China: 2,000 Church Members in Shanghai Hunted, Interrogated and Threatened after Stand-off with Police

China Aid, November 13, 2009 -

SHANGHAI–Tensions reached a high when Public Security officials sealed off the doors and locked down Wanbang Missionary Church the evening of Thursday, November 12. Church members banded together at the doors as  officials barred the entrance to protect the associate pastor as he tried to leave the premises. PSB officials blocked their way, creating a standoff until church members agreed to leave after meeting for a short prayer service. Under the protection of the crowd, the associate pastor of Wanbang Church was able to escape.

Preparing to welcome President Obama, local Shanghai authorities have  launched a city-wide man-hunt for the members of Wanbang church, endeavoring to disband all religious meetings with the efforts of multiple agencies, including PSB, RAB, SSB (State Security Bureau) and Offices from District, Building management, and more. Already, many of the 2000 members have been severely questioned and threatened. These attacks followed the PSB’s unsuccessful attempts to break up the church gathering the morning of Sunday, November 8th, in their building and the first attack on November 2nd. Authorities broke in and banned the church on Sunday, November 2 (See the press release), (the first attack since banning the church in February) and issued the formal Notice of Abolishment to senior Pastor Cui Quan on Tuesday, November 10. All of seven church pastors also received official notices declaring their pastoral status as “self-claimed illegal preachers” and were ordered to stop their “illegal religious activities.”

The church website was also forcibly shut down by government censorship services the morning of November 8, to prevent any negative reporting on human rights prior to President Obama’s visit to China. Pastor Cui’s cell phone number is “no longer in service.” These restrictions are another step in clamping down on all communication of churches in the days before President Obama visits China, illustrating how bold the Chinese have become in blatantly ignoring religious freedom and human rights. Due to the intense central government-led crackdown, ChinaAid has been unable to obtain a copy of the Notice of Abolishment or any formal documentation of these attacks. Click here for a translation of the Chinese report on the incident, 11/12. …… (more details from China Aid)

Collusion of officials and merchants to expropriate farmland in East China

Donna Ware & Han Fei, SOH Radio Network, Nov. 8, 2009-

Some farmers in Wuhu City released an online petition, accusing the local government of collusion with an influential merchant. The merchant is accused of selling over 6.6 acres of agricultural land at a low price, causing many farmers to lose their land and become unemployed. The sale was also made without proper approval to convert farmland into an entertainment venue.

On November 4th, two villagers in Shi Wei Township spoke with a reporter about the collusion between officials and developers who had seized their farmland.

One villager named Chan angrily told a reporter that he had been appealing for a solution from authorities over the years. The local Letters & Complaints Bureau not only ignored his appeal, but used threats to intimidate him so that he would not petition again.

(Recording) “I have been appealing to the authorities. In January 2009, I also applied to the Complaints Bureau in Wuhu City, without response. Without my consent, the local government sold my private land to Tengfei Jewelry Company. I had not received any kind of compensation for my private land, the ownership of which evidenced by relevant documents. It is a system to protect farmland and, apparently, our agricultural fields were expropriated. The field is established under our scientific research and was forcibly taken away, which is the collusion of official and merchant. I appealed to the Wuhu City Complaint Bureau that intimidated me, saying: “You would be arrested if you were in the Complaint Bureau”. The Deputy of Wuhu City Complaints Office also said threateningly, “You should be concerned about your petty life”. Because I was afraid, I dared not air the issue.”

Villager Chan also revealed that corruption of local authorities has become very serious since 2002 when a succession of large blocks of farmland was illegally occupied. Commoners appealed to higher authorities, but the government merely acts carries out its routines with little real interest……. (more details from SOH)

70-year-old Property Rights Advocate Sentenced 2-Year for of Possessing State Secrets

Human Rights in China, November 06, 2009 -

On November 6, 2009, in a closed trial, a local court in Zhejiang Province sentenced a 70-year-old petitioner, Lin Dagang (林大刚), to two years in prison for illegally possessing state secrets – namely, a document issued by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development (formerly the Ministry of Construction) that in fact had been circulating on the Internet. Lin has been a long-time petitioner and core member of a nationwide group seeking the return of ancestral houses that the government took possession of in 1956.

