5 Chinese Judges from Shanghai Soliciting Prostitutes Together — Jiang Zemin is the Creator of the Bad Precedents

A video exposed five Shanghai Superior Court officers who solicited prostitutes, causing a public sensation. Ironically, the places that court officers go to solicit prostitutes are labeled as “major reception sites of People’s Government of Shanghai City.” Some commentators stated that Shanghai judicial system is corrupt to such a degree that Jiang Zemin, former Municipal Secretary of Shanghai, cannot absolve himself from blame.

Anti-graft Activists in China Pay Heavy Price

Chinese citizens who take the anti-corruption campaign of President Xi Jinping to heart by blowing the whistle on graft are likely to pay a high personal price, according to analysts.

Will Xi Jinping’s Corruption Crackdown Catch the Real ‘Tigers’?

Since taking the reigns of power in China last year, Party leader Xi Jinping has repeatedly vowed to fight corruption. In a meeting of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the Party’s anti-corruption body, on Jan. 22, he stressed that efforts should target both “flies” and “tigers,” referring to lower and senior level officials. The question remains, however, as to whether Xi will go after the real “tigers.”

Since December 2012, a few corruption “tigers” have indeed been snagged, including former deputy Party chief of Sichuan Province Li Chuncheng, who was a noted fixer for former security czar Zhou Yongkang, and chief communist theory advisor Yi Junqing, who is under the patronage of Politburo Standing Committee member Liu Yunshan.

10 Chinese Officials Fired in Sex Tape Scandal in Chongqing City

Ten Chinese officials were fired from their posts in connection with a sex tape extortion scandal in the southwestern city of Chongqing, while police broke up a criminal ring that was behind the incidents, according to state-run media.

The ten officials allegedly appeared in the one or more of the videos, which were used by the ring to blackmail them into handing out profitable building contracts.

One official in Chongqing, Lei Zhengfu, a portly man whose face appeared in screenshots that have appeared across the Internet, lost his job following the emergence of the scandal last November.

Trial of China’s Bo Xilai not being held on Monday – court official

GUIYANG, China (Reuters) – The trial of disgraced senior Chinese leader Bo Xilai, the central figure in the country’s biggest political scandal in decades, will not be held on Monday as some media had reported, a court official in the southern Chinese city of Guiyang said.

“To date, the People’s Intermediate Court of Guiyang has received no information whatsoever about the trial of Bo Xilai taking place in Guiyang,” said Jiang Hao, a court official in the city, the capital of Guizhou province.

How Jiang Zemin and Son Profited from Corruption

Jiang Zemin’s son was found to be implicated in several major corruption scandals in 2007, revealing some of the secrets behind the money laundering practice of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leaders through the privatization of state enterprises.

Jiang Zemin was paramount leader of China from 1989-2002, and this gave him the ability to abuse his political power and embezzle government resources.

According to Renmin Newspaper, it was reported that Jiangsu was the place where Jiang Zemin originally started his money laundering operations, washing money stolen from Chinese taxpayers.

China is on the fast train to disaster

(The Guardian)– China’s high-speed rail network seemed to symbolise the nation’s unstoppable rise: since the first line opened in 2007, it has built more than 6,000 miles of track and seemed poised to spread the magic into overseas markets, bidding aggressively against established international players. Yet this week, families were mourning the 39 dead and tending the 200 injured in Saturday’s crash, the latest and worst episode in the high-speed rail fiasco. A project said to show China was poised for leadership in advanced technologies is collapsing in death, anger and embarrassment.

How it went so badly wrong carries some dark lessons for China. It’s a story of corruption and corner-cutting and of responsibility passed around an opaque and untouchable bureaucracy. It is also a lesson in a nationalistic habit of “digesting” foreign technology, as one railway official put it, then changing it, so as to claim the result as a Chinese invention.

Golf course boom points to China corruption

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.

Mentally Disabled Forced into Slave Labor at Party-Backed ‘Rescue’ Center in China

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.

Nearly-completed residential building collapse kills eight workers in China

AFP, Oct 3, 2010 –

BEIJING — A four-storey residential building under construction in northern China collapsed, killing eight workers and injuring three others, state media reported on Sunday.

