Of 13 Million Abortions in China, Most Are Forced, Says Women’s Rights Expert

By Vicky Jiang, Epoch Times Staff Aug 31, 2009 -

Forced abortions in China are not a thing of the past. Under the one child policy, many women in late term pregnancy are still forced to abort their children. Chinese provincial authorities are responsible for mass forced sterilizations, and abortions are often performed by people with inadequate training in unsterile conditions.

“The one child policy causes more violence toward women and girls than any other policy on the face of the earth,” said Reggie Littlejohn, a one child policy expert and president of the newly-founded Women’s Rights Without Frontiers. “Forced abortions and forced sterilizations are an unacceptable form of population control.” She says that when there is free speech in the country people will be able to have a civilized discussion and come up with a solution, though she does not suggest any specific ideas.

Many women develop critical health problems for the rest of their lives and the emotional impact resulting from forced abortions contributes to the high rate of female suicides, she says.

Wei Linrong from Guangxi Province, a devout Christian and anti-abortionist, was forcibly injected with poison that killed her unborn child, according to a National Public Radio (NPR) report. Ten family planning officials visited her home and drove Wei and her husband to a maternity hospital.

Wei was put through nearly 16 hours of contractions before a stillborn emerged, blackened by the effects of drugs. The body was then thrown away like “rubbish” by nurses, according to NPR. Wei was seven months pregnant.

He Caigan, an unmarried 19-year-old, was forced to abort her child at nine months in the same manner, according to the report by NPR. The operation caused her prolonged physical pain and emotional trauma.

The one child policy was introduced in 1979 to curb the apparently growing problem of overpopulation. Years earlier, under Mao Zedong’s rule in the 1950s, Chinese people were encouraged to produce children to boost the country’s labor and military forces.

13 Million Abortions a Year

China Daily, a state-controlled newspaper, recently published annual abortion figures of 13 million and a live birth rate of 20 million, as recorded by China’s National Family Planning Commission.

The recent China Daily article, echoed by a BBC report, attributes the high number of abortions to lack of education on contraception. However, experts say that most of the abortions are due to the one child policy.

“[We are] fairly certain most of [the 13 million] are forced abortions,” says Colin Mason, who conducted field work in Guangdong and Guangxi Provinces in March this year for the nonprofit Virginia-based Population Research Institute. The two provinces are “models” in China, where the one child policy is strictly enforced and all birth quotas are met. Based on his experience in China, he said most people would have more than one child if they could……. (more details from The Epochtimes)

China tourist Appeals in Front of Taiwan Presidential Palace for Help

Epoch Times Staff, Aug 30, 2009  -

An unsatisfied mainland petitioner, Zhang Kunshan of Henan Province, went to the Presidential Palace in Taiwan to seek help. (The Epoch Times)

After six years of unsuccessful petitioning to different levels of Chinese authorities, Zhang Kunshan of Henan Province, recently appealed in front of the Presidential Palace in Taiwan, hoping to get attention from the media and obtain legal help from Taiwan’s lawyers.

Zhang came to Taiwan as a tourist on the 19th. Instead of traveling with his group, he went to the Presidential Palace and hung a banner on a tree on which he described how the corrupted local officials took away his house and money.

The Immigration Department found and resettled him seven days later. Guo Weiqi, an immigration officer, said Zhang was very emotional when they seized him. He threatened not to leave Taiwan unless the Taiwan government agreed to pass his letter to the top Chinese regime leaders. He finally calmed down after he got the promise from the immigration department.

Zhang accepted an interview with The Epoch Times on August 26 and presented his petition letter. He writes:” Tian Qingzhong, the secretary general of Xinxiang City, Wang Shangsheng, the Political and Legal Secretary, Ding Baodong, the deputy Mayor and the director of Public Security Bureau, and Wang Boxun, the president of the Xinxiang City Intermediate People’s Court colluded together and embezzled 60 million yuan ($9.5 million) of the relocation reimbursement.”

The local authorities forced him to relocate and took away his family property in 2003. He petitioned all the way up to the Ministry of Public Security and Ministry of Petition in Beijing. He was arrested there by the officers from his hometown and sent to an underground detention center in Beijing opened by his home province’s Complaints Bureau.

In order to stop him from appealing, the local authorities hired gangsters to threaten him, and illegally detained him up to 197 days.

He was finally able to file his case to the District Court on December 31, 2007. However, all of the lawyers in his city were told not to represent him. “I was so disappointed and had to defend myself in the court. Even though I won the case, I still got nothing for compensation,” said Zhang.

Without any other options, Zhang went to Taiwan for seeking justice. He said, “I came to Taiwan not to visit, but to look for my human rights. I hope to get the media’s help here. China has signed a mutual legal assistance agreement with Taiwan. I am asking Taiwan’s lawyers to help me to get justice in court.”

- The Epochtimes

Allegedly 10 Died in Hand, Foot And Mouth Disease Outbreak in Northeast China

By Fang Xiao, Epoch Times Staff, Aug 28, 2009-

Nearly ten children have allegedly died in a hand, foot, and mouth Ddsease (HFMD) outbreak in China’s northeast city of Gongzhuling, Jilin Province, according to a resident there. However, the local regime has not sounded an alarm despite the severity of the situation.

The disease started to spread in Gongzhuling in August, after mainland media reported an HFMD outbreak in central and eastern China in May, and in neighboring Heilongjiang Province in June.

A local resident, who does not want to be named, told the Epoch Times that many large kindergartens announced indefinite closures, only reopening several days ago after the holidays. Many of the infected children have been sent to hospitals in nearby Changchun as local hospitals are full.

Another local resident reported that staff from the local infectious disease office warned of the seriousness of the outbreak saying, “About 10 children have died from the disease.”

An Epoch Times reporter made phone calls to Gongzhuling Municipal Health Bureau. One female staff member confirmed three deaths and 730 current admissions due to the disease according to the Bureau’s information at the time.

“The weather in August is very hot, and the population is very mobile, so the disease has spread quite fast,” the official said, adding that the Bureau had ordered all kindergartens to close.

However, no official report regarding the outbreak could be found on the regime’s official Web site—nor do the local media report on this issue, according to local residents.

Some residents also revealed the hospitals reported some of the diagnoses as herpangina instead of HFMD. The residents suspected that this was the result of pressure from the regime to disguise the number of victims.

A resident said almost all the children have the same symptoms—first, a high fever, then redness and festering in the roof of the mouth, followed by the development of a red rash on the fingers and feet.

