Chen Liangyu in Big Trouble

Chen Liangyu, the Party Chief of Shanghai was removed from all positions as Xinhua News announced today. This is viewed a result of political struggle between Hu Jintao-Wen Jiabao and the Gang of Shanghai, of which Jiang Zemin being the big boss. However, literally everyone in China applauded for the swift action by Hu. Some people even recall the joy after removing the 'Gang of Four' in 1976.

Following is from Zuo Zhijian's blog. Zuo made his name as the hero journalist who uncovered the HYSIS scandal.

早晨10点不到，我和pippa各收到短信一条。pippa的短信说，陈良宇出事了。我的短信说，“贺国强今到沪开会，换马。传沪一号昨中在京规。”

虽然有两条消息，但起初还是不太相信。9月23日晚，陈良宇还在万体馆观看黄金联赛。刘翔在家乡父老面前后发制人，以惊人的爆发力令人惊叹地勇夺冠军。体育馆一定是万人欢呼，陈良宇在那一刻应该是真正享受着执掌这个中国最大城市的荣耀。但是谁又能想到，次日，陈就将从中国政坛消失了呢。

然后赶到办公室，开始求证，问上海市新闻办，答曰正在求证。看来不完全是空穴来风了。中午12：03分，凤凰网挂出简单一则消息。我看到时已是 12：33分左右。在办公室大叫一声，把地址传给了同事，未几，全办公室都知道了。大家都很高兴。然后马上联想到房价，大家都认为应该要下跌，因为陈良宇和相关官员在楼市有利益集团，这次反腐败可能能够击溃这个利益集团，让宏观调控真正起到实效。

给新华社的朋友发消息，问新华社什么时候发稿，因为新华社发了稿之后我们才有可能报道，否则，擅自报道中央政治局委员出事，是严重不守纪律。新华社的哥们说，这事得总社定。不过同事已收到消息，说今天新华社一定会发消息。

这时候一个大学同学用手机联系我，说他听说陈出事了，我说我知道了，凤凰网已经报道了。但对新华社会不会这么快公布消息还不能确定。

将信将疑之间，有人告诉我，新华社已经发消息了。果然12：58：03，新华网发布了10年来最有价值的新闻，陈良宇被立案检查。又过了一阵，有消息说，CCTV也报道了。在网上打开CCTV的视频，发现是下午一点的整点新闻，照念了新华网的稿子，同事们全围了过来。但24号立案调查，次日中午就公布消息，显示这次的信息发布，非常迅速。新闻通稿中，又提到“中共中央政治局昨日（9月24日）召开会议，审议了中共中央纪律检查委员会《关于陈良宇同志有关问题初核情况的报告》。”这句话可能是强调中央在按程序办事，淡化政治斗争的说法。

很快就在baidu的新闻搜索中搜索到了关于对上海楼市的影响。很明显，是看空上海楼市。所以大家都很高兴，毕竟我们这些记者也是上海高房价的受害者。而新华社、CCTV既然已经发稿，那么我们也就有可能做跟踪报道。

要做跟踪报道，最正常的逻辑无疑是调查陈良宇落马的原因，新华网的通稿里写的很详细了。陈涉嫌四宗罪，这四宗罪，其实我们都有报道过，材料还在，只是以前没有点陈良宇的名字而已。

具体来说：

1、涉及上海市劳动和社会保障局违规使用社保资金。这一点很好理解，因为之前采访过程中，不只一个人说祝均一是替罪羊，动用那么多亿的社保资金都是要经上级批准的。但这一点，还需要进一步调查。

2、为一些不法企业主谋取利益。这一点也很清楚，张荣坤收购上海路桥股份时，闯了不少红灯，但他写的“情况说明”把陈良宇写进去了，说2002年3 月26日那次签约是陈出席的。另外张收购上海路桥，最终还是上海市政府批的，这一点市长很难说没有责任。另外一个不法企业主则是周正毅。周正毅农信社旧案显示，周一笔贷款被硬搞成坏帐了事。周最终只获刑3年，甚至至今不引渡香港，这在国际上的影响相当不好。

