More than 2,000 years after it was built to keep out their ancestors, Mongolians have succeeded in punching a hole through a large section of the Great Wall of China.
By Malcolm Moore in Shanghai
Published: 2:48PM GMT 25 Nov 2009
Around 300 feet of the wall in a remote part of Inner Mongolia has been irreparably damaged by Mongolian gold prospectors.
"We discovered what had happened a couple of months ago, while doing a national survey on the condition of the Great Wall," said Wang Dafang, the head of the regional cultural relics department.
"The place where it happened is remote and uninhabited. We might never have found out if the government had not commissioned the inspection survey," he added.
The damaged section was built by the Qin Dynasty between 220BC and 206BC. Only a tiny segment of the Qin wall remains, which was a reinforced earth barrier unlike the imposing stone structure built by the Ming Dynasty some twelve centuries later.
"Some people think the only part of the Great Wall that needs to be protected is in Beijing," said Mr Wang. "But although the Inner Mongolia wall is more modest, it carries the same significance."
He blamed Hohhot Kekao Mining for the destruction, adding that he had warned the company five times since September to desist. "They ignored us, until we tipped off reporters from the local television network.
Then they promised to stop, but they secretly carried on. It was such a remote place they gambled that no one would check."
Mr Wang said the police in Hohhot are now investigating the matter and he expects there to be a criminal trial. "This was a deliberate offence. The Great Wall should not be sacrificed for commercial interests".
Damaging the wall carries a penalty of up to ten years in prison, or a fine of 500,000 yuan (Pounds44,000). Last year, five miners received jail terms of between one to three years for damaging a portion of the Ming Dynasty wall while using heavy machinery.
The Great Wall, which President Barack Obama visited last week, stretches over 5,500 miles along an arc from east to west that roughly follows the southern edge of Inner Mongolia.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Beijing's 'Bird's Nest' Olympic Stadium to be winter sports park
Beijing's 'Bird's Nest' Olympic Stadium is to be transformed into a winter sports park offering skiing and snowboarding in a bid to remain profitable following China's hosting of the 2008 summer games.
By Peter Foster in Beijing
Published: 5:00AM GMT 01 Dec 2009
Beijing's 'Bird's Nest' Olympic Stadium is to be transformed into a winter sports park Photo: EPA Fears that the landmark £300 million stadium would become one of the biggest white elephants in Olympic history initially appeared unfounded as up to 50,000 tourists queued to pose on the track where Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt smashed the world 100 metre record.
Despite the echoing rows of empty seats in the 80,000 capacity stadium, visitors paid to dress up in official Team China tracksuits and have their photographs taken on the winner's rostrum, complete with fake winner's medals.
However a sharp drop-off in visitors to just 10,000 a day in the latter half of this year appeared to suggest that the novelty was fast wearing off.
Plans to expand the stadium complex and building a shopping and restaurant complex have been put on hold as the stadium's owners struggle to find ways to keep the complex profitable.
In August the Beijing city government took a controlling stake in the business, promising to boost the profitability and social usefulness of the stadium by holding large public events.
Earlier this year a huge-scale performance of the opera Turandot was staged to mark the one-year anniversary of China's hosting of the Olympics and plans are afoot to host a soccer match with Real Madrid next year.
The owners hope to attract 20,000 people a day to its snow park, which will charge a little over £10 for entry and offer a range of artificial ramps and slopes for enthusiasts to try their skills on.
Although Beijing gets very cold in winter, it rarely snows in China's capital, so the perfect powder conditions will be generated using artificial snow-cannons.
Beijing residents have long enjoyed the more genteel pastime of skating on the city's many lakes, but organisers said they hoped that the new middle classes would be attracted by the chance to try more adrenalin-fuelled winter pastimes.
"The Bird's Nest will not have a cold winter again," Wu Jingjun, the president of the National Stadium Co Ltd, told the state-run China Daily newspaper. "We will create seasonal events almost every month from now on with assistance from the government and, importantly, the public."
By Peter Foster in Beijing
Published: 5:00AM GMT 01 Dec 2009
Beijing's 'Bird's Nest' Olympic Stadium is to be transformed into a winter sports park Photo: EPA Fears that the landmark £300 million stadium would become one of the biggest white elephants in Olympic history initially appeared unfounded as up to 50,000 tourists queued to pose on the track where Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt smashed the world 100 metre record.
Despite the echoing rows of empty seats in the 80,000 capacity stadium, visitors paid to dress up in official Team China tracksuits and have their photographs taken on the winner's rostrum, complete with fake winner's medals.
However a sharp drop-off in visitors to just 10,000 a day in the latter half of this year appeared to suggest that the novelty was fast wearing off.
Plans to expand the stadium complex and building a shopping and restaurant complex have been put on hold as the stadium's owners struggle to find ways to keep the complex profitable.
In August the Beijing city government took a controlling stake in the business, promising to boost the profitability and social usefulness of the stadium by holding large public events.
Earlier this year a huge-scale performance of the opera Turandot was staged to mark the one-year anniversary of China's hosting of the Olympics and plans are afoot to host a soccer match with Real Madrid next year.
The owners hope to attract 20,000 people a day to its snow park, which will charge a little over £10 for entry and offer a range of artificial ramps and slopes for enthusiasts to try their skills on.
Although Beijing gets very cold in winter, it rarely snows in China's capital, so the perfect powder conditions will be generated using artificial snow-cannons.
Beijing residents have long enjoyed the more genteel pastime of skating on the city's many lakes, but organisers said they hoped that the new middle classes would be attracted by the chance to try more adrenalin-fuelled winter pastimes.
"The Bird's Nest will not have a cold winter again," Wu Jingjun, the president of the National Stadium Co Ltd, told the state-run China Daily newspaper. "We will create seasonal events almost every month from now on with assistance from the government and, importantly, the public."
Japan’s New Leader to Face Campaign Inquiry
December 3, 2009
By MARTIN FACKLER
TOKYO — Tokyo prosecutors will ask Japan’s prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama, for a written explanation of his role in millions of dollars of improperly reported political donations, major Japanese newspapers reported, expanding a scandal that has dogged his fledgling government.
But the reported decision to ask for a written account, instead of summoning the prime minister for direct questioning, also suggests that the investigation may be nearing its close without significantly damaging Mr. Hatoyama’s popularity, political analysts said.
According to the reports, prosecutors are also closely examining the role of one of the prime minister’s former political secretaries in the scandal, which involves some $3 million of Mr. Hatoyama’s own money and another $9 million given to him by his mother. The reports did not give the source of their information, but it appeared to come from prosecutors, who routinely leak information to major media here during investigations.
A spokesman for the Tokyo prosecutors’ office refused to comment on the inquiry.
While some analysts have speculated whether Mr. Hatoyama could eventually be forced to resign over the scandal, the dominant view here now is that he will likely end up largely unscathed. That is because the investigation has focused on relatively minor accusations of misreporting the source of funds that mostly came from the prime minister himself or his mother, a wealthy heiress to the Bridgestone Tire fortune.
Indeed, if anything, the scandal involving Mr. Hatoyama has only served to highlight the prime minister’s seemingly loose handling of his own personal wealth. The grandson of a former prime minister, Mr. Hatoyama comes from one of Japan’s best-known political families, whose European-style mansion in Tokyo is now a minor tourist attraction.
Political analysts said that so far this has helped the public take a tolerant view of the accusations.
“This is just his own money, so there is no question of bribery or real wrongdoings,” said Tomoaki Iwai, a professor of politics at Tokyo’s Nihon University.
According to a poll published Monday by the Kyodo News Agency, 79.7 percent of respondents said Mr. Hatoyama should not resign. (The poll was conducted by telephone over the weekend with 1,026 voters and gave no sampling error.)
The scandal began last summer amid revelations that Mr. Hatoyama’s political fund-raising group had misreported some $2 million in donations, sometimes listing dead people as donors.
Mr. Hatoyama has already apologized following the earlier accusations, and told Parliament on Monday that he would cooperate fully with the investigation. He said earlier that he had no knowledge of the misreported donations, suggesting that his staff had acted without his consent.
“I will await the legal decision, and depending on the result, want to continue to fulfill the duty given to me” by the Japanese people, Mr. Hatoyama, 62, told Parliament.
According to the newspaper reports, the prime minister’s mother, Yasuko Hatoyama, 87, gave him some $150,000 a month starting in 2002, when Mr. Hatoyama was previously head of the Democratic Party.
Mr. Hatoyama was re-elected party chief last summer, and led the Democrats to their landmark victory over the Liberal Democratic Party, which had governed Japan for most of the postwar period.
The fact that most of the money comes from Mr. Hatoyama or his family sets the current accusations apart from another scandal that has plagued the Democrats, involving misreported donations by a construction company to the fund-raising group of the party’s secretary general, Ichiro Ozawa. The trial of one of Mr. Ozawa’s former secretaries is scheduled to begin later this month.
Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
By MARTIN FACKLER
TOKYO — Tokyo prosecutors will ask Japan’s prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama, for a written explanation of his role in millions of dollars of improperly reported political donations, major Japanese newspapers reported, expanding a scandal that has dogged his fledgling government.
But the reported decision to ask for a written account, instead of summoning the prime minister for direct questioning, also suggests that the investigation may be nearing its close without significantly damaging Mr. Hatoyama’s popularity, political analysts said.
According to the reports, prosecutors are also closely examining the role of one of the prime minister’s former political secretaries in the scandal, which involves some $3 million of Mr. Hatoyama’s own money and another $9 million given to him by his mother. The reports did not give the source of their information, but it appeared to come from prosecutors, who routinely leak information to major media here during investigations.
