Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Lawyer Returned to Beijing After Denied Meeting with Jailed Reporter

Mr. Zhou Ze had returned to Beijing after failed to meet his client, the jailed reporter Li Min in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province.

Mr. Zhou, the attorney hired by Li Min's father arrived Taiyuan, accompanied by Li's Uncle. The detention center refused his request to meet Li Min, citing instruction from the D.A. The D.A.'s office, denied they blocked the visit, but refused to talk to the detention center. The duo shuttled between the D.A.'s office and the detention center for two days without getting a clue, until they were suddenly told that another attorney was hired by Li Min, the reporter herself. The other attorney had been granted a visit.

Same trick had been played before in Yang Jia's case. Immediately after Yang Jia was arrested, the Shanghai police kidnapped Yang's mother. A lawyer was allegedly hired by Yang's mother to represent Yang in the trail, while no one knows the whereabouts of her. After Yang Jia was sentenced to death, Yang's mother was released from a police mental facility. On a side note, mental facilities are widely used by local government to jail whistle blowers, as recent publicized case in Shangdong.

Maybe, anyone should rent a safe box in a bank in Switzerland, with a note 'The only lawyer I trust is (fill in the lawyer's name here), and that any words I said after being arrested shall not be seen as my truthful willing'. Maybe, there's just no escape.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Top 10 Chinese Internet Events in 2008

  • Fuzhou Marina Affairs Director tried to grab a teenage girl into the man's restroom. When confronted with the girl's parents, Lin threatened the parents when they refused to take his money offer. The entire incident was caught on tape by surveillance camera. Lin was removed from the position.
  • A few foreign websites, such as New York Time and the Wikipedia was unblocked during the Olympic Game in the summer.
  • A local official lost a new appointed position after the information was leaked online. A Nanjing Housing Director was placed under investigation after network pictures showing him wearing luxury watches.
  • Explicit pictures depicting sexual adventures of Hong Kong actor Chen Guanxi with many other actresses were spread online.
  • Concerned citizen used Internet to investigate the motivation led to the slain of Shanghai cops by Beijing resident Yang Jia. One person was arrested after leaking the information that Yang Jia had been wrongfully tortured by the police.
  • Netizens were divided by the authenticity of a photo taken by a peasant of a wild tiger in Shannxi. Citizen Reporting an innovative idea;
  • First Online slander case ruled;
  • Popular new jargons:
    1) Push up
    2) Buying Soy Sauce;
    3) Five Times Better;
    4) To be Suicides;
    5) Very Yellow, Very Violent
  • Duke University freshman Wang Qianyuan was criticized for appearing with Tibet Independent Parade
  • Monday, December 22, 2008

    Great Quality Control

    A blogger and amateur photographer Ke Renchang (Shu Ran) toured the National Stadium (Bird Nest) and was shocked to see the otherwise brand new stadium, the pride of the nation is falling apart, only a few months after hosting the Beijing Olympic Games. Signs and logos are loosing parts, while paved ground are turning into gravel roads.

    This picture showed one of the five characters of 'National Stadium' in Chinese lost parts.


    On the bright side, it demonstrated the great quality control exercised by the Chinese project manager. The stadium sustained the most important political assignment, the whole purpose of its life. Who cares whether it may fall apart after the Olympic show? This was taken only days after the closing ceremony of the summer Olympic.


    Another Olympic stadium, the BUTU stadium, was damaged after a windy night. It may somehow remind you the New Orleans Super Dome after the Katrina, but there's nothing dramatic like that. An otherwise perfect normal windy night in Beijing's winter left the brand new Olympic looking for a roof. The university had banned students talking topic on its BBS.

    Sunday, December 21, 2008

    An Anatomy of Free Press

    For photojournalism, when you have to take the shot right there and then, there's no skill or preparation can guarantee technical perfection. Photo editor Joe of a local paper portrait in length of a discussion with his colleagues on whether or not it's ethic or professional for a photojournalist to remove red-eye effects with photo editing software. Joe used the opportunity to illustrate the high bar a photojournalist must pass in daily working.

    I had an experience covering a same game with Joe once. That was the first game in the season. At the beginning, the players received a ring from the club. Of course that's one of the photo moment you have to catch. Each ring comes in a small box, which made it difficult to find a good angle to shoot the picture. Joe approached one player, ask him to 'show' him the ring, and took a shot. I noticed John, another photographer on the scene, shook his head in an apparent despise. This begs the real question: how much editing is acceptable?

    There's actually no standard, and most people follows the practice of reputed larger firms, such as NYT. Then who decides the ethics laws at NYT? Recall the famous and iconic scene when Iraqi people pulled down dictator Saddam's statue after the liberation of Baghdad in a celebration. The pictures released by Reuters and AP made it look like thousands of local people joined the celebration, while in reality only dozens of airborne Iraqi Americans exiles took part. In that case, pictures surely did not reflect the fact, but would that (shooting from weird angle and cropping) be considering photo manipulation? In another example, NBC digitally replaced the backdrop of their Evening News, so that the Time Square buildings carries a Toyota logo in place of a real Honda logo (for the sake of argument). Should this be considered digital manipulation? The third strike came recently: court ruled that news agencies produce news as a product, and had lawful right to process the 'news', without no obligation to the truthfulness of it. This was regarding the milk case if you remember.

    See, there's really no real ethic standard in the news media after all. The perceptive meaning of a free media is that the media is free to tell the truth, while in reality, it's that the media is free to make up any story that sells.

    Friday, December 19, 2008

    LA Chinese Baby Auction Case New Twist

    The online attention to the Craig's List Chinese baby trading case was quelled down overnight with a message cross posted all over Internet and major Chinese media claiming that it's a harmless prank. The almost instant response invited more skepticism than answering questions.

    1) Without exception, all of the reports, including those appeared on hundreds of Internet sites and those released by major Chinese news agencies cited the same little known source USA Qiao Bao(notable, there's no reference to the incident on its website as of the time of writing: http://www.chinapressusa.com/) and repeated the story word by word;
    2) There is absolute zero official reference to this case in English media;
    3) There is no official police statement anywhere from LAPD or FBI;
    4) According to the report, an LAPD police officer Carlos Monterroso told the reporter that the person who posted the message did not violate any law, and no charge would be filed. This simply can not be true. In a high profile United States v. Lori Drew, 2008 case trailed in Los Angeles, Lori Drew was found guilty in three accounts for violating EULA of AOL by posting false information. This is mandated in the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1030. No LAPD officer can be so unprofessional to the extend to say a federal criminal offense is lawful.

    Therefore, the 'Hoax' report itself must be a hoax.

    First Online Privacy Case Sentenced

    On Dec 29th last year, Jiang Yan jumped from 24th floor of her apartment building in Beijing, exhausted and desperate from her husband Wang Fei's extramarital affair with a co-worker Dong Fang. She arranged her MSN Live blog opened by a friend after her death, which contains a letter along information of her husband and his mistress.

    A 'network mob' was summoned out of anger and websites were set up to curse the husband and his lover. Soon the two were fired, and the husband was diagnosed with depression.

    The case went to trail in Chaoyang Court of Beijing. The man sued websites and won a verdict of RMB Yuan 3,000 ($500) and 5,000 ($800) from two sites, a third site was acquitted because it removed the offending materials in time. The case is significant as it is the first of such in China.

    Reading between lines:

    1) Network media could be held responsible for privacy violations, even though the information is freely accessible online. The MSN LIve Space Blog authored by Jiang Yan, the original source of the allegedly offending information, has never been shut down. MSN was never named in the lawsuit brought by the husband;
    2) Hosting company was not liable as long as they removed the materials posted by its users 'promptly';
    3) The fine, $500 for setting up a special column and leaked private information and $800 for setting up a dedicate website contains private information, is hardly a serious punishment by all means;
    4) The court made a judicial recommendation to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, suggesting a harsher monitoring system on online speech.

    Thursday, December 18, 2008

    No Country for Perfect Women

    If you won't move on, you would be moved on. Perfect woman Zhou Huimin (Vivian Chow) released a statement drafted by her boyfriend Ni Zhen (Joe Nieh, aka Joe Ngai, Son of famous fiction writer Ni Kuang) to end their 20 years fairyland relationship.

    41 years old Chow is a perfect woman. She was a red hot top female singer in Hong Kong during the 90s. She also appeared in many movies and TV productions. She published literature in Japanese and English. She is an award winning painter, a champion Ruhr ball player, a professional pianist. Chow is an iconic figure for her charity works, volunteered to be ambassadors of many charity organizations. Chow is also a vocal advocate for animal rights. Besides, Chow has been the princess of Hong Kong, deemed most beautiful throughout the years every since she was exposed to the public almost 30 years ago. Age left little traits in her and she is still one of the most beautiful women in Hong Kong, among actresses who were born 20 years later.

    Chow has magic hands in business too. Only last year, Chow gave Ni a $2 million share of her business. Ni will keep receiving chips from Chow's other businesses. Ni had been known of seeing other women, and Chow had been known for turning her head on the 'rumors'. Just before we heard the two would finally tie the knots, when Ni was caught making out with a young woman. Pictures showing the two kissing were published on newspapers. It was suggested by some that the event was a set up by Ni. Promptly Ni and Chow released two statements. Ni exclaimed that he was so ashamed that he no longer deserved Chow, and Chow stated she agreed to terminate the relationship. Sources suggested that Ni set up the event and drafted both statements.

    A dream girl of millions of men, Vivian was deserted by the one she chose.


    Artist: Brooks And Dunn
    Song: Cowgirls Don't Cry
    Album: Cowboy Town

    Her daddy gave her, her first pony
    Then taught her to ride
    She climbed high in that saddle
    Fell I don't know how many times
    Taught her a lesson that she learned
    Maybe a little too well

    Cowgirls don't cry
    Ride, baby, ride
    lessons in life are going to show you in time
    soon enough your gonna know why
    it's gonna hurt every now and then
    if you fall get back on again
    Cowgirls don't cry

    She grew up
    She got married
    Never was quite right
    She wanted a house, a home and babies
    He started coming home late at night
    She didn't let him see it break her heart
    She didn't let him see her fall apart

    'cause Cowgirls don't cry
    Ride, baby, ride
    lessons in life are goinna' show you in time
    soon enough your gonna know why
    it's gonna hurt every now and then
    if you fall get back on again
    Cowgirls don't cry

    Phone rang early one morning
    Her momma's voice, she'd been crying
    Said it's your daddy, you need to come home
    This is it, I think he's dying
    She laid the phone down by his head
    The last words that he said

    Cowgirl don't cry
    Ride, baby, ride
    Lessons in life show us all in time
    Too soon God lets you know why
    If you fall get right back on
    Good Lord calls everybody home
    Cowgirl don't cry

    Tuesday, December 16, 2008

    Nobody Wants A Crying Baby, For Real!


    I don't like the baby we adopted. (Beverly Hills)
    Reply to: sale-958665137@craigslist.org [?]
    Date: 2008-12-15, 8:36AM PST


    Hello. My name is Barbara Stanwick. I need help, my adopted baby isn't what I expected and I don’t like it. Here’s my story…

    Ever since my husband, Don, and I married 22 years ago, I've wanted children. The years passed, and once I turned 45, I knew it was too late for me to conceive. So last year, on my 46th birthday, Don surprised me with adoption papers. It was the greatest day of my life. We were going to adopt a baby! It was from China, but I was still excited (we're very gracious, and wanted to save a baby from the communists)!

    After being on the adoption list for several months we were informed that a child had been selected for us! My anxiety acts up on planes, so Don's assistant, Lauren, retrieved the baby. I was finally going to have my very own child.

    When Lauren walked in, it was swaddled in blankets. I named her Wing, right then and there. A combination of Wang and Ling. I had never been happier, holding little Wing in my arms.

    But it was all downhill from there. I pulled back the blanket from her face and that's when I saw the problem. Not only did Wing NOT look like wanted her to, but she was BALD! I had been given a BALD looking baby! My vertigo hit me like a wall.

