Blogs » Politics » Photo: Taxi Driver, by Mark Hobbs
Blogs » Politics » Photo: Taxi Driver, by Mark Hobbs |
- Photo: Taxi Driver, by Mark Hobbs
- Pig farm holds funeral to mourn thousands of pigs lost after vaccine shots
- Ai Wei Wei, The Dangerous
- Out of control gov’t official abuses power – a very generic post
- Child Protesters Reap Success For Migrant Workers
- Report Shows Foxconn Conditions Improving
- Netizen Voices: Power Cut at Indie Film Fest
- Good to see Chinese media going on the offensive in an unapologetic manner
- Ministry of Truth: Anti-Japanese Protests
- Advice for Gu Kailai: Lose Weight to Leave Jail
- Word of the Week: Great, glorious and correct
- Translation: Open Letter from Owner of a Japanese Car to Car-Smashing “Patriots”
- A Look Inside China’s ‘Club Fed’
- The Daily Twit – 8/22/12: The End of iGuilt, Pollution Tax, and a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
- Video: Activists hold swords between legs to call for rational anti-Japan protests
- Foxconn Labor Standards Progress Report
- China Announces Plan to Cut Energy Consumption
- Photo: china_changsha, by adam coster
- Seven reported road collapses in nine days shake Harbin city
- Chinese Cities Pledge to Boost Spending, but Will They?
| Photo: Taxi Driver, by Mark Hobbs Posted: 22 Aug 2012 10:03 PM PDT  Taxi Driver © Samuel Wade for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us |
| Pig farm holds funeral to mourn thousands of pigs lost after vaccine shots Posted: 22 Aug 2012 01:10 PM PDT
A pig farmer held a funeral to mourn his 3000 pigs that died after receiving the vaccine injections in Yanjin county, Henan province. Qin Jinzhou, who has been managing his pig farm for 13 years with painstaking efforts, now faces a loss of up to one million yuan and a possible bankrupt. Qin said, he gave 300 pigs a thorough vaccination against pseudorabies virus on August 1, following carefully the instructions from the Chengdu Tianbang Biotechnology Company and its distributor. But soon after, large-scale abortions and deaths appeared in the pig farm. Over 200 sows suffered miscarriages, and 2600 piggies and 50 more sows died. The distributor of the biotechnology company told the company will pay the compensation as long as the farmer can prove that the pigs died from the vaccines. But the two parties have the dispute over the ability and expertise of the agencies Qin found to test the vaccines. Helpless Qin then had to turn to the local relevant authorities for help and hold a funeral to raise attention. |
| Posted: 22 Aug 2012 08:26 PM PDT Mark Stevens profiles Ai Wei Wei for Smithsonian Magazine's September issue, and asks whether the dissident artist "is more than just a contemporary phenom":
Ai's work will be on display at Washington D.C.'s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden from early October through February 2013, his second show in the American capital this year. See also reviews in The New York Times and The Guardian of Ai Wei Wei: Never Sorry, the documentary film by Alison Klayman that premiered in late July. © Scott Greene for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us |
| Out of control gov’t official abuses power – a very generic post Posted: 22 Aug 2012 07:15 PM PDT On return from more than a week on the road, I caught up with my China news and found it all to be a bit…predictable. In response I've created the following template that seems to exist somewhere to save all of you time. A gov't official (or family member of an official) was caught abusing their power by murdering/embezzling/forcing farmers off their land/covering up a scandal for a company in X province. The story first appeared on Weibo, a Chinese version of Twitter, late last week and built to a crescendo over the weekend. SomeGuyWithACamera posted pictures of an angry crowd ranging between dozens and thousands, which were deleted within 24 hours by censors. Calls to the local gov't went unanswered. A man from the gov't in the neighboring district said that, "The foreign forces conspiring to bring down China," had organized this protest in co-operation with the Dalai Lama, he only gave his surname – Wang. On Weibo there was a wide variety of reactions. ImAngry tweeted, "Gov't officials are always abusing their power while they claim to be serving the people." A very different response came later from PossiblyWuMao saying, "Gov't officials only have our best interests at heart and we shouldn't expect them to stop at red lights/refuse invitations to expensive dinners/not flee overseas with embezzled money." - I could go on, but I think you get my point. After several years of consuming almost every scrap of Chinese news, the narrative has gotten stale. The idea that seems to be behind these cases is that Weibo is a tool for ensuring justice in an unjust country, and that the Chinese gov't is slowly reforming. As an American, I am lured to this reading, as it reflects my own desire to see the Chinese people taking control over their country. However, we have yet to see a meaningful clean up in gov't as a result of the widespread abuses we learn of on a daily basis. As much as I hate to say it, Weibo is at best a band-aid or a safety valve – not a source of meaningful reform. If it were, we would be seeing aggressive legislation and an easing of the limits placed on Chinese journalists instead of GT fluff pieces about acceptable levels of graft. I don't mean to say that Weibo is fruitless, it has enabled us to get a much bigger picture of what is happening in China, but it is still a carefully managed virtual