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Photo: Stick, by Mark Hobbs

Posted: 25 May 2012 11:16 PM PDT

Chen Guangcheng’s “Suffering Beyond Imagination”

Posted: 25 May 2012 10:43 PM PDT

Largely silent since his departure from China, has begun to speak out in interviews about his detention and escape, reiterating his hopes for an investigation of the local government and his fears for those he left behind.

Talking through an interpreter to CNN's Anderson Cooper, Chen was reluctant to discuss his four-year prison term or subsequent confinement in Dongshigu, but asked that the latter be referred to as "illegal detention", rather than the more innocuous "". "It's hard for me to describe what it was like during that time," he said, "but let's just say that my suffering was beyond imagination." He also highlighted the role of Guo Yushan in his escape, but made an apparent attempt to defuse recent disagreement over who deserved credit, and once again expressed concern for family and supporters still in China.

"There's one thing I want to mention that may be a surprise to many people," Chen said. "When a group of people come together and accomplish something, they often fight for credit. In my case, all those people who went to to pick me up, when the news broke, they were fighting for risk instead of credit. They were all trying to claim responsibility to make others safer."

Chen, who's blind, fears the Chinese government may retaliate against acquaintances who helped him, he said.

"Of course, I'm very worried. We can see their retribution against my family since my escape has continued and been intensified," Chen said.

The full interview is available at CNN.com.

Foremost among the reprisals is the prosecution of Chen's nephew, Chen Kegui, for attempted murder. Local authorities have rejected his family's choice of lawyers and appointed their own to defend him: an echo, Chen Guangcheng says, of his own treatment in 2006. Chen's family are now fighting this decision. From Josh Chin at China Real Time Report:

In the most recent development, Liu Fang, the wife of Mr. Chen's nephew, Chen Kegui, has written a letter to local authorities demanding that her husband be allowed to meet with the she has commissioned to represent him.

The letter comes a few days after Mr. Chen's brother, Chen [Guangfu], escaped guards in the family's home village near Linyi in Shandong province to consult with lawyers in Beijing about his son's case.

Chen Kegui faces a charge of attempted murder for slashing local officials with a kitchen knife after the officials burst into the home of his father a few days after Chen Guangcheng escaped. Lawyers and family members argue Chen Kegui was acting in self-defense and say the attempted murder charge is wildly excessive.

Liu's letter is translated in full at China Real Time. Chen Guangcheng also discussed his nephew's case in an interview with Reuters:

"My older brother escapes house arrest and comes to Beijing in search of a lawyer for my nephew," Chen said in the interview.

"This is an extremely normal thing, and the most basic right of a Chinese citizen. If even this right cannot be ensured then I think development in the construction of China's legal system over the past few decades has already been undone by law-breaking officials within the political system," he said ….

Chen described the harassment and abuse of his family and supporters as "obviously a violation of China's constitution, and is despicable."

"The Chinese has said more than once that I am a free person. Did I do anything wrong by leaving my home? If other people helped me leave … this is something that should be praised. Why then when I leave do they break into my home to beat people, detain them," he said.


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Video: A Story of Invisible Water

Posted: 25 May 2012 10:35 PM PDT

A 16-minute documentary by Lynn Zhang and Shirley Han Ying kicks off an Asia Society China Green series on China's . The filmmakers follow a group of farmers who have spent many years and all their savings petitioning against from a nearby chemical plant, which they say poisoned their pear orchard.

The film features interview segments with of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs on China's water "time bomb". Groundwater extraction lowered the water table in by 130 feet between 1996 and 2006, and with inadequate supplies, there is not enough clean water to reclaim the polluted. The real extent of the problem is unknown, Ma says: while 90% of the shallow groundwater flowing through the cities is thought to be polluted, no complete data exists.

Local officials did eventually come up with a solution of sorts for the farmers' plight: they confiscated the land on which the orchard had stood.

The film ends on an optimistic note regarding the South-to-North Water Diversion project. In addition to long-standing doubts about its practicality, however, severe droughts in southern China have raised questions about the core assumption underlying the scheme.


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Leadership Limits Purge in Bo Scandal

Posted: 25 May 2012 10:49 PM PDT

The downfall of Bo Xilai has threatened a political purge of his allies that could expose corruption and wrongdoing among the highest echelons of power in China ahead of the once-a-decade transition of leadership at the 18th Party Congress. But now that Bo has been dismissed from his Party positions and is being investigated for corruption and other discipline violations, the Party appears to be closing ranks to limit the damage from the scandal, according to a report from Reuters:

Hu urged the party to close ranks at a meeting of about 200 officials early this month at a Beijing hotel, declaring the downfall of Bo – China's biggest political in two decades – to be an "isolated case", the three sources said.

The sources' comments represent the first confirmation of speculation that Hu recently intervened to prevent a wider rift in the party and to resist pressure from some elements for a wider purge of the populist Bo's policies and supporters.

Bo, former party chief of Chongqing city, was suspended from the party's top ranks in April after his wife became a suspect in the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood. Before the scandal broke, Bo had been seen as a candidate to join China's new top leadership team to be unveiled this year.

"It's been settled that this will be dealt with as a criminal case, not a political case," said one of the sources, a retired official. "The central leadership wants to focus on ensuring a stable environment for the 18th Party Congress, so the guiding policy is to end all the rumors and contention."

Many of those rumors centered around the powerful Standing Committee member Zhou Yongkang, an ally of Bo's, who is in charge of the nation's security and law enforcement. Recent reports have suggested that Zhou was also going to be purged from the Party for his support of Bo, and a group of retired Party officials penned an open letter calling for Zhou's immediate resignation in the wake of the Bo scandal. However, in recent days, Party media have reported on his official appearances, thereby hinting that he has not completely lost favor. From Bloomberg:

Zhou Yongkang, China's top internal security official, met with "model" police officers from around the nation in Beijing today together with President Hu Jintao, Premier Wen Jiabao and Vice President Xi Jinping, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
Zhou, speaking at the meeting, said that public security agencies nationwide and most police officers understand the complexity of current domestic and international situations, as well as the "special importance" of maintaining social stability this year, according to Xinhua.

And from the BBC:

…Late last week the Communist Party's mouthpiece, the People's Daily, reported on its front page that Mr Zhou had made a trip to visit the western region of Xinjiang.

The stories seemed to signal that he might still be wielding power and had not been sidelined himself.

Then it was announced Mr Zhou had been picked, unanimously, to be a delegate representing the western region of Xinjiang at the Communist Party Congress due to happen this autumn in Beijing. The Congress is where the new generation of leaders will be confirmed in post.

[...] The fact that Mr Zhou will definitely be at the Congress seems to be a sign that he is now in the clear, and China's leaders may have papered over their differences, if indeed they had any.

Meanwhile, the retired officials who wrote the open letter calling for his resignation have been called in for questioning, AFP reports.

Read more about Bo Xilai, Zhou Yongkang, and the upcoming 18th Party Congress via CDT.


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Chinese Netizens Can’t Believe Elon Musk Gets To Do That

Posted: 25 May 2012 04:51 PM PDT

3…2…1…History. On Friday at 9:56 a.m., the New York times reports, a capsule launched by a private company called SpaceX docked at the International Space Station, making SpaceX the first private company ever to accomplish this feat.

Netizens comment on a subtitled interview with Elon Musk on The Daily Show

Netizens were absolutely "lost in admiration" for the accomplishments of SpaceX founder Elon Musk, who they called an "idol" and a "god." Some theorized that the "real-life Iron Man" Musk had time-traveled here from the future, or was an alien plotting a way back to his home planet.

It didn't hurt that some found him quite handsome. @科技麻辣烫 asked, "Is he married??? Is his daughter married??? Is his son married???"

In reflecting on Elon Musk's stunning accomplishments, many netizens pointed to American culture and governance as the fertile soil in which genius can thrive. It seemed to matter little that Musk grew up in South Africa; many netizens lauded the capacity for dreaming and risk-taking in his adopted home, the U.S.

