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BBC 中文网 | 中国报道 | 中国媒体不能报道的故事

RFA: 北京记者报导官商较量被指诽谤 离家躲避呼吁关注

RFA: 北京记者报导官商较量被指诽谤 离家躲避呼吁关注

VOA News – 多人超生被革职 一胎政策广遭疑

VOA News – 多人超生被革职 一胎政策广遭疑

China Urged to Improve Human Rights Before Olympics

January 7, 2008

By REUTERS

Filed at 3:20 a.m. ET

BEIJING (Reuters) – A group of Chinese dissidents has signed an open letter condemning the arrest of an AIDS and environmental activist on subversion charges and urged the government to improve human rights ahead of this year’s Olympics.

The letter, signed by 57 lawyers, academics, editors, writers and civil rights campaigners, said Hu Jia’s arrest last month on charges of inciting to subvert the government was “unacceptable” as his words and deeds were protected under the constitution.

Hu’s activism has set him on a collision course with the Communist Party, which has stepped up curbs on non-governmental organizations, the media, the Internet, lawyers, academics and civil rights campaigners to maintain its grip on power.

The signatories urged the government “to make good use of the opportunity to make the Olympics a truly grand event for the Chinese nation by opening the door of social reconciliation” and proving that it has made efforts to improve human rights.

The letter, e-mailed to reporters by the rights watchdog Chinese Human Rights Defenders, said Hu, 34, was suffering from liver problems and should be released at once.

At the very least, he should receive medical attention and be allowed to meet his relatives and lawyer.

Last week, European Parliament President Hans-Gert Pottering called on Beijing to free Hu, saying he hoped the Olympics would be a chance for China to show it is committed to internationally recognized human rights standards, including freedom of expression.

Asked to comment on Pottering’s remarks, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said: “China is a country ruled by law. Everyone is equal before the law. No one is above the law. Relevant agencies acted in accordance with the law.”

CUT OFF

Police have prevented Hu’s wife, blogger and fellow AIDS activist Zeng Jinyan, her newborn baby and elderly mother from leaving the couple’s Beijing home. Authorities have cut off her communications with the outside world.

“They broke into our home and took away Hu Jia … Then they searched our home for about five hours and took away our cell phones, laptops, fax machine, business cards, bank pass books, notebooks and video tapes,” Zeng told Reuters last week.

“Six men refused to leave and occupied our living room for two days and one night. I protested angrily but they ignored me and called me a traitor,” she said, using a friend’s cell phone which was smuggled in but has since been confiscated.

“I feel tremendous pressure … I don’t know what’s going on,” said Zeng, named by Time magazine last year as one of the world’s 100 most influential people.

In May, Hu and Zeng were barred from leaving the country and accused of endangering national security.

Hu has been a thorn in the government’s side and spent 214 days under house arrest in 2006. He first came to prominence over his advocacy for AIDS sufferers in rural China.

While under house arrest, Hu followed closely the trials of human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng, blind civil rights campaigner Chen Guangcheng and octogenarian AIDS doctor Gao Yaojie, e-mailing almost daily updates to foreign reporters.

(Editing by Nick Macfie and Roger Crabb)

DW: 马铃薯－“隐藏的宝贝”

社会 | 2008.01.07
马铃薯－“隐藏的宝贝”
巴伐利亚州马铃薯喜获丰收
Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: 巴伐利亚州马铃薯喜获丰收

联合国教科文组织把2008年定为“马铃薯年”，把马铃薯称为“隐藏的宝贝”。今年，教科文组织将在全世界举行活动，为马铃薯造势。但是，马铃薯在中国人的食谱上仍然地位低下。

马铃薯在中国北方大多称为“土豆”，南方又称为“洋山芋”、“番薯”。从名字就可以看出，马铃薯自远洋番邦，并非中国传统农作物。史料记载，早在公元1650年马铃薯就已传入中国，仅比欧洲人知道马铃薯晚几年。不过，与欧洲人不同，马铃薯从来没有进入中国人的主食食谱，大多数中国人一直把马铃薯作为一种蔬菜食用，而且往往是冬季和初春蔬菜淡季时用来点缀饭桌，青椒炒土豆丝就是其中的代表作。

在欧洲，马铃薯高踞于粮食地位。德国人人均每年吃70公斤，波兰人甚至吃近130公斤。据说，当年德国统一前，普鲁士国王腓德烈二世鼓励全国种植马铃薯，一举解决了全国的吃饭问题。更重要的是，马铃薯含有的高营养成份大大提升了普鲁士军人体质，推进了以普鲁士为基础的德国统一。直到今天，仍不断有人向位于波茨坦无忧宫一侧的腓德烈二世墓地敬献花束和马铃薯。

