The Chinese government and social media

Posted on 2012-12-20 by Barry van Wyk

北京发布

Sina Weibo claims to have more than 400 million users, and its influence and power are without doubt. Yet the Chinese government and all its myriad bodies and institutions are likewise getting in on the act, not just by means of regulation or censorship but by active participation.

A report was published this month that outlined statistics and new trends in government use of social media in China. The 2012 Sina Government Weibo Report (2012年新浪政务微博报告), released by the People Online Public Monitoring Office (人民网舆情监测室), describes in detail what types of government organizations are using Weibo accounts, ranks the most popular ones, discusses new trends, and forecasts three main trends for 2013.

Top ten government Weibo accounts (and other rankings)

The number of government accounts on Weibo has now skyrocketed to 60,064. 20 government ministries, for example, have so far opened a total of 46 microblog accounts, with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs having 11 accounts, the Ministry of Public Security, seven, and the Ministry of Health, five.

Based on data from all these accounts by ministries, public security organs, traffic police and regulation agencies, Communist Youth League offices and individual civil servants, the report uses a large number of indicators from number and frequency of posts to portrayal in the media to produce a final top ten ranking (with a score out of a hundred). The overall top ten government microblog accounts in China in 2012 are thus:

In addition to all these top ten rankings, there is also a ranking for the top ten most practically useful government Weibo accounts as well as the fastest growing. The second section of the report provides a brief overview of the development of government microblogging in 2012, outlining the number and type of government microblog accounts province-by-province.

Grassroots and emergency government microblogging 

Another aspect highlighted in the report is the rise of grassroots government microblogging. Thus we find the case of @王于京, which is the Weibo account (now approaching a million followers) of a police officer in Zhejiang province who overtly uses Weibo to provide useful information as a service to local people. Or as another example there is @罗崇敏, which is the account (with around 780,000 followers) of Luo Chongmin, a member of the College Work Committee of the Yunnan Provincial Party Committee and holder of an Economics doctorate degree. Luo uses his Weibo account to discuss all kinds of grassroots educational issues related to his work, also touching on various debates such a college entrance exams and education reform in China.

Another new trend is the use of Weibo by government agencies to deal with emergency situations. The Beijing floods that occurred in July this year was a very notable case in point. During the heavy rains, a number of government accounts in Beijing such as @北京发布, @北京消防 and @平安北京 posted the latest information on Weibo such as dangerous areas in the city, traffic updates and weather forecasts. Another example of this is the way city governments in Nanjing and Shenzhen this year used Weibo to diffuse rumours.

Three trends for 2013

Having considered the various changes in 2012, the report then offers three predictions for new trends to be expected in 2013:

1. Government microblogging will become more scientific and more standardized
While 2012 could still be characterized as somewhat of an experimental phase for government microblogging, 2013 will see more standardized microblogging practices with the implementation of rules and standards on how to use Weibo and exactly what content can be uploaded by whom.

2. Government microblogging to become more youth-oriented
Young people are clearly the major users of new forms of media such as Weibo, and the operators of government Weibo accounts will strive to better harness the participation of energetic and passionate youth. This will change the style and operational procedures of government Weibo accounts.

3. Government microblogging to deepen and expand to new areas
2012 not only saw a vast increase in government microblogs to more than 60,000, it also saw an expansion of microblogging engagement both at the top level ministries and at the very bottom of the use of social media in the grassroots. In 2013, in terms of quality we can expect government microblogging to expand further into new areas such as industry and administration and other areas to expand the government’s provision of information and to strengthen social management of innovation.

Links and sources
People Online Public Monitoring Office: 2012年新浪政务微博报告

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The Ten Biggest Sex and Gender Stories of 2012

Posted on 2012-12-17 by Barry van Wyk

Dushi Nvbao 17 Dec

The City Lady (都市女报) from Shandong today has a front page story on the Ten Biggest Sex and Gender Stories of 2012 in China (年度十大性与性别事件). Based on an exercise led by the head of the Sex and Gender Institute at the Beijing Forestry University (北京林业大学性与性别研究所) named Fang Gang (方刚) (a man), this Top Ten list has been published every year from 2008. Each item on the list is accompanied by commentary from the staff at the Sex and Gender Institute, which is translated below along with each of the ten items.  

1. 38-year-old woman with master’s degree promotes chastity online (38岁女硕士网晒“贞操”)

In February, Tu Shiyou (涂世友) from Wuhan University started a blog advocating pre-marital chastity and proclaimed that she herself was still a virgin (while uploading to her blog the medical report to prove it), eliciting many critical and satirical responses.

