the black China hand

“the boyz in the hood are always hard, keep talking that smack then then they’ll pull your card, want nuthin in life then to be legit, don’t quote me boy case I ain’t said sh**.” -NWA

The totality of Chinese government authority is nothing new to me. From comedic tales of uber-popular comedian Zhao Ban Shan’s censoring for saying a few lines on this year’s Spring Festival program without official approval to my own work-related examples where events planned for month suddenly going “belly up” because some leader somewhere felt it was “bad.” Naturally, then not much should shock me, or so I thought but this weekend near total Internet blackout (at least for me here Wuhan) has been an eye-opener in that is was so quick, so massive and so thorough.

But we can and must fight for and support Net Freedom and liberation technology but what is the point if you all “they” have to do is turn off the Internet. Is there another way to win this war on information?

1. I had originally thought I had not paid my Internet bill but they next morning when I went to pay the clerk told me I still had over 200 RMB in the account which would last me another month. Only after I got to work and a colleague mentioned the crackdown to stop the Jasmine Revolution did I realize my service was cut [↩]
2. typing a post in Word to upload later … yes I know that is so 2003 but I’ve got no choice at the moment [↩]
3. and I found out that I am acutely reliant on the Internet [↩]
4. this is being proven as well in other nations but China is the first to do it pre-emptively [↩]
5. use a VPN that is subject to the blocking we are now encountering [↩]
6. use Chinese services without a VPN such as wack-ass weibo, 163.com and Baidu all of which are subject to censoring and delivering “approved results” [↩]

Within a day of his detention, Xie Zhigang was dead. His interrogators had called the emergency services because he “had no appetite”. He died in hospital, where doctors recorded the cause as a sudden heart attack. His widow said his body told a more complicated story. “There were bruises all over his body, and deep scars on his wrist and ankles. Five of his ribs were broken,” said Wang Li, who alleges that he died due to torture

I’m a criminal defense attorney at heart and by practice, so rare is the day when you’ll find me siding with the prosecutors but in this case I think they may be right in denying that torture was the cause of Mr. Xie’s untimely death. It is an open secret that torture is a common tool for interrogation in Chinese criminal cases. As Ms. Branigan’s excellent reporting states it is often the primary tool for public security officers that don’t have the training, time, money or staff to run a proper investigation. But, the case in Benxi seems a bit strange in that the person presumably tortured was an ex-police chief. Some background may help to illuminate my point. In China, the public security bureau or PSB is huge multi-armed organization ruled from the top¹ that includes a traffic division, investigation (detective) division, household registry division, a ”street cop” division and a prison/detention division, among others. Furthermore, the PSB, is a notoriously tight-knit and self-protective group. Accordingly, in the Benxi case, being that Mr. Xie was a local police chief, it is very likely that he would have known his jailers and interrogators. If he did not know his them, it is very likely that he knew people that knew them. Moreover, he would have had an acute understanding of the interrogation process.² Under these circumstances, Mr. Xie should have had ample means to avoid torture either by personally appealing to his jailers or using his “guanxi” to provide protection. What’s more, Mr. Xie’s experience as a police chief would likely have given him the knowledge of what evidence of torture was needed for proof, how to document it,³ and how to produce it in court at his trial. Secondly, Chinese prosecutors are not stupid, they know the law and the common practice of interrogation. They also know that prosecuting a police chief is a lot different then prosecuting a common criminal. Indeed, two of the closest working departments in Chinese government are the police and prosecutors. Accordingly, the prosecutor involved in this case would most likely be extra-careful to make sure that the case was as above board as possible for fear that an experienced former “team-player” would use the system against them.⁴ Still, according to the reports out of Benxi, Mr Xie did experience severe trauma. I would guess that this trauma was not do torture but rather due to an in jail fight or beat-down … perhaps by some criminals that he put there or maybe some jail staff that had a dislike for him. This though, in my view, is different from torture but rather willfully turning a blind eye by the jail staff to in-custody violence. If Mr. Xie was not a police chief, I would clearly agree with the torture story but his status suggests, at least to me, of something more complex.

Chinese police chief’s widow alleges torture after he dies in custody

1. nationally by the Minister of Public Security and locally by the district/city PSB chief [↩]
2. read: that they beat down people to get results [↩]
3. such as through the use of photographs and signed report by his defense attorney that he has the right to review [↩]
4. especially in the current environment following the promulgation of the new evidentiary rules [↩]

“All black prisons begin,” the young lawyer told me “with a controversy or conflict.” For example, one black prison he’d heard of began with a conflict at a common urban housing project. The particular housing project had been around for a couple of decades and looked every bit its age. As the areas around it were demolished and replaced with gleaming malls and office building, this particular apartment blocked remained untouched. “You see” he said, “the secret for its longevity was attributed to a couple of families that lived in the block who were heroes of the revolution.” HOTR are elderly ganbu or CCP officers who had fought during the wars of the 1940s and-in short-were present at the founding of the new People’s Republic. After long years of service to the nation, many retired as senior officials. Though retired, due to China’s hierarchical culture they still wielded considerable power via their connections to leaders above them and their tutelage of “disciples’ below them. No one, not even the money-generating local real estate companies dared to disturb them. Finally, however, the last of these heroes passed and when he did—the real estate companies pounced. Within a week they had convinced the majority of residents to move out by the end of the month.¹

Still there were some that refused to move. And so the real estate companies had a problem … how to get these “troublemakers” out quickly so development could begin and money could be earned. For an answer they consulted with the city leadership. They had several choices: (1) wait them out (but that would take too long,) (2) get the police to arrest them (but using police was tricky because police are highly visible and could attract unwarranted attention from media or other authorities.² In addition, they would have to pay the police for overtime and disgruntled citizens could always ask the courts for assistance when dealing with police. According to the young lawyer telling me the story, the problem of the troublemakers was quickly solved however by one bright young official who suggested they hire some of his family from the countryside as a sort of quasi-police force. They would work for almost nothing, had a dislike for the city folk, would not blink at swinging a club or swinging a foot to get someone to obey and were … most importantly … untraceable and “off the books.” Yes, the group thought that was a great option and set about to implement it. Soon after, several black sedans arrived at the apartment block. From each sedan came a group of men with the tanned skin of working long days in the field. They spoke in a clipped accent that was not local. All armed with axe handles they beat, kicked and punched anyone they encountered. Just as suddenly as they arrived, they were gone but they promised to return soon with more of what they offered today for anyone that had not moved out.

