Chongqing organizes itself a mass incident

A small BBQ-stall owner, beaten up by local authorities, ignited a massive riot and a burning government car in Chongqing op September 4, reports Global Voices. Despite effort to surpress the news, the internet got hold of it.

Beijing Olympics has its own nail house

You might still remember those nail houses in Chongqing, Shenzhen and Shanghai? Angry house owners did not want to leave for the bulldozers. Well, Beijing has its own and today it made it to the International Herald Tribune.
Sun Ruoyu is fighting to retain a 1840 bakery that is unfortunately on the route of the marathon of the Beijing Olympics in 2008. They can make a detour, can't they?

Grandma fights back

Global Voices looks at another massive incident where a Chinese citizens - at least initially - fought back efforts to destroy here house. The 90-year old grandma Zhang in Shenzhou, Zhejiang province was at a certain moment even defended by a crowd of 20,000, attacked by police in defending her nailhouse.

It is unclear what the status of the conflict is right now.

Workers unite against Danone

Ok, not time to go really deep into the Wahaha-Danone argument, apart from this picture showing workers who support Wahaha against Danone. A nice example of "social unrest" of a special case.
As you might have noticed by now, the question who is right or who is wrong is increasingly irrelevant. The question is "who get's it right?" It is not Danone yet, and we might have seen that coming.

SEPA critical on Xiamen PX-project

In a new environmental assessment of the city of Xiamen, the plans for a new chemical plant might have to be reconsidered, the State Administration of Environmental Protection (SEPA) announced on Thursday, writes AP.
The now suspended so-called PX-project was the reason of a major protest on June 1.
While the new assessment by SEPA was asked by the embattled municipal authorities, mayor Li Cigui told reporters on Friday the protest has been "inappropriate". He suggested action might be taken against the organizers, according to Reuters:

"There are some people who have taken advantage of the people's attention to environmental issues, attention to this project, and taken inappropriate and even illegal actions," Liu told a small group of reporters in Hong Kong.

Eradicating Tiananmen too effective

An interesting twist in the efforts by the Chinese censors to eradicate the bloodshed at June 4 1989 in Beijing from everybody's memory (at least in China then). ESWN translates (h/t Danwei) a report about an incident where a rather young editor of the Chengdu Evening News allowed an ad into the paper remembering the incident. "Salute to the strong mothers of June 4th victims!", the ad said.
The editor, who had no clue about the crackdown on June 4, 1989 was told that the text referred to an accident that happened in the past. It show how effective censorship can be.
Below a few books to improve your knowledge, that is, if the link is not blocked in China.

Update: The editors involved in this incident have been fired, reports Reuters.

Minutes from the Xiamen march

The yellow ribbon has become the symbol of the protest against the expansion of the chemical industry in Xiamen and yesterdays march has been remarkable for many reasons. Up to 20,000 people marched in a reasonable peaceful demonstration, asking for the local party secretary to resign. And then went home.
The march has been organized through mobile phones and the internet, by using up to a million SMS-messages to mobilize people. China Mobile must love those protesters, until of course the government ordered China Mobile to switch off they systems, reports John Kennedy on Global Voices. His minute to minute account of the demonstration shows how the local blackout of local media to report on the march gives the internet a free ride.

09：02：05　　群众推进了5米。　　现人群聚集在市府门口右侧十米处，警察三道人墙，僵持中。
The crowd has pushed forward five meters. The crowd is gathered about ten meters to the right of the city gov’t gates, police are lined up three rows deep, refusing to budge.

Xiamen demonstration in full swing

Danwei summerizes the reports on the internet on the massive demonstration in Xiamen against the expansion of the chemical industry. Citizen reporter Zuola is sending pictures from the scene.

The local government has already been suspending the expension as the protest, for a large part online and through SMS's took shake. A nice example of growing citizen's activism.

Update: According to Reuters up to 20,000 people have joined the demonstration, mainly mobilized by SMS-messages

prompting the government to block mobile phone text messages to stop residents from joining the demonstrations.

Beijing real estate dispute turns nasty

It is still a long way to a really harmonious society. Billsdue reports on a real estate dispute in Beijing that really turned nasty as the real estate developer last night hired some thugs to beat up residents.

