Members of a family planning office in the southern Chinese province of Hunan abducted several infants in recent years and profited by putting them up for adoption, according to a report from a China-based online media group.
Caijing.com said in an article Monday that officials in Longhui county’s Gaoping township had seized some 10 newborns between 2002 and 2005, selling them to a local welfare orphanage in Shaoyang city. Continue reading
In most countries, a proliferation of world-class golf courses would be regarded as an obvious and inevitable by-product of rapid growth and soaring living standards.
In China, courses such as the 36-hole Qinghe Bay Country Sports Club, located within view of the Olympic Bird’s Nest stadium in Beijing, do indeed reflect surging private fortunes.
But facilities such as this have also become a potent symbol of the hypocrisy and corruption inherent in Communist party rule. Continue reading
For the last week the Chinese media has been abuzz with talk of an unknown, highly contagious AIDS-like disease, termed “HIV-negative AIDS,” that has allegedly been spreading in China for several years and infecting thousands. Now official media have stepped in to put the matter to rest: there is no such disease, and people claiming to be sick from it need psychological help.
In a widely circulated statement, Chinese Health Ministry spokesperson Deng Haihua announced on April 4 that “HIV-negative AIDS” is just “AIDS-phobia.” On April 11 he elaborated, saying that “there is no so-called phrase ‘HIV-negative AIDS’, and there is no such ‘HIV-negative AIDS’ virus.” Continue reading
Authorities in the southeastern province of Fujian have deployed hundreds of riot police to disperse protesters defending their farmland from being taken away by the government, residents and officials said on Friday.
The riot police, using tear gas and electric batons, clashed with the protesters in Xindian township near Fujian’s provincial capital, Fuzhou, on Thursday. Some protests persisted on Friday, local sources said.
“It was pretty scary yesterday,” said a protester, Zhang Yueming, adding that he was among those beaten by police during the protest. Continue reading
DUBLIN—“The dance is very elegant and very athletic, very skilled … it’s a pleasure to watch,” said Mr. John McColgan, who attended the final of three Shen Yun Performing Arts Touring Company performances at The Convention Centre in Dublin on Sunday, March 27.
Mr. McColgan is a founding director of Tyrone Productions, an independent television production company, and chairman of Today FM radio station. He is perhaps best known for his key role in the evolution of Riverdance. In recognition of his services to the arts and entertainment industry, Mr. McColgan received an Honorary Doctorate of Law from the National University of Ireland in 2003. Continue reading
Authorities in central China detained three officials and launched a probe into hundreds of pig farms on Friday after animals there tested positive for a banned chemical that can be dangerous to humans.
The latest food safety scandal in China emerged as the official Xinhua news agency said it had found that 52 out of about 1,500 pigs in nine farms in Henan province had tested positive for clenbuterol, a drug used by farmers to bulk up livestock.
The report prompted supermarkets to pull from the shelves Shineway brand meat products belonging to the country’s largest meat processor, Henan Shuanghui Investment and Development Co. Continue reading
CHINA is facing new questions about the ages of some of its athletes after discrepancies were found in the birthdates of nine figure skaters.
According to a list of birthdates published on the Chinese Skating Association’s website and found by The Associated Press, the skaters violated the sport’s age limits by competing when they were either too young or too old.
The birthdates on the federation’s websites differ from those listed on the athletes’ International Skating Union biographies. Continue reading
In China, social media such as microblogs and instant messaging services, are tightly controlled, to prevent the spread of information the government does not like. But some Chinese are learning to use social media to reunite families.
In an emotional scene, Peng Gaofeng is reunited with his son, who was abducted three years ago, when he was just three.
Child abduction is a big problem in China with thousands of children disappearing each year. The government seems powerless to help distraught parents. Continue reading
By Dan Martin (AFP) , Feb 9, 2011-
BEIJING — China called Wednesday for higher rice output to offset damage to its wheat crop in the drought-stricken north and pledged $1 billion in spending to battle a problem the UN warned could be “very serious”.
The drought affecting large swathes of northern China is the worst in six decades in many areas and has left key grain-growing regions with no real rainfall in more than three months.
At a meeting on Wednesday chaired by Premier Wen Jiabao, the government decided to allocate funds to pay rice-growers higher prices for their grain in a bid to spur production, said a statement by the State Council, or Cabinet. Continue reading
AFP, Feb. 07, 2011-
BEIJING — The number of people who divorced in China shot up in 2010 — a trend on the rise in the world’s most populous nation as men and women earn better money and become more independent.
A total of 1.96 million couples applied for divorce last year, a 14.5% increase from 2009, according to figures published on the website of the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
A previous state media report had erroneously said 1.2 million couples tied the knot in 2010, while the ministry figures put the number at 12.1 million. Continue reading
HSINCHU, Taiwan — China’s most famous philanthropist began distributing cash in Taiwan on Thursday, the first day of a controversial trip that has sparked criticism and protests from anti-China groups.
Chen Guangbiao, who made his fortune recycling construction materials, handed Tw$7 million ($241,000) to charity groups in Hsinchu county in the island’s north, amid accusations he was promoting reunification with China.
“I don’t know anything about propaganda for Chinese reunification. I only know about charity and environmental work. I just want to do good,” 42-year-old Chen told AFP. Continue reading
BUSAN, South Korea— After a last minute court ruling by a judge in Busan, efforts by the Chinese regime to stop Shen Yun Performing Arts from playing in South Korea have come up empty.