Naturally, the people were scared. They huddled together to decide what to do. Some agreed to move. Others wanted to stay but figured they would need help to do so. They knew however, that no one locally would be of assistance so they decided to use the age-old option of “shang fan” or request assistance from the central government. They quickly made plans to set out the next day to the capital were they would file a request for assistance and protection from the central authorities. Unbeknownst to the group however, the cabal had anticipated this and was prepared to stop their travel out at all costs.

The next day at the bus station as three from the group prepared to board a bus to the capital; two black sedans appeared again and stopped in front of the bus preventing it from going forward. Several men exited the cars and came onto the bus. Finding the three from the apartment block in the back, they dragged them off the bus and bundled into the cars. The cars sped off …

“And so what happened?” I asked the young man. The young lawyer said, “no one really knows for sure… but the guess is that they are being held in a an apartment, storage room, house somewhere in the countryside guarded by those men off any official page. “So it’s like their own special detention center –a black prison–created just for them,” I excitedly asked hoping for concrete confirmation. “Yes” said the lawyer, “those are what you would call black prison but I think the current focus on them is incorrect.” What do you mean? “Well, black prisons are bad but what is more evil are the players and the process that go into making them. I mean just think about it, you have is a private concern (the real estate companies) colluding with a government (the city leaders) to perform illegal activities backed with their own private army that answers only to them. Black prisons can always be closed once you discover them but shutting down or out the cabal that created them is much, much more difficult. That is where the focus needs to be.”

1. They promised to pay residents: large lump sums up front; housing in a temporary apartment somewhere else and a first chance to repurchase a new apartment that were being built where the old one had once existed. They also made it known that they had the backing of the city leadership and that the choice to move was not voluntary. [↩]
2. higer level government officials [↩]

About a week ago I had a chance to sit in on a criminal trial. After slogging it out in the public defender trenches of a large west coast American city … I was eager to see how it was done in the Middle Kingdom so I arrived early and prepared (with notebook and a multitude of pens) and got a good seat close to the action as it were right behind the defendant. As it turned out though that I should have came late and left early. The charge was Robbery. The defendant had allegedly stolen 3 cell phones and cash that totaled about 2000 RMB or a little over $300 USD But the defendant also apparently brandished a knife in acquiring the loot. Where I worked in the US, based on the amount, this would be charged as a Rob2 however the use of a deadly weapon in the commission of the crime would add a mandatory block of time in addition to the actual time for the Rob2. Needless to say it was a serious case that any defender worth his/her salt would put a lot of time into to prepare for trial.

I wasn’t, however, very surprised when the case was called to order and the defendant was brought in cuffed and in prison garb (an automatic grounds for mistrial in the US when done in trial in the presence of the trier of fact) and seated in the hot seat before the judges bench with no defense counsel. After the defendant was situated the judge and two laymen entered and took their positions on the bench. After gaveling the case into order the trial began in earnest with a informational phase where the judge directly asked the defendant questions as to his name, age, home and whether he understood the charges against him and if he wanted a lawyer. The defendants answers were barely audible and common in my experience to the initial hearing of a client who has never been to court before.¹

The next phase consisted of the prosecutors² reading off the list of charges and a summary of the facts. Phase three went back to the judge who inquired of the defendant of the facts. There was not one fact that the defendant objected to. In Phase Four, the prosecutor presented the evidence which consisted of pictures of the stolen goods and knife as well as written statements from victims and witnesses read into the record by Ms. Shriek who had an exquisitely wicked way of reading the statements. Again no objection to the statements by the defendant nor demands to have the witness and victims present in court to tell their tale and give him a chance to cross-examine. The prosecutors followed with directed questions to the defendant seeking confirmation that he committed the crimes. With each question, the defendant affirmed his guilt.

Finally, the judge asked if the defendant had anything else to add or say about his case. Defendant said he had nothing to add. The judge then found him guilty.³ Once guilt was found, the judge asked what the prosecutors sentencing recommendation was. The range for the charge was 4 to 6 years. Ms. Shriek gave the recommendation which I think was for the max. The judge then asked the defendant for his recommendation and or if there were any mitigating factors that might suggest a lower term. Defendant had no suggestions. The judge then gaveled out the court in order to consult with the layman for the appropriate sentence. Fifteen minutes later the judge reentered with his final decision. 5 years but do to mandatory sentencing considerations the actual term of time would be 4 years and 9 months. The defendant was also fined 5000 RMB.

From my point of view as a criminal defense lawyer this was a sham trial that was little more than a conversation between the judge and prosecutor with an occasional affirmation by the defendant. One of the loneliest places to be is in trial without help or knowledge of the law which is exactly where the defendant was that day. Not sure if the verdict would have come out different but that spot would have been a little less cold and hard if that defendant had someone standing with him and putting some effort to have the prosecutor prove their case beyond a perfunctory recitation of “evidence” that no one called into question.⁴ For most criminal defendants in China however … this trial is the normal practice.

