Government/Politics - 271. page

By the end of June 2011, the Chinese Communist Party achieved complete control of the legal profession in Shanghai. According to Sheng Leiming, President of the Shanghai Bar Association, a total of 451 Party branches (381 Independent Party branches and 70 joint Party branches) had been established, along with monitoring of all of the law firms (1090 firms) in Shanghai. In addition, there are 4 general Party branches and 1 Party committee in charge of all of the 451 branches in the law firms. As for those law firms where there are no Party members, political instructors (Party liaisons) are assigned there to monitor the work.

The Shanghai Bar Association has a complete reporting system with rules and procedures, and consults the Party on any important matter.

Source: People’s Daily, July 13, 2011
 http://sh.people.com.cn/GB/140263/15148560.html

After the Vatican rejected the ordination of Chinese Bishops Rev. Lei Shiyin and Rev. Huang Bingzhang as illegitimate and excommunicated them, China’s State Administration of Religious Affairs issued a statement. It said, “The Vatican’s threats of ‘excommunication’ of the two bishops who were ordained without papal approval was unreasonable and rude; it has severely hurt the feelings of Chinese Catholics and made the members feel sad. We are greatly concerned about the matter.” 

The Communist Party Central Committee held a forum on July 21, 2001, at Zhongnanhai in Beijing, to meet with non-party figures and discuss economic issues for the second half of the year. Hu Jintao, Wen Jiabao, and other members of the Politburo Standing Committee attended the forum.

Hu said that this year, domestic and international situations are complex and unsettled and that predictable and unpredictable new situations and new problems are constantly emerging. He expressed that [the Party] should continue to improve macroeconomic regulations and control, and make price stabilization the top priority of macroeconomic regulations and control. Hu also urged that work continue on agriculture, job creation, economic structural adjustment, and economic reform.

Wen reported on the economic work for the first half of the year and presented the Party’s and State Council’s concerns for the second half. Wen stressed that [the Party] should strengthen the regulation and control of the real estate market.

Source: Huanqiu, July 22, 2011
http://china.huanqiu.com/hot/2011-07/1841369.html

On July 19, 2011, a Xinhua reporter interviewed Cai Wu, China’s Minister of Culture. Cai said that, in the cultural exchanges with foreign countries, China’s “exported” cultural products were more traditionally oriented; however, "the effort to disseminate Chinese contemporary and pop culture is not sufficient. (We) particularly lack excellent books, dramas, art performances, movies and TV programs that can exhibit the image of contemporary China’s development and are culturally profound and deep. As a result, people in other countries lack a comprehensive and accurate understanding of contemporary China." 

Source: Xinhua, July 19, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2011-07/19/c_13994171.htm

Study Times published an article about a success story – the expansion of the Chinese Communist Party in Foton, a publicly traded company listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange with the majority of stock owned by the State. Of close to 40,000 employees, 5,125 are registered Communist Party members with 155 Party branches. Foton has institutionalized the Party’s participation in corporate management through internal regulations which set forth the procedures for the Party’s participation in decision making. The Party is in charge of 4 critical areas: business, strategy, managers, and personnel.

Source: Study Times, July 11, 2011
http://www.studytimes.com.cn:9999/epaper/xxsb/html/2011/07/11/08/08_35.htm

On July 9, Chinese authorities deported a Swedish student Sven Englund, who was studying at Fudan University in Shanghai, for attempting to organize a public rally on July 1, 2011, the 90th birthday of the Chinese Communist Party. On his microblogging page, Englund invited Chinese president Hu Jintao to come to the Bund to attend a really that called for freedom. Before the deportation, Fudan University had invited him for a “coffee talk.” Shanghai’s police also followed, monitored, and interrogated him. The authorities charged him with “involvement in jeopardizing social management." The 24-year-old student is now back in Sweden.

Source: Voice of America, July 10, 2011
http://www.voanews.com/chinese/news/20110710-SWEDISH-STUDENT-125286958.html

In a speech recently delivered by Zhou Yongkang, a member of the Politburo Standing Committee and head of the CCP’s Committee of Political And Legislative Affairs, Zhou repeated the importance of Hu Jintao’s speech given at the 90th anniversary of the Communist Party and emphasized that the Party must maintain “absolute control” over the judicial systems, which includes the police, the armed police, the procurator system, and the court system. Zhou called for “political firmness, purity and strong fighting strength.”

Source: Xinhua, July 2, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2011-07/02/c_121614063.htm

An article in BBC Chinese reported that, “China’s Internet police have apparently blocked discussions about Jiang Zemin, the formal Party Secretary.” The BBC Chinese said, “On July 1, while many formal top party leaders including the formal Prime Minister Li Peng and Zhu Rongji appeared at the celebration ceremony of the Party’s 90th anniversary, Jiang, who is 84, was not present. This led to the rumor that Jiang was seriously ill or has passed away.”

According to BBC, on July 6, a BBC reporter logged on to the Sina website and typed “Jiang Zemin.” A message came back stating, “According to the related legal rules and policy, your search results cannot be displayed.” A list of Chinese words including “heart attack,” and “Party Secretary” were also blocked. Even the word “Yangtze” and other river related words were blocked because the Chinese characters contains the characters for “Jiang,”  the same name as the former Party Secretary. BBC said that several Hong Kong media sources from Beijing disclosed that Jiang suffered a massive heart attack and was hospitalized at the PLA 301 hospital where many top party leaders have paid visits.

Source: BBC Chinese, July 6, 2011
http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/simp/chinese_news/2011/07/110706_jiang_censor.shtml