The nearly-completed building collapsed in the city of Xian early Saturday and more than 300 rescue personnel worked until 3 am Sunday (1900 GMT Saturday) to free survivors, Xinhua news agency reported.

China’s Rich Have $1.1 Trillion in Hidden Income, Study Finds

By Bloomberg News – Aug 11, 2010 –

China’s households hide as much as 9.3 trillion yuan ($1.4 trillion) of income that is not reported in official figures, with 80 percent accrued by the wealthiest people, a study showed.

The money, much of it likely “illegal or quasi-illegal,” equates to about 30 percent of China’s gross domestic product, the study, conducted for Credit Suisse AG and published last week by the China Reform Foundation, found. The average urban disposable household income in China is 32,154 yuan, or 90 percent more than official figures, according to the report.

Most of that extra cash is going to the wealthiest families. The top 10 percent of China’s households take in 139,000 yuan a year, more than triple the official figures, according to the Credit Suisse report. In contrast, the bottom 10 percent earns 5,350 yuan, or 13 percent more. The top 20 percent of households account for 81.3 percent of total hidden income, according to the study, written by Wang Xiaolu of the Beijing-based foundation.

The findings indicate China’s wealth gap between rich and poor, already one of the world’s highest, is even wider than official figures show. Reducing income disparities is a top goal of President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao, who want to stave off riots, strikes and other social unrest that might threaten the six-decade rule of the Communist Party.

The “grey income” comes from many sources, including gifts to officials at weddings, profits from land transfers, kickbacks from construction projects, and payoffs from state monopolies such as the tobacco industry, the study said.

‘Crony Capitalism’

“Once government power is united with capital, the free competition of the market economy begins to be replaced by a monopoly of crony capitalism, leading to disparity in income and property distribution, lower economic efficiency and acute social conflicts,” Wang wrote in his report’s conclusion.

The study, compiled in 2009, is based on interviews with families in more than 4,000 urban households in 64 cities and 19 provinces, and uses 2008 data. …...(more details from The Bloomberg)

UN Protestors Highlight China’s Forced House Eviction Problem

NTDTV, Via Dailymotion.com, Aug. 9, 2010 –

[Chen Xuxing, Forced Eviction Victim]:
“This is a photo of my house. It had 4 floors and was close to 500 square meters.”

Chen Xuxing’s house is gone. A local real estate developer in Wuhan wanted to use his land to build a park, but Mr. Chen didn’t agree. So the company forced him out of him home—and then demolished it.

It’s known as forced eviction, and in China, it’s one of the most serious problems facing the country today. Developers, often working with local officials, have rushed to cash in on a real estate boom. Often, it involves driving residents off desirable land.

Residents have little legal protection—even when companies do illegal things to force them out.

[Chen Xuxing, Forced Eviction Victim]:
“Because we didn’t reach an agreement, three days later they employed thugs to break into my house.”

This is video footage from the surveillance camera on Mr. Chen’s house.

[Chen Xuxing, Forced Eviction Victim]:
“Several dozen people came, thugs came to break down my door…After beating me in the house until my head was bleeding, they pulled me outside to beat me. They said they had taken me outside to beat me so the neighbors could see, and that whoever doesn’t move will end up like this.”

Mr. Chen was hospitalized for two months.

He shot this footage after leaving the hospital. His street is filled with the debris of demolished houses. This couple stands in the ruins of their home—torn down with all their belongings still inside. Other houses are marked with the word “demolish.”

Mr. Chen says the development company was colluding with local officials. When Mr. Chen was attacked, neighbors called the police, but they didn’t show up until the following afternoon. Local authorities also refused to listen to the residents’ protests.

According to the Asia Advocacy Director at Human Rights Watch, this type of corruption is common in China.

– NTDTV

China: Anger over attacks on journalists by officials and enterprises

By Kathrin Hille in Beijing, The Financial Times, August 8 2010 –

A five centimetre-long scar on Fang Xuanchang’s shaved head tells of what happened to him six weeks ago.

