中国Power !!!

[Muslera]

Police pursue fleeing officials

By Zhang Hui Source: Global Times Published: 2014-10-21 0:53:02

China, Australia cooperate to extradite embezzlers

Chinese police will cooperate with their Australian counterparts to extradite corrupt Chinese officials who have fled to Australia with embezzled public funds.

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) together with the Chinese police will take action in the coming weeks, according to Bruce Hill, manager of the AFP's operations in Asia, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

Hill said that the two forces had agreed on a priority list of alleged fugitives who have taken residence in Australia with embezzled funds amounting to hundreds of millions of Australian dollars, and the country was identified by Beijing

as one of the most popular destinations for corrupt officials hiding their ill-gotten gains, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

Among the suspects identified by the AFP are naturalized Australian citizens and permanent residents who for years have laundered stolen public money under the guise of being legitimate investment migrants, Hill said.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said on October 14 that China is eager to cooperate with Australia to seize the assets of corrupt Chinese officials who have escaped to the country.

Caijing, a financial magazine, has estimated that at least seven high-level officials have fled to Australia with embezzled public funds totaling more than $1 billion.

The joint Australian-Chinese police operation forms part of an ongoing and wide-ranging campaign named "Operation Fox Hunt," set up by Chinese authorities to pursue corrupt officials who have fled China.

Between the launch of the campaign on July 22 and the end of September, police arrested 102 suspects in 40 countries and regions, according to a press release by the Ministry of Public Security.

Chinese police have cooperated with Australian law enforcement bodies in pursuing corrupt officials over recent years. The first such case was in 2011, when former Foshan real estate company manager Li Jixiang was sentenced to

26 years in prison for money laundering at a Queensland court, the Beijing Times reported.

The Australian federal government has announced that it will introduce a "Premium Investor Visa" that allows foreign investors who invest A$15 million ($13.15 million) in the Australian economy to be granted permanent residency, Xinhua said.

Hu Xingdou, a political science professor at the Beijing Institute of Technology, said that this reform of the Australian visa system may encourage greater numbers of corrupt officials to flee to Australia.

Both China and Australia have signed the UN's anti-corruption treaty, which allows China to file requests for the extradition of embezzlers. However, officials who have fled to Australia can also ask for asylum in accordance with

Australia's immigration law to avoid facing trials in China.

Liu Guofu, an expert on immigration law at the Beijing Institute of Technology, told the Global Times that it is difficult to arrest suspects who have become citizens of other countries.

 

[Muslera]

Man robs shops to go to prison

Chinadaily October 21, 2014

A man surnamed Long told police that he had robbed two shops in Deyang city because he wanted to go to jail to escape the fights between his former wife and girlfriend.

The 29-year-old was arrested after asking sales staff at one of the outlets to call the police, Chengdu Business News reported.

 

[KimJongUn]

Tiananmen Square protests veteran Chen Ziming dies in Beijing

Chen Ziming,jailed for his role in Tiananmen demonstrations, has died of cancer in the capital

PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 22 October, 2014, 3:31am
UPDATED : Wednesday, 22 October, 2014, 11:33am

Cary Huang [email protected]

Civil rights activist Chen Ziming was sentenced to 13 years in jail for his part in the Tiananmen protests.

Chen Ziming, the veteran pro-democracy activist and one of the leading figures in the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989, has died, a close friend said.

Chen died at his home after suffering from cancer, fellow Tiananmen protest leader Wang Dan said. Chen was 62.

He was sentenced to 13 years in jail for his part in the Tiananmen protests.

“Chen Ziming, a famous dissident, the so-called black hand of June 4, my good teacher and helpful friend, died at 2.15pm [yesterday] in Beijing after the failure of his fight against cancer,” Wang wrote on his Facebook page.

“Chen Ziming was one of China’s most outstanding intellectuals who contributed to China’s democracy movement over the past 40 years,” Wang later told the South China Morning Post.

Chen was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and went to Boston in the United States for treatment earlier this year. He spoke frequently to the Post.

Chen was born in Shanghai and graduated from the Beijing University of Chemical Technology. He later studied at the graduate school of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1984.

