November 2006 Archives
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
28 November 2006
A leading international rights organization and exiled Muslim dissident Rebiya Kadeer have condemned China for targeting her children.
Kadeer's youngest son, Alimu Ahbudurimu, have been sentenced to seven years for tax evasion, while another son, Kahaer Ahbudurimu, has been found guilty of the same charges, but was spared a jail term.
A third son, Ablikim Abdureyim, is facing subversion charges.
Kadeer linked the persecution of her sons to her election as president of the Germany-based World Uyghur Congress on November 26.
Amnesty International denounced a "pattern of threats and harassment" against the families of human rights activists in China.
Kadeer is a leading figure in the movement to defend the rights of the Uyghur people, a Turkic-speaking Muslim minority in northwestern China that is believed to number about 8 million.
She was jailed for five years for having given state secrets to foreigners before being sent into exile in the United States in 2005.
By HUMAN RIGHTS IN CHINA
published on September 11, 2006
Human Rights in China (HRIC) is alarmed by the Measures for Administering the Release of News and Information in China by Foreign News Agencies (Measures) issued on September 10, 2006 by China’s official Xinhua News Agency. These far-reaching new measures, effective immediately, replace previous 1996 regulations that only dealt specifically with “economic information.”
“These Measures are an authoritarian attempt to control news and information dissemination and the access of China’s users to uncensored news and information,” said Sharon Hom, HRIC Executive Director. “The Measures reflect an intensification of hard-line information control. It is not an approach that respects individuals’ freedom of expression, a free press and information transparency. It also breaches Beijing’s commitment to allow journalists to freely cover the Olympic Games in 2008. These latest Measures sound a wake-up call to the international community that a closed, state-controlled Olympics is on the horizon.”
The Measures list the types of information that may not be released. These include news and information that may endanger China's national security, reputation and interests, that violates China's religious policies or promote “evil cults” or superstition, and other content banned by Chinese laws and administrative regulations. “These Measures, both comprehensive and vague, echo the language in the PRC State Security and State Secrets laws. It provides yet another legal tool for censoring activities of not only foreign news organizations, but also of all civil society groups engaged in information dissemination. Removing this information from the public arena, information that is necessary for the PRC government and civil society alike to address serious social issues and corruption, only serves to stymie efforts to build a more transparent and accountable government,” said Hom. “These Measures will seriously undermine the ability of international media and other groups to report from and on China.”
The Measures also give the power to select news for release solely to Xinhua, and prohibit foreign news agencies from directly soliciting subscribers. The Measures specifically state that they also apply to the release of news and information inside mainland China by agencies in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Macao Special Administrative Region and Taiwan. “Not only the international press community but also IT companies should be very alarmed by these Measures,” said Hom. “Companies that think they can benefit from the China market, and that China users can subscribe to their news and information services in a ‘free-market’ manner, should think again!”
A full English translation of the Measures is posted on People’s Daily Online: http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200609/10/eng20060910_301349.html
By Tsering Tashi (Office of Tibet, London)| World Tibet Network News
Published by the Canada Tibet Committee
November 24, 2006
LONDON, 24 November: An Early Day Motion under the title "Unlawful shooting of Tibetans" was tabled in the House of Commons (Lower Chamber of the British parliament) on Tuesday. The EDM or Early Day Motions number 227 that strongly condemned "the brutal and unlawful shooting by the Chinese People's Armed Police of a group of unarmed innocent civilian Tibetans fleeing Chinese occupied Tibet when crossing the border at the Nangpa La on 30th September 2006" was introduced by member of parliament, Mr. Harry Cohen, and supported by 18 MPs. Mr. Cohen, who belongs to the ruling Labour Party is also the chairman of the UK All Party Parliamentary Group for Tibet.
The EDM is a formal motion given by a Member of Parliament to put on record their opinion on a particular issue and draw the attention and support of other members of the parliament. Although there is little prospect of EDMs being debated, many attract a great deal of public interest and frequently receive media coverage.