    Since then, I have been trying to send Wing back to China, but they won’t take her. I filed a complaint with the adoption agency, but they didn’t accept “bald baby” as a reason for returning it. Wing cries all the time, which makes my migraines act up and I think the cat might be allergic to her as well. If anyone would like to take Wing, even though she's bald, I will either trade or sell her to you. She's not a bad baby, I just think we can find a better one. Thank you for your time. Serious inquiries only.

    From Craig's List (http://losangeles.craigslist.org/wst/bab/958665137.html), firstly flagged by a post on XiXiHe through MITBBS. Although the original thread has been removed by the Los Angeles Craig's List, they should still have information regarding the person who posted on the heavy traffic list.


    McDonald's Sanyuan Melamine Baby Killers


    Hebei Sanlu (Three Deers) Dairy Company, a state run enterprise triggered the melamine crisis, changed its name to Sanyuan (Triple Circles) Hebei to avoid compensating victims. Sanyuan is a Beijing based dairy company listed in the Shanghai Stock Exchange. The wholly held subsidiary will start producing next week.

    Sanyuan operates McDonald's franchise in Beijing and Guangzhou. While Sanyuan refused to pay for baby's medical expenses, more are dying at this minute.

    After the scandal was revealed, more than 30,000 infants were hospitalized and had to go through surgery, while tens died.

    The court system across China have thrown out legal complaints against Sanlu, citing government instructions.

    The next burger you eat in McDonald's is dipped with baby blood. Boycott Sanyuan, for your health; Boycott McDonald's, for justice!

    Tianjin Connected to Taiwan

    For the first time in 60 years, ship left Tianjin New Port to Kaohsiung, a southern seaport of Taiwan on Dec 15, 2008. The Dayangzhou (Oceania) is one of the largest container carrier in the world, launched in April 2008, capable of carrying 10,000 standard containers. At the same time, another 68,000 tons containers ship 'New Yantai' is leaving Tianjin for Keelung, a northern seaport of Taiwan.

    The new route connected 63 ports on the mainland to 11 ports in Taiwan directly without going through a third destination as Taiwan's policy used to required. At the same time, air travel and postal service are connected directly from this day. Thanks to treaties signed last month, the island is linked "directly", officially.

    Despite the ongoing economy crisis, Taiwan businesses will invest $3 billion in Tianjin in 22 major joint projects in sectors of electronics, chemical industry and environmental protections. As of October this year, Tianjin has attracted 2,014 Taiwan businesses bringing in an investment of $8 billion.

    Monday, December 15, 2008

    Reporter Vaporized in Shanxi

    Guan Jian was last seen kidnapped from his hotel room in Taiyuan Shanxi 14 days ago. Mr. Guan Jian is the chief reporter of the 'Wangluobao (Network Daily)'. His assignment in Shanxi was about a real estate company's misconduct in land use. The head of the company is a senior local official. Li Shuanglong, the Assistant to the Chief Editor of Network Daily arrived Taiyuan on Dec 8th to handle the rescue. Local police at the Yingze Bureau refused to register the case.

    Last week, a CCTV reporter was arrested by a D.A. office after she made a report of the corruption of the same office. Last year, a reporter Lan Chengzhang was beaten to death in Shanxi. In a early high profile case, a reporter was sentenced to jail for eight years after reporting a corruption case in Shanxi.

    Tuesday, December 09, 2008

    Reporter Arrested

    A CCTV reporter was arrested at her home in Beijing on Dec 4, 2008, by police from the Xinghualing (Apricot Blossoms Ridge) Justice Department (District Attorney's Office) of Taiyuan, Shanxi Province. Being the only officially national TV station, and an arm of the Communism propaganda department, CCTV had been in general immune from legal hassles in the past. As a matter of fact, employees of the three national news agencies, The Xinhua (New China) News, the Renmin Ribao(People's Daily), and the China Central Television State (CCTV), are government officials themselves, and usually of higher ranks than most local officials.

    The reporter, Li Min, produced a report on the D.A. Mr. He Shusheng of the Xinghualing Office of Taiyuan, Shanxi on alleged abuse of power.

    When the arrest was made, the police displayed an authorization file issued by the National Justice Department (National Attorney General Office). CCTV questioned the motives behind the arrest, and publicly refused to collaborate in the legal process. CCTV is a cabinet level agency in the Communism power architecture.

    An Internet Google revealed that while on the post of D.A. of another district (Jiancaoping District of Taiyuan, Shanxi), Mr. He Shusheng was named as one of top 150 corrupted officials in an article "Who is whom, Chinese Corrupted Officials Edition", published in the "Walk in WTO" NO. 4 2002. The court of Mr. He Shusheng's District fined the author of that article $60,000.

    Attorney Zhou Ze of the Beijing Wentian Law Firm will represent Li Min on pro bono. Mr. Zhou Ze is a well known high profile, professional, courageous and passionate warrior in fighting the injustice system. However, his involvement as an political system outsider made the case looking not good. In Chinese legal system, the last thing you need is a good lawyer.

    The Communism regime is like an old damned house, all pieces are so entangled that they dare not touch any piece of rotten woods, otherwise the whole building might just fall down. The top D.A.'s office got out of its way to specify a local D.A.'s office to investigate and investigate a reporter who had alleged wrongdoings of the same D.A. is beyond human sane.

    Thursday, December 04, 2008

    Chinese Enjoy More Academic Freedom Under Communist Ruling, Said American Professor Xu

    An "American professor (as the author referred to himself in the article)" of communications published on Chinese national media, saying a professor in the US would have been fired if caught discussing politics in classroom. The article was in response to the public outcry in China when a professor was summoned by the police for discussing politics in classroom. The "American Professor" told the Chinese media that there was nothing wrong for students to inform the police of inappropriate political comments made by professors.

    The "American Professor" is an assistant professor in the School of Communications and Theater of the Temple University in Philadelphia.

    Thank you for the information, Professor Xu. We Chinese learned so much about academic freedom from you!


    美国传媒学院华裔教授:学生告教授一点也不荒唐
    信源:中国青年报|编辑:2008-12-03| 网址:http://www.popyard.org 抄送朋友|打印保留

    【八阕】郑重声明:本则消息未经严格核实,也不代表《八阕》观点。【八阕】一个劳动人民群众喜闻乐见的好地方:http://www.popyard.org
    八阕 http://www.popyard.org 学生告教授一点也不荒唐--学术自由不是向学生灌输政治观点

    徐开彬(美国费城天普大学传播学院助理教授)/张鸣先生在28日发了篇文章“如今学生告教授反革命太荒唐”。王晓渔先生也曾于27日发了篇“政法大学里的‘ 以言获罪’”。两文的大意是,华东政法大学杨师群老师在讲课时,批评中国文化,而且语涉政治,被他的学生告了。两人据此认为,这些学生忘记了大学的学术自由这回事,告老师,很没有道理,是要让老师以言获罪。

    于是我设法找到杨老师的原话:“今天被领导叫去谈话,说有上《古代汉语》课的学生到公安局和市教委告了我。记得在上《古代汉语》课时,我当然会批判一些与课文有关的中国传统文化,在某些传统文化问题上如果与当今有一些关系的话,我也会联系当今和批评政府。下课时有二位女同学找我,愤慨地指责我怎么能批评中国文化!批评政府!甚至眼睛里已经含有泪水。这样热爱中国文化与中国政府的同学,我很敬佩,你们有这样的权利!但为什么我就没有批评中国文化和政府的权利呢?所以我告诉她们:我也有发表自己看法的权利,如果你们不愿意听我的课,以后不要选我的课就是了。不料,她们居然到上面去告我”。由于找不到当事学生,我们且以杨老师的话来分析,看其是否适当。

    比较张鸣、王晓渔与杨老师三者的话,我有一点要质疑的。现在 “反革命”罪早已取消,学生咋会告“反革命”罪的呢?所以我对张鸣先生所说的“反革命”罪深表怀疑,是不是拿这个来博取眼球?而且,连杨老师的原话都没有提“反革命罪”,张鸣用这个词只能涉嫌炒作了。果然,我输入该文章标题一搜索,发现了众多转载,还包括一些政府网站。看来张先生把媒体和网民玩转的很好,不愧是政治系的教授。至于王晓渔先生所说的“以言获罪”,我不赞同,如果要让杨老师以言获罪,那就是公安直接来找杨老师,而轮不到杨老师的院系领导同事来和他谈这个问题了,而且还泄漏具体的缘由。可能就是给杨老师提醒一下吧。感觉三位言重了,自己先吓了自己。

    笔者想说的是,杨老师绝对有批评中国文化和政府的权力,但是,地方选错了。我们都做过学生。我们都有个共同的经历,就是有些老师讲着讲着就喜欢借题发挥,讲到自己的收入少(现在好多了,这种抱怨少了),这个社会怎么了,这个政府怎么了。不同的老师反复讲,从学期开始到结束,做学生的也听腻了。但学生哪敢去阻止老师们反复发牢骚的呢?要知道,学生付出高昂的学费,是来听专业课的,不是来听牢骚的。如果要听牢骚,该去乡村听农民讲,去建筑工地听农民工讲。如果要去看批政府的文字,在网上可以免费看到,又何必花高昂的学费来听这些呢?

    张鸣和王晓渔拿出“学术自由”的招牌去吓唬这两个学生,没有多少道理。学术自由,那是在与专业授课相关的内容上观点自由,或者在发表的学术著作上观点自由,或者在专门的学术研讨会上自由讨论学术,但不是利用课堂去向学生灌输自己的政治观点。即使在美国这样的推崇学术自由的地方,在涉及政治与宗教这两点上,课堂上教授们也小心谨慎。尽管如此,每年都会有学生将一些教授告到法庭去。为什么呢?因为,学生在政治和宗教上有不同的立场,由于教授在课堂上拥有的不对称权力,如果教授们在课堂上大谈自己的政治或宗教观点,就涉嫌利用课堂把自己的政治和宗教观点强加给学生,侵犯了与他们持不同政治或宗教观点学生的学术自由。目前美国有一个由125所主要大学学生组成的“学生学术自由”组织,他们的中心就是倡导“教室免受教授向学生灌输政治偏见”。他们还认为,教授在给成绩时往往会偏向与自己政治观点一致的学生,构成对学术公正的威胁。他们在网上专门列出在教室灌输自己政治与宗教主张的教授名单,有时这些教授和他们的学校都会被学生告上法庭。

    就笔者而言,以前在国内大学授课时,也曾象某些老师无所顾虑地谈政治批政府,不顾忌学生的立场与想法,但在美国做了教授(个别读者不要误解为国内那种“正教授”职称,在美国博士毕业在大学任教别人都会说你“做了教授”),知道了这个规矩,就很谨慎,涉及到政治与宗教时,尽可能回避,或采取折中立场,就是怕学生告我。

    比方说,我教授一门领导传播学,在美国大选期间,自然要讲到候选人。尽管我是支持奥巴马的,班上大多数学生也是支持奥巴马的,但我就不敢大谈奥巴马好或者麦凯恩、布什政府和共和党不好,因为班上可能还有支持麦凯恩的。如果我那样谈,支持麦凯恩和共和党的学生完全可以告我利用课堂灌输自己的政治观点。国内的这两个学生支持政府和共产党,也是她们的一种政治立场,杨老师在课堂上只顾大谈自己的政治立场,不尊重学生可能有不同的想法,涉嫌利用自己在课堂上不对称的权力灌输自己的立场,是不对的。

