Voices from China

Weibo Watch: Issue 9

(November 21, 2011) In this instalment of Weibo Watch: the media investigates cadmium-contaminated rice, technological bird kills, and rivers polluted with heavy metals or choked with weeds; netizens catch online vendors selling protected species; and professors kneel in protest against steel factories, setting off a heated debate.

September 22: Caixin magazine has been hot on the trail of the contaminated rice issue. On September 22, Caixin journalist Gong Jing reported that 10% of rice sold in Chinese markets is contaminated with cadmium. The rice is grown on farmland polluted by factories. This latest report shows that little has changed over the past 10 years when earlier investigations by the Rice and Rice-Products Quality Monitor and Test Center of Agriculture Ministry in 2002 and the Agricultural Resources and Ecological Environment Research Institute of Nanjing Agriculture University in 2007 showed the same results. An earlier Caixin report that appeared this February described how the absence of regulations against planting on polluted land has permitted the problem to exist. According to its latest report, the Chinese Center for Disease Control has launched a survey about polluted rice.

2002å¹“ļ¼Œå†œäøšéƒØēØ»ē±³åŠåˆ¶å“č“Øé‡ē›‘ē£ę£€éŖŒęµ‹čÆ•äø­åæƒę›¾åÆ¹å…Øå›½åø‚åœŗēØ»ē±³čæ›č”Œå®‰å…Øę€§ęŠ½ę£€ć€‚ē»“ęžœę˜¾ē¤ŗļ¼ŒēØ»ē±³äø­č¶…ę ‡ęœ€äø„é‡ēš„é‡é‡‘å±žę˜Æé“…ļ¼Œč¶…ę ‡ēŽ‡28.4ļ¼…ļ¼Œå…¶ę¬”å°±ę˜Æé•‰ļ¼Œč¶…ę ‡ēŽ‡10.3ļ¼…ć€‚äŗ”å¹“ä¹‹åŽēš„2007å¹“ļ¼Œå—äŗ¬å†œäøšå¤§å­¦å†œäøščµ„ęŗäøŽē”Ÿę€ēŽÆå¢ƒē ”ē©¶ę‰€ļ¼ˆäø‹ē§°å—äŗ¬å†œå¤§å†œē ”ę‰€ļ¼‰ę•™ęŽˆę½˜ę ¹å…“å’Œä»–ēš„ē ”ē©¶å›¢é˜Ÿļ¼ŒåœØå…Øå›½å…­äøŖåœ°åŒŗļ¼ˆåŽäøœć€äøœåŒ—ć€åŽäø­ć€č„æå—ć€åŽå—å’ŒåŽåŒ—ļ¼‰åŽæēŗ§ä»„äøŠåø‚åœŗéšęœŗé‡‡č“­å¤§ē±³ę ·å“91äøŖļ¼Œē»“ęžœåŒę ·č”Øę˜Žļ¼š10ļ¼…å·¦å³ēš„åø‚å”®å¤§ē±³é•‰č¶…ę ‡ć€‚

