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Down with Communist Party: Protesters Support Police Killer

More than 1,000 protesters gathered in front of a Shanghai court on Monday in support of Yang Jia who is appealing against his conviction for stabbing policemen. Confronting the police brutality against individuals who attempted to enter the close-door trial, hundreds roared out slogans such as “down with Communist Party”, “down with Fascism”, and “long lived Yang Jia.”

From 9 am to noon, more than 100 protesters were arrested by police, who were stationed outside the court to prevent the people from talking about their views of the case or taking interviews from many journalists present among the crowd.

Yang Jia, 28, was sentenced to death last month for killing 6 policemen as a revenge for being wrongfully mistreated overnight in October 2007 on suspicion of stealing a bicycle. Grassroot Chinese people have shown overwhelming supports for the young man as police being Beijing’s iron fist against ever growing massive domestic social unrests.

Source: Epoch Times, October 14, 2008
http://epochtimes.com/gb/8/10/14/n2295692.htm

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

Ministry of Education Requires All Colleges to Have one Political Teacher for Every 400 Students

Ministry of Education of China released a direction through its website on October 8, asking all colleges to further enhance the development of teachers of political thoughts and theory. The direction requires that all colleges have at least one political teacher for every 350-400 students. The Ministry also asks that all colleges establish independent teaching and research department of political thoughts and theory directly under the leadership of the colleges.

New political teachers must be Chinese Communist Party members and assume the position as the coordinator of the students. Those who are not consistent with the Party in political principles and directions can not teach in political class.

Source: Xinhua, October 9, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2008-10/09/content_10167942.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

More African Countries Ban Chinese Milk Products

BBC reports on October 7 that Liberia and Senegal ordered to temporarily ban the import of milk products from China, joining other eight African countries that issued similar orders earlier. Liberia minister of commerce says such ban is a preventive measure. There is no milk product imported from China at the moment in Senegal. Senegal authorities say that the country can not wait to take action until the problem products spread to Senegal.

Source: BBC, October 7, 2008
http://news.bbc.co.uk/chinese/simp/hi/newsid_7650000/newsid_7657300/7657318.stm

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

All China Federation of Trade Unions: 82 Percent of the Fortune 500 Companies have Unions

According to All China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU), by the end of September, 82 percent of the Fortune 500 companies have established unions in its China operation with total membership above two million, up 32 percent from June. The effort to speedup the union setup was coordinated by ACFTU in order to carry out China’s Employment Contract Law which was put in force at the beginning of this year. ACFTU will continue to push the establishment of the unions for the remaining companies including those who have had relocations.

Source: People’s Daily, October 13, 2008
http://mnc.people.com.cn/GB/8162041.html

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology

Slow Real Estate Market Reached New Low During October 1 Golden Week

“October 1 Golden Week” appears to be slow for the real estate market compared with last year. The housing closing activities has remained slow since September and were at 50 percent level compared with last year. Some housing compounds in large cities such as Shanghai even had zero transaction month. Take Shenzheng as an example, the slow real estate market has driven 40 percent of the real estate brokerage firms in Shengzheng out of business and almost all the remaining firms are operating at financial lose. Shenzhen held the highest housing price in the nation last August. But a year later in August 2008, the housing price per square meter has dropped from 18,000 yuan to 11,000 and the transaction has been slow since last September.

Source: Jiefang Daily, October 12, 2008
http://www.jfdaily.com/news/xwgn/200810/t20081012_405642.htm

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Government Announces Allowable Melamine Content in Milk

Several government departments issue d a joint notice announcing the provisional amount of melamine allowed in milk and milk products, reported People’s Daily on October 8, 2008. Ministry of Health stated that the move is an administrative measure responding to the emergency in order to ensure product quality. For example, the allowable amount of melamine in infant formula is 1mg per kilogram, and in milk/milk powder the allowable amount is 2.5mg. According to an earlier release of Ministry of Health, over 10,000 children remain hospitalized due to melamine contaminated milk.

Source: People’s Daily, October 8, 2008
http://politics.people.com.cn/GB/1027/8146427.html
 

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Over 100 Million Agricultural Workers Now in Non-Agricultural Sectors

Economic reforms in the past 30 years have moved over one third of farmers to non-agricultural jobs, said Xinhua on October 9, 2008 citing a recent survey of National Trade Union. There are about over 100 million farmers now working in the non-agricultural sectors. As of June 2008, 65 million of them are trade union members. The total trade union members amount to 209 million.

Source:
Xinhua, October 9, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2008-10/09/content_10172030.htm
Xinhua, October 8, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2008-10/08/content_10166647.htm

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Deutsche Welle Dismissed Chinese Division’s Deputy Chief

On September 24, Germany’s government-funded international broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) revoked Zhang Danhong’s official title as the deputy chief of its Chinese division after her public defense for Beijing’s human rights policy and Internet censorship.

Four days before the Beijing Olympics, Zhang hailed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) practice of article three of Universal Declaration of Human Rights unmatched by any other political force. She also likened Beijing’s blocking of Falun Gong and Tibetan movement websites to Germany’s restriction on child pornography or right-wing extremist sites. She has since been taken off the air by DW.

On September 16, eight Chinese-German scholars wrote to the Parliament of Germany for an investigation of Beijing’s infiltration into DW. Days later, Autorenkreis der Bundesrepublik, a well-known writers association, sent a joint letter of 58 writers, including 2002 Nobel Laureate in Literature Imre Kertesz, criticizing the “serious structure problems” within the broadcaster and calling for a thorough checkup of possible CCP members in its Chinese operation.

DW, a.k.a. “German Waves,” is similar to international broadcasters such as the BBC World Service, Radio Canada International, Voice of America, and Radio France Internationale. Zhang remains in DW as an editor and resumes as an anchor of a radio program.

Source: The Epoch Times, September 26, 2008
http://epochtimes.com/gb/8/9/26/n2275894.htm

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend