China gives fashion instructions to police | Oddly Enough | Reuters
BEIJING (Reuters) - China’s police have been given new orders — no strangely dyed hair, no beards, no sideburns; and leave your scarfs and jewellery at home.

The Ministry of Public Security has issued the order to “establish a good image for the people’s police”, domestic media said on Thursday.

“When police are in uniform on duty, they are not allowed to wear scarfs or jewellery, paint their nails, or have colourfully dyed hair,” the Beijing News said, citing the new rules.

“Male police officers cannot have long or curly hair, sideburns, shave their hair bald or have beards,” it said, adding female police officers cannot have hair longer than shoulder length.

“Unless there is a specific job need or illness of the eye, police cannot wear coloured glasses,” it added.

The police are also banned from smoking in public and entering places of entertainment such as bars, unless for work, while in uniform, according to the regulations which take effect this month.

Those who violate the rules will be given a warning or may be sacked, it said.

It is not the first time the government has given fashion tips.

In April, Beijing prohibited female taxi drivers from dying their hair bright red or yellow and from wearing chunky earrings, hoping to improve the city’s image ahead of next year’s Olympics.

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I guess Singapore rules are getting adopted by the Chinese now…

China refuses to let their currency float on the open market, basically pegging their Yuan to our Dollar, it makes Chinese products cheaper to American consumers. Therefore cheaper products mean larger trade deficits with the United States.

Larger trade deficits mean they have more U.S. dollars to play with. Right now they are using that currency to buy our bonds, keeping our interest rates low and keeping our economy going.

If the American dollar is devalued, that is good because American products will become cheaper overseas and thus foreigners will buy more American products.

Because their trade deficit is so large with the United States, they really have no where else to put their American dollars, but to buy our bonds because they are surely not buying our products.

China keeping its currency low artifically keeps their products cheap to foreigners, the problem is that they have ALOT of growth - 10% last year and this is causing inflation in their economy.

They are trying a managed capitalism approach, which even they are having a problem holding the reigns on their hot economy.

Remember also that China does not allow foreign companies to take more than 10-20% of their profits out of the country - therefore they are forced to invest back into their country. Unlike in the United States you can be British, buy an American company and take ALL your profits overseas (minus some taxes of course).

I suspect interests rates in China will have to go up to slow their economy.

San Jose Mercury News - Why U.S. doesn’t stop tainted food from China
“WASHINGTON - Dried apples preserved with a cancer-causing chemical. Frozen catfish laden with banned antibiotics. Scallops and sardines coated with putrefying bacteria. Mushrooms laced with illegal pesticides.

These were among the 107 food imports from China the Food and Drug Administration detained at U.S. ports just last month, agency documents reveal, along with more than 1,000 shipments of tainted Chinese dietary supplements, toxic Chinese cosmetics and counterfeit Chinese medicines.

For years, U.S. inspection records show, China has flooded the United States with foods unfit for human consumption. And for years, FDA inspectors have simply returned to Chinese importers the small portion of those products they caught - many of which turned up at U.S. borders again, making a second or third attempt at entry.”

This is amazing. I was wondering if the Pet Food scare we had a couple of weeks back could be infecting our human food supply - well this article pretty much confirmed it.

Isn’t there a minimum level of quality that the American consumer is willing to accept for cheap food? Their heath standards are not as high as those in the United States so why should we be surprised? Because they do not have the high standards we impose on our native farmers they can grow crops at a lower price - furthering collapse of the American Farmer who cannot compete.

How soon will we have another food quality outbreak in the American food supply from China? How many people will die?