Where The Real Monsters Are in China....

[shai]

The better question to ask is "Why are people putting up with this treatment at all?" There has to be a certain amount of cooperation on both sides with situations like the black jails...if people and the state are as fed up as you say about corruption at this level then they would do something about it.

 

When organized crime or corruption ceases to have an overall benefit and just becomes a nuisance, it generally gets taken care of in short order. Strange to think it hasn't gotten to that point yet.

[WORDISM45]

things work a little bit differently in a collectivist society I think it takes a hell of a lot more to spark a real social and political upheaval than it does in the west

[shai]

I don't know about that. It would seem that corruption for the sake of personal gain would be dealt with swiftly and harshly, as opposed to the everyday small-scale corruption that simply lessens the logjam of bureaucracy.

 

Then again, I've never been to China...my friends that have been there say that it's sort of amazing that there's any sort of law and order at all.

[b.hussein]

damn, I thought china was something kind of special, fuck that place now, im never going. ill go to japan instead.

 

crossfire has now prevented me from going to dubai and china. two places i might have actually traveled to.

[WORDISM45]

China is fantastic to travel to but if you are that fickle you probably wouldn't appreciate it anyway

[christo-f]

Yeah, that's a pretty good response, too.

[christo-f]

Woman executed in China over child prostitution

 

 

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BEIJING (AFP) – A woman in southwest China has been executed after being convicted of forcing 22 schoolchildren into prostitution, state press said Monday.

Zhao Qingmei was put to death in Guizhou province "in recent days" after her final appeal was rejected, the Guizhou Daily reported.

Zhao was convicted with six others of forcing the 22 pupils, some of whom may have been as young as six, and an older girl into prostitution in the impoverished mountainous province from March to June 2006, the paper said.

Zhao was also convicted of aiding her husband in the rape of a child, it added.

The report said the other defendants, including Zhao's husband, were given sentences ranging from jail time, including life sentences, to death with a two-year reprieve, a punishment normally commuted to life in prison.

China annually executes more people than the rest of the world combined, last year putting to death more than 1,700 people out of a global total of almost 2,400, according to Amnesty International.

As China does not publish full data on death sentences, rights groups say the numbers of people executed could be far higher.

[christo-f]

China is now getting in to the habit of blaming lots of the mass killings that take place here on mental illness. However this is going to backfire on them down the track when there is social pressure for funding of research and care institutions for the mentally ill.

 

 

 

 

 

China mass killing suspect may have had father's help

 

BEIJING, Dec 14 (AFP) Dec 14, 2009

A Chinese man suspected of killing 12 relatives may have been helped by his father, state media said Monday, as grisly details of the mass murder in central Hunan province emerged.

Relatives said suspect Liu Aibing, 34, and his father had shot and hacked to death their family members in the village of Yinshanpai in the Hunan forests, torching some of their homes.

 

"That night the father and son both came to kill us -- they went from house to house killing close relatives," Liu Si'e, the aunt of the suspect, told Xinhua news agency.

 

"Before the killings they knocked on the door, we opened the door and they opened fire and began hacking with the machete. Then they torched the home.

 

"After the killing was over and the fire started, the father, Liu Bifang, committed suicide by diving into the flames."

 

Up to 1,000 police were involved in capturing the son in mountains near the village on Sunday. Earlier reports had indicated the father was a victim of the son's rampage.

 

A motive in the killings could have been a dispute over the father's wood products which had been sold by one of his murdered brothers, Xinhua said.

 

Numerous relatives also said the suspect was not mentally ill, as had been reported, but had only returned to the remote village several months ago after more than a decade living and working in southern Guangdong province.

 

Press reports on Monday also put the death toll at 13, saying one person had died in hospital of their injuries. But local police told AFP the official toll remained at 12.

 

"Liu Aibing was the only killer, he has a history of mental illness," a spokeswoman for Anhua county government, who refused to identify herself, told AFP by phone.

 

Anhua police refused further comment, saying the investigation was ongoing.

 

The Hunan killings are the latest in a number of family-related murders in China in recent weeks.

 

Earlier this month, police in southwest China captured a man suspected of murdering his parents and four other relatives after he escaped from a mental hospital in southwestern Yunnan province.

 

In late November, police in southern Hainan province captured a man suspected of hacking to death his parents, wife, sons and sister in Beijing.

 

A man suspected of the stabbing murders of six people committed suicide in Inner Mongolia on November 28.

[christo-f]

More on the mass murder

 

 

 

 

Spree killing suspect caught in C. China

 

0 CommentsPrint E-mail China.org.cn, Xinhua, December 13, 2009

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Police in central China's Hunan province said they had captured a man, who went on a killing spree and shot dead 12 people and seriously injured two Saturday morning.

 

Liu Aibing, 34, was captured at about 6:50 a.m. in a hill in Qingtang township in Anhua County. About 1,000 police involved in the manhunt.

 

 

Policemen investigate at the scene where a farmer killed 12 and injured two in a shooting and arson in Yiyang, Central China's Hunan province, December 12, 2009. [Xinhua]

The crime occurred at about 5 a.m. when Liu fired a shotgun at people in his own village of Gaoming township in Yiyang City's Anhua County, a police spokesman with Hunan's Department of Public Security said.

