China Chronicles September 1, 2012
- Death toll rises to 41 in Sichuan colliery blast
Rescuers are ready to go down the shaft at Xiaojiawan Coal Mine in Panzhihua City, southwest China's Sichuan Province, yesterday. Death toll has risen to 41 in Wednesday's colliery blast at the coal mine in Sichuan Province as more bodies were retrieved. Five others remained trapped, officials said yesterday.
- Plane speaking from world leaders
Premier Wen Jiabao and German Chancellor Angela Merkel talk aboard an A320 jet in Tianjin yesterday. The two world leaders attended a ceremony to mark the 100th plane from Airbus's assembly plant in the north China port city at the end of Merkel's two-day visit to China.
- US study feeds kids GM rice
A US-BACKED study which used Chinese children as guinea pigs to try out a new type of genetically modified rice has been condemned by an environmental rights group.
The study was carried out in healthy schoolchildren between six and eight years old in Hengyang City in central China's Hunan Province.
Twenty-four of them were fed a daily 60 grams of genetically modified "Golden Rice," which was said to be rich in vitamin A, for three weeks.
Results showed that eating the rice was as effective as taking vitamin A pills, according to findings published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Condemning the research as exposing the children to health risks, Greenpeace East Asia said on its website yesterday that the trial contravened a Chinese Ministry of Agriculture decision in 2008 to abort plans for the project and was a breach of scientific and medical ethics.
The organization has called on the Chinese government to uphold its decision, launch an investigation into the program and offer adequate medical and legal aid to the children.
Fang Lifeng, a campaigner for sustainable agriculture at Greenpeace East Asia, said it was "incredibly disturbing" to think that an American institution had used Chinese children as the subjects of its experiment.
"Chinese agriculture authorities stopped the trial four years ago. How did the research come to be revived after that emphatic ban?" he said.
According to the report, the study was approved by the ethics review committee of the Zhejiang Academy of Medical Sciences.
Both parents and pupils had consented to take part in the study and the children displayed no side effects, it added.
But Fang said: "Did the children's parents fully understand the potential risks that this trial was exposing their children to?"
A UK Royal Society report showed that infants and children were more likely to fall victims to food allergies and thus might suffer greater health hazards than adults if GM foods! contained unknown allergens, Greenpeace said in its online statement.
US authorities funded the "Golden Rice" program which was led by a professor at Tufts University in Massachusetts. The grains were harvested from a hydroponic plant system housed at the US Department of Agriculture and are thought to be the "golden bullet" for vitamin A deficiency, especially in developing countries.
But Greenpeace said the study was unnecessary and overrated. Great progress had been made in many countries to treat marginal vitamin A groups, such as supporting measures for more diverse diets, its statement said.
Rice has been a must in most of Chinese people's diets for thousands of years.
For the past seven years, Greenpeace has documented GM rice throughout China.
- Hong Kong permits scheme put on hold
A SCHEME to allow millions more tourists from the Chinese mainland to visit Hong Kong has been delayed amid growing concern that the city's infrastructure would be unable to cope, Hong Kong's leader said yesterday.
The southern boomtown of Shenzhen announced last week that it would allow an extra 4.1 million of its residents to obtain multiple-entry permits for Hong Kong.
But just a day before the scheme was to take effect, Hong Kong's new leader, Leung Chun-ying, announced it would be put on hold for three weeks after concern was raised with Beijing that the influx could strain the city's clogged border checkpoints, tourism spots and teeming streets.
Last year, 28.1 million mainland tourists visited Hong Kong, almost four times the city's population. In the first half of this year, 15 million mainlanders arrived, a 23 percent jump over the previous year.
"Many people, including myself, are paying heed to Hong Kong's capacity and ability to absorb," said Leung, as he announced that Shenzhen authorities would not issue any new visitor permits for three weeks. "We will engage the central government and other authorities on the mainland for us to mutually discuss the capacity of Hong Kong to receive these additional visitors."
Cosmopolitan Hong Kong is a favorite destination for people from the mainland.
The freeing up of Hong Kong's border to mainland visitors since 2003 has been a major boon to the tourism, retail and catering sectors.
