Why Employers Should Encourage Desk Naps

Why Employers Should Encourage Desk Naps

Posted: 31 Jul 2012 09:52 PM PDT

I still remember my first law firm job in China and what I saw when I returned to the office after lunch: lots of people sitting at their desks, heads resting on their arms, sound asleep. My boss, an American, soon outlawed the very common practice, saying it was "unprofessional." I always thought that if if a quick nap refreshed you after lunch, why not?

Since then, I've seen the steady demise of the desk nap in China. You can still see it, but in many places it is an endangered species, particularly with foreign companies or local enterprises influenced by multinational behavior. Having your staff hunched over and snoring in their cubicles apparently doesn't look very modern.

It's a real shame what's happened with desk naps in China, and similar pressure on the siesta in other countries. It goes hand in hand with the general trend to keep people constantly working, cognitive effects be damned. Most employers would apparently rather have their people working longer and inefficiently than fewer hours more efficiently — I bet hourly billing helps this attitude along.

The effects of sleep deprivation are no joke. In addition to real health concerns, here's what it does to your work performance:

For anyone who gets six hours of sleep or less, they have the same cognitive thinking skills as someone that stayed awake for 48 hours.

I don't know about you, but I wouldn't want a doctor operating on me who had been up for 48 hours. How about the driver of a truck? Airline pilot? The list is endless.

For me, I personally wouldn't want a lawyer to attempt to draft a complex legal document with that kind of cognitive deficit either. Too easy to make serious mistakes. At the very least, it will require more lawyer time than it should, needlessly inflating the budget.

In addition to poor thinking skills, sleepy workers have trouble making decisions, are irritable/emotional, and can't concentrate. How many of you have a boss (or perhaps you are one yourself) who is irrationally cranky on a regular basis? You know, an asshole. If he/she is a workaholic, serially sleep-deprived A-type personality, some extra sleep might solve that personality defect, or at least help.

I understand that everyone's busy these days. Personally, I think we bring a lot of that on ourselves, or it is imposed upon us for no good reason by our superiors. Be that as it may, even if folks can't get sufficient sleep every night, at least they should be able to take a brief desk nap to clear the mental cobwebs. The benefits surely outweigh the costs, whatever those may be. A recent Australian study that looked at the length of naps concluded the following:

The 10-minute nap produced immediate improvements in all outcome measures (including sleep latency, subjective sleepiness, fatigue, vigor, and cognitive performance), with some of these benefits maintained for as long as 155 minutes.

Why wouldn't you want to encourage that in the workplace?

Qidong Paper Plant Resumes Production

Posted: 31 Jul 2012 10:07 PM PDT

The paper factory at the centre of violent protests in Jiangsu at the weekend resumed production on Tuesday, according to the Associated Press:

Authorities in the eastern Chinese city of Qidong dropped plans for a waste water pipeline linked to the factory, which is located in the nearby city of Nantong, after thousands of protesters angry about pollution took to the streets last week.
[…] The water discharge project was part of a planned expansion for the Jiangsu Oji Paper Nantong Mill, which began output in early 2011 with an annual capacity of 400,000 tons, according to the company's website.
It is unclear if the expansion will go ahead now that the sewage pipeline planned for Qidong has been cancelled.

The Wall Street Journal's MarketWatch reported that the the company's long-term plans in China may indeed be affected:

"The impact (of the suspension) on its business is almost none" because the suspension will be limited to a short period, an official said.
An industry official, however, said the latest incident "shed light on a business risk in China." Oji Paper could review its strategy in China, industry sources said.
Oji has been expanding its presence in China and other emerging economies where it is seeing demand for its paper products rise, since having seen paper demand falter in Japan.

Although the plant is a joint venture between Oji and the city of Nantong, nationality has become a prominent theme in the backlash against it. From China Real Time Report:

In China, nationalist comments were mixed with lingering calls for further protest on Sina Corp.'s Weibo microblogging service, showing yet again the anti-Japanese sentiment still to be found in China. "How can a Japanese paper factory come and damage Chinese people's health and our environment? How can we with our 1.3-billion population be afraid of that little Japan?" said one Weibo user claiming to be in southern Guangdong province.
"The whole nation should boycott Japanese products," says another weibo user.
"Little Japan, get out of my country!" said a third, based in Jiangsu province.
Online users also called for continued efforts against Oji paper itself. A search for the phrase "boycott Nepia" – the brand name of a tissue that Oji sells in China – turned up more than 100,000 posts Monday morning. "Please don't use Nepia anymore and kick it back to Japan," said one Weibo user using the name Wang Xiaosai.

Forbes' Jack Perkowski hailed the episode, writing that "environmentalism has arrived as a positive force for change in the country" and highlighting China's shortage of clean water. But as @桔子树小窝 ("Little Tangerine Tree Monkey") pointed out in a post translated by Tea Leaf Nation, the pipeline's cancellation will not prevent pollution from the plant:

When I realize that people either start jumping for joy or start slamming people left and right, I felt hopeless for our times.
[…] Basically, the long and short of it is that Nantong doesn't want Oji Paper to dump its wastewater into the Yangtze River, so they want to build a pipeline to drain the wastewater into the sea. But the people of Qidong are unhappy that wastewater from some other part of the province is going into their backyard.
So the Qidong residents "went for a walk" (散步, an euphemism for street protests). As a result, Nantong shelved the pipeline. Please note that the pipeline is now shelved, but the factory remains open. So as of now…the factory continues to pump wastewater into the river, as usual.

In a Global Times op-ed, Fudan lecturer Daniel Shen made the same point, blaming the protests on the spread of "fragmented information" online and the local government's failure to fill in the blanks.

People who participated in the protest should at least have known that the paper factory was already operating in 2011 and the waste water was being dumped into the Yangtze River after it was processed to meet the disposal requirement. […]
In fact, if the public can put more of their passion and energy toward researching these questions, their supervision of the government can become more effective. This is something that stripping off the local mayor's shirt cannot achieve.
As to the government, it must learn how to communicate with the public. Currently, local governments in China often choose to either show a hard-line stance on protests or take the easy route by unconditionally accepting the public's demand.
But neither way is effective, despite different reactions from the public. Adopting a hard-line stance on public protests is not only wrong but also stupid, while an unconditional compromise only shows how lazy, incompetent and irresponsible a government is.

Also at Global Times, media commentator Peng Xiaoyun suggested that officials avoid these pitfalls by ensuring proper public participation from the start:

The government should open up its policymaking process for public participation, building up a representative system that allows the citizens to approve its projects. A good example can be found in Panyu, Guangdong Province, where local residents have also been taking a stand against a garbage incinerator project. But unlike what happened in Shifang and Qidong, the petition in Panyu is now undergoing a positive transition from a traditional street demonstration to a professional lobby.
This is because local residents and the government have established a representative mechanism that enables effective public participation in policymaking. For instance, local residents elect their representatives with professional knowledge on this issue. The representatives would then be invited to bring the issue to the government's work conference for negotiation. The public will also be informed of this process.
The fate of local projects shouldn't depend on the whim of either local leaders or angry protestors, but experts and professionals. The government should stop shouldering all the responsibilities and instead invite the public to help. This actually can be beneficial to the government as it won't have to take all the blame if a project goes wrong.
Sharing responsibilities with the public will also help boost the development of a civil society, as people will become more capable in managing their own community's affairs.

Tang Jun, a social policy researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, also stressed the importance of communication and obtaining local consent:

"Some local governments failed to release enough information about projects before construction began," Tang said. "They should let the public discuss the issues from the beginning so the public knows more about the projects, dispelling their concerns."
Tang also said that closing all possibly polluting manufacturing industries would improve the environment, but it's not practical.
"A large proportion of the country's population now works in manufacturing," he said.

The broad consensus in favour of peacefully pre-empting protests shows recognition of the high stakes in adapting economic development to public concerns. Failure to do so threatens the unwritten contract between government and people, suggests Rob Schmitz on American Public Media's Marketplace:

Years ago, as China stood on the precipice of an era of unbridled economic growth, its leadership made a deal with the people: you don't challenge our authority, we give you a better quality of life. For the Chinese, 'better quality of life' used to mean the freedom to make money.
Not anymore, says U.C. Irvine China historian Jeffrey Wasserstrom.
Jeffrey Wasserstrom: They're not willing to accept the idea that being able to buy more stuff at the store means your quality of life is improving if you're worried about the pollution levels of the water you drink, if you're worried about the quality of the air you breathe, if you're worried about whether your children will grow up in a decent environment.

© Samuel Wade for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: anti-Japan, environmental protests, Guangdong, industrial pollution, Japan, Jiangsu, local government, local officials, nationalism, NIMBY, Panyu, Qidong, river pollution, water pollution
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Cartoon: The Great Wave Off Zhongnanhai, by Hexie Farm (蟹农场)

Posted: 31 Jul 2012 08:09 PM PDT

The Great Wave Off Zhongnanhai

© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
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What Is China Doing in Africa?

