Saturday, June 30, 2007

Protesters in Hong Kong Demand Hu for Democracy

The leader of the Chinese Communist Party arrived at Hong Kong, a colony-like Special Administrative region, just to learn that a lot of protesters had been waiting for him. Protesters in Hong Kong asked for absolute democracy for electing Legislative Council member as well as their Chief Executive in Hong Kong.

Despite the fact that China has been occupying Hong Kong for 10 years now, many people are unenthusiastic about the development of China. In fact, many protesters will join the July 1 protest as usual to protest against the Chinese Communist Party not keeping its promise to agree on a universal suffrage in Hong Kong.

Pretending not to know about the situation in Hong Kong, Hu Jintao has openly asked the people in Hong Kong to be patriotic. However, most people in Hong Kong are still having a cultural shock being ruled by a relative backward government in China. With a population of more than 6 million, Hong Kong has a much more concrete foundation to become an independent country than Singapore. Many pro-independent Hong Konger would obviously ask Mr. Hu about why a potentially independent state should be patriotic toward China which has brought nothing that Hong Kong did not have so far, except SARS.

Reference:

http://www.abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=3333680

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Tainted Toothpaste from China is Found Everywhere!

From the 100-yen cheap good shop to the prisons in the U.S., tainted toothpast from China can be found everywhere. According to Japan New Review, "The Daiso" 100 yen stores were imported by the cosmetics company "Kohrai", and manufactured in Jiangsu, northern China. According to the New York Times, 900,000 tainted toothpaste tubes are found in hospitals for the mentally ill, prisons, juvenile detention centers, and some hospitals serving the general public.

tainted toothpaste from China

Diethylene glycol, is used in some antifreeze products and often replaces its more expensive chemical cousin glycerin in Chinese toothpaste. Reportedly, diethylene glycol poses a low health risk to most consumers, but may present significant health risk to some consumers depending on its concentration. In general, toothpaste containing less than 15.6 percent diethylene glycol is harmless to humans.

References

http://www.japannewsreview.com/society/20070628page_id=185

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/fn/4928414.html

China ranked 163 out of 168 in Press Freedom in 2006

Rank Country Score
159 Nepal 73.50
160 Ethiopia 75.00
161 Saudi Arabia 76.00
162 Iran 90.88
163 China 94.00
164 Burma 94.75
165 Cuba 95.00
166 Eritrea 97.50
167 Turkmenistan 98.50
168 North Korea 109.00

The rank of press freedom of China is 163 out of 168 in 2006, which is even lower than Iran, which is known to be a very conservative Islamic country.

According to the Reporters Without Borders, "journalists in North Korea, Eritrea, Turkmenistan, Cuba, Burma and China are still risking their life or imprisonment for trying to keep us informed."

Reference

http://www.rsf.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=639

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Don't Blame the Chinese Communist Party; blame ME!

This is a second response to the article entitled "China to West: You must be kidding" posted on

http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2007/6/26/11053/5966#6

Some readers of the above article suggested that "And's let's not blame the central government of China or its commie party, since those views are held by many Oriental countries outside of Japan."

Let's not blame the central government in China? So, you blame all Chinese for that? As I have said, 95% of Chinese in China are not responsible for any significant pollution in China. So, you blame the 5% of Chinese?

Do you know the electricity consumption level of the 5% of Chinese you are blaming? It can't even compare to New York City alone!

You ask a farmer to be conscious about air pollution? Come on. What for? So, whose consciousness are you talking about? Chinese consumers? They are not significant either.

As I have said repeatly, the culprits are:

(1) The Chinese Communist party members (70.8 million of them as of 2005; I am sure some of them are driving polluting nice cars enjoying ACs everyday)
http://www.chinatoday.com/org/cpc/

(2) Evil corporations and power plants.

Be reminded that (1) and (2) are not mutually exclusive. That is, some evil corporations are either run by members of the Chinese Communist Party or have paid huge amounts of bribe money to members of the Chinese Communist Party to pollute "illegally" but without any punishment in China.

