Social Stability - 143. page

Chen Hong, a 28-year-old man, set up the website "www.ibribery.com," that accepted anonymous tips about the corrupt behavior of government officials. Within ten days after the launch on June 9, 2011, the website attracted over 200,000 visitors. The site published numerous postings regarding bribery involving government officials, police officers, and physicians. However, according to the city’s local paper Jinghua Daily, officials from Beijing Municipal People’s Procuratorate stated that websites such as "www.ibribery.com" “do not conform to the law.” Chen initially thought the website would help the government, but that did not seem to be the case. On June 19, he shut down the website fearing that the website caused trouble and he did not want it to be seen as a threat to the government.

Source: BBC, June 22, 2011
http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/simp/chinese_news/2011/06/110622_china_bribery_battle.shtml

The Vice President of China’s Supreme People’s Court, Zhang Jun, recently said in a training session that the “People’s Court should accurately apply the relevant articles in Amendment VIII to the Criminal Law. … (It should) heavily sentence those who should be handed a heavy sentence according to law; and show no mercy in death sentence cases with immediate execution according to law.” The crimes subject to harsh punishment include “crimes that seriously endanger the social order and people’s lives and property such as endangering state security, organized terrorist crimes, and ‘evil’ forces’ crimes, especially those criminals who are extremely hostile to the state and society, who do not target any particular person or population, and who have committed particularly serious offenses.” 

Since June 10, the township of Xintang in Zengcheng, a county-level city in Guangzhou nicknamed "Jeans Town" for its apparel manufacturing industry, has fallen into chaos after local police bullied a pregnant woman from Sichuan and pushed her to the ground. Although it was confirmed that the woman was unharmed and did not suffer a suspected miscarriage, protesting migrant workers from Sichuan Province held massive demonstrations out of their anger over local authorities’ unfair treatment and blackmail by law enforcement, a typical manifestation of the widespread social injustice in China. As many as 50,000 protesters attacked and burned government buildings and police vehicles, resulting five deaths and nearly one hundred wounded. The local press reported that nearly 150 migrant workers who were at the demonstration were placed in police custody.

On Sunday (June 12), authorities mobilized a division in the Guangzhou Military Region and deployed nearly 30 combat trucks and 1,500 riot police to quell the unrest. A curfew and military control of the town will be in place for the whole week. As of June 14, the Internet, fax, and phone lines have been cut off. The authorities notified local people not to “cook up stories and spread rumors.”

Source: Voice of America, June 14, 2011
http://www.voanews.com/chinese/news/201210614-Authorities-high-alert-123799564.html

By U.S. standards, skyscrapers are buildings taller than 152 meters. According to a Xinhua article, China now has over 200 skyscrapers under construction, a number comparable to existing U.S. skyscrapers. China already has five out of 10 of the world’s tallest buildings. In the coming three years, China will see one skyscraper finished every five days. Five years from now, the number will be quadruple that of the U.S. 

The concern is overinvestment, as half of the top 50 of China’s skyscrapers are in the real estate business. Skyrocketing housing prices result in pressure to sell or rent the units. Meanwhile, small-to-middle sized cities are leaping forward. The southwest city of Guiyang is planning 17 skyscrapers, and Guangxi Province’s Fangchenggang, with a population of one million, will build a 528-meter-high financial center. 

The article mentioned Andrew Lawrence, a former Deutsche Bank economist, who invented the “skyscraper index.” In his research, Lawrence observed that major downturns in the economy occurred shortly after skyscrapers were completed.

Source: Xinhua, June 9, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/photo/2011-06/09/c_121510519.htm

At a national symposium of provincial police chiefs in Shanghai on May 22, 2011, China’s top policeman Zhou Yongkang gave “important instructions” summarizing “precious experience” gained at major events in recent years, including the Beijing Olympic Games, the Shanghai World Expo, the Guangzhou Asian Games, and the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. 

Starting on May 18, 2011, in Beijing, over 120 nationwide Communist Party chiefs at the grassroots level – counties, villages, street neighborhoods, and communities – attended a training session on social management. Senior Party cadres were invited to give talks on policies and share experiences. Li Yuanchao, a Politburo member and head of the CCP’s Organization Department, emphasized that the focus of social management is being placed at the local level and that grassroots Party secretaries are required to improve their social management skills and demonstrate leadership roles in grassroots social organizations.

Source: Xinhua, May 19, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2011-05/19/c_13882817.htm

Liu Qi, a Politburo member and the Communist Party’s chief of Beijing, watched the military exercises performed by the People’s Armed Police (PAP) in Beijing. Liu urged the PAP to “carefully study the situation and characteristics of maintaining stability in the capital, and vigorously step up training and readiness.” 

On May 20, 2011, the Ministry of Health issued an “Emergency Response Plan on Poisoning Incidents.” The plan’s purpose is to “effectively control sudden incidents of poisoning and any damage they may cause, and to minimize the hazardous impact on public health.”