(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.
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On September 22nd, Shangdong-based environmentalist @ä»»å¢é¢ reported: āPay 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 å ³ę³Ø#āé«ē§ęāęéø—č¶č±ę²³ēēµåéøéø£å¼čƱéøęē½äŗä»¶#åéøå¤©å č¶č±ę²³ēāęęŗåä¼āļ¼ēµåéøéø£å¼čƱéøęē½ļ¼äøäŗŗäøå¤©ēęę°ååŖćč±å·äøå¹³åŗ¦åøäŗ¤ēēč¶č±ę²³åŗäøļ¼āé«ē§ęāęéøļ¼ēµåéøéø£å¼čƱéøęē½ļ¼ē“ę„éå°é„åŗļ¼ęÆåŖēä»·ę ¼åØäŗåå°å åå ļ¼äøå°åØå“ēęę°å å „å°čæäøŖč”åäøļ¼ęéøčµé±ć
On October 8th, Green Earth Volunteersā river information project @绿家åę±ę²³äæ”ęÆ posted this news item: āThe 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. 广äøčæęµ·ēęē “åäø„é http://t.cn/akmyEu å¤ē§ęµ·äŗ§åééå±č¶ ę ļ¼2010 幓广äøęµ·ę“å ¬ę„ę¾ē¤ŗļ¼å¹æäøčæęµ·åęå „ęµ·ęę±”å£ęę¾ę±”ę°“č¶ ę ļ¼16%ēčæęµ·ęµ·åę£åØéåę±”ęć2010幓ē ę±å «å¤§å „ęµ·å£åę¦ę±ćę·±å³ę²³ćäøę±ēäø»č¦å „ęµ·ę²³ęµęŗåø¦å „ęµ·ēē³ę²¹ēćē ·ćééå±ēę±”ęē©108 äøåØćå ¶äøē ę±ęå „ęµ·ēę±”ęē©å ę»éäøęć
On October 29th, Netizen @éøåØåØč”åØ reported on Weibo: āOn 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¶éē½äøä¾ē¶ååØå¤§éč“©åå½å®¶äŗēŗ§äæę¤åØē©ēåå®¶ļ¼å¦å¾ę示ļ¼ęäøä½åäŗ¬ēåå®¶å ¬ē¶č“©åå¤å¤“é¹°ļ¼åæęæč åØč°ę„čæēØäøļ¼čæåē°äŗåēŗ¢é¼ćę„ę¬ę¾éé¹°ćēŗ¢č ¹é¦éø”ēåē±»å½å®¶äŗēŗ§äæę¤åØē© @å½é ē±ę¤åØē©åŗéä¼ @éęęéēåØē©č“øę @å„åæå åøę大家č½å¤å¤å¤č½¬åļ¼å¶ę¢éę³éēåØē©č“øęļ¼ļ¼ļ¼
In a movement that has become known as Xiang River Watcher, Green Hunan’s volunteers @绿č²ę½ę¹ 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 Riverās 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.
On November 2nd, Wang Quanjie @åæ§å½åæ§ę°ēå Øę°, a professor at Yantai University, posted this story: āShockingly, 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 studentsā and teachersā 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
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This message has been circulated 26,130 times on Weibo in just fifteen days, with 7630 comments responding to it.
A delegate of the Chinese Peopleās Political Consultative Conference in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, Guo Jinlong @ę·±å³ęæåå§åéęé¾criticized the professors: āOne 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 ęēäøä½ę¬ē§å¦ēä¹ęÆčÆ„ę ”ēęęļ¼ęåÆ¹å ¶č®²ļ¼āä½ ē½åęēå¦ēäŗļ¼ęä¹č½ęÆ«ę å°äø„å°äøč·Ŗå¢ļ¼ä½ 们åŗå½å©ēØęęēäøäøē„čÆåäøäøč½åļ¼ę³åę³č®©čå·åøęæåŗå®ååä½ ä»¬äøč·Ŗåļ¼ļ¼ā
A netizen @hyder_han replied to @ęæåŗē “äŗ§äøęÆęčØ: āAccording 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 governmentās credibility is gone. News reports on similar cases reveal that the government is no longer trustworthy.ā åęäøčÆ“ęęåę³ęø éå·²ē»čµ°äøéļ¼č§£å³äøäŗé®é¢ļ¼ę¾ē¶ę“åØęęøøč”ę²”ęę”ä»¶ļ¼åŖęäøč·Ŗäŗćåę³éå¾čµ°äøé诓ęä»ä¹ļ¼ē±»ä¼¼ę°é»č®©äŗŗä»¬ęē½äøäøŖéēļ¼ęæåŗäæ”ēØē “äŗ§äŗļ¼äøåå¼å¾äæ”ä»»ć
