Picture of the Day: Giant Monkey

A giant snub-nosed monkey hanging from H Queens

The other day I was at Tai Kwun, the former Central Police headquarters, and when I looked up, I saw a giant monkey across the street!

Called Golden Monkey, it's a 14-metre tall inflated snub-nosed monkey created by Australian artist Lisa Roet. It was installed in December on the H Queens building and will be there until next month.

Several years ago Roet began a series of works called Extinct Distinct, based on her documentation of some newly discovered yet endangered species of primates.

She says there are many interesting stories associated with snub-nosed monkeys. "Their sneezing snub nose is definitely one of them," Roet says. "They sneeze to get melted ice and rain out of their upturned nose. Before they were discovered, nearby villagers though the sneezing sound was from their sick ancestors. That led scientists traveling in the village to investigate, and they found this new species in Yunnan's high mountains in 20210. Global warming made an impact on its habitat, making it a symbol of changing global weather patterns."

As a result, Roet wants to make large-scale versions of this monkey to place them on skyscrapers in urban centres to highlight the increasing urbanization and co-habitation of urban and nature.

Ice Boy's Woes Continue

Wang Fuman at home and back to where he started, but with much more cash

Remember "Ice Boy", the eight-year-old from Yunnan province who had to walk to school for over an hour each way and his hair and eyelashes were covered in snow?

After the boy and his father were taken on a free trip to Beijing, a private school with boarding accepted him, as the headmaster took pity on the boy and took him in.

However, after one week in the school, the headmaster told Wang Fuman's father to take him home because of the intense scrutiny from the authorities and the media.

Zhuanshanbao Primary School is an hour away by foot

It was hoped that by enrolling in Xinhua School Fuman could try to catch up on his studies, but his father Wang Gangkui was told to come pick up his son and put him back in the state school.

"i'm illiterate and I don't understand why this school has kicked us out," the frustrated father said Wednesday.

Fuman was confused as he liked his new school.

"The teachers taught better than those at Zhuanshanbao Primary School. Pupils don't talk in class and everyone is focused on studying," he said.

"I ate better too. Unlike at home, when my grandma is busy, my sister and I need to find food for ourselves... because we don't know how to cook, we just boil potatoes, but at Xinhua School I ate so many different things."

The headmaster of Xinhua School, surnamed Yang, said he offered to take the boy for free because he wanted to "do some good".

But the intense media attention and scrutiny from authorities put the school under a lot of pressure.

Fuman with his sister (left)

"At first, I didn't know... but later, I found out that Fuman had been identified by the Ministry of Education as a key figure to be helped in the government's poverty alleviation efforts. There are very few such pupils in the whole Yunnan province," Yang said.

"As a result, during these days of having him in my school, we have received numerous requests from various levels of government departments to inspect us. Many media outlets also insisted on interviewing us."

He said the school could not cope with the extra demands placed on it because of Fuman's attendance.

Yang said he still wanted to help the boy, but in a more low-profile manner.

When Yang sent the boy back, he gave his father 15,000 yuan and offered to help the family if they encountered more problems in the future.

Meanwhile Wang Gangkui isn't doing well either. He had been promised a job at a state-owned construction company in Zhaotong, But the company says it doesn't have any work for him at the moment.

It's really sad to hear Ice Boy isn't getting the help he really needs, let alone his entire family. It's understandable that while the headmaster wants to help, he doesn't want to be constantly monitored because he has such a high profile student. There were probably lots of expectations for Fuman to do well so that he could be used as a poster child for a poor kid who did well.

Wang Gangkui was promised a job and then no word

But surely someone can help the boy get a decent education -- at least he sounds interested in learning, which is not what could be said of some students these days.

And also how can a company at first claim to offer a job to his father and then later rescind it? How professional is that? Sounds absolutely ridiculous and a publicity stunt on the part of the state-owned construction company. Wang Gangkui had quit his job in Kunming because he had been promised work and now he has nothing to do.

So now the family is back to where it started, though it does have donations pouring in. But it's not money they need, they want jobs and an education. Is it that hard to help in that way? This fiasco proves that throwing money at the problem doesn't really solve it.

"Ice Boy" Reveals Plight of "Left-Behind" Children

"Ice Boy" Wang Fuman (centre) visits Beijing for the first time

Over a week ago there was an uproar in Chinese cyberspace with the story of "Ice Boy".

