March 13, 2007

Top News of the Day
Protests and Petitions
Student Dies as Villagers Riot in Protest at Public Transport Fees
South China Morning Post, March 13, 2007
http://china.scmp.com/chimain/ZZZF6HGZZYE.html
An armed crackdown by police on 20,000 protesting farmers in Hunan Province has been continuing since March 9. The protestors had asked the local authorities to intervene in the raising of public transport costs by over 80 percent during the Lunar New Year. The protestors became violent after the bus company brought in thugs. One junior high school student was reportedly killed and several dozen of people were injured, but an official denied that any deaths had occurred.

News
Civil Society
涉外民间组织拟合法登记 “转正”还要跨门槛 (Regulation Governing Social Organizations to Be Amended, to Apply to NGOs Working in China)
Xinhuanet, March 13, 2007
http://news.xinhuanet.com/legal/2007-03/13/content_5837880.
htm

Environment
China's Pollution Cuts Local Rain
BBC, March 13, 2007
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6441503.stm

Government
公费请客年吃2000亿 (Government Spending on Entertaining Visitors Reaches 200 Billion Yuan a Year)
Ming Pao, March 13, 2007
http://www.mingpaonews.com/20070313/cab1.htm

Human Rights Defenders
Be Tolerant to Dissent: Delegate
South China Morning Post, March 13, 2007
http://china.scmp.com/chitoday/ZZZZEM1TZYE.html

非法拘禁维权者刘飞跃　教育部门的奇怪职能 (Local Education Authorities in Hubei Have Former Teacher Placed Under House Arrest for Reporting on a Petition)
Radio Free Asia, March 12, 2007
http://www.rfa.org/mandarin/shenrubaodao/2007/03/12/liufeiy
ue/

Labor
民间报告指一台商企业为血汗工厂 (Group Says Taiwanese-Funded Factory Is a Sweatshop)
Voice of America, March 12, 2007
http://www.voanews.com/chinese/w2007-03-12-voa21.cfm

Media
Book Publishers Wage a Battle of Wits with Censors
South China Morning Post, March 13, 2007
http://china.scmp.com/chitoday/ZZZJ1N1TZYE.html

China Looks to Rein in Bloggers
Reuters (via YahooNews), March 13, 2007
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070313/wl_nm/china_parliament
_blogs_dc_1;_ylt=AtyVTyHpsVcB3bzPvYGi29NPzWQA

Groundswell of Sarcastic Humor Undermining China's Censors
Twin Cities.com, March 13, 2007
http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/living/16862727.htm

Migrant Workers
4讨薪农民工拘禁包工头 (Four Migrant Workers Jailed for Locking Up Labor Contractor over Back Pay)
The Beijing News, March 13, 2007
http://news.thebeijingnews.com/0558/2007/03-13/015@24803
2.htm

Military
Military Spells Out Space Ambitions
South China Morning Post, March 13, 2007
http://china.scmp.com/chitoday/ZZZB6HGZZYE.html

Politics
政協倡增基层界別 (Delegate Proposes Creating Grassroots Representation in CPPCC)
Ming Pao, March 13, 2007
http://www.mingpaonews.com/20070313/cah1.htm

Delegates Want NPC to Lift Supervisory Role
South China Morning Post, March 13, 2007
http://china.scmp.com/chitoday/ZZZN6HGZZYE.html

NPC Briefs: 'Fake Representatives' Need Training: Deputy
South China Morning Post, March 13, 2007
http://china.scmp.com/chitoday/ZZZR1N1TZYE.html

China's Congress Follows the Script, Literally
Christian Science Monitor, March 12, 2007
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0312/p07s02-woap.html

Party to Focus on Internal Democracy, Says Deputy
South China Morning Post, March 13, 2007
http://china.scmp.com/chimain/ZZZCQIGZZYE.html

Protests and Petitions
示威者未行动已失踪 (Organizer of Demonstration in Beijing Gone Missing Before Launching Formal Application)
Ming Pao, March 13, 2007
http://www.mingpaonews.com/20070313/cac1.htm

东洲村民抗黑怒烧车　千人示威追索新旧债 (1,000 Dongzhou Villagers Protesting Power Plant Construction Set Vehicles on Fire After Hired Thugs Attack)
Radio Free Asia, March 12, 2007
http://www.rfa.org/mandarin/shenrubaodao/2007/03/12/shanw
ei/

内蒙访民在北京上访遭毒打 (Petitioner from Inner Mongolia Severely Beaten in Beijing)
Radio Free Asia, March 12, 2007
http://www.rfa.org/mandarin/shenrubaodao/2007/03/12/petitio
ners/

人大会第八天北京访民继续被抓 (Petitioners Continue to Be Captured in Beijing on the 8th Day of NPC Session)
Radio Free Asia, March 12, 2007
http://www.rfa.org/mandarin/shenrubaodao/2007/03/12/lianghui/

Public Health
“公民提案”炮轰15部法规 部分规定已经或即将导致乙肝歧视 (Two Citizens Complain That 15 Legal Documents Discriminate Against Hepatitis B Carriers)
Nanfang City News, March 13, 2007
http://www.nanfangdaily.com.cn/southnews/jwxy/200703130004
.asp