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Scholar: 80 Percent of China’s Sludge Not Processed

He Yue, a professor from China’s Tianjin University, recently said that, according to the China’s Sludge Treatment and Disposal Market Analysis Report, China’s annual urban sewage treatment capacity is equivalent to the total storage capacity of the Three Gorges Reservoir. However, 80 percent of the sludge from this "reservoir" is not dealt with, easily causing secondary pollution to the environment. "A large amount of toxic and harmful sludge has become a time bomb for the urban environment." He said that the sludge contains nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, heavy metals, parasite eggs, and germs. It will not only endanger the environment of the underground water, rivers, and farmland, but also human health through the food chain. "China’s sewage treatment industry has developed rapidly, but the byproduct sludge has not been disposed of reasonably and safely." He said, this "sewage reservoir" produces nearly 22 million tons of dewatered sludge annually, of which only 20 percent receives the necessary processing. It has been estimated that by 2020 China will see as much as 60 million tons of sludge per year.

Source: People’s Daily, March 4, 2013
http://politics.people.com.cn/n/2013/0304/c70731-20660367.html

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

SARFT: TV Documentaries to be Submitted for Approval before Shooting

China’s State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television (SARFT) recently issued a "Notice on the implementation of the system of announcing the subject of TV documentaries." The Notice stipulated that, to further boost the market for TV documentaries and to avoid duplication of subject matter and waste resources, starting in 2013, the subject of TV documentaries must be submitted for examination and approval.

Although SARFT did not specify which types of TV documentaries fall under the above regulation, contemporary subjects that involve the corruption of senior officials or promoting multi-party democratic mechanisms are usually strictly scrutinized, in addition to the subjects of violence and pornography.

According to the new policy, 1) those productions of TV documentaries that have been prohibited under the jurisdiction of the central government, documentaries that are to be jointly produced by Chinese and foreign organizations, and imported documentaries, need to submit directly to SARFT; 2) those to be produced or imported by the military must first be submitted to the PLA’s General Political Department before final submission to SARFT; 3) those to be produced or imported under the jurisdiction of local governments must first be submitted to local radio, film, and television authorities before finally being submitted to SARFT.

Source: Radio Free Asia, February 22, 2013
http://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/kejiaowen/jz-02222013154735.html

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology

China Acknowledged Severe Pollution and “Cancer Villages”

China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection recently issued the 12th Five-Year Environment Plan for Risk Prevention and Control of Chemical Products. The Plan acknowledged that a variety of chemical substances have been detected in some Chinese rivers, lakes and coastal waters, wildlife, and human beings. Toxic and hazardous chemicals have resulted in multiple incidents of acute water and air environmental emergencies and in drinking water crises in many regions. "Cancer villages" have developed in some regions.

Earlier, some Chinese media reported on a widely circulated Google map, which displays more than 100 "cancer villages" in the country. Most of these "cancers villages" are reportedly located in the affluent eastern coastal regions, which were the first to bring in the introduced pollution-prone industries from overseas. However, with the readjustment of the industrial structure and environmental regulations, there are signs that contaminated areas and cancer villages are developing inland as well.

The report also pointed to the frequent occurrences of industrial accidents in the production of dangerous chemicals, transportation accidents, and environmental emergencies caused by illegal sewage. On January 31, 39 tons of aniline leaked from a chemical plant in Changzhi City, Hebei Province, with 8.7 tons flowing into a local river, causing a water outage in a large area in nearby Handan City.

Source: BBC Chinese, February 21, 2013
http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/simp/china/2013/02/130221_china_pollution_cancer.shtml

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

People’s Daily: Valentine’s Day is Not a “Hotbed” for Corruption and Degenerate Behavior

On February 13, the day before Valentine’s Day, People’s Daily published an opinion piece, "Valentine’s Day Is about Love, Not about a ‘Hotbed’ of Corruption and Degenerate Behavior."

The article said, "In recent years, this romantic holiday, which originally belonged to single men and women, has become an excuse for some married men and women to seek excitement. It has become a ‘hotbed’ for a small number of Party members and cadres to become ideologically degenerate, lead a dissipated life, and become corrupt. They also use this romantic holiday to adopt a variety of forms to meet demands from their ‘lover,’ even using their power and spending huge amounts of money, just so as to win a smile from the beauty. What particularly needs our attention is that this phenomenon has gradually spread to our Party members and cadres, and has even penetrated to a small number of senior cadres. In Recent years, the Party has investigated and punished a few senior officials, including Bo Xilai, Liu Zhijun, and Chen Liangyu. In addition to their abuse of authority for personal gain and trading power for money, there is another significant characteristic. It is ‘having mistresses’ and ‘engaging in improper sexual relations with multiple women.’"

Source: People’s Daily, February 13, 2013
http://hb.people.com.cn/n/2013/0213/c337099-18154196.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Canadian Singer Sang a Revolutionary Opera Piece at CCTV’s Spring Festival Gala

Thomas Glenn, a Canadian opera singer who won a Grammy Award in 2012 for best Opera recording, sang a Revolutionary Beijing Opera piece at Chinese Central Television’s (CCTV) 2013 Spring Festival Gala.

