Shethjuice

Post(s) tagged with "china"

China’s Appetite for Wood Takes a Heavy Toll on Forests ⇢

Counter-intuitively, the expansion of Chinese forests has occurred at the same time the country has been developing an immense export industry for 
wood and paper products. China is now the “wood workshop for the world,” according to Forest Trends, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, consuming more than 400 million cubic meters of timber annually to feed both its burgeoning exports and growing domestic demands. Production of paper products has also grown dramatically in China, doubling from 2002 to 2007.

But the rise of the Chinese dragon has a darker side. As much as half of the timber and much of the paper pulp consumed by China is imported, primarily from tropical nations or nearby Siberia. In and of itself, there is nothing wrong with this — China has every right to grow economically and seek the kind of prosperity that industrial nations have long enjoyed. However, in its fervor to secure timber, minerals, and other natural resources, China is increasingly seen as a predator on the world’s forests.

22 November 13 Permalink
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thedailywhat: Faith In Humanity of the Day: Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, who was illegally detained for nearly three months, was recently given 15 days to pay off a $2.4 million dollar fine for tax evasion — the crime he was forced to plead guilty to in order to be released from jail. Since then, Ai has been inundated with cash from thousands supporters, raising $840,000 in less than a week. The famed dissident told AFP that people have been literally throwing money at him: “Every morning we have to pick up the money thrown into the courtyard. Sometimes they are folding it into planes or boats.” But getting out of one bogus charge might land Ai in another. According to anonymous experts who spoke with China’s Global Times, the unsolicited donations could lead to accusations of “illegal fundraising.” “We don’t need the money,” Ai told The Guardian, “but we need attention for the public to understand what is going on. They really want to express an opinion … so we will temporarily hold their money for them and then return it.” [afp / bbc / guardian.]

thedailywhat:

Faith In Humanity of the Day: Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, who was illegally detained for nearly three months, was recently given 15 days to pay off a $2.4 million dollar fine for tax evasion — the crime he was forced to plead guilty to in order to be released from jail.

Since then, Ai has been inundated with cash from thousands supporters, raising $840,000 in less than a week. The famed dissident told AFP that people have been literally throwing money at him: “Every morning we have to pick up the money thrown into the courtyard. Sometimes they are folding it into planes or boats.”

But getting out of one bogus charge might land Ai in another. According to anonymous experts who spoke with China’s Global Times, the unsolicited donations could lead to accusations of “illegal fundraising.”

“We don’t need the money,” Ai told The Guardian, “but we need attention for the public to understand what is going on. They really want to express an opinion … so we will temporarily hold their money for them and then return it.”

[afp / bbc / guardian.]

7 November 897 thedailywhat Permalink
ai weiweichina

kateoplis:

Today in Tibet: 

Nepalese police detained more than 100 Tibetan exiles on Tuesday who had gathered to pray for nine Tibetans who set themselves on fire in protest against Chinese rule. A group of Tibetans including 150 monks were holding a prayer meeting on the outskirts of Katmandu in honor of the monks, former monks and a nun who have self-immolated since March in a restive Tibetan area of western China that has been under martial law-type police controls. Aged in their late teens and twenties, at least five died of their injuries, while the condition of the other four is not known.

Also: Tibetan prime minister pleads to Washington for help | FP

Source: kateoplis

2 November 648 socialuprooting Permalink
newstibetchina
Ai Weiwei talks about art, his health and life out of prison ⇢
22 August 3 Permalink
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Why Google+ Has Already Disappeared in China ⇢

Officials have become increasingly wary since the Middle East uprisings in Egypt, Tunisia and other countries earlier this year. Technology, and in particular, social media, has been cited as a prime instigator of the revolutions. To prevent a stir, China was quick to censor all news of the Egyptian revolution and to stamp out all hints of a possible “Jasmine Revolution” within its own borders.

