, pool parties starting this Saturday.

June 15th - Ultimate Frisbee in Futian –  The meet will take place on Sunday 2:00pm at Lianhua Middle School, and then food and drinks will be had at Frankies American Bar. 

If you attend any of these events, please email me at [email protected] and we may include some of your reviews in a future post. Let’s keep your event organizers working to provide better and better events!

Employees from the Guangzhou software company rejoice with the lottery tickets

Football fans who have had to resort to using “sick leave” certificates on their boss’ desk, hoping it will allow them to stay up all night watching the 2014 FIFA World Cup will be envious of one Guangzhou boss’ generosity.

The Chinese reads: Resign! Watch World Cup!

Mr You, owner of a software company in Tianhe District, will not only give his employees the morning off whenever England is playing during the World Cup, but also bet RMB 100,000 (USD 16,100) in sports lottery tickets on England winning the whole tournament. He gave the tickets to each employee.

And it didn’t stop there; You also bought England team jerseys for each of his employees and encouraged them to wear them during each of England’s games, the Information Times reported on June 11.

The owner of the lottery shop said he spent nearly 40 minutes printing out all of You’s lottery tickets.

Employees at the Guangzhou company

A soccer maniac himself, Mr You revealed he is hoping his staff can learn the spirit of teamwork from the games.

At this point, you must imagine that You is a die-hard fan of England’s soccer team, but that is not the case at all. You was originally trying to bet on China, but due to the fact that China did not qualify, he opted for the team with the closest affinity to China—England, otherwise known as “Europe’s China team”.

China’s national football team often serves as the target of scorn, mockery and hand-wringing because it continually finds new ways to disappoint its fans. It made its first and only appearance in the World Cup in 2002.

Let’s hope that won’t jinx England’s fate.

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