Author: David Bandurski

Now Executive Director of the China Media Project, leading the project’s research and partnerships, David originally joined the project in Hong Kong in 2004. He is the author of Dragons in Diamond Village (Penguin), a book of reportage about urbanization and social activism in China, and co-editor of Investigative Journalism in China (HKU Press).

Xinhua kicks Western press to uphold Marxist View

In an opinion-laden news piece yesterday, China’s official Xinhua News Agency attacked what it called the “outlook on journalism in Western countries,” saying the ongoing phone hacking scandal in Britain has exposed as false all of the West’s pretensions to freedom, impartiality and human rights.
It goes without saying that the Xinhua piece itself, stripped of all nuance and serving the narrow objectives of China’s Marxist View of Journalism, is an illustration of much that is wrong with Chinese journalism. The three central aspects of the Marxist View of Journalism are 1) supporting Chinese Communist Party principles, 2) maintaining “correct guidance of public opinion” (propaganda controls) and, finally, 3) criticizing the “bourgeois concept of free speech.”
The Xinhua article is aspect three in action. A partial translation of the article follows:

Experts Say ‘Phone Hacking Gate’ Exposes the False Nature of Outlook on Journalism on Western Countries
Xinhua News Agency
July 19, 2011
Recently, News of the World, a newspaper under News Corporation, was shut down as a result of the phone hacking scandal. Some experts in Beijing and Shanghai believe that this incident directly exposes the inherent money-seeking nature of Western media today, and the false nature of the concepts of “freedom”, “impartiality” and “human rights” that they have long bandied about. As the scandal has continued to develop, it has become a major assault on the model of media supervision and control in the West.
“Phone Hacking Gate” Has Been a Shock for the Outlook on Journalism in Western Countries
Chen Xiang’an (陈湘安), the CEO of 116.com.cn, said, “The ‘phone hacking scandal’ exposes the deficit of professional ethics among news professionals in Western media. This phone hacking scandal involves more than 4,000 victims, and the type of behavior shown by News of the World has already broken through the ethical floor, constituting illegal conduct.”
Experts believe that all along Western media and Western countries have always held up the banners of “freedom” and “human rights” to cast blame on other countries. But one result of this “phone hacking scandal” is certainly a massive attack on the outlook on journalism in Western countries and [their claim to] superiority.
The “phone hacking scandal” has thoroughly exposed the inherent money-seeking nature of Western media. Ling Haoying (凌昊莹), an associate professor of media economy at the Communication University of China (CUC), said the News of the World hacking scandal shows that many Western media, including News of the World and the Sun newspaper, are about profit-seeking, and this profit-seeking orientation makes it difficult to be truly “objective.” Under the current market and news systems of the West, the profit-seeking nature of media means that news reports cannot possibly attain to the “pure independence and objectivity” they boast of, and carrying out self-discipline is extremely difficult for them.

Full text of Rupert Murdoch statement July 19, 2011

News Corporation issued the following statement prepared by chairman Rupert Murdoch in advance of his appearance before the culture, media and sport select committee on July 19, 2011.
Here is the statement in full:
Mr. Chairman. Select Committee Members: With your permission, I would like to read a short statement.
My son and I have come here with great respect for all of you, for Parliament and for the people of Britain whom you represent.
This is the most humble day of my career.
After all that has happened, I know we need to be here today.
Before going further, James and I would like to say how sorry we are for what has happened – especially with regard to listening to the voicemail of victims of crime.
My company has 52,000 employees. I have led it for 57 years and I have made my share of mistakes. I have lived in many countries, employed thousands of honest and hardworking journalists, owned nearly 200 newspapers and followed countless stories about people and families around the world.
At no time do I remember being as sickened as when I heard what the Dowler family had to endure – nor do I recall being as angry as when I was told that the News of the World could have compounded their distress. I want to thank the Dowlers for graciously giving me the opportunity to apologise in person.
I would like all the victims of phone hacking to know how completely and deeply sorry I am. Apologizing cannot take back what has happened. Still, I want them to know the depth of my regret for the horrible invasions into their lives.
I fully understand their ire. And I intend to work tirelessly to merit their forgiveness.
I understand our responsibility to cooperate with today’s session as well as with future inquiries. We will respond to your questions to the best of our ability and follow up if we are not capable of answering anything today. Please remember that some facts and information are still being uncovered.
We now know that things went badly wrong at the News of the World. For a newspaper that held others to account, it failed when it came to itself. The behavior that occurred went against everything that I stand for. It not only betrayed our readers and me, but also the many thousands of magnificent professionals in our other divisions around the world.
So, let me be clear in saying: invading people’s privacy by listening to their voicemail is wrong. Paying police officers for information is wrong. They are inconsistent with our codes of conduct and neither has any place, in any part of the company I run.
But saying sorry is not enough. Things must be put right. No excuses. This is why News International is cooperating fully with the police whose job it is to see that justice is done. It is our duty not to prejudice the outcome of the legal process. I am sure the committee will understand this.
I wish we had managed to see and fully solve these problems earlier. When two men were sent to prison in 2007, I thought this matter had been settled. The police ended their investigations and I was told that News International conducted an internal review. I am confident that when James later rejoined News Corporation he thought the case was closed too. These are subjects you will no doubt wish to explore today.
This country has given me, our companies and our employees many opportunities. I am grateful for them. I hope our contribution to Britain will one day also be recognised.
Above all, I hope that, through the process that is beginning with your questions today, we will come to understand the wrongs of the past, prevent them from happening again and, in the years ahead, restore the nation’s trust in our company and in all British journalism.
I am committed to doing everything in my power to make this happen. Thank you. We are happy to answer your questions.