@Aute-XL wrote, "The biggest difference between the U.S. and China is this: In China those who dream are seen as crazy, or as failures, or otherwise they are [forced to] assimilate. But America is a country run by the crazy ones, and they are encouraged to be crazy." @冉雄飞 wrote in admiration, "Crazy Americans, with the courage and the [capacity for] great action to move beyond what we imagine!"

@勤-康明 took it a step further. Witnessing this accomplishment, he tweeted, "I deeply believe the U.S. will become a great power once again. So many entrepreneurs with creativity and the ability to execute. In a few years, the framework of new and emerging fields will once again be created and guided by the U.S., just like the rise and development of the Internet." Added @随风-ZHANG, "This is the great power of private enterprise."

SpaceX fired up this test engine, and netizens' imaginations. Image courtesy of SpaceX

China, by contrast, did not provide the right "social environment" in netizen eyes. @_火_中_莲_ complained, "In China, the most he'd ever accomplishing is kicking people off their land, being a dictator, or taking bribes for years before he was kicked out of office and made into a scapegoat." Others emphasized that Musk was a "genuine-article tycoon [高帅富]," implying that some Chinese who'd achieved that status had employed perhaps less noble means.

A small number were less impressed. @左道术士 wrote, "An idol? In fact, the U.S. government could not support NASA, so it gave its technical personnel to a private company. Basically, this company bought a part of NASA…[he] provided the money, NASA provided the technology, and the U.S. government rented out the launching pad."

But @左道术士 was outnumbered by the breathless majority. Mr. Musk, if you come to China, you will surely find many supporters. We'll assume you can take care of your own transportation.

Today’s Most Viral Image: Lost and Found

Posted: 25 May 2012 11:08 AM PDT

It would have been tempting to keep this

There are good people everywhere–including in rough and tumble China. With over 15,000 reposts, the image of a (rather well-appointed) wallet and its return is Sina Weibo's most viral image of May 25, 2012, according to Hong Kong University's Weiboscope. Weiboscope tracks the most frequently re-posted images among prominent Weibo users.

What is this image?

This is the lost-but-found wallet of Zhao Jilong (@赵冀龙), a screenwriter. According to Zhao's blog, he once failed the "gao kao," China's dreaded college-entrance examination, only to find eventual success as a reporter and then a screenwriter.

Where did it come from?

Zhao tweeted the image of his wallet, and its accompanying story, on Thursday night. He wrote, "Today was really unlucky. Coming into town from the airport via light rail, I carelessly lost my wallet, which had 5,000 RMB [about US$750] inside as well as a platinum card with a 200,000-Australian dollar limit. Today was also very lucky, because the wallet was picked up and returned by a gentleman visiting Beijing on business. At first, when I saw this man in the subway station covered in sweat, I had no idea who he was. He'd found me in the crowd based on the picture on my driver's license!" [Chinese]

Why is it so popular?

There is often much hand-wringing within China over the lack of social mores. While there is no shortage of selfish and contemptible behavior in China's rapidly-modernizing society, it's nice occasionally to pause to recognize good old-fashioned kindness. It happens every day, but tends to be less sensational and thus, less viral. When a frequent microblogger with 122,000 followers experiences it first-hand, however, it gets noticed. One netizen wrote in response, "Now this is a Chinese person."

[Correction: An earlier version of this article said the credit card carried a 200,000 Euro limit, instead of a 200,000 Australian dollar limit. We're sorry for the error.]

Footnotes (? returns to text)
  1. 今天很不幸,从机场回城的轻轨上不慎遗失钱包,内含五千元现金,一张二十万澳币的白金卡,及诸多个人证件。今天又很幸运,钱包被来京出差的一位先生拾到并归还。当他满头大汗在地铁大厅找我时,我懵然不知。他依据钱包中我的驾照相片在人群中找到了我!经我软磨硬泡,对方才透露姓卞名俊。传播正能量!?