On September 22nd, Shangdong-based environmentalist @任增颖 reported: ā€œPay attention to birds being killed with high technology. The migrating bird paradise, Shangdong Jiaolai Riverbank, is the scene of a deliberate bird kill. An electronic bird twitter is used to attract birds into a net. Tens of birds are killed every day by each person. This happens especially on the riverbanks of the Jiaolai River between the cities of Jiaozhou and Pingdu. Villagers from the area are joining in the kill. Trapped birds are sent straight to restaurants, 50 -60 RMB each.ā€ 关注#ā€œé«˜ē§‘ęŠ€ā€ę•éøŸ—čƒ¶čŽ±ę²³ē•”ē”µå­éøŸéø£å¼•čÆ±éøŸę’žē½‘äŗ‹ä»¶#å€™éøŸå¤©å ‚čƒ¶čŽ±ę²³ē•”ā€œę€ęœŗå››ä¼ā€ļ¼Œē”µå­éøŸéø£å¼•čÆ±éøŸę’žē½‘ļ¼Œäø€äŗŗäø€å¤©ēŒŽę€ę•°ååŖć€‚čŽ±å·žäøŽå¹³åŗ¦åø‚äŗ¤ē•Œēš„čƒ¶čŽ±ę²³åŗŠäøŠļ¼Œā€œé«˜ē§‘ęŠ€ā€ę•éøŸļ¼Œē”µå­éøŸéø£å¼•čÆ±éøŸę’žē½‘ļ¼Œē›“ęŽ„é€åˆ°é„­åŗ—ļ¼ŒęÆåŖēš„ä»·ę ¼åœØäŗ”ååˆ°å…­åå…ƒļ¼Œäøå°‘å‘Øå›“ēš„ę‘ę°‘åŠ å…„åˆ°čæ™äøŖč”Œåˆ—äø­ļ¼Œę•éøŸčµšé’±ć€‚

On October 8th, Green Earth Volunteers’ river information project @ē»æå®¶å›­ę±Ÿę²³äæ”ęÆ posted this news item: ā€œThe ecological deterioration of Guangdong’s coastal areas has led to heavy metal levels in sea products that exceed standards. http://t.cn/akmyEu The report also revealed that, according to the official Guangdong Sea Bulletin 2010, about 40% of sewage drain outlets along the Guangdong coast are dumping sewage that exceeds standards, and about 16% of Guangdong’s coastal waters are polluted. In 2010, the estuary of the Pearl River Delta, including the estuaries of the Rong, Shenzhen, and East Rivers, carried a total of 1.05 million tons of petroleum hydrocarbons, arsenic, heavy metal and other pollutants. 70% of the pollutants were carried by the Pearl River. å¹æäøœčæ‘ęµ·ē”Ÿę€ē “åäø„é‡ http://t.cn/akmyEu å¤šē§ęµ·äŗ§å“é‡é‡‘å±žč¶…ę ‡ļ¼š2010 å¹“å¹æäøœęµ·ę“‹å…¬ęŠ„ę˜¾ē¤ŗļ¼Œå¹æäøœčæ‘ęµ·å››ęˆå…„ęµ·ęŽ’ę±”å£ęŽ’ę”¾ę±”ę°“č¶…ę ‡ļ¼Œ16%ēš„čæ‘ęµ·ęµ·åŸŸę­£åœØé­å—ę±”ęŸ“ć€‚2010å¹“ē ę±Ÿå…«å¤§å…„ęµ·å£å’Œę¦•ę±Ÿć€ę·±åœ³ę²³ć€äøœę±Ÿē­‰äø»č¦å…„ęµ·ę²³ęµęŗåø¦å…„ęµ·ēš„ēŸ³ę²¹ēƒƒć€ē ·ć€é‡é‡‘å±žē­‰ę±”ęŸ“ē‰©108 äø‡åØć€‚å…¶äø­ē ę±ŸęŽ’å…„ęµ·ēš„ę±”ęŸ“ē‰©å ę€»é‡äøƒęˆć€‚

A Nanjing vendor is selling the crested goshawk, a protected species.

