Global Voices » Jennifer Cheung

China: Taxi Drivers and Railway Workers on Strike

Jennifer Cheung — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 15:45:44 +0000

A new wave of strikes are taking place in China. This time it is not among rural migrant workers working in sweatshops, but among drivers and employees in the urban public transportation sector. It indicates how inflation and soaring costs are affecting city dwellers whose living standards keep depreciating.

Taxi drivers strike in Hangzhou

In Hangzhou, the largest city in Zhejiang Province in eastern China, a taxi drivers strike began on August 1, 2011 and continued for about three days.

Famous current affairs columnist and Weibo micro-blogger, Chen Jieren reported on August 2:

More than 8,000 taxi drivers participated in a strike in Hanzhou.

【杭州出租车大罢工赢得少量权利】8月1日，杭州的士司机因不满燃油费和租金高而大罢工，从上午开始，全市8000多辆的士有超过一半停运并摆满各处街面。罢工到下午，市政府宣布两项措施，一是10月底前调价，二是在调价前由市政府提供临时补助，标准为每笔生意一元钱，但这未能让司机满意，罢工可能复发。

[Hangzhou taxi Drivers' strike has gained some positive response] On August 1, Hangzhou taxi drivers demonstrated against expensive fuel prices and car rent, more than 8,000 taxis joined the demonstration early in the morning. In the afternoon, the government said they would introduce two measures: 1. Adjusting the taxi fees at the end of October; 2. The government will provide 1 yuan per ride subsidy for the drivers. The drivers may continue the strikes, if they are not satisfied with the new measures.

According to Reuters, the striking drivers were not satisfied with the offer, and continued their protest. Reuters also reported that drivers' attempts to post comments to Weibo were being blocked or removed, and that local media refused to cover the strike.

Human rights lawyer Zhang Kai explained the reason behind the taxi strike:

杭州出租车司机罢工是必然，上半年出差杭州我就有预知。当时打车很困难，和一个司机了解，他们主要是外地人，除去份子，每月收入不足两千。这还要保证不得病，无意外。杭州房子均价上万，的士司机如祥子，干一辈子都无法安身。

The Hangzhou taxi drivers' strike is predictable. Earlier this year, when I had a trip in Hangzhou, I found it so difficult to stop a taxi. A driver told me that most of them are not locals and their monthly income is less than RMB 2,000 (USD $250). So you can't afford sick leave or an accident. Property in Hanzhou costs more than RMB 10,000 per square meter, a life time of saving wouldn't buy you an apartment.

Also on Weibo, @hzhouse pointed out that the problem with exploitation of taxi license holding companies has not been solved:

今天早上出租车司机停运，主要诉求是杭州路堵，生意难做。一个班次收入约500块，份子钱上交220块，油费200块左右，一天收入只剩七八十，除掉吃住等花销，所剩无几。本次罢工矛头指“油价高、路堵、补贴低（”，那么份子钱又该如何看待？为什么受伤的总是百姓！

This morning, taxi drivers went on strike. They complained about traffic jams and low incomes. They earn about RMB 500 (USD $80) in one working day, but have to pay RMB 220 to the taxi license holding company and RMB 200 for the fuel. Their net income ends up at around RMB 70-80 (US$12). Once you subtract rent and food, there is nothing left. Most of the media reports talked about expensive fuel prices, traffic jams and low subsidies. What about the money given to the license holding companies? Why are ordinary people always the victims?

The living condition of an ordinary taxi driver family in Hangzhou

A set of photos showing the living condition of an ordinary taxi driver has attracted a lot of attention on Weibo (via @2074609565).

【镜头】杭州出租车司机生存环境：曲长林师傅，东北人，49岁，妻子46岁，儿子23岁，三人来杭后住在湖州街蔡马新村，至今三人合睡一张床。房间加厕所面积10㎡，收入费后1500不定，房租1100，水电另算，用电由房东定价每度1块。司机半开玩笑说：我来之前听说你们杭州是天堂，没想到跟地狱一样

[Camera] The living condition of Hangzhou taxi driver: Quchang Driver Mr. Lam, originally from Dongbei province. 49 years-old and his wife 46. Has a 23-year-old son. The tree of them have lived in Huzhou Caima village since they arrived in Hangzhou. They sleep in one bed. The size of his room, plus toilet is 10 square meters. His monthly net income is about RMB 1500, rent is RMB1100 excluding water and electricity expenses. The driver said jokingly, “People said Hangzhou is a paradise, but what I have experienced is hell.”

On August 3, @zhaxuchu criticized Hangzhou city mayor's stability-comes-first principle in responding to the taxi strike:

【人家没饭吃了，怎么稳定？】因为油价太高，因为赚不到钱，杭州出租车机体停运。杭州市市长邵占维说，要维护绝大多数正常营运出租车司机正当权益，对极少数出租车驾驶员过激行为绝不姑息，发现一起查处一起，切实维护社会稳定大局—-市长啊，稳定的前提是有饭吃，杭州出租车难找到驾驶员，你知道吗？

[There is no stability if people don't have food to eat] As a result of the rise in fuel prices, taxi drivers can't make enough money and have gone on strike. The Hangzhou city mayor Zhao Jianwei said the government has to defend the rights of the majority of taxi drivers to run their business by cracking down on the radical minorities. They would crush them one by one in order to stabilize society — my mayor, the premise of stability is to have enough income for food. Very few people want to become drivers now, do you know?

Railway workers strike in Changsha

Employees of the railway company also held a strike at the Changsha railway station in Hunan province in south-central China on August 2, 2011. The incident is highly sensitive, because the Chinese Communist Party marks a series of railway workers' strikes in 1922 as an early success of the political movement.

