Inside China Today

Inside China Today – Thursday 3rd September

10,000 protestors in Quanzhou, Fujian Province confronted police in front of a wastewater plant. They turned over a vehicle when the official (pictured) struck a woman.

- Jiang Xiqing’s family abducted for appealing over his suspicious death;
- Victims of forced evictions renounce the Communist Party;
- Coercive and violent demolition in Nanning;
- When ‘China rules the world’.

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Jiang Xiqing’s family abducted for appealing over his suspicious death
(5:44)

A 66 year old man Jiang Xiqing from Jiangjin district, Chongqing Province, was persecuted to death by authorities at Xishanping Labor Re-education Center more than six months ago.

Since his death, in order to silence Jiang’s family members from appealing for justice over his death, authorities have beaten their lawyer, and even taken measures to monitor, threaten, and raid their home. Around noon on August 28, Jiang Xiqing’s daughter Jiang Hong was kidnapped by police officers from the National Security Brigade from Jiangjin district’s National Security branch, and currently her whereabouts remains unknown.

On the 28th, Jiang Hong and 2 other family members went to shop for clothes at the New Century Shopping Center on Buxing Road, Yangjiaping of Chongqing city. At 12 noon just as the group exited from the shopping center, a police vehicle suddenly blocked their way, as 6 to 7 officers rushed up and abducted her to a vehicle which then sped off. A witness revealed to SOH that the number plate of the police vehicle appeared to be “Jiu Long Po 5606”

To date, Jiang Hong has been abducted for more than 24 hours, but police have not provided her family with any documentation or notice of detention on paper. On the afternoon of the 29th, Jiang Hong’s husband, daughter and sister visited the Jiangjin District National Security Brigade to request for her release. They knocked on every office door, including the head of the National Security Brigade Mao Chaoheng, yet not one dared to respond to their inquiry. When the family told the local committee member for Political and Legislative Affairs Wan Fenghua, of their intentions to hire a lawyer, Wan replied that the matter had already become escalated, so they [the authorities] would not fear any lawyer.

SOH reporters had telephoned Wan Fenghua to enquire about the sudden death of Mr Jiang Xiqing, as well as Jiang Hong’s abduction, but he claimed they had called the wrong number before disconnecting the phone. Further calls from the reporter to the same number yielded no answer. Subsequent calls to head of National Security Brigade Mao Chaoheng were also unanswered.

On May 13th 2008, Jiang Hong’s mother Luo Zehui was kidnapped by police officers from the Youxi Police Station in Jiangjin district. She was sentenced to 8 years imprisonment, and is still being held at Chongqing Women’s Prison. On January 28, 2009, Jiang Hong’s father Jiang Xiqing was tortured to death by authorities at the Xishanping Labor Re-education Center. His organs were removed for exhibition purposes, and his remains cremated to destroy any evidence. In order to call for justice on their father’s case, Jiang Hong’s brothers and sisters submitted written statements to the government and judicial administrations at various levels. They have filed lawsuits against Jiangjin district’s Political and Legislative Affairs Committee, the 6.10 office and other related departments over this matter. For this reason, Jiang Hong’s former workplace received threats from authorities, forcing her dismissal. She was also subject to the authorities’ surveillance, house raids, and even arrest.

This report was brought to you by SOH reporters Zhou Ya and Yu Liang of the SOH Radio Network.

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Victims of forced evictions renounce the Communist Party
(11:00)

A Hebei farmer from China’s north east has resigned his membership with the Communist Party after his daughter-in-law was awarded his ancestral home in a divorce lawsuit. Jiang Zhaoxi is 68-years-old. He had been a Part member for 40 years and a Party Secretary for many of those years.

Jiang Zhaoxi said (Recording): “The court did not handle matters impartially. The house, which I rebuilt, was handed down by our ancestors…The court has definitely taken bribes, handing down a judgment to give the daughter-in-law two and a half of the four rooms in this house. I have been a Party member for 40 years. In my outrage, I resigned from the CCP. I have no hope for the CCP. To be honest, what is the Communist Party nowadays – power is bigger than the law, corruption. Therefore I quit, which is a kind of protest to the CCP, a protest to the corrupt officials.”

In 2008 the local court issued a judgement leaving Jiang Zhaoxi one and a half rooms to share with his wife, son and grand-daughter. His son also quit the Communist Youth League to protest the injustice.

In a similar story, Shanghai resident Cao Tianfeng’s 240-square-meter, three-story garden villa was illegally demolished by the Shanghai Municipal government. Cao’s family was forced into destitution. On the 8th of July she renounced the CCP.

Cao said [Recording]: “I went to work at 7am on the 2nd of July. At 8:30 my neighbour informed me that three or four hundred people showed up, knocked the house down with axes and took everything inside. I am now homeless, without a shirt on my back. I am in the trade of calligraphy, painting and antiques. My collection includes calligraphy and painting from Song Dynasty with estimated value of nearly a hundred million. I have collected for several decades. This is not about money. These are now priceless treasure!”

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Coercive and violent demolition in Nanning
(14:12)

On August the 18th and 24th residents at The No. 23 complex of North Erli, of Xingning District, in Nanning City suffered two coercive demolitions. On the 24th, a 400-men “demolition team” attacked local residents and injured more than ten people. On August 31, victims were still taking medical treatment in hospital.

According to Radio Free Asia, the demolition on August 24 was turned into a bloody violent attack. The residents posted a petition on a well-known internet forum to seek help. The petition letter read as follows:

“At 8:30 in the morning, authorities of the China Tobacco Guangxi Industrial Corporation and The Guangxi Road & Bridge Engineering Corporation dispatched nearly 400 men, all of them wearing black uniforms, wooden clubs and police batons, to raid the No. 23 residential complex. Under the guise of performing official duties, they drove off the residents who were taking a walk inside the complex. When other residents arrived to defend their rights, they were physically assaulted. An internet user revealed that nine retired workers were seriously injured. One of them had his head broken, another had an arm fractured, and still another had his nose broken.

The residential owners revealed on internet blogs that The China Tobacco Guangxi Industrial Corporation colluded with corrupt officials using the excuse of “technological renovation and infrastructure expansion” to appropriate the land illegally. As early as in mid-2003, the corporation conspired with The Guangxi Road & Bridge Engineering Corporation to deceive the government, and sold a 3.79 acre piece of land at an extremely low price. This land was originally used for warehouses belonging to a subsidiary company of The Guangxi Road & Bridge Engineering Corporation. Now erected on this piece land are the “Royal Dragon” luxury condo towers selling at high prices, which is a blatant violation of the land zoning. In 2007, these two companies bought the 1.8 acres of residential land of the No. 23 complex and 5 acres of industrial land from a Teaching Instruments Factory at a price as low as 10,000 Yuan per Chinese acre (60,000 Yuan per acre), while keeping all the 303 households who are homeowners on the No. 23 complex in the dark.

As of today, sixty households have refused to sign on the “tear-down” agreement. The residents say these two corporations have bought in some leaders of the municipal government. These leaders pressure the lower levels, and force them into changing the land zoning according to their will, and have increased the density of dwelling units on the land. They also forcefully shortened the lease period for the No. 23 complex, and set up the compensation rate for residents at 3000 Yuan per square meter, which is the rate for older districts. At this low rate, there is no way the residents can buy a similar house in the same neighborhood.

A resident in the neighborhood said: “It is close to where I live. The developer is trying to buy the land, but they have failed to reach an agreement. The market price is now over 4000 yuan per square meter.”

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