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Chinese Universities Plagued by Rising Depression Rates

According to the “2022 China National Mental Health Report” released by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, a comprehensive survey was conducted on nearly 80,000 university students to assess their mental health. The findings of the report revealed that the detected rates of depression and anxiety risks were approximately 21.48 percent and 45.28 percent respectively.

Furthermore, a study published in the journal “Frontiers in Psychology” delved into the mental health status of approximately 100,000 university students from 43 cities and 23 universities across the nation. The study revealed that the average prevalence of mental disorders among these students was 22.8 percent.

Another domestic study shed light on the psychological stress experienced by university students, with a staggering 73.2 percent of participants reporting varying degrees of stress. The study identified academic pressure and uncertainty as the primary contributors to mental health impacts.

Notably, students who perceive high academic pressure face a 1.43 times higher risk of developing mental disorders. Moreover, uncertainty stress, which stems from the ambiguity surrounding present and future development, was reported by approximately 54 percent of university students. The risk of mental health issues associated with uncertainty stress was found to be 2.55 times higher compared to other stress factors.

Furthermore, it was revealed that one-fourth of university students lack social support, an essential factor in maintaining good mental health. Research has demonstrated that the absence of social support has become a significant contributing factor to mental health problems among university students. Specifically, a study that focused on Chinese university students revealed  that over one-fourth of them lacked sufficient social support.

Source: ifeng.com, May 25, 2023
https://news.ifeng.com/c/8Q4lx0sgK17

Leaked Internal Documents: Experts Enlisted for Cyber Army’s Reconnaissance Operation

On March 24, 2023, China’s Ministry of Public Security’s Eleventh Bureau issued an internal notice announcing plans to organize over 40 “experts in cyber intelligence, big data system construction, and data mining” from across the country to engage in a month-long period of “Special Reconnaissance Operations ” in Beijing from March 27 to April 27, 2023. The main objective of this operation was to “send personnel to participate in the battle for public opinion against overseas ‘Internet armies’ and effectively safeguard political security online.”

The leaked notice, suspected to have been obtained through email hacking, revealed that the operation was undertaken by the “Twenty-Fourth Division of the Eleventh Bureau,” led by a person named “Hu Fengming” (胡凤鸣). Several “Public Security Bureau Network Security Defense Brigades” were mentioned in the notice, which also included a list of 32 participating police officers with their real names.

The Network Security Defense Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security, also known as the Eleventh Bureau, is an internal agency responsible for handling criminal cases related to computers and information networks. It oversees the management of the national public information network security police, commonly known as the “Internet police.”

The leaked notice was independently verified by China Digital Times (CDT) through online searches and cross-referencing, confirming the identities of some of the listed police officers. As of now, CDT has confirmed that 11 individuals are indeed Internet police officers from various regions (with some screenshots as evidence), leading to the belief that the leaked notice is genuine.

It appears that Chinese authorities are aware of the leak and have taken action. As of the time of this writing, the Baidu Baike pages (Chinese encyclopedia) of the individuals on the list have been taken offline. Weibo (a popular social media platform) has also cleared all names from the list.

Source: China Digital Times, May 24, 2023
https://chinadigitaltimes.net/chinese/695957.html

In the First Four Months, China’s Sizeable Industrial Enterprises Saw Profits Drop by 20.6 Percent

The National Bureau of Statistics of China recently released official data on industrial enterprises for the first four months of this year. The total profits of industrial enterprises above a designated size reached RMB 2,032.88 billion (around US$288 billion), a year-over-year decrease of 20.6 percent. Among them, State-owned companies saw a year-over-year profit decrease of 17.9 percent; joint-stock companies had a profit decrease of 22.0 percent; foreign and Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan-invested companies had a profit decrease of 16.2 percent; and privately-owned companies suffered a decrease of 22.5 percent. During the first four months, the manufacturing industry saw a profit decrease of 27.0 percent and the electricity, heat, gas and water production and supply industry had a profit increase of 34.1 percent. Among the 41 major industrial sectors, the total profit of 13 industries increased year-over-year. One industry was flat, and 27 industries declined. It is notable that the general equipment manufacturing industry profit increased by 20.7 percent and the automobile manufacturing industry profit increased by 2.5 percent. However, the textile industry profit decreased by 30.2 percent, the agricultural and sideline food processing industry profit decreased by 36.3 percent, and the computer, communication and other electronic equipment manufacturing industry profit decreased by 53.2 percent.

