Hongqiao opens terminal 2

Shanghai inaugurated a massive new airport terminal and transport hub Tuesday meant to help the city handle the 70 million or more visitors it expects to attend the upcoming World Expo.

The new Hongqiao terminal is part of a sweeping upgrading of the transport system for Shanghai, a city of about 20 million people.

Hongqiao Airport's new second terminal, located west of the current terminal building, will handle almost all domestic flights from the airport, though some charter and international flights will still use the older facility.

Posted at 02:58PM Mar 19, 2010 by admin in China Travel  |  Comments[0]

Demolition Guidelines Tightened in China

Yoyoor China pulse cell phone news:

Forced urban housing demolition, which caused several deaths and injuries last year and snowballed into a major controversy, will be strictly supervised thanks to a proposal to better protect the rights of property owners, a senior official has said.

But forced relocation will be used if necessary so that the self-interests of a handful of people will not hurt the interests of the majority, said Zhang Qiong, deputy director of the State Council Legislative Affairs Office.

Zhang, a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference National Committee, made the remarks in an interview with China Daily about the proposed amendment to the regulation on urban housing demolition.

For more news, please visit
http://www.yoyoor.com/yoyoor_rental_phone_dailynews.shtml

Posted at 03:52PM Mar 09, 2010 by admin in In Focus  |  Comments[0]

Yoyoor Travel News pick up 0301-0305

1. Kenya Tourists Rescued

Two Britons were among dozens of tourists on a luxury Kenyan safari holiday to be airlifted to safety after their camp was hit by flash flooding.

Campers staying at the popular Samburu National Park in the north of the country were forced to clamber up trees or onto roofs as 4x4s were swept away.

The Royal Air Force and UK army, who train in the area, joined the rescue.

Hours of torrential rain caused the Uaso Nyiro River to burst its banks, submerging luxury lodges.


2. Fatal Waves Hit Cruise Ship
Two people have been killed and six injured as giant waves slammed into a cruise ship in the Mediterranean, the ship's owners have said.

The 26ft (8m) high rogue waves hit the Cypriot-owned Louis Majesty off the north-east coast of Spain.

A spokesman for owner Louis Cruises said three "abnormally high" waves broke windows in the front of the ship.

The Louis Majesty was heading to Genoa on a 12-day Mediterranean cruise but has now returned to Barcelona.


3. Yangtze Luxury Liners Planned

Ten luxury cruise ships are being built to cater to Chinese tourists' growing taste for pleasure voyages along the picturesque Three Gorges on the Yangtze River.

The Three Gorges Company, an affiliate of the Chongqing Traffic and Tourist Investment Group, announced on Monday that it is investing 2 billion yuan ($290 million) over the next two years to build 20 ships, including 10 inland luxury liners, Chongqing Evening News reported on Tuesday.

The new fleet apparently supports the Chongqing municipal government's Sun Project, which aims to build 20 five-star cruise ships by 2012 to help the gorges become the most desirable, high-end sightseeing spot among domestic inland waterways.

Posted at 02:10PM Mar 05, 2010 by admin in Yoyoor  |  Comments[0]

Shanghai expo 2010 cell phone rental special offer

Welcome to Shanghai Expo 2010! As the leading China cell phone rental service provider, Yoyoor cooperated with China Mobile to offer a special Shanghai Expo cell phone rental packages to help visitors to the Expo to stay connected during the journey to China.

EZphone 2010 Expo special offer:
(1) With coupon code SHEXPO to order for EZphone, you could enjoy free incoming calls not only in Shanghai but anywhere in Mainland China.

Yoyoor smart mobile phone: Nokia 6110 Navigator, TripPal elite 2010 Expo special offer:
(2)With SHEXPO to order for TripPal elite, you could enjoy rental fee 15% off.




