Artillery in Beijing, May 9. (Weibo)

• Anhui girl (安徽女子): Yuan Liya, a poor young woman from central Anhui Province, died on May 3 after falling from the fourth floor of the wholesale apparel mall in Beijing where she worked. While the police have called it a suicide, Yuan’s family and fellow Anhui migrants suspect mall security guards raped her, and that she either jumped to escape them or was thrown off the building by her assailants. Hundreds protested in Beijing yesterday to demand a thorough investigation of Yuan’s case, drawing riot police onto the streets and rarely-seen helicopters into the air.

Deng Xiaoping’s Only Grandson Becomes County Head: Deng Zhuodi has become head of Pingguo County in the southwestern province of Guangxi. Some netizens suspect the younger Deng is a U.S. citizen. A graduate of the Duke University School of Law, Deng was accused of sexually harassing a female colleague in 2011. South China Morning Post, however, says Deng resurfaced in Chinese public life in 2010. Challenges to his citizenship are equally unsubstantiated.

• Deng Zhuodi+U.S. (邓卓棣+美国)
• Deng Zhuodi+sexual harassment (邓卓棣+性骚扰)
• Deng Zhuodi+red third generation (邓卓棣+红三代)

All Chinese-language words are tested using simplified characters. The same terms in traditional characters occasionally return different results.

Browse all of CDT’s collected sensitive words in this bilingual Google spreadsheet.

CDT Chinese runs a project that crowd-sources filtered keywords on Sina Weibo search. CDT independently tests the keywords before posting them, but some searches later become accessible again. We welcome readers to contribute to this project so that we can include the most up-to-date information. To add words, check out the form at the bottom of CDT Chinese’s latest sensitive words post.

© Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Anhui, Beijing, censorship, Deng Xiaoping, Deng Zhuodi, Guangxi, Internet censorship, Ministry of Truth, Sensitive Words Series, weibo, Yuan Liya
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Although initially introduced as a “temporary measure”, more than 30 years later this barbaric experiment in social engineering is, astonishingly, still in force. China’s totalitarian government may have relaxed its control of the means of production, but it has maintained firm control of the means of reproduction, and continues to intrude into the most intimate aspects of an individual’s life, stunting relationships, destroying traditional family life and spreading fear. Two generations of children have grown up without siblings, uncles, aunts or cousins. Women have lost sovereignty of their bodies. The state owns their ovaries, fallopian tubes and wombs, and has become the silent, malevolent third participant in every act of love.

[…] In 2007, I read of riots breaking out in Bobai County in China’s south-western Guangxi province. Under pressure from higher authorities to meet birth targets, local officials had launched a vicious crackdown on family-planning violators. Squads had rounded up 17,000 women and subjected them to sterilisations and abortions and had extracted 7.8m yuan (£800,000) in fines for “illegal births”, ransacking the homes of families who refused to pay. Tens of thousands of peasants occupied Bobai County town and set fire to government buildings to protest against the crackdown. This was the largest outbreak of popular unrest since the 1989 student protests in Tiananmen Square.

Shortly after the Beijing Olympics of 2008, I travelled to Guangxi, where I had decided my new novel, The Dark Road, would open. Before I start work on a book, I often go on a journey. […] By the time I arrived in Bobai, almost a year after the riots, the burned government buildings had been repaired, but there was still anger in the air. […]

© cindyliuwenxin for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Bobai, family planning, forced abortions, forced sterilization, Guangxi, ma jian, one-child policy
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Hu Chunhua has been appointed secretary of the Guangdong Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), replacing Wang Yang, the CPC Central Committee announced Tuesday.

Wang Jun will replace Hu as secretary of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Regional Committee of the CPC, according to the announcement.

Hu, born in April 1963, is currently a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee. Wang Yang is also a Political Bureau member.

Hu previously served as deputy secretary of the Tibet Autonomous Regional Committee of the CPC, first secretary of the Secretariat of the Communist Youth League of China Central Committee and governor of north China’s Hebei Province.

At the South China Morning Post, Mimi Lau described a range of views on Hu’s appointment and prospects:

Liu Kaiming, director of the Institute of Contemporary Observation, a labour rights NGO in Shenzhen, said Hu lacked the track record of outstanding political achievements necessary to impress Guangdong officials.

“After spending extensive time in remote inland areas, Hu might find it hard to fit in at first in Guangdong, especially when dealing with vested interests,” Liu said. “I’m not very sure about officials from remote regions because they often appear very conservative and arrogant, but Hu might be different because he’s young.”

[…] Dr Peng Peng, a researcher with the Guangzhou Academy of Social Sciences, said Hu would have to hunker down after arriving in Guangdong because it was unlike any other mainland region.

“The press here is outspoken and the public can often complain directly to leaders,” Peng said. “In order to do a good job in Guangdong, Hu needs to be even more open-minded than Wang Yang.

“Wang Yang laid a solid foundation. Hu is much younger than Wang. I’m guessing Hu is more likely to flow with the open atmosphere in Guangdong.”

But at The Diplomat, David Cohen sounded a cautious note on the prospects for bold reform:

A Guangdong posting will give “Little Hu” a chance to burnish his reformist credentials, like Wang Yang before him. If Xi follows through on his talk of reform, that may prove to be a valuable skill. Guangdong is China’s most liberal province and frequently given to experimentation — if Xi is looking for models for national reform the leader of Guangdong may get some chances to influence the direction of national policy with some inventive provincial initiatives, such as Wang Yang’s much-ballyhooed “Wukan model.”