    所以,“学术自由”和“言论自由”被张鸣和王晓渔两位误解和滥用了。就这两位告杨老师的学生,如果按照美国大学的处理模式,她们向市教委告杨老师利用课堂灌输自己的政治观点是正确的(美国的学生是向法庭告),也可以向教务处投诉老师浪费课堂时间谈论与教学内容无关的。至于杨老师自己所说的公安立案调查一事,我们都不知道这是否属实,不便做出评断。杨老师觉得无辜,但学生们也很无奈。在学生与老师之间,学生总是弱者,杨老师的“如果你们不愿意听我的课,不要选我的课就是了”,亦可以看出杨老师的强势姿态。这哪里是一个有包容心、能容纳自由学术讨论的老师所说出来的话呢?杨老师在课堂上又哪里允许师生双方的言论自由了呢?还是在采取传统的“满堂灌”,把课堂沦为自己的一言堂,否则,反对他的学生在授课中间就早已提出反对意见,而不是要等到课后才去争辩。杨老师的这种话绝对是不适当的,如果发生在美国的高校,马上会被学生举报到学校最高层,甚至可能被学校停课。

    学校既然在选课系统列出您的古代汉语,学生来修这门课,就是看在您古代汉语的知识上,而不是指望在课堂上来聆听您的政治立场的。课堂是自由讨论专业知识的场所,而不是老师们发牢骚和发表政治高见的场地(课外,那确实是各自的言论自由)。如果说这些学生对政治感兴趣,她们会注册政治课程而不是古代汉语。这几个学生的心态,可能觉得交了学费是来听专业课的,想不到杨老师浪费了课堂时间大谈不相关的内容,还强行被杨老师灌输与自己不同的政见。由于在课堂上老师有不对称的权威与权力,学生课后找老师,老师态度也不好,所以,只好通过外部途径为自己讨回公道。这件事,如果在学生来和杨老师谈话时,自己能态度谦虚点,比方该说“这只是我的一家之言,不一定正确,欢迎你们批评和讨论”,也不会弄成这样。

    最后,杨老师虽然猛批中国的传统文化,其实自身还是摆脱不了这个文化。不然,为什么学生来向教授挑战时,就一下子动怒了,说出“如果你们不愿意听我的课,不要选我的课就是了”呢?这不正是典型的传统文化思维“老师要爱护学生,学生要听从老师”吗?而这两个学生,虽身为中国文化的忠实学生,却也能在课后勇于向老师提出自己不同的见解,说明她们也没有愚昧地照搬传统文化里的“听从老师”之言,不像某些人动不动拿出那种陈词滥调批判她们为“失去独立批判之精神”,恰恰相反,敢于挑战自己的老师,正是具有独立思考的表现。有些批评她们的人,其实也是跟着别人人云亦云来批她们,自己又哪里有什么独立批判之精神呢?


    source

    An Angel Is Waching You

    Zhang, a math major in the 2007 class, knows that he has been being watched. Could it be the girl who has been pretending studying the unnamed plants at the entrance of the building? Could it be the student sitting in the second row have the same page for hours? His mind is only assured that the wary eyes belong to an angel.

    Wuhan Evening News reported on Dec 4th, that Hubei University launched a 'Little Angels Project'. Each student will be drawn randomly to watch another student, and take notes of everything noteworthy. At the end of each month, the notes will be assembled and released with personal identity information stripped.

    Student life administrator You Junqiao told the newspaper, knowing they are being watched, students study harder.

    500 Thousands Leftovers in Beijing

    Five hundred thousands women stepped in the 'leftover' category in Beijing. Still single in mid-thirties, the truth starts to sink in that a male partner may never appear. Researchers have been concerned on the gender disparity due to the one child per family policy. In many rural areas male to female children could be as high as 120:100. It's interesting to see in the end, it's the female who have more difficulties in finding their mates.

    Saturday, November 29, 2008

    Northwestern Polytechnic University

    A citizen found a travel schedule lost by someone on the Shanghai subway. The schedule contains detailed arrangement of a government group visiting the US on a 14 days training and examination trip. However, there's nothing government issue on the agenda, but everything to do with tourism. The trip included stays in tourism gateways such as Hawaii, LA and Las Vegas.

    One of the cost item was the 'invitation letter'. The US consulate in China as well as the US customs usually ask for an invitation letter issued by an agent inside the US to make sure a business group meant business. What they did not know was that these kind of letters are priced for purchase. The found document revealed that an invitation letter issued by the 'Northwestern Polytechnic University' costs $4,000.

    That brought up an interest on learning about the invitation-selling school. A Google search of the school with its Chinese name returned 12,400 hits, with 387 unique entries. A Google search of the school with its English name returned 17,100 hits, with 477 unique entries, many of which linked from Chinese person's resumes and online profile. Clearly this is a school specialized in China related business.

    The Northwestern Polytechnic University was set up in 1984. The US News reported the school currently has 195 undergraduate students. The school is credited by the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS), a national accreditation agency.

    Visitors from China should be noted that the national accreditation agencies like the ACICS were not recognized by many American universities and colleges. Colleges and universities in the US are accredited by regional accreditation agencies. Anyone can form a university in the US. Anyone can form an accreditation agent to accredit a university. You may use the diploma you received from the Northwestern Polytechnic University to decorate the wall in your bedroom. However, if you use it to look for a job, or continue your study, you may either be laughed at, thrown out, rejected, or be called a cheater in your face.

    The six regional agencies recognized by US colleges and universities are:
  • Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools
  • New England Association of Schools and Colleges
  • North Central Association of Colleges and Schools
  • Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges
  • Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
  • Western Association of Schools and Colleges
  • Wednesday, November 26, 2008

    Yang Jia Murdered

    Confucius said, those who made up the idea to have people buried alive with their masters did not deserve any offspring.

    Mao Zedong, challenged by his general Peng Dehuai on wrongdoings that led millions of Chinese people starving to death, cited Confucius' words cursing himself. Mao had two sons, one suffered from mental problem, the other was killed by American bombings. Mao proclaimed since he already lost all of his offspring, he had the mandate to be crazy.

    Yesterday, a young man Yang Jia, China's modern day Robin Hood, was murdered by the Communism system. Those who helped in killing Yang Jia, shall them no offspring!

    Monday, November 24, 2008

    Net Commentators Exposed

    The XiaoBaihe (little lily) BBS of Nanjing University is one of the largest and most influential college students bulletin board systems in China.

    Three communism Net Commentators were exposed:
  • Liu Zuomei (刘作楣), female, clerk of the Propaganda Department of Nanjing University, using BBS ID: esto
  • Liu Cheng (刘成), male, clerk of the Propaganda Department of Nanjing University and a PhD student of Philosophy, using BBS ID: yearsss
  • Lu Jiangbing (陆江兵), male, Deputy Head of the Propaganda Department of Nanjing University, using BBS ID: LJB

    These people should be trailed after the collapsing of the communism ruling in China, someday.
  • Thursday, November 20, 2008

    Tianjin Fishing Boat Hijacked by Somali Pirates


    A Tianjin based fishing boat was hijacked by Somali pirates last Friday. More than 100 ships had been hijacked by Somali pirates this year. The Tianyu 8 was operating near Kenya water when it was attacked by the pirates.

    The small ship belongs to Tianjin Deep-Ocean Fishery Company (TDFC), specialized in catching tunas. Among 24 crews, 16 are Chinese nationals, though none are Tianjin residents. Other crew members are from Japan, Vietnam and Philippine. Tianyu 8 operates on the sea all year around, with supplied brought in and harvest taken out by other supporting ships. The ship was accompanied by a sister fishing ship Tianyu 7 operating nearby, but the armed pirates left them no chance to response. TDFC is the largest fishery company in Tianjin, made $1.2 millon profit in the year 2007.

    Somali pirate ship usually disguised itself as fishing ship to approach the target. When within attacking distance, smaller boats will be released to launch the attack, often in midnight. US Navy ships were nearby to take this picture, but did not intervene.

    Several countries had sent warships to the area to in the wake of the recent sudden increasing of hijackings. Although Russian, Indian and British warships managed to stop or sink a few pirate ships, the dominance force in the area the US Navy had been seen holding their guns. Several US Navy warships were hanging around in the area, but they never got involved in direct conflict with Somali pirates, which drew international skepticism on their role behind the scene. Also over last weekend, a Saudi oil super-tanker the Sirius Star carrying 2 million barrels of oil was seized by Somali pirates under US Navy's watch. The shipping insurance had increased 10 times since the beginning of the year.

    Where is the PLAN Navy?

    Monday, November 17, 2008

    The Line between China and India

    China has boarder disputations with almost every single one of its more than a dozen neighbors. There are two reasons: 1) As a single center force in the region, in tradition China does not have an idea on legal boarders. The world is comprised of two parts, those China care to rule directly, and those that China doesn't bother to rule directly. Even the latter one can only survive when they recognize China's dominance. There's no point to draw a specific line from China's point of view. 2) The last Chinese empire collapsed inwards so rapidly that the actually controlled line of China fell far back to whatever legal or pseudo legal agreements that may have existed. Although in theory China still claims a big territory, but the actual controlled land is far less smaller.

    A big part of Tibet, almost all of the agricultural land of Tibet, are now controlled by India. Around 2003-2005, China and India made an deal that Indian would keep quiet about the legal status of Indian controlled Chinese land (so that it may be challenged in the future), while China would recognize India's control over Sikkim. Sikkim used to be a sovereign kingdom under Chinese protection. India took over the place in 1975 with military force, and made it part of India. However, China did not recognize India's ruling until 2005. A document showed Chinese government instructed map be redrawn.

    Rumor on the Internet had it that China was moving troops to the disputed boarder, a gesture that China was not happy after India tried to legalized the actual controlling of this land. Chinese are feeling being cheated by the Indian.

    In an unrelated note, for the first time in history and finally, the UK explicitly recognised China's sovereignty over Tibet. Foreign Secretary David Miliband issued a statement, 'Like every other EU member state, and the United States, we regard Tibet as part of the People's Republic of China.' Before this, the British has been the only major country in the world that hadn't make a clear acknowledgement of the Chinese ruling in Tibet, but rather resort the Sino-Tibetan relationship to an obscured word 'sovereignty', which was a reflection of the British's view of ever expanding of the kingdom in the 1900s.

    Monday, November 10, 2008

    Nebraska Approved Ban on Affirmative Action

    The Affirmative Action (A.A.) was banned in the State of Nebraska. The measure has long been used by white people as a mean to discriminate against asian and to destroy the future of blacks.

    It took 30 years for black community leaders to realize the AA is a poison pill. Black kids became lazy as they had been brainwashed that there would always been a plan to fall back on. Few resisted the temptattion to give up early found themselves in odd position because everyone else would thought they cheated their way into the system. Black doctors were avoided by patients for no other reason but the affirmative action.

    Every consicious person, especially every educator should stand up against the consiprcy backed in the dark era.

    Monday, November 03, 2008

    Wife of PKU Party Boss Accused of Stealing

    Ms. Yang Rui, wife of a deputy Party Boss of Beijing University, was accused by friends of relatives of stealing from Dr. Ji Xianlin, a Beijing University professor, and attempted murdering the old professor to cover up. Mr. Xu Hongzhi, the president of Beijing University was accused of detaining Dr. Ji to cover the scandal.

    99 years old scholar Ji Xinlin is a respectable living 'national treasure', and the only one of such. Because of his health condition, he lives in a top security military hospital (PLA 301 Hospital). Any visiting must be granted directly by the president of the Beijing University, a minister level communism party leader. Dr. Ji is a most reputable figure in China, and enjoys great respect from the ruling party, peer scholars, students and the public. Prime minister Wen Jiabao visited Dr. Ji three times in the hospital.

    Recent Internet posts alleged Ms. Yang Rui was named to be Mr. Ji's secretary. While Dr. Ji being away from home in the 301 hospital, Ms. Yang Rui stole vast amount of personal collections from Mr. Ji's residence. Some of these stolen items surfaced in collectible auctions, which led to the revealing of this scandal. A buyer familiar with Dr. Ji bought the items, and notified the Beijing University. Then, it was alleged that Ms. Yang tried to kill Mr. Jin to cover this up. Because Ms. Yang Rui is wife of the deputy communism party boss of Beijing University Mr. Wu Zhipan, both the president of Beijing University and the party boss of Beijing University ordered a broad scale cover up op. Dr. Ji was put under house arrest in the 301 hospital. Dr. Ji's friends and family members were prohibited from visiting.

