Coronavirus - those in China, and general discussion

[imron]

15 minutes ago, suMMit said:

You can always just boil tap water no?

We used to joke that that's just what the bottle water companies were doing anyway

[889]

Your phone is keeping track of your location, and quite openly now.

 

Send an SMS and you'll get back an official 行程证明 of the cities you've been in within the past 15 and 30 days. For China Mobile, send "cxmyd" to 10086. (You have to reply back with the last 4 digits of your passport number.)

 

Here's the official announcement:

 

http://www.gov.cn/fuwu/2020-02/18/content_5480444.htm

 

[mkmyers45]

14 hours ago, suMMit said:

You can always just boil tap water no?

 

That's the new trick in town!!! I have a feeling the water companies may not make as much money when all this is over ?

[Jim]

Our village has two purified water machines down by the committee offices, it's CNY1 for 20 litres, coin operated or you can by a swipe card you charge. Only designed for the half-size jugs but someone's helpfully tinkered with one of them so you can fit the big standard ones you get on most water dispensers in.

[ChTTay]

Advisable not to drink the water in Beijing even when boiled. Metal content from the pipes (or something similar?) doesn’t boil away. So far some brands of of the big water cooler bottles are easy to get while others aren’t. 

[889]

Water in Beijing, at least in some parts of the city, comes from deep wells in limestone. Boil it away and there'll be a fine white grainy deposit left. That's calcium carbonate and harmless.

[ChTTay]

4 hours ago, 889 said:

Water in Beijing, at least in some parts of the city, comes from deep wells in limestone. Boil it away and there'll be a fine white grainy deposit left. That's calcium carbonate and harmless.

It’s not the water source, it’s the pipes it comes through. This is one reason why people say don’t drink it. I also rarely hear of anyone, even Chinese people, directly drinking it. Like Jim mentioned, many locals use the water filter machines to refill a big water bottle. 

[889]

There might be some iron from the pipes as well, but it's as harmless as the calcium carbonate.

 

Relax! Go have a nice cup of tea.

[imron]

2 minutes ago, 889 said:

There might be some iron from the pipes as well,

According to this, there might also be heavy metals and pesticides depending on the part of Beijing you are in.

[889]

"在中国虽然广告向消费者传达的信息是瓶装水干净，安全，健康，但这不能代表所有瓶装水和包装水产品。2015年中国食品监管部门抽检的结果表明，407种被查出的有问题饮料中有将近400种是不合格的瓶装水和包装水。"

 

https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/chinese-news-41975856

 

So pick your poison.

 

I go for the one that's free.

[StChris]

Well, the news we have been waiting for all week finally arrived this morning:

 

 

That's right, no new confirmed infections yesterday, not only in Harbin, but in the whole of Heilongjiang province! While there are are bound to be a few new cases here and there, it was nice to wake up this morning and see the number 0. Speaking of nice surprises upon waking up, the first and most obvious one was the snowstorm. While cold weather might not be good for preventing the spread of the virus, Harbin always looks more beautiful under some snow, and I'm still holding out a small sliver of hope that I may yet get to go snowboarding at least one more time this winter.

 

 

The good news doesn't end there. As I walked around yesterday, I noticed that one of the buildings that had been quarantined has completed it's 14 day observation period, and that quarantine has now been 解除ed. 

 

 

Despite the recent good news, some people still aren't taking any chances, and a face mask is still an obligatory item of attire for anyone wanting to go outside. No dogs, no unmasked Chinese?

 

 

Now the question is how long the city lock-down will last for. Given the estimated incubation period of 14 days, I hope that things will be back to relatively normalcy within a couple of weeks, given no new outbreak (and I'm talking about Harbin, not the whole of China). It would be nice to be able to walk about without constantly getting my temperature taken all the time, plus I have a hundred things I'm looking forward to eating again!

[Jan Finster]

4 hours ago, imron said:

According to this, there might also be heavy metals and pesticides depending on the part of Beijing you are in.

 

Yes, this is most likely. My Chinese friends are mortified by the idea of using tap water for making tea. It is certainly not because of a bit of calcium carbonate or iron. Considering the quality of Chinese air (=pollution), I do not even want to imagine what is in the (tap) water.

[StChris]

2 hours ago, Jan Finster said:

Yes, this is most likely. My Chinese friends are mortified by the idea of using tap water for making tea. It is certainly not because of a bit of calcium carbonate or iron. Considering the quality of Chinese air (=pollution), I do not even want to imagine what is in the (tap) water.