A spokesman for the Tokyo prosecutors’ office refused to comment on the inquiry.
While some analysts have speculated whether Mr. Hatoyama could eventually be forced to resign over the scandal, the dominant view here now is that he will likely end up largely unscathed. That is because the investigation has focused on relatively minor accusations of misreporting the source of funds that mostly came from the prime minister himself or his mother, a wealthy heiress to the Bridgestone Tire fortune.
Indeed, if anything, the scandal involving Mr. Hatoyama has only served to highlight the prime minister’s seemingly loose handling of his own personal wealth. The grandson of a former prime minister, Mr. Hatoyama comes from one of Japan’s best-known political families, whose European-style mansion in Tokyo is now a minor tourist attraction.
Political analysts said that so far this has helped the public take a tolerant view of the accusations.
“This is just his own money, so there is no question of bribery or real wrongdoings,” said Tomoaki Iwai, a professor of politics at Tokyo’s Nihon University.
According to a poll published Monday by the Kyodo News Agency, 79.7 percent of respondents said Mr. Hatoyama should not resign. (The poll was conducted by telephone over the weekend with 1,026 voters and gave no sampling error.)
The scandal began last summer amid revelations that Mr. Hatoyama’s political fund-raising group had misreported some $2 million in donations, sometimes listing dead people as donors.
Mr. Hatoyama has already apologized following the earlier accusations, and told Parliament on Monday that he would cooperate fully with the investigation. He said earlier that he had no knowledge of the misreported donations, suggesting that his staff had acted without his consent.
“I will await the legal decision, and depending on the result, want to continue to fulfill the duty given to me” by the Japanese people, Mr. Hatoyama, 62, told Parliament.
According to the newspaper reports, the prime minister’s mother, Yasuko Hatoyama, 87, gave him some $150,000 a month starting in 2002, when Mr. Hatoyama was previously head of the Democratic Party.
Mr. Hatoyama was re-elected party chief last summer, and led the Democrats to their landmark victory over the Liberal Democratic Party, which had governed Japan for most of the postwar period.
The fact that most of the money comes from Mr. Hatoyama or his family sets the current accusations apart from another scandal that has plagued the Democrats, involving misreported donations by a construction company to the fund-raising group of the party’s secretary general, Ichiro Ozawa. The trial of one of Mr. Ozawa’s former secretaries is scheduled to begin later this month.
Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
Japan’s Relationship With U.S. Gets a Closer Look
December 2, 2009
Memo From Japan
By MARTIN FACKLER
TOKYO — Two months after taking power, Japan’s new leadership is still raising alarms in the United States with its continued scrutiny of the countries’ more than half-century-old security alliance. But this reconsideration is not a pulling away from the United States so much as part of a broader, mostly domestic effort to outgrow Japan’s failed postwar order, say political experts here.
More important, the analysts say, these stirrings may also be the first signs of something that both Tokyo and Washington should have had years ago: a more open dialogue on a security relationship that has failed to keep up with the changing realities in Japan and, more broadly, in Asia.
Even after President Obama’s feel-good visit to Tokyo last month, the government of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has begun an inquiry to expose secret cold war-era agreements that allowed American nuclear weapons into Japan and has conducted a rare public review of its financial support for the 50,000 United States military workers based here. This continues the approach taken by Mr. Hatoyama since his Democratic Party scored a historic election victory in August on pledges to build a more equal partnership with Washington.
A few political analysts in the United States have compared Mr. Hatoyama to Roh Moo-hyun, the former South Korean president who rode a wave of anti-Americanism to power in 2002. But most say he is aiming not at the United States so much as at the policies of the Liberal Democratic Party, whose half-century rule Mr. Hatoyama’s party ended.
“Hatoyama is often misunderstood,” said Koji Murata, a professor of international relations at Kyoto’s Doshisha University. “Hatoyama is not anti-American. He’s anti-L.D.P.”
Since taking office in September, Mr. Hatoyama has pursued his campaign promise to sweep away the old insider-driven politics of the Liberal Democrats that many Japanese now blame for their country’s stagnation and replace them with a more transparent and responsive government. This has remained his main goal, even as he has fought to contain the damage of a scandal involving accusations of millions of dollars in improperly reported political donations.
As a pillar of that postwar order, the alliance with Washington has become a favorite target of the new government. In particular, the Democrats are keen to end the popular perception here that the American relationship was conducted behind closed doors by the nation’s powerful bureaucracy, without the full consent of Japanese public opinion.
This is the intent of the inquiry into the secret agreements from the 1960s and 1970s allowing United States ships and aircraft to carry nuclear weapons into Japan, sidestepping Japan’s self-imposed ban on such weapons, experts say. Exposing the agreements would have little effect on the current alliance. The deals were discarded after Washington removed nuclear weapons from most of its ships and planes in 1991, and their existence had been exposed years ago by American and retired Japanese officials.
Rather, experts here say, Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada has pressed the inquiry in order not only to increase transparency but to embarrass the entrenched bureaucrats at the Foreign Ministry, which still officially denies the pacts’ existence. A similar desire for transparency was also apparent last week, when a special committee on cutting government waste took up the $1.4 billion that Tokyo spends annually on the salaries for Japanese workers on American bases. After a one-hour debate that focused on clarifying pay scales without once raising a doubt about the need for the bases, the committee voted to leave the appropriation unchanged.
While there were no substantive changes, just raising such delicate topics like the base salaries underscores how much more willing Mr. Hatoyama is than previous Japanese leaders to ruffle Washington’s feathers.
However, political experts say, neither his government nor Japan’s public has shown any signs of wanting to substantially alter the alliance, which has ensured Japan’s security since the end of World War II. If anything, public sentiment calls for remaining close to the United States in a geopolitical region that includes a rising China and a nuclear-armed North Korea.
Indeed, the occasional inability of the two allies to understand each other reflects what Mr. Murata and others call a failure of communication. Part of the problem was that Washington was late in reaching out to Mr. Hatoyama, whose victory swept away Washington’s traditional channels to the former ruling party and the central ministries.
But more fundamentally, the recent strains have revealed how little the two allies are used to the give and take commonly found in America’s relations with other allies, like Britain or Australia. Japan’s new government has disrupted the old rhythms of the alliance by thrusting its problems out into the open for the first time in years, exposing rifts that never would have been acknowledged publicly in the past.
“These are two partners who are not used to talking to each other,” said Tobias Harris, a former political aide to a Democratic Party lawmaker who now writes a blog. Mr. Harris and other analysts said the two countries must figure out how they want to cooperate in a new era when the United States is no longer the unchallenged superpower, Japan is no longer willing or able to serve as Washington’s pocketbook and the regional balance of power is being upended by China.
For now, one of the results of Tokyo’s greater transparency has been a lack of consistency. A case in point has been the discussion over relocating the unpopular Futenma Marine Corps Air Base off the southern island of Okinawa. American officials have pressed Tokyo to honor a 2006 agreement to relocate the base to a less populated part of Okinawa, but Japan’s Democrats pledged during the campaign to relocate the base off Okinawa or even out of Japan altogether.
Since taking power in September, members of Japan’s new government have offered contradictory statements on the issue. Mr. Hatoyama has hinted that he will not make a final decision until January.
Still, there are ample signs that Tokyo and Washington will eventually start seeing eye to eye again. During his visit, President Obama agreed to talks on the Futenma issue, and Mr. Hatoyama responded by explaining his tough political choice between Washington and public opinion on Okinawa.
“This government has only been in power less than 100 days,” said Mr. Murata. “It is not surprising if there are some teething problems.”
Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
Memo From Japan
By MARTIN FACKLER
TOKYO — Two months after taking power, Japan’s new leadership is still raising alarms in the United States with its continued scrutiny of the countries’ more than half-century-old security alliance. But this reconsideration is not a pulling away from the United States so much as part of a broader, mostly domestic effort to outgrow Japan’s failed postwar order, say political experts here.
More important, the analysts say, these stirrings may also be the first signs of something that both Tokyo and Washington should have had years ago: a more open dialogue on a security relationship that has failed to keep up with the changing realities in Japan and, more broadly, in Asia.
Even after President Obama’s feel-good visit to Tokyo last month, the government of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has begun an inquiry to expose secret cold war-era agreements that allowed American nuclear weapons into Japan and has conducted a rare public review of its financial support for the 50,000 United States military workers based here. This continues the approach taken by Mr. Hatoyama since his Democratic Party scored a historic election victory in August on pledges to build a more equal partnership with Washington.
A few political analysts in the United States have compared Mr. Hatoyama to Roh Moo-hyun, the former South Korean president who rode a wave of anti-Americanism to power in 2002. But most say he is aiming not at the United States so much as at the policies of the Liberal Democratic Party, whose half-century rule Mr. Hatoyama’s party ended.
“Hatoyama is often misunderstood,” said Koji Murata, a professor of international relations at Kyoto’s Doshisha University. “Hatoyama is not anti-American. He’s anti-L.D.P.”
Since taking office in September, Mr. Hatoyama has pursued his campaign promise to sweep away the old insider-driven politics of the Liberal Democrats that many Japanese now blame for their country’s stagnation and replace them with a more transparent and responsive government. This has remained his main goal, even as he has fought to contain the damage of a scandal involving accusations of millions of dollars in improperly reported political donations.
