Pollution from a factory in Yutian, 62 miles east of Beijing
The overwhelming cancer situation in China has been officially acknowledged as a major public health crisis. According to the 2012 China Cancer Census, six patients are diagnosed with cancer every minute- that’s 8,550 diagnosed everyday. Its no surprise that many people correlate the alarmingly high cancer rates to the equally high environmental pollution growth. China has confirmed the existence of over 400 “cancer villages” where the amount of diagnosed cancer patients reaches about 10% of the village. There are even worse cases such as Zhai Wan Cun in Hubei province where the cancer rate is 80 times higher than the national level.
Many people have begun to analyze their situation and question why these cancer villages are often located in rural areas. The citizens speak out in anger about their land being turned into cancer inducing machines. Upon examining their village and pointing out the various sources of pollution, some citizens bitterly remark “Of course we have cancer.” In desperation, many people have turned to the web and social media to voice their anger at their ill environmental circumstances:
“Our Tai’an city has been surrounded by factories. Our villages have been forced to move because of the construction of a aluminum factory. They tried to petition but were stopped. The television reporters have been pressed by government officials. Our land is no longer suitable for growing crops and can only be rented to factories. The number of cancer patients has increase in an explosive manner.”
- ‘Red leaves on the mountain’, from Tai An City in Shandong province“The head of Environmental Department in Cang County has finally been sacked because of netizens’ criticism. The report came out and the residue of chemicals has exceeded 70 times the safety standard. In the village, there are 30 diagnosed cancer patients and 26 of them have died. The villagers have been protesting but all these years, all the reports from the county to the province’s environmental departments said that the water quality is safe?! How can they pass the water quality test every year? Among 655 cities in China, 400 depend on underground water supplies, so what can we do? What can our kids do?”
-An investor, Charles Xue, speaking to the news
(Source)
(Image Source)
Issue: April 2013
Stylist: Tina Chai
Hair: Gavin Harwin
Makeup: Lisa Houghton
Eem Byung-hak and Kim Naun of Goonam performs at the SF Music Matters Asia showcase at Broadway Studios in San Francisco on March 8 (photo credit: Karen Datangel).
Many indie musicians have already gathered at the world-famous SXSW festival in Austin, Texas, but before heading to the Lone Star State, some of these artists and a few others took their show to the City by the Bay for two nights of unforgettable music mayhem. From sentimental soul and slinky blues to pulsating electronic beats and fist-pumping dance-rock, the East met the West in a duo of shows, delivering something special for every music lover.
As a special preview to the newly branded CAAMFest (Formerly the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival), the inaugural San Francisco Music Matters Asia showcase brought together some of the hottest musical acts from Korea, China, and Taiwan at Broadway Studios on March 7 and 8. This Bay Area stop served as an extension of Music Matters, Asia’s yearly premier music event in Singapore. Partnered with local music promoters from the bands’ countries (DFSB Collective of Korea, Maybe Mars of China, and The Wall of Taiwan), SF Music Matters Asia was not only a rare opportunity for fans to see so many critically-acclaimed Asian artists together, but opened doors for these artists to share their music with a wider international audience.
Looking for a new boy group to fangirl over? Well here are the fresh faces of M4M! After auditions in Hong Kong and Taiwan, Cube Entertainment chose Jimmy, Vinson, Bin, and Alen to take the stage. The boys are scheduled to make their debut in both Korea and China starting March 13. Check out their official site here and click on for more pictures from this photoshoot:
Continue Reading »
Sun Fei Fei for Vogue Italia (Jan 2013).
We’re loving this editorial this month with Sun Fei Fei (shot by Steven Meisel) in Vogue Italia. Click on to see the rest!
With the crowd snaked around the corner at the Landmark Nuart on a Friday night, the anticipation was building for filmmaker Linda Goldstein Knowlton and the line of people who consisted of many families with young Asian daughters that came to see the opening of the documentary, Somewhere Between. This film is a personal journey that follows the lives of four teen girls who were adopted from China and raised by Caucasian families in different parts of the U.S. Unlike many documentaries, the director took the POV directly from the girls, as no one could tell the story better than each of these remarkably strong and courageous gals.
“I am making this film for everyone. For the girls, so they can see their experiences in connection with each other, and for everyone who grapples with issues of race, culture, identity, and being ‘different’,” explains Knowlton.