Mr Fang, a science reporter, was attacked from behind by two men with metal bars on the night of June 24. The journalist believes the thugs were hired by a health-products marketer whom he portrayed as a quack in one of his stories.

The police have made no progress in identifying the attackers, and Mr Fang says none of several eyewitnesses has been questioned.

Violence against journalists in China is nothing new but recent conflicts between reporters and the companies they report on have triggered an angry debate about the confused roles of the media and state power.

“The traditional conflict pattern would be between the media and government, but now it becomes clear the real trigger is when certain people feel threatened in their personal interests,” says Zhao Li, deputy editor at Caijing, where Mr Fang now works. The magazine has long been a stronghold of investigative reporting in China.

Last month, police in a town in the coastal province of Zhejiang listed Qiu Ziming, a reporter for the Economic Observer, as one of the nation’s most wanted criminals after he accused Kan Specialty Materials, a local listed company, of financial irregularities.

A wave of online protests forced the police to cancel the wanted notice. However, they have not closed their investigation.

The same week, a journalist at the China Times was attacked following a story alleging illegal financial transactions at Shenzhen International Enterprise.

One day later, journalists working for National Business Daily were attacked by men identifying themselves as representatives of BaWang International, a shampoo maker that the newspaper had accused of selling products tainted with toxic chemicals.

“The fact that a company can enlist state authorities to fight its private battles highlights the core problem: our police and judiciary are not independent and there is widespread collusion between officials and enterprises,” says Mr Zhao.

He says local government officials and party cadres often order law enforcement organs or courts to act against media after reporters touch on their personal financial dealings.

Last month, a party official in charge of the local propaganda department in a town in Anhui province was convicted on corruption charges. Also in July, the party in Chongqing municipality began an investigation into allegations that its propaganda chief had acted as an intermediary for the local Hilton hotel in an argument over a negative media report.

However, the lines are less than clear-cut. China’s ruling Communist party traditionally sees the media’s main role as propaganda instruments. Career paths for journalists often involve crossing over into government or party jobs. Party propaganda officials have typically served as editors of state newspapers or broadcasters. Following the spread of market principles in China’s economy and the commercialisation of the media in particular, the lines have become similarly muddled between media and enterprise.

– The Financial Times: Anger over attacks on journalists in China

Chinese Official ‘Vows’ to the Party in a ‘guarantee letter’ to Marry Mistress

By Gu Qing’er, Epoch Times Staff, aug. 6, 2010 –

The hackneyed phrases and swelled-up language of communist struggle—so familiar to earlier generations of Chinese—have mostly been scrubbed from public discourse in contemporary China; but, every now and then, such anachronisms rear their heads.

Such was the case with 46-year-old Ma Yiping, a married man and director general of the Commission of Commerce of Hanjiang District in Yangzhou City in southern China. “I sincerely give my assurance to the Chinese Communist Party that I will marry Li Qing next year, or no later than the year after next…” he wrote in a guarantee letter.

The idea of swearing an oath to a political party on an issue as personal as marriage may seem strange, but vows of a similar kind have been forced out of Party members and ordinary citizens for generations. Adherents of certain spiritual groups in China today are forced to make similar pledges, or face imprisonment and torture: such as in the case of Falun Gong, a spiritual practice persecuted since 1999, or Tibetan Buddhism, whose adherents are sometimes forced to denounce the Dalai Lama.

According to Oriental Morning Post’s article on July 28, Ma pledged in his letter to the CCP not only to marry Li Qing, his mistress, but also to divorce his wife.

The report claimed that as Ma didn’t fulfill his promise, Li chose to expose the ‘guarantee letter’ to the world. She posted her story on Longhu.net, the only official online news outlet of Nanjing City, capital of the southern province of Jiangsu. The article revealed that Ma was in a bigamous marriage, carried on sexual affairs with several women, and took bribes.

The article also posted wedding dress photos of Li and Ma, as well as four signed “marriage certificates” by Ma.

Ma wrote in his guarantee letter, “I sincerely vow to the party that I will marry Li Qing no later than the year after next. Within this year, I will take on the responsibility to be Li Qing’s husband. Otherwise I will bear all the consequences.”

