Interesting news from China

[JSCh]

Retired teacher helps addicts kick the habit
China Daily, January 4, 2016

Where there is love, nothing is impossible, according to a 71-year-old retired teacher who has helped more than 200 addicts quit drugs, guiding them out of their dependence through the care she provides in the Guizhou provincial capital.

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Huang Yongfu, founder of the Association of Sunshine Mothers.​

"I never treat the drug addicts as addicts, or criminal suspects, when I contact and talk to them," Huang Yongfu said. "On the contrary, I treat them as my own children who need my help and mother's love."

After her retirement, Huang established a volunteer association, the Association of Sunshine Mothers, and began helping addicts in local communities in Guiyang's Huaxi district.

"I decided to give a helping hand to the drug addicts, as I do not have the heart to see their suffering," Huang said.

Called Lao Ma, or old mother, she wins the trust of the drug addicts and their parents through frequent visits, encouraging them with her sincerity. But in the beginning, "I could not be understood by the drug addicts, and many of them used to steer clear of me", she said.

Huang's volunteer association now has expanded to more than 600 people.

"I have only one goal, that is I want to help them," Huang said. "I seek neither prestige nor riches to help the drug addicts."

Huang said she successfully persuaded one man's parents to approve his marriage to another addict in 2012. The man's mother had opposed the marriage, fearing she would not have a healthy grandchild.

After consulting doctors and other medical experts, Huang told the man's parents that drug addicts could give birth to healthy children if they stop taking drugs and stick to their medical treatment. The man's mother later became a Sunshine Mothers volunteer after she had a healthy grandchild.

Huang invites people who have overcome addiction to join her association and tell their own stories in an effort to help other addicts.

"Only when we really know the sufferings of the drug addicts can we really help and persuade them to give up their addictions," Huang said.

In the previous years, Huang said she shouted at drug addicts, asking "Why do you take drugs?" and telling them, "You will not die if you do not take drugs."

"But I really did not know how to answer when they said, You really do not understand the suffering of a drug addict with no drugs," Huang said.

Police and other law enforcement personnel have questioned Huang, suggesting she is too lenient on drug addicts. She has a clear answer for them.

"Drug addicts are ordinary residents in the communities, and they are also the victims of drugs when they do not break laws and regulations," she said.

Because of her work, Huang's association has been selected as a model group in narcotics control by the China National Narcotics Control Commission.

 

[ahojunk]

China should get tough on all drug pushers.

Send all of them to jail and hang their kingpins.

These drug pushers are taking advantage of addicts.

 

[ahojunk]

This is good for the folks in the remote areas; "inclusive development".

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China Vows More Inclusive Financial Services
2016-01-15 18:47:15 | Xinhua | Web Editor: Guan Chao

The State Council, China's cabinet, has promised to make banking and lending services more accessible to ordinary people, especially in remote areas.

It has tasked the People's Bank of China and the China Banking Regulatory Commission with organizing affordable, convenient and safe financial services for farmers, small business owners, urbanites with low incomes, the disabled and old people.

China will build more banks in the countryside, reduce the cost of banking and encourage innovation in financial products, according to the 2016-2020 Plan on the Development of Inclusive Finance released by the State Council on Friday.

The plan stresses the importance of risk control and says supervision of banks should be a top priority.

 

[JSCh]

Photo taken and posted on Chinese social network by netizen on 15 Jan in Xi'an, Shanxi province. Showing a little girl giving a policeman an apple.

 

[ahojunk]

This is good news coming from Tibet, which is not seen in western media.
I hope that China is also doing similar thing for Guangxi and Yunnan, another two poor provinces.

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Investment in Tibet's education surges
English.news.cn | 2016-01-12 16:13:40

LHASA, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- Investment by central and local government into Tibet's education reached 15.7 billion yuan (2.4 billion U.S. dollars) last year, about 2.5 times the sum in 2010.

According to the statistics by the local educational department released earlier this month, government of the autonomous region in southwest China spent about 64 billion yuan in education from 2010 to 2015.

Thanks to the increased funding, Tibet has been able to scrap tuition for all children in public kindergartens, primary schools and high schools, boosting school enrollment.

A subsidy issued for schools to help children of farmers and herdsmen receive free accommodation, meals and tuition in 1985 was raised to an average of 3,000 yuan for each student a year in 2015.

