The week of low-end population
This week, for a few days, you could go to Chinese websites and buy hoodies emblazoned with the characters ไฝ็ซฏไบบๅฃ dฤซ duฤn rรฉnkวuย โ literally, โlow-end population.โ This refers to migrant workers and the displaced lumpenproletariatย who comprise the underclass of cities like Beijing.
The low-end population was the talk of Chinaโs capital this week,ย as intellectuals and petite bourgeoisie alike found themselves shocked by the swift and thorough purge of tens of thousands of migrantsย who work in factories, deliver food and online purchases, and operate informal businesses of every kind.
The purge is part of a long-term plan to reduce the population of Beijing, develop the economies of surrounding areas, reduce traffic congestion, and clean up the center of the city. All of these aims make sense. But what was shocking was that the Beijing authorities used a deadly fireย on November 18 that killed 19 people as a reason forย harsh safety inspections, and evictionsย with just a couple of daysโ notice. Outrage on the internet was suppressed with very thorough censorship.
But itโs not only the low-end populationย of Beijing who felt low-end this week: Allegations of abuses at an expensive Beijing kindergarten spread rapidly across the country, just weeks after similar news about a daycare center provided at the Shanghai offices of Chinaโs leading travel booking website.
This new child abuse scandal took place at a daycare center operated by RYB Education, a New York Stock Exchangeโlisted company that runs about 500 kindergartens directly and 1,300 affiliated learning centers in more than 300 cities and towns across the country. One of the more chilling claims made by some parents about the kindergarten is that they found needle marksย on their childrenโs arms, and that teachers had fed the children โwhite pills.โ
The alleged abuses provoked anย internet firestorm of furyย from urban Chinese, which is very understandable โ the last apartment building in which I lived in Beijing housed an expensive kindergarten, which one day gave food poisoning to all of its charges, whose parents were paying $1,500 (10,000 yuan) a month for the privilege. Your kid being abused at school: Itโs every parentโs nightmare.
Even worse, just as with the migrant evictions, strong censorshipย kicked into gear. The police, whose initial, vague statements and arrest of one teacher inflamed much of the fury, issued clarifying statements. But the explanations included that the arrested teacher had used needles to โinstructโ the children who failed to follow her orders to sleep, and noted that surveillance camera footage was missingย because of a damaged hard drive. None of this inspired confidence among Chinaโs urban middle class, who found themselves feeling as vulnerable to the whims of their rulers as the people labeled โlow-end.โ
For this week at least, a little of the gloss has gone from the China Dream. The last time the internet conversation in China felt this way to me was in 2011, after the Wenzhou high-speed train crash. But this is the first time the mood, online at least, has felt similar under Xi Jinpingโs tenure.
Both news stories somehow recall a science fiction story and an online essay that went viral and was censored:
- The science fiction story Folding Beijingย by Hao Jingfang ้ๆฏ่ณ (or read it in Chinese: ย ๅไบฌๆๅ ) about a city that folds up everyday to ensure the lower classes live an entirely separate life from the elites; and
- The essay titled โIn Beijing, 20 million people are faking a lifeโ, which went went viral, and was then condemned by state media and censored.
There links to stories on The China Projectย about the kindergarten scandal, the migrant worker evictions, and other important stories from the past week below. Do let me know what you think of this format.
Migrant evictions
- Beijing evictions reach into the tens of thousands, destroying livelihoods of migrants
- Beijing haphazardly evicts migrants for โsafetyโ
Kindergarten abuse scandal
- Needle marks and sleeping pills? Beijingโs worst kindergarten abuse scandal
- No pills, no molesters, and no surveillance footage
- Kindergarten company hit by lawsuits and short sellers
LGBT issues and dodgy science?
Sexual harassment
- โMe too,โ says Hong Kong hurdling champion Vera Lui
- WeChat censors victim of sexual harassment In Shanghai, who is criticized for โoverreactingโ
U.S.-China trade tensions
Taiwanese activist convicted of subversion
- China jails Taiwanese activist for five years for โsubversionโ
- Jangled nerves in Beijing and Taipei
Important stories that broke on Friday, December 1
Elite politics โ Xi Jinpingโs right hand man
Wang Qishan still attending top Communist Party meetings and in line for Chinaโs vice-presidency
โWang, 69, left the Politburo Standing Committee in the reshuffle at the partyโs five-yearly national congress in October.โ
Mobile phones
Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi eyes 2018 stock market listingย / The Information (paywall)
Xiaomi, โone of the worldโs biggest smartphone makers, is talking to bankers about an initial public offering as early as the second half of next year.โ Xiaomi was valued at around $46 billion in its last fundraising round in 2014.
Fire in Tianjin
Skyscraper fire kills 10 in northern Chinese city of Tianjinย / Reuters
Ethiopia: Attack on Chinese-run oilfield
Ethnic Somali rebels kill 74 at Chinese oilfield in Ethiopiaย / The Guardian
โRebels stormed a Chinese-run oilfield in eastern Ethiopia yesterday, killing 74 workers and destroying the facilityโฆ The Ogaden National Liberation Front, an ethnic Somali group that has fought alongside insurgents in Somalia, also kidnapped seven Chinese workers.โ
Dinosaurs
Hundreds of fossilized Pterosaur eggs uncovered in Chinaย / NYT (paywall)
BUSINESS AND TECH
- Taxes
China extends new water tax to encourage saving: Xinhuaย / Reuters - Micro-lending crackdown
China bans unlicensed micro-lending, curbs rates to limit risksย / Bloomberg - On-demand bikes
Mobike, ofo say no to merger despite investor pressuresย / TechNode - Overseas investment
China pushing billions into Iranian economy as Western firms stallย / Reuters - Chinaโs largest private bank in trouble
Minsheng Bank fined record $4 million for wealth management fraudย / Caixin
POLITICS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS
- U.S.-China relations
Trumpโs first major trade fight with China could be over solar panelsย / NYT (paywall) - Tibet
Report: Tibetan monk sets himself on fire in western Chinaย / AP - European Union
China at the gates: A new power audit of EU-China relationsย / European Council on Foreign Relations - Geopolitics
Opinion, by David Ignatius: China has a plan to rule the worldย / Washington Post (paywall) - Australia
Overstating Chinese influence in Australian universitiesย / East Asia Forum - The Balkans
The unexpected regional player in the Balkans: Chinaย / War on the Rocks - Nepal
Chinese state firm criticises Nepal over decision to scrap US$2.5bn dam contractย / SCMP
SOCIETY AND CULTURE
- Sexism
Patriarchy 101: School espouses sexist โfeminine virtuesโย / Sixth Tone
Chinaโs mixed messages to working womenย / FT (paywall) - Art
Shenzhenโs new V&A-approved culture centre to showcase cityโs artistic sideย / The Guardian - Film
IMDb rating: Disneyโs pick for Mulan, Liu Yifei, is one of China’s worst actressesย / Quartz - Porcelain and ceramics
China’s ceramics capital struggles to adapt amid war on smogย / Reuters - HIV
How Chinaโs HIV testing unfairly targets gay menย / Sixth Tone