Results tagged “activism”

About 800 cats escaped the Guangdong dinner tables this weekend, as activists from Shanghai Animal Protection Association freed them from "cat dealers" in Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province. The animals had been locked in small bamboo cages, stacked in a truck, and were to be transported to Guangdong. According to an activist quoted in the Shanghai Daily, about 1500 cats were on the truck, but activists only managed to release around 800 of them.

With the upcoming Olympics and the subsequent global attention, the government obviously wants the nation to look its best, which in China sometimes translates to quashing dissent. Two European-based human rights groups working together as the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders recently published a report declaring that the government has stepped up attempts to quiet dissidents, citing four people arrested for Olympic Games protests, including Hu Jia, who was sentenced to three and a half years in jail for criticizing the government’s human rights violations. More from the AFP article:

In a foreword to the report, writer Wei Jingsheng wrote: "In particular, last year the Chinese Government's repression has rapidly upgraded, in an effort to make sure there is no dissident voices from the people during the 2008 Olympics."

Continue reading "A pre-Olympic dissident clampdown?"

The Sichuan earthquake caused such a large number of Chinese people to step out and donate blood that mobile blood donation buses around the nation had to stop accepting donations because more has been given than needed. Several lesbians were unhappy though when told their blood would not be accepted because of a blanket ban on blood donation by homosexuals by the Ministry of Health under the Blood Donor Health Check Requirements 《供血者健康检查标准》. Para 6.16 of the above ordinance bans homosexuals and people with multiple sex partners from donating blood.

From Al-Jazeera English:

The Beijing Olympics are still 5 months away but they're attracting attention for all the wrong reasons.

Continue reading "Al-Jazeera: Tibetan activists condemn Beijing Olympics"

"China has surpassed the United States to become the world's largest Internet market by number of users, a research firm said on Thursday."

Since Hu Jia (胡嘉) is currently being charged for inciting subversion behind closed doors, we figured there is no better time than now to show you Prisoners in Freedom City 《自由城的囚徒》, a documentary made by him and his wife, Zeng Jinyan (曾金燕), while under a seven-month house arrest from August 2006 to March 2007. As ironic as it may sound, Freedom City is the name of the compound that houses the couple's apartment. This is not your typical arthouse documentary because it was made by Hu and Zeng with their little digital video camera, but what it lacks for in polish it makes up for with its power to send chills down your spine.

Huang Qingnan (黃慶南), the activist from the Shenzhen Dagongzhe Migrant Worker Centre who was brutally hacked on his back, waist and leg is finally well enough to give an interview. Erm, well, not really. From this video, it appears he was splashed with acid too? We can't quite tell. Urgh. Anyhow, the muscles on his left calf have all been destroyed, which means he will have to learn how to keep his balance with his remaining muscles. The Dagongzhe centre was forced to close for a while after the attack, but now they've sprung back into action with fund-raising activities which you will see in the second half of the clip. Let's see how the mafia react to that.

So we know that scientists get paid peanuts in China, but there's hope yet: China Daily ran article about an amended national law which allows scientists to report failures.:

The law, for the first time, allows scientists to report failures during the process of innovation without harming their records in future funding applications.

Continue reading "China's scientists: Failing upwards since 2008"