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)

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

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)

China manufacturing sector close to recession: CLSA

AFP, Jan 2, 2009-

SHANGHAI (AFP) — China’s manufacturing sector is close to a technical recession after output contracted at a record pace in December, a leading independent brokerage said Friday.

The CLSA China Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) which measures manufacturing activity nationwide, stood at 41.2 in December and although it was up from November’s 40.9, overall output still contracted, CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets said.

A reading above 50.0 means the manufacturing economy is expanding, while a reading below 50 indicates an overall decline.

The December figure represents the fifth contraction in a row, CLSA said.

The direction of China’s manufacturing sector reflects the overall direction of the world’s fourth-largest economy.

The PMI figures indicate a large manufacturing slowdown in the fourth quarter.

“Chinese manufacturing activity was very weak in December. Output contracted at a record pace, employment fell for the fifth month and work in hand declined,” said Eric Fishwick, head of CLSA Economic Research.

“With five back-to-back PMIs signalling contraction, the manufacturing sector, which accounts for 43 percent of the Chinese economy, is close to technical recession,” he said.

The World Bank has predicted that economic growth in China next year will slow to a 19-year low of 7.5 percent.

The PMI is based on data compiled from a monthly survey of purchasing executives in more than 400 manufacturing companies in various industries across the country.

- AFP

Industrial protests spread to China’s commercial capital Shanghai

By Channel News Asia’s China Correspondent Glenda Chong, Singapore, 10 December 2008 -

SHANGHAI: Recession-related worker unrest in China has spread to the country’s commercial capital.

Workers at a factory of Taiwan-owned, Singapore-listed Huan Hsin Holdings have refused to work since Monday due to salary issues.

Shanghai Yihsin Industry Company, which has six plants in Shanghai, is a wholly-owned unit of Huan Hsin Holdings.

Hundreds of factory workers maintained a peaceful protest outside the Yihsin factory in Shanghai’s south-western suburb of Minhang for the third straight day.

A worker said: “We rarely have any orders now. The workshops are all closed. We were told that we would be transferred to other factories. Our factory will be closed soon.”

The factory reportedly employs about 2,000 workers who are demanding for compensation, severance pay and legal benefits due to them.

Under labour laws enacted last year, employers in China have to pay workers a whole host of compensation allowances.

These include a so-called “high temperature” fee of no less than US$1.50 a day if they work in indoor temperatures of higher than 33 degrees Celsius. Those working the graveyard shift for 12 hours must also get an extra 60 US cents allowance.

The protesting workers said they have only been paid their basic salary of about US$140.

“We want our high temperature fees and night shift compensation. If they give us, we will go wherever they post us. It is just this simple,” one said.

Another added: “We will continue doing this. They should give us what is due. We don’t ask for extra.”

According to some workers, they were told in September that they would be paid, but have yet to see the money. They also said they have been threatened since they began their protest.

One of the factory workers showed footage recorded on her mobile phone, showing a scuffle with police. She also told Channel NewsAsia that some of her colleagues had been beaten up by gangsters on Monday.

The company’s secretary said they are dealing with the situation. A company spokesman also said production at the factory has not been suspended.

The electronics component company manufactures for Siemens, Sony and Lucent Technologies. Parent company Huan Hsin reported that net profits fell 86 per cent in the third quarter of this year to about US$500,000.

- Channel News Asia

China Students Report Their Professor as An Anti-Revolutionist for Criticizing the Authority

Epoch Times Staff,  Dec 4, 2008  -

Cartoon from http://new.qzone.qq.com/622007995/

Professor Yang Shiqun from Shanghai East China University’s Humanities department has been reported to the Chinese communist regime by his students for criticizing the authorities in class earlier in November. The authorities are now investigating him as a “anti-revolutionary” suspect.

“My boss informed me today that some students from my ‘Ancient Chinese’ class reported me to the Security Bureau and Board of Education for criticizing the government in class, and added that the case is already under investigation,” said Yang in his article titled ‘Students Reported Me as An Anti-Revolutionist.’  “It is pathetic that students will be so unscrupulous as to report a teacher as an anti-revolutionist.”

