Absurdist Republic

荒诞者共和

Posts tagged with "Human Rights"

McDonald's, KFC under fire for labor rights violations

National Backing for citizens' rights to sue officials

Shanghai: Modern Conveniences as an Argument for Displacing Residents

Chinese county reins in birth-rate -- without a one-child limit

Aids in China: Discourses on Sexuality and Sexual Practices

Religion in China: When opium can be benign

Chinese Activists Stage Rolling Hunger Strike

A Chinese Activist Lost in the System

The Time Magazine Office of Letters and Visits

Aids in China: Discourses on Sexuality and Sexual Practices

Latest blog posts

RELATED BLOGS [关联博客]

[海龟浮上海面] HONGKONG FOOL SHANGHAI MAN

[三分钟完事儿] THREE PENNY OPERA

[井蛙观天] A FROG WITH A VIEW

Posts tagged with "Human Rights"

Wednesday, 28. March 2007, 23:56:07

By Guo Qiang
China Daily
2007-03-28

Four-yuan Scheme

What can a part-time Chinese employee of McDonald's can afford by his hourly pay?

Only two small ice creams, which are valued at four yuan (US50cents).

Wednesday, 28. March 2007, 23:40:59

Human Rights, Injustice

By Xie Chuanjiao
China Daily
2007-03-28

A top central government official has pledged better protection of citizens' rights to sue officials and official actions deemed harmful to their lawful interests.

The whole system to facilitate citizens' legal actions against officials and government offices is known in China as the administrative trial system, based on the nation's Administrative Procedure Law, enacted in 1990.

China will become more effective in preventing local officials' influence on the administrative trials, Luo Gan, a member of the Political Bureau Standing Committee of the Central Committee of Communist Party of China, told a high level legal conference yesterday in Beijing.

He also said the central government would ensure courts wielded greater independent trial power to overcome any protectionist attempts by regional and industrial bureaucracies.

Addressing the same conference, Hua Jianmin, secretary- general of the State Council, the Chinese cabinet, required all chief officials of government agencies to be present in court whenever their agencies were accused in administrative trials, rather than sending representatives.

Hua also pledged measures to facilitate administrative reconsideration and receive public supervisions.

Figures from the Supreme People's Court show from 2000 to 2006, Chinese courts handled nearly 639,736 administrative trials. In addition, in 34,581 cases, administrative compensation was awarded to citizen victims.

However, as the Political Bureau Standing Committee official pointed out, new strains in social relations were unavoidable in a rapidly developing country like China.

Citizens have increasingly been taking legal action against officials and government agencies, especially in the areas of urban and rural land acquisition and relocation programs, rural levies, corporate restructuring, labor relations and social security issues, protection of natural resources and environment, justice officials said.

Citizens were first able to sue officials from 1982, under the country's provisional civil procedural law.

The Administrative Procedure Law was enacted in April 1989 and took effect in October 1990, allowing citizens to more effectively legally challenge officials and government agencies for violations of their rights and interests.

This was followed by China's Law on State Compensation in 1994, defining the government's compensation terms to citizens; its Law on Administrative Punishment in 1996, defining punishment on officials or government offices for violations of citizens' rights and interests; and Administrative Reconsideration Law in 1999, defining terms for overturning incorrect administrative decisions.

Tuesday, 27. March 2007, 23:30:36

Civil Society, Injustice, Human Rights

Shanghai: Modern Conveniences as an Argument for Displacing Residents
The case of Jianyeli, a pilot rejuvenation project
Valérie Laurans
China Perspectives n°58, March - April 2005

Do the Chinese aspire to modern conveniences? Such a question, which may seem incongruous, embodies the spirit of the times in many big Chinese cities, and particularly in Shanghai. At a time when the residential spaces of this megalopolis are undergoing complete renewal, residents are being encouraged to buy their own homes. While the authorities seek to make urban space profitable, residents are rethinking their conception of domestic comfort. Between the ambitions of politicians and the concerns of residents, access to modern conveniences, while being their common aspiration, is the scene of a clash of ideals between the leaders and the led.

