Ever since the RTHK City Forum was taken over by a large bunch of angry young people, there have been frequent scenes of guests being besieged. For example, Democratic Party chairman Albert Ho was surrounded after the program last week. It took 30 police officers to escort him out safely after 20 minutes. So this week, the organizers introduced news measures to protect the guests.
First, the organizers printed 220 tickets. The audience members must get tickets to enter. Once all tickets are given out, no more persons are allowed to enter. Secondly, the police set up an "escape" lane with steel barriers so that the guests can leave safely. Thirdly, after the program finishes, the police will use steel barriers to separate the guests from the audience and leave in cars through a special car lane. This left the angry young people quite helpless. Finally, all audience members received a printed set of regulations calling for respecting people's safety and dignity.
This week, Democratic Party vice-chairperson Emily Lau and Alliance for Universal Suffrage deputy convenor Helena Wong also had their own ways of dealing with the angry young people. They kept asking the angry young people not to use foul language to express their own opinions. Helena Wong even brought up the fact that some Internet users saying that they want to rape Emily Lau. This caused people to boo her for trying to change the focus. But no matter what the audience said, these two women always shifted the discussion to violence in language.
(ATV)
0:47 Helena Wong: My mother suffers from age-related memory loss. She does not understand what you are saying. But I am very unhappy [about what you are saying]. Anyone can speak out in public space. We must respect anyone who holds a different opinion. We can say what we think, but we must not use personal attacks.
1:01 Lam Fai: Yes, somebody used foul language. But this is Hong Kong society and someone will use foul language. But foul language cannot cover up the other issues. Why do you keep saying "Don't use foul language"? What must you say ...?
1:15 Helena Wong: All this foul language are male language directed against females.
[...]
1:24 Unidentified audience member: I sincerely both that Sister Hing can lead the Democrat Party to skip the July 1st event, so that we won't get angry, so that we won't get emotionally stirred up.
1:36 Emily Lau: Do you own that demonstration march? Is that demonstration march yours? What ability and right do you have to tell someone not to participate in the demonstration march? If we march, you will use violence once more against the Democratic Party?The above television news video was heavily edited. Here is what they actually said:
Before the debate began, Emily Lau launched into a request not to use foul language. Helena Wong took over and said that it was a step forward for the Democratic Party to get the Hong Kong and Beijing governments to accept the proposal to have directly elected Legco seats and five quasi-directly elected Legco seats. Then she suddenly turned emotional, opened her eyes wide and pointed to the audience: "Recently some Internet user stated intent to rape Emily Lau. Someone else showed concern for my mother. My mother has age-related memory loss so she doesn't understand what you say. But I am very unhappy ... we women must stand up and resist non-violently ..."
At that point, Emily Lau clapped and said three times loudly: "Go, Helena! Go, Helena! Go, Helena!" Helena Wong turned to the female audience members and called out: "Female fellow students must strive!" The female audience members were quite perplexed. The moderator Tse Chi-fung interjected: "Internet speech ought to be deplored, but this may not be what those present here want to say." But Emily Lau ignored him and said: "Female fellow students don't have to be afraid, female fellow students don't have to be afraid."
Lam Fai criticized the two of overstating the issue of language violence and understating the issue of system violence. "Perhaps someone used foul language, but the true violence occurred inside the legislative council hall. It occurred during the backroom negotiations." ...
Emily Lau said that if voters don't like the Democratic Party, they can use their votes to express their discontent. Then she asked people once again to exchange opinions without using foul language. At that point, Lam Fai could not restrain himself: "Sister Hing, can you please stop making smears. You keep using individual actions to cover up the matter. I have been listening for a while. Today, I keep listening to you speak. You and Helena Wong keep telling people not to use foul language. I really didn't hear anyone use violent language here at the scene."
But Helena Wong's veins were popping. "All the foul language are male language directed at women. We must stand with the women and oppose foul language!" Tse Chi-fung also said that no audience member had used foul language today.
(The Standard) 'Sorry' seems to be hardest word. Thomas Yau and Serinah Ho. June 25, 2010.
A simmering row between veteran democrat Szeto Wah and radical lawmaker "Long Hair" Leung Kwok-hung took a turn for the worse yesterday. Szeto said he would never accept an apology from the League of Social Democrats legislator over remarks Leung had made about him. Leung, in turn, said he had no intention of apologizing in the first place.
The argument started on Monday when Leung tried to storm a Democratic Party meeting on the government's electoral reform package. Leung then accused Szeto - who had said Democrats who did not follow the party line on the package would be disciplined - of suffering from cancer of the brain. Szeto, 79, has advanced lung cancer. Leung also said Szeto was the party's guiding hand and other Democrats would not have acted on the reform package without his support.
Andrew Cheng Kar-foo, who has since quit the party, called on Leung to apologize while Democrat James To Kun-sun demanded that Leung withdraw his comment.
However, Szeto said yesterday he would not accept any apology from Leung even if he made one. "We have known each other for 20 to 30 years but I only now have come to realize what kind of person he is. He has to be responsible for what he says and I will not accept his apology even if he makes one."
Leung, however, remained adamant. "I don't want Szeto to die and I don't think what I have said will worsen his condition. I do not need to apologize."
He said those trying to turn his quarrel with Szeto into something bigger are merely trying to divide people's attention. "I was daring enough to scold [vice premier] Zhang Dejiang, dared to scold Mao Zedong, so how come I'm being insulted because I was daring to scold someone else?"
Leung said he had referred a doctor to Szeto immediately after he was diagnosed with cancer. He also said Szeto was no party saint, having once labeled several members, including Lau Chin-shek, of being secret agents of the Chinese Communist Party. He said Szeto had once called Lau a "Judas," which was a huge insult since Lau is a Christian. "Don't you think he should be the one to apologize?" he asked.
Last Monday, Legislative Councilor Leung Kwok-hung ("Long Hair") (League of Social Democrats) went to heckle the Democratic Party meeting and cursed Democratic Party elder Szeto Wah for "having cancer in his brain." Those remarks drew plenty of attention. Recently, the complete video was posted on YouTube, showing Leung Kwok-hung also insulting the other party as "fall down in the street," "idiot," and "deserves to go to hell."
This 3:48 video is titled "Legislative Councilor Long curses Uncle Wah to let cancer get into his brain." It was first uploaded early Wednesday morning and has accumulated more than 12,000 viewings by noon June 27. In the video, Leung Kwok-hung is seen leading several dozen demonstrators shouting "Szeto Wah fall in the street," "Democratic Party fall in the street" and "Albert Ho fall in the street." He also said that Szeto Wah's comment on inevitability ("If the sky wants to rain or if your mother wants to remarry") would "have karma and cancer will spread to his brain."
In the video, Leung Kwok-hung accused Szeto Wah of having been a Communist Party member in the past. He said, "Szeto Wah does not have the courage to write an autobiography because his history from the 1940's to the 1980's cannot be revealed." He also said that the Democratic Party supporters were misled by the Party and Szeto Wah for nineteen years. He said that "it was giving face to Albert Ho to tell him to fall in the street, because he ought to go to hell."
Last evening, Leung Kwok-hung told our reporter that the public can judge his words. But at this same time, he also said, "Of course I would not talk this way now."
Hailed as “a choreographer’s choreographer” by Lin Hwai-min, Helen Lai is critically acclaimed for her emotionally charged dance theatre. Her new work Tales of Two Cities tells the stories of the two most dynamic cities in China- Shanghai and Hong Kong- through the life and works of Eileen Chang, the most gifted Chinese writer to emerge in the 1940s.
Through the eyes of Eileen Chang in her twilight years, Lai re-constructs Chang’s life and times with intriguing flashbacks of her golden days and the characters she created in her masterpieces. Presented and performed by City Contemporary Dance Company, the leading modern dance company in Hong Kong, Tales of Two Cities is specially commissioned for the 2010 Shanghai World Expo.
Presented and performed by City Contemporary Dance Company (Hong Kong) A HKSAR Programme for Expo 2010 Shanghai City Contemporary Dance Company is financially supported by the Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
Here is the promotional video:
According to the copy of the restaurant bill posted on the Internet, the four customers ate: four servings of abalone with list price of 8,800 yuan each; four orders of braised truffles/shark fin soup with list price of 13,888 yuan each; four orders of South African bird's nest soup with wild honey at 9,860 each; 1980 vintage Lafitte red wine; 50-year-vintage Maotai; ... These items alone already amounted to more than 180,000 yuan. There were also some other miscellaneous items such as beef with pepper, braised tofu, etc which were offered for 0 yuan. The customer signed the bill for the round sum of 200,000 yuan.
Could this be real? Many netizens have their doubts, because they think that this is yet another promotional gimmick.
From the telephone number listed on the bill, our reporter contacted the restaurant and spoke to the manager named Yang.
Manager Yang confirmed that this was true. He told the reporter what happened: "There were four customers who showed up for lunch. They ate so late that the restaurant workers had to work overtime. They drank a lot. For some reason, they got into an argument with the servers. The attitude of patrons is that if you don't think that we can afford it, we will deliberately make it hard on you. So this patron had two carloads of one yuan bills delivered to pay the bill. He wanted to cause us grief [by counting the money bills one at a time]."
This restaurant specializes in serving bird's nest, abalone and shark fin, with an average expenditure of 1,500 to 2,000 yuan per capita. The patrons are mostly coal mine owners, company bosses, etc. Apart from the food and wine, the restaurant also imposes a 10% service charge. They provide side dishes and fruits for free.
Is this a promotional gimmick by this restaurant? Our reporter tried hard but was unable to reach this "most awesome restaurant patron ever."
(Tianya Forum via MITBBS) Let me gossip about the secret truth about why the Chongqing Hilton was ordered to close for rectification. By Liu Feifei. June 21, 2010.
This is half-time during the Brazil match, so let me tell you about the secret truth about why the Chongqing Hilton was ordered to close for rectification.
Any clear-headed person would know that this was not a standard police action against prostitution activities. After all, prostitution and gambling are far too common inside hotels! Previously, the Yunmeng Pavilion at Grand World and the White House at Wanhao were raided because criminal organizations were involved ... The Chongqing Hilton is a foreign hotel which the city government would not dare to touch. Please notice that the Chongqing Hilton was ordered this time to close down completely for rectification! This means that the target was not just a certain night club inside the hotel. From this, it can be seen that Hilton must have crossed certain senior leaders to deserve this outcome.
I won't say anymore except to forward a piece of social gossip, ha!
Recently BXL (=Chongqing Party Secretary Bo Xilai) invited a senior official to participate in an activity. This person stayed at the Chongqing Hilton without registering. Police officers came and asked him to register. He refused and the police told him that he cannot stay. There may have been some clashes. That leader was definitely unwilling to show his ID. In the end, BXL summoned Lao Wang (=Chongqing police chief) for a lecture!
