The Gansu Provincial Public Health Department recently held a training for those who teach the practice of qigong. The report about the training attracted widespread attention. Since 1999, when the Chinese authorities launched the persecution of Falun Gong, a form of qigong, qiqong has been largely banned in mainland China.

On May 31, 2012, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Public Health responded to public inquiries about the training. The spokesperson stated that the purpose of Gansu’s training was to help medical workers obtain more knowledge and skills in Chinese medicine. “Chinese medicine is a medical science developed over several thousand years; it has made great contributions. … Humankind has been deepening its understanding of life sciences, with constant new discoveries. Modern research also continues to provide scientific evidence substantiating Chinese medicine’s theories and methods. At the academic level, the government encourages theoretical explorations, innovative practices, and debates among different schools of thoughts."  

This official statement in favor of qiqong was released at the same time that public appeals for the authorities to stop the persecution of Falun Gong have been gathering momentum in China. Falun Gong is a meditation practice based on three tenets rooted in Chinese traditional culture: truthfulness, compassion and tolerance.

Source: Xinhua, May 31, 2012
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2012-05/31/c_112086812.htm

At a national meeting on May 25, Zhou Bohua, the head and Party chief of the State Administration for Industry & Commerce (SAIC), identified some “blank spots” in the Party organization in the non-state sector, especially in single-person retail businesses, professional market places, and small and micro business. Zhou said that, as the next stage, SAIC will push forward the expansion of Party organizations in these areas.

According to the official statistics, 80% of China’s non-state enterprises and single-person retail businesses have yet to establish Party organizations. At present, China has 10.12 million non-state enterprises and 37.56 million single-person retail businesses, employing nearly 200 million people. The Party’s coverage of the small scale private enterprises is only 21%, with less than 1% coverage of single-person retail businesses.

For professional market places, where the merchants and entrepreneurs gather and trade, the state industrial and commercial authorities at different levels will dispatch instructors and liaisons to ensure they are covered by Party organizations.

Source: website of United Front Department, Central Committee of Chinese Communist Party, Mary 28, 2012
http://www.zytzb.cn/publicfiles/business/htmlfiles/tzb2010/S2012/201205/726532.html

On May 23, 2012, the Chinese Disciplinary Committee held its 3rd joint meeting discussing “how to prevent government officials who are in violation of law and discipline from fleeing overseas.” A participant observed that the current situation is rather complicated and the task is huge. The committee issued a directive that government officials be strictly prevented from fleeing overseas. It mandated specific actions including: enhancing the control and administration of certificates and documents for overseas travel; promptly learning the real time situation of both the private overseas travel by government officials and the emigration of their spouses and children; listing officials, along with their spouses and children who have already emigrated overseas, as major targets; striving to establish a very tight and efficient network to prevent them from fleeing.

Source: People’s Daily, May 24, 2012
http://politics.people.com.cn/GB/17975851.html

Issue 321 of Dongxiang, a Hong Kong magazine, reported the results of a survey that the Central Committee of the Communist Party recently conducted. The survey revealed that, as of the end of March 2012, 187 (91 percent) of the 204 members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party had family members living or working overseas or maintaining citizenship in other countries. The survey included the members’ sons and daughters, grandchildren, and siblings. For the 167 alternate Committee members, 142 (85 percent) had relatives who had emigrated overseas. 113 (88 percent) of  127 members of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China had relatives who had emigrated overseas.

Sources: Oriental Daily, May 28, 2012
http://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/china_world/20120528/00178_012.html
Dongxiang Magazine, Issue 321 of May 2012
http://www.chengmingmag.com/t321/t321toc/t321toc.html