He had been a pro-democracy activist since the April Fifth Movement in 1976, taking part in a series of protests including the Xidan Democracy Wall Movement in 1979 and the Tiananmen demonstrations in 1989. Chen was sentenced in 1991 to 13 years in prison for “counterrevolutionary” activities.

“If he had been in a normal society, he would have made very outstanding contributions in either academia, business or science and technology. He would have won a Nobel prize,” fellow activist, Dai Qing said.

“But unfortunately he was born in China. He suffered a lot, but was brave and wise. He was after neither fame nor fortune. He was sincere towards society.”

He was released from jail on medical parole in 1994 as Beijing was eager to secure the renewal of China’s most-favoured-nation trading status with the United States.

He was imprisoned again the following year after he signed a petition calling for the release of political prisoners.

Released again in 1996 on medical parole, Chen was only formally released from house arrest in 2002.

Before the Tiananmen protests, Chen and another leading intellectual, Wang Juntao, ran a think tank, the Beijing Social and Economic Sciences Research Institute.

Chen was also the editor of the Economics Weekly, a journal that advocated a free-market economy.

“He was a private scholar. None of his books could be published in his motherland. But he stayed on [in China]. Even after he became ill, he returned to Beijing to die,” Dai Qing, the activist, said.

Chen is survived by his wife, Wang Zhihong.

Additional reporting by Reuters

 

[BalanceOfPower]

Photo of Bo Xilai in handcuffs wins 2nd place press award, sparks jokes

According to the People’s Daily, the photo showed rich detail, felt authentic and gave the viewer a real view of the day of the trial.

PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 22 October, 2014, 2:11pm
UPDATED : Wednesday, 22 October, 2014, 3:00pm

Angela Meng [email protected]

The photograph of Bo Xilai which caught the judges' eye. Photo: people.cn

An image of disgraced former Communist Party princeling Bo Xilai in handcuffs has won second place at the China News Award, triggering discussion and jokes on social media.

According to the Communist Party mouthpeice People’s Daily on Tuesday, the photo showed rich detail, felt authentic and gave the viewer a real view of the day of the trial.

The photo, taken by Xinhua photographer Xie Huanchi and edited by Lu Yang, shows Bo in handcuffs being flanked by stern-looking police officers in front of an “accused” sign.

Bo, the former party boss of Chongqing and son of former Vice Premier Bo Yibo, spectacularly fell from grace after he and his wife Gu Kailai were embroiled in the murder case of British businessman Neil Heywood last year.

After the news of the accolade was posted on Weibo it quickly sparked discussion and jokes and a host of differing opinions.

“Is this necessary?” One user wrote “Even a bad photo like this deserves an award, it is so humiliating.”

“Rule by law!” another user commented whilst reposting the photo, echoing the theme of the current fourth plenum.

Bo’s trial – a dramatic piece of legal theatre held in August last year – was part of an aggressive anti-corruption drive by the central authorities.

Since then, several other political heavyweights have been sacked and publicly denounced, including former vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission Xu Caihou, and former poliburo standing committee member Zhou Yonkang.

 

[Rossi]

Recordings of fraud callers put online

China Daily, October 22, 2014

Fei Fei, a netizen in Hubei province, received a call during the National Day holiday from someone claiming to be a policeman. The caller said he was involved in a money laundering case and that Fei's credit card had been found.

The caller, who identified himself as Wang Hao, told Fei that the case had been cracked on July 15. The suspect had made use of her credit card to launder money.

He then asked whether Fei had lost her card.

Fei replied that her card was not lost, and she didn't know the suspect.

The "policeman" than asked her to provide her identity card number for "confirmation". She refused, using the excuse that she could not remember it.

In fact, she realized the call was a fraud and had enough security awareness that she knew not to disclose any personal information. What's more, she recorded the conversation and provided it to provincial public security officials.

The authorities exposed the recording later, along with another two similar fraudulent calls, on their micro blog on Sina Weibo, aiming to keep more residents from being cheated and unmasking swindlers' tricks.

