The Dongguan Times is a commercial daily affiliated with the Party news group in the southern manufacturing city of Dongguan. Today the front page features a picture of Wang Yang, Provincial Party Secretary of Guangdong Province and CPC Central Committee member. The headline is: “Wang Yang says online criticisms can help us lead with more clarity.”
Wang was recently reelected to the post of Guangdong Party Secretary, and yesterday was the first meeting of the new Provincial Standing Committee. In his opening speech, he told the new Standing Committee they must fulfill their responsibilities while making a collective effort to communicate online with those they govern.
Wang noted that Guangdong has one hundred million people living in it, and 63 million of them are online. These netizens encourage, support and, of course, criticize the government. Provincial leaders, Wang said, should make use of this feedback for cautious introspection, and deepen their online interaction with netizens to institutionalize the direction of development. Wang is known for developing the ‘Guangdong Model,’ a much more liberal alternative to the fallen Bo Xilai’s state-led, neo-Maoist ‘Chongqing Model’ of development. He made a splash across the Chinese blogosphere last week, when he commented that it was not the Party’s role to bestow happiness on the people.
****
Also on the front page: a food-safety story about the distribution of fake pig’s ears in Jiangxi province; and an article about a man who bombed a bank in hopes of robbing it. He was sentenced to death.
In the food-safety story, the Food Safety Office of Jiangxi Province apprehended a man for peddling fake pig’s ears made from a combination of gelatin and sodium oleate. Sodium oleate is slightly toxic, and will irritate the skin upon contact. If ingested in small doses, it will cause slight irritation to the mouth. In large doses, it can be lethal. The culprit was caught when someone ate one of the ears and noticed an unpleasant chemical taste.
In the second story, a man called Wang Hai, responsible for bombing the Wuhan branch of China Construction Bank, was sentenced to death. His two accomplices, Wang Wei, and Wang Anan were sentenced to 10 and 6 years in prison respectively. The three had started studying how to manufacture explosives together in 2010, and in July 2011 plotted to blow up a Bank’s armored car. By August, both Wang Wei and Wang Anan had backed out. Wang Hai carried out the December 2011 bombing solo. The homemade bombs were placed on the sidewalk and detonated by remote control when the bank’s armored car came to collect its cash box. Two people died in the explosion and 15 were injured. Wang Hai then grabbed the cash box and attempted to flee on a motorcycle.
Links and Sources
Dongguan Times: 汪洋：网友批评可便我们更清醒 , 武汉建行爆炸案主犯王海剑一审获死刑 , 江西公布人造猪耳检测结果 成分为明胶和油酸钠
Danwei: Wang Yang says its not the Party’s role to bestow happiness on the people
National Library of Medicine HSDB Database: Article on Sodium Oleate