Thank you, Chairman Han

At 10:49am yesterday, [CMP Director] Qian Gang (钱钢) wrote on his Sina Microblog account: “I’m shocked to learn that the investigative team at China Economic Times led by Wang Keqin (王克勤) has been ‘dismantled’ this morning. This needs urgent attention!” By 4:49 in the afternoon, this post had been re-posted close to 3,000 times, and had drawn some 1,200 comments. Opinion was overwhelmingly in support of Wang Keqin and his colleagues. These orders [against Wang’s team] will, I’m afraid, draw a reaction those responsible never anticipated.
In fact, I seriously question whether the newspaper officials who made this decision are actually people of the 21st century, or media people [of the 21st century]. Naturally, some web users have already ferreted out the fact that the present chairman of China Economic Times, Mr. Han (韩社长), only stepped into his position a year ago. He has a background in publishing, having formerly been the general manager of Longmen Books, known as a publisher of children’s educational materials. In May last year, Bao Yueyang (包月阳) was replaced by Han as editor-in-chief and chairman of China Economic Times. [NOTE: Bao was removed following pressure stemming from Wang Keqin’s investigative report on vaccines and corruption in Shanxi province]. Whatever else can be said, Chairman Han is a media man in a management sense — but in terms of his ideas, he is perhaps not.
At 3:03pm, I wrote on my microblog: “China Economic Times chairman Han Lijun (韩立军) is now well-known. He has used a crackdown on the internationally known Wang Keqin, who enjoys tolerance from high-level [government leaders], and his excellent but penniless team to make a name for himself. What an innovative stroke this is. Otherwise, who would ever know about Han Lijun? Still, further developments [in this case] will be beyond his control.” Almost immediately, someone responded to this post saying, “No idiot will make a name for himself by killing opinion leaders. Such actions will only draw contempt.”
I won’t, of course, cast doubt on the intelligence of Chairman Han. But I do think Han is operating by his own logic in taking these actions. I’ve said before that for some media units, knocking out good quality staff is a popular tactic. If it weren’t for the internet, these people would have a much easier time of it. I’m predicting that Chairman Han, ignorant as he is of the laws of the internet, will regret [his actions]. Living in a bygone age, these people mistakenly believe they can do whatever they like for their own personal profit, and they will pay the price for this.
As I wrote on my microblog, the breakup of Wang Keqin’s investigative team is not something intended by the high-level leadership. It should be understood as the intention of a handful of ignorant and incompetent people at the top of the newspaper. High-level leaders have voiced approval of the work Wang Keqin has done in recent years to uphold the public interest. They have at the very least not singled him out for trouble. Wang Keqin has worked as an investigative reporter in Beijing for more than 10 years now, and from his seminal work on taxi cartels in Beijing to today he has never been targeted with a libel suit, and the factual nature of his reporting has never been questioned.
Reporters have called to ask me about the state of investigative reporting in China and the predicament it faces. I respond that we should avoid this word “predicament.” And for this reason, I encourage against reading too much into this latest development, understanding it as necessarily a reflection of the worsening state of investigative reporting, or a sign that forces outside the paper have agitated against Wang Keqin. This should not in fact be the case. We should recognize that we’ve lately seen an upsurge in investigative reporting in many media, in financial media and commercial newspapers, and even at China Central Television, including such recent cases as tainted pork in China, and just this month revelations of counterfeit products by DaVinci furniture.
Not long ago, a very well-known artist went to visit Wang Keqin at the newspaper, and said he wanted to join his investigative team. Wang Keqin laughed and said: “The monthly wage is 1,700 yuan. is that OK?” Of course, as a veteran reporter, and as the head of a team, Wang’s salary is a bit higher than younger colleagues. But all told, he makes no more than 3,000 yuan a month, and that at 47 years of age. He has been unable to buy a house in Beijing, and among China’s famous journalists he is no doubt the poorest.
I remember three months back talking with the head of a magazine in Guangzhou about my positive view of the state of investigative reporting in China right now. I happened to mention that Wang Keqin made about 2,700 yuan a month, and this old press person said: “What? What? What did you just say? 2,700 yuan a month?” “That’s right,” I said calmly. But I know that many people have difficulty believing this is true.
I know it’s his values, and not material support, that have sustained Wang Keqin up to the present day, even though it is said that “without money nothing is possible.”
When friends say that being a journalist is a dangerous road, I respond that, given the chance, I will still choose to be a journalist in the next life. Because Wang Keqin and others like him have made China a more transparent place, and they have transformed the values of our people. In a significant sense, they have taken us from a culture of propaganda and exultation (歌颂型文化) to a culture of criticism (批判性文化). Therefore, I suspect that the changes Wang Keqin is now experiencing might bring him an opportunity for fairer pay and greater comfort. If that’s the case, then I suppose we have Chairman Hang to thank.
[This is a translated and edited version of an essay that appeared on July 18 at Economic Observer Online.

