The Washington Post reports in: Schools Fell While Other Buildings Held

Since the quake, parents’ grief has turned to anger.

Why, they ask, did the school collapse when other nearby buildings, including government offices, the teachers’ dormitory and even an old classroom building housing pet rabbits, withstood the quake?

The same question is being asked all over Sichuan, as residents have started to notice that, on street after street, schools collapsed while most government buildings did not. In Mianzhu county, a quarter of the 43 primary and secondary schools caved in, leaving more than 1,000 students dead, while the gleaming government complex remained fully operational and is now a staging area for emergency rescue and cleanup operations.

In total, nearly 7,000 schools have been reported destroyed in Sichuan by the quake; that figure could rise as reconstruction crews reach the hardest-hit areas.

The earthquake was a devastating tragedy. Sadly, it reveals a few unpleasant things about safety and where priorities were not in good alignment.

China calls the Dalai Lama a “cat’s paw of international anti-China forces.” Protesting monks are labeled the “scum of Buddhism,” and foreign critics are said to have a “dark and despicable mentality.”

In responding to recent anti-Chinese protests in Tibet, Beijing has revived shrill language from past decades, displaying the communist regime’s extreme sensitivity over the issue and enduring authoritarian nature.

Three decades of market-oriented economic reforms and an increasingly vibrant society have little impact when it comes to core issues of sovereignty and state power, experts say. Not even the impending Beijing Olympics seems to have moderated the tone.

“‘China’ is several things,” says Princeton University China expert Perry Link. “The sizzling economy and flashy cities are real, but so is the tired old political-rhetorical culture that sits on the shelf and is pulled out when needed.”

Read more in the International Herald Tribune: China’s anger over Tibet revives harsh terminology of yesteryear

The Chinese press is similarly full of claims of Western media bias and distortion, a charge made straight-faced in a country that routinely blocks foreign media, strictly censors its own news, and has only allowed the media to cover street violence by Tibetans.

Read the complete article: Rejecting dissent, China exposes its candor gap

It is a fake.

The photographer, 41 year old Liu Weiqing, was under contract with Xinhua to provide photos for China’s largest government-run news service. He faked the the photo using of Photoshop to combine two separate images and create the desired effect.

This is the aim of propaganda anyway, making the unreal seem real.

‘The truth is probably the opposite of what the picture was trying to claim,’ Su Jianping, a zoologist at the Northwest Institute of Plateau Biology, in Xining, told the journal Nature last week. The antelopes are shy and their migration patterns are being disturbed by the trains. ‘There is no such thing as harmonious coexistence between trains and antelopes,’ Jiangping said.

Read more in the Wall Street Journal and The Guardian: Tibetan rail wildlife photograph faked, China Eats Crow Over Faked Photo Of Rare Antelope

Robin Munro, research director of the China Labour Bulletin, said China’s official record makes a “mockery of promises made” and warned that the crackdown on dissenters might “become the new normal” once the Games are over.

The China Blog also mentions the irony of Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi’s remarks that public security officers are more likely to offer a protester a “a cup of tea” than arrest them. The remarks were made on the same day another “a petition organizer was seized in Beijing”.

It seems that lying is also the norm.

Follow the news, and it is clear that the Olympics are being used as an excuse to suppress human rights in China more than ever before. The IOC, like the Chinese government, is guilty of practicing double-speak; they know what they say is all lies but they still claim it’s true.

The now famous Chinese dissident, Hu Jia, describes for the world what they can expect to see during the summer games. In an open letter translated by Human Rights Watch, he writes: “You may not know that the flowers, smiles, harmony and prosperity are built on a base of grievances, tears, imprisonment, torture and blood.”

He warns:

Please be aware that the Olympic Games will be held in a country where there are no elections, no freedom of religion, no independent courts, no independent trade unions; where demonstrations and strikes are prohibited; where torture and discrimination are supported by a sophisticated system of secret police; where the government encourages the violation of human rights and dignity, and is not willing to undertake any of its international obligations.

Clearly, this is turning out to be the worst choice of host city in the history of the Olympic games. Not only are there many promises the Chinese are having trouble keeping, such as pollution, traffic, and a real openness; but even the IOC is not standing up for humanity. The IOC is now unequivocally complicit in human rights violations. It’s not the 2008 Olympics people should be boycotting, but all future games until the IOC gets their head on straight.

Read the complete translation of Hu Jia’s letter.

All the babies were sold for eight million dong ($500) each.

The police said they would be offered for adoption to couples in China for around $2,000 each, because they were boys.

Girls would be sold for half the amount, according to investigators.

