| ZGBriefs March 3, 2011
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FEATURED ARTICLE
It's an old story. The Chinese archives are full of natural disasters. Some, like floods or typhoons came upon an area with sudden speed and power and then just as suddenly receded or moved away. In the records these are sometimes referred to as "dragons" - mobile, capricious, taking their fury from one place to another. But the accounts of drought are different. They happened over time, and as the weeks turned to months and crops withered and died, desperate farmers waited for the emperor to make things right. Part of the gig of being an emperor meant looking toward heaven and asking the gods to please unbottle the skies. It made for tense times, because in Chinese history, floods and earthquakes came and went...but it was droughts that really brought the crazy. |
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WEBINAR |
The Future of China
A Discussion of Trends Among Chinese Youth and Their Implications March 8, 5 pm PST - March 9, 9 am in Hong Kong and China (Note: the time of this webinar has changed since previously publicized) Join us as we discuss the significant trends among Chinese youth, particularly relating to designing youth programs. These trends are drawn from a recent multi-city study involving youth, parents, teachers, and youth workers in various sectors. Among the areas of discussion will be general needs, family issues, media trends, and variances in age group attitudes among youth from adolescence to university age. For those working with youth this is a seminar not to be missed!
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GOVERNMENT / POLITICS / FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Chinese dissident sent to labor camp again (February 24, 2011, Reuters) A Chinese woman who campaigned against a strict one-child policy was taken from her home to a labor camp Thursday, three days after she was released from detention early on medical parole, her husband said. Mao Hengfeng, who lives in Shanghai, was seized by a team of 30 to 50 security officials, her husband, Wu Xuewei, said, in what appeared to be the latest incident in a crackdown on dissidents. Wu said officials gave him a photocopied notice that said Mao was found to have conducted "illegal activities," which he said was unfounded.
China Premier Wen pledges to contain prices (February 26, 2011, AFP) Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao pledged to contain soaring inflation in a web chat on Sunday that appeared timed to defuse an online call for demonstrations in 13 cities. "We definitely can contain inflation," Wen said. China announced earlier this month that January inflation remained stubbornly high at 4.9 percent despite a series of measures taken to dampen price rises, including three interest rate hikes in the past four months.
Virtually all 30,000 Chinese in Libya evacuated (February 28, 2011, AP) State media in China say virtually all 30,000 Chinese citizens living in Libya have left the turbulent North African country. The official Xinhua News Agency says the vast majority of the almost 29,000 Chinese who have departed so far are taking shelter in third countries. Monday's report cites Foreign Ministry sources. Thousands of Chinese have traveled overland to neighboring Tunisia and Egypt, while others have been taken by chartered ferry to Greece and Malta. Chinese, most working in the construction and oil industries, make up one of the largest blocs of foreign workers in Libya.
Diplomats slam China harassment of journalists (February 28, 2011, AP) U.S. and European diplomats have criticized the harassment of foreign reporters in China who were trying to cover calls for peaceful protests like those that swept the Middle East. It wasn't clear how many people, if any, tried to protest on Sunday, but Chinese authorities met the demonstration calls with an outsized response, detaining several Chinese and placing strict controls on foreign reporters. Bloomberg News said one of its reporters was assaulted by five men who appeared to be plainclothes security and had a video camera confiscated, while a BBC journalist wrote that he and a colleague were roughed up while being thrown into a van by plainclothes thugs.
China railways scandal widens, raising criticism (March 2, 2011, AP) A widening probe into corruption in China's powerful Railways Ministry is raising questions over the scale and pace of its multibillion-dollar drive to build costly high-speed railways, though it is unlikely to derail the program. Along with concerns over financing and other issues, at least one proposal for scaling down the showcase program is due to be presented to a top advisory group meeting in Beijing this week during the annual session of China's National People's Congress, a state media report said Wednesday. Critics of the high-speed railways expansion say ticket costs are too high and the services do not really meet the needs of average travelers in many areas. While Wu's proposal will likely gain little traction given the resources invested in high-speed rail, the corruption investigation is a blow to the program, which until recently has rivaled China's space efforts in terms of national pride and importance. The scandal surfaced last month with the dismissal of Railways Minister Liu Zhijun amid allegations of so-far unspecified "severe violations of discipline." Reports in the financial news magazine Caixin Media and other local media say the allegations involve kickbacks, bribes, illegal contracts and sexual liaisons.
Top China government advisory body to open session (March 2, 2011, AP) China's top government advisory body is beginning its annual session amid growing concerns over housing, urban congestion and skyrocketing food prices. The opening Thursday of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Congress session will be followed over the weekend by the annual meeting of the National People's Congress, China's rubber-stamp parliament. The advisory body has no real power but acts as a sounding board for issues of concern and passes on suggestions to the legislature.