You blame neither of them. The problem goes on and becomes uncontrollable cause (1) and (2) are the TRUE free-riders of air pollution.

Switching Focus

The following is an article written in response to an article entitled "China to West: You must be kidding" posted on

http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2007/6/26/11053/5966

The Chinese Communist Party has been very tactical in changing the foci of serious problems.

When they are the worst in terms of hardcore toxic air pollution, injuring the health of all Chinese and all neighbouring countries, they start talking more about carbon dioxide (especially the Kyoto), which is nothing more than a non-toxic greenhouse gas.

When they are the worst in emitting carbon dioxide, they start to talk about the population in China, knowing that 95+% of Chinese do not own air conditioners and hence do not produce any significant carbon dioxide at all.

When the West starts to impose pollution tax, they argue the oppose. Let the West pay for them, the polluters, to stop polluting!

Folks, by the way, there are many ways to reduce air pollution in China. It is corruption, collusions with evil business, lack of education, and the good old "free-rider" problem that have progressively increased air pollution in China and the world.

Air pollutants, toxic and non-toxic, can be filtered. It is a matter of cost. Why should all consumers subsidize big corporations such as Walmart who purposely chooses the most polluting country to produce at the lowest cost to earn the highest profit, which eventually leads to intolerable pollution in the world?

Two solutions:

1. Tax evil Walmart for choosing the most polluting country to make its products.

2. Tax the evil Chinese Communist Party who purposely do not or dysfunctionally fails to control air pollution.

By the way, it is not the U.S. against China; it is evil businesses and the evil Chinese Communist Party against all consumers (i.e., you and me) in the world!

The above is a satellite picture from NASA showing the thick layer of smog over the sky of China.

Reporters Without Borders Against China's Article 57

The Chinese Communist Party has been proposing additional censorship under Article 57 of the law in China. This draft law is designated to impose heavy fines and publishment on news media for publishing reports about national emergencies without permission.

The Reporters Without Borders has called on the Chinese National Assembly not to approve this bill as it stands for a year now.

Reference
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=22688

Monday, June 25, 2007

A 90-year-old Lady Beaten when Force-Evicted

A 90-year-old lady, Zhang, in southeastern China was forced to evict from her home with a compensation that was far below her expectation. Reportedly, Zhang's family was expecting to receive 525 RMB per square meter but was offered only 325 RMB.

The old lady was eventually beaten up and forced to leave her home. The incident evoked over 20,000 protestors that clashed with the local police. According to a human right organization in Hong Kong, 20 protestors were injured and 6 were detained.


The above picture is from http://www.globalvoicesonline.org

Reference
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6730787,00.html

Saturday, June 23, 2007

Green Games Turn Grey

To prepare for Beijing Olympics 2008, the Chinese Communist Party has set some pollution target for Beijing.

It turns out that Beijing was unable to meet the target in May. In fact, the month of May turned out to be the most pollution month of the year!

By moving polluting industries out of Beijing, the Chinese Communist Party has been hoping to reduce the level of air pollution in Beijing to an acceptable level so that Beijing can host Olympics 2008 in a "glamorous" way! As usual, the Chinese Communist Party has overlooked many factors. The Northeastern region is the culprit for producing the smog in Beijing. Moving a bunch of substandard powerplants or factories in Beijing cannot solve the air pollution problem in Beijing because the pollutants are produced in areas close to Beijing but not in Beijing itself.

Now, the Chinese Communist Party must be worried about their dreams in their own world because their so-called "Green Games" will turn grey!

Reference
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118256486878245550.html

Friday, June 22, 2007

Stop equating China and Chinese Communist Party on Pollution

The following comment is a response to the article written by Christina Larson at Gristmill entitled "One more truth about China and climate change":

http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2007/6/21/10305/8592

Oftentimes the central government says one thing; a local government does something else! In fact, there is something known as the "prince gang" and "Shanghainese gang" in China. They represent different gangs (monetary interest groups) within the Chinese Communist Party.

