Dalian Medical University Caught Exporting Chinese Prisoner Bodies For Profit

A for-profit company affiliated with the Dalian Medical University (DMU) was found to have supplied bodies on commercial display in the US with those of executed prisoners.

Medical Universities in China have been accepting bodies unclaimed by relatives of executed prisoners for teaching purposes without any fees. Some, such as the Dalian Medical University in Dalian, Liaoning Province rediscovered this a new source of profit. Picture on the left shows DMU staff were preparing bodies before they were sold to commercial companies at around $200 to $300 a piece.

The black marketing of prisoner bodies had caused troubles when an exhibits of human bodies toured Japan. It was again caught in spotlight as the attorney general's office of New York State initiated an investigation of whether similar exhibitions in the US properly disclosed the source of the bodies int heir brochures and promotional materials.

The techniques to preserve a body to show condition was developed and pattened by a Germany doctor. The Chinese bodies were obtained through the DMU Plastination Labs, a for profit branch of the DMU. The president of DMU distanced the university from the plastinations labs by claiming the labs operates on its own budget. The incident will be covered by an ABC 20/20 program to be aired on Friday Feb 15, 2008.

Big Bang near Guangzhou Last Night

Chinese Internet surfers reported hearing three big explosions last night. It seems the explosion happened in Sanshui, a town in Foshan, close to Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province. The official Foshan Daily reported it was a firework warehouse. All four security guards were able to get out safely with one minor injury. Fireworks can be see from the picture published by the Foshan Daily.

From one of the pictures posted by an Internet user on the left, it seems to be explosions behind a barbwire fence. Some online forum posts suggested it might not be a simple warehouse accident because:
1) The scale of the explosion is huge. Glasses were broken on buildings more than 1 mile from the explosion; steel doors bended; and ceiling tiles dropped;
2) Many claimed they heard sound similar to jet engine approaching around the time of the explosions;
3) Online discussions about this accident were deleted by moderators;
Some suspected the firework published by the Foshan Daily was digitally created. Some even suggested a military base was attacked by either Taiwan or the US, and the CCP government decided to cover it up. Some suggested the town was visited by UFOs. Perhaps, the essential and probably more important issue here is: whatever the truth it may be, it may never be known, until independent journalism can survive in China.

Whale Slaughtering Photos Shocked Australians

Australians were shocked when they saw the photo of a whale and its calf were dragged in a Japanese whaling ship. The picture was taken by an Australian customs ship Oceanic Viking on an official mission of monitoring and evidence collecting targeting Japanese while hunting activities in the Australian declared While Sanctuary. The Australian government, with a moral burden carried over by pre-election promise to protect the whale sanctuary, plans to bring legal action against the Japanese whaling practices.

Despite the fact that many whales, such as fin whales were on the list of endangered animals to be preserved and that Japan was a signature country of the international treaty, Japan continue to send whale hunting fleet escorted by armed coast guard warships.

The ICR of Japan issued a statement on its website disputed Australian media's description of the two whales in the picture as mother and its calf. The ICR claimed that the two whales were 'random samples' of varied size whales in a research program in order to get accurate statistic data (as the banner over the whaling ship read). However, spokesman of Peter Garrett, the Australian environment minister claimed to have received independent scientific advise saying they were in fact related.

On the other hand, the Japanese government threatened that if they had too much hassle in continuing the scientific research, they could withdraw with the treaty and start commercial whaling overnight. The majority of Japanese support whaling. "What about lambs?" angry Japanese asked western journalists.

China's Big Chill

China's Big Chill
--What are the causes and why does it matter?

Half of China had been in a mess in the past two weeks. It started as a heavy snow in the south, which was rare. However, what made the biggest natural disaster is the frozen rain following the snow. Millions of people mostly migrant workers who went home for the traditional Spring Festival were stuck either at train stations (those who were lucky) or in the middle of no where along frozen railways and highways.

The head of the China Meteorological Administration apologized to the public for not forecasting the bad weather to its full extend. However, it's never easy to forecast any humanitarian disaster, especially when it is compounded by many seemingly unrelated factors.

The butterfly effect started when the national electricity company agreed on a price raise asked by the coal companies in the once a year negotiation before the winter heating season. It usually works in a way that the state council will agree on a subsequent price raise on electricity. It didn't work as expected. Under mounting pressure to stable retail price on consumer goods, the state council denied electricity company's request to raise retail electricity price. That is not exactly a disaster, but it made their profit paper thin. The electricity companies scrambled to fight the decision by making a case that they are having trouble with this new price structure. Many plants did not stock up coal storage before the winter season, and instead limiting its output wherever they see fit. TV channels and newspapers are flooded with reports of shortage of electricity. Electricity companies wished it could change the state council's mind.

