Unbearable Burdens

Chinese portal website Sina.com announced that it would censor users who posted inaccurate messages. For example, if a user posted 'The area was struck by an earthquake 2 minutes ago', while the stamp showed 2.3 minutes according to the official earthquake time released by the USGS, then it would be considered an 'inaccurate' message.

It looks like that Sina took an unbearable burden on its back. Was it a commitment Sina was willing to make, that all uncensored messages were 'accurate'?

A draft of the revised criminal procedure law contains a newly added clause which granted the prosecution power to secretly detain five categories of people for six month without telling their families. These groups include persons that are considered dangerous, anti-government, suicidal, etc.

As a matter of fact, the new law granted police power to 'make disappear' anyone they do not like without court order thus justice procedures. The authority may feel it suited their life for now, but the measure would prove an unbearable burden in the long run. Soon, families of every disappeared person would automatically believe their loved ones were taken away by the government. Think of that.

QA888 Skipped Crash after Declaring Mayday in Shanghai

August 13, 2011, originally Pudong bound QR888, a 777-300ER, declared Mayday after waiting more than an hour at alternate airport Hongqiao due to weather condition at the original airport. On its way was a crew with a female Korean captain piloting HO1112, an A320. The Korean Captain refused to give out the descending path.

The Air Traffic Control begged the Korean woman repeatedly to no vain. Later, the crew said they were also short in fuel. After both plane were on the ground, it was measure the Korean captain still has more than 3 tons of fuel.

In more than 100 years of Chinese civil aviation, this was the first time an airplane refused to get out the way to a Mayday declaration. Due to shortage of pilots, China hired a large amount of foreign pilots. Incidentally, the Korean Captain made a real history in China.

EFF Told CISCO Stop Helping Communism Regime Abuse Human Rights

One unique characteristic of high tech companies in the Internet era was their conscience awareness. Google's unofficial 'do no evil' earned them not only reputation and respect, but businesses.

However, there are a few exceptions. One is Yahoo, the other is Cisco. Both earned commissions on helping the communism regime in detecting and putting human rights activists in jail.

Electronic Frontier Foundation launched a campaign to tell Cisco: Stop Helping China Abuse Human Rights.

Tell Cisco: Stop helping China abuse human rights!

Chinese dissident writer Du Daobin may face imprisonment and torture for trying to hold Cisco accountable. Urge Cisco Systems to intervene on Mr. Du's behalf and to stop helping China abuse human rights. Sign our petition now!

Reports indicate that networking giant Cisco Systems, Inc., an American company based in Silicon Valley, has been knowingly selling Internet surveillance and censorship tools to the Chinese government for years. The Chinese government's "Great Firewall" prevents Internet users in China from accessing much of the Internet, including online references to Tiananmen Square and the Jasmine Revolution, as well as social media sites like Facebook. In addition to blocking access to information, these tools have enabled the Chinese government to spy on its citizens and may include special customization to target individuals working to protect human rights and build democracy in China.

Du Daobin, a dissident writer in China, was reportedly detained and interrogated by the Chinese government specifically about a lawsuit he and other Chinese dissidents brought against Cisco. In June 2011, the activists sued Cisco and a number of Cisco executives in the United States District Court in Maryland for their "knowing and willful aiding and abetting of the Chinese government's harassment, arrest, and torture of Chinese political activists."

According to his lawyers,

Mr. Du's persecution began in 2003, when he was arrested while his house was raided by Chinese authorities. On June 11, 2004, he was charged with "inciting to subvert state power" and was sentenced to three years in prison for posting pro-democracy articles online. Instead of immediately serving that sentence, he was placed under probation for four years, after which it was determined that he violated the terms of his probation and was then forced to serve his original three year prison sentence. During his imprisonment, Mr. Du was subjected to extreme physical and psychological torture. By the time of his release in 2010, Du was suffering from extreme malnutrition, cardiac issues, could no longer walk without assistance, and was dependent on a wheelchair.

We believe Mr. Du has since been released, but he still faces the possibility of more imprisonment and torture for challenging an American company's policies and speaking out against censorship. Help us defend this political activist, and call on American companies to defend human rights rather than selling the tools of repression! Sign our petition to tell Cisco to intervene on behalf of Mr. Du and to commit to standing up for human rights.

An in-depth discussion of the background o this case can be found at EFF's site by clicking here.

Gallery Exhibit Canceled

If you like the drawings of a 10 years old boy, so do I.