Next thing was the Chongqing Hotel being ordered to close for rectification. The city government was able to find a whole bunch of specific reasons! Involvement of criminal figures, allowing prostitution, ...
This incident has caused one district deputy director and one public safety square captain to lose their jobs.
The above is strictly social gossip. If it happens to correspond to the truth, it is purely coincidental, ha ha!
(Economic Observer) By Zhang Xiaohui. June 24, 2010.
Our reporter has learned from many persons over at Chongqing Morning Post that one of their reporters has been sent to labor reform by the relevant government department for spreading inappropriate talk at Tianya Forum about the case of the Chongqing Hilton shareholder being involved in criminal activities.
Three Chongqing Morning Post reporters were involved. Two of those reporters were summoned by the police for interrogation about inappropriate talk within a QQ chat group. The other reporter is under the control of the relevant department for issuing inappropriate content related to the case at the Tianya Forum.
At present, Chongqing Morning Post has asked its workers to maintain silence on the matter. At the same time, senior Chongqing Morning Post leaders have been in contact with the relevant government department to resolve the problems.
Our reporter learned from various channels that the two Chongqing Morning Post reporters who had been summoned for interrogation are back at work again. The reporter who was sentenced to labor reform has a more serious case and may be prosecuted under the law. This information has not been confirmed officially.
The relevant Chongqing government department has not disclosed the details of this case to the outside world.
Our reporter will continue to follow up on this case.
(Beijing News) June 25, 2010.
Yesterday it was reported on the Internet that a reporter was sent by the Chongqing police to labor reform for making inappropriate talk. The Chongqing police said that this person was spreading rumors that disrupt social order. However, the police is only in the process of investigating the case and there was nothing about any labor reform. The Chongqing Morning News said last night that "no reporter or worker has been dealt with by the police."
Yesterday an informed source confirmed to our reporter that Chongqing Morning Post reporters Chen Songbo, Jiu Jinyi and website worker Liao Yi are under police investigation. At this time, Chen and Jiu have resumed working while Liao is still being investigated. Our reporter found out that at 3:46am June 21, a netizen nicknamed "Liao Feifei" posted some information at the Tianya Forum about the Chongqing Hilton case.
...
According to an informed source, the post was deleted on June 21. Liao Feifei, who first registered at the Tianya Forum in 2007, has not made any more posts since then.
(Southern Metropolis Daily) By Liu Wei. June 25, 2010.
Our reporter checked Liu Feifei's Tianya online history. He was online most recently at 9:59am on June 21. His last comment was: "My post on the inside story of the Chongqing Hilton has been deleted. I can only find a Baidu cache copy. I am too lazy to re-post it, besides I don't want to be invited to drink tea."
According to some Chongqing colleagues, Liao was summoned by the police for interrogation on that day.
Our reporter has attempted to contact many Chongqing Morning Post reporters to confirm this story, but they all said "It is inconvenient to discuss this matter at this time."
Yesterday afternoon, our reporter called the Chongqing Morning Post chief editor's office about the case. "We are not clear about this case and we haven't heard anything about an announcement." Later a newspaper leader said that the newspaper is cooperating with the police. He said that the so-called story about a reporter being sent to labor reform was false and the media should not believe that. However, he did not deny that their reporters are being investigated by the police.
Yesterday evening, Chongqing Morning Post made an announcement.
Announcement from the Chongqing Morning Post:
On June 24, there was a story on the Internet that "A Chongqinq Morning Post reported to be sentenced to labor reform for inappropriate speech." Our newspaper makes this solemn announcement: No Chongqing Morning Post reporter or worker has been dealt with by the police. We hope that all media organizations will solemnly follow professional ethics and not disseminate inaccurate information based upon speculation. Our newspaper reserves the right to hold such persons legally responsible.
Heavy promotion of AV actress: Do MOP, Baidu and other websites know anything about social responsibility? Opinion essay by Jiang Bojing. June 22, 2010.
"Best selections from the works of Sola Aoi 2001-2008," "A letter from Sola Aoi to Chinese Internet users," "Sola Aoi, someone that you have to know if you are a man," "Why is the ugly woman Sister Phoenix getting unmatched popularity after cursing out Sola Moi" ... these is just a small selection of stories about Sola Aoi at the MOP forum on June 21.
It seemed that MOP has taken a liking to Sola Aoi. I don't know what payout Sola Aoi's China trip is for 9you.com [to promote an online game] or how much more traffic she would bring to MOP, but I do know the most important point: these heavy promotions of Sola Aoi have nothing to do with social responsibility. For these companies, corporate social responsibility means nothing but a piece of waste paper.
At Baidu's Sola Aoi forum, there are 48,907 posts with 871,940 comments. These numbers are also increasing continuously with most of them about people's feelings after watching Sola Aoi's videos. Is it legal to promote illegal material? I am not sure. I only have problems understanding Baidu's position. Is Baidu's tolerance 'excessive'? No matter what, Baidu has provided everybody (male and female, young and old) with the opportunity to gain full knowledge of Sola Aoi. I don't know if this kind of promotion is legal or not. But I do know that it is irresponsible.
At the MOP forum, <Someone you have to know if you are a man> was very explicit and <Photo album: Sola Aoi's microblog is hacked, her frail body is hardly a 'deadly chest weapon'> may be suitable only for adults. I am worried about what happens when adolescents come across these things. Today, sex education for adolescents is seriously held back even as the number of sex products available to adolescents is increasing. This is why Chinese adolescents are "abnormally premature"!
'While attending a function with Sola Aoi, Sister Phoenix said "Sola Aoi is a whore" and that offended innumerable netizens. Compared to the "People's artist" Sola Aoi, Sister Phoenix does not appear to have done anything apart from polluting the Internet with her not-very-pretty face.' This was how an essay at the MOP forum began. The title "People's artist" is truly stunning.
It is the current situation among certain Internet companies in China to have no corporate ethics and social responsibility. Certain Internet leaders in western suits can give various kinds of talk in forums, but Sola Aoi has now exposed their true beings. To a certain extent, we ought to thank Sola Aoi because she let us see the true nature of certain Internet companies: they care only about monetary profits and nothing about social responsibility.
When I first started to criticize the Sola Aoi fad at MOP, people were heaping scorn on me as if I was a conservative, stubborn and extremist moral guardian. Actually, I think that they know exactly what the truth is. Let me give an example: On a certain street somewhere, there are many sex shops. If many children visit these shops, will there be an impact? People who don't have children won't appreciate this problem. To exaggerate, if you are an adult, you can ingest things with plenty of sex hormones; but if you are a child, you cannot cope because you will get an Adam's apple and a beard at a very young age and that would be detrimental to your health.
Men are different from women. Old people are different from young people. Do those websites which are heavily promoting Sola Aoi know what is social responsibility? You must know, but you are pretending that you don't.
(This is the opinion of one netizen and does not represent the position of People.com.cn)
MOP, Baidu and other websites? What other websites? Here is the screen capture of this essay. On the right hand side, there is a advertisement linking to the 9you.com website. The featured female is none other than Sola Aoi. How is that for hypocrisy? How is that for wanting the moral high ground and the advertising revenue at the same time?
The retired government cadre Zhu Peiliang of Qujing county, Yunnan province was able to use his special body functions to predict earthquakes accurately on 12 occasions between March and May this year. This feat has drawn broad attention and sensationalism inside and outside China. From May 27 to June 13, Zhu has also successfully predicted five earthquakes inside and outside China forty-eight hours ahead of time. He even successfully predicted three earthquakes within the same day at different locations.
On May 26, the Qujing City Earthquake Administration's prediction department director named Lu met with Old Zhu after reading that Old Zhu can make earthquake predictions through his special physical abilities. They asked Old Zhu to inform the Earthquake Administration about future big earthquakes for their reference.
On May 27, Zhu Peiliang sensed that there would be two earthquakes in the same direction within 48 hours At 9:58am on May 27, he informed director Lu and our reporter: within 48 hours, there will be two earthquakes magnitude 5 or higher in the southerly direction.
On the afternoon of May 27, there was a 5.1 magnitude earthquake in Costa Rica. In the early morning of May 28, there was a magnitude 7.0 earthquake in Vanuatu. Our reporter checked the earthquake database at the Chinese Earthquake Administration and verified these earthquakes. Director Lu also verified it independently and then replied to Old Zhu: "Old Zhu, there was a magnitude 7.0 earthquake at 1:14am on May 28, in Vanuatu, latitude 17.7, longitude 66.5. Your senses are really accurate."
Zhu Peiliang said frankly: "In the past, I only did individual earthquake predictions. I am now able to make multiple earthquake predictions because I receive multiple earthquake precursor signals both strong and weak, I evaluate the various signals and I determine the directions and magnitudes. During the process, various signals will continue to pour in. I will receive continuous sensory signals until the earthquake occurs."
Zhu Peiliang said: "In the past, I was pretty good in terms of the timing and magnitude but the direction was hard to predict. In the first 12 predictions, I could only indicate the general direction. In the five predictions after May 27, I could determine the tectonic plates under which the earthquakes would occur. The next point of emphasis will be to work on the prediction of the locations."
Our reporter saw that Zhu Peiliang has obtained many books on geology, such as <World Geological Structure>, <Chinese Geography>, <Earth Physics>, <The Shifting of Continental Tectonic Plates>, etc. He is combining geological knowledge with his own unique physical abilities to accurately predict earthquake locations. He said: "I must dedicate myself to study the earthquake locations because that is where earthquake prediction can have practical value."
He also told the reporter that he is presently approaching the World Guinness Records' Shanghai office to enter his feats of using his physical abilities to predict earthquakes into the record books.
Okay, how hard is it to predict big earthquakes (that is, magnitude 5 or higher) within 48 hours in a general direction? Here is the data on the number of earthquakes per year according to the United States Geological Surveys:
Year Number of earthquakes in magnitude range 8.0 to 9.9 7.0 to 7.9 6.0 to 6.9 5.0 to 5.9 5.0 to 9.9 1970 0 20 110 1,195 1,325 1971 1 19 112 1,331 1,463 1972 0 15 110 1,316 1,441 1973 0 13 95 1,331 1,439 1974 0 14 99 1,312 1,425 1975 1 14 107 1,447 1,569 1976 2 15 114 1,649 1,780 1977 2 11 89 1,686 1,788 1978 0 16 93 1,526 1,635 1979 0 13 100 1,366 1,479 1980 1 13 105 1,299 1,418 1981 0 13 90 1,168 1,271 1982 0 10 85 1,425 1,520 1983 0 14 126 1,673 1,813 1984 0 8 91 1,579 1,678 1985 1 13 110 1,674 1,798 1986 1 5 89 1,665 1,760 1987 0 11 112 1,437 1,560 1988 0 8 93 1,485 1,586 1989 1 6 79 1,444 1,530 1990 0 18 109 1,617 1,744 1991 0 16 96 1,457 1,569 1992 0 13 166 1,498 1,677 1993 0 12 137 1,426 1,575 1994 2 11 146 1,542 1,701 1995 2 18 183 1,318 1,521 1996 1 14 149 1,222 1,386 1997 0 16 120 1,113 1,249 1998 1 11 117 979 1,108 1999 0 18 116 1,104 1,238 2000 1 14 146 1,344 1,505 2001 1 15 121 1,224 1,361 2002 0 13 127 1,201 1,341 2003 1 14 140 1,203 1,358 2004 2 14 141 1,515 1,672 2005 1 10 140 1,693 1,844 2006 2 9 142 1,712 1,865 2007 4 14 178 2,074 2,270 2008 0 12 168 1,768 1,948 2009 1 16 142 1,700 1,859 For example, in 2009, there were 1,859 magnitude or higher earthquakes around the world. This is more than 10 on the average for any 48-hour period. So it isn't easy to lose if you say that there will be one within the next 48 hours. It is a lot harder for you to say that there will be a magnitude 8.0 earthquake centered in Wenchuan (Sichuan) within the next 48 hours. Nobody has been able to do that accurately so far.