A Changsha-based lawyer, Gan Yuanchun shared the news with a photo:

Sina weibo image from Gan Yuanchun

The lawyer quoted a BBS (online bulletin board) report that there were around 300 railway workers on strike at Changsha railway station. It is unclear what has triggered the strike. A local newspaper, ‘Daily Economic News' followed the story and said that the strike was triggered by a minor labour dispute over the replacement of several passenger carriage directors at the Zhuzhou Service Division from Guangzhou Railway Corporation. Nevertheless, netizens still noticed the political implications of railway workers in the history of the People's Republic of China. In Gan Yuanchun's discussion thread:

hampan 铁路工人再做一次先锋队？(8月3日 21:17)

@hampan Have the railway workers once again become frontier soldiers? (August 3, 21:17)

非典型医生我外公，就参加过广州铁路工人大#罢*工。恍如隔世啊~~~(8月3日 21:11)

@1584233735 My grandpa participated in the Guangzhou railway workers' strike. This is like a playback of history… (August 3 21:11)

浩浩歌爾回复@Nethuhz:工人们起来了，我们学生也应该上场了~！(8月3日 20:45)

@linhaobest888 reply to @Nethuhz: The workers are taking action, students should be next. (August 3 20:45)

This post is co-authored by Oiwan Lam

Chile and China: Rescuing the miners

Jennifer Cheung — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 13:43:38 +0000

The news about the successful rescue of 33 miners by the Chilean government on October 14 was followed by a coal mine accident in Pinyu county, Henan province in China, on October 16. The China disaster, caused by a gas blast and explosive coal dust, resulted in the death of 37 miners. In comparing the rescue operations in the two developing countries, many netizens criticized the lack of humanistic concern in the case of China. As the country moves ahead in its development, many feel that while the economy is getting strong, people's lives remain worthless.

Chile vs China in mine rescue

Whenever mining accidents happen in China, local governments try to cover up the situation rather than seek support from the nearby provinces and the central government. Beifangkeke questions Chinese officials' attitudes towards human lives:

这次智利矿难的救援也可以说成是一次国际救援行动。据报道，这次矿难发生后，负责营救行动的智利国家铜业公司就邀请了跨国矿业公司的专家，以及美国宇航局的专家来共同向营救人员提供建议。这不仅是一种国际智慧支援，它更增强了那些营救者和受困者的自信。有评论就指，这一现象反映出在智利人的眼中，矿工的生命比国家的“脸面”更重要。而在我们过往发生的矿难中，人们更多看到的是矿主瞒报、谎报，监管方的监管缺位、参股矿企，很多出事矿属非法开采、安全措施不到位……就在最新发生的河南这起矿难中，在相关报道当中，也有“矿难前22小时发现瓦斯超标，工作人员表示，通报后未收到相应处理意见”、“瓦斯检测员权限上缴”、“新风机尚未建好即开采”等问题被曝光。而无论怎样，我们都已经看到，智利和中国同为发展中国家，在对待矿工生命的态度上，可谓对比鲜明吧。

The mine rescue in Chile can be regarded as an international operation. It’s been reported that the Chilean National Copper Corporation, responsible for the rescue operation, had invited experts from transnational mining companies, as well as NASA experts, to give suggestions to the rescuers. This kind of international back-up had given confidence to the rescuers and the trapped miners. Some writers, therefore, asserted that Chileans treasure the lives of the miners more than the “face” of the country. The usual pattern in the Chinese mining scenario is that mine owners conceal the situation, regulators fail to monitor the safety measures and mining corporations are engaged in illegal mining. For example, in the latest coal mine accident in Henan, an alert on the excessive level of gas had been issued 22 hours before the accident, but no measures were taken to deal with the situation. After the accident, the media exposed the fact that the ventilator system had not been properly installed. At any rate, we have already seen the stark contrast between the two developing countries, Chile and China, in their attitudes towards miners' lives.

Blogger 70 yard declares that the Chilean government turned the tragedy into comedy, while in the case of China, the mining industry remains a living hell:

这哪是让人悲伤的矿难呀，完全是一幕喜剧电影呀。据说，智利被困矿工全部获救后，引来了国人的极度羡慕，特别是国内矿工，感叹同样是辛苦的矿工工作，却有如此天壤之别。国内矿工，几乎每天都有可能遇到生命危险的矿难事故发生。而国内煤矿事故的频繁，让国人麻木，再大的矿难也很难吸引人的眼球。尽管中国不缺钱，更不缺人，矿难一旦发生，成功救援地可能性极小极小。和智利矿难相比，被困69天矿工还能精神奇佳的走了出来，不想去医院也被“强迫”去医院的幸福相比，中国矿工在遇到矿难后，获救的希望都很渺茫，等待他们的家属的，是无尽的悲伤。

The mine rescue in Chile was not sad at all! It was totally a comic movie. It’s said that Chinese people, especially our miners, are so envious of the successful rescue in Chile. Our miners risk the danger of being killed in the mine almost every day, while the high frequency of mining accidents has left our people indifferent. No matter how big the disaster is, it simply cannot attract people's attention. Although China doesn’t lack money or rescuers, once a mining accident hits, hope is slim that coal miners will get out alive. In contrast with the mining accident in Chile, where the trapped coal miners miraculously walked out of the mine and were “forced” to do body screening in hospital, what awaits our trapped miners is only dim hope, and what awaits their relatives is endless sorrow.

Privatization of coal mines and its unbearable consequence

Cai Chongguo, who has been blogging about China’s coal mine accidents for 10 years, explains the nightmare of mining accidents in China by revisiting the history of the national coal mine reform in the 1990s, when the profit-driven coal mine owners began to emerge:

即上世纪90年代末，政府不愿，可能也无能预计两、三年后的经济增长、能源价格上涨的未来，为了“甩包袱”，鼓励并操作全国的煤炭行业空前规模的私有化，并放开了煤矿的开采权。当时，全国，特别是山西内蒙河南等产煤大省，毫无安全保障的私人小煤窑煤矿如雨后春笋般地冒出。同时，大批国有煤矿倒闭、破产，然后以象征性价格，像批发罗卜土豆般地卖给私人。没卖的，则将其矿井和开采面承包给私人包工头，“国有”徒具其名。很多国有煤矿现在仍然如此。

Back in the 1990s, the government didn’t anticipate the country’s rapid economic growth, nor rising energy prices. In order to minimize its burdens, the government encouraged the privatization of national coal mines and liberalized mining rights. Consequently, small and poorly equipped private coal mines sprouted up in coal mine provinces like Shanxi, Inner Mongolia and Henan. Meanwhile, big state-owned coal mines went bankrupt and were sold to private owners. Those that remained unsold were subcontracted to private foremen.