The police called the recordings the "Bad Voice of China", a word play on Voice of China, a popular TV talent show that concluded earlier this month.

The police posted an e-mail address on the micro blog and called for residents to collect more recordings of such frauds. They promised to expose the crooks.

"Publishing the 'Bad Voice' can vividly show cheaters' tricks, enhancing people's ability to identify, resist and prevent more fraud calls," a publicity spokesman quoted Wu Chunli as saying.

Wu, who heads public security departments specializing in the handling of key criminal cases, told the media that officials hope to crack down on fraud more effectively by exposing swindlers' voices via micro blogs and WeChat, a hot instant messaging tool popular throughout the country.

She said that they have established a group for cooperating with telecom and financial authorities to improve the accuracy and efficiency of crackdowns. She said people should not believe the latest frauds, which often claim a person has won a prize, benefited from a stock investment or that a relative needs to borrow some money.

 

[Rossi]

Girl dressed as old lady scares off fiancé

China Daily, October 23, 2014

What will you do if your darling turns into an old lady over night?

Girl dressed as old lady scares off fiancé

A man in Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong province, burst into a fit of temper on seeing his girlfriend "become" an old woman the very day they planned to take wedding photos, and the pair quarreled, reported xinhuanet.com.

The girl wanted to know whether her fiancé would still love her when she was 70 and decided to test him by dressing like an old lady. The boyfriend did not like the new look and ran away, leaving the girl weeping.

 

[Rossi]

3 charged for using drone for pictures

Shanghai Daily, October 23, 2014

Three photographers were charged with endangering public security in Beijing after they tried to take aerial pictures with an illegal drone that caused chaos in the sky with passenger flights being diverted or delayed and the air force scrambling choppers, the public procuratorate said yesterday.

The main culprit, a man surnamed Hao, and two other men surnamed Qiao and Li, both employees of the Beijing Guoyao Xingtu Aerial Technology company, used drone to take pictures of the Sanhe Business Jet Airport in neighboring Hebei Province for map painting on December 28 last year.

But the company was not qualified for drone photography and neither did it apply for airspace with the air traffic authority, the Pinggu District Public Procuratorate said.

Hao and Qiao operated the oil-fuelled drone again the next day over Mafang Town in Beijing's Pinggu District without the necessary permission again.

The "Unidentified Flying Object" was spotted on the military radar and the People's Liberation Army Air Force scrambled two military helicopters to get the drone down.

Soldiers and vehicles were also put on standby.

Beijing's air traffic authority was forced to ask several civil aviation flights to detour or delay their takeoffs. Air China claimed it suffered over 18,000 yuan in losses, the procuratorate said.

Beijing police caught Qiao and Li while Hao later surrendered to the police. Police said the fixed wing drone was 2.3 meters long, 60 centimeters tall with 2.6-meter-long wings.

A Beijing court will hear the case soon.

Unmanned aircraft has to be approved by the civil aviation authority before being used for any businesses.

Companies using them also have to apply to the administration and report its flying details, especially those flying over the downtown areas.

A PLA Air Force official also said that the "low, small, slow unmanned aircraft" must be regulated to avoid entering restricted military airspace.

 

[Rossi]

Children caught smuggling heroin inside bodies in SW China

Source: Xinhua Published: 2014-10-23 23:42:41

Four underage girls in a southwest China county were caught transporting heroin hidden inside their bodies, local authorities said Thursday.

Police in Longling, Yunnan Province, intercepted a minibus suspected of transporting drugs in Haitou Village last week after a tip-off. The vehicle carried four minors from the neighboring Sichuan Province, aged between 11 and 14.

The kids said they were tempted by an "unfamiliar auntie" with 10,000 yuan (1,627 US dollars) worth of profit if they agreed to transfer "some goods" from Yunnan's border areas to Sichuan. They had been told to swallow 320 capsules of the "goods" in advance before police intervention, the police said.

The drugs, weighing 1.39 kg, have been confiscated, and the girls have been sent home.

A police hunt for perpetrators is underway.