Hu Xijin: The Deep End

Posted: 25 May 2012 11:08 AM PDT

Chief Editor has attracted colorful commentary to his account since he first said hello in March 2011. On March 22 he posted a preview of his editorial on a changing, rising China:

China's reform and China's rise have simultaneously been plunged into the deep end. These are two separate zones, not just one. They both are impacting the future of the Chinese people. We cannot attend to just one; both must be taken into account. China is groping for stones in the midst of the great river of human history. China was pushed into this river. There is no escape route from reform, nor is there an escape route from ascendance. The only way out is to move towards the other shore.

"Retweeted" 577 times and left with 487 comments as of May 14 (a few retweets have since disappeared), Hu's post has its supporters and detractors. But as often happens on his Weibo, the detractors here are more vocal. has translated select comments. Read the original post and all of the comments on Weibo.

PinchHim: What does "rise" mean? Is it the ability to face off with the U.S. military? Based on this standard, the 200-some small- and medium-sized countries never have and will never rise. They'll never cross the river, will they? China's rise won't be marked by a military rise, but the rise of human rights. If there is no rise of human rights, China won't withstand a single blow in a military face-off.
把掐他:"崛起"是什么意思? 有能力与美国军事对峙才叫崛起?按照这个标准,世界上二百多个中小国家,从来没有,也不可能崛起,它们是不是永远过不了河了?中国的崛起,标志不是军事崛起,而是人权的崛起。没有人权的崛起,中国在任何军事对抗中都将是不堪一击的。

FutureOfFutureOfFreedom: The officials aren't even willing to publicly announce their personal wealth. What's the use of reform!
自由未来的未来:官员连个人财产都不敢公布,改革有嘛用!

SillyLittleWeasel: Groan. Editor Hu wants to outline an even scarier future for those of us who can't afford to see a doctor or buy a house. He tells us, "You're all very happy now."
傻瓜阿狸:哼哼,胡编想给看不起病,买不起房的我们勾画一个更可怕的未来。告诉我们,你们现在很幸福。

DesertPoplarHy: What is the opposite shore like? Like North Korea or Taiwan?
沙漠胡杨hy:对岸是什么样的。是朝鲜还是台湾?

SunJianguoOk: Where is the opposite shore? What's there? Does it have the human rights, freedom and constitutional democracy that other earthlings enjoy? Solid policy comes from deliberation; a country's nature and fundamental structure are very important. Ours needs to be reconstructed. A foundation must be lain for long-term development. The one-party system is definitely not going to work. Peaceful, rational and good-intentioned competition must be allowed! Oppose civil war, palace coups, brutal in-fighting and disgusting internal conflict! China will go toward a civilized rebirth! With freedom lighting the way!
孙 建国ok:对岸在哪儿?对岸有什么?有地球人都有的人权,自由,宪政民主吗?具体的政策出于商讨,国家的性质与基本架构很重要,需要建立重构,以为未来长 远发展奠定基础。一党制肯定不行了,要允许和平理性善意的竞争!反对内战,宫廷政变,残酷内斗,恶性内讧!中国走向文明新生!自由照亮前路!

JiaoChengJun: I completely disagree with the notion that Chinese reform has gone into the "deep end." The concept is vague, it confuses everyone. Just say it. Should China Westernize? Should it have a separation of powers? Should multiple parties rotate through power? Why are you so talkative?! You should just ask the people.
焦成君:非常不同意中国改革进入到什么'深水区'的提法。概念模糊、让百姓糊涂。就直说吧,中国要不要全面西化、要不要三权分立、要不要多党轮替不就完了吗还啰嗦个啥!下面就该问问百姓吧。

UnmatchedHunger: Mr. Hu's ass-kissing garbage talk. Two deep ends? Reform and rise don't happen simultaneously? So-called logic and complexity are just fig leaves to coverall you lackeys! Grope your mom's stones and cross the river, there's obviously a bridge!
盖世太饿:胡氏舔菊废话体。两个深水区?改革和崛起没有交集?所谓理性、复杂都你们这些狗奴才的遮羞布!摸你妈的石头过河,桥明明就在那!

