Tea set (Johanthan Tan)

Ancient Chinese tea sets generally refer to the tools used to pick, produce, store, make, and drink tea. The four basic elements for making a good cup of tea are quite important in ensuring both the quality and the taste of tea. These are tea, water, fire, and tools, among which a good tea set is an essential tool.

Tea sets typically include a cup, teapot, bowl, small cup, saucer, tray, and other tea utensils, narrowly defined.

The shape of a tea set is often elegant. In addition to practicality, it can improve the color, aroma, and taste of the tea. Meanwhile, an elegant tea set itself is an object of aesthetic appreciation and hence is artistically of much worth. As the saying goes, “Water is the mother of tea, and the tea set is the father of tea.”

Because the origins and materials for producing tea sets are different, the categories of tea sets can be divided into clay, porcelain, lacquer, glass, metal, bamboo, and so on. Among them, clay tea sets and porcelain tea sets are the best, followed by glass tea sets and enamel tea sets. Clay tea sets were introduced as early as 2,400 years ago.

One of a kind is the Yixing purple clay tea set, which originated in Yixing City of the eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu.

The distinguishing feature of the Yixing teapot is that it can preserve the original color, flavor, and taste of tea for a long time. Its three unique characteristics are: “tea brewed in it tastes rich and mellow; tea in it does not decay or change its color; tea in it retains its full flavor and does not easily go sour in the summertime.”

The purple clay teapot is porous and can retain the flavor of tea while brewing up tea.

The making of a teapot is very delicate and complicated, including selecting materials, making a base, painting, and then kilning. Every single process cannot be neglected and only then can one make a good teapot.

A clay teapot. (David Wu)

According to legend, a mason left a Yixing teapot on the roof while finishing the repairing of the house. A few years later, when he went back to the house to repair the roof again, he found that the teapot was still on the roof, and the color, flavor, and taste of the tea in it did not change at all.

The Yixing purple tea set is concise in size, simple in color, and quaint in structure. The longer it is used, the more elegant the color becomes, and the richer the flavor of the tea in it becomes. While pouring boiling water into the empty teapot, the light flavor of tea can be smelled from outside of the teapot.

The wonderfulness of the purple clay teapot is that it combines many artistic features in it such as pot mud, pot shape, pot style, pot stamp, inscription, painting, calligraphy, sculpture, carving, etc. Until today many painters and calligraphers still choose to paint and do calligraphy about teapots.

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A China Eastern Airlines jet flies over a temple before landing in Taipei on June 29, 2010. Zeng Qinghong laundered money through the airlines to Taiwan in 2002. (Patrick Lin/AFP/Getty Images)

After well-connected officials in China turn their influence into cash, they need to figure out how to move the money out of the country. No one is better connected than Zeng Qinghong, and, with the help of a Taiwanese businessman, Zeng and his family have set up enterprises that have allowed them to move huge sums offshore.

Zeng has long had the reputation of being one of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) most influential power brokers. Currently the head of the National People’s Congress, he reached the peak of his official power in the years 2002-2007 when he was a member of the decision-making Politburo Standing Committee and the vice-president of China.

Behind the scenes, Zeng has been credited with saving the political career of CCP head Jiang Zemin when Deng Xiaoping was looking to replace him in the early 1990s and helping Jiang out again by orchestrating the removal from office of Beijing Mayor Chen Xitong in 1995.

According to a source familiar with Zeng Qinghong’s dealings, Zeng first began working with the Taiwanese businessman when China Eastern Airlines ran into stiff economic turbulence in 2002.

The Taiwanese businessman injected cash, saving the airline. Zeng Qinghong and his son, Zeng Wei, were very grateful. Zeng Wei was the behind-the-scenes boss of China Eastern.

The new relationship would prove mutually beneficial. The Zengs’ benefactor was the CEO of two financial companies in Taiwan and well-connected in Taiwan’s political circles.

Hong Kong Trade

Zeng Qinghong and the businessman began working immediately to turn Zeng’s political connections to their advantage.

Zeng had been Jiang Zemin’s point man on Hong Kong affairs and was named the head of the CCP’s Hong Kong and Macao Project Coordination Group.

One of Zeng’s main tasks was to put in place the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA), a kind of free trade agreement between Hong Kong and the People’s Republic of China.

On the surface, CEPA appeared to be about attracting investment, but Zeng and Jiang’s families had ulterior motives for wanting the agreement put in place.

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The Taiwan businessman bought a bank in Hong Kong at a low price. After CEPA was signed in 2003, that bank has been used to channel Taiwan funds through Hong Kong into the mainland, and for the Zeng and Jiang families to begin laundering money and shipping it from China overseas.

A life insurance company owned by the Taiwan businessman entered the China market and its business partner was China Eastern Airlines. From then on, Zeng Wei together with the Jiang family started laundering money and sending it overseas through China Eastern Airlines.

In 2006 the Shandong Luneng Group, a giant state-owned enterprise, was privatized, and, with channels established for moving money directly out of the country, the Zeng family was ready to take advantage. An estimated 70 billion yuan (US$11 billion at current exchange rates) in state assets were lost in the deal, and most of this money was transferred abroad.

Political Influence Purchased

One senior Taiwan politician, who is a close friend of the businessman, had his eyes on Jiang and Zeng. He put his money in the businessman’s bank, and from there the senior politician bribed the Zeng and Jiang families.

This politician bought from Zeng and Jiang a promise of “carrying out a policy of compromise on the Taiwan issue for the next few years.” For those few years, during the critical moment, there was always someone on the PRC side who could come out and express opinions on Taiwan that met the needs of this Taiwan politician.

The Zeng family had powerful influence in the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC). In 2005, Pu Zhaozhou, the director of the Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau office of CAAC, held a press conference on behalf of Taiwan Affairs Office of China’s State Council, to announce the expansion of cross-strait charter flights.

This was done without first even notifying the Taiwan Affairs Office, the PRC office that has authority over Taiwan affairs. This announcement was a political return to the Taiwan politician for bribing Zeng.

Australian Home and Retirement

CCP officials not only seek to move their money out of China, where they believe it will be safe even if the CCP falls. They also seek to move their families out of China for the same reason.

Zeng had advised his son to immigrate to Australia and in 2008 Zeng Wei completed the purchase of Craig-y-Mor in Point Piper, at 32 million Australian dollars the third-most expensive house ever sold in Australia.

Zeng was due to retire from the Politburo Standing Committee in October 2007 at the 17th National Congress but was trying to hang onto his place on the committee.

At the 16th Party Congress in 2002, Zeng and Jiang had made up a rule that anyone 68 or older had to retire from the Standing Committee. They did so to push the widely admired Li Ruihuan off that key body.

Zeng was now 68 but now he and Jiang in advance of the 17th Party Congress were arguing that the rule should not apply in Zeng’s case. Zeng said he intended to stay on to “continue mentoring the new cadres.”

Some old officials and members of the Politburo who supported Party head Hu Jintao persistently requested that Zeng Qinghong explain clearly why his son had emigrated to Australia.

Meanwhile, some old officials and members of the Politburo who supported Party head Hu Jintao persistently requested that Zeng Qinghong explain clearly why his son had emigrated to Australia.

Each summer the Party’s top officials get together at the beach resort Beidaihe. At the 2007 meeting, a retired official criticized how the Vice President’s son had secretly emigrated to another country and then been publicized by foreign media.

“This is too shameful, too indecent, too outrageous,” the old official said.

Facing accusations by many people, Zeng Qinghong became furious and yelled in a meeting that he didn’t know about the immigration and couldn’t control his son.

Hu Jintao, because Zeng had “betrayed the country for money,” used an article in People’s Daily to give him a warning. Zeng Qinghong understood Hu’s warning and was forced to retire.

When Zeng stepped down, he put the best face on his disgrace, claiming he had sacrificed himself in order to help Xi Jinping, who joined the Standing Committee and then was named Hu Jintao’s successor.

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Photo taken on March 5, 2009 shows China's former railway minister Liu Zhijun (R) being interviewed in Beijing. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)

China’s former rail minister, Liu Zhijun, will face prosecution over allegations of corruption, the country’s leadership has announced. This represents the result of a 15-month investigation into Liu and the Chinese Ministry of Railways, which began last February after Liu was suspected of corruption and suspended from his eight-year tenure as railway minister.

The Chinese Ministry of Railways is often seen by observers as a state within a state, and has long been under the control of the faction of former regime leader Jiang Zemin. Liu, aged 59, was said to have been part of Jiang’s faction, and rose through the ranks to become the railway minister in 2003 under Jiang’s influence and protection.

However in 2011 Liu was linked to a corruption case involving a Chinese businesswoman named Ding Yuxin. Ding had illegally obtained almost one billion yuan ($158 million) in commissions by acting as an intermediary between the railway ministry and private contractors, according to the Financial Times, which cited unspecified Chinese media as its source. She is said to have split the money with Liu, while also providing him with a series of mistresses.

Liu was then dismissed from his position as railway minister on Feb. 12, 2011 and placed under investigation for corruption.

During his tenure as railway minister, Liu had presided over the rapid expansion of China’s high-speed rail network. The safety of the high-speed rail network was called into question following a tragic accident which happened just months after his dismissal, when two bullet trains collided in Wenzhou on July 23, 2011, killing 40 and injuring 172. A People’s Daily report stated that “the tragedy (has) been blamed on improper management.”

In the aftermath of the accident, Wen Jiabao was widely reported to have burst into a rare scene of outrage and vehemently criticized the railway ministry as being an “independent empire.” He then pressed for further investigations into the railway ministry, which had already begun following Liu’s dismissal, and this resulted in further cases of scandals and corruption in the ministry being uncovered.

A source told The Epoch Times that after Zhou Yongkang and his faction had quietly initiated a hike in railway ticket prices, which provoked a public backslash, and then following the dismissal of Liu shortly afterwards, an urgent notice was issued: “Recently the Central News Agency has conducted undercover investigations into the railway ministry regarding the ticket price hike. No one is permitted to accept interviews. At any sign of undercover reporters, report to your superior immediately. Special attention must be paid to opinions by business owners. This is a very important issue. Any necessary arrangements must be carried out right away, and any problems must be promptly reported to a party propaganda assistant.”

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Liu was officially expelled from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on Monday and his case has been referred to “judicial organs,” according to the CCP mouthpiece, the People’s Daily. The report cited his “discipline violations” and the Wenzhou train collision as contributing factors to his expulsion.

The recent developments do not bode well for Chinese Security Chief Zhou Yongkang, of whom Liu is understood to be a political ally. Once a key figure in the Party, Zhou has since been weakened in political power following the fall of his ally Bo Xilai, another key party official being investigated for corruption.

Washington, D.C.-based China expert Shi Zangshan said, “Politically, the challenge by Zhou Yongkang to Wen Jiabao has ended in utter failure. However, Zhou has put up a tough fight economically.The corruption and price hike by the railway ministry were long under the watchful eyes of both Hu and Wen. In fact, the railway ministry has taken a leading role in hindering the economic policy of Wen. Nonetheless, the sudden dismissal of Liu Zhijun, and the message sent out by the rail ministry all hinted that Zhou was in dire trouble. The moves by Hu and Wen came as a warning.”

Economist Hu Xingdou of Beijing Institute of Technology told Radio Free Asia, that the purging of Liu was not enough to restore the public’s faith in the ruling Party.

“This is far from enough for a highly centralized society,” he was quoted as saying. “Fundamentally, it is more important and effective to establish property openness, press freedom, and judiciary independence in governance.”

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Tang Baiqiao in fall 2011. (Picture provided by Tang Baiqiao)

The first installment in this story can be found here. 

In 2010, on Christmas Eve, a Mr. L contacted Tang saying that he was heading to New York to discuss a collaboration with a university there, and “by the way,” would like to meet with Tang.

Mr. L was the husband of one of Tang’s college classmates. He had worked at various foreign affairs offices, some of which were part of universities. All of these offices are controlled by the Ministry of State Security. Mr. L then immigrated to Canada. In 2010, he was invited back to serve as the director of the International Relations department of a university in southern China. “The International Relations department trains spies and diplomats,” Tang said.

On Dec. 19, 2010, Tang held a party at his house to celebrate the publication of his new book “My Two Chinas.” He invited Mr. L to the party.

Tang asked Mr. L to keep a low profile at the party and to stay away from the personal information of the other guests. But Mr. L did just the contrary: He mingled with the guests and openly distributed his name cards to them.

One of the guests was Ms. Yi Rong, who was also from Hunan Province like Mr. L. She told The Epoch Times, “He was from mainland China, but wanted to take pictures with us, unafraid that it could become difficult to return to China afterwards. I became suspicious of him.”

Tang shared the same suspicion, and was worried for the guests who had interacted with Mr. L. 

Lavish Plans to ‘Visit Relatives’

During his stay in New York, Mr. L stayed at Flushing Inn for three days. He spent most of his time there with Tang.

As a famous activist, Tang is unable to return to China. And Tang’s mother cannot travel to the U.S. to visit Tang in due to health problems.

Mr. L said that he knew someone high-up in Beijing who could arrange for Tang to visit his mother in China and guarantee his safety.

Tang rejected this offer. Mr. L then offered to arrange for the family reunion to happen in Thailand instead, with Tang “not needing to worry about the cost.” Tang said he would think about it.

After Mr. L returned to China, he and his wife visited Tang’s mother during the Chinese New Year. The Tang family was left with a very good impression of them.

Mr. L started to plan the details of the Thailand reunion with Tang. Tang asked if he could bring his wife along. Mr. L replied 3 months later: 1. Do not bring your wife along; 2. Do not tell the related departments in the U.S. about your trip. Tang became suspicious and rejected Mr. L’s offer.

Mr. L continued to offer Tang plans for family reunions in other Asian countries. He even flew to the U.S. several times just to meet Tang. Tang rejected all the offers.

During his second visit to the U.S., Mr. L finally revealed the true motives behind the planned family reunion. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) wanted to meet up and “connect” with Tang; in truth they hoped to convince him to collaborate with them.

Mr. L begged Tang: “Please help me. If this (reunion) is successful, I will be promoted several ranks.” But Tang replied, “I can’t sacrifice myself just for the sake of helping you.”

Mr. L also revealed to Tang, “Before I came over to the U.S., the heads of the Ministry of State Security and the Ministry of Public Security of Guangdong Province summoned me and said they do not wish you (Tang) to maintain contact with any officials from the other provinces, (and to remember that) Guangdong is the richest province in China…”  

Continued on the next page: A Message From Boss Zhou

Bo Xilai was considered the first "naked official." (Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)

A greater number of elite Chinese cadres than previously thought could be considered “naked officials.” These officials move their spouse, children, other family members, and assets abroad—often to Western countries, according to a report from Hong Kong-based Trend magazine.

Around 90 percent of Central Committee members, alternate committee members, and Central Discipline Inspection Commission members have family who live or work overseas, or who live in Western countries, the publication found. Officials in these committees issued a declaration that their family members work overseas.

A document jointly issued by the aforementioned entities states all officials need to disclose their family information before July 1, according to the report, which was published April 27. If the party members fail to do so, they could face punishment.

In February, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences found that most Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials believe their family “should be able to have” permanent residence in another country. Around 75 percent of higher-ranking officials align with the “naked official” principle, a term that was outright banned in Chinese official media until 2008.

Bo Xilai, the former head of the province-level city of Chongqing who was stripped of power two months ago, is said to have been China’s first “naked official,” owning a number of properties in Hong Kong, Singapore, New York, and Vancouver.

Shi Zangshan, a Washington D.C.-based expert on Chinese politics, said the move to push the “naked officials” into disclosing their information is an order directly from Premier Wen Jiabao.

“It is obvious that Wen Jiabao is behind the Central Committee’s order to get ‘naked officials’ to report on their family situations,” Shi said. “More interesting events are sure to come.”

The news comes as more and more Chinese people have expressed their interest in the dealings of the “naked officials,” and some have pointed out that it is another facet of the CCP’s corrupt nature.

In a recent post on the Twitter-like Sina Weibo microblogging site, the netizen-led Focus News Agency sent a sarcastic message out to its 73,000 followers: “[U.S. Ambassador] Gary Locke is the only official in China whose family actually lives in China.” It was liked and forwarded more than 600 times.

Dealing With the Elite Attitude

Gan Yisheng, the vice secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, stated on the Ministry of Supervision’s website last Wednesday that preventing high-level officials’ escape from China is a “long-term, complicated, and difficult” process. 

In a meeting, the Supervision Ministry ordered the building up of a security apparatus to prevent CCP officials from escaping. The apparatus would mainly target state workers whose spouses, children, or other family members are living or working abroad. 

Politburo member Xi Jinping, the presumed heir to Party leader Hu Jintao, said in a training session for ministers that most “high-level ‘naked officials’ have immediate family members with dual nationalities and spouses and relatives who are the owners or managers of businesses or state-owned enterprises enjoy preferential treatment,” according to Trend Magazine.

He added that this phenomenon leads to “squandering of funds on public transportation, food, and other expenses, which has aroused the public’s anger.”

“Current trends in society show three problems that will collapse the CCP and the nation,” he continued. “A political crisis, political instability crisis, and the crisis of the people and party.”

The Politburo reportedly discussed survey results of the large number of “naked officials” currently in the CCP. Li Yuanchao, a Politburo member and head of the Organization Department, said his department “can hardly believe the survey results, but we must face the painful truth: The situation is grim.”

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On the evening of May 27, thousands of Wangsheng District residents walked the street. (Screenshot from NTD Television)

Each evening in the Wangsheng District of the central-western megalopolis of Chongqing, the residents go for a walk. Their promenade is not for fun, and shop keepers have supported the walkers’ cause by going on strike.

The residents of Wangsheng have been upset since October 2011 when their district was merged with Qijang County. Since May 21, tens of thousands of Wangsheng residents have been walking in the evening to show their discontent. 

Hundreds of armed police and riot police are deployed along the streets, and clashes take place nearly every evening, according to the Central News Agency, quoting Hong Kong media and mainland netizens.

Some people have been detained. Local authorities have reportedly banned people from promenading and are threatening them with martial law.

The stakes were raised when, on May 25, all the shops in Wangsheng went on strike. The district looks deserted. 

The Wangsheng residents fear they will suffer from the merger with Qigang County. New Tang Dynasty TV quotes a resident as saying in the aftermath of a violent crackdown on demonstrators in April, “If our mining district is combined with Qijiang, we’ll get less money and less resources.”

In an effort to allay residents’ fears the Chongqing government has published a statement on its website saying that it would safeguard the pensions and medical benefits of the Wangsheng District.

More than a thousand armed police were sent to suppress the demonstration, firing tear gas to disperse the crowd. Nevertheless, the clash continued until late into the night. At least 50 people were reportedly injured.

According to Hong Kong Oriental Daily News on May 27, the atmosphere in Chongqing has remained tense. 

Chinese version available here.

