The World Health Organization (WHO) removed Beijing and Hong Kong from its list of SARS-effected areas because the disease is no longer spreading in either place. Twenty days had passed since the last confirmed cases, an indication that the disease is under control. Authorities will remain vigilant, however, to ensure that the disease doesnÂ’t make a comeback, as it did in Toronto after the Canadian city was deemed free of SARS. The only remaining places now on WHOÂ’s list of SARS-effected areas are Taiwan and Toronto.
Sometimes the wrong souvenir can get you in trouble. A traveler wearing a novelty t-shirt he bought in China was arrested after he got into an altercation with locals in a restaurant in Nanjing. The t-shirt had “Ten Warnings for Chinese” printed in Chinese on the back, with various admonitions that the Chinese found offensive. The traveler was allowed to leave the police station after an hour when he promised not to wear the shirt again. The residents of Nanjing may be more sensitive than most, because in the 1990s the city was the site of large anti-foreigner demonstrations after a fight between foreign exchange students and college staff. This recent incident is reminiscent of a case in Tibet a few years ago when a foreigner was arrested by Chinese police for wearing a Phil Silvers t-shirt. The police thought the image of Silvers was a picture of the Dalai Lama.