world with very real boundaries. As a friend in Chengdu told me, he had seen reports of a self-immolation near his home (unrelated to Tibet) and within fifteen minutes of stumbling across the story it had completely disappeared, far too quickly to be picked up by foreign media or anyone else. Weibo gives a voice to individual Chinese people, but does not allow for a collective voice to call for change. As was noted in a recent study, most criticisms of the gov't survive censorship while posts relating to organizing much of anything are quickly deleted. My fear is that in an effort to show the growth of people power in China, we've created an image of a country that is reforming while officials are allowed to bend laws for their own needs and the gov't shies away from anything that might someday curb their power. Instead of portraying Weibo as the hero of the tales we tell, it would be a better use of ink (and bandwidth) to focus more closely on the groups and individuals pushing for change. Filed under: Current Events, Uncategorized Tagged: Chengdu, China, Chinese, Dalai Lama, Government, Tibet, Twitter, United States, Weibo   |
| Child Protesters Reap Success For Migrant Workers Posted: 22 Aug 2012 06:37 PM PDT Children of migrant laborers who had long been owed wages from a tourism company in Dali, Yunnan province joined their parents in protest this week. The company received a court order to to pay up months ago, but refused to do so. Children's presence on the picket lines seems to have drawn enough public attention to force compensation. China Daily reports on this migrant success story from the southwest of China:
Wall Street Journal's China Realtime Report translates a message from one little girl's sign, and describes how the sentimentality that the children brought to the rally affected netizens:
Two photos of the picketing tots can be seen in Chinese language coverage of the protest. For more on the struggle of China's migrant workers, see prior CDT coverage. Also see "The Uncertain Future of Beijing's Migrant Schools" and "Migration Pattern's Change, Children Still Left Behind" for more on how the lifestyles of migrant laborers affect their successors. © josh rudolph for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us |
| Report Shows Foxconn Conditions Improving Posted: 22 Aug 2012 03:56 PM PDT In March, Taiwanese electronics manufacturing contractor Foxconn pledged to make serious improvements to working conditions in their mainland Chinese factories after the Fair Labor Association launched an investigation into the company. The investigation was hired by Foxconn client Apple Inc., after the American company garnered negative press and pressure from civil society groups to address recurring Foxconn employee suicides and a 2011 explosion that killed 2 employees and injured many more. Yesterday, the Fair Labor Association released a status report, and The Unofficial Apple Blog summarizes its findings:
The New York Times reports on challenges to reducing overtime, due to both an employee desire to stockpile hours, and to Foxconn logistics:
Reuters interviewed Foxconn employees, and relays mixed opinions on overtime reduction:
The Reuters article also notes that Apple's longtime relationship with the Fair Labor Association has led some to distrust the investigation, a fact noted by Wired during the investigation's beginnings. In July, China Labor Watch released an investigative report alleging labor rights violations elsewhere in Apple's supply chain. Earlier this year, Foxconn indirectly sparked a scandalizing controversy turned epistemic debate, when This American Life broadcast an excerpt from Mike Daisey's one-man show about undercover visits to Foxconn factories in China. This American Life retracted their piece after "substantial fabrications" were revealed in Daisey's tale. For more on labor conditions, workers' rights, Foxconn and Apple, see prior CDT coverage. © josh rudolph for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us |
| Netizen Voices: Power Cut at Indie Film Fest Posted: 22 Aug 2012 02:59 PM PDT
Via CDT Chinese. Translation by Wendy Qian. "Netizen Voices" is an original CDT series. If you would like to reuse this content, please follow the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 agreement. © Wendy Qian for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us |
| Good to see Chinese media going on the offensive in an unapologetic manner Posted: 22 Aug 2012 02:25 PM PDT This is a good start, but we need more articles like this in the Mainland press, not just HK: West has no reason to be smug Here are some notable excerpts:
And here is another:
Unfortunately, you'll need a subscription to read the full article, but you can see it here at CDF (free registration required): http://www.china-defense.com/smf/index.php?topic=1014.msg196151#msg196151 Anyway, while I don't necessarily agree with all the nuances in this article, it outlines the style of writing that we should use more often – firm and non-defensive. |
| Ministry of Truth: Anti-Japanese Protests Posted: 22 Aug 2012 02:06 PM PDT The following example of censorship instructions, issued to the media and/or Internet companies by various central (and sometimes local) government authorities, has been leaked and distributed online. Chinese journalists and bloggers often refer to those instructions as "Directives from the Ministry of Truth." CDT has collected the selections we translate here from a variety of sources and has checked them against official Chinese media reports to confirm their implementation.
© Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us |
| Advice for Gu Kailai: Lose Weight to Leave Jail Posted: 22 Aug 2012 01:24 PM PDT Netizens are going crazy over the telling placement of headlines in yesterday's edition of the Shandong paper 6 AM Today (今晨6点). At top is a photo of Gu Kailai at her trial and the headline "Bogu Kailai's Commuted Death Sentence." (Chinese media refer to her using by combining her married and maiden names.) Below the fold, a mouse peers out from a beer can. Unable to squeeze itself out, the headline reads, "Go on a Diet, Then Come on Out." The weight Gu Kailai put on between her arrest and trial has many guessing at the conditions of her detention, or whether she even had a body double take the heat for her. There's little hope for true justice, either. A commuted death sentence can easily become a life sentence; Gu may even leave prison in some years' time.
Bogu Kailai's Commuted Death Sentence Bogu Kailai: "I feel that the sentence is fair, and that it reflects the court's sincere respect for the law, sincere respect for reality, and sincere respect for life."
A little mouse's thirst for booze led it into a beer can. It made it in, but no matter what it can't get out. Go on a Diet, Then Come on Out
Read more about Gu Kailai and her husband, Bo Xilai, from CDT. Via Over the Wall. Translation by Josh Rudolph. © Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us |
| Word of the Week: Great, glorious and correct Posted: 22 Aug 2012 12:00 PM PDT Editor's Note: The Word of the Week comes from China Digital Space's Grass-Mud Horse Lexicon, a glossary of terms created by Chinese netizens and frequently encountered in online political discussions. These are the words of China's online "resistance discourse," used to mock and subvert the official language around censorship and political correctness. If you are interested in participating in this project by submitting and/or translating terms, please contact the CDT editors at CDT [at] chinadigitaltimes [dot] net. 伟光正 (wěi guāng zhèng): great, glorious and correct  A Western cartoon from the 1960s picked up by a contemporary netizen is captioned, "After the famine, the Party continues to be 'great, glorious and correct'" (大饥荒后，中共继续"伟光正"). The Chinese Communist Party has described itself as "great, glorious and correct" (伟大光荣正确 wěidà guāngróng zhèngquè) for over 40 years. A 2001 People's Daily editorial is titled (with characteristic lack of irony) "The Communist Party of China is historically proved great, glorious and correct." Recently, however, netizens have turned this term on its head and used it to sarcastically refer to the Party's stubborn insistence that it is always in the right. Netizens use the phrase in a number of ways: 1. As an adjective. Example: "When the country remains underdeveloped it is because the quality of the citizens is too low and domestic conditions are too complicated. When the country develops it is completely because they are great, glorious and correct" ( 国家发展不起来，是因为国民素质太低，国情太复杂。国家发展起来，全是因为他们伟光正了). 2. As a reference to the Party. "Great, glorious and correct cadres" (伟光正的干部). 3. As a personal name. Wei guang zheng sounds like someone's name. A fake Baidu Dictionary entry on Comrade Wei Guangzheng (Chinese) describes a man who always thinks he is right, even though he clearly is not. Political cartoonist Crazy Crab has illustrated the grass-mud horse use of "great, glorious and correct" in his Hexie Farm series for CDT: see "Mirror, Mirror on the Wall," "The Dragon Boat" and "The Loudspeaker." © Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us |
