HONG KONG — The pain of the European debt crisis is spreading as the plummeting euro makes Chinese companies less competitive in Europe, their largest market, and complicates any move to break the Chinese currency’s peg to the dollar.
Chinese policy makers reached a rough consensus early last month about breaking the dollar peg and letting the currency, the renminbi, rise in value somewhat, according to people close to Chinese currency policy makers. Uncoupling the currencies would make American goods more competitive against Chinese products. But for various reasons, China has not yet put that policy into place.
And in light of the euro’s nose dive, such a move could be difficult. Letting the renminbi rise against the dollar would also mean a further increase in the renminbi’s value against the euro, creating even more problems for Chinese exporters to Europe.
The euro has plunged against the renminbi in recent weeks, at one point Monday reaching its lowest level since late 2002.
The steep rise of the renminbi prompted a Commerce Ministry official in Beijing to warn Monday that China’s exports could be threatened.
The official’s comments were the most explicit yet on the implications for China of Europe’s recent financial difficulties. The comments also suggest that even China — the world’s fastest-growing major economy and increasingly the engine of global growth — is not immune to the crisis that started in Greece and threatens to spread across much of Europe.
“The yuan has risen about 14.5 percent against the euro during the last four months, which will increase cost pressure for Chinese exporters and also have a negative impact on China’s exports to European countries,” Yao Jian, the ministry’s spokesman, said at a news conference in Beijing, according to news services, using another term for China’s currency.
It is a potentially awkward moment. The American secretary of commerce, Gary Locke, is in China this week leading the first cabinet-level trade mission of the administration of President Obama.
Some economists warn that China may face more problems. The biggest reason Chinese exports plunged early last year was not weakening demand in industrialized countries but a sudden, temporary disappearance of trade finance from Chinese and foreign banks. The availability of trade finance could easily become a serious problem again soon, said Dong Tao, the chief Asia economist at Credit Suisse.
Chinese exporters rely very heavily on bank letters of credit to finance their shipments. The availability of the letters of credit is closely linked to overnight lending rates between banks. When banks have trouble borrowing money themselves — as has been happening as a result of worries about European banks’ possible losses from the region’s sovereign debt crisis — they tend to cut sharply the issuance of letters of credit for trade finance.
The banks see that as a quick, easy way to conserve cash without violating the terms of other financial obligations, like established lines of credit for big corporations.
Interbank lending rates surged late last week and on Monday and must now come back down very quickly to persuade banks to keep issuing letters of credit, Mr. Tao said. “Without trade finance, trade won’t happen,” he said.
The Shanghai stock market plunged Monday, with the composite index falling 5.1 percent on worries about global demand as well as concerns about possible further moves in China to limit a steep rise in real estate prices this spring.
Some Chinese companies are already running into difficulty because of the euro’s fall against the renminbi.
“We have been receiving calls from some European clients who signed contracts with us earlier this month, and they all want to cancel their orders, since the depreciation of the euro has eroded all their margins and then some,” said Elvin Xu, the sales manager of Guangdong Ouyi Electrical Appliance in Zhongshan, China, which makes gas stoves, heaters and water heaters……. (more details from New York Times)
HONG KONG— Residents of Nanzheng county in China’s northern province of Shaanxi have painted a grim picture of simmering pressures among farming communities in the region, after last week’s gruesome attack on a kindergarten in the area.
Villagers living in a different town in the same county where the killings occurred say they have been bombarded with government requisition notices for their farmland amid the global economic slowdown, sparking protests, beatings, and detentions for anyone who tries to protest the loss of his or her land.
“The whole county is rife with land profiteering,” said one resident of Dahekan township, Li Jinyi.
“Murky Nanzheng and corrupt Hanzhong have pushed local farmers to death’s door… Things have been so hard for us these past few years.”
Nine people, seven of them small children aged four and five, were confirmed dead at the Hanzhong Municipal 3201 Hospital after a local man went on a rampage with a kitchen cleaver before committing suicide in nearby Shengshui township last week.
“They are requisitioning land again,” Li, 87, said. “They have publicized that they will build a ‘Times Square.’”
“The announcement is telling local farmers to stop tilling the fields, and that the land will be fenced off. In reality, it will be given to property developers. When they have taken all our land, there’ll be nothing left for us to live on,” he said.
Last month, Dahekan villagers said they were beaten by a gang of men allegedly hired by a local property development company after they protested plans to use 170 mu (11.3 hectares) of their farmland for the construction of an “International Health Spa.”
In total, residents of Sanhuashi, Yuying, and Dianzijie villages in the Dahekan area said a total of 4,000 mu of farmland had been taken over by local governments in the area since 2007, with more than 300 families forcibly evicted from their homes.
Left homeless
Yuying villager Tuo Ruilian said the land grabs were made under the auspices of a highway project.
“They have taken more than 4,000 mu of land from these four villages, and the government and developer have got together to beat up the local people,” Tuo said, adding that repeated complaints and attempts at lawsuits had been ignored by the authorities.
“We are law-abiding citizens, yet they have demolished our homes. And to this day, the entire family, young and old, is homeless. We are living in a shack made of asbestos tiles on the site of an abandoned factory by the river, where the weeds grow,” Tuo said.
“Nobody cares about us. We have made complaint after complaint to higher levels of government, and I have been detained three times by the government,” he said.
An employee who answered the phone at the Dahekan township government offices declined to answer questions about the villagers’ allegations.
“I don’t know. I have no comment,” he said.
However, an employee who answered the phone at the Nanzheng county government planning and construction bureau confirmed that there are a number of intercity highway projects affecting villages in the area.
“They are basic infrastructure projects,” the official said. “For example, urban highways and other projects for the public good.”
