中国Power !!!

[ChinaSucks]

Frustrated man cuts off his member

Chinadaily September 4, 2014

A middle-aged man in Hong Kong who suffered setbacks in both marriage and business severed his penis while shouting "I suck!", reported Wen Wei Po.

Police officers rushed to the man's house after receiving a call from his son. Although the man refused to receive help, he finally fainted and was sent to the hospital along with the severed penis.

 

[ChinaSucks]

Journalists detained over extortion scam

Shanghai Daily, September 4, 2014

Eight suspects including the editor-in-chief of a business and financial news website have been detained by Shanghai police for allegedly extorting money from companies by posting negative reports, People's Daily reported yesterday.

The editor-in-chief, surnamed Liu, deputy editor surnamed Zhou and several employees of 21cbn.com were accused of colluding with public relations firms since November 2013 to target famous companies, those in the process of restructuring, or ones preparing for an initial public offering, the report said, citing police.

If the companies agreed to pay a large amount of money, the website ran positive reports by exaggerating facts or by ignoring problems. The website ran negative reports about companies that refused to cooperate.

The website used the scheme to threaten companies to buy adverts or sign cooperation deals, People's Daily said.

Dozens of companies in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangdong and other cities were involved, the report said.

Police added that they are still investigating the case.

 

[ChinaSucks]

Woman bursts into flames after waitress refills hot alcohol burner at restaurant

Source: Globaltimes Published: 2014-9-4 19:25:18

---

<center>

</center>A woman is engulfed in flames after an accident at a local barbecue restaurant in Yiwu, Zhejiang Province on September 2. Xiao Qian, a 20-year-old student, is in critical condition at a hospital in nearby Hangzhou for severe burns after a waitress attempted to refill their tabletop grill with liquid alcohol, causing it to burst into flames. Xiao Qian's schoolmate, 20-year-old Xiao Qing (seen above trying to extinguish the fire with his shirt) and a waitress, Xiao Shan, sustained minor burns in the incident. Photo: sina.com.cn


<center>

</center>Waitress Xiao Shan adds liquid alcohol into an already-heated burner on September 2 in Yiwu, Zhejiang Province. After the fire burst, Xiao Shan ran and dropped the bottle containing alcohol, which then spilled on Xiao Qian. The blaze immediately devoured Xiao Qian. Photo: sina.com.cn


<center>

</center>The fire ignites as Xiao Shan fills alcohol directly into to the hot grill. Xiao Qian and Xiao Qing, both residents of Yiwu, planned to return to college in Wenzhou after the meal. The waitress Xiao Shan, 18, from Guizhou Province, said she had only worked at the restaurant for a month and her first day serving customers unassisted. A police investigation is underway. Photo: sina.com.cn


<center>

</center>

Photo: sina.com.cn
​

<center>

</center>

Photo: sina.com.cn​

<center>

</center>

Photo: sina.com.cn
​

 

[ChinaSucks]

23 mafia-style gang members stand trial in Guangdong

Source: Xinhua Published: 2014-9-4 10:00:56

Twenty-three members of a mafia-style gang stood trial on Wednesday on multiple charges in a court in south China's Guangdong Province.

Maoming Intermediate People's Court accused the gang leader Li Guoqiang and 22 others of organizing, leading or participating in a mafia-style gang.

Li, 36, made his fortune by running gambling houses,blackmail and loan sharking. Between 1998 and 2013, he organized some murders, assaults, kidnappings and robberies in Dianbai County and Guangzhou, the provincial capital, said the prosecution.

The criminal activities left two people dead and 13 injured with five in a serious condition. In April 2013, Li ordered gang members to attack Shao Zhencai, a local political advisor and his brother Shao Zhenfeng over business disputes, leaving the brothers seriously injured.

In 2004, the gang gunned down two people in separate cases.

The trial is expected to last three days.

 

[AdmiralPiett]

Great thread !

de do do do de da da da is all want to say to you.

 

[ChinaSucks]

Escaped cobras cause panic in Guangdong village

Wang He-cheng and Staff Reporter
2014-09-04

Bottles of cobra liquor. (Internet photo)

Cobras are descending on a village in Foshan in southern China's Guangdong province after a man who claims to make snake liquor let them escape from his residence. Local villagers suspect the man has turned his residence into a cobra farm, reports our Chinese-language sister newspaper Want Daily.

