Social Stability - 28. page

Beijing has tightened security as the Chinese Communist Party will celebrate its 100th anniversary on July 1. Armed police appear on the streets of Beijing and in the subway. Tiananmen Square is closed. Military soldiers are stationed in the Bird’s Nest Stadium. Petitioners are being arrested. At the same time, Beijing has imposed traffic control and air bans. Multiple videos on the Internet show that dozens of police patrol the streets with dogs and some retired “neighborhood watch guards” are wearing red armbands and are at the doors of some residential buildings watching the residents entering and exiting.

On June 3, the Tiananmen Management Committee announced the closure of Tiananmen Square from midnight on June 23 to July 1 to prepare for the setting up of the celebration.

On June 17, Vice Premier Liu He attended the State Council Security Committee meeting. The committee vowed to contain all forms of incidents or disruptions.

On June 20, the Beijing municipal government announced the blockage of radio signals in certain regions on July 1. Beijing airport announced it has elevated its security screening. All express mail destined for Beijing will go through X-ray security inspections.

Cai Xia, a former communist party school professor tweeted on June 20, “The party is celebrating its 100th anniversary but it looks like it was preparing for a major disaster. The party has guns, money, and high-tech surveillance cameras in its control. It can arrest people and ban anything whenever it wants. What are they afraid of? Is this 100th anniversary celebration a celebration or a funeral?”

Source:
1. Epoch Times, June 23, 2021
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/21/6/23/n13042826.htm
2. Twitter, June 20, 2021

中共庆自己的100年，搞得跟大祸临头似的，风声鹤唳 草木皆兵。中共枪在手，钱在手，高科技监视器在手，说抓人就抓人，说封号就封号。这是怕啥呢？这庆100年究竟是当喜事办还是当丧事办呢？ pic.twitter.com/KnP5hPYami

— 蔡霞 (@realcaixia) June 21, 2021

After the educational authorities told independent colleges in Jiangxi and Zhejiang provinces about China’s intention that they merge with vocational institutes to form a “vocational and technical college,” unhappy students from several schools staged demonstrations and lodged protests on campus. Some petitioned at the education department of the provincial governments. The police responded with a violent crackdown; some students were beaten and some were arrested. After the outbreak, the local government called a halt to the merger.

The cause of the student’s demonstrations was the Ministry of Education’s mandate to merge independent colleges and vocational institutes into vocational and technical colleges. Because the vocational institutes or colleges are viewed as less prestigious, students from independent colleges fear their degrees will be devalued after the merger.

Some students petitioned at the Department of Education at the Jiangsu Provincial government last Saturday, before the riot police forcibly dragged them into buses. Several thousand students from Xinglin College of Nantong University, Zhijiang College of Zhejiang University of Technology, and Zhongbei College of Nanjing Normal University, have also protested on campus.

The videos circulated online show that a large number of police surrounded the campus. Some students were dragged away, while some were badly beaten. A student from Zhongbei College posted that the school, instead of responding to students’ requests, sent police to block the campus and prevent students and parents from entering and exiting. The student said, “There have been bloody incidents of violent law enforcement in which students on campus were injured.”

One student explained in a post that what they opposed was not the merger, but the downgrading of the college. They worked through the college entrance exam and paid the expensive tuition in order to earn a bachelor’s degree only to see the college downgraded to a vocational school at graduation. This could affect their future if they attend graduate school or it could affect their career in public service.

After the clash between the police and the students, the Department of Education of Zhejiang Province and Jiangsu Province announced a complete suspension of the merger, stressing that they “will seriously listen to the opinions and suggestions from the students and faculty of the independent colleges.”

In mainland China, an independent college is a joint venture between government operated universities and the private sector. Although the tuition fee is three or four times higher than normal universities, they are popular among some students because of the low admission standards and the mention of the university on the graduation certificate. The Ministry of Education issued a notice last year, demanding all independent colleges to make a plan to end the venture. They can either switch to a pure private or public college, or simply terminate operation.

Source: Radio Free Asia, June 8, 2021
https://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/university-06082021082515.html

Involution (内卷Nei Juan) and Lying Down (躺平 Tang Ping) have become buzzwords among Generations Y (born in the 1990’s) and Z (born in 2000) in China. One refers to “excessive competition” while the other one indicates “dropping out of competition.” Both of them reflect the frustration of China’s younger generation towards the fierce competition in society.

On Weibo, there are over 1 billion views on topics related to “Involution.” In 2020, “Involution” became one of the “top ten buzzwords” in China. Involution came from Clifford Geertz who used it to describe the agricultural process in which many centuries of intensifying wet-rice cultivation in Indonesia had produced greater social complexity without significant technological or political change. Generations Y and Z in China use it to describe their feeling of powerlessness when faced with competition. If they don’t work hard and don’t compete, they will fall behind or end up dropping out; they are repressed and unable to make a breakthrough. What they are facing is unlike the1990’s or early 2000 when China’s economy was taking off. That was the time when their parents benefited. Generations Y and Z missed that window. Meanwhile they have also found that their parents or employers do not understand them very well.

In April 2021, six months after the word “Involution” gained popularity, Lying Down (躺平 Tang Ping) appeared. It is a way that those in the younger generation show their resistance to “Involution.” “Lying Down” means that Generations X & Y withdraw from the competition by giving up what they think is meaningless. The state media quickly expressed concern and even condemned the words. Guangming Daily pointed out that “Lying Down” is disadvantageous to economic and social development. The society needs the younger generation to bring “creative contributions” when China’s economic development is facing challenges such as an aging population. Nanfang Daily criticized that it is shameful to “Lie Down” and not making an effort. Other media call it an irresponsible attitude towards their parents and tens and millions of tax payers. The official media reports are merely there to maintain social stability. They had to allow the younger generations to release their frustrations, but many people will undoubtedly regard “Lying Down” as a social problem.

