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Beihai 北海 Baekhaij Pakhoi
—  Prefecture-level city  —
北海市
Beihai Silver Beach
Location of Beihai City in Guangxi
Coordinates: 21°28′N 109°06′E / 21.467°N 109.1°E / 21.467; 109.1
Country	People's Republic of China
Region	Guangxi
Area
• Prefecture-level city	1,288 sq mi (3,337 km2)
Population (2010 census)
• Prefecture-level city	1,539,300
• Density	1,200/sq mi (460/km2)
• Urban	572,000
• Metro	405,600
Time zone	China Standard (UTC+8)
Postal code	536000
Area code(s)	779
Website	http://www.beihai.gov.cn/

Beihai (Chinese: 北海) (formerly Pakhoi) is a prefecture-level city in the south of Guangxi, People's Republic of China. The name of the city means "north of the sea" in Chinese, signifying its status as a seaport on the north shore of the Gulf of Tonkin, which has granted it historical importance as a port of international trade for Guangxi, Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan, Guizhou, and Yunnan.^[1] Between the years 2006 and 2020, Beihai is predicted to be the world's fastest growing city.^[2] Beihai has a large shipyard, but most of the money generated in the city is derived from trade.

The dialect spoken throughout Beihai is "Baihua" a Cantonese dialect; Mandarin is not often used or spoken by the population, though it is the official language used in government, business and post-elementary-level education throughout mainland China.

• Area: 3,337 square kilometres (1,288 sq mi), 957 square kilometres (369 sq mi) urban districts and 563 square kilometres (217 sq mi) for the built-up area.
• Population: 1,539,300 at the 2010 census whom 405,600 live in the built-up area made of 2 urban districts Haicheng and Yinhai.
• Municipal seat: Haicheng District
• Geographic coordinates: 108°50′45″ - 109°47′28″ East, 21°29′ - 21°55′34″ North

It governs the small islands of Weizhou and Xieyang, and is directly north of Hainan Island.

Subdivisions[link]

Beihai contains three districts and one county, which are subdivided into five urban sub-districts, 23 towns, 3 townships, 87 neighborhood committees, 343 village committees. (see also Administrative divisions of the People's Republic of China#Levels)

• Haicheng District (Cantonese: Hoi Sing)
• Yinhai District (Cantonese: Ngan Hoi)
• Tieshangang District (Cantonese: Tit San Gang)
• Hepu County

History[link]

After the 1876 Sino-British Treaty of Yantai, eight Western nations (UK, US, Germany, Austria-Hungary, France, Italy, Portugal, and Belgium) set up embassies, hospitals, churches, schools, and maritime customs. Today, 15 of these western buildings remain in Beihai. It officially became an international tourist spot (旅遊對外開放城市) in 1982.

City timeline[link]

• December 4, 1949: Beihai became a town of Hepu County under the Communist Party of China .
• January 1951: a province-administered city of Guangdong
• May 1951: entrusted to Guangxi
• March 1952: officially administered by Guangxi
• May 1955: Administered by Guangdong again
• 1956: reduced to a county-level city
• 1958: reduced to Beihai People's Commune of Hepu County
• 1959: county-class town
• 1964: restored to county-class city
• June 1965: Administered by Guangxi again
• October 1983: restored to prefecture-level city

Controversy[link]

On March 15, 2012, well-known rights defense lawyer Yang Zaixin (杨在新), after nine months in detention, was put under "residential surveillance". Yang was criminally detained on June 14, 2011 and formally arrested on June 28, 2011, by the police in Beihai, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, on charges of "witness tampering" (妨害作证罪) under Article 306 of China’s Criminal Law, which has been widely criticized for its misuse by the authorities against lawyers. On June 14, 2011, the day that Yang was first taken into custody, the three other defense lawyers on the Beihai murder case, Luo Sifang (罗思方), Liang Wucheng (梁武诚), and Yang Zhonghan (杨忠汉), were also detained or put under house arrest by Beihai authorities on similar charges.

News of the four lawyers’ detention galvanized many lawyers in China to form a special group to provide assistance. Following the group’s efforts, on June 28, 2011, Yang Zhonghan was released from detention on bail, and Luo Sifang and Liang Wucheng were released from house arrest. But Yang Zaixin was officially arrested.

During Yang’s detention, Haicheng People’s Procuratorate in Beihai City refused to prosecute Yang’s case and twice returned the case to the Haicheng Public Security Branch Bureau for further investigation. Yang’s defense lawyer, Chen Guangwu (陈光武), argues that March 14, 2012, marked the last day that the authorities were allowed by law to hold Yang in detention during their investigation. According to Yang’s wife, Huang Zhongyan (黄仲琰), she received an anonymous phone call on March 15, 2012, telling her that her husband had been put under residential surveillance. Huang then went to the Haicheng Procuratorate, where officials confirmed the residential surveillance status but told her that they did not know where Yang was being kept. On March 22, seven days after the anonymous phone call, Huang, Chen, and Qin Yongpei (覃永沛), the director of the law firm where Yang previously worked, were allowed to visit Yang at the “designated place,” an apartment in a residential building in Beihai. Qin reported on his microblog that Yang looked to be in good spirits, but he does not have freedom of movement—there are four guards who stay, eat, and sleep with Yang.