(The Standard) Child-friendly fair will by the book. By Vivian Chui. July 24, 2010.
The organizer of this year's book fair has vowed to keep it family-oriented and will ban any activity deemed to be "in poor taste." The Trade Development Council's decision is in reaction to a public outcry at last year's fair over the presence of scantily clad models at book-signing promotions as well as other activities deemed "vulgar." A council spokesman said yesterday the aim of the fair is to promote a healthy reading culture with youngsters as the target audience. While book-signing and autograph sessions will still be allowed, organizers will ensure they do not offend public morality, he added.
Even though book-signing promotions were held in rooms separate from the main area last year, many still felt them to be unsuitable for the fair. According to the council, there have been more than 130 applications for book-signing sessions this year, with fewer than 10 refused so far.
(Ming Pao)
The books with a RED box have already been rejected for autograph sessions; the titles with a GREY box are still pending.According to Hong TDC media/PR spokesman Cheung Chi-fai, the Hong Kong Book Fair Cultural Activities Advisor Group consists of 13 persons from the cultural, publishing, education and media sectors. Yesterday morning, the group met and decided to reject 10 applications for autograph sessions. Cheung declined to identify the names of the advisors or the review process and details. When asked what constitutes "bad influence" and "poor taste," Cheung did not provide a direct answer but only said: "Newspapers have labeled certain photo album principals as 'goddesses' or 'explosive.' Everybody knows whether this is vulgar or not."
Cheung said that the TDC has begun notifying those publishing houses that intend to release photo albums to change their promotional methods at the risk of being asked to remove those books. When asked whether this was restricting freedom of expression, Cheung said denied this: "The Book Fair permits the sale of such books. Our new approach is to ensure that the Book Fair maintains a healthy image with autograph sessions being suitable for all."
According to Chrissie Chau's manager Roy, the original plan was to hold an autograph session for <Les Vacances d'Amour>. They were surprised to learn about the rejection of their application. He criticized the organizers for rejecting the book on the grounds of "bad influence or poor taste" without even reading the book itself. This was "a hypocritical sham." Krissie Chau said that this decision was like the one about the Statue of David several years ago. She asked: "What are the judging standards for these advisors? They made a decision without even seeing the book. This is dumb and asinine."
Leung Man-tao was last year's Hong Kong Book Fair Ambassador. He said that he was not even aware that the TDC had formed a "Cultural Activities Advisor Group." He asked: "How do you decide what is bad influence or poor taste? If the TDC wants to establish a healthy image for the Book Fair, they can put in more resources to promote new foci, instead of not allowing certain publications to be promoted."
On May 12, 15, 16, 19, 22 and 25, 2010, there were a dozen or so incidents at the Water Cube Spa in Weishi county, Henan province in which young girls were forced to have sex with clients. Fifty to sixty female students from three middle schools were lured to go down to the Water Cube Spa where they were raped. According to the parents, the female students were lured to have free baths at the spa. Nude photos were taken after the rapes. The female students were told to bring their classmates down upon threat of having their nude photos posted in the streets and sent to their schools and parents.
Many of the parents were afraid to go to the police for fear of retaliation as well as the consequences for their daughters. Some stubborn parents went to the police which ignored those complaints even though the police are supposed to solve crimes and protect the people. Some parents contacted the <Dahe News>, <Henan Commercial Press> and other Beijing-based media. When those reporters came to Weishi county, the local government and the public security bureau not only did not facilitate their investigations, but they did everything possible to interfere and threaten. Those reporters left empty-handed and frustrated.
On June 7, an Internet post titled "Henan province Weishi county government officials and businessmen patronise prostitutes, young girls forced to become sex slaves" appeared. The post spread quickly across the Internet. There was no response from the Weishi county government until yesterday when an official bulletin titled <Weishi county public security bureau takes down two criminal organizations which forced young girls to prostitute themselves> appeared on the Weishi county government website.
According to the official bulletin, the incidents began in March this year. The public security bureau first learned about about these incidents on the afternoon of May 22 when a middle school student named Ma went to the police station in the company of the school principal. According to Ma, she was forced to prostitute herself on May 21. At 21:00 on May 23, two other middle school students named Wu and Zhang filed police reports in the company of their guardians to say that they and their classmate named Gao were taken by three women to the Water Cube Spa and forced to prostitute themselves.
According to the official bulletin, the Weishi county public security bureau formed a special investigation squad consisting of 25 police officers. On May 22, the police arrested the suspect named Bian at 9:00pm. On June 1, the police arrested three suspects named Yang, Qin and Hou.
The Internet post had said that teachers were involved in the criminal ring. However, the police found that there were two separate criminal organizations consisting of unemployed persons. One organization consisted of Ding (25-years-old, female, unemployed, currently a fugitive), Yang (17-years-old, unemployed), Qin (17-years-old, unemployed) and Hou (17-years-old, unemployed) who were involved in two incidents at the Water Cube Spa and two incidents at the Ruixin Hotel since March 2010. The other organization consisted of Bian (17-years-old, unemployed) and Li (18-years-old, unemployed) who were involved in one incident at the Yunlong Hotel on the afternoon of May 21, 2010.
On June 6, a 42-year-old factory owner named Huang was arrested for hiring a young prostitute. The official bulletin cites five separate incidents. It is not clear if Huang was responsible for all five incidents.
The Internet post claimed that 50 to 60 students were forced to prostitute themselves. According to the official bulletin, there were three students who filed police reports plus two more for a total of five victims.
According to the official bulletin, Weishi county wants to ensure that "such incidents do not recur." A work group has been formed to oversee school safety as well as supervise entertainment venues and special occupations. The Water Spa Cube and the Ruixin Hotel are closed, but the Yunlong Hotel is still open.
Yesterday, Southern Metropolis Daily interviewed Weishi county party publicity department director Yan Shengli. He said that the public security bureau had already formed a special investigative squad and arrested five criminal suspects even before the Internet post appeared. But they were not sensitive enough about Internet reactions and did not make a timely response. It is only now that they are making a disclosure of the case details in order to clarify the largely inaccurate Internet stories. Yan Shengli held out two stacks of printed materials and said to our reporter: "You look at how scary these headlines sound."
On June 21, CCTV news announcer Qiu Qiming conducted an interview with a Jiangxi government official about the floods there. The 3:50 video clip has become highly popular on the Internet. Over at the Sina.com microblog, the video was linked 1.7 million times with 5,000 comments.
The segment appeared at 23:42 on June 21 in the CCTV news program <24 hours>. The host Qiu Qiming conducted a telephone interview lasting 3:50 minutes with deputy director Ping of the Jiangxi Disaster Prevention Command Center. About five hours before this, there had been a breach in the Kaidi dyke which could affect the 145,000 persons in five towns downstream.
During the program, Mr. Ping first described the area covered by the Kaidi dyke. Then he recited the history of dyke breaches there. Next he said that the Jiangxi province Communist Party Secretary and Governor were all concerned and gave many directives by telephone to protect the safety of the masses at all cost.
At about 1:52 minutes into the interview, Qiu Qiming got tired of listening to this and interrupted Mr. Ping: "But this is what ought to be done." Then he switched to ask about the area affected by this breach and asked: "Are the masses who live downstream going to be threatened? If so, have they been safely evacuated?" So Mr. Ping began to list the "important directives" from the State Disaster Prevention Command Center deputy commander-in-chief, the Water Works department head, the State Disaster Prevention Command Center secretary-general, the Water Works department deputy director, the Jiangxi Province Disaster Prevention Command Center deputy commander-in-chief and the Jiangxi Province Water Works department director.
At about 2:50 minutes into the interview, Qiu Qiming interrupted Mr. Ping's presentation again: "I really want to know if the masses living downstream have been evacuated."
This particular video was posted, re-posted and linked on the Internet. A simple "But this is what ought to be done" and the two interruptions of the government official to ask about the safety of the masses made Qiu Qiming immensely popular among netizens. Yesterday afternoon, Qiu Qiming opened a Sina.com microblog. Within several hours, he has more than 5,000 followers.
Previously, Qiu Qiming had been known for his on-air sayings. For example, on November 9, 2009, Qiu Qiming said: "But the wages of the Chinese people have also been increasing" and was roundly criticized.
Southern Metropolis Daily interviewed Qiu Qiming about that <24 hours> interview. He said that it was an emergency news story for which a telephone interview was required. "I read the news story, I learned about the situation and I thought that I needed to make sure that the most important information gets out." Qiu Qiming said. "Actually, I only wanted him to answer my question. All I want was to get that answer. But director Ping did not understand, or perhaps he was tense."
Qiu Qiming said that he was somewhat im
On the morning of June 18, a Guangdong netizen posted an audio recording of a conversation with a government worker at the Legal System Office (Guangzhou city). The netizen said that at 11:30am, he and a female apartment owner represented several thousand residents in their neighborhood to deal with an administrative review. But the worker told them: "Come back in the afternoon. We won't take on any case after 11:30am."
"The state regulations are that public servants work until noon in the morning. How come they won't accept the case half an hour before that? In the audio recording, a person with a local accent began to lose control of himself and started to road: "I am done explaining to you. We work between 11:30am and 12:00n, but I just won't take on your case." "How dare you criticize our internal work? You cannot make any criticisms. The netizen that they pointed out that the action broke the regulations for public servants. Furthermore the person should not be yelling at citizens. However, the person replied, "This is how I am. What can you do to me?" Another public servant on the side threatened the netizens with "Call the security guards" and "Call the police." The netizen said that the loud dispute that took place between 11:30am and 12:00n did not draw any questions from the leaders in the city Legal System Office.
Here is the transcript:
Netizen: May I ask which leader are you? Can you tell me your name?
