Guest Photographer – Johnnie Crawford

Johnnie Crawford hangs out in my local café and last year I persuaded him to share his iPhone imagery with our local camera club. This man is a creative genius. It is easy enough to see his award winning and commercial work which is almost legendary, but his personal iPhone work is also inspirational.This image of our guest photographer was taken by Cam Sanders Designer with some input from Johnnie.

The frickin “f” word

The Frickin “F” Word….

I am showing my age possibly but I do wonder why the “f” word  is used so  much by middle aged women and men, but women especially.

I grew up on a farm and swearing was common over in the wool shed and out mustering. My father swore at the dogs, he swore at the sky, he swore at anything out on the farm.

Super City-price tag $40 bil.

Zhengzhou City in Henan Province is a mix of the old and the new, but one thing for certain it is growing faster than topsy!!    

Museum Building – Zhengzhou

I was in Henan Province, China the week before Christmas and we were given a whirlwind trip to see this new supercity under construction. The figures are mind blowing Forty Billion is being spent on creating this super city with fast rail between Beijing and Shanghai. That is the easy part, then they have a new super sized convention centre, a new International Airport being built, and hundreds of miles of motorways.

  

Zhengzhou  is situated at the strategic meeting of two important freight routes for Chinese goods. In August, the province broke the 100-million population mark. It now ranks just behind Guangdong, the most populous and richest region of China. But the two provinces are worlds apart.

Toll booths

The steel roof of the new exhibition centre can be seen from a far. Spectacularly folded, like a paper umbrella in an exotic cocktail, it suggests big economic development.

In front of the building stands Sun Sihan from the public relations department of Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan province.

Below is an architectural impression of the new Super city facilities. 

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“We have the largest conference hall in Asia.”  Recently they held the biggest IT Convention in the world.Although largely unknown, Zhengzhou is one of the biggest cities in central China, with 4.5 million people.

The bold building is the centre of a huge real estate project, the central business district of Zhengzhou.

A semi-circle of 60 new office towers and apartment houses has mushroomed around an artificial lake. Just east of the existing city is a large area reserved for ‘Zhengdong New Town’, roughly half the size of Frankfurt.

Below: a new Toll booth and little used motorway near the new super city area.

 

Motorway structure in the new super city with early morning smog

Now the City Council of Zhengzhou is increasing the pressure. Foxconn has now officially signed a contract for a new factory complex in Zhengzhou.

In one to two years, the factory could be fully operational with about 200,000 workers expected to assemble at least as many iPhones here daily.

 

Thousands of Henan workers have already applied for jobs — for lower wages, but closer to home.

Nobody knows which other companies will come out to Zhengzhou. Neither the PR lady nor the officials at the employment centre know.

Zhengzhou is situated at the strategic meeting of two important freight routes for Chinese goods. In August, the province broke the 100-million population mark. It now ranks just behind Guangdong, the most populous and richest region of China. But the two provinces are worlds apart.

And despite the excellent infrastructure connection, Zhengzhou cannot compete with the Guangdong industrial cities, which lie close to container ports.

Meanwhile, construction continues undeterred in Zhengzhou. Approximately $4 billion was pumped by the provincial and municipal government into the Newtown project.

The entrance to Zhengzhou Aviatiion Economy Comprehensive Experimental Area.

We went to  Zhengzhou Aviatiion Economy Comprehensive Experimental Area. The place  belongs to the  Zhengzhou government.   The goal is to  build  the Experimental Zone into a “Mega Hub” by 2025. With an anticipated cargo and mailing throughput of 3 million tons,
It will also develop itself into a “Mega Metropolis” with its operating and business environment fully in compliance with international practices. A modern aerotropolis with total import and export of 200 million U.S. dollars thus becomes an inland opening-up height leading the development of the Central Plains Economic Zone, extending services across the country and connecting the whole world. Hard to comprehend!!

So briefly this is a glimpse into the colossal development forging ahead in the middle of CHINA..a staggering sized project , hard to comprehend when one lives in New Zealand with 4 million people!!