Some parents also complained that primary schools have not instituted any preventive measures. For example, all students still eat their lunches together.

“I personally think that the elementary schools should also be closed, as the situation is severe and several kids have died,” one parent said.

- The Epochtimes

video news: China Blacklists 247 Dissidents

NTDTV via Youtube, Aug. 28, 2009-

Zan Aizong is a well-known Chinese blogger who’s sometimes critical of the Communist Party. In 2006, he was arrested and fired from his job as the Zhejiang bureau chief of the Chinese Ocean News for writing an article that exposed the forced demolition of a Christian church building.

Well now the regime has labeled him a dissident— adding him to a secret media blacklist and shutting down his blog.

The blacklist was created by Chinas Propaganda Ministry. It contains the names of 247 so-called dissidents that Chinese media are now forbidden to interview or write about.

Chinese news service Boxun.net reports that the media have been ordered to copy the blacklist by hand—making sure there’s no electronic record.

Zan Aizong says these kinds of orders are common around politically sensitive dates. On October 1, the Communist regime will celebrate the 60th anniversary of its takeover of China.

In an interview with Sound of Hope Radio, Zan says the blacklist may actually draw more attention to the very people the regime is trying to suppress.

[Zan Aizong, Writer and Dissident]:
“Before, people didn’t care about what [dissidents] wrote, because there are hundreds of thousands of people in the media business. The more the media is asked to ignore them, the more the media will pay attention. The media may find alternative ways [to get input from the dissidents].”

Zan hasn’t personally seen a copy of the blacklist, but he says it’s a violation of the Chinese constitution.

[Zan Aizong, Writer and Dissident]:
“Handing out this document is equivalent to violating citizens rights to their names and reputations. If you dont allow them to be published, its like saying theres something wrong with the person or he’s made mistakes or broken the law. Their reputation would be tarnished. The [Propaganda Ministry] can be sued through civil laws.”

Other dissidents on the blacklist include democracy activist Liu Xiaobo, his wife Liu Xia, and an outspoken former associate professor at Peking University, Jiao Guobiao.

- NTDTV

Debarred Lawyer Tortured and Arrested in Northeastern China

(Chinese Huma Rights Defenders, August 27, 2009)- CHRD learned today that Wang Yonghang (王永航), a former lawyer from Dalian City, Liaoning Province, has been formally arrested for “using a cult to damage social and legal system”. When Wang was taken into police custody on July 4, he was severely beaten, causing fractures in his right ankle. Wang’s family and lawyer have not been allowed to meet Wang because, according to the police, his case involves “state secrets”. It is believed that Wang has been detained for his work defending Falun Gong practitioners.

According to Wang’s wife, Yu Xiaoyan (于晓艳), Wang was beaten when he was taken into custody by two dozen Dalian policemen on July 4. Wang’s right ankle was fractured, but he was not given appropriate treatment until his ankle became seriously infected. Wang was operated on August 11, a month after his injury was first inflicted, in a Dalian hospital. Police had not notified Wang’s family about the operation, nor sought their authorization prior to it.

Wang is held in Dalian City Detention Center, where he reportedly been subjected to more beatings.

On August 11, Yu received her husband’s arrest notice, issued by the Dalian Procuratorate dated August 10. Yu has repeatedly complained to the relevant government departments about Wang’s beating and mistreatment, but so far she has received no response.

“They refused to notify me when they operated on my husband, and they still refuse to let us know how the operation went. And on that very same day of the operation, they issued an arrest notice for my husband! I really don’t know what to say about this way of doing things”, says Yu.

Wang lost his license to practice law when it was not renewed by the judicial authorities following the conclusion of his annual review on May 31, 2008. Wang has continued to defend Falun Gong practitioners, however.

“Wang’s arrest and torture sends a chilling signal to the community of human rights lawyers, especially those who have been debarred like Wang―that they could suffer a similar fate if they dare to continue their legal work defending human rights,” says Jiang Yingying, CHRD’s Researcher. This year, at least eighteen human rights lawyers lost their licenses following their annual review on May 31.

CHRD is concerned about this recent development of the targeting of human rights lawyers and the use of violence against them by the Chinese government.

CHRD calls for Wang Yonghang’s immediate and unconditional release.

The torture suffered by Wang violates his right to be protected against cruel treatment as guaranteed by the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which China ratified in 1988. The UN Committee against Torture, which reviewed China’s implementation of the Convention ten months ago, has recommended that China “take immediate steps to prevent acts of torture and ill-treatment throughout the country”.

CHRD demands the Chinese authorities to conduct an independent investigation into the alleged torture of Wang and, if the allegation is confirmed, those responsible for torture be punished according to the law. While Wang remains in custody, he should be granted adequate medical treatment without delay.

Background

Wang Yonghang has published several open letters online in which he advocated religious freedom and explained his views on the persecution of Falun Gong members. Wang has defended Falun Gong practitioners and his advocacy and legal work has led to persistent harassment from local police.

Media contacts:

Renee Xia, International Director (English and Mandarin): +852 8191 6937
Jiang Yingying, Researcher (English and Mandarin): +852 8170 0237

For more information ( from Chinese Huma Rights Defenders)

Lead Children Denied Tests by Official In Central China

Radio Free Asia, Aug. 26, 2009-

HONG KONG—Promises by local government officials offering free blood tests to children affected by pollution from smelting plants in the central Chinese province of Hunan have yet to be fulfilled, residents and officials said.

An official at the hospital near worst-hit Wugang township, where more than 1,000 children are believed to have higher-than-normal levels of lead in their blood, said the hospital had not yet been told how to deal with the large numbers of worried parents trying to book tests.

“There are several dozen patients coming for blood tests every day, but I don’t know the actual patient numbers per day,” said an employee who answered the phone at the Wugang People’s Hospital.

“Senior management has requested a survey [of lead poisoning cases], and we will know the procedure in a few days’ time,” she added.

Local officials have promised the closure of privately owned zinc and manganese smelting plants after being hit by a wave of violent clashes between police and angry parents in central Hunan and northern Shaanxi provinces in recent weeks.

Official Chinese media also reported that free blood tests would be available for children affected by the polluting factories, but residents of Wugang say the authorities have yet to deliver on their promises.

Bribery alleged

“There are only three government permission slips for free individual blood tests for the whole village,” a mother surnamed Wang from Wugang said.

