News and Scene 6 NEWS Happening in Dongguan 7-9 SCENE 10 PLAY 11 DINE & DRINK 12-13 WWW
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cover story TALE OF A DONGGUAN WEDDING THE FRONT 4 EDITOR SAY from editors and readers 5 READERS SAY NEWS AND SCENE 6 NEWS happening in dongguan 7-9 SCENE 10 PLAY 11 DINE & DRINK 12-13 WWW cover story TALE OF A DONGGUAN WEDDING 14-18 10 11 feature story THE BIG BOOK 20-21 MEGAPIXEL party pics & images of dongguan 22–26 EDITOR’S PICKS this month what’s happening 28 30–31 DONGGUAN CITYMAP 33 DONGCHENG MAP THE MAPS 33 DG COUNTY MAP 34 HOUJIE TOWNMAP 34 CHANG’AN TOWNMAP BUSINESS 36 AROUND HERE! 37 listings that will improve your life JANUARY 2013 IN 14-18 26–30 39 RESTAURANT REVIEW REVIEWS 41 BAR REVIEW WHAT’S THE DEAL WITH 45 TRANSPORTATION INFO 47 CLASSIFIEDS 49 MODEL MANDARIN 50 HOME MADE 51 UNCOMMON SENSE 52 EDITOR SAY Superstition is a belief in supernatural causality— that one event leads to the cause of another without any physical Editor-in-Chief process linking the two events, such as astrology, omens, Ziv Glikman witchcraft, etc.— that contradicts natural science (Wikipedia). In plain words, it is the belief that one can alter one’s luck by Managing Editor following a set of rules of behavior in various situations. It is Stephen O. Roberts not a religion, yet all religions include rituals which other faiths Sales and Business may consider superstition. Manager Amy Xu While intellectual and generally rational people may ridicule the core idea of most superstitions, they may still follow them Graphic Design from time to time. I remember as a child I used to follow a Joe Zhu few common “rules” such as spitting on the ground whenever Justin Hach I saw a black cat passing by (to avoid bad luck), and never Fan Liu step over someone lying down (because they may stop Staff Writer growing if I did). Tracy Lu This all sounds stupid to me nowadays as an adult, but wait Office Assistant a minute, I’ve just realized that I sometimes still, and I’m Belle Yuan sure many of you do too, follow a few superstitions without being conscious of it. For instance, “knock on wood” three Contributors times after we say something positive and don’t want to jinx Gabriel Barbee it, or “cross your fingers” when you eagerly hope something Chris He specific will happen. What have we got to lose, right? Nick Jacobs Sooryakala Jeyasooria Superstition is also a major part of every Chinese wedding, John Lombard and while most young locals genuinely do not believe in it, Mark Partridge they still play along to these traditions. What have they got to Robin Pier lose, right? Photographers Adam Crase Turn to page 14 to start reading about the way Dongguan people tie the knot. It is guaranteed to bring a smile to your Jocelyn Zhang face as a new year sets in. Send us an Email Letters to the Editor Happy New Year from all of us HERE! [email protected] Ziv Glikman Ads & Subscriptions Editor-in-Chief [email protected] Events Submission [email protected] Directory Listings [email protected] Call us at FIND THE FAKE AD +86 0769 22347730 (Monday–Friday, 9 am–6 pm) Congratulations to all those who spotted last month’s fake ad, “Book Ends Foreign Bookstore” Correct entries were provided by 9 readers: Noel Ocampo, Dikesh Prajapati, Janet Sharit, Sanjila Dulal, Kai Lee, Kanchan Online HERE! Sharma, Sonam Madan, Christina Chand and Alex Rias. www.heredg.com Kanchan Sharma is last month’s randomly selected winner. Kanchan will receive a RMB 300 Food Street voucher from Pullman Dongguan Forum. HERE! Dongguan uses original material only. Letters to the editor may be edited before publishing. Our publication is produced for and by Dongguan’s international community and reflects its diverse characteristics. Views and opinions expressed in this publication belong to Can you spot the fake ad this month? the contributor and are not necessarily those of Send your entry to [email protected]. the publisher or staff. This month Dong Di Mini Hotel offers a All rights reserved to HERE! DG. RMB 300 voucher for its Mini Hotel Bar. Please note only one prize can be won in a twelve-month period. Non-winners can try again. readers SAY Dear Editor, I am going to live in Dongguan. Is it possible to use Facebook there? HERE!: This has been an issue for many as they move far from family I’m very worried for not use Facebook in china. and friends and hope to use modern social sites to keep in touch. With the use of easily found Virtual Private Networks (VPN), some free, Could you help me? the problem is easily routed. There are also more and more hotels and businesses offering wi-fi with VPN. Thanks a lot, Just this week however, in a five-day meeting, Beijing has tightened