Press and Blog Review: Perfectly Logical Chains

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1. Li Ruihuan: Modest and Scrupulous about every Detail

Main Link: “Just talking won’t do, we need to argue” – Li Ruihuan’s “Views and Statements” / 光讲事儿不行，得讲理儿” ——李瑞环的“看法”与“说法”

In spring 2013, permanent member of the 14th and 15th politburo standing committee and former Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference chairman Li Ruihuan has published his fourth book (four volumes) after retirement, “Views and Statements”, writes an intern at Nanfang Weekly who reviews the book. Renmin University (People’s University) president Chen Yulu is quoted as referring to it as authentic history and an encyclopedia of party and government work. The reviewer at Nanfang finds a perfectly logical chain in the opus, which begins with reform and opening up, and carries on with party construction (or building the party), the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, ethnic religion, propaganda and art, ideological and political work, urban construction, etc. Li had been scrupulous about every detail, he had issued 108 issues to deal with, and all had gone through the editorial team’s discussion. Obviously, the book also contains speeches.

Li Ruihuan’s approach had been democratic, Renmin University Publishing chief editor He Yaomin is quoted as saying – Li Ruihuan liked to let the editors discuss, looking on and listening. “He also spoke his views, but in case that he didn’t convince us, he’d let us return home and think things over again.”

Given the encyclopedic nature of the work, party secretary at the Central Institute of Socialism, Ye Xiaowen, was also part of the team of editors. Not missing are remarks about Li’s modest lifestyle, and his awareness of the importance of self-criticism, so as to be aware of problems early on.

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2. Village Teacher: It’s Now or Never

Main Link: One Explosion after another, and Obama still hasn’t pissed off? / 美国爆炸连连，奥巴马还不滚蛋吗？

A “Farmer Teacher from the Village” (农村老师) also made a statement this week, with a focus on international politics. Chances are that there was no editorial team around to assist him:

These are some of America’s most unlucky days, and this American president is good for nothing. Not only is he black, intelligent and self-confident, but also unable, and all he can do is to show off his eloquence. [...] This decade hasn’t been good for America in military, diplomatic and political terms, and the main reason is the election of a black president. Facts have shown that a black sheep cannot get along well with a bunch of bold lions. One could say that America has gradually become the most unsafe country, with one explosion after another, making Americans question Obama’s ability to govern. Indeed, as the Korean peninsula shows, Obama is one of the most incompetent presidents in American history, which is America’s nightmare, but China’s good luck. From the American president’s incompetence, greater benefits can be drawn, and China needs to do this. It needs to dispatch troops to fishing islands [this apparently refers to the Senkaku Islands in the first place], to make sense [of the fact that] American president Obama just relies on tricks. There is no need to fear this kind of president, but if this president is good for nothing, can we think of ourselves as stronger than him? We need no re-play of the Sino-Japanese War [of 1894/1895], I don’t want to see China sign another Shimonoseki Treaty in my lifetime, because that would be painful. Of course, big countries like China and America won’t simply go to war, but America’s decline is inevitable. They chose a useless president and gradually enter their own era of decline. If China doesn’t seize this opportunity to cripple America now, there will hardly be opportunities later. If in future, America becomes strong again, this won’t be good for China. I said early on that that black devil is useless, that his election is China’s opportunity, but there won’t be too many of such opportunities, [... - unable to translate this - JR.]
Therefore, with one explosion after another in America, why doesn’t Obama piss off? If he doesn’t piss off, the damage will only be America’s, and America will be more and more unluky, and China’s opportunities will get ever greater, but if the opportunity isn’t being seized, there will be a rude awakening.

Only one reader cared to comment so far, and offers some cooling analysis: A president can’t change America’s current situation in a moment.

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Related

» Make America collapse, Feb 14, 2010
» Stock Taking, Feb 8, 2013

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Huanqiu Shibao on “Ulterior Motives” in Southern Weekly Conflict

Main Link: Global Times: Lay Off Supporting Southern Weekend, Or Else

There’s a blog – kind of a bridge blog, if you like – which deserves a lot more attention. In November 2011, China Copyright and Media translated the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party’s Decision on Deepening Cultural Structural Reform (I could have saved myself a lot of time if I had come across their translation earlier).

