The landslide happened at a park in Rizhao, Shandong at around noon on Saturday. The park’s rock climbing facilities were completely buried by the collapse of the north slope of Phoenix Mountain, located inside the park. Thankfully, no casualties were reported.

Zhang Bao, director of Lanshan District emergency services, said a preliminary investigation has determined that the landslide was a natural phenomenon, and not man made. However, Zhang did not answer questions as to why the park facilities are located so close to the mountain, or if any studies or investigations were conducted prior to the construction of the rock climbing facility.

Taking two years to build at a cost of 70 million yuan, the park was scheduled to open this month.

Over 70 victims were claimed by a landslide last December in Shenzhen, crushing 33 buildings in its path. Last June, a landslide that took place on a tributary of the Yangtze River caused a wave so big that it toppled boats.

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The incident occurred on Monday at the Wanda theme park in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province. The “Coaster Through the Clouds” suddenly came to a halt while climbing the ride’s steep incline.

It took park employees 20 minutes just to get to the riders. Once there, each rider’s safety harness had to be manually removed. Only after every rider was free did they make their decent on a narrow staircase.

This past March, 26 riders were left hanging 30 meters upside down for 20 minutes after the “Crystal Heavenly Wing” roller coaster came to an abrupt halt at Happy Valley Amusement Park in Beijing.

Last year Labor Day, an accident claimed two fatalities when five people fell off the “Crazy Scream” ride at an amusement park in Zhejiang when their safety harnesses were not properly secured. Last fall, a mother and her son sustained serious injuries when they were flung into the air from a giant octopus ride in Wuhan. And in April 2015, 19 people were injured at a temple fair in Henan when an amusement ride broke in half.

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As seen in pictures taken on October 19, walking like an animal on four legs is a morning ritual practiced by some 30 to 40 people daily in a historical park located in a shopping district of Zhejiang, Henan.

The crawlers explained there are a number of health benefits that come from the exercise. One person said, “Crawling like this has cured my cervical spondylosis (a deterioration of the spine related to old age). Making two circuits everyday on this sidewalk has made my body more limber,” while another said, “After crawling for half a year, not only has my neck stopped being so stiff, my blood pressure has dropped!”

Claims that walking on your hands and feet is good for your body are indeed backed up by a medical professional, albeit one in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Deputy Director of the Chinese Traditional Medicine Preventative Treatment Center Lu Peiwan said this exercise is a total body workout that uses muscles that are often under-utilized, thereby improving muscles, ligaments, and bones throughout your body.

Furthermore, Lu said the crawling exercise is rooted in traditional Chinese culture. According to Lu, it originates from famous Han Dynasty doctor Hua Tuo’s “Five-Animal Exercise” in which people can improve their health by copying animal behaviors.

One of the participants explained that although crawling is a recent phenomenon for many of them in Zhengzhou, it has deep roots attached to it:

Among us here, the person who started doing this is a Mr Duan who has been doing this for five or six years now. Mr Duan is now 90 years-old, and is in excellent health. After watching him crawl all day long, we’ve taken after him.

Despite being called “outlandish” by the People’s Daily Online, Chinese have been practicing this tradition for years, just as Mr Duan has been doing. Here’s a photo from back in January 2015:

From November last year in Changsha:

This one is from September 2012:

This one is from April 2011:

And this one also from 2011, as seen in a CCTV report:

In 2013, the World Health Organization listed China as the country with the 65th highest life expectancy at 75 years. Japan came in first with an average life expectancy of 85.

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Chongming County official explained the “Chinese only” policy is because the park lacks the technology required to register foreign visitors, a requirement under Chinese law.

Earlier this week, a user by the name of “MrHello123” posted on the Shanghai Expat forum that he wasn’t able to camp at the Chongming Island park because he is not Chinese.

“I live in Shanghai, I have a residence permit, but “I’m not allowed to enjoy the same recreational activities as the locals because I’m a foreigner.”I’m not allowed to enjoy the same recreational activities as the locals because I’m a foreigner,” he writes. “I’m sure a Chinese person in the UK or America would be pretty upset if they went to a campsite and were told ‘sorry, you can’t camp here because you are Chinese.'”

The British expat said he was sold a ticket for admission to the park, but was never told he couldn’t camp there until trying to register. Afterwards, the park refused to grant the expat a refund.

Furthermore, he claims Dongping park is full of multi-lingual signs for foreign visitors, written in English and even Japanes. When accessing the park’s official Chinese website, no mention is made of this policy.

“I didn’t ask the ticket office if I could camp when I bought the ticket but they didn’t tell me I couldn’t either, and then park staff along the way to the camping base all gave me directions,” the man told Shanghai Daily.

“I was only told at the office at the base that foreigners are not allowed.”

Chongming officials said they are working to rectify the problem, and advise foreigners wishing to visit the park to stay and register at local hotels. Chongming police say foreigners aren’t allowed to camp at the park because it “couldn’t ensure his safety.”

If any of this seems familiar, it’s because it is.

The most iconic scene from the film Fist of Fury (1972) shows Bruce Lee rebuking years of Japanese occupation in China by jump kicking a sign at the entrance to a Shanghai park that says “No dogs or Chinese allowed”. The sign didn’t actually exist in real life, but was a real law that forbade Chinese from the privilege of walking into a Shanghai park.

