Society

I am 24, have two mobile phones, spend five hours online everyday, have no landline at home and I'm a social butterfly. I am addicted to my toys of technology and I'm the perfect guy for this experiment.

On a Sunday evening, before starting my mission of three days without using modern communications, I publish a notice on my webpage at kaixin (a Chinese social site, similar to Facebook). I also have a landline installed at home and tell friends they can only contact me on my home and work numbers. I pack away my cell phones, and unplug the Internet. I prepare for bed and turn off the light. The Dark Ages begin.

There is an artical talk about China should lead regional trade liberalization under the cover of so-called experts. Those experts claimed that to confront the ongoing global economic crisis, China should lead the way to further liberalizing trade among developing Asian economies and boosting demand within the region, economists said on Wednesday. I don't agree with that cliche.

Rolando Dy, an economist at the Manila-based University of Asia and the Pacific, said that how to mitigate the impact of the global downturn will be one of the most important topics to be discussed in the series of regional meetings in Pattaya of Thailand.

The 14th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit and Related Summits will be held on April 10 to 12 in Pattaya, bringing together leaders from ASEAN, China, Japan, and Republic of Korea among other dialogue partners.

"If you want to pump up the ASEAN + 3 (China, Japan and South Korea) cooperation, you must start with opening up markets so that goods can be freely traded," Dy said, adding that it's really important for countries not to impose protectionist barriers as there's a need to push up demand in the region to offset the waning consumption in the United STates and Western Europe.

Earlier, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) also warned against protectionism between developing Asian countries amid slumping external demand.

"The political temptation to erect trade barriers to protect domestic firms and jobs is understandable in light of the severe global downturn," the bank said in a report, adding that such measures can be self-defeating and the countries that resort to protectionism will likely see their economic growth suffer.

Notably, the export-dependent Southeast Asian countries would be the most affected by protectionism, ADB economists said.

In an interview with Xinhua, Dy said that China, with its huge market, should lead the way in further liberalizing trade in the East Asian region. With a population of 1.3 billion, China has become a magnet for exporters with its great potential market. The Chinese government has unveiled a 4-trillion-yuan (586 billion US dollars) stimulus plan, poised to re-balance the economy by strengthening its domestic demand.

The country has overtaken Germany to become the world's third- largest economy, only ranking after the Unites States and Japan. The rising importance of China as an economic powerhouse means that it should take a more active role in leading major initiatives in the regional dialogues, analysts said.

"ASEAN countries will be looking to China, and also Japan and South Korean as they're the economic dynamos in the region, " said Ernesto Pernia, a professor of economics at the University of the Philippines.

These economic giants will lead the way in how to address several issues that confront the region, including the financial crisis and trade regulations among others, he said.

Earlier, China's first ambassador to the ASEAN Xue Hanqin has told Xinhua that China and the ASEAN would ink an investment deal on the upcoming summit, which marks the conclusion of China-ASEAN free-trade agreement negotiation. she also said that a free trade area is scheduled to be set up by the year of 2010.

The ASEAN, founded in 1967, groups 10 members of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

We all know that opportunities and challenges are coming together. But in this financial crisis, China should concentrates on its own problem, such as 20million unemployed workers, disappointed folks, corrupted government officials, instead of jumping on the opportunity of being an useless leader. If China can't make its own people happy, Chinese will not support their government's ambition--such as being the leader of Asian regional trade liberalization.

Last summer, Xu Demin struggled to cut emissions from his coal-fired factories as part of China's all-out effort to clean the air for the Beijing Olympics.

He could have simply waited six months. This spring, overseas demand for his farming and construction machinery plummeted, forcing him to close two plants and lay off 300 workers.

The global economic slowdown is helping to accomplish what some in China's leadership have striven to do for years: rein in the insatiable demand for coal-powered energy that has fed the country's breakneck growth but turned it into one of the world's most polluted nations.

Beijing, China's normally smog-choked capital, is breathing some of its cleanest air in nearly a decade, as pollution-control efforts get a sizable boost from a slowing economy.

"It's like the sky I saw overseas. I can see clouds. I've seen days here like I've seen in Europe or the U.S.," Xu says, his voice echoing in the cavernous space of his idle factory outside Beijing.

