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.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Top 10 Chinese Internet Events in 2008
1) Push up
2) Buying Soy Sauce;
3) Five Times Better;
4) To be Suicides;
5) Very Yellow, Very Violent
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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