bags blog,bags weblog,bags news

Representatives of China’s ethnic groups and religious circles Thursday condemned the deadly riot on July 5 that left 156 people dead and more than 1,000 injured in Urumqi, capital of northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

“The riot is neither an ethnic nor religious issue. It is, in nature, an event of serious criminal violence planned abroad and carried out domestically… It’s a brutal trampling on human rights and human being’s conscience,” they said at a symposium hosted by the United Front Work Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee.

Attendees to the meeting strongly condemned the violence and expressed their firm support to the measures taken by the Party and the government to cool down the event and ensure the stability of the region.

The United Front Work Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee invited representatives of ethnic groups and the religious circles to the meeting to introduce them related situation of the deadly July 5 riot in Urumqi.

Attendees to the meeting included Yi Cheng, president of the China Buddhist Association, Chen Guangyuan, head of the China Islamic Association, and Gao Feng, president of the China Christian Council.

The attendees said, the citizens’ freedom of religious belief had been fully guaranteed and respected in the country, and all ethnic groups and religious circles cherish very much the current situation of solidarity.

They said that they would try their best to tell the truth to the mass of ethnic compatriots and religious believers, expose the villainous scheme of the separatists and guard against new disturbance made by hostile forces.

24 Hours, one of Beijing’s hottest rock acts, have been making waves in Beijing since arriving just one year ago from Xi’an – from when they were first approached by Maybe Mars the night of their very first performance at D-22 – to now, just months before the fall release of their highly anticipated first album. We sat down with Zhang Chen (bass, vocals), Ren Yi Lan (guitar, vocals), and Li Guan Yu (drums, vocals) after a raucous performance at D-22 to chat more about their music and upcoming album release.

How do you all know each other, how did the band form?

Zhang Chen and Li Guan Yu were high school classmates, and Ren Yi Lan was a college friend of Zhang Chen. We used to go to music shows in Xi’an and thought the rock music we heard was really cool, so we decided to learn how to play our instruments. We’re all from Xi’an, where we formed the band in December of 2006. We came to Beijing in July 2008 to be closer to the vibrant music scene here.

A lot of your fans have said it’s not easy to categorize your sound, how would you describe it?

We agree. Rock music? We have a lot of different influences, so we don’t have just one label for the type of music we make.

When you’re not making music, what kind of music do you guys like listening to?

Zhang Chen: Everything really. Post punk, bands like Joy Division, The Talking Heads, Franz Ferdinand.

Ren Yi Lan: Same as Zhang Chen. I’d add Iggy Pop and The Clash.

Li Guan Yu: I like punk music, bands like Blink 182 and AFI.

Around when did you guys first hear western rock music?

Different for each of us, but sometime in our teens. For example, we probably each heard Nirvana for the first time somewhere between 1995 and 1998.

Do you guys listen to Prince? Maybe it’s your duel female vocals, but we’re curious if you were influenced by Wendy & Lisa, his two female singers in The Revolution?

Prince? His music is good, but we’ve only mainly heard his Purple Rain album. But yeah, there’s no direct influence in terms of the vocal styling.

You guys used to be called 24 Hour Party People, where’s that from and how come you changed your name to just 24 Hours?

The name 24 Hour Party People is the name of a movie about the UK music label Factory which Joy Division, one of our favorite bands, was on. We like the name. However, the name was a bit too long. Whenever we were on billings with other bands, our name would take up the most room compared to everybody else. So we decided to shorten the name. Plus it’s easier to remember.

How do you guys write your songs? What are they about?

We usually write them while jamming together as a band. Most of the time we come up with the music first, then the lyrics. The songs are about various things, like our daily lives, our friend’s lives. For examples, one of our songs, Mr. Stevenson, is about the guy who first invented trains. We don’t have that many love songs for some reason.

Why do you guys sing your songs in English and not Chinese?

