I like what a Chinese writer (慕容雪村）said: the flower season of the jasmine has not arrived yet, but this doesn’t stop us from reminiscing about the smell of jasmine. (茉莉花的花期還未到，但這不妨礙我們去想一想茉莉花的香味。)

He was speaking at an event taking place in Hong Kong. While he was speaking, more people were being arrested in the mainland for allegedly initiating and spreading the jasmine revolution messages on the web.

Yet, ordinary Chinese people will have to face tougher uphill battles in the coming Chinese New Year in order to get a train ticket to return home for festive celebration. Reason? As China develops express rail links, the regular train services have been cut and for those that can only afford regular train price, especially the migrant workers and the students, they are destined harder to get a train ticket.

How expensive are the tickets for the high speed train? Take the Guangzhou-Wuhan high-speed trains. A second-class ticket costs RMB490. And how much does, say a migrant worker earn? Here are some pointers. The minimum wage in Shenzhen is RMB1,100; and starting March this year, the minimum wage in Guangzhou will be raised to RMB1,300, topping the whole country. In the second-tier and third-tier cities, the minimum wage are significantly lower.

High-speed trains are a symbol of China’s technology advancement and economic might. But the fact is, they are also a symbol of benefiting the rich, leaving those ordinary and poor even more behind.

Tian Yu’s father is a man who has worked all his life farming land. Tian decided to follow her cousin who was working at a Shenzhen factory, after finishing vocational training in computer and failing to find a job. She found a place in Foxconn and after basic training, started her first job – inspecting computer screens. She was given only a few seconds to do the checking and this monotonous process continued for 10 hours a day.

And she was assigned to live with workers coming from other hometowns far from her own’s, and who worked different shifts. She had no friends there and stayed all the time in the factory. She had never been to the centre of Shenzhen during the first month of working in Foxconn.

After one month’s work, she was confused about how to claim her wages. She was told by her supervisor that she needed to go to another Foxconn plan, more than an hour’s bus ride away.

She then had only five yuen left in her pocket and a broken mobile phone. So she took a bus to claim her one-month salary, only to be brushed away by people there, asking her to go to someone else for help.

“I was so angry that my mind went blank,” Tian said. “Why was it so hard to get what I had earned? Why must they torture me like this? I felt so bad at the time, and I didn’t want to be insulted any more so I went home.” She told South China Morning Post.

In her dormitory, she was penniless and alone, as all others had gone on night shifts. She cried herself to sleep. The next morning, she jumped from the dormitory to escape from her desperation and helplessness.

“Why was it so hard to get what I had earned?” After reading the story, this line resonates in me. You must work hard for me, but I don’t care if you get what you deserve. That is the plight of migrant workers in China (and not to mention things like the military style management and the dormitory arrangement in factories like Foxconn).

According to the South China Morning Post, the award committee refused to reveal the girl’s background at a chaotic press conference.

The brochure handed out at the press conference says Lien Chan, former Taiwanese president, was selected by internet users as the winner. Asked when and on what website the online voting was done, a professor from Beijing Normal University, who along with two professors forms the award committee, said they failed to carry out the voting because of “technical problems”. So how has the winner been selected?

And, you must be wondering why then the girl turns out to be the winner, not Lien Chan as mentioned in the brochure. No answer either. She stands in for Lien Chan – that is what we are told.

According to the award committee, which claims to be a non-profit organization,  the Confucius Peace Prize, with the award of 100,000 yuan, aims to advance the “Chinese viewpoint of peace”. For the Chinese authority, it seems, our common values like human rights and peace, all denote differently for the Chinese. Or it claims to be.

When can China demonstrate not only its economic power, but also power of civilization its four thousand years of history has embedded in it?

Liu’s reaction to it? “I dedicate the prize to those having died in the June 4 event.” And then he shed his tears, according to his wife Liu Xia who informed him about the news. It is a reaction that I would have expected from Liu, who keeps a low profile in his resilient fight for freedom of speech and democracy in China.

