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Chinese language media remain influential among overseas Chinese people because even for those who have already become naturalized citizens of another country, Chinese is the most popular language. Europe Express is a Chinese language newspaper based in Italy. Its front page shows that it is a partner of the People’s Daily, the Chinese Communist Party’s flagship newspaper. On March 3, 2008, Europe Express published an article entitled "In Order to Build a Harmonious Society for Overseas Chinese People, the Function of Overseas Chinese Media as a Watchdog is Very Important." It was republished by China News Service — the second largest official Chinese Communist Party news agency after Xinhua. Below is the translation of the republished article (excerpts) by China News Service. [2]

Chinese Newspaper: In Order to Build a Harmonious Society for Overseas Chinese People, the Function of Overseas Chinese Language Media as a Watchdog is Very Important.

The reform and opening up policy has rapidly improved China’s international standing, and innumerable overseas Chinese people have benefited from it. Consular protection and consular services have become part of the Chinese government’s national policy. The Chinese government never stops emphasizing the issue of consular protection. While emphasizing the need to build a harmonious socialist society, building a harmonious society among overseas Chinese people has been considered strategically as the most important policy in the new era. An article in Europe Express in Italy stated: For building a harmonious society for overseas Chinese people, the function of overseas Chinese language media as a watchdog is very important.

As stated in the article, from the 1980s of the last century, the trend of Chinese emigration has reached the entire world, and several million Chinese people have migrated overseas. As the number of overseas Chinese people as new immigrants increases, and the unique overseas Chinese cultural tastes evolve, there has come an upsurge of overseas Chinese media. Although the foundation, audience and positioning of the Chinese media in each country are quite different, most of them proclaim the principles of being patriotic, promoting Chinese culture and China, strengthening communication and social development. Their function lies in assisting overseas Chinese to better integrate into the mainstream society in economics, politics, and culture; providing services for employment, studying, social networking, etc.; defending overseas Chinese legal rights; creating better living conditions for the Chinese community; promoting solidarity and patriotic sentiment amongst local Chinese people; and advocating friendly communication and interaction between the countries of their residence and motherland.

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Now, the overseas Chinese media have the same ideological guidelines and the same angle of reporting that is consistent with the mainstream media in Mainland China. Based on the needs of the local Chinese community, it provides information about the country of residence and helps overseas Chinese to integrate into the mainstream society; and the Chinese media also provide information about China and help overseas Chinese people to nurture their ties with the motherland emotionally. The overseas Chinese media truly take on the responsibility for helping China to understand the world and the world to understand China. It may be called the overseas extension of the mainland Chinese media.

The article indicates that the Chinese media’s development not only depends on the strength of the overseas Chinese, but also depends on the great power of the motherland. When the motherland is formidable with high international standing, Chinese civilization will be respected. When Sinology and the Chinese language gains global popularity, the Chinese language media will be prosperous too.

[…]

to construct a harmonious society, the function of the overseas Chinese language media as a watchdog is very important. While the Chinese government encourages the mainstream media in China to play the role of a watchdog, it should also emphasize the overseas Chinese media as a watchdog.  The policies should safeguard the right of overseas Chinese media as watchdog, facilitate overseas media and reporters to play a better role of a watchdog so that they can truthfully report on overseas Chinese, and promote the harmonious development of Chinese communities.

Endnotes:
[1] The construction of a Harmonious Society (和谐社会) is the current and dominant socio-economic goal to be achieved using Hu Jintao’s signature ideology of the Scientific Development Concept. It serves as the ultimate goal for the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP). First proposed by the Chinese government under the Hu-Wen Administration during the 2005 National People’s Congress, the idea deviates from the focus of economic growth to overall societal balance. Independent observers believe the initiation of the Harmonious Society policy is the regime’s response to ever escalating domestic instability due to the CCP’s governance crisis. The CCP’s concept of “harmonious society” or “social stability”, meaning that dissident voices or social unrest are to be suppressed, is different from the use of the concepts in Western societies.
[2] Source: China News Service, March 3, 2008
http://www.chinanews.com.cn/hr/ozhrxw/news/2008/03-03/1179729.shtml

It is not an easy matter to understand Chinese official media reports, yet the Chinese populace has, over the years, learned how to predict upcoming changes in the political landscape by reading between the lines. These indications include the frequencies of a leader’s media appearance, the page on which a report appears (whether it’s front-page headline news), font size, picture size, article length, whether or not the name is mentioned in official news or documents, TV news report length, the change of wording in supplemental notices, adjectives used to describe a leader, and so on, to mention just a few. One notable indication is the name ordering of leaders. Below is an unabridged translation of the Chinese Leaders’ Name Order Study originally published on the news website, Boxun.com. [1]

When Chinese leaders attend public events, sometimes the list of names put out by the official Xinhua News Agency is longer than the news content itself. Although it annoys overseas media and populace, for the local Chinese media and populace who know the secret, they are the delight of talks. From it, one can predict the change of the status of a leader.

Li Keqiang Placed After Xi Jinping

During the Culture Revolution, people’s study of the name ordering of Party and national leaders reached a peak. A person’s name suddenly missing implies that he has been overthrown. A person’s name suddenly advancing in the ordering means he was promoted. This kind of ordering convention is in use today. Every major media has an ordered referential list of leaders’ names, and every provincial-level media also has an ordered referential list of provincial leaders. However, there are still times when editors and reporters misplace a leader’s name out of negligence. They are penalized.

Last October, the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) 17th Congress selected a new leadership group. The ordering of Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang, new standing committee members of the Politburo, confirmed that “group faction” favorite Li Keqiang was no match for the “Crown Prince Party” Xi Jinping. It is believed that they will be the respective successors of Party General Secretary Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao.

Because Vice President Zeng Qinghong, Vice Premiers Wu Yi and Zeng Peiyan, and so on resigned their Party posts, and new successors have to wait for their confirmation during next month’s National People’s Congress (NPC) and the Political Consultative Conference, the present name ordering of Party and national leaders has now become most complex. The author, through a Baidu (a popular Chinese search engine) search, found only one complete list of 219 incumbent and retired officials published by official media since the beginning of the year. It appeared in an obituary of Zhang Lichang, former secretary of Tianjin Municipal Committee of the CCP, as a list of leaders expressing their mourning and saluting [his] family members.
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Jiang Zemin Ranks Second, Respected by Hu and Wen

From this list, the order of leaders are as follows: members of the Standing Committee of Politburo, members of the Politburo of the CCP Central Committee, retired members of the Standing Committee of the Politburo, members of the Secretariat of the CCP Central Committee, vice chairman of the NPC, state councilor, president of the Supreme People’s Court, procurator-general of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, vice chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), retired members of the Politburo and the like, members of the Central Military Commission, and retired members of the Central Military Commission.

