Southern Rebellions Labelled As Such

The Central Government listened to demands from the Southern Weekend editors and reporters, and ruled against them.

Further more, the protests over Mr. Tuo Zhen, the provincial Censor Czar in Guangdong, was labelled as insubordinate. 'Overseas enemy forces' was cited as the black hand behind the social turmoil. This is very close to calling it a treasonous act.

In a sense, the timing and the trigger of the rebellion are puzzling. Censorship is no secret in China. People on left and right see the censorship critical to the survival of the regime. You won't believe a regime can last forever on lies, but you know it faces immanent collapse without telling lies. Anyone really expect the CCP to give up on censorship and sign its own death warrant?

Before pro-democracy intellectuals went all in on this otherwise routinary offense to civil liberty, how did they anticipate it to unfold? It seems there is no counter measure at all after the central government made the decision, and the paper was left high and dry. Pig Bay?

Blaer

Jefferson once warned that, 'the natural progress of things is for Liberty to yield and Government to gain ground.'

People in Iceland have plenty to choose from regarding a baby's name. Specifically, 1,712 names for boys and 1,853 for girls. One girl, Blaer Bjarkardottir has been fighting this pointless regulation for 15 years because her chosen name 'Blaer' was not approved. In Icelandic, 'Blaer' means 'light breeze'. For 15 years, and until a resolution can be reached, Blare does not have a name, for real. In all of her official documents, such as school records, banking, passport, Blaer are referred to as 'Stulka (a girl)'.

Chinese, on the other hand, enjoy broad freedom in name choices.

On the other hand, the 'Southern Weekends', an influential newspaper is protesting censorship to its special new year's edition. After the paper had been sent to the printing plant, the Propaganda Department of Guangdong Province made a number of major changes, on the title, the package, the editorial and many reports. None of the reporters and editors were informed of these changes. Some employees who discussed these online found their Weibo accounts suspended.

"Even during the Occupation, Japs did not write editorial for Chinese newspaper," commented a reader.

For a while, it seemed the Xi-Li administration was bringing in new hope since they assumed the reign as new generation Party leaders last November. The 'light breeze' of the power transition lasted less than a month.

Update: At the daily press brief held by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on January 4th, spokeswoman Hua Chunying stated there was no news censorship in China, in response to a question regarding the 'Southern Weekends incident' from a Japanese reporter.

Dog See Mother Cooked

A Witness reported a shop owner killed and cooked a pet dog on the sidewalk in front of his shop. The female dog is the mother of the white puppy on the right. The puppy tried to see what happened to his mother, but was kicked away several times. The puppy saw his mother was killed and processed and then cooked from a few yards away. It's possible that the shop owner decided only one dog is needed to watch the shop.

The witness sighed the puppy was like the Chinese people under the communist rule.

The picture was taken in Haizhu District, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province at 1:10 am on March 17, 2012.

Chinese Police BBQ Cats on Street

A group of Chinese police officers were seen barbecuing cats on road side. A reporter of the Southern Metropolitan took this photo on 12/21/2011, in front of the office building of the Patrol Unit of the Hongmei Police Bureau in Dongguan City of Guangdong Province.

An undercover reporter was dispatched after alerted by residents nearby. The officers told the reporter they caught the cat a moment ago. 20 minutes later, they walked in the police office building with the cooked cat.

Oversea High School a Hoax

The Seagull reported a China sponsored charter school in California turned out a hoax, possibility fraud.

Although extensively carried by Chinese media, notable the official Xinhua News, and cheered as an iconic step in extending China's soft influence to the US, no reference in English other than from the allegedly founding organization Chemax Education Foundation can be found. The 'Opening Ceremony' was held in a country club, and the brochure was about another school in construction, Hillcrest High School, a regular school. Mike Simonson, executive director of business services of the Alvord Unified School Board in the Riverside County clarified there was no agreement nor talk in progress regarding the purported Chinese school, 'it is not true, it is fraud'. Simonson stressed in an email that there had been no partnership in written or in verbal.

A more in-depth report

Guangdong Experimental High School in the USA

Guangdong Experimental High School traces its root to the 1872 preparation school for US studies, where 100 Chinese learned English before embracing their journeys in colleges and universities across the US, the first batch of Chinese students in the US.

