Beijing’s private car restrictions are set to go into effect tomorrow, in an effort to bring back the days of clean air and more peaceful street’s the bustling city enjoyed during the Olympics. Naturally, many of the city’s road warriors aren’t happy about it.

By the numbers: Some of these cars will be off the road tomorrow, depending on their license plate numbers. (Photo by Getty Images)

Under this new restriction, which covers the heavily metropolitan area surrounded by Beijing’s Fifth Ring road, private cars with licensed plate numbers ending with a 1 or 6 can’t be on the road on Mondays. Those with 2 or 7 as the last digit are banned on Tuesday, 3 or 8 on Wednesday, 4 or 9 one Thursday and 5 or 0 on Friday. On weekends, all cars are allowed on roads.

The restrictions follow bans earlier this month on the number of government and corporate vehicles, a popular measure among Beijingers. But the restrictions on private cars are “unfair,” say many drivers in polls and online. An unscientific online survey on the Web site of the People’s Daily, the state-run newspaper, 68% out of 400,000 voters said that “it’s pointless to ban private cars.”

Web users packed online forums and listed reasons to “say no” to restrictions on private cars, and major web portals are hosting forums for people upset with the new regulations.

Netizen “endless99″ made a comparison between the subway maps in Beijing and several other cities, including Hong Kong and London. The person concluded, “The ban can only work out the traffic problems temporarily. Mature metropolitans such as Hong Kong and Tokyo all have well-served urban public transport system.” (The post in Chinese.)

One Web user wrote a blog post, titled “We Are Extremely Upset About the New Restrictions,” that the restrictions discriminate against those in the suburbs.

“How about those out of the Fifth Ring circle? We all paid the same amount of tax. It’s really unfair,” the user said, adding, “who is going to pay for my taxi?” (The post in Chinese.)

Others are unhappy with the lack of proper administrative procedure in getting the restrictions out. In an online poll on Sohu.com, 93% out of 6,000 people participating said “the restrictions on private cars should have been deliberated by the National People’s Congress before it went out.â€

–Juliet Ye

A daily look at what we’re reading.

–Dealing with silence: The plight of parents in search of their missing children. (h/t West Peavine) [Global Voices]

–Every last cent: For bargaining-averse Westerners, a handy guide to haggling down vendors. [bizCult]

–Rejecting the Qing: Historian Yan Chongnian explains why he didn’t deserve a slap from a man critical of his supposed support of the Qing Dynasty. [Danwei]

–Expatriates who don’t register their children with authorities are in peril of having an illegal baby. Tip: When you pick up the tot’s new passport, try to get a receipt. [Imagethief]

–Can’t sleep? If you’re in Shanghai, you may have a substandard bed. [China Retail News]

– Carlos Tejada

Among the rumored front-runners for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize is Hu Jia, the jailed AIDS activist and advocate for civil rights and the environment, who was sentenced to a 3.5 year prison term earlier this year on subversion charges. According to one longtime Nobel Prize observer, this year the prize is likely to go to a human rights advocate because 2008 marks the 60th anniversary of the U.N.’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

China watchers have also been looking for signs of how officials would respond if Hu wins. Will they ignore it? Condemn him some more?

Earlier this week, the official position seemed pretty muted. At a press conference on Tuesday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said the price should go to the “right people,” Reuters reported.

“I think when Mr. Nobel set up the prize it was to promote world peace and human progress,” Qin said, according to the report. “However some of the prizes went against Mr. Nobel’s original purpose. We hope the prize should be awarded to the right people.”

Today, with only one day to go before the winner is announced, Qin had much harsher words for Hu and the Nobel Prize committee.

“Everyone knows what kind of person Hu Jia is, he is a criminal that was convicted and sentenced to prison by the state judiciary of inciting the subversion of state power,” Qin said at today’s news conference, according to AFP. “If they award the peace prize to such a person, it would be rude interference in China’s internal affairs as well as our independent judiciary.”

Meanwhile, the tipping of Hu as a potential winner has raised awareness of his plight in China. If he wins, he would be the first Chinese citizen to win a Nobel prize. To show subtle support for the jailed Hu Jia, Chinese netizens have been circulating and posting an Adidas Olympics ad that features a Chinese diver with the same name. The ad reads, “Together with Hu Jia in 2008.”

–Sky Canaves

Earlier this week we noted the odd evasiveness of Chinese health authorities at providing an update on the number of children who have been sickened by drinking melamine-tainted milk products. They have new information, they say, but won’t release it publicly. So the media is still parroting the a figure of close to 54,500 that dates from Sept. 21.

Over 40,000 children have been hospitalized with melamine-related illnesses (Photo by Imaginechina via AP Images)

The current reticence stands in marked contrast from the aftermath of the Sichuan earthquake earlier this year, when the public was provided with regular updates on the number of dead, missing, injured, and even how many buildings had been destroyed. It seems to underscore the two-steps-forward, one-step-back progress towards greater openness and transparency inspired by major incidents.