Lin’s wife, Wang Yuyan (王玉燕), and son, Lin Feng (林峰), told Human Rights in China (HRIC) that the trial in the Jiaojiang District People’s Court in Taizhou lasted about two hours. They were not permitted to attend. They said they waited with other petitioners outside the courtroom and heard Lin vigorously defending himself. According to one of Lin’s lawyers, the judge announced the ruling and sentence orally, and the court will issue a written decision within five days.

Lin is a core member of the Nationwide Property Owners of State-maintained Rental Houses (全国经租房业主), a group seeking the return of what is known as “state-maintained rental houses” (经租房). In 1956, as part of what it called the “socialist transformation” of the country, the Chinese government took over privately-owned houses and began renting them out, giving the original owners 20-40 percent of the rent as compensation. The government stopped paying the owners in 1966, the year the Cultural Revolution began. Since the late 1970s, owners of those houses have been asking for their properties back and have met with resistance.

Lin was first detained on June 11, 2009. The authorities accused him of illegally possessing the “Notice Regarding the Appropriate Handling of ‘State-Maintained Rental Houses,’” a 2006 directive from the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development instructing the relevant local and provincial government bureaus to keep these houses as state properties, and to “intensify” the monitoring of petitioners, particularly those organized in groups, so that they can be “controlled.” The directive also states that without permission by the Ministry of Construction and the Party’s Central Propaganda Department, reporting and any interviews on issues relating to the “state-maintained rental houses” are forbidden.

“In 2007, the Chinese legislature adopted the Property Law, which guarantees the protection of private property,” said Sharon Hom, HRIC executive director. “But instead of implementing the law, the authorities are punishing private property owners seeking to assert their rights. This raises serious questions about whose property rights are being protected.”

- Human Rights in China

Death Summons— Man Dies at Police Station in East China

By Gu Qing’er, Epoch Times,  Staff Nov 6, 2009 -

Eight police officers arrived at Jiang Ming’s home in Qindao City, Shandong Province on Sept. 15. Jiang, 38 years old and healthy, was summoned to the Badaguan Police Station to sign documents related to an incident from 2006 that had never been closed. Two hours later he was dead, leaving behind a young wife, a 9-year-old son, and elderly parents with illnesses.

Jiang’s wife, Gao Lianqiao, had asked to accompany him to the police station but was not allowed. Worried, she went to the station about an hour after he was taken.

“I found my husband tied with iron rods to an interrogation chair with his head hanging down. I called his name, but he did not respond. He was drooling and appeared to be having a convulsion.

“I asked the police why he was still handcuffed. I wanted them to hurry and take him to a hospital, but they said they would have to wait until after their lunch break to get permission for hospitalization from the Municipal Public Security Bureau. My husband was dying! I was crying very loudly,” Gao said.

Deputy director of the police station Chen Wei responded to Gao by pounding the table and yelling, “I’ll be responsible if he dies,” Gao recounted. She said Chen only agreed to send Jiang to a hospital after Jiang’s older brother and sister-in-law arrived and began calling higher authorities with their cell phones.

But Jiang was not carried to the police car. Instead, police grabbed his arms and dragged him to the car. As the family watched in horror, he stopped breathing and died. Family members said blood was coming out from his ears and liquid from his nose. There were bruises all over his body.

Though there were hospitals in the vicinity, he was taken to a hospital far away where little was done to resuscitate him, according to Gao.

Suspecting he was tortured to death, Jiang’s family has been appealing to various government departments. All the local public security departments, administrative departments, and courts have refused to become involved, and no suspects have been arrested.

“Our son is only 9 years old. He was doing very well at school, but now he doesn’t talk much and cries whenever someone mentions his father’ s death. My mother-in-law suffers from heart disease and cries all day. My father-in-law is diabetic. The whole family is now in chaos,” Gao said……. (more details from The Epochtimes)

China Activist Denied Entry to Shanghai Eight Times

By Li Benzheng, Epoch Times Staff, Nov 5, 2009 -

TOKYO— Prominent Chinese dissident and participant in the June 4, 1989 democracy movement, Feng Zhenghu has been trying to return to China—unsuccessfully. Nov. 4 marked the eighth time he was forced out of his own country.

