APEC’S EFFECTS ON BEIJING LIFE
Beijing has locked down and tidied up for the APEC meetings culminating in a leaders meeting Monday and Tuesday. Here are some ways life has changed for Beijingers:
WHERE’S MY PAPER?
Some Beijingers can’t buy their morning paper from newsstands, or boiled eggs and pies from breakfast kiosks. Dozens of newsstands and kiosks have been removed from central roads to tidy up the city.
TRAIN RIDES FOR CARS
Govt workers have been given a six-day holiday and can take advantage of discount travel packages, because authorities are keen for people to leave the city to ease traffic congestion. Trains are being deployed to whisk vacationers’ cars out of Beijing without clogging up highways
LET’S NOT GO FLY A KITE
People who fly pigeons and kites near Beijing Capital International Airport face being detained as part of rules to ensure flight safety, according to notices from the city and aviation authorities. Members of the public who report infringements may receive cash reward.
BREATHING EASIER
The residents in the Chinese capital should be able to breathe cleaner air because coal-burning boilers in some areas will be suspended and the pollution discharge of others will be cut by at least 30%, state media said. Some factories have temporarily closed and some demolitions will be halted to reduce dust. In all, authorities say, the total pollution discharge is expected to be cut by a third.
KINDLY LEAVE
Beijing police is asking the dissidents and others to leave the city so they don’t become the focus of the Iinternational media attention. They have detained Zhou Li, an activist who helps petitioners, citizens who submit their grievances to the central government, so she wouldn’t organise any protests during the APEC summit, according to a friend of Zhou’s.