Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Learning from China

Time magazine recently did a cover story entitled 5 Things We Can Learn From China. Here are some things we can learn from China.

China has banned individuals from registering internet domain names in Beijing's toughest move so far to tighten online censorship.

From Monday, people registering a domain name in China would have to present a company seal and a business licence, the China Internet Network Information Center, a government-backed body, said in a statement.

Service providers said they had started to review their clients for potentially fraudulent or "harmful" individually-owned sites.

"We have started to review domain names registered by individuals, as requested by CNNIC," said an official at HiNet, one of China's largest internet service providers.

We learn how better operate as an authoritarian government by blocking access to all information not produced by the government.

What else can we learn from China
BEIJING — A lengthy prison sentence for a rights activist shows the determination of Chinese officials to suppress any vestige of dissent related to shoddy construction and unnecessary deaths in last year’s devastating earthquake in Sichuan Province, fellow activists said.
Huang Qi, 46, who helped parents press their grievances against the local government after their children died when their schools collapsed, was given a three-year prison term on Monday. He was convicted of illegal possession of state secrets, a common charge used to punish people who defy the authorities.

That those who should be held accountable for the shoddy workmanship involved in school construction get away with no penalty. While those who seek answers are jailed.

Education Chinese style
Chinese lawyers have formally charged a democracy activist and former university professor with "inciting subversion," a year after he co-wrote a call for sweeping political change in China.After the country controversially hosted the 2008 Olympic Games, human rights in China are supposed to be improving. But thee case of human rights activist Liu Xiaobo, 53, who has spent most of the past 20 years in prison or under arrest, speaks volumes about what is going on beneath the glossy surface of the new China.Mr Lui’s lawyer received the prosecution papers Friday, and said Liu had been formally charged the day before. The lawyer expects a trial anytime after December 20. After a trial likely to last only half a day, Liu could get up to 15 years jail time, with a five- to 15-year sentence, which is "very likely," because China's courts are under the total control of the ruling Communist party.

Upon being awarded the 2008 Olympic Games the Chinese government promised to improve its human rights record and allow for a more open and equitable society. Look how well that has worked out.

One last fun thing we can learn from China
BEIJING — It read like a muckraking expose: A magazine revealed a system of secret detention centers in Beijing where Chinese citizens are forcibly held and sometimes beaten to prevent them from lodging formal complaints with the central government.
But the report appeared in the state-run magazine Liaowang (Outlook), which is written for the government elite and published by China's official Xinhua News Agency.
For some activist groups, the two state-sanctioned articles published Tuesday signal a possible willingness by the Communist leadership to openly acknowledge a problem it has long denied.
"They have categorically denied there are even black jails. This is the first time an official, high-level magazine acknowledges that they exist. This is fairly significant," said Wang Songlian, research coordinator with the China-based Chinese Human Rights Defenders.

Go to Beijing for redress of problems encountered at the local or state level of government and get thrown in jail. Even though this has always been part of the contract between the people and the Chinese government

See look at all the fun things we can learn from China. Isn't it exciting

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