Local governments only care about their economic growth rates. There are several reasons. First, they are rewarded based on the local GDP growth. Second, at the provincial level, most government heads are from without these provinces. They do not care about the long-term development or environment of these provinces (say the governer of the Guangdong province cannot speak Cantonese, a local dialect of Guangdong). The Chinese Communist Party purposely does that to avoid a province to become too independent (the same system applies to the armies). Third, local governments have no incentives (no rewards) to reduce air pollution or other kinds of pollution. Fourth, local governments are very corrupt. They receive bribe money from evil factories. It is also common that local party members own their own evil factories.

The central government is not much better. Look at the CEO's of the power companies. They are the sons or daughters of old powerful party members (say the daughter of Li Peng, the muderers of student protestors on June 4, 1989, is the CEO of China Power). The so-called "legal powerplants" are also out of control. They actually have the "rights" to escape from any punishment from violating the regulations. In other words, they are the "legal violators".

Sounds like a Maffia state, right? No, it's worse than that cause these Maffias are not dealing drugs; they are polluting the environment "legally".

Stop talking about "China" polluting the world cause common Chinese are not polluters. They are the victims of pollution in China, just like you and me! It is the communist dictators and unethical factories that are the culprits. The question is how to stop these evil parties from using "China being a developing country" as an excuse to increase the level of pollution to victimize Chinese and non-Chinese!

Saying that people trying to "paint China as the bad guy" only shows one's misunderstanding about China. Yesterday, someone on another thread correctly pointed out that the name "China" being used by many people was a dictatorship. But I am going one step further. China is not only a dictatorship. It is an oligopolistic dictatorship that either runs or colludes with unethical businesses.

Please do some research on the topic of "coal mine explosion in China." You see exactly the same picture! In 2005, the central government announced that it would close down 7000 illegal mines in China to stop coal miners from dying as a result of mine explosions. Guess what! Most of the illegal mines have always been KNOWN to be illegal by local government officials. The reason why these mines exist is either because they bribe local government officials or because they are run by local government officials.

Do some research on "Shanxi Child Slaves". The same problem. The gangs that abducted children from Henan and sold them to Shanxi were run by either the Communist Party officials or by some local gangs that paid bribe money to local officials.

As a joke, I would suggest if you don't tax the "unethical parties in China" (who do not represent "China"), you can nuke the Chinese Communist Party. A bit of exaggeration, but that is certainly a viable alternative solution!

Thursday, June 21, 2007

Blind Human Right Activist Beaten in Jail


Mr. Chen Guangcheng, a human right activist and a blind lawyer, was sentenced to jail after helping some rural famers fighting for their human rights. Recently, Mr. Chen was beaten up in jail. The official in prison, on the other hand, accused the blind lawyer of beating up a guard in the prison after refusing to cut his hair.

Currently, the prison has rejected any interview by any media with Mr. Chen. The blind lawyer is required to serve a jail term of 4 years and 3 months.


Reference
Radio Free Asia
http://www.rfa.org/cantonese/xinwen/2007/06/21/china_rights_chen/

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

A Comment on "Seven truths about China and climate change"

The following is a comment on the so-called "seven truths about China and climate change" enlisted by Mr. David Roberts posted on Grist:

http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2007/6/19/164339/696#8

In China, more than 90% of the population are living in the rural area. Less than 0.1 billion people are living in cities. Amongst these city dwellers, less than half of them own air conditioners. And Yet China has managed to become the most polluted country in toxic gases, such as nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, and ozone for many years now!

A European environmental group just confirmed yesterday that China has become the #1 emitter in carbon dioxide since 2006.

Now, the question is, who in China is producing all the evil pollutants to pollute planet earth? Definitely not common people in China.

The main sources of air pollution in China are illegal power plants and sub-standard industries. These power plants often collude with local officials of the Chinese Communist Party by bribing them. Some of them are even owned by the Chinese Communist Party members.

