A National Highway centralized numbering and naming system is gradually being carried out, and Shanghai is one of the cities where this is currently happening. It is reported that Shanghai needs to replace about 5,000 signs, but the whole project will cost 200 million yuan.

The huge cost lead to Han Han, who is a writer and race car driver, to question the plans. On October 15, Sichuan News Network reported Han Han’s sarcastic comment of “a sheet of iron costs 40,000 RMB”. Shanghai Highway Management Department responded that the number of street signs to be replaced is far more than 5,000. Many signs are being updated when they are replaced.

In Shanghai, both street signs and license plates cost thousands of RMB

In Shanghai, according to media reports, the deputy leader of the Shanghai Public Security Bureau Traffic Police Corps, Zuo Tianfu said, in order to be in line with the updates, there will be about 5,000 guideposts that need to be changed. Including the replacement of highway signs, the expense of the renaming and renumbering project will reach 200 million RMB.

Han Han published the post “G8 highway” on his blog, and said that “every sheet of iron costs 40,000RMB. Does it sound familiar?

Yes, it’s the same price of the iron sheet on your cars [Note: In Shanghai, vehicle license plates are obtained by auction. It's normal that each license plate costs thousands of RMB]. This shows that, for so many years, Shanghai’s car-owners were actually unfair to the Shanghai government. Do you think this is extortion? No, the 40,000 is the cost of raw materials. Otherwise, the Shanghai government would not charge the same amount of money for their own iron sheets.”

A netizen on the XCar website said,” A spray painted metal sign for 40,000RMB. Farmed out to me, I would only charge 20,000 each. ” This comment lead to a price competition on line. “Lou zhu you are too greedy, I would laugh to death if they would pay me 10,000 each”, “Give me 8,000, and I will kickback 2,000″, “6000 each, a lifetime guarantee”… …

The most expensive quoted price from suppliers is 1,000 RMB every square meter.

In many Shanghai forums, Han Han’s post has become really popular. Most people agree with his views:” Highway projects are so dark [questionable, shady].” “These signs are so valuable? If so, I won’t go to work anymore. I will steal road signs.” Besides Shanghai,  everywhere in the country, they are gradually replacing road signs. According to reports, Foshan, Guangdong province “estimated that the number of the road signs which need to be replaced would be between 2,000 and 3,000, and cost about 5 million RMB or more”. According to the report, the cost is far lower than 40,000 RMB for each sign.

The reporter found some road sign suppliers from Zhejiang, and Shanghai and consulted their prices. The other side responded that the price of the highway signs with the highest quality is between 850 and 1,000 RMB per square meter. To judge from the news pictures, in Shanghai, the size of the signs is about 2 to 5 square meters.

The reporter also found an invitation of tender from a Suzhou City government for road signs. The quoted price relates to not only the construction cost, but also auxiliary materials, accessories, delivery, labor, machinery, storage, installation, insurance, design fees, supervision fees, labor insurance, various taxes and fees (for example imported products should include tariffs), patent technology, all the charges in the warranty period, and so on.

The official response from the Highway Management Office: There are more than 5,000 signs.

About the number of the signs, a Shanghai Highway Administration official said, the point that “each sign cost 40,000 RMB” in Han Han’s blog is wrong. Because the 200 million RMB will not be spent on the 5,000 signs as Han Han said. In fact, the replacement of the signs is a large and complex system project. The 5,000 signs mentioned in Han Han’s blog only refer to the road signs between Shanghai urban districts and highways, which need to be changed. It only takes into account a small part of the project. In fact, the number of the signs which will be changed, in the entire highway, is much more than that amount.

To update all related signs includes all the highway traffic signs, especially the guiding signs, such as entrance notice signs, entrance signs, start (end) point markers, exit notice signs, exit signs, distance signs, services/facilities notice signs, toll station notice signs, etc.; adjusting the highway mileposts, as well as changing the name of toll stations and so on. In addition to the replacement of road signs, but also in accordance with national standards to re-design and re-brand, and some key signs of the basis for reinforcement, protection, handling, etc., involving a wide range of human and material resources.

Read more: Han Han’s original Chinese post “G8 Highway“, and his response to “a large and complex system project“.