Airtime Rates:
Incoming Calls:  Free
Domestic Calls: US$0.09/min(EZphone)    Free (TripPal elite)
International calls to US, Canada, HK, Macau, Taiwan, Singapore, Japan: US$0.29/min

Fore detials, please click here

Posted at 02:13PM Mar 02, 2010 by admin in Yoyoor  |  Comments[0]

Harbin, Disney in ice (iii)

How to get to Harbin
Flights from Beijing cost about 1,500 yuan ($219) and it takes about two hours to g et there. Trains from Beijing start at 153 yuan (271 for sleeper) for a trip that’s about 12 hours. Nigtly express trains (429 yuan, 9.5 hours) offer soft sleepers only.[Read More]

Posted at 01:50PM Feb 24, 2010 by admin in China Travel  |  Comments[0]

Harbin, Disney in ice (ii)

From the city, there are several ways to get to the festival. If you are trying to do everything in a day, start with lunch and a stroll along Zhongyang Dajie. This pedestrian-only street is the heart of the city's Russian legacy, with interesting shops and food.[Read More]

Posted at 05:02PM Feb 23, 2010 by admin in China Travel  |  Comments[0]

Harbin, Disney in ice (i)

Harbin's annual Ice and Snow Festival, which opens the first week of January and ends this year on Feb 28, in Heilongjiang province, is a fantasy of iconic buildings made of ice and folk legends sculpted in snow. Plan a trip and veterans who have been there will repeat two words over and over: "cold" and "beautiful".[Read More]

Posted at 10:55AM Feb 22, 2010 by admin in China Travel  |  Comments[0]

100,000 migrant workers motorbike home

Something very Chinese classic:



One hundred thousand people are expected to join the corps of migrant workers in south China's Guangdong province who drive home on motorbikes for the Spring Festival, police said to the Nanfang Daily.

The daily exodus of motorcycling migrants through the southern Zhaoqing city, a bottleneck connecting Guangdong and southwest hinterlands, was a pageant too swarming to be ignored that local police officers have set up at least 20 interval stations for drivers to refill and refresh, a preventive measure aimed at fewer road accidents and travel chaos.

On average two migrant workers sit on each motorbike, sometimes with a kid placed in between, equipped with safety helmets, bulky outerwear, leather gloves and knee pads, all must gear for an over-ten-hour drive in cold air during the winter.

Two migrant workers in Zhongshan city, surnamed as Zhang and Zhou in the news report, decided to drive home together, in turn of course, which they said was much cheaper and cost only 100 yuan (US$14.5), a sixth of the conventional expenditure on public commutes.

The annual phenomena in the booming factory zone underlies the country's emasculate railway capacity and the behemoth travel tide ahead of the Spring Festival, the most important traditional holiday for families getting-together.



Source: Chinadaily
Related links:
Snow, rain play havoc with spring festival travel
Yoyoor Travel Express: Harbin Ice Festival 2010
Get ready for tiger year

Posted at 09:43AM Feb 10, 2010 by admin in In Focus  |  Comments[0]

Snow, rain play havoc with spring festival travel

Bad weather forecast to hit during peak festival season

The weather refused to cooperate yesterday as the country entered its peak traffic season with millions on the move home.

Over the weekend, snow and heavy fog hit northern China, closing expressways and delaying flights. And meteorologists are forecasting bad weather to sweep across the country in the week ahead.

About 2.5 billion trips are expected to be made over the 40 days from Jan 30, as people rush home for family reunions and celebrations during the week-long Spring Festival holiday, which starts Saturday, the eve of the lunar New Year.

The transport authority reported that traffic began to surge yesterday, burdening the country's railways, roads and airports.

The Ministry of Railways said some 5 million passengers took trains on Saturday and yesterday. Railway stations in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou handled more than 200,000 passengers each day.

Some 63 million people took long-distance buses and ships home each day over the weekend, the Ministry of Transport estimated.

The number of passengers taking flights also grew so fast yesterday that belts transporting luggage from a check-in counter in Terminal 3 at the Beijing Capital International Airport broke down.

"The straps became overheated and produced smoke around 1 pm. But the trouble was soon solved and we opened new check-in counters to handle passengers. Order has resumed at the terminal," an airport spokesman said.

Ten freeways were closed yesterday because of snow and fog in Shanxi, Hebei, Henan and Liaoning provinces, causing delays at some long-distance bus stations, state broadcaster CCTV reported yesterday.