This trend should also give us some pause before rooting for Wang or Hu as reformers — neither of their records shows particularly bold action before traveling to Guangdong, so to some extent Wang’s liberal policies in the southern province may simply reflect institutional momentum. In fact, besides his time in Tibet, Little Hu initiated a harsh crackdown at the first signs of protests in Inner Mongolia in the spring of 2011. Some felt Hu had overreacted but he did not shirk from his decision, recently telling the Financial Times, “When we deal with mass incidents, there is no question we will take compulsory measures . . . We will be tough when we need to be tough, and we will be soft when we need to be soft.”

Reuters’ Sui-Lee Wee outlined Hu’s earlier career:

In Inner Mongolia, Hu Chunhua, also known as “Little Hu”, has been referred to as a future president. While there, Hu Chunhua oversaw rapid economic growth and dealt successfully with protests last year by ethnic Mongols.

Hu Chunhua came to Inner Mongolia following a brief stint in Hebei, the arid province which surrounds Beijing, where he was rapidly moved after a scandal over tainted milk in which at least six children died and thousands became ill.

Hu Chunhua remains something of an enigma, even in China. He has given few clues about his deeper policy beliefs. One of the best known things about him is that he does not appear to dye his hair jet black like many politicians.

In meetings with the public, Hu Chunhua comes across as low key and self effacing, in line with an image of a loyal, humble Communist Party member. People who have met him describe him as relaxed, easy-going and spontaneous, unlike stiffer party leaders.

Hu and newly appointed Chongqing Party chief Sun Zhengcai were both elevated to the Politburo last month, and are likely to rise further to the Politburo Standing Committee in 2017 and the presidency and premiership in 2022. (See Cheng Li’s profiles of the two men at the Brookings Institution.) None of this can be taken for granted, however: neither of their predecessors, Wang Yang and Bo Xilai, has followed the trajectory widely anticipated even at the start of this year. The Associated Press’ Didi Tang focused on Wang Yang, Guangdong’s previous Party chief, whose next assignment has not yet been revealed:

Xinhua gave no indication of Wang’s next job, but China watchers said he is likely to be named a vice premier when China’s legislature meets in the spring.

Wang, 57, is seen as a politically liberal figure. He failed to win a seat on the party’s ruling seven-member Standing Committee when new leaders were installed last month but was named to the lower-ranking Politburo.

[…] Wang was seen at Xi’s side when the general secretary visited Guangdong in early December. Li Cheng, an expert on China’s elite politics at Washington-based think tank Brookings Institute, said the appearance of the two together was to show the solidarity of the party leadership, because Wang is not considered to be in Xi’s camp in China’s factional politics.

“It’s a symbol of unity,” Li said.

Hu’s replacement in Inner Mongolia, Wang Jun, has extensive experience related to the autonomous region’s heavy mining industry. Wang was appointed governor of coal-rich Shanxi province following an accident which claimed more than 270 lives at an iron mine in 2008, and had previously headed the national work safety agency. His acting replacement in Shanxi is Li Xiaopeng, son of former premier Li Peng. New Party chiefs for Zhejiang, Shaanxi and Jilin were also announced on Tuesday, with appointments for Fujian and Guangxi following the next day. The blizzard of new posts sent a “subtle message”, according to a Global Times editorial, which hailed the new provincial leaders as offering the public a fresh start.

The Party secretary is the very top leader in a province. The prominence of this position differs from Western systems and is the key to ensuring that the Party rules the country’s political system.

[…] The population and economic scale of many provinces exceed those of middle-sized countries. As China is undergoing rapid development and social conflicts, the difficulties in managing a province can be much greater than managing a global power.

[…] Party secretaries should make efforts to improve communication with the public. We are looking forward to those who are outspoken and can interact with the public.

A new political style has been showcased by the Party’s top leadership. These new provincial leaders are expected to emulate it in solving local problems.

© Samuel Wade for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Bo Xilai, Chongqing, Communist Youth League, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, hebei, Hu Chunhua, Hu Jintao, Inner Mongolia, jilin, Politburo, Politburo Standing Committee, Shaanxi, Shanxi, tainted food, Tibet, Wang Yang, Wukan, Xi Jinping, Zhejiang
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The translations are by Rogier Creemers of China Copyright and Media.

21 March 2006

Please immediately delete “Nationwide, 109 Professors Issue Open Letter to Call for Resistance Against Academic Corruption.”

20 March 2006

Please immediately delete the article about a doctoral supervisor at Wuhan University who is suspected to be involved in plagiarism.  Please acknowledge receipt, thank you.

20 March 2006

Information Office Notice (Fan Tao): Please immediately delete the article “Strike Incident of More than 200 Shops in Beijing Yashow Fashion Market.”

19 March 2006

Concerning reports on the “Yuan Baojing Hired Murder Case” are not to be played up by all websites, corresponding information is to be pushed to the back stage without exception, close news trackers, forums are also not to discuss this. The concrete implementation is: it may be reported on channels, columns, communities and banners, but not put on the front page; forums may issue standard or simplified copy from Xinhua Net, etc., items playing this up or inciting matters are to be deleted.

