Social Stability - 107. page

Study Times published an article proposing several approaches that would help reduce social conflicts as China faces “the grim situation of public security” and as “social conflicts and social unrest remain high.”  In order to handle social unrest or public safety emergencies, these approaches focus on the following: establishing mechanisms to arbitrate conflicts within the local communities and within trades, recruiting retired Party members and officials to work with those released from prison, encouraging trade associations to exercise self-monitoring and self-disciplinary functions with their members, incentivizing security firms to provide public security services, utilizing trade unions to ensure production safety, and establishing professional response teams, both privately and government funded. 

On Wednesday, December 9, 2015, hundreds of people from Jingui Village located in Pingshan New District, Shenzhen City, protested against the authorities because they plan to build a large garbage incineration plant inside their village. Villagers went to the Civic Center to sit-in quietly. The police violently dispersed the protesters, arrested over a dozen people, and wounded one elderly woman. Mainland Chinese media refused to interview villagers or report the incident.

On November 24, 2015, the Shenzhen City government had demanded that the villagers agree to the government’s proposal to build the world’s largest garbage incineration plant in their village; the plant will burn 5,000 tons of garbage each day. The government only gave the villagers one day to respond; otherwise the government would assume that the villagers agreed unconditionally with their proposal.

In order to protect their water sources and land from becoming polluted, Jingui villagers started protesting on November 24, 2015. The sit-in on December 9 was the fourth large-scale protest. On the previous day, the villagers held a demonstration by marching on the street. For many days, they held a sit-in in front of the Dapeng District government building. The government officials, however, have refused to respond to the villagers’ requests. No media in China are willing to report on the incident.   

Source: Radio Free Asia, December 9, 2015
http://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/shenzhen-12092015073938.html

On November 23, 2015, more than one thousand workers from Tangshan Songting Iron and Steel Co., LTD. protested once again over their wages being seven months in arrears. The workers marched on the road in the center of Qian’an City, which is located in Tangshan City, Hebei Province. They gathered together later in front of the Qian’an City government building, holding banners such as “Shame on the Company: [Worker’s] Wages in Arrears; Who Will Look after the Workers’ Interests?” A large number of police stood on guard at the site.

On November 14, 2015, Tangshan Songting Iron and Steel Co., LTD. had announced a companywide shutdown. The company owes thousands of workers seven months of unpaid wages. On November 14, the workers protested by collectively jumping down out of the company building. On November 16, the workers surrounded and blocked the Qian’an City government and did not leave until the city government promised them something.

Since the beginning of this year, many private iron and steel companies in the Tangshan region, including Xinhai and Songting, have been announcing shutdowns due to their continued losses. 

Source: RFA, November 23, 2015
http://www.rfa.org/mandarin/Xinwen/7-11232015112821.html

Guangming Daily reported that the National Senior Council published an estimate that, from 2015 to 2035, the senior population will increase by 10 million people each year. Currently 70 percent of the seniors in the middle to large cities are empty nesters. The statistics from the Council also indicated that China will enter into a period in which the growth in the number in China’s aging population will accelerate. The estimated growth from 2015 to 2035 was from 212 million to 418 million.

Source: Guangming Daily, November 9, 2015
http://politics.gmw.cn/2015-11/09/content_17653952.htm

Guangming Daily recently published an article on the results of a survey that was reported in the 2015 Beijing Society Bluebook. According to the statistics in the Blue Book, the social and population structure in Beijing still needs to be improved. The results showed that, in 2010, the middle class accounted for 35.85 percent of the population and the lower class accounted for 61.17 percent. The Blue Book estimated that, in 2015, the middle class grew to 40 percent of the population and could reach 50 percent by 2025. As to the quality of the population, Beijing still sees a shortage in the area of finding and keeping talent in the city. The population also sees an imbalance between the sexes. The Blue Book noted that 60 percent of the college graduates who took the survey, but who have resident status outside of Beijing, indicated that they plan to leave Beijing in the future due to the high cost of living or the lack of professional growth and financial improvement opportunities.

Source: Guangming Daily, November 6, 2015
http://economy.gmw.cn/2015-11/06/content_17627403.htm