Yuxi fights fire with fire
Last week, firefighters in Yuxi used their "long-range intelligent forest fire extinguishing system" (远距智能森林灭火系统) for the first time, according to a Yunnan Info Daily report.

The system consists of a truck-mounted launcher that fires rockets filled with an unspecified fire-extinguishing substance. It is intended to keep firefighters out of harm's way and fight fires on steep hillsides that are difficult to access on foot.

According to the report, firefighters were initially planning on firing rockets at a mountaintop where a forest fire was encroaching on high-voltage power line towers, but were seemingly foiled because they were afraid of destroying the very power lines that they were trying to protect.

Several hours later in another area firefighters succeeded in firing ten rockets at a fire burning near a highway.

As Yunnan continues to suffer from the worst drought on record there have been a large number of forest fires across the province. Kunming alone reported 81 forest fires between November 10 of last year and February 7 of this year.

Cloud seeding in Yunnan
Kunming Information Hub is reporting that the rain and snow that fell last week across Shangri-La County, Deqin County and Weixi Lisu Nationality Autonomous County were artificially triggered.

During the drought, the Yunnan government has been occasionally claiming that snow and rain in the province were artificially triggered, but such claims are difficult to prove because the precipitation may have occurred anyway without human intervention.

CCTV has an interesting video of cloud seeding in action in Qujing.

Water shortage continues
Water is selling for 100 yuan a cubic meter, or 10 yuan a liter, in some parts of Yunnan according to an article in Kunming Information Hub.

Fear of water shortages has prompted the Qujing government to shut down businesses such as car washes and saunas that rely on intensive use of water. Additionally, Kunming has raised its fines for businesses discovered to be wasting water.

Images: Yunnan Info Daily (rocket), CCTV (cloud seeding)

Kunming and much of the rest of Yunnan have been enjoying idyllic cloudless days for most of the last five months, but the azure skies have concealed an increasingly dire issue: Yunnan is running out of water.

In November of last year, Kunming officials were asserting that should Kunming not receive any precipitation this winter, there would still be enough water in the city's reservoirs to provide the city with water until late spring 2010.

Fast-forward to today, and the government's no-need-to-worry tone has given way to grim statistics that underscore the severity of the current drought, the worst the province has seen in 60 years.

What's the damage looking like at this point? Nearly five million people are having difficulty accessing drinking water, forest fires are up 600 percent and hydropower generation has been halved. Estimates of drought-related agricultural losses are currently at 6.5 billion yuan (US$952 million).

Aside from Kunming, areas suffering most from the drought include Lincang, Pu'er, Jianshui, Yuxi, Chuxiong, Dali and Baoshan, where 300,000 people lack access to enough drinking water. The drought is also causing water prices to skyrocket. In Wenshan one cubic meter of drinking water is reportedly selling for as much as 100 yuan.

In some of Yunnan's more remote areas, villagers have to walk to other villages and towns up to 20 kilometers away in order to buy water at high prices, then carry the water home on their backs.

The provincial government has set aside 389 million yuan for drought relief, which will be allocated for distributing drinking water to the areas most in need and irrigating more than 700,000 of the 2 million hectares of crops affected by the drought.

Officials estimate that more than 500,000 hectares of crops have already been destroyed by lack of water. Yunnan is also expected to produce 40 percent less grain during this summer's growing season. Farmers are also struggling to provide water for 3.3 million large livestock.

To make matters worse, the drought is fueling an increase in forest fires before the rainy season begins in late spring. Firefighters around the province have battled about 59 blazes in the past five weeks, according to Xinhua Net, though most have been small enough to have been successfully extinguished in one day. There is now a jumbo helicopter stationed at Kunming Wujiaba International airport to assist in firefighting.

Several fires have burned in the areas around Kunming recently, including on Qipan Mountain to the west, forests near Shuanglong in the northeast, and Changchong Mountain in the north.

We followed up our recent bicycle trip to Chongchang Mountain with a visit to survey the fire damage over the weekend. Though the mountain retains its verdant, forested slopes and panoramic views of Kunming, it has lost some of its charm: the summit is a mass of rock and black charred grass and smells strongly of smoke.

The timing for the drought conditions couldn't be much worse, as Chinese New Year approaches and people around the province stock up on fireworks to set off in celebration of spring's arrival. In light of the drought and superdry conditions, the Kunming municipal government has shortened the 25-day fireworks sales season to 12 days, with sales ending February 19.

Update: Fireworks sales are now banned after February 16.

Crop image: CCTV

Saturday morning in Yuxi, Nie'er Cultural Square rocked out to the sound of Kunming's Tribal Moons as around 300 cyclists prepared to take part in China Vätternrundan 2009. Locals out for morning exercise showed some surprise at the gathering of lycra-clad, carbon fibre-toting enthusiasts.

