(SCMP)  Suspect in Martin Lee tries to prove he has US citizenship.  By Fox Yi Hu.  September 11, 2009.

The trial over a US$1 million plot to murder media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying and former Democratic Party chairman Martin Lee Chu-ming continued yesterday in Shenzhen, with a key defendant trying to prove his US citizenship so as not to be tried as a resident of Hong Kong. Chan Siu-ming, 60, known as "Uncle Seven", who holds dual citizenship, sought to convince the judge that he had stayed in the US longer than in Hong Kong.

The hearing of less than two hours was held behind closed doors at Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court. It was the second hearing of the trial. The first one, also behind closed doors, was on July 22.

No 1 defendant Tung Nga-man, 66, known as "Brother Kam", again denied the charge of attempted murder when he spoke briefly in court, according to his lawyer, Wu Qingyou. Tung, a Hong Kong resident, pleaded not guilty in the first hearing.

All 10 defendants in the case attended the hearing yesterday. They were arrested on the mainland last year after the arrest in Hong Kong of mainlander Huang Nanhua . He was stopped at a police roadblock in Mong Kok on August 14 last year and found in possession of a pistol, five bullets and personal details of the targets.

In July, the Court of First Instance sentenced Huang, 50, to 16 years in jail for his role in the plot against Lee and Lai.

Border-crossing records of Chan, the No3 defendant, were examined in the hearing yesterday as the judge mulled over his citizenship, according to Huang Wenkai, the lawyer for No5 defendant Chu Ying-wah. The prosecution has been treating Chan as a Hong Kong resident. Huang Wenkai said that being tried as a US citizen might allow Chan to seek help from US consulates and might lead to lighter punishment.

Chan and seven other defendants pleaded guilty on July 22 to attempts to cause injury, but No2 defendant Yu Wai-shan, a 62-year-old Hongkonger known as "Fat Yu", denied attempted murder. The prosecution said Tung, Yu and Chan were all triad leaders.

The Shenzhen court, which has yet to make a judgment in the case, heard on July 22 that a Hong Kong businessman living in Taiwan put up a US$1 million bounty to have Lai and Lee shot. In police evidence seen by the Post and presented to the court, Tung and Chan named the Hong Kong businessman as the mastermind of the shooting plot.

The original plan was to kill Lai and Lee, with the option of merely injuring them added later. The attack was initially scheduled for July 1, when both men would be together on the annual pro-democracy march, the court heard.

Tung asked Yu to hire someone for the job, and the latter found Chan. Chan told the court that it was originally a murder plot, but he later decided just to wound the pair. He explained that injuring Lai and Lee would involve less risk than killing them, although the price for injuring was lower than that for killing.

The South China Morning Post is missing the most significant denial during this hearing.

(Apple Daily)

據稱，昨日開審時公訴人（即控方）盤問綽號「神仙錦」的首被告童雅民，是否由×××（一名旅居台灣的香港商人的姓名）指使拿錢到香港買兇殺人，童雅民回答：「我不知道你講甚麼！我沒有做過你所講的事，我聽不懂你講甚麼。」

According to information, the prosecutor cross-examined the first defendant Tung Nga-man (nicknamed "Fairy Kam") at the hearing yesterday.  The question was posed: "Did XXX (note: the name of a certain Hong Kong businessman who is residing in Taiwan) order money to be paid to hit men to murder people in Hong Kong?"  Tung Nga-man replied: "I don't know what you are talking about!  I did not do what you said.  I don't understand what you are saying."

(Oriental Daily)

有辯方律師指，庭上並沒有提及案件涉及一名居台灣香港商人的情節，又表示首被告完全不知道案件中有涉及居台港商一事。

According to a defense lawyer, there was no mention in court about the involvement of a Hong Kong businessman living in Taiwan in the case.  He also said that the first defendant was totally unaware that the case might involve a Hong Kong businessman living in Taiwan. 

案中第五被告朱英華代表律師黃文開昨午離開法庭後被記者包圍，有記者追問案件幕後是否涉及一名居台港商，黃表示：「沒有。法庭上並沒有提到，也與今天的案情無關。」另外，童雅民的代表律師吳慶有表示，童雅民說他完全不知道案件涉及居台港商，他也從來沒有向警方說過案件幕後涉及居台香港商人，也完全不知道起訴書裏提到的在逃嫌疑人唐休。

The lawyer Huang Wenkai for the fifth defendant Chu Yingwah was surrounded by reporters after he came out of court.  One reporter asked him whether the case involved a Hong Kong businessman living in Taiwan and Huang dai: "No.  This was not mentioned in court, and it has nothing to do with the hearing today."  Also Tung Nga-man's lawyer Wu Qingyou said that Ng was totally unaware that the case might involve a Hong Kong businessman residing in Taiwan and Ng has never told the police that a Hong Kong businessman residing in Taiwan might be involved behind the scenes.  He was also completely unaware that the indictment mentioned the fugitive suspect Tang Xiu.

Who is XXX, the Hong Kong businessman residing in Taiwan?  Every reporter knows the name because it was spoken out in open court.  They all heard it, but somehow no newspaper would print it.  In the Harry Potter novel series, Lord Voldemort is so feared that almost no one uses his real name, referring to him instead as "You-Know-Who" or "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named."  In Hong Kong, it is just XXX -- or not at all.

 

At around 5:13pm on the afternoon of September 8, 2009, certain Hong Kong reporters gathering news in Urumqi suddenly received telephone calls from the Xinjiang Autonomous Region Government Information Office to say that there will be a press conference at 5:30pm on the fourth floor of the Hoi Tak Hotel.