Update: More media reports and pictures at Danwei.

Family planning triggers disturbance in Guangxi

burning government offices at Bobai

ESWN translates reports about massive disturbances triggered off by rigid family policies in Guangxi province. In Bobai county, fights between local people and local governments have been reported in ten towns. Local family planning officials were told by officials higher in the command chain they had not done enough to maintain the family planning regulations.

Some reports, denied by the local government, spoke about five casualities. Rumors on larger scale demonstrations are also going around.

Since the beginning of this month, there has been continuous clashes in Bobai county. The biggest disturbance occurred at 11:40am on May 19. In Shabo town (Bobai county), a large number of citizens went to demonstrate at the Shabo town government office building to protest the brutal law enforcement. The officials had allegedly been apply the "Three Alls Policy 三光政策" (arrest everyone, fine everything, confiscate everything 抓光﹑罰光﹑抄光) to those citizens who violated the family planning strictures (note: the original Three Alls Policy is the Japanese scorched earth policy of 'kill all, loot all, burn all' during the WWII).

Three shot dead at Dalian police station

pictures taken after the shooting

At the police office of the Xiongyyecheng town in Dalian Railroad Department three citizens have been shot to dead by police officer named Su Kai on April 26. The local authorities are trying to suppress the news, writes ESWN in a translation of Observechina.

The three citizens were in the police station to ask for compensation. The circumstances have not been clarified yet.

Hu Jintao beats Bush in Time top-100

Liu Qi next to IOC-president Rogge

Time magazine published its list of the top-100 most influential people and again I had to struggle through a list of people I have often never heard off. (Here is the list, here the link to Time.)

US president Bush has lost his position, while his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao still goes strong. Beijing Party Secretary Liu Qi made it and that seems closely connected to his efforts to get the Beijing Olympics in 2008 in place. Liu doubles also as the chairman of the Beijing Olympic Committee.
Of course Time had also to include one of the modern Chinese power brokers with weblogger Zeng Jinya, the wife of dissident Hu Jia, to keep the list nicely balanced.

Comparing the Hong Kong and Macau media

Simon World picks up the discussion on the May day riots in Macao and how the media have covered that event. A nice summery in a quote from Ivan Choy Chi-keung of the Chinese University:

"The big newspapers in Hong Kong are kind of anti-government - cynical about the government," he said. "The two biggest Macau newspapers, the Macau Daily News and Jornal Va Kio, are owned by pro-China people and in sympathy with the government."

Shooting at Macao labor rally

ESWN translates different accounts of the violent incidents at a labor rally yesterday in Macao. One police officer drew his handgun and shot into the air, according to one account with blank bullets, according to another with real.
Just wonder why armed police officers would walk around with blank bullets in their handgun anyway. From the pictures at ESWN it looked like the police did not expect violence and were only dressed lightly.

The power of a blog: the nail house revisited

A 26-year old vegetable seller from Hunan province, Zhou Shugang, used his weblog last month to tell the story about the Chongqing nailhouse, a story he covered in person, after the traditional media were banned from writing about it.

Now the weblog has only gained in popularity, writes the South China Morning Post, in a follow-up story.

Homeowners across the country flocked to the site in hopes of attracting attention to similar causes, among them 45-year-old Shanghai resident Chen Jialiang, whose house was flattened in his absence last year.
Mr Chen's trip to Chongqing did not yield him any mainstream media headlines, but he did secure a lengthy report with pictures on Mr Zhou's blog for himself and 12 other households in his district. Mr Chen said the exposure might lead to a breakthrough in his dispute with the developer.
"I'm very grateful to Zhou Shuguang for putting forward the case about our houses. Our problems would have been solved long ago if we had got the same attention that the Chongqing couple did."

Car producer Brilliance accused

One guy in a suit at the Shanghai Auto Show is not enough to create a mass incident, as the China Car Times suggests. Unless you can of course add the journalists and security people who jumped on the guy.

The text accuses car marker Brilliance of cheating and expresses the hope the government can do something about it. China Car Times could not really find out what the problem was. The traditional media did not mention the incident yet, so perhaps tomorrow we will have to check additional sources.