Residents of the village have found themselves unable to move about safely with the venomous reptiles about. Children are forbidden to leave their houses and many villagers carry wooden poles with them in case they run into the snakes.

A man surnamed Zhong admitted that he owns the cobras and intended to make snake liquor with them. He was housing 150 snakes and they have all disappeared from his residence, although he says he does not know how.

The villagers have caught or killed 145 of the snakes and are searching for the remaining five. According to the report, some villagers claim snake liquor is made with larger snakes and they suspect that Zhong had been running a snake farm.

A special snake hunting task force has been formed and local hospitals have prepared anti-venom serums in case anyone is bitten.

 

[Rasczak]

​

I say kill 'em all bloody filthy chinks!!
​

​

 

[DSGunner]

Four Chinese schoolkids 'bloodied and bruised' after alleged attack by art teacher

Suspect Lei Mingxing is now on the run and being hunted by police, as authorities investigate what triggered such violence

PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 10 September, 2014, 7:14pm
UPDATED : Wednesday, 10 September, 2014, 7:15pm

Kathy Gao [email protected]

Two of the children were being treated for brain contusions, while two others were being treated for head lacerations. Photo: Weibo

Four primary schoolchildren were severely injured after being assaulted by their art teacher in China’s western Shanxi province on Tuesday.

The teacher, Lei Mingxing, 35, fled the scene and is now on the run after beating the six- to seven-year-olds, according to the Zhenping government.

Two of the children were in hospital for brain contusions, while the other two were being treated for scalp lacerations, according to a news bulletin on the Zhenping county government’s website.

The children said the attack happened after they were called to the teacher's office while he was holding a class. Photo: Weibo

The children – three boys and one girl – said they did not know what caused Lei to hurt them.

The four students, half from Grade One and half from Grade Two, were asked to visit Lei’s office while he was giving an art lesson at 1pm on Tuesday. Afterwards, Lei allegedly attacked the children, although the exact circumstances remained unclear.

Photos circulating on Weibo purportedly taken after the incident showed at least one of the children with what appeared to be blood on his clothes and open wounds on the back of his head.

A photo shows one of the boys with his head wrapped in bandages. Photo: Weibo

Another photo showed the same boy with his head wrapped in bandages and later resting with an IV drip attached to his arm.

One photo in the series showed a room, possibly the classroom at the small school, with a trail of blood stains across the floor.

The Zhenping government said local police and officials were searching for Lei, who has since been suspended from duty. The country government said police were still investigating the case and, if found liable, would “severely punish” Lei “in accordance with laws and disciplines”.

The teacher accused of attacking the children is now on the run, authorities said. Photo: Weibo

He Yong, from the local education authority, told a local newspaper that the primary school had 22 students – 13 in preschool, four in Grade One and five in Grade Two.

He added that Lei had teaching credentials and had been working as a teacher since 1998. He joined the current primary school in September last year.

 

[Midway]

8 members of Chinese media face extortion charges

CCTV, September 11, 2014

Eight members of the Chinese media have been detained by police over an alleged scam in which a major business news website and two public relations firms collaborated to extort money from companies in return for favorable coverage on the site.

Zhou Bin, editor-in-chief of the news website 21cbh.com, has been detained for allegedly extorting money from dozens of companies since November 2013. [Photo: Agencies]

The suspects, including CEO Liu Dong and the editor-in-chief Zhou Bin of the news website 21cbh.com, as well as heads of the two PR firms based in Shanghai and the southern metropolis of Shenzhen respectively, allegedly extorted money from dozens of companies since November 2013, the Shanghai Municipal Public Security Office said on September 3.

The list of victims covers many listed companies and well-known businesses from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong, that are planning to go public, restructuring or making a business transition.

Having noticed that these companies were particularly susceptible to media coverage, the suspects targeted them in the name of news reporting. After the companies handed over large payments, 21cbh.com helped rebut or conceal negative news reports about them, and released positive stories with exaggerated content.