Commentary: Each person can choose their own way of life, but the notion of sexual chastity has a suppressive quality. A real sexual revolution seeks to bring down those who seek to inhibit the individual’s right to choose for themselves. Criticism and mockery of Tu Shiyou online were directed at every facet of her female identity such as her age, gender, and level of education. Yet at the same time various social stigmas were appended to her such as “educated and ugly woman that no-one wants.”

2. Ye Haiyan (叶海燕) and “free sexual services” (叶海燕“十元店”免费提供性服务)

At the beginning of the year, Ye Haiyan posted pictures on her Weibo of her volunteering to provide free sexual services to migrant workers in order to bring attention to the lack of legal rights of sex workers. For her pains, Ye suffered physical violence and her place of work was damaged.

Commentary: Ye Haiyan’s activism in this regard has illustrated the legal difficulties facing sexual workers in China, which is based on the false notion that women cannot control their own sexual desires, and that sexual transactions are immoral. Her actions have graphically illustrated the current situation in China regarding sexual rights.

3. “Gendered” education

In February, Zhengzhou 18th Middle School in Henan province tried out a new education method by launching the “Masculine Boys” and “Refined and Intelligent Girls” standards. In March, government in Shanghai approved the 8th Middle School’s “Shanghai Senior High School Male Experimentation Class” with the stated goal of cultivating a happy environment for wholesome and studious male learners. Both schools reported good results in these experiments.

Commentary: Sex education ought to promote gender equality and to encourage each gender in its own right, yet both of these “gendered” education programs start out from the principle of promoting differences between the genders and some form of gender prejudice is only one step away. By acknowledging that various differences exist between the genders, we can better promote gender equality and individual development.

4. The controversy of under-age girls in brothels

In 1997 the criminal law in China was revised so that the keeping of under-aged girls in brothels was specified as a crime, thus separating it from the crime of rape. Various scholars have in the period since maintained that this distinction has lowered the threat of punishment associated with the crime of keeping under-age girls in brothels. In March this year, the vice-chairperson of the All-China Women’s League (全国妇联), Zhen Yan (甄砚), stated that the law is not sufficient for the adequate protection of minors, and called again for the law to be repealed.

Commentary: We support the repeal of this law to protect young girls from sexual exploitation, yet we should not in the process infringe on the rights of children without incorporating the voices of children themselves. Simply choosing between “repeal” or “not repeal” will not solve this problem.

5. The case of the suicide of the gay man’s wife

In June, a woman named Luo Hongling (洪玲从) jumped from a high building to her death after her husband admitted to her on Weibo that he was gay. This case ignited heated debate among the gay community regarding marriages with the opposite sex.

Commentary: Increasing awareness of sexual rights has also given rise to discussion of the rights of homosexuals. The phenomenon of wives of gay men leads to the suffering of many people, including the unloved wife, the gay man forced to marry a woman as well as the rest of the household, and the causes of this issue goes deep into the roots of society. Forbidding homosexuals from heterosexual marriages will not solve the problem. This issue causes us to reflect on the relationship between love and marriage and the value of both.

6. The case of “I can flirt but you can’t disturb” (“我可以骚，你不能扰”行动)

In June an official working on the Shanghai subway posted an image on Weibo showing the back of a woman wearing a see-through top. Professing his good intentions, the official reminded women not to invite sexual harassment by dressing provocatively. A few days later, two women launched a protest by carrying posters in the subway with the words “I can flirt but you can’t disturb.”

Commentary: In the discussion on sexual harassment, the phrase “I can flirt” turned the role of women from passive defence to an active embrace of “flirting” in regard to their public posture and right to make their own decisions. “You can’t disturb” then links this proactive stance with a not very euphemistic or reserved method to display women’s abject rejection of sexual harassment. Combining these two phrases challenges conventional perceptions of women’s rights in terms of sex and gender issues.

7. 84-year old transgender man boldly steps out of the closet

In June in Guangdong province a 84-year-old transgender man named Qian Jinfan (钱今凡) boldly stepped into the limelight by accepting an invitation for an interview with a journalist. Qian was of the intention to challenge the prejudices held in society against transgender people and to advance the rights of transgender people in the workplace.

Commentary: Compared to gays and lesbians, the public campaign for the rights of transgender people are still much less conspicuous. Qian Jinfan’s loud and clear exiting of the closet has illustrated the life-long prejudice and discrimination that he suffered. While his case might indicate that we are moving toward a completely non-discriminatory environment, it also shows that we are still far from achieving a full reflection in society of the sexual rights of multiple sexual orientations.