The Hong Kong reporters who rushed back to the Hoi Tak hotel found out that the press conference was reaching an end.  The subject of this press conference was <The explanation to the so-called "beating" of three Hong Kong reporters on September 4>.  According to the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region Government Information Office director Hou Hanmin, thee Hong Kong reporters were at Xinhuabei Road on the afternoon of September 4 following the demonstration.  They "followed the demonstrators to film them and they made hand signs to the assembled demonstrators as if they were instigating disturbance."  When the law enforcers "failed to get them to listen to repeated advice," the "beating of the reporters" took place.  Hou Hanmin pointed out that of the three reporters, one had a valid permit but the other two were breaking the law.  "After the incident, certain media irresponsibly hyped up the incident and certain individuals who did not know the facts made extremely irresponsible remarks."

Hou Hanmin's statements drew vigorous response from the Hong Kong reporters present at the press conference.  One reporter asked: "You just said that Hong Kong reporters were instigating the crowds by hand signs.  Please produce the evidence."  Hou Hanmin replied: "We have some recordings.  There were lots of videocamera people at the scene.  We have seen many of the reports made by the Hong Kong reporters, but these are just part of the facts."

The reporter followed up: "If you have any videos, show them.  If you don't have any, don't lie."  But Hou replied: "This is the result of my investigation."  As Hou prepared to depart, reporters asked: "If you don't have a press card, you will be beaten up?"  "Is waving your hand the same as instigation?"  But no reply was given.  Among the Hong Kong reporters, someone yelled angrily "Lies!" and "The government is shameless!"

The reporters who were assaulted on September 4 and now accused of "instigating a disturbance" were TVB's Beijing correspondent Lam Tsz-ho, TVB cameraman Lau Wing-chuan and Now TV News cameraman Lam Chun-wai.  These three had left Urumqi on September 8.  The other TVB and Now TV reporters still in Urumqi were most upset about the fact that this press conference which is about their three colleagues was not known to them.  They did not receive any notice from the Government Information Office about the press conference.  In the news centre bulletin board that they perused often, there had been nothing about this press conference.

After the press conference was over, the Hong Kong reporters exchanged notes.  They were surprised to find out that there were three different tiers of reporters in terms of notification.  The local Xinjiang reporters were notified very early on and they arrived at the press conference on time.  Some Hong Kong reporters were called just over ten minutes beforehand and made it at the last moment.  These included the reporters from the South China Morning Post, ATV, Cable TV and other media.  Five other Hong Kong media outlets -- TVB, Now TV News, RTHK, Commercial Radio and Yazhou Zhoukan -- were completely "sealed out."  Some of the reporters from these media outlets only made the press conference due to private communication from peers.

All these media reporters were registered at the same news centre established by the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region Government Information Office.  So why should there be three separate tiers?  The Hong Kong reporters concluded afterwards that TVB, Now TV News, RTHK and Commercial Radio all had reporters who were either beaten up or detained in Xinjiang.  Therefore, they were not told in order to prevent them from causing trouble.

Actually, the Internet was cut off in Xinjiang after July 6.  This is a reason why the people of Xinjiang are getting more restive.  The Xinjiang Government Information Office's news centre on the third floor of the Hoi Tak Hotel was the only place with Internet access.  All reporters in Xinjiang have to visit this news centre several times a day in order to send out their articles.  When the government issues press releases, they will post them at the news centre.

So far the news center has received three waves of reporters.  The first wave came for the July 5th incident, with a peak number of more than 400 reporters.  The second wave came for the bomb hijacking of the airplane coming to Urumqi.  According to the workers, the only foreign correspondents that time were Japanese.  The third wave came for the syringe attacks, with 68 foreign correspondents.  The Xinjiang Government Information Office administers outside reporters very rigorously.  They issue temporary press passes which are for one-time-use only.

Q. If you were to be released on bail after sentencing in the first trial, what would you like to do most of all?
A. As long as Ma Ying-jeou is president, I will not be released on bail.  Nevertheless I want most of all to be with my wife.  I want to push her wheelchair to the park across our house to watch the sunset while enjoying the sea breeze.  I want to make up for my negligence of my family my whole life.  But that would be "mission impossible."  I was detained as a result of the October 29, 2008 decision by Ma Ying-jeou at the expanded intelligence meeting in the President's Office.  Chief Judge Chou Chan-chun had ruled in favor of releasing me without bail on December 12 and 18 last year, but he was replaced by Chief Judge Tsai Shou-hsun who had found Ma Ying-jeou innocent in the special fees case.  So I have been held under detention since December 29 last year until now.  Based upon the emotional language used at the detention hearings, it is clear that Tsai Shou-hsun and them hate me.  The September 11 sentence will follow the recommendations of the prosecutor to give me a life sentence and continued detention.

Q. What do you think will the result of this first trial be?  When prosecutor Lin Yi-chun asked you about whether you have a conscience, what did you think?
A. When the prosecutor asked me if I have a conscience, I thought that this must be a spatio-temporal dislocation from Lord Bao hearing cases in the city of Kaifeng during the Sung dynasty.  According to Rule 2 of Article 154 of the <Criminal prosecution laws>, the crime should be judged based upon the evidence.  Without evidence, there is no crime.  In other words, guilt is determined by evidence, not "conscience."  This is a court trial in the 21st century, not a moral trial under some ancient religion.