Read the complete article: Vietnam ‘baby-smugglers’ arrested

The only justification for the Beijing games is that they will allow connoisseurs of the grotesque to inspect this ghoulish hybrid of the worst of capitalism and the worst of socialism close up. … The International Olympic Committee and all the national sports bureaucracies will follow up by instructing athletes not to say a word out of place.

I wonder if, as an accredited journalist,  Nick will be on hand to cover the games in Beijing.

Read the complete article The only winner in Beijing will be tyranny

The Chinese government is not immune to pressure. It respects economic power. It does not heed its internal critics because they are commercially irrelevant.

Also very quotable, a spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry recently said:

Chinese people know best about China’s human rights situation.

Now here is another Olympic promise that is not being kept.  The Financial Times writes about a lawsuit being brought against the organizers of the Beijing Olympics. The slogan for the 2008 Olympic games - “One World, One Dream” -  was chosen after a contest that allowed people from all over the world to suggest a new slogan. According to the article, the organizing committee “originally promised to issue a certificate of recognition to the participant.”

“There was no single winner,” Liu Qi, Beijing Communist party chief and Bocog president, said in 2005. “The slogan embodies the wisdom of hundreds of thousands of people.”

It turns out that may not be exactly true.

Fang Shouwei, a Beijing resident said he came up with the slogan. He is taking the Beijing Organizing Committee to court, claiming he has  evidence that he proposed the English-language phrase chosen. He is suing for the certificate and to have his legal bills paid.

If this turns out to be true, it would be a fairly stupid move. After all, delivering clean air and human rights are gigantic tasks. Recognition comes much easier.
Here is the complete Financial Times article: China Olympics sued for copyright abuse

Furthermore, the Chinese article says anyone challenging China’s national priorities is “hurting the feelings of 1.3 billion Chinese people.”

Is there any other country on earth that complains about hurt feelings as much as China? How old is China? Hosting the Olympic games means sitting at the adult’s table. It’s time to accept a little scrutiny - from both inside and outside the country. Grow up.

“It’s a throwback to the worst of the garment sweatshops 10, 20 years ago,” said Charles Kernaghan, director of the National Labor Committee.

“I don’t think they have a clue where these crucifixes were made — in horrific work conditions,” Kernaghan said. Kernaghan said the factory’s mostly young, female employees work from 8 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. seven days a week and are paid 26 cents an hour with no sick days or vacation. Workers live in filthy dormitories and are fed a watery “slop,” he said.

Read the entire CNN article: Crucifixes allegedly made in Chinese sweatshops.

The International Herald Tribune article As Olympic Games approach, Chinese are urged to be ‘civilized’ brings up the issue of manners. It’s an old and somewhat irrelevant topic for many Chinese. Irrelevant because while the majority of people know that certain aspects of their behavior are offensive to visitors from other countries, very few people are interested in changing their ways. From the Tribune article:

At every turn I hear cries of “lao wai.”

The words constitute a slightly uncouth slang for foreigner. Literally, they mean “old outsider.”

Quite often, these murmurings are accompanied by a mocking, sing-song uttering of the English greeting “hello.” The tone is unmistakable, and it is not friendly. This is not to say that it is hostile, either, rather it is said in a way that suggests that foreigners are not merely an object of novelty here, which should certainly no longer be the case by now, but also of slight ridicule.

Any foreigner who has spent a few years in China will understand what the author is talking about. While intended as a slight insult and joke at your expense, it amounts to little more than an irritation. The cries of “lao wai” tend to come out as an exclamation of surprise. The “hello” and girlish laughter is always deliberate and meant as ridicule. It may seem to the casual visitor that the locals are being friendly, but it is really a kind of low-class behavior that has led to many foreigners saying “good-bye” to China forever.

“Extensive use of coal, the city’s geographical location and a growing number of motor vehicles means the pace of improvement in Beijing’s air quality is slow,” said Eric Falt, who heads the U.N. Environment Program’s sports and environment project.

Falt said fine particles of pollution that are harmful to human health were “particularly worrying.”

There is nothing new here. Organizers knew all along that pollution in Beijing is the most horrendous in Olympic history. Can things be expected to change in 10 months?

Beijing does not regularly measure or evaluate some serious pollutants, including ozone and some types of fine particulate matter that can easily be inhaled deep into the lungs. Meanwhile, they have refused to publicly release figures on the amount of pollutants at any given location, such as the Olympic Village or Tiananmen Square, preferring to stick with a citywide average.

China has promised a “green” Olympics, but its failure to divulge what is actually in the host city’s air has alarmed athletes, surprised environmental experts and raised questions about officials’ commitment to making needed changes.

There are still ten months left before the games begin, and a lot can happen in that time. It seems that many athletes have begun to consider contingency plans if the pollution still poses a risk.