Posted: 31 Jul 2012 08:03 PM PDT

As China's booming foreign-direct-investment promotes stronger Sino-African linkages, the international media continues to focus on China's exploitation of natural resources and huge financial aid to pariah regimes. In an interview with China Brief, Deborah Brautigam, a researcher on Sino-African relations, gives her opinion on this strategically important relationship. From AmCham China:

Q: What do you think are the most widely held misperceptions of China's engagement in Africa and what are the actual realities?
I'm currently writing a paper for the International Food Policy Research Institute on the myths and realities of Chinese engagement in agriculture in Africa. It's widely believed that the Chinese are among the major "land grabbers" in Africa, and that this happens as part of a Chinese government effort to boost China's own food security. What I've seen in all of the cases I've investigated is a very consistent pattern that is quite different. The Chinese government is rather supporting African food security through setting up agricultural research, training, and demonstration centers in 20 countries. Some Chinese firms bought state farms that were privatized over the past two decades. Very often these were old Chinese aid projects from the 1970s and 1980s. I visited one of these projects in Sierra Leone, and also in Tanzania. There is a scattering of tiny Chinese farms supplying Chinese vegetables to urban markets, and in one country, Zambia, about 30 Chinese individuals and companies have invested in agriculture. They're also all supplying local markets: chickens, eggs, vegetables. A handful of Chinese companies have agreements to lease land to grow biofuels. Three companies have done this, one in Ethiopia, one in Zambia, and one in the DRC. But none of these ventures have actually started. In contrast, there are ten large Indian agricultural investments in Ethiopia, but it's rare to hear anything about Indians leading the land grab in Africa. The reality is that Chinese regard agricultural investment as very challenging in Africa. They're much more interested in Asia: Cambodia, Indonesia.

For more on Chinese engagement in Africa, see China in Africa: Voices of Approval and China in Africa: A "New Colonialism"? via CDT.

© Mengyu Dong for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Africa investment, Africa relations, natural resources, overseas investment
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China Factory Closures and the Rise of the Rent Seekers

Posted: 31 Jul 2012 07:42 PM PDT

As you may have heard, Adidas recently announced the closure of its last remaining directly-owned factory in China. They're going elsewhere in search of lower labor costs. However, that decision did not go over well with their local suppliers, who do not seem willing to accept it without putting up a fight.

Chinese suppliers are calling on the clothes manufacturer Adidas AG to compensate them for the consequences of its decision to close the last factory it wholly owns on the mainland, saying that they might otherwise turn to the courts for assistance.

Adidas announced its plan to close the factory last week, saying it will shut down an apparel operation in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, in an attempt to become more efficient by restructuring its business in China and the world. It also said it will terminate its contracts with five suppliers in the country.

Those companies have been working with Adidas for several years. In 2011, they delivered about 8 million garment pieces to Adidas, said Sun Yingli, general manager of Shanghai Manlang Textile Co Ltd, one of the suppliers.

Sun said Adidas informed her and her colleagues in April that it wanted to end the contract it has with Shanghai Manlang Textile. "The original document said Adidas can terminate it whenever they want," Sun said. "They just have to tell us about that decision six months in advance." Sun said she has consulted a lawyer and said the contract appears to be a one-sided agreement. (China Daily)

This lawsuit threat looks like a weak negotiation tactic. As I've said before, this strategy doesn't work all that well if you don't have a real case to back up the threat.

In this instance, going to court would be a joke (unless there are other facts here we don't know about). A six-month termination clause is quite reasonable and is very common. It's a valid contract term and should be upheld by a court or arbitration body. Moreover, it sounds as though Adidas exercised the notice provision correctly.

Sorry, suppliers.

The Adidas dispute is simple and limited in scope, but what will happen when more factories and entire sectors start closing down in the years to come? The big picture here is worth thinking about.

Several things are going on in China at the moment with manufacturing. The ones closing up shop are doing so because costs are rising (a long-term trend), and demand, particularly in the export sector, is falling (hopefully only a short-term trend).

The acceleration of plant closures in some sectors, like textiles, will mean lots of unemployed folks. The government will have to deal with the resulting disputes between labor and management, involving things like back pay, social insurance payments, etc.

But I can't help thinking about entrenched industries and political power. Maybe I'm simply looking at this like a Westerner, but when you have an industrial sector in decline that has sufficient juice with a government, what usually happens? Well, where I'm from, it ends in recriminations and protectionism.

We're already on heightened alert for increased levels of protectionism now that China is dealing with sagging exports. Stay tuned for more trade disputes over the next couple years. This is mostly foreseeable and expected.

The decline in labor-intensive industries like textiles is also expected, and since China wishes to "move up the value chain" and leave some of this low-end work to other developing countries, it will probably be quite all right to see those companies depart. In the short-run, of course, it will mean job losses and pain, and perhaps some political turmoil for local officials.

However, if China continues to experience wage increases and sees more manufacturing enterprises flee the country, when will the protectionism kick in? These factories, these industries, represent important constituencies for local and provincial governments, who will no doubt lobby on their behalf. What will that dynamic look like, and how will the Central Government balance long-term national economic strategy against short-term dislocations and pressure from locally powerful rent seekers? This will be fascinating to watch.

Additionally, will we see some sort of backlash against those nations getting all those new jobs? As the U.S. lost huge numbers of manufacturing jobs, it was easy to single out China, a gigantic, identifiable scapegoat. For China, there won't be such an obvious target. Vietnam? Indonesia? Bangladesh? Not the same dynamic at all.

Those Adidas suppliers are nothing to worry about, but if their ilk band together and push for government assistance, things might get interesting.

© Stan for China Hearsay, 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: labor costs, manufacturing, unemployment

Shaolin’s Shi Yongxin, Angel or Devil?

Posted: 31 Jul 2012 07:59 PM PDT

Abbot Shi Yongxin, who runs China's famed Shaolin Temple, has been digging the pay dirt for the prestigious monastery for years. However, his operating ideology that made Shaolin thrive financially is sometimes condemned by detractors as "profane", and rumors around him persist. From Isaac Stone Fish at The Daily Beast:

Shi straddles many of China's dichotomies: the sacred and the profane, the modern and the ancient, the party and the people. He is a portrait of success in modern China, standing at the intersection of the Communist Party's control of both business and religion. Some see him as a brilliant visionary keeping the martial-arts tradition alive; others claim he's a party huckster who has accepted millions in "gifts" and makes money by charging up to $14,000 for the right to burn incense in the sacred grounds of the temple. Shi has denied these allegations, but he continues to inspire both vitriol and adulation. In 2009 Shaolin's website was hacked to display the message "Shaolin evildoer Shi Yongxin, go to hell." Last March, as a delegate to China's rubber-stamp Parliament, Shi made news by showing up in yellow robes, holding an iPad.
[…] In a country where grassroots opinion plays a surprisingly large role in unseating public figures, Shi has had to deal with rumors about his alleged worldliness. One of the most pernicious claims is that Shi was caught visiting prostitutes in May 2011, and that a temple spokesman had claimed Shi met the women in order to enlighten them. About the scandal, Shi said, "it's impossible for someone who's been a monk for decades to have this thing happen." Wang Yumin, a former travel agent who runs the temple's foreign-affairs office, said the prostitution rumors were "delusional," adding, "According to Buddhism, people who speak delusions will get their reckoning."

Read more about Shaolin Temple and church-government relationship in China via CDT.

© Mengyu Dong for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Buddhism, shaolin, Shi Yongxin
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Why U.S. “Soft Power” Is Fake and Losing

Posted: 31 Jul 2012 07:51 PM PDT

A little while ago, U.S. Secretary Hillary Clinton wrote a book about her understanding of "Smart Power", which in a nutshell is the new way of U.S. foreign policy of "balancing" Hard powers with "Soft powers".

Much of the US switch toward "soft powers" is being discussed in recent Obama years. But as more of it is exposed to actual PRACTICE, US (and Western) "soft powers" is looking more and more like the Hard powers that they are supposed to balance, and thus some thing of a forgery and pretense are being exposed, and less credibility and "influence" will surely follow.

The strongest evidence of the existence of U.S. (and Western) "soft powers" is the often seen polls in the Western media of the Image of U.S. being admired all over the world, the culture of Hollywood, Music, fashion, Gadgets, etc., in other words, the culture of new ideas freely flowing.

In comparison, China seemed devoid of such "new ideas", and its influence is apparently limited to the attraction of money.

More than the likes of Hillary have pointed to such polls as evidence of the new US "soft powers" working in the world. The logic is, no matter how much money people want, in the end, they will want to be like Americans! Thus, U.S. influence will grow.

But what is this ultimate "influence" that US will gain? That others will do what US want? The hope and the logic are that the other nations will THINK like Americans, have American "values", and thus more likely to do what Americans would want them to do in the first place. "I love you too"!! Every one sing along camp fire! Miracle of "Soft Powers".