3、袒护有严重违纪违法问题的身边工作人员。这个关心上海社保案的人都应该知道，秦裕就是陈良宇的秘书，而且做了11年秘书。

4、利用职务上的便利为亲属谋取不正当利益。关心周正毅案的人应该知道，陈有个弟弟。但这一点也没有确凿的证据。至于陈弟弟的故事，可以日后再说。除此四点外，据说还有关于个人作风方面的事情，最后没有公布。

同事在打听最新消息，我开始把以前的材料翻了出来准备开工。中间还下楼买了一包烟，争取找点灵感。

写深度报道的人都知道，导语是最难写的，导语想好了，整个文章的架构就都清楚了。等我终于把导语写好，开始写第一段的时候，msn上领导消息来了，禁令已到。

这是一个意料之中的消息，所以虽然有点遗憾，但也没有太多怨言，这种事我见得多了。去通知合作的同事，也就停工准备歇了。这时候已经大约是下午4点了。

领导又仔细看了一下禁令，觉得也不是没有可操作的空间。也就是说，不能写陈被立案的原因了，但可以写写陈被立案前后，各方的最新动态。这其实也能够透露出当前政情的关键信息。

这是一篇短稿子，我稍微改动然后增加了一些内容后，差不多就成了。刚准备传给编辑，想起来最好给新闻中心领导再把一下关，所以就打印了一下。结果刚到领导办公室，领导笑着说，又来一禁令。这下是规定涉陈新闻一律用通稿。所以稿子彻底没戏。合作的同事已经离开了办公室，电话没人接，遂发短信通知之。良久同事回曰：靠，又被戏弄了。

收拾东西回家睡觉。期间有前同事来问，陈是否真被抓，又有一师兄说要认识一下我。出租车里，电台两次报道陈被立案的消息，司机都把音量调高。司机会怎么想呢？我想必然是拍手称快。

回家看搜房网，全是讲陈的帖子，而且全部看空上海楼市。

然后，许多人亦会关心韩正能否转正。正好前段时间外电有分析韩正可能会有机会，说明预测对了，理由是需要一个懂上海的人来管理上海，目下还找不到最合适的人选来过渡。从以往来看，韩出身团派，今次中央查案下榻之马勒别墅即为往日市团委的办公室场所，这点算有优势。但韩先生能不能转正，那就要看其修为和造化了。至于谁会被调入上海，则说法纷纭。目前可以看出，韩能否转正关键在中央态度，而中央则看民意，民意好坏则看上海楼市能降多少。

说到陈为什么被立案，外界评论仍然多关注人事斗争，但人事斗争之起因或许并非直接由利益之争而起，而是地方与中央之争。上海在宏观调控方面拖了后腿，楼市间的政商勾结导致尾大不掉，终招大祸。实际上，宏观调控之所以效果一般，最核心的原因应是地方政商利益集团的阻挠，所以若要调控，必须以反腐败清场。

又与一干记者聊起陈的案子。前同事此前有观点，认为此案将是中国民主政治的开始。我不知道他的理由，大约可能觉得胡CORE可以借此机会，以反腐之名义，在中央的强力推进下，启动政改。希望是这样，但或许很渺茫。

很多人都会想起陈希同，但愿这次上海政治集团的报应能够给大权在握者一些启示：即民主对自己也有好处，否则不透明的政治斗争伤人终伤己——尽管这种后遗症可能事隔10年才会爆发。现时胡温均为廉政之表率，对子女的管理亦很严格，应该说具备了客观条件，但当局有无此眼界或实力，尚需观察。

在新华社的通稿中，最后说到要在以胡CORE为总书记的党中央的“坚强”领导下，如何如何。坚强二字，颇不寻常。此后新华社连发数篇评论，更是值得玩味。

What Else Did Armitage Leak?

