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Pro-Beijing Newspaper Finds Nothing Wrong in HK Before Massive July 1 Protest

Posted: 07/1/2014 8:00 am

Hong kong residents march in last year’s July 1 protest. Photo: AP

On the day before the 17th anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover to China by the UK, Hong Kong-based pro-Beijing newspaper Wen Wei Po published a story that quotes Guangdong residents who support a strong Hong Kong-mainland relationship despite conflicts in recent months over issues ranging from ill-behaved mainland tourists to the city’s chief executive election in 2017.

“Hong Kong residents’ passion to celebrate the handover of Hong Kong from the UK to China has never stopped. Many Hong Kong residents and their mainland counterparts can’t hold back their feelings of excitement for this historical moment,” the newspaper said, dismissive that public opinions in this capitalist enclave are running sour towards Beijing.

However, other sources tell a different story. The SCMP reports that Hong Kongers’ mistrust toward mainland China is at a record high according to a survey by the Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies at Chinese University. Furthermore, a telephone survey by the University of Hong Kong’s public opinion program found that the number of local residents dissatisfied with Beijing’s policies towards to the city is also at an all-time high.

Protesters burn a symbolic “white paper”. Photo: Nora Tam for SCMP

Despite the city’s seething discontent with the mainland, the interviewees who talked to Wen Wei Po all happened to be unanimous in their happiness with the current HK-mainland relationship.

As reported by Wen Wei Po, a tourist from Guangzhou said that Hong Kong and mainland China have gradually blended together. After 17 years, “it feels like the two sides have grown to know each other very well,” said the tourist.

A 15 year-old in Shenzhen said that he was disappointed that he couldn’t travel to Hong Kong to see the flag raising ceremony this year due to upcoming exams, but he promised he would come back in time for next year’s celebrations.

However, if this student was able to make it, he would probably be baffled by an unexpected sight. Five-hundred thousand people are expected to march from Victoria Park to Central today at 3pm; if the number is correct, it would be the most people to joint he march since 2003.

The July 1 March has become a traditional event held each year for Hong Kongers to protest Beijing’s control over the city and other grievances.

This year’s march could draw an even higher turnout as tensions have risen after Beijing asserted its ”comprehensive jurisdiction” over Hong Kong in a published “white paper”. Earlier last week, more than 800,000 local residents voted in an unofficial poll on electoral reform in defiance of Beijing’s stance.

Photos: SCMP, AP

Haohao
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Nanfang Week in Review, June 8-June 14

Posted: 06/15/2014 6:31 pm

foot gun chinese internet meme national defenseHere’s what last week looked like as seen here at the Nanfang:

Sunday:

Monday:

sanyuanli mass protest guangzhou baiyun police riot

Tuesday:feet vermicelli dongguan factory

Wednesday:fire therapy chinese medicine acupuncture

Thursday:

Friday:

Saturday:

Photos: Nanfang

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Shenzhen Protest: “Get the Hell Out of Asia, American Bastards!”

Posted: 05/20/2014 5:22 pm

shenzhen retired soldier demonstration anti usa american imperialismA Shenzhen demonstration consisting of retired Chinese soldiers protested against US intervention in Asia with shouts of “Get out of Asia, American bastards!”, reported 163 News.

The demonstration that took place on the morning of May 18 in Lianhuashan Garden made its position upon US foreign policy very clear:

The USA’s strategy of returning to Asia is to use a spear directed at China. By making the situation worse, they hope to profit from a disorderly situation and perpetuate their hegemony across the world.