中国马铃薯的产量居世界第一，2006年收获七千万吨，占全球马铃薯产量的20％。由于马铃薯对土质和灌溉的要求不高，适于中国西南山区和北方土质贫瘠地区种植，而且马铃薯单位产量极高，是代替大米和面粉的理想主食。

中国北方、尤其东北食用马铃薯的比例大大高于南方。但中国的传统观念不把马铃薯算作粮食，似乎马铃薯是在没有大米白面的情况下的无奈选择。另外，中国的马铃薯加工品种太少，容易造成吃厌的感觉。而在欧洲，无论进餐馆、还是到超市，都有多种马铃薯成品或半成品供选择，有丝状、片状或丸子，油炸、水煮、煎炒都可以。一道马铃薯佳肴Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: 一道马铃薯佳肴

在中国，许多人不知道马铃薯含有丰富的维生素。一些年轻女性对马铃薯中的碳水化合物畏惧三分，担心吃马铃薯会改变体形。而马铃薯的碳水化合物并不高于传统粮食，只要采用科学方法食用，少食用油炸的马铃薯制品，体内并不会积累脂肪。

据联合国粮农组织的统计，中国平均每人每年消费近40公斤马铃薯。与中国的种植面积和产量相比，这样的消费量比较低下。但是，世界粮农组织的张忠军认为，“马铃薯年”的活动将带动中国的马铃薯消费，中国人也正在改变口味，中国马铃薯消费量的增长就是证明。

AP: China reinforces one-child policy

* Story Highlights
* 500 people have been expelled from Communist Party for defying one-child policy
* More than 93,000 people in Hubei province violated the policy last year
* Rich and powerful in central China are brazenly flouting the policy
* Policy has been in place for almost 30 years in attempt to control population growth

BEIJING, China (AP) — Authorities in central China have expelled 500 people from the Communist Party for defying the country’s one-child policy, state media said Monday.

More than 93,000 people in Hubei province violated the policy last year, including hundreds of officials, lawmakers and political advisers, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

China has been trying to crack down on officials and the wealthy who ignore its strict family planning laws. Expulsion from the party could end a political career or prohibit promotions.

Xinhua said 395 offenders were dismissed from their posts, but it wasn’t immediately clear if they were included in the 500 who were expelled from the Communist Party. It also wasn’t clear if the offenders were additionally penalized. Fines are another common punishment for violating the one-child policy.

Under the policy, implemented in the late 1970s, most urban couples are limited to one child and rural families to two to control population growth and conserve natural resources.

China’s 1.3 billion people account for 20 percent of the world’s total. The government has set growth targets, pledging to keep the population under 1.36 billion in 2010, and under 1.45 billion in 2020.

But rising incomes mean some of the newly rich — such as businessmen and entertainment stars — can afford to break the rules and pay the resulting fines.

“More party members, celebrities, and well-off people are violating the policies in recent years, which has undermined social equality,” Yang Youwang, director of Hubei’s family planning commission, was quoted as saying by Xinhua.

Telephone calls to the provincial family planning commission and provincial Communist Party office were not answered.

Last week, state media reported that family planning officials in Hubei were powerless against the number of people who were brazenly flouting the rules. In one case, a person was fined $106,000 for having a second child, the highest amount ever in Hubei, but had paid only $14,000, the report said.

Government figures from October show that there are 73.76 million party members out of China’s 1.3 billion people.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.

VOA News – 加州县政府不满中方干预美方自由

VOA News – 加州县政府不满中方干预美方自由

Chinese Employers Accused of Goon Hiring

By WILLIAM FOREMAN
Associated Press Writer, January 6 2008

SHENZHEN, China (AP) — Huang Qingnan lifts his hospital sheets and shows a long scar below his left hip. His right thigh needed stitches and surgeons fought to mend muscle and tendon gashed in his calf.

The 34-year-old labor activist was stabbed repeatedly by knife-wielding thugs, one in a series of attacks that experts and workers’ rights advocates fear may signal a worrying new trend – privatized intimidation.

Once it would have been the communist government going after activists such as Huang. Today, he’s less worried about the government and more about gangsters he believes are being hired by China’s rough new capitalists to cow troublesome workers.