Cai points out that the local governments have become protectors of private coal mine owners:

十分重要的是，是国家对矿藏开发的垄断和控制的放弃，国有煤矿盲目、无任何监督和透明度的私有化，根本改变了矿山所在地的利益关系，改变了地方政府的财政收入构成和其行为方式。它不仅对掌握权力者及其亲属朋友产生极大的诱惑和空前未有的机会及极小的以权寻租的风险，使腐败上了一个大台阶，而且使地方财政依赖煤矿。因此，很多地方政府实际上成了煤老板的秘书处，保护矿主，隐瞒矿难，不遗余力。

Because government gave up its monopoly and control over coal mine exploitation, the privatization of state-owned coal mines is unregulated and non-transparent. This has fundamentally changed the power relations in local jurisdictions, as well as local governments’ fiscal income structure, and hence their mode of behavior. Privatization has been very attractive to power owners, and given them and their families unprecedented opportunity, but it has also nurtured corruption. In fact, many local governments have become the secretariats of coal mine bosses, and they conceal coal mine accidents to protect the mine bosses.

Death toll of Chinese miners more than U.S soldiers in Iraq

Indeed, China has been notorious for the death toll in its mining accidents. Back in 2009, blogger Yuchang compared the death toll of US soldiers in the Iraq war with those of miners in China, and discovered that the latter outnumbered the deaths of U.S. soldiers by seven times!

2006年12目30日，一名驻伊美军士兵30日在巴格达的街头炸弹爆炸中丧生,从而使伊战以来美军死亡人数突破3000大关。截止举国媒体和反美愤青欢腾的这一天，伊战期间中国煤矿矿难死亡人数约21716人（注：官方公布的数据是，2003年6683人、2004年6027人、2005年5930人、 2006年4746人，将2003年减四分之一后累加得出21716人）。

On December 30, 2006, an American soldier was killed in a bombing accident in Baghdad, bringing the death toll to 3,000. On such a day when anti-American media and angry youths were overjoyed by the news, the death toll of Chinese miners in the period of the Iraq war was about 21,716. (Note: according the official data, the death tolls were: 2003: 6,683, 2004: 6,027, 2005: 5,930, 2006: 4,746. When I add together the numbers for four years and deduct one fourth of the 2003 figure [the war began in April], the sum is about 21,716).

上月月初，中国媒体广泛报道：截至2007年10月30日，驻伊美军死亡3840人。同日，国家安全生产监督局网站公布，今年1至10月，全国煤矿事故 1920起，死亡3069人。看到这二则新闻，心一沉，不妙！

Early last month, Chinese media reports said that by October 30, 2007, the death toll of US soldiers in Iraq had reached 3,840. On the same day, the State Administration of Work Safety announced that between January to October of that year, there had been 1,920 mine accidents in China, causing the deaths of 3,069 people. I was disheartened to read the story.

China: Afterthoughts of Foxconn tragedies

Jennifer Cheung — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 12:30:51 +0000

Foxconn, a Taiwanese company and the world's largest maker of electronic components, has become one of the most notorious corporations in China after 13 consecutive suicides of its workers in 2010.

However, given the fact that Foxconn's salary and working environment is not the worst of its kind, no one has been able to provide a satisfactory explanation on the worker suicides. Recently, a full research report, Workers as Machines: Military Management in Foxconn (pdf), on Foxconn workers' condition conducted by university students and professors from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan has been released. The report looks into six major problems in Foxconn's management:

1. Low wages and excessive overtime work;
2. Military management style: absolute obedience, quota system, inhumane punishment and harassment;
3. Lack of prevention and treatment of occupational diseases and work injuries;
4. Exploitation of student interns;
5. Harsh management in workers' dormitories;
6. Ineffective trade and grievance mechanisms.

Apart from professional reports, bloggers who are concerned about labour rights also try to explain the suicidal psychology of Foxconn workers. Cai Chongguo, a labor activist, points out that it is difficult for other social groups to understand the grassroots workers' psychology:

从农民工频发的情感悲剧出发，我们会发现，这个阶层有着特别的内心世界，有自己的焦虑、期望、痛苦、欢乐和人格发展的走向。而富士康连续自杀事件激起的震惊则显示，这个阶层的内心世界，其他阶层，包括公务员、文人、白领很难理解，更别说老板了。因此，他们之间的理解、对话，越来越困难。这是一种可怕的社会断裂。

From the perspective of migrant workers’ string of emotional tragedies, we noticed that this social class has its own inner world with its own worries, expectations, pains, joys and personalities. Foxconn’s recurring suicides demonstrated a shocking fact that this social class’ psychology cannot be clearly comprehended by other social classes, including civil servants, literates and white collars, not to mention these victims’ bosses. Dialogues and understandings among different social classes have become increasingly difficult. This is a terrible social rupture.

Cai believes that the only way to help the workers is to give them the rights to collective bargaining:

富士康的连续自杀，再一次尖锐、通俗地提出了集体谈判、工会等问题.中国大多数人认为，工会，工人权利问题，只是一个平等、尊重人的道德问题，这不错，但远不只这些。回头看工业化两百年的历史，会发现，工人运动，真正的工会及劳资谈判等，是创造现代化企业和社会管理方式的主要力量之一，也是西方国家真正的“软实力”所在。西方的大中型现代化企业有真工会和健全的劳资谈判制度。有这压力，工资福利就不会低到那里去，它就会和物价上涨指数相连互动。工人也有地位。这就是社会力量对比的平衡，即我们所说的”和谐“。而且，因为人工昂贵，企业必须尽量少雇工，这就歪打正着地刺激了对工艺、设备和产品的自动化、更新，即新科技的应用。这也刺激新产品、新行业的产生，并创造新就业机会。这种新行业产生带来的新的就业机会能在相当程度上弥补新技术的应用所导致的就业减少。这些，是西方企业创新力强的秘密所在。

Foxconn’s suicidal tragedies sharply lead to the issue of collective bargaining and the role of labor unions. It is common sense that the issue of labor unions and worker rights represents a mere moral topic of equality and human integrity. But apart from those mentioned, labor rights movements and labor management negotiations are the major forces that foster modern companies and social management, which constitute the real soft power of western countries. Since labor is expensive, companies have to constantly adopt new technologies and equipment, and this in turn nurtures new products and new industries, and ensuing new job opportunities.

