A few days ago, a car camera recorded a man picking up a little boy on the street after he was hit by car in Wuhan, Hubei Province in China. The man said he was just being a good citizen. After seeing the little boy being hit, he was helping the boy. But as police investigated further, events unfolded unexpectedly.
The “good citizen” was actually the driver of the car who hit the boy. Police said he was not “helping”, but was the perpetrator instead. The driver hopes to talk with the boy’s relatives and settle everything within the law. The boy’s grandpa says if he was actually doing a good deed, he would be very thankful. If not then he would pursue the matter to the end.
It’s absolutely hit and run, but the kid’s parents might have more problems than the driver. The incident occurred on the double yellow line! I’m guessing the parents can use the boy’s life to defraud the driver!
弓长兮兮
我虽然开摩托的但都知道车子看到小孩冲出所以左转了……
Even though I drive a motorcycle, but I can tell the driver saw the kid so it turned left…
メF﹎Ｅizo
2B主持人，你没看清楚视频吗？车撞小孩，那小孩是往回倒的吗？ 那小孩再跑快点，就在轮胎地下了。
Didn’t you see the video? The car hit the boy, did he fall backwards? If he ran any faster, then he would’ve been under the tires…
心底最后的虔诚
这样倒霉的事情我也碰见过，明明还是撞上我的摩托车的结果浪费了我几百块钱去医院
I’ve had this kind of bad luck, they ran into my motorcycle, but I ended up wasting a few hundred dollars of hospital bills.
That wasn’t a crossing, the kid ran out so suddenly, how can the driver take all the blame? The parent seems so sure he’s in the right, how are you taking care of your kid?
A video has been circulating on Youku—a Chinese video sharing site similar to YouTube—and has been viewed over one million times. The video shows a trainee PLA soldier being instructed in the art of hand-grenade throwing, yet the trainee still hasn’t quite mastered the technique. He manages to throw the grenade only a few feet away from him and his instructor. When he tries to take cover, he lies down in close proximity to the impending explosion. Luckily the trainee is saved by his instructor who pulls him to safety into a ditch, just a split second before the grenade detonates.
“That instructor is impressive, pay attention at 00:26 secs, the instructor forcefully pulls him down and saves his life.”
“Students at military universities are all attracted by the high tech weapons. What soldiers now have the strength of those in the past? They are all university soldiers! They hold pens!”
“The trainee soldier lay on his belly perfectly, I laugh every time (I watch it).”
“Reason for the accident: the trainee was nervous, he feared the grenade would detonate early, under this nervous situation his grip loosened, which affected the direction and strength of his throw.”
“When he goes back (to the barracks) he will definitely be kicked in the butt!”
“This isn’t about technique, it is about intelligence. If it were a real war, how many comrades would have died in his hands? I suspect he is a spy sent by the enemy.”
Effective January 1, 2012, China’s State Administration of Radio Film and Television (SARFT) issued the “Advertisement Limit Order” after issuing the Entertainment Limit Order.
All Chinese TV stations except for state-run channels are forbidden to add any paid advertisements during their TV soap operas.
“China will ban television stations from airing commercials during broadcasts of dramas starting Jan. 1, the latest in a series of limits on TV content issued by the government in the past three months.
Television stations may face reprimand or the loss of commercial broadcast rights if they air advertising during the 45-minute episodes, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television said in a statement on its website yesterday.
…
In September, the media regulator ordered Hunan Television to suspend broadcasts of its “Super Girl” singing competition, similar to “American Idol,” for infractions including the exceeding of limits on the length of the shows, Xinhua reported. “Super Girl,” the most-watched of China’s TV talent competitions, drew more than 400 million viewers for its finale in 2005 at the peak of its popularity, according to Xinhua.
Hunan Television earned about 100 million yuan ($15.7 million) this year from selling advertising slots during the “Super Girl” show, according to a report by Charm Communications, an ad agency in China.”
NTD’s report from November 29th about how the Chinese Regime Pulls the Plug on TV Drama Advertising:
The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television said eliminating ads from programs will “improve the level of public cultural services, protect people’s basic cultural rights … and leave the people satisfied.”
Some experts doubt the motives of these news limitations.
Economical card
Since some media report that their ad income is about 66% of a TV station’s total income, some experts believe this SARFT issued this ban to use it as an “economical card”.
Ye Kuangzheng, a China cultural commentator, told NTD TV that the main effect of the Advertisement Limit Order is to decrease a TV station’s ad income to protect China Central Television (CCTV).
“I think SARFT wants to protect the CCTV ,which is a rather reasonable explanation. China has many TV stations that play many different types of TV series. Compared with the CCTV programming, the local TV series’ content offers more diversity, which means it will attract more viewers. This causes many ad clients to spend more of their ad budget with local channels.”
And by banning local TV stations running ads, these ads will gradually flow to CCTV.
Re-asserting control
Some experts say this new move comes all the way from the top leadership.
We spoke with Mr. John Tkacik, a former State Department specialist on China, over the phone.
