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Above the Law? China’s Bully Law-Enforcement Officers

Time Magazine looks at recent cases of violence perpetuated by “urban management” (chengguan 城管）officers:

In recent weeks chengguan officers have been accused of many violations. In the city of Nanjing, officers reportedly scuffled with university students who were hawking goods on a street, sparking a protest by hundreds of their classmates from the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics. The demonstration was held just days before the sensitive 20th anniversary of the crackdown on student-led protests in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. Local residents say they beat to death a farmer in southeastern Jiangxi province who was trying to stop a land-reclamation project. His killing sparked a riot, with angry residents overturning chengguan cars on a local highway. In the southern city of Changsha, city management officers allegedly beat a Chinese reporter who was visiting from Beijing to cover a demolition and relocation project. And in the central city of Xian, chengguan who were shutting down a breakfast stall kicked a wok and burned a vendor with scalding oil. In late April a law enforcement officer posted on the Internet parts of a chengguan manual that instructed officers in how to beat suspects without leaving marks, sparking harsh criticism from bloggers and the domestic press. The word “chengguan” has even taken on an alternate meaning in Chinese. “Don’t be too chengguan” means to not bully or terrorize. In other words, chengguan has literally become synonymous with violence.
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- May 22, 2009 9:44 PM
Kaixin001 v. Kaixin: Social Networking Goes to Court

Social networking site Kaixin001 has brought a lawsuit against Kaixin, a different social networking site that was created after Kaixin001. Kaixin001 is asking Kaixin to cease using the ‘Kaixin’ name and for compensation of lost advertising revenue.

From the Wall Street Journal China Journal:

The operator of one of China’s most popular social networking services, Kaixin001.com, has filed an unfair competition lawsuit against Beijing-based online entertainment company Oak Pacific Interactive, which started a competing service in October under the very similar name of Kaixin.com.

[...] The plaintiff’s site, Kaixin001.com, was launched in March 2008 and had recorded 20 million registered accounts and 700 million page views by April 2009, according to Chinese-language media. It is best known for its addictive online games, including some that are similar to Facebook’s “Parking War” and “Friends for Sale.” To monetize its traffic, in December Kaixin001.com began placing in-game advertisements in its Web game apps.

But the rapid growth of Kaixin001.com posed a direct challenge to Xiaonei.com, currently the biggest and most influential social networking Web site in China, which also happens to be owned by Oak Pacific Interactive. Created in 2005, Xiaonei.com, like Facebook before it, started out by focusing on college students (its name, in Chinese, means “on campus”). It was acquired by Oak Pacific Interactive in 2006 and currently has around 70 million registered users, half of whom use the site at least once a month.

See another look at the case, from People’s Daily Online:

“A domain name is just the door of a social networking site. People keep revisiting our website because it has a good reputation for games,” Xu Chaojun, vice-president of Qianxiang company, told China Daily yesterday.

“Kaixin.com is not a copycat! We will fight for our right and reputation in court,” he said.

For a comprehensive background of Kaixin001, please read the coverage at littleredbook.cn.
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- May 22, 2009 6:39 PM
Sexual Harrassment Defined for the First Time in Beijing

Danwei translates a report from The Beijing News on amendments to the Law on Protection of Women’s Rights, which would define sexual harassment for the first time:

Using a mobile phone to send “yellow [pornographic] material” can possibly constitute as sexual harassment now. Yesterday morning, in Beijing new additions were made to the law for the Protection of Women’s Rights; now language, letters, pictures, electronic information, and physical conduct can all be cause for sexual harassment towards women. This is the first time that Beijing has defined the situations in which sexual harassment can happen in Beijing.

It is understood that “electronic information” basically means text messaging. The specific dividing line [of what is considered sexual harassment] will be decided during real situations. The director of the Law Department in Beijing Zhou Jidong (周继东) said that these actions were taken so that women will have a better idea of self-protection.

