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Dameisha Beach in Shenzhen is Teeming with Fecal Bacteria

Posted: 08/15/2014 9:40 am

dameisha beachAnyone interested in going to the beach in Shenzhen for a reprieve from the summer heat should be mindful that Dameisha Beach has already exceeded water safety standards three times this season.

Results from tested water samples taken on June 3, 9, and 16 have been just been released, and all three have failed, reports Sina. The test results for the three dates showed excess amounts of fecal coliform at 3,400 parts per liter, 7,500 parts per liter, and 3,500 parts per liter, respectively. The allowable standard used by Chinese authorities is 2,000 parts per liter.

Authorities explained the beach failed the test as a result of too many people swimming in the area. Yantian District is currently investigating if a be a fee should be charged to better control the crowds of people that frequent the popular Shenzhen attraction. Other than coming directly from humans, sources of fecal coliform include human sewage, pets and animals, or agricultural uses.

The danger to human health posed by fecal coliform include ear infections, dysentery, typhoid fever, viral and bacterial gastroenteritis, and hepatitis A. A representative of the Yantian District chengguan office expressed shock at the findings:

Previously, we only knew that the water quality of Dameisha was poor, but this is the first time that we have a grasp of a precise number (that shows us how bad it is).

It is unclear if this the first time that the water quality at Dameisha was scientifically tested.

Photo: Weibo

Haohao

[Photos] Record-Breaking Holiday Crowds In Guangdong

Posted: 06/3/2014 3:46 pm

dameisha beach dragon boat festival holiday weekend guangdong people crowdsDid you spend this past Dragon Boat holiday festival at home, doing nothing? Well, it wasn’t entirely spent in vain because you were in fact doing something—avoiding the huge crowds that clogged transportation routes and tourist destinations throughout Guangdong.

dameisha beach dragon boat festival holiday weekend guangdong people crowdsdameisha beach dragon boat festival holiday weekend guangdong people crowdsShenzhen traffic police reported that traffic for access routes to Daxiao Meisha and Dapeng were congested with “rush hour conditions” for ten hours from June 1 until yesterday morning. 256,000 cars were said to have been involved in a traffic jam 14 kilometers long.

720,000 commuters took the Guangzhou Metro on June 2, a 15% rise from last year. May 31 was also a traffic heavy day with 650,000 commuters.

dameisha beach dragon boat festival holiday weekend guangdong people crowds

But getting there is only half the fun; just ask the record-breaking 16,000 visitors that descended upon Dameisha Seaside Public Park. The only reason so many people would choose to crowd together so densely must be because they obviously enjoy each other’s company, like so:dameisha beach dragon boat festival holiday weekend guangdong people crowdsdameisha beach dragon boat festival holiday weekend guangdong people crowdsdameisha beach dragon boat festival holiday weekend guangdong people crowds

All of this price came at a cost, however. A closer look at the swarms of holiday-goers revealed a grubbier side:dameisha beach dragon boat festival holiday weekend guangdong people crowds

However, crowds don’t always have negative connotations, especially when everyone’s favorite endangered species-a la commodity of cuteness made a mass appearance at the Canton Tower in Guangzhou:canton tower panda canton tower panda

Oh, endangered panda: you’ll never over-populate us with the cuddleness you provide!

Photo: Shenzhen Evening Report via Weibo (2), China Daily via Weibo, Shenzhen Traffic Police via Weibo, China Guangzhou Information Dissemintation via Weibo, Guangzhou Daily via Weibo

Haohao

Shenzhen’s Dameisha beach deemed too filthy for foreign guests

Posted: 07/19/2013 7:00 am

The Shenzhen Special Zone Daily has published a report on the cleanliness, or lack thereof, of Yantian District’s Dameisha Beach after a local businessman complained that the beach was too filthy for his foreign guests.

On the evening of Friday July 5, Mr He and his two clients, an American and Canadian, decided it was too hot to stay inside, so went to Binhai Park on Dameisha beach. However, they only lasted 10 minutes in the water as they were sick of plastic bags and candy wrappers getting stuck to their bodies as they waded.

Binhai Park during better days, courtesy of Google Images

Having heard He’s complaint, a reporter went to Binhai Park on July 13 to see for himself what the fuss was about. He arrived there before lunchtime when there were already almost 10,000 people on the beach. The water was nowhere near as crowded as it would be a few hours later but the sand was already covered in bottles, candy wrappers, and the shells and cores of eaten pieces of fruit.

There were also plastic bags blowing around, and to top it all off, the reporter saw trash cans that were half empty.

A man at the beach named Mr Wang who lives in Buji told the paper that the problem was a lack of suzhi or character among some beach goers. But he also said that, considering the number of people who swim there, it is unrealistic to expect the water to be clean by international standards.

A Mr Qin who had come from Luohu District with his family described littering on the beach as “immoral as well as disgusting.”

Big things have small beginnings, courtesy of Sina Weibo

In other news about people lacking suzhi, a woman in Shenzhen’s Baoan District has drawn complaints from neighbours after gaining a reputation for regularly throwing garbage and even feces off the roof and directly onto the ground in her residential complex. You can see the news report, including footage of her in the act here.

But it’s not all bad news on the suzhi front. In recent days, the image on the right of a migrant worker cleaning up after himself on the subway has gone big on Sina Weibo.

The worker was overcome by some mild nausea, and when a stranger gave him a tissue to wipe his mouth, he first got down and cleaned the floor, a respected Panyu-based microblog has claimed.

Haohao
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