The show in Busan had been cancelled due to pressure from Chinese consular officials, in spite of the show’s hosts, the South Korean Falun Dafa Association, having a valid contract for the theater.
But after a court ruling delivered seven hours before showtime on Jan. 19, the first of three shows in Busan went ahead as planned. These are the debut shows in a tour that also visits Daegu and Goyang in South Korea, and cities in Taiwan, Japan, and Australia. Continue reading
NEW YORK—It was difficult finding tickets for the closing performance by Shen Yun Performing Arts New York Company at the Lincoln Center’s David H. Koch Theater on Jan. 16. The performing arts company, which is now continuing on its tour, was well received, with a standing ovation and two curtain calls from the sold-out house.
“I was very proud to participate in the audience and to stand up and shout ‘encore!’” said author Judith Difonzo.
“I thought the performances were beautiful, I thought the colors were beautiful, I thought the dances were gorgeous. I was enthralled. I would come back again,” she said. Continue reading
An Alberta company has been importing products made at a Chinese prison camp, according to a report by the Washington, D.C.-based Laogai Research Foundation.
Canada bans the importation of any goods made by prison labour, but the foundation, which raises public awareness about the Laogai — China’s extensive system of forced-labour prison camps — indicates prison-made goods are turning up in Canada. Continue reading
BEIJING — Large amounts of rice noodles made with rotten grain and potentially carcinogenic additives are being sold in south China, state press said Friday, in the country’s latest food safety scare.
Up to 50 factories in south China’s Dongguan city near Hong Kong are producing about 500,000 kilogrammes (1.1 million pounds) of tainted rice noodles a day using stale and mouldy grain, the Beijing Youth Daily said. Continue reading
By Sophia Fang & Gisela Sommer, Epoch Times Staff, Dec. 24, 2010 -
Local Communist Party officials in Sichuan Province are behind an institution that kidnaps mentally handicapped and homeless people and forces them into slave labor, according to an investigative journalist from Hong Kong.
The inmates were hired out as laborers as far away as Xinjiang Province. To turn them into “good workers” they were beaten and shocked with electric batons and kept in subhuman living conditions, reports say. Continue reading
By Matthew Robertson, Epoch Times Staff, Dec. 12, 2010 -
On the same day that imprisoned Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in absentia, Chinese Communist Party propagandists organized a photo exhibition at the United Nations, extolling the progress of human rights in China.
Under the headline “Experience China” photographs at the exhibit, held at the U.N.’s European Headquarters in Geneva, on Dec. 10—coinciding with International Human Rights Day—depicted minority groups like Uyghurs and Tibetans smiling in traditional garb, while didactic photo captions explained their gratitude for religious and ethnic freedom under communist rule. Continue reading
By Malcolm Moore, in Shanghai, via telegraph.co.uk, Dec. 11, 2010 -
China’s property bubble has grown so huge that 85pc of Chinese living in cities can no longer afford to buy a home, according to an influential Chinese government think tank.
The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) said in its annual Economic Blue Paper that a typical Chinese property now costs 8.8 years of average earnings. Continue reading
Radio Free Asia, Dec. 1, 2010 -
China’s AIDS epidemic has been largely fueled by rural blood-selling in poverty-stricken areas, and two of the country’s leaders should be held to account, according to a retired senior health official.
Chen Bingzhong, 78, a former head of the China Health Education Research Institute, published an open letter to President Hu Jintao online ahead of World AIDS Day calling for disciplinary action against propaganda czar Li Changchun and vice-premier Li Keqiang. Continue reading
By Li Xiaoyu, Epoch Times Staff, Nov 28, 2010 -
Skyrocketing prices of everyday goods in China threaten the standard of living of the country’s poorest citizens, as well as its nominal middle class. Given the potential dangers faced by the Communist Party as public discontent swells along with inflation, the United States has become scapegoat Number One.
From soybean, ginger, garlic, to cotton and sugar, surging prices have struck one product after another since the beginning of the year. The China Securities Journal described cotton prices in October as “crazy.” Cotton has increased 93 percent compared with the same period last year. Continue reading
By Huang Tianchen, Epoch Times Staff, Nov. 22, 2010 -
According to a joke, a tourist accidentally fell into a construction pit. He became enraged and told the tourist guide, “In our country, a red flag would have been put up wherever it’s dangerous, but yours doesn’t.” The tourist guide smiled and replied, “When you entered customs, didn’t you see a giant red flag fluttering in the wind, clearly giving you a five-star index warning?”
Unfortunately, in China today this is more of a daily reality than a joke. Continue reading
By Lou Ya, Via The Epochtimes, Nov. 17, 2010 -
In a scene that could have been lifted from the Cultural Revolution, 17 Chinese villagers who petitioned against government land-grabs were recently subjected to a public humiliation session by district officials, in Ankang City, Shaanxi Province.
A public, Cultural Revolution-style shaming session in Ankang City, China, Nov. 2, 2010
msnbc.msn.com , Nov. 16, 2010 -
SHANGHAI, China — The government’s swift steps to assign blame after a Shanghai apartment fire killed at least 53 people showed how worried officials were to ease alarm among residents about the more than four hours it took to put it out.
On Tuesday, Chinese police held four suspects blamed for unlicensed welding, official media said. Continue reading
