China

Blogger put in prison for criticising the Olympic Games

Julien — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 17:09:00 +0100

The famous blogger and defender of human rights Hu Jia was arrested on Dec. 27 for criticising the organisers of the Olympic Games. Specifically, he compared the Beijing Olympic Games to those organised by Nazi Germany in 1936. Hu Jia, 34, has been under house arrest since May last year. Accused of 'inciting subversion of state power',a criminal charge usually used against political dissidents, he risks more than ten years in prison. His wife Zeng Zinyan, also a blogger, is now unable to leave the house and is denied access to the telephone or internet. The couple have a baby of hardly more than one month old. Zhang, our regional editor for China, says that with eight months to go until the Olympics, the government is already tightening up on online comment.

The cost of living in China

Julien — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 14:08:19 +0100

Grumbling about inflation is nothing new. But now it's time for the Chinese to make a song and dance about it. Despite the Beijing government insisting that rising inflation levels are ‘structural' and a sign of a healthy economy, ordinary people are finding it hard to see through the same looking-glass. Making their voices heard online, they're using the internet to vent their fumes. Sometimes light-heartedly, like in the video ‘The riddle of spending power' (which we've subtitled in English), but also more seriously.

Student’s offer to pay with ‘ten years’ of her life for a medical loan shocks Internet users

Julien — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 17:00:11 +0100

Since it was posted online three weeks ago, this video has been viewed almost 700,000 times and provoked more than 1,000 comments. It's an appeal for help by a young Chinese student unable to afford treatment for her mother's leukaemia. The girl, Kong Jing, describes the abject poverty and the state of desperation her family has been reduced to. But it's her last statement that has shocked the Chinese blogging community. "I'm ready to sell ten years of my young life to whoever can help me," says Kong. Poverty in China is so pervasive, it's often overlooked. But the plight of a young woman forced to prostitute herself to get medical care for a parent has really upset Chinese bloggers.