Fortunately, I did save myself the time to translate a Huanqiu Shibao editorial on the Southern Weekly / Southern Weekend standoffs with the local propaganda department. They’ve got a translation or rendition of that, too – been online since January 8 this year – including the original commentary in Chinese.  China Copyright and Media  includes posts about Chinese legislation, as well, but obviously, I can’t judge their quality. It’s not my department.

Soft power: the land where the Bananas bloom

So, if you want translations from the real Chinese press – beyond the English-language mouthpieces from China Daily to the “Global Times” which are stuff from a parallel universe, made by the CCP propaganda department for foreigners -, read JR’s China Blog, for example.

But read there, too. There are updates every few days, and sometimes several times a day.

The translator finds a lot of rotten points in the Huanqiu article. But this may not be what matters to Huanqiu, to the China-Daily Group, or to the propaganda department. They can’t overlook many domestic online comments in their threads which are highly critical of their approach.

Song Luzheng, an overseas Chinese journalist or official in Paris, follows the same line as does Huanqiu Shibao, in many of his articles, particularly about the freedom of the press. Some of the readers he – probably – hopes to reach are Chinese readers who are disillusioned former admirerers of “Western” values. There seems to have been a trend since 2008, the botched “Sacred-torch” ralleye in the run-up to the Beijing Olympics which has changed the atmosphere in favor of Song Luzheng, Huanqiu Shibao, et al.

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Related

» Readers’ Reactions: I will Endure, May 3, 2012
» Oh Rule of Law, April 11, 2012

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How the Tiger Roared, and how the Fly Roared Back: “Officials are no Slaves of the Common People”

Astronomically expensive cigarettes and alcoholic drinks, luxurious conferences… all kinds of waste of public funding disrupt the party’s working style, undermine the political atmosphere, and erode the ways of the people, Enorth (Tianjin) quotes a People’s Daily editorial today. To promote a better spirit, more sobriety and more virtue wouldn’t be enough, the editorial says. “Some people” could still stick to their bad ways under the excuse of “work requirements” (工作需要). Only improved measures and effective supervision could rein in on whatever kinds of wasteful mindsets and on “tip of the tongue corruption”(舌尖上的腐败)^*). Measures which were stronger in terms of punctuality, pertinence and operability were apparently needed to punish all kinds of thriftless behavior, muses the editorial. Open information wasn’t enough, as it lacked specification, and as punishment didn’t deter the undesirable behavior. Supervision was the heart of the matter. Discipline inspection and audits were required to dispel excessive consumption.

All departments needed to take the initiative to create open information, to establish platforms of public [or the masses'] scrutiny to achieve these goals, writes the People’s Daily.

» Only if you commit truly grave mistakes…

That calls for some footnotes from the grassroots, and in a timely demonstration of inner-party democracy, an official from Guangzhou adds some practical advice:

“Officials have a right to privacy, too, just as patients have a right to privacy when they get medical treatment. This needs to be protected.” The preparatory meeting for the 11th Guangdong National People’s Congress is carried out today. Guangzhou delegation member Ye Pengzhi believes that combatting corruption and encouraging honesty creates a situation of high pressure within society, under which the corruption-minded won’t dare to be corrupt. As for a system of making officials’ property transparent, he suggests to conduct random checks on public officials’ properties, for example by means of lot numbers.

“官员也有自己的隐私权，就像医生治病，病人的病例是隐私，需要保护。”今天，广东省人大十一届一次会议举行了预备会议。广州团的叶鹏智代表认为，反腐倡廉应该形成社会高压态势，让有腐败想法的人不敢贪。关于官员财产公开制度，他建议采取随机抽检的方式公开官员财产，比如可以采取定期“摇号”的办法。

Ye Pengzhi believes that the discipline inspection departments have all kinds of means to supervise officials, but to make officials’ properties public wasn’t necessarily the best method. “I advocate that assets should be declared to the organization, but not necessarily be made known to the public. The more you do that, the more the public atmosphere will be unconducive to fairness and impartiality. It will prompt people under the banner of “public opinion” to engage in populism.”