My initial research explored the huge discrepancy, at the turn of the century, between the availability of a tremendous amount of new housing on the market and actual demand among the population of Shanghai[1]. The question of social change appeared just beneath the surface. The Chinese regime, which is dependent on the continuation of economic reforms, is now working on the construction of a legal framework for urban renewal. Faced with the excesses of property development, what recourse is there for the citizens of Shanghai? This article considers the stakes involved in the housing sector’s move into the market economy. It presents the social consequences of the reorganisation of the housing stock in Shanghai and emphasises the fundamental role that the displacement of the population has in the race for urban development. A detailed study of Jianyeli, a historic area which is the object of a pilot urban renewal project, recounts the progress of negotiations begun only after eviction proceedings had begun.

Tuesday, 13. March 2007, 00:43:28

Human Rights

By Peter Ford
The Christian Science Monitor
Feb 27, 2007

Yicheng's birthrate is lower than China's national average, but without the unpopular population-control policy in place.

REN WANG, CHINA

Behind the high gray walls of this farming village, peasant couples are conducting an experiment that suggests, its designers say, that the most unpopular and costly policy of the past quarter- century may not have been necessary.

For the past 21 years, the citizens of Yicheng County, in the mining province of Shanxi, have been exempt from the "one-child policy" on which the Chinese government has founded its bid to keep a lid on its vast population. They have been allowed to have two children. Yet Yicheng's birth-rate is lower than the national average.

Friday, 9. March 2007, 00:23:33

Human Rights, Sexuality

EVELYNE MICOLLIER
China Perspectives n°60

The state’s management of the epidemic both reflects and illuminates social contradictions

The issues that have taken shape around the need to prevent the spread of HIV/Aids, and to manage the risks of an epidemic, throw light on the pressing contradictions within Chinese society. They offer a very pertinent approach for analysis of current changes in the field of sexuality and to understanding the variety of its discourses and practices. The theoretical perspective of this article will be informed by a constructivist approach, since such approaches have radically altered our understanding of sexuality by raising questions about the social and historical contexts that surround it. In China the history of sexually transmitted disease (STD) epidemics shows that the ways in which sexuality is managed have a greater impact than disease control measures or health education. Nonetheless, despite the political efforts on the part of official agencies, combined with the dominant pressures of family values and of “revitalised” cultural traits inherited from the past, individuals are subjected to the multiple influences associated with globalisation and China’s transformation into a consumer society. Recent studies have revealed marked shifts in the expression of sexuality. This article has three sections. The first gives an analytical overview of current scientific literature, and of the available data concerning sexual behaviour and its representation. The second deals with governmental action and pronouncements in relation to the dynamics of the Aids epidemic and the risks of sexual transmission. And finally, the third section provides a diachronic analysis of the state’s management of sexual issues[1].

Friday, 23. February 2007, 19:18:30

Human Rights, Religion

The Economist
Feb 1st 2007

China's Communist Party, reconsidering Marx's words, is starting to wonder whether there might not be a use for religion after all

“DEVELOP the dragon spirit; establish a dragon culture,” urge large green characters at the high school in Hongliutan, a poor village at the foot of a range of bleak loess hills. Though dragon can be a synonym for China, it is a god known as the Black Dragon that is being invoked here. Without funds from the Black Dragon's hillside temple, in a gully behind the village, the school would not exist. Nor, most likely, would the adjacent primary school and the irrigation system that brings water from the nearby Wuding River to the village's maize and cabbage fields.

Monday, 19. February 2007, 21:29:43

Activism, Human Rights, Injustice, Chen Guangcheng

Radio Free Asia
2006.02.08

Original reporting in Mandarin by Ding Xiao and in Cantonese by Lei Kin-kwan. RFA Mandarin service director: Jennifer Chou. RFA Cantonese service director: Shiny Li. Translated and written for the Web in English by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Sarah Jackson-Han.

HONG KONG—Leading Chinese rights activists, angry at the Communist Party's treatment of Chinese citizens, are staging a rolling hunger strike launched by Beijing-based lawyer Gao Zhisheng, whose own fast lasted 48 hours.