“Some parents are willing to pay the cost themselves in order to have their children checked. However, local hospitals have been bribed by someone, so the parents never see the correct results,” she said.

Another Wugang villager surnamed Zhang said she had been turned down for lead tests at several hospitals in the area.

“Some said there was no electricity, some said the machines weren’t working, and some said the maintenance staff hadn’t shown up for work at the right time, and so on,” Zhang said.

Some villagers even went as far as Hengyang city, taking their children to at least five hospitals, she said.

“But none of the children has actually been tested,” she said……. (more from The Radio fee Asia)

China Human Rights Briefing, Aug. 17-23, 2009

Chinese Human Rights Defenders, Aug. 26, 2009-

HIGHLIGHTS

Persistent torture: Ten months after the UN Committee against Torture recommended the Chinese government “take immediate steps to prevent acts of torture and ill-treatment throughout the country”, the use of torture remains widespread in China, as evidenced by the harrowing tales of five ordinary individuals, Zhang Qingsong, She Shouliang, Li Yufang, Yang Qi, Wang Jiuyun, documented in this issue of CHRB. Their stories revealed that, not only are officials accustomed to using torture to extract confession and to punish those who dare challenge their authority, but victims’ calls for accountability and redress are also invariably ignored.

Gongmeng Xu Zhiyong Released, Zhuang Lu Still Missing: The release on August 23 of Xu Zhiyong, director of recently-banned legal aid center Gongmeng, came as a welcome surprise to many as he was formally arrested for “tax evasion” just days before his release. However, Xu is not yet cleared of the charge of “tax evasion” and Gongmeng remains shut down. Zhuang Lu, a staff member at Gongmeng who disappeared on the same day as Xu, remains missing. Her family, friends and colleagues still have not heard from her at the time of writing.

Beijing Rids Itself of Petitioners as Anniversary Approaches: As October 1, the 60th anniversary of the founding of the PRC, approaches, the Chinese government has stepped up its unacknowledged campaign to drive petitioners out of Beijing. Petitioners staying near Beijing South Train Station have been rendered homeless as hostel owners are no longer willing to host them due to threats by Beijing police. The CCP Central Committee Political-Legal Committee has just issued a formal document encouraging “the solution of petitioners’ problems at the grassroots level”, which essentially give the local authorities a green light to prevent petitioners from entering the capital at all cost. (details)

China official newspaper’s Journalist Publicly Quits Communist Party

By Lin Yi, Epoch Times Staff,  Aug 24, 2009 -

HONG KONG—Qiu Mingwei, a former journalist for the Chinese communist regime’s propaganda news paper, The People’s Daily, who fled to Hong Kong last month, announced in a press conference on August 23 that he quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its affiliated organizations, making him the first working employee of an organization affiliated with the regime’s Central Propaganda Department to quit the CCP using his real name.

Mr. Qiu worked as the Deputy Chief of the “People’s Forum” of People’s Daily, the main mouthpiece of the CCP. He traveled to Hong Kong in late June to attend the International Federation of Journalists’ conference, and during his stay he was photographed participating in Hong Kong’s July 1 march, an annual rally supporting democracy and human rights. He fled the mainland to Hong Kong on July 30.

Many media turned out at the press conference when Mr. Qiu made his public announcement, “While working for People’s Daily, I had already used the platform in the office to visit the Epoch Times’ Quit the CCP Service Center website and I had already quit the CCP once. After coming to Hong Kong, I quit it again online. Today, I’m making a public announcement to sever all ties with the CCP, including the Young Pioneers, the Youth League, and the Party.”

“I have been working for People’s Daily for many years. Even I could not find any improvement in human rights in China. They did not keep their promises, and the human rights condition is getting worse.”

Qiu stated that he faced a series of retaliations after returning to Beijing. His boss told him that the Daily was going to revoke his journalist license and fire him. His phone was wiretapped and his apartment was searched by authorities. He was not free to move around and was charged with the crime of collaborating with the enemy.
In addition, he was forced to sign his name on a piece of blank paper, to which anyone can add any statements later and use it as an official declaration when faced with questions from the international community.

Qiu revealed the CCP’s extensive penetration in overseas countries, “The CCP sent out culture spies to penetrate overseas Chinese media and websites, attacking and framing dissidents, including media workers, like us in China, who promote democracy movements.”

Qiu said that someone from higher-up told him that the political persecution against him happened because he had done some investigations on the persecution of Falun Gong and helped some Falun Gong practitioners. “He said, ‘I had conducted some negative investigations that were related to land embezzlement, Falun Gong, and local party officials’ corruption.’ I was also told that these problems were not important. However, my investigation of Falun Gong was not a positive thing for me.”

Qiu said that he later realized, “It’s absolutely not just because I joined the Hong Kong July 1 march. It’s absolutely not just because I attended those meetings in Hong Kong or because I met with some dissidents. It’s because I dared to help Falun Gong practitioners. That’s why this is happening today. They are trying to settle new and old scores with me.”

Qiu said that he had personally witnessed the persecution against Falun Gong practitioners. He once saw a woman being chased by an official who intercepted appellants, and the woman was drowned after falling into a river. He said, “I was not the only one who saw it. Many appellants saw it happen. We were all shocked when we saw it. I asked the other appellants why they were so cruel to an appellant. An appellant told me that the woman was a Falun Gong practitioner.”

- The Epochtimes

China: Advocates Freed, Restrictions on Civil Society Remain

Human Rights Watch, Aug. 24, 2009-

(New York) – The release of three leading Chinese civil society advocates shows that the Chinese government can be responsive to domestic and international human rights concerns, Human Rights Watch said today. The advocates – Xu Zhiyong, Zhuang Lu, and Ilham Tohti – had been arrested in recent weeks in Beijing.

While welcoming their release, Human Rights Watch stressed that the government’s restrictions on nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) continued to leave tens of thousands of civil society organizations across the country vulnerable to arbitrary political and administrative interference.

“These releases are a step in the right direction, but we remain deeply concerned about the government’s tight grip on civil society,” said Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. “The arrests all appear to have taken place as a result of peaceful activities, and these releases should not be confused with an overall improvement in the government’s attitude toward civil society.”