“The attack happened so fast,” Huang said, lying in bed on the 19th floor of the Shenzhen Second People’s Hospital. “It lasted just a minute or so, but I lost so much blood that I blacked out. Everything went blank.”

A week before the November assault, another Shenzhen labor activist, Li Jinxin, was badly beaten, according to the Southern Metropolis Daily, a state-run newspaper. The paper said at least two others had been attacked around the same time. Shenzhen is a southern boomtown in Guangdong, one of China’s most prosperous and industrialized provinces.

Chinese companies have used thugs to attack enemies in business disputes, but rarely against labor groups in big cities, said Anita Chan, a research fellow at Australian National University.

“I think Guangdong will be in big trouble” if the trend develops, she said. “It will create a type of culture of violence, similar to what you find in Latin America.”

The atmosphere in Shenzhen started getting tense in September, Huang said, when his group began informing workers about a new law that takes effect Jan. 1 and is expected to be the most significant change in Chinese labor rules in more than a decade.

It sets standards for labor contracts, the use of temporary workers and severance pay. It gives employees who have worked at a company for more than 10 years some protection against unjustified dismissal.

Huang’s group, called Dagongzhe or “Worker,” passed out pamphlets explaining the law and held workshops in its tiny storefront office in a dusty industrial zone, an hour’s drive from the gleaming skyscrapers of downtown Shenzhen.

“Some factories noticed that Dagongzhe has been educating the workers and causing problems for them, so they sent people to smash up our office and target me,” Huang said.

On Oct. 11, four men carrying clubs stormed into Dagongzhe’s office at about 7 p.m. and smashed a glass door before speeding away on two motorcycles, the group said.

On Nov. 14, four pipe-wielding men showed up at about 4:30 p.m. and began smashing glass, desks, chairs and other office items, said Lin Weihua, an office worker who witnessed the attack. The men didn’t bother to wear masks, and fled in a white minivan.

“They all had flat-top crew cuts. I don’t think they were from around here,” Lin said. “And only one of them spoke, and he said, ‘We’re going to make it so that you won’t be able to turn on your electricity,’” a slang expression for running someone out of business.

Six days later, at about 3 p.m., Huang was chatting with a friend and watching a mahjong game when he says two men stabbed him from behind, inflicting six wounds. He fought back, and a bystander threw bricks at the attackers before they fled on motorcycles, he said.

“These were real professionals,” said Huang, a man with shoulder-length who speaks almost in a whisper.

Huang, a farmers’ son, left school after junior high and became a construction worker at 17.

He moved to Shenzhen in 1996, drove trucks worked in a pasta factory. His face and body are covered with burn marks which he says were inflicted by rival workers using sulfuric acid in a “revenge attack” which he is unwilling to explain.

In 2000, he joined a group that helped injured workers and that later evolved into Dagongzhe, educating workers about their rights.

Liu Kaiming, who runs the Institute of Contemporary Observation, another Shenzhen labor group, said authorities know who attacked Huang but won’t do anything “because the government doesn’t care much about the case.”

Shenzhen police didn’t return calls from The Associated Press.

Huang expects to recover but be left with a severe limp. “I’m not afraid of anything, because my work is meaningful,” he said. “But from now on, I’ll be more careful.”

© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy.

China: Can the rabbit bound free of the forces of destruction?

China: Can the rabbit bound free of the forces of destruction?
Officially 2008 is the Chinese year of the rat, but if its booming economy is to avoid being mired in a global downturn, the country will have to pull a different animal out of its hat. Tessa Thorniley reports
Published: 06 January 2008
China: Can the rabbit bound free of the forces of destruction? Monuments to Mammon: but the boom in Beijing could be stopped in its tracks

There is a Chinese proverb about cunning that runs: “A sly rabbit will have three openings to its den.”

Few would argue against the wisdom of having good contingency plans in place, but on the flipside, the saying leaves open the possibility that even the slickest bunny could be caught out by a determined three-prong attack.

And China – according to several leading economists – is facing just such an onslaught. The attacks come from a shaky Wall Street and slower US economic growth, a tighter domestic money supply and, longer term, developing world cutbacks in investment. This unhappy trio of factors is expected to lead to a significant slowdown in the Chinese economy in 2008-09.

As the new year gets underway with the markets mired in a global credit crunch, the question being asked is whether the Chinese rabbit will be able to shake free from these threats in 2008 and continue to bound forward, or whether it will find itself trapped in a hole.