The full race route of 175.5km went from Yuxi across to Jiangchuan, and then around Fuxian Lake, via Jiangcheng, Lüchong, Chengjiang and Haikou Zhen, before returning the finish in Yuxi. The route offered great views of both lake and countryside, and many locals came out and jia you'd their support. A shorter course of 78.8km finished in Chengjiang, at the north end of Fuxian Lake.

Darren Benson of Australia took first place in the men's long course, with a winning time of 4hr 40:44min, a mere 1/10th of a second ahead of David Tonks of the UK, who had to settle for second place. Liu Min of Guangzhou was 4/10ths of a second further back for third place.

The women's long course race was settled far in advance of the finishing line, with no need for sprinting heroics. Shi Yanmei took first in 5hr 7:54min, with Chen Lijuan next in 5hr 40:39min. Third place finisher He Hua came across the line just over an hour later, at 6hr 41min. More information about men's and women's race results can be found on the race's official results page.

The short course race was split into mountain bike (MTB) and road bike categories. Road/Men winner was Huang Pan (2:10:01). Road/Women winner was Amy Bainbridge of Australia (2:39:21). MTB/Men winner was Pu Jinxue (2:08:45). MTB/Women winner was Liu Ying (2:48:26). The split in categories seemed unclear, as some riders rode teched-out small-wheeled city bikes, and many MTB riders had put on skinny road tyres.

Course conditions were hot, with strong sunshine and a stiff breeze that blew from the south for most of the race. This took its toll on the participants as nearly 50 riders failed to complete their chosen courses. Organisation was handled well, with dangerous parts of the course flagged clearly, and the Yuxi police excelled at maintaining order on the course and offering help to riders in difficulty.

Vätternrundan started in Sweden as a recreational ride around Lake Vättern in 1965 and has since become the largest recreational bicycle race in the world. It is brought to China by sporting event company Nordic Ways, who held the event in 2007 and 2008 at Changbai Mountain in Jilin Province. We hope they return to Yuxi and Fuxian Lake in 2010.

After two years in Jilin province's Changbai mountain, the Vätternrundan recreational bicycle race will be held in Yuxi next month.

Vätternrundan China will start in downtown Yuxi – 90 kilometers south of Kunming – from where it will head toward Fuxian Lake. The race will circle Fuxian Lake and then return to Yuxi for a total of 175.5 kilometers for the longest of the three race categories: road bike (175.5km), road bike (78.8km), mountain bike (78.8km), all of which will be on the same track.

Vätternrundan started in Sweden as a recreational ride around Lake Vättern in 1965 and has since become the largest recreational bicycle race in the world. It is brought to China by sporting event company Nordic Ways.

As it is not a competitive race, there is no official ranking of race finishers according to time. The ride, known in Swedish as a motionslopp "exercise race", does keep official times of all riders. Results are posted in no particular order afterward.

Until recently, the ride around Fuxian Lake was difficult to complete due to poor road surface on the eastern portion of the loop. The completion of the road combined with next month's Vätternrundan are likely to raise Fuxian Lake's profile as an international sporting event destination ideal for cycling races as well as marathons and triathlons.

For more information on registering for the upcoming Vätternrundan China, check out the race's registration page. For other information about the race, contact Ellinor Axner Yin at ellinor.axner[at]nordicways[dot]com or call (010) 5203 6968 extension 121.

Fuxian Lake image: nordicways.com

Yunnan Governor Qin Guangrong (秦光荣) has ordered provincial health authorities to be vigilant in preventing the H1N1 influenza virus – which is slightly misleadingly being referred to as 'swine flu' (猪流感) in international and domestic media – with a focus on international travelers to the province, according to a Dushi Shibao report.

Travelers on international flights to Kunming Wujiaba International Airport that show any flu-like symptoms will be subject to "close observation" by provincial hygiene and medical staff. Dogs trained in sniffing out diseases have already been deployed at the airport to inspect luggage.

Yunnan hygiene bureau chief Chen Juemin (陈觉民) told reporters yesterday that the province was ready to take any steps necessary to prevent the spread of H1N1 into Yunnan and to contain it should it enter the province.

"However much money is needed, the government will spend that much", Chen said.

Chen did not announce any concrete measures that will be taken to prevent the entry of H1N1 influenza into Yunnan.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued a phase 4 alert for the global H1N1 influenza outbreak, the phase before pandemic levels. According to WHO:


While no cases of H1N1 have been announced in China, the SARS outbreak of 2002 and 2003 is still fresh in the minds of many. So far this week, Asian travel and airline stocks have been hit by concerns that the virus could spread into Asia via international air travel – which was one of the main vehicles driving SARS' global spread.

International travel by local residents to high-risk areas was blamed for a cholera outbreak in villages near the city of Yuxi, 90 kilometers south of Kunming, in late January of this year. The outbreak infected at least 47 people before being contained.