Yang recalled that he made comments pertaining to aspects of Chinese culture that relate to the class text.  He said he also occasionally referred to contemporary issues with negative comments on the regime. “I distinctly remember that two female students confronted me after class, tearfully accusing me of criticizing Chinese culture and the Chinese government,” he said.

To their accusation, Yang replied that he had the right to speak his mind, and explained that they did not have to take the class if such comments displease them.  “But they went behind my back and reported me and even accused me of other charges.  It was really surprising,” he said.

“It is ridiculous how something like this could happen in a university in the 21st century,” Yang said.

“Looking back on all the strange events that happened in Chinese schools recently, I pray for China and Chinese people. When will China wake up from its ignorance? When will its education system get back on the right track? When will Chinese students be able to think for themselves?”

His post has sparked intense discussions. Most remarked that they could not understand the actions of these two female students.

“I used to think that the days of people being charged of this sort of things were long gone together with the Cultural Revolution,” wrote Zhang Ming, a political critique, in response to the article. “Now I realize that I was too optimistic.  I’ve completely underestimated the effect the government has had on students and teachers.  Even today in an environment where harmony is emphasized, we still have a hostile society where people report on others for anti-revolutionist activity.”

- The Epochtimes: Shanghai Professor Denounced for Criticizing the Chinese Regime

China: Released Shanghai Rights Defenders Recount Cruel Treatments In Prisons

By Gu Qing’er, Epoch Times Staff , Dec 2, 2008 -

Shanghai petitioners unite to defend their rights. (The Epoch Times)

Shanghai rights defenders Ms. Mao Hengfeng, Mr. Du Yangming, and Mr. Tian Baocheng were recently released from prison. They recounted the cruel treatments they suffered in prison.

On Dec. 1, about 150 Shanghai petitioners held a welcome back party in a restaurant for Du Yangming and Tian Baocheng, and Mao Hengfeng, who was released two days before the others. They also mourned the death of another Shanghai rights defender Chen Xiaoming.

Some shouted, “Give me back my home. Give me back my property. We demand democracy and freedom. We oppose the Chinese Communist Party’s fascist dictatorship. We oppose the Chinese Communist Party’s cruel tortures. Down with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).”

Ms. Mao Hengfeng was dismissed from the soap factory where she worked in Shanghai in 1988 for refusing to abort her second pregnancy. She has been actively involved in opposing the CCP’s brutal “single child policy” for the past 20 years and has been appealing for this cause for over 10 years.

She was put in a mental hospital against her will three times, kept in detention centers three times, and was in a labor camp for a year and a half. On Jan. 12, 2007, she was again sentenced to serve two years and six months for a prison term. She was released on Nov. 29, 2008.

Ms. Mao endured many cruel tortures in prison and she held hunger strikes three times. She was stripped naked in public everyday for six months for refusing to wear a prison uniform. She was also subjected to different torture methods for over 50 days. She was tied and confined to a bed for over 20 days. She was injected with high dosages of unknown harmful drugs against her will in the hospital.

Mr. Du Yangming, 65, is a long time petitioner after he was forcefully evicted from his home. He was detained three times and sentenced to serve re-education through labor for one year and six months. He was arrested at home on June 2, 2006 and on Dec. 18, 2006, Shanghai’s Zhabei District People’s Court sentenced him to two years and six months in prison.

Mr. Tian Baocheng and his wife Zhang Cuiping were forcefully evicted from their home which is also a retail store in Shanghai’s prosperous Zhabei District. They were imprisoned twice for appealing to authorities in defense of their rights.

On July 8, 2006, Zhang Cuiping was again sentenced to a year and a half in a labor camp, while Tian Baocheng was sentenced to two and half years.

These petitioners are mostly older people who were forcefully evicted from their homes. They have been persisting in their appeals to the authorities to speak out about their rights to no avail.

Some were beaten, detained, sentenced, beaten to death, or died from complications. Some held hunger strikes, or were forced to jump from buildings, or were forced to commit suicide by slitting their wrists. Also, some were forced to become homeless and many families were broken up as a result.