Q. Media reports say that your wife Wu Shu-jen wanted you to plead guilty.  Your son Chen Chih-chung even threatened to kill himself in order to force you to plead guilty.  Is that true?  You emphasized that you did not know that your wife was taking money.  Do you have any complaints against her?  Do you regret marrying her?  Do you feel that you have done wrong by your children and grandchildren?
A. The media reports say that my wife wanted me to plead guilty.  If I didn't plead guilty, she will not visit me in jail anymore.  They even said that my son threatened to kill himself in order to force me to plead guilty, etc.  These are inaccurate rumors.  In my case, I have never committed any crimes.  So what is there to plead guilty to?  My wife wrote me to say that she used to find it impossible to sleep with me snoring next to her.  Now that she is sleeping by herself, she is beginning to miss my snoring and wonders when she can hear it again.  She said that if we can still be a married couple again, she will obey me and not act brashly.  It was her brashness that caused these legal troubles for me and the whole family.   In the name of politics, she ended up in a wheelchair for my sake and I ended up in this black jail for her sake.  I don't regret marrying her, but the troubles are extending to the children and grandchildren and I am sorry for them.  A while ago, former South Korean president Kim Dae-jung passed away.  My wife wrote me especially to say that many people came to pay respect to him at his funeral, including a delegation from North Korea.  But what Kim Dae-jung and his wife regretted most of all in their lives should be the fact that their two sons were sent to jail.

Q. If you should be released, would you enter politics again?  Or would you follow the example of Chui I-jen whom you relied upon heavily to farm in Kaohsiung?  In 2012, will you publicly demand the Democratic Progress Party candidates support you?
A. If I were released, I would not enter politics again.  I have been the president already.  I would be kidding myself if I were to become the president of the Republic of China again.  I don't know how to farm.  But I can be the "special nurse" to my wife.  To severe relationships with me is an act of cowardice towards the Party, the comrades and oneself.  In 2012, I will not publicly demand the Democratic Progressive Party candidates to support me.  But I cannot believe that any Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate could publicly announce that he does not want the votes of the Ah Bian's.

Hong Kong people crossing the border into the mainland at the Nantou entry point have been terrorized by a group of about 10 AIDS patients.  These are all drug users who had infected each other through shared needles.  A Hong Kong resident named Wen recalled passing through Nantou and then had a collision with a pedestrian who was walking along with another person.  The two people pulled Wen aside and showed him ten needles, three of which were broken.  They then demanded HK$300 from Wen whom they said broke the needles.  When Wen demurred, they pulled out another needle filled with red liquid and claimed that it was HIV-infected blood; they also showed him their AIDS treatment records.  Wen ended up paying.
 
Last Thursday, a Shenzhen resident named He was extorted of 70 yuan by the same means.  He called the police and when the police stopped the two individuals, they took out their needles and AIDS treatment records and cursed the victim: "How dare you report to the police when we haven't even stabbed you yet?"  The two were taken back to the police station and released shortly afterwards because the police station has no facility to accommodate people with AIDS.

A migrant worker named Li said, "If the robbers ever stabbed me with an AIDS needle, I'll kill them for sure since I am going to die anyway." 

But here is a closer look ...

... who would you dare move into such a building?  By the way, the building even passed quality inspection.  It is located in Xiziwan, Jinsazhou, Guangzhou city, Guangdong province.

(SCMP)  Stone sorry for 'karma' comment   By Vivienne Chow.  September 8, 2009.

Hollywood star Sharon Stone has apologised for her "bad karma" comments on the Sichuan earthquake, 15 months after the incident upset Chinese communities around the world. "I'm sorry that my comments caused pain to a nation and a people. I hope my apology will be accepted and finally fully understood," Stone says in an interview in the latest edition of Hong Kong Prestige magazine.

Stone, known for her links with Tibet, made her provocative comments at the Cannes Film Festival in May last year. When asked about what she thought of the earthquake, which left 87,000 dead, she replied: "I'm not happy with the way the Chinese are treating the Tibetans because I don't think anyone should be unkind to anyone else. And the earthquake and all this stuff happened, and then I thought, is that karma? When you're not nice that bad things happen to you?"

The comments cost her a beauty ad deal with Dior in China and brought a ban on her movies. Dior subsequently released a statement quoting Stone apologising, but she later told The New York Times that the apology had distorted her words and she was not going to apologise.

In the Prestige interview, the Golden Globe-winning actress explained that last year she went through the trauma of two miscarriages and began sharing custody of one of her children.  "I forget that when I speak sometimes the whole world listens," said the American actress best known for her role in Basic Instinct.  She also praised China as a country, the hospitality of the Chinese and Chinese culture as a whole.

Stone, 51, said ageing was about "really accepting yourself and loving your age", and she loved China because it embraced this concept. "It's not the Botox capital of the world."

... a Chinese netizen has circumvented Chinese censorship and posted a set of photos from the July 5th incident in Urumqi onto Facebook.  After the photos were published, it drew attention and anger among Chinese netizens.

The person who posted the photos claimed that "the photos are authentic but the government has decided not to release them in order to keep the people in the dark.  I think that this is a very stupid thing to do."  These are detailed close-up photos of those who perished on July 5, 2009.  It would appear that most of the dead are Han, including both men and women.

With respect to the claim by the World Uighur Congress that many Uighurs were killed, the person who posted these photos had doubts because there has been no evidence (such as photos) offered to substantiate that claim.  This person also disclosed that the photos originated from the Urumqi public security bureau and he took them to the United States personally after the incident.

Although the person has concerns that "the publication of these photos will cause the Hans to become even more emotionally upset," he said that "the truth is not afraid of sunshine" and "if cruelty is the truth, then we must face it."

It should be pointed out: After the July 5th incident, the Xinjiang Publicity Department banned local media coverage of the incident because they were concerned that reporting on the bloodletting could inflame ethnic feelings.

Note: The original Facebook entry has been deleted.  Here is the alternate site (WARNING: EXTREMELY GRAPHIC).