I wrote this post about Liu and his wife on 26 December 2009, and would like to copy here as my token of tribute to Liu:
 
“China’ most prominent dissident Liu Xiaobo was sentenced by the court to 11 years in jail on Christmas Day.

This is the fourth time he has been imprisoned because of his political position and his writings. He was researching in the US while the student democratic movement broke out in China in 1989. He rushed back to China and gave support to the students. He was jailed afterwards by the Chinese government.

But that marked only the first sentencing he, as a dissident, received of a series to follow. Each time he was released, he kept on writing and speaking his mind about how to make China a better and democratic country, and each time he was sentenced to imprisonment or a labour camp.

How Liu’s wife, Liu Xia, supports him is touching. She married him when he was in the labour camp. She sent him books when he was in prison so that he knew what her thoughts were and it was a way of communication between them, Liu Xia said. They also wrote poems to each other.

After the latest jail sentence was announced, Liu Xia told reporters in a clam voice: “If he (Liu Xiaobo) can persevere in the face of the ordeal, so can I.” Liu will be over 60 years old when he is released, she said.

She has had her head shaved. She is such a strong and steel-willed woman, just like her husband. “

And they have power too – great power. The officials in the university have the biggest say on everything, from deciding which staff and courses to stay to funding distribution. So who is the top man in the university? You would think it is the President or Vice chancellor. Nope. It is the communist party secretary. Every public university, even now, has a communist party secretary who is the “decider” of the university.

For mainland’s universities to be world-class, they have a really long way to go. Not until there is revolutionary change in the society when it values free thinking and democracy.

This is the fourth time he has been imprisoned because of his political position and his writings. He was researching in the US while the student democratic movement broke out in China in 1989. He rushed back to China and gave support to the students. He was jailed afterwards by the Chinese government.  

But that marked only the first sentencing he, as a dissident, received of a series to follow. Each time he was released, he kept on writing and speaking his mind about how to make China a better and democratic country, and each time he was sentenced to imprisonment or a labour camp.  

How Liu’s wife, Liu Xia, supports him is touching. She married him when he was in the labour camp. She sent him books when he was in prison so that he knew what her thoughts were and it was a way of communication between them, Liu Xia said. They also wrote poems to each other.

After the latest jail sentence was announced, Liu Xia told reporters in a clam voice: “If he (Liu Xiaobo) can persevere in the face of the ordeal, so can I.” Liu will be over 60 years old when he is released, she said.

She has had her head shaved. She is such a strong and steel-willed woman, just like her husband.

Currently, the average life expectancy in Guangdong province is 75. That means increasing one life expectancy age every year for the following three years. Can that be achievable? 

Btw, the Pearl River Delta region covers nine prefectures of the province of Guangdong in southern China, namely Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Foshan, Huizhou, Jiangmen and Zhaoqing, plus Hong Kong and Macau. It had a population approximately of 60 million people in 2008.

According to a renowned nutritionist in China, the elderly in the county live a long life because they follow a so-called “five-low, two-high” diet – low in calorie, fat, animal protein, sodium and sugar, while high in vitamin and fiber. 

Guangxi province, in southwestern China, is among the poorest provinces in China. The ethnic group of Ba Ma Yao surely does not live in luxury. Their simple and low calorie diet has helped them live a longer life, coupled with the green and beautiful environment there, the experts say.

Another reason behind the longevity, according to research, is that the Ba Ma Yao people live in red-brick houses, which release a kind of natural energy, helping to improve human’s immune and digestive system. Houses made of cement of modern days do not release such beneficial energy. 

Here’s a glimpse of the beauty of the autonomous county of Ba Ma Yao ethnic group.

Four student candidates vied for the post and each was given RMB2000 for their campaign. The polling took place on 11 November and the result announced the following day. Turn out rate is 61%. 

The elected student leader’s platform is based on one key message – the university should have a mechanism to allow student participation in its major decision making process.

