A bird’s-eye view of Liangzhu Park in Hangzhou[Photo/hangzhou.com.cn]
Hangzhou is a city with a remarkable history and many scenic spots, and it is also the host city of the 19th Asian Games. On August 13, this metropolis will be presented from another perspective. 300 sorties of drones will relay in the cloud, showing the wonderful colors of day and night of this city from above.
Housekeeping is no longer the exclusive domain of women in China, with some young men now offering to clean the corners of your house or tidy up your messy kitchen, for a fee.
More than 300 home service companies have popped up nationwide over the past two years, and some have begun to hire energetic men for housekeeping duties. They are helping to challenge the traditional idea that housekeeping is women’s work, at least according to a report from Urban Express in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province.
Generally, the cost of male housekeepers is upward of 25 yuan per square meter, which is more than women earn doing the same work, although many male housekeepers are also asked to do more physically demanding tasks.
Shao Gang and Shao Qiang－twins born in 1990 in Shandong province－and their 30 male employees all wear uniforms to work. From cleaning greasy cooker hoods and fixing cracks in windows, to dusting ceiling lights and even polishing the shell of your pet turtle, they do it all.
The twins originally came to Hangzhou at the end of 2015 to work as e-commerce livestream hosts, but when they turned up to film, they felt uncomfortable.
“It was as if there was nowhere to stand because the house was packed so full of products for the livestreams,” Shao Gang said.
Shortly afterward, he learned that deep cleaning services were in great demand but because most cleaners were women, and often elderly, they weren’t able to move beds or sofas or climb up to dust lampshades or ceiling corners, and so the idea for a new business was born.
Before they opened Hangzhou Shenshi Housekeeping Service Co in May last year, the twins spent 10,000 yuan ($1,500) being trained to clean professionally by a household service company in Zhengzhou, Henan province.
Once their company was up and running, they advertised by posting videos on platforms like Bilibili and Douyin, which are popular with the younger generation.
Business has been good and can bring in up to 300,000 yuan a month. As a result, the twins have opened new branches and now offer deep cleaning services in Shanghai, Hangzhou, Suzhou and a number of other cities, and have served thousands of customers.
Compared with the 300 to 400 yuan ordinary cleaning services charge, deep cleaning is more expensive, which means that the twins have to offer clients higher quality service.
Take cleaning a cooker hood as an example. The company mandates a four-step process.
“First, we remove the oil catcher, spray it with a professional cleaner and then scrub it vigorously. Then we wipe off the oil with a scouring pad and finally, we rub it clean with a white rag,” Shao Gang said.
When cleaning glass or a mirrored surface, there can be no fingerprints or watermarks, and clients should be able to see only a perfect reflection.
Even though many challenges remain in this corner of the service industry－including frequent quality complaints and labor disputes－the twins have found that demand for their service is growing rapidly, especially among younger clients.
“More than 80 percent of our customers are young people,” Shao Gang said, explaining that even many born in the 2000s who have only just started to work are willing to spend money on deep cleaning.
“For the young, who are more concerned with their quality of life, renting a house is not just about finding a place to sleep but about making a home where they can rest and relax, and so they are willing to pay for our services.”
Yesterday, the highest temperature of Hangzhou hit 40.9℃, a record high in this summer. Yesterday afternoon, Dingan Road Community of Qingbo Sub-district of Shangcheng District cooperated with relevant units under the jurisdiction of the district to provide herbal tea, mung bean soup, lemonade and other heat-relieving drinks for the workers engaged in old residential community renovation projects of Houshi Street as well as other outdoor workers in the neighborhood to send careand offerthe logistical support in the combat against the high temperature in the scorching summer.
Hangzhou was successfully selected as one of the demonstrative cities in Notice of China National Intellectual Property Administration on Determining National Pilot Cities in Building the Strong Intellectual Property City issued on August 11.
In recent years, Hangzhou has connected up all the links of the whole chain from the creation, utilization, protection and management to the service of intellectual properties to ensure the high-quality development of intellectual properties. In the Global Innovation Index City Ranking 2021 released by the World Intellectual Property Organization, Hangzhou ranks the 21st, moving up 4 places on the ranking year-on-year. As of the end of 2021, the city topped all provincial capitals in China with 106,000 valid invention patents and 2,062 PCT international applications. Next, Hangzhou will gradually boostthe projects for efficient utilization ofintellectual properties and promote the coordinated use of industrial intellectual properties.
On August 11, the 3V3 Youth Basketball Match for Pairing Areas of Hangzhou was launched. Basketball youths from Aksu (Xinjiang), Delingha (Qinghai), Ganzi (Sichuan) and Enshi (Hubei), as well as the local basketball players of Hangzhou, gathered in Hangzhou Gongshu Canal Sports Park Gymnasium to attend the competition.
The champion teams took turns to exchange their skills, interpreting the sportsmanship of teamwork and tenacious struggle. The scene set wonderful performances, such as cheer leading, freestyle basketball and dance, and launched the Youth Calligraphy & Painting Exhibition themed by “Greeting the Asian Games and Jointly Building the Dream of the Powerful Country”, conveying the beautiful yearning for the Asian Games.
Two planes featuring patterns related to the 19th Asian Games Hangzhou 2022, which is to be held in fall 2023, made their debut on Monday in Hangzhou, local media outlets reported.
The aircraft, part of the last group of the Hangzhou Asian Games fleet, were converted from Airbus A321-Neos, which feature a slimmer body, more efficient energy usage and a more comfortable ride experience.
Loong Airlines, a Hangzhou-based airline company and owner of the painted planes, celebrated the debut by projecting colorful lights onto the plane to promote various cultural elements related to the company, the Asian Games and the host city Hangzhou.