“You know, for many years in Britain, for several decades in Britain, all television programming was given to BBC monopoly, and when you bought an television set, then you had to register it and you had to pay a hundred pounds a year for the television tax, and so that’s what BBC used to fund its programming… what it
means, of course, is that if you ban advertising, then somebody else has to pay for the content and the entertainment, cause, you know, these things don’t put themselves on for free. So clearly what the Central Propaganda Department wants is that there should be no separate authority in China that’s put together mass media entertainment, other than the Central Propaganda Department.So if you can’t advertise, who else is going to, come up with the programming? So again, my suspicion is that the Central Propaganda Department has decided that the proliferation of entertainment programming in China is too dependent upon pleasing the crowds and giving the viewing audiences what they want, and that tends to be something that the Central Propaganda Department doesn’t believe is amenable to their control,
so what they are doing is basically just removing the profit incentive for developing entertainment that people want to see, and they will probably substitute it with an entertainment that the Communist Party wants them to see. But again, like I said, I am not an expert; I haven’t watched Chinese Television except here in the States.
I suppose that the programming there was just getting to be too frivolous and too separated from the political message that the Party wants to get across, for the comfort of the Central Propaganda Department.”
How will they replace the content by removing the ads?
“If ads are banned then somebody has to pay for the programming. You would be well advised to watch the money and dig into this a little deeper and find out who’s going to pay for the programming if it’s not going to be the advertisers.
If the advertisers are not going to be paying for the programs, who else is left? I mean, you can do it in couple of ways, you can force everybody in China to pay an additional cable TV tax, or television tax, like they did in Britain, in the ’50s and 60s’, whenever you buy a television set you pay an extra tax and register the television set and then you have to pay a certain tax a year on the television set. And they can use that money to have Government to produce programming. Other than that, obviously all the programming is going to be completely produced by the Government and will be intended for the propaganda benefit of the Government.
Obviously television program in China cannot sustain itself without having some revenue stream and the only revenue stream that the television stations and the television producers have is the same as the Internet content providers, they basically rely on advertising. What happens when Chinese Internet sites are also banned from advertising? That would sort of thin out the number of Internet sites.
It’s just strikes me as an elementary observation, which is, this is clearly to re-assert State control television broadcasting. I mean, the State already controls television broadcasting but the problem is the Central Propaganda Department has been asked to sort of pass on broadcasting. Those people bring television productions to them and Central Propaganda Department says ‘oh, yes, this can go or cannot go’. But the Central Propaganda Department evidently must have a lot of competition in the airwaves for its own productions, so now basically it’s saying ‘ok, we are not going to do that anymore. We’re going to decide what gets produced.” But I still think banning advertising, that does not make much sense.”
Why now?
Are Chinese authorities banning TV ads to regain control? (China Photos/Getty Images)
“I assume the motive is that current television programming in China has strayed from the Communist Party propaganda line, and the reason it strayed from the propaganda line is the programming and productions have their own sources of revenue, which is to say advertising. So if you stop the advertising it means these productions cease and television stations, once again, have to return to the Propaganda Department and the Chinese State as the sole provider of television content. That’s pretty clear to me. Why are they doing it now, as oppose to last year or next year I don’t know. But you know one could say ‘well you know’ we’ve got the 18th Party’s Congress coming up next year and a lot of guys in the Central Committee and the Politburo who want to say that they are safeguarding China’s cultural purity and quality and they want to be able to say that in time for next year’s 18th Party’s Congress. Maybe that’s it. Maybe they’ve figured they’ve got to do it now.
It’s not something people think about, you know, Zhonggong Zhongyang Xuanchuan Bu Bu Zhang (the Chief of the Central Propaganda Department) did not wake up yesterday morning and said: ‘oh, I think it’s a good idea to stop all advertising. Clearly this is not just something that Propaganda Department can do by itself. It has to have a Politburo, probably even a Standing Committee decision on it, so somebody has decided at a very high level that this is needed.”
The attackers tear down boards and tables, Nov. 13, 2011. (Song Xiangling/Epoch Times)
Hong Kong—On Saturday November 13, two Mainland Chinese attacked and vandalized an outdoor information display connected to the Falun Gong spiritual practice.
The attack took place in broad daylight in the center of Hong Kong’s Sai Yeung Choi Street, Mong Kokis. The two attackers arrived separately. Both men vandalized the information site and assaulted the Falun Gong members. Police arrested both men.
The information site belonged to the “Tuidang” movement. The Falun Gong members were volunteering to help Chinese people to renounce their affiliation with the Chinese Communist Party.
While the Chinese Communist Party has been systematically persecuting the group in the Mainland for more than 12 years, evidence of who is behind each one of these incidences abroad is not always explicit. But the scale and scope of the hate crimes over time has been broad (see partial list below). In 2003 the U.S. Congress unanimously passed a resolution HCR 304 condemning the Chinese Communist Party’s attacks on Falun Gong practitioners in the United States.