Enter Jenna, Haley, Ann and Jenni – four girls who have unique yet different tales to tell about their adoption and fitting in with their family and society, their struggles with identity and their curiosity with the possible search for their biological families. You’ll see their strengths and weaknesses and how being adopted into a Caucasian family has affected their perspective on being American.
This film is currently screening across multiple cities in the U.S., from the east coast to the west coast. Check out their website for current dates and locations – www.somewherebetweenmovie.com. And take tissues, no, grab a box because there will be tears of joy and excitement.
While many countries have star athletes, few have star teams. China is a champion-making machine, turning young children into Olympic athletes through extreme training and discipline. Japan, a country still recovering from the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disasters that devastated the country a little over a year ago, has also turned out a couple of noteworthy teams as well.
Wang Hao and Chen Roulin. Courtesy of NBCOlympics.com.
China’s diving team
The Chinese diving team earned the title of “dream team” by winning five gold medals in Sydney and six gold medals in Athens. At Beijing, China hoped for a clean sweep in the diving events and the team almost succeeded. Australia’s Matthew Mitcham snatched the gold medal in the men’s 10 m platform though, and China had to settle for seven golds. While most nations would be ecstatic, “almost” is not good enough for the Chinese. This time around, the Chinese “dream team” is determined to accomplish their goal. At this year’s world championships, they successfully won all eight events. Qiu Bo, currently ranked No. 1 in the world, will be competing in the elusive men’s 10 m platform along with teammate Lin Yue. Currently, all the world No. 1 divers are Chinese. China has won 33 out of the 48 Olympic diving titles offered in the past 28 years. This may just be the year that China will add eight more to that medal count.
Winning Chinese men’s gymnastics team in Beijing. Courtesy of fulltwist.com.
China’s men’s gymnastics team
While China’s women’s gymnastics team has a chance for Team gold, they are not the overwhelming favorites. In contrast, the men’s team won Team gold in Beijing by a large margin, scoring the highest on all events except floor. They also won Team gold at the last world championships. China’s gymnastics team is extremely deep and all of the men competing were part of the winning world championship team. However, China does not have room to falter because another team from Asia is right on their heels…
All-around world champion Kohei Uchimura. Courtesy of fulltwist.com.
Japan’s men’s gymnastics team
Japan’s men’s gymnastics team settled for the silver medal in Beijing, after winning Team gold in Athens. Japan is back with vengeance and their team may be able to oust China from the top of the podium. The team is lead by Kohei Uchimura, the three-time all-around world champion who will compete on all the apparatuses for the team. Gymnastic siblings Kazuhito and Yusuke Tanaka (sister Rie Tanaka competes on the women’s team) are also part of the men’s team.
Winning Japanese women’s soccer team at World Cup. Courtesy of Washington Times.
Japan’s women’s soccer team
Controversy broke out last week when the women’s soccer team was seated in coach class while the men’s soccer team flew in business class. If seating had been decided by skill rather than sex, the women should have flown in first class. The winners of last year’s World Cup and ranked No. 3 in the world, Japan’s women’s soccer team may be able to upset the United States’ team again. Their star player is Homare Sawa who was voted world player of the year. However, Sawa is not a one-woman show. She has a disciplined team to back her up that includes Aya Miyama, Ayumi Kaihori, and Nahomi Kawasumi.
And more Chinese teams…
Alas, the Chinese method of training, while rigorous and demanding, has been proven to produce champions. In China, athletics is a profession and not a recreation. Children are recruited at the age of ten to begin training for a sport. For many people, especially those from rural areas, becoming an athlete is their best hope for leading a quality life. In addition to diving and gymnastics, expect China to dominate in table tennis, badminton, weightlifting, and shooting. These six sports alone garnered China 38 gold medals in Beijing during the last Olympics.
London 2012 – the Summer Olympics are finally here! If you have missed some of our preview posts leading up to this year’s summer games, check below for our coverage. We rounded up our picks and spoke with some of the athletes competing in this year’s games. Let us know who you’re rooting for this year in the comments below!
Sung Jin Lee (Archery) of South Korea. Image courtesy of London 2012.com.
With the 2012 London Olympics drawing near, us here at Audrey want to share with you a few of the athletes you all should keep an eye on!
China has been known to produce some outstanding athletes, and some members of this year’s Chinese team are no exception.
