CHINA – POLITICS

The 18^th Party Congress

China Media Project: Watchwords: Reading China through its Party Vocabulary

“图中有四色：深红，浅红，浅蓝，深蓝。深红色词语，包括“阶级斗争”、“无产阶级专政”、“毛泽东思想”等，是极权时代的口号，但今天并未完全消失；浅红词语，如“三个代表”、“科学发展观”等，是今天的官方提法，握有话语霸权，充斥官媒；浅蓝词语，如“宪政”、“公民社会”，在媒体上允许使用，但官方 ——主要是政治局常委，极少或者从不使用；在浅蓝和深蓝间有一条禁区线，深蓝色词语如“多党制”、“军队国家化”等，在正面意义上是禁止使用的。”

10个关键词语里的十八大

1，“四项基本原则”（含毛泽东思想）

2, “维稳”；

3, “政治体制改革”

4, “文革”

5,  “权为民所赋”

6, “决策权，执行权，监督权”

7,  “党内民主”

8, “社会建设”

9,  “科学发展观”

10, “中国特色社会主义”

The Four Basic Principles:

1. The Four Basic Principles were used by leftists to criticize Hu Yaobang and Zhao Ziyang. The “Four Basic Principles” and “political system reforms” were locked in fierce opposition throughout the 1980s.
2. “If this term continues to appear in the political report to the 18th National Congress, it is possible to say with some certainty that, barring shifts of a more dramatic nature, there is little hope or expectation for substantive political reform… But the vanishing of the term altogether would be the most important signpost for political reform.”

Stability preservation

1. Deng Xiaoping first used the world “tranquility” (安定) in the 1980s, and later opted for stability (稳定). The “coming of age” of the term came at the one-year anniversary of the Tiananmen crackdown, with People’s Daily headline “Stability above everything else” (稳定压倒一切). The full phrase did not appear at all in Jiang Zemin’s reports to the 14^th and 15^th National Congresses in 1992 and 1997. Unrest in Urumqi in 2009 reinvigorated the discourse.
2. “Stability preservation” saw three peaks in usage: 1990, 1999 (campaign against Falun Gong), 2009 (60^th anniversary of PRC). Accompanied by rise of security apparatus.
3. “If these terms do appear, this will signal that the Party intends to perpetuate the political line of “stability preservation,” and maintain an atmosphere of high pressure on all perceived forms of unrest, regardless of how legitimate the claims of those carrying out rights defense may be.”

Political system reform

1. Usage of the phrase surged before and after the 13^th National Congress in 1987, fell precipitously after Tiananmen, and “has never recovered”. However, the championing of political reform by Wen Jiabao (“七谈政改”) has led to a revival after the 17^th National Congress in 2007.
2. “Possible positive developments for this watchword at the 18th National Congress would be inclusion in a section header of the political report (which didn’t happen in 2007), or an overall increase in use of the term (which was mentioned five times in 2007). Any decrease in use would be a negative sign.”

“Power is given by the people”

1. Possible birth of a new watchword: Xi Jinping proposed the phrase in the midst of Wen Jiabao’s burst of statements in 2010 about political reform. Advances on Hu’s “three principles of the people” by making clear where power comes from.
2. Similar proposal (权为民所授) by reform advocate Zhu Houze (朱厚泽) in 2003, but neither Jiang nor Hu has used language of this kind. The phrase has never appeared on the headline of People’s Daily, “a coming of age ritual for any Party phrase”.

Social construction; Civil society

1. Social construction (社会建设), social management (社会管理), social system reforms (社会体制改革) as important keywords since the 17^thNational Congress in 2007.
2. Shenzhen’s pioneering attempt: Party secretary Wang Rong pushed forward the building of a civil society (建立公民社会) in 2010. However this was ill-received by Wang Yang, which criticized the Shenzhen government for playing politics. In May 2011, Zhou Benshun (zhengfawei secretary) attacked idea of social organizations working independently of the state. Call to avoid “trap” of civil society designed by the West. Nonetheless, this was followed by the “Wukan model” and subsequent innovation in registration.
3. “The critical thing to watch here is whether the phrase “expanding the scope for self-governance at the grassroots,” which appeared in 2007, reappears in this year’s political report. If it disappears (and is not replaced by “social self-governance”) that will be a negative sign.”

