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Interview: Curbing the spread of HIV/AIDS in YunnanMonday, 4th August 2008 ~ Matt ~ Link ~ Comments (1)
Despite marked progress in recent years, the spread of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases remains a major challenge for China - especially in Yunnan, which is just north of the Golden Triangle and where China's first AIDS case was discovered. In an effort to combat the disease and other problems such as malaria, the Chinese government cooperates with several international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) who work towards reducing the prevalence and spread of these illnesses. One such Population Services International (PSI), has its Chinese headquarters in Kunming. Funded by US AID and The Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, PSI uses targeted behavior change intervention, social marketing and evidence-based research in their work toward improving the health of the most vulnerable people in China. GoKunming spoke with Clare Ye Sheng, a Shanghai-born American who works as PSI's China Communication Officer, to find out more about what PSI is doing in Yunnan and elsewhere in China: GoKunming: What projects is PSI currently managing? Clare Ye Sheng: PSI primarily works to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS and malaria in Yunnan and Guangxi. We work on HIV prevention through the promotion of healthy behavior and social marketing of condoms and lubricants geared towards high risk groups. We also provide health services and outreach within the community through our drop-in-centers for injection drug users in Kunming and for female sex workers in Mengzi, Honghe. For malaria prevention, we engage in social marketing of long-lasting insecticide treated mosquito nets as well as malaria prevention education in villages throughout Yunnan. GK: Have PSI programs met with any resistance from its target population on a cultural basis? CYS: Although PSI is an international NGO based in the US, we strongly believe in local engagement as one of our primary working principles. PSI/China's role is to support the government of China in combating HIV/AIDS and malaria. In addition, most of our staff are locally hired Chinese, so there are very few communication or cultural conflicts to deal with. Obstacles that we do face derive mainly from a lack of awareness and correct knowledge of HIV/AIDS prevention and social norms regarding relationships amongst the vulnerable population that our programs aim to help. For example, many female sex workers believe that they can prevent the transmission of disease through hygiene alone, and many villagers view mosquito nets as a source of warmth in winter rather than a method of preventing mosquito-borne diseases. We work to correct these misconceptions through targeted intervention based on extensive research to understand the barriers for them to adopt healthy behavior. GK: Does PSI hope to expand? If so, what are some future projects that the organization would like to engage in? CSY: We would like to continue our work in Yunnan and Guangxi and expand our HIV prevention services to other at-risk populations such as migrant youth and are also working to promote our social marketing approach with local partners and organizations. GK: What do you personally consider the most gratifying aspect of your work with PSI? CSY: During my tenure with PSI I've had the opportunity to travel to villages in remote locations in Yunnan. Being able to talk to villagers about pertinent health issues, understand their lives, and make these personal connections has been immensely gratifying. Tags: Clare Ye Sheng, Golden Triangle, Guangxi, HIV/AIDS, PSI China coping with its third major disaster of 2008Tuesday, 17th June 2008 ~ Chris ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
First came the great winter storm of 2008, then the devastating Wenchuan earthquake, whose official death toll now stands at nearly 70,000. Now China is coping with its third major natural disaster of the year as heavy rains and floods batter the country's south. Continuing heavy rains in Yunnan and across southern China since June 6 have led to 57 deaths and 1.27 million people fleeing their homes, with more rain expected throughout the region over the coming days. According to Xinhua reports more than 17 million people have been affected by the flooding with more than 10.6 billion yuan (US$1.5 billion) in damage incurred so far. The rains have led to the swelling of rivers in China's south, with key manufacturing province Guangdong experiencing its worst flooding in 50 years. On Monday, Guangdong's provincial flood control bureau ordered local governments in Guangzhou and eight other cities to reinforce river embankments and make evacuation preparations. Although damage in Yunnan has been relatively light compared to Guangdong and other lower-lying areas including Jiangxi, Guizhou and Hunan provinces and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, rains here are a major concern as many of the flooding rivers – including Guangdong's Pearl River – have their headwaters in Yunnan. China's National Meteorological Center is forecasting more rains in southern parts of the country - including Yunnan - over the next few days. Image: Xinhua Tags: flooding, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guangzhou, Guizhou, Hunan, Pearl River, Wenchuan earthquake, winter storm Auguste François, Yin Xiaojun and Kunming at the end of the Qing DynastyThursday, 29th May 2008 ~ Chris ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
Like most other Chinese cities, Kunming has been racing toward abstract ideas such as 'modernity' and 'development' via extensive demolition of the remaining older parts of the city to make way for gleaming high-rises filled with offices, apartments and retail space. First-time visitors to Kunming, be they Chinese or foreign, have to put a real effort into finding the few older parts of the city that are still around. Until 1952, Kunming was a walled city – the wall and its gates are long gone, but their existence still echoes today in place names like Xiao Ximen (小西门, 'Lesser west gate') and Beimen Jie (北门街, 'North gate Street'). There are also less obvious connections to the wall, such as Qingnian Lu (青年路, 'Youth Road'), which was once Kunming's east wall. The city government in 1952 ordered hundreds of young people to tear down the wall and use its bricks to make a new road running north-south. To show its appreciation for the young people that demolished the east wall, the city government named the new street after them. With the wall out of the way, Kunming began marching toward a future in which for several decades development trumped culture heritage. History is one of the primary contributors to any city's character, with older physical structures offering the