Skip to content

Social Stability - 108. page

Survey Indicates 15.1 Percent of “Left Behind” Children Don’t Get to See Parents in a Year

A White Book discussed a survey on the "Mental State of the ‘Left Behind’ Children" whose parents have gone to the city to work. If the ratio from the survey is used and applied to 61 million left behind children in the nation, only 17 million get to see their parents once or twice a year. Close to 9.21 million children don’t even get a chance to see their parents for the entire year. The results also indicated that those whose mothers are not around suffer more mentally than those whose fathers are not around. The article also mentioned that other than the 61 million left behind children, there are also 35 million migrant children who are 17 years and younger. They stay with their parents who have found work in the city. Therefore the total number of children between these two groups is over 100 million based on the national census in 2010. This survey was conducted from October to December in 2014. It covered six provinces and districts with 2,131 out of 2,218 surveys returned. The questions in the survey covered subjects from communication to school work, after school activities, and the children’s mental state.

Source: Xinhua, June 20, 2015
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2015-06/20/c_127935653.htm

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

China’s Post-80 Generation’s High Divorce Rate

CanKao XiaoXi reported on Jun 17 that those who were born in the 1980’s (“Post 80”) are becoming the main group that is experiencing divorce in mainland China. The reasons for their divorces vary a lot and some are quite strange. There are many reasons why those “Post 80” are becoming the main driving force in divorce cases. Those “post 60” and “post 70” have passed the peak time for divorce and those “post 90” have not yet gotten married. Their divorce triggers include “who should wash the dishes,” and “who should own Transformers models." One couple had a record short marriage – from getting married to divorce, it took them only 25 minutes. Taiwan’s Central News Agency quoted a Chinese news article about a Shanghai court staff member saying that, between 2011 and 2012, the divorce cases they handled showed that the marriage time for “post 80” was much shorter than their predecessors. Twenty-six percent of the cases they handled in these two years filed for divorce after two years of marriage; more than 40 percent filed for divorce after three years of marriage; only 9 percent filed  for divorce after seven years’ marriage. 

Source: Cankao Xiaoxi, June 17, 2015
http://china.cankaoxiaoxi.com/2015/0617/819953.shtml
Briefings | | |   Social Stability

Elementary School Student Extorts Money from Classmates

It is a common practice for officials in China to use their power to extort money. Now even elementary school students have learned to do so.

According to an article that People’s Daily recently republished, a Deputy Class Leader who is a sixth grade student was found to have been extorting money from his classmates since the year he was in the second grade. This student leader was assigned the "power" to check other students’ homework. If a student didn’t give him money, he would tear up that student’s homework and report bad things about that student to teacher. He also forced some students who didn’t give him money to drink urine or eat excrement.

Source: People’s Daily Online, May 8, 2015
http://finance.people.com.cn/n/2015/0508/c66323-26966945.html

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

Qiushi: Control the Internet û Stop Criticism of the Government and Better Lead Public Opinion

Qiushi published an article stating that it has become a common phenomenon on the Internet to criticize the government and the Communist Party. "Negative viewpoints spread quickly over the Internet. People even make fun of those who love China and love the Party. Some have even become the pawns of the Western hostile forces to demonize China."

The article suggested the following measures to control Internet: 

1. View the Internet as a national strategic resource. Move State-owned Enterprises into the Internet media industry and invest in new Internet technologies such as digital news and big data. This will enable better control of the Internet market and thus better lead public opinion. 
2. Eradicate the worship of Western values and establish confidence in China. First, rationally expose how false Western democracy and freedom really are; second, show people how China has progressed; and third, guide the key people who have substantial influence over the Internet toward the right direction. 
3. Use technology to establish a better Internet environment so that the positive opinions can become more widespread. 
4. Hold the Internet media companies liable. Punish those who put page hits and economic gain above the nation’s political security. Severely punish those sites that openly violate the law, promote Western ideology, or spread political rumors. 
5. Guide the youth netizens. First, teach students the Internet ideology struggle as part of their school’s political education; second, throughout society, develop the number of education programs that teach netizens to identify and avoid poisonous materials.
Source: Qiushi, April 23, 2015
http://www.qstheory.cn/dukan/hqwg/2015-04/23/c_1115069690.htm
Briefings | | |   Social Stability