Recent news coverage on 18^th congress

1. Reuters reports that a seven-member list has been drawn up by past, present and future presidents, citing “three sources with ties to senior party leaders”. A smaller committee was to make it easier for Xi to establish his authority and push through badly needed reforms. The list includes Wang Qishan, Liu Yunshan, Li Yuanchao, Zhang Dejiang, Zhang Gaoli. Wang Yang is out of the list as Hu considers him “too reformist, too much risk of significant change”.
2. Associated Press: Chinese elite politics still a man’s world:
   1. “Since the founding of Communist China in 1949, no woman has ever served on the Politburo Standing Committee, the topmost leadership clique where major policy is set. Only two women have served as provincial party secretaries, powerful positions seen as stepping stones to national leadership posts.”
   2. “In 2009, female cadres accounted for just 11 percent of leadership positions at the ministerial or provincial level, 13.7 percent at the local and departmental level, and 16.6 percent in county-level offices. That was only slightly better than figures for 2000, which were 8 percent, 10.8 and 15.1 percent.”
   3. Willy Lam: “To become a mayor of a big city or a governor of a province you have to be sort of one of the boys, you have to drink a lot and maybe womanize a bit and also be reasonably corrupt […] There’s no lack of corrupt women in China, but this to-be-one-of-the-boys phenomenon, I think, is holding some promising female cadres back.”
   4. Beijing rights advocate: Difficult to promote a female as it would cause rumors: “People would talk, they would wonder about just how close the relationship was.”
3. Caixin notes how several official media outlets have published articles calling for the deepening of reform:
   1. Qiushi, October 16: “Striving Forward with Reform and Opening Up” (奋力把改革开放推向前进): 5,000-word article using “reform and opening up” 51 times, saying stagnation and going backward is not the way.
   2. People’s Daily opinion piece in early October: Changes in political ideology, behavior and systems needed, using global political environment as a reference.
4. NYT: Wang Qishan being “nudged aside” in the area of economic policy with Li Keqiang taking over. In late summer, some party seniors pushed for Wang to be named prime minister instead of Li but did not succeed. Wang was then considered to be a strong candidate for executive vice prime minister, but “opinion in elite circles seems to be moving quickly against him”. Wang now appeared most likely to be made Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference head, “a figurehead position”.
5. Li has “considerably less experience than Mr. Wang in handling crises or pushing through tough decisions that offend vested interests”
6. Willy Lam: Personal animosity between Li and Wang: “If Wang Qishan becomes first vice premier, that will set off a vicious power struggle between Wang Qishan and Li Keqiang.” Li and Wang were not openly hostile to each other but had “radically different personal styles”.

CHINA – ECONOMY

Economic reform

1. In a February report, the World Bank predicted that China’s annual economic growth may slow to 5% by 2026-2030, from 8.5% in 2011-2015. China’s growth has currently slowed to 7.4% in the third quarter from 7.6% in the second, although there were signs of rebound in September: “the worst may be over and the world’s No. 2 economy will pick up in the final quarter”.
2. Mainstream view in Beijing “is to blame the global financial crisis for China’s slowdown”
3. New impetus to economic reform: policy think-tanks asked to draw up “their most ambitious economic reform proposals in decades”. According to those involved, the order for the agenda came from State Council members:
   1. At the top of list: Containing the government’s meddling in the economy and clipping the wings of more than 100,000 SOEs
   2. Allowing the market to set the cost of bank credit, land and natural resources
   3. Reforming tax structures to alter unbalanced central-local powers: Local governments do most of the spending, with local debts standing at 10.7 trillion yuan at the end of 2010.
4. Experts: China need to unlock fresh growth potential to avoid the “middle-income trap”. BBC: domestic consumption needs to radically increase.