19 July 21 Permalink
newschinagoogle+firewall
hyperallergic: Questions Remain After Ai Weiwei’s Release Dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has been released, as [have three others of his detained associates], but that doesn’t mean the story is over. Ai’s legal case is still open, China is still detaining and jailing dissidents and the Ai’s freedom may just be political image clean-up for the government. What does the release actually mean? READ MORE. For more information on Ai Weiwei and his associates’ detainment, please read Hyperallergic on Al Jazeera Talking About Ai Weiwei, as well as past updates on Ai’s four associates who were also jailed.

hyperallergic:

Questions Remain After Ai Weiwei’s Release

Dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has been released, as [have three others of his detained associates], but that doesn’t mean the story is over. Ai’s legal case is still open, China is still detaining and jailing dissidents and the Ai’s freedom may just be political image clean-up for the government. What does the release actually mean? READ MORE.

For more information on Ai Weiwei and his associates’ detainment, please read Hyperallergic on Al Jazeera Talking About Ai Weiwei, as well as past updates on Ai’s four associates who were also jailed.

26 June 29 hyperallergic Permalink
ai weiweichina

Update on Ai Weiwei

I guess the title of this is misleading because there isn’t much of an update on what’s been going on with Ai Weiwei himself. There have been people trying to bring his detainment to more awareness.

  • Anish Kapoor, a sculptor, has dedicated his biggest artwork to Ai Weiwei. On Tuesday he called for museums and galleries worldwide to close for a day in sympathy for Ai Weiwei. 

“I’ve never met Ai Weiwei but he’s a colleague, an artist,” said Kapoor. “In a very simple way he is heroically recording human existence. All he’s done is to record death by administration, death by corruption, inefficiency. I don’t even think he’s pointing that sharp a finger, frankly.”It is more than a month that he’s been completely disappeared. It is a true tragedy. Accuse him of something. Give him a lawyer. Let him defend himself … The state is not threatened by artists.

(via http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/may/10/ai-weiwei-anish-kapoor-sculpture )

  • Tang Chin aka Tangerine set up a graffiti rally in Hong Kong and is now being investigated by a serious crimes squad. She faces up to ten years in prison. What for you may ask….because she sprayed graffiti that said “who’s afraid of Ai Weiwei?” and having sprayed pictures of him on buildings where graffiti already existed?! 

“I have to thank the police for drawing attention to this issue,” she joked. In other words, she’s not afraid.

Read more: http://globalspin.blogs.time.com/2011/05/05/writing-on-the-wall-hong-king-artists-campaign-for-ai-weiwei/#ixzz1M6cITv84

The Chinese government has still not allowed Weiwei to get in contact with anyone and will not release information about why he is detained. Some have said it’s because of taxes but nothing has been confirmed. So many people have been detained because China is worried about an eruption of Jasmine Rallies (like ones in the middle east). And so they detain and question anyone who is going against their government. Hopefully we hear about or from Ai Weiwei soon. 

12 May Permalink
ai weiweichinagovernmentdetainmentralliesjasmine ralliesnews
Ai Weiwei has supposedly pleaded guilty to charges dealing with tax. After being detained on April 4th, Weiwei has not been heard from. This picture leaked out yesterday after Weiwei signed a confession after being tortured. A reporter claiming to be from Xinhua, a Chinese government media mouthpiece is the one who came out with this story. Police say that the first phase of his tax evasion has been completed.  No one knows if this is the truth. No one has heard from Weiwei since he’s been detained. The police haven’t even contacted his family on the matter.  Also, the twitter hashtags #aiweiwei, #freeaiweiwei, and a few others dealing with this case have been filled with spam by Chinese hackers. The spam is in Chinese and are filled with jokes. The Chinese government is trying extremely hard to not let news out on what is going on with him. They also tried to get Change.org to take off the petition to free Ai Weiwei.  We, in America, are so fortunate to have the right to protest and fight for what we believe in. Not everyone is as privileged and gets treated like Ai Weiwei or even worse. Even though we have this right we take it for granted at times. We’re the revolution so let’s do our part and act!  Sign the petition to free Ai Weiwei -  http://www.change.org/petitions/call-for-the-release-of-ai-weiwei

Ai Weiwei has supposedly pleaded guilty to charges dealing with tax. After being detained on April 4th, Weiwei has not been heard from. This picture leaked out yesterday after Weiwei signed a confession after being tortured. A reporter claiming to be from Xinhua, a Chinese government media mouthpiece is the one who came out with this story. Police say that the first phase of his tax evasion has been completed. 