In the case of the current shooting of Tibetans trying to cross the Tibet-Nepal border, the media coverage worldwide has been extensive because this time, unlike in the past, it happened to be witnessed by several Western mountainers. The official Chinese version that their soldiers had fired at the Tibetans in "self-defence" therefore remained badly exposed when the world saw disturbing images of the actual shooting as filmed by the Roman TV cameraman and broadcast on the Romanian TV in the report: "Video footage of Nangpa Pass shooting refutes official Chinese statement". The BBC and other global TV networks have used the same footage.
The EDM noted that the incident "resulted in the murder of a 17 year old nun Kelsang Namtso, the subsequent death of one further Tibetan and the arrest of around 30 Tibetans including children under 10 years old". It urged the Chinese government "to conduct a full investigation into this incident and to ensure further that those responsible for any crimes committed are brought to justice, to give a formal assurance that such abhorrent and unacceptable acts will not happen again, to account for and release any Tibetans arrested as a result of this event and to confirm China's commitment to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights".
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS | The New York Times
November 25, 2006
BEIJING (AP) -- A Chinese AIDS activist who was organizing a symposium to help people with the disease fight for their legal rights has gone missing after meeting with police, his advocacy group said Saturday.
Although Beijing launched a more open and energetic fight against AIDS two years ago, the apparent disappearance of the activist, Wan Yanhai, highlights the government's lingering antipathy toward its more outspoken critics.
Four police officers showed up at the Beijing offices of the AIDS advocacy group Aizhi on Friday and questioned Wan for much of the day, the group said on its Web site.
With police still present, Wan ordered colleagues to cancel a symposium on AIDS, blood safety and legal rights that had been scheduled for Sunday, the group's statement said.
Wan spoke briefly with a colleague Friday evening on his cell phone but has not been heard from since, the statement said.
''The colleague asked Wan Yanhai his whereabouts, and Wan Yanhai replied that he was being questioned. Since then, his colleagues and family have lost contact with Wan Yanhai,'' the group said. Wan's phone has been switched off.
Wan has been one of China's most dogged campaigners for AIDS awareness and effective public health policies. He has frequently angered the Communist government, which had long ignored the spread of the disease. Wan has also drawn harassment from the police.
By Edward Cody | The Washington Post
November 24, 2006
ZHENGZHOU, China -- A tide of more than 30,000 students with polished résumés and high hopes surged into a job fair here so eager to meet with employers that they shattered four glass doors and splayed the side walls of an escalator in what became a near riot.
As the crowd of youths swelled out of control, students and security guards said, police tried to beat back the throng but to no avail. Pushing, screaming and climbing over one another, the students charged on, heading for the booths inside the Zhongyuan International Exhibition Center, where company recruiters waited with the keys to China's new economy.
"You didn't even need to walk in the main hall, because people were sweeping you along all the time," said Hou Shuangshuang, 23, an e-commerce major with long hair who was among the students who overflowed the job fair when it opened Sunday. "At some points, your feet couldn't even touch the ground."
Hou and her classmates from Zhengzhou University, along with students from other schools in this Henan province city about 500 miles south of Beijing, provided a dramatic example of rising anxiety over employment among millions of Chinese students. After years in which graduates were ensured of a good job in the fast-growing economy, the number of degree-holders has outstripped the number of jobs, and the guarantees have evaporated.
"I don't think we have a very bright future," said Yu Honghua, 23, another e-commerce major at Zhengzhou University who shoved her way into the fair. "I saw only one company that needed students who majored in e-commerce, and they just needed one person."
By BBC World News
November 20, 2006
A senior Chinese official has made a rare admission about the extent of the use of torture in getting convictions in China's courts
Wang Zhenchuan, Deputy Procurator General, said at least 30 wrong verdicts were handed down each year because torture had been used.
Mr Wang said the real number could be higher, according to state media.
Confidence in China's justice system has been seriously undermined by recent high-profile wrongful convictions.
A butcher executed for murder in 1989 was proved innocent when his alleged victim was found alive, while a man was freed after 11 years in jail when his wife, whom he was accused of killing, was also found alive.