    This is very strange, very weird, very unreal, because of Dr. Ji's 'national treasure' social status, and because of his personal connections to the top level party officials, including the current prime minister Mr. Wen Jiabao. However, a prominent and influential public figure, Mr. Tang Shizen, a former People's Daily reporter, endorsed the allegation on his Blog. Tang, a Beijing University graduate and Ji's student, detailed how he rushed to save Dr. Ji's life after having been tipped of the situation. Then Mr. Ji's granddaughter Ji Qing published an open letter to the president and party boss of Beijing University about the incident. Ji Qing accused of them lying to Mr. Wen Jiabao about Dr. Ji's situation. Finally, Dr. Ji said himself, that he did not want to stay in the 301 hospital, and that he had to pay for the hospitalization. It is reported that Mr. Xu Hongzhi visited Dr. Ji when the scandal broke, but Dr. Ji refused to have dinner with him.

    It is an unusual detail that Dr. Ji mentioned about payment. Public figures like Mr. Ji would even have a choice to pay out of pocket on medical treatment. It sounds as bazaar as hearing Mr. Hu Jintao complained on his apartment rent or monthly utility bill.

    People never understand how greedy some party leaders or wife of party leaders can be, nor could people understand how far other party leaders are willing to go to cover their commarades asses. All we can say is that: this is a magic land, where unthinkable are be made true under the party's leadership. However, it is still sad to see a once elite university fell in the hands of a few clowns. It will also be interesting to see whether Mr. Wen Jiabao will turn a deaf ear to these serious boiling 'allegations'.

    Saturday, November 01, 2008

    Senior Official Suspended after Assulting Preteen Girl in Public

    A senior official was suspended after being caught sexually assaulted an 11 years old girl by surveillance camera.

    In the evening of Oct 29, 2008, Chen family went to an upscale restaurant in Shenzhen to have dinner buffet. A male adult asked their 11 years old daughter the location of restroom, and asked her to lead him to the restroom. When they were approaching the restroom, the male adult suddenly grabbed the girl by her neck, and dragged her in the male restroom. The girl was able to break away, and ran for her parents. When the parents came to check it out, the male adult claimed it was not a big deal, and that he could pay RMB Yuan 100,000 for 'the service'. The male adult also exclaimed that he was a senior official, the same ranking of "your major (Shenzhen was No. 6 city in China in terms of population, and No. 3 in terms of size of economy)". Police was called, and both parties were sermoned to the local police station. The male adult revealed his identity to the police and was released, before he verbally threatened the girl's life in front of the police. The male adult's identity was not revealed to the victim's family.

    It had been known that communism officials often sexually assault young girls, some were killed after being raped. However, this incident was unusually toxic to the ruling party because 1) it was caught on tape; 2) it resonated with the new wealthy middle class because it happened in an upscale restaurant. By all means, the incident is incredible and bazaar.

    The event went a sharp turn after angry parents post a surveillance vedio of the entire incident on the Internet. The male adult was identified by Chinese Netizens to be Mr. Lin Jiaxiang, the Communism Party Boss and Chief Disciplinary Head of the Shenzhen Maritime Safety Administration. Within days, the surveillance video footage was cross-posted to numerous Chinese website and discussion boards.

    The central government announced the incident would be thoroughly investigated. A promptly dispatched task force comprised of officials from the Department of Transportation arrived Shenzhen on Oct 31, 2008. During the mean time, Mr. Lin would be suspended from his official function. If the investigation showed wrong doings of Mr. Lin, the central government promised Mr. Lin would be reprimanded.

    At this time, the official webpage of the Shenzhen Maritime Safety Administration is blocked by the Great Fire Wall of China, the Golden Shield Project from outside access.

    Friday, October 31, 2008

    Victim's Mother Feared to have been Suicided by Shanghai Police

    Bing Suicided: verb (Chinese Internet), a person who is killed, and subsequently is declared to have committed suicide by the Communism government

    It has been three months since Yang Jia's mother was kidnapped by Shanghai Police. Although Shanghai Government claimed to have contact with her, including obtaining her agreement to assign a Shanghai government employee to be Yang Jia's defense lawyer, nobody outside Shanghai government has seen her since.

    Lawyers close to the case were circulating a rumor today that Yang Jia's mother had been 'suicided' by the Shanghai Police. Victims or related persons are often suicided by police in China. However, so far, in recent years that almost always happened in remote rural counties. In larger cities, people are often jailed or simply beaten instead. For example, lawyer Zheng Enchong of Shanghai was jailed 5 years for representing people who lost home to government sponsored development in a civil case against real estate developers. It is a rare incident that a relative of victim is suicided by the police in a large city like Shanghai.

    Yang Jia, a Beijing resident, was unlawfully detained and beaten by Shanghai police on a leisure trip. Shanghai police beat Yang's penis, and made Yang incompete permanently. After being released, Yang complained through official channels but Shanghai police refused to apologize. After a year long procedure going nowhere, Yang stabbed 6 Shanghai Police who had beaten him with a knife. Yang's mother Ms. Wang Jing was kidnapped by Shanghai police under the nose of Beijing Police. Yang was sentenced to death by Shanghai court.

    Dozens of attorneys rushed to defend Yang on pro bono, with authorization from Yang's father. However, they were denied access on the basis that the Shanghai government had obtained Yang's mother's request to assign a Shanghai government lawyer to represent Yang. Because no one besides the Shanghai government had access to Yang's mother, the arrangement could not be challenged.

    The purpose of the arranged lawyer is largely to have hide what had happened, and the lawyer assigned by the Shanghai government achieved just that by avoid asking any question regarding the original unlawful arrest and beaten at all.

    Now that the trail was over, and Yang was sentenced to death, Yang's mother was subsequently conveniently suicided by the Shanghai Police.

    Sunday, October 26, 2008

    Chairman Mao's Big Coming Back


    Chairman Mao is coming back. A 37 meters stainless steel statue of Chairman Mao was erected in Chongqing Medical University. The status will be the largest in Chongqing.

    In the era of the Great Cultural Revolution, there is a Chairman Mao's statue on every campus in Chinese colleges and universities. The statues were usually built and installed by students of local campus, and there had been silent competitions on which college build the larger statue with better pose. For example, a statue of Mao waving is considered more challenging in build technique then one with his hands on his back. A hat in the struck out hand deserves extra bonus points. Most of these statues had been retired from college campuses across the nation in the era of Reform after 1978. Some statues were removed quietly to make room for other fashionable projects; while some were bombed to piece in symbolic moves.



    Yet another Mao's statue was erected in Xiangtan University in Hunan Province last month. The banner on the flatbed truck read 'Warm Welcome Chairman Mao's Statue Coming to Xiangtan University!'.

    Wednesday, October 22, 2008

    Proposed Security Rules for Internet Cafe Raised Concerns

    A new rule to be enforced by the end of year raised concerns of privacy violations. Evil always comes hidden beneath a glorified name, to protect our children from harm of Internet pornography.

    Beijing Municipal ruled that all Internet Cafe must install scanners and video cameras by the end of 2008. When an individual citizen enters an Internet Cafe, his ID card will be scanned, photo taken, and information registered online at a designated government website. Surveillance cameras should also be installed and must be able to capture a clear head shot of all surfers. Communism net police will then be able to remotely monitor and verify identify of each Internet surfer in real time, with precise information on his identify and the IP address of the computer he is using.

    Tuesday, October 21, 2008

    Petition for Predential Pardon of Citizen Yang Jia

    Now that the final sentencing of Yang Jia is death, we petition to have citizen Yang Jia pardoned by the president of China.

    There are no arguments about what Yang did in the headquarter of Shanghai Zhabei Police, however, the trail followed made the entire justice system a circus, every judge, prosecutor and policemen in China clowns.

    While President Hu Jiantao is promoting the harmonic society idealism, an image of the entire justice system chasing after a young man who had been wronged by the police with their pants down is absurd. Under this extraordinary situation, we petition to have citizen Yang Jia pardoned by President Hu Jiantao.

    The question raised by Yang Jia's case is: when an individual wronged and oppressed by the entire system, when all the mechanism protecting a citizen's civil rights malfunction, who should take the consequence? How should the cost of the systematic wrongdoings be repaid? Thirty years ago, Jiang Aizhen was pardoned under a similar situation.

    When Yang Jia dies, dying with him will be the credit of not only the justice system, but the credit of the CCP ruling.


    关于特别赦免杨佳先生的公民建议书

    今年7月发生的杨佳先生击杀上海警察案令人震惊,引起了国内外广泛和持续的关注。我们对在中国发生这样的事件感到非常难过。我们向遇难的六名警员表示哀悼!向遇难及受伤警员的亲属表示慰问!同时,鉴于对中国法治和文明进步的关注,我们对杨佳先生案发后至今受到的极不公正的司法待遇也深切关注。

    1. 鉴于联合国60年来多次通过宣言、决议要求废除死刑,或对罪犯实行特别赦免,鉴于世界上绝大多数国家已经予以执行、废纸死刑的现状;
    2. 鉴于中国历史上长期有对死刑实行特别赦免的人道文明传统;
    3. 鉴于中华人民共和国过去有对战争罪犯和其它刑事罪犯实行过特别赦免的先例:
    4. 鉴于本案所面对的需要改革的存在重多问题的司法制度背景,以及国内外各界普遍存在的对该案的审判程序存在的明显的不公的质疑;
    5. 最后,也鉴于我国正在面临解决社会危机,改革"警察国家"的国家形象,动员民心,恢复国家元气,重启文明进程的历史时刻。

    我们提请中央政府对本案进行特别审查,依据法定程序对受到普遍同情和关注的杨佳先生实行特别赦免。

    提请特别赦免的理由详述如下:

    一、废除或者暂缓执行死刑已是国际社会大势所趋

    鉴于死刑是一种极端残忍、不人道或有辱人格的惩罚,违反了人类基本尊严。联合国、国际性组织、地区性组织以及人权专家不断提倡废除死刑,废除死刑已成为世界潮流。联合国193个成员国,已经有三分之二以上的国家在法律上或者在实质上废除了死刑。

    联合国经济及社会理事会在1984年5月25日第1984/50号决议通过的《关于保护面对死刑的人的权利的保障措施》也规定,任何被判处死刑的人均有权寻求赦免,所有死刑案件均可给予赦免。

    联合国大会1989年12月15日第44/128号决议就通过了《旨在废除死刑的公民权利和政治权利国际公约第二项任择议定书》,要求每一缔约国应采取一切措施在其管辖范围内废除死刑。

    联合国大会2007年12月通过《全球暂缓死刑》的决议,要求各国尊重国际对死刑的标准并暂缓死刑。

    二、1959年至1975年期间,我国过去有对战争罪犯和其它刑事罪犯实行过特别赦免的先例

    1959年9月17日,全国人民代表大会常务委员会第九次全议,作出了特别赦免的决定。同日,刘少奇先生签发了《中华人民共和国主席特赦令》。随后分别在1960年11月19日、1961年12月16日、1963年3月30日、1964年12月13日、1966年3月29日、1975年3月17日,共七次发布特赦令,赦免了所有在押战争罪犯。

    1979年,在我国新疆发生了蒋爱珍女士连杀3人的重大案件,案发后人民日报和石河子法院在5个月内收到2万多封各界人士来信,要求基于蒋爱珍是义愤杀人应予轻判。后来新疆高级法院作出了不予死刑的决定。此举深得人心,对缓解当时社会矛盾起到了重要的作用。

