Jia A: disappeared in 2004

Jia A is the short name for the First Division of the China Football Association. It lasted for ten years and was replaced by the China Football Association Super League in 2004. To many Chinese football fans, Jia A was a great disappointment because of its bad influence.

Beijing Broadcasting Institute: disappeared September 7, 2004

An institution dedicated to information and communication, the Beijing Broadcasting Institute was well-known in the area of TV and radio broadcasting in China. It changed its name to the Communications University of China to celebrate the 50th anniversary of its foundation on September 7, 2004.

Info-highway: disappeared October 19, 2004

Info-highway is short for China Info-highway Communications Co., Ltd., a company established in 1995. It was China's first internet service provider. It helped China to enter the internet age. The company began to fail in 1997, due to managerial mistakes and fierce competition in the market. Finally its business license was revoked by the local industrial and commercial administration bureau on October 19, 2004.

The fourth set of Renminbi (RMB): disappeared after 2005

With the circulations of the fifth set of Renminbi (RMB) in 1999 and 2005, the fourth set of RMB gradually phased out on the circulation market, and it has become a pet on the commemorative currency market along with the third set.

The circulation of the fourth set of RMB began on April 1987 with six kinds of main currency and three kinds of fractional currency (shortened as 80). The fourth set of RMB opened up a number of "firsts", such as the introduction of standard simplified characters for the first time, the addition of Braille on the main currency for the first time, and the replacement of seven-digit Arabic numerals of the past with two phonetic alphabets in Han language and eight-digit Arabic numerals.

Seoul: disappeared January 18, 2005

On January 18, 2005, the Congress of the capital city of the Republic of Korea (ROK) formerly decided to designate Seoul as "Shou'er" in Chinese and notified the Chinese side. The Chinese has been Korea's official language in history, and it remained so even after the emergence of Eonmun, or a vernacular script with the adoption of the Korean-type phonetic character in 1434. With the ROK people's soaring sentiments after World War II, there was the rise of Eonmumism, which totally negated the Chinese (or Han) language characters, and changed Hancheng in Chinese into "Shou'er" in the Korean language, so that it became the sole place in ROK without a Chinese name during that period of time.

Master: disappeared October 17, 2005

On October 17, 2005, the 101-year-old Ba Jin, popularly known as the conscience of the Chinese literature, passed away. He is the last giant of the new literature masters who had emerged during the May 4th movement of 1919. A literary giant not only requires talents but think deeply, apart from independent innovation and profound attention shown to the destiny of the humankind.

Agricultural tax: disappeared January 1, 2006

The State Post Bureau issued a stamp with a face value of 80 fen on Feb. 22, which was titled "Rescission of agricultural tax in an all-round way" to mark the annulment of "Agricultural Tax Regulations" on Jan. 1, 2006. This implies to the termination of the 2,000-year-old traditional taxation item.

This is a vital measure taken by the Chinese government to cope with issues relevant to agriculture, rural areas and peasant farmers. A halt to levying agricultural tax has eased a burden on farmers, raised their rights as citizens and also embodied the principle of fairness in modern taxation.

Sino-British Street : disappeared April 2006

A little lane, about 250 meters long and less than 4 meters wide, is a street famed "with two social systems, which once linked China's interior areas and Hong Kong and socialism and capitalism. This site has engrained many ordinary Chinese with an enduring memory of frenzied shopping. With the return of Hong Kong to its motherland in 1997, however, the special connotation of this little lane and price differences advantageous to locals faded away. In April this year. 130 shops on the side of Shenzhen closed down simultaneously, and the Sino-British Street at Sha Tou Jiao has fulfilled its mission.

Blue skies: disappeared in 1990s

Residents in the national capital of Beijing have increasisngly been accustomed to the frequent onslaught of sand storms. Local residents are now exposed to the number of sandy days in a year which they would have had for a whole decade. The number of "blue skies" days in the city were reduced to leass than 100 in 1998.

The melodious tune of "white clouds floating on blue skies" are simply nostalgic to the old times, and those days with blue skies and night scenes shown with twinkling stars, the romance of the past, have now become rare and extravagant for urbanites.

Breakfast: disappeared recently

A breakfast has long been denied and it is now luxurious for many people to sit down for a rich breakfast. In a society with so much pressure, people usually have poor-quality sleep because of their anxiety, fidget and heavy-heartedness and sacrificed their time for breakfast. More nightlife with diversified recreations often postpones the people's sleeping hours and this, too, leads to the loss of breakfast.

Macho man: disappeared recently

People from the 1970s all remember the film "Kimi yo funme no kawa o watare" and play "Looking for Mr. Right". Outstanding literary works that made a great stir then have set unitary yardsticks for the perfect man of that era like Ken Takakura, the hero of the film "Kimi yo funme no kawa o watare." With the more and more inroads made into plays about icons in ROK and Japan in the past two decades, the status of macho man has been subverted amid changes in the increasing "her century".

Brothers and sisters on mother's side: disappeared recently

The first group of only children, born with the implementation of China's family planning program in the late 1970s, have entered their marriage and childbearing peak period. To the next generation of these only children, the titles of brothers and sisters on the mother's side are only available in novels, films and televisions. So they can possibly be the most lonely generation in China.

Virgin bride: disappeared recently

An acute shortage of "virgin bride" is one of the salient features of this era of tremendous changes.

Greater changes have occurred in the spheres of sex, love and marriage since China carried out its economic reform in the late 1970s. It seems that the country has shifted from a society of conservativeness to a society with sexual openess.

By People's Daily Online