Xu Zhiyong, the founder of the legal advocacy group Open Constitution Initiative (also known by its Chinese name, Gongmeng), and Zhuang Lu, its financial manager, were released by the Public Security Bureau on August 23 and 22, 2009, respectively. They had been arrested on July 29, for allegedly evading tax payments on a grant from Yale University, while Gongmeng itself was fined 1.4 million yuan (US$206,000). Although Xu was released on bail and can technically still be prosecuted, his lawyer has indicated that the authorities were most likely to drop the criminal charges against him.

Under China’s highly restrictive NGO regulations, only organizations that have gained approval by the government prior to their establishment can register as non-profit entities; many who were set up without prior government approval opt to register as commercial enterprises to try to comply with the law. The Beijing authorities’ decision to suspend Gongmeng on the grounds that it had “falsely registered as a commercial enterprise in view of carrying out civic non-commercial activities” has sent waves of concern through China’s non-profit community. While Xu and Zhuang have now been released, it is not clear whether Gongmeng will be able to resume its operations and to continue representing clients in court given that it has no registration as an NGO and that all its work files, computers, and archives remain in the hands of the police……. (read more of Human Rights Watch’s report)

Chinese writer Zhang Lin publicly declared his withdrawal from the Communist Organization

By Xin Fei, Epoch Times Staff, Aug 21, 2009-

Well-known Chinese writer Zhang Lin publicly declared his withdrawal from the Communist Youth League (CYL) August 20 during an interview with the Chinese Epoch Times (Dajiyuan).

Zhang Lin, a democracy activist from eastern China’s Anhui Province, had been serving a five-year sentence for an article he published on the internet in 2005. He was released from prison August 12 for health reasons.

During his time in prison, Zhang was unaware of the current campaign of quitting the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its affiliated organizations. During the interview of August 20, he publicly quit the CYL.

Mr. Zhang said he was greatly moved and inspired when he read the withdrawal statement of Mr. Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Dafa. Mr. Li’s statement of withdrawal from the CYL had been published in the Chinese Epoch Times. Zhang gave the reporter his own statement as follows.

“My mother’s parents were landlords, and she was thus bullied [by the CCP], so I’ve opposed the Communist Party since I was little. I didn’t join the Red Guards or the Communist Young Pioneers.

“However, when I studied at Qinghua University, all of my classmates were members of the CYL or the CCP. I bowed to peer pressure and joined the CYL with an unclear mind. But I haven’t joined any of their activities; neither did I pay dues after a few months.

“I have been out of the CYL for many years, and I’ve bitterly hated the CCP. Even so, having been a member of the CYL and having taken the serious [membership] oath remains a stain on my life and troubles my conscience deeply. Therefore, I solemnly and publicly declare my withdrawal from the CYL and hereby draw a clear and distinct line between myself and all organizations and institutions of the evil CCP.

“I’m not only completely breaking off from the CCP, but will also fight against this devil to the end. Between the righteous and the evil, I will never hesitate to choose justice—no matter how great the price I must pay.”

Zhang said he believes that “only through a declaration of withdrawal from the CCP can one be saved, truly expel the evil spirit, and stand on the side [that is] blessed by God. If we believe in and choose justice and conscience, God will save us,” he continued.

“We must believe in God and trust ourselves to God. There will be a good future.” said Zhang……. (more details)

UN Official Taken into Custody by China Police for Forced Evictions Investigation

By Helena Zhu & Grace Wu, Epoch Times Staff, Aug 22, 2009 -

A UN official and those accompanying him were taken into police custody in Jianggan District of Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province on the morning of Aug. 20, according to several Chinese media reports.

The convener for the United Nations Advisory Group on Forced Evictions, Yves Cabannes, went to the Hangzhou East Rail Station construction area after an international conference in the same city. With him were Eva Pils, an associate professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s Faculty of Law, and either two or three Hong Kong university students—Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported two students while Voice of America (VOA) reported three, in their Chinese reports.

The group was investigating reports that more than 20 people were forced out of their homes in the area. The alleged evictees were reported to have been petitioning and protesting since evictions and demolition began, and said they were beaten for their trouble.

There are conflicting reports about how police handled the incident. RFA reported that the group was held in police custody until late in the afternoon, while VOA reported staff at the Hangzhou Foreign Affairs Office saying that the whole procedure was less than two or three hours.

“All of what we did followed proper procedure,” said an unidentified staff member of the Foreign Affairs Office, according to VOA. “The police officers just saw a few foreign individuals taking photos and went ahead to question them and asked for their ID. According to our Documents Management Act, this is a necessary procedure.

“One of them was without ID and two others refused to show their IDs. According to our law, they were obligated to display their IDs to police—this is the norm inside and outside of China. Therefore, the police officers asked them to go to the local police station to explain and show their IDs,” VOA reported the staff member saying.

In a statement sent to VOA from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Pils said that she was travelling with a foreign professor who had left his passport in his hotel, and that he was taken to the local police station to be identified. Pils accompanied him to the police station, and she said the problem was solved as soon as he was identified, according to the VOA report.

Part of the statement attributed to Pils contradicted earlier parts of the report, however, as she said that no students were with them.

The Hangzhou municipal government has been accused of collaborating with developers, and using the expansion of the East Railway Station as an excuse for grabbing land, according to the VOA report.

- The Epochtimes

Tension Increases as China and Australia Grow Closer

New York Times, Aug. 21, 2009-

BEIJING — China’s diplomatic relationship with Australia, so recently flourishing despite occasional spats, this month has taken a severe turn toward the governmental equivalent of thrown dinner plates.

Public exchanges between the nations, already testy after China’s detention of four employees of the British-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto, grew sharper when Australia granted a visa to Rebiya Kadeer, the American-based rights advocate for China’s Muslim Uighur minority. Ms. Kadeer was accused by Chinese officials of plotting riots last month in China’s Xinjiang region.

The Australians recalled their Chinese ambassador to the capital, Canberra, for talks on Wednesday, after a week in which Beijing’s state-controlled news media excoriated Australia’s “Sinophobic politicians” and suggested that China’s billions were better spent trading with friendlier nations.

The Chinese also canceled planned visits by Vice Premier Li Keqiang, the heir apparent to Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, and the vice foreign minister, He Yafei, who was supposed to attend a meeting of Asian nations. Columnists in the Chinese press have also advocated limiting Chinese tourism in Australia and curbing the number of Chinese students studying there.

Australia’s prime minister, Kevin Rudd, countered that the nations’ relationship is always “full of challenges” and that their broader ties will endure. “We share enormous common interests with our friends in China, but we have continuous differences,” he was quoted as saying.