Randomly Appointed?

A scandal broke out in China on July 14 when web users alleged that two ordinary citizens in the city of Chengdu selected randomly to take part in public hearings on government policy were in fact “professional actors.” By July 15 the story had boiled over into traditional media, and four alleged government-backed “citizens” were the focus of angry questioning. Sichuan’s Huaxi Metropolis Daily, one of the province’s biggest commercial newspapers, reported that “citizen” Zhang Jianyuan (张见远) had appeared in numerous media reports about public hearings on various policy issues, always with a fake identity. While Zhang has been identified as “a chief physician at Huaxi Hospital” (华西医院主任医师), an investigation by the newspaper showed that he is not listed among that hospital’s more than 7,000 registered personnel. He has reportedly participated in scores of public hearings, beggaring government claims that citizens are randomly selected to voice their views on various policies. He has responded to such issues as public transportation pricing, water prices, anti-smoking policies, and adjustments in taxi fares, and media reports have variously dubbed him a “citizen representative”, a “consumer representative” and a “physician representative.” Another focus of attention was been Hu Litian (胡丽天), pictured below, a woman whose “rate of selection,” web users say, has been remarkable given the government’s random selection policy. Hu, it seems, is something of a permanent fixture at government public hearings. Read more about the scandal here.

In the above cartoon, posted by artist Kuang Biao (邝飚) to his blog at QQ.com, a tea kettle resembling Hu Litian and labeled “expert public hearing [participant” is set down on an empty seat at a public hearing, ready to whistle the government’s tune.

Trouble for Wang Keqin's investigative team

Reports on China’s microblog platforms today indicate that China Economic Times, a newspaper published by the Development Research Center of the State Council and one of the country’s leading publications for investigative reporting, is being subjected to a “purge” of its investigative reporting team, which is led by veteran muckraker and CMP fellow Wang Keqin (王克勤). We’ll provide more details on this worrying turn of events as they become available.
Wang Keqin has not yet spoken openly about the unfolding incident, but wrote cryptically on his microblog on Sina today, paraphrasing German poet Heinrich Heine: “Where political power burns books, it will ultimately burn people also. Where political power begins to suppress the voice, if it is not stopped, its next step will be to destroy the witness!”
CMP director Qian Gang wrote on his Sina Microblog account at 11am this morning: “I just received word from a friend at China Economic Times: ‘A ridiculous leader just visited us here, and aside from carrying out political struggle and grinding over people, he understands nothing.'”
In a piece recently posted on his blog, and translated by CMP, Wang Keqin described the development of investigative reporting in China since the 1990s, its ups and downs, and said that the practice had grown in strength and intensity in recent years.
For more background on Chinese investigative reporting, look for CMP’s book on the topic, Investigative Journalism in China.
Wang Keqin’s blog is available here (in Chinese of course). His microblog on Sina is available here.

