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All posts by NNL - 154. page

Beijing Experiments with Textbooks for Peking Opera

To maintain and expand the heritage of Chinese culture, the Beijing Middle School Peking Opera Textbook Writing Committee and the Beijing Chinese Culture Heritage Association jointly created a set of textbooks to teach students Peking Opera. The set, designed for students taking Peking Opera as an elective, contains three books: The Peking Opera That You Can See, The Peking Opera That You Can Listen To, and The Peking Opera That You Can Learn.

The textbooks are currently undergoing a pilot test in the Fengtai District.

Source: Xinhua, May 3, 2016
http://news.xinhuanet.com/local/2016-05/03/c_128950735.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Guangdong Writer: Stop Government Funding of the Communist Youth League

Hang Yiwei, a writer from Guangdong Province, posted a blog on Phoenix regarding the Communist Youth League’s budget.

Hang said, "The Youth League Central Committee recently published its budget for fiscal year 2016. It receives a fiscal appropriation of 306 million yuan (US$47 million), or 50.93 percent less than the 624 million yuan from 2015. However, it means that the Youth League Central Committee still enjoys state funding of over 300 million yuan. It is not a very normal situation for the Youth League, a non-government organization, to live on the state’s funding. Therefore, it makes perfect sense for the Youth League Central Committee to further reduce another 300 million yuan from its FY 2016 budget [which will end up as 0 yuan of the taxpayer’s money]."

Source: Phoenix, May 2, 2016
http://blog.ifeng.com/article/44662026.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Mingpao: Politburo Met to Discuss Economic Issues

"The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) Politburo normally holds two special meetings each year to discuss economic issues. One is usually in July and one is in December. Mingpao reported, however, that it added one in April of last year because, since last year, the economic slowdown has become the new norm."

This year the Politburo met again in April to discuss economic growth. "[China’s] GDP grew at 6.7 percent in the first quarter of this year. The announcement of the Politburo’s economic meeting stated that there is relatively high pressure for the GDP growth rate to drop even further. It is usually rare for China’s annual GDP growth rate to beat its first quarter’s growth rate, so China faces a major challenge in trying to meet its targeted growth rate of 6.7 percent."

"The Northeastern region is of particular concern. Liaoning Province recorded a negative growth, becoming the first state to post such a record. The three provinces in the Northeastern region (Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang) were among the bottom four provinces having the slowest growth."

Source: Mingpao, April 30, 2016
http://news.mingpao.com/pns/dailynews/web_tc/article/20160501/s00013/1462038853619

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

To Demolish a Church, a Team Buried a Christian Alive, Resulting in Her Death

Radio Free Asia reported that, in Xincai County, Henan Province, on April 18, 2016, a group of people used force to demolish a church. They buried Li Jiangong and his wife Ding Cuimei while they were still alive because they tried to defend their church.

"The demolition team consisted of local villains. They drove trucks to knock down the church’s walls. Li, who was in charge of the church and his wife stood in front of the wall. One of the demolition team shouted, ‘Bury them alive. I will take the responsibility if someone dies.’ Then a bulldozer pushed both of them into a hole and covered them with earth. Mr. Li managed to dig himself out a few minutes later. By the time other people got Ding Cuimei out, she had stopped breathing."

"After seeing the death, the manager of the demolition team claimed he was sick and went to a hospital. Police said that they arrested two suspects, but it may take one or two years for this case to go to court."

"The church was built in 2007. Its members raised the money, bought the land, and built it. It had about 200 members. The government approved the construction. Because of its convenient location – it was close to a highway – some (powerful) people wanted to take over the land; they resorted to force to move the church off of the land."

Source: RFA, April 18, 2016
http://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/shehui/ql1-04182016111213.html

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

Some Chinese Celebrated Japan’s Earthquake

VOA reported that some Chinese celebrated the disaster in Japan after strong earthquakes struck there in April. Some Chinese complained, wondering why the earthquake was not of a magnitude of 10 (so that more Japanese would die). "How come only a few dozen people died? It would be better if hundreds of thousands died." "I wish there were more earthquakes of magnitude eight in Japan, so that it would not have time to threaten China." "It is said that 80 percent of Japanese have negative views of China. Let those 80 percent die in this earthquake." "It would be much better if this whole island country sank."