An employee who answered the phone at the Nanzheng county Land and Resources Reserve and Exchange Center confirmed that the local authorities had recently sold at auction a plot of more than 100 mu of farmland in Dianzijie village.
“It was zoned for residential development,” he said.
“It was just sold recently. A plot of land just to the south of the Nanzheng highway in Dianzijie.”…… (more details from Radio Free Asia)
Peter Foster in Beijing, The Telegraph, UK, 17 May 2010 -
The incident at a market in the city of Foshan in Guandong province, on Sunday, is the seventh such attack aimed at women and children in recent weeks, provoking questions about the stability of society in the ‘new’ China.
The attacker, named only as Mr Xie and aged in his 20s, apparently singled out young women as his victims, entering numerous shops and restaurants and hacking and slashing at the women’s head and shoulders.
Five of the victims remain in hospital, two of them in intensive care, while the sixth was released after suffering light injuries to her left arm.
The attacker then escaped the scene, climbing to the top of a four-storey residential building a few hundred metres from the market and jumped to his death. Local police said they were still trying to find a motive for the attack.
The incident follows several multiple killings in recent weeks that have unsettled a country not known for violent crime.
Five of the incidents occurred at schools in China and took the lives of 17 people, including 15 children, as well as wounding 80 people.
In response, police and schools have been ordered to beef up security in and around campuses to prevent what experts believe are “copy-cat” attacks.
However the additional security measures have failed to prevent repeats of the attacks leaving parents increasingly jittery about the safety of their children.
In an indication of the heightened state of awareness around schools in China, police on Friday were called to a kindergarten in Haimen city in the southern province of Jiangsu after reports that a man had entered with a gun.
A squad of 20 policemen were dispatched to the kindergarten but the “attacker” later turned out to be a parent carrying a toy gun as a present for one of the children.
The attacks have raised questions in China about the impact of the country’s rapid modernization, growing wealth inequalities and inadequate social safety net for catching socially outcast and mentally ill.
Last week China’s prime minister Wen Jiabao admitted that the attacks reflected problems at the grass roots of Chinese society.
“We feel sorry in our hearts for the murders and the children’s deaths. We need to not only adopt serious security measures but also tackle the deeper causes behind these problems,” Mr Wen said in a television interview, “We must strengthen the role of [dispute] mediation at the grass roots. That’s something we all have to work on.”
HONG KONG— A recently disbarred rights lawyer says he has been banned by Chinese border police from leaving the country.
Attorney Tang Jitian said in an interview Monday that he had been stopped by security officers in the southern China city of Shenzhen as he prepared to cross the border into neighboring Hong Kong on Sunday before continuing his trip overseas.
“When approaching booth No. 20 at customs, I was suddenly stopped by the police officer at the window, who called his bosses as well as two guards to keep me from leaving. Then two border control officers came and checked my documents,” Tang said.
“They led me to another place. After about half an hour, the border officers said they had received instructions from upper-level management that I was not allowed to exit. I asked for the reason but they refused to explain,” he said.
“I said, ‘Your actions have neither legal basis nor justified reason. You deprived the rights of a citizen to travel abroad.’ But they answered that they were simply carrying out the order,” Tang added.
Tang Jitian and another rights lawyer, Liu Wei, were disbarred by legal authorities in Beijing last month for “procedural infractions.”
The decisions resulted from a complaint by a court in Luzhou, in southwestern Sichuan province, where Tang and Liu defended Falun Gong practitioner Yang Ming in his appeal of a trial in April of last year. The action was widely criticized as China’s latest move against human rights lawyers……. (more details from Radio Free Asia)
By Kathrin Hille in Beijing, The Financial Times, May 15 2010 -
When a man with a cleaver walked into a kindergarten in China’s Shaanxi province on Wednesday and hacked seven children and their teacher to death, shock was not the first public reaction.
After six such attacks in as many weeks, the mood among parents is approaching panic.
“We cannot feel safe any more. How come they can’t stop this?” asked Li Wen, as she dropped off her daughter at a private Beijing kindergarten in a guarded compound in Beijing.
While killing sprees invariably prompt soul-searching, such attacks have rarely been made public in China and for many they are a vivid illustration of how the Chinese government is failing to live up to its pledge to create a “harmonious society”.
Thirty years of breakneck growth without political reform have left millions of Chinese displaced, uprooted and confused. The killers’ profiles mirror these social ills. Some were unemployed, others were involved in disputes over evictions and some had a history of mental illness.
“China’s society is entering a high-risk phase. The unfair distribution of wealth, official corruption, the failure to safeguard people’s basic needs, the inability to solve all these problems has created an inharmonious environment,” says Yue Guo’an, a professor of social psychology at Nankai University in Tianjin.
Even Wen Jiabao, China’s premier, acknowledged the deeper social implications of the attacks. “Apart from tight safety measures, we need to pay attention to addressing the root causes of these problems,” Mr Wen said. “That includes dealing with social conflicts and dispute resolution at the grassroots level.”…… (more details from The Financial Times)
North Korean leader, Kim Jong-Il, along with his 17-car luxury motorcade, made his fifth visit to China from May 3 to May 7. Kim kept a high profile on this unofficial trip, even as his country faces a grave economic crisis.
Kim was seen staying at the five-star Furama Hotel in the city of Dalian where the presidential suite runs more than US$2,100 a night—equivalent to his country’s per capita GDP.
His motorcade, cited as the longest in the last 10 years, required five minutes to enter the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse where foreign dignitaries often stay. He also received a warm 5-hour welcome from senior Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leaders at the Great Hall of the People.
However, his visit was not welcomed by Chinese bloggers. “Driving Kim Jong Il out of China” blogs were so popular on the Internet that the Central Propaganda Department put out an order to shut them down.
