Current Events

[Randy W]

At least one person was killed and eight others injured when a high-speed train was derailed by a landslide in the southwestern province of Guizhou Saturday. Rescue operations are currently underway.

from the Sixth Tone on Facebook 
https://www.facebook.com/sixthtone/posts/pfbid02fuM5GDEDd1vgcCh6YXyv8VU9yCkznoD51czPh5ssaMUZTwoTRP7eBsTea5Nwvptcl

 

[Randy W]

Several photos show two local procuratorate officials in uniform flipping through a copy of the Xinhua Dictionary at a bookstore and photographing the content deemed objectionable. Many online criticized the action as “performative law enforcement.”

from the Sixth Tone on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/sixthtone/posts/pfbid0G73RmcxAunNPeRNhoDSTA7tEamPVM1bjaZqAsX7DFNnHxyhKY7uj7S7xBsM9WJbel

A Guangxi County Removes Xinhua Dictionary Over ‘Vulgar’ Content
The 11th edition of the Chinese language dictionary is said to have unspecified objectionable content.

Local procuratorate officials in uniform check a copy of the Xinhua Dictionary at a bookstore in Quanzhou County, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, June 1, 2022. From Weibo

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A county in the southern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region has withdrawn the country’s most authoritative Chinese language dictionary as local authorities initiated a campaign to “purify the reading environment for minors.”

The 11th edition of the Xinhua Dictionary, along with a few other children’s books, were removed from the shelves in Quanzhou County for including “vulgar content,” according to a now-deleted article posted by the local procuratorate Thursday. Authorities didn’t specify the dictionary entries that were deemed vulgar, but many online had accused the dictionary of using sexist explanations to describe certain words.

For example, the word “tease” was explained using derogatory references to women.

The move came after a county-wide inspection of school textbooks and children’s books on June 1.

Last week, China’s top education authority issued a nationwide review of school textbooks in response to controversial illustrations in sixth grade math textbooks. However, the inspections in Quanzhou were initiated by local authorities instead of the central government.

The deleted article was accompanied by several photos, showing two local procuratorate officials in uniform flipping through a copy of the Xinhua Dictionary at a bookstore and photographing the content deemed objectionable. Many online criticized the action as “performative law enforcement.”

On Sunday, the municipal procuratorate in Guilin, which administers Quanzhou County, determined the action as a “misconduct.” The statement didn’t elaborate further and asked Quanzhou officials to make the dictionary available again in stores.

 

 

 

[Randy W]

Preparing for China Decoupling Should Start NOW
PUBLISHED: JUNE 6, 2022

An interesting read from the Harris-Bricken Law Firm

 

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1. China’s decoupling will be fairly gradual and then very sudden

The die has been cast.

US-China decoupling is accelerating and inevitable. Trade relations between the United States and China will lead, and the EU, with trade relations between China and Canada, Australia, Japan, and many other countries soon following.

2. US-China trade policies will make China manufacturing untenable

If you’re importing product into the United States, you are going to need to comply with a lot of new rules. This is going to be your big problem. Compliance is going to be increasingly difficult and expensive. 

3. Southeast Asia is probably not the answer to China decoupling

4. China forced labor will be decoupling’s catalyst — Andrew Hupert

5. China forced labor will soon destroy US-China trade relations — Bloomberg

Most importantly for those who do their manufacturing in China, the article says that Joe Biden is “putting forced labor at the center of the overall US-China relationship, a move that is already starting to reshape global supply chains”:

 

 

[Randy W]

 

Heroic train driver pulls brake just in time to save all his passengers

Yang Yong, the driver of a high-speed train, saved all of his passengers by engaging the emergency brake almost immediately after his train went off the rails at a station in southwestern China.

from the SCMP on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/scmp/videos/725460535322442/

Edited June 10, 2022 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

 

The footage coming out of Tangshan today is horrific, every woman's worst nightmare.

Shocking footage is going viral of a woman refusing a man's advances at a restaurant.