Comments from NetEase:

网易山东青岛网友：

China’s corrupt officials’ way of money-laundering.

网易福建莆田网友：

Look at Foshan’s 3000 signs only cost 5 million. How can this kind of government discipline boost GDP? In the end, it’s still Shanghai that is most niu, able to turn 5000 metal plates into 200 milllion GDP.

网易北京网友：

In fact, I think Han Han being able to survive until now is already pretty good, and this is our [society's] greatest progress.

网易江苏南京网友：

So this is how the money is spent, I’m speechless.

网易辽宁沈阳网友：

I bet they are pure gold road signs!

网易四川自贡网友：

Without construction, how could there be kickbacks?

网易黑龙江牡丹江网友：

They’re all a bunch of JB, using/taking the ordinary common people’s money.

网易内蒙古网友：

If the 200 million RMB is not being used to replace only 5,000 signs as Han Han understood, then just how many signs are being replaced? 5,100?

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FHM, originally published as For Him Magazine, is an international monthly men’s lifestyle magazine. The magazine is printed on high quality glossy paper and the photography is of high technical quality.

The Chinese edition of FHM has been published since May 2004 by Trends Magazines in Beijing. The magazine is named 男人装 [nan2 ren2 zhuang1] in mainland China, and 男人帮 [nan2 ren2 bang1] in Taiwan. Despite constant controversy, Nan Ren Zhuang remains very popular with certain type of readers.

Some translated Chinese netizen comments from a Beijing Youth Daily news article about Nan Ren Zhuan reprinted on NetEase:

网易贵州遵义网友：

If China were to become [sexually] open/liberal, the porn/sex industry would surpass Japan within one year.

dgldgl198704:

Playboy!

网易浙江杭州网友：

There was a well-known website’s deputy director. When he was asked about his future career plans, he half-jokingly said: “I just want to be a photographer for Nan Ren Zhuang. If it cannot be realized, being an intern of Nan Ren Zhuang works for me as well.”

网易江苏无锡网友：

If you want to see sexy girls’ bodies, you should not look on paper media. There are tons of them on eMule.

网易北京网友：

The director of our website booked one year’s Nan Ren Zhuang. When we are not busy, we always steal a few looks. Of course, we only look at the beautiful girls, and don’t even look at the remaining 90% of content.

网易辽宁本溪网友：

The more you repress/suppress [your desires/impulses], the stronger they become. Sad.

网易哈尔滨工程大学网友：

This magazine is also very hot in my university. If our dorm room only buys one magazine, each roommate only pays 5 kuai.

网易浙江金华网友：

Males these days are so stressed. With the CPI so high, housing prices rising every day, and stock prices falling every day, there are very few things that are happy and yet they are not allowed to have a magazine, to enjoy some simple joys?

网易北京网友：

The models of Nan Ren Zhuang are really zan [赞，means very good]. Their faces may not necessarily be good, but their bodies are chao zan [超赞，means super beautiful and hot]. Now matter how they are PS, these kind of bodies put all women to shame, and make all guys excited. After the garbage tomboy trend of Super Girls [a very popular talent show among Chinese females, which is similar to American Idol], the appearance of Nan Ren Zhuang is undoubtedly a shot a life-saving shot of cardiac stimulant for all male comrade’s sense of aesthetic beauty!!!

网易湖北武汉网友：

I always want to buy this magazine, but they are always sold out…Depressed…

网易浙江金华网友：

很黄很暴力 [A very famous catchphrase from Edison Chen's sex photo scandal in 2008.]

网易吉林通化网友：

Embarrassingly, I am a girl, but seeing the photos of this magazine makes me excited.

网易江西南昌网友：

Boring. These pictures, when compared to Great Teacher Edison Chen’s work, simply cannot be looked at. Ever since I saw Teacher Chen’s work, I felt this world was too uninteresting. If something does not surpass Teacher Chen’s work, I’m not even willing to open my eyes anymore.

网易山东菏泽网友：

Reminder, those who are working in the sex industry always say China is conservative. This is all because they are motivated by money!

网易福建泉州网友：

Actually it’s no big deal. Just treat it as art.