Kim’s visit happened shortly after President Lee Myung-bak of South Korea was invited to the “Korea-China Summit Talks” and the Shanghai World Expo Opening Ceremony. South Korea was very unhappy that the CCP had concealed Kim’s visit from them and had deliberately provided such a high level of hospitality for Kim. South Korea called the Chinese ambassador to express disappointment and regret—a rare happening. The CCP has once again demonstrated its close relationship with its communist neighbor in an occurrence reminiscent of a similar event in 2008.
Why Such a Warm Welcome?
The CCP’s strong support for Kim and North Korea is neither simple hospitality nor a push for Kim Jong Il to reform, as speculated by the outside world. Instead, Kim is just the CCP’s barking dog. Then why did the CCP call in Kim so prominently this time?
First, the CCP wanted to force South Korea and the international community to discourage possible strong sanctions against North Korea after revealing the cause of the March 26 sinking of a South Korean navy corvette, the Cheonan, in South Korean waters.
Obviously, both Lee and Kim came for the ship-sinking incident. Lee had demanded that China admit North Korea was involved in torpedoing the ship and that China cooperate with the U.N. Security Council’s sanctions against North Korea. So, the CCP called in Kim to comfort him, hoping the high-profile reception would deter the sanctions.
North Korea is actually “the only direct suspect” in the ship-sinking incident. President Lee said at the “Military Commanders Conference” on May 4 that the sinking of the Cheonan was not a simple accident. Chosun Ilbo, a prominent South Korean newspaper, thought Lee’s speech implied North Korea’s involvement.
Once the truth is released, Lee will have no other choice but to impose sanctions against North Korea. General Burwell Bell, the former United States Forces Korean Commander, called for strict blockade measures if North Korean involvement is proven. Of course, South Korea will also ask the U.N. and the international community to take action together. Lee knows clearly that the CCP supports North Korea. He would like to get permission from the CCP before taking any action. This was the purpose of Lee’s visit.
CCP’s Dilemma
The CCP is now on the horns of a dilemma. If it agrees to the sanctions, North Korea’s strength would be undermined, weakening its bargaining power to use North Korea to negotiate with the United States. If it does not agree, it would fear becoming the common target. Thus, the best option for the CCP is to use the high-profile reception for Kim to force South Korea to halt or reduce sanctions.
Second, the CCP needs to reward Kim. Some experts think that Kim Jong-Il regards the Cheonan incident as an opportunity to visit China to ask for urgent financial aid. In reality, the incident did help the CCP escape the embarrassment of Google’s withdrawal and show the West the cards that the CCP holds. Moreover, North Korea is suffering from monetary reform failure, the plight of an unprecedented food crisis, and even a shortage of rations.
Besides China’s promised US$1 billion-plus investment in North Korea in February, it is said that the CCP will also provide 100,000 tons of food, worth US$60 million. This indicates that Kim deserves these rewards for what he has done, and Beijing has given him the rewards as promised. The two parties were able to collaborate with each other well, and Kim, therefore, paid China a visit.
Furthermore, the CCP wants to use Kim’s visit to tell the world that North Korea is still under Kim’s control, and that the CCP is now and will be firmly in control of him and, therefore, North Korea.
Finally, the CCP wants Kim to further surrender in front of the “China Model” by showing him around the port areas of Dalian. The CCP also tried to deceive the West that it is trying to convince Kim to to take the right path and, therefore, covered up its intent to use Kim to stir up troubles in the international community.
A case of apparent police brutality resulting in the death of a young woman was revealed on Chinese Internet forums recently. The case reflects the struggle of many Chinese to obtain justice in a system that allows no real channels of redress for the disenfranchised, who face frequent and unchecked abuse of power by the authorities.
On Dec. 20, 1998, the then 20-year-old Zhang Yanmei was arrested for alleged prostitution, after having quit college to look for work two months previously. She was reported to have died in police custody six hours after arrest.
Ms. Zhang’s story is told in a post on an electronic bulletin board, signed by her father and elder brother, along with a phone number. The original post has been duplicated widely. The Epoch Times spoke to her elder brother by telephone.
The following day an official who worked in Fenjie Town, where Ms. Zhang was arrested, delivered the news to her father, saying that she died in the interrogation room in the police station. “The forensic medical expert concluded that she hung herself using her shirt. She committed suicide because she felt ashamed,” the official said, according to the online account.
Ms. Zhang’s brother-in-law went to the hospital with the father and saw her body. There was blood in Zhang’s nose, her face was swollen and with mud on it, and she had wounds on her throat, ears, back, and chest.
Ms. Zhang’s family, in particular her father and brother, have not stopped in the attempt to gain justice over past ten years, but the efforts have been in vain. Ms. Zhang’s elder brother explained that the late appearance of the information online was because they did not have a computer before.
Hush money refused
In the statement online, Ms. Zhang’s father claimed that a police official delivered 5,000 yuan in cash to his house on Dec. 24, 1998, and asked him to keep quiet. He refused, “My daughter committed no crime. She was beaten to death. How could she hang herself with the police around? Is there a special place in the police station for committing suicide? Why were the police so eager to cremate her body?”
According to the family, Ms. Zhang’s ashes are still in the police station for “safe keeping,” and they have not seen the death certificate or coroner’s report, despite repeated requests.
Ms. Zhang’s older brother, Zhang Yafu, did his own investigation. He alleges that the police also tortured the wife of Ms. Zhang’s employer to extort a confession. The wife, who was arrested at the same time as Ms. Zhang, told him: “They were ruthless. Had I not admitted that I was prostituting, I too would have died from the beating.”
