Chinese Law Professor Condemns Communist Regime for the Disappearance of Shen Yun Artist’s Husband

By Jing Ru, Sound of Hope Radio Network, Via The Epochtimes, Feb. 28, 2010-

Jiang Feng checked his luggage at the Shanghai Pudong International airport on the afternoon of Feb. 18, just like every other time. He was on the way to the U.S. to meet his wife, an erhu virtuoso for the New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts. After passing through security and before boarding his flight, he disappeared.

Had he made it to the plane Mr. Jiang would have arrived at the Newark airport before heading to Radio City Music Hall, where his wife, Mei Xuan, was to perform that night.

Phone calls to the airport and interviews with passengers of the flight indicate irregularities around the disappearance, leading many to conclude that Ms. Mei Xuan’s husband was kidnapped by Chinese authorities.

Professor of law Yuan Hongbing, who now lives in exile in Australia, provided his outspoken views to a reporter from SOH radio on the apparent disappearance of Mr. Jiang, and the CCP’s attitude to Shen Yun generally.

Mr. Yuan says this incident indicates that the Chinese communist regime “hates and fears” Shen Yun Performing Arts for spreading the traditional Chinese culture across the world.

The incident reflects two issues, he says. The first is that the CCP has deep animosity against traditional Chinese culture. “Shen Yun Performing Arts is, after all, a performance to promote traditional Chinese culture. The CCP have exercised state terrorism at a critical time to make a performer’s husband disappear. It is very obvious that they are against Chinese culture.”

Secondly, “Shen Yun Performing Arts exactly exposes the ugly fact that the CCP have been trampling the traditional culture of its own country,” he said.

An Epoch Times reporter called the police substation at the Shanghai Pudong Airport to enquire about Mr. Jiang. The individuals who answered said they weren’t sure what had happened to him, but suggested he was taken into custody by either the National Security police or the 610 Office.

The 610 Office is an extralegal body established in July 1999 for the purpose of coordinating and carrying out the persecution of the Falun Gong spiritual practice, of which both Jiang Feng and Mei Xuan are adherents.

At no time prior to the flight’s departure from Shanghai was Mr. Jiang paged on the public address system for failing to board his flight, according to passengers interviewed by The Epoch Times.

“What the CCP has done simply shows the world that the Chinese communist regime is the most evil tyranny in human history,” Yuan said…….. (more details from The Epochtimes)

Senior Army Officer Says China Should Topple the U.S. As the Global “Champion”

Chris Buckley (BEIJING), Reuters, Sun Feb 28, 2010 -

BEIJING (Reuters) – China should build the world’s strongest military and move swiftly to topple the United States as the global “champion,” a senior Chinese PLA officer says in a new book reflecting swelling nationalist ambitions.

The call for China to abandon modesty about its global goals and “sprint to become world number one” comes from a People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Senior Colonel, Liu Mingfu, who warns that his nation’s ascent will alarm Washington, risking war despite Beijing’s hopes for a “peaceful rise.”

“China’s big goal in the 21st century is to become world number one, the top power,” Liu writes in his newly published Chinese-language book, “The China Dream.”

“If China in the 21st century cannot become world number one, cannot become the top power, then inevitably it will become a straggler that is cast aside,” writes Liu, a professor at the elite National Defense University, which trains rising officers.

His 303-page book stands out for its boldness even in a recent chorus of strident Chinese voices demanding a hard shove back against Washington over trade, Tibet, human rights, and arms sales to Taiwan, the self-ruled island Beijing claims as its own.

“As long as China seeks to rise to become world number one … then even if China is even more capitalist than the U.S., the U.S. will still be determined to contain it,” writes Liu.

Rivalry between the two powers is a “competition to be the leading country, a conflict over who rises and falls to dominate the world,” says Liu. “To save itself, to save the world, China must prepare to become the (world’s) helmsman.”…… (Reuters)

The High-Tech Persecution of Falun Gong in China (3)

Global Internet Freedom Consortium – (cont’d)

<< previous

The targets of this project (the Golden Shield Project) are Chinese dissidents, and in particular, practitioners of Falun Gong. As one expert put it, when presented with Internet censorship technology, the “first question from the Chinese buyers was not ‘Will it make my workers more productive?’ but, invariably, ‘Can it stop Falun Gong?’”[8]

In 2000, China had a public security trade show in Beijing, where corporations from around the world gathered to sell products for sale to the Chinese government. An engineer from one company said that Internet surveillance capabilities were specifically designed “to catch Falun Gong.”[9] Another company’s booth contained literature declaring that its technology could help in “strengthening police control” and “increasing social stability.”[10]

Moreover, according to Hao Fengjun, who worked for the secret police in the so-called Office 610, in the northern city of Tianjin until he fled China in 2005, Office 610 used the Golden Shield network specifically to track members of the Falun Gong religion.[11] Thus, as Naomi Kline noted in her Rolling Stone article, even if the tools were the same, an assertion that is not necessarily supported by the evidence, “the political contexts are radically different. China has a government that uses its high-tech web to imprison and torture peaceful protestors, Tibetan monks and independent-minded journalists.”[12]

In addition, insider corporate documents indicate that one of the stated central purposes of the Golden Shield Project was to “persecute ‘Falun Gong’ evil cult and other hostile elements.”[13] The Chinese term translated as “persecute” in this and other corporate documents is the very same term used by the Party to describe the persecution of the landlord class, the intellectuals, and the pro-democracy advocates in China, i.e., douzheng [斗争]. Regardless of the role of US corporations in the design and implementation of the Golden Shield, an issue that is now being investigated further by the Human Rights Law Foundation, it is clear from a second document that was sent anonymously to HRLF that at least one Cisco corporate design of the Golden Shield included a Falun Gong database.