BBC Chinese: China Ranked Number Eight on the CPJ Censored Countries List

BBC Chinese recently reported that the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) just released its annual anti-freedom-of-the-press list of “The 10 Most Censored Countries.” China ranked number eight, after Eritrea, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, Azerbaijan, Vietnam, and Iran. CPJ stated that the ranking was based on a nation’s count of such activities as jailing or causing a nuisance to reporters. CPJ also considered the situation of Internet censorship. China jailed the largest number of reporters, reaching 44 last year, 29 of whom were accused of being “anti-government.” China also enforced strong censorship against Internet content, using the Great Firewall to filter out unwanted foreign information.
Source: BBC Chinese, April 22, 2015
http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/simp/world/2015/04/150422_china_journalists
Briefings | | |   Social Stability

Hurun: The Nouveau Riche of China

According to the Hurun Report that Rupert Hoogewerf publishes and that created the Hurun Rich List, there are about 17,000 Chinese whose net worth exceeds 500 million yuan (US$80 million). Together, their net worth totals 31 trillion yuan (US$4.96 trillion), which is about half of the Chinese GDP. Hurun made these remarks at the release of a Hurun 2014-2015 report on the needs of the high net worth population. 

The report said that the high net worth population consists of business owners in manufacturing, real estate, telecommunications，media，and technology. Close to 70 percent of these business owners face the issue of a smooth transition of the business to the next generation within the family. Hurun commented that, unlike the older rich people, who focused on amassing wealth, the new wealthy are more interested in art investment, education, and physical and mental health. 
Source: Xinhua, April 3, 2015
http://news.xinhuanet.com/fortune/2015-04/03/c_127653099.htm
Briefings | | |   Social Stability

Over Thirty Petitioners Drank Pesticide in Attempt to Commit Group Suicide in Beijing

Voice of America (VOA) reported that over 30 taxi drivers from Heilongjiang Province attempted to commit group suicide in Wangfujing, a popular shopping district in Beijing. The reports said these taxi drivers came from Ruan Feng River in Heilongjiang Province. They were in Beijing to appeal on issues of license renewal and contract extension. VOA said that other than the official news report, the other online posts and reports about the incident had been removed. According to VOA, a large group of petitioners from a number of areas were stationed year-round in Beijing. Last August, seven farmers from Jiangsu Province drank pesticide and attempted to commit suicide outside the China Youth Daily building. The lives of all seven of them were eventually saved.

Source: Voice of America, April 5, 2015
http://www.voachinese.com/content/suicide-beijing-20150405/2707285.html

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

Qiushi: Safeguarding National Ideology in the Mobile Internet Age

Qiushi Journal, a bi-weekly magazine published by the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, recently published an article commenting on how to safeguard China’s national ideology when mobile communication is merged with the Internet. The author suggested that, when the general population uses a large number of mobile devices to access the Internet, it significantly reduces the delay in the distribution of information. This new-age network has enabled precise and timely information delivery, which creates increased difficulties for government control. Currently, the widespread usage of mobile social media is becoming an efficient way to spread Western ideology to brainwash young netizens. The article recommended two approaches to manage the situation. One is to enhance administrative monitoring capabilities so that the government can shut the “master switch” when needed. This would disable infrastructure level connectivity or tap into primary data pipes for investigations – just like the U.S. Patriate Act permits. Another approach is to insist on a mass propaganda strategy in which the mobile-enabled network would be occupied with “positive ideology” while decisively closing those accounts that spread negative messages. 
Source: Qiushi, March 20, 2015
http://www.qstheory.cn/dukan/hqwg/2015-03/20/c_1114710353.htm
Briefings | | |   Social Stability