Wang Fuman, an eight-year-old boy from Ludian county, in a poor area of Yunnan province became famous overnight when he was photographed with his hair, eyelashes and eyebrows covered in frost and he wasn't wearing enough clothes to keep warm. It took him over an hour to walk 4.5km to get to school everyday.

The picture went viral with many in China feeling sorry for the boy, who is a "left-behind child", because his parents have to leave home to work elsewhere, while Wang and his older sister are raised by their grandparents.

This picture of "Ice Boy" went viral

An outpouring of sympathy led to donations of over 300,000 yuan (US$46,900), but apparently not all the money went to the child -- apparently the local government only gave the family 8,000 yuan, saying it was not good for the boy to become "rich" overnight, which led to questions of where the rest of the money went.

State broadcaster CCTV reported 100,000 yuan went to Wang's school, Zhuangshanbao. So where did the over 202,000 yuan go?

Maybe it went towards his "free" trip to Beijing this past weekend for three days with his father and older sister. But the propaganda website China Peace, run by the Party's Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission claims to have shelled out for the trip.

It was the first time Wang had ever been on a plane, left his hometown and gone elsewhere. He also marveled that people in the Chinese capital had indoor heating, which probably led to him wondering why he didn't have that at home.

"It's very cold at home, but very warm in Beijing. At home, we have to burn charcoal at night for warmth. In Beijing, the rooms are so warm -- I only need to wear one layer of clothing. This is the first time I've come across heating, it really is a miracle," he said. "I want to see how children in Beijing go to school, and whether they need to walk a long way everyday."

He and his sister in their bare home

He might also be shocked to find kids in the big city get driven by car or take the bus, not many actually walk to school -- let alone 4.5km -- to get to class.

And apparently to make life better for Wang, his father has been given a job in his hometown so he doesn't have to be away from his children. Is he really going to earn enough money to support the family? And what about the other parents of "left-behind" children? Is the government going to offer them jobs too?

These stop-gap measures hardly solve the problem of "left-behind" children. It wouldn't be a surprise to find after six months to a year that Wang's father needs to leave again to support his family.

The government really doesn't seem to care or understand the plight of these people and that the economy is dependent on migrants like Wang's father to work in big cities. However, the sacrifices they make are a big impact on the family's emotional well-being.

"When I saw the photo, there was pain in my heart," says Wang's 28-year-old father. "I couldn't stay home and look after my children -- I had no choice. If I didn't leave and find work somewhere else, my two kids would've have had nothing to eat."

How is Xi Jinping going to solve this problem? With "left-behind" children, their education level is lower which leads to less opportunities later in life, stuck doing menial work and unable to further improve their situation.

If China values these 60 million children, then it will do something, but so far not much has been done for them. If Xi wants to eradicate poverty by 2020, these children need to be on the priority list.

Yang's Life Lesson

Yang Shuping talks about learning new things, like fresh air, freedom of speech

Mainland Chinese student Yang Shuping gave a graduation speech on Sunday at the University of Maryland praising the United States, which instead of receiving praise from her fellow countrymen, was scathingly scorned at.

During her speech, she recalled how she felt when she arrived in the US.

"When I took my first breath of American air, I put my mask away," she said. "The air was so sweet and fresh, and oddly luxurious. Democracy and freedom are the fresh air that is worth fighting for."

She is a psychology and theatre graduate from Yunnan province and came to study at the university five years ago.

Yang quickly learned to appreciate the air quality in the US

From her experience of living in the US she appreciated being able to speak freely.

"I have learned [that] the right to freely express oneself is sacred in America... I could even rate my professors online," she said. "My voice matters. Your voice matters. Our voices matter."

Yang also talked about watching her fellow students vote in elections, take part in political protests, and even watch a play about the 1992 LA riots that talked about the issues of racism, sexism and politics.

"I was shocked, I never thought such topics could be discussed openly... I have always had the burning desire to tell these kinds of stories, but I was convinced that only authorities owned the narrative, only authorities could define the truth," she said.

"Freedom is oxygen. Freedom is passion. Freedom is love. As the French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre once said: 'Freedom is a choice'."

One might think it was wonderful that a Chinese student not only received a good education, but also learned some values and culture that helped her to further understand the differences between the US and China.