We interviewed two Hong Kong Legislators and a Falun Gong expert to comment on these attacks.
Hon Wong Sing Chi, a member of Legislative Council of Hong Kong, and a member of the Hong Kong Democratic Party told us over the phone:
“We are so angry with this violent behavior. These violent acts have prohibited some freedom of speech, and some freedom of activities,
Hong Kong police arrest one of the men who smashed the Tuidang displays, Nov. 13, 2011. (Zen Jialian/Epoch Times)
so we want the government to be seriously
concerned about these violent acts…I
think that if we don’t pay much concern to this behavior, freedom of speech in Hong Kong and our harmony will be broken by such violent behavior.
I find that so many situations of these violent acts have happened to Falun Gong [practitioners] and to some democracy campaigners. I think we should pay much attention to these violent acts and we should…urge the government to prohibit these [violent] acts.”
Mr. Leung Yiu-chung, a member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, also expressed his concern in a phone interview about this violent incident:
“I think those Chinese people, who came to Hong Kong…they don’t actually understand what Falun Gong [practitioners] are doing. They have been taught by the Chinese government that Falun Gong is not a ‘right’ organization…so they want to go against Falun Gong. So I think it takes some time to understand what Falun Gong is really doing. I think they should know that Falun Gong is only this kind of some sort of ideologies of meditation. This is maybe a religious organization so they should respect it. Not to take this kind action to attack it.”
A series of attacks against Falun Gong happened in Flushing, New York in 2008, starting on May 17:
We asked President of the Falun Gong Human Rights Working Group, Dr. Shizhong Chen to comment on these violent attacks around the world:
“Well, It’s a clear cut terrorism act. Such kind of state terrorism has been demonstrated in this recent attack [Hong Kong, Nov. 13], but also in the previous shooting on Falun Gong practitioners in South Africa.
They are violent and they are intimidating. Those are the kind of state terrorism that is showing more and more around the world.
Many years ago, I said in interviews that what happened to Falun Gong will eventually happen to other groups, and what happened to other groups in China, will happen in other places. So more and more the world would become under threat of this kind of terrorism that displayed by the Chinese regime. If they do not speak up against it they can expect to see more and more.”
How do you know the Chinese regime is behind these attacks?
“The kind of hatred that they [the attackers] demonstrate, it’s certainly influenced by the Chinese government. Anywhere else around the world you won’t see this kind of hatred against Falun Gong practitioners, except those who were deceived into hating Falun Gong in China by the hatred inciting fabrications, such as the self staged immolation.
that the Chinese government blamed Falun Gong for and other lies. And these lies made some Chinese people hate Falun Gong. So that was clearly the result of the only government in the world that has been doing that.
Second, the actions of the attackers, embolden, crazy actions. Around the world only Chinese policemen have been given total impunity in Chinese regions, by the Chinese Government, to attack Falun Gong, and demonstrate that kind of crazy behavior. So it has this mark all over them. It’s clearly a Chinese Communist Party trademark—the hatred and total disregard from minimal human dignity.”
What about other groups?
“Certainly, the violent attack of protesters in Paris, that was against Tibetan groups and other groups that are staging protests around the world, against Chinese government officials’ visits, like the Uyghur group. But more so against Falun Gong practitioners because there are more Falun Gong practitioners around the world, in Hong Kong, Taiwan, the United States, and many other different countries, that have been consistently trying to spread the truth about Falun Gong, the truth about the persecution about Falun Gong. So there are more attacks against Falun Gong practitioners.
I just want to emphasize that this is state terrorism, clear state terrorism. And the world may not think seriously about it because it’s only against Falun Gong practitioners. But if that kind of behavior is not suppressed, it will get worse and worse. It has gotten worse already, it will get even worse.”
Acts of hate against Falun Gong outside of Mainland China (partial list):
Hong Kong: On June 1st 2001 members of a Chinese communist youth group from Mainland China vandalized banners and poster boards at four Falun Gong sites in Hong Kong. Police arrested two adult leaders of the group.
Thailand: On the morning of October 4, 2011, two people attacked, Ms. Lin Cai, a 72-year-old female Falun Gong practitioner in front of Bangkok’s Chinese Embassy with steel rod while she was meditating.
Mexico:On February 5th 2011 a group of men tore down Falun Gong practitioners’ float and decorations at the Lunar New Year celebrations in Mexico City’s Chinatown.
Korea:On September 13, 2009, several Chinese people attacked members of a few human rights groups and Falun Gong.
Canada:On August 2nd, 2007 a Falun Gong practitioner who participated in a vigil in front of the Chinese consulate in Vancouver was beaten and confronted with a handgun.
Argentina:In December 2005, ethnic Chinese assailants attacked members of Falun Gong in Buenos Aires in front of national media.
South Africa: On the night of June 28th, 2004, gunmen attacked Australian Falun Gong practitioners who were visiting South Africa. The only practitioner, David Liang, who wore clothing with the Falun Dafa insignia was shot and hit in both feet.
