Category Archives: Uncategorized

Underwater Resort in Sanya Breaks World Record for Largest Mermaid Dive

Ambassador Lagoon at China’s Atlantis Sanya Resort on the island of Hainan is home to around 86,000 sea creatures — and if you happened to be vacationing there on April 28, you would have been able to catch 110 new additions to the Lagoon.

In celebration of the resort’s third anniversary, it partnered with the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) and enlisted 110 professional divers dressed as mermaids to break the Guinness World Record for largest underwater mermaid show.

The magnificent display was like a scene from a fantasy movie as the mermaids performed various underwater stunts in the aquarium.

Mermaid diving has become an increasingly popular trend in recent years, especially in China — where the activity has grown exponentially. There are over 1,000 mermaid instructors across China who run programs teaching people how to swim like the mythical creature.

PADI has also launched four new mermaid diving programs — the Discover Mermaid Experience, Basic Mermaid Course, Mermaid Course, and Advanced Mermaid Course — allowing students of any level to participate.

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Dada Li, China’s first female PADI Freediver Instructor and pioneer of the mermaid diving trend, told CNN Travel that “upon seeing beautiful images from other mermaids, consumers almost immediately jump onto the activity itself. Within four short months after the official launch, mermaid courses now account for 30% of local certificates in China.”

She also added that mermaid diving has helped to introduce more people to the world of freediving and scuba diving. In 2018, China saw a 40% increase in people attaining diving certificates, compared to only a 5% growth rate worldwide.

Cover photo by Colin Lloyd on Unsplash

China May Be About to Report its First Population Decline in Fifty Years

For the first time in fifty years, China’s population is declining according to media reports — the latest census is expected to show a dip below 1.4 billion. Meanwhile, China’s birth rate has decreased, with 32,000 fewer births last year, and Beijing registering a ten-year low.

Update: Following widespread media reports that the census was expected to show a dip in China’s population, the authorities have since disputed this claim and insisted that the country’s population continues to grow. The official statistics are yet to be released.

Family planning policy is relaxing, but China’s birth rate has continued to drop, leading to questions over economic growth, an aging population, and a shrinking labor pool.

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China’s Minister of Civil Affairs, Li Jiheng, published a viral article highlighting that the total fertility rate had fallen below the government’s “warning line.” The National Bureau of Statistics also published data in January 2020, showing that the country’s birth rate fell to 10.48% in 2019, its lowest point since 2000.

In December 2020, there was even talk of introducing a new “three-child policy,” but it seems the move would have little impact on the One-Child Generation’s lukewarm desire to have kids.

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Netizens have been quick to respond to the reports on Weibo.

“The pressure of life makes young people feel that being without children is more relaxing, whereas having a family will be very stressful,” wrote one.

“The cost of living is increasing and so is work pressure,” wrote another. “Many people just don’t have time for children.”

As China’s living costs continue to rise, many millennials just can’t see themselves having a child and being able to provide the ‘best life’ for them. Others would rather focus on their careers, seeing kids as a limitation to their success. Some just flat out don’t want to get married, viewing marriage as “trouble.”

Cover image via Unsplash

Chinese Netizens are Upset Over Labor Holiday That Forces Them to Work on Weekend

Netizens are voicing their annoyance at the arrangements ahead of China’s nationwide May 1 holiday, or Labor Day. On paper, it looks like people will be given five days off, but the total of accumulative days tallies up to just one day.

How can that be?

Well, in accordance with China’s policy of 调休 or “transfer of rest day,” two of the five rest days for Labor Day in China take place on a Saturday and Sunday, which require make-up work days — one on the Sunday the weekend before the holiday and another on a Saturday on the weekend following the holiday.

The irony here, then, is that the Labor Holiday, a day off specifically for workers, is now resented by folks who think that this holiday ultimately comes to ruin two weekends, in favor of one stretch of five days during the holiday.

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A hashtag with the title #如何看待五一调休凑长假# (which loosely translates to “how to view the May 1 holiday transfer days for a long holiday”), went viral on Sunday, April 25, the first “transfer day” for the holiday. Thus far the the hashtag has been viewed millions of times.

This scheme of shifting weekend days off during a holiday are nothing new in China, with the government implementing the rule to treat these days as weekdays to be made up since the mid 2010s. Lengthening the May 1 holiday to a five day continuous holiday is intended to allow for workers in the country to have an extended holiday for traveling.

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The holiday is also seen as an impetus for consumer spending, with one Weibo user commenting, “It’s just to make a long vacation for everyone to go out and spend money. It’s useless for me to look at it, won’t listen to me.”

Another user commented on the crowds that are likely to descend upon cities and popular tourist sites during the holiday: “A lot of trouble, and when you go outside it’s full of people, not as good as normal. Just leave it as it is, don’t turn it upside down.”

Labor Day Holiday Adjustment

A survey taken by Sino-Singapore Jingwei, asking whether netizens would prefer a shorter holiday without day adjustments or a longer holiday with adjustments, found of 829,000 respondents, 662,000 (or 80%) would prefer a shorter holiday without adjustments.

One user summed it up best when they said, “hard to take, you can’t call adjustment of leave a holiday.”