| Translation: Open Letter from Owner of a Japanese Car to Car-Smashing “Patriots” Posted: 22 Aug 2012 10:13 AM PDT  Signs on a Toyota: "The Car is Japanese, but My Heart is Chinese" "The Diaoyu Islands Belong to China, (Japanese adult film star) Sola Aoi Belongs to the World" Protests in China over the disputed Diaoyu Islands (Senkaku to the Japanese) have seen some protesters taking out their anger by smashing Japanese brand cars parked on the streets of Chinese cities. An open letter by the purported owner of a Japanese car is now making the rounds on Chinese social media that manages to lambast the protestors, Americans, Germans, French and Koreans all at once. While the author does not exhibit the most balanced view of history, it does provide an interesting glimpse into another opinion on the Chinese streets, and how heavily history and past grievances still weigh on the modern Chinese worldview. In the first half of 2012, more than 1.4 million Japanese brand cars were sold in China, according to Sina Auto, making up 22.3% of the total car market in China but down from 23.5% in 2010. The original Chinese follows the translation below. An Open Letter from An Owner of a Japanese Car to Car-Smashing "Patriots" On August 19, 2012, an anti-Japanese protest to protect the Diaoyu Islands took place in several cities around China. Like everyone expected, Japanese cars are again the target of "patriots." The "patriotic show" of smashing Japanese cars is again being played out in this year's "patriotic protest," like a menstrual period. According to "patriots," Japanese cars represent Japan, and smashing Japanese cars is smashing Japan, so it expresses your patriotism. Actually, the most important thing is, it's safe to do so. You understand very well that the act of smashing a Japanese car will never be prosecuted, just like you understand that participating in this kind of protest is risk free as well.  Crowds surround a smashed Honda in Shenzhen I, as the owner of a Japanese car, want to have a few words with you. 1. Why is buying a Japanese car considered selling out? I'm an ordinary person. I work hard to make life better for my family and myself. I don't want to talk about how hard life is because that's not what this essay is about, but I think most of you will understand. It's not easy for me to make money, and my view on consumption is that if something suits me then it's good. I think Japanese cars are suitable for family use, so I bought a Japanese car. Whether it's good to use is my business. I bought the car through legitimate means. I got it in a dealership store, which has all the approvals from government agencies, no different from other dealership stores selling American/German/Korean cars. I paid taxes when I got the car. I paid vehicle consumption tax, traffic tax, infrastructure tax; also paid fuel tax and parking fees during my usage of the car. The government gave me a license plate number after examining each step, including manufacturing, sales and purchase of the car. So you tell me, I bought a car in China and passed the government approval process – When did I sell out my country? What did I sell out? 2. Why is buying a German/American/French/Korean car considered patriotic?
– America actually started the problem of the Diaoyu Islands. It besieges China, bombed our embassy, crashed into our fighter jet, and is the biggest impediment to China's resurgence. So if you buy an American car, do you love America? – Germany is one of the eight colonial powers that burned down Yuan Ming Yuan [a Qing dynasty imperial retreat famed for its beauty] and colonized Shandong province. It started world wars and killed Jewish people, and caused great harm to China and the world. So if you buy a German car, do you love Germany? – France is also one of the eight colonial powers that burned down Yuan Ming Yuan. It colonized Vietnam and attacked Zhennan Pass. Their leaders meet with the Dalai Lama, interfere with our internal affairs. The protests against Carrefour are quite recent. So if you buy a French car, do you love France? – Korea is our enemy on the Korean Peninsula. They steal Chinese culture and claim northeastern China and the Changbai Mountain are theirs, and detained a Chinese fishing captain. So if you buy a Korean car, do you love Korea? A domestic car? If you open the hood, all you see are Mitsubishi engines. Of course can't get those! Actually it doesn't matter what country the brand of car is from, but the people in the car – cars never drive drunk or hit and run, but people do. Cars don't kill people, but people do. Cars don't sell out countries, but people do.