Feng had emigrated to Japan after being persecuted by the Chinese regime following his participation in the student movement. He returned to Shanghai in 1999 where he started a consulting firm. The Shanghai Public Security Bureau charged him with “operating an illegal business” in 2001. At that time he served a three-year prison term. Now he has become a prominent defender of human rights in China, prompting officials to monitor and even kidnap him in the past. (See Amnesty press release)

‘I Used My Last Bit of Strength’

Feng told an Epoch Times reporter that he flew out of Tokyo the evening of Nov. 3 on an All Nippon Airways (ANA) plane, landing in Shanghai Nov. 4. Chinese police promptly forced him back onto the ANA plane and refused to allow the plane to depart without him, ultimately delaying the flight for over an hour.

“I used up my last bit of strength,” Feng said of his struggle with the Shanghai ground staff of ANA who forced him back into his seat. Police videotaped the scene including Feng’s efforts to reason with the police. Feng remarked that the tape would serve as evidence of the crime against him. Other passengers were also witnesses to the scene.

Back at the Narita Airport in Tokyo, Feng refused to process entry papers and informed the Japanese authorities of his ordeal. He donned a t-shirt with “Kidnapped” on the front and “Injustice” on the back and displayed banners which read, “A citizen forced out of his own country,” and “Shame on Beijing.”

“Why would the Japanese authorities go through all the trouble to deport illegal immigrants and at the same time force a person who wants to go back to his country to stay in Japan?” Feng asked. He hopes the Japanese authorities will refuse to cooperate with the Chinese officials.

On Nov 4, Feng spent his first night at the Narita Airport. He has said that he will not re-enter Japan.

The last time Feng had tried to return to China was on June 7. At that time, the staff at the airport inspection station kept him on the plane by saying he was a suspected carrier of bird flu.

- The Epochtimes

Shanghai Church Banned by State Agencies

China Aid, Nov. 4, 2009-

SHANGHAI– On November 2, more than 30 officials from Shanghai Municipal Public Security Bureau, the State Administration on Religious Affairs (SARA) and two other government agencies forced entry into the Wanbang Missionary Church of Shanghai. They singled out Cui Quan, the senior pastor of the church, and the leaders from the different agencies interrogated him one by one. They accused the church of holding an illegal gathering and ordered the members to cease their meetings indefinitely. Meanwhile, Shanghai Municipal Public Security Bureau police stations around the city conducted interrogated other major church partners affiliated with Wanbang Missionary Church. They police officers unanimously concluded that the church was meeting illegally, and they subsequently threatened the church leaders, banning the church, and forbidding them from meeting in the future.

Wanbang Missionary Church came under fire by the local authorities earlier this year, when SARA officials tried to disband the 4th Seminar of the Chinese Urban House Church Pastors Fellowship, hosted by the church in February. Under the threat of cancellation, Wanbang Church moved their conference to another location, and later discovered their landlord was being pressured to terminate their rental contract withing the following 30 days. View the Press Release from February 14, 2009.

Wanbang Missionary Church of Shanghai has a congregation of about 1,200 and is one of the most influential urban house churches in China.  The brazen persecution of the church by the government is a sign that the government’s persecution of house churches is escalating.

- China Aid

China: Shanghai Rights Activist Beaten and Detained Following Protest

Human Rights in China, October 29, 2009 -

Human Rights in China (HRIC) has learned that Shen Peilan (沈佩兰), a Shanghai-based forced-evictions petitioner, has been detained. Shen’s husband, Cai Jingcheng(蔡净成), told HRIC that Shen was taken away from their home at 3:00 p.m. on October 29 by officers from the public security bureau of Maqiao Township in Pudong New Area, Shanghai. Based on information provided by Shen before her detention, she was beaten by police officers on October 27 when she went to visit rights defense lawyer Zheng Enchong (郑恩宠). Shen had participated in a rally on Nanjing Road in Shanghai on October 23, 2009, to protest the conviction of another Shanghai petitioner, Duan Chunfang (段春芳), who had been sentenced to 18 months in prison. Prior to that, just before October 1, Shen went to Beijing.

