Daily Update

China sets zones for Olympics protests Jim Yardley, The New York Times, July 23, 2008 The Chinese government announced today that it will allow public protest during the Olympic Games in Beijing this August, but only within the confines of specifically designated protest zones and following a bureaucratic permit acquisition process. While the move has been hailed as a clear break from China's usual oppressive methods, whether Tibetans and other common dissenters will actually be awarded permits is still unclear. --Posted by Alex Comisar. read the story»

China’s New Environmental Advocates Christina Larson, Yale Environment 360, July 23, 2008 Xu Kezhu is the center's deputy director and an environmental law professor at the China University of Political Science and Law, where its offices are housed. Unlike most of her academic colleagues, she is interested in the law not only as theory, but in practice. "China has many good environmental laws," Ms. Xu said. "The problem is enforcement." During the last three decades, China has put increasingly ambitious environmental regulations on the books, but implementation lags far behind principle. Today, however, Xu Kezhu is one of a growing number of legal mavericks working to change the system. Xu said her goals are twofold: to "promote enforcement of environmental law," and to "tell the public how to respond when your rights are violated." The notion of rights is itself new in China — in the realm of environmental protection, or otherwise. --- Posted by Tian Sun read the story»

China's Olympic Nightmare Elizabeth C. Economy and Adam Segal, Foreign Affairs, July 23, 2008 Hosting the Olympics was supposed to be a chance for China's leaders to showcase the country's rapid economic growth and modernization to the rest of the world. China has launched etiquette campaigns forbidding spitting, smoking, littering, and cutting in lines and introduced programs to teach English to cab drivers, police officers, hotel workers, and waiters. City officials have used Olympic projects as a means to refurbish decaying buildings and reduce air pollution, water shortages, and traffic jams. However, for many in the international community, it has now become impossible to separate the competing narratives of China's awe-inspiring development and its poor record on human rights and the environment. China's credibility as a global leader, its potential as a model for the developing world, and its position as an emerging center of global business and culture are all at risk if these political challenges cannot be peacefully and successfully addressed. --- Posted by Tian Sun read the story»

Beijing hotels slash rates ahead of Olympics Associated Press, July 23, 2008 Some hotels in Beijing have cut their rates by as much as 30% as expected high demand for the Olympic Games has not materialized, a travel agent said Tuesday. Beijing was expecting 500,000 foreign guests for the August 8-24 Olympics, but has been scaling back that estimate. Some people have been scared off by high prices, while others have had trouble getting visas. China has ratcheted up security for the games, tightening visa rules even for foreign travelers who hold Olympics tickets. Multiple-entry visas have also been restricted, causing a drop in business travel. --- Posted by Tian Sun read the story»

Don't ask Olympic tourists' age or wage or . . . Gillian Murdoch, Reuters, July 23, 2008 Don't ask a tourist's age or wage, steer clear of sex and avoid religion: what many Chinese consider idle chit-chat has now become the latest area of censure in Beijing as it prepares for an influx of Olympic visitors. The list of "eight don't asks" was issued by the Dongcheng district Propaganda Department as a guide for locals about how to show proper hospitality, a department spokesman said. "Don't ask about income or expenses, don't ask about age, don't ask about love life or marriage, don't ask about health, don't ask about someone's home or address, don't ask about personal experience, don't ask about religious beliefs or political views, don't ask what someone does," the Olympics logo stamped poster advises. While some said the guidelines may make people feel nervous about chatting with the 500,000 overseas visitors expected in Beijing for the August 8-24 Games, others questioned the need for them in lively discussions on the Internet. --- Posted by Tian Sun read the story»

Mainland plea to end Taiwan's name issue China Daily, July 23, 2008 The mainland Wednesday called on both sides of the Taiwan Straits to resolve misunderstandings regarding the name of the island's Olympic team. Accusations from certain Taiwan media that mainland media violate relevant pacts by changing the Chinese-language name of the island's team from "Zhonghua Taipei" to "Zhongguo Taipei" are not conducive to trust-building, a spokesman for the Taiwan affairs office under the State Council, said. Since 1979, the mainland has translated "Chinese Taipei" to "Zhongguo Taipei", he said. In 1981, the Taiwan Olympic organization confirmed its acceptance of the Nagoya resolution, but translated "Chinese Taipei" to "Zhonghua Taipei". --- Posted by Tian Sun read the story»