8.Male participation in the fight against sexual violence

During the Global Campaign Against Sexual Violence Against Women campaign in November and December, the UN Population Fund China representative office ran a concurrent online campaign in China to get men to pledge to oppose sexual violence against women. During the 16 days of the campaign, 351 men signed up to the pledge.

Commentary: Sexual violence emphasizes aspects of male masculinity that have their roots in gender inequality in society. Campaigns against sexual violence directed at women should not focus on making an adversary of the male psyche, but rather cultivate, encourage and support a consciousness of gender equality among men and rally them to collectively build a harmonious and gender equal society.

9. Online “pornographic anti-corruption”

Pornographic images and videos of officials have recently increasingly been exposed online, and the persons involved have been punished severely. Due to such cases, in August an official at a university was expelled from the Party; in November another official at a university was fired from his position; and also in November an official in Chongqing was also relieved of his position.

Commentary: In these pornographic anti-corruption online cases, “sexual prowess” became a potent weapon against official corruption and abuse of power. No matter if these sexual acts were or were not part of corrupt activities, such “sexual politics” became the subject of widespread condemnation, and the people involved – both the officials and the women – suffered severely. Such “pornographic anti-corruption” has already morphed into public condemnation of private sexual violence.

10. The activities of feminists

In February a number of women launched an “occupy the male bathrooms” action; in April female students at Sun Yat-Sen University in Guangzhou sent a letter to 500 companies protesting against gender discrimination in recruitment; in August various women shaved their heads to express their dissatisfaction with the Ministry of Education for gender discrimination in college entrance exams; in November various women posted bare-breasted pictures of themselves online to show their support for the enactment of laws governing domestic violence; and in December women in Guangzhou put on red wedding dresses to also protest against domestic violence.

Commentary: There is currently insufficient public space and platforms for feminists to voice their opinions, and a new younger generation of women are taking to the streets to voice their views on women’s rights, matching their online activities and challenging a culture dominated by father figures. These activities have ignited public awareness of women’s rights and have  allowed women to express their loathing of oppression, challenging traditional gender values.

Links and sources

City Lady (都市女报): 2012那些性事
Fang Gang on Weibo

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It’s just that we can’t see them – reflections on class and poverty

Posted on 2012-12-15 by Julien Leyre

1706301308821143120


This is the 1510 Digest, a weekly roundup of recent essays and articles published on the Chinese web, with links to translations on the Marco Polo Project.

Over the last thirty years, along with remarkable economic development, China has seen the gap between rich and poor increase widely. But how do these statistics translate into daily life and experiences?

Today’s digest proposes two pieces that consider the impact of this distance as it applies to the individual. Hong Kong University lecturer Zhou Baosong offers a philosophical reflection on the Evils of poverty by conjuring up the figure of a struggling ‘Mr Zhang’; a post by ‘W’, a Chinese student in America, shows a young person’s perspective on the question of class.

It’s just that we can’t see them
By W, 21 November 2012

This post circulated on Douban proposes a reflection on class from the perspective of a young Chinese woman now living overseas. In her university class, she sees an American reality TV show where minor celebrity do the work of ‘normal people’. One of these celebrities, whose task is to go work at Wal-Mart for a day, asks the host: “What is Wal-Mart?”. W. interprets this question as a clear example of class difference: more than a difference in wealth and income, it is the distinction between people who live in radically different worlds, and do not share common references.

In contrast, W. recalls her childhood as a time when people were all the same: some were slightly richer or poorer, but everyone had roughly similar lives; and the word ‘class struggle’, repeated everywhere, did not make much sense to her then. She grew up in a provincial city, not far from the country where she went at New Year, and was punished for mocking her country cousins or finding them dirty.

W’s first real memory of a clear difference between ‘us’ and ‘them’ came as she grew older, when Mc Donald’s or KFC had been around for a while, and she saw people from the country queue up to them, as if they were something exceptional. She particularly remembers her feeling of alienation when once, in Beijing, a migrant worker complained that the Chicken McNugget’s he’d been given were smaller than those on the picture. But now that she lives overseas, studying philosophy, she acknowledges that her life has drifted away from that of her childhood friends, who are slowly becoming ‘them’ as well.

By way of contrast, she also tells a story of experiencing class alienation herself. When she was in college, she stayed with wealthy friends of her parents. One evening, they organised a party for their daughter who studied overseas. At the party, W met people with a completely different outlook on the world, and experienced a radical feeling of alienation.

To conclude, she wonders whether children growing up in China today will be able to relate across society like she used to – but also mentions class encounters as an area Chinese writers should look into for inspiration.