因此，放弃富士康模式，使工人有工会谈判罢工等权利及更高的工资、更好的福利待遇等，不只是避免自杀等道德问题，而且关系到如何使企业管理现代化，工业及产品及整个经济发展模式的改造的问题。不尊重工人，中国企业很难有普遍创新的冲动和能力，企业间永远在压低工资降低成本而不是在产品质量、独特和创新上竞争。

Therefore, forgoing Foxconn's model and empowering workers to organize labor unions, strikes for higher wages and better benefits would not only avoid suicides, but would also facilitate modern corporate management, industrial upgrading and economic restructuring as a whole. Enterprises can hardly have innovation momentum if they don’t respect workers, which will restrict their competitive edge only at the cost-cutting level, rather than at the product quality and innovative level.

Another renowned blogger, Chang Ping, believes that the seemingly individual psychological problem is ultimately a social problem:

大众媒体可能更关心自杀者，但是作为心理学家以及企业和社会管理者，更应该关心在这背后更广泛的问题。大多数心理疾病患者，都没有以自杀来了结生命，但是很多人每天都过着“生不如死”的痛苦生活。是怎样的企业文化和社会环境决定了他们的生活？作为一个国家公民，他们为什么只有一个打工者的身份？作为一个完整的人，他们如何能够活得有尊严？

The mass media may be more concerned about those individual suicide cases, but for psychologists, corporate management and policy makers, they should pay more attention to the underlying broader issues. Though most mental patients don’t choose to end their lives by committing suicides, many of them are suffering a painful existence that is even worse than killing themselves. What kind of corporate culture and social environment has impacted and resulted in their tragic existence? As our nation’s citizens, why is their only identity one of being migrant workers? How can they lead a life with dignity and as wholesome human beings?

Chang Ping also points out that Foxconn's management style is not only a production management, it has evolved into a factory based social control system:

人们说，只有在中国大陆，富士康才能做成“世界代工之王”。这并不是指员工人数，而是整个社会政治环境。作为一个纳税大户，它早已经超越了资本的权力，而拥有很大的政治权力。国家有劳动法，但是富士康仍然可以设计以加班为主要收入来源的管理制度；深圳有警察，但是要进入富士康工厂处理治安问题并不容易，工厂的保安基本上可以代劳;

It’s said that Foxconn can only be the Manufacturing King of The World in mainland China. The title doesn’t refer to the number of staff, but rather to the whole social and political environment. As a major tax payer, Foxconn has possessed great political power beyond its capital power. Though China has labor laws, Foxcoon can still design and implement its management systems that profit from forcing workers to work over-time; though Shenzhen has a police department, it’s not easy for police to enforce law in Foxconn's compounds. Instead, compound securities have been playing the role of police officers themselves.

Bo Haibing also notices the social role of Foxconn in its intern system. The blogger was told by some teachers from occupation schools in Chongqing city that 40% of their graduates would be sent to Foxconn. The information makes the blogger realize that the main objective of the intern system is to keep the unemployment rate low, and hence social stability:

其实学生在无形当中已经沦为了廉价的劳动力，而职校就是就提供廉价劳动力的场所。就连职校部分教师都未正眼看待。因为，在部分职校教师眼中这些职校的学生不过是维稳学校历年的招生指标与扩大学校发展的工具而已。经济型转体，出门打工的年轻人多了，中年人反而少了。而年轻人又受知识与阅历的制衡，很多时候根本无法保证自己的基本权益。就算被变着花样给榨取了，他也明白也知道这是不合乎道理的，但是就是说不出为什么。而企业遇见如此好搞定的更是乐开花了。

Students have become cheap labour and the occupation schools are the providers. Even the teachers of occupation schools do not take the situation seriously. In their eyes, the students are tools for the “stability-control” schools to further develop. As a result of economic transformation, more young people enter the the factory when compared with the middle aged group. However, because of their lack of working experience, they cannot protect their own rights. Even though they are exploited, they don't know how to present the situation. The corporates are of course more than happy to see that.

富士康不过是榨取低廉劳动力中一个比较大的开发商而已，这样的企业有多少？笔者也不得而知。发展的最终目的是什么？有人说是共同富裕，有人说是可持续的生活，有人说是为了社会主义。可是，在这儿我却看见了商人本质利益下赤裸裸的榨取每一滴可贵的劳动力。在这种情况之下，如果不加以关注加以治理，任其发展，就难说发展的目的到底是建立社会主义还是实现可持续的生活了。

Foxconn is only a relatively big developer that exploits cheap labor among countless similar factories in China. What’s the ultimate purpose of this kind of development? Some say it’s for common wealth, some say it’s for sustainable living, while others say it’s for socialism. But, here I saw a bare means of exploiting every drop of workers’ precious labor, driven by merchant’s innate pursuit of business interest. If we don’t care or do something about it and let it go, it can hardly be validated that the goal of economic development is to build a social society or to realize sustainable living.

China: Rights to strike

Jennifer Cheung — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 05:26:38 +0000

Since the beginning of 2010, a wave of worker strikes has appeared in China, to the extent that western mainstream media, such as the Financial Times has recognized the emergence of a new labour movement. Recently, the Chinese workers have even exercised their labour rights in Russia.

According to RIA Novosti, more than 150 Chinese workers have gone on a strike over unpaid salaries for construction work done on infrastructure for the 2012 APEC summit in Russia on 13-14 September.

Feng Shanzhi from Mil Forum noticed the news and criticized the Russia government for sending military police to suppress the strike. However, many comments disagreed with the writer:

sunnyrain: 你在国内罢共产党的工试试？普京够仁慈的了。

翅膀：资本主义国家的外交政策都不是国际主义,都只讲利益.就跟我们现在现实中人与人之间的关系是一样的.
所以在资本主义世界里,只有共同的利益,没有坚固的朋友.这点是必然.
他们是不能体会国际主义的.也不知道国际主义的伟大.所以时常咒骂毛主席援助非洲等国家.却不知道到今天我们还因彼受着许多益处.
而且资产阶级对工人罢工这样的事,只会越来越强硬,而且手段也越来越高.威逼利诱,忽悠分化.无论在哪个资本主义国家都是这样.
说到底,全世界的资产阶级联合起来了。可是无产阶级还没觉醒.

sunnyrain: You can try striking against the Chinese Communist Party, Vladimir Putin is comparatively kind already.