1. clients were sometimes assigned to me in jail on the first hearing after arrest. They are scared and often don’t know what to do but figure if they go along with the judge or prosecutor they will get out or off easier [↩]
2. I’ll call them Mr. Sleepy and Ms. Shriek because the guy who was older and probably been to one too many trials seemed bored to death whereas the lady who was younger seemed generally thrilled to be present. She also tended to shriek when she spoke which was quite discerning to everyone, especially the defendant, present [↩]
3. With such a one-sided beat down … even I don’t think the judge could have possible come to a different verdict [↩]
4. the judge could have questioned its veracity in lieu of the defendant had he wanted to [↩]

China’s recent decision to sentence Ms. Cheng Jianping’s to 1 year of re-education through labor or RETL for a single re-tweet sparked a lot of chatter in the twitterverse including even, a tweet response from Twitter’s CEO Dick Costolo. A friend and non-lawyer back home e-mailed me about the situaion and so I decided to write out this post as an answer and way get my mind around the often confusing (at least from my US criminal defender POV) system of punishment in China. The system as I understand it goes a little something like this. Under Chinese law there are (1) crimes; (2) violations of administrative regulations and finally (3) special violations resulting in RETL. The public security bureau or PSB¹ is the lead actor in determining how a person is charged. If a person is charged with a crime, the PSB must forward the case to the procuratorate² for resolution of the case, most likely in a court before a judge. If a person is charged with a violation, the administrative powers granted to the PSB allow it to determine a punishment³ without input from a judge or procuratorate. Only if the person charged decides to appeal the penalty can a case get reviewed under an administrative law proceeding brought either before the next highest level of PSB or the city/county/provincial government that oversees the PSB that issued the penalty⁴. But for many cases an appeal will take longer than 15 days to be heard and so your willingness to appeal might be stronger if the penalty was only a fine. While what constitutes a “crime” is clearly set out in China’s criminal code, according to several criminal attorneys I’ve asked, what constitutes an administrative violation is a lot more murky and at the discretion of the charging PSB official⁵

Even more murky are the special cases of RETL. According to several lawyers I spoke to, at one time RETL was a nice alternative to incarceration. In those days just after the founding of the PRC, there were no criminal procedures to determine how to charge, investigate and punish a crime. Most punishment decisions were made by a “special committee” of party leaders. Some crimes such as drug addiction were considered softer violations because the addict was seen both as a violator and a victim himself. Moreover, since China was a poor, mainly agricultural society, the thinking went, to put these sort of criminals in jail was tantamount to a waste of precious resources⁶ so better to punish him by labor. In that way, not only could he be controlled, rehabilitated but more importantly he would not be a drag on society and he also he could give back and help the community.

Unfortunately, that original progressive idea of rehabilitation has changed in modern times. Now for cases that the PSB wants full control over without the interference of a procuratorate or judge, RETL is the ultimate weapon. RETL is purely a PSB decision and not subject to review by the courts, lawyers or anyone else. Since there has been no constitutional defects found in its use, if sentenced to RETL, for all intents and purposes, you have no rights to appeal the punishment. You are, as one lawyer said to me, “si ding le” (finished.) Moreover, PSB can sentence an individual for up to 3 years in RETL without providing a reason as to why 3 years was chosen over 1 or 2 years. No one that I asked really understands how a decision for RETL gets made but several suggested that the original “special committee” model of the past is most likely the method. But besides PSB officials, no one I spoke to knows who else might be on these committees. Furthermore, everyone said that for all the complaints about the RETL, people very high up must feel that it serves a useful purpose or else it would have been abolished a while ago.

1. which includes the police force as well as administrative power over such areas as identification, residence registration [↩]
2. the Chinese version of a prosecutor [↩]
3. up to 15 days confinement, a fine or both [↩]
4. So if Chaoyang District PSB issued the administrative penalty, you could appeal to either Beijing City PSB or Beijing City Government [↩]
5. as far as I know there is no set list of administrative violations … although some jurisdictions might have one. [↩]
6. criminals had to be housed, fed and cared for and the people involved including the criminal would be absent from toiling the land [↩]

About a year ago I bought a Flip Mini that I found at the bottom of my suitcase. I has one or two old videos of random things (Hong Kong and a the aftermath of a Spring Festival fireworks barrage). Then it hit me that with today’s technology … adding video to my blog could be just the thing to get me back into blogging regularly so today’s post is hope the beginning of something new and refreshing for the blog … but don’t get too excited about the vids in this post … I’m fiddling around to see how it all works.

Twenty-one years ago…I turned 21.¹ 21 years ago today I was in a dorm in Dalian planning my birthday party. 21 years ago today we started the party…on the sixth floor common room and everyone was invited (you see 21 years ago there weren’t many of us liuxuesheng in Dalian (or China to be exact) so having a party were everyone could attend was possible). 21 years ago today we even invited some of our Chinese friends (people we befriended at English Corners back when English Corners were “the” thing to do and one of the few sources of interaction with local Chinese) and the da ye actually said he would allow them to come up to our rooms for an hour or so. 21 years ago today we had a party but no one showed up…indeed it seemed as if the whole city had decided to stay in…the city seemed dead, deserted … silent. 21 years ago today was the day after PLA troops moved in to shut down and shut out the protesters that had been occupying Tian An Men Square since May. 21 years ago today as we waited for our guests and friends word began to trickle in from here and there. Rumors were rampant. It was a revolution. Tibet had declared independence. Zhao Ziyang had been shot. Li Peng escaped to Hong Kong. Troops from Inner Mongolia with no allegiance to the students had invaded Beijing to restore authority. 21 years ago today we saw in the common room walls, stacked high with beer (a cheap local brand called SnowFlake—now famous throughout China) and snacks (gritty chocolate and Japanese rice cakes bought at the Friendship Store…remember those) and wondered what it all meant. What were we witnessing and most importantly…why it had happened. 21 years ago today we saw a couple of our Chinese friends walking up the hill and called to them to come up…they were young college students as we were…once we went fishing and talked the whole day of all that the future had in store for us when we graduated. But 21 years ago today there were no dreams in their eyes only fear and sadness and confusion. 21 years ago today, there were five us in that room, and although we were all different, from different homes and countries (two Americans, a Japanese and two Chinese) and backgrounds, there was no difference in the effect of the profound events of that day. 21 years ago today, I turned 21. 21years ago today I had a party and no one came. 21 years ago today I changed forever and so did China.²

1. It was actually 21 years and a day, on 6.5.89 [↩]
2. I originally posted this on 6.5.07. Today’s post is updated and adapted for 6.4.10 [↩]

One of the benefits of speaking Chinese in China is the ability to actually obtain the “fly on the wall” moment when locals, thinking you can’t understand them, speak openly and freely as if you weren’t present.

