May 10, 2012 April 12, 2012 ZGBriefs is a condensation of news items gathered from published sources. ZGBriefs is not responsible for the content of these items nor does it necessarily endorse the perspectives presented. Get daily updates from ZGBriefs on Twitter @ZG_Briefs. To make a contribution to ZGBriefs, please click here and then select Donate Through Paypal. FEATURED ARTICLE Video: An extraordinary drama (May 4, 2012, The Economist) After years of persecution, the Chinese government has said that human rights activist Chen Guangcheng can apply to study in America, raising the possibility that he and his family could soon leave China. The Economists China Editor, Rob Gifford discusses situation. GOVERNMENT / POLITICS / FOREIGN AFFAIRS Exclusive: China considers delay of key party congress: sources (May 8, 2012, Reuters) China’s ruling Communist Party is seriously considering a delay in its upcoming five-yearly congress by a few months amid internal debate over the size and makeup of its top decision-making body, sources said, as the party struggles to finalize a once-in-a-decade leadership change. The two most senior posts, of president and premier, are not considered in much doubt. But any delay in the congress, no matter the official reason, would likely fuel speculation of infighting over the remaining seats in the nine-member politburo standing committee which calls the shots in China. The makeup of those remaining positions could in turn influence the ability of the incoming new president, Xi Jinping, to forge a consensus among those immediately below him on how to run the world’s second-largest economy and a military superpower. Delay could also further unnerve global financial markets whose perception of Chinese politics as a well-oiled machine has already been shaken this year by the extraordinary downfall of an ambitious senior leader, Bo Xilai, in a murder scandal. The top party leaders are considering a proposal to move the 18th congress, originally scheduled for September or October, to between November and January, three sources said, in a step that has been taken twice before in the past five congresses. China expels first foreign journalist in 13 years (May 8, 2012, Reuters) Al Jazeera has closed the China bureau for its English channel after Chinese authorities refused to renew its correspondent’s visa, marking the first such expulsion of an accredited foreign correspondent in over a decade. Melissa Chan had reported from Beijing for Al Jazeera’s English language channel since 2007, as well as maintaining a Twitter feed with over 14,000 followers. China’s foreign ministry was not immediately available for comment, and Chan also said she had no comment. The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China (FCCC) said the Chinese authorities’ decision to allow Chan’s accreditation to lapse came after they expressed dissatisfaction about some of Al Jazeera’s content, including a documentary produced overseas. Chinese authorities also said that Chan, a U.S. citizen, had violated unspecified rules and regulations, the FCCC said. Chen Guangcheng ‘waiting for China passport’ (May 9, 2012, BBC News) Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng has said he is just waiting for his passport to be issued, and intends to leave the country to study in the US. He caused a diplomatic incident last month when he escaped house arrest and sought refuge in the US embassy. Mr Chen says he has an offer to study at New York University, and all of the US formalities have been completed. Meanwhile, he has challenged China’s government to prove they did not order him to be kept under house arrest. Mr Chen and his family had been illegally detained in their home in Shandong for almost two years before his escape. China warns citizens ahead of Manila protest on Friday (May 9, 2012, Reuters) China warned its citizens in Manila to stay off the streets and take precautions during planned anti-Chinese protests on Friday, a sign of mounting tensions during a standoff in the resource-rich South China Sea. The planned protest of about 1,000 people could heighten tensions between China and the Philippines over what is known as the Scarborough Shoal in English and Huangyan island in Chinese in the southeastern region of the disputed waters. Philippines says US to protect it in South China Sea (May 10, 2012, AFP) The Philippines said Wednesday the United States had pledged to protect it from attacks in the South China Sea, a day after China issued a warning over a territorial row in the waters. Defence Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said he had received the assurances during talks in Washington last week in which the Philippines’ increasingly tense dispute with China over rival claims to a shoal in the sea were discussed. Gazmin said US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defence Secretary Leon Panetta stressed they were not taking sides in the dispute, but they assured the Philippines the United States would honour a 1951 mutual defence treaty.”It includes armed attack (on) island territories in the Pacific (region),” Gazmin said, citing conditions for the allies coming to