Worker: What are you making noise about? What are you making noise about? The family name is Peng. The name is Peng Hui. What about it?Netizen: Why won't you accept?
Worker: Don't we have to review it? Don't we have to file it?Netizen? I don't care if you have to review and file it. Those are your internal procedures. You cannot refuse to accept the case during the legally mandated office hours.
Worker: How care you criticize our internal work? You cannot make any criticisms.Netizen: You are being paid by the taxpayers. You must accept monitoring and criticisms.
Worker: What taxpayers' money am I taking? So what if we don't accept your case?Netizen: What time is it now? 11:35am. And you won't accept the case. What is the reason?
Worker: Are you yelling about? What are you so loud?
Another worker: If you make noise again, we'll call the security guards! Public servant Peng, call the security guards, call the police!Yesterday evening, the Guangzhou City Legal System Office director told our reporter that the matter is under investigation.
So here it is in quotes on the front page of the French sports newspaper L'Equipe:
Don't read French? You can see what they say in English.
Striker Nicolas Anelka was thrown off France's World Cup squad after reportedly insulting coach Raymond Domenech. French Football Federation vice president Noel Le Graet told France's RTL radio the decision was made after Anelka refused to apologize.
"Faced by the refusal of the player to publicly apologize, (FFF president Jean-Pierre Escalettes) took the decision in total agreement with the coach and the official members of the delegation present in Knysna to exclude Nicolas Anelka from the squad," the FFF said in a statement. "He will leave the French team camp this evening."
(Reuters)
Striker Nicolas Anelka was kicked out of France's World Cup squad for insulting coach Raymond Domenech and refusing to apologise, the French Football Federation said. Anelka insulted Domenech in a crude manner at half-time of a 2-0 defeat by Mexico on Thursday in Polokwane.
Anelka's insults towards Domenech came after the coach had criticised the player's attitude on the pitch against Mexico before deciding to take him off for the second half. The player reacted by saying he had words with Domenech but denied having said the foul-month comments attributed to him by French sports daily L'Equipe.
"I have a lot of respect for France and for all my team mates, I insist on that," Anelka was quoted as saying on the website of French daily France Soir. "I wish to state that the words printed in the press were not my words. I did have a heated conversation with the coach in the secrecy of the locker room, between the coach and myself, in front of my team mates and the staff. It should never had come out of the locker room."
France and Chelsea striker Nicolas Anelka unleashed a volley of insults at coach Raymond Domenech after being criticised at half-time of the 2-0 World Cup defeat to Mexico, L'Equipe newspaper reported on Saturday. Anelka told Domenech to "go screw yourself, dirty son of a whore" in the dressing room at the Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane after the coach took issue with his first-half performance, the report said.
The tirade was sparked after Domenech told Anelka to stop straying out of position in a match where the striker was one of France's worst performers, L'Equipe said, without citing its source. When Anelka took issue with the criticism, Domenech threatened to substitute him, and the player made his foul-mouthed outburst. Domenech's response was immediate. "OK. You're coming off," the coach said, according to the report, and he replaced him with Andre-Pierre Gignac for the second half.
Chelsea star Nicolas Anelka was THROWN OUT of the World Cup by France yesterday for an obscene dressing-room outburst against his manager. Team-mates were stunned at half time during Thursday's 2-0 defeat by Mexico as the moody striker snapped at Raymond Domenech: "Go and get f****d, you dirty son of a whore."
French skipper Patrice Evra raged against a spy in the French camp last night after Nicolas Anelka was sent home over his dressing room bust-up with boss Raymond Domenech. The Chelsea striker yelled: “F***off, you dirty son of a whore”. But his team-mates have leapt to the Chelsea striker’s defence.
Manchester United star Evra said: “The problem isn’t Anelka, it’s the traitor among us. He is really hurt, disgusted. It could be the players, the staff, but it’s someone within the group who wants to harm us.”
Somehow none of the above managed to provide a literal translation of L'Equipe's front page quotation.
What about the Chinese newspapers?
(HSW)
During the half-time break, Domenech criticised the performance of Anelka and said that Anelka would be replaced by Gignac. Anelka got very angry and said nasty things to the coach: "You son of a bitch, you don't deserve to be the coach." (你个婊子养的，不配当主教练。)
Anelka's public insult of coach Domenech was exposed by L'Equipe. He even said disrespectful words such as "You dirty son of a bitch!" (你这个肮脏的婊子养的！)
(Titan) The Secrets Behind Bitch Gate. June 20, 2010.
... then a breath-taking scene took place in the locker room. "You go XXX yourself (related to sex)! Dirty son of a XX... ..." (你自己去XXX(与性有关)吧，肮脏的XX养的……)
During half time, Domench made his tactical adjustments and reminders. He told Anelda: "You are not spending enough time within the penalty box. You should not be roaming all over the place against the strategic discipline. If you don't do better in the second half, you will be replaced!"
So did the Chelsea forward lose his head? His shocking answer was: "Va te faire enculer, sale files de pute!"
The media translated the second part of the sentence in which Anelka cursed the coach: "You son of a bitch." (你这个婊子养的) The media did not translate the first part "va te faire enculer." It means: "You go get fucked in the arse." (你去被插屁眼吧) A gentler way is to say: "You drop dead." (那么应该是你去死吧)
(World Journal) June 19, 2010
On June 18, New Century Press (Hong Kong) announced that it will not publish the "June 4th Diaries" by Li Peng. World Journal conducted an interview.
Q: We just heard that New Century Press will not be distributing Li Peng's "June 4th Diaries." What prompted you to make this decision?
A: In one sentence: it was based upon the copyright information provided before publication by the relevant department. Under the copyright law in Hong Kong, we have no choice but to cancel publication.Q: Do you mean that the original author or Li Peng himself came out to state that the copyright does not belong to New Century Press? Is this what you mean by "copyright information provided by the relevant department"?
A: I am unable to provide you with more detailed information on which "department" or what "information."Q: Actually everybody recognized that there could be a problem. So what were your considerations before you decided to go ahead with publication?
A: Our considerations to publish were: First, when we decided to publish, there was no legal issue. We had reason to believe that Li Peng wrote the book and wanted to publish it, but his publishing rights were denied by a third party (namely, the Chinese Communist Politburo). The law does not stipulate whether the publisher house can publish or not under these circumstances. As an independent publishing house, we have to balance the limitations set by the Chinese Communist Politburo on one side and the intention of the author, the historical value of the work and the wishes of general public on the other side. It was therefore a natural (and careful) decision to proceed.Q: So those considerations that you mentioned above no longer prevail?
A: The present situation is this: The Chinese Communist Politburo has forbidden the book to the published and the author has to obey. As a result, the material will have to be sealed up forever and never see the light of day. The decision to publish had only one purpose: to break the deadlock and liberate the manuscript. Of course, how can there not be any risks? For example, the original author may say that he owns the copyright and he had never authorized its publication. But even if this worst outcome took place, the manuscript will have been liberated and the public will have obtained the historical materials coming from the principals. Our publishing house is willing to apologize, cease printing and pay royalties as the price. But many things changed after the media reports appeared. Regrettably, the opportunity is gone to publish the manuscript that had been analyzed and studied carefully by experts and scholars and that we were willing to accept responsibility for its publication.Q: Some people say that your manuscript was of unknown provenance and contained a number of inexplicable points of doubt. You are not confident about the veracity of the book so you want to publish it for the purpose to determining its veracity. As such, this violates professional ethics in publishing. What do you say?
A: It is inaccurate to say that "we want to publish this book in order to check its veracity." We publish the book because we believe the diaries are real and we are willing to be responsible. But we cannot guarantee that every reader will accept our point of view on the veracity of the book because of the complexity of the material book. After the book is officially published, the broad masses of readers can read it. I am sure that some of the doubts of the readers will be gradually dissolve. Someone once said: "What is real cannot be made false; what is false cannot be made real." That is what this is.ESWN Comment:
(World Journal) Why was Li Peng's June 4th Diaries suddenly canceled. In Bao Pu's statement, he mentioned two factors: (1) Hong Kong copyright laws; (2) copyright information provided by a relevant department. According to analysts, the only "copyright information" possible is that Li Peng admitted that the copyright belongs to him. So if Li Peng did not ask Bao Pu to publish the book, there will be legal troubles.
Well, that is not true because there are other possibilities.
In Bao Pu's original ideal world, he publishes the book first. If Li Peng protests and threatens/takes legal action, Bao Pu will "apologize, cease printing and pay royalties." By then "the cat will be let out of the bag" already.
Of course, Bao Pu is being "simple and naďve." The as-yet-unpublished book began with a media blitz so that everybody knows about it. Then Li Peng sends a letters, which can be one of two things:
(A) I am Li Peng, the purported author of these so-called diaries. I never wrote those diaries and I am telling you here and now. Let me repeat: I DID NOT WRITE THOSE DIARIES!!! Now that you know this, you will be knowingly and intentionally violating my personal rights if you proceed with publication.
(B) I am Li Peng and I am the author of those diaries. However, I have never intended them to be published under any circumstances. You have never received and you will never receive authorization from me to publish those diaries. I state this in very certain terms. Let me repeat: I DO NOT AUTHORIZE THE PUBLICATION OF THOSE DIARIES!!! Now that you know this, you will be knowingly and intentionally violating my personal rights if you proceed with publication.
It makes not difference whether (A) or (B) is true. The net result: NO PUBLICATION. Publication means that Bao Pu is knowingly and intentionally violating the rights of Li Peng; in Case (A), Bao Pu would also be committing consumer fraud.
The difference is this. If Bao Pu had gone ahead with no pre-publication publicity and the book just shows up on the bookstore shelves one morning, Li Peng could only take legal action after the fact. Then Bao Pu can "apologize, cease printing, withdraw distributed copies and pay royalties/damages." But this book was preceded by a massive media campaign before publication. Bao Pu may or may not have wanted it this way, but the media have minds of their own. So Li Peng sends him a pre-publication letter of advice. This is probably accompanied by a letter of opinion from a relevant Hong Kong government department that Bao Pu would be "knowingly and intentionally" breaking the law now instead of just "unknowingly and innocently" before. Publication is indefensible now and the consequences are much more severe.
That is the difference.
I have listed the title of this post as "Potential Best Fiction Seller Of The Year Has Been Withdrawn From Market". Now I don't know if Li Peng actually wrote these diaries or not. If Li Peng did not write these diaries, this book is fictional; if Li Peng wrote these diaries, the book is still fictional. That is because I happen to think that almost all politicians are professional self-serving liars. Go read Richard Nixon, Henry Kissinger, Dick Cheney, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, Winston Churchill, John Howard, Rudi Giuliani, Richard Blumenthal, Christine Todd Whitman, Sarah Palin, Raúl Salinas de Gortari, Adolf Hitler, Chen Shui-bian, ... [For an exception, try reading Dag Hammarskjöld's Markings.]
