On November 6, People’s Daily published a commentary that stated, "The second round of the Central Inspection Team’s Tour found that factions are a common phenomenon in many places."

The article criticized this common practice among officials in China. "Party members and cadres should remember that forming factions, providing benefits to officials, making decisions that follow one’s own way, or openly endorsing something while secretly objecting to it, are all not allowed in the Party. Cadres should understand that the ‘true protection’ [for themselves] is not ‘which line they take,’ ‘which circle they belong to,’ or ‘whose people they are.’"

[Editor’s note: Wang Qishan initiated the Central Inspection Team’s Tour as part of the anti-corruption campaign. Wang, to support Xi Jinping, has taken down many officials, including both high-ranking officials ("tigers") and low-level officials ("flies"). Many of these officials are from the faction of Jiang Zemin, former head of the Chinese Communist Party.]

Source: People’s Daily, November 6, 2014
http://cpc.people.com.cn/pinglun/n/2014/1106/c78779-25983172.html

Beijing’s leaders put in place the maximum possible measures to ensure their capital’s skies were clean for the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) summit from November 5 to November 11, 2014. The sky in Beijing did turn blue (called APEC blue in China) for a few days until November 10, when smog crept back again. Beijing then exercised its final step to "monitor" the air pollution by censoring the data of the PM2.5 danger level on the U.S. Embassy website in Beijing, which would have showed “unhealthy” if not censored. On the evening of November 10 (air pollution data censorship night), Beijing staged massive fireworks displays. The launching devices were placed in the range of a radius of 2.5 km to entertain foreign leaders.

During the APEC summit, almost every area of ordinary Chinese people’s daily lives were affected:

• Factories were closed and/or restrictions were placed on manufacturing in six provinces.
• No heat was provided or allowed for ordinary people in Beijing and Tianjin. Even gas for cooking ran out because the large vehicles that were used for gas delivery were restricted. Fresh milk delivery also stopped.
• Half of Beijing’s cars (single or double digits of license plates in turn) were barred from the streets in Beijing.
• Burning was absolutely illegal including no frying fritters outdoors and no burning of funeral incense, straws, leaves, or waste in Beijing and in the surrounding areas. One guard was placed on duty for every 100 mu of land (1 mu = 66,666.67 square meters) and stood ready to extinguish any possible flames in Baoding city.  
• One week of mandatory holidays was put in place and schools were closed.
• Six cities and provinces held daily air quality and monitoring meetings during the APEC period. If any companies did not take enough action to ensure the sky was blue, the responsible leaders were punished, detained and/or fined.

Source: Cankaoxiaoxi, Epoch Times, Hong Kong Economic Journal Instant News, Radio Free Asia and Huanqiu, October 30 – November 12, 2014
http://china.cankaoxiaoxi.com/2014/1030/546603.shtml
http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/14/11/10/n4292070.htm
http://www2.hkej.com/instantnews/current/article/930895/
http://mandarin.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/huanjing/yf2-11112014101530.html
http://world.huanqiu.com/photo/2014-11/2752046.html
http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/14/11/12/n4293731.htm

According to VOA, on Sunday, November 9, a member of Scholarism, a Hong Kong student association, was denied entry into Shen Zhen, a border city next to Hong Kong. Since the member carried winter clothes and a yellow umbrella in his luggage, he was accused of conspiracy to go to Beijing for the umbrella movement. Just a couple of days earlier, on November 7, another low key Scholarism member, who used to travel between the mainland and Hong Kong, was denied entry when he tried to meet a friend in Shen Zhen. The article expressed the belief that the tightened security was related to the upcoming week long APEC meeting to be held in Beijing starting on Monday. The article also expressed concern that the mainland has put forth much effort to collect information on those who were involved in the occupy central movement and has since compiled an extensive blacklist.

Source: VOA, November 9, 2014
http://www.voachinese.com/content/hk-activist-china-20141109/2513569.html