"Companies which are going public do not want to see 1/8negative 3/8 media reports in view of their own interests, as the procedure of examination and approval would be suspended if there are some 1/8negative 3/8 news reports, and the whole progress of going public would be affected," said Zhou, adding, "it was actually the same as protection money. It was more literary to be called 'paid silence', which means, for example, there would not be any negative reports about an IPO company after money was paid."

If companies declined the solicitation, the website published malicious attacks on them or demanded money to ensure the negative stories did not see the light of the day.

"In fact, it was essentially about shielding companies' negative news, so it was protection. In other cases, you might write some reports revealing negative information about a company which did not establish a cooperative connection with you via a PR firm, then, the company would contact with you through the PR firm for cooperation," Liu said.

" 1/8For example, 3/8 if we wrote some news reports about a listed company, and the company was very anxious to withdraw them. Then, it would find a PR firm to negotiate with us. The prices for erasing these reports were different, it could be half a million yuan, it could be one million. After we signed a contract with a company, the PR firm cooperating with it would monitor relevant media. Once there were some negative reports on your website, no matter whether they were reproduced or original, it would ask our advertising department to withdraw them. The department then would tell us and we would usually do what it wanted us to do," Zhou said.

The police didn't specify the amount the suspects allegedly charged for these services, but said they have made huge personal profits from their actions.

"If there are 200 enterprises going public every year, then 150 of them would cooperate with us in accordance with our targeted ratio of 75 percent. If each of these 150 companies pay 300,000 yuan, then it would be 45 million," said Liu.

The police received reports of the alleged scam from individuals and companies, detaining the eight suspects in a raid on September 3.

Further investigation into the case is under way.

Under regulations set by the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, which manages the practices of all journalists in China, press credentials will be revoked in cases of media organizations acting illegally.

21cbh.com is run by Guangdong-based 21st Century Media Co., Ltd., which claims on its website to be "the largest professional media operator in the Chinese financial and business media industry."

The company's publications include 21st Century Business Herald, Money Week and 21st Century Business Review.

Chinese authorities have been stepping up a crackdown on extortion in the media and paid-for news.

They have discovered problems including press cards being issued to people who are not journalists, and news websites being contracted for advertisements by PR agencies.

 

[TellMeWhy]

Authorities expose dirty journalists’ business model

Source: Xinhua-Global Times Published: 2014-9-12 0:58:04

Extortion rampant at Chinese media outlets, PR firms

China launched a large-scale crackdown on media corruption Thursday as it revealed a major scam in which journalists at a prominent business news website allegedly extorted money from companies for positive coverage.

Shortly after midnight Thursday, the Xinhua News Agency released a lengthy report on its website about the case, allegedly involving eight people, including journalists, media heads, marketing staff and public relations heads, all of whom have been detained by police.

The Ministry of Public Security also carried Xinhua's story on top of its website on Thursday.

Police say the website of business newspaper 21 Century Business Herald, 21cbh.com, and two public relations firms collaborated to extort money from companies in return for favorable coverage and withholding negative news reports. If companies refused, the website would purposely publish negative or malicious information about the company.

Those detained include Liu Dong, president of 21cbh.com, Zhou Bin, the website's editor-in-chief, and reporters and employees from its marketing department, as well as heads of the two PR firms. Together, they have extorted money from more than 100 companies since November 2013, said police.

The list of victims covers many listed companies and enterprises from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong that are planning to go public, restructure or to make a business transition.

People's Daily, the official newspaper of the Communist Party of China, also ran a story Thursday recounting the details of the scandal, along with a commentary observing that the power of the media as a public watchdog has been turned into a tool for profit.

"The news extortion has evolved from individual actions by reporters to collective action by a company, even becoming a business mode," the People's Daily wrote.

China Central Television also aired extensive coverage of the scandal Thursday, with video footage showing the detained suspects confessing to their misdeeds on camera.

According to the confessions, the suspects targeted listed companies or those about to be listed. After the companies handed over "huge payments," 21cbh.com released positive stories with exaggerated content about them.

For companies which declined the suspects' demands, 21cbh.com published "malicious attacks" on them, demanding money to ensure negative stories did not see the light of the day, said police.

The journalists are also suspected of helping to rebut or conceal negative news reports on companies that paid up.