On May 26, there was a public notice at the Changchun city government purchasing website. According to the notice, the Changchun city public security bureau was looking to purchase a Sony notebook computer and seeking bids. There is nothing unusual about such notices of which there are many on the website. From January 1, 2010, the Changchun city government has issued 307 such purchasing notices and made purchases worth 238,802,473 yuan already. What drew attention from Internet users was the price offered in the winning bid: 29,570 yuan.
This particular purchase had gone through two bids. During the first bid, there were fewer than three bidders which automatically forced a second round of bidding. During this second bid, there were four bidders and the lowest offer was 29,750 yuan.
According to certain computer online stores, the lowest list price was around 17,000 yuan. At the official Sony website, the list price for this notebook computer was 29,999 yuan.
"I wonder if the Changchun government really needs such an expensive computer." "Considering the computer components, this is the top top top-of-line computer. It is more appropriate to describe this as a luxury computer. "This is going too far. Even IT experts don't need this kind of computer. This is a luxury notebook computer. Please explain why you need this. If you need to buy a business briefcase, would you buy an LV?"
Some netizen came up with an explanation of sorts. At the official Sony website, it was specified that the hard disk was: a 512 GB *3 fixed hard disk (Serial ATA). The *3 refers to footnote number 3. But in the purchase request for proposal, the writer thought that *3 meant "three times"! So it became "three 512 GB fixed hard disks"!!!
June 14 5:19pm: A netizen "Xiao Meng" posted at the People Of Zhangqiu (Shandong) Forum: "I am someone who is going to be dead soon. I am making my last post in an inn in Lijaig. I want the world to know what kind of character he is. My mobile phone number and my family telephone number were blacklisted. Everyday he goes out eating and drinking with his colleagues. During the time when we were with each other, he dated other girls. Phone calls and messages every day. He told people that he was single ... Lijiang is very beautiful. There are many sad people in Lijiang. It drizzled today in Lijiang. I choose to leave this world tonight with rancor against you. I hate you!" Xiao Meng thus made it clear that she intend to commit suicide tonight in Lijiang (Yunnan).
June 14 9:00pm: Xiao Meng did not realize that this brief post of several hundred words would draw so much attention. By 9:28pm, the post has been read by 50,000 persons with 651 comments.
June 14 10:00pm: Some netizens were looking up the phone number of the Lijiang Public Security Bureau. Someone called up the Lijiang local police and told him about the planned suicide. The IP address from which Xiao Meng made her post was given to the police. Based upon this IP address, the police went to the inn at which Xiao Meng was staying. But Xiao Meng was not there, and her mobile phone had been turned off.
June 15 12:00am: Yunnan Net's Lijiang bureau chief Wang Yi saw Xiao Meng's post and made his own post at Yunnan Net to ask for netizen help to locate Xiao Meng. Wang Yi's phone kept ringing through the night as netizens in Zhangqiu (Shandong) and elsewhere called him. This post was then published at the major forums (iFeng, Tianya, Baidu) with large number of page views and comments. Tens of thousands of netizens left comments: "Don't kill yourself. You have a long life ahead. Please value their live. Think about your parents." The netizens pleaded with Xiao Meng while they worked with the police in Zhangqiu (Shandong) and Yunnan to prevent the tragedy from happening.
June 15 8:00am: The Lijiang police announced that Xiao Meng has been located. She is alive but still being depressed. The netizens who waited up all night breathed a sigh of relief.
June 15 11:51am: A netizen made a post titled <On behalf of Xiao Meng to the netizens in Zhangqiu>. Xiao Meng was taken back to the Lijiang inn from Tiger Jump Gorge. She is still emotionally distraught. Her parents have just arrived in Kunming. However, her father has altitude sickness and is unable to travel to Lijiang. Xiao Meng and her family wants to thank the netizens in Zhangqiu.
June 15 5:14pm: Xiao Meng made the post <Thank you -- my apologies>: "I thank for the concern over me from the friends at all the forums. I want to sincerely thanks the home folks in Zhangqiu. I thank the Lijiang police and media. I thank the mule friends in Lijiang. I thank the owner of the inn. I thank all those who were concerned about me. I apologize to all friends, including those stayed up on night worrying about me. I apologize to my parents who travel all the way from home."
The above was what happened on the Internet. In real life, Xiao Meng and a girl that she met in Lijiang rented a car to go to Tiger Jump Gorge. "I did not want to leave me any chance to change my mind. Nobody wants to die. If I take drugs or jump into a lake, I may still change my mind and seek help. But jumping off a cliff is final. You can't change your mind half way down."
Xiao Meng said that when she got to Tiger Jump Gorge, she did not join the other tourists who went up to the platform to get their photos taken. Instead, she headed down the slope. Among the tourist was a photographer from northeast China and he noted that Xiao Meng did not look well.
"I went down further. He chased me from behind, grabbed me and wanted to take me back up. I refused. I sat and cried for more than half an hour. Xiao Meng said that she told this man about her troubles. He heard her story and told her that she must consider her parents. He accompanied her back to the Lijiang inn. "I am so sorry that I never even found out his name or telephone number."
In her first "final" post, Xiao Meng had named her wayward boyfriend named Ren, including the fact that his father was a Zhangqiu government official. After this incident became known all over the Internet, the ex-boyfriend called her up and said that the local Communist Party disciplinary committee is investigating his father over some of the things mentioned in the post (e.g. how the father got a job for the son). Xiao Meng is sorry because his parents have always treated her well.
According to workers at the China Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo, many visitors threw mineral water bottles to test if the river water in the animated painting "Along The River During The Ching-Ming Festival" was real.
"Actually, the river water was just the effect of image projection." The workers explained. "In order to display 'Along The River During The Ching-Ming Festival,' a thin net was laid out at the bottom and a projector from above cast down the water patterns onto the net. The effect was very realistic. But nobody could have imagined that some spectators would toss bottles and napkins into the 'river.'
The workers said that the acts take place almost every day in spite of their admonishments. The workers use nets to fish out the large objects such as water bottles. As for the paper scraps, they had to use glue-tipped bamboo poles to extract.
The same thing was happening in the "Land of Hope" exhibit. Even though the trees there were fake, the workers had to install railings because many visitors had been stomping on the tree roots. At the flower bed in front of the "Under the Same Roof" exhibit, the visitors were pulling out the real plants before tossing them back in.
Of course the worst problem of all was that some of the 50,000 daily visitors at the China Pavilion spit chewing gum on the floor. At the China Pavilion lobby, our reporter saw that a bright red carpet is now plastered with pieces of black "scars" from chewing gum.
"In order to clean out the chewing gum thoroughly, we purchased spray chemicals." The spray can turn the chewing gum residues into solid particles which can then be powderized and removed. However, the spray is costly and one can removes only three to four chewing gum pieces.
"Please attend the Expo in a civilized manner." This was the slogan that the World Expo organizers promoted before the event even began. They want the Chinese visitors to show the quality of their people. We genuinely hope that these inappropriate acts will not taint the Shanghai World Expo for good.
Early yesterday morning at the Junlin Restaurant near Hongshan Bridge, Fuzhou city, a waitress knelt down in front of a teacher from a Fuzhou university and her students. Previously, the waitress had not heard the request of the teacher for a packet of paper tissue. This made the teacher unhappy to the point of threatening not to pay.
Most of the restaurant workers witnessed the scene. According to information, the teacher is employed by a nearby university. At the time, she was dining with two male teachers and some students. The two male teachers kept telling her to stop but she would not listen.
After receiving a tip, our reporter went to the Junlin Restaurant yesterday noon. Lunch business had just been over, and some service workers and receptionists were chatting in the lobby. When they learned that our reporter was trying to find out about the "kneeling waitress" affair, they came up to express their anger.
According to one waitress, this female teacher, two male teachers and many students came to the restaurant and took over a room on the second floor. They had a busy time eating and drinking. The room was served by the waitress named Wang Yunyun.
Around midnight, this female teacher asked Wang Yunyun for paper tissues. Because it was too noisy in the room, Wang did not hear the request. So this female teacher grabbed a hold of Wang and demanded that she bow and apologize. Wang explained that she could not hear due to the noise. She did not apologize and left to get the paper issues. Her action may have ired the female teacher. So the female teacher said that unless Wang bowed and apologized, they won't pay the bill.
Wang Yunyun said that the restaurant holds a waitress responsible for non-payment over service quality. "There were two tables that night. They spent almost 3,000 yuan. I only make 1,100 yuan a month and I have only worked here a few months. How can I afford to pay?" Wang Yunyun said.
Wang Yunyun said that she bowed and apologized to the teacher many times. But the teacher was not satisfied and walked towards the exit without paying.
The waitress Xie Meilan came forth as a witness. She even wrote a statement and signed it to give to Wang Yunyun. Xie Meilan said that Wang followed the group out and pleaded with them repeated. Wang broke down in tears and knelt in front of the female teacher. Finally, the female teacher relented and went back to pay the bill.
Yesterday morning, Wang Yunyun's father learned about what happened and took her daughter to the university where the female teacher taught to demand an explanation. Mr. Wang said that the female teacher was in the Life Sciences Department. Yesterday, Mr. Wang asked the restaurant to give him the telephone number of the student who made the reservation, and then went through the student to contact the female teacher. At first, the female teacher was firm and refused to apologize. She said that she may have drank too much but she was not wrong. Then he called the security office at the university. Through the mediation of the security office, the female teacher apologized.
This news story has drawn millions of page views and tens of thousands of comments. Most of the commentators obviously want the female teacher dismissed, if not dead.
But there are also questions about this news report. Does it measure up to the journalism standard of being "fair and balanced"? The reporter only spoke to the restaurant workers, especially Wang Yunyun. What about the story according to the female teacher? And her colleagues and students? Nothing. That should raise a flag immediately that this could be "unfair and unbalanced."
So here is a post from KDnet. This may or may not be true, but the scenario is plausible and it could change the story completely.
Here is the truth, whether you believe it or not! Did you notice that Strait Metro Daily did not seek out the students? Would you believe that story without hearing the students out? I know that you were angry after reading the story. But the teacher is a good teacher who treated us very well. If this teacher should suffer, it will be our eternal regret even if we do graduate. Dear netizens, I trust that your eyes are clear and bright. So please let this post be known! Thanks!
On the evening of June 11, 2010, our class dined at the Junlin Restaurant. The principal (she was a student, not the teacher) went to the waitress wearing badge number 8168 (that is, Wang Yunyun) and asked for paper tissues. At the time, Wang was leaning on the door and refused to even look at the principal. The principal asked three times but Wang ignored her. The question was posed right in front of Wang, so there was no way that Wang did not hear her. Finally, Wang even glared at the principal. The principal was already depressed that her friends will graduate and split up. So she started to cry. But since she did not want to affect the mood of the others, she went downstairs and stepped out of the restaurant.