Attractive as the plan, the harsh reality contradicts it even from within US itself (and Western Europe).

For what is the American "Values"??! No one can say for sure. And EVERYONE in US has a different version of it. And many Americans are at other Americans' throats about which one is the right one. (So even if the Rest of the world adopts American "values", they won't likely agree with Americans, or each other. Thus, that camp fire won't have much singing along, and it would more likely be a burning cross, or a book burning, which are still happening in US!)

Still not convinced?! Let's look at some recent events of self-evident view of US "values" and "soft powers":

Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney is a personification of "value controversies" in US today.

(1) He's Mormon. (Nothing wrong with that in my view. I have Mormon friends.)

But many even in his own Republican parties do not accept his religion as "Christian" or "Christian enough". So apparently, MANY Christian Americans have some kind of Pecking Order of "values", where Mormons are considered "lesser Christians" or "not real Christians" (quoted from American Christians).

(2) Mormons apparently had some kind of ritual recently, where they went to some Jewish cemetery and "posthumously baptized" dead Jewish people into Christianity, in order to apparently save their souls. So, some Mormons have a Pecking order of their own, where Jewish people are in the wrong religion.

(3) Romney just went to UK, and complained about their handling of Olympics setup. Another Pecking order. Americans do things better than their British friends.

(4) Romney also went to Israel on the same trip, and contrasted the living standard between Israelis and Palestinians, as evidence of the better "culture" values of the Jewish people. Pecking order by "cultural values".

"Soft Powers" eh??!

It seems to me, they can call it "values", "culture", etc., but it is still sounds like same old PREJUDICE, where an empire promotes some kind of Pecking order to enslave others, based upon how close one resembles some idealized version of the mainstream majority in the Empire.

There is NOTHING new about these ideas. Just now, instead of beads and trinkets, the price of new slavery is songs, plays, and other senses.

It's "Bread and Circuses", minus the BREAD!!

Perhaps "slavery" is too harsh? I would argue, the Pecking order in the new US "Soft power" policies is the very evidence of a plan of "slavery" by the Empire, by self-admission. And the Americans show it all the time now in their foreign policies.

Even Allies are placed on the Pecking order of American "values". In other words, it doesn't matter what you do, it doesn't even matter how much you admire US's "values". It's all about who YOU are relative to the US "values"/culture, in whatever prejudicial biased ignorant view the Americans may have of YOU! Because as long as you are very different in "value", your actions will always be tainted and suspect, and your loyalty questioned.

And yes, the new "soft power" is very aggressive and hard, because even Americans will admit, they will fight and defend and kill for their "values". Right or wrong, the Pecking order is emotional, guttural, and self-influencing more than influencing others. (Hey, you might dismiss their "values" as academic, but for Americans, it's who they are, and thus your dismissal is at least partially insulting!)

Then the question is, What about China?

Does China have "values"? Not according to US. Chinese people, US would have you believe, are money grabbing unethical heathens. Partially because apparently, Chinese, despite having so many living in other nations, doing businesses, etc., are not eager to display their "values" openly. They are not particularly religious, sometimes mixing many religions with their own myths and legends.

China is trying to promote "Confucius" abroad, but there is no Conversions of any kind. If you read Confucius and can speak some Chinese, apparently, that satisfies the "cultural promotion" agenda.

China does have preferences for nations who agrees with China's diplomatic positions relating to territorial and sovereignty claims (over Taiwan, Tibet, South China sea, etc.). But that's just action-based diplomacy, ie. you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours.

If you boil down to it, if soft power is "bread and circuses", US's "soft power" is all Circuses, and China is mostly Bread.

And I would wager, most people, if coming down to it, would rather have Bread (then perhaps Circuses).

And if you are inclined to be influenced by one or the other, most people would rather choose to become Bread-winners than Circus-clowns (who might be good for a laugh now and then, but you wouldn't want your kids to become one, frankly).

To top it off, US's "Smart power" is even more ridiculous. It's like arming a bunch of Circus-clowns!

Figuratively, the US Circus comes to your town, do a little show, make you laugh, and then the clowns turn around and whips out their AK-47′s, and make their demands!

Yes, it might seem like a "balance", but it is ridiculously unrelated to each other. How is a good Hollywood film going to make a Drone-kill order more palatable??

Thus, I say to the likes of Hillary Clinton, if US "Smart Power" makes sense to you, you need serious help. Better yet, take a sabbatical from the 3-ring circus you call US politics, and get REAL, before this kind of self-deception becomes part of your own "value".

Olympic Association Says Ye Shiwen is “Clean”

Posted: 31 Jul 2012 07:50 PM PDT

Following veiled accusations from U.S. swim coach John Leonard that Chinese swimmer Ye Shiwen had used illicit performance-enhacing drugs to win her record-breaking gold medal on Saturday, many in the industry have risen to her defense. Most notably, the British Olympic Association's chairman, Lord Colin Moynihan, said Ye had been tested with clean results. From the BBC:

Lord Colin Moynihan said Ye, 16, had passed drug tests, was "clean" and deserved recognition for her talent.
Ye smashed her personal best by at least five seconds in the 400m Medley.
[...]
Lord Moynihan told a news conference that the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) was "on top of the game".
"She's been through Wada's programme and she's clean. That's the end of the story. Ye Shiwen deserves recognition for her talent," he said.

The International Olympic Committee spokesman has also defended Ye and said accusations of doping were "crazy." A blog post on The Least Thing looks at the trajectory of women's swimming times over the past 50 years and finds nothing out of the ordinary about Ye's results.

A British swimming coach working with Chinese athletes wrote in the Guardian that results like those reached by Ye were due to hours of hard work put in by the Chinese team:

Chinese athletes train incredibly hard, harder than I can explain in words and as a coach who has placed swimmers on five different Olympic Games teams, I have never seen athletes train like this anywhere in the world.
They have an unrelenting appetite for hard work, can (and will) endure more pain for longer than their western counterparts, will guarantee to turn up for practice every single time and give their all. They are very proud of their country, they are proud to represent China and have a very team focused mentality.
Let's also not forget that this is their only avenue for income; most do not study and sport offers them a way out or a way up from where they and their families currently live in society. If their swimming fails, they fail and the family loses face.
This is not an attitude shared by athletes in the west, who – generally speaking – come from comfortable homes with average incomes, one or two cars per family and four weeks or more paid holidays per year. Your average Chinese family does not live this way.

Yet some still cautioned skepticism despite the test results. From the New York Daily News:

Gary Wadler, the past chairman of the World Anti-Doping Agency's prohibited list committee, said questions were fair game considering the circumstances.
"When you have extraordinary performances like she has you have to raise the question, 'Is it legitimate?' " Wadler said.
Charles Yesalis, a retired epidemiologist at Penn State and an expert on performance-enhancing drugs, noted China's history of doping. The government controls the pharmaceutical industry in China.
He said it does not matter whether or not she tests positive.
"She could be using designer drugs that are not known to the testers."

The accusations have been held up as evidence of the West's racism against China, both by the official Global Times and by Ye's father, The Wall Street Journal reports:

"Some suspicion is expected from the West, which typically questions Chinese athletes and tends to be a little arrogant," said her father, Ye Qingsong, in an interview. He added, "Chinese athletes have been tested and the results will prove [the truth]."

For her part, Ye has continued to go about her business, winning another gold medal and insisting on her innocence to the press. The Guardian profiles Ye and her life as a teenage athlete in China.

Her pink microblog page is a typical teenager's, with cutesy pictures and a snap of her cuddling a puppy. She enjoys cross stitch – a bafflingly popular hobby among Chinese girls – as well as watching TV and reading detective novels.
In her last message to her 200,000 followers, written not long after that spectacular performance, she observed modestly: "The first day's competition is finished. The score is satisfactory. Tomorrow, I still have the 200m and will continue to strive. Thank you for your support."
Her parents' strategy is clearly working. Zhang Xinming, a Sports Illustrated journalist who has followed Ye's career closely, said: "Her father, Ye Qingsong, once told me 'Her mother and I keep our eyes on Shiwen to make sure she stays grounded.'"

In the Telegraph, Brendan O'Neill writes that those who misinterpret Ye's success are missing a crucial part of the Olympic spirit:

What the people pointing the finger at Ye Shiwen seem not to understand is that there is something about the Olympics that can unleash an individual's potential to an extraordinary degree. There is something about the prestige of the Games, the expectation of excellence, the elitist (in a good way) Olympian values of "Citius, Altius, Fortius", which can inspire sportsmen and women to feats that shock even them, never mind the rest of us. Bob Beamon is a good example of this. His 1968 jump was striking not only because it was half a metre longer than anyone had jumped before, and not only because it remained the world record for 23 years (until Mike Powell jumped 8.95m in 1991), but also because Beamon himself never jumped that far again. After jumping 8.90m at the '68 Olympics, the furthest he ever jumped was 8.22m. There was something about the Olympics itself, about the creative, historic pressure of that once-every-four-years moment of sporting spectacle, which propelled Beamon to superhuman feats (maybe with a little help from the Mexican altitude).