Puncog, head of a primary school in herdsmen-inhabited Gangga Township, said many parents used to refuse to send their children to school, because they did not want to pay the tuition while losing a laborer at home.

"But now, the funding policy helps reduce the families' economic burden," Puncog said.

Tibet has 1,855 schools and more than 600,000 students. The enrollment rate of primary, junior high and high schools have exceeded 98 percent, 96 percent and 74 percent respectively.

Local education authorities promised to improve infrastructure in some remote areas where schools lack stable power supply and students lack access to clean drinking water.

 

[JSCh]

河南“替爷爷向公交司机道歉小女孩”获5000元奖金 称公平是最好的
Henan "little girl that apologized to the bus driver for Grandpa" received 5,000 yuan reward. Said fairness is the best policy.

发表时间：2016-01-17 08:53:22
Published: 2016-01-17 08:53:22

1月14日，微博上一条新闻引发众多网友关注：视频上显示，河南郑州97路公交车上，一个小姑娘“教育”出言不逊的爷爷（实为孩子的姥爷）：车没进站，不 能拦门上车，你再这样以后不用来接我了，并替老人向公交车长道歉。公交车长回忆说，当时小姑娘的一句“阿姨对不起，是我爷爷不对”，让她哭了。
January 14, a news post caught attention of many netizens on the microblogging site Weibo:
Video displayed, Zhengzhou Road 97 bus, a little girl "educate" disrespectful grandfather :"The bus had not yet enter the bus-stop, you should not bar and board the bus, you do that again, I would not want you to pick me up", and apologized to the bus driver for the grandfather. Lady bus driver recalled that when the girl said the words "I'm sorry aunt, my grandfather is wrong", it make her cried.

网友纷纷为小姑娘点赞，某公益“天天正能量”将联合大河报奖励小姑娘5000元正能量奖金。
Netizens one after another "like" the post to praise the girl. Ali welfare's "positive energy daily" public good program, together with Dahe Daily newspaper decided to award 5,000 yuan to the girl.

老人上车后便对司机破口大骂
Grandpa swearing to the bus driver after boarding the bus

小姑娘替爷爷道歉
Little girl apologized for her grandfather​

童声丨孩子说：“公平是最好的”

这个懂事的小姑娘是谁？15日一大早，大河报记者接到热心读者报料，称小女孩是郑州市惠济区东风路小学一年级的学生，小名叫雯雯。

昨天上午，记者来到了雯雯的学校。“这事儿我们也是才知道。”雯雯的班主任说到这孩子在视频中的言行，一点儿不觉得意外，“这孩子一直特别有礼貌，很善良，有同学忘带笔时，她赶忙跑着把多余的送过去。”

雯雯的教室在二楼，大课间时，她腼腆地聊起当天发生的事——1月6日下午4点多，雯雯的姥爷来学校接她回家，带她走到东风路与丰乐路交叉口附近97路公交 车站牌处等车。当时，97路公交车距离站牌还有一小段距离，“车门还没开，姥爷上前拍拍拍，上车后骂人了，也没顾上刷卡，我跟姥爷说，别吵了，又帮他去刷 卡，给开车的阿姨说了对不起。”

为什么想到主动给公交车长说“对不起”？雯雯回答：“那个阿姨可委屈。”她说，当时公交车还没进站，好多人都跑过去了，有人拍门，阿姨都没开门，让到站牌处等车，“我也觉得这样公平”。

“在你看来，大家在上车、排队这些事情上应该怎样做更好？”记者问，小女孩用稚嫩的声音回答：“我觉得，公平是最好的。”

聊到这事儿，小姑娘也特别体谅姥爷，“姥爷有脑梗，爱着急，姥爷给姥姥打两遍电话，姥姥没接，他也吵姥姥。”不过她知道，姥爷一直很疼她。

那天，小姑娘对老人说：以后你再这样，别来接我了，老先生啥反应？“姥爷说，知道了。”雯雯说，那次“风波”之后，再没出现过当天的情况，这些天，还是姥爷接送她上下学，爷孙俩还是很亲。

东风路小学的崔校长说，学校一直注重学生美德方面的教育，倡导“小手拉大手”，传递正能量，“家长好的地方，可以影响孩子，孩子对的地方，也可以感化家长。”

点赞丨网友纷纷点赞，小姑娘得到正能量奖金

雯雯说，家人看到了网上、电视上她和姥爷在公交车上的相关报道，妈妈对她说：“你这样做得对。”