Well, the rock music we’ve grown up listening to is in English, so to us, it’s only natural to write and sing in English. However, we hope to write songs in Chinese in the future. It’s not easy to write songs in Chinese and make it sound good as there are many ways to interpret the language. However, when used well, the language can really enhance the meaning of the song. It’s something we’d like to think about later down the road.

There’s a lot of buzz about your guys’ first recording, when can your fans expect to see it in stores?

The album should come out sometime this fall on Maybe Mars. No set date yet, but stay tuned.

Details on upcoming show: “We Live at D-22” Party with The Flyx, Birdstriking, and The Reason. D-22, August 15th, 10pm.

I like a room with a view, which may be why I delighted at finding an apartment with a nice big window on a decently high floor. This past weekend, I was sitting on my couch idly gazing out of the window at the children playing in the park below, the nearby buildings of the CBD, the clear blue sky and the heavy, four-engine military radar plane, escorted by two J-8 jet fighters, which was flying within shouting distance of my building.

The traditionally closed airspace over downtown Beijing means that even a helicopter sighting is a minor event, and while I’d already seen a number of jet fighters doing maneuvers from my office window downtown, this hulking, electronics-laden plane cruising lazily over Shuangjing area was something new.

Obviously, this and other sightings of the military in the capital are part of rehearsals for the 60th anniversary of the founding of the PRC, which will feature a massive yuebing, or military parade, both on the ground and in the air. New rockets are being unveiled, kids will gape at vast tanks and superbly drilled soldiers, and dozens of planes will screech overhead. One imagines that somewhere even submarines will be performing their version of a precision maneuver, if anyone is watching.

Of course, jets aren’t the only thing that will be on display on October 1. While tanks in the streets elicit at least a vague sense of discomfort, I am excited, not only as a spectator, but also as an observer of public reaction. Among all the missiles, armored vehicles and soldiers marching in perfect lockstep, the thing I’m really interested to see is the reaction of the spectators.

Sure, it’ll be a good show – the Olympics showed us that Beijing knows showmanship – but what will people, both Chinese and foreign, think of it? A brilliant celebratory spectacle? A waste of money? A stern warning to the rest of the world not to underestimate a resurgent nation? So much depends on our existing expectations.

China has traditionally been surrounded by threats, with one of the world’s longest land borders, many foreign neighbors, not all of which have been historically friendly, and a history of civil war and invasion. That China would modernize its military as it develops should surprise no one.

And as for the oft-heralded “China Threat,” the People’s Liberation Army is an army where in 2007, an increase in the amount of meat available for soldiers to eat was a very big deal, and where a landmark 50 percent pay increase for soldiers meant something on the order of a few hundred yuan. Compared to the military budget of the US, or even, proportional to size, that of European countries such as the UK or France, China’s military spending is modest.

Despite the huge leaps made by the Chinese military, I think it’s wrong to view the military itself as a threat. After all, it is rarely the military that begins or incites international disputes. Currently the most serious spat between China and the US involves tariffs on tires, car parts, and chicken feet, and I somehow doubt we’ll come to blows over poultry.

In the West, images of missiles and weapons being paraded through the streets are associated with the Cold War and the Soviet Union.

But on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the PRC, I don’t think we need to overly concern ourselves with political issues, historical precedents and the future. Sometimes, you can read too much into these events.

Instead, let’s view the parade for what it is, an expression of national pride and an opportunity for the soldiers of the Chinese military to enjoy center stage – and also a great opportunity for those of us hardware enthusiasts who think seeing all this stuff up close is just really, really, cool.

Former “Friends” star Courteney Cox says she has no problem starring in a TV comedy called “Cougar Town”.

So does her endorsement make “cougar” — the popular term for sexually aggressive older women on the hunt for younger men — the new cool? American TV executives seem to think so.

After years of highlighting the charms of youthful sex kittens while sidelining older actresses, new TV shows like “Eastwick” and “The Good Wife” are showing that more than just one type of mature woman is at work — and play — in the world.