    三、本案存在不公正的司法制度背景及不公正的司法程序

    越来越多包括二审过程中披露的事实显示,本案起因于警察严重侵害杨佳先生的身体,杨佳先生的人格亦受到严重侮辱。杨佳先生在长期经正常合法途经寻求权利补偿不果且得不到公正司法救济的情况下,采取极端手段,导致了这场悲剧。这也是为什么杨佳先生的行为以及他遭受的遭遇招致社会各界几乎是一边倒的同情的原因。本案到底属于什么性质,需要最高当局从司法伦理、政治伦理的高度审慎研判。这是对最高当局政治良心、政治智慧的一次考验。

    案件发生后,上海地方当局拒绝公布案件全部事实真相。决定本案性质和刑期的关键证人——杨佳母亲被公然绑架,至今不见人,关键证人——七名上海警察拒绝出庭作证。在完全违背法定程序的情况下,秘密强行一审判处杨佳死刑,二审维持原判。如果最高当局不能采取特殊的司法救济,必然给全体国民、国际社会留下整个政权、国家机器在围剿一个受到不公正对待、血气方刚的二十多岁青年的印象。丧失一个从根本上杜绝这类悲剧,重塑法治权威的良好机会。

    四、我国历史中长期存在"留养承嗣"以及国家重要时期特赦的人道传统

    我国历史上的"留养承嗣"制度,即死刑犯为独子,而祖父母、父母年老无人奉养,经皇帝批准,可以改判重杖、示众,使其免除一死,侍奉祖父母、父母。杨佳为父母独子,两代父祖辈靠杨佳养老送终。我国历史上各王朝,在重要节日或庆典时,均有对死刑犯实行特别赦免之惯例。

    在重要节日或庆典时,对罪犯实行特别赦免也是文明国际之通行做法。例如,上个世纪70年代,美国对在越战期间的逃兵和逃避服兵役的罪犯全部实行了赦免。又如,韩国总统金大中在1999年末颁布"千年特赦令",数千名囚犯获释。

    辛亥前夕,革命家汪精卫先生刺杀摄政王载沣。按照大清律令,应凌迟处死、满门抄斩。但朝廷出于此案发生的制度背景,出于和缓人心,出于立宪改革,为清朝前途计,特别赦免了汪精卫先生的死刑。

    我国的历史经验以及世界各法治国家之司法实践均告诉我们,特别赦免制度对一个国家的政治稳定、法律进步、民生进步都有不可替代的特殊意义。最高人民法院院长肖扬先生说得好,"我完全赞成对赦免制度的研究。赦免是国家的一项政策性重大措施,也是社会文明进步的重要体现。我国现行宪法第67条和80条对特赦做了规定,但是自从1975年最后一次特赦全部战争罪犯以来的三十多年,我国没有再实行过特赦……当前,全党全国人民正投身于构建社会主义和谐社会的伟大实践,充分发挥特赦制度的作用,对于营造和谐稳定的社会环境,增进人民内部的团结,必会产生良好的巨大的影响。"

    今年是《世界人权宣言》通过60周年,也是中国签署《公民权利与政治权利国际公约》十周年。虽然全国人大还未批准该公约,但依照国际惯例,一旦签署就要依照公约要求执行,包括赦免等全部条款。今年年末,中国将面临联合国"禁止酷刑委员会"正式审议中国政府提交的《第四、五轮禁止酷刑报告》;明年年初,也将面临联合国人权理事会首次普遍定期审查中国的人权状况。

    今年也是中国融入文明国际的改革开放30周年,明年也是中华人民共和国成立六十周年。为迎接大典,我们呼吁通过对杨佳先生实行特别赦免,开始营造祥和气氛。这也是中国政府奋力构建和谐社会的题中应有之义。这个案件已经毫无疑问将是中国现代史上的一个标志性案件,不管杨佳先生最终的命运如何,是否被执行死刑,该案都将对中国政局产生重要影响。

    我们再次郑重呼吁与建议,对杨佳先生实行特别赦免,并以此为发端,开始在中国废除死刑的历史进程,永久确立特别赦免之文明制度,建立文明法治之现代国家。

    中华人民共和国公民:(按签名顺序排,第一批签名人员名单)

    艾未未(北京艺术家)、茅于轼(北京经济学家)、杜光(北京离休人员)、于浩成(北京法学家)、戴晴(北京学者)、张祖桦(北京学者)、王俊秀(北京学者)、古川(北京编辑)、陈永苗(北京律师)、李苏滨(北京律师)、江天勇(北京律师)、黎雄兵(北京律师)、唐吉田(北京律师)、杨凤春(北京学者)、王治晶(北京自由撰稿人)、夏业良(北京学者)、冉云飞(四川编辑)、廖亦武(四川作家)、张博树(北京法学家)、萧默(北京学者)、刘序盾(北京学者)、李智英(北京学者)、李槟(南京教师)、孙岩力(北京教师)、王卫星(北京记者)、谭洪安(北京编辑)、于赤阳(黑龙江公民)、张辉(山西民主人士)、贾瑞明(河北农民)、谢军(深圳设计)、王靖禹(旅英学者)、华乔(上海摄影师)、释妙觉慈智(广东法师)、林树坤(瑞士出版人)、范冲(北京学生)、张志强(北京打工之友)、李勉之(深圳工程师)、曹王澜(广东民工)、张赞宁(江苏教师)、龚光云(广东学者)、郭玉闪(北京学者)、周曙光(楚国人)、淮生(北京自由职业者)、马萧(北京记者)

    2008年10月20日

    后续签名人员请发邮件到:tesheyangjia@gmail.com

    请按下列格式签名:签名格式为:XXX(人名)北京学者;XX (人名)广东记者;

    Monday, October 20, 2008

    They Could Not Keep This House From Burning Down

    The only Chinese immigration organization, the Legal Immigrants Association (LIA), has been burning after the board and the president posted statements controdicts each other. The board suspended the operation of the LIA, citing power stemed from the bylaws. The president declared the board nonexistant, with endorsement of an immigration lawyer friend.

    LIA had a serious chance of leading oversea Chinese in the fight on social status and recognitions.

    Another Day, Another Penis


    Attorney at law Mr. Liu Xiaoyuan, a diligent blogger took a call at 10:50 Oct 18, 2008. A security guard described how he was wrongly detailed by police, and how police tortured him inside the police station, including tasering his penis.

    Months agao, citizen Yang Jia fataly stabbed seven Shanghai police at Zhabei Police Headquarter. Shanghai police kidnapped (possibily killed) Yang's mother in revenge. While Yang's death executation is awaiting for green light from the supreme court, another day, another pennis.

    What are Chinese police force made of? Outsiders should know to watch out their backs when travelling in Singapor, and so should they do this same favor to their private part if travel in China.

    4:30pm, Mr. Liu took another call, which caller-id showed '*". Without revealing his identy, the called threatened Mr. Liu not accept any interview from oversea media, otherwise be prepread to assume 'consequences' after tomorrow's sentencing of the Yang Jia case.

    Mr. Liu Xiaoyuan is a laywer of the Beijing Yitong Law Firm. The official website of the firm is filtered by the Great Firewall of China. A click fromn oversea will return a DNS error, for example.

    Sunday, October 19, 2008

    Killing Yang Jia


    According to the communism government, Chinese in China enjoy civil rights five times better than Americans in the US. When the Chinese version John Brown was captured, he would not be hanged immediately, but rather to receive not one fair trail, but two trails.

    Beijing resident Yang Jia was accused of killing six Shanghai policemen with a knife is a heavily guarded police headquarter in Shanghai. The ordeal started when Yang was wrongly imprisoned and tortured by Shanghai police after a routine traffic (bicycle) stop, because the Shanghai policeman suspected Yang was riding a stolen bike. After being released, Yang started an endeavor of complaining about his treatment while detained by the Shanghai police. Yang raised enough noise, that Shanghai police sent two officers to Beijing to negotiate a settlement. It is alleged that Yang's penis was badly beaten, and Yang suffered from erection problems. Shanghai offered to pay RMB 1000 ($170), but no apology. Yang asked RMB $3000 ($500) plus an apology, and Yang was not willing to bargain.

    By and large, people from Beijing look down on people from Shanghai. Shanghainese were seen with a stereotype of being greedy, dishonest but with no courage. Being badly beaten by Shanghainese, regardless of how many of them are there or whether they are policemen, is a shame too heavy to bear for a Beijing resident. After months of complaining going nowhere, Yang decided to take things into his own hands.

    Yang appeared in the gateway of police headquarter, with a gas mask covering his face. He throw a Molotov cocktail to the garden, which attracted the attention of securities, then entered the building. Yang stabbed 3 policemen on the first floor, then went up fire stairs to the 21st floor to killed 3 more police. The first floor was occupied by the unit who wrongly detained Yang, and the 21st floor was occupied by the unit who tortured Yang afterward. One innocent police was killed on the 18th floor when he accidentally used the fire stairs assuming the building was on fire. In the whole process, Yang made sure he did not hurt anyone not wearing a uniform, and he did not hurt any female officers.

    Yang surrendered after having done his business. There's no chance of leaving alive anyway, surrounded by thousands of Shanghai policemen on 21st floor. Yang knew he would be sentenced to death according to Chinese laws, but he had a bigger plan, that was to disclose his suffering under detainment of Shanghai police to the world in the trail. It turned out to be the mission impossible.


    Yang didn't know that one of the police officer who beat him was a relative of Mr. Wu Zhiming, the top police in Shanghai, and a senior official of CCP. Wu Zhiming is the niece of Mr. Jiang Zeming, the former Party boss of China.

    The country was told seven cops were killed, but it was not told that was because of crime involved another policeman, who happened to be a family member of senior CCP Party leader. In order to hide the truth, the entire justice system was kidnapped.

    Shanghai police kidnapped Yang Jia's mother from her Beijing residence under day light. It was such an bazaar scene. Yang's relatives protested to the local Beijing police station. Beijing police was so annoyed at first that they asked Shanghai police to return the lady through a statement issued to a press. Shanghai police then announced that Yang's mother appointed a lawyer for Yang, who is also Shanghai police's in house counsel. Yang's mother was not to be seen, until today. Many prominent lawyers in Beijing sued the Shanghai police for kidnapping Yang's mother, and sued Beijing police for not protecting a Beijing resident from being kidnapped under bright daylight. Many influential writers published open letter condemning the kidnapping, to no vein. It is just bazaar.

    The trail was supposed to be open, but conducted secretly by a Shanghai court. Several dozens of Beijing lawyers rushed to Shanghai was denied by the Shanghai court. The trail was supposed to be announced at least three days in advance according to Chines law, but was not. Even Yang's father was not allowed to attend the trail, citing space limitation.

    Yang was sentenced to death in the first trail by Shanghai Second Middle Court on Sept 1st, 2008, which Yang appealed. The second trail, which would be the ultimate trail in Chinese law, drew even more controversy. Again, the defense lawyer was named by the court, who acted as one of the prosecution in the trail. Again even more lawyers invited by the Yang family was denied by the court. Still, Yang's mother is detained by unknown agency at undisclosed location. What's more, supporters who peacefully rallies outside the court from all over the country was arrested and jailed. Those who are Shanghai residents had their home searched, and property confiscated.

    It would be easier to comprehend the bazaar behavior of Shanghai justice system, if the case was about national interest, or in the least about any metropolitan interest. However, it's all about a policeman, who is alleged a family member of a CCP official. Does it worth it?

    Yang is sentenced to death, as expected. But why does it necessary to murder a prisoner in such a bazaar manner that the entire justice system was thrown in? What kind of a signal is sending out by murdering Yang, with the full strength of the Party?

    On any given day, dozens if not hundreds of innocent people died from police brutality in every corner of China. Some day some one will say enough is enough.

    "[...] Politically speaking, the murder of John Brown would be an uncorrectable sin. It would create in the Union a latent fissure that would in the long run dislocate it. Brown's agony might perhaps consolidate slavery in Virginia, but it would certainly shake the whole American democracy. You save your shame, but you kill your glory. Morally speaking, it seems a part of the human light would put itself out, that the very notion of justice and injustice would hide itself in darkness, on that day where one would see the assassination of Emancipation by Liberty itself. [...]

