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NPC Member Latest Casualty of Dongguan Prostitution Crackdown

Posted: 04/15/2014 4:06 pm

liang yaohui prostitution dongguan crackdown corruption npc

The prostitution crackdown in Dongguan ensnared its highest catch yet when Liang Yaohui, a deputy in the National People’s Congress (NPC), was forced to vacate his seat before being arrested for running a prostitution ring on the afternoon of April 14, the SCMP reported.

Liang was voted out of the NPC by the eighth session of the Standing Committee of the 12th Guangdong Provincial People’s Congress this past Monday. Shortly afterwards, Liang was arrested by Dongguan police, who respectfully waited for the wheels of justice to begin rolling in sequence.

Liang is the owner of the Crown Prince Hotel, a 5-star establishment located in Dongguan. His arrest is just the latest in a long string of announcements. To date, this is the fallout  from the Dongguan prostitution crackdown:

  • 865 arrests made
  • 541 pimps smacked
  • 62 criminal rings busted
  • 2,925 hotels, sauna and massage centers closed
  • 854 pornographic websites now hands off
  • 36 police officers involved of which 9 are in criminal detention, 13 face disciplinary action, 14 are under investigation
  • 1 Deputy Mayor and Head of the local PSB, Yan Xiaokang, sacked
  • a boyfriend and girlfriend mistaken for a prostitute and her john during a raid, released
  • around 800,000 people, or 10% of the city’s population, leaving the city en masse
  • 50 billion yuan of the local economy lost
  • 1 Dongguan mayor who claimed he “didn’t know the problem was so bad“, befuddled
  • 1 super-group power ballad sung, hurts so good

 

With so many announcements, we are all awaiting the future when Dongguan is cleansed of all of its vice so that it becomes just like any other normal town in China and has the same normal reasons not to go there and not engage in nefarious acts you wouldn’t do in your own town. It’s only fair.

Photo: Dayoo

Haohao

Chinese people respond to the devastation in Japan

Posted: 03/16/2011 6:00 am

It seems that the horrific tragedy playing out in northeastern Japan is bringing out the best, and occasionally the worst, in China’s netizens. There’s no doubt that China and Japan have a very long and intertwined history, and emotions between the two Asian neighbours run deep. Reactions on China’s most popular microblog, Sina Weibo, have been mixed. The China Smack blog does an excellent job translating many of the more positive comments inspired by images of Japanese people lining up for food and water and walking home because of no train service. We decided to post a select few here:

In China, I bet [people] would have immediately broken into and looted the surrounding convenience stores/supermarkets.

A tiny pellet of a country, with nothing [few resources], being able to beat the shit and piss out of Russia and China…is not without reasons…

In Japan, the cars yield to the people. In China, the cars can’t wait to run over your body, even if you have the green light and the car is making a turn.

Without bringing up anything else, on the character exhibited when fasting disaster, we really can’t compare.
Even when there is no disaster, for simply sitting in a seat or using the toilet, we’re capable of fighting and arguing over.

We won’t post some of the more negative (read: ignorant) comments posted on Weibo, but you can read them for yourselves here. Of course, ignorance isn’t just a trait found in China. But such is the reaction when disaster befalls a nation that is despised by a great many Chinese people for its historical atrocities.

On a positive note, Premier Wen Jiabao addressed the Japanese earthquake at the close of the National People’s Congress yesterday:

It was only at the very end of his nearly 2.5-hour press conference on Monday that Premier Wen Jiabao turned his attention to Japan. He first asked if there were Japanese journalists among the gathering of hundreds (there were), then said he didn’t want to take a question from them, but had something to say. Wen offered China’s “deep condolences” to Japan.

Wen meets with reporters once every year, at the close of the National People’s Congress. He takes a pre-screened selection of questions from journalists from China and other countries. This year no Japanese reporter was called on. Instead, Wen made a statement.

“China is also a country prone to earthquake disasters and we fully empathize with how they feel now,” Wen said. “We will provide more as Japan needs it and we want to continue to help as necessary.”

Some (such as Slate) are arguing that as one of the world’s richest countries, Japan doesn’t necessarily need cash donations, if you wish to help. Instead, the country will likely need blood, which you can donate at any Red Cross in the PRD (there are many).

Haohao
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