Saturday, July 19, 2008

New Olympic Restrictions

It has been unclear since we have been here what activities would be restricted by the government leading up to the Olympics. There has been a lot of rumors over the months. Here is what we now understand:
  • Visa restrictions were imposed a couple of months ago which has made it difficult to enter China. The government says they have only imposed the rules that were already in place.
  • The police are stopping foreigners and checking for passports and visas. We have not experienced this but know co-workers and friends who have.
  • The police started checking residency permits by going door-to-door to expat communities over a month ago.
  • On July 1, half of the government cars were pulled off the road. We were impacted by that at work.
  • Also on July 1, trucks with yellow tags (don't pass emission standards) are no longer allowed in the city of Beijing (that impacted our packing and moving schedule).
  • Tomorrow the new travel ban takes place for private vehicles. Cars can only travel on odd-even days based on license plate number until Sep 20. As a result I will be riding my bike to work for the next two weeks.
  • Heavy industry will shut down factories from July 20 to Sept 20.
  • Government office hours have been reduced to 9 to 5 instead of 8:30 to 5:30 until Sep 20.

I sure hope this all works to reduce the pollution for the Olympics. Here are some pictures from Saturday at Jingshan Park, Coal Hill, Gaobeidian:




















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