She is then punched, chairs are thrown, & she is dragged by her hair into the street, JUST FOR SAYING NO.

https://twitter.com/kerrya11en/status/1535204232533618689

 

 

Edited June 12, 2022 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

On 6/12/2022 at 1:44 PM, Randy W said:

 

The footage coming out of Tangshan today is horrific, every woman's worst nightmare.

Shocking footage is going viral of a woman refusing a man's advances at a restaurant.

She is then punched, chairs are thrown, & she is dragged by her hair into the street, JUST FOR SAYING NO.

https://twitter.com/kerrya11en/status/1535204232533618689

 

 

The video footage from Al Jazeera

Video of men attacking women in China restaurant sparks outrage

Surveillance video of a group of men brutally attacking women at a restaurant in China has sparked outrage on social media, raising a debate on women’s rights and gender-based violence.

https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera/videos/550202499879334/

 

Edited January 20, 2023 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

Dino belly button discovered in China

Scientists had long speculated that egg-laying dinosaurs would have an umbilical scar, but this study is the first to find evidence of one.

from the Smithsonianmag on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/100059465982787/posts/pfbid027id8CqDj5QGBuNdfCreShoTFivBExcPw5aKWQi4BNsnnrVrNYcBhoVsjGfvSn7BXl/

First Dinosaur Belly Button Discovered in Fossil From China
The navel was found with unique imaging technology and is similar to scars living alligators sport

Scientists had long speculated that egg-laying dinosaurs would have an umbilical scar, but this study is the first to find evidence of one. (Pictured: artist representation of a Psittacosaurus and its umbilical scar) Jagged Fang Designs

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Paleontologists have discovered the oldest belly button known to science. It belongs to a Psittacosaurus, a member of the horned dinosaurs Ceratopsia, in a fossil uncovered in China. The belly button does not come from an umbilical cord, as it does with mammals, but from the yolk sac of the egg-laying creature, reports Science Alert’s Carly Cassella. Details on the find were published this month in BMC Biology. 

Modern egg-hatchers like snakes and birds lose their belly button scar within a few days or weeks after hatching. But other organisms keep the “umbilical scar” for the rest of their lives. While inside the egg, the embryo’s abdomen is connected to the yolk sac, which provides the embryo with a food source for growing and developing. The scar appears when the embryo detaches from the yolk sac and other membranes, before or as it hatches from its egg. The scar, known as an umbilical scar, is a non-mammalian belly button, reports Gizmodo’s Jeanne Timmons. The Psittacosaurus umbilical scar is similar to that of an adult alligator and is the first example of one in a non-avian dinosaur that predates the Cenozoic period, 66 million years ago, Science Alert reports. 

 

 

Edited June 14, 2022 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

But I'm pretty sure this would only work for Chinese citizens who have studied abroad

Shanghai is aiming to attract global talent from some of the world’s best universities by immediately granting them the hard-to-get household registration document known as the hukou, as the city plans to build back its workforce trimmed by COVID-19 lockdowns.
Read more: http://ow.ly/5wSw50Jtfhm

from the Sixth Tone on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/sixthtone/photos/a.1604152706570250/3247923325526505

Shanghai Lures Graduates From Top Global Schools With ‘Hukou’
Authorities are giving hassle-free household permits to those from the world’s top 50 universities who have full-time jobs in the city.

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Shanghai is aiming to attract global talent from some of the world’s best universities by immediately granting them the hard-to-get household registration document known as the hukou, as the city plans to build back its workforce trimmed by COVID-19 lockdowns.

Chinese graduates from the world’s top 50 universities — as ranked by the Times Higher Education and Shanghai Ranking’s Academic Ranking of World Universities, among others — with full-time employment in the city will be offered a hukou immediately, the Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau said Tuesday. Those from universities ranked 51-100 can apply for a hukou after paying social security for six months.

 

 

[Randy W]

Henan Bank Depositors Hit With Red Health Codes
Unable to unfreeze deposits, Zhengzhou freezes depositors with red health codes.