翅膀: The diplomatic policy of capitalist countries is not internationalism. They only care about interest, similar to our everyday life relationships. That's why in a capitalist world, countries only have common interest, but no long term friendship. This is unavoidable.

They have no understanding of internationalism, neither do they know the greatness of this concept. They often cursed Chairman Mao for helping Africa back then, without knowing that we benefited a lot today from helping those poor countries.

Moreover, capitalists will be increasingly hard-handed on strikes, and they know how to use tricks and conspiracies. The world of capitalists has been united, but the proletarians have yet to be awakened.

Although the above comment is rather ideological, many supporters of labour rights do believe that the poor labour condition in China is a result of the exploitation from multinational corporates. For example, Qianhong, a well-known commentator criticized Goldman Sachs China representative's opinion on worker strikes:

这些资本代言人担忧什么呢？不就是跨国资本在中国劳动力产品低成本、低价优势的丧失，而以投资重点投向印度、越南、印度尼西亚、巴西等地相要挟，阻遏中国劳动生产率、产品价值和整个社会产出消费价值提升吗？！

What does the representative of capital worry about? It is all about multinational corporates' interest in low labour cost. They threaten to invest in other countries such as India, Vietnam, Indonesia and Brazil to suppress the increase of labour productivity rate and produce value.

明眼人谁都知道，“提高工资，可能会使得一些纯粹成本导向盈利的企业转移生产基地”，但是，也会使得一大部分底层劳动者的消费能力增加，进而增加国内消费市场的容量…

People with a clear mind know that increasing the salary will lead to the relocation of production line in sector that extract profit from the production cost. However, the policy will also stimulate the consumption power of working class and strengthen the internal consumption market…

Similar to many labour rights activists and scholars, Qianhong called for a constitutional amendment to protect the right to strike:

如果中国工人的维权举措，必须在“跳楼”或“罢工”之间作非此即彼的选择，那么，滾滾诸公，行行好，还是让他们享有“罢工维权”的自由和尊严吧！

与时俱进的口号，在中国已经喊快二十年了，从1982年到未来2012年正好三十年了，中国共产党18大也将在这一年召开。中国工人的罢工自由这一条，再也不能在中华人民共和国宪法中堂皇缺位了，中国该修宪了！

If the Chinese workers have to choose between “committing suicide” and “strike” in order to protect their rights, please be a moral person and let them enjoy their rights to strike, please let them live respectfully!

The slogan “progress with the time” has been uphold in China for 20 years. The open door policy (1982-2012) is approaching its 30 year anniversary and the 18th National Congress of CCP will take place in 2012. The rights and freedom to strike should not be missing in the constitution of PRC. It is about time for China to amend its constitution.

After the Honda Strike earlier in June, many people are quite optimistic that labour strike will soon become a proper way for Chinese workers to improve their working conditions. Lin Da Min notice that mainstream media has started to use the term “Strike” (罢工) in their reports:

由于种种因素，一直以来，“罢工”只是个历史名词和法律名词。现实中，对于工人这一争取权益的方式，别说少有发生，就是有，类似出租车司机罢工，也往往以“集体喝下午茶”这样的奇怪方式表达，至多是一个听起来温柔一些的“罢运”。事实上，媒体在关注本田中国工人罢工一事上，也有微妙之处。比如，本田中国员工 “走向操场”、“停工”……在些许犹豫之后，“罢工”一词终于出现在新闻报道和标题里。这是一个进步的信号。

Due to various reasons, the word “strike” has always been used in historical and legal documents. In reality, even if there are workers who strive for their rights and interests, like a cab drivers strike, it would be expressed in subtle terms, such as “they hold an afternoon tea party” or “refuse to drive”. As a matter of fact, media first used “marching to the playground”, “factory stopped operation” to describe the Honda workers strike. After certain hesitation and discretion, they started to use “strike” in newspaper headlines. This is a sign of progress.

However, such optimism may come too soon. The word “strike” remains a politically sensitive term. It is censored and filtered away in major search engines. Below shows the screen capture of the search result of “strike” (罢工) in Baidu Tieba (an automatic generated forum). The note says: “I am sorry, according to existing regulation and law, this forum cannot be opened”. Similar notice appeared in all major web portals.

China and Hong Kong: Bodyguards and Assassins

Jennifer Cheung — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 06:03:19 +0000

Bodyguards and Assassins is an action movie released during Christmas in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. As a patriotic film, it was originally set to release in October for celebrating the 60th year anniversary of PRC but deferred until the end of 2009. In contrast with the Founding of a Republic! which spotlights on national heroes, the movie features on a number of grassroots characters, who know nothing about revolution but choose to sacrifice their lives for their country. The story offers a diverse readings and interpretations on the Chinese history and politics.

The comment made by Sun Yat-sen, the father of the Republic of China, in the movie has been quoted widely on the Internet, it said:

欲求文明之幸福，必经文明之痛苦，而这痛苦，就叫做革命。

If you want to pursue the happiness of civilization, you must first undergo the pains of civilization，and this kind of pain is called revolution.

Sheng Haifang was overwhelmed by the line:

应该说这是我见过的关于革命最好的解读，它让我在某种程度上，终于和“革命”这个词握手言和。我可以厌恶革命，可以反对主义，但是对于革命者，对于为主义而赴死的人，甚至被主义吞噬的人们，我心怀尊重。我今日之所感所知所思所享，无不来自于百年来这些努力去实现臆想中“中国明天”的人们。他们或伟大或浅薄或愚蠢或无私或卑劣或聪明或成功或失败或一代领袖或千古罪人，我可以评判他们，同时心怀某种敬畏与感激。

I should say this is the best interpretation on revolution I have ever seen. It makes me shake hands with the word “revolution” to some extent. I can hate revolution and oppose Marxism, but for revolutionaries, for those who die for, or are even devoured by Marxism, I pay respect to them. What I feel, what I know, what I think and what I enjoy all come from those who strive for China’s tomorrow in the past century. They can be great, shallow, stupid, selfless, despicable, smart, successful or defeated, they can be leaders or sinners of ages, I can judge them, but I am also in awe of them and grateful to them.

However, Sheng also sighed at the fading enthusiasm of the contemporary, and the misuse of the revolutionary vocabularies.

我们已经无法体会到当初那些热情，因为我们失去了那个感知热情的时代环境。革命、民主、自由、主义、共和、共产、大同……都是曾经被用以呼唤理性、现代性、个性、人性与新的时代，同时也这些词也被用以唤起多数人的暴力，用以巩固权力，用以践踏权利与扭曲人性、创造同质化。

We can no longer experience the passion in that age, because we don’t have the environment for feeling that passion. Revolution, democracy, freedom, Marxism, republic, communism, great harmony, these are the words that were once used to awaken rationalism, modernism, individualism, humanity and new age. However, these words are also used to awaken violence and consolidate power, to trample on rights and twist human nature, and to homogenize people.

Qingnianganjiang compared Bodyguards and Assassins with the 60^th anniversary tribute The Founding of a Republic in his blog entry “Late Salute”, and pointed out that the political message in the film is deviated from the official ideologue:

《十月围城》。它不会和我讲大道理，它更加不会强迫我接受主旋律的洗脑。我这30年来，实在是受够了，害怕了精神上的洗脑。。。《十月围城》里的日与月，是为了中国未来。欲求文明之幸福，不得不经文明之痛苦。中国求解解放、文明、自由的路，从来是走的辛苦。那群牺牲的人民，我们从来是要用崇敬的眼光去看待他们。不因历史变迁，不因空间改变，更不能因改朝换代而把他们遗忘。

Bodyguards and Assassins won’t preach me big ideas and force me to wash my brain and accept the official ideologue. I’ve suffered enough in the past 30 years and am afraid of brainwashing. People in the movie had to first suffer the pains of civilization in order to pursue the happy future of Chinese civilization. China has walked a painstaking path to liberty and civilization. We should pay respect to those who died on the path and should not forget them due to the changes of ruling power in the history.

Tubingenmujiang also compared the two movies but had a different reading. The blogger believed that both movies reproduced the same old myth of “Leader comes first” :

在我看来，《十月围城》也是一部神话片——当国家消亡的神话被民族国家的神话所取代时，《十月围城》的骨子里无非是又一部《建国大业》，只不过后者囿于具体指向而主要局限在海峡一隅传播，《十月围城》则把落脚点放在了两岸都能接受的“中华民族最大公约数”那里，明后年就是民国建国百周年纪念，想必《十月围城》剑指金马奖，已是司马昭之心。

In my opinion, Bodyguards and Assassins also tries to create a myth – the myth of a rising nation state. The film, in essence, is another The Founding of a Republic, but the latter targeted at the Mainland China market, while Bodyguards and Assassins created a greatest historical common ground across the Taiwan Straits. As the centenary of the founding of China Republic is approaching, so I suppose Bodyguards and Assassins is aiming at the Golden Horse Awards.

《十月围城》在一个波诡云谲的时代背景里，打造了一出关于救世主的神话。不过陈德森很聪明，他并没有简单的树立一个高、大、全的神主牌位，而是着力打造了从财主到乞丐，从大亨到流氓的牺牲群像，用断片切面的手法较为全面的展现了那个时代的香港风貌。所以，整部《十月围城》看下来，便是一出仁人志士舍生取义“让领导先走”的神话催泪弹。

Bodyguards and Assassins, against the background of a chaotic historical moment, reproduces a myth of a national savior. The director, Chan Tak Sum, is very witty. He did not set up a huge monument for the god-like feature, but focused on the ordinary people (the merchant, beggar, and gangs) who chose to sacrifice for the revolutionary leader. The movie reflects the political and social landscape of old Hong Kong, and wins the tears of common people with the myth of common people's goodwill to “let the leaders go first”.

China: Another elite's suicide - the story of Yang Yuanyuan

Jennifer Cheung — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 08:39:37 +0000

YANG Yuanyuan, a 30-year-old postgraduate at Shanghai Maritime University, hanged herself in her bathroom on November 25. She told her mother that knowledge cannot change destiny on the day before she committed suicide.

Recent years have seen an increasing number of suicides committed by Chinese university students, in particular among postgraduates and doctors. In Shanghai city 2008, there were 23 college student suicide cases, resulted in 19 deaths. In Guangdong 2008, there were 26 suicide cases, resulted in 21 deaths. What are the reasons behind all these suicide cases? Yang's case may shed some lights on the problem faced by our social elites.

According to report from 163.com, Yang came from a single parent family. She and her brother was brought up by her mother and they worked hard to climb up the social ladder through education - Yang was pursuing her Master’s degree in Shanghai and her brother is pursuing his Doctor’s at Peking University. Ever since Yang's mother had been laid off from the factory, she stayed with her daughter in the dormitory in the Wuhan University where she had her undergraduate study. She worked for two years to payback all the debts before she decided to continue her post-graduate study in Shanghai. With little saving, she tried to apply for an extra bed for her mother in the school dormitory, but they were insulted for their rural identity. The warden even refused Yang's mother from entering the dormitory.

Yang's death has received a lot of echoes from the Internet as it has become more and more difficult for people with high education achievement to attain the social status that they struggle for. The magic of university diploma is vanishing. Blogger Hailing, who is sympathetic to Yang, muses about the asymmetry between education achievement and salary in Chinese society in her article who should bear the responsibility for poor postgraduate Yang Yuanyuan’s death?:

有时候人是很脆弱的，很可能会因为那么一二个想不通的问题，生命就从此终结。在外人看来一个贫困家庭可以出一个研究生一个博士是多么了不起的事，而在当今学历与岗位工资严重不对等的社会，又有多少用人单位去关注你的学历？他们更关注你所给他们带来的价值，这是一个贫困家庭看中学历大于能力的尴尬与悲哀？

Sometimes human are weak and fragile, who can end his life for one or two perplexed questions. Outsiders may reckon it extraordinary for a poor family to raise one Master and one Doctor, but in this society where students’ diplomas can’t guarantee the corresponding job positions and salaries, who will care for your education background? Rather, employers pay more attention to the value that employees bring them. Such reality has brought about the tragedy for this poor family who stick to the belief that a higher diploma will improve their life.