Yeah, you can blame international corporations for buying "polluting" products from China knowing that they will eventually pollute the world. However, the Chinese Communist Party should also be sanctioned!

The ONLY solution:

Impose "pollution tax" on some products made in China! No consumer is willing to save that kind of dirty money just because they want to buy some dirt cheap Chinese commodities! Eventually, all consumers, from advanced nations or from developing nations, will suffer if no action is taken.

Who will benefit from air pollution? Evil businesses and dictators in developing nations!

Western consumers should try to conserve energy to reduce the production of greenhouse gases. However, no matter how hard western consumers try, China's carbon dioxide production will be increasing at a pace of at least 20% a year. In less than 10 years, the level of greenhouse gases will be doubled on our planet earth!

Climate change is only a small topic because it takes time for the effect of greenhouse gases to surface. Hardcore pollution that is harzard to everyone's health should be the main focus! In either case, irresponsible businesses and Chinese dictators are to the key culprits to be blamed, though consumers in general should start taking action!

Monday, June 18, 2007

"1000 Child Slaves in China" Video Released (English Version)


The "1000 Child Slaves in China" video in English was finally released by youtuber "daughterofchina" yesterday on youtube! Horrible scenes of child slaves as young as 8 year old are shown in the video.

According to the reporter who tried to rescue the child slaves and New York Times News Service (publish on Chicago Tribune), local police in Shanxi has been unhelpful. The police even turned parents away by saying that the "slavery" was nothing more than labor dispute. Reportedly, some parents have been sent away from the factories because of the collusion between local officials and the kiln owners.

Also, reportedly, Liu Cheng, a professor of labor law at Shanghai Normal University, saw the incident as a typical example of a government-business alliance. This is perhaps the main reaon why despite the fact that forced labor and child labor in China are illegal, some local governments don't care too much.

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Over 1000 Child Slaves Found in Shanxi, China

At least 1,000 children, were kidnapped in Henan and sold to work in brick kilns northwestern Shanxi.

Reportly, 217 people have been rescued, including 29 children.



According to a Chinese source, however, the rescue of child slaves was greatly hindered by the non-cooperation of local officials and police. A reporter who investigated the case was told not to complain about it unless he was a parent of a lost child.

The following is a real photo about a mother who found her lost child working as a slave in Shanxi:


A reporter who actually tried to rescue the child slaves commented on Phoenix TV (in Madarin)



References:
New Zealand Herald
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10445617

ABC New Online:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200706/s1951845.htm

Phoenix TV
http://news.phoenixtv.com/society/2/200706/0613_344_134307.shtml

Toys Made in China Contains Lead

According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, "Thomas & Friends" wooden railway toys made in China are found to contain lead, a toxin. If ingested, lead potentially causes a range of health effects from learning disabilities, seizures and death.

The CPSC is announcing a voluntary recall of 1.5 million Thomas and Friends wooden railway toys.

Reference:
Fox News: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,282253,00.html

WBKO: http://www.wbko.com/news/headlines/7997282.html

Monday, June 11, 2007

Yahoo! condemns lack of free speech in China



According to the Associated Press, Yahoo! has acknowledged sharing information about Shi Tao with Chinese communist government which led to the conviction of his leaking of state secrets.

Reportedly, Yahoo! criticized in a brief statement that China should not punish people for expressing their political views on the Internet, but did not specifically mention the case of jailed journalist Shi Tao, whose mother visited Hong Kong on Sunday.

Reference
http://www.canada.com/topics/technology/news/gizmos/
story.html?id=e8396a34-158c-44cb-9494-d3b081603447&k=39666

China's Military Spending Deserves Attention!



According to the Associated Press, China has been the biggest spender in Weapons. China's growing military expenditures has reached nearly $50 billion and has become the fourth biggest arms spender in the world!

Reference
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/11/AR2007061100663.html

Modern Slavery in China


A funny and yet sad cartoon about the "modern slavery" in China!