As a pillar of that postwar order, the alliance with Washington has become a favorite target of the new government. In particular, the Democrats are keen to end the popular perception here that the American relationship was conducted behind closed doors by the nation’s powerful bureaucracy, without the full consent of Japanese public opinion.
This is the intent of the inquiry into the secret agreements from the 1960s and 1970s allowing United States ships and aircraft to carry nuclear weapons into Japan, sidestepping Japan’s self-imposed ban on such weapons, experts say. Exposing the agreements would have little effect on the current alliance. The deals were discarded after Washington removed nuclear weapons from most of its ships and planes in 1991, and their existence had been exposed years ago by American and retired Japanese officials.
Rather, experts here say, Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada has pressed the inquiry in order not only to increase transparency but to embarrass the entrenched bureaucrats at the Foreign Ministry, which still officially denies the pacts’ existence. A similar desire for transparency was also apparent last week, when a special committee on cutting government waste took up the $1.4 billion that Tokyo spends annually on the salaries for Japanese workers on American bases. After a one-hour debate that focused on clarifying pay scales without once raising a doubt about the need for the bases, the committee voted to leave the appropriation unchanged.
While there were no substantive changes, just raising such delicate topics like the base salaries underscores how much more willing Mr. Hatoyama is than previous Japanese leaders to ruffle Washington’s feathers.
However, political experts say, neither his government nor Japan’s public has shown any signs of wanting to substantially alter the alliance, which has ensured Japan’s security since the end of World War II. If anything, public sentiment calls for remaining close to the United States in a geopolitical region that includes a rising China and a nuclear-armed North Korea.
Indeed, the occasional inability of the two allies to understand each other reflects what Mr. Murata and others call a failure of communication. Part of the problem was that Washington was late in reaching out to Mr. Hatoyama, whose victory swept away Washington’s traditional channels to the former ruling party and the central ministries.
But more fundamentally, the recent strains have revealed how little the two allies are used to the give and take commonly found in America’s relations with other allies, like Britain or Australia. Japan’s new government has disrupted the old rhythms of the alliance by thrusting its problems out into the open for the first time in years, exposing rifts that never would have been acknowledged publicly in the past.
“These are two partners who are not used to talking to each other,” said Tobias Harris, a former political aide to a Democratic Party lawmaker who now writes a blog. Mr. Harris and other analysts said the two countries must figure out how they want to cooperate in a new era when the United States is no longer the unchallenged superpower, Japan is no longer willing or able to serve as Washington’s pocketbook and the regional balance of power is being upended by China.
For now, one of the results of Tokyo’s greater transparency has been a lack of consistency. A case in point has been the discussion over relocating the unpopular Futenma Marine Corps Air Base off the southern island of Okinawa. American officials have pressed Tokyo to honor a 2006 agreement to relocate the base to a less populated part of Okinawa, but Japan’s Democrats pledged during the campaign to relocate the base off Okinawa or even out of Japan altogether.
Since taking power in September, members of Japan’s new government have offered contradictory statements on the issue. Mr. Hatoyama has hinted that he will not make a final decision until January.
Still, there are ample signs that Tokyo and Washington will eventually start seeing eye to eye again. During his visit, President Obama agreed to talks on the Futenma issue, and Mr. Hatoyama responded by explaining his tough political choice between Washington and public opinion on Okinawa.
“This government has only been in power less than 100 days,” said Mr. Murata. “It is not surprising if there are some teething problems.”
Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
Beijing launches TV ad to repair "Made in China" image
Posted: 01 December 2009 1625 hrs
BEIJING - China has launched an advertising campaign aimed at repairing the battered image of its exports after a series of safety scandals, in what is believed to be its first attempt at global branding.
The "Made in China, Made with the World" television commercial was commissioned by the Ministry of Commerce and is being broadcast on CNN in the United States and Asia, said advertising agency DDB, which made the ad.
The 30-second ad first aired November 23 and stresses that some Chinese products are made with the help of foreign companies and technology, the ministry said in a statement.
It features a jogger tying the laces of his shoes which have the label "Made in China with American sports technology" and a model wearing clothes with the label "Made in China with French designers."
"It reflects the attitude and aspiration of Chinese enterprises to strengthen cooperation with other countries to provide high-quality products for consumers from various countries," the ministry said.
The ad is expected to run for six weeks, according to Chinese state media reports.
The "Made in China" brand has been tarnished repeatedly in recent years after goods ranging from food to toys to pharmaceuticals were found to be unsafe and recalled around the world.
Recent cases included toys coated with toxic lead paint, toothpaste containing a chemical used in automobile anti-freeze and dairy products laced with the industrial chemical melamine.
Karen See, a Hong Kong-based spokeswoman for DDB, said the commercial "reinforces the collaboration" between China and foreign companies.
She said it is believed to be the first time China's government has launched such an ad campaign.
The ad showed Beijing was taking a "proactive" approach to communicating with the world" but failed to challenge perceptions of China as a manufacturer, said Scott Kronick, president of Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide China.
"Where the advertising falls short is that it continues to position China as the world's factory, thereby reinforcing consumer perceptions that China only makes goods that are sold under other brands," said Kronick.
"If China is indeed seeking to shift perceptions, now is the time for China to evolve from a 'Made in China' positioning to a 'Created in China' positioning that would highlight its role as an innovator."
- AFP/ir
BEIJING - China has launched an advertising campaign aimed at repairing the battered image of its exports after a series of safety scandals, in what is believed to be its first attempt at global branding.
The "Made in China, Made with the World" television commercial was commissioned by the Ministry of Commerce and is being broadcast on CNN in the United States and Asia, said advertising agency DDB, which made the ad.
The 30-second ad first aired November 23 and stresses that some Chinese products are made with the help of foreign companies and technology, the ministry said in a statement.
It features a jogger tying the laces of his shoes which have the label "Made in China with American sports technology" and a model wearing clothes with the label "Made in China with French designers."
"It reflects the attitude and aspiration of Chinese enterprises to strengthen cooperation with other countries to provide high-quality products for consumers from various countries," the ministry said.
The ad is expected to run for six weeks, according to Chinese state media reports.
The "Made in China" brand has been tarnished repeatedly in recent years after goods ranging from food to toys to pharmaceuticals were found to be unsafe and recalled around the world.
Recent cases included toys coated with toxic lead paint, toothpaste containing a chemical used in automobile anti-freeze and dairy products laced with the industrial chemical melamine.
Karen See, a Hong Kong-based spokeswoman for DDB, said the commercial "reinforces the collaboration" between China and foreign companies.
She said it is believed to be the first time China's government has launched such an ad campaign.
The ad showed Beijing was taking a "proactive" approach to communicating with the world" but failed to challenge perceptions of China as a manufacturer, said Scott Kronick, president of Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide China.
"Where the advertising falls short is that it continues to position China as the world's factory, thereby reinforcing consumer perceptions that China only makes goods that are sold under other brands," said Kronick.
"If China is indeed seeking to shift perceptions, now is the time for China to evolve from a 'Made in China' positioning to a 'Created in China' positioning that would highlight its role as an innovator."
- AFP/ir
South Korea takes a big sip of rice wine
The traditional milky drink, called makgeolli, is enjoying a boom in its homeland, where scientists are engineering it for foreign palates. Even the nation's president has made a pitch for it.
By Ju-min Park
4:48 PM PST, December 1, 2009
Reporting from Seoul
Shin Woo-chang drinks on the job.
Every day at his suburban laboratory, the molecular geneticist sniffs, taste-tests and appraises every bubble and nuance of a once-unappreciated traditional product that the South Korean government hopes will soon have a new life on the international market.
It's called makgeolli, a milky-white rice wine that Koreans believe deserves a place among the world's notable alcoholic drinks, including sake from Japan and wine from California and France.
The drink is enjoying a renaissance in South Korea, with sales in October beating those of bottles of French Beaujolais.
They're calling it makgeolli nouveau. Even President Lee Myung-bak has become a makgeolli pitchman.
"I can tell you that makgeolli is good for health and for women's skin and beauty," Lee said at a recent get-together for foreign diplomats, toasting the group with a glass of rice wine.
With feelings such as these on the rise, perfecting the makgeolli recipe with newer and healthier versions has become a top priority for Shin.
The carbonated wine beverage -- which has a sharp and fruity aftertaste, like a cross between sake and beer -- is loved by many Koreans. But makgeolli makers want to refine that taste for other national palates, such as those in Japan and the U.S. The goal is to boost the $200-million industry and double the number of foreign countries -- now 15 -- where the drink is sold.
Shin's relationship with the drink goes back decades. The 41-year-old scientist first drank makgeolli at a welcome party for freshmen in his college about 20 years ago.
"When we were young, most of the time we had makgeolli because it was cheaper than beer and tasted better than soju [a Korean distilled alcoholic beverage]," said Shin, an employee of the Seoul-based Kooksoondang Brewery. "I loved to drink, but I never imagined that I would study liquors down the road."
Shin happened to attend a college lecture by the brewery's chairman about his ambition to make traditional Korean alcoholic drinks popular again. Years later, in 1999, Shin took a job at the brewery.
For three years, he has been attempting to transform inexpensive, fermented makgeolli from a sip of nostalgia into an international favorite.
South Korea has about 700 small makgeolli breweries, but many are struggling financially in part because they use outdated equipment and brewing systems, Shin said.
"Scientists need to take over and systematize the processing of yeast and microorganisms in making makgeolli," the bespectacled researcher said.
The winemakers' new approach is to employ research from the fields of molecular biology, medicine and food engineering to help launch a nationwide campaign to promote makgeolli.