Giovana control, requiring users to register real names when posting on Chinese sites. The government says these regulations will protect personal information and stop junk mail. Have something you would LETTER like to ask or share about Dongguan or HERE!? Send your TO THE EDITOR letter to [email protected] [email protected] HERE! DONGGUAN » January 2013 5 NEWS In the Local Media Candles in the End In December, rumors of Tree Burial Over 30 people applied for three days of darkness due to the December Dongguan’s first mass tree burial on December 21 doomsday events panicked consumers in 27. Ashes were buried under 260 Aquilaria trees Sichuan, Jilin, and Hunan provinces. Most of in a 3,000 sq. meter area in Chashanyuan Public them were elderly and heard the rumors on the Graveyard in Dongcheng. A large tombstone with street, on buses or across Mahjong tables. The Mountain Girl Fails the names will be set up in front of the forest instead price of candles went up by RMB 2 per bundle. In Doomsday Test of individual tombstones. Ashes of an estimated Dongguan, 30 suspects were arrested for spreading 1,000 people can be placed in the area. rumors about the end of the world and the (news.sun0769.com) Almighty God Christian Cult. (news.timedg.com, news.shangdu.com) Public Bus Reform The president of the Dongguan Transport Bureau stated that reform Toxic Marinated Pork A 25-year-old grocery Shipai Town’s Puxin Village has been maintained of the public bus system will be implemented store owner in Dalingshan Town was on trial for by an 82-year-old man, whose family has moved next year. To change the current situation of 28 selling and making poisonous lop yuk (Chinese out of Dongguan. Every year, he spends RMB independent bus companies, Dongguan will bacon). In February, he purchased a batch made 1,000 for incense, tributes and mouse poison. The join the Lingnan Pass system, which has spread by a factory in Guangzhou’s Huadu District pagoda worships Guan Yu, a general during the through Guangzhou, Zhaoqing, Jiangmen, knowing it had been made from dead pigs and late Han Dynasty and popularly worshipped as Huizhou, Maoming and is connected to Hong industrial salt. Moreover, when he found out part a guardian deity. Every year villagers will chip in Kong and Macau’s Octopus system. Next year, of the meat was wet, he set up a workshop in RMB 100 and organize the Guanyu Parade. The all buses running throughout Dongguan will be Houjie and dried the meat by fire before selling it. pagoda has recently been listed as a Dongguan managed under one government-owned company, He sold a total of 1,860 kilograms of lop yuk and Protected Heritage site. (news.timedg.com) hopefully resulting in improved bus service. made RMB 24,000 profit. (news.sun0769.com) Bad Sanitation The result of a random tests over (news.timedg.com, dg.people.com.cn) Police Pretenders A motorcycle rider in Houjie 25 kinds of food done by the Dongguan Food and was stopped by two uniformed traffic cops at Drug Administration was released in December. City Girl Escapes to the Mountain In about 11:40 p.m. on November 22. They claimed Of 2,000 checked commodities, 129 of them did September, a 20-year-old female migrant believing to be on duty and took his motorcycle by force not comply with standards. The worst rated was in the Mayan end of the world prophecy quit her without administering a receipt. Soon the rider raw seafood, its grade only reached 56.8 percent, job in Dongguan and returned to Sichuan to live realized he was probably robbed by two fake salad reached 71.1 percent and dinnerware was in the mountains preparing for the upcoming policemen and reported the crime. According 83.5 percent. (news.sun0769.com) disaster. She bought loads of instant noodles and to the Houjie Public Security Bureau, there had crackers, built a bamboo house and ark with been an action checking motorcycles that day but Updated Surveillance New surveillance cameras, assistance from local farmers. She blogged her confirmed the action didn’t continue through the 138 in total, have been installed in Shilong Town. experiences on Weibo and posted pictures dressed evening. Similar incidents have been reported in The new equipment recognize peoples’ faces with in leaves and living in a cave. Tens of thousands of Houjie. (gddg.chinanews.com) two-million-pixel cameras, even in darkness. The followers and reposts responded to her 77 posts. zooming lens can rotates 360 degrees and is fitting On December 17, she finally realized that the Pagoda Guard Believed for centuries to channel to gather detailed information of faces and license world wouldn’t end and came back to Dongguan Feng Shui, a 10-meter-tall pagoda built in 1779 in plates.