China Reform Monitor: No. 1008

December 19:

Police in nine provinces have arrested 1,000 devotees of a clandestine sect whose adherents have been holding prayer vigils and handing out pamphlets warning nonbelievers that the only way to avoid the apocalypse is to join them. The Church of Almighty God latched on to the Mayan end-of-days legend soon after the film “2012” took China’s theaters by storm. The Communist Party (CPC) has branded them an “evil cult” and Christian groups have disavowed them for claiming Jesus has returned as a Chinese woman. An official online notice condemned Almighty God for sowing social panic, preaching heresies and breaking up families. “It is a social cancer and a plague on humankind,” the notice said. The group was founded in 1989 in Heilongjiang, has about a million members, and has denounced the CPC, which it calls the “red dragon,” the New York Times reports.


December 20:

The Friday night movie on official CCTV was “V for Vendetta” – a film in which an anarchist antihero rebels against a totalitarian government and persuades the people to rule themselves. Soon after the Internet was abuzz with quotes including the film’s famous line: “People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.” The airing stunned viewers across China and raised hopes that censorship might be loosening, AP reports.


December 21:

By June Chengdu, Sichuan plans to finish its New Century Global Center – a marine-themed structure large enough to hold 20 Sydney Opera Houses. The massive facility will be 100 meters high, 500 meters long and 400 meters wide, with 1.7 million square meters of floor space – roughly three times to the size of the Pentagon. The Global Center will house offices, conference rooms, a university complex, two commercial centers, two five-star hotels, an IMAX cinema, a skating rink and a pirate ship. About 400,000 sq. meters will be devoted to luxury brand shopping outlets. The complex also has fountains, a water park and a “Mediterranean village” with a 5,000 sq. ,meter artificial beach that provides “seaside” views for 1000 hotel rooms. The “seafront” promenade, complete with parasols, nautical breezes and seafood outlets, can accommodate 6,000 people. An artificial sun will shine 24 hours a day against a 150m long, 40m high screen, which will form the horizon and offer sunrises and sunsets. Chengdu is also expanding its subway from two lines to ten by 2020, building a new airport and working to become China’s next Silicon Valley, Agence France Presse reports.


December 22:

The The Republic of China’s (ROC-Taiwan) legislature has held a public hearing on whether or not to lift the ban on its residents holding official posts on the mainland, reports Xinhua news agency. ROC authorities still enforce the 1992 regulation, but earlier this month President Ma Ying-jeou identified it as a stumbling block in cross-Strait relations and called for changes. Taiwanese businessmen invited to speak at the hearing included Mark Yeh of the Association of Taiwan Investment Enterprises on the Mainland and a special member of the Guangdong provincial committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). Yeh and others said Taiwanese on the mainland could use the CPPCC system to handle problems and access mainland politics. More than 87,000 Taiwanese enterprises and 1 million Taiwanese businesspeople are on the mainland.

China has banned senior military officers from holding alcohol-fuelled banquets or from staying in luxury hotels on work trips. Al Jazeera reports receptions will also no longer feature welcome banners, red carpets, flowers, honor guards, performances or souvenirs, the powerful Central Military Commission, which Xi Jinping oversees, has decreed. As part of the new regulations “Commission officials are required to discipline their spouses, children and subordinates and make sure they do not take bribes.” Officers are ordered to cut back on the number and length of inspection tours, overseas visits, meetings and reports, according to the new rules. Speakers at meetings should avoid “empty talk,” while vehicles equipped with sirens will be “rigorously controlled during official visits in order to prevent public disturbances.”