Source: China Daily News
Date: May 15, 2008

Priceless artifacts and buildings of the country’s cultural heritage were seriously damaged by the 7.8-magnitude quake in Sichuan on Monday, local officials and experts have said.

Among the worst hit were the 32-m-high Ming Dynasty pagoda (1368-1644) in Langzhong county of Nanchong, and the exterior of the Museum of the Sanxingdui Ruins.

“The 400-year-old pagoda broke into half during the Monday earthquake,” Deng Changwen, a spokesman for the Sichuan Provincial Seismological Bureau, told reporters.

The top of the 12-story pagoda, a landmark in the city, fell to the ground minutes after the quake hit, he said.

In the Jinsha Ruins Museum in western suburban Chengdu, a small amount of ancient pots in the No 2 Exhibition Hall of the museum were smashed by the quake but other exhibits such as bronzeware, goldware and ivory works remained intact, museum director Wang Fei told China Daily via cell phone.

On Tuesday, the museum withdrew key items from exhibition halls and put them in storage, Wang said.

“The open space outside the museum has turned into a haven for over a thousand local residents who are putting up here,” Wang said.

Wall sections of the Sanxingdui Ruins museum in Guanghan county, about 40 km north of Chengdu, were also damaged, said Lei Yu, an expert in cultural heritage maintenance at the museum.

“Some 20 sets of 3,000-4,000-year-old ceramic utensils on display on the second and third floors of the museum hall fell to the ground and were shattered. Fortunately, the bronzeware in the museum remain intact”, Lei told China Daily by phone.

Surveying work started yesterday to find out how major cultural heritage items in the province were affected by the disaster, Hao Benxing, an official with the Sichuan provincial administration on cultural heritage, told China Daily via phone.

However, “the results will not come within days due to the shortage in manpower, traffic disruptions in hard-hit areas and unstable telecommunication networks after the quake,” he said.

In the hard-hit areas of Chengdu, Mianyang, Aba and Deyang that include 39 counties and cities, there are at least one World Cultural Heritage site (Dujiangyan Waterworks), 49 Key Cultural Heritage items under State Protection and 225 key cultural heritage items under provincial protection.

Local authorities in Sichuan and neighboring regions have been urged to take measures to protect cultural heritage items in the quake-hit region, an emergency circular issued by State Administration of Cultural Heritage stated on Monday afternoon, soon after the quake hit.

“Damaged buildings, museums and heritage sites must be sealed off for the safety of staff and visitors, the circular said.

Source: China Daily News
Date: May 6, 2008

The Foreign Ministry on Tuesday denied that China had stopped issuing multi-entry visas to foreigners, insisting that visa issue procedures continue to be convenient.

Applications are being scrutinized more carefully, spokesman Qin Gang said, adding that the new procedures are based on practices during previous Olympics and other large-scale international sports events.

“It does not mean all multiple-entry visas have been suspended,” he told a regular news briefing.

He said the policies would be in place “for a period of time”.

“What is unchanged and will not change is safeguarding our national security and making sure our environment is safe, and making sure foreigners in China will be safe,” he said.

“The Chinese government and people will continue to adhere to the policy of opening and reform, and we will continue to be open to the world. We welcome foreigners to come to China to study, work, and travel,” he said.

Qin stressed that traveling to China remains far more convenient than to many other countries.

For example, “we do not require fingerprinting for foreign visitors”.

Earlier foreign media reports – citing travel agents in Hong Kong – said China had stopped issuing multiple-entry visas and slowed visa processing in the special administrative region – a major gateway for travel to the mainland – in restrictions that will remain in place until after the Olympics.

They said that the authorities are now issuing only single- or double-entry visas to foreigners in Hong Kong, scaling back a program that issued multiple-entry business visas valid for up to three years.

More rules including additional documentation for business visas and hotel bookings and plane tickets for tourist visas have also been reported.

Some foreign chambers of commerce in Hong Kong said the alleged restrictions were affecting their members who travel frequently to the mainland on business.

In Hong Kong, the Foreign Ministry’s Office of the Commissioner issued a statement on Monday to clarify some doubts over the visa policy.

It said Chinese visa procedures remain convenient and the office would continue to provide efficient service to applicants.

The office also suggested those who do not work or reside permanently in Hong Kong to apply for a Chinese visa at the Chinese embassies in their resident countries because “the recent drastic rise in the number of applicants adds to the waiting time for processing”.

Visa processing usually takes four work days, it said.

Source: China Daily News
Date: May 2, 2008 

BEIJING — China Thursday inaugurated one of the world’s longest bridges, which will provide an important new route into Shanghai, Chinese media said.

Presented as the “world’s longest sea bridge”, the 36-kilometre (22-mile) structure connects Jiaxing city near Shanghai to the port city of Ningbo in the eastern province of Zhejiang.