"Scientific research contributed to developing kimchi businesses," said Lee Han-seung, a biofood materials professor at Silla University in Busan. "Makgeolli has also great potential for us to work on."
Thought to be thousands of years old, the drink is saturated with grain ingredients and lactic acid bacteria -- a fiber-rich alcohol that many say can help prevent cancer and lower cholesterol.
Still, for years makgeolli sales in South Korea lagged behind those of such Western alcoholic beverages as beer and whiskey.
But that is changing. For the first nine months of this year, sales increased more than 20% over a year ago, according to the Korea Customs Service.
"The year 2009 will be the breakthrough year for makgeolli," said Yoon Jin-weon, head of the Korea Liquor Culture Institute, who has collaborated with 12 professors in a separate rice wine project.
Shin's team, with many of its 15 members holding master's or doctoral degrees in science, has already seen results.
The team patented new fermenting procedures and created a new version of makgeolli -- served in a can -- that is now available on a Korean-owned airline that flies between South Korea and Japan.
"One of the requirements for employment on the team is that you have to like to drink," Shin said, grinning.
But he takes his work seriously. When he was a boy, he dreamed of winning the Nobel Prize. The dream, he said, is still alive.
"I want to win the Nobel Prize for makgeolli," he said.
Park is a news assistant in The Times' Seoul Bureau.
Copyright © 2009, The Los Angeles Times
By Ju-min Park
4:48 PM PST, December 1, 2009
Reporting from Seoul
Shin Woo-chang drinks on the job.
Every day at his suburban laboratory, the molecular geneticist sniffs, taste-tests and appraises every bubble and nuance of a once-unappreciated traditional product that the South Korean government hopes will soon have a new life on the international market.
It's called makgeolli, a milky-white rice wine that Koreans believe deserves a place among the world's notable alcoholic drinks, including sake from Japan and wine from California and France.
The drink is enjoying a renaissance in South Korea, with sales in October beating those of bottles of French Beaujolais.
They're calling it makgeolli nouveau. Even President Lee Myung-bak has become a makgeolli pitchman.
"I can tell you that makgeolli is good for health and for women's skin and beauty," Lee said at a recent get-together for foreign diplomats, toasting the group with a glass of rice wine.
With feelings such as these on the rise, perfecting the makgeolli recipe with newer and healthier versions has become a top priority for Shin.
The carbonated wine beverage -- which has a sharp and fruity aftertaste, like a cross between sake and beer -- is loved by many Koreans. But makgeolli makers want to refine that taste for other national palates, such as those in Japan and the U.S. The goal is to boost the $200-million industry and double the number of foreign countries -- now 15 -- where the drink is sold.
Shin's relationship with the drink goes back decades. The 41-year-old scientist first drank makgeolli at a welcome party for freshmen in his college about 20 years ago.
"When we were young, most of the time we had makgeolli because it was cheaper than beer and tasted better than soju [a Korean distilled alcoholic beverage]," said Shin, an employee of the Seoul-based Kooksoondang Brewery. "I loved to drink, but I never imagined that I would study liquors down the road."
Shin happened to attend a college lecture by the brewery's chairman about his ambition to make traditional Korean alcoholic drinks popular again. Years later, in 1999, Shin took a job at the brewery.
For three years, he has been attempting to transform inexpensive, fermented makgeolli from a sip of nostalgia into an international favorite.
South Korea has about 700 small makgeolli breweries, but many are struggling financially in part because they use outdated equipment and brewing systems, Shin said.
"Scientists need to take over and systematize the processing of yeast and microorganisms in making makgeolli," the bespectacled researcher said.
The winemakers' new approach is to employ research from the fields of molecular biology, medicine and food engineering to help launch a nationwide campaign to promote makgeolli.
"Scientific research contributed to developing kimchi businesses," said Lee Han-seung, a biofood materials professor at Silla University in Busan. "Makgeolli has also great potential for us to work on."
Thought to be thousands of years old, the drink is saturated with grain ingredients and lactic acid bacteria -- a fiber-rich alcohol that many say can help prevent cancer and lower cholesterol.
Still, for years makgeolli sales in South Korea lagged behind those of such Western alcoholic beverages as beer and whiskey.
But that is changing. For the first nine months of this year, sales increased more than 20% over a year ago, according to the Korea Customs Service.
"The year 2009 will be the breakthrough year for makgeolli," said Yoon Jin-weon, head of the Korea Liquor Culture Institute, who has collaborated with 12 professors in a separate rice wine project.
Shin's team, with many of its 15 members holding master's or doctoral degrees in science, has already seen results.
The team patented new fermenting procedures and created a new version of makgeolli -- served in a can -- that is now available on a Korean-owned airline that flies between South Korea and Japan.
"One of the requirements for employment on the team is that you have to like to drink," Shin said, grinning.
But he takes his work seriously. When he was a boy, he dreamed of winning the Nobel Prize. The dream, he said, is still alive.
"I want to win the Nobel Prize for makgeolli," he said.
Park is a news assistant in The Times' Seoul Bureau.
Copyright © 2009, The Los Angeles Times
Police say deadly blaze began in shooting area
December 01, 2009
The fatal fire at a Busan indoor shooting range in November was caused by either flame from a rifle or its spent shell, police said yesterday.
The Busan police said they’ve “tentatively concluded” that the fire started in front of one of the shooting lanes, where flammable materials, such as gunpowder and sound-absorbing sponge, were piled.
They said either exhaust flames or the shell from a rifle might have reached the materials.
The Nov. 14 fire claimed the lives of 15 people, including 10 Japanese tourists.
Police investigators reached their conclusion by breaking down footage from the closed circuit television at the shooting range. Initially, footage from seven of the eight CCTVs, totaling about 15 seconds, was thought to have been lost in the fire. But the National Institute of Scientific Investigation managed to recover the footage by restoring the computer hardware connected to the CCTVs.
Officials from the police and the institute said the recovered footage showed a spark in front of the first shooting lane. They said they spotted some gunpowder or chemical residue that could have easily been set on fire.
A police investigator further talked about how the fire engulfed the range.
“Within the confined space of the range, burning of flammable materials caused a great deal of fire and smoke,” the investigator said. “That led to a quick rise in the temperature and fire soon swept through the range and onto the adjacent lounge.”
Based on their analysis of the footage, investigators ruled out the possibility of a short circuit.
After the first two rounds of on-site inspections, Busan police had pointed to a sofa at the lounge as the starting point for the fire. But in a third inspection, they said the fire had first started at the shooting lane. Investigators noted that the lock on the inside of the door had been damaged.
Masaru Kasahara, a Japanese survivor, also told the police that he had heard an explosion from inside the range and saw the flames.
In the early stages of the investigation, there were rumors of possible arson planned by a Japanese yakuza crime syndicate, after a run-in with Korean counterparts.
A similar fire at a Seoul indoor shooting range in April 2006 injured three Japanese tourists. Such shooting ranges in Korea and other parts of Asia have been a popular destination for Japanese tourists.
By Yoo Jee-ho [jeeho@joongang.co.kr]
The fatal fire at a Busan indoor shooting range in November was caused by either flame from a rifle or its spent shell, police said yesterday.
The Busan police said they’ve “tentatively concluded” that the fire started in front of one of the shooting lanes, where flammable materials, such as gunpowder and sound-absorbing sponge, were piled.
They said either exhaust flames or the shell from a rifle might have reached the materials.
The Nov. 14 fire claimed the lives of 15 people, including 10 Japanese tourists.
Police investigators reached their conclusion by breaking down footage from the closed circuit television at the shooting range. Initially, footage from seven of the eight CCTVs, totaling about 15 seconds, was thought to have been lost in the fire. But the National Institute of Scientific Investigation managed to recover the footage by restoring the computer hardware connected to the CCTVs.
Officials from the police and the institute said the recovered footage showed a spark in front of the first shooting lane. They said they spotted some gunpowder or chemical residue that could have easily been set on fire.
A police investigator further talked about how the fire engulfed the range.
“Within the confined space of the range, burning of flammable materials caused a great deal of fire and smoke,” the investigator said. “That led to a quick rise in the temperature and fire soon swept through the range and onto the adjacent lounge.”
Based on their analysis of the footage, investigators ruled out the possibility of a short circuit.
After the first two rounds of on-site inspections, Busan police had pointed to a sofa at the lounge as the starting point for the fire. But in a third inspection, they said the fire had first started at the shooting lane. Investigators noted that the lock on the inside of the door had been damaged.
Masaru Kasahara, a Japanese survivor, also told the police that he had heard an explosion from inside the range and saw the flames.
In the early stages of the investigation, there were rumors of possible arson planned by a Japanese yakuza crime syndicate, after a run-in with Korean counterparts.
A similar fire at a Seoul indoor shooting range in April 2006 injured three Japanese tourists. Such shooting ranges in Korea and other parts of Asia have been a popular destination for Japanese tourists.
By Yoo Jee-ho [jeeho@joongang.co.kr]
Why Movie Crews Get to Disrupt City Life
By Chosun Ilbo columnist Oh Tae-jin
englishnews@chosun.com / Dec. 01, 2009 13:16 KST
Casino operators blocked the filming of Mike Figgis' 1996 film "Leaving Las Vegas," forcing the director to film his movie in the small gambling town of Laughlin, Nevada 140 km away. To make matters more difficult, police rejected requests by the film crew to block off traffic. The lack of cooperation stemmed from the Las Vegas Film Commission's disapproval of the movie, which depicted a dark love story between a suicidal alcoholic and a prostitute. "Leaving Las Vegas" has been the only movie about the city that got this kind of cold-shoulder treatment.