At the present, because the change of new and old leaders has not been completed, there are some exceptions to the rule. The first eleven rankings are Hu Jintao, Jiang Zemin, Wu Bangguo, Wen Jiabao, Jia Qinglin, Zeng Qinghong, Li Changchun, Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, He Guoqiang, and Zhou Yongkang. Jiang Zemin continues to place second, indicating that Hu and Wen respect him. Zeng Qinghong places sixth; Wu Yi and Zeng Peiyan rank among the other members of the Politburo members, [and are] still integrated into the sequence of incumbent leaders.

It should be pointed out that although the appointment of the CPPCC vice premier needs confirmation from the NPC, because the vice premier is concurrently a member of the Politburo, his rank surpasses that of the NPC vice chairman. This also shows NPC’s rubber stamp status from another angle.

Endnote:
[1] Boxun News, February 28, 2008
http://www.peacehall.com/news/gb/pubvp/2008/02/200802280112.shtml

On December 14, 2006, the International Herald Tribune asked, “What’s the most rapidly growing industry in China today? The phone? Computer components? Toys? No, it’s the prostitution industry.” [1] Compared to ancient times, when holding hands in public was rare and would cause criticism, today the openness toward sex in China represents a major historic change. "One-night stand hotels” have mushroomed in the university areas of Beijing. The new doctrine of “All for money,” has become the norm in China, giving prostitution’s development a great boost. It seems that what is brewing in China is a wave of sexual degeneration, a revolution that is destroying traditional morality and standards of behavior. Although the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) says it will crack down on pornographic websites, even the Chinese official media website, Xinhuanet, displays photos of the “2006 top 10 hottest female stars,” “rare sexy men,” etc. Below is the translation of a report from Taiwan’s China Times [2]

Sexual liberation, an hourly-room is difficult to book

Every weekend, energetic university lovers follow a familiar path, passing skillfully through restaurants and cafes, coming to the cheap hotels with dimmed lights, ready to enjoy 3 hours of private time. The hotels are only 10 minutes away from the schools. The facilities are not luxurious but very clean. If they are not booked ahead of time, it is hard to find a room.

The cheap hotel rooms near the universities have sprouted like mushrooms. They are the symbol of the sexual revolution in China. According to a report by the Associated Press, the university students’ open-mindedness toward the traditional concept of sex means that the Mao era’s abstinence has collapsed. However, the liberation does not mean you can talk about it loudly; the political ideology has not lifted the ban on sex. Sex can only be discussed in private areas or among close friends. This has caused a lot of problems in society.

An increase in premarital sex and a rise in late marriages

Chinese young people’s attitude towards sex is in a period of change. In Beijing’s famous Chili Bar, the 20-year old manager agrees that today, young girls’ attitudes towards sex are very arbitrary. They often change their boyfriends, and love does not result in marriage. A 23-year old golf coach with the nick name “tank” said directly, “If two people really love each other, time does not matter.” Every night, the bars famous for one-night relations are filled with men and women looking for no-responsibility, no-burden love.
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The new openness has caused a booming business in cheap hotels that advertise “hourly-rooms,” and “part-time rooms.” In a survey, a social sciences researcher from the Chinese Academy, Li Yinhe, found that premarital sex in China is showing a stable upward trend. From 1989, when it was at 15%, it has jumped to 70%. Premarital sex has also led to the late marriage phenomenon. Last year the average marriage age for men in Shanghai was 31, 5 years older than the traditional age of 26-year-old.

The huge gap about discussing sex

There is a serious gap between the open-mindedness about sex in practice and lack of sex education in schools, which results in social problems. For example, the schools only emphasize the danger of AIDS, but avoid talking about how to use contraceptives. The result, as official media has reported, is that during the two long national holidays on May 1st and October 1st, 80% of those having abortions in Shanghai hospitals were high school girls. As for cost of an abortion, the hospital’s formal price is 1,000 yuan, or about 4,400 yuan Taiwan NT. There are cheaper ones; the non-narcotic procedure only costs 400 yuan.

Deng Zhen, who lives in Beijing and works as a love consultant, related that every day he receives 15 to 20 calls for consultation, many of which are related to sex. The callers are mostly high school or college students. He even received a phone call from a 10-year-old girl. Prof. Li Yinhe says, “Chinese are shy when it comes to directly talking about sex, but without a direct discussion of sex, sex education is not complete.”

Endnotes:
[1] International Herald Tribune, December 14, 2006
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/12/14/news/letter.php?page=1
[2] China Times (Taiwan), 2008.03.03
http://news.chinatimes.com/2007Cti/2007Cti-News/2007Cti-News-Content/0,4521,
110505+112008030300043,00.html

As the Olympics is approaching fast, there is no sign of improvement in the human rights in China other than continuous efforts by the Communist Party to cover-up the human rights violations.  In fact the Communist Party is escalating the suppression of the Chinese peoples’ speech, beliefs, even the most basic right to live, using the excuse of hosting the Olympics, particularly in the persecution of Falun Gong.  Recent cases of Falun Gong practitioners being arrested, detained, tortured, killed, or homes ransacked have been on the rise. The persecution has intensified.  The following contains translated excerpts from Falun Dafa website, Minghui.org.[1]

In 2005, Deputy Minister of Public Security Liu Jing received an order from the Communist Party to eliminate Falun Gong before the Olympics.  To implement the order Liu issued a mandate to the national police system. In March 2007, the former Minister of Public Security Zhou Yongkang issued another order, demanding a second round of severe persecution against Falun Gong. Soon after, massive arrests of Falun Gong practitioners took place in several regions. Practitioners were detained or sentenced to prison.  Some have gone missing while others have been tortured to death.  During the abductions and arrests, police clamored, “[There is an ] order from the above: kill a batch before the Olympics."

Beijing Seized with Terror as Olympics Approaches

Sources from Mainland China indicate that, as the 2008 Olympics approaches, Beijing has been seized with terror.  Police are searching people’s bags at Tiananmen Square, main traffic intersections, and vehicles that exit the highway going towards Beijing. Those who enter Beijing by train must now show their ID paperwork, along with their tickets. This practice is usually used one or two weeks before the Communist Party Congress, but this time it has begun a full eight months before the Olympics would start. On January 24, 2008, police in Chaoyang, Chongwen, and Shunyi Districts barged into Falun Gong practitioners’ homes or workplaces to ransack and perform illegal arrests. On January 25, 2008, police were all over Beijing stopping vehicles and checking passenger IDs. Sources say that the funding for persecuting Falun Gong has also increased.

Falun Dafa website Minghui.org reports that several dozen Falun Gong practitioners in Beijing were arrested in December 2007, followed by more arrests in January 2008. Over twenty were detained on January 23-25, 2008, including some practitioners’ family members and colleagues.  Some insiders indicated that some practitioners’ friends have also been taken away.  The actual number of those detained appears to far exceed what is reported here.

Inside sources said that the detained Falun Gong practitioners were brutally beaten without normal processing or questioning.  Many were arrested without pretext, at home or at their workplaces, and then sentenced to eight months or more of forced labor, which will end when the Olympics is over. The forced labor camps in Beijing are full, so camp administrators are transferring practitioners out of town.  This is the so-called preemptive “Hard Strike” launched by the Party in the run-up of the Olympics.
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Peaceful on the Surface Yet Persecution Intensifies

In 2007, seven Falun Gong practitioners died in Daqing City as a result of the persecution. They include Mr. Zhang Hongquan, Mr. Zhou Shuhai, Ms. Jiang Pai, Ms. Liu Sheng, Ms. Ma Bing, Ms. Zhang Baoying, and Mr. Ni Wenkui.  In 2007, several dozen abductions occurred targeting Falun Gong practitioners and their families. For instance, on the morning of April 25, 2007, police from the Dong’an District arrested practitioner Ms. Lu Guilan and her son Yan Jiaohui who is not a practitioner.

Masanjia Forced Labor Camp is notorious for locking female Falun Gong practitioners in male cells. On February 21, 2008, Director Wang had many "dead person’s beds"[2] shipped to Masanjia, ordering prisoners to torture those Falun Gong practitioners who were holding hunger strikes. According to eyewitnesses, four practitioners, Mr. Chen Kaiqu, Mr. Liu Qing, Mr. Gao Yuling, and Mr. Han Ximin were beaten to the point of becoming deformed. Mr. Zheng Haitao and Ms. Chen Yan were tied to the dead person’s beds, their four limbs pulled apart, with a horse’s bit inserted into their mouths so that they could not talk. Brutal force-feeding torture was then carried out on these practitioners.

Severe Torture and Death Cases on the Rise

Information from Falun Dafa website Minghui.org shows that the Chinese Communist Party has engaged in renewed campaign in the name of the Olympics to further persecute Falun Gong.  Falun Gong practitioners who have been arrested at their workplaces or homes have gone missing, and arresting officers are refusing to tell their families the whereabouts of the arrested practitioners, are not allowing visits, or have denied the fact that they arrested these practitioners. Eyewitnesses in Xinjin County, Sichuan Province, and Rong County in Guangxi Zhuan Autonomous Region revealed that the police put masks on the practitioners’ heads when they arrested them. In 2007, the number of confirmed deaths reached one hundred twenty three practitioners. In January 2008, there were another eight confirmed deaths.

Endnotes:
[1] Minghui.org, February 27, 2007
http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2008/2/27/173204p.html
[2] Dead person’s bed – the victim is tied to the four corners of a cold metal bed frame and not allowed to get up to eat, drink, or use the bathroom. The torture typically lasts from several hours to over ten days.

China’s two-pronged strategy for meeting its giant oil-consumption needs involves seeking oil-producing countries as long-term strategic partners while simultaneously attempting to play an important role in the global oil market.  China recognizes that the international economy is greatly impacted by the US dollar being the only currency for oil price quotes. This has been observed especially in light of the way in which the US dollar has been gradually devalued during the sub-prime mortgage crisis. The oil price hike has brought tremendous pressure on China to appreciate its currency, the RMB.  As a result, China is currently striving to establish a forward market for crude oil so as to secure domestic resource supplies even while counteracting the expansion of US influence into Asia, thus bringing the country to play a larger role in the world oil market. The following translation is of an article on Xinhua News, February 24, 2008, entitled “Some Thoughts on China’s Strategic Financial Planning with Regard to the Petroleum Market.” [1]

Oil prices twice exceeded $100 per barrel within the last week. In addition to the supply and demand for petroleum and international political factors, the devaluation of the US dollar and fund speculation certainly have played a crucial role in the rise of the price of oil. The oil market is becoming an increasingly important aspect in finance. As a giant consumer of oil, China must fully exploit financial strategies to counter the fluctuation of oil prices as an important aspect of its strategic planning for energy and resources.

Negative Effects of the “Oil and Dollar” Duet

The US reached an agreement with OPEC in the 1970s; namely, the US dollar would be the only currency for oil price quotes. Since then, the petroleum market has been intimately tied to the fluctuation of the US dollar. Suffice it to say, with the ups and downs in the price of oil, the variety of incidents which suddenly emerged [recently] have merely been superficial triggers while it is the decisions made by the US Federal Reserve (the Fed) that are the “main switch” ultimately determining the direction of oil price.

Since the sub-prime mortgage crisis, the Fed lowered interest rates three times–on September 18, October 31 and December 11 of last year. As a result, international oil prices rose immediately each time.  On the same day that the interest rate was lowered, the forward price of light crude oil increased $0.94, $4.15 and $2.16, respectively, from the price quoted on the previous transaction day.  The first two rate cuts resulted in record high crude oil prices at $81.51 per barrel and $94.53 per barrel, respectively, on the same day that the rate cut was announced.

The devaluation of the US dollar keeps pushing up the price of oil. The exchange rate between US dollars and 14 other major currencies all dropped during the last year.  For example, the exchange rate with the Euro dropped by about 10.5%, and with the Japanese Yen it dropped by about 6%. Studies show that when the US dollar devalues by 1%, the prices for energy and crude materials rise on an equivalent scale.  Currently, if converted to Euros, oil priced at $100 is equivalent to last year’s price at $60.
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At the same time the depreciation of the US dollar has made oil and gold more attractive to speculators.  According to experts, speculation has resulted in at least a $25 increase in oil prices. The forward business of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) has increased 18% annually since the beginning of this century. The forward business was expected to have reached 1,300,000 transactions per day, amounting to 1.3 billion barrels per day, which is 15 times the daily consumption of the whole world. At the end of last year, hedge funds invested in the petroleum market had reached $200 billion, a 60% increase from the beginning of last year.