Road Interruption Notice
Qingfeng Liuzhuang:
Dear esteemed neighbors, how are you?  In order to improve Huoxie Chongqing and Senlin Chongqing, we have to block off the original public road and turn them into our garden for better management.  For the sake of this sunshine project, we are asking that all citizens should take a detour and walk an extra two to three kilometers.  They can consider this to be good physical training.  Anyone who refuses to obey our arrangement will be beaten by the several dozen hoodlums that we have hired and who are currently hanging out the entrances.  So far, five to six people have been beaten, including one who had three broken ribs.  So dear neighbors, please don't make it tough for us!  You have been so notified.  Qingfeng Liuzhuang.  September 2009.

[ESWN Comment: This is clearly a prank.  First, this is an unsigned/unstamped letter published next to ads for room rentals, tutor services, etc.  Secondly, would any company ever boast of actually cracking ribs with hired hoodlums?  The content is therefore ridiculous.  Unlike the Internet, this notice is truly anonymous (that is, no IP address to track and no ISP to subpoena) and the original prankster may never be found.]

(Taipei Times)  Magazine lists Ma as one of world’s ‘gutsiest’ leaders.  By Ko Shu-ling.  September 7, 2009.

President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has been selected as one of the world’s “gutsiest” leaders in the September-October issue of the humorous US public affairs magazine mental_floss. The author of the article, Jennifer Drapkin, said all the people in it have had unbelievable lives.

Describing Ma as the “world’s best marriage counselor,” Drapkin said Ma shared a deeply held desire with his former dictator mentor, Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國), to “reunite” China and Taiwan. The so-called “1992 consensus” was “a masterpiece of diplomatic ambiguity” that opened up a dialogue with China and led to increased commerce “between the two nations,” Drapkin said. It also helped Ma gain a reputation as a savvy politician, which, she said “along with his general handsomeness got him elected mayor of Taipei in 1998. (In a poll of Taipei women, asking which public figure they would most like to father their children, Ma was the resounding winner.)”

After being elected president of Taiwan in March last year by campaigning on the idea of a “Great China market,” Drapkin said Ma reaffirmed his belief in “one China” and Taiwan’s relationship with China improved almost immediately. “Now, about 3,000 Chinese tourists arrive to invade Taipei’s shopping malls each day,” she said. “And when China offered Taiwan the pandas Tuan-tuan and Yuan-yuan again, President Ma gladly accepted them.”

Improved cross-strait relations also ameliorated ties with Washington, she said, adding that the global economic crisis has unfortunately dealt a blow to Ma’s administration. “But many economists believe that with money pouring in from both China and the United States, Taiwan may be on the road to recovery,” she said. Will Ma’s dream of “reuniting” Taiwan and China come true? Drapkin asked. “Many foreign affairs experts would tell Ma to keep dreaming,” she said. “Today, they are giving each other pandas. Anything is possible.”

The five “gutsiest” world leaders selected by the magazine are Ma, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Chilean President Michelle Bachelet and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni. A blogger with the nickname Tumwijuke commented on Museveni’s selection as one of the world’s gutsiest leaders as “a laugh,” saying they did not get the magazine in Uganda but he was “itching to read the misinformation contained therein.”

According to the magazine’s Web site, mental_floss is “an intelligent read, but not too intelligent — the sort of intelligence that “you hang out with for a while, enjoy our company, laugh a little, smile a lot and then we part ways.”

(TVBS)


American magazine being sarcastic when they said Ma has guts?
Blue and green camps have very different interpretations

After the Central News Agency carried this magazine article, different interpretations came up in Taiwan.  Concerning the term "Wooing China," some people were displeased and thought that this was a sarcastic barb against President Ma.  Actually, if you read the contents of the article, you will find that the author drew the analogy of China and Taiwan as an estranged couple who reviled each other and refused to speak to each other before.  But the relationship has largely recovered due to the work of the world's best marriage counselor in Ma Ying-jeou.  From this mediation, a pair of pandas were offered as gift and now the economic situation should look rosy with better cross-strait relationships.

You should read the article in detail.  There is nothing inappropriate in the choice of worlds.  Even if there are some extraneous messages, they are not as serious as netizens alleged (for example, as an "international joke").

Mental Floss magazine is intended to let people read about politics and finance around the globe written in comprehensible language and read in relaxed manner.  They never expected that the people of Taiwan would be so serious.  This one article drew two opposite interpretations, by which one can tell immediately just who is in the blue or green camp.

As always, I recommend reading the article itself instead of receiving wisdom from others.

Related Link (in Chinese): 不就是天下本無事嘛  聞.見.思.錄

(San Jose Mercury)  Cupertino council rejects resident petition to stop dog park survey this fall   September 4, 2009.

The issue of whether the City of Cupertino should allow a trial period for dogs to run free in some parks became even more contentious Tuesday when one councilman referred during discussion about meeting the needs of all park users to a sign in a Bruce Lee film that said, "No Chinese. No Dogs."

"In the United States, we used to have signs that said, 'No Mexicans. No Negroes. No Dogs.' Do we really want to go back to that?" asked councilman Mark Santoro.

Councilwoman Kris Wang, who opposes an off-leash trial period took offense, asking Santoro to clarify his remarks.

"I'm saying we need to watch out for minorities,'' he said. " Let me be clear. The minority is not the dog. ... But the dog owners are people, they are citizens and they have rights and so they are the minority here.''

Here is the Mark Santoro clip as well as the scene from the Bruce Lee movie Fists of Fury.

 

 

In the news video, Mark Santoro hemmed and hawed about the sign in the park, because he had no idea what he was talking about.  FACT: The sign did not exist in the form of "No Chinese or dogs allowed," in spite of what the Bruce Lee movie showed.