18 March 2006

Everyone, according to Japanese media reports, a number of Japanese members of parliament are planning to inspect the Diaoyu Islands on 20 March, this matter remains to be verified, and is not to be reported for the moment without exception, for relevant reporting, use Xinhua copy without exception, forums and blogs are not to discuss this matter, do not send short messages.

18 March 2006

Supervision and management information notice from the Information Office: everyone, concerning the case of a Japanese female student being attacked yesterday evening at Beijing Language and Culture University, there is to be no reporting without exception, forums are not to discuss this, please at the same time notify all blogs and search engines.

18 March 2006

Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau Network Supervision Office notice: Brothers, very sorry, tomorrow, focus on supervising and controlling information on Japan, and information on assemblies and demonstrations related to Japan. If it is there, immediately call 85223522.

17 March 2006

On the case of consumers suing the Beijing Municipal Development and Reform Commission, and requiring to convene a special hearing on “dispute settlement on water resources and water pricing,” please do not put it on the main page of web sites and the main page of news centres, and close trackers. Please acknowledge receipt, thank you.

17 March 2006

Please delete articles corresponding to “Wen Jiabao Attends East Asia Summit and Responds to Stupid Ichiro Koizumi’s Tough Speech, Shock!!!!!!” or “Of China’s Present 599 Intercontinental Nuclear Missiles, 299 Nuclear Missiles Are Aimed At Japan,” if you see them afterwards, because their content involves State secrets.

16 March 2006

The source of the article “During the Two Sessions, Beijing Puts In 165,000 Police Man Hours and Sends Away 2000 Beggars” is incorrect, please delete it.

15 March 2006

Please do not put the Beijing News article “Special Interview with Huangfu Ping: Guard Against Denying Reform Under the Name of Revisionism” on the front page of websites, in the important news area, putting it in the domestic news section will do, at the same time, close trackers on this news. Please acknowledge receipt, thank you.

12 March 2006

Please do not put the case of “an explosion in a house in Leye District, Guangxi, killing nine and injuring four” on the front page of websites and in the important news section, do not set up special subjects.

It is stressed again that the case of the strange death of Milosevic is not to be played up.

2006年3月北京网管办发出的禁令（二）
2006-03-21

“全国109名教授发公开信呼吁抵制学术腐败”，请立即删除。
2006-03-20

武汉大学博导涉嫌抄袭原北大教师论文被起诉一文，请予删除。收到请回复，谢谢。
2006-03-20

新闻办通知（范涛）：“北京岳秀服装市场发生200多户商户罢市事件”一文，请立即删除。
2006-03-19

有关“袁宝景雇凶杀人案”的报道，各网站不要炒作，相关消息一律压至后台，关闭新闻跟帖，论坛也不讨论。具体执行为：频道、专栏、公社、动力可报道但不推首页；论坛可发新华网等正规或简化报道，炒作及煽动性的删。
2006-03-18

各位，据日本媒体报道，日一些议员拟于3月20日视察钓鱼岛，此事尚有待证实，暂一律不得报道，有关报道，一律采用新华社通稿，论坛、博客不讨论此事，不发短信
2006-03-18

新闻办的监管信息通知：各位，关于昨晚北京语言大学一日本女留学生遇袭事件，一律不报道，论坛不讨论，请同时通知各自的博客，搜索。
2006-03-18

北京市公安局网监处通知：兄弟们，辛苦了，明天重点监控涉日信息，涉日集会、游行的信息。有就立刻打电话　85223522
2006-03-17

消费者状告北京市发改委，要求召开“自行解决水资源水价”听证会一事，请不要放在网站首页和新闻中心首页，关闭跟贴。收到请回复，谢谢。
2006-03-17

“温总理出席东亚峰会回应小犬蠢一郎强硬发言，震撼！！！！！！” 或者是“中国现有的五百九十九枚州际核导弹中的二百九十九枚核导弹是对准日本的” 由于个中内容涉及国家机密，请以后看到相关的文章请予删除。

2006-03-16

“两会北京投入警力16.5万人次遣散2000乞讨人员”一文，稿源不对，请删除。
2006-03-15

新京报稿件《专访皇甫平：警惕以反思之名否定改革》，请不要发网站首页、新闻要闻区，放置在国内新闻区即可，同时关闭此新闻的跟帖。收到请回复，谢谢。

2006-03-12

“广西乐业县民房发生爆炸9人死亡4人受伤”一事及后续报道，请不要放在网站首页和新闻中心要闻区，不要开设专题；

再次强调米洛舍维奇死亡一事，不要炒作。

These translated directives were first posted by Rogier Creemers on China Copyright and Media on November 18, 2012 (here).

© Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: academic corruption, Beijing, Beijing Internet Instructions, Beijing News, censorship, Censorship Vault, diaoyu islands, Directives from the Ministry of Truth, east asia summit, Guangxi, Huangfu Ping, Internet censorship, Japan, Junichiro Koizumi, Ministry of Truth, police, state secrets, two sessions, water, Wen Jiabao, wuhan, Xinhua, Yuan Baojing
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The translations are by Rogier Creemers of China Copyright and Media.

(1) Anti-Chinese content from Indonesia (images and text), images of sky burials, any article concerning Liu Xiaobo or Yu Jie.

(2) Reports concerning the great fire in Karamay: let leaders walk first.