Also added into the draft was the responsibility of the work place in preventing sexual harassment.
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- May 22, 2009 12:26 PM
Nanjing Students Protest after Reported Clash between Police and Student Vendors

One day after an alleged violent confrontation between security guards and Nanjing students sparked by police brutality, reports of thousands of students protesting in the streets of Nanjing are appearing on the Chinese Internet. From The Australian:

Thousands of students are reported to have protested in the streets of Nanjing, in central eastern China - one of the centres of protests in 1989 - following an incident on Monday night in which government security guards enforcing restrictions on peddlers allegedly attacked classmates who had set up footpath stalls.

A bloody clash between thousands of students and riot police reportedly ensued, continuing into Tuesday morning. At least 30 students were injured, and a police car was smashed.

The incident this week went unreported in national media, although accounts of it, accompanied by photos, were posted on websites and blogs.

[...]Signs carried by students carried slogans in English and Chinese, including “non-violence and noncooperation” and “help vulnerable social groups and co-construct a harmonious society,” using a favourite phrase of communist propaganda.

The South China Morning Post (subscription required) has details of the Monday night violence. From the China Economic Review:

According to the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy, five student vendors with the Nanjing University of Aeronautics were beaten by officers as they tried to remove them from the campus on Monday evening. Students demonstrators then marched from the campus, blocking main roads at the university’s north entrance. Protestors clashed with riot police and smashed a police car after three students were arrested by police.

Chinese officials deny any clash between students and police on Monday night. They also deny that the thousand or so people in the streets on Tuesday were protesting students. From Xinhua:

A senior official at an east China university Thursday denied foreign media reports that students clashed with local police on Monday night.

Chen Xiachu, deputy Communist Party chief of the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (NUAA), told Xinhua the conflict involved city management personnel and sidewalk peddlers near the campus.

“Up to 1,000 people were watching, including about 100 of our students,” he said. “The street was then blocked and traffic was at standstill.”
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- May 21, 2009 12:45 PM
Hangzhou’s “Real-name Web Registration System” Is “On the Shelf”

Plans by the Hangzhou government to become the first city in China to require real-name registration for web users to participate in local chatrooms and forums are being shelved, according to Xinhua as reported by the China Media Project:

We can confirm what Xinhua is reporting — that users can, at present, get into major forums at Hangzhou portals, including Hangzhou Online, without providing any additional information.

After reading a statement in the registration section of Hangzhou Online stating that we would not “use this Website to harm national security, to twist or manufacture facts,” etc., we clicked “Accept” and went directly to the registration form.

Registering was as simple as typing in a username, setting a password and providing an e-mail address. There was no need whatsoever to provide valid proof of identity.
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- May 21, 2009 11:22 AM
Have You Left No Sense of Decency? How China’s Latest Internet Hero Will Test the Rule of Law

From the Chinaelections.org:

In the seemingly never-ending struggle of the common people vs. the corrupt officials, every once in awhile, there is a case that attracts nationwide attention. In 2003, there was the Sun Zhigang case, while last year protests in Weng’an, Guizhou surrounding the suspicious death of a high school girl attracted widespread attention online, and Yang Jia became famous for killing six police officers in Shanghai.

This year’s unlikely heroine is Deng Yujiao, a 21 year old waitress at an entertainment club in Badong County, Hubei. On Sunday May 10, she became the perpetrator in the stabbing murder of Deng Guida, a township level official, and she also injured his companion and colleague Huang Dezhi. The popular telling of the event starts with the officials Deng and Huang finding Deng Yujiao washing clothes in a service room right next to their leisure room and asking her to provide “special services,” a not so subtle euphemism for sexual services. The three got into an argument when she refused, saying she did not work for the hydrotherapy area. During the argument, Mr. Deng took out a pile of money and hit her with it, questioning, “are you afraid I don’t have enough money?” and pushed her down on to a sofa twice, which is when she took out a pedicure knife and stabbed him repeatedly, also stabbing Huang Dezhi when he moved towards her. However, reports from the official media have been slightly different, as they claim that the knife used in the stabbing was a fruit knife, not a pedicure knife, implying that it is possible that the murder was premeditated, because why would she be carrying a fruit knife? They also don’t mention that Deng Guida hit the young girl with his money. When the police arrested her the next day, they found depression medication in her bag and are currently keeping her in a mental institution[zh].

