ZGBriefs May 5, 2011
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FEATURED ARTICLE
Unfortunately, there is a great deal of disagreement over just how astonishing the growth has been: Are there now 16 million or 200 million Christians in China? Both numbers have been asserted with great confidence and with claims of being "official," but perhaps the most widely accepted claim is that there are 130 million Chinese Christians. |
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GOVERNMENT / POLITICS / FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Communist party begins major reshuffling of local leaders (April 29, 2011, Global Times) The reshuffling happens once every five years according to The Party Constituion. And the Organization Department of the Central Committee of the CPC has started this year's reshuffling with the Party committees of the township level, and it will later expand to counties, cities and provinces. New provincial leaders will be announced by June 2012 when the whole campaign wraps up. The reshuffling inside the Party committee will lead to changes in the local governments. Figures from the Organization Department of the Central Committee of the CPC show that, at the end of March, 9,315 counties, or 27.3 percent, have completed their reshuffling. An estimated 100,000 officers will take part in the process according to a monthly magazine under the Party School of the CPC Central Committee.
China rights lawyer Li missing, wife pleas for information (May 2, 2011, AP) One of China's most prominent human rights lawyers, Li Fangping, remains missing three days after he called his wife to say he was being led away by state security police, apparently the latest target of a crackdown on dissent. Li disappeared Friday, the same day that Chinese authorities released his friend and fellow rights lawyer, Teng Biao, whose secretive detention for over two months was raised in Beijing last week by Michael Posner, the United States' top diplomat on human rights.
China boosts marine surveillance over island tensions (May 2, 2011, BBC News) China is to expand its ocean monitoring agency to protect its maritime interests, a senior official has said. China Marine Surveillance's Sun Shuxian said 1,000 new personnel would be added as well as new equipment. Sea patrols would be carried out more frequently "to strengthen law enforcement in Chinese-related waters", the China Daily quoted him as saying. In recent months tension has risen between China and regional neighbours over overlapping maritime claims. Many of the disputed islands lie in rich fishing grounds or close to areas with oil or gas reserves.
China calls death of bin Laden a positive event (May 3, 2011, AP) China called the killing of Osama bin Laden a landmark event in the fight against global terrorism and expressed support for close ally Pakistan amid suggestions Islamabad's security forces may have sheltered the world's most wanted man. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said Tuesday that bin Laden's death in a U.S. raid on his Pakistani hide-out was a "milestone and a positive development for international anti-terrorism efforts." China calls for closer international cooperation in attacking terrorism and its root causes, Jiang told a regularly scheduled news conference Tuesday, repeating the text of a statement issued the night before. She said terrorism is the common enemy of the international community and that China has also been a victim.
China says US report on religious policy biased (May 4, 2011, AP) A U.S. commission that accused Beijing of restricting religious freedom is biased and is meddling in China's internal affairs, the Foreign Ministry said Wednesday. Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said Chinese citizens enjoy "complete religious freedom" despite the assertions by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom in a report issued last week. In a statement, Jiang urged the commission to "abandon its prejudices, respect facts and stop intervening in China's domestic affairs by means including issuing reports." In its annual report, the commission listed China among the worst violators of religious freedom, saying the government imposes severe restrictions on unregistered religious groups and those deemed to threaten national security or social harmony.
China sets up office for Internet information management (May 4, 2011, Xinhua) The Chinese government announced Wednesday the setting up of an office to manage Internet information in a statement of the State Council General Office. The department, known as the State Internet Information Office, will direct, coordinate and supervise online content management and handle administrative approval of businesses related to online news reporting, it said. The office will work to implement the policies of Internet communication and promote legal system construction in this field, it said. It will direct the development of online gaming, online video and audio businesses and online publication industries, it said. The office will be engaged in promoting construction of major news websites and managing government online publicity work. It is assigned the duties to investigate and punish websites violating laws and regulations.
