Social Stability - 143. page

Outlook Weekly, a magazine owned by Xinhua, conducted a survey from February 13 to 18, 2011, in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, and Chengdu. The survey statistics show the underclass in China is growing. Fifty-eight percent of those surveyed believe that there are few opportunities for the underclass to move up, while a meager 7.5% think opportunities are abundant. Seventy-seven percent believe that the underclass in China is growing. The survey also shows that many are concerned that they may become part of the underclass. Sixty-five percent think that unemployed college graduates are likely to join the underclass.

Source: China News Service, March 7 2011
http://www.chinanews.com/gn/2011/03-07/2887584.shtml

On March 1, 2011, the Shanghai government started to enforce “Regulations for Comprehensive Management of Shanghai’s Public Security,” which, for the first time, included overseeing commercial and residential buildings and the Internet.

The Regulations subjected the owners of commercial buildings, companies providing affordable housing, and property management to neighborhood Comprehensive Management Committees (an agency at lowest level of China’s national system of social control) and local police authorities. The regulations provided that “public security authorities, state security agencies, and other government organs in economic and information technology, culture, radio, television, and communications shall strengthen their supervision over the Internet, establish and improve the comprehensive prevention and control system for network security, and stop and punish related illegalities and criminal activities.”

Source: Jiefang Daily, March 2, 2011
http://newspaper.jfdaily.com/jfrb/html/2011-03/02/content_521814.htm

According to the Population Management Corps of the Beijing Public Security Bureau, the city government mobilized more than 700,000 civilians living in 2,902 communities to join the public security forces for the “Two Conferences” (the National People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference) currently taking place in Beijing. These civilian residents serve mainly in the areas of community patrol, security protection, parking management, transient population administration, monitoring key traffic routes, and watching company doors.

Source: Jinghua Times, March 2, 2011
http://epaper.jinghua.cn/html/2011-03/02/content_636380.htm

During the “Two Sessions,” Beijing Daily published an editorial stating that, in the midst of social turmoil in the Middle East, foreign forces with ulterior motives are attempting to use the Internet to stir up social crises in China. The editorial reminds people to protect China’s economic accomplishments and the social stability that it has gained over the past 30 years.

The article also warned those foreign forces who intend to encourage illegal gatherings and incite “street politics” that the Chinese people do not welcome their attempts, which will eventually end up in failure. The article concluded, “Safeguarding stability is the wish and voice of the entire Chinese people.”

Source: Beijing Daily, March 5, 2011
http://www.bjd.com.cn/10jbgd/201103/t20110305_664250.html

"Overall, the basic pattern of oversupply of the labor force has not changed. The pressure is still great, and will persist in the coming period." said a senior official at the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security at the National Employment Working Symposium held in Beijing on February 22, 2011. In the next five years, the total population of China will reach 1.37 billion with an army at the working age to peak at nearly one billion in 2014. The annual number of unemployed is expected to be 13 million. It is expected that the number of college graduates alone will approach 7 million every year.

Source: People’s Daily, February 23, 2011
http://edu.people.com.cn/GB/13981879.html

In January, Shanghai Jiao Tong University released its annual report on social unrest in China. The report, titled “Annual Report on China’s Crisis Management,” stated that in 2010 there was a major incident of social unrest every five days that had a widespread and lasting effect. This represents a 20% increase over 2009. The report stated that in 2009 there were 60 major incidents of major social unrest while in 2010 there were 72. Social unrest had spread throughout 29 provinces and cities (over 90%), with most occurring in Henan, Beijing, and Guangdong. About 43% of the incidents could not be resolved by the local governments and required intervention from upper levels of government to restore order. The report found that the crises hit the media much faster in 2010 than in 2009. About 33% were reported the same day and 67% were reported by Internet media, particularly through blogs.

Source: Shanghai Jiao Tong University, January 29, 2011
http://news.sjtu.edu.cn/info/news/content/101406.htm

On February 16, 2011, Xinhua reported that, in recent years, due to the great efforts that organizations in the public security system have made nationwide in developing the “Golden Shield” project (also known as the Great Firewall of China), the basic infrastructure for the public security information network has been almost entirely completed. Currently, the network covers 32 provincial bureaus, 478 city bureaus, 3,361 county branches, and more than 70,000 grass roots stations. The coverage is over 99 percent.

Source: Xinhua, February 16, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2011-02/16/c_121089330.htm

State-run Guangming Daily published an article discussing the characteristics of newly emerging social conflicts. Social conflicts have spread to more groups, such as between cadres and the masses, between different social groups,  and between workers and employers; conflicts involve complaints about abuses and lawsuits, triads, and hostile forces that have incited these conflicts. Social conflicts tend to be large scale, increasingly confrontational, highly unpredictable, and explosive. Further, the nature of conflicts has changed from simple civil disputes to a mixture of civil disputes, economic disputes, administrative disputes, and disputes involving laws and regulations.

Source: Guangming Daily, February 9, 2011
http://politics.gmw.cn/2011-02/09/content_1593523.htm