Also read: Legality Issue in Deng Yujiao’s Case from the Seagull Reference blog:

Twenty one years old Deng Yujiao is a staff in a small town resort in remote eastern Sichuan, until the evening of May 10, 2009. Three local officials, after dined with a local business (treated by the business because they helped to suppress a labor uprising), arrived the place and found Deng washing her clothing in the laundry room. The officials asked Deng to perform ‘Special’ service (sex). Deng refused. Then Deng ran to employee lounge to hide. The officials followed Deng to the lounge. One of the officials used a big stack of money bill to slap Deng Yujiao’s face, and firmly demanded special service as a self-claimed ‘wealthy customer’. Deng tried to run away, but was blocked by the other two officials. The first official lost his patience, and pressed Deng Yujiao to the bed. Deng managed to get away. The first official again pressed Deng Yujiao to the bed. While the second and the third officials pressing Deng Yujiao to the bed, the first official raped Deng. After the first official got off from Deng, Deng managed to grab a pedicure knife she used at work and struck the first official four times. Deng Yujiao called police while fencing the officials with her pedicure knife. After police arrived, the first official fell, and died later.

Shen Zhen Red Song Club, a left-wing Maoist group will dedicate its weekly gathering on May 24 to ‘Heroine Deng Yujiao’. This is one of few moment when left and right in China’s political composition agrees and recognizes a common ground. Outside the political turmoil, people are outraged. The entire online presence of Chinese language are covered with petition to honor Deng Yujiao as a hero.

And China Daily’s Report: Official stabbed to death for ’special service’ request.

Also read “Sympathy for Waitress who Stabbed Official” from CDT.
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- May 21, 2009 7:16 AM
Chinese Think Tank Investigation Report of 3.14 Incident in Tibet

From foolsmountain blog:

Chinese think-tank (公盟法律研究中心/Beijing Gongmeng Consulting Co., Ltd. ) established by Beijing University law professors, and joined by several Beijing economics professors. Following the unrest and demonstrations in Tibet which started Mach 10th, 2009, they decided to see for themselves what was really happening in Tibet by visiting Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, and Labrang, outside Tibet Autonomous Region.

Their findings are astonishing. They find that a new Tibetan aristocracy has taken over power. This aristocracy is even worse than the old Tibetan aristocracy. In the old system the aristocracy was reliant on some sort of accord and agreement with the people, since they were dependent on the people to pay taxes. The new aristocracy get all their funding directly for Beijing (Central government) due to “stability” reasons, and thus they do not have any incentive to care about the well-being of Tibetans.

They show how the new aristocracy cover up their own shortcomings in governance and lack of qualifications by pointing fingers at foreign forces and the Dalai Lama. This new aristocracy came to power in the cultural revolution. In other parts of China, this type of unqualified leadership was purged in the 80s, but in Tibet (due to their absolute loyality to Beijing), they were kept in power, up untill today.

They point to specific educational policy problems and find that the younger generation of Tibetans who grew up in a “liberated” Tibet has stronger Tibetan national identity than the elder generation.

The report can be found here (in Chinese).
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- May 20, 2009 10:12 PM
Lawyers Beaten in Chongqing; Colleagues Protest in Beijing

A group of lawyers gathered in Beijing for a legal seminar held a protest against the beating of two of their colleagues in Chongqing, according to this report from Ming Pao. The protesting lawyers called for an investigation into the incident and for protection of lawyers’ rights.

Zhang Kai and Li Chunfu, lawyers for Beijing law firms, were investigating the suspicious death of a detainee at a facility in Chongqing on behalf of the family of the deceased. The official report said the detainee died of a heart attack but the autopsy later found three broken ribs.