China frees rights lawyer but another disappears (May 5, 2011, AFP) Chinese human rights lawyer Li Fangping said Thursday he was home after disappearing for five days, but the wife of another attorney said her husband had vanished amid a tough crackdown on dissent."I'm home, thank you. I got home yesterday after 6:00 pm," Li told AFP, adding he could not take any more questions. Li had disappeared on Friday after leaving the office building of an AIDS sufferers' group in Beijing less than two hours after another prominent human rights lawyer, Teng Biao, returned home after 10 weeks in custody.But another attorney named Li Xiongbing -- who has represented human rights activists, victims of religious persecution and AIDS advocacy group Aizhixing -- went missing Wednesday, his wife and activists told AFP.
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SOCIETY / LIFE
More people to be resettled to make way for key water diversion project (April 29, 2011, Xinhua) Central China's Henan Province will start the resettlement of 86,100 residents next month to make way for the country's massive south-to-north water diversion project, local authorities said Friday. Residents of Xichuan County, Henan, which is located near the Danjiangkou Reservoir, will move to more than 80 resettlement sites in other parts of the province, said the Henan provincial headquarters for relocation in the water diversion project's Danjiangkou Reservoir area. The resettlement will take four months to complete, according to a statement released by the headquarters.
Almost 600,000 foreigners counted in China (April 30, 2011, China Daily) Nearly 600,000 foreigners were living on the Chinese mainland at the end of 2010, results from the sixth national census released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Friday showed.It is the first time the country has included foreigners who would stay on the mainland for at least three months in its once-in-a-decade population census, as "they've been playing an increasingly important role for the nation's social and economic development", said Zhai Zhenwu, dean of Renmin University's school of sociology and population. According to the census, the top three home countries of the foreigners on the mainland were the Republic of Korea (ROK), the United States and Japan. Among them, 56.62 percent, or 336,245, were males and 43.38 percent, or 257,587, were females, it showed. Business and study are major reasons bringing them here.
China's new indoor smoking ban takes effect (May 1, 2011, AP) China's latest push to ban smoking in indoor public venues came into effect Sunday, but the vaguely defined expanded rules were not expected to dramatically reduce the country's heavy tobacco addiction. Smoking, which is linked to the deaths of at least 1 million people in China every year, is one of the greatest health threats the country faces, government statistics show. Nearly 30 percent of adults in China smoke, about 300 million people - a number roughly equal to the entire U.S. population. The Health Ministry in late March released amended guidelines on the management of public places that now ban smoking in more venues like hotels and restaurants, though still excluding workplaces. The rules were set for implementation on May 1.
Beijing supports nursing home expansion to care for rising elderly population (May 2, 2011, Xinhua) In an effort to cater to the rising demands of its aging population, Beijing authorities are increasing subsidies to support nursing home expansion. Subsidies for nursing homes in the capital city's suburban and rural areas will double to total 10,000 yuan (1,515 U.S. dollars) per added bed, and total subsidies for each nursing home undergoing expansion could be as high as two million yuan, according to a circular released by the Beijing Municipal Civil Affairs Bureau (BMCAB) last week. Increased subsidies for nursing homes in rural areas will afford them the same financial support as nursing homes in urban communities. The decision came shortly before the Chinese government announced the results of last year's population census, indicating that the country's aging population is increasing quickly.
China police detain seven over deadly hotel fire (May 3, 2011 AFP) Police in northeastern China have detained seven people suspected of deliberately starting a weekend fire in a hotel that killed 10 people and injured 35, the government and state media said Tuesday. The blaze broke out in the early hours of Sunday at a hotel operated by Chinese budget chain Home Inns in Tonghua, an industrial city near the North Korean border, the state-run Xinhua news agency said. It was extinguished half an hour later. Neither Xinhua nor the city official indicated any motive for the arson, which police are still investigating.
China issues guidelines for resolving social conflicts (May 4, 2011, Xinhua) A set of guidelines for resolving social conflicts and disputes, has been jointly issued by 16 government departments and was made public on Wednesday. The 16 government departments include the Central Committee for Improvement of Public Order Through Comprehensive Measures, the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the Ministry of Public Security. The guidelines advocate mediation as the best way to resolve social conflicts, as compared to litigation, arbitration and other judicial means. In accordance with the guidelines, early warnings and detections of social conflicts are necessary for disputes to be solved via mediation. And the mediation agreements could be legal binding after they are given judicial recognition by courts.
