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fffc3ce3bc6b4acdbc2eddaab09243a6 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-35173709 | China smog sparks red alerts in 10 cities | China smog sparks red alerts in 10 cities
Hazardous smog blanketing China's north-east has sparked more red alerts, with authorities advising residents in 10 cities to stay indoors.
The announcement follows last week's warning that a vast area of China would be badly hit by pollution.
Beijing saw its second red alert over the weekend. The latest wave of alerts includes the industrial port Tianjin.
Red alerts trigger advisories for people to stay inside, schools to stop classes, and restrict vehicle use.
An environmental ministry statement issued on Wednesday night said the 10 cities with red alerts include Tianjin as well as smaller surrounding cities Puyang, Xinxiang, Dezhou, Handan, Xintai, Langfang, Hengshui, Xinji and Anyang.
They are among 30 cities including Beijing seeing "severe pollution". Another 20 cities have "heavy pollution".
The latest news was met with resignation, and even some jokes, by Chinese netizens who have endured bad air quality levels in recent weeks.
On Wednesday, images of a purple-tinged sunset in Nanjing spread across social media with many users attributing it to the pollution in the city.
"New type of haze: grape flavoured," joked Weibo user Chenyingshisupoman.
Another Weibo user Diliutianmaoxianjia said sarcastically: "Compared to the heavy smog of Beijing, the strong smog of Hebei, and damp heat of Shanghai, I prefer the colours of Nanjing's smog... it is durable and refreshing... once you breathe it in it sticks to your heart."
Beijing's second red alert ended on Tuesday night. The ministry said the capital's air quality was "slowly improving".
But some parts of neighbouring Henan and Hebei regions were still seeing heavy pollution, with levels of the PM2.5 pollutant surpassing 300 mg per cubic metre - the hazardous level in China.
China has seen extremely high levels of air pollution in recent years, particularly in the coal-reliant north east, the industrial heart of the country.
Following criticism that authorities were not doing enough to protect citizens' health, the government has stepped up in issuing health advisories and promised to take action to address pollution.
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2306d25fa69b8f63a17bae1fd8f5db7a | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-35437098 | China jails rights activists 'over pro-democracy books' | China jails rights activists 'over pro-democracy books'
China has jailed three pro-democracy activists for "inciting subversion", rights groups and relatives say.
Lawyer Tang Jingling, and activists Wang Qingying and Yuan Xinting were given jail terms of between two and five years by a Guangzhou court.
The main evidence used against the men was the fact that they had read and distributed books about democracy and activism, rights groups said.
It comes amid a widespread crackdown on human rights activists and lawyers.
The three men have been held in detention for more than 18 months.
They were accused of studying and distributing five books about non-violent activism, including From Dictatorship to Democracy by Gene Sharp, and Organizing: A guide for Grassroots Leaders by Si Kahn, rights groups said.
Tang's wife, Wang Yanfang, confirmed the sentences and told the BBC's Chinese Service it was a "ridiculous verdict".
The law was being used as a front for "political suppression", she said, and added her husband considered the court case "an illegal trial".
Police outside the court attempted the stop journalists from filming, and several supporters of the three men were taken away by officers, Reuters reported.
Patrick Poon, China researcher at Amnesty International, called the verdict against the three men "a gross injustice".
"Their peaceful and legitimate work never threatened state security, this is solely about the authorities arbitrarily silencing government critics," he said.
There was no immediate comment from the court.
China has previously responded to criticism of its human rights record by saying that each case is handled "in accordance with the law" and that "foreign governments should respect China's judicial sovereignty".
China has cracked down on scores of lawyers and activists in recent years.
In July, the Chinese authorities launched what appeared to be an orchestrated campaign, when more than 280 human rights lawyers and activists - along with their associates - were summoned or detained or just disappeared.
Many of the lawyers were eventually released - but the arrests have been widely seen as the state's attempts to stifle dissent.
In December one of the country's most prominent rights lawyers, Pu Zhiqiang, received a suspended jail sentence after a brief trial for "inciting ethnic hatred" and "picking quarrels" in social media posts.
And earlier this month, Swedish activist Peter Dahlin was detained on charges of damaging national security, before being released and deported.
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a60ce2d2c821cb9fb1e7dad6df3f2389 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-36771749 | South China Sea: Tribunal backs case against China brought by Philippines | South China Sea: Tribunal backs case against China brought by Philippines
An international tribunal has ruled against Chinese claims to rights in the South China Sea, backing a case brought by the Philippines.
The
Permanent Court of Arbitration
said there was no evidence that China had historically exercised exclusive control over the waters or resources.
China called the ruling "ill-founded" and says it will not be bound by it.
China claims almost all of the South China Sea, including reefs and islands also claimed by others.
The tribunal in The Hague said China had violated the Philippines' sovereign rights. It also said China had caused "severe harm to the coral reef environment" by building artificial islands.
The ruling came from an arbitration tribunal constituted under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
(UNCLOS)
, which both countries have signed.
It ruled on seven of 15 points brought by the Philippines. Among the key findings were:
The ruling is binding but the Permanent Court of Arbitration has no powers of enforcement.
The Philippines has had diplomatic spats with China over the Scarborough Shoal and Spratlys in particular.
It says China's "nine-dash line", which China uses to demarcate its territorial claims, is unlawful under the UNCLOS convention.
Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei also have competing claims in the region.
Although these islands are largely uninhabited, they may have reserves of natural resources around them. There has been little detailed exploration of the area, so estimates are largely extrapolated from the mineral wealth of neighbouring areas.
The sea is also a major shipping route and home to fishing grounds that supply the livelihoods of people across the region.
Why is the South China Sea contentious?
Rivalries underneath the South China Sea
As expected,
China
is standing firm and re-asserting its claim to the area.
"China's territorial sovereignty and marine rights in the South China Sea will not be affected by the so-called Philippines South China Sea ruling in any way," said Chinese President Xi Jinping.
He said China was "determined to maintain peace and stability" and was committed to resolving disputes "through negotiations based on respects to historical facts and according to international laws".
China's state news agency Xinhua said that "as the panel has no jurisdiction, its decision is naturally null and void".
But Philippe Sands, a lawyer for the
Philippines
in the case, said it was a "clear and unanimous judgement that upholds the rule of law and the rights claimed by the Philippines".
The
Philippine
government says it is now studying the ruling.
However, the BBC's Jonah Fisher, in Manila, says the lack of celebrations may be a result of the recent change of government.
Our correspondent says many Filipinos believe newly elected President Rodrigo Duterte may have sought promises of Chinese investment, in return for a quiet, dignified response.
The
US
called the decision an "important contribution to the shared goal of a peaceful resolution to disputes in the South China Sea", and urged all parties to consider it "final and legally binding".
Taiwan
, which also claims the disputed area, said the ruling had "seriously damaged" its rights.
"We hereby solemnly state that we will definitely not accept this ruling," the foreign ministry said.
The US sent an aircraft carrier and fighter jets to the region ahead of the decision, while the Chinese navy has been carrying out exercises near the disputed Paracel islands.
This result represents a major loss of face for China, and yet the first response from Beijing to the tribunal's demolition of its claims seems be rather conciliatory.
On the one hand, the Chinese government has re-stated that it has territorial sovereignty and maritime rights in the area and that the activities of its people there date back to over 2,000 years ago.
However, it then goes on to talk about "consultation with the states directly concerned" and proposes "joint development in relevant maritime areas".
Airlines and shipping companies will be pleased to hear that China has also restated that it respects "freedom of navigation and overflight enjoyed by all states under international law in the South China Sea" and that it stands ready to ensure "unimpeded access to international shipping lanes".
All this seems to point towards Beijing possibly seeking some sort of negotiated settlement rather than ramping up the pressure on the Philippines following Manila's comprehensive victory in The Hague.
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f199fd47269ffa340108b4147dc7d6be | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-36950013 | Dutch man waits 10 days in Chinese airport for 'girlfriend' | Dutch man waits 10 days in Chinese airport for 'girlfriend'
You might expect love to hurt, but for one lovesick Dutch man in China it resulted in a hospital trip for exhaustion.
Alexander Pieter Cirk, 41, recently flew from Holland to Hunan province in the hope of meeting his online girlfriend, a Chinese woman known only as Zhang.
But he ended up spending 10 days waiting at Changsha airport, after she failed to show up. And he has won little sympathy in China.
Mr Cirk told Chinese media that he met Ms Zhang, 26, in an app two months ago and romance blossomed.
He decided to fly to visit her, but when he got to Hunan found no-one had come to meet him.
He refused to leave the airport for the next 10 days, and was eventually taken to hospital suffering physical exhaustion, according to reports by Hunan TV.
Ms Zhang contacted the TV channel a day after the report aired to give her side, saying that she had thought it had all been a joke.
"We had advanced our romantic relationship but later he seemed a little callous towards me," Ms Zhang told Hunan TV.
"One day he sent me a photo of air tickets abruptly and I thought it was a joke. He didn't contact me later."
Ms Zhang also added that by the time Mr Cirk arrived at the airport, she was away having plastic surgery in another province and had turned off her phone.
On Chinese social media, the majority of users were keen to point out the apparent absurdity of the man's actions.
The hashtag "Foreign man went to Changsha to meet his online girlfriend" has been trending on micro-blogging site Weibo.
"He must be stupid, why would anyone do this?" asked one user.
"Doesn't he know that everything in China is fake?" said another.
"Perhaps she did go to the airport, saw what he looked like, and promptly turned back around," was a theory proposed by another user.
Others, however, had some sympathy.
"Here's a guy taking a relationship seriously, don't play around with his feelings," the netizen said. "If you don't want him anymore, tell him so he can go home."
"What does this say about Chinese integrity?", asked another.
Mr Cirk was scheduled to fly home earlier this week.
Ms Zhang reportedly said she would be keen to meet him after her recovery, saying she was still interested in maintaining their relationship.
Reporting by Yvette Tan
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7beee69ac8e56b9efee7aa52e69d2aa1 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-37103447 | China's ghost weddings and why they can be deadly | China's ghost weddings and why they can be deadly
Police in north-west China have charged a man with murdering two women with mental disabilities, alleging that he wanted to sell their corpses to be used in so-called "ghost weddings".
It has put a spotlight on the ancient shadowy ritual, still practised in certain parts of China, which aims to provide spouses for people who die unmarried.
According to police in Shaanxi province, the murder case dates back to April, when three men were detained after the body of a woman was found in their vehicle by traffic police.
Their investigation led them to uncover a grisly sequence of events in which the man, named only as Ma, allegedly promised the women he would find them grooms but instead killed them so he could sell their corpses.
Believers in the custom, practised for some 3,000 years, say it ensures the unmarried dead are not alone in the afterlife.
Originally, the weddings were strictly for the dead - a ritual conducted by the living to wed two single deceased people - but in recent times some have involved one living person being married to a corpse.
In ghost marriages between two dead people, the "bride's" family demands a bride price and there is even a dowry, which includes jewellery, servants and a mansion - but all in the form of paper tributes.
Factors like age and family background are as essential as they are in more traditional weddings, so families hire feng shui masters to work as a match-maker.
The wedding ceremony will typically involve the funeral plaque of the bride and the groom and a banquet. The most important part is digging up the bones of the bride and putting them inside the groom's grave.
For years there has been evidence of this ritual mutating in certain parts of China. There have been cases where a living person has been "married" to a corpse in a secret ritual, but more alarmingly reports of grave robbery and even murder have also surfaced.
In 2015, it was reported that
14 female corpses were stolen in one village
in Shanxi province. Villagers said tomb-raiders stole the bodies to make money.
According to Huang Jingchun, the head of the Chinese department at Shanghai University who carried out a field study on ghost weddings in Shanxi between 2008 and 2010, the price of a corpse or the bones of a young woman has risen sharply.
At the time of his research such remains would fetch around 30,000 to 50,000 yuan (£3,400 to £5,700; $4,500 to $7.500). He estimates the price these days could be up to 100,000 yuan. The sale of corpses was outlawed in 2006 but that hasn't stopped grave robbers.
A man arrested in Liangcheng County, Inner Mongolia last year told police officers that he murdered a woman so that he could make money by selling her body to a family looking for a ghost bride.
The reasons vary from place to place. In some districts of China,
such as Shanxi
where the latest murders are alleged, there are large numbers of young, unmarried men working in coal mining, where fatalities are high.
The ghost wedding serves as a form of emotional compensation for bereaved relatives, as finding a dead bride is something they can do for a son who died young while working to support the family.
But sex ratios are also significant. The 2014 census results show that about 115.9 boys were born for every 100 girls.
But Dr Huang believes there are also more fundamental cultural reasons.
Many Chinese people believe misfortune will be brought upon them if the dead's wishes have not been fulfilled. Hosting a ghost wedding is a means to pacify the dead.
"The basic ideology behind ghost weddings is that the deceased continue their lives in the afterlife," Dr Huang said. "So if someone didn't get married when they lived, they still need to be wedded after their death."
Most cases are found in northern and central China, areas such as Shanxi, Shaanxi and Henan provinces. But Szeto Fat-ching, a feng shui master in Hong Kong, also confirms the ancient form of the custom still exists among Chinese communities in South East Asia.
In Taiwan, if an unmarried woman passes away, her family may place red packets with cash, paper money, a lock of hair, a fingernail out in the open and wait for a man to pick them up. The first man to pick up the packets is chosen as the groom and it is believed to be bad luck if he refuses to marry the ghost bride.
The wedding rituals are similar, but unlike in mainland China, no bones are dug up. The groom is often allowed to marry a living woman later, but his dead wife should be revered as the primary wife.
Last year a video of a ghost wedding from Taichung in Taiwan, where a man apparently "married" his deceased girlfriend in an elaborate ceremony, went viral.
At the core of these rituals is the universal human dilemma of how to deal with bereavement.
"Such ghost weddings are very touching, showing the perseverance of love," Mr Szeto told the BBC.
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f0df75de08e406b4f4b6a34639d3a256 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-37267372 | South China Sea: Obama urges Beijing to abide by ruling | South China Sea: Obama urges Beijing to abide by ruling
US President Barack Obama has urged China to abide by its obligations under an international treaty in its activities in the South China Sea.
He made the comments during a "candid exchange" with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, in Hangzhou before the G20 summit, the White House said.
In July, an international tribunal ruled against Chinese claims to rights in the South China Sea.
China dismissed the ruling and said it would not be bound by it.
The ruling was made by an arbitration tribunal under the
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)
, which both China and the country that brought the case - the Philippines - have signed.
The White House said Mr Obama emphasised "the importance for China, as a signatory to UNCLOS, to abide by its obligations under that treaty, which the United States views as critical to maintaining the rules-based international order".
Chinese media reports on the meeting between Mr Obama and Mr Xi made no mention of any discussion about the South China Sea.
China claims almost all of the South China Sea, including reefs and islands also claimed by other nations, and has caused dismay in the region by building artificial islands and restricting access.
Earlier on Saturday, the US and China - together responsible for 40% of the world's carbon emissions - both
formally joined
the Paris global climate agreement.
"History will judge today's effort as pivotal," Mr Obama said.
Last December, countries agreed to cut emissions in an attempt to keep the global average rise in temperatures below 2C.
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4ea32690fbf234ce238048592fd25e7a | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-40269462 | Wu Xiaohui: China 'detains' Anbang Insurance chairman | Wu Xiaohui: China 'detains' Anbang Insurance chairman
The head of Chinese insurance and financial giant Anbang is reported to have been detained by the authorities.
The company, one of the country's richest and most powerful, said Wu Xiaohui was stepping aside as chairman.
It gave few details but said he was no longer able to fulfil his duties for "personal reasons".
Chinese business magazine Caijing had reported that Mr Wu was detained by authorities last week, but later deleted its article.
An official source told the BBC that Mr Wu had been taken away from the Anbang Office Building on 8 June by police who arrived in two cars.
It is not clear where Mr Wu is now.
If Mr Wu's detention is confirmed by the authorities, he would be the highest-profile target of the government's attempt to re-establish state control of the financial industry, and target corruption.
Anbang is known for a number of high profile international acquisitions, like the
purchase of New York's Waldorf Astoria hotel
in 2015.
The company, which manages some 1.65tn yuan (£190bn; $242bn) worth of assets, said in a statement that the chairman's duties would be managed by other senior executives.
Anbang did not comment on the report by Caijing that he had been detained.
Earlier, Anbang had denied a report by the Financial Times that Mr Wu had been stopped from travelling abroad.
In the past few years, high-level officials have often been detained for corruption in China. Found guilty of taking bribes, they're handed lengthy prison sentences and ushered out of public view.
The Wu Xiaohui case is very different.
Mr Wu masterminded the explosive rise of his company in just over a decade by selling relatively risky investment products - not traditional insurance policies. Still smarting about the collapse of Shanghai's stock market in 2012, Chinese regulators had warned about Anbang's "wealth management products".
Another respected magazine, Caixin, published unusually frank exposes on Anbang in April. Like the
New York Times
before it, Caixin probed Anbang's murky ownership structure and whether it had enough money in the bank to carry out large overseas acquisitions.
The articles addressed some of the greatest mysteries swirling around China: who really owns Anbang and who made way for its almost impossible rise from a tiny car insurance company to a global behemoth?
If Wu Xiaohui and Anbang aren't what they seem, the entire Chinese economy, including many ordinary people with Anbang products, could be in for a fall.
Anbang had recently been in talks with a real estate company part-owned by Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior White House adviser, Jared Kushner.
The two sides were
reportedly negotiating a deal
to redevelop one of Kushner Companies' Manhattan buildings.
The possible deal had raised media speculation over a potential conflict of interest and
was called off
by "mutual agreement" without any reasons given.
Wu Xiaohui had long been considered one of the most politically connected men in China, having married the granddaughter of former leader Deng Xiaoping.
His company has in recent years been among the biggest players of Chinese firms pursuing high-profile overseas acquisitions and investments.
In 2016, Anbang paid private equity firm Blackstone $6.5bn for the ownership of Strategic Hotels & Resorts, a portfolio of upmarket hotels and resorts.
That purchase added 16 luxury properties across the US to Anbang's holdings, including the Ritz-Carlton Half Moon Bay, and the Four Seasons hotels in Silicon Valley and Washington.
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929982af2a6161d88e256c271de53c9a | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-40465359 | Xi Jinping warns Hong Kong over sovereignty 'red line' | Xi Jinping warns Hong Kong over sovereignty 'red line'
Chinese President Xi Jinping has warned against "impermissible" challenges to Beijing's authority over Hong Kong.
Mr Xi was speaking at the swearing-in of the territory's new leader
Carrie Lam
, as Hong Kong marked 20 years since its handover to China from Britain.
On Saturday afternoon, after Mr Xi had left Hong Kong, thousands of people took part in an annual march calling for greater democracy.
During Mr Xi's visit there was little opportunity for protest.
An earlier protest had led to clashes with pro-Beijing demonstrators.
Mr Xi's visit to the city - his first since becoming Chinese leader in 2013 - came amid tight police security.
Several people were detained in the morning, when a small group of pro-democracy activists clashed with pro-Beijing demonstrators close to the site where the lavish ceremony took place.
Organisers said 60,000 people took part in the later pro-democracy march, though police said the figure was much lower.
Heavy rain affected the march, which started at Victoria Park in Causeway Bay. Some protesters carried yellow umbrellas, a symbol of the demonstrations which gripped the city in 2014.
Lam Wing-kee, one of the five Hong Kong booksellers who went missing in 2015 and re-surfaced in detention on the mainland, addressed the march.
The Chinese leader oversaw the swearing in of Ms Lam, the newly-elected chief executive of the territory, along with the rest of her cabinet. She is Hong Kong's first female leader.
In a speech he said that Hong Kong needed to "improve its systems to uphold national sovereignty, security and development interests".
"Any attempt to endanger China's sovereignty and security, challenge the power of the central government... or use Hong Kong to carry out infiltration and sabotage activities against the mainland is an act that crosses the red line and is absolutely impermissible," he said.
He added that Hong Kong now enjoyed more freedom than ever before.
But while the territory's Basic Law guarantees wide-ranging freedoms under the "one country, two systems" formula, Beijing's refusal to grant universal suffrage has triggered sometimes violent unrest.
In Saturday morning's small-scale protests, pro-democracy party Demosisto said police had arrested five of its members, and four members from the League of Social Democrats.
Among those said by the group to have been arrested was Joshua Wong, the leader of the so-called
umbrella protest movement
.
It was meant to be a routine demonstration by pro-democracy protesters.
The leaders of the League of Social Democrats and Demosisto had gathered to make their way to the square in the Wanchai district where the flag-raising ceremony was taking place. They were demanding greater voting rights for Hong Kong, as well the immediate release of the
Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo
.
But without warning, scuffles began between the demonstrators and the police. Faces were slammed to the ground. And then pro-Beijing supporters turned up, waving flags and blaring patriotic music. Each side was shouting abuse at the other.
The tussle went on for more than an hour, with it ending only after the leaders of the pro-democracy demonstration were led away by police, who called it an illegal gathering.
During the ceremony, the flags of China and Hong Kong were raised alongside one another to mark the 20-year anniversary of the city's handover of British rule.
Helicopters flew overhead as onlookers cheered at the ceremony in Golden Bauhinia Square, central Hong Kong.
On Friday, an official protest zone near the convention centre where Mr Xi was guest of honour at an anniversary banquet and variety performance was heavily patrolled, as demonstrators gathered chanting "end one-party dictatorship".
There is growing concern that the Chinese central government is undermining Hong Kong's more politically liberal traditions, despite its promise to give it a high degree of autonomy.
Joshua Wong and 25 other activists were arrested on Wednesday for "
breaking the 'public nuisance' law
" after climbing into a golden sculpture of a bauhinia flower, Hong Kong's emblem.
The sculpture, which sits by the city's harbour front, was a gift from China and an iconic landmark symbolising the handover.
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1c5b27b9a9b27c47decf64a856cc1dbe | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-41730948 | Xi Jinping 'most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Zedong' | Xi Jinping 'most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Zedong'
China's ruling Communist Party has voted to enshrine Xi Jinping's name and ideology in its constitution, elevating him to the level of founder Mao Zedong.
The unanimous vote to incorporate "Xi Jinping Thought" happened at the end of the Communist Party congress, China's most important political meeting.
Mr Xi has steadily increased his grip on power since becoming leader in 2012.
This move means that any challenge to Mr Xi will now be seen as a threat to Communist Party rule.
More than 2,000 delegates gathered in Beijing's Great Hall of the People for the final approval process to enshrine "Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for the New Era" into the Communist Party constitution of China.
At the end of the process, delegates were asked if they had any objections, to which they responded with loud cries of "none", reported journalists at the scene.
Previous Chinese Communist Party leaders have had their ideologies incorporated into the
party's constitution
or thinking, but none, besides founder Mao Zedong, have had their philosophy described as "thought", which is at the top of the ideological hierarchy.
Only Mao and Deng Xiaoping have had their names attached to their ideologies - and Deng's name was only added to the constitution after his death.
By Carrie Gracie, BBC China editor, Beijing
China's new slogan hardly trips off the tongue.
But schoolchildren, college students and staff at state factories will now have to join 90 million Communist Party members in studying "Xi Jinping Thought" on the new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics.
The expression "new era" is the party's way of saying this is the third chapter of modern China.
If the first was Chairman Mao uniting a country devastated by civil war, and the second was getting rich under Deng Xiaoping, this new era is about even more unity and wealth at the same time as making China disciplined at home and strong abroad.
Enshrining all of this under Xi Jinping's name in the party constitution means rivals cannot now challenge China's strongman without threatening Communist Party rule.
At first glance, "Xi Jinping Thought" may seem like vague rhetoric, but it describes the communist ideals Mr Xi has continuously espoused throughout his rule.
Its 14 main principles emphasise the Communist Party's role in governing every aspect of the country, and also include:
More than 2,000 delegates have spent the week-long congress confirming picks for provincial party chiefs, governors and heads of some state-owned enterprises.
On Tuesday, they finalised the make-up of top bodies such as the Central Committee and the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.
Last week
a top official claimed high-ranking Communist Party members had plotted to seize power from President Xi, in suggestions of a behind-the-scenes power struggle.
The alleged plotters have all been arrested or jailed as part of a corruption crackdown, seen by some as a way for Mr Xi to eliminate political opponents.
On Wednesday, the new Central Committee will decide who gets to be in the higher-level Politburo.
Though delegates get some say, in reality the elections are guided by the party's top leadership where at each stage voters pick from pre-selected candidates.
Also on Wednesday, the party will reveal the new members of its pinnacle body, the Politburo Standing Committee. Mr Xi is widely expected to remain as party leader, while prominent Xi ally and anti-corruption chief Wang Qishan has stepped down and will not be in the next formation of the committee.
Those in the Standing Committee will be especially scrutinised. Analysts say its make-up may give signs of how long Mr Xi plans to stay on at the top of the party - he is expected to remain at the helm until at least 2022 - or any possible successors.
Mr Xi's term ruling China has been marked by significant development, a push for modernisation and increasing assertiveness on the world stage.
However, it has also seen growing authoritarianism, censorship and a crackdown on human rights.
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c18e778f5db739916637e44894c3ec4f | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-42335014 | Wu Yongning: Who is to blame for a daredevil's death? | Wu Yongning: Who is to blame for a daredevil's death?
Last month, Wu Yongning went out to do what he loved best - scale a skyscraper without safety equipment and film himself dangling off its roof by his fingertips.
What happened next almost seems inevitable - the Chinese climber fell, plunging 62 storeys to his death.
His many thousands of followers grew concerned when he stopped posting videos of his stunts on sites like Huoshan and Kuaishou, but
his death was only confirmed in recent days
, first by his girlfriend, then by authorities.
A shocking clip of what appeared to be his final moments - his fatal attempt to scale a building in Changsha city - began circulating online this week.
His death has prompted uneasy soul-searching over the "cash for clips" internet video industry. Questions are now being asked about whether these platforms, and their viewers, are in some way responsible for his death.
A recent Beijing News investigation found that Mr Wu had posted more than 500 short videos and livestreams on Huoshan, garnering a million fans and earning at least 550,000 yuan (£62,000; $83,000). Huoshan had prominently promoted his videos as recently as June.
The reports prompted stern commentaries in national media.
"These livestreamers make 'close to death' reality clips, while the platforms profit as the middlemen... [We] cannot let these platforms become ruthless, cruel battlefield-like places," read one op-ed piece by news outlet The Paper.
State broadcaster CCTV said in a commentary that such sites "should not, in their quest for profit, selectively ignore the fact videos can bring about harmful social consequences".
Huoshan has since strenuously denied it encouraged Mr Wu's stunts, saying in a statement that while it "always respected extreme sports athletes' spirit of exploration and their works", it was also "always cautious, we do not encourage nor have we ever signed agreements" with them.
It is suing Sina News, one of China's biggest news outlets, after it reported claims from Mr Wu's relatives that it had financially backed the deadly climb.
Kuaishou also denied it collaborated with Mr Wu. A recent BBC check found Mr Wu's clips had been scrubbed from the two platforms.
But while no-one ever forced him to scale a building, some have asked whether Mr Wu's viewers also carry some responsibility for his death.
The debate over viewers' complicity has intensified as more people around the world practise "rooftopping" and share their clips on social media -
the craze swept Russia earlier this year and has already claimed several lives.
But the question is particularly pointed in China, because livestreamers and viral video-makers can earn money from fans directly. Many Chinese video platforms allow followers to send virtual gifts, which can then be converted to cash.
The Paper's op-ed accused viewers of clips like Mr Wu's of "purchasing a life", while one commenter on discussion site Zhihu said: "Every single person who 'liked' (Mr Wu) basically took part in crowdfunding his death."
"Watching him and praising him was akin to... buying a knife for someone who wanted to stab himself, or encouraging someone who wants to jump off a building," said a user on microblogging network Weibo.
"Don't click 'like', don't click 'follow'. This is the least we can do to try to save someone's life."
The conversation comes as China struggles to contain the fast-evolving, billion-dollar internet video industry. Millions are broadcasting their lives on livestreams, and nearly half of China's 710 million internet users are watching them.
China may be infamous for its censorship and internet restrictions, but the world of livestreams and short videos remain a Wild West of sorts.
Fierce competition for eyeballs has led to attention-grabbing antics, from eating live goldfish and chugging down raw eggs, to stripteases and "rooftopping".
Some platforms have actively encouraged this - earlier this year, Huoshan announced
it was dishing out 1 billion yuan to broadcasters who made viral content.
In an attempt to tamp down on the industry's exuberance, the government
last year set out rules for livestreaming
such as a ban on "obscene material" -
including "erotic banana-eating"
- and compelled platforms to step up control and monitoring of their content.
Mr Wu's death has reignited discussions on whether more needs to be done, such as greater regulation. The People's Daily newspaper - mouthpiece of the ruling Communist Party - said in a Weibo commentary that "bloody livestreams should be controlled".
"These kind of eyeball-grabbing livestreams should be cancelled," said one Weibo user, while another said: "Anything that parents wouldn't allow to be broadcast should be scrubbed."
But a few have pushed back, saying calls for censorship were a knee-jerk reaction.
"My goodness, looking for yet another excuse to regulate video platforms?" questioned one Weibo commenter.
"When you can't control something you just want to throw it out, and when ideas can't catch up, you just end up blaming livestreams."
Additional reporting by Wei Zhou
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a7912c1ee6b044721a89d95de121c43f | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-45240298 | China arrests over Tang Dynasty relic thefts | China arrests over Tang Dynasty relic thefts
Chinese police have arrested 26 people suspected of stealing relics from an ancient burial site.
The gang allegedly seized almost 650 objects, including gold and silver cutlery and jewellery, from the Dulan Tombs, which lie on the ancient Silk Road in northwest China.
The stolen items date back to the 7th Century, the Chinese Ministry of Public Security said in a statement.
The suspects allegedly tried to sell them for about $11m (£7.8m).
The objects were said to have been illegally excavated from the tombs, located in the north-western province of Qinghai.
Silk, gold, silver, bronze ware and other items have been unearthed at the tombs, of which there are more than 2,000, since 1982.
Experts believe that many of the items are of huge historical value as they show cultural exchanges and interactions between East and West during the early Tang Dynasty (618-907).
Following the arrests, police will increase their crackdown on cultural relics crimes to better protect the country's cultural heritage, the Chinese government said.
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208355cc69b6dca666fed5e3a011ccbb | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-45806904 | China disappearances show Beijing sets its own rules | China disappearances show Beijing sets its own rules
The recent disappearances of two high-profile Chinese citizens have once again focused international attention on China's legal system and its use of secret detentions.
First to vanish was A-list actress Fan Bingbing, who appeared in the X-Men and Iron Man film franchises.
She was not seen in public for months over the summer and went silent on social media, before turning up in early October with a grovelling apology for evading taxes.
Two days after she re-appeared, it emerged that the president of global policing agency Interpol, Meng Hongwei, had disappeared on a trip to China.
His wife says his last communication with her was a text with a knife emoji
, which she took to mean he was in danger.
On 8 October, Chinese authorities announced he was being investigated for bribe-taking.
While these two cases have triggered a wave of international attention, forced disappearances are nothing new in China.
But these latest instances "show just how fundamental such enforced disappearances have become to governance in China under President Xi", says Michael Caster, a researcher and author of The People's Republic of the Disappeared.
Typically, he says, the scenario plays out like this:
The disappearances
can target people from different walks of life
: human rights lawyers, corrupt officials, officials who are targeted for political reasons,
book-sellers who publish material that angers party leaders
, or prominent people who fall foul of the party for one reason or another.
Since Xi Jinping took over as China's top leader in 2012, the space for dissent in China has shrunk - and activists say the crackdown is getting tougher and more systematic.
President Xi's anti-corruption drive has disciplined more than a million officials since 2012. Critics have long accused the government of using the highly popular campaign as a political tool to target rivals.
From a domestic perspective, far more prominent figures - politically speaking - than Ms Fan or Mr Meng have been ensnared.
The most senior official targeted so far is Zhou Yongkang, once the third most powerful politician in China and the overseer of domestic security. In 2015 he was jailed for life for bribery, abuse of power and disclosing state secrets.
Meng Hongwei was promoted to vice-minister of public security under Zhou and Chinese officials spoke of their aim to completely "eliminate the pernicious influence of Zhou Yongkang" when announcing the allegations against Mr Meng.
This has many observers convinced the action against him is driven by politics.
But just how brazen China has been in dealing with Fan Bingbing and Meng Hongwei, both hugely prominent individuals internationally, has intrigued some China watchers.
The fact they both simply vanished for a significant period of time drew a lot more attention to their cases than a straightforward detention and announcement of an investigation would have done.
So why use this approach?
"It's the Chinese Communist Party really showing both China and the world that it sees its rules as dominant," said Isaac Stone Fish, senior fellow at the Asia Society's Center on US-China Relations.
"There's no sense they have to explain themselves or their decisions to anyone outside the system."
As far as the party is concerned, however, individuals who are investigated have not "disappeared"; they are detained according to a very orchestrated and bureaucratic process.
Getting its officials into senior positions at international organisations, like Mr Meng at Interpol, gives China greater international influence.
But Mr Stone Fish said Mr Meng's arrest was "a clear message to international bodies like the UN, the World Bank, IMF, or IOC [International Olympic Committee] that anyone [Chinese] they appoint can be suddenly be seized with absolutely no notice".
It suggests Mr Meng was, in China's eyes, a Party member above all else.
The detentions undoubtedly hurt China's international image, says Mr Caster, but the main audience for the intended message is domestic.
"It's about breaking the individual as much as breaking the community around them.
"It's very much about signalling to other members of that community. Whether that's a community of human rights lawyers or of tax-evading celebrity actors or of a political faction."
What surprised many observers is that Interpol accepted Mr Meng's resignation - seemingly issued from secret detention - without publicly questioning it.
As Mr Caster describes it: "He has issued a statement impossible to verify. And yet Interpol has just accepted this and appears not to be pushing back against it."
"There are any number of really cruel practices," says Mr Caster. "Sleep deprivation, around the clock interrogation with physical abuse. People are made to stand in stress positions, there is sexual humiliation, they are beaten, punched with batons or receive electric shocks."
It depends on the purpose of the interrogation, he adds, and may well also depend on what kind of person it is: a grassroots activist, a human rights lawyer, a high-level party official or a celebrity.
But he said it was not certain that a well-known person would necessarily be treated better. "The depth of cruelty often exceeds what people have expected."
Despite widespread allegations, the Chinese government has emphasised that it prohibits torture
and has claimed to have prosecuted many "torture offenders" in state institutions.
Whatever happens in detention, those who vanish invariably reappear professing their guilt and apologising.
Fan Bingbing said she was "so ashamed of what I've done", adding: "Without the good policies of the party and the state, and without the love of the people, there would be no Fan Bingbing."
Mr Meng will almost certainly stand trial on bribery allegations, and China's conviction rate is more than 99%.
For many observers, the detentions of people like Fan Bingbing and Meng Hongwei are an indication that where Chinese citizens are involved, Beijing will set its own rules.
Despite how it may look to the wider world, loyalty to the Communist Party, and to President Xi Jinping, must come first.
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f0b6a6f260fb20edfec443759899edf1 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-46111865 | Xinjiang: China's Muslim camp spending 'revealed' | Xinjiang: China's Muslim camp spending 'revealed'
China massively increased security spending in 2017 in the far-western region of Xinjiang, where hundreds of thousands of Muslims are alleged to have been detained, a new report says.
Spending in areas "that explain nearly all security-related facility construction" rose by 213% between 2016 and 2017, said the US-based Jamestown Foundation.
Satellite data shows a spike in new security facilities in 2017.
China says they are training centres.
But according to
budget data reviewed by German academic Adrian Zenz for the report
, spending on vocational training in Xinjiang actually decreased by 7% in 2017.
Spending on security-related construction, meanwhile, increased by nearly 20bn yuan ($2.9bn).
Xinjiang's budget figures "reflect patterns of spending consistent with the construction and operation of highly secure political re-education camps designed to imprison hundreds of thousands of [Uighurs] with minimal due process," Mr Zenz said.
Mr Zenz has previously suggested, based on local government tendering documents, that at least several hundred thousand and perhaps over a million Uighurs and other Muslim minorities could have been detained in Xinjiang.
Such estimates were also quoted at a UN human rights panel earlier this year. China denies the facilities are internment camps.
The top official in the region has instead said that a "vocational education and training programme" helps people to "reflect on their mistakes and see clearly the essence and harm of terrorism and religious extremism".
According to regional officials, classes are given on Chinese history, language and culture.
Former Uighur detainees now living overseas have told the BBC that they had to sing Communist Party songs in the camps, and recite laws accurately or face beatings. One man said he was detained in 2015 after police found a picture of a woman wearing a face veil on his phone.
Mr Zenz, an anthropologist and expert on Chinese ethnic policy at the European School of Culture and Theology in Germany, also found the camps were built by the same organisation that oversaw China's now-abolished labour re-education system.
Separately on Tuesday, China's human rights record was reviewed at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
In response to British, French, German and US concerns about the suspected mass detentions, Chinese representative Le Yucheng said his country "will not accept politically-driven accusations from a few countries that are fraught with biases".
He insisted that China must be free to "choose its own path" when it came to human rights.
The US has said it would consider sanctioning China over its policies, which Human Rights Watch says violate the rights to freedom of expression, religion and privacy.