People gather at a branch of Yuzhou Xinminsheng Villlage Bank after discovering they couldn't withdraw money, Yuzhou, Henan province, 2022. From Weibo

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People who have arrived in Zhengzhou to withdraw money from embattled regional banks said they have found their health codes turn red — a label mostly reserved for potential COVID-19 carriers or those infected with the virus — after arriving in Henan province’s provincial capital, prohibiting them from accessing transportation networks, public services, and even going to the banks to lodge their grievances.

Thousands of depositors have attempted to withdraw money in person from at least four of Henan’s regional banks with tens of billions of yuan in frozen deposits since April. The move came after Sun Zhenfu, a shareholder of one of the banks, fled following “serious financial crimes” in March, according to media reports.

The banks withholding the deposits include Yuzhou Xinminsheng Village Bank, Zhecheng Huanghuai Community Bank, Shangcai Huimin County Bank, and New Oriental County Bank of Kaifeng, with Sun reportedly having indirect associations with all of them. Some 1 million customers are said to be affected.

At least 12 depositors Sixth Tone spoke with said their health code turned red when they scanned city-specific QR codes at railway stations, hotels, and other venues that required them. China tracks residents’ locations with national and local health apps as part of its COVID control measures, which limit mobility when codes turn yellow or red.

Many of the depositors said they had traveled from the eastern provinces of Zhejiang and Shandong, as well as Hebei in the north, to Zhengzhou to demand answers and attempt to retrieve their deposits.

 

 

[Martin B]

5 hours ago, Randy W said:

But I'm pretty sure this would only work for Chinese citizens who have studied abroad

Shanghai is aiming to attract global talent from some of the world’s best universities by immediately granting them the hard-to-get household registration document known as the hukou, as the city plans to build back its workforce trimmed by COVID-19 lockdowns.
Read more: http://ow.ly/5wSw50Jtfhm

from the Sixth Tone on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/sixthtone/photos/a.1604152706570250/3247923325526505

Shanghai Lures Graduates From Top Global Schools With ‘Hukou’
Authorities are giving hassle-free household permits to those from the world’s top 50 universities who have full-time jobs in the city.

 

Makes sense it would only apply to Chinese nationals based on China's current setup...  though they wouldn't necessarily have to go abroad since Tsinghua, Peking, USTC etc often make the top-50 world rankings. 

[Randy W]

On 6/13/2022 at 8:30 PM, Randy W said:

The video footage from Al Jazeera

Video of men attacking women in China restaurant sparks outrage

Surveillance video of a group of men brutally attacking women at a restaurant in China has sparked outrage on social media, raising a debate on women’s rights and gender-based violence.

https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera/videos/550202499879334/

Unanswered Questions Linger in the Aftermath of Tangshan BBQ Restaurant Beating Incident
The deafening silence surrounding the female victims of the Tangshan incident is trending on Weibo, where people are demanding answers.

from What's on Weibo

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The Tangshan incident led to dozens of people publicly discussing and exposing gang-related crimes. The fact that at least five of the suspects had criminal records was a cause of anger among those who felt that they should not have been allowed to be out and about at all. One former victim of a man involved in the attack also spoke out. He said he recognized Chen Jizhi (陈继志) from the security footage and that he was locked inside the trunk of a car for ten hours by Chen a few years prior. A hashtag related to the story received over 300 million views on June 17th (#男子称曾被陈继志等殴打险被活埋#). Other people exposed other gang-related crimes via social media, disclosing their real names and holding their own ID in their hand to make their statements more credible.

 . . .

But what about the female victims of the June 10th violence themselves? No statements, no updates, no family coming forward – the silence surrounding the female victims has been attracting a lot of attention on Chinese social media these days. Many Weibo users suggest that news about the victims is purposely withheld and that people are being silenced about how the women are actually doing.

 

 

 

 

 

[Randy W]

On 6/2/2022 at 12:00 AM, Randy W said:

Why Hong Kong's Jumbo Floating Restaurant could leave the city in a few weeks

Hong Kong could lose its iconic Jumbo Floating Restaurant as early as June 2022, after its owner said it was running out of money to fund its upkeep. The restaurant has been closed since early 2020, with its owner reporting an accumulated loss in excess of HK$100 million (US$12.7 million) after the Covid-19 outbreak devastated the tourism and catering industries already under strain since the social unrest in 2019. On May 31, part of the structure began to sink in Aberdeen Harbour. (Photo: SCMP / Sam Tsang) Related story: Hong Kong leader rejects calls to aid struggling Jumbo Floating Restaurant https://sc.mp/k9h3

 

 

Yes - goodbye!