Reform of re-education through labour (laojiao)(劳动教养)

1. Evolution of system
   1. The laojiao system was based on the Soviet Gulag, and had millions jailed for political crimes during Mao’s time. System saw its peak use soon after it was established in the mid-1950s to re-educate opponents of the Communist regime (“rightists”), as well as those who committed minor criminal offenses.
   2. By 1960, sentences could be imposed by police on recommendation of government departments, employers, or heads of families. Use of laojiao declined during the Cultural Revolution. Afterwards,
      1. The Ministry of Justice took over the management of labour camps
      2. The police remained in charge of deciding whether to apply punishment
   3. Since end of Cultural Revolution, “a vast explosion in the number of offenses that can lead to laojiao”. It has been used to suppress democracy protesters after the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown, practitioners of Falun Gong and other religious groups, as well as those who resisted the one-child policy.
   4. Today, it can place a person behind bars for 3 years without trial. Punishment can be extended to 4 years if the person is considered “not sufficiently re-educated”.
2. Figures:
   • According to a UN Human Rights Council report, some 190,000 Chinese were held in 320 re-education centers in 2009.
   • By 2005, the laojiao system has been used to punish offenders in 580,000 cases related to drug abuse, representing over half of laojiao sentences.
3. Instrumental for maintenance of social stability:
   1. Nicholas Bequelin, Human Rights Watch: “They like its flexibility, allowing them to take large numbers of people off the street very quickly.”
   2. Washington Post: “a handy tool for dispensing punishment without intrusions by lawyers or judges.”
4. “Essentially unmonitored sweatshops”: inmates reportedly forced to work 12-hour shifts doing heavy construction work for private developers, and their wages go into prison coffers or the pockets of police guards. Abusive treatment within camps also reported.
5. Critics: Against principles of China’s Constitution, the Legislation Law (立法法), and the Administrative Coercion Law (行政强制法). Lacks transparency: Chen Zhonglin, NPC member: “The problem is which government agency should be the examining and approving organization. Currently the PSB is both player and referee. That has to be changed.”
6. Recent controversies/protests:
   1. Hunan province: Mother (Tang Wei) of 11-year-old rape victim sent to laojiao for 18 months for repeatedly petitioning local authorities. Tang was released within a week after her case drew widespread attention online.
   2. Chongqing: Peng Hong released after serving 2 years in labour camp for circulating Internet picture depicting Wen Qiang, former director of Chongqing Municipal Judicial Bureau, protecting criminal gangs. Wen Qiang was sentenced to death in 2009 for sheltering criminal gangs.
   3. Chongqing: 25-year-old former village official Ren Jianyu appealing his two-year laojiao sentence, given for attacking Bo Xilai’s red campaign. He said the campaign could signal a return of the Cultural Revolution.
   4. Beijing: Two male artists detained for staging performance art piece calling for abolition of laojiao. In May 2011 an artist was sentenced to one year of laojiao after staging Sensitive Times, for “disturbing public order” and “holding pornographic performance in public”.
7. Attempts at reform:
   1. 10/10: Jiang Wei, official in charge of the Central Leading Group for Judicial Reform, said authorities have reached a consensus on the necessity to reform the laojiao system, particularly the approval procedure in which authorities decide if a person should receive laojiao.
   2. There have been discussions of reforming or abolishing laojiao back in 2007: “Legal experts say draft reforms include reducing the maximum sentence to one year, better defining the appeal process, removing the high walls and electrified barriers often found around these facilities and placing greater emphasis on rehabilitation.” At that time, it was seen as an embarrassment as Beijing tries to burnish its image as host of the 2008 Olympics.
   3. In August 2012, pilot testing of a replacement system called “education and correction of violations” (违法行为教育矫治) began in four cities (Nanjing, Lanzhou, Zhengzhou, Jinan).

CHINA – SOCIETY

Mental Health

According to the Ministry of Health, China now has 16 million people suffering from severe mental disorders.

Use of mental disability to suppress political dissent “被精神病”

According to Caixin, over 300,000 people were forcibly sent to mental hospitals in 2008.

Two civilian charity organizations, the Psychosis and Social Observation and the Shenzhen-based Hengping Institute, published a report in 2010 to condemn the police and law enforcement agencies for abusing their power and sending people considered dangerous to public security to receive psychiatric treatment.