“You can use the label ‘cougar,’ but what is really happening is that TV is acknowledging this trend in society of women getting better as they age,” said Todd Gold, managing editor of TV entertainment website Fancast.com.

“Mainstream television no longer just focuses on the pretty 20 year-old,” Gold said.

Leading the charge and dividing feminists is Cox, 45, who plays a recently divorced woman desperate for love in ABC television’s new comedy series “Cougar Town.”

“I think it’s great to be a cougar, if that’s what they are called,” Cox told journalists recently of her most high-profile role since “Friends” ended its 10-year run in 2004.

“I was looking to do another comedy … and it was just the perfect idea,” Cox added, noting that her own husband, actor David Arquette, is seven years her junior.

Cox is in good company. In “Eastwick”, also on ABC, former supermodel Rebecca Romijn, 36, plays a divorced mom with a much younger boyfriend who is bewitched by the bad boy sex appeal of a small town newcomer.

Actress Jenna Elfman plays a woman in her 30s who gets pregnant by a 20-something chef after a one night stand in the CBS comedy “Accidentally on Purpose”.

And in CBS drama, “The Good Wife,” Julianna Margulies, 43, portrays the spouse of a philandering public official left to pick up the pieces after a scandal. The series has quickly become one of most popular new shows on U.S. television with an average 14.3 million viewers per episode.

“Cougar Town” has an audience of about 9.6 million weekly viewers, and ABC said women make up 58 percent of them.

Still, not all women are in love with the new programs. Author Linda Franklin, who runs website www.therealcougarwoman.com, says “Cougar Town” depicts relationships between women and younger men in a bad light.

“It makes people think that if you are out with a younger guy you are empty-headed, walking around with your boobs hanging out and all you want is to get your fangs into some young meat,” she said.

Franklin, 60, set up her website in 2007 after first coming across the term “cougar.” She wants to redefine the word as something positive for women over 40 years old.

Bill Lawrence, executive producer of “Cougar Town,” told reporters that the title of the show was designed to provoke. But he said he had seen “cougar” being used as both “a misogynistic word and a word of empowerment.”

While the current crop of TV shows may divide as much as unite women, both sides seem to agree on one thing — it is usually men who are doing the chasing of older women, not vice-versa.

“Women today at 40 are strong, confident and financially independent, and they are very enticing to a younger guy,” said Franklin.

Or as Gold put it: “Hot older women are the fantasy of a lot of guys.”

He was China’s youngest Abbot in the Shaolin Temple – 22 when he ascended the throne. He was one of the first monks in China with an MBA. He is also the most controversial Buddhist here, allegedly for turning the shrine into a money-making machine.

Now, he is in the spotlight again after hackers targeted the website established to promote Shaolin’s shows and products worldwide.

The hackers have posted a purported letter of confession on the site (shaolin.org. cn) in the name of the Abbot Shi Yongxin, who “admitted his guilt” in commercializing the temple generally considered as the cradle of China’s traditional martial art, or Kung fu.

The Temple’s website remained inaccessible until the time of going to press Thursday.

The letter and a photo of Shi in a sitting posture were not visible on the temple’s website shortly after the attack Wednesday. But the screen shot has been circulated across Chinese websites, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported Thursday.

The letter, shown with Shi’s signature and written in the first person, summarized the history of the Temple and his own growth path.

“Over almost a decade as Shaolin’s abbot, I have done my best to convert Shaolin from a small shrine to a top-notch international attraction. I felt proud with a sense of accomplishment. But now, increasingly, I feel guilt and regret over what I have done,” it states.

“Its rapid development is at the expense of sacrificing the tranquility and sanctity of the Temple … I hope to not proceed further on the commercial path and become a sinner in the eyes of Shaolin and Buddhism,” it reads.

The Temple’s Master Shi Yanyu denied the abbot having written the letter, according to the newspaper.