Recently, while visiting my local police station to complete some visa formalities I was told by the duty officer that I would have to wait until an “English” speaking member of the staff could be found to assist me. As I was considering telling the officer that I speak Chinese, an elderly woman entered with a traditional style scroll painting, a bouquet of flowers and a bag containing several bottles of wine. Figuring, this might be interesting I decided to forego letting on that I speak the local tongue and made like a “clueless foreigner” and sat the the bench just opposite the counter. From that position I could see everything happening at and behind the duty desk where the police officers sat. The elderly lady that just entered (I’ll call her Granny) … anyway, Granny walked up to the counter and asked if Officer X was in. The duty officer, eyeing all the goodies Granny had with her, as what was her business here. Granny answered, “Officer X was such a big help in working with my daughter to switch her residence card that she just wanted to let Officer X know how appreciative she was.” The duty officer glanced over at me then back to Granny and with a smile and a nod asked to see what stuff Granny brought with her. Granny, seemed a bit embarrassed but handed up over the scroll, flowers and bag and asked Granny to wait. From my vantage point (not sure Granny could see because she was sitting perpendicular to the counter) I saw the duty officer unwrapped the scroll and looked it over. He then opened the bag and inspected what looked to be three bottles of wine. He smoothly slide one bottle out and placed it on his desk before closing the bag and tying the scroll back up. Seemingly, satisfied he buzzed Granny into the back room offices and said that he would bring her stuff to the back office for her. About ten minutes later Granny exited the back room accompanied by another officer (who I assumed to be Officer X). They exchanged pleasantries and Granny left … minus the flowers, scroll and bag.

Almost 30 minutes later, the duty officer told me that the “English-speaking” officer had arrived and I was buzzed into the back office. I was then lead through a couple of rooms where literally, everyone either seemed to be drinking tea, reading a newspaper or … sleeping. Eventually, I entered a room with several desks and was told to have a seat and wait. Naturally, I picked the seat closest to the only other officer in the room. That officer was presently speaking to a middle-aged women and a younger lady (her daughter?) They were what sounded like a break-in. The officer rarely glanced up from his computer screen as he interviewed them. After several minutes, all three got up and walked towards the door. As they passed me, I saw the older lady reach into her bag and pull out a nicely wrapped box of what looked like tea and offered it to the officer. At first, the officer looked shocked and asked the woman what she meant by this. The lady spoke, like Granny, about being grateful for his help on this case and that she didn’t know of any way to thank him. The officer continued to protest as his hand reached up and took hold of the package and walked with them out of the room.

Later, after I finished my business and was leaving the station and walking back towards my apartment, I passed by the officer that was just speaking to the two women about the break-in. He was standing behind a squad car whose trunk was open. In his hand he was still holding the box of tea the woman had given him and in the trunk was one of the bottles of wine I saw Granny bring into the station earlier.

Justice in China grows from the crack in a billfold. About a year ago I got a frantic call from a Chinese friend. Her sister had been arrested and she wanted my help to get her released. Although it’s been a while my old public defender persona kicked into gear and so after calming her down, I endeavored to get the full story in order to figure out a strategy of assistance. What follows is an amazing story of insensitivity, corruption, straight up evil and the courage.

As she explained it, she had last seen her sister (whom she lived with) the morning she “disappeared.” After a day or so without any word she began to get increasingly worried especially when she got no response from repeated calls and messages she made to her sister’s cell phone. Besides the phone she had no means of knowing where her sister was and she didn’t trust that the police would do anything to look for her without some “gifts” or “connections. ” So she just waited and hoped for the best. About three days later she got a call from a friend of her sister’s friend, an expat businessman, who said she had been arrested. However, his Chinese was not very good so she wasn’t sure and she couldn’t think of any reason why her sister would be arrested. After that call however, she decided to call her sister’s friend who went out with her the day she disappeared. Only then did she learn that her sister had been arrested. It was now a week since she had last seen her sister. Stifling the rage she felt that her sister’s friend didn’t figure to inform her that she’d been arrested she pleaded with the friend for further information.

And that’s were things got really weird. The sister’s friend told her that they had decided to go to a bar for some drinks. Once at the bar, they had met a couple of other friends including a couple of expat businessmen. It was all nice until several police arrived and basically arrested everyone woman in the place without a good excuse for being their. Apparently, it was her sister’s first time there, the bar manager did not vouch for her¹ and she had no money to “payment vouch” so she was arrested for solicitation.

Shocked, my friend immediately tried to figure out where her sister was being held. She asked at her local police station was well as the one nearest to the bar where he was arrested. Wherever she went, whoever she asked, she got no information just stone cold stares and several verbal threats against continuing to ask. Her sister had literally been sucked into the “black hole” that is public security in China. My friend was scared as well as her family. She couldn’t tell her parents for fear they would die of embarrassment. She couldn’t tell her sister’s boyfriend for fear he would leave her. She couldn’t tell her sister’s employer for fear they would fire her. So she just started to make up stories, to her parents, to her sister’s boyfriend, to everyone that: her sister was sick or her sister had gone abroad to study or her sister was away on business. In reality she herself didn’t know where or how her sister was.

Eventually, almost a month after her sister disappeared, she got a call from her sister. She got the call while she was on the bus. Just hearing her sister’s voice made her start to cry uncontrollably. People on the bus thought she was crazy. Her sister told her that she was in a local jail. Her sister also told her that when she was arrested the manager of the bar, to escape arrest herself, had fingered her as the one soliciting because she knew she was poor and without connections and therefore unlikely to fight back. She told her sister that for several days she denied doing anything other than going to the bar with her friend for some drinks. She told her sister that the police beat her until she confessed. She told her sister that once she confessed she was transported to her present location to await a final disposition on the case. She told her sister this was the first call she was allowed to give. She told her sister to immediately move from their present apartment because she feared the manager might try to harm her if she insisted on denying the charges. And perhaps most importantly she told her sister what she had to do next to get her sister out and to keep her “safe” while she was in custody.