Here is the list of related published regulations at the Huangpu Park according to the historical documentation (see No Chinese Or Dogs Allowed and VDARE.com):

Park regulations (1903):
Rule 1: No dogs and bicycles are admitted.
Rule 2: No Chinese are admitted, except servants in attendance upon foreigners.

Park regulations (1913):
Rule 1: These Gardens are reserved exclusively for the foreign community.
Rule 2: No dogs and bicycles are admitted.

Park regulations (1917):
Rule 1: These Gardens are reserved for the foreign community.
Rule 3: No Persons are admitted unless respectably dressed.
Rule 4: No dogs and bicycles are admitted.

 

This video is a collection of segments from various news clippings and surveillance tapes.  The language is Turkish, but some partial English translations are included: "over 8,000 Uighurs were killed in wild style at some days ... over twenty Chineese lunches one Uighur at the street ... China Government didn't stop this massacre along days ... Except these scenes horrible massacres also happened in the Universities.  Chineese students cut heads of two Uighur girl students ... Chineese people attacks to bus which is full with Uighurs.  They lynchs people ... Here Chineese break bones of Uighurs with stones ..."  In the original news and surveillance videos, it was Uighurs attacking Chinese.  In this video, it was Chinese attacking Uighurs.  Videos serve whatever the propagandists want them to say.  You decide whom to believe here.

(China Daily)  Deadly evidence piles up in Urumqi.  By Cai Ke.  August 21, 2009.

Evidence in the case is literally weighty - nearly 400 kg of batons and bricks stained with blood, used as deadly weapons in the riot that rocked Urumqi on July 5. With trials expected to begin this month, according to a local judge, the city is holding its breath and hoping for calm. "I don't want to be reminded of what happened that day," said one mother in the city, afraid that a court ruling could ignite anger in this ethnically diverse city.

During the deadly riot on July 5, 197 people were beaten to death by predominantly Uygur rioters armed with batons and bricks. More than 1,600 were injured.  Two days later, Han Chinese took part in violence against the Uygurs. After the riot, 718 people were placed in criminal detention and 83 have been formally arrested.

Urumqi police currently have 3,318 pieces of evidence, 91 video clips and 2,169 photographs, said Chen Zhuangwei, head of the public security bureau of Urumqi.

All the evidence will be presented during trials at the Urumqi Intermediate People's Court.

Some of those video clips are beginning to show up on the Internet:

　

　

　

　

　

　

Related Link: 小筆記   Alone in the Fart


[09-02]  I just heard that around 10pm or so, a young child was grabbed by human traffickers in Qianpu.  The bodies of his parents carried knife wounds inflicted by the human traffickers.  This 3-year-old boy was grabbed and taken away in a car.  Because everything happened so quickly and the human traffickers acted really fast, it is doubtful that anyone saw the car license number.  This is truly dreadful.

Within half an hour, dozens of netizens made comments.  Some condemned the human traffickers for being so bold.  Others condemned the police for lax in maintaining security.  When a child could be seized from the hands of the parents in the middle of a street, how terrible can it get?

Yesterday afternoon, our reporter went down to the scene of the incident in Qianpu.  "Both sides were punching each other with their fists!"  The female restaurant owner next door recalled.  Her restaurant was less than 10 meters away.  Two of them were even wielding chopping knives.  "That fight scene looks like it came straight from a movie.  It is scary just to watch it!"  Then she quickly pulled down the shutters.  She has no idea what the people were fighting over.

At around 930pm on September 2, citizen Little Xia and colleagues walked past the scene and witnessed the situation -- many people were gathered in front and some of them were whispering: "Those human traffickers are bold!  They even dare to grab the boy in the middle of a street!"

At the time, the colleague Xiao Dong was walking in front and she saw a man raced across the street with a boy in his arms, flagged a taxi and sped away.  A woman then dashed out, crying while chasing the taxi.  But three or four men immediately stopped her progress.  At this time, two other men came out of the barbeque restaurant next door with chopping knives in their hands.  Very quickly, the men engaged in a brawl.  But since the two men were outnumbered, they were quickly beaten onto the ground.

What is going on?  Little Xia had a digital camera with him, and so he instinctively recorded the incident.

In this video, the reporter can see that after the fight on the sidewalk, the three or four men quickly fled the scene.  The police then came to investigate.  The reporter obtained the same account of the event from workers at a nearby hotel.  However, they had no idea about the details.

Yesterday afternoon, the reporter went to the police station to learn more about the case.  "This is rumor propagation!  The Internet poster has been arrested by the police!"  According to the militia police officer in charge of the case, there was a tug-of-war over a boy as well as a physical brawl in Qianpu that night.  However, the man who took the boy was the natural father instead of some human trafficker!

The boy is 2 years old.  The father named Yang is from Jiangxi province.  Several years ago, Yang married the woman named Liu and had a son.  However, the couple had frequently personality clashes.  Early this year, Liu left with her son to Xiamen without telling her husband.  There, she met the man named Xiao.  Shortly afterwards, Liu and Xiu went to live together in Qianpu as "husband and wife."

Recently, Yang found out the address of his wife.  So he went from Jiangxi to Qianpu to "reason" with her.  That evening, he saw his wife and his "rival" having barbeque together.  So Yang was ourtaged and brought several friends along to "hold negotiations."  The discussions led into a stalemate, whereupon Yang grabbed his son and left.  Xiao then summoned his friend over to "fight."

According to the militia police, they are recommending the two parties reconcile their difference in an amicably.  If they are unable to do so, then the custody of the boy will have to be determined by the courts.

Meanwhile, the 21-year-old woman Little Xie learned about this case less than half an hour after it happened.  "In a moment of inspiration," she made an Internet post about "human traffickers seizing a small child in the middle of the street, the family resisted but were suffered knife wounds."