Monday, 19. February 2007, 21:12:52

Activism, Human Rights, Chen Guangcheng

By SIMON ELEGANT
Time Magazine
Feb. 15, 2007

China's gleaming skyscrapers and big Olympic plans hide the realities of political oppression. Take the case of Chen Guangcheng

As China prepares to celebrate the Lunar New Year this weekend, there is much hyperbole about the country's gleaming new skyscrapers, swelling middle class, dazzling preparations for the Olympics and so forth. But it is always worth getting a reality check on what underlies that rosy picture, the fact that China remains a highly repressive authoritarian state. I met recently in a small Beijing cafe with social activist Teng Biao and public-interest lawyer Li Heping, two unassuming gentlemen who are painfully well aware of the lengths the Chinese system will go to preserve itself.

Thursday, 15. February 2007, 09:25:22

Activism, Human Rights, Injustice

by Susan Jakes
The China Blog@Time.com
January 23, 2007

Susan Jakes is a native of New York City. A history major in college, she once did research on American journalists living in China but never imagined she'd become one herself. She joined TIME in Hong Kong in 2000 and has been based in Beijing since 2002.

Last Friday a middle-aged couple from Jiangsu province came to our office seeking justice. This is something that happens on a fairly regular basis. A few times a month, sometimes as often as several times in a given week, Chinese people with grievances against the courts, against the police, against their local governments will call the bureau to ask us for help. Often they're people who have spent years petitioning various official agencies for redress of their grievances.

Petitioning, as an institution, has existed in China in one form or another for centuries. The idea is that citizens (in the old days, subjects) who suffer harm in their hometowns can appeal to higher levels of of the bureacracy to right the wrongs. In a country where courts are still weak and rarely independent of other arms of government, the petition system is there to function like a kind of court of last resort, and a check on official power. Virtually every official organ in China has a "letter and visits" office at which the aggrieved can lodge complaints. The biggest of these offices are in Beijing and huge numbers of Chinese flock to the capital, with sheaves of documents in hand, hoping for intervention from on high. Last year, according to the State Council 30 million people lodged complaints at Letters and Visits offices throughout the country.

Monday, 12. February 2007, 07:45:36

Human Rights, Sexuality

EVELYNE MICOLLIER
China Perspectives n°60
july - august 2005

The state’s management of the epidemic both reflects and illuminates social contradictions

The issues that have taken shape around the need to prevent the spread of HIV/Aids, and to manage the risks of an epidemic, throw light on the pressing contradictions within Chinese society. They offer a very pertinent approach for analysis of current changes in the field of sexuality and to understanding the variety of its discourses and practices. The theoretical perspective of this article will be informed by a constructivist approach, since such approaches have radically altered our understanding of sexuality by raising questions about the social and historical contexts that surround it. In China the history of sexually transmitted disease (STD) epidemics shows that the ways in which sexuality is managed have a greater impact than disease control measures or health education. Nonetheless, despite the political efforts on the part of official agencies, combined with the dominant pressures of family values and of “revitalised” cultural traits inherited from the past, individuals are subjected to the multiple influences associated with globalisation and China’s transformation into a consumer society. Recent studies have revealed marked shifts in the expression of sexuality. This article has three sections. The first gives an analytical overview of current scientific literature, and of the available data concerning sexual behaviour and its representation. The second deals with governmental action and pronouncements in relation to the dynamics of the Aids epidemic and the risks of sexual transmission. And finally, the third section provides a diachronic analysis of the state’s management of sexual issues.
In China the history of sexually transmitted disease (STD) epidemics shows that the ways in which sexuality is managed have a greater impact than disease control measures or health education.

« Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Next »

Showing posts 21 - 30 of 78.

Blog search

[海龟浮上海面] HONGKONG FOOL SHANGHAI MAN
HONGKONG FOOL SHANGHAI MAN
[三分钟完事儿] THREE PENNY OPERA
THREE PENNY OPERA
[井蛙观天] A FROG WITH A VIEW
A FROG WITH A VIEW

Free Oiwan Lam
Or here (via proxy) for more.
Sex, Love and Gender
When an entertainment celebrity takes a moral stand, it often goes beyond personal belief. That is why the moral crusade of a Chinese television star has turned into an eye-catching headline. Sun Haiying, who achieved stardom with a popular drama series, told a reporter that homosexuality is "crimi ...
Land Revolution Means Much More Than Contract-brea ...
Li Yulan, a painter living in Beijing, finds herself in a worrying situation. She lives in Songzhuang village, an artists' community located within the borders of Beijing municipality, but outside the city proper. Now, the contract she signed five years ago when purchasing her home has been declared ...
To Drink or Not to Drink?
That is the Beijing drinkable-tap-water question. There have been different of opinions towards Beijing Waterworks' announcement of the drinkability of the city's tap water. I suggest Beijing dwellers take water from their tap and go to a designated inspection laboratory (authorized agent like SGS ...
A Harmonized Arbitration
In a mass production factory, protested by their customers, the quality contoller is being punished by the administration for not letting the ill-quality products pass. The ill-quality product has been guaranteed of its buyer, who considers only of the 'produce-of-the-factory' label but not its qua ...

梦遗碎语——喝高了
我手写我心。没有文字,写不出你的心。我怎么知道,你的心?失语了,无法表达。原来世间需要语言。语言文字,成了丈量一切色相的准则、尺度。一个错别字,就可颠倒黑白。打倒,五花大绑。拥护,夹道欢迎。你知道我的真实意思吗?原来如此。语言文字,成了是非曲直的指南针。对不起,是我错了。让我们回到原点,重头再来一次。但愿可以重新开始。黑暗与光明,谁先开始?谁说光明,一定会战胜黑暗?世界原来不是平坦的。光明送别的,只是自己。不得已,才迎接黑暗。一切肮脏的事情,都在阴暗的角落发生。正大光明地干出来的勾当,就不肮脏、阴暗?存在的,都是合理的。合理?谁的理!?
我不是东西
荒山鸟飞绝,尔登临此处,在看什么?我本无他念,一心只想登高、望远。我能看见什么?烟霞弥漫山际,云雾环抱孤峰,伸手不见五指,视野基本为零。我正与一个不知从何处蹦出来的老朽儿闲聊。反正此时,下不了山。你心想什么,便能看见什么。我不是说过:心无他念吗?我对自己说。我现在只能看见你,这不云遮雾罩吗?我环顾四周说。我本非一物,你能看见我,看来你亦已遁入空门。你不活生生站我前面吗?我心想。我本来没什么话好说,就随着他的车轮子话转。空门,是什么地方?空门,无色无相,不是什么地方。那我为什么又能遁入呢?你亦无色无相。如我,亦非一物。你别吓唬我,我胆小。其实,我胆子挺大。此时,一般人,该害怕了。我们到别处谈去。 ...
再见江南
我曾吻别这座城市,正如我吻别你的唇。烟花三月,原来只是浮光掠影;再世红梅,最终亦是昙花一现。为什么设法逃离,原本就不曾存在。现实,从来变幻莫测;梦想,或会各自精彩。没有了记忆,原来如此自在。
飞龙在天利见大人
推开窗户,天气还好,虽然有点翳闷。我侧对着墙身镜子,翻开《圣经》,装着看书。心中突然浮起一些念想:泽东同志说过:"从孔夫子到孙中山,我们应当给以总结,承继这一份珍贵的遗产"小平同志又要求我们:"大胆吸收和借鉴人类社会创造的一切文明成果"约翰十四章六节云:"耶稣说,我就是真理、道路、生命;若不借着我,没有人能到父那里去。"然後,就没有下文了。思想走失了....今儿是旧历五月初一,想翻翻《易经》,看看当日卦像吉凶:宜什么,又该避什么。我虽不至於步步为营,只怕出门有所闪失。後又想,易经说:"先天下而天弗违,后天而奉天时。天且弗违,而况於人乎?"于是乎,我就又适然了;亦懒得开卦查经。管它是否会人仰马翻 ...
第60届戛纳电影节获奖名单
金棕榈奖《四月三周两天》/ 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days (罗马尼亚) 导演：Cristian Mungiu 评委会大奖《殡之森》/ The Mourning Forest (日本) 导演：河濑直美60周年评委会特别奖 Paranoid Park (美国) 导演：Gus Van Sant 摄影：Chris Doyle, Rain Li评审团奖 (一)《我在伊朗长大》/ Persepolis (法国/美国)导演：Marjane Satrapi评审团奖 (二)《沉默的阳光》/ Silent Light (墨西哥/法国/荷兰)导演：Carlos Reygadas最佳 ...

喻国明: 信息开放是一种世界潮流
(喻国明,中国人民大学新闻学院教授、博士生导师）　　凤凰塌桥事件中记者采访被打，在法律层面上，已经侵犯了公民的人身权利。这种人身伤害行为无论是对记者还是对普通人都是不能允许的。同时，这种人身伤害行为本身，又是侵犯新闻自由的一种表现。　　此事的发生，显然跟当地权力部门和既得利益者是有某种牵连的。打人者之所以有这样的行为，是一种自我保护性的反应，希望就此尽可能回避一些监督，减少麻烦。　　但事实上，在社会的总的指导原则下，他们的这种做法，对上不符合胡锦涛、温家宝关于“媒体要介入负面社会事件的报道中去”的一贯精神；对下而言，也是对老百姓知情权的一种限制。　　现代的社会，公众知情权的保障是通过媒介来实现 ...
江平: 维护新闻自由首在保护记者权利
(江平,中国政法大学终身教授，原全国人大法律委员会副主任委员）　　湖南凤凰县在建的大桥坍塌是一个突发恶性事件，受到全国人民乃至世界舆论的关注。　　事件发生后，党和国家领导人都很关心，胡锦涛主席和温家宝总理都做出了重要批示，要求严肃处理。在这样的背景下，却发生了前去采访报道的记者遭到围殴的事件，而且围殴记者的人还是政府机关工作人员，性质就更加恶劣。　　众所周知，新闻报道是保障公众知情权、实现信息公开的重要渠道，新闻自由是现代民主、法治社会的重要特征。落实新闻自由首先就要保障记者的采访自由，而保障记者采访自由的前提之一，是保障记者的人身权利不受侵犯。　　一年前，全国人大常委会会议首次审议《突发事件 ...
康慨：《哈利·波特》批判
　　7月21日，在早餐桌上，我捧着厚达759页，价值180元人民币的《哈利·波特与Deathly Hallows》，直接从后翻起，飞快地读完了最后一部分“十九年后”，不由得发出一声长叹：总算结束了……　　那天早晨7点，全球化的阳光沐浴着古都北京，我也出现在一家大书城的售卖现场，见有许多高中生模样的中国青年，像是没有睡醒，文静地站在长长的购书队列里，等待着《哈利·波特》第七部的全球首发。这里没有太多狂欢的气氛，不免令敬业的新闻工作者感到不爽。但是我回到家，看到BBC的电视报道，原来西半球早已进入了状态。　　最后的狂欢就是最疯狂的狂欢。从纽约到莫斯科，从开普敦到奥斯陆，这世界，数以千万计的人都像着 ...
21世纪的货币帝国主义
[美]迈克尔·赫德森著刘斯福苇杭摘译【原编者按】2004年9月1日美ttp://www.counterpunch.org网站刊登了美国著名非主流经济家迈克尔·赫德森题为《21世纪的货币帝主义》的文章，认为战后美国主导建立的世界经济秩序中，美国具有非对称性的优势权，在这种秩序下，美国利用自己主导的国际货币基金组织、世界银行以及世界各国在美国导下建立的中央银行制度推行芝加哥学派的货币主义金融规则，成功地建立了美国的金融权，依靠这种金融霸权美国无偿地占有全世界特别是发展中国家的资源和财富，摧毁了第三世界和社会主义国家在十月革命以后建立的力更生的基础。由于这种霸权已和全球经济高度结合，世界大国 ...
陈争平: 20年多來中国大陆私营经济发展考略
中国经济自实行改革开放以来，发生了两个重大变化：一是以社会主义市场经济体制替代了计划经济体制，二是以公有制为主，多种经济共同发展的模式替代了单一公有制经济模式，这两大变化相互影响，密不可分。当代中国大陆私营经济包括私营企业[1]和个体工商户[2]两大类，是民营经济[3]的主要组成部分。自改革开放以来，中国国家领导核心层将发展多种所有制经济作为解决现代化进程难题的有效途径，对国家社会主义建设方针作了重要调整，私营经济开始在中国大陆重新出现，并很快从弱到强，成为促进中国国民经济发展的主要因素之一，对中国政治、社会、人文等方面的发展也有深远的影响。私营经济的发展已成为中国改革开放以来经济史研究的重要 ...

November 2009January 2010