No one knows if this is the truth. No one has heard from Weiwei since he’s been detained. The police haven’t even contacted his family on the matter. 

Also, the twitter hashtags #aiweiwei, #freeaiweiwei, and a few others dealing with this case have been filled with spam by Chinese hackers. The spam is in Chinese and are filled with jokes. The Chinese government is trying extremely hard to not let news out on what is going on with him. They also tried to get Change.org to take off the petition to free Ai Weiwei. 

We, in America, are so fortunate to have the right to protest and fight for what we believe in. Not everyone is as privileged and gets treated like Ai Weiwei or even worse. Even though we have this right we take it for granted at times. We’re the revolution so let’s do our part and act! 

Sign the petition to free Ai Weiwei - 

http://www.change.org/petitions/call-for-the-release-of-ai-weiwei

24 April Permalink
chinanewspetitionstwitterartistsgovernment

Since I was on the topic of China, I might as well add the fact that the new fad there is live turtle or fish keychains! This has been going on since the Beijing Olympics and is now on the rise.

I can’t imagine how these animals are treated. Are the flung around, tossed into purses, thrown on the kitchen table, like regular keys/keychains? They say that the water is filled with nutrients to keep the animal alive, however they die within days and some within hours. According to some reports once the animal is dead the cadavers are heated in the microwave and feasted upon with a cold beer. 

I can’t even express how this makes me feel. All I can say is how would you like it if extra-terrestrial beings came and put you in a suitcase to carry around with them everywhere? Actually, what if just another human-being did that to you? We all have life and energy within us. Most of these creatures were here before us. Just because we’re bigger or smarter and have opposable thumbs doesn’t mean we can do whatever we want. 

6 April 5 Permalink
chinaanimalsanimal rights
thedailywhat: This Is Important, You Should Know About It of the Day: 53-year-old Ai Weiwei — an outspoken critic of the Chinese government and by all accounts China’s best-known artist (previously) — is missing and his whereabouts are unknown after he was detained by police at Beijing Capital International Airport. In addition to his sudden disappearance, Ai’s studio in north Beijing was raided and over 30 computers were confiscated. Ai’s wife Lu Qing was also detained, but was released after questioning. “They asked me about Ai Weiwei’s work and the articles he posted online … I told them that everything that Ai did was very public, and if they wanted to know his opinions and work they could just look at the internet,” she told the Associated Press. According to The Guardian, Beijing police claim they know nothing about Ai, and an airport police spokesman was similarly mum. Ai’s arrest is reportedly part of a wider government crackdown on dissidents in which several have been criminally detaining, arrested for incitement, or disappeared. [bbc / guardian / wapo.] China has been cracking down on anyone who in influential and free-thinking. They are detaining many who are pro-democracy. Are they afraid that the Chinese people will start to rebel like other countries have been? Whatever it is I hope that Weiwei and others will be released and unharmed. 

thedailywhat:

This Is Important, You Should Know About It of the Day: 53-year-old Ai Weiwei — an outspoken critic of the Chinese government and by all accounts China’s best-known artist (previously) — is missing and his whereabouts are unknown after he was detained by police at Beijing Capital International Airport.

In addition to his sudden disappearance, Ai’s studio in north Beijing was raided and over 30 computers were confiscated. Ai’s wife Lu Qing was also detained, but was released after questioning. “They asked me about Ai Weiwei’s work and the articles he posted online … I told them that everything that Ai did was very public, and if they wanted to know his opinions and work they could just look at the internet,” she told the Associated Press.

According to The Guardian, Beijing police claim they know nothing about Ai, and an airport police spokesman was similarly mum. Ai’s arrest is reportedly part of a wider government crackdown on dissidents in which several have been criminally detaining, arrested for incitement, or disappeared.

[bbc / guardian / wapo.]

China has been cracking down on anyone who in influential and free-thinking. They are detaining many who are pro-democracy.

Are they afraid that the Chinese people will start to rebel like other countries have been? Whatever it is I hope that Weiwei and others will be released and unharmed. 

4 April 3144 thedailywhat Permalink
governmentchinaai weiweiartistsnews

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