The planes will join the fleet of the previous 10 painted planes, which also feature patterns inspired by the Asian Games mascots and slogans, to offer more immersive Asian Games-themed rides starting from Hangzhou.
“I hope the painted planes will become a symbol of the Asian Games and the host city of Hangzhou,” said Xin Di, president of Loong Airlines.
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd said on Monday night its voluntary conversion to a dual primary listing in Hong Kong has been confirmed by the Hong Kong stock exchange.
Alibaba, which already has a secondary listing in Hong Kong, expected the primary listing to be completed by the end of this year, the company said in a statement.
The Hangzhou-headquartered company announced on July 26 it would apply for a primary listing in Hong Kong to further expand and diversify its investor base, which would make Alibaba a dual-primary listed company on the New York Stock Exchange and the Hong Kong bourse.
The e-commerce giant went public in New York in September of 2014 in what was the biggest IPO at that time, and raised $13 billion from the Hong Kong stock exchange via a secondary listing in November 2019.
The Lin’an Agriculture Innovation Park in Lin’an district, Hangzhou opened on Aug 8.
The park was built by the district government and Zhejiang A&F University to promote rural vitalization. Twenty-nine companies have opened offices in its 3,000-square-meter incubation space.
“Most agriculture companies are operated in remote villages and can hardly enjoy innovation resources in the downtown area,” said a director of the park. “Our park is a platform for them to work together.”
During the opening ceremony, Zhejiang A&F University set up a technology transfer center at the park and pledged to help local companies improve their research and development capabilities.
The park has also engaged professional livestreaming hosts to help local companies improve their sales.
“Talent is key to rural vitalization and we welcome more agriculture talents to start businesses here,” said Li Lianping, deputy Party secretary of Lin’an district.
In summer , the lotus flowers in West Lake area in Hangzhou of East China’s Zhejiang province are blossoming and enticing thousands of tourists.
The best time to appreciate lotus is from 5 to 6 am, when each lotus stands elegantly against morning glow.
As the Chinese poem goes, “Green lotus leaves outspread as far as boundless sky. Pink lotus blossoms take from sunshine a new dye.”
Zhejiang Museum has initiated a 100-museum project to invigorate the enriched Song Dynasty (960-1279) cultural legacy across Zhejiang Province. The first stage has been set up in a Southern Song Imperial Kiln Museum in Hangzhou and involves interactive activities and 63 sets of antiques.
“Usually, a temporary exhibition only lasts three to six months. Now, we hope the 100-museum project could last over 10 years. Every city in Zhejiang Province has its own distinct Song Dynasty heritage worth deeper research and learning,” said Ji Yunfei, vice curator of Zhejiang Museum.
The project begins with the Southern Song Imperial Kiln Museum, the first museum based on a millennium-old kiln in the country. It is a vital venue showing Song Dynasty porcelains.
In this epoch, the royal court established the Imperial Kiln in Hangzhou to fire ceramics for the royal family. Their elegant shapes and jade-like textures were the hallmarks of their manufacturing techniques, turning Zhejiang into an important production center of sought-after porcelain commodities in ancient China.
Except for top-notch Song Dynasty porcelains, the organizers also focus on scholars’ thoughts to show the open and inclusive society of the era.
One millennium ago, woodblock-printing technology accelerated the spread of literature and knowledge, evidenced here by the displayed ancient books covering literature, religion, technology and agriculture.
Hangzhou’s booming printing industry and its capital status made it a mecca for scholars and literatus. The growth of the population and a prosperous economy, as well as a widely distributed social consciousness, led to a thriving Hangzhou during the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279).
The prosperity also changed women’s lives during the period. Throughout feudal dynasties, women were banned from going to school, and illiterate females were often considered to have better morals. However, open-minded families during the Song Dynasty made great strides, allowing their daughters and wives to study literature, calligraphy and painting.
A batch of cultured women began to realize their self-value through the arts and heightened their social status by improving their literacy, including Li Qingzhao, Lin Youyu and Wu Zhiduan.
The exhibition features women painters’ ink-wash works, through which visitors get a glimpse of the constraints on women’s spirituality and emotions. Their works differentiate from men’s by virtue of subtle emotions, delicate strokes and elaborate layouts, all now revered by modern connoisseurs.
Women also were allowed to attend keju (imperial examination), an exam exclusive to men in previous dynasties. During the period, officials selected by their exam results became dominant in the bureaucracy, so keju was an opportunity to become a high-ranking government official.
The Song period’s openness and inclusiveness was also embodied by the thriving maritime trade.
The royal court even enacted a law to guide the industry, which is believed to be the earliest maritime trade law in the world.
Official departments were established in Hangzhou, Wenzhou, Guangzhou and Quanzhou to dispatch ambassadors and welcome diplomats from other countries.
The 100-museum project is intended to explore the art, economy, culture, agriculture and technology of the Song period and present a well-rounded picture of the heyday of ancient China to young and emerging generations.
In a bid to attract more teenagers, the Hangzhou kiln exhibition is designed with free interactive activities and lectures on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays through August 31. Visitors need to make a reservation as seats are limited.
At the exhibition, children can experience rubbing stone inscriptions. The ancient scholars invented rubbing methods to reproduce stone inscriptions on paper, the only media available centuries ago to spread the words on stone inscriptions.
Visitors will be able to partake in an authentic and entertaining puppet show, arrow-throwing game (touhu) and woodblock printing – activities that were popular among locals many centuries ago.
“This exhibition not only displays ancient artworks, but also shows the lifestyle and aesthetics of our ancestors,” Ji said.
“Museums should play a role in public education. The exhibits and stories should be accessible to people. The 100-museum project is going to integrate exhibition with education and spread the Song Dynasty history among young generations.”
100-museum project exhibition
Date: Through September 21, closed on Mondays
Address: 60 Nanfu Rd
Admission: Free