1. Has been going on for at least 40 years, but attracted greater attention with the government crackdown on Falun Gong. According to database of over 200 Chinese citizens wrongly committed compiled by Civil Rights and Livelihood Watch, petitioners are today’s most frequent victims of psychiatric abuse, outnumbering political dissidents and Falun Gong members: “In annual performance reviews of local officials, reducing the number of petitioners is considered a measure of good governance.” Hospital officials even cite petitioning as the sole reason of confinement.
2. Institutions involved:
   1. Wan Yanhai, activist: “Today in Beijing three government branches operate mental hospitals: the health department, the police department, and the civil affairs department. This is troubling evidence that mental health is not seen as a medical issue, as it should be, but as a matter of social stability and a concern of law enforcement.”
   2. “In Zhejiang province, an official document dated March 23, 2010, and published online details the collaboration between the local police and health departments on mental health, which is wrongly described as first and foremost a social stability issue. In a troubling return to the climate of suspicion my parents experienced during the Cultural Revolution, neighbors in Zhejiang are encouraged to report on each other if they suspect mental illness.”
   3. System of Ankang Hospitals (安康医院) within the Ministry of Public Security.
3. Huang Xuetao, lawyer from Equity and Justice Initiative: “Rules in mental hospitals are drawn up by the hospitals, which favor them and disregard the patients, and there is no unified regulation on mental facilities.”
4. Prominent cases:
   6. [Nov 2010]: Xu Lindong, farmer from Henan province, was locked away for 6.5 years after filing a series of complaints against the local government over land dispute. During confinment, he received 54 electric-shock treatment, was roped to his bed, and routinely injected with powerful drugs. He attempted suicide three times. Released in April 2010 and received compensation of 300,000 yuan.
   7. [Jan 2011]: Guo Yanrong from Hubei province released after 14 years of confinement for alleged muckraking, after friends appealed to online community through Tianya BBS.
   8. [May 2011]: Xu Wu, worker at Wuhan Iron and Steep Corporation: Protested to authorities in Wuhan and Beijing after complaint to boss about underpayment of wages failed. Confined to mental health institution since December 2006. According to Xu’s family, he was tortured and forced to confess to planning to set off a bomb.
   9. [Dec 2011]: Wu Chunxia, Henan province: Won release by threatening suicide and repeated petitioning. Her legal pursuit led to landmark case: The Henan courts determined on June 15, 2012, that Wu should receive compensation from the Street Office 145,000 yuan which includes 100,000 yuan for mental damages.

Mental health law 《精神卫生法(草案)》

Drafting began in 1985.

1. First reading of draft mental health law in October 2011 (draft issued on June 10, 2011):
   1. Articles 26 and 27 most controversial: permits involuntary commitment where an individual exhibits behavior that “disturb public order”
   2. Article 24: allows relatives to send a “suspected mentally disabled person” to the hospital. Michael Perlin: “Very, very often, somebody will come to a psychiatrist and say “doctor, my brother, sister, whatever is crazy” and that becomes sort of the fact in evidence, even though there’s no  [actual] evidence before [the psychiatrist.”].”
2. Second reading in August 2012. According to the draft law,
   1. Institutions and individuals should protect the privacy of mentally ill people
   2. Patients and their relatives can lodge lawsuits against the government, medical institutions and individuals if they feel their legal rights have been harmed
   3. Every mental illness diagnosis must be made by qualified psychiatrist. Patients and relatives can ask for re-evaluation if they do not agree with diagnosis.
   4. Main ways to prevent “被精神病”
   5. Article 26 of second draft: “除个人自行到医疗机构进行精神障碍诊断外，疑似精神障碍患者的近亲属可以将其送往医疗机构进行精神障碍诊断。”: “近亲属享有送治权，这一权利仍然过大。比如，近亲属在受到威胁、恐吓、强迫、利诱的情况下，作出送治的决定，非常危险。”
3. As of 2010, only 6 of 283 cities have a local mental health ordinance.