Netizen Lixing compared the professors’ strategy of protest to that of the migrant workers @ęå “lixing: āIf 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.āå¦ęęęååę°å·„å å¼é½åŖęčæäøęę„č§£å³é®é¢ļ¼ē¤¾ä¼å¤ŖåÆę²äŗļ¼
Another netizen @å°åø„ē·2010 commented: āMaking reasonable arguments to the government won’t work. Kneeling is even more useless.ā åå®åŗč®²éēäøč”ćäøč·Ŗę“ę²”ęēØć@ē¼ē³å“č expressed similar views: āThe 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 ęęéä½ååØęäøč·Ŗļ¼ęÆäøē§ę°äø»čŖå®«ļ¼äøå½äŗŗå·²ē»äøč·Ŗäŗå å幓äŗļ¼ä»ę„ę²”ęäøäøŖåØęč ļ¼ä¼å ę¤åäøč·Ŗč ä½å¤“ć
Netizen @dadizhiziV commented ironically: āThis 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 čæęÆå åå¹“å®£ä¼ ęč²ēęęļ¼ē«čµ·ę„ēäøå½äŗŗåč·Ŗäøå»äŗļ¼å½å¹“é»äøå¤ęęęę”ččµ·ļ¼ē°åØäøę¶äæ±čæļ¼ę¹äøč·Ŗäŗļ¼å害å¦
Netizen @ę°“ęø ęµ R argued with netizen @梦äøčč²ę°: āPower 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 ęåå±äŗå½ę°åŖęÆä¹¦ę¬äøēčÆčå·²ļ¼ē°å®å°±ęÆęåę°øčæåŖå±äŗé¢åƼļ¼ä»ä»¬ēęåę„čŖäŗäøēŗ§ļ¼äøę®éēä½ ęä»ę å ³ćå幓ę¶é“ļ¼ä¹ę¬”äøä¹¦ļ¼äøč³å½å”é¢äøč³åŗęæåŗļ¼é¾éé£äŗęęå°±äøē„éå¦ä½ēØä½ ęč°ēāęå°äø„āē结ęä¹ļ¼ę们离ę°äø»å ±åčæčæēå¢
Netizen @å¤é³åØēŗæ81 has some last hopes for the party: āThat 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 intellectualsā status and dignity? Is respecting professionals a big joke? Intellectuals are broken-hearted.ā ęęäøč·Ŗļ¼äøååęÆē„čÆååēę²åļ¼ęÆäøå½ęåēę²åļ¼ęÆäøå½äŗŗę°ēę²åļ¼ę们å äøå¤®é¢åƼé¾éä¼äøęå°ę²åļ¼äøäøŖåÆåŗéæä¹åÆä»„对ęę们å¦ę¤å·é ·ļ¼ē„čÆååčæęä»ä¹å°ä½ćčæęä»ä¹å°äø„ļ¼å°éē„čÆćå°éäŗŗęå²é大大空čÆļ¼ē„čÆååēåæå·äŗļ¼åæē¢äŗļ¼
Netizen @CarlMama wondered: āThe government does extremely bad things. Why do we pay so many taxes to feed it? ęæåŗēäøä½äøŗå·²ē»åå±å°ęč“ļ¼ēTMDäøęē½äŗ¤äŗé£ä¹å¤ēØå »čæåø®å¤Ŗē·ęÆäøŗå„ļ¼
Later on, Wang Quanjie @åæ§å½åæ§ę°ēå Øę° added the local authority’s response: āOn 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 ćé¢åƹęęä¹č·Ŗć4ę„čå·åŗå§å®£ä¼ éØé主任称ļ¼å°é¢åęÆęå锹ē®ęē»é½å Øļ¼ę¬čæé¢åč§£å³äøäŗé®é¢ļ¼ę儽č½å°å¤§å¦ę¬čµ°ćå¹¶ęæčÆŗāęæåŗå°å 大é¢åēÆå¢ēē®”å
Some netizens, @é£åé for instance, praised the professors’ kneeling: āThe 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 ęę们ęåę°ēäøč·Ŗļ¼äø¢ęēäøä¼ęÆä»ä»¬ēå°äø„ļ¼č®©å ¬ä¼ēå°ēåčęÆåäŗę å½ēåå¼ŗļ¼čµäøäøŖļ¼
Of course, there are always some netizens speaking for the factories, such as @åæ_ę å¢: āYou 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»¬åęÆę³ę³ļ¼å¦ęčæäøŖå·„å被ē¦ę¢äŗļ¼é£ä¹ęå¤å°äŗŗå°±å¤±äøäŗļ¼ä½ 们ęåļ¼
Categories: Voices from China