The reporter noted that from that evening to noon the next day, many of the posts deplored the police for ineffectiveness in maintaining security.  As the rumor got propagated, the reputation of the local police got really sullied.  The police have detained Little Xie three days for making the inaccurate post.  The police have ordered the website to delete any such related posts.

 

 

 

 

 

At 13:50 or so on September 2, there was a demonstration by the businessmen and residents of the Little West Gate area of Urumqi.  They marched in the streets for about an hour.  According to what our reporter learned from those present at the scene, the reason of the demonstration was that the people had nabbed a suspect who was using a syringe to stab people and took him down to the police station.  However, due to lack of evidence, the police station "had to release the suspect."  This outcome upset the people.

At 10:40 or so on September 3, there was yet another "syringe attack" in the Little West Gate area of Urumqi.  By 10:50 or so, about 1,000 people had gathered to demonstrate again.

From 11:00 on, there were many different groups gathered at various places in Urumqi.  At around 12:00 or so, several tens of thousands of people converged on the Autonomous Region Party Committee office in People's Plaza, Urumqi.  These people carried Chinese national flags, and banners with words like "Defend our homes, severely punish the rioters" and so on.

At People's Plaza, Autonomous Region Party secretary Wang Lequan addressed the crowds.  He said that the government will severely punish the criminals involved in the 7.5 incident in Urumqi in accordance with the law; he said that the government will severely punish the criminals involved in the series of syringe attacks in accordance with the law; he said that the Urumqi government has set up an investigative team to study the compensation scheme for all the businesses that have suffered losses due to the 7.5 incident.

Our reporter noted that during Wang Lequan's speech, some of the marchers were emotionally excited adn even threw water bottles at the speakers.

There were no major violent acts (such as destruction of public property) during the demonstration march.

(Apple Daily)


"To retaliate against the authorities for cracking down on them,
the Uighurs recently used poisoned syringes to randomly attack people."


"On September 2, a large number of syringe attack victims
were sent to hospitals for treatment, including a young boy who died."


"During the demonstration, certain Hans and Uighurs threw rocks at each other."


Wang Lequan (right) and other Autonomous Region/Urumqi leaders on the balcony

(YouTube)

 

 

(Apple Daily)

北京中央民族大學維族副教授伊里哈木指，在 7.5事件遭暴力鎮壓，新疆推行高壓政策下，維人用扎針等方式進行報復，是可以預料到的。他認為要撫平維族人心中的傷痛，靠武力不行。

Central University of Nationalities (in Beijing) Uighur associate professor Ilham pointed out that  the 7.5 incident had been violently suppressed and Xinjiang is now under high-pressure policies now.  Therefore, it can be expected that the Uighurs should use methods such as syringe attacks to take revenge.  He believes that it is not enough to use force to heal the hurt in the hearts of the Uighur people.

研究新疆問題的漢族作家黃章晉指，「 7.5」事件後當局執迷不悟，仍然封鎖訊息，「扎針報復已流傳多時，市民大恐慌，但一直不讓報道，直至爆發，這樣豈能平民憤？」黃章晉認為，要緩和新疆目前的緊張局勢，最好就是免去王樂泉的職位，「民族政策失誤未必是他（王樂泉）造成，但只有他替罪，才有可能讓維族和漢族人民洩怨，找到和解之路。」

The Han writer Huang Zhangjin who studies the Xinjiang problem pointed out the authorities have failed to recognize their mistake after the 7.5 incident and continues to lock down information.  "The syringe revenge attacks have been circulated around for quite some time and the citizens are scared.  They wouldn't allow this to be reported until after the attacks exploded.  How can this satisfy the anger of the citizens?"  Huang Zhangjin believes that in order to calm down the tense situation in Xinjiang now, the best thing is to relief Wang Lequan from his job.  "The mistakes in the ethnic policies may not have been created by him, but only he can be the scapegoat that can relieve the angers of the Uighurs and the Hans and bring them down the road to reconciliation."

(ESWN Comments: These are extraordinary comments.  On the first comment, it would seem that most people regard it as wrong to use syringe to attack people at random and sow terror.  This is called terrorism ("premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by sub-national groups or clandestine agents").  Instead, the comment seems to justify the use of terrorism.  This is not going to convince many people.

On the second comment, Wang Lequan is proposed as the scapegoat to be sacrificed for the sake of reconciliation between the Hans and the Uighurs.  But why is Wang Lequan unsatisfactory to the Uighurs and the Hans?  Because both sides perceived Wang to be tilted towards the other side and they want someone who tilts more to their side.  Why were water bottles thrown at Wang Lequan during his speech?  Because he promised "severely punishing the criminals in accordance with the law" and the demonstrators did not consider this good enough.  To appease these Han demonstrators, the replacement would have to be even more oppressive and draconian, which would upset the Uighurs even more.  So the idea of scapegoat will only postpone the problem temporarily.  It isn't going to lead to reconciliation.)

On August 27, the <Armed Police Law> was announced in which the use of armed police forces was strictly regualted.

Yesterday, a Internet forum post entitled <The most awesome apartment sales in history: the armed police kept guard for them> became popular.  The photos in the post showed a number of people in armed police uniform maintaining order at the apartment sales site.

According to information, the photos were taken by the netizen "Shuige."  He is from Jishui but presently working in Dongguan.  Since he does not have enough to buy an apartment in Dongguan, he wanted to buy one in his hometown of Jishui county city, Ji'an city, Jiangxi province.  He said that Jishui has been expanding over the past ten years, and the population has grown from the original 50,000-60,000 to the 120,000 today.  When the Xiajiang hydroelectricity project begins, another 40,000 will move here.  Those migrants with savings are rushing into the city to buy apartments.  As a result, there is a serious shortage of commercially available apartments.