(3) Concerning the access system of Zhang Weiying [Note: Zhang Weiying, a professor at the Institute for International Relations at Renmin University, had advocated to set up a system regulating the access of rural migrants, as their "moral quality" [素质 suzhi] was deemed to be low, they would turn to crime due to unemployment, and would harm social safety].

(4) Notice from the Information Office, it is without exception not permitted to report on the conflagration that occurred on 5 March in Zhengzhou, Henan.

(5) Requirement of the Information Office, do not disseminate anything on anti-Japanese permanent Security Council membership signatures and resisting of Japanese goods, there may be no proposals and signatures on forums related to sponsoring a resistance of Japanese goods.

(6) Concerning the matter of a small numbers of criminals selling human bodies in Guangdong and Guangxi, no online reports may be made without exception, existing reports must be immediately deleted.

(7) On the case of the mistaken killing of Nie Shuwu in Hebei, corresponding information and news must be immediately screened out, no discussion is permitted.

(8) The letter of the Shanghai resident making 10.000 yuan per month but who cannot afford to buy a house to the Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng, and Han’s response.

(9) The incident of peasants opposing the pollution from a chemical plant in Dongyang, Zhejiang.

(10) Concerning the shootings of the offices of some of our country’s banks in Japan and the threatening letters received by our consulates in Japan, no reports are to be made without exception.

(11) Concerning the matter of where the equestrian events of the 2008 Beijing Olympics are to be organized, no reports are to be made without exception.

(12) Concerning whether or not the organization opening ceremony of the Money Forum at the Temple of Heaven damages cultural relics, no reports are to be made without exception.

(13) On the evening of 15 April, our embassy in Japan was raided by right-wingers, this information can absolutely not appear in news, on forums and on trackers.

(14) Concerning resisting Japanese goods and opposition to Japanese permanent Security Council membership, the content of demonstrations may not be reported.

(15) All comparisons of the present government and the late Qing government of the Li Hongzhang period must be deleted.

(16) Concerning posts on North Korea and Kim Jong-il, the extreme ones must be deleted.

17, “The Guangzhou 3000 Yuan Baby Soup,” this content must be deleted. (May 2005)

2005年5月北京网管办发出的禁令

1、印尼反华的内容（图片和文字）、天葬的图片、有关刘小波、余杰的任何文章。

2、有关克拉玛依的大火的报道：让领导先走…

3、有关张惟英的准入制。

4、接新闻办通知，3月5日发生在河南郑州的火灾一律不许报道。

5、接新闻办要求，对于反日入常签名和抵制日货等一律不转，论坛中不要有发起抵制日货的倡议和签名。

6、关于广东、广西少数不法分子买卖尸体一事，网上一律不得报道，已有的要立即删除。

7、河北聂树斌被错杀案 相关的信息与新闻等务必马上清查，不许谈论。

8、月收入１万买不起房子的上海市民致上海市长韩正的信，和韩的回信。

9、浙江东阳发生农民反抗化工厂污染事件

10、有关我国某银行在日本办事处遭枪击和我驻日领事馆收到恐吓信，一律不报。

11、关于2008北京奥运会马术比赛在哪里举办事，一律不报

12、关于财富论坛开幕式在天坛举办是否损害文物，一律不报

13、4.15号晚我驻日使馆遭右翼分子袭击，此消息坚决不能出现在新闻、论坛、跟帖中。

14、关于抵制日货和反日入常，游行示威的内容不准报。

15、把现在政府与晚清李鸿章时期的政府对比的要删。

16、有关朝鲜金正日的帖子，要有偏激一面的删。

17、“广州3000元婴儿汤…”这一内容要删。

These translated directives were first posted by Rogier Creemers on China Copyright and Media on November 8, 2012 (here).

© Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 2008 Beijing Olympics, Beijing, Beijing Internet Instructions, Beijing Municipal Network Propaganda Management Office, censorship, Censorship Vault, Directives from the Ministry of Truth, Donyang, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guangzhou, Han Zheng, hebei, Henan, indonesia, Internet censorship, Japan, Karamay, Kim Jong-il, Li Hongzhang, Liu Xiaobo, Ministry of Truth, Nie Shuwu, North Korea, security council, Shanghai, yu jie, Zhang Weiying, Zhejiang, Zhengzhou
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Since directives are sometimes communicated orally to journalists and editors, who then leak them online, the wording published here may not be exact. The original publication date is noted after the directives; the date given may indicate when the directive was leaked, rather than when it was issued. CDT does its utmost to verify dates and wording, but also takes precautions to protect the source.

Central Propaganda Department: No media will report, comment or republish information on the vice-governor of Jiangxi Province who arrived late for his scheduled flight, causing the flight to leave after its scheduled departure, and who fought with passengers. (October 26, 2012)

中宣部：对网传江西一副省长因迟到致航班延误并与乘客发生纠纷一事，各媒体不报道不评论不转载。

Central Propaganda Department: All media must use Xinhua wire copy in relation to the 70 boats lost in a flash flood in Guangxi Province. Do not sensationalize the story. (October 30, 2012)

中宣部：对广西因山洪爆发致70条船失踪一事，各媒体一律采用新华社通稿，不炒作。

© Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: censorship, central propaganda department, Directives from the Ministry of Truth, Guangxi, Jiangxi, media censorship, Ministry of Truth, propaganda, Xinhua
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More than 9.5 billion tons of the sewage, or 75.8 percent of the total, was directly discharged into local rivers, the bulletin said.