Zhang Kai said that when he and Li were carrying out an investigation at the home of the deceased, several police suddenly burst in on the pretext of “checking identity cards.” The police then beat Zhang and Li, and brought them to the nearby police station where they were put in handcuffs and held until after midnight. Police searched their documents and computers. Zhang told the reporter he now has no feeling in his fingers.

The lawyers and academics attending the seminar spoke out against the behavior of the Chongqing Public Security officers. One professor from the Chinese University of Politics and Law said if the rights of lawyers cannot be protected, how can we even talk about protecting the rights of citizens?

【明報專訊】北京兩名律師早前在重慶調查一宗案件時遭到當地公安毆打並拘禁，數十名同行昨日在京城拉橫額抗議，要求當局調查事件、保障律師權利，嚴懲打人的公安。被打傷的律師張凱說，右手拇指已因被反銬而失去知覺，懷疑傷及神經，2人目前仍留在重慶處理案件。

擬往公安部請願保律師權利

數十名內地律師昨日齊聚京城一個法律研討會，主持人李方平律師安排現場聯絡到身在重慶的北京億嘉律師事務所律師張凱、北京高博隆華律師事務所律師李春富。

張李兩人是受當事人江宏、江平委託，調查其父江錫清今年1月份在重慶一間勞教所死亡事件，醫檢報告稱是心臟病發作，但屍體解剖發現江錫清有3根肋骨折斷，肋中有淤血，檢察院解釋是「搶救時壓斷」，家屬則稱父親沒有心臟病，認為事件有可疑。

張凱說，他們13日下午5時左右在當事人家中調查時，多名警察突然以「查身分證」為由闖入，將張李按在地上毆打，並反銬雙手帶往附近派出所。他被關入一個鐵籠子，警方要求他把雙手從高處伸出籠格，並用手銬銬住達30分鐘，直至他稱心臟不適才解開。警方又搜查他的文件袋及電腦，至晚上12時40分將2 人釋放。

中國政法大學法學院副教授王建勛說，若律師的權利都不能維護，便談不上為公民維權，「不要期望有一天當局會賜予律師更多權利，我們只能寄希望於我們自己，所有人應該挺身而出。」他們在會議室中拉起橫額，並計劃申請往公安部等地請願。

張凱昨晚接受本報電話訪問表示，右手拇指數日來沒有知覺，懷疑因為反銬時間過長而傷及神經，手腕仍有多處紅腫，但他和李春富仍會秉持理性、冷靜的態度，留在重慶處理案件。
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- May 18, 2009 11:54 AM
Music: The Songs of the People’s Judges, Procurators, and Police

Hear three songs, “The Song of the People’s Judges,” “The Song of the People’s Procurators,” and “The Song of the People’s Police.”

The Song of the People’s Judges　(人民法官之歌):

See Chinese lyrics and music at chinacourt.org, a site sponsored by the Supreme People’s Court of the PRC.

Translated lyrics via Donald Clarke of China Law Prof Blog:

Let loyalty be cast in the magnificent state seal
And support the golden balance-scales with impartiality
Open up and advance along the road to construction of the legal system
The spring wind of law blows across the cities and the villages.

To investigate the smallest detail, to eliminate the false and keep the true is our duty
To punish evil and promote good, and to support justice is our mission
O, be proud, people’s judges of the Republic!
O, be proud, people’s judges of the Republic!
Glory belongs to us
Glory belongs to the motherland
Glory belongs to the people!

Let loyalty be cast in the magnificent state seal
And support the golden balance-scales with impartiality
Open up and advance along the road to construction of the legal system
The spring wind of law blows across the cities and the villages.

To be loyal to the law and to strictly carry out the law is our bounden duty
To serve the people and to contribute selflessly is our sincere wish
O, be proud, people’s judges of the Republic!
O, be proud, people’s judges of the Republic!
Glory belongs to us
Glory belongs to the motherland
Glory belongs to the people!
Glory belongs to the people! [Above, a chorus in Zhejiang, via qtfy.gov.cn.]

