Latest news with #Xiang
AsiaOne
2 days ago
- Automotive
- AsiaOne
$218 release fee: Car park operator at Woodlands VEP centre criticised for clamping cars parked illegally, Singapore News
Motorists who illegally park their vehicles while collecting their Vehicle Entry Permit (VEP) at Woodlands Industrial Park risk having their wheels clamped and incurring a $218 release fee. Several motorists have expressed frustration over the matter, noting they resorted to parking in restricted spaces due to the lack of available lots. According to Shin Min Daily News, a Singaporean motorist who wished to be known only as Xiang said she turned up for an appointment at the VEP information centre on Aug 13 at 1.30pm. Upon arrival, she found no available parking lot and opted to park in a red season parking lot near a car wash. "I was worried I would miss my scheduled time slot and have to come back again," said the 47-year-old. "So, I parked in the red season ticket space. But after just 10 minutes, my car was locked and I received a $218 fine notice." Xiang added that she saw seven or eight other drivers who had their wheels clamped too, and suspected that enforcement staff may have been waiting to catch motorists who parked illegally. "If I had been fined $50, or even $100, I wouldn't have been so angry. But regardless of how long the car is there, even if it's just 10 minutes, a fine of $218 is excessive," said Xiang. Lack of visible signage Another driver who faced a similar situation was Stomp contributor Tiffany, who said she had parked in a red season lot for just four minutes at the same location before her vehicle was clamped. Tiffany criticised the car park operator, G. Tech, for the lack of clear signages warning motorists about the risk of wheel clamping, noting that the only indication was the red-painted lots on the ground. She added that the enforcement staff were allegedly unhelpful, citing an incident where a man in his 70s had his vehicle clamped. "When [the elderly man] told the enforcement staff he didn't have cash to pay the $218 release fee, they offered no help- no directions to an ATM [or other] alternatives," said Tiffany. G. Tech declined to comment on the matter when contacted by AsiaOne. When Shin Min reporters visited the site, parking lots nearest to the VEP information centre were observed to be all reserved season parking spaces with red lines, while non-reserved parking was only available further away. A notice was also observed on one side of the wall, warning that illegal parking would result in a fine. The VEP was first announced in 2017, with full enforcement beginning on July 1 this year. All Singapore-registered vehicles must have a valid VEP to enter and exit Malaysia. Vehicles entering Malaysia without a valid VEP will face a fine of RM300 (S$90). Drivers must pay the fine and complete their VEP registration before they are allowed to exit the country. [[nid:691727]]
Indian Express
24-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
Who is Siang Lu, whose novel ‘Ghost Cities' just won Australia's biggest literary award
Chinese Malaysian Australian author Siang Lu has won the 2025 Miles Franklin Literary Award – Australia's most prestigious literary prize – for his absurdist novel Ghost Cities, which masterfully weaves together parallel stories. 'I am honoured beyond belief, and beyond words,' Lu said after winning the prestigious award. 'I didn't dare dream of this. It didn't seem possible.' Lu receives AUD $60,000 (approx ₹33.6 lakh) in prize money as part of the award. The win was not exactly a surprise. Ghost Cities had already been shortlisted for six major awards and Lu was being compared to literary giants such as Haruki Murakami, Gabriel García Márquez, and even Kevin Kwan. Its publisher, University of Queensland Press, called it 'a profound and highly imaginative novel' that 'cleverly draws on Chinese history to explore the absurdity of modern life and work.' The judges called it 'a genuine landmark in Australian literature.' Lu's novel unfolds across multiple timelines and realities: in one strand, a young man named Xiang is fired from his job at the Chinese consulate in Sydney after it is discovered he doesn't speak a word of Chinese and has been relying entirely on Google Translate. He relocates to a mysterious, uninhabited megacity, one of China's infamous 'ghost cities,' and from there the narrative explodes into a kaleidoscope of myth and mirage. How is Xiang's quiet exile connected to a long-dead Emperor who creates a thousand doubles of himself? Or to a mountain that gains sentience and a libido? Or to a chess-playing automaton that harbours a deadly secret? In Lu's world, everything is metaphor and everything is literal. Lu first caught readers' attention with The Whitewash, his 2022 debut about the unraveling of a fictional Hollywood film meant to 'smash the bamboo ceiling.' That novel, styled as a mock oral history, satirised the politics of representation in the entertainment industry, and won the ABIA Audiobook of the Year with its pioneering cast of majority Asian-Australian actors. Where The Whitewash tackled race and pop culture, Ghost Cities zooms out to empire, language, and time. It is, as author Nick Earls put it, 'a stunning piece of writing. It's quite a feat to create one labyrinth in a book… but somehow Siang Lu creates two… and makes them act as mirrors to each other.' The novel has exploding libraries, shape-shifting doubles, and government functionaries who cannot speak the languages of their own bureaucracy. And there's Xiang, a kind of anti-hero, wandering through ghost cities that might be metaphors, or might just be real. Lu, who splits his time between Brisbane and Kuala Lumpur, does not court the solemnity that often clings to literary success. When his publisher made him start an author Instagram, he went rogue, launching #sillybookstagram, a feed full of Photoshopped book covers that deface his friends' work with pure nonsense. 