The soldiers were uniformly dressed in military fatigues, and, if need be, were “dressed to kill”:

At the first sound of the order given to us, we will dress in our military fatigues, run to the front lines, and guard our home and country!

shenzhen retired soldier demonstration anti usa american imperialismshenzhen retired soldier demonstration anti usa american imperialismshenzhen retired soldier demonstration anti usa american imperialismshenzhen retired soldier demonstration anti usa american imperialismshenzhen retired soldier demonstration anti usa american imperialism

The text written on the signs read:

Chairman Xi, these veterans of war stand at attention;
We pledge our lives to the defend the sovereignty of the South China Sea

Veterans of war stand at attention for Chairman Xi,
We again dress in military clothes to protect our borders

Veterans of war stand at attention for Chairman Xi,
A storm is brewing in the South China Sea,
Citizens have a responsibility to defend their country
And return to the front lines to protect our borders

[h/t @ChuBailiang]

Photos: 163.com

Haohao
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Female Students Strip Naked in Protest at Guangzhou University

Posted: 04/21/2014 6:35 pm

university of technology female student naked protest[This article may contain material offensive to some readers]

This morning, Weibo user @Morning Sunbeams of Southern China made a post that contained all of the pictures seen in this blog.

For context that may explain these photographs, text was added to these photographs. These words said:

Guangzhou female university students suddenly take their clothes off in public. Under the gaze of everyone’s eyes, these women were not shy in the slightest. Male students at Guangzhou University City (Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Center) have gone crazy.

Upon further analysis of the photographs, signs could be seen that read “Stop looking at us through lusty lenses”, “Cherish the worth of the female sex” and “We need equal opportunities for employment”.

Online debate of this protest was fast and but not spurious. A user named Chaozhoufangua(潮州翻瓜) wrote: There are many ways of protests. Why baring yourself? For the attention? Most of the people only talked about the nudity anyway.

On the contrary, Weibo user Maskmagician opined: Our Chinese national characteristics are not fit these “open” protests. It’s disgusting and is purely for the attention. I am not even bothered to repost this story.

Opinions differing as they will, job discrimination is still a factor for today’s women. The job market in China is expected to be much tougher than last year as 8 million graduates will soon be flooding into the country’s various job markets, Sina reported on April 21. Last year, the number was recorded around 7 million and it was already called as the “toughest employment season ever” by some media reports.

It was certainly fortuitous that a crowd of photographers was on hand to record this extremely rare occurrence of women “suddenly” taking their clothes off in a planned media stunt that is sure to gather attention for many things if not for the alarming fact that China’s body painting technology is decades behind that of the West.

The Nanfang will continue to follow this story as more details are uncovered.

university of technology female student naked protestuniversity of technology female student naked protestuniversity of technology female student naked protestuniversity of technology female student naked protestuniversity of technology female student naked protest

Natalie Wang contributed to this report.

Pictures: Weibo account, club isso

Haohao
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Guangzhou Protest Atop Traffic Sign Quelled by Mysterious Man

Posted: 04/10/2014 4:12 pm

guangzhou protestor sign yuexiu district

If you were stuck in traffic in around the Yuexiu District of Guangzhou yesterday, then you should know there’s a perfectly good reason for it: someone has a grievance with their village council, and you need to be inconvenienced because of it.

On the morning of April 9 at around 8am, a man later identified as Mr Liang climbed up a traffic sign at Xiaobei Road and North Military Drill Road. Dressed in red and wearing a hat, the man was brandishing a metal rod and a drink, as though he had planned to be up there for a long time.

Whenever police or firefighters would draw near, Liang would brandish his metal rod to force his back, reported Nandu. Liang’s actions had drawn a lot of attention and caused a huge backup of traffic in the area, especially with ongoing construction in the area.

It was finally at around 11:14am when an unidentified man dressed in blue managed to get past the police cordon and climb up the traffic sign to join Liang. Perhaps a soldier out of uniform or Jack Reacher on his Asia tour, the unidentified man in blue was able to quickly and easily subdue and disarm Liang.

Pictures show a hand-to-hand confrontation worthy of any action movie climax:

guangzhou protestor sign yuexiu districtguangzhou protestor sign yuexiu districtguangzhou protestor sign yuexiu district

After being subdued by the man in blue, firefighters would use a cherry picker to lower the two men down to the ground.