Acts of desperation—Tibetan Buddhist monks and nuns have been setting themselves on fire one after another, protesting the oppression of the Chinese regime’s rule over Tibet.
We interviewed a scholar, a Tibetan filmmaker and a Tibetan monastic community leader for their comments on the recent surge of self-immolations.
NTD’s report:Tibetan Self-Immolations “A Sign of Deep Desperation”
We asked Professor John Powers from the School of Culture, History and Language, with the College of Asia and the Pacific Australian National University:
What has triggered these self-immolations in Tibet, and why so many these past months?
Prof. John Powers:
“I have been thinking a lot about it. I only know one previous case like this where a Tibetan publicly set himself on fire, as a way of protesting. It was a really big thing when it happened. I think it was maybe 15 years ago, nothing like that had ever really happened before among Tibetans. So this recent spat is really something very new. I personally think that it has a lot to do with the 2008 demonstrations. Those are the largest and the most widespread in the history of the Tibetan Plateau. Probably more than 30,000 people took to the streets in protests, in at least 200 to 300 separate demonstrations, and risked their lives. In many cases people were tortured, there were executions afterwards, and a number of them were killed. And basically the rest of the world shrugged and did nothing. So I think what you are seeing now is acts of extreme desperation, where people feel that they’ve been pushed into a corner. They are desperate, they have no other choice, and they are taking really extreme measures.
Living under Marshal Law is obviously going to be extremely stressful, but there is also an ongoing problem of economic marginalization. When I was there a few years ago what struck me most was the large number of Tibetan beggars you see, and this is not a part of traditional Tibetan culture. The problem is that the people who own the businesses and have the connections, they are all Chinese, and huge numbers of Chinese have moved in and basically have taken over the economy. And so the Tibetans are being increasingly marginalized, which means it’s really difficult for them to find work. And for many people the only recourse is begging.
The other problem is…the Chinese have now developed a greater control of the border areas. They’ve now moved according to some people, about 50 km into Nepali territory. Chinese troops are now basically running the Nepali border, which means that the main former escape route, where people used to escape, (about 4,000 per year were escaping) now they cannot do that anymore. It’s an increasingly difficult situation with increasing repression and with a reduced capacity to escape.”
Buddhist monks outside one of the entrances to the Kirti monastery in the town of Aba in China's Sichuan province (Photo: STR/AFP/Getty Images)
Why monks and nuns?
“One of the problems somebody who protests, who’s not a monk or a nun, faces is that the Chinese [regime] doesn’t just punish the person who protests, they also punish their friends, their relatives, theirs families, their associates and so forth. In the case of monks and nuns, they may punish a monastery or a nunnery but there is not the same level of family ties there, and there aren’t as many people they can come after. And monks and nuns see this as part of their religious practice. You know, they are supposed to be selfless.
…
The other aspect of it is the fact that the monasteries and nunneries are being systematically emptied. Hundreds maybe even thousands of formerly functioning monasteries and nunneries have now been reduced to one or two people who basically show tourists around. The Chinese Government is expelling tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands even, of monks and nuns even as we speak, across the Tibetan Plateau, so they see the possibility of religious practice being systematically eliminated.”
Spiritual head of Kirti monastic community in Ngaba, Tibet, Kirti Rinpoche:
Spiritual head of Kirti monastic community in Ngaba, Tibet, Kirti Rinpoche
“It’s mainly because in 2008 when there were the uprisings all in the Tibetan Plateau, the monastic communities of the Kirti monastery suffered quite a lot. Many of them were arrested. The monastic enclave became kind
of like a prison and the authorities deployed armed forces in the monastic complex. There is so much
suppression and repression within the Kirti monastery itself, there is no letup. This situation has deteriorated since last March when there were the first cases of self-immolations. There was so much suppression within the monastery and that made the situation so deplorable. Right now the whole monastic community was divided into some 55 different small groups. Then there were 700 or 800 [Chinese] officials to give so-called education [brainwashing] during the day and night. So there was not even a slight chance of freedom. The worst situation was over the last 7 months. There was so much repression. People were left with no choice. So that is the only thing they could do—to take their own life.”
Are these desperate acts of protest in line with Tibetan Buddhist beliefs?
Prof. John Powers:
“There are ways you can parse it for it to make some sense in Buddhism, but particularly in Tibetan Buddhism, committing suicide, particularly in a situation like this, is an indication of an extremely high level of mental agitation…The Dalai Lama and other religious leaders have been coming out and speaking against it because it is simply something that is not in line with Tibetan Buddhist ideals.”
The Chinese regime’s Foreign Ministry accused the Dalai Lama’s supporters of encouraging the monks and nuns to self-immolate, calling it (quote) “violence and terrorism in disguise.”
