Discounting a little drizzle, projected doomsday rains missed most of Beijing proper last night, though other parts of northeast China were not so lucky. Tianjin, which I tend to think of as Beijing's unkempt armpit about 100 kilometers to the southeast, was hit hard yesterday, and the aftermath on one unfortunate stretch of road is visible above.
Our favorite government mouthpiece has flubbed again with the headline on its latest story (four-plus hours after its posting, it has yet to be changed). Ostensibly about a new round of rainstorms scheduled to hit this afternoon, Xinhua inadvertently draws our attention to the waves of negative reaction to the municipal government’s disaster response, a sampling... Read more »
Within Beijing proper on Saturday, Guangqumen Bridge on southeast Second Ring Road was among the most affected by the rain, and resulted in one of the earliest reported deaths. (Incidentally, Guangqumen is about a kilometer and a half from Shuangjing Bridge, where some foreigners were having a good time, surely unaware of the trouble that was just down the street.) In this video, you see rescuers attempt to get to a submerged car at around 10 pm.
The publicized death toll for Saturday’s Beijing rainstorm was three, then four, then 10… and now 37 — and might will rise in the coming days. According China Daily, 25 drowned during the 20-hour storm, while others died of related causes. The municipal government estimates losses of at least 10 billion yuan. More than 50,000... Read more »
The day after; picture by The Good Doctor Yesterday, Beijing saw its heaviest rainstorm since 1951, receiving on average 163.7 mm of precipitation as of 10 pm. Inevitably, there’s some bad news, which we’ll let China Daily deliver: The heaviest rain in 61 years that lashed Beijing Saturday have left at least four people dead and six... Read more »
We'll be learning, very soon, about the damages caused by the biggest torrential downpour Beijing has seen in several decades. There will be time to sift through the fallout and figure out how we pick up the pieces, i.e. drain and dry the whole damn city and find some of the many vehicles that were washed away in the storm. (By the way, today is another reason I'm glad I don't own a car in this city.) But for now, let's focus on the more lighthearted scenes from yesterday: fans having a good time at a Guo'an game; a foreigner delighting onlookers by swimming in the street; a party at Shuangjing, amid traffic.
Just a half-naked foreigner directing traffic. Whatever. He appears to belong to the soon-to-be famous party of four laowai at Shuangjing Bridge. Hmm… Party of Four Laowai. That has a certain ring to it, doesn’t it? What’s another way of saying “party of four”? Band of Four? Gathering of Four? Gaggle of Four? Gang… More pictures... Read more »
Look at this. Cowboy hat. Beer bottles. Swim tube. A couple making out. Rain? More, please. For a picture in contrast, check after the jump. And in case you were wondering: it is currently raining.
The heavy rains found their way inside Fourth Ring Round around 1 pm today, and it's been sporadically pouring ever since: some deity simply dumping bucket after bucket of water over the city. I was outside around 1:30 pm to witness the sky and everything underneath it go eerily dark; 10 minutes later, a dazzling white mist rose out of nowhere, like the ash of a mythical sky creature. It was unbelievable. I put out both arms and said "What the fuck?" several times.
Heavy, heavy rains have again left Beijing’s streets flooded, but that hasn’t stopped tonight’s Chinese Super League match between the hometown Guo’an and Hangzhou Greentown FC. Above, the first goal of the night, putting Hangzhou up 1-0. That remains the score in Workers Stadium as the two teams slog it out in the 77th minute.... Read more »