叶鹏智认为，纪检部门本身已经有各种手段监督官员，向公众公开官员财产不一定是最佳方式。“我提倡可以向组织申报财产，但不一定对公众公开，越是这样，社会风气越不利于公平公正，要警惕一些人打着‘民意’的旗号搞民粹主义。”

Ye Pengzhi persistently asks: “Is there a legal basis for making officials’ properties public? Did the National People’s Congress promulgate a law for the publication of assets? Officials are people, too, they have a right to privacy, too. Officials are the servants, not the slaves of the common people.”

叶鹏智进一步追问：“要官员公开财产有法律依据吗？全国人大有公布财产公开的法律吗？官员也是人，也有隐私；官员是公仆，不是老百姓的奴隶。”

Lavish parties conferences and meetings at the taxpayers’ expense should not be confused with actual property or assets owned by officials. In that regard, People’s Daily and Ye aren’t addressing exactly the same issue. But in public perception, the difference between acquiring property and inflating operational costs is mainly ignored, as they both blend into corruption.

It’s the season for all kinds of anti-corruption talks. CCP secretary general Xi Jinping spoke at the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection a few days ago, and announced that no exception will be made when it comes to party disciplines and law. And no difference was to be made between tigers (老虎) and flies (苍蝇). Foreign media believed that Xi’s speech had once again boosted anti-corruption work (外界认为，习近平这番讲话无疑为反贪工作再次注入强心针), Xinhua wrote in a vague review of the international press. But then, Ye Pengzhi is no part of the foreign press, and too much of a boost could lead to public abuse.

The main difference between Ye and People’s Daily’s editorial seems to lie in the issue of public supervision. At least as far as the People’s Daily editorial – or its rendition by Enorth – goes, the concept of platforms for supervision by the public isn’t too specific, but it is mentioned, and it’s usefulness is acknowledged. Human-flesh searches by netizens are hardly desirable when it comes to the goal of a harmonious (or even just civil) society. That said, no conventional measures have done much to get corruption under control during the past decades – not even close.

Large swathes of the Chinese public can be excessive in their demand for punishment and prosecution of corrupt officials. A scenario where revenge – not only for official corruption, but for power abuses of all kinds – would take control doesn’t look terribly attractive – Ye may have a point there. But if the party doesn’t get its act together, it will be the public’s turn anyway – sooner or later.

A totalitarian system can sweep home-made mortifications under the carpet for a long time, but  it also tends to create the conditions for its own eventual downfall – unless the CCP finds a way to have its cake and eat it, too.

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Note

^*) Apparently a quote from an ancient Indian political theorist, Chanakya: Just as it’s impossible not to taste honey or poison when it’s on the tip of the tongue, so it’s impossible for a government servant not to eat up at least a bit of the king’s revenue.

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Related

» 外媒关注习近平讲话, Xinhua, January 24, 2013
» Public-Vehicle Petitions, Dec 27, 2012

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Advocating Democracy: 73 Scholars sign Open Letter

Probably the same letter previously reported by the South China Morning Post (SCMP) and German daily Die Welt has now made it into the international news as well. According to Reuters, it was signed by 73 scholars, while according to the SCMP, there had been 72 signatories.

A few days before the initial press reports about the open letter emerged, China Value had published a short history of open letters in China, and a discussion of the imbalances of power  they indicated.

According to the SCMP, the open letter was drafted by Zhang Qianfan (张千帆), a Beijing University law professor. Early in 2011, Zhang opposed a – more or less systematic – motion of “Confucian scholars” who apparently advocated Confucianism as a state doctrine.

From the Bottom of a Dead Volcano? Public Vehicle Petitions and Open Letters

The following article was published on China Value last Friday, nearly a week ago. It seems to date back to about 2008, but I can’t tell for sure. And maybe the reason for (re)publishing it now can be found in the current news.

An age of open letters has been going on in China ever since, say, 1895, suggests Fu Guoyong (傅国涌), a mainland Chinese journalist. Naval defeat against Japan, then considered a small neighbor, led to the Gongche Shangshu movement (公车上书, literally: public-vehicle movement), a movement that never fully achieved, and at the end of which Kang Youwei began to publish his thoughts about modernization. (Kang actually led the movement.)

Entering the Republic of China, from Hu Shi, Cai Yuanpei and a total of sixteen renowned intellectuals who wrote “Our Political Position” in 1922 to the 1940s, intellectuals wrote one joint declaration or manifesto after another – the open letters of their times. The traditional open letter was reborn in the late 1980s, including authors like Shi Yafeng, Xu Liangying, Mr. Liu Liao, and others from the quarters of science, and including Mr. Wu Zuguang and other gentlemen from the circles of literature and art, writing open letters expressing their political views and conscience. This reached its peak in the peaceful protest movement of 1989 – a great number of open letters emerged, more than people could usually read, including Qian Zhongshu, Ba Jin and other signatories.

And after 1989, open letters were almost the only way to express views, writes Fu. A number of open letters, among them one in 1995, written by Xu Liangying, and one by a medical doctor, Jiang Yanyong, to the NPC and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference in 2004 – the latter with a request to re-evaluate 1989 – were relatively influential.
“Open letters in large numbers bear testimony to the vitality of a nation, proving that an old nation hasn’t died”, writes Fu. “Under a dead volcano, there are still unusual voices.”

But open letters also showed that society was lacking effective legal channels and protection by the law, which led to the need to making appeals by such open letters: “a huge tragedy”. Simply said, open letters were one-way, with one side speaking, and the other mostly brushing the appeal aside, acting as if it hadn’t heard the voices, not being used to listen to peaceful voices. Only thunderbolts would shed light. A move from the era of open letters to dialog was contemporary China’s major issue which couldn’t be easily ignored or delayed anymore.

In my view, the “game” is about stating prices and making concessions, by mutually transparent and fair principles, each side giving in a step at a time, with standoffs, compromises, inching forward, giving in and backtracking, and if one sight is dominant and belongs to the side of the exclusively powerful interest groups, and the other interest group is weak, there is no great likelihood for a fair game, and the weaker are mostly at the mercy of the stronger.

The game, concludes Fu, needs clear rules. And it doesn’t work when the stronger side alone determines the rules.
Dialog had once been a hot word, in the CCP’s 13th national congress political report. But it had long since become absent. But dialog had been useful in the more recent past, in critical moments of history. Negotiators for Yuan Shikai‘s side and Sun Yat-sen‘s negotiators had their “South-North Peace talks” and came to the conclusion to send the Qing Dynasty into the museum of history. Another dialog approach, although not successful, was tried to overcome the Chinese north-south divide in 1919, to address the issue of warlordism. 1945 brought the Chongqing talks, and in 1946, a consultative conference came together in Chongqing, too.

Fu also addresses “politicization”. This is a term that is often used in an accusing fashion by the powers that be, against those they think of as their “challengers”. Fu doesn’t say that, either because he doesn’t actually address this context, or because it should go without saying among his readers.
The Chongqing talks and conference were “politicized”, he writes, and successfully so, in a peaceful, rational way, by solving problems and contradictions through dialog, with all sides representing their interests and negotiating them. It was China’s pain that dialog was destroyed by violence, with the complexities of Chinese history behind the violence. But more than once, Chinese people had chosen dialog and negotiations between different interest groups over violence.

I’m taking a short break from Fu’s article here.

The official term, concerning the 13th national congress of the CCP, was – probably – social consultation and dialog (社会协商对话, that’s how Fu puts it), or social system of consultation and dialogue / system of social consultation and dialog (社会协商对话制度). You have to turn to books rather than to websites to find clues about those times.

Back to Fu.

But the weaker weren’t completely bereft of dialog opportunities,he writes. There were (smaller) opportunities, and there was always room for reflection – even though the stronger side had decided to keep its powers, at the cost of dialog. “At the time”, civil representatives’ anger, overboard emotions, childishness, naivete and immaturity had shown that there was still a long way to go to the “era of dialog”, and that the tribulations for the Chinese nation hadn’t been over.

But “no matter how long it will take, I believe that the ‘era of open letters’ will be replaced by an ‘era of dialog’ in the end”, writes Fu. Discussing this transition was an urgent task.

The article also refers to Vaclav Havel‘s and other Czech intellectuals’ Civic Forum and its Eight Dialog Principles (as described/translated by Fu):

- the goal of dialog is to seek truth, not to compete
- no personal attacks
- stick to the topic
- use evidence when debating
- do not insist on your errors
- mind the difference between dialog and only allowing yourself to talk
- keep records of dialog
- do your best to understand the other side.

Fu had read the “code” about ten years before writing his article, and it had been a “new, rocking” experience, in its simplicity and practicality. To learn dialog, he believes, means parting from just talking to oneself, from a winner-take-all mentality, oppression of the weak, lame arguments camouflaged by strong words, but also from a mentality of hate, hostility, an absolutized feeling of superiority, and a place for people from different social classes, with different positions and values to talk with each other.

The main field of China Value, the website who published this article last Friday, isn’t politics, but finance. It addresses professionals. But according to their “about” page, they participate in shaping legislation, and cooperates with Chinese Central Television (CCTV).

Fu Yongguo, born in 1967, writes for a number of literary magazines, and for Southern Weekly (南方周末, aka Southern Weekend).

The rich and the talentend are turning their back on China’s political system as long as there was no legal certainty, Johnny Erling, correspondent for German daily Die Welt in China, (indirectly) quotes CASS scientists. Systematic reform, a reliable social-security network and emancipated participation by the people were needed. For the first time, writes Erling, the CASS blue book mentions China’s brain drain, in the context of China’s economic slowdown. More than 150,000 rich or well-qualified Chinese nationals had acquired resident permits abroad, in 2011.
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Related

» Scholars petition CCP, South China Morning Post, Dec 27, 2012
» Between Negotiation and Affirmation, March 25, 2012
» Scudding Clouds of Modern Thought, October 18, 2011

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Going to the Grassroots to See the Changes: Enorth (Tianjin) Welcomes the CCP’s 18th National Congress

Links within blockquotes added during translation. The original article also contains some links, but the pictures linked to don’t appear to load – JR

Enorth (Tianjin), October 31, 2012 —

Editors note: to welcome the Party’s 18th National Congress, to display the results of Tianjin’s persistent work of creating happier lives and a good future, and to display the scientific implementation of economic and social life, especially the lives of the common people, Enorth launches “Welcoming the Party’s Eighteenth National Congress – Going to the Grassroots to Report the Changes”, to bring into play the characteristics of the internet, to look at Tianjin’s development and to discover the individual changes from the perspective of Enorth’s many netizens. Today, we publish “Small Cameras Record the Changes in Binhai Village”.

编者按：为迎接党的十八大，展示天津为创造幸福生活和美好未来而不懈努力的成果，展示把科学发展观贯彻落实到经济社会，特别是百姓生活的方方面面，北方网特推出《喜迎十八大——走基层看转变系列报道》，发挥网络特色，通过北方网众多网友的角度，看天津发展，晒身边变化。今天刊发：《小相机纪录滨海乡村大变化》。

Enorth News: “This is Dagang‘s agri-touristical project, this is the newly-established wetlands park project – you can see how well our new village project is going …” Browsing his own photographs on the Enorth Forum, Wu Zongyu is thrilled, continuously sighing to the reporter with emotion. “With such rapid development of my hometown, even I, coming from this place myself, feel amazed.”