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Bo Xilai on March 13 in Beijing, China, two days before he was replaced as the Chinese Communist Party's Chongqing Municipality Secretary. Politburo member Zhang Dejiang will be assuming the post. (Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)

The death of Ruan Zhibo, a military general with close ties to Bo Xilai, was announced by China’s state media on May 17, but no details about his death were given except that it was due to an “incurable illness.” The circumstances surrounding his death, the vague explanation for it, and particularly Ruan’s ties with Bo Xilai, have triggered speculation on China’s Internet community as to the actual cause of his death. 

Ruan was a lieutenant general and an expert in economics and management before his death at age 62 on May 13. He held a number of military posts before being appointed deputy commander of the Chengdu Military Region in 2008, a post that he held until his death.

Ruan’s sudden demise aroused suspicions among Chinese bloggers that he might possibly have committed suicide or was even murdered. Fueling the speculation is the conspicuous lack of details on Ruan’s death; none of the news reports identified the illness that was supposed to have killed him.

A netizen on Sina Weibo listed four other military officials who have similarly died since 2007 of what were described by state media as “incurable illnesses.” He commented: “Being a high-ranking military official seems to be a very hazardous occupation, with such a high likelihood of dying from so-called ‘incurable illnesses’.” 

A netizen commenting on Ruan’s death said: “It seems that now even prison convicts are not the only ones who end up dying in strange ways,” a reference to how the deaths of prisoners in China, often at the hands of severe beatings and torture from prison officials, are often given apocryphal explanations like “hide-and-seek.” 

A netizen who conducted an analysis of Ruan’s resume concluded that “Ruan was close to Liu Yuan.”  Liu Yuan is an official known to have been involved in Bo’s attempted coup, based on information obtained by The Epoch Times from a source close to the Central Military Commission (CMC).

The Chengdu Military Region that Ruan was deputy commander of is a military formation responsible for the defense of the several southern provinces, including Chongqing City, which Bo was the Party head of before his downfall. 

Bo was also known to have close ties to the military, as the Shanxi New Military first founded by his father in the 1930′s to fight the Japanese invasion eventually became the 14th Group Army of the People’s Liberation Army.

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More than 2,000 Hong Kong residents participated in a march calling for the rehabilitation of the pro-democracy student protesters who were violently suppressed by the Chinese regime in 1989. Hong Kong, May 27, 2012. (The Epoch Times)

Hong Kong residents are preparing for the annual commemoration of the June 4, 1989, Tiananmen Square student protests and massacre.

More than 2,000 marched on May 27, calling on the Chinese regime to redress the student protesters, end its crackdown on dissidents, and do away with corruption. The march was organized by the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China. 

A silent tribute was paid to 73-year-old Zha Weilin, who committed suicide on May 26 in Beijing to protest the regime’s long-standing refusal to address the massacre. His son, Zha Aiguo, a Tiananmen student protester, was fatally shot in the head by the Communist troops in 1989. 

Zha had been a member of the “Tiananmen Mothers,” an activist group that has been calling for the Chinese regime to change its position on the 1989 pro-democracy mass protests. Most of its members are parents of murdered students.

“I believe that the rehabilitation of June 4 can be a starting point for ending China’s one-party rule. We believe that the new generation of leaders have the responsibility to promote universal and democratic values and place China among the nations walking towards democracy in this historic time,” said Lee Cheuk-yan, member of Hong Kong’s legislative council.

Lee said he was encouraged by the large number of young people participating in the march. Last year, more than 150,000 people attended the annual candlelight vigil for the June 4 victims. Lee said he was confident that there would be even more people this year.

Lee also said that they are planning to establish a June 4 museum and use it to fight against what he called the “nationwide brainwashing-type education.” 

In China, the June 4 student massacre is not mentioned in textbooks and official views of the student protesters are negative.

Alan Leong Kah-kit, another legislative council member, criticized the Chinese regime’s oppression of dissidents. 

“The Communist Party’s intense suppression shows that its members have no confidence. I hope that the people of Hong Kong can openly grieve the June 4 [victims] and fight for rehabilitation [of the protesters] as we live in the only part of China where such actions are possible. I hope we can keep doing this,” Leong said.

Miss Zhou, a student of City University of Hong Kong, is participating in a hunger strike in memory of the 1989 mass student hunger strikes in Tiananmen Square. 

Since March 20, a number of blocked search terms including “June 4” have been repeatedly lifted on Baidu, China’s main search engine. Articles citing a recent speech by Premier Wen Jiabao about “redressing miscarriage of justice and lifting the ban on June 4,” were among the unblocked search results.

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The petition by 300 hundred households from Zhouguantun Village, Botou City, Hebei Province calling for the release of Falun Gong practitioner Wang Xiaodong has shaken up China's top leadership circle. (The Epoch Times)

The sister of a Falun Gong practitioner who received the support of 300 village households in a town in China’s Hebei province was kidnapped over the weekend along with two others, a source has told The Epoch Times.

In April, 300 villagers representing their households, in Zhouguantun village near the city of Boutu drew international attention when they signed their names and placed their fingerprints on a petition to release Wang Xiaodong, a teacher and practitioner of the persecuted meditation practice Falun Gong. The petition was apparently circulated among high-ranking Chinese Communist Party members in the Politburo, with some expressing concerns over the sense of the 13-year-long persecution of the practice.

Wang’s sister, Wang Xiaomei, was forced out of her home and stayed with friends. She was later abducted by police officers on Saturday night, according to the source. Two other Falun Gong practitioners, Kang Lanying and Tang Jianing, were also taken away.

Relatives of Wang attempted to contact the local police bureau, but police officials told them they knew nothing about the matter, the source said. 

Local residents told The Epoch Times that since the villagers submitted the petition, Zhouguantun has been under heavy security.

Turning Point

Shandong University Professor Sun Wenguang said the villagers’ petition represents a turning point in the regime’s crackdown on Falun Gong.

Ordinary Chinese citizens “dared not openly support Falun Gong in the past, but now the situation has changed,” Sun said in an interview with The Epoch Times. “They have not only expressed their support but have also placed their signatures and fingerprints on a petition, which is a positive phenomenon.”

Sun’s comments themselves illustrate a decrease in general fear of talking about Falun Gong, which has for years been taboo because of the persecution.

Hebei’s local Political and Legislative Afairs Committee (PLAC) “abridged the basic rights of religious freedom for Falun Gong practitioners” in arresting Wang, Sun said. “I think in the future, there will be more people who will stand up against the [persecution]” of Falun Gong.

Sun said it was “normal” for Falun Gong practitioners to disseminate information about the persecution of their practice, because there has been “no guarantee of their religious freedom” from the Party.

Upon the outset of the persecution in mid-1999, former CCP head Jiang Zemin labeled Falun Gong as an “evil religion,” which Sun said was “absolutely false.” The PLAC, a vastly powerful security apparatus, has maintained the persecution over the last 13 years. 

A human rights activist who called himself only Mr. Hu, and who was also persecuted by the Party, said the incident in Zhouguantun shows that mainland Chinese citizens have seen the “true nature” of the regime.

“People have gained the courage to stand up for the truth,” he said, adding the development “is the most important change in Chinese society and is what China most desperately needs.”

The news has been spread widely on Twitter, with netizens calling for U.S. Ambassador in China, Gary Locke, to do something about Wang’s case.

Mr. Hu said Falun Gong practitioners, in their belief of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance, have continued to stand up for their rights. In the footsteps of Falun Gong, ordinary Chinese people have gained the courage to add to the chorus started by practitioners, Mr. Hu said.

He continued: “Those involved in democratic reforms, human rights, and even the general public in mainland China greatly admire and respect Falun Gong practitioners.”

Editor’s Note: When Chongqing’s former top cop, Wang Lijun, fled for his life to the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu on Feb. 6, he set in motion a political storm that has not subsided. The battle behind the scenes turns on what stance officials take toward the persecution of Falun Gong. The faction with bloody

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The petition by 300 hundred villagers from Zhoutun Village, Botou City, Hebei Province calling for the release of Falun Gong practitioner Wang Xiaodong has shaken up China's top leadership circle. (The Epoch Times)

Chinese lawyers and the public are increasingly more willing to oppose cases of Falun Gong practitioners being persecuted by authorities, after an incident in Hebei Province where 300 villagers signed their names on a public petition calling for the release of a detained fellow villager.

Wang Xiaodong, a teacher in Zhouguantun village near Butou city, Hebei province, was arrested in late February by plainclothes police after they discovered in his home compact discs with information about Falun Gong and its persecution. They also took 20,000 yuan (US$3,200) from him. His elderly mother and 7-year-old son were left to fend for themselves.

Following the arrest, 300 villagers signed their names and put their fingerprints on a petition for Wang’s release. But shortly thereafter the villagers were ordered to retract their statements and became the objects of repression by authorities, reportedly on direct orders from the powerful Political and Legislative Affairs Committee.

Guangdong lawyer Tang Jingling told The Epoch Times on the telephone that the incident is “a fight between good and evil. Using political or legal terms, it’s about the establishment of freedom and democracy,” he said.

People must stand up and raise a united righteous voice against the regime, Tang said.

Shaming Officials

According to Tang and other lawyers, the Chinese public is increasingly more willing to stand up against human rights abuses, particularly those targeting the Falun Gong mediation practice, also known as Falun Dafa, whose adherents espouse the values of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. Falun Gong practitioners have been persecuted in China since July 1999.

A Beijing lawyer, who wished not to be named, told The Epoch Times on Friday that he would be willing to accept Wang’s case if it were presented to him.

He said, aside from the villagers publicly standing up for him, Wang Xiaodong’s case is not unique. Numerous Falun Gong practitioners have been illegally sentenced, with the prosecution and judges designing charges that have previously never existed, or have questionable legal standing; in other cases evidence is apparently fabricated by police. Most of the time the legal system is bypassed, with practitioners instead directly sent to brainwashing centers or labor camps.

The lawyer added that there have been positive developments in Wang’s case because the villagers’ petition has shed unfavorable light on local Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials. He also knows of reports stating that the upper echelons of the CCP, including Politburo members, have questioned the reasoning behind the political campaign against Falun Gong.

Meanwhile, the lawyer said the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, the highest legal office in China, has handed the case back to the local Butou police bureau because of lack of evidence.

Click www.ept.ms/ccp-crisis to read about the most recent developments in the ongoing crisis within the Chinese communist regime. In this special topic, we provide readers with the necessary context to understand the situation. Get the RSS feed. Get the new interactive Timeline of Events. Who are the Major Players?

Liu Yan, a local government official, verified in a phone call on Saturday that the case had indeed been sent back to the police bureau for lack of evidence.

For Wang and his family, this could be a favorable development, the Beijing lawyer said, because his family can then request that he be released on bail. The lawyer added that there is a good likelihood that Wang might be released because it is an opportunity for officials with the police station to save face in light of public scrutiny.

Wang could also be cleared of all charges, but this is a more difficult feat to accomplish, the lawyer said.

The Epoch Times called the government in Butou, and local officials said they would consider the villagers’ petition.

But according to a number of local people The Epoch Times talked to, the government has been harassing villagers who signed the petition.

When Chongqing’s former top cop, Wang Lijun, fled for his life to the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu on Feb. 6, he set in motion a political storm that has not subsided. The battle behind the scenes turns on what stance officials take toward the persecution of Falun Gong. The faction with bloody hands—the officials promoted by former CCP head Jiang Zemin in order to carry out the persecution—is seeking to avoid accountability for their crimes and to continue the campaign. Other officials are refusing any longer to participate in the persecution. Events present a clear choice to the officials and citizens of China, as well as people around the world: either support or oppose the persecution of Falun Gong. History will record the choice each person makes.

Read original Chinese article.

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According to the National Earthquake Network Center, the earthquake happened at 10:22 a.m. (Courtesy of USGS NEIC (WDCS-D))

A 4.7 magnitude earthquake rocked Tangshan at 10:22 a.m. on May 28. The tremor was felt across Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei and nearby areas. Shocked Tianjin residents ran outdoors, phoning their relatives reassuring them not to worry. No related disasters have been reported.

According to the National Earthquake Network Center, the earthquake happened at 10:22 a.m. The earthquake’s epicenter was at the juncture of Tangshan City of Hebei Province, Tangshan district and Luanxian. The relatively shallow earthquake measured 8 kilometers.

According to information gathered by the American Geological Research Institute (USGS), the scale of the earthquake was 4.7, and the epicenter of the earthquake was 38.7 kilometers, which was in sharp contrast to information gathered by mainland China. The epicenter of the earthquake was 199 kilometers from Beijing.

The tremor was felt in Tangshan City, Fengnan District, Luanxian County, Tanghai County and Qinhuangdao City. Residents in Beijing and Tianjin all felt the ground shaking, but with greatly reduced intensity, compared to the epicenter. There were no reports of any damage or casualties in Beijing (based on a survey of Sina Weibo), and public transportation is running on time and on schedule.

Bloggers Recall Deadly 1976 Quake

Bloggers posted their reactions. Fruit tree: “When the 4.8-magnitude earthquake happened in Beijing, I was on my bed watching morning TV, but I felt the falter. When I was young I attended Summer Camp for Disaster Prevention, the teacher said those who had experienced earthquake would feel the quake very strong. I was living on the 4th floor. I didn’t think I had experienced one, but I did feel the falter. I felt that I didn’t have to be really scared or something, if it was bound to happen, I wouldn’t be able to escape from it anyway. I didn’t really believe that there could be such a big earthquake around Beijing, and I hope that everyone is safe!”

Recalling the July 28, 1976 Great Tangshan Earthquake which left 242,769 dead, another blogger Yu Fenghui wrote: “Haha, back then, the earthquake measured 8 at Tangshan was not even of great importance to the party leaders, this [earthquake] was nothing in comparison!”

Referred to as the Great Tangshan Earthquake, the 7.8-magnitude earthquake rocked the region on July 28, 1976. Considered the 20th Century’s deadliest earthquake, China initially reported over 655,000 dead. The figure was later reduced by officials to 242,769. The entire city was razed to the ground. Years later, those who experienced the devastating earthquake said that they could still feel the aftershocks in their hearts.

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Chinese military policemen march past the Great Hall of the People beside Tiananmen Square in Beijing on May 16. (Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images)

The father of a student who was killed in the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989 was found dead recently, having committed suicide in protest against Chinese communist authorities.  

Zha Weilin, the father of student Zha Aiguo, a Tiananmen student, hung himself on Saturday May 26. The tenor of his suicide note, reported online, was that he wished to use his death as a final protest against the regime for failing to redress the killing of his son over 20 years ago.

Zha Aiguo, the second son of Zha Weilin, was 22 years old when he was shot and killed in the June 4 massacre. Thousands of students and ordinary Chinese had gathered in Tiananmen Square and elsewhere in Beijing to protest against corruption and support democratic reform.  

Following their son’s death, Zha Weilin and his wife participated in activities held by the Tiananmen Mothers, an informal group who protest for the redress of the deaths of their sons and daughters in the massacre. The couple was subject to police intimidation and surveillance over the years because of their protest activities.  

Zha Weilin, the father, left home on May 25. His body was discovered the following afternoon. The police cordoned off the scene, removed the suicide note, and two days later cremated the body. 

Apple Daily, a Hong Kong newspaper, gave an account of Zha Weilin’s final days alive, as told by Zhang Zhenxia, his widow. At 10 a.m. before he left home, he said: “Zhenxia, I can’t wait on you anymore.” He was reportedly in a distressed state. After going to the door, he came back, then paced back and forth a dozen times. He said: “I can’t bear to leave you!” before finally leaving.  

He was found dead the next afternoon. “They did not tell me of his death until all my relatives reached my home,” Zhang the widow said. 

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Chinese President Hu Jintao (Prakash Singh/AFP/Getty Images)

For years, Chinese Communist Party chief Hu Jintao has been at odds with defense minister Liang Guanglie, who has repeatedly challenged Hu’s control of the military, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). However, recent commentaries published in the PLA Daily, the official military newspaper, were ridden with slogans to “seek progress within stability” and avoid “taking advantage of chaos to make a profit,” an indication that Hu is trying to send a warning message to his opponents in the army to heed his power.

The newspaper is published by the Central Military Commission, the regime’s highest military organ, which is headed by Hu.

Liang, a long-time friend of the recently ousted Chongqing party chief Bo Xilai, has consistently taken a hard-line approach in dealing with China’s international disputes, openly challenging Hu’s command over the army. According to an Epoch Times report published on May 3, Liang had been Hu’s most powerful opponent in the dispute over the Scarborough Reef in the South China Sea. After a Filipino war ship attempted to arrest Chinese fishermen off the coast of the island on April 10, Liang made a visit to Guangdong and Guangxi province, two regions that border the South Sea. His speech during the visit hinted at his desire for an aggressive military response: “Use the military with carefulness, gauge the situation when using the military, and use the military according to the law.”  

But if China were to take military action, it would most likely provoke a response from the U.S., as the Philippines is a long-time American ally. 

Liang’s approach is in direct opposition to Hu’s stance on Sino-American relations, which Hu made clear at the China-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogue held on May 3 and 4: “The world we live in has enough room for China, the U.S., and other countries to develop together… Both parties should have mutual trust and understanding, while acting in the spirit of equality and properly handling our differences.” 

But an article published in the PLA Daily on May 12 may suggest that Hu is finally gaining an upper hand in the fight for control over the PLA. The article gave a stern warning message to those in the military who had urged for a stronger response to the dispute with the Philippines, criticizing them of “wanting to start a war out of anger and to trigger a major conflict with the United States…provocateurs are doing this to achieve the sinister purpose of ‘fishing in muddy waters to benefit from the chaos.’” 

Liang himself also softened his rhetoric when he visited the United States from May 4 to 10. On May 7, Liang met with U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta at the Pentagon and expressed his desire for a China-U.S. relationship that echoed Hu’s long-standing policy:  “At present, China-U.S. bilateral relationship is on a new starting line in history to build a new kind of military relationship based on equality, cooperation and mutual benefit.” 

In addition, the Taipei Times reported that while responding to a question about U.S. arms sales to Taiwan in September last year, Liang said that his current visit, as well as his invitation for Panetta to visit China later this year, is representative of “a kind of turnover in the China-U.S. military relationship even after the U.S. arms sales to Taiwan.” This may be a sign that the defense minister has finally relinquished his grip over the army and is instead following Hu’s command. 

Furthermore, in response to the Pentagon’s annual report to Congress on the Chinese military, released last week, Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman, Geng Yansheng, accused the United States of exaggerating China’s defense capabilities. He stated on May 21: “The United States’ spreading of the so-called ‘Chinese military threat’ is completely unsubstantiated.” As Hu Jintao is the top military commander, this is a move that can be interpreted as Hu’s dismissal of Liang’s earlier efforts to appear friendly while on his visit to the United States, again suggesting Liang’s loss of power. 