And it came the perfect winter storm. The storm cut the fragile transportation network in south China. The rail system had just been upgraded to electricity system. With touch cables frozen by ice, electricity engines could no longer work. The highway system was also frozen because there's no deicing equipment at all. Airports were all frozen too. Some power transit towers were brought down, partially by the unexpected storm, and partially by poor design and construction.

As a result, a large part of China, the more active part of China is stuck in the situation that transportations were dead waiting electricity to drive. Power plants couldn't generate electricity as they do not have fuel, plus power transit towers collapsed. In the mean time, millions of people are living in the dark and drink snow collected along the road. However, what caught the headline of every newspaper is the millions of migrant workers stuck in the railway stations and on the road home for the Spring Festival.

It's a BIG deal.

It's a HUGE deal, nothing bigger to Chinese than going back home in the Spring Festival, nothing, especially to the migrant workers from rural China and work in the southern cities. They work the whole year for the day to go back home. If they couldn't, they would be mad, literally. With millions living in the dark in their cold homes and millions going insane on the street with nothing on their heads, it came the largest humanitarian disaster in modern China.

Don't Help That Old Lady!!!!

Do not help that old lady, especially if she is from Jiangsu Province.

The old lady made a scene and created a road block near the officer resort of 23rd Army Group in Huashanwan in Zhenjiang of Jiangsu Province around 6:30 pm on January 23, 2008. The girl in red coat crying was a middle school student. When she saw an old lady (right in yellowish parka) stumped after being hit by another cyclist, she came forward to help the old lady. She was astounded when the old lady grabbed her and asked for medical compensations. The old lady claimed that the girl hit her, and that unless the girl paid some money she would not let the girl go. Being shocked, the girl could do nothing but crying. As shown by the picture, the old lady grabbed the girl's bike so that the girl couldn't go.

Fortunately, it was a busy time and there were many witnesses who saw the whole incident. The old lady was surrounded by angry people who demanded her to let the girl go. The old lady refused and kept demanding money from the poor girl.

Soon some journalists rushed to the scene. The old lady was not embarrassed a bit. She even posed to have pictures taken by photo reporters.

Then the police arrived, and released the girl after collecting witnesses' testimonies.

Encouraged by the absurd sentencing in the Nanjing calabash monk case, old ladies in Jiangsu are mobilized to set up traps and maliciously sue whoever helps them. Not everyone is as well informed. It's such a pity for the poor girl to learn her first lesson of reality in such a cold and cruel way, but she's so fortunate to have dozens of witnesses willing to testify on her side. In the Nanjing case, the old lady's son is a police officer. At least two police officer investigating that case gave false testimony (even after caught by TV cameras) to the court. We could only assume the Zhenjiang old lady did not have a cop son.

The words are out though. Last week in Yangzhou, another city in the Jiangsu Province, a young man helped an old lady to stand up after she fell on a slippery ice. Then a friend with him yelled to him 'don't, she will sue you if you help her!'. The young man dropped the old lady in confusion and immediately ran away. The old lady who was otherwise fine at the moment broke her leg.

Michigan Denied Driver's Licnese to Non-Resident Aliens

The State of Michigan just announced that it would ban driver's license to all foreigners on temporary visa, including foreign students who hold F1 visa and foreign high tech workers who hold H1-B visa. This is a big slap on the face to the large Chinese scholars and engineers working in this ailing state supported by the wheels made in Detroit. The message is clear, that they are not welcomed and they should have packed and left or just leave now.

It's a smart move by State Attorney General Mike Cox to appeal to the white trash dominated auto worker state for cheap votes. It probably won't hurt the local economy or even research much. As the single state to expel foreign talents blindly, Michigan will probably do fine by absorbing American talents from all other states. As pointed out by the Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land, the state government will be able to focus on serving American residents more efficiently rather than wasting time being confused on all kinds of paperwork (of those legal aliens).

This will not be a good idea, however, if other States joint the suit. It is no secret that American people can enjoy their living standard and style only because the American economy can exploit almost all other economy entities in world wide business and trade. It's a simple fact that any natural population can't produce enough talents to sustain this trends by its own. Unlike other challenges the US is facing, such as the Iraq war, this kind of measure has far deep reaching eroding effects on the US's future. The war may bankrupt American account ultimately, but the rejection of foreign talents is draining American's blood.

Den Lille Pige med Svovlstikkerne

January 20th, 2008, Guiyang. An eight years old girl struck a match to warm up her fingers in below zero temperature. She and two similar age friends collect garbage on the street despite chilling wind. "I like match, it's bright and warm", "but it doesn't last long".

Guiyang is the capital city of Guizhou Province in southwestern China.