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Protest! There is severe discrimination against urban citizens in rural areas. Urban people are not allocated fields in rural areas, or allowed to buy houses in rural areas.

This is a very unfair policy. We are all Chinese, so how can the rural people have fields to grow food and build houses?

Why do metropolitan citizens have to spend millions to buy the housing in cities? Why can we not have a homestead in the rural areas to build our own affordable houses?

Why can we not have a field in a village to grow our own crops?

Why is there so much government welfare given to people in rural areas? On what basis? Are rural people born superior?

What great rural people? They are all taking advantages of national policies! The policies are favorable to rural people! Rural people steal, rape, kidnap, and counterfeit in cities. Rural people are all illegals and use crime in order to make money. How dare they call themselves “vulnerable groups”? Rural people are covering up their own misdeeds by shifting the blame on to others! Shameless rural people!

Some rural Chinese with their rural houses. Of course, not all rural houses are like this.

Comments from Tianya:

拉面来一皖：

If you have the ability, change the national policy, [instead of talking] so much bullshit.

鱼的眼泪在哪里：

Go to hell, lou zhu.

You can give up your urban hukou [household registration, urban hukous are more valued because cities usually have better public services, such as education] if you think it is unfair. Come and settle in rural areas. Ah, you do not dare leave the city and live in the countryside. You are a shameless whore trying to pass yourself off as a lady! Why don’t you tell people that the wages of city people are many times higher than rural people? All you can see is the fields in the rural areas. Can’t you see that farmers can no longer rely on farming to feed their families? Can’t you see the inflation, yet crops are still so cheap… You are enjoying the benefits of living in a city, but you still want to take advantage of the rural people.  You are absolute scum. I very much despise scum like you…

csyzf:

China’s economy is based on the urban-rural dual structure. The urban annual income per capita is more than three times higher than the rural areas, which is the reason for China’s high Gini number. Although there is cheap housing in rural areas, most earnings are from urban areas. Many rural people have to go to cities and live in crowded tenements even though they have nice houses in the countryside. The houses and fields are the last thing they can rely on.

In fact, the rural people do not have the right to sell their houses. Rural people only have the right to use the house sites. Individuals do not have ownership of the houses and fields. The ownership belongs to the village, which means the government. The houses can only be traded in the village, and can not be sold to outsiders.

LXD690:

There are reasons why the LZ is talking about discrimination… But the rural brothers can’t be blamed! It’s the national policy’s fault! Actually we are all victims…

毛钩：

From my personal experience, what Beijing people ate 20 years ago was actually much worse than the food in the northeast, the Yangtze River basin or Sichuan province.

被搽屁股的小白兔：

Then you go and buy fields in rural areas. My great-aunt has a big piece of land in a village. There is an open-air toilet. You can keep the toilet for free. You may want to live with maggots and flies…

美奴bj：

We can see that those who curse in comments are basically rural people.  These people always feel that society is not fair to them, but they also can not say anything in an argument. Their comments betray their nature.

我爱锆石：

I agree with the LZ.

Urban people can’t get a registered residence. Otherwise I would apply for one.

秀峨大山下的子：

Haha, the post only shows that you don’t make enough money.
Can’t you buy land and build houses in villages if you have enough money???
Have you ever surveyed the countryside???

我是火星主人：

Shameless thing! Do you fucking know how hard life is in rural areas? Have urban people showed respect to rural people??? You NNB!!! Whore!!!

ybjsyz:

On what basis??? When urban people looked down on rural people, you said nothing? A piece of land and a house site is everything a rural citizen has, and you think rural people are enjoying a higher living standard? You looked down on rural people, so on what grounds shall rural people think highly of you? All rural people must unite and not give you food to eat. Let you have money but have no place to go. Starve to death all you shallow city people!!!

jyhyanjin:

In fact, most of the preferential policies are in the city. Most of the rural areas are not as good as the LZ thinks.  If you are settled in some backwater village, I think you will certainly curse God’s injustice, and you would have to work in a city. When you come back to the village, as a rural person, you only have a little money, but city people have a proper job and much more money. The high prices makes food in the rural area as expensive as it is in cities. City people have labor security by law, but how about rural people? If the rural workers are protected under the law, then why do they pay with their lives just by asking for wages! City people just need to buy a house in the city, but if a rural person wants to settle down in a city, he has to put in much more effort than you city people. LZ envies the rural areas which are close to major cities. They are well-off. Yes, we all want to have the life as they have. But it is only a small number of rural people that are so lucky. Besides, it also depends on how good the local government is.