Mr Wang's unusually frank comments appeared to be part of a campaign to tackle problems in the judicial system, and shore up public trust.
He said suspects' rights needed to be protected by stopping the use of illegal interrogations involving the use of torture.
He said illegal interrogation existed to "some extent" in local judicial practice.
"Nearly every wrongful verdict in recent years is involved in illegal interrogation," he said, according to the official Xinhua news agency.
Change of tack
China outlawed torture in 1996, but a UN special envoy on torture, Manfred Nowak, said last year it remained widespread.
Mr Nowak, who spent two weeks in the country, said torture methods included electric shock batons, cigarette burns, and submersion in pits of water or sewage.
China rarely admits publicly to weaknesses in its judicial system.
But correspondents say the recent high-profile mistakes appear to have prompted a change of thinking.
In January, Mr Wang said China was to begin recording police interviews in workplace-related crimes to stop confessions being extracted through torture.
And last month, China's parliament approved a law allowing only the country's top court to approve death sentences - a move designed to stop serious abuses in lower level courts.
By Daniel Nolan | The Hamilton Spectator
November 21, 2006
Though it hasn't altered his plight, the wife and lawyer of a Burlington man held by China are taking comfort his imprisonment was raised in a meeting between Prime Minister Stephen Harper and China's president.
Chris MacLeod, lawyer for Huseyin Celil and his wife, Kamila Telendibaeva, said he didn't expect Harper's meeting with Hu Jintao in Hanoi on the weekend to immediately produce results, but he called it "a quantum shift" that the prime minister raised the situation.
"I'm absolutely pleased that he did," said MacLeod, who spoke to officials from the Prime Minister's Office yesterday. "I think the important message was that at the highest levels of this government, the Canadian government, this is a top priority.
"Nothing's changed, but I think the change is -- message sent, message received. I think China knows this is something that is a top priority and they need to deal with it to deal with Canada."
Celil, 37, has been in Chinese custody since the end of June. The father of six was accused of terrorist activities, but his family and friends say he's being persecuted because he's a member of the Uyghur minority group.
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS | The New York Times
November 20, 2006
China assailed the United States on Monday for listing it as a country that violates religious freedoms. The State Department list released last week included China among Myanmar, North Korea, Eritrea, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Sudan as places where people cannot practice their faiths freely.
''The United States' action violates the basic rules of international relations, and constitutes a rude intervention in the internal affairs of another country,'' Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Jiang Yu said.
''We demand the United States respect the truth, and stop interfering in China's internal affairs under the pretext of religion,'' Jiang said in a statement posted on the ministry's Web site.
John V. Hanford III, U.S. ambassador for international religious freedom, said China has seen ''a little progress'' but ''certainly has not made the sort of progress that we need to see in a systemic way to remove them'' from the list.
The State Department report said ''China maintains tight control over all religions and has cracked down hard on groups not sanctioned by the ruling Communist Party. Those who practice Falun Gong, a banned spiritual movement, or who attend underground Protestant or Catholic churches routinely face detention, harassment and sometimes imprisonment.''
By BusinessWeek (November 27, 2006 edition)
By Dexter Roberts and Pete Engardio
American importers have long answered criticism of conditions at their Chinese suppliers with labor rules and inspections. But many factories have just gotten better at concealing abuses
Tang Yinghong was caught in an impossible squeeze. For years, his employer, Ningbo Beifa Group, had prospered as a top supplier of pens, mechanical pencils, and highlighters to Wal-Mart Stores and other major retailers. But late last year, Tang learned that auditors from Wal-Mart, Beifa's biggest customer, were about to inspect labor conditions at the factory in the Chinese coastal city of Ningbo where he worked as an administrator. Wal-Mart had already on three occasions caught Beifa paying its 3,000 workers less than China's minimum wage and violating overtime rules, Tang says. Under the U.S. chain's labor rules, a fourth offense would end the relationship.
Help arrived suddenly in the form of an unexpected phone call from a man calling himself Lai Mingwei. The caller said he was with Shanghai Corporate Responsibility Management & Consulting Co., and for a $5,000 fee, he'd take care of Tang's Wal-Mart problem. "He promised us he could definitely get us a pass for the audit," Tang says.