In the face of the US dollar’s devaluation and increasing oil prices the US only needs to increase its export capacity to counteract the negative effects on the US economy.  Other countries such as the European Union, Japan and the UK, are able to exchange their currencies with the US freely; they can easily handle the increased oil price by appreciation of their respective currency. However, as China’s currency cannot be traded with US dollars freely as of now, we have to endure the dual pressure from both the increase in oil cost and the appreciation of the Chinese RMB. As a giant consumer of oil, it is a hard reality for us to swallow.

Financial Strategies Need to Be Exploited to Counter Oil Price Fluctuations

The price quote for oil sold to Europe from the Middle East is currently tied to Brent Oil forward pricing; oil sold to the US is tied to WTI forward pricing and oil sold to Asia is priced with reference to Platt’s Oil Price Index. The Platt’s Oil Price Index is based on the evaluation of spot market trading status, which can be easily manipulated. According to statistics, light oil from Saudi Arabia sold to northeastern Asia is usually higher by $1 per barrel than the same oil sold to Europe, and higher by $3 per barrel than oil sold to the US. This single item costs us $0.5 billion to $1.5 billion in oil import expenditures every year. The core issue in strategic oil planning for a nation lies in whether or not the pricing of petroleum is reasonable and can be stabilized within a certain range. In order to change the aforementioned negative effects, China proposed the  first draft of the Energy Act at the end of 2007, stating that “the government will establish a mechanism for energy pricing with market regulation being the dominating force.”

Then, how do we arrive at a “market price” for oil imported to China? The answer is, establishing a rational financial strategy for petroleum and encouraging more enterprises to get into the international oil financial market, getting actively involved in an attempt to quote oil price in RMB and gradually establishing an oil business forward market, so as to counteract the inflated oil price. Among all these strategies, establishment of an oil forward market would be our final choice. In order to change the current status wherein the price we pay for oil is higher than what Europe and the US pay, we need to develop a crude oil forward market, so that we have the right to participate in price quoting for crude oil.

After the refined oil is priced on an open (freely-traded) domestic market, the refined oil forward market will also need to be established to set the oil price.  In addition, the huge petroleum reserve accumulated by the business transactions of the Petroleum Exchange will also serve to replenish the petroleum reserve in our country.
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Nonetheless, we will have to face a lot of issues during the establishment of a crude oil forward market. Japan, India and other Asian countries have expedited the formation of these forward markets, trying to be key members in the control of oil pricing in the Asia-Pacific region. Some European countries and the US also hurriedly expanded their force into Asia-Pacific, attempting to strangle the formation of an independent oil pricing control system within the Asia-Pacific region.  Inside China, many oil-related companies cannot participate in the import trade of crude oil, yet they are not motivated to join the establishment of the forward market. In addition, as to whether we should continue to quote prices in US dollars in order for us to have a certain degree of international influence or to quote prices in RMB for the sake of a long-term, stable development, we do not have a final answer yet.

Presently with the financial system in the process of globalization and the international currency system constantly changing and adjusting itself, some oil supplying countries have started to request that buyers close transactions with currencies other than the US dollar. We have started to see the emergence of “oil price in the Euro” and “oil price in Japanese Yen.”  The oil pricing system and currencies used in oil transactions are becoming more diversified. Many oil-supplying countries are willing to accept RMB in trade for oil.  In the face of an oil price increase pressuring China to appreciate the value of our RMB, it is a good choice to gradually attempt to quote oil prices in RMB.

China’s investment fund has not yet made its way into the international oil market. A few giant oil companies, after government ratification, will be able to enter the outside forward market to secure the long-term price of oil; however, because doing so will get too much international attention and because there is a lack of a related mechanism inside China, we will be placed in a very passive position.  In addition, China does not yet have a hedge fund. So, speculation funds cannot enter into an international petroleum forward market for the time being. These are undoubtedly negative factors for China’s economy. With the development of a domestic forward market, the growth of investment funds, and the opening up of financial business, we should soon move investment funds into the international petroleum market, so as to make a profit from the big fluctuations in the price of oil.

Endnotes:
[1] Xinhua, February 24, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2008-02/24/content_7660540.htm

In recent years, a main impression of Western governments or research institutes on China’s change has been that the proportion of the private sector’s role in China’s economy has dramatically increased. In considering such trends, however, it is important to keep in mind that in Chinese society, the concept of a private enterprise is quite different from its Western counterpart. In particular, the influence of the ruling Communist Party in the management of China’s private enterprises cannot be neglected. “Private” enterprises are often equipped with elements of the Party structure and its organizations, including having Party leaders heading the Board of Directors or serving as the CEO of a private enterprise. In addition, the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has also been recently strengthening the Party’s influence in private enterprises, raising questions of how free from government influence such enterprises actually are. Below are excerpts from an article from the official publication of the CCP’s Central Committee, Qiushi. [1]

To conduct the construction of the Party system well and promote the organizational role of the Party in private enterprises, thereby facilitating the positive and rapid development of the private sector of the economy, is a major theoretical and practical issue concerning the Party’s governing capacity for construction and the socioeconomic development of China. With this question, we walked into the SANY Heavy Industry Co., Ltd. (SHIC-LTD) of Hunan.

SANY has more than 19,000 employees—among them are more than 2,000 Party members—and is the private enterprise in Hunan with the highest Party membership. In 2002, the company’s Party Committee was established. There are now 3 general Party branches and 19 subordinate branches. It is among the first batch of trial units for building grassroots Party organizations in the company. A representative of the Party’s 17th Congress and the chairman of the company’s Board of Directors, Liang Wengen, always takes “being fair and faithful with gratitude in heart” as his own motto, and uses “managing honestly to return to the society” to express his gratitude to the Party. Walking into SANY, the huge slogan of “Gratitude in Heart” is very eye-catching.
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One: Always Take Construction of Party Organizations as the Crucial Step in Human Resource Management

The first is to have Party play a role in uniting the employees. The employees of SANY have a strong affection for the company, which cannot happen without their attention to constructing the Party organizations and having the Party play the role of uniting people. Since the establishment of the Party organizations in 2002, employees who are Party members have had their own organization, which generated a strong feeling of being at home.
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The second is to use the Party members’ education and training to strengthen human resource management. The top management of SANY believes that Party members are excellent sources of talent. Therefore, to strengthen human resource management, the top priority is to enhance the education and training of the Party members. Since 2003, the company has incorporated the training of Party members into the company’s overall training plan by setting up “the system of training and educating the newly recruited Party member employees.” Meanwhile, it has implemented the double-training project to “train excellent employees into Party members and train Party members into excellent employees.” In recent years, there have been a few hundred young employees actively getting closer to the Party organization each year. Among the newly accepted Party members, more than 80 percent are the managerial technical backbone of the company. Meanwhile, they have established a study system of the Party members, initiated educational campaigns of Maintaining the Advanced Nature of Party, founded a Party school in the company, and trained the professional skills of the Party members, etc. These versatile training and cultural activities of Party members have achieved remarkable effects.