 

Liu also set five houses on fire, he added.

 

The critically injured are being treated in a local hospital, he said.

 

Among the dead are Liu's father and other near relatives. The dead age between 6 and 86.

 

Liu returned home two months ago from Hunan's neighboring province of Guangdong, China's "factory of the world", where he worked as a migrant worker. He has a history of mental illness.

 

The police are probing further into the case, the spokesman said without giving more details.

[christo-f]

Focus here is actually on the journalists. In CHina journalists regularly blackmail mines and officials. THey demand payoffs in order not to report on corruption or disasters so the people responsible can cover it up. Whenever there is some kind of disaster that can be linked to corruption or incompetence you will get hordes of journos and even people pretending to be journos arriving demanding hush money or they will report. There is a saying in journalism here, "losers report, winners get rich".

 

 

 

 

Official in Hebei jailed for pre-Olympic mine cover-up

Agence France-Presse in Beijing

3:19pm, Dec 13, 2009

 

 

A court in north China has jailed a local official for 13 years for covering up a deadly mining accident, state press said on Sunday of a disaster that occurred ahead of the Beijing Olympic Games.

Li Hongxing, a county head in Hebei province, was convicted of “abuse of powers” for ordering a local mine to pay 2.6 million yuan (HK2.95 million) in hush money to up to 10 journalists, the Beijing Youth Daily said.

 

 

The accident, which took place on July 14, 2008 in Yi county, killed 34 miners and was covered up in an apparent bid to spare officials embarrassment in the run-up to the Olympic Games, previous media reports said.

 

After a cabinet-level inquiry, state prosecutors brought charges against 48 government and mining officials in Yi county and 10 journalists, the reports said.

 

Officials at the Hebei court where the trial took place were unavailable for comment on Sunday.

 

More trials are expected soon, the Beijing Youth Daily said.

 

Li was also convicted of accepting 570,000 yuan in bribes as head of Yi county from 2003 to last year, it said.

 

He was sentenced to a total of 13 years in prison, including two years for the “abuse of power” charges and 12 years for the bribery charges, the publication said, citing the court verdict.

 

Li plans to appeal the verdict, it added.

 

The identities of the journalists have not been revealed.

 

Yi county is about 80 kilometres west of Beijing.

 

Relatives of the dead miners were also given money and threatened to keep them quiet, earlier reports said.

 

Over 3,200 miners were killed in mines on the mainland last year, according to official figures, but workers’ rights groups say the number is much higher as accidents routinely are covered up to avoid costly mine shutdowns and fines.

 

These coal mines are among the most dangerous in the world, with safety often ignored in the quest for profits and a drive to meet surging demand for coal, the source of about 70 per cent of the country’s energy.

 

On November 21, 108 miners were killed in a gas explosion at a coal mine in Heilongjiang province in northeastern China.

[christo-f]

Nine officials held after brawl in Sanya hotel

 

Read more: http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/?id=422643&type=National#ixzz0ZelFgx8Q

 

 

NINE township and village officials in southwest China's Sichuan Province have been detained after beating staff of a hotel in south China's Hainan Province during their vacation, injuring eight hotel staff and a police officer.

 

Eight officials have been detained for five days over disrupting social order while one was detained for disturbing public service, today's West China Metropolis Daily reported.

 

The brawl occurred on November 29 when 18 officials from Xiaogan Town in Sichuan's Deyang City got into a dispute over a free shuttle bus with staff of the hotel in Sanya, the report said, quoting Sanya police.

 

Some of the officials, allegedly led by Xiaogan's Party Secretary Huang Zongwen, ran into a fight with the hotel porters, security guards and managers. Eight hotel staff and one police officer were injured.

 

Read more: http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/?id=422643&type=National#ixzz0Zel2lQSa

[christo-f]

christo you obviously know a lot about china, I've only been there once, briefly, but I'm still going to continue to believe that china's government is the main detrimental factor for people's quality of life there not the general population. if people are treated like shit then they gonna act like shit.

also, you ever been to taiwan? it's a different world, there's no con artists roaming the streets, cabbies always use the meter, you don't have 2 tier pricing for white people, police are corrupt, but less corrupt than on the mainland. as both countries share the same culture and majority ethnic group it would seem to me like china's government has had a major negative effect on the people it controls.

I simplified stuff a lot here but still.

 

No, I don't believe that it is the govt or the people that is the problem, it is the history of the country and the culture that is a result of that history. China has always had central authority in the shape of the emperor. When the empire spread and prospered the periphery created its own centers of power and the central power devolved. Then you get the periphery challenging the center (warlordism is another outcome), state becomes weak and vulnerable to challengers both inside and out. That is a reoccurring history for thousands of years in China.

 

But the point is that central power has always been the stable authority here. Where's in Europe for hundreds of years you had the monarchy but under the monarchy you had dukes, lords, etc. that were loyal to the king/queen but also were allowed to have their own armies/force and were responsible for their own patch. They in turn kept the King/Queen honest to a certain degree for if the center treated the periphery like shit there was always the risk that they would come together to overthrow the center. Then you had the introduction of the cabinet and parliament and evolution of government (French Revolution, etc.).