When the companies involved came to 21cbh.com themselves or through a PR firm after seeing negative reports, the website would charge 200,000 to 300,000 yuan ($32,500) in the form of advertising contracts, in exchange for deleting the negative reports from the site, Zhou said.

Police said that as of 2010, 21cbh.com had signed "advertising contracts" with more than 100 companies annually, valued at around hundreds of millions of yuan.

A PR manager from the China office of a Fortune 500 multinational company said he has witnessed many media organizations trying to make money out of unfavorable coverage.

"One media outlet called to ask for an advertising contract, but was declined. Then it published a series of negative news reports, and then it called to ask for ads again," the PR manager, who declined to be named, told the Global Times.

He added that at least four media organizations had tried to get money from the company in the form of ads or sponsorship of a forum since April, threatening negative coverage if the are rejected.

 

[TellMeWhy]

Suspects with AIDS detained in separate facility

China Daily, September 13, 2014

Nanjing has established a special detention center where criminal suspects with AIDS can be detained without risk of others contracting the disease.

In the past, such suspects were often released and not charged with crimes, according to the authorities, because there was nowhere safe to hold them while awaiting legal proceedings. Suspects were thought to pose less risk on their own after release.

The Nanjing detention center is located in a hospital for infectious diseases about 35 kilometers from the city's downtown district. In each 15-square-meter cell there are three beds, three cupboards, a television, eating utensils and a handful of other small items.

To avoid spreading the infection through blood, the floor, walls and all furniture have been carefully modified to reduce sharp corners that could result in a cut to the skin. Spoons, cups and toothbrushes are made of soft plastic.

"All the suspects in the center are infected with HIV/AIDS," said Zhang Wenyong, deputy director of the supervision detachment under the Nanjing public security bureau in Jiangsu province. "They were sent to the center for selling or using drugs, or for burglary."

Suspects will not be served fish during detention to avoid bleeding that could be caused by a fish bone stuck in the throat, he said.

"The police officers in the center eat the same food as the suspects," Zhang said. "Various kinds of food, including meatballs and ribs, are included on the menu."

The food provided to the suspects is held in disposable boxes that will be collected and treated by the hospital later.

The suspects also have a special procedure for doing laundry. Clothes, after being washed by the suspects, will be collected by the police and dried in a designated area.

"The police have established three wards－for suspects infected with HIV, for suspects already showing symptoms of AIDS and for female suspects," said Qi Jianyu, director of the law enforcement and service brigade of the Nanjing bureau. "Every week, doctors will come to the wards to check on the health of the suspects."

"Many policemen, including me, were worried about occupational exposure," Qi said. "Our family were extremely worried about the working environment. To alleviate the worry, the center invited medical experts four times to give lectures on AIDS and occupational exposure prevention."

According to the police, many HIV/AIDS suspects feel afraid, desperate or have low self-esteem, so officers decided not to wear protective clothing. They have conversations frequently with the suspects.

"The suspects will not feel discriminated against," Qi said. "They will show more willingness to cooperate and rehabilitate."

Police said 20 suspects with HIV/AIDS have been detained in the center, four of whom have been transferred to prisons to serve their sentences.

 

[DSTrooper]

'Zombies' invade Wuhan subway

Ecns September 15, 2014

Around 30 people in full zombie costume gave subway passengers quite a "horror" show in Wuhan, Central China's Hubei province on Wednesday.

Makeup school student dresses like a zombie and scares a passenger on Wuhan's subway line 2. (Photo: Weibo)

Around 4 pm, commuters on subway line 2 were greeted by snarling "zombies" clawing with their hands and pretending to bite. Passengers, first horrified, screamed and tried to run away, and, after realizing it was a prank organised by makeup students, posed for pictures and handshakes.

The "zombies" were wearing rugged clothes, red wigs and black caps. Blood, cankers, decayed flesh and scars made their faces unrecognizable. Some dashed to the windows or walked into carriages to scare commuters.

A passenger later posted via her Sina Weibo account that she was "scared to death."

According to the makeup school's teacher, surnamed Wei, the zombie show was part of some graduates' final projects.

Wei said they had staged the spectacle to remind people to behave properly in public areas.