Through the Film Commission, Las Vegas city officials seek out movies that can be set in the city and offer benefits to film producers. As a result, the "Con Air" prisoner transport plane crash-landed in downtown Las Vegas, James Bond raced through its thoroughfares and a child the size of King Kong walked around the town bashing up neon signs. Many U.S. cities have their own film commissions that seek to attract movie shoots. Even officials in crowded New York City close off entire streets to help make films. Brooklyn Bridge was blocked off for five days back in 1997 for the filming of "Siege."
The reason why so many cities compete to attract film crews is because they spend a lot of money when they are in town and the movies themselves end up doing a great job promoting the cities where they were filmed. The Alcatraz prison in San Francisco saw the number of annual visitors rise to 1 million after the 1995 movie "The Rock" was filmed there.
Film New Zealand, which is the state agency in charge of attracting film crews there, covers 15 percent of production expenses. The New Zealand government has provided W30 billion (US$1=W1,163) so far to Hollywood blockbuster "Avatar," which is being filmed there for the third year now.
In Korea, the film commission of Busan has also decided to foot 30 percent of the costs of films that are shot in the southern port city.
The Busan Film Commission was established in 1999 and until last year had attracted 228 movie crews to shoot scenes in the city. The commission went as far as temporarily changing public bus routes to support the filming of the movie "Friend." It scoured the city and found the perfect back alley that was used as the neighborhood of the heroine in "Sympathy for Lady Vengeance." The commission passed out notices to residents and even booked hotel rooms for pregnant women in the neighborhood where a gas station explosion was being filmed for the movie "Libera Me."
The efforts paid off. Over the past four years, Busan attracted the filming of between 30 to 43 movies and more than 40 percent of Korean movies have been filmed there.
Many other cities and provinces followed Busan’s example. Depending on how prominently it is featured, Incheon provides between W50 million to W100 million in support per movie. Analysis by the film commission of Jeonju showed that a W200 million investment yields W4 billion in returns.
Earlier this week, Gwanghwamun Plaza was sealed off while spectators flocked to the scene. They came to see the filming of the action TV drama "Iris," which was filmed there for 12 hours. The city of Seoul signed a deal with the producers to use the drama to publicize the capital, hoping that the show will be exported to Japan and other countries.
Quite a few people were probably unhappy to see traffic backed up on a weekend. But it was a scene that reflected the power of popular culture as an export product and the changed attitudes of public servants when it comes to publicizing Korea.
englishnews@chosun.com / Dec. 01, 2009 13:16 KST
Casino operators blocked the filming of Mike Figgis' 1996 film "Leaving Las Vegas," forcing the director to film his movie in the small gambling town of Laughlin, Nevada 140 km away. To make matters more difficult, police rejected requests by the film crew to block off traffic. The lack of cooperation stemmed from the Las Vegas Film Commission's disapproval of the movie, which depicted a dark love story between a suicidal alcoholic and a prostitute. "Leaving Las Vegas" has been the only movie about the city that got this kind of cold-shoulder treatment.
Through the Film Commission, Las Vegas city officials seek out movies that can be set in the city and offer benefits to film producers. As a result, the "Con Air" prisoner transport plane crash-landed in downtown Las Vegas, James Bond raced through its thoroughfares and a child the size of King Kong walked around the town bashing up neon signs. Many U.S. cities have their own film commissions that seek to attract movie shoots. Even officials in crowded New York City close off entire streets to help make films. Brooklyn Bridge was blocked off for five days back in 1997 for the filming of "Siege."
The reason why so many cities compete to attract film crews is because they spend a lot of money when they are in town and the movies themselves end up doing a great job promoting the cities where they were filmed. The Alcatraz prison in San Francisco saw the number of annual visitors rise to 1 million after the 1995 movie "The Rock" was filmed there.
Film New Zealand, which is the state agency in charge of attracting film crews there, covers 15 percent of production expenses. The New Zealand government has provided W30 billion (US$1=W1,163) so far to Hollywood blockbuster "Avatar," which is being filmed there for the third year now.
In Korea, the film commission of Busan has also decided to foot 30 percent of the costs of films that are shot in the southern port city.
The Busan Film Commission was established in 1999 and until last year had attracted 228 movie crews to shoot scenes in the city. The commission went as far as temporarily changing public bus routes to support the filming of the movie "Friend." It scoured the city and found the perfect back alley that was used as the neighborhood of the heroine in "Sympathy for Lady Vengeance." The commission passed out notices to residents and even booked hotel rooms for pregnant women in the neighborhood where a gas station explosion was being filmed for the movie "Libera Me."
The efforts paid off. Over the past four years, Busan attracted the filming of between 30 to 43 movies and more than 40 percent of Korean movies have been filmed there.
Many other cities and provinces followed Busan’s example. Depending on how prominently it is featured, Incheon provides between W50 million to W100 million in support per movie. Analysis by the film commission of Jeonju showed that a W200 million investment yields W4 billion in returns.
Earlier this week, Gwanghwamun Plaza was sealed off while spectators flocked to the scene. They came to see the filming of the action TV drama "Iris," which was filmed there for 12 hours. The city of Seoul signed a deal with the producers to use the drama to publicize the capital, hoping that the show will be exported to Japan and other countries.
Quite a few people were probably unhappy to see traffic backed up on a weekend. But it was a scene that reflected the power of popular culture as an export product and the changed attitudes of public servants when it comes to publicizing Korea.
Ministry survey: School violence up 13 percent in 2008
(Mainichi Japan) December 1, 2009
A record 59,618 violent acts by students were reported by elementary, junior high and high schools across Japan in fiscal 2008, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology announced on Monday.
The government's survey on students' problematic behavior has revealed that school violence has increased by 13 percent from fiscal 2007.
The number of bullying cases acknowledged by schools, on the other hand, has dropped by 16.2 percent to 84,648; however, the figure remains at a high level.
The survey was conducted by collecting data from prefectural education boards. It was not until fiscal 2006 that national and private schools nationwide were covered in the survey, and that minor incidents were also included.
Education boards say that principal factors behind the rise are an increase in the number of children with poor emotional control, and reduced moral awareness and communication skills among students.
According to the survey, violent incidents have increased by 24.3 percent to 6,484 cases at elementary schools and 16.1 percent to 42,754 cases at junior high schools, while at high schools, the figure showed a slight decline of 3.3 percent to 10,380 cases.
Violence between students accounted for more than half of the incidents reported with 32,445 cases, up 14.2 percent from the previous fiscal year, followed by 17,329 reports of property damage (up 10.2 percent), 8,120 cases of violence against teachers (up 16.6 percent), 1,724 cases of violence against students from other schools or strangers (up 2.4 percent).
Meanwhile, the number of acknowledged bullying incidents showed a decline from previous year at all school levels, with 40,807 cases reported by elementary schools (down 16.5 percent), 36,795 by junior high schools (down 15.4 percent), 6,737 cases by high schools (down 19.3 percent), and 309 by special needs schools (down 9.3 percent).
Bullying via the Internet using cell phones or computers has also decreased by 23.1 percent to 4,527 cases.
There were a total of 136 suicides by students in fiscal 2008. Education authorities have confirmed that three of them took their own lives because of bullying, but said that the causes for another 73 cases are unknown.
Schools making greater efforts to detect bullying tend to report more cases, leading to a wider gap among prefectures. The Education Ministry defines bullying as physical and mental torture that gives student emotional distress; however, schools and educational boards have different interpretations of such definition, making it uncertain whether the survey results have reflected the actual situation at schools.
"Based on the assumption that anyone can be a victim of bullying at any school, we are calling on schools to step up their efforts," a ministry official said.
A record 59,618 violent acts by students were reported by elementary, junior high and high schools across Japan in fiscal 2008, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology announced on Monday.
The government's survey on students' problematic behavior has revealed that school violence has increased by 13 percent from fiscal 2007.
The number of bullying cases acknowledged by schools, on the other hand, has dropped by 16.2 percent to 84,648; however, the figure remains at a high level.
The survey was conducted by collecting data from prefectural education boards. It was not until fiscal 2006 that national and private schools nationwide were covered in the survey, and that minor incidents were also included.
Education boards say that principal factors behind the rise are an increase in the number of children with poor emotional control, and reduced moral awareness and communication skills among students.
According to the survey, violent incidents have increased by 24.3 percent to 6,484 cases at elementary schools and 16.1 percent to 42,754 cases at junior high schools, while at high schools, the figure showed a slight decline of 3.3 percent to 10,380 cases.
Violence between students accounted for more than half of the incidents reported with 32,445 cases, up 14.2 percent from the previous fiscal year, followed by 17,329 reports of property damage (up 10.2 percent), 8,120 cases of violence against teachers (up 16.6 percent), 1,724 cases of violence against students from other schools or strangers (up 2.4 percent).
Meanwhile, the number of acknowledged bullying incidents showed a decline from previous year at all school levels, with 40,807 cases reported by elementary schools (down 16.5 percent), 36,795 by junior high schools (down 15.4 percent), 6,737 cases by high schools (down 19.3 percent), and 309 by special needs schools (down 9.3 percent).
Bullying via the Internet using cell phones or computers has also decreased by 23.1 percent to 4,527 cases.
There were a total of 136 suicides by students in fiscal 2008. Education authorities have confirmed that three of them took their own lives because of bullying, but said that the causes for another 73 cases are unknown.