The next day, another commentary published on the Liberation Army Daily revealed Hu’s last warning to those disloyal to him: “Abiding by party discipline is the political responsibility of every party member, the most important being the strict adherence to political discipline.”

In a previous Epoch Times report, Epoch Times columnist Li Tianxiao commented that Liang’s hard-line approach on the Scarborough Reef dispute can be seen as a way to divert Hu’s attention away from punishing his friend Bo Xilai and security chief Zhou Yongkang, both of whom are part of the “bloody-hands faction” that is involved in the persecution of Falun Gong: “If Hu does not stress the South China Sea conflict, then this can weaken Hu’s control over the military and mark Hu as bringing humiliation to the country. If Hu gets involved in the South China Sea conflict, then this will weaken and slow down the punishment of Bo Xilai and Zhou Yongkang.” 

However, given Bo Xilai’s recent disgraceful public ousting, Liang’s decision to finally follow Hu’s command may be a sign that the bloody hands faction is quickly losing its grip on the military. 

Editor’s Note: When Chongqing’s former top cop, Wang Lijun, fled for his life to the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu on Feb. 6, he set in motion a political storm that has not subsided. The battle behind the scenes turns on what stance officials take toward the persecution of Falun Gong. The faction with bloody hands—the officials former CCP head Jiang Zemin promoted in order to carry out the persecution—is seeking to avoid accountability for their crimes and to continue the campaign. Other officials are refusing any longer to participate in the persecution. Events present a clear choice to the officials and citizens of China, as well as people around the world: either support or oppose the persecution of Falun Gong. History will record the choice each person makes.

Read the original Chinese article.

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A re-enactment of the communist regime in China harvesting organs from Falun Gong practitioners at a public rally in Tokyo on Sept. 13, 2006. (Clearwisdom.net)

The U.S. State Department’s 2011 Human Rights Report, published on May 24, 2012, addressed the issue of illicit organ harvesting in China, mentioning Falun Gong practitioners and Uighurs. 

The report says: “In response to allegations that the organs of executed prisoners were harvested for transplant purposes, Vice Minister of Health Huang Jiefu in 2009 stated that inmates are not a proper source for human organs and prisoners must give written consent for their organs to be removed. Overseas and domestic media and advocacy groups continued to report instances of organ harvesting, particularly from Falun Gong practitioners and Uighurs.” 

Another action taken by the U.S. government to prevent people involved in the crime of forced organ harvesting from entering the country is a new question added last June to the USCIS non-immigrant visa application form DS-160. It asks whether the applicant “has participated in forced human organ transplantation.”

According to a State Department spokesperson, this question is based on Section 232 of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act published on Sept. 30, 2002 (approved by Congress and signed by then president George W. Bush), denying entry to the United States to Chinese and other nationals engaged in coercive organ or bodily tissue transplantation. The same section is included in United States Code 8 USC1182f. 

The recent report is the first time the U.S. government’s human rights report has mentioned live organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners and Uighurs.

Editor’s Note: When Chongqing’s former top cop, Wang Lijun, fled for his life to the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu on Feb. 6, he set in motion a political storm that has not subsided. The battle behind the scenes turns on what stance officials take toward the persecution of Falun Gong. The faction with bloody hands—the officials former CCP head Jiang Zemin promoted in order to carry out the persecution—is seeking to avoid accountability for their crimes and to continue the campaign. Other officials are refusing any longer to participate in the persecution. Events present a clear choice to the officials and citizens of China, as well as people around the world: either support or oppose the persecution of Falun Gong. History will record the choice each person makes.

Read the original Chinese article.

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The coffin of Jamphel Yeshi, who died after self-immolation on March 28 in New Delhi, is carried for cremation after a ceremony at Tsuglakhang Temple in McLeod Ganj on March 30, 2012. More than 30 Tibetans have set themselves on fire since March 2011. (Lobsang Wangyal/AFP/Getty Images)

Two Tibetans set themselves on fire in the capital city of Lhasa in the Chinese controlled Tibet Autonomous Region on Sunday.

There have been dozens of self-immolations over the last 14 months, but this is the first in the capital city. It took place near the historic Jokhang Temple in the touristed old city, according to the Free Tibet human rights group. The majority of those who have set themselves on fire have been Tibetan Buddhist monks.

Dorjee Tseten, 19, set himself on fire but it is unclear if he was a monk or not. Chinese state media reported that he died shortly afterward, according to Free Tibet. The second person was not identified and he was reported only to have been injured.

“They used a fireman’s hose to douse the fire on the two,” a Tibetan man, who wished not to be identified, told Radio Free Asia. “Some who tried to go close to the site were also detained and taken away while mobile phones of those who were close to the site were confiscated,” the man added.

An eyewitness told RFA that tourists were kept away from the site. “Within 15 minutes, the area was cleaned and not a trace of the incident was left at the site,” the person said.

“Chinese forces moved in quickly to remove any signs of disturbance and Lhasa is now under heavy military restrictions,” Free Tibet added.

A source told RFA that Chinese police and paramilitary forces, known as “chengguan,” have swarmed Lhasa.

“All those who pass through the main grounds in front of the Potala Palace are being searched and there is much tension,” another source was quoted as saying.

Following the incident, there have already been reports that Tibetans have been detained arbitrarily, particularly those from Ngaba, an autonomous prefecture in Sichuan Province. Most of the pro-Tibetan protests and self-immolations have taken place in Ngaba over the past several months.

Sunday’s incident was only the second self-immolation inside the Tibetan Autonomous Region itself. The acts are described as desperate gestures against the Communist Party’s rule over and treatment of Tibetans.

More than 30 Tibetans have set themselves on fire and thousands of protesters have taken part in demonstrations since March 2011.

Zhou Yongkang, a member of the Standing Committee of the of Communist Party. (Liu Jin/AFP/Getty Images)

China’s security chief Zhou Yongkang will soon face the end of his career in the Chinese Communist Party, a well-placed source in Beijing has told The Epoch Times.

The insider also indicated that high-level Party officials are having exploratory discussions about ending the 13-year-long persecution against Falun Gong, a popular spiritual practice.

“The culprit of the persecution of Falun Gong is Jiang Zemin. The main executers of the murders are Luo Gan and Zhou Yongkang,” the source said. He said the persecution “will remain a point of shame in history.”

Jiang Zemin and the officials he promoted through the ranks to continue his Falun Gong campaign are referred to as the “bloody-hands faction.” The group includes head of the Political and Legislative Affairs Committee Zhou Yongkang, former police chief Liu Jing, and Zhou Yongkang. As most of the members of the faction have stepped down due to old age, Zhou remains as the only member that holds a powerful position.

Rumors that emerged online, despite their cryptic presentation, seemed to tell a similar story.

On May 24, the well-known Chinese scholar Wu Zuolai posted to his Sina microblog: “Last night a friend in touch with the Chinese Communist Party inner circle said that the extreme forces of anti-humanity and anti-human rights will be eliminated. This is a done deal already. ‘The big brother’ will change history. Hope the sweet dreams will become true. Top to bottom reform will incur the least costs.”

The post coincided with a tweet by Huang Bin from Jiangxi Province. The post said, “The news that Zhou Yongkang has been removed from the head position of Political and Legislative Affairs Committee (PLAC) already reached bureau level officials.”

The original post from Wu Zuolai was deleted but has been forwarded both on Sina and Twitter.

Editor’s Note: When Chongqing’s former top cop, Wang Lijun, fled for his life to the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu on Feb. 6, he set in motion a political storm that has not subsided. The battle behind the scenes turns on what stance officials take toward the persecution of Falun Gong. The faction with bloody hands—the officials former CCP head Jiang Zemin promoted in order to carry out the persecution—is seeking to avoid accountability for their crimes and to continue the campaign. Other officials are refusing any longer to participate in the persecution. Events present a clear choice to the officials and citizens of China, as well as people around the world: either support or oppose the persecution of Falun Gong. History will record the choice each person makes.

Read original Chinese article. 

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Click www.ept.ms/ccp-crisis to read about the most recent developments in the ongoing crisis within the Chinese communist regime. In this special topic, we provide readers with the necessary context to understand the situation. Get the RSS feed. Get the new interactive Timeline of Events. Who are the Major Players?

A farmer picks tea leaves in the outskirts of Chongqing Municipality, China. (China Photos/Getty Images)

Humans have virtues, and so can tea, at least according to Liu Zhenliang, a famous tea drinker in China’s Tang Dynasty, who outlined tea with 10 virtues: dispersing depression, dispersing drowsiness, nurturing liveliness, dispersing illness, setting up virtue and courtesy, expressing respect, distinguishing different tastes, nurturing the body, practicing Dao, and refining one’s aspirations.

“Tea brings Dao and elegance,” he was often heard saying.

A well-known Japanese Buddhist priest also summarized his version of the 10 virtues of tea as following:

“Protective deities will be willing to help, parents will be respected and supported, demons will surrender, one can be always full of spirit even without much sleep, internal organs will coordinate well, diseases and disasters will be far away, friendship will be in harmony, thoughts and behaviors will be righteous, troubles and worries will cease, and one will not be in chaos in facing death.”

Tea has evolved gradually from a casual drink to a unique cultural vehicle. It now represents a pursuit of sensibility and enjoyment toward life, as well as a practice that has spiritual depths. People who are keen on tasting tea are usually abstinent, adhere to integrity, and pay attention to traditions, as well as cherish friendship, according to the book The Classic of Tea.

Tea possesses a natural character of being fresh. Apart from providing sensory enjoyment, tea is also capable of enlightening, keeping a calm mind and soul, helping character cultivation, eliminating distractions, and assisting self-cultivation. The benefits of tea culture conform to oriental philosophy of “being calm, quiet, indifferent, and independent.”

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Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao waves to media as leaves after a press conference of the National People's Congress's (NPC) annual session on March 14, 2012. (Liu Jin/AFP/Getty Images)

Despite all news about top guns in the Chinese Communist Party being carefully censored by the Great Firewall that sanitizes China’s Internet, curiously enough, rumors that Premier Wen Jiabao’s family is involved in corruption are easily viewed within China.

It’s now come out that political opponents of Wen’s have been deliberately spreading the rumors as part of contentions within the Party.

An insider recently told New Century News that Bo Xilai, the former Party Secretary of Chongqing city, was responsible for spreading the corruption charges about Wen’s wife and son. The insider said one of Bo’s supporters, who is currently under investigation, confessed that Bo personally instructed other people to spread the rumors. 

According to the insider, the scheme against Wen included spreading the rumours through 21st Century Business Herald and other well-known Chinese news websites, as well having people with close ties spread the rumors to Consulate officials in China.

The insider quoted the source as saying “Bo was pleased about the work done and commended the job as outstanding.” 

Bo’s follower under investigation also revealed that Sima Nan, a famous member of the “50-cent party,” helped to review and polish the defamation material, which was later published on an overseas website.

Sima Nan has been a vocal advocate of Bo’s and frequently discusses the allegations against Wen’s family, though he refrains from making comments on any other top leaders, such as Chinese leader Hu Jintao, Bo Xilai, or former securiy chief Zhou Yongkang. Zhou and Bo are both under investigation for a range of charges, including conspiring to overthrow Xi Jinping after his expected promotion to head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) later this year.

Click www.ept.ms/ccp-crisis to read about the most recent developments in the ongoing crisis within the Chinese communist regime. In this special topic, we provide readers with the necessary context to understand the situation. Get the RSS feed. Get the new interactive Timeline of Events. Who are the Major Players?

Wen’s retaliation came in a recent Politburo Meeting.

That was where, before a wide gathering of the CCP Politburo, Wen questioned Zhou about his connections with Bo and called for Zhou to be investigated. 

Zhou attempted to counter attack by referring to the rumors of corruption involving Wen’s wife and said that she should also be investigated. “Otherwise an investigation of me is just partial, unacceptable to other Party members,” Zhou responded, according to a well-placed source in Beijing. 

Zeng Qinghong, a former vice chairman of the country and an ally of Zhou, was said to have supported the demand for an investigation of Wen’s wife.

Wen said it was no problem for him or his family to be investigated and he would resign immediately if any were proven to be involved in embezzlement. 

Systematic rumor mongering has been a well-practiced tactic within the CCP.

The Epoch Times published an exclusive report about Google’s forced exit from China in late April, revealing how Bo and Zhou manipulated Baidu, China’s leading search engine, to spread negative news against Hu Jintao, Wen Jiabao and Xi Jinping. 

When Chongqing’s former top cop, Wang Lijun, fled for his life to the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu on Feb. 6, he set in motion a political storm that has not subsided. The battle behind the scenes turns on what stance officials take toward the persecution of Falun Gong. The faction with bloody hands—the officials former CCP head Jiang Zemin promoted in order to carry out the persecution—is seeking to avoid accountability for their crimes and to continue the campaign. Other officials are refusing any longer to participate in the persecution. Events present a clear choice to the officials and citizens of China, as well as people around the world: either support or oppose the persecution of Falun Gong. History will record the choice each person makes.

Read the original Chinese article. 

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The petition signed by 300 hundred Hebei Province households calling for the release of Falun Gong practitioner Wang Xiaodong has shaken up China's top leadership circle. (The Epoch Times)

In early April, in an unprecedented manner, 300 Hebei Province households stood up for one of their fellows, a Falun Gong practitioner who had been arrested for his beliefs and tortured. Using their names and identities, knowing they would likely feel the full weight of the Chinese regime on their backs, together they petitioned the authorities for his release. Their act of courage, which marks them ‘the Brave 300,’ has shaken the upper echelons of the Chinese communist party, and prompted intellectuals in China and abroad to add their voices to those of the villagers.

Inspired by the Brave 300, a well-known intellectual in mainland China spoke with The Epoch Times on May 25, on condition of anonymity:

“I think the significance [of this event] is it offers an opportunity to solve the ‘Falun Gong issue’ before 18th Congress. Falun Gong … should be respected under the concept of freedom of belief,” the intellectual said.

“Even CCP top officials, or internal security people, will say the same thing. We need to give [Falun Gong practitioners] freedom of belief guaranteed by the constitution. Jiang Zemin’s attack on Falun Gong is a mistake. We need to apologize at the national level, and provide them economic compensation,” he said.

Back in 1978, villagers from Xiaogang (a village near Nanjing, China) signed a secret agreement, effectively privatizing village land among themselves, which was at the time a criminal offense. Subsequently, village crop yields and income increased many-fold, and under Deng Xiaoping, the unprecedented agreement marked the beginning of rural land reform in China, and the beginning of the end of collectivized farming in the country.

The intellectual believes that the Brave 300 petition is comparable in significance to the Xiaogang villagers’ agreement. He said if Chinese authorities don’t solve the issue (of persecution against Falun Gong) at the Communist Party’s 18th Congress, he and other intellectuals would start writing about it to the highest authorities.

“I have prepared for it,” he said.

Click www.ept.ms/ccp-crisis to read about the most recent developments in the ongoing crisis within the Chinese communist regime. In this special topic, we provide readers with the necessary context to understand the situation. Get the RSS feed. Get the new interactive Timeline of Events. Who are the Major Players?

Zhong Weiguang, a Chinese scholar in Germany who is an expert on contemporary totalitarianism, said that based on the Brave 300 petition: “We can see that Chinese people are fed up with the practices of the communist party.”

While the Brave 300 are unique in using their real names and thumbprints on their petition, Zhong notes that in the past there were a number of other petitions supporting Falun Gong practitioners. 

“Chinese people already know that Falun Gong is a peaceful cultivation group, and at the same time they believe that ordinary people can create a positive change in society,” he said.

According to Zhong, Zhou Yongkang and the Bloody Hands faction (those directly responsible for the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners), are now effectively in the same situation as the ‘Gang of Four,’ the group who organized the Cultural Revolution in China in its latter stages.

Both groups were at the forefront of persecuting the general public. The public hated both groups for it. Ultimately, the ‘Gang of Four’ was purged by Deng Xiaoping, who aligned himself with the will of the people.

When Chongqing’s former top cop, Wang Lijun, fled for his life to the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu on Feb. 6, he set in motion a political storm that has not subsided. The battle behind the scenes turns on what stance officials take toward the persecution of Falun Gong. The faction with bloody hands—the officials former CCP head Jiang Zemin promoted in order to carry out the persecution—is seeking to avoid accountability for their crimes and to continue the campaign. Other officials are refusing any longer to participate in the persecution. Events present a clear choice to the officials and citizens of China, as well as people around the world: either support or oppose the persecution of Falun Gong. History will record the choice each person makes.

Read the original Chinese article. 

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Xi Jinping waves to the media upon his arrival at Shannon airport, in Ireland, on Feb. 18, 2012. (Peter Muhly/AFP/Getty Images)

Extensive media coverage of the May 24, ten-year anniversary of the death of Xi Zhongxun, father of Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping—who is slated for the office of party secretary and president this fall—signals Beijing’s right turn.

Several Chinese media referred to Xi Zhongxun as a person who never committed a “leftist” mistake. Other pundits commented that Beijing is using the opportunity to further strike at “residual poisons” of leftist ideologies and policies promoted by Bo Xilai, the recently disgraced party secretary of Chongqing. 

An interview by Jinan Daily with Gu Juchuan, Xi Zhongxun’s biographer, titled “10th Anniversary of Xi Zhongxun’s Death” appeared on the front pages of China’s state mouthpiece Xinhua Net and People’s Daily Online. 

Hong Kong-based Wen Wei Po published a 2002 Xinhua report introducing the life of Xi Zhongxun, which was republished on its website under the title “No Leftist Mistake Committed in His Life.” 

Xi Zhongxun almost lost his life in a purging campaign during the Cultural Revolution when he fell victim to a power struggle and was sentenced to 16 years in prison. 

Xi was redressed in 1982 under Hu Yaobang, a Chinese leader and Comrade of Deng Xiaoping who served as both Chairman and Party General Secretary. Hu himself was purged and recalled a number of times during the Cultural Revolution. In 1987 Hu was forced to resign as General Secretary by political opponents who blamed an escalation of student protests on what they called Hu’s “bourgeois liberalization.” 

Under Deng Xiaoping, Xi was hailed as one of the “Eight Great Eminent Officials.” After the Cultural Revolution, Xi became a pioneer in creating the first special economic zone in Southern China’s Guangdong Province. 

Xi once voiced strong support for Hu Yaobang against the leftist faction within the Chinese Communist Party. In the early 1980s, Xi and Vice Premier Wan Li defeated a political coup launched against Hu Yaobang by Bo Yibo, the father of Bo Xilai. 

Later, when Deng deposed Hu Yaobang, Xi again strongly opposed attacks directed against Hu by Bo Yibo and his clan. These historical events were recorded in a series of articles and memoirs by Hu’s former assistant, Lin Mu. Lin praised Xi Zhongxun for his kindness and integrity. 

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Present Leaders’ Legacy

Xi Zhongxun was a liberal; his sense of humanity reflected that of Hu Yaobang and Zhao Ziyang, who succeeded Hu as General Secretary and carried on with many of Hu’s economic and political reforms. 

Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao were both promoted by Hu Yaobang and owe him a favor; they are thus also close to and respectful of Xi Zhongxun’s memory. Xi Zhongxun was a mentor for both Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao. As such, it is no wonder that Hu and Wen have favored Xi Jinping. 

When Chongqing’s former top cop, Wang Lijun, fled for his life to the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu on Feb. 6, he set in motion a political storm that has not subsided. The battle behind the scenes turns on what stance officials take toward the persecution of Falun Gong. The faction with bloody hands—the officials former CCP head Jiang Zemin promoted in order to carry out the persecution—is seeking to avoid accountability for their crimes and to continue the campaign. Other officials are refusing any longer to participate in the persecution. Events present a clear choice to the officials and citizens of China, as well as people around the world: either support or oppose the persecution of Falun Gong. History will record the choice each person makes.

Read the original Chinese article. 

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Chinese President Hu Jintao inspects the People's Liberation Army Garrison during a visit to the Stonecutters Naval Base in Hong Kong on June 30, 2007. (Mike Clarke-Pool/Getty Images)

On May 23 Chinese Communist Party leader Hu Jintao and his probable successor Xi Jinping held the Beijing Military Area Command’s 10th Party Congress, during which Hu demanded military officers remain absolutely obedient and loyal to the Party.

Major military chiefs attended the conference, including the Central Military Commission’s Vice Chairman Guo Boxiong, who canceled a five-day visit to Japan and South Korea in order to attend. Guo’s schedule change was announced in state media on May 22, two days before his planned take-off

Guo’s former subordinate, current Commander of the Beijing Military Area Command Fang Fenghui, also attended the conference.They are now understood to be firm supporters of Hu Jintao in the military, having both publicly pledged allegiance to Hu since the ousting of Politburo member Bo Xilai.

Fang and Guo are both from the powerful northwestern military region. Guo was promoted during Jiang Zemin’s era, but has openly supported Hu since the beginning of 2012. Fang was raised to lead the Beijing Military Area Command in 2007 as the youngest commander at the time. He was honored as the chief commander for the 2009 military review, and accompanied Hu to review troops. Fang was promoted to general in 2010. “You can say Hu Jintao promoted him,” said overseas political commentator Wen Zhao. “Any promotion and transfer of senior officers in the Beijing Military Region must be approved by Hu.”

The recent conference is the latest of a series of efforts by the Hu government to remove obstacles in the military.

By calling a conference and having officers declare loyalty to the central Party leadership, Hu is shoring up his support in the military after the threat to his leadership posed by Bo Xilai and Zhou Yongkang, the security czar. The two are political allies and part of the faction around Jiang Zemin, the former leader of the Party who promoted them for their willingness to carry out the persecution of the popular Falun Gong spiritual practice, a bloody campaign that Jiang personally led. Zhou and Jiang both have, or had, deep connections in the military and Hu seeks to erode this with large gatherings featuring former Jiang military loyalists declaring allegiance to Hu’s leadership. .

When Chongqing’s former top cop, Wang Lijun, fled for his life to the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu on Feb. 6, he set in motion a political storm that has not subsided. The battle behind the scenes turns on what stance officials take toward the persecution of Falun Gong. The faction with bloody hands—the officials former CCP head Jiang Zemin promoted in order to carry out the persecution—is seeking to avoid accountability for their crimes and to continue the campaign. Other officials are refusing any longer to participate in the persecution. Events present a clear choice to the officials and citizens of China, as well as people around the world: either support or oppose the persecution of Falun Gong. History will record the choice each person makes.

Read the original Chinese article. 

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 In a recent meeting, Wen Jiabao (R) proposed putting Zhou Yongkang (L) under investigation. (Liu Jin/AFP/Getty Images & Feng Li/Getty Images)

The political struggle within the Chinese Communist Party has shifted into China’s property markets, with Zhou Yongkang and his faction attempting to set up the stage for political instability by artificially inflating China’s property bubble, according to a source. In response, leaders Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao have attempted to reign in the market’s rapid growth through a series of property tightening measures that are clearly unpopular with local governments.

The Epoch Times has learned that Zhou and his key faction members want to accelerate the bursting of China’s property bubble to foment chaos and make it easier for hardliners to assert themselves. If that failed, the high housing prices alone would turn people against the Hu-Wen government, a source said.

During the explosion in real estate prices over the past decade the Political and Legislative Affairs Committee (PLAC), headed by Zhou since 2007, has used armed police and local roughs to demolish houses and clear land for sale to developers, driving up housing prices. Local governments also earn a large portion of their revenue through land sales.

Security forces also use the court system to auction real estate to companies who they then receive kickbacks from. These practices have brought money into the pockets of Zhou and his followers, the source said.

A recently disclosed case in Beihai City of Guangxi Province is illustrative. According to Boxun, an overseas dissident media, a syndicate of officials from the local judicial apparatus, including some high-ranking PLAC officials, have used a local intermediate court to auction real estate companies who they receive kickbacks from. 

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The Beihai Intermediate People’s Court sold properties at prices far below their market values to companies who bribed court officials. In a 2007 case, the court sold the city’s unfinished highest building at a price almost seven million yuan below market value. The vice head of the court was later found to have accepted a one million yuan bribe from the company that purchased the property. Developers then sell the houses onto the market.

There were 100 similar cases from 2000 to 2009, Boxun says, with 60 of them sold at below 50 percent of the market price. The “Dongbei gang,” as the syndicate was colloquially referred to, were rumored to have made over 10 billion yuan through such transactions. As a result of the market manipulation real estate prices in Beihai increased at a very rapid pace, Boxun says.

Zhou, the right-hand man of former Party head Jiang Zemin, is widely believed to be at the brink of losing power following the fall of his associate Bo Xilai. 

A source in Beijing told The Epoch Times that in a recent meeting of the CCP’s Politburo, Wen Jiabao proposed putting Zhou under investigation.

Afterwards, The Epoch Times learned that Zhou Yongkang, Zeng Qinghong (the head of the National People’s Congress), and their supporters held another meeting to discuss countermeasures against Wen. One of the measures was to inflate housing prices.

Hu and Wen have tried to keep prices under control. Speaking during a May 20 economic seminar in Wuhan City with senior officials from six provinces, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao urged local governments to carry out property tightening measures launched by the central government to stabilize China’s property market.

Since the interests of local officials are deeply planted in the real estate market, the central government’s property tightening policies have met with resistance, and have had little effect on housing prices. 

Though stringent home purchase restrictions implemented in 2011 slowed housing price growth to a degree, local governments sought ways to bypass the restrictions. Since July 2011, 33 cities have launched programs aimed at negating or relaxing the purchase restrictions, which are likely to undermine the tightening policy. The source, who could not identify himself, said that this resistance by local governments was encouraged by Zhou Yongkang.

When Chongqing’s former top cop, Wang Lijun, fled for his life to the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu on Feb. 6, he set in motion a political storm that has not subsided. The battle behind the scenes turns on what stance officials take toward the persecution of Falun Gong. The faction with bloody hands—the officials former CCP head Jiang Zemin promoted in order to carry out the persecution—is seeking to avoid accountability for their crimes and to continue the campaign. Other officials are refusing any longer to participate in the persecution. Events present a clear choice to the officials and citizens of China, as well as people around the world: either support or oppose the persecution of Falun Gong. History will record the choice each person makes.

Read the original Chinese article. 

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An image of Wang Xiaodong, supplied by family, before his arrest. (The Epoch Times)

The case against Wang Xiaodong, the detained Falun Gong practitioner from rural China whose arrest inspired 300 fellow villagers to petition the Communist Communist Party calling for his release, has been returned to the local Public Security Bureau after the prosecutor said it lacked evidence, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The individual said that the Botou City public security officers were being asked to “re-examine” the case because of an apparent evidentiary deficit. The pressure of public and Internet attention is a possible cause for the prosecutor sending the case back, though whether security forces will proceed with persecuting Wang is still unclear. He is currently still in custody.

Wang Xiaodong was arrested on Feb. 25 after police discovered compact discs discussing the beliefs and state-led persecution of the Chinese spiritual practice Falun Gong. Over the following month 300 villagers from Zhouguantun, the village where Wang resides, signed a petition initiated by Wang’s sister.

The petition, which included a letter to the officials that condemned the police and demanded Wang’s release, caused turmoil among top leaders in China, according to a source who provided the information to The Epoch Times on condition of anonymity. In the past week, police have been on a desperate search in the village for everyone who signed the petition, and asked those they found to sign an anti-Falun Gong statement, and a declaration that the previous petition was only signed out of sympathy for Wang’s child and elderly mother.

Wang Wensheng and Gao Guiqi, chief and vice chief of the Domestic Security Department in the local Public Security Bureau in Botou City, are the key individuals that led the persecution of Wang Xiaodong and his family, according to villagers. The Domestic Security Department is the branch of the Public Security Bureau in charge of surveilling and punishing dissidents, Falun Gong practitioners, Tibetans, members of house or family churches, and others considers enemies of the state.

The department is apparently aware of the public attention now being shone on its operations. “I do not accept interviews, nor do I issue press releases. If you want to learn about the situation, you come here,” said an official from Botou’s domestic security team, who declined to provide his name. The official did admit that Wang was under detention.

A government official from Fuzhen Town, Botou City, where Wang’s village is situated, said that he knew about Wang Xiaodong’s situation. He would not provide telephone numbers of other officials. 

Wang Yan (alias), a resident of the village, witnessed unidentified individuals lingering outside the home of Wang Xiaomei, Wang Xiaodong’s younger sister, and said that Wang’s relatives were followed by cars when they were out. Wang Xiaomei, who helped gather signatures for the petition, is now running from the police after being threatened with arrest. 

The persecution of Falun Gong, a popular Chinese spiritual practice, was initiated by former regime leader Jiang Zemin in 1999. Since then practitioners of the traditional discipline have been arrested, sentenced to labor camps or prisons, and subject to torture. They now constitute the world’s largest group of prisoners of conscience, according to the Falun Dafa Information Center, which reports that 450,000 practitioners are held in detention facilities at any given time and 3,369 have been killed in custody, often due to torture. 

Read the Chinese article here. 

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It Will Change History’s Course

Two pages of the petition (L) signed by 300 hundred households from Zhouguantun Village, Botou City, Hebei Province calling for the release of Falun Gong practitioner Wang Xiaodong.  (The Epoch Times)

A source close to the top leadership told The Epoch Times that several top Party authorities think this incident will change history’s course, as in the story of Xiaogang Village during the Deng Xiaoping era.

In 1978, 18 villagers in Xiaogang in east Anhui Province risked their lives to sign a secret agreement that divided their People’s Commune-owned farmland into pieces for each family to cultivate. Their pact is widely regarded as the beginning of the period of rapid economic growth and industrialization that China has experienced in the thirty years since. The historic document with the villagers’ red thumbprints is on display in the National Museum of China. The Zhouguantun Village petitioners also used red wax to mark their thumbprints.

The source said many top Party leaders, including Xi Jinping (presumptive next Party leader), Li Keqiang (vice premier) and Zhu Rongji (former premier), are talking about the petition, and some of the top leaders expressed that they would like to resolve it.

Wang was a well-liked teacher in the village. His home was ransacked and he was charged with producing and distributing compact disks containing information exposing the persecution of Falun Gong. The peaceful meditation practice also known as Falun Dafa, has been maligned by the Communist Party since it began its campaign against the group in 1999. Villagers who signed the petition to release Wang were harassed and intimidated by security forces. They were pressured to retract their statements.

According to an internationally acclaimed intellectual who gave an interview to The Epoch Times on May 25 under the alias of Qin Ming (for safety), a number of Beijing intellectuals are discussing writing a joint letter asking the Party Central to resolve the Falun Gong issue and to confer constitutional protection to Falun Gong.

Qin said the significance of the petition is it offers an opportunity to solve the Falun Gong issue before the upcoming 18th National Congress. If action is not taken, they would still persist, Qin said.

Cases of people standing up to protect Falun Gong practitioners have become increasingly frequent in China.

In late 2011, 40 villagers in the Chaoyang area of Liaoning Province signed a petition requesting the release of fellow villager Zhang Guoxiang, a Falun Gong practitioner who was illegally detained by local authorities for his beliefs.

In September 2011, around 2,300 villagers in Changli County, Qinghuandao City, Hebei Province signed a petition to demand the release from jail of a Falun Gong practitioner named Zhou Xiangyang.

On March 27, five attorneys vigorously defended four Falun Gong practitioners in the Acheng District Court in Harbin City in Heilongjiang Province, with all four practitioners entering pleas of not guilty. The attorneys argued that the citizens of China have a constitutional right to religious freedom.

According to one of the attorneys Dong Qianyong, many law enforcement agents have become reluctant to persecute Falun Gong practitioners since Chongqing Public Security Bureau chief Wang Lijun was ousted from his position after his failed defection attempt at the U.S. Consulate on Feb. 6.

He told The Epoch Times that the situation is improving in China. “Many people have been making efforts to change the situation, not only attorneys, but also police,” he said.

Hu Jun, the director of Human Rights Campaign in China, told The Epoch Times, the petition of 300 villagers has demonstrated that Falun Gong practitioners have awakened many Chinese and inspired them to take action.

Political commentator Cao Changqing said the Zhouguantun Village petition demonstrates that things are changing in China—people are daring to speak out and demand justice.

On May 15, The Epoch Times called the Fuzhen Township’s office, which oversees Zhouguantun Village, but the person who answered the phone was not forthcoming. The Epoch Times called the office again on May 25. This time the person who answered the phone said Wang Xiaodong was still in custody, but added that the township authorities are reconsidering the villagers’ petition.

Read the original Chinese article.

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An image of Wang Xiaodong, supplied by family, before his arrest. (The Epoch Times)

An appeal by 300 village households calling for the release of a detained Falun Gong practitioner has shaken the upper echelons of the Chinese regime, according to an inside source, prompting reflection within the regime about the sense of an often violent political campaign against a popular spiritual practice that has gone on for nearly 13 years.

Earlier this month 300 villagers from Zhouguantun Village, Botou City, Hebei Province, as representatives of their households signed a petition using their full names and thumbprints, calling for the release of a man named Wang Xiaodong, who was being held in custody because of his spiritual beliefs.

Wang was charged with producing and distributing compact discs containing information exposing the persecution of Falun Gong, and the actual beliefs of the Falun Gong practice, which has been maligned by the Communist Party since it began its campaign against the group in 1999. Wang’s house was raided by National Security police. His arrest left his 7-year-old son and elderly mother, who is in her seventies, to fend for themselves.

Villagers were outraged at the affair, given that Wang was a well-known teacher in the village, known to and respected by residents.

After signing the petition villagers were subsequently harassed and intimidated by security forces, who attempted to make them retract their statements.

The petition resonated within Party Central, however, setting off an intense debate about the Communist Party’s costly and unsuccessful campaign against Falun Gong, according to a well-placed source.

“Many top executives are talking about this event and most of them are urging for a peaceful resolution. Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang have consulted Zhu Rongji [a former premier), who said the government’s handling of the 4.25 event was a complete failure. Li Ruihuan himself practiced Falun Gong and has been a clear supporter of Falun Gong,” the insider said. The reference to “4.25” means April 25, 1999, when over 10,000 Falun Gong practitioners gathered outside the petition office in Beijing asking the Party to stop harassing Falun Gong adherents.

The insider said that relatively liberal Party officials, like Zhu Rongji and Li Ruihuan, had tried to stop the persecution but could not.

The source, who spoke to The Epoch Times on condition of anonymity because revealing state secrets can result in the death penalty in China, said that local officials handling Wang Xiaodong’s case have been frustrated and exhausted since the petition was submitted. They had not expected an outcome so serious, and their higher-ups have instructed them to use all their resources to track down and retrieve the original letter.

“With the petition by these 300 villagers, the Communist Party’s efforts to demonize Falun Gong will soon be reversed,” the source said.

Read the original Chinese article.

When Chongqing’s former top cop, Wang Lijun, fled for his life to the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu on Feb. 6, he set in motion a political storm that has not subsided. The battle behind the scenes turns on what stance officials take toward the persecution of Falun Gong. The faction with bloody hands—the officials former CCP head Jiang Zemin promoted in order to carry out the persecution—is seeking to avoid accountability for their crimes and to continue the campaign. Other officials are refusing any longer to participate in the persecution. Events present a clear choice to the officials and citizens of China, as well as people around the world: either support or oppose the persecution of Falun Gong. History will record the choice each person makes.

The Epoch Times publishes in 35 countries and in 19 languages. Subscribe to our e-newsletter.

Click www.ept.ms/ccp-crisis to read about the most recent developments in the ongoing crisis within the Chinese communist regime. In this special topic, we provide readers with the necessary context to understand the situation. Get the RSS feed. Get the new interactive Timeline of Events. Who are the Major Players?

A statue of Confucius in Changchun, China. (China Photos/Getty Images)

A directive by the U.S. Department of State on Confucius Institutes has caused a fierce media response in China, with official and semi-official websites giving negative coverage to the news, and a long editorial in People’s Daily, the flagship newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), expressing “shock” and “confusion.”

The State Department advised on May 17 that Confucius Institutes (CIs) have been improperly using people designated as academic staff for ordinary K-12 teaching duties, and that these people would need to go back to China and get a new visa at the end of the school term in June.

The current staffing practices are “not in compliance with the Exchange Visitor Program regulations,” the State Department said.

Sina News, a major web portal in China, saw the policy as a direct assault on Confucius Institutes (CI), which are backed by the regime and are part of the CCP’s overseas propaganda apparatus, according to experts. The article said that the regulations may have been “motivated by political forces.”

“In American society … there exist some political forces that have been pointing fingers at the Confucius Institute, discrediting their teaching activities,” the opinion article said.

An article on Sohu, another major web portal, intoned that “obstacles directed at Confucius Institutes will not be good for Sino-U.S. relations.”

Ms. Ruan, a former teacher who spoke to the pro-Beijing Phoenix TV, based in Hong Kong, said “This expulsion was a surprise. What was the reason? Does it have something to do with the [U.S.] election?”

The term “Confucius Institute” became the second most popular topic on Sina Weibo, a Chinese version of Twitter, on May 24, with close to 50,000 mentions. Opinion on the matter was divided.

“Haha! The world’s police are also being stingy,” commented one user.

Others questioned the point of CIs in the first place: “The teachers are coming back because of visa regulations. Isn’t that quite normal? … The Confucius Institutes have been getting funds from the government. It’s better that we take the resources to build decent classrooms and cook enough lunch for children in poor rural areas,” wrote one netizen.

In response to the press, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei said only that “the Chinese authorities are communicating with the U.S.” over the issue, according to 163.com, a Chinese news website.