A monk at a monastery in Shanba township in China's Sichuan province (Philippe Lopez/AFP/Getty Images)
“Well, this is part of the new propaganda line that they are trying to link the Dalai Lama with the international “Jihadism” which is kind of a stretch to see the Buddhists but the link apparently, for them is that during the 2008 demonstrations there were solidarity demonstration in Xinjiang among Muslim majority Uighurs, and so now they are trying to link the Dalai Lama with international “Jihadism” as a result of that. It’s obviously ridiculous, and I would think that even they must know that it’s ridiculous, but they also know that playing the ‘terrorism card’ is something that is going to resonate in the international community. They have been fogging this terrorism angle for about three years now, and nobody has really seriously questioned this and so they are getting away with it. This is what they do in China, whatever propaganda line they can get away with, they keep fogging it as long as they can.”
NgawangChoephel, Ethnomusicologist and Filmmaker, Director of the movie Tibet in a Song:
“I think that the self-immolations in Tibet represents a strong message for Tibetans all over the world to wake up, that there is something tragically wrong happening in Tibet for the past 50 years, from the perspective of daily basic rights, the right of religion, freedom of speech…I think it’s also tells very clearly about the pain and the hardship and the sacrifice they have taken, the pain of how the Tibetans have been going through in the last 50 years.”
Isn’t it too extreme for people who believe in Buddhism?
Ngawang Choephel:
“I don’t think so, it shows how desperate the situation is, how helpless they feel… I don’t think it really goes against the religion. Because they are not harming anybody, they are not dying by killing someone; they are just dying for the truth that China has been ignoring for the past 50 years. There is no chance that China can escape from telling the truth, as long as these entire nations including China exist on this universe the truth of Tibet will exist. So China has to confess that the policy that they have adopted in Tibet is wrong.
Last time I was in India I asked a monk, who had escaped to India in the late 80s’ and since then he’s been keeping in touch with Tibetans inside Tibet. [He said] the situation in Tibet is ‘…if you leave the monastery to go shopping, the police will ask where are you going, if you are having a prayer session in the morning the police will ask the head of the monetary what kind of prayer are you reciting or chanting today? If they are having a debate about Tibetan religious studies the police will ask them what are you discussing?’ So he said that in Tibet the monks’ situation is that if you’ll stand up you will hit your head and if you sit down you will hit your butt. There is no space to move.
They are the victims of the Chinese brutality, the Chinese oppression, Chinese policy for the last 50 years… and it shows that they can not stand it anymore…I have empathy for how those monks felt, those nuns felt before when they burned themselves…when I was in prison I was on hunger strikes sometimes and I felt that if I’ll die… you have to make your mind very clear on why are you doing this for, and it’s hard to understand that there are many monks and nuns sacrificing their lives, but as I said…we should not waste their sacrifice.”
Buddhist monks outside one of the entrances to the Kirti monastery in the town of Aba in China's Sichuan province (Photo: STR/AFP/Getty Images)
Urban consumers’ meat intake rises by over 50%, from an average of 19 kilograms a year to 28 kilograms, as their income levels rise from the bottom 20% to the top 20% of the pyramid.
Pork is very popular in China, but some who can afford it are willing to pay dozens to hundreds of dollars, particularly in southern China, for dishes that come straight from the wild.
“Civet cats, pangolins, bobcats, badgers, baby deer, squirrels, frogs, geese, bats, flying foxes, herons, cranes, sparrows, black beetles, turtles, pigeons, starfish, scorpions, caribou, monkeys, foxes, and raccoon dogs are all widely eaten in China. One common joke goes that the best job in China is a zookeeper.
…
The sale of wild animals in the Guangzhou area alone is estimated to be around $100 million to $200 million a year.”
“An Australian traveler says he was horrified to find a live koala for sale at a restaurant in southern China where the menu was offering the iconic marsupial for dinner in either ’braised or stewed’ varieties.
A sign on the cage holding the animal advertised ‘koalas’ for purchase at a rate of 139 yuan ($A20) for 500 grams.
It was one of a number of live exotic animals, including birds and fish, on display at the restaurant in Panyu district, Guangdong.”
We asked Carrie Snider—Spokesperson and Special Projects Coordinator—with PETA organization to comment about one of the Australian national symbols being served on the menu.
“I think that a lot of people find it really troubling. Not only that these animals are taken from their natural habitat, most of them are poached in the wild, which means that they are taken from their families…and it also really interrupts the wild life there, these eco-systems already exist and they are very carefully balanced. And when we go in and destroy that eco-system it really leaves a lot of havoc…And then, additionally when people see these beautiful animals that we see in zoos, and think they are really beautiful, that tends to tug at our heart strings.
I think that the story we saw here is a great example of what people can do. When there is a public outcry the people at the market release the animals. That shows how powerful the consumer is, so the best thing is to anytime you see these animals being sold speak up! I know it is tempting to say ‘oh, there must be a way to just obliterate’ but as long as people pay for it they’ll keep doing it.”
Ms. Snider pointed out that although this situation is horrible, as far as PETA is concerned it’s no worse than the way that cows, pigs or chickens are also raised and slaughtered.
What happened to the food culture and food consumption in China?
