China activists clamour for blind lawyer Chen Guangcheng

BEIJING — Chinese activists, organised through the Internet, have stepped up efforts to visit a blind rights lawyer who they said on Friday has been held under illegal house arrest for over a year.

Activists have descended on Dongshigu village in eastern China’s Shandong province calling for the release of Chen Guangcheng, a prominent rights lawyer who was released into house arrest from an over four-year prison sentence last September.

The self-taught blind lawyer was jailed in 2006 for “creating a disturbance” after campaigning against forced abortions and sterilisations under China’s “one-child” family planning policy.

Chen has been championed by human rights organisations and his case has become one of China’s most documented example of alleged rights abuse.

Officials Blamed for Tax Riots in East China

Workers in the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang have hit out at excessive fees and fines heaped upon ordinary people by local officials, after the city was rocked by rioting over tax increases this week.

Textile workers in Zhejiang’s Huzhou city took to the streets, torching cars and smashing government buildings, after the government announced a rise in local taxes.

“”It was frightening, terrifying,” said a Huzhou resident surnamed Wu following two days of intense unrest in her hometown. “All the factories are closed, and the schools have halted classes too.”

Authorities sent large numbers of armed police into the city to quell the unrest, which was sparked by an announcement that a monthly tax on textile workers would rise from 250 yuan (U.S.$40) to 638 yuan (U.S$100) per person.

China orders crackdown on popular TV shows

Sick of tacky reality shows with egotistic wannabes? Tired of formulaic talent contests for shameless show-offs? If you feel the prime time schedules are packed with lowest common denominator viewing, you are not alone.

Chinese officials share your pain and have ordered a curb on popular entertainment shows. Out go sexy dating shows and lurid programmes on crime. In come art appreciation, astronomy and weekly “morality building shows”.

The new edict from the state broadcasting watchdog is expected to come into force on 1 January. Provincial channels will be allowed to show no more than two entertainment shows in the “golden time” between 7.30pm and 10pm, according to a report on the Chinese NetEase website. Particular types of programmes, such as dating shows, will be strictly limited; no more than 10 talent contests will be permitted nationwide per year, and each must be of a different kind.

The Price of Yahoo! Sale to China- Free Expression ?

Yahoo, the most visited web portal in the United States, appears to be shopping for a parent company. Jack Ma, the Chairman of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., China’s largest e-commerce company, has recently said that he is “very interested” in acquiring the U.S.-based company. Such a shake-up may be just what Yahoo is looking for as a means of reviving growth within the company, but it also raises some significant concerns over the maintenance of Yahoo’s human rights obligations as a major repository and purveyor of information on the internet and an early cautionary example of the challenges companies face when pressed by governments to provide sensitive user information.

Seven years ago, at the Chinese government’s request, Yahoo’s Hong Kong office turned over information that led to the imprisonment of  journalist Shi Tao. Yahoo sought to make amends in various ways, including adopting internal policies and joining with other internet service providers and stakeholders to promote a common, rights-based approach to government demands. Human Rights First urges that any potential  Yahoo suitor commit to upholding Yahoo’s existing policies, and its commitments as a member of the Global Network Initiative, as a starting point.

Support Growing for Blind Chinese Rights Activist Chen Guangcheng

News about blind Chinese human rights activist Chen Guangcheng continues to trouble Chinese and international society.

Chen and his family have been under tight house arrest in their home in Dongshigu Village, Linyi County, Shandong Province since his release from prison over a year ago, with his young daughter Kesi prevented from attending school.

According to information on Twitter, authorities have finally allowed the child to attend a nearby elementary school as a result of public pressure and international attention.

At the same time, troubling rumors have surfaced in the village in early October that Chen may be dead.

An insider, who did not wish to be named, said that the “Free Guangcheng” movement on the Internet, and worldwide attention of Chen’s high profile case, have forced authorities in Linyi to allow Chen’s daughter to attend school. Under the escort of a guard, Kesi went to school on Oct. 16. Authorities also set up a temporary wooden shack at the school entrance to watch her.