I'm an ordinary person. I love this land and my compatriots and I don't understand your patriotic dogmas. I only know that loving my country is loving my family, be good to be neighbors, friends and everyone I meet, including my fellow citizens. I only know that loving my country is to protect the legitimate rights of myself and others, and not to be an ostrich when such rights are infringed, for example I would shout out when I see a thief. I only know that loving my country means that having the courage to bleed for it or even die for it when disaster strikes this land. After the 2008 earthquake in Sichuan, my Japanese car went to the affected areas with RMB6,000 worth of medicine. At the disaster zone many soldiers and police performed rescues with Japanese cars, and many owners of Japanese cars donated money and blood to the victims. Owners of German/American/French/Korean cars did the same. At the time, we are not owners of a foreign car, but compatriots linked by flesh and blood, shedding tears, sweat and blood together. But you, the "patriots," you say you love the country but you are doing what the Japanese did. When the Japanese harm Chinese people, you are also harming Chinese people. The only difference being one is on the Diaoyu Island but another inside China. And what makes you worse than the Japanese is that you harm Chinese people whenever you protest against the Japanese, and that has never changed. I don't know a person who does not love his compatriots and treat them well can love his country. 4. Your criminal actions must be punished. According to Criminal Law of the PRC, intentional destruction of property can be sentenced to three years in prison, and up to 7 years in prison for egregious cases. Reports say that some protesters were arrested. I believe the government will punish your criminal actions. But I, as owner of a Japanese car, will keep a steering wheel lock with me from this day forth to protect my rightful property. When I see mobsters smashing Japanese cars, I would hit them if they are in the act, no matter if the victim is me or others. I would make them understand the meaning of courage and patriotism — Protecting the legitimate rights of oneself and others is courage and patriotism! [The Chinese original follows below] 2012年8月19日，一场反日保钓的散步如期在各个城市展开，如众人所料，日系车又成为"爱国者"攻击的目标，好像定期来潮的月经一样，砸日系车的"爱国秀"又在今年的"爱国散步"中上演。 在"爱国者"口中，日系车就是小日本，砸日系车就是砸小日本，就是表达了你们的爱国情怀。 其实，最重要的是：安全！！！ 你们心里非常清楚，砸日系车这样的行为艺术在以前是不会有人追究的。如同你们非常明白参加什麽样的散步是没有风险的。 我，一个日系车车主，给你们说几句话。 一：为什麽买日系车就是卖国？ 我是一个小老百姓，我和我的家人为了生活得更好而努力工作，在这里我不想说生活的艰辛，因为那和本文无关，不过，我想，你们中的绝大部分人会理解的。 我挣钱不易，我的消费观是：适合自己的就是好的。日系车的特点，我认为是适合家用的。所以我买了一台日系车。好不好用是我自己的事。 我买车的渠道是合法的。买车时我是在正规合法的4s店买的，它经过了相关部门的审批，具有合法资质，它和旁边的美系德系韩系4s店没有什么不同。 买车时向政府交纳了相关税费。我向国税局交纳了车辆购置税，车船税，向地方政府交纳了路桥建设费。在使用中，我交纳了燃油税，停车费 政府经过审查，我这台车的生产，销售，购买各个环节均为合法，向我发放了汽车号牌。 你们告诉我，我在中国的土地上，经过了政府审查，买了一台车，我在哪一个环节卖了国？卖了什么国？ 二：为什么买德美法韩系会是爱国？ 你们说，不买日系，可以买德美韩系。我不明白，为什么买德美法韩系会是爱国？按照你们的逻辑： 美国：其实是钓鱼岛问题始做蛹者，对中国围追堵截，炸我使馆，撞我军机，是中国复兴的最大障碍，你买美国车，爱的是哪一国？美国？ 德国：八国联军之一，烧我园明园，占我山东，发动世界大战，屠杀犹太人，给中国和世界人民造成巨大伤害，你买德国车，你爱的是哪一国？德国？ 法国：八国联军之一，烧我园明园，占我安南，攻我镇南关，会见达赖，干涉我内政，家乐福门前的抗议犹然在目，你买法国车，你爱的是哪一国？法国？ 韩国：我们在朝鲜半岛的对手，窃我中华文化，妄称东北是他们的，长白山是他们的，拘我船长，你买韩国车，你爱的是哪一国？韩国？ 国产车？打开引擎盖，都是三菱发动机，更不能买！！！ 其实什么系的车不重要，重要的是车里的人，车不会酒后启动，不会肇事逃逸，而人会，车不会杀人，而人会。车不会卖国，而人会。 三：你们没有资格教我们如何爱国 我是一个小老百姓，我爱着这片土地和我的同胞，我不懂你们说的爱国大道理。 我只知道，爱国就是爱自己的家人，善待自己的邻居，善待自己的朋友，善待你生活中遇到的每一个人，善待自己的同胞。 我只知道，爱国就是维护自己和他人的合法权益，在自己和他人权益受到侵害时不要做鸵鸟，比如，遇到扒手时能够喊一声。 我只知道，爱国就是具有在这片土地遭到荼害时，能为它流血乃至付出生命的勇气。 2008年地震，我的日系车驮着6000元的药品去了地震灾区，在灾区许多日系车载着解放军武警公安进行救灾工作。而许许多多的日系车主为地震捐款献血。同时，德美法韩系的车主也做着同样的工作：救灾。在那一刻，都在流泪流汗流血，我们不是某系车主，都是血肉相连的骨肉同胞。都在流泪流汗流血。 而你们，"爱国者"们，你们口口声声说爱国，却干着和日本人一样的勾当，在日本人对中国人下手时，你们也在对中国人下手。不同之处一个在钓鱼岛，一个在大陆。而你们比日本人更可恶的是，你们一反日就对中国人下手，从未改变。 我不认为，一个不能善待自己同胞，不爱自己同胞的人，会爱国。 四：你们的打砸抢犯罪行为必须受到惩处 根据《中华人民共和国刑法》第275条规定，故意毁坏公私财物，数额较大或者有其他严重情节的，判处3年以下有期徒刑、拘役或者罚金。故意毁坏公私财物，数额巨大或者有其他特别严重情节的，判处3年以上7年以下有期徒刑。 有报道说，有地方拘了一些人，我们相信，政府会对你们中的打砸抢犯罪分予以严惩。 而我，一个日系车车主，为保护自己合法财产不受侵害，从今天起，我会放一把方向盘锁在身边，当我遇到打砸抢日系车的暴徒时，只要它们正在实施打砸抢犯罪行为，不管加害对象是我还是旁人，我都会向暴徒的狗头砸去！！！ 我，会是故意伤害，但有制止犯罪情节。而暴徒，会是故意毁坏公私财物，再加受伤。 但是，我会让它明白，什麽是血性，什么是爱国，维护自己和他人的合法权益才是血性！！才是爱国！！！ |
| A Look Inside China’s ‘Club Fed’ Posted: 22 Aug 2012 05:04 AM PDT  Qinshan prison is famous for detaining political prisoners