Cast your vote. The Guardian asks: Does Ye Shiwen deserve an apology?

No sooner had the controversy over Ye begun to fade when another one kicked up its heels on the badminton court. A match between Chinese and South Korean women "descended into chaos" after both teams threw their own games in order to win a more favorable placement in the finals. From Reuters:

The BBC quoted an IOC spokesman as saying: "The federation has a huge experience in refereeing their sport and we have every confidence that they will deal with the issue appropriately and take any necessary measures."
Players and coaches of other teams expressed disdain and laid the blame on the Chinese camp.
"It's because of those Chinese…," a Taiwan team coach who declined to be identified told Reuters.

The players may face discipline charges.

© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: doping, olympics 2012, swimming
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Ye Shiwen, the 16 year old dreamy girl superstar, and the ugly world

Posted: 31 Jul 2012 07:08 PM PDT

As a sports enthusiast, I follow a lot of less known athletes, of which some eventually became superstars, but far more just faded. A superstar example was Liu Xiang. I started following him in 2002 after he clocked 13.12" at age 19. It takes knowledge and experience to link up 13.12" and 19, and figure out the potentiality – or quite frankly just a lot of time waste nurturing a hobby.

The first time I watched Ye Shiwen swimming in a live race on TV, was the 200 meter Individual Medley (IM) in the 2011 FINA World Championships held in Shanghai. I had started following Ye Shiwen since 2010 but had never actually watched her swim. In the 2010 Asian Games, she won 3 gold medals and ended the year ranking #1 in 200m IM, and #2 in 400m IM in the world. 2010 was in the middle of two Olympic Games, and sometimes the rankings don't mean nearly as much as in an Olympic year – but she was only 14!

After 150 meter, Ye was either #4 or #5. I thought to myself, geez just another flash in the pan, another one-hit wonder. You know, China had plenty of those, because sometimes coaches push youngsters so hard, many of them peak out way too early and you can't blindly put your faith in their future… Then something strange happened – Ye started speeding up in the last 50 meter freestyle swimming, and passing her competitors one by one as if she was gliding through the water. She won the race and claimed the best textile time ever (in short, time made outside of the tech-suit era).

For some reason, she then reminded me of Janet Evans, whose swim gave me the same impression of gliding through the water. As I knew Ye more, she was just like Janet Evans. She has that Evans-like boyish haircut, smooth and glowing skin, disarming and radiant smile, feminine and slender body, and especially that sunny and care-free disposition. She thanked her parents every time she won. She talked about loving to shop in Taobao, and dreaming about going to Disneyland in Hong Kong again. Much like Evans being the "American sweetheart" then, Ye is the "Chinese sweetheart". She is everybody's sister, daughter or grand-daughter. To borrow a line from Obama, if I had a daughter, she'd look just like Ye Shiwen – or at least I wish.

By now you probably already know the rest. She won 2 gold medals in the London Olympic Games by sizeable margins, and there have been insinuations that her winnings are not because of her talent, and hard work, but rather doping. By my count, a long list of Western media outlets, mostly American and British ones, i.e. NBC, New York Times, Washington Post, BBC, Telegraph, etc. and an army of online sites, have been all over her. Mind you she has been tested many times and always clean. But…… so had been Marion Jones, or even Lance Armstrong. I agree that you can't ascertain one never doped just because s/he was tested clean. So whatever is accused of Ye Shiwen can equally and quite possibly more rationally be put on a lot of superstar swimmers whom I'd rather not name. However, I will address a few misconceptions here:

Ye came from nowhere.

Ye ranked #1/#2, #1/#3 in 200m/400m IM in 2010 and 2011 respectively.

Ye improved her time by 7 seconds in a year. Nobody improves that fast.

First, here is the table of Ye's times since 2010:

Year	2010	2011	2012
Major Meet	Asian Games	FINA World Championship	London Olympics
Held time	November	July	July/August
Height	1.65m	1.68m	1.72m
200m IM @ Major Meet	2:09.37	2:08.90	2:07.57
400m IM @ Major Meet	4:33.79	4:35.15	4:28.43
200m IM annual best	2:09.37	2:08.90	2:07.57
400m IM annual best	4:33.79	4:33.66	4:28.43

The "7 seconds" improvement (actually 6.72 second improvement) is the 400m IM improvement over the last major meet in 2011, during which Ye by her own account underperformed as a 15 year old then in her first major world meet. The improvement over her previous personal best, is 5.23 second, which is a 1.9% improvement in one year. It's hardly rare, let alone unprecedented for a 16 year old. Ruta Meilutyte, a 15 year old Lithuanian girl, won the gold in 100 meter breaststroke and improved her personal best by 4.0% in the same London Olympics.

Also notice that Ye has grown from 1.65m in 11/2010 to 1.72m in 7/2012. The girl is still growing, and a 1.9% improvement is too much?!

Ye swam faster than the fastest man Ryan Lochte! How is it biologically possible?

What this is really about, is that Ye swan 28.93" in the last 50 meters of her 400m IM race, and Lochte won the gold in the same event by swimming the last 50 meters in 29.10". Impossible, right?

First, Lochte's 400m IM time was 4:05.18, overall 23.25″ faster than Ye in the same event.

Second, Lochte didn't even swim the top 3 fastest last 50 meters in his own race. Yuya Horihata had the fastest last 50 meters, in 27.87". Of course, Ye swan the last 50 meters only 1.06" slower than the fastest last 50-meter swimming in the same men's event, doesn't sound nearly as impossible.

Third, 28.93" isn't even the fastest women split in a long-distance swim. Rebecca Adlington swan the last 50 meters in 28.91" after 750 meters (compared to Ye's 350 meters) in 800m freestyle of the 2011 FINA World Championship.

The Final Word

A lot has been said about this 16 year old girl. There are some real head scratchers out there. John Leonard, the "highly respected" American director of the World Swimming Coaches Association, suggested that Ye should be tested for "genetic manipulation". That's somewhere between crazy, and the R word – Retarded. He also stated, "any time someone has looked like Superwoman in the history of our sport they have later been found guilty of doping." By "superwoman", since unlike most uninformed folks out there Leonard should know Ye's improvement isn't all that impressive, does he mean the margin of the victory? If that's the metric, I don't think Janet Evans, Inge de Bruijin, Rebecca Adlington, Kristy Coventry, Rebecca Soni, etc. have been found doping, unless Leonard knows something the public doesn't. Or unless, I hate to use the R word, the idea of doping and Superwoman is only applicable to the Restricted type.

In a way, it's the ugly world we are in, and the people we have to live with. Ye Shiwen, the dreamy 16 year old Chinese sweetheart, don't you ever look back. Dream big, swim big and live a big life. That is your biggest revenge on those small people.

Posted: 31 Jul 2012 06:53 PM PDT

When it comes to describing China's challenges, foreigners (myself included) tend to attack the gov't side of the issue. While the current system does seem to reinforce a number of practices that limit people power and encourage corruption, it ignores the cultural factors that are in play. I believe the reason for this is that us "old outsiders" worry about being decried as racist.

To some extent these two factors reinforce one another. For instance, the leaders in China have never actually been required to heed the will of the people, and so there is a limited culture of challenging their rule; 0r that the rich have always been privileged in Chinese society over the commoners.

Fortunately, people like Xu Zhiyong and Murong Xuecun are attacking both ends of the problem by focusing in on the idea that a corrupt system relies on corrupt individuals. In a lengthy new essay translated by Tea Leaf Nation (link was broken for me, so here is a cached version), Murong addresses a litany of cultural issues that are holding China back and offers several solutions.

One of his major arguments is that people have become numb to issues like corruption, pollution and food safety. This ambivalence results in declining morals and an "intolerably evil" government. While I think the default setting is numbness, it seems to be fading as we see in the spate of protests against factories in the last year.

Murong later brings out an infamous example from Lu Xun's story of Ah-Q that shows how the current culture has led to despicable attacks on children and the elderly.

"When he's beaten by the mayor, Ah Q doesn't dare strike back, so he goes to hit Wang Hu. When he can't hit him, he goes after Little D. When he can't win in that match, he goes to hit Wu Ma. When he can't match her, he goes after the children in pre-school. This is not simply a joke or fiction, and the increasing number of murdered preschool children in mainland China proves this point."

But he does offer suggestions in the spirit of the New Citizen's movement, that the Chinese people must change their ideas when it comes to making sacrifices for the state; especially when one considers how little officials are willing to sacrifice for those they govern. Murong says that the mantra should be, "I am a person first, and then I can be everything else. I am myself first, then I can help with society."