It is slightly shorter than the 38.4-kilometre Lake Pontchartrain Causeway Bridge in the southern United States, which is often billed as the world’s longest.

The 11.8 billion yuan (US$1.7 billion) bridge cuts the length of the road trip from Shanghai to Ningbo by 120 kilometres, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Construction of the six-lane bridge started in November 2003 in an effort to reduce traffic congestion in the booming area, Xinhua said.

Hundreds of people attended an opening ceremony on Thursday afternoon, it said.

The bridge was opened to traffic on a trial basis at 11.58 pm (1658 GMT), Xinhua said. However, officials did not know how long the trial would last, it added.

On May 14th, 2008, attorney Julia Zhu participated in an afternoon panel discussion on “Doing Business in China” sponsored by the Beverly Hills Bar Association. Ms Zhu addressed the topic of Foreign Direct Investment in China with emphasis on intellectual property protection.

Foreign Investment and IP Protection in China. (Presentation)

Date: April 30, 2008
Source: China Daily News Prosecutors have pledged to safeguard the rights of lawyers to meet with their clients, have access to files and materials, and collect evidence.

The new Law on Lawyers takes effect on June 1, following an amendment to it passed by the National People’s Congress Standing Committee in October.

The amendment says defense lawyers can meet with their clients after initial interrogation or other mandatory sanctions ordered by judicial organs.

“Such rights are important for lawyers in criminal cases,” Zhang Geng, the executive deputy procurator-general of the Supreme People’s Prosecuratorate, told a teleconference yesterday.

“Prosecutorial organs must grant lawyers those rights,” Zhang said.

But in cases involving State secrets if a suspect requests a lawyer, prosecutors will consider the matter.

“If the suspect’s request is refused, prosecutors must inform detention centers of the refusal, and the suspect will not be allowed to meet a lawyer,” Zhang said.

The new law also emphasizes that conversations between lawyers and suspects cannot be monitored, and lawyers have the right to read all files and materials related to their case.

Lawyers can also collect evidence themselves or apply to prosecuting organs and courts for help. Zhang said prosecutorial departments will also improve procedures in areas involving file applications, excerpts, and copying. Staff will be on hand to receive lawyers’ visits for the reading of files and materials, he said.

Zhang called on all prosecutors to improve their detection and investigation skills during an initial interrogation, because after that the conversation between a suspect and his lawyer cannot be monitored.

When an interrogation is being held, the questioning of witnesses and searches must take place simultaneously.

Zhang said prosecutorial staff must have solid proof of guilt or innocence in all crimes.

Qiu Baochang, dean of the Beijing-based Huijia Law Firm, said the new law and prosecutorial measures will reduce some obstacles and create a better environment for lawyers.

“Lawyers will be more keen to defend the rights and interests of defendants in criminal cases,” Qiu told China Daily.

Date: April 23, 2008
Source: China Daily NewsBEIJING — Fourteen Chinese lawyers have filed a lawsuit with the Chaoyang Court in Beijing against CNN and commentator Jack Cafferty, charging harm to their reputations from Cafferty’s comments.

The plaintiffs, from Beijing Huanzhong & Partners, a Beijing-based law firm, demanded in the suit filed on Monday that CNN and Cafferty cease what they termed harmful acts, issue a public apology and pay each of them 100 yuan (US$14.30) in compensation for mental distress.

It is not immediately known if or when the court will accept the case.

During an appearance on “The Situation Room,” a program that aired on April 9, Cafferty said while speaking about the US trade deficit with China:

“We continue to import their junk with the lead paint on them and the poisoned pet food and export, you know, jobs to places where you can pay workers a dollar a month to turn out the stuff that we’re buying from Wal-Mart.

“So I think our relationship with China has certainly changed,” he said,”I think they’re basically the same bunch of goons and thugs they’ve been for the last 50 years.”

CNN issued a statement early last week in which it said, in part, that Cafferty had made critical comments about many governments, including the United States.

“On this occasion Jack was offering his strongly held opinion of the Chinese government, not the Chinese people,” said CNN in the statement.

Liu Jing, one of the plaintiffs, said the statement lacked sincerity and would never be treated as an apology. She said the remarks made by Cafferty gravely infringed upon and trampled her reputation and dignity as a Chinese and had caused severe spiritual and psychological harm.

She said that Cafferty’s remarks violated the Chinese Constitution and the General Principles of the Civil Law, which state that human dignity should not be infringed upon.

“Cafferty has also violated Principle VI and Principle VII of UNESCO’s International Principles of Professional Ethics in Journalism, as well as the Code of Ethics adopted by the Society of Professional Journalists of the United States,” she said.

Liu also accused CNN of having erred in failing to determine the real situation related to its programs and failing to censor or restrain what she called biased news reporting, which had damaged the reputation of the plaintiffs.