Social Stability - 181. page

Since last year, consumer price has been going up continuously. In particular, the food price has increased markedly. The biggest snow storm in 70 years hit Hunan Province pretty hard, significantly affecting the lives of school teachers and students. To ensure stability, the Education Department of Hunan Province issued a notice, strictly controlling the fee for school education, and keeping price of food in school cafeteria from going up.

Source：China News Agency, February 11, 2008
http://edu.chinanews.cn/edu/zcdt/news/2008/02-11/1160015.shtml

On February 5, Hangzhou-based writer Lü Gengsong was sentenced to four years for "inciting subversion of state power" based on 19 articles that he posted online. His political rights will subsequently be deprived for one year. Lü’s hearing lasted for 15 minutes and only his immediate family and two friends were allowed to attend. Outside the courthouse, more than 20 people came to voice their support, one was detained. According to Radio Free Asia, his wife said that he plans to appeal.

Source: Radio Free Asia, February 05, 2008
http://www.rfa.org/mandarin/shenrubaodao/2008/02/05/lugengsong/

Because of heavy storms hitting the south and northwest regions of China since mid-January, millions of migrant workers have been stranded and unable to go home for Chinese New Year. In Guangzhou alone, 1.1 million out of 3.8 million sold train tickets were returned due to cancellations. The local labor security agency in Guangdong Province has issued an urgent notice to various levels of authorities asking that they persuade those who are stuck on the road to return to Guangdong. They are hoping to keep 65 percent of the migrant workers for the New Year.

Source: Xinhua, February 5, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2008-02/05/content_7575411.htm

Radio Free Asia reports on February 4 that a female handicapped petitioner from Northeast China was beaten to death in front of the reception office of the Supreme Court in Beijing on Monday afternoon.

Source: Radio Free Asia, February 4, 2008
http://www.rfa.org/mandarin/shenrubaodao/2008/02/04/fangmin/

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