The article said that Li met Ma last summer at a gathering of the clansmen association of Jiandu. Later, Ma began pursuing her, also claiming that he and his wife were incompatible. After the two started living together, however, Ma beat her at least a dozen times, sometimes badly: once knocking out four of her teeth, another time leading her to miscarry.

On Feb. 2, Ma wrote another guarantee claiming that he would divorce his wife as soon as his daughter finished her university entrance exams. Since all the promises were not fulfilled, Li became dejected and decided to expose Ma.

Li claims that Ma has at least five mistresses, three properties in Yangzhou, and spends vast sums supporting his lascivious lifestyle. Such salacious news is catnip for bloggers, and the story was widely circulated.

– The Epochtimes

Chinese influence on Canada runs deep: MP

Renata D’aliesio, Postmedia News; With Files From Katherine Laidlaw, via The National Post, Friday, Jul. 30, 2010 –

China’s influence over Western politicians runs deeper than controversial claims made by the head of Canada’s spy agency, Conservative MP Rob Anders says.

In a recent interview with Epoch Times, an international newspaper founded by Falun Gong supporters, Mr. Anders suggested politicians and government officials from Canada and other countries are being wooed with extravagant gifts, beautiful women and too-good-to-be-true business deals.

“The reach is deep, and it’s very unfortunate,” the Calgary MP told the newspaper.

“I would argue that I’ve seen things happen on a federal level as well in our own government.”

Richard Fadden, director of Canadian Security Intelligence Service, faced a storm of criticism after saying last month that his agency suspects several municipal politicians in British Columbia and Cabinet ministers in at least two provinces had fallen under the influence of a foreign government.

“I think that Mr. Fadden only gingerly scratched the surface. I feel for him that he was dragged before an investigative committee with Parliament to have to explain, and I think that this situation is far worse than what he let on.”

Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff said the comments of Mr. Anders and Mr. Fadden are clouding the future of Canadian and Chinese relations.

“Casting aspirations and suspicion on any community does no good in Canada, certainly does no good in China,” said Mr. Ignatieff, who addressed an audience in Toronto’s Chinatown last night.

“If you’re running a serious relationship with a serious country you don’t say those kinds of things.” he added. “As my mother used to say, it’s bush league.”

Mr. Anders’ opinions have landed him in political trouble in the past. Last month, he apologized for a comment he wrote on a card to Canadian troops in Afghanistan: “When in doubt, pull the trigger.”

– The National Post

China swaying politicians with gifts, sex: Canadian MP

CBC News, Canada, July 30, 2010 –

A Calgary Conservative MP is accusing Chinese authorities of attempting to buy the influence of Canadian politicians and government officials with financial incentives and prostitutes, suggesting some officials may have been compromised.

“I know politicians who have done things that I think are antithetical to their character and I know those politicians to have been offered things — whether they were lucrative business deals or sexual favours while they were over on foreign trips,” Rob Anders told CBC’s Power & Politics.

“Now can I give you the smoking gun to say that I definitely know there’s a link between the two? Probably not. But can I tell you that I think these things go on and I think it’s fairly obvious, yes.”

Anders said MPs have told him how they had women follow them back to their rooms in Shanghai and offer them massages.

“I’ve had members of Parliament tell me about business deals they were offered that frankly were above market rates and that they should have known better, that were, you know, veiled attempts to create or curry favour and influence.”

Anders said he wouldn’t divulge names and that he didn’t want to “engage in a witch hunt” against his colleagues.

Anders said he himself had been offered sexual favours while in China but that he turned them down. He said he didn’t address his concerns with the Prime Minister’s Office, but that officials have been briefed by the department of Foreign Affairs about the issue.

In an exclusive interview with CBC News on June 22, Canadian Security Intelligence Service director Richard Fadden said foreign governments hold influence over at least two cabinet ministers in two provinces, and are also involved with municipal politicians in B.C. and with federal public servants.

Fadden did not provide any names, but implied that China was one of those foreign governments.

But Liberal MP Jim Karygiannis, who has travelled to China numerous times, called the allegations “ludicrous.”