Schools making greater efforts to detect bullying tend to report more cases, leading to a wider gap among prefectures. The Education Ministry defines bullying as physical and mental torture that gives student emotional distress; however, schools and educational boards have different interpretations of such definition, making it uncertain whether the survey results have reflected the actual situation at schools.
"Based on the assumption that anyone can be a victim of bullying at any school, we are calling on schools to step up their efforts," a ministry official said.
Archives detail '49 miscarriage of justice
The Japan Times: Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2009
By KEIJI HIRANO
Kyodo News
FUKUSHIMA — Fukushima University is preserving archives related to the notorious Matsukawa case, a fatal train derailment 60 years ago that led to 20 union members being convicted of sabotage in what many regard as the worst miscarriage of justice in postwar Japan.
On Aug. 17, 1949, a train came off the tracks near Matsukawa Station in Fukushima Prefecture as a result of apparent sabotage. Several bolts connecting the tracks were loosened, and joint bars and spikes were pulled away.
The derailment left three crew members dead and led to the indictment of 20 labor union activists in the old Japanese National Railways and a local Toshiba Corp. factory.
Many were members of the Japanese Communist Party.
"We have archived around 100,000 documents on the incident, and we have 300 to 400 visitors here annually," said Masayuki Ibe, a professor emeritus at Fukushima University who manages the Matsukawa Case Archives.
"Our work to organize the materials, including court documents and publications, is ongoing, and additional documents are still coming in."
The defendants were accused of resorting to violence to fight company layoffs. The Fukushima District Court in December 1950 sentenced five to hang and five others to life in prison. The remaining 10 were also found guilty and given lesser sentences.
In the appellate trial, the Sendai High Court in December 1953 found 17 of them guilty, ruling four deserved to hang. The remaining three were acquitted.
The Matsukawa case was the third mysterious incident involving JNR in the summer of 1949 as the railway was laying off workers. In what is known as the Shimoyama incident, which occurred earlier, JNR President Sadanori Shimoyama was found dead in Tokyo, apparently run over by a JNR train. In the Mitaka case, an unmanned moving train at Mitaka Station in Tokyo derailed and killed six people.
Government officials and media organizations alleged these incidents had "a certain ideological background," stirring public concern.
It was a time when communists and socialists who had been persecuted during the war years resumed their activities. Unions gained momentum and fought hard against management.
Public sentiment regarding the Matsukawa case gradually changed, however, in the face of criticism that the guilty verdicts were based mostly on coerced confessions of defendants during interrogations and on a sloppy investigation.
"While my husband was behind bars, I traveled nationwide to protest his innocence," said Yae Suzuki, 88, whose husband, Makoto, 89, leader of the JNR union, was sentenced to hang by both the district and high courts.
Even lawyers who couldn't care less about the JCP joined the defense team in the belief that the defendants had been wrongfully accused and were being railroaded.
Literary figures meanwhile released satirical tracts on the guilty verdicts. This was despite the fact that legal authorities were decrying criticism of court decisions, claiming it jeopardized judicial independence.
Amid these moves, the Supreme Court sent the case back to the Sendai High Court, which in August 1961 acquitted every defendant.
The verdict was finalized two years later.
"The Matsukawa case showed that we, the people, are allowed and obliged to raise voices against judicial power to democratize it," said Ibe at Fukushima University. "I think it is necessary not only to preserve records but also to open them to the public so we can learn their lessons."
The university began collecting the case documents in 1984 after its campus was moved to its present location, only 2 km from the derailment site, and the archives were opened to the public four years later.
"We repeatedly visited those who were involved in the Matsukawa case to seek letters exchanged among the defendants, the lawyers and the supporters, and fliers as well as rare publications about it," said Ibe, 67.
With the ultimate acquittals, the perpetrators of the Matsukawa case remained unidentified and the truth elusive.
The former defendants and their families won compensation in a lawsuit against the government.
Yae Suzuki, who now lives in the city of Fukushima with her husband, said: "As I often went out to protest the innocence of the defendants, our two sons exchanged letters with their father in the detention house to seek his parental care. It was my jailed husband who brought them up."
The Suzuki family donated these letters to the university archives to carry on the family history.
"I hope the university will keep the documents permanently as concrete educational tools for history," said Makoto Suzuki, who spent almost 10 years behind bars. "Just winning acquittal was not enough. I believe we needed to put the unfair judicial system on the right track through our struggle."
The courtroom was a baptism of fire for Kazuo Otsuka, who took on the Matsukawa case as a rookie lawyer only three months into his career.
"I directly confronted prosecutors and judges . . . the experience was a precious lesson," said Otsuka, 84. He later was involved in the reopening of murder cases and the reversal of convictions.
On the Matsukawa case archives, Otsuka, who was the chief defense counsel, said Fukushima University is the best place to preserve the documents because visitors can examine them after going around the derailment site.
Matsukawa case-related events
Kyodo News
July 5, 1949 — Japanese National Railways President Sadanori Shimoyama is found dead in Tokyo, run over by a train.
July 15, 1949 — An unmanned train at Tokyo's Mitaka Station kills six people.
Aug. 17, 1949 — A passenger train derails due to sabotage in Fukushima Prefecture, killing three crew members and leading to the indictment of 20 labor union activists.
Dec. 6, 1950 — The Fukushima District Court finds all 20 guilty, sentencing five of them to death.
Dec. 22, 1953 — The Sendai High Court finds 17 of them guilty and gives the death sentence to four.
Aug. 10, 1959 — The Supreme Court sends the case back to the high court.
Aug. 8, 1961 — The high court acquits all 17, leading prosecutors to appeal the ruling.
Sept. 12, 1963 — The Supreme Court rejects the prosecutors' appeal, finalizing the acquittals.
Aug. 17, 1964 — The statute of limitations for the case runs out.
April, 23, 1969 — The defendants and their families win government compensation at the Tokyo District Court.
Aug. 1, 1970 — The government loses an appeal attempt at the Tokyo High Court and gives up on fighting the ruling.
(C) All rights reserved
By KEIJI HIRANO
Kyodo News
FUKUSHIMA — Fukushima University is preserving archives related to the notorious Matsukawa case, a fatal train derailment 60 years ago that led to 20 union members being convicted of sabotage in what many regard as the worst miscarriage of justice in postwar Japan.
On Aug. 17, 1949, a train came off the tracks near Matsukawa Station in Fukushima Prefecture as a result of apparent sabotage. Several bolts connecting the tracks were loosened, and joint bars and spikes were pulled away.
The derailment left three crew members dead and led to the indictment of 20 labor union activists in the old Japanese National Railways and a local Toshiba Corp. factory.
Many were members of the Japanese Communist Party.
"We have archived around 100,000 documents on the incident, and we have 300 to 400 visitors here annually," said Masayuki Ibe, a professor emeritus at Fukushima University who manages the Matsukawa Case Archives.
"Our work to organize the materials, including court documents and publications, is ongoing, and additional documents are still coming in."
The defendants were accused of resorting to violence to fight company layoffs. The Fukushima District Court in December 1950 sentenced five to hang and five others to life in prison. The remaining 10 were also found guilty and given lesser sentences.
In the appellate trial, the Sendai High Court in December 1953 found 17 of them guilty, ruling four deserved to hang. The remaining three were acquitted.
The Matsukawa case was the third mysterious incident involving JNR in the summer of 1949 as the railway was laying off workers. In what is known as the Shimoyama incident, which occurred earlier, JNR President Sadanori Shimoyama was found dead in Tokyo, apparently run over by a JNR train. In the Mitaka case, an unmanned moving train at Mitaka Station in Tokyo derailed and killed six people.
Government officials and media organizations alleged these incidents had "a certain ideological background," stirring public concern.
It was a time when communists and socialists who had been persecuted during the war years resumed their activities. Unions gained momentum and fought hard against management.
Public sentiment regarding the Matsukawa case gradually changed, however, in the face of criticism that the guilty verdicts were based mostly on coerced confessions of defendants during interrogations and on a sloppy investigation.
"While my husband was behind bars, I traveled nationwide to protest his innocence," said Yae Suzuki, 88, whose husband, Makoto, 89, leader of the JNR union, was sentenced to hang by both the district and high courts.
Even lawyers who couldn't care less about the JCP joined the defense team in the belief that the defendants had been wrongfully accused and were being railroaded.
Literary figures meanwhile released satirical tracts on the guilty verdicts. This was despite the fact that legal authorities were decrying criticism of court decisions, claiming it jeopardized judicial independence.
Amid these moves, the Supreme Court sent the case back to the Sendai High Court, which in August 1961 acquitted every defendant.
The verdict was finalized two years later.
"The Matsukawa case showed that we, the people, are allowed and obliged to raise voices against judicial power to democratize it," said Ibe at Fukushima University. "I think it is necessary not only to preserve records but also to open them to the public so we can learn their lessons."
The university began collecting the case documents in 1984 after its campus was moved to its present location, only 2 km from the derailment site, and the archives were opened to the public four years later.
"We repeatedly visited those who were involved in the Matsukawa case to seek letters exchanged among the defendants, the lawyers and the supporters, and fliers as well as rare publications about it," said Ibe, 67.
With the ultimate acquittals, the perpetrators of the Matsukawa case remained unidentified and the truth elusive.
The former defendants and their families won compensation in a lawsuit against the government.
Yae Suzuki, who now lives in the city of Fukushima with her husband, said: "As I often went out to protest the innocence of the defendants, our two sons exchanged letters with their father in the detention house to seek his parental care. It was my jailed husband who brought them up."