Cai told HRIC that the police at Maqiao Township public security bureau said that Shen is forbidden to go to Beijing, and that she was being detained for ten days for “disturbing public order.” Cai said that the police refused to give him any official documentation regarding the detention. …… (more from Human Rights in China)

East China Petitioner Gets One Year and Six Months in Prison for “Obstructing Official Business”

Human Rights in China (HRIC), October 23, 2009 -

Human Rights in China (HRIC) learned that on October 23, 2009, Duan Chunfang (段春芳), a Shanghai petitioner and Charter ’08 signer, was sentenced by a Shanghai court to one year and six months in prison for “obstructing official business.” Duan’s family members said that this is an unjust ruling and that they plan to appeal. Duan has been petitioning the authorities for redress for the 2007 death of her brother, Duan Huimin (段惠民), while he was serving a Reeducation-Through-Labor (RTL) sentence.

In 2000, Duan Chunfang and her brother began petitioning the authorities after her home was demolished by the government and he lost his job. On November 3, 2006, while petitioning in Beijing, they were beaten by around ten men – including one named Gao Weiguo – who had been sent by Shanghai authorities to Beijing to intercept petitioners. The brother and sister were brought back to Shanghai, and Duan Huimin was subsequently sentenced to 13 months of Reeducation-Through-Labor (RTL). He received no medical treatment in detention and his condition worsened. On December 31, 2006, the authorities decided to let Duan serve the remainder of his sentence outside of RTL facilities. While being escorted home by RTL officials, Duan asked to be taken to a hospital but was abandoned in the street instead. After his family retrieved him, he died two days later.

Following Duan Huimin’s death, Duan Chunfang continued to go to Beijing, to seek reparations for her demolished home and justice for her brother death. She also signed Charter ‘08. On June 23, 2009, Duan Chunfang and her husband were surrounded and beaten by a dozen or so policemen. Her arm was injured in several places. On July 3, she was detained and accused of assaulting policemen. She was later formally arrested on suspicion of “obstructing official business.”…… (more from Human Rights in China)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

- The Epochtimes

(photo) China: longest total solar eclipse during the 21st century

The solar eclipse of 22 July 2009 was the longest total solar eclipse during the 21st century, not to be surpassed until June 2132.[1] It lasted a maximum of 6 minutes and 39 seconds off the coast of Southeast Asia,[2] causing tourist interest in eastern China, India and Nepal.[2][3][4] This was the second in the series of three eclipses in a one-month period, being book-ended by two minor penumbral lunar eclipses, first on July 7 and last on August 6.  (wikipedia)

Three Lawyers Detained for Defending Falun Gong Practitioners in China

(Chinese Human Rights Defenders- July 15, 2009)  CHRD learned today that three lawyers in different locations in Northeastern China have been detained in recent weeks by local authorities. The three, Liu Ruiping (刘如平), Wang Yonghang (王永航), and Wang Ping (王平), who have previously been harassed because of their work defending Falun Gong practitioners, were seized between July 2 and July 8 in Shandong and Liaoning Provinces.

“As these detentions come on the heels of efforts to punish human rights lawyers around the country by denying them renewal of their lawyers’ licenses, we are concerned that these actions may mark the further deterioration of the situation of human rights lawyers in China,” said Renee Xia, CHRD’s International Director.

On July 2, Liu Ruping (刘如平), a lawyer from Changqing District, Jinan City, Shandong Province’s Shuntian Law Firm (舜天律师事务所) who has represented many Falun Gong practitioners, was kidnapped outside of his apartment block by officers from the Public Security Bureaus (PSB) of Jinan City and Changqing District as well as officials from the Jinan City Party Committee. Liu’s home was also searched. On July 6, Liu’s relatives went to the office of the Changqing District Party Committee demanding to know Liu’s whereabouts. However, officials declined to divulge any details. Liu’s family has not received any official documents regarding his detention or the search of his home. It is believed that he is currently held at a black jail specialized in detaining Falun Gong practitioners and petitioners in Liuchangshan, Jinan City.