In the past when I've discussed corruption with my co-workers there was often an initial attitude that it was the gov't's money to waste. But when I took this line of reasoning, the anger was often palpable. That a gov't official's dinner was money not being spent on their children's education, and that their shiny cars were bought by selling the land out from underneath their parents.

Murong illustrates how backwards the culture is towards corruption by comparing a gov't official to a janitor, who are similar on the basis that both could be seen as employees. With this he argues that it is a farce when people praise officials simply for doing their jobs. Murong writes,

"If your janitor tells you that he bought a broom for thousands of dollars, then he is embezzling from you. If he takes your money and buys a million-dollar watch, then he is nothing but corrupt. If your cleaner, in the name of cleaning the floor for you, eats in upscale restaurants, drinks expensive Maotai liquor, smokes high-end cigarettes, then you have all the right to think: Would not it be better if someone else is cleaning the floor?"

While some people have argued that these kinds of essays are overly negative, I have had a number of conversations with Chinese friends over the years that have begun with a torrent of similar complaints. For many, it's not just one area of their lives that are being effected by the gov't and the culture, it's starting to feel like everything. They are sick of the scams and the gov't's inability to stop them, and they are looking for someone to stand with them against this unjust system.

Filed under: Current Events Tagged: China, Chinese culture, Chinese people, Government, Lu Xun, Murong Xuecun, Xu Zhiyong

“Commitment Contract” for Xinjiang Muslims

Posted: 31 Jul 2012 05:20 PM PDT

The U.S. State Department's 2011 International Religious Freedom Report, issued yesterday, reports growing repression in Tibet and Xinjiang. "Both Uyghur Muslims and Tibetan Buddhists reported increased societal discrimination," the report states, while two Uyghur Muslims began three-year prison terms in April for "engaging in illegal religious activities" and "publishing and distributing illegal religious materials." As expected, China has called the claims in the report "groundless."

Weibo user Ilya, based in the provincial capital of Urumqi, recently posted a shocking image of a "commitment contract." The signatory, whose name is whited out, agrees not to participate in or condone "illegal religious activities" in exchange for welfare services (低保). One of these "illegal" activities is the wearing of the veil:

–Ilya–Think500000: A commitment contract for Xinjiang Muslims… If the signatory violates the terms of the contract, (s)he will lose welfare support… Could you guys get any more ruthless?!
新疆穆斯林的承诺书····违反承诺低保就没有了·····你们敢不敢更狠一点儿！！！！！

Contract of Commitment
1. I will firmly support the CCP leaders and observe the law.
2. Illegal religious activities will never occur in my home, nor will illegal religious materials appear there.
3. No one in my home will wear the veil. I will never allow persons wearing the veil to enter my home.
4. If I encounter illegal religious activities or persons wearing the veil in my daily life, I will actively report this to the Organization.
If I violate any of these four conditions, I agree to stop receiving welfare.
Name:
May 16, 2012

Weibo search results for "Xinjiang Muslim" (新疆穆斯林) are currently blocked.

"According to the relevant laws, regulations and policies, results for 'Xinjiang Muslim' cannot be displayed."

According to the State Department report, Xinjiang Social Management Committee Chair Nur Bekri is pushing for "innovative approaches to religious management" in this restive autonomous region. Authorities fear separatism as well as terrorism following a number of violent incidents in the region. In July 2009, riots flared in Urumqi after a clash in a Guangdong factory between Uyghur and Han Chinese workers. Then in February of this year, assailants killed 20 people in Yecheng, near the border with Pakistan. The victims included both Hans and Uyghurs. Bekri has alluded to possible ties between Uyghurs and terrorist organizations in Pakistan and Kazakhstan. But much of the ethnic and religious strife in Xinjiang can be attributed to economics. Uyghurs are often discriminated against in the hiring process and feel excluded from opportunity.

Via Over the Wall.

© Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: International Religious Freedom Report, islam, muslims, Nur Bekri, religion, religious freedom, sina weibo, State Department, Tibet, tibetan buddhism, U.S. State Department, Uyghurs, weibo, Xinjiang
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Will China Continue to “Turn Against Law”?

Posted: 31 Jul 2012 01:47 PM PDT

Li Keqiang, right, shakes hands with China's Politburo Standing Committee Member Zhou Yongkang after Li was elected Vice Premier in Beijing on March 17, 2008.

Mark Jia is an intern for Asia studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.

As speculation brims over China's impending leadership succession, focus has centered on the political leanings of Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang, seniors leaders who are expected to secure the top posts in the Politburo's all-powerful Standing Committee this fall. However, recent Party machinations over another committee position, the one that oversees the country's legal and security institutions, offer potentially more revealing clues into China's prospects for future reform.

The post is currently occupied by Zhou Yongkang, a former Minister of Public Security. Since his promotion in 2007, the iron-fisted security czar has championed a policy known as the "Three Supremes" (三个至上), which compels legal professionals to prioritize "Party interest" in executing their duties. This shift has serviced a broader campaign of "stability maintenance" that has induced a genuine backsliding in Chinese legal development, which legal expert Carl Minzer has dubbed China's "turn against law." Under this new campaign, central officials have exerted immense pressure upon local authorities to contain disputes and achieve "harmonious" resolution through mediation. The result is a set of distorted local incentives that privilege Party interest over legal rights and processes. In a system where institutions are already weak and legal consciousness low, such trends have been deeply alarming.

With Zhou set to retire this fall, it remains uncertain whether China's "turn against law" will persist under new leadership. Interestingly, recent reports suggest that Zhou may have fallen into disrepute. An ally to Bo Xilai, Chongqing's ousted Party Secretary, he had allegedly opposed Bo's removal, angering his Politburo colleagues. Not long after, the Study Times, a publication of the Central Party School (headed by Xi Jinping), sharply criticized Zhou's committee for usurping authority from other agencies. Senior leaders are now contemplating reducing the size of the Politburo Standing Committee from nine to seven, reassigning security and legal responsibilities to other positions. In light of all this, one might wonder whether Zhou's declining political stock reflects changing Party commitments towards the rule of law.

Optimism here would be misplaced. For one, Zhou's probable successor, Meng Jianzhu, does not exactly possess sterling rule of law credentials himself. A mechanical engineer, Meng, like Zhou, has never had any formal legal training, and, also like Zhou, comes from a senior position in the Ministry of Public Security—a department that has been decidedly skeptical of due process and the rule of law generally. Meng's recent "three inquiries, three assessments" campaign, which was designed to improve the image of public security forces through "practical love-the-citizens activities," was viewed by many as his own rather public campaign to succeed Zhou. Second, senior leaders have other reasons to be upset with Zhou, including his apparent early opposition to ousting Bo, as well as concerns over excessive concentrations of power under his rule. It seems less likely that their unhappiness with Zhou has to do with his track record on law. In fact, though the "Three Supremes" doctrine was in many ways Zhou's signature policy, it has enjoyed widespread support among most senior leaders. It was President Hu Jintao himself who announced its promulgation in 2007.

More broadly, given the overwhelming challenges that the new Politburo will face, from official corruption and environmental degradation to ethnic and social unrest—compounded with an economy that is likely to slow and an increasingly frustrated and rights-conscious citizenry—the social pressures that underlie "stability maintenance" will only grow fiercer. This will likely generate a stronger impulse among senior leaders to "harmonize" rather than legalize. We should not forget that China's pursuit of legal development was part of a broader strategy of bolstering economic growth and enhancing social management. An instrumental rule of law deteriorates quickly when priorities shift.

What will ultimately change Party policy is a fundamental realization that forced harmonization only exacerbates unrest. Stability campaigns may purchase temporary relief, but it is in the long-term interests of both the Party and the country as a whole to work towards realizing a legal system that holds everyone to account. This will require truly enlightened leadership, more than a mere reshuffling of like-minded personnel.

Hexie Farm (蟹农场): The Great Wave Off Zhongnanhai

Posted: 31 Jul 2012 01:34 PM PDT

For his latest contribution to his CDT series, cartoonist Crazy Crab of Hexie Farm finds inspiration in the wood-block print The Great Wave off Kanagawa by Japanese artist Hokusai. Responding both to the recent Beijing floods and the riots over a planned pipeline in Qidong, Jiangsu, Crazy Crab portrays the voices of the Chinese people as a huge wave. In this cartoon, past, current and future leaders of the Chinese Communist Party (Xi Jinping, Hu Jintao, Jiang Zemin, Deng Xiaopeng, Mao Zedong) are sitting in a dragon boat. The caption from Chairman Mao refers to the Beijing government's declaration that the 7.21 flood was a natural disaster. (In the past, the CCP also regarded the Great Chinese Famine as a natural disaster.) However, in Crazy Crab's words, in the Internet age, a regime which depends on lying and propaganda is under the shadow of netizens' voices.

The Great Wave Off Zhongnanhai, by Crazy Crab of Hexie Farm for CDT.

Read more about Hexie Farm's CDT series, including a Q&A with the anonymous cartoonist, and see all cartoons so far in the series.

© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: beijing flood 2012, hexie farm, online protests, online public opinion, Qidong
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Dark Find from Chongqing’s “Beat Black” Campaign

Posted: 31 Jul 2012 01:34 PM PDT

From Beijing to the counties, all levels of government in China include a politics and law commission. These commissions oversee all aspects of legal enforcement, among them the courts. Si Weijiang, one of Chen Kegui's lawyers, posted on Weibo this image of a bizarre financial transaction, in which it appears the plaintiff's bank funds were transferred from court to the local politics and law commission. Wu Shuqin, former head of Chongqing Yuqiang Commercial Group Qiangli Transportation Ltd., was arrested in 2009 on suspicion of "mafia crimes" (黑社会性质组织罪, literally "organized crime with black society characteristics"). Fined RMB 200,000, Si noted in Caixin that this amount is still far less than Wu's total assets [zh], which also include stock holdings. It is unclear whether Wu failed to pay the fine or had her funds transferred for other reasons:

SiWeijiang: In Chongqing's "beat black" campaign, the courts give money to the Politics and Law Commission! If there's a picture, there's proof.
斯伟江：重庆打黑，法院把钱划归政法委！有图有真相。

Chongqing No. 5 Intermediate People's Court
Notice of Withdrawal or Transfer of Funds
(2010) Court Enforcement of Financial Penalty Ruling No. 629
Bank: Ba'nan District Yuqing Postal Savings Deposit Point
Following: (2009) Enforcement notice of financial penalty ruling against Chongqing No. 5 Intermediate People's Court No. 629
Whereas the individual Wu Shuqin failed to carry out her duties in the allotted time, please transfer all RMB in individual holding savings accounts 606532005232017729 and 606532005232028771 to the CCP Ba'nan District Committee Politics and Law Commission, individual bank accounts or state treasurer.
Recipient Party: CCP Ba'nan District Committee Politics and Law Commission
Location: Agricultural Bank Ba'nan Branch
Account Number: 31-101701040000136
Director's Signature: XXX

Bo Xilai shot to fame in part through his "beat black" campaign against organized crime. Now that he and his wife are embroiled in scandal, the mafia-like tactics Bo's administration used to "beat black" are coming under close scrutiny. While Bo is singled out, however, he is not unique in bending the law, as Si pointed out in the case of Guizhou tycoon Li Qinghong. Like Wu, Li was also charged with mafia-like activity. He appealed in mid-July on the claim that he has no ties to "black society."

© Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: beat black, Chongqing, politics and law commission, Si Weijiang, sina weibo, smash black, strike black, weibo
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The Horrible Truth About Beijing’s New Homeless

Posted: 31 Jul 2012 12:17 PM PDT

A main thoroughfare in Beijing after the devastating rains

The recent devastating floodwaters that hit China's capital ten days ago may have receded, but thousands of residents who dwell in Beijing's basement tenements–many migrant workers with few other options in the expensive capital–have been left homeless, their subterranean flats flooded. And it appears that authorities, as well as many netizens, couldn't seem to care less.

@舒泰峰 tweets from the capital via Sina Weibo, China's Twitter: "In the housing complex where I live, inside the Guangqu Gate [a relic of walled, imperial Beijing], inside Beijing's Second Ring Road. The floods have immersed the basements, forcing hundreds of people to live in an open square. Reporters from Xinhua [China's official news agency] have donated a few tents and lots of people are just sleeping on the ground, in the rain. Eating bread with cold water. They joke that they can't be called migrants anymore, more like refugees. They hope to find shelter but the housing complex's management says the basement can't be lived in again. They ask for a bit of compensation, but the authorities don't respond. Can anyone provide legal aid? For Beijing's millions of basement dwellers, winter has come early." ^[1]

@凱西的零碎儿 reports from Chaoyang District in Beijing, where many expats pitch their tents: "It's not just around Guangqu Gate, it's the same situation with the basement at my housing complex." ^[2]

@舒泰峰 explains the economics of basement-dwelling in Beijing: "Beijing's basements have become an economic ecosystem. Building management rents to the landlords who in turn rent to tenants; sometimes the rental chain [from owner to tenant] goes through several people. For workers who only make one or two thousand RMB [about US$160-320] a month, basements are the ideal residence. One month's rent only costs about three to five hundred RMB [about US$50-80]." ^[3]

For those living in basement homes, the recent rains were especially ruinous

The issue is further complicated by the fact that the authorities have tried to clean up basement tenements, many of which are located in space originally designated for storage or, during the Cold War, for bomb shelters. Enforcement has been haphazard, with some tenants being evicted periodically but most allowed to stay for the time being. Migrant workers make up the bulk of basement-dwellers as they lack the coveted Beijing "hukou," or residency permit, that would give them access to low-income housing and other benefits.

Unsympathetic locals

Not everyone was willing to extend a helping hand to the migrant workers, and many locals believe the migrant workers should simply go home. @苓燕 tweets, "Staying in Beijing with no food and no shelter, why not go back home. At least they won't sleep on the street, I don't understand." ^[4]@诺小爷 thinks the flooded-out tenants only have themselves to blame: "Beijing doesn't permit renting out basements or leasing apartments out to large groups of people. They chose to do this; who else can they blame? ^[5]

Many locals also complain that rudimentary, densely-populated basement tenements in apartment buildings not meant to have them pose safety and sanitary risks. @hammer5045, for one, is happy about the basement tenants being driven out by the floods, "From the selfish point of view of apartment owners like ourselves, this flood really helped us out." ^[6]

@兰色头发 tweets, "Not every local has an apartment either; many lower class families crowd into a single room. Living in basements creates a big safety risk and really inconveniences the local residents. Leasing out basements have long been banned, so there is no possibility of legal assistance. I'm sympathetic to the migrants but I would persuade them to leave Beijing; many second-tier cities have opportunities too." ^[7]@暹罗XIAOMI agrees, "If you choose to come here you have to tolerate the conditions. That's life." ^[8]

Fed up with an uncaring capital

Some fed up netizens fired back at local Beijingers. @一只小熊猫君: "If people have to leave the city simply because they cannot afford to rent proper housing like you say, then Beijing is really not a tolerant city. It's rich but has no morals. Its drainage system is terrible, and a section of Subway Line 6 collapsed. The air is horrendous and there are traffic jams everyday. Beijing men are so lazy; they only know how to eat and how to play. No Beijinger with an apartment and a car would want to be a street sweeper." ^[9]

Others highlighted the concentration of resources and jobs in Beijing. @Ray寿 tweets, "It's not that outsiders are jealous [of locals], it's just there is no equal opportunity. You will understand when 10,000 people fight for 100 jobs in your hometown." ^[10]

Some Beijingers are more sympathetic to the migrants' plight. @一只小熊猫君 tweets, "Not everyone can afford to pay RMB4,000 in rent [about US$600] every month. Those migrants laborers work at the lowest tier jobs in society and cannot even make 4,000 in a month. But these people's jobs make the city function. If you get your way and drive them out of the city, then Beijing needs to hire cleaning people with high salaries." ^[11]

@人非上品 agrees, tweeting: "You [migrants] do the lowest tier jobs and receive nothing but scorn and indifference. But you helped make this city's development possible." ^[12]

At least one migrant has decided he's had enough of the scorn and indifference. @诚实的duzhe3a writes, "Goodbye, Beijing! Beijing completely controls all aspects of poor outsiders' lives; we don't need your dreams!"

Footnotes (? returns to text)

广渠门内本家润园小区，北京二环内，洪水淹没地下室，上百人露宿广场，新华社记者捐了几顶帐篷，还有很多人冒雨睡地上，吃面包就凉水。他们自潮北漂都不是，是＂北光＂。他们希望能够解决住宿，物业说地下室不可能再住。希望得到一点补偿，无部门理会。求法律援助。北京百万地下住户的冬天降临。?
不只广渠门我家小区地下室也是同样的景象?
北京的地下室已形成经济链，物业租给房东，房东租给散户，有的倒了好几手。对于挣一两千块的打工者来说，地下室已是最理想的住处，一个月租金只需三五百块?
在北京混的没吃没住，干嘛不回老家去，至少不会像现在一样沦落街头，真是想不通啊……?
北京市现在不允许群租和租住地下室自己乐意赖谁?
从我们业主私利角度看，这次大水可能帮了忙?
北京人也不是每个人都有住房的，也有很多底层一大家子挤一间屋的！地下室本身就有很大安全隐患，并且还非常的扰民，早就禁止出租住人，所以不可能有什么法律援助，虽然也同情那些北漂，但是奉劝他们还是离开北京，很多二线城市也是有机会的！?
对，既然来了就得忍。这就是生活。?
要按你说的房子租不起就走人那北京可真不是一个包容的城市不仅为富不仁没有公德心排外而且下水道都那么差劲 6号线还塌方空气那么差天天堵车北京爷那么懒就知道玩就知道吃地道有房子有车的北京人又愿意做清洁工的？?
并不是羡慕嫉妒，大家机会均等么。啥时候你家乡100各工作1万人抢的时候你就理解了?
又不是每个人都租的起4000一个月的房子那些外地来打工的从事社会底层工作的人他们一个月工作也挣不到4000 而这些做着苦活累活的人保证了城市正常的运转按你的意思把他们都赶走那北京恐怕真要高薪聘清洁工了?
你们做着最底层的工作，受尽冷落和嘲讽，却促成了一个城市的发展…?