Tan Jieming, a narcotics police officer in Yunnan, told Xinhua such a drug-trafficking case involving underage children is quite rare, although there have been a rising number of cases involving pregnant women or people living with HIV/AIDS.

 

[Rossi]

Girls tricked by trafficker into swallowing heroin

Source: Global Times Published: 2014-10-24 0:23:03

Police are hunting for drug traffickers who allegedly persuaded four minors to swallow and unknowingly attempt to transport more than 1,000 grams of heroin from Yunnan Province to Sichuan Province, the Legal Mirror reported Thursday.

Four girls of the Yi ethnic group from Butuo county, Sichuan Province, aged between 11 and 14, said that they were approached by a woman who promised to give them a total of 10,000 yuan ($1,627) to help her transport goods from Yunnan to Sichuan, according to police in Longling county, Yunnan Province.

The girls said that they were first taken to the city of Lijiang in Yunnan Province and then to another Yunnan city, Lincang.

The woman asked the girls to swallow the drugs on October 14 and led them to a van. The woman said she would wait for them at a bus station in Baoshan, Yunnan Province and together they would bring the drugs back to Sichuan.

"The four girls are minors. They did not know that the goods in their bodies were drugs. Nor did they understand that their actions were illegal," said a police officer, Zhao Hongbin.

Local police intercepted the van in Linglong county at 11:30 am the same day after receiving a tip-off.

The girls discharged 1.39 kilograms of heroin on October 15. They were then brought back to Sichuan by their families on Saturday.

The police are now trying to track down the woman and other possible accomplices.

Police warned that if citizens notice strangers suspiciously interacting with minors, they should call the police immediately.

Similar events occurred last month in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province. A 42-year-old woman surnamed Guo was detained by Lianhu district police, Xi'an on September 4 for swallowing and transporting more than 400 grams of heroin.

Guo said that she met a woman in Chengdu, Sichuan on September 3, who promised to give her 4,000 yuan to take drugs from Chengdu to Xi'an.

Doctors removed two condoms filled with heroin from her body and Guo went on to discharge another 44 bags of heroin over the following two days, said police.

 

[Lordshiva]

This sorta shit aint gonna happen in sinkapore anytime soon man.....it might trigger a property market collapse



hahahahahahahahahaha

Police pursue fleeing officials

By Zhang Hui Source: Global Times Published: 2014-10-21 0:53:02

China, Australia cooperate to extradite embezzlers

Chinese police will cooperate with their Australian counterparts to extradite corrupt Chinese officials who have fled to Australia with embezzled public funds.

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) together with the Chinese police will take action in the coming weeks, according to Bruce Hill, manager of the AFP's operations in Asia, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

Hill said that the two forces had agreed on a priority list of alleged fugitives who have taken residence in Australia with embezzled funds amounting to hundreds of millions of Australian dollars, and the country was identified by Beijing

as one of the most popular destinations for corrupt officials hiding their ill-gotten gains, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

Among the suspects identified by the AFP are naturalized Australian citizens and permanent residents who for years have laundered stolen public money under the guise of being legitimate investment migrants, Hill said.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said on October 14 that China is eager to cooperate with Australia to seize the assets of corrupt Chinese officials who have escaped to the country.

Caijing, a financial magazine, has estimated that at least seven high-level officials have fled to Australia with embezzled public funds totaling more than $1 billion.

The joint Australian-Chinese police operation forms part of an ongoing and wide-ranging campaign named "Operation Fox Hunt," set up by Chinese authorities to pursue corrupt officials who have fled China.

Between the launch of the campaign on July 22 and the end of September, police arrested 102 suspects in 40 countries and regions, according to a press release by the Ministry of Public Security.

Chinese police have cooperated with Australian law enforcement bodies in pursuing corrupt officials over recent years. The first such case was in 2011, when former Foshan real estate company manager Li Jixiang was sentenced to

26 years in prison for money laundering at a Queensland court, the Beijing Times reported.

The Australian federal government has announced that it will introduce a "Premium Investor Visa" that allows foreign investors who invest A$15 million ($13.15 million) in the Australian economy to be granted permanent residency, Xinhua said.