Survey finds one in five women sexually harassed (May 4, 2011, China Daily) One in five female respondents have experienced sexual harassment at work, according to a recent survey. The poll found 20 percent of the 1,837 participants from 10 enterprises in Guangdong, Jiangsu and Hebei provinces and Beijing had been sexual harassment victims. However, despite the huge number of victims, most choose to stay silent about their ordeals or leave their jobs instead of reporting them or taking legal action against their attackers. They do so because of a lack of support structures and difficulties in gathering evidence, the survey said.
Migrants push Beijing population to 19.6 million (May 5, 2011, AP) Six million newcomers, mostly migrant workers from elsewhere in China, have moved to Beijing in the past decade and pushed its population to nearly 20 million people. The statement posted online Thursday with city government statistics showed 19.612 million permanent residents. The census conducted last year showed Beijing's population up 44.5 percent from the 2000 census.
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BUSINESS / ECONOMICS / TRADE
China manufacturing slows down in April (May 1, 2011, BBC News) China's manufacturing growth slowed in April, according to official figures.The country's purchasing managers' index (PMI), which is designed to provide a snapshot of conditions in the manufacturing sector, fell to 52.9 in April, from 53.4 in March. The fall, which was not expected, indicates the government's efforts to slow economic growth are working.
Geithner urges China to move faster on currency (May 3, 2011, AP) Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Tuesday that China needs to make more progress on economic issues vital to America's interests, including speeding up the rise of its currency against the dollar. Critics say an undervalued yuan is swelling China's trade surplus. Geithner said a stronger yuan would help reduce trade imbalances and bolster China's efforts to restrain inflation.
US worries about China's state-backed companies (May 3, 2011, AP) A senior U.S. official has voiced concern about privileges enjoyed by China's state-backed enterprises and is saying a level playing field is necessary for American companies. Undersecretary of State Robert Hormats said Tuesday such enterprises enjoy financial support and regulatory privileges and benefit from government efforts to limit foreign investment in certain sectors. He said such policies distort competition, and the U.S. was raising the issue with China and encouraging them to adopt international standards. Hormats said 41 Chinese state-owned enterprises are among the Global Fortune top 500 companies.
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ENVIRONMENT / TECHNOLOGY
China may send women to space in 2012 (May 1, 2011, China Daily) China's women astronauts may fly to space as soon as the latter half of next year, said a senior official in charge of the manned space program on Friday. Yang Liwei, deputy director of the China Manned Space Engineering Office, said that following the country's first unmanned rendezvous and docking mission between the space module Tiangong-1 and an unmanned spacecraft Shenzhou VIII later this year, two more Shenzhou spacecraft will blast off next year to improve the rendezvous and docking technologies. At least one of the two spacecraft next year will be manned, said Yang, who is also China's first astronaut to space."Two to three astronauts will be sent to space in that manned mission next year," he said, without elaborating.
High-speed rail network development set to slow (May 4, 2011, Xinhua) China may cut its investment in railway infrastructure this year by more than 200 billion yuan ($31 billion) following an earlier decision to slow down the operating speed of its high-speed trains, the Economic Observer reported on Tuesday.The Beijing-based newspaper claimed the Ministry of Railways had organized meetings in recent days and had invited experts and officials to discuss whether it was still necessary to begin work on railway projects that had not yet started. An anonymous source was quoted as saying the discussions ended in agreement that this year's investment in the construction of railway infrastructure would be slashed by 200 million yuan from the planned 700 billion.
Prolonged dry season threatens navigation on Yangtze River, warns officials (May 5, 2011, Xinhua) Chinese officials on Wednesday warned that an extended low-flow period, caused by the lingering spring drought in central China, might pose a threat to navigation in parts of the Yangtze River, the longest waterway in China. The persistent drought has reduced water levels in the middle of the river to a "worrying level", driving up the danger of ships grounding, said Wang Xiandeng, head of the Changjiang (Yangtze River) Wuhan Waterway Bureau. Statistics indicate that the water level near Hankou of Wuhan, the provincial capital of Hubei, on the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, was measured at 2.87 meters on Wednesday, which was 3.26 meters lower than one year earlier.