The Human Rights Law Foundation has received an enormous array of information in support of these and other allegations from credible sources. It is investigating all of the evidence carefully. Based on all of the new information, it is contemplating the filing of a lawsuit to hold accountable some of the key parties responsible for the high-tech persecution of Falun Gong.(to be cont’d)

- From Global Internet Freedom Consortium

Related:
- The High-Tech Persecution of Falun Gong in China (1)
- The High-Tech Persecution of Falun Gong in China (2)

“I really wanted to stand up to applaud” for Shen Yun, Says Founder of Korea Dance School

DAEGU, South Korea– Shen Yun Performing Arts New York Company’s beautiful performance caused a sensation in the South Korean art community. After watching the third Shen Yun performance in Daegu on the afternoon of Feb. 27, Ms. Han Jee Ahn, founder of Han Jee Ahn Dance School, said that if she were asked to describe Shen Yun in words, she would have to say it is “the consummation of art!”

After her parents mentioned the show to her, Ms. Han came to Daegu all the way from Daejeon with her husband and children to watch Shen Yun. She said that she originally did not hold much expectation, but after watching the show, she could not help but admire the excellence of the performance. She really wanted to express her appreciation with a standing ovation. Even sitting in her seat, she said she raised her hands high up to applaud.

Having had a dance career herself, Ms. Han paid special attention to the stage equipment, performers’ dance skills and associated composition elements. She said that the performers’ presentation is much better than what she had expected. The feeling brought by every performer’s facial expression is very nice.

She said that generally performers spend lots of effort in order to show their skills during dancing. Once on stage, they are under tremendous pressure and sometimes they even appear as being tired. However, Shen Yun performers can always dance so naturally and cheerfully even in such a lengthy performance process. At the same time, the skills they demonstrate and what is reflected from their soul looks really nice. “I really wanted to stand up to applaud. Anyway, I applauded really hard.”

The backdrop amazed Ms. Han. In South Korea, they normally use props. It is the first time that she has seen such a performance. “Using the backdrop as the base, the animation displayed brings a dynamic feeling,” Ms. Han said, “At the same time, the coordination between the performers and the backdrop is really incredible. Looking from every perspective, the performance is profound and very good.”…… (more details from the Epochtimes)

Shen Yun Review, by Korea Renowned Vocalist: “is very spectacular”

DAEGU, South Korea— Mr. Chun Sung Whan, renowned vocalist and chief director of Korea Performing Arts Promotion Association, watched the second Shen Yun Performing Arts show in Daegu, South Korea on Feb. 26. He said: “Shen Yun does a great job presenting the virtues of the Chinese nation. The combination of Eastern and Western musical instruments is perfect and the composition of all programs is very spectacular. It shows the inner beauty of the artists very well.”

Mr. Chun said: “The Shen Yun show reflects the minds of ancient Chinese very well. It is very diversified. I wish we could watch this kind of show more often, especially the professional dancers. The story-based programs are very interesting. I think the professional dancers should watch the show often to be inspired.”

“It is a very spectacularly composed performance, showing the inner beauty of the artists. I can feel the spirituality and inner meaning from the vocal pieces. The whole program makes me feel refreshed. I’m also very happy to see the performances of different ethnic groups in China. It is a very enjoyable experience,” added Mr. Chun.

In regards to the orchestra, Mr. Chun said: “The Chinese and Western musical instruments are coordinated very well in the orchestra. The orchestra members have very good technique. They successfully lead the audience to experience the special charm of classical Chinese music. The conductor put in a lot of effort. Under her lead, the orchestra works seamlessly together. It was a job well done.”

As South Korea’s well-known musician, Mr. Chun, said: “I know the music, in each country or ethnic group, has its own characteristics. Shen Yun Performing Arts’ New York Company Orchestra perfectly combines the musical instruments together. The overall performance successfully expresses the special charm of classical Chinese music while retaining the characteristics of a variety of musical instruments.”

Mr. Chun was the Dean of Music Department at Catholic University of Daegu. To nurture more young musicians, dancers and artists, he is now engaged in the establishment of Performing Arts Promotion Association. Mr. Chun said: “I hope more artists in South Korea can watch the show. It would be great if Shen Yun can perform around the country, not only in Daegu.” – The Epochtimes

Related:
- Shen Yun review (video 2): Chinese dance and music

An artist’s struggle in China for justice

By Clifford Coonan in Beijing, The Independent, UK, Feb. 27, 2010-

When you walk in to Ai Weiwei’s studio in Beijing’s Chuangyi art district, your eye is immediately drawn to the rows of A4 paper that make up a large rectangle on one wall. Each of these sheets of paper bears a set of names. There are 5,250 in total. They are the children who perished in the Sichuan earthquake two years ago.