“The hackers’ action is patently illegal and we’ll let our lawyers handle the case,” Qiang Daliang, manager of Henan Shaolin Temple Development Company, told the Global Times.

Speculation is that Shaolin and Abbot Shi were targets of hackers and public criticism because Shi’s effort to commercialize and internationalize Shaolin has offended those who saw these moves as a departure from Shaolin tradition.

This is nothing new for Shi, who is a highly controversial figure both at home and abroad. His very rise to the top as an abbot in 1987 – six years after he joined Shaolin – aroused suspicion. That did not deter him from pressing ahead with reform of the temple.

He set up the country’s first temple-based website in 1996. He was one of 18 monks in a half-year course on business administration at Shanghai’s Jiaotong University, leading to The Los Angeles Times calling him the “CEO in a monk’s robe.”

He spent much time travelling overseas – for meetings, in Kung fu delegations and cultivating elite society. The Shaolin Temple was the country’s first temple to welcome former Russian president Putin.

The Guardian newspaper of London reported that Shaolin was paid $10,000 for each performance in the US. There is no clear estimate of the funds raised by the temple’s commercialization drive.

Chinese News Weekly said the temple receives 1.5 million vistors a year and has a yearly income of 60 million yuan ($8.8 million), whereas The Guardian puts the figure at 10 million pounds (100 million yuan). In 2006, Henan officials presented to Abbot Shi a spectacular sports sedan worth one million yuan ($125, 000) for his contribution to local tourism.

Shi’s commercialization was denounced by fellow monks and local residents. Shi Yongguo, Shi Yongxin’s senior fellow apprentice, and the abbot of the Fujian-based South Shaolin Temple, said Shi Yongxin’s motive for a commercial Shaolin Temple went too far. “The South Shaolin Temple will not adopt such practices to become famous,” he said.

Li Zhenying, a Dengfeng resident living near the Shaolin Temple, said Shi is a controversial figure locally as many believe that monks should keep away from business practices. “What he did over the years is seek personal gain and fame,” he said.

However, Shang Qiumin, chief of the Tourism Service Department of Shaolin, a Dengfeng-based tourism agency affiliated to the Shaolin Temple, is supportive of Shi Yongxin’s controversial actions. He said the current abbot’s move represents the general trend in the administration of the temple and has had its benefits.

“The living standard of monks has improved greatly thanks to Shi’s effort, and the temple has never attracted so much attention before,” said the 52-year-old, who served as secretary of the late abbot Shi Xingzheng from 1985 to 1988.

Zhou Xueying a history professor at Nanjing University, said it was for history to judge the merits of Shi’s reform. “Buddhism has been secularized since the time of the Song Dynasty. It is inevitable for Shaolin and other temples such as Wutaishan to ride on the modernization tide and move into the future,” he said.

Although it may be reasonable to question the abbot’s commercialization drive, he said it was unreasonable to wreck the temple’s website to vent anger.

“That is certainly not a good way of communicating and resolving the issue,” he said.

A girl presents a creation during the Jakarta Fashion Week in Indonesia’s capital, Nov. 15, 2009.

One of the unexpected spinoffs of Michael’s Jackson death was a whole new take on an age-old travel scam—selling counterfeit or nonexistent tickets to unsuspecting people traveling from out of town to attend an event. With 1.6 million people applying for 17,500 seats to a bona fide “once in a lifetime” experience there were bound to be scams, including scalpers hawking free memorial service tickets for thousands of dollars each on Craigslist and eBay—before the online sales sites cracked down on the blatant exploitation.

Entertainment and sports events are a natural attraction for scam artists. Anyone is potential victim, but out-of-towners are especially vulnerable. Each year comes fresh tales of people traveling thousands of miles to attend an event only to discover that their package tour didn’t include tickets or that the tickets they paid for by sending cash or money orders never really existed. Elton John and U2 are among the big-time concert tours, the NCAA basketball Final Four and the Rose Bowl among the headline sporting events targeted in recent years by scammers offering unbelievable deals on tickets to anyone naïve enough to send them the money up front.