Many bloggers condemns the lack of compassion in the society. In response to the news, netizen (123.232.*.*) points out that:

不是贫穷杀死了她,而是周围人的冷漠和势利杀死了她,是那些永远缺乏同情心的人杀死了她….

It is not poverty that killed her, but the detached and snobbish teachers and colleagues around her, those who have forever lost their compassionate heart.

SHI Sansheng shares similar opinion and slaps on the hypocritical Confucian culture:

从大学到到政府，期间缺失的莫不是一个良知和人性。是什么造成了我们这个有着泱泱五千年文明，礼仪之邦的社会总是不断重复着几乎一样的悲剧？施教者、执政者满口仁义道德，一肚子男盗女娼。儒家的精神纵然有万好，如果只是用来遮丑和粉饰，即便是好也只能是同流合污了。

The greatest mistake for our universities and government institutions is the lack of conscience and humanity in dealing with people. How come these tragedies keep recurring in our society? And yet we believe that we are the nation of netiquette with 5,000 years civilization? Lecturers and policy-makers are always preaching morality but in reality they are a bunch of scoundrels. Even if Confucian spirit is good in many aspects, when it is used for covering up the dark side of our society, it becomes a tool for fooling people.

It is quite obvious that people with high education are not socially as marginal as the rural migrant workers or peasants. It begs the question on why educated people are psychologically so fragile? REN Haiyong reckoned the tragedy reflected on the defected school and family education. In his blog article, “The three missing affections”:

我认为，理解杨元元的绝望心理，应当首先懂得人的幸福感的三大来源，也就是“三情”，即：亲情、友情和爱情……我们的学校教育和家庭教育一直以来都有一个很大的缺陷，就是漠视人正常的感情需求，甚至把孩子们的读书求知和他们的情感需要对立起来，偏执地认为好孩子应该一门心思读书，不能考虑情更不能考虑性。请教师们和家长们都能将心比心地、设身处地地为学生们、为孩子们想一想。尤其要关怀女孩子，因为社会对女孩子更有一层情感压抑的要求，并把压抑的效果与道德品质的高低联系起来；好象一个女孩子只知道读书，对男孩子完全不感兴趣才是好学生、好孩子。学习成绩越好的女生，在学校和家庭这样“纯洁”的要求下，就会更多地克制自己的情欲和性欲，也就会更多地压抑自己的正常情感需求。然而，人的天性是无法改变的，人的忍耐也是有限度的，崩得太紧的弦，早晚是要断的。

In my opinion, to understand Yang’s despair we ought to first understand the three sources of human happiness: family love, friendship and romantic love relation…Our school and family education ignores the need of affections. Teachers and parents believe that love relation will hinder young people's education and insist that they have to focus on their study only. They should think in their students and kids’ position and give special care for girls. Our society has imposed a morality based on repression of affection on girls - they can not show any interest in boys and can only focus on their study in order to become a model student. So the better a girl performs in exams, the more she would oppress her affection and sexual desires. However, human nature cannot be changed. The restraint always has a limit and would eventually break down if it goes too tight.

China: Children who are left behind

Jennifer Cheung — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 02:38:35 +0000

On November 12, several days before the International Children's Day, an explosion erupted in an illegal fire cracker factory in Guangxi which resulted in 2 children workers dead and 11 others injured.

According to the Southern Weekend's report, these children victims were left behind by their parents, who are migrant workers and have to work in cities all year long to earn money and support their families. They lived with their aging grandparents and struggled to work before and after school time to earn some pocket money for snacks.

The children workers phenomenon is not rare in Yanghui village where the tragedy took place. The lack of government regulation is part of the reason behind, but on the other, “if these children have their parents around and being taken good care of, we will not have such a big tragedy,” Yang Youji, the village party chief, was quoted as saying.

According to the 2005 population census, there were 120 million farmers who worked or did business in cities, and the number of children they left behind amounted to 20 million. 88.2% left-behind children could only contact their parents by phone, but 53.5% of them talked with their parents in less than three minutes.

Tong Dahuan, a Chinese blogger in Tianya, pointed out another social issue in this fire-cracker incident related blog post, “Who Should Apologize for the Tragedy of the Left-behind Children”:

前两年，来自北京、上海等地的有关调查即显示，新移民二代的犯罪率是当地户籍青少年的三倍！留守儿童和流动儿童的悲剧命运，正在引领着我们走向一个不可知的未来。

In the past 2 years, surveys conducted in cities like Beijing and Shanghai showed that the crime rate of the second generation of migrant workers (the children of migrant workers) is three times higher than their local peers who are resident certificate holders. The bitter destiny of left-behind and migrant children is leading us to an unpredictable future.

Tong argued that it is the unfair education system that resulted in this kind of tragedy.

中国数以亿计的农村人到城市打工，他们的孩子经常被城市的学校排除在外，或被收更高的学费，城市里也没有专门供这些孩子受教育的非正式学校（打工子弟学校常常被教育主管部门以教育条件不达标为由围追堵截甚至赶尽杀绝）。更有甚者，在户籍加学籍的高考报考制度下，即使打工子弟历尽千辛万苦过五关斩六将在父母打工所在地读完了高中，他们也将面临无处高考的命运。这一切导致大量孩子过早被迫与父母分离，成为“没爹没妈”留守儿童。

Hundreds of millions of Chinese farmers go to work in cities, but their children are often excluded by the cities they work in, or they are charged with higher tuition fees. There are no schools that are set specially for these children of migrant workers (migrant children schools are frequently shut down by education authorities in the name of substandard education conditions). Furthermore, under the dual systems of the resident registration plus student registration certificate (which shows the region the student geographically belongs to), even if the migrant worker children finish senior high school with great efforts and hardship, they can still be rejected from partaking the national college entrance exam. All these unfavorable factors lead to their separation from their migrant workers parents at an early age, who later become left-behind children with virtually no parents.

Tong said there have been a lot of criticism against the government’s outdated residents certificate system and education system since 1997, but there seemed almost no progress on these two issues.