 

In European based society we have a basic culture of the periphery keeping the center honest. China has only ever had and still does have the center imposing itself on the periphery (this also happened in the local aspect as it was a completely feudal society where there really was no other law than power).

 

China has never had an overly innovative society either and this is thought to be a result of both central power and large population. In Europe where there was less authority from the center and also less population so the agricultural base had to rely on itself and also on innovation and invention to progress. Where as China could always just apply more man power to the problem by central decree the Europeans had to be innovative and come up with their own solutions. So under authoritarianism you are not encouraged to make decisions and have few choices and when your main resource is man power you are not motivated by necessity to be innovative.

 

Also throw in to this mix reoccurring poverty and massive instability when dynasties fell and warlordism emerged and you've got a lot of motivation to disregard everyone else and just look out for yourself. Instability creates insecurity, danger for you life and danger that unless you join a warlord where you have to hand over the majority of your produce they will just come and take it all, along with your wife. So the result is that you follow the most powerful, don't stick your neck out in anyway and do what you can to look after your next meal disregarding anyone else...., for thousands of years.

 

This has resulted in a culture where not only is there very little creative thought but there is very little thought for anyone else but yourself. The culture is EXTREMELY selfish without meaning to be or even realising it.

 

The best example is people cutting in line, which is more common than lining up really... There will be an obvious line up for something (buying something, gaining entry) and people will simply walk straight up the front totally oblivious that they are disregarding others. There are some that couldn't give a shit but most are simply oblivious to others.

 

This then extends all through normal behaviour here to an almost total disregard of other's suffering or even state of being and only thought processes that cover you own interests. People seriously live in a bubble that extends to 30cm from their eyeballs!!

 

As a lot of younger, modern and educated Chinese people here will say the Cultural Revolution and Great Leap Forward is also a factor in this. The Great Leap forward in the 1950s was where Chairman Mao and his Standing Committee created new methods of agriculture and created countless backyard smelters to make steel in an effort to catch up to the industrial capacity of the UK (as a result of China's isolationism and Sino-centrism they missed out on the industrial revolution and were still an agricultural society in the 1940s. The only mechanisation was a result of colonialism from the UK, US, French, Portuguese, Germans, Japan, etc.).

 

These plans were a total fucking screw up and instead of creating lots a god food and quality steel there was piles of shitty pig iron rusting by the sides of the railways because their smelting methods were useless and they hadn't organised the proper logistics to transport the product after it was manufactured. They also had a severe famine that killed around 30 million people because the farming methods were useless and no one was willing to stick their necks out to say so. Even worse, everyone was trying to suck up to Mao and the center that they bullshitted and said that they had extra when they really had fuck all. There were also environmental/natural influences on farming that were not planned for and everyone starved...., well except for Mao and the those in the Communist PArty hierarchy.

 

After this spectacular failure there were some in the party that believed that failure should be admitted and responsibility taken. This was of course a direct challenge to Mao's power and he launched the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. This was his way of purging those that he saw as challengers by claiming that it was time for the proletarian to arise after industrialisation (read up on Marxism) and that people with Rightist/Capitalist ideas had infiltrated the PArty (those that believed Mao should be responsible for his failed policies, of course).

 

That was the Cultural Revolution which factionalised China and ended with up to 6 million people beat/tortured/starved to death. This was a time where you blamed the person next to you before they blamed you. I time of great treachery and severe paranoia. You didn't even trust your own brother. IT went on for 3 years and the effects were felt for ten altogether. The school system shut down and was then run by the army meaning that there was no teaching of proper science, culture, or anything above basic shit and MAO THOUGHT!! That means that the people who are parents now of kids around 10-20 never had a proper education, which results in all education coming from a pretty screwed up school system or even more screwed up parents.

 

But the main thing that this created was a culture where you look out for number one and don't bother yourself with other people's affairs. Don't stick your neck out and help anyone and fuck anyone else when it comes to getting what you want.

 

Then you also add the one child policy where almost every child is a single child and is wrapped in cotton wool by the parents and spoiled by the grand parents.

 

You starting to get the picture now?

 

Both the people AND the government are a result of the history here. Not the other way around.

 

The most powerful person in China is the Chairman who is also the Chairman of the military. Then there are about 15 people under him (standing committee of the Politburo) and it is this group that make all the real policies and direct the country. Uber fucking powerful.

 

Up until a few years ago, and I mean like 10 maximum, there were only about 4 people in the Standing Committee that had anything above a HIGH SCHOOL EDUCATION. They ran a whole country and commanded a nuclear capable military.

 

As I said, the Govt is a result of the culture here and the culture is a result of 4000 years of history.

 

 

 

dude I was in 6 different cities in China for 2 months this year and in about 30 cabs every cabbie used the meter, I was only attempted conned once, which is less than places like england, france, or especially spain. There was far less 2 tier pricing than in other asian and eastern european countries i've been to. Where were you in China man and what were you doing? maybe if all you do is hang at tourist traps this shit happens more but i didn;t experience anything like what you're describing.

