China Reform Monitor: No. 1013

January 17:

After meeting with Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun in Beijing, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Hoseyn Amir Abdollahian announced that they had reached a “consensus” on Syria. “Both countries are calling for non-intervention of foreign governments in Syria and [an] end to terrorist measures and border control... Iran and China agree that the peace plan presented by Bashar al-Assad was a realistic plan. We believe that the Syrian issue is on the road to progress and we should help people of the country, while supporting the political settlement offered by Bashar al-Asad.” Iran’s official IRNA and FARS news agencies carried Abdollahian’s comments.

January 18:

On the 8th anniversary of the death of ousted Communist Party general secretary and premier Zhao Ziyang, more than 100 mourners flocked to his home in a Beijing alleyway. Zhao, who died at age 85, had been under house arrest since opposing the use of military force against the Tiananmen Square protesters in 1989. A large picture of Zhao smiling and dozens of flowers greeted visitors. Hu Jia, a two-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee, Ding Zilin, founder of the Tiananmen Mothers organization, and former vice-premier Tian Jiyun were among those that paid their respects. Zhao’s daughter said the authorities had not stopped them from receiving visitors, although, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reports, online postings mourning Zhao were quickly removed.

January 21:

China’s National Defense Education office has issued a circular announcing that “national defense education with a focus on safeguarding maritime rights” will be strengthened at elementary and secondary schools across the nation. “In order to make defense knowledge more universal” the office’s Defense Education Plan for 2013 specifically orders teachers “in coastal regions and ethnic minority areas along China’s border,” to promote defense education, the official People’s Daily reports.

More than 1,000 migrant workers besieged the Shanghai Shinmei Electric factory and held 18 Japanese and Chinese managers, including the company president, captive for two days until 400 police raided the factory to rescue them. The workers at the Japanese electronic appliance maker went on strike following the introduction of a new 49-point factory policy calling for fines, demerits or immediate termination for workers who made a mistake. The new policy, which includes fines of 50 to 100 yuan for arriving late or spending more than two minutes in the toilet, was introduced following the factory’s acquisition by a Chinese firm in Dalian, Liaoning. Workers are also angry over the merger and fear they will lose the benefits they accumulated in their previous years working under the Japanese management, the SCMP reports.

January 23:

The official China Daily has published a rare criticism of government censors for cutting scenes from the latest James Bond movie. The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television’s mandatory censorship of foreign films, the paper said, highlights censors’ arbitrary decision-making about cuts and changes. Among the scenes deleted were one in which a French hitman kills a Chinese security guard, another depicting prostitution in Macao, a line by Bond’s nemesis mentioning that Chinese security agents had tortured him, and a scene where Bond asks a woman how long she’s been a prostitute. Professor Shi Chuan, who teaches at Shanghai University's School of Film and TV Arts and Technology, said: “Movie regulators should respect the producers’ original ideas, rather than chopping scenes arbitrarily.”

[Editor’s Note: Last March Yin Li, vice chairman of the China Film Association, said Chinese filmmaking faces too many restrictions regarding sensitive topics such as public security, diplomacy, ethnic minorities and religion. “I hope China can offer more freedom to film-makers so that a more favorable environment can be created for the country’s movie industry,” he said in comments carried by the SCMP.]