“If Mr. Anders has any evidence, then he should take it and bring it forward to the ethics commissioner and do it now and stop paintbrushing the rest of the parliamentarians with the brush that certainly is not becoming of Canadian parliamentarians.”

“To make statements like that, the man has really reached the bottom of the barrel,” he said.

Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said he wasn’t aware of the specific allegations made by Anders. But he said if those propositions are being made, Anders should bring the details forward to police and security agencies.

Toews added that it’s not surprising that there are allegations that governments attempt to influence politicians.

“That has been a constant theme in newspaper articles for the last half century and probably before that. That’s nothing new. It’s how politicians respond to pressure or influence.”

– CBC News

China stops journalist’s arrest after public outcry

AFP, July 29, 2010 –

BEIJING — Police in eastern China on Thursday quashed an arrest order for a fugitive graft-busting journalist following a public outcry, in an apparent rare victory for media freedom.

Qiu Ziming had become a cause celebre after his investigative reports on alleged improprieties by a listed company landed him in a nationwide police most-wanted database on suspicion of slander.

Qiu, 28, a reporter with the Economic Observer financial weekly, has been on the run for days after police in Zhejiang province put out an arrest notice.

But in a sudden about-face, the Zhejiang government said Thursday that police in the province’s Suichang county who initiated the arrest order had been told to rescind it.

“The (provincial) Public Security Bureau has ordered the Suichang Public Security Bureau to withdraw the Qiu Ziming criminal detention decision and apologise to him,” a notice on the provincial news website said.

It said the detention order “did not meet statutory requirements”.

Qiu, who is based in the Economic Observer’s Shanghai bureau, published reports in June detailing alleged improprieties such as insider trading by a major battery manufacturer based in Zhejiang.

The company, Kan Specialties Material Corporation, based in Suichang and listed on the stock exchange of Shenzhen in southern China, has denied the charges and accused Qiu of slander, initiating the police action.

But Qiu has continued to defend his innocence and demand justice in defiant entries on his Weibo account, a Twitter-like service offered by leading portal Sina.com.

“What I reported is the truth,” Qiu said in an entry Wednesday, adding that he had “iron-clad” evidence of the company’s wrongdoing and did not fear police.

“This is not over. I will get an apology from the Suichang police,” he said.

China’s media is tightly controlled but gradually becoming more aggressive in exposing corporate and official malfeasance. However, particularly bold reporters who offend powerful forces risk being muzzled or even jailed.

Since going on the run several days ago, Qiu has garnered broad support on the Internet, with his Weibo account gaining 8,000 “followers” and his case generating sympathetic media coverage.

An online poll organised by Sina.com, which drew more than 33,000 responses, found that 86 percent of users viewed the police pursuit of Qiu as “unlawful” and that 98 percent trusted his reports on Kan Specialties.

The Economic Observer — an independent weekly newspaper considered one of the most respected financial publications in China — last month put out a bold statement defending Qiu and criticising authorities.

“We strongly condemn the use of public power to suppress and threaten the personal safety of media professionals,” it said.

Chinese Internet users have become a potent force in exposing official abuses and pressuring authorities to back down from some unpopular decisions.

– AFP

Journalist on China police’s “most wanted criminals” list for accusing company of improprieties

Reporters Without Borders, July 29, 2010 –

Reporters Without Borders firmly condemns the action of the police in Suichang, in the eastern province of Zhejiang, in putting reporter Qiu Ziming of The Economic Observer weekly on the list of the country’s most wanted criminals because of allegations he made about a Suichang-based battery manufacturer, Kan Specialties Material Corporation.

Voicing strong support for Qiu and hailing his determination to stand by what he wrote and produce evidence to back his claims, Reporters Without Borders calls on the police to remove him from the list at once and drop all legal proceedings. Qiu is currently facing a possible two-year jail sentence.

“This is a journalist who adhered to his principles and did his duty as a reporter, and it is absurd to put him in the same category as wanted criminals,” the press freedom organisation said. “The government should heed the massive support that Chinese Internet users have expressed for Qiu since the police put him on the wanted list. There have been more than 2,000 posts about him.”

