China: Interview with released journalist Ching Cheong

From RFA Mandarin reporter Xin Yu:

Q: Mr. Ching, we learned that after you returned to Hong Kong, you are still working as a journalist for the Strait Times of Singapore. What do you feel about it?

A: I feel happy and am in high mood because I have been a journalist for my whole life.  Now I’ve got the opportunity to resume my old profession, I am happy.

Newsdesk: China suspends Baixing editor

Xu Feng, editor of the “restructured” Baixing (Commoners) magazine, said on Wednesday during his interview with Mandarin reporter Ding Xiao –

DX: I heard that you were fired?

Xu Feng: Not “fired.” Technically speaking, my job was “forcibly suspended.”

DX: Since when?

Xu: Around the 13^th. The “suspension” was a decision made by the editorial department of Commoners magazine. Zhongguo Nongcun Zazhishe (China Rural Magazine Publishing House), the parent company of Commoners, did not want it to happen. They have been trying to mediate. From a legal stand point, I have not been “fired” yet.

Bao Tong: Talk to the Dalai Lama

Here is Bao Tong’s essay translated in full. Original Chinese as broadcast on RFA’s Mandarin service here.

Take harmony seriously; talk to the Dalai Lama
by Bao Tong

The Lhasa incident has caused massive grief for all the Tibetan people and all of China. Anyone who has ever been through a great historical tragedy will understand its significance. The Chinese government spokesman said the whole thing was orchestrated by the Dalai Lama — a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize — from behind the scenes. However, as a reader from Europe put it: “Nobody here believes what the Chinese government says.”

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 home in Dongshigu village. They were set upon and beaten by some of the security officers guarding Wei.

At 4.30 p.m. local time on Jan. 24, the German TV crew, consisting of three men and one woman, took up their positions outside the Chen family home