    Let America know and ponder on this: there is something more frightening than Cain killing Abel, and that is Washington killing Spartacus."

    said Victor Yugo.

    Thursday, October 16, 2008

    A disgusting Picture


    What a disgusting pose!

    The next core thinks he is the Mao Zedong alive. Dream on. By the way, in Chinese tradition, it is extremely unwise to behave presumptuously before one assumes the highest leadership.

    Wednesday, October 15, 2008

    Start of Melamine Milk Powder

    Around June 2004, newspaper reported cases of babies died of drinking milk powder with zero nutritious ingredients in Anhui Province. Before their death, these babies had distinctive appearance of swollen heads due to water intoxication. They were referred to as the Big Head Babies. Sanlu Dairy was named as one of the suppliers who produced the killer milk. In a PR stun and with help from higher up (the acting minister of the Health Department, Mr. Gao Qiang), Sanlu was removed from the list.

    Amid public outcry after the breakout of the extend of the Big Head Babies scandal, the Chinese government started testing the protein level contained in milk powder products, which, in turn, trigger the melamine scandal.

    To answer questions from readers, the techniques of adding melamine was introduced in 2004, and peaked in 2007, when Sanlu was awarded a national science progress award, the highest national award in science. The only dairy related technique to be awarded in the 30 years history of the national top science award.

    Tuesday, October 14, 2008

    Police State

    While the Chinese government pushed the largest commercial banks, the Big Four, to the market, the US government invested $250 Billion in the first phase into private banks and counted on share bonus in a long run. You never know which turn is the world going to make in the next day.

    Thanks for efforts of the ACLU, it was revealed that numerous Maryland residents had been mistakenly targeted as terrorists, and had been under State police surveillance since 2005. In wake of the exposure of the case, the Police just announced that they would destroy the files however they would not allow the people to keep a copy of their file, nor would they be able to review their file with a lawyer.

    Four residents of the Frederick county was among the targeted group, because their nonviolent opposition to the expansion of the Ft. Detrick Biodefense Facility. Ft Detrick is a Maryland National Guard base, but shared by several agents, including the National Cancer Institute and the United States Army Medical Research and Materiel Command (USAMRMC). The under construction National Interagency Biodefense Campus would include the highest toxic labs of Army, the USAG, FBI, and CDC. Because Ft. Detrick had a range of materiel processing problem in its history, the local community is wary of the expansion, and a grass root movement is mobilized to advocate for more scrutiny in the plan.

    One of the four residents was Schmidt Kissin, a Poland immigrant who fled her homeland on a Fulbright scholarship opportunity after being jailed by then Polish communism government for political activity.

    The extend of the surveillance is not known at the time of writing. The Maryland State Police agreed to expunge the record from one of their own databases. However, the record is believed to live in other government databases. For example, according to a report by former Attorney General Steven Sachs, some of the records were also listed in a Federal drug trafficking program. European Union laws prohibit cross referencing of public databases, for the exact reason to prevent false information from propagating. There's no such law in the US.

    source

    Friday, October 10, 2008

    Patriotic Chinese and Patriotic American

    With the global depression looming around, the world factory's economy was hit hard as demand dwindles. Patriotic American at this time are those who save, but patriotic Chinese at this time are those who spend. Knowing just that, immediately after the Chinese Premier expressed China's willingness to help the US stabilize its finance (new media obtained a price tag of $200 Billion in new US treasury bonds), the DoD announced a $6 Billion arm sale to Taiwan, the separate province of China. This is a big slap on the face to the Chinese Premier.

    The next day, the Chinese central bank went ahead with a global coordinated rate cuts.

    How is a Great Depression look like? China apparently is already scared. Is the United States scared?

    Wednesday, October 08, 2008

    Big Bail Out

    If anyone has been wondering how come Banks in the US and European countries, where they must comply with financial rules, are failing, while their counterparts in China are not, an article which led to the suspending of a news publication could give some hint.

    Finance and Economy is a national Chinese newspaper. It was ordered by the Department of Propaganda of the Chinese Communism Party to suspend operation for three months. The article was written by a young reporter about the 'pre-bail-out' of a branch of the Chinese Agriculture Bank, one of the Big Four commercial banks in China.

    According to the investigative report, The Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) transferred YMB 800 Billion subprime loans ($130 Billion) to a State Run Fund Management Company. In order to convert state run banks to commercial markets, the Chinese central government supplied full fund in their face value to the bank. Similar measure had been applied to other Big Four banks. However, what happened before and afterwards drew the reporter's attention.

    In one city level branch (Changde Branch of Hunan Provincial Branch of the Agricultural Bank of China), YMB 4.6 Billion ($0.7 Billion) subprime had been transferred to the State management company on a rate between 1% to 30%. The management company is then supposed to auction these sumprime. Before the public auction, the Changde Branch bought back all the subprime with a 1.5 times markup. So in the end, the management company pocketed hundreds of millions for loan laundrying, and the Changde Branch took 4.6 Billion extra for doing nothing. It was revealed that a senior official of the ABC, Vice President Luo Xi was behind the sequence of transactions, and have personal interest involved.

    In an unrelated report, a Bank of Communications, another one of the Big Four, IT technician was fired because the employee discovered irregularities in transferring subprime to State Fund in the amount of billions and reported it to his supervisor.

    Monday, September 29, 2008

    Melamine in Milk Originally Imported from New Zealand

    The whole tainted infant milk ordeal saw a sharp U-turn when it was discovered that ingredients imported from New Zealand had been mixed with melamine already. It has been confirmed by test of samples both in China, and those in New Zealand that 'lactoferrin', a key ingredient in infant formula produced in New Zealand, had been mixed with melamine.

    New Zealand is the largest dairy producing country with most number of cows in the world, and manufactures around the world use lactoferrin produced in New Zealand to process infant formula. The suspected source was traced back to a company named Tatua. Tatua is one of the largest company of its kind. Retrospectively thinking, it's reasonable that among all the Chinese powder milk that had been found to be tainted by melamine, Sanlu, which New Zealand dairy producer Fonterra holds 43% share, is the worst.

    It's such a shame that China did not test import dairy product carefully. As of today, it was reported melamine had caused at least 4 infant death, and tens of thousands babies hospitalized.

    The New Zealand Food Safety Authority released a statement on September 24, 2008 that the level of melamine found in New Zealand product was low, probably came as "an unintended outcome of the manufacturing process".

    Tatua's CEO Paul McGilvary said Tatua had voluntarily suspended its production, although he insisted that melamine found in lactoferrin produced by the New Zealand dairy producer was not a health risk to human. Tatua's board is to meet on September 30, 2008 to discuss the melamine issue.

    Saturday, September 20, 2008

    Japanese Volunteers Helped Earthquake Rebuild



    Japanese volunteers helped Sichuan Earthquake rebuild. September 11, 2008, another temporary elementary school welcomed new semester. Unlike hundreds of mass production temporary schools set up in the quake area, this one will be remembered as a master piece in architecture history.


    The Chengdu Hualin Elementary School is designed by Japanese architect Shigeru Ban with 'paper tube' technology. The main structure is made of mass products of recyclable materials paper tube, wooden joint and steel cables. The design features excellent ventilation and temperature control in the area known for hot and high humidity. Construction materials are easy to build and will be easy to recycle or reuse.

    The project is a collaborative effort among Chinese and Japanese volunteers. Thank you Japan.

    Dead Horses Galloping

    With the endless media attention on the poisonous powder milk incident, you would thought one more attempt to blame the government to be beating a dead horse. After all, even according to official figures, thousands of infants had been hospitalized, with hundreds of kidney failures and the death toll had been keep mounting. You know what? This magic world is full of surprise. Do you see that dead horse galloping?

    1) The central Communism government told its citizen low doze of melamine is safe, citing US FDA research;
    2) Local government issued an order that the Sanlu Dairy stopped reimbursing examination fees for infants who had drank Sanlu infant formula;
    3) The Health Ministry, whose top official Mr. Gao Qiang had been named to lead the national task force in handling the poisonous powder milk scandal, issued an order that infants with kidney stones smaller than 4mm should not receive medical assistance.

    The Prime Minister Mr. Wen Jiabao is coming to New York City to address the U.N. How shall we show our appreciation to Mr. Premier?

    Thursday, September 18, 2008

    Pretty Woman, Walkin' Down the Street


    38 years old pretty woman Xie Jingling fell victim of her blog writing hobby, where she posted in detail, without details of specific encounters though, her sexual relationships with other males. In one incident, she was the only female director on a five person board, and with each of the four male directors aged 28 to 58 on the board, she had a romantic history.

    People expect, and understand, pretty women have privileges. Ordinary people have only rare opportunities to appreciate beauties from a distance, but Jingling's blog gives them a chance to peek and wow. Curious readers also learned about her sexual life with her husband, which was 'always the best' as she noted one morning. She wrote about 'trivial stuff', such as taking classes, work, family, Mom, and her 3 years old baby. She wrote about her disappointment of her meeting with her college sweetheart in Canada, and pregnancy of her husband's ex-girlfriend. She wrote about her lovers, her lovers' lovers. Her stories scatter around places in China, Canada and the US, in cars, parks, hotels. At the same time, she is a young, nonetheless senior official overseeing a industrial park of national significance.

    It's just fascinating to learn what a colorful life a (Chinese) pretty woman enjoys. I would certainly vote for her if whoever next 'core' picked her up as his running-mate.


    Pretty woman walkin down the street
    Pretty woman, the kind I like to meet
    Pretty woman, I dont believe you
    Youre not the truth
    No one could look as good as you
    Mercy

    Pretty woman, wont you pardon me
    Pretty woman, I couldnt help but see
    Pretty woman, and you look lovely as can be
    Are you lonely just like me

    Pretty woman, stop a while
    Pretty woman, talk a while
    Pretty woman, give your smile to me
    Pretty woman, yeah, yeah, yeah
    Pretty woman, look my way
    Pretty woman, say youll stay with me

    Cause I need you
    Ill treat you right
    Come with me baby
    Be mine tonight

    Pretty woman, dont walk on by
    Pretty woman, dont make me cry
    Pretty woman, dont walk away
    Ok

    If thats the way it must be, ok
    I guess Ill go on home, its late
    Therell be tomorrow night

    But wait, what do I see?
    Is she walking back to me?
    Yeah, shes walking back to me
    O-oh
    Pretty woman

    Monday, September 15, 2008

    Reporter Arrested in Malaysia

    A Malaysia reporter was arrested on Sept 12, 2008. Tan Hoon Cheng is a reporter of Sin Chew Daily. She reported on an official's racial remarks, and was arrested under 'the Internal Security Act (ISA)'. A popular blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin was also arrested the same day citing the ISA for being a threat to security, peace and public order. Three newspapers received 'show cause letters' issued by the Home Ministry.

    A Muslim senior government official, Bukit Bendera MP Ahmad Ismail proclaimed Chinese in Malaysia were squatters. The remarks were made frequently in his recent election campaigns. After the news coverage, the ruling party Ahmad belongs suspended his membership.

    ISA is a form of martial law, where police does not disclose the cause of the arrest, and a court warrant is not needed. A comparable incident in the US would be the reporter who broke out the story of Rev. Wright saying 'God Damn America' in font of Sunday morning crowd to be detailed by the FBI on terrorism charges, and then sent to a undisclosed location in Poland by CIA.