Cover image via Unsplash

Lin Lin Jacobs On the Beauty and Pain of Chinese Design

“It requires time to have the design confidence — to see enough horrifying design interpretations of Chinese culture to actually give you the confidence to say ‘I’m going to speak for China now.’”

Lin Lin Jacobs is a designer, anthropologist, entrepreneur, and philanthropist who has spent time in London, Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou — all while pioneering numerous innovative projects in experiential design, sustainability, beauty and wellness.

As co-founder of the multidisciplinary design studio Jellymon, she was responsible for the interiors of Sanlitun Village’s Fish Eye Cafe, various sportswear campaigns for the likes of Nike and Adidas, and a famous collaboration with W+K and the Shanghai Watch Company. In 2015, she joined the China International Beauty Expo as CEO.

Just before Shanghai Fashion Week, we invited Lin Lin to talk to us about Chinese design, beauty and her philosophy on remixing different aesthetics.

H&M Faces China Boycott Calls as Wang Yibo Ends Nike Cooperation Over Xinjiang Cotton

Retailer H&M is facing a nationalist backlash in China after year-old comments related to cotton production in Xinjiang became the focus of a social media campaign against the brand.

The Swedish fast fashion company has been the subject of a wave of online criticism in the past 24 hours, with major ecommerce platforms such as Taobao apparently pulling its products from their sites amid calls for a boycott.

The social media storm is based on a statement published by H&M. The English language equivalent reads in part, “H&M Group is deeply concerned by reports from civil society organisations and media that include accusations of forced labour and discrimination of ethnoreligious minorities in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). We strictly prohibit any type of forced labour in our supply chain, regardless of the country or region.”

The statement is undated, though some reports have suggested that it was published in March last year.

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The Chinese Communist Party’s young people-focused organization the Communist Youth League was among those voicing outrage on social media over the statement, using its official account on microblogging site Weibo to lambast H&M for “finding fault” with cotton production in the region. “Want to make money in China while spreading false rumors and boycotting Xinjiang cotton?” read one post from the Youth League’s official handle. “Wishful thinking!”

As the attacks were ramped up, H&M’s celebrity ambassadors in China were quick to retreat, with actor and singer Victoria Song’s studio announcing she had cut ties with the brand and film star Huang Xuan’s representatives doing the same.

The trigger for the statement being dug up now appears to be the EU’s recent announcement of sanctions against former and current officials and a construction company in China over alleged human rights abuses against Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang.

H&M is not the only company with a public commitment to not use Xinjiang cotton, with the issue seemingly fast becoming a key test for nationalists. Chinese sports brand Anta was among those quick to affirm its commitment to using cotton from the region in its products as the hashtag “I support Xinjiang cotton” became one of the top-trending topics on Weibo, amassing 1 billion views in a short period of time.

Nike has also come under the spotlight, with mega star Wang Yibo‘s management announcing Thursday morning China time that he was ending his cooperation with the brand.

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An undated statement on Nike’s website reads, “We are concerned about reports of forced labor in, and connected to, the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). Nike does not source products from the XUAR and we have confirmed with our contract suppliers that they are not using textiles or spun yarn from the region.”

It now appears that Tencent’s esports teams are also rejecting Nike’s sponsorship as the controversy rumbles on:

The drama continues to spiral, with Chinese celebrities rushing to back away from any brands that have declared they don’t use Xinjiang cotton, with some unexpected consequences:

Cover photo: Sei on Unsplash

Amy Tan Teaches Fiction, Imagination, and Drawing from Memory in New MasterClass

Amy Tan rose to fame with the Joy Luck Club, drawing on her mother’s experience of leaving behind her previous family and migrating to America.

Now, joining other iconic writers such as Margaret Atwood and Neil Gaiman, Tan shares her secrets in a new MasterClass on Fiction, Memory, and Imagination.

“[If] you have seriousness and purpose, which is to understand yourself, human nature, the world, relationships and the conflicts that make us infinitely interesting,” says Tan in her introduction. “You will find the stories that you want to tell.”

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MasterClass has an impressive catalog of writing seminars, but Tan’s class offers something different, teaching viewers to extract fiction from their memories and life experiences.

Tan speaks from a home library, like an auntie who is chatting away about her life story after dinner. The class is divided into fourteen individual lessons with a focus on fictional prose, but also includes past rejection letters from editors, some exquisite sketches of birds, and behind-the-scenes clips from The Joy Luck Club film.

Tan’s first novel may have been a mainstream hit, but she too struggled with getting published in her early career.

“You have these demons,” says Tan. “And if you try not to see them, they’re almost more terrifying. What I wanted to do was steel myself for rejection, and to be able to say to myself that what I’m writing is worthwhile for me, that I’m finding meaning in it.”

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The intimate session ultimately covers a wide spread of subjects; how the thought of Tan’s grandmother, who was coerced into work as a concubine and passed away in 1925, powered her early writing. Or how to overcome writer’s block through ritual — a song, a place, a candle.

“You have to be motivated to perfect your craft even though it will never be perfect,” says Tan. “You will have to be willing to be dissatisfied with what you write. And then always in your life as a writer, be committed to making it better and more meaningful.”

Image: MasterClass