Veteran reporter: muckraking on the rise in China

Today, as more and more media attempt investigative reports and as more young journalists pursue investigative reporting, it is very necessary to lay out a number of key issues in investigative reporting. On this issue, as an old journalist who has thrown his energies into investigative reporting for many years, I would like to talk here about my own views and thoughts on this.
Investigative reports are in-depth reports that expose an inside story
Investigative reports, [or diaochaxing baodao (调查性报道)], are in-depth reports that expose inside stories, achieved through a news reporter’s independent, in-depth, meticulous and comprehensive investigation of conduct that has been deliberately covered up by various organizations, doing harm to the public interest or citizen’s rights. They can also be called exposes (揭黑报道), divulging reports (揭发报道), reports of misconduct (揭丑报道) or muckraking reports (扒粪报道).
Investigative reports can cover a wide range of areas. Such areas as politics, the economy, society, rule of law, culture and the environment can all yield topics for investigative reports. But the subject of investigation should be specific in nature, focused on particular power authorities and commercial groups, not on [for example] the inappropriate behavior of ordinary citizens.
Moreover, investigative reports should be in-depth and comprehensive reports. Generally speaking, investigative reports are one form of independent in-depth writing. As they are in-depth reports, they must possess the fundamental properties of in-depth reports. And the core of these fundamental properties of in-depth reports are encompassed by two key words: “deep” (深刻) and “comprehensive” (全面). If [the report] does not seek out the deeper reasons for an incident or an issue and thoroughly reflect the information and people behind the problem, it cannot be called in-depth; if it does not give a comprehensive and multi-dimensional picture of an incident or issue, and particularly if it does not analyze and deconstruct the association of various factors resulting in the emergence of the problem, it cannot be called comprehensive.
This is what we [should] mean by in-depth reports. But in my view the “in-depth reports” done by many young journalists today are rather long-form reports, merely taking an interesting surface story and telling it to readers. They cannot be called uninteresting, but many readers don’t understand exactly what they’re saying, nor are they clear about why the events described actually happened, and what the background and various associated factors were that caused the incident. Therefore, these sorts of reports cannot be called in-depth reports. Moreover, investigative reports are the type of reports among in-depth reports that should be the most “deep” and the most “comprehensive.”
Looking at the different types of issues reported, investigative reports can be classified into three [issue] types: investigative reports on sudden-breaking incidents, investigative reports on topical issues, and investigative reports on historical truths.
Investigative reports on sudden-breaking incidents are in-depth investigations carried out by the media to dig out the truth behind various specific sudden-breaking incidents of major impact. They are investigative reports on dynamic issues, and they have recently been the focus of investigative reporting [in China]. For example, the Southern Metropolis Daily’s 2003 report, “The Death of Detainee Sun Zhigang” (被收容者孙志刚之死), and the China Economic Times‘ 2005 report, “Investigation Into the Attack on Villagers in Dingzhou” (河北“定州村民被袭事件”调查), are both examples of this type of report.
Investigative reports on topical issues are in-depth investigations carried out by the media on topical issues (generally focal issues that are hot topics in society, are intransigent and surrounded by doubts and questions). They are investigative reports on static issues. This types of investigative reports can most thoroughly respond to the public’s right to know, providing the public with the service of unpacking insoluble issues. For example, the report I published at the China Economic Times in 2002, “The Ugly Truth About the Beijing Taxi Cartels” (北京出租车业垄断黑幕), and my 2010 report, “An Investigation of Vaccine Chaos in Shanxi” (山西疫苗乱象调查).
Investigative reports of historical truths are re-investigations of historical events by the media, revealing the real picture of past historical events, and this is a another form of static issue. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn‘s The Gulag Archepelago, Chinese journalist Yang Jizheng’s Tombstone (墓碑) . . . are examples of this kind of investigation.
Chinese Investigative Reporting and the “Camel-Hump” Pattern
In a general sense, the history of investigative reporting in China goes back 100 years, around the same time as the birth of American investigative reporting. The earliest one to expose political inside stories was Shen Jin (沈荩), who in 1903 was sentenced to death by flogging by the Dowager Empress Cixi in 1903 [after he exposed a secret deal between Russia and China in which Russia was allowed to maintain a military presence in northwest China].
Then there was [Huang Yuanyong (黄远庸), who wrote under the penname] Huang Yuansheng (黄远生), and was assassinated in . . . San Francisco on December 25, 1915, after working as a journalist for just four years. [NOTE: Huang, who is often regarded as China’s first journalist, was known for his writings critical of politics.]
But from the standpoint of professionalism, the first true investigative reports in China perhaps have a history of just a decade. I believe we can date them back to the launch of Caijing magazine [by Hu Shuli (胡舒立)] in 1998. Along with the China Central Television program News Probe, which was launched around the same time and also exposed deeper stories, Caijing defined investigative reporting on the basis of “defending the public interest” (捍卫公众利益), “exposing the truth” (揭发黑幕), and “independent investigation by reporters” (记者独立调查), these three core characteristics, choosing its topics on this basis. News Probe in particular at the time defined the exposure of hidden truths (揭发黑幕) as a necessary component. This was the most basic expectation [of the program].
Through a decade of ups and downs, investigative reporting in China has shown the wave-like pattern of the “camel’s hump” (驼峰状) in its development, and I divide this into four principal stages.
The first stage is the development stage: from the launch of Caijing magazine in 1998 up to 2002, this era represents the birth of investigative reporting in China.
[2] The first peak came in 2003, symbolized by the reporting of the Sun Zhigang (孙志刚) incident by Southern Metropolis Daily and China Central Television’s selection of eight influential reporters (风云记者). Among these eight reporters, all were reporters exposing hidden truths (揭黑记者), with the exception perhaps of military affairs reporter Ji Huiyan (冀惠彦).
The first low-point began in 2004, as relevant [government] departments responded to the situation of supervision by public opinion (舆论监督), [or Chinese “watchdog journalism”], nationwide, coming out with the “two ‘cross’ documents” (两跨文件) prohibiting cross-regional (跨地区) reporting and cross-industry (跨行业) reporting. This brought a downward slide in investigative reporting in 2005 and 2006.
[3] The second peak came in 2007, as Caijing magazine published, “Whose Luneng?” (谁的鲁能?), which exposed the hidden side of “black-box privatization” (黑箱私有化) in the midst of China’s [economic] transition, how various individuals had managed to “legally” carve up state-owned assets [for themselves].
The second low-point came in 2008-2009 as the Beijing Olympic Games and the 60th anniversary [of the PRC] approached and media were called upon to report the main theme (主旋律) [of the Party line].
[4] The third peak came in 2010, in which during the first half of the year we had [my own] “An Investigation of Vaccine Chaos in Shanxi” and Southern Metropolis Daily‘s “Anyuanding: An Investigation of Beijing’s ‘Black Jails’ for Detaining Petitioners” (安元鼎:北京截访“黑监狱”调查), which pushed investigative reporting in China to a new high.
Making a broader observation, strictly-defined Chinese investigative reporting has shown the following trends over its history of just over ten years: 1. more and more reporters have been engaged in the writing of exposes (揭黑报道); 2. more and more media have been engaged in the publishing of exposes; 3. more and more good-quality reports and regular columns [on investigative reporting] have appeared in China; 4. investigative reports in China are showing a higher and higher degree of professionalism; 5. investigative reporters are receiving increasing attention and respect by general society.
NOTE: This is a partial translation of a longer review of Chinese investigative reporting that Wang Keqin posted on his blog on July 12.