An Associated Press analysis of government figures backs up his observations: In the second half of last year, a period that included the Olympics in August, Beijing recorded its lowest air pollution readings since 2000, according to data from the Ministry of Environmental Protection.

The average monthly air pollution index was 74, about 25 percent lower than the previous seven years. Earlier data were not available.

Experts see several reasons for the improvement, including the relocation of some of Beijing's dirtiest factories outside the city and the partial continuation of traffic limits imposed for the Olympics.

Perhaps most significant has been the economic downturn. Even elsewhere in China, where no Olympic pollution measures were imposed, the level of dirty air is down.

Chak Chan, who has published studies on China's air quality, warns the relief offered by the slump is temporary. "But if taken as an opportunity to do more in terms of energy efficiency and clean technology, then it can have a long-term effect in improving air quality," said Chan, a professor at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

For now, the cleaner air is a vindication of sorts for Beijing. China won its bid to host the Olympics partly on the promise that it would lead to a cleaner capital.

The government spent billions of dollars to clean up the air. It followed that spending with two months of drastic measures, temporarily shutting factories across five provinces, suspending construction in the capital, and ordering drivers to idle their cars every other day from July to September.

The results were dramatic, with air pollution index hitting record lows in August and September. Viewers around the world watched some sporting events take place under crystal blue skies.

In an assessment released in February, the U.N. Environmental Program said carbon monoxide levels fell 47 percent and sulfur dioxide 38 percent during the two-week Olympics. Even Beijing's worst pollutant — tiny particles of dust, soot and aerosol known as particulate matter 10 — was reduced by 20 percent. The U.N. report praised China for investing in long-term solutions such as public transport, urban parks and renewable-energy vehicles.

City officials also kept some traffic limits in place after the Olympics. Car owners are banned from driving one day a week, depending on their license plate numbers.

Air pollution, while not as low as in August and September when the harshest restrictions were in place, has remained far below recent years. From October through February, the average monthly pollution index was 82.

On a recent sunny morning, Li Heng, 66, joined dozens of seniors in Beijing's Ritan Park for a daily round of tai chi, the slow breathing exercises.

"I think the air is much better recently. We can take very deep breaths and the air feels fresh," he said, inhaling and exhaling loudly before thumping his chest.

It's not just Beijing. Southern China, home to many of the country's export-producing factories, has seen clear improvement.

Many cities in Guangdong province, where 62,400 businesses closed last year, have seen a drop in the number of badly polluted days, according to data on the Guangdong Provincial Environmental Protection Bureau Web site.

For example, the factory city of Dongguan reported more than a dozen days in the first half of 2008 when the air pollution index topped 100, a level considered unhealthy for sensitive groups including infants and the elderly. But in the second half of the year, there were only two such days.

Not all cities saw improvements. But across a sampling of seven key cities, the average number of badly polluted days halved between the first and second half of 2008.

A similar phenomenon was seen when the Soviet Union collapsed, causing the industrial haze over the Arctic to drop by nearly 50 percent, said Kenneth Rahn, an atmospheric chemist from the University of Rhode Island who has studied air quality in China.

"In principle, a reduction in economic activity can and will reduce air pollution," he wrote in an e-mail response. "I would expect something similar for China but of lesser magnitude."

During boom times, demand for electricity was so high in Guangdong's Pearl River Delta that companies often endured rotating blackouts. Some installed their own generators, which burned low-grade, dirty fuel.

But since last fall, blackouts have been few, and generators are seldom used.

Environmental advocates say the downturn presents an opportunity for the government to move more aggressively to shut the dirtiest plants and enact stricter emissions regulations.

"The fact that the economy has slowed down has made it easier to stick to their plans to consolidate and close plants," said Deborah Seligsohn, director of the China climate program for the U.S-based World Resources Institute.

Seligsohn said she is encouraged by the fact that China's $586 billion economic stimulus plan includes funding for better technology and infrastructure that could benefit the environment.

In Guangdong, the slowdown could spur long-held plans to transform the region from dirty, labor-intensive manufacturing to cleaner high-tech industries.

