Tag Archives: China

The French Embassy in China cited an isolated minor attack on a Frenchman in Shanghai on Friday to warn its citizens in China to be vigilant, considering the fact that a Chinese national was killed by a Paris policeman a few days ago.

Chinese police released a photo showing a Frenchman with a bandaged neck talking to officers. He suffered a slight injury when attacked by a mentally-ill Chinese man in Shanghai on March 29, 2017, leading the French embassy to worry about the safety of its citizens in China in the context of a Chinese man killed by police in Paris a few days ago. [Photo/ Weibo.com]

The news section of the embassy’s website on Thursday carried a report that a French national was “violently assaulted” with a knife the previous day in Shanghai. The embassy then posted another news report on Friday that the attacker had been arrested by Chinese police and the Embassy and Consulate General of France in Shanghai were closely following developments in the investigation.

In both news releases, the embassy called on the French community to show the “utmost vigilance and [awareness of] security” in the “current context.”

However, it soon turned out that the attack was not that serious. According to Shanghai police, the unnamed Frenchman was attacked with a razor and suffered a superficial neck wound. The Frenchman then sought treatment at a hospital by himself. There was also a photo released by the police showing the man with bandaged neck talking to officers.

Shanghai police also identified the attacker as a 27-year-old local man surnamed Mao, who suffered mental problems. He is now in custody.

“It is understood that Shanghai police have arrested the suspect and the case is still under investigation,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said during a press briefing on Friday. “I suggest nobody should rush to make any assumptions.”

The French Embassy had been fearing members of the French community in China might suffer some retaliation from Chinese people due to the incident involving Liu Shaoyao, a 56-year-old Chinese man who was shot dead by a Paris policeman on March 26, triggering protest on the streets of the French capital, and in China, too.

Liu’s family is now refusing to say anything more to the press and the public until the case reaches the courts. Paris prosecutors and the police are still investigating the case to establish the full facts. Two versions are circulating, with the police insisting they were forced to shoot in self-defense,while Liu’s family insist he posed no danger to any policeman.

The Qianjiang Evening News, a local newspaper in Zhejiang Province from where Liu originated, reported the local government of Qingtian County, Zhejiang felt the family’s pain and was closely following the case.

Also, according to a friend of Liu, the Chinese man went to France to work two decades ago and the family was not rich. “The place where they resided in Paris is an average ghetto community of various races with bad security,” he said.

According to Nouvelles D’Europe, many Chinese and Asians told it they felt they suffered from clear racial discrimination from neighbors and police officers in the area. “Fraud and robberies against Chinese are so frequent in Paris, I feel no sense of safety,” said one Asian woman who insisted on remaining anonymous.

The newspaper also reported that, in April 2016, the police brutally raided the apartment of two Chinese female students residing in the 13th arrondissement without finding anything there.

An anonymous hand had written on the wall of their building “Chinese whores, first floor”; When they went to testify, a police officer even told them that, “many Chinese students are prostitutes.”

Last August, Zhang Chaolin, a 49-year-old couturier and father of two who lived in Aubervilliers, was fatally assaulted in the street, due to his origin, by three young people living in the community.

These problems had a negative impact on French-Chinese relations. For example, the number of Chinese tourists in France dropped by 27 percent in 2016 to 1.6 million, compared to 2.2 million in 2015, as travelers sought more secure countries to visit.

France has set a goal of attracting five million Chinese tourists by 2020, but persistent security concerns may prevent the target being achieved.

A memorial event for Liu Shaoyao was approved by Paris police to be held at The Place de la République in central Paris on the afternoon of April 2. Emmanuel Macron, youngest candidate in the race for the French presidency and a former economics minister, met with Liu’s family on Friday and promised to help them.

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People pay tribute to organ donors at a public cemetery in Shanghai on Friday. The event was held to remember organ donors and promote public understanding of organ donation. [Photo/China Daily] Nearly 170,000 people had registered as organ donor… read more

90-year-old woman survives 4 days with 6 duck eggs. [Photo/Video printscreen] Before being found and rescued by local police, a 90-year-old woman in Chongqing survived in the forest for four days, equipped with only six duck eggs. The woman, surnam… read more

Tomb sweeping in Qinghua Festival [File Photo]

QR codes are part of daily life for most people. Short for “quick response” code, they are machine-readable labels that allow us to add new WeChat friends, pay bills with smartphones and order food in restaurants, among a myriad of other easy functions.