But some Hong Kong people complain that the influx has driven up property prices and other costs.
Pregnant mainland women have crowded into Hong Kong's maternity wards, eager for their children to get the right to live in the city.
Even tourism officials now say the volume of mainland visitors may be reaching unsustainable levels.
Ngai Sik-shui of the Hong Kong Immigration Officers Association said an extra 400 staffers would be needed if the plan to allow more visitors went ahead.
"At every check! point, we have experienced stress and pressure," Ngai said. "This pressure is building every day."
- Hundreds of students may have to quit UK
MORE than 600 Chinese students are facing deportation from Britain after their university was stripped of its license to teach overseas students.
They are among more than 2,600 non-European Union students at London Metropolitan University who have been given 60 days to find another institution to sponsor their visas, China News Service reported.
The report said an official UK Border Agency announcement last week said the university had lost its "highly trusted status" because of significant problems with the qualification of many of its non-EU students.
It said the agency found too many breaches in the way the university dealt with overseas students.
Some students didn't have valid visas, students were not tested to see whether they had a good standard of English, and there were no documents to show students were attending lectures.
Officials with the Chinese Embassy in Britain said they would be offering help to Chinese students affected by the decision.
UK education authorities have set up a task force to help students transfer to other institutions.
Wang Ping, a sophomore from China, said he heard the university was banned from enrolling new overseas students about six weeks ago, but thought sophomores would not be affected.
"It was not until I came back to London from China two weeks ago that I realized the university had big troubles," said Wang. "I don't know whether other schools will accept me, and moreover, I have just signed a one-year contract for my rented apartment."
- Another warning diverts plane
A Shenzhen Airlines flight was diverted to an airport in central China after receiving a threatening call on Thursday evening in the second such incident involving Chinese carriers in just two days.
Flight ZH9706 from Xiangyang in Hubei Province to the southern city of Shenzhen made an emergency landing at Wuhan Tianhe International Airport at 11:24pm out of concern for passenger safety, the airline said in a statement yesterday. The flight was later canceled.
"The airline received an anonymous phone call shortly after the aircraft took off at 10:30pm, so it landed halfway through its flight," the airport authority said.
Police later confirmed the call was made from Xiangyang.
Officers conducted a thorough inspection after the plane landed but found no explosives or dangerous items on the aircraft or in passengers' belongings.
All 71 passengers and nine crew members onboard the Airbus 320 aircraft were accommodated in Wuhan and boarded a flight the next day which landed in Shenzhen at 12:10pm yesterday, the airport said. It said no other flights were affected.
Police are investigating the incident, a spokeswoman for the airline said yesterday, declining to give further details.
The Wuhan airport issued a high alert at around 11pm and had six fire trucks and another 30 rescue vehicles standing by before the plane landed, the airport authority said.
More than 200 armed police and anti-hijack police officers launched a blanket search across the aircraft, but found nothing abnormal.
Police are still tracking the person who made the fake threatening call.
On Wednesday, an Air China flight from Beijing to New York was forced to return to Beijing after a threatening message was received.
However, a thorough inspection revealed nothing amiss and the flight left for New York hours later.
People who make hoax calls which disrupt flights face up to three years in prison under China's Civil Aviation Law.
- 20-year-old legal saga over Taiwan murder ends
THREE men suspected of murdering a couple more than 20 years ago were acquitted for the last time by a Taiwan court yesterday, ending a controversial marathon legal process that had gripped the whole of Taiwan.
Su Chien-huo, Liu Ping-lang, and Chuang Lin-hsun, who were accused of murdering Wu Ming-han and his wife in 1991 at their home in Taipei County, later renamed New Taipei City, were cleared of all charges. Under Taiwan's legal system, the verdict is final and cannot be appealed.
The ruling puts an end to one of the most controversial murder cases in Taiwan's history, one that has raised serious questions about the conduct of the police officers and prosecutors who handled the case and sparked wide debate over the merits and deficiencies of the legal system.
The prime suspect, Wang Wen-hsiao, was found guilty and executed in 1992. Police interrogation of Wang had also implicated Su, Liu and Chuang.