Due to the shut-down, Beijing's Liuliqiao bus hub said some buses from Hebei and Shanxi provinces to Beijing would be delayed for three to four hours.

Snow and ice caused at least 21 flights to be canceled and 64 flights delayed at the Beijing Capital International Airport by noon yesterday.

Meteorologists warned that such delays at bus stations and airports could only get worse because of a strong cold snap that will hit most parts of the country this week.

Qiao Lin, chief forecaster with the National Meteorological Center, said from today to Friday, rain and fog will hit central and east China, while lingering snowstorms will sweep northeast and north China.

On Thursday and Friday, freezing rain, which caused chaos during the Spring Festival traffic peak in 2008, is likely to hit Guizhou and the northwestern part of the area to the south of the Yangtze River. Most parts of the country will experience a temperature drop of 6 to 8 C, he said.

As the period coincides with the busiest time for the country's transport system, he warned travelers and transport departments to be prepared for bad weather.

"Nothing can be done about this weather. All I can do now is pray," said Li Zhenzhen, who works in Beijing and plans to leave for home in Henan province on Friday.

Wang Yongping, spokesman for the Ministry of Railways, said that the ministry has urged local bureaus to strengthen check-ups on locomotives, trains, tracks and the electricity network in a bid to ensure no breakdowns in the abnormal weather. Emergency plans will also be implemented during the bad weather.

Posted at 10:18AM Feb 08, 2010 by admin in China Travel  |  Comments[0]

The First Chinese product in a World Expo

The hero of the story is Xu Rongcun and his silk named “Yung Kee Huzhou Silk”.

Xu Ruiyan, also known as Deqiong, or Rongcun, was born in Xiangshan in Guangdong province. He was one of the first merchants who came to Shanghai to do business after Shanghai opened its ports. There he acted as a comprador in the Dent Company established by businessmen from England. He carried on silk and tea trade in light of the business motto of “best goods, highest price”, and built his own reputation in the commercial world.

In 1851, Britain announced the holding of the World Expo. This message crossed the broad ocean and reached China on the other side of the world.

Due to his acute commercial awareness, Xu Rongcun immediately realized the great potential opportunity arising from the event. So he loaded 12 bundles of what he called the “Yung Kee Huzhou Silk” and consigned them to Britain by express.

At the beginning, the silk didn’t caused many attention because of it’s shabby package, but it survived the test of time and in the end won the golden and silver prizes because of its high quality.

So, the Xu family created their legend in the business world by the excellent performance the World Expo.



Related links:
Expo Shanghai 2010 Tickets News: 3-day, 7-day ticket sales start in January

Posted at 04:37PM Feb 03, 2010 by admin in In Focus  |  Comments[0]

China pulse News Headline 01/26

Rental Tiger Program Started


When ministers from 13 nations sit down this week to talk about ways to save dwindling tiger populations, one proposal is sure to get lots of attention: Renting out tigers in order to raise money for conservation.

That's what Indonesia is planning to do with some its few remaining Sumatran tigers, but the idea has drawn scorn from environmental activists, who say it's the wrong approach to conservation.

Tiger "adoption" — where a pair can be rented out as pets in exchange for a 1 billion rupiah ($107,100) deposit — could help curb illegal hunting and trade, a forestry ministry official said.

Rent a tiger from Indonesia, rent a cell phone from Yoyoor :)


China Has Open Mind on Climate

China's lead climate change negotiator has said he was keeping an "open attitude" as to whether global warming was man-made or due to natural cycles.

Xie Zhenhua said climate warming was a "solid fact" and that mainstream scientific opinion held it was due to emissions of gases such as CO2.

He was speaking in Delhi at a meeting of envoys from Brazil, China, India and South Africa.

Posted at 01:58PM Jan 26, 2010 by admin in Yoyoor  |  Comments[0]

China Pulse News Headline 01/22/10

Air America Ceases Operations

Air America Media is ending its live programming operations as of today. The company, which blamed a bad economic environment, intends to file a Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code to carry out a closing of the business.

In a memo from from Charlie Kireker, chair, Air America Media, he said the past year has seen a "perfect storm" in the media industry.