Hardly all Australians are persuaded. “I really don’t think there’s anything that Australia can do,” J. Bruce Jacobs, a China specialist at Monash University in Australia, said of the tiff. “The Chinese seem to have various people they like to pick on — the French, because of the Dalai Lama, and us, because of Kadeer. I think all of this is driven by political imperatives within China.”

Mr. Jacobs was referring to China’s decision to boycott a European Union summit meeting last December because the union’s leader then, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, planned to meet the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetans. The Chinese accuse the Dalai Lama of plotting to split Tibet from China.

In the latest case, China sought this month to keep Australia from granting Ms. Kadeer a visa to attend the screening of a film about her life, then tried to prevent her from making a speech to the National Press Club.

They were further examples of how Australians and Chinese have chafed at their inexorably growing ties. Trade between China and Australia has grown sevenfold this decade, making China Australia’s largest trading partner. Chinese investment in Australia, while still small compared with its investment in the United States, is mushrooming.

But Australians worry that Chinese investment is directed at their vast natural resources, turning them into a sort of open-pit mine for Chinese interests……. (more details from The New York Times)

70-year-old Professor Confesses to Taking Sexual Bribe from female student

By Xue Fei, Epoch Times Staff Aug 21, 2009 -

A 70-year-old professor from Beijing’s prestigious Central Conservatory of Music confessed on August 18 to accepting sexual and monetary bribes from a prospective female student. The case led to a flurry of comments from Chinese netizens and the loss of the professor’s teaching privileges.

Professor Liang Maochun was approached by a Masters student from the Shenyang Conservatory of Music, Zou Jiahong, who was seeking entry into the Ph.D. program he oversaw. She paid 50,000 yuan (US$7,315) tuition, then later directly gave Prof. Liang another 50,000 yuan and engaged in sexual intercourse with the professor. She said Liang could keep the money if she was accepted into the Ph.D. program.

Liang later chose not to enroll Zou out of fear that she would expose the transaction, and confessed his deeds to the Conservatory, returning the bribe money. The institution later banned Prof. Liang from teaching and enrolling students, according to the China Daily.

Ironically, speaking at the fiftieth anniversary of the Conservatory’s Music Department on November 5, 2006, Liang had said, “Dare to speak the truth, think independently, be willing to endure loneliness, and be content to live in poverty. Devote yourself to things spiritual.”

Liang had served as Deputy Director of the Music Department, and is currently Deputy Director of the Theory Committee of the Chinese Musicians’ Association, according to the Wangyi Education Forum, a popular website in China.

The incident has also brought up the question of China’s doctoral quality. The China Youth Newspaper reported in March that more than 50,000 Ph.D.s graduated in China in 2008, compared to 40,000 in the U.S. The United States has more than 250 universities capable of awarding doctorates, while China over 300.

One Internet user wondered how many of those 50,000 obtained their degrees through plagiarism or “sleeping” and how many through diligent study.

“In China, to get a better future, or to just be able to find a job after graduation, female college students have to be ready to sell their bodies. Too many stories show this,” complained another netizen, Qin Jianzhong, in a Sichuan internet forum. “Except for those with strong backgrounds or from wealthy families, women often have only one path to take when choosing between food and virginity.”

- The Epochtimes

1,300 Children Poisoned by Lead in Central China

Radio Free Asia, Aug. 21, 2009-

HONG KONG—More than 1,300 children have been poisoned by lead from a year-old manganese factory in China’s central Hunan province, official media said, on the heels of another lead-poisoning scandal in nearby Shaanxi province.

The mass lead contamination in Wenping township, Hunan province, has led to charges that authorities have failed to adequately regulate toxins. Official media said it had opened in May last year without approval from local environmental authorities.

Sixty to 70 percent of children living near the factory showed unhealthy levels of lead in their blood, the official Xinhua news agency said.

A total of 851 children were found to have excessive lead levels in their blood, Xinhua news agency said. It said 155 children were still receiving hospital treatment, out of a total of 174 cases requiring hospitalization.

Authorities closed the factory, located near a kindergarten, primary school, and middle school, and detained two executives on suspicion of “causing severe environment pollution.”

An employee at the Wugang municipal government, contacted by telephone, said Wednesday that the manganese factory had been closed.

“The manganese mine has been shut down. Lead poison from industrial pollution is quite common in China. Our municipal leaders attached great importance to this incident and have taken many measures to deal with it,” the city employee, who asked to be identified by his surname, Huang, said.

“Wugang city has posted a notice in Hengjiang village, indicating that all residents who live within 2.5 kms of the manganese factory can go to the designated clinics to have medical exams and the government will pay for the cost. The municipal government has begun an investigation on the factory and whoever is responsible for the pollution will be held accountable,” he said.

Yang Xin, an environmental activist from Chengdu, Sichuan province, said this latest incident of lead poisoning—along with another reported last week in Shaanxi—show that China’s small- and medium-sized mining enterprises must be overhauled.

“Many small- and medium-sized mining enterprises face similar problems such as shortage of money and lack of technology,” Yang said.

“They are usually privately owned and operated and their owners seek profits only and care little about environmental protection. There is a trend that such phenomena are spreading out from China’s coastal areas to the mid-west regions.”

Some employ local residents, including children, who know little about industrial pollution. “They’re easy prey,” he said.

Protesters recently stormed the Dongling smelting works in Shaanxi, which they blamed for the lead poisoning of 851 children.

The Dongling Lead and Zinc Smelting Co. was ordered by environmental protection authorities in Fengxiang county to suspend lead and zinc production Aug. 6 following a public outcry.

Fengxiang county government has offered free blood tests for 1,016 children aged 14 and under from three villages of Changqing Township, official media reported.