The man in red was immediately arrested and identified as Mr Liang, 41, from Huadu, Guangzhou. His family is said to have an unresolved grievance with his local village committee, and has taken his protest to the provincial capital. Liang had previously inconvenienced commuters by climbing signs and protesting at Dongfeng Road and Jiangwan Daqiao.

After performing his civic duty, the mysterious man in blue disappeared as swiftly as he appeared, not even leaving behind his name, possibly to reappear wherever protesters may cause face-losing incidents.

Photos: Nandu

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Maoming Protest Against Chemical Plant Spreads to Guangzhou

Posted: 04/2/2014 1:08 pm

Protests against a planned chemical plant have spread over to Guangzhou after being quelled in Maoming, reports the Financial Times.

Two to three hundred protesters are demonstrating outside the provincial government in the capital to stop construction of the proposed PX (paraxylene) factory.

The Maoming protest picked up popular support when pictures of violence against protesters were published in social media like Weibo. A total of four people were said to have died as a result of clashes against police.

As told to the Financial Times, a protest organizer named Mr Dai said, “Guangzhou is the capital of Guangdong, so we can have more influence here; many people in Guangzhou are unaware of the Maoming protest. We want the public to know about the violence used by the Maoming local government.”

For its part, the local authorities have denied that any deaths or violence occurred at the protests and have stated that they will submit to the opinion of the majority, a turn from its previous position that the protest was an “illegal act”.

While “Maoming” appeared to be a banned Weibo search term on Monday, it is not at present. News and photos of the Maoming protest continue to spread online, as seen here. This post shows a building on fire.

Alongside such unverified news on Weibo can be found this infographic (below) that shows the precise number of PX chemical plants located across China and their annual production of PX.  According to this infographic, there already are two PX-producing chemical plants in Guangdong (Zhuhai and Huizhou) that produce a total of 15.4 million tons of PX annually.

Photo credit: Straits Times

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Delays cause air rage inside Shenzhen airport as killer storm rages outside

Posted: 04/1/2014 1:15 pm

The recent disastrous weather has many airlines thinking of safety as dozens of flights were cancelled or delayed at Bao’an International Airport in Shenzhen, but passengers were thinking of something else: compensation.

Irate passengers clashed with airport personnel as equipment was smashed, reported NFDaily. Male passengers were photographed standing upon service counters as they demanded the airlines compensate them for having been inconvenienced, after which police were eventually called in.

Readers may remember airports as being the traditional place to properly express a public meltdown when not granted the entitlement of being able to put their bum on a seat in a vehicle that flies. We’ve seen vicious attacks upon airport personnel, a rant from a woman who threatened to shut down the internet, and most famous of all, the viral video of former CPPCC committee member Yan Linkun who destroyed a check-in counter after he missed his own flight. Twice.

Air travel in China is often fraught with sudden delays without explanations, further enraging consumers to bouts of “air rage”. But all the same, perhaps it would have been easiest for all involved if the airport didn’t cancel or delay any flights.

That is, according to the NFDaily report, if flights were able to take off despite local flooding that inundated the interior of the new Bao’an Airport (as well as having leaked in), and then be able to fly through the heaviest locally-recorded March precipitation in over 30 years that included hailstones in what has been declared a code red weather alert for all of Shenzhen. And then, after that, be able to fly in a storm that has seen 9119 recorded lightning strikes since the evening of March 30.

Airlines: can’t you get your act together and schedule our flights in a time not during a deadly storm? These prices are high enough as they are.