Hu Xingdou, a political science professor at the Beijing Institute of Technology, said that this reform of the Australian visa system may encourage greater numbers of corrupt officials to flee to Australia.

Both China and Australia have signed the UN's anti-corruption treaty, which allows China to file requests for the extradition of embezzlers. However, officials who have fled to Australia can also ask for asylum in accordance with

Australia's immigration law to avoid facing trials in China.

Liu Guofu, an expert on immigration law at the Beijing Institute of Technology, told the Global Times that it is difficult to arrest suspects who have become citizens of other countries.

 

[tanwahtiu]

This time when the Chinese sneeze, the world market will collapse.

This sorta shit aint gonna happen in sinkapore anytime soon man.....it might trigger a property market collapse



hahahahahahahahahaha

 

[MirrorMan]

This time when the Chinese sneeze, the world market will collapse.

Do keep us informed. Terimah Kasih.

 

[MirrorMan]

More Chinese giving birth in US

ECNS, October 24, 2014

The number of pregnant Chinese women who travel to the United States to have babies is expected to increase by 100 times next year compared to that of 2007, the Globe magazine reports.

After the movie "Finding Mr Right" was screened in March 2013, agencies helping Chinese women give birth in the US have seen their businesses soar. The movie is now jokingly called a "documentary of an American confinement center."

The report by Globe magazine shows that the number of people from the Chinese mainland who gave birth in the US increased from 600 in 2007 to more than 20,000 in 2013.

The number is expected to reach 30,000 in 2014 and as much as 60,000 in 2015, an increase of 100 times in less than 10 years.

Chai Jing, a well-known TV host in China, participated in the trend this past March, spurring an extensive debate in China.

"The education resources in the US are a major reason why Chinese people choose it as the place to have their children," said Zhan Kanwang, marketing director of JIIAA, a service provider for childbirth in the US.

Giving birth in the US was once a privilege for the rich, but now more middle-class Chinese have joined the trend in order to secure American passports for their kids.

The most convenient way to become a US citizen is to marry one, while the second is investing $500,000 in the country. However, immigration has put many off because of the high threshold and complicated requirements, an industry insider said.

Like China, the US offers free elementary and secondary education, but tuition fees after high school are much cheaper than the cost of overseas study. The annual cost for an elementary or middle school student to study in the US is more than $30,000 (about 200,000 yuan) a year, which means US citizenship can save some 600,000 yuan for three years of high school.

As for colleges, California State University, a medium-level university, charges a foreign student $12,000 in tuition fees a year, but only about $2,000 for a US student.

Zhao Kanwang added that children born in the US are entitled to advanced education resources, lower tuition fees at the place of birth, and priority at prestigious universities. Giving birth in the US is not only good for a child's future development, but can also help the family emigrate there in the future, he said.

Zhao also pointed out that the second biggest reason is food security and the overall living environment, as years of severe smog in China have become a serious concern for would-be mothers.

Gray zone

In the industrial chain of childbirth in the US, the agency is upstream and the confinement center downstream, and both provide services for Chinese families that want to have babies there. But the industry is more or less a gray zone, as neither the Chinese nor the US government have defined its legality.

An industry insider who asked to remain anonymous said that there are few companies with teams of 10 to 200 people, and several dozen with 10 to 20 staff. Most of the companies only have two or three people working for them.

If every customer pays a service fee of 300,000 yuan ($49,034), the largest company in the industry (which serves more than 1,000 customers a year) can register a sales volume of several hundreds of millions of US dollars. But an agency also has to spend hundreds of thousands of yuan per year on rent and staff compensation, in addition to ever higher advertising costs.

"We sign a consulting service contract with customers, which is under the administration of the industry and commerce authority. Visa services in China and medical services overseas are not covered by the contract," said Zhao Kanwang.

Meanwhile, the number of confinement centers in the US has skyrocketed. Statistics from AMSM, a US-based mom and baby care association, show that there were about seven types of confinement centers in the US in 2013. They included low-priced home stays, apartment styles, shared houses, hotel styles, independent villas, high-end clubs and family lodgings.