MaoMaoLovesFreedom2010: The masses crossed the river long ago. It's just you and your master that still pretend to be holding on to the river stones as a matter of life and death!
毛毛爱自由2010:人民群众早就过河了,就你和你主子还假装摸着石头死活不放手呢!

YuZhengzhi: The only way out is for the to pocket its pride and stop making empty calls for "serving the people." Instead it should accept accountability to the people by realizing competitive elections for People's Congress representatives, then gradually establishing a civil society of freedom, democracy and rule of law.
余正之:唯一的出路就是中国共产党放下架子,不是空喊"为人民服务"这样的假话,而是接受人民的监督,先推进实现人大代表公开全民竞争选举,逐步建立自由、民主、法治的公民社会。

DukeOfHarmony: Sh*t, ten years into reform we were told we're in the river, 20 years later we were told we're still in the river, and 30 years on we're still told we're in the river. It's getting deeper and deeper! If we keep going, won't the entire population be "reformed" into the sea? How come we never make it to shore?
大公大同:靠,10年了告诉我们在河里,20年了告诉我们还在河里,30年了告诉我们仍然在河里,还越来越深!继续下去,是不是把全国人民"改革"进大海里啊?怎么老是上不了岸?

GraceLHY: Editor Hu's style is my favorite. Every character is a Chinese character. Each sentence is disconnected from the next. He wrote 140 characters but said absolutely nothing. None of it resembles the Chinese language~
雍容LHY:胡总这种风格我最喜欢了,每个字都是汉字,每一句都和另一句没关系,写了140字还是啥都没说,全不像汉语~

Pekinggdq: The problem is you'll never reach the other shore.
pekinggdq:问题是你永远到不了对岸.


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The Daily Twit (@chinahearsay Twitter feed) – 2012-05-25

Posted: 24 May 2012 08:59 PM PDT


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Pictures: 126 mainlanders involved in transnational telecom scam transferred

Posted: 24 May 2012 09:00 PM PDT

transnational telecom scam

By cooperating with their counterparts in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Fiji, Chinese mainland and Taiwanese law enforcement officers successfully cracked down a large transnational crime ring operating a telecom scam on mainland, and seized a total of 482 people involved in the operations, with 177 from Chinese mainland, 286 from Taiwan and 19 from Thailand and Myanmar.

On May 24, a first batch of 126 suspects from Chinese mainland were transferred to mainland police by Malaysian and Thai police on the two chartered flights.

The gang is believed to have swindled Chinese mainlanders out of 73 million yuan in 510 telecom scams from 2010 to 2011.

"The fraud case unraveled in November, when a financial manager surnamed Sha from an investment company in Suzhou, East China's Jiangsu province, reported to local police that she had been swindled for 12.6 million yuan through telephone fraud," according to China Daily.

The criminal suspects pretended to be local police officers, and then staff from an anti-money laundering special work team too, to make Sha transfer the company's financial fund to a "safe" designated account.

Check out the photos below of suspects being handed over to Chinese police.

transnational telecom scam

transnational telecom scam

transnational telecom scam

transnational telecom scam

transnational telecom scam

Police blocked by angry residents for hitting two kids by pepper spray

Posted: 24 May 2012 08:03 PM PDT

Police blocked by angry residents for hitting two kids by pepper spray

The local police of Zhuhai City, Guangdong Province were blocked by thousands of angry residents for over 2 hours yesterday, after they accidentally hurt two kids when using pepper spray against the crowd.

According to eye-witnesses, in the beginning the police officers confronted with an elderly couple, after the couple's electronic tricycle they used to collect garbage to earn their living was confiscated by the officers during a crack-down against illegal scooters in front of a market center of the Zhuhai City.

The police subdued the old couple in confrontation, which however resulted in a protest from the local residents.

When more and more people joined in, the police used the pepper spray to try to disperse the surrounding crowd, but it accidentally hit one 10-year-old boy and one 2-year-old baby girl.