The Uighurs are ethnically Turkic Muslims mostly based in Xinjiang. They make up about 45% of the population there.
They see themselves as culturally and ethnically close to Central Asian nations, and their language is similar to Turkish.
In recent decades, large numbers of Han Chinese (China's ethnic majority) have migrated to Xinjiang, and the Uighurs feel their culture and livelihoods are under threat.
Xinjiang is officially designated as an autonomous region within China, like Tibet to its south.
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d81aec2e8e026da7f2f507db76a86503 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-46257578 | Hong Kong activists on trial for pioneering the 'Umbrella' protests | Hong Kong activists on trial for pioneering the 'Umbrella' protests
Nine pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong have pleaded not guilty in a trial seen as a test of judicial independence from Beijing.
They have been charged with "public nuisance" over the 2014 "Umbrella" movement that demanded Hong Kong choose its own leader.
Three of those accused founded the civil disobedience movement before student groups joined in.
At its peak, thousands of protesters paralysed parts of the city for months.
The charges carry jail terms of up to seven years.
The trial has been described as "politically motivated prosecution" amounting to "an attack on free speech and peaceful assembly" by rights group Amnesty International.
The other six accused include lawmakers and students.
Among the nine accused are sociology professor Chan Kin-man, 59, law professor Benny Tai, 54, and Baptist minister Chu Yiu-ming, 74, who founded the "Occupy Central" movement in 2013.
It was in reaction to a decision made by China that it would allow direct elections in 2017, but only from a list of candidates pre-approved by Beijing.
Many people in Hong Kong believe they should have the right to elect their own leader.
A year later, the three activists' call for non-violent civil disobedience joined with student-led protests and snowballed into the massive demonstrations.
Hong Kong's courts have already convicted three students of unlawful assembly over the protests.
The prosecution in this trial argued these demonstrations caused "common injury done to the public", by locking down parts of the city-centre
The protests became known as the Umbrella movement after people used umbrellas to shield themselves from pepper spray fired by police to disperse the crowd.
China and Hong Kong have a "one country, two system" agreement, with freedom of speech and press freedom among the key liberties that set Hong Kong apart from the mainland.
The accused were met on their way into court by supporters shouting slogans like "Peaceful resistance! I wanted real universal suffrage!" in support.
A verdict is expected in around 20 days.
Last week, Professor Chan had given an emotional farewell lecture at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, announcing his early retirement.
"So long as we are not crushed by imprisonment and trial and do not become overly frustrated and angry, then we will become stronger and we can inspire many more people," he told the audience.
At the heart of the protests is a growing concern in Hong Kong about what is perceived to be China's increasing influence in the city.
Beijing is highly sensitive about Hong Kong's status and any calls for more autonomy from China.
The former British colony was handed back in 1997 on condition it would retain "a high degree of autonomy, except in foreign and defence affairs" for 50 years.
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eec8c7a6615b1eeeb405bced8058feb5 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-48832910 | Hong Kong police evict protesters who stormed parliament | Hong Kong police evict protesters who stormed parliament
Police firing tear gas have evicted protesters who stormed and vandalised Hong Kong's parliament.
Activists had occupied the Legislative Council (LegCo) building for hours after breaking away from a protest on the anniversary of Hong Kong's transfer of sovereignty to China from Britain.
After midnight (16:00 GMT), hundreds of police secured the building following a warning to protesters to clear it.
It follows weeks of unrest in the city over a controversial extradition law.
Hundreds of thousands took part in the earlier peaceful protest - the latest rally against a proposed law that critics fear could be used to extradite political dissidents to mainland China.
The protesters have also been demanding an independent inquiry into alleged police brutality during an earlier protest on 12 June.
Hong Kong's embattled political leader Carrie Lam held a press conference at 04:00 local time (20:00 GMT) in which she condemned the "extreme use of violence" of those who broke into the legislature.
Peaceful demonstrations had been planned for Monday, the 22nd anniversary of the handover of sovereignty.
A large-scale march, involving hundreds of thousands of people, took place in the city, and passed off in a largely peaceful manner.
Separately, officials from the government raised glasses of champagne at a formal ceremony celebrating the handover.
But at about lunchtime, dozens of demonstrators broke off and made their way to LegCo. They effectively besieged the building, as a large crowd of several hundred watched from a distance, before eventually smashing their way through the glass facade.
Pro-democracy legislators at the scene had attempted to dissuade them from breaking into LegCo, warning them they could face serious criminal charges for doing so.
One of the lawmakers, 66-year-old Leung Yiu-chung, said their pleas were ignored, with many protesters telling him they were prepared to face the consequences.
Police warned the crowd they would use force and make arrests, but fell back to an interior gate before vacating the building, rather than engage the crowd. Hundreds more flowed in once the police left.
Inside, they defaced the emblem of Hong Kong in the central chamber, raised the old British colonial flag, spray-painted messages across the walls, and shattered furniture.
Then at about midnight outside the building, protesters clad in plastic helmets and brandishing umbrellas retreated from a baton charge by riot police, who quickly overcame their makeshift barriers.
Inside, diehard protesters were pulled forcibly outside by their fellow occupants in an attempt to completely clear the building.
Democratic lawmakers Ted Hui and Roy Kwong stood in front of police asking them to allow demonstrators time to leave the area, the South China Morning Post reported.
Within an hour, the streets around the building were clear of everyone except the media and police. Officers then began searching the rooms of the LegCo building for any possible stragglers. No arrests have yet been reported.
One pro-democracy legislator told the BBC that young protesters initially said they would stay all night.
"They're saying that they would beat the police by sheer numbers, and that sounds very scary to me," Claudia Mo said.
"I was a journalist and I did cover the Tiananmen bloodbath 30 years ago, and that's exactly what those students said back then in the Chinese capital."
Her colleague, legislator Fernando Cheung, had been inside with those occupying the building, and said he was glad they all left safely without encountering police.
"If they resisted... I'm afraid there would be bloodshed, or I think the police wouldn't be hesitant to use force to disperse them," he said.
He praised those who came back and grabbed those who refused to leave. "They came back and they dragged them out. And we're actually glad that happened," he said.
In the early hours of Tuesday morning, Ms Lam called a press conference in which she denounced the "extreme use of violence and vandalism" by protesters who stormed parliament.
Flanked by her security minister John Lee Ka-chiu and other officials, Ms Lam said the break-in "really saddens a lot of people and shocks a lot of people".
She contrasted Monday's tumultuous events with the annual peaceful march on 1 July, which she said reflects "the core values we attach to peace and order" in Hong Kong.
The press conference, held outside Hong Kong's police headquarters, was frantic, with a chorus of reporters shouting questions at Ms Lam.
Ms Lam responded calmly, showing little emotion as she stressed the importance of maintaining the rule of law in Hong Kong.
"I hope the community at large will agree with us that with these violent acts that we have seen, it is right for us to condemn it and hope society will return to normal as soon as possible," she told reporters.
In an apparent warning to protesters, Ms Lam said Hong Kong's authorities would "pursue any illegal acts" carried out by protesters.
Hong Kong enjoys a "one country, two systems" deal that guarantees it a level of autonomy, and rights not seen on mainland China.
However, it does not have full democracy, and pro-democracy events are held every year to mark the handover.
This year, however, the annual event follows weeks of protests which have seen millions take to the streets over the planned extradition bill.
On 12 June, police used tear gas and rubber bullets to break up an unauthorised demonstration outside LegCo, where a debate about the bill was due to take place - but critics said it used excessive force.
In the wake of June's protests, the government apologised and suspended the planned extradition law.
However, many protesters said they would not back down until the bill had been completely scrapped.
There have also been smaller demonstrations by the territory's pro-Beijing movement.
On Sunday,
thousands of pro-Beijing protesters rallied
in support of the Hong Kong police.
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e1c422a3985f9c38ec9bdbd949c2e194 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-49505901 | Hong Kong: Protesters join MeToo rally against police | Hong Kong: Protesters join MeToo rally against police
Several thousand people have rallied in Hong Kong to protest against alleged sexual violence by police during the past months of demonstrations.
The rally was billed as a #MeToo event, echoing global protests to end sexual assault and harassment.
Organisers said some 30,000 people attended, while police put the figure at 11,500, local media say.
Hong Kong Police said they respected the rights of people in detention, and had not received formal complaints.
At Wednesday's rally, some attendees told the crowd they had been mistreated by police officers.
According to the South China Morning Post, one woman broke down in tears
as she accused police of conducting an unnecessary strip-search.
Police officials had denied her allegations on Tuesday, saying their video footage did not support her account.
Another speaker said her underwear had been exposed while she was dragged away by police, and said officers insulted her and called her a prostitute.
"I told them I was wearing a dress and asked them to let me walk. But, of course, they played deaf," reports quoted her as saying.
"I am not ashamed of talking about what happened that night, because I did not make any mistakes. I am not a weakling. I don't need people to sympathise with me."
The anti-government rallies in Hong Kong have frequently escalated into violence between police and activists, with injuries on both sides.
Police have fired tear gas and rubber bullets, while some activists have thrown bricks, firebombs and other objects. On Wednesday, police said 900 people had been arrested since the protests began.
Demonstrators have repeatedly accused the police of brutality, and are demanding an independent inquiry.
At a separate protest organised by the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions, hundreds of people denounced Cathay Pacific Airways for dismissing staff who took part in or supported anti-government rallies.
Employees have spoken of a climate of fear at the airline
.
Earlier this month, demonstrations at Hong Kong international airport led to hundreds of flights being cancelled.
The protests began as rallies against a controversial extradition bill - now suspended - which would have allowed criminal suspects to be sent to mainland China for trial.
They have since expanded in scope, becoming a broader pro-democracy movement.
Beijing has repeatedly condemned the protesters and described their actions as "close to terrorism".
On Thursday, China's military moved a new batch of troops into Hong Kong. State media described it as a routine annual rotation.
When last year's rotation was announced, it was stated that the number of troops stationed in Hong Kong "was maintained with no change".
There was no such line this time, fuelling speculations Beijing might have raised the number.
News agency Xinhua showed pictures of armoured personnel carriers and trucks, as well as a small naval ship arriving in Hong Kong.
The troop rotation follows reports of increased Chinese military and police presence in the city of Shenzhen just across the border from Hong Kong.
A former British colony, Hong Kong has some autonomy and more rights than the Chinese mainland under a "one country, two systems" agreement.
It has its own judiciary and a separate legal system from mainland China. Activists increasingly fear its freedoms are being eroded.
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f55b9fcc4cccc243c4b5522b61137cda | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-50511063 | Data leak reveals how China 'brainwashes' Uighurs in prison camps | Data leak reveals how China 'brainwashes' Uighurs in prison camps
Leaked documents detail for the first time China's systematic brainwashing of hundreds of thousands of Muslims in a network of high-security prison camps.
The Chinese government has consistently claimed the camps in the far western Xinjiang region offer voluntary education and training.
But official documents, seen by
BBC Panorama
, show how inmates are locked up, indoctrinated and punished.
China's UK ambassador dismissed the documents as fake news.
The leak was made to the
International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ)
, which has worked with 17 media partners, including BBC Panorama and The Guardian newspaper in the UK.
The investigation has found new evidence which undermines Beijing's claim that the detention camps, which have been built across Xinjiang in the past three years, are for voluntary re-education purposes to counter extremism.
About a million people - mostly from the Muslim Uighur community - are thought to have been detained without trial.
The leaked Chinese government documents, which the ICIJ have labelled "The China Cables", include a nine-page memo sent out in 2017 by Zhu Hailun, then deputy-secretary of Xinjiang's Communist Party and the region's top security official, to those who run the camps.
The instructions make it clear that the camps should be run as high security prisons, with strict discipline, punishments and no escapes.
The memo includes orders to:
The documents reveal how every aspect of a detainee's life is monitored and controlled: "The students should have a fixed bed position, fixed queue position, fixed classroom seat, and fixed station during skills work, and it is strictly forbidden for this to be changed.
"Implement behavioural norms and discipline requirements for getting up, roll call, washing, going to the toilet, organising and housekeeping, eating, studying, sleeping, closing the door and so forth."
Other documents confirm the extraordinary scale of the detentions. One reveals that 15,000 people from southern Xinjiang were sent to the camps over the course of just one week in 2017.
Sophie Richardson, the China director at Human Rights Watch, said the leaked memo should be used by prosecutors.
"This is an actionable piece of evidence, documenting a gross human rights violation," she said. "I think it's fair to describe everyone being detained as being subject at least to psychological torture, because they literally don't know how long they're going to be there.
The memo details how detainees will only be released when they can demonstrate they have transformed their behaviour, beliefs and language.
"Promote the repentance and confession of the students for them to understand deeply the illegal, criminal and dangerous nature of their past activity," it says.
"For those who harbour vague understandings, negative attitudes or even feelings of resistance… carry out education transformation to ensure that results are achieved."
Ben Emmerson QC, a leading human rights lawyer and an adviser to the World Uighur Congress, said the camps were trying to change people's identity.
"It is very difficult to view that as anything other than a mass brainwashing scheme designed and directed at an entire ethnic community.
"It's a total transformation that is designed specifically to wipe the Muslim Uighurs of Xinjiang as a separate cultural group off the face of the Earth."
Detainees are awarded points for their "ideological transformation, study and training, and compliance with discipline", the memo says.
The punishment-and-reward system helps determine whether inmates are allowed contact with family and when they are released. They are only considered for release once four Communist Party committees have seen evidence they have been transformed.
The leaked documents also reveal how the Chinese government uses mass surveillance and a predictive-policing programme that analyses personal data.
One document shows how the system flagged 1.8m people simply because they had a data sharing app called Zapya on their phone.
The authorities then ordered the investigation of 40,557 of them "one by one". The document says "if it is not possible to eliminate suspicion" they should be sent for "concentrated training".
The documents include explicit directives to arrest Uighurs with foreign citizenship and to track Uighurs living abroad. They suggest that China's embassies and consulates are involved in the global dragnet.
Chinese ambassador to the UK Liu Xiaoming said the measures had safeguarded local people and there had not been a single terrorist attack in Xinjiang in the past three years.
"The region now enjoys social stability and unity among ethnic groups. People there are living a happy life with a much stronger sense of fulfilment and security.
"In total disregard of the facts, some people in the West have been fiercely slandering and smearing China over Xinjiang in an attempt to create an excuse to interfere in China's internal affairs, disrupt China's counter-terrorism efforts in Xinjiang and thwart China's steady development."
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706e6aecadb9970810fe9aee2b603fb0 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-50626796 | China suspends US Navy visits to Hong Kong over support for protests | China suspends US Navy visits to Hong Kong over support for protests
China has suspended visits by US Navy ships and aircraft to Hong Kong after Washington passed legislation last week backing pro-democracy protesters.
Beijing also unveiled sanctions against a number of US human rights groups.
It comes after
President Donald Trump signed the Human Rights and Democracy Act
into law.
The act orders an annual review to check if Hong Kong has enough autonomy to justify special trading status with the US.
President Trump is currently seeking a deal with China in order to end a trade war.
The foreign ministry said it would suspend the reviewing of applications to visit Hong Kong by US military ships and aircraft from Monday - and warned that further action could come.
"We urge the US to correct the mistakes and stop interfering in our internal affairs," ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters in Beijing.
"China will take further steps if necessary to uphold Hong Kong's stability and prosperity and China's sovereignty."
Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) targeted by sanctions include Human Rights Watch, Freedom House, the National Endowment for Democracy, the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs and the International Republican Institute.
"They shoulder some responsibility for the chaos in Hong Kong and they should be sanctioned and pay the price," Ms Hua said, without specifying what form the measures would take.
Several US Navy ships usually visit Hong Kong every year, although visits are sometimes suspended when ties between the two countries become strained.
The USS Blue Ridge, the amphibious command ship of the US Seventh Fleet, was the last American navy ship to visit Hong Kong, in April.
Mass protests broke out in the semi-autonomous territory in June and Chinese officials accused foreign governments, including the US, of backing the pro-democracy movement.
In August China rejected requests for visits by the guided missile cruiser USS Lake Erie and transport ship USS Green Bay, but did not give specific reasons.
In September last year, China refused a US warship entry to Hong Kong after the US imposed sanctions over the purchase of Russian fighter aircraft.
And in 2016,
China blocked the nuclear powered aircraft carrier USS John C Stennis
, and its escort ships, amid a dispute over China's military presence in the South China Sea.
Michael Raska, a security expert at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University, said that from a military point of view the US would not be affected by the latest ban "as they can use many naval bases in the region".
However, it sends a signal that US-China tensions will continue to deepen, he told AFP news agency.
Protesters celebrated on the streets of Hong Kong after President Trump signed the act last week.
However, China quickly warned the US it would take "firm counter-measures".
The new law requires Washington to monitor Beijing's actions in Hong Kong. The US could revoke the special trading status it has granted the territory if China undermines the city's rights and freedoms.
Among other things, Hong Kong's special status means it is not affected by US sanctions or tariffs placed on the mainland.
The bill also says the US should allow Hong Kong residents to obtain US visas if they have been arrested for being part of non-violent protests.
Analysts say the move could complicate negotiations between China and the US to end their trade war.
The bill was introduced in June in the early stages of the protests in Hong Kong, and was
overwhelmingly approved by the House of Representatives in October
.
Hong Kong - a British colony until 1997 - is part of China under a model known as "one country, two systems".
Under this model, Hong Kong has a high degree of autonomy and people have freedoms not seen in mainland China.
However, months of protests have caused turmoil in the city.
Demonstrations began after the government planned to pass a bill that would allow suspects to be extradited to mainland China.
The bill was eventually withdrawn but unrest evolved into a broader protest against the police and the way Hong Kong is administered by Beijing.
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313dec48c74640040305f01794bf7f39 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-50712126 | China Uighurs: Detainees 'free' after 'graduating', official says | China Uighurs: Detainees 'free' after 'graduating', official says
A senior Chinese official has said that all of the people sent to detention centres in the western region of Xinjiang have now been released.
Regional government chairman Shohrat Zakir told reporters those held in what Beijing say are "re-education camps" had now "graduated".
It is not possible to independently verify Mr Zakir's claims.
Rights groups say the camps are actually high-security prisons, holding hundreds of thousands of Muslims.
Beijing has always denied this, despite the prevalence of high-security features, like watchtowers and razor wire, and
leaked documents detailing how inmates at the so-called centres are locked up, indoctrinated and punished
.
Mr Zakir told reporters in the Chinese capital on Monday that everyone in the centres had completed their courses and - with the "help of the government"- had "realised stable employment [and] improved their quality of life".
He said that, in future, training would be based on "independent will" and people would have "the freedom to come and go".
BBC China correspondent John Sudworth points out it is not possible to verify the claims, as access for journalists is tightly controlled and it's impossible to contact local residents without placing them at risk of detention.
In recent months, independent reports have suggested that some camp inmates are being released, only to face house arrest, other restrictions on their movement or forced labour in factories.
Pressure has been increasing on Beijing in recent months.
A number of high-profile media reports based on leaks to the New York Times and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) have shone a spotlight on what is happening at the network of centres, which are believed to hold more than a million people, mainly Uighur Muslims and other minorities.
Then last week,
the US House of Representatives passed a bill to counter what it calls the "arbitrary detention, torture, and harassment" of the Uighurs
, calling for
"targeted sanctions"
on members of the Chinese government - and names the Communist Party secretary in the Xinjiang autonomous region, Chen Quanguo.
The bill still needs approval from the Senate and from President Donald Trump.
However, Mr Zakir used the press conference to dismiss the numbers detained as "pure fabrication", reiterating Beijing's argument that the centres were needed to combat violent religious extremism.
"When the lives of people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang were seriously threatened by terrorism, the US turned a deaf ear," Mr Zakir said at a press briefing.
"Now that Xinjiang society is steadily developing and people of all ethnicities are living and working in peace, the US feels uneasy, and attacks and smears Xinjiang."
Reports of widespread detentions first began to emerge in 2018, when a UN human rights committee was told there were credible allegations that China had "turned the Uighur autonomous region into something that resembles a massive internment camp".
Rights groups also say there's growing evidence of oppressive surveillance against people living in the region.
The Chinese authorities said the "vocational training centres" were being used to combat violent religious extremism. However, evidence showed many people were being detained for simply expressing their faith, by praying or wearing a veil, or for having overseas connections to places like Turkey.
Records seen by the BBC show China has deliberately been separating Muslim children from their families.
This is an attempt to "raise a new generation cut off from original roots, religious beliefs and their own language", Dr Adrian Zenz, a German researcher, told
BBC News earlier this year
.
"I believe the evidence points to what we must call cultural genocide."
China's ambassador to the UK said the allegations were "lies".
|
a63beb635002096d1bfa3de21e20e5df | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-50818647 | Chinese mines: At least 14 dead in latest disaster | Chinese mines: At least 14 dead in latest disaster
An explosion at a coal mine in south-west China has killed at least 14 people - the latest in a string of deadly mining accidents.
The local authorities said two people were still trapped underground at the mine in Guizhou province.
At least 37 people have died in five separate mining accidents in China since October.
The accidents are often due to poorly-enforced safety regulations.
The explosion at the Guanglong mine in Guizhou province happened in the early hours of Tuesday. Seven workers were lifted to safety.
On Saturday, flooding in a coal mine in south-west China's Sichuan province killed five and trapped 13 miners underground.
Some 347 miners were working in the Shanmushu mine when the flood happened.
On 25 November, one person died in an accident at a different mine in Guizhou province.
Before that, a blast in northern China's Shanxi province
killed 15 workers on 18 November.
At the time, officials said the accident was caused by "broken laws and regulations".
In October, two people were killed in a blast in a mine in Shandong province in eastern China.
The poor safety record and high accident rate in China's mining sector led to the government in November ordering a "crackdown" on safety issues, said the AFP news agency.
But - despite the string of deadly accidents - mine safety is generally improving.
Last year, 333 people died in Chinese mines - a
decrease of 13% on the year before
. Meanwhile, the "death per million tons of coal mined" fell to below 0.1 for the first time.
China mined three billion tonnes of coal over the first 10 months this year, according to
official data cited by Reuters
- up 4.5% from the same period in 2018.
|
0b626166f4ae294e8493081e88846e6e | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-51188669 | Pyjamas in public: Chinese city apologises for 'shaming' residents | Pyjamas in public: Chinese city apologises for 'shaming' residents
Officials in a Chinese city have apologised for "shaming" people for wearing pyjamas in public.
Government officials in Suzhou in Anhui province released pictures of seven people wearing their nightwear, calling it "uncivilised behaviour".
The online "shaming" included the pyjama picture - caught by surveillance cameras - plus the person's name, ID card and other information.
China has seen a huge growth in surveillance in recent years.
Two years ago, the country had 170 million CCTV cameras, with another 400 million expected by the end of 2020.
Many are linked to artificial intelligence - allowing them to recognise exactly who they are filming.
The pictures in Suzhou were published on Monday by the city's management bureau.
Officials argued they were entering a national "civilised city" competition, and that residents were banned from wearing pyjamas in public.
Other "bad behaviour" exposed online included "lying [on a bench] in an uncivilised manner", and handing out advertising flyers.
But the pyjama pictures caused anger online. Some argued there was nothing wrong with wearing pyjamas in public - while others said the government had infringed residents' privacy.
Officials later "sincerely apologised", adding: "We wanted to put an end to uncivilised behaviour, but of course we should protect residents' privacy."
The officials said they would, in future, blur the pictures instead.
Suzhou's proactive approach is not new. Last year, according to local media, the city asked residents to submit pictures of "uncivilised behaviour", offering to pay 10 yuan ($1.45; £1.10) for successful tip-offs.
|
34f1fc9a591bc2300186561e0171c4cd | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-51226494 | Coronavirus: Life as a foreigner in Wuhan | Coronavirus: Life as a foreigner in Wuhan
At least 10 Chinese cities are in lockdown in a bid to manage the spread of a new strain of coronavirus but what's it like for those in the quarantine zone?
The country's death toll has so far risen to 41 and
authorities have put in place travel restrictions
in Hubei province.
Authorities say this new virus started in a seafood market in Wuhan which "conducted illegal transactions of wild animals".
Currently known as 2019-nCoV, this particular strain has not been previously identified in humans.
Chongthan Pepe Bifhowjit an Indian student at the Wuhan University of Technology spoke to the BBC's Gaggan Sabherwal.
"Last week the situation was stable but things have drastically changed - this has made me very scared. I have never faced a situation like this before.
"But the university and authorities are very good. They are looking after us well.
"My university is checking every student's body temperature every day and are offering free masks. It also has its own hospital and ambulance.
"We have been advised to wash our hands every hour, avoid eating outside and wear our masks every time we come out of our rooms.
"We are all staying in our rooms and only visit our friends in rooms that are close to ours."
A female international student living in Wuhan for six years spoke to
BBC Outside Source
anonymously.
"I live on campus but many people have gone back home so it's pretty quiet over here and it's normal around about now to not have people around.
"But then to know that even outside of the campus that everything is closed down just shows how serious the whole situation is because of the lockdown.
"That makes me actually feel safe but we don't know when things are going to go back to normal.
"There is sometimes too much information because we have group chats [on apps] where people are just posting news they are reading online, so you don't really know what is true, or what is not true.
"When the whole lockdown happened, there was news that the city was going to be disinfected with effort spray and disinfectant in the air and all that, but then later on it came out that it's not true. There's nothing like that happening.
"We just have to wait for official notices.
"In December, there were messages in my class group that said Sars was back and then we found out it was something else.
"And now we find out it's spreading, actually spreading outside of the city and now there's so much public attention.
"It seemed like they was sitting on it or they were trying to control everything on their own.
"But then now, there's more external pressure so they are moving much faster."
Jan Robert R Go is from the Philippines and is living in Wuhan while he studies for his doctorate in political theory, at Central China Normal University he spoke to BBC News.
"I'm an international student and we've been advised not to leave our rooms unless it's necessary - and even then we have to take extra precautions.
"I've been taking the precautions advised - it's about keeping yourself clean and, of course, wearing masks is mandatory.
"Because I'm living in school dormitories, the university is providing us with free facemasks and free soap to wash ourselves with.
"The university is providing us with what we need. They are making us feel safe."
A doctor at a hospital in Wuhan also spoke to BBC News.
"The virus is now spreading at an alarming rate. The hospitals have been flooding with thousands of patients, who wait hours to see a doctor - you can imagine their panic.
"Normally, Wuhan is a great place to live and we are proud of our work - specialists here have developed a guide for coronavirus diagnosis and treatment.
"But I am scared because this is a new virus and the figures are worrying.
Daniel Pekarek is a software engineering student at Wuhan University, currently in the city, and spoke to
the BBC's World at One radio programme
.
"I'm not sure what I should do, because I'm all alone here in Wuhan. I've got some friends who study at the university as well and we have all decided to stay in our rooms.
"I heard about this infection in December but back then nobody cared about it - but right now, it's getting out of hand.
"People are not able to go in or out of Wuhan easily right now. I can go out of my apartment, I can move around in Wuhan by foot, but public transport is all blocked right now.
"I might not be able to pay the water, so I might run out of water. It's complicated here, I need to take a card and I need to go to a special office here to charge it but everyone is out because it's Chinese New Year and I've got nobody with me who can speak Chinese because my girlfriend is out of town.
"I was planning to stay in my apartment because I'm scared to go to the gym and I'm scared to go to out in public."
Another international student in Wuhan, who had planned to leave the city, also spoke to
BBC Outside Source
anonymously.
"Flights coming in and flights leaving Wuhan have also been cancelled.
"It's quite deserted. There are no taxis around. Most of the people we found in the supermarket were basically foreigners who were now trying to restock their fridge.
"The [Chinese] nationals are more informed because they use Weibo, they use other social-media platforms that most foreigners do not use.
"Before we are allowed into our hostel, they point something at your forehead. Then, they record your temperature.
"So most foreigners are basically in their rooms and don't go out after 17:00.
"At airports and various places, there are police cars that have blocked the road. They've given the directive that unless there is something serious, movement is not permitted and they've given us emergency numbers that if you have symptoms, you call and they will come and get you."
|
5458658c873c0282b08e8549778031e0 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-51245156 | Coronavirus: How can China build a hospital so quickly? | Coronavirus: How can China build a hospital so quickly?
The Chinese city of Wuhan is set to complete a hospital in six days in order to treat patients suspected of contracting the coronavirus.
There are now about 10,000 confirmed cases in China, 213 of whom have died.
The outbreak began in Wuhan, home to around 11 million people. Hospitals in the city have been flooded with concerned residents and pharmacies are running out of medicine.
According to state media, the new hospital will contain about 1,000 beds.
Video footage posted online by Chinese state media showed diggers at the site, which has an area of 25,000 square metres (269,000 square feet).
After five days, progress could be seen on the once empty site.
It is based on a similar hospital set up in Beijing to help tackle the Sars virus in 2003.
"It's basically a quarantined hospital where they send people with infectious diseases so it has the safety and protective gear in place," said Joan Kaufman, lecturer in global health and social medicine at Harvard Medical School.
"China has a record of getting things done fast even for monumental projects like this," says Yanzhong Huang, a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations.
He points out that the hospital in Beijing in 2003 was built in seven days so the construction team is probably attempting to beat that record. Just like the hospital in Beijing, the Wuhan centre will be made out of prefabricated buildings.
"This authoritarian country relies on this top down mobilisation approach. They can overcome bureaucratic nature and financial constraints and are able to mobilise all of the resources."
Mr Huang said that engineers would be brought in from across the country in order to complete construction in time.
"The engineering work is what China is good at. They have records of building skyscrapers at speed. This is very hard for westerners to imagine. It can be done," he added.
In terms of medical supplies, Wuhan can either take supplies from other hospitals or can easily order them from factories.
The Global Times confirmed 150 medical personnel from the People's Liberation Army had arrived in Wuhan. However it did not confirm if they would be working in the new hospital once it has been built.
In 2003, the Xiaotangshan Hospital was built in Beijing in order to accommodate the number of patients showing symptoms of Sars. It was constructed in seven days, allegedly breaking the world record for the fastest construction of a hospital.
About 4,000 people worked to build the hospital, working
throughout the day and night in order to meet the deadline
, China.com.cn said.
Inside, it had an X-ray room, CT room, intensive-care unit and laboratory. Each ward was equipped with its own bathrooms.
Within two months, it admitted one-seventh of the Sars patients in the country and was hailed as a "miracle in the history of medicine" by the country's media.
Ms Kaufman explained: "It was ordered by the ministry of health and seconded nurses and other doctors from existing health facilities to man the hospitals. They had protocols from the ministry of health that talked about how to handle infectious diseases and the critical path of identification and isolation that was specific for Sars."
She added that during the Sars epidemic, the organisation and costs were covered by local areas but there were a lot of subsidies from the state that flowed down through the system from the costs of staff salaries to building.
"I can't imagine that the burden of this is going to be on the Wuhan government because it's high priority," said Ms Kaufman.
According to Mr Huang, the hospital was "quietly abandoned after the epidemic ended".
|
39760835409e0dbedd95ebf6a94d725c | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-51379088?xtor=AL-72-%5Bpartner%5D-%5Byahoo.north.america%5D-%5Blink%5D-%5Bnews%5D-%5Bbizdev%5D-%5Bisapi%5D | Coronavirus in Wuhan: ‘We’d rather die at home than go to quarantine’ | Coronavirus in Wuhan: ‘We’d rather die at home than go to quarantine’
Wenjun Wang is a resident of Wuhan, the Chinese city at the epicentre of the deadly coronavirus outbreak.
Ms Wang, a 33-year-old housewife, and her family have remained in the city since it was sealed off on 23 January.
Since then, the virus has infected more than 20,000 people worldwide, leading to at least 427 deaths.
In a rare interview from inside Wuhan, Ms Wang has told the BBC about her family's heart-breaking struggle for survival.
Since the outbreak of the coronavirus, my uncle has already passed away, my father is critically ill and my mum and aunt have started showing some symptoms.
The CT scans shows their lungs are infected. My brother is coughing too, and has some breathing difficulties.
My dad has a high fever. His temperature was 39.3C (102F) yesterday and he's constantly coughing and having breathing difficulties. We got him an oxygen machine at home and he relies on that machine twenty-four seven.
He's taking both Chinese and Western medicines at the moment. There's no hospital for him to go to because his case hasn't been confirmed due to the lack of testing kits.
My mum and aunt walk to the hospital every day in the hope of getting a bed for my dad despite their own health situation. But no hospital will take them.
In Wuhan, there are many quarantine points to accommodate patients who have slight symptoms or are still in the incubation period.
There are some simple and really basic facilities there. But for people who are critically ill like my father, there are no beds for them.
My uncle actually died in one of the quarantine points because there are no medical facilities for people with severe symptoms. I really hope my father can get some proper treatment but no-one is in contact with us or helping us at the moment.
I got in touch with community workers several times, but the response I got was, "there's no chance of us getting a bed in the hospital".
We thought the quarantine point my dad and uncle went to was a hospital at the beginning, but it turned out to be a hotel.
There was no nurse or doctor and there was no heater. They went in the afternoon and the staff there served them a cold dinner that evening. My uncle was very ill then, with severe respiratory symptoms and started losing consciousness.
No doctor came to treat him. He and my dad stayed in separate rooms and when dad went to see him at 06:30 in the morning, he had already passed away.
The new hospitals being built are for people who are already in other hospitals at the moment. They are going to be transferred to the new ones.
But for people like us, we can't even get a bed now, let alone get one in the new hospitals.
If we follow the government's guidelines, the only place we can go now is to those quarantine points. But if we went, what happened to my uncle would then happen to dad.
So we'd rather die at home.
There are many families like us around, all facing the same difficulties.
My friend's father was even refused by staff at the quarantine points because he had a high fever.
Resources are limited yet the infected population is huge. We are afraid, we don't know what will happen next.
What I want to say is, if I knew they were going to lock down the city on 23 January, I would have definitely taken my whole family out, because there's no help here.
If we were somewhere else, there might be hope. I don't know whether people like us, who listened to the government and stayed in Wuhan, made the right decision or not.
But I think my uncle's death has answered that question.
|
9d7a99e7613d79d5814ad371cab988ed | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-51408516 | Coronavirus nurse describes 'heartbreaking' job | Coronavirus nurse describes 'heartbreaking' job
More than 600 people have been killed by a new strain of coronavirus since its outbreak began in China at the end of last year.
But while infection numbers rise, information about conditions on the ground in China is limited.
Initially, news organisations in the country were able to report on the epidemic in detail.
In recent days, however, internet platforms have taken down several articles criticising the government's efforts to curb the virus.
Officials have also sought to crack down on the warnings shared by a doctor when the coronavirus began to spread.
In a rare occurrence, the BBC spoke with a health worker in Hubei, the province at the outbreak's epicentre.
To protect her identity, she asked to be referred by her family name, Yao.
Yao is based at a hospital in Hubei's second-largest city, Xiangyang. She works in what she describes as a "fever clinic," where she analyses blood samples taken to diagnose anyone suspected of having coronavirus.
Before the outbreak, Yao had planned to travel to Guangzhou to spend Chinese New Year with her family.
Her child and mother travelled ahead of her, but when the epidemic broke out, Yao decided to volunteer in Xiangyang instead.
"It's true that we all live one life, but there was just this strong voice inside me saying 'you must go,'" she told the BBC.
At first she had to overcome her doubts about the decision.
"I told myself: be prepared and protect yourself well," Yao said. "Even if there was no protective suit, I could always wear a raincoat. If there was no mask, I could ask friends all over China to send one to me. There is always a way."
Yao says she found that the hospital is better supplied than she expected. The government has delivered resources and private companies have donated equipment to help.
There is still a shortage of protective masks and suits, however, and not every member of staff is properly protected.
"It's a difficult job, it's very sad and heart-breaking, and most of the time we just don't have time to think about our own safety," said Yao.
"We also have to treat the patients with tender care, because many people came to us with great fear, some of them were on the verge of a nervous breakdown".
To deal with the high number of incoming patients, staff at the hospital work in 10-hour shifts. Yao said that during these shifts no-one can eat, drink, take a break, or use the toilets.
"At the end of the shift, when we take off the suits, we'll find our clothes are completely wet with sweat," said Yao. "Our forehead, nose, neck and face are left with deep marks by the tight masks and sometimes even cuts.
"Many of my colleagues just sleep on chairs after the shifts, because they're too tired to walk," she added.
But despite the hardship, Yao says none of the hospital's medical staff have been infected.
She and her colleagues have also been boosted by warm messages from members of the public. Some people have even sent food and other daily necessities.
"I feel that even though they are quarantined at home, the virus brings our hearts together," said Yao.
In all, she said China's government's response to the coronavirus outbreak has been "fairly quick," and no other country could have given a better response.
"In the West, you talk more about freedom or human rights, but right now in China, we're talking about the matter of life or death," said Yao.
"We're talking about whether you might see the sunrise tomorrow. So all people can do is to cooperate with the government and support the medical staff".
|
c7e268fb3635e2a57e40278f383e170e | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-51439450 | Coronavirus claims 97 lives in one day - but number of infections stabilises | Coronavirus claims 97 lives in one day - but number of infections stabilises
The number of people killed by the new coronavirus rose by 97 on Sunday, the highest number of casualties in a day.
The total number of deaths in China is now 908 - but the number of newly-infected people per day has stabilised.
Across China, 40,171 people are infected while 187,518 are under medical observation.