Marco Polo translation: It’s just that we can’t see them
Original link: 只是我们见不到

The evil of poverty
By Zhou Baosong, 07 December 2012

In this piece, political philosopher Zhou Baosong questions the liberalist assumption that the State should not intervene to alleviate poverty, arguing that poverty actually reduces people’s freedom, and that this is not just.

To do so, he conjures up an imaginary character, Mr Zhang. Mr Zhang was a good worker in a factory that laid him off; since then, he has been unable to find stable employment and, as a result, his daughter has had to drop off from school and his old mother can’t get proper medical attention. At great length, Zhou Baosong describes the sufferings of ‘Mr Zhang’ and his family – before stating that these people are not abstractions, that their suffering is real, and that the State should do something to alleviate it.

In the second half of the text, he questions the assumption that the sufferings of Mr Zhang’s family directly result from their own actions, and are therefore aligned with the logic of the market, rational and just. He looks, in particular, at the situation of Mr Zhang’s daughter, who does not have access to equal education, and therefore starts in life below the children of richer parents. This, he said, is an evil to be seen in mainland China, less so in Hong Kong.

To conclude, Zhou Baosong asserts he neither rejects the market not offers a solution, but simply encourages readers to acknowledge that the sufferings of the poor are unjust, and that something should be done to alleviate them.

Marco Polo translation: The evil of poverty
Original link: 貧窮之惡

All articles in this digest and a large range of other Chinese readings are accessible at Marcopoloproject.org. Some are available in English, French and Spanish translation. (You can join the project if you’d like to help with translations.)

Danwei is an affiliate of the Australian Centre on China in the World at The Australian National University. This posting is a result of one project that is part of that on-going collaboration.

The China Story, China Heritage Quarterly and East Asian History are publications of the Australian Centre on China in the World.

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Xi Jinping does his own Southern Tour

Posted on 2012-12-12 by Barry van Wyk

东莞时报

The message today is loud and clear – “No halt in opening up, no stopping reform”:

China’s newspapers today are in a festive mood because China is forging ahead with reform, and there’s no better way to ram the message home than with an inspection tour to Guangdong province in the south by Xi Jinping, China’s newly anointed leader, in imitation of the celebrated 1992 pro-reform Southern Tour of then-leader Deng Xiaoping. On a hill in Shenzhen close to a statue of Deng, Xi spoke passionately of the need to continue reform and opening up in China, and himself brandished a shovel to plant a few banyan seeds in a move symbolic of the new breakthroughs he intends to cultivate from the reform heritage left by Deng. 

Like many other papers today, the Yanzhao Evening News (燕赵晚报) from Hebei province reports that, following in the footsteps of Deng Xiaoping’s southern inspection tour 20 years ago, Xi Jinping stood yesterday in front of the statue of Deng in Shenzhen in Guangdong province to emphasize that China will unreservedly continue with opening up and reform. Undertaking his own inspection tour in Guangdong on 7-11 December, Xi was photographed in front of Deng’s statue chatting with old comrades who had participated in establishing the special economic zone in Shenzhen that was central to the opening and reform process initiated by Deng.

Accompanied by Guangdong Party secretary Wang Yang (汪洋) and Guangdong governor Zhu Xiaodan (朱小丹), Xi’s southern tour included stops in Shenzhen (深圳), Zhuhai (珠海), Foshan (佛山), and Guangzhou (广州) with him visiting villages, companies, the armed forces and research institutes. He wanted, he said, to review the areas where China’s reform and opening process began to gain some perspective on the history of reform in China and thereby to impel further progress.

Standing on a hilltop in Shenzhen overlooking the city and close to Deng’s statue, Xi spoke in “moving terms” of his respect for Deng and the need to continue modernization and achieve new breakthroughs. Then in a move rich in symbolism, Xi himself brandished a shovel to plant a few banyan seeds so new trees can grow on the hill where Deng’s bronze statue looks out over Shenzhen.

Links and sources
Yanzhao Evening News (燕赵晚报): 改革不停顿 开放不止步; 用“关键一招”实现“中国梦”

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Mo Yan presented with Nobel Prize for Literature

Posted on 2012-12-11 by Barry van Wyk

Zhengzhou Wanbao 11 Dec

Yesterday the 10th of December was the anniversary of the death of Alfred Nobel and hence the date of the annual prize-giving ceremony for the Nobel prizes. Chinese writer Mo Yan was handed his Nobel Prize for Literature in the Concert Hall in Stockholm, Sweden, and this followed an official lecture he delivered in the city last Friday. Since his winning of the prize was first announced, Mo Yan has been lauded in China yet was also the subject of controversy and debate (for a round-up of this and the various differing opinions, see the China Digital Times and other links in the Links and sources section below).