"If you don't abide by regulations in public, you'll be disliked, just like a zombie," he commented.

However, some people, after hearing of the incident and seeing photos, said such moves could cause public panic. Parents said it could have scared their kids.

Wuhan subway authorities say if such events disturb people and threaten their safety, they would take them to the police.

 

[DSGunner]

Drug dealers fight with police in S China, causing casualties

Xinhua, September 17, 2014

Police in Guangzhou in south China's Guangdong Province were involved in a firefight with drug dealers on Tuesday, with casualties reported.

Police were hunting drug dealers at around 6 p.m. on Nantian Street in Haizhu District, according to a statement made by Guangzhou Public Security Bureau.

According to a resident surnamed Chen, gunshots were heard coming from the residential building and the second floor of the building caught on fire soon afterwards.

The area has been blocked off by police.

Police said that the injured people were sent to hospital, and investigation is underway.

 

[Flake]

Hunan man executed for killing six in sex games

Source: Global Times Published: 2014-9-17 1:28:01

A pub singer in Changsha, Hunan Province, who sexually abused six men to death in 2009, was recently executed on the charge of intentional homicide by a local court.

Zhou Youping, 42, was accused of causing the death of six men from asphyxiation during sex play, reported local newspaper Xiaoxiang Morning Herald Tuesday.

Police detained Zhou on suspicion of robbery in November 2009. Zhou confessed during the investigation that he had played the game with six strong men from northern China in different hotels from October to November in 2009.

The naked bodies of the six men were all discovered by local police during the same period.

In September 2009, Zhou published posts on a website for gay men offering a large reward for male SM partners aged from 23 to 40 from northern China who would take part in his game.

Zhou said that he knew how dangerous the game was, and that he never played it himself, but enjoyed seeing others play it.

He also argued in court that he did not murder the victims, as they voluntarily hung themselves as part of sex play.

The Changsha Intermediate People's Court convicted Zhou of intentional homicide in March 2011.

The court executed Zhou on August 29 after receiving approval from the Supreme People's Court, Zhou's lawyer Huang Yongjun confirmed to the Global Times Tuesday.

 

[Garbage]

china power. prc all dogs

so when will your mum and sisters give themselves as sex slaves to ISIS?

[h=2][/h]

 

[PaulStanley]

china power. prc all dogs

How? shiok or not everyday your mum and sisters kena bukkake by banglahs?

 

[ChinaSucks]

Stop eating noodles and don't litter: Xi Jinping urges China's tourists abroad to clean up their act

President jokes on official trip to the Maldives that mainlanders should set good example abroad by not littering or damaging environment

PUBLISHED : Thursday, 18 September, 2014, 4:16am
UPDATED : Thursday, 18 September, 2014, 9:28am

Mandy Zuo [email protected]

Some Chinese tourists have been heavily criticised in recent years for misbehaving while travelling abroad, including being noisy, jumping queues and damaging cultural relics. Photo: AFP

President Xi Jinping has chided Chinese tourists, saying that they should behave themselves better when travelling abroad.

Xi's light-hearted comments came during an official visit this week to the Maldives in the Indian Ocean, a popular holiday destination for Chinese travellers.

"Do not litter water bottles everywhere. Do not damage coral reefs. Eat less instant noodles and more local seafood," the China News Service quoted Xi as saying on Monday night.

Some Chinese tourists have been heavily criticised in recent years for misbehaving while travelling abroad, including being noisy, jumping queues and damaging cultural relics.

A former employee at a five-star hotel in the Maldives revealed online in March last year that the hotel had stopped the supply of hot water to rooms to prevent Chinese guests preparing instant noodles.

He said the hotel's general manager even joked that "CN", an abbreviation for China, meant "cup noodles" because many Chinese tourists stayed up in their room eating the cheap food to save money.

Xi met embassy staff and representatives of Chinese companies in the Maldives and said Chinese citizens made about 100 million trips overseas a year. Chinese travellers are expected to make about 400,000 trips to the Maldives this year.

As Chinese became richer "the places they travel to are like ink", spreading out from neighbouring Asian countries and regions to more distant places in Europe, the United States and Australia, he said.

