Even while bashing the institution of urban management and enforcement -- so neatly summed up in one word, chengguan -- we acknowledge that the officers tasked with urban bureaucracy -- keeping street peddlers X meters away from the curb, making sure businesses have proper licenses, etc. -- do unenviable and difficult work. Keeping in mind that every time we see a video of chengguan beating the snot out of someone, the chengguan have their side of the story, too (and their side of the story probably has another side as well), let's examine one particular case from a few weeks ago in Yan'an, Shaanxi province, featuring a chengguan jumping on the face of a bike shop owner who was wrestled to the ground.
Back in October, a woman in Portland found a letter written in English by someone claiming to be a labor camp inmate in Shenyang. “If you occasionally buy this product, please kindly resend this letter to the World Human Right Organization," so it went. "Thousands people here who are under the persicution of the Chinese Communist Party Government will thank and remember you forever.”
The veracity was initially unverifiable.
Authorities are searching for a suspect they believe caused a bus fire in Xiamen, Fujian province during evening rush hour on Friday, killing 47 people and injuring 34."Some witnesses said they heard explosions about ten minutes after the fire broke out," reports Xinhua.
Fifteen students who had just completed tests were on the bus, according to a press conference held earlier today.
A 32-year-old American teacher surnamed McMahon was detained on May 13 under suspicion of sexual assault, reports Xinhua. He worked at Lycee Francais de Shanghai (LFS), an elite French private school.
Reports AFP:
The Shanghai kindergarten teacher was seized by police last month after seven families filed formal accusations against him, alleging sexual abuse and rape of students of both sexes, several parents said.
An 8-year old girl known to play with fire burned to death while shut in her home outside Hangzhou, Zhejiang province yesterday after her parents locked her in alone and left for work.
The charred remains of the child were found after two young men nearby were alerted by a neighbor who smelled the smoke and cried for help. The pair kicked down the locked door and put out the fire before firefighters arrived, according to Zhejiang News.
Chen Xitong, who was Beijing's mayor from 1983 to 1993, has died at age 84, multiple sources have told SCMP. The news was first reported by Hong Kong China News Agency (HKCNA) today.
Chen's exact date of death is not confirmed, but it's ironic that the public would learn about his passing on today of all days, the 24th anniversary of the brutal military crackdown on Tiananmen Square.
A spate of stories about schoolmasters sexually abusing their pupils in China has caused public outrage, and at least one activist has done something to capture the mood. She nailed it on the head, judging by the authorities' reaction to her -- namely, beating her up.
Ye Haiyan, on May 27 outside Wanning primary school in Hainan province, held a sign that read, "Principals, spare the school kids, get a hotel room with me instead!"
The Daily Telegraph reports that Baby 59, the resilient newborn who survived being flushed down a squat toilet, has been released from the hospital:
On Thursday morning, a hospital official who declined to be named, told The Daily Telegraph the child had now been released. "We just know that the family came yesterday, accompanied by county public security officers, and took away the baby," he said.
But here's where it gets complicated.
We reported yesterday morning on the miracle baby in Pujiang, Zhejiang province who survived being flushed down a squat toilet. The latest report is -- while not necessarily more shocking -- just as incredible.
Turn your attention to the above newscast, which says authorities have identified the child's mother -- in fact, had basically known who she was all this time, since she was the one who alerted her landlord to the infant in the toilet in the first place.
Another elevator accident in China, but this one involving a lift of a different variety.
A 23-year-old waiter was crushed to death by a "food elevator" in a Suzhou restaurant on Saturday, reports Shanghai Daily.
The food elevator smashed his head as he poked his head into the shaft to check. He was jammed in the gap and people around him called the police immediately. The waiter was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital.