The third is to promote the guidance and incentive role of the Party members, thereby achieving “human resources being maximally utilized and talents being maximally elicited.” The Party committee of the company examined the Party members, setting the highest requirements. Thus, the overall Party members will maintain their advanced nature and do their own jobs well in a unified manner, strive to develop top working skills, maintain top work proficiency, and achieve top work performance. These incentives have made the Party members fully play their roles. At present, more than 90 percent of the general committee members and branch committee are principal managerial cadres in their departments, and 26.8 percent of the middle level managerial cadres are Party members.

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Two: Integrate the Construction of the Party with the Development Of Enterprise

…

The basic requirements for each Party member can be summarized as “four ‘are’s and four ‘aren’t’s”: There are Party members at critical positions; there are Party members to face hardships; there are Party members in moments of urgent events; and there are Party members in research projects. There aren’t accidents with Party members; there aren’t defective products produced by Party members; there [isn’t] wasting by Party members; and there aren’t violations of rules by Party members.” The Party committee has also set up a “model Party member position” in committee branches and group, to sufficiently promote the Party members’ advanced role models.
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Since 2002, the company has copied the organizational structure of the Party to the company’s management, as a way to form the company. To combine the construction of the Party organizations with the building of the managerial team, the company promoted excellent Party member managers to be the Party workers, and recommended excellent Party workers into the managerial decision-making team. Thus, the leadership of the Party committee and the enterprise managerial layer are crossed and are taking dual responsibilities.

…

In addition, the company also guided the cultural development of the enterprise with the excellent traditions of the Party, and instilled advanced cultural ideologies into the enterprise’s culture, so that will eventually become the enterprise’s spirit and the values of all the employees.
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Three: Introducing modern science and technologies into construction of the Party organizations

…

Managing the organization activities of the Party using the Internet is highly efficient. With the IT strength of the enterprise, the Party committee of the company developed a network management system, established the website of “Party Construction in SANY” and the “Managerial System of the Database of Party Members.” Today, the “Party Construction in SANY” website carries comprehensive data and materials, becoming an important platform for the Party committee to strengthen the education and management of the Party members, and for all Party members to study and communicate together. The company also adopted a new form of the Party membership fee management system by using banking accounts management. In the past, because the Party members were not well organized, there were many difficulties in collecting Party membership fees. After serious study and discussion, the Party committee has changed from centralized collection to decentralized collection with centralized management. According to the situation of the company, the Party committee has made set rules regarding the payers, timing, standards, and requirements for using membership fees. Collection of the fees is managed by the banking accounts system. The company has a specific bank account for timely collection of Party membership fees.
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Four: The Fruits from Construction of Party Organizations in the Company

As highlighted in the working report of the CCP’s 17th National Congress, adhering to and perfecting the basic economic system that uses public ownership as the mainstream and meanwhile developing various non-public economic sectors; unswervingly consolidating and developing the public economy; and unswervingly encouraging, supporting, and guiding non-public economic sector development,  with equal guarding of property rights. Thus a new pattern is formed in which a variety of economic sectors compete on an equal footing and with mutual promotion. “Two unswervingly” and “two equal” not only indicated the Party’s clear attitude to promote the non-public economy in the new era, but also raised new requirements on how to enhance the Party’s ruling capacity.
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The achievements of Party-building greatly facilitated the development of the various causes of the enterprise
…
These achievements cannot be separated from the close attention and sufficient trust of the Party to private enterprises. As the Chairman of SANY Liang Wengen stated: “SANY’s success is based on the development of China as a whole. The development of SANY can be attributed to the good policy of reform and openness. Otherwise, the development of SANY will be just like water without a source, and trees without soil.” In an interview, the general Party committee secretary of the company and the Executive Chairman Xiang Wenbo said with a deep feeling: “The Party’s long-term ruling will be the guarantee for China’s development, and is the important backing for future development of private enterprise.” [1]

Endnotes:
[1] Qiushi, No. 4, 2008.
http://www.qsjournal.com.cn/qs/20080216/GB/qs%5E473%5E0%5E11.htm

On October 12, three days before the 17th Party Congress, the Forestry Bureau of Shaanxi Province published the breaking news of a precious wild species, the extinct South China tiger was discovered; and. a photo of the tiger was released. A local peasant provided the picture, which triggered a series of questions on the authenticity of the picture and the news. On February 4, 2008, the aforementioned Bureau released a statement, apologizing for its negligence in the handling of the news and the picture, which was believed by many to be the picture of the tiger taken from a calendar. The following is the translation of a report from the Voice of America (VOA). [1]

Today we are comparatively introducing the debate, regarding the report that the South China tiger was found in Shaanxi Province in Northwest China. The people are searching for the truth through the Internet and calling for the honesty of their government.

It has been one month since the publicity of the photos of the extinct-for-more-than- 20-year-South-China tiger. Debating on the validity of the news, two large troupes: “Hunt the Tiger” and “Save the Tiger,” have emerged. “Hunt the Tiger” troupe mainly consists of the force from the grass-root civilians, while “Save the Tiger” troupe members are composed of the powerful government and its official media.

Hunt the Tiger troupe’s principal forces are the Internet media and the Internet forums with the assistance from the famed South China Daily for its hit-home tactics and the other reformist media. Along with the media from the foreign countries and the non-governmental organizations that are independent from the Chinese government. After the appearance of the tiger’s photos, they are not satisfied with the official information. They have been continuingly raising suspicions, asking for the officials to provide further details, and making unremitting efforts to search for the truth.

“Save the Tiger,” the opposite troupe is represented by the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee (CCPCC,) the local government of Shaanxi province and its central and local propaganda media. In the beginning, the government insisted on that the 71 photos of the tiger taken by the peasant, Zhou Zhenglong, were all authentic. However, in the overwhelming public opinions and the questions rose from the foreign media, and they have begun to recede and started to leave room in their public comments. For example, in the Chinese Central Television (CCTV) interview program. There is a widely quoted comment, “It is not important whether the tiger is authentic or fake, the essential issue is to protect the endangered wild animals.”
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A Global Concern and Discussion RE the Debate on South China Tiger

Foreign media have been paying close attention to the debate on South China tiger. The Science, a U.S. authoritative journal, recently reported: “A few weeks ago, the tiger researchers celebrated the news that an extinct-for-more-than-20-year-South-China tiger (Panthera tigris amoyensis) has been spotted and photographed by an elderly peasant in the wilds of Shaanxi Province. But the worldwide netizens, especially in China, have concluded that the tiger is a “paper tiger” after scrutinized the only two officially released available pictures.” [2]

“On October 12 2007, in Xian at a press conference, Zhou Zhenglong, a former hunter, told the rapt audience of his discovery of the tiger. Moreover, the inconceivable story was: he managed to shoot 71 photos as he crawled within 20 meters from the beast—not till the camera was accidentally bumped and the flash went off.–the tiger roared once and ran away.