It is a typically uncompromising statement from an artist and activist as well known for his criticism of the Communist Party as he is for his design work on the famous Bird’s Nest Olympic stadium. And if Ai Weiwei does not take care, his political outspokenness may well land him in hot water – a prospect he views with equanimity.

But for today at least, Mr Ai’s thoughts are not on Sichuan, or his own fate. Today he is worried about his neighbours. Artists themselves, they have just been attacked by thugs trying to force them out of their studios to make way for real-estate developments.

“Several were hit and injured, it was very bloody. They came to me to ask advice,” said Mr Ai.

The artists decided to march on Tiananmen Square, site of the massacre of pro-democracy demonstrators in June 1989. They didn’t get very far, but a point was made. “The decision was made to demolish this art base to obtain more land for the local government to sell – the government grabbed the land,” said Mr Ai.

He attracts so much attention from people with grievances and complaints that you wonder how long his constant barrage of criticism will be tolerated. Other outspoken critics such as Hu Jia and Liu Xiaobo are already in jail.

“I’ve been doing too much, I realise this. It’s a pity I’ve become this figure. Every time I say I shouldn’t do so much because I’m putting myself in an awkward position but life’s not like that. I’m not scared to be in jail, I’d just have to deal with it,” he said……. (The Independent)

China Attacks on Google May Have Hit 100 Companies, ISEC Says

Business Week, Feb. 27, 2010-

Feb. 27 (Bloomberg) — The Chinese cyber attacks that Google Inc. reported last month may have targeted more than 100 companies, a larger number than previously thought, according to security research firm ISEC Partners Inc.

ISEC said it discovered the additional targets while working with victims of the attack, which originated in China. Google initially alerted 30 companies to the problem, San Francisco-based ISEC said.

Google disclosed last month that it suffered “a highly sophisticated” cyber attack on its corporate infrastructure and threatened to withdraw from China. The Mountain View, California-based company said Gmail e-mail accounts of Chinese human-rights activists were targeted by the hackers.

Chief Executive Officer Eric Schmidt said Jan. 21 that Google had begun talks with the Chinese government and would be “making some changes” to its operations in China. The company was still following Chinese laws and censoring its search results locally, he said……. (more details)

China Labor Shortage a Long-term Challenge for IT Companies

by  Mark Hachman, PC Magzine, Feb. 26, 2010-

A growing labor shortage in China may affect the prices of LCDs and products that depend on them, an analyst warned on Thursday.

On Thursday, David Hsieh, the vice president of DisplaySearch covering the Greater China market, said that this week, a labor shortage “erupted” in China, with shortages of between 15 to 20 percent seen by assemblers.

Following the end of the Chinese New Year festival, a number of migrant workers in southern and eastern China have simply refused to come back to work. Reports have put the labor shortage at about a million people, leaving analysts and major media struggling to explain the unexpected shortages.

Whatever the reason, Asian OEMs are either worried or have become directly affected by the shortages. Asustek has reportedly slowed its outsourcing, while Lite-On employees are being forced to work overtime to meet demand.

DisplaySearch, which focuses on the display industry, warned that the labor shortages would have a negative effect on the LCD industry, forcing prices upwards if productivity slowed.

“Before the Chinese New Year holidays, some component makers and consumer electronics assembly houses in China mentioned labor shortages,” Hsieh wrote. “Many of them are working through the holidays in order to meet the strong demand for export and domestic goods.”

Why have workers abandoned their technology jobs? Hsieh postulated that it is because workers have simply become bored with assembling PCs, and have shifted either to service industries or have moved home to rural China with their families, accepting a lower standard of living, but also lower costs.

“The labor shortage has tightened the supply chain and will cause labor costs to go up,” Hsieh wrote. “This is definitely not a short-term phenomenon, but a big long-term challenge for companies that with labor-intensive jobs in China. China is changing from a world factory to a world market, and now workers consider assembling notebook PCs all day a boring and low-paid job.

“Another result of the labor shortage is that it makes inventory control difficult, Hsieh added. “LCD monitor brands are giving the same demand forecast in the Q2 slow season as in Q1 because they cannot get enough supply right now. The labor shortage is diffusing the panel shortage issue and adding more risk by building panel inventories. When PC and TV demand in China is strong enough to reshape the LCD industry, the unprecedented transformation from cheap labor to higher cost will have a deep impact worldwide.”

- PC Magzine

China set to be stripped of Sydney Olympics bronze medal for false birth certificate

AFP via Herald Sun, Australia, Feb. 26, 2010-

CHINA could be stripped of their 2000 Olympics women’s gymnastics team event bronze medal after one of its athletes Dong Fangxiao was found to be under age.

Gymnast Dong Fangxiao, who competed in the women’s gymnastics team event, claimed she was 17 years old at the time of the Sydney Games, but an investigation by the International Gymnastics Federation discovered she was just 14, well below the strict minimum age of 16.

Chinese teammate Yang Yun, a bronze medallist in the team event as well as the uneven bars and who was also under investigation, was cleared of breaking the rules but issued with a warning.

Dong’s results in Sydney have been cancelled and the International Olympic Committee will be asked to withdraw the bronze from the Chinese team.

“Young gymnasts cannot be manipulated. Athletes must be protected. To prevent such fraud in the future, a new licensing system has been implemented by the FIG,” said the organisation’s president Bruno Grandi.

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Dong’s case came to light at the 2008 Beijing Olympics when she applied for accreditation as a team official when she declared her birth date as January 23, 1986, which would have made her 14 during the Sydney Olympics.

- Heraldsun.com

Tortured Into Confessing to Crimes They Didn’t Commit, 3 Chinese Man Hunger Strike

Radio Free Asia, 2010-02-26 -

HONG KONG— Three Chinese death-row inmates who say they were tortured into confessing to crimes they didn’t commit have staged a hunger strike to draw attention to their case, amid a new U.N. warning that the death penalty carries too high a cost to societies that use it.

The three men—Fang Chunping, Huang Zhiqiang, and Cheng Fagen—began to refuse food at the Jingdezhen municipal jail in the eastern province of Jiangxi on Tuesday in protest their convictions and sentences for murder along with one other man, Cheng Lihe, who didn’t join the hunger strike.

Beijing-based rights lawyer Teng Biao said he along with dozens of other lawyers had been involved in the case.

“All the lawyers involved in this case think that there is a very big problem with these convictions,” Teng said.

“These four men were forced to confess to crimes they hadn’t committed through the use of extremely cruel torture.”

U.N. warning

Their protest came as the United Nations’ Fourth World Congress against the Death Penalty issued a statement warning against the use of the death penalty, and calling for its universal abolition.

“We reconfirm that the death penalty may in no circumstances be regarded as an appropriate response to the violence and tensions which permeate through our societies,” the conference said in its closing statement.

Governments should be aware of “the emotional burden they create, particularly in the context of terrorism,” said the statement, in a reference to political pressure to gain convictions in terrorism cases.

In China, which has recently executed nine people for their role in the ethnic unrest in the troubled Muslim region of Xinjiang in July, the relatives of one inmate, Fang Chunping, said they don’t believe Fang is guilty.

“Of course we don’t believe this,” Fang’s brother said.

“My brother and his wife were watching television at home at that time.”…… (Radio Free Asia)

Photographer died in China Custody after injected unknown drugs by police

Falun Dafa Information Center, Feb 25, 2010-

NEW YORK— As families across China prepared to celebrate the Chinese New Year, the relatives of Ms. Gao Qiying were coping with the sudden death of the 40-year-old photographer.

Gao, a Falun Gong practitioner from Guizhou, had been abducted in 2008 before the arrival of the Olympic torch in her town. She died in custody on February 12, 2010, two days before the holiday and within weeks of complaining to her family that prison authorities had injected her with an unknown drug. Gao is the 10th Falun Gong practitioner whose death from abuse the Falun Dafa Information Center has confirmed in 2010, though the actual toll is almost certainly higher.

“Sadly, Ms. Gao’s case contains two aspects that are all too common among the cases of Falun Gong practitioners in China,” says Falun Dafa Information spokesperson Erping Zhang. “One is the use of unknown drugs to mentally and/or physically incapacitate practitioners in an effort to force them to renounce their beliefs, and the second is the use of ‘Olympic security’ as an excuse to illegal abduct Falun Gong practitioners. There are many cases where both of these unfortunate aspects are present.”

Ms. Gao was a resident of Zunyi in Guizhou, where she worked photographing tourists in order to provide for her two sons and their education. She had been born with a physical disability to her back and chest, which caused her difficulty walking and breathing. Her health improved dramatically after she began practicing Falun Gong in 2000.

The Olympic torch was scheduled to arrive in Zunyi on June 14, 2008. As occurred in many parts of the country, security agencies intensified the monitoring and persecution of local residents known to practice Falun Gong ahead of the international event. One police station in Zunyi’s Huichuan District alone reportedly detained at least ten Falun Gong adherents.

On June 12, dozens of officers raided Ms. Gao’s home, abducting her and confiscating the computer and printer she used for her photography business. Ms. Gao was taken to Nanbai Town Detention Center, where she was reportedly tortured. She was subsequently hospitalized in critical condition.

Ms. Gao eventually recovered, but was then “sentenced” in a sham trial in late 2008 to a prison camp. She was transferred to Yangai prison to serve her term.

At the end of January, 2010, Ms. Gao’s family members visited her at the prison. During the visit, she complained that the prison authorities had forced her to take an unknown drug that was causing severe numbness in her feet.

On February 11, the prison authorities called Ms. Gao’s family to inform them that she was being taken to a police hospital in Guiyang, over two hours away. She died at 12:55pm the next day, while her family was still en route. Additional details of the circumstances surrounding her death are being investigated.