 

And props christo i've been sleeping on crossfire lately caus it got so shit good to see you're doing someting to increase the quality, keep the thread going

 

Yeah cab drivers here in Beijing at least will RARELY try and rip you. I've never had one that won't use the meter. Tianjin one dude tried to rip, that's it in 3 years here.

 

The better question to ask is "Why are people putting up with this treatment at all?" There has to be a certain amount of cooperation on both sides with situations like the black jails...if people and the state are as fed up as you say about corruption at this level then they would do something about it.

 

When organized crime or corruption ceases to have an overall benefit and just becomes a nuisance, it generally gets taken care of in short order. Strange to think it hasn't gotten to that point yet.

 

No, no one is really fed up with corruption. The Communist Party (meaning the state council standing party and the Politburo and above and those with connections) are actually above the law. The judiciary is not separated from the Govt like it is where we come from. That means there is NO RULE OF LAW, there is explicitly the rule of the Party. In our terms that means corruption, in there terms that is China (not trying to pass any judgement here). However it does result in severe corruption, this place makes Brazil and many African countries look like a fucking monastery!

 

So corruption is endemic from the top down. there is no understanding of nepotism here, that is normal behavior and the country runs on connections and power relationships as a way of life. IT is expected, accepted and normal for Chinese culture to work like that...., always has. So if you do a whole scale crack down on corruption the shit will roll up hill and you never know who s going to get found out. So most of the time either crack downs are political purges of factional competitors or it is when some dumbfuck isn't careful enough with his shit and the center needs to be seen doing something about it.

 

However, this place is modernising, slowly and these things are changing for the better. But, that will be a generational change that won't have any chance of approaching what we see as expected behaviour from our leaders until long after we are dead. But, as I say, China is DEFINITELY improving. More and more people are being taken out of poverty as a result of government policy and there are more and more PArty members who along with feathering their own nest are also doing good things for the country. It is improving, just really fucking slowly.

 

 

things work a little bit differently in a collectivist society I think it takes a hell of a lot more to spark a real social and political upheaval than it does in the west

 

YEs and no, there are mass incidences with people taking attacking the authority on a weekly basis and the govt doesn't hide that fact, they actually faithfully report on it. I will start posting that stuff too when it occurs. However, as per any government the Chinese have created a very strong system where lateral/horizontal social connections are very tightly controlled by the center. Think F41uN g0N6, religion, law societies that aren't under the Party, non-party unions, etc. They get SMASHED real fucking quick. So you have mass corruption which means mass dissatisfaction among a lot of fairly uneducated people that don't give a shit about anything than themselves. that creates violent reaction but very little concern from the rest of society because people here don't have much regard for their fellow man.

 

It is a myth that this is a collectivist society. That was only true from 1949 to the late 1950s. Apart from that it has always been every man for himslef here. They like to say collectivist and they like to act all patriotic and nationalistic but the reality is VERY different. Hence all the articles I'm posting of how badly and how often people fuck each other over here.

 

Of course I'm only posting the most extreme examples as you can't post articles of "man cuts in line". Old lady falls over, crowd stands and watches without helping. Beggars get 90% of their handouts from expats, not fellow country man. No one EVER gives way to other people in traffic, in fact they will go out of their way to cut in front when it's easier for them to just go behind were there is a massive fucking gap....., etc. etc.

 

Everyday life here is seated in selfish behaviour, I'm just showing the extreme examples that would raise a national outcry/response where we come from but barely a news article here (shit, just today 12 people were killed by their own family member. Same thing has happened once a week for the last few months. 90% of Chinese people I talk to wouldn't have a clue and really don't give a fuck because it wasn't them).

 

That's not to say that the Chinese are bad people. There is no malicious motivation behind their behaviour, it's just a result of an "every man for himself" and "no need to think for yourself" culture over 4000 years. Put them in our history and they would be the same as us. Put us in their history and we would be the same as them.

I don't know about that. It would seem that corruption for the sake of personal gain would be dealt with swiftly and harshly, as opposed to the everyday small-scale corruption that simply lessens the logjam of bureaucracy.

 

Then again, I've never been to China...my friends that have been there say that it's sort of amazing that there's any sort of law and order at all.

 

Everything here is for personal gain. There almost is no law at all, it's all power relationships.

 

 

 

 

Epic post.

[shai]

No, no one is really fed up with corruption. The Communist Party (meaning the state council standing party and the Politburo and above and those with connections) are actually above the law. The judiciary is not separated from the Govt like it is where we come from. That means there is NO RULE OF LAW, there is explicitly the rule of the Party. In our terms that means corruption, in there terms that is China (not trying to pass any judgement here). However it does result in severe corruption, this place makes Brazil and many African countries look like a fucking monastery!

 

So corruption is endemic from the top down. there is no understanding of nepotism here, that is normal behavior and the country runs on connections and power relationships as a way of life. IT is expected, accepted and normal for Chinese culture to work like that...., always has. So if you do a whole scale crack down on corruption the shit will roll up hill and you never know who s going to get found out. So most of the time either crack downs are political purges of factional competitors or it is when some dumbfuck isn't careful enough with his shit and the center needs to be seen doing something about it.

