Chinese skating female athlete Liu Meixian missed the Beijing Winter Olympics because of the new crown. The picture shows her excellent rotation in the short song project. (Associated Press)
The U.S. Figure Skating announced on the 7th that Chinese athlete Liu Meixian (Alysa Liu) has been diagnosed with new crown pneumonia and will withdraw from the National Skating Championships, but still has a chance to compete in the Beijing Olympics.
Liu Meixian, who is only 16 years old, is known as one of the most promising players in the United States. She has won the 2019 and 2020 national championships; before the diagnosis, Liu Meixian won the third place in the short program on the 6th. She immediately went to Nashville, Tennessee to participate in the Free Skate championship.
Liu Meixian was also the second major player to be forced to withdraw from the national competition. Another pair of duo Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier were forced to withdraw from the competition on the evening of the 5th, because Frazier did.
This week, all athletes must present a negative test certificate for new crown pneumonia on arrival before they can enter the competition. However, the Skating Association also required a second quick screening during the competition, and Liu Meixian's quick screening result on the 7th showed positive.
Liu Meixian wrote on her personal social platform Instagram: "I have completed the vaccination, and I wear an N95 mask wherever I go; before I left Nashville, my two screening results were negative. Unfortunately, it happened. I am very grateful to the organizer for careful prevention of the epidemic, so that every player can compete in a safe environment. I am in a good psychological condition now, and I wish all the girls who participated in the competition all the best! Thanks for your support."
Even if the diagnosis is confirmed, Liu Meixian's chance of entering the Olympic team is still very high; according to the rules of the Skating Association, athletes who do not perform well in the national competitions can still petition the US Figure Skating's International Committee and state that they are healthy Situation; Knierim and Fraser are likely to adopt the same approach, and the chances of selection are very high.
The American Figure Skating Association will announce the list of three women participating in the Beijing Winter Olympics on the afternoon of the 8th.
(Source: Compiled from World Journal)
Zillow's real estate speculation plan failed, and many buyers took advantage of the price cut. (World Journal Reporter Li Xue/Photography)
In recent months, Zillow, an online real estate company, has failed to use an artificial intelligence system to "house flipping", selling thousands of houses at low prices in many parts of the United States, including hundreds of houses in Los Angeles and Orange County. In the real estate market where buyer competition is so fierce today, there are lucky Chinese buyers who have "picked up" and bought Zillow's low-priced homes.
Ms. Mai decided to buy a house in Irvine at the end of 2021 due to factors such as career development and children's schooling. However, in the Irvine housing market, competition is fierce, and the experience of house inspections is horrible. Ms. Mai said that her budget had to go from $850,000 to $900,000, and then to $950,000, but found that it was impossible to buy suitable independent houses in Irvine, and all houses had to be purchased at a higher price. For example, for a two-bedroom house listed for $870,000, there were 33 offers in less than a week, and the last $960,000 was sold in cash. Ms. Mai didn't even have the opportunity to bid.
Ms. Mai said: "The more I look at the house, the more frustrated I am." At that time, after understanding Ms. Mai's budget, an agent kindly "persuaded her to leave" and said that she would wait for a while.
Things turned around on the Sunday afternoon when Ms. Mai was euphemistically persuaded by the broker. That day, while she was walking in the nearby park, accidentally she saw a nearby independent house on the Internet with a price tag of $928,000. She came to this house with the attitude of giving it a try.
Ms. Mai came to the door and found that there was a sign "Zillow owned property" at the door. Only then did she know that it was the house Zillow was selling. Fortunately, a man in a suit happened to open the door at this time. After inquiring, it turned out that this man was the real estate agent. After understanding Ms. Mai’s intentions, the agent agreed to show Ms. Mai the house. After looking at it, Ms. Mai was very satisfied and asked whether it was possible to buy the house at the asking price of $950,000. She did not expect that the broker responded very positively, saying that it should be okay.
According to Spectrum News, Zillow used artificial intelligence systems to "turn over houses" and purchased more than 13,000 houses in the past two quarters and sold about 3,000 houses in recent months, including more than 120 in Los Angeles County and Orange County. According to the "California Regional Multiple Listing Service", a real estate agent query system, as of November 30, 2021, there are still 135 Zillow houses for sale in Los Angeles, Orange, and San Diego counties.