Air America Radio, which ultimately ran on 100 radio outlets, launched in April 2004 with both known personalities, such as comic turned Sen. Al Franken, and then-unknown future stars, like Rachel Maddow.


Hope for a smoke-free Expo

More than 90 percent of residents interviewed for a poll are hoping for the first- ever smoke-free World Expo in the history of the 159-year-old mega event, which kicks off in Shanghai on May 1.

The Fudan Media and Public Opinion Research Center interviewed 509 people, of which 93.5 percent said they hoped smoking, tobacco commercials and promotions would be strictly prohibited at all Shanghai Expo 2010 pavilions.

They also felt smoking should not be allowed in restaurants or shopping centers near the Expo area.

Posted at 12:36PM Jan 22, 2010 by admin in Yoyoor  |  Comments[0]

Yoyoor will offer free English Mobile News on China pulse

 China Pulse is a custom-made mobile service developed by Yoyoor. With China pulse on your smart phone, you could enjoy free English mobile news edited by , backup your phone book, English yellow pages...

Bellow is part of Moblie News release on 01/21/2010

"Journey to the West" Musical
For French-Vietnamese guitarist Nguyen Le, there are certain Asian cultural artifacts that he gravitates to. That’s because they are unfamiliar to him. An epic Chinese novel called "Journey to the West" is one of them.

Nguyen Le took artistic license and turned the epic adventure from the 16th century into a 21st century pan-Asian musical adventure. The result is his recording “Saiyuki.”

He’s joined by like-minded Asians, Mieko Miyazaki on vocals and the koto, and Prabhu Edouard on tablas and percussion.

Hope for HK Disney
Hong Kong Disneyland has come out with its results for the year ending September 2009, and the ailing theme park has some good news to report. The joint venture between Disney and the Hong Kong government suffered a net loss of $169 million, a 16% improvement over 2008. The park had a 2% increase in visitors. Not bad, considering the economic crisis.

That’s still 1 million visitors shy of the park’s initial target of 5.6 million, though, and Hong Kong Disneyland isn’t likely to reach that number for many years.

There’s still hope for Hong Kong Disneyland. A big expansion is in the works, with three new “lands” scheduled to open in 2014.

Ebay's 4Q Earnings Triple
EBay earnings soared in the critical fourth quarter as it succeeded in luring more people to its shopping Web sites during the holiday season. EBay, which is based in San Jose, Calif., reported net income in the fourth quarter, which ended Dec. 31, was $1.4 billion, or $1.02 a share, up from $367 million in the year-ago quarter. The quarter’s results includes proceeds from the sale of its Skype Internet telephony business resulting in a net gain of $1.4 billion. The company said revenue climbed 16 percent to $2.4 billion. Skype contributed $112.0 million in revenue.


If you like to receive free English news headline from Yoyoor, please install China pulse on your phone. It's free, and it's coming soon.

Posted at 11:29AM Jan 21, 2010 by admin in Yoyoor  |  Comments[0]

Venture Veteran Doll Says Companies Will Turn to China for IPOs

Jan. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Veteran venture capitalist Dixon Doll predicts that more U.S. technology companies will start holding initial public offerings in other countries as economic growth in Asia outpaces domestic expansion.

“In the next 10 years, I expect more portfolio companies to list on foreign exchanges,” said Doll, founder of Menlo Park, California-based firm DCM, in an interview last week. China “will become a big deal.”

The U.S. venture-capital industry is coming off its slowest two-year stretch for IPOs since the mid-1970s, with only 19 in 2008 and 2009, according to the National Venture Capital Association. Doll said that while U.S. companies may not flock to China in the next year or two, the world’s third-largest economy will be increasingly attractive for technology startups as its capital markets mature.

China’s gross domestic product will expand 8.5 percent this year and 9.3 percent next year, according to Bloomberg surveys of economists. That compares with average predictions for U.S. growth of 2.7 percent in 2010 and 3 percent in 2011, according to Bloomberg.