Wang Xiaoming, director of communication for the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau, said he hopes companies will take advantage of the slowdown to install more energy-efficient and cleaner technology.

"This period is an opportunity for each factory to adjust their production methods. If they were operating at full capacity, they would never have the time for this," he said.

It's advice that Xu, 59, has taken to heart as he seeks to reinvent Beijing Famed Machinery, his two-decade-old company.

With production down 75 percent this year, he has now decided to focus his energy on what had largely been a side project: making and selling machines that turn agricultural waste into what he calls "green coal" — fuel pellets that burn more cleanly than coal.

"It's up to us whether we can turn crisis into opportunity," he said. "This is a good time for our biomass product."

The longtime business owner even draws inspiration from the late founding father of communist China: "As Chairman Mao said, under certain circumstances, the bad thing can lead to a good result."

Update: The prosecution withdraw the lawsuit against child-rape criminal

I know it's not correct to define them as criminals before the judge say so, but this case is so insane that I have to call these guy(local officials, shameless teacher) as the top criminals of this year.

According to Chinadaily.com.cn:

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Five officials and a school teacher will stand trial next week on child rape charges in southwest China's Guizhou Province, the local government confirmed Friday.

The People's Court of Xishui County is scheduled to hear the case on Wednesday, said court president Yu Deping.

The accused are vocational school teacher Feng Zhiyang, official Li Shouming in charge of the county migration office, land and resources official Chen Mengran, social security official Huang Yongliang, legal affairs official Chen Cun, legislator Mu Mingzhong and taxi driver Feng Yong.

The suspects are accused of raping teenage girls, all primary and secondary school students in Xishui County, abetted by Yuan Li, a 37-year-old jobless woman and two of her friends from October 2007 to July 2008, a spokesman with the county committee of political and legislative affairs said on condition of anonymity.

He said Yuan knew many "influential people" in town because she used to be a prostitute and run an inn in the county seat. "She offered her own apartment as a hospitality venue, helped find clients and took 30 percent of the income -- roughly 100 yuan (US$14) per person."

The remaining 70 percent went to her friends, a 14-year-old school dropout surnamed Liu and Liu's boyfriend, 15-year-old Yuan, the spokesman said.

He said the two teenagers, who were drug addicted and needed money desperately, abducted schoolgirls from one primary school and three junior high schools in the county.

The older Yuan was arrested after the scandal was unveiled in August, but prosecutors had not enough evidence to charge her with child abduction or forcing prostitution.

"The two teenagers who actually forced the girls into prostitution are underage and have been put in a local juvenile detention center," said county chief prosecutor Ren Bingqiang.

One of the victims, 14-year-old Wang Qing (not her real name), said she was cheated into prostitution by a classmate. "She fled, and I was beaten up by two men when I tried to run after her."

Wang dared not tell anyone her plight out of fear she might be beaten up again. She said she cut her wrist once, but was saved by her classmates.

She was let go only after she cheated Li Yu (not her real name), a sixth-grader at primary school, into prostitution.

The scandal was reported to police in August, after Li, 13, accidentally told her grandmother how scared she was at school. "She said there were always 'girl hunters' outside her school," her grandmother said.

The county public security bureau sent eight policemen into an undercover investigation towards the end of October, and submitted a detailed report by mid November.

President of the county court Yu Deping said the charges could carry jail terms of up to 15 years. "Otherwise, the case would be heard at a higher court."

According to China's penal law, the jail term for rapists is from three to 10 years, but child rapists can be sentenced to life, or even death, if they know the victim is under 14.

Yuan Yunqin, a top county official, told Xinhua the case would be addressed properly and all the government employees allegedly involved would be punished accordingly. "They've gone too far. It's even worse than killing."

China Youth Daily reported Friday at least two of the accused, teacher Feng Zhiyang and migration official Li Shouming, had not been removed from their posts.

"Their wives said they are still on the payroll," the newspaper said.

Feng's wife insisted he was wronged. "He just played poker as far as I know," the businesswoman was quoted as saying.

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What I have to say is those unveiled crimes are there in China, and if the court doesn't sentence them to die, those criminals will start to rape more girls under 14-year old, because they know laws are not gonna apply to them.