Chinanews.cn: New China Science and Technology Museum Boasts the World’s Largest Domed Planetarium; Beijing Youth Daily: Three dinosaur fossils to arrive in Beijing this week (articles in Chinese)
Set to re-open this fall (date TBD), the new China Science and Technology Museum (not to be confused with the original facility of the same name located on the north Third Ring Road and now closed), unveiled its design and features at a press conference yesterday.
Located in the Olympic Forest Park just north of the Bird’s Nest, the new 102,000-square-meter facility sits on 48,000 square meters of land. At its center is a 28-meter, 9-story tall central atrium surrounded by new multi-leveled exhibition halls housed within a structure designed to resemble an ancient cube puzzle with interspersing pieces (somewhat like a Rubik’s Cube).
The museum also boasts the world’s largest planetarium – a 600-seat theater housed in a 30-meter wide dome with a special “4D” section containing 50 seats that vibrate and rock in concert with the action on screen.
In related news, the BJYD reports three valuable dinosaur from the Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan fossils – including a 2.6-meter tall Lufengosaurus specimen, the oldest dinosaur species discovered in China – will arrive at the museum tomorrow for display in the main hall.
Allvoices.com: Chinese bride sports world’s longest wedding dress, measuring 7,093 feet
Beijing newlywed Lin Rong, 25, has the new world record for “longest wedding gown” at a mammoth 7,093 feet. The dress was a gesture of “devotion and love” from the groom, Zhao Peng, 28, and his family and relatives, who spent USD 5,852 and three months to make it. The gown is covered by 9,999 pinned-on roses and 608 stitched-on crystal beads, and it took three hours for the gown and train to be unrolled and prepared for the bride to put on for her ceremony. The previous record was set just this past April by a Romanian bride and her 5,180-foot-long wedding gown.
Beijing Youth Daily: Folic acid recommended for pregnant women (article in Chinese)
The Chinese Ministry of Health has finally decided to recommend pregnant women take folic acid in the first three months of pregnancy to prevent neural birth defects in newborns and is starting an initiative to give out folic acid free of charge in rural areas. The article also recommends that women who are already pregnant should take about 0.4-0.8 mg (1-2 tablets) a day (women who are trying to get pregnant should be taking folic acid as well), but warns against taking excessive amounts: “Excessive intake of folic acid will not only fail to prevent birth defects, but may also mask symptoms indicating a lack of vitamin B12 and interfere with zinc metabolism.”
Beijing Youth Daily: 12 batches of children’s merchandise under investigation (article in Chinese)
The Bureau of Commerce and Industry has deemed 12 different types of children’s merchandise, including shoes, strollers and toothbrushes, to be of substandard quality. Most of the shoes were targeted due to poor resistance to wear and tear, while the strollers on the list (including ones manufactured by Ningbo Co.) were packaged poorly and toothbrushes made by the likes of Yangzhou Chen Xiao Brush Co., Ltd were deemed “unsafe for the gums” due to the shapes of their heads. Nice to see some showboating about quality control and inspection, but judging from the number of crappy kids’ products we’ve purchased here, there’s a long way to go …