Lai provided advice on how to create fake but authentic-looking records and suggested that Beifa hustle any workers with grievances out of the factory on the day of the audit, Tang recounts. The consultant also coached Beifa managers on what questions they could expect from Wal-Mart's inspectors, says Tang. After following much of Lai's advice, the Beifa factory in Ningbo passed the audit earlier this year, Tang says, even though the company didn't change any of its practices.
For more than a decade, major American retailers and name brands have answered accusations that they exploit "sweatshop" labor with elaborate codes of conduct and on-site monitoring. But in China many factories have just gotten better at concealing abuses. Internal industry documents reviewed by BusinessWeek reveal that numerous Chinese factories keep double sets of books to fool auditors and distribute scripts for employees to recite if they are questioned. And a new breed of Chinese consultant has sprung up to assist companies like Beifa in evading audits.
The Epoch Times
November 15, 2006
Internet blockade breakthrough software is popular
By Wu Xue'er
Epoch Times Bangkok Staff
On November 3, UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Thailand approved Mr. Jia Jia temporary refugee status.
In a recent interview, Mr Jia Jia, former general secretary of the Shanxi Provincial Association of Scientists and Technology Experts currently residing in Thailand temporarily, said that it is popular amongst the Mainland public to get internet breakthrough software to understand the outside world.
Many Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials are considering the problem of the CCP's collapse; many of them have escaped, transferred assets and sent children overseas to study abroad beforehand, etc.
He said that he listened the Voice of America and read news on the Epoch Times website regularly when he was in China. These independent media had a great influence on him.
Software Breaking Through Internet Blockade Popular
Jia Jia said: "I have always liked to listen to the Voice of America, but reception was poor because of the interference. Often it was quite unclear. More than three years ago, I went to a network company to find a better receiver, the store clerk recommended that I use an Internet breakthrough software—Free Gate."
"People are willing to pay for the high price because it enables them to see information from The Epoch Times and many other media that are blocked by the CCP. They are eager to see and hear about these information. Because true information cannot be seen or heard under the reign of the CCP."
Basically the computer industry in mainland China is made up of young people. Transactions in Internet breakthrough software are risky. Once caught by the CCP, the fine is in the magnitude of thousands or licenses revoked. Jia said that he learned from a senior staff of a computer company that the demand for such software is increasing.
By REUTERS | The New York Times
November 14, 2006
BEIJING (Reuters) - Rampant Chinese counterfeiting is eroding American support for expanding bilateral trade, U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez said on Tuesday, stressing that a complaint to the WTO had not been ruled out.
Gutierrez told business executives in Beijing that illegal copying of medicines and other kinds of intellectual property (IP) was a threat to consumers' health.
``Another victim of widespread IP theft in China is American support for expanding our trade relationship,'' he said, adding that protectionist forces in the United States were pressing the issue.
``They point to the lack of robust IP protection in China as a top reason why we should put protectionist policies in place.''
By Radio Free Asia
November 09, 2006
HONG KONG—Hundreds of riot police in southern China used clubs and tear gas to disperse villagers surrounding a brand-new granary during its ribbon-cutting ceremony, ending an 18-hour standoff and injuring several people, witnesses say.
“They fired hundreds of rounds of tear gas and put up a two-km blockade,” one witness told RFA’s Mandarin service. “The police walked over the villagers who were sitting on the ground, including the elderly.”
“They also used police dogs—more than a dozen German shepherds...The elderly villagers were just sitting on the ground. But the police did not treat them as humans. They just stampeded over them.”
“One villager sustained a head injury from beating. Another was clubbed by police in the chest. I am burned around the armpit by shells from tear-gas canisters. Three of my fingers are also burned. Around 11:00 a.m., the riot police took the guest merchants away.”
Up to 1,000 police were described as moving in at around 10:00 a.m. local time Thursday, Nov. 9, around the granary, which was built on what had been farmland in Sanzhou village, Guangdong province.