The University of Maryland sticks by what Yang said

However, people back home were not impressed, criticizing her speech, saying she was kowtowing to the US, or that she already came from Yunnan, a relatively clean province in terms of air quality. The backlash resulted in tarring Yang as a traitor, that she did not love her country.

A group of Chinese students at the university were offended by Yang's speech and set up a social media campaign showing their support for their country.

The students behind the #ProudofChina effort said they hoped to correct "wrong stereotypes" of the country and show their "courage to speak up".

But patriots, particularly The Global Times claimed the university should never have given Yang the opportunity to speak at such event, and for sticking by her.

Even the foreign ministry weighed in.

I believe China will encourage and welcome the students as long as they love their motherland from the heart and are willing to make a contribution," ministry spokesman Lu Kang said, without directly criticizing what Yang said in her speech.

"Any comparable Chinese citizen should make responsible comments on any issue, not only about China but everything."

Yang is in her early 20s and has learned so much in the past five years that she couldn't wait to tell others what she had observed. But she mistakenly thought everyone else was on the same page as her.

Meanwhile her critics were so overly sensitive about her observations, but for the most part they are true. It just reveals yet again how the Chinese are so insecure about their country and its faults, but don't have the courage to face them because their government insists that everything is fine.

Eventually Yang had to back down, apologizing on Monday.

"The speech is just to share my overseas experience and comes with no intention to negate or belittle my country," she said on Weibo.

China needs more people like Yang to help develop the country from within; ostracizing her is not the way. And from now on, no Chinese student will dare speak out again, for fear of the wrath of the online patriotic police. It's all too easy to destroy someone when there is strength in numbers.

But Yang is the strong one who has the courage to speak for herself and her own thoughts.

A Heavy Price for Free Speech

Pu Zhiqiang will be released soon, but cannot practice law again

Human rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang was handed a three-year suspended jail sentence for posting online comments that were critical of the Communist Party. While he will be released in days, he will not be allowed to practice law again.

The Beijing Second Intermediate People's Court found Pu, 50, guilty of "inciting ethnic hatred" and "picking quarrels and provoking trouble", according to a report by Xinhua news agency.

According to legal experts, the suspended jail sentence means Pu will be put on probation for three years and if he violates the terms or commits offenses in the next three years, he will have to serve his original sentence.

His lawyer, Shang Baojun says lawyers who have been convicted have their lawyer's license revoked. "To be incriminated over one's speech in seven microblog messages -- this is a very heavy price indeed," Shang said.

Amnesty International said the suspended jail sentence was "a deliberate attempt by the Chinese authorities to shackle a champion of freedom of expression".

However, Xinhua said the court handed down a light sentence because Pu "pro-actively confessed to his crimes and showed remorse". It added Pu would not appeal.

We do not know exactly what happened in the court room, but we do know last week that he was adamant about rejecting the charges against him. So what happened between then and now is unclear.

He was convicted on the basis of the content of seven microblog messages that were critical of the government's handling of an ethnic conflict in Kunming, Yunnan province last year, and sarcastic comments about two officials.

Xinhua reported the court said between January 2012 and May 2014, Pu posted messages eight times on various Weibo accounts "to stir ethnic relations and incite ethnic hatred". It said his messages were retweeted 2,500 times and had 1,300 comments, and thus had "provoked internet users' strong ethnic hatred and confrontation feelings", and his behaviour had "posed social danger that has reached a serious level".

As a result, this had caused "psychological damage", and had "lowered [people's] opinions of society", and created "chaos in cyberspace" and a "bad influence in society", and his behaviour had "gravely disrupted social order".

The court makes it sound like Pu was someone disseminating hate literature. While reposting his message 2,500 times is a lot, when compared relative to the number of people in China, it's not a big exposure.

Nevertheless, Xinhua said Pu apologized and showed his willingness to accept punishment during the trial. It added that Pu told the court that through his ordeal, "he has experienced the progress of rule of law, the improvement of the law, and progress of society"...

Was his trial a sign of progress of rule of law in China? The lawyer who suffers from diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure, was detained for 19 months without trial and no access to his family.

Beijing has effectively silenced yet another of its critics in a harsh way. He will be made into an example for others to conform even more to the Party line.

But China needs people like him to point out the country's flaws that must be addressed and dealt with. He and others like him want to hold the government accountable so that it will be a more effective one.

How will China's civil society ever be able to flourish when it is so badly needed now?