About a hundred years later, it appears the exact same conditions at a Shanghai park exist. This time around, however, the discriminatory policy is directed at foreigners.

To help us imagine what such a sign may look like, Shanghai Expat user “chinash” submitted this photo as the first reply to MrHello123’s original post:

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While typhoon Chan-hom was busy pounding the east coast of China with torrential rains and gale-force winds, Chinese tourists were out sightseeing at West Lake in Hangzhou and the Bund in Shanghai. Armed with woefully inadequate umbrellas and disposable raincoats, the tourists took in the sights despite the storm raging around them.

While tourists parading around during a typhoon is a sight to behold, far more impressive were the 350 park employees and street sweepers who worked through the night to remove debris and keep the West Lake park clean. They also wisely reinforced many of the parks’ trees.

The post Look: Chinese Tourists Deal with Typhoon Chan-hom in Style appeared first on The Nanfang.

A number of dead fish have been recently floating on the surface of the water near the flood gates of Lake Liwan Park. While any widespread loss of wildlife is usually cause for concern, some Guangzhou residents are viewing this as a “windfall” and turning it into a profit-making opportunity.

A representative for the park said the lake has been dredged over the past two weeks, something a park worker admits may have to do with the death of the fish. A park security guard said local residents have been coming to the park to collect the dead African carp and sell them for RMB 5 for a large one, and RMB 3 for small one, reports Sina Guangdong.

A reporter personally witnessed a person collecting the dead fish yesterday. However, the person wouldn’t admit to selling the dead carp, instead saying he would feed it to his dog.

Park management has complained that people who collect dead fish don’t listen to warnings and fight with security guards.

Related:

• Beautiful Inner Mongolian Flower Display Ransacked by Visitors
• Free Live Chicken Giveaway Causes Frenzy That Not Even iPhone Can Match

Photos: Sina Cantonese Report

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Let’s not mince words: as a Pearl River Delta resident, you can appreciate the very best thing about the PRD: lychee fruit—the proverbial cherry on top of the sundae with Chinese characteristics. However, the lifestyle you take for granted is what makes tourists to Shenzhen lose all semblance of civility.

Apparently, some people can’t go to the park except as a means to exploit its natural resources. On June 10, tourists to Shenzhen’s Lychee Park lost their shiznit over the fact that lychee are being grown on a tree and are free—FREE!—for the taking.

As People’s Daily reports, tourists employ a variety of creative (read: violent) methods to harvest the lychee fruit: throwing plastic bottles, throwing slippers, and shaking the tree. And then there’s climbing the lychee tree itself, thus rendering hobbies that require buying stuff like frisbees and kites redundant from their lack of harvested fruit.

At this rate, thongs are never coming to China.

Photos: People’s Daily

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Yesterday, the Guangzhou Municipal and District Government announced plans to jointly finance the construction of 30 new small-scale football pitches in 12 local districts. The new football pitches are designed to facilitate matches involving 3-man, 5-man, and 7-man teams.

The initiative will utilize unused lots, rooftops, areas beside community centers, and green areas in local parks. It is set to begin next year in six communities as pilot projects.

The municipal government wants these parks to be open to all residents by standardizing public availability for at least 12 hours every day. Of these times, 10 hours will be either free or offered at a premium, which will eventually be increased to 14 hours a day.

Guangzhou hopes to build 100 new fields by 2016.

In related news, large-scale football pitches are coming to Guangzhou as well when the construction of the “Dreams Become True Sports Training Camp” begins. It was officially announced on May 20 (picture above).

The new football pitches will be first used for the upcoming Pearl River Cup tournament.

Photos: dzwww

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The Futian District Urban Management Bureau wants to hear your suggestions. A plan to turn vacant lots into usable community park spaces is now open to proposals from Shenzhen residents to suggest which places will make suitable local greenery.

Suggested park spaces must meet certain conditions: they must be in close proximity to residential and commercial areas, and they must be of a size more than 1,000 square meters in space.

This proposal comes as Guangdong looks to increase its park space around the entire province. Guangdong provincial forestry officials stated that an additional 1037 forest parks and 168 wetlands will be made by 2017. Yes, you read that correctly: 1037 parks: 518 parks to be built by 2015, and another 519 to be finished by 2017.

To focus on the city of Guangzhou as an example, local residents will expect 20 new parks to be built by 2015 and another 19 built by 2017 to complement the 15 forestry parks already “under construction“.

Officials are said to be sizing up potential park sites in Panyu, Baiyun, Huadu, Conghua, Luogang, Nansha and Zengcheng, but don’t let that deter you, Shenzhen residents! Call or e-mail your local Futian District Urban Management Bureau to let them know where you want them to “park” it!

Futian District Urban Management Bureau
(0755) 8297 8013

Photo: Juneau Park Friends

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46 year-old Ye Yade had a temperature after being bitten by a Tsutsugamushi mite when sitting on the grass in a park on June 13, according to his son Ye Fu. He was taken to hospital and later transferred to several others.

On June 19, doctors discovered the insect bite on his scrotum and on June 21 he was diagnosed with scrub typhus.

But Ye’s life could not be saved. Doctors warn against sitting on the grass in summer. There is also the small matter of snakes at this time of year.

The post Are there deadly mites in Dongguan? One man is dead after being bitten in a city park appeared first on The Nanfang.