HK’s iconic Jumbo Floating Restaurant capsizes

Hong Kong’s iconic Jumbo Floating Restaurant has capsized in the South China Sea. Docked in Aberdeen since 1976, it had left the city last week.

Read more: sc.mp/nfoc

from the SCMP on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/scmp/videos/1473417836450190/

Hong Kong’s iconic Jumbo Floating Restaurant sinks in South China Sea after encountering adverse conditions

• Aberdeen Restaurant Enterprises says the vessel capsized as it was passing Paracel Islands in South China Sea during weekend
• No crew members were injured, company is seeking more information from towing firm on incident

Edited June 21, 2022 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

On 6/17/2022 at 9:38 PM, Randy W said:

Henan Bank Depositors Hit With Red Health Codes
Unable to unfreeze deposits, Zhengzhou freezes depositors with red health codes.

People gather at a branch of Yuzhou Xinminsheng Villlage Bank after discovering they couldn't withdraw money, Yuzhou, Henan province, 2022. From Weibo

 

 

Five officials in Zhengzhou have received various degrees of punishment for their involvement in handing out red health codes that restricted the mobility of hundreds of depositors who had either arrived in the central Chinese city or were planning trips to withdraw their savings from struggling regional banks.
Feng Xianbin, director of the Social Management Department in the city’s epidemic prevention department, was stripped of his party title and removed from his position, while his deputy, Zhang Linlin, was demoted from her post, discipline inspection and supervision authorities in Zhengzhou announced Wednesday evening. The duo had “decided to give red codes to some village bank depositors without authorization” and ordered three other officials to carry out the decision.

from the Sixth Tone on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/sixthtone/posts/pfbid02t6pYwyPmbF3yeeXqpEDsaHYk96svqbqKBTLMBYcCNmkujk6bvASp786XWtYorhwFl

Zhengzhou Officials Punished Over Red Health Code Saga
While five government officials received different degrees of punishments, legal experts say the liability for invasion of privacy remains unanswered.

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A total of 1,317 Henan bank depositors had received red health codes and 446 of them were already in Zhengzhou when they found out, the announcement said. The remaining depositors were not in Henan but found their health codes turned red while scanning the city-specific QR code — most cities have their own local health codes in addition to the national one — from their places of residence.

Almost all who received the red health codes have been unable to withdraw their savings from the four banks — Yuzhou Xinminsheng Village Bank, Zhecheng Huanghuai Community Bank, Shangcai Huimin County Bank, and New Oriental County Bank of Kaifeng — since April 18 when they all shut online banking systems for system upgrades. The banks then continued to prevent depositors from withdrawing at cash counters as well, saying they were cooperating with police investigations over a financial crime related to one of the bank’s shareholders.

 

 

[Randy W]

20 hours ago, Randy W said:

 

Five officials in Zhengzhou have received various degrees of punishment for their involvement in handing out red health codes that restricted the mobility of hundreds of depositors who had either arrived in the central Chinese city or were planning trips to withdraw their savings from struggling regional banks.
Feng Xianbin, director of the Social Management Department in the city’s epidemic prevention department, was stripped of his party title and removed from his position, while his deputy, Zhang Linlin, was demoted from her post, discipline inspection and supervision authorities in Zhengzhou announced Wednesday evening. The duo had “decided to give red codes to some village bank depositors without authorization” and ordered three other officials to carry out the decision.

from the Sixth Tone on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/sixthtone/posts/pfbid02t6pYwyPmbF3yeeXqpEDsaHYk96svqbqKBTLMBYcCNmkujk6bvASp786XWtYorhwFl

Zhengzhou Officials Punished Over Red Health Code Saga
While five government officials received different degrees of punishments, legal experts say the liability for invasion of privacy remains unanswered.