Beijing steps up security ahead of parliament (March 2, AFP) Authorities have ramped up security in Beijing ahead of China's upcoming parliamentary session, and amid ongoing calls for anti-government protests, state media and rights groups said. Extra police have been deployed to maintain order during the annual session of the National People's Congress, starting Saturday. A parliamentary advisory body opens its own week-long meeting on Thursday. Nearly 180,000 police, firefighters, security personnel and traffic police will patrol Beijing during the sessions, while the city has recruited 560,000 citizen volunteers to monitor the capital's streets, the Beijing News said. Checks at subway, bus and train stations have been stepped up, while vehicles coming from outside the city will be banned and the airspace over the capital restricted, the China Daily said.
Chinese police warn int'l media on protest calls (March 3, 2011, AP) Police in China are warning foreign media against turning up at spots that have been anonymously designated for weekly protests, and threatening them with punishments if they don't comply. Mysterious online calls for Chinese rallies inspired by Middle Eastern demonstrations have fallen flat here though foreign media have flocked to proposed rally sites to see if anyone shows up. A European broadcast journalist said on condition of anonymity Thursday that police told him there would be unspecified consequences if he went again.
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EDUCATION / CULTURE
Revamped China history museum skips taboo subjects (March 1, 2011, AFP) China reopened its main history museum on Tuesday after a three-year facelift, but exhibits in the sprawling facility skip over some of the country's most momentous -- and sensitive -- events. The modern history wing of the National Museum in Beijing is a temple to the glories of the ruling Communist Party and leaders from Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping to current President Hu Jintao. But the museum, located across from Tiananmen Square at the political heart of the country, unsurprisingly fails to detail Mao's disastrous policies and the brutal chaos of his 1966-76 Cultural Revolution. The extensive displays of historical photos and artefacts dating from the late imperial period in the mid-1800s to today also avoid any mention of more recent political tumult such as the 1989 Tiananmen pro-democracy protests.
Four China stamps sell for $1.15m (March 2, 2011, BBC News) A set of four Chinese stamps from the Cultural Revolution era has sold at auction in Hong Kong for more than $1.15m (£708,000). The stamps, which were never issued for use, feature a design called Mao's 1968 Inscription to Japanese Worker Friends. The set was bought by a collector in Hong Kong.
Content with schools falling (March 3, 2011, China Daily) Satisfaction with public education in China's major cities decreased by 3 percent in 2010, largely because people's expectations for educational reform have outpaced the actual improvements made to educational services, according to a blue book report released on Tuesday. According to the 2011 Blue Book of China's Education, an annual report on China's educational development that was released by the 21st Century Education Development Research Academy and Social Sciences Academic Press of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, those living in large cities said they ranged from "relatively satisfied" to "not so satisfied" when asked their opinions about local public education.
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SOCIETY / LIFE
Young migrants commit third of China crimes: report (February 25, 2011, AFP) Young migrant workers committed a third of China's crimes last year, a leading think tank said, reflecting growing discontent among the nation's underprivileged members of society. China's urban-rural divide and the discrimination that comes with it are causing rising official concern amid fears it could trigger unrest. The issue is likely to be in focus when the annual parliament session begins next week. According to the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), migrant workers born after 1980 -- a group consisting of nearly 100 million people -- committed a third of crimes in 2010. In a report emailed to AFP on Friday, CASS linked the crime wave to discrimination these workers often encounter in cities, dismissing the commonly held view that it was due to poor education, a bad home environment in childhood or poverty.
China says over 2,400 dead in coal mines in 2010 (February 25, 2011, AFP) A total of 2,433 people died in coal mine accidents in China last year, a senior work safety official said Friday, vowing to beef up safety in the nation's notoriously dangerous collieries.The death toll last year was 198 lower than in 2009, Huang Yi, chief engineer and spokesman for the State Administration of Work Safety, told reporters -- but the total still means more than six people are killed in mines each day on average. China's mines are known for being among the deadliest in the world because of lax regulation, corruption and inefficiency.
China scraps death penalty for some crimes (February 25, 2011, AFP) China on Friday eliminated capital punishment for some economic crimes, as it moved to curb use of the death penalty in a country believed to execute more people than the rest of the world combined. The standing committee of China's National People's Congress passed an amendment to the nation's criminal law that took 13 offences off the list of 68 crimes punishable by death, the legislature said on its website. "The 13 crimes that have been exempted from the death penalty are mainly economic and non-violent crimes," Lang Sheng, a parliamentary member, told reporters.