HONG KONG — A Chinese court has suspended Gu Kailai's death sentence for the cyanide murder of a British businessman. But Ms. Gu, the wife of the disgraced Communist Party boss Bo Xilai, is headed for a long stretch in the can, the clink, the hoosegow, the pen, the joint, the slammer, the Big House. Ms. Gu, 53, is probably bound for Qincheng Prison, the notorious facility that seems to have housed almost every corrupt party crook and major political dissident in the history of modern China. Qincheng, for all its notoriety as a maximum security prison, is hardly Robben Island or the Supermax facility in Colorado. Some are even calling it China's "Club Fed," a reference to the relative comforts at some U.S. federal prisons for white-collar criminals. A New York Times story in 1992 described Qincheng as "one of China's most comfortable penitentiaries." The Shenzhen Economic Daily published a story in May about Qincheng, located on the outskirts of Beijing. (The Web site eChinacities.com did a translation into English.) The prison was built in 1958 as a secret project — Project No. 156 — with assistance from the Soviet Union, the paper said. It is reportedly the only prison operated by the Ministry of Public Security; all other prisons are overseen by the Ministry of Justice. Until the 1960s, the paper said, "most prisoners were old Manchu officials, Japanese prisoners of war, and KMT nationalist war criminals of Major General rank and above." During the Cultural Revolution, leading "counterrevolutionaries" filled the cells. Li Lisan, a prominent Communist revolutionary and Politburo member, was arrested by Red Guards in 1967, and he and his Russian wife were sent to Qincheng. Her seclusion was so total that "I almost forgot how to speak Russian," she said in a Times story in 2000. From the late 1970s through the '80s, "most prisoners were those associated with Lin Biao and the 'Gang of Four,' " the paper said. When Jiang Qing, Mao's wife, was arrested soon after his death in 1976, she was sent to Qincheng. Her early years at the prison certainly didn't break her: At her trial in 1980, unrepentant, she told the court: "I was Chairman Mao's dog. Whomever he told me to bite, I bit." The government said she committed suicide while still imprisoned in 1991. More recently, corrupt senior officials, high-profile student leaders and antigovernment writers have been sent to Qincheng. Ordinary criminals are sent elsewhere. "That is to say, not just anyone can serve their sentence at Qincheng Prison — it is therefore perhaps the final 'privilege' given to corrupt officials." China's most famous political prisoner, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo, spent 18 months in Qincheng, starting in 1989. A subsequent conviction reportedly has landed him "in a cell with five common criminals at Jinzhou Prison in Liaoning Province" about 300 miles from his home (and his wife) in Beijing. Wang Dan, one of the leaders of the Tiananmen Square student protests, recalled his detention in Qincheng "along with several hundred other students and intellectuals." "On a particularly cold winter morning," he wrote in The Times in 2010, "I sat on my bed and picked up my copy of The People's Daily, the government newspaper we were allowed to read, and saw that Nelson Mandela had been released from prison." The original Qincheng Prison had cells in three-story brick units, simply referred to as Buildings 1 through 4 — Jia (甲), Yi (乙), Bing (丙) and Ding (丁). In 1967, six more blocks were added, numbered 5 through 10. "The guards are carefully selected," said Wei Jingsheng, the former dissident and political prisoner, in a scathing critique of what he called "the 20th century Bastille." "One criterion is age; prisoners report never seeing guards over 20. They are replaced at regular intervals." According to the Shenzhen paper, "The walls of cells for major criminals are specially padded with rubber to ensure that the prisoners cannot commit suicide by running into the walls. The only furniture in each cell is a small bed set about a foot off the ground, and when a prisoner wants to write a 'confession,' a school desk will be provided." The doors are iron-plated "with a peephole at toilet level and at eye level," and guards "monitor the rooms constantly." At one point, during the 1960s, the quality of prisoners' meals was based on their rank. "The person responsible for cooking for the 204 high-level prison cells was a Class B chef that had been transferred to Qincheng Prison from the Beijing Hotel," the paper said. "The dishes he served included shark's fin and sea cucumbers." Mr. Wei said the Qincheng guards were "ingenious" in using food to manipulate prisoners: "Food is withheld as a means of punishment. One of the lightest and most common punishments is first to starve the prisoner and then give him or her a bowl of very greasy noodles as 'compensation.' " "According to descriptions given by those who have visited in more recent years," the paper said, high officials still receive special living conditions at Qincheng Prison." Their prison cells are larger, and some have desks, bathrooms, sit-down toilets and washing machines. They are allowed time to read books and People's