Today Mo Yan was again all over the front pages in China, dressed in a black tailcoat suit as he smiled and was handed the Nobel prize. Most of the newspapers in China today gave substantial coverage to the event, focusing on the details of the location, the ceremony and Mo’s outfit, the music, some history of the Nobel prize, and notable attendees. This whole thing is after all a kind of a first for China’s newspapers, allowed now to revel in the pomp and circumstance of a Nobel prize-giving ceremony with a Chinese winner.

The Oriental Morning Post (东方早报) from Shanghai today describes how the host of the event beckoned Mo Yan in Chinese with the words “莫言,请” to ascend the podium to accept his prize, which was then handed to him by the Swedish king Carl XVI Gustaf, with the audience (including the Swedish royal family) looking on.

Here’s how the moment was captured on a number of front pages in China today:

Links and sources
China Digital Times: Mo Yan Addresses Critics in Nobel Lecture
Letter From China (The New Yorker): Mo Yan and the Hazards of Hollow Words
International Herald Tribune: ‘Garlands and Mud’ for New Nobel Laureate from China
Oriental Morning Post (东方早报): 莫言,请
Beijing Evening News (北京晚报): 莫言领诺奖完成一个童话
Nobel Prize website

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Female mayors given extra classes on makeup, tea ceremonies and flower arranging

Posted on 2012-12-10 by Barry van Wyk

Shenyang Wanbao 12Dec12

Wouldn’t it be great if you had female leaders in China that are not only strong leaders but also look attractive and know how to work with tea and flowers because these things make them more charming? Or does that sound slightly odd? This is exactly what’s been happening with 21 female city mayors from all over China who have just graduated from a 13-week training course in Shanghai that focused both on their leadership abilities as well as their skills with tea ceremonies, flower arranging and makeup.

According to today’s front page of the Shenyang Evening News from Liaoning province, on 9 December the female branch of the China City Mayors Association (中国市长协会女市长分会) held a graduation ceremony at Jiaotong University in Shanghai with 21 female city mayors and deputy mayors in attendance. The 21 women were graduating from a special course of 13 weeks at the University that focused on improving their governing skills and leadership capacities as well as certain special “external services”.

Hence not only were the female mayors taught how to interact with the media, we are told, they were also given a range of other lectures of which some are mentioned: “Tea ceremonies”, “Flower arranging”, “Makeup”, and “Creating a graceful appearance as a female mayor”. The organizer of the lectures was of the opinion that tea ceremonies, flower arranging and makeup are all things that contribute to the “charm of female leaders”.

The vice president of the female branch of the China City Mayors Association put it as follows:

Female mayors are leaders, yet more than that, they are women. Among male higher authorities and all the lower ranking males, it is very important for these women to display their female influence. Yet in this process, for these women to integrate well while also maintaining a safe working distance is a real art.

One of the lecturers apparently focused their instruction on how to overcome “Men’s eight main perceptions for being unwilling to follow female leaders”, which included perceptions of women as too emotional, too sensitive and too selfish. After this course, now that women are purportedly better aware of these things they can work to overcome them by displaying their inner advantage and winning the trust of their subordinates.

The person responsible for the lectures has no doubt about the importance of teaching the female mayors how to arrange flowers, do better makeup and undertake tea ceremonies:

On any level, these “external services” are no less important than their normal work.

So women are moving up in China, kind of?

 

Links and sources
Shenyang Evening News (沈阳晚报): 21位女市长上研究班学习咋化妆

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Wang Lijun and his Smurfs

Posted on 2012-12-07 by Barry van Wyk

Xihai Dushibao 7 Dec 12

You don’t know Wang Lijun (王立军). You may have last seen him being charged with various serious crimes committed when he was police chief and Bo Xilai strong man in Chongqing, for which he was ultimately sentenced to 15 years in jail. Yet now you can read about Wang Lijun the man, get to know the guy a little bit better, find out what he was really like in his prime before he fell from grace and blew the lid off the Bo Xilai/Gu Kailai scandal. Turns out that Wang Lijun was just like any other plodding policeman that’s given a bit of power, turning himself into a stern bureaucrat, a pedantic stickler for cleanliness, a faux newspaper editor and professor, a self-obsessed photography enthusiast, and a man completely absorbed in every fine detail of his own image, with a team of photographers (called the Smurfs) and Photoshop handy at all times to make him appear to the world every part of the larger than life man he thought he was.