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS | The New York Times
November 8, 2006
NEW YORK (AP) -- The Internet enemies list numbers 13: Belarus, China, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.
These are the countries singled out by the press freedom group Reporters Without Borders as the worst culprits for systematic online censorship, and they were targeted in the group's 24-hour online protest ending at 5 a.m. Wednesday.
''No one should ever be prevented from posting news online or writing a blog,'' said the Paris-based group, Reporters Sans Frontieres in French, which taps more than 100 journalists who are ''keeping us informed.''
Worldwide, 61 people, 52 in China, are in prison for posting what the countries claimed was ''subversive'' content, the reporters' group said in its annual report.
By Radio Free Asia
08 November 2006
HONG KONG—Thousands of angry villagers have surrounded a granary in southern China, holding hostage several hundred guests at the building’s opening ceremony and demanding payment for land they say they were forced to sell at below-market rates, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reports.
In the afternoon of Nov. 8, village sources told RFA’s Mandarin service, officials from various levels of government and more than 100 overseas Chinese from Thailand, Germany, England, and Hong Kong attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony at the just-completed granary built on what had been farmland in Sanzhou village, in Guangdong province.
At around 4:00 p.m., thousands of Sanzhou villagers surrounded the granary to prevent attending officials and guests from leaving. Early Thursday local time, Nov. 9, approximately 300 people remained trapped in the granary’s administrative building, the sources said.
At 1:00 a.m. local time, some 4,000 villagers remained at the scene, witnesses said.
By Tim Johnson - McClatchy Newspapers |The Seattle Times
November 07, 2006
BEIJING — If popping up on the list of China's richest tycoons is a jinx, as some attest, then Huang Guangyu may be in for more tough days.
Forbes Magazine on Thursday anointed Huang, 37, the head of a home-appliance retailing empire, as China's richest man, with a net worth of $2.3 billion.
But it didn't bode well. First, China's premier financial magazine said Huang and his brother were under a criminal probe on suspicion of obtaining loans fraudulently. Then the Hong Kong stock market briefly halted trading in shares of his company, GoMe Appliances.
By Thursday afternoon, a spokesman for GoMe Appliances, He Yangqing, was denying the probe and pooh-poohing Huang's No. 1 spot on the wealth ranking.
"We have no comment on the Forbes list. We are focusing on improving our business rather than on how people rank us," He said.
Huang was ranked No. 4 last year, and his wealth has almost doubled in the past 12 months. As a result, his mounting troubles surprise few Chinese. This week's spate of ill fortune only underscores how Chinese view tycoons with fascination and derision.
They marvel at the savvy of new entrepreneurs in China's go-go economy, but they also wonder whether the wealth was earned legitimately. A number of high-flying tycoons sit in jail on fraud and tax-evasion charges.
Other entrepreneurs beg to stay off the list, wary of tax collectors. The rich list has been dubbed the "pig killing list" in vernacular Chinese, meaning that any pig fat enough to get on it is ready for the slaughterhouse.
By Lin Da - The Epoch Times Staff
November 03, 2006
COPENHAGEN—Pierre Maina sat in a restaurant at Copenhagen Airport. He gently fiddled with his coffee cup as he searched for the words to describe his Tibet trip. "We went to Tibet on August 27 and retuned to Denmark on October 12. This was my first time going to China and joining a mountain climbing tour in Tibet," said Maina.
Forty-seven-year-old Maina is the doctor in charge of surgery at the Slagelse Sygehus Hospital in Denmark, as well as a member of the Mountaineering Association. The association has 400 mountaineering fans from around the world with most of the members being from western European countries. Two months ago, Pierre and three other Danish mountaineers fans joined the fall mountaineering trip organized by the association. They planned to climb Cho Oyu Mountain in Tibet, which has an elevation of 8,000 meters.
Cho Oyu is located in the central part of the Himalayas, 20 km west of Mount Everest. It is the sixth highest summit in the world with an elevation of 8,201 meters.
According to Maina, this mountaineering trip left an indelible mark on his psyche. Our conversation begins from this permanently snow-covered Cho Oyu Mountain...