现行户籍与教育制度，已经严重违反了人权、人道、人伦，也违反了我们1990年签署、1991年全国人大批准、1992年3月1日起即对我国生效的联合国《儿童国际公约》

China’s current residents registration system and education system have seriously infringed upon its citizens’s human rights, human morality, as well as the UN Convention on the Rights of Children which the Government signed in 1990 and the National People’s Congress approved in 1991 and which took effect since March 1 1992.

请问，不让孩子就地平等地接受教育和高考，是为了孩子的最大利益吗？用户籍制度生生将孩子和父母拆散，这样的分离符合儿童的最大利益吗?”

I want to ask, is it for the ultimate interest of children that the government doesn’t give children equal opportunities to receive education and take part in the national college entrance exam? Is it for the ultimate interest of children that the government separates children from their parents with the tool of residents registration system?

Another Tianya Blogger, Li Hui, questioned why the children workers are always the left-behind children?

为什么黑童工都是留守儿童？这背后，不仅是一个非法雇佣童工的问题，更深层次的原因，是城乡二元分化，以及由此导致的教育资源发展严重不均衡。

Why the illegal children workers are always the “left-behind” children? What underlies this issue is not only the illegal employment of children workers, but more profoundly, it is an issue caused by China’s rural-urban dual structure, and the serious imbalance of education resources.

In the Southern Weekend report's comment section, many netizens left their comments, some blamed the residents registration system as the root of this tragedy.

For example, Yanchenyu said,

户籍制度是造成留守儿童的根源，城市人口享受农民工带来的繁荣，却不为他们的健康提供保障，不为他们的小孩提供教育。

The residents registration system is the root cause of the left-behind children tragedy. Urban population are enjoying the prosperity brought about by migrant workers, but they don’t provide due protection on migrant workers’ safety, neither do they provide education to migrant workers’ children.

li101947 questioned the role of law enforcement:

已经有多少儿童遭受了苦难？还有多少儿童将要遭受苦难？难道就不能有组织、制度保障他们的权益吗？法律的执行怎么了？

How many children have suffered the tragedy? How many more are going to suffer the tragedy? Can’t there be organizations and regulations to safeguard these children’s rights and benefits? What have law enforcement done?

China: Yunnan Naked Girl Seeking Justice

Jennifer Cheung — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 06:03:52 +0000

Recently, “Yunnan Naked Girl” has become one of the hottest topic in the Chinese Internet world. A 21-year old girl, Peng Chunping decided to post her nude photos online in order to draw attention and help from the society. ESWN has translated a full report from Southern Weekend on the background of this girl, her petition journey and what she had been through in her “nude protest”.

According to Southern Weekend's story, Peng was an orphan whose father was sentenced to death penalty in 2000 because of murder and her mother left the village for work on the same year. In 2003, when Peng was 15-year old, she started her journey to find her mother. She returned 2 years later and found that her household registration and house had been taken away. She blamed her family misery to local government's oppression and started her petition journey.

She wrote blog, called major media, paid petition visit to county and provincial government and finally reached Beijing in June 2008. There she heard of the story of FurongJiejie or Sister Lotus - how she became famous by posting photos online. Since then she has published three sets of nude photos and attracted some media attention. Of course the focus was not in her injustice. Some reporters even directly or discretely indicated to her that her “injustice” were not valid. She would get angry and blame the reporters. The most recent development was about her sexual relation with a Yunnan reporter, who eventually disappointed her in his report on her story.

There are many doubts about the credibility of Peng's story, for example, some comments on her personal blogsaid:

如果是一件客观真实的事情，逻辑上是不会出现这么多可笑甚至荒谬的结构的。你说的东西可能是真的，但是那成分少得可怜。

If the story were true, there wouldn’t be so many funny even ridiculous loopholes. What you said was probably true, but that proportion of truth was too small.

A Netease netizen even questioned her intention:

彭春平就是想骗钱……她在我们这里就是做小姐的，到处骗男人的钱！

Peng Chunping’s real intention is to defraud people…She is a local call-girl and has cheated money from her customers everywhere!

However some do take Peng's story seriously with sympathy as it told us a lot about the China society in the grassroots level, in particular the failure of grassroots social welfare. yghren pointed out that even she had psychological problem, the society should help her:

假如她确实是无理取闹，假如她确实有神经病，我们、我们的政府、我们的妇联就看着她自生自灭吗？

Suppose she is indeed making a scene of herself, and she is really a psycho, shall we, our government and our women federation do nothing and look at her falling into the abyss of self-destruction?

In the comment section of her blog Liu Xu, a Sichuan netizen who had suffered from the earthquake also blessed her:

祝福你像四川人承受地震灾害一样坚强不屈，与坏人斗争到底！！！相信胜利一定属于正义的，也是属于你的！！！！！！！！

Please stay strong and indomitable, like what Sichuan people did during the Wenchuan Earthquake. We believe victory belongs to justice, as well as to you!

The role and ethics of the media was again brought under the spotlight. A blog written by 静夜思（Calm Night Thoughts） response to Southern Weekend’s coverage discussed why the girl is willing to post her nude photos on line and fall victims to vicious people again and again.

那什么是彭少女想要获取的东西呢？答案只有一个：就是记者掌握的话语权、媒体具备的社会影响力！彭少女一年前贴出裸照上演“裸女寻母”时就说的很清楚：为了制造轰动效应，为了引起更多的人们的关注！一年之后，彭少女之所以愿意献身记者，可能是因为其渐渐明白：自己打打闹闹固然可以声名大噪，但这又能如何？想要真正地吸引眼球、让社会各界知晓自己，还得借助记者、媒体。因为记者掌握着自己不具备的话语权、媒体具备着自己永远无法企及的社会影响力。

What the girl wants most? The only answer is: the right of speech that reporters enjoy and the social influence that media produce. When Peng first displayed her naked photo and started the “Naked Girl Seeking Mother” story, she made clear that her intention is to create social sensation and draw more people’s attention! One year thereafter, when Peng was willing to make the sexual deal with the reporter, she probably understood although she could become famous by the buzz her naked photos made, then what? Only with the aid of reporters and media can she really made herself (as well as the unfair treatment her family suffered) known to the society, as reporters are able to exercise the right of speech that she doesn’t have, and she can never impose a social influence like the media.