The president also asked Chinese people living in the Maldives to create a good image for China and for Chinese contractors working there to build projects that would stand the test of time.

"Let's not do one-shot deals. We should leave a good reputation here," he said.

The number of Chinese travelling abroad rose 18 per cent last year compared with 2012, according to the China Tourism Academy.

Chinese have become the world's biggest spenders on overseas tourism, spending more than US$128 billion last year.

According to a tourist market survey, the Maldives is among the 10 most popular overseas destinations for Chinese tourists.

China has been the top source of overseas tourists to the island nation since 2010, according to official data.

Of the 1.1 million foreign tourists visiting the Maldives last year, Chinese tourists accounted for about one-third.

A joint declaration issued after talks between Xi and Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen earlier this week said China would encourage more tourists to visit the nation and more Chinese companies to invest there.

But Xi also demanded that the Maldives improve protection for Chinese tourists. The two sides agreed to establish a system to help ensure the safety of Chinese tourists visiting the country.

 

[Pfizer]

China's pollution data too hazy to know if leaders' war on smog is working

Many polluters are ignoring an edict to publish emissions details online, and numbers that are released are often incomplete, official study shows

PUBLISHED : Thursday, 18 September, 2014, 4:16am
UPDATED : Thursday, 18 September, 2014, 4:54am

Bloomberg

A power plant in Xingtai, Hebei, where average air quality has been the worst on the mainland for the past year. Photo: AFP

The mainland's efforts to name and shame its filthiest power stations and impose tough new emission standards are the leading weapons in President Xi Jinping's war on pollution. The world shouldn't hold its breath waiting for him to declare victory.

A coal-fired power plant in the centre of the nation's most polluted city appeared to shut down on June 30 when it stopped releasing its emissions data online a day before new standards came in.

Yet a large LCD screen outside the facility in Xingtai , in southern Hebei province, 360km south of Beijing, showed the plant was still partly operating. It was spewing fumes at almost three times the legal limit two days after the rules were introduced, according to a reading displayed on the screen.

Flaws are evident in the data across the country, with less than half the polluters in some provinces complying with a July 2013 edict from the Ministry of Environmental Protection to publish emissions data online, according to the ministry's own study. And the numbers that are released are often incomplete or show many plants continue to emit pollutants well above the maximum levels permitted, according to an examination of the data by Bloomberg News.

"We have good standards but it's always about implementation, what happens in the real world," said Huang Wei, a climate and energy campaigner for Greenpeace in Beijing.

The mainland's environment authorities at the local level "have very little power to eliminate these little plants", she said.

The problems evident in Xingtai, where average air quality has been the worst on the mainland for the past year, shows how difficult it will be for Xi to honour his promise to the world that the country will clean up its fossil fuel industry. It is the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, fuelling global warming that the United Nations has warned may cause irreversible and widespread damage to the planet.

On the positive side, the Hebei Xingtai Power Generation plant where the LCD screen shows operations has closed two of its boilers, according to workers. The two remaining operational boilers have been equipped with equipment to filter nitrogen oxide so should meet the new standards, said Li Hongxin, the plant's manager for external communications.

The filters work through a process known as selective catalytic reduction that converts NOx - gases that can cause respiratory diseases - to less harmful chemicals. On a visit almost two months later, the screen showed another boiler was in operation, releasing emissions within the limit for nitrogen oxide.

"We're doing a lot to meet the environmental standard," Li said. "Without us, the sky would be even darker."

She declined to comment on why the firm's monitoring data was no longer released on the official website of the environment ministry.

China said in June that it was working on how to cap its emissions for the first time, as talks under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change try to seal a post-2020 deal that applies to all. The country has pledged to cut carbon emissions per unit of economic output by as much as 45 per cent from 2005 levels before 2020.

Commuters protect themselves from the Beijing smog. China is the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases. Photo: Reuters

The goal is made harder by its reliance on coal. It already consumes about half of the world's supply and must meet power needs that will double by 2030, according to estimates from Bloomberg New Energy Finance. To tackle air that kills as many as half a million Chinese a year, power companies nationwide have been ordered to install equipment to bring harmful emissions down to a level similar to requirements in Europe and the US.