The mountain climbers had already been staying in this high, cold area for more than a month, during which time they overcame countless problems and severe tests. They finally reached the final camp before the summit. They settled down and prepared to climb to the top. Maina was having troubles with altitude sickness. Therefore, when the other three Danes and the rest of the group headed to the summit, Pierre had no choice but to stay and rest at the camp, which was at an elevation of about 5800 meters.
"Our tent is not far from the Chinese border with Tibet and Nepal. It is called the Nangpa La Pass. Every day we can see some Tibetans transporting some goods across the border, and the majority of them went to Namche Bazar in Nepal to sell their goods. However, on that morning, everything changed!" said Maina.
"On Saturday morning, September 30, I was sleeping in the tent and suddenly was woken up by the sounds of shooting. At first I didn't realize that the sounds were gunshots, as I never heard shooting before. After five to ten minutes I had changed into my clothes and walked out of my tent. The first thing I saw is that some 50 meters from our tent, some Tibetans tried to run fast, and they all seemed like children. Many Chinese soldiers began shooting at them. I saw the person at the very front of this group shot and fall down," Maina recalled.
Maina didn't know what happened at that time, so he walked to another tent of the encampment. Their cook, two Tibetans and five Nepalis were there. Through their introduction, he then knew that a group of Tibetans was trying to across the border to go to India to find their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, for shelter. In order to stop them, the Chinese border guards shot them. "They told me that Tibetans are usually not allowed to cross the border, and they cannot obtain permission to leave Tibet. Only a few Tibetans are allowed to sell goods in Nepal."
Maina, after witnessing the shooting, was so shocked that he couldn't speak a word. "At that time I could not comprehend what had happened. Everything just seemed so unbelievable," he said.
"Later, when I was talking to a Romanian from another tent on this issue, I realized that I had become a witness. This was a massacre, but the victims had no weapon and no ability to fight back. They could only try to run. However, on a wide, open, glacial terrain, there is no place to hide. The majority of the fugitive Tibetans were young people. I was told that two of them were just teenagers."
Recently, the exiled Tibetan government announced that in this incident, out of 77 people, at least two girls were shot dead. One was 14 and the other 17 years old. Another 20 people were arrested and are facing imprisonment. Currently, there is still no accurate count of how many people have lost their lives.
Later, Maina learned that the Tibetans there lived an extremely poor life. Their children have hardly any opportunity to receive education; moreover, they don't have any religious freedom. In order to ensure that their children have a good future, many parents take great risks to send their children to a "snakehead" who can help them cross the border to the Dalai Lama. Thus that is why majority of the refugee group are young people or even children. This kind of escape normally happens during the winter, when the security guards at the boarder are fewer. Every year there are as many as 2,500 Tibetan refugees that cross the boarder illegally. To date, of six million Tibetans, over 130,000 have successfully escaped to India or Nepal.
After his return to Denmark, Maina saw on TV that the Chinese regime claimed that the incident was one of self-defense, ostensibly because Chinese soldiers were under attack. "But, the Romanian Sergiu Matei who was with me at the time was a photographer for a Romanian TV company. He photographed the whole shooting event. A Danish TV station purchased that video and it was broadcasted on TV2 and DR. These videos tell the full story on how the crime was committed, and it also put paid to Chinese government's claim of so-called 'self-defense by the border security,'" said Maina.
"From the clip, you could see that the Chinese communist soldier stood up and fired. Why did he stand up? If you were being shot at, you would hide, not stand up. You can clearly see that the Chinese soldier stood up and opened fire. From the video, there is no evidence to prove that Tibetans were attacking the soldiers," Maina refuted.
"Everybody can view the video clip on the web at www.mounteverest.net or www.protv.ro/filme/exclusive-footage-of-chinese-soldiers-shooting-at-tibetan-pilgrims.html [view site here] ," Pierre suggested.
