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March 4, 2007 (Sunday) － Issue No. 91 |
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Chinese
People Send 14 Billion Text Messages during the New Year Holidays |
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The
Barren Side of a Mountain Is Painted Green |
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China's
Growing Military Keeps Wary Eye on Taiwan |
| 'Don't
Follow the Communist Regime Into its Grave' The regime has dispatched many spies into the overseas Chinese societies, and overseas democratic movement groups as well as the Falun Gong group. The spies come from China thru many channels such as studying abroad, migration, visiting relatives, doing business overseas, even as refugees, etc....…Full Article |
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Vision of a Democratic China with Rule of Law Xin expounded on the Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976 as an internal power struggle among the highest leaders of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Notably, it was a profoundly ruthless and sinister means by which Mao Zedong overthrew the leadership of Liu Shaoqi, in the process sacrificing tens of millions of lives......…Full Article |
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CHINA—According to the two major mobile service providers, China Mobile and China Unicom, during the Chinese New Year holiday, the number of text messages sent by cell phone users will reach 14 billion. Last year, there were 12.6 billion text message sent during the 2006 Chinese New Year holiday period. According to the Chinese Ministry of Information Industry, there were over 429.6 billion cellular text messages sent in 2006—an average 1.2 billion messages per day. If calculating by the minimum charge of 10 cents for each text message, the two major mobile companies make more than 100 million yuan (approximately US$12.8 million) per day, just through text messages. During the Chinese New Year holidays, the average text messaging volume has further increased on a daily basis. In 2006, Chinese mobile phone users were increasing, on average, by 5.64 million per month. There were over 460 million mobile phone users in China, which is 35.3 percent of the population. With the popularity
of mobile phones, text messaging has become the most efficient way
to communicate. Back Situated in Kunming City, a famous tourist destination in China, Mount Laoshoushan is completely barren after being quarried. Several months ago, however, the mountain's hillside was sprayed green with paint. This was apparently done in order to adjust the feng shui (an ancient Chinese belief of harmonizing one's physical surroundings for maximum health and financial benefits) of a newly constructed County Committee office building of the Chinese communist regime. On Feb. 13, 2007, The Dushi Times quoted villagers as saying that the quarry was established on Mount Laoshoushan about seven or eight years ago. Despite opposition from the local villagers, the quarry was not closed by the authorities until a few years later, leaving a barren hillside. One villager said, "when the forest guard visited the village, all the villagers called on him to bring some saplings for planting." Nonetheless, last July and August, over ten workers unexpectedly took paint to Mount Laoshoushan and sprayed the hillside. Many villagers were shocked when they overheard the workers saying that they did so simply for the purpose of adjusting the building's feng shui. After receiving several hints from the workers, it dawned on the villagers that the office building of the Fumin County Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) stands just opposite the barren mountain. The villagers reported that "over ten workers sprayed the mountainside for more than twenty days, and it consumed a truckload of paint." Several thousand square meters of the barren mountain were sprayed green with paint, leaving empty buckets scattered arbitrarily in the bushes. All the rocks and soil had to be sprayed with thick green paint. As estimated with the method explained by the paint manufacturer, it took 200 kilos of paint to spray an area of 1000 square meters, and it cost about 1620 yuan (US$208.9). In order to improve
the landscapes of cities in the past, some local governments had sprayed
or dyed shabby looking spots, hillsides, and wilted grass. When Beijing
was vying to host the 2008 Olympic Games, authorities had old buildings
painted and withered grasses dyed with green paints; this was to leave
a good impression on the visiting inspectors from the International
Olympic Committee. Back A large number of people gathered in Beijing to appeal during the Chinese New Year. They came from all over China, with the intention of sending New Year's greetings at the same time as appealing. Many of these people were stopped before they even had a chance to appeal. Some tried to meet with government representatives at the upcoming conferences to pass on reports concerning unjust treatment and policies in their hometowns, while others tried to hide because they were afraid of being sent home and detained. Hundreds of appellants gathered on the eve of the Chinese New Year in various residential areas around Beijing. They went to places where leaders of the CCP reside, such as Yuquan Hill and Dongjiaomin Road. They also assembled at political offices such as Tiananmen and Fuyou Street. Their intentions were to send New Year's greetings to Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao as well as to appeal to these officials on various issues and injustices. There were some who had even been appealing nonstop for several days. Some of these people were detained temporarily at Majia Building. Several of the appellants told Radio Free Asia that those who were taken to Majia Building were thought to have been sent back to their hometowns. Over fifty appellants from Shanghai were sent home. Mr. Xu and seventeen other people were taken to an undisclosed meeting station and detained just as they were about to greet Wen Jiabao and register their appeal. Mr. Xu called Radio Free Asia from Shanghai on Tuesday and relayed his story. It was said that Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao reside around Yuquan Hill and Dongjiaomin Road. These locations cover pretty large areas and the exact home addresses of Hu and Wen are unknown to the appellants. They searched without knowing the locations of their targets. They were motivated by the hope that someone would take on the responsibility to solve their problems. Mr. Zheng, an appellant who is still staying in Beijing, commented: The ratio of issues
that are solved through mass appeals is very low, and the appellants
in Beijing have been severely discriminated against and are suffering
from very poor living conditions. On top of all of this they need
to be ready to evade possible detention at any time. Despite these
harsh conditions, many people believe that by staying in Beijing they
can continue to hold onto hope. With this hope, they try to hide here
and there in order to escape detention as the situation becomes more