Online scandal alleges public hearings are rigged

China has had its share of scandals over fake products endangering the lives of citizens. But how about a scandal involving, well, fake citizens?
A scandal cropped up yesterday on (where else?) China’s microblog platforms when web users alleged that two ordinary citizens in the city of Chengdu selected randomly to take part in public hearings on government policy are in fact “professional actors.” Today, the story has boiled over into traditional media, and four alleged government-backed “citizens” are the focus of angry questioning.
Sichuan’s Huaxi Metropolis Daily, one of the province’s biggest commercial newspapers, now reports that Zhang Jianyuan (张见远), pictured below, has appeared in numerous media reports about public hearings on various policy issues, always with a fake identity.
While Zhang has been identified as “a chief physician at Huaxi Hospital” (华西医院主任医师), an investigation by the newspaper showed that he is not listed among that hospital’s more than 7,000 registered personnel. He has reportedly participated in scores of public hearings, beggaring government claims that citizens are randomly selected to voice their views on various policies. He has responded to such issues as public transportation pricing, water prices, anti-smoking policies, and adjustments in taxi fares, and media reports have variously dubbed him a “citizen representative”, a “consumer representative” and a “physician representative.”


Another focus of attention has been Hu Litian (胡丽天), pictured below, a woman whose “rate of selection,” web users say, has been remarkable given the government’s random selection policy. Hu, it seems, is something of a permanent fixture at government public hearings.

Web users quickly claimed that both of the above-mentioned figures are “internally designated actors” (听证会), and that this undermines the credibility of the government’s public hearing process.
A post on the online Sichuan Forum late yesterday exposed not just Zhang Jianyuan and Hu Litian, but added to the list Liao Binghong (廖冰虹) and Tang Houyi (唐厚义). And the forum posted this photo of all four of these suspected fake citizens sitting together at a local tea shop.

Flying Off to Hong Kong

This year, China had 17 top scorers, or zhuangyuan (状元), on the national college entrance examination from various provinces who opted for Hong Kong universities over China’s elite institutions, Peking University and Tsinghua University. Traditionally, China’s top universities have aggressively courted these top test scorers, seeing them as an important measure of their elite status. When asked why they had opted for Hong Kong, the students responded that they wanted to experience a different approach to education. In this cartoon, posted by artist Kuang Biao (邝飚) to his QQ.com blog, an old-fashioned Confucian school master, symbolizing the backwardness of China’s higher education system, reaches for top testers depicted as potted plants flying off into the sky on golden wings. For background on standardized testing in Chinese higher education, see CMP fellow Zhang Ming’s article, “Top testers a distraction for China’s schools. ”

In the past, before universities in Hong Kong had entered the competition for top scorers, top scorers from various provinces generally went to Tsinghua University or Peking University. In recent years, as Hong Kong universities have stepped into the game, Chinese institutions sense a real danger that top scorers will be lost, and the media have also jumped on this story about the threat to the excellence of Peking University and Tsinghua University. This is why we’re seeing this situation now . . .
The University of Hong Kong is a mirror on ourselves that is less distant that other elite universities. Because the admissions and enrollment capacity of HKU is limited, there is no way it can run off with all of our top-scoring students. But this mirror brings our own maladies and deformities into sharp relief. If we do not address our shortcomings, and if we do not wipe away the stains that blacken our own face, but rather respond only with more robust efforts [at the same sort of game], then there is really no way to save us.