 

Ok, so now I've stopped worrying about the coronavirus and started worrying about all the boiled tap water I've been drinking over the past 18 months!

[DavyJonesLocker]

I'm not bothered to be honest.id imagine every restaurant is using tap water for drinks, hot water etc Can't say I've noticed any difference in the last 5 or 6 years I've been here. I wouldn't drink tap water directly though. 

[Jan Finster]

50 minutes ago, DavyJonesLocker said:

I'm not bothered to be honest.id imagine every restaurant is using tap water for drinks, hot water etc

 

Sure

 

50 minutes ago, DavyJonesLocker said:

Can't say I've noticed any difference in the last 5 or 6 years I've been here.

 

You would not....but maybe it would affect your health 30 years later...

 

51 minutes ago, DavyJonesLocker said:

I wouldn't drink tap water directly though. 

 

The only thing boiling does is to kill germs in the water and only if you boil it for 1 minute (the minute starts when your automatic boiler typically stops (https://www.businessinsider.com/how-long-you-need-to-boil-tap-water-2017-9?r=DE&IR=T)

 

Here about chemicals in Chinese tap water:

https://www.purelivingchina.com/blog/what-pollutants-are-chinas-tap-water

 

https://www.businessinsider.com/toxic-chemicals-tap-drinking-water-2019-4?r=DE&IR=T#lead-poisoning-was-at-the-heart-of-the-flint-crisis-but-its-also-a-problem-in-places-like-detroit-pittsburgh-and-washington-dc-1

 

 

57 minutes ago, DavyJonesLocker said:

d imagine every restaurant is using tap water for drinks

 

You are in so far right as whatever you eat in China may have the same contaminants as animals and plants are not "fed" bottled water. This does not, however, make it safe. Even though most of us love Chinese food, you do not want to make a chemical analysis of it. This is not just a problem in aqua culture, which is basically bathed in antibiotics, but also other food.

 

[Tomsima]

My wife's family boil tap water, then filter it for drinking and cooking. My wife also buys bottled water (volvic in the uk, 农夫山泉 in China) specially for brewing tea, and even this will sometimes be filtered too before boiling for brewing. I'm a bit blown away by the whole process to be honest, but I don't really have a leg to stand on as a British man gradually losing his hair (for those who don't know, one urban myth (perhaps...?) is that there is a high proportion of bald British men due to the hard tap water that we drink here). Any time I question the process, everyone just refers me to my receding hairline...

[ChTTay]

10 hours ago, Tomsima said:

then filter it

How do they filter it? Just curious ? 

 

My apartment in Beijing now has passes to get in and out. Are we late to the party? 
 

Edit: added a pic

[abcdefg]

22 hours ago, Tomsima said:

My wife also buys bottled water (volvic in the uk, 农夫山泉 in China) specially for brewing tea, and even this will sometimes be filtered too before boiling for brewing.

 

Different waters have slightly different "tastes" 味道 as well as slightly different pH. It can make a subtle difference when brewing tea. 农夫 Nongfu is generally considered a "sweet" water, well suited to brewing a light green tea. People 茶艺师 who know more than I do sometimes suggest a specific (Chinese) brand of bottled water for a specific tea. Old saying in tea circles is "The tea leaves 茶叶 are the father of a good pot of tea and water 水 is the mother." I cannot remember the entire phrase in Chinese at the moment.  

 

A problem I run into in the US when I give tea to family and friends is that they generally just use tap water. Sometimes tap water here can be potable, safe from a health standpoint, but still taste horrible. I must exhort them to use bottled water from the store. Sometimes they see that as a fussy imposition, another reason not to bother with brewing real tea. "Don't need all that bother when I just dunk a Lipton's teabag." 

 

I can recall going to a special spring outside Hangzhou 虎跑泉 to fetch the water with which to make the perfect glass of Longjing tea 龙井茶。Local people were lined up to take containers of it back home. 

 

Hmm, well maybe I remembered the proverb a little bit wrong: Please see link.

 

http://www.modaotea.com/tea/6527.html

 

 

[mungouk]

TheBeijinger's WeChat account is reporting that Beijing just had its first day (23 Feb) with zero new cases being reported.

 

[ChTTay]

2 hours ago, mungouk said:

TheBeijinger's WeChat account

They post their source (it’s this) on the main Coronavirus page (here).

 

Hopefully part of a downward trend.