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Sunday, December 23, 2007

Learn Chinese online - Cab drivers' ham radio community

BIZCHINA / Biz Life

Cab drivers' ham radio community
(CRI)
Updated: 2006-06-08 08:50

Among Beijing's cab drivers, there is a group of amateur radio fans who
have formed a "Ham Radio Community". Through their vehicular radio
equipment, members of the community can talk and help each other to cope
with life in the boring lane.

Zhang Tong has been a Beijing taxi driver for over ten years. But since
2002 when he was first bitten by the ham radio bug, his daily work has no
longer been just about driving and making money. Now he is a member the
"Ham Community" which so far has 52 like-minded Beijing cabbies in its
ranks.

Zhang Tong often receives ham radio transmissions from other drivers in
the ham community who seek help. And if he is available, he doesn't
hesitate to drive over to offer a helping hand.

"Before, taxi drivers were quite isolated from one another and there
wasn't much communication. But since joining the club, I feel like I'm
surrounded by a lot of friends while driving. It's much more fun now. And
I can also exchange information about ham radio with other members, thus
gaining knowledge about its technology."

Other members of the community are as excited as Zhang Tong. A cabbie
named Yao Lixin was saved from a potentially dangerous situation thanks
to help from the Ham Community's fellow members.

"One night, two passengers flagged down my taxi and asked me to drive
them to a remote place. During the ride, they changed the destination
several times. I found them very suspicious and sent a message for help
through the ham radio. Member divers who were driving close to me joined
together to follow my car. Maybe the two passengers had a guilty
conscience. They got out of my car without paying me the taxi fee, but
nothing else happened."

Late night taxi drivers are easily prey for robbers. So the community has
worked out a set of secret codes only known by community members in order
to deal with the dangers.

The slogan of the Ham Community is that when one driver is in need of
help, others from all across the city will offer their assistance.
Established this March, the community has already attracted many ham and
non-ham users who may at first have had no knowledge of amateur radio but
simply like the idea of helping each other.

To these taxi drivers, ham radio offers a bit of pleasure during their
tedious daily driving routine and a place they can turn to when in need.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Chinese language - Rural labor shortage beginning to be felt

BIZCHINA / Top Biz News

Rural labor shortage beginning to be felt
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-05-29 09:12

Despite government figures to indicate China still has a contingent of
150 million migrant workers awaiting to transfer from rural to urban
areas, signs have emerged to show that the country's labor resources is
on a trend of shrinkage.

Although southern booming Guangdong Province has sucked up more than 19
million migrant workers, its annual labor shortfall remained at two
million. Factories found it hard for them to employ migrant workers with
low income any more.

Shortfall of labor power has cropped up not only in coastal booming
towns, but in inland cities. Central China's Henan Province, the
country's most populous province, for instance, has gone all out to
expand textile and clothing industries but the workforce in local textile
and clothing mills was only 70 percent of what they had expected.

A latest survey from the Ministry of Labor and Social Security showed
that in 2006, construction engineering and machine building enterprises
in prosperous coastal areas are willing to pay workers at least 1,000
yuan (about 125 US dollars) per month, almost equal to the local monthly
salary of college graduates. But these enterprises paid 600 yuan to
workers every month three years ago.

Han Jun, director of the Research Center of Rural Economy under the
Development Research Center of the State Council, said that 20 percent of
the rural areas in China no longer have surplus labors at present.

Xinyang City of Henan Province had 3.5 million rural laborers, and 1.86
million of them, mostly young or middle-aged, had gone to work in major
cities. And the city hired at least 30,000 workers to pick tea this year
owing to intensive female labor outflow.

Cai Fang, a noted expert in the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences,
acknowledged that although there will not be a shortfall of laborers in
the absolute number of trades and industries in the years ahead, the
scarcity of laborers will be felt in some areas and in some particular
industries.

Since China initiated reform and opening-up policies in late 1970's,
noted Prof. Wen Tiejun with elite Remin University in Beijing, factories
and enterprises, obtaining cheap land thanks for governmental
preferential policies and mainly engaging in processing materials
supplied by overseas clients, have mushroomed in southern and eastern
China cities.

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(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Learn Chinese

Sunday, December 23, 2007

Learn Chinese online - Cab drivers' ham radio community

Chinese language - Rural labor shortage beginning to be felt

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