The major river systems in Guangdong are the Pearl River Basin, the Hanjiang River Valley, and rivers in the eastern and western parts of the province. According to the year-end report, the water quality of rivers in eastern Guangdong is the worst, with 30 percent of them heavily polluted.

Because of the serious pollution, the water quality of major rivers within Guangdong province is poor, threatening the health of local residents who live along the province’s riverbanks, the bulletin said.

In neighbouring Guangxi province, another threat has surfaced. Local authorities have begun offering a 1,000 yuan ($150) reward for anyone who manages to catch a piranha in the Liu River, where the illegally released fish have been sighted. From The Guardian’s Tania Branigan:

Zhang Kaibo, from Liuzhou in the south-west Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, said he needed stitches in his hand [see a picture at Beijing Cream] after three of the fish attacked him as he washed his dog in the river. He managed to grab one, but it died shortly after he took it home.

“Later on, my mum cut it into pieces and we planned to eat it. [But] some local officials came to my home and collected it to study,” he said.

[…] Zhou Quan, a spokesman for Liuzhou government, assured the state-run China Daily newspaper: “Residents in this city have no need to worry about piranhas in the Liu river.” He added that the fish could not kill humans and could not live in water colder than 15C – giving them little hope of surviving and reproducing.

China Real Time’s report was more sanguine about the piranha’s chances of thriving in the river, especially given the new financial incentive for locals to introduce more of them. From Sandra Hu:

According to local media outlets, this is not the first time piranhas have been spotted in the Liu River. The ecosystem the Liu River is said to mimic that of the Amazon’s, thus making it a suitable environment for these piranhas.

[…] The Liuzhou government’s reward for captured piranhas has become a hot topic on Sina Corp.’s Weibo. Some predict it will backfire. One Weibo user wrote: “Is this real? Someone will immediately import (these fish) by air and resell it to the government. This is such a profitable business idea!”

[…] A quick search on China’s eBay-like ecommerce site Taobao turns up 20 stores that distribute piranhas. One storefront sells them at the bargain price of 20 yuan ($3.15) each — and even offers a deal of “buy 10 get one free.”

© Samuel Wade for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Guangdong, Guangxi, industrial pollution, Liu Bolin, river pollution, sewage, wildlife eating
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Society will be stable when it is fair.
公平才能稳定

Manage affairs according to the law, conduct investigations according to the law.
要依法办事，依法追究。

Translated by Deng Bolun.

Jiangxi will launch a province-wide, case-by-case investigation of social stability issues, putting each case on file and carrying out early-warning management. Leaders will establish supervision over pressing problems. Yesterday, reporters learned from the Provincial Party Committee Organizational Department, with the official passage of the “Notice Concerning the Full Realization of the Role of Basic Level Party Organization in Maintaining Social Stability,” that basic-level cadres who show excellence in maintaining social stability can be promoted on an unprecedented level. For those who make excuses and shrink from responsibility, causing significant trouble, an unremitting management of the organization must be carried out, monitoring those who should be monitored, relieving from their posts those who should be relieved. Serious cases should be handed over to party and government discipline departments.
Province-Wide Investigation of Conflicts

Combine cadres involved in implementing basic-level “Three Go-Tos and Four Togethers* to promote harmony” with those involved in “household visits to understand the people.” We will launch a province-wide investigation of individual social stability cases to promptly grasp the social situation, the will of the people and security trends.

Following the order of village first (neighborhood), then township (residential district) and then county (city, district), every type of conflict and dilemma will be received and heard in the same manner, put in order, classified and managed, dealt with according to the law and handled in a given period of time. For large and difficult problems, we will put into action a cooperative effort between county (city, district), township (residential district) and village (neighborhood). For each dispute there will be one leader, one case file and one thorough investigation. Establish a system of conflict resolution officers. Establish a complete conflict resolution network on the three levels of village (neighborhood), organization (building) and household.

 

Need for Heart-to-Heart Discussion of Difficulties that the Masses Cause Party Organs

Jiangxi has made stability maintenance an important part of its “vanguard record setting” for party officials, reflected in party officials’ achievement reports, the masses’ appraisal of success, announcements of shining achievement, branch performance of assigned tasks and at every level of the organization’s achievement. We have also established necessary measures to inspire ambition and grant material rewards.

Classify and allocate responsibilities to establish a system in which low-level cadres and party officials engage in heart-to-heart discussion. Low-level party organization secretaries will lead discussion. Other groups and party members must start heart-to-heart talks according to work allocation. High-level party organizational secretaries must talk with low-level secretaries. All levels of party organization secretaries must talk with party member groups. Low-level party branch secretaries must talk with all party members, and group members must talk among themselves. This will be carried out once a year. All levels of party organization will follow work allocation.  There must be heart-to-heart talks when personal hardship or accidents occur, when disputes arise, or when something reflects poorly.

 

Complete Rotating Party Secretary Training in Two Years

Learning from the experience of township (residential district) party organization secretaries rotated through social management training, Jiangxi will take two years to complete focused rotational training of village (neighborhood) party organization secretaries and stability maintenance officers. During this process, new party organization secretaries will complete service training within six months. Cadres, especially outstanding young cadres with potential for improvement through training, will go to petitions departments and frontline crisis posts for practical exercises.