- The Epochtimes

(part 2) Member of European Parliament Discusses Sensitive Issues With China Rights Lawyer in Shanghai

By Li Zhen, Epoch Times Staff, Nov 28, 2008 -(cont’d)

Mrs. Helga Truepel has her photograph taken with Shanghai petitioners at lawyer Zheng Enchong’s home. (The Epoch Times)

Member of the European Parliament Helga Truepel met with renowned Chinese human rights lawyer Zheng Enchong at his place of residence in Shanghai on November 25.

The CCP Should be Held Responsible for the Tibet Issue

When Truepel told Zheng that the European Parliament was in support of the Dalai Lama, Zheng gave his committed stance on the issue.

“I am a lawyer, said Zheng. “I know that in 1954 the CCP and the Dalai Lama reached seventeen agreements. Who tore up the agreements first? It was Mao Zedong, former CCP leader. According to the agreements, the social system in Tibet was to remain the same. The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) marched into Tibet only for defense. But after 1959, the CCP forced Tibet to change its social structures, which caused the Dalai to flee from his hometown. It is the CCP that broke the agreements.”

Truepel remarked that she was surprised at Zheng’s open attitude on the Tibet issue. Zheng said that many people hold similar viewpoints in China, but there are no channels available for them to express their opinions.

Falun Gong Broke Through China’s ‘Berlin Wall’

When Zheng was asked how he was still able to know current news, he explained that although the CCP has completely suppressed freedom of information, Falun Gong practitioners had developed software to break through the blockade, enabling Chinese people to look at overseas news.

“The Berlin Wall in China collapsed. Falun Gong did it.  They have provided us this special software, gifts from the Gods,” said Zheng.

Confirming the Quitting the CCP Movement

Zheng told Truepel about his story. Although he used to follow the CCP, he recently made a declaration of withdrawal from the Communist Young Pioneers and the Communist Youth League.

During the meeting Zheng opened his window and showed Truepel a wilderness of slum areas. “Five million migrant workers in Shanghai cannot afford to live in a ground level house, so they have to stay in these rickety chambers. It is the situation of China`s human rights. I hope you also visit Anhui, Sichuan and Henan Provinces for more information about human rights for China’s peasants.”

The 58-year old Zheng has advised more than 500 families displaced by Shanghai`s urban redevelopment project on their rights to fair compensation. In 2003, he was able to successfully initiate a public trial against Shanghai real-estate tycoon Zhou Zhengyi.

That same year, Zheng was sentenced to three years in prison under a trumped up charge of “betraying state secrets.” Since his release in 2006, he has been kept under house arrest and intense surveillance by the police.

Part 1 Part2

- The Epochtimes: Member of European Parliament Meets Chinese Human Rights Lawyer Zheng Enchong

(part 1) Member of European Parliament Discusses Sensitive Issues With China Rights Lawyer in Shanghai

By Li Zhen, Epoch Times Staff, Nov 28, 2008 -

Mrs. Helga Truepel, member of the European Parliament, has her photograph taken with Zheng Enchong, a famous Shanghai human rights lawyer at a two-hour meeting. (The Epoch Times)

Member of the European Parliament Helga Truepel met with renowned Chinese human rights lawyer Zheng Enchong at his place of residence in Shanghai on November 25. Mrs. Helga Truepel, German member of the European Parliament, was also a member of the Green Party.

During their two-hour meeting, they exchanged views on several sensitive issues including China’s human rights record, Tibet, Falun Gong, Internet freedom and the global Quitting the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) movement.

Originally, Truepel failed to meet with Hu Jia’s wife Zheng Jinyan in Beijing, due to the Chinese communist authorities’ interference.

Regime Withdrew Police to Create False Impression of ‘Freedom’

“At 10:09am Helga Truepel and a German translator knocked on my door. I found they were very nervous because they failed to meet Zeng Jinyan in Beijing two days ago and worried about if the same thing happened again,” remarked Zheng.

He continued to say that the police were specifically ordered to not interrupt their visit, and recounted how they left before the meeting began and returned when it concluded.

“Before they arrived at my house, all policemen around my home were gone abnormally at 8:00a.m. After Mrs. Helga and her translator left at 12:00pm, they appeared again. The government tried to create the false impression of my freedom.”