    A Timeline of the Sanlu Milk Case


    DateProgressSource of Information
    9/16/2008Another infant was confirmed died from using Fonterra Sanlu powder milkFonterra
    9/15/2008Melamine was detected from products of Haoniu Dairy of Gansu Pronvince. Haoniu is a partner of Fonterra Sanlu, and follow Fonterra Sanlu production guidelineXinhua News
    9/15/2008Fonterra's CEO Andrew Ferrier refused to take responsibility for not having gone public six weeks earlier when he first learned of the crisisAndrew Ferrier
    9/14/2008Reporting and Discussion of the case was banned by The Propaganda Department of the CCP, except that by the official Xinhua News AgencyInternet Cache
    9/13/2008 hundreds of thousands little kids flooded hospitals around the country to do ultrasound scan, which revealed 20-30% had developed varies stages kidney stones.Jinling Evening Daily, Dr. Feng's Blog
    9/13/2008 Health Minister Gao Qiang held press conference, and denied any government awareness of the case before 9/8/2008Health Minister Gao Qiang
    9/12/2008Evening: Health Ministry notified WHO, and launched Public Recall, 700 tons could not be tracedNews Report
    9/12/2008Morning: 800 police stormed 41 dairy farms. 78 farmers were questioned and 19 were arrested for allegedly mixing melamine into milkNews Report
    9/11/2008A Gansu newspaper named Sanlu in connection with infant kidney failuresNes Report
    9/10/2008Professor Sun Xizhao of Nanjing University wrote to newspaper questioned an Unnamed Milk Powder caused infant kidney failure. The same day Sanlu denied any knowledge of itNews Report, Sanlu website
    9/9/2008Health Ministry ordered recallHealth Ministry Gao Qiang
    9/9/2008Baidu refused to honor the 'protection status' agreement when requested by SanluBaidu
    9/8/2008 Prime Minister Helen Clark met with cabinet regarding the situation and ordered Fonterra to notify BeijingHelen Clark
    9/8/2008 Sanlu submit a written report to Hebei Province, Health Minister Gao Qiang claimed that this was the first time Sanlu notified government officials of any levelHealth Minister Gao Qiang
    9/5/2008 New Zealand Prime Minister was informed of the situation Prime Minister Helen Clark
    8/27/2008Dr. Zhang Wen of Huazhong University of Science and Technology told news media that Sanlu infant formula had caused many infants kidney failures in the past year. This was the first time a medical doctor named Sanlu to the news media, although many had been discussing this privatelyNews Report
    8/17/2008National top food safety agency AQSIG visited Sanlu but didn't make any decisionNews Report
    8/14/2008New Zealand Embassy in Beijing was informed of the crisisHelen Clark
    8/11/2008A memo from Sanlu's PR Consulting Firm Beijing Lantaotonglue noted numerious negative reference of Sanlu with connection to infants kidney failures. The memo laid out three strategies in handling the crisis, including purchasing a 'protection status' from the largest Chinese language search engine Baidu at the price of RMB Yuan 300 millionFAX from Lantaotonglue
    8/6/2008Sanlu coordinates mass medical assistance for infant victimsSanlu, News Report
    8/5/2008Sanlu's dairy product produced after 8/5/2008 are free of melamineTian Wenhua, Chairwoman of Sanlu
    8/4/2008Sanlu stopped 2,000 tons of powder milk from entering market, and secretly withdrew 8080 tons of powder milk contaminated with Melamine through the Health MinistryTian Wenhua, Chairwoman of Sanlu
    8/3/2008Sanlu alerted the situation to the City of Shijiangzhuang, Hebei Province and Health MinistryTian Wenhua, Chairwoman of Sanlu
    8/2/2008Fonterra learnt of the situationFonterra
    8/1/2008Melamine was detected and documentedSanlu, Tian Wenhua, Sun Dongdong, Professor of Beijing University and expert of the Health Ministry
    7/23/2008Hunan TV Metropolitan Channel reported a sudden alarming rise in infant kidney stones cases. In one hospital received 16 infants with severe kidney stones. The TV program revealed all victims used the same brand of milk. Packages of canned and bagged powder milk was shown on the TV, but did not explicitly name SanluHunan TV
    7/1/2008Sanlu launched investigation into infants kidney failures after drinking Sanlu infant formulaTian Wenhua
    2/2/2008A Zhejiang consumer contacted Sanlu, and a range of local authorities after Sanlu powder milk made his daughter difficulty to pee. Later, without knowing the extend and seriousness of the issue, the consumer accepted an exchange of 4 boxes of Sanlu powder milk. He posted his story on a popular Internet community Tianya. This is the first documented exposure of this scandal.Internet Cache, Wu Yuanping (the consumer)
    3/1/2008Reports of mass infant kidney failure started arriving Sanlu, Sanlu asked government agency's help to test dairy products which all appeared to be acceptableSanlu
    3/1/2008Several Inquiries, including one made by a known kidney surgeon, was made to the top food safety agency AQSIQ. These complaints had been deleted from AQSIQ website, but still available from Google cacheInternet Cache and Dr. Feng Dongchuan's Blog
    3/1/2008Hospitals around the country noticed a sharpen increase of infant kidney failure cases, many alerted the manufacture as well as local safety agenciesSanlu
    1/8/2008Sanlu infant formula received the National Award of Science and Technology Progress, and became the only dairy product ever to receive this top national science and technology awardNews Report
    9/2/2007The Propaganda Arm of CCP, the CCTV hailed Sanlu the top quality dairy product in its weekly 'Quality of Made-in-China' Special ProgramCCTV, YouTube
    7/10/2007The Director of China FDA (State Food and Drug Administration, SDA) Mr. Zheng Xiaoyu was executed for oversight of the pet food that poisoned American catspublic record
    5/8/2007In the aftermath of the US FDA findings, AQSIQ examined 399 samples of export food products and 800 domestic food products, and failed to find any trace of melamine. AQSIQ hail the result a testimony of excellent food quality in China.AQSIQ
    4/20/2007AQSIQ ordered all food export must go through melamine testsAQSIQ
    3/30/2007US FDA declared Melamine was detected in pet food imported from China. Hundreds of cats and little dogs became sick or dead after eating import pet food.news Report
    11/25/2005New Zealand based Fonterra Acquired 43% of Sanlu, Fonterra has 3 representations on Sanlu's 7 persons boardPublic Record, Fonterra
    7/5/2005900 packages of Sanlu yoghurt were confiscated by Tianjin authorities for post-dating production dateNews Report
    6/1/2004Sanlu was named in a 'Big Head Baby' scandal of producing low cost powder milk with zero nutritional value and caused 13 babies' death. After an aggressive emergency campaign, Health Minister Gao Qiang arranged to have Sanlu removed from the blacklist.News Report

    Sunday, September 14, 2008

    In the News, How Bad Is It?

    How bad is the Sanlu case? According to the Chinese government, more than 500 children were hospitalized and 1 died. However, these figures were an incomplete assembly of cases known before the government make the case public. It is not even "the tip of the iceberg".

    After learned the news from TV, nervous parents flooded hospitals across the country. After all, Sanlu had been the No. 1 powder milk manufacture for 11 consecutive years. According to the Xinhua News, in the day of Sept 13, 2008 at one hospital where a reporter monitored, ultrasound scan revealed that out of 140 kids examined, 40 had already developed crystals or stones, several were hospitalized. All these kids were sent to the hospital by their nervous parents only because they had been drinking this brand of milk, but none of them had shown any visible symptoms yet.

    From English News, New Zealand Fonterra, the co-owner of the Sanlu admitted that they had learned of the situation as early as August 2, 2008. Fonterra said they recommended to recall all contained products. However, Fonterra did not reveal this information to the public before it was reported by Chinese media on September 12, 2008.

    The original report:

    “三鹿奶粉专病门诊”爆棚

    大部分孩子症状轻微
      金陵晚报 2008-09-14 15:57:29

    新华报业网讯 “我们没事了!”昨日,南京市儿童医院三鹿奶粉专病门诊内,听医生说宝宝没事时,七尺男儿朱先生抱着宝宝连蹦带跳。
      
      朱先生是前天晚上知道三鹿奶粉事件的,“吓得一个晚上都没睡着觉”,昨天一大早,朱先生全家出动抱着宝宝从安徽芜湖赶到南京来检查。
      
      和朱先生一样焦虑的家长不在少数,南京市儿童医院因此特别开设三鹿奶粉专病门诊,昨日一天,这个门诊接诊的孩子超过100个,让人庆幸的是,这其中 70%至80%的孩子都正常,还有20%左右的孩子B超检查显示肾脏里已经出现小的结晶甚至结石,这其中有几个比较严重,昨日直接收治入院。
      
      昨日下午3:30至5:30,记者在这个专病门诊,目睹了张爱华博士对可疑患儿筛查的整个过程。
      
      专病门诊设在单独的六楼,昨天整层楼候诊区被焦急等候的家长塞得满满的。
      
      刘女士和丈夫及宝宝的爷爷奶奶赶到时,已是下午接近四点的光景,刘女士心急火燎地说,宝宝11个月大,一直喝的是三鹿奶粉,四十几元一袋的那种,到现在估计喝了有七八十袋了。家住安徽巢湖乡下的刘女士早上才听说三鹿奶粉出事的事情,她吓了一大跳,回去和家里人一说,大家都觉得拖不得,一家人包了辆车就往南京赶。
      
      张爱华问过宝宝的初步症状后,便开了B超单子让宝宝去做检查,到下午五点多,宝宝的检查结果出来了,张爱华看过说,还好,宝宝没什么事,一家人这才放了心。
      
      昨日,在儿童医院三鹿奶粉专病门诊的对面,肖护士长中午都没吃饭,“江苏省内有从盐城、宜兴赶来的,外省有从安徽、江西、山东赶过来的”,肖护士长说,除了从外地赶过来的孩子,还有很多孩子虽然登记的地址是南京,但他们的原籍大部分也都是外地的,只是因为父母在宁打工而暂住在南京。
      
      灵儿才9个月零12天,是六合人,昨日做保安的爸爸请了假和妈妈一起带灵儿到儿童医院来检查,因为妈妈没奶,灵儿也是一出生就喝三鹿奶粉,灵儿喝的是金装的,一罐100多元。
      张爱华告诉灵儿爸爸,宝宝的体内已经有小结晶了,妈妈这时候才想起,宝宝早上起来小便时,偶尔会有红颜色的颗粒样的东西。。
      
      不过,医生安慰灵儿的家人说,灵儿虽然已有些症状,但情况还不是太严重,回家吃点药再注意多喝水就可以了。
      
      小童童才6个月,是个小男生,来自于盐城,妈妈说,童童没什么不适,就是有时候小便里面有沉着的粉末。
      
      前天,知道三鹿奶粉的事情后,家里人就带小童童去当地的医院检查了,医生说有问题。于是,昨天一早,一家子就带着童童到南京来了。
      
      就诊的时候,妈妈给童童喝水,记者发现宝宝用的奶瓶上也印着“三鹿”字样,妈妈苦笑着说,是买奶粉的时候送的。
      
      很快,小童童的B超结果就出来了,张爱华告诉这家人,童童的结石已从肾脏掉到输尿管里,输尿管已经出现梗阻的情况,必须住院治疗,当场张爱华就为小童童开了住院单。
      
      张爱华说,昨日来就诊的孩子中,经他手收治入院的仅有6名,和之前20名因为急性肾衰收治入院不同,这些孩子的情况“都不是太严重”。
      
      大部分孩子症状轻微小添添15个月,三鹿奶粉吃了两个半月,这些天,添添小便有点黄,还有点断断续续,经常不一次性尿完,联系上奶粉事件,家人更是担心宝宝也得了肾结石,昨天检查的结果是,添添有些尿路感染,和结石无关。
      
      截至昨天下午5点,前往儿童医院就诊的孩子已超过100名,加上前天下午的数字,共有140多名吃三鹿奶粉的孩子前来检查。据悉,这其中有40名孩子被查出有小结晶或结石,绝大部分的孩子都正常。“完全可以放心回家”,张爱华说。 作者:陈艳萍

    Friday, September 12, 2008

    Sanlu, Baidu, and That Damned Olympic


    An internal FAX surfaced today revealed more about the behind the curtain operations of the Sanlu (Triple Deer) powdered milk scandal.