Daily, and they get two hours of TV at night. High-level inmates also may receive visits, clothing and private medical care from family members. "Although prisoners are given uniforms," the paper said, "they are generally not required to wear them." An excerpt, slightly condensed, from Mr. Wei's essay: The inmates' lives are governed by all sorts of irrational regulations. They have to sleep facing the door. To turn one's back to the doorway is not permitted, and if one happens to do so while sleeping, he is awakened, over and over if necessary, until the prisoner learns to face the glass pane. There was a Tibetan who, after sleeping on one side of his face for more than 10 years, developed a swollen ear that became infected and numb. Sanitary conditions are poor. Soap is not provided, and bathing is permitted only once a month, regardless of the season. A few privileged prisoners are given semi-annual physical examinations. Qincheng is enough to strangle one's will. The place could almost be called a dungeon, or a psychiatric institute. In Qincheng, even those who were once imprisoned by the enemies of the Communists are victims of modern techniques to destroy body and mind. The Shenzhen newspaper said a new facility, Yancheng Prison, is being phased in as the default prison for senior officials convicted of nonviolent "duty crimes" or malfeasance and corruption. "Once Yancheng Prison is fully operational," the paper said, "it is likely that Qincheng Prison will 'retire' and be changed into a common lockup for prisoners awaiting trial."
 the satellite picture of Qincheng Prison |
| Posted: 22 Aug 2012 06:48 AM PDT The subject of labor rights was on my mind today. The latest report from the Fair Labor Association came out on Foxconn. My post, Foxconn Labor Standards Progress Report, summarizes the results and has links to the report. You can also check out this story in the Guardian: Apple manufacturer Foxconn improves on Chinese workers' hours and safety. If you're looking for more information on the successful labor protests by Motorola Mobility workers, there are some good details in Caixin: Google's Motorola layoffs spark protests in China. In other news: Bloomberg: China Pollution Tax Plan Submitted to Cabinet — OK, yes, I shudder to think about the implementation and enforcement of this if it passes, but aside from that, it's a step in the right direction, eh? China Daily: CBRC sets up protection bureau — Somehow I think this was easier for China to set up than the analog in the U.S., which was a clusterfuck. Luckily for us here in China, the financial services industry doesn't own the government, at least not yet. Global Times: Foreign correspondents not targeted — Not as bad as it sounds. The issue is whether the recent violence against journalists comes from local guys or the higher ups. Xinhua: China to Formulate New Five-year Anti-corruption Plan — This is more of an announcement (and for me a placeholder) than an article, but it certainly makes me curious as to what the plan is going to look like. Talk about a huge challenge. Financial Times: Thucydides's trap has been sprung in the Pacific — Another "China Rises" Op/Ed. I responded earlier today with this: The Rise of China: Been There, Already Read That. Daniel Bell: Political Meritocracy Is a Good Thing (Part 1): The Case of China — Surprised this wasn't the subject of more chatter today. It's basically a "China Model" argument, the first in a series. New York Times: Writing Chinese in a Digital World — Chinese characters and the challenges of technology. Always fun to read about. © Stan for China Hearsay, 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us |
| Video: Activists hold swords between legs to call for rational anti-Japan protests Posted: 21 Aug 2012 10:08 PM PDT
Recently, two women and a man, clad in bikinis, were spotted holding Japanese swords between their thighs to call fellow Chinese to be well-behavored patriots and avoid irritional and violent anti-Japanese protests, on a street in Shenzhen. Over the last weekend, China has seen the largest flare-up of public anger over Japan in years, after 10 Japanese right-wingers swam ashore and raised Japanese flags on one of Diaoyu Islands in East China Sea. Tens of thousands of protesters took on streets across China to voice their opposition to the landing and call for a boycott of Japanese products. Some rabid groups of protestors attacked Japanese cars, restuarants, shops and other businesses related to Japan as well during the demonstrations, which aroused opposition among the public. But the publicity stunt apperantly turned off major netizens, who criticized the organizers aiming to gain attention in name of anti-Japanese protest. |