Forty nine of them are from mailand China, one from Taiwan. 

Everything can be fake in China, from CD, brand bags and clothes, to food, and certificates. The scandal underscores that the fake culture has permeated into the youth generation. How can they not, if they live in an environment that almost everything is, and can be, fake. 

Is this the price China has to pay for its economic growth and prosperity? Has the country leadership counted this price?

China’s ambassador to EU, Song Zhen, wrote to the president of EU assembly, on the eve of the prize announcement, saying that “if the European Parliament should award this prize to Hu Jia, that would inevitably  hurt the Chinese people once again and bring serious damage to China-EU relations.” This is tantamount to a threat, which would have angered many people in Europe.

Will China one day learn to be a “civilized” country to match its rising economic power and aspriation to be a power on the world stage? I wonder.

Hu Jia, 35, a campaigner for civil rights, environmental protection and Aids advocacy, was sentenced to 3-1/2 years in jail on subversion charges in April after a one-day trial. 

His mother said after his son was taken away: “ I hope my son would be the last person in China who is jailed because of his speech.”

Hu Jia has a daughter who was merely a few months old  when he was put in jail.  She will turn one next month.

The company’s President Niu Geng Sheng often toured the country and Hong Kong to speak about brand management. It publishes Corporate Social Responsibility report, and actively goes green – it has just built the world’s largest methane power plant using cow-dung (investment RMB 45M /US$5.7 M).

So when I learnt of the news this morning that not only its baby formula, but also its milk are found contaminated by the industrial chemical melamine, it is a real shock to me.

How could it be possible to trust a Chinese brand anymore, if even a brand like Mengniu cannot be trusted?

The investigation by the quality watchdog of China, the General Administration for Quality Supervision, just found that 11 out of 121 batches of milk from Mengniu contain melamine.

If you ever live in China, you would know that three diary brands dominate the market: Mengniu, Yili and Guangming. In the supermarkets in China, it is very likely they are the only diary brands you can find.

The saddening thing about China’s milk scandal is that all its major diary manufacturers – Mengniu, Yili and Guangming – are involved. Yili’s and Guangming’s milk are also found contaminated by China’s General Administration for Quality Supervision.

In Hong Kong, tests conducted by the Food Safety Centre have found Yili’s milk products contaminated and the authority has asked the distributor to recall all the company products. Milk products by other mainland companies are still in the testing process.

By the way, here in Hong Kong, I eat Yili’s ice stick. Thank God, only occasionally.

The scandal is reminiscent of how the authorities in China handled the SAR, a daunting public health challenge in 2003, when the officials initially tried to cover up the scale of the SAR break-out.

China’s Minister of Health Chan Zhu yesterday admitted that the “authorities” were aware of the problems with baby formula in mid-July, and several investigations had been carried out since to establish the cause, only to no avail. Why not, then, alerted the public about the problem which is so consequential when it was first discovered? Who are all these “authorities” aware of the problem?  The minister didn’t answer.

Minister Chan, after 3 deaths and more than 6000 children affected by the tainted formula, was still trying to offer excuse for the slow action – or the cover-up – of the “authorities”. His statements seemed to imply that “well, we didn’t hide the truth – we were  just investigating.”

On another front, the formula manufacturer concerned Sanlu received complaints as early as March this year, and later its tests confirmed contamination. The New Zealand owner of a 43% stake of Sanlu, Fonterra Co-operative Group, said it urged the company to recall the product as early as six weeks ago. After no action taken, it had to bypass the company and the local authorities to alert the Central government.

The company Sanlu and the authorities, local and central, all share one common skill -buck passing and fact hiding.

I am thinking about the glory and grandeur of the opening ceremony of Beijing Olympics just weeks away, with themes reflecting the traditional Chinese culture. What is really the Chinese culture NOW? Would people want to seriously think about it?