The State Department’s guidance to CIs said that holders of J-1 visas, the category that teachers at CIs belong to, are only permitted to engage in research and academic assistance at accredited institutions. Although CIs are sponsored by and based at U.S. colleges, most of their language classes serve K-12 graders. Now, J-1 visa holders will no longer be allowed to be used as teaching staff.

Presently established in 96 countries, the Confucius Institute is “a public institution affiliated with the Chinese Ministry of Education … committed to providing Chinese language and cultural teaching resources and services worldwide,” according to the website of the Communist Party-affiliated body, Hanban, that oversees it. The Hanban is led by Liu Yandong, a member of the Communist Party’s politburo whose previous brief was to head the United Front Work Department.

CIs are criticized as tools for Communist Party propaganda and soft-power abroad, and they export discriminatory practices against persecuted groups in China. Volunteer teachers at the institutes are not allowed to have any record of practicing Falun Gong, a Chinese spiritual practice that is suppressed by the Party, according to guidelines online.

Sonia Zhou, who applied to be a teacher at one of the organization’s branches in Canada, said that during training, teachers were instructed to lay down the Party line when asked sensitive political questions by students. This included, for example, that “Taiwan is part of China, and Tibet has been ‘liberated’” by the Chinese communist regime.

Read the original Chinese article.

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Party Secretary of the Guangdong Province Wang Yang attends the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), on March 13, 2012, in Beijing, China. (Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)

A progressive Chinese media outlet has published a report on the Great Famine under former Communist leader Mao Zedong, a part of China’s history that has been tightly covered up for the past 50 years.

Based on Chinese Communist Party archives, an estimated 45 million Chinese starved to death nationwide between 1958 and 1962 as a result of Mao’s “Great Leap Forward” policies that required peasants to abandon their fields and work in steel production.

The report, published by Guangzhou-based Southern People Weekly on May 18, was titled “Remembering the Great Famine with Honesty and Conscience: Memories of the Great Famine of 1959-1961.” It said: “A disaster like the Great Famine, so rarely seen in human history, yet it was neither properly recorded nor properly understood … that fact, like the disaster itself, is a mistake mankind should never have committed.”

Southern People Weekly is owned by Southern Media Group in Guangdong Province and is considered by many to be China’s most liberal and outspoken paper. An investigative report of the Great Famine, a topic long considered taboo by Chinese media, not only reflects the Chinese public’s desire to understand their tumultuous history of the past 60 years under communist rule, but could also be an indication of political reform.

Wang Yang, the reform-minded and recently re-elected party chief of Guangdong province, paid a visit to Southern Media Group’s press center when its reporters were covering the annual two meetings of the National People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference earlier this year.

Wang’s visit is an indication of the close relationship between the liberal media company and the prominent pro-reform member of Hu Jintao’s faction. Wang is likely to be appointed to the nine-member Politburo Standing Committee this fall and will become one of the top cadres in the country.

The Southern People Weekly report was reposted days later by the popular web portals NetEase and Sohu as well as on China’s microblogging service Sina Weibo.

Several other Chinese media have also recently reported on the Great Famine. In April, the Economic Observer ran a report titled “The Great Leap Elegy,” which was widely reposted by Chinese netizens and the major Chinese web portal, Tencent.

VOA noted that the three-year famine has become a hotly debated topic in the Internet war between leftists and liberals, as well as pro-Mao and anti-Mao netizens.

Read the original Chinese article.

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Tea has been picked and processed in China for more than 4,000 years. (Lilly Wang/The Epoch Times)

Written by the “Sage of Tea,” Lu Yu (733-804 AD), the world famous book The Classic of Tea (also known as the Tea Bible or Cha Jing in Chinese) contains three scrolls and 10 chapters with a total of about 7,000 Chinese characters. It is the very first monograph on tea in the world.

The first scroll includes the first three chapters:
Chapter 1: Origin: Expounds the origin of tea in China and includes the beginning, nomenclature, and quality of tea and specific features of tea trees.
Chapter 2: Tools: Describes tools for the picking and making of tea.
Chapter 3: Making: Tells about the making of a variety of tea.

The second scroll includes only one chapter:
Chapter 4: Tea utensils for both brewing and drinking tea.

The third scroll includes the last six chapters:
Chapter 5: Brewing. It includes the skill of brewing tea and the quality of water in different areas.
Chapter 6: Drinking: It explains the origin of the customs in tea-drinking.
Chapter 7: History: With anecdotes about the health benefits of tea.
Chapter 8: Producing Regions: It analyses the quality of production from the eight tea growing regions.
Chapter 9: Simplification of the process and utensils that could be omitted under specific circumstances.
Chapter 10: Illustrations for the above contents .

The Classic of Tea systematically summarizes the experience of the picking, making, and brewing of tea, and collectively compiles the history, skill, tools, and drinking of tea up until the Tang Dynasty. It comprehensively describes the origin, production, and brewing of tea, as well as disseminating the scientific knowledge of tea and promoting the production and development of tea. It lays a solid foundation of the Dao of tea in China.

The Classic of Tea is the most complete monograph on tea in Chinese records and it has been regarded around the world as an encyclopedia of tea. It has had great effects on the production and development of tea ever since.

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Villagers in the Chaoyang area of Liaoning province petitioned for the release of Zhang Guoxiang, a Falun Gong practitioner who was illegally detained for brainwashing sessions in October 2011, in addition to having his possessions confiscated. (The Epoch TImes)

As Zhang Guoxiang languishes in a brainwashing facility while officials attempt to strip him of his spiritual belief, he is probably unaware that a whole village is risking all to free him.

Cases like Zhang’s are becoming more frequent in China, as people begin to cast off their fear of the regime and stand up for the oppressed and persecuted.

In a bold example of solidarity against authoritarian oppression, villagers in the Chaoyang area of Liaoning Province signed a petition requesting the release of fellow resident Zhang, a Falun Gong practitioner who was illegally detained by local authorities for his beliefs. 

Zhang was arrested at his workplace in nearby Dalian City on June 29, 2011. He was repeatedly tortured at the local police station and his home ransacked. Plainclothes police took his laptop, bank card, cell phone, and other personal belongings, as well as a sum of 6,000 yuan (US$945).

On October 12, Zhang was transferred to the Fushunluotai Village brainwashing facility in Fushun City, Liaoning Province. He is detained there to this day. 

His elderly mother, who is blind, was left with no one to take care of her. 

Zhang’s nephew, Zhang Guobo, wrote a letter to the villagers, appealing for their help: “People who know my uncle all know that he is a good person … I hope all of you who are upright and kindhearted can help us, and help my uncle return home soon.”

Almost 40 villagers subsequently signed a petition requesting Zhang to be released and his money returned. The petition said Zhang was the sole provider for his family, so he should be released as soon as possible.

A week later, with the help of villagers, Zhang’s mother, nephew, and other relatives traveled to the National Security Brigade in Jinzhou District, Dalian City, to submit the signatures and stamped seals. In a small victory, most of the money was returned to the family. However, Zhang is still detained.

Cases like Zhang’s are popping up around the country. This week, The Epoch Times reported that nearly 300 villagers in Zhouguantun Village, Hebei Province, signed their names to demand the release of a Falun Gong practitioner who was arrested for having a Falun Gong compact disk in his home in February.

The significance of this particular appeal is that the villagers signed using their real names, their thumbprints, and a Party village committee stamp being placed on the petition.

Last year, villagers called for the release from jail of their friend, Zhou Xiangyang. Their letter said the guards and inmates who applied the “floor anchor” torture to him in Gangbei Prison should be investigated and dealt with according to the law.

Click www.ept.ms/ccp-crisis to read about the most recent developments in the ongoing crisis within the Chinese communist regime. In this special topic, we provide readers with the necessary context to understand the situation. Get the RSS feed. Get the new interactive Timeline of Events. Who are the Major Players?

This case garnered attention from Amnesty International, which released press releases, Urgent Action alerts, and lobbied for media coverage. 

Catherine Baber, Amnesty International’s deputy director for Asia, was quoted in a press release.
“This shows that the Chinese public is aware of and condemns persecution of people for their spiritual beliefs. It’s high time that the Chinese authorities heed this call and end their brutal suppression of the Falun Gong group,” she said.

When Chongqing’s former top cop, Wang Lijun, fled for his life to the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu on Feb. 6, he set in motion a political storm that has not subsided. The battle behind the scenes turns on what stance officials take toward the persecution of Falun Gong. The faction with bloody hands—the officials former CCP head Jiang Zemin promoted in order to carry out the persecution—is seeking to avoid accountability for their crimes and to continue the campaign. Other officials are refusing any longer to participate in the persecution. Events present a clear choice to the officials and citizens of China, as well as people around the world: either support or oppose the persecution of Falun Gong. History will record the choice each person makes. 

chinareports@epochtimes.com

The Epoch Times publishes in 35 countries and in 19 languages. Subscribe to our e-newsletter.

Read the original Chinese article.

Chinese fisherman displays a bountiful catch while consumers worry about possible contamination. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)

Fears about water quality are rocketing throughout Chinese cyberspace after a Beijing environmentalist disclosed that tap water in China is contaminated with contraceptive compounds.

Though officialdom rushed to downplay the risks, citizens have once again broached their ever-present worries about food safety.

Liangjie Dong, a former researcher in molecular biosciences and bioengineering at the University of Hawaii, blogged on May 16 that China has the highest consumption of contraceptive pills; they are not only taken by people, but are also used in fisheries and aquaculture.

Dong cited an article, titled “Assessment of Source Water Contamination by Estrogenic Disrupting Compounds in China,” which was published by the Journal of Environmental Science in February 2012. The article said that after screening estrogenic activities in 23 source water samples from six main river systems in China, the analysis showed that all samples showed significant estrogenic activity, with the highest level in the Yangtze River Delta.

Dong also posted a table from the article, which compared aquatic environments in China with those of Germany, Greece, Portugal, the United States, Australia, and South Korea. The data shows that China’s six major water systems all contain a higher level of estrogenic compounds than other countries.

According to the article, the detection of estrogenic disrupting compounds (EDCs) in Chinese water supplies has led to rising concerns about the health risks associated with these compounds.

“Estrogenic activity has been detected in effluents of drinking water treatment plants in China, resulting in increased risks to human health. When these compounds enter the environment, they can cause male reproductive dysfunction in wildlife,” the article said.

According to an article published in Chemosphere on Sept. 18, 2006, “EDCs are contaminants that may be hormonally active at low concentrations and are emerging as a major concern for water quality … when organisms are exposed to them, these contaminants function as estrogens.” The article also said these compounds can negatively affect humans and wildlife.

Dong’s message has gone viral. Some netizens fear that consuming tap water will cause infertility.

Soon afterward, a number of Chinese media quickly published articles to refute Dong’s findings.

Deputy director of gynecology and obstetrics of the Zhongda Hospital at Southeast University, Peng Danhong, told Modern Express that the level of EDCs in tap water is so low that it is negligible, and there is no contraceptive effect.

A supervisor in the Shanghai Water Resources Bureau told the Shanghai Evening Post that there is no conclusion on whether EDCs are harmful.

However, an environmental expert from Nanjing University told Modern Express that it is difficult to handle new pollutants such as EDCs with current water treatment methods in China.

Dong also cited the Journal of Environmental Science’s article as saying that traditional water treatment processes, such as chlorination, coagulation, and sedimentation, do not adequately remove EDCs.

Many people are dissatisfied with the experts’ claims. An Internet user from Zhuhai City in Guangdong Province said, “An expert says that the risk is negligible. I know eating this substance will not kill a person immediately, but its impact is long-term and destructive.”

Blogger “Fan Xiaoming” satirically describes how Chinese are consuming unsafe food on a daily basis: “I get up in the morning, buy a dough stick deep-fried with gutter oil and drink a cup of milk with melamine; at noon, I eat lean meat powder pork fried with pesticide-tainted chives. After work, I’ll then buy a fish that was fed contraceptive chemicals. At night, I’ll swig down a bottle of Coke containing chlorine. But yet, since I swallow a few toxic capsules whenever I feel sick and find myself still miraculously alive, I wonder when I became Superman!”

Read the original Chinese article.

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A couple sharing a bicycle ride past electricity pylons beneath an overpass in Beijing on Nov. 15, 2010. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images)

The nationwide consumption of electricity has always been an important barometer for evaluating China’s economy—Li Keqiang, the vice premier, once said he looks at electricity usage rather than official statistics—and since the beginning of this year, things have not looked good: The rate of increase in electricity consumption has been falling, reaching a new low for the month of April.

The figures come along with news that employers in the power, steel, and communications industries are reducing their work forces and that a number of state-owned enterprises are imposing salary freezes.

The Chinese National Energy Bureau on May 14 published new data showing that total electricity consumption was less than 390,000 gigawatt-hours (GWh)--an increase of only 3.74 percent from the same period last year. The growth rate has been decreasing for the past two months, decreasing 3.26 percent compared to March, and is the lowest in the past 16 months.

From April 2010 to April 2011, total electricity consumption in China increased by over 11 percent, and industrial electricity consumption increased by 12.1 percent. From April 2011 to April 2012, industrial electricity consumption only increased by 1.55 percent—more than a 10 percent drop in growth rate compared to the previous year. The March industrial electricity consumption increased 3.8 percent compared to the same period last year, which is also a near 10 percent drop compared to the 13.41 percent growth rate in 2011.

The decline in electricity consumption goes along with a general decline in the country’s economy, according to economists and analysts.

A preliminary reading of the HSBC China Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index, a measure of activity in the manufacturing sector, was at 48.7 for the month of May, down from 49.3 in April. It would be the seventh month in a row that the index has shown contraction (figures below 50 indicate a slow-down from the previous month, while above 50 indicates growth.)

Chen Xiaonong, a U.S.-based economist and former chief-editor of Modern China Studies, said in an interview with The Epoch Times that the Chinese economy may be facing a recession. “China’s economy was supposed to be consumer-driven, but it was led on a deformed track by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP),” he said, adding that with a population of 1.3 billion, China’s consumers could easily drive “a large part of the country’s economic growth.”

Instead the economy had come to rely on real estate and urban infrastructure investment, Cheng said. “Once the real estate and urban infrastructure construction stops, it means that the need created by the government is gone, so [these critical] enterprises are all dumbfounded,” he said.

In addition to electricity, steel, and communications, the pressure of reducing employment also threatens enterprises in many places. A netizen on the Tianya electronic message forum referred to lay-offs, reduced wages, and reduced hours by state-owned enterprises—information which is not publicly disclosed.

One user with the pseudonym “Lotus in the rain” claimed to be a relative of an employee at a state-owned power company, and said that a salary freeze was currently in force. Numbers were provided, though it was not possible to verify the claims.

Another netizen gave a similar story about the state-owned mobile communications industry, referring to lay-offs and pay freezes.

Owners of small and medium-sized businesses have also complained that business has been down, with some saying that their situation is worse now than during the 2008 financial crisis. Xiao Wei, a textile business owner in the Pearl River Delta, told The Epoch Times on Monday that dozens of nearby companies have closed down this year, adding that the country’s economic woes have affected many nearby industries.

Other complaints by business owners on online message boards referred to depressed consumer demand and low order demand, while taxes, labor costs, and fixed costs have risen.

A management-level staff member at the Hunan Valin Xiangtan Iron and Steel Company told an Epoch Times reporter that currently steel production is exceeding demand. The company is under great pressure finding orders, this individual said, adding that the entire industry is in a similar predicament.

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Along with an title of chief of security, a current position as leader of the committee that oversees the information, justice, police and prison systems, and ties to gangland bosses nationwide, Zhou Yongkang was the only Politburo member named by the U.K.’s Daily Mail on a 2009 list of China’s most powerful “black collars.” It means that Zhou’s power extended to the underworld. His background paved a road to wealth and guaranteed protection for those around him. 

Zhou’s son Zhou Bin was recently reported by overseas Chinese media to have been involved in illegally bailing out the second highest ranking gang leader of Gansu Province who committed murder and then dismembered the victim’s body. The cost behind the bail was said to have been 20 million RMB (US$3.2 million).

In another case involving a policeman accused of pouring boiling water on a detainee’s body, Zhou Bin allegedly received 100 million RMB in bribes to use his connection as the security chief’s son to settle the case. The policeman was ultimately not held accountable. [AD]

The above mentioned cases have been registered in the Gansu People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Court respectively. Through the cases Zhou Bin gained a reputation of a man who “takes money and wards off the blow.”

When Zhou Yongkang was the head of the Ministry of Land and Resources, Zhou Bin resold land for profit. When Zhou took over as Party chief of Sichuan Province, Zhou Bin got involved in various large-scale projects and also sold leadership positions.

Zhou Bin owns properties across China and abroad, and has huge savings deposits in Hong Kong, the U.S., and Switzerland.

Bribery Cases Implicating Zhou Yongkang

In November 2008, when Chinese billionaire Huang Guangyu was arrested for “illegal allocation of funds,” a man named Zheng Shaodong received the most severe Communist-style punishment of shuang-gui—facing investigation by the Party at a specified location, which often leads to removal from the Party and harsh imprisonment.

At the time, people familiar with China’s elite said that in the world of politics, Zheng’s family name was Zhou—referencing his connection to the Zhou family. Insiders close to high level officials, whom The Epoch Times spoke with, revealed that as a secretary for the minister of Public Security, Zheng confessed having given Zhou Yongkang more than 3 billion yuan (US$474 million) in bribes and illegally laundered US$20 million abroad for Zhou. He also gave assistance in handling some of Zhou Bin’s corruption cases.

Zhou Yongkang was said to have been infuriated by Zheng’s confession. Four months after the Zheng investigation started, Zheng was reported as having committed suicide.

In another case, Li Yuan, the former vice minister of Land and Resources who worked with Zhou, received the same punishment in 2011. But Zhou called the investigation off, presumably for fear of being exposed himself. 

After the recent removal from all Party positions of Bo Xilai, Zhou’s political ally, well-placed sources in Beijing have revealed that Chinese regime leaders Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao have ordered the Party’s disciplinary committee to investigate Zhou.

When Chongqing’s former top cop, Wang Lijun, fled for his life to the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu on Feb. 6, he set in motion a political storm that has not subsided. The battle behind the scenes turns on what stance officials take toward the persecution of Falun Gong. The faction with bloody hands—the officials former CCP head Jiang Zemin promoted in order to carry out the persecution—is seeking to avoid accountability for their crimes and to continue the campaign. Other officials are refusing any longer to participate in the persecution. Events present a clear choice to the officials and citizens of China, as well as people around the world: either support or oppose the persecution of Falun Gong. History will record the choice each person makes.

Read the original Chinese article. 

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More than 300 families of Zhouguantun Village, Fuzhen Town, Botou City, Hebei Province have signed a petition requesting the release of Wang Xiaodon, a Falun Gong practitioner. This is the first page of the petition. (Web Image)

It was an unusually brave and selfless act for modern China: around 300 villagers signed their names to a petition, and stamped them with red wax, calling for the release of a fellow resident who had been persecuted for his beliefs by communist China’s security forces. The villagers were then themselves targeted, in what appeared to be an order coming down from Party Central to retaliate fiercely against anyone who dared to defend Falun Gong.