Local regulations

1. Shanghai health authorities issued order in August to community health centres across the city, instructing them to conduct 11-question psychiatric surveys for local residents in order to identify potentially unstable individuals. Highly controversial.
2. In September 2012, the Shanghai government further announced new regulations (上海市精神疾病防治服务规范): “依据该规范，“无故不上学、不上班、不出家门”、“整天躺在床上”，“过分话多，活动多”都已作为行为异常人员线索。这不禁令网友们惊呼：“宅男宅女、‘话痨们’可得注意了！”

Insufficient care for the needy

1. Acute shortage of medical caregivers:
   1. According to a 2011 CNN report, only 88,117 health personnel were available to provide professional care in 637 psychiatric hospital, while there are 19 million psychiatric patients in China.
   2. Another statistic puts the number of psychiatrists in China at 17,000. There are 1.3 psychiatrists per 100,000 people in China compared to 14 per 100,000 in the United States. Most psychiatric hospitals are understaffed and financially unviable.
   3. NYT: “The dearth of care is most evident when it comes to individuals who commit violent crimes. For example, after Liu Yalin killed and dismembered an elderly couple cutting firewood in a Guangdong Province forest, he was judged to be schizophrenic and released to his brother. Unable to afford treatment, the brother flew Mr. Liu to the island province of Hainan, in the South China Sea, and abandoned him, a Chinese nongovernment organization, Shenzhen Hengping, said in a recent report. Last year, Mr. Liu killed and dismembered an 8-year-old Hainan girl.”
2. Lack of health coverage: Only 45,000 people covered for free outpatient treatment and only 7,000 for free inpatient care.
3. Social stigma:
   1. Only about 8% of persons with mental illnesses ever seek help.
   2. Tradition: Mental health left to herbalists to rebalance emotions. Under Mao, mental illness “was declared a bourgeois self-delusion and the sick were treated with readings from Chairman Mao”, since the cause was considered to be inadequate understanding of class struggle. Psychiatry was outlawed.