Psychiatric torture— both in medical and penal facilities—is a routine tactic used by the Chinese authorities against Falun Gong practitioners in an effort to force them to renounced their belief. The Falun Dafa Information Center reported a similar case from Hunan in September. Ms. Chen Chunjun, also 40 years old, had been detained in May 2008 when the Olympic Torch was to pass through her area; she died in March 2009 at a psychiatric hospital. (news)

- Falun Dafa Information Center

Related:
- Photo: China Modern Torture Methods (4)- Psychiatric & Drug Abuse
- List of China Modern Torture Methods (slideshow)

The High-Tech Persecution of Falun Gong in China (2)

Global Internet Freedom Consortium – (cont’d)

<< previous

According to author E. Guttmann, the technology used in China to construct the Golden Shield Project “provide[s] a secure connection to provincial security databases, allowing for thorough cross-checking and movement tracing.”[4] These databases and secure connections allow for an unprecedented level of government intrusion:

A Chinese policeman or [Public Security Bureau] agent…could remotely access the suspect’s danwei or work unit, thereby accessing reports on the individual’s political behavior and family history. Even fingerprints, photographs and other imaging information would be available with a tap on the screen…[T]he Chinese police could even check remotely whether the suspect had built or contributed to a Web site in the last three months, access the suspect’s surfing history and read his e-mail.[5]

Thus, Michael Robinson, an American computer engineer hired in 1996 to help build the first public-access network in China, was asked by the Chinese government for assurances that it would be able to “build an Internet firewall to keep the world out and conduct surveillance on their own citizens” before he could continue his work.[6]

In her examination of China’s surveillance industry published in Rolling Stone, Naomi Kline describes the surveillance capabilities of the Golden Shield network as follows:

Chinese citizens will be watched around the clock through networked CCTV cameras and remote monitoring of computers. They will be listened to on their phone calls, monitored by digital voice-recognition technologies. Their Internet access will be aggressively limited through the country’s notorious system of online controls known as the Great Firewall. Their movements will be tracked through national ID cards with scanable computer chips and photos, that are instantly uploaded to police databases and linked to their holders personal data. This is the most important element of all: linking all these tools together in a massive, searchable database of names, photos, residency information, work history and biometric data. When Golden Shield is finished, there will be a photo in those databases for every person in China: 1.3 billion faces. [7]…… (to be cont’d)

- From Global Internet Freedom Consortium

Related:
- The High-Tech Persecution of Falun Gong in China (1)

China’s economic will plunge following a collapse within 10 years, says Harvard Professor Kenneth Rogoff

Feb. 24 (Bloomberg) — China’s economic growth will plunge to as low as 2 percent following the collapse of a “debt- fueled bubble” within 10 years, sparking a regional recession, according to Harvard University Professor Kenneth Rogoff.

“You’re not going to go a decade without having a bump in the business cycle,” Rogoff, former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, said in an interview in Tokyo yesterday. “We would learn just how important China is when that happens. It would cause a recession everywhere surrounding” the country, including Japan and South Korea, and be “horrible” for Latin American commodity exporters, he said.

China, set to surpass Japan as the second-largest economy this year, has helped pull the world out of its deepest postwar slump. Record lending, soaring property values and accelerating economic growth prompted the government to begin retracting stimulus measures implemented during the global recession.

“Their response to the latest financial crisis clearly raised the risk that they have a debt-fueled bubble in the economy,” said Rogoff, who in 2008 predicted the failure of big American banks.

In 2008, China cut interest rates, started rolling out a 4 trillion yuan ($586 billion) spending package and scrapped quotas limiting lending by banks to counter slumping exports.

‘Best Bet’

While Rogoff said he isn’t sure what will cause China’s bubble to pop, he said land is “the best bet” as it is “the most common source” of crises. Real estate values in Shanghai and Beijing have “taken a departure from reality,” said the economist, co-author of “This Time is Different,” a 2009 book that charts the history of financial calamities in 66 countries.

A collapse would depress output gains to 2 to 3 percent, a “very painful” period which would persist for about a year and a half, Rogoff said. The slowdown won’t lead to a Japan- like “lost decade,” he added. In a speech earlier yesterday, he said China will do “very well this century.” …… (more detals from Bloomberg)

China to put billions of dollars to North Korea to keep Influence

Radio Free Asia, Feb. 25, 2010-

SEOUL— China’s reported plans to invest billions of dollars in North Korea reflect Beijing’s bid to prop up the regime and keep a dominant role in the region rather than to lure Pyongyang back to multilateral talks, analysts say.

A number of state-owned Chinese banks and other companies are close to a deal to invest nearly U.S. $10 billion in North Korean infrastructure, after talks with the official Pyongyang-based Taepung International Investment Group, Seoul’s Yonhap news agency has reported.

The report couldn’t be immediately confirmed.

The investment earmarks funds to build railroads, harbors, and homes in North Korea, the report said, adding that more than 60 percent of the investment would be put up by Chinese banks.

The deal, with North Korea’s State Development Bank, is expected to be signed next month, Yonhap said.

Winston Yang, a China analyst and professor emeritus from Seton Hall University, gave three reasons for the injection of Chinese funds into North Korea.

“The first is that it will increase [Beijing's] control over North Korea and its influence there. The second is that Beijing fears that Kim Jong Il will fall from power,” Yang said, adding that North Korea’s current economic woes have left millions hungry.

“The third reason is, I believe, that there is a sense in which it goes against the wishes of the United States,” he said.