China is now a crucial part of the world economy – even international investment banks such as Morgan Stanley have turned to it for funding in the form of a $5bn (£2.5bn) cash injection from sovereign fund the China Investment Corporation. So the reverberations are likely to be felt globally and the signs are not looking good.

At the end of last year, the Asian Development Bank cut China’s GDPgrowth forecast to 10.5 per cent from 11.4 per cent in 2007. Several economists, such as Mingchun Sun, senior China economist at Lehman Brothers, go further, predicting that growth in 2008 will drop below double digits for the first time in six years. Mr Sun is forecasting Chinese GDP growth of 9.8 per cent this year.

“If it slips below 8 per cent – and I am forecasting 8.8 per cent in the fourth quarter this year – that will hit China very hard. There will be a negative output gap that would hit jobs. For China, growth of around 9 per cent is necessary for the economy to remain healthy,” says Mr Sun.

Most of the economic fears in the People’s Republic spring from concern about the slowdown in growth from its biggest source of demand: America. “While the US may not be China’s biggest trading partner now – that is Europe by a whisker – it is still the lynchpin of the global economy” says Stephen Green, senior economist at Standard Chartered.

“We have already seen export growth to the US from China slow from 35 per cent year-on-year to around 6 per cent. The forecasts for lower growth in China stem from expectations about falling exports.” Mr Green adds.

Combined with an expected slowdown in European growth – along with domestic measures designed to tighten Chinese banks’ lending, rising interest rates and a strengthening currency against the dollar – China is heading for some challenging times.

Fears are also growing that slowing exports will pop China’s investment bubble.

“So far, global growth and exports have masked the fact that there is severe overcapacity in China. Less exports, and inventory stockpiles could lead to aggressive price cuts, potentially hitting companies’ profitability and ability to repay bank loans,” says Mr Sun.

By the time China hosts the Olympic Games in August, the boom times within the current economic cycle could just be coming to an end. As China is the world’s second-largest economy and, according to the World Trade Organisation, is expected to overtake Germany as the world’s largest exporter this year, the global impact is likely to be marked.

Although its stock market had fallen back by around 15 per cent from its peak of 6,124.04 in mid-November, 2007 was still a record for flotations in China.

Chinese companies raised around $100bn through initial public offerings (IPOs), with an estimated $65m raised by A-share listings in Shanghai or Shenzhen and the bulk of the remainder via H-share listings in Hong Kong. By contrast, companies in the world’s other hot econ-omy, India, which also enjoyed a record year for IPOs, only raised a combined $7.7bn.

Despite the worries about the global economy, bankers expect a broader range of Chinese companies to try and tap the capital markets this year, after Petro China and China Shenhua Energy raised almost $18bn between them last year. However, they will not find it as easy as it was in 2007.

As reported on Xinhua, the state news agency, the primary task of China’s 2008 fiscal pol-icy is “to prevent the economy from becoming overheated and to guard against a shift from structural price rises to evident inflation”. Inflationary fears – stemming from China’s yawning trade surplus (of around $280bn) – prompted the central bank to raise interest rates for the sixth time in a year in December. In the previous month, inflation was running at 6.9 per cent, the highest for 11 years.

But if the forecasters are right, lower exports, a smaller trade surplus and a tighter money supply could quickly dampen any inflationary anxiety.

“Although last year there was concern about inflation, let’s not forget that not long ago China suffered several years of deflation. If the global slowdown takes hold and there is over-capacity, it is possible we could see deflation again in China in 2009,” says Mr Sun.

Last year, one of the biggest inflationary pressures was rocketing pork prices – which were up more than 50 per cent at their peak – after a disease called Blue Ear devastated herds. Food accounts for more than 30 per cent of China’s consumner price index basket – the collection of goods that is used to measure prices – compared with around 10 per cent for the UK.

“Pork prices fell back quite sharply after October. But they started to climb again at the end of December,” says Mr Green.

Property prices have shown an equally runaway tendency, up 30 per cent over the past year in hotspots such as Shanghai.

Soaring asset prices have prompted Beijing’s central planners to implement tighter monetary policy, not only by raising interest rates but also by boosting the ratio of reserves that banks must set aside as deposits.

While the Chinese authorities and the People’s Bank can do very little to prevent the widely anticipated American – or global – slowdown, the challenge facing them in 2008 will be to strike the right balance between reining in the econ-omy so it does not overheat, and not pulling back so hard that growth is stopped in its tracks.

As the US splutters, the world is hoping that this is a rabbit China can pull out of its hat.