 

Excellence in Stability Maintenance Can Lead to Promotion

Increase the ability of basic-level party organizations and cadres to assess and appraise stability maintenance. Those who carry out their work carefully, produce outstanding results and show themselves to be desirable should be relied on. Particularly excellent workers can be promoted on an unprecedented level. For those whose understanding does not meet the capacity required by their position, with irresolute attitudes and no practical strength, severe criticism and education must be carried out. For those who are not at their posts at crucial moments, who retreat and create problems, or who do not follow orders, do not have discipline, work perfunctorily and shrink from responsibility, unremitting management of the organization must be carried out. Monitor those who should be monitored and relieve from their posts those who should be relieved. Serious cases should be handed over to party and government discipline departments.

 

Leading Cadres Are the First Responders to Sudden Incidents

Jiangxi has established that county-level leadership will include the township (residential district) and focus on the village (neighborhood). Township (residential district) leadership will include the village (neighborhood) and control the group (building). Village (neighborhood) cadres will include the group (building) and control the household. Department party members and cadres will include the household and assist at each level. Every level will include the next in a “four-level connection” that forms the stability maintenance work organ. Be clear that maintaining stability is the primary responsibility for the three levels of party organization secretaries in county (city, district), township (residential district) and village (neighborhood). Basic-level party organizations will mediate stability maintenance work tasks and implement maintenance measures. As soon as there is a sudden incident, responsible comrades in lower-level party organizations will work according to previous orders, getting on the scene at the first moment, working face-to-face with the masses, preventing its expansion and spread and promptly reporting factual information and correctly guiding social opinion.

* Three Go-Tos and Four Togethers: This is a training policy initiated in October 2011 which sends cadres to Ningxia, Guangxi and other “revolutionary sites” to experience the daily hardships of less-developed provinces. Cadres go to nationalist offices, geological teams, and mines and eat, live, work and study with grassroots cadres.

© Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Guangxi, harmonious society, harmony, Jiangxi, Ningxia, river crab, social stability, Wen Jiabao, Wen Jiaobao
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The spill, which affected 200 miles of the Longjiang River in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, was caused by two companies that accidentally released tons of cadmium into the river last month. The contamination was not reported for at least two weeks, during which people continued to use the water for drinking and cooking.

According to the official Xinhua news agency, among those fired from their jobs was the head of environmental protection in the city of Hechi, which failed to report the spill and then botched the attempted cleanup. Several other officials, including the city’s deputy mayor, were reportedly disciplined. The police have also arrested six people at the Hongquan Lithopone Factory and the Jinhe Mining Company, which are blamed for the spill. Four other managers at the companies have fled, Xinhua reported.

During a news conference in Hechi on Friday, officials said that 90,000 pounds of fish and more than a million fry had been killed and that several hundred villagers downstream had consumed river water for five days before they were notified about the dangers.

Authorities claim that it will take approximately one month to clean up the cadmium spill, but officials have said that the tap water in the region is safe to drink. The Times of India adds:

Efforts to cleanup industrial effluents from a major river in south China will take a month, authorities said on Friday.

Cadmium concentration in Liujiang river is expected to drop below the official limit Feb 28, China Daily quoted Xu Zhencheng, head of the emergency panel, as saying.

Cleanup efforts have brought down cadmium levels from 80 times to 20 times the official limit of 0.005 milligrams per litre Thursday, said professor Zhang Xiaojian of Tsinghua University.

The contamination was first detected Jan 15. A plant belonging to Jinhe Mining Co. Ltd. is suspected to be the source of the spill. A 300-km section of the river is affected.

© Melissa M. Chan for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Cadmium Poisoning, Guangxi, industrial pollution, water pollution
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Crews in the city of Liuzhou used ships to spread canvas across the Longjiang River and stop the cadmium, China National Radio reported today. Tests done at 6 p.m. yesterday at Liuzhou’s water plants met national standards, it said.

The cadmium spill, first detected Jan. 15 upstream in the city of Hechi, has killed fish and prompted panic buying of bottled water, the official Xinhua News Agency reported yesterday. Hechi Mayor He Xinxing issued a public apology after the incident, China National Radio reported. The city’s Communist Party Chief Huang Shiyong pledged to “severely crack down” on polluting companies, the China News Service reported.

Environmental contamination has fueled social unrest in China as three decades of growth transformed the nation into the world’s second-biggest economy and its largest polluter. Lead poisoning from battery makers, fluoride leaks from solar panel plants and acid spills from copper mines are among incidents that have sparked public outrage, prompting President Hu Jintao and other senior officials to pledge to reduce pollution.

In Guangxi, authorities dumped hundreds of tons of chemicals into the river to neutralize the cadmium, according to Xinhua. Hechi officials haven’t been able to confirm the direct source of the pollution because of the area’s complicated geography, China National Radio reported, citing Wu Haique, director of the city’s environmental protection agency.

Cadmium may cause kidney dysfunction and cancer, and the chemical is speculated to have a lasting impact on the soil in the riverbed and the local fish. Seven people have been detained as a result of this spill. Bloomberg adds:

China detained seven people in connection with a toxic metal spill in Guangxi province that contaminated a tributary of the Pearl River and threatened water for 1.5 million people, according to a local official.