What her sister had to do next was basically pay off everyone. In order for her sister to be treated well, get “edible” food, have phone privileges and not get beat up while in jail, my friend had to pay off the jail guard that supervised her sister’s unit. Next up was the police officer that held her sister’s case, he had to be paid off so that he would make a favorable recommendation to the prosecutor. Without that recommendation, her “confession” would guarantee a long term sentence. Next, there was the lawyer, whose only job and indeed whose only use was in his connections with the judge on the case. Several lawyers said they had the connections and took my friends money only for her to later find that they had no connections at all. Finally there was the judge who would make the finally decision. Over the next few months my friend begged, borrowed and worked to get enough money to pay all the mouths at the trough. But still after nearly six months, my friend was broke and her sister was in jail and so she called me.

Amazed at all that had happened prior to me receiving the call and how my friend had navigated the maws of the Chinese criminal justice system on her own, there was little more that I could have done myself that had already been done. Her sister’s fate was truly in the hands of he judge. The hope was that the judges hands had been properly greased.

Fortunately, a few weeks after that call, my friend called me again. The judge had made a ruling that her sister would be given credit for time served and released. Almost 7 months after strolling into a bar for a drink and ending up in jail, her sister’s ordeal was over. But it was not before the grace of God that she was released. No, rather her release reason was more practical. It was simply cold hard cash.

1. her friend didn’t vouch for her either but she didn’t tell this to my friend at the time [↩]

No self-respecting China blog can pass on the Google story. My reaction: Right On Google! This is a strike FOR information privacy and security. Below are some links that give different reaction to what happened and will happen:

A New Approach to China

The Google News: China Enters the Bush-Cheney Era

What is going on with Google

Google Warns of China Exit Over Hacking

Google strikes a blow to China’s Great Firewall

Google detonates the China corporate communications script

While there’s been a lot of talk recently about China’s “Green Tech Revolution” I must admit, even though my US home is in one of the nation’s greenest cities (Seattle), I am a bit confused by the all the options¹ that the talk has included. On a more non-technical level though, one of the areas where I see China doing well in the green movement is on the local, grassroots level. For example, in the neighborhood that I live in (and I suspect in neighborhoods all across China) you can find an money incentive based system for recycling that is part of daily life. Indeed, every day beginning at about 7:30AM and continuing till 5:30PM you will hear a succession of individuals walking up and down the streets, alleys and building common areas yelling the phrase, “Shou po lan” (收破烂). You can’t help but notice because everyone yelling the phrase incorporates it with their own personality. Some sing the phrase, “Shooouu Poooolaaannnrr Deeeiii” while others shout it out in short, chunky, bass inflected tones “SHOU! POLAN!” My personal favorite is the guy that incorporates the phrase into a daily haiku. What does the phrase mean about you ask? A literal translation would be, to collect scrap or junk. But I think a better and more modern translation would be, to buy your recyclables. Basically, what the hawkers want to do is buy any paper, bottles, cans and other recyclable materials that you have lying around your house. Live on the 10th floor? No problem, they’ll come up and get it. Can’t detach that aluminum pipe? No problem, they’ll dismantle it, break it down and transport it. For the effort of simply calling out to them from your window to come and pick up your “junk”, they’ll pay you. Now the sum isn’t much, perhaps a few of cents for a can but its more than nothing and the more junk you have the more your can get. Besides, they do all the work.² And what do they get out of their labors? They resell the items to recycling plants for a slight mark-up in price. I recently asked “the poet” how much he can bring in a day. His answer: On a good day he can make several hundred yuan. He went further to say that combined with his wife (who has another recycling route in another part of the city) they can bring in 1-2500 yuan per month which is as good as working in a factory. More interestingly, to me at least, is how common it is for people to use the recyclers’ services: old and young, women and men, stores, shops, restaurants, everyone seems to make use of them at one point or another. In short, while money is the base incentive, the upshot is that the environment benefits and recycling is embedded in the community mindset without people even knowing it. Now that’s a green revolution.

1. such as wind farms, smart grids and hybrids [↩]
2. Could you imagine this in the US. People paying you to come in and clean out all that crap you have stored up or waiting for the next trip to the recycler. Yeah, that would be nice. [↩]

Since I’m a lawyer by profession, some of the (few) people that read this blog have inquired about why I rarely discuss legal issues. My first response, has been that I started this blog before I actually became a lawyer and more importantly, I don’t want it to become too area-specific. However, after some time of reflection, I’ve changed my mind. While I still don’t want it to become to focused on one specific topic (keeping instead to the “random gibberish” paradigm) I think that it might (perhaps) be interesting to the few readers and to myself to document how China, the law and myself interact. So I’ve decided to blog every now and then on China and the Law … or more specifically China and the areas [criminal defense] of law that I have practiced in. One issue though is that I have almost no experience in Chinese criminal law and so my first series of posts on this will most likely be “notes” of my research into the area. Make no mistake, my total focus won’t be on the law but I will now include a portion on my posts to the subject. Hope one and all can get something out of it.