Doll, 67, said he expects 40 to 50 venture-backed companies in the U.S. to go public this year, because the “system is so constipated” from two years of inactivity. The financial crisis wiped out investment banks such as Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Bear Stearns Cos., and forced more than 850 hedge funds to shutter in the first nine months of 2009. That left fewer banks to lead IPOs and fewer investors to buy shares in them.

DCM, which also has offices in Beijing and Tokyo, was an investor in About.com, acquired by New York Times Co., and Clearwire Corp., the mobile-Web network company that went public in 2007. Current investments include BitTorrent, whose software allows users to download and share files over the Internet, and RockYou, which helps advertisers promote their brands on social networks.

Of his firm’s IPOs, Doll said one or two will happen in China in the next two years.

Source: Chinadaily

Posted at 02:43PM Jan 20, 2010 by admin in China Business  |  Comments[0]

Chinese travel abroad increases

China's statistics from 2009 are expected to show its first deficit in tourism, due to a weak global economy and a strong travel incentive at home, a senior researcher said.

China Tourism Academy, the think tank for the country's tourism authority, said that mainland tourists spent some $42 billion in overseas destinations including Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan last year.

At the same time, overseas tourists spent only $38 billion on the mainland, down by 7 percent year-on-year.

Though official statistics for 2009 are yet to be released, the academy estimated that the tourism deficit will stand at $4 billion in 2009 - the first ever tourism deficit in China.

"The deficit in tourism service trade is a new sign saying that China is turning into a notable tourist source market, in addition to being an important destination," Dai Bin, deputy head of China Tourism Academy, told China Daily.

The deficit will enable China to have more say in the global travel market, and also help lift the pressure on China for renminbi appreciation, he said.

The booming outbound travel also will encourage domestic enterprises to "go out" and purchase more shares in foreign travel businesses, he said.

Some 47 million trips were made by mainland tourists to overseas destinations in 2009, up 3 percent year-on-year, the academy estimated.

In contrast, 126 million overseas tourists visited the mainland last year, down by 3 percent year-on-year, it estimated.

Though the inbound tourists far outnumbered the outbound, apparently mainland tourists, with swelling wallets and eagerness for shopping, have spent much more overseas.

"Chinese tourists have a different spending concept from others. They could endure staying at a three-star hotel and eating at a not-so-good restaurant, but would never go back home empty-handed," said Zhang Wei, general manager of the outbound department with the China International Travel Service head office.

Also, since many imported goods are sold on the Chinese mainland at much higher prices, many tourists shop for expensive watches, clothes and cosmetics overseas, she said.

Beijinger Gao Xuenan, on her trip to Europe last month, spent some 13,000 yuan ($1,900) on a Louis Vuitton bag and a purse, and spent another 2,000 yuan on a Burberry scarf.

"The prices of these goods are much higher in Beijing. The scarf, sold at more than 4,000 yuan, is even out of stock in Beijing. I kind of feel I would suffer a loss if I don't buy them in Europe," she said.

A survey by AC Nielson in 2008 said each Chinese tourist spent an average $987 per trip. Those travelling to Europe spent an average $1,781.

But foreign tourists usually do not shop for such expensive items in China, she said.

Besides, the global economic downturn has made many foreign tourists slash their China shopping budgets, said Dun Jidong, spokesman for the China Travel Service.

"But (the economic meltdown) had less impact on mainland tourists, who traveled with confidence in China's economy," he said.

The number of Beijing tourists joining outbound tour groups through China Travel Service still grew at a double-digit pace last year as usual, he said.

From another view, after years of promoting China as a tourist destination, the wealthy foreigners who used to be the primary group visiting the Chinese mainland have been replaced by ordinary tour groups and backpackers, who spent less in China, Dai Bin with the academy said.

But the average GDP per capita has hit $3,000 in China, "a level that industry experts agree sends a signal that the country is entering a stage of explosive growth in travel consumption", he said.

The academy forecast that 54 million trips will be made by mainland tourists to overseas destinations in 2010, an increase of 15 percent year-on-year.

"Compared to the average western tourist traveling at least seven times a year, Chinese tourists travel only once a year. We have a market with huge potential," he said.

Posted at 10:54AM Jan 15, 2010 by admin in China Travel  |  Comments[0]