In the case of nitrogen oxide, equipment is needed on as much as 800 gigawatts of power plant capacity, or two-thirds of the nation's total, according to Zhou Xizhou, director of China Energy at HIS, a US consulting company.

"That itself is a huge undertaking that the world has never seen before, particularly with such a tight schedule," Zhou said. "When they announced the new rules two years ago and set a deadline for this year, we were very clear they were going to need more time. And there are all kinds of irregularities with enforcement that we've seen."

A two-and-a-half-year grace period before the new emissions standards were introduced on July 1 was supposed to give companies sufficient time to adapt. Yet data released by power producers in Hebei on August 29 showed 13 of 36 plants exceeded NOx limits, with one plant emitting 800 times the maximum of 100 milligrams per cubic metre and another reading 123,815 milligrams per cubic metre.

While some large plants show hourly data for emissions of NOx and sulphur dioxide, or SO {-2}, at each boiler, in many cases monitoring points do not give out any data, or report emissions as zero, according to the data on the website of the environmental bureau in Hebei, home to the nation's six most polluted cities. Users cannot access historical data for any power plant.

The release of real-time data to the public is at least a sign of progress, according to Ma Jun , a Beijing-based founder of the non-profit group the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs. Ma set up a mobile phone app for the public to better access the data and flag violators.

They can share the data on Weibo and other social media platforms. Every hour there are about 300 to 400 emitters who do not comply with the standards in the provinces that release data, he said.

"There are some gaps in the quality of the data but I continue to believe that it's better to expose all this to public scrutiny," Ma said. "Without public scrutiny there is greater opportunity for manipulation."

In April, new laws were passed, effective from January 1, that allow for consecutive daily fines on polluters if they do not improve.

Data shared on Weibo in June showed a state- owned power plant in Linyi , 500km southeast of Xingtai, was regularly over the limits, prodding the city's environment bureau into action. It investigated and ordered the operator to bring forward plans to install new equipment, according to a notice on the bureau's official Weibo account.

While the mainland is moving its power plants out to more remote western parts of the country and building a series of ultra-high-voltage lines to bring the electricity back east, it still needs power closer to the major metropolises where most people live. The municipalities of Beijing and Tianjin , together with Hebei and Shandong provinces, consume the same amount of coal as all of Europe, according to Greenpeace.

Such a high political priority is placed by leaders on reducing pollution that it is becoming harder for power producers to ignore or fudge the new standards, IHS's Zhou said. Xi in June called for an "energy production and consumption revolution", to reduce emissions from coal plants.

Companies have become more sophisticated in manipulating data from monitoring equipment, Zou Shoumin, the head of the Ministry of Environment's monitoring division, said in August, according to China Radio International.

The ministry released a report stating the system was not effective in curbing emissions because real-time data was not good enough. The ministry vowed to "harshly punish" anyone who fabricated data.

Part of the problem is cost. Power operators receive a subsidy of 8 yuan (HK$10) a megawatt-hour for fitting equipment to control emissions of NOx versus the actual cost of 12 yuan to 15 yuan, according to the China Electricity Council.

"It's very expensive," said Wang Ping, who is in charge of equipment at a power plant in Shijiazhuang , Hebei. He drove up to see the emissions-control equipment at Hebei Xingtai Power Generation's new plant before purchasing his own.

Hebei province, which surrounds Beijing, is under pressure to reduce air pollution and has set itself a target to "basically end serious pollution days" by 2022, according to the official Hebei Daily. The closed power plants and steel factories that dot Xingtai are testimony to the province's efforts to cut coal production by 40 million tonnes by 2017 from 2012.

The downside is slowing provincial economic growth, with Hebei's pace of expansion falling to 5.8 per cent in the first half of 2014, down from 8.7 per cent a year earlier. That was the second-lowest growth of all provinces.

"You have to meet the country's standards," said a worker at Hebei Xingtai Power Generation's plant. He said his job was moving to the company's new facility on the city's outskirts, an hour's bus ride away, where a red and white chimney continuously billows smoke.

In a city where air quality is about 20 times worse than New York - measured by PM 2.5, the small particles that the World Health Organisation says pose the greatest risk to human health - even small victories are celebrated.

Xingtai's environment bureau called a special meeting after the city was not ranked the nation's most polluted city for the month of July.