Information about the song and its writer can be found at chinamil.com.cn. A translated summary by CDT:
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- May 16, 2009 8:54 PM
Microsoft, China’s Hangzhou Set ‘Model City’ Pact

Microsoft is partnering with the city of Hangzhou to strengthen intellectual property rights. From Elaine Kurtenbach of the Associated Press:

Microsoft Corp. announced a partnership aimed at helping make the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou a model for innovation and protection of intellectual property, in the company’s latest attempt to combat rampant software piracy.

A three-year agreement signed Friday calls for setting up two new centers in Hangzhou to focus on developing the local technology industry. Microsoft will provide curriculum support, technology and training for teachers at Hangzhou Normal University through an institute set up to nurture local innovation.

“Partnering with leading IT companies like Microsoft will greatly boost Hangzhou’s innovative capabilities and help us build a model information technology city in China,” Cai Qi, Hangzhou’s mayor, said in a statement.
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- May 16, 2009 6:30 PM
Setting Up International Nonprofit Organizations in China

From the China Business Review:

In light of China’s encounter with the current global economic crisis, the types of services that international nonprofit organizations (INPOs) offer are now more vital than ever. INPOs—defined broadly as foreign charitable organizations, private foundations, trade and industry associations, business leagues, and educational organizations—contribute to the needs of the rapidly developing country in disaster prevention and relief, education, environmental protection, HIV/AIDS, labor and migration, rural development, and animal welfare but have also encountered many bureaucratic hurdles. There is a growing need for INPOs—whether charitable organizations that wish to provide aid, or INPOs set up by corporations to extend their corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts—to have a greater presence in China, yet their efforts are often hampered by a system that lacks efficient mechanisms for charity because of the limitations on the establishment of transparent, independently registered charities and nonprofit organizations. As China develops, INPOs can help China foster greater public awareness on issues that are fundamental to a developing society, such as environmental protection. Trade and industry associations give Chinese industries a platform to connect with other global industry players, and other INPOs can help multinational investors establish effective CSR activities in China.
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- May 15, 2009 4:45 PM
China Arrests Returned Tiananmen Student Leader

Reuters reports on the arrest of Zhou Yongjun, a leader of the Beijing Students’ Autonomous Union in the 1989 protests, who has been held in secret detention for more than six months:

Zhou is a permanent U.S. resident, relatives said, and his case could stoke contention between Washington and Beijing.

He was charged with fraud by police in his home city of Suining in southwest Sichuan province, said his brother, Zhou Lin, who spoke by telephone. Zhou Lin said his family received the written arrest notice on Wednesday morning.
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Zhou Lin said he did not know the specifics behind the accusation, nor when his brother could have committed fraud in China, given his long residence in the United States.

To read original news reports and other original source material about the 1989 protest movement, see the CDT series: Twenty Years Ago Today: Tiananmen Square Student Movement. See also a new report from Human Rights Watch: “The Tiananmen Legacy,” which includes a multimedia feature, and a press release from the Duihua Foundation: “Dui Hua Reduces Estimate of Remaining June Fourth Prisoners.”
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- May 13, 2009 11:02 AM
As Hacking Hits Home, China Strengthens Cyber Laws

PC World reports on the state of anti-hacking legislation in China:

Although the Western media has been awash with stories of Chinese hacking for years, cybercrime was until recently governed by three articles added to China’s criminal code in 1997. The laws were out-of-date and “failed to correlate proportionately with the tremendous social harm” caused by cybercrime, according to a recent paper on Chinese cyber-law published in the International Journal of Electronic Security and Digital Forensics.

“China has made significant progress in cybercrime legislation and is putting in great efforts to strengthen it,” said Man Qi, one of the paper’s co-authors, in an e-mail interview.

