Bingfeng Teahouse

sun bin has some updates on the village impeachment and taishi

this photo shows a village head waiting at a distance for the result of an impeachment:

www.taikonaut.com

via: cat eyes

October 17, 2005

Emerson cares about its employees and their welfare in China and across the world. We have made it a top priority to abide by the laws and regulations set out by the Chinese government in resolving labor and employment issues.

On February 18, 2005, an employee was hired at Astec, a division of Emerson Network Power, in Fuyong, Shenzhen. In June, 2005, this employee was found to have a medical issue.  She received medical treatment for three months, at Emerson’s expense.  On September 19, 2005, the employee officially resigned from Emerson, of her own accord. The resignation was signed by the employee and her sister.

On October 11, 2005, the employee returned to Emerson Network Power, Fuyong, demanding compensation. Emerson immediately informed her family and the local labor department. For two days, Emerson worked with the employee, her family members and the local labor bureau to resolve the matter. An agreement was reached on October 13, 2005. This agreement was accepted and signed by the former employee and her family. During this process, Emerson has gone above and beyond the requirements set out by Chinese labor laws to help the employee recover from her illness.  This is demonstrated in how we have supported the employee in good faith with a special subsidy. We sincerely hope that this former employee of Emerson makes a full recovery.

via: yahoo news china, xinhua news (both in chinese)

according to a yahoo news report, a chinese prostitute pretends to be a japanese and decorated her home with japanese style. when the police found her together with a wai-shi-jing-cha (police dealing with foreigners), she shouted "da ge, da ge (buddy, buddy) ..." in chinese. the police even found some japanese newspaper at her home ...

the story doesn't tell us the reason why she pretends to be a japanese, but it does tell us that she charges her customers 1,500 rmb per business.

in a separate xinhua news report titled "investigation of chinese peasant workers", the author discussed the misrable living conditions and unfair, sometimes inhumane treatments they received in cities. in one section, the article reveals that most male migrant workers feel lonely after work and can not find anything as a pastime (67%), some of them (5%) admitted that they have had sex with whores, which are more "affordable" to them with prices usually less than 100 rmb.

when asked what they will do if they don't have sex for some time, 25% saied they will watch porn videos, 21% said they will find a prostitute, 18% will just sleepless and 18% will drink.

really disturbed and wonder what we could do to make them live a humane life.

a related story i just find from china daily, a shameful sign towards migrant workers:

A striking notice reading "Migrant workers and recycled rubbish collectors are not allowed in" has been hanging above the gate of the Jiulong Lake scenery resort in East China's Zhejiang Province since May, stirring up strong criticism among the general public.

via: guo jing-ming blog (in chinese)

nice blog, with some pics showing china's "X generation"

via: china daily

perhaps inspired by "ccp minion" theorist's "change the subject, diverting all the attention away from what lies at the heart of the matter to the very least important aspect of the story", china daily reported on taishi affair with such a title "Guardian admits Taishi reporting false", followed by a full translation of the press release by Panyu district government titled Truth of the Taishi village incident: full text of questions and answers (presumbly plagiarized from ESWN)

i can't help laughing out loudly when reading teh term "truth", this time the "interactive people's daily" disagrees with "interactive china daily".

sun bin asks:

what do you mean by "considering the source"? there are clearly names and exact dates for each village and event. the source precisely showed that it is not a propaganda by "CCP minions".

if you are referring to the credibility of these people. i can tell you they many have received funding from questionable parties, but many of them are honest people. they may exaggerate on some of their speech, but this short report is just a list of simple facts.

sun bin, sorry for my late reply, i have to agree with you that my skepticism on the sources of "village impeachment report of china" is baseless, and i don't doubt the central government's willingness to promote the democratic reforms in the village level, however, i am still reserved and won't get the conclusion that the reform is in good condition, for two reasons:

1) i bet there are must be many villages unable to organize themselves to recall the corrupt village officials, and they mostly won't get the media exposure as the taishi affair did

2) and more important, the democratic reform is not only the end but also a MEANS to help solve the problems in villages, so, as long as we are not certain how effective the reforms help solving the problems, i will be hesitate to call it a success or a "progress". 

related links:

sun bin: hu should be playing bridge?

simon world: Silver lining in the Taishi cloud

eswn: full translation of the panyu district government press release