The Suzuki family donated these letters to the university archives to carry on the family history.
"I hope the university will keep the documents permanently as concrete educational tools for history," said Makoto Suzuki, who spent almost 10 years behind bars. "Just winning acquittal was not enough. I believe we needed to put the unfair judicial system on the right track through our struggle."
The courtroom was a baptism of fire for Kazuo Otsuka, who took on the Matsukawa case as a rookie lawyer only three months into his career.
"I directly confronted prosecutors and judges . . . the experience was a precious lesson," said Otsuka, 84. He later was involved in the reopening of murder cases and the reversal of convictions.
On the Matsukawa case archives, Otsuka, who was the chief defense counsel, said Fukushima University is the best place to preserve the documents because visitors can examine them after going around the derailment site.
Matsukawa case-related events
Kyodo News
July 5, 1949 — Japanese National Railways President Sadanori Shimoyama is found dead in Tokyo, run over by a train.
July 15, 1949 — An unmanned train at Tokyo's Mitaka Station kills six people.
Aug. 17, 1949 — A passenger train derails due to sabotage in Fukushima Prefecture, killing three crew members and leading to the indictment of 20 labor union activists.
Dec. 6, 1950 — The Fukushima District Court finds all 20 guilty, sentencing five of them to death.
Dec. 22, 1953 — The Sendai High Court finds 17 of them guilty and gives the death sentence to four.
Aug. 10, 1959 — The Supreme Court sends the case back to the high court.
Aug. 8, 1961 — The high court acquits all 17, leading prosecutors to appeal the ruling.
Sept. 12, 1963 — The Supreme Court rejects the prosecutors' appeal, finalizing the acquittals.
Aug. 17, 1964 — The statute of limitations for the case runs out.
April, 23, 1969 — The defendants and their families win government compensation at the Tokyo District Court.
Aug. 1, 1970 — The government loses an appeal attempt at the Tokyo High Court and gives up on fighting the ruling.
(C) All rights reserved
World economy to grow in '10: report
Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2009
World economy to grow in '10: report
Kyodo News
The world economy will grow by 2 percent in 2010, marking its first gain in two years, according to a Cabinet Office report released Tuesday, citing growing signs of recovery in China and elsewhere in Asia.
In China, large-scale economic stimulus measures will continue, enabling smooth growth led by domestic demand, the report says.
But the Cabinet Office warned that a real estate bubble may be inflating in some Chinese cities, including Shanghai.
The United States is forecast to post inflation-adjusted growth in gross domestic product of 1 percent in 2010, the report says, citing public works projects as a driving force.
But the Cabinet Office described the expected U.S. recovery as "without employment." It said the labor market in the United States will worsen further in the coming year, with the unemployment rate nearing its postwar peak of 10.8 percent.
The U.S. jobless rate shot up to 10.2 percent in October, the highest in more than 26 years.
The report says real GDP in the euro zone will gain less than 1 percent in 2010.
World economy to grow in '10: report
Kyodo News
The world economy will grow by 2 percent in 2010, marking its first gain in two years, according to a Cabinet Office report released Tuesday, citing growing signs of recovery in China and elsewhere in Asia.
In China, large-scale economic stimulus measures will continue, enabling smooth growth led by domestic demand, the report says.
But the Cabinet Office warned that a real estate bubble may be inflating in some Chinese cities, including Shanghai.
The United States is forecast to post inflation-adjusted growth in gross domestic product of 1 percent in 2010, the report says, citing public works projects as a driving force.
But the Cabinet Office described the expected U.S. recovery as "without employment." It said the labor market in the United States will worsen further in the coming year, with the unemployment rate nearing its postwar peak of 10.8 percent.
The U.S. jobless rate shot up to 10.2 percent in October, the highest in more than 26 years.
The report says real GDP in the euro zone will gain less than 1 percent in 2010.
Bar hostesses to form labor union
Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2009
Kyodo News
Facing unpaid wages and sexual harassment, a group of women who work as hostesses at 'kyabakura" bars plan to form a labor union to demand better treatment, sources familiar with the move said Tuesday.
Kyabakura is a combination of the words "cabaret" and "club." Hostesses sit next to customers and entertain them with conversation and liquor.
The hostesses are planning to hold a meeting in Tokyo this month to prepare for the formation of the union under a trade union that covers part-time, nonregular and foreign workers, they said.
A woman who used to work at a hostess bar in Tokyo is at the center of the drive to form the union. She has applied to the metropolitan labor dispute office for redress, saying she never got some of the wages due her and she suffered sexual harassment from male employees at the bar.
"Bar managers and colleagues told me that various bad conditions should just be 'taken for granted.' I hope the labor union will be able to provide support so that hostesses will not have to suffer," she said.
The Japan Times
(C) All rights reserved
Kyodo News
Facing unpaid wages and sexual harassment, a group of women who work as hostesses at 'kyabakura" bars plan to form a labor union to demand better treatment, sources familiar with the move said Tuesday.
Kyabakura is a combination of the words "cabaret" and "club." Hostesses sit next to customers and entertain them with conversation and liquor.
The hostesses are planning to hold a meeting in Tokyo this month to prepare for the formation of the union under a trade union that covers part-time, nonregular and foreign workers, they said.
A woman who used to work at a hostess bar in Tokyo is at the center of the drive to form the union. She has applied to the metropolitan labor dispute office for redress, saying she never got some of the wages due her and she suffered sexual harassment from male employees at the bar.
"Bar managers and colleagues told me that various bad conditions should just be 'taken for granted.' I hope the labor union will be able to provide support so that hostesses will not have to suffer," she said.
The Japan Times
(C) All rights reserved
Hostesses in Japan: byproducts of sexism and economic downturn
December 1, 1:34 PM
Norfolk Human Rights Examiner
Youngbee Kim
Japanese women find their career success in hostessing, which they are not able to find in any other career fields. Many salary men visit hostessing bars at night to hang out with the hostesses. A hostess entertains her customers by keeping them in company, talking to them, boosting their ego, and flirting with them. While more and more Japanese population is accepting hostessing as a legitimate career, no one seems to realize the flaws in the phenomenon.
RIE SAITO
Meet Rie Saito. She is a 25 years old Japanese woman who became the best hostess in the Japanese sex industry. Japanese media appplauds her accomplishment in becoming the best hostess in the country despite of her hearing impairment. Saito wrote an authobiography of her life as a hostess, which became the best seller in Japan. The popularity of her book further carried its reputation when the TBS channel in Japan decide to produce a show based on Saito's life story in the sex industry.
ERI MOMOKA
Meet Eri Momoka, another accomplished Japanese woman who turned her hostess career into the glamorous fashion design business for hostess clothing. To many Japanese young females, Eri's is considered as Cinderella in modern day Japan. She also is a single mom, but the publicity is on her side. She even has her own TV show. [1] Eri told NY TIMES that she gets fan mails from elementary school girls saying that they want to be like her. [2]
What exactly is hostessing?
A website on Japanese contemporary culture describes hostessing as a modern day geisha system in Japan. [1] Another website describe the duties of a hostess as, luring male customers to spend lots of money on drinking and food, Singing in front of them with a karaoke machine, slow-dance with a customer, serving them, and flirting with them to boost their ego. [2] Another hostess recruit website states that an applicant must be in the age between 18 and 24 and have nice body and pretty face. [3] In short, a hostess's job is to be her customer's mistress or a girlfriend for a night. Though sex is not required as part of the job description, many suffer from alcoholism. [4]
Popularity of hostessing career is sky-rocketing among young Japanese females
As Eri Momoka told NYTimes, some girls consider a hostess as a modern day princess. The economic downturn and the scarcity of job opportunities also direct many young Japanese women to hostessing careers. According to the NY report, one can make $20 per hour even for the very low end of hostessing career, which is twice more than how much most part time jobs pay. [5] Further, a hostessing job can easily pay $100,000 a year, and as much as $300,000 per year for the biggest star.[6]
What is wrong with this picture?
One can argue that if it makes a girl happy, she should jump into the hostessing career. After all, she does not have much of choice in terms of job opportunities. However, consider the fundamental assmption behind the success of a Japanese woman as a hostess. Her success is defined by how much of entertainment she can be to male populations. Her weight, beauty, singing skill, as well as how much she can amuse men to sell drinks and food, therefore, determine her selfworth. A hostess can argue that she chose her career because of the difficulty to get a job as a woman in Japan. Certainly, the Japanese government's failure to provide an equal opportunity for women to enter into any career fields is blameworthy. However, as long as women in Japan show their contentment with the current situation, their difficulty to get a proper job and compensated justifably willl remain as problems for them and their daughters in the future. Further, unless they fight for their own rights to be treated the same as men in working environment, the government has absolutely no reason to change the hostile work environment for women.
A hostess is not only placing herself in the deeper trap of sexism in Japan but also calling next female generations into the same place by glamerizing their success. A hero because she became a number one hostess with her disability? How about campainging for her rights to be employed and treated as the same as anyone else in the career fields that she wants to be and qualifies to be in despite of her disablity?
Norfolk Human Rights Examiner
Youngbee Kim
Japanese women find their career success in hostessing, which they are not able to find in any other career fields. Many salary men visit hostessing bars at night to hang out with the hostesses. A hostess entertains her customers by keeping them in company, talking to them, boosting their ego, and flirting with them. While more and more Japanese population is accepting hostessing as a legitimate career, no one seems to realize the flaws in the phenomenon.