Climate[link]

Beihai has a monsoon-influenced humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cwa), with mild to warm winters and long, hot (but not especially) summers, and very humid conditions year-round. The monthly daily average temperature ranges from 14.5 °C (58.1 °F) in January to 28.8 °C (83.8 °F) in July, while extremes have ranged from 2.0 to 37.1 °C (36 to 99 °F). Rain is both the heaviest and most frequent from June to September, when 70% of the annual rainfall also occurs. This is in contrast to the autumn and winter months, where only 20 to 40 millimetres (0.79 to 1.6 in) of rain falls per month. The area receives about 2,000 hours of sunshine annually.^[1]

References[link]

1. ^ ^{a b c} "北海城市介绍" (in Simplified Chinese). Weather.com.cn. http://www.weather.com.cn/cityintro/101301301.shtml?. Retrieved 2012-02-25. 
2. ^ City Mayors: World's fastest growing urban areas

External links[link]

Oliver Shanti (Born Ulrich Schulz 16 November 1948 in Hamburg), also known as Oliver Serano-Alve, is a New Age musician. Founder of the band Inkarnation which was originally based on meditative music, and later transformed into "Oliver Shanti & Friends". Because of Oliver's unavailability, the rest of the group is continuing with multi-instrumentalist Margot Reisinger (formerly known as Margot Vogl and Margot Shanti), a member of the original staff, as "Existence".

Allegations of child sexual abuse[link]

In 2002, a warrant for his arrest was issued in Germany, with a €3000 reward offered, on suspicion of his having committed child sexual abuse.^[1] Shanti went missing at that time, and was reported^[2] to be living secretly in Germany or its adjacent countries. He was arrested in Lisbon, Portugal, on 29 June 2008,^[3] and charged with 314 cases of child abuse on 20 April 2009.^[4][5] After having attempted suicide during his pre-trial custody,^[6] "Oliver Shanti" was sentenced to six years and 10 months in prison on Friday, December 4, 2009 - after a Munich court convicted him of 76 counts of child sexual abuse.^[7]

Discography[link]

Main:

• 1987 - Licht-Prakash-Light (as Inkarnation)
• 1987 - Frieden-Shanti-Peace (as Inkarnation)
• 1987 - Listening to the Heart
• 1988 - Rainbow Way
• 1988 - Vila Nova Mellow Days (as Oliver Serano-Alve)
• 1989 - Walking on the Sun
• 1990 - Minho Valley Fantasies (as Oliver Serano-Alve)
• 1992 - Vida Para Vida (as Oliver Serano-Alve)
• 1993 - Tai Chi
• 1995 - Well Balanced
• 1996 - Tai Chi Too
• 1997 - Circles of Life: The Best of Oliver Shanti (compilation album including 3 new tracks)
• 1998 - Seven Times Seven
• 2000 - Medicine Power
• 2002 - Alhambra
• 2006 - Man Heaven Earth (compilation album featuring 2 tracks by "Existence" and Dahmani)

Projects:

• 1996 - Buddha and Bonsai Vol. 1
• 1997 - Shaman
• 1997 - Buddha and Bonsai Vol. 2
• 2000 - Buddha and Bonsai Vol. 3
• 2000 - Shaman 2
• 2002 - Buddha and Bonsai Vol. 4
• 2005 - Buddha and Bonsai Vol. 5: The Power of Silence

Thematical compilations:

• Indiens: Sacred Spirits
• Shaman: Red Indian Chill
• before 1997 - Meditative Music of Budo-Gala: The Magic of Martial Arts
• 1997 - Spirit of Budo: The Power of Balance
• 1997 - 10 Years of Sattva Music
• 1999 - Tibetiya (including 3 new tracks by Oliver Shanti)
• 2001 - 15 Years of Sattva Music
• 2001 - Reiki: Brightness Healing

Other:

• 2008 single - Oliver Shanti feat. N.i.M.i - Roo Be Asemoon (Olugu Zamba Remix)
• 2010 single - Oliver Shanti feat. DJ Sunf - The Tree (rmx)

References[link]

1. ^ "Munich - Search for Ulrich Schulz - Arrest warrant for serious child sexual abuse" (PDF). http://www.polizei.bayern.de/content/7/0/1/3/schulz_eng.pdf. Retrieved 2008-02-05. ^{[dead link]}
2. ^ "Münchner Polizei jagt spirituellen Serien-Kinderschänder". http://www.merkur-online.de/nachrichten/politik/muenchner-polizei-jagt-spirituellen-serienkinderschaender-138178.html. Retrieved 2011-08-24. 
3. ^ "Alemão detido por pedofilia em Lisboa foi agraciado com Medalha de Mérito da Câmara de Cerveira (in Portuguese)". http://sol.sapo.pt/PaginaInicial/Sociedade/Interior.aspx?content_id=99868. Retrieved 2008-06-29. 
4. ^ "Anklage gegen Musiker Oliver Shanti erhoben". http://www.n24.de/news/newsitem_4990035.html. Retrieved 2009-04-21. 
5. ^ "Klage gegen Oliver Shanti - Sektenguru unter schwerem Verdacht". http://www.sueddeutsche.de/muenchen/7/465595/text/. Retrieved 2009-04-21. 
6. ^ "Angeklagter Sekten-Guru Oliver Shanti überlebt Selbstmordversuch". http://www.welt.de/news/article5094870/Angeklagter-Sekten-Guru-Oliver-Shanti-ueberlebt-Selbstmordversuch.html. Retrieved 2009-12-13. 
7. ^ "Nearly seven years prison for child abuser guru Oliver Shanti". http://www.thelocal.de/national/20091205-23735.html. Retrieved 2009-12-05. 

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