As the states enterprise in China are privatized, more and more workers are working until ever improvished conditions with not employee protection despite the presence of some employee protection laws. These so-called labor laws in China have never been respected because of the corruption of local communist officials who often receive bribe money from factory owners.

The most serious labor problem is China, however, is not labor abuse, but forced retirement or layoff with little or no compensation. Privatized factories may be sold to real estate property developers and factory workers will be laid off regardless of the number of years they have worked for the factories. Their retirement pensions are often forfeited, as factory owners flee to escape their responsibilities.

The lack of retirement protection for middle aged citizens is often complicated by recent forced eviction by real estate developers who collude with local communist officials to expropriate land with little compensation. It is not uncommon that many middle-aged citizens become homeless and jobless in big cities despite the high rate of economic growth in these cities!

Sunday, June 10, 2007

Sponge Bob in China: Funny but Sad


This Sponge Bob short cartoon describes the current situation of China truthfully. Sweatshops have been known to exist in China for many years now. There is virtually no freedom of speech in China. The communist government uses arms against its own people. Perhaps this cartoon represents a classic case of what people would call "dark humor!"

Real Slavery Found in China!

News Australia

According to News Australia, Shanxi Evening Post had a news article on actual slavery found in Shanxi. 31 Chinese were forced by the son of a local communist to work as slaves in a brick factory. These slaves were rescued by police.

Whereas the Chinese communists used the excuse of freeing Tibetan slavery to invade Tibet 50 years ago, slavery is still being practiced in China under the communist regime! Can other nations use this an excuse to invade China?

Tuesday, June 5, 2007

16 Reasons for Boycotting Beijing Olympics 2008



A human right writer, Demetrius Klitou, has listed the following ten reasons for boycotting Beijing Olympics 2008:


1) Human rights are practically non-existent in Communist China

Religious persecution, imprisonment and murder of non-violent political dissidents, torture, organ harvesting and sentences to hard labour are widespread.


2) The lack of freedom of the press and safety risks for foreign reporters
Many foreign websites are banned from being visited within China, foreign reporters are prohibited from interviewing anyone without previous permission from the government, and the content of all broadcasting is severely restricted. Foreign news media reporters have been arrested and sentenced to prison under vague and wide-reaching security laws.


3) The 1980 Olympic Games in Communist Russia were boycotted by 64 states,
under the leadership of the U.S. Beijing is not any different from Moscow in 1980, which was also the capital of a Communist police state.


4) Communist China constantly threatens to attack Taiwan China's government passed a law that explicitly calls for military intervention in response to any intention by the democratic government of Taiwan to declare independence.

Military manoeuvres indicate that the Communists' military is preparing to enforce this law.


5) Beijing has the most polluted air in the world

Studies and satellites photos have proven that Beijing suffers from extremely high nitrogen dioxide levels, vitally dangerous to the health of the athletes.


6) China is plagued by widespread social, political, and economic unrest

A surge in huge land grabs and forced evictions by the Chinese government for reasons of economic expansion and Olympic Games preparations have sparked thousands of protests. The government has murdered hundreds of protesters.


7) The Chinese have been bribing and threatening large numbers of members of the International Olympic Committee

A number of U.S. Representatives, for example, Congressman Tom Lantos, have stated this on national television.


8) A boycott has some potential to serve as a strategy to encourage human rights in China

Only the greedy and foolish global elite think this is true the other way around.


9) Holding the Olympic Games in Communist China contradicts the Olympic
Charter

The Olympic Charter defines the philosophy of Olympism as the "respect for universal fundamental ethical principles" and its goal of promoting "a peaceful society concerned with
the preservation of human dignity."


10) Don't repeat the errors of 1936 when Nazi Germany was allowed to host the
Olympic Games

The Olympic Games will give Communist China the same propaganda tool Nazi Germany
enjoyed. Not since 1936 have the ideals of Olympics been so trampled upon.



The following is a list of additional reasons that are similar, if not more important, for boycotting Beijing Olympics 2008:

11) Ignorance of safety of exported food.


