Social Stability - 140. page

China News Service recently reported that Zhou Yongkang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Central Political Bureau of the Chinese Communist Party, asked the officials from the central government and the Xinjiang Autonomous Region to focus their work on effectively suppressing illegal religious activities. The comment was made at a meeting to advance nine primary tasks in Xinjiang during the year 2012. The nine tasks include plans for starting new construction projects, creating new jobs, enhancing education, and maintaining social stability. The latter includes such tasks as suppressing illegal religious activities, preventing terrorism, and improving international propaganda. Zhou asked the central government branches to make sure coordination effectively insures the rapid implementation of the policies.

Source: China News Service, November 25, 2011
http://www.chinanews.com/gn/2011/11-25/3487947.shtml

On November 25, 2011, Henan Province joined 31 other provinces in allowing the couples who were both the only child in their families to have a second child. The change in policy came about because the “one child policy” had a number of negative effects, including an aging population, the quality of the population, and the gender mix.

According to statistics from the 6th census, published on April 28, 2011, China’s population increased to 1.339 billion from 1.265 billion in 2000. The census revealed that 13.3 percent were 60 years and older which was 3 percent higher than in 2000, while 16.6 percent were  under the age of 14 compared to 27.69 percent in 1990. It was predicted that China’s population will have a net increase of 200 million over the next 30 years reaching 1.5 billion by 2033. Experts are calling for a conservative approach to opening up the “two child policy.”

Source: Xinhua, November 27, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2011-11/27/c_122340832.htm

From November 23 to 25, 2011, the State Council Information Office held training sessions in Beijing on the proper handling of “Public Emergency Incidents." Those attending included the spokesperson from the central media as well as the key personnel in charge of broadcasting local news.

Wang Guoqing, vice-minister of the State Council Information Office spoke at the training. He said the improper handling of sudden public events in the past resulted in negative media reports and unfavorable consequences. He stressed that the goal of the training was to study and learn from past examples in order to improve the media’s ability to handle public emergency incidents.

Source: People’s Daily, November 27, 2011
http://politics.people.com.cn/GB/1026/16402017.html

On November 18, 2011, an article titled “The Most Dangerous Time Arrives: Four Groups of China’s Social Elite on the Run; All Emigrate Overseas” was published on a blog in ifeng.com, the website of Hong Kong based Phoenix TV.

The article listed four categorizes of China’s social elite who have emigrated or are going to emigrate abroad. They are those who have power (officials), those who have fame (movie stars), those who have money (private business entrepreneurs) and those who have expertise (scholars).

“Actually, China’s economy has entered into the most dangerous period of time: a drain of private capital, the collapse of manufacturing companies, a decline in the price of property, and heavily indebted local governments. … Unless China is careful, the entire economy will collapse.”

"The whole nation’s morale is so low that people want to leave.”

Source: ifeng.com, November 18, 2011
http://blog.ifeng.com/article/14734086.html

BBC Chinese reported that on the morning of November 16, 2011, a daycare school bus in Zheng Ning County of Gangsu Province collided with a cargo truck killing 20 children on the bus. The school bus, which had been converted from a 9 passenger vehicle, had 64 students on board at the time of the accident. The report stated that the daycare center had a total of 737 children, but only 4 school buses to use for pickup and drop off.

People were outraged by the tragedy and questioned, “Why do we have so many buses for public transportation but can’t afford a reliable school bus for our children? Our government should take financial responsibility for this.” The accident took place just before the Shenzhou Spacecraft No. 8 returned back to earth. Some people asked, “Why can we guarantee that Shenzhou Spacecraft No. 8 will lift off safely, but we cannot guarantee our children’s safety when they go to school?”.

Source: BBC Chinese, November 17, 2011
http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/simp/chinese_news/2011/11/111117_china_school_bus.shtml

On November 7, 2011, China News Net reported that a group of professors from Changjiang University in the City of Wuhan visited local officials and got down on their knees begging the government to shut-down a nearby steel company that was a major source of pollution to the University’s environment. It was reported that, since 2009, the pollution has caused numerous diseases among the nearby population. Fighting against the company for 4 years achieved no results. A reporter took photographs of the professors on their knees. The pictures spread rapidly on the Internet and became a major focal point for public attention. The company then told the reporter that it had since ceased operations. The local government promised to conduct an investigation and handle the situation properly once the investigation was complete.

Source: China News Net, November 7, 2011
http://www.chinanews.com/gn/2011/11-07/3443500.shtml

On November 3, 211, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported that a Tibetan nun died after setting herself on fire in GanZi, Sichuan Province. It was the 11th Tibetan self-immolation this year. According to Voice of Tibet, which is based in Norway, the victim was Palden Choetso, 35 years old. She died on a road in Dawu County of Sichuan Province, the same location as a monk who recently self-immolated. Before setting herself on fire, she yelled out “Free Tibet” and “Allow the Dalai Lama to return to Tibet.”

Kunga Tashi, the spokesperson for the Office of Tibet in New York told RFA that the policy of extreme pressure that China has imposed on Tibet is the direct cause of the recent tragedy. “This is an indication that China’s Tibetan policy is a failure. These young monks have tried appeals, rallies, and parades but none of those have worked. They have no other ways to express themselves and try to be heard than to sacrifice their lives to let international society know of the dark side that is casting its shadow over Tibet.” Kunga believes that international attention may help improve the existing human rights condition in Tibet.

Yang Jianli, a China scholar from Harvard, who has been monitoring the ethnic issues in China said, “The Tibetan policy that the Chinese authorities have used in the past has become an issue of national oppression. … No religions would force people to commit suicide on such a large scale. … Take the Kirti Gompa monastery as an example. Two thousand monks live inside, but 30,000 armed forces and police are outside the temple. There are brainwashing sessions held every day to condemn the Dalai Lama. Chinese authorities do not care about international pressure and continue the control Tibetans’ voices and destroy their religious culture.” Yang believes that the issue of Tibet is not an isolated one; it is representative of the human rights violations that are going on in China. “If China’s overall human rights situation does not improve, (it shows) that we can’t rely on the Chinese government to give up its long term totalitarian control.”

Lobsang Sangay, the prime minister of the Tibetan government in exile is discouraging Tibetans from self-immolating, fearing that retaliation and more arrests of Tibetans will follow the incident. He is calling on the Chinese government to allow the international media to conduct an investigation of the self-immolation case and is encouraging international society to apply more pressure on the Chinese government.

Source: Radio Free Asia, November, 3, 2011
http://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/zang-11032011155246.html

On October 30, 2011, China Gate published a news report originally from Guangzhou Daily titled “About Half of China’s Multimillionaires Seek to Emigrate Overseas. What Do They Fear?”

More than half of China’s families who are worth over 10 million Yuan (US $1,579,957.17) have either emigrated abroad already, are in the process of applying, or are considering leaving China for a better life and for a better education for their children.

According to the “2011 China Private Wealth Management White Paper” recently released by the Hoogewerf Research Institute and China Bank’s Private Banking Group, one-third of wealthy Chinese already have assets overseas and almost 30% of the wealthy Chinese who currently do not have any assets overseas are planning to invest abroad within the next 3 years, mainly for their children’s education and for the purpose of emigration.  Among China’s multimillionaires, 14 percent have already emigrated or applied for emigration and 46 percent are considering emigrating overseas.

Source: China Gate, October 30, 2011
http://www.wenxuecity.com/news/2011/10/30/1516473.html