'Why waste time write book when Silly PhotoShop do trick?' he writes, tongue firmly in cheek. A post shared by Siang Lu (@sianglu_author) Author Alice Pung put it best: 'The inventiveness, the genius of it all – it is like the lovechild of Viet Thanh Nguyen crossed with Gabriel Garcia Marquez crossed with Kevin Kwan. It is nuts, and deep, and moving, and also funny.' Lu also co-created The Beige Index, a digital project critiquing racial representation in film and media. Alongside fellow shortlist authors – Brian Castro (Chinese Postman), Michelle de Kretser (Theory and Practice), Winnie Dunn (Dirt Poor Islanders), Julie Janson (Compassion) and Fiona McFarlane (Highway 13) – he represents a new wave of writers reshaping the national canon. A post shared by Miles Franklin Literary Award (@milesfranklinliteraryaward) This year's judging panel—Richard Neville, Jumana Bayeh, Mridula Nath Chakraborty, Tony Hughes-d'Aeth, and Hsu-Ming Teo—described Lu's novel as 'sitting within a tradition in Australian writing that explores failed expatriation and cultural fraud' while also being 'strikingly new.' 'In Ghost Cities, the Sino-Australian imaginary appears as a labyrinthine film-set,' the judges wrote, 'where it is never quite clear who is performing and who is directing.' Jane Magor, speaking on behalf of award trustee Perpetual, said Lu's win 'redefines what Australian literature can be….Our stories are ever-changing…. And the literary tradition Miles Franklin envisioned continues to grow in daring and unexpected ways.' The Miles Franklin Literary Award, established in 1957, was set up to honour a work of 'highest literary merit' that presents 'Australian life in any of its phases.' Aishwarya Khosla is a journalist currently serving as Deputy Copy Editor at The Indian Express. Her writings examine the interplay of culture, identity, and politics. She began her career at the Hindustan Times, where she covered books, theatre, culture, and the Punjabi diaspora. Her editorial expertise spans the Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Punjab and Online desks. She was the recipient of the The Nehru Fellowship in Politics and Elections, where she studied political campaigns, policy research, political strategy and communications for a year. She pens The Indian Express newsletter, Meanwhile, Back Home. Write to her at or You can follow her on Instagram: @ink_and_ideology, and X: @KhoslaAishwarya. ... Read More
The Star
04-07-2025
- Business
- The Star
Key chip firms say US export ban lifted
Semiconductor chips are seen on a circuit board of a computer in this illustration picture. [Photo/Agencies] THREE key chip companies said on Thursday that the US had lifted export restrictions on chip design software for China and that they have resumed or are in the process of resuming sales and support to Chinese customers. Siemens AG said in a statement that it has been informed by the United States Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security that export control restrictions on electronic design automation, or EDA, software and technology to Chinese customers have been lifted. The restrictions, outlined in a letter sent by the US government to the German tech giant on May 23, are no longer in effect, the company said in a statement. As a result, "We have resumed sales and support to Chinese customers," Siemens said. US-based firms Synopsys and Cadence Design Systems also said in separate statements that the US had lifted export restrictions on EDA for China, and that they were working to restore access to the recently restricted products in China. Dubbed the cradle of integrated circuits, EDA software enables the design of billions of transistors on modern chips. It is essential for designing, verifying and testing integrated circuits, forming the backbone of modern chip creation. Xiang Ligang, director-general of the Zhongguancun Modern Information Consumer Application Industry Technology Alliance, a telecom industry association, said the move showed that Washington wants to ease trade frictions with Beijing. "Previous US restrictions have ironically catalysed China's progress in chips. The US government knows that the two nations are highly complementary to each other in the semiconductor sector," Xiang said. As the world's largest semiconductor market, China is of great appeal to international companies, he added. Meanwhile, Chinese chip design software companies are also making progress. Empyrean Technology Co, a chip unit of China Electronics Corp, is also a major Chinese player in the development of EDA tools. It has also gradually emerged over the years as a leading enterprise with a complete product line and strong, comprehensive technical strength in EDA for the entire semiconductor industry chain. Shanghai UniVista Industrial Software Group is also a key player. UniVista said it already has over 200 clients — including most major Chinese high-end chip designers — and its tools have undergone rigorous refinement through real-world applications, backed by what it describes as a "highly capable" technical support team. On Thursday, the Ministry of Commerce said China will take countermeasures to safeguard its interests and firmly opposes any attempt to reach a trade deal that harms the nation's well-being. He Yongqian, a spokeswoman for the ministry, made the remarks at a news conference, responding to questions about a new trade deal the United States reached with Vietnam. Under the trade agreement between the US and Vietnam, the US will impose a 20 percent tariff on Vietnamese exports to the US, and a 40 percent tariff on goods transshipped through Vietnam. The ministry said that China has taken note of the trade deal and is conducting an assessment. "China is pleased to see any parties resolve their trade differences with the US through equal consultations, but China firmly opposes any attempt to reach a deal at the expense of China's interests," said He. - China Daily/ANN
Irish Times
30-05-2025
- General
- Irish Times
Communist Party membership shares the qualities of LinkedIn and the Legion of Mary
It had been a long time since we last met and although the traffic was bad and Xiang was going to be almost two hours late, we were determined to meet for dinner regardless. But before he arrived he told me there was something I should know. 'I'm very angry and sad,' he said. Xiang worked at a forest park outside Beijing where he led a team of 12 people who spent their days planting, pruning and trimming. He enjoyed the work and loved being outdoors but on the day of our dinner, his boss had told him this idyll was about to end. 'I'm being transferred to the Party headquarters,' he said. READ MORE 'I'm a Party member.' The move was a promotion but it would mean working at a desk in an office every day, dealing with administrative processes. His boss had tried to persuade him to make the same move a couple of years ago but Xiang resisted and the plan was dropped. 'He's a kind man and he wants to help me but I don't want to move,' he said. Xiang's best years in the forest park were during the coronavirus pandemic, when staff were put on half time and he worked one week and was off the next. On his weeks off, he would drive to an unfamiliar province, staying in cheap hotels as he explored the countryside. 'When I retire, I'm going to buy a camper van and drive all over China ,' he told me, The half-time working arrangement continued for a year after the end of zero-Covid restrictions but with one unwelcome modification. If Xiang wanted to leave the Beijing area during his week off, he would have to inform his superiors in advance of where he was going. 'I stopped going away. I didn't want to have to talk to them about it,' he said. A couple of years earlier, Xiang and his colleagues were invited to hand in their passports to their superiors for safekeeping. If they wanted to travel outside the country, they only had to ask and the passport would be returned. 'Nobody does,' he said. Such restrictions are among the drawbacks of Communist Party membership, which also carries advantages such as access to better jobs, housing and government benefits. Many of the Party's 98 million members joined with an eye on their career, although one of those who did so told me recently that he later became interested in the ideology and embraced it. 'It's like a religion. You have to believe in socialism and all of that,' my friend Song said. Song is not a Party member but many of his friends are, most of them working in the arts and related fields. Bookish and bohemian, these people are nothing like the stereotype of a blank-faced communist bureaucrat but although they are not zealots, they don't seem too cynical about the Party and its purposes either. The rewards of Party membership are most obvious in the public service and state-owned enterprises, where it is a prerequisite for holding positions above a certain level. Party members can help one another to make connections too, in private business as well as in universities, the professions and the broader state sector. But they are also expected to volunteer for everything from disaster relief to organising neighbourhood clean-ups. And obligatory study groups for Xi Jinping Thought and self-criticism sessions mean that Party membership shares the qualities of LinkedIn and the Legion of Mary. Over dinner, Xiang persuaded himself that he would once again escape his redeployment to Party headquarters and that his boss would intervene on his behalf. But over the next few days, his mood appeared to darken as he sent me pictures of empty McDonald's wrappers and told me he was drinking beer at noon on his days off. When I heard from him again a few weeks later, he told me that the move had gone ahead and he had started his new job. I asked him how he was feeling about it. 'I'm not happy. I feel very sad,' he said. 'This weekend I'm going to buy some flowering plants. I can't change my job so I must change my mood.'
Sydney Morning Herald
19-05-2025
- General
- Sydney Morning Herald
This council spent millions on a beach. Just don't bring your cossie
Manicured gardens give way to gleaming sand, as the water sloshes gently against weathered stone blocks. You could be at Lake Como – or Barangaroo's Marrinawi Cove. You might even be tempted to take a dip. An angry red warning brings you to your senses: 'This is not a designated swim site,' it reads. 'Use of this facility may be hazardous.' But McIlwaine Park in Rhodes – part of a project to make the Parramatta River swimmable by 2025 at a cost of $8.7 million – won't be hosting bathers any time soon. Nicole Xiang, 44, regularly brings her children to the park. They enjoy the new playground and picnic shelters from an additional $1.6 million upgrade this year, but she remains unconvinced by the foreshore. 'I wouldn't call it a beach. I think it's more like a large sandpit. We hardly use it,' she says. She has no illusions about going for a swim in the suburb where Union Carbide manufactured Agent Orange during the Vietnam War. 'You just don't know what's what in the water.' Loading The authorities do: although McIlwaine Park was identified as a possible swim site in 2018, testing later deemed it unsafe. Canada Bay Council, with state funding, went ahead with the beach, which is separated from the water by a sandstone seawall. Visitors are encouraged to wade in tidal rock pools at the water's edge, though Xiang says she remains wary.