On July 4, about twenty plainclothes policemen from the National Security Unit, Shahekou Sub-division and Jinxiu Police Station of the Dalian City PSB barged into the home of Wang Yonghang (王永航), a lawyer from Dalian City, Liaoning Province. Without presenting any legal documents, the policemen searched Wang’s home, held Wang’s wife down to the floor and restrained Wang’s 80-year-old mother. The policemen briefly waved some form of legal document in front of Wang’s wife, asking her to sign it, but she refused.

Wang and his wife were both taken away; his wife was released the next day.  When she went to the police station on July 6, police presented a criminal detention warrant stating that her husband had been detained in accordance with Article 300 of the Criminal Code. Article 300 stipulates the crime of “forming or using superstitious sects or secret societies or weird religious organizations or using superstition to undermine the implementation of the laws and administrative rules and regulations of the State”, and is regularly used against Falun Gong practitioners. Wang is believed to be held in Dalian City PSB Detention Center.

On July 8, Wang Ping (王平), a lawyer from Tianzhengping Law Firm (天正平律师事务所), Pingdu City, Shandong Province was also reportedly kidnapped by the local police. Details about Wang’s apprehension are currently unclear. Reportedly, Wang was also held for representing Falun Gong practitioners in Shandong Province.

Background

Liu Ruping has been practicing law since 1993, and has been a member of the Shuntian Law Firm since 2003…… (more details from Chinese Human Rights Defenders)

China: 13-storey apartment building collapse in Shanghai, Kiled one worker

a toppled 13-storey apartment building that buried one worker in Shanghai June 27, 2009

Report from Reuters

Christian Attorney Zheng Enchong Interrogated and Tortured by China Police

ChinaAid, June 23, 2009 -

SHANGHAI – On June 17 Christian human rights attorney, Zheng Enchong, was interrogated and tortured for nine hours by Public Security Bureau (PSB) officers because of his work defending Chinese citizens whose land has been confiscated by the government. During his detention, he was beaten, stripped and cigarettes were held to his lips and eyelids. Zheng Enchong has filed a written protest and plans to file a complaint to the central government.

According to ChinaAid sources, Zheng Enchong was summoned by four officers from Zhabei District Branch of Shanghai Municipal Public Security Bureau on June 17. During his detention, officers took turns slapping him five or six times in the face, and hitting him three times in the back of his head. Police also held lit cigarettes to his lips and eyelids. Later, the officers pulled him from the seat and took off all his clothing, except his underwear. Police threw his personal belongings, including: money, keys, pen, and a Bible and some cookies to the floor. Then the PSB officers proceeded to search his body.

Authorities compiled a written record of the interrogation without interrogating Zheng at all, and, then, wanted him to sign it. Instead, he wrote down a statement on the record describing his violent treatment by the PSB. He denounced authorities for using the same method on him as they use on Falun Gong practitioners.

Attorney Zheng has been summoned by officials nearly 20 times, and his house searched twice in the past two and a half months. In 2003,  he filed a major legal case exposing how government officials conspired with Zhou Zhengyi, “the richest man in Shanghai,” to illegally confiscate homes for demolition. Since that time, Zheng Enchong has been continually harassed and persecuted by Chinese officials. He was sentenced to three years in prison for “illegally providing secrets to overseas entities.” The charge related to two faxes regarding workers’ protests that Zheng was accused of sending to Human Rights in China, a non-profit organization. Zheng has also been beaten by authorities four times, so badly that he now has difficulty walking.

“As an internationally well-known Christian human rights lawyer, Attorney Zheng has always defended the poor and vulnerable,” said Bob Fu, president of ChinaAid and a friend of Mr. Zheng and his family. “The repeated harassment and torture against such a conscientious rights defender demonstrates the Shanghai authorities’ total disregard to citizens’ basic human rights. We encourage the international community to continue to press the Chinese authorities to stop these hideous acts and to hold the abusers accountable”.

ChinaAid calls on the international community to contact the Chinese Ambassador urge that the violence against Zheng Enchong end, and that government respect and uphold human rights according to the Chinese Constitution and international agreements:

Ambassador Zhou Wenzhong
3505 International Place, NW, Washington, D.C. 20008
Tel: (202) 495-2000
Fax: (202) 588-9760

- ChinaAid

China Attorney: “Falun Gong is a role model for society”

By Li Zhen, Epoch Times Staff,  May 13, 2009 -

In the last week, Shanghai-based human rights attorney, Zheng Enchong, was called into the police station three times, and had his home ransacked. He has been called to the police station a total of 56 times now.