Last week, a brand new school in Riverside, California celebrated completion of campus. According to Xinhua News, the charter school is funded by the Federal Government and the Chemax Education Foundation. It is most likely not true, as the Federal Government does not usually have a direct involvement in local education.

Among expected 1,300 enrollment, 90% will be from local while 10% coming overseas. In the first class, 180-220 will come from overseas, with 10 from China. The tuition for international students will bee 20% cheaper than private schools in the area.

update

Hitachi Refused to Fix Troubling Elevator

A newly elevator installed in Building 11 in No. 1 Wanjiang of Dongguan, Guangdong made several residents hospitalized, though no one had died of it, yet.

An incomplete record of the symptoms includes:

19:20 July 7, 2009, Lost power and dropped;
17:00 July 10, 2009, Dropped from 8th floor to 7th while ascending;
14:00 July 11, 2009, Dropped from 6th floor to second while ascending;
21:30 July 13, 2009, Dropped from 9th floor to 7th while ascending;
13:25 July 15, 2009, Dropped from 7th floor to 5th while ascending;
8:50 July 21, 2009, Lost power and dropped

The Hitachi elevator, among 35 others in the community, is still within warranty. The property managing company had reported to Hitachi repeatedly, and Hitachi had revealed the surveillance camera of dropping incidences. However, Hitachi couldn't locate the cause of the problem, and refused to fix it.

Chinese consumers often complained the handling Chinese market by Japanese companies. In a high profile case, Mitsubishi refused to recall SUVs sold in China on a fuel line issue after similar mode vehicles had been recalled in Japan. Although large amount of the affected SUVs were used by the Chinese military, Mitsubishi resisted the media pressure and public outcry to issue the recall.

Missing Children Parents Marched to Protest Guangdong Government

Parents of missing children in Dongguan marched at noon on April 18, 2009 to protest the government's inaction in stopping child abductions, a lucrative local business in south China.

According to a loosely organized group of missing parents who are actively looking for their kids, more than 1000 children had been abducted since year 2007 in the city of Dongguan, and more than 500 happened in 2008 alone. Many were taken away from their mother's arms by force in public. In one day October 18, 2008, more than 20 boys were abducted in town of Qingxi of Dongguan.

Toddlers and infants, especially boys were taken and sold to be slaves. Many would have their arms and legs amputated eyes blinded, and be used as beggars. They would then be trained and placed in busy intersections in large cities. Physically disabled kids usually draw more donations from sympathetic passerbys.

Dongguan police said they did not have specific numbers on missing children cases, and whatever numbers the parents are using must be exaggerated. The missing parents showed reporters their detailed names and family contacts of all cases registered voluntarily by parents looking for their kids. Nobody knows the real number, but it could only be larger than what has been known.

The Communist Party Boss in Guangdong Province is Mr. Wang Yang. Wang is known for his steadfast stance of local economy first.

Yet Another Olympic Fake Show

A Chinese student of Stanford University set sail across the Pacific Ocean to cheer for the Beijing Olympic Games. Not long before she admitted in her blog that she did not even have enough money to go beyond California coast. Rather, she was hoping someone would take over the project after the PR stun. The student claimed to be a resident of former Shunde, a rural county in Guangdong province, and the act was to promote for name recognition of Shunde.

Shunde became very prosperous after being designated as a test area of the 'Reform and Open Door' policy. It was also known for sweat labor factory and business fraud. The stun pulled by the student is yet another fake show associated with Shunde. If Shunde people truly believe any publicity is good thing, at least they got another bad name this time. Shunde has been an affluent community thanks to it's low tech junk and illegal slave worker business. Many people use products manufactured in Shunde without realizing it because most stuff made in Shunde would not labeled as such because it is either too bad a product itself or an illegal knock off. Now, it is finally put on the map.

Great Expectations

Two girls were working on homework under street lights in Shenzhen, a prosperous southern city in Guangdong Province. Without parents to take care of them, the sisters have no money for basic living expense. Their landlord is nice enough to allow them continuing living in their current home although they have no money to pay, but cut the electricity so that they have to do their homework on the street. There is no money for food. Some neighbors will give them leftover, in some days, then the bigger sister will feed the younger one before she eats. Some days, there is nothing to eat.

