Hong Kong residents marched the streets on Wednesday on the 12th anniversary of the handover of the territory to China. Demonstrators protested issues ranging from democratic elections to the performance of Chief Executive Donald Tsang to bank governance, with police estimates putting the crowd at 26,000. Organizers said the figure was 76,000, and that turnout [...]
Google-owned video-sharing site YouTube has been blocked in China. A YouTube spokesman told the paper that it had not been contacted by the Chinese government and was working to restore the service. The most recent YouTube ban coincided with the release of a video allegedly showing Chinese forces beating Tibetans during protests that occurred last [...]
The Dalai Lama marked his 50th year in exile from Tibet by accusing China of having brought “hell on earth” to his homeland. Speaking at his base in northern India, the exiled spiritual leader made yet another demand for “meaningful autonomy” in Tibet. He spoke of “untold suffering and destruction” brought by China, saying the [...]
A man wearing monk’s robes set himself on fire in Aba, Sichuan province, reported by state media and Tibetan activist groups. Local Party chief Shi Jun said the man walked out of Aba’s Kirti Tibetan Buddhist monastery on Friday and set himself alight. Shi said police put out the fire and that the man was [...]
China has closed off the region of Tibet to foreign tourists in the runup to next month’s politically sensitive 50th anniversary of a failed uprising against Chinese rule, according to tour agencies and other industry sources in Tibet. An employee at a government-run travel agency in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa said that tour agents [...]
Parents of infants sickened by melamine-tainted milk powder threatened to organize protests after two of them were prevented from traveling to Hebei for the announcement of the verdict by the Shijiazhuang Intermediate People’s Court. Dong Shiliang, a parent from Yunnan, was detained as he tried to board a plane for Beijing. Beijing parent Liu Donglin [...]
The Ministry of Environmental Protection approved a chemical project in Fujian province that was put on hold in June 2007 due to protests. The controversial plant will be relocated to the Gulei Peninsula from the original site in Xiamen. It will produce 800,000 tonnes of paraxylene annually, a chemical used in the production of paints [...]
A state-run magazine has said that China “without doubt” will face a wave of protests and riots in 2009 due in part to rising unemployment among university graduates and migrant workers. “In 2009, Chinese society may face even more conflicts and clashes that will test even more the governing abilities of all levels of the [...]
Protests in Longnan, Gansu province over the forced demolition of homes and eviction of tenants escalated into violence as demonstrators broke windows of the local Communist Party headquarters and destroyed nearby cars. About 30 people were protesting the evictions early Monday morning, but the crowd grew to about 2,000 people throughout the day. Few details [...]
A number of protests broke out in cities across the country Monday, set off by wage disputes, taxi drivers’ grievances and perceived collaboration between local officials and organized criminals. Over 2,000 workers at a diesel engine factory in Jiangyan, Jiangsu province, blocked roads in the city for the second straight day over the reported loss [...]