On October 29th, Netizen @éøŸå“ØåœØč”ŒåŠØ reported on Weibo: ā€œOn Ganjiwang, the biggest website for trading secondhand goods and advertising household management services, there are still lots of vendors who sell Class II protected species. [According to Article 9, the state shall give special protection to the species of wildlife which are rare or near extinction. The wildlife under special state protection shall consist of two classes: wildlife under first class protection and wildlife under second class protection. Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Protection of Wildlife.] As the photos below show, a Nanjing vendor is selling the crested goshawk. A volunteer investigation found that several kinds of Class II protected animals are on sale, such as the common kestrel, the Japanese sparrowhawk and the golden pheasant. Please forward this message and stop illegal trading of wild animals!ā€ @čµ¶é›†ē½‘äøŠä¾ē„¶å­˜åœØå¤§é‡č“©å–å›½å®¶äŗŒēŗ§äæęŠ¤åŠØē‰©ēš„å–å®¶ļ¼Œå¦‚å›¾ę‰€ē¤ŗļ¼Œęœ‰äø€ä½å—äŗ¬ēš„å–å®¶å…¬ē„¶č“©å–å‡¤å¤“é¹°ļ¼åæ—ę„æč€…åœØč°ƒęŸ„čæ‡ēØ‹äø­ļ¼Œčæ˜å‘ēŽ°äŗ†å–ēŗ¢éš¼ć€ę—„ęœ¬ę¾é›€é¹°ć€ēŗ¢č…¹é”¦éø”ē­‰å„ē±»å›½å®¶äŗŒēŗ§äæęŠ¤åŠØē‰© @å›½é™…ēˆ±ęŠ¤åŠØē‰©åŸŗé‡‘ä¼š @éšę‰‹ę‹é‡Žē”ŸåŠØē‰©č“øę˜“ @å„šåæ—å†œ åøŒęœ›å¤§å®¶čƒ½å¤Ÿå¤šå¤šč½¬å‘ļ¼Œåˆ¶ę­¢éžę³•é‡Žē”ŸåŠØē‰©č“øę˜“ļ¼ļ¼ļ¼

The Xiang River.

In a movement that has become known as Xiang River Watcher, Green Hunan’s volunteers @ē»æč‰²ę½‡ę¹˜ Ā have been working with the media and doing a wonderful job to monitor the Xiang River. Though their work is noble, they usually find sad situations. More and more photos and videos taken by Green Hunan’s volunteers are alerting people to the Xiang River’s abnormal conditions. Here are two photos that they posted in October and early November of 2011. Many segments of the Xiang River and its tributaries are covered by trash, water hyacinth, and duckweed.

Photos from the Xiang River.

On November 2nd, Wang Quanjie @åæ§å›½åæ§ę°‘ēŽ‹å…Øę°, a professor at Yantai University, posted this story: ā€œShockingly, Professors kneel down before officials. Jinzhou (Hubei province) municipality and district government recruited investments to increase the local GDP. Factories producing fake and poor quality steel products were built near the Yangtze University. These factories are polluting the environment and are harmful to students’ and teachers’ health. Professors at the Yangzte University had been petitioning the central government, the Hubei provincial government, the Jinzhou municipal government and the district government, but have received no response from any of the authorities. Helplessly, on November 1st, the professors knelt down in front of the district government gate in protest. The district vice-director said to the professors: “There is no pollution in Africa, you should all move to Africa.ā€

ć€ęƒŠäŗŗäø€å¹•ļ¼šę•™ęŽˆē»™å®˜å‘˜äø‹č·Ŗć€‘é•æę±Ÿå¤§å­¦ļ¼Œę•°ååę•™ęŽˆå› č†å·žåø‚ć€åŒŗę”æåŗœå‘å±•GDPę‹›å•†å¼•čµ„ļ¼ŒåœØę ”å›­å¢™å¤–å»ŗčµ·ē”Ÿäŗ§ä¼ŖåŠ£é’¢ęēš„å·„åŽ‚ļ¼Œę±”ęŸ“ēŽÆå¢ƒļ¼Œå±å®³åøˆē”Ÿå„åŗ·ļ¼Œę›¾8ę¬”äøŠä¹¦äø­å¤®ć€ę¹–åŒ—ēœåŠč†å·žåø‚ć€åŒŗę”æåŗœļ¼Œå‡ę— äŗŗčæ‡é—®ć€‚ę— å„ˆäø­ļ¼Œ11月1ę—„ę•™ęŽˆä»¬é½åˆ·åˆ·åœ°č·ŖåœØåŒŗę”æåŗœé—Øå£čÆ·ę„æļ¼Œå‰ÆåŒŗé•æčÆ“ā€œéžę“²ę²”ę±”ęŸ“ļ¼Œä½ ä»¬ę¬åˆ°éžę“²åŽ»ā€ć€‚

This message has been circulated 26,130 times on Weibo in just fifteen days, with 7630 comments responding to it.