Ms. Mai said that generally houses are listed for sale on Wednesdays and Thursdays, but Zillow’s houses are generally sold on Sundays. And the real estate agent is not very active in showing buyers, as long as the price is about the same, they will sell. She said that later she saw another Zillow house in Irvine, and the final transaction price was sold at the same price as the original price without any increase.
It is reported that online real estate companies have relatively low commissions to brokers, causing brokers to not be interested in introducing buyers, making Zillow often unable to sell when it is refurbished and listed for sale.
After buying a house for renovation, put it on the market and sell it, which is called "renovation." Some websites estimate that Zillow has lost $300 million in this wave of buying high and selling low. Zillow announced not long ago that it would withdraw from the home refurbishment business. The company stated that its algorithm and model for fast buying and selling of houses failed to work as planned. Due to the failure of real estate speculation, nearly half of the houses bought earlier were sold at a price cut.
(Source: Compiled from on line information)
Wu Chengyuan, a lecturer in the International Course of the National Real Estate Association, analyzed that people often rely on Zillow's house appraisal when looking at a house, but Zillow's appraisal is often inaccurate and requires real estate agents to re-evaluate. He believes that during the epidemic, the cost of decoration materials and labor increased, causing Zillow's capital chain to break, which may have led to this wave of low-priced housing sales operations. But Zillow is not a big player in the real estate market after all, and this batch of sold houses will not change the shortage of house inventory and the booming real estate market.
The New Year's Day Flag Raising Ceremony held in front of the Chung Hua Association on New Year's Day in 2022. Participants took a group photo under the flag of the Republic of China in front of the association hall. (World Journal Reporter Qi Chrome/Photography)
Will the Luo Sheng Zhonghua Guild Hall Move Closer to the PRC?
For more than a hundred years, the Luoshen Zhonghua Guild Hall, which has supported the Republic of China (ROC), hung the flag of the Republic of China, and sang the national anthem of the Republic of China, will finally move closer to the PRC (People’s Republic of China) when continues to rule?
At the New Year’s Day dinner on the day of the inauguration of the four new heads of the Luoshen Zhonghua Guild Hall, representing the Democratic Progressive Party of Taiwan, officials from the Taipei Cultural and Economic Office in Los Angeles were dissatisfied with the organizer of the Luoshen Zhonghua Guild Hall reading out the congratulatory message from the Chinese Consulate, and left early from the venue, sparked discussion among the community.
Regarding whether the Luoshen Zhonghua Guild Hall will continue to support the Republic of China in the future, or will it gradually move towards mainland China, which is close to the rule of the Chinese Communist Party? Those who participated in the dinner that day said it was unpredictable. Some people from the mainland overseas Chinese group said that they may maintain their preference for the Republic of China for a period, but eventually they will raise the national flag of the People’s Republic of China and sing the national anthem of the People’s Republic of China.
Chen Qizhi, president of the Joint Alumni Association of Chinese Colleges and Universities in Southern California, said that the Taipei Cultural and Economic Office had communicated with the new leadership team of the Chinese Association in advance, but things that shouldn't have happened still happened, so under the premise of feeling disrespect, he had to leave to express protest.
He believes that the PRC has not given up its attempt to infiltrate the traditional overseas Chinese community in the Chinese Guild Hall, and it will not stop in the future. As for the probability of success, it is still within an acceptable range, but it is hard to predict how the future is unimaginable. Since the Zhonghua Guild Hall has its own purpose of establishing and maintaining values, it is hoped that the PRC will not achieve its goals.
Xu Chengwu, who attended the dinner, was a senior overseas Chinese leader of the Chinese mainland overseas Chinese delegation. He said that after entering the banquet hall, he keenly felt that the atmosphere was a little strange and witnessed the whole process.
He believes that the focus of controversy in the activities of the Chinese Association in the future should be to hang the national flag and sing the national anthem. According to his understanding, some old overseas Chinese said that in the future, which side the Chinese Guild Hall prefers on both sides of the strait depends on whether the Kuomintang can govern. If the Kuomintang has no hope of ruling, the Zhonghua Guild Hall will not be able to continue to adhere to its original ideas and will shift from favoring the Republic of China to mainland China. The Chinese Guild Hall may be maintained for some time in the future. It will continue to hang the national flag of the Republic of China and sing the national anthem of the Republic of China, but eventually the national flag of the People’s Republic of China will be raised, and the national anthem of the People’s Republic of China will be sung.