However, the paper concludes that the country’s laws are still in the early stages of development. “Gaps and inadequacies exist in traditional offense provisions,” said Qi, a senior lecturer in the Department of Computing at Canterbury Christ Church University in the U.K.
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- May 12, 2009 11:42 AM
Zeng Jinyan: Concerns for Health of Hu Jia in Beijing Prison

Thanks to a translator who prefers to remain anonymous for providing the following:

In her blog entry of April 25, Zeng Jinyan discusses how on April 22 she went with their one-year-old child to visit her husband, activist Hu Jia, at the prison where he is being held on the outskirts of Beijing.

“After filling out some paperwork, I went to the waiting room. Hu Jia was already waiting. The police officer at his side changed. The electronic signboard on the wall said Hu Jia, window 4. We spoke by telephone at window 4. The sound wasn’t good and it was cut-off several times.

The window was very dirty and made for a fuzzy affect as if there were many, many layers of glass. I could see Hu Jia, but I couldn’t see him completely clearly. He had gotten a lot thinner, his face looked a bit pointy. He said he hadn’t been able to eat, so he got thinner. I asked him why he didn’t eat eggs. He replied he gets one or two eggs a week. He doesn’t eat with the other prisoners, the prison gives him vegetarian food. He can’t eat well and sleeps poorly. I asked him about the results of his physical, he said he doesn’t know and the prison personnel don’t know either. They said they will have to wait for the results from the hospital. But this is normal, not getting the results within a week!

I had to worry, thinking back to that first physical after he had disappeared for 41 days in 2006. The B sonogram showed signs of a hardening of the liver. Other test results can back within 4 - 5 days, showing everything was normal. That time I put too much confidence in the those test results that came back with some delay, thinking everything was fine. Who know that in April 2006, he gradually had less and less appetite, then couldn’t get out of bed. I thought he was too tired and sent him to the hospital for treatment, only to find out that he was in very serious condition and needed immediate medical treatment.

Now it is April and we have been waiting for the medical exam results for two months and his antiviral medicines have already stopped for three months. Now he can’t eat and is suddenly getting thinner. Could there be some physical problem? I believe that the prison is monitoring our conversations more and more tightly. His letters home have been returned twice for rewriting. All the books I have given him, except for some examination preparation books, have been rejected. Has Hu Jia been protesting to the prison officials? There is no hot water in the prison, has he caught a cold again?

There is so much to say, but I don’t know where to start. There are so many ears listening. It is hard to talk about family matters. The child went to see her father. The guards with Hu Jia this time weren’t as friendly as last time and she got scared. So she came back to me. We can’t go through that door but the innocent child sometimes go through to see her father.

The phone suddenly cut off. They said the half hour was up. The police officer told Hu Jia to go back. I was full of regrets since I hadn’t really said anything and the child didn’t really have a chance to get close to her father. Talking like this is like not talking at all, better to let father and daughter play for half an hour.

When I got back home, my mother-in-law asked me, he is getting so thin, what can we do?

What can we do? What can we do?

The next day, my mother-in-law called the Public Security Domestic Security Detachment (Guobao). I called the prison several times. The people in charge weren’t in, so we could only just keep on calling. Shouldn’t they have informed the person who had the physical and their family members long ago? Are they going to give Hu Jia his medicine? Should they not guarantee that they are going to promise to give Hu Jia nutritious food? Should they not guarantee freedom of communications for us? Should they be preventing his family members from sending him books and necessities for daily life? Shouldn’t the prison provide hot water as a basic humanitarian and health necessity?

了了园

April 25, 2009 at 10:42 am · Filed under 杂谈
北京的四月，才是真正的春天。一夜冷雨，竟叫无数野花喷发，干巴巴的枝条，居然几天就绿得茂盛起来。

春是升发的季节。如果胡佳在身边，他定会如此说。

4月22日，周三。像过节一般，早早起来，梳洗，给孩子穿上昨晚准备好的衣服，又脱下，怕午饭前弄脏了，带了一包的小衣服备用。对宝宝说：今天看爸爸去！宝宝马上指墙上的照片，脸上笑眯眯。到了爷爷奶奶那儿，一说看爸爸，她就往墙上看，找照片。

