Results tagged “police”

Ah, the innocence and beauty of young love: our cold, rational hearts are always warmed a bit when we see couples walking around in the throes of their first fling. Relationships are a curious time for new lovers: trying to feel each other out, learning to love and be loved, and of course, actually learning how to make love.

Police have succeeded in breaking records for confiscating more counterfeit money than ever before. Since the crackdown was announced in January, over 280 people have been arrested, 190 cases involving counterfeit money have been cracked, and over 1 billion yuan has been confiscated.

How do you effectively carry out the "remediation of civilization?" was a serious question at yesterday's Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) in Shanghai. We've got a couple ideas, but what Han Zheng and his consorts were trying to say was actually "how do you curtail the illegal activity of black cabs?", which has become a serious issue in the past few weeks.

We always thought it looked kind of cool in old Yakuza/Triad gang movies, but when we actually hear about people cutting off their own fingers to prove a point, we're a little more disturbed than excited. A driver was caught in one of Shanghai's recent black cab dragnets, where police officers pretend to hire cars illegally functioning as cabs, and then fine them.

Oh boy, what's news is news (we suppose), but Shanghai Daily still manages to crack us up with its solemn and hard hitting reportage from time to time. Ever litter off a high-rise building just because you can with absolute impunity? It seems that people who live closer to ground level are starting to complain about the steady flow of garbage falling from the sky: terrace-tossers are becoming a serious threat to public safety and sanity. Hit us with a poignant example, Shanghai Daily!

The latest step in a series of drunk driving crackdown, new national laws have been issued to punish DUIs. Besides harsher restrictions on "light" penalties and a lowering of the legal level of blood alcohol content (BAC), the laws now say that people who are willing catch a ride with a drunk driver can face penalties themselves.

While Beijing might be trying to ensure the safety of its huge event with a crackdown on... well, everything, Shanghai's placing its bets on people loving money. The city's police said on Tuesday that it would offer rewards of up to 300,000RMB if people rat out serious crimes. Submit your tip and once it's confirmed as true, the informant will be rewarded based on the value of his information (hmmm, we wonder how they measure that value exactly). Anyone who purposely provides a false tip-off will also be held accountable (hmmm, we wonder how they'll figure out purposeful falsehoods). What they're especially interested in: terrorisms, violent crimes, organized crimes and serious economic crimes. If you know of anyone that might be committing these things during Expo time, dial 110 or send a letter to the police. The policy will be in effect until December 31, 2010. Source: Xinhua Photo from filemagazine

In May, two sisters who were attending an elementary school in Kunming, Yunnan, were suddenly arrested by the police. Their charge: prostitution. The girls' parents were also caught and beaten for allegedly attacking police officers.

• China to recruit 120,000 college graduates to join the army in 2009 [People's Daily Online] "The People's Liberation Army (PLA) of China will recruit more than 120,000 college graduates this year, a military source said here Sunday. According to a website run by the Ministry of Education to help college graduates find jobs, it is the first time the PLA has recruited college graduates on such a large scale, as the army seeks to improve its overall quality by drawing more talent and advancing its science and technology."
• Building of dams goes on despite halt order [SCMP] Construction had continued on two highly controversial hydro dams on the Yangtze River in Yunnan province , despite orders from the mainland's top environmental watchdog for the projects to be abandoned, state television reports. The two dams are being built by power giants China Huaneng Group and China Huadian Group, which together produced a fifth of the mainland's electricity last year.
• Peking Opera troupes take bold steps to be profitable [China Daily] "The China National Peking Opera Company, China's top operatic troupe, entrusted Beijing Guoyishengping Culture Development Co, Ltd to manage the theater and make it commercially viable one and a half years ago. Zhang Delin and his wife Yu, a famous BTV anchorwoman, own the Beijing Guoyishengping. That move marked a turnaround for the State-owned firm used to government funding to run its operations. An opera ticket at the theater is priced between 2,080 yuan to 50 yuan."

To commemorate the 170th anniversary of the Humen Opium Destruction, Beijing police yesterday destroyed 393 kg of banned substances seized in China from 2006 through 2008 - and that's only half of the stash that's been collected.

Uh oh, it looks like us pedestrians aren't the only ones getting stolen from recently, thanks to the current dastardly economic situation. City police have now issued a warning reminding companies that keeping large amounts of cash on their premises may not be a good idea. Shanghai has seen a 35% rise in thefts of local areas since February, compared to the same period last year. The most robbed districts: Qingpu, Pudong, Fengxian, Songjiang and Jiading. Source: Shanghai Daily

The Ministry of Public Security has started a three-month campaign against prisoner abuse, after numerous suspicious deaths of suspects and prisoners within police custody in recent months - including the death of 19-year-old Xu Gengrong, who had been in detention for eight days on suspicion of murdering his former girlfriend.

• China Daily Assails Prisoner Abuses [NYTimes.com] "Inmates in China’s 2,700 pretrial detention centers suffer bullying and torture at the hands of fellow prisoners and police officers, and some experts want a neutral body to take the centers out of police control to curb the abuses, the state-run English-language newspaper, China Daily, reported on Tuesday."
• Safer Battery Technology Gives China an Edge in Developing Affordable Electric Cars [WSJ] "China’s government is beefing up support for the development of 'new energy' cars, because it thinks China can use electric vehicle technology to leapfrog into the forefront of the global auto industry."
• China spearheads surge in state-sponsored executions [The Independent] "Executions of prisoners almost doubled last year - predominantly because of the Chinese government - according to a report by Amnesty International. Death sentences handed down by China for crimes including tax evasion and bag-snatching represented three-quarters of the 2,390 executions carried out around the world, up from 1,252 in 2007. China's resumption of its death penalty programme comes after a dip in executions during the lead up to the Beijing Olympics that were held last year."

