Social Stability - 184. page

Han Dongfang, a China workers activist told Radio Free Asia that in the Pearl River Delta region of Guangdong Province there is at least one workers’ strike a day that consists of a minimum of one thousand workers. That is in addition to the number of smaller scale strikes that take place. These workers are mainly from inland provinces such as Sichuan, Guizhou, Hubei and Hunan. He said currently the government only intervenes when the situation is out of control. As a result, workers are inadvertently encouraged to resort to strong measures such as strikes. Han said that the international community holds a fantasy that economic development will help China. However, the reason it is a fantasy is that people don’t know what lies behind the economic development: the sacrifice of many people’s health and rights.

Source: BBC, January 16, 2008
http://news.bbc.co.uk/chinese/simp/hi/newsid_7190000/newsid_7191000/7191018.stm

In order to express their grievances, mainland petitioners usually show up at major state activities where they can attract media attention to their plight. For example, on the second day of Indian Prime Minister Singh’s visit, the overseas Chinese affairs website Canyu reported that more than 100 petitioners attempted to enter Tiananmen Square. The police stopped them and escorted them back. It has been reported that the square is now being heavily guarded. One petitioner from Heilongjiang revealed that Beijing has set up a transit point in the suburbs to detain petitioners and prevent foreign media from accessing them during the Olympics. Similar detention centers for petitioners have also been built in all provinces and cities.

Source: Radio Free Asia, January 15, 2008
http://www.rfa.org/mandarin/shenrubaodao/2008/01/15/fangmin/

Xie Hua’an, an ex-fellow of the Fujian Academy of Agricultural Sciences (FAAS) and a leading scholar known for growing a popular hybrid rice was elected into the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in December 2007. At the time of his election, two retired FAAS researchers reported that Xie plagiarized one of his research papers. Xie’s paper “Shanyou 63 Ⅲ – China’s rice variety with the largest acreage – Photosynthetic characteristics and the utilization of solar energy” was reported to have no citations and no footnotes, except for a list of 16 references to articles that others had previously published. Data used in the paper were surprisingly identical to the data in three papers that the Jiangsu Agricultural Science team had published in 1989. CAS denied the charge.

Source: The Beijing News, January 14, 2008
http://www.thebeijingnews.com/news/guonei/2008/01-14/018@082424.htm

On January 3, 2008, at the China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing, Professor Xiao Han held his last class for the winter semester. In defiance of the Communist Party, the topic was the Tiananmen Square Massacre on June 4, 1989.

The Professor told everyone, “Many of them [the college students] left their blood behind on the square, the square on which only one dead body [Mao Zedong] now lies. The blood shed back then cannot possibly be washed away and will outlast any tangible tombstone.”

To future judges and attornyes, Prof. Xiao lectured on, “I hope you keep a lively, independent and free soul. Particularly I would like to wish everyone of you, despite the filthy and degenerated environment, please hold up your unblemished integrity.”

His lecture transcript entitled, “The Last Class: How Should We Live Our Lives?” was posted online and spread instantly among Chinese Internet users.

Source: The Epoch Times, Janaury 12, 2007
http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/8/1/12/n1974905.htm

On June 1, China Affairs published a petition letter containing 2,913 signatures of farmers from Toulin Town of Fujin City demanding their rights to land the government had seized. The letter also listed Wang Guiling and Yu Changwu as the group’s representatives for the group along with their cell phone numbers. [1]  On June 2, The Epoch Times posted an article titled “Chinese Farmers Demand that Human Rights Be Placed Before the Olympics”. [2] Epoch Times interviewed the villagers in an area near Fujin City.

The Chinese Communist Party has kept the Falun Gong issue at the top of its agenda and accused the United States and other Western countries of supporting Faluln Gong for the purpose of political penetration and the peaceful transformation of China. The Communist Party acknowledges that there are a lot more Falun Gong practitioners in China than what the Chinese media have previously reported. The Communist Party has directed the Chinese media not to report this specific Party directive.

The annual report from the Hangzhou City Public Security Bureau shows that the suppression of faith-based groups has gone underground – it has become the "hidden front." The Chinese police waste no time on enforcement. Internet censorship and control of social unrest continue to be the focus of Chinese law enforcement.

In April 2007, the Tai Shun County government, Jiangsu Province published a 2005 report that provided insight into the methods the County used in its crackdown on Falun Gong and Xinjiang Uygur groups.