Australian athletes have announced they will arrive in Beijing as late as possible because of concerns that the air quality might hinder their performance. Two weeks ago, two Ethiopian middle-distance running champions announced they would forgo some events because of the “disgusting weather and air pollution.” New Zealand and American athletes say they will wear face masks if necessary. Even Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee, warned that some endurance sports might be postponed if the pollution gets too bad.

Myanmar has become notorious in the region for ignoring international and its own environmental laws in a single-minded effort to make the money that environmentalists say helps keep the regime in power.

About 95 percent of Myanmar’s total timber exports to China are illegal, Global Witness said, costing its treasury $250 million a year. Much of the profits go to Chinese firms as well as regional military commanders and ethnic guerrilla groups, it said.

Read the complete story: In Myanmar, rivers, forests suffer.

This past year has been an especially bad one for the environment in China. Hundreds of thousands of people die each year from pollution. And this may just be the tip of the iceberg. This year has also seen the extinction of the rare Yangtze River Dolphin. China’s rapid development is destroying natural habitats and causing the disappearance of countless species. According to The World Conservation Union’s Red List, there are over 385 endangered species in China. With no slowing of China’s steamrolling economy in sight, many more extinctions can be expected.

But the news is not all bad. There is hope. Economic growth does not have to be “at all costs.”

To the south of China lies Viet Nam, a country with a similar economic growth rate. Recently it was reported that eleven new species were discovered in central Viet Nam. Also a socialist state, Viet Nam’s economy is likewise fueled by rapid growth. But the situation in Viet Nam illustrates that a balance can be found.

Any country that runs on the principal of “economic growth at all costs” is being run in a reckless and a short sighted way. The environment is an umbrella under which all aspects of life fall. Without that umbrella, no society can prosper.

For years, famed “Environmental Warrior” Wu Lihong has single-handedly crusaded to expose the devastating effects of unchecked pollution from nearby chemical factories. Mr Wu’s environmental protests were damaging the areas reputation, and he has been arrested on trumped up political charges.

Lake Tai is rated Grade V by the State Environmental Protection Administration, the lowest level on its scale. In contradiction to this, the city of Yixing, which overseas Zhoutie, has been designated “Model City for Environmental Protection.” Clean up efforts amount to the following:

In 2001, Wen Jiabao, then a vice premier, now China’s prime minister, came to investigate reports of Lake Tai’s deterioration. Like most Communist Party inspection tours, word of this one reached local officials in advance. When Mr. Wen asked to see a typical dye plant, one was made ready, according to several people who witnessed the preparations.

The factory got a fresh coat of paint. The canal that ran beside it was drained, dredged and refilled with fresh water. Shortly before Mr. Wen’s motorcade arrived, workers dumped thousands of carp into the canal. Farmers were positioned along the banks holding fishing rods.

Mr. Wen spent 20 minutes there. A picture of him shaking hands with the factory boss hangs in its lobby.

Read the complete Times article In China, a Lake’s Champion Imperils Himself.

Choking on Growth series of articles

• As China Roars, Pollution Reaches Deadly Extremes
• Beneath Booming Cities, China’s Future Is Drying Up
• In China, a Lake’s Champion Imperils Himself

Censorship of the internet in China is becoming more draconian, according to new details of Beijing’s online restrictions published by human rights organisations.

The report also said that the punishments meted out to those who are deemed to have transgressed Beijing’s rules are becoming more drastic.

The complete article in The Guardian is China tightens control of net.

According to five bystanders, teams of police, dressed in black jumpsuits and reportedly wielding batons and taser guns, cordoned off a street in the popular Sanlitun nightclub district at around midnight and rounded up almost all the black men there. Many of the men were beaten.

The raid took place in front of hundreds of stunned expatriates outside the packed bars and clubs of the neighbourhood, which is popular with Beijing’s burgeoning foreign community.

“I saw a guy being beaten by these kids. He wasn’t doing anything. He wasn’t fighting back,” said one witness, a white American college graduate working in Beijing.

“I have not really ever seen anything so brutal,” said another American. “There was blood on the streets. They were basically beating up any black person they could find.”

Among the victims were at least 20 black men, including students, tourists and the son of a diplomat.

If ever there was a year for China to work on their dismal reputation in the world, it should be this year. Unfortunately this seems to be only the tip of the iceberg. The harsh treatment once reserved for their own people, now seems to be extended to their foreign guests. In addition to the attacks on blacks, all refugees and asylum seekers who have sought safe harbor in China will also be deported or repatriated before next summer’s Olympics. It seems unlikely that attacks on foriegners safety and human rights will abate anytime before the Olympic Games.