Pangolin (Photo: Factsanddetails.com)
“As a Chef, I can see the degradation of people’s morality and excessive desire over the last decade. No matter how expensive the ingredients are you cannot meet people’s demands.“Some animals which are protected by some countries, including those very rare animals, flying, walking, swimming, such as: Paguma larvata taivana (Gem-faced civet), pangolin, Ophiophagus Hannah (King Cobra), wild sturgeon dragon fish, etc. become the dishes of some affluent people. There are many animals facing extinction.
When I was working in Beijing, the city had a military troop, and they were one of the customers who spent the most in our restaurant. They often took some of the ingredients to cook, such as pangolin, bear’s paw, and owl. From the pursuit of their diet you can see their lawlessness, and extreme corruption.
In China, people, especially those people from main-stream society who have power, although they are very rich, you can see from what they pursue in their diet that their spirit is empty, numb…let alone their compassion and affection.
Photo: China Photos/Getty Images
They try all kinds of ways to find a special, prohibited, rare thing to eat…in order to meet their desires. The more rare the thing is, the more they eat.
No matter if these are ants, insects, frogs, rats, snakes…as long as they are alive and can walk they will become those people’s dishes! That would seem like a disgusting thing to the ancients, but in today’s Chinese society it’s a kind of fashion, which reflects that people cannot distinguish good from bad, compassion from evil, right from wrong. Not to mention those beautiful peacocks, a variety of lovely birds, cranes, squirrels, which cannot escape such bad luck.
I remember, when I was a child, there were a lot of wild animals everywhere in my hometown—a variety of birds, fish, shrimp, crabs, squirrels, etc. and all kinds of fruits on the trees. Now these natural scenes have become history. I would say, isn’t this a manifestation of moral degradation?”
There might be trouble ahead for the US yuan bill that lawmakers want to pass. According to lawmakers, the bill would allow Washington to raise taxes on Chinese imports to stop what many see as an unfair exchange-rate. It would also help create jobs for many Americans. The US unemployment rate now stands at a constant 9.1%. However, Chinese officials claim that the new currency bill poses a threat to the global economy. They also gave fair warning that trade ties they have with the United States would be damaged if the bill becomes law.
“It is completely harmful and unbeneficial,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu in a statement. Ma said it would do nothing to reduce U.S. unemployment and would disrupt global efforts to revive economic growth.
Tuesday’s 63-35 Senate vote showed a bipartisan consensus in favor of tougher action against Beijing after years of diplomatic pressure and a gradual rise in China’s currency, the yuan, that critics say is inadequate.
Still, the bill is unlikely to become law because it lacks the support of the majority Republican leadership in the lower House of Representatives, who are reluctant to take up the measure. The White House and President Barack Obama have not come out against the bill but have shown they are uncomfortable with it.
U.S. manufacturers complain that Beijing’s controls keep the yuan undervalued by up to 40 percent. They say that gives China’s exporters an unfair price advantage and hurts foreign competitors, eroding American employment. The currency bill’s supporters say it would support creation of 1 million jobs in the United States.
American critics of the bill have warned Beijing might retaliate, hurting U.S. companies in China’s relatively robust markets, which are a rare bright spot for exporters amid weak demand elsewhere.”
Critics with various points of view have expressed their take on the outcome of this bill. Though it may damage the US-China trade relationship, the concern still remains that America’s unemployment rate is the bigger issue. The Chinese regime continues to warn the US government that they would retaliate if the bill gets passed, but just how serious is this threat? We asked FTN Financial Economist, Lindsey Piegza for answers:
What can we expect from China if this bill passes?
“This is dangerous territory, and could incite retaliation from China. Fears of an all out trade war are warranted. Years before China may have pushed away from such a negative response needing the American consumer to consume its products but a growing middle class may prove sufficient to sustain the Chinese domestic economy sans [without] America.”
Will this bill ultimately have a negative effect on trade?
“Of course it will. The best path to prosperity is free flows of capital and labor. Trade restrictions will only raise costs and reduce access to foreign made goods. That being said, many countries have been waiting for years to step in and take China’s place in supplying the US consumer with cheap goods, but that will not happen overnight. What will the American consumer do in the meantime?”
Many companies in the US are deeply invested in trading with China, how will this bill affect these companies?
“Resilient companies such as Wal-Mart would presumably look elsewhere to invest. In the short-term however, there would no doubt be large looses encored from rising production costs due to heightened raw materials prices and labor compensation…costs that would likely be passed onto the consumer. It is difficult to find an angle where the American consumer is not hurt by trade restrictions.”
One of the biggest concerns is jobs for Americans, but opponents and proponents have different views on the bill creating jobs in the US. What’s the verdict? Is this bill going to create jobs?