“The skeptics cited that the factors such as the tiger’s tame-looking expression and the unreal coat color as well as the fact that the two photos portray exactly the same tiger but with different positioned foliage. It’s more likely that someone planted a cardboard tiger in the bushes. Fu Dezhi, a botanist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, added that the plants are not on the scale in relation to the tiger. Zhou was paid 20,000 Yuan (US$2,666) for the photos. He said, “I bet my life on it that the photographs are authentic.”

“The Shaanxi Forestry Bureau is pushing ahead with plans for a thorough survey and a tiger reserve. ‘It’s the tremendous exciting news if it could be substantiated,’ said the tiger expert, Gary Koehler of Washington State’s Department of Fish and Wildlife. ‘They needed to look for the hair particles or animal droppings first for genetic verification.’” [2]

The comparative news also include an editor’s comments from the Save the Tiger Fund, headquartered in Washington, D.C.: [Ed: As mentioned in the first appearance of this report, if verified this would indeed be a surprise to conservation biologists who haven’t seen the South China tiger for 20 years – what this article describes is the huge financial incentive for a peasant farmer to fake the photos, a wildlife photographer myself I would love to know how he got that close to a tiger without a costly 500mm zoom lens without being attacked]. [3]

In Shaanxi province after the new pictures of the South China tiger was announced at the press conference, “Hunt the Tiger, and Save the Tiger” troupes have debated heatedly on the authenticity of the photos for more than one month,. Both troupes provided evidence for themselves without convincing each other. Until on “November 16, 2007,” a day the Chinese Internet bloggers called, “An Historical Event Day” on Internet history. A blogger left a message on a Photographing Technique forum on a website. The blogger mentioned: “In his house, there’s a calendar picture on the wall, in which the tiger is extremely similar to the tiger photos publicized by the Shaanxi Forestry Department.” From then on, bloggers in other parts in China also reported calendar pictures of the tiger.
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A reporter from The South China Daily made further investigations and found out the publishing company of the calendar picture is inYiwu City, Zhejiang Province. Besides, he located the sample of the calendar picture of the tiger on the homepage of a publishing company. It is known that many people in China like to have tigers printed on calendars that emit powerful energy from the tiger. The picture of tiger might be the one used to fake the photos by the Shaanxi peasant, which was published in 2002.

The kind of news that copying a calendar picture and took the cardboard tiger as a wild South China tiger, and the peasant was awarded 20,000 Yuan from the Shaanxi Government should not be a big deal in China nowadays. At least, it is just a piece of interesting social news. However, it has now evolved into a piece of disgraceful political news.

The strictly controlled political media have chosen to ignore this piece of news, called by Chinese bloggers an “Ostrich Policy.” But some Teflon media that are good at hitting home runs, like the South China Daily, have keenly captured the enormous social implications behind this news that an ordinary peasant suspected of fabricating fraudulent news.

Media Adhere to Justice and Challenged the False News with Bravery

In the editorial of The Southern Metropolis Daily on November 17, 2007, titled “It’s a Shame to Hide and Distort the Truth,” which stated, “The emergence of a series of new evidence has brought us closer to the final confirmation on the forgery of the tiger picture; only the last nail is left under the hammer to get the project done. Up till now, a lot of misgivings in the dispute of the tiger picture have been dispelled, and all others that continuously cooked up evidence and insisted the tiger picture was true might fall into a shameful condition.”

“During the entire tiger-picture incident, there is a huge gap between the official side and civilians’ side in terms of the attitude towards the truth. It can be said that the former is so eager to dominant the right to explain the truth that it completely ignored the power of the united Internet users who took part in finding the evidence, which also was ignored the historically-proven rule that truth would finally come out, regardless of the fact that a handful of people tried to manipulate it. Similar patterns exist in other fields and in the social incidents as well.”

“If the tiger picture is proven fraudulent, it implied there might be questions and blames. The despicable shall be left in shame; otherwise, the preciousness of the truth will be neglected sooner or later. When trying to find the truth of the nature, there should be a premise; in other words, the truth of society as well as people’s attitude towards truth must first be rectified. The act of manipulating the truth at will; not only prevents us from searching for the miracles of nature, but also degrade the moral values in our society.”
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In an article on The Guangming Daily’s website, it stated: “If the Zhou tiger has been tested by experts and confirmed that it was taken from a calendar picture, Zhou Zhenglong shall be suspected of being involved in fraud. The local judicial organ should not only recover his 20,000 Yuan award but also prosecute him and bring him to justice. In addition, the local government officials and the related experts should be questioned one by one because they are involved in malfeasance and jobbery. If there is a profit chain behind the ‘Zhou-Tiger’ incident, the problem will become more serious: For what purpose the shoddy farce was directed? Who will pay the bill for all kinds of resources used and the different costs paid? The related government departments, however, have not taken any actions, and ignored the will of the people by saying the testing of the picture is beyond their duties. The existence of South China tiger is undoubtedly important, but the public opinions and the query from the people about the tiger picture are no less important than the existence of South China Tiger itself. Under such circumstances, paying no attention to the public opinions is neglecting public opinions, which will harm the feelings of the public.”

According to Chinese media, when challenged by the New-Year-Tiger picture, the Bureau of Forestry in Shaanxi Province said it would not make another statement regarding the validity of the South China Tiger. It was reported that an information source inside the Bureau of Forestry claimed that the leaders of the Bureau already came to a final conclusion that the “Zhou Tiger” was a real, wildlife tiger on November 9, 2007. According to Wang Wanyun, Director of Wildlife Protection Department in the Bureau, the leaders of the Bureau would not make more comments on this matter, as they would not change their conclusion made on November 9, 2007. The Xinhua News Agency reported that Mr. Yuan Chunqing, Governor of Shaanxi Province made the following statement while he was visiting Hong Kong: “We may not be able to have a conclusion for the Tiger incident immediately. It is necessary to investigate this matter. It was not wrong for the government to award Zhou. Searching for South China Tiger is more important than finding out whether the picture is true or fake.” (The Xinhua News Website, November 17, 2007)

The “No more comments” policy persisted by the Bureau of Forestry in Shaanxi Province, as well as the statement by the Governor: “Searching for South China Tiger is more important than finding out whether the picture is true or fake,” greatly infuriated the Internet readers in China.