Local police told Mr. Zhang that his online post was illegal, but it has not been purged by China’s army of Internet censors.
Mr. Zhang told The Epoch Times that on March 24, 2010, three police officers from the Gaozhou City Public Safety Bureau came to Guangzhou and tracked him down for questioning. A week ago, the police talked to his mother and asked her who posted the article online. “I don’t think that I can go back to Gaozhou anymore. My parents would worry about my safety if I did. No lawyer wants to take my sister’s case,” Mr. Zhang said. (The Epochtimes)
Buried, a Documentary (With English and Chinese caption) produced by Wang Libo, won the prize in Chinese Documentary Exchange Week in 2009.
Director’s Statement: The 1976 Tangshan Earthquake left a lot of open questions. Before the earthquake, seismological personnel in Tangshan and quake experts in Beijing had already warned of an imminent quake. But in the end, more than 240,000 people had to pay with their lives, causing a shocking tragedy of massive proportions. Why did this happen? In the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake about 100,000 people were killed. Faced with terrible quakes, the human race repeats tragedy time and time again. It is terrible that people can only offer money and bland tears after the disaster – when better preparation could have saved lives. A nation has to courageously face its own weakness to remain hopeful.
The film has been cut into 11 videos and posted on Youtube which you can find from following link:
By Stephanie Lam, Epoch Times Staff, May 15, 2010 -
TOLEDO, Ohio— New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts, which stopped at Toledo, Ohio on May 14 during its 2010 world tour, impressed the city’s Mayor Michael P. Bell so much that he proclaimed the day as “Shen Yun Day” of the city.
“As Mayor of the City of Toledo, it is my privilege and responsibility to recognize those groups who have made outstanding achievements that reflect on the well-being and growth of the Toledo community and its citizens,” he wrote in the proclamation.
“With a cast of award-winning dancers, a live orchestral accompaniment, elaborate costumes and state-of-the-art digital backdrops; Shen Yun’s performances breathe new life into China’s classical culture. The company also seeks to use the traditional arts as a vehicle to spread a message of hope and beauty to reinvigorate Chinese culture with the values and spirituality that once made it so rich. It is not simply stunning for its artistry but also refreshingly real, heartfelt, probing and original.”
Bell was amazed by soprano Haolan Geng’s song, Reaching the Other Shore, and was among those in a standing ovation when she finished it, before an encore.
The show had a full house and closed with a standing ovation and two curtain calls. The audience clapped several times in the middle of most programs during the show.
During a VIP reception after the show, Bell expressed his appreciation for Shen Yun’s coming to Toledo.
“I hope that we can make the world better by working with you,” he said. “Thank you, very much, for being here.”
The next stop on the Shen Yun Performing Arts International Company US tour is Newark, New Jersey, for three performances at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, May 22-23. ( The Epochtimes)
Toledo, OHIO— Ms. Olga Boone, who will be 102-years-old this September, was in the audience at the Stranahan Theater on May 14 to experience Shen Yun Performing Arts.
“Every child should see this. This is life from the beginning to the end, and there is no end when you’ve got things like this to see and watch, you know. It’s fantastic! I think this is the thing that develops your soul more than anything else,” she said.
Toledo is a moderate-size river city at the edge of Lake Erie in the Great Lakes Region with a very active port. It is also known for its diverse architecture, which rivals Chicago.
The Toledo centenarian was inspired by the entire performance: “Love, love is responsible for this. It’s just so inspirational. You never see really old, old people out here like this. It took a lot to be here. It’s just so inspirational, and I am going to keep on going, keep on going,” Ms. Boone said.
Shen Yun is a celebration of China’s traditional arts. The elements for storytelling are a combination of beautiful traditional and ethnic dances, original orchestral music, gorgeous costumes, and state-of-the art interactive backdrops.
Having been a dancer all of her life, Ms. Boone said, “The people with certain talents … is a gift of God to all of us, and this show is so beautiful. It shows men and women at their best. They just keeping going on and doing wonderful things.”
Based in New York, Shen Yun is comprised of three dance companies and three orchestras, which will perform in over 100 cities in more than 20 countries during the 2010 world tour.
The next stop on the USA tour is Newark, New Jersey for three performances at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, May 22-23. ( The Epochtimes)
JOHN GARNAUT from BEIJING, The Age, Australia, May 15, 2010-
PREMIER Wen Jiabao has for the first time spoken out about “deep-seated causes” behind China’s spate of schoolyard killings.
And he called for new mediation mechanisms to resolve social conflicts that may trigger such disputes.
His comments stand in stark contrast with those of other officials and commentators in the official Chinese media, which have focused almost exclusively on tightening security.
”As well as adopting vigorous safety measures, we also have to pay attention to addressing some deep-seated causes behind these problems, including dealing with some social conflicts and resolving disputes,” Mr Wen told Hong Kong’s Phoenix Television, a channel that broadcasts into China, late on Thursday night.
”We must strengthen the role of [dispute] mediation at the grassroots. That’s something we all have to work on.”
On Wednesday, a man slaughtered seven children and two adults with a meat cleaver, after a dispute over the lease to a kindergarten. Other attacks have involved grievances over lost jobs, business failures, broken relationships, and a new home that officials had ordered torn down.
The attackers have mainly used knives and in one case a hammer, as guns are banned in China.
Chinese schools are now guarded by tens of thousands of police, including some carrying submachine-guns, after security chief Zhou Yongkang elevated school protection to the status of a “major political task”.
Public Security Minister Meng Jianzhu told police after Wednesday’s attack: ”We must thoroughly adhere to our strike hard policy, severely strike at all illegal criminal acts aimed at violating or harming the lives and property of teachers, students and children.”
