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Defense Lawyers Call for Protection of the Rights of Falun Gong Adherents

More and more lawyers in China are willing to represent Falun Gong, a group that was outlawed and its members are persecuted in China.  In the past, most of the Falun Gong adherents were sent to the detention center without the legal procedure.

A recent trial was held in Jixi City of Heilongjiang Province on October 30. Two Falun Gong adherents Liu Jinglu and Sun Lixiang were arrested for distributing flyers on the street and are currently detained at the No. 1 Detention Center in Jixi City. A few hundreds of friends and family members were waiting outside the court. Four lawyers were hired to represent the defendants. Xun Lixiang wrote in her statement to the court that she suffered beating, electrocution, and threatening while being detained and pleaded not guilty. The defense lawyers raised the objection against a series of actions by the prosecutor and the judge and concluded that the behaviors have violated the court order and asked the court to investigate. The trial lasted for an hour and half and the next trial date will be announced at a later time.

In an interview with The Epoch Times, Jiang Tianyong, Li Xiongbing, Tang Jietian, three defense lawyers said that the suppression of Falun Gong adherents is against the common values, the constitution as well as the spirit of law. Jiang Tianyong noted that every step the court took was under the direct supervision of the 610 office whose name was unanimous on any court paper. “610 is an illegal entity here.  Spiritual belief is not a crime. This (Falun Gong) case is within the boundary of freedom of belief. Falun Gong adherents have the rights to practice and spread their beliefs which formed no threat to the society and hence can’t be judged by the law. The so called ‘obstruction to exercise of law’ was groundless and was forced upon by the authority” Li Xiongbing said.

Source: The Epoch Times, October 31, 2008
http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/8/10/31/n2314576.htm

Over Ten Thousand Citizens Flared up in a Mass Conflicts with the Police

On October 20, a mass incident took place at Su Yu Middle School in Su Qian City of Jiangsu Province. It involved over ten thousand local citizens against one hundred policemen. The cause was on a student who committed suicide because he was frequently subjected to physical punishment by school teachers. The parents went to school to request a resolution. But the school called the police who then used the force to beat up the victim’s family members.

Over ten thousand citizens were at the scene. People were flared up over the beating and started to beat the policemen, turn over the police vehicles and eventually chase the police away. The news is tightly blocked by the City of Su Qian and no media is allowed at the scene.

The related internet postings were circulating widely among the websites in mainland and quickly picked by overseas Chinese websites. But most of the postings in mainland have been taken down since.

Source: Various Chinese websites in China and US, October 24

http://www.xici.net/b7000/bderror.asp?s=UnDeleted
http://sanqingzi.blogspot.com/2008/10/blog-post_26.html
http://news.boxun.com/forum/200810/boxun2008b/13379.shtml
http://www.gettao.com/bbs/viewthread.php?tid=10114
http://www.64tianwang.com/bencandy.php?fid=8&aid=3559

Breast Cancer Rated Number One Cancer Killer for Chinese Women

Breast cancer is rated the number one cancer killer for Chinese woman, according to the statistics released by the Cancer Hospital of Shanghai Fudan University. The statistics showed that between 1991 and 2000, the death rate for urban woman has grown over 39 percent and is still growing at 3.5 percent each year.  The experts attributed the rate increase to unhealthy diet and delay in child birth age as well as no breast feed chosen by certain women.

Source: China News, October 26, 2008
http://www.chinanews.com.cn/jk/kong/news/2008/10-26/1425434.shtml

Millions to Lose Jobs; Tough Job Markets for College Graduates

As many as 9,000 factories in Dongwan, Shenzheng, and Guangzhou are facing closing down and 2.7 million workers will lose jobs, reported United Daily News. In the mean time, 6 million college graduates are challenged with tough job market as many colleges received cancellation of on-campus job affairs notice from the businesses. There have been increases in students enrolled in the graduate degree study or competing over the limited spots to study overseas.

Moreover, public servant positions, the ones with more job security, are facing the worst competition ever. As of October 26, over 970,000 applications were accepted, 200,000 higher than the year before. Average ratio is 73 applicants competing for 1 position. The most competitive position is the one with Chinese Association of the handicapped which have 4723 applicants competing for 1 position.

Source:
United Daily News, October 25, 2008
http://udn.com/NEWS/MAINLAND/MAI2/4572614.shtml
Xinhua, October 27, 2008-10-26
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2008-10/27/content_10258124.htm

Hong Kong Magazine Calls for Investigation on Altered Contents

Over 50 errors appeared in Hong Kong “Open Magazine” October issue unexpectedly.  The articles were intentionally altered and unreadable.   The magazine posted a notice to its readers on its home page apologizing for the errors.  Cai Yongmei, the Chief Editor of the magazine said that the incident, the first time in 20 years, was serious. Cai is calling the Hong Kong special region government to investigate the incident and protect magazine’s rights to freedom of speech.

“Open Magazine” is a monthly magazine published in Hong Kong and known for disclosing inside secrets of the mainland Chinese government.

Source: Open Magazine, October 2008
http://www.open.com.hk/0810news.html

CRI: France’s Attitude Towards China Made 180 Degrees Change

“France’s attitude towards China has made 180 degrees change”, cited China Radio International (CRI) referring to a special program aired by French Television Station France 2 on October 9. The program was about Dalai Lama on his “autocracy ruling of Tibet” and the “little known secrets” including his connection with the CIA. There was another negative program aired earlier about Dalai by France television 24.

The article by CRI said that the move by France 2 is a continuation of series actions taken by Sarkozy in order to repair the damage done during the Olympic torch in Paris which include the “distinguished guest” treatment to the Chinese paralympian Jin Jing and the resignation of Robert Ménard as the founder of “reporter without border”.

The anti-China force has significantly damaged the France- China relationship, cited the article. While France was leading the effort, it found itself being the minority on the world stage.  The sensible gesture taken by the US and UK in foreign affairs has taught Sarkozy a good lesson… Facing the current financial crisis, it is once again put China in a very important position. As the gravity of the crisis remains unknown, the reliance on China could be long term”, the article said.

Source: China Radio International, October 17, 2008
http://gb.cri.cn/12764/2008/10/17/3365s2286451.htm

State Administration of Taxation: September Tax Income Took Deep Dive

The State Administration of Taxation disclosed that the state tax income growth rate was 2.5 percent in September, a significant drop compared with 33.5 percent reported in the first half of this year and over 20 percent for the past ten years. The drop was mainly driven by the slow economy which has caused decrease in business profits and taxes including value added taxes, sales tax and stamp duty, according to the Administration of Taxation. It is predicted that the fourth quarter will continue to see the decreasing trend or even the negative growth.

Source: Sina, October 18, 2008
http://finance.sina.com.cn/g/20081018/01595403932.shtml

80% Plus Young Chinese Use Internet, Survey Reports

According to a recent 2007 Survey on Internet Usage by Juveniles issued by China Youth Social Service Center (CYSSC), 85.6% of population between 9 and 16 has experiences of Internet. The proportion among urban young Chinese is close to 90%, while the figure in rural area is as high as 69.4%. 71.9% of those surveyed accessed Internet from home. 58.50% of the questioned claimed that they use Internet mainly for entertainment.

The survey, targeting 7,700 juveniles falling in the age group and their parents and teachers in 10 provinces including Beijing, Shanghai, and Chongqing, was conducted jointly by CYSSC, Youth Center under Chinese Academy of Social Science (CASS), and China Youth Political Academy between August and November of 2007.

Source: Xinhua, October 15, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2008-10/15/content_10195758.htm