Source: National Bureau of Statistics of China, May 27, 2023
http://www.stats.gov.cn/sj/zxfb/202305/t20230526_1940198.html

Global Times: Japan Officially Introduced Export Control Measures for Semiconductor Equipment

Global Times recently reported that the Japanese government officially introduced export control measures for semiconductor manufacturing equipment, which will be implemented on July 23. China’s Ministry of Commerce responded on the same day that this is an abuse of export control measures and a serious departure from free trade and international economic and trade rules. China firmly opposes this. Japan announced in late March this year that it would amend the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Law to strengthen export controls on 23 items of chip manufacturing equipment in an effort to “cooperate with the United States to prevent technology from flowing to China and being transferred to military use.” According to the Japanese Ministry of the Economy, Trade and Industry, the restricted scope includes semiconductor cleaning, thin film deposition, heat treatment, etching, product inspection and more.The Japanese Minister of the Economy, Trade and Industry Yasutoshi Nishimura previously stated that “this is not aimed at any specific country.” However, considering the latest export management trends of countries related to semiconductor manufacturing equipment, public opinion believes that this is a measure against China. While Japan’s restrictions on semiconductors are less extensive than in the United States, about ten Japanese manufacturers will be affected to some extent by the new rules. The spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce of China stated that the measures announced will seriously damage the interests of Chinese and Japanese companies, seriously damage the Sino-Japanese economic and trade cooperation, disrupt the global semiconductor industry structure, and impact the stability of the global industrial supply chain.

Sources:
(1) Global Times, May 24, 2023
https://3w.huanqiu.com/a/de583b/4D17o6aPvPe?agt=11
(2) Xinhua, May 23, 2023
http://www.news.cn/fortune/2023-05/23/c_1129640086.htm

EU Chamber of Commerce: European Companies Pause on Investments

Primary Taiwanese news agency Central News Agency (CNA) recently reported that the president of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China said that China’s economic growth is not what it used to be. At present, European companies are cautious about investment. Although large companies continue to invest, smaller companies have pressed the pause button or they have left. He believes that the biggest problem in China’s economy is the real estate industry, which accounts for a quarter of the total Chinese GDP. There are almost no new developments. In addition, in the field of exports, China exported 6.4 million containers to the EU last year, while the EU only exported 1.6 million containers to China. This shows China’s dependence on European consumers. In terms of industrial production, energy supply problems continue to arise. Youth unemployment remains high. China’s large private enterprises are facing serious difficulties. They are being punished, while state-owned enterprises are being rewarded with strong government support. In China, the EU Chamber of Commerce does not yet see the same way that they did  during the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s, but the country is heading in that direction.

Source: CNA, May 27, 2023
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202305270037.aspx

COVID Is Back in China

A new wave of COVID, led by the XBB variant, is spreading in China. Zhong Nanshan (钟南山), a Chinese government endorsed COVID expert, stated this week that this wave – the second COVID pandemic in China – started in late April. He said the simulation model showed it will reach its peak by the end of June and by then each week there will be 65 million people who got infected. There were 5 million people infected each week in the U.S. during its worse time in 2022. Zhong mentioned this wave was expected.

Beijing has been low-key in reporting the second COVID wave, since it has been focusing on stabilizing its economy.