Standing on a table usually has some connotations associated with it (”Oh Captain, my Captain” aside), so here is some hot “standing-on-counter” action for ya:

airport riot guangdong shenzhen rain flood air rage

Photo: NFDaily.com

 

Haohao
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Violent protests erupt in Maoming, four allegedly killed as police seal the city (UPDATED)

Posted: 03/31/2014 10:05 am

Photo from @你型我造少斌, a weibo user based in Maoming, Guangdong

Updated at 2:19 pm

Four teenagers, two males and two females, were allegedly killed during clashes between protesters and police on Sunday as hundreds of residents in Maoming, Guangdong rallied to protest a PX (paraxylene) project, according to a post uploaded by a Sina Weibo user based in Maoming.

During the night, the protest seemed to have escalated into clashes between protesters and the local police force. Several residents were hurt and the police and paramilitary forces seem to have sealed the city, according to one Weibo user who is on the scene.

Photos uploaded to Weibo by several netizens show several cars overturned and set on fire. Protesters say the PX project site should be moved out of the city’s downtown core and located beyond the city center’s 100 kilometre radius.

Here are some images: 

Here is the weibo post from 强拆 on 01:40 am March 31:

The latest update from Maoming protest: the paramilitary police have sealed highways. All the media vans were blocked from entering the city. The city is tightly sealed. We Maoming people now have no one to reply upon but ourselves. All thats left now is a road to death. For our offspring, it is all worth it. The people of Maoming will outnumber the police. We have to save ourselves and kick the PX project out of Maoming.

The government has issued a statement and declared the protest to be illegal. Here is a partial translation of the statement (the full statement can be read here):

….the protest did not file any permission from relevant departments. The protest against the PX project is a serious violation against the law and have severally impacted social orders. The municipal government strongly opposes such illegal act…

 

 

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Drunk dies of alcohol overdose at hospital, family blames the doctor

Posted: 03/6/2014 3:36 pm

A doctor in Chaozhou has found himself in the crosshairs of a family that lost a relative to alcoholism.

It all started on Tuesday (March 4) when a heavily inebriated man showed up at Chaozhou Hospital. A doctor tried to treat him, but the patient died from an alcohol overdose. The family, however, clearly believe the doctor didn’t do enough to save their relative, so they rounded up more than 100 people to protest at the hospital the following day, leaving the doctor distraught and in tears.

The protest out front of the hospital has gone viral on Sina Weibo, and comments are pouring in. Here are a few highlights:

“First, check to see if there’s a medical accident. If not, these protesters should be severely punished. My parents are doctors. I often see them running out to the hospital at night to save people’s lives. The protest will definitely hurt the doctor, maybe even damage him psychologically.”

“What? It lasted for half of hour? Even the police are controlled by this family?”

“Surely, not all doctors are good, but we are hoping that they all have a heart to save people’s lives. Everyone faces diseases and eventually die, this family should be reasonable and face it.”

“I have to admit, being doctor is a dangerous career at present.”

Haohao
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Anti-Japanese sentiment spills over as factory workers strike in Dongguan

Posted: 11/11/2013 7:00 am

Workers protesting at the factory, image via Sina Weibo

When workers at the factory of a Japanese-owned company in Dongguan’s Zhangmutou Town went on strike to demand compensation over a labour dispute last week, nationalistic anger quickly spilled over and signs with words like “Chinese traitors” and “The Diaoyu Islands are ours” appeared, Red China reported on Nov. 7. The strike entered its third day yesterday.

It is the second time workers at the H.K. Towada Electronics factory have been on strike this year. The workers occupied the grounds of the factory having taken their grievances all the way to the nearest labour department. Police were called in to make sure the situation doesn’t get out of hand.

Workers occupy the canteen, image via Sina weibo

As well as protesting against the Japanese company that has allegedly failed to pay money that is owed to them, the workers are also said to be rallying against the Chinese authorities who “only pretend” to look after their interests.

The below signs appeared at various parts of the premises during the protest:

“Clear off you bunch of Chinese traitors who call yourselves an advisory group. The Diaoyu Islands belong to China. Keep struggling till the end.”

“Compensate the workers, protect their rights.”

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