CCP Faces Challenges Ahead of Leadership Transition

Posted: 31 Jul 2012 12:02 PM PDT

With China's top leadership gathering at the seaside resort of Beidaihe ahead of the 18th Party Congress, Christopher Johnson looks at the many complications behind the upcoming transition of power in the wake of the Bo Xilai scandal. From Foreign Policy:

This year, the ostensible goal of the meeting is to achieve consensus on a new slate of top party leaders. But that agenda is complicated by the fact that the leadership is gathering in the shadow of the Bo Xilai scandal. The party formally dumped Bo from the Politburo in April, after he was tripped up by his own deceit, abuse of power, and unbridled ambition. Granted, the leadership took a big step last week by formally charging Bo's wife, Gu Kailai, with the murder of Neil Heywood, a British businessman who worked for the couple as a fixer. But Gu was always the low-hanging fruit, marked as the sacrificial lamb from the beginning, when the state media announced her as a formal suspect in the Heywood killing.
Yet, unlike in April, there was no simultaneous announcement concerning Bo, suggesting he remains adrift in the netherworld of the party's extrajudicial detention system. What is more, it remains unclear what will happen to Bo's erstwhile security chief, Wang Lijun, whose flight to a U.S. consulate in February touched off the whole scandal in the first place. The lack of synchronization suggests moving forward on Gu may be a holding action rather than the beginning of the final act. If so, the CCP's early hopes of wrapping up the entire Bo case, and all of its unbecoming implications, well ahead of the fall turnover have hit a snag.
In dragging its feet on resolving Bo's fate, the CCP has missed an opportunity to demonstrate, both at home and abroad, that the party's leadership is marching in lockstep into the transition. Its failure to make speedier progress is curious, as important interim steps could have been taken by now. A simple announcement, similar to that on Gu, that the party was handing Bo over to the state judicial authorities for formal prosecution would allay any lingering doubts among party insiders or foreign investors by sending an unambiguous signal that the leadership has at least agreed to an initial list of charges.
Instead, Hu and other top leaders have reportedly been messaging with internal edicts to argue that Bo's case be treated as a breach of law and party regulations rather than as an attempt to split the party. Trying to limit Bo's transgressions to the narrower allegation of violations of party discipline helps avoid destabilizing factional splits, but a flurry of recent reports suggesting that he has stopped cooperating with interrogators could make any resolution even more illusory.

In the run-up to the leadership transition, the Communist Party is also working to make itself relevant to the younger generation, who primarily see the CCP as a step on the ladder to career success. To that end, the Communist Youth League, which nurtured current leaders, including President Hu Jintao, is now investing in online companies. From Bloomberg:

Now, the Communist Youth League is an investor in online entertainment. It partnered with Chinese gaming firm PowerNet Technology in 2005 to develop a game in which players repel Japanese invaders during World War II, harking back to one of the most celebrated chapters in party history.
The Youth League's investment arm owns a stake in PowerNet subsidiary Shenzhen Zhongqingbaowang Network Technology Co. (300052), known as Shenzhen ZQ, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Rather than as a source of ideological inspiration, China's young have flocked to the party as a networking tool and resume builder in an economy dominated by state-owned enterprises.
"The reality here is we have to focus on our own career path," said Brook, a 23-year-old party member who refused to give her Chinese name for fear of punishment from the government. "Ten to 20 years ago people really wanted to join. Now it's not 'We want to,' but 'We have to.'"

Read more about the 18th Party Congress and the incoming 5th generation of CCP leadership, via CDT.

© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 18th party congress, Beidaihe, Bo Xilai, CCP 5th generation, Communist Youth League, gu kailai, Hu Jintao, leadership, Neil Heywood, Wang Lijun
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China: Bizarre Power Triangle - Sina, the Government and Netizens

Posted: 31 Jul 2012 10:01 AM PDT

This post is part of our International Relations & Security coverage.

Before we get into the rather bizarre power triangle that has come to define Internet communications and technology in China, let's introduce you to the three characters in this story:

Sina: China's leading Internet company which is traded on NASDAQ, owns Sino Weibo, the Chinese social network often described as a Twitter-like microblogging site, though it is more like a hybrid. Sina Weibo claims to have more than 300 million registered users.

Chinese government: since the advent of the Internet in China more than a decade ago, the Communist Party (CCP) has both embraced the new technology and issued a number of policies that show its fear of it. With the CCP's leadership transition [pdf] scheduled for next October, the government has launched special measures to tighten control over social media that highlight this contradiction.

Chinese netizens: love Chinese social networks. Contrary to Western perception, China's netizens do not appear to miss Facebook, Twitter or YouTube (all three are blocked in China). However, Sina Weibo users get angry when their online activities are disrupted.

Censorship, real name registration, point system, and deleted accounts are some of the problems Chinese netizens often face. Perhaps the most relevant of the recent episodes is the crackdown on social media related to Bo Xilai's scandal.

In March 2012, six people were arrested and 16 websites closed for "disseminating online rumors" and microblogging sites Sina Weibo and Tencent Weibo were "punished", according to official news agency Xinhua. As a result, the two sites banned all users from posting comments from March 31 to April 3, 2012. Many saw this measure as a tactic by Sina to satisfy the government without upseting users too much. Ben Chiang, from Technode, had a fun take on the situation:

Sina Weibo: Hey Twitter, how did you keep your government's hands off you?
Twitter: [Turned Away] No Comment.
Sina Weibo: Gotcha.

Later on, however, Sina launched the new point system to limit users' posts on "sensitive content", thus satisfying government requirements.

"Sometimes a penguin's scarf is not a fashion accessory"[zh] (The figure on the left depicts Sina Weibo, and the penguin represents another microblogging site Tencent.) Image uploaded by Flickr user Inmediahk, used under CC BY-NC 2.0.

Some Chinese netizens are not satisfied with this attitude. As early as November 2011, some of them wrote an open letter [zh, en] to Sina's investors which urged investors to cut their shareholding in SINA, because "the Chinese government's policy on Weibo has a significant effect on the prospects of Sina".

On July 16, 2012, Chinese blogger and capitalist Isaac Mao - whose Sina Weibo account had been deleted - used his Twitter account to spread his decision to short SINA's share to the international audience, which caused Sina's shares to drop. He explains his arguments in an online letter, which finishes with a warning:

Apart from user's counting complaints, Sina itself has to face the risks from authority as well. In a leadership transition year,Sina may not be able to keep Weibo service live, most probably. There will be several big inflexions upcoming in China, keep eyes open.

AnnaLisa Kraft writes on The Motley Fool:

Last summer's hopes for great numbers in Chinese internet stocks have been dashed with a Chinese slowdown, accounting scandals and a perception (justifiably so) of more government intrusion.

Sina is probably aware of this, but the government can eliminate it with just one political decision, so what is Sina's real power? The new Chinese government may or may not shut Sina down after October, but the recently published draft update of the government's "Methods for Governance of Internet Information Services" [zh] points to harsher policies on weibo services. So it is quite clear who is in charge in this bizarre power triangle.

This post and its translations to Spanish, Arabic and French were commissioned by the International Security Network (ISN) as part of a partnership to seek out citizen voices on international relations and security issues worldwide. This post was first published on the ISN blog, see similar stories here.