most palpable connection to the past. In 2008, almost all of pre-1949 Kunming has been razed to clear a path for modernity. On some levels this could be considered true progress as many of Kunming's older buildings were built of earth and lacked simple amenities such as plumbing. That said, some may argue that wholesale demolition of a city comes at a psychological cost. "I feel that many Chinese people have no faith," Kunming native and private photo collector Yin Xiaojun (殷晓俊) told GoKunming. Yin has spent the last 10 years researching a collection of photos by Auguste François (1857-1935), who served as French consul in south China between 1896 and 1904, during which he spent several years in Kunming and elsewhere in Yunnan working on obtaining a concession from the local government to build the rail line from Vietnam to Kunming, which was then known as Yunnan-fu (云南府). "Many of us are looking for where we've come from and where we're going," Yin said. "Through the extensive photography of Auguste François, we can discover where we've come from. His photography is the earliest, largest and most complete collection of photographs documenting Chinese society at the end of the Qing Dynasty"
Over the last ten years, Yin has researched his entire collection of François' photographs, comparing them to documents from the Yunnan provincial government's archives as well as translations of François' memoirs. In order to make the photos more useful in a historical context, he has spent the last decade ascertaining the subject, location, social background and photographer. After acquiring 1,241 François photographs and motion pictures via purchase and exchanges with French cultural organizations, Yin held his first exhibition of 360 photos from the collection in Kunming in 1997 at the Yunnan Provincial Museum. More than 250,000 people bought tickets to take a look at Kunming at the start of the 20th Century, setting an attendance record for a single exhibition at the museum that still stands today. Subsequently Yin was invited by 44 mainland cities to bring his collection to their top museums – he chose four: Beijing, Xi'an, Zhengzhou and Chengdu. In 1999 he ceased exhibiting the photographs because he felt a need to find out as much as he could about each shot's story. Fast-forwarding to today, Yin says he has completed his research and is preparing several projects related to the François photo archives. In October of last year, he traveled to the locations of all the François photos to document the current conditions of the places François shot more than a century ago. His travels took him to Singapore, Hong Kong, Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, Sichuan and Shanghai. He is planning on using the then-and-now photos in a new book he began writing this year. Yin said he would also like to organize a new exhibition of François' photos highlighting the massive change in China over the last century. His end game, however, is to build a museum that displays the collection permanently. GoKunming thanks Yin Xiaojun for providing a sample of photos from the François archives to share with our readers. Over the coming months we will publish 25 photos and their stories every Wednesday. We hope that the photos will help bridge the gap between Kunming's distant past and its dynamic present. Contact Yin Xiaojun: His ten years of researching the François photos behind him, Yin Xiaojun is open to discussing possible cooperation with individuals and organizations interested in the collection. Yin can be contacted at yinxiaoj(at)public.km.yn.cn. Auguste François image: Association Auguste François Tags: Auguste François, Beimen Jie, Guangdong, Guangxi, history, Hong Kong, photography, Shanghai, Sichuan, Singapore, Xiao Ximen, Yin Xiaojun, Yunnan-fu China's Ministry of Commerce to participate in Kunming FairWednesday, 28th May 2008 ~ Chris ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
The 16th annual Kunming International Import and Export Commodities Fair - aka the Kunming Fair (昆交会) - will take place again this year at the Kunming International Convention and Exhibition Center (昆明国际会展中心) from June 6 to June 10. The Kunming Fair is a regional trade fair jointly sponsored by the governments of Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi, Tibet, Chongqing and Chengdu. Last year's Kunming Fair saw 162 companies exhibit their products and more than US$158.5 million in completed deals over five days. The total reported value of contracts and agreements signed at the event exceeded 68.1 billion yuan (US$8.9 billion). According to Kunming media reports, this year China's Ministry of Commerce will participate in hosting the fair for the first time with the stated goal of increasing the scale and quality of the fair. Yunnan Commerce Bureau Director Sun Xiaohong (孙小虹) said this year the fair will feature 2,318 exhibits, adding that 2,148 exhibitors were already confirmed for the event. Sun said that exhibits by Burmese and Sichuanese enterprises will be slightly fewer in number than last year due to the recent Myanmar cyclone and Wenchuan earthquake, respectively. Under orders from Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, the Kunming Fair will include a "Greater Mekong Subregion Economic Corridor Forum" (GMS经济走廊论坛) for the first time. The Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) includes Yunnan Province, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia. For the third consecutive year the fair will also feature a 'China-South Asia Commerce Forum',(中国-南亚商务论坛) as well as the clumsily named 'ASEAN Chinese Business Investment Southwest Promotion Meeting and Asia-Pacific Chinese Business Forum' (东盟华商投资西南项目推介会 暨亚太华商论坛). A preview of some of the products on offer can be found on the fair's official website. The website also features other information of less obvious value, including 'Britney Spears loses custody of children', 'Goal-driven achievers less prone to Alzheimers' and 'Abdul says she's straight up ready for a baby'. The Kunming Fair runs from Friday, June 6 through Tuesday, June 10 from 8 am to 6 pm. GoKunming called the fair's office, which told us the admission fee had yet to be announced (last year tickets to the fair cost 30 yuan/day). For more information, call the fair at (0871) 6269886 or 3155519. Image: finance.sina.com Related articles: Yunnan-ASEAN trade continues to boom Kunming hosting Asia-Pacific trade meeting Kunming Fair breaks US$150 million mark GMS agreement to facilitate regional transport Tags: ASEAN, Britney Spears, business, Chengdu, Chongqing, foreign trade, GMS, Guangxi, Guizhou, Kunming Fair, Kunming International Convention and Exhibition Ce, Ministry of Commerce, Myanmar Cyclone, Paula Abdul, Sichuan, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Sun Xiaohong, Tibet, Wenchuan earthquake |
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