Reportedly, Zhao C’s father gave him the name, who when interviewed, said that “C” symbolized his hope for his son. “C is the first letter of the English world ‘China’, and its pronunciation is the same as the word “west” in Chinese. I hope my son will go to study in the West while not forgetting his Chinese root,” he said.

The hope represented by “C” is also the hope of a majority of youngsters in China: go overseas to study and yet very proud to be a Chinese.

The Legal Guide targets at foreigners, but it is posted on the Chinese website of the Olympic organizers only, not on its English website. So how can the foreigners know?  Isn’t it strange??

According to the Legal Guide, entry will be denied to those:

1) having been expelled from China by the Chinese government;
2) regarded as likely to carry out terrorist and violent attacks and engage in subversive activities;
3) regarded as likely to engage in drug trafficking and prostitution;
4) with mental illness and contagious diseases such as sexually transmitted disease, leprosy and tuberculosis;
5)  who cannot afford their expenses during their stay in China;
6) regarded as likely to engage in other activities that threaten the national security and interests of China.

I have one big problem with this notice. How can China be so flagrantly discriminatory against people with mental illness and STD when the country has a large number of people with mental illness and STD, especially AIDS, who desperately need the society not to discriminate against them and need care?

You cannot rid the country of discrimination if the leadership/high ranking officials of the country are using the language of discrimination.

Soldiers, armed police and firefighters queued up to welcome Hu during his visit to the Beichuan county, one of the hard hit areas by the powerful 7.9-magnitude Sichuan earthquake, according to South China Morning Post.

The moral of the story? Ordinary people’s lives matter little compared with the state top leader’s visit.

These people trekked to the town despite dangers and against warnings, for different reasons, showing human’s compassion and perseverance in the face of calamity and difficulties.

A story to share with all of you:

Journey into the quake’s heart of darkness
Choi Chi-yuk
May 17, 2008

Choi Chi-yuk was among the first journalists to reach Yingxiu at the epicentre of the Sichuan earthquake. In his second report, he describes the 49km trek to ground zero

As the group I am travelling with makes its way towards the heart of the disaster, fleeing refugees warn us of the conditions ahead and urge us to turn back.

“Please listen to me. Give up this idea of going there. It’s too dangerous,” a young man in his 20s yelled at us. “Rocks of all sizes are falling from the mountains. On the other side of the road is the cliff. You would have no place to hide if there is a landslide. Stop this madness now and turn back.”

Another man, his head still bandaged, chimed in. “The place has been running out of food and water since Monday. People are fighting for everything. It is a complete chaos. You’d have no place to sleep even if you do get there,” he warned.

My heart sank and my mouth ran dry. A young woman, whom we met on the road and was trying desperately to reach her family who lived at the epicentre at Wenchuan in Sichuan, turned pale and sat down on the ground in despair. She buried her face in her hands and wept quietly.

A long silence followed but when the woman looked up again, there was renewed resolution in her eyes.
“I will go! Even if this is a rush to death, I want to die together with my family,” she said.

Her brave words lifted our hearts, and nodding to each other, the five of us pushed on.

We were strangers coming from different parts of China and from all walks of life, but all eager to reach Wenchuan.

No news had come out from the epicentre since the quake struck on Monday. All roads leading to the county were destroyed or blocked by rocks.

To find out what was happening to the tens of thousands of people living there, I hiked 49km through the mountains to reach them.

My march began in Dujiangyan , midway between Wenchuan and Chengdu , at 3.30pm on Wednesday. Knowing that food and water would be scarce at the scene, I packed 2 litres of bottled water, two packs of biscuits, a notebook computer and a camera in my bag – more than 6kg in total.

Once on the road, I was joined by others also trying to head to Wenchuan – all of us driven by a different purpose to reach the disaster zone.

Yu Jianjan, a migrant worker in Qingdao , Shandong , rushed back to Sichuan after learning of the quake.
He said his parents, uncle, elder brother and sister-in-law were all living in Wenchuan.

“I have not heard a word from them since the quake. I’m sick of worrying. I must go and find out what happened to them,” Mr Yu said as tears welled in his eyes.