All seven were executives at chemical plants, the official Xinhua News Agency reported late yesterday, citing Feng Zhennian, an official with the regional environmental protection department. Feng didn’t identify the executives, Xinhua said.

Several instances of chemical spills have threatened Chinese cities’ drinking water in the past decade. A 2005 explosion at a unit of PetroChina Co. in northern China caused 100 tons of toxins to be spilled into the Songhua river, forcing authorities to shut off tap water for more than 3 million people in the city of Harbin. That incident led to the resignation of Xie Zhenhua as China’s top environmental protection official.

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Post tags: environment, Guangxi, industrial pollution, pollution, water pollution
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The busts highlighted China’s thriving black market in children — mostly involving buyers who want more children or those who want them as slave labor — that endures despite harsh penalties for traffickers, including death.

One case stretched across 14 provinces in China and the other involved a trafficking ring that mainly sold children in Vietnam through neighboring Guangxi province ….

It is often difficult to trace the parents of trafficked children and the law has not clearly defined the circumstances in which a buyer of a child should be punished. While many babies are stolen, some are sold by their parents.

Liu Ancheng, deputy director of the Ministry of Public Security Criminal Investigation Bureau, was quoted in the People’s Daily report as saying that if the buyers have not abused the children, they cannot be held criminally responsible.

ABC and China Daily recently reported that a teenaged couple in Guangdong sold three children to buy time at internet cafés:

They were finally turned into authorities when Li Lin’s mother found out what her son and his girlfriend had done.

When asked if they missed their children, the parents answered, “We don’t want to raise them, we just want to sell them for some money.”

Sanxiang City News reports the couple didn’t know they were breaking the law.

© Samuel Wade for China Digital Times (CDT), 2011. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: child trafficking, Guangxi, Guangzhou, Internet addiction, slave labor, Vietnam
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The teacher from Guangxi

Teacher Ren lies down on the sofa in his home at Yangmai village. He sits up then lies down again, unable to find a comfortable position. “This is how it is when a person is old. All pain and never any rest.” He tries to smile, a trial that ends with an agonized fit of coughing. Teacher Ren is in his seventies. He retired from the local elementary school ten years ago. His wife, Wang Shuyin, says he’s been like that for three years. “He was in the hospital for almost a year, but now he’s just resting at home, taking medicine.” She goes on to explain the peculiarities of the local health system. She is classified a farmer which grants her subsidized health-care. “I paid only 40% of the hospital bill when I had an operation to remove a tumor. But he is a teacher. For him, we have to pay 80 percent of the total.”

Their village is a tiny one, only ten houses hidden in the mountains off the main road, some ten kilometers away from the town of Lingyun (凌云 a town in Baise prefecture in West Guangxi). There is no sign pointing to the village, and Wang explains the rough dirt road that leads to it was built by the villagers themselves. “No help from the state. The house too, we built it ourselves. The state doesn’t build houses for us, not like in other places.” Their house is the biggest of the ten, a two-story building with a porch extended into their fields. They live alone in the house they built after Ren’s retirement. Their three sons all left for Guangdong province, where they work and study.

Ren started working as a teacher in a nearby village in 1963, the first of his village to have finished high school. “We needed to walk everywhere back then, there were no roads. As a teacher, I would get 30 Yuan a month and five more for food.” The Cultural Revolution came here in 1968 he says, but then quickly changes the subject, chatting away about religions and traditions. There is a bible near his bed but he is not a Christian. “I just bought it out of curiosity.”

Very few religious signs are evident around this area: no temples or churches anywhere but the tradition of ancestor worship reigns supreme. The hall of every house is decorated with ancestors’ photos (Sometimes joined by a photo of Chairman Mao) and red inscriptions. In towns and villages, many shops sell funeral decorations unique to the area: fluttered paper mobiles of many colors for Han funerals, paper shoes to be buried with the dead for the funerals of the Zhuang ethnic minority. The shoes are made out of China Mobile advertisement leaflets, hand-painted by the shop owners.

On hillsides, many graves show new and elaborate tombstones. A villager explains this is one of the first things a family would spend money on when they start doing well, as appeasing the spirits brings good luck and more money.

Ren picks up the conversation again with an effort. There is something on his mind but he seems hesitant to blurt it out, and then asks it all the same.

“You come from Beijing, such a big city. Is it true that same sex marriages are now allowed there”?

It is now my turn to hesitate. The question caught me by surprise and I try to read in his face whether he is scandalized by the idea, or encouraged, or maybe just curious. Wang is quick to intervene, throwing light on where the question came from.

“There was one here, you know. Teacher Lou. He wanted to live with a man. Later we heard in big cities it’s quite normal, but not here. Here, he was cursed to death.”

“Teacher Lou joined the school when I was still working. Such a bright young man and a very devoted teacher. He would come to visit me often after I retired,” Teacher Ren says about his friend.

Wang adds that some time ago, Teacher Ren wanted to leave his wife, who was also from the village, to live with a former student. “The family, the school, other villagers, they would criticize him every day, saying he full of shame. Then, I didn’t see it myself, two other neighbors found him in the field, dead after he swallowed rat poison.”

他被人骂死了 – Cursed to death. Somehow, I assumed she had just used that as a figure of speech. Turned out she meant it quite literally.