each other’s aid. HEALTH 700 dogs killed in rabies panic in rural Sichuan (May 5, 2012, Shanghai Daily) More than 700 dogs have been slaughtered, cremated and buried in two villages in southwest China’s Sichuan Province since Saturday after a local resident died of rabies. The 63-year-old Zhang Dingxiu was bitten by a neighbor’s dog in her left leg on April 24. She did not go to the hospital for treatment and began to vomit two days later and died of rabies on Saturday. According to the rules, all dogs infected with the contagious rabies virus and living within 3 kilometers from where the incident took place should be culled, the West China Metropolis Daily reported today. Country lags in ADHD treatment (May 7, 2012, China Daily) Less than 1 percent of the 20 million children in China with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder are receiving proper treatment, according to health experts, who blamed the situation on a lack of awareness, trained specialists and standard clinical treatments. In a typical classroom of 50 students on the mainland, two or three have the condition, said Shen Kunling, president-elect of the Society of Pediatrics under the Chinese Medical Association. “The negative effects of the treatable chronic condition can last much longer than people expect,” he said at the launch of the national ADHD Caring Week organized by the society and Xi’an Janssen Pharmaceuticals on Saturday. ADHD is a developmental disorder that typically shows itself before the age of 7, and research suggests it is more common in boys than in girls. Symptoms include a short attention span and impulsive and hyperactive behavior. Students’ health suffers from poor diet (May 10, 2012, China Daily) Chinese students aged 10 to 13 are in grave physical condition due to poor diet and lack of exercise, according to a report. The report, released by China Development Research Foundation in 2011, found that malnutrition was affecting 12 percent of students in poverty-stricken areas. Roughly 12 percent of the children in those areas were also short for their age, and 9 percent were underweight because of nutritional deficiencies.Fast food has become a major health threat for urban students. The latest research by the Institute for Nutrition and Food Safety under the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention said that the number of primary and secondary school students who ate fast food at least once a week in urban areas increased from 1.9 percent in 1998 to 16.3 percent in 2008. EDUCATION / CULTURE School puts students on drips before exams (May 7, 2012, Shanghai Daily) The Hubei Province Education Bureau in central China is probing the allegations that a local high school gave its senior students intravenous drips in classroom to boost their memory and allay their anxiety. Xiaogan City No. 1 High School said each student was subsidized 10 yuan (US$1.6) by the provincial education bureau for amino acid injection to relieve their stress ahead of the National College Entrance Exams. But the bureau denied giving amino acid injection subsidies, the Beijing Times reported today. Pictures posted on Weibo.com by a netizen called CHImushroom on Friday showed nearly 30 senior students were having an intravenous drip in their classroom and the photos raised much controversy on the Internet. 25% of students plan to work abroad (May 10, 2012, China Daily) More than 25 percent of junior high and primary school students born in Shanghai expect to work and live abroad after finishing school, a survey has found. By contrast, the figure for students who were born outside the municipality and now study in schools in Shanghai is 18 percent. The population and development studies at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences published the report on Tuesday after handing out a questionnaire and interviewing nearly 1,500 students between the ages of 9 and 14 over the last three months. China to Make Xinhua Dictionary Available to Every Kid (May 9, 2012, CRI) Charity organizations here in China are working with the publisher of a Chinese language dictionary to make the reference book available to every child in the country. The “Xinhua Dictionary” is widely considered the most authoritative Chinese language dictionary in China. Under the government’s education plan, all children above grade two should have their own dictionaries. However, for poor children in villages in China’s central and western provinces, having a Xinhua dictionary is a bit of a luxury. Tang Jiuhong is a director with the Soong Ching Ling Foundation, one of China’s top charity organizations. “Because of a lack of dictionaries, kids in rural areas struggle with their learning. Our country has exempted text book fees for primary and middle school kids, but dictionaries and other reference books are not yet free for them.” SOCIETY / LIFE Ferrari sorry after car damages Nanjing city wall (May 9, 2012, BBC News) Italian sports car maker Ferrari has apologised after one of its cars drove on an ancient Chinese monument, prior to a publicity event, causing damage. Ferrari suggested the incident was the fault of a local dealership employee. The car was