The New York Times has taken to compiling its own data from provincial government Web sites and local media reports. From a review of news and statistics collected from 8 of China’s 30-plus provinces and administrative regions, it found that around 52,000 people had fallen ill from tainted milk. So it seems fair to say that total number of ill across China is likely to be significantly higher than 54,500.

Today, health officials offered a partial update– they tripled the number of hospitalizations resulting from tainted milk (not all sick children required hospital stays). According to the latest figures, reported by the AFP, 46,810 children have been admitted to hospitals for melamine-related illnesses, up from 14,471 on Sept. 21. Most of the hospitalized children have been released, the report said, leaving 10,666 inpatients.

–Sky Canaves

This week, the Chinese Academy of Sciences released a report on the “health” of 45 countries around the world, with an English version is available for download here (a shorter overview from China Daily is here). The methodology is a bit curious. Seeking to correlate states with human bodies, it looks at national metabolisms, immune systems, nervous systems and behaviors to establish a “national health index.”

Overall, the CAS ranked China 13th, two spots below the U.S., and keeping company with developed nations such as Japan, Germany and the U.K. In terms of “immunity,” which is based on natural resources, economic well-being and social cohesiveness, China came in third, after the very resource-rich Australia and Canada. China got a surprisingly high ranking on “national responsibility,” which factors in efforts at disarmament, poverty elimination, and environmental protection, among other things. China claimed the top spot as the most responsible nation, ahead of Mexico and Brazil, while the U.S. came in dead last in that category.

Apparently, the United States’ qi, or vital energy, is seriously out of whack, and the report ends with a stinging rebuke of American imbalance:

“The US should abandon the old development and governance mode which chase for [sic] wealth maximization and power maximization unilaterally as soon as possible; and establish a healthy country with strong vitality. Or it is inevitable the U.S. will accelerate to the decline.â€

The report provides plenty of charts and numbers with decimal points, interspersed among references to Emerson, Darwin and even Adam Smith. But there’s no explanation of how any of these figures were arrived at. And to some Chinese, it reads like a piece of patriotic propaganda gone too far.

On a discussion forum on Netease, one commenter using the name “From Mars” wrote: “Yes, China’s pretty healthy, it’s just that our babies have some kidney stones.”

The timing of the report, during the week when Nobel prizes are announced, is also inspiring jeers towards the state scientific research institution.

Blogger Wuyusanren had this to say in a post titled, “The Stupid Report Will Shine forever” (here in Chinese):

“I have no idea about the criteria those goofy scientists used to create the national responsibility list. As a common person, however, I sense that if a nation is not even able to provide its people with safe food or protect their basic rights, there’s no point in talking about national responsibility.”

“It’s hard to tell whether it’s just black humor or irony to publish such a report during the time when the Nobel Prize winners are being announced. Does this report, released by the highest academic institute in China, show that our country has always been striving in the opposite direction of what the Nobel Prize stands for, and that we’ve finally had some achievements in that sense?”

Another blogger, Song Shinan, has a post titled, “Hearty Congratulations to the Chinese Academy of Science for Winning the Nobel Humor Prize” (here in Chinese). “We Chinese don’t have to covet the Nobel Prize anymore. Just nominate the CAS and we are sure to win the Nobel Humor Prize every year,” Song wrote.

–Sky Canaves and Juliet Ye

A daily look at what we’re reading.

–There goes Confucian respect for one’s elders: An online community refuses to defer to the elderly and rallies around the motto “never give up your bus seat.” [Danwei]

–Branding pro Tom Doctoroff weighs in on the impact of China’s melamine-tainted milk scandal on the “made in China” label, both at home and abroad. [Huffington Post]

–A recent analysis of Chinese power plants and air pollution by researchers at MIT finds that the problem isn’t about technology, it’s more about the efficiency of operations (h/t China Economics Blog). [MIT News]

–With all the recent rate cuts, you may have noticed some odd numbers in China’s rates. Here’s an explanation of where those multiples of 9 come from. [The Editors’ Journal]

–Spend less on your car so you can spend more on gas? A look at the unpronounceable Nissan Qashqai, one of China’s “low-end” SUVs. [China Car Times]

–A video journey on Shanghai’s super-fast airport Maglev. Too bad that even at speeds of up to 500 kilometers an hour, it still drops passengers off in the middle of nowhere. [Little Red Blog]

–Chinese citizens are invited to “visit” prisons in Henan province during an open day on Oct. 15. [Forgotten Archipelagoes]

–Sky Canaves

China today announced more precise standards for milk (Photo by AP)

Last week we reported on the new and fast-changing standards on melamine that have been implemented by various governments since the Chinese tainted-milk scandal broke a month ago. On Friday, the U.S. shifted from a complicated formula involving weight and diet to a simple standard of 2.5 parts per million (ppm) for adults. The European Union, which normally allows 30ppm of melamine in food as a result of contact with plastic, had already cut its allowable limit for Chinese food imports containing at least 15% milk to 2.5ppm, and Taiwan adopted an extremely strict 0.05 ppm standard after public outcry ensued in response to plans for taking up the 2.5 ppm standard.