and more brutal. Back XIAMEN, China—When Huang Xu was a young soldier in an artillery unit on the Chinese coast in the late 1980s, war with Taiwan always seemed imminent. Today, the dynamic across the Taiwan Strait has changed. Trade between democratic Taiwan and Beijing, which claims sovereignty over it, has blossomed and the two economies are increasingly intertwined. But while the military drills and bombardments of past decades have passed, tensions are as real as ever and still dominate Beijing's security agenda. The military equation has also changed. Where artillery tubes once stood along the coast of China's Fujian province, now there are launchers for guided missiles—some 800 of them. China's defence spending has risen steadily in recent years and, when parliament convenes in March, it is expected to approve another year of double-digit growth in the military budget. Beyond Their Borders Some analysts say much of the Chinese military is bloated and outmoded, but consistent yearly growth in the military budget coupled with a lack of transparency have raised perennial concerns, in particular from the United States. China counters that its borders are long and it has a responsibility to defend its territorial integrity, and therefore to raise military spending and modernise its forces. It also says most of the money goes on salary and benefit upgrades. But over the past year, China unveiled a new fighter plane that blinded a U.S. satellite using a ground-based laser, and blasted one of its own satellites out of orbit with a ballistic missile. Late confirmation of the test left observers wondering, too, whether the Foreign Ministry even knew about it in advance, which some say could indicate that the military is on a looser leash than may be prudent for China's security and that of others. Michael Swaine,
an expert in the China Program of the Carnegie Endowment said,"It's
a fairly systematic, pretty comprehensive increase in their conventional
capabilities that is going to make them a more significant player
certainly beyond their borders," Back Recently, The Epoch Times published a series of reports on the Wang Lian spy incident. Former Secretary General of the Shanxi Provincial Expert Association of Science and Technology Jia Jia commented on the incident, "I am not surprised, the communist regime is doing this all the time." Wang Lian holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science. He joined the Hong Kong Epoch Times as senior technical support in 2001. On Sept. 12, 2006, the regime's National Security officials kidnapped Wang on his trip to Zhuhai City, China. After 3 days of intense brainwashing and torture, the communist regime forced him to work as a spy in order to "destroy the Hong Kong Epoch Times from the inside." Jia said, "The communist regime has a long history of doing these kinds of things; these are most despicable things but the regime has specialized in it, and unfortunately I am not surprised. The CCP is born to do these things, anything that is evil, anything that is harmful to the development of society, anything that has a destructive effect to society, the CCP has mastered it, because it is evil, it is not possible for it to do any thing righteous." "The regime has dispatched many spies into the overseas Chinese societies, and overseas democratic movement groups as well as the Falun Gong group. The spies come from China thru many channels such as studying abroad, migration, visiting relatives, doing business overseas, even as refugees, etc. Many of them are like Wang Lian, they are forced or threatened to do so," said Jia "I had this understanding after I left China; a lot of people are already abroad and yet still afraid of the regime. Who does not have relatives in China? Therefore, the CCP utilizes these family ties to blackmail overseas Chinese, forcing them to be spies for them. Why the CCP has not collapsed yet? It is the fear inside the hearts of overseas Chinese people. Therefore, I appeal to all Chinese abroad and all political groups abroad to get rid of this fear, not to be fooled by the CCP." Jia Jia believes that China will have a democratic system and will have freedom of belief. He says, "The overseas spies who have been used and forced by the CCP should all stand up like Wang Lian to expose the CCP's despicable behavior." Jia said, "Many high-ranking communist officials are breaking up with the party now, many of them have withdrawn from the party. Why would anyone still want to be their spies? The regime only bullies timid people; it gains an inch and asks for a yard if you are afraid; if you are not afraid but bravely disclose its evil acts, the Mainland people will support you and protect you. The regime is falling; please don't fall into the grave with it." Back Vision
of a Democratic China with Rule of Law Back The renowned author of the book Who Is the New China? delivered a thought-provoking lecture at the University of Ottawa on Saturday, February 24. In his speech entitled "When the Sun Is the Reddest," Chinese historian Xin Haonian spoke on the Cultural Revolution and encouraged a vision of a new China with democracy and rule of law. Speaking in Chinese with English interpretation, Xin expounded on the Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976 as an internal power struggle among the highest leaders of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Notably, it was a profoundly ruthless and sinister means by which Mao Zedong overthrew the leadership of Liu Shaoqi, sacrificing tens of millions of lives. Mao's strategy relied on scheming and intrigue, Xin explained, along with the fundamental communist ideologies of "class struggle" and the "revolutionary path." In the name of "revolution," Mao called on the poor to fight the rich and then perpetuated class struggles one after another, inciting ordinary citizens and groups of people to fight one another. The targets included both "counter-revolutionaries" in the broader society and "capitalist roaders" within the CCP—those who tend toward capitalism while claiming to uphold socialism. The Cultural Revolution was a new stage of socialist revolution and killing, Xin said. It generated enormous, unprecedented social upheaval and chaos across China. The main force leading the demonstrations, rallies, and political meetings was the workers, peasants, soldiers, and notably the students, known as Mao's "Red Guards." Xin spoke of the fall of the Soviet Union. The CCP, with 73 million members, controls the military and police. Yet it has a similar system as the Soviet Union and very possibly faces the same fate, he predicted. "The day the Chinese people awaken, it is when the CCP will fall," because the Chinese people will then have achieved united thought and efforts. Democracy activists currently still "fall apart" when they attempt to form parties, Xin commented, due to disunity and to the work of CCP spies. Xin emphasized that being anti-CCP is not enough; to completely break away, people must work toward constructing a new Chinese republic that is a true democracy ruled by law. Xin's book “Who is the New China?” is highly recognized for its sharp analyses and clear exposition of modern Chinese history. Xin is also director of the New York-based Institute for Research in Modern Chinese History. He has lectured at over 250 forums in North America, Europe, and Australia. Back |
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