Zheng kept his calm and sense of humor. He told The Epoch Times, “On May 4, I was called to the police station the 54th time. Maybe on June 4 it will be the 64th time, on July 20 it will be the 72nd time, and on October 1 it will be the 100th time.”

The above are all “politically sensitive” dates under the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). June 4 is the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre; July 20 is the 10th anniversary of the beginning of the persecution of Falun Gong; and October 1 is the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.

Phone calls to Zheng have also become difficult. Police repeatedly take away his cell phones, yet appellants who have admired Zheng for his work, have continued to give him new cell phones. He also receives a large number of harassing calls from the police. On May 9, Zheng told The Epoch Times, “They usually ransack my house on Wednesdays. This week, they called me to the station on Wednesday instead of ransacking my home. They were trying to lower my guard. They came on Thursday instead and brought testing equipment. They even searched the hallways, but they didn’t find anything.”

He said with chagrin, “They wanted to find my communication devices, namely my cell phones, in order to block my communication to the outside world. In April, they came three times and took away more than a dozen cell phones. But this time, they didn’t take away anything.

“They thought I wasn’t receiving any help. A lot of appellants are actually helping me. I have been able to keep contact with the outside world. I think it’s supposed to be this way.”

Despite being closely monitored and harassed by the CCP, Zheng wanted to send his greetings to the founder of Falun Gong, Mr. Li Hongzhi, in honor of May 13, World Falun Dafa Day.

He said, “As a Christian, I would like to send my greetings to Mr. Li Hongzhi for his upcoming birthday on May 13. I would also like to congratulate all Falun Gong practitioners [for International Falun Dafa Day]. Ten years ago, the CCP banned Falun Gong and began the persecution. From what my friends and I can see, Falun Gong’s greatest contribution was to invent software that broke through the Chinese regime’s Internet censorship.

“In Shanghai, such software is quite common now. This has enabled us to see the world outside of the CCP’s control. From my personal perspective, I think Falun Gong practitioners are respected because of their high morality. Both in China and overseas, they have persevered in their faith. The Epoch Times, Sound of Hope Radio, and NTDTV have reported a large number of human rights abuses in China. This was quite encouraging. In addition, the Divine Performing Arts have brought the true Chinese culture to the world. I think this is something that no other group can accomplish. Falun Gong provided moral inspirations and is a role model for society.”

- The Epochtimes

FDA Recalls Dangerous Face Paints Made In China

Matthew Borghese, AHN Editor, May 13, 2009 -

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - The Shanghai Color Art Stationery Company and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are issuing a recall for children’s face paint that may be harmful when used.

The FDA issued a recall after exposure to the product led to “rashes, itchiness, burning sensation, and swelling where the face paints were applied.” The FDA tested the paint and found “significant microbial contamination” in “most of the products.”

The products were sold by Fun Express Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Oriental Trading Co. The colors effected by the recall include blue, purple, red, orange, black and green.

- AHN

China: Retired Dissident Professor Beaten to Ribs Broken

Human Rights in China, April 06, 2009-

On April 4, 2009, Sun Wenguang (孙文广), 75, retired professor of Shandong University, was brutally beaten by five unidentified men as he returned from paying respects to memory of the late Zhao Ziyang, former General Secretary of the Communist Party of China who visited students on Tiananmen Square during the 1989 democracy movement, and of Zhang Zhixin, a dissident killed during the Cultural Revolution.

In the early morning of Qing Ming, the traditional day of remembering and honoring the dead, Sun defied university authorities to make the trip to Yingxiong Mountain (英雄山) in Jinan, Shandong Province. The police sent nine vehicles to follow Sun’s taxi. He was attacked at around 10:00 a.m. The attackers threw him down a two-meter drop and then beat him for over ten minutes, breaking three of his ribs. He was brought to Jinan’s Qilu Hospital (齐鲁医院). At present he is unable to turn his head but is conscious and reportedly in stable condition.