Professors kneeling in protest.

A delegate of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, Guo Jinlong @ę·±åœ³ę”æåå§”å‘˜éƒ­ę™‹é¾™criticized the professors: ā€œOne of my undergraduate students is now a professor of the Yangzte University. I told him: You are wasting what you learnt from me. How could you kneel down without any dignity? You should use your professional knowledge and ability, and try to make the Jinzhou municipal officials kneel down before you!ā€ ęˆ‘ēš„äø€ä½ęœ¬ē§‘å­¦ē”Ÿä¹Ÿę˜ÆčÆ„ę ”ēš„ę•™ęŽˆļ¼Œęˆ‘åÆ¹å…¶č®²ļ¼šā€œä½ ē™½åšęˆ‘ēš„å­¦ē”Ÿäŗ†ļ¼Œę€Žä¹ˆčƒ½ęÆ«ę— å°Šäø„åœ°äø‹č·Ŗå‘¢ļ¼Ÿä½ ä»¬åŗ”å½“åˆ©ē”Øę•™ęŽˆēš„äø“äøšēŸ„čÆ†å’Œäø“äøščƒ½åŠ›ļ¼Œęƒ³åŠžę³•č®©č†å·žåø‚ę”æåŗœå®˜å‘˜å‘ä½ ä»¬äø‹č·Ŗå•Šļ¼ļ¼ā€

A netizen @hyder_han replied to @ę”æåŗœē “äŗ§äøę˜ÆęˆčØ€: ā€œAccording to the original message, all legal procedures have been in vain. Obviously, it is impossible to hold a rally or rebellion. Kneeling is the only way to protest. Legal procedures make no difference, which means the government’s credibility is gone. News reports on similar cases reveal that the government is no longer trustworthy.ā€ åŽŸę–‡äø­čÆ“ę‰€ęœ‰åˆę³•ęø é“å·²ē»čµ°äøé€šļ¼Œč§£å†³äøäŗ†é—®é¢˜ļ¼Œę˜¾ē„¶ęš“åŠØęˆ–ęøøč”Œę²”ęœ‰ę”ä»¶ļ¼ŒåŖęœ‰äø‹č·Ŗäŗ†ć€‚åˆę³•é€”å¾„čµ°äøé€ščÆ“ę˜Žä»€ä¹ˆļ¼Ÿē±»ä¼¼ę–°é—»č®©äŗŗä»¬ę˜Žē™½äø€äøŖé“ē†ļ¼šę”æåŗœäæ”ē”Øē “äŗ§äŗ†ļ¼Œäøå†å€¼å¾—äæ”ä»»ć€‚

Netizen Lixing compared the professors’ strategy of protest to that of the migrant workers @ęŽå…“lixing: ā€œIf professors and migrant worker buddies have to kneel down before officials as the only way to solve their problems, our society is in a sad state.ā€å¦‚ęžœę•™ęŽˆå’Œå†œę°‘å·„å…„å¼Ÿéƒ½åŖęœ‰čæ™äø€ę‹›ę„č§£å†³é—®é¢˜ļ¼ē¤¾ä¼šå¤ŖåÆę‚²äŗ†ļ¼