But in mainland China, where the recent milk scare started, melamine standards were still a work in progress. Until today, when the Ministry of Health released new rules for the dairy products and foods made with milk.

Melamine in milk formula is limited to 1 ppm, while in other dairy products and foods that contain at least 15% milk may contain 2.5 ppm. Such small traces of melamine would be acceptable as the result of contact with plastics and other materials that may contain melamine, but not as an additive.

“Melamine is neither a raw food material nor a food additive,” Wang Xuening, deputy direct of the ministry’s health supervision bureau, said at a press conference, according to Xinhua. “Deliberately adding the chemical in food items is prohibited. Once such cases are spotted, they will be investigated according to law.”

“The limits mainly aim to curb deliberate adding behaviors,” he said.

The mainland Chinese standards seem inspired by the limits adopted by Hong Kong on Sept. 23. Under the Hong Kong rules, 1ppm of melamine is allowed in products consumed by children under three and by pregnant or lactating women. For others, the limit is 2.5 ppm.

China is also seeking for faster ways to conduct melamine tests. On Friday, a notice posted on the Web site of the Ministry of Science and Technology invited the public to submit methods for instant melamine testing. The test methods should be capable of detecting melamine in quantities of less than 2 parts per million and should produce results within 30 minutes.

The home melamine-testing kit may not be far behind.

–Sky Canaves

A daily look at what we’re reading.

–China is getting fatter and less healthy. A look at some of the factors behind the expanding waistlines and what’s being done to address the problem. [Shenzhen Undercover]

–A traffic cop in the eastern city of Nanjing gets the hero treatment from netizens for standing up to a military car that ran a red light. [ChinaSMACK!]

–Long off-limits to most residents, the Beijing Olympic Green is about to open to the public– as soon as tomorrow. [Beijingologist]

–A federal judge in the U.S. has released a group of Chinese Uighurs from Guantanamo, ordering that they be allowed to enter the United States. More on the history and background of the Chinese Turkic Muslim minority group here. [Pomfret’s China]

–Life after labor through reeducation: One county in Sichuan province is offering subsidies to companies that hire former inmates. [Forgotten Archipelagoes]

–Sky Canaves

As if China didn’t have enough trouble dealing with the fallout from melamine-tainted milk, now there’s arsenic in the water supply of at two villages in southwest China, according to Xinhua.

The state news agency reported today that industrial waste pollution was the likely source of contamination to the water supply to two villages in Hechi city, Guangxi province. Residents were some ugly-sounding symptoms, Xinhua said, including “swelling to the face and eyes, vomiting and blurred eyesight.†So far, 136 people have been diagnosed with arsenic poisoning, though the symptoms were described as “not serious†and curable with prompt treatment. A search for other victims is underway.

Xinhua said the source of the pollution was a local metallurgy enterprise, not named in the report, that discharged arsenic-rich waste in the area several years ago. The toxin apparently seeped underground into the aquifers that fed a nearby pond.

Also on Tuesday, China’s Ministry of Water Resources launched a national association to help rural areas ensure safe water supplies. At the launch ceremony, water resources minister Chen Lei said that more than 200 million rural residents have no access to safe drinking water and that rural areas face shortages of 30 billion cubic meters a year, according to a separate Xinhua report.

Arsenic pollution is an ongoing threat to the health of rural Chinese. Last month a scenic lake that provided drinking water to 26,000 people in southwest Yunnan province was found to be contaminated with the cancer-causing chemical.
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For more on the price paid by China’s water supply as a result of one industry (in this case textiles), see this page-one article from last year.

–Sky Canaves

Today’s WSJ reports on the array of measures that China is taking to improve oversight of and boost confidence in the country’s scandal-wracked dairy industry. The efforts are summarized in the handy box on the right.

While these measures seem aimed squarely at the large dairy firms and the broader regulatory regime, there is also more targeted help on the way for the small dairy farmers who supply the large firms. These farmers have been ailing as a result of the decreased demand for their product and even taken to dumping unwanted milk (see earlier Journal reports here and here).

The Ministry of Agriculture said in a statement on its Web site (in Chinese) that it is supervising efforts to stabilize the industry and said it would subsidize farmers during this difficult period. Though the ministry did not provide details of its subsidies, it cited examples of compensation efforts being undertaken by local governments. In Beijing, for example, small farmers in rural parts of the capital are paid 200 yuan per head of cattle, or about $29. In one city in central China’s Henan province, 21 dairy farms established this year will receive 100,000 yuan apiece.

In another attempt to stabilize the industry, the Ministry of Finance is cutting is cutting the interest rate on loans made to dairy producers for raw milk purchases. Through the end of the year, the interest rate for such lending will be cut by 3.1%, half the current six-month lending rate for banks. (Report in Chinese here)

But another tactic to put an end to bad news seems more bluntly calculated. After returning from the weeklong National Day holiday, mainland health authorities said that they have new statistics on the number of children made ill by tainted milk products, but declined to make them publicly available (or say when they would do so) the AFP reports. That leaves us reporters citing the same roughly 53,000 figure we’ve had for the last several weeks.

–Sky Canaves