# 2686
Shandong Province, which means (now, let's not always see the same hands) . . . that's right . . . "East of the Mountain" . . . is the home to 91 million Chinese and countless millions of Chickens.
The mountains in question are the Taiheng Mountains, and the province encompasses the lower reaches of the Huang He (Yellow River) and extends into the Yellow Sea.
Shandong is the second most populous province in China (Neighboring Henan Province is first with 98 million residents), and is one of the more economically advanced provinces as well.
To put things in perspective, this one province has twice as many people as all of South Korea (48 million).
I bring you this mini-travelogue this morning so you can appreciate the enormity of the challenges officials face when issuing an edict such as the one Shandong Province issued after the recent death of a 27-year-old woman from bird flu.
A Ban on raising poultry in the cities.
The raising of chickens, and ducks, and geese - even in the cities - is a common sight in most asian cultures.
These birds, often kept in coops in the back yard, or on rooftops, represent a relatively inexpensive source of protein, a potential source of income, and in some cases, family pets.
Egypt and Indonesia have both attempted over the past couple of years to restrict the raising of poultry in the home. Neither has met with much success.
In many instances, people hid their birds from authorities. Preferring to risk fines, or worse, if caught.
It isn't just a matter of culture, or tradition.
Raising birds at home, for some, represents an important part of their income. Plus the meat and eggs they provide can mean a difference between feeding your family, or watching them go hungry.
Residents, faced with this new law, will have a difficult choice to make.
This from the Straits Times.
Jan 22, 2009
Bird Flu in China
-- PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS
BEIJING - A PROVINCE in eastern China where a woman died of bird flu has banned the raising of chickens in cities, in an effort to prevent more people from being infected, state press reported on Thursday.
The ban in Shandong province was instituted on Wednesday after a 27-year-old woman died of the H5N1 strain of bird flu in the provincial capital of Jinan at the weekend, according to the Xinhua news agency.
She was one of three people to have died in China of bird flu this month, raising fears about the potential for a wider outbreak as winter temperatures drop and poultry consumption spikes for the Lunar New Year festivities.
The three deaths in January were the first in China in a year, and brought the number of fatalities in the Asian nation since the virus re-emerged in 2003 to 23.
A two-year-old girl also remained in a critical condition with bird flu in the northern province of Shanxi.
The central government had already on Tuesday ordered strengthened monitoring for bird flu at live poultry markets across the country.
It called on local authorities to close live poultry markets in cities, or at the minimum to disinfect them every day.
However the health ministry on Wednesday issued a statement seeking to allay fears over the potential for a wide outbreak of bird flu, saying all four infections were individual cases.