Meanwhile, 60 more people have tested positive on a cruise ship quarantined in Japan - meaning 130 out of 3,700 passengers have caught the virus.
The Diamond Princess ship is on a two-week quarantine off Yokohama, after a passenger - who earlier disembarked in Hong Kong - tested positive.
The infected passengers are taken off board and treated in nearby hospitals.
The new cases mean around a third of all coronavirus patients outside of China were on the Diamond Princess.
According
to Chinese data
, 3,281 patients have been cured and discharged from hospital.
On Monday, millions of people returned to work after the Lunar New Year break, which was extended from 31 January to curb the spread of the virus.
But precautionary measures remain in place, including the staggering of working hours, and the selective reopening of workplaces.
Chinese president Xi Jinping visited a local hospital in Beijing that offers treatment to coronavirus patients. He also took part in a video chat with medical workers in Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak.
Images from state media show Mr Xi wearing a mask and having his temperature checked. The president has largely stayed away from public view during the outbreak.
"We must have confidence that we will eventually win this battle against the epidemic," he told staff at Ditan hospital in Beijing.
Over the weekend, the number of coronavirus deaths overtook that of the Sars epidemic in 2003 which also originated in China and killed 774 people worldwide.
The WHO on Saturday said the number of new cases in China was "stabilising" - but warned it was too early to say if the virus had peaked.
On Sunday evening, the organisation sent an international mission to help coordinate a response to the outbreak.
The new virus was first reported in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province. The city of 11 million has been in lockdown for weeks.
The outbreak was declared a global emergency by the WHO on 30 January.
It has spread to at least 27 other countries and territories, but so far there have only been two deaths outside of mainland China, in the Philippines and Hong Kong.
In the UK, the number of people infected by the coronavirus doubled to eight after
four more people tested positive for the virus
on Monday.
The Department of Health has described the coronavirus as a "serious and imminent threat" to public health. The government has issued new powers in England to keep people in quarantine to stop the virus spreading. Under these measures, people who have contracted the virus will be forcibly quarantined and not allowed to leave.
The director-general of the WHO on Sunday warned that the virus being transmitted by people who have not been to China could be the "tip of the iceberg".
"There've been some concerning instances of onward 2019nCoV spread from people with no travel history to China," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on Twitter
"The detection of a small number of cases may indicate more widespread transmission in other countries; in short, we may only be seeing the tip of the iceberg."
Meanwhile in Hong Kong, police are searching for two people who absconded from quarantine, the South China Morning Post reports. Nearly 1,200 people are in quarantine in the region.
Also in Hong Kong,
passengers on a quarantined cruise ship have been allowed to disembark
after tests showed no infection among them or its crew.
The World Dream had been held in isolation after eight passengers from a previous cruise had caught the virus.
South Korea has issued a temporary ban on cruise ships entering its ports due to fears of spreading the virus.
Have you been affected by any of the issues raised here? Please get in touch by emailing
haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk
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Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also contact us in the following ways:
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f0a747154c9c2d91838511e2b4a99efb | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-51509248 | Coronavirus: Beijing orders 14-day quarantine for returnees | Coronavirus: Beijing orders 14-day quarantine for returnees
Beijing has ordered everyone returning to the city to go into quarantine for 14 days or risk punishment in the latest attempt to contain the deadly new coronavirus, state media report.
Residents were told to "self-quarantine or go to designated venues to quarantine" after returning to the Chinese capital from holidays.
The measure came as Egypt confirmed the first coronavirus case in Africa.
Over 1,500 people have died from the virus, which originated in Wuhan city.
The notice on Friday from Beijing's virus prevention working group was issued as residents returned from spending the Lunar New Year in other parts of China.
The holiday was extended this year to help contain the outbreak.
More than 20 million people live in Beijing.
China's national health commission on Saturday reported 143 new deaths, bringing the toll to 1,523. All but four of the latest victims were in hard-hit Hubei province.
A further 2,641 people have been newly confirmed as infected, bringing the national total to 66,492.
Outside mainland China, there have been more than 500 cases in 24 countries, and three deaths: one each in Hong Kong, the Philippines and Japan.
A World Health Organization (WHO)-led mission to China will start its outbreak investigation work this weekend, focusing on how the virus - officially named Covid-19 - is spreading and its severity, director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
The mission, including international experts, will also look at how and when more than 1,700 health workers contracted the virus.
The team consists of 12 international members and their 12 Chinese counterparts.
"Particular attention will be paid to understanding transmission of the virus, the severity of disease and the impact of ongoing response measures," said Dr Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO health emergencies programme.
Egypt's health ministry on Friday confirmed the first case of the coronavirus in Africa.
The ministry described the person as a foreigner, but did not disclose the nationality.
It said it had notified the WHO, and the patient had been placed in isolation in a hospital.
Experts had earlier warned that it may not be long before the first case was confirmed in Africa, given its increasingly close ties to China.
Chinese officials say six health workers have died.
Zeng Yixin, vice minister of China's National Health Commission, said 1,102 medical workers had been infected in Wuhan and another 400 in other parts of Hubei province.
"The duties of medical workers at the front are indeed extremely heavy; their working and resting circumstances are limited, the psychological pressures are great, and the risk of infection is high," Mr Zeng said, as quoted by Reuters news agency.
Local authorities have struggled to provide protective equipment such as respiratory masks, goggles and protective suits in hospitals in the area.
On 7 February, the plight of medical workers was highlighted by the death of Li Wenliang, a doctor at Wuhan Central Hospital who had tried to issue the first warning about the virus on 30 December.
He had sent out a warning to fellow medics but police told him to stop "making false comments".
A wave of anger and grief flooded Chinese social media site Weibo when news of Dr Li's death broke.
Are you in Hubei? Or do you have information to share? Get in touch by emailing
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feae8d5117ad6ec1854955650564be62 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-51519055 | Coronavirus: China announces drop in new cases for third straight day | Coronavirus: China announces drop in new cases for third straight day
China has announced a drop in new cases from the coronavirus outbreak for a third consecutive day.
On Sunday, authorities reported 2,009 new cases and 142 more deaths nationwide.
New cases spiked earlier in the week after a change in the way they were counted but have been falling ever since.
In total more than 68,000 people have been infected in China, with the death toll standing at 1,665.
Outside China there have been more than 500 cases in nearly 30 countries.
Taiwan reported its first death from the illness on Sunday. The victim was a man in his 60s, who had not travelled abroad recently but who had diabetes and hepatitis B, Health Minister Chen Shih-chung said.
Four others have died outside China - in France, Hong Kong, the Philippines and Japan.
The measures China has taken to stop the spread of the coronavirus are starting to have an impact, Mi Feng, a spokesman at the National Health Commission, said on Sunday.
In other developments:
On Saturday, World Health Organization (WHO) head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus praised Beijing's response to the outbreak.
"China has bought the world time. We don't know how much time," he said. "We're encouraged that outside China, we have not yet seen widespread community transmission."
China has imposed more restrictions on the 60 million people living under lockdown in Hubei province - the centre of the outbreak - in an attempt to control the epidemic.
The use of private cars has been banned and residents have been told to stay at home unless there's an emergency.
Officials say there will be only one exception to this rule - every three days a single person from each household will be allowed out to buy food and other essential items.
The new measures come despite an announcement by China's State Council that the proportion of infected patients in a serious condition had fallen nationwide.
Foreign Minister Wang Yi also said that along with a drop in infections within Hubei there had been a rapid increase in the number of people who had recovered.
Meanwhile,
authorities in the capital, Beijing, have ordered everyone returning to the city to go into quarantine for 14 days
or risk punishment.
China's central bank will also disinfect and store used banknotes before recirculating them in a bid to stop the virus spreading.
In another development Chinese state media published a speech from earlier this month in which Chinese President Xi Jinping said he said he had given instructions on 7 January on containing the outbreak.
At the time, local officials in the city of Wuhan were downplaying the severity of the epidemic.
This would suggest senior leaders were aware of the potential dangers of the virus before the information was made public.
With the government facing criticism for its handling of the outbreak, analysts suggest the disclosure is an attempt to show the party leadership acted decisively from the start.
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271726dfb72be4a60a6aa4db737ee52f | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-51527043 | Coronavirus: Armed robbers steal hundreds of toilet rolls in Hong Kong | Coronavirus: Armed robbers steal hundreds of toilet rolls in Hong Kong
Armed robbers in Hong Kong made off with hundreds of toilet rolls worth more than HKD1,000 ($130; £98).
Toilet rolls are currently in short supply in Hong Kong due to shortages caused by panic-buying during the coronavirus outbreak.
Knife wielding men robbed a delivery man outside a supermarket in the Mong Kok district, police said.
Police have arrested two men and recovered some of the stolen loo rolls, local media reports said.
The armed robbery took place in Mong Kok, a district of Hong Kong with a history of "triad" crime gangs, early on Monday.
According to local reports, the robbers had threatened a delivery worker who had unloaded rolls of toilet paper outside Wellcome Supermarket.
An Apple Daily report said that 600 toilet paper rolls, valued at around HKD1,695 ($218; £167), had been stolen.
Stores across the city have seen supplies massively depleted with long queues when new stock arrives.
Despite government assurances that supplies remain unaffected by the virus outbreak, residents have been stocking up on toilet paper.
Other household products have also seen panic-buying including rice, pasta and cleaning items.
Face masks and hand sanitisers are almost impossible to get as people try to protect themselves from the coronavirus, which has already claimed more than 1,700 lives.
"A delivery man was threatened by three knife-wielding men who took toilet paper worth more than HK$1,000 ($130)," a police spokesman said.
Authorities blame false online rumours for the panic buying and say supplies of food and household goods remain stable.
There has also been some panic-buying of toilet rolls, hand sanitisers and face masks in Singapore, which has 75 confirmed coronavirus cases.
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8549d335fa4e646a4b1464ef121e2d02 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-51540981 | Coronavirus: Largest study suggests elderly and sick are most at risk | Coronavirus: Largest study suggests elderly and sick are most at risk
Health officials in China have published the first details of more than 44,000 cases of Covid-19, in the biggest study since the outbreak began.
Data from the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CCDC) finds that more than 80% of the cases have been mild, with the sick and elderly most at risk.
The research also points to the high risk to medical staff.
A hospital director in the city of Wuhan died from the virus on Tuesday.
Liu Zhiming, 51, was the director of the Wuchang Hospital in Wuhan - one of the leading hospitals in the virus epicentre. He is one of the most senior health officials to die so far.
Hubei, whose capital is Wuhan, is the worst affected province in the country.
The report by the CCDC shows the province's death rate is 2.9% compared with 0.4% in the rest of the country.
The findings put the overall death rate of the Covid-19 virus at 2.3%.
China's latest official figures released on Tuesday put the overall death toll at 1,868 and 72,436 infections.
Officials reported 98 new deaths and 1,886 new cases in the past day, with 93 of those deaths and 1,807 infections in Hubei province - the epicentre of the outbreak.
More than 12,000 people have recovered, according to Chinese authorities.
The paper by the CCDC, released on Monday
and published in the Chinese Journal of Epidemiology, looked at more than 44,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in China as of 11 February.
While the results largely confirm previous descriptions of the virus and patterns of infection, the study includes a detailed breakdown of the 44,672 confirmed cases across all of China.
It finds that 80.9% of infections are classified as mild, 13.8% as severe and only 4.7% as critical. The number of deaths among those infected, known as the fatality rate, remains low but rises among those over 80 years old.
Looking at the sex ratio, men are more likely to die (2.8%) than women (1.7%).
The study also identifies which existing illnesses put patients at risk. It puts cardiovascular disease at number one, followed by diabetes, chronic respiratory disease and hypertension.
Pointing out the risk to medical staff, the paper says that a total of 3,019 health workers have been infected,
1,716 of which were confirmed cases
. Five had died by 11 February, which was the last day of data included in the research.
On 13 February, China broadened its definition of how to diagnose people, including "clinically diagnosed cases" which previously were counted separate from "confirmed cases".
This is by far the most detailed study of the coronavirus outbreak within China. It gives us incredible insight into what is happening, but the picture is far from complete.
You can study only the cases you find, and other scientists have estimated there could be 10 times as many people infected as are ending up in the official statistics. That means the overall death rate is likely to be lower than the one reported in this study.
The report also suggests the outbreak peaked in late January, but it is too soon to know for sure.
What this analysis clearly describes is a "highly contagious" virus that spreads "extremely rapidly" even in the face of an "extreme response" by China.
That should be a warning to the rest of the world.
Looking forward, the paper finds that "the epidemic curve of onset of symptoms" peaked around 23-26 January before declining up to 11 February.
The study suggests that the downward trend in the overall epidemic curve could mean that "isolation of whole cities, broadcast of critical information (e.g., promoting hand washing, mask wearing, and care seeking) with high frequency through multiple channels, and mobilization of a multi-sector rapid response teams is helping to curb the epidemic".
But the authors also warn that with many people returning from a long holiday, the country "needs to prepare for the possible rebound of the epidemic".
China's response to the virus has seen the lockdown of Wuhan - the largest city in Hubei - and the rest of the province as well as severe travel restrictions on movements across the country.
The virus has spread beyond mainland China to countries around the globe and two cruise ships are now confirmed to have been affected.
The Diamond Princess was quarantined in the Japanese port of Yokohama on 3 February, after a man from Hong Kong tested positive. More than 450 of the 3,700 people on board have since become infected.
The US has begun evacuating its citizens from the vessel.
On Tuesday South Korea joined the list of the countries and territories also planning to get their residents out which already includes Canada, Australia, the UK, Israel and Hong Kong.
A second ship, the MS Westerdam, was turned away by multiple ports around Asia over fears it could be carrying the virus.
It was finally cleared to dock in Sihanoukville, Cambodia
, after no cases were found on board. Disembarking passengers were personally welcomed by Prime Minister Hun Sen. No one was quarantined.
However, days later, a woman who had been on the ship tested positive after arriving in Malaysia. Huge efforts are now being made to track down the passengers, who have moved on to many different countries including Malaysia and Thailand, but also further afield to the US and Canada.
Several countries have said they will not admit foreign visitors who were on the ship.
There are still 255 guests and 747 crew on board the MS Westerdam, while more than 400 passengers have been sent to a hotel in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, to await test results.
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2d8562b925363169852b03057f14b8ed | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-51614957 | Coronavirus: Rescuing China's animals during the outbreak | Coronavirus: Rescuing China's animals during the outbreak
Volunteers in China say they're struggling to keep up with the number of animals being abandoned as the country battles the virus outbreak.
More than 2,000 people in China have died and more than 78,000 infections have been reported in the country.
Pet owners who fall sick or are caught up in quarantine can't take their animals with them, and despite reassurance from the World Health Organization that animals can't carry the virus, others are being dumped.
"I have rescued lots of dogs this month, most have been abandoned by their owners," one volunteer from Furry Angels Heaven in Wuhan, the centre of the outbreak, told the BBC.
"One animal's owner has coronavirus and was sent to quarantine. Fortunately a policeman sent her to me."
The volunteer didn't want to reveal her name because of fears of official repercussions. She said she has 35 dogs and 28 cats in her apartment in addition to the animal rescue centre she helps operate.
"It's a bad situation here. We are not allowed to go outside and I am afraid my dogs and cats will be out of food soon. I am worried if I or my family get infected with the virus then all of the dogs and cats could be killed by policemen."
Without income from its regular paid work at the moment, she fears the animal centre's savings could be used up soon.
"It's expensive to rescue these animals", she said.
As soon as the lockdown is over, the animals will be available for adoption.
The coronavirus outbreak began in late December, but it worsened as people went away for Chinese New Year in January. Many people went to visit family in other cities, leaving food behind for their pets thinking they would only be away for a few days.
But then the lockdown was introduced. More than 60 million people in Hubei province were placed under travel restrictions. People were unable to return to their homes and the food they had left for their pets had started to run out.
Panicked pet owners used social media site Weibo to plead for help.
"Help! I live in Ezhou City and my cat is trapped," wrote one woman from a town near Wuhan.
"I'm asking a caring person nearby to help me feed the cat. I am willing to pay for it, thank the caring person and everyone else, please share."
One volunteer, who gave his name as Lao Mao, is part of a group that provides assistance to people who cannot access their animals. So far his group has helped to rescue more than 1,000 pets.
Video footage posted on social media accounts show Lao Mao's team entering properties, feeding animals and providing them with medical care.
"There are more animals needing help these days," he told the BBC.
He said that the situation now for animals is "very dangerous".
"So many of them have starved to death, only a few of them can reach me for help. There's nothing much I can do but I will save as many as I can."
It's not just animal rescuers in Wuhan that are feeling the strain. Animal groups across China told the BBC that they were struggling to deal with the current situation and strict quarantine measures.
Animal Rescue Shanghai told the BBC that the situation is a "nightmare".
"It is high season during Chinese New Year which means a lot of dogs are kicked out and due to coronavirus, a lot of flights have been cancelled. We now have over 350 dogs for a place sized for 120," said, Nana, who works at the shelter. We are really desperate."
An experienced rescuer in Shenzhen who did not want to give her name also said Chinese New Year was a busy time of year for animal abandonments, but that she has never encountered one every single day.
"Businesses are closed so there is no-one to feed the strays. It started being very common to see roaming cats and dogs and hear them fighting and barking and meowing much more than usual."
She said at one point, she saw a partially eaten mother dog with her puppies still around her.
But she said that as the situation has intensified, volunteers have joined forces like never before to handle the amount of animals in need.
"Community support has been really heart-warming, many people help, volunteer, support and share or decide to adopt or foster.
"Both Chinese people and foreigners have united to help each other help animals."
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76a5a08074d616b5e433343d999e1af3 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-51784167 | Coronavirus: Dozens trapped as China quarantine hotel collapses | Coronavirus: Dozens trapped as China quarantine hotel collapses
About 70 people were trapped after a hotel being used as a coronavirus quarantine facility in the Chinese city of Quanzhou collapsed.
About 47 of the 70 had been pulled from the rubble of the five-storey Xinjia Hotel by Sunday, state media says.
Videos posted online show emergency workers combing through the building's wreckage in the southern province of Fujian.
It is not clear what caused the collapse or if anyone has died.
It happened at about 19:30 local time (11:30 GMT).
Chinese state media says the hotel was being used as a quarantine facility monitoring people who had had close contact with coronavirus patients.
The hotel reportedly opened in 2018 and had 80 guest rooms.
One woman told the Beijing News website that relatives including her sister had been under quarantine there.
"I can't contact them, they're not answering their phones," she said.
"I'm under quarantine too [at another hotel] and I'm very worried, I don't know what to do. They were healthy, they took their temperatures every day, and the tests showed that everything was normal."
As of Friday, Fujian province had 296 cases of coronavirus. Meanwhile 10,819 people have been placed under observation because they have been in close contact with someone infected.
The World Health Organization says more than 101,000 people worldwide have now contracted the virus.
More than 3,000 people have died - the majority in the Chinese province of Hubei where the outbreak originated.
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98367e22ae2fe2614a5d82621d1b8abb | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-52059085 | Coronavirus travel: China bars foreign visitors as imported cases rise | Coronavirus travel: China bars foreign visitors as imported cases rise
China has announced a temporary ban on all foreign visitors, even if they have visas or residence permits.
The country is also limiting Chinese and foreign airlines to one flight per week, and flights must not be more than 75% full.
Although China reported its first locally-transmitted coronavirus case for three days on Friday, almost all its new cases now come from abroad.
There were 55 new cases across China on Thursday - 54 of them from overseas.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry
said it was
"suspending the entry of foreign nationals" because of the "rapid spread of Covid-19 across the world".
The suspension applies to people with visas and residence passes, but not to diplomats or those with C visas (usually aircraft crew).
People with "emergency humanitarian needs" or those working in certain fields can apply for exceptions.
Although the rules seem dramatic, many foreign airlines had already stopped flying to China - and a number of cities already had restrictions for arrivals.
Last month, for example, Beijing ordered everyone returning to the city
into a 14-day quarantine.
Although the virus emerged in China, it now has fewer cases than the US and fewer deaths than Italy and Spain.
There have been 81,340 confirmed cases in China and 3,292 deaths, the
National Health Commission said on Friday
.
In total, 565 of those confirmed cases were classed as "imported" - either foreigners coming into China, or returning Chinese nationals.
In Hubei - the province where the outbreak began - there were no new confirmed or suspected cases on Thursday.
The lockdown in provincial capital Wuhan, which began in January, will be eased on 8 April.
Have you been affected by the ban? Share your experiences by emailing
haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk
.
Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also contact us in the following ways:
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48d2babafd0e73fd41a444fc9bb9499d | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-52103106 | Chinese forest fire: Firefighters and guide killed in Sichuan blaze | Chinese forest fire: Firefighters and guide killed in Sichuan blaze
Eighteen firefighters and their guide have died while battling a forest fire in China's Sichuan province, state media has reported.
The Xinhua news agency said a sudden change in wind direction led to the group becoming trapped early on Tuesday morning.
The fire in Liangshan prefecture has now spread across 1,000 hectares.
More than 2,000 firefighters and rescue workers have been sent to the area and 1,200 people have been evacuated.
The fire started on Monday at a local farm. Strong winds meant that the flames quickly spread to nearby mountains.
The dead firefighters were among a group of 22 - including one farm worker acting as their guide - who went missing. Three survivors have been found and were taken to hospital.
Local media reports that heavy clouds of smoke have been drifting into the nearby city of Xichang.
The incident comes almost exactly a year after a forest fire in another part of Liangshan prefecture which killed 30 firefighters.
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73a1b0e17ee849f50c1e097524c294bf | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-52157968 | Coronavirus: Chinese explorers start Everest climb amid pandemic | Coronavirus: Chinese explorers start Everest climb amid pandemic
A group of Chinese mountaineers has begun an expedition on Everest while the site is closed to foreign climbers because of coronavirus.
Only Chinese climbers are permitted this spring season because of the pandemic, operators told the BBC.
The highest peak of the world stands on the border of China and Nepal and can be climbed from both sides.
China has closed its side to foreign climbers while Nepal has cancelled all expeditions in response to Covid-19.
The disease first emerged in central China three months ago. Around 3,300 people have so far died in the country after becoming infected.
China says it has now all but stopped the spread of the disease and the authorities have started to allow some access to Wuhan, the city in Hubei province where the outbreak began.
The more than two dozen Chinese climbers tackling Mount Everest were expected to reach the advanced base camp at an altitude of 6,450 metres (four miles) on Friday, expedition operators in touch with the China Tibet Mountaineering Association (CTMA) said.
CTMA officials could not be reached for comment.
Mountaineering record-keepers say that if the climbers make it to the summit, it would be a very rare case of only Chinese climbers at the peak.
"In Spring 1960, only the Chinese reached the summit. The Indians tried, but failed," said Richard Salisbury, with the Himalayan Database, an organisation that keeps records of all expeditions in the Himalayas.
"There were various Chinese recon, research and training climbs from 1958 through 1967 when nobody else was on the mountain, but no ascents by any of them."
Western expedition operators said China did not allow them to climb this spring season due to fears over a new outbreak of the virus.
"It is reasonable that they do not want to take the risk to let people from all over the world, where the coronavirus crisis is in full swing, into Tibet to gather in base camp," said Lukas Furtenbach, an Austrian climber and guide whose team was initially supposed to climb from the Chinese side.
"As long as there is no quick and reliable antibody testing available, it is a wise decision to minimise risk and only have their own people that they can take into quarantine before climbing."
Some expedition teams, including Mr Furtenbach's, were preparing to switch over to the Nepalese side but Nepal too cancelled all expedition permits.
The Chinese mountaineers will now be climbing up and down the mountain between camps to acclimatise themselves with the high altitude before making the final push for the summit. It will take them at least one month.
Climbers wait for the right weather window for the summit climb. Summiting usually happens before the end of May, when the south-west Indian Monsoon arrives in the region.
The Chinese side of Everest sees fewer climbers compared to the southern side in Nepal. Climbers can drive right up to the base camp on the Chinese side, whereas in Nepal it is a 10-day trek through the Khumbu valley.
"Even from the base camp, they ride yaks to reach the advance base camp," says Ang Thsering Sherpa, a veteran mountaineer in Nepal.
"It's a very different experience of climbing on the northern side, compared to the Nepalese side."
In recent years, avalanches, fast melting glaciers, and other global warming-related changes are said to have made climbing more challenging.
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fb3d5acce5fbf0fc845a100a4ca518b3 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-52195034 | Coronavirus: China reports no Covid-19 deaths for first time | Coronavirus: China reports no Covid-19 deaths for first time
China reported no coronavirus deaths on Tuesday, the first time since it started publishing daily figures in January.
The National Health Commission said it had 32 confirmed cases, down from 39 on Monday.
It comes as the government is under scrutiny as to whether it is underreporting its figures.
The government says more than 3,331 people have died and 81,740 have been confirmed as infected.
All of the confirmed cases on Tuesday had arrived from overseas.
China is concerned a second wave of infections could be brought in by foreign arrivals.
It has already shut its border to foreigners including those with visas or residence permits.
International flights have been reduced with both Chinese and foreign airlines only allowed to operate one international flight a week. Flights must not be more than 75% full.
On Wednesday, Wuhan is set to allow people to leave the city for the first time since the lockdown began in January.
Officials say anyone who has a "green" code on a widely used smartphone health app will be allowed to leave the city.
Some people in "epidemic-free" residential compounds have already been allowed to leave their homes for two hours.
But Wuhan officials revoked the "epidemic-free" status in 45 compounds because of the emergence of asymptomatic cases and for other unspecified reasons.
Asymptomatic refers to someone who is carrying the virus but experiencing no symptoms.
China began reporting asymptomatic cases at the beginning of April.
More than 1,033 asymptomatic patients are under medical observation.
Hitting back at claims China was too slow to raise the alarm, the country's state media have published what they describe as a detailed timeline of its response and information sharing.
The first day with zero new reported coronavirus deaths since the National Health Commission started publishing daily figures is no doubt a cause for hope in China and even across the world. In a way it doesn't matter if the figure is real.
There has been much debate about the veracity of this country's coronavirus statistics but, even if the overall number of infections and deaths is under-reported, the trend seems instructive. Why? Because the trend matches reality in so many ways.
Interestingly, China's Communist Party-controlled media is not reporting the first 24 hours without fatalities with any great fanfare. The subject isn't even a key trending subject on Chinese social media platforms. It was the same when we had the first day with no new home-grown infections.
This either means Chinese media outlets know too well that there are flaws in the accounting here or, more likely, that the Party knows there are flaws in its accounting so it's ordered a cautious presentation. Either way, in the end, it's probably neither here nor there. Look at the trend. In the trend there is good news.
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7e9ddc11e5ef08dca4d861c366e97fc4 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-52274326 | China McDonald's apologises for Guangzhou ban on black people | China McDonald's apologises for Guangzhou ban on black people
McDonald's in China has apologised after a branch in the industrial city of Guangzhou barred black people from entering.
A video shared on social media showed a notice that read: “We’ve been informed that from now on black people are not allowed to enter the restaurant."
McDonald's said that when it found out about the notice it temporarily closed the restaurant.
Tensions have been running high between Africans and local people in the city.
Last week, hundreds of Africans in Guangzhou were evicted from hotels and apartments after online rumours that coronavirus was spreading among African people, community leaders told the BBC.
Guangzhou is a hub for African traders buying and selling goods and is home to one of China’s largest African communities.
The Guangdong provincial government has responded to concerns about discrimination by calling China and Africa good friends, partners and brothers.
It said it attached "great importance to some African countries' concerns and is working promptly to improve" its way of operating.
McDonald's also responded, saying the ban on black people was “not representative of our inclusive values”.
“Immediately upon learning of an unauthorised communication to our guests at a restaurant in Guangzhou, we immediately removed the communication and temporarily closed the restaurant.”
The restaurant added that it had conducted “diversity and inclusion” training in the branch.
By Danny Vincent, BBC News, Hong Kong
Africans in Guangzhou say that they have been facing more than a week of discrimination.
Health workers have reportedly gone door-to-door testing Africans for coronavirus, many say regardless of whether they show any symptoms, have travelled, or have been in contact with Covid-19 patients.
Community leaders say that hundreds were forced out of their homes and hotel rooms and into quarantine. Video has emerged online of African people sleeping on the streets, in hotel lobbies, under bridges and outside police stations.
The video filmed inside McDonald's sparked anger both inside and outside China.
The African community in Guangzhou has been dwindling in recent years. There were once thought to be hundreds of thousands from the continent conducting business in the city, but today the number has fallen to just thousands.
Many feel that their communities have been the target of discriminatory measures. Restrictions to visas have made many I have spoken to feel less welcome. Some feel that the coronavirus is being used as an excuse to target businessmen who overstay their visas.
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f87546d73729a87a72b345bdcf4437ab | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-52325269 | Jack Ma: The billionaire trying to stop coronavirus (and fix China's reputation) | Jack Ma: The billionaire trying to stop coronavirus (and fix China's reputation)
The richest man in China opened his own Twitter account last month, in the middle of the Covid-19 outbreak. So far, every one of his posts has been devoted to his unrivalled campaign to deliver medical supplies to almost every country around the world.
"One world, one fight!" Jack Ma enthused in one of his first messages. "Together, we can do this!" he cheered in another.
The billionaire entrepreneur is the driving force behind a widespread operation to ship medical supplies to more than 150 countries so far, sending face masks and ventilators to many places that have been elbowed out of the global brawl over life-saving equipment.
But Ma's critics and even some of his supporters aren't sure what he's getting himself into. Has this bold venture into global philanthropy unveiled him as the friendly face of China's Communist Party? Or is he an independent player who is being used by the Party for propaganda purposes? He appears to be following China's diplomatic rules, particularly when choosing which countries should benefit from his donations, but his growing clout might put him in the crosshairs of the jealous leaders at the top of China's political pyramid.
Other tech billionaires have pledged more money to fight the effects of the virus - Twitter's Jack Dorsey is giving $1bn (£0.8bn) to the cause. Candid, a US-based philanthropy watchdog that tracks private charitable donations, puts Alibaba 12th on a list of private Covid-19 donors. But that list doesn't include shipments of vital supplies, which some countries might consider to be more important than money at this stage in the global outbreak.
No one else other than the effervescent Ma is capable of dispatching supplies directly to those who need them. Starting in March, the Jack Ma foundation and the related Alibaba foundation began airlifting supplies to Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and even to politically sensitive areas including Iran, Israel, Russia and the US.
Ma has also donated millions to coronavirus vaccine research and a handbook of medical expertise from doctors in his native Zhejiang province has been translated from Chinese into 16 languages. But it's the medical shipments that have been making headlines, setting Ma apart.
"He has the ability and the money and the lifting power to get a Chinese supply plane out of Hangzhou to land in Addis Ababa, or wherever it needs to go," explains Ma's biographer, Duncan Clark. "This is logistics; this is what his company, his people and his province are all about."
Jack Ma is famous for being the charismatic English teacher who went on to create China's biggest technology company. Alibaba is now known as the "Amazon of the East". Ma started the company inside his tiny apartment in the Chinese coastal city of Hangzhou, in the centre of China's factory belt, back in 1999. Alibaba has since grown to become one of the dominant players in the world's second largest economy, with key stakes in China's online, banking and entertainment worlds. Ma himself is worth more than $40bn.
Officially, he stepped down as Alibaba's chairman in 2018. He said he was going to focus on philanthropy. But Ma retained a permanent seat on Alibaba's board. Coupled with his wealth and fame, he remains one of the most powerful men in China.
It appears that Ma's donations are following Party guidelines: there is no evidence that any of the Jack Ma and Alibaba Foundation donations have gone to countries that have formal ties with Taiwan, China's neighbour and diplomatic rival. Ma announced on Twitter that he was donating to 22 countries in Latin America. States that side with Taiwan but who have also called for medical supplies - from Honduras to Haiti - are among the few dozen countries that do not appear to be on the list of 150 countries. The foundations repeatedly refused to provide a detailed list of countries that have received donations, explaining that "at this moment in time, we are not sharing this level of detail".
However, the donations that have been delivered have certainly generated a lot of goodwill. With the exception of problematic deliveries to Cuba and Eritrea, all of the foundations' shipments dispatched from China appear to have been gratefully received. That success is giving Ma even more positive attention than usual. China's state media has been mentioning Ma almost as often as the country's autocratic leader, Xi Jinping.
It's an uncomfortable comparison. As Ma soaks up praise, Xi faces persistent questions about how he handled the early stages of the virus and where, exactly, the outbreak began.
The Chinese government has dispatched medical teams and donations of supplies to a large number of hard-hit countries, particularly in Europe and South-East Asia. However, those efforts have sometimes fallen flat. China's been accused of sending faulty supplies to several countries. In some cases, the tests it sent were being misused but in others, low-quality supplies went unused and the donations backfired.
In contrast, Jack Ma's shipments have only boosted his reputation.
"It's fair to say that Ma's donation was universally celebrated across Africa," says Eric Olander, managing editor of the China Africa Project website and podcast. Ma pledged to visit all countries in Africa and has been a frequent visitor since his retirement.
"What happens to the materials once they land in a country is up to the host government, so any complaints about how Nigeria's materials were distributed are indeed a domestic Nigerian issue," Olander adds. "But with respect to the donation itself, the Rwandan leader, Paul Kagame, called it a "shot in the arm" and pretty much everyone saw it for what it was which was: delivering badly-needed materials to a region of the world that nobody else is either willing or capable of helping at that scale."
But is Ma risking a backlash from Beijing? Xi Jinping isn't known as someone who likes to share the spotlight and his government has certainly targeted famous faces before. In recent years, the country's top actress, a celebrated news anchor and several other billionaire entrepreneurs have all "disappeared" for long periods. Some, including the news anchor, end up serving prison sentences. Others re-emerge from detention, chastened and pledging their allegiance to the Party.
"There's a rumour that [Jack Ma] stepped down in 2018 from being the chairman of the Alibaba Group because he was seen as a homegrown entrepreneur whose popularity would eclipse that of the Communist Party," explains Ashley Feng, research associate at the Centre for New American Security in Washington DC. Indeed, Ma surprised many when he suddenly announced his retirement in 2018. He has denied persistent rumours that Beijing forced him out of his position.
Duncan Clark, Ma's biographer, is also aware of reports that Ma was nudged away from Alibaba following a key incident in January 2017. The Chinese billionaire met with then-President-elect Donald Trump in Trump Tower, ostensibly to discuss Sino-US trade. The Chinese president didn't meet with Trump until months later.
"There was a lot of speculation of time that Jack Ma had moved too fast," Clark says. "So, I think there's lessons learned from both sides on the need to try to coordinate."
"Jack Ma represents a sort of entrepreneurial soft power," Clark adds. "That also creates challenges though, because the government is quite jealous or nervous of non-Party actors taking that kind of role."
Technically, Ma isn't a Communist outsider: China's wealthiest capitalist has actually been a member of the Communist Party since the 1980s, when he was a university student.
But Ma's always had a tricky relationship with the Party, famously saying that Alibaba's attitude towards the Party was to "be in love with it but not to marry it".
Even if Ma and the foundations connected to him are making decisions without Beijing's advance blessing, the Chinese government has certainly done what it can to capitalise on Ma's generosity. Chinese ambassadors are frequently on hand at airport ceremonies to receive the medical supplies shipped over by Ma, from Sierra Leone to Cambodia.
China has also used Ma's largesse in its critiques of the United States. "The State Department said Taiwan is a true friend as it donated 2 million masks," the Chinese Foreign Ministry tweeted in early April. "Wonder if @StateDept has any comment on Jack Ma's donation of 1 million masks and 500k testing kits as well as Chinese companies' and provinces' assistance?"
Perhaps Ma can rise above what's happened to so many others who ran afoul of the Party. China might just need a popular global Chinese figure so much that Ma has done what no one else can: make himself indispensable.
"Here's the one key takeaway from all that happened with Jack Ma and Africa: he said he would do something and it got done," explains Eric Olander. "That is an incredibly powerful optic in a place where foreigners often come, make big promises and often fail to deliver. So, the huge Covid-19 donation that he did fit within that pattern. He said he would do it and mere weeks later, those masks were in the hands of healthcare workers."
Duncan Clark argues that Ma already had a seat at China's high table because of Alibaba's economic heft. However, his first-name familiarity with world leaders makes him even more valuable to Beijing as China tries to repair its battered image.
"He has demonstrated the ability, with multiple IPOs under his belt, and multiple friendships overseas, to win friends and influence people. He's the Dale Carnegie of China and that certainly, we've seen that that's irritated some in the Chinese government but now it's almost an all hands on deck situation," Clark says.
There's no doubt that China's wider reputation is benefiting from the charitable work of Ma and other wealthy Chinese entrepreneurs. Andrew Grabois from Candid, the philanthropic watchdog that's been measuring global donations in relation to Covid-19, says that the private donations coming from China are impossible to ignore.
"They're taking a leadership role, the kind of thing that used to be done by the United States," he says. "The most obvious past example is the response to Ebola, the Ebola outbreak in 2014. The US sent in doctors and everything to West Africa to help contain that virus before it left West Africa."
Chinese donors are taking on that role with this virus.
"They are projecting soft power beyond their borders, going into areas, providing aid, monetary aid and expertise," Grabois adds.
So, it's not the right time for Beijing to stand in Jack Ma's way.