- Radio Free Asia

China Human Rights Briefing, August 10-16, 2009

Chinese Human Rights Defenders, Aug. 19, 2009-

Highlights

• Xu Zhiyong Reportedly Arrested: According to one unconfirmed source, Xu Zhiyong (许志永), the detained director of the Open Constitution Initiative (Gongmeng), has been formally arrested on the charge of “tax evasion.”  Xu’s lawyer, Zhou Ze (周泽), reported that Xu had been arrested and that the arrest warrant had been sent to his work unit, the University of Post and Communications. However, no one that CHRD has spoken with has seen the arrest warrant, and CHRD has been unable to confirm Xu’s arrest with other sources.
• Authorities Expand Harassment against Beijing NGOs:  In the wake of the closure of Gongmeng, two more public interest organizations in Beijng have been singled out by government officials for scrutiny and harassment.  On August 13, officials from the State Administration of Industry and Commerce (SAIC) arrived at the offices of Yirenping and Aizhixing in Beijing to conduct official inspections.  This is the second time in two weeks that Yirenping has been subjected to such an inspection.  Adding to this general atmosphere of tension among Beijing NGOs was the forced closure on August 11 of the website of Mr. Democracy Research Center, a legal aid group, because it contains “fake information and too many political topics”.
• Tan Zuoren Tried Amid Myriad Legal Abuses by Officials: The trial of Tan Zuoren, a Sichuan environmentalist and human rights activist, for “inciting subversion of state power”, demonstrated a complete disregard of the rule of law by the Chinese government. The three witnesses called by Tan’s lawyers were prevented by Chengdu police from attending the trial, and one witness, architect Ai Weiwei, was punched in the face; Tan’s lawyers were repeatedly and rudely interrupted at the trial; and hundreds of Tan’s supporters were barred from entering the courtroom.

- Chinese Human Rights Defenders

China Installs Nearly 3 Million Surveillance Cameras in Cities

By Shi Shan, Radio Free Asia, Via The Epochtimes, Aug 18, 2009 -

Surveillance cameras can be seen at many locations throughout China. (NTDTV News)

Chinese authorities say that the Ministry of Public Security has installed more than 2.7 million surveillance cameras in major cities to monitor the public and will expand surveillance into rural areas. Some democracy advocates are concerned that this will make the already deteriorating privacy situation in China even worse.

An increasing number of cameras can be been in  public places throughout China’s major cities. According to an Associated Press report, the daily video input from these cameras is saved in computers and used in conjunction with facial recognition software to identify wanted or “politically sensitive persons” by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Mr. Wang, a computer technician in Zhejiang Province, said, “The surveillance cameras have not only been installed on  main roads, but also on side streets and in some large buildings in cities. They look like television monitors but in actuality they are [surveillance cameras which have] hard disks installed inside. Someone takes the hard disks and analyzes the recorded videos every day.”

Mr. Wang also stated that the Chinese police have installed a lot of hidden cameras, making people feel that they are being monitored by the authorities at all times. “There is a hidden camera, which can actually rotate, installed at the upper left corner of the glass on the back wall of the store which I work in. It looks like a small light bulb and is difficult to notice as it’s behind glass. I didn’t even spot it until a friend told me about it. This is a serious violation of citizens’ privacy rights. The authorities cannot guarantee that any of these videos can be kept confidential or destroyed [after being viewed daily],” said Mr. Wang……. (more details)

China Schools ‘Kill Imagination’

Radio Free Asia, 2009-08-18 -

HONG KONG— A group of Chinese fiction writers has called on the country’s primary schools to stimulate the imaginations of young learners, who were found in a recent survey to be very computer-savvy but reluctant to think “outside the box.”

Sun Yunxiao, deputy director of the China Imaginative Fiction Writers’ Association, which celebrated its 30th anniversary on Aug. 14, said too little imaginative fiction is available to the nation’s schoolchildren, who are fed instead a diet of “correct” answers to fixed questions as part of the national obsession with exams.

“This lack of imagination will definitely have a profound impact on the creative capacities of the nation’s youth,” Sun was quoted in the official People’s Daily newspaper as saying.

He called for more fiction to be included in primary school syllabuses.

“Reading imaginative fiction can stimulate the imagination of children and broaden their thinking, showing them what is possible for the imagination,” he said.

The People’s Daily cited a 2000 report by the China Youth Research Center and the Beijing Normal University titled “Fantasy and Imaginative Capacity among Urban Chinese Children.”

Based on the ideas of U.S. educator F.E. Williams, the study tested 1,370 third-year Chinese elementary school students in an attempt to gauge their curiosity, imaginative capacity, appetite for challenge, and appetite for risk.

With an average score for each trait of 3.0, the highest score among the children for curiosity was 2.39, on appetite for challenge, 2.28, on appetite for risk, 2.25 and on imaginative capacity 2.18.

And a recent International Assessment of Educational Progress (IAEP) survey of 21 countries found that Chinese children were top of the class for computer skills, while their creativity was fifth from the bottom, compared with children from the other 20 countries.

Only 4.7 percent of children interviewed described themselves as “curious,” the study said.

Education system blamed

Authors and experts blamed an education system fixated on learning by heart the “correct answers” to fixed questions for the lack of development of the imagination in China’s children.

Chinese children, they said, are trained to do as they are told rather than develop their own viewpoint, to follow the mainstream, and not to be oppositional.

Nanjing-based writer Zan Aizong said it isn’t true that Chinese children lack creativity, however.

“Chinese children are very intelligent. The main thing is the test-oriented education system … Gradually they become fixed into a certain way of doing things,” Zan said.

“Children are very imaginative when they are playing or being naughty.”

“The education system is very rigid. Children need a freer space in which to express themselves. They need more freedom to play,” he said.

New York-based writer Dong Dingshan said he sees children in the United States having a larger space in which to be creative.

“My granddaughter [raised in the U.S.] has a very strong imaginative capacity. She can always think of something to do, or something to play with,” Dong said.

The schools give them every imaginable kind of toy to play with … it’s not just toys, either, it’s ordinary objects. The result is that she paints really well, at six years old. I think this is because she has been allowed to develop freely,” he said.

Dong said the Chinese education system is too focused on exams to allow children to develop their creativity.

“The entrance exams for university and high school are all based on set questions, so the students grow up thinking that it’s enough just to answer them in a prescribed manner,” he said.

- Radio Free Asia

56 China Families of the Persecuted Speak Out On Internet

By Wen Hua, Epoch Times Staff Aug 17, 2009 -

Family members of 56 Falun Gong practitioners in a jail in Heilongjiang Province, China, have published their complaint to the Chinese authorities online, demanding legal compensation and for perpetrators to be held responsible for alleged crimes.

On August 11 Minghui.net, a Falun Gong Web site, published the families’ complaint to the Chinese court system. The complainants are all direct family members of 56 Falun Gong practitioners detained in the Daqing Labor Camp in the northern province of Heilongjiang.

The letter takes a similar form to a previous one, lodged in 2006, after 1,061 family members of Falun Gong practitioners detained in Zhumalong Labor Camp, Hunan Province, wrote to international human rights organizations.