The following quote is what conveyed in a review report from the Guangming Daily’s website: “What a sharp contrast it is between their active involvements before and their passiveness today!” compared the blatancy of the staff from the Bureau of Forestry when the Tiger picture was publicized with their current reluctance to make any comments when the truth is about to surface.
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Chinese Cyber Users See History in the Making
 
An Internet user posted his opinion:  “It does not matter whether the picture is genuine or fake!  The existence of the extinct South-China tiger is unimportant!  What does matter is the government has not yet made any explanation to this group fraud!  Shaanxi government has not been the least apologetic, and the Central Government has been totally silent!”

Another Internet blogger pointed out: “Since the authenticity of the photos were so unimportant:  Why on earth at that time, for the doubtful photos, the Forestry Department of Shaanxi spent two days appraising the photos; a press conference was held; a reward of 20,000 Yuan was awarded to the photographer; the CCTV broadcast the news during prime time; and the photographer Zhou reported to the National Forestry Bureau; reporters nationwide interviewed Zhou; the officials as well as the photographer bet on their lives; Mr. Guan Ke, Director of Propaganda Center, the Forestry Department of Shaanxi, addressed Zhou as “a national hero;” Shaanxi television interviewed Zhou’s entire family on TV.

All these were just for the doubtful photos! The Department was willing to waste so much time for the questionable photos. It really did not matter whether the photos were genuine. I thoroughly realized that there’s no lower limit to some persons’ shamelessness and stupidity!”

From the Guangming Daily columnist’s observation: “On the surface, it was Zhou who provided the photo for 20,000 Yuan. In addition, Shaanxi forestry department’s declared that the photos were real and called the press conference, announcing that the South China tiger was found in Zhengping, Shaanxi Province. Once these were confirmed as fraud, our feelings are inevitably hurt. While a peasant’s words may be disregarded, can we also place much credit in those high-level officials of the Government?

A blogger hoped that following the truth of the South-China tiger photos, other fabricated news and history would be rectified. This blogger commented that a calendar picture of the tiger revealed the falsity of the South-China-tiger photos and exposed the shamelessness of the Government officials. The truth of other historical events will also come to light as research deciphers more files not just the fake tiger.”

Another blogger pointed out the incident is related to current political system. “Once a farce had ended, there will be others as long as dictatorship rules the country.”
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Blogger, Peter Yang published an article, analyzing the roles of the local and central government in this South-Tiger incident. He argued that local officials distorted the central government’s good intentions. The article said that, “General Secretary Hu already very explicitly proposed a change in governmental functions, emphasizing on a harmonious society rather than the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and focus on social justice than the uncontrolled economic growth. As a western province, Shaanxi’s desire for development is good. However, with the development of information technology, it is inappropriate to seek conservation funds with a fake photo. As the situation gets worse, more high-level officials will be punished. The actions of Shaanxi officials are totally against the people’s will. Not only does it undermine the entire society’s good faith, justice and harmony, it is completely against General Secretary Hu’s policy.”

However, other Chinese bloggers considered the above viewpoint too naive. One raised the question of whether one can find a simple truth under the current system. “We need not worry about South-China tiger. We should pay attention to things that concern us the most; that is: Can the current system still function?”

This blogger added: “We must know the truth.  Have morality and integrity gone extinct among our officials?  Have surveillance organizations of the country gone extinct? Have media conscience gone extinct? Have the strength and spirit among Chinese intellectuals gone extinct?”

This blogger pointed out a very important phenomenon. In the era of the Internet, the days when the government had absolute control of the media were gone. Chinese today are lucky, because they can finally obtain the truth. This blogger proudly said that we have proved that we do not need the bureaucrats or the non-conscientious media or the experts with weak- character. We ourselves, the people, can find out the truth.”
 
This is the power of the Internet. The role of the Internet is highly appraised. He added that with the Internet, we can lay out the truth for those leaders and then aloofly explain it to them. “Cyber friends” are no longer fictitious. They are outstanding achievers from all walks of life. They are the invincible force that safeguards our social justice.”

Another cyber friend was also amazed at the power of the Internet. He said, “The fake news, starting as the trivial news ends up a big scandal. The Internet is magical.

Another posted that the fake-tiger incident shows that it is no longer possible for this worse-than-fascist criminal organization, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to rule the country with lies.
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The tiger incident is not about the photographer Zhou Zhenglong.  The Southern Metropolis Daily published an editorial that this incident shows that the era when people blindly believe what the Government says is over. The time when even if the people do not believe the Government, they do not dare, are not able to, and have no way to speak out, question or validate those claims is over. The time of a silenced society is over.

The Boxun News Website published an article that the triumph of the paper tiger incident is that the people can question the Government’s conclusion on some matters.  Even though the independent thinking is growing and maturing; however, it may not be applied to many other major events. These include, “the June 4,” the formation of the Democratic Party and the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners.  Nevertheless the author believed that as more people became courageous to stand up and tell the truth, all the lies will be exposed and the truth will surface.

Endnotes:
[1] VOA news, Nov 23, 2007
http://www.voanews.com/chinese/archive/2007-11/w2007-11-23-voa41.cfm
[2]. Science, Vol. 318. no. 5852, p. 893, November 9, 2007 http://www.sciencemag.org.www.libproxy.wvu.edu/cgi/content/full/318/5852/893a?maxtoshow
=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=south+china+tiger&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&resourcetype=HWCIT
[3]. Save the tiger fund website, October 18, 2007
http://www.savethetigerfund.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=News_Headlines&TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&CONTENTID=7234

On February 18, 2008, Outlook Weekly, a Xinhua News Agency magazine, published a group of articles about China’s Internet. One of them was about the Internet police. The Chinese government’s control of the Internet is well known. Internet police are one of the main means of controlling the Internet. Because of the nature of the special work done by the Internet police, outsiders seldom know what they do. Now that the article below has been translated, our readers may come to understand the Communist Party’s description of Internet control in China’s official media descriptions. [1]

Outlook Weekly obtained information from related sources that, in 2007, local public security divisions in the country uncovered 266 criminal cases of pornography on the Internet and 298 of Internet gambling and cheating. The action of the Internet police is behind these numbers.

