March 19, 2009
Spring is on the way, with the temperature rising slowly but surely: According to today’s Beijing Times, yesterday’s high in the city was 29.9 degrees Celsius, unusually warm for this time of year and the highest temperature ever recorded in Beijing on March 18.
However, the warm weather did not last longer than a day. Today, the temperature took a plunge, dropping by about 10 degrees.
The weather in Beijing has been a little extreme this past winter, with a dry spree that lasted for over 100 days and the coldest December day on record.
Another big story on the front page is about illegal clinics. The big photo shows law enforcement officers arresting a woman, who was accused of being an unlicensed medical practitioner, in Gaobeidian, Beijing yesterday. The newspaper reported that the officers were “harassed” by the woman’s daughter and three other female relatives. Last December, the same newspaper reported on a similar raid in which a unlicensed woman dentist was arrested.
The newspaper’s top headline announces that informers who report people who violate the one-child policy will be rewarded materially but does not specify the amount. Although some other provinces have ushered in new birth control policies, allowing qualified couples to have a second child, Beijing is not going to change its current policy.
The flap over the proposed Coca-Cola takeover of Huiyuan, a domestic juice maker made big-time news in last September. After months of relative silence about the case in the media, today many newspapers, including the Beijing Times, have reported on its latest development: the Ministry of Commerce blocked the proposed acquisition yesterday, citing China’s new anti-monopoly law which went to effect last August 1.
The news has resulted in some interesting cover illustrations on newspapers:
Yangtse Evening Post, Chengdu Evening News.