The Western Sea Metropolis Daily (西海都市报) from Qinghai province today published an expose of the “imperious and domineering” behaviour of Wang when he was still calling the shots (no pun intended) in Chongqing. Based on the revelations of a former secretary of Wang’s called Xin Jianwei (忻建威) as well as others, this expose came to light over the course of this week and was in the last few days published in two other publications as well, namely Southern Weekend (南方周末) and Modern Express (现代快报).

The Smurfs

Shortly after Wang Lijun transferred from Liaoning province to Chongqing to become deputy chief of the city public security bureau in June 2008, Xin Jianwei (忻建威) was appointed as Wang’s third secretary. Xin only stayed in this post for four months, however, as Wang was in the habit of constantly shuffling his secretaries. Apparently in his first four years in Chongqing he went through 51 secretaries who variously were in charge of security, food and drinks, recording of events and speeches, taking pictures and shooting videos, trip arrangements, and more.

Photography was somewhat of a speciality for Wang, and the secretaries in charge of photography and videos were actually part of a special team of more than 20 people who all wore blue jackets and were hence known as the “Smurfs” (蓝精灵). The goal of the Smurfs, as directed by Wang Lijun, was to take the kind of pictures that would “move” people – Wang himself took pride in his skill as a photographer and would spend evenings poring over images of himself.

Petty bureaucrat, Faux editor and professor

Wang could be very demanding in terms of food and clothing, requiring that his staff maintain a faultless attire at all times. Once in a hallway when he ran into one his male attendants wearing a suit without a tie, Wang berated him and wanted to punish him severely, only relenting after various pleas for clemency. While demanding unrelenting order and punctuality from his staff, Wang was in the habit of setting out on a journey or inspection tour in the middle of the night. This was his way of testing his staff’s efficiency and determination.

Shortly after he started in Chongqing, Wang shut down the local Public Security Bureau newspaper, Chongqing Public Security News (重庆公安报), and started a new paper with the much more colorful name Police Culture Salon (警察文化沙龙). Although editors and contributors were put in place for the new paper, Wang himself interfered so much with every aspect of the publication, from headline phrasing to image selection, that it became known as “the Wang Lijun show”. Hence apart from running all the stories on Wang Lijun’s “Strike the Black” campaign against corruption in Chongqing, the paper also contained poetry and intellectual musings such as “Boil a pot of knowledge” (烧开一壶水的智慧) and “Grasp the branch of life” (抓住生命的树枝). Every picture of Wang Lijun (taken by the Smurfs) that appeared in the Police Culture Salon was finely tuned in Photoshop to be exactly perfect.

Around the time the “Strike the Black” campaign was coming to a close, Wang became infatuated with using the title “Professor”. Many of his subordinates started calling him “Professor Li Jun”, yet Wang sent out various essays in which he also claimed a number of titles such as “Legal expert” and “Specialist forensic investigator”. He also claimed to have registered a number of patents and to have personally designed the police uniform in Chongqing. He himself was apparently usually dressed in a wind-breaker, and always surrounded himself with a troupe of “tall and straight” guards, among which were included two people to constantly watch the movement of his shoulders.

So there you have it – Wang Lijun: Strong-arm police chief and enforcer yet pitifully petty and self-absorbed man with a taste for the finer things of having power.

Links and sources
Western Sea Metropolis Daily (西海都市t): 王立军虚荣、专横跋扈

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Unknown migrant worker dies after lying 20 days under a bridge in Henan

Posted on 2012-12-04 by Barry van Wyk

Henan Shangbao 4 Dec 12

In Zhengzhou (郑州) in Henan province in November, a migrant worker lay under a bridge for more than 20 days. He didn’t seem to be very ill, just cold, hungry and destitute. People came and went, even emergency medical services were there  once – yet he still died, alone. Who is he and why did he die? This is what the Henan Business Daily (河南商报) asks today with a front page special section on the fate of this forlorn migrant worker and others like him in China.

Henan Business Daily interviewed a doctor at a local hospital who related that on the evening of 22 November he received a call and was sent out to a bridge in Zhengzhou. When he got there he found the man lying on a makeshift bed, still conscious. The doctor asked him whether he felt any pain, but the man answered that he hadn’t eaten for two days because he couldn’t find any work. When the doctor heard this, he tested the man’s blood sugar levels, measured his blood pressure and took his pulse, and tested his breathing frequency. All his signs were normal. The doctor could see the man’s psychological state was not looking good, however, after he hadn’t eaten for two days, so he gave him five yuan (which is how much he happened to have with him at the time). The man refused to go to hospital though, so the doctor left him there with a reminder to dial 120 if he ever feels any pain.