Media editors have received edicts not to report the attacks or else to play them down using only official Xinhua reports, while emphasising the government’s security response.
The Communist Party’s English-language newspapers have argued against linking the deaths to social problems.
“If we judge the question wrongly, our society would suffer a confusion of basic moral judgment,” wrote Li Meijin, a criminal psychology professor at the Chinese People’s Public Security University, in the Global Times.But Mr Wen’s comments echo a ground-breaking April report by Professor Sun Liping and other Tsinghua University sociologists.
Government should “establish mechanisms for balancing interests, provide institutionalised channels for venting of social discontent, promote the development of civil society organisations and form social mechanisms for conflict resolution,” said the report, New Thinking on Safeguarding Stability.The report strongly criticised an official security approach, and cited Mr Wen’s comments about promoting a “happier, more dignified … more just and more harmonious society” at the National People’s Congress in March.
SYDNEY— Anne Wilson, a financial planner who owns her own company based in the Whitsunday Islands, had travelled all the way from North Queensland to see Shen Yun Performing Arts New York Company on Thursday, May 13, at the Big Top Theatre at Sydney’s Luna Park.
“Magnificent, just magnificent, it’s just beautiful, thoroughly enjoyed it,” she said.
Ms. WIlson loved the classical Chinese dance.
“Oh they just seemed to float, they just … they danced so beautifully and so lightly,” she said adding, “It just makes you feel beautiful inside when you watch them.”
She was very impressed with the dance Fairies of the Clouds.
“The fans, when they danced with the fans, I thought that was beautiful.”
A description from the Shen Yun program describes the dance, ‘Celestial fairies paint a picture of transcendent beauty. With the sky as their home, they soar gently through the heavens, eternally pure and carefree.’
Ms. Wilson described Shen Yun as “elegant and gorgeous.”
A Shen Yun show brings to audiences a unique experience, with stunning animated digital backdrops custom designed to match a given dance’s costumes, story line, lighting and dancing.
Ms. Wilson was moved by the combination saying, “Oh the colour was just … it’s so soft, the colours are so soft, but they are so vibrant, and they just float. All the costumes are just very elegant— exceptionally elegant.”
Shen Yun Performing Arts has tavelled, to Australia, with the Shen Yun New York Orchestra this year for the first time.
Unique in the world the orchestra brings together classical Western instruments as a base, while also adding Chinese musical flair through a variety of Chinese instruments. Each piece is composed to fit perfectly with each dance.
“Oh wonderful, wonderful and the different instruments are so different to what we have too,” she said.
Ms. WIlson was not at a loss for words to describe her experience after watching Shen Yun.
“[Shen Yun]just makes you feel beautiful, makes you feel wonderful that there is a different culture so different to ours, but just so elegant. Just beautiful, elegant, wonderful dancing.”
She continued, “Australians are getting more into other cultures, we are getting more multicultural with our people in our country that we have to learn about other cultures.” (The Epochtimes)
SYDNEY– With Shen Yun Performing Arts New York company almost halfway through its scheduled performances in Sydney at the Big Top Theatre in Luna Park, audience members from this evening’s show were raving about the performance.
Annette Vella, a dance teacher who for 35 years has run five dance groups, said that the show was “absolutely beautiful.” Ms. Vella was originally a gymnast and later studied classical ballet. She has two daughters who have traveled through China, but she has never been there.
“It was beautiful, absolutely beautiful,” the dance teacher said. “The music and the movement and the color—what they are doing is so beautiful, so elegant.”
She was impressed with the classical Chinese dance performances: “It’s more elegant than I have seen,” she said. She liked the colorful scenic backdrops, the storytelling through dance, and the representation of different ethnic regions, like Mongolia.
“I had never seen a Mongolian dance before. And it was nice to learn about the silk dance. The beautiful smoke with the clouds and the fairies of the sky—that was really nice.”
“I loved the men—really strong dance from the men. That was fantastic. They are really athletic, but so light on their feet that they just float in the air. The leaps are beautiful,” she said.
Shen Yun uses innovative animated backdrops that integrate with the scenes on stage, something Ms. Vella enjoyed: “That was fantastic. That really adds to the color, and the costumes often blend in with the background too, especially the silk dance.”
Ms. Vella was also impressed with tenor Hong Ming, who sang Calmly Take a Look. She said he had a “beautiful voice” and felt that his singing uplifted her spirit.
“You couldn’t go away feeling disappointed or sad from the show, that’s for sure.”
Ms. Vella said she would be back next year with her dance class. “I would have bought my dance class to come and watch. I told them about it today, and I said you have got to go and see it. I’m going. We will be there … next year for sure.” (The Epochtimes)
LOUVAIN-LA-NEUVE, Belgium— Shen Yun Performing Arts Touring Company held one last show at Louvain-la-Neuve’s Aula Magna on Tuesday, May 11, ending its 10-show run in the Belgian city.
Among the enthusiastic crowd at the Tuesday evening show was Roger Helmer, a member of the European Parliament representing East Midlands, UK.
“I had a wonderful time,” Mr. Helmer said in an interview during intermission.
“I was just thinking ‘it’s fantastic, it’s so full of energy, it’s so elegant’.”
The skills and physical ability of the performers was quite impressive for the MEP.
“I just don’t know how they manage to do it,” he said, referring to the performers.
Mr. Helmer was first elected in 1999, and then re-elected for a second term in 2004. He sits on several committees, including unemployment and petitions. Before entering politics, he held senior management positions in a number of different large multinational companies.
He elaborated on the last piece before the intermission, Tibetan Dance of Praise, which particularly caught his attention.
“It just seemed to have a combination of energy and elegance, and the costumes were wonderful, and it really was uplifting and exciting,” he said.
