Huanqiu published a commentary article on whether Russia’s rise is good or bad for China. Below is an excerpt translated from the commentary:
How Xinhua Made Fun of Jiang Zemin
Several times over the past year, Xinhua made fun of Song Zuying (宋祖英), a famous singer of Chinese folk songs. It is widely known to the Chinese people that Song, though married, is Jiang Zemin’s mistress. When Jiang had power, defaming Song in any Chinese media, not to mention the official media Xinhua, was unimaginable. It never happened, even when Hu Jintao was the head of China.
A recent Xinhua blog wrote about the relationship between Song Zuying and the Chinese actor Zhao Benshan (赵本山). It is rumored that Bo Xilai chose Zhao to be his Minister of the Ministry of Culture after Bo’s coup to overthrow Xi Jinping. The blog said that Song and Zhao are like brother and sister and they are “even closer than brother and sister.”
What is most interesting is that the blog also mentioned “big brother.” It said that in 2000, there was a rumor that Song has special backing (implying Jiang). To support her, Zhao said, “With the backing of big brother, what are you afraid of? If there is any problem just tell big brother. Even if the sky falls, big brother will hold it for you.” On the surface, the “big brother” here seems to mean Zhao, but in reality, Song’s political power (from Jiang) would have been much stronger than Zhao’s. So Zhao would not have said this to her.
What this blog did was directly make fun of Jiang Zemin, who claimed himself to be the “big brother” to Song. According to the book “The Real Story of Jiang Zemin (江泽民其人),” Jiang watched Song’s performance and felt attracted to her. He then gave her a note which said, “In the future if you have any problem, you can come to big brother. Big brother can solve any problem for you.” The “big brother” in the note referred to Jiang himself. Thus Song became Jiang’s mistress.
On another note, this “big brother” story from “The Real Story of Jiang Zemin” book was, of course, banned in China. Some Chinese found a creative way to publish it though. On a 163.com blog, the author published the exact same story by replacing Jiang’s name by Ma Yingjiu (the President of Taiwan) and Song’s name by Lin Zhiling (a Taiwanese singer). It went on to say that Lin held a performance in Sydney and sang in Korea for the 2002 Soccer World Cup (Chinese know that it was really Song who did that) and that Ma built the National Center for the Performing Arts for Lin (Chinese know that Jiang built it for Song). The readers’ responses show that they understand who the two people really are.
Sources:
[1] Xinhua Blog, “What Is the Hidden Secret That Song Zuying and Zhao Benshen Swore to Be Brother and Sister?”
http://yuyu26.home.news.cn/blog/a/0101007C4C310CEF1F9188FA.html
[2] Epoch Times Online, “The Real Story of Jiang Zemin,” Chapter 18, “Love Beautiful Ladies and Have Many Mistresses.”
http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/5/6/17/n957853.htm
[3] 163.com Blog, “Come to the Big Brother when You Have Problem,” November 24, 2010
http://bbs.news.163.com/bbs/zhongmei/192313326.html
China’s Official Media on Russia Taking over Crimea
On March 19, People’s Daily published an editorial titled, “One Should Not Take a One-Sided View to Solve Complex Issues.” The author used the pen name Zhong Sheng, which stands for China’s Voice. It said that one should have a global, balanced view to look at the Ukraine issue. “The most important thing is, in the legal and maintaining-order framework, to consider fully the fundamental interests of Ukraine’s ethnic groups and local people.”
It also said that the West started to reflect on the issue and its previous approach. “Some people realized that violence and instability in Ukraine does not satisfy Russia’s interest, nor does it satisfy the world’s interest.” “Kissinger expressed fear and doubts about ‘confrontation’: ‘Taking Ukraine as part of the Russia-West confrontation will destroy the hope of getting Russia and the West (especially Russia and Europe) into the global cooperation system in the next few decades.’ An expert from the European Council on Foreign Relations [the article gave the name of 马伊斯特; Chinascope didn’t find his English name] said more straightforwardly, ‘On the issue of Ukraine, the EU made a mistake at the very beginning. … The EU planned for a confrontation for which it didn’t even prepare itself. Now it has no proper approach to react to the crisis.’”