I really don’t want to say this, but you are really stupid.

网事随疯78：

Cities are slowly eroding rural areas, especially in the Yangtze River Delta.

Each family is assigned to a resettlement housing which is of similar size to the old house.
Everything seems very cost-effective, and each family gets at least 2 – 3 apartments. They are millionaires now.
But what we lost is the permanent homestead residence in the rural areas, which the ZF didn’t pay for for us farmers.
In exchange, what we get is the so-called 70-year property rights of the apartments.

tembxcqiu:

When the policy was better for cities, you city people didn’t consider us rural people. Now things are being better in rural areas, but here comes the complaints of city people. You are a lump of selfishness.

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From Mop:

A Journalist was inquired if he is a Communist Party member.

On November 4, 2009, a newspaper in Zhengzhou city published a post, “‘Animal Control Office’ took money from people, but did not do anything”. In the post, the journalist asked how the “animal control fee” was used and where the money went. The journalist interviewed the person in charge of the “animal control office”, Wang Ping. The journalist hoped the office would publish the budget, but Wang asked the journalist to go to the local Bureau of Finance.

The journalist got in touch with the person who was in charge of the fee, Wang Guanqi, through the Zhengzhou Bureau of Finance. However, Wang didn’t answer the journalist’s question. Instead, he asked, “Are you a Communist Party member? If you want to ask for the expenses of the fee, then you must have the permission of the Communist committee and spokesman! It violates the rules that you come and interview me first!”

As soon as the report was published, “Are you a Communist party member?” became a new catchword online. This “stunning sentence” has completely shocked people.

Comment from a netizen: OMG. Is the information of the “Animal Control Office” only open to Communist Party members? Wang Guanqi has no common sense. The money in his hands are taxes, and the taxpayers are not all Communist Party members. People who don’t join the party want to know where their money goes through the journalist. It is proper and also a right based on the law. The right to interview is written in law. None of the power of the Communist committee or spokesmen is bigger than the law.

Extensions: Stunning words appeared frequently on the Internet recently.

In June of this year, a journalist in Zhengzhou City interviewed the deputy director of Zhengzhou Municipal Planning Bureau, Dai Jun. The journalist asked director Dai why villas were built in the place designated for economically affordable housing. The director answered very directly: “Are you prepared to speak for the Communist party, or for the people?” The shocking “official responses” were the rage all over the country.

On October 27 at a Guangzhou traffic remediation conference, when a reporter questioned whether advance publication of road closures is needed, a middle-aged man who was in the meeting suddenly said: “So do I have to tell you whether or not I need to shit or whether my shit smells?” Once the phrase was reported, this person was immediately labeled as a “shit official”, this phrase was known as “the most niu official response.”

Now, including “Are you a Communist Party member?”, there are three niu officials and three shocking phrases. One netizen commented that the officials and the phrases all showed the same “Pride and Prejudice”.

Comments from Mop:

sai709394:

I’m not a Communist party member.

针砭时弊，扬善除恶：

From now on, I’ll work hard, join the party, and be a supervisor!

无尘少林：

You are a National party member

江湖舍利子：

The (Communist) party members are awesome!!!

在线别动队：

The Communist party is a underworld gang.

吸烟de老马：

I’m not a party member, and I know nothing…

风在天空吗：

People who live in the area where I live always say that government officials are rascals with credentials.

See also: “Are you a Party Member — The Latest Internet Meme?” (ChinaGeeks)

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On October 29, the Nanxun Court in Huzhou City, Zhejiang province sentenced a rape case. Two defendants raped a girl who had just finished high school and were judged guilty, and each of the men received a three-year-prison term. The criminal charge was identified as a “temporary crime on a whim” (临时性的即意犯罪), so relatively light sentences were imposed.