| Foxconn Labor Standards Progress Report Posted: 22 Aug 2012 05:49 AM PDT
This was supposed to be an ongoing deal, and if you remember, the last time the Fair Labor Association came calling and wrote up a summary of what was going on at Foxconn, the expectation was that they would be back to see how Foxconn implemented their suggestions. And here we go (from FLA's web site):
The report contains a handy table for keeping score, but basically the news is pretty good. I don't think it's particularly useful to get bogged down in these numbers, which often can obfuscate problems, but for what it's worth, there were a total of 360 "remedial actions" between the three factories. Of those, 195 were scheduled to be completed by May 31, and indeed, Foxconn has complied with all of them. Of a further 254 remedial actions that are scheduled to be completed between June 1 of this year and July 1 of next year, 89 have already been completed ahead of schedule. That doesn't really tell us anything of course. The question is whether conditions have gotten better. Back to the report:
Now we're talking. Overtime is down, wages are up (a lot), worker safety has improved. This seems quite substantive, and the monitoring program will continue. The question everyone is asking of course is "Can I stop feeling guilty about all my iCrap?" I can't help you with that one, but I will say that if Foxconn actually comes into conformity with China labor laws, that will mean that conditions at their facilities will be much better than a hell of a lot of other factories here. That might have been true even before all this started, though. The only other point I'd make here is to look at this, along with the recent successful protest by folks being laid off at Motorola Mobility, and say that the environment for labor rights challenges/protests in China sure has gotten better in the past few years. You protest, you demonstrate, you have the backing of labor rights groups — there's a chance you might actually get somewhere. It helps when your employer is a large multinational that has to worry about its brand of course. This is a win-win in the long run. Apple is, in some ways, now ahead of the curve on being responsive to labor issues. The labor rights groups also have to be happy with the entire process (I would assume). Finally, the workers have obviously benefited, at least until Foxconn starts yanking back all their overtime. © Stan for China Hearsay, 2012. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us |
| China Announces Plan to Cut Energy Consumption Posted: 22 Aug 2012 03:57 AM PDT In a bid to strengthen China's energy security, the central government announced plans on Tuesday to spend nearly $400 billion to cut China's energy consumption by 300 million tonnes of standard coal before 2015, via projects aimed at energy conservation and pollution reduction . From Reuters:
Last week, The China Daily reported that China's had cut its energy usage by 2 percent last year. © Scott Greene for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us |
| Photo: china_changsha, by adam coster Posted: 22 Aug 2012 03:34 AM PDT © Scott Greene for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us |
| Seven reported road collapses in nine days shake Harbin city Posted: 21 Aug 2012 08:10 PM PDT
On August 14, a young victim's family put up a photo of her at a scene of a road cave-in accident to mourn her tragic death and demand an answer from the relevant authorities in Harbin city, capital of China's northmost Heilongjiang. The teen died after falling into a deep pit caused by a road collapse at Liaoyang Street of the city. From August 9 to August 17, seven cases of road cave-in have reportedly occurred in the city, leaving two residents dead and two others injured. But on the Internet, widespread pictures have suggested that more road pits had been spotted throughout the city in 8 days. The incidents have put the municipal government under fire for shoddy construction, which said they were still probing into the cause of the incidents.
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| Chinese Cities Pledge to Boost Spending, but Will They? Posted: 22 Aug 2012 03:29 AM PDT The Wall Street Journal reports that a number of Chinese cities have rolled out large stimulus measures intended to boost slumping growth:
Despite the ambitious announcements, however, many analysts question whether Chongqing, Tianjin, and others will actually follow through on their proposed investments. From Reuters:
Earlier this month, The Financial Times highlighted Changha's spending plan:
© Scott Greene for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us |
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