听说那天自己的言行被网友点赞、阿里公益“天天正能量”还要联合大河报送上正能量奖金，小姑娘不好意思地低下头，有点害羞，也很意外，她觉得这是件很平常的小事。当被问到这5000元正能量奖金准备怎么用时，小姑娘想了想说：“买房。”

据雯雯介绍，爸爸妈妈平时都很忙，也很辛苦，“现在我们借住在别人家，我想帮家里买房子。”她还说，妈妈每月给自己的零花钱，她把节省下来的都攒着，两年多下来，已经攒了1300元，都准备支援家里买房用。

“这孩子，就是特别懂事。”雯雯的妈妈对大河报记者说，女儿主要由姥姥带大，受心地善良的姥姥影响很大，听到女儿惦记着帮家里买房，这位妈妈忍不住感动落泪，她说，现在为了孩子上学便利，暂时借住在朋友家，孩子的心意，让她心里酸酸的也暖暖的。

雯雯的妈妈说，其实，事发当天她就听说了公交车上的事，没想到现在会引发网友热议，让她百感交集。“我爸犯过脑梗，是个急脾气，一急起来容易冲动，平时我 们为他身体考虑，都由着他的性子。”她还听老人说，那天等车时有几辆公交车排队进站，大冷天，老人上前拍门，是着急带孩子回家，不过，对公交车长失礼确实 不应该，“我跟我爸说了，谁家都有老人、孩子，换位思考，都不容易，得互相多理解，多体谅，我想替我爸对公交车长道歉。”雯雯的妈妈说，这两天，老人的心 情、身体都受了影响，她希望大家能对老人多一些包容，也希望这场“风波”能尽快过去。

对于此事，网友的感慨引发共鸣：老人和孩子是无法怪罪的，老人代表了我们的历史，孩子代表着我们的未来，我们无法改变历史，但我们可以塑造未来。

In summary, little girl is a primary one student named Wenwen. Wenwen's mum said grandpa had suffered cerebral infarction, is rather impatient and short temper. The family let him has his way because of his health condition.

Also, the family is temporarily staying at a friend's house.

Ali welfare and Daihe Daily decided to award 5,000 yuan to Wenwen with their "Positive energy daily" program. When asked what would she do with the award money, she answered "buy house". Wenwen wanted to help the family to buy their own house. And she had already saved her allowance money for two years, amount to about 1,300 yuan. That 5,000 yuan award money would be used as saving fund for the house.

 

[CAPRICORN-88]

Going abroad to get well
By Zhang Xinyuan Source:Global Times Published: 2015-12-8

Ailing foreigners travel to China for cheaper, better healthcare even as local expats bewail inadequacies

A growing number of foreigners are traveling to China to receive medical treatment. Photo: IC

As soon as Winnie Moth (pseudonym) landed in Tianjin from Denmark last July, he and his family immediately jumped into a cab and went directly to the Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, hoping to get his medical treatment as soon as possible.

The 50-year-old mechanic found out he had rectal cancer from his family doctor two weeks before he came to China. When he tried to get an appointment for further tests at a local public hospital in Denmark, where he has insurance coverage, Moth was told that the earliest opening was two months away and the private hospital that could take him within two weeks was too expensive.

"I didn't think my condition could wait two months, and the chemotherapy in private hospitals would cost around 300,000 Danish Krone ($43,620). It's too much for ordinary families like ours," he said.

Moth explained that he found out about hospitals in China through a cousin who worked for a Danish company in Tianjin. "He told me that he knew some foreigners who received cancer treatment at the hospital in Tianjin, and the results were pretty good, plus the fees were acceptable."

After doing some research online and talking to some patients who received treatment at the facility, Moth decided to travel to China to treat his cancer. He received treatment, surgery and chemotherapy in China last year and his cancer is in remission.

Moth is one of many foreigners who are traveling to China to receive treatment for illnesses that would either be impossible or too expensive in their home countries.

Some of the patients are even from developed countries like the US and other European countries. Although there are no statistics on how many foreigners are coming to China to get medical treatment, Guo Zhi, director of the Intervention Department at the Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, said that the hospital on average receives around 50 foreign patients per year, half of them from developed countries, and the other half from developing countries.

"Other major hospitals in China are also receiving an increasing number of foreign patients seeking treatment for serious conditions, especially in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region which share a border with other countries," he said.

Metropolitan got in touch with some foreigners who traveled to China, some local expats, and some experts to dissect the state of healthcare in China.