Yang cited strains in U.S.-China ties stemming from U.S. arms sales to Beijing’s arch-rival Taiwan, a threat from Google to withdraw from China, and a meeting between U.S. President Barack Obama and Tibet’s exiled leader, the Dalai Lama……. (Radio Free Asia)

Events around the world in March 2010: Shen Yun Performing Arts Show (Video)

Shen Yun, the state of arts classical Chinese dance and music show is traveling in about 100 cities around the world and will go to USA, Canada, Korea, Japan, Taiwan and many European cities in March 2010. Here’s a  brief schedule:

Daegu, Korea	Feb 25 – Mar 1
Saitama, Japan	Mar 4
Tokyo, Japan	Mar 5 – 7
Amsterdam, Holland	Mar 5 – 7
Cincinnati, OH, USA	Mar 6
Louisville, KY, USA	Mar 7
Yokohama, Japan	Mar 9
Indianapolis, IN, USA	Mar 9 – 10
Bruges, Belgium	Mar 9 – 10
Hiroshima, Japan	Mar 12
Frankfurt, Germany	Mar 12 – 14
Kansas City, KS, USA	Mar 13 – 14
Fukuoka, Japan	Mar 15
Ogden, UT, USA	Mar 16 – 18
Nishinomiya, Japan	Mar 17
Lausanne, Switzerland	Mar 18
Taipei, Taiwan	Mar 19 – 25
Portland, OR, USA	Mar 20 – 21
Lyon, France	Mar 20 – 21
Seattle, WA, USA	Mar 23 – 24
Bregenz, Austria	Mar 23 – 24
Vancouver, BC, Canada	Mar 25 – 28
Chiayi, Taiwan	Mar 27 – 28
Dublin, Ireland	Mar 28
Kaohsiung, Taiwan	Mar 30 – 31
Calgary, AB, Canada	Mar 30 – Apr 1

For details please check Shen Yun Performing Arts’ official website.

Following is a highligh HD video for Shen Yun 2010 show

Related:
- Schedule: Shen Yun World-wide Show in February, 2010- Asia & USA

Earthquake Predictions Distrusted in One Chinese Province

Millions of residents in northern China’s Shanxi Province were woken from their slumber on Feb. 21., before fleeing their homes in panic and packing the streets and parks seeking refuge outside despite the bitter cold.

According to Dahe.cn, an earthquake alarm sounded around 3:00 a.m. on Feb. 21 in Taiyuan, Jinzhong, Changzhi and Jicheng in northern China’s Shanxi Province. It was a spontaneous civilian act, an unofficial warning made with sirens over the public broadcasting system.

A Jinzhong resident wrote on the Internet, “I received more than 10 phone calls from my friends and family to get me out of the house. It felt like as if I was in the movie 2012!”

A Changzhi resident wrote, “My phones rang like crazy at 3 a.m. I went out and saw the streets were more crowded than I had ever seen.”

And a Taiyuan resident wrote, “It was miserable. I was woken up by a phone call at 4 a.m. and ran out of the house. The streets were packed with cars and people. Young people like me would be able to run fast enough if it was real, but I wondered how those with elders and children in their families would make it.”

Pressing concerns surfaced as residents began linking in their minds the earthquake with all the coal mining that has been going on in Shanxi Province. “How could people not worry?” one resident wrote, referring to a putatively hollowed-out underground in Shanxi. “I imagine the loss would be huge if an earthquake were indeed to happen!”

According to Dahe.cn, in rural areas such as Qixian, Pingyao and Zuoquan, an alarm was broadcast in every village to urge people to leave their houses, and some villagers even moved their appliances to the street to minimize the loss.

Later that morning in public statement the Seismological Bureau of Shanxi Province said: “A rumor about a damaging earthquake was spread among Taiyuan, Jinzhong, Changzhi and Jincheng residents early this morning, please do not believe it or spread it. Maintain your normal life and ensure continued production at work.”

Officials from related authorities in the Seismological Bureau of Shanxi Province said that according to the Management Act on Earthquake Forecasting, “Only provincial authorities are entitled to issue an earthquake prediction, no other entities or individuals have the right to do it.”

However, the statement was questioned by the public. A Shanxi resident wrote, “The more the Seismological Bureau denies a rumor, the more frightened people become. The denial is even scarier than the earthquake itself. Last time the Taiyuan Evening denied an earthquake prediction, but an earthquake indeed happened.”

Another resident wrote, “I don’t know where the rumor came from. I had no sleep last night, and everybody panicked. It was the result of the Seismological Bureau’s poor credibility – people would rather believe in rumors than the authorities.”

Another resident wrote, “As far as I can remember, it always starts as a rumor and ends in reality. Didn’t the Seismological Bureau of Wenchuan also deny the rumor? But look how devastating it was.”

Wenchuan County in Sichuan Province was the epicenter of the devastating earthquake of May 12, 2008, at a magnitude 7.9 on the Richter scale……. (more details from The Epochtimes)

Chinese Scientists Say Losing Google Would Hurt Research

wired.com, February 24, 2010 -

Google and China may not be fighting over science, but their feud could have unintended negative consequences for researchers in the country.

A Nature News survey of Chinese scientists found that 84 percent of them thought losing access to Google would “somewhat or significantly” hurt their work process. Like their American counterparts, Chinese researchers use Google and Google Scholar to find papers and related information.

“Research without Google would be like life without electricity,” one Chinese scientist told Nature.