filmed wheel-spinning on top of a 600-year-old Ming-dynasty era wall in the city of Nanjing. Footage of the screeching vehicle has infuriated China’s online community, hitting a nerve in a society where such cars are a symbol of privilege. One web user called it a “rude insult” to Chinese tradition and culture. The incident, in the run-up to a Ferrari show, left tyre marks on the wall. Chinese travel agencies suspend routes to Philippines (May 10, 2012, China Daily) Most Chinese travel agencies have suspended travel to the Philippines following the escalation of the Huangyan Island situation. Tourists companies such as Ctrip.com, China’s largest online travel service company, and Beijing Caissa International Travel Service Co. Ltd., have halted travel tours to the Philippines and promised to refund tourists that have signed for tours to the country. The dispute over Huangyan Island unfolded after the Philippines recently sent a warship to harass 12 Chinese fishing vessels which sailed into the island’s waters to shelter from bad weather. China to start issuing e-passports (May 9, 2012, China Daily) China’s e-passports will better protect citizens’ personal data and national security, said customs officials on Tuesday, as authorities nationwide geared up for the introduction of the new high-tech system. The 48-page travel document, which will be issued starting May 15, is fitted with a chip on the last page. Each page has an anti-forgery label. Only police and customs authorities will be able to access the information on the chip, which includes the holder’s name, photograph and fingerprints. “In this way, no one can copy or use an e-passport that is lost or stolen,” said Tang Lei, head of e-passport management for Beijing Public Security Bureau’s exit-entry administration. Price of some high-speed train tickets to be cut (May 9, 2012, China Daily) Passengers will soon enjoy discounts when buying business class tickets and premium seats on high-speed trains operating on two lines in East China. Experts said passengers will benefit from a more market-oriented operation of high-speed railways, following the Ministry of Railways’ decision to ease its grip over railway management. The Shanghai Railway Bureau on Monday announced through its Sina Weibo micro blog that business class tickets on high-speed trains on the Shanghai-Nanjing and Shanghai-Hangzhou lines will be reduced by 30 percent between May 18 and June 20. Tickets for premium seats on the two lines over the same period will be cut by 10 percent. SCIENCE / TECHNOLOGY / ENVIRONMENT China begins deep-water oil drilling in South China Sea (May 9, 2012, China Daily) CHINA’S first deep-water oil drilling rig started operations in the South China Sea at 9: 38 am today, marking “a substantial step” made by the country’s deep-sea oil industry. The sixth-generation semi-submersible CNOOC 981 began drilling in a sea area 320 km southeast of Hong Kong at a water depth of 1,500 meters, according to China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC), the country’s largest offshore oil producer. Beijing to eliminate heavy polluters (May 9, 2012, China Daily) Beijing plans to eliminate 66 highly polluting enterprises this year in an effort to improve the city’s air quality, the municipal environmental protection bureau said Wednesday. During the next five years, the city will eliminate 1,200 heavy polluters in order to reduce emissions, according to bureau official Zheng Zaihong. Zheng cited monitoring statistics stating that 22 percent of the city’s fine particulate emissions come from local industries, adding that it is of “paramount importance” for the city to eliminate highly polluting enterprises. The 1,200 enterprises to be eliminated will largely consist of foundries, chemical plants and furniture factories, Zheng said. BUSINESS / ECONOMICS / FOREIGN TRADE 9 Taobao stores closed for bribery (May 5, 2012, China Daily) Nine stores using Taobao.com, China’s largest online retailer, have been shut and permanently barred from the Internet shopping platform after they allegedly bribed Taobao employees for illegal gains, Taobao owner the Alibaba Group said in an open letter on Friday. One store owner has been arrested and the owners of four other stores released on bail, according to Alibaba. The business owners are suspected of conspiring with Taobao employees to cheat consumers by removing negative feedback posts and raising their credit ratings. Alibaba said in the open letter that future violators will also have their online stores closed and be turned in to police if necessary. China to cut fuel prices in line with world market (May 10, 2012, AFP) China, the world’s second-biggest oil consumer, said Wednesday it would cut fuel prices by more than three percent, following a retreat in global crude costs and amid concerns over inflation. The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC)China’s powerful state plannersaid the benchmark price for petrol would fall 3.6 percent, or 330 yuan ($52.4), to 8,850 yuan a tonne from Thursday. The diesel price will drop 3.7 percent, or 310 yuan, to 8,020 yuan per tonne, it said in a statement.The NDRC said the movewhich