Faster, cheaper and more advanced medical facilities are three key factors driving China's emerging medical tourism industry. Photo: IC

The more cost-effective choice

Some foreign patients come to China to get medical treatment because they can get treatment faster here, and the cost is much lower compared to Western countries, Guo said.

After Moth arrived in China, he checked into the hospital immediately, and the doctors started to run panels on him in no time.

"On my seventh day in China, I went into the operation, and the surgery was a success. Then I stayed in the hospital for 15 days for further recovery and medication," Moth said.

"The whole treatment process was really efficient. Also, the treatment only cost around 50,000 yuan ($7,790). There is no insurance to cover the fees, but it was totally acceptable," he said.

Izabela Sokołowska-Boulton from Poland, a 32-year-old former professional dancer, also traveled to China to treat a tumor in her spine in 2009.

Boulton had her first two surgeries in Europe. However, the surgeries didn't stop her condition from deteriorating, and the tumor started to spread to her stomach and lungs.

"The doctors in Poland said that I only had a few months to live," she said. "My family also tried to contact doctors in the US and Europe, but they said they could only offer more chemotherapy, and most of the hospitals wouldn't even accept me in my condition."

"I came to China on a gamble after I got to know a patient in the same condition who was treated successfully at the hospital in Tianjin," she said.

Boulton contacted the hospital and got a "very quick" response. "They said they would try to help, at least decrease my pain."

She said the doctors tried a myriad of treatment regimes including immunotherapy, gene therapy and even freezing the tumor and that after three months of treatment, she was well enough to go home.

"The cancer wasn't completely removed from my body but it is under control now, and I can just take the medicine in Poland," Boulton said. "The hospital in China offered me more medical options than anywhere in the world and they were willing to try when doctors in Western countries wouldn't."

While not able to return to her career as a dancer, Boulton said she still lives a rich life and gave birth to her second child eight months ago - something that would not have been possible without the aid of the Chinese doctors.

Boran Userbayev, 65, from Kazakhstan, went to a hospital in Xinjiang to treat his lung cancer last month.

"We considered three options, including treating the disease in our country and going to Germany," Userbayev said.

"We finally chose the hospital in Xinjiang because compared to the hospital in our country, Xinjiang is 50 years ahead in medical technology. And while we can get the same level of medical treatment in Germany, the price is almost 10 times higher," he said. "The medical treatment I received here is very good and efficient. I received surgery on my 7th day in the hospital, and it was very successful," Userbayev said.

Room for improvement

Although some foreign patients are satisfied with the medical treatment they received in China, some have had some unpleasant experiences. One thing they are dissatisfied with are the long lines due to the enormous volume of patients queuing to get access to a doctor.

"We got up at 5 am so that we could get an appointment in the morning, only to find more than 100 people were already queued up at the hospital door," said Peter Baker (pseudonym) from the UK.

He had accompanied his girlfriend to the China-Japan Friendship Hospital in Beijing two years ago for a kidney infection.

In the UK, if you have a minor problem, you would go to a small clinic that has general practitioners who give you the relevant medicine or advice. You only go to a hospital when there is a big problem. That way hospitals stay less crowded, and there is less risk of catching a serious illness from another patient, Baker said.

Most foreigners also haven't gotten used to receiving their medicine via intravenous (IV) drips which is a common practice in Chinese hospitals.

"My girlfriend was prescribed three days of IV drips, while my sister in the UK who had a similar problem just got antibiotic tablets," Baker said.

"IV drips are not good for people's health, and, while getting them, you have to sit in a room full of other ill people, increasing the risk of infection."

Rogan Roberts, a 44-year-old from the UK, complained that the amount of time Chinese doctors spend with their patients is too short.

He said he visited the Wangjing Hospital of CACMS (China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences) for an eye infection last July and the time he spent in the line waiting to see the doctor was more than 30 times longer than the actual consultation time.

"I waited in line for one hour, but the consultation time only lasted for two minutes," he said.

"In the UK, the consultation time would last at least 15 minutes. They would explain what's caused the problem and what to keep in mind to avoid a recurrence."

Medical treatments in China, trending now

Cai Qiang, founder of Saint Lucia Consulting, a company that brings Chinese patients to foreign countries to get medical treatment, said there is a small but growing trend where foreigners travel to China for medical treatment.

He said in a July 2014 CN-healthcare.com report that his company plans to bring foreign patients to China.