Xingtai, which had been on top of the pollution list every month from January to June, was the second-most polluted, behind Tangshan in Hebei.

At the meeting, cadres were told to "overcome excessive pride and excitement" and to work more to ensure Xingtai stayed off the top of the list. The cadres were given a new goal: to become the nation's third most polluted city.

 

[Midway]

Chinese student attempts to 'rent' his girlfriend to pay for an iPhone 6

PUBLISHED : Thursday, 18 September, 2014, 1:09pm
UPDATED : Thursday, 18 September, 2014, 2:45pm

James Griffiths [email protected]

A Songjiang University student advertises his girlfriend for 'hire' in order to afford an iPhone 6. Photo: Weibo

A Chinese student is offering to share his girlfriend in exchange for cash in an attempt to raise enough money to buy Apple’s new iPhone 6.

Standing near campus at Shanghai’s Songjiang University bearing a placard reading “Girlfriend Sharing”, the unidentified man laid out some rules for prospective “customers”. The deal included “but is not limited to” eating together, studying together, playing games, or going on dates. However, the placard said there was to be no “funny business”.

The man was happy to show potential customers photos of his girlfriend and detail her measurements. Photo: Weibo

Prices range from 10 yuan per hour to a 500 yuan per month bulk price.

According to posters on social media, where the photos were first shared, the man was happy to share details of his girlfriend’s vital statistics and send photos of her to interested parties. He added that his girlfriend was a willing participant in the scheme.

A Songjiang University student advertises his girlfriend for 'hire' in order to afford an iPhone 6. Photo: Weibo

This is not the first time a Chinese consumer has gone to desperate measures to buy the latest Apple device. In 2012, a Hunan teenager sold a kidney and used the funds to buy an iPhone and an iPad. Five men were later arrested in connection with the case.

In October, prosecutors in Shanghai charged a couple with human trafficking after they sold their baby online and used part of the proceeds to buy a new iPhone.

Chinese consumers were left disappointed this month by Apple’s apparent snub of China for the launch of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, which went on sale in Hong Kong on Saturday.

The delay may have cost Chinese carriers hundreds of millions of yuan in wasted advertising, with the main telecoms carriers all having prepared major campaigns on the assumption that the iPhone 6 would be released in China at the same time as other countries.

Scammers took advantage of the delay to tout a non-existent “special Macau edition” of the device on Chinese online marketplaces.

“We can’t buy the iPhone 6 on the mainland now … but I can buy one from this shop, and it’s pink! I just hope it’s not fake,” one potential customer wrote online.

 

[Vermin]

Model filial son kept double life a secret

Xinhua, September 19, 2014

Liu Ting, 28, was once declared a model son - a boy who had been taking good care of his sick mother, even carrying her on his back when he went to college.

To make himself look more like a woman, Liu starts to wear a bra. [Photo/qq.com]

But the winner of China's top honor for his moral uprightness was secretly considering suicide.

While traditional Chinese culture upholds filial piety, it frowns on transsexualism.

Liu, who was born in 1986 in Shuanglin, Zhejiang province, liked to put on his mother's lipstick and her high heels when he was a child.

This worried his mother, Lu Yongmin, and she raised him strictly. Liu Ting realized he was different from other boys in primary school. Unwilling to be a boy, but daring not to act like a girl, Liu was at a loss.

When Liu was 13, his mother was diagnosed with kidney problems and his father lost his job and left the family. When Liu enrolled at Zhejiang Forestry College in 2005, doctors told him that his mother would live no longer than another two years. So Liu rented a room close to the campus, and carried her to the hospital every day.

When the media reported his story, Liu became a national model. He was inundated with donations and his mother received a free kidney transplant in 2006. Liu was chosen as the nation's best model of filial piety in 2007.

But Liu lives two lives and his torment is made worse by his mother's disapproval of gender realignment surgery.

His mother persuaded him to learn how to be a man. But he couldn't stand it. At the end of 2013, Liu and his mother went to see a psychologist, who suggested Liu live as a woman.

A hospital in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, has offered Liu surgery.

Liu is planning a future after the operation to become an entertainer in a field that is tolerant of transsexuals.