Wang Xiaodong, a teacher and practitioner of Falun Gong who resides in Zhouguantun Village, Hebei Province, was the object of his fellow villager’s sympathy. He was arrested from his home on Feb. 25 when 40 policemen ransacked his house, confiscated 20,000 yuan in cash and took him away.

After several fruitless attempts to rescue her brother, Wang’s sister, Wang Xiaomei, and others in the family invited villagers to sign a letter calling for Wang’s release. They quickly found 300 willing to do so, and had village cadres certify the document as genuine with an official stamp.

On April 10 and April 14, family members visited the local Public Security Bureau, but vice chief of the National Security team Gao Guiqi said the letter could not be accepted. The family then began passing out copies of the letter and flyers with Wang’s story on the streets.

Central Party security forces swung into action. The Political and Legislative Affairs Committee (PLAC), the powerful organ that oversees all law enforcement and the persecution of dissidents in China, has been persecuting Falun Gong through its “610 Office,” an extralegal agency, since 1999, under the orders of then-regime head Jiang Zemin. The PLAC ordered its branch in Hebei Province to put pressure on villagers; the petition had likely become an embarrassment for the PLAC by demonstrating the failure of the anti-Falun Gong campaign, which has come at considerable social and economic cost.

On April 23, close to a dozen Domestic Security officials visited the village Party Secretary in an attempt to find out who signed the petition and obtain the original copy. They arrested Wang Xiaomei; her child was subsequently forced to leave kindergarten.

The following day on April 24, domestic security chief Wang Wen and the village Party secretary Zhou Yinzhong summoned a dozen villagers who had signed the petition to a restaurant. They were asked to recant their previous stance while being video- and audio-recorded; this process was meant to intimidate them, according to other villagers. They were also asked to sign forms rejecting their previous statements, and those who agreed were treated to a banquet at the restaurant.

Officials from Fuzhen Town, Botou City, near the village, then joined in the harassment by forming four teams to find the other villagers who had signed the petition and make them recant.

An image of Wang Xiaodong, supplied by family, before his arrest. (The Epoch Times)

By May 18 most of the work had been done, with the majority of the villagers who had signed the petition being asked to sign a piece of paper saying that their previous petition was only for sympathizing with Wang’s elderly mother and 7-year-old child, not for anything related to Falun Gong. Additionally, they had to sign a card denouncing Falun Gong, an apparent attempt to destroy the villager’s sympathy with persecuted adherents of the practice.

The chief of the PLAC, Zhou Yongkang, has a personal interest in maintaining the campaign against the practice. He has been sued overseas by Falun Gong practitioners, and was promoted to his current position by former Party chief Jiang Zemin, who first vowed to “eliminate” the practice in China. Since the persecution started in 1999, Zhou rose from head of Ministry of Land and Resources to head of public security, and then to the position of Party Secretary of the secretive and powerful PLAC, all within three years. The PLAC gained extraordinary powers under Jiang and Zhou, forming what political analysts describe as a “second center of power” within the Party.

Zhou’s status is now in question because of his association with Jiang and Bo Xilai, the former Politburo member who was recently purged and disgraced. Reports in the foreign press emerged recently saying that Zhou has been relieved of his security powers. Zhou is also the official ultimately responsible for the violent treatment of Chen Guangcheng, the blind human rights lawyer who recently arrived in the United States after a dramatic escape to the American embassy from extralegal house arrest in his hometown.

Click www.ept.ms/ccp-crisis to read about the most recent developments in the ongoing crisis within the Chinese communist regime. In this special topic, we provide readers with the necessary context to understand the situation. Get the RSS feed. Get the new interactive Timeline of Events. Who are the Major Players?

Advocates for Falun Gong are regularly treated with brutality, according to the accounts of human rights lawyers and others. The most prominent case is probably that of Gao Zhisheng, who attempted to defend Falun Gong practitioners in court and subsequently wrote a series of open letters to the Party leadership denouncing the persecution and demanding that it stop. He has been in and out of detention since 2006 and is currently in jail. Communist Party security forces beat him for days, shocked him with electricity, and inserted toothpicks into his genitals as a form of torture.

Falun Gong is a spiritual practice based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance; it involves slow-motion physical exercises and meditation.

After Wang Xiaodong’s younger sister Wang Xiaomei was released from custody, on May 13 she wrote a letter calling for help from the international community: “I hope you can call on the Chinese government to arrange a meeting with me, the Chinese government, and international human rights organizations, so that the conditions I tried to explain to the authorities can be verified,” she wrote. “As a woman from rural China, I get on my knees to beg for your help!”

When Chongqing’s former top cop, Wang Lijun, fled for his life to the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu on Feb. 6, he set in motion a political storm that has not subsided. The battle behind the scenes turns on what stance officials take toward the persecution of Falun Gong. The faction with bloody hands—the officials former CCP head Jiang Zemin promoted in order to carry out the persecution—is seeking to avoid accountability for their crimes and to continue the campaign. Other officials are refusing any longer to participate in the persecution. Events present a clear choice to the officials and citizens of China, as well as people around the world: either support or oppose the persecution of Falun Gong. History will record the choice each person makes.

chinareports@epochtimes.com

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Zhou Yongkang, a member of the Standing Committee of the of Communist Party. (Liu Jin/AFP/Getty Images)

Following the recent ousting and disgrace of Chinese official Bo Xilai, public and media attention quickly shifted to his high-level political patron, Zhou Yongkang. Now there are reports that official titles under Zhou’s control are bought and sold for hundreds of thousands of yuan.

Zhou Yongkang is the chief of the Political and Legistlative Affairs Committee (PLAC), a Communist Party organ that oversees the security forces. According to an insider, 300,000 yuan (approximately US$47,000) buys a deputy director position in the Tianjin Public Security Bureau. During the past six months nearly 1,000 positions in public security bureaus around the country have been bought and sold, according to the insider, who could not identify himself for fear of retribution. Officials who leak state secrets may be executed.

Official appointments largely depend upon the connections that subordinates have to their supervisors, as cadres build up empires of influence within the bureaucracy to later call on for help.

The insider gave the example of an official in Tianjin, surnamed Gao, who recently bought a deputy director post in the public security bureau. Gao promoted only those whom he felt were loyal to him, and forbade communication between departments for fear that news about his activities would spread. He was involved in using the security forces for corrupt purposes and to enrich himself, the insider said.

“What kind of situation is this?” the insider said in exasperation.

Read the original Chinese article.

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The cadres attracted international—and briefly, domestic—media attention after their open letter was published online on May 9. They addressed Party leader Hu Jintao demanding the resignation of security chief Zhou Yongkang and propaganda leader Liu Yunshan, taking the bold step of appending their full names and phone numbers.

Now they are “being controlled” by the Political and Legislative Affairs Committee (PLAC), and Domestic Security (guobao) and National Security (guo’an) officers, according to a resident of Zhaotong, Yunnan, southern China, where many of the officials are from. He communicated the news in an “urgent telephone call” published on the overseas democracy website Canyu, which originally published the letter by the cadres.

Zhou ordered his security men to “take command of the situation and put these ‘elements’ of instability under strict control,” according to Canyu’s source. The 16 officials were also warned that if they persist in their demands, they will end up in prison or risk losing their lives, Canyu reported.

The retired cadres called the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989, and the persecution of Falun Gong, which began in 1999 and continues today, “unbearable stains” and “shames” in their letter.

Zhao Zhengrong, one of the main organizers of the appeal, and Yu Yongqing, author of the letter, are under particularly close watch, Canyu’s source said. Their cellphones appear to have been cut off, and security personnel are stationed outside their homes 24 hours a day, Canyu’s source said.

The Epoch Times on May 22 tried to reach each of the 16 officials through their phone numbers listed on the letter, which have worked previously, but none of the calls went through.

The 16 officials, most of whom are over 80 years old, are veteran members of the Communist Party and have experienced Communist Party political campaigns over many decades. Some of the officials were accused of being “rightists” during Mao Zedong’s rectification campaigns, with some suffering intense persecution. After the Mao era many of the officials resumed their positions as heads of towns, districts, and public security bureaus in Yunnan Province, according to Canyu.

“I hope the whole party and people around the country can pay close attention to what’s facing these officials, and not allow the Domestic Security and National Security Bureaus to harass and terrify them,” Canyu’s source said. “I especially ask Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao to protect them and not indulge Zhou Yongkang’s evilness that suppresses forces of democracy within the Party.”

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Wang Yang, an apparent reformer going up against hard-liners at a political meeting in Guangdong, March 2010. (Liu Jin/AFP/Getty Images)

Wang Yang, one of the most prominent figures in the reformist faction of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), will continue his political endeavors in Guangdong Province after being re-appointed as Party Secretary there recently, and amidst reports that he will likely be given a seat on the Standing Committee of the Politburo, the most powerful political organ in China. 

As Secretary for the Guangdong Provincial Party since 2007, Wang has formed something of a coalition with Premier Wen Jiabao and China’s leader Hu Jintao in order to bring reform to Guangdong Province.

The type of reform advocated by Wang Yang poses a threat to cadres who have built their careers through the security apparatus and propaganda organs.

The Economic Observer reported, “The reason for the alignment of Guangdong Party Secretary Wang Yang with Wen Jiabao in the test of reform in Guangdong is not only owing to the fact that they came from the same province and served the Youth League, but also because Wang Yang was seeking an economic model in the city of Guangdong that meets the expectations of the citizens. Therefore, they made a suggestion to the World Bank and other world organizations for the implementation of the 5-year plan.” 

The growing prominence of Wang Yang has come with the recent eclipse of Bo Xilai, who advocated opposing political ideologies and economic policies that had a heavy focus on the state. 

Bo was a Red Guard as a youth, and his student organization was directly mobilized by Mao Zedong. Criticism by his father Bo Yibo gave Bo Xilai the chance to prove his revolutionary zeal, when he beat his father, breaking three of his ribs. In a memoir written by Yang Guang, a survivor of the Cultural Revolution, Bo Yibo is quoted as saying, “When I saw that he was not afraid to cut his ties with family members, I knew he was good material for the next generation of the Party leadership.”

Wang was a revolutionary who held firm to his belief in a transparent and mainly private, rather than statist, economy, which experts see as essential for sustainable economic development in China. Wang’s growing political strength was shown through his successful handling of civil unrest in Wukan village, which was characterized by compromise instead of violence. 

An unfavorable international economic climate may have in part helped Wang push through reforms in Guangdong. “Failure of reform is allowed, but inaction is not allowed,” was one slogan promoted in recent years. Supporters argue that the policies of economic liberalization in Guangdong are a potential example that other regions of China can follow. 

Wang also recently declared that the Chinese people should not thank the Communist Party for their success or happiness, a statement that is fundamentally opposed to the last six decades of Party propaganda. 

Read the original Chinese article: 

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Click www.ept.ms/ccp-crisis to read about the most recent developments in the ongoing crisis within the Chinese communist regime. In this special topic, we provide readers with the necessary context to understand the situation. Get the RSS feed. Get the new interactive Timeline of Events. Who are the Major Players?

Lu Yu, the Sage of Tea. (Catherine Chang/The Epoch Times)

When speaking of tea, Lu Yu is an important person to give thanks to. For his achievements, he has for centuries been recognized in Chinese history as the Sage of Tea.

Lu Yu lived 733-804 AD in China’s Tang Dynasty. According to the records, Yu was abandoned at the age of 3 at a temple by a lake and was adopted by an abbot there.

The abbot was a famous Tang monk who excelled in the culture of tea. He taught Lu Yu how to grow tea, pick tea, and make tea, which brewed in Lu Yu, from his childhood on, a strong interest in the art of tea.

Lu Yu learned a lot from the monk, including Chinese characters, literature, and Buddhist scriptures. Despite being raised in the temple, Lu Yu did not become a monk. Instead, he became an educated and knowledgeable literary scholar. Nevertheless, he did not pursue material gains and was indifferent to fame.

For Lu Yu, tea symbolized the harmony and mysterious unity of the universe. He spent his life on the art of tea and made a great contribution to the development of tea. His book, known as Cha Jing in Chinese and The Classic of Tea in English, became the very first monograph on tea in the world.

Addicted to the art of tea, Lu Yu even paid close attention to the best water to use for brewing tea.

Once some friends visited him, and they were about to have tea together. “I heard the water in a special area of Yangtze River is best for tea,” one friend said. “And now we have Lu Yu, the most famous specialist of tea. What a wonderful coincidence to have the best two here. It is the opportunity of a lifetime.”

As a result, a soldier was dispatched to get the water, while Lu Yu took his time to prepare the tea set for his guests.

Soon the water arrived at the gathering place, and Lu Yu used a spoon to sweep through the top portion of the water.

“This was the water of the Yangtze River but not from the right area. It should not be the water from the shore of the Yangtze River.” Said Lu Yu.

Worried, the soldier replied, “This water was taken by me in person, and there were many witnesses.”

Lu Yu did not answer him, and instead poured out half of the water. Then he used the spoon to sweep through the top portions of the water on the left side, and said happily, “Now this is the water from the right area of the Yangtze River.”

“When I got the water and arrived at the shore of the Yangtze River, the boat rocked and the water spilled,” confessed the soldier, feeling ashamed. Only half of the water was left, so I filled the water up at the shore of the Yangtze River. I did not know you could tell the difference. I sincerely apologize.”

Lu Yu explained to the soldier with a smile that the water from the shore of the Yangtze River contained more salt, which was not good for tea. Lu Yu not only astonished the soldier, but also all of his friends, impressed by his mystical ability to differentiate the water.

 chinareports@epochtimes.com

This is part two of a five-part series. The next installment will appear on May 25.

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China security czar Zhou Yongkang (L) and Premier Wen Jiabao (R), composite image. Chinese leader Hu Jintao has agreed to Wen's request to have Zhou investigated, The Epoch Times has learned from well-placed sources in Beijing. (Liu Jin/AFP/Getty Images and Feng Li/Getty Images)

China’s endemic corruption may be denounced by all contending factions within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), but how those factions look at dealing with it is strikingly different. Now, the virtual stalemate within the Party that has prevented any substantial action has been broken by dramatic events in Chongqing, and reformers look set to push ahead.

Recently, three retired CCP cadres voiced their support for a somewhat daring initiative that Guangdong Province Party Secretary Wang Yang has already discussed implementing in his province: disclosing the assets of public officials and Party cadres.

The retired cadres first made their suggestion in a letter submitted to Party central in mid-February. Because Party leaders did not respond, the three decided to make their letter public on May 17 by publishing it on the Internet. 

Disclosing assets strikes at the root of financial corruption that sees officials and cadres use their positions to build personal empires while sending fortunes offshore in case problems erupt at home. 

The retired cadres insisted that disclosure should occur before the 18th Party Congress, expected to take place in October. At that meeting, seven of the nine members of the Politburo Standing Committee—the small body of nine who rule the Party—and many of the other 350 or so members of the Central Committee will be replaced.

Elder Reformers Call for Transparency

The three cadres—Ma Xiaoli, Ren Xiaobin, and Cui Wunian—are known as liberal reformers. Two of them were ousted in the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square massacre. All held senior positions in the Party, with Ma the one-time Party secretary for Shaanxi Province. 

Their letter suggested that leadership hopefuls should disclose their personal and family assets to various Party entities including the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI).

Along with the letter demanding transparency, the cadres published a commentary on the scandal that has turned the Party upside down: The attempted defection of Chongqing police chief Wang Lijun and the subsequent downfall of former Chongqing Party Secretary Bo Xilai, followed by the investigation of domestic security czar Zhou Yongkang. 

“This incident has particularly shocked the broad numbers of ordinary Party members,” read the letter, referring to what has come to be known as the Chongqing incident. 

“Thoroughly rooting out corruption, and starting by eradicating corruption in the Party’s leadership, has become an urgent task that cannot be delayed. Tens of millions of eyes are fixed on the 18th Party Congress,” it read.

Conservative Elders Lose Ground

While elder reformers such as Ma see transparency as central to addressing corruption, elder hard-liners once loyal to Bo saw his effort to renew Maoist zeal in Chongqing as another solution.

To them, corruption is a return of the opulence the CCP supposedly purged upon coming to power in China 60 years ago.

“Thirty years of opening and reform have achieved remarkable economic achievements but those brilliant achievements were followed by class polarization, rampant corruption, a public spiritual vacuum, chaotic thinking, moral decline, prostitution, drugs, triads, and so on,” said Hu Muying, the president of the Children of Yan’an Fellowship, at a speech in February just before Wang made his defection attempt.

“These evils that were exterminated at the founding of New China have made a comeback and may even have grown worse,” she said.

Yan’an was the stronghold in Western China of the CCP before it gained power by defeating the Nationalist Party, and most of The Children of the Yan’an Fellowship were born there. Hu Muying’s father was a speechwriter for Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping. 

A year earlier, Hu Muying’s group was touting Bo’s efforts against corruption in Chongqing as a way forward.

Besides trying to revive Cultural Revolution-style mass fervor for CCP ideology, Bo also led a bloody crackdown against corruption and the mafia that critics say was in fact a form of corruption—the campaign was said to aim equally at political opponents and legitimate businesses with enviable assets. 

At a recent meeting of top cadres, including CCP head Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao, a host of charges were leveled against Bo including murder and planning a coup against Xi Jinping, Hu Jintao’s presumed successor.

At that same meeting Hu backed Wen’s call to have the CCDI investigate Zhou, who has already been stripped of his control over the regime’s massive public security and domestic surveillance apparatus. 

With Bo and his previous actions now under intense scrutiny, the hard-liners’ preferred solution to corruption seems to have been halted before it could spread beyond Chongqing. 

That leaves reforms like asset disclosure supported by Wang Yang and the three elderly cadres looking more possible. 

Wang Yang also appears a likely candidate to join the Standing Committee of the Politburo, possibly taking up Wen’s mantle as the leading advocate for reforms. Before his downfall, Bo was also an oft-touted candidate for the Standing Committee, set to take up Zhou’s mantle as the lead proponent for the staunch communists.

Both Bo and Zhou are leading members of the bloody hands faction—the officials Party head Jiang Zemin promoted in order to implement the persecution of Falun Gong. Their loss of power means that the most important obstacle to reform in China, the ongoing campaign against the spiritual practice of Falun Gong, is losing its backing within the Party.

Click www.ept.ms/ccp-crisis to read about the most recent developments in the ongoing crisis within the Chinese communist regime. In this special topic, we provide readers with the necessary context to understand the situation. Get the RSS feed. Get the new interactive Timeline of Events. Who are the Major Players?

People’s Daily Calls for Reform

The letter by the three Party elders in calling for ending corruption stops short of calling for political reform. The CCP’s flagship newspaper People’s Daily has recently come out in favor of reform.