China says population rises to 1.34 billion (February 28, 2011, AFP) China said on Monday that its population -- already the world's largest -- increased by 6.3 million last year to hit 1.341 billion by the end of 2010. The rise was roughly equal to the population of the city of Rio de Janeiro. The 2010 figure was released by the National Bureau of Statistics, which called it a preliminary estimate. A final figure will be published in April when the government finishes tabulating data obtained in a census conducted late last year, the nation's first full census in a decade. China's population was calculated at 1.295 billion in the last full census in 2000.
Vast "empty nests", disabled aging population challenging China's social network (March 2, 2011, Xinhua) China's vast number of aging citizens, empty nest and less able-bodied seniors are testing the country's social network and demanding improved policies and an insurance system to meet the demand, said an official with the China National Committee on Ageing (CNCA) on Tuesday. The committee's vice director, Wu Yushao, said more than 40 million, or 37 percent of the country's rural elderly, are empty nesters who are left behind in rural areas with their children working elsewhere to earn the families' bread. "Empty nest" households account for more than 50 percent of the total number of households of the elderly, both in urban and rural areas, and the rate could hit 70 percent in some big cities, Wu said. According to the Ministry of Civil Affairs, China had 167 million people aged over 60 -- about 12.5 percent of its 1.3 billion people.
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ENVIRONMENT / SCIENCE / TECHNOLOGY
Chinese growth threatened by pollution: minister (February 28, 2011, AFP) Dire pollution and the gobbling of resources have caused China grave environmental problems and could restrain economic growth if not addressed properly, the environment minister said Monday. In a strongly worded warning, Minister of Environment Protection Zhou Shengxian also said social stability -- a key concern of the government -- was at risk by recurring pollution-related public health scares. "In China's thousands of years of civilisation, the conflict between humankind and nature has never been as serious as it is today," he said in an essay on the ministry's website.
China drought worsens in parched north (March 1, 2011, BBC News, by Damian Grammaticas) China is the world's biggest grower and consumer of wheat. In normal years it is self-sufficient. But if it has to import grain this year then that will have an impact far afield. Already just the warnings of a possible shortfall in China's crop have put pressure on global wheat prices.
Construction starts on Beijing's maglev line (March 1, 2011, China Daily) A maglev line using Chinese technology was brought under construction in Beijing on Monday, despite objections from residents living along the line. The new low-to-medium speed S1 Line is the first of its kind in the country, making China the second nation in the world to have such a line, said Chang Wensen, chief project manager of the line. The project shows China has the capability to engineer and use low-to-medium speed maglev technology, said Chang, who is also a professor at the National University of Defense Technology and leads a research team that developed the technology. As one of the eight lines brought under construction on Monday in Beijing to form an urban transit network and help ease traffic gridlock, the S1 Line will extend from Mentougou to Pingguoyuan.
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BUSINESS / ECONOMICS / TRADE
China's U.S. Treasuries holdings revised to $1.16 trillion (February 28, 2011, Reuters) The U.S. government owes nearly a third more money to China than previously thought, the Treasury Department said on Monday as it revised Beijing's December holdings of U.S. Treasury debt sharply higher to $1.160 trillion. The $268.4 billion increase over figures reported on February 15 was contained in a survey of foreign portfolio holdings of U.S. securities that provided fresh evidence that China has been buying Treasuries through broker-dealers in Britain. The report's benchmark revisions attributed Treasuries holdings to China that were previously counted in other countries where the transactions were made, cementing Beijing's status as the largest U.S. creditor.
Chinese manufacturing slows in February (March 1, 2011, AFP) Manufacturing activity in China fell to a seven-month low in February as overseas orders weakened, but rising cost pressures added to inflationary concerns, an independent survey showed Tuesday. The HSBC China Manufacturing PMI, or purchasing managers index, fell to 51.7 in February from 54.5 in January, the British banking giant said in a statement. A government survey also showed factory production fell to a six-month low of 52.2 in February from 52.9 in January, the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing (CFLP) said in a statement. A reading above 50 indicates expansion while below 50 signifies contraction.
US group: Inflation biggest concern in S China (Tuesday, March 1, 2011, AP) nflation is one of the biggest concerns for foreign companies operating in booming southern China, according to an annual survey released Tuesday by a major U.S. business group. Just over half of about 400 member companies polled by the American Chamber of Commerce in southern China reported that rising prices would have a negative impact on business this year. The finding reflects growing concern about wages in the region, where tens thousands of manufacturers are dealing with higher wage bills because of a shortage of migrant workers as well as surging raw material costs.