The Shanghai Nailhouses

The Crash Test Dummy Video Blog went on his bike to investigate the state of two Shanghai-based nail houses after the upheaval about the Chongqing one. The second one was gone.

Rule of law moving ahead

China Law Blog points at this story in Asia Times that illustrates the way how the Chinese government is pushing ahead the "rule of law".

In December 2003, farmers in Changting village in Fenghua city of Zhejiang province were told that all of the village's 180 hectares of land would be requisitioned for construction, and they should approach the village committee for compensation as soon as possible.

One villager Zhang Zhaoling decides to push the issue ahead, and with success. Massive media interest indicates that the central government is supporting the case. A typical Chinese way of pushing ahead with changes.

A court fights for its independence

the Chongqing nailhouse

ESWN translates a great feature story in the Southern weekend that uses interviews with the main parties involved in this the cause of the Chongqing nail house, including Mrs Wu Ping. It is a great case study on change in China, but I want to stress one interesting element: the Jiulongpo district court director Zhang Li, is one of the main players in this drama.

He said that the pressure of the "nail house affair" was something "he had never encountered in forty years of living and may be a once-in-a-life-time thing."

Zhang Li had just started his job in this district on March 17 and got a crash course in media relations and discovered the power of the internet:

"At the time, I felt that it was a troublesome thing to deal with the media. I was afraid that I might say something wrong. I turned down media interviews. In retrospect, I can frankly say that I regret that." Almost a month later, he reflected to the reporter.

Zhang Li effectively refuses to join press conferences with the local government. He insists that his court should remain independent and throws himself into some arguments. He gets support:

As district party secretary, Zheng Hong recognized this. "In other countries, government officials and judges will not sit down together. But foreign reporters do not understand party leadership in China." In the end, the court held its own press conferences. Similarly, when the government held its own press conferences, the court did not participate.

Hectic scenes display at the government offices and many officials, including Zhang Li have sleepless nights. He has to oversee the negotiations, since his relative independence as a newcomer in the district. Chongqing was able to avoid a worst-case scenario.
Really worth to read the whole article.

A new nail house in Shenzhen

Isn't it a beauty? Simon World cuts-and-pasts from the otherwise unlinkable South China Morning Post (SCMP).

Mr. Choi and this wife got inspiration from the earlier success in Chongqing:

He admits he has been inspired by a Chongqing couple who held out for 11 days, while their house stood on a mound in the middle of 10-metre-deep pit, until the developers paid up. "The couple is my model. I'm sure I will win this battle as they did," Mr Choi said of the pair, whose home was dubbed the "coolest nail house" - slang for holdouts who refuse to be hammered down while their houses stand erect like nails after those around are demolished.

Xiamen citizens fight against chemical plant

Citizens at Xiamen island fight against a huge chemical plant near their city center, John Kennedy reports at Global Voices. Desperate appeals appear on the internet:

The voices of the people will always have their limit. That the local government values GDP so highly and takes protecting the environment so lightly will be the sorrow of our grandchildren!We’re telling the truth. Central government, please save us. Save the hard-earned fruits of our labors! Save the homes in which we so tiredly live!

Deal on Chongqing house

Yee reports that China's most famous house, the nailhouse in Chongqing, is now being demolished after a deal has been reached.

New deadline for Chongqing nailhouse

Josie Liu points at her (fairly new) weblog at the press conference by Huang Yun, the Chongqing districthead in charge of China's most famous house. At the picture he shows how beautiful the area is going to be after the nailhouse has been removed.

Huang announced a new deadline for demolishion: April 10, the third time a court has issued such an order.

Mr. Yang and his wife Wu Ping have refused to accept more than 2.4 million yuan ($300,000) of cash the developer would pay to them, but asked for an unit of the same position and area as their current property in the new business compound to be built on the same location, which happened to be a major commercial area in the city.

Chongqing nailhouse gets a music clip

(h/t China Blog)
According to the latest, the stand-off is still ongoing.