Once upon a time, the Super Bowl was the holy grail of scammers. Unscrupulous travel agents had no qualms about accepting thousands of dollars for packages that included flights and hotels but no tickets to the event. The U.S. Department of Transportation came down hard on Super Bowl scammers with new regulations and tough enforcement. But the specter of getting ripped off still looms—the local media in both Pittsburgh and Arizona issued travel package warnings earlier this year for Super Bowl XLIII in Tampa.

“You want to know what you are buying,” says Tim Kelly, team leader for Aviation Consumer Protection in the Aviation Enforcement Office at the U.S. Department of Transportation. If the travel package is supposed to include admission tickets to the event you are attending, Kelly’s advice is to “ask the operator at exactly what stage in the process will I receive physical game tickets or event admission. Do everything you can to get the tickets in hand before you leave home.” Kelly also recommends paying with a credit card rather than cash or money order because of the built-in refunds that most card companies offer if goods or services are not delivered.

Counterfeit merchandise is another huge travel scam, especially for anyone traveling to Asia, the source of so many bogus goods. There was a day in the not-too-distant past when a fake Rolex was the height of Third World travel chic. But nowadays the knockoffs—specifically fake medications—can be downright deadly.

“Sunglasses, handbags, DVDs—every product in every industry is liable to be knocked off these days,” says Caroline Joiner, executive director of the Global Intellectual Property Center at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. “I often tell people that if your product isn’t being counterfeited, then you probably have a brand that isn’t worth much.”

Nobody’s going to get killed by a counterfeit handbag, adds Joiner. “But consumers are at risk of buying counterfeit products that pose a real danger.” At the top of her list are knockoff pharmaceuticals cut with everything from harmless filler to motor oil, highway paint and glue. She also cites bogus electronics with faulty wiring or potentially hazardous batteries, as well as shampoo and perfumes (with fake luxury branding) that contain harmful amounts of bacteria. “I’ve seen things like fake diabetic testing strips, surgical mesh for repairing abdominal walls during surgery and even an entire Ferrari that was counterfeit.”

There are all kinds of money scams, from hotels that charge exorbitant commissions to change currency to moneychangers passing you bills or coins that are no longer in circulation.

“I was back in Moscow a few years ago and saw with nostalgia they were still trying to pull the ‘wad of money’ trick in Red Square,” says veteran travel scribe Robert Reid, author of the Lonely Planet guides to the Trans-Siberian Railway, Central America and Myanmar. “Some goon rushes by you and drops a wad of dollars—could be more than a thousand—and another goon steps in and picks it up, offering to share it with you. If you take the offer, the other goon will track you down and demand all of the money. I kinda find it cute that they think it can still work—sadly it probably does.”

Another frequent scam is the hotel that doesn’t live up to what’s advertised. Beach hotels that are nowhere near the sand is one of the more common tricks. But one that’s often overlooked—much to the detriment of air travelers —are “airport hotels” that are nowhere near the actual airport.

Every city has them, but some examples are more egregious than others. The Ramada Inn Miami Airport North is actually 10 miles from Miami International. The Country Inn & Suites at Denver International Airport is nine miles from the field. The Hampton Suites LAX Van Nuys is near an airport all right—a general aviation field in the San Fernando Valley with the code VNY. The real LAX is 18 miles due south, a drive that often takes more than an hour in freeway traffic.

“My advice is do your research,” says Brooke Ferencsik, senior manager of media relations for the popular TripAdvisor web site. “The more educated you are about a given hotel, the better off you’re going to be.”

Hotel parking valets are another menace, especially those tempted to steal valuables from cars in their charge. You also have to be careful about where they park your car. Drivers automatically assume their vehicles will be moved into the hotel lot. But in the case of smaller hotels, they may not even have lots. Your car could get parked on the street. And if the meter runs out or the vehicle gets towed from a red zone, the owner is stuck with the ticket, not the valet or hotel.