As the Internet has become more popularized, using the Internet for obscene pornography, gambling and cheating has also been spreading. When a real (but not gun related) crime is being committed in the virtual Internet society, the public security police step into the virtual society from the real one; therefore, the Internet police enter at a historic moment.

Then, what kind of people are the Internet police? And how do they deal with Internet crimes? Before the Chinese New Year, Outlook Weekly interviewed the Internet police troop at the Beijing Police Station.

A Highly Educated Young Troop

“Internet Police” is a name that people use for the policemen from the Beijing Police Station’s Internet Monitoring Division. Its former identity was “Computer Safety Monitoring Department,” which was established in December 2000. Before it was formed, it was an office of the Beijing Police Station Information Division.

Along with the rapid popularization of the Internet, the Beijing Internet Police Troop has also expanded. A policeman’s average age is less then 30. General reports are that their beginning education is a bachelors’ degree. However, this troop has one Ph.D. and about 20 with masters’ degrees. This troop has the highest education and is the youngest in the Beijing public security system.

Qi Kun is a 29-year-old Internet policeman. He looks like an intellectual scholar, but he is already a “senior statesman” in the Beijing Police Station Internet Monitor Division. Like Qi Kun, Internet policemen mostly look quiet and gentle; certainly their appearance does not conform to the tough and energetic policeman stereotype.
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But do not therefore underestimate these Internet policemen. Internet crimes basically have intelligent and hidden characteristics; therefore, it requires these Internet policemen not only to know the information related to technology and detection, but also the law and computers.

The responsibility of the Internet police is to clamp down on various Internet crimes. These crimes may either use the Internet as a tool, or they attack the Internet as a direct target. In the process of identifying an Internet crime, they need to use the domain name, key word filters, Internet search, gateway technology and IP blockade, and electronic data evidence collection technologies. These tools enable them to screen and gather related clues and information from Internet information that is as vast as a sea and disappears instantaneously.

Evidence collection is a key to identifying Internet crimes; yet it is the difficult part. First, it is technologically difficult, and second, collecting evidence needs to be quick and accurate, because the related data and information is very easy to tamper with and remove.

In addition, the Internet policemen’s important routine tasks include managing and monitoring the dissemination of public information; participating in the special treatment of harmful Internet information; coordinating related departments to process illegal websites; removing bad information, maintaining Internet security; and strengthening the public security system’s science and technology construction.

The “Virtual World” Reveals Invincible Might

In April 2007, the Beijing Internet police suspected several companies of using the cellular phone WAP Internet to send Beijing cellular phone users massive obscene pictures, sexually teasing language, and other false information to induce and deceive cellular phone users to click them, so the companies could make a profit.

Therefore, the Beijing police took this seriously and formed a special team immediately to target these violations. In accordance with the Beijing Police Station’s related regulations, the Beijing police organized some special activities in the whole city to attack Internet obscene pornography. Based on prior investigations and obtaining important evidence, the illegal activities were attacked, including those who were involved in making and distributing obscene subjects. Since these actions have been taken, the Beijing police have uncovered seven of this kind of case, and legally handled 35 involved people. Among them, 18 were arrested on a criminal charge, and 17 were detained.
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Purifying the Internet environment and attacking Internet crimes are the Internet policemen’s sacred duties. Just in the last year, the Beijing Police Station Internet Monitor Division not only obtained an advanced unit national award for its special activities of attacking obscene pornography, but also continuously uncovered Internet prostitutes, Internet scams, and Internet gambling.

Zhao Hongzhi, a deputy director of the Beijing Police Station Internet Monitor Division, who was interviewed by an Outlook news reporter, is a senior engineer and also a director of the Information Internet Security Management Division of the Olympic Technology Department.

Since the Barcelona computer Internet entered people’s lives in 1992, attacks against the Olympic Games Internet security have intensified.

During the Olympic Games, the official Internet has been attacked 11.3 billion times. In 2004, the Athens Olympic Games brought Internet security to an unprecedented level, and the value of computer security system repair was as high as 400 million dollars. In February 2006, in 16 days of the Winter Olympic Games in Italy, the Internet system generated an average of more than 3 million security event reports each day, and successfully prevented 158 significant events that would possibly have caused an Internet breakdown. Among those events, 10 were considered extremely serious ones.

Zhao Hongzhi told the reporter from Outlook that the Olympic information Internet security was the premise for the Olympic Game normal operation. It required resources from physics, the Internet, the system, and various application aspects to carry on a three-dimensional protection. Regardless of which level of security measures did not function well, it created a possibility of an Internet breakdown.

Zhao Hongzhi said, “At present, we Internet police have very heavy duties, and everyone is working with all their might.”

“Virtual policemen” are on Duty

On September 1, 2007, Internet users discovered that “virtual police” appeared in obvious places on Beijing’s key websites and on forum pages. A month later, the “virtual police” patrol area had been expanded to every medium and to small websites.

The animated image of “virtual police” is designed based on the prototype of real life patrol policemen. Every 30 to 45 minutes, “virtual police” will automatically pop up from the bottom of the homepage and appear for 2 minutes. Internet users’ usage isn’t impacted. A “virtual police” has three kinds of images: driving a car, driving a motorcycle, and walking.
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The Beijing Police Station Internet Monitor Division also provides a picture link of “Capital Internet Reporting to the Police Service Station” on over 9.6 million Internet homepages in the whole city. If an Internet user uses the link to get help, this person will only need to click the automated image or reporting to the police picture. He or she will then be automatically connected to the City Police Station Information Internet Security Reporting Service Station. Once a case is reported, if it needs a longer time to process, it will be transmitted to a related business department for processing. If the case only needs a short time to process, it will be processed immediately.

The periodic patrol of the Internet police and the application of reporting to the police picture link as new channels of approaching police have eliminated the blind spots in terms of time and location in the Internet administration, expanded Internet police monitoring time and scope, and raised Internet users’ awareness of rights and self-discipline.

It is said that Beijing “virtual police” have been on duty for four months and have received 10,893 Internet reports to the police, including 400 pornography reports, 4,647 Internet scams, 23 Internet on gambling, 291 of online harmful information, 221 virus attacks, and another 5,311 on illegal information. Compared to the time before the “virtual police” were on duty, the rates of the Beijing Police Station Internet Monitor Division accepting reports to the police and sending out policemen have increased more than four times; therefore, it effectively constrains the online harmful information and online illegal and criminal activities.

Endnotes:
[1] Xinhua, February 18, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2008-02/18/content_7624303.htm