 

That's confusing, I always thought the whole point of Maoism was to create an egalitarian society and do away with feudalism and imperialism. Shows what I know.

 

Then you said...

 

Everything here is for personal gain.

 

...which kind of clears things up, especially in the context of the Great Leap Forward being a failure. From that point on it was all bets off...the proletariat got the message- look out for number one.

 

There almost is no law at all, it's all power relationships.

 

I don't really see much of a distinction there. I think I know what you're getting at, but I think the fear of retribution keeps people in line about as effectively as (and in a lot of cases, in lieu of) a deep, abiding respect for the law....whatever, it's really just a means to an end.

 

Either way, I enjoyed the read. Very informative.

[christo-f]

That's confusing, I always thought the whole point of Maoism was to create an egalitarian society and do away with feudalism and imperialism. Shows what I know.

Well that was the theory of course. But you think Mao and the upper echelons ever went hungry during the hard times? Of course not. Problem with communism is that you will always have decision makers and humans make decisions based on what is best for them/increasing chances of survival (for offspring).

 

 

 

.

..which kind of clears things up, especially in the context of the Great Leap Forward being a failure. From that point on it was all bets off...the proletariat got the message- look out for number one.

Yeah and if that didn't do the trick the Cultural Revolution sure as fuck did!!

 

 

 

I don't really see much of a distinction there. I think I know what you're getting at, but I think the fear of retribution keeps people in line about as effectively as (and in a lot of cases, in lieu of) a deep, abiding respect for the law....whatever, it's really just a means to an end.

 

Either way, I enjoyed the read. Very informative.

Yeah deterrence factor in law is another issue, IMO. For this it's that law is blind and applied to all equally. Of course that doesn't happen anywhere but there are varying degrees. Here, the law is a total ass as it is in places like Africa, Brazil, Russia and so on. Places like Sweden, New Zealand, Denmark, Finland, Germany (see Transparency International) are the most squared away for that sort of thing and China, Brazil, Russia are pretty much bottom of the list when it comes to the value of the judiciary. If you have power, the law doesn't apply to you.

[christo-f]

Official jailed over plot to blow up his lover

 

0 CommentsPrint E-mail Shanghai Daily, December 15, 2009

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An official in northeastern China has been sentenced to six years in prison for hiring others to blow up his lover in her car.

 

A court in Liaoning Province's Lingyuan City passed the sentence on Lu Zhongxue, former vice head of the city's health bureau. Other people involved in the case were jailed for between two and five years.

 

Lu decided to get rid of his lover, Wang Xuyan, after 10 years because she kept reporting their relationship to the city government after fights, according to yesterday's People's Daily newspaper.

 

Lu paid a man named Zhang Yunxuan and two others 300,000 yuan (US$44,000) in 2007 to beat her up with steel clubs in her apartment. Lu said he only meant to give Wang a lesson and get her to stop pestering him, the court heard.

 

A friend of Lu's named Zhang Haiyan suggested bombing Wang's car and shutting her mouth forever. Lu agreed and bought two grenades for 5,000 yuan from Yan Fengkui.

 

Zhang Haiyan sneaked into Wang's parking lot and attached the grenades to Wang's car so that when she started it, they would explode.

 

She suffered severe facial injuries in the blast, the report said.

 

Lu later paid him 700,000 yuan.

 

Zhang Haiyan was found guilty of causing an explosion and jailed for five years. Yan was sentenced to four years for selling weapons, while Zhang Yunxuan was jailed for two years.

 

Wang said she would appeal as the sentence was too lenient for what her former lover had done. Wang argued that Lu should have been charged with attempted murder.

[christo-f]

Shanghai police arrest 47 child trafficking suspects

Associated Press in Beijing

1:13pm, Mar 12, 2010

 

 

Railway police in Shanghai say they have detained 47 suspects and rescued 21 babies in a month-long crackdown on child trafficking.

The sting operations since last spring, involving police in five provinces, cracked a major baby trafficking ring, with the most recent raid netting 18 suspected child traffickers and 12 babies, according to a police statement on the local government website, reported on Tuesday in local newspapers.

 

 

 

The mainland has a thriving black market in babies who are abducted or bought from poor families and sold to couples who are childless or want more children, as well as girls and women who are sold as brides.

 

Many of the children were kidnapped from southwest China’s Yunnan province and taken by train to eastern China’s Jiangsu and Shandong provinces. It was unclear if any of the babies were meant to be passed on to families in Shanghai.

 

Nationwide, police have rescued 2,008 kidnapped children and solved 1,717 cases since the crackdown was launched on April 9, according to a report in the Communist Party newspaper People’s Daily.

 

Chinese have a traditional preference for male heirs that is particularly strong in rural areas, resulting in trafficking of boys. Some families also sell their girl babies in order to try for a boy, since the country’s one-child policy limits most families to having one child.

 

China’s Ministry of Public Security has said it is setting up a DNA database to combat child trafficking. The database will include DNA from the parents of abducted children and samples from children who are suspected of having been abducted or vagrant children with an unclear history.

 

The police also maintain an online registry of rescued abducted children, including infants and older children. So far, of the 60 children listed only four are recorded as having been reunited with their families.

[christo-f]

One woman's fight against pollution in China

 

 

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AFP/File – A shroud of haze blankets the city of Zengzhou in central China's Henan province. After years of …

by Marianne Barriaux – 21 mins ago

XINXIANG, China (AFP) – After years of campaigning to clean up the sludge-filled rivers and acrid air of central China's Henan province, Tian Guirong no longer has a bed to call her own and says she fears for her life.

As world leaders huddle in Copenhagen for crunch talks on a global climate change deal, Tian's story is an example of the huge struggle faced by some developing countries trying to fight pollution.

Her group, the Xinxiang Environmental Protection Volunteers Association, has helped close more than 100 polluting factories -- plants she says were responsible for illness and death among local residents.

But the sprightly 59-year-old's success -- not an easy feat in China, the world's worst carbon-emitting nation -- has come at a price. Related article: Smog sinks Hong Kong's skyline

"I'm scared, I don't dare sleep at a fixed place. Tonight I'll be at my son's, tomorrow at my daughter's, or I stay at my association," Tian told AFP in an interview at her office in a derelict former factory in Xinxiang city.

"We receive threatening phone calls, and volunteers have also got phone calls at home late at night," she said, adding she thinks those who call are thugs hired by angry factory owners.

Tian first started her environmental work in 1998, recycling used batteries.

In 2001, she decided to tackle air and water pollution, setting up her NGO a year later.

She and other volunteers take photos of waste discarded by factories, have river water tested and then hand the evidence over to the local environmental bureau for further action. They also help promote environmental awareness.

These are all steps Tian says she decided to take after people she knew died from diseases she believes were caused by dire levels of pollution.

"It's definitely due to air and water pollution. Lots of villagers use waste water to irrigate their crops," she said.

"People have died of liver cancer, lung cancer... They suffer from respiratory difficulties," Tian added, noting that strokes were also common.

In Hou village near Xinxiang, 62-year-old Zhu Jinxin points to the scars marking the numerous spots where tumours have been removed from his body, and says others in the village have fallen ill and died.

Although none can prove the link with pollution, they point to dirty ground water and the nearby pesticide and chemical factories.

"The air the chemical factory emitted was pungent, and people had problems breathing," Zhu said.

In 2005, in response to the complaints, the government helped villagers dig a well for safe drinking water.

"It's 156 metres (515 feet) deep. Wells dug by families used to measure just 30 metres," said Zhu.

The plant has also stopped emitting fumes during the day, though Zhu said it was operational at night.

"Tian's work is very important, and difficult," said Zhu.

"They (factory owners) want to make money, but she doesn't want them to make money -- she wants to clean up pollution."

In neighbouring Fanling village, where Tian was mayor for four years until 2008, residents also say their lives have been affected by a chemical plant.

"We can't eat the maize and wheat we plant in the earth around the factory, so we sell it," says one villager, who asked not to be named.

Nevertheless, Tian says the environment in the area has improved markedly since the 1990s, when she says rivers near Xinxiang were black from human and industrial waste. Now, most waterways near the city appear to be clear.

The Xinxiang government and environmental bureau refused to comment on the situation when contacted by AFP.

A report by the official Xinhua news agency in July said that since 2006, more than 500 heavily-polluting businesses had been closed along Henan's Hai and Yellow rivers that flow through the Xinxiang area.

But Tian soldiers on with her inspection tours, determined to catch out factories that discard their waste on the sly.

At one smelter, for example, where a foul stench of chemicals permeates the air, Tian sets off through wheat crops to get behind the factory, where she scales a small wall and climbs up a steep hill.

Hidden behind the plant is a huge pool of black water with meringue-like foam on top. White froth pours out of the back wall of the factory, flowing into a small stream and into a bigger river.

One of Tian's volunteers grabs a discarded beer bottle and fills it up with the water for further analysis.

"It's often really hard," Tian said of her work.

"Some of the factories breed dogs, and they let go of (the) dogs to scare me. But when a polluting firm is closed, I'm really happy."

[.hopeless.]

at first i thought this was gonna be about godzilla and mothra or something but alas i was wrong..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

oh well.damn that story about the needles was fucked up.i cant see how you can do that to your grandchild,i dont think i have it in me personally. fucking chinamen,

 

 

 

edit.i really have anything worth reading to add to your thread christo..i have no opinion on chinese people.ive only met one or two people from china.they were pretty cool people and were the shit at making paper planes and ninja stars and shit.pretty cool guys.i just came in here to say how i was dissapointed that this thread wasnt about giant lizards.

[christo-f]

Godzilla and so on is Japan.

 

 

 

 

 

Police investigate death of baby girl

 

0 CommentsPrint E-mail China Daily, December 16, 2009

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Police in Houjie town of this southern manufacturing city are investigating the abnormal death of an abandoned 1-month-old girl.

