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Blogs » Politics » Photo: Stick, by Mark Hobbs |
- Photo: Stick, by Mark Hobbs
- Chen Guangcheng’s “Suffering Beyond Imagination”
- Video: A Story of Invisible Water
- Leadership Limits Purge in Bo Scandal
- Chinese Netizens Can’t Believe Elon Musk Gets To Do That
- Today’s Most Viral Image: Lost and Found
- Hu Xijin: The Deep End
- The Daily Twit (@chinahearsay Twitter feed) – 2012-05-25
- Pictures: 126 mainlanders involved in transnational telecom scam transferred
- Police blocked by angry residents for hitting two kids by pepper spray
- Wanda Looks West With AMC Play
- Photo: A street in Kaifeng, Henan, by takwing.kwong
- Documenting China’s Lost History of Famine
Posted: 25 May 2012 11:16 PM PDT © Samuel Wade for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us |
Chen Guangcheng’s “Suffering Beyond Imagination” Posted: 25 May 2012 10:43 PM PDT Largely silent since his departure from China, Chen Guangcheng has begun to speak out in interviews about his detention and escape, reiterating his hopes for an investigation of the Linyi local government and his fears for those he left behind. Talking through an interpreter to CNN's Anderson Cooper, Chen was reluctant to discuss his four-year prison term or subsequent confinement in Dongshigu, but asked that the latter be referred to as "illegal detention", rather than the more innocuous "house arrest". "It's hard for me to describe what it was like during that time," he said, "but let's just say that my suffering was beyond imagination." He also highlighted the role of Guo Yushan in his escape, but made an apparent attempt to defuse recent disagreement over who deserved credit, and once again expressed concern for family and supporters still in China.
The full interview is available at CNN.com. Foremost among the reprisals is the prosecution of Chen's nephew, Chen Kegui, for attempted murder. Local authorities have rejected his family's choice of lawyers and appointed their own to defend him: an echo, Chen Guangcheng says, of his own treatment in 2006. Chen's family are now fighting this decision. From Josh Chin at China Real Time Report:
Liu's letter is translated in full at China Real Time. Chen Guangcheng also discussed his nephew's case in an interview with Reuters:
© Samuel Wade for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us |
Video: A Story of Invisible Water Posted: 25 May 2012 10:35 PM PDT A 16-minute documentary by Lynn Zhang and Shirley Han Ying kicks off an Asia Society China Green series on China's South-to-North Water Diversion project. The filmmakers follow a group of farmers who have spent many years and all their savings petitioning against water pollution from a nearby chemical plant, which they say poisoned their pear orchard. The film features interview segments with Ma Jun of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs on China's water "time bomb". Groundwater extraction lowered the water table in Hebei by 130 feet between 1996 and 2006, and with inadequate supplies, there is not enough clean water to reclaim the polluted. The real extent of the problem is unknown, Ma says: while 90% of the shallow groundwater flowing through the cities is thought to be polluted, no complete data exists. Local officials did eventually come up with a solution of sorts for the farmers' plight: they confiscated the land on which the orchard had stood. The film ends on an optimistic note regarding the South-to-North Water Diversion project. In addition to long-standing doubts about its practicality, however, severe droughts in southern China have raised questions about the core assumption underlying the scheme. © Samuel Wade for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us |
Leadership Limits Purge in Bo Scandal Posted: 25 May 2012 10:49 PM PDT The downfall of Bo Xilai has threatened a political purge of his allies that could expose corruption and wrongdoing among the highest echelons of power in China ahead of the once-a-decade transition of leadership at the 18th Party Congress. But now that Bo has been dismissed from his Party positions and is being investigated for corruption and other discipline violations, the Party appears to be closing ranks to limit the damage from the scandal, according to a report from Reuters:
Many of those rumors centered around the powerful Standing Committee member Zhou Yongkang, an ally of Bo's, who is in charge of the nation's security and law enforcement. Recent reports have suggested that Zhou was also going to be purged from the Party for his support of Bo, and a group of retired Party officials penned an open letter calling for Zhou's immediate resignation in the wake of the Bo scandal. However, in recent days, Party media have reported on his official appearances, thereby hinting that he has not completely lost favor. From Bloomberg:
And from the BBC:
Meanwhile, the retired officials who wrote the open letter calling for his resignation have been called in for questioning, AFP reports. Read more about Bo Xilai, Zhou Yongkang, and the upcoming 18th Party Congress via CDT. © Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us |