When I was a kid growing up, one of the cultural icons of “livin in the hood” was the ubiquitous clutter of people hanging out on their porch … talking, eating and chilling … or standing on the corner … smoking, drinking and cursing. As a kid, this is how I thought people connected with each other in a non-work, non-school, non-confrontation environment. How people, at least where I came from, traded recipes, gossiped, kept up to date on sports, news … in short, it was how people bonded. In China, at least in the city I’m in” you can see similar gaggles of people randomly gathered on the corner, around the back, at the entrance of the choice apartment building or in small rooms everywhere. It’s obvious that these groups of folks are also bonding, trading stories and staying in touch. The only little wrinkle is that the bonding glue that brings these people together is the game called majiang. And just like back in Jersey where everyone seemed to have an idea about everything and would freely add their two cents (even when it wasn’t wanted) so it is with the majiang circles. You may be totally crazy and shunned by others normally but … saunter up to a majiang circle and drop a timely piece of strategy and you’ll be famous … for a minute … in that little world revolving around those particular tiles. In college, I learned to play majiang (actually learning to play is a misnomer because every group of players have their own rules and so you can never totally learn every rule but rather a broad set of principles) and played on occasion but never really got into it as I figured its just a game. How wrong I was. Recently, over the last month or so I’ve become part of a regular play group. We usually meet up on early Sunday to start a serious session of wan majiang that has lasted up to nine hours. This usually involves food, copious amounts of beer (more on beer in a later post), tons of idle banter and perhaps if your lucky a bit of cash at the end. I would say it is similar to for Sunday NFL watching revelry minus the pre-game network shows. The first couple of times, we played sitting on mini-stools, on a dusty table using some tiles that my friend got from his grandparents. It definitely wasn’t the most comfortable. However, last week on regular went out and bought a fancy-smancy electric majiang table (see photos) and our world of majiang blew up. This is the equivalent switching from a 5-inch black and white monitor to a 47-inch flat-screen HD TV … needless to say playing has been a joy ever since. This brings me back to my original idea about people and bonding. Over these weeks of play, I realized what I didn’t get playing majiang in college … it is not the game itself that is important but rather the interactions of the people playing or watching the play that is important. In the US we meet up for happy hour, we throw scrapbook parties, we hang out on the corner. In China, they …we … play majiang. Its all the same and it’s very different but it’s most definitely very interesting and well worth the time if you get that chance.

In an early issue of Wired magazine, famed technologist Nicolas Negroponte reflected on what he termed modern multimedia and what we today might call Interactivity, Cross-platform operability. One of his points was that in the future (like today) multimedia would need to be able to have, "fluid movement from one medium to another, saying the same thing in different way." For some reason this got me to thinking about China and the Chinese language and I wondered what Mr. Negroponte would think of each. Based on the article here is an excerpt from my fictional interview with him:

BCH: How do you see the development of multimedia in China?

NN: Well from a fundamental standpoint, China should be at the forefront of the multimedia revolution. Multimedia is intuitively part of daily life here. The written language. Chinese characters are at once both visual and aural/oral. Take for example the character for knife. Here you have a character that requires one to move simultaneously from a visual domain (the character looks strikingly like a knife) to the acoustic domain (saying oral pronunciation of the character) to the text domain (reading the romanization of the character and the pronunciation) and the mental domain (understanding the specific tone used for the character). This movement from domain to domain would must likely occur thousands of times a day to a normal Chinese person and so I would risk a guess that the idea of multimedia resonates albeit subconsciously in the Chinese society.

BCH: Hmm, interesting. Do you see any concrete examples of this resonance?

NN: Yes. Last night as I flipped through the channels on my hotel TV I realized that more than half the movies that stopped on included Chinese subtitles. The results of this are that most Chinese that watch TV regularly are experience what Marshall McLuhan would say hot and cool media stimulus. Hot in the sense that watching movie emphasizes one sense that of vision with very little actual involvement in filling in the details of the moving images and cool in the sense that reading the characters requires more effort on the part of the individual to understand what is going on. This then is the multimedia at its best. So for all these reasons it wouldn't surprise me if China would eventual be the leader in the development of multimedia.

Now, I've never met Negroponte and it is very likely that I may have a garbled understanding of both his and McLuhan's theories of media but on one level it makes sense, at least to me. The reality is that I see no actual proof of it. It looks to me that the kings of multimedia continue to come from the West. But it's just a theory that popped into my head after reading that article. Perhaps it's all yet to come.

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(continued from last post)

After some time … Mr. H had us huddle together with the goal of hammering out a full-fledged company with marketing strategy, business development plan, profit schedule and product line as well … all with no input from the person with all the information: Mr. H. It was like that game SimCity … just make it up as you go. In essence, he wanted to create a "model" US focused company down to the Starbucks coffee they would serve and the American lawyer (me) in his employ.  His hope was that Big C would think that he has such deep experience in dealing with the US market that they wouldn't hesitate to give him the contract. Then once he had the contract he would have enough capital to go on and actually complete the contract.

After about an hour of this we broke for lunch and Mr. H asked me if I would be interested in the job. I said no. I also said that it would be best to take a different approach to getting the contract. I rather suggested that he forego creating this model company because any multinational worth anything will see right through his scheme (What I really wanted to say is that straight up lying is not going to cut it) and focus on the success, the experience and the knowledge he has had in his dealing in Asia and Europe. I told him that just because he has no experience dealing with an American client doesn't mean that they will not hire him if they feel he is qualified and he is qualified. Mr. H was non-plussed with my advice.

One last note (which gave me the title to the post) … at lunch I asked Mr. H how he was able to start (and become successful in) his company. His story was as eye-opening as his attempt to get the Big C contract. It also gave me insight into how many Chinese companies get there start.

He was hired right out of college to the sales department of a state-owned import-export company. After working there several years he decided he wanted to branch off on his own but he needed capital and clients. He solved that problem by basically poaching the clients he made working at the import-export company. As for capital: he basically ran his company from his desk in the import-export company drawing a salary, making use of the company's resources (cars, dinners, gifts) to fund his personal initiative. If company officials knew or cared they didn't make him aware of it. So with no risk (financial or legal) whatsoever, over several years, Mr. H was able to build his company until it could sustain itself without the "shield" that the import-export company unknowingly provided it.

At that point, he simply quit the job at the import-export company … registered his own with the relevant authorities, rented a space elsewhere and continued doing what he had been doing over the last several years. Ten years later he's in the running for what I perceived to be a multi-million dollar contract with a top US company.