Qiu, who works for The Economic Observer’s Shanghai bureau, wrote several stories in June about the battery company’s alleged improprieties, including insider trading. After the company responded with a lawsuit, Qiu went into hiding, prompting the police to put him on the national wanted list.

Aged 28, Qiu is calling for justice to be rendered in the case. He says he does not fear the police and has proof of what he wrote. “This is not over, I will get an apology from the Suichang police,” he has written in his blog on Sina, one of the leading Chinese portals.

Of the 33,000 Internet users who responded to a poll on the Sina website, 86 per cent said they thought the manhunt launched by the police was “illegal.”

Commenting on the case, The Economic Observer, a widely respected business weekly, has condemned “the use of the police to repress a media professional.”

– Reporters Without Borders

China police ‘mistakenly beat boss’s wife’ as petitioner in daylight outside government building

BBC News, July 21, 2010 –

Three Chinese police officers have been disciplined for beating up the wife of a senior local official.

The men were reported to have mistaken Chen Yulian for a petitioner, trying to see officials about a grievance.

They attacked her as she was trying to enter her husband’s office building in Wuhan, Hubei province.

Analysts say the case highlights the rough treatment many Chinese petitioners say is meted out to them when they bring their complaints.

Chinese media have reported that the men were plain clothes officers, employed to subdue petitioners outside the government building.

Reports said Mrs Chen was knocked to the ground in the incident last month and beaten for more than 15 minutes before being detained.

The authorities said she suffered minor injuries but other reports said she was still struggling to walk.

It later emerged that the woman was in fact attempting to raise a grievance with officials, over the death of her daughter in what she believed was a case of medical malpractice.

But her husband’s position meant she could not speak to the authorities directly.

He was reported to be in charge of maintaining stability and looking after petitioners.

‘Battered’

“This incident is a total misunderstanding,” a local police bureau official was quoted by Shanghai Daily as saying.

“We didn’t mean to beat the wife of a big boss.”

But Chinese internet users have said Mrs Chen’s identity should not matter and that no petitioners should be subject to violence.

“Does this mean the police are not supposed to beat leaders’ wives, but the ordinary people can be battered?” the China Daily quoted one unnamed person as saying.

Thousands of petitioners attempt to air their grievances with local officials every day in China, often in disputes over land ownership or employment.

Many complain that they are treated roughly by security forces.

– BBC News

Tens of Thousands in Standoff with Police in Eastern China Over Land Grabs By Officials

By Rona Rui, Epoch Times Staff, July 19, 2010 –

Yet another large-scale violent clash has broken out between angry villagers and police over land grabs by government officials in China’s eastern Jiangsu Province, this time involving tens of thousands of protesters. Local media made no mention of the incident.

During the five-day standoff between July 14 and July 18, several thousand villagers took over the government building while the government called in riot police. At one point the crowd of angry protesters grew to as many as twenty to thirty thousand.

The incident took place in Gaoxin District, Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province. It began when thousands of local villagers from Tong’an Township of Gaoxin District gathered at the township government building. They came to express their indignation over the local government’s illegal takeover of their farmland. Tens of thousands of mu (1 mu = 0.16 acre) had been illegally expropriated during the past seven years without fair compensation to the villagers.

When the villagers found officials unresponsive, they became angry and took over the government building, breaking some equipment and bringing government business to a halt as officials fled.

On the morning of July 16 the government called in approximately 500 riot police to break up the protest. While most villagers had gone home to rest, riot police started attacking the remaining protesters.

According to local residents, the riot police beat up the several hundred remaining villagers in order to drive them away. Enraged villagers retaliated with bricks and beer bottles. Dozens of villagers were injured and taken to hospital. Several dozen more were arrested. The confrontation lasted about half an hour.

The police violence caused even greater anger among the villagers. After sunrise on July 17, local residents and relatives of those arrested, proceeded to blockade National Highway 312 in Gaoxin district to continue their protest.

Many more local residents rushed to the blocked highway during the day. According to local residents, villagers from surrounding communities also came to support the protest, and at one time there were as many as twenty to thirty thousand.