All eyes on China's new high-speed rail

China’s much-vaunted Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Rail formally opened on June 30 this year, on the eve of the Chinese Communist Party’s 90th anniversary. Capable of speeds in excess of 300 kilometers per hour, the project is an important showcase for China’s leadership, symbolizing the country’s technological prowess and the Party’s forward-thinking attitude.
On July 7, a spokesman for China’s Ministry of Railways (MOR), Wang Yongping (王勇平), took the tone of rivalry over high-speed rail technology up a notch when he scoffed at accusations that China’s trains used Japanese technologies. “The Beijing-Shanghai High-speed Railway and Japan’s Shinkansen can’t even be raised in the same breath, because many of the technologies employed by China’s high-speed rail are far superior to those used in Japan’s Shinkansen,” Wang said. He added: “We Chinese would never claim that technologies owned by others are ours. Nor will we ever relinquish our right to file patent applications for innovations developed through our own knowledge and efforts just because of the irresponsible remarks of others.”


[ABOVE: China’s high-speed rail system gets ready for operation in December 2010. Photo by “triplefivechina” available at Flickr.com under Creative Commons license.]
But two malfunctions in the space of three days (July 10 and July 12), resulting in late arrivals for scores of high-speed trains, have for many Chinese raised serious questions about the safety, comfort and efficiency of the new high-speed rail line. And so far this week, official state media have noticeably taken a passive, backseat role as social media, notably Sina Microblog, have offered a platform for eyewitness information and a wave of (mostly frustrated and antagonistic) opinion, and as commercial media — the likes of Shanghai’s Oriental Morning Post, The Beijing News, Caijing magazine and Hu Shuli’s Caixin Media — have jumped on the story.
Posts using terms related to “Beijing-Shanghai high-speed rail malfunction” had topped 286,000 on Sina Microblog by yesterday evening (July 12), as the line experienced delays of close to three hours in some cases. In posts aggregated in real time by traditional media outlets such as the Oriental Morning Post, Caijing and Labor Daily, eyewitness social media users shared photos and accounts in real time.
A photo by passenger Tang Yan (唐妍) taken inside a car on the high-speed rail line showed a glass of water on a seat tray with the water clearly leaning in one direction. Tang wrote: “The high-speed rail is creeping along now at a speed of about 5 kilometers per hour, and moreover it’s still going in fits and starts. It’s like a sightseeing car. . . What people find really strange is that the whole car is leaning really severely to the right! I’ve put a glass of water on the seat-back tray, and you can clearly see the incline! . . . I clearly remember it was level when we got on the train.”

A photo in a separate post showed a passenger aboard a stalled Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Rail train fanning himself in a hot, air-conditionless car as workers outside the train continued with repairs.

A report in today’s edition of The Beijing News quoted one microblog user as saying they saw sparks flying past their window on the train, which was followed by a shriek as the train ground to a stop.
But while Chinese social media, predominately Sina Microblog (Weibo), have been an important source of information, commercial media have also spoken to experts, engineers and railway personnel. One of the first rather comprehensive reports came from the Oriental Morning Post, which reached a range of sources on July 10, the day of the first malfunction causing widespread delays, and on July 11. The paper’s report was published yesterday, and made the rounds on the web and in social media just as chatter was taking off about a second malfunction on the line. We have translated that report below.
In a separate report yesterday, Caijing magazine reported that the deputy secretary of the Communist Youth League in Shanghai’s Luwan District, Huang Tan (黄坦), had posted on his own microblog at 11:33 am that high-speed train G212 had stopped for repairs in Anhui’s prefectural-level city of Bengbu (蚌埠) owing to an electrical malfunction. The Caijing report opened somewhat provocatively with the July 7 statement from Wang Yongping about the superiority of Chinese train technology.
One of the most curious things about this story over the past 72 hours has been the way official state media have been virtually absent. This article from People’s Daily Online, posted at the top of Xinhua Online today, turns to a Japanese expert for his remarks following the July 10 malfunction, suggesting such malfunctions are normal and expected, and cautioning (justifiably) that repairs cannot be rushed in such situations. The expert did note that there seemed to have been serious service related breakdowns that had nothing to do with technology.
In addition to the above report, there is this very brief report from the official China News Service. Curiously, the China News Service story on QQ.com, one of China’s most popular internet portals, has drawn just 3 comments from users — that for a story that has prompted hundreds of thousands of posts and re-posts on social media. When it posted the original, very brief, Xinhua News Agency release about the first high-speed train malfunction on July 10, QQ.com added to the release a number of online reports and accounts from social media that seemed to cast doubt on the Xinhua version itself.
Commercial media and social media seem to have led the charge so far on this story, raising numerous doubts about the safety of the high-speed rail and criticizing railway authorities for their handling of both incidents. The finger-pointing continues today, turning now to the official response from the Ministry of Railways, which came in a brief statement yesterday.
A report from The Beijing Morning Post today bears the headline: “Apology from Ministry of Railways Just One Sentence.” The report, which asks a string of pointed questions, including why the passengers were deprived of air conditioning in closed cars and stifling heat, notes that railway authorities said only yesterday that, “As for the inconvenience caused to passengers by late train arrivals, the railway ministry expresses regret.”
We’ll have to continue to watch this story over the next few days to see how continued coverage plays out. Have commercial media taken advantage of a window of opportunity afforded by a lack of direction from propaganda authorities? If such direction is lacking, why? Or, alternatively, have media disregarded or worked around directives?
There are signs controls may have been asserted today, at the very least on social media. Yesterday, a voting feature on Sina Microblog invited users to cast their votes on their views of the high-speed rail, whether they would opt for it in favor of the airlines, etcetera. That feature, which drew thousands of responses within a few short hours, now seems to have been disabled. In the image below, you can see Sina user chatting about the vote and linking to the now inaccessible page, which I visited with no problems yesterday evening. [UPDATE: Voting feature is now (11:50pm HK time, July 13) available again here.]


