Social Stability - 138. page

Nanfang Daily published a commentary on migrant workers whose wages had not been paid due to local governments’ drive to increase GDP. The commentary reported that the Ministry of Railways recently obtained 250 billion RMB to use before the 2012 Chinese New Year (January 23, 2012) to pay off the unpaid wages owed to migrant workers for the work they had done on railroad construction. “The reason why migrant workers are not paid on time for their work is because the government [rather than the contractors that directly employ the migrant workers] fails to make payments. A number of local governments have no budget. Nevertheless, driven by their political need to show that their performance contributes to a rising GDP, they have blindly ordered new starts on projects. They are thus, at the outset, inevitably short of funds to pay migrant workers’ wages.” The article cited examples. One was of a migrant worker in Xinjiang. It took that worker 27 years before he was able to collect unpaid wages of 5,000 RMB from a local government. Another example was migrant workers on the government’s landscape project in Guangdong. They had been working for over a year without receiving any wages at all.

Source: Nanfang Daily, January 21, 2012
http://opinion.nfdaily.cn/content/2012-01/21/content_36772533.htm

Radio Free Asia (RFA) recently reported that, for the first time in ten years, China’s National Bureau of Statistics mentioned in a formally released report that China’s Gini Coefficient for the year 2010 was “a little higher than it was for the year 2000.” A Gini Coefficient is a number between 0 and 1 that reflects the level of differences in social income. The United Nations usually draws the line for alarm at 0.4. Above that number indicates a high potential for social instability. China’s National Bureau of Statistics released the number 0.375 for the year 1996. It reached 0.412 in year 2000. After that, the Bureau stopped releasing the number. The report released last month only mentioned that it was a “little higher.” When questioned by a reporter, an official from the Bureau responded that “numbers like this are intended for researchers only, not for the general public.”

Source: Radio Free Asia, January 9, 2012
http://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/jp-01092012101659.html

China Review News (CRN) recently republished an article that Professor Hu Yong from the Peking University School of Journalism and Communication wrote discussing the change in topics among Chinese netizens. Hu identified three major changes that represent important shifts in public opinion: (1) The focus has shifted from nationalism to issues faced in daily living, such as food safety and air pollution. (2) An Internet-based social structure is getting more and more mature. Large groups of people are using the Internet to ask for and defend their social rights. Public freedom of speech on the Internet is influencing the political landscape. (3) The Internet-based society lacks Internet-ready administration. The current administration is not aligned with the Internet-oriented values that encourage innovation, freedom of speech, mutual trust, and reduced government interference. Hu suggested that the approach the government takes at present is heading in the opposite direction. The article concluded by calling for recognition of netizens’ basic rights.

Source: China Review News, January 8, 2012
http://gb.chinareviewnews.com/doc/1019/7/0/1/101970166.html?coluid=45&kindid=0&docid=101970166&mdate=0108092059

Xinhua announced that the period of “Spring Festival Transportation” started on January 8, 2011. The annual massive usage of transportation related to the Spring Festival will take place for 40 days this year, from January 8 to February 16. Estimates are that the traffic volume will be 3.158 billion person-trips (a unit to measure the number of one way trips per person). This represents an annual increase of 9.1% over 2011. The railway system alone is expected to carry 235 million people. Meanwhile, the demand for cargo transportation is also on the rise. The joint government coordination committee expressed the belief that the situation is “not optimistic.” The primary concern for the 40-day window is safety. Another variable in the equation is bad weather. The steady supply of critical resources such as coal, gas, food, and fertilizer is also in question. 

Source: Xinhua, January 8, 2012
http://news.xinhuanet.com/society/2012-01/08/c_111392564.htm

Qiushi published an article on on January 1, 2012, on moral issues in China titled, “Correctly Understand China’s Moral Status at the Current Stage of Chinese Society.” The article defended China: “China has achieved great development and progress in its overall social and moral status,” because of China’s economic growth.

However, it did mention the “moral challenges” the country faces. “Ethical issues exist mainly in some areas of the population. Firstly, the moral failure of some officials is prominent in that they seek personal interest and use their public positions, money trading, and corruption. Their behavior has a great negative impact on society. Secondly, the lack of morality in some enterprises and among businessmen is exhibited in their lack of good faith, swindling, and counterfeiting. Thirdly, the moral problem of some cultural celebrities is seen in their seeking fame, plagiarism, and sensationalizing. Lastly, the lack of civic virtue stands out in not abiding by public ethics, not offering to help when others are in danger, and returning evil for good.”

Source: Qiushi, January 1, 2012
http://www.qstheory.cn/zxdk/2012/201201/201112/t20111228_132528.htm

People’s Daily recently reported on the completion of a government funded two-year project to install a quarter million monitoring cameras in Wuhan, the largest city in central China. The camera network is built on three levels. The top level monitors major transportation spots, large squares, schools, and colleges. The second level monitors main connecting roads and district-level locations. The third level monitors 225,000 “social check-points.” The whole system is divided into layers of “cells” in a “grid.” Mobile monitoring cameras are also mounted on police vehicles. There are seven different types of cameras deployed and the vast majority of them provide high definition digital video. The police operate the central control of this monitoring network.

Source: People’s Daily, December 29
http://politics.people.com.cn/GB/70731/16752912.html

Beijing News recently reported that, as the year end approached, the issue of whether migrant workers would receive their year-end wages on time once again became a focal issue. According to Qiu Xiaoping, Director of the Labor Relations Division of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, 2011 saw an increase in the number of arrears cases as a result of companies having financial issues. Qiu blamed the global economic downturn as the cause of the trouble some companies are suffering. Qiu also suggested that, under existing law, it costs little for companies to hold overdue wage payments because the penalty for arrears cases is low. He said the government is working on a new law to criminalize these cases and would soon provide more information on implementation details. He also called for enhanced government monitoring and labor arbitration services.

Source: Beijing News, December 26, 2011
http://epaper.bjnews.com.cn/html/2011-12/26/content_304965.htm?div=-1

A reporter from Legal Daily did an analysis of corruption cases that occurred during 2011, which was on December 28. A prominent feature of the analysis was the high level of the officials involved in corruption. Officials at the ministerial and provincial levels who were prosecuted and sentenced during 2011 included: Zhang Jingli, the Deputy Director of the Food and Drug Administration; Xu Zongheng, the Mayor of Shenzhen City (Guangdong Province);  Li Tangtang, the Vice Chairman of the NingXia Hui Autonomous Region; and Zhang Chunjiang, the Vice President of China Mobile Communications Corporation. According to Professor Lin Zhe of the CCP Central Committee Party School, the main characteristics of the corruption cases since 2006 were that the level of corrupt officials was very high; the amount of money involved was astronomical; and officials were often involved in group corruption. The year 2011 involved a few new characteristics, including: 1) Corruption at state-owned enterprises was prominent; 2) The type of corruption officials were involved in became more unique, meaning the corruption became more specialized and insidious; 3) Corruption involved ant-like characteristics, meaning those at the bottom in terms of their level of power used their limited power continuously, day in and day out, to go after money; 4) “Photo-gate” type scandals involving government officials occurred frequently.

Source: Legal Daily, December 28, 2011
http://www.legaldaily.com.cn/bm/content/2011-12/28/content_3245984.htm?node=20738