"The Chinese government neither encourages, advocates or objects to such agencies, because it is after all a small industry and involves national pride. The US constitution, on the other hand, stipulates that anyone born in or naturalized by and under the jurisdiction of the United States is a citizen of the country and the state of residence - and changing the constitution is extremely difficult in the US," an industry insider told the Time Weekly.

Therefore, giving birth in the US won't be shut down because of policy risks in the short term.

However, the China Press, a newspaper in the US, pointed out that as more pregnant women from the Chinese mainland go to America to give birth, business disputes with confinement centers are inevitable.

Most pregnant women who enter the US by concealing their real purpose usually choose to keep quiet when disputes occur. But those who are approved by visa officers are more likely to stand up for themselves, only to find that there's nowhere to complain.

A young expectant mom who stayed at a confinement club in Irvine, California, on Oct 15 encountered such a situation, claiming that the conditions at the club were not as advertised.

She had found the club online and contacted its representative in Beijing, a woman surnamed Li, who promised many "privileged" services, including "one-on-one" service two months before childbirth, a separate suite, and free organic milk.

But "it was a totally different story when I got here," she said, adding that none of those promises were delivered. Moreover, the so-called "club" was nothing more than a few rented apartments in a gated residential area, where three other such services often shared rented rooms.

Feeling cheated, she confronted the head of the confinement club, surnamed Pei, and demanded a refund. However, Pei charged her for housing expenses in the amount of $1,000 per day and threatened to report the expectant mom to the immigration bureau.

Pei said in an interview that she had been deceived by the representative in Beijing, who had solicited customers with false expectations. She also admitted that her confinement club wasn't registered by the California government.

 

[MirrorMan]

Victim cheated out of 90,000 yuan by fraudster pretending for work for CCDI

Man was told he was under investigation for embezzlement and money laundering and told if he did not wire money to "CCDI" his accounts would be frozen.

PUBLISHED : Friday, 24 October, 2014, 4:43pm
UPDATED : Friday, 24 October, 2014, 4:48pm

Angela Meng [email protected]

The man sent a total of 88,000 yuan after receiving threats. Photo: Reuters

Scammers posing as members of elite anti-corruption agency the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection swindled nearly 90,000 yuan (HK$111,000) from a man in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, the People’s Daily online reported.

The fraudster phoned the resident, whose name was only given as Liu, claiming he was being investigated for embezzlement and money laundering

Liu was warned the case was “highly confidential” and told if he did not send two payments to a "CCDI" account his accounts would be frozen.

The scammer, who claimed to be “Director Yang” from the CCDI’s Shanghai office, initially left a number for Liu to call for further details.

When Liu dialled the number, he spoke to a man who claimed to be “Mr Feng”, a Shanghai police officer with the local public security bureau.

Feng told Liu that he was suspected of receiving kickbacks from helping his boss, who was in charge of a demolition project, launder money.

According to the report, Liu then received another call from Yang who claimed that his ID card number had been stolen. He warned Liu he needed his “unconditional cooperation”.

If Liu wanted to clear himself of the money laundering charges, he must first wire 38,000 yuan, which would be refunded once the case was cleared.

Liu later wired Yang a further 50,000 yuan after another demand – and destroyed the remittance advice on Yang’s request.

On Thursday morning, Yang threatened Liu that if he did not send another 100,000 yuan he would freeze his company accounts. Short of money and desperately worried, Liu contacted friends to ask for help. It was only then he realised that he may have been scammed.

After Li alerted the police had been alerted, an officer from the local public security bureau answered a call from Yang – who kept up the pretence.

“I am employed by the CCDI, you are the liars. I am going to issue arrest warrants for you immediately,” Yang said before hanging up.

The investigation is continuing.

 

[Rossi]

Female students warned of online encounters

China Daily, October 22, 2014

Judges have called for female university students to enhance their security awareness and have suggested that they refrain from disclosing personal information online.

The judges' appeal comes after several young women were murdered or disappeared in recent months.

On Tuesday, China's top court revealed seven cases in which women and girls were defrauded, kidnapped, raped or killed after they met Internet friends. The court wants to warn more people not to easily trust strangers or those they meet in cyberspace.