The animated backdrops used in the show portraying celestial palaces and beautiful landscapes were quite appealing for the MEP as well.
“The backdrops were very impressive. For the Himalayas, for example, that works very effusive,” he said.
“It’s the action and the movement, and the music that really makes the show. It’s wonderful.”
Mr. Helmer said he would recommend the show to his friends.
“They should just come and see the show if they can.”
The New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts Touring Company will perform in Neuchatel, Switzerland, from May 13 to 16.
LOUVAIN-LA-NEUVE, Belgium— The Aula Magna in Louvain-La-Neuve, hosted ten world renown Shen Yun Performing Arts shows from April 30 through May 11.
Dr. Serrano, professor Emeritus at the Catholic University of Louvain, who in 2009 was granted an honorary doctor of medicine in recognition of his contribution to medicine in multiple countries, and his wife, Anna Maria Serrano, who is involved in Musicology at the Catholic University of Louvain, were in the audience
“I found the show extraordinary and I would like to first congratulate the sponsors who supported this show,” said Ms. Serrano.
Ms. Serrano was surprised by the orchestra which combined Eastern and Western instruments. “The orchestra is extraordinary and it must accompany all the sets to make it a complete show,” she said
Dance shows are nothing new to Ms. Serrano, “I often watch ballets. I go often to the opera, and so on. So, this is a departure from what I generally see,” she explained. “For me, the Chinese dance presented in this manner is of a very high level … They are dances on a very high level—a superior level—therefore, for me it is an extraordinary show.”
Ms. Serrano summed up saying, “I will advise people who have not already had the opportunity to see this show to see it before it leaves, because it is truly worth the effort.”
Dr. Serrano also added his opinion. “I am impressed by the delicacy and the spirit which emerges during the performance. The show is extraordinary!”
Continuing, Dr. Serrano said, “I am impressed by the … the precision of the movements and by the beauty of the presentation. Behind the technique there is also a presence, one has the impression that the artists are together presenting something that belongs to the deepest part of themselves.” (The Epochtimes)
To stop such crimes, the criminal’s motive has to be understood. Whether the killings were triggered by unemployment or by forced demolition, these are problems that Chinese society cannot choose to ignore. In his article titled “2009 Forced Demolition File,” Southern Metropolis Daily journalist Tan Renwei writes, “I witnessed an increase in the threshold of news reporting on forced demolitions (below the threshold, the incident would not get reported). Recently, it seems only the self-immolation could trigger media attention.”
But apparently all these have had no impact on the authorities. No proper investigation was done and no action has been taken against any official in China despite the fact that the self-immolation incident seems directly connected to the forced demolitions. If even such an incident could not awaken the authorities, it is not difficult to see why some, in desperation, are driven to such vicious acts.
During the 2008 Beijing Olympics, an unemployed worker from the city of Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province, Tang Yongming, murdered an American tourist and committed suicide by jumping off a building. The “reason” he gave was that only killing a foreigner was likely to draw the world’s attention to problems in China, according to a report from Boxun.com.
It seems apparent that the four attacks targeting innocent school children are a result of a long-term accumulation of hostility, bred by official policies of the regime. From the end of the last century, China has increasingly been turning into a society with no laws. The violent crimes committed by the government in the name of “law enforcement” are no less barbarian than mafia crimes, with people often beaten to death by city administration officials and police.
The land acquisition process in rural areas degenerates into battles between villagers and local armed forces. Forced demolition in the urban areas is met with desperate and violent resistance and is crushed with even greater violence.
Although there have been cases of individuals acting violently against the police and the authorities who put them into misery, in most incidents the piled up resentment and anger seem to have broken out in random acts of violence against susceptible innocents.
A “winner takes all” social structure, formed by a group of degenerated politicians attempting to control all social resources to serve their self interests, is at the root of these problems. Tyranny only fosters mobs. Just as the regime’s political violence seems to have no bottom line, the crimes in today’s Chinese society seem to have no moral bottom line. (END)
- byHe Qinglian, Chinese author and economist, via The Epochtimes
Media functions to draw the public’s attention to social problems. With open debate, in the absence of political interference, the media could help people distinguish right from wrong and heal social wounds. The moral condemnation of wrong keeps people from crime.
It is hard to imagine how painful a social indifference created by lack of sufficient news coverage would be for the victims’ families. After the incident in Taixing, tens of thousands of local residents demonstrated on the streets, demanding that the local administration stop covering up the truth.
Why then, did the regime restrict coverage on the murder incidents after April 28?
“Prevention of crime imitation” seems to function merely as an excuse for further controlling the media. What the regime worries about is that an investigation into the motives behind the killings would lead to an exposé of problems the regime itself created and its policies continue to fuel. Even from the limited information available, it seems the incidents have backgrounds that the regime does not want disclosed.
Reports said that prior to committing the crime, the assailant, Chen Bingkang, had been requested to stop teaching and was put on long-term sick leave by his employer, Hongfu Primary School. Mainland media reported that insiders believe Chen committed the crime for revenge. Were there reasons why Chen couldn’t accept the school authorities’ decision asking him to stop teaching? If “revenge” were the motive, why did Chen choose a different school (Leicheng No.1 Primary School) as his target, instead of his own school?