They have become so ubiquitous that some people joke QR codes will one day replace tombstones, allowing people to scan a code by mobile phone and access the names and achievements of ancestors that used to be engraved in granite.

Actually, it’s no longer a laughing matter.

The annual Qingming Festival, or traditional tomb-sweeping day, falls on Tuesday this year, and QR codes are appearing in graveyards across China.

The matrix bar codes come in various forms, such as stickers, bronze plates or plastic tags. They cost up to 3,000 yuan (US$436). Scanning a code leads to a memorial page honoring the dead.

Many graveyard companies operate online memorial pages, where one can also give virtual flowers, burn virtual candles and buy virtual gifts for the dead, either for free or for a few cents. So far, the new trend hasn’t really caught on much.

Some companies are also offering live streaming services for those who cannot get to cemeteries for Qingming this year. Staff clean the tombstones, bow to them and place flowers on graves for absent clients who can watch the ritual via live streaming video on mobile phone apps.

Needless to say, all this digital intrusion into what is an old and revered festival in China is stirring up a bit of controversy. Some Chinese netizens say that the new practices are fitting substitutes for those who cannot make it to graveyards and that they promote a cleaner environment because less traditional paper money is burned at tombs. Others say online tomb-sweeping services are crass and lack respect.

“The QR code service really ties in well with a more ecological approach to funerals because it is much smaller than the typical tombstone,” the Zhejiang Province Funeral Association said at a recent press conference, recommending the service.

The association staff said they are actively promoting alternative funeral services, like burying the ashes of loved ones under trees or in flower beds, or throwing them onto waterways or into a brisk wind.

Government subsidies of around 1,500 yuan are given to those who chose not to buy a plot of land to bury their dead. Land is becoming scarce.

All the newly fangled ideas don’t sit well with traditional views about how the dead should be treated. Many people are afraid that alternative funeral services will mark them as disrespectful toward elders who have always been afforded a peaceful plot for their souls to rest in peace.

Many also worry that the absence of a large tombstone will rob them of a focal point for paying their respects and burning paper money to honor ancestors.

“The bronze QR code tag is small enough to fit in a flower bed, so people will know where their relatives are buried,” the funeral association staff explained. “We hope it will help some people consider alternative funeral options.”

China has traditionally been an agricultural economy, where the land long played a significant role in the lives and deaths of people. For many Chinese, the first thing to do after making some money is to return to their hometowns and build new houses.

Most still believe that the soul needs a piece of land to rest for eternity and for the others to visit and pay tribute.

“We Chinese always say, ‘You find peace after you are buried under the soil’,” says Peter Kuang, a 36-year-old software engineer who has been doing tomb-sweeping services every April for the past 10 years.

“I am not superstitious enough to believe that there is an afterlife or that the soul really needs a plot of land, but I don’t think it’s necessary to challenge old traditions that others in my family still believe in.”

He adds, “A piece of land and a tombstone are still considered necessities. Being there in person is also crucial. You go there, you burn your paper money, you kneel down and you say your prayers — not because ancestors really hear you but because you are showing them respect.

“We have lost so many traditions,” Kuang concludes. “The tomb-sweeping ceremony is almost the last sacred rite left. It feels ridiculous to just click a button and count that as respect paid.”

Indeed, modern development and the digital revolution have led many people to rue the passing of old traditions in Chinese holidays, especially Spring Festival and the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Nowadays, many people think of the Mid-Autumn Festival only in terms of eating mooncakes and of Spring Festival as just a weeklong break to go on a holiday.

Qingming Festival valiantly clings to old traditions, like burning fake money and other paper gifts for the dead. But with pollution becoming a hot-button issue, some cities have banned such gift-burning at graveyards and are urging residents to forsake their cars to avoid huge traffic jams.

In Shanghai alone, it is estimated that more than 8 million people will travel to suburban graveyards over the three-day Qingming holiday.

“It has become almost as bad as Spring Festival,” says Zhang Yuan, a 27-year-old migrant from Anhui Province, who works in Shanghai. “It’s harder to get back home when there are only three days for Qingming. I would prefer not to go, but my parents worry that we will be criticized by other relatives if I don’t show up.”

When he suggested that he might participate in tomb-sweeping via digital technology, his parents were outraged.

“They were furious,” he says. “They would have killed me via mobile phone if that were possible.”

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Three photos posted by an internet user show that a Chinese white dolphin was killed, dismembered by two middle-aged men and then sold to customers in Nanshui Town, Zhuhai, Guangdong Province on March 30, 2017. [Photo/ Weibo.com] Investigations a… read more