[ABOVE: Photo of poll results for high-speed rail as of 11:59pm, July 13. 33% say they will still opt for the high-speed rail, 19% say they will take a plane instead, 26% say they will take some other form of transportation, and the rest are unsure.]
The following is a partial translation of the report yesterday from Shanghai’s Oriental Morning Post, which deals with doubts surrounding the first malfunction on July 10.

Three Questions Raised by Mass Delays on the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Rail
Oriental Morning Post
July 12, 2011
Reporters Shen Liang (沈靓), Chu Jingwei (储静伟), Luan Xiaona (栾晓娜) and Shi Yinsheng (史寅昇)
Three questions raised by mass delays on the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Rail: Where is the contingency plan?
After 11 days of formal operation, a thunderstorm in Shandong province caused the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Rail to experience wide-spread delays for the first time. Responding to this accident that caused 19 trains to arrive late, many for as much as two hours, the reason given by railway authorities in Beijing was that “thunderstorms caused the malfunction of the overhead line system” (雷雨导致接触网故障), but no further explanation was given.
Actually, a certain degree of malfunction must be admitted for the high-speed rail, and malfunctions owing to thunderstorms can be understood. But the true measure of the quality of the high-speed rail is shown in how things are handled after malfunctions occur. Train personnel can be taught through repeated training how to have proper postures and smiles to cover up the problems of the high-speed rail service system. But once this system meets with the unexpected, people will be able to see the ineffectiveness behind the smiles.
Judging from the responses of passengers last night, this time around the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Rail was short of the mark. After trains stopped on the high-speed rail, passengers were shut inside hot and stuff train cars, not knowing what happened, not knowing what they were waiting for, and not knowing how long they would have to wait. Not knowing anything at all, some passengers vented their anger on train personnel, and in this high-pressure situation some personnel were pursued to tears, not knowing what to do.
Train service personnel are just the first point of contact with passengers, and they cannot take responsibility for shutdowns through the entire high-speed rail system. Why did the malfunctions occur? Why did repairs take so long? Why was air-conditioning not working when there was a backup electrical supply? Why were passengers not told specifically what was happening? Why wasn’t more water and food provided after the delays? Why were passengers not compensated? These are all questions that train service personnel are unable to answer.
Media have hotly reported the “battle between air and rail” (空铁之争), and they have at the same time secretly hoped that “Old Man Railway” will show us all in the midst of this struggle that his old way of doing things has changed forever. But the facts this delay incident shows us are cruel.
1. How can thunderstorms caused power outages?
According to related personnel with the Beijing Railway Bureau, “thunderstorms and high winds in the Shandong region were the reason for these train delays, having caused malfunction and power failure along the overhead line system between Qufu (曲阜) and Zaozhuang (枣庄). Moreover, [they said], the power distribution systems for trains on the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Rail are powered principally through the 25kV high-voltage overhead line system.
Ren Gang (任刚), the chief engineer of CNR Tangshan, has said that the power distribution system for battery chargers on the high-speed rail can enable the provision of power for 120 minutes in the event of that power from the high-voltage overhead line system is lost, ensuring emergency air circulation, lighting and communications. “The trains can still operate as they wait for power suppliers to make rescue repairs,” [he said].
Li Ruiqun (李瑞淳), chief engineer of the CRH380 project, says the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Rail is a comprehensive project, not just about the trains themselves. These train stoppages had nothing to do with the quality of the trains themselves. Thunderstorms caused the malfunction of the overhead voltage system so that the trains had no source of power to propel them. But the trains themselves had storage batteries [he said] that would allow them to ensure emergency air circulation and electrical power for more than an hour in the event of sudden power outages.
Web users made posts to microblogs saying that after high-speed train number G151 stalled, the entire train experienced loss of power, shutting off the air conditioning and leaving conditions inside suffocating and hot. Well then, if the trains are equipped with storage batteries to provide power, why were the train cars without electricity?
Sun Zhang (孙章), a professor from the City and Rail Transportation Research Center at Tongji University, said that the loss of electrical power in the cars could be due to the failure to put contingency plans into effect. “It’s possible that general contingency training was insufficient, and this can be seen in poor communication with passengers and lack of information transparency,” [Sun said]. As for the suggestion that lightning caused the malfunction of power supply circuits, Sun Zhang says that the trains are equipped with lightning protection systems, and trains and the power supply system should all be equipped with lightning protection systems. “Or perhaps this lightning strike was particularly severe, even disabling the storage batteries.”
2. Why were the train car doors closed tightly? And why did train personnel say nothing?