In the report, he mentioned that Asia is becoming a center for medical tourism around the world, and as the biggest country in Asia, China has a huge potential in the industry.

"For patients from Western countries who have lower income or don't have insurance, coming to Asian countries like China means that they can get the same kind of surgery at a tenth of the price," Cai said in the report.

Zhao Yan, vice president of Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, who has studied and worked in the France for over 10 years, said that in terms of medical technology, China is already up to international standards.

"The medical equipment and technology that Western developed countries have, Chinese hospitals have them as well," Zhao said.

"And because Chinese hospitals receive more patients, due to our country's large population, they have more hands-on experience than the doctors in Western countries. Some of them even have a better surgery technique. For example, in France, a doctor may do four surgeries a month, but Chinese doctors will perform four surgeries a day," he said.

"There are good hospitals and bad hospitals in every country," Boulton said. "Chinese medical technology is developing rapidly. As long as you research the hospital carefully and talk to doctors thoroughly, I think getting medical treatment in China is a good choice."

Posted in: Metro Beijing

 

[JSCh]

Whistleblower wears Spiderman mask to receive $68,000 award
chinadaily.com.cn 2016-01-22 14:20

Informant wearing a Spiderman mask receives the $68,400 award in Guangzhou city, South China's Guangdong province, Jan 21, 2016. (Photo by Chao Xiao/provided to China Daily)​

An employee of a freight company wore a Spiderman mask to receive 450,000 yuan ($68,400) reward, the biggest prize of its kind in Guangdong province, on Thursday for tipping off police about a major international drug trafficking ring.

As an examiner at a freight company in Shunde district, Foshan city, Guangdong province, the informant found some watch boxes destined for Malaysia had drugs inside them and reported the finding to local police.

The clue directly helped police from Foshan city, Guangzhou city, Shenzhen city and Dongguan city to bust a cross-border drug trafficking ring involving 630 kilograms of drugs, 600 kilograms of raw materials for drug making, and 20 suspects, including seven Hong Kong residents, and three drug manufacturing and storage locations, from Dec 29, 2015, to Jan 14, 2016.

The award consists of 300,000 yuan awarded by Guangdong Provincial Public Security Bureau and 150,000 yuan by Public Security Bureaus in Shunde district and Foshan city, is in line with the rules on rewarding those who provide tips about drug-related crimes announced by Department of Finance of Guangdong Province and the Provincial Public Security, said Deng Jianwei, director of drug enforcement with the Provincial Public Security Bureau.

The watch boxes used for carrying the drugs are displayed in Guangzhou city, South China's Guangdong province, Jan 21, 2016. (Photo by Chao Xiao/provided to China Daily)​

Law enforcement authorities across Guangdong province have reportedly awarded 24.81 million yuan to 3,546 informants since 2013.

Thanks to the 3,456 informants, 14,521 drug-related cases have been busted with 18,877 suspects arrested and 8.32 tons of drugs seized. These cases account for about 20 percent of all drug-related cases busted since 2013.

Currently, 14 cities in Guangdong province are running this award scheme, said Deng.

Drugs seized by Guangdong police during the raid are displayed in Guangzhou city, South China's Guangdong province, Jan 21, 2016. (Photo by Chao Xiao/provided to China Daily)​

 

[JSCh]

Cities reach out to shield homeless from dangerous cold
By Zhu Lixin in Hefei and Su Zhou in Beijing (China Daily) Updated: 2016-01-22 08:12

With the strongest cold wave in decades headed across China, local governments are sending 24-hour patrols to the streets to help homeless people.

A rescue station at Bengbu, Anhui province, prepared 200 quilts and 100 sets of heavy clothes, along with some food items, and planned to look for needy people on the streets over the weekend.

"We will take homeless people and beggars to the rescue station," said Yu Guo, deputy director of the station. "For those who don't want to stay at the rescue station, we'll give them a quilt and clothes to protect against the deadly cold."

The Civil Affairs Bureau in Hefei, Anhui province, is also making preparations to help the homeless.

"We found two homeless people living under a road crossing on Wednesday night," said Zhan Shaobo, and official at the civil affairs bureau of Hefei's Lushan district. "One is about 50 years old and from Sichuan province - a garbage collector; another is about 40 years old and from Jiangxi province. We have checked their identities and sent them back to their hometowns."

"We have prepared 300 quilts, 300 sets of clothes and 100 hats for homeless people," Zhan said.