CCP Authorities are Concerned About Pressure from International Societies

Regarding being able to successfully meet with Truepel, Zheng commented, “First, the Chinese Communist regime felt pressure from the international society after the scandal about them hindering the woman MEP from meeting Zeng Jinyan was exposed. Secondly, recently the China-EU relationship has changed a lot. The French President agreed to meet with the Dalai Lama and the CCP requested they postpone the China-EU meeting in December.”

Zheng continued, “I do not think the Chinese communist regime has mercy on me. The Chinese government is worried about the world`s opinion, and the pressure from America, France and Germany.”

European Parliament Member Witnesses ‘Family Prison’

Truepel paid close attention to Zheng and his family. According to Zheng, he has remained under house arrest since he was released from prison. Since June 2006, Chinese police have kept Zheng under intense surveillance, assigning six cars and two motorcycle units to the task. Zheng said that usually twelve policemen work three shifts around the clock, but sometimes during sensitive days as many as seventy policemen are involved.

Zheng showed Truepel two surveillance cameras mounted by the police at his front door, and also told her that his phone line had been cut, but he was still required to pay the bill.  (to be cont’d)

Part 1 Part 2

- Original from The Epochtimes: Member of European Parliament Meets Chinese Human Rights Lawyer Zheng Enchong

China: Shanghai Authorities Blame Dead Students for Fire

Posted by Michael Anderson, Sound of hope radio, on Friday, November 21st, 2008 -

A week after a dormitory fire at Shanghai’s Commerce School which killed four female students, grieving parents are still waiting for a satisfactory explanation from the school and authorities about the true cause of the fire, as well as compensation issues. The fire broke out last Friday at the Shu-Hui School District, and officials have determined that the students caused the fire by using electric heating rods.

Mother of deceased student Chen Yu says that the public security office said that a heating rod was the cause, and did not say anything about responsibility, assistance from the government, plans or anything else. She says they are very helpless now and that they are suffering here while the children’s bodies are lying in the morgue. She says they were constantly told to wait and that there was no progress, and the families are very angered by this. She questions the safety of the dorms and that normally there would be a safety switch to stop the electric heating rods from running.

Zhang Zong, the uncle of Zhang Yan-ping who died in the fire says that fire investigators found that the fire was caused by illegal use of heaters. He says however that his niece was sleeping in bed, and that the fire was caused by the government’s actions. He says he is being lied to and officials are saying that they will leave the issue of responsibility aside, and go straight into money for compensation. Zhang says that they give everything for their children and that they would rather the adults suffer than to have the child endure pain. He says that officials look out for each other and it’s correct that the United States criticises China for having no human rights. He says his brother incurred a lot of debt trying to raise his niece, and that had they not made a big deal out of the fire, they wouldn’t receive any compensation. He says the government is just too corrupt.

Zhang Zong says that the compensation of $300,000 Yuan is very unreasonable, and that a university student has their whole life in front of them. He says that Chinese people are worth very little, and that overseas, something like this would have the government providing several million dollars in compensation. He says even foreigners who becomes injured or die in China, the government would provide compensations in the millions. He says the $300,000 Yuan is very chilling, and that the Chinese (communist) government is too corrupt and without much hope.

It has been reported that the floors on which the dead students lived were illegally added to the building. The fire extinguisher in the dorm was expired and that escape routes were blocked. The school did not have an adequate emergency response plan. After 20 minutes of the fire help had still not arrived, leaving the four students to their deaths after they tried to escape by jumping out of the window.

- Sound of hope radio: Authorities blame dead students for fire

China leaders angered and worried by anti-communist reaction over high profile police murder case

By Gu Qinger, Epoch Times Staff, Nov 2, 2008 -

More than 1,000 people rally at the Shanghai Supreme Court to support Yang Jia. (The Epoch Times)

A Chinese civil rights defender has been illegally subpoenaed for participating in a rally that supported a man convicted of attacking police.

Cai Wenjun was subpoenaed on October 29, for participating in a rally in Shanghai in support of Yang Jia who allegedly murdered six police in July. Yang has since been handed a death sentence.