“We like to think that hotels and other organizations with a reputation screen their valets carefully,” says Joanne Helperin, senior features editor at the Edmunds.Com automobile web site. But while researching an article on valets, Helperin discovered there is very little consistency when it comes to screening the people who park cars for hotels, restaurants and other establishments. “Some people require a background check and some require nothing at all.”

Helperin advises people not to leave valuables in their car. “If you have to leave something in the car, leave it in the trunk covered. Or carry it with you.” And if something should go missing? Don’t hesitate to complain no matter what the blurb on the back of your valet ticket says about liability. “If something is taken from your car or damaged they are still liable. Don’t let them point to the back of the ticket and say it’s not their problem. It is their problem. It’s very important that you file an incident report and make the hotel management aware of it. As with everything else, documentation is the key.”

Despite the phenomenal growth of airport security over the last seven years, getting scammed at the TSA checkpoint is still a distinct possibility. Often it’s just a crime of opportunity—somebody who decides on the spur of the moment to snatch your iPod or cell phone from one of those ubiquitous plastic bins. But there are thieves, working solo or in tandem, who make a living off airports. They can be poised behind you in the TSA line and snatch items from your carry-on as you are going through the metal detector. Or they can be in front of you: One member of the team takes what seems like forever to get through the scanner while his or her partner walks away with your laptop that has already gone through the x-ray machine.

There have been several well-publicized cases over the past few years in which victims were able to remotely activate the camera on their stolen laptops and identify the culprits. But you can’t rely on stupid crooks.

Steve Lott, head of North American communications for the International Air Transport Association (IATA) suggests several ways to keep from getting ripped off at airports. “I always recommend keeping an eye on your handbags and carry-ons at all times,” says Lott. “Don’t go through the metal detector before your bag does. If you require secondary screening, always ask a TSA agent to get your bag from the belt and bring it with you to the screening area. Be vigilant and avoid distraction. And before you leave the TSA screening area, always double check that your valuables are in place.”

Another air travel nuisance is the checked baggage fee. The extra charges ($15-$25 per bag) began to appear in mid-2008 when oil prices skyrocketed to an all-time high of $145 a barrel. At that time, the fees were understandable and generally accepted by air travelers. It didn’t really become a scam until last winter when oil prices tumbled to $33 a barrel and the fees stayed in place.

Many leading foreign carriers—including Virgin Atlantic, Qantas, Singapore Airlines, British Airways and Air France —reduced their fuel surcharges when oil started to sink. But most U.S. carriers didn’t budge. In fact, some continue to add new baggage fees, including Alaska Airlines, which started charging $25 for a second checked bag on July 7th.

The only major American carrier that has yet to introduce checked baggage fees is Southwest, which unlike many of the other airlines hedged itself against volatile oil prices by purchasing long-term fuel contracts. “Southwest doesn’t believe in unpleasant surprises,” says spokesperson Olga Romero, referring to checked baggage fees. “At the moment,” she adds, the Dallas-based airline “doesn’t plan to add fees for the first or second registered bag.”

The German economy shrank by 0.5 percent in the second quarter of this year compared with the first quarter, marking the first drop since the third quarter of 2004, according to official statistics released Thursday.

A statement released by the German Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) in Wiesbanden said the economic trend in the second quarter was “characterized by decreasing household final consumption expenditure and smaller fixed capital formation.”

Capital formation in construction was markedly smaller than that in the first quarter and positive contribution was made by foreign trade, which however was mainly due to a significant decrease in imports, Destatis said.

However, compared with a year earlier, GDP in the second quarter was still 1.7 percent higher and employment also increased by 566,000 or 1.4 percent.

The detailed economic data for the second quarter will be released on Aug. 26.

Most Americans are getting fatter, and health experts see no halt of the trend amid a sluggish economy as people with lower incomes tend to turn to less-healthy food.