This short video clearly records the incident that day. On snow-covered ground, over 20 Tibetan refugees lined up and walked with great difficulty. All of sudden, one of them, walking in the front, staggered and then fell to the ground. The camera moved to a Chinese soldier who was opening fire. The Tibetans didn't stop despite the gunfire. They didn't even turn back; instead they chose to continue to walk forward quickly. Soon after, three Chinese soldiers approached the Tibetan refugee on the ground. They examined the body for a while, then tuned back and left without any emotion. From their behavior, what is certain is that the Tibetan on the ground had already died. The video also shows a Chinese soldier smoking and taking a rest after "completing the task." The video also shows a Tibetan refugee who escaped to hide in the restroom at the mountain climber's campground.
"At night, after getting food and clothes from the mountain climbers, this Tibetan refugee continued on his adventure of crossing the boarder. I don't know whether he succeeded," Maina said with concern. "Some Chinese soldiers saw that we witnessed their shooting because we were not too far away. But they didn't avoid the shooting at all, almost as if we were not around."
"The second day, a large group of soldiers came. Apparently, they were looking for the dead body. Those soldiers emotionlessly threw the body into the cracks of the icy river. They didn't care that we were watching them," Maina recalled, as he grew even sadder.
"Before, I heard that the human rights problem is very serious in China. But in Western society, many people are saying China is becoming better. This time I witnessed how the Chinese communist regime treats Tibetan refugees. I was very shocked. I realized that the situation in China has in fact not improved."
Because of altitude sickness, Maina was unable to make it to the summit. However, after the shooting, he conquered his own fear and firmly stood up. Since his return to Denmark, he constantly receives phone calls. Many media inside and out of Denmark are contacting him for interviews.
When I asked Maina whether he felt scared, he said, "Yes, maybe I will be scared of going to China. I don't know what strange things might happen." But Maina didn't hesitate and chose to tell his own experience to the public. He said, "The West still doesn't know what is happening in China. People must know the truth. If I can do a little bit, I will do it." After Maina exposed the shooting, not only did he obtain encouragement and support from his wife, he also has received many supportive messages from friends. "I have heard many people discussing whether to boycott 2008 Olympic games in Beijing," Maina said.
Maina's choice to speak out has generated a big reaction in Danish society. The Danish government said that they would treat this incident seriously and pressure the Chinese regime.
When asked about his future plans, Maina said that he would continue to support the Tibetans. "If the Danish government needs me to do anything to help, I will try to do the best I can," he responded simply.
By Howard W. French | The New York Times
November 03, 2006
BAODENG, China — If having children is a mark of wealth, Gao Shenmu and Wang Xiuying, a farming couple in their 70s, surely rank as rich.
They raised six children in this rolling, fertile countryside before China imposed its single-child policy. What’s more, as the cities of the distant east flourished and boomed, three of their four sons migrated along with millions of others, landing jobs and joining the cash economy.
But for just that reason, their very Chinese dream of security in old age, built on the next generation’s obligation to them, has badly foundered.
The sons moved, but they left their own two young children behind to be cared for. They rarely visit and collectively send just $30 or $40 a year home. Mr. Gao and Ms. Wang make do at harvest time, spending two weeks in backbreaking labor that once took them less than a week to perform.
The couple’s experience is increasingly commonplace. The chief of their hamlet put its predicament this way: “Knock on 10 doors, and 9 of them will be opened by old people.”
And across much of the Chinese countryside the situation is the same, with villages emptied of their working-age populations, leaving behind small children and grandparents.
China is a rapidly aging society, but in villages like this, more than anything else the abrupt shift toward a preponderance of old people is driven by migration. Since the era of economic reforms got under way a little more than a quarter century ago, hundreds of millions of people have been on the march, most of them peasants looking for better economic opportunities in the urbanized east.
And as China’s economy has developed, old customs — like the ironclad obligation to venerate and care for the elderly — with roots in 2,500-year-old Confucian doctrine, are breaking down.
“The reality of China today is that the needs of the elderly cannot be taken care of by the social system,” said Zhai Yuhe, a member of the Heilongjiang Provincial People’s Congress. “Most of them must rely on younger people, but today’s young people pay attention to their own children, and not to their elders.”
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