Image: news.kunming.cn

The family of Li Qiaoming – the 24-year-old Yuxi resident who was fatally injured in a Jinning detention facility earlier this month – is seeking 250,000 yuan (US$36,500) in compensation from the Jinning Public Security Department, according to Yuxi news reports.

A family representative told Yuxi News Net that Li Qiaoming's family has requested that the Jinning Public Security Department cremate his body after the completion of his autopsy, plus a quarter of a million yuan in compensation to pay for his funeral. Funerals in rural Yunnan can be several days long with thousands of guests eating and drinking for days.

On January 30, Li was arrested by Jinning police for felling trees illegally, he was held in a Jinning detention facility until February 8, when he was taken by police to a hospital, where he was diagnosed with severe brain damage. Four days later, Li was dead.

The official explanation from police was that Li received his head injuries – plus multiple blows and kicks to his body – while joining other detainees in a game of 'eluding the cat' ('duo maomao', 躲猫猫), a Chinese children's game similar to hide-and-seek in which the seeker wears a blindfold.

The police explanation of the 'eluding the cat incident' has been questioned throughout Chinese media and in Chinese blogs, bulletin board sites and forums. In response, the Yunnan Provincial Propaganda Department named a 15-member investigation committee to look into the case.

The committee, which was put under the direction of two popular bloggers, also consists of current and formal journalists as well as public security officers. During the committee's visit to the Jinning detention facility where Li died, the group was allowed to look at police documents and the cell in which Li was held.

However, the committee was not given access to video surveillance or autopsy evidence, nor was it allowed to speak with guards who were on duty at the time or the detainee that police said attacked Li, according to an International Herald Tribune report.

The arrest and subsequent death of a 24-year-old man in a county near Kunming has called the police explanation for the death – playing hide-and-seek – into question.

On January 30, Li Qiaoming (李荞明), a resident of Beicheng town in Yuxi, was arrested in Jinning County (晋宁县) for illegal logging and taken to a local detention facility. On February 8, Li reportedly suffered injuries while in detention and was taken to a hospital where he was diagnosed with severe brain damage – Li died in the hospital on February 12.

According to a February 13 report in Yunnan Information News, police in Jinning – which is located on the southern edge of Dianchi Lake – told Li's parents that their son had suffered his fatal injuries during a game of "elude the cat" (躲猫猫), the Chinese name for the children's game hide-and-seek.

The report stated that while playing hide-and-seek, Li was kicked and beaten by other detainees and due to his carelessness crashed into a wall, leading to his brain damage.

Li's relatives told the newspaper that they felt the official explanation for Li's death was "extremely farfetched" – an opinion that has been echoing throughout newspaper opinion pages and BBS sites across China.

Playing 'elude the cat' has become the first internet meme, or 'thunder word' (雷语) of 2009, becoming synonymous for danger and unclear circumstances.

'Eluding the cat' is the second internet meme to come out of southwest China in the last eight months: in July of 2008 thousands of residents of Weng'an, Guizhou province, rioted after police said a young girl drowned herself in the company of a young man who was "doing pushups" (做卧俯撑). 'Doing pushups' subsequently became a popular phrase among sarcastic – and typically young – Chinese netizens.

Jinning police have yet to release any further clarification of the events leading to Li Qiaoming's death.

Image: Yunnan Information News

Officials in Yuxi have announced that a previously unreported cholera outbreak that infected at least 47 people is now under control, with no deaths reported.

At a February 2 press conference in Yuxi, located 90 kilometers south of Kunming, Yunnan provincial health department director Chen Juemin said the outbreak took place in mid-January in the counties of Tonghai (通海), Huaning (华宁) and Jiangchuan (江川).

Chen said a feast at a funeral attended by 585 villagers in Tonghai from January 15 through 17 was the source of the outbreak. On January 18, a 73-year-old man who had hosted the meal was admitted to the hospital with severe diarrhea, followed by two more patients the next day. The patients were confirmed to be infected with vibrio cholera O139 type on January 21.

All 585 people who attended the feast were quarantined and it was discovered that 26 had traveled to unnamed overseas high-risk cholera areas in November last year. One of the 26 had been a cook during the three days of eating. Officials said that it is likely that the tourists are the source of the outbreak in Yunnan, where O139 cholera has never been previously reported.

Cholera's hallmarks are a short incubation period and severe diarrhea. In Chinese it is known as huoluan (霍乱), literally 'suddenly messy'. According to Wikipedia:


Yuxi mayor Gao Jinsong, who was also at the press conference, urged area residents to remain calm and pay attention to food safety.

Health official Lu Lin told villagers to avoid crowded places and make sure to only drink clean water, adding that more infections and possible outbreaks were "likely".

"Firstly, cholera is highly infectious and difficult to control; secondly, many people attended the funeral dinner and they are more than likely carriers," Lu said. "Moreover, the affected areas are rural districts where water and sanitation conditions are generally poor."

Tonghai image: China.org.cn

Cholera image: Wikipedia