Richard Armitage, a hawk in the State Department was recently revealed as the source of the leak of formal CIA employee Valerie Plame. The incident ended her career as a CIA operative, and put more CIA agents' lives in danger. Armitage, the then deputy secretary of state will not be charged of any crime, as it 'happened' that he did not know Valerie Plame was an under cover agent. At the time, it also 'happened' that Ms. Valerie Pleme's husband revealed his report that the 'intelligence' cited by the president as an argument for the invasion of Iraq was baseless.

People in Pakistan were on the street last time protesting Mr. Armitage's threatening of Pakistan after 9/11 in 2001, which was revealed in an interview of Mr. President Gen Pervez Musharraf. Armitage told Pakistanaise that they would be 'bombed to the stone age' if they did not 'cooperate' with the US in the war.

After the meeting of the two presidents at the White House on September 22, 2006, Bush said he was not aware of the threat made by Armitage.

Thinkpad on Fire

"So we're waiting for a flight in the United lounge at LAX, the flight next to ours was heading to London and in the middle of final boarding, when suddenly this guy comes running the wrong way up the jetway, pushing other boarding passengers out of the way, he quickly drops his laptop on the floor and the thing immediately flares up like a giant firework for about 15 seconds, then catches fire. About a hundred other people in the lounge jumped up and began a mix of gawking and general panic, I clearly heard a few fleeing individuals saying something about terrorists. The fire burned for a minute while everybody just stared at it, then another flare up, this one much larger than the first, drove a larger group of gawkers away. Eventually, the high intensity flaring calmed down and a larger fire kicked in, all the while letting off a thick cloud of white smoke that was slowly filling the terminal. Finally, an employee came over with a fire extinguisher and put it out of its misery."

Dell recently recalled 4.1 million laptops with battery made by Sony. Although Lenovo also uses Sony batteries, a Lenovo spokesman Bob Page stated that there would be no battery recall. He told reporters that the battery fire problem of Dell brand laptops was caused by complicated reasons, which 'are not present' in Lenovo's systems.
Gizmodo

Remember September 18th, 1931

Japanese army attacked the Northern Garrison (Beidaying) in Shenyang, the headquarter of then Northeastern Command of Chinese army on September 18th, 1931. The incident was remembered in Chinese history as 918 Incident. September 18th was recognized as the Day of Shame of China. Commander General Zhang Xueliang ordered the troops 'do not resist'. The order was to lock all weapons in the arsenal, and stay inside rooms. The Chinese soldiers were told that they would 'sacrifice for the nation's benefit'.

The 10 years from 1927 to 1937 was often referred as the 'Golden Decade' in Chinese history, while the economy was booming, and infrastructures were built. Leaders of China (Chiang Kai-shek, etc.) did not want the fast growing to be disturbed by anything, such as a war with Japan. One prevailing theory at the time was that once China became prosperous and strong, Japan would no longer dare to invade.

History proved them to be wrong. The invader would not wait for the day when China became strong enough to deter external challenges.

Remember September 18, 1931, and remember the 30 million Chinese killed by the Japanese invasion.

Admiring War Criminals is Morally Bankrupt

'Paying one's respect to war criminals is morally bankrupt and unworthy of a great nation such as Japan, said Congressman Tom Lantos, the ranking Democrat on the Congressional International Relations committee. Republican Congressman Henry Hyde, the chair of the committee joined to criticize Japanese leaders for the shrine visit, as well as history textbook revisions to downplay atrocities committed by Japan during WWII.

Japan's prime minister Junichiro Koizumi led annual official visits to the Yasujuni Shrine, where convicted WWII war criminals were honored.

Bloomberg

HP Chairwoman to Step Down

Patricia Dunn, the chairwoman of Hewlett Packard, who contributed in firing then CEO Carly Fiorina will step down in January 2007 in the wake of the illegal investigation of her own board directors.