It published a full-page article on May 17 with the headline, “Leading Cadres Must ‘Pave the Road’ for Successors Before Leaving Office.”

“If they think, since they are about to complete their terms, that they should just let things run their natural course, put their ideals aside, and become passive and inactive … then they are not just putting their ideals aside, they are also putting the affairs of the Party and the people aside,” reads the article.

The article said current leaders should share their experiences with successors to prepare them to deal with key issues related to incomplete and difficult tasks.

A May 14 article in the same paper declared that was already happening with a headline reading “Government Restructuring Progressing Steadily.” 

On May 18, the paper published an article series calling for changes to be intensified. 

In the history of the CCP, it has been rare for political reform to be highly reported twice in one week. 

Experts say that the Party is urging Hu and Wen to enact intense government reform before stepping down.

“From the looks of People’s Daily on the 17th, we can clearly see that some high level individuals in the Party are demanding that Hu and Wen officially enact government reform before they step down.”

“It seems that the demand for government reform is now extremely strong.”

Shi noted that a leaked document indicates key Party leaders are prepared to make four seismic changes in China, including forming a committee that will write a new constitution, redressing the Tiananmen Square massacre and persecution of Falun Gong, ending the CCP’s role as the ruling Party, and nationalizing the military—meaning the government and not the Party would control the military.

“Many current phenomena may be preparation for these actions,” Shi said. 

When Chongqing’s former top cop, Wang Lijun, fled for his life to the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu on Feb. 6, he set in motion a political storm that has not subsided. The battle behind the scenes turns on what stance officials take toward the persecution of Falun Gong. The faction with bloody hands—the officials former CCP head Jiang Zemin promoted in order to carry out the persecution—is seeking to avoid accountability for their crimes and continue the campaign. Other officials are refusing to participate in the persecution any longer. Events present a clear choice to the officials and citizens of China, as well as people around the world: either support or oppose the persecution of Falun Gong. History will record the choice each person makes.

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Traders work on the floor of the Hong Kong stock exchange on May 7, 2012. (Laurent Fievet/AFP/Getty Images)

If Greece leaves the Eurozone currency bloc China’s export growth could drop by around 4 percent, and its GDP could be reduced to around 6.4 percent, according to Peng Wensheng, chief economist with the China International Capital Corporation (CICC), one of the country’s largest investment banks.

Peng published his views in an opinion article hosted on Sina’s Finance website. Sina is a major Chinese web portal.  

Greece has recently resorted to a transitional government after its most recent elections failed to form a coalition. It has been widely projected that the far-left, anti-austerity party SYZRIA will take most of the seats in parliament, possibly jeopardizing the European Union-International Monetary Fund-backed bailout of the country and may force the debt-ridden country out of the common currency bloc. 

During a May 15 press conference, the China Ministry of Commerce announced that due to the impact of Europe’s sovereign debt crisis, EU investments have “declined greatly” at nearly 30 percent.  Peng from CICC says that China’s foreign direct investment (FDI) has seen a six month wane. 

China’s Foreign Trade Report for Spring 2012, released late April by the China Ministry of Commerce, indicated that the rate of growth of China’s exports to Europe fell to 6.5 percent during the fourth quarter of last year, from 18.2 percent in the previous quarter.

Meanwhile, Chinese exports to the EU decreased 1.8 percent, with a nearly 30 percent decrease in exports to Italy. Overall exports to the United States and Japan were deemed stable, with increases of 12.8 percent and 10.3 percent, respectively, the report said.

With an increasing number of economic failures, the European debt crisis has spread to the real economy, according to Peng. He suggested that turmoil in European countries’ economies could have a domino-like effect in hurting China’s export business and lead to a rupture in the capital chain, meaning that businesses may not receive money. 

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A U.S. SH-60 Seahawk helicopter, one of the aircraft said to have counterfeit parts, is shown flying over Haiti.  (Daniel Barker/U.S. Navy via Getty Images)

Over a million counterfeit electronic parts, mostly originating from China, have been found in the U.S. defense supply chain, threatening national security and the safety of U.S. servicemen, says a Senate report.

A year-long investigation by the Senate Armed Services Committee sifted through 1,800 cases of bogus parts and found the total number of suspect counterfeit parts exceeded 1 million. 

“The investigation uncovered dozens of examples of suspect counterfeit electronic parts in critical military systems, including on thermal weapons sights delivered to the Army, on mission computers for the Missile Defense Agency’s Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile, and on a large number of military airplanes,” said the report released May 21. 

The report includes further detailed descriptions of how counterfeits are flooding the military supply chain, risking the performance and reliability of critical defense systems. 

In an example described in the report, the U.S. Air Force said one electronic parts supplier, Hong Dark Electronic Trade of Shenzhen, China, fed an estimated 84,000 suspect counterfeit electronic parts into the supply chain.

“Our report outlines how this flood of counterfeit parts, overwhelmingly from China, threatens national security, the safety of our troops and American jobs,” said the committee chairman Senator Carl Levin. 

The report stated that Chinese authorities have not made efforts to halt counterfeiting operations on its own soil. It also cited witnesses who saw factories staffed with 10,000 to 15,000 people, which were set up for the purpose of counterfeiting. 

“Rather than acknowledging the problem and moving aggressively to shut down counterfeiters, the Chinese government has tried to avoid scrutiny, including denying visas to Committee staff to travel to mainland China as part of the Committee’s investigation,” the report said. 

The Senate findings also criticized the operation of the U.S. defense industry’s reliance on unvetted independent distributors supplying equipment, and weaknesses in testing procedures for electronic parts that were being exploited by counterfeiters. The report also criticized the defense industry for failing to report cases of suspect counterfeit parts. 

An elderly Chinese man is hit and killed by an excavator during a forced-demolition. (TV Screenshot)

An elderly man defending his home from a demolition crew and a demolition crew member were killed as local authorities carried out an “urban cleanup” operation in northeast China.

Li Baolin, 55, who lived in a legally disputed building in Daqing City, Heilongjiang Province, was killed outside of his house on May 15 after being struck by the arm of an industrial digger. The operator of the digger was also killed. 

The incident happened when a crew from Daqing City Saertu District Urban Management Administrative Bureau arrived at Li’s home to carry out the demolition.

Precise details about the incident are not clear. According to NTD Television, family members were inside the house, pleading with authorities to give them at least another two days to organize their possessions to leave. It was then that the head of the demolition crew pushed his workers to start bulldozing the house with the occupants still inside.

According to the state-run Xinhua website, Li’s wife Yu Shuyun had been kneeling outside their house, begging the demolition men not to destroy their home. 

“Brothers, give your older sister a little more time?” she had begged according to the report.

It was then that the driver of the digger, a man named Liu Jifeng, accidentally hit a switch in the vehicle as he leaned out the window, causing the digger arm to fall suddenly.

Li, who was emerging from his home, was struck and died almost instantly. Liu, whose head was outside the vehicle at the time, was also crushed.

The NTD Television report suggested that Liu, 34, was killed a few moments later by the arm as he checked to see whether Li had been killed. Yu, the older man’s wife, had witnessed the deaths of both men. 

Ms Yu told Heilongjiang Television Station’s “Nightly News” program that her husband had signed a paper from the local Urban Management Administrative Bureau, authorizing the demolition, but he later attempted to rescind the decision.

The house was apparently rented from a local institution, the Industrial and Commercial Federation. The organization had been bankrupt for two years, but the couple had continued to live in the house. They had been living in the building for the last 15 years.

The deputy director of the Urban Management Administrative Bureau, Lin Weiming was quoted in a TV report saying the area is undergoing a massive “cleanup” process, and all illegal developments must be demolished. 

Chinese netizens have blamed the local bureaucrats for the deaths of the elderly man and the demolition worker.

“These urban management people are so cruel,” one blogger wrote. “Even though they did not kill them directly, they killed them indirectly.”

Another blogger wrote: “Whether the house is really illegal is not yet clear. How can they crush someone to death? The related agency must investigate this and give the couple a fair answer.”

Another blogger wrote: “In front of forced demolition, people are like ants being smashed to pieces. Some officials even said ‘they did this according to city’s will,’ I really want to know what kind of will is that?”

Read the original Chinese article: 

Lin Xiangru holds the jade over his head with his back to the column, threatening to smash it. (Zhiching Cheb/The Epoch Times)

According to an old Chinese saying, if two tigers fight each other, one will be wounded or killed. Human beings also compete and fight with one another, but they are also capable of a wisdom that prevents conflict or brings about friendship. Such wisdom helped preserve the whole jade for the Kingdom of Zhao.

During the Spring and Autumn period of the Era of the Warring States, there was a general named Lian Bo who served the Kingdom of Zhao.

In the sixteenth year of the reign of King Zhao Huiwen Wang, Lian served as the general who led the attack on the Qi Guo Kingdom. Because Lian Bo defeated Qi and captured Yang Jin City, he was appointed to be the Shang Qing, which is one of the highest officials in the Zhao Kingdom. After that, Lian Bo became very well known among the warring kingdoms for his bravery and for always being victorious in battle.

At the time of Zhao Huiwen Wang, the Kingdom of Zhao acquired the He Shi Be jade, after it had been lost by the Chu Kingdom. This large piece of white jade in the shape of a disk would play an important role in Chinese history. Qin Wang, the king of the Qin Kingdom, heard about Zhao’s acquisition of the jade and sent a letter to Zhao Wang. He offered to exchange 15 cities in Qin for the He Shi Be.

Zhao Wang discussed this issue with General Lian Bo and all the other high officials, but did not know what to do. If he gave the jade to Qin, then Qin may never keep his word to give the 15 cities to Zhao. If he didn’t give the jade to Qin, then he feared Qin would attack Zhao and conquer the kingdom.

While feeling unsure about what to do, Zhao Wang wanted to send someone to Qin to reply, but he could not find someone who could succeed at the job. The head eunuch Miao Xian said he had the right man for the job—Lin Xiangru would be very well qualified to do it. Lin Xiangru lived in Zhao Kingdom as a guest in the household of Miao Xian.

Zhao Wang asked, how did he know that Lin Xiangru could accomplish this?

Miao said, “Once I made a mistake and was afraid your majesty would punish me and would not forgive me. So I had planned to escape to the Yan Kingdom.

“Lin Xiangru then asked me how I knew Yan Wang would accept me and keep me there? I told him that before, I went with your majesty to a meeting with Yan Wang at the border. Privately, Yan Wang held my hand saying he would like to make me his close friend, so I knew Yan would accept me.

“Lin at hearing that shook his head and said, ‘at that time Yan was afraid of Zhao. Zhao was strong, and you were a close and trusted official of Zhao. That’s the reason Yan wanted to make friends with you. Now that you have offended Zhao, how would he dare keep you, since Yan fears Zhao?

“‘Instead, Yan would tie you up with rope and send you back to Zhao. I would rather strip my shoulders naked, carry a whip, kneel in front of Zhao, and beg his pardon, which is best way to be forgiven. I listened to him, and, fortunately, Dai Wang you forgave me.’

“I think Lin is a very wise man and extraordinarily brave. He is right for this task.”

So, Lin was summoned to visit Zhao, who put the matter to him, “Qin Wang wants to exchange 15 cities for the He Shi Be jade. What do you think?”

Lin replied, “Qin is big and powerful, Zhao is small and weak. We have to obey their request.”

Zhao said, “What if Qin took my jade but did not give us their cities?”

“If we don’t agree to give the jade to Qin while Qin asks us to exchange the jade for their 15 cities, then we are doing wrong,” Lin said. “But if Zhao gave the jade to Qin and Qin doesn’t give cities to Zhao as promised, then Qin is wrong. So weighing the situation, it is better to agree with Qin’s request and let Qin take the responsibility for doing wrong.”

Zhao then asked, ”Who can I send to Qin for this?”

“I am willing to do it if Dai Wang, your majesty, has no person to do it,” Lin said.

“I will do it in this way. If the cities are given to Zhao, then the jade will be left to Qin,” Lin said. “If the cities are not given, then I guarantee the jade will be returned whole to Zhao.”

Zhao then sent Lin to Qin with the He Shi Be.

The He Shi Be is well known to the whole world and is a precious treasure.

Qin Wang, holding court in the Zhangtai Palace, received Lin Xiangru.

Lin, holding the jade with his hands, presented it to Qin. Qin was very happy, and passed the jade out to his concubines and attendants. All the ministers cheered: “Wan Sui”(long life)!

Lin read Qin’s mind: Qing didn’t want to keep his word and give the 15 cities to Zhao at all. So he stepped forward and said, “There is a defect in the jade. Let me point it out to your majesty.”

Once he got hold of the jade, Lin held it with both hands tightly, stepped backward several steps, and stood against a column. Angry, with his hair standing on end and putting his hands with the jade on top of his head as if he was pushing up his hat, he said: “Your majesty wanted the He Shi Be and sent a message to Zhao Wang. Zhao Wang talked about your request with all his ministers. They all said Qin is greedy and is relying on his being strong and powerful. He only wants to extort the jade with vain talk.

“They feared that Zhao would never get the 15 cities promised by Qin, and so they didn’t want to give the jade to Qin. But I think even the common people still keep their word and do not cheat one another. Will not countries like Qin keep their word? It is not a right thing to do to offend the powerful Qin due to a piece of jade. So our Zhao Wang fasted for five days and sent me bearing the jade.

“Zhao Wang kowtowed by offering the jade just to show respect to your majesty, Qin Wang. Now that I have come here, Qin Wang has only received me at a low-level palace and the proper protocol has not been observed.

“Then, when you got the jade, you passed it around to your concubines and attendants, in this way just teasing me. Then I knew your majesty had no intention of giving the 15 cities to Zhao at all, so I got it back.

“If you do force me to give it to you, here and now, my head will be smashed against this column along with the jade! The jade will be broken, and I will be dead.”

After making this speech, Lin stood there holding the jade while looking out of the corner of his eyes at the column, as though he would smash the jade against it.

Qin said very softly he was sorry, fearing Lin would smash the jade. Asking him not to smash the He Shi Be, he called in the officer in charge, checked the map, and pointing from one spot to another, where the 15 cities were he proposed giving to Zhao Wang.

Lin was sure that Qin Wang was pretending, and only wanted to extort the jade without actually giving the cities. So Lin said to Qin Wang: “The He Shi Be is well known to the whole world and is a precious treasure. Zhao Wang didn’t dare not to give it to Qin Wang. Zhao Wang fasted for 5 days before I left. Now, Qin Wang your majesty also needs to fast for 5 days, set up a ritual ceremony in the palace hall, and then I will present the valuable jade to you.”

Qin Wang weighed the situation then, thinking that since they cannot forcefully snatch the jade from Lin, he agreed to what Lin said. Qin settled Lin in the Guang Cheng guest house. Lin was sure Qin Wang would not give the cities to Zhao, so had his attendant put on coarse clothes, and, carrying the jade in his breast, escaped by a small path and returned to Zhao.

Five days later, Qin Wang set up a ritual ceremony at the hall of the palace and held a feast to treat Lin as ambassador from Zhao. Lin came and said: “Your majesty, from the time of Qin Mugong down to you today, 20 kings have ruled over the Qin Kingdom, but none of them has kept his word. I really feared that if your majesty didn’t keep your word, I would do a big wrong to Zhao. So I sent someone back to Zhao overnight with the jade. I am sure he is now there.

“Qin is very powerful, while Zhao is weak. Zhao will certainly hold up the jade immediately to present respectfully to Qin if your majesty just sent a lower level envoy to Zhao. Now with the power of Qin, if Qin gave the 15 cities to Zhao in advance, how should Zhao dare not to give the jade to Qin?

“I know I warrant being killed for my crime of daring to cheat your majesty. I beg your majesty to kill me. I hope your majesty and all your ministers will think and talk about it carefully.”

Qin Wang and his ministers looked at each other and exclaimed sharply. Some of those attendants would pull Lin away to kill him, but Qin Wang said, “If we now kill Lin Xiangru, we still cannot get the He Shi Be. On the contrary, we will cut off the good relationship between Qin and Zhao. We’d rather treat him well and let him return to Zhao. Would Zhao Wang cheat Qin only because of a piece of jade?”

After returning to the Kingdom of Zhao, Zhao Wang thought Lin was a very capable elite person, a scholar. Lin had gone to another country as powerful as Qin as an ambassador, fulfilled the task, preserved Zhao’s reputation, protected Zhao’s treasure, and incurred no shame. So he appointed him as Shang Dafu, a very high official.

Making Peace …

The younger sister of Quan Shuilin. Quan hit a Communist Party official in the neck with a scythe, killing him, after his land was seized. His younger sister uploaded a video pleading for understanding over the impossible situation her brother was put in. (Boxun.com)

Local officials in the Chinese countryside are known to run the areas under their control like personal fiefdoms, seizing land and demolishing the houses of peasants for personal profit. Villagers in two areas of China recently resorted to desperate measures, fighting back against and killing at least two cadres and the family members of one.

The first incident took place in the Shuangjiezhen village near Tianjin, a city near Beijing on China’s east coast. Peasants had been pushing for elections to bring in a new village chief after the incumbent, Huang Shuanglai, allegedly acquired large tracts of land via illicit means for personal benefit.

On May 11, Huang sent several of his enforcers to the homes of the other candidates for the village chief position. The purpose was to beat and threaten them, so they would withdraw from the election.

The following day he led more men to continue the harassment. A resident, who only wanted to be identified by his last name, Shi, told the Epoch Times in a telephone interview that over 10 hired thugs appeared at the home of an election candidate on May 12. After a heated argument the situation quickly turned violent, and villagers rushed forward to attack Huang and his relatives.

In the melee Huang, his brother-in-law, and his nephew were all killed, while others who came with them were severely injured, according to Boxun, an overseas dissident website.

Following the incident, several villagers were detained, while the village is said to be under close police surveillance. Chinese netizens who saw the news recently were supportive of the villagers, and left encouraging messages on the Chinese microblogging service Sina Weibo.

In the same week a villager named Quan Shuilin killed a cadre after the local government seized his family’s land and refused to compensate him adequately. Quan’s sister told Boxun that the local government in Rongliu village, Guilin City, Guangxi Province, paid 19,000 yuan per mu (the Chinese unit of measurement for land) for the family’s land, and then immediately sold it to a developer for 42,000 yuan per mu.

Without signing any contracts regarding the compensation, local officials ordered the land bulldozed on April 1. By May 16 they were ready to start building, when Quan attempted to intervene, getting into a tussle with the local official, whose surname in reports was only given as Qin. During the conflict Quan struck Qin in the neck with his scythe, and Qin subsequently died from blood loss. Quan’s fate after the encounter is unclear.

“The issue is that the Party’s cadres have become used to behaving this way, harming people, doing these horrible things, including bulldozing people’s houses and seizing land,” said Wen Zhao, a commentator with the New York-based New Tang Dynasty Television, an overseas Chinese, independent broadcaster. “They force people into a corner where they have to fight back.”