RIE SAITO
Meet Rie Saito. She is a 25 years old Japanese woman who became the best hostess in the Japanese sex industry. Japanese media appplauds her accomplishment in becoming the best hostess in the country despite of her hearing impairment. Saito wrote an authobiography of her life as a hostess, which became the best seller in Japan. The popularity of her book further carried its reputation when the TBS channel in Japan decide to produce a show based on Saito's life story in the sex industry.
ERI MOMOKA
Meet Eri Momoka, another accomplished Japanese woman who turned her hostess career into the glamorous fashion design business for hostess clothing. To many Japanese young females, Eri's is considered as Cinderella in modern day Japan. She also is a single mom, but the publicity is on her side. She even has her own TV show. [1] Eri told NY TIMES that she gets fan mails from elementary school girls saying that they want to be like her. [2]
What exactly is hostessing?
A website on Japanese contemporary culture describes hostessing as a modern day geisha system in Japan. [1] Another website describe the duties of a hostess as, luring male customers to spend lots of money on drinking and food, Singing in front of them with a karaoke machine, slow-dance with a customer, serving them, and flirting with them to boost their ego. [2] Another hostess recruit website states that an applicant must be in the age between 18 and 24 and have nice body and pretty face. [3] In short, a hostess's job is to be her customer's mistress or a girlfriend for a night. Though sex is not required as part of the job description, many suffer from alcoholism. [4]
Popularity of hostessing career is sky-rocketing among young Japanese females
As Eri Momoka told NYTimes, some girls consider a hostess as a modern day princess. The economic downturn and the scarcity of job opportunities also direct many young Japanese women to hostessing careers. According to the NY report, one can make $20 per hour even for the very low end of hostessing career, which is twice more than how much most part time jobs pay. [5] Further, a hostessing job can easily pay $100,000 a year, and as much as $300,000 per year for the biggest star.[6]
What is wrong with this picture?
One can argue that if it makes a girl happy, she should jump into the hostessing career. After all, she does not have much of choice in terms of job opportunities. However, consider the fundamental assmption behind the success of a Japanese woman as a hostess. Her success is defined by how much of entertainment she can be to male populations. Her weight, beauty, singing skill, as well as how much she can amuse men to sell drinks and food, therefore, determine her selfworth. A hostess can argue that she chose her career because of the difficulty to get a job as a woman in Japan. Certainly, the Japanese government's failure to provide an equal opportunity for women to enter into any career fields is blameworthy. However, as long as women in Japan show their contentment with the current situation, their difficulty to get a proper job and compensated justifably willl remain as problems for them and their daughters in the future. Further, unless they fight for their own rights to be treated the same as men in working environment, the government has absolutely no reason to change the hostile work environment for women.
A hostess is not only placing herself in the deeper trap of sexism in Japan but also calling next female generations into the same place by glamerizing their success. A hero because she became a number one hostess with her disability? How about campainging for her rights to be employed and treated as the same as anyone else in the career fields that she wants to be and qualifies to be in despite of her disablity?
In Russia, Small Businesses Face Challenges
President Dmitri Medvedev says Russia's top priority must be the modernization of the economy. But most observers say there are massive political, financial and social obstacles that block the way to reform. Small- and medium-sized businesses are especially hard hit.
In China, AIDS Stigma Proves Difficult To Eliminate
by Anthony Kuhn
December 1, 2009
A new report by the UNAIDS program says that 42 percent of AIDS sufferers in China have experienced discrimination because of their condition. Last year, AIDS became the country's most deadly infectious disease. China has managed to slow the disease's spread, but dealing with deep-rooted social stigma is proving much harder.
On a recent day outside a Health Ministry complaint center in Beijing, three dozen AIDS patients shivered in the cold. They came to protest discrimination and official negligence in their home province of Henan.
One of them, 41-year-old farmer Sun Laomo, contracted AIDS in 1994 while selling his blood at a collection station run by the local government. He said that back home, the stigma facing AIDS patients is so great that it enforces a fearful silence.
"Nobody dares tell anyone about this disease. If locals find out about it, there's no way for your kids to live in the village," Sun said.
Gao Guoqiang said he became infected during an operation when the hospital gave him a transfusion of tainted blood. But he said that where he comes from, many believe AIDS is the result of sexual permissiveness.
"In the countryside, many people who discriminate against you think that you got this disease because your lifestyle and your morals are bad," Gao said.
Farmer Chang Qing also got AIDS when selling his blood, back in 1998. He only found out last year that he had been infected. Now, he is taking retroviral drugs. He said that upon arriving in the capital, local police did not make him feel welcome.
"You should've seen those policemen's attitude. We recorded it all with our cell phones. They said, 'Go jump off that building and die. Not this building, that one,' " Chang said.
At a recent news conference with the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS, Vice Minister of Health Huang Jiefu said that the government had basically solved the problem of AIDS being transmitted through the sale of tainted blood. He said that the ministry was working to help AIDS patients who came to Beijing complaining of discrimination at the local level.
"We make the people's demands our first priority. As long as the problems they describe are real, we will resolve them. And if officials fail to execute their responsibilities, they will be punished according to our policies," Huang said.
The news conference showed posters featuring Houston Rockets center Yao Ming, who has used his fame in his native China to speak out against discrimination against those with the disease, and public service videos designed to dispel popular misconceptions about AIDS.
"Actually, you can't get AIDS from mosquito bites or by shaking hands with, hugging or eating with someone infected with AIDS," the narrator says in one video.
At the conference, UNAIDS released its first report ever on HIV/AIDS-related social stigma in China. It said that 15 percent of AIDS patients surveyed had been refused employment, and 20 percent had faced violations of their individual rights — such as coercive AIDS testing — because of their condition.
UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe said that a few Chinese medical workers refused to treat AIDS patients.
"The report is showing that almost 10 percent of the people who have been detected with HIV/AIDS were not having access to services because of stigma and discrimination, because medical staff were not ready to just interact with those people," Sidibe said.
Huang, the health vice minister, said that erasing social stigma would not be easy.
"China's land is vast, and has great differences in local cultures, traditions and customs. So it will take a long time to raise levels of understanding among all the people and thoroughly eliminate discrimination toward AIDS patients," he said.
Huang also noted that China temporarily lifted its ban on people with HIV/AIDS entering the country for last year's Beijing Olympics. He said he hoped that this could become a permanent arrangement, but that this matter was not entirely up to the Health Ministry.
December 1, 2009
A new report by the UNAIDS program says that 42 percent of AIDS sufferers in China have experienced discrimination because of their condition. Last year, AIDS became the country's most deadly infectious disease. China has managed to slow the disease's spread, but dealing with deep-rooted social stigma is proving much harder.
On a recent day outside a Health Ministry complaint center in Beijing, three dozen AIDS patients shivered in the cold. They came to protest discrimination and official negligence in their home province of Henan.
One of them, 41-year-old farmer Sun Laomo, contracted AIDS in 1994 while selling his blood at a collection station run by the local government. He said that back home, the stigma facing AIDS patients is so great that it enforces a fearful silence.
"Nobody dares tell anyone about this disease. If locals find out about it, there's no way for your kids to live in the village," Sun said.
Gao Guoqiang said he became infected during an operation when the hospital gave him a transfusion of tainted blood. But he said that where he comes from, many believe AIDS is the result of sexual permissiveness.
"In the countryside, many people who discriminate against you think that you got this disease because your lifestyle and your morals are bad," Gao said.
Farmer Chang Qing also got AIDS when selling his blood, back in 1998. He only found out last year that he had been infected. Now, he is taking retroviral drugs. He said that upon arriving in the capital, local police did not make him feel welcome.
"You should've seen those policemen's attitude. We recorded it all with our cell phones. They said, 'Go jump off that building and die. Not this building, that one,' " Chang said.
At a recent news conference with the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS, Vice Minister of Health Huang Jiefu said that the government had basically solved the problem of AIDS being transmitted through the sale of tainted blood. He said that the ministry was working to help AIDS patients who came to Beijing complaining of discrimination at the local level.
"We make the people's demands our first priority. As long as the problems they describe are real, we will resolve them. And if officials fail to execute their responsibilities, they will be punished according to our policies," Huang said.
The news conference showed posters featuring Houston Rockets center Yao Ming, who has used his fame in his native China to speak out against discrimination against those with the disease, and public service videos designed to dispel popular misconceptions about AIDS.
"Actually, you can't get AIDS from mosquito bites or by shaking hands with, hugging or eating with someone infected with AIDS," the narrator says in one video.
At the conference, UNAIDS released its first report ever on HIV/AIDS-related social stigma in China. It said that 15 percent of AIDS patients surveyed had been refused employment, and 20 percent had faced violations of their individual rights — such as coercive AIDS testing — because of their condition.
UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe said that a few Chinese medical workers refused to treat AIDS patients.
"The report is showing that almost 10 percent of the people who have been detected with HIV/AIDS were not having access to services because of stigma and discrimination, because medical staff were not ready to just interact with those people," Sidibe said.
Huang, the health vice minister, said that erasing social stigma would not be easy.
"China's land is vast, and has great differences in local cultures, traditions and customs. So it will take a long time to raise levels of understanding among all the people and thoroughly eliminate discrimination toward AIDS patients," he said.
Huang also noted that China temporarily lifted its ban on people with HIV/AIDS entering the country for last year's Beijing Olympics. He said he hoped that this could become a permanent arrangement, but that this matter was not entirely up to the Health Ministry.
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