Yang’s case has had a significant impact on Chinese society, with many Chinese supporting his alleged murder of the police officers.

More than 1,000 people rallied at the Shanghai Municipal Higher People’s Court to support Yang during his second hearing on October 13.

Many protestors were beaten and arrested by plainclothes police officers.

During the rally demonstrators yelled, “Viva, Yang Jia! Down with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)! Down with the Fascism!”

“Down with the CCP” images were posted on the Internet after the rally, and commentators have said that the whole event has angered and worried the communist leadership.

The Shanghai Public Security Bureau has been asked by the central authorities to investigate into the people participating in the demonstration that day.

Cai Wenjun said he was forcibly taken to the Shanghai Public Security Bureau without any legal proceedings at 9:25 a.m. on October 29. He was then interrogated for over three hours by officers.

“The police waited for me outside my home from 5 a.m. yesterday. When I was taking my child to play in the neighborhood, a police car pulled in to arrest me. When I asked them to show me their passes, they called in two more police cars with seven or eight police officers. A policeman, whose I.D. number was 025780, twisted my hands behind my back and pushed me into a police car. He also kicked me.”

Cai has been under police surveillance and subjected to their harassment since Jia’s conviction. After his arrest he was taken to the detention center in the basement of a police station. Two police officers from the branch office of the Pubic Security Bureau came to him, saying that they wanted to have a “chat” with him.

“They mainly asked me the questions about the demonstration supporting Yang Jia, including whether I had been to the rally during the trial, why I was there, what I did there, whether I wore the T-shirt with the words supporting Yang, how many people there were over there, etc.

“I asked the police why I was not allowed to be there during an open trial session,” Cai said.

Cai Wenjun is one of many other protesters in Shanghai, including Chang Xiongfa, Zhu Libin, Chen Enjian, Xi Rendi, Xu Yuexin, Dai Aifang, Zhang Cuiping, Xu Zhengqing, Zhang Taiping, Shen Yuelian, Cao Yibao, who were subpoenaed recently.

Some of their homes were ransacked by police searching for those who participated in the rally.

Sources who wish to remain anonymous said that the Shanghai Public Security Bureau received an emergency order on October 14, telling them to launch immediate operations to investigate the people involved in the rally on October 13.

During the protest at least five police vans were called in to forcibly transport more than 100 protesters. Some of the people who were taken to the prison at 500 Fucun Road and released later that evening have also received subpoenas from the Shanghai Public Security Bureau.

- The Epochtimes

Grisly Scene at Murdered Canada Model’s China Apartment

Aileen McCabe and Katie Mercer, Canwest News Service, Wednesday, July 09, 2008-

SHANGHAI – The roommate of an aspiring B.C. model killed in Shanghai is still in shock after finding her friend’s lifeless body in their apartment’s stairwell earlier this week.

Police have sealed off the aging Shanghai apartment building, which is now being described as a blood-soaked crime scene, as officers confirmed Wednesday they were investigating the murder of an aspiring Canadian model.

Charlotte Wood, 21, had gone out with friends Sunday night, the same night the apartment she shared with 22-year-old B.C. model Diana Gabrielle O’Brien was ransacked. When she came home, she found O’Brien lying face down, said Wood’s mother, Yvonne Clarke.

“It’s hard, she’s so young to come across something like that,” said Clarke. “She had only known her about a month – they didn’t know each other before she left for Shanghai, but when you’re living with someone you obviously get very close with them very quickly.

“The shock of something like this can be quite devastating.”

On Wednesday Chinese police sealed off the third floor of the apartment building where O’Brien was found dead. Plainclothes detectives at the scene said they were investigating a “crime scene.”

Shanghai police issued a short statement through the Public Security Bureau Wednesday around noon local time, confirming they received a report early Monday morning of a woman killed.

“The case is now under further investigation,” said the statement.

Clarke said her daughter wasn’t certain at first that the body she found sprawled in the stairwell was her friend.

“She thought at first it might have been a Chinese girl who was staying in the apartment block but she also suspected it might have been her friend,” she said. “She didn’t touch the body at all, she just ran down and into the suite and was trying to get people’s attention.”