Wow! I thought. I don't know much about starting a business in the US but it can't be that easy. Anyway, after the lunch I left. I haven't seen my friend since that time but when I do I'll most definitely ask if Mr. H was able to get the contract. And if he did my next post will be: Who Runs US Companies Doing Business in China? Are They Kidding?

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About two ago I got asked by a friend if I would be interested in some freelance legal work with a local entrepreneur. Naturally, I agreed to at least meet with the person and see what "freelance" legal work was all about. We three met at a ritzy Japanese coffee spot and after some small talk we got down to business. The entrepreneur, whom I'll call Mr. H, was in his early-mid fifties and ran a small outfit that found buyers for machine parts but was now expanding in actually producing the parts himself for sale. He had some mid-sized clients mainly in North Asia and some in Europe but nothing especially eye-popping and nothing with a US company … which is why he was interested in me. Somehow, some massive US multinational, which I'll call  Big C, had become interested in perhaps doing some business with him and were due to arrive the next week for a due diligence/meet and greet. He wanted to hire me as his corporate counsel, English teacher to his staff and all-around business consultant. Shocked (but not so much) at the audacity of what he hoped to get out of me I agreed to a second meeting at his office the next day. I knew something was fishy though when the bill came he couldn't find his wallet which left me (the potential employee to foot the bill).

His office was located in one of the city's prime locations for office buildings (which struck me as odd for such a low-level player) and as we rode up in the elevator I began to think perhaps I was a bit too harsh on Mr. H after all. But as we exited the elevator and moved on to his office I knew I should have been harsher. It was a nice office … the only problem was that it was a mess. Books, files and papers were scattered everywhere and construction guys were running in and out. I asked Mr. H what the deal  was and he told me that he just rented the office a week ago and was rushing to get it set up for the meeting next week. I asked why doesn't he just use his old office and he said he wantedso much to impress Big C to get the contract that he thought it best to get a new "model" office. Ah ha … no wonder the office locale.

I was then introduced to his staff which consisted of three 30-something women and his wife (an ex-PLA officer). They all (except his wife) had big titles like VP of Marketing, VP of Business Development and Senior Engineer but that as I spoke with them it was clear that their titles did not reflect any deep expertise. I learned that the Senior Engineer and VP-Business Development were just hired a couple of weeks earlier and the VP of Marketing was brought over from his other office.  The two new hires knew very little about the company, the product or the business plan or what exactly they were doing there and the VP of Marketing was brought over because she worked in Sales. (Can a sales person be a good marketer?)
(to be continued in the next post)

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In the HBO TV series True Blood, what makes the main character Sookie Stackhouse so unique is that she has the ability to listen to people's thoughts. While many people would die to have a similar ability, Sookie herself sees it as more of a burden and a nuisance that has kept her from living  a "normal" life. To her, hearing all the nasty thoughts of all the people is just too damn tiring and troublesome. I, for one, absolutely agree with Sookie. You see, after too many years of mind-numbing practice … I've amazingly acquired the uncanny ability to "hear Chinese".  Most people in China, as with Sookie's ability to the people of Bon Temps, don't know … shoot, don't believe I have this skill. The benefit/burden of this is that they speak their minds unaware that I understand what they are saying. Example in point: I went to the store yesterday and upon entering, the one clerk said to the other: Aiya! Xia si wole! Ni kan … jinlaile yige heiren. Aiyo! … Tai hei le! Exin! (translation: Whoa! Scare me to death! Look … a black guy just came in. Whoa! He's too black! Disgusting!)  This was all said within earshot. Indeed, I was the only one in the store. This is not the sort of comment I think you'd make if you want someone to be your customer. More interestingly, even though the clerk totally dissed me, when I checked out, she smiled at me like we were old childhood friends. Although I was dying to let on that I knew exactly what she said … and perhaps give her a little of what I think about her … I resisted that urge (like Sookie learned to do from an early age). I mean what could I really accomplish by confronting every single person with wack thoughts, er… comments. But it is indeed a daily battle with me nowadays to resist that urge. Just makes me wonder, what would Sookie do?

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She is attractive, effervescent and has an appealing voice. But these qualities alone would not have made Lou Jing the most famous television talent show contestant in China and the subject of national debate in the world's most populous country. The reason they are talking about Lou is because she is black.

My first reaction to the article and the video was disgust. But as I thought about it more my eventual reaction is a bit more nuanced. First, being an African-American that has lived many a year, I've been called a lot worse than chocolate boy … so it's not like this is a first and most definitely won't be the last. Second, being an African-American from America … where some people still feel in 2009 that bi-racial relationships are bad (see here) … this again really does not come as a shock. I mean what would you expect. It goes with the territory. But still it viscerally angers me when I run into such blatant racism and just because that is just the way it is doesn't mean I can't do something about it (like express myself in a blog post and hopefully touch on another to also think about it). On the other hand, what I find/found interesting is precisely who (at least in my relationship network) feels as strongly against Lou Jing as some of those hateful commentators that also expressed themselves in no uncertain terms. From an un-scientific survey of about 20 Chinese friends and colleagues on what they think of Lou Jing … amazingly (to me) most of the better educated people felt a Chinese-Black mix was improper and that Lou Jing should not win (My take is that although her talents were good she should have lost because she's not "Chinese". Conversely, most of the lesser educated people I asked either didn't feel strongly one way or another or outright liked Lou Jing and felt she should win. So what I will take away from this is that China is not a monolith and while there are more than plenty racist knuckleheads out there to spew their hate there are also more than a few open-minded individuals that are willing to look past a person's skin color and at the person individually. And it's those open-minded ones that we need to seek out and connect with. Cheers to you Lou Jing. May the gods shine on you!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/01/lou-jing-chinese-talent-show

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Li Pengyi, a delegation member and vice president of China Publishing Group Corporation, said happily that China had sold nearly 900 copyrights here. But he complained about the coverage. “We don’t feel we’ve been hospitably treated,” he said. “China sent more than 2,000 people to Frankfurt. And now this barrage of criticism.” Zhao Haiyun, spokesman for China’s General Administration of Press and Publication, said that instead of focusing on literature, the media had focused on human rights and censorship. “The German media are very biased,” he said.