marks the first fuel price cut since Octoberreflected changes in the current international market. Fed clears China’s first US bank takeover (May 10, 2012, AFP) The United States on Wednesday opened its banking market to ICBC, China’s biggest bank, for the first time clearing a takeover of a US bank by a Chinese state-controlled company. Just days after high-level US-China economic talks in Beijing, the Federal Reserve approved an application from Industrial and Commercial Bank of China to buy a majority stake in the US subsidiary of Bank of East Asia. The transaction will make ICBC the first Chinese state-controlled bank to acquire retail bank branches in the United States. ICBC has been the most aggressive of China’s “big four” banks in expanding overseas. According to the Fed the bank has total assets of roughly $2.5 trillion. China’s exports and imports see slower growth (May 10, 2012, BBC News) China’s export and import growth slowed in April raising fears about a sharp slowdown in its economy and triggering calls for monetary policy easing. Exports rose by 4.9% in April from a year earlier, down from the 8.9% annual growth seen in the previous month, a sign that global demand may be slowing. Meanwhile, imports rose just 0.3% on the year, down from 5.3% in March, indicating a fall in domestic demand. LINKS TO DETAILED ARTICLES AND ANALYSIS Blind Dissident Has China’s Tweeters Seeing Red (May 4, 2012, Bloomberg, by Adam Minter) On Wednesday evening, Exercise Book, a user of the Sina Weibo microblog, posted a message for his 2.5 million followers: Ive finally figured out where the safest place in China is Chen, China and America (May 5, 2012, The Economist) At rare moments the future of a nation, even one teeming with 1.3 billion souls, can be bound up in the fate of a single person. Just possibly China is living through one of those moments and Chen Guangcheng is that person. A blind activist from Shandong province, Mr Chen emerged from poverty, fought for justice and paid the price with his own liberty. Last month he made a bid for freedom and became ensnared in the impersonal machinery of superpower politics. What now befalls him and his family raises questions about Sino-American relations and the character of Chinese power. Prominent legal scholar and China expert comes to aid of Chen Guangcheng (May 5, 2012, The Washington Post, by Daniel de Vise) The man who plotted Chen Guangchengs possible escape from China to study law at New York University is a veteran legal scholar who shares the activists passion for chiding Chinese officials when they fail to follow their own laws. The China crisis (May 6, 2012, MacLeans, by Charlie Gillis) For decades, Chinese leaders have dealt with allegations of misconduct behind closed doors, while projecting an air of fatherly control. Now, having acknowledged murder plots and corruption at such a high level, theyve stirred doubts about stability within the leadership of the regime, says Cheng. In Rise and Fall of Chinas Bo Xilai, an Arc of Ruthlessness (May 6, 2012, The New York Times, by Michael Wines) But Mr. Bos undisputed talents were counterbalanced by what friends and critics alike say was an insatiable ambition and studied indifference to the wrecked lives that littered his path to power. Little is known about career maneuvers in Chinas cloistered leadership elite, but those who study the topic say that Mr. Bos ruthlessness stood out, even in a system where the absence of formal rules ensures that only the strongest advance. Chen Guangchengs family and friends face tempest of retribution (May 7, 2012, The Washington Post, by Andrew Higgins) As the diplomatic storm around Chen Guangcheng calms, supporters and relatives of the blind activist fear a tempest of retribution, a frequent feature of Communist Party crisis management known as settling accounts after the autumn harvest. The Dirty Truth about Water Quality (May 7, 2012, Caixin Online, by Gong Jing) New standards are due in July, but experts say the previous criteria were never met. No Roads Are Straight Here (May 8, 2012, The New York Times, by Murong Xuecun) I will never forget something Mr. Zhao said to me: Theres not a single straight road in China; they were all built with kickbacks. No one stays clean when traveling along these sparkling, yet tainted roads. Behind Twists of Diplomacy in the Case of a Chinese Dissident (May 9, 2012, The New York Times, by Steven Lee Myers and Mark Landler) Over two days of meetings with Chinas leaders in Beijing last week, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton had not uttered a word about Chen Guangcheng as her aides arranged to transfer the blind Chinese dissident from the United States Embassy to a hospital, only to have the plan unexpectedly blow up. Then, last Friday, she finally broached the subject with Chinas senior foreign policy official, Dai Bingguo. A mum’s love for autistic daughter (May 9, 2012, China Daily, by Huang Zhiling) Recalling the solo piano performance by Ding Ziying, Shi Wanxiang is excited and says: “I am proud of her accomplishment and moved more by her mother Lan Li.” Shi, former chief of the exhibit and publicity department of