A policewoman daringly rescued a would-be suicide case yesterday in a surprisingly well photographed incident in Changchun City, Jilin.

A family in Shaanxi Province has accused police of beating their 19-year-old son to death while trying to force a murder confession out of him. The son, Xu Gengrong, was held for an eight day interrogation and died shortly afterward in a hospital.

Protesters have clashed with the police in a Tibetan-populated prefecture of Qinghai province. According to state media, dozens of angry people threw small explosive devices at police after a resident was stopped on the road for an identity check. Tensions in the area are running high, since tomorrow is the 50th anniversary of the failed Tibetan uprising. The state report did not say whether the protesters were Tibetan. Source: AFP

The mystery surrounding the death of the Yunnan prison inmate has finally been cleared up: Last Friday, prosecutors announced that 24-year-old Li Qiao Ming died as the result of an assault by fellow inmates, rather than accidentally during a prison yard game, as police had claimed.

We're not sure what's going on here, but according to a tipster and these (very NSFW) photos, a woman stripped down to the nude on a Line 1 subway train last night after getting into a heated argument with a man. She then grabbed onto his leg and was dragged a couple of steps before the man escaped her grip and ran off. Afterwards, she walked around the subway car naked until a middle-aged lady gave her a coat. Police came at the next stop and took her away. The police said they had seen her do this before, the blog post alleged. So... Porn-y bad-taste promotional stunt or the unfortunate capturing of someone who's seriously disturbed? Update: Were the images taken down?

AFP reports:

One person was killed Sunday in a blast near a police post in China's financial hub Shanghai, the state news agency Xinhua reported.

Continue reading "One killed in police post blast on Wuning Nan Lu"

Zhuhai Police sexes up its own image in a snazzy new television commercial designed to attract more recruits. The ad was produced by the propaganda office of the department.

The Shanghai Daily reports that a 40 year old man has been arrested in Nanjing for "forcing dozens of young men" to provide gay sex services, some of whom he also forced to have sexual relations with himself. Citing the Yangtze Evening News, the report said "about 80 percent of [the man's] 'little brothers' were not gay but were forced or fooled into joining the business. The youngest was only 18." The operation supposedly catered to over 100 clients a day including "a professor from a prestigious university in Nanjing... and local government officials" (were they caught, we wonder?) who paid RMB300 for their first visit and RMB200 for repeat visits. The man took a 30% cut from his sex workers and reportedly even charged them RMB10 per condom if they asked for it.

UPDATE 2: Adult entertainment studio Harmony Films wants to offer 'Kappa Girl' a real job

    

Last Friday, the Xuhui District PSB was reported to have received a "threatening message" claiming there was a bomb in the Ikea store located on the corner of Caoxi Lu and Sanhui Lu. Acting on the news, a team of about 50 policemen was dispatched to the store to evacuate everyone. Patrons were only told there was a "mechanical problem" and within half an hour, the store was empty. Police then combed through the store with the help of the special service unit of the fire department and ascertained that there was no bomb in the store. The case remains under investigation.

A group of 38 petitioners from Shanghai yesterday made their way to Hong Kong to submit their application forms for the establishment of a "Chinese Petitioners Alliance" to the Hong Kong Police Headquarters. RFA adds that outside the police headquarters, the petitioners unfurled banners protesting forced evictions by the Shanghai government and accusing the PSB in Shanghai and Beijing of lawlessness. Petitioners said that they were doing this because Hong Kong had greater relative freedom than the mainland, greater respect for the rule of law and greater media freedom. Some of them, who shall remain unnamed here, told the media that prior to this trip to Hong Kong, they were repeatedly harrassed by their local police and area councils and warned that they might be detained on their return to Shanghai and sent in for 're-education'. More news and videos available here (in Chinese and behind the GFW) for those of you that are interested.

This story caused us to hyperventilate after we realised that it happened right here in what is supposed to be China's most liberal city. Professor Yang Shiqun (杨师群) of Shanghai's East China University of Political Science and Law (which by the way is supposed to be a pretty good uni) was reported by two of his female students to the public security bureau and the municipal education committee for his alleged anti-government and counter-revolutionary ideas. Steve Cotner of The Foreign Expert translates a blogpost written by the professor (which seems to have been removed by Sohu in the meanwhile — read his other less subversive views here) telling his side of the story:

Students Accused Me of Being “Counterrevolutionary”

Continue reading "The Yang Shiqun Case: Political science students report their lecturer to the PSB for 'counter-revolutionary' ideas"

UPDATE: 'Kappa Girl' detained by Shanghai police!

A cricket fighting ring was smashed recently as police swooped on a cafeteria in West Shanghai and arrested 66 enthusiasts.

So yes, you heard correctly. The Shanghaiist Halloween Party was shut down prematurely early this morning by the Shanghai po-po (or middle aged Chinese men with excellent costumes and very poor senses of humor). And yes, this really sucks. Shanghai's finest arrived shortly after midnight and around 1 a.m. "encouraged" the venue's management to the pull the plug, citing alleged neighborhood complaints about noise outside the entrance. Many people had to be turned away at the door, and then, down in the bomb shelter, the lights went up, the music went off, and that was eventually that. Not fun. We apologize to everyone whose night was adversely affected by this. We wish there was a way we could give you all candy or something.

Warning: Video contains some disturbing images.

Yang Jia was sentenced to death today for the murder of six and injuring four police officers. The Beijing resident attacked the Zhabei police station in an act of revenge after being detained for renting a stolen bike. This outcome was expected despite great public sympathy for Yang who was seen as a hero on the Internet and speculation as to whether he would receive a fair trial.