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LINKS TO DETAILED ARTICLES AND ANALYSIS
In the night an old philosopher mysteriously vanishes.
At an ongoing photography festival which shows rising interest in Chinese art, many from the country's artistic community are gathering.
Investigation finds evidence of draconian rules and excessive overtime to meet western demand for iPhones and iPads.
Like its counterparts elsewhere, this arty crowd sometimes looks and acts unconventional - but it's not with political ends in mind. These young artists tend to set aside politics for commerce, and the promise of attractive paydays from foreign businesses.
It would seem difficult to enforce a ban on 300 million smokers. Host Liane Hansen talks to NPR's Rob Gifford in China, where businesses are putting up no-smoking signs, cigarette vending machines are being removed from restaurants, and designated outdoor smoking zones are being established in preparation for a ban on smoking in public places that takes effect Sunday.
A scenic spot in China's Hunan province is undergoing a rather ambitious project to build hundreds of metres of cliff paths.
The bearded face of the detained Chinese artist Ai Weiwei is spray-painted on a nondescript gray wall overlooking the steep lanes of Hong Kong's nightlife capital, Lan Kwai Fong. Given his real-life circumstances - summarily disappeared at the hands of the Chinese authorities with no charges yet laid - the furrowed forehead and hooded, tired eyes of the image now seem a representation of suffering. Underneath his face is one simple question, "Who's afraid of Ai Weiwei?"
Underground trips reveal a world in which locals learn to queue, not elbow, and Westerners sometimes sit next to peasants.
A rising number of rich and talented Chinese are emigrating for investment, study and work opportunities, particularly to the West. This has raised concerns over capital loss and a "brain drain", but is better interpreted as a sign of China's increasing openness and prosperity.
China's census results show the world's second-biggest economy is nearing a demographic watershed that will auger wage rises, higher inflation and relatively lower growth, a prominent government economist said in comments published on Thursday.
Mao's preeminence in China is linked to his role in founding the People's Republic in 1949. Yet his controversial political legacy, of which the Cultural Revolution is just one example, is growing more, not less, disputed, with time. At stake is nothing less than long-stalled political reform, say some Chinese analysts and retired Communist Party officials.
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LINKS TO BLOGS
Academic plagiarism is seriously dealt with in the developed world. However in China, it is a tool to gain individual benefit and has become omnipresent in society, gravely affecting the goals the country claims to be pursuing.
Get to know some brand new Chinese characters that are popular all over internet! 快来认识认识这些网络流行新字吧！
At Radio France International, commentator Kai Wen has a recent piece about the group of young people behind April Web, labelled as China's new generation of nationalists. Below is a full translation of the article.
An interview with New York filmmaker Brook Silva-Braga on the complex relations between West and the rising East.
Rumors of Osama bin Laden's death began to spread on Sina Weibo, China's most active microblogging service, at least an hour before President Obama's speech.
The second volume of the party history, covering the period from 1949 to 1978, was published in Beijing in January and has gone on sale in Xinhua bookshops nationwide. The Propaganda Department has instructed party members and government officials to study the book and told propaganda outlets to spread the message through the media and television.
Especially in light of what is happening elsewhere in the world, I am amazed at the sheer guts of writers who are saying things like "most Chinese still firmly support the direction the government is taking the country."
The results of last fall's Sixth National Census have been released and The People's Daily reports "China has put its excessive population growth under effective control, and has greatly improved the population quality, entering a stage of low birth and death rates."
The world's big story of the day, the killing of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the September 11 attacks, once again provides an interesting illustration of widely divergent story and layout choices made by China's traditional Party newspapers - still regarded as "mouthpieces" of top CCP leaders - and their commercial counterparts.
China's security establishment is in a ruthless mood at the moment, taking on the "tall poppies" of the law, the media, the blogosphere and the arts without apparent fear of a backlash from a public that instinctively knows the value of compliance, and the price of defiance. |
LINKS FOR RESEARCHERS
Louise Xu (Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Christianity)
New five year plan examined by industry leaders.
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RESOURCES
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