From outside, she called the class monitor by telephone to say that she wanted to lodge a complaint against the waitress. The class monitor was about to pay the bill. So he asked the principal to return to the second floor and clarify the situation. The class monitor then asked the restaurant manager to locate the waitress and ask her to apologize. They waited for a long time (almost 30 minutes) by the cashier's counter before the waitress showed up very much unwillingly. When the waitress saw the principal, she glared at her and walked directly down the corridor, leaned against the wall and said nothing. She completely ignored the students.
This stalemate lasted more than 10 minutes. The students asked the manager to make the waitress apologize to the principal. The manager spoke to the waitress for more than ten minutes, during which the waitress only said, "Impossible! Absolutely impossible to apologize!" and so on. Even though the other workers also tried to persuade her, it was useless.
A male student told the waitress that we did not want to make this a big deal and we only wanted to get this over with quickly. He said, "Really. All you have to say is that it was a misunderstanding or just say sorry. We will leave immediately. We have no intention to keep this going." But the waitress was unmoved. She just totally ignored us.
The manager said: "Look, you see the students have take a step. Just say something to apologize." But the waitress made no answer.
The teacher then found out what happened. She thought that her students should not be mistreated. The teacher argued with the manager, asking for only one apologetic sentence. But the waitress was indifferent, giving us only a look of contempt and disgust, in a very haughty manner.
At this time, several customers from the next room came out. After learning about what happened, they said: "If your service is poor, you must apologize." Wang Yunyun refused to listen. The manager proposed that the restaurant send a written letter of apology the next day. We asked: "Then can we pay the bill tomorrow, okay?" The manager said that he preferred to get everything settled right now.
Wang Yunyun's colleagues asked us to give Wang Yunyun a little time. We said five minutes. The other customers said, "If she won't apologize in five minutes' time, you can leave. The waitress will pay for that bill. As customers, you did not receive the appropriate respect and service. Instead, you had been insulted!"
More than 10 minutes later, she still didn't say anything. So we began to go downstairs. The students at the rear then saw the restaurant manager slap the waitress. He was very emotional and told her, "This was a trivial matter which could have been over by an apology in the beginning. But now it has become such a big deal."
When the students reached the restaurant entrance, another restaurant manager stopped us and asked us to wait for the boss to come. We said that we would wait, but we needed a precise time period for the matter to be settled.
After 20 minutes, the restaurant manager and the other customers brought the waitress out to the restaurant entrance. They continued to persuade the waitress to make a verbal apology. After more than 10 minutes, the waitress apologized to the principal (female student) in a very low voice. Most of the other people did not hear her. The teacher had her back turned while speaking to other students and therefore did not hear it. So the teacher asked the waitress to apologize once again for everyone to hear. At that moment, the waitress was so distressed that her knees weakened and she sat down on the ground. The students and the manager brought her up and took her inside to rest. The teacher immediately asked the students to go back upstairs and settle the bill.
But after the bill was settled, the restaurant manager issued these threatening words: "This teacher will never work in the education field again."
On the next morning, the father of the waitress obtained from the restaurant the telephone number of the student who made the dinner reservation. They asked the teacher to meet with them. The class monitor and the student went out to the school entrance to meet with them. They insisted that the student must take them to meet with the teacher. They demanded the student to tell them the name of the teacher.
The student finally asked the teacher to come over. As soon as the teacher stepped out of the car, the father of the waitress rushed over, grabbed her hair, threw her glasses on the ground and ordered her to kneel down. He also let loose a stream of unrepeatable obscenities.
The university security guards came and took everybody down to the security office. The teacher and the student were take to a conference room where they told their story. The waitress's father and the Junlin Restaurant owner were in another conference room.
During the mediation process, two men who came with the waitress's father made this demand: the teacher should apologize and pay 500 yuan. Because we had right on our side, the teacher and the student refused.
Meanwhile the waitress's father continued with his stream of obscenities and refused to budge. Even his companions wanted him to leave, but he refused. Because our teacher was afraid that he might take revenge against the student, she ultimately apologized. Later, the students found out that their teacher had been extorted for 500 yuan. It would seem that the other party had planned it all along.
This is not the way that we want to graduate from school. The teacher has always treated us well. This time, she got into this kind of trouble because she wanted to get justice for us. We are deeply sorry. It will be our eternal regret to graduate in this manner with our teacher suffering this way! I hope that the relevant department will respect the facts and not mistreat this good teacher, for that would be a huge loss to our school and society!
...
You can also search and see that Strait Metro Times has deleted this news story from their website already. Why did they do that? I think you all know why. They wouldn't delete a news story if it is true, right?
After this video was uploaded, Internet users quickly exposed the name, address, date of brith, school, email and telephone number of this young man. They also said that this was not the first time that he had hogged bus seats.
Based upon the published information on the Internet, our reporter went to the address to speak to this young man. At first, he was resistant and denied that he was the principal. After the reporter explained the purpose, he agreed to talk.
He admitted that he was the person in the video. He said that the incident occurred on June 11. On that day, he took the bus to a bookstore to buy computer books. He admitted that he was being selfish when he refused to let others sit. He hopes that he will get an opportunity to apologize to the middle-aged passenger in person.
He knew that the Internet users are condemning him. The teachers at his school had called him about what happened. But he felt that the incident had taken place already, and nothing can be changed. He did not want the incident to blow up. He only wants it to go away. He is presently arranging to go to study in Australia. During the interview, the young man admitted several times that he had been selfish. He personally wrote a letter of apology and asked the reporter to forward it.
Translation: I XXX am very apologetic about the incident that day. I hope that you can forgive me.The vice-principal of the school which was identified on the Internet acknowledged that the young man was a Form 5 student. After the school learned about the video, they contacted the student and offered advice. The student has acknowledged that he behaved improperly, "being deficient insensitivity and manners." The vice-principal is worried that the student might be emotionally disturbed by the attacks against him on the Internet. He pleads for positive concern to allow him to correct himself.
On the evening of June 11, our newspaper hotline received a tip from a Ma'anshan citizen that there was a mass incident in front of Darunfa Supermarket. The incident arose from a traffic incident in which a vehicle knocked down a middle school student. The male driver got out of the vehicle. What did he do? No, he did not apologize. Instead he slapped the male student in the face. The female passenger also got out of the vehicle. What did she do? No, she did not try to stop her male companion. Instead, she said, "Good hit!"
The scene was witnessed by many passersby who were outraged by what they saw. They surrounded the vehicle, the driver and the passenger. But the driver was not intimidated. Instead he declared: "Do you know who I am? I am a government leader!" As soon as he said that, the anger of the crowd was raised many notches.
The police arrived soon and the driver was placed into a police car. But the crowd would not let the car drive away unless the driver apologized. The crowd stood off against the police, as their size began to swell.
Yesterday morning, our reporter interviewed people in the area.
According to a newspaper kiosk operator, he saw two middle school students (one male and one female) wearing the Number Two Middle School uniform walking. The male students was pushing a bicycle across the the zebra cross walk when the bicycle touched the rear-view mirror of a black sedan. The driver came out and hit the male student who talked back. "The driver might have called the police," said the newspaper kiosk operator.
A watermelon peddler told out reporter that the driver was a woman and the man was the passenger. The man got out of the car and immediately gave the boy a big slap in the face. The watermelon peddler said agitatedly: "I was standing 50 meters away from them and I heard the loud noise of the slap. It was really loud."
The watermelon peddler said that the boy was basically in shock. The girl by his side asked, "Why are you hitting him?" The female driver came out of the car and said brashly: "I am a government cadre. I know that you are from the Number Two Middle School. I can send people to cause you big trouble in school." People saw the student being assaulted and approached. When they heard the woman speak so rudely and unreasonably, they condemned her. Someone called the police.
According to the peddlers and citizens interviewed by the reporter, they were ired by the assault of the student. Someone people picked up bricks in the street and threw them at the black sedan and the police cars. Someone people grabbed the watermelons on sale and smashed them against the vehicle. People were screaming and vandalizing the vehicles. It was chaos. According to residents on Hubei Road, they skipped the World Cup broadcast to come out into the street. There were 3,000 to 4,000 persons out there.
According to a woman who had just come out of the Darunfa Supermarket, she thought that the people in the car must have been drunk to be so arrogant. Then she saw the mother of the student. "The mother was crying on her knees. When the city leader came, she asked him to give justice." The boy was sent to the hospital for examination.
At around 10:30pm that evening, the Ma'anshan city Communist Party secretary Zheng Weiwen arrived at the scene, and made four promises to the citizens. He added: "If this incident is not handled properly, you can come and see me -- Zheng Weiwen." The crowd grew calmer.
At around 11:30pm, the riot police arrived at the scene. Zheng Weiwen got on top of a police vehicle and used a loudspeaker to tell the crowd that he has dismissed the Tourist Bureau director Wang Guoqing effectively immediately.
But the crowd still did not disperse. The police tried to use a human wall to disperse the crowd and let the police vehicle with Wang Guoqing leave. After a dozen minutes of so, more than 100 riot police carrying shields and batons dispersed the crowd by force and the police vehicle left. The crowd was ired and tossed bottles, bricks, watermelons and other stuff at the police. Things escalated until the police fired tear gas.
According to a restaurant owner, "I have never seen tear gas before. Suddenly a small canister rolled down to my feet. I had no idea what it was so I bent down to take a look. I was in tears from the fume. It was horrible!" The restaurant owner raced home and used two bottles of water to wash his eyes.
According to information from the Huashan District Communist Party publicity department, Tourist Bureau director Wang Guoqing was not drunk driving and the woman in the vehicle was his wife, who works at the Huashan District audit department. Wang Guoqing is presently detained on suspicion of committing assault.
Our reporter visited the Ma'anshan OK Forum. Within twenty-four hours of the incident, there were 24 posts on the incident including photos and videos. One netizen uploaded a 3:14 video. In this video, the Ma'anshan Communist Party Secretary Zheng Weiwen was standing on top of a police vehicle saying: "We will try our utmost to protect the interests of the people. We are resolute in punishing troublemakers. You can watch what the Communist Party Committee do. If there is any shortcoming, you can come see me." There were more than 10 loud episodes of loud applause for this promise. There were more than 10 pages of comments. One netizen wrote: "I completely agree! The people need good cadres who are bold and irresponsible."
Bonus video: Ma'anshan, a harmonious city
A letter (together with a printed spreadsheet) was posted on the bulletin board of the cafeteria at the Nanchang Engineering Academy. The heading was "A letter to a certain female student at the Nanchang Engineering Academy" but this is not a love letter. This letter has awed many students.
