China: Petitioner belief prompts pre-Olympic rush on capital

Mar 062008
 

There is a saying among petitioners that if your problem cannot be solved before the Olympics, it will be even harder after the Games.

- Petitioner Liu Feiyue

The strength of this belief reminds me of the mythologies and stories told by other groups in a state of severe disempowerment, like street children. These stories are used like maps in a hostile terrain in which recognisable, ‘normal’ human meaning systems  (eg: children will be cared for; the judicial system will mostly apply the law) have completely broken down. I suppose I think this because from where I’m sitting, petitioners look equally unlikely to get what they are looking for on either side of the Olympics. The following is a digest of recent reporting on petitioners and blogger activists by RFA’s Mandarin service, translated by Chen Ping: Continue reading »

China: Hu Jia isn't against the Olympics, says lawyer Teng

Jan 172008
 

Teng Biao, a Beijing-based lawyer with a PhD from the China University of Political Science and Law,  said he has been frequently taken in for questioning and warnings by national security police since the arrest of fellow activist Hu Jia on Dec. 27. He told RFA Mandarin service reporter Ding Xiao:

“Sometimes it’s the national security police from Changping county. When things are more serious, then it’s a more senior level of national security police. They basically tell me not to get involved in Hu Jia’s case, and threaten and warn me, saying that I could end up being fired and detained myself if I insist on continuing to represent all these human rights cases.” Continue reading »

Reservoirs of grievance: A Tianjin land dispute

Dec 202007
 

From RFA’s Cantonese service(ZH) Reporter: Bat Tzi-mo:

More than 8,000 farmers from six villages in Wuqing district of the northern port city of Tianjin have protested a massive land grab by local government amounting to around 10,000 mu (670 hectares) since 1992.

The local government has claimed it intends to build a reservoir in the nearby area, and began to requisition the land from farmers without any compensation.

Later, the farmers discovered that the land had in fact been used to develop large-scale commercial fish farms. Continue reading »

Sorrow, ah! sorrow: Cardboard buns and the prison undercurrent

Jul 202007
 

Click here to hear the theme song for this post
On July 8, Beijing TV’s Life Channel program <Degree of Transparency> aired the report on “cardboard buns” and gained broad social attention. The Beijing city Industry and Commerce department and the Food Safety Administration paid high attention and formed law enforcement teams to check the breakfast markets in the city. But they did not find any “cardboard buns” at those markets. The Beijing public security bureau formed an investigative team and discovered the truth on July 16.

– from ESWN

I am interested in the meme of cardboard in buns. I think the rumour may have preserved itself in popular culture from a genuine experiment in the labour camps Continue reading »

Australian businesswoman Ma Ping and Song Pingshun

Jul 092007
 

In 2004, RFA’s Mandarin service programme, Investigative Report(ZH), reported on the allegations of Australian businesswoman Ma Ping, and her account of her time inside a Tianjin detention centre.

“They threw a bowl of water over me and I woke up. There was blood all over my face. My face was a pulp. I was huddled on the floor and I asked them, talk to me. Don’t beat me any more.”

Ma Ping

 

Continue reading »