"You know, this is a major crisis for the world right now," Duncan Clark concludes. "But obviously, it's also a crisis for China's relationship with the rest of the world. So they need anybody who can help dampen down some of these those pressures."
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81fac5f7a7244a663d6ad07cdf7746f8 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-52765838 | Hong Kong security law: What is it and is it worrying? | Hong Kong security law: What is it and is it worrying?
China has passed a wide-ranging new security law for Hong Kong which makes it easier to punish protesters and reduces the city's autonomy.
Critics have called it "the end of Hong Kong" - so what do we know, and what do people fear the most?
Hong Kong was always meant to have a security law, but could never pass one because it was so unpopular. So this is about China stepping in to ensure the city has a legal framework to deal with what it sees as serious challenges to its authority.
The details of the law's 66 articles were kept secret until after it was passed. It criminalises any act of:
The law came into effect at 23:00 local time on 30 June, an hour before the 23rd anniversary of the city's handover to China from British rule.
It gives Beijing powers to shape life in Hong Kong it has never had before. Critics say it effectively curtails protest and freedom of speech - China has said it will return stability.
The new law's key provisions include that:
Only a handful of people had seen the full text of the law before it was enacted, a source of considerable controversy in Hong Kong. They did not include the territory's Chief Executive, Carrie Lam.
She told the UN Human Rights Council hours before it came into force that it would fill a "gaping hole" and not undermine Hong Kong's autonomy or its independent judiciary. She also promised it would not be retroactive.
Beijing has said Hong Kong should respect and protect rights and liberties while safeguarding national security - but many still fear the loss of Hong Kong's freedoms with this law.
"It is clear that the law will have a severe impact on freedom of expression, if not personal security, on the people of Hong Kong," Professor Johannes Chan, a legal scholar at the University of Hong Kong, told the BBC before the passage of the law.
There are reports of people deleting Facebook posts, and concerns that candidates opposing the national security law will be disqualified from running in elections.
Many are also afraid Hong Kong's judicial independence will be eroded and its judicial system will look increasingly similar to mainland China's. The city is the only common law jurisdiction in China.
"Effectively, they are imposing the People's Republic of China's criminal system onto the Hong Kong common law system, leaving them with complete discretion to decide who should fall into which system," says Professor Chan.
Some pro-democracy activists - such as Joshua Wong - have been lobbying foreign governments to help their cause. Such campaigning could become a crime in the future. He has now quit his Demosisto party.
People also worry that a threat to Hong Kong's liberties could affect its attractiveness as a leading global business hub and economic powerhouse.
Hong Kong was handed back to China from British control in 1997, but under a unique agreement - a mini-constitution called the Basic Law and a so-called "one country, two systems" principle.
They are supposed to protect certain freedoms for Hong Kong: freedom of assembly and speech, an independent judiciary and some democratic rights - freedoms that no other part of mainland China has.
Under the same agreement, Hong Kong had to enact is own national security law - this was set out in Article 23 of the Basic Law - but it never happened because of its unpopularity.
Then, last year, protests over an extradition law turned violent and evolved into a broader anti-China and pro-democracy movement.
China doesn't want to see that happen again.
Many might ask how China can do this if the city was supposed to have freedoms guaranteed under the handover agreement.
The Basic Law says Chinese laws can't be applied in Hong Kong unless they are listed in a section called Annex III - there are already a few listed there, mostly uncontroversial and around foreign policy.
These laws can be introduced by decree - which means they bypass the city's parliament.
If you want to find out more about China-Hong Kong tensions read more here:
Critics say the introduction of the law this way amounts to a breach of the "one country, two systems" principle, which is so important to Hong Kong - but clearly it is technically possible to do this.
Reporting by the BBC's Grace Tsoi and Lam Cho Wai
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48793d78948f1f46f01c2b29655d51da | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-52877411 | Tiananmen: Police ban Hong Kong vigil for victims of 1989 crackdown | Tiananmen: Police ban Hong Kong vigil for victims of 1989 crackdown
Hong Kong police have banned a vigil marking the Tiananmen Square crackdown for the first time in 30 years.
Authorities said the decision was due to health concerns over coronavirus.
However, there are fears this may end the commemorations, as China seeks to impose a new law making undermining its authority a crime in the territory.
Currently, Hong Kong and Macau are the only places in Chinese territory where people can commemorate the deadly 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protesters.
In mainland China, the authorities have banned even oblique references the events of June 4, which came after weeks of mass demonstrations that were tolerated by the government.
Whether the commemoration will be allowed to go ahead in Hong Kong next year - when the new law targeting what Beijing considers to be terrorism and subversion in the territory will most likely be in force - is unclear.
The proposed law has come under widespread international criticism, with
seven former UK foreign secretaries urging Prime Minister Boris Johnson to form a global alliance to coordinate the response
to what they called "flagrant breach" of Sino-British agreements.
Hong Kong was handed back to China from British control in 1997 under the "one country, two systems" model.
Lee Cheuk Yan, the chairman of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, said the "unreasonable" ban on this year's vigil means the end to Hong Kong's "one country, two systems".
The vigil in Hong Kong is a large event - last year, organisers said 180,000 people came together in the city's Victoria Park. Police put the number of attendees at under 40,000.
The alliance said people could come to the Victoria Park in a group of eight people - allowed under coronavirus regulations - and hold candles while observing social distancing.
Lee also urged the people to commemorate the crackdown in different parts of the city, and the alliance will also organise an online event around the globe.
Pro-democracy protesters occupied Tiananmen Square in April 1989 and began the largest political demonstrations in communist China's history. They lasted six weeks, with as many as a million people taking part.
On the night of 3 June tanks moved in and troops opened fire, killing and injuring many unarmed people in and around Tiananmen Square.
Afterwards the authorities claimed no-one had been shot dead in the square itself. Estimates of those killed in the crackdown range from a few hundred to several thousand.
China has never given an official figure for how many people died.
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917d0424e2fdb227bbbd8057273c9eab | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-52920083 | Hong Kong: Tens of thousands defy ban to attend Tiananmen vigil | Hong Kong: Tens of thousands defy ban to attend Tiananmen vigil
Tens of thousands of demonstrators in Hong Kong have defied a ban to stage a mass vigil for the victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown in Beijing.
Officers erected barricades around the city's Victoria Park, but some pro-democracy protesters knocked them down and held candlelit gatherings.
Police banned the vigil this year, citing coronavirus measures.
Earlier, lawmakers approved a controversial bill making it a crime to insult China's national anthem.
Ahead of the vote, two legislators were taken away by security guards after throwing a foul-smelling liquid on to the chamber floor.
They said they were protesting against China's growing control over Hong Kong, and also marking the Tiananmen Square anniversary.
The latest events come as the Chinese government is drawing up a new security law for Hong Kong, a move that threatens to raise tensions even further.
Hong Kong and Macau are the only parts of China that have been allowed to mark the killings.
An annual vigil has been held in Hong Kong since 1990. On the mainland, references to the crackdown are banned, and the government mentions it rarely - if at all.
On 4 June 1989, troops and tanks opened fire on pro-democracy protesters in Beijing - estimates of the dead vary from a few hundred to several thousand.
Tens of thousands of people normally mark the anniversary in Hong Kong, but police told local media that
3,000 riot officers
would be deployed to stop smaller or impromptu commemorations.
At Victoria Park, demonstrators shouted pro-democracy slogans including "Stand with Hong Kong" and "End one-party rule", referring to the Communist Party's monopoly on power in China.
"I've come here for the vigil for 30 years in memory of the victims of the June 4 crackdown, but this year it is more significant to me," one 74-year-old man told AFP news agency.
"Because Hong Kong is experiencing the same kind of repression from the same regime, just like what happened in Beijing."
Candlelit vigils also took place in other parts of Hong Kong. Hundreds gathered in Mong Kok district, where there were brief scuffles between protesters who attempted to set up barricades and police who used pepper spray to disperse them, Reuters reported.
It was the first time there had been unrest at a Tiananmen vigil in Hong Kong, the news agency said. Police said they had made several arrests.
In Mong Kok, Brenda Hui held a white battery-illuminated umbrella that read "Never Forget June 4".
"We are afraid this will be the last time we can have a ceremony but Hong Kongers will always remember what happened on June 4," she said.
Groups of up to eight are allowed to gather in Hong Kong under the
territory's virus rules.
But police sources told the South China Morning Post that if different groups gathered for a "common purpose", they would be moved on.
The US and Taiwan have both called on China to apologise for the Tiananmen crackdown.
"Around the world, there are 365 days in a year. Yet in China,
one of those days is purposely forgotten each year
," Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen tweeted. Secretary of State
Mike Pompeo tweeted a photo of him meeting prominent Tiananmen survivors
.
China's foreign ministry said the calls were "complete nonsense".
"The great achievements since the founding of new China over the past 70 or so years fully demonstrates that the developmental path China has chosen is completely correct," spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters.
Grace Tsoi, BBC World Service, Hong Kong
Hong Kong's candlelight vigil commemorating Tiananmen has always been a very organised affair, involving electric screens and professional sound equipment. There would be many speeches and flower tributes.
Not this year. Metal barriers blocked the football pitches at Victoria Park, until people removed them to gain access.
Despite the ban, tens of thousands still flocked to the park with a sense of urgency.
"The national security law will be passed and our freedom of assembly is disappearing. But we can't let history be forgotten," said Amy, who is in her late 20s. She was attending the vigil for the first time.
At 20:00 local time, the people observed a moment of silence with a white candle or a mobile phone light.
Slogans ranging from "liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times" and even "one Hong Kong, one nation" were chanted.
Many question whether the vigil will be allowed in the future.
The new law carries penalties of steep fines and up to three years in prison for anyone who shows disrespect to China's national anthem, the March of the Volunteers.
It also requires that schoolchildren in the territory be taught the anthem and its history.
Many in Hong Kong see it as another move by Beijing to impose its will and weaken the region's "one country, two systems" policy.
The bill was passed by 41 votes to one in the Legislative Council - Hong Kong's parliament - on Thursday, despite attempts by opposition members to disrupt it. Pro-democracy legislators abstained from voting,
the South China Morning Post reported
.
In recent years, the Chinese anthem has frequently been booed before matches involving the Hong Kong football team. Many fans have instead sung Glory to Hong Kong, which has become a rallying cry for pro-democracy activists.
The Chinese government wants a new security law for Hong Kong, which would make it a crime to undermine Beijing's authority.
The law could also see China installing its own security agencies in the city for the first time.
Critics fear the law would further erode Hong Kong's freedoms.
They also fear the bill could mean no more Tiananmen Square vigils in Hong Kong - even after the virus threat has eased.
The draft law was passed by China's rubber-stamp parliament, the National People's Congress, and is expected to come into force by September.
The proposal sparked
renewed protests
in Hong Kong. When the government last tried to introduce a national security law in 2003, it backed down after public anger.
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16cfe4629804bdf5aa8e4bbea1450d16 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-55357495?xtor=AL-72-%5Bpartner%5D-%5Byahoo.north.america%5D-%5Blink%5D-%5Bnews%5D-%5Bbizdev%5D-%5Bisapi%5D | The Hong Kong migrants fleeing to start new lives in the UK | The Hong Kong migrants fleeing to start new lives in the UK
The UK will introduce a new visa at the end of January that will give 5.4 million Hong Kong residents - a staggering 70% of the territory's population - the right to come and live in the UK, and eventually become citizens.
It is making this "generous" offer to residents of its former colony because it believes China is undermining Hong Kong's rights and freedoms.
Not everyone will come. Some of those eligible to leave have expressed their determination to stay and continue the fight for democracy.
In the end, Britain estimates that about 300,000 will take up the visa offer over the next five years.
But some are so keen to leave that they are already in the UK, including Andy Li and his wife Teri Wong.
The couple moved to the city of York with their daughter Gudelia and son Paul in October, shortly after Britain announced it was planning to launch the new visa scheme.
They made the move primarily for their children.
"We feel that the things we treasure about Hong Kong - our core values - are fading over time," said Mr Li.
"So we decided we needed to provide a better opportunity for our children, not only for their education, but also for their futures."
For Mr Li, Britain provides the kind of society - the rule of law, freedom of speech, democratic elections - that he longed for in Hong Kong.
Mrs Wong said she wanted her children to be able to say what they wanted at school, not like in Hong Kong, where they had to be careful. "That's not the life we want them to have," she said.
Britain has allowed Hong Kong residents like Mr Li and his family to move to the UK even before the new visa comes into force.
But from 31 January, they can begin the process of applying for citizenship, which will take six years.
In the meantime, they will have to fund themselves, although they will be able to get healthcare and have their children educated.
Gudelia, who is 14, and Paul, 11, have already found a new school.
Mr Li continues to work remotely for a Chinese electronics company based in Shenzhen, the Chinese city just over the border from Hong Kong.
The family are excited about their new life, but others have arrived with less of a sense of starting something good as fleeing something bad.
One person who did not want to be identified came to Britain recently after taking part in pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong in 2019.
"I fear for the safety and security of the friends and family who decided to stay behind," the 23-year-old told the BBC.
"And I am afraid I will also become a target for the Hong Kong authorities because of my active participation in the protests."
But even this person has hope for a better life: "Being granted a chance to live here is a dream come true."
Since the UK handed back its former colony 23 years ago, relatively few of the territory's residents - less than 16,000 - have become British citizens.
That is certain to change, partly because the new visa scheme appears to offer few hurdles for the millions eligible to apply.
"I had clients applying to Canada, Australia and Taiwan who suspended their applications and now want to go to the UK," said Andrew Lo, a Hong Kong immigration adviser.
Another consultant in the territory, Colin Bloomfield, said the visa provisions did appear generous, although he said Britain might add more requirements that would make it harder to move.
The scheme is open to Hong Kong residents who claimed British National (Overseas), or BNO, status before the handover in 1997. A total of 2.9 million people registered and so can apply for the new visa.
Their dependants - an additional two-and-a-half million people - are also eligible to travel with them.
Teri Wong is the only person in her family who has registered for BNO status, but she has been allowed to bring her husband, who was born in China, and their two children to Britain with her.
Although the British government admits that as many as one million people could apply for the visa over the next five years, it thinks only a few hundred thousand will actually do so.
It believes most people will choose to remain in Hong Kong.
Some residents will not want to leave behind elderly parents or learn a new language; the British weather is certain to dissuade others.
Many do not want to abandon the territory to its fate.
"There is a certain number of people who do not want to leave, particularly the young. They would rather die in Hong Kong," said Mr Lo.
"I have a lot of clients who fight with their kids because the children don't want to emigrate. They say: 'Why should I leave? I should try my best to change this place'."
More about China-Hong Kong tensions here:
There is also the difficulty of finding work in Britain, as the country tries to recover from the coronavirus pandemic, and Brexit.
And if enough come, new arrivals could face resentment from British people who oppose too much immigration.
"In the cold light of day, many will decide to stay in Hong Kong," said Mr Bloomfield, whose company is called British Connections.
Regardless of how many apply, the British government said it had no choice but to offer Hong Kong people an escape route.
"This is not a question of numbers," said a Home Office spokesperson.
"The government is committed to giving British National (Overseas) citizens in Hong Kong a choice to come to the UK, fulfilling our historic commitment to them."
Britain believes that when China imposed its national security law on Hong Kong earlier this year, it breached the terms of the handover agreement signed by the two countries.
The space for expressing opinions that the Chinese government does not like has certainly narrowed since the law came into effect in July.
In the end, the number of Hong Kong residents emigrating to Britain might depend on how much more Beijing decides to squeeze.
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89bd07cdcca04b7a5e8b4eb7c6b323d4 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-55729437? | Prada drops Chinese actress over alleged surrogacy row | Prada drops Chinese actress over alleged surrogacy row
Luxury fashion house Prada has dropped a popular Chinese actress at the centre of a row over surrogacy.
It has been alleged that Zheng Shuang abandoned two children born to surrogates abroad, after splitting up with her partner.
Condemnation of the actress poured out online after the news broke, with many calling for her to be barred from the entertainment industry.
She has since spoken out in her own defence. Surrogacy is illegal in China.
Within days of the scandal emerging, the Prada Group - which, according to local media, had only unveiled the actress as its face of China a week ago - released a statement on its page on the social media site Weibo saying the "significant recent media coverage" of Ms Zheng's "personal life" led them to terminate "all relations".
Earlier this week, Zheng Shuang's ex-partner Zhang Heng took to Weibo to address speculation about why he had been abroad for an extended period of time.
He revealed he had been taking care of "two young and innocent lives" - his children. Mr Zhang also added that he was stuck in the US, calling his situation "helpless".
His post quickly captured the attention of social media users - and it wasn't long before domestic media outlets found the children's birth certificates, which showed they were born in the US to two separate women in late 2019 and early 2020.
What's more, Ms Zheng was listed as their mother - which surprised some, as the actress has never been seen in public visibly pregnant.
The intense speculation over the potential use of surrogates appeared to be confirmed by a tape leaked online, in which Ms Zheng is heard expressing frustration that it was too late for the pregnancies to be terminated.
A report in state-run newspaper Global Times said the women were about seven months pregnant.
A man who is reportedly Ms Zheng's father is then heard suggesting that the children could be given up for adoption.
The recording was met with a barrage of anger, many calling the actress "cruel" and accusing her of being an irresponsible mother.
In a statement on Tuesday, Ms Zheng made reference to an audio recording, saying it was only a clip taken from a "six-hour"-long conversation. She also added that she would not "run away from what I have said" - though it was not clear exactly what she was referring to.
Local media suggests Mr Zhang cannot enter China with the children without her signing paperwork.
State broadcaster CCTV put out a strongly worded statement saying that China prohibited "all kinds of surrogacy", saying "surrogacy and abandoning children are against social morals and public order".
The hashtag #DoYouSupportSurrogacy began trending on Weibo, with many calling it morally unethical, adding that it was an option only open to rich people who could afford to hire surrogates overseas.
Meanwhile, state media outlet The Global Times quoted a Beijing-based matrimonial lawyer as saying that while surrogacy is illegal in China, those who pay for such services overseas could not be charged under local laws.
However, the lawyer added that her "abandonment of her children" was still "subject to the jurisdiction of Chinese laws".
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22cb6ec98d9ffdf3d86f6eed4d249c3a | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-55926248 | China promotes education drive to make boys more 'manly' | China promotes education drive to make boys more 'manly'
A notice from China's education ministry has caused a stir after it suggested young Chinese men had become too "feminine". The message has been criticised as sexist by many online users - but some say China's male celebrities are partly to blame.
For a while China's government has signalled concern that the country's most popular male role models are no longer strong, athletic figures like "army heroes". Even President Xi Jinping, a well-known football enthusiast, has long been seeking to cultivate better sports stars.
So last week,
the education ministry issued a notice
with a title that left no doubt about its ultimate goal.
The Proposal to Prevent the Feminisation of Male Adolescents called on schools to fully reform their offerings on physical education and strengthen their recruitment of teachers.
The text advised recruiting retired athletes and people from sporting backgrounds - and "vigorously developing" particular sports like football with a view to "cultivating students' masculinity".
It is a decisive push in a country where the media does not really allow for anything other than squeaky clean, "socially responsible" stars.
But there were some earlier signs suggesting such a move was coming. Last May, a delegate of China's top advisory body, Si Zefu, said that many of China's young males had become
"weak, timid, and self-abasing"
.
There was a trend among young Chinese males towards "feminisation", he claimed, which "would inevitably endanger the survival and development of the Chinese nation" unless it was "effectively managed".
Si Zefu said the home environment was partly to blame, with most Chinese boys being raised by their mothers or grandmothers. He also noted that the growing appeal of certain male celebrities meant that many children "did not want to be 'army heroes'" anymore.
So, he suggested, schools should play a greater role in ensuring young Chinese get a balanced education.
The overwhelming majority of Chinese reaction to the notice has been negative. Hundreds of thousands of Chinese have taken to social media to voice their anger, with many branding the government's message sexist.
"Is feminisation now a derogatory term?" one Weibo user asked, receiving over 200,000 likes. Another said: "Boys are also humans… being emotional, timid or gentle, these are human characteristics."
"What are men afraid of? Being the same as women?" one asked.
"There are 70 million more men than women in this country," another claimed. "No country in the world has such a deformed sex ratio. Isn't that masculine enough?"
Another said: "None of these proposals have come from women."
They might be right there - much has been written previously on how China's top leadership is
significantly male-dominated
.
From some in the media, though, there was a positive reception for the drive. The Global Times newspaper noted it
had "won some support"
.
On social media platform Sina Weibo, comments pointed towards China's male celebrities being to blame, largely those who are known as "little fresh meats" (小鲜肉). This is a buzzword that refers to young, Chinese male icons who are seen as squeaky-clean, well-groomed, and with delicate features.
Boyband TF Boys and Chinese singer Lu Han fall into this category, as do many K-pop stars.
While figures like basketball player Yao Ming have found overseas fame, it is notable that football specifically is included in the proposal.
That should not come as a surprise. President Xi has previously spoken of his hopes that the country will become a
"world football superpower"
by 2050.
But repeated attempts to try and up China's football game have failed, and have been mocked as an apparently impossible task. This was the response two years ago when Marcello Lippi, who led Italy to win the 2006 FIFA World Cup,
resigned as coach of China's national football team
.
Meanwhile, the government has been on a drive in recent months to introduce and promote new role models for young Chinese.
Where women are concerned, the Covid-19 pandemic has been a good opportunity to demonstrate
the significant role of women as front-line workers
.
And China's achievements in space last year were a great opportunity to promote figures like Zhou Chengyu, who became a viral sensation as a
24-year-old space commander
.
But as Si Zefu hinted last year, for young Chinese men the appeal of being strong and fearless soldiers, policemen or firefighters is waning.
The "little fresh meats" phenomenon continues to be a proven success, but young male celebrities come under increased scrutiny, and find it difficult to be anything that departs from the squeaky-clean mould.
In recent years, media have struggled to allow young male stars to appear on Chinese screens
with tattoos
or
earrings
. And one of China's top pop stars came under fierce criticism online in 2019
when he was pictured smoking
.
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481362a680ea4fd4f6c7417b82623875 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-56194622 | China's Xi declares victory in ending extreme poverty | China's Xi declares victory in ending extreme poverty
Chinese President Xi Jinping says his country has achieved the "miracle" of eradicating extreme poverty.
His government says that over an eight-year period, nearly 100 million people have been lifted out of poverty.
Speaking at a ceremony in Beijing, Mr Xi said it was a "complete victory" that would "go down in history".
But some experts have questioned the way this has been measured. In China, extreme poverty is defined as earning less than $620 (£440) a year.
In his speech on Thursday, Mr Xi said the "arduous task of eradicating extreme poverty has been fulfilled".
"According to the current criteria, all 98.99 million poor rural population have been taken out of poverty, and 832 poverty-stricken counties as well as 128,000 villages have been removed from the poverty list," he said.
Eradicating rural poverty has been a key initiative of Mr Xi's since he came to power in 2012.
China announced late last year that it had removed the last remaining counties from a list of poor regions, which officials said meant it had achieved the goal of eliminating extreme poverty by the end of 2020.
At the ceremony on Thursday, Mr Xi handed out medals to key figures in the poverty fight.
But some experts say that China has set a low bar in its definition of poverty, and that ongoing investment is needed in its poorest areas.
The threshold set by China to define extreme poverty amounts to $1.69 a day at current exchange rates, compared to the World Bank's global threshold of $1.90, Reuters news agency reports.
Wide income inequalities also continue to exist in the country.
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8f049a73d5aa4fec5d33b2134e50fbb2 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-56196977 | China denies requiring anal swabs from US diplomats | China denies requiring anal swabs from US diplomats
China has denied that it required US diplomats to undergo anal swab tests for coronavirus.
US media reported that diplomats had complained after being made to undergo the procedure.
Some Chinese cities have introduced anal swabs, with experts there claiming they can "increase the detection rate of infected people".
The country has largely brought the virus under control.
China's foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian denied the claims on Thursday, telling a press conference that "China has never required US diplomatic staff stationed in China to conduct anal swab tests".
Last week, the Washington Post reported that some workers had told the US state department that they had been subjected to the tests.
Anal swabs involve inserting a cotton swab 3-5cm (1.2-2.0 inches) into the anus and gently rotating it.
It is not known how many US diplomats may have had the test.
"The State Department never agreed to this kind of testing and protested directly to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
when we learned that some staff were subject to it
," a state department spokesperson told Vice News on Wednesday.
The state department added that it was told by Beijing that the test was given "in error".
China introduced anal swabs in January. Li Tongzeng, a respiratory and infectious disease doctor in Beijing told state media that anal tests can avoid missing infections as virus traces are detectable for a longer time than the more common Covid tests used in the mouth and nose.
However he emphasised that these tests were only needed for certain people such as those under quarantine.
Analysis by Kerry Allen, BBC China media analyst
It was quite an unusual moment for Chinese netizens to hear the foreign ministry spokesman, Zhao Lijian, talk about anal swabbing.
It's igniting significant chatter on Chinese social media platform Sina Weibo. In particular, a lot of users are joking about how Americans are so potty-mouthed when it comes to China, that it would be expected they would mistake an oral swab for an anal one.
Some question the authenticity of the US diplomats' claims, and perceive that this is yet another "rumour" to "discredit" China over its Covid-19 handling.
There has been a lot of bad sentiment between China and the US over the last year. China has criticised the US government under former president Trump for exacerbating anti-Chinese sentiment by repeatedly calling Covid-19 the "China virus" and "Kung flu", and downplaying China's Covid-19 successes.
Many in China are of the view that the US needs to do some self-reflection on its own handling of the virus, before preaching on decency.
"500,000 American people are dead," says one user, referencing the US' Covid-19 death toll. "Is that dignity?"
|
6e0fa4b6c85068d4d7c1f9ca52b02a3d | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-56215627 | China celebrates colourful Lantern Festival | China celebrates colourful Lantern Festival
Villages and cities all over China have been transformed into a sea of bright light to mark the end of Chinese New Year celebrations.
The Lantern Festival comes two weeks after Chinese New Year's day, which was on 12 February.
It is a time for family reunions and visits to crowded lantern-lighting shows and some riddle-solving.
But last year's festivities were muted because of the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
All images copyright.
|
9b33ed8de3cbca2a23f635582eac445d | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-56228363 | Hong Kong charges 47 activists in largest use yet of new security law | Hong Kong charges 47 activists in largest use yet of new security law
Police in Hong Kong have charged 47 activists with "subversion", in the largest use yet of the territory's controversial security law.
The 47,
among a group of 55 arrested in dawn raids last month
, were told to report to police stations for detention ahead of court appearances on Monday.
Beijing enforced the law criminalising "subversive" acts last year, saying it was needed to bring stability.
Critics say it has silenced dissent and stripped Hong Kong of its autonomy.
The law came into force after a series of mass pro-democracy protests in 2019, some of which turned violent.
On Monday, hundreds of protesters gathered to show support at the West Kowloon Magistrates Court in Hong Kong where the 47 pro-democracy activists were due to face charges of conspiracy to commit subversion.
As supporters queued for seats at the hearing, many dressed in black - the colour protesters have been wearing while demonstrating - some chanted slogans including "liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times" and "fight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong".
Police warned those gathered to split into groups of no more than four or face fines.
Those ordered to report to the police - 39 men and eight women, aged between 23 and 64 - are pro-democracy activists who had helped run an unofficial "primary" election last June to pick opposition candidates for 2020 legislative elections, which were then postponed.
Chinese and Hong Kong officials say the primary was an attempt to overthrow the government.
On Sunday, Hong Kong police said in a statement: "Police this afternoon laid a charge against 47 persons... with one count of 'conspiracy to commit subversion'."
They are some of the territory's best-known democracy campaigners.
They include veterans such as Benny Tai and Leung Kwok-hung, and younger protesters like Gwyneth Ho, Sam Cheung and Lester Shum.
Jimmy Sham, 33, a key organiser of the 2019 protests, remained defiant as he went to the police station.
"Democracy is never a gift from heaven. It must be earned by many with strong will," he said. "We will remain strong and fight for what we want."
Before turning herself in, Gwyneth Ho posted: "I hope everyone can find their road to peace of mind and then press forward with indomitable will."
Sam Cheung said: "I hope everyone won't give up on Hong Kong... fight on."
The charges carry a maximum term of life imprisonment. Bail is unlikely. Benny Tai said his chances were "not too great".
About 100 people have so far been arrested under the security law, including prominent China critic and
media tycoon Jimmy Lai, who was denied bail and is in detention awaiting trial.
.
No trials have yet begun in full. The first is expected to be that of Tong Ying-kit, who is accused of riding a motorcycle into police officers last July. He appeared in court in November to enter a not guilty plea. He is expected to be tried by three judges rather than a jury.
Amnesty International described the January raids that detained the 55 as "the starkest demonstration yet of how the national security law has been weaponised to punish anyone who dares to challenge the establishment".
A former British colony, Hong Kong was handed back to China in 1997 but under the "one country, two systems" principle.
It was supposed to guarantee certain freedoms for the territory - including freedom of assembly and speech, an independent judiciary and some democratic rights - which mainland China does not have.
But the National Security Law has reduced Hong Kong's autonomy and made it easier to punish demonstrators.
The legislation introduced new crimes, including penalties of up to life in prison. Anyone found to have conspired with foreigners to provoke "hatred" of the Chinese government or the Hong Kong authorities may have committed a crime.
Trials can be held in secret and without a jury, and cases can be taken over by the mainland authorities. Mainland security personnel can legally operate in Hong Kong with impunity.
After the law was introduced, a number of pro-democracy groups disbanded out of fears for their safety.
Responding on Sunday, UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said the latest charges demonstrated how the law was being used to "eliminate political dissent".
"The National Security Law violates the Joint Declaration, and its use in this way contradicts the promises made by the Chinese government, and can only further undermine confidence that it will keep its word on such sensitive issues," he added in a statement.
|
4a8fc9be4bdeda38f4bea2ff1a862703 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-56250915 | 'If the others go I'll go': Inside China's scheme to transfer Uighurs into work | 'If the others go I'll go': Inside China's scheme to transfer Uighurs into work
China's policy of transferring hundreds of thousands of Uighurs and other ethnic minorities in Xinjiang to new jobs often far from home is leading to a thinning out of their populations, according to a high-level Chinese study seen by the BBC.
The government denies that it is attempting to alter the demographics of its far-western region and says the job transfers are designed to raise incomes and alleviate chronic rural unemployment and poverty.
But our evidence suggests that - alongside the re-education camps built across Xinjiang in recent years - the policy involves a high risk of coercion and is similarly designed to assimilate minorities by changing their lifestyles and thinking.
The study, which was meant for the eyes of senior officials but accidentally placed online, forms part of a BBC investigation based on propaganda reports, interviews, and visits to factories across China.
And we ask questions about the possible connections between transferred Uighur labour and two major western brands, as international concern mounts over the extent to which it is already ingrained in global supply chains.
In a village in southern Xinjiang, hay is being gathered in the fields and families are placing fruit and flatbreads on their supas, the low platforms around which Uighur family life has traditionally revolved.
But the warm wind blowing across the Taklamakan desert is bringing with it worry and change.
The video report, broadcast by China's Communist Party-run news channel, shows a group of officials in the centre of the village, sitting under a red banner advertising jobs in Anhui Province, 4,000km away.
After two full days, the reporter's narration says, not a single person from the village has come forward to sign up, and so the officials begin moving from house to house.
What follows is some of the most compelling footage of China's massive campaign to transfer Uighurs, Kazakhs and other minorities in Xinjiang into factory and manual labouring jobs, often considerable distances from their homes.
Although it was broadcast in 2017, around the time the policy began to be intensified, the video has not featured in international news reporting until now.
The officials speak to one father who is clearly reluctant to send his daughter, Buzaynap, so far away.
"There must be someone else who'd like to go," he tries to plead. "We can make our living here, let us live a life like this."
They speak directly to 19-year old Buzaynap, telling her that, if she stays she will be married soon and never able to leave.
"Have a think, will you go?" they ask.
Under the intense scrutiny of the government officials and state-TV journalists she shakes her head and replies, "I won't go."
Still, the pressure continues until eventually, weeping, she concedes.
"I'll go if others go," she says.
The film ends with tearful goodbyes between mothers and daughters as Buzaynap and other similarly "mobilised" recruits leave their family and culture behind.
Professor Laura Murphy is an expert in human rights and contemporary slavery at the UK's Sheffield Hallam University who lived in Xinjiang between 2004 and 2005 and has visited since.
"This video is remarkable," she told the BBC.
"The Chinese government continually says that people are volunteering to engage in these programmes, but this absolutely reveals that this is a system of coercion that people are not allowed to resist."
"The other thing it shows is this ulterior motive," she said, "that although the narrative is one of lifting people out of poverty, there's a drive to entirely change people's lives, to separate families, disperse the population, change their language, their culture, their family structures, which is more likely to increase poverty than to decrease it."
A marked shift in China's approach to its governance of Xinjiang can be traced back to two brutal attacks on pedestrians and commuters - in Beijing in 2013 and the city of Kunming in 2014 - which it blamed on Uighur Islamists and separatists.
At the heart of its response - in both the camps and the work transfer schemes - has been a drive to replace "old" Uighur loyalties to culture and the Islamic faith with a "modern" materialist identity and an enforced allegiance to the Communist Party.
This overarching goal of assimilating Uighurs into China's majority Han culture is made clear by an in-depth Chinese study of Xinjiang's job-transfer scheme, circulated to senior Chinese officials and seen by the BBC.
Based on field work conducted in Xinjiang's Hotan Prefecture in May 2018, the report was inadvertently made publicly available online in December 2019 and then subsequently taken down a few months later.
Written by a group of academics from Nankai University in the Chinese city of Tianjin, it concludes that the mass labour transfers are "an important method to influence, meld and assimilate Uighur minorities" and bring about a "transformation of their thinking."
Uprooting them and relocating them elsewhere in the region or in other Chinese provinces, it says, "reduces Uighur population density."
The report was discovered online by an overseas-based Uighur who passed it to Dr Adrian Zenz, a senior fellow at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation in Washington.
Before the university realized its error, Dr Zenz
saved the report (in Chinese)
on a web-archive site and has now written his own
analysis
of it, which includes an English translation of the full document.
"This is an unprecedented, authoritative source written by leading academics and former government officials with high-level access to Xinjiang itself," Dr Zenz told the BBC.
"The excess surplus population that somehow has to be dealt with, and labour transfers as a means to reduce the concentration of those workers in their own heartlands is, in my opinion, the most stunning admission of this report."
His analysis includes a legal opinion from Erin Farrell Rosenberg, a former senior advisor to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, that the Nankai Report provides "credible grounds" for the crimes against humanity of forcible transfer and persecution.
In a written statement, the Chinese foreign ministry said, "The report reflects only the author's personal view and much of its contents are not in line with the facts."
"We hope that journalists will use the authoritative information released by the Chinese government as the basis for reporting on Xinjiang."
The Nankai report authors write glowingly of an effort to combat poverty underwritten by a "guarantee of voluntariness" in the work placements, and with the factories allowing the workers to "leave and return freely."
But those claims are somewhat at odds with the level of detail they provide about the way the policy works in practice.
There are "targets" to be reached, with Hotan Prefecture alone - at the time the study was undertaken - having already exported 250,000 workers, one fifth of its total working age population.
There is pressure to meet the targets, with recruiting stations set up "in every village" and officials tasked to "mobilize collectively" and "visit households," just as in 19-year-old Buzaynap's case.
And there are signs of control at every stage, with all recruits put through "political thought education," then transported to the factories in groups - sometimes as many as hundreds at a time - and "led and accompanied by political cadres in order to implement security and management."
Farmers unwilling to leave their lands or herds behind are encouraged to transfer them to a centralized government scheme that manages them in their absence.
And once they arrive in their new factory jobs, workers themselves are put under the "centralized management" of officials who "eat and live" with them.
But the report also notes that the profound discrimination at the heart of the system is getting in the way of its effective functioning, with local police forces in eastern China so alarmed by the arrival of trainloads of Uighurs, that they are sometimes turned back.
In places, it even warns that China's policies in Xinjiang may have been too extreme, for example, stating that the number of people placed in the re-education camps "far exceeds" those with suspected connections to extremism.
"The entire Uighur population should not be assumed to be rioters," it says.
The Huafu Textile Company is located on the edge of a grey industrial estate in the city of Huaibei, in China's eastern province of Anhui.
It was to this factory that Buzaynap, featured in the state-TV report, was sent.
When the BBC visited, the separate, five-story Uighur dormitory showed few signs of habitation apart from a pair of shoes placed by an open window.
At the gate, the security guard said that the Uighur workers "have gone back home," adding that it was because of the country's Covid controls, and in a statement Huafu told us that, "the company does not currently employ Xinjiang workers."
The BBC was able to find pillowcases made with Huafu yarn on sale on Amazon's UK website, although it is not possible to confirm if the product is linked to the particular factory we visited, or one of the company's other facilities.
Amazon told the BBC that it does not tolerate the use of forced labour and that where it finds products that do not meet its supply chain standards, it removes them from sale.
The BBC worked with a group of international journalists based in China, visiting a total of six factories between us.
At the Dongguan Luzhou Shoes factory in Guangdong Province, one worker said the Uighur employees used separate dormitories and their own canteen, and another local told reporters that the company makes shoes for Skechers.