He Peirong, a person concerned with Chen’s case, said she was glad about the decision to let Kesi go to school but hoped that the child will have a normal life and will not keep being escorted to and from school. She also hoped that authorities will openly report on Chen’s condition, his medical status and diet, and details about his daughter’s schooling.

Zeng Jinyan, wife of Hu Jia, an environmental and AIDS activist, said on Twitter that it was inappropriate and dangerous for a little girl to be escorted to school by a guard instead of her parent. Zeng referred to the daughter of missing attorney Gao Zhisheng, who was also escorted to and from school by police and suffered much humiliation. This created severe long-lasting mental problem for the girl.

In January and June, He Peirong visited Chen’s family in Dongshigu Village. She had her car smashed, was kidnapped and robbed.

Beginning Sept. 18, many other people, including some reporters, went to Dongshigu Village in groups. They were intercepted, beaten, and robbed.

These people wrote about their experiences on blogs and Twitter and gradually caught the public’s attention. Now there are many Chen supporters, include scholars, writers, businessmen, artists, and college students, according to He.

Meanwhile, Voice of America (VOA) reported on Oct. 5 that some villagers said Chen is already dead. Several media have picked up the news. VOA is attempting to verify Chen’s status.

Reggie Littlejohn, President of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers said in an Oct. 7 press release: “If Chen is dead, then the Chinese Communist Party is fully responsible for killing him through torture, denial of medical treatment and slow starvation. If Chen is alive, we urgently demand that he and his family be released immediately and unconditionally, for medical evaluation and treatment.”

Women’s Rights Without Frontiers and China Aid Association, among others, are leading an international effort to free Chen.

Chen, a self-taught lawyer and Nobel Peace Prize nominee, exposed the systematic use of forced abortion and involuntary sterilization as part of China’s One Child Policy. In August 2006, he was sentenced to four years and three months in prison where he was subjected to torture. After his release on Sept. 9, 2010, his family has been under house arrest that included beatings of Chen and his wife.

Time Magazine named Chen in its “2006 Top 100 People Who Shape Our World,” under the category of “Heroes and Pioneers.”

-Source: The Epochtimes

Chinese Toddler Yueyue’s Death Sparks Outrage

Wang Yue, named “Yueyue” by the media, was pronounced dead on Friday.

As seen in surveillance footage widely viewed online, the child was run over by two separate vehicles, then ignored by many passersby—until a garbage collector tried to come to her rescue. She was soon declared brain-dead, and then put in intensive care in the Guangzhou Military Hospital.

Now she has passed away, but not before provoking a firestorm of anger and criticism among Chinese citizens. Many are outraged over the way she was first brutalized—then apparently deliberately ignored.

Some are calling it a sign of moral failure.

[Yang Yaying, Beijing Resident]:
“Now people have become so selfish. So many people walked by but no one helped her because they didn’t want to get themselves into trouble.”

China’s Shame: Two year-old Wang Yue Crushed Under Two Vans, Left to Die

The shocking death of 2 year-old Wang Yue may succeed in bringing shame upon China for their violent treatment of their daughters. Perhaps Yueyue can revive the death-cold heart of her country and force the Chinese people to see her for what she was, a helpless child they trampled and threw away.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Catholic Online) – Little girls are worth next to nothing in China. Baby girls are killed on a regular basis in China. We all know that.

Yet little YueYue’s story may finally succeed in accomplishing what up to this point has not quite been done: bringing shame upon China for their abhorrent and violent treatment of their daughters.

The Chinese government routinely rounds up women who violate the 1-child policy by getting pregnant with a second child and forcibly aborts them, even well into the third trimester of pregnancy. Some mothers die along with their preborn babies. Sometimes they threaten and beat up fathers and husbands who refuse to cooperate; they threaten families’ homes and businesses; in short, they destroy people’s lives in every way they can — literally. All for the sake of their evil, anti-human policies.