Written by Violeta Camarasa · comments (1)
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J.Crew to Expand to Beijing, Hong Kong

Posted: 31 Jul 2012 10:03 AM PDT

Local and Western fashion companies continue to thrive in China, and J. Crew is trying to ride China's fashion wave by opening its first store in Hong Kong, from Bloomberg Business Week:

J.Crew Group Inc., the apparel retailer whose customers include U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama, is planning its first Asian store in Hong Kong targeting tourists from mainland China that totaled 28 million last year.
The retailer may open the Hong Kong store as early as next year and is also looking for sites in Beijing and Shanghai, Chief Executive Officer Mickey Drexler said in an interview in Hong Kong.
Closely held J.Crew is pushing to reach Chinese shoppers as competition heats up and economic growth slows in the world's most populous nation. The apparel company will join brands including Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (ANF) (ANF), Gap Inc. and Burberry Group PLC (BRBY) in courting tourists from China's mainland in the former British colony.
Founded in 1983, J.Crew has more than 200 stores in the U.S. and Canada and is preparing to expand in Europe and Asia. Drexler said today that the company will open a store in London next year, ahead of Hong Kong. In 2008 the company pulled out of Japan, where it had some licensed stores through a partnership. It presently doesn't have any stores outside the U.S. and Canada.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Hong Kong is among the top e-commerce markets for the brand, but it is still unclear whether J. Crew will be well received:

It isn't clear whether the U.S. line will be well-received in China, where consumers favor luxury European brands and logos. The late entrance of U.S. retailers into China means they have to try harder to build brand recognition and loyalty.
"It is easy for a Chinese consumer to understand Gucci, 'It is expensive, so it must be good, and you must be someone if you have it.' How does a Chinese consumer understand the history and lifestyle that [a particular U.S. brand] represents?" said Franklin Yao, chief executive of consulting firm SmithStreetSolutions.
J.Crew this year started shipping online orders to more than a hundred countries as a way to test the markets. Hong Kong, Japan and Australia are now among J.Crew's top five international e-commerce markets.
Building brand recognition in Asia, particularly in China, will be a challenge. J.Crew will have to compete with the dozens of midtier international clothing names already in the market. Pricing is an issue for new brands entering China, Mr. Yao said, especially with the advent of international shipping from e-commerce sites and the growth of Chinese travelers shopping abroad.

© Melissa M. Chan for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: clothing, fashion, fashion industry, foreign companies, luxury brands
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Is Kim Jong-Un Planning His First Trip to China?

Posted: 31 Jul 2012 10:07 AM PDT

While China's relationship with North Korea seems to be improving due to the hiring of North Korean guest workers, there is speculation Kim Jong-Un is planning his first visit to China. The Wall Street Journal reports that Minister of People's Security Ri Myong Su visited China last week in possible preparation for Kim's visit:

The North's state news agency announced Mr. Ri's visit with two, one-sentence dispatches – one last Tuesday saying he'd left for China and another on Saturday saying he'd returned.
On Sunday, China's Xinhua news agency reported that Mr. Ri went to Jiangsu, the populous province just north of Shanghai that is the home of Nanjing and several other large cities. While there, Mr. Ri met with provincial officials as well as China's minister of public security, Meng Jianzhu, triggering media speculation that Mr. Ri was discussing security arrangements for a visit by Mr. Kim.
Then on Monday, a delegation of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China arrived in Pyongyang. The North's state news agency said they were hosted at a reception led by Kim Yong Il, one of the 11 secretaries of the North's ruling Worker's Party.
The North's report said that Mr. Kim told the visiting Chinese delegation that former dictator Kim Jong Il visited China eight times and that the new leader Kim Jong Eun "is deeply interested in the development of friendly relations with China."

There has also been speculation about why Kim is planning a visit, The Telegraph adds:

Sources say Kim may ask China for food aid. Floods last week killed 88 North Koreans and destroyed homes and crops, according to the country`s state news agency KCNA.
The US cancelled an aid agreement with North Korea in protest over the country`s long-range missile test in April. The US State Department says it is in close contact with China over the situation in North Korea.
"When he travels to China, Kim Jong-un will be following a path well trodden by his father and grandfather," said Michael Breen, author of Kim Jong-il, North Korea`s Dear Leader.
"The trip serves two purposes: securing Chinese aid following the flooding in North Korea and, to strengthen confidence in his leadership in Pyongyang – not, as one might expect, by the show of support from China – but rather by the exhibition of that peculiar North Korean skill of appearing to permit foreign powers the privilege of donating."

Despite the summit between China, Japan, and South Korea to discuss trade and North Korea earlier this year, China's relationship with South Korea seems to be under pressure as China denies the south's claims of Chinese baby flesh pills. Aside from these claims, AFP reports South Korean activists are seeking an investigation of torture allegations against China:

A South Korean rights group said on Monday it would ask the United Nations to investigate the alleged torture of a Seoul activist detained in China after helping North Korean refugees there.
Kim Young-Hwan and three other people were arrested on March 29 and accused of endangering Beijing's national security.
After the group were deported on July 20, Kim claimed he had been physically abused by Chinese security authorities. He gave no details but his colleagues said he was subjected to electric shocks.
The activist Kim is the former leader of an underground leftist party who met the then-North Korean leader Kim Il-Sung in Pyongyang in 1991. He later became a fierce regime critic and now works for a Seoul-based rights group.

According to The New York Times, the activists being held by China were being held because of their attempts to help North Korean refugees:

"They put a cattle prod, wrapped in electric coils, inside my clothes and placed it on my chest and back," Mr. Kim told Chosun Ilbo, a mass-circulation daily in South Korea. "It felt like being continuously electrocuted.
"I could smell my flesh burning," he said. "They also threatened several times to send me to North Korea."
Chinese officials frequently raise the possibility of being sent to North Korea when they interrogate South Korean activists for helping North Korean refugees in China, according to activists who say they were tortured in China.
Another activist, Chung Peter, told the same TV Chosun program that "sleep deprivation" and "letting you hear the sound of torture from the next room" were standard interrogation tactics when he was held in China for a year and a half starting in 2003 for helping North Korean refugees.

As the activists bring their case to the United Nations against China, Seoul is also hardening its position towards China in this dispute, according to The Korea Herald:

Cho Tae-young, a spokesperson for Seoul's Foreign Ministry, said the government will "actively support" Kim if he takes the issue to multinational agencies. The ministry will also direct its consuls in China to interview all 625 Korean inmates in the country to investigate whether they were abused. Regarding China's denial, Cho said Korea does not regard it as an official response. Seoul demanded China reinvestigate the alleged torture of Kim after he was deported. The government is still awaiting an "official answer" through their diplomatic channel, he added
"We have requested from the Chinese government a strict reinvestigation, apology, punishment for those responsible and measures to prevent future abuses. And we will continuously raise the issue (until China responds)," spokesperson Cho told a news briefing.
South Korean ambassador to China Lee Kyu-hyung has asked for a meeting with a senior government official to explain Seoul's position and the need for stringent fact finding, Cho said.
The Committee for the Release of North Korean Human Rights Activist Kim Young Hwan said last week that it filed requests in May and plans an additional appeal for an investigation into Kim's confinement with the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture, and the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights' Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in Geneva.

© Melissa M. Chan for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: activists, human rights activism, Kim Jong-un, North Korea, north korean refugees, refugees, south korea, torture
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The Chinese Reviews Are In: London Opening Ceremonies “Beautiful,” But Can’t Match Beijing

Posted: 31 Jul 2012 08:52 AM PDT

The games of the 30th Olympiad opened with a grand ceremony titled "Isles of Wonder," created by the English film director Danny Boyle, best known for his work on the films Slumdog Millionaire and 28 Days Later. Boyle acknowledged the sheer extravagance and synchronization of the Beijing 2008 Opening Ceremony, having been quoted as saying, "you can't get bigger than Beijing." With that in mind, he set out to create a ceremony that would identify his motherland and its place within the modern world.

Inevitably, commentators and audiences alike compared the opening ceremonies in London to the overwhelming, awe-inspiring extravaganza in Beijing four years ago.

Green pastures? Not in Beijing

The Chinese mainstream media had high regards for the London ceremonies. The China Daily applauded the opening, describing it as a "kaleidoscopic pageant" which set the London Games rolling. Zhuang Chen of BBC Chinese Service (Radio 4) wrote that the opening ceremony "has become a very hot topic on China's vibrant cyber sphere. The Chinese official Wang Ning, director of the Beijing Olympics opening and closing ceremonies, said he would give 90 out of 100 marks to Britain, which is quite high. He liked the innovative ways the ceremony illustrated British culture, its influence and also its new image … Chinese audiences were also fascinated with the human side of the opening ceremony, which was not a strength of the ceremonies at Beijing four years ago."

But how was the opening ceremony viewed by Chinese citizens, at least those writing on Sina Weibo, China's Twitter, four years after the unbelievable performance in Beijing?

Some netizens praised the spirit of the Olympics expressed in the opening ceremony. @洋山球球 wrote, "London's opening ceremony was refreshing. Concise, simple, and focused on the environment as the theme of this opening ceremony. Awesome." @M徘徊二点五次元路口 tweeted, "This western Olympic Opening Ceremony is very beautiful. I bow down."

Others, however, preferred the opening ceremonies by the home team. @黄祯17岁 expressed, "London's Olympic opening ceremony was completely weak compared to Beijing's." Some netizens attribute this to London not putting in as much money as Beijing did. @龙舞七天 pointed out, "According to reports, the London Opening Ceremony cost around $41,910,000, which is 1/300th less than that of the Beijing ceremony ($15 billion)." @Johoshua tweeted, "Although London was cheaper and more environmentally friendly, Beijing was much more creative than London. After all, more money means more power."

Regardless of whether London or Beijing wins, some are already wondering about 2016 in Rio. @常有理他妈 tweets, "Speaking of the London Olympics Opening Ceremony, it's a carnival. The next one in Brazil should be even crazier."

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