Quan Shuilin’s younger sister uploaded a video explaining her brother’s plight. Her name was not provided. “My brother is a single father raising two young children and looking after two parents over 80 years old. If it wasn’t for the government stealing land and officials acting so brazenly and without scruple, would he have been driven to kill a man?”

With reporting by Ariel Tian.

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Taken at The Chaos Computer Club, Germany. The real concern is about the groups that are lesser known. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

Taiwan—China’s strategic enemy number one—could play a key role in defending the U.S. against cyber attacks from Mainland China, according to Taiwanese cyber experts.

The democratic island state is the primary target of cyber attacks by China-based hackers, said Chuang Ming-hsiung, section chief at the Taiwan Criminal Investigation Bureau’s High-Technology Crime Prevention Center. This means Taiwan has the greatest repertoire of experience in the world defending against China, he added.

Chuang said although China has a plethora of hackers at work, the country’s own defense technology and know-how are not that advanced, while Taiwan has advanced cyber defense capabilities.

“Before China releases a virus to the United States, it will test it on Taiwan. That’s why Taiwan has a faster response rate than the United States. This is Taiwan’s soft power,” Chuang said.

However, the high-tech crime expert warned that increased outsourcing of IT talent to Mainland China in recent years has led to a potentially dangerous situation for Taiwan. Source code for Taiwanese websites is now being developed in China, making it easier for Chinese hackers or spies to obtain proprietary security data.

Professor Wong Ming-hsien, director of the Institute of International Affairs and Strategic Studies at Tamkang University, said the U.S. Department of Defense has said that any war between China and the U.S. would take the form of cyber and information warfare.

“This war can be quite detrimental. Among all the challenges the United States faces from China, cyber warfare will be an important one,” Wong said.

Wong added that Taiwan has accumulated a lot of experience and technology through past military tensions and maneuvers across the Taiwan Strait. Taiwan has an advanced information sector and many well trained analysts.

According to a recent Voice of America report, Mark Stokes of the Project 2049 Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based think-tank, said during a recent seminar on Chinese cyber attacks that the one-party-ruled Chinese regime fears the democratic, multiple-party system in Taiwan, and this is why hackers are so focused on interfering with Taiwan. Taiwan could help the United States in strengthening cyber security, Stokes said.

Taiwanese cyber defenders are also assisted by a shared cultural heritage with Mainland China, helping them to better decipher hackers’ ways of thinking. In addition to assisting the United States in a cyber war, Stokes suggested Taiwan can also play an important role in helping Southeast Asia, India, and Japan to understand China better.

Wong said that Taiwan is able to develop its cyber expertise because it has a free society and advanced technology. However, the same factors also contribute to its weaknesses. Public debates in the Parliament on Taiwan’s defense budget, research and development of new weapons technology, as well as the open media that report on them, are used by Mainland Chinese intelligence gatherers.

Read the original Chinese article.

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Ousted Bo Xilai and his wife Gu Kailai. (New Epoch Weekly Photo Archive)

The purged Chinese Communist Party official Bo Xilai, his wife Gu Kailai and, Wang Lijun, the high ranking police officer whose flight to a U.S. consulate in February revealed a power struggle in the top Chinese leadership, will face trial as early as next month, overseas Chinese online news source Boxun reported, citing insiders. 

It is possible that Gu Kailai, who is the suspected killer of British businessman Neil Heywood, will face a death sentence. Although Bo Xilai is also suspected to be behind the murder, he will not face a death sentence, the insider said. Bo Xilai and Wang Lijun will most likely be sentenced between 16 years to life. Wang Lijun will be tried on three charges: treason, serious corruption and torture.

According to another source cited by the South China Morning Post, a special legal team has been established to set up the trial of Wang Lijun, which the source said will take place in Chengdu.

Wang sought refuge in the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu, a major city in Southwestern China on Feb. 6, and reportedly stayed overnight before being taken into custody by central authorities. It is understood that Wang passed on sensitive information to U.S. officials. 

Wang’s attempted defection brought out into the open a power struggle that the CCP leadership had preferred to keep out of public view. 

The paper reported that analysts say central authorities are looking to have the scandal dealt with before the 18th Communist Party Congress which is scheduled to be held later this year. 

The South China Morning Post also quoted another source who said that Wang had been acknowledged to “have made a major contribution” to the Party’s investigations into Bo. 

In March it was reported by various media that Bo had already been placed under house arrest by the Central Guard Bureau, the agency responsible for the security of the Party’s top leaders. Bo has been a core member of a hardline faction led by former Party leader Jiang Zemin that has also opposed current Party head Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao since the two took office in 2003. 

As part of that, it is believed that Wang passed onto U.S. officials information about a plot to derail Xi Jinping’s succession to become the Party’s next leader by Bo and the powerful chief of internal security forces Zhou Yongkang. Xi Jinping, an apparatchik with a clutch of posts, including vice president of the People’s Republic of China, is supposed to be the next leader of the CCP. 

Read original Chinese article.

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A villager's demolished building after being zoned "illegal" by the local CCP Secretary. (NTD Television Screenshot)

More than a thousand villagers violently fought against and eventually prevented a local government demolition team from destroying what it claimed were “illegal buildings” in Wangli Township, Wenzhou City, on China’s east coast.

The county government has been demolishing the buildings since late April, according to the Cangnan-County News. There are approximately 500 to 700 cotton regeneration plants in Wangli, and over 50 cotton mills were identified as “illegal buildings” set for the first wave of demolition.

Wangli villagers circulated online postings criticizing the local Party secretary, Chen Derong, for his order to remove the cotton mills. According to Chinanews.com, Chen Derong planned to increase the supply of land and thus reduce the cost of houses.

A small two-story building located in Wangli Township was identified as an “illegal building” by the local government and torn down on the morning of May 18. This demolition was confirmed by a Wangli civilian police officer who spoke to NTD Television by telephone.

“Due to the demolition, a quarrel broke out,” he said.

A few days beforehand the local county government allegedly said that if villagers dared to obstruct the demolition, they would be beaten. A villager told NTD Television that there were hundreds of people in the local government demolition team including civilian police, riot police, urban-management officials, and land office personnel.

“I went home at noon,” the villager said. “I was told that a fight broke out and five or six people were arrested.”

Pictures uploaded online show injuries to a number of residents, along with a crowd of villagers pelting police cars with a hail of stones and bricks.

Read the original Chinese article. 

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Tealeaves have evolved with the Chinese civilization to become an important emblem of Chinese culture. (Lilly Wang/The Epoch Times)

According to the book The Classic of Tea, written by a tea master named Lu Yu from China’s Tang Dynasty, the custom of drinking tea is derived from the legendary cultural hero Shennong after he tried thousands of varieties of herbs.

A legend said Shennong, the “Divine Farmer,” tried various herbs and encountered 72 kinds of toxic substances every day. But he survived the toxins by chewing on tea leaves.

In order to find herbs to cure diseases for people, Shennong collected herbs all the time in mountains and remote areas and tried every herb that he collected. By doing so, he experienced and distinguished the different functions of each herb species.

One day, Shennong took in a toxic herb, and immediately had a dry tongue and a cotton mouth. He found a big tree and decided to sit down against it for a short rest, when a breeze brought him a few glossy dark green leaves.

Intuitively, he put those leaves into his mouth and started chewing on them. To his surprise, the leaves then emitted a fragrant scent, which together with his saliva, made his tongue feel moisturized again. He was also full of spirits and all the discomfort was swept away.

Development of Tea

The practice of drinking tea has lasted for thousands years in China. According to The Classic of Tea, Shennong, after discovering tea, developed the custom of drinking tea.

During the Zhou Dynasty (1046–256 BC), tea was mainly used as a type of sacrificial offering until 771 B.C. Later on, fresh tealeaves were used as vegetable for people to consume between 770 and 476 BC. After the wars broke out in the Warring State period (470-221 B.C.), it was used as a kind of drug.

It was not until 400 years later that tea was included as a drink and a precious item to show courtesy and hospitality in the Qin and Han dynasties.

When the Tang Dynasty (A.D. 618-907) arrived, tea was rolled out in front of the public formally, and gradually evolved from its original medicinal use to become a common daily drink. Tea practices and customs, performed by both nobles and commoners, gradually took shape.

Today, tea has become an important aspect of Chinese culture.

This is part one of a five-part series. Read part two.

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An ancient Chinese engraving of women of the court performing music. (Public Domain Image)

Morality and music have been tied together since ancient times. In a story from Chinese history, Marquis Wen from Wei, who was known for making far-reaching government reforms, asks a question about music to the famous educator and student of Confucius, Zi Xia, who lived between 507 B.C. and 420 B.C.

Marquis Wen asked: “When I wear my court clothes and listen to ancient music, I quickly lie down and fall asleep. But when I listen to music from the Zheng or Wei Kingdoms, I don’t feel tired. Please tell me why the ancient music tires people and the new music appeals to people.”

Zi Xia replied, “When the ancient music is performed, it moves cleanly and sounds peaceful and broad. The string and wind instruments all follow the drum’s rhythm. The music always starts with the drum, and ends with cymbals. Xiang (an ancient musical instrument) is used to conduct the ending piece, and Ya (a type of a song structure) is used to control the speed of the music. Men with noble characters express deep meanings or praise the ancient holy emperors’ outstanding achievements through the music and dance. Guiding people to cultivate themselves, managing family life, and bringing peace to the world, are the subjects of the ancient music.”

Zi Xia continued, “When modern music is performed, it sounds chaotic and uneven. The sound of the music is filled with unrighteous and evil elements, which makes one immerse oneself in it too deeply to withdraw. It is sometimes mingled with performances given by dwarfs, singers and actors where men and women are mixed together and people hold no distinction between fathers and sons. When the music ends, it has neither explained any truth, nor praised the achievements of the ancient holy emperors. That is the characteristic of new music. You’re talking about music, but what you like is actually the sound. Music and sound are similar to each other but different.”

Marquis Wen of Wei requested politely, “Please tell me the difference.”

Zi Xia answered, “In ancient times, heaven and earth were harmonious, the four seasons were proper, and people cultivated self discipline and developed compassion and virtue. Therefore, they had bumper harvests year after year. Diseases did not manifest, demons and evil did not rise up, and it was a peaceful world. Later on, the Saint (this is referring to Confucius) emerged and made rules that governed the proper conduct between the emperors and court officials and between fathers and sons. Once the rules were made, the world became stable. Then the proper musical rhythms were set up, the five sounds were mixed together and musical instruments played together to accompany the singing of poems. This is called the sound of virtue. Only the sound of virtue can be called music. What you like now is perhaps the sound of indulgence.”

Marquis Wen of Wei asked immediately, “Please tell me where the indulgent sounds came from.”

Zi Xia answered, “The Zheng Kingdom’s music is frivolous and flirtatious. It arouses extravagance and immorality. The Song Kingdom’s music is sentimental and weak, it depresses the will. The music of the Wei Kingdom has a rapid rhythm which tires one’s mind. The Qi Kingdom’s music is arrogant and evil. It makes one become overbearing. These four kinds of music make one indulge in songs and women, are harmful to moral integrity and are therefore not suitable for sacrificial ceremonies.”

Zi Xia continued, “The Book of Poems said, ‘Our ancestors were only willing to listen to austere and harmonious pieces.’ Being austere, one shows respect, being harmonious makes one affable. When one is respectful and affable, what cannot be done? A monarch of a country must be careful of his taste. The officials will do whatever the monarch likes. The common people will imitate what is popular above. This is what it means by what is said in The Book of Poems, ‘It is very easy to lead the populace astray.’” In this way Zi Xia explained to Marquis Wen of Wei what had brought about the degeneration of the modern music of their day.

First published by PureInsight.org (www.pureinsight.org)

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Charles Lee, a Falun Gong practitioner who spent three years in detention and in labor camps, was featured in the Al Jazeera English documentary that contributed to the broadcast being expelled from China. (Al Jazeera English)

The recent closing of Al Jazeera English bureau in Beijing had more to do with the Arab Spring movement than with Melissa Chan, according to a Chinese writer.

Al Jazeera’s correspondent Melissa Chan was forced to leave China when Chinese authorities refused to renew her press credentials and visa earlier this month and refused to allow Al Jazeera to send a replacement. The Foreign Correspondents Club of China said it was appalled by Chan’s expulsion.

He Qinglian, a prominent Chinese author and economist living in the U.S., said in her latest article that the hostilities between Beijing and Al Jazeera are not about Chan. The true reason for Chan’s expulsion from China has to do with the changing relationship between Al Jazeera and Beijing from “friends and role models” to “enemies.”

Al Jazeera was viewed by Beijing as an ally because of its strong anti-U.S. stance, He Qinglian said. This friendship lasted until the 2011 Arab Spring movement, according to He. During the spring of 2011, Al Jazeera, known as the “CNN of the Arab world,” reported on the revolution that Beijing so despised, and stood on the side of the protesters.

At the time, Ezzat Shahrour, Al Jazeera’s chief correspondent in Beijing, wrote a blog post titled, “Ten thousand questions an Arab man has for Chinese media.” Shahrour said, “Through Chinese media reporting of the Libya incident, the world can clearly see the crumbling credibility of Chinese media, lacking a sense of responsibility and conscience that media must have.”

Following Chan’s expulsion, Chinese state media Xinhua Net published an article, saying, “The resignation of the Al Jazeera director is possibly related to the CIA.”

NetEase, a Chinese Internet company that operates the popular web portal 163.com, also criticized Al Jazeera—from its funding sources to its perspective on news—in an article titled, “Al Jazeera Pretending to be Independent.”

He Qinglian said in her commentary: “Distancing itself from universal values, the Chinese regime has turned itself into an international orphan … The decade-long relationship with Beijing, from being treated as a sweet friend, to being driven out as an enemy, must have greatly confused Al Jazeera.”

Melissa Chan covered such sensitive issues in China as black jails, forced abortions, gatherings of monks, corruption, and forced land eviction. In a farewell article “Goodbye to China, country of contradictions,” Chan said that her China reports were not in violation of any Chinese rule, and that she hoped to be able to return to China.

Chinese netizen “Moko” commented on Chan’s article on her Sina Weibo microblog, saying: “She broke no written law in China. But she violated China’s biggest law—the thought of its leaders.”

chinareports@epochtimes.com

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Click www.ept.ms/ccp-crisis to read about the most recent developments in the ongoing crisis within the Chinese communist regime. In this special topic, we provide readers with the necessary context to understand the situation. Get the RSS feed. Get the new interactive Timeline of Events. Who are the Major Players?

Wang Yang, an apparent reformer going up against hard-liners, at a political meeting in Guangdong, March 2010. (Liu Jin/AFP/Getty Images)

NEWS ANALYSIS

China’s communist regime usually demands of its cadres a certain brutality and adherence to the Party line, and deviation can often be fatal for the offending official. But in the bustling southern province of Guangdong, Party Secretary Wang Yang is making a name for himself as an apparent reformer open to new ways of doing things.

That doesn’t sit well with other cadres, content to keep the status quo and the Party’s vise-like grip on power, however. Wang has aligned himself closely with current leader Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao, the latter of whom has given indications that he wishes to see a China that enjoys much greater freedom. But that poses a threat to cadres who’ve built their careers by cracking down on ordinary Chinese.

Now, key figures in the “bloody-hands faction” are facing censure. These cadres rose through the ranks under former leader Jiang Zemin by zealously carrying out Jiang’s command to wipe out the Falun Gong meditation practice.

Guangdong Province has become an important battlefield in the political storm within the CCP leadership. It is here that Hu and Wen have been testing reforms for a better China, and here that remaining members of the bloody-hands faction have been positioning themselves to block those efforts.

Hu and Wen have already taken steps to constrain Zhou Yongkang, the highest ranking member of the hardline clique. Zhou—head of the regime’s Political and Legislative Affairs Committee (PLAC)—presided over the regime’s all-pervasive domestic security apparatus, millions-strong regular police force, courts, and millions strong paramilitary police force. Zhou has reportedly been forced to hand over the reigns of power to the PLAC to a former subordinate and is now reportedly being investigated.

That doesn’t sit well with two of Zhou’s most powerful allies, current propaganda chief Li Changchun and head of the National People’s Congress Zeng Qinghong. The pair have been operating behind the scenes to counteract moves made by Hu and Wen in hopes of revenge and self-preservation.

Propaganda Versus Press Freedom

Li is now using his position as propaganda chief to manipulate the media in Guangdong against Wang in advance of the 18th National Congress set for sometime late this year. At the congress, seven of the nine members of the all-powerful Standing Committee of the Politburo will be replaced, including Zhou and Li. Information leaked to The Epoch Times by a well-placed source indicates the congress could mark the beginning of the end of the communist regime, which makes jockeying for position in advance of the congress critical to all involved.

Li recently dispatched Tuo Zhen, the Vice President of Xinhua News Agency, one of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) official media outlets, to take over as the director of Guangdong’s Propaganda Department. Li’s Vice Director of Propaganda, Yang Jian, also from Xinhua, has taken over as the Party Secretary for Southern Media Group and the 11 newspapers it controls in Guangdong.

Hong Kong’s Oriental Daily reported that the recent change in leadership was forced on Wang by higher-ups in the party.

Click www.ept.ms/ccp-crisis to read about the most recent developments in the ongoing crisis within the Chinese communist regime. In this special topic, we provide readers with the necessary context to understand the situation. Get the RSS feed. Get the new interactive Timeline of Events. Who are the Major Players?

With opposing cadres now in control of much of the media landscape in Guangdong, Wang is already being tripped up. Wang has been a vocal supporter for a freer press, and newspapers in southern China, which includes Guangdong, are known for being bold and outspoken in their reports. Wang has encouraged the press to help uncover corruption, something most cadres work to keep buried.

“We have to encourage news reporters to secretly visit and report on factories that counterfeit and vendors selling counterfeited products. We should also arrange people from Public Security to protect them,” Wang’s Vice Secretary-General in Guangdong, Lin Ying, said on May 7.

Ying said reporters needed protection so they could “investigate more thoroughly and expose the facts more accurately.”

But what Wang wants to see in the light of day, Li wants kept in the shadows.

After the Southern Metropolis Daily recently published an outspoken report on counterfeit chemicals, the Propaganda Department acted against Wang and forced the paper to take the article down.

The report exposed a secret factory in Huizhou City where local government officials seized 70 tons of counterfeit coagulation accelerating agents being used to build Dongguan’s subway system. The owner of the factory was also overseeing the project, and helped sell the chemicals.

The article was taken down a few hours after publication. Insiders from the Southern Metropolis Daily revealed that pressure came from “above,” suggesting the Propaganda Department of Dongguan City and Guangdong Province ordered the deletion. According to the insider, such orders had been rare for the newspaper.

The censorship is likely the first sign of Li’s expanding efforts to block Wang and obstruct the apparent Hu-Wen opening agenda.

Continued on next page: At the same time, Wang has been butting heads with hardliners …