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Authorities Block P2P Victims from Going to Beijing to Petition

In the past two months, a large number of P2P (Peer to Peer Lending) companies have closed in China. One report showed that 60 to 70 P2P companies closed just in one day. Tens and millions of investors are affected, including some seniors who have lost their entire retirement savings. On August 6, the P2P victims around the country planned a group petition in front of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) in Beijing but the officials planned ahead of time to block these petitioners. The Epoch Times article showed photos of the shuttle buses lined up outside of the CBIRC building that were ready to take the petitioners away. The screen shot of a notice from the Public Security Bureau of Wenzhou City showed that the top leader of the local authorities in each region was told to take responsibility for stopping the P2P petitioners from going to Beijing. Otherwise they would face serious consequences. The notice also ordered all levels of the security forces to be ready to carry out the task of monitoring the petitioners. One document from an unidentified province advised that the authorities were aware that there were 8,370 people from 32 cities and provinces who all had plans to go to Beijing; it put them all under close surveillance. One notice from a Public Security Bureau of a railway station ordered that the local security bureau must take action to prevent the petitioners from boarding the train to Beijing. The embedded videos showed police stopping the petitioners from leaving their homes or taking them off of trains or out of hotel rooms. One petitioner told a police officer that they should be clear what kind of government they are serving: “Wake up! One day what we face today will be the same thing you face tomorrow.” Another victim said, “They locked us up without even giving us a reason. The government is so dark.” Members of the police force have become the dogs of the corrupt officials. Where did tens and billions of P2P funding go? Has it become a tool for officials to launder money?

Source: Epoch Times, August 6, 2018
http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/18/8/6/n10617970.htm

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

Online Videos Show Veterans from Yantai City of Shandong Province Blocked from Taking Train to Beijing to Petition

Epoch Times reported that, on July 24, a group of veterans from Yantai City of Shandong Province decided to go to Beijing to petition for their pay and medical benefits but they were blocked from entering the train station. The posted videos showed that the group first went to the Yantai Municipal government building but no one from the municipal government came out to meet with them. The group then walked to the Yantai Train station to take the train to Beijing. The staff at the ticket booth in front of the train station refused to sell them train tickets while the police force from Yantai formed a human wall in order to block the veterans from entering the train station. One representative told Epoch Times, “We are legal citizens. The Communist Party oversees the train station yet they wouldn’t even sell train tickets to us. What are their grounds? What are they afraid of? . . . All of the officials are afraid that they might be investigated for corruption. All they are concerned about is to maintain stability.” Epoch Times reported that, on the same day, a group of veterans from Zhengzhou City of Henan Province also went to the Zhengzhou Municipal government to appeal for their rights. In June, several thousand veterans from Zhenjiang City in Jiangsu Province went to the local municipal building to appeal but the police force violently beat them up. There are nine videos embedded within the Epoch Times article. They contain live footage of how the veterans were treated. For example, the one that is 22 seconds shows the human wall that the police created.

Source: Epoch Times, July 24, 2018
http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/18/7/24/n10587165.htm

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

Legal Daily: The Market for Ghostwriting Graduation Theses

A recent Legal Daily article gave some details about the business of ghostwriting graduation theses in China.

“Due to the large demand, producing graduation theses has become an industry and many services are provided. They include ghostwriting, plagiarism checking, and plagiarism prevention.”

In March 2018, Zhang Feng (a pseudonym), a state-owned enterprise employee, became involved in the ghostwriting business to earn some extra money.

Zhang told the reporter, “Somehow I was connected to a social media account, which is like an intermediary or agent. The account would receive an order for writing a thesis, and then broadcast it to look for people who would like to fill the order. Then the order taker directly contacted the buyer to negotiate a price.”

“The buyer’s needs are varied. For example, someone placed an order for everything to be done, from designing all the way to programming. Some buyers already have a draft design and only need to have the thesis written. Some have already finished writing the thesis, but need to check for plagiarism and make any adjustments needed to avoid plagiarism. There are also some people who want to modify the paper’s format and come up a power point presentation.”

“Most of the students who have such a need are junior college students and undergraduate students. As far as graduate students, according to Zhang, most of those hiring ghostwriters are part-time MS/MA students who also have a job.”