This time, in addition to having their complaints published on the Internet, the family members sent their complaint to the United Nations, several human rights groups concerned with the persecution of Falun Gong, and a number of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) organs, including the National People’s Congress and the Ministry of Justice.

The indictment states, in part: “Falun Gong practitioners have been persecuted by the CCP physically and spiritually. They have even lost their lives. At the same time, we family members and friends are all affected by this persecution. This is a destruction of human conscience and morality. We do not understand this persecution and we cannot endure it anymore.”

They go on to lay out the alleged torture experienced by 16 of their relatives who practice Falun Gong, and detail the alleged crimes committed in Daqing Prison, which are opposed to the basic rights offered in the Chinese constitution and Chinese criminal law, as well as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, they argue.

One of the examples the families give is that of Zhu Hongbing, an employee of the 7th Gas Lift Factory of the Daqing Petroleum Administration Bureau. He was imprisoned for seven years, they say, where he was brutally tortured by police and prison guards. In September 2002, Zhu was beaten to the point where he had to be hospitalized, with one of his lungs ulcerated; a tube was then connected to drain the pus from his lung, and he fell into a coma for 24 days.

Later, In May 2005, police did not allow him to eat, sleep or use the restroom; and then, by way of force-feeding, poured diluted milk into his lungs, which caused serious ulcerations and eventually heart-failure.

Force-feeding is the leading cause of death of Falun Gong practitioners in custody, according to the Falun Dafa Information Center. Because guards are untrained and apparently do not care for the health of those in their custody, feeding tubes are often wrongly inserted into the lung rather than stomach.

When Zhu was released in 2008, after serving his term in prison, his lung capacity was severely reduced, and he passed away soon after, according to family members……. (more details from The Epochtimes)

Mother Discovers Meaning of ‘Subversion’ in China

By Yun Gao, Epoch Times Staff Aug 17, 2009 -

One by one individuals in China are coming to recognize that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is not the future for China. In a courtroom in Jiangsu Province, a CCP member suddenly came to look upon the Party in a new light, as she watched her son be tried on the charge of “subversion.”

Prof. Guo Quan, who has endured several arrests the last few years, was arrested this last time on Nov. 13, 2008. His mother, Ms. Xiao Gu, says that she “had never understood the thoughts of my son.” Yet, as she left the courtroom on Aug. 7, she shouted: “Son, you are great! I am proud of you!”

These words marked a dramatic reconciliation of Ms. Gu to her son’s path of political dissidence.

Open Letters on the Internet

Prof. Guo first went public with his criticism of the CCP in an open letter he published on the internet addressed to CCP head Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao. The letter called for China adopting a truly democratic system in which multiple parties would compete in elections.

Other letters followed. In one he called for the military forces to be placed under national, rather than Party, control. In another he called for the protection of the rights of the workers who lost their jobs during the privatization of state-owned companies.

Retribution came swiftly. Professor Guo was forbidden to teach—he was an associate professor at Nanjing Normal University—and was expelled from the Democratic League. The Democratic League is one of eight fake political parties controlled by the communist party, whose purpose is to give China the appearance of having a democratic system.

Chinese New People’s Party

Three days after being expelled from the Democratic League, Professor Guo launched a party called the Chinese New People’s Party. The name New People’s Party was chosen because Guo wanted to distinguish it from parties like the Democratic League……. (more details from The Epochtimes)

Life of a Chinese journalist, by Jiang Weiping

Reporters Without Borders is presenting a series of four articles by Chinese journalist Jiang Weiping recounting his career as an investigative reporter from the time he started out as a journalist in the 1980s to his arrest in 2000 and his departure for exile in Canada this year.

“Jiang is a courageous and exemplary journalist who did not think twice about the dangers he was running when he denounced corruption at the highest levels in the Communist Party of China,” Reporters Without Borders said. “It is thanks to committed journalism like his that the Chinese public can learn about the all-powerful party’s abuses and press freedom will be able to evolve in China.”

Jiang achieved recognition in the course of his long career, which he began by working for the state news agency Xinhua. In the early 1990s, he became northeast China bureau chief for the Hong Kong-based newspaper Wen Wei Po (香港文匯報). He wrote a series of articles on corruption in the party for the Hong Kong-based magazine Frontline (前哨). Around this time he also started working for Hong Kong magazine.

He was arrested in the northeastern province of Dalian in December 2000 and was sentenced in May 2001 to eight years in prison on charges of endangering state security and divulging state secrets. He was finally released in 2006 after serving six years of his sentence.

In February 2009, he obtained political asylum in Canada, where he now lives with his wife in Toronto and continues working as a freelance journalist and calligraphist.

My experience as a journalist

Part 1
Part 2

China: U.S. Embassy Twitter Updates Report Air Quality “very unhealthy” “Hazardous” in Beijing

By Grace Wu, Epoch Times Staff Aug 16, 2009 -

Despite official boasts of increased “blue sky days,” hourly Twitter updates from the U.S. Embassy in Beijing report air quality as “very unhealthy” and even “hazardous.”

“Blue sky days” are when the air quality is rated as “moderate,” averaging a reading of 100 or less on the Air Quality Index. Beijing’s Environmental Protection Bureau reported meeting its targeted 256 “blue sky days” per year, early last November.

On the same days that Beijing deems the air quality “moderate”, readings from the U.S. Embassy’s own monitoring station reflect otherwise, appearing to contradict official claims that air quality has significantly improved since the 2008 Olympics. On June 18, the embassy reported air quality as hazardous, while Beijing’s official data read “slightly polluted.”

Part of the reason for the difference may be a matter of standards. The embassy measures air quality based on the United States’ EPA standard, which measures airborne particles such as soot, dust and liquid droplets with diameters smaller than 2.5 micrometers (PM 2.5). China measures air quality based a less rigorous scale of particles less than 10 micrometers (PM 10). Particles with PM 2.5 pose greater health risks than those with PM 10, since they are not as easily expelled via coughing.

The embassy has been conducting its own measurements as a resource for the health of its staff, according to embassy spokesperson Susan Stevenson, interviewed by Time. The data is shared on the embassy’s Twitter feed, BeijingAir.

Another possible factor behind the discrepancy is the location of monitoring systems. Steven Andrews, an American environmental consultant, has suggested that Beijing officials have moved monitoring stations to less polluted areas so they would reap better data. Du Shaozhong, deputy head of the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau, denies such allegations, though he did not elaborate on possible reasons for the inconsistent figures.