*Rachel’s self-introduction:

I came to China for three months, with a plan to see a bit of Tibet and Sichuan and to get a taste of rural life in this country before I settled down back home with a job at a law firm. Nearly eight years later, I am still in China, and still as fascinated with its rural areas.

After working as a correspondent in Beijing for two years, in July 2010 I have embarked on what I hope will be a six month journey through the Chinese countryside — listening, watching and telling stories from farmers’ lives. Much has been and is still being written about the “Chinese miracle” (or dystopia, depends on your point of view) and this will only be my added two cents. China, it is often said, has more than 400 million Internet users and hundreds of millions of new urban residents, who are changing the face of the country. It is less often noted that China also has another billion people who have not yet been fully included in these new economic and social changes. The following, if you will, are some fragments from the story of the other billion.

My personal blog is Bendilaowai.

© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Guangxi, homosexuality, other billion
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The drought in the provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan, as well as the Guangxi Autonomous Region and the city of Chongqing, has forced local governments to tap underground water sources and use cloud seeding to produce rain for agricultural production.

More than 20 million people throughout the southern region are dealing with water shortages and about 16 million acres (6.5 million hectares) of cropland are suffering from drought, the China Daily newspaper reported.

Yunnan province is experiencing its worst drought in 60 years, with at least 6 million people affected, according to a report on the China Meteorological Bureau’s Web site. The drought has caused economic losses of 10 billion yuan (US$ 1.46 billion) in the province, mostly from lost crops or livestock, prompting the local government to pump water from sources hundreds of feet (dozens of meters) below ground, it said.

Meanwhile, more areas of China’s Guangxi region have declared a state of emergency. Since late February, 16 more regions in Guangxi have been listed as affected, bringing the total to 77 regions, the Guangxi Meteorological Bureau said on its Web site.

© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: drought, Guangxi, water crisis, Yunnan
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It was scorching hot in August 2009. Residents who had been forcibly relocated to temporary, crudely constructed shelter found the heat unbearable.

Talks with the local government over terms for relocation compensation were unsuccessful, and to this day, over 30 households have still not signed an agreement. In the end, however, they were evicted. In addition, since their residential conditions are fairly poor, there is no way to protect their basic living conditions.

Wu Zongming’s family is among those households. A little over a year ago, this former Guiping Letters and Visits director took to petitioning to safeguard his rights. “At times, I would think to myself that this was quite comical, that the head of Letters and Visits would petition.” Wu Zongming laughed at himself, “But aside from [petitioning], I really had no better recourse.”

During my interviews, [I found that] most people directed their anger toward the director of the company headquarters responsible for the demolition and eviction, Guiping city’s deputy director, and city director of Legislative affairs, Wang Jiawei.

Local residents gave me a signed and fingerprinted document: on the morning of 4/15/07, at the Guiping Second Line Ship Lock Project First Meeting, Wang Jiawei said: “As regards the the project’s land confiscation and relocation problem, you must sign [the document] at the headquarter’s determined time. Looking for a lawyer or a reporter is useless; we can overrule them. Any more ideas for compensation are just dreams.” “We’d rather give this money to the courts than to you. This project is under government contract; of course there should be some profit.”

On the afternoon of July 10, 2009, I went to the relocation and resettlement office headquarters during the relocation process to understand more about the situation and to ask Wang Jiawei for confirmation. Using “work is too busy; no time” as a reason, he declined my interview.

In July 2008, a leader at Guangxi Autonomous Region Communications Department stopped by Guiping to investigate the progress of Second Line Ship Lock’s project. Huang Yonghui [another evictee] thought it could be an opportunity to speak out about the situation, and so decided to wait at the Second Line Ship Lock’s roadside for the leader.

At that time, someone gave Huang Yonghui a call to let him know that there would be someone to meet him at the municipal construction office. “After we arrived, we found that there was [no one waiting]. We never imagined they would lure us like that.” Huang continued, “The construction office receptionist said that the leader was too busy, but that we could have the number to the communications office leader to speak about our situation.” However, they later discovered that the number was fake; the call would not go through.

After this, Wu Zongming and Huang Yonghui personally went to the regional communications office to petition and to look into the issue. This was their official start down the road of petitioning.

Yu Jianrong, Director of the Institute of Rural Development at Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, writes in the Oriental Morning Post about the case. Excerpted and translated by CDT:

Is his petitioning really that “comical”? From a reasonable standpoint, Wu Zongming — aside from formerly holding the title of Director of Letters and Visits, he is still a normal citizen of the People’s Republic of China. His petitioning is just like a citizen within the system exercising the right to appeal, to accuse, to inform, and to exercise other constitutional rights. Essentially, this isn’t worth special attention.

© Paulina Hartono for China Digital Times (CDT), 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Guangxi, petitioners, Wu Zongming, Xinfang, Yu Jianrong
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Torrential rain battering southern China has forced more than 150,000 people from their homes, toppled hundreds of houses and punched a dangerous hole in the spillway of a dam, Xinhua news agency reported on Saturday.

The destruction after just three days of downpours was a reminder of the havoc that parts of China may suffer during the wet summer months ahead.

The rain sweeping parts of Jiangxi province and Guangxi region has so far killed three people with four missing, Xinhua reported.

© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: floods, Guangxi, Jiangxi, weather
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