Word: honge
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...still painfully poor. While cities like Shanghai boast some of the world's tallest and most advanced buildings, rural areas are often plagued by substandard structures. During the 1990s China updated its building codes to standards that approximate those of the U.S. and Europe, says Greg Wong, a Hong Kong-based structural engineer who has worked in China since 1985. But those standards aren't always met, he says, especially in the countryside. "If they spent more money and build buildings half as good as schools in North America or Hong Kong or even Beijing, I think they would have...
...Part of the problem is money. Until recently local governments were expected to carry up to half of the expenses for local education, says Joseph Cheng, a political science professor at City University of Hong Kong. That created an incentive to skimp. "In the interior provinces, governmental supervision is very lax," he says. Education "is not a priority area. You can cut corners." Even now, provincial economic plans list yearly targets for the reduction of unsafe schools, illustrating the extent to which low school budgets have compromised safety. "It's a widely recognized problem," Cheng says...
...Does social and political conservatism explain the dearth of Singaporean film before the 1990s? KHOO: No, basically we had a very thriving film industry. But when Sir Run Run Shaw left for Hong Kong and [influential Malaysian actor and director] P. Ramlee went back to Malaysia, things changed. If you think of movies produced back in the '50s, the budgets were, like, up to a million, and they were huge in Southeast Asia. UEKRONGTHAM: It's not so much about social control but trying to focus on economic progress. And maybe now is the time when they can focus...
...sophisticated audience, one that can embrace more than just commercial cinema. When you look at Singapore, one thing I think we can pride ourselves on is the independent distributors that we have, and the amount of films that come through now, whether they be Iranian, French, German, from Hong Kong, or Korean. UEKRONGTHAM: Whenever I'm away, I can come back and get my art-house fix. You are spoiled for choice here. I can watch three or four films a day. KHOO: I think that if we didn't have the SIFF, film appreciation would be on the level...
...increase in global temperature is a negative consequence for the entire world, the United States, China, and India included; a rise in the sea level will undoubtedly impact coastal cities that include New York, San Francisco, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Mumbai. It is in the interest of all nations to contribute to a resolution of the environmental crisis...