Dunn is No. 17 among Forbes the 100 most powerful women in 2005. No 16. is Zoe Cruz of the Morgan Stanley; and Marjorie Scardino is the No. 18.

The investigation authorized by Ms. Dunn employed illegal techniques to obtain private phone records of HP directors and journalists who cover this topic in order to conduct a cross-matching. Director George Keyworth was blamed for leaking information to journalists, and was asked to resign. Unhappy with the way the investigation and the disclosure had been handled, director Tom Perkins quit in protest.

HP submitted a brief notice to the SEC regarding Mr. Perkins's resignation, without revealing the reason. In a letter to HP, Mr. Perkins wrote: '...... my disagreement concerns probable unlawful conduct, improper board procedures, and breakdowns in corporate governance, it constitutes a disagreement 'on any matter relating to the registrants operations, policies or practices' requiring disclosure to the SEC under...the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002." Perkins also warned that he was "legally obliged to disclose publicly the reasons for my resignation. This is a very sad duty."

Ms. Dunn's secret operation violates California state laws regarding protection of privacy and unauthorized access to computer database.

Journalists on Government Payroll

Mr. Juan Manuel Cao of Channel 41 followed Cuban leader Fidel Castro to Argentina this summer and tried to score by throwing cute questions. Mr. Castro responded by calling him a “mercenary” and asking who had been paying him.

At least 10 US journalists were found on the payroll of a US propaganda agency. They receive money for writing anti-Cuban articles. Nothing new, Pentagon had hired journalists to write articles on Iraqi issues, as we all knew. We also knew that Armstrong Williams was paid to say good things on Bush's no child left behind project, which had been criticized by many educators.

One of Bush's top propaganda officers, Mr. Joe O’Connell of the International Broadcasting Bureau said there was "no ethics code" for the contracted journalists.

On the payroll there are:

Pablo Alfonso of El Nuevo Herald

Wilfredo Cancio Isla of El Nuevo Herald

Olga Connor of El Nuevo Herald

Juan Manuel Cao of Channel 41

Ninoska Perez-Castellón of Radio Mambí

Domestic Disturbance

At least one protester was beaten to death by the police, dozens seriously wounded and hundreds were arrested in Ruian, Zhejiang.


It starts as a seemingly yet another tragic domestic disturbance case, in which a depressed wife, jumped out of the window for no reason at all. Ms. Dai Haijing, a 29 years old high school teacher, who is loved by her friends and her students fell down two floors and died. It was the more than obvious non-falling caused wound on her head that told a different story, and angered everyone who know her, and thousands who have a heart.


According to police, Ms. Dai Haijing had been suffered a kind of depression that nobody else could tell from her behavior. She jumped from her home on the third floor, and there's no other obstacles in the scene. She fell upside down with her head hit the ground. The would on her head was caused by the impact on the ground. Give me a break, we taxpayers spent so much each year on the police, they could have used a better story.

Ms. Dai's husband Mr. Xie Deyong is one of the most wealthiest and most connected person in the area. According to Internet 'rumors', the family has a long trace of violence. Close friends of Ms. Dai told press that Ms. Dai had been beaten by her husband many times before. The government swiftly announce the death was a result of suicide without bothering checking the crime scene. Although it's still in the summer recession, thousands students in the school she taught paraded in protesting the handling of the case by the local government. Photos of the scene were spread to every online forums in the Chinese language Internet community.

Yesterday, the Ruian government mobilized police forces, SWAT team and even military police to shut off thousands of protesters on the unfair judgement. All online discussions were deleted.


September 10th is the official 'National Teachers' Day' in China. Tens of thousands of people in Ruian showed their ultimate respect to Ms. Dai Haijing with their blood, and some with their lives. Most of these dead and wounded had never of Ms. Dai before, but they felt a need as a Chinese citizen to contribute their blood when it was called for. Great ancient philosopher Laoze (570 - 470 B.C.) had said, 'How can you scare people with death when they are no longer afraid of death?' The government officials of Ruian, Zhejiang should have read that in high school textbook.