Shanghai has also set up temporary shelters, signs, clothes and other ways of helping homeless people through the weather. Teams from civil affairs, public security and city administration branches have joined the hunt for the homeless.

The city has also informed the general public about the rescue stations.

Wang Ying in Shanghai contributed to this story.

Contact the writers at suzhou@chinadaily.com.cn

 

[ahojunk]

In every country there are idiots (like the one who killed a 19 year old student in a US road rage incident) and some dubious US flaggers in PDF, lol.

However, there are also a lot of good hearted Americans like the one in this rather sad story.

I have lots of respect for the adoptive mother, Molly Sano.

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US mother finds adopted son's Chinese birth parents on fifth day
By YAN DONGJIE (China Daily)
Updated: 2016-01-21 08:08

On the fifth day, they met.

Molly Sano traveled from the United States to China to find her adopted son's biological parents, hoping her public pleas for help would allow her to reunite the boy with his family before an incurable genetic disorder robbed him of his sight.

It worked. News about Sano's trek to Ningbo, Zhejiang province, on behalf of 2-year-old Bennett, reached the ears of Shi Boning, director of the Hearing Diagnosing and Screening Center of the Affiliated Hospital of Ningbo University.

He searched the center's records until he found a case similar to the boy's and reached out to the child's father, surprised to find the phone number in the case file was still active. Five days after Sano landed in Ningbo, the families embraced.

"Finding Bennett's bio-parents, I've helped my son find his roots," Sano said. "I have no regrets about this trip to China."

Sano adopted the boy in 2014. Born deaf in Ningbo, Bennett was diagnosed in December with a rare disorder and is expected to gradually go blind. His mother wanted him to see his family before he lost his vision and feared waiting would make it more difficult to find them.

When they met, Bennett's biological mother, a migrant worker in her 30s, immediately burst into tears and tried to explain why she abandoned her son. She repeatedly said: "I really had no other choice."

Molly Sano meets Bennett's biological mother in Ningbo, Zhejiang province. CUI YIN/CHINA DAILY

Bennett's Chinese parents were eager to tell the story of his birth and his family. Besides an older brother, who also is deaf, which was mentioned in a note left by Bennett's side when he was found, he also has a sister and a younger brother born with normal hearing. Bennett was born on April 1, 2012. His parents expected him to take care of his older brother in the future, but their hopes drained away when they found out that he could not hear either.

"We worked in a factory where the monthly payment was only about 1,000 yuan ($152)," Bennett's biological father said.

On May 18, 2012, his parents made the decision to give him up and Bennett was placed at the south gate of a luxurious residential area. His father didn't leave until he saw a security guard collect the boy and take him safely to the police station.

Later transferred to the Enmei Child Welfare Association in Ningbo, Bennett remained there until Sano came for him and took him to her home in Seattle.

With photos, Sano told the couple about the boy's daily life in a family of four, where he attends school and is growing up like a normal child. The two mothers added each other on WeChat, a popular messaging app, and Sano offered to send photos of Bennett every year. Flying back to Seattle on Wednesday, Sano said she will bring greetings from Bennett's biological parents to the city.

 

[ahojunk]

IMHO, some of these groups (including NGO) are dangerous to developing countries. They ferment unrest and chaos.
I wonder what took the Chinese government so long to act. The Russians have already kicked out these so-called NGO.

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Police smashes illegal organization jeopardizing China's national security
2016-01-20 08:39 | Xinhua | Editor: Mo Hong'e

Chinese authorities announced on Tuesday they have smashed an illegal organization that sponsored activities jeopardizing China's national security.

The suspects, including a Swedish national, have been put under coercive measures in line with the criminal law.

According to a statement from Chinese police and national security authorities, the Swedish national, Peter Jesper Dahlin, and some other people have been operating an unregistered "China emergency rights aid group" on China's mainland, and had received undeclared money from overseas and carried out unregulated activities.

The police said the organization hired and trained others to gather, fabricate and distort information about China, providing "China's human rights report" to overseas organizations.

It also organized others to interfere with sensitive cases, deliberately aggravating disputes and instigating public-government confrontations to create mass incidents, according to the police.

The police said the organization had been accepting hugh sums of money from seven overseas organizations and the above activities were carried out in accordance with their plans.

Dahlin was also connected to Fengrui Law Firm, which police last year uncovered had organized paid protests.