12) Disrespect of the value of human lives in China.
Every year thousands and thousands of coal mine workers die because of explosions in unsafe mines. The Chinese Communist government has known the situation for a long time. In the name of economic growth and because of the corruption of local officials, most of the illegal coal mines still exist.


13) Providing weapons to Sudanese government which are directly related to the systematic genocide of the civilians in Darfur.


14) Providing weapons to Burmese government which are directly related to the systematic genocide of the civilians in Burma.
In exchange of the natural resources in Burma, Chinese communists have been providing lethal weapons to the dictatorial Burmese government to carry out the current ethnic cleansing in Burma.


15) Ignorance of Chinese laborers work and living conditions.

Many owners of privatized once-state-own companies go bankrupt so as to avoid paying pensions to the retirees. Sweat shops violating labor laws in China are allowed to operate without facing any penalties from the government due to corruption and non-action of local officials.


16) Total absence of animal right laws.

Thousands and thousands of dogs and cats are eaten and their fur exported. There are solid evidence that many state-own fur farms skin animals alive in some inhumane ways.



The Human Rights Blog: 10 Reasons to Boycott the Olympics


AZplace | 10 reasons to boycott the 2008 Olympic Games in communist China





Saturday, June 2, 2007

New Chinese Immigrants in Japan Creating Nuisance


The video shows that new Chinese immigrants from China are creating a lot of nuisance in the Japanese society. Particularly, some of them work as street hawkers obstructing the streets, selling illegal copyright violating items, and messing up local hygiene.

It has been known that Chinese new immigrants in many foreign countries have been creating similar problems. Not only that, there have been many complaints from all over the world about the misbehaviors of Chinese tourists lately.

State-run Fake Disneyland Found in Beijing, China


China under the communist regime has been known to be flooded with thousands and thousands of fake and copy-right infringing commodities. Under the education system in China, young citizens hardly learn anything related to the respect of copyright protection. Piracy and Pagarism have been common pratice of individuals, businesses, and the government.

Recently, several Japanese television programs have discovered a fake state-run fake Disneyland in Beijing. Inside the park, there are not only Disney characters, but also Japanese cartoon characters. Investigation shows that the state-own park has never paid any fee to the copyright owners, nor has the park franchised with these original owners.

The disrespect of international copyright and patent right is certainly a true disgrace of China as a World Trade Organization member!

Crazy Surge of Bus Fee Causing Riot


An unreasonable increase in bus fare in a small county in the Hunan province has resulted in hugh conflict between the citizen and the local government. Reportedly, the private bus company colluded with the local government to raise bus fare by 5 RMB. This is a second fare increase in less than one year. A poor student going to Guang Dong was unable to pay the bus fare and was kick out of the bus. This invoked the discontent of other passengers who had been disappointed by the intolerable rise in bus fare which had become unaffordable by normal wage earners who could hardly earn more than a few hundred dollars a month in the area.

Riot began when the bus company called upon the local police force to beat up some of the discontented protestors. The injury of peaceful protestors served as a catalyst of a large scale protest involving over 10,000 citizens. Some disappointed citizen started burning some buses on the street. Reportedly, the local government was unable to stop the protest and had to ask for help from the nearby Guang Dong province.

Official Chinese Communist Party media asserted that there were only a few violent rioters purposely created the riot. However, some local citizens suggested that the riot was a result of the corruption between the local bus company and the local government.

Friday, June 1, 2007

Kids in China Harassing Their Old Teacher


This is a youtube video posted by a youtuber, "harrodcn."

The video shows a senior class in a performing art high school located in Beijing. The students were having a geography class. You can see that most of the students weren't listening to the teacher's lecture. In fact, some girls were playing with their cosmetics, while other were throwing bottles and yelling. The teacher was even harassed by one of the students.

In Beijing chaos happen almost everywhere not only in classrooms. Forced eviction, income inequality, other injustice, air pollution, and water pollution have become part of the lives of Beijing residents. Economic development only benefits a small portion of the pollution. The majority of the citizens in Beijing actually suffers.