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Golden Week crowds in Beijing

According to an online survey carried out by sina.com, one of the country’s largest online communitie, the cancellation of the National Day golden week is opposed by most netizens.

Some 78.31% of the 49,422 respondents thought cancellation of the National Day golden week will leave them less time for traveling or family reunions, as the paid vacations system is hard to implement.

Cai Jiming, a professor with Tsinghua University and an advocator of national holiday reforms, said the National Day golden week should be cancelled just as the May Day golden week was, if the paid vacations system is strictly followed by businesses.

China introduced the golden week system in 1999 to promote the idea of going out and help stimulate domestic consumption.
Source: China Daily

author Gareth Powell, source www.chinaeconomicreview.com

Zen Shaolin show

‘Zen Shaolin,’ is an outdoor spectacle and tourist attraction in Henan Province, China. The extravaganza, with a cast of 500, is staged after nightfall in a valley that sits before a huge mountain in central Henan Province, one of the cradles of Chinese civilization.

For those who were dazzled by the opening of the Beijing Olympics earlier this month, that ceremony had its roots in shows like this one, which with government backing and private financing are drawing huge audiences to some of China’s most scenic or historic spots.

The outdoor performances are part cultural event, part tourist attraction, with a dash of Hollywood and an intriguing blend of high and pop culture.

In the new China, investors and the government can team up to acquire a mountain, hire the Academy Award-winning composer Tan Dun and the internationally known dancer and choreographer Huang Dou Dou, and produce a spectacle that includes monks from the famed Shaolin Temple.

The project’s investors spent more than $15 million to build a theater set in a valley below three mountains, one rising 4,921 feet, with temples, a wooden pagoda, a martial-arts school, an arched bridge, a stream and a small village with a stone pathway.

One of the hopes of the producers was that “Zen Shaolin,” which opened in May 2007, would bolster tourism in a province that has 100 million residents and has largely been left behind by China’s economic boom. Much more HERE.
Source: New York Times

author Gareth Powell, source www.chinaeconomicreview.com

In aid of this year’s ‘World Earth Day’ on April 22, Mandara Spa at JW Marriott Hotel Shanghai will donate US$1 from each spa treatment to the Arbor Day Foundation. This is a non-profit US-based organization of nearly one million members that plants and promotes the conservation of trees. Mandara Spas worldwide are making similar efforts to support this cause.

Marriott International has recently signed an agreement with the State of Amazonas in Brazil to fund US$2 million to an environmental management plan to be carried out by the Amazonas Sustainable Foundation. Guests at Marriott hotels will be able to contribute to this fund by the end of the year.
Source: JW Marriott Hotel Shanghai

author Anna Bartram, source www.chinaeconomicreview.com

International Branded Hotels Shanghai (IBHS) has donated RMB225,000 (around US$32,000) to the Shanghai Charity Foundation. The cheque was presented by William Hall, Chairman of IBHS, (on the left of the photo) at the Children’s Hospital of Fudan University on March 21. The money will be used to help children with congenital heart disease who are treated at the hospital.

IBHS currently has 60 members which are all four- and five-star hotels in Shanghai. William Hall said the hotels work with various charities individually or under a group banner. IBHS plans to hold several fundraising events in 2008; the major one being the Annual Charity Golf Tournament in June which will run for its fifth year in a row.
Source: IBHS

author Anna Bartram, source www.chinaeconomicreview.com