But most people haven’t heard the phrase “temporary crime on a whim”, so this judgment attracted a huge controversy. Within a few days, the discussion on the matter was very hot at Tianya, NetEase and other forums. A netizen questioned that he had only heard of temporary worker and temporary plan, but not temporary, permanent or long-term rape. Some netizens suspected the court was cheating on this case in order to let the two defendants off easy.

Background of the Case:

On the evening of June 10, 2009, two men, Qiu and Cai who were employed as civilian police assistants in the city of Hangzhou, took out two girls, Chen and Shen, for dinner. All of them had a lot of alcohol. Chen is not a good drinker, so she was very intoxicated when the dinner was over.

In order to sober Chen up, Cai took everybody with his car to a hotel and rented a room. After they got into the room, Qiu and Cai sexually assaulted Chen while she was unconscious and unable to resist. When Chen woke up, she found herself lying naked in a bed in a hotel room.

The local court in Hangzhou, based on the facts of the case, decided that the the crime was temporary because there was no discussion before the crime was committed. Afterward, the defendants surrendered to the police and tried to make amends with the victim, so the court sentenced an appropriately mitigating punishment: the two defendants would get three years’ imprisonment.

Chinese netizens’ Comments－If the judge could mitigate the cruelty of “temporary rape,” then what about “temporary robbery and murder”?

The sentence was posted online, and it immediately led to a huge discussion among netizens.  Online commenters put forward their different opinions of the “temporary crime”.

“辽河鱼”:

“Temporary” is an informal, and short-term behavior. Does it mean that there is an “informal” crime of rape? Is there any difference between short-term rape and long-term rape? If this case is an exception and then the “temporary crimes on a whim” happen again, will the criminals be punished lightly?

wulonghe123:

Temporary crime on a whim? If crimes could be temporary, permanent, and long-term, may I ask the judges: Which rape is not temporary?

Rabbitrun:

Courts used the phrase to explain that the crime is not premeditated. “Temporary rape on a whim” is similar to the “passion murder”, and there is subjective difference with vicious and premeditated crime.

无锡网友:

I am also very concerned about this problem, these four people drank a lot, but still drove? It was not improvised. If I passed by a bank, and tried to steal money, is it also improvised?

广东网友:

About the term “temporary”, I’ve only heard about temporary workers and plans. I’ve never heard that the crime can be “temporary” and sentenced lightly. I think there is no rapist would be so stupid to admit that he was premeditated and planned to commit a crime, right?

Statements from Experts – There are different points of view.

“A temporary crime on a whim is the crime committed under the mental state of temporary willingness. Generally, there was no prior premeditation. Afterward, the defendants surrendered to the police actively, and got an understanding from the victim, so an appropriate mitigating punishment is possible.” Lawyer Li Hui from Zhejiang Hai Hao Law Firm explained that, simply, the defendants seeing a certain scene, suddenly conceived a crime.

Lawyer Li said that the “temporary crime on a whim” is an opposite concept to a premeditated crime. Premeditated crimes cause more damage to the society. Premeditated criminals would think of a good way out, meanwhile “temporary criminals” don’t. “Temporary crime on a whim” leads to smaller harm, so the crime can be judged lighter.

However, a judge from another court in Hangzhou has a different view. The judge, who requested anonymity, claimed in the interview that although there are premeditated crimes, not premeditated crimes, conspiracy, complicity and surrender in criminal law, there is no “temporary crime on a whim’ or “active surrender”. The “temporary crime on a whim” seems newly created.

The judge further questioned the most confusing thing: that when two criminals successively rape the victim, it is typically gang rape.

If the case were identified as gang rape, according to “The People’s Republic of China Criminal Law” clause 236, item 3, article 4  “where two or more people gang rape a girl,” they should be sentenced to more than a decade in prison, life imprisonment or death, which has a significant difference from their three-year term.

See also: “‘Rape on a Whim’? New Catchphrase Raises Ire” (China Real Time Report)

Judgment: Temporary Crime

What do you think? Does the court’s punishment and explanation make sense? Is it because the men immediately surrendered themselves to the police after their crime?

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