Tuesday, 17 March 2015

About Shen Yang

Shenyang, the largest city in Northeast China, is the capital as well as political, economic and cultural center of Liaoning Province. It is also an important industrial base and a famous historical city. Giving birth to the ancient Qing Dynasty, it has one of the country's two best preserved imperial palace complexes.

The city is located in the central part of Liaoning Province. Its climate is relatively dry most of the year with spikes in precipitation during the summer months due to the influence of monsoons. Temperatures vary as much as 10 degrees Celsius from daytime to night, and in winter they can drop below 0 degrees Celsius, so the smart traveler will plan to dress in layers.

From Jan. 1, 2014, passport holders of 51 countries and regions including USA, UK, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Denmark, Netherlands, Spain, etc. are granted a visa-free stay of up to 72 hours when taking an international transfer via Taoxian International Airport (SHE).
Read details about 72-Hour Visa-Free Transit.

Shenyang is a celebrated old city with more than 2,000 years of history which can be traced back to Warring States Period (476 BC - 221 BC). It is the birthplace of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), and has many cultural relics which symbolize the prosperity and subsequent decline of China's last feudal dynasty... The most famous of these is the Shenyang Imperial Palace , which is of great historic and artistic significance and second only to the Forbidden City in Beijing in the extent of its preservation Fuling Tomb and Zhaoling Tomb are two other famous imperial structures of the Qing Dynasty.

Among the natural wonders, the most impressive and unusual is Strange Slope (Guaipo), an 'anti-gravity'slope more than eighty meters (about 87.5 yards) long. Cars and bikes must accelerate to go down the hill but easily roll upward toward the top. Walkers experience a similar reversal in energy required to walk up and down.

As a significant city in Northeast China with abundant resources, Shenyang has made great efforts to provide good lodging, dining, transportation and recreation for visitors from all over the world. Altogether there are five five-star hotels here, and the service and facilities of the other star-rated hotels in the city are all good enough to make you feel at home. In addition, you can find less expensive accommodations at local universities and hostels.

Famous traditional dishes and snacks here will definitely make your mouth water. And there are plenty of pubs, KTVs (karaoke bars), cafes, and tea houses available to meet your food and entertainment needs A visit to Shenyang can be both entertaining and relaxing.

dalian, my favourite town in China

Dalian Cherry Blossoms/ North East China/The Great North East

6th China Dalian(Lvshun) International Cherry Blossom Festival to be held

Updated: 18 Apr 2014

Read more on Dalian Lvshun Cherry Blossom Festival

China Dalian(Lvshun) Int'l Cherry Blossom Festival to open

The 6th China Dalian(Lvshun) International Cherry Blossom Festival will raise its curtain at Lvshun in Dalian, a port city of Northeastern China's Liaoning Province, April 26, 2014.

The festival with the theme of "Romantic cherry blossoms, Beautiful Lvshun" will run through May 15 this year, promoting the green ecological tourism products and displaying the image of a livable city and a cultural tourism and leisure resort to visitors.

The festival will also include a series of activities such as cherry blossoms tour, real estate promotion for a livable city, low-carbon bicycle riding event, hot spring tour, calligraphy and painting show, rural tour as well as photography contest.

Lvshun is the first city to plant the most cherry trees in China. Now it has more than 30,000 cherry trees, attracting a huge number of tourists from home and abroad.

gathering herbs in South Korea

Gathering Herbs

A woman gathers water parsley in a field in the southwestern county of Gangjin on March 15, 2015, as spring nears. (Yonhap) (END)

People Smugglers charge a lot to people to defect from NK

People Smugglers Tie N.Korean Defectors into Crippling Debt

North Korean defector Kim Young-mi crossed the frozen Duman River early last year with her husband and daughter. But waiting on this side of the border were tens of millions of won in debt owed to the brokers who smuggled them out.

After the mandatory adjustment program at the Unification Ministry's Hanawon resettlement center, Kim and her family were given a lump sum of W18 million (US$1=W1,110) -- W6 million per person -- to help them settle in the South.

But every last won went to paying the brokers and she still owes them W10 million.

"I thought my life here would be like a TV soap where everyone lives happily ever after," Kim said. "But the minute we stepped out of Hanawon, I found myself already chin-deep in debt with no idea how to repay it."

When she left Hanawon in October, Kim thought she would find a job and make a decent living, but the reality was profoundly different.

Kim promised to repay the broker W1 million a month starting in April, but none of her family have found a job here so far.

They still get W1.07 million a month in government support, but half goes on rent and bills and the reminder is simply not enough.

Back in the North, Kim's husband worked for a state agency that sends workers abroad, which did not make them rich but ensured a reasonably comfortable life. Here in the South, they are heavily in debt and constantly racing against time.

"I need to find work as a laborer or do odd jobs in a restaurant, but I'm seen as too old so it's not easy," Kim said. "To be honest, the thought that it’ll soon be April again fills me with dread."

They are not alone. A clear majority of North Korean defectors end up saddled with debt to people smugglers and slide into poverty fast. Many jump from one temporary job to another in the struggle to repay their debts, which creates vicious cycle of casual labor and dwindling prospects.

Nam Young-hwa at the Women's Association for the Future of Korean Peninsula said, "For defectors the top priority is to arrive safely in South Korea, so they'll pay brokers whatever it costs without thinking of the consequences. It's only when they arrive here that the reality hits them, and since repaying the debt can take up all the time there is, it often triggers physical and emotional suffering."

A few years ago the North Korean leader regime stepped up crackdowns on defectors, which made little dent in the numbers who are fleeing but sent brokers’ fees through the roof.

According to civic groups that help North Koreans, brokers used to charge W2-W4 million for the passage to South Korea via China and Southeast Asia, and they met the defectors across the border in China.

But since Kim took power, brokers have to guide defectors all the way across the border, often risking imprisonment. As a result, brokers now charge up to W10 million.

It is almost impossible for a North Korean defector to make it to the South without the aid of brokers, who have networks of informants, couriers and messengers across North Korea and China. Brokers have to be aggressive about getting their money back, since they have to advance the money for transportation, lodging and food bills for defectors and to grease the palms of government workers or border guards in the process.

One North Korean defector who fled the North in 2011 got in bigger trouble after going on the run without paying the trafficker back. He slept in saunas to evade his broker and changed his mobile phone number several times. That made it difficult finding a job, so he had to spend all the W4 million from the government on living expenses. Without money in his pocket, he may now have to give up the flat the government provided so that he can use the deposit to buy food.