Source: Voice of America, May 26, 2023
https://www.voachinese.com/a/china-faces-a-new-covid-wave-that-could-peak-at-65-million-cases-a-week-052523/7108934.html

Chinese Lung Transplant Doctor Revealed Organ Harvesting Secret

Chen Jingyu (陈静瑜) and her team published a paper on China’s lung transplantation in JAMA Network Open, a publication under the Journal of the American Medical Association  (JAMA). Chen’s Lung Transplant Center in Wuxi City, Jiangsu Province, claimed this as the first time that Chinese lung transplant clinical data has been accepted by a top international journal. Chen is known as “the number one doctor in China’s lung transplants.”

Chen excitedly posted the news on WeChat and Weibo on May 8. She stated, “For a long time because we used organs from death row prisoners, the foreign (medical community) boycotted the organ transplantation in China because of ethical issues… In 2015, China fully implemented organ donation from people under heart and brain death. The organs of citizens with brain death have become our only source for organs. There is much gratitude for the 6,000 or so cases of organ donations each year in our country, which have allowed us to go global with lung transplants.”

Chen’s statement admitted two things: One: the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has long taken organs from death row inmates. Two: China is using organs from “brain-dead” people, not the “heart-brain-dead” people as the CCP ostensibly claimed.

Whether “brain-death” is considered real death is debatable in the medical community, since a “brain-dead” person can still keep breathing and has a heartbeat under medical equipment for a while. “Heart-brain-death” is fully dead.

China does not have a law on “brain-death.” Its definition of death in the Criminal Law is in line with the definition of “heart-brain-death.” Therefore, using organs from “brain-dead” people is illegal according to China’s own law.

China has been using the “Primary Brainstem Injury Impactor” device, invented by Wang Lijun, the former Vice Mayor and Public Security Chief of Chongqing. It is capable of precisely creating brainstem death without damaging other brain tissues or other organs. This invention was patented by China’s State Intellectual Property Office in 2012 under the patent number CN 202376254 U.

Source: Epoch Times, May 22, 2023
http://cn.epochtimes.com/gb/23/5/22/n14001686.htm

Leaked Meeting Minutes Showed Kunming City Investment Companies Are Running Out of Money

An article, said to be the minutes of an internal meeting of Kunming City Investment Companies, was widely spread on the Internet. The triggering event for the meeting was that Kunming Land Investment Company struggled to pay back a 200 million Yuan (US$28) debt which was due on May 19. Kunming is the capital city of Yunnan Province and is supposed to be the richest city in Yunnan.

A few highlights of the minutes are:

To help Kunming Land Investment Company make its payment, Kunming city gave 130 million Yuan from its fiscal budget. The investment company itself raised 35 million Yuan, and Kunming Land Reserve Investment Company provided 40 million.

Collectively, city investment companies in Kunming have 20 billion Yuan in debt due in the second half of this year. Kunming city does not have the money. The Yunnan Province government might have some money, but a Deputy Governor already stated that the province will not rescue every company.

The Deputy Major of Kunming led three chairmen of three investment companies, including Kunming Industry Investment Company, Kunming Urban Investment Company, and Dian Investment Company, to Shanghai on May 20 and 21. They were to ask Shanghai Urban Investment Company to transfer some money – Shanghai was tasked to provide Yunnan Province with financial support (several hundred billion Yuan each year), but it didn’t transfer money last year.

The Kunming city government has gathered all the money it can gather from its investment companies. If there is another debt crisis, the city has no money and no means but to issue new debt.

All loans (to Kunming city investment companies) that can be extended have already been extended. Principle and interest payments on fixed asset loans have all been deferred. Kunming Transportation Investment Company, Kunming Production Investment Company, Kunming Land Investment Company, Kunming Rail Transit, and Kunming Urban Investment Company have already accomplished this extension.

Source:
1. Pingcong website
https://pincong.rocks/question/58589
2. Net Ease, May 23, 2023
https://www.163.com/dy/article/I5EBF1QL0519B61A.html