Since late April, repeated heavy rainfall has caused flooding in southern provinces including Guangdong, Fujian, Guangxi, Hunan, Jiangxi, Hubei, Chongqing, Sichuan, Guizhou, Anhui, and Yunnan. So far 15.179 million people have been affected and 101 have died, with direct economic losses of over 8 billion yuan (US$1.2 billion).
Wenzhou, a coastal city in Southeast China, is to openly hire 25 Party secretaries to be posted in local private companies, according to the city’s Party organization department. The secretaries, paid by the private businesses, will organize and expand the Party branches inside the companies. Ever since the fourth session of the 17th Congress of the CCP in 2009, nationwide private enterprises have been required to set up local Party organizations as part of the regime’s efforts to build up the Party. Usually the secretaries are appointed by superior Party cadres; Wenzhou’s move is an innovation because it is integrating the political process with the market mechanism.
A class action lawsuit was filed with China’s Supreme People’s Court in Beijing against the Chinese Communist Party, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, and the State Council. Mr. Lu Qingfu, a freelance writer and a “rightist,” initiated the civil lawsuit and was joined by Ye Xiaogang and over 60 plaintiffs. The plaintiffs asked for apologies and compensation on behalf of over 550,000 victims who were denounced in 1957 by the defendants as “bourgeois rightists.” Lu spent over twenty years in prison after he was denounced as a rightist in 1957.
Source: China Human Rights Defenders, May 18, 2010
http://ww2.crd-net.org/Article/Class71/201005/20100518003901_21267.html
Inflation in China has become a very serious problem despite the moderate official numbers, according to an article by Shanghai Business Daily. The official CPI released in April was at 2.8%, showing a mild upward trajectory. However, the paper reports, "the true inflation level has by far exceeded what the CPI reflects. If one takes into consideration various economic inflationary indicators or listens to the experiences of everyday people, the real inflation level has reached serious proportions.” If the government applies macro controls this year, the economy will come to a standstill, but without such control there could be chaos, says the article.
Source: Shanghai Business Daily reprinted by Nanfang Daily, May 13, 2010
http://gcontent.nddaily.com/d/2a/d2ac71782272659e/Blog/ac5/9e958b.html
Over 6 million Chinese government employees have attended various political training sessions over the past five years. Intensive orientation training of these “civil servants” includes indoctrination in Party tradition, loyalty pledges, and military boot camp. It is rumored that the training has been effective in improving the political awareness of these trainees and their thinking is now in line with the directives of the Communist Party. In recent years, topics such as social unrest and State security have been added to this on-the-job training. Government employees have also taken training overseas. Such training has been institutionalized and without the training, the employee cannot be promoted.
Source: Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security of China, May 17, 2010 http://www.mohrss.gov.cn/Desktop.aspx?path=mohrss/mohrss/InfoView&gid=792b0119-2f0e-41ed-b168-6a64a362378a&tid=Cms_Info
On May 12, the State Administration for Religious Affairs held a video/audio conference on implementing the “Regulations on Religious Affairs.” 1700 religious affairs officials from all provinces participated in the conference. The Administration decided to complete the “Religious Practitioner Registration Practice” in three years, so that it can systematically and dynamically manage them over the Internet. It will also implement the “Financial Supervision and Management Practice for Religious Activities and Sites” in three years. For the remainder of 2010 and early 2011, local officials will start trial implementations.
Source: People’s Daily, May 14, 2010
http://politics.people.com.cn/GB/1027/11601559.html
China is tightening the control of the printing and copying business in Lhasa, according to an article that Global Times republished from the Lhasa Evening newspaper. Anyone running a printing or copying business is required to register with the police first. The company owner must obtain upper level organization’s approval. Individual owners must have a local permanent or temporary residence permit. The shop owners are required to verify the customer’s information. For business jobs, they must record the company’s name and address and for individual jobs, the individual’s name, address, and identification number.
Source: Global Times, May 18, 2010
http://china.huanqiu.com/roll/2010-05/818703.html
According to Yunan Provincial Forestry Department, Yunan Province is suffering from an outbreak of pests in its forests. 610,000 acres of forests have a pest problem and the economic loss is nearly 400 million Yuan. The forest pest problem was caused by both the continuing drought and last year’s frost disaster.
Source: China News Service, May 17, 2010
http://www.chinanews.com.cn/cj/cj-gncj/news/2010/05-17/2286854.shtml