 

from CNN business

Small banks in China are running into trouble. Savers could lose everything

Depositors protest in front of the Henan branch of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, demanding their money back after their funds were frozen.
 

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The national banking regulator has accused a major shareholder of the four banks of illegally attracting money from savers. "Henan New Fortune Group, a shareholder of the four village banks, has illegally absorbed the public's funds through internal and external collusion, the use of third-party platforms, and fund brokers," the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission told state-run Xinhua News Agency in May.

"The police have opened a case for investigation into the matter," it added.

Runs on small Chinese banks have become more frequent in recent years and some have been accused of financial improprieties or corruption. But experts worry that a much bigger financial problem could be looming, caused by fallout from a real estate crash and soaring bad debts related to the Covid-19 pandemic.

 . . .

As many as 400,000 banking customers across China were unable to access their savings, according to an estimate in April by Sanlian Lifeweek, a state-owned magazine.

That's a drop in the ocean of China's vast banking system, but about a quarter of the industry's total assets are held by around 4,000 small lenders, which often have opaque ownership and governance structures and are more vulnerable to corruption, say experts, and the sharp economic slowdown.

 

 

Edited June 24, 2022 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

Over more than 10 years, a Chinese woman wrote several million words of fake Russian history, creating 206 articles and contributing to hundreds more on Chinese Wikipedia. She imagined richly detailed war stories and economic histories, and wove them into real events in language boring enough to fit seamlessly into the encyclopedia. Some netizens are calling her China’s Borges.

from the Sixth Tone on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/sixthtone/posts/pfbid0W63nfDXNVSjPftSGVKsHoF2TzxjL6Edv4hqXiRDAUx1hGwa4kT9XZcTj2ayXEhL1l

She Spent a Decade Writing Fake Russian History. Wikipedia Just Noticed.
A Chinese woman created over 200 fictional articles on Chinese Wikipedia, writing millions of words of imagined history that went unnoticed for more than 10 years.

The Chinese-language Wikipedia entry on the “Tver-Moscow War” edited by Zhemao, has been deleted. From Wikipedia
 

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Yifan, a fantasy novelist, was browsing Chinese Wikipedia looking for inspiration in history, when he first learned of the great silver mine of Kashen. Originally opened by the principality of Tver, an independent state from the 13th to 15th centuries, it grew to be one of the world’s biggest, a city-sized early modern industry worked by some 30,000 slaves and 10,000 freedmen. Its fabulous wealth made it a vital resource to the princes of Tver, but also tempted the powerful dukes of Moscow, who attempted to seize the mine in a series of wars that sprawled across the land that is now Russia from 1305 to 1485. “After the fall of the Principality of Tver, it continued to be mined by the Grand Duchy of Moscow and its successor regime until the mine was closed in the mid-18th century due to being exhausted,” the entry said.

Yifan went down the rabbit hole on Kashen and the Tver-Moscow War, learning about battles, the personalities of aristocrats and engineers, and more history surrounding the forgotten mine. There were hundreds of related articles describing this obscure period of Slavic history in the dull, sometimes suggestive, tone of the online encyclopedia.

It was only when he tried to go deeper that something started to seem off. Russian-language versions of articles related to the period were shorter than the Chinese equivalents, or nonexistent. The footnote supporting a passage on medieval mining methods referred to an academic paper on automated mining in the 21st century. Eventually, he realized that there was no such thing as the Kashen silver mine. Yifan had uncovered one of the largest hoaxes in Wikipedia’s history.

 . . .

Zhemao said she made most of her fake entries to fill the gaps left by her first couple of entries she edited. “As the saying goes, in order to tell a lie, you must tell more lies. I was reluctant to delete the hundreds of thousands of words I wrote, but as a result, I wound up losing millions of words, and a circle of academic friends collapsed,” she wrote. “The trouble I’ve caused is hard to make up for, so maybe a permanent ban is the only option. My current knowledge is not enough to make a living, so in the future I will learn a craft, work honestly, and not do nebulous things like this any more.”