China

Date: May 21st 2013 2:04p.m. Contributed by: clairebared
Date: May 21st 2013 2:04p.m. Contributed by: clairebared
29 minutes ago
Date: May 21st 2013 2:55p.m. Contributed by: leemack The big party is on Thursday, will you be there?
Date: May 21st 2013 2:55p.m. Contributed by: leemack The big party is on Thursday, will you be there?
36 minutes ago
In an article published in state media, Shandong University professor Zhang Xi’en has warned that, at around 83 million members, the Chinese Communist Party may have grown unhealthily large. Zhang proposes that membership be stream...
In an article published in state media, Shandong University professor Zhang Xi’en has warned that, at around 83 million members, the Chinese Communist Party may have grown unhealthily large. Zhang proposes that membership be streamlined to a sleek, lean 51 million. From Tom Phillips at The Telegraph: Prof Zhang […] argued that the Soviet Union provided a "tragic lesson of what happens when a party grows too large with no strong mechanism for members to quit." Party leaders needed to find a way to jettison corrupt and opportunistic members who had "damaged the party spirit", joining the party "not because they believed in Marxism-Leninism, but because they yearned for wealth and fortune." "Only if the Communist Party keeps improving the quality and ability of its members can it ensure lasting rule," he argued. [Source] Minnie Chan provided more details on Zhang’s diet plan at South China Morning Post: Zhang suggested the party’s Central Committee classify members into three categories: honorary, probationary and formal members, with the honorary group being where most of the cuts should be made, because it was largely composed of "older, sick and retired members who are unable to toe the party line". He estimated "honorary members" could make up 20 per cent of the members, and many of them "are forced to stay in the party in order to save face, or for other political reasons". He also suggested the party extend the probation period of some "unqualified members" who failed to pass internal assessments. To prevent party cadres from using the "exit mechanism" to kick out political enemies, Zhang said the human rights of all party members should not be "violated", and members should not be "discriminated" against, after deciding to leave the party. He stressed that the party’s constitution allows members to "join and withdraw" freely. [Source] The Party is already one man lighter: the expulsion of former Agricultural Bank of China vice president Yang Kun was announced on Monday. © Samuel Wade for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: CCP, Communist members, corruption, marxism, party discipline, Soviet Union Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall
about 1 hour ago
Sometimes the wheels of justice turn slowly. And sometimes you have to make them turn yourself. The Guizhou Metropolis Daily today has a front page headline that reads “He’s lying!” (????), which was the phrase uttered ...
Sometimes the wheels of justice turn slowly. And sometimes you have to make them turn yourself. The Guizhou Metropolis Daily today has a front page headline that reads “He’s lying!” (????), which was the phrase uttered by a man who heard his brother’s murderer proclaim his innocence. For 16 long years, Yang Shunming has been looking for the man who killed his brother, and by something of a fluke, he found him sitting at another table at a society dinner. The man had a new name, a new job, and dark secret.  For the last sixteen years, Yang Shunming (???) has been searching for the man that killed his younger brother, Yang Shunxiang (???). The man who did the vile deed, named Ren Yuefeng (???), back in 1997 hired Yang’s brother as manager of his girlfriend’s western restaurant in Yunnan province. After working at the restaurant for five months, Yang Shunxiang found out that Ren was using the restaurant to distribute fake cigarettes. Yang Shunming advised his brother to quit, which he did. But Ren was not happy and demanded compensation, which Yang Shunxiang refused. Ren and two of his friends then lured Yang Shunxiang to a remote place, and beat him to death. Ren then disappeared. Upon this tragedy, Yang Shunming resolved to find the man who was responsible and bring him to justice. For the last 16 years he has been doing part time work while moving from place to place, looking for Ren. He searched through Yunnan province, up into Shanghai, and into Guizhou province. Miraculously, last week Yang was attending a society dinner in Guiyang (??) in Guizhou province, when he spotted Ren sitting at another table in the same room. Yang observed him closely, surreptitiously took some pictures, and alerted the police – he was sure he had his man. Turns out that Ren was working under a different name as the head of the Guizhou branch of the China Planning Institute (?????). Ren at first maintained his innocence, but later – and after Yang Shunming has shouted “you’re lying!” at him a few times – confessed. Links and sources Guizhou Metropolis Daily (?????): ?????
about 1 hour ago
Xi Jinping will visit Trinidad and Tobago at the end of May, alongside his wife, China's first lady Peng Liyuan, the Trinidad Express reports. [ more › ]
Xi Jinping will visit Trinidad and Tobago at the end of May, alongside his wife, China's first lady Peng Liyuan, the Trinidad Express reports. [ more › ]
about 1 hour ago
Date: May 21st 2013 1:58p.m. Contributed by: siennapc
Date: May 21st 2013 1:58p.m. Contributed by: siennapc
about 2 hours ago
From QQ: Wuhan University Student Takes Hostage Over Damages After Traffic Accident May 18, a freshman of a certain college in Wuhan surnamed Chen accidentally hit an 80-something-year-old lady while riding a bicycle. Then, because of is...