中午一点，上了京开高速，和婆婆聊天，不小心错过了高速出口——去北京市监狱好多趟，第一次出这样的错误很不应该。到六环交界处下了高速往回走。

团河，清代是是皇族的行宫所在地，现在是北京市监狱所在地。

办完手续走进监狱会见室，胡佳已经在里面等了。他身边的警员又换了一个。墙上电子屏幕显示：胡嘉，4号。我们在4号窗口通过电话交谈。电话音效不好，几次中断。

玻璃很脏，已经模糊，中空玻璃之间，似乎还有万重的迷雾，我能看见胡佳，却不能完全看清。他瘦了许多，短短一个月时间，脸似乎尖了。他说吃不下东西，所以瘦了。我问能不能吃到鸡蛋，他说一个星期大概有一个或两个鸡蛋。他不和其他人一样吃饭，是监狱另给的素食。吃不下东西，睡觉也不好。我问他知不知道3月份以来体检的结果，他不知道，我也不知道，问监狱的工作人员，也说不知道，说要等医院给了才知道。可是常规的情况，一周内就能得检查结果啊！

我免不了又担心，2006年他失踪41天，回来第一次做体检，当天拿的B超结果怀疑他肝硬化，其他生化化验结果，隔了四五天才拿到，显示一切正常。我们当时大意了，太过相信这些迟到的体检报告，以为一切平安。谁知06年的4月份，渐渐地胡佳不吃东西，后来竟不愿意起床，我以为他太过疲劳，送到医院才知道病重需马上住院治疗。

如今又是四月，两个月的检查结果我们都不知道，他的抗病毒药已经停用三个多月了，他突然吃不下东西，突然消瘦，会不会又是身体出了状况？监狱对我们的交流审查，我认为是越来越严，他的家信往往要几次退回重写，我给他带的书，除了考试教材，其他也都送不进去。胡佳是不是在监狱向他们抗议了？监狱没有热水洗澡，是不是他又感冒了？

千言万语，不知从何说起，那么多耳朵在听，时事不让说，家事不便说，孩子淘气，一会儿走到门口去看父亲。这次她父亲身边的警员不如上次的那人和善，她又恐惧，一会儿跑回我的身边。那道门，我们相互无法跨越，只有孩子，天真无邪，偶尔穿过，亲近她的父亲。

突然电话断了，说是半个小时已经过去。警员催促胡佳回去。我心中万般懊悔，什么也没说，孩子也没有好好和父亲亲近，早知如此，不如不要说话了，让他们父女俩好好玩半个小时。

回家婆婆问我：他这么消瘦，怎么办呢？

怎么办？怎么办？

隔日，婆婆告诉我她给国保打电话了，我给监狱几次去电话，管事的人都不在，只有继续打电话，胡佳的体检报告，是不是早该告知家属和他本人？是不是要给胡佳用药治疗？是不是该保障胡佳的饮食营养？是不是该保障我们的通信自由？是不是不该限制家属给他送书、文具和一些基本的生活用品？监狱是不是该从人道及基本的卫生保健考虑，提供热水洗澡？
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- May 9, 2009 8:54 PM
Quake Readiness, Turning the Clock Back to 2005

In an article for Southern Weekend, Qian Gang asks if officials have fully carried out earthquake safety plans that date back to 2005. Translated by China Media Project:

If you make a careful reading of the speech delivered by Zhang Peizhen (张培震) of the China Earthquake Administration’s Institute of Geology to the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress on June 30, 2008, everything becomes clear instantly. Zhang, who is head of the Institute of Geology, said: “In 2004, the China Earthquake Administration organized earthquake experts from around the country to carry out research on earthquake rise from 2005 to 2020. They designed 22 areas around the country that were considered to be priority regions for earthquake monitoring and defense.”

The documents released by the State Council and by various provincial and city governments at that time were clearly part of an overall government push for earthquake disaster prevention.

But the burning question is: were these documents actually translated into action?

See another article by Qian Gang, also translated by CMP.
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- May 9, 2009 8:22 PM