Nothing happened again until the 30th of November, when emergency services were called out to the bridge again (its uncertain by who exactly). When this team got there, the man, a migrant worker, was dead.

So who was this unknown migrant worker? According to the Zhengzhou health bureau that handled the first call received on 22 November, the man was called Liu Hongwei (刘红伟), and was born in 1974. Local police claimed to have established that the man was from Qi county (杞县) in Kaifeng (开封), Henan. Yet the journalist compared a picture of Liu Hongwei produced by the police with pictures taken of the body under the bridge, and found them to be not the same at all. So we still don’t know for sure who he was.

Inspired by what happened to this unknown migrant worker, Henan Business Daily published a longer piece today that takes the form of an interview with a migrant worker in Henan very much like the one who died under the bridge. Under the heading “This is what their lives are really like” (这，就是他的生活), the article features quotes from a migrant worker that clearly outline how difficult his life really is.

The newspaper asked this man, named Sun Guoqing (孙国庆), whether he or any of his companions ever became sick, for example, to which he replied:

For us to be sick is very normal, and if we get sick its even a bigger problem because we don’t dare go to the hospital. So we just take some medicine and eat something. If something happens to me I would just go home, where things are very different. At home there are people who can look after me and I can easily go to the hospital. But here no-one cares, I have to rely on myself.

Perhaps one migrant worker just to had enough, and gave up on a careless world. He was just one man – alone, hopeless, nameless.

 

Links and sources
Henan Business Daily (河南商报): 这些疑问都还没有答案; 这，就是他的生活

Posted in Front Page of the Day, Urban Culture and Cities | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Unknown migrant worker dies after lying 20 days under a bridge in Henan

A thousand miles in search of the finless porpoise

Posted on 2012-12-03 by Barry van Wyk

Shichang Xinbao 3 Dec 12

It is well-known that the Chinese river dolphin, also known as the Baiji, is functionally extinct, in other words: as good as gone forever. The freshwater finless porpoise (江豚), on the other hand, which like the Baiji also lives in China’s Yangtze river, is currently endangered and seems to be heading for the same fate. In November, a 40-day scientific expedition was launched to carry out a survey of finless porpoises in the Yangtze river, and a journalist from Star News (市场新报) from Anhui province was invited along to capture in prose the few moments when the finless porpoise was sighted in an environment that is gradually dispelling them to the verge of extinction.

In the first stage of the survey completed on 26 November, the expedition travelled 1,252 km back and forth between Yichang (宜昌) and Wuhan (武汉) on the Yangtze, all the while employing visual and acoustic equipment to monitor for any signs of the finless porpoise. In total in this period the finless porpoise was seen 39 times and heard (via acoustic equipment) 19 times. These make for depressing findings: a similar survey in 2006 observed the finless porpoise 116 times and heard it 50 times.

Yesterday, the journalist writes, the expedition entered the Anhui stage of the operation, where there is actually a designated protected zone for the finless porpoise. The survey team stopped at a village close to the river port at Daguan (大观区) in Anqing (安庆), Anhui province. Among the locals the journalist found what he described as a sense of reminiscence for what they affectionately called the “river pig” (江猪). When they were asked about the protection zone supposedly close by and where a good place would be to observe the porpoises, however, none of them had anything to say. Eventually the journalist was able to obtain some information on the way back to the boat from a local doctor, who told him that the area surrounding the docks in Anqing might be a good place to spot the porpoises.

So off they went to the docks, where ships were moving in and out and construction machinery were making a racket. Somewhat stupefied, the journalist wondered if this could possibly be the protection zone. Eventually he spotted a run-down sign covered with weeds that said “Anqing Finless Porpoise Protected Area.” This was indeed it, but there were no finless porpoises to be seen.

So the expedition set off 243 km down the Yangtze in Anhui, the main habitat of the finless porpoise in China. According to the local fishing industry, there should be about 260 finless porpoises in this stretch of the river. After some searching, the journalist and the expedition did sight the finless porpoise. Referring to himself in the third person, the journalist described it thus:

We were as before attentively watching the surface of the water, and our eyes were getting a bit tired. Just then, right behind the roll of a wave we suddenly saw the shadow of the finless porpoise, he was in the process of “cheerfully jumping about”, and then just a few seconds later, he was gone….The journalist hurriedly rowed a boat in pursuit, but to no avail. So the journalist calmed himself and pondered the picture that he was able to take.

