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Over 14 Million Drug Users in China Cause $80 Billion in Losses

On June 24, 2015, at a press conference, the State Council’s Information Office released the first-ever report on the effects of drug abuse in China in 2014. Liu Yuejin, Assistant Minister of Public Security and Deputy Director of China National Narcotics Control Commission, said that drug abuse in China for that year resulted in annual economic losses of 500 billion yuan (approximately $80.54 billion) and, in addition, as many as 49,000 deaths of registered users. He estimated that China has more than 14 million drug users, including about three million registered users. 

According to Liu, there is evidence that more youths are abusing synthetic narcotics. Half of the registered users are under 35. Drug users are spreading to government employees and the variety of stronger, more addictive drugs is growing. Drug abuse has been linked to suicides, hit-and-run accidents, murders, abductions, rapes, attacking police, and other violent crimes. 
Source: Legal Daily, June 24, 2015 
http://www.legaldaily.com.cn/index/content/2015-06/24/content_6137688.htm?node=20908
Briefings | | |   Social Stability

RFA: Thousands of Shanghai Residents Protested PX Project for 3 Days

From June 21 to June 23, 2015, hundreds to thousands of Shanghai residents from the Jinshan District of Shanghai City marched on the streets to protest a paraxylene (PX) petrochemical project to be relocated in the Jinshan District of Shanghai. They feared the pollution. Wu Lihong, an environmental campaigner, said, "PX plants are not welcome anywhere in China." He pointed out, "Movements opposing PX plants have formed in Xiamen, Dalian, Ningbo, and other cities." After local residents protested for three consecutive days, the district government announced through an Internet post that no PX project would be relocated to Jinshan district. The protest still continued, even after the Internet posting, as the local residents do not trust the government’s word.

On June 22, the demonstrators asked the Jinshan district top leader to step forward and to express his opinion on the PX project openly. The district leader did not show up. On the other hand, a lot of Internet discussions were posted on the PX project topic or on the Jinshan district. The local government dispatched a large number of police guards to the scene. Some people were beaten and a 16-year-old boy was arrested.

Sources: Radio Free Asia, June 22 & 24, 2015
http://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/huanjing/hc-06222015121332.html
http://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/huanjing/yf1-06242015101717.html
 

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

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