China to revamp growth model in next five years (March 1, 2011, AFP) China, long the bargain workshop to the world, plans in the next five years to boost wages and narrow a worrying wealth gap as it vies to head off social unrest in a new and improved economic model. After decades of blistering growth that elevated its economy to number two in the world, Beijing wants a more sustainable path via higher domestic consumption and less reliance on exports and investment. The 2011-2015 blueprint, to be unveiled when parliament convenes for its annual session from Saturday, will focus on ameliorating social welfare, championing innovation and reducing China's world-beating carbon emissions. "China's 12th Five-Year Plan could represent a watershed in the country's pattern of economic development," Eswar Prasad, the former head of the International Monetary Fund's China division, told AFP. "The main objective of the plan is to reorient growth to make it more balanced and sustainable ... this is necessary to ensure greater social stability," said Prasad, a professor of trade policy at Cornell University.
Turkmenistan to boost gas deliveries to China (March 2, 2011, AP) Energy-hungry China is set to sign an agreement with the Central Asian nation of Turkmenistan later this year to boost its future annual natural gas purchases by 20 billion cubic meters, state newspaper Neutral Turkmenistan reported Wednesday. The deal means Turkmenistan's annual gas sales to China will eventually reach 60 billion cubic meters - equivalent to more than half China's entire natural gas consumption last year. Turkmenistan began delivering gas to China through a newly completed pipeline in late 2009, but that route is only expected to reach full annual capacity of 40 billion cubic meters by 2015. As of mid-February, Turkmenistan had supplied 5.8 billion cubic meters of gas through the pipeline, according to Chinese oil company CNPC.
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LINKS TO DETAILED ARTICLES AND ANALYSIS
If you own a pair of jeans, there is a strong chance that it was stitched in Xintang, or that its denim was woven there. A sleepy farming town 30 years ago, it is now home to a million factory workers and turns out 260 million pairs of jeans a year - more than a third of the world's supply.
The Japanese F-15 fighters are engaged in an increasingly busy, and at times tense, game of cat-and-mouse with rapidly modernizing China, just across the East China Sea. The pilots say they face intrusions into Japanese-controlled airspace by an array of increasingly sophisticated Chinese aircraft, including advanced fighters like the Russian-made Su-27.
The Chinese government has chartered seven ships, sent 15 civilian flights a day and deployed military planes to bring 32,000 Chinese workers out of Libya over the past week. The unprecedented but apparently well-organized evacuation has highlighted China's growing role in the region, and despite crises spreading across North Africa and the Middle East, Beijing has shown no sign of wanting to lessen that role.
A Ministry of Railways graft probe broke up a close-knit group of schemers centered on a fast train-loving minister. |
LINKS TO BLOGS
Facebook holds sway as the default social network in many parts of the world across all Internet demographics. In China, where Facebook is blocked, a handful of homegrown social networks attract segmented audiences, ranging from upmarket urban youth to university students and migrant workers.
Chinese president Hu Jintao addressed a "study session" of leaders last week and called for new measures and policies of "social management." His message foretells a tightening of controls over China's population and over social protest.
Unlike Arab countries with deteriorating economies, China has experienced rapid economic growth in the past decade. Is that keeping a lid on broad discontent in China? If that is the case, why is the Chinese government so nervous? Could popular protests of a similar scale sweep China in the near future?
Thoughts on the subject from Jiang Ping (江平), legal scholar and former president of the China University of Political Science and Law, have recently circulated online. Part of a lengthy discussion on Chinese society between Jiang and Chen Xiahong (陈夏红) that the latter published in Tongdan Gongji magazine, the 80-year-old Jiang offers his views on the dangers society faces when stability becomes the end goal.
As Chinese authorities continue to round up lawyers, activists, and others suspected of being sympathetic to mounting calls for more rapid reform, I've noticed a number of recent comments that China has not simply slowed down the process of opening up, but has, in fact, mothballed previous attempts to improve Chinese courts as a site of conflict-resolution-a "post-Lehman drift away from western ideas of rule of law," as the Financial Times put it last week. "Legal experts say there is renewed support for civil cases to go to mediation, a process conducted by a Communist party official, rather than to court-party wisdom trumping the law."
While the arguable non-story of China's "Jasmine protests" enjoys excited and widespread coverage internationally, boiling over into a tug-of-war over the very real harassment of foreign journalists in China, there is one potentially great big story missing from everyone's agenda - the mysterious death of Chinese college student Zhao Wei (赵伟). |
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