After returning to the shore, the journalist talked again with locals in Anhui about the finless porpoise. “In the 1970s and ’80s,” one man remarked, “you could often see them swimming in large groups, frolicking about. But afterwards this sight become rarer and rarer.”

 

Links and sources
Star News (市场新报): 江里寻“她”千百度; “豚豚”闪过茫茫江水处
China Daily: China launches survey of endangered porpoises

Posted in Front Page of the Day, Wildlife, Nature and the Environment | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on A thousand miles in search of the finless porpoise

Contrasting World AIDS Day coverage in China’s newspapers

Posted on 2012-11-30 by Barry van Wyk

Dushi Nvbao 30 Nov

With tomorrow being World AIDS Day, a handful of newspapers in China today ran special features and front page headlines on HIV/AIDS-related stories. This coverage came in contrasting styles, however. While most newspapers focused on informative education and prevention activities related to HIV/AIDS, Dongguan Times went straight for the proverbial low blow by focusing its front page story entirely on brave and nervous nurses at a local hospital while they treat AIDS patients who seem crazy and plague-ridden (and who are mostly outsiders [外地人] anyway).

The Dongguan Times from Guangdong province today thought it would do something for World AIDS Day tomorrow, so what better than send one of its journalists into what it calls the “AIDS protection and prevention medical personnel community”? The resultant article’s headline sets the tone for what’s coming: “Every day face-to-face with AIDS patients, see how fearless they are” (每天与艾滋病患者零距离 看他们如何不恐“艾”).

The journalist informs us that “usually most people will completely shun this place, but now that another December 1 World AIDS Day is coming around, this place is getting some attention again.” She notes that there were this year around 400 cases of HIV infection at the hospital, which is a significant increase on previous years. Even though knowledge of AIDS and HIV prevention has increased, she continues, some people are still very afraid of the disease and the people carrying it [presumably including herself in this group?]. So how do the medical personnel who work at the “Compassion Ward” (as the ward for AIDS patients is known) do it every day?

The rest of the article then proceeds to describe to what lengths the nurses go to protect themselves from the AIDS patients, two-thirds of which we are told are actually not locals (外地人) anyway. With nerve-wracking tales of nurses cleaning up furiously and disinfecting every room twice, the article focuses entirely on the nurses and their tough day job dealing with these people that should seemingly be avoided like the plague.

That’s some article for World AIDS Day, Dongguan Times – way to go.

Luckily there were some more enlightened coverage in other papers.

The City lady (都市女报) from Shandong province has a special section of four pages on HIV/AIDS today with four separate articles. The first of these, “Provide ‘them’ with condoms” (把安全套送给“她们”), discusses a new “China-US” project for raising HIV/AIDS awareness and education among sex workers in China (i.e. “them”). The article documents the travails of Wang Juan (王娟, not her real name), as she works to reach out to sex workers on issues of safe sex. There are three things involved here, Wang Juan tells us: places of entertainment, condoms, and AIDS. Yet even just one of these things by themselves is already very sensitive, she says, but “if you add them all three together it makes for an explosion”. In other related articles, City Lady discusses a case of doctors refusing to provide treatment to an AIDS patient in Tianjin (拒诊艾滋病人 济南未发生过), and a case of HIV/AIDS-related employment discrimination from Jiangxi province (体检查出艾滋江西小伙被).

Tianfu Morning News (天府早报) from Sichuan province today published a piece called “No longer will AIDS be alone” (不再让“艾”孤单) by a journalist looking back at five years of interviews with people living with HIV/AIDS. The journalist describes his initial fears on being close to such people, and how he overcame such fears to eventually be able to give them “bear hugs.”

Lastly, the Zhoukou Evening News (周口晚报) from Henan province today featured only an image and short description on its homepage of a ceremony by volunteers at a teacher’s university in Fuyang (阜阳), Anhui province. The volunteers made a big red AIDS ribbon and carried out AIDS prevention and education activities on campus under the theme of “Action on HIV/AIDS: Moving to zero”.

You see Dongguan Times, that’s how you do it.

Links and sources
Dongguan Times (东莞时报): 每天与艾滋病患者零距离 看他们如何不恐“艾”
City Lady (都市女报): 把安全套送给“她们”; “我们一直害怕项目会夭折”; 拒诊艾滋病人 济南未发生过; 体检查出艾滋江西小伙被拒录 
Tianfu Morning News (天府早报): 不再让“艾”孤单
Zhoukou Evening News (周口晚报): 行动起来，向“零”艾滋迈进

Posted in Front Page of the Day, Health and Medicine, Sex, Drugs and Vice | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Contrasting World AIDS Day coverage in China’s newspapers