The factory has previously been linked to the US company, with unverified social media videos purportedly showing Uighur workers making Skechers product lines, and references to a relationship in online Chinese business directories.
In a statement, Skechers said it had "zero tolerance for forced labour," but did not answer questions about whether it used Dongguan Luzhou as a supplier.
Dongguan Luzhou did not respond to a request for comment.
Interviews recorded at the scene suggest the Uighur workers were free to leave the factory during their leisure time, but at other factories visited for the research, the evidence was more mixed.
In at least two cases, reporters were told of some restrictions, and at one facility in the city of Wuhan a Han Chinese employee told the BBC that his 200 or so Uighur colleagues were not allowed out at all.
Three months after Buzaynap was shown leaving her village to begin her political education training, the Chinese state-TV crew meet her again, this time in the Huafu Textile Company in Anhui.
The theme of assimilation is, once again, central to the news report.
In one scene, Buzaynap is close to tears as she is scolded for her mistakes, but eventually, a transformation is said to be taking place.
"The timid girl who didn't speak and kept her head down," we are told, "is gaining authority at work."
"Lifestyles are changing and thoughts are changing."
Producer: Kathy Long
|
90fe021a2898e47254afd1a081bc4478 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-56264117 | China NPC: Beijing to overhaul Hong Kong electoral system | China NPC: Beijing to overhaul Hong Kong electoral system
China's top law-making body has unveiled plans to ensure only "patriots" can govern Hong Kong, as Beijing tightens its grip on the city with changes to the electoral system.
Premier Li Keqiang, addressing the National People's Congress (NPC), warned the world not to interfere.
The move follows the imposition of a tough security law.
Critics say Beijing is crushing dissent and removing the "one country, two systems" agreement it made with the UK.
Under the agreement, Hong Kong, a former British colony, was allowed to continue with its own legal system and have rights including free speech and freedom of the press.
Lord Chris Patten, former governor of Hong Kong, said China's Communist Party had "taken the biggest step so far to obliterate Hong Kong's freedoms and aspirations for greater democracy under the rule of law".
The EU has warned that it may take "additional steps" over the plans announced on Friday.
It called on Beijing to "carefully consider the political and economic implications on any decision to reform the electoral system of Hong Kong that would undermine fundamental freedoms, political pluralism and democratic principles".
Fears that Hong Kong's "one country, two systems model" was being eroded led to huge pro-democracy protests in 2019. Some turned violent and Beijing imposed the National Security Law, which it said would target "sedition" and bring stability.
Thousands of lawmakers have gathered for the annual NPC meeting in Beijing. The rubber-stamp parliament is expected to also discuss and approve economic growth targets and environmental policies from the central government.
NPC vice-chairman Wang Chen announced to the NPC that changes were needed as "the rioting and turbulence that occurred in Hong Kong society reveals that the existing electoral system has clear loopholes and deficiencies". He said "risks in the system" needed to be removed to ensure "patriots" were in charge.
Premier Li warned that China would "resolutely guard against and deter" interference by external forces in Hong Kong's affairs.
The week-long NPC will discuss the elections issue and no text has yet been made public, although Mr Wang and media sources did set out some areas to be discussed.
The city's heavily pro-Beijing electoral committee would get new powers over the parliament, or Legislative Council (LegCo).
The committee would effectively be able to vet all LegCo candidates and elect many of its members, diluting the number directly elected by the public.
Ian Chong, politics professor at the National University of Singapore, told the BBC: "In 2019, the pan-democrats did extremely well [in local elections], which was alarming to the CCP [Chinese Communist Party], because it showed that all their negative rhetoric didn't seem to be working.
"I think for the CCP, they really want to remove the voices that they don't like to hear."
Willie Lam, China analyst at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, told the AFP news agency that if the new NPC measures passed as he expected they would "effectively wipe out any remaining opposition".
It's kind of incredible that the Chinese government felt the need to change what was already an electoral system heavily rigged in favour of the pro-Beijing camp.
With only half the members of the territory's mini parliament directly elected, and the other half installed by political allies, why the change?
What must have spooked the Communist Party was the drubbing handed to them at the hands of pro-democracy candidates at the most recent district council elections - with those advocating democratic reform taking control of all but one municipality.
Now, after the coming electoral "rebuild" is ushered in - and it will be, given that it has been introduced to the rubber-stamp National People's Congress process - there won't be even the pretence of democratic elections in Hong Kong.
An election committee - controlled by Beijing - will not only screen all candidates standing in elections, but also directly appoint "a large proportion" of the Legislative Council.
It will be almost impossible for any candidate advocating democratic change to be elected to office - and that's the way China's senior leadership likes it.
The Basic Law, agreed with the UK before the return of sovereignty in 1997, allowed for an "ultimate aim" of universal suffrage, including the choice of leader, or chief executive.
Subsequent NPC Standing Committee rulings, however, ensured Beijing would have control over who was appointed.
Pro-democracy moves continued and came to a head with mass rallies in 2019.
Last year, Beijing imposed the security law
.
Scores of arrests have been made. Last week, 47 pro-democracy activists were charged with "subversion" under the new law and could face life in prison.
They were involved in preparations for last year's LegCo elections, which the government then postponed.
Benedict Rogers, chief executive of Hong Kong Watch, an NGO that monitors developments in the city, said: "Under these reforms, the majority of Hong Kongers face permanent political disenfranchisement, with any candidate who offers criticism of Beijing or support for Hong Kong's autonomy and democracy effectively barred from participation.
"Of course, most of the democratic slate [protesters] are now in jail anyway,"
he said in a statement
.
The annual meeting has nearly 3,000 delegates representing provinces, autonomous regions, and the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau.
While the NPC in theory is the country's most powerful institution, in reality the lawmakers usually end up approving plans and policies decided beforehand by the central government.
On Friday, Mr Li said
the country had set its economic growth target at above 6%.
and updated the NPC on climate control targets.
Over the next few days, the congress will also formally approve the 14th Five-Year-Plan - the economic strategy for the country.
President Xi Jinping is also likely to highlight China's achievement in "eradicating absolute poverty" - something the country announced last week.
Prof Chong told the BBC that the "success of China in dealing with Covid" was also set to feature large.
The pandemic is largely under control, and for the majority of people, life has gone back to normal.
Reporting by Yvette Tan
|
41bb3b89cad68ce5c3b64fa55b0e965f | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-56281684 | Hong Kong activists: 15 of 47 granted bail but remain detained pending appeal | Hong Kong activists: 15 of 47 granted bail but remain detained pending appeal
Fifteen of 47 Hong Kong pro-democracy activists charged with subversion have been granted bail after a marathon hearing, but the entire group remains in custody pending an appeal.
They were charged under a new security law that critics say is being used by Beijing to crush dissent in the city.
China passed the law last year, saying it was required to bring stability.
The activists - 39 men and eight women - were
among a group of 55 people arrested in dawn raids last month
.
All 47 activists will remain in custody while the department of justice appeals against the bail ruling for the 15.
The activists are facing up to life in prison for the charge of conspiring to commit subversion, in the most sweeping application yet of the new national security law.
They include veterans of the protest movement like academic Benny Tai and politician Leung Kwok-hung, as well as younger protesters like Gwyneth Ho, Sam Cheung and Lester Shum.
The bail hearing for the 47 defendants began on Monday and only wrapped up on Thursday evening.
Police officers were deployed throughout to control the crowds as pro-democracy supporters queued for seats at the court.
By Grace Tsoi, BBC News, Hong Kong
Many people were in tears after finding out all 47 activists have to be remanded in custody, including the 15 who were granted bail by the magistrate.
Because of the large number of defendants, only they and their lawyers, plus the prosecutors, were present in the courtroom. Others, including family members, could only watch the live feeds in other courtrooms.
To the families of some defendants, the failure to get bail came as no surprise. There is a much higher threshold for bail under the National Security Law.
The defendants have had four uneasy days. Monday's session lasted for more than 13 hours. The judge only adjourned the hearing after one defendant fainted. Several other defendants were subsequently taken to hospital.
They had not even been given time to shower in the three days since they reported to police stations on Sunday. The latest hearing was delayed to allow this, after the defence raised the issue of personal hygiene.
The defendants are accused of running an unofficial "primary" election last June to pick opposition candidates for 2020 legislative elections, which the government then postponed.
Chinese and Hong Kong officials have claimed the primary was an attempt to overthrow the government.
About 100 people have so far been arrested under the security law, including prominent China critic and
media tycoon Jimmy Lai, who was denied bail and is in detention awaiting trial
.
The first trial under the new law is expected to be that of Tong Ying-kit, who is accused of riding a motorcycle into police officers last July. He appeared in court in November to enter a not guilty plea. He is expected to be tried by three judges rather than a jury.
Amnesty International described the January raids that detained the 55 as "the starkest demonstration yet of how the National Security Law has been weaponised to punish anyone who dares to challenge the establishment".
UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said on Monday that the decision to bring charges against the 47 was a "deeply disturbing" step that violated the joint declaration that Beijing had reached with Britain before the former colony was handed back to China.
Hong Kong's sovereignty returned to China in 1997 but under the "one country, two systems" principle. The principle was supposed to guarantee certain freedoms for the territory - including freedom of assembly and speech, an independent judiciary and some democratic rights, which mainland China does not have.
But the National Security Law has reduced Hong Kong's autonomy and made it easier to punish demonstrators. The legislation introduced new crimes, including penalties of up to life in prison.
Anyone found to have conspired with foreigners to provoke "hatred" of the Chinese government or the Hong Kong authorities may have committed a crime.
Trials can be held in secret and without a jury, and cases can be taken over by the mainland authorities. Mainland security personnel can legally operate in Hong Kong with impunity. After the law was introduced, a number of pro-democracy groups disbanded out of fears for their safety.
|
3394c62099f2f63e75d3d615bfe74b51 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-56296848 | China NPC: US condemns 'assault on Hong Kong democracy' | China NPC: US condemns 'assault on Hong Kong democracy'
The United States has condemned China's "continuing assault on democratic institutions in Hong Kong", after Beijing announced plans to change the electoral system there.
China's National People's Congress (NPC) unveiled the plans on Friday.
One proposal would require all candidates standing for Hong Kong's assembly to be approved by a committee of members loyal to Beijing.
The move follows the imposition of a tough security law last year.
Critics say Beijing is crushing dissent and removing the "one country, two systems" agreement it made with the UK.
Under the agreement, Hong Kong, a former British colony, was allowed to continue with its own legal system and have rights including free speech and freedom of the press.
Fears that that model is being eroded led to huge pro-democracy protests in 2019. Some turned violent and Beijing imposed the National Security Law, which it said would target "sedition" and bring stability.
Thousands of lawmakers have gathered for the annual NPC meeting in Beijing. The rubber-stamp parliament is expected to also discuss and approve economic growth targets and environmental policies from the central government.
State department spokesman Ned Price said the move was "a direct attack on Hong Kong's autonomy, Hong Kong's freedoms and the democratic processes".
"If implemented these measures would drastically undermine Hong Kong democratic institutions," he said.
Mr Price also said Washington was working with allies at "galvanising collective action" against alleged Chinese human rights abuses of Muslim minorities in Xinjiang and "repression" in Hong Kong.
Earlier the EU called on Beijing to "carefully consider the political and economic implications on any decision to reform the electoral system of Hong Kong that would undermine fundamental freedoms, political pluralism and democratic principles".
The UK Foreign Office, meanwhile, urged China's authorities to "uphold their commitments to the people of Hong Kong, including respecting their fundamental rights and freedoms, and Hong Kong's high degree of autonomy".
Lord Chris Patten, former British governor of Hong Kong, went further, saying China's Communist Party had "taken the biggest step so far to obliterate Hong Kong's freedoms and aspirations for greater democracy under the rule of law".
NPC vice-chairman Wang Chen told lawmakers that changes were needed as "the rioting and turbulence that occurred in Hong Kong society reveals that the existing electoral system has clear loopholes and deficiencies". He said "risks in the system" needed to be removed to ensure "patriots" were in charge.
Premier Li Keqiang warned that China would "resolutely guard against and deter" interference by external forces in Hong Kong's affairs.
The week-long NPC session will discuss the elections issue and no text has yet been made public, although Mr Wang and media sources did set out some areas to be discussed.
The city's heavily pro-Beijing electoral committee would get new powers over the parliament, or Legislative Council (LegCo).
The committee would effectively be able to vet all LegCo candidates and elect many of its members, diluting the number directly elected by the public.
Willie Lam, China analyst at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, told the AFP news agency that if the new NPC measures passed as he expected they would "effectively wipe out any remaining opposition".
The Basic Law, agreed with the UK before the return of sovereignty in 1997, allowed for an "ultimate aim" of universal suffrage, including the choice of leader, or chief executive.
Subsequent NPC Standing Committee rulings, however, ensured Beijing would have control over who was appointed.
Pro-democracy moves continued and came to a head with mass rallies in 2019.
Last year, Beijing imposed the security law
.
Scores of arrests have been made. Last week, 47 pro-democracy activists were charged with "subversion" under the new law and could face life in prison.
The annual meeting has nearly 3,000 delegates representing provinces, autonomous regions, and the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau.
While the NPC in theory is the country's most powerful institution, in reality the lawmakers usually end up approving plans and policies decided beforehand by the central government.
On Friday, Mr Li said
the country had set its economic growth target at above 6%.
and updated the NPC on climate control targets.
Over the next few days, the congress will also formally approve the 14th Five-Year-Plan - the economic strategy for the country.
President Xi Jinping is also likely to highlight China's achievement in "eradicating absolute poverty" - something the country announced last week.
|
037e17b6d0cbba3cac0aef938424e50c | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-56299849 | China zoo 'tries to pass dog off as wolf' | China zoo 'tries to pass dog off as wolf'
A zoo in central China has raised eyebrows this week after it was caught seemingly trying to pass off a dog as a wolf.
Social media footage appeared on Tuesday showing a visitor to the Xiangwushan Zoo in Xianning, Hubei province, visiting the zoo's wolf enclosure.
He filmed an animal that looked like a Rottweiler lying on its side in a cage, and said to the animal: "Woof! Are you a wolf?" in a short video that has since gone viral.
It has led to a lot of jokes online, but has also sparked debate about whether zoos are necessary in a post-Covid era, with many voicing concern about their maintenance.
Mr Xu, who filmed the footage, told Beijing News that he had asked staff at the park why there was a dog in the wolf's cage. He said he was told that there had been a wolf, but that it had "died of old age".
An employee confirmed this to local media, and said that the dog, which had been raised as a watchdog by the park,
was only being kept there temporarily.
But as the Shine.cn news website notes, he did also hint that the zoo had been financially struggling, saying it
"didn't have enough visitors to keep the zoo up and running well"
.
The park, which charges 15 yuan ($2.30; £1.70) and also keeps lions and tigers, has now been told by the local forestry bureau to remove the sign leading to the enclosure.
The incident has sparked a lot of discussion online. Many users on the popular Sina Weibo microblog say that it has given them a good laugh, although others say that they are "shocked" and that it actually makes them "a little sad".
"At least get a husky," one Weibo user says, noting that the breed would at least look more similar to a wolf. Their post received more than 6,000 likes.
Many users said they were relieved just to learn that the dog was not the wolf's dinner.
Some are talking about their own experiences as kids of visiting "poorly run" zoos, saying that reality never quite meets up to expectation.
There have been a number of well-publicised instances of zoos providing poor substitutes for wild animals.
In 2019, similar video footage showed a domestic dog in a wolf enclosure at the Jiufengshan Forest Park in the nearby city of Wuhan.
In 2017, a zoo in southern Guangxi promised penguins at its site, but
visitors arrived to find inflatable ones
.
In 2013, a Tibetan mastiff was passed off as
an African cat at a zoo in Henan
.
There have also been multiple cases overseas of
donkeys being painted to look like zebras
.
Although it has bemused many, this incident has also led others to voice concerns about the continued operation of such zoos.
While they are beneficial to local tourism, the Global Times newspaper notes that many zoos, especially smaller ones, "are struggling to survive nowadays", especially in the wake of the pandemic. There are users voicing fears that this could lead to animals being neglected.
In January, a popular zoo in the eastern city of Nanjing asked the public for donations, revealing that it had not been able to pay its employees' salaries
as a direct result of the Covid-19 pandemic
.
Xianning's local economy suffered significantly last year, as Hubei province felt the brunt of China's Covid-19 outbreak. The city is not far from Wuhan, the original Covid-19 epicentre, and was one of many cities in Hubei that went into strict lockdown between January and March 2020.
Animal rights activists have been repeatedly critical of China's zoos over the years. The South China Morning Post noted in 2017 that stories have perpetuated about
poor conditions and the maltreatment of animals at Chinese zoos
.
Animal protection laws are somewhat limited in China, but they have gradually been stepped up over the last year, as Covid-19 has led to crackdowns on activities where the hunting, trading or eating of wild animals could lead to disease.
But many in China have also been increasingly discussing how their own experiences of confinement during 2020 have led to them questioning
whether zoos need to be "gradually phased out"
and replaced by conservation or safari zones.
This was especially apparent last April, when footage circulated online showing a "depressed" tiger walking in circles around a cage at a zoo in Beijing.
Users took to Weibo to talk about how they now felt they had "been there" themselves, and some urged the return of wild animals to the "mountains and grasslands".
|
fc2aa174b646f0b63a15eebeb6866481 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-56311759 | Uighurs: Chinese foreign minister says genocide claims 'absurd' | Uighurs: Chinese foreign minister says genocide claims 'absurd'
China's foreign minister says allegations his country is carrying out genocide against Muslim ethnic Uighurs are "ridiculously absurd" and "a complete lie".
Wang Yi made the comments during his annual news conference on Sunday.
A number of nations, including the US, have used the term to describe Chinese treatment of Uighur people.
It comes amid growing evidence of abuses at "re-education camps" for Uighurs in Xinjiang province.
China has been accused of
carrying out forced sterilisations
on Uighur women and separating children from their families.
BBC investigations suggest that Uighurs are being used as forced labour and have revealed allegations of systematic rape and torture. China has banned BBC World News television over the corporation's coverage of the Uighur issue and coronavirus.
The UN says at least one million members of the Muslim minority are being held in the camps, which China says provide vocational training and are aimed at eradicating extremism.
But both the current and former US secretaries of state have described China's treatment of Uighurs as genocide, as have the Canadian and Dutch parliaments.
The UN's Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide defines it as acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.
The allegations have prompted calls in some countries to boycott the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
Speaking on Sunday, the minister said Western politicians were choosing to believe lies about what is happening in Xinjiang and said China would welcome people to visit the region.
"The so-called 'genocide' in Xinjiang is ridiculously absurd. It is a rumour with ulterior motives and a complete lie," the Reuters news agency quoted him as saying.
"When it comes to 'genocide', most people think of native North Americans in the 16th Century, African slaves in the 19th Century, Jews in the 20th Century, and the indigenous Australians who are still fighting today," he said, taking aim at the human rights records of some of the country's critics.
In January,
the US said that what it described as genocide in Xinjiang was ongoing
and "we are witnessing the systematic attempt to destroy Uighurs by the Chinese party-state".
Mr Wang also called on the US to remove "unreasonable" curbs on China in order to improve co-operation between the nations.
Asked about US frictions, including over Taiwan and the South China Sea dispute, Mr Wang said Beijing "will never accept baseless accusations and smears".
"It is hoped that the United States and China will meet each other halfway and lift the various unreasonable restrictions placed on Sino-US co-operation to date as soon as possible, and not create new obstacles artificially," he said.
President Joe Biden has described a growing rivalry with China as one of the key challenges facing his administration.
The minister addressed a number of other diplomatic issues at his annual news conference, held on the sidelines of the National People's Congress in Beijing.
He defended
newly announced plans to reform the electoral system in Hong Kong
, saying the changes were constitutional and justified.
"Hong Kong's transition from chaos to governance is fully in the interests of all parties," he insisted, claiming reform would bring a "brighter future" to the city.
Critics accuse Beijing of crushing dissent in Hong Kong and eroding rights under the the "one country, two systems" agreement it made with the UK.
Elsewhere, Mr Wang said China was willing to engage with "all parties" to ease the current situation in Myanmar, where the military seized power last month.
"China is... willing to contact and communicate with all parties on the basis of respecting Myanmar's sovereignty and the will of the people, so as to play a constructive role in easing tensions," he said.
On the coronavirus pandemic, Mr Wang said China would look to set up international vaccination sites, where local rules would allow, to help vaccinate its citizens living abroad.
|
8249345fa7295dca7e147a3747d31858 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-56563449 | The cost of speaking up against China | The cost of speaking up against China
Women who made allegations last month of rape and sexual abuse in Chinese detention camps have been harassed and smeared in the weeks since. Rights groups say the attacks are typical of an aggressive campaign by China to silence those who speak up.
Qelbinur Sedik was making breakfast when the video call came, and the sight of her sister's name made her nervous. Many months had passed since the two had spoken. In fact, many months had passed since Sedik had spoken to any of her family in China.
Sedik was in the kitchen of her temporary home in the Netherlands, where she shared a room with several other refugees, mostly from Africa. Two weeks earlier, she and three other women had spoken to the BBC for a story about
alleged rape and torture in China's secretive detention camps
in the Xinjiang region, where Sedik worked as a camp teacher.
Now her sister was calling.
She hit answer, but when the picture appeared it wasn't her sister on the screen, it was a policeman from her hometown in Xinjiang.
"What are you up to Qelbinur?" he said, smiling. "Who are you with?"
This was not the first time the officer had called from her sister's phone. This time, Sedik took a screenshot. When he heard the sound it made, the officer removed his numbered police jacket, Sedik said. She took another screenshot.
In conversations with the BBC over the past few weeks, 22 people who have left Xinjiang to live abroad described a pattern of threats, harassment, and public character attacks they said were designed to deter them from speaking out about alleged human rights abuses back home.
According to UN estimates, China has detained more than a million Uyghurs and other Muslims in camps in Xinjiang. The Chinese state has been accused of an array of abuses there including forced labour, sterilisation, torture, rape, and genocide. China denies those charges, saying its camps are "re-education" facilities for combatting terrorism.
Among the few who have fled Xinjiang and spoken publicly, many have received a call like the one to Sedik that morning - from a police officer or government official at their family home, or from a relative summoned to a police station. Sometimes the calls contain vague advice to consider the welfare of their family in Xinjiang, sometimes direct threats to detain and punish relatives.
Others have been publicly smeared in press conferences or state media videos; or been subjected to barrages of messages or hacking attempts directed at their phones. (Last week, Facebook said that it had discovered
"an extremely targeted operation"
emanating from China to hack Uyghur activists abroad.)
Some of those who spoke to the BBC - from the US, UK, Australia, Norway, the Netherlands, Finland, Germany, and Turkey - provided screenshots of threatening WhatsApp, WeChat and Facebook messages; others described in detail what had been said in phone and video calls. Everyone described some form of detention or harassment of their family members in Xinjiang by local police or state security officials.
When Qelbinur Sedik recounted the call from the policeman that morning, via her sister's phone, she buried her head in her hands and wept.
"He said, 'You must bear in mind that all your family and relatives are with us. You must think very carefully about that fact.'
"He stressed that several times, then he said, 'You have been living abroad for some time now, you must have a lot of friends. Can you give us their names?'
When she refused, the officer put Sedik's sister on the call, she said, and her sister shouted at her, 'Shut up! You should shut up from now on!', followed by a string of insults.
"At that point I couldn't control my emotions," Sedik said. "My tears flowed."
Before the officer hung up, Sedik said, he told her several times to go to the Chinese embassy so the staff there could arrange her safe passage back to China - a common instruction in these kinds of calls.
"This country opens its arms to you," he said.
Reports of this type of intimidation are not new, but Uyghur activists say China has become more aggressive in response to growing outrage over alleged rights abuses in Xinjiang. The Chinese government has gone on the attack in public in recent weeks, directing a slew of misogynistic abuse specifically at women who have spoken up about alleged sexual assaults.
At recent press conferences, China's foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin and Xinjiang official Xu Guixiang held up pictures of women who gave first-hand accounts of sexual abuse in detention camps and called them "liars"; said one was "morally depraved" and of "inferior character"; and accused another of adultery. One woman was branded a "bitch of bad moral quality" by a former husband in what appeared to be a staged video put out by state media; another was called a "scumbag" and "child abuser" by a Chinese official.
Wang, the foreign ministry spokesman, revealed what he said were private medical records, claiming that they disproved one woman's account of having an IUD forcibly fitted. Officials have also claimed that sexually transmitted diseases were responsible for fertility problems suffered by former camp detainees, rather than violent physical abuse, and put out a range of propaganda material calling the women "actresses".
Tursunay Ziawudun, a former camp detainee who is now in the US, was one of the women attacked at a press conference. When she watched it, she was relieved Wang had not mentioned her family, she said, but "deeply sad" about the rest. Ziawudun has
previously recounted being raped and tortured
during her detention in Xinjiang in 2018.
"After all the horrors they inflicted on me, how can they be so cruel and shameless as to attack me publicly?" she said in a phone interview after the press conference.
The attacks on Ziawudun and others showed that China was "adopting misogyny as a style of public communication," said James Millward, a professor of Chinese history at Georgetown University.
"We have these various women coming forward and telling very credible stories about how they've been abused," he said. "And the response shows a complete tone deafness and misunderstanding of how sexual assault and sexual trauma is being understood and treated now. Besides being horrifying, it's also completely counterproductive for the Chinese state."
The Chinese embassy in London told the BBC that China stood by its assertions that the women's accounts of rape and sexual abuse were lies, and said it was reasonable to publicise private medical records as evidence.
Two other women who spoke to the BBC have been the targets of what appear to be highly staged videos, published by Chinese state media, in which their family and friends insult them and accuse them of stealing money and telling lies. According to a report published last month by the US-based Uyghur Human Rights Project, China has produced at least 22 videos in which individuals are allegedly forced to make scripted statements, often denouncing their family members as liars or thieves.
Aziz Isa Elkun, a Uyghur exile in the UK, had not been able to contact his elderly mother and sister for years when he saw them in a Chinese state media video calling him a liar and a shame on the family. Elkun's crime had been to draw attention to the destruction of Uyghur cemeteries in Xinjiang, including his father's tomb.
"You could tell what they were saying was scripted, but it was still extremely painful to see my elderly mother in a Chinese propaganda film," Elkun said.
Qelbinur Sedik is worried a similar video of her husband could be released any day, she said. He told her on the phone late last year that Chinese officials had visited him at home in Xinjiang and forced him to recite lines calling her a liar. He said he struggled so much to say the lines correctly that it took four hours to film the short clip.
Another common form of harassment described by those who spoke to the BBC was pressure to spy on fellow Uyghurs and organisations that scrutinise China, often in return for contact with family, guarantees of relatives' safety, or access to visas or passports.
A Uyghur British citizen who did not want to be named said he was harassed repeatedly by intelligence officials during and after a visit to Xinjiang and told to spy on Uyghur groups and on Amnesty International, by joining the charity as a volunteer. When he refused, he received repeated calls from his brother pleading with him to do it, he said.
Jevlan Shirmemmet, who left Xinjiang to study in Turkey, gave the BBC a recording of a call he received a few weeks after posting on social media about his family's mass arrest in Xinjiang. The caller, who said he was from the Chinese embassy in Ankara, told Shirmemmet to "write down everyone you've been in contact with since you left Xinjiang," and send an email "describing your activities," so that "the mainland might reconsider your family's situation". Another Uyghur in exile in Turkey described a similar call from the same embassy.
Mustafa Aksu, a 34-year-old activist in the US who said his parents had been harassed in Xinjiang, showed the BBC text and voice messages from an old school friend - now a Chinese police officer - who Aksu said was pressuring him to provide information about Uyghur activists.
"He says, 'Maybe we can co-operate. I'm sure you must miss your parents.'"
Not everyone feels that they can refuse these requests. "When I say no, they get my younger brother and sister to call and tell me to do it," said a Uyghur student in Turkey, who provided screenshots of the messages from police. "They could send my brother and sister to a concentration camp. What choice do I have?" she said.
Some have sought to protect themselves by gradually cutting off means of contact. "You can throw away the phone and cancel the number," said Abdulweli Ayup, a Uyghur linguist in Norway, "but you cancel your number and they contact you on Facebook; you delete Facebook and they contact you by email."
Others have tried beyond hope to stay in touch. A Uyghur exile in the Netherlands said she still sends pictures and emojis to her young son and parents, four years after her number was blocked. "Maybe one day they will see," she said.
The BBC was not able to independently verify the identities of the people behind the calls and messages provided by various interviewees, but Uyghur rights activists say efforts to coerce Uyghurs to spy for the Chinese government are common.
"It comes as an offer first - 'You won't have any more visa problems', or 'We can help your family' - that kind of thing," said Rahima Mahmut, a prominent UK-based Uyghur activist. "Later it comes as a threat," she said.
The UK Foreign Office told the BBC it was "closely monitoring reports that members of the Uyghur diaspora in the UK have been harassed by the Chinese authorities", and that it had "raised our concerns directly with the Chinese embassy in London".
The Chinese embassy in London told the BBC that the allegations in this story were "completely untrue" and it was "baffling that the BBC so readily believes whatever is said by a few 'East Turkestan' elements outside China" - using another term for the Xinjiang region.
Despite the growing public outrage over alleged abuses in Xinjiang, the number of people who have spoken publicly remains vanishingly small compared with the estimated number detained. China has been tremendously successful at silencing people through fear, said Nury Turkel, a commissioner on the US Commission on International Religious Freedom.
"Millions of people have disappeared into the camps, and yet we have only a handful of Uyghurs speaking out against the detention of their loved ones," Turkel said. "Why? Because they are afraid."
Some Uyghurs who have criticised China have managed to maintain limited contact with loved ones. Ferkat Jawdat, a prominent activist in the US, speaks to his mother regularly now, after campaigning publicly for her release from detention. She is under house arrest, and her calls are monitored, but she is there on the other end of the line.
It can be hard to make sense of why some Uyghurs are harassed and others are not; some allowed contact with loved ones and others not. Some have speculated that China is "A/B testing" - trying to work out whether fear or kindness is more efficient. For the thousands who are cut off, it can feel ruthless and arbitrary.
Jawdat knows that the likelihood of seeing his mother again before she dies is diminishing, so when they speak on the phone they speak carefully. He did tell her once that Chinese state media had put out a video of her saying she was ashamed of him. She said she knew, they had come to film it a few days earlier. "How did I look?" she joked. Then, taking a risk, she told him she was proud of him.
"It was the unscripted version," he said.
|
a52ff86ad44ccadcfb0681c4b0991195 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-56581246 | Coronavirus: More work needed to rule out China lab leak theory says WHO | Coronavirus: More work needed to rule out China lab leak theory says WHO
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has said further investigation is needed to conclusively rule out that Covid-19 emerged from a laboratory in China.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that although a lab leak was the least likely cause, more research was needed.
The US and other countries have criticised China for failing to provide the WHO with sufficient data.
Beijing has always dismissed the allegations of a virus leak.
A report by WHO and Chinese experts released on Tuesday, said the lab leak explanation was highly unlikely and the virus had probably jumped from bats to humans via another intermediary animal.
China has yet to respond to the WHO's latest statement.
However the theory that the virus might have come from a leak in a laboratory "requires further investigation, potential with additional missions involving specialist experts," Dr Tedros said on Tuesday.
"Let me say clearly that as far as WHO is concerned, all hypothesis remain on the table," he added.
The virus was first detected in Wuhan, in China's Hubei province in late 2019. An international team of experts travelled to to the city in January to probe the origins of the virus.
Their research relied on samples and evidence provided by Chinese officials but Dr Tedros said the team had difficulty accessing raw data and called for "more timely and comprehensive data sharing" in the future.
The team investigated all possibilities, including one theory that the virus had originated at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The institute is the world's leading authority on the collection, storage and study of bat coronaviruses.
In response to the WHO report, the US and 13 allies including South Korea, Australia and the UK
voiced concern over the findings
and urged China to provide "full access" to experts.
The statement said the mission to Wuhan was "significantly delayed and lacked access to complete, original data and samples".
"Scientific missions like these should be able to do their work under conditions that produce independent and objective recommendations and findings."
The group pledged to work together with the WHO.
Former US President Donald Trump was among those who supported the theory that the virus might have escaped from a lab.
WHO investigation team leader, Peter Ben Embarek said on Tuesday his team had felt under political pressure, including from outside China but said he was never pressed to remove anything from the team's final report.
He also confirmed his team had found no evidence that any laboratories in Wuhan were involved in the outbreak.
Dr Embarak also said that it was "perfectly possible" that cases were circulating in the Wuhan area in October or November 2019. China informed the WHO about cases on 3 January, a month after the first reported infection.
China has always rejected claims the virus originated in a lab and says that although Wuhan is where the first cluster of cases was detected, it is not necessarily where the virus originated.
State media has claimed that the virus
may have arrived in Wuhan on frozen food imports
.
The country has largely brought its own outbreak under control through quick mass testing, stringent lockdowns and tight travel restrictions.
Worldwide, more than 127 million people have caught the virus since it was first identified, and more than 2.7 million people are known to have died from it.
|
c6b694e57ab83eee1c33b6f07a54d22e | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-56607815 | 'The grim reality of reporting in China that pushed me out’ | 'The grim reality of reporting in China that pushed me out’
It was a reminder of the grim reality of reporting in China to the very end.
As my family scrambled to the airport - late and unprepared from the last-minute packing - we were watched outside our home by plainclothes police, who then followed us to the airport and tailed us through check-in.
True to form to the very end, China's propaganda machine has been at full throttle, denying I faced any risks in China, while simultaneously making those risks abundantly clear.
"The Foreign Ministry said they are not aware that Sudworth was under any threat," the Communist Party controlled Global Times said, "except that he may be sued by individuals in Xinjiang over his slanderous reports."
The chilling effect of such statements lies in the reality of a court system run - like the media - as an extension of the Communist Party, with the idea of an independent judiciary dismissed as "an erroneous Western notion".
China's ministry of foreign affairs has continued the attacks, using the podium at its daily press briefing on Thursday to criticise what it called the BBC's "fake news".
It played a video clip from
our recent interview with Volkswagen in China
over its decision to operate a car plant in Xinjiang, suggesting that this "is the kind of report that triggers the anger of the Chinese people".
It's an unlikely claim, of course, given that the vast majority of the Chinese people cannot see any of our reporting, which has long been blocked.
But while all of this has brought my posting to a fraught and fretful end, it is worth remembering that
mine is just the latest in a long line of foreign media departures in recent years
.
And it is part of a far bigger battle that China is waging over the global space for ideas and information.
"Economic freedom creates habits of liberty," former US President George W Bush once said in a speech urging China's acceptance into the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
"And habits of liberty create expectations of democracy," he continued.
That starry-eyed assumption - that as China grew richer it would grow freer - could still frequently be heard in news analysis and academic discussion of China when I first began working here in 2012.
But my arrival that year coincided with a development that has come to make that prediction seem utterly naïve - the appointment of Xi Jinping to the most powerful job in the country, general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party.
While the huge shift in global trading patterns over the years has undoubtedly changed China - unleashing a whirlwind of economic and social change - those expectations of democracy appear further away than ever.
President Xi has used China's already rigid political system to tighten control over almost every aspect of society, and 10 years into his now open-ended tenure, it is the media landscape that has emerged as the defining battleground.
"Document Number 9"
- reportedly a high-level leak - identified early on the main targets in that fight: "Western values", including freedom of the press.
And, as the BBC's experience shows,
any foreign journalism that exposes truths about the situation in Xinjiang
, questions
China's handling of the coronavirus and its origins
, or
gives voice to opponents of its authoritarian plans for Hong Kong
, is now firmly in the firing line.
But as China's propaganda attacks continue in the wake of my departure, it is also notable that foreign social media networks are being used extensively to amplify the message.
The irony is, of course, that at the same time that the space for foreign journalism is shrinking in China, the Communist Party has been investing heavily in its media strategy overseas, taking full advantage of the easy access to a free and open media.
Its "wolf-warrior"
diplomats unleash furious tweet-storms
, lambasting foreign reporting - while denying their own citizens access to those very same foreign platforms - in an intensive, co-ordinated strategy across multiple platforms, as documented by this
report by researchers from the International Cyber Policy Centre at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute
.
State-media propagandists publish and post their content overseas without restriction, while at home, China ruthlessly shuts down independent reporting, censors foreign broadcasts and websites, and blocks foreign journalists from its own social media networks.
In this context, my departure can be seen as one small part of an emerging and highly asymmetric battle for the control of ideas.
It is not a happy prospect for the free flow of good, accurate information.
Decreasing access will undermine our ability to understand what is really happening in China, while at the same time, it is is harnessing the power of the institutions of a free press to undermine democratic debate everywhere.
While there are no easy answers, and the idealism of President Bush's prediction has long since evaporated, there is some room for hope.
Much of the information that has been revealed in recent years about
the truth of what is happening in Xinjiang
has - despite China's dismissal of it as "fake" - been based on its own internal documents and propaganda reports.
In the running of a system of mass incarceration, a modern, digital superpower cannot help but leave footprints online, and the important journalistic effort to uncover them will continue from afar.
I join a growing number of foreign correspondents now forced to cover the China story from Taipei, or other cities in Asia and beyond.
And of course, while depleted in number, there are brave, determined members of the foreign press corps in China who remain committed to telling the story.