 

She was found dead in front of an vacant flat on Tianxin street about 7:30 am on Monday, wrapped up in a thin blanket and covered by a piece of a deep green factory uniform, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported.

 

"The preliminary examination found that she died from disease, but has no obvious connection with the H1N1 virus.

 

"The legal medical experts are still examining the body to further verify the cause of death," said an official, surnamed Wang, with the police bureau of Houjie town.

 

He said Shaxi police station, which is in charge of the area where the baby died, has carried out an investigation to find the parents.

 

Witnesses said bloodstains could be seen over much of the baby's body.

 

Nobody saw who put the baby down during the bustling Monday morning.

 

"My husband did not spot the baby at 6:40 am when he left for work," said a woman who runs a supermarket on the city's street.

 

"But less than one hour later she was found."

 

Most of the residents who rent the apartments on the street are migrant laborers working in the factories of the surrounding area, according to the report.

 

A woman said the baby was not from this community. "We know each other well and I can't remember such a little baby," she said.

 

While showing great sympathy for the perishing of such new life, people expressed indignation against the irresponsible parents through online forums and called on the government to establish a salvation system for children who are seriously sick.

 

This is the second dead child found in the province within a week.

 

Last Wednesday, a 3-year-old boy was found dead and abandoned in a dry ditch in Guangzhou.

 

He had earlier been treated for serious complications from H1N1 flu but was discharged from the hospital at repeated requests from his family members.

 

Xiong Yuanda, spokesman for the health bureau of Guangzhou, said last week that his parents may have insisted on having him discharged for financial reasons.

 

The boy's four days at the children's hospital reportedly cost more than 19,000 yuan ($2,800) and the family had only paid 13,600 yuan when they left.

 

The hospital carried out its duty, but more efforts are needed from the whole of society to help financially disadvantaged patients, especially those from outside the city, Xiong said.

 

The city government of Guangzhou set aside some funds days ago for hospitals to assist needy patients from outside the city, but the maximum help for a patient is 7,000 yuan, he said.

[.hopeless.]

Godzilla and so on is Japan

 

 

 

 

well............this explains everything..

 

 

 

 

 

 

OFF TO METALHEADS!

[christo-f]

Young deaf-mutes lured into pickpocketing gang: teacher

By Jane Chen | 2009-12-16 | NEWSPAPER EDITION

 

 

 

 

 

YOUNG deaf-mutes have been lured by criminal gangs to join them as pickpockets, a special education teacher alleged after 20 teenagers disappeared from school.

 

Police are investigating the disappearance of deaf-mute pupils from Liling Special Education School in central China's Hunan Province, according to the school's teacher, Yang Lihong, news Website Hunan Online reported yesterday.

 

The latest case was with five students aged 16 to 20 who left the school four months ago, leaving notes saying they were going to work, the teacher said.

 

Last month one of them returned, revealing that they had been lured by a former girl classmate to Changchun, capital city of northeast China's Jilin Province, the Website reported.

 

On arrival, their ID and mobile phones were taken away and they were forced to work as pickpockets, said the student, surnamed Li.

 

Li told his father that he had been caught by police red-handed but declined to tell more.

 

The experience has left a strong negative impact on Li, because he didn't leave the house since returning home, his father told the Website.

 

His father guessed that Li probably hid some of the money he was forced to steal and used it to buy a train ticket home.

 

The classmate whom the missing young man mentioned was an 18-year-old girl, according to their teacher Yang, who interpreted for the Website reporter during an interview with a girl who is hospitalized in the province's Liling City, after a traffic accident.

 

The girl had told Zhang Jinyin, father of one of the missing young men, that if they find the young men, she would be in big trouble, according to a record Zhang showed of a written talk between him and the girl.

 

"I can't tell, or some people will take revenge on me," she wrote in the talk.

 

Her mother said the girl was a victim of the criminal organization herself, referring to her miserable experience of being cheated and sold to other places for 6,000 yuan (US$880). She seized a chance to escape, but is hunted by those who seek revenge, the mother revealed.

 

"Most young deaf-mute people were easy to be cheated by job promises," Yang said.

 

 

 

Read more: http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/?id=422822&type=National#ixzz0Zq7FH5S3

[christo-f]

Teacher forces girl to lick up phlegm

By Jane Chen | 2009-12-15 | ONLINE EDITION

 

 

 

 

 

 

AN intern teacher has been suspended after forcing a five-year-old girl to lick up the phlegm she coughed on the floor in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality.

 

Nanqu Road Kindergarten in Yuzhong District has suspended the teacher's internship and suggested she should be banned from teaching for life, today's Chongqing Evening News reported.

 

The teacher surnamed Chen, 18, admitted the incident and apologized to the girl and her family, the kindergarten's principal surnamed Qin told the newspaper.

 

Parents complained after their daughter said the teacher became angry when she couldn't control a coughing fit and spat on the floor, despite it being forbidden, the newspaper said.

 

Chen then forced the girl's head to the floor and ordered her to lick it all up, according to the report.

 

The intern, who came from a poor family in southwest China's Guizhou Province, had collapsed after the incident, the headmaster said.