Source: Legal Daily, July 12, 2018
http://www.legaldaily.com.cn/index/content/2018-07/12/content_7591993.htm?node=20908

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

China to Speed up “Sharp Eyes Surveillance Project” in Rural Regions

RFA reported that, on June 21, the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission held a national video conference on the “Sharp Eyes Surveillance Project.” The Commission made it clear that the goal was to have the Sharp Eyes Surveillance Project completed in rural regions by 2020 in order to achieve “full coverage, network sharing, real time availability, and full control.” Similar to the Skynet Project, which is a surveillance system covering the urban region, the Sharp Eyes Surveillance Project is the version for the rural region. Developed by Guangdong AEBELL Technology Group, the Sharp Eyes Project has the capability of monitoring activities of individuals living in rural areas with its control centers stationed in nearby villages, towns and counties. It uses an application installed on television sets or mobile phones and can mobilize the general public to watch the surveillance recordings to ensure full security coverage. In February 2008, the Sharp Eyes Surveillance Project was first incorporated into the top document that the Central Committee of the Party issued. Since then, it has been highly valued at the top level. According to an article that Legal Daily published in February, in Pingyi County in Lin Yi city of Shandong Province where the Sharp Eyes project was first launched, by the end of February, 360,000 surveillance cameras had been installed. In Shandong Province, 2.93 million surveillance cameras and 2,491 surveillance centers have been set up across the entire province. In Sichuan Province, by the end of December 2017, the Sharp Eyes Surveillance Project was completed in 14,087 villages with 41,695 cameras installed.

Source: Radio Free Asia, June 22, 2018
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/shehui/wy-06222018105535.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics Social Stability

Green Peace: Increase in China’s 2018 Carbon Emissions Expected to Be the Fastest in Six Years

China Carbon Trading Online recently published a report by Green Peace, which showed that China’s 2018 carbon emission volume will increase at a pace never seen in the past six years. Green Peace reached this conclusion based on China’s official data. This brings back the doubt as to whether the Paris Agreement can truly result in curbing carbon emissions. Green Peace’s calculation showed China’s carbon emissions increased four percent in the first quarter of this year. China is currently the largest carbon emissions country in the world; it creates a quarter of the world’s total emissions. Global emissions stabilized between 2014 and 2016. However, in 2017, the total emissions started growing again as a result of the increase in the volume that China produces, as well as the European Union and the rest of the Asian countries. Scientists expressed their belief that, according to the Chinese government’s economic development plan, China’s increase in emissions will continue. China estimated that its emissions level will top out “before 2030.”

Source: China Carbon Trading Online, May 30, 2018
http://www.tanjiaoyi.com/article-24347-1.html

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources Social Stability

China Ranked Number One on Wealthy Population Leaving the Country

Well-known Chinese news site Sohu recently published a report based on multiple studies done on wealthy Chinese leaving the country. According to research that Shanghai Hurun conducted in 2017, 46 percent of wealthy Chinese with income between RMB 10 million (around US$1.57 million) and 200 million (around US$31.3 million) have considered leaving the country. Another research report that New World Wealth published also showed, in 2017, that around 10,000 wealthy Chinese (net worth above US$1 million) moved overseas, making China the country that had the largest number of wealthy people leaving. The most popular destinations for these Chinese are the United States, Australia, and Canada. In the past three years, Australia has been the most popular destination. Among the key drivers for people to leave, a better education for their children and China’s high real estate cost sat at the top.

Source: Sohu, May 19, 2018
http://www.sohu.com/a/232164928_170561

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend Social Stability

BBC Chinese: Hong Kong Reporters Were Beaten up in Mainland China

BBC Chinese recently reported that, not long ago, unknown attackers beat up reporters from Hong Kong media. One latest example was Hong Kong’s Now TV reporter Xu Junming. Five under-cover policemen beat him while he was reporting on a hearing that the Beijing Lawyers’ Association had organized. Their Discipline Committee was punishing human rights lawyer Xie Yanyi. Xie represented Falun Gong practitioners in court. Xu is fully licensed and authorized to report in Mainland China. Another example occurred four days earlier than that. Two unknown men attacked Hong Kong Cable TV reporter Chen Haohui in Sichuan Province while he was reporting on the 10-year anniversary of the 512 Wenchuan Earthquake. These incidents triggered a wave of criticism in Mainland social media. According to Reporters Without Borders, China was ranked number 176 in the Freedom of Press Index, only better than Syria, Turkmenistan, Eritrea and North Korea.

Source: BBC Chinese, May 17, 2018
http://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/chinese-news-44157272

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend Government/Politics Social Stability

Social Credit Rating System Restricted over Ten Million from Purchasing Airline or High Speed Train Tickets

RFA reported that since China launched its social credit system, over 10 million people have been restricted from purchasing airline or high speed train tickets due to their poor social credit rating. The social credit system collects data from an individual’s financial records, social behavior such as traffic violations, criminal records, or academic integrity records. The social credit system score is then used to control the individual’s whole life, such as whether he will be restricted from leaving the country, whether he will be accepted by a school, and whether he can become a civil servant. According to a commentary that the article quoted, the social credit score in other countries is used for rating financial credit. However, in China, financial institutions are not the only ones that use the information on an individual’s social credit score. It also contains information that government agencies can use. That information is not used just to manage society, but rather to control society.

Source: RFA, May 18, 2018
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/shehui/hc-05182018110948.html

Briefings | | |   Social Stability