Obesity rates rose in 37 states in the United States and remained flat in the rest, according to a recent public health study. It concludes that Americans are eating too much and exercising too little.

In California, people became fat at a slower rate than those in other states, as the state’s obesity rate rose to 23.1 percent of its adult population, up from 22.7 percent in last year.

“California is doing better than other states, but still has a long way to go,” said Jeff Levi, executive director of Trust for America’s Health, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit group, which made the study jointly with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

The study found that no states in the country showed a decline in obesity rate.

Meanwhile, the souring U.S. economy is a growing concern among health experts, who say Americans turn to cheaper, less-nutritious food in a economic downturn.

“With higher food prices and lower incomes, people tend to turn to calorie-dense, less-healthy food simply because they can’t afford to do otherwise,” said Levi.

The fact that Californians are getting fatter slower than people in other states could be attributed to actions taken by school districts and government agencies in recent years, public health workers and educational officials said.

Lawmakers of California’s state legislature last month passed statewide restrictions on tran fats.

David Binkle, deputy director of food service of the Los Angeles Unified School District, said that menu improvements and other health practices have resulted in better student health.

“We are seeing a decline in the rate of obesity among the students,” said Binkle, who attributed the decline to the current focus on eating healthy and fast-food restaurant’s addition of healthy menu items.

Officials in Los Angeles earlier this month discussed a proposed ordinance requiring fast-food and chain restaurants to list calorie information on visible menu boards, after the city banned new fast-food restaurants for a year in South Los Angeles last month.

And those measures seem to have paid off. According to the report, rates of type 2 diabetes, a disease typically associated with obesity, increased in 26 states across the country last year, but did not grow in California.

Authors of the report said the main factors contributing to the obesity epidemic are too much food and too little exercise, and recommended a national strategy to implement programs promoting more physical activity and good nutrition.

Chinese cities may have some of the best solutions to be found anywhere in the world at a time when the global financial crisis has left everybody worrying about their housing financing and mortgages in the United States and other developed countries.

It is not by coincidence that this year for the first time, the highest award conferred by the United Nations system in this field– the Habitat Scroll of Honour Special Citation — goes not to an outstanding individual, but to a Chinese city, Nanjing.

According to a news release from the UN-HABITAT, at the next level, the cities of Shaoxing and Zhangjiagang were given the Habitat Scroll of Honour Award, along with the Rwandan capital, Kigali, the Tatarstan city of Bugulma, in the Russian Federation, and Ciudad Juarez a major Mexican city on the United States border.

“The Awards this year show us that we can learn from the great strides made by all of these Chinese cities, especially at this time of global financial crisis,” said Anna Tibaijuka, Executive Director of UN-HABITAT and Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations.

“Indeed, all of our winners this year have some answers when it comes to the financial crisis. All show that Government has to take the lead and show commitment when it comes to affordable housing.”

She also commended Angola for its national reconstruction program and the delivery of new roads, bridges, railways and other infrastructure either damaged or destroyed during the war.

In holding the global celebration of World Habitat Day in Luanda, Tibaijuka cited the importance that the Angolan government attaches, among other priorities, to the delivery of social housing and basic services, like water and energy for Angolan families.

The World Habitat Day prizes are conferred upon cities, governmental and non- governmental organizations, local authorities, public, private and research bodies, or individuals for outstanding achievements in the cause of sustainable human settlements.

The prize, granted in person each year by Tibaijuka, constitutes global recognition of a city’s achievements.

The 2008 Habitat Scroll of Honour Special Citation is awarded to the Nanjing Municipal Government for its bold, distinct, exemplary and comprehensive redevelopment, revitalization and improvement along the Qinhuai River which runs through the Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu Province.

In November, Nanjing will host the fourth session of the World Urban Forum, the world’s premier conference on cities. In response to a growing public outcry over the health dangers posed by industrial and human pollution of the river, the municipal government backed a comprehensive Improvement and Redevelopment Program.