Witnesses at the scene told The Epoch Times that in 2003 under the guise of constructing new high-tech industrial parks, the local government started to forcefully take away land from farmers. The farmers never received the compensation promised by the government, and the tens of thousands of mu of farmland had lain deserted for the past six plus years. Recently the local government started to auction off the land at prices ten or more times the purchase price. The government’s unjust compensation caused great resentment among local residents.

The incident has alarmed the city government of Suzhou. The communist party secretary of Suzhou rushed to the area on July 18 and held a meeting with local officials to discuss countermeasures. The government also dispatched more police from the surrounding cities of Wuxi and Zhangjiagang. There were several thousand police.

No additional information of further police crackdowns was available at the time of this article submission.

News Censored

During these several days of conflict, no local media reported the incident. Internet blog postings by eyewitnesses were quickly deleted by the regime. Local residents expressed hope that more media would come to the scene to experience the severity of the situation.

Forced land expropriation, forced relocation, government corruption and police brutality are commonplace in China and have become a source of anger and unrest in many areas. The Epoch Times and other media have recently reported on several large-scale protests in different areas of the country.

On July 5, ten thousand villagers in China’s southeastern Jiangxi Province staged a protest against police brutality, relocation and corrupt local officials. The relocation of villagers was ordered by local authorities because villagers had expressed concern over health issues arising from pollution by a local mining company. The enraged citizens, armed with bricks and stones, smashed town hall windows and turned over police cars in response to police beating two women petitioners into a coma.

On June 11, ten thousand citizens had a standoff with police in Maanshan City, Anhui Province over a student being assaulted by a local official. Military police and riot police were dispatched to break through the crowd with batons, shields and tear gas. Many people were injured. Local media did not report on the massive protest.

The use of force and media control are two of the means by which the Chinese communist regime attempts to maintain social stability.

– The Epochtimes

10,000 citizens Clashes With Police in Eastern China

By Rona Rui, Epoch Times Staff, Jun 13, 2010 –

Massive crowd clashes with police near a market in Maanshan City, Anhui Province. (Courtesy Chinese blogger)

The physical assault and injury of a high school student by a local tourism bureau director in eastern China’s Anhui Province turned into a four-hour street protest .

A crowd of about 10,000 citizens gathered to vent their frustration by yelling and throwing rubbish at police and local officials.

The protest lasted until midnight, with people leaving only when riot police threw tear gas canisters into the crowd. Local media did not report on the massive protest.

The incident in Maanshan City began at 6 p.m. on June 11, when Wang Guoqing, the Huashan District tourism bureau director, was speeding at an intersection in the Huashan District and his car hit a high school student who was crossing the street.

Wang got out of his car and first verbally, then physically assaulted the student. The student ended up with an injury to his eye socket, with blood running down his face.

Onlookers demanded that Wang apologize to the student, but Wang refused and attempted to leave the scene.

Wang then called the police. A few dozen policemen arrived and tried to escort Wang away in a police car. However, the crowd swarmed around the police car in what turned into a two-hour standoff with the police.

At 10 p.m., officials from the Maanshan Municipal Party Committee came to speak to the crowd. They announced that they would “severely punish” Wang for his actions. However, their words had no effect in calming or dispersing people.

Some bystanders told The Epoch Times that the situation was too chaotic for the statement to be heard, while others said they did not believe that Wang would be punished.

At 11:25 p.m., the local authorities sent firefighters to get Wang away from the scene, but they, too, were blocked by the crowd.

Military police and antiriot police were then dispatched to break through the crowd with batons and shields, and many people were injured. Police began throwing tear gas canisters, which finally forced people to disperse at around 11:50 p.m.

A witness told The Epoch Times, “They even sent the firefighting troops. If one didn’t know what was going on, one would have thought there was a fire. Then the riot brigade came, and the [police] car [with Wang in it] took off in less than two minutes.”

Another witness told The Epoch Times, “Many people were here to protect the rights of that boy, and all the crowd could do was just swarm around the police car. When they managed to leave by force, all we could do was pick up the pieces of rubbish, and throw it at them to vent our anger. What else can we do?”

Some people said they saw the police confiscating a reporter’s camera.