Most remarkably, within the tightening confines of the political controls, there are also the few extraordinary Chinese citizens who, at enormous personal danger,
find ways round the censorship to do the most important job in journalism
anywhere - telling the story of their country in their own words.
Much of what we know about the early days of the Wuhan lockdown came from these citizen journalists, who are today paying the price for that bravery.
I am able to leave the plain-clothes police, for the final time I hope, in the departure hall of a Beijing airport.
In the new global battle for ideas, we should never forget that it is China's citizens who continue to face the greatest risks for telling the truth.
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1644aa980711d22a31e170e6b72fbb58 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-56658455 | Xinjiang cotton: Western brands blurred on China TV | Xinjiang cotton: Western brands blurred on China TV
Chinese TV stations have been blurring out Western brand logos in their programmes, in a show of support for China's Xinjiang cotton campaign.
The move has delayed some broadcasts, as post-production editors censor everything from T-shirts to shoes.
Western retailers are facing a backlash in China after they expressed concern over the alleged use of minority Uyghur forced labour in cotton production.
Beijing denies this, and many brands have faced boycotts in recent days.
There has been massive online outrage, and celebrities have been publicly severing ties with Western brands and expressing support for Xinjiang cotton.
Now popular TV shows are rushing to show their support - but with unintentionally funny results.
Episodes of popular variety shows such as Sisters Who Make Waves now feature singers and actors who look like they are floating on clouds, thanks to their blurred out shoes.
The blurring treatment was taken up a notch on reality show Chuang 2021, as contestants had worn clothes branded with Western logos from head to toe.
But one of the more challenging programmes to censor was probably the reality TV contest Youth With You, given the sheer number of contestants.
The production company behind the show, iQiyi, had issued a notice on 25 March saying that an upcoming episode had to be delayed, but did not give a reason.
Two days later, however, viewers immediately spotted that brand logos had been blurred on the t-shirts of more than 50 people.
The cotton row erupted after the US and other western governments ramped up pressure on China over alleged human rights abuses in the north-west region of Xinjiang.
The Xinjiang cotton campaign began last month when Chinese state media outlets and netizens singled out H&M over a statement made last year, and soon expanded to include many other brands.
Some companies' online shops are blocked in China and their stores have vanished from some digital maps.
Some of the brands embroiled in the controversy include Nike, Adidas and Puma - all members of the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI), a non-profit group promoting sustainable cotton production.
The group said in October it had suspended activities in Xinjiang as well as licensing of the region's cotton, citing allegations and "increasing risks" of forced labour.
In December the
BBC published an investigation based on new research
showing China was forcing hundreds of thousands of minorities including Uyghurs into manual labour in Xinjiang's cotton fields.
Apart from all the jokes on social media, many users have also confessed that they "felt sorry" for the post production workers, with one person on microblogging platform Weibo commenting: "They worked really hard. I don't think they can get any sleep these days."
Others created spoof versions of their own.
This is just the latest example of heavy-handed blurring of TV programmes in China.
Hip-hop culture, tattoos and cleavage have all been censored in the past.
In 2019, the decision by a popular Chinese video streaming platform to
censor the ears of male actors wearing earrings sparked heated debate online
.
Many took to social media at the time to argue that the censorship was driven by a desire to protect "traditional" gender roles.
In 2015, popular Chinese TV drama The Empress of China was re-edited to get rid of the plunging necklines featured in the show - provoking a large amount of public outrage.
|
d57cb17237e9ad91cb1c175f725c4a57 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-15885055 | Changing the way Indians shop | Changing the way Indians shop
India's decision to open up to the supermarket giants could revolutionise the way the country shops - some people are happy, but many fear the consequences. The BBC's Sanjoy Majumder in Delhi looks at why it has taken so long to open up India's $450bn retail market.
Large international supermarket chains, such as Wal-Mart, Carrefour and Tesco, have opened in many countries across the world, including emerging economies such as Brazil, China and Russia.
Until now, they were not allowed to sell directly to shoppers in India - but all that is set to change.
At a farm a short distance outside the capital, Delhi, farmers are loading aubergines picked from the vast field onto a little van.
But instead of the local market, it is headed for the nearest Wal-Mart "cash and carry" or wholesale store - the only kind that exists in India at the moment.
These farms supply exclusively to the company, which in turn monitors and regulates the quality of the produce.
For the farmers it is a big boon as they sell directly to their buyer and earn considerably more as a result.
In the past, farmer Ved Prakash had to drive long distances to travel to the regular market.
There, he would have to deal with middlemen who in turn sold to traditional vegetable sellers, the face of India's retail market until now.
"The middlemen never guaranteed us a fair price. But now that I sell directly to Wal-Mart, their vans pick up our produce directly from our farms and give us cash on the spot.
"The money is good and it saves us time."
There are a number of Wal-Mart cash and carry stores around India, with four in the farming-belt state of Punjab alone.
It is the sheer size and scale of the store that first hits you when you enter it.
Inside a giant hall, rows and rows of shelves are stacked up to 25 feet high with an astonishing range of products - from fruit, vegetables and frozen meat to grains, spices, even clothes - just about anything you might like to buy.
At the moment, though, this is open only to businesses - offices, hotels, restaurants - and not individual consumers.
All that will, of course, now change, with the government's decision to allow the supermarket giants in.
But the move is not without opposition.
Economist Mohan Guruswamy of the Centre for Policy Alternatives warns that companies like Wal-Mart will serve only to elite Indians.
"You're going to cater to, at the most, 1% or 2% of the population - and for that you are going to displace a whole lot of people.
"The average Wal-Mart store will displace 11,200 people and replace them with 285 people. That's our calculation in a study that we have done," he says.
Most Indians still shop at overcrowded, chaotic local markets, with fruit and vegetables stacked on carts or on sacks placed on the ground.
The government's move to change this is aimed at not just improving the customer's experience but also because up to 40% of the produce is lost due to poor storage.
Lack of quality warehouses or enough cold storage facilities means that a lot of it is left out in the open, exposed to the elements.
But India has about 20 million small vendors who operate out of neighbourhood markets or corner shops.
The fear is that when the international supermarket chains come in, they will be wiped out.
"The entire supply chain will be badly affected, from the sellers to the truckers to the rickshaw-pullers and the loaders - all of our earnings depend on this trade," says one vegetable seller.
"We will lose everything."
Others question if prices will indeed go down.
"Everything will become very expensive and the consumer will suffer. This is how people have always shopped here. Why change it?" asks another vendor.
But with inflation rising, the government believes its gamble will work and help improve the system.
With companies such as Tesco, Wal-Mart and Carrefour all poised to enter the market, Indians may soon change the way they shop.
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afa34f9427ef80124f04b0b1aab151aa | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-16104610 | India hospital fire in Calcutta kills dozens | India hospital fire in Calcutta kills dozens
At least 89 people have been killed in a fire that broke out in a hospital in the eastern Indian city of Calcutta (Kolkata), officials say.
Most of the victims were patients who were trapped after the flames spread through the AMRI hospital.
The fire started in the multi-storey hospital's basement, where flammable materials were stored. Firefighters took five hours to control the blaze.
Six board members of the hospital have been arrested.
They include hospital co-founders SK Todi and RS Goenka.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the licence of the six-storey hospital in Dhakuria in the southern part of the city had been cancelled.
She said the fire was an "unforgivable crime" and that those responsible would be given the harshest punishment.
A Upadhay, a senior vice-president of the AMRI hospital company, told Associated Press there were 160 patients in the 190-bed hospital.
A spokesman for Manmohan Singh said the prime minister had "expressed shock and anguish over the loss of lives".
Many of the patients who died suffocated on fumes.
A number were rescued. "We have taken 50 patients to an adjacent hospital. The situation is grim at the moment," fire brigade chief Gopal Bhattacharya told Agence France-Presse news agency.
The BBC's Amitabha Bhattasali in Calcutta says bodies of patients wrapped in white sheets have been brought out by rescue workers.
Local people climbed into the hospital compound to rescue patients before fire engines arrived, our correspondent says.
The narrow surrounding streets made it difficult for the rescue services to arrive quickly.
Subrata Mukherjee, state minister for public health engineering, accused senior hospital officials of running away after the fire broke out: "It was horrifying that the hospital authorities did not make any effort to rescue trapped patients."
There were also chaotic scenes when Ms Banerjee arrived.
Relatives of patients complained that her convoy had blocked the passage of ambulances in the hospital complex.
Police resorted to a baton charge as the crowds moved forward to Ms Banerjee's car.
"Stop it. What is this? No baton charge! Have you come here to beat up people?" the Times of India newspaper quoted Ms Banerjee as telling the officers.
Police told AP the six hospital officials arrested were being questioned on charges of culpable homicide and that they had surrendered voluntarily.
The fire had spread swiftly from the basement to the upper floors of the private hospital.
One rescued patient said: "The attendants woke me up and dragged me down the stairs. I saw 10-15 patients at the top of the stairs trying to get down."
Ananya Das, 35, who underwent surgery at the hospital on Thursday, said she was recovering when the fire broke out.
"I managed to walk towards an exit and then climb out of a window. I saw a lot of bodies," she said.
One relative, Khokon Chakravathi, told AFP: "My mother is in the intensive care unit. She's 70 years old. I don't know if she is alive or not."
Fires in high-rise buildings are fairly common in the city. There have been at least 10 major incidents since 2008.
Electrical short circuits have been responsible for most of these fires.
More than 40 people died in
a huge fire in a historic building in Calcutta
in March last year.
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61454a8a50e760022b261f0a9a5a36bb | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-16588835 | Salman Rushdie Jaipur trip in doubt after India protest | Salman Rushdie Jaipur trip in doubt after India protest
Salman Rushdie will miss the opening day of the Jaipur literary festival, organisers say, after protests by influential Muslim clerics in India.
The author had been due to speak at three sessions during the five-day event, which begins on Friday.
But organisers have now taken his name off the list of speakers, although they say they still hope he will turn up.
Mr Rushdie sparked anger in the Muslim world with his book The Satanic Verses, which many regard as blasphemous.
"Salman Rushdie will not be in India on 20 January due to a change in his schedule. The festival stands by its invitation to Mr Rushdie," the organisers said in a statement.
It is unclear if he will attend sessions on the following days.
The Times Of India newspaper reported that the government of Rajasthan state - where Jaipur is located - had persuaded the organisers to "ask Mr Rushdie... to call off his visit".
The newspaper said that the government was anxious as the British Indian author's presence would create a "huge security risk".
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot told reporters that he did not know whether Mr Rushdie would attend the festival.
"[But] there is a reaction among the locals, they don't want Salman to come," he was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India.
"No state government will want a law and order situation. I have informed the centre [federal government] about the prevailing sentiments," Mr Gehlot said.
Last week, the Darul Uloom Deoband seminary's vice-chancellor, Maulana Abul Qasim Nomani, called on the government to block Mr Rushdie's visit by "cancelling his visa" as he "had annoyed the religious sentiments of Muslims in the past".
"In case of no response from the government, the Darul Uloom Deoband will take appropriate action," Mr Nomani said.
Darul Uloom is based in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, which is going to the polls in February. Several political parties have said they support the seminary's demand.
Correspondents say no political party wants to antagonise the Muslim community, which constitutes 18% of the state's voters.
Mr Rushdie was born in India but is a British citizen and has lived in the UK for most of his life. In recent years he has made many private visits to India and attended the Jaipur Literary Festival in 2007.
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9db773cf2d501710b3056364747a5118 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-16724191 | India President Pratibha Patil cautions on reform | India President Pratibha Patil cautions on reform
India's president has said the country must be cautious on reform, amid the ongoing anti-corruption movement.
Pratibha Patil said in her traditional address on the eve of Republic Day that in "shaking the tree to remove the bad fruit, we do not bring down the tree".
A government anti-corruption bill that envisages setting up an independent ombudsman has stalled in parliament.
Leading anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare says the bill is weak and should be withdrawn.
Known as the Lokpal bill, it was passed by parliament's lower house last month but stalled in the upper house.
It will now have to be taken up again in the next session of parliament.
Ahead of the 63rd Republic Day, Ms Patil said: "While bringing about reforms and improving institutions, we have to be cautious that while shaking the tree to remove the bad fruit, we do not bring down the tree itself."
Without referring directly to Mr Hazare, she said that although there were "short-term pressures", India could take pride in its democratic record.
She added: "All issues, therefore, must be resolved through dialogue and there can be no place for violence. Negativity and rejection cannot be the path for a vibrant country that is moving to seek its destiny."
Mr Hazare has vowed to keep up his campaign for a strong Lokpal bill.
In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh this week, Mr Hazare said: "Show some courage to bring Lokpal to fight corruption."
His 12-day anti-corruption hunger strike in August in Delhi became the focus of a national campaign and put pressure on the government to act on the issue.
In her address, Ms Patil also marked the "growing aspirations of the people, coupled with their expectations of immediate solutions".
She said: "There is also a growing quest for materialism. There are persistent questions about how growth and resources will be shared in a more equitable manner."
Tight security is in place in Delhi ahead of Thursday's Republic Day celebrations.
Ms Patil will raise the tricolour and take the salute of the parade.
More than 25,000 security personnel are being deployed, with additional security in Jammu and Kashmir, Orissa and north-eastern states.
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30a5969fcbbe56a656952f16f7e594cc | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-17037399 | India village in Rajasthan relocates to protect tigers | India village in Rajasthan relocates to protect tigers
An entire village has been relocated in the northern Indian state of Rajasthan to protect tigers, officials say.
More than 350 people from 82 families in Umri village, in the Sariska tiger reserve, moved to a new location.
The number of tigers in Sariska had dwindled to zero before growing to five over the last three years.
Tiger numbers have shrunk alarmingly in India in recent decades. A 2011 census counted about 1,700 tigers in the wild.
A century ago there were estimated to be 100,000 tigers in India.
Umri is the second village in Sariska to be relocated to help secure a proper habitat for tigers to increase their numbers. The villagers moved last week.
There are 11 villages with a population of nearly 2,500 people located in the heart of the tiger reserve which need to be relocated to improve the habitat, Rajasthan's chief conservator of forests, PS Somasekhar, told the BBC.
People living in these villages mostly belong to pastoral tribes.
Mr Somasekhar said efforts were being made to relocate four more villages over the next few years.
"It is a long-drawn process because the villagers have to agree to move out. We can't force them to leave. We can only persuade," he said.
The villagers are compensated with land, cash and livestock worth up to 1 million rupees ($20,000) and relocated to the nearest cultivable plots outside the reserve, Rajasthan's chief wildlife warden AC Chaubey told the BBC.
The number of tigers in the 886-sq-km Sariska reserve dropped to zero from a high of 16 in 2002.
"To maintain a reserve of this size, we need a minimum of 20 female tigers to help with the breeding and a viable population of 80 to 100 tigers," Mr Somasekhar said.
There have been a number of incidents involving conflicts between local villagers and tigers in the reserve - a few years ago, the villagers allegedly poisoned a tiger after it attacked one of their buffaloes.
India's most recent tiger census, held last year, indicated that numbers had increased to 1,706 from 1,411 at the last count in 2007.
Officials say conservation efforts by the government and wildlife organisations have helped tiger populations increase.
But poaching and conflicts between the tigers and people living in and on the periphery of the tiger reserves remains a threat.
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00601e2015053c05d6700a6303c43d11 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-17595100 | Mahatma Gandhi's blood-stained soil for auction in UK | Mahatma Gandhi's blood-stained soil for auction in UK
A small lump of soil and blades of grass with a drop of Mahatma Gandhi's blood from the scene of his assassination will be auctioned in England later this month.
The item will be among many other rare pieces from India to be sold by British auction house, Mullock's.
Other Gandhi memorabilia include a pair of his round-rimmed glasses and a wooden "charka" or spinning wheel.
Mahatma Gandhi is revered in India and fondly known as father of the nation.
Guide prices listed on Mullock's website for the 17 April auction for the drop of blood, glasses and "charka" range from £10,000-£15,000 ($16,000-$24,000).
The soil and blades of grass are clearly visible in a small wooden box with a glass top inside a wooden casket.
In a letter of provenance dated 24 September 1996 collector PP Nambiar said that he received "the most sacred of all relics - a fraction of the pinch of soil I collected on 30 January 1948 from the spot where the father of our nation MK Gandhi fell to the bullets of his assassin".
Mr Nambiar described how he collected the sample which to him "is a treasure of immense sentimental value".
Various letters written in English and Gujarati by Gandhi as well as many photographs of him visiting London at the Cabinet Ministers Conference in Delhi in 1946 will also be put up for auction.
Other items of value from India that will be sold at the auction include "a finely painted miniature painting of Maharajah Ranjit Singh Set in a large mourning broach with a lock of hair said to be of the sitter".
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9e6ec53f3edbce0e15c6939be6bb3a0b | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-17664751 | India Gujarat Chief Minister Modi cleared in riots case | India Gujarat Chief Minister Modi cleared in riots case
A court in India says investigators have found no evidence against Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in connection with a riots case in 2002.
The inquiry into a massacre during the riots also found no evidence against the 58 co-accused.
Ehsan Jafri, a prominent Muslim politician, was killed along with 68 others in the Gulbarg Society residential complex in Ahmedabad city.
Mr Modi's lawyer called the allegations against his client "absurd".
The chief minister - seen by many as a possible prime minister after the 2014 general elections - argues that he has been unfairly targeted by his critics.
Mr Jafri's widow argued that he failed to go to her husband's aid as he was burnt to death along with the 68 other people by a mob in a housing colony in Gujarat.
She accused Mr Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ministerial colleagues, including top police officials, of conspiracy in the riots.
More than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, died in violence that erupted after 60 Hindus were killed in a train fire.
Correspondents say the finding by the investigators is a boost for Mr Modi, who is one of India's most controversial politicians.
The BJP welcomed the ruling - one of several that have been made in relation to the riots - saying Mr Modi had been unfairly targeted.
The BBC's Sanjoy Majumder says Mr Modi has never completely shaken off allegations of tacitly backing the rioters - but at the same time he is admired by many as one of India's most efficient administrators.
Mr Modi has always denied any wrongdoing but has not apologised for the riots.
'No offence'
A Special Investigation Team (SIT) was appointed by India's Supreme Court to probe the Gulbarg massacre.
In its final report, it said it found no evidence against any of the accused named in the complaint filed by Mr Jafri's widow, Zakia, the Press Trust of India quoted Ahmedabad Metropolitan magistrate MS Bhatt as saying.
"According to SIT, no offence has been established against any of the 58 persons listed in Zakia's complaint," the court said.
The magistrate ordered that a copy of the report and all relevant documents be given to Mrs Jafri within 30 days.
Mrs Jafri said she was disappointed by the report, but said that her 10-year fight for justice would continue.
Last year, a senior police officer made a sworn statement to the Supreme Court that Mr Modi deliberately allowed the riots because Hindus should be allowed to vent their anger.
The 2002 riots were one of India's worst outbreaks of religious violence.
The cause of the fire on the train, which was carrying Hindu pilgrims, is a matter of fierce debate.
The riots started after Muslims were blamed for starting the blaze, but one subsequent inquiry suggested the fire may have begun on board, perhaps caused by a cooking stove.
Last week 23 people were found guilty of killing Muslims during the riots as they took shelter in a house from rampaging mobs.
And in March last year 11 men were sentenced to death for setting fire to the train.
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1726529268140e6fc98e04e8fff3d28c | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-17987662 | India's Supreme Court orders Hajj subsidy cut | India's Supreme Court orders Hajj subsidy cut
India's Supreme Court has barred the government from giving subsidies to Muslim pilgrims going on the Hajj.
The court said the policy was "best done away with" and told the authorities to gradually reduce the subsidy and abolish it in 10 years.
The court also said that the government's "goodwill delegation" to Mecca must not exceed two members. It currently has 30 people.
India provides billions of rupees every year to people going on the Hajj.
Pilgrims apply through the Hajj Committee of India and are offered a concessionary fare on the national airline, Air India.
Every year, about 125,000 pilgrims take the subsidy.
The pilgrims are charged 16,000 rupees ($302; £187) air fare. A regular Delhi-Jeddah flight would cost about double that.
Last month, the government told the Supreme Court that it had decided to restrict the subsidy to one pilgrimage per person.
At the moment, it is available to a Hajj pilgrim once every five years.
The government also said that priority would be given to pilgrims older than 70 and those who had never visited Mecca.
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e89b88fdf0d970b61f32489c8d5ff4d0 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-18420045 | India to hold presidential election in July | India to hold presidential election in July
Elections for India's 13th president will be held on 19 July, the country's electoral authorities have announced.
Presidential candidates have a deadline of 30 June by which to file their nominations, and the results will be announced on 22 July.
Reports say that Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is the leading candidate to become the new president.
The winner will replace Pratibha Patil, the first woman to hold India's highest constitutional post.
Indian presidents are elected by an electoral college comprising MPs from the parliament's two houses and lawmakers from state legislatures.
Reports suggest that the 77-year-old Mr Mukherjee, a veteran politician from the ruling Congress party, appears to be the front runner to become the new head of state with support from the party's key allies.
The presidency is largely a ceremonial post but with a fragmented electorate often throwing up precariously placed coalition governments, a lot depends on a president's judgement and impartiality.
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467a4d3cf8c543ddcdb34007650d234a | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-18621931 | India's oldest auction house fights for survival | India's oldest auction house fights for survival
Auctioning was once a thriving business in India's eastern city of Calcutta. With changing times most of the auction houses have gone out of business. Documentary filmmaker Ed Owles visits one of India's oldest surviving auction houses - the Russell Exchange.
In the middle of the 20th century, Calcutta's many auction houses were the playgrounds of India's rich and famous, thronged with actors, businessmen and ambassadors.
But then the capital shifted to Delhi, wealth left the city and the economy of West Bengal stagnated. Almost all of the original auctioneers went out of business… all except one, the Russell Exchange.
Run by the same family since they bought it from the British in 1940, it is India's oldest surviving auction house and sits in a prime location just off Calcutta's renowned Park Street.
In its heyday, it was on a par with global institutions like Sotheby's, with customers travelling from Mumbai, Delhi and beyond to buy and sell the finest in antique furniture.
These days, however, it boasts a more eclectic spectrum of lots, ranging from battered old motorbike helmets to crystal chandeliers, and cracked Miley Cyrus CDs to exquisitely crafted Burma teak beds.
In the olden days, the items hailed almost exclusively from the homes of foreign ambassadors and the Bengali aristocracy. Now, they are just as likely to originate from the backroom cabinets of housewives struggling to get by.
Reliving a dream
The bidding is overseen by two charismatic brothers who grew up playing on the dusty floors beneath the auctioneer's chair before inheriting the business when their father died.
They have led very different lives - the eldest, Anwer Saleem, recently returned to Calcutta after a lifetime working abroad, aiming to take the Russell Exchange back to the glory days of his childhood.
Up against predatory land developers, internet retailers and the new giants of the "high street", Mr Saleem is convinced his business skills, honed over decades doing everything from investment banking to running curry houses on the Costa del Sol, can make a difference.
In contrast, younger brother Arshad Salim is a dyed-in-the-wool Calcuttan. He has been auctioning in the Exchange since the age of 18 (at the time he was the youngest auctioneer in India) and asserts that he can sell anything from "a pin to an aeroplane".
He views the closure of Calcutta's other auction houses - once there were more than 20 - as a sign of the city's terminal decline and doubts that another generation will be around to take over the running of the Exchange.
Innovative ways
To try to keep the Russell Exchange in the black, the brothers are turning to increasingly innovative solutions.
They have given over a portion of the building to the restoration and fixed price sale of antiques. More unusually, they hosted a red carpet catwalk show for feted local fashion designers Dev r' Nil, when top national models strutted their stuff down aisles flanked by down-at-heel cupboards and creaking armchairs.
Plans are also in the offing to launch a regular music night at the venue for up-and-coming talent.
The contrast between the snatches of glamour at events such at these and the desperate inertia of a quiet weekday afternoon is stark.
But the Russell Exchange will always be first and foremost an auction house, especially for the dozen or so staff who work there, many of whom are second or third generation employees.
The objects they oversee coming in and out of the auction house represent a kaleidoscopic mirror on the city outside its doors.
Amongst the customers are widows selling their husband's golf clubs, retired fashion designers flogging female figurines and 21st century rag-and-bone men selling homemade lampshades.
Forgotten history
The buyers are a similarly diverse bunch - there are collectors of brass, watches and toy cars, middlemen dealers looking for a bargain to sell, and eccentric old-timers such as octogenarian KK Dutta, who has bought over 80 beds and 20 dining tables for his faded family palace.
Almost every transaction represents a forgotten history, the promise of feeding a hungry mouth, or a new adventure.
In many ways the auction house mirrors the past, present and future of Calcutta: a city once famed for its cultural and artistic richness, now searching for its true identity amidst the chaotic collision of old and new.
Whether the brothers' initiatives to keep the business open will be successful - ensuring this ongoing collision of people, objects and stories - remains to be seen. In fact, perhaps its only course of survival resides in embracing its own anachronisms.
It is precisely because it stands still whilst all about is changing, the epitome of faded grandeur, that it has started to attract attention from the very contemporary worlds of fashion, music and beyond.
Ed Owles is a London-based documentary filmmaker who is currently making a film about The Russell Exchange, due to be released later this year.
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2911f09206e29334d44e5ed9494960d5 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-19407100 | India riots: Court convicts 32 over Gujarat killings | India riots: Court convicts 32 over Gujarat killings
A court in India has convicted 32 people for involvement in the 2002 religious riots in Gujarat state.
The court acquitted 29 others in the case known as the Naroda Patiya massacre.
Among those convicted were former minister Maya Kodnani and Babu Bajrangi, a former leader of the hardline Hindu group Bajrang Dal.
A total of 95 people were killed in the rioting on 28 February in the Naroda Patiya area of Ahmedabad city.
Most of the convicted, including Ms Kodnani and Mr Bajrangi, were found guilty of murder and criminal conspiracy, reports said.
The trial began in August 2009 and charges were framed against 62 people. One of the accused died during the trial.
Ms Kodnani was the junior minister for women and child development in the Gujarat government when she was arrested in connection with the incident in 2009.
More than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed when riots erupted after 60 Hindu pilgrims died in a train fire in 2002.
It was one of India's worst outbreaks of religious violence in recent years.
Muslims were blamed for starting the train fire. Hindu mobs eager for revenge went on the rampage through Muslim neighbourhoods in towns and villages across Gujarat in three days of violence following the incident.
The cause of the Godhra train fire is still a matter of fierce debate.
A commission of inquiry set up in 2008 by the Gujarat state government determined that it was the result of a conspiracy.
But a 2005 federal government inquiry concluded that the fire had been an accident - probably started by people cooking in one of the carriages - and was not the result of an attack.
Gujarat's authorities have been accused of not doing enough to stop the riots.
Narendra Modi, Gujarat's chief minister since 2001, has always denied any wrongdoing in connection with the riots but has never expressed any remorse or offered any apologies.
A 2008 state inquiry exonerated him over the riots.
A special investigation team (SIT) was set up by the Supreme Court to investigate some of the most prominent riot cases.
Correction: An earlier version of this story referred to the Bajrang Dal as a militant Hindu group.
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9fa14c439b8c3bf04d043ca73da9e2ff | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-19473368 | Why do Indian-Americans flock to the Democratic Party? | Why do Indian-Americans flock to the Democratic Party?
As the US gets ready for elections later this year, Washington-based journalist Seema Sirohi explores why many Indian-Americans support the Democratic Party.
A young Indian-American recounted recently that his mother, who is working hard on President Barack Obama's re-election campaign in the tough swing state of Florida, had told him flatly not to come home if he decided to vote for Mitt Romney, the Republican rival.
He laughed but said his mother was not exactly joking when she issued the warning.
He is still undecided but is leaning towards Mr Obama for a variety of reasons - ranging from empathy for the immigrants to policy decisions the president has made in favour of the middle class and students.
As the US presidential election enters its final lap, the Indian-American vote could be crucial in swing states such as Virginia, and Mr Obama may benefit from the community's strong support for the Democratic Party.
An impressive 84% of the 2.85 million-strong Indian-American community voted for Mr Obama in 2008, second perhaps only to African-Americans as a minority group.
Has he still got their love? It appears so.
According to a
Pew Research Center survey
released in June, 65% of Indian-Americans approve of the way Mr Obama is handling the presidency.
Of all the Asian American groups surveyed, Indian-Americans were the most Democratic-leaning, again at 65%. Only 18% favoured Republicans.
Interestingly, the support for the Democrats is stronger among the younger generation, a group where one might expect the mantras of the Republican Party - about success, getting ahead, Wall Street is Main Street and deregulation - might work the most.
Instead, the young seem more enamoured of the fairness doctrine and an activist government.
This is much to the chagrin of the Republican Party whose Indian-American supporters - fewer in number - are puzzled, frustrated and even irked by the fierce loyalty to their opposite number.
"Why doesn't the community just follow them into the 'large' [but mainly white] tent of the Republican Party?" they ask plaintively.
The short answer: "They are not serving chai at this "Tea Party" convention", laughs Toby Chaudhuri, a long-time Indian-American political strategist associated with several campaigns, including Al Gore's presidential bid.
Chai may be a staple at Starbucks, but it has not quite made it on to the Republican menu.
In other words, the inclusiveness is lacking in a party increasingly seen as hostage to Tea Party enthusiasts and Christian conservatives.
And the attempt to include minorities is seen by the Indian community as tokenism.
The Republican Party fielded two Indian-American governors - Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Nikki Haley of South Carolina - at the convention. Mr Jindal could not make it because of hurricane Isaac which hit his state hard.
Both Mr Jindal and Ms Haley are stars in their own right, but both have shied away from their ethnic roots to gain acceptance.
They converted to Christianity from Hinduism and Sikhism, a move that many in the older generation frowned upon. Whether they did it for personal or political reasons is unclear.
The decision on conversion did not endear them to the community, which is largely Hindu, but only reinforced the feeling that the "family values" of the Republican Party are essentially Christian values.
Abortion and gay marriage - two hot button issues that propel conservative Christians - do not arouse much passion among Indian-Americans.
Besides, for every Jindal and Haley who has been accepted, there is a George Allen, a former senator from Virginia, whose openly racist remark against an Indian-American aide in 2006 still reverberates.
Mr Allen, who called SR Sidarth, a volunteer for the Democratic Party, a "macaca" (monkey), is once again running for the US Senate on a Republican ticket.
The collective memory was rekindled last week, when Indian-Americans read about an African-American camerawoman for CNN, who had peanuts thrown at her at the Republican convention by a delegate along with the remark "this is how we feed animals".
Party spokesmen immediately denounced the comment and ejected two men from the hall but the incident underscored for many that the Republican Party remains the domain of white men.
Indian-Americans have their own history of discrimination in the United States, especially the early immigrants who arrived at the turn of the 20th Century mainly as farm labour.
The second major wave in the late 1960s brought skilled professionals, who laid the foundation for the economic and academic success of the community.
Today 70% of Indian-Americans have a college degree or more, and two-thirds have management jobs.
They have the highest median household income at $88,000 (£55,500) - the national average is $49,800 (£31,400).
Again success and riches should drive them to the Republican fold but they aren't going, at least, not yet.
The well-educated community has a certain political sophistication, a generous bent, which embraces a world view with more than 50 shades of grey.
It allows empathy for the less fortunate.
'Kitchen table issue
s
'
Over the past two decades, Indian-Americans have seen the US go from the prosperity of budget surplus to the poverty of recession, and launch of an unnecessary war.
And it is not easy to forget that former President George Bush launched those wars, and deregulation began in earnest in his era.
Besides, Indian-Americans who grew up in India do not see government as an evil monster but a necessary arbiter between order and chaos.
They want the government to perform and perform well, and shrink only within reason.
Most Indian-Americans are middle class and they see President Obama addressing some of the issues close to their hearts - reducing the burden of spiralling costs of college education, passing a health care act that moves the country towards making health care a right rather than a privilege, and trying to save social security.
They like the social safety nets here for their ageing parents who may have joined them for their retirement years.
"The Democrats have been addressing the kitchen table issues important to the community," says Toby Chaudhuri.
Meanwhile Republican proposals do not appear to have convinced even some of the richest Indian-Americans.
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19183a65aad319f401485c8b1b9679ef | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-19481400 | India's Hitler clothing shop owners to choose new name | India's Hitler clothing shop owners to choose new name
The owners of a new Indian clothing store called Hitler say they will rename it after receiving complaints.
Rajesh Shah, one of the shop's co-owners, told the BBC there would be a new name "tomorrow or the day after".
Jews in the city of Ahmedabad, where the shop opened last month, said using the Nazi dictator's name was offensive. Israeli diplomats also raised the issue with the Gujarat state government.
The owners said they did not know who Adolf Hitler was when the shop opened.
Mr Shah told the BBC: "Yes we are planning to change the name. There has been too much political pressure from the government."
He said officials had promised compensation for the rebranding of the store, which sells men's clothing, although he said they had provided nothing in writing.
His co-owner, Manish Chandani, told AFP news agency they had never intended to glorify Hitler.
"I was not aware of Hitler being responsible for the killings of six million people before the shop's inauguration. This time I will choose a non-controversial name."
Mr Chandani says the shop's name was a tribute to his grandfather who was nicknamed Hitler because he was "very strict".
Others saw the name as a marketing gimmick in a country where the former German leader attracts unusual interest in some sections of society.
"I am happy that the store owner decided to change the name. I guess he realised that it was not the right thing to do," Orna Sagiv, Israeli consul general in Mumbai, told AFP.
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7e1e8a11aa14940900417f3ec148bfd4 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-19796415 | India activist Arvind Kejriwal launches anti-corruption party | India activist Arvind Kejriwal launches anti-corruption party
A leading campaigner in India has announced the establishment of a political party to fight corruption.
Arvind Kejriwal said his party would fight against the culture of "bribe-taking" and pledged to contest the next general elections due in 2014.
The launch of the party comes on a day when India is observing Mahatma Gandhi's birth anniversary.
Last month, anti-corruption campaigner Anna Hazare parted ways with Mr Kejriwal over plans to enter politics.
Mr Hazare has said he prefers "sacred" agitation over politics, "which is full of dirt".
Mr Kejriwal has said his group would continue to "seek Mr Hazare's blessings" despite the rift.
"The country is being sold and all parties are guilty. We need to clean up the system," Mr Kejriwal told his supporters at the launch of the party in the capital, Delhi, on Tuesday.
"This is not my party. This is a party of the people of this country.
"I do not know whether we will win or lose, but if I do not fight today my children will accuse me of wasting an opportunity," he said.
Mr Kejriwal said they would announce the name of their party on 26 November.
Correspondents say the new party aims to tap into the public anger against several high-profile corruption scandals which have come to light in the last few months.
Mr Kejriwal is a former bureaucrat who won the Ramon Magsaysay award in 2006 for social work and initiatives to fight corruption.
Two years ago, the 44-year-old campaigner set up a group called India Against Corruption aimed at putting pressure on the government to bring about tough anti-corruption laws. Mr Hazare led the movement through a series of hunger strikes and protests.
The two campaigners met in Delhi ahead of Tuesday's announcement and Mr Kejriwal said: "We have no fight between us. He himself has said the goal is [the] same though the paths are different."
Both the campaigners are demanding the appointment of an independent ombudsman to prosecute politicians and civil servants suspected of corruption.
The idea was passed by the lower house of parliament in the form of the Lokpal bill in December 2011.
But the upper house adjourned amid chaos without passing the controversial legislation.
A 12-day fast by Mr Hazare a year ago almost brought the government to its knees and led to the introduction of the Lokpal bill in parliament.
Mr Hazare started another hunger strike in December but called it off and threatened instead to launch a campaign of civil disobedience that would fill the country's jails.
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6151a30ff06f30cd45835536338aa40f | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-20353039 | Can Western chefs curry favour in India? | Can Western chefs curry favour in India?
Generations of Indians left the country for the West taking with them their culinary influences to start restaurants around the world. Now, as more people are moving back to India, they are changing tastes in the reverse direction too.
"Some of our customers have never eaten truffle pasta or heard of quinoa before," says Jeremie Horowitz, as he sits perched on a bar stool sipping a cappuccino.
His restaurant, Cafe Zoe, a loft-style European eatery with exposed brickwork, high ceilings and retro-chic decor, feels like it could be in New York, London or Paris, but this is a converted mill in Mumbai's old textiles district.
There is no Indian food on the menu, yet the restaurant is fast becoming one of Mumbai's most popular, with expats and locals.
"It's more about the European experience, atmosphere and ambience, on top of the European food. We wanted to create the feel of a neighbourhood style bar where you can eat breakfast, lunch and dinner, something that was missing here in the city," says Mr Horowitz, who moved from Belgium to Mumbai five years ago.
Like so many people, he had always dreamed of opening a restaurant, but chose India because of the huge potential he saw here.
Rising incomes and an increase in the number of Indians travelling abroad have led to more people demanding foreign food when at home, says Mr Horowitz.
"India for us made sense because it's a volume market and if you can get the volumes in India the numbers can go high, very fast," he said.
"This concept would have worked anywhere but the potential in India to go beyond that one restaurant is huge."
Mr Horowitz is one of a number of entrepreneurs moving from the West to India to tap into the changing tastes of India's growing middle class.
In big urban areas like Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore, new restaurants are opening up every month, many started by foreign entrepreneurs.