Chinese Netizens Can’t Believe Elon Musk Gets To Do That Posted: 25 May 2012 04:51 PM PDT 3…2…1…History. On Friday at 9:56 a.m., the New York times reports, a capsule launched by a private company called SpaceX docked at the International Space Station, making SpaceX the first private company ever to accomplish this feat. Netizens were absolutely "lost in admiration" for the accomplishments of SpaceX founder Elon Musk, who they called an "idol" and a "god." Some theorized that the "real-life Iron Man" Musk had time-traveled here from the future, or was an alien plotting a way back to his home planet. It didn't hurt that some found him quite handsome. @科技麻辣烫 asked, "Is he married??? Is his daughter married??? Is his son married???" In reflecting on Elon Musk's stunning accomplishments, many netizens pointed to American culture and governance as the fertile soil in which genius can thrive. It seemed to matter little that Musk grew up in South Africa; many netizens lauded the capacity for dreaming and risk-taking in his adopted home, the U.S. @Aute-XL wrote, "The biggest difference between the U.S. and China is this: In China those who dream are seen as crazy, or as failures, or otherwise they are [forced to] assimilate. But America is a country run by the crazy ones, and they are encouraged to be crazy." @冉雄飞 wrote in admiration, "Crazy Americans, with the courage and the [capacity for] great action to move beyond what we imagine!" @勤-康明 took it a step further. Witnessing this accomplishment, he tweeted, "I deeply believe the U.S. will become a great power once again. So many entrepreneurs with creativity and the ability to execute. In a few years, the framework of new and emerging fields will once again be created and guided by the U.S., just like the rise and development of the Internet." Added @随风-ZHANG, "This is the great power of private enterprise." China, by contrast, did not provide the right "social environment" in netizen eyes. @_火_中_莲_ complained, "In China, the most he'd ever accomplishing is kicking people off their land, being a dictator, or taking bribes for years before he was kicked out of office and made into a scapegoat." Others emphasized that Musk was a "genuine-article tycoon [高帅富]," implying that some Chinese who'd achieved that status had employed perhaps less noble means. A small number were less impressed. @左道术士 wrote, "An idol? In fact, the U.S. government could not support NASA, so it gave its technical personnel to a private company. Basically, this company bought a part of NASA…[he] provided the money, NASA provided the technology, and the U.S. government rented out the launching pad." But @左道术士 was outnumbered by the breathless majority. Mr. Musk, if you come to China, you will surely find many supporters. We'll assume you can take care of your own transportation. |
Today’s Most Viral Image: Lost and Found Posted: 25 May 2012 11:08 AM PDT There are good people everywhere–including in rough and tumble China. With over 15,000 reposts, the image of a (rather well-appointed) wallet and its return is Sina Weibo's most viral image of May 25, 2012, according to Hong Kong University's Weiboscope. Weiboscope tracks the most frequently re-posted images among prominent Weibo users. What is this image? This is the lost-but-found wallet of Zhao Jilong (@赵冀龙), a screenwriter. According to Zhao's blog, he once failed the "gao kao," China's dreaded college-entrance examination, only to find eventual success as a reporter and then a screenwriter. Where did it come from? Zhao tweeted the image of his wallet, and its accompanying story, on Thursday night. He wrote, "Today was really unlucky. Coming into town from the airport via light rail, I carelessly lost my wallet, which had 5,000 RMB [about US$750] inside as well as a platinum card with a 200,000-Australian dollar limit. Today was also very lucky, because the wallet was picked up and returned by a gentleman visiting Beijing on business. At first, when I saw this man in the subway station covered in sweat, I had no idea who he was. He'd found me in the crowd based on the picture on my driver's license!" [Chinese] Why is it so popular? There is often much hand-wringing within China over the lack of social mores. While there is no shortage of selfish and contemptible behavior in China's rapidly-modernizing society, it's nice occasionally to pause to recognize good old-fashioned kindness. It happens every day, but tends to be less sensational and thus, less viral. When a frequent microblogger with 122,000 followers experiences it first-hand, however, it gets noticed. One netizen wrote in response, "Now this is a Chinese person." [Correction: An earlier version of this article said the credit card carried a 200,000 Euro limit, instead of a 200,000 Australian dollar limit. We're sorry for the error.] Footnotes (? returns to text)
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Posted: 25 May 2012 11:08 AM PDT Global Times Chief Editor Hu Xijin has attracted colorful commentary to his Weibo account since he first said hello in March 2011. On March 22 he posted a preview of his editorial on a changing, rising China:
"Retweeted" 577 times and left with 487 comments as of May 14 (a few retweets have since disappeared), Hu's post has its supporters and detractors. But as often happens on his Weibo, the detractors here are more vocal. Deng Bolun has translated select comments. Read the original post and all of the comments on Weibo.
© Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us |
The Daily Twit (@chinahearsay Twitter feed) – 2012-05-25 Posted: 24 May 2012 08:59 PM PDT
© Stan for China Hearsay, 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us |
Pictures: 126 mainlanders involved in transnational telecom scam transferred Posted: 24 May 2012 09:00 PM PDT By cooperating with their counterparts in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Fiji, Chinese mainland and Taiwanese law enforcement officers successfully cracked down a large transnational crime ring operating a telecom scam on mainland, and seized a total of 482 people involved in the operations, with 177 from Chinese mainland, 286 from Taiwan and 19 from Thailand and Myanmar. On May 24, a first batch of 126 suspects from Chinese mainland were transferred to mainland police by Malaysian and Thai police on the two chartered flights. The gang is believed to have swindled Chinese mainlanders out of 73 million yuan in 510 telecom scams from 2010 to 2011. "The fraud case unraveled in November, when a financial manager surnamed Sha from an investment company in Suzhou, East China's Jiangsu province, reported to local police that she had been swindled for 12.6 million yuan through telephone fraud," according to China Daily. The criminal suspects pretended to be local police officers, and then staff from an anti-money laundering special work team too, to make Sha transfer the company's financial fund to a "safe" designated account. Check out the photos below of suspects being handed over to Chinese police. |
Police blocked by angry residents for hitting two kids by pepper spray Posted: 24 May 2012 08:03 PM PDT The local police of Zhuhai City, Guangdong Province were blocked by thousands of angry residents for over 2 hours yesterday, after they accidentally hurt two kids when using pepper spray against the crowd. According to eye-witnesses, in the beginning the police officers confronted with an elderly couple, after the couple's electronic tricycle they used to collect garbage to earn their living was confiscated by the officers during a crack-down against illegal scooters in front of a market center of the Zhuhai City. The police subdued the old couple in confrontation, which however resulted in a protest from the local residents. When more and more people joined in, the police used the pepper spray to try to disperse the surrounding crowd, but it accidentally hit one 10-year-old boy and one 2-year-old baby girl. The pepper spray is considered dangerous. It could cause temporary blindness and even death, according to previous cases. |
Wanda Looks West With AMC Play Posted: 25 May 2012 01:28 AM PDT The New York Times profiles Chinese real estate magnate Wang Jianlin, whose Wanda Group has entered into an agreement to take over U.S. cinema chain AMC Entertainment:
The article also notes that Wang got his start in Dalian, the coastal city where Bo Xilai kickstarted his political career, though Wang dismissed any notion that his ties to Bo would threaten Wanda. AMC's chief executive hailed the proposed deal, which both sides claim will create the world's largest cinema operator, as a "unique combination." For the Los Angeles Times, Richard Verrier and David Pierson write that Wanda's bid for AMC may spur other purchases by Chinese investors:
© Scott Greene for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us |
Photo: A street in Kaifeng, Henan, by takwing.kwong Posted: 24 May 2012 11:34 PM PDT A street in Kaifeng, Henan © Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us |
Documenting China’s Lost History of Famine Posted: 24 May 2012 11:21 PM PDT The famine that resulted at least partially from Mao Zedong's Great Leap Forward movement killed tens of millions of people, yet there has never been a full accounting of the tragedy and it is not openly discussed in textbooks or other public forums in China. Now, a Chinese documentary maker is sending young colleagues around China to record the histories of people who lived through the so-called "years of hardship." The BBC reports:
Read more about the Great Leap Forward via CDT, including efforts by Chinese historian Yang Jisheng and Dutch historian Frank Dikötter to document this period of history. |
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