Dahlin and Wang Quanzhang, a lawyer with Fengrui, co-founded "Joint Development Institute Limited" (JDI) in Hong Kong in August, 2009. JDI operated on the Chinese mainland under the name of "China emergency rights aid group".

Dahlin's organization also provided funds to Xing Qingxian, who had been accused of illegally assisting the son of Wang Yu, another Fengrui lawyer, to illegally cross the Chinese border.

Dahlin has confessed that all of the "China's human rights reports" were compiled via online research and could not reflect reality. "Not seeing some cases myself, I cannot guarantee they are true," he said.

The statement cited Dahlin's confession as saying that an unspecified foreign NGO had explicitly asked JDI to file no less than 96 lawsuits against the Chinese government each year.

The NGO also asked JDI to help train civil lawyers, each of whom would be paid 3,000 yuan (456 U.S. dollars) per month. While for practising lawyers like Wang, JDI would pay them 5,000 yuan and give them 20,000 yuan for every case against the Chinese government.

Two members of the organization said western anti-China forces had planted Dahlin and some other people in China to gather negative information for anti-China purposes such as smear campaigns.

The finger men are also tasked with organizing forces in China, fanning anti-government and anti-Party sentiment, and deceiving people to disrupt state and social order, thus, changing the social system of China, according to confessions of the two members.

The police have uncovered that the organization received nearly 10 million yuan from overseas in recent years, yet nearly half of this money was pocketed by Dahlin and his men through false salary receipts and other claims.

"If I give out salaries strictly according to the receipts, there will be no profits for me," he said.

Dahlin has expressed remorse, saying, "I need to offer my deep apologies for hurting the Chinese government and the Chinese people."

The Swedish national was detained on Jan. 3 over charges of funding activities threatening China's national security. He was later placed under residential surveillance. The police said his right to a consular visit was granted on Jan. 16, when Swedish diplomats met with him.

The case is under further investigation.

 

[Jlaw]

Dahlin has confessed that all of the "China's human rights reports" were compiled via online research and could not reflect reality. "Not seeing some cases myself, I cannot guarantee they are true," he said.

LOL. What a shitty lawyer. He should be a journalist as they also do not investigate and check sources anymore

 

[ahojunk]

This will help in wildlife conservation.

------------------
NE China destroys 80,000 hunting devices
2016-01-25 15:56 | Ecns.cn | Editor:Yao Lan

Apparatus used to catch birds and other wild animals are set on fire during a campaign in Northeast China’s Jilin Province, Jan. 25, 2016. Several cities in the province destroyed more 80,000 hunting devices including traps, rings and nets on the same day. The equipment was confiscated during a campaign that started in October last year.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

84-year-old man expresses his love to his wife by hiring SKYSCRAPER to spell out 'I heart you' | Daily Mail Online

Is this the sweetest anniversary gift? 84-year-old man expresses his love to his wife of 67 years by hiring a SKYSCRAPER to spell out 'I heart you'

• The building in Hangzhou City, eastern China, was lit up on Valentines Day
• Couple say they have never done anything romantic or said 'I love you'
• The pensioner husband paid to hire out the hotel to project the message

An elderly man in China has given his wheel chair-bound wife the sweetest Valentine's Day gift one can think of: a giant 'I love you' sign on a skyscraper.

The 84-year-old pensioner, named as Qiao Weiwei from Hangzhou city, showed his everlasting love for his 83-year-old wife yesterday by hiring hotel rooms inside the building and having the message projected onto it.

The modern day Romeo had the words of 'I [heart] U' spelled out to celebrate the couple's 67th anniversary, the People's Daily Online reports.

True love: The New Century Hotel in Hangzhou, China was lit up with lights displaying the loving message

Love:Qiao Dewei and his wife Liu Shixiu have been married for 67 years and did not have a wedding ceremony

Celebration:The hotel room is decorated to commemorate the couple's diamond marriage in Hangzhou

Qiao Dewei and his wife Liu Shixiu dressed up in wedding attire to celebrate the memorable anniversary together.

According to the couple, they have never done anything romantic or said 'I love you' to each other. They also said that when they were married, they did not dress up or have a wedding ceremony.

Speaking to Chinese media, Qiao Dewei said: 'We have been married for 67 years and have experienced numerous ups and downs and countless difficulties. Life is hard but we've never even thought about divorce'.