 

 

 

Read more: http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/?id=422749&type=National#ixzz0Zq8Et3Hf

[russell jones]

Teacher forces girl to lick up phlegm

By Jane Chen | 2009-12-15 | ONLINE EDITION

 

 

 

The teacher surnamed Chen, 18,

 

Therein lies the problem, in my opinion.

[.hopeless.]

that reminds me of that movie voices that came out last year for the afterdark horrorfest.they made one of the kids do the same thing.

[BraveNewWorld]

fuck China and fuck the UN.

[christo-f]

Well, that was insightful!

[.hopeless.]

i wonder what the mental healthcare system is like over their in china.or is there one? becuase alot of these fools seem like their fucking psychotic.i think that has alot to do with some of the things that go on over there...

[christo-f]

It's virtually non-existent.

 

The fact that they barely have an education system in much of the country is probably more important. Then you add that to the historical explanation as to why people don't think any further than their own immediate requirements and it pretty much explains how we have ended up here.

 

Mental illness is being largely used as an excuse right now because the pile of shit here is growing larger and smellier by the week.

[christo-f]

Chinese rules on home confiscations under attack

 

 

 

By Chris Buckley – 40 mins ago

BEIJING (Reuters) – China's rules on the forced demolition of homes are under attack after a Beijing man set fire to himself to protest against confiscation of his family's home, while legal experts urged reforms to better protect residents.

With China's feverish real estate market stoking developers' appetite for land, the guidelines allowing local governments to confiscate homes and claim land have drawn both protests and demands for change, which could eventually slow demolitions.

In the latest incident to grab national attention, a man on the outskirts of Beijing doused himself with petrol and set himself on fire on Monday when officials were pressing his family to give up their home, newspapers said on Thursday.

The man, Xi Xinzhu, suffered burns to 10 percent of his body, and was in hospital, officials told the official People's Daily.

"We tried everything to raise legal questions about this demolition through normal channels, but nobody would do anything, although there are plainly problems," Xi's brother, Xi Xinqiang, told Reuters by telephone.

Xi Xinzhu was hurt last month in a confrontation with thugs seeking to push out the family, his brother said.

"He did this out of helplessness and despair, because the rules are just an excuse to grab land," said Xi Xinqiang.

The protest followed a series of others in a country where land is owned or effectively controlled by the state, and residents can lease usage rights.

Residents facing removal have complained that the amount of compensation offered is far below the real value of their homes.

They complain officials collude with developers to demand land in the name of public needs, such as roads, and then turn it over to commercial investors who can reap big profits.

Standoffs can turn violent, pitting residents against police and hired thugs. Protests over home and farmland confiscation are one of the nagging threats to social stability facing the ruling Communist Party.

PETROL BOMBS

Last month, a Shanghai woman threw petrol bombs at government forklifts working on an expansion of the Hongqiao airport. In the southwestern city of Chengdu, a woman set fire to herself in front of police and firefighters.

In another southwest city, Guiyang, 13 residents were kidnapped recently by thugs hired by a local real estate developer who then demolished their homes, a Chinese newspaper reported.

In a sign that the government may be seeking to ease growing public rancor, law-drafting officials on Wednesday met nine law professors who have called the current home requisition rules illegitimate and urged major reforms.

The current rules, they said, failed to comply with the state constitution and property law, which call for citizens to receive fair compensation for property taken by the government.

One of the professors, Wang Xixin of Peking University, said any reforms needed to ensure that governments could not work with developers illicitly to undermine residents' interests.

"To avoid this alliance of interests, the key is making a distinction between public interests and commercial development," Wang told the website of the People's Daily (http://www.people.com.cn).

On Wednesday, another group of legal activists also urged the government to give stronger rights to residents whose homes are threatened with demolition.

Xu Zhiyong, the head of the Open Constitution Initiative, or Gongmeng, which issued the law reform proposal, said displaced residents find it difficult to afford decent housing with the levels of compensation usually offered.

"Compensation should reflect market values," Xu told Reuters. "Otherwise, discontent over demolitions will not die down."

(Editing by Ken Wills and Paul Tait)

[christo-f]

Case in point

 

 

 

 

Vice mayor given 12 years and half for bribery

 

0 CommentsPrint E-mail Xinhua, December 17, 2009

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A former vice mayor in east China's Anhui Province was sentenced to 12 years and half Wednesday for taking 1.6 million yuan (234,297 U.S. dollars) in bribes.

 

Lv Jinbao, former vice mayor of Ma'anshan City, was convicted of taking more than 1.5 million yuan and 9,500 U.S. dollars in bribes from real estate contractors and others between April 1997 and November 2008, the Hefei Municipal Intermediate People's Court said after a first-instance trial.

 

The court also confiscated 150,000 yuan of Lv's personal property.

 

Lv, 52, was given a lenient sentence as he confessed several crimes that prosecutors had no prior knowledge of, and most of the bribes were recovered, the court said.

 

Lv was arrested in January this year.

 

He served as governor and Party chief of Jinjiazhuang District of the city from March 1996, and was promoted to vice mayor of Ma'anshan city in January 2003.