Some companies also used it in their advertising. A car dealer in Xi’an City posted on the web, "To celebrate the big earthquake in Japan, our store will offer super low prices on all cars for the next three days. If the aftershocks continue, the promotion will continue. If a higher magnitude earthquake occurs, the price will go even lower. If 100,000 Japanese die, the price will go to the bottom. If Japan sinks, all cars will be free."

Many Chinese netizens criticized this behavior. Internet commentator Tian Qizhuang thought it was caused by the anti-Japan patriotism that has become popular in China over the last few years. "I think a very important issue is that the current education (in China) lacks a certain aspect of human nature. Some extremist ideology is expanding and brainwashing people. People don’t treat others as humans anymore. They don’t take themselves as human either. Instead, they are just a political tool."

Source: VOA, April 18, 2016
http://www.voachinese.com/content/voa-news-chinese-nationalists-hail-kumamoto-earthquake-20160418/3290221.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

A School in a Poisonous Environment in Changzhou City, Jiangsu Province

Oriental Daily reported on how the authorities handled the issue of the poisonous environment at the Changzhou Foreign Language School. The school’s surrounding environment, including the air, soil, and water, was polluted. Hundreds of students were diagnosed with dermatitis and measurable blood abnormalities; some even had leukemia and lymphoma.

"The school gave its rebuttal, saying that the number of students with physical abnormalities was not over 500; it was ‘only 133 students.’ The students’ parents then countered, stating that they had gathered 683 copies of student’s health checkup reports. "Of those, 522 had abnormalities. Actually, it should not matter whether it was only 133 or 522. Even 133 is not a small number. Isn’t that enough to prove that the school’s environment is poisonous?"

"Parents of the students received warnings from local authorities several times: ‘Don’t create trouble.’ Some were interrogated and detained for ‘inciting and planning illegal assemblies and demonstrations.’ Some were forced to sign a paper promising not have a demonstration. Some were contacted by their employers and warned ‘not to participate’ and were given ‘hints’ that they would lose their jobs if they did participate. Some elderly participants were threatened at their homes. When reporters came to interview some scientists, they also kept silent. They gave reasons such as, ‘I have an administrative title," "I want to avoid trouble,’ and ‘The issue is too complicated.’"

Source: Oriental Daily, April 21, 2016
http://hk.on.cc/cn/bkn/cnt/commentary/20160421/bkncn-20160421000321090-0421_05411_001_cn.html

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

Further Criticism of the War Mentality

After Wu Jianmin, China’s former Ambassador to France, criticized the idea of having a war against some countries, Yuan Nansheng, the Party Secretary and Vice President of the Foreign Affairs College [a Beijing university for diplomats] and former Consul General of China’s Consulate in Los Angles, published an article to further support the criticism of China’s "angry youth" (referring to people who are ignorant but impulsive) who can jeopardize China’s diplomacy.

Yuan’s article was published in the magazine Sharing the Same Boat. Phoenix republished the article. In his article, Yuan listed several examples throughout China’s history that showed how certain people, who were ignorant of their country’s real situation, out of narrow or extreme nationalism, promoted war with other nations. In the end, they ruined the possibility of reaching a diplomatic solution and brought disaster to their country.

"On the one hand, [we] should realize that this ‘angry youth’ phenomenon represents a certain public opinion that can be used as a diplomatic card; on the other hand, [we] should prevent it from restricting the space of our diplomatic options and blocking us from reaching a reasonable and necessary [diplomatic] compromise."

Source: Phoenix, April 13, 2016
http://news.ifeng.com/a/20160413/48447703_0.shtml

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Phoenix: China’s Central Bank Is the Root Cause of Financial Ponzi Schemes

Frequent reports about Ponzi schemes have been appearing on China’s online P2P (person to person) financial management web sites. Those online platforms offer financial products with high returns to attract investments but in the end they have turned out just to be Ponzi schemes.

Phoenix published an article commenting on how widespread such schemes are. The article pointed out that the root cause is that China’s Central Bank keeps printing Renminbi, causing a drastic devaluation of the money. The public, in order to protect the wealth they accumulated in Renminbi and to counter the devaluation factor, has had no choice but to look for investment options that promised high returns. 

"According to Xinhua, in December 2015, the m2 money supply increased by 13.3 percent over what it had been a year ago." "It means that today, the actual buying power of what was previously 100 yuan, with 2 percent interest, and with subtracting the 13.3 percent, ended up being less than 90 yuan."

Source: Phoenix, April 12, 2016
http://finance.ifeng.com/a/20160412/14317011_0.shtml

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources