Snow-battered Hunan braces for more, chaos in Guangdong

Reporting by Qiao Long and Yan Xiu in Mandarin and by Lee Yong-tim for RFA’s Cantonese service in Guangzhou.
The central Chinese province of Hunan has been pummeled by unrelenting snow and icy rains since the middle of January, shutting off the water supply and paralyzing the region’s power grid [...]

China: Bloggers, advocacy and Hu Jia

Guangzhou-based GV blogger John Kennedy has a post on the new Global Voices Advocacy site, which is dedicated to pro-blogging activism:
Global Voices Advocacy seeks to build a global anti-censorship network of bloggers and online activists dedicated to protecting freedom of expression and free access to information online.
His subject is Hu Jia , the Beijing-based AIDS [...]

China: Train ticket mayhem at Lunar New Year

Caller from Shanghai (where the above video was shot) to William (Wei Lian)’s Listener Hotline (Chinese audio) call-in show, broadcast today by RFA’s Mandarin service:Hi there, I’m calling from Shanghai. Our local Shanghai People’s Radio Station has a program called “Citizens and Society” which I listen to regularly. This week they [...]

‘Investing in the Fatherland’: Corruption in North Korea

Greg Scarlatoiu has provided a thoughtful and in-depth file of translated broadcasts and background information on the problem of corruption in North Korea. The Web story will be posted later today on RFA’s main Web site, but there is a lot of very valuable material here that you won’t find elsewhere.
“The entire system [...]

China: Pollution sickens ‘thousands’ in Hunan, villagers say

Cases of poisoning have been emerging in villages around Chengxi county, Huaihua city since last week, RFA’s Cantonese and Mandarin services report. Domestic media reports have already carried interviews with villagers who complained that the pollution came from waste water from nearby vanadium mine and an associated sulphuric acid plant which had leaked into the [...]

Wife of Shandong activist prevented from visiting, German TV crew attacked

Jan 24, Yinan county, Shandong. From RFA’s Mandarin service (ZH):
Yuan Weijing and her two-year-old daughter were pulled back home suddenly while they were on their way to nearby Linyi municipal jail to visit blind family planning activist Chen Guangcheng. Four journalists from a German television station were waiting for her not far from the family’s [...]

China: Labour activist shows his injuries after attack

The video shows an interview by RFA’s Cantonese service with Huang Qingnan, a labour activist beaten and stabbed during attacks on a migrant workers’ centre in Shenzhen. He shows the reporter that his leg is permanently damaged, with a huge hole in his lower leg. He will need to walk on [...]

Bloggers, well-wishers detained, questioned outside Hu Jia’s house

Dozens of petitioners went to Hu Jia’s home in eastern Beijing on Sunday, Jan. 20 in an effort to send his wife Zeng Jinyan some milk powder for their baby daughter. But national security police camped outside Hu’s home stopped the petitioners, sending some of them to the Beijing Dispersion Center.
On Sunday, a netizen by [...]

Guangdong: Nine detained in Huizhou land clash

On the afternoon of Monday Jan 14, in the village of Qingtang, Gezhou township, Huicheng district, Huizhou city, Guangdong province:
Around 200 people went to the township government office to protest and call for the release of two villagers who had been detained by police.
A villager surnamed Lam was at the scene, and told RFA’s Cantonese [...]

China: Hu Jia-related blogs blocked as netizens try to deliver baby milk to Zeng

This is the first part of a documentary made by AIDS activist Hu Jia, who was detained on Dec. 27 for subverting state power, and his wife, Zeng Jinyan, who is now at home with the couple’s month-old daughter. The other six parts are available on YouTube. Thanks to John Kennedy [...]