Liu Shixiu is now bound to a wheelchair and with her health deteriorating, her husband decided that now was the time to give her a thoughtful surprise.

The man was helped by his grandson who worked together with the building's owners, a hotel, to make the surprise happen.

The hotel kept 220 of its rooms vacant to allow the man's message to be screened. It's unknown how much the romantic gesture cost.

Everlasting love:The man said 'I love you' for the first time to his wife of 67 years by having it written on a hotel

Precious love: Qiao Dewei says his wife's health is deteriorating and he wanted to finally give her a wedding


Edit: Hmm...western meme on building.

 

[JSCh]

China Headlines: Striving for the health of 1.4 billion people
Source: Xinhua 2016-02-27 20:26:49

BEIJING, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) -- Tan Ruicheng from Shannxi only had to spend 500 yuan (about 76 U.S. dollars) on cerebral ischemia treatment as his medical insurance covered the remaining 2,000 yuan, a huge saving for the rural resident.

The world's largest medical insurance network now covers more than 95 percent of the Chinese population, giving them access to basic health services from birth to the day they leave the world.

As more and more medical costs are reimbursed, overall expenditure on health care in 2015 was at its lowest level in two decades, in terms of the percentage of the country's total medical spending.

The medical care reform that China is undertaking is the largest in history, and it has expanded average life expectancy and decreased infant mortality, according to Bernhard Schwartlander, World Health Organization China representative.

As most Chinese have become better-off, they have become more health conscious, as such the leadership is taking it very seriously.

NO HEALTH, NO PROSPECTS

For Tan, he has noticed that his treatment fees have also decreased. Previously a one-off treatment would cost around 4,000 yuan, nearly half the average annual income of rural residents.

This plummeted to 2,500 yuan after the hospital was upgraded as part of the ongoing medical care reform.

After nearly four decades of rapid development, China is striving to provide everyone with equal access to public services, health care being one of the most important.

The reform drive has been characterized by unprecedented strength and scope since President Xi Jinping assumed office in 2013.

The central leadership underscored the building of a "healthy China" in the proposal for the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016 to 2020,) a key period for China to accomplish the first centenary goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects by 2020.

There will be no well-off society in all respects, however, if the population is not healthy, Xi said.

Experts say the "healthy China" strategy is timely as it taps into the people's needs.

"A well-off society in all respects is supposed to be one where the people not only live a carefree life but are healthy -- both physically and mentally," said Wang Hufeng, a medical reform researcher at Renmin University.

Only by maintaining the population's condition can China achieve sustainable growth, he said.

Some developed countries, such as the Britain, had launched national health promotion plans as early as 1950s to enhance labor competitiveness and national power.

As the economy enters a "new normal," the intelligence-intensive and green health service industries are also inevitable choices for China to face up to the slowdown pressure and promote the long-term development of the medical sectors.

CHALLENGES, PROSPECTS

The improvements in the medical care sector are remarkable, but challenges remain.

The percentage of medical costs paid by the government is still low and medicine needs to be more affordable. In some places, especially rural areas, there are very long waiting lists for doctor or hospital appointments.

Some families have even fallen into poverty after spending all money in treating a serious disease.

In Xi'an, the capital city of Shannxi, a poll by the local government indicated that lower medicine and easier access to quality medical services were the top two New Year wishes.

To solve the price problem, "the most prominent in the sector," Zhan Jifu, head of the healthcare reform leading group in Sanming city, said authorities must cut the illegal profit chain between hospitals and drug suppliers and ban doctors prescribing expensive but unnecessary drugs.

During a visit to Jiangsu Province in October 2014, President Xi Jinping vowed to allocate more medical resources at the community level and promote equal access to public health services that are safe, efficient, convenient and affordable.

The central authorities rolled out a plan last April to regulate the operation of public hospitals, mandating that they should not be profit-driven and only work for the public good.

Clean and nutritious food are also the key to the health of people. After a series of food scandals, such as recycled cooking coil, the top legislature in 2015 adopted an amendment to the Food Safety Law, featuring serious penalties for offenders.

The "healthy China" strategy is a long-term plan, and several supportive measures on medicine and hospitals should be put in place to push its persistent and thorough implementation, said Li Bin, head of the National Health and Family Planning Commission.

She added that a healthy China does not mean more medical units or hospitals, but rather less patients, and more health and prevention publicity.

The central government should vigorously advocate healthy lifestyles and focus on strengthening prevention, echoed Wang Hufeng.