Beijing News You Might Have Missed This Week, Apr 17

Joey Knotts, Contributing Editor | Apr 17, 2021 2:30 pm | Add a comment | 263 reads

Beijing is a happening city! Don't miss a thing with our weekend roundup of the latest news.

Vaccine update: News broke this week that Beijing has administered more than 20 million doses of coronavirus vaccines. With a population of just over 20 million and two doses per person, that means we’re halfway through! Meanwhile, the Beijinger’s Safe and Sane WeChat groups have issued another survey, finding that more than 65 percent of foreigners have received at least one dose (n=369).

Begone plastic, and again, begone!: Yet more anti-plastic regulations will be put into place come July, the city has announced, in what amounts to the latest in an ongoing series of measures to fight off landfill-feeding plastics. This time, the culprit is coffee stirrers, so sugar adders had better come to the cafe packing their own little spoons lest they be prepared to take it black.

Wealth to spare: The capital of China is now the billionaire capital of the world as the country welcomed more than 200 individuals to this class of absurdly rich (33 in Beijing). Meanwhile, China’s Gini index, which measures income inequality, fell steadily from 49.1 points in 2008 to 46.2 points in 2015 before beginning to bump up again, reaching 46.8 points in 2018.

Douyin Pay: Beijing-based tech giant ByteDance will be launching a payment system for its wildly popular streaming app, Douyin. Will they be able to compete with Alipay and WeChat Pay? Probably not, but hey, good on them for trying.

Best of the blog:

The Beijinger's Hot and Spicy Fest is back on! Get your early bird tickets now for the hottest event of the year and snag yourself a free Hot and Spicy bandana along the way!
Film lovers can't afford to miss out on the China Film Archive, the pride of Haidian movie buffs. But if you'd rather watch at home, consider checking out the latest documentary on the Philadelphia Orchestra's historic 1973 Visit to China.
Despite the dang sandstorms, springtime is here! Have you had your spring rolls yet?
Music fan? Art fan? ...Culture fan?? If you tick any of these boxes, be sure to check out the five-day immersive experience that is Xi Festival.

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Images: Wooden Coffee Stirrer, Business of Fashion