“Yes and no, resulting in a net, negative effect. Some goods production can easily be transported from overseas to the domestic market, but the potential increase in cost of production means consumers will now have to spend more dollars to consume the same product (or amount of product) and fewer dollars left to spend elsewhere. That relative reduction in income will presumably, by extension reduce jobs and job creation at the other end of the pipeline. So we may create more auto manufacturing jobs but we would put the neighborhood boutique out of business for example (here it becomes a political issue, some of the strongest labor unions are also the strongest political supporters). This is also assuming that comparably cheap goods are not supplied to the US consumer by another country. In this latter case the net effect on jobs would be zero.”
If China’s currency value does increase, what does this mean for the US bonds that China holds?
“In the short term, slower growth, unless the American economy has the appetite to absorb the requisite inflation. (Remember this is part of the argument. Part of the inflation pressures at the start of the year are no doubt the result of monetary policy, part from too fast growth in emerging markets—the balance of which is unclear—is it 50/50 or 70/30?
Long term—again we look to other developing countries around the globe to step up and supply the American consumer. We are no longer a manufacturing society, we are a society of consumers and restricting trade is often seen as cutting off ones’ own nose to spite your face.”
Chinese State Television Launches on Washington, DC Cable
This October 1st, on the 62nd anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party’s takeover of China, China Central Television launched a new cable channel in Washington, DC metro area on MHz Networks 3. CCTV is state-run media ultimately controlled by the Chinese Communist Party. For at least a decade CCTV has had the ambition to have its programming shown in the United States.
We asked China expert Ethan Gutmann, Adjunct Fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies and author of Losing the New China: A Story of American Commerce, Desire and Betrayal about the possible ramifications of CCTV’s presence in the United States and the possible motives for the launch.
Nationalism & Propaganda
ETHAN GUTMANN:
“It’s half a prestige issue and half a propaganda issue. One is to influence the Chinese American population, the Chinese Diaspora, within America. The second is to try to influence Americans so they see China as equal and non-threatening.
I’ve never been able to understand exactly why they are so obsessed with competing with America. If you go to China, people spend a lot of time and mental energy thinking about how competitive China is with America—if China is weaker than America, if Americans look down on China, etc. These are huge issues in China.
It’s part of China’s nationalism. Marxism philosophy has been replaced by nationalism since the last days of Deng Xiaoping. And the strongest aspect of Chinese nationalism is to be number one. And this requires being as strong as America, if not stronger.”
A way for the Chinese Regime to Boost Nationalism
“The other aspect is to make inroads among Chinese Americans. The racial ties of Chinese are emphasized in Chinese nationalism. They believe that even if somebody moves to another country, even if they have grown up not speaking Chinese—if they have Chinese blood, they are in some sense Chinese citizens and they should be loyal to the Chinese state.”
“The Big Underpants” CCTV Headquarters
Threats to Freedom of Expression? How will this CCTV channel influence Chinese Americans?
“I don’t find freedom of expression threatening. Let the market decide. What I’m more concerned about is that—I assume—they are part of some cable bundle. And if, let’s say, NTD Television tried to get on that same cable bundle, they would be turned down because it would be seen as a conflict with CCTV.
The big problem with the Chinese government—the Chinese Communist Party—is that they want to be in the Western system but they don’t respect it. They don’t respect the fact that we have a system of free expression. They never accept that. They are still not willing to play by those rules—at a level playing field. If they want their ideas to be out there, if they want to use soft power, then they have to play by the soft power rules, where the best and the most entertaining ideas win—very true for TV. It’s not just politics. It has to be generally entertaining. CCTV doesn’t tend to be terribly entertaining because it’s a propaganda station. And, in the final analysis, it’s not allowed to touch many topics, and if it does, it has to touch on them very carefully to the point where it interferes with artistic expression, or any kind of expression.
We know that within China this happens again and again. If Disney wants to do a film and it’s about Tibet, then suddenly Disney has a big problem. And we don’t know how they are going to do in the American market. So far the track record is very bad.
And there are going to be critical shows—shows that are critical of the Chinese state—that are going to examine [Chinese] history. There’s going to be things that they [CCTV] are not comfortable with and I suspect that they are going to start throwing their weight around. They are going to start putting pressure on these cable channels—creating a fuss. And that’s going to be a problem. That’s my guess—that it’s not going to end well.”
Doesn’t it also involve the cable companies?
“I don’t think the cable companies are used to this. Al Jazeera, for example, as far as I know, doesn’t insist that you can’t show pro-Israel things on the same cable bundle—because Al Jazeera may have a point of view, but it is not controlled by a government and they are not under the Communist Party. And CCTV is. I don’t think cable networks are very good about making the distinction between something which is foreign and has a different point of view, on the one hand, and something that is controlled by a single party state, on the other. They are two different things, like apples and oranges—well, more like apples and rocks. And I wonder if they are in for a surprise. The Chinese have spent so much time and effort trying to shut down NTD Television. They have a track record on this. There is a precedent for concern.
But I strongly feel from another point of view that saying ‘CCTV has a biased point of view’—that is true, but it is not a reason to keep them off the air. We don’t feel it threatens our way of life, nor do I feel that the Chinese community is threatened by CCTV directly. But it’s the question of balance.