the Du Fu Thatched Cottage Museum in Chengdu, Sichuan province, was one of some 100 people hearing Ding’s solo performance held in the city’s Eastern Music Park on the afternoon of May 5. Toddlers face early lesson in harsh realities of life (May 9, 2012, China Daily, by He Na) What do you expect to find in a student’s bag? Books, homework notes, pens perhaps. But Wu’s students carry none of the above. Instead they have nursing bottles, milk powder, water, cookies, snacks, handkerchiefs and diapers. They are China’s youngest students, all of them younger than 3 years old. Seeking Chen Guangcheng’s freedom in China via ‘Internet meme’ (May 9, 2012, Christian Science Monitor, by Arthur Bright) Supporters of the activist lawyer have kept the torch burning for his release using Internet memes: online pieces of content that spread their message without rousing China’s infamous censors. What Is the Chinese Dream? (May 9, 2012, The Atlantic, by James Fallows) The nation may have larger-than-life ambitions, but it hasn’t figured out how to win over the world. LINKS TO BLOGS What kind of house church? (February 20, 2012, Gospel in China) One of modern missions most romanticized concepts is the house church. But to talk about the Chinese house church is somewhat akin to talking about the American house. Its a useful concept in some very general ways, but practically useless if youre trying to tell your realtor what kind of house you want to buy. Scandal Erodes Chinas Soft Power (May 4, 2012, YaleGlobal) Hidden power struggles, repression, belie unified government that can deliver reforms. Chinese Military Opens Up in Hong Kong (May 4, 2012, China Real Time Report) This past week, the PLA flung open the doors of three garrisons to members of the public, to a wildly enthusiastic response. The 28,000 free tickets available for the open-house events were all snapped up by eager would-be visitors within just two hours of their release. China needs to address the causes of June 4, not just seek its reappraisal (May 5, 2012, changing.posterous.com) A rumour circulated on the internet late last month that Premier Wen Jiabao had suggested a reappraisal of the June 4 movement. Perhaps because of this, many more people posted online the infamous Peoples Daily editorial on April 26, 1989 that fatefully condemned the student protests as an anti- socialism upheaval. So I reread it. Id read it so many times that Id become numb to its content. This time, I tried to treat it as political comment, and read it with fresh eyes. Why Chen’s Blindness Is ‘The Central Fact’ Of The Chinese Activist’s Life (May 9, 2012, The Two-Way) From the outside, Chen Guangcheng’s blindness may seem simply one factor in a much larger life, but within China, his blindness elevates him to become an inspirational figure, rather than a “sympathetic victim.” Sina Weibos New Rules (May 9, 2012, China Digital Times) A moderator account on Chinas popular microblog Sina Weibo recently made public the draft of a Community Convention [zh] with the following tweet: 5 Reasons That Sinas New User Contract Will Have No Impact (May 9, 2012, Tea Leaf Nation) Calm down. The new user contract will probably mean nothing for free speech and user behavior on Weibo, and here are the reasons. Is Guanxi on the Way Out of Chinese Negotiation? Part 2 of 2 (May 9, 2012, Chinese Negotiation) Westerners are well familiar with headlines about bad guanxi, so we assume the importance of guanxi is waning or at least perceived as a universal negative like corruption or taxation. But is that a reasonable belief? Social Medias Potential to Transform Chinese Governance (May 9, 2012, Tea Leaf Nation) With the influx of microblogs, officials are trying to figure out the best ways to use them. Reading Sichuan: Get yourself an education (May 9, 2012, Go Chengdoo) Didn’t exactly learn the history of Sichuan (or even China) in school? Do like they did in the days before schools were big business and give yourself an education with this reading list. Photos: Shenzhen in 1980 (May 10, 2012, nanfang.com) An American photographer has inspired nostalgia among Shenzheners after publishing photographs of the city that he took in 1980. ARTICLES IN CHINESE (May 9, 2012, Gospel Times) (May 9, 2012, Gospel Times) RESOURCES The Huangyan Island Standoff: A Review of the Claims and the Prospects for the Future (May 5, 2012, China & US Focus) ZGBriefs is a weekly compilation of the news in China, condensed from published sources and emailed free-of-charge to more than 6,000 readers in China and abroad. ZGBriefs brings you not only the most important stories of the week, but also links to blogs, commentaries, articles, and resources to help fill out your understanding of what is happening in China today. Coverage includes domestic and international politics, economics, culture, and social trends, among other areas. Seeking to explore all facets of life in China, ZGBriefs also includes coverage of spiritual movements and the role of religious believers and faith-based groups in China. The publication of ZGBriefs is supported by readers who find this weekly service useful. 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