Between 1966 and 1981, Sun Wenguang was detained and imprisoned multiple times for a total of more than ten years for expressing his opinions on political issues. In the days leading up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Sun was put under 24-hour surveillance. Unidentified persons scrawled “Traitor, Rapist” on the walls of his home, and his home was searched by state security police, who seized two computers, manuscripts, and books published in Hong Kong. In March 2009, Sun sued Shandong University for deducting from his pension after Sun refused to sell his house at the price the university offered, which he claimed was only one-tenth of its market value. The case has not yet reached a resolution.

“Human Rights in China condemns the violence against Sun Wenguang,” said Sharon Hom, executive director of HRIC. “This deplorable act, committed in broad daylight and clear view of the police, against a man for remembering a former Party secretary on Qing Ming, calls into serious question officials’ professed commitment to building a society that puts people first.” HRIC urges the authorities to undertake a thorough investigation of the crime and bring those responsible to justice.

- Human Rights in China

Intel to close China Shanghai plant amid global crisis: statement

SHANGHAI (AFP) — The world’s largest chip maker Intel Corp said Thursday it would shut down an assembly and test factory in Shanghai and move it to a city in China’s far west due to the global economic crisis.

The move will affect about 2,000 employees, who will be offered jobs in the western city of Chengdu or other Chinese locations where Intel operates, the US-based company said in a statement.

The consolidation, which will take place over the next 12 months, came “as a result of current economic conditions”, the statement said.

“The economic downturn has had an enormous impact on the semiconductor sector, forcing companies to take measures to cut costs,” said Liu Liang, an analyst with Industrial Securities, according to state-run Xinhua news agency.

“Moving operations from Shanghai, a high-cost city, to a cheaper place like Sichuan might be an effective way to cope with the financial crisis,” he said.

Intel plans to keep a research and development centre in Shanghai, which will also remain the China headquarters for the company.

It said it was still going ahead with the construction of a plant in the northeast Chinese city of Dalian. The cost of this plant was previously given as 2.5 billion dollars.

Intel last month announced plans to close facilities in Malaysia, the Philippines and the United States. Those moves were expected to affect between 5,000 and 6,000 employees worldwide, the company said.

- AFP, Feb. 5, 2009

In China, out-of-work migrants destabilizing

Anna Mehler Paperny, Chronicle Foreign Service, the San Francisco Chronicle, Friday, January 23, 2009-

On a recent Sunday morning, the scene on the K290 train heading west from Shanghai to China’s rural heartland was one of chaos.

The hard-seat cars teemed with passengers, many of them migrant workers fighting to place their baggage in overhead compartments or find space to sit in the aisles.

Chun yun, or spring festival transport, is the world’s largest human migration, involving hundreds of millions of people annually traveling home before the Lunar New Year. But this year, migrants returning home before the Year of the Ox begins Monday got an early start after hundreds of thousands of workers lost their city jobs.

Work drying up

“There is no work,” said Yang Nan, who returned to Sichuan province last month with her husband, Gou Zong Hai, and their 10-month-old daughter, Zhao Yin, after working in the eastern city of Wuxi. The occasional construction work that Gou relied on to feed the family dried up during an economic crisis that is closing factories throughout China’s industrial heartland.

As global recession slows demand for cheap consumer goods – whose export has fueled China’s breakneck economic growth for nearly three decades – the government is facing waves of factory closures and layoffs. In 2008, 670,000 small and medium-size businesses closed, laying off an estimated 10 million people, mostly migrant workers, according to the ministry of human resources and social security.

The government of agricultural Henan province announced that 3.7 million jobless migrants recently returned. In industrial Guangdong province, by contrast, more than 600,000 migrants have left for home, and the provincial governor says another 1 million could leave in coming months as more businesses close or lay off employees.

Some observers are worried that an army of unemployed workers could spark widespread social unrest.

Destabilizing force

“If these people organize, it could be quite different than what happened in ‘89,” said Melissa Thomas, a partner in the Shanghai office of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, an international law firm that advises foreign companies doing business in China, referring to the pro-democracy demonstrations in Tiananmen Square that left as many as 3,000 dead or injured. “These are people who feel they have nothing to lose, because there’s nothing for them. The government is really aware of that.” …… (more details from the San Francisco Chronicle)