"All convicts in these cases took advantage of the Internet, making use of the trust established online to commit their crimes," said Yan Maokun, deputy chief judge of the Criminal Department at the Supreme People's Court.

Yan said the number of such cases has risen since the introduction of instant messaging tools such as QQ and WeChat.

Three defendants in the seven cases were sentenced to death for kidnapping, rape and murder.

In June 2013, Xiao Kechen, from Foshan in Guangdong province, was imprisoned for 14 years for raping a 15-year-old girl he met through WeChat and robbing her of 20,000 yuan ($3,265) and a cellphone.

"Victims have little awareness of self-protection and easily trust strangers on popular instant messaging tools," Yan said.

Ran Rong, another judge in the department, suggested that women and girls keep in touch with their families or friends when they go out alone or in emergencies.

Ran, whose daughter is a university student, said they should also not disclose personal information.

She added, "We should take advantage of these instant messaging tools instead of being taken advantage of.

"A young woman can take a picture of a taxi license plate and send it back to her parents via WeChat if she has to go out alone, or map apps can be used to check whether the driver is taking the right route."

Wang Leilei, a prosecutor in Beijing's Dongcheng district, said the most important thing is to tell female students how to protect themselves when they are in danger.

"After all, we cannot stop young people from using smartphones or making friends online. But we can teach them how to refuse the advances of strangers," she said.

 

[Rossi]

Man charged after 'losing' son

Shanghai Daily, October 22, 2014

A man who left his 3-year-old autistic son in a Shanghai hospital and then told police he had gone missing has been charged with child abandonment, Minhang District prosecutors said Tuesday.

The boy was found standing alone and without shoes at the Children's Hospital of Fudan University in Minhang on June 8. After security guards spent 30 minutes trying to locate his parents, a doctor surnamed Qin found a note in the boy's pocket saying he was autistic and appealing for whoever found him to put him into care.

Qin contacted police who took the boy away and began an investigation.

When the boy's father, surnamed Jiang, later called police to say he had lost his son at the hospital, he was told the child was already in safe hands. Jiang went to the police station and admitted that he had put the note in the child's pocket, prosecutors said.

In court, Jiang said he and his wife had tried hard to care for the boy but that his autism had put a huge strain on their family.

The child needed 24-hour care, the father said, adding that he was fired from his job after repeatedly making mistakes as a result of his tiredness.

Jiang said also that he regularly quarreled with his wife over the situation and sometimes beat the child out of frustration.

Prosecutors heard that at dawn on June 8, Jiang beat the boy after the child's crying woke him up. His wife became angry and left home, prompting Jiang to take the child to the hospital and abandon him.

The father, however, soon regretted his actions and fearing his son might be abducted, called the police.

He is now facing up to five years in detention or prison.

 

[Rossi]

Tracking health of tattooed women

Shanghai Daily, October 22, 2014

Authorities are tracking the health records of the last group of women whose faces were tattooed in a tribal tradition in southwestern China, as they seek to preserve the vanishing ethnic culture.

Women of the Dulong Ethnic group with facial tattoos.

The painful tradition of tattooing simple patterns across the nose, mouth and cheeks of women in the Dulong ethnic minority existed for hundreds of years, believed to have started in the Ming Dynasty.

But after the founding of New China, the tradition began to taper off and the number of Dulong women carrying remnants of the tradition in Yunnan province is dwindling.

In 2007, the number of woman with facial tattoos was 130. Now there remains just 26.

"We have created records for the 26 women, while doctors will check their health each month," said Zhou Lixin, a police officer of the Dulongjiang Village in Nujiang Prefecture, Yunnan.

Doctors will measure vital signs such as weight and blood pressure, bring medication to the women and take them to hospital if necessary.

The youngest of the 26 is 54, while the oldest is in her 90s.

"They are the last face-tattooed women," he said. "Their stories will become history, but we want them to live longer and healthier."

One of China's 56 ethnic groups, the Dulong ethnic minority has a total population of around 7,000 living in the Dulongjiang Village in southwest Yunnan province.