This spreadsheet shows the transactions made with a certain cash car at various times of day
(merchant code 35 is the cake shop; merchant code 41 is the Nanchang Engineering University Fruit Supermarket)[translation]
My dear Pickled Pepper Sister:
Silly me! On this night, I am thinking about nothing else but you. I ought to go to sleep, but your figure keeps appearing before my eyes. I am very afraid. I have never written a love letter before, so I don't know how to let you know how I feel. I don't think that I even possessed you before you were gone already. I feel helpless and anxious because I have so much to say to you. My throat is choking with boundless bitterness.
For the 3 hours 8 minutes 47 seconds since I first met you, I could not restrain my inner passion. When I think about every move of yours, my heart swells up. It was you who let me into the inner feelings of a girl. I thank you for leaving a wonderful memory in my life.
I remember that it happened on a drizzling summer afternoon. It must have been Heaven's design to have this rain in which we brushed past ach other.
I passed by lightly, just as you came and went lightly. You readily took my cash card. This small cash card brought two strangers together. I have to believe that it was fate. It was fate that we met in this life. Buddha says: Five hundred glances in our previous lives caused this chance encounter here and now.
After accidentally finding a meal card, you began a process of searching in the heavy rain. The first place that you passed by was the Hengshun Supermarket. You took a fancy to a carton of pickled pepper instant noodles. As you got ready to take it, you lifted your head and saw the surveillance camera. You left against your will. As you walked in disappointment down the campus boulevard in the heavy rain, you came to the Nanchang Engineering Academy Fruit Supermarket/Madrid Cake Shop. You were suddenly elated to see that there were no surveillance cameras. So you decided to buy your carton of United Pickled Pepper Instant Noodles as well as more than 60 yuan of fruit. Beginning at 16:04:01, you made four purchases of exactly 9.90 yuan (note: a record is kept on all expenditures over 10 yuan). Because your frail body could not carry too much stuff, you decided to take your purchases back to the dormitory and then come back for more.
As soon as you put down the purchases, you returned immediately to the Nanchang Engineering Academy Fruit Supermarket. Maybe they have your favorite fruits. Maybe you felt that you had to spend all the money in the cash card.
You spent a total of only 11 minutes to go from the supermarket to the dormitory, drop your purchases, go back to the supermarket and selected several different types of fruit. I have to admire your speediness.
Were you delighted with the sudden windfall? I feel that you and your roommates are having a good time in your dormitory room. After all, you have more than 110 yuan worth of fruits plus a carton of pickled pepper instant noodles worth more than 50 yuan. You can eat while you sit, eat while you sleep, eat while you stand, eat while you walk. This must be the first time that you eat this way, so it will be my treat. May you eat so full that you die!
Dear fellow student, please pay attention to your character because you will have to get married someday.
Dear fellow student, please watch your weight because you may never get married.
It is a shame that your parents brought you up and sent you to university, because you have such a poor character.
This is sad, pathetic, pitiable, outrageous!
Finally, I am proud of you, I am proud of your parents!
And then finally, I curse you so that the seasoning will be missing in all the instant noodles that you purchase in future!
... In 1998, American president Bill Clinton came to Peking University to deliver a speech. A PKU Chinese Literature major Ma Nan rebutted Clinton's exposition of American democracy, freedom and human rights, and pilloried the terrible state of human rights in America. Ma Nan said:
Our former chancellor Cai Yuanpei once said that when great moral imperatives operate, they do not conflict with each other. I do not believe that personal freedom and collective freedom are in mutual conflict. In the case of China, its development is actually the result of the the personal choice and collective effort of the Chinese people. Therefore, I think that true freedom means that the people have the right to choose the life and method of development that they want. Only those people who respect the freedom of others can understand the true meaning of freedom.
Ma Nan's words were such an inspiration to the Chinese people. What is the big deal about America? How dare Clinton criticize human right conditions in China?
But the puzzling fact was that two years later, Ma Nan graduated and chose to study in America where human right conditions were awful. Then she married a blue-eyed, pale-skinned American male and gave birth to an American citizen son.
In the summer of 2009, a book promoting Chinese nationalism and opposing American hegemony was published in China. The title of the book was <China Is Unhappy>. The book was divided into three sections: (1) Why is China unhappy? (2) What does China want? (3) Sweep aside the trivia and create grand goals. The conclusion: If China was to be a first-class nation that can achieve its grand goals (such as prosperity and equality for all), it must say goodbye to its spiritual history of self-flagellation and self-deprecation.
This book was praised by many angry young people, and it was a best-seller at the various Xinhua bookstores in China. Several months after the book came out, the writer Song Xiaojun, who now had fame and fortune as well as frequent appearances on CCTV as a patriot, got his American green card and showed us his true colors!
Zhang Xiaobo, the director of that book, is now immigrating to Canada. Previously Zhang Xiaobo had planned the similar <China Can Say No> and made a bundle of money (which allowed him to buy a nice house and a BMW car).
In the late 1980's State Council spokesperson Yuan Mu became famous through his dialogue with students. In those dialogues, he held the high ground and told the students to obey the government and be patriots. In June 1989, he was interviewed by ABC TV network's Tom Brokaw.
During the interview, he disagreed with Brokaw's statement that most Chinese students in America wanted to stay there. Yuan Mu said:
I believe that most Chinese students will return to serve their nation. Of course, I don't exclude that some people don't want to return. I am sorry about that. Personally, I sincerely hope that they will return and I believe that they will return.
Several years later, his daughter went to study in America. After she graduated, she applied for American citizens. Mr. Yuan Mu has double standards on the issue of overseas students, especially with respect to his own family.
The other three cases are related to leaving China/emigration. It would be narrow-minded to harp on this issue. First of all, it is your personal freedom to leave your county and choose your citizenship elsewhere. It is nobody else's business. Secondly, this has no direct relationship with patriotism. I feel that even if one gets foreign citizenship, one can still love one's motherland and contribute towards the building of the motherland.
But it is hard to accept that someone who is rigid and inflexible on the issue of patriotism before could suddenly change face.
In real life, there are many people who claim to be patriots but are actually not patriotic. They do not understand the history of our nation, they do not appreciate our current problems, they don't understand that people will inevitably progress and they don't know what China needs most urgently.
Their so-called patriotism is opportunism. They want to exploit patriotism to gain honor, position and opportunities. Once they reach their goals (or when their hopes are dashed), they will unhesitatingly change face for the sake of their personal interests.
In a totalitarian society, patriotism is further divided by government and people. When you say that you are a patriot, which do you love? The government or the people? For the government, the so-called patriotism means cheap tricks to make itself look good (such as puffing one's face up to look like a fat man, paying lip service, using claptrap and telling lies). They rarely take the interests of the people into consideration. In fact, they will often invoke patriotism while encroaching on the rights of ordinary citizens.
It must be said those who can change faces so easily are usually psychologically hardened. They can be heroes or villains based upon selfish needs without too much mental anguish. When they change faces, they hurt the decent folks who are the true patriots and who happen to adore heroes.
Even as the people are still rapt in their emotions, our "heroes" have completed their full turn and are receding far into the distance away from us ...
But the Chinese have come back with their candidates for Number One sinkhole in the world (via MOP)
Right next to a school building!!!
So is this time to call in "Supergirl" Fan Bingbing to the rescue?
Recently, a couple of junior high school students were making out in a backstreet in Taichung, Taiwan. They apparently believed that no one was around, so they kissed, caressed and even simulated sexual intercourse. Although this was a backstreet, there was still some traffic. An elderly couple walking down the street was astonished by the sight.
The entire scene was recorded by the residents on the second floor overlooking the backstreet. Even the school insignia on the school bags of the lovers was visible. The photos were then posted on the Internet.
The male principal and his friends found out and left comments on the photo album: "This is going too far?" "Do you know how these people feel?" "Why do you have to take this so far?" "I hope that you can removed the photos immediately."
But these requests did not accomplish the intended result. Instead, other netizens made sarcastic comments: "Since there is nothing exciting here, what is there to worry about?" "If you wore plainclothes, nobody would care." The principal and his friends began arguing with these other netizens.
The net result was that the other netizens ran a "human flesh search" on the principal. His name, school, class and even his basic test scores were published.
At present, the blogs of the principals and his girlfriend have both been shut down.
At around 5pm on June 8, the security guards were resting in their dormitory in the underground garage of the New Buynow building on Menwai Avenue, Chaoyang district, Beijing city. Suddenly, they heard loud noises outside. "But we didn't hear any cries for help." According to a car washer who witnessed the incident, a man was about to get into his Land Rover and drive off. Suddenly, four men appeared. Three of the men were wielding watermelon choppers in their hands. The first man ran away while the three men gave chase. After running for about 50 meters, the first man suddenly fell down on the ground. The three men reached him and began to hack him with their knives. "The whole attack took just over ten seconds," recalled the car washer. The attackers then left the garage. The injured man was able to call the police himself. An ambulance came and took him to the Beijing Military District General Hospital.
According to the police, the injured man is the director Yan Po. Initial reports said that "the tendon on the left leg was severed; there were more than 40 knife wounds all over the body; there were more than ten bone fractures." Police now say that only two of the knife injuries were relatively serious. The police are looking for the three attackers. They have found the three knives in a ditch nearby. "The knives are 60 millimeters long and very sharp."
After the news came out, the director Gao Junshu wrote on this microblog: "This was due to girl trouble."
Another rumor: "Yan Pao got involved with the actress Yan Tao and her boyfriend took revenge."
This was quickly supplanted by another actress Li Xiaoran who said that the attack on Yan Po was related to her ex-boyfriend Mr. A: "I got to know the wrong person. Two years ago, I got to know this Hong Kong man. He treated me and my parents well. I was with him for more than two months. Then I realized that he was connected to soccer gambling, debt collection and so on. So I decided to break up with him. He refused. He put a knife on my face and asked me: 'Do you think that I can ruin you?'"
According to Li Xiaoran, everybody at her agent's company knows about the Mr. A affair. In order to avoid Mr. A, Li Xiaoran turned down job assignments in Beijing. "Over the past two years, I only did jobs outside Beijing not matter how bad those scripts were. I love my family but there wasn't anything I could do about this." According to the media, a tall, thin woman who looks like Li Xiaoran has been staying Yan Po in his hospital bed. By telephone, Li Xiaoran told the Beijing News reporter: "His condition is still critical. I have to be with him."
Then someone else came along and said Mr. A is actually Mr. S, and he is from northeastern China instead of Hong Kong. Mr. S is the current husband of Yan Pao. However, this piece of information has not been confirmed.
Yesterday the director Lu Chuan expressed his own view on his microblog: "As the Chinese film industry got red-hot, the newly arrived capital from the south also brought along new rules. The former rivalries within the mainland film industry become child's play by comparison." Thus, he insisted that organized crime was behind the attack on Yan Po, and he is pointing fingers at the Hong Kong film industry people now in Beijing for bringing their bad practices along with their money.