Reports of the case of assailant Wang Yonglai in Weifang, also leave room for such questions. After killing five children, Wang set himself on fire along with another two children. Such behavior cannot simply be explained away as something aimed at “attracting social attention. “
An online post, Wang Yonglai’s Self-immolation: The Secret You Don’t Know, by a person who claims know the truth about the situation, says Wang was not mentally unstable, and that the local regime had forcibly demolished Wang’s newly finished house and accused him of illegally occupying his land. The post says that Wang had registered the property with village authorities. Wang had not been given any compensation when his property was forcibly taken away. (post on China Health Information Net)
Reports on the attack in Taixing were strictly controlled from the beginning. Media were required to use only reports from the regime’s mouthpiece, Xinhua News Agency. And the official story differed dramatically from local people’s versions. Authorities claimed the murderer, Xu Yuyuan, “was a bad guy who had done plenty of bad things.” But locals say that Xu committed the crime after being forced into a state of desperation by the forced demolition of his home.
While all these may have to be verified, the recent incident in Fujian Province in which three bloggers were sentenced to imprisonment for attempting to uncover an alleged gang rape and murder case shows what the regime is capable of. (to be cont’d)
- byHe Qinglian, Chinese author and economist, via The Epochtimes
He Qinglian, Chinese author and economist, Via The Epochtimes -
On April 28, Zheng Mingsheng was sentenced to death for randomly stabbing a group of primary school students waiting to enter their school in southern China’s city of Nanping in Fujian Province. Nine children lost their lives in the incident.
Within three days of Zheng Mingsheng’s execution, three more attacks targeting school children took place in China.
Venting anger against society
The prosecutor investigating the Fujian case concluded the assailant was venting his “anger against society.” The topic of the criminal’s “anti-social tendency” received extensive coverage in Chinese media.
An article published by Nanfang Weekly pointed out that the local government never mentioned the possibility of the killer being a mental patient; neither was that possibility mentioned in official “guiding” of reporting on the issue.
Public opinion on Chinese Internet forums ran that social injustice in China is pushing the lowest strata of society into acts of desperation.
A photo that spread on the Internet showed a banner parents put up in front of a primary school. The banner read, “Every debt has its debtor. Ahead, on the right, is the government office.” The board was asking assailants to settle their grievances directly with the government and not vent them on innocent school children.
Following the three consecutive attacks that shook China, media lost the freedom it had when reporting the first case. All of the reporting on the issue had to echo state-run Xinhua News and the local administrative bodies declined to disclose the assailants’ personal details.
One of the murderers, Chen Bingkang from Leizhou in Guangdong Province, was, according to some reports, a serious neurasthenia patient on long-term sick leave.
Regarding the incidents in Weifang, Shangdong Province, and Taixing, Jiangsu Province, there was little information available on the murderers other than from official outlets.
Articles in the media also changed their tone. A signed article by Cao Lin was posted on almost all news websites. The article’s central theme was that people should abandon the notion that crimes “avenging society” bespeak of flaws in the social justice system.
Other articles stressed that media should not report “just because there is news.” A lot of people carry resentment against the social system, and it may lead people to imitate the crime, the authors argued. Others commented that the attackers are blaming others for their misfortune and using violence to trigger social attention to their personal problems.
The initial discussions on the cause of the crimes had not made the regime take a good look at itself. Instead the blame was eventually diverted to media reports causing “crime imitation.” Perpetuating such an opinion provided the regime grounds to further clampdown on freedom of the press.(to be cont’d)
- byHe Qinglian, Chinese author and economist, via The Epochtimes
On May 13, 1992, in a humble schoolhouse in northeastern China, Mr. Li Hongzhi began teaching Falun Gong (or Falun Dafa), introducing to modern China a practice with roots extending back thousands of years. By early 1999, there were 70 to 100 million people practicing Falun Gong in China alone, their slow-moving meditative exercises visible at dawn in parks across the country.
Eighteen years later, Falun Gong has transcended cultural and national boundaries to bring physical health, joy, and peace of mind to millions of others around the globe. From Cape Town to Cannes, Bangledesh to Berlin, Tokyo to Tehran, Falun Gong is practiced in over 100 countries, its teachings freely available in 30 languages. Even under harsh persecution, tens of millions in China continue to practice.
And so, on May 13, 2010, Falun Gong practitioners and their supporters around the world are celebrating World Falun Dafa Day, giving thanks to Mr. Li for his teachings and the goodness they have brought to people’s lives. Among other celebrations, hundreds of colorful greetings have flowed from China to be posted on overseas Falun Gong websites.
At the core of Falun Gong’s teachings is the understanding that Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance is the fundamental nature of all lives and all things. As they seek to assimilate to these values in their daily thoughts and actions, practitioners have found not only a sense of inner calm and optimism even in the most dire of circumstances, but also a profound understanding of life and the universe around them.
With Falun Gong’s global spread since 1992, millions of people have seen disease symptoms disappear, resolved family differences, forgiven those who have harmed them, and discovered the true power of kindness.
12 May 2010, Falun Dafa Information Center -
WASHINGTON DC — While the Falun Dafa Information Center welcomes any constructive discussion aimed at ending human rights abuses in China, we caution against the exclusive use of private meetings with Chinese officials. Such meetings almost never yield any real progress, and certainly not in terms of Falun Gong.
Falun Gong constitutes tens of millions of heartland Chinese and the largest group of prisoners of conscience in China today. (report) Therefore, No discussion of human rights in China can be complete without addressing the Chinese Communist Party’s repression of Falun Gong.
Indeed, this persecution, which has left thousands dead and hundreds of thousands, if not millions, illegally held in labor and prison camps throughout China, has no place in the modern world. This must be made clear to the Chinese officials during any dialog, but we encourage this be done openly and publicly so the substance of the discussion is in the public domain.