From QQ: Wuhan University Student Takes Hostage Over Damages After Traffic Accident May 18, a freshman of a certain college in Wuhan surnamed Chen accidentally hit an 80-something-year-old lady while riding a bicycle. Then, because of issues over the medical expenses, he had a conflict with the old lady’s family where, in a moment of desperation, he took out a fruit knife and took a female doctor surnamed Duan hostage, requiring that he reach his intended destination before he would release her. 97 minutes after the Qingshan Public Security Sub-Bureau was notified, the hostage was successfully rescued. Throughout the entire rescue process, Dr. Duan’s left index finger was cut, and there was a knife cut on her neck. On the evening of the 18th at about 7pm, a large number of special police arrived at Wuhan No.9 Hospital in Qingshan, with many local residents also gathered around, looking on and discussing. In the direction of one city residents’ pointed finger, this reporter saw a young man sitting in the back seat of a police car, with his arm around a young woman’s neck, and a small knife in his other hand. The police car was surrounded by police officers, taking turns communicating with the young man, asking him to remain calm and not hurt the hostage. According to an eye witness, the kidnapping took place at about 6 o’clock in the evening, when the young man rushed into the emergency room office on the first floor of the hospital, kidnapped the female doctor at knife point, then yelled at people around to call the police. After the police arrived, the young man walked out of the hospital building holding his knife, and confronted the police in the hospital plaza. Then, under the persuasion of the police, the young man got into a police car with the hostage under his control. According to another eye witness, this young man was a student at a nearby college, and had knocked over an old woman yesterday [May 17] while riding a bicycle. Afterwards, he accompanied the old woman with her family members to the hospital for examination. Because the injury was actually somewhat serious, the old woman’s family members asked him for compensation. The eye witness said: “I heard that the compensation is 300,000 yuan. Maybe the college student freaked out. He was even laughing as he kidnapped the doctor, his mental state a little abnormal.” The kidnapper clearly had lost control, yelling in the police car: “I’m willing to sit in your car, because I don’t want this to get more serious. Don’t push me. Take me to a safe place, and then I’ll let her go, and you also let me go!” This picture is of the college student holding his knife against the female doctor in the police car, the police negotiating with him. After a brief discussion, most of the police officers agreed that even though the nature of kidnapping is vile, the kidnapper was a college student, and what more, wasprobably from a rural area. His behavior too was a kind of drastic act of self-protection, though extreme, so it was better to take a less-heated approach and to persuade the hostage-taker. In the end, the police decided to drive the police car carrying the hostage and the kidnapper away from the hospital plaza. After the car was driven to Xudong from Youyi Avenue, Chen first demanded to go to Wuhan University of Technology, then he said he wanted to go to Wuhan University. Headquarters instructed that taking him to Wuhan University was absolutely out of the question, and ordered the car to drive to a remote location to wait for an opportunity to stage a rescue. In the car, everyone continuously chatted with Chen to pacify him. Dr. Duan was also very calm, without struggling at all, and thus Chen slowly calmed down. When the car approached the intersection of Heping Avenue and Xinsheng Road, concealed special police rushed the car from three directions, some grabbing Chen’s arms, some disarming him of his knife, and some to rescue the hostage. In a mere 52 sec
about 2 hours ago
Date: May 21st 2013 1:21p.m. Contributed by: positivelynatalie
Date: May 21st 2013 1:21p.m. Contributed by: positivelynatalie
about 2 hours ago
Date: May 21st 2013 12:32p.m. Contributed by: leo_dream
Date: May 21st 2013 12:32p.m. Contributed by: leo_dream
about 3 hours ago
China Digital Times highlighted some discussion on gender gap in China. Even though the overall percentage of workingwomen is not very low, as a result of urbanization, employment rate for working-age women in urban areas fell to a new l...
China Digital Times highlighted some discussion on gender gap in China. Even though the overall percentage of workingwomen is not very low, as a result of urbanization, employment rate for working-age women in urban areas fell to a new low of 60.8 percent in 2010, down from 77.4 percent 20 years earlier. Written by Oiwan Lam · comments (0) Share: Donate · facebook · twitter · reddit · StumbleUpon · delicious · Instapaper
about 3 hours ago