An English Petition Letter by the students in Ms. Dai's class (from source 5)

High school students Protest in China

Why do students demonstrate in China? First of all, please remember that high school student demonstrations do not happen that frequently and so there must be something extraordinary.

Banner: "So many doubts! Where is justice?"

Here is the translation of the students' open letter to the public :

On August 18, when we heard the bad news that our teacher has committed suicide, we could not believe that such a bright person would be so stupid as to kill herself. As a university graduate in English, how could she be so psychologically feeble? On the day before she died, she told us that she will be giving us dictation the next day. She is a reliable person, so why would she lie to us? She told us that life is like a coin, and we should see the good side instead of being stuck under the dark skies all the time! ... So how could she have killed herself? She has a son who is only two or three years old, so how could she abandon him alone in the world! Does she not know that a motherless child is lonely and helpless??

The incident took place two days ago. Why has law enforcement refused to investigate? Why is the legal doctor late? Why are the people's guide -- the media -- also late? We don't understand! In a society under the rule of law, something infuriatingly unjust has happened! Our rights become so pale and powerless in the face of money!

Here is a summary of our doubts:

1. Before the day of the incident, our teacher asked us to memorize the nouns because she was going to give us dictation the next day. She patted the head of one student and smilingly "warned" him that he better memorize the nouns. How could a suicidal person tell such a joke so light-heartedly?

2. If she wanted to kill herself, would she be wearing only her underwear??! Our teacher is a pretty woman who wants to look well. Would she want to die in such indignity?

3. The teacher's child is so young and she loves him so much. Would she abandon him?! Besides, a suicidal person should have made some arrangements beforehand. But our teacher did nothing ...

4. Afterwards, we read the teacher's diary. She wrote that she will not rely on others. She will only rely on herself and she write that she will be strong. She wrote that she is a mother and she is the world to her son. Motherly love is so great! Would she give up life so easily and abandon her young child?

5. When we saw the body of our teacher, she had bruises everywhere. Although her limbs were intact, her cranium was burst open. She died a horrible death.

6. Our teacher told us that the High School Third Year Class teachers work very hard. She said that she will not be satisfied if we get into the universities. So why would she choose suicide?

7. The law enforcement department refuses to intervene in this matter. Justice is so pale and powerless in front of money. How will the people ever trust the government again?

Therefore, we ask all righteous people to extend your righteous hands to give justice to our teacher! This is on behalf of all the teachers under the heavens! May our teacher rest in peace!
The entire class of students of the Third Year Class, Rui'an Number Three High School, Zhejiang province, China


You may say that this is a ho-hum matter that will not get anywhere. Ah, but you forgetting the power of the Internet to strike emotionally! How so? Read the above and see which of the seven points has the most potential of being emotionally overwhelming? There is nothing more from the child. So that leaves the manner of death (number 2 and number 5). So here is the famous (WARNING: GORY) photograph that has been going around the Internet. While it violates the preference of the teacher (according to number 2), this may be the most direct way of seeing justice served.
Therefore, we ask all righteous people to extend your righteous hands to give justice to our teacher! This is on behalf of all the teachers under the heavens! May our teacher rest in peace!

The entire class of students of the Third Year Class, Rui'an Number Three High School, Zhejiang province, China

sources 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Armitage Ratted out the CIA Spy

Richard Lee Armitage, one of a few core neocons who served the Bush administration admitted that he leaked out the identity of undercover CIA agent Valerie Plame to columnist Robert Novak. The Bush administration launched a smear campaign against Ms. Wilson's husband Joseph Wilson, whose report on the connection between Iraq and nuclear material yellow cases did not support Bush's Iraqi War rationale. Mr. Wilson was assigned by the CIA to investigate the issue and he did not find Iraq in the process of building WMD before the war was launched. His report was presented to the Bush administration but was chosen to be ignored.

