Wang, chairman of Yingkou Donghua Trading Group Co., had promised returns of up to 60 percent for investors who purchased ant-breeding kits from two companies he ran. Ants are used in some traditional Chinese medicinal remedies, which can fetch a high price. Wang sold the kits, which cost $25, for $1,300, local media reported earlier.

Wang attracted more than 10,000 investors between 2002 and June 2005, when investigators shut down his companies. The closure of his business set off a panic among small-time players who saw their life savings disappear overnight.

© Paulina Hartono for China Digital Times (CDT), 2008. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: death penalty, Liaoning, Wang Zhendong, Yilishen
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Thousands of people across China have been conned out of their life savings in a massive investment scam involving ant farms. A chairman of one company in Liaoning province has been sentenced to death for duping investors out of millions of dollars. Tony Cheng met one hopeful investor in Shenyang who fell victim to the con.

© Sophia Cao for China Digital Times (CDT), 2008. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Shenyang, social unrest, videos, Yilishen
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© Kate Zhao for China Digital Times (CDT), 2008. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Yilishen
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© Kate Zhao for China Digital Times (CDT), 2008. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Yilishen
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The story of Yilishen illustrates the get-rich-now mentality here, the constant search for a new angle by those struggling to make a go of it with the communist economy having all but given way to private enterprise, and the frequent collusion of government officials in shady dealings.

Old rules of caution don’t carry much weight in a society that has seen some become absurdly wealthy, seemingly overnight. And government officials often are first in line to fleece the laobaixing, or common folk.

Instead of siding with Yilishen’s victims — mostly poor farmers, construction workers and the unemployed — the government has blocked Internet postings and ordered reporters off the story, ant farmers say. Attorneys in the nation’s capital have been discouraged from representing any of them, according to the website of the Beijing Municipal Lawyers Assn. [Full Text]

See also “Ants and pyramids: China scams abound,” about the phenomenon of scamming in China, from Asia Times.

© Liu Yong for China Digital Times (CDT), 2008. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: income gap, social unrest, Yilishen
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Imagethief recently found himself huddled in a wintry hutong courtyard in conversation with two longtime Beijing-based foreign correspondents. During this discussion we came to the conclusion that the recent Yilishen ant-farming scandal is more or less the perfect China story. It brings together at a stroke all of the elements of the modern Chinese story. And surreal story it is.

If you’re not familiar with this incident (and you really should be), you can go read Mark O’Neill’s comprehensive article on Asia Sentinel, or any of several other stories which, collectively, have generated something of a bumper crop in pun headlines.

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Read the rest of Why the Yilishen Ant Farming Scandal Was the Perfect China Story – William Moss (157 words)

© Paulina Hartono for China Digital Times (CDT), 2007. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: China coverage, Yilishen
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Wang Dan, a Chinese dissident and student leader in the 1989 Tiananmen Square Protests, has published an article at the Independent Chinese Pen Centre in which he discusses the political implications of the Tigergate Incident, the Yilishen Scandal and the Chang’e Moon Photograph Saga.

… The following is my translation of Wang Dan’s article:

“Two incidents have captured the attention of netizens in China lately. They are the Fake South Tiger Photograph Incident, and the Yilishen Scandal. The fake photograph is obviously a part of a scam. I do not intend to speculate about the political powers behind the scenes. I only want to point out that the Chinese authorities’ reaction to the Tigergate incident is surprisingly open; to date, the ‘Imperial Guard Against Public Opinion‘ has made no attempt to curb open discussions. It is as if traditional mass media and the Internet in China have suddenly been granted a right to freedom of speech. This opportunity for open discussion is the reason why the Tigergate Incident has had such an impact on Chinese society. As the Tigergate Incident was unfolding, a protest broke out among ant farmers in Shenyang. Tight information control over this scandal serves as a solemn reminder that the CCP has no intention of relinquishing its control over public opinion.” [Full Text]

© Paulina Hartono for China Digital Times (CDT), 2007. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: South China tiger, wang dan, Yilishen
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Below is Zola‘s recount of what he’s been through over the past few days and his abrupt conclusion. In a second blog post since his forced return earlier this week he talks of redirecting the space to focus more on blogger education, but also mentions some unfinished business related to his time in Shenyang.

It’s not the specific type of violence he claims he encountered at the hands of police while in custody there, he seems to have brushed that off. Nor is it having been in custody for more than the legally allowed 24 hours or possibly having been turned in by the ant farmer he was trying to help. Zola, reminding readers of his rural socioeconomic background, wants back the USD160 he says security agents confiscated while he was being held; in this message to readers, he threatens to sue to get it back. [Full Text]

© Paulina Hartono for China Digital Times (CDT), 2007. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: citizen journalist, Yilishen, Zuola
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An article in the China Times posits that the health supplement brand Yilishen had “powerful and mysterious political connections,” which contributed to the scandal in which thousands of ant farmers lost all their money. Following large-scale demonstrations by the farmers, news about the incident has been tightly controlled inside China.

From Taiwan’s China Times （中国时报), translated by CDT (With thanks to Japhet Weeks for the translation):

Yilishen commits fraud, goes belly up: Authorities stick to a high standard to cover up news

Using Zhao Benshan, the famous comedy actor, as its spokesperson, Yilishen was well known for a time. But recently a case of fraud has caused the company to go belly up, and tens of thousands of ant farmers, who were hoping to get rich quick but ended up losing everything, have clashed with the police in an effort to get Liaoning’s provincial government to resolve the issue. The fact that the Chinese authorities stuck to a “high standard” in covering up news reports of the incident, as well as the way events progressed, both seem to indicate that there were likely powerful and mysterious political connections at play behind the scenes.

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Read the rest of Yilishen Commits Fraud, Goes Belly Up: Authorities Stick to a High Standard to Cover Up News – China Times (609 words)

© Kate Zhao for China Digital Times (CDT), 2007. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Bo Xilai, Li Keqiang, Liaoning, media censorship, Yilishen
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Zhou Shuguang, aka “Zola,” reports that he is home safe in Changsha after being detained in Shenyang, interrogated, made to write detailed reports on everybody he met and everything since arriving in Shenyang to blog about the Yilishen “ant-farmer” protests, had his ID and money confiscated, punched around the head and neck a little when he objected to being forced to return by air (and pay for his own ticket) rather than travel by train, and then escorted by two state security police on the plane back to Changsha. He has been told not to go far, that they hope he will focus on his vegetable-selling business, and to report to the local police if he needs to go anywhere. [Full Text]

© Liu Yong for China Digital Times (CDT), 2007. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: self-censorship, state security, Yilishen, Zuola
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