天津北方网讯:“这是大港的农业旅游项目、这是新建成的湿地公园……看我们新农村建设的多好……”浏览着自己在北方网论坛发表的摄影作品，吴宗禹内心里激动不已，向记者连连感慨：“家乡发展速度之快，连我这个自家人都觉得了不起。”

Fourty-year-old Wu Zogyu is a native from Binhai New District, Dagang, Taiping Village. A year ago, he and one of his colleagues uploaded photos of fresh flowers to Enorth’s forum, and were showered with praise. After so much encouragement, he fell in love with photography and sharing his joy and his works with others on the forum. Therefore, Wu Zongyu bought a micro camera online and started a website with the romantic and canorous name “Grass-Green cqq”.

今年40岁的吴宗禹土生土长在滨海新区大港太平村。一年前，他和同事拍摄鲜花在北方论坛上发表，好评如潮。看到自己的作品被这么多人鼓励，吴宗禹从此爱上了摄影，爱上了在论坛里和网友分享作品的快乐。为此，吴宗禹还特意在网上买了一台微单相机，并起了一个浪漫而又好听的名字“草青青cqq”。

Currently, Wu is very active in the forum, ever since registering late last year, he has published more than 100 photo posts, becoming Enorth Forum’s “news eye internet reporter”.

如今，吴宗禹在论坛里十分活跃，从去年年底注册到现在，已经发表100多个图文并茂的帖子，成为北方网论坛《拍客新闻眼》的“资深网友记者”。

However, Wu Zongyu only humbly tells the reporter: “In fact, I just want to show the “new village” in my heart to everyone, to let more people know how happy our lives are…”

[A set of photos]

Subtitle:
Old Memories, New Village

“My hometown was handed over to Tianjin from Heibei Province and belongs to Tianjin’s outlying districts. Therefore, the folk customs of some of the elderly remain intact, especially during spring festival. People say that these older people are slowly ebbing out. But I believe that this is part of our intangible assets, and should be preserved and be passed on.

“我的老家与河北省交接，属于天津的边远地区，因此，老家的一些民俗至今保留的还算完整，尤其是过年的时候。有人说，这些老例儿应该慢慢取消。可我觉得这应该是我们的一种无形的财富，应该保留下来。“

Most of Wu’s works reflect life in his hometown, this land’s folk customs, changes, and development. This has become his greatest joy.

吴宗禹大部分作品都是在反映自己的家乡，纪录这片土地上的民俗、变化、发展成为他最大的乐趣。

“Look, this was during spring festival, a photo of the villagers coming together. It is in fact very different from past spring festivals”, Wu says. “In the past, people on a picture were formal, but now, such a scene shows the real feeling of spring festival and keeps the fun of the occasion [on picture]. That’s no small thing when walking across a market.

“你看，这是过年时，村民赶大集的照片，实际上跟过去有了很大不同。”吴宗禹说：“过去人们赶集是刚性需求，而现在就是为了体验过年的味道，还留恋着过去那会儿热闹劲儿，这跟逛超市可不是一个概念。”

And this is the integrated metropolitan farm in Dagang, the “Four Seasons Idyllic Countryside” ecological park. It will open soon, providing tourism, eating and drinking, pasttime etc. services. How could the village attract any tourists in the past, as a remote backwater place, not to mention the recreational benefits it now provides…

“你看，这是我们大港综合型现代都市农庄‘四季田园’生态园，现在马上就要建好开放了，可以给市民提供旅游、餐饮、休闲等服务。要在过去，这农村哪能吸引来什么游客啊，穷乡僻壤的地方，更别提休闲娱乐了……”

“Look at this one, this is the aircraft factory built by the Dagang villagers. Looking at this plane, you might find it dumbfounding that villagers can do something related to aircraft, this is our party’s and our state’s strengthened development, with good policies, and that’s the life of us villagers nowadays.” Saying this, Wu Zongyu is very proud.

“你再看看这个，这是我们大港农民自己建的飞机厂，看到这些飞机，我都傻眼了，怎么想象到农民自己能干和飞机相关的事情，这都是我们党和国家发展壮大了，政策好了，才有我们农民的今天。”说起这些，吴宗禹自豪极了。

[Another set of photos - two pictures related to the four paragraphs above]

Subtitle:
Happiness is a home, possessions, and a husband or wife
幸福是老窝儿+老底儿+老伴儿

Talking about life today, Wu Zongyu emotionally tells the reporter that he grew up with four brothers in a small home. Life was very hard, and often, having had a meal, they hardly knew where the next meal would come from. Now it was different. He bought himself a car, lives in a tower block, and his brothers all have a flat as well.

谈起现在的生活，吴宗禹感慨地告诉记者，他从小家里哥四个一起长大，生活非常艰苦，常常是吃了上顿没下顿。可现在条件好了，自己买了汽车，还住上了楼房，而且兄弟中有的还不止一套房。

A few days ago, on CCTV, after he had watched an interview titled “Are you Happy”, he had his own understanding of happiness: “Happiness is a feeling, it’s when you compare with your own past, in the old days, [unsure about the following lines' meaning - JR], everyone had to plan, but it was mostly colorless. If you were poor or rich, as long as you lived your life safely and down-to-earth, happiness was in contentment. To use my mother’s words: ‘As long as there’s a home, possessions, and a husband, as long as there’s your family, economic security, and when parents, wife and children are in good health, isn’t this happiness?’”

前几天，他看见中央电视台随机采访“你幸福吗？”后，也有自己对“幸福”的理解。他认为：“幸福是一种感觉，是和自己的过去比，过日子谁都想好，可大多都是平平淡淡的，穷过也好，富过也好，只要过的平安、踏实就好，应该知足常乐。借用母亲的话来说，就是‘老窝儿+老底儿+老伴儿’，有自己的家，还有经济保障，父母妻儿身体健健康康，这不就是幸福吗？”

Watching Wu Zongyu’s photos, the reporter felt warmth. Different from many landscape photos, Wu Zongyu’s photos exude an air of real life, village customs, changes, and new achievements, containing simple villagers enjoyment and appreciation, and also their expectations and prayers for a beautiful future life. Setting out from small topics, his photos really embody Binhai New Area’s achievements from development and opening up.

看着吴宗禹展示的照片，记者心里暖洋洋的。与很多风景照片不同，吴宗禹的照片总是散发着浓浓的生活气息，这些反应农村民俗、新变化、新成果的照片，既蕴含着朴实的农村人对现有生活的享受和珍惜，同时也蕴含着他们对未来美好生活的祈盼。他的照片恰恰从一个细小的主题出发，体现了滨海新区开发开放的成果。

These days, Wu Zongyu’s lense ebulliently captures Dagang’s changes on each passing day. He says he hopes that his hometown will develop better and better, will let more people come to Dagang to feel this spirit, and he hopes that there will always be people to cultivate this land, and constantly reaping the fruits.

如今，吴宗禹镜头中的大港变化日新月异、朝气蓬勃。他说，希望家乡发展越来越好，让更多的人们走进大港，感受这里蓬勃的朝气，也希望这片土地上不断地有人去耕种，不断地结果。

(Fu Wenchao reporting.)
(记者付文超)

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Related

» Internet Information Office meeting, Oct 26, 2012
» Improvement among Minors, Sep 12, 2012
» Beautiful Melodies, Nov 14, 2011

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“Open Government Information”: Tucked Away or Flatly Refused

In a further move to promote openness and transparency, the Chinese government is planning to extend the requirement for government departments to make public their sangong expenditures to lower levels of government,

China Daily reported in November last year.

The definition of these expenditures (sangong, 三公) includes government spending on overseas visits, the purchase and maintenance of government vehicles and government-sponsored reception,

But although the majority of State departments [sic]  have made public their figures as demanded, most of these figures are tucked away among assorted and separate budgetary items. The country’s current system does not obligate governments to include separate sangong expenditure figures in their budgets [...]