Has China lost its humanity- Yue Yue Incident

A little girl left bleeding to death on the side of the street after being struck by two goods vehicles, while 18 people passed her by and did nothing to help her.

A woman, six months pregnant, who died during a forced abortion to meet the terms of the one child policy of population control. These two incidents this week have left many people in China wondering aloud if rampant economic growth has come at the cost of the country’s humanity. Is China becoming more dehumanised as incomes increase?

On the social networks, the talk is collective responsibility for the scandals. “We are all passers-by,” one recently posted message read. The question is how this message of civic responsibility will go down with a generation reared on the principle that “to get rich is glorious”.

Yueyue, Chinese toddler struck in hit-and-run, reported brain dead (Video)

A Chinese toddler who was ignored by 18 passersby and left in the street after she was run over twice is now brain dead, doctors said Wednesday.

A state-run paper China Daily, however, is still confidently reporting that Yueyue is alive. Her “blood pressure and heart beat shows signs of stability,” their most recent story reads.

Is it possible that China’s censors are at work? It’s unclear, as state-run news agency Xinhua is reporting her death.

Either way, Yueyue’s story does not look good for the government.

The seven excruciatingly long minutes in which 18 people decide not to help a bleeding two-year-old girl lying in the road make China look like anything but the “harmonious society” President Hu Jintao has envisioned.

Chinese Artist Ai Weiwei Announced as Art World’s Most Powerful Figure

The dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, who shot to worldwide prominence this April when he was imprisoned by the Chinese authorities for 81 days for what were described as “economic crimes”, has been named the most powerful figure in the art world by Art Review magazine in its annual art “power 100 list”.

Mark Rappolt, editor of the magazine, said that Ai – who was No 13 on the list last year – had reminded the art world of its wider political role, as an agent of protest outside the sometimes inward-looking domain of galleries and museums.

“His activism has been a reminder of how art can reach out to a bigger audience and connect with the real world,” he said. “Institutions, while they are really important, can be great tombs.”

Chinese telecom firm tied to spy ministry- CIA: Beijing funded Huawei

A U.S. intelligence report for the first time links China’s largest telecommunications company to Beijing’s KGB-like intelligence service and says the company recently received nearly a quarter-billion dollars from the Chinese government.

The disclosures are a setback for Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd.’s efforts to break into the U.S. telecommunications market. The company has been blocked from doing so three times by the U.S. government because of concerns about its links to the Chinese government.

The report by the CIA-based Open Source Center states that Huawei’s chairwoman, Sun Yafang, worked for the Ministry of State Security (MSS) Communications Department before joining the company.

Chinese Maoists: “Long Live the Great Wall Street Revolution!”

News of the Occupy Wall Street protests have reached China with gusto this week, drawing a range of impassioned—if puzzled—responses across the political spectrum. The narrow band of Chinese nationalists who yearn for the days of Mao have discovered an appealing “revolutionary spirit” in American political life. In a piece proclaiming, “Long Live the Great Wall Street Revolution!” the reliably patriotic site called M4 suggests that, in a twist, the Chinese could learn something about protesting from Americans:

We should demand our government return to President Mao’s philosophy, stop privatization, and return to the true beliefs of the Communist Party. Stop practicing Marxism on the stage—with capitalism backstage. Capitalism is a dead end; there is no future for it. Fixing wrongdoings and returning to socialism is the only correct way!

One is tempted to see irony in the next sentence, but it is less a joke, I suspect, than a measure of how muddled Chinese political loyalties are these days: “Chinese government officials, wake up!” the nationalists add. “Take a look at what’s happening on Wall Street! Don’t be swept into the dustbin of history by the people, just as the autumn wind blows away the falling leaves!” (more from newyorker.com)