Since the Olympics, Beijing’s pollution levels have been under scrutiny. To reach the basic air quality required for the Olympics, Beijing closed its surrounding factories, limited traffic, and stopped construction projects.

The report Beijing 2008 Olympic Games – Final Environmental Assessment released during the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Governing Council meeting on February 18, noted that “there remains significant room to improve Beijing’s air quality.”

- The Epochtimes

China backs down on Green Dam but concerns remain

Reporters Without Borders, 14 August 2009 -

Reporters Without Borders is relieved by yesterday’s government announcement that installation of its “Green Dam-Youth Escort” Internet-filtering software will not be obligatory on individually-owned computers but is nonetheless concerned that installation is to go ahead on computers in schools and Internet cafés.

“We hail this decision, which is the result of a major international outcry involving both government officials and the Chinese-language blogosphere,” Reporters Without Borders said. “But the ministry of industry and information technology’s insistence on installing the software on computers in schools, Internet cafés and other public places continues to worry us. As Internet cafés are very popular in China, this could do online freedom of information a great deal of harm.”

At a news conference yesterday, industry and information technology minister Li Yizhong said Green Dam’s installation would be optional. It had been poorly presented and explained and had been misunderstood, he said, claiming that that there had never been any intention of making its installation on individually-owned computers obligatory.

The decision to let people choose whether or not to install Green Dam was hailed yesterday by the US government, which had played a key role in lobbying the Chinese authorities against its obligatory installation on computers.

At yesterday’s conference, organised by the State Council’s Information Bureau, Li nonetheless said installation would go head on computers in schools, Internet cafés and other public places in order to protect young people from pornography and other harmful content.

However, the authorities have not provided any details about of the kind of content that will be considered inappropriate. The limits of this content filtering need to be clearly defined in order to avoid excesses. While it is legitimate to want to regulate the Internet, it would be unacceptable if this software were to restrict online freedom.

China has more Internet users than any other country in the world – more than 300 million – but its censorship of the Internet is also one of the world’s strictest. It was ranked 167th out of 173 countries in the 2008 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index.

- Reporters Without Borders

New Political Essay Arouses Attention Abroad, Authorship Suspected to be High-ranking Cadre

By Xin Fei, Epoch Times Staff Aug 12, 2009 -

A ten-thousand word political essay damning the rule of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has attracted attention from Chinese dissidents recently, while websites carrying it are blocked inside the mainland

The essay, entitled The Ruling Party Must Establish Basic Political Ethics, is thought to be the summary of four conversations between an elder Chinese statesman and a young professor from the Party School of the Central Committee of the CCP. Its authorship is unknown, but many suspect the statesman featured in the essay to be Wan Li, former secretary of the Central Committee Secretariat and former Chairman of the National People’s Congress—the most important Party bureaucratic organ, and a rubber-stamp legislature respectively.

Though the essay includes sharp criticism of the CCP and has attracted much attention on the internet, Chinese authorities have so far failed to respond.

Zhang Weiguo, editor-in-chief of Hong Kong’s Trend magazine and the New Century Web site, told The Epoch Times that an “important person in Beijing” entrusted the New Century Web site to first publish the article on July 30. The identity of the elder statesman in the dialogue was not disclosed, however.

Zhang said he believes the author to be Wan Li, for a number of reasons. A source in Beijing he contacted said it was Wan Li, Wan has been one of the few high-level CCP veterans who dared to criticize the regime, and Chinese scholars inside the country that Zhang contacted also believed Wan Li to have written the letter.

This assessment is not universally supported, however. He Qinglian, a Chinese author and economist, indicated in an email response to questions from The Epoch Times that the letter could have been faked. “Some word usages [in the letter] aren’t what these kind of people use,” she wrote. “In a society where the peoples’ will is repressed, and where people are not given channels of expression, rumors are apt to multiply.”

Despite the claims and counter-claims of authorship, the article, which argues that the Party’s rule is “illegal and unethical,” and pins China’s apparent unrest over the years squarely on the communist Party, has triggered heated discussion on the internet. Tens of thousands of blog discussions have proliferated within the first week.

At the very beginning, the essay argues that “The Party has yet to register with the Ministry of Civil Affairs thus far. What’s behind this fact? It is that our country hasn’t had any ‘Political Party Law.’ It has lasted for 60 years, and this is still blank, there has been no change. Our country still has no modern political Party system.”

The essay also argues that there is no financial wall separating the Party treasury and the state treasury.

Central state organs “operate like underground illegal organs,” the essay says. “It is still the Party commanding the gun, the Party military has not been replaced with leadership by the state.”

The essay argues that “The Party comes before the country” rather than “The country comes before the Party.” For sixty years, the concept of “Party and state leaders” hasn’t changed, it says.

Wu Fan, President of the China Interim Government, a pro-democratic dissident group opposed to CCP rule, said that the discussion attempts to make the difference between China and the CCP clear. He believes the letter was written by Wan Li, and told The Epoch Times that “He [Wan] has devoted his whole life to the state and the Party,” adding that putting the country first is unprecedented among high-ranking CCP cadres.

“The past years of repeated setbacks we have suffered are all attributable to the Party’s internal struggles. I am grieved at this,” the letter reads. “For so many years we told the people that without the Communist Party there would be chaos. Their hope of stability becomes the ‘popular will’ for our Party’s sole grip on power. When can this cycle be broken?”

The speaker also calls for a process of reflection among Party elite: “Many people in our Party always get used to bragging that everything we are doing right now is correct. Then why don’t we commence a clear narrative of all that was not done right in the past? How can those things be made vague!?”

The contents of the essay advocate an alteration of Chinese society through reconstructing political ethics, according to Zhang, the Hong Kong newspaper editor. “No matter whether it is an individual, a political group, or a ruling party, they should be trustworthy and honest,” he says.

“Having established the country for 60 years, it is time to go back to the most basic question: What is the will of the country and the people?” the dialogue says. “The Soviet Union never figured it out, and in turn, the country and party was ruined after only 69 years.”

In the 1930s and 1940s the CCP publicly promised to build a democratic, free and independent country, according to the essay. But these promises were amended later. “My heart was severely shaken at that time … this was disrespecting history and essentially violating the ethics of politics … history will always give the truth back to the citizens … the citizens will have to find out,” the speaker says.

The full text of the near 10,000-word conversation piece has been circulated for over ten days on the web……. (More details from The Epochtimes)