And on offer is everything from French crepe cafes to fine dining, Mexican restaurants to micro-breweries, Spanish tapas to authentic Japanese.
Alex Sanchez, the head chef of fine dining restaurant The Table, moved from San Francisco to Mumbai. Mr Sanchez had been working as a chef in the Bay area when he was asked to relocate to open the restaurant.
"San Francisco is saturated with great restaurants and great chefs. When I was deciding whether or not to move to Mumbai, I recognised that I could have a much larger impact here.
"In San Francisco, I'd be another good chef with another good restaurant. In Mumbai, I'm one of a kind."
Mr Sanchez serves up high-end contemporary food, drawing on a range of international cuisines - everything from gourmet burgers to steaks, to pastas and risottos.
He says he has moved to Mumbai at a time when the number of foreign restaurants have increased and there has been an "explosion" in the interest in food.
India is no stranger to Western food, but truly authentic dishes have typically been served in five-star hotels, says Rushina Munshaw Ghildayal, a food consultant and culinary trainer based in Mumbai.
"For the last decade or a bit more, we've had international cuisine, but we've had parallel cuisines. So Indian-Chinese rather than just Chinese, or Indian-Italian, and continental food, but the way it's served in India is more the British Raj meets Indian food," she says.
In general, much of the foreign food served in mainstream restaurants in India is given an Indian twist, partly to cater to the Indian palate, and also because the chefs are not always from overseas.
"Whenever any cuisine travels to a new culture, it's a caricature of the cuisine which travels: you can't transport everything," she says.
Restaurateurs such as Mr Sanchez and Mr Horowitz are trying to change this, creating dishes with a distinctly foreign flavour, and by sourcing authentic ingredients.
This can be challenging.
Customs regulations and a lack of infrastructure can make it difficult, time consuming and costly when it comes to ensuring the freshest salad leaves are on the plate, or the best brie is delivered from France.
But this, Mr Sanchez says, is one step towards ensuring dishes aren't simply "Indianised".
"When I see chicken tikka on a pizza or atop a Caesar salad, I can't help but see a lack of creativity. I suppose capitalising on the lowest-hanging fruit is good for business, but I don't adhere to those principles. When I create a dish, I ask myself, 'Do I want to eat this?'," he says.
Getting customers to try new flavours in a food culture dominated by traditional Indian cuisine does sometimes mean bridging the gap by not deviating too much from the familiar, spicier "in your face" tastes, says Ms Ghildayal.
She points out that even global brands such as Starbucks, which recently opened its first branches in India, have had to adapt for Indian customers, serving up a tikka panini, while McDonald's offers a McAloo Tikki burger.
Ms Ghildayal, who advises restaurants on menus, says it is all about striking a balance: "If 10 people like a capellini, there are 50 more people here who like a spicy Arrabiatta sauce."
Another consideration for foreign restaurateurs opening in India is a huge culture of vegetarianism as well as dietary concerns.
A lot of Indian food can be high in carbohydrates and deep-fried, especially at the lower end of the market.
Trying to bring fresh and healthy food was one of the prime drivers for Aditya Parekh's sandwich-and-salad business, Paninaro, which he opened in Mumbai this year.
Mr Parekh, 31, grew up in Mumbai but left the city to live in the US. He returned to India seven years ago and had a "eureka moment".
Sitting at his desk, working for his family business, he realised that only Indian snack food or curries, or five-star hotel lunches, were on offer for his lunch.
In New York his staple diet was a sandwich and a salad. The idea to bring a similar concept to India grew out of the lack of fresh sandwich chains in Mumbai.
"People are open to try this kind of food but they've never been given the chance to. I think we are giving them something that's healthier specially at lunchtime.
Ms Ghildayal says it will take some time before Indian tastes can truly be turned on their head.
But just like overseas Indian culture has adapted dishes which are not so popular in India such as Vindaloo, entrepreneurs are trying to tempt tastebuds here with interesting flavours which many here have never tried before.
We want to hear from you. You can contact BBC journalists
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fbe23d9053b51067d3e930e51e826fb3 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-20405193 | Outrage at India arrests over Facebook post | Outrage at India arrests over Facebook post
The arrest of two women on Monday over a comment on Facebook has sparked off widespread anger in India.
One of the women had criticised the shutdown of Mumbai in her post, after the death of politician Bal Thackeray, while the other "liked" the comment.
The women, accused of "promoting enmity between classes", were released on bail after appearing in court.
The death of the controversial Hindu nationalist politician on Saturday afternoon brought Mumbai to a halt.
In her Facebook comment on Sunday, 21-year-old Shaheen Dhanda wrote: "People like Thackeray are born and die daily and one should not observe a 'bandh' [shutdown] for that."
Her 20-year-old friend Renu Srinivasan 'liked' the status.
The Times of India
newspaper responded with the headline: "Shame: 2 girls arrested for harmless online comment."
The newspaper said the arrests were a "clear case of abuse of authority".
"The girl was not slandering anybody, nor was she promoting hatred towards any community".
The newspaper said the charges should be dropped and a case of "wrongful arrest" registered against the police.
Press Council of India Chairman Markandey Katju has written a letter to the Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan criticising the arrests.
"We are living in a democracy, not a fascist dictatorship. In fact, this arrest itself appears to be a criminal act, since... it is a crime to wrongfully arrest or wrongfully confine someone who has committed no crime," Mr Katju, a former Supreme Court judge, said.
Telecommunications Minister Kapil Sibal was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India news agency that he was "deeply saddened" by the arrests.
"It is their point of view, and enforcement of these laws are not to ban people from expressing their views," he said.
In recent months, police have arrested a number of people in cases which are being seen as a test of India's commitment to freedom of speech.
In October, Ravi Srinivasan, a 46-year-old businessman in the southern Indian city of Pondicherry, was arrested for a tweet criticising Karti Chidambaram, son of Indian Finance Minister P Chidambaram. He was later released on bail.
In September, there was outrage when a cartoonist was jailed in Mumbai on charges of sedition for his anti-corruption drawings. The charges were later dropped.
And in April, the West Bengal government arrested a teacher who had emailed to friends a cartoon that was critical of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. He too was later released on bail.
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422136469a4389685eecc9bd88d95c32 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-20765320 | Shock and outrage over India Delhi bus gang rape | Shock and outrage over India Delhi bus gang rape
There has been shock and outrage in India over the gang rape of a 23-year-old student on a city bus in the capital, Delhi.
The student and a male friend she was travelling with were beaten, stripped and thrown off the bus in the attack on Sunday evening.
The couple have been admitted to hospital, where the woman is said to be in a critical condition.
Police have arrested the driver of the bus and detained several people.
Delhi's rape figures are higher than for other Indian cities of comparable size, correspondents say.
City shamed, headlined
The Times of India
, saying that Sunday's incident is a "new low for a city already notorious as India's rape capital".
Savagery Shames City, headlined
Mail Today
, adding that "horror had revisited the streets of the capital" on Sunday night.
The newspaper said that 582 cases of rape had been reported in Delhi so far this year.
Delhi Shamed Again, said
The Pioneer
, saying the incident had "again renewed focus on the dismal state of safety for girls and women who venture out at night".
The Indian Express
said the bus was driven around on a stretch in south Delhi for more than an hour and had "crossed" three police patrol vans.
The Chief Minister of Delhi Sheila Dikshit told
The Hindu
newspaper that this was a "shockingly extraordinary case".
"We want to ensure that the culprits are not granted bail under any circumstances. Stringent punishment for them is the need of the hour," she said.
Mrs Dikshit said she would be considering the setting up of a fast track court to "ensure speedy justice to the victim".
The woman and her friend had boarded the bus from Munirka area and were on their way to Dwarka in south-west Delhi.
They were returning after watching a film in a shopping centre in south Delhi, police said.
The couple were attacked by "at least four men", police said.
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b1539877409ab98d312c448dac128bb4 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-20779477 | Delhi bus gang rape: Water cannon used on protesters | Delhi bus gang rape: Water cannon used on protesters
Police in the Indian capital Delhi have used water cannon to disperse protesters angry at Sunday night's gang rape of a 23-year-old student.
The protesters were hosed as they tried to bring down metal barricades outside Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit's home.
Meanwhile, the government has announced a series of measures to make the capital safer for women.
There has been outrage in India after the student and her male friend were attacked on a bus.
The woman remains in a critical condition, doctors say.
Four people, including the bus driver, have been arrested. Police say they are looking for two more people.
Three of the arrested appeared in court on Wednesday and were remanded in custody. The driver was produced in court on Tuesday and also remanded in custody.
Some reports said a fifth man detained in the eastern state of Bihar was being brought to Delhi.
On Tuesday night, the chief of the ruling Congress party,
Sonia Gandhi, visited the hospital
where the student is being treated.
Mrs Gandhi later said that the "strictest possible measures" should be taken to prevent such incidents.
Dozens of protesters, mostly college students, gathered outside the chief minister's home on Wednesday morning, demanding that the government ensure safety of women in the capital city.
Many of the protesters were carrying banners and chanting: "We want equal rights for women."
The government has come under tremendous pressure from opposition MPs, students and women's rights activists, with many accusing the authorities of not doing enough to stop crimes against women.
On Wednesday, women MPs from the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) held a demonstration outside parliament while hundreds of activists and students shouted slogans outside the Delhi police headquarters.
Also on Wednesday, Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde was forced by angry MPs in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of parliament, to make a statement for the second time in as many days.
Mr Shinde said there would be more police night patrols, and all bus drivers and their assistants would be subject to checks.
"Private buses, when not in use, must be parked with their owners and the photo identification of the driver and staff of every bus would have to be displayed, and the police would enforce this," he said.
The bus which was used for Sunday night's crime had dark tinted glass. Mr Shinde said "buses with dark windows and curtains would be impounded".
Earlier in the day, Mr Shinde held a meeting with the top officials of the Delhi police.
The police were also criticised by the Delhi High Court, which asked them to give a report on the incident in two days.
"How did the bus cross five police checkpoints without anybody stopping it?" the judges asked. "Those responsible have to be punished," they warned.
The incident has caused outrage across the country and lawmakers from all parties have expressed their horror.
Angry MPs have demanded the death penalty for the rapists, and protests and candle-lit vigils have been held in the capital.
The woman and her friend boarded the bus in Munirka area and were on their way to Dwarka in south-west Delhi.
They were returning after watching a film in a shopping centre in south Delhi, police said.
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1b2556ac06b1292c84e034e2846da041 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-21598743 | India issues optimistic economic growth forecast | India issues optimistic economic growth forecast
India's growth rate is set to rise over the coming year after two years of slowdown, according to a forecast from the finance ministry.
The ministry released its figures in an economic survey ahead of the unveiling of the budget on Thursday.
It predicts that economic growth in 2013-14 will be between 6.1% to 6.7%, after having fallen to 5% in 2012-13.
However, the survey calls for more action on job creation and widening the tax base.
India's recent slow growth has been blamed on several factors, not least the sharp slowdown in its manufacturing and services sectors.
"Despite the slowdown, the services sector has shown more resilience to worsening external conditions than agriculture and industry," the ministry's report says.
The survey predicts that nearly half the additions to the Indian labour force over the period 2011-2030 will be in the 30-49 age group and says more needs to be done to provide this group with jobs in "higher-productivity" sectors.
The recent decline in growth "is a wake-up call for increasing the pace of actions and reforms," the survey says.
However, recent government reforms to open retail, insurance and aviation sectors to foreign investment as a way of stimulating growth have sparked opposition.
Last week, all India's major unions held a two-day strike, in part prompted by the reform plans.
A one-day strike against reforms last September shut down some cities and cost Asia's third-largest economy millions of dollars in lost business.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh says the reforms will "help strengthen our growth process and generate employment in these difficult times".
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1459b04c1047f7f0ad7d1af0511a9e7e | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-21665513 | US bravery award for Delhi rape victim | US bravery award for Delhi rape victim
The US State Department has awarded one of its 2013 International Women of Courage Awards to the 23-year-old woman who died after being gang-raped in the Indian capital, Delhi.
The woman, who cannot be named, and a male friend were attacked on a bus in Delhi on 16 December. She died two weeks later in a hospital in Singapore.
The case shocked India and prompted a debate about the treatment of women.
The award will be presented posthumously on Friday.
In a statement
on Monday, the State Department said the woman - who has become known as Nirbhaya, meaning "Fearless" - had "become the foundation of a popular movement to end violence against women in India".
"For millions of Indian women, her personal ordeal, perseverance to fight for justice, and her family's continued bravery is helping to lift the stigma and vulnerability that drive violence against women," it said.
She had "bravely recorded two police statements while in the hospital, repeatedly called for justice against the six attackers, and stated her will to survive to see justice done.
"In the wake of her death just two weeks after the attack, India's active civil society began advocating heavily for legislation and social programmes to stem gender-based violence in all its forms and to ensure higher rape conviction rates and gender-sensitive law enforcement and justice systems.
"Thanks to these efforts, the Indian government has begun to take action to follow through on those demands."
The woman died of her injuries in a hospital in Singapore two weeks after the attack, which triggered widespread anger about the treatment of women in India.
Five men are being tried in Delhi in connection with the attack. A sixth suspect is being tried in a juvenile court. They deny the charges.
A commission under ex-chief justice JS Verma was appointed to examine the country's laws on sex crimes, issuing its report on 23 January.
The government approved many of the recommendations, paving the way for raising the penalty for gang rape to life.
But they went beyond the panel's recommendations and suggested the death sentence in rape cases where the victim dies or slips into a coma.
The US awards will be presented by Secretary of State John Kerry, at a ceremony attended by First Lady Michelle Obama.
Among the other nine women receiving the award are Tibetan blogger and activists Tsering Woeser, Russian journalist and rights activists Elena Milashina and Razan Zeitunah, a Syrian human rights lawyer who founded the Local Coordination Committees which has documented casualties and right violations throughout the country's conflict.
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1920eff46689a51a0d39e52d24e56937 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-21940666 | Teaching Indian sex workers to spot fake currency | Teaching Indian sex workers to spot fake currency
In the eastern Indian city of Calcutta, a non-governmental organisation has started a programme to help sex workers recognise fake currency given to them by clients, reports the BBC's Rahul Tandon.
It is another busy day for Satabadi Jana in one of Asia's largest red-light districts, Sonagachi, where more than 10,000 prostitutes live and work.
A group of sex workers is crammed into a small room, which serves as Ms Jana's office. They listen carefully to what she has to say.
Normally, they come here to get advice about how to avoid contracting HIV.
But today, the subject on the agenda is how to spot a forged bank note.
Over the past few months, women here have received a large number of counterfeit 500-rupee ($9; £6) and 1,000-rupee notes.
The authorities believe that the notes are coming in from across the border in Bangladesh.
Seema Fokle has been working in Calcutta's red light district since she was a young girl.
She pulls out a note and thrusts it towards me. "Look at this," she says as she waves a 500-rupee note in my face. "It's a fake and it's as worthless as the man who gave it to me."
All the other women nod their heads in agreement.
It is a problem that all of them have had to deal with. And it is making life even more difficult than normal.
Some of the women here earn just 100 rupees ($1.85; £1.21) a day.
Areas like Sonagachi are the perfect place to circulate counterfeit currency as the women are too scared to go to the police.
Ms Jana laughs when I ask her if any of the women have filed a police complaint after receiving fake currency.
"All of the girls are afraid to go to the police. They fear that they will end up being arrested if they go and complain.
"Anyway who is going to listen to a sex worker?" she asks.
Shefali Roy, who has received many fake notes, says: "If I go to the authorities, I will lose business. If my clients know that I have been to the police, they will stop coming here. And then how will I survive? It is better to just keep quiet."
Ms Jana holds up a 500-rupee note up in the air so that all the women can see it.
She points to what looks like an empty space on the left side and then holds it up against the light and suddenly a picture of Mahatma Gandhi appears with the number 500 written on it.
The women start laughing and one of them jokes: "Satabadi, you are a magician."
She smiles and then shows them a series of other ways in which they can spot fake notes with the naked eye.
Sometimes, though, it is not possible to detect whether a note is real or not just by looking at it.
So the organisation that Ms Jana works for, the Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee, has put a machine in its office that uses ultraviolet light to detect forgeries.
Not surprisingly, it is much in demand.
Seema Fokle says that if a client gives her a suspicious-looking note, she comes here to check it. "If it's fake, I ask them to change it and they do."
Ms Jana says that since they started the training programme, the number of fake notes in the area has declined by around 20%.
Prostitution is illegal in India but the country has more than three million sex workers.
Campaigners say the real figure is much higher than that and many of those working in the illegal sex industry are children who are trafficked from some of the poorest parts of the country.
By the time this training programme finishes, more than 10,000 women will have been taught how to recognise fake notes.
Ms Jana hopes that it will help one of the world's oldest professions get to grips with one of the world's oldest problems.
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ce1c7006b6c7718da5fb5617f4c62898 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-23193390 | India President Pranab Mukherjee approves cheap food plan | India President Pranab Mukherjee approves cheap food plan
The Indian president has approved a giant programme to provide subsidised food to two-thirds of the population.
Pranab Mukherjee signed into law the food security ordinance approved by the cabinet two days ago.
Under the new law, the government will provide 5kg of cheap grain every month to nearly 800 million poor people.
The ordinance still has to be ratified by the parliament within six weeks of its first sitting, otherwise it will lapse, authorities say.
Opposition parties have criticised the government for passing the measure as an ordinance, after failing to win parliamentary support.
Critics say the plan is a political move to win votes and will drain India's finances. Supporters say it will help reduce poverty.
The ambitious National Food Security Bill, which will cost 1.3 trillion rupees ($23.9bn; £15.8bn) a year, is being called one of the world's largest welfare schemes.
It was an election promise made by the ruling Congress party and its implementation is expected to help the party in general elections due next year.
But the scheme is intended to combat hunger - despite impressive economic growth in recent years, India still struggles to feed its population and has more malnourished children than any other country in the world.
The bill proposes to provide a kilo of rice at three rupees (six cents; four pence), wheat at two rupees and millet at one rupee.
The measure will apply to 75% of Indians living in rural areas and 50% of the urban population.
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d92e3747f6ce83495894c80402ee2303 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-23358264 | India Supreme Court orders curb on sales of acid | India Supreme Court orders curb on sales of acid
India's Supreme Court has ordered federal and state governments to regulate the sale of acid in an attempt to reduce attacks on women.
The court said that acid should be sold only to people who show a valid identity card.
Buyers will also have explain why they need the chemical and sales will have to be reported to the police.
There will also be more compensation for victims. There are an estimated 1,000 acid attacks a year in India.
The victims, who have to live with terrible disfigurements, are mainly women and are often targeted by jealous partners, correspondents say.
In Thursday's ruling, the Supreme Court ordered that acid should be not be sold to anyone under the age of 18. It also ruled that there should be no bail allowed for the offence.
In addition, victims of acid attacks will be entitled to more financial help from state governments - the court said compensation of at least 300,000 rupees (£3,320; $5,000) must be paid to help rehabilitate them after their ordeal.
The Indian government has been accused of being too slow to deal with the issue of acid attacks.
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court strongly criticised the government for failing to formulate a policy to reduce such attacks.
It says it wants to see these new measures enforced within the next three months.
Campaigners hope it will lead to a fall in the number of crimes committed, as happened in Bangladesh when it bought in restrictions on acid sales.
Acid attacks are a problem throughout South Asia, with cases also reported in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Campaigners say women who reject boyfriends, husbands or employers are often targeted by men using easily available and cheap chemicals.
Earlier this year, India introduced tough new legislation to counter violence against women.
The legislation contains harsher penalties for rapists, including the death penalty, and up to 10 years in jail for acid attacks.
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d0f20fcf30a9938db5e55168e6023a22 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-23707479 | India PM Manmohan Singh: Pakistan 'attack dastardly' | India PM Manmohan Singh: Pakistan 'attack dastardly'
Indian PM Manmohan Singh has said ties with Pakistan cannot improve until it "stops using its territory for anti-India activity".
In a speech marking Independence Day he described
the killing of five Indian soldiers
on 6 August, allegedly by Pakistani troops, as a dastardly act.
India accused Pakistani soldiers of launching the attack after crossing the disputed border in Kashmir.
Pakistan has denied any involvement.
"We have... strived for friendship with our neighbouring countries. However, for relations with Pakistan to improve, it is essential that they prevent the use of their territory and territory under their control for any anti-India activity," Mr Singh said in a televised speech on Thursday.
"Recently, there was a dastardly attack on our soldiers on the line of control [de facto border] with Pakistan. We will take all possible steps to prevent such incidents in the future," Mr Singh said.
Claimed by both countries, Kashmir has been a flashpoint for over 60 years.
In January, several deadly cross-border attacks plunged the neighbours into their worst crisis in relations in years.
The latest incident came as the two sides prepare for peace talks, the first since a new Pakistani government took office.
Mr Singh also said his government would launch a number of infrastructure projects, including eight new airports, two sea ports, new industrial corridors and railway projects in the coming months to boost a slowing economy.
He said he was also hopeful that a landmark bill to provide subsidised food to two-thirds of the population would be soon passed in the parliament.
Under the law, the government will provide 5kg of subsidised grain monthly to nearly 800 million poor people.
Critics say the plan is a political move to win votes and will drain India's finances. Supporters say it will help reduce poverty and hunger.
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5c37d9fd9e3f7862a3ee96d0049be059 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-24531245 | A unique Indian wedding website for HIV positive people | A unique Indian wedding website for HIV positive people
As Nisha looked at the syringe filling up with her blood, little did she know that the needle inserted in her vein was also drawing out her hope and dignity.
A pregnant Nisha was at a hospital in Parbhani, in the western Indian state of Maharashtra, for a routine blood test. But her world came crashing down when she learnt she was HIV positive.
The test results of her husband confirmed her suspicion that she had contracted the virus from him. Yet, it was she who was blamed for their condition and thrown out of the house. Her worst fears came true when her son was born HIV positive.
After her husband divorced her, she says she lost her will to live.
"I wanted to kill my son and myself," she says. "I wanted to remarry but didn't know how to find an HIV positive partner."
A few years into her ordeal, she came to know about PositiveSaathi.com, a free matrimonial website for HIV positive people. Saathi is the Hindi word for friend or partner.
Today, Nisha, 42, leads a normal life, having found an HIV positive husband from Kolhapur to support her and her 11-year-old son. "The site came as a ray of hope in my darkest hour," she says.
That sentiment is shared by the more than 5,000 HIV positive people registered with the website. And they all have Anil Valiv to thank for bringing them back from the brink.
Mr Valiv, 43, who founded PositiveSaathi.com in 2006, is a government officer with a passion for social work.
Despite his demanding job in the transport department, he makes time to help those rendered lonely by the dreaded infection to find support and companionship.
During an earlier stint in Latur town, Mr Valiv started HIV tests for truck drivers, among those most at risk from HIV-Aids.
He says a doctor once told him about an HIV positive man who was desperate to get married.
"He told the doctor that if he didn't find an HIV positive match soon, he would marry a healthy woman without revealing his HIV status. The doctor was in a dilemma. That made me realise how difficult it was for such people to find a spouse."
Mr Valiv had also seen a close friend, who had contracted the virus in the early 1990s, waste away in pain, suffering and isolation.
"He was shunned by his own family. I cannot forget the longing in his eyes for a family and children. Such is the stigma attached to the infection that when he died in 2006, his father refused to light his pyre at his sparsely attended funeral."
HIV positive people are ostracised and treated inhumanely, he says, but they need help and support. "If their emotional and physical needs are unmet, they can end up spreading the infection."
Nearly two-thirds of those registered with his website are from rural areas. That is remarkable considering internet access in Indian villages is poor. Around 250 of those registered are Indians living abroad.
To bring HIV positive people together, Mr Valiv has also organised nearly a dozen "matrimonial meetings" for them.
Ramesh Dhongde, a 43-year-old rickshaw driver in Pune, is among the hundreds who have attended these meetings in search of hope and love.
When Mr Dhongde learnt 11 years ago that he had contracted the virus from his now dead wife, he thought it was the end of the road for him. He was most worried about the future of his only daughter.
Then, at a meeting organised by Mr Valiv two years ago, he met his current wife, a 33-year-old divorcee who works in a women's co-operative. "Returning to a normal married life has restored my confidence to fight the disease," he says.
To spread the word about these meetings, Mr Valiv prints posters with his own money and puts them up in public places.
"At the first meeting held in a hospital in Solapur, I anticipated about 300 people and arranged for their breakfast and lunch. Barely 40 came and all the food had to be distributed among the hospital's poor patients."
But the participation improved once he began collaborating with some non-governmental organisations.
When he saw that men far outnumbered women at such meetings, he offered to pay the latter's travel costs. He has already spent tens of thousands of rupees from his own pocket, but is happy that the participation of women has doubled.
He says since most participants walk in riddled with guilt and despair, it takes some effort to get them to open up.
Another problem is that despite being HIV positive, most of them insist on a match from their own caste.
"The caste consideration is strong also because many of them do not reveal their HIV status to their families, who keep putting pressure on them to get married," he says.
Women with children are not readily preferred, more so if they have daughters.
"My role is that of a facilitator," Mr Valiv says. "People connect through the website or during a matrimonial meeting, and then interact directly."
This makes it difficult for him to say the exact number of marriages he has helped arrange.
But based on the thank you messages and updates on the website, he believes that number to be between 200 and 400, some involving Indians living in Singapore, United Kingdom, Germany and elsewhere.
His biggest success perhaps was in 2010 when 22 people got married in one day at a meeting in Pune.
One of them was Lata, a health worker.
She was devastated when she lost her first husband to HIV in 2002. She too was diagnosed as HIV positive when she was only 26. Although her son Ravi, then a little over a year old, was HIV negative, she felt broken.
Lata brought Ravi to the meeting and there they met Vijay. A year older than her, Vijay had lost his wife to HIV and had himself been living with the virus for over 12 years.
They now have a two-year-old son Rishi, who too is HIV negative. "Our sons have made our lives worth living," says an emotional Lata.
Mr Valiv says nearly two dozen couples that he helped get married have had healthy children.
As the popularity of his website has increased, friends, well-wishers and organisations devoted to similar causes have offered help.
Mr Valiv is also using the website to bring together donors and NGOs interested in supporting HIV positive orphans.
"HIV," he says, "should not come in the way of one's right to dream."
(Names of HIV positive individuals have been changed on request.)
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ad20a2db1dfb890a92dfbfe72d36c4af | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-25013018 | India police hunt Bangalore ATM machete attacker | India police hunt Bangalore ATM machete attacker
Police in the Indian city of Bangalore are hunting a man who brutally attacked a woman in a cash machine kiosk.
Jyothi Uday, a bank manager, was about to withdraw money when a man entered, pulled out what looked like a pistol and asked her to withdraw cash.
When Ms Uday resisted the man pulled out a machete and attacked her, leaving her bleeding from head injuries.
CCTV footage shows the man taking her bag and leaving the kiosk after pulling down the shutters.
Police have formed three teams to hunt down the robber, Bangalore-based journalist Habib Beary told the BBC.
"It's a shocking incident. We have set up teams to catch the assailant," Karnataka Home Minister KJ George said.
Ms Uday lay injured for nearly three hours before pedestrians noticed blood flowing out of the kiosk and called the police.
"She was unconscious when police arrived. Surprisingly, the robber did not take away the jewellery she was wearing," Ms Uday's husband told reporters.
The police took her to a local hospital, where she is recovering from her injuries.
CCTV footage shows a young man entering the kiosk early on Tuesday and pulling the shutter down from inside.
He then threatens Ms Uday with what appears to be a pistol - police said it was not clear whether it was a real one.
When Ms Uday refuses to take money out of the machine, the man pulls a machete from his bag and strikes her head.
As Ms Uday collapses in a corner, bleeding profusely, the man rummages through her bag, takes her belongings and leaves the kiosk.
The robbery has shocked residents of the city, which is home to a number of multinationals and considered the information-technology hub of India.
There are some 140,000 cash machines in India, and many of them are unguarded.
"It is not mandatory to provide security to cash machine kiosks. The banks take a call on where to provide security," Bharat Panchali, head of an organisation responsible for security of banks told the BBC Hindi.
Attacks against women have sparked nationwide protests in India and forced the authorities to introduce tougher laws for crimes against women.
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a257959c5d7ec9187f7511bdd449fb32 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-25524146 | Twelve children died in Muzaffarnagar relief camps | Twelve children died in Muzaffarnagar relief camps
At least 12 children have died in relief camps set up for thousands of people who fled their homes during Hindu-Muslim clashes in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh in September, an official report says.
Officials have denied media reports that most of the children died of cold.
They say the children died of pneumonia and dysentery, among other ailments.
Sixty-five people died in the clashes in September. The riots were described as the worst in India in a decade.
Thousands of people fled their homes in the town of Muzaffarnagar after the violence which was sparked by the killing of three men who had objected to the harassment of a young woman.
A report by a government appointed panel said at least 12 children, aged below 15, had died in the relief camps.
There were reports in the Indian media that many of these children had died of severe cold.
"The cause of the death of all these children is different with about four dying because of pneumonia while some others died because of dysentery and one due to premature birth," a senior official of Uttar Pradesh state, AK Gupta, told reporters.
He said most of the children who died "had been taken outside the camps for treatment by their parents or were referred to government hospitals for treatment".
The report also said that 4,783 people were still living in five relief camps in Muzaffarnagar and Shamli districts.
At least 85 people were injured in September's rioting. The clashes also left more than 50,000 people, mostly Muslims, homeless.
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8cfa8ff73118b8a89d20e90822fb352b | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-25855325 | India: Woman gang-raped on orders of 'kangaroo court' | India: Woman gang-raped on orders of 'kangaroo court'
Police in India's West Bengal state have arrested 13 men in connection with a gang rape of a woman, allegedly on orders of village elders who objected to her relationship with a man.
The 20-year-old woman has been admitted to a hospital in a critical condition.
Unofficial courts in India's villages often sanction killings of couples deemed to have violated local codes.
Scrutiny of sexual violence in India has grown since the 2012 gang rape and murder of a student on a Delhi bus.
The government tightened laws on sexual violence last year after widespread protests following the attack.
But violence and discrimination against women remain deeply entrenched.
The suspects were produced in court and have been remanded in custody. They have not yet made any public comment.
Police said the latest incident on Monday night was prompted by the relationship between a woman belonging to the Santhal tribal group and a non-tribal man from a nearby village in Birbhum district.
Clan-based village councils made up of local elders wield great influence over life in large swathes of rural India and often mete out punishments for offences deemed to contravene local traditions and mores.
Although honour killings, sanctioned by unofficial courts that are common in parts of northern India, are unheard of in the tribal Santhal community, women are still treated as second class citizens.
"The relationship was going on for almost five years. When the man visited the woman's home on Monday with the proposal of marriage, villagers spotted him and organised a kangaroo court. During the 'proceedings', the couple were made to sit with hands tied," Birbhum police chief C Sudhakar told the BBC.
He said the headman of the woman's village fined the couple 25,000 rupees ($400; £240) for "the crime of falling in love".
The man paid up, but the woman's family were unable to pay, police said.
The headman, who is a distant relative of the woman, then allegedly ordered the rape, Mr Sudhakar said.
"Her family could not pay, so go enjoy the girl and have fun," the headman reportedly told villagers, according to a complaint filed by the woman's family.
The 13 men arrested in connection with the incident include the headman.
Although the attack took place on Monday night, the family of the woman gathered courage to go to the police on Wednesday afternoon. The woman was admitted to a hospital only on Wednesday night.
She is currently being cared for by a five-member medical team in hospital, local officials say.
The incident has led to outrage in India with some describing it as "inhuman and completely outrageous" and many calling for a quick trial and punishment for the rapists.
"In a democratic country, based upon the rule of law, no vigilantism can be permitted," India's Information Minister Manish Tewari said.
"The West Bengal police must thoroughly investigate the alleged gang rape... and bring to justice those responsible. Authorities must also ensure that the woman and her family receive immediate and adequate police protection," Amnesty International's Divya Iyer said.
Correspondents say rape is a common occurrence in India with many cases still going unreported, despite the heightened media attention in recent months.
Although India has tightened its anti-rape laws and society is more openly discussing cases of violence against women, women across India still live with the daily fear of sexual assault and victims still often have to deal with police apathy.
In 2010, village elders in Birbhum ordered at least three tribal women to strip and walk naked in front of large crowds in West Bengal, police say.
The women were being punished for "having close relations" with men from other communities.
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cb6ff3878aba0bd2a02e44709a45324c | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-26062354 | Onionomics: Peeling away the layers of India's food economy | Onionomics: Peeling away the layers of India's food economy
On a recent weekend morning, Manoj Kumar Jain waded through a mountain of onions in a sprawling car park in the western Indian town of Lasalgaon taking orders on his mobile phone.
"You want pale red, big size onions for the Russians? I will send you a sample straightaway," he told an exporter as glum farmers in white pointed caps followed him.
He rang off, took a picture of an onion and sent it to the caller using a popular phone app.
"Technology has made things easier for the trade," Mr Jain says with a grin. "After all we have no time to waste here."
Lasalgaon is Asia's biggest onion market - in Maharashtra, a state which accounts for a third of India's 16 million tonnes annual production.
Mr Jain is one of 200 licensed traders in the area who buy onions from some 1,700 farmers. They bring their crop from near and far in tractor trailers to the auction, one of the 13 that take place in the area, five to six days a week.
The onion is a
remarkable vegetable.
It is an essential part of the diets of millions of Indians, rich and poor. Few Indian kitchens can do without the pungent bulb.
It's pureed, sautéed and garnished in meals, eaten raw as a salad, used as a dip, fried as fritters and crisps.
"The demand for onions is completely inelastic. You cannot substitute it with any other vegetable," says farm economist Ashok Gulati, who also heads India's Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices.
So, Indians cannot do without onions.
A glut in supply can bring down prices, hitting tens of thousands of farmers. Maharashtra, Gujarat and Karnataka, the three main growing states that account for 60% of the crop and three-quarters of the trade, are particularly sensitive to price movements.
Conversely, a shortage can send prices spiralling and trigger angry protests and even bring down governments.
In 2010, the Congress-led ruling government was forced to ban exports and start importing onions to prevent street protests against rising prices.
As the
New York Times put it
"when the cost of onions goes up, governments can come down".
Last year, wholesale onion prices leapt over 270% after rains delayed the harvest and damaged crops. Expensive food hits the poorest households most as they spend some 60% of their earnings on it.
"The onion is a very volatile commodity," says Mr Jain. "Nobody knows when the prices will move up or go down. We can't hoard it for too long because it is perishable and it is bought and sold in the free market."
The onion trade also underlines the many weaknesses of India's trillion dollar economy - Asia's third-largest - which is grappling with high inflation and low growth.
For one, the trade demonstrates how the farm economy depends heavily on the vagaries of weather.
Unseasonal rain can damage crops, choke supply lines and drive up prices. A drought can lead to severe shortages and inflation. Where the consumers and farmers lose, the traders and retailers gain.
The trade is a glaring example of how a complex and messy supply chain sometimes involving just half a dozen middlemen setting prices can make the vegetable very expensive in retail.
During the weekend at the Lasalgaon auction, supply was good and Mr Jain was picking up the crop between 8 and 9.50 rupees (13-15 cents) a kilogram from farmers.
Some 233km (144 miles) away in Mumbai, onions were selling at at least three times the price in shops and markets.
"There have been instances of shortage of supplies leading to 400 to 500% increase in price of onions by the time the crop reaches retailers. Everybody is happily racking up margins," says Ashok Gulati, the farm economist.
Making sure that the crop reaches markets is another challenge. Transportation, or the lack of it, is part of India's story of patchy infrastructure which remains a major obstacle to economic growth.
On the day we met him, Mr Jain was working his phones to get some trucks to carry his onions to a buyer in the eastern city of Calcutta, some 1,750km away.
There were 165 onion trucks rumbling their way to the city every day, he explained, but that wasn't enough. Rail isn't an option. Despite four railway stations in the region there are too few freight cars to rush supplies to the big onion markets in the north and east of the country.
"There just aren't enough trucks and trains to carry the crops. And we cannot store onions indefinitely as it is a highly perishable vegetable," says Mr Jain.
Making matters worse is the fact that onions are 85% water. When stocked in archaic storage in India's blisteringly hot summers, they lose weight fast.
Mr Jain stores his onions in tarpaulin-covered sheds in a dusty two-acre plot, where around 60 workers are busy sorting and grading the onions for size and quality. He estimates that 3-5% of the crop he stores is routinely wasted in storage.
"What you sell eventually is considerably less than what you buy from the farmer," says economist Mr Gulati.
That is the way it is going to be until India sets up a network of countrywide cold storages.
A recent report by the UK-based Institution of Mechanical Engineers said 40% of fruit and vegetables in India was lost every year between the farm and the consumer due to lack of adequate cold storage.
One way to dampen volatility in onion prices, some economists believe, is to dehydrate the bulb and make these processed onions more widely available.
Currently, less than 5% of India's fruit and vegetables are processed, of which just 150,000 tonnes are onions.
"If you dehydrate onions, you save time cooking, increase the shelf life of the vegetable and stabilise the prices. I find no loss of taste either," says Mr Gulati.
Economists like him believe that India needs to scale up its infant food processing industry to make sure perishable vegetables and fruit are not wasted and fetch a stable price.
Back at the auction, Manoj Kumar Jain, says he cannot understand India's onion "mania".