Still another person said, “The kid was assaulted at 6 p.m., and we were still yelling when the protest was at its climax at 11 p.m. But in the end, we had to back off quickly, not because we lack perseverance, but because of the tear gas. You can look at my swollen eyes.”

One person posted a message on the Internet: “I charged on when the crowd backed off. My tears flowed down immediately and I smelled a foul and rotting odor. The smoke felt like darkness and helplessness that lingers and won’t fade away.”

Local media only reported that a local district-level cadre had an argument and physically assaulted a passerby, but did not mention that it turned into a mass protest involving 10,000 people.

– The Epochtimes

Three Resisters in South China Sentenced by Court for Againsting Forced Demolition

Human Rights in China, June 11, 2010-

On June 11, 2010, the Yinhai People’s Court of Beihai, in southern Guangxi Province, found three inhabitants of the Baihutou Village guilty of “obstructing official business,” and sentenced two of them, Gao Zhenzhang (高镇章) and Gao Shihui (高世辉), father and son, to two years’ imprisonment each. The third defendant, Cai Jianyue (蔡建月), received one-and-a-half years.

The three were detained on October 30, 2009, during a confrontation between more than 100 police officers and several hundred Baihutou villagers who resisted the forced demolition of their village committee building. As a result of that incident, one of the villagers beaten by the police, a relative of the Gao family, later died in the hospital. On May 26, 2010, Gao Zhenzhang’s other son, Gao Shifu (高世福), was criminally detained on suspicion of “illegally operating a business.” The family has received no information on his status.

Dong Qianyong ( 董前勇), the lawyer for Gao Shihui, said that Gao and his father are not guilty. Dong said that the father, Gao Zhenzhang, only tried to stop the demolition and did not use force. He was pulled away by his son, Gao Shifu, who was in turn pulled away by his brother, Gao Shihui, so that the men could avoid being beaten by the police.

Gao Zhenzhang’s daughter said that her 71-year-old mother collapsed when she heard the guilty verdict and sentences of her husband and son.

The conviction and sentencing mark a new episode in a 4-year dispute between the inhabitants of  Baihutou Village and the Beihai municipal government over what the villagers allege to be the authorities’ unlawful expropriation of village land for tourism development – land on which they had depended for their livelihood. The villagers accuse a former village chief, Feng Kun (冯坤), of handing over 125.5 acres of village land to the Beihai municipal government without consultation with the inhabitants.

On May 14, 2010, Feng Kun’s successor, current village chief Xu Kun (许坤), who led the fight against the land requisition and forced demolition, was detained and charged with “illegally operating a business.” Xu has been in police custody since. The authorities have not allowed him to meet with his lawyer Zheng Jianwei (郑建伟), claiming that his case involves state secrets.

– Human Rights in China

Chinese farmer fires homemade rockets to forced eviction teams to defend land

Reuters, Tue Jun 8, 2010 –

(Reuters) – A Chinese farmer has declared war on property developers who want his land, building a canon out of a wheelbarrow and pipes and firing rockets at would-be eviction teams, state media said on Tuesday.

Yang Youde, who lives on the outskirts of bustling Wuhan city, in central Hubei province, says he has fended off two eviction attempts with his improvised weapon, which uses ammunition made from locally sold fireworks.

“I shot only over their heads to frighten them,” the China Daily quoted him saying of his attacks on demolition workers sent to move him off his land. “I didn’t want to cause any injuries.”

The rockets can travel over 100 metres, and exploded with a deafening bang, the official paper added. It did not say if anyone had been injured.

His approach is more aggressive than most, but Yang’s problem is a common one.

Anger over property confiscation is one of the leading causes of unrest in China, with many people forced to give up homes and land to make way for anything from roads to luxury villas.

Yang says the local government has offered him 130,000 yuan ($19,030) for his fields, on which they want to erect “department buildings”. He is asking for five times that amount.

Construction ditches have already been dug across the land of less obstinate neighbours.

A first eviction team attacked him in February after his rockets ran out, but local police came to his rescue. In May he held off 100 people by firing from a makeshift watchtower.

The government is planning to reform property confiscation rules, but rights groups say the changes do not go far enough to address the potentially destabilising issue.

– Reuters