Taiwan's courts have since given varying verdicts in the case as new pieces of evidence continued to surface.
In 1992, a district court declared the three suspects guilty and gave each of them a death sentence. Since then, various courts have given rulings that have ranged wildly from the death penalty to proclaiming the suspects innocent.
Each time, the court's ruling raised great controversy as the media and public fiercely debated not only the ruling itself but also the broader issue of the island's legal system.
Some argued that alleged illegal acts by police officers and prosecutors undermined the foundation of the case, but others worried whether the system could work efficiently when it came to nailing the real suspects in a highly complicated murder case.
The trials further gripped the attention of the public after media reported that the victims' son, only six years old at the time of the murder, was later diagnosed with muscular dystrophy and became completely paralyzed.
The tragic development aroused immense sympathy and some member! s of the public linked the son's illness to the great agony of a child forced to witness the brutal murder of his parents, a claim that was later medically refuted.
Taiwan authorities even turned to the expertise of Chinese-American crime scene investigator Henry Lee Chang-yu for help. In 2009, Lee, after reconstructing the crime scene, concluded in a report that Wang was probably the sole culprit in the murder, giving further weight to the suspects' claim of innocence.
- Former top US diplomat sets up store on Tmall
A FORMER top United States diplomat has opened an online store on Tmall.com, China's largest online marketplace, for US companies to reach Chinese customers hungry for authentic American products.
Frank Lavin, former US undersecretary of commerce for international trade, has partnered with 14 American brands to sell their products, including backpacks, eye wears and snacks, on his online store called MeiLiKe.
Top-selling products at the store include Mack's earplugs and Sun-Maid dried raisin, which are popular in local supermarkets. Both cost just dozens of yuan, slightly higher than the price in the US.
The earplugs have attracted 150 customers and earned good reviews. "The product originated in the US! It's great," a customer commented.
The store opened early this year and is looking for more partners, according to a statement by Tmall.
Lavin said he was impressed by the huge demand in China for American products but found that it was difficult for small and medium-sized US firms to enter the market.
He therefore founded a trading company, Export Now, in 2010 to help US businesses gain access to China's consumer market by clearing barriers such as language, customs regulations and foreign-currency regulations.
Through this cooperation, US companies can introduce their products to China "at minimal cost", Lavin said.
In order to facilitate business and qualify for Tmall, he set up a team and built a warehouse in Shanghai. "We ensure that all products are imported from the US and are of good quality," Lavin said.
- Peking University takes whistle blower to court
PEKING University yesterday filed a lawsuit against a former professor who failed to provide conclusive evidence regarding an alleged sex scandal involving top school officials.
Last week, Zou Hengfu, a former professor of economics at the school, claimed in his microblog posts that his erstwhile colleagues had regularly sexually harassed hostesses at a restaurant they frequented.
Zou claimed that deans and directors would "always do that" after having meals at the Mengtaoyuan Restaurant, near the university hospital.
The posts, which have been widely circulated online, have greatly tarnished the image of the university, one of the top higher-education institutions in China, the school said.
"We have waited for Zou's evidence for so long but he still couldn't provide any details. His allegations greatly defamed our faculty and hurt the students. He distorted the truth, hid the facts and misled the media, which can never be tolerated," according to the statement issued by the university yesterday.
In his latest contact with the school on Wednesday, Zou just pointed to the corruption in the students union election and said he hadn't planned on offering any "major evidence" to the university. He also insisted that he had "massive important clues" but would only share them with the top Chinese discipline watchdog.
Zou, however, admitted to "exaggerating" some facts on Thursday.
"I meant only a handful of faculty behaved indecently. I always make overstatements, that's my style of speaking."
- Day 9
ShangHeinz has added a photo to the pool:
Self-imposed day of transportation. The only half way nice shot i could make today. Ma Jiang seen in - Kaili, Guizhou
- Day 8
ShangHeinz has added a photo to the pool:
An adventure itself to get here. Rewarded by a beautiful village, new friends and a night at the locals - Zengchong, Guizhou
- Development
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