"It is not something which is saving a lot of lives or anything," he says. "Why do people hanker after onions? Why do the people, media and politicians get worked up about it? Look at me, I don't have onions."
But then Mr Jain belongs to India's five-million-strong Jain community who while practising vegetarians avoid onion and garlic.
Despite this aversion to consuming onions, two generations of his family have grown rich trading the vegetable and that isn't going to end soon.
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c35859509e3377ae4d22e6d1ac6f759a | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-26117396 | IPL's Gurunath Meiyappan 'guilty' in cricket betting probe | IPL's Gurunath Meiyappan 'guilty' in cricket betting probe
A panel investigating spot-fixing in the Indian Premier League has found a top cricket team official guilty of illegal betting, media reports say.
The panel's report said Gurunath Meiyappan of Chennai Super Kings
passed on information to illegal bookmakers
.
Spot-fixing involves players bowling wides and no-balls at certain times arranged beforehand with bookmakers.
Mr Meiyappan has not yet commented on the report's findings, but he denied the allegations last year.
The three-member panel, headed by Justice Mukul Mudgal, was formed by the Supreme Court to investigate spot-fixing and illegal betting in the Indian Premier League last year. It submitted its 170-page report to the court on Monday.
"Roots of corruption and malpractices have crept in deep into the game of cricket, more particularly the IPL, and are seeping into the game at an alarming rate," said the report, which was seen by the AFP news agency.
It said the allegations against Mr Meiyappan - son-in-law of N Srinivasan, head of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) - needed further investigation.
Mr Srinivasan, who is also the owner of the Chennai Super Kings team, "stepped aside" from his post as BCCI president in June last year after Mr Meiyappan was arrested over allegations of betting in the IPL.
Mr Meiyappan has since been released on bail, and Mr Srinivasan has returned as the head of the cricket board. Mr Srinivasan was elected head of cricket's world body, the International Cricket Council (ICC), on Saturday.
Last July Indian cricketer and Rajasthan Royals fast bowler S Sreesanth was charged along with 38 other people over the IPL spot-fixing scandal.
In September, India's cricket board handed a life ban to Sreesanth and his Royals teammate Ankeet Chavan.
The IPL is considered to be the world's showcase for Twenty20 cricket.
Top Indian and international players take part, contributing to what is the world's richest cricket tournament.
|
47be96293d51c3a1c47ecfbdcc525bb0 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-26222489 | India's anti-corruption party names poll candidates | India's anti-corruption party names poll candidates
India's new anti-corruption party has said it will fight the forthcoming general elections just days after its leader quit as Delhi chief minister.
The Aam Aadmi (Common Man) Party leader, Arvind Kejriwal, resigned on Friday after an anti-corruption bill was blocked in the state assembly.
On Sunday, the AAP named 20 candidates who would challenge senior politicians from the two main parties.
The party made a spectacular debut in recent Delhi elections.
"This is our first list of 20 clean candidates and we will be putting out more lists to contest from different parts of the country in the days ahead," news agency AFP quoted senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia as saying.
The candidates include activists and professionals who have left their jobs in recent months to join the new party.
Mr Kejriwal, who spent 49 days in power, had been threatening to resign if the anti-corruption bill was blocked.
On Friday night, he said his "cabinet has decided that we are quitting".
Addressing hundreds of supporters outside his party headquarters, Mr Kejriwal said his attempt to fight corruption by bringing in new legislation had been blocked by India's two leading parties, the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Opposition politicians blocked the bill, which would have created an independent body with the power to investigate politicians and civil servants suspected of corruption.
They argued it was unconstitutional to introduce legislation that did not have the approval of the federal government.
But correspondents say his refusal to seek prior approval for the bill is part of a power struggle unfolding between his local administration and the federal government.
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ae9348dbb9ce0992009707979b8aa292 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-26237133 | Jagdish Tytler: My own daughter asks if I killed Sikhs | Jagdish Tytler: My own daughter asks if I killed Sikhs
Jagdish Tytler, a former Delhi MP and minister, is among the Congress party members accused of leading the mobs during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
Mr Tytler denies any wrongdoing and in March 2009, India's Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) cleared him. But after an ensuing outcry, his party dropped him as a candidate for the general elections that year. In 2013, a Delhi court ordered the CBI to investigate the allegations against Mr Tytler once more.
In an interview with the BBC's Andrew North, Mr Tytler said he was actually with Indira Gandhi's body in mourning at the key time when he is accused of instigating violence. Below are some edited excerpts from the interview.
Were you involved in instigating the mobs that killed thousands of Sikhs in November 1984?
First of all, this question is not the right one because I am nowhere involved and nowhere has my name been mentioned. All this perception created by the media is a different thing. The reality is, the court says, the CBI [Central Bureau of Investigation] says "I am not involved".
Where has this perception come from?
The perception came from the
Nanavati Commission
[set up to investigate the 1984 riots], after 2008. From 1984 to 2007 my name never came up. I was a minister for 11 years and I got elected four times in Sikh-dominated constituencies and I never lost. If I was guilty, people would never have elected me.
Then why have there been investigations into you since? Why do people still say they saw you at those riots?
At the Nanavati Commission, one application was completely false. The second was from Surinder Singh, the main man with whom this whole thing has been built. He says Mr Tytler came and instigated the crowd to go in the gurdwara [Sikh temple] and kill people.
Now, the president and the secretary of the gurdwara say it's a wrong statement. Then Mr Surinder Singh says "I was made to write this because I will get compensation".
So this is a concocted story and I am suffering from this wrong perception. I am a victim of my enemies, maybe within my own party, but I am also a big threat to the [main opposition] BJP. Every known leader of the BJP I have defeated, so they are scared.
If you are innocent of these charges, why did the Congress party withdraw your candidacy at the last elections in 2009?
They did not say this. This is the interesting part. I was given a ticket. Then one journalist in the press conference of the home minister threw a shoe and there was uproar.
So the perception was created that why Mr Tytler - and my colleague Sajjan Kumar - why have they been given tickets?
In this kind of atmosphere, it was harming the party and letting the Congress president [Sonia Gandhi] feel embarrassment and especially the prime minister, who is himself a Sikh - whether Mr Tytler is guilty or not guilty. But I accepted this thing with all my humility.
So you must be angry then with the Congress party for not standing by you?
No, no. It is not like that. What happened is a shameful thing. [The] '84 [riot] is not something anybody can be proud of. And I still say: 'the guilty should be hanged, not punished, should be hanged'. But when this kind of thing happens, I am not above the party. The party has given me a lot.
It appears the Congress party do not want to stand by you?
No, no. I am very proud of my party. We are not above all these things. The party has made me four times a member of parliament. They have given me so much.
When the time came that the party is getting a bad name, then this was a small thing to do for the party.
But we would never do anything like this [take part in 1984 riots]. But such an impression was created that one day my own daughter asked me: "Papa have you killed Sikhs?"
Can you imagine how shamed we felt if my own daughter can think like this? So it is important that it is proved that I am not involved.
But there are still cases being pursued against you - it hasn't gone away, has it?
Excuse me, there is not a single case, not a single case since 1984 till today. Even today there is not a single case. There is an investigation into two affidavits, one has been proven false; the other man himself says that he was made to do it. There is no case. You must get this correct. How can there be a case when there is no complaint?
But I'm struck by the fact that you let the Congress party off, you don't blame them, but it looks like at the very least you have been used as a scapegoat by the Congress party?
No, no. Not a scapegoat. The party is bigger than me. I had my work.
So you had to fall on your sword, for the Congress party?
Yes, well I felt why not. Party gives you everything. Party gives me respect. Party gives me everything that I am today.
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7919761bc664244bc03441642cb6f24a | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-26319400 | India leopard on loose causes panic in Meerut town | India leopard on loose causes panic in Meerut town
Panic has gripped the northern Indian town of Meerut where a leopard is on the loose, officials said.
Schools and colleges are shut and a high alert has been sounded in the town, which is a two-hour drive from the capital, Delhi.
The animal entered a hospital on Sunday and was locked in a room for a few hours before it escaped, reports said.
Large numbers of policemen have been deployed and wildlife experts have been called in to help capture the animal.
"We have closed schools and colleges in the town because we are unable to locate the leopard and do not want to take any chances. This is only a precautionary measure," district magistrate Pankaj Yadav told BBC Hindi.
"We are yet to locate the leopard. We have got calls from some areas but are still unable to trace its exact location," district forest officer Sushant Kumar said.
Officials said they were investigating reports that it had strayed into Meerut from the nearby forests.
The animal was first spotted in the town on Sunday afternoon in a warehouse where it attacked and injured a man who entered the room.
Later, the leopard took refuge in a nearby hospital, but escaped from the window a few hours later.
Rescue teams of wildlife experts have been called in to help tranquilise and capture the animal, officials said.
Wildlife experts say there are no reliable population estimates for leopards in India, but rough estimates put their number at about 10,000.
Tigers and other big cats have been known to stray into populated areas and conservationists have warned that such confrontations may increase as humans encroach on animal habitats.
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17330af01e140f9c843f54626dd85174 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-26334587 | Hunting for India's deadliest man-eating tiger | Hunting for India's deadliest man-eating tiger
"Dasgupta can do what he likes. I'm not going into the bush on foot."
On the trail of India's deadliest man-eating tiger for years, nerves are on edge - and reputations too.
Hunter Ramesh Chauhan is pacing, well, like a caged animal.
Team leader Ashish Dasgupta is out seeking new intelligence on the tiger that may have claimed 10 lives already.
They are not even sure it is still alive: there's a rumour local Sikhs killed the tiger but are hushing it up.
A week since they arrived, the hunters are getting frustrated.
"The cattle came back without him," says Vicky Singh, remembering the day his grandfather disappeared while grazing their water buffalo. Lal Singh, 65, was the tiger's last confirmed victim.
"Next morning I found his red and yellow turban, and then his legs and other body parts. I just collapsed."
It's in the patchwork of sugarcane fields, forest and bush around Mr Singh's village in northern Uttar Pradesh that Mr Dasgupta and his team have been concentrating.
A veteran of more than 40 hunts for big cats that have turned man-eater, he says this one has proved "particularly elusive" since it began its killing spree in late-December.
One of its tactics has been to hide in the dense sugarcane and then pounce on unsuspecting labourers harvesting the crop.
"It can come out from anywhere and then disappear back inside," says Mr Dasgupta, keeping a hand on the Magnum pistol on his hip. "It's all over in seconds."
A short drive away is India's largest tiger reserve, the Jim Corbett national park - named after a colonial-era hunter - set in the early foothills of the Himalayas.
The park is home to as many as one in 10 of India's estimated 1,700 hard-pressed wild tigers, more than half the world's population. And it's thought the rogue tiger is from the reserve.
But the initial attacks happened more than 100km (62 miles) away, far beyond a tiger's normal roaming range.
Another surprise is what looks like an indecisive appetite. "It's only eating soft parts like the stomach and genitalia, not the whole body," he says. "It doesn't seem able to bite hard flesh or bone effectively."
That may be a sign the animal is wounded or can't use its jaws properly. It may also be why it has turned on humans - much easier to catch, says Mr Dasgupta, than its usual prey of deer or other wild animals.
But if the tiger is still alive, he is sure "it will kill again. The tiger has got the taste of human flesh now".
As night falls, the hunters hitch a powerful searchlight to their jeep's battery.
All eyes are fixed on the sharp disc of light as it jumps and bounces over the landscape.
"Look, look, look," Mr Dasgupta whispers suddenly as they cross a river-bed, already levelling his rifle.
Out in the gloom, the beam has lit up a pair of eyes.
The two glinting specks start to run and Mr Dasgupta follows with his telescopic sight.
But then he lowers the gun. "Jackal," he sighs.
"We're living in terror now," Vicky Singh complains, back in Sahuwala village. They are no longer taking their buffalo out to graze, but feeding them in their stables.
"Even if a leaf shakes on a tree, we think it's a tiger. They have got to kill it."
With tigers under constant pressure, some conservationists have called for it to be tranquillised if it's found - especially as there has been speculation it is a rare female.
But struggling to find enough workers to gather his sugarcane crop, local farmer Shahid Hussein says it is too late for that: "We live with the tigers. We don't mind them eating our animals occasionally, but we can't accept it turning on men and women."
Mr Dasgupta scoffs at the idea of tranquillising it, because the effect is not instantaneous, giving the tiger time to escape or attack. And the authorities have given him a licence to kill.
There is no reward, but the prize is unquantifiable: being the name in the hunting fraternity who bagged a serial man-eater and a trophy photograph with the big killer cat.
Mr Dasgupta has a large collection, including photos of India's biggest ever man-eating leopard, which he shot in 2000 - "one inch longer than Jim Corbett's record," he smiles.
For all his team, this is passion rather than profession. Mr Dasgupta is an industrialist who makes shock absorbers, his friend Ramesh a politician in the ruling Congress party. The two other regulars in this band of shooters are a pharmacist and property dealer.
While the state authorities have been employing tiny drones to search for the tiger, it is amateurs who dominate the effort. Some are using elephants; others sitting in hides watching baited traps.
But there's been little coordination or sharing of information.
In the distance, the hills of the Corbett tiger reserve are turning orange and another day is slipping away without a firm lead.
Mr Dasgupta has driven off to meet the local forest ranger.
The man from the Congress party sits down on a rope bed. "We're all non-veg," says Chauhan. "We hardly ever shoot a wild animal. We protect them. But we're sportsmen too. And sportsmen don't like to be idle."
Someone suggests it is time to get out of the jeep more.
"I like to hunt tigers on foot," Mr Dasgupta had said a few days earlier. "But you need nerves of steel."
Mr Chauhan is not impressed. Most people would think twice about jumping into the undergrowth after a tiger.
The only thing that's certain is that the competition is stiffening.
Desperate to find the tiger after more than seven weeks of attacks, the state authorities have called in more hunters.
The secret, says Mr Dasgupta, is "to think like a tiger, think like a predator".
And next morning they find a lead - fresh tiger tracks, right next to Shahid Hussein's sugarcane fields. They make plaster casts of the footprints and now they are waiting to compare them with others taken from the site of a recent kill.
Mr Dasgupta walks into the undergrowth nearby, pulling out his handgun, a half-smoked "beedi" - a small hand-rolled cigarette common in India - butt wedged in his mouth.
"The human-animal conflict" is only likely to intensify, he says, with humans constantly encroaching on tiger habitat.
"If you take away someone's home, what do they do? They walk the streets. They become a hobo."
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fdfe0ff2f9f5bda05a3cbd19063ffdff | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-26515171 | Rishang Keishing: India's oldest MP calls it a day | Rishang Keishing: India's oldest MP calls it a day
Rishang Keishing still remembers the first time he travelled to work as a newly elected MP in India's first parliament, in 1952.
He made the journey by bicycle, but as he crossed Delhi's busy Connaught Place, he was pulled over by the police.
"They told me it was one-way traffic and I was going the wrong direction," says the MP who represents the remote north-eastern state of Manipur. "I told them we didn't have such things where I am from, but I said I'm sorry and they let me go."
Now 94 and preparing to retire as India's and the world's oldest MP, Mr Keishing is understandably nostalgic about the past, but also gloomily despondent about how the country's parliament has turned out.
It's so often suspended now because of rowdy and sometimes violent interruptions from disruptive lawmakers, it's hardly news any more.
Things reached a nadir recently when an MP from the ruling Congress party
used pepper spray to try to stop a bill passing
, putting several other members in hospital.
"It used to be quiet like a temple or a church, and the debates were listened to intently," remembers Mr Keishing. "There is no house decorum now and the Speaker is no longer respected" - turning the modern Indian parliament into "a waste of time", he says.
The photographs covering the walls of his home in Manipur look like a memorial now to those more genteel times. Pride of place goes to a photograph of the first parliament, from 1952 to 1957, with a much younger Mr Keishing at one side and India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru at the centre.
But Mr Keishing's criticism is not just the wistful talk of an elder statesman.
Records show the past five years of India's parliament, its 15th since independence, have been the least productive ever - with only just over half the 327 bills tabled being passed.
Days of debating time have been lost to suspensions, and the Congress-led government has resorted to using so-called ordinance powers to enact legislation outside parliamentary time - mirroring President Obama's controversial use of executive orders to bypass a gridlocked US Congress - further undermining faith in democratic procedure.
Just as in the United States, voters are ever more disillusioned with those who purport to represent them.
Some critics say many Indian politicians act exactly what they are: businessmen and accused criminals.
Many MPs have become politicians to further their business interests. And at least a third of the current crop of MPs is charged with some kind of crime, some as serious as attempted murder and major fraud. But they use their positions of power to keep dodging the courts. And despite promises of reform from all the main parties, the number of "criminal politicians" has risen at each election.
There are occasional hints of introspection. Marking the 60th anniversary of parliament two years ago, the Congress party leader Sonia Gandhi remarked that its "journey had not always been smooth or without challenge".
But as this most recent - and most wasteful - parliamentary session came to an end, MPs indulged in a bout of self-congratulation, says Madhu Trehan, editor of website NewsLaundry, "even singing poetry to each other. It was terrible."
Yet the supposedly better parliamentary standards during Nehru's time were, in some ways, an aberration, says Ms Trehan.
Nehru was influenced by his experience of British and American legislative traditions, which modern Indian politicians would be more likely to hide than highlight.
"We are not an obedient people," says Ms Trehan, quoting a Hindi phrase which translates as "Everyone is a Hero". So Indian MPs are bound to "shout and scream, because they always think they're right".
The modern parliament also reflects positive changes in Indian society, she argues. "Feudal systems are being turned upside down and lower castes are in power."
That also means many Indian MPs are "uneducated".
The biggest danger she sees is in how difficult it is becoming to report on India's politicians.
"Free speech in India is in true danger," she warns, "and we don't have democracy if this doesn't change."
Hers is a widely shared concern right now, as the elections approach, amid frequent accounts of journalists being pressured to stop raising sensitive topics - often by their employers.
Much of the criticism has focused on supporters of the opposition BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, for allegedly
trying to silence questions
about his failure to stop riots in his home state of Gujarat in 2002 in which at least 1,000 people - mostly Muslim - died.
But backers of India's newest movement, the Aam Admi or Common Man party, have also come under attack for being intolerant of criticism.
And the ruling Congress party has hardly set an example of accountability. In his 10 years in office, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has held just three press conferences while party leader Sonia Gandhi never does interviews.
Rishang Keishing is preparing to devote more time to local school projects in his retirement. He's still in good health, which he attributes to "a life of no vices - no smoking and no drinking".
His message is that it's time for India's democracy to go through a detox.
"We have to serve people without expecting anything from them," he says, or the country is in danger. "It is democracy that is keeping us together: different religions, different languages and different cultures. In this country, that is the beauty of democracy."
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3f6557b45cabf4350c7b4ed2f0b7bcdb | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-26967340 | Siachen dispute: India and Pakistan’s glacial fight | Siachen dispute: India and Pakistan’s glacial fight
On 13 April 1984, Indian troops snatched control of the Siachen glacier in northern Kashmir, narrowly beating Pakistan. Thirty years later, the two sides remain locked in a stand-off, but the Indian army mountaineer who inspired the operation says his country must hang on whatever the cost.
Virtually hidden from public view, the world's highest conflict is moving into its fourth decade.
The struggle between India and Pakistan over the Siachen glacier has even spawned a new term: "oropolitics", or mountaineering with a political goal.
The word is derived from the Greek for mountain, and Indian army colonel Narendra Kumar can justly claim to be the modern father of oropolitics because his pioneering explorations paved the way for India to take the glacier in early 1984.
But what started as a battle with crampons and climbing rope has turned into high-altitude trench warfare, with the two rival armies frozen - often literally - in pretty much the same positions as 30 years ago.
The vast majority of the estimated 2,700 Indian and Pakistani troop deaths have not been due to combat but avalanches, exposure and altitude sickness caused by the thin, oxygen-depleted air.
"It's been a shocking waste of men and money", says a former senior Indian army officer and Siachen veteran.
"A struggle of two bald men over a comb" is the verdict of Stephen Cohen, a US specialist on South Asia, dismissing the Siachen as "not militarily important".
This would perhaps be comforting if the two combatants did not both have nuclear weapons.
Surrounded by photographs and memorabilia of his climbing exploits, Col Kumar, now in his 80s, says the struggle was critical to preventing Pakistani encroachment into northern Kashmir.
As with so many long-running conflicts, it began with an undefined border.
In the late 1970s, a German mountaineer showed Col Kumar a US-drawn map of northern Kashmir marking the Indian-Pakistan ceasefire line much further to the east than he expected. It appeared the Americans had cartographically ceded a large chunk of the eastern Karakoram to Pakistan, including the Siachen glacier.
"I bought the German's map and sent it straight to the director general of military operations," says Col Kumar, then in charge of the Indian army's mountain warfare school. "I said I would organise an expedition to the area to correct the map!"
But despite several ceasefire agreements, India and Pakistan have never officially demarcated the "line of control" in the extreme north of Kashmir, including the Siachen. And both sides publish different maps depicting their version of the geography.
With its ally China to the north, Pakistan was first to see the potential for oropolitics in this strategic vacuum.
Throughout the 1970s, it gave permits to foreign mountaineers to climb around the glacier, fostering the impression this was Pakistani territory - until Col Kumar sounded the alarm.
But when he got permission for a counter-expedition in 1978, it quickly leaked across the border. "As we reached the Siachen, Pakistani helicopters were flying over us," Col Kumar smiled, "and they were firing out coloured smoke."
This and rubbish left by previous climbing teams convinced him the Pakistanis were stealthily taking over.
But at first, he complains, Indian generals would not take him seriously. Then in early 1981, Col Kumar was given the go-ahead to map the entire glacier, all the way to the Chinese border.
This time there were no leaks. And the following year he wrote up his expedition in a mountaineering magazine, in effect staking India's claim.
With the Indian army now clearly involved, the Pakistanis were determined to entrench their claim. They might have succeeded if Indian intelligence had not learned of some interesting shopping in the UK in early 1984.
"We came to know the Pakistanis were buying lots of specialist mountain clothing in London," grins Col Kumar. A retired Pakistani colonel later admitted they had blundered by using the same store as the Indians.
India immediately dispatched troops to the Siachen, beating Pakistan by a week. By then they had already got control of the glacier and the adjacent Saltoro ridge, using Col Kumar's maps. One of the key Indian installations on the Siachen today is named Kumar Base after him.
A Pakistani counter-attack led by a Brig Gen Pervez Musharraf a few years later was one of several that failed to dislodge the Indians. Since a ceasefire deal in 2003, the Pakistanis have given up trying.
But though both sides are now better at coping with the extreme environment, it still claims the lives of dozens of soldiers each year.
Because it occupies the harder-to-supply higher ground, India pays the heaviest financial price, currently estimated to be around $1m (£600,000) a day.
"With all the money we have spent in Siachen, we could have provided clean water and electricity to half the country," says the former Indian army officer.
Both armies, he says, ensure their "heroic narratives" of the conflict dominate by limiting media access to the Siachen.
Any hints of a thaw, most recently when Pakistan lost 140 soldiers in an avalanche, have always faded away.
The Siachen is just the coldest of several fronts in the frozen conflict over Kashmir, with neither India or Pakistan prepared to take the first step.
"There will be no movement on Siachen until there's movement on everything else," predicts a former senior Indian intelligence officer.
In the meantime, Col Kumar says India should be consolidating its position on the Siachen, by allowing more foreign mountaineers to climb there.
|
679bc0be2ebd20357aa7e50f501cd504 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-27529905 | Controversial Indian ring auctioned at Christie's | Controversial Indian ring auctioned at Christie's
A ring belonging to an 18th Century Indian ruler has been sold at an auction in London amid criticism from heritage groups.
The jewelled golden ring was sold for £145,000 by Christie's auction house.
It belonged to Tipu Sultan, a Muslim king, and is notable because it was inscribed with the name of a Hindu God.
Tipu Sultan is best known for fighting against British rule in India. The ring is thought to have been taken from him by a British general as he lay dead.
The 41.2g ring was sold to an undisclosed bidder for almost 10 times its estimated price at the auction in central London, according to
Christie's website
.
It is inscribed with the name of the Hindu God Ram in raised Devanagri script. Some say this shows that the king was more sympathetic to Hindus than previously thought.
The ring was allegedly taken from the slain body of Tipu Sultan at the end of the 1799 Srirangappattinam battle he fought against the British East India Company's forces.
The auction listing noted that "it is surprising that a ring bearing the name of a Hindu god would have been worn by the great Muslim warrior".
"It is perhaps more likely that the ring was taken from Tipu Sultan's collection," the listing said.
Tipu Sultan was considered a progressive ruler, says Manivannan Thirumalai from the BBC's Tamil section.
Also known as the Tiger of Mysore, he ruled the state for 17 years after he succeeded his father, Hyder Ali.
Earlier this month Professor S. Settar from India's National Institute of Advanced Studies warned that the ring might be hidden from public view if it was sold to a private bidder.
He urged the Indian government to "make use of all available avenues, legal and diplomatic, to recover the ring".
If the ring could not be stopped from going to auction, he said, Indian philanthropists should be encouraged to purchase it on behalf of the nation. It is not known if the new owner of the ring is Indian.
Another group calling itself the Tipu Sultan United Front also urged Indian authorities to do all they could to prevent the ring from being sold.
The ring was previously listed for sale by Christie's in 2012 but was then withdrawn from sale.
|
08b16794a02024f9d194aa45e9009194 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-28031085 | Why India-Pakistan friendship still looks a long way off | Why India-Pakistan friendship still looks a long way off
It started with a handshake, followed by
gifts for their mothers
- a shawl from Narendra Modi and a sari in return from Nawaz Sharif.
Then came
warm words between the two prime ministers
on social media and in old-fashioned letters.
Is "mother's love" fostering a new relationship between the two rival neighbours, asked one
Indian newspaper.
?
Even before India's new prime minister took office, some said his staunchly nationalist Hindu support base would make it easier for him to deliver a deal with Pakistan.
But a month since Mr Sharif accepted Mr Modi's invitation to Delhi for his inauguration, the mothers still have a lot of work to do.
Both sides say their diplomats are talking, but they have yet to take the simple next step agreed by the two prime ministers of getting their foreign secretaries together.
The impending start of Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting, almost certainly means a further delay.
And an upbeat Pakistani newspaper report that
"back-channel talks"
between Islamabad and Delhi were being "revived" was knocked down by both sides.
Of course, it doesn't rule out the possibility that secret talks are under way somewhere.
Whatever the official positions, there's no doubting an appetite for better ties on both sides.
Pakistanis are fascinated by the neighbour most will never be able to visit, asking foreign visitors dangerous questions like: "Whose mangoes taste better - Pakistan's or India's?"
When Delhi's Press Club organised an evening of Pakistani food and music, flying in chefs from Islamabad, the racks of richly-spiced meat on the grill quickly ran out as hundreds of Indian journalists brought their families, equipped with "tiffin" boxes to take away extra supplies.
Good eating probably helped informal discussions last week between Pakistani and Indian officials who met in Thailand.
But their
closing statement
hardly suggested a breakthrough.
And the
view in Delhi
is that there's no need for new talks, secret or not, because, said a spokesman, "there is already a road map we agreed two years ago" focused on the seemingly easier task of boosting economic ties.
It's up to Pakistan to make the next move, the official said, by allowing more goods traffic through the border crossing at Wagah which, he said, would then trigger a reciprocal Indian response.
In Islamabad, views are divided but the Pakistani foreign ministry is trying to put an optimistic gloss on things.
"We're working on Wagah," was how one senior official put it, but described the road map only as "a key part of the discussion" once the foreign secretaries meet.
Pakistan's powerful military establishment - widely reported to have been against Mr Sharif's Delhi visit - is still cautious about the new Modi government next door.
"So far it has not been negative," smiled one security source.
But "we need reciprocal acts from India", he added, tellingly mirroring Indian language, and then emphasised "there can be no compromise on Kashmir" - the chief source of friction between them since independence from Britain.
And
new US measures
against a Pakistan-based militant group blamed for a recent attack on an Indian mission in Afghanistan are a reminder of another persistent running sore over terrorism.
The close overlaps in culture and even between the Urdu and Hindi languages are a constant reminder that India and Pakistan are siblings. But friendship still looks a long way off.
|
533b1895a23e27094d45d60ca97a13ed | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-28948296 | Indian girl, 7, survives being buried alive | Indian girl, 7, survives being buried alive
A seven-year-old Indian girl who was allegedly buried alive by relatives in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh has been rescued by a villager.
Police say relatives first tried to strangle her and then left her to die in a shallow grave. It is unclear why.
The man who found her in Sitapur district alerted police - she was taken to a hospital and is said to be doing well.
Police are looking for her mother, uncle and aunt who they say have fled.
The villager who rescued her followed the sound of muffled cries to the middle of a cane field where he found the soil moving.
Police allege the girl's uncle and aunt had promised to take her to a fair, but then strangled and buried her near the village of Semri Gaura where she lives.
"When the girl became conscious, she began to remove the soil on top of her and clambered out of the shallow grave. Then she sat there and cried loudly when the villager spotted her," Sitapur police chief Rajesh Krishna told BBC Hindi.
"There are strangulation marks around the girl's neck."
Reports say the girl lived with her mother. Her father apparently had no idea about the attack and has told police he is estranged from his wife and lives separately.
Police say they have yet to establish a motive for the attack. But cases of baby girls being killed are not uncommon in India, where women are often discriminated against socially and girls are seen as a financial burden, particularly among poor communities.
In 2012, the father and uncle of a baby girl in Uttar Pradesh allegedly tried to bury her alive, apparently as a sacrifice to protect the health of their other children on the advice of a spiritual guru.
|
16ba55b64657dd4833c13966f43c8c8e | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-29065653 | Al-Qaeda eyes India in jihadi battle of the brands | Al-Qaeda eyes India in jihadi battle of the brands
In the global battle of jihadi brands, Osama Bin Laden's successor appears to be trying to win back ground from Islamic State (IS).
Al-Qaeda has never had any success recruiting from India, despite its huge 180 million-strong Muslim population.
In fact, there has been speculation it never tried too hard in the past for fear of opening up another front with the country's massive Hindu majority.
Which makes Ayman al-Zawahiri's video announcement of a new al-Qaeda wing for the Indian subcontinent look all the more desperate.
But even before IS burst into global consciousness this year with its Iraq blitzkrieg, al-Qaeda in general and Zawahiri in particular had been struggling to fill the vacuum left by Bin Laden's death.
He has not risked breaking his cover for a video appearance in almost two years, doubtless fearful of meeting the same fate at the hands of the Americans.
But now al-Qaeda is feeling the pressure from IS in the heart of its old stronghold in the Afghan-Pakistan borderlands.
Several Pakistani-based militant groups previously allied to al-Qaeda have recently pledged allegiance to IS and its goal of an Islamic caliphate.
The group has now reportedly launched a support and recruitment drive in border areas like Peshawar. Booklets in the name of the Dawlat-e-Islamia (Islamic State)
have been circulating
among the many Afghan refugees living there.
Graffiti, or wall-talk, another guide to sentiments, is also going the group's way, with pro-IS slogans now regularly appearing on Peshawar buildings.
And while Zawahiri's announcement seems primarily aimed at India, the man he named as the new leader of al-Qaeda's South Asia wing, Asim Umar, is reportedly a Pakistani.
There have been
reports of an IS recruitment drive
in some Indian states too.
And where al-Qaeda failed in India, IS seems to have had some moderate success. In May,
it emerged
that four young Indian Muslims living near Mumbai had travelled to Iraq to join the group after reportedly being recruited online.
That set off alarm bells in India, with commentators worrying about the country facing the same kind of "blowback" the Middle East and the West has faced from jihadis returning home from Iraq or Afghanistan.
But significantly there has also been a counter-reaction in India to the Islamic State group.
Thousands of Indian Shia Muslims
have volunteered to go to Iraq
to defend the country and its key Shia shrines from its onslaught.
It's unlikely this volunteer army will ever make it there, as the Indian authorities have barred any citizen from travelling to Iraq without official sanction.
The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not directly reacted to Zawahiri's video message so far, saying it wants to verify it first.
But his long-term response is likely to decide the outcome of this new jihadi struggle for influence in South Asia.
There are plenty of dangers, as the marginalised status of Indian Muslims makes for potentially fertile recruits.
They are among the poorest groups in India, and suffer frequent discrimination in access to jobs and housing.
Mr Modi is himself a controversial figure among Indian Muslims because of allegations he failed to prevent an outbreak of anti-Muslim rioting in Gujarat when he was in charge of the state in 2002.
His refusal to show any remorse for what happened is seen by many as a calculated stand to appease his Hindu nationalist supporters.
And Hindu hardliners never miss an opportunity to demonise India's Muslims as a threat.
While there have been attacks claimed by local Muslim extremists they are mostly small scale, and evidence suggests their support comes as much from militants in next door Pakistan as from India.
Since the bloodletting of partition in 1947, India's Muslims have for the most part been Indians first and Muslims second,
trusting to the country's secular promises
.
But with IS and al-Qaeda in effect choosing India as a new battleground, those ideals could be facing a serious challenge.
|
9402b01d9755a8050d6797975460e218 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-29171823 | Pakistan-India monsoon floods: Averting future disasters | Pakistan-India monsoon floods: Averting future disasters
After yet another devastating flood, experts say that what Pakistan and India need to do is build more dams and reservoirs.
It makes these annual disasters all the more tragic that for most of the year both countries have little rain.
Yet after leaving more than 450 dead and a swathe of destruction on both sides of the border, much of the water dumped on the Kashmir and Punjab regions in the past 10 days will now be wasted.
Critics say both the Indian and Pakistani governments have repeatedly failed to act on lessons from the past on how to manage their yearly monsoon drenching, even as flood catastrophes become more frequent.
While the two governments are now being battered by complaints over the relief effort, more important in the long-term, water specialists say, is building a better system to capture each new deluge.
Much of the water that has inundated Pakistan's Punjab in this latest disaster came via rivers which originate in the Indian Himalayas, where there has been even more rain.
The surge was so big the Pakistani authorities resorted to dynamiting river dykes to divert the flow from urban areas, but thereby flooding farming areas and displacing tens of thousands of people.
Some in Pakistan have attacked India for not controlling this surge, the more extreme even accusing it of a "water jihad" against its long-time rival.
But Ahmer Bilal Soofi, a Pakistani lawyer who specialises in water issues, says his country is as much to blame for the way it has managed the rivers inside its borders, in particular by failing to build more dams to control and store water.
Mr Soofi's words carry weight because he advises Pakistani officials on the Indus Water Commission, a cross-border body set up after the two states signed a
water-sharing treaty in 1960.
The two sides last met just days before this latest flooding crisis, ironically to discuss
Pakistani objections to plans for a new Indian dam project.
But it is perhaps one sign of hope in their turbulent relationship that the treaty has held and they keep meeting.
However, experts say India has been just as complacent with water on its own territory.
There too, the authorities are charged with letting the big monsoon storms go to waste, and as Indians know only too well, there is a chronic shortfall in electricity production, which more hydropower schemes could help solve.
Better drainage is also needed and more control of building in flood-prone areas, especially in towns and cities. But "urban India is mindless about drainage"
fumes Sunita Narain, a Delhi-based environmentalist
. "Storm water drains are either clogged, full of garbage and sewage, or just do not exist."
But the signs are that these extreme weather events are becoming more common and more unpredictable - which many scientists believe is because of climate change.
The rains that just engulfed India and Pakistan came much later than usual, when most thought the annual monsoon was over.
Similarly, an estimated 5,000 people died in India after being caught by flash floods in June, well before the heavy rains usually start.
In 2010, the river Indus burst its banks over much of central Pakistan killing more than 2,000 people. Several hundred have died in floods every year since.
After the 2010 disaster, Pakistan set up a judicial investigation which came up with a host of recommendations to avoid a repeat.
"But nothing has happened since," says a Pakistani water expert who participated in the 2010 investigation, but asked not to be named.
"After each disaster," he says, "we just go back to sleep again."
|
2623ad63b9b4742f6a981fb9cbccfccd | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-30474700 | India newborn abandoned in rubbish bin | India newborn abandoned in rubbish bin
Police in the central Indian city of Bhopal say a newborn baby girl has been found abandoned in a rubbish bin.
The infant, who was discarded within hours of being born, was found with no clothes on and had been bitten by ants before she could be rescued.
She is in a critical condition in hospital and is undergoing treatment, police said.
The infant's mother, who has been traced, is unwell and being treated in another hospital, they added.
"We have registered a complaint and once the mother is better, we will interrogate her," senior police official in Bhopal Srinivas Verma told BBC Hindi.
The baby was found near Deepshikha school by Rajiv Patel who lives nearby and was alerted by the sound of her crying, reports BBC Hindi's S Niazi from Bhopal.
Earlier this month, police found the body of another infant who had been left in bushes in the city, our correspondent adds.
It is not clear what led to the baby in the latest case being abandoned, or whether the preference of many Indians for boys over girls could be a factor.
Female foeticide - the practice of aborting female foetuses - and infanticide have led to what campaigners say are of millions of "missing" girls in the country.
Such practices have led to a skewed sex ratio - according to the latest census figures released in 2011, there are only 914 girls for every 1,000 boys under the age of seven in India.
In Bhopal, according to the government's annual health survey, there are 916 girls for 1,000 boys.
|
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