Armitage was the deputy secretary of state when the leakage happened. He is also a close friend to Mr. Chen Shuibian of Republic of China. He is also an advocate of re-arming Japanese military forces, despite strong protest from Asian countries who had suffered in the Japan's invasion in the WWII.

Chen Danlei to Live

Chen Danlei was a Purdue University graduate student before she stabbed her husband He Lei twice in the chest around Christmas 2004. He Lei told the court that they were playing a scene in a movie they watched the night before in which the man was stabbed by the woman during a sexual intercourse. According to friends close to the couple, He Lei helped Chen Danlei in the lawsuit but did not had confident in continuing the marriage. Chen was due on August 26, 2005 for a court hearing on the assault case. Both of the couple graduated from Qinghua University in Beijing, China.

On August 20, 2005 Chen Danlei shot He Lei on the bed, and then dismembered his body to be fit into 5 plastic bags later found in the trunk of their car. Because her own passport had been withheld by American court after the stabbing case, Chen altered He Lei's passport to board a plane back to China. Dressed in men's clothes, she was stopped by the Chinese customs at the Shanghai Pudong International Airport.

Raised up in a single parent family, Chen was known to have trouble controlling her temper. One of her college classmates recalled Chen had problem communicating with friends and professors. In one instance, when Chen's advisor told her to conduct some experiments, Chen replied 'why do you ask me to do these since you've already known the answers?' The professor completed the experiments for Chen. Chen also got into odds with her adviser in the Purdue University, and had to quit from the PhD program.

The Shanghai First Middle People's Court sentenced Chen Danlei to 2 years suspended death on 9/4/2006, with $55,000 compensation to He Lei's family. In Chinese legal system, this sentence equals a 10-15 years minimum jail time.

Other sources: Shanghaiist, Shanghai Daily, Lafayette Police

Fucker Handbook Might be Work of Performance Artists

The Western Fucker's Handbook might be a work of a group of performance artists, reported The Sydney Morning Herald.

Chinese Internet users are raging against the anonymous author of a blog they say insulted China with its purported accounts of a British teacher's sexual exploits among Shanghai women.

However, a person responding to an e-mail to a contact address on the site said the authors were a group of performance artists who had fabricated its content as an investigation into online vigilante behavior.

"We did not anticipate quite the level of anger this would raise," said the message, which said the authors behind the cyber name "Chinabounder" included a British man, an Australian woman, two Chinese men and a Japanese woman.

The message said the blog had been closed out of concern for the safety of the group's Chinese members and ordinary expatriates in Shanghai.

Technorati Profile

Journalist Bowed Capital

The Shenzhen Middle People's Court have been facing fierce criticism for its illegal seizure of the journalists personal property at the request of Foxconn Electronics Inc., a Taiwan-based company where iPods are made. The move was considered by many legal expert as a deface of Chinese legal system as it not only violated the Chinese civil court, but also was not heard of before. The Chinese law system is by and large a continental system, where a judge must follow the code. Chinese civil code does not allow suing a reporter personally as a protection of free speech; also it does not allow seizure of personal property before the trail with specific rare exceptions in cases of personal safety, national security, etc.

This is about a case reported earlier. Foxconn was blamed by media around the world for slave labor.

Question is whether Apple is behind this, which could be a reasonable explanation on the weird move of the Shenzhen Court, as they have a record of bulging pressure from overseas capitals.

Rumor has it that the national security sector of the central government got involved, and the Foxconn has released the journalists' personal properties, but added the news agency as a co-defendant.

What puzzled people is the reaction from the journalist being sued by Foxconn. Mr. Wong Bao told news media that he still respect Mr. Guo Hongjin, the boss of Foxconn, and he would like to present his suggestions of the development of the company to Mr. Guo if giving a chance.

Not only do we know that it's hard to win against the capital, but also we know in a chilling fact that even the journalists do not want to fight the capital, even when its about their own interest.

The Seagull heard the this from an article by Guo Songmin.