In this case, the Binjiang International City apartments asked those interested to show up before 5am on August 29 to draw lottery numbers.  According to information, people began to show up at 3am.  At around 7am, the lottery began.  Shuige said that he observed about 12 armed police officers maintaining order around the stage.  Most of them did not wear their name tags in front of their shirts.

By around 10:30am, less than 100 lucky people were selected.  But the news from inside the sales room was that most of the 300 apartment units were sold already.  The disappointed crowd outside then rushed into the sales room.  The armed police and security guards were overwhelmed, as more than 1,000 persons rushed in and started to smash the apartment models and other items to vent their rage.

How to restore order?

Half an hour later, several tall men with naked torsos showed up with knives that are more than a foot long.  According to reports, they waved their knifes and shouted: "Whoever dares to touch anything here, we will stab them to death with a single blow!"  Order was quickly restored as the crowd dissipated.

Later that afternoon, the real estate developer decided to bring out more apartments for sale to appease the angry people.

On September 2, the Jishui county Land and Real Estate Administration stated that the Binjiang International City has not been approved to sell apartments commercially as yet.  Therefore, people should not be buying these apartments.

"A couple and their four children have been murdered in Gongming district"  At just midnight yesterday, our newspaper, Jing Bao, the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone News and other media received this news tip from professional news tipster Mr. Wan.  The murder of a family of six drew the same reaction from all the news reporters: This was a big news item and they must rush out to the scene immediately.

One hour later, our reporters as well as the reporters from other newspapers were at the Gongming Street Neighborhood Administrative District.  Mr. Wan has specifically detailed the scene of the incident as "Number 16, Lane 2, East Village, Number 3 Industrial Zone, Jiahua, Gongming."  But the reporter asked the local motorcycle taxi drivers, the neighborhood safety patrol officers and even the household registration militia police.  Nobody could tell us where this place is.  It is true that the Gongming district has a Jiahua Shopping Mall, a Number Three Industrial Zone, an East Village and so on.  But they are in different places all over the district so that when you string them together, it is a fake address.

The reporter had to call the news tipster Mr. Wan again to verify the address.  Mr. Wan said that the tip came from an informant who claims to work as a security officer at a certain police station.  The reporter asked for the mobile phone of this person and managed to get through only after many tries.  The other party said, "I am right at the scene.  It is inconvenient to take your call.  The medical examiner has pronounced all the people are dead."  When asked for the details of the address, the other party became evasive and contradictory and eventually shut off the phone altogether.

But the tip was too important to give up like that!  By 2am, the various reporters have searched for more than an hour with no results.  Some reporters asked the household registration militia police to confirm that the address was fake.  They called the local police station, which had no report about any such murders.  But this time, the media determined that the murder of the family of six was a fake tip.

"I was deceived.  I feel really bad right now!"  Last night, the reporter called up the tipster Mr. Wan.  He is certain that the murder of the family of six is fake news.  He analyzed this case and he thought that there was a connection with an underground lottery that he told the media about earlier.  "The principal then forwarded a fake tip to me," because another professional tipsters also received the same tip from the "security officer."

In the Shenzhen newspaper industry, there is a small group of tipsters.  Some are professional while others are part-time.  According to the incomplete tally by insiders, there are 40 to 50 part-time/professional tipsters.  Their tips form an important part of media coverage, because the social news in the Shenzhen newspaper rely on these people to a large degree.

In this world, the "big brothers" each have certain territories and human resources.  Therefore, there are sometimes conflicts within an organization, or conflicts between organizations.  The result is often the "retaliatory fake tip" that the Shenzhen media had just experienced.  This is to be expected.

Professional tipsters usually have fixed territories.  They usually have their base in their homes and they expand outwards.  There are about 10 or so professional tipsters in Shenzhen.  Each of these "big brothers" have several dozen informants underneath them, including security officers, security guards, drivers, etc.  For each effective tip, the "big brother" will share the rewards with the informant, including: 50%/50% share of the money, meals, liquor, cigarettes, etc.  Each professional tipster clearly realizes that that he must build a system for sharing the interests in order to maintain the loyalty of the informants.  The professional tipster must also continue to find more informants in order to defend and expand his turf.

 

Ms. Chen was involved in a traffic incident and wanted to sue the other driver and her own insurance company.  Since the insurance company was located in Hanyang, she went to the court to file her case.  However, court officer Zheng Ping turned her down on the grounds that the incident did not occur within Hanyang.  Ms. Chen demanded Zheng to show the relevant regulations but Zheng refused.  Ms. Chen tried again and Zheng still refused.  The dispute then exploded.  So Zheng just ignored Ms. Chen and went to work on something else.

Meanwhile another court officer was losing her patience and began screaming at Ms. Chen.

Here is the partial transcript from the video:

01:17 (Officer) Like your mother's X.  Unclean.
         (Chen) Like your mother's X.  You must be very clean.
01:24 (Officer) Like your mother's X.
         (Chen) Like your mother's X.  You must have eaten shit.
01:30 (Officer) I am going to waste you.  You must be longing for a beating.
         (Chen) Come on.  You try me.
01:48 (Chen)  What kind of quality are you?  You sit there and make trouble.
01:49 (Officer) I want to make trouble for you.  I want to make big trouble for you.
02:03 (Officer)  You are a fucking mental case.  Unclear

...
02:49 (Chen)  Come, come, come.  You just come over there.  I am not going to back off today.
02:56 (Officer) If you don't like it, you can slug it out with me.
03:06 (Chen) You can slug it out with me.
03:06 (Officer)  You wait for me after work.  I'll beat you to death.  You X!
03:34 (Officer) Trash.
03:37 (Chen) I wasn't talking to you, so why are you interjecting?
03:47 (Officer) You are wasting my time.
         (Chen) You're the one who is wasting my time.