In January, Google announced it would stop following censorship rules required by the Chinese government after its servers came under attack. It remains to be seen whether the Mountain View company will be thrown out of the country for that stance.

When Google’s initial announcement broke, media blogger Robin Sloan of Snarkmarket pondered the possibility of the splitting of the famously world-circling internet.

“Is the Chinese internet going to be largely parallel? The othernet?” Sloan asked.

If events do continue in that direction, truly global enterprises like science could suffer as information becomes harder — even if only moderately — to exchange. (- wired.com)

China’s latest mystery: Hu Jintao and the vanishing micro-blog

Jane Macartney in Beijing, Times Online, Feb. 23, 2010-

China’s President startled the internet at the weekend by opening a micro-blog – the Chinese equivalent of Twitter.

Fascinated netizens began signing up at the rate of more than ten people a minute. But a day later the account of Hu Jintao disappeared.

A brief pro-forma note this morning on the empty site, hosted by the Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily Online, said simply: “This item cannot be found, the author may have erased it.”

That fails to explain the mystery of the president’s missing micro-blog.

Did the famously cautious leader of 1.3 billion people decide he wasn’t ready for such open interaction? Has he joined the ranks of those censored by the Great Firewall of China? Was it a case of identity theft? Had the People’s Daily failed to carry out the proper checks? Or was it a simple computer error?

A newspaper report on the sudden disappearance offered two official explanations. One was that the site simply crashed under the onslaught of 1,000 people an hour signing up to follow President Hu’s micro-blog.

The second was that a recent upgrade created an automatic micro-blog for anyone who had registered their identity in the People’s Daily chatroom – as the president did for an online conversation with the public on June 20, 2008.

A notice on the website said all “Strong Country VIP” accounts were temporarily suspended to allow confirmation of the identities.

Whatever the case, the outcome is a severe embarrassment for People’s Daily Online. Today, would-be micro-bloggers were unable to register new accounts, at least for the moment, despite the notice that said users were still welcome despite the apparent overload the day before.

Registered followers of President Hu will be disappointed. He had yet to post a single blog before the site disappeared……(The Times)

The High-Tech Persecution of Falun Gong in China (1)

Global Internet Freedom Consortium -

The Chinese Communist Party has played a major role in a series of widespread and systematic attacks waged against civilian populations in China that have included the landlords, intellectuals, the pro-democracy advocates, and more recently, the members of the religion of Falun Gong.[1]

In the 1950s, Party operatives paraded members of the landlord class before the Chinese people, publicly criticized and insulted them, and beat and executed at least 2 million people in one campaign.

In 1957, the Party characterized the intellectual class as a “right wing” threat to state security and sent them to labor camps where they were tortured and/or killed.

Again, during the well-known Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and 1970s, the persecution was so bad that many members of the targeted groups committed suicide to avoid the torture and execution they would otherwise face.

In June of 1989, the Chinese army opened fire on the streets of Beijing, killing hundreds of students and civilians, while others were rounded up
later and sent to labor camps and prisons where they were subjected to forced labor, torture, and, in some cases, execution.

The tactics deployed in these campaigns are similar to those used in Nazi Germany during the Second World War, and in Rwanda during the genocide of the Tutsi tribe by the Hutu. In all of these violent assaults and massacres, the targets were demonized as threats to state security and stability, the goal was the elimination of the group or its beliefs, the mechanisms are arrest, detention, torture and execution, and the justification is social order and state security. The phrase used in China to describe the process is the Chinese term douzheng [斗争], loosely translated as “persecution.”

In the latter part of the 20th and early part of the 21st century, the Chinese Communist Party dramatically expanded its ability to persecute dissident groups through its construction and operation of its infamous Golden Shield project, a system of advanced Internet, surveillance and networking technology that is used to carry out the traditional purposes of the Chinese police state in a new, high-tech, and far more effective manner. It is “the world’s biggest cyber police force and the largest and most advanced Internet control system.”[2]

The announced goal of the project was to “build a nationwide digital surveillance network, linking national, regional, and local security agencies with a panoptic web of surveillance,” and it was envisioned as a “database-driven remote surveillance system – offering immediate access to registration records on every citizen in China, while linking to a vast network of cameras designed to cut police reaction time to demonstrations.”[3]…… (to be cont’d)

- From Global Internet Freedom Consortium

Chinese rights advocates ask US for funds to break China ‘firewall’

AFP, Feb. 23, 2010-

WASHINGTON — A coalition of human rights campaigners on Tuesday urged the US government to fund efforts led by the Falungong spiritual movement to circumvent Internet censorship in China and other nations.

Congress approved 30 million dollars in the 2010 budget to combat cyber censorship in China, Iran and elsewhere. But lawmakers have voiced concern that the funding since 2008 has been used ineffectively.

In a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, rights advocates — most from China — urged that money go to the Global Internet Freedom (GIF) Consortium, originally set up to evade China’s Internet “firewall.”

“By taking the right steps, the United States can make a historic contribution to its own security and to the advancement of democracy by rapidly tearing down the information firewalls of the world’s closed societies,” it said.

The letter was signed by exiled leaders of the 1989 democracy uprising in Tiananmen Square including Chai Ling, Wu’er Kaixi and Xiong Yan, along with figures behind the landmark Charter 08 petition for greater freedoms in China.