Another media report said it was a cleaning lady who first discovered the slaying, after following a trail of blood to the stairwell.

“There was blood everywhere,” Ouyang Xiaoli told the Globe and Mail, adding O’Brien had been repeatedly stabbed and her upper body was covered with blood…….( more details from Vancouver Sun)

US citizen freed after 10 years in China prison: US embassy

Jul 4, 2008-

SHANGHAI (AFP) — A US citizen has been released from jail in China after serving 10 years of a 16-year term for violating tax laws, a US official and rights groups said Thursday.

Jude Shao was released from a Shanghai jail on parole on Wednesday, a US embassy spokeswoman in Beijing, Diane Sovereign, told AFP.

“US ambassador Clark Randt has spoken to Shao by telephone, confirming and welcoming his release from prison,” she said.

Shao’s case had drawn the attention of the US government at the highest level, with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other top US diplomats repeatedly calling for his release, she said.

“We welcome this development and urge China to continue to make progress on other prisoner cases and issues of domestic and international concern, such as those raised at our recent human rights dialogue,” the spokeswoman said.

Shao was arrested in 1998 and convicted of tax evasion in March 2000 when his 16-year sentence was handed down, according to the www.freejudeshao.com, a website set up by his former classmates at Stanford Business School.

The naturalised US citizen born in China was convicted of underpaying 119,000 dollars in value added taxes and evading 253,000 dollars in sales taxes.

Shao, reportedly 46, maintained his innocence throughout the ordeal and had cited numerous procedural irregularities in his trial and conviction, the website said.

During his trial, he was denied access to the seized records he needed to defend himself and was not allowed to meet with his attorney until 10 days before trial, it said.

His real “crime” was likely that he refused to pay bribes to Shanghai officials, it said.

His case has widely been seen as evidence of widespread human rights violations in China.

According to the website, six Chinese legal scholars had reviewed the case and found serious violations of due process.

Besides the US government and a long list of US Congressmen, including Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and California Senator Dianne Feinstein, the San Francisco-based rights group the Dui Hua Foundation has also worked for Shao’s release.

“Jude Shao’s release reflects the hard work over many years of his Stanford Business School classmates and the US government, in particular President Bush, who repeatedly raised his case with Chinese President Hu Jintao,” Dui Hua director John Kamm said.

“His parole comes days after Secretary Condoleezza Rice’s visit to Beijing and six weeks after the resumption of the US-China dialogue on human rights,” he said in a statement.

Dui Hua is a foundation that seeks to work with the Chinese government in an effort to release prisoners of conscience, political prisoners and other people believed to be unjustly jailed in China.

China’s foreign ministry refused to comment on the details of the case or respond to questions on whether Shao was released due to pressure from the United States.

“I am not clear about the details of this particular case, but in principle China is a nation ruled by law and this case was handled in accordance with the law,” foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said.

- AFP: US prisoner freed after 10 years in China prison: US embassy

(photos) China Review: 16th Anniversary of Falun Gong’s Introduction to Public

The Epoch Times, May 13, 2008-

On May 13, 1992 Falun Gong founder Mr. Li Hongzhi introduced the practice of Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, to the general public in mainland China. According to official statistics, in a few short years it grew dramatically in popularity until there were at least 70 million Chinese practitioners.

(photo: people practice Falun Gong in Harbin City, Heilongjiang province, northeast China )

In the wake of the Chinese Communist Party’s persecution of Falun Gong (video: Why is Falun Gong persecuted in China), which started on July 20, 1999, the scenes of Falun Gong group practice in mainland China have become events worth recalling. Let us take a look at these historic photographs of Falun Gong group practice in China in celebration of this year’s World Falun Dafa Day.

Above: people practice Falun Gong in Beijing, Capital city of China

Above: people practice Falun Gong in Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, northeast China

Above: people practice Falun Gong in Weihai City, Shandong Province, east China

Above: people practice Falun Gong in Shanghai City, east China

Above: people practice Falun Gong in Shenzhen City, Guangdong province, south China

More photos from the Epochtimes