A few days ago, China Daily reported that all Internet cafes in Guanxian County, Shandong, had been closed, apparently “in a drive to drag teenagers indulged in the online world back to school and reality”:
On July 29, local police ordered all 21 Internet cafes in Guanxian county, Liaocheng of East China’s Shandong province, to suspend their business, China Youth Daily reported yesterday.
“Our purpose is to improve the quality of life for local residents,” Wang Zhenqian, deputy director of the county Party committee’s publicity department, was quoted as saying.
Citizens were concerned about how much time their young children were spending on the Internet. But teenagers also were spending more and more time in Internet cafes and getting weary of studying. This is a serious problem in Guanxian and in the whole country, he said.
“Everyone is clapping their hands in applause for what we have done. Authorities in other places want to do the same thing, but most of them don’t dare to,” he said.
ESWN translates blog posts about a local story which may have been the real impetus for trying to control online communication:
On June 9, the Family Planning Office seized a 9-month-pregnant woman who had an unauthorized pregnancy and took her to our hospital for induced abortion. There were almost 20 people from the Family Planning Office but none of her family was present. The pregnant fought with all might for the sake of her 9-month-old fetus! If the baby was born, it was fully capable of living. Her struggle and resistance with make everyone with a conscience feel sad. But who dares to usurp the government policin in Guanxian county and save the pitiful mother and child? Nobody can, because a policy that has been going on for decades cannot be overturned in a flash.
Her struggles were ultimately utile because she was with child. Even a normal person could not stop the six or seven strong men from holding her down and giving her the injection to induce abortion. She struggled to the end and a person (especially a mother) in desperation has unlimited strength!! She got free once, twice, thrice but she did not get away.
Poor mother, poor child, even the heavens can only watch. What kind of world is this! There is no humanity left!