When Lu Chuan was interviewed by Beijing Times, he said: "I have already written everything I want to say. As a film industry worker, I feel that I have the duty to write about this incident. The attackers had followed Yan Po for a while. This was an organized and premeditated action. So could this not be organized crime? Of course, this was our analysis. The police have entered the case. I don't know Yan Po well, but helping Yan Po is helping myself."
Without Lu Chuan's blog post, nobody would have known about the attack on Yan Po. As the person who broke the story, Lu Chuan received countless number of calls. Yesterday morning at 8am, he used his blog to condemn the media for pursuing the angle of a love scandal instead of finding out more about the attackers. "We don't know this director. I spoke up because this was my final option in the face of anger, conscience and terror. Just take a look at the blood stains and broken bones in that parking garage. If you don't act this time, it will be your turn next time. In this industry, people are accustomed to violently attack our own people. This is already a special characteristic of this industry. I can't stop you from turning this into a pink rose, but you must not forget that the love scandal cannot wash away the blood on the ground."
Commenting on what Lu Chuan said, film critic Cheng Qingsong: "Why is every single petty matter elevated to the level of the entire industry? This is just sensationalism." Yesterday our reporter reached Cheng Qingsong: "We ought to be caring about the injured person. It is up to the police to come up with the truth. I don't understand why Lu Chuan insists on jumping out at this moment to elevate the matter to the level of the entire industry. Even if organized criminals attacked Yan Po, it does not mean that the entire industry is controlled by organized crime. This kind of logic is inexplicable." Cheng Qingsong commented: "According to what Lu Chuan, film critics like us ought to use knives and not pens? What an absurd conspiracy theory! Lu Chuan is not trying to think. He only wants to turn the case into 'organized crime' in which he is also a victim."
Yesterday director Gao Junshu wrote in his microblog: "I firmly oppose those who use violent method against others. I have been in this industry for more than twenty years and I really haven't come across any organized crime figures. Instead, much of the chaos within the industry is created by industry veteran workers, including many law-breaking investors, incompetent producers, irresponsible directors and unethical workers. Therefore, we need to clean ourselves up first by raising our immunization and sense of self-discipline. Personal grudges have nothing to the do with the present state of the industry."
Producer Zhang Xiaodong said: "Lu Chuan's blog is misleading. He said that this incident showed that the Chinese film industry is being taken over by organized crime. I received many phone calls afterwards. I am the producer of Yan Po's movie <The Shaky Wedding>. During the creative process, the producer will sometimes have some artistic disagreement with the director. This is understandable. But Lu Chuan's microblog is raising the disagreement up another level."
Among those who left comment at Lu Chuan's blog is Hong Huang: "Director Lu, you want to break some news. Go ahead and break some news. It's okay. But it is somewhat embarrassing to talk about justice in this way. What do you say?"
Yesterday morning Hong Huang also blogged about what she knew about Yan Po: "Some years ago, we had a marketing director who was fluent in Chinese, French and English. We were hold a Sola Liu concert for Cartier and she helped a lot. On the day of the evening concert, we put up many photos of Mei Ting. She suddenly told me that she wanted to resign. I begged her to say, of course. But she said that there was no way, because Yan Po and Mei Ting were guests that evening. If she had to look after them, it would be a tremendous insult to her. I pulled her aside and she told me that she went out with Yan Po when they were in France. When she returned, she divorced her husband in order to be with Yan Po. She had also provided a lot of financial support to Yan Po. But Yan Po returned to China suddenly. He was out of contact for three months. When she came back to look for Yan Po, he had already married Me Ting. So she could not manage this event. In the end, the marketing director left the job." According to information, Cartier sponsored a party on the eve of Valentine's Day in 2002, during which the actress Mei Ting wore the sponsor's jewelry in the company of her husband Yan Po.
Is this too hard for you to follow? Are there too many characters involved? Well, there are actually even more people who have surfaced, either willingly or unwillingly. But someone has made a diagram.
Hopefully, that makes everything very clear.
Postscript: Two men named Liang and Wang contacted the police and claimed to be the organizers of the attack on Yan Po. Both are unemployed. Wang has a criminal record involving fighting, robbery, illegal possession of firearms. The two admitted to the police the ex-girlfriend of their friend named Sun was in a romance with Yan Po, which made Sun very angry. For the sake of their friend's 'face,' Wang and Liang liaised eight northeasterners in this plot. On June 13, the Beijing police arrested the eight other co-conspirators in Dalian and Anshan cities in northeastern China.
(China Daily) June 11, 2010.
Four reporters from China were robbed of their cameras as well as cash on a street in Johannesburg in South Africa on June 9, Beijing News reported. The four, sent by an Anhui media group for World Cup coverage, were on their way to do interviews in Johannesburg when they encountered the robbers. As they pulled up in their car along a street, the robbers came up and intimidated them into opening the window and door. They took money and a camera worth 10,000 yuan (S$2069) before fleeing. None of the reporters was hurt, according to the report.
(MOP)
According to Ningbo Evening News, their reporter was reluctant to report the case of the three Anhui journalists being robbed in South Africa because he was not certain if the story was fabricated. On the day before, a famous Chinese sports reporter/commentator had just staged a "robbery" in front of the Soccer City News Center. He hired a local black youth to rob him while his television film crew filmed. The video was intended to be shown on a Chinese website to increase audience. After the filming, he paid the black "robber," the two men hugged each other and parted amicably. So the audience of that video will probably treat this as true!
Who is this veteran reporter/commentator? Many netizens think that it is a person who recently resigned from a newspaper to join an Internet production company.
Another netizen noted an entry on a Hunan reporter's microblog: "I just came out of the production center and I found XXX chatting with a friend. Suddenly a black man dashed out from behind a car, snatched his bag and started running. The scene stunned everyone except XXX who was unafraid and gave chase." The Hunan reporter is not answering his mobile phone at this time.
(SCMP) Ministers dogged by protesters while campaigning door to door. By Fanny W.Y. Fung. June 11, 2010.
Top ministers may have tried to keep their door-knocking last night for the "Act Now!" campaign low-key by concealing their itinerary from the media, but they still faced protesters almost everywhere they went. Chief Secretary Henry Tang Ying-yen, Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah and Secretary for Justice Wong Yan-lung visited homes to promote the government's electoral reforms after distributing pamphlets on the streets for the past two weekends. Top ministers may have tried to keep their door-knocking last night for the "Act Now!" campaign low-key by concealing their itinerary from the media, but they still faced protesters almost everywhere they went.
Why do they "conceal their itinerary from the media"?
(EastWeek)
On the previous Sunday, the angry young people were chasing after the government ministers. Citizens were able to see how vicious they were. But there was something else that citizens may not be aware of.
When Donald Tsang proceeded from Admiralty to Kowloon and then to Shatin, eyewitnesses saw that the <Apple Daily> news van carried the demonstrators to the next site as quickly as possible so that they could intercept Tsang. It seemed that the media not only tipped the demonstrators off, but they also provided transportation for the guerilla strike force.
So the government adjusted its tactic. While the angry young people were laying siege to Donald Tsang, Henry Tang and John Tsang, the other government ministers, secretaries and their deputies handed out flyers in the street. Since they were not being stalked by angry young people, many citizens were able to receive those flyers and express their supports. Of course, the media don't report those scenes (note: since they were not there) and the public will therefore not find out.
(EastWeek)
Donald Tsang's team took the risk of being ambushed and went into the streets to directly promote their political reform package directly to the people. As expected, they were met by small groups of demonstrators who came prepared with protest plaques and loudspeakers. As soon as the government officials showed up, they immediately rushed forward to intercept, screamed loudly and prevent the government officials from making contact with citizens. Their intention was clearly to create chaos and make themselves the center of attention.
Some media have described these ambush tactics as "some citizens expressed dissenting views." This is an over-simplification of the truth, which was that the League of Social Democrats and other extremist organizations planned to run guerrilla warfare. They learned the travel itinerary from the media and immediately dispatched "combat battalions" to ambush the government officials. As a result, there were protests and howls everywhere. Some government officials found themselves unable to move around because their passage was blocked by the demonstrators. As a result, they were completely unable to communicate with citizens.
The essence of democracy is that each and every person has the same opportunity to express their own political views. Citizens and government officials can try to convince others by reasoning. That would be fair competition as well as true democracy.
But the culture of political violence that has recently appeared in Hong Kong is completely opposite to the spirit of democracy. These evil forces raise the shining flag of democracy and shout down everyone else. They use violent language and physical force against people who hold views that are different from theirs. They force others to give up using their voices and stay away for fear of confrontation. Then they gloat in the ecstasy of these victories.
The League of Social Democrats and certain extremist organizations have nurtured these "little generals of the revolution" who are the best exemplars of this type of political culture. They fear nothing and they enjoy causing chaos. Even veteran democrats found them unacceptable. For example, the City Forum organized by RTHK at Victoria Park was meant to be a forum for freedom of speech in the manner of Hyde Park in London. Recently, extremists have staked out the forum. Whenever a speaker said something to displease them, they shouted the speaker down, threw objects and rushed forth to heap abuse. Democratic Party vice-chairwoman Emily Lau was the subject of this kind of abuse. She said that she had moderated television political debates in England where people will always let others finish their arguments before making rebuttals. So when people forced others to shut up at the City Forum, it is political violence and not freedom of speech.
Even worse, the situation is not allowed to work in reverse. They can do that but when others do the same, they will claim "oppression of freedom and democracy" which is obviously an unspeakably horrible crime. Imagine that they show up outside the Legislative Council one day and another group of people holding different views surround them and shout them down, they will surely tell the media that "we are being oppressed!" Then they will hard to government house and "strong demand" severe measures against those people who stopped them.
With the protection of freedom and democracy, this type of violent political culture has created a vicious cycle: they are never punished for what they do; they become the media darlings and brave heroes; as their haloes get brighter, nobody dares to criticize them; then they take even more extreme actions.
They have another scary tactic in that they will launch Internet attacks against people who displease them. For example, when scholars criticize angry young extremists, they will be cursed, scolded, threatened and even have their personal information aired. This scares the scholars who have to consider their words carefully.
... On June 23, the Legislative Council will vote on the political reform package. The extremist organizations will mobilize large number of members to surround the Legislative Council. As in the case of the Express Rail Link, none of the pan-democratic legislators will dare to go against the flow. So they will vote against the package. Isn't it a shame that political reform will once again be stopped by "the tyranny of democracy"?
Previously, a young woman did pole dancing in the newly opened Number 2 Line of the Nanjing subway (see Sister Steel Pole In Nanjing Number 2 Subway Line). Was she doing this for the joy of dancing? for self-promotion?
At her third performance, she ran into two subway security guards and was taken down to the security office.
Additional Link: Steel Pole Sister: Nanjing Subway Line 2’s Pole Dancing Girl ChinaSMACK
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