(Source: Compiled from the World Journal)
Airport is the Chain of Spread of the Epidemic, Xi'an Xianyang Suspends International Passenger Routes
International flights to Xi'an Xianyang International Airport have been suspended. (Xinhua News Agency) (Photo from World Journal)
According to a report by Xinhua News Agency on the 6th, the international passenger route of Xi’an Xianyang International Airport has been suspended from the 5th, and the resumption time will be notified separately. Prior to this, Xi'an Xianyang International Airport has suspended all domestic flights.
Xinhua News Agency reporters learned from various channels such as Xi’an Xianyang International Airport that, with the approval of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, the international passenger route of Xi’an Xianyang International Airport will be suspended from January 5th, and the resumption time will be notified separately. Prior to this, Xi'an Xianyang International Airport has suspended all domestic flights.
Although the Xi'an government officially announced that the "social aspect is cleared", the chain of transmission of the epidemic in Xi'an is vague, and the official has not announced a clear conclusion. However, according to Lu media "Peng Pai News" retrospectively pointed out that Xianyang International Airport is one of the transmission chains. Clear clues point to. Yu Chuanhua, a professor at the School of Public Health of Wuhan University, once said that the chain of transmission is still unclear, and it is not ruled out that new cases will continue to run at a high level.
At present, the Xi'an epidemic has spilled over to Yan'an, Xianyang, Dongguan, Beijing, and other places. The Henan epidemic has also begun to heat up recently. Coupled with the approaching Beijing Winter Olympics, mainland officials have increased pressure to cut the transmission chain as soon as possible.
(Source: compiled from Online Information)
(Photo from World Journal)
Chinese Parents Unwilling to Let Their Children Return to School
As the new semester starts, many Chinese parents are very concerned about the rapid spread of the Omicron variant and the global coronavirus cases are now surging to levels far higher than at any previous point of the pandemic — with an average of nearly 1.5 million new cases every day. Asking about if their children would go back to school, many Chinese parents have stated that they were not willing to send their children back to school.
Mrs. Zhang from Arcadia in Los Angeles County has a four-year old daughter attending a local kindergarten. She said “Before the holidays, I was concerned about my daughter’s safety at school. Now with the rapidly surging coronavirus cases, I am not going to send my daughter back to the kindergarten.”
Mrs. Zhang stated that without being able to interact with the same age children at the kindergarten, no doubt, her daughter’s childhood would be impacted negatively. Six months ago, when the kindergarten opened for operation after its several month-long closure, she was wondering whether she should send her daughter back to school. After seeing other children returning to school with no issues, she decided she would follow suit. However, with rapidly increased coronavirus cases, she changed her mind. Mrs. Zhang said” Even though there is lower probability for young children to get coronavirus, and if they get it, the symptom would not be too severe, there are still children become ill and end up in the hospital. Without knowing if my daughter might get it, I feel more comfortable to keep my daughter at home now.”
Like Mrs. Zhan, many parents worry if it is safe to send their children back to school. Yet, other parents indicated that even though they worry about their children’s safety, they will allow their children to return to school because “we have to face and deal with the reality.”
Emma from Pasadena in Los Angeles County said “My son really looks forward to returning to kindergarten. He loves the kindergarten and enjoys his friends there. I feel bad if I do not allow him to return to school. I sincerely hope that the kindergarten will adhere to health department’s regulations to keep their students from getting coronavirus.”
Before school started, Mr. Wang from Arcadia in Los Angeles County received a notice from the school district indicating that in the next few weeks the school is going to enhance its ability to test COVID 19, and each student will receive a family testing package. In addition to testing their children for coronavirus, the school district also strongly suggests parents not to send their children to school if their children are sick or have any COVID 19 symptoms.
Mr. Wang said” My daughter who attends high school has been vaccinated and she does not need to report daily her health condition at school. My son who is in primary school and has not been vaccinated, and he must fill out a questionnaire daily to self-assess his health condition. The school will review and approve the completed questionnaire before my son is allowed to attend school.”
(Compiled from online informaiton)
Los Angeles County Department of Health Director Barbara Ferrer recently announced that when schools reopen on January 3, 2022, the employees at all the public and private schools must wear masks when they are on duty. Everyone must have their mask on when they are outdoors with a lot of people present. Starting January 3, all the schools must enforce these requirements within two weeks.