Beijing goes to extremes for its Olympic face-lift Barbara Demick, Los Angeles Times, July 22, 2008 The Beijing Olympics, costing the Chinese government $43 billion dollars, will go down in Olympic history as the most expensive one, by far outdoing the $15 billion for the 2004 Summer Games in Athens. New architecture such as Beijing's futuristic new airport terminal designed by British architect Norman Forster, Athletes Village, lavish parks, and buildings for sporting events, are just some of the ambitious projects created for the Olympics. China is eager to display to the world its modern achievements and have taken dramatic measures to clean its streets of migrant workers and beggars, close down factories, and adopt stringent environmental policies to clean the skies and prepare its citizens to welcome the world in August 2008. The official website of the Olympic Games reported that 90,000 Beijing taxi drivers have gone through a special training program. English-language signs around Beijing has also been corrected, food vendors and restaurants were told to take dog-meat off menus in respect towards Western sensibilities, pirated Hollywood films were taken off shelves, Western-style toilets replaced squat models and fines were also imposed on the people who spit in public. The Geneva-based Center for Housing Rights and Evictions also estimated that 1.5 million people have been moved or evicted to accommodate the construction of Olympics-related projects. Public protest was minimal, in part due to the Chinese government's sensitivity and intolerance for dissent, but also the national pride that the Games bring to China. ---posted by Ying Jia Huang read the story»

Optimism high in China, survey shows Brian Knowlton, International Herald Tribune, July 22, 2008 A recent survey conducted by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center found that most Chinese were satisfied with their national economy and content about the direction that their country is heading. China ranks first in both of these measures among 24 countries surveyed. 96% of the Chinese surveyed were optimistic about the Games, noting that the Olympics, which will soon open on August 8, would improve China's image in the world. Chinese satisfaction with their country increased in the recent years, according to a survey conducted after the civil unrest in Tibet in March of this year and before the May 12 Sichuan earthquake. Although satisfied with national conditions, the Chinese respondents are somewhat less happy about their own lives with with regard to their jobs and household incomes. The survey also cites leading concerns such as inflation of food prices (96%), widespread income gap (89%), air pollution (74 percent), unemployment (68%) and water pollution (66%). The survey focused disproportionately on Chinese urban areas, leaving many parts of the rural areas unrepresented. The poll involved 3,212 people and was conducted in 16 dialects from March 28 to April 19 across China.  ---posted by Ying Jia Huang read the story»

China's new environmental advocates Christina Larson, Yale Environment 360, July 22, 2008 The consequences of China's rapid economic growth are environmental woes that result in health problems for its citizens and taint its natural landscape. The idea of environmental advocacy and enforcement may have sounded strange to a Chinese several years ago, but Beijing's Centre for Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims, directed by Xu Kezhu, an environmental law professor at the China University of Political Science and Law, is determined to bring this issue to the forefront of discussion. Professor Xu said that China does have good environmental laws, but the problem is largely implementation and enforcement. Unlike the United States where two key mechanisms, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and independent environmental lawyers, help to uphold implemented laws. China does not have either. The EPA can intervene in local environmental bureaus and lawyers can sue the government if laws are not being upheld. In China, it is impossible to sue the government. But the Centre is ready to take on the challenge of changing the system by two goals, increasing enforcement and educating the public on how to respond when their rights are violated. Professor Xu mentioned that her first extended stay outside of China to Madrid, Spain changed the way she viewed environmental laws. She was amazed at Madrid's blue skies and the concept of local civic organizations being able to advocate public interest. After she returned home, she decided to use her knowledge to help others. In 1998, Professor Xu and a fellow law professor, Wang Canfa, whom Time magazine named as one of its 2007 "Environmental Heroes," co-founded the Centre for Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims. A free legal advice hotline was opened in the following year to provide answers to pollution victims. Thousands of pollution cases across the country are handled by Professor Xu and her colleagues in their small office. An annual training workshop on environmental law is also conducted each year to train lawyers and judges from across the country. A total of 300 lawyers and 200 judges have been trained thus far. ---posted by Ying Jia Huang read the story»

Cancer's dark cloak spreads over China Li Hujun, Caijing Magazine, July 22, 2008 A recent survey conducted by the Chinese Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Science and Technology found that China's cancer death rate has increased 80% in the past 30 years to 136 per 100,000 citizens, from 74 in the mid-1970s and 108 in the early 1990s. Cancer is now the leading cause of death in Chinese urban areas and second in the countryside. The survey was based on the data of 160 counties and cities across the country in 2004 and 2005. 25% of urban deaths and 21% in rural areas were caused by cancer. Several factors may account for the rising cancer rates. Among them is an aging society with more than 100 million people over the age of 65 and totaling to 7.6% of the total population. As the world's largest tobacco manufacturer and home to 350 million smokers and 500 million affected by second-hand smoke, China is unsurprisingly experiencing soaring rates of lung cancer. Without effective regulations on youth smoking, 15 million of China's smokers are between the ages of 13 and 18. Critics have long proposed ways to target smoking, such as splitting the state-owned China National Tobacco Corp. from the industry's watchdog and raising tobacco taxes, but the government has not taken any substantial steps to make changes. Air pollution, adoption of the western eating habits and water pollution are also leading causes of lung, stomach and liver cancer in the rural and urban areas. China's limited medical resources on treatment instead of prevention are also a contributing factor to rising cancer rates.  ---posted by Ying Jia Huang read the story»

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