It delivered affordable housing for many thousands of people, new flood prevention measures, the relocation of business and industries to better sites, a new waste management system with pipelines to keep all effluents directed at new treatment plants away from the river.

It also provided new conservation measures for the city’s historic sites, and new landscaping with recreation facilities blending in with the natural environment.

It further provided alternative decent accommodation for those who lost their land to the new developments.

UN-HABITAT’s Water for Asian Cities Program worked with the city to improve its water and sanitation systems with a 100-million-U.S. dollar Asian Development Bank loan.

The ancient canal city of Shaoxing in Zhejiang Province, eastern China, gets the Habitat Scroll of Honour Award for preserving a unique cultural and historical heritage at a time of rapid urbanization.

The city which dates back to 490 BC is known variously as the City of Waters, the City of Bridges, the City of Calligraphy, the City of Tea, and the City of Scholars.

Despite rapid urbanization, the urban conservation program has enabled this city to present itself as an elegant, peaceful and cultured place with a decent quality of life.

The award recognizes the restoration of its seven historic communities where buildings have been restored or renovated, the rivers cleaned up, and the streets spruced up to show off its traditional mix of white walls and black roofs.

The bustling port city of Zhangjiagang in Jiangsu Province, also in eastern China, gets the Habitat Scroll of Honour Award for setting a new trend in integrated urban-rural development and management through an initiative by the city’s authorities to improve the quality of life for farmers and other residents in its hinterland.

Zhangjiagang, just half an hour’s drive from Shanghai along a new super-highway, is the first Chinese city to explore a system of reallocating urban and rural resources so that people living intown or the countryside can derive the maximum benefit.

With a reputation for showing the way as one of China’s cleaner and safer cities, its new shopping malls and high rise apartment blocks, in many ways symbolize the country’s modernization.

Notable is its modern state-of-the-art community resource centers, the hub of the city’s new found harmony.

The city of Bugulma in the Tartarstan Republic of western Russia gets the Habitat Scroll of Honour Award for transforming its contaminated water system into cheaper, safer water for its citizens. Founded in 1736, the city at the confluence of the Bugulminka and Stepnoy Zay rivers, is the center of petroleum mining in Tatarstan.

Other economic activities in the city include machinery production, the processing of agricultural products, and construction, all of which contributed to pollution of the river.

Such was the toxicity, that many people became ill. In 1996, the Clean Water Program was initiated under the guidance of the Bugulma’s mayor and with the support of the Tatarstan’s president.

It has since improved the standard of living and contributed towards the sustainable development of the city and its outlying districts.

Residents now enjoy high quality water. The use of many underground springs allowed for a considerable reduction in chlorine treatment, thus reducing the risk of cancer.

The capital of Rwanda, Kigali, gets the Habitat Scroll of Honour Award for many innovations in building a model, modern city symbolized by zero tolerance for plastics, improved garbage collection and a substantial reduction in crime.

Starting from 1998, the authorities in Kigali began restoring the city’s lost glory. They targeted garbage collection, and banned the use of plastic bags.

The streets and pavements were beautified, and public transport was upgraded. Other areas included improvement of the sewage system and slum upgrading.

In just one decade, Kigali has been transformed into a place to which people come from all corners of the world to see and learn how they can replicate the Kigali modernization and urban conservation model at home.

Ciudad Juarez, a major Mexican city on the United States border, gets the Habitat Scroll of Honour Award for the innovative steps taken to help thousands of flood victims rebuild their homes and lives after the Arroyo del Indio burst its banks following heavy rains in 2006 largely believed to have been brought on by climate change.

Since these floods first started in 1990, an estimated 80 people lost their lives and 11,000 people have lost their homes and property.

In the last two years, the city’s Municipal Planning Institute put the Arroyo del Indio Project into action and helped build 250 new homes for 1,050 people, while transforming the flood zone where they had previously lived into an attractive city park.