Another netizen @å°åø„ē”·2010 commented: ā€œMaking reasonable arguments to the government won’t work. Kneeling is even more useless.ā€ å’Œå®˜åŗœč®²é“ē†äøč”Œć€äø‹č·Ŗę›“ę²”ęœ‰ē”Øć€‚@琼琳囓脖 expressed similar views: ā€œThe professors kneeling is a kind of self-censorship of democracy. The Chinese people have knelt for thousands of years. No authority will lower his head for a person who kneels before him.ā€ ę•™ęŽˆé›†ä½“å‘åØęƒäø‹č·Ŗļ¼Œę˜Æäø€ē§ę°‘äø»č‡Ŗå®«ļ¼äø­å›½äŗŗå·²ē»äø‹č·Ŗäŗ†å‡ åƒå¹“äŗ†ļ¼Œä»Žę„ę²”ęœ‰äø€äøŖåØęƒč€…ļ¼Œä¼šå› ę­¤å‘äø‹č·Ŗč€…ä½Žå¤“ć€‚

Netizen @dadizhiziV commented ironically: ā€œThis is the outcome of decades of propaganda-filled education. The Chinese people have stood up and knelt down again and again. During the Kuomintang regime, intellectual Wen Yiduo protested fiercely against the authorities. Now they are keeping pace with the times, kneeling instead.ā€ čæ™ę˜Æå‡ åå¹“å®£ä¼ ę•™č‚²ēš„ę•ˆęžœļ¼ē«™čµ·ę„ēš„äø­å›½äŗŗåˆč·Ŗäø‹åŽ»äŗ†ļ¼å½“å¹“é—»äø€å¤šę•™ęŽˆę‹ę”ˆč€Œčµ·ļ¼ŒēŽ°åœØäøŽę—¶äæ±čæ›ļ¼Œę”¹äø‹č·Ŗäŗ†ļ¼åŽ‰å®³å“¦

Netizen @ę°“ęø…ęµ…R argued with netizen @ę¢¦äø­č‰č‰²ę–°: ā€œPower only belongs to citizens on paper. In practice, power always belongs to the leaders whose power comes from their higher authorities, and not from us, the people. The professors have been petitioning for four years. They have written letters nine times to various governments, from central to local. Don’t the professors know how to protect their rights with dignity? We are still so far from being a democracy and a republic.ā€ ęƒåŠ›å±žäŗŽå›½ę°‘åŖę˜Æä¹¦ęœ¬äøŠēš„čÆč€Œå·²ļ¼ŒēŽ°å®žå°±ę˜ÆęƒåŠ›ę°øčæœåŖå±žäŗŽé¢†åÆ¼ļ¼Œä»–ä»¬ēš„ęƒåŠ›ę„č‡ŖäŗŽäøŠēŗ§ļ¼ŒäøŽę™®é€šēš„ä½ ęˆ‘ä»–ę— å…³ć€‚å››å¹“ę—¶é—“ļ¼Œä¹ę¬”äøŠä¹¦ļ¼ŒäøŠč‡³å›½åŠ”é™¢äø‹č‡³åŒŗę”æåŗœļ¼Œéš¾é“é‚£äŗ›ę•™ęŽˆå°±äøēŸ„é“å¦‚ä½•ē”Øä½ ę‰€č°“ēš„ā€œęœ‰å°Šäø„ā€ēš„ē»“ęƒä¹ˆļ¼Ÿęˆ‘ä»¬ē¦»ę°‘äø»å…±å’Œčæ˜čæœē€å‘¢