The Spring Festival Gala, also known as Chun Wan, is one of the government TV network’s flagship programs. It provides a live broadcast every year on the Chinese New Year’s Eve to billions of Chinese people, domestically and overseas, who are celebrating the Lunar New Year at home, most of whom have their TV turned on. The four-plus-hour-long gala, put together after almost a year-long preparation, with the programs carefully selected and heavily censored, served the purpose of propagandizing the ruling regime’s accomplishments over the past year while entertaining the audience.

At CCTV’s official website that hosted the program, a subtitle identified Glenn as a student of the Confucius Institute, a language-teaching facility sponsored and driven by the Chinese government. According to the Confucius Institute’s website, since 2004 it has launched over 300 Confucius Institutes and 500 Confucius Classrooms in five continents. The Revolutionary Opera Piece, Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy, is one of the eight Revolutionary operas, or model operas, (Chinese: 样板戏; pinyin: yàngbǎnxì) planned and engineered during the Cultural Revolution by Jiang Qing, Mao Zedong’s wife. They are commonly viewed as typical propaganda pieces for the Communist Party.

Source: China Central Television, February 10, 2013
http://chunwan.cctv.com/2013/02/10/VIDE1360474568955538.shtml

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Chinese Railway Ministry Refused to Disclose the Available Number of Chun Yun Train Tickets

Chun Yun, the Chinese New Year’s travel season, usually starts 15 days before the Lunar New Year and ends 25 days afterwards. It is China’s busiest travel season of the year. Between January 8 and February 16 of 2012, the total volume of tickets using all means of travel was over 3 billion. One of the major issues in railway transportation is the difficulty of purchasing train tickets.

Two Beijing lawyers recently requested that the Ministry of Railways disclose the available number of railway tickets for sale during the Chun Yun period. The Ministry of Railways refused the request, claiming that information about railway ticket sales falls under the domain of the railway transportation enterprises and is therefore not applicable as government information. Some people questioned the black-box operations of the Ministry of Railways.

One economist questioned the logic of the response. "Generally speaking, Chun Yun is a major social issue. The government has a greater responsibility than corporations do to be transparent to the public. The enterprises subordinate to the Ministry of Railways are monopolistic enterprises; they are thus different from normal private companies in a highly competitive sector. The response is very strange and does not pass the logic test. … Information of this kind should be open and there is no reason to hide it."

A lawyer told Radio Free Asia, "It is a problem with the whole system. All authorities shirk their responsibilities. It is not just one single ministry; it is the whole government system that is shirking its responsibilities."

Source: Radio Free Asia, February 8, 2013
http://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/renquanfazhi/zg-02082013112753.html

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

An Estimated 80,000 Prayed at Yonghe Temple on the Chinese New Year

According to CCTV, an estimated 80,000 people went to Yonghe Temple, a Buddhist temple located in the northeastern part of Beijing, to burn incense and pray on Chinese New Year’s Day. According to People’s Daily, people have established a pattern of going to Yonghe to burn incense and say their prayers every Chinese New Year’s Day. Some of them even lined up overnight in front of the temple so they could be the first to burn the incense.

Due to the large number of incense-burners, the metro stop at the Yonghe Temple in Beijing was shut down. People had to walk an additional three kilometers to get to Yonghe Temple. By midnight on New Year’s eve, there were more than a thousand policemen on site. Each four of them stood hand in hand to form a “human wall divider” to cut the long lines of the crowd into small groups of about one hundred people each. There were about 10 meters distance between each of the “groups.”

Source: People’s Daily, February 11, 2013
http://politics.people.com.cn/n/2013/0211/c70731-20478188.html

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

People’s Daily: U.S. Primarily Responsible for Curbing Cyber Warfare

A February 7, 2013, People’s Daily opinion piece opened with the New York Times report about President Obama’s broad power to order a preemptive strike if the United States detects credible evidence of a major digital attack looming from abroad. It also mentioned the Washington Post report about the Pentagon’s approval of a major expansion of the U.S. cybersecurity force over the next several years. The size will increase more than fivefold in order to bolster the nation’s ability to defend critical computer systems and conduct offensive computer operations against foreign adversaries.

The article continued, "Coincidentally, at the same time that the United States revealed its network warfare plans, some U.S. media also began, based upon hearsay evidence, to run rampant speculation about the so-called ‘China network threat theory,’ thus trashing China. It’s not the first time; nor will it be the last time for the real thief to assume innocence by preemptively calling others thieves. The purpose is to artificially create enemies and provide an excuse for the United States to engage in network warfare."

"The United States is in a leading position in the field of information technology. It holds most of the world’s Internet resources and critical infrastructure. It also has primary responsibility for the maintenance of peace and security in cyberspace. The United States should clearly recognize that taking the lead in developing cyber warfare capabilities and pursuing absolute military superiority will lead to an arms race and military conflict in cyberspace, bringing unpredictable catastrophic consequences to human society."

Source: People’s Daily, February 7, 2013
http://media.people.com.cn/n/2013/0207/c40606-20457814.html

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations