Tom Smykowski posted:

So there was an 7.0 earthquake in Sichuan today in Ya'an, a city south of the provincial capital of Chengdu. It was felt throughout Sichuan, but it appears the damaged areas are only those around the epicenter. The worst hit counties are reporting 50% of the buildings collapsed. The deathtoll is at 76 with 1000+ injured.

Not to ignore the horribleness of all that, but it will be interesting to see how the new leaders react. After the last big Sichuan earthquake in 08 (which was along the same fault line as today's), the leaders came down and rolled their sleeves up for photoshoots. I'd image Down-to-earth Xi is going to do the same thing.

Wonton posted:

Many companies update weibo, saying they will donate money, water, clothes, etc.; on the other hand, people are reposting the photos of Guo Meimei, the misstress of China Red Cross, reminding people not to donate to this corrupted organization.

Wonton posted:

On the bright site, people in Chengdu don't give a poo poo about the earthquake, they just moved their mahjong tables downstairs and continue enjoying the rest of the weekend. All is well.

Warcabbit posted:

So, how's the infrastructure holding up there?

quote:

Consider this:

The official death toll was 80,000.

HAARP shut off 8 hours before the quake struck.

Earthquake was of magnitude 8.0.

It happened on May 12th (5/12 = 5 + 1 + 2 = 8).

The earthquake occurred exactly 88 days before the Beijing Olympics.

The Beijing Olympics took place on 8 August 2008 at 8:08 PM.

Chinese colonel says latest bird flu is U.S. biological weapon

SCMP posted:

Tensions over the dockers' strike rose further yesterday as one of Li Ka-shing's top lieutenants publicly slammed unionist lawmaker Lee Cheuk-yan.

Canning Fok Kin-ning claimed Lee was not genuinely interested in helping the workers and harboured ulterior motives.

"Lee Cheuk-yan resorts to every means - he doesn't want an outcome at all, hoping that as the strike drags on, he can negotiate with Mr Li so as to boost his own publicity," Fok, Hutchison Whampoa's group managing director, said to reporters on a trip to Beijing. "This [strike] has been using the style of the Cultural Revolution [where people are vilified on banners and posters]," he added.

Fok said he did not believe the dockers' working conditions were that bad and they were "willing to work long hours".

His remarks were the first public ones on the strike from Hutchison Whampoa - the parent company of port operator Hongkong International Terminals, whose contractors employ the 450 striking dockers.

Lee hit back, deriding Fok as the "King of all workers", a swipe at the executive's high pay package, and said Fok could not understand the plight of grass-roots workers.

As for Fok's reference to Cultural Revolution tactics, Lee said: "We just want to express how discontented we feel ... [the head shots] are just comical creativity used all the time in modern society to express the emotions of people," Lee said.

As the strike entered its 24th day yesterday, HIT placed full-page ads in most newspapers in the city, other than Apply Daily, attacking the union's demands as "unachievable". The ad alleged Lee's role in the industrial action was purely to advance personal interests.

In the Chinese-language version of the statement, HIT wrote: "Is someone unwilling to make a deal? Is there someone who wants to achieve his own purpose and is ignoring the interests of the workers?"

But those sentences did not appear in the English-language version of the statement, headed "Breakthrough sought after three weeks of labour dispute".

The ads said "the average monthly salary for dockers has already reached HK$20,000" and the 20 per cent pay rise they have been demanding would "create an impact across other industries and cause irreparable damage to Hong Kong".

Union of Hong Kong Dockers strike organiser Stanley Ho Wai-hong said: "The figures provided by HIT are misleading, as dockers would have to work many 24-hour shifts to earn HK$20,000 a month. But that is still way less than the amount earned by dockers hired directly."

The union, backed by Lee's Confederation of Trade Unions is demanding pay rises of 17 to 24 per cent and better conditions.

Based on advertisement rates for the papers listed online, HIT may have spent HK$1 million or more on yesterday's ads.

Meanwhile, a docker is seeking damages against the port operator and its subcontractor Global Stevedoring Service in District Court, saying he injured his right arm in an electric shock two years ago while working in the control room of a crane at Container Terminal Four.

SCMP posted:

A lawmaker has criticised police and prosecutors after a teenager detained for a year on suspicion of robbery was freed and told by a judge he had no case to answer.

Nineteen-year-old Tahir Khan, who moved to Hong Kong in 2011, accuses the police of racial discrimination for depriving him of his freedom.

The construction worker was charged in March last year with assault with intent to rob in relation to a robbery that took place in the previous month. Khan, who speaks neither Chinese nor English, had a lawyer in court but was denied bail because of the seriousness of the offence.

During the robbery a man was beaten around the head. A woman who was with him when he was attacked later picked out Khan in an identity parade.

Police were granted an adjournment to have more time to collect evidence. But last month High Court judge Mrs Justice Verina Bokhary ruled Khan had "no case to answer".

Andrew Wan Siu-kin, a Kwai Tsing district councillor who is helping Khan, said the judge freed the teenager after the prosecution failed to provide DNA evidence, fingerprints or video footage. Nor were the statements of the woman witness deemed reliable, according to Khan.

Now set free, he considers himself a victim of wrongful detention and prosecution, believing he was discriminated because of his ethnicity.

"I feel very humiliated. This has made my parents very depressed and they have not been able to have a normal social life."

Barrister Ronny Tong Ka-wah, a Civic Party lawmaker, said the police and prosecution should not have deprived the defendant of his freedom if the evidence was not strong enough.

Wan said he would help Khan to file a complaint to the Independent Police Complaints Council this week.

The police said they handle each case fairly and impartially, and they carry out comprehensive investigations, seeking legal advice when necessary.

quote:

The writing “Xi Jinping Go to Hell” has appeared 3 times in Kam Fung Court, Ma On Shan. The police dispatched a Serious Crime Unit to investigate the case and arrested a man immediately. Yesterday night, after the writing appeared for the third time. Sha Tin district’s Serious Crime Unit entered Kam Kwai House, monitoring the scene and waiting for the suspect overnight. At 8 am in the morning, the unit arrested a 46 year-old resident of the building, Mr Lam, who was seen holding a pen and suspected of committing the crime again. From April 7th to 17th, “Xi Jinping Go to Hell” appeared 3 times on the walls of the stairwell between 4th and 5th and 8th and 9th floors.

caberham posted:

Go go Civic Party! More HK news. A man in Hong Kong has been arrested for writing "XijingPing go die"

translated from bad canto. http://badcanto.wordpress.com/2013/04/19/hong-kong-man-arrested-for-writing-xi-jinping-go-to-hell/


Well the dude is vandalizing public property but normally you just get fined instead of having the serious crime unit tackling the case.

But have no fear, the internet strikes again and people start making all sorts of funny gifs and images.

Modus Operandi posted:

I don't think people who want to discuss Tibet/Xinjiang are all troublemakers either but it does bring out the dickheads and culture warriors en masse. It's like horn of Gondor for idiots.

Longanimitas posted:

GuestBob posted:

On a related point is there a "living" minority culture in China? I don't mean a village or two in Sichuan where the ladies still have funny head-dresses and are sold for a milking cow, but a productive sense of cultural identity expressed through contemporary forms of art and music which has its origin in a minority group?

caberham posted:

WarpedNaba posted:

Didn't China ban Death Note because it was subversive causing people to carry their own black books and write the names of their bosses in them?

GuestBob posted:

I don't know dude, I always thought you guys were just 将来人.

GuestBob posted:

On a related point is there a "living" minority culture in China? I don't mean a village or two in Sichuan where the ladies still have funny head-dresses and are sold for a milking cow, but a productive sense of cultural identity expressed through contemporary forms of art and music which has its origin in a minority group?

I mean, I don't think there is, but this could be me being all dull and monolingual.

gently caress whoever invented the "minority theme park" by the way.

Had a really interesting chat with my FLD mini-boss about language and identity the other day - he was telling me that he was raising his kid to speak Henanhua as well as Putonghua because he wanted him to have a stronger sense of identity (and an identity which wasn't just based on schoolbooks about Lei Feng). This kind of thing was unusual amongst middle class parents though.

Skeleton Jelly posted:

I'd appreciate if people sticked to the poo poo mentioned in the OP, not everyone here speaks Chinese and it's annoying as gently caress when people just thrown in Chinese phrases in the middle of an English language discussion about Chinese affairs with no explanation.

Tom Smykowski posted:

But I'd say larger ones like Uighur for sure express cultural identity through music and art. At least in a sense that is less defined by the State.

GuestBob posted:

The sooner you learn Chinese, the sooner you will be prepared for the new world order.


I suppose the Mongolians have their cool horse games aswell. It just seems that one never sees minorities on the TV or in any kind of public media unless they are being patronised in some way. In twenty years, China's population is going to be as devoid of diversity as its cities are of pleasant architecture (with the exception of Qingdao - which has pleasing architecture but isn't particularly diverse).

Tom Smykowski posted:

The thing with the whole "56 nationalities who all have their unique cultural characteristics and heritage and clothing" is that minority culture isn't being subsumed by Chinese culture, it's being dictated and in some cases created by the State.

The museums built in "minority autonomous regions" are filled with crap that supports the State and it's own narrative. The ancient towns featuring "unique cultural heritage of So-n-So Nationality" are, if not built by the State, approved by the State and reinforce the post-reform narrative. The TV spots Guest Bob is talking about are all scripted and controlled in the same way. Whatever agency non-majority ethnic groups may have is drowned out by all of this.

Pre-Reform dealing with nationalities, while still weird, had a lot less Han chauvinism about it so it was less patronizing than now. Or at least patronizing from a different direction.

GuestBob posted:

The sooner you learn Chinese, the sooner you will be prepared for the new world order.


I suppose the Mongolians have their cool horse games aswell. It just seems that one never sees minorities on the TV or in any kind of public media unless they are being patronised in some way. In twenty years, China's population is going to be as devoid of diversity as its cities are of pleasant architecture (with the exception of Qingdao - which has pleasing architecture but isn't particularly diverse).

Bloodnose posted:

How about some racism?


This is kind of a weird case, for a number of reasons. I don't really understand how this 19-year-old kid who speaks neither Chinese nor English could get a visa to come work in Hong Kong (edit: just realized he's probably on a dependent visa from his parents). It's weird that they don't actually mention what his ethnicity is in the article, though from his name I assume Pakistani. It's weird that the police can arrest and hold people without charge. I really hope they don't get away with holding him just because some woman picked out a brown guy from a lineup.

Badger of Basra posted:

I am a big fan of the phrase "identity parade." Speaking of minorities, are there immigrant cultural communities in Hong Kong (or on the mainland, if there are enough immigrants)? Like, is there a Little Karachi or something?

tractor fanatic posted:

What do they teach in Hong Kong about the modern history of the PRC? I was talking to a girl from there who's studying International Relations. I mentioned Kissinger, and she didn't know who he was. I said that he met with Zhou Enlai in the '70s to negotiate normalization between China and the US and she asked me who Zhou Enlai was.

Skeleton Jelly posted:

I'd appreciate if people sticked to the poo poo mentioned in the OP, not everyone here speaks Chinese and it's annoying as gently caress when people just thrown in Chinese phrases in the middle of an English language discussion about Chinese affairs with no explanation.

Longanimitas posted:

When it's just three characters it's fine, three seconds will get you a passable translation out of Google Translate.

SCMP posted:

Activists and internet users in Hong Kong have launched campaigns against donating to quake-hit Sichuan.

They want to block a proposed donation of HK$100 million of public funds, arguing it will only feed corrupt mainland officials. Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying announced the planned donation yesterday.

A special Legislative Council meeting tomorrow will be asked to approve it.

The proposal prompted debate on whether such a giveaway was is the best way to help.

Responding to such doubts, Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said the donations made by the Disaster Relief Fund Advisory Committee "will be subject to very stringent requirements and supervision".

"The public do not have to worry about it," Lam said.

But that failed to convince political parties and activists.

Such reluctance comes in sharp contrast to the generosity that followed the Sichuan earthquake five years ago, when the government gave HK$10 billion, and non-government groups raised HK$15 billion from the public.

Yesterday, the Macau government announced it was giving Sichuan HK$100 million. Unicef, The Salvation Army, The Red Cross, other local co-operatives and agencies had raised or donated at least HK$12.4 million in emergency relief by 6pm yesterday.

The Democratic Party and the Civic Party said they would decide today whether to support the government's proposed donation. Democratic Party chairwoman Emily Lau Wai-hing said she received many objections about the funding plan.

"I am deeply sorry and feel sympathy for the disaster … but the mainland lacks a system rather than money. I do not wish to see the money fall into the pockets of corrupt officials," Lau said.

The Hong Kong City-State Autonomy Movement (HKAM) has launched a letter-writing campaign to urge lawmakers not to approve the funding, while internet users of the popular Golden Forum on the internet set up a campaign called "Don't donate a single penny".

"There is no reason for the government to use taxpayers' money for a donation," HKAM said in a statement. "The Chinese government does not need money as it has a lot of financial reserves."

Hundreds of users left comments on the forum saying they would not give any money to the mainland and dismissed the official government donation.

"HK$100 million could be used in many better ways to help Hong Kong, rather than wasting it on the mainland bureaucracy," one user wrote. Another said: "I doubt that even one dollar in a 100 would really go to helping the victims."

Senior journalists familiar with mainland affairs also reminded Hongkongers to think twice before donating. They said some of the money raised five years ago was wasted on fancy meals and building unused roads. A HK$2 million secondary school was built with donations but torn down after 11 months to make way for luxury flats.

Lawmaker Ip Kwok-him, of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, said the party would support the donation, although he agreed that use of the funds must be strictly monitored.

Bloodnose posted:

Hong Kong definitely has these communities, although there isn't the space to have like a whole neighborhood that's noticeably of one culture or another like we might be used to in the US. The communities tend to center on focal points like mosques or trading hubs. The only place I've seen that's like a true immigrant enclave in China is the ever-so-racistly named 'chocolate town' of African immigrants in Guangzhou.

quote:

HONG KONG — Festering tensions between Japan and China flared anew on Tuesday as Beijing and Tokyo sent vessels to monitor a flotilla of boats carrying Japanese nationalists that sailed near islands in the East China Sea that both nations claim as their own.

Bloodnose posted:

They're probably right. Giving money to the Chinese government is dumb. Oxfam would likely do more to help.

ReindeerF posted:

I'm never sure who is more stupid in any of the various pissing matches, but in this one it does seem that while the Chinese government's position is the more ridiculous, these fringe groups of Japanese citizens tend to take the cake for maximum levels of idiocy.

quote:

A HK$2 million secondary school was built with donations but torn down after 11 months to make way for luxury flats.

WarpedNaba posted:

I'm starting to wonder why China's still pushing this.

Even the Nationalists should know this is more domestic diversion away from the real enemy, AMERICA internal corruption scandals.

Fangz posted:

Wasn't this debunked earlier in the thread?