Zhong, a broad-shouldered man with a big bag on his back, told us that he was from Huangshi in the central province of Hubei . He packed up and came to Sichuan once he heard the news.

“I have no friends or relatives here. But I want to do my part to help people in the disaster area. I want to do my bit to help out,” he said. “This bag is full of food and water. I guess this is what is most needed in the area.”

Two girls, both in their 20s, were also members of our team. Liu Jianqin, the less shy of the two, said they were rushing back to see their classmates in Wenchuan.

The girls went to Chengdu with their teacher on Monday, narrowly escaping the disaster. But their fellow schoolmates were all trapped in Yingxiu.

We soon became friends as we helped each other to hike through the rough mountains. We followed the destroyed road linking Dujiangyan to Yingxiu.

Along the way, rocks tumbled down from the mountain on my right-hand side and crashed into the turgid Min River, sending loud booming echoes across the valley like ominous warnings.

At some sections we saw huge rocks the size of a house blocking our way. Fearing the worst, we quickened our pace despite the fatigue setting in after hours of hard walking.

The road was filled with cracks big enough to swallow up an adult. After sunset, the path would become practically impassable. We were also racing against time to reach Wenchuan before nightfall.

The fatigue, worry and anxiety soon clouded my senses. My mind went blank and I could only focus on the next step.

To keep myself up, I had to tell myself silently that I must make it to Yingxiu as soon as possible.

But I was jolted awake by the first scenes of disaster: bridges broken and scattered across fields; vehicles lying smashed and twisted at the foot of a nearby hill, the dead trapped  inside.

The odour of the bodies mixed with the smell of the rotten food spilling from the car. We were so overwhelmed with terror none of us could speak.

Night fell. But to my relief, a bright moon lit our road. Looking up, I offered a silent prayer to the sky.

We came upon a steep slope, with Yingxiu lying just behind. The path was slippery with mud after days of rainfall. Soon we were covered in dirt and sweat, forced to crawl uphill with bare hands.

At 12.30am on Thursday, after nine hours and 45km, I finally reached the outskirt of Yingxiu.

Exhausted but exited, we collapsed on the ground and could not move anymore. With the temperature only a few degrees above zero, we fell into sleep soon.

The rest was tense and brief. At about 1.30am, the ground suddenly shook and everyone jumped up in fear and wonder. At least five more aftershocks followed that night. When dawn arrived, we again set off towards the town centre – which was still 5km ahead.

Carefully navigating the broken rocks, we had to measure each of our steps, while remembering to look up for falling rocks from the hills above.

It was not until 8.30am that I reached downtown Yingxiu. My clothes were soaked with sweat, my legs felt burned by blisters, but I had made it. I was moved by what I saw on the road, and by the care and love my travel companions showed to their family and to each other.

Recently, there appeared a video on YouTube about Tibet, attracting millions of hits. The title says “Why Tibet was, is and always will be a part of China”. The arguments and “solid facts” claimed are all familiar to the Chinese. Among others, it claims that Tibet has been part of China since 1271, the Yuan Dynasty. Only that this time the arguments are put into English and made into a video for a wider world to see.

It seems that the world of China has remained static during those 15 intervening years and more, despite its economic ascendancy. Many people there have thought alike and the government has more or less been saying the same things to its people (such as quickly blaming the “Dalai Lama clique” for any protests and riots in Tibet).

My conversation with the Israeli traveler did not end there. The traveler then asked me: You said Tibet has been part of China since a certain point of time in history. But dating back is subjective, isn’t it? You can also say that dating back this and that point of time, Tibet was not part of China. Or, how much further can you date back so that you can assuredly claim that China has been part of China? History is long, you know.

15 years have passed and I still vividly remember the conversation. Since then I have been to Tibet, have cared more about the place and its people, and have travelled more, read more and listened more, to have formed my own view about Tibet.

Thanks my fellow traveler, though I can no longer recall your name.