Netizen @å¤•é˜³åœØēŗæ81 has some last hopes for the party: ā€œThat professors are kneeling is not only sorrowful for intellectuals; it is sorrowful for all Chinese people. How can our Communist Party leaders not feel sad? That the vice-director of a district government could be so cold to professors. Where is the intellectuals’ status and dignity? Is respecting professionals a big joke? Intellectuals are broken-hearted.ā€ ę•™ęŽˆäø‹č·Ŗļ¼Œäøå•å•ę˜ÆēŸ„čÆ†åˆ†å­ēš„ę‚²å“€ļ¼Œę˜Æäø­å›½ę–‡åŒ–ēš„ę‚²å“€ļ¼Œę˜Æäø­å›½äŗŗę°‘ēš„ę‚²å“€ļ¼Œęˆ‘ä»¬å…šäø­å¤®é¢†åÆ¼éš¾é“ä¼šäøę„Ÿåˆ°ę‚²å“€ļ¼Ÿäø€äøŖå‰ÆåŒŗé•æä¹ŸåÆä»„åÆ¹ę•™ęŽˆä»¬å¦‚ę­¤å†·é…·ļ¼ŒēŸ„čÆ†åˆ†å­čæ˜ęœ‰ä»€ä¹ˆåœ°ä½ć€čæ˜ęœ‰ä»€ä¹ˆå°Šäø„ļ¼Ÿå°Šé‡ēŸ„čÆ†ć€å°Šé‡äŗŗę‰å²‚éžå¤§å¤§ē©ŗčÆļ¼ŸēŸ„čÆ†åˆ†å­ēš„åæƒå†·äŗ†ļ¼Œåæƒē¢Žäŗ†ļ¼

Netizen @CarlMama wondered: ā€œThe government does extremely bad things. Why do we pay so many taxes to feed it? ę”æåŗœēš„äøä½œäøŗå·²ē»å‘å±•åˆ°ęžč‡“ļ¼ŒēœŸTMDäøę˜Žē™½äŗ¤äŗ†é‚£ä¹ˆå¤šēØŽå…»čæ™åø®å¤Ŗēˆ·ę˜Æäøŗå•„ļ¼

Later on, Wang Quanjie @åæ§å›½åæ§ę°‘ēŽ‹å…Øę° added the local authority’s response: ā€œOn November 4th, Mr. Chen, director of the Jinzhou district Propaganda Department, said that in the government’s drive to recruit investments, these small scale steel factories had met all the required rules. Moving the steel factories would not solve the problem. It is better to move the university out of this district. He promised to enhance environmental monitoring of big steel factories.ā€ ć€é¢åÆ¹ę•™ęŽˆä¹‹č·Ŗć€‘4ę—„č†å·žåŒŗå§”å®£ä¼ éƒØé™ˆäø»ä»»ē§°ļ¼Œå°é’¢åŽ‚ę˜Æę‹›å•†é”¹ē›®ę‰‹ē»­é½å…Øļ¼Œę¬čæé’¢åŽ‚č§£å†³äøäŗ†é—®é¢˜ļ¼Œęœ€å„½čƒ½å°†å¤§å­¦ę¬čµ°ć€‚å¹¶ę‰æčÆŗā€œę”æåŗœå°†åŠ å¤§é’¢åŽ‚ēŽÆå¢ƒē›‘ē®”åŠ›

Some netizens, @风凌隐 for instance, praised the professors’ kneeling: ā€œThe professors are bravely kneeling down. They will not lose their dignity. The public can see them taking on their duties (to protect students and themselves).ā€ ę•™ęŽˆä»¬ęœ‰å‹‡ę°”ēš„äø€č·Ŗļ¼Œäø¢ęŽ‰ēš„äøä¼šę˜Æä»–ä»¬ēš„å°Šäø„ļ¼č®©å…¬ä¼—ēœ‹åˆ°ēš„åč€Œę˜Æå‹‡äŗŽę‹…å½“ēš„åšå¼ŗļ¼čµžäø€äøŖļ¼

Of course, there are always some netizens speaking for the factories, such as @心_ę— å¢ƒ: ā€œYou guys should think about this: if the factories are prohibited from opening, how many people will lose their jobs? Do you understand?ā€ ä½ ä»¬å€’ę˜Æęƒ³ęƒ³ļ¼Œå¦‚ęžœčæ™äøŖå·„åŽ‚č¢«ē¦ę­¢äŗ†ļ¼Œé‚£ä¹ˆęœ‰å¤šå°‘äŗŗå°±å¤±äøšäŗ†ļ¼Ÿä½ ä»¬ę‡‚å—ļ¼Ÿ

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