Radio Free Asia carried an article which reported that over one hundred villagers from the village of Jin Guiba in Sichuan Province went to the nearby municipal office in Langzhong City to demand that the city solve the water and environmental problems that a landfill waste management site located close to the village had caused. The pictures and the video taken at the scene showed that villagers held banners during the protest. The police used batons to beat the protesters. Some of the protesters claimed that the police used pepper spray and a number of villagers were injured.
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RFA: Hebei Officials Blamed for Giving out Flood Relief Heroes Awards
Radio Free Asia published an article which reported that the municipal government of Hebei Province recently issued awards to the “2016 Most Beautiful Hebei People during Flood Relief.” Eleven people received an award for their "brave actions." According to the article, a number of village Party officials were included. After the news was published, the authorities from Hebei Province were strongly condemned for issuing the award while neglecting the real cause of the flood and those who died in the flood. The article quoted comments from one rights activist who said that the government officials are cold blooded. They discharged the flood waters at 1 a.m. in the morning without notifying the people and that is what resulted in so many deaths. Some people wrote that they should reflect on what happened and properly settle with those who suffered losses before issuing any awards. One villager told RFA that she still has not found her relative who disappeared during the flood. She said people have been trying to find their relatives themselves without any help from the village officials.
Source: Radio Free Asia, July 29, 2016
http://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/huanjing/yf1-07292016101453.html
RFA: Without Warning, 18 Reservoirs Released Flood Water after Midnight; Many Died in Their Sleep
According to Radio Free Asia, on July 22, 2016, Hebei Province officials in Shijiazhuang, Handan, Xingtai, Baoding opened the gates of 18 reservoirs to release flood water without any warning. Netizens said on the Internet: Flooding in Xingtai is a man-made disaster. The Xingtai government opened the reservoir gates to release water at 2:00 am without any warning. Many villagers, at least over 50 people at that time, drowned in their sleep. Many children drowned. The Xingtai government did not provide any aid, and no electricity was available. The government has also censored flood related information.
People’s Daily: Attacking Problem of Fake Environmental Protection Data
People’s Daily recently reported that the Ministry of Environmental Protection issued a news release to the media on pollution-source companies taking a number of different approaches in order to fake the monitoring of data. The Ministry expressed its determination to attack these illegal mechanisms to influence the automated monitoring systems. China has over 14,000 companies on the priority list of pollution monitoring. Due to the lack of resources, a large amount of the work has been done with automated monitoring equipment. Over the years, many companies that are under surveillance have developed a number of ways to “fool” the monitoring devices. Examples include diluting samples, faking parameters on the controlling computers, and even working with device manufacturers to fake data. Another issue with pollution monitoring is that the “cost” of violating the law is very minimal – if caught, the punishment is very light compared to the “benefits” brought about by avoiding environmental protection investments. At the same time, many local governments have been letting these companies slide in order to protect the local tax revenue stream.
Source: People’s Daily, July 23, 2016
http://opinion.people.com.cn/n1/2016/0723/c1003-28578795.html
Chinese Pediatricians Under-Paid and Under-Appreciated
Guangming Daily carried an article on the troubled situation that Chinese pediatricians face. First, Chinese pediatricians carry a higher risk than other medical professionals and are often blamed and misunderstood. Most of the patients are from a single child home. Pediatricians often have to deal with patients who are too young to describe their symptoms. Meanwhile their parents and grandparents on both the mother and the father’s side anxiously stand behind them, which creates extra pressure for the doctors. Second, there is a shortage of pedestrians in China and they are often overloaded with work. According to statistics that the National Health and Family Planning Commission published, the ratio of pediatricians to patients is 0.53 doctors for every 1,000 children compared with 0.85-1.3 in the U.S., Canada, and Japan. Each pediatrician has to see 17 patients a day, which is 2.4 times higher than other medical specialties. Lastly, the article said, pediatricians are not well compensated; they are underappreciated; and they have little opportunity to be promoted.
Source: Guangming Daily, July 18, 2016
http://health.gmw.cn/2016-07/18/content_20999288.htm
Why Do More and More Chinese Get Cancer?
Vista Story Magazine published an article discussing the increase in the rate of cancer in China. According to the 2015 Cancer Registration Annual Report that the National Cancer Registration Center published, by 2011, China had 3.37 million cancer cases. That meant that, on average, a person would get cancer every six minutes. By 2015, the number of China’s cancer cases reached 4.29 million. Of these, lung cancer claimed the highest number at 733,300 cases.
Only less than 20 percent of cancers were due to heritage (occurred within families that had a history of cancer). Over 80 percent were due to lifestyle. In China, the causes for cancer included virus infection, smoking, insufficient fruit intake, drinking, insufficient vegetable intake, and work-related reasons. For example, smoking caused 30 percent of cancer cases and over 70 percent of lung cancer cases were related to smoking.
Some smaller samples showed that the polluted environment contributed to increasing cancer rates. However, due to lack of data, researchers cannot yet draw a decisive conclusion on a large scale about the environmental causes.
Source: Sohu.com, June 12, 2016
http://health.sohu.com/20160612/n454060450.shtml
BBC Chinese: Gao Zhisheng Published a New Book Overseas
BBC Chinese recently reported that former Chinese human rights attorney Gao Zhisheng published his new book in Taiwan. His daughter held a press conference in Hong Kong to announce the book [Stand Up China 2017 – China’s Hope: What I learned during Five Years as a Political Prisoner]. Gao described in this book the “kidnapping and torture” the Chinese authorities imposed on him. He, as a Christian, also predicted the end of the Chinese Communist rule in 2017, citing it as a revelation from God.
As an attorney, Gao defended many human rights victims, especially innocent Falun Gong practitioners, in court. He was arrested after his attorney license was revoked in 2006. He is currently under house-arrest after being released from multiple jail terms, some of which had no court ruling. It is still unknown how the content of the new book was handed to people outside of China.
A spokeswoman from the Chinese Ministry of Public Safety told
AP that The Ministry was not directly involved in Gao’s treatment – only local authorities could respond to inquiries. Source: BBC Chinese, June 14, 2016
http://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/china/2016/06/160614_china_activist_gao
China Consumers Assn: 70 Percent of Consumers Unhappy about the Domestic Health Food Market
People’s Daily carried an article which stated that, according to statistics that the China Consumers Association released, 70 percent of Chinese consumers are not happy about the domestic health food market and over 60 percent of consumers don’t trust the advertising. They feel that the market is full of fake products and false advertising. The article used liquor as an example. It said that some of the manufacturers claimed that their liquor products provided health remedies. However, investigation results revealed that, in 2015, 51 types of “healthy liquor” brands falsely claimed health benefits and used illegal additives in making their products.
Source: People’s Daily, June 20, 2016
http://society.people.com.cn/n1/2016/0620/c1008-28456589.html