...
04:44 (Officer) You are bred by an X.
         (Chen) You're the one who is bred by an X.
05:23 (Officer) You wait for me after officer hours.  If you won't, then you were bred by an X.
05:26 (Chen) I am going to wait for you today.
05:33 (Officer):  Your mother's X.
05:35 (Chen): Your mother's X.
05:46 (Chen) I am going to wait for you here.
05:48 (Officer) If you won't wait for me, then I am the one who is rearing you.
05:51 (Chen) I wait for you.  Even if you want to rear me, you can't.  I don't want to be reared by a "turtle egg" like you.

All this took place in an office in which the female court workers behind the glass plate windows wore badges on their uniforms and underneath a banner that says "Serve the People."

In order to protect Chinese animated series, the State Administration of Radio, Films and Television issued regulations in September 2006 that all television stations must show only China-made animated series and not foreign import between the hours of 17:00 to 20:00 each day.  In 2008, the time period was extended to 21:00.  As a result, there are now more animated series being produced in China than in Japan.

But could quality suffer when the industry is not prepared to produce so many programs yet?

Recently, a popular Internet post  points bout that the made-in-China <The Window to the Heart> now being shown on CCTV Children Channel may be plagiarizing from the made-in-Japan <5 millimeters per second>.  As evidence, the following screen captures were shown:

The scenes are virtually identical, except for minor changes such as moving an object before a person, or having a few clouds left, or moving the position of pedestrians in the street, or inverting the scenery, or having fewer furniture pieces, or changing the color of the shoes.

According to information, <The Window to the Heart> consists of 52 chapters, each about 8-1/2 minutes long.  Through animation, it presents an intricate story that contained true emotions and deep philosophy that embodied the excellent Chinese culture.  It reflected the wonderful morality and aspiring life values such that the broad masses of people (and especially younger people) can learn about life, purification and aesthetics.  As such, it is the "chicken soup from the heart" for the maturation of young people.

Now netizens are wondering that given that the plagiarism is so blatantly obvious, might there be the wrong kind of moral and ethical lesson being given out here?

 
(In the video, the face of the girl is not blurred)

On September 1, all the Guangzhou city elementary and middle schools opened up as scheduled.  The reporter interviewed elementary school students.  One first-year elementary school students spoke about her ideal and gave a very serious answer: "I want to be a government official."  When the reporter asked, "What kind of government official would you like to be be?" this students thought for a moment and then said firmly: "A greedy corrupt official!  Because greedy corrupt officials have lots of stuff." ...

Netizen comment: Actually, this is a case of pointless hyping which is so typical of the media and reporters.  During the interview, more than a dozen children said very positive and meaningful things but the media won't make a point of it.  Instead, they seize on what this child said.  It is stupid to take any of this seriously.  This child is six or seven years old.  She has no idea what a greedy corrupt officials is.

Today, the Democratic Progressive Party Central published survey results about the Dalai Lama visit.  The survey showed that 67.2% of the people agreed that "the Taiwan visit by the Dalai Lama is religious prayer ceremony to comfort disaster victims and not a political activity."  Also, 52% of the people disagreed that that "the Dalai Lama visit to Taiwan will have a negative impact on cross-strait relations" while 39.9% agreed.

The Democratic Progressive Party said that 50.7% of the people disagree with the statement "the green camp invited the Dalai Lama to visit Taiwan for political reasons and to deliberately create a problem for Ma Ying-jeou" while 37.0% agreed.  Among the respondents, 74% of pan-green supporters disagreed with the statement; among the independent votesr, 49% disagreed and 31% agreed.

During the Dalai Lama's trip, certain groups protested and heckled him.  77.7% of the people thought that the protest activities were inappropriate while only 13.2% agreed that it was appropriate.  Even among pan-blue supporers, almost 80% think that it was inappropriate to heckle the Dalai Lama.

The survey also showed that 48.6% of the people thought that President Ma Ying-jeou should meet with the Dalai Lama while 36.3% disagreed.  Among the pan-greens, 67% thought Ma should meet; among the pan-blues, 50% think that Ma should not meet; among the independents, 38% think that Ma should meet while 36% think not.

Concerning the cancellation of the local/international press conference and the Taoyuan speech, 51.1% of the people think that "this was the result of China applying pressure on the Taiwan government" while 36.8% don't believe.  Among pan-greens, 75% agree; among independents, 46% believe and 33% don't believe.

As for the matter of "Beijing severely criticizing the Dalai Lama visit and claiming to downgrade cross-strait exchange," 79.6% of the people think that it is inappropriate for China to do so.  81% of pan-blues and 72% of independents think that the Chinese action was inappropriate.

Q1.  Job performance of President Ma Ying-jeou
22%: Satisfied
55%: Dissatisfied

Q2.  Job performance of Premier Liu Hsiao-Shuian
17%: Satisfied
63%: Dissatisfied

Q3, Are you aware that the spiritual leader of Tibet, the Dalai Lama, arrived in Taiwan yesterday night?
93%: Yes
  7%: No

Q4. Do you believe that the Dalai Lama visit is appropriate or inappropriate at this time?
38%: Appropriate
34%: Inappropriate
27%: No opinion

Q5. Do you believe that the Dalai Lama will make the cross-strait relations more tense?
39%: Yes
46%: No
15%: No opinion

Q6. Do you believe that the Dalai Lama visit is political manipulation or religious service?
52%: Religious service
30%: Political manipulation
17%: No opinion

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