They are still in school, the Shangwen School of Dalang Street, Baoan District, Shenzhen. The elder sister's name is Ou Jiaxin, in Grade Two. The younger sister's name is Ou Jiawang, in Grade One. The sisters love their animal dolls, and love to take pictures with them. When they go to bed in a dark cold night, they feel safe with their rabbit and monkey dolls.

The Seagull with them Great Expectations. source

Policeman Beaten by Angered Citizens

Four Guangdong policemen were beaten by angered citizens who witnessed the police drowned a man who alleged drove an motorcycle without a license.


On March 7, 2008 in Taishan, Guangdong. Four policemen stopped a guy who alleged drove a motorcycle without a license plate. It's quite common in rural area that farmers do not register their motorcycles to save registration fees. The guy fled on foot with police chasing after him. Later he jumped in a river, trying to swim across, but then one policeman got to the other side, and cornered him back to the center of the river. The man got tired after a while, and started yelling for help. There was a fishing boat close by, but the police threatened arresting the fisherman if he dare to rescue the man in water. At the end the man drawn as the fisherman, police and hundreds of people watching. When the head of the man disappeared from the surface, many bystanders (mostly students getting off school) were angered and beat the shit out of the police. Tens of thousands of people protested on the street while thousands of police were sent to the scene in the days to follow.

The dead man was a farmer in Natai Village of Fenrui Township, a 52 years old veteran with a teenage son. A similar incident happened last November in Huzhou, Zhejiang. A driver was chased by police into river and drowned. Thousands protested and burned police vehicles. Although there's no media coverage of such incidents, popular usage of cell phones and video sharing sites make information control an even daunting job for the communism government.

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.

Pig Ban in Dongguan

Dongguan, Guangdong bans pig farming beginning January 1, 2009. The major concern behind the highly controversial decision is said to be the pollution caused by pig defecation. It is no longer a secret that China is suffering a crisis of pork shortage. Pork being the main source of animal protein for most Chinese is touching every normal people's life as gas to commuter Americans. For the first time in many years China imported a sizable load of pork from the US. However the import pork is beyond price range of 99.97% of Chinese people.

In history, pig defecation was not a source of pollution, but rather a key booster for organic agriculture. However, processing pig defecation became a burden for farmers when the price of chemical fertilizer dropped to near zero. Unprocessed pig poops strained the local pollution control effort, which had already been running in the red zone because of the fast growing industries. To the end, it's cheaper for the Dongguan government to purchase pork from other areas, and leaves the precious pollution facilities to industrial growth. A quick Googling dug out an interesting blog about using pig poop to control industrial waste water polluted by heavy metals. Coincidently, the major type of industrial waste in Dongguan is that of heavy metals.

In less than a month, Dongguan people will be cooking pork from some other (remote poor) areas of China, where people don't really care about pollution.

Dongguan, a tiny town unknown to outside Guangzhou 30 years ago, grew into a satellite city of Guangzhou in the 90s, and now a mega-city of more than 10 million people of its own.

3 Year Old Girl Killed Under Mother's Watch

A three year-old girl was killed by a driver while her mother was watching. The incident happened on May 31, 2007, one day before the International Children's Day celebrated by Chinese children.

According to eye witnesses, a busy market place in Baiyun District of Guangzhou, the mother and daughter was playing at the market when a car knocked down the girl, but then the driver backed up and ran over the 3 year old girl the second time. Then the driver tried to fled by foot, but was subdued by angry witnesses in the market.

Last week, another driver was sentenced to 5 years jail time for ran over an old lady 5 times, a crime happened to be recorded by a surveillances camera. Some Chinese drivers said they would prefer to kill a person than to injure one because of possible long term medical costs. Drivers who kill a person usually only pay a $1000 flat fee.

Courts Adopted New Sentencing Guideline

Courts of Dongguan in Guangdong province adopted a new sentencing guideline which takes monetary compensation to victims into criminal case. Chen Si of the Dongguan Medium Court explained the new guideline in a recent interview. Chen used a case to illustrate the benefit of the new guideline. In a fatal robber case, the murder Wang paid $6,000 to the victim Cai's family. The money helped the victim's family out of financial desperation. The victim's family was quite satisfied, so the sentence was subsequently reduced to life in jail.

$6,000 means a lot for a poor family.

Dongguan was a little know county of Guangzhou not long ago. However, it grows into one of the most prosperous area as a mega industrial park. It's GDP would ranked top 5 among major cities in China.