Mr. Zhang, who was a passenger on train G19 that day said that after the incident occurred nothing was explained over the train’s broadcast system except that the internet signal was weak. Mr. Li, who was a passenger on train G151 also said that after the train experienced a malfunction and stopped in the station in Shandong, it stopped for another half-hour when it reached Xuzhou. Only after we passed the Xuzhou station did the train [personnel] hand out water and crackers, [he said]. But when they asked the train personnel [what had happened], she gave them no response.
In fact, as early as September 2005 the Ministry of Railways sent out a new version of “Methods for Handling Late Passenger Trains” (旅客列车晚点处置办法) to railway authorities throughout the country, and these clearly state: “If trains are later than 30 minutes, the station chief and train conductor should as representatives of the railway authorities issue a sincere apology to passengers; if [trains are] late by more than one hour, [they] must according to rescheduling notices from the railway ministry issue timely statements to passengers to explain the cause of the delay and estimated times of arrival, and work to conciliate the passengers.”
The reporters discovered on microblog platforms that one passenger had stepped out onto the train platform to cool down because it was too hot, and the train eventually departed, leaving him in the station. But [China’s] “Codes Concerning Handling of the Breakdown of Air Conditioning Units on Trains” (动车组列车空调装置故障后应急处置有关要求) stipulate that in order to protect the personal safety of travelers, and according to the staffing situation of trains, 4 to 98 doors should be opened to the platform, safety grids should be set up around the open doors and be staffed by train police, service personnel, meal car personnel and cleaning personnel under the direction of the conductor, strictly prohibiting passengers from exiting the train on their own.
At 8:30pm on July 10, after repairs were carried out, the train temporarily stopped in the Xuzhou East Station and emergency water and bread were provided by the train from the platform, only then resolving the problem of tight supplies of food and beverage.
The Morning Post reporters went to Jinan [Shandong] to cover the issue of food and beverage aboard the train. On train G222, Miss Wang, an employee in charge of sales on the train said that if they ran across the unexpected, the stores of instant noodles and other food and drink on the train could only supply about half of the train’s passengers and, “Generally, the train will resupply itself at stations along the line, but if we run into trouble suddenly and aren’t near a station then there’s nothing we can do.”
Unlike train G151, which experience a malfunction and lost electrical power, more than 10 other trains further down the line on the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Rail were stopped in various stations, waiting for the line to clear. Although they did not lose electricity, they suffered much unease owing to the lack of a contingency plan.
Shanghai passenger Miss Kuang was on train G21 that day heading from Beijing South Station to Shanghai’s Hongqiao Station. Her train was delayed by close to two hours. Their train was temporarily stopped at Jinan West Station for more than one hour. “In the hour that we waited, the train car doors were closed tight, and if you wanted to get out for some air you couldn’t,” [she said]. What upset the passengers on the train even more was that through all of the stopping and creeping along that personnel on the train never made any notice of the specific reasons for the delays.
Web user “Qing Kou Cai” (青口菜) came across the same situation. He posted on his microblog saying that he was on train G215 and it too was stopped in Jinan for more than one hour. [He said] that train personnel were all hurrying about their business but never made any explanation or attempt to comfort the passengers.
Yesterday, an employee at Jinan West Station told the reporters that on July 10 at least five trains made temporary stops at Jinan West Station. The employee said that because the train station and the trains were under separate controls, even though many trains were stopped at Jinan West Station, there was no way that employees at the station could “interact” with the trains. “As for the difficulties onboard the trains, we knew nothing about it, and we couldn’t be of any help.”
3. Why was there no way of offering compensation for delays?
For passengers, the delays have already become a fact, and what they care about most right now is the issue of compensation. On this issue, the reporter reached the Service Department of the Jinan Railway Ministry posing as a passenger from a delayed train. The employee said that right now there are no relevant laws and regulations on this issue, and therefore there was no way of offering compensation.
An employee from the Division of Passenger Traffic Management of the Transport Bureau of the Ministry of Railways responded that there could be a number of reasons for loss of power resulting in late arrivals, and if investigations showed clearly that errors by railway departments caused loss of power and late arrivals then railway departments would consider offering compensation to passengers. “As the railway ultimately achieved the task of delivering passengers to their destinations, full refunds of tickets are impossible,” [said the employee].

[Frontpage photo by “triplefivechina” available at Flickr.com under Creative Commons license.]

Another Sticky Food Safety Scandal


According to a recent news report in Gansu’s Lanzhou Morning Post a local producer of “Japanese tofu” has been treating its products with Libai brand detergent and harmful coloring agents in order to improve stickiness and color. The report says commercial investigators began investigating the case on July 7. In this cartoon, posted by the Kunming-based studio Yuan Jiao Man’s Space (圆觉漫时空) to QQ.com, a pair of gloved hands pour detergents and dies over a bowl of coughing and gagging tofu.