Chongqing house hit by publication ban

The State Council Information office has banned all publications on the Chongqing house. Chongqing media were already forbidden to report about the house, but now all national media have to comply. From Ziji Space Blog, translated by CDT.

All domestic print press have received urgent notices from the State Council Information Office at 1:30 pm, March 24, no more reporting and commenting on the "nailhouse" event. All domestic online media also received urgent notices from the Information Office of State Council at 1:45 pm, March 24, no more reporting and commenting on the "nailhouse" event. All news related to this event must be pushed to the backend. All special feature pages are deleted. All comments function on this news are closed. By 2 pm the same day, all internet portals including sina, netease, sohu and QQ have deleted their special reporting pages on this story.

More at China Digital Times.

Spoofing the Chongqing house struggle

Yan Bing, the husband of Wu Ping, has now also reached celebrity status. Another pick up from Global Voices.

Mrs Wu Ping receives the media

Citizens report from the Chongqing site

John Kennedy documents for Global Voices the fallout on the internet of the Chongqing house of Mrs Wu Ping.
Many first hand reports from citizens who went to the place themselves.

I just got back from the scene. It’s not as busy there as I’d imagined, about two-three hundred Chongqing residents standing nearby on the bridge, on the railway track, supporting old Yang, just sixty to eighty meters away from old Yang’s fortress! Someone named Lin is down there organizing everyone to shout to old Yang, ‘be brave..!’ Old Yang flashed the flashlight over a few times in response! Old Yang is staying strong, keeping calm!

Who needs TV here?

the Chongqing house

Also Mr. Wuping now jumps into action

Venture 160 is on top of things after he earlier today translated the CCTV-interview with Mrs. Wuping, now he has the story (and the picture) on Mr. Yang Wuping who has re-occupied the house, waving the Chinese flag from the roof.

Now the Wuping's have secured the help of the central government in their struggle, the case is fast becoming a dimension faster. Without doubts there will be thousands of potential Wuping's watching this repport, where the central and local political forces collide, rush out to buy a flag and wait for a crew of CCTV to arrive. This mouse is going to have a very long tail.

A network of grass-root activism

AP gives a good overview of a new movement in social activism taking root in China. Last week's massive protest against the spike in fares for public transportation in Hunan province provided a good example on how local protest and a network of more professional organizers work together.

The movement — known as rights defense or "wei quan" in Chinese — took root in 2003, after police beat to death a young college graduate who was not carrying his residency papers. The government bowed to public outrage and curbed police powers for arbitrary detention, an unusual restraint to official authority and a move that energized socially conscious lawyers and scholars.

What is remarkable is their profound difference from their predecessors, the so-called 'dissidents' of the 1990s. They have no political target, like setting up a political party or overthrowing the government - a target no government would really appreciate. They go for issues where they would often find the central government at their side. Often they focus at the local conflicts between the citizens and their local governments, concerning AIDS, urban development, problems with elections and environmental protection.

A day later, Zhang [one of the organizers involved in the Hunan protest] says he was taken to dinner by provincial security agents and government officials, who warned him against talking to reporters.
Zhang remains unfazed, in part because he's not alone. He's part of the China Pan-Blue Alliance, a Web-based rights organization which started in 2005 and claims 2,000 registered members including college students, laid-off workers, teachers, journalists and lawyers.

Guanxi helps

A beautiful scene in Chongqing where obvious somebody has been very succesful in saving his or her house. Marc van der Chijs pointed at the picture and he has all the details.

picture from the scene (ESWN has more)

Spike in bus rates triggers off massive riot

Up to 20,000 people have been on the street protesting last Friday in Yongzhou, Hunan province, the BBC reports, after the government raised prices for public transportation. Nine police cars were burned in the protest.
According to a Hunan official in a comment to Reuters, here used in an ITV-report:

that the riot had been quelled and that scores of the rioters were arrested. Both police and rioters were injured in the violence, and some of the rioters were sent to hospital, but none was seriously hurt, the official added.

Updated: More reports are coming in, like here from AP. Not surprisingly ESWN has the most thorough overview. The account from the Chinese media are most interesting, but are not always giving the same information. Also, many pictures here. Some accounts say there has been one death and 60 injured.