Source: BBC, June 2, 2021
https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/chinese-news-57304453

Radio Free Asia (RFA) recently reported that, starting in May, China implemented its new “Measures for the Administration of Religious Staff.” The new regulations require that the staff members in all religious groups must support the Chinese Communist Party. Those Catholic clergymen who refused to join the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, which was blessed by the Communist Party but not recognized by the Vatican, were the first to face suppression. On May 21 and 22 in Hebei Province, hundreds of policemen surrounded a monastery and detained Bishop Zhang Weizhu, seven priests and more than 10 monks. Since the Hebei Xinxiang Diocese did not want to join the Patriotic Association, it was recognized as illegal under the new regulations; hence the crackdown. All Catholic families in the diocese were searched and fined for possession of Catholic symbols. The police also confiscated those Catholic symbols, their crosses, pictures of the Pope, statues or portraits of saints, and all of the religious symbols that they had.

Source: RFA, May 23, 2021
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/Xinwen/7-05232021151415.html

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) stated that Hong Kong Epoch Times printing plant was ransacked on April 12 for the second time in less than two years. It called on Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Carrie Lam to “put an end to the climate of suspicion surrounding independent media and that of impunity, which make such attacks possible.”

RSF issued a press release on April 14 stating that four armed masked individuals attacked the Hong Kong printing plant of the Epoch Times on April 12. The individuals not only threatened the employees of the printing plant, but also used a sledgehammer to damage the main printing presses and other equipment. Surveillance cameras recorded the whole incident. It was the second time that the Epoch Times printing plant in Hong Kong was attacked. Two years ago in 2019, the printing plant was set on fire.

Cédric Alviani, head of the RSF East Asia bureau, said, “By leaving previous attacks on journalists unpunished and creating a climate of suspicion against independent media outlets, the Hong Kong authorities are encouraging such violence.”

RSF stated that the Epoch Times is not the only media that has been violently attacked in Hong Kong in recent years. On July 1, 2019, several masked men vandalized Citizens’ Radio, an independent radio station. In 2015, two arson attacks targeted Pro-democratic Apple Daily. In 2014, an individual with a knife attacked and severely injured Kevin Lau, the former editor-in-chief of Ming Pao.

RSF pointed out that Hong Kong used to be a bastion of press freedom. At present, Hong Kong’s ranking in the RSF World Press Freedom Index has fallen from 18th in 2002 to 80th in 2020.

Source:

1. Central News Agency, April 15, 2021
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202104150238.aspx
2. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) rsf.org
https://rsf.org/en/news/hong-kong-daily-newspaper-epoch-times-ransacked-again

For many years and in most areas, China has implemented a compulsory cremation policy. In some small towns that believe in Feng Shui, however, people still try to bury their deceased family members. Some have even tried to find a replacement dead body to cremate and in some cases, people have been killed because of it. It has become a secret practice in the funeral industry.

An article, “Looking for a Dead Body” that Sohu published on April 7 was quickly deleted. The article exposed a case in Shanwei City of Guangdong province in which a family offered to pay for a replacement “dead body” for the deceased father because the father said he didn’t want to be cremated after he dies. In 2017, after the father passed away, the family paid 107,000 yuan (US$16,315) for a dead body to replace the father in the cremation. A local coffin driver ended up killing a mentally handicapped person and swapped the body for cremation. A court paper showed how, in January of this year, the driver was arrested and sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve.

In 1997, China implemented new funeral regulations. They stipulated that cremation is implemented except for ethnic minorities and in a few regions. The main reason is the land scarcity due to population growth. In Shanwei city where the murder case was reported, it ranked the bottom in the nation on implementing the cremation policy. The city didn’t enforce the ban on burial and the sale of coffins until 2012. However, many people still find ways to bury their deceased relative secretly. They may swap with another dead human or an animal body. There have been at least four other similar cases reported in Lufeng region of Shanwei city. Many of the replacement dead bodies are homeless people, beggars, or elderly people living alone.

Some funeral homes also take the opportunity to accept bribes from people who want to have the deceased family member buried. A Sohu report disclosed one incident in 2014, in which one funeral home asked for 60,000 yuan (US$9,149) to replace the body. Almost all of the wealthy families in the region have paid for a replacement body so they could bury their dead family members.

Source: Central News Agency, April 9, 2021
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/firstnews/202104090191.aspx

This year, the Qingming Festival fell on Sunday April 4. It is an important date in the traditional Chinese lunar New Year calendar as that is when millions travel to tend to the graves of their ancestors and family members, offering flowers and burning incense.

Xiaoxiang Morning News, an influential local newspaper in Hunan province, reported that 320,000 people packed the mausoleums and grave yards in Wuhan city on the eve of the Qingming Festival. The report also said that in order to buy a bunch of chrysanthemum, a traditional funeral flower, Wuhanese came out early in the morning and waited in long lines, even though there was a short of supply and the price was high. With too many people buying the flower, Wuhan ran out of chrysanthemum. When a Chinese writer Yan Xiaoyi shared the story on her social media account, someone reported her and her account was banned.

According to official figures, as of April 16 last year, the number of deaths from the Corona virus in China was 3,869; Wuhan accounted for nearly two-thirds of the total number of infections and more than three-quarters of the deaths.

The Civil Affairs Office of the Hubei province government released the information that, in the first quarter of last year, more than 150,000 seniors in the province suddenly disappeared from the list of benefit recipients. The authorities refused to offer an explanation, and forbade the media or individuals from collecting statistics on funeral related information.

Source: Radio Free Asia, April 5, 2021
https://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/tomb-04052021042615.html