Other signatories included Rebiya Kadeer, the leader of exiles from China’s Uighur minority, along with activists campaigning for greater openness in Cuba, Myanmar, North Korea and Syria.

GIF software was designed by the Falungong, which was banned by China in 1999 and branded an “evil cult” following a silent mass gathering in Beijing by its members.

But the technology was also put to use last year by Iranians who circumvented censorship to organize protests against clerical hardliners via Twitter and other websites.

The letter said that GIF servers, which nearly crashed after the Iranian elections, could be upgraded to allow 50 million unique users a day, up from 1.5 million now.

Five senators — Democrats Robert Casey, Edward Kaufman and Arlen Specter, along with Republicans Sam Brownback and Jon Kyl — wrote a letter to Clinton last month voicing concern that the grant money was going to waste.

They faulted the State Department for restricting grants to groups working inside a country, countering that “the most successful censorship circumvention tools are operated remotely.”

Clinton, who testifies before Congress on Wednesday and Thursday, last month urged China to conduct a thorough probe into cyberattacks on Google and pressed technology firms to resist censorship.

- AFP

Intel Says It Was Target of Cyber Attack as Same Time as Google

By JERRY DICOLO, Wall Street Journal , Feb. 23, 2010-

Intel Corp. said it was hit by a “sophisticated” cyberattack in January, around the same time Google Inc. says it was attacked by Chinese hackers, but it wasn’t clear whether the incidents were related.

The chip giant made the disclosure in its annual report with securities regulators. But Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy said the company doesn’t know if there is a connection to the Google incident and hasn’t uncovered evidence that the attack was successful.

“We have no knowledge of any lost [intellectual property] or damage to the systems,” Mr. Mulloy said. “We did not see, and have not seen the kind of broad-based attack as was described with the Google situation.”

The disclosure by Intel comes as U.S. investigators work to identify the perpetrators of recent attacks on the computer systems of Google and as many as 33 other companies.

Google in January said hackers attacked its systems, resulting in the loss of intellectual property. Juniper Networks Inc. and Adobe Systems Inc. have said they were targets of the same attack.

- Wall Street Journal

China’s President Skips Twitter, Opens State-tied Microblog

Owen Fletcher, IDG News Service, Via PC World, Feb 22, 2010 -

Chinese president Hu Jintao has opened a microblog, adopting the technology despite his government’s work to stifle free speech by microblog users in China.

Twitter has been blocked in China since last year and authorities are asking its Chinese rivals to censor messages posted by users, adding another page to China’s playbook for quashing discussion of certain political and other sensitive topics online.

Hu’s microblog is on a service run by the People’s Daily, the official paper of the ruling Communist Party, and is only visible to registered users of the service. Hu had not made any posts as of Monday, but thousands of people were signed up to receive his messages, according to reports by local media including the Global Times.

Posts visible to the public on the microblog site showed many users saying they had just created accounts after hearing Hu had done so as well. Some users wished Hu a happy Chinese New Year.

Hu’s account had no picture but listed his political titles. It was not clear when the account was opened.

U.S. President Barack Obama has a Twitter account and other global political figures keep microblogs as well. Hu is the first elite Chinese official to open a microblog but he and other officials, including Premier Wen Jiabao , have previously appeared in online chat sessions targeted at the public. The government has sought to emphasize that it supports the growth of the Internet even though police monitor it for sensitive content, like discussion of elite government corruption or the banned spiritual group Falun Gong, and Web companies can be punished if they allow users to post such information.

Google, which is number two in China’s online search market, last month said it plans to stop censoring results on its China-based search engine, even if that means being forced out of the country. The move threw global attention on China’s censorship policies. Google has said it is in talks with Chinese authorities but has not yet removed the filters on Google.cn.

- The PC World

20 China artists protest in Beijing Tiananmen over demolition: report

AFP, Feb. 22, 2010-

BEIJING — About 20 Chinese artists including outspoken activist Ai Weiwei protested in central Beijing over the demolition of an art zone in the east of the capital, state media and a rights group said Tuesday.

The protest on Monday came amid simmering anger in China over land seizures, which have often involved corrupt officials keen to secure real estate profits as the country’s property market booms.

The artists marched on Chang’An Avenue, one of Beijing’s main thoroughfares that passes by Tiananmen Square, scene of the 1989 pro-democracy demonstrations that ended in a bloody crackdown, media reports and rights activists said.

They carried posters reading “Civil Rights!” and “Capital Beijing, brutal demolition!”, which were confiscated by police, the state Global Times newspaper reported.

The protesters attempted to reach Tiananmen Square, the heart of political power in China, but were stopped by police about two kilometres (one mile) away, it said.

The artists decried what they called “assaults by thugs hired by local authorities” to force them out of the complex, and said their land contracts were still valid.

The government and land developers have said the artists need to move out to make way for redevelopment of the area.

An investigation has been launched into nine assaults allegedly carried out early Monday when the artists tried to prevent dozens of masked men from destroying their studios, the report said.

One Japanese national, identified as Satoshi Iwama, needed five stitches for a head wound, according to the Global Times and the Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD), an activist network.

Local officials denied any involvement in the purported beatings……. (more details from AFP)