The pepper spray is considered dangerous. It could cause temporary blindness and even death, according to previous cases.

Wanda Looks West With AMC Play

Posted: 25 May 2012 01:28 AM PDT

The New York Times profiles Chinese real estate magnate Wang Jianlin, whose has entered into an agreement to take over U.S. cinema chain AMC Entertainment:

Mr. Wang, 57, is regarded as one of the most successful Chinese real estate tycoons. His $17 billion empire includes huge commercial property developments, five-star hotels, tourist resorts, a film and television production company and Asia's largest cinema network.

Now, by paying $2.6 billion to acquire AMC, the Wanda Group is extending its reach globally. The deal, announced Sunday, is still subject to the approval of United States regulators, though there are no hints it will be blocked. The purchase signifies a new era for Mr. Wang and in China's development. Companies here are moving away from low-cost manufacturing and going abroad in search of natural resources and global consumer brands, part of an effort to upgrade the nation's economy.

Wanda is a private company in a nation dominated by state-owned enterprises. But the AMC deal is closely aligned with the Chinese government's priorities, which include encouraging Chinese companies to "go global," pushing an overhaul of Chinese media and entertainment properties and placing greater emphasis on consumer spending.

Policy makers in Beijing also want to bolster China's "" capabilities to extend its cultural influence internationally, and the film industry is considered one of the most promising avenues for doing so.

The article also notes that Wang got his start in , the coastal city where kickstarted his political career, though Wang dismissed any notion that his ties to Bo would threaten Wanda. AMC's chief executive hailed the proposed deal, which both sides claim will create the world's largest cinema operator, as a "unique combination." For the Los Angeles Times, Richard Verrier and David Pierson write that Wanda's bid for AMC may spur other purchases by Chinese investors:

The deal announced Sunday — which pairs China's biggest theater operator with the second-largest chain in the U.S. — marks the largest investment to date by a Chinese company in the U.S. entertainment industry. Most of the deal making has been companies striking business deals in China.

But Wanda's move to buy AMC could turn the traffic in the other direction, setting the stage for a string of similar moves by other Chinese investors looking to diversify and raise their global profile by scooping up blue-chip American entertainment properties. AMC is owned by Apollo Investment Fund, Carlyle Group and other investors who bought the company in 2004.

Some see parallels with the late 1980s and early 1990s, when Japanese companies acquired a number of prized U.S. assets, including Hollywood studios such as MCA-Universal and Columbia Pictures and crown jewels such as New York's Rockefeller Center and California's Pebble Beach golf course.

"More and more Chinese companies are going to try to come in and buy American businesses, just like Japanese companies did in the 1980s," said Sean Yu, a Los Angeles-based executive director at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney who advises Chinese investors. "They want to increase their prestige and their reputation."


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Photo: A street in Kaifeng, Henan, by takwing.kwong

Posted: 24 May 2012 11:34 PM PDT

A street in Kaifeng, Henan


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Documenting China’s Lost History of Famine

Posted: 24 May 2012 11:21 PM PDT

The that resulted at least partially from 's movement killed tens of millions of people, yet there has never been a full accounting of the tragedy and it is not openly discussed in textbooks or other public forums in China. Now, a Chinese documentary maker is sending young colleagues around China to record the histories of people who lived through the so-called "years of hardship." The BBC reports:

Armed with video cameras, Mr Wu's researchers have already travelled to 50 villages in 10 provinces across China.

So far they have collected more than 600 memories from the famine, the result of a disastrous political campaign launched by Mao Zedong.

The Great Leap Forward was supposed to propel China into a new age of communism and plenty – but it failed spectacularly.

Agriculture was disrupted as private property was abolished and people were forced into supposedly self-sufficient communes.

Interviews for this new project reveal that even though the famine happened a long time ago – between late 1958 and 1962 – memories are still sharp.

Read more about the Great Leap Forward via CDT, including efforts by Chinese historian Yang Jisheng and Dutch historian Frank Dikötter to document this period of history.

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