About one year on, The Beijing News (新京报) covers the same issue – on Saturday, republished by Southern Metropolis Daily (plus a number of other online mainstream media) on Sunday:

The State Council required every department to make their sangong expenditures transparent to the public before June this year, but so far, 34 departments refuse to do so, and 27 departments give no sufficient reasons for their refusal. As is hardly known, the “Open Government Information Regulations” stipulate that all “information that involves the citizens’, judicial persons’ or other organizations’ own interests” and “require the society’s and public’s awareness or participation” belongs to the range of the government’s informational openness, and should be made transparent to the public. As this reguolation was officially implemented on May 1, 2008, why are there still 34 departments who dare to refuse transparency against the law? Where is [their] conscience of law and discipline?

国务院要求中央各部门务必于今年6月前向社会公开本级“三公经费”支出情况，可是时至今日，还有34个部门拒绝公开，并且有27家拒绝公开的理由不充分。殊不知，《政府信息公开条例》规定，凡“涉及公民、法人或者其他组织切身利益的”和“需要社会公众广泛知晓或者参与的”信息都属于政府信息公开范围，理应向社会公开。特别是该条件早已于2008年5月1日正式实施了，为什么还有34个部委敢于顶风而上拒不公开呢？法纪意识何在？

In fact, the “Open Government Information Regulations’” Article 12 [article 13, actually, at least according to this translation - JR] stipulates that In addition to government information disclosed by administrative agencies on their own initiative provided for in Articles 9, 10, 11 and 12, citizens, legal persons or other organizations may, based on the special needs of such matters as their own production, livelihood and scientific and technological research, also file requests departments of the State Council, local people’s governments at all levels and departments under local people’s governments at the county level and above to obtain relevant government information. As for the sources of “sangong” from government revenues and fiscal revenues, tax revenues, people should have the right to know how their taxes were used, and how efficiently they were used. Only by transparency, once people know no reasonable use [of revenues] was made, or where more [means] would be needed, can the public be in a position to supervise, which in turn is conducive to guarantee the public’s rights to speak and to supervidse, and conducive to promoting promoting progress in building “sunshine government”, thus improving the governments’ capability of winning public trust.

事实上，《政府信息公开条例》第十二条规定，“公民、法人或者其他组织还可以根据自身生产、生活、科研等特殊需要，向国务院部门、地方各级人民政府及县级以上地方人民政府部门申请获取相关政府信息。”而“三公”经费来源于政府财政收入，财政收入又来源于税收，纳税人理应有权知道自己所缴纳的税款用在何处，用出了什么效益。只有公开之后，“三公”经费中哪些用得不合理，哪些需要加大投入等，公众心中才有数，才便于监督，有利于保障公众的表达权与监督权，推进“阳光政府”建设的步伐，从而提高政府的公信力。

With power comes responsibility, argues The Beijing News. Or, it adds,

With power comes responsibility, use of power needs supervision, violation of law requires compensation, and illegal action requires investigation. Leniency or softness on authorities’ cadres won’t do much to guarantee their own responsibility, or high standards in party and cadre control.

毕竟，“有权必有责，用权受监督，侵权要赔偿，违法要追究。”如果对权力机关干部监管失之于宽，失之于软，就难保他们对自己的所作所为负责，从严治党，从严治官，便无从谈起。

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Related

» How are you going to use this info, Lei Chuang, CMP, April 18, 2012
» Just Thin Air, Asia Times, Sep 12, 2008

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A Chinese Right since Ancient Times

It’s frequently been argued that the Senkaku Islands shitstorm – or the Chinese side of it – is a distraction from CCP power transition hiccups. I have my reservations about that, but I do believe that the current “patriotic enthusiasm” in which Chinese people have rights,  are a distraction from much bigger issues – issues about “small people”. Big, because there are many “small people”.

The really big issue is that inside China – not out there in the seven seas where the barbarian man-eaters are ambuscading you – basically anyone has the “right” to break a “smaller” compatriot’s neck. (Of course, the perpetrator needs to be Chinese to exercise that right which has been Chinese since ancient times.)

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Related

» The World’s most Useless Husband, Nov 11, 2011

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