On May 4, 2010, lawyers Liu Wei (刘巍) and Tang Jitian (唐吉田), whose licenses were revoked by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Justice on April 30, filed a criminal complaint with the Beijing Xicheng District Procuratorate against Xiao Lizhu (萧骊珠), head of the Bureau’s Lawyers’ Management Department. The two lawyers claim that Xiao, in revoking their licenses, abused her power and criminally attacked them in retaliation for their activism on behalf of lawyers and in upholding the rule of law since 2008. Specifically, they allege that Xiao retaliated against them because they had previously called for direct elections of officials in the Beijing Lawyers Association (BLA), and filed a criminal complaint accusing Wu Yuhua (吴玉华) – then head of the Bureau – Xiao Lizhu, and other Bureau officials, of extorting exceptionally high annual license renewal fees from lawyers.
Tang and Liu claim that, based upon the “Rules for Standards on the People’s Procuratorate Directly Accepting, Filing, and Investigating a Case” (《关于人民检察院直接受理立案侦查案件立案标准的规定》), the Procuratorate must consider their complaint. Having been unable to work for 12 months, the two lawyers claim that they have sustained a loss of 600,000 yuan [about $87,800], and the provisions call for investigation into any case that involves a loss of above 200,000 yuan [about $29,200].
ChinaAid, May 12, 2010 -
HENAN — On the morning of April 25, 2010, seven or eight police officers raided the Sunday gathering of Christians of Chimei Town House Church in Neixiang county, Nanyang, Henan province. They photographed, fingerprinted, and registered all the believers there, then took away nine people, without any written authorization Later, seven of the members were respectively placed on 5-day, 10-day and 15-day administrative detentions. Their families have not received Notices of Detention, nor have the police given receipts for the “living expense” payments they demanded and received from the families.
That morning, 20 to 30 Christians were holding Sunday worship at the residence of Sun Bingwu in Jiadao Village, Chimei Town. At about 10:30 AM, as the service was coming to an end, seven or eight people came in and claimed they were police officers from Neixiang County Public Security Bureau and Chimei Police Station. They were not in police uniform, but they showed their identifications and put a halt to the meeting.
After they took photos of the site of the gathering and recorded the information of the Christians there, they took nine people to the Chimei Town Police Station. These people included one man (Chen Fengming, the church’s speaking pastor) seven women (Qin Gaiying, Bie Xiumin, Zhang Xiugai, Chai Aiqin, He Xiaocai, Liu Xiue, and Wang Yunge) and Bie Xiumin’s 4-year-old son.
That afternoon, the police brought Bie Xiumin’s mother-in-law to the police station to take her 4-year-old grandson home. He cried when they were leaving. Mercifully the police released his mother so she could go home with him.
Bie Xiumin and her little son were the only ones allowed to go free without a greater cost than trauma and being illegally seized……. (more details from China Aid)
(Reuters) – A U.S. jury convicted a Chinese national of trying to illegally smuggle to China sensitive communications gear used by the U.S. military and intelligence agencies, the Justice Department said on Wednesday.
Chi Tong Kuok, from Macau, China, was convicted on four counts related to attempting to have the equipment sent to Macau and Hong Kong. The equipment included an encryption device for Internet communications for the U.S. military made under contract by the National Security Agency, prosecutors said.
Additionally, he tried to buy a GPS device used by the U.S. and NATO militaries and a device used by American and NATO forces to load encryption software into their communications devices, they said.
U.S. law bans the export of such devices without permission from the State Department.
A San Diego jury convicted Kuok on all four counts late on Tuesday, including conspiracy to violate U.S. export laws, smuggling, and money laundering. He could face up to 45 years in prison. Sentencing has been scheduled for August 23.
After receiving a tip from a British company in 2006, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents spent three years undercover in a bid to catch Kuok, who used several aliases and e-mail addresses to try to buy the equipment……. (more details from The Reuters)
2. Large wave of resignation from the Chinese Communist Party is happening
More than 100 million Chinese have quit the CCP till Oct. 2011, people are continue quitting at a rate of 50,000 to 70,000 per day.
- The Tuidang Movement Milestone: 100 Million Chinese Hearts Changed
10.Videos: Tiananmen Square Massacre - June. 4, 1989
Thousands of students shot to death by tanks and soldiers on Tiananmen square in capital city Beijing in 1989
Reporters Without Borders said in it’s 2005 special report titled “Xinhua: the world’s biggest propaganda agency”, that “Xinhua remains the voice of the sole party”, “particularly during the SARS epidemic, Xinhua has for last few months been putting out news reports embarrassing to the government, but they are designed to fool the international community, since they are not published in Chinese.”
Shocking Documentary (must watch): Buried– Earth Quake, From 1976 Tangshan to 2008 Sichuan Wenchuan in China (video)
May 16, 2010
chinaview China, Commentary, disaster, earthquake, history, News, People, Politics, Science, Social, TV / film, Video, World 4 Comments
Buried, a Documentary (With English and Chinese caption) produced by Wang Libo, won the prize in Chinese Documentary Exchange Week in 2009.
Director’s Statement: The 1976 Tangshan Earthquake left a lot of open questions. Before the earthquake, seismological personnel in Tangshan and quake experts in Beijing had already warned of an imminent quake. But in the end, more than 240,000 people had to pay with their lives, causing a shocking tragedy of massive proportions. Why did this happen? In the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake about 100,000 people were killed. Faced with terrible quakes, the human race repeats tragedy time and time again. It is terrible that people can only offer money and bland tears after the disaster – when better preparation could have saved lives. A nation has to courageously face its own weakness to remain hopeful.
The film has been cut into 11 videos and posted on Youtube which you can find from following link:
http://www.youtube.com/user/syd1039#p/u/12/ssnaL35-CL0
Video 1: (With English and Chinese caption)
All 11 pieces of the video can be found from:
http://www.youtube.com/user/syd1039#p/u/12/ssnaL35-CL0
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