    The letter recommended three parallel strategies: 1) Silencing victims; 2) Buying out our the official search engine in China, Baidu; 3) citing national standard.

    Company who pays RMB 5 million ($750k) in advertising enjoys a 'PR protection' status from Baidu. Baidu will delete any negative reference. The consulting company has managed to negotiated a deal that Sanlu only needs to pay RMB 3 million to qualify the status. Sanlu has paid RMB 1.8 million at the time of the letter (August 11, 2008), and the letter recommend Sanlu pay the rest ASAP to seal the deal.

    The letter also revealed that adding melamine is also a common practice in China powder milk industry. The third strategy dictates Sanlu will threat to disclose this 'secret' to secure help from national producers association.

    So what does this has anything to do with the Olympic? According to Xinhua News, as early as in March, the producer has been notified by hospitals across the nation of unusual number of infant kidney stones cases after using the Sanlu infant formula. As early as June, the top product quality agency in China, the general administraion of quality supervision, inspection and quarantine of the people's republic of china (AQSIQ), had already handled the case. Although the original web page was no longer accessible, a Internet cache showed the answering of an inquiry No: 20080630-1622-25262. Because of the damned Olympic, hundreds of thousands of Chinese infants had to keep drinking poisonous milk for another 3 months.

    Actually, this was not the first crisis of the Sanlu powder milk. Four years ago, in the Anhui 'Big Head Babies' case, among 41 other low price powder milk brands, Sanlu powder milk was tested to be of zero nutritious value, made of all with chemicals and nothing from a cow. Through a successful 'PR campaign', Sanlu was removed from the list, and the AQSIQ endorsed the campaign.

    Sanlu is the largest powder milk producer in China, and second largest yoghurt producer and third largest liquid milk producer. In January 2008, Sunlu infant formula received the highest possible national technology award, the National Science and Technology Progress Award (2nd tier) for the successful mixing of melamine into diary products without hurting taste and safety. This is the only National Science and Technology Award ever been awarded to a diary related research in 20 years since the top national award was established.

    Upon the public outcry, the company stopped selling of 10,386 tons of milk in its factory and warehouses, and recalled 700 tons that were already on the market. It showed 5-6% of melamine is the test samples. It is estimated that as many as 700 tons melamine had been added to its power milk products in the six months between January and June of 2008.

    Sanlu was acquired by the New Zealand based Fonterra in December 2005. Fonterra acknowledge the issue, but stressed that the milk was only in markets in mainland China and the Taiwan area.

    The following is a complaint filed by a consumer whose daughter was an victim of the Sanlu milk. Many baby died after drinking the Sanlu milk mixed with melamine. A search of the Internet finds hundreds of such complaints, but all the communism government had been doing was to silence the consumer, in part in name of the damned Olympic!


    三鹿集团这种所谓的名牌奶粉能吃吗?!
    发布时间:2008年6月2日
    投诉主题:在线投诉:三鹿集团这种所谓的名牌奶粉能吃吗?!
    投诉地址:泰顺县 [/]
    投诉企业:河北石家庄三鹿集团股份有限公司
    投诉原因:的名牌奶粉能吃吗?!
    详细内容:
      经历了这一事件,就像经历了漫漫长夜;又像做了一个噩梦。同时,也说明我们的食品安全问题任重而道远,想揭露事件的真相是很困难的,除非出现像安徽阜阳那种大事件,而所能揭露真相的比例占总数也是极少的。

      事情是这样的。我全家(包括岳父岳母)都有吃奶粉的习惯。自2007年11月份开始,我在县城某超市陆续购得一批“三鹿”牌子的奶粉。经食用,首先发现生产日期及批号为2007/12/19 D 01 08的儿童高钙配方奶粉有如下现象:女儿晚睡前食用,次日晨起第一注小便排出,粘稠、呈淡黄色米汤状,还有细小颗粒沉淀,并偶有腹泻;停用即清,再食用又浊。再闻冲开之后的奶粉气味,似香不香;入口感觉淡涩、且有粉渣感。

      开始,我以为买到假货了。出于公民义务,我将情况电话告知厂家服务热线。厂家叫我寄2包原封奶粉,送实验室检验。

      我于2008年2 月25日,向河北石家庄三鹿集团股份有限公司寄出儿童高钙配方奶粉(生产日期及批号:2007/12/19 D 01 08)、中老年高钙配方奶粉(生产日期及批号:2007/12/29 D 02 37)各一包。

      过了多天,我致电厂家,询问是否收到寄检奶粉?有无问题?请把检验结果传真给我。厂家承认收到,并证实是他们生产的产品,但没有跟我说有无质量问题,只是说地区代理商会跟我联系。

      又过了几天,地区代理商代表厂家果然和我联系,叫我把没吃完的退还或换货;还说次日来人回收或换货。我不同意。我首先要的是检验结果。如果没问题,孩子吃了为何有上述情形?如果有问题,是什么问题?为什么不让我知道结果?如果不能让我知道结果,你为什么要叫我寄检?我又何必寄检?我孩子吃了,出现一些反常现象,可以退还或换货,那其它人的孩子呢?

      自称是厂家代表的人给我的答复是:《检验报告单》涉及商业秘密,不能给我,但是可以给我看(到目前为止我还没有看到)。还说他们的儿童奶粉只适合3-7岁儿童,我孩子超过7岁。但包装袋上却明明标着:适合3岁以上少年儿童食用。后来提出:吃到肚子里的就说不清楚了;剩余15包,11包退一换一,开掉的4包退一换二。这是什么逻辑?他这样说有道理吗?连自己的产品都不熟悉的人,他能是厂家代表吗?我还能跟他谈吗?

      我只好向消协投诉。消协于3月27日下午联系了卖家(超市),买卖双方在县工商局直属工商所所四楼由消协工作人员主持调解。卖方确认是他们所销售商品,说厂家不出具检验结果他们也觉得莫名其妙,最多只能按原价回收我们所食剩余的奶粉。我不同意。觉得此举意义不大,厂家既然叫我寄检了,我也寄检了,我一定要先知道奶粉有无质量问题!谈话间,他们还透露:他们仓库里还有大批这样的奶粉;泰顺县最大的连锁幼儿园——育才幼儿园也用这种奶粉。听到这些,我更想知道这批奶粉有无质量问题了,而想知道有无质量问题?唯一的办法就是由公正的第三方(即工商部门)通过合法的程序抽样送检。但检验费用得由我先垫付,说全检要上万,等于我要花几十倍的钱去证实它。我犹豫了,说回去好好想想。双方没有谈拢,调解没有成功。

      这到底是怎么回事?我又找厂家。想通过厂家解决问题。我给厂家发了电子邮件,
    内容如下:

      “前段时间,我把奶粉寄你处检验的事。经与地区代理商和零售商多次协商,无果。现直接向你提出我的处理意见。

      一、要求寄我检验报告单。如果说涉及商业秘密,寄我检验结果,并加盖公章也可。

      二、如合格。要求对所剩余的我认为有问题的奶粉进行退换,毕竟这一批次的产品在食用后出现了一些不正常现象。

      三、如果出于某种不可告人的原因,不能办到。我们即默认它为不合格。并按《食品卫生法》的相关规定处理。

      四、无论那种情况,如换货,为确保所换奶粉质量。我要求你部直接与我接洽,或由我指定商店退换。

      五、最后,双方签定调解协议,并通知消协。

      上述五点妥否?请商榷。并尽快予以回复。”

      但是厂家一直不做答复。后经思考,我觉得把奶粉寄送生产产家、让他们自己说有无问题,这一做法不妥。真理始于怀疑,而终于信仰。我就是把房子卖掉一套,也要查明事情的原委、破解心中的疑惑。我于3月31日正式向县工商局直属工商所提出申请:为了天真的孩童,为了风烛残年的老者,为了更多的消费者,应该对这一批次有争议奶粉进行取样、并送权威部门检验。无论结果如何,对大家都是一件好事。

      县工商局直属工商所的同志,在接到我的申请,并请示上级领导后,组织人员来到超市。结果发现慢了一步:前两天货架上,满满当当的上述批次的奶粉(包括其它老包装的),一包也没了,全部变成了新包装的奶粉,仓库里也没有,全部不知所终!问超市的管理人员,说是不清楚。这次行动失败的原因主要是厂家确认是其生产,工商方面有些迟疑,毕竟是名牌啊,所以在之前增加了调解程序;也是这个原因,导致去超市取不到样。

      现在我手里的那堆奶粉就成孤证了。我看到那堆奶粉心里就郁闷:吃又不敢吃,扔掉又可惜、也不敢,换吧?又怕他们把类似原来那种质量的换给我。唉,身为人父、为人子的我该咋办呢?现在我只有寻求媒体的帮助了。

    On May 20, 2008, the same person post a message on the popular community site Tianya of the same story. On June 6, 2008, he asked the discussion board mater to delete his post:

    作者:789oo88oo88 提交日期:2008-6-6 9:58:00
      
      斑竹你好。
      我是789oo88oo88用户。
      在5月20日下午19点左右,在没有充分了解事情真相的状况下,我在天涯杂谈上发表了《[汶川地震]这样的奶粉能拿来救灾吗?!》一文。后来才发现原来自己所买的是假冒伪劣产品,但是由于当时本人过于激动,言论颇有不当.并借地震之事大肆宣扬,想让更多的网友知道此事.在此深表道歉,为了防止误导更多的人,并无心对生产厂商造成名誉损坏。因此,请斑竹代为删除此贴。防止更坏的影响及传播。
        谢谢。
        帖子链接:
        http://cache.tianya.cn/publicforum/content/free/1/1259614.shtml

    When pressed by peer netizens after the scandal broke out, he posted again on Sept 12, 2008:

    作者:789oo88oo88 回复日期:2008-9-12 20:19:13 

        "在5月20日下午19点左右,在没有充分了解事情真相的状况下,我在天涯杂谈上发表了《[汶川地震]这样的奶粉能拿来救灾吗?!》一文。后来才发现原来自己所买的是假冒伪劣产品,但是由于当时本人过于激动,言论颇有不当.并借地震之事大肆宣扬,想让更多的网友知道此事.在此深表道歉,为了防止误导更多的人,并无心对生产厂商造成名誉损坏。因此,请斑竹代为删除此贴。防止更坏的影响及传播。"
      
        这个帖子不是我写的。事情是这样的:我的帖子因为被人回了帖,所以就没有权限删除了。厂家又崔得紧,我只得告诉他们密码,他们自己写的。

    Nutritious Baby Milk


    "So many 'N's in this diagram!" That is right, chemical melamine (also known as tripolycyanamide) has a lot of Nitrogen, actually 66% in its mass. That's why it is widely used in pet food produced in China, which killed quite several US cats and dogs last year. Melamine itself does not supply any nutrition, because it is insoluble and can not be used by animals. However, since food monitoring agencies use the percentage of Nitrogen contained in pet food to measure its nutrition level, Melamine is a popular added-on in the Chinese food industry. The ordeal ended with the execution of China's top food safety official Mr. Zheng Xiaoyu. Use of melamine is subsequently banned in the process of making pet food. Soon, innovative manufactures found new applications, in infant formula milk. With the 66% Nitrogen melamine, the baby milk tastes extremely nutritious. The only problem, though, is that it is insoluble.

    It was reported today that unknown, but large number of infants were hospitalized for kidney stones. Because of the food structure of an infant, it's very rare to find kidney stones developed in this stage of life. Upon further study, all infants suffered from the disease had taken formula milk produced by a Hebei company, the Sanlu (Triple Deer) Diary Group in Shijiazhuang. The company recalled 700 tons of powdered milk that contains 5-6% of Melamine. Sanlu is one of the largest diary suppliers in the nation, with annual sells of $18 Billion. Sanlu is also the supplier of the China's ambitious space program.