The custom is thought to have started about 360 years ago. The Dulong were often attacked by other ethnic groups and women taken as slaves. To avoid being raped, Dulong women had their faces tattooed to make themselves less attractive.

With the women scattered across remote mountains, it sometimes takes the doctors five or six hours to reach them.

But Zhou says most are in good health. Many, laden with heavy baskets on the backs, still cut grass to feed pigs. "Some suffer from rheumatism and arthritis, and a few have high blood pressure," Zhou said.

 

[Rossi]

Luxury car proves burden to owner

Chinadaily October 24, 2014

A man named Jiang bought two Porsche earlier this year, but the only place his cars drove him was to a headache, reported xinhuanet.com.

Since he bought the cars, many friends and relatives have borrowed them for wedding ceremonies to highlight the wealth of the newlyweds' family. In fact, Jiang's luxury cars have been used in wedding ceremonies nearly 20 times in just six months.

"I have to wake up at 5 am to decorate the wedding car. Sometimes I am too busy to drive the car myself, and having it driven by others makes me worry. It has become so annoying," said Jiang.

 

[Rossi]

Suspected food poisoning affects 49 in northwest China

Xinhua, October 24, 2014

Suspected food poisoning at a school canteen in northwest China made 49 students sick on Thursday, with 22 still under medical observation as of Friday afternoon, local authorities said.

Students suffered from vomiting, abdominal pain and diarrhea at around 7 p.m., one hour after dining at Xiaojin Middle School canteen in Qingyang City, Gansu Province. Of more than 700 student diners, 49 were affected, with 23 seriously, according to the local publicity office.

The local food and drug administration has taken samples of the ingredients, seasonings, dishes and leftover food from the canteen and sent them for examination.

As of 2:30 p.m. Friday, 27 students had returned to school. An investigation is under way.

 

[Yazoo]

Japanese police arrest Chinese trio that stockpiled 40,000 nappies

Men filed Japan visas to be chefs but instead went shopping for the mainland market

PUBLISHED : Saturday, 25 October, 2014, 3:51am
UPDATED : Saturday, 25 October, 2014, 3:51am

Julian Ryall in Tokyo

Three Chinese nationals went on a five-day shopping spree during which they purchased 990 packs of disposable baby nappies from 267 stores across the Kansai region. Photo: Edward Wong

Three Chinese nationals have been taken into custody in Japan for allegedly violating the terms of their visas by buying hundreds of packs of disposable nappies.

Police in Hyogo prefecture detained the three men, whose names have not been released, on October 15. The men are expected to be deported instead of being prosecuted.

Investigators said the men filed visa applications in China to come to Japan to work as chefs in a Chinese restaurant in the city of Akashi. Instead of cooking, however, the men immediately went on a five-day shopping spree during which they purchased 990 packs of disposable baby nappies from 267 stores across the Kansai region.

Given that the average package contains 40 nappies, the would-be nappy moguls had built up a stockpile of nearly 40,000 nappies.

The products were stored in a warehouse and investigators understand that all were to be transported to China.

The booming Chinese market is a highly lucrative one for Japanese firms such as Nippon Paper Industries and Diao Paper, which manufactures the popular Goo.n brand of disposable nappies.

And because they are of such high quality, well above Chinese-produced brands, they have become a luxury product with dealers able to put a 50 per cent mark- up on the official price.

The Japan External Trade Organisation estimated that the official nappy market in China was worth some 170 billion yen (HK$12 billion) in 2013 - three times the amount of just five years earlier.

With a steady supply of nappies difficult to come by in China, however, traders are setting up export operations from Japan. Inevitably, that is having an impact on domestic supplies.

"In the past, I have not been able to find my favourite brand of nappies even if I go to two or three shops," said Kanako Hosomura, the mother of an 18-month-old boy from Yokohama.

"And earlier this year, one store that I went to said everyone was allowed to buy only one pack of nappies because there was a shortage. This sort of things makes that situation worse."

Japanese nappy manufacturers have also been working with trade authorities in China in an effort to stamp out the counterfeiting of nappies.