On March 19, Xinhua republished a Huanqiu article, “In His Speech, Russian President Putin Thanked China for Understanding Russia’s Stand on Crimea.” The article stated that on Tuesday, when Russian President Putin delivered a speech on the Crimean issue at a meeting of the Russian Parliament in the Kremlin, he thanked China for its support of Russia’s position. “We are grateful to all those who understood our actions in Crimea,” Putin said. “We are grateful to the people of China.”
On March 18, Huanqiu published another article, “Putin Makes a Lightning Announcement on the Crimea’s Coming Back Home; Patriotic Upsurge Sweeps Russia.” It said that Russia’s action “put Russia and the West into an unprecedented crisis after the post-cold war. On the other hand, a patriotic upsurge is now sweeping through Russia.” Putin said that “on the Ukraine issue, the Western partners eventually crossed the red line. Russia will no longer keep silent but will resolutely defend its national interest.” Putin “also expressed his gratitude to China and India for their support.”
Source:
[1] People’s Daily, March 19, 2014
http://paper.people.com.cn/rmrb/html/2014-03/19/nw.D110000renmrb_20140319_6-03.htm
[2] Xinhua, March 19, 2014
http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2014-03/19/c_126285319.htm
Original article on Huanqiu, March 18, 2014
http://world.huanqiu.com/exclusive/2014-03/4913500.html
[3] Huanqiu, March 19, 2014
http://world.huanqiu.com/exclusive/2014-03/4913712.html
Ministry of Foreign Affairs: The Security Council Voted at the Wrong Time
BBC Chinese: Chinese Real Estate Developer Invested in London
Xinhua: Bank of China Established New RMB Index
Ministry of Environmental Protection: 280 Million Residents Drink Unsafe Water
Recently, the Ministry of Environmental Protection published results showing that there are 250 million residents who live close to areas that have industries that cause heavy pollution or areas that have heavy traffic and 280 million residents who drink unsafe water. The results also showed that the health risk to residents who are exposed to air pollution is increasing as well. The study was based on a survey done from 2011 to 2012 of 100,000 people who are from 31 cities and regions and who are 18 years of age or older.
Source: People’s Daily, March 15, 2014
http://politics.people.com.cn/n/2014/0315/c1001-24642042.html
Current Trend and Reform Challenges that the Agriculture Industry Faces
China Review News carried an article on the current trend and reform challenges that the agriculture industry faces. These include the difficulties and challenges of a more complicated environment; the demand to speed up the modernization of an industry that is driven by growth in industrialization; informatization and urbanization; meeting demands while facing the burden of environmental issues and a shortage of resources.
According to the article, the current structure of the farmers’ population has changed with the growth of industrialization and urbanization. Some farmers have chosen to relocate to urban areas while some have remained as full time or seasonal farmers. The rest have chosen to be involved in the business and service segments of the agricultural industry. The formation of the new farm structure, such as family farms and farmers’ professional cooperative units that are equipped with some level of business skill and a strong cash flow have become the new driving force behind the modernization of China’s agricultural industry. Another trend is the increase in the transfer of land-use rights to individual farmers, cooperative units, and businesses. In the meantime, due to an increase in land lease costs and the cost of raw materials, the cost of production is climbing and profits are down. The article also mentioned that the growth rate in the agriculture industry will be hard to maintain due to a reduction in farm land, extreme weather conditions, worsened insect infestation, and diseases. Meanwhile the demand in consumption keeps growing due to population size as well as increases in the industrial demand for the use of wheat and corn. The article also mentioned the phenomenon that the land quality has been deteriorating due to an overuse of fertilizer. China has 10 percent of the farm land in the world but it consumes one-third of the world’s fertilizer production. The article stated that the agriculture industry is a high risk industry due to areas such as an inadequate pricing structure; an unstable income for the farmers; recent frequent occurrences of extreme weather conditions and natural disasters; and lack of proper farmers’ insurance policies available to the farmers.
Source: China Review News, March 15, 2014
http://hk.crntt.com/doc/1030/7/3/9/103073946.html?coluid=53&kindid=0&docid=103073946&mdate=0315083230