This was an interesting article about China's showing at the Frankfurt Book Fair. And I just love the quotes above … I mean considering how uber-bias the Chinese media is and how inhospitable internationals can be made to feel in China … it's most  interesting to hear that Chinese officials would level these comments on others. It just proves the hypocritical theme that underlies much of Chinese contemporary culture. It should give Chinese officials pause to consider that while they may be able to control "the spin" within their borders … it's a rough and tumble world outside and China rules don't apply. Who does China think it is and more precisely why does China think that everyone (not from China) will kowtow to it's demand. Culturally, if they want to sit at the big table they need to recognize this.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/19/world/asia/19books.html?_r=1&hp

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Last weekend I met up with an old friend and he took me over to his cousin's house. His cousin is about 16 and in the throes of preparing for next year's examinations which will determine what high school he goes to, which in turn will greatly effect which university he will go to. To put it mildly he's a bit stressed but Sunday was his day off and he was quite relaxed and talkative. Like many teenage boys around the world he is into sports. My friend told me that he is most particularly into basketball. But I had no idea how much he was into it until I saw his room. As you walk to his room you are greeted by  a life-sized poster of Kobe Bryant holding an award and showing off his phat championship ring. Then as you pass through th porta,l your eyes are confronted by another five or six pictures of Kobe in various action poses, slam dunks and fierce stares. But that is not the end of it. Standing at the door while scanning to the left, your gaze is met but smaller posters of Dwight Howard, Kevin Garnett, Dwayne Wade, Shaq and Jason Kidd. Amazingly, there was no Bron Bron. I mean, if I didn't know I was in China, I would think that I was in Suburbia, USA. But what really was interesting to me was not the posters on the wall but the kid's knowledge of basketball, basketball stats and more specically his knowledge and ease at understanding the African-American culture that underlies much of what is the NBA. Again, we are not talking about a well off kid from Beijing or Shanghai but a poor kid from the countryside going to middle school in a small, dusty, industrial city in the Chinese Northeast. Still, it is not to say that American culture is being imbibed unadulterated by Chinese youth. It is not. The fact remains that it is being discovered through a Chinese prism that adds an intersting layer "China" onto it … call it "Amarican culture with Chinese characteristics" (more on this later). But still, my guess is that China will be a very, very, very  interesting place when my friend's cousin's generation comes of age and power.

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I've been back in China for about 2 months and I have been dying to post to my blog but the Great China Firewall has been an awesome obstacle. Enter Posterous. I read how you can post to your blog via e-mail and so after many attempts (more on that in a later post) here I am attempting for the umpteenth time to post. Sure hope it works.

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I remember my Chinese culture teacher saying that since the founding of the People’s Republic in 1949, concubines, dueling siblings and emperors had been abolished. This fascinating story of a billionaire octogenarian, women and children born out of wedlock however, suggests (at least in Taiwan) that old habits do indeed die hard.

(h/t to Christine Lu’s Friendfeed post for the pointer)

This site has been run on and off since the fall of 2006, today it is basically dead. It was murdered by the Great Firewall of China, which has blocked blogspot continuously since early June. The crime committed? Originally locating this blog on blogspot.

While I am sorry to hear the news -A Modern Lei Feng is a great blog that I often found wisdom and knowledge in- I disagree with the reasoning behind the decision to end it. Writing a consistent blog is no easy task especially if you are not getting paid for it. Many of us write for the simple pleasure of trying to express ourselves or share our interests. But life often has other demands. And so we write when we can, when we’re inspired or passionate but that is not an everyday occurrence. And to that special niche of “China” bloggers, there are countless other impediments to maintaining a consistent posting rhythm. This is even more so if you’re blogging within China and not having access to actually see your site … where getting outside the Chinese Firewall (CF) to access your site on somedays mind-numbingly painful.¹ It’s like a sculptor working statute in the dark … you can only hope that your “sense of touch” is effective. But it is exactly for those reason that we all have to persevere and let our voices be heard. What most of us are doing, as A Modern Lei Feng says, is anything but sinister. We are just speaking out loud in a now global commons. Most of us can’t be heard over the din of all the voices. But that doesn’t mean what were are saying is useless or that we should be quieted. Big walls crumble when mold and mildew eat at them. We are that mold and mildew. So I would urge A Modern Lei Feng, I you have something to say, keep at it and don’t give in just because it’s hard to do so. There is no need to have to post every day … maybe once a week is all. Those ears that have grown use to your voice will seek you out.

活雷锋 – A Modern Lei Feng: Giving in to the Great Firewall

1. It basically entails finding a list of DNS numbers from various websites, then punching in those numbers into your computer to see if it will get you outside the CF. Sometimes the first number you pick is correct and you’re able to breach the CF and access outside sites like Blogpost, Twitter or the NY Times. But more often, you have to run through 10+ number sequences before your successful. And yet, because China monitors which numbers work and deny those they find to be workable one that they find, it is a daily sometimes hourly battle to get outside the CF. A battle that as mentioned above is not for everyone especially when you don’t have an hour or two each day to find out which DNS number gets you out. [↩]

Last week, China’s justice minister gave a speech saying that lawyers should above all obey the Communist Party and help foster a harmonious society. To improve discipline, the minister said, all law firms in the country would be sent party liaisons to “guide their work.”

I heard a whisper of this recently from an old lawyer friend in China and then saw some more chatter about it on various China law serv-lists. The implications though are tremendous. If lawyers are to be relegated to another means of control for the Communist Party then any hope that they will be an engine of progress and reform is seriously in doubt. Moreover, all the hard work, time and money that civil society groups have put into China are now seriously at risk. I mean we all know that in China there are simply no guarantees but for a while now it sure looked that at least in terms of legal reform, things might have changed for the better.

Activist’s Detention Shakes China’s Rights Movement.