Mo Yan: Nobel Prize in Literature

1. Reaction
   1. People’s Daily: “中国文化走向世界的强音”
      “莫言的获奖表明，一种文学作品，越是具有中国特色、中国风格、中国气派，就越是会具有可以拨动世界各国人民心弦的共鸣力。一部文学作品，越是植根于中国人民生活和民族传统的深厚土壤之中，就越是能够具有世界影响力。只有那些贴近中国实际、贴近中国民众生活的作品，才能永远站立在世界文学的舞台之上。”
      “一些媒体还把此次新闻与中国建设社会主义文化强国联系起来，认为这也是中国全球软实力战略的成功。国家的繁荣与精神产品的影响力成正比，中国文学已经传递出迈向世界的强大足音。”
   2. Hong Kong’s newspapers
2. Mo Yan’s controversial positions
   1. Vice-chairman of the state-run Chinese Writers’ Association
   2. Participation in the transcription by calligraphy of Mao’s 1942 speech for the celebration of the Yan’an talk’s 70^th anniversary
      1. Mo Yan’s response to Ming Pao
   3. Boycotting 2010 Frankfurt Book Fair due to presence of Chinese dissident writers
   4. Allegedly singing praises for Bo Xilai by penning a poem (打油诗) in November 2011. (The poem has been interpreted differently.)
3. Critics
   1. Ai Weiwei: “For a contemporary writer to avoid the very clear issues of today’s struggle is something that’s not negotiable. I cannot separate literature from the people’s struggle.” “I cannot blame” the Nobel Prize committee, “but it’s sending out a signal that only reflects bad taste.”
   2. Wei Jinsheng: The Nobel committee chose Mo Yan to please Beijing, as his selection would be “more tolerated by the communist regime.”
   3. Teng Biao: “He sings the same tune as an undemocratic regime. As an influential writer, he did not use his influence to speak up for intellectuals”.
   4. Wang Dan: Hope Mo Yan will become “直言”
4. Effect on literature/ the publishing industry
   1. Diyi Caijing: Within 3 days of announcement, publishers have received orders of about 100,000 sets of books, worth 60 million yuan. Publisher: “在出版业逐渐萎缩的现状下，莫言此次获奖将提振行业发展信心。”
   2. 21^st Century Business Herald: Mo’s Nobel prize can generate up to 700 million yuan in revenue through reprints of his work. Publisher: “莫言获奖并不会改变出版界的现状，火了一个人也并不能带动这个行业。”
   3. Zeng Ying: “就如同刘翔获得奥运冠军并不能改变中国只有寥寥可数且生存现实欠佳的少数跨栏运动员的事实，莫言的获奖，并不能改变当下中国文学令人汗颜和尴尬的处境。中国文学已失了基本的血性和生机，它不再是心灵的润滑剂，更谈不上激励人和感动人，文青和文艺范儿已成为嘲笑人的专用词。”
5. Meanwhile, officials of Mo Yan’s hometown Gaomi is already looking to cash in on the author’s fame. Shandong city has announced plans to invest 670 million yuan on Mo Yan-themed projects.
   1. A 666-hectare plantation of red sorghum; a Mo Yan Cultural Experience Zone which includes a Red Sorghum Cultural Leisure Zone and an exhibition hall. Officials: difficult to persuade farmers to grow the unprofitable coarse grain.
   2. 500,000 yuan earmarked for the renovation of a dilapidated farmhouse in Dalan where Mo Yan once lived. Mo Yan: a waste of money.
   3. Change of Shandong’s slogan from “一山一水一圣人” to “一山一水一圣人一文豪”: “这口号直接将莫言的地位拔高到了和孔子比肩的地步，这让亚圣孟子、武圣孙武、书圣王羲之等等山东历史文化名人情何以堪。”
   4. Criticisms:
      1. Beijing News: “近年来，许多地方都在过度“消费”文化，尤其表现在对文化名人的过度消费上，有的地方甚至连传说中的历史名人也不放过，奢华投资，砸下大堆银子，最终却不了了之。” “斥巨资种植万亩红高粱，尤其是“赔本也要种”体现的是地方政府的政绩冲动，这种拍脑袋决策和非理性投资，已经与文学毫无关联，却正是当下现实的某种魔幻。”
      2. Beijing News: “随着莫言获奖，高密一些部门、官员中的浮躁、夸饰心态，不仅是对莫言声誉的透支，也是对诺贝尔文学奖的矮化和庸俗化。”

HONG KONG – POLITICS

CY Leung before LegCo

1. Leung identified four deep rooted issues: housing, the environment, poverty and the elderly.
2. SCMP said Leung’s “mini policy address” suggested that Hong Kong “is looking at the biggest revamp in its economic philosophy to date”.
   1. Positive non-interventionism introduced by financial secretary John Cowperthwaite during the colonial era, carried forth by successor Philip Haddon-Cave in the 1970s.
   2. Donald Tsang also embraced the “golden principle” of “big market, small government”: Housing seen as a personal investment decision rather than a wider social problem; Tsang reluctant to revive Home Ownership Scheme despite growing pressures.
   3. Leung: Positive non-interventionism “obscure and contradictory”; “big market, small government” “out of date”. “Markets fail”.

Old age allowance

1. Proposal: Monthly allowance of HKD2,200 to poor elderly people: Those aged 65-59 who have passed a means test for “fruit money” (HKD1,100) per month will received the new payment in March. Those aged 70 and above, who receive fruit money without the means test, must declare income and assets to be eligible for the new rate. Assets are capped at HKD186,000 and monthly income at HKD6,600.
   6. Government: With the test, the cost for the government will be HKD6.2 billion in the first year. Without the test, the cost could go up to as high as HKD13.6 billion. Cancelling the restrictions would be “irresponsible and financially unsustainable”.
   7. Opposition: Higher limits; scrapping means test.
2. Proposal may be vetoed as fewer than 20 of 70 LegCo members are firmly in favor of plan. The pro-establishment DAB and FTU are against the plan. Today’s news: DAB appears to be softening its stance.
3. Setting up of a working group on social security and retirement protection will be set up under the revived Commission on Poverty.

Land supply

Development secretary Paul Chan detailed information on land supply in Hong Kong. 70% of land available for residential development is reserved for village house development, i.e. 932.9 of 1324.4 hectares.