Alas, a planned gallery exhibit at the http://www.juelab.com/">Jue Lab of Shanghai was canceled in the last minute, because the boy's father committed a crime.  Xia Jianqiang's father Xia Junfeng was a peddler in Shenyang.  When he was beaten by a gang of para-police for no-reason, he managed to fight back and killed one of the mobs accidentally.  Although lawyers across the nation rushed to stand for his defense, Xia was sentenced to death.

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in China, Wang Shengjun, spoke on a seminar for chief judges of middle-level court that whether or not to impose a capital punishment should not rely on the law.  "It should reflect people's willingness", said Chief Justice Wang.

W-h-a-t are t-h-e-y afraid of?

University of Hong Kong Celebrated 100th Anniversary

University of Hong Kong celebrated its 100th anniversary. Vice Premier Li Keqiang visited the campus under heavy security. Students protesting were blocked and some detained.

They say a picture worth a thousand words. What kind of idiot will in a chair like that in a university? Chinese are proud of a history with deep rooted respect for academia scholars. Former Premier Zhou Enlai was reported never took car to his alma matar. Each time he would stepped out of the car a few blocks away, and walked in the campus on foot. In ancient time, at intersection of road leading to any major academy, there would be a pole line where officials must tie their horses (and walk to the campus) in respect. Again, what an idiot will sit in a chair like that in a university?

People in Hong Kong should reflect whether they want the current administration to lead the premier university.

Clash between two basketball teams, tanks not used

The game between PLA's August 1st and Georgetown University's Hoyas halted abruptly when the players, assistants and coaches all took part in a brawl. From the video, people were chasing after each other in gangs, and slap faces with chairs.

It's puzzling as to why the Athletic Department of Georgetown University arranged the game with a military personnel. Every member of the August 1st ('Bayi' in Chinese pronunciation) team are active duty officers. The People's Liberation Army has an 'army' of entertainers in active duty, many holding ranks as high as generals (for example, major general Liu Min, a dancer). Most of the military athletes were recruited in their early teens. Subsequently they missed all school educations and would barely read in future life as adults. Rest assured, these officers never touched a gun or went through a boot camp training. The bright side is they never need to worry about their future, as the military will make arrangement for them. The down side is that they do not have freedom to quit.

The big problem is we usually were told to learn from our opponents. What could students athletes learn from the game with a bunch of zombies who couldn't think and couldn't read?

Being sarcastic, what had happened to PLA's tanks? Last time when Chinese students disagreed, the PLA were not shy to sent in tanks to crush Chinese students in the Tian'anmen Square.

Huang Huixian Released After 5 Days of Secret Jailtime

25 years old Lawyer Huang Huixian was released after five days of secret detainment. Huang was kidnapped by the police without announcement nor paperwork 5 days ago after she posted a message saying she was in preparation to file a legal complain against the spokeswoman Ms. Jiang Yu of the Foreign Affairs Ministry.

On March 3, 2011, during an official weekly press conference, Ms. Jiang Yu informed foreign and domestic reporters that no law can be cited to shield them from questioning the government (China Media Project at Hong Kong University, Wall Street Journal, China Digital Space). Her words triggered immediate criticism on the Internet among Chinese citizens. These words was not included in the transcript archive on the Foreign Affairs Ministry's website.

Huang Huixian said she believed Ms. Jiang Yu's words violated Chinese constitution, which protect people from prosecution and oppression when they behave within the boundary of law. Huang accused Jiang of toying around laws in a public capacity.

The Seagull did not see this lawsuit going anywhere in Chinese justice system. There is no constitution court in China. The Supreme Court is an approximate of super-high federal appeal court. Occasionally the People's Congress interpreted the law. The Seagull was not even sure which court would take such a case. By all means, Huang's legal complaint is a mild reminder that officials should take published laws more seriously. By all means, and with illegitimate reasons, any court in China can throw the complaint out and put an end to it.

Still, the authority employed the unimaginable approach. Some secret police kidnapped Ms. Huang without any paperwork, and detained her in an undisclosed location. In five days, Ms. Huang went through 'hell', as she recollected. Ms. Huang was tortured and humiliated non-stop by groups of secret police taking shift. Huang did not repeat details, but mentioned any girl would rather be killed.

Another female lawyer 44 years old Li Tiantian said the same when she was released after a 6 month secret detainment. To crush her mind, in one instance, the police forced her boyfriend's sister in law to watch her sex tape, which was secretly taped by police in hotel.