Let’s say NTD Television is getting very popular but can’t get on the same cable bundle. It’s going to be very hard to prove a negative here—to prove that CCTV played the role in preventing that deal from coming through. I wonder if anybody has considered this—that CCTV is not going to sit there quietly, comfortable with a lot of the other things that are shown on the same cable bundle.
I think they see this as a beachhead—not the conquest of the United States, but conquering a small part of the consciousness of the United States with soft power. There’s a foolish idea in the West that Marxists and the Communist Party do not understand persuasive techniques. That’s exactly what they understand. It’s not just about the gun. It’s about persuasion, and fear and mind control. These are the techniques that they use. Self-correcting mechanisms and self-censorship is a critical part of it. And part of this beachhead is based on the concept of self-censorship.
I don’t believe that it’s a travesty that CCTV will be on in America. My worry is that it will have a dampening effect on freedom of expression about China in this corner, maybe it’s a particular corner but it’s a start—that’s a legitimate fear.
The problem is that they are not looking at this in a democratic way and they don’t have experience with freedom of expression. And CCTV does not play well with others.”
One man’s trash is certainly not another man’s treasure. In fact, it’s an increasingly stinky problem. China’s prosperity may be growing but so are the mounting piles of trash. China has had problems with their trash for years now.
“It seems that China, which does a brisk business in importing and disposing of Western trash, has been caught off-guard by how fast its own homegrown garbage is building up. After all, this is a country that is traditionally thrifty, and famine and deprivation are still very much in most people’s living memories.
But as China’s economy barrels onward, waste, a byproduct of prosperity, is piling up. And there’s little structure in place to deal with it – aside from the trash pickers. Hong Kong is competitive with the world’s developed economies in churning out garbage according to figures based off a 2009 survey by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Last year, an estimated 2,000 pounds per person of garbage, a quarter of which was food waste, was tossed out in Hong Kong. That outdid the Americans, who on average ditched about 1,700 pounds of trash.”
In the past, China has tried to resolve their trash problem by using giant perfume guns to get rid of the smell. However, since China’s garbage output equals one-third of the world’s total trash, it’s difficult to get rid of the smell, and the trash. The author of “The Coming Collapse of China” Gordon Chang says “Trash has been a problem for all developing countries. But China has more problems than their trash. Trash is just one of their problems and they’ve got to find someplace to put all this stuff. It will get worse.”
And it has gotten worse. According toViolet Law,
“And even when Chinese do take recycling seriously, the government’s track record on green initiatives makes it difficult to trust that their own efforts aren’t in vain.
Beijing is now in the middle of a drive—the fifth over the past 15 years—to separate food waste and recyclables from other household waste. The previous efforts failed because the municipal officials didn’t treat the sorted trash properly, says Zhang Boju, a researcher with China’s oldest environmental group, Friends of Nature. “There’s a trust gap between the citizens and the government. This gap is the big challenge for the solid waste sorting in Beijing.”
To be sure, many countries grapple with waste problems, but both environmentalists and scholars in China attribute wanton waste disposal here to a low level of environmental awareness.”
China has made efforts to fix the increasing trash problem. For instance, adding more trash bins in cities and creating programs like EcoPark to reduce waste. But these baby steps are not making a big impact on the country just yet. Chang says “It is not effective because the government is not dealing with it. A small issue like water, the government is not doing anything effective; you can’t expect them to deal with solid waste problems.”
The lack of a proper recycling program has affected China in more ways than one. The U.S. has warned the Chinese regime on many of their growing issues such as climate change and air pollution but will the U.S. step in this pile of mess? Chang says “I don’t know what we will do, but I don’t think we will get too involved. We are getting to the point where our relationship with China is deteriorating. Environmental issues are just not important to them.”
“Throughout Chinese history we have never seen such a brutal persecution”
One of the largest campaigns against people of conscience in China is the persecution of Falun Gong. On July 20, 1999, the Chinese Communist Party started a brutal crackdown against the spiritual group. Twelve years later and it’s still going on.
Here’s an NTD News story from July 20, 2011:
NTD Reporter Ben Hedges interviewed Erping Zhang, the spokesman of the official press office for Falun Gong—the “Falun Dafa Information Center”.
In this video Erping Zhang gives some insights about the persecution.
Interview with Erping Zhang, Spokesman of Falun Dafa Information Center:
The persecution of Falun Gong is severe and widespread in China
…He was walking home from a concert he gave. He was just grabbed by the secret police and they took him to a police station and they tortured him to death…”
…
…when Jiang Zemin, the Communist Party’s Chief at that time, wished [ordered] the persecution in 1999, he started his campaign actually short of legal grounds and in fact this persecution itself is against the Chinese constitution, which has a clause for freedom of belief and freedom of conscience.
Why is Falun Gong being persecuted?
One scholar joked he said: ‘If everyone inside China will practice principles of truthfulness, compassion, tolerance, the Chinese Communist Party will no longer be there.’ Because what they have been doing over the years, they were lying about their own history.
