Social Stability - 179. page

Wu Heping, the spokesman from the Ministry of Public Security, told reporters that there were 84,000 economic crimes out of 4.75 million criminal cases in 2007, an increase of 4.2% from last year. This is the fourth year in a row during which China had seen a marked increase in economic crimes.

Among the economic offenses, violations of company regulations and financial misconduct led the increase, rising 15% and 14% respectively.

Source: Chinanews.com, January 30, 2008
http://news.sohu.com/20080130/n254969860.shtml

Legal Daily reported that new measures on security for large social activities in Beijing will take effect on March 1, 2008. An official from the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau stated that professional firms will be set up to monitor and grant permission for large scale social activities in Beijing.

More than 10,000 policemen, security guards and volunteers will take part in security checking on more than 200 hotels and other public places during the 2008 Olympics.

Source: Legal Daily, January 31, 2008
http://www.legaldaily.com.cn/0705/2008-01/31/content792072.htm

The BBC reported on January 30 that 11 people from three families in Japan suffered from food poisoning after eating frozen dumplings made in China. The dumplings were found to be contaminated with the pesticide Methamidophos. A five-year-old girl had the most serious symptoms, losing consciousness at one point. The problem food was from the China Tianyang Food Factory.

Source: BBC, January 30, 2008 http://news.bbc.co.uk/chinese/simp/hi/newsid_7210000/newsid_7217400/7217439.stm

The Beijing-Guanzhou railroad, the backbone of China’s railroad system, died during the worst snow fall in half a century. Millions of migrate workers were stranded in train stations at Guangzhou and other cities were left in chaos. The government warned that the system would not be in order for the next few days and asked travelers to spend the Chinese New Year where they were. According to the Railroad Ministry, the number of stranded passengers exceeded .5 million in Guangdong Province alone. The statistics reported by the Hong Kong media indicated the number approached one million in Guangzhou and Shenzhen alone. The authorities in Guangdong announced that all of the stations in this province would stop selling tickets – the business windows would only handle ticket refunds, as they expect the crisis won’t end until Chinese New Years Eve (Feb 6). This triggered a lot of dissatisfaction among the travelers.

Source: Voice of America, January, 29, 2008
http://www.voanews.com/chinese/w2008-01-29-voa26.cfm

Members of the Shanghai municipal committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference urged the government to provide more education to respond to an escalating crime rate involving laborers born since 1980. They account for 60% of the total migrant population and have become the main labor force in urban areas.

In Shanghai, 1.8 million out of 3 million migrant workers are under 28 years of age. The rate of crime involving young workers is steadily rising. They also called on the authorities to address the problem of defaulted salary payments, a longtime headache for migrant workers and the authorities.

Source: People’s Daily, January 24, 2008-01-24
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/language_tips/cdaudio/2008-01/24/content_6418492.htm

Ever since the new Labor Contract Law went into effect on January 1, 2008, there have been continuous conflicts between workers and owners of private companies in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Dongguan, and other cities in Guangdong Province. On January 20, two large-scale strikes took place simultaneously in foreign owned enterprises in Tangxia Town of Dongguan City, involving more than 1000 workers. The strikers accused the employers of cutting their pay by adopting new ways of calculation. The furious workers blocked the road, confronting hundreds of police. Dozens of people were injured.

Source: Radio Free Asia, January 22, 2008
http://www.rfa.org/mandarin/shenrubaodao/2008/01/22/bagong/

Thousands of Chinese citizens signed a joint letter and published it on Boxun (an overseas Chinese news website) today calling for the unconditional release of Chinese human rights activists Hu Jia and Gao Zhisheng. The letter says that Hu Jia and Gao Zhisheng are regarded as China’s spine. Chinese citizens view them as China’s hope and honor them for their work. They choose to uphold human conscience and justice. As an example of his kindness, Hu Jia sent several dozen winter coats to petitioners in Beijing on Christmas Eve. But the Chinese police arrested Hu using the charge “instigating the overthrow of state power.” His wife and one-month-old daughter were placed under house arrest.

Source:
Boxun, January 22, 2008
http://news.boxun.com/news/gb/pubvp/2008/01/200801220309.shtml
Chinascope, January 21, 2008
http://chinascope.org/main/content/view/653/92/

On January 7, 2008, in Tianmen City, Hubei Province, dozens of Municipal Law Enforcement officers known as chengguan beat Wei Wenhua to death. He was the manager of a water resources construction company in Tianmen, Hubei and had used his mobile phone camera to film the officers in a violent clash with protestors.

The public in Tianmen, Hubei Province has been in an uproar following the death, earlier this month, of a local resident (Wei Wenhua) due to a violent beating by city inspectors (quasi-police like government officers responsible for city regulation enforcement). The media and Internet forums have been inundated with discussions about the legitimacy of city inspectors. One article in the latest issue of Southern Weekend called for the total abolishon of city inspectors. The article is titled “It’s High Time to Abolish City Inspectors.” It has been widely circulated on China’s Internet and has been the subject of many heated debates.

Source: Southern Weekend, January 17, 2008
http://www.nanfangdaily.com.cn/ZM/20080117/fzpl/200801170141.asp
Chinascope, January 17, 2008
http://chinascope.org/main/content/view/626/92/