Suspicious Demise

Li Wangyang (left) with his friends who visited him in Shaoyang

Only days after the 23rd anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown, one of its pro-democracy leaders is dead.

Li Wangyang was serving a prison sentence when his sister and brother-in-law discovered he was dead in his hospital ward in Hunan province on Wednesday.

The 62-year-old was supposedly under 24-hour police surveillance when the two relatives found Li hung from a ward windowsill by a bandage wrapped around his neck, with both feet on the ground.

It all sounds very suspicious because they were told the death was by suicide and on top of that the couple have been taken away by police.

Meanwhile the body has also been taken away without the family's permission and detained the relatives in a hotel.

According to New York-based Human Rights in China, Li had been sentenced to 13 years in prison for "counter-revolutionary" crimes for organizing workers in Shaoyang into an autonomous union during the 1989 pro-democracy protests.

Li served 11 years and then was released, but then was given another 10 years in jail in 2001 for "inciting subversion" after he tried to sue the authorities over his mistreatment in prison that nearly left him blind, deaf and numerous other health problems.

A local activist named Huang Lihong said after Li's death was discovered, more than 40 police descended on the hospital and took his body away, making it impossible for his family to determine the exact cause of death.

Huang said she too was escorted by police from the hospital and told to stay at home.

Only the day before his brother-in-law, Zhao Baozhu said he'd see Li.

"Last evening we were together, Li Wangyang did not show any signs of suicide; it is strange," he told AFP. "Li Wangyang is a man with a strong mind and strong spirit."

Days before June 4, Li had said in a television interview that he never regretted his fight for justice.

"The souls of the martyrs deserve to finally find some peace," said Li, referring to those who lost their lives in the Tiananmen Square crackdown.

Meanwhile Hong Kong-based Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in China said Li died "unusually".

"We cannot rule out that security guards monitoring him tortured him to death and faked a suicide," the centre said in a statement.

Outrage is the only way to describe our reaction to Li's mistreatment not only in prison, but also his suspicious death.

The local authorities think they can punish with impunity which is the height of arrogance.

If China wants the world to see its people are governed by rule of law, then Li would still be alive and well.

In the meantime we will make sure Li did not die in vain.

Beijing has created another martyr who joins the many others fighting for justice. They will continue to haunt Zhongnanhai as long as it takes.

Greed Changes Hong Kong

Hong Kong landlords continue to be greedy -- to the point of evil.

The latest story is a 72-year-old sock seller who is now back on the streets hawking her wares because she can't pay the rent anymore.

Au Yuk-ho used to lease a 250-square-feet store in Causeway Bay for HK$70,000 ($9,022) a month but the landlord doubled the rent to HK$150,000.

She's only selling socks and nylons! Pretty impressive that Au, nicknamed Yuk Jie or Sister Yuk, could pay the rent and have enough left over to raise a family of five children.

Even more amazing is that even though she has resorted to selling her socks on the street, she bears no grudges.

"I won't go hiding at home, sobbing and complaining about cruel reality," she said. "I have cast away my dignity, but I won't give up."

Luckily Yuk Jie has a strong loyal customer base even though she's very blunt and doesn't even allow customers to finger the merchandise.

"I was nasty, some said, but they should know I was the owner and sales lady all in one," she said. Anyway, despite this, they still return."

Meanwhile, the owner of Leighton Bakery, known for its egg tarts and fried egg with ham buns, will be closing the shop at the end of June after 40 years.

Unlike Au, Lam Shek-yam owned the 400-square-foot store and sold it for HK$140 million, making a healthy profit as he bought it for HK$13 million in 1996.

"My wife, my daughters, my 10 staff and I need a good rest starting from next month," said Lam. He has brewed milk tea 362 days each year.

"The only thing I will miss is my customers, some of whom regularly buy up to a dozen egg tarts in an afternoon."

Lam got into the business when he was just 12 years old and neither of his two daughters in their 30s want to continue working at the shop.

Not only is it because it's hard work and long hours, but also because the price of ingredients has increased significantly in the last few years. For example in the last year a 50kg bag of sugar had doubled to HK$250 while the price of flour and lard had also doubled.

Au and Lam are not the only mom and pop shops to close due to insanely jacked-up rents.

Hong Kong is fast losing its unique local flavour only to make way for homogenous chain stores we see on every other street corner.

Is this what we want our city to look like?

But we don't have much choice since we don't "own" Hong Kong.

Nevertheless kudos to Yuk Jie for carrying on her trade.

She's definitely got the Hong Kong can-do spirit.

China's Air Quality Debate Continues

The US Embassy in Beijing -- where's the monitoring station?

The war of words continues between Beijing and the United States consulate over air quality.

Since 2008, the US embassy has posted air quality readings in the capital on Twitter, stating the PM 2.5 reading and advising if it was safe or not for people to go outdoors. It has more than 19,000 followers.

The postings led to local residents wondering who was correct as there was a big discrepancy between the American and Chinese air quality readings. And only this year did China start releasing its PM or particulate matter readings of less than 2.5 micrometres in size, about 1/30th the width of a human hair.

In the end, this past March, the Xinhua News Agency reported the Chinese government aimed to cut PM 2.5 levels by 15 percent by 2015 compared with 2010 levels.

But will China meet its own targets?

Which is perhaps why it has fired the latest salvo in the air quality debate by telling foreign embassies to stop publishing data on air pollution levels in the country, saying only the Chinese government has the sole authority to do so.

In a briefing today, Wu Xiaoqing, a vice minister of environmental protection said foreign embassies releasing such data were interfering in China's internal affairs. He did not specify the US, but its consulates publish hourly pollution readings in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

Wu said the monitoring and publication of data on air quality involves the public's interests and falls under the "authority of the government," Wu said. "We hope that individual consulates in China respect China's relevant laws and regulations and stop publishing the unrepresentative air quality information."

In response, US Embassy spokesperson Richard Buangan said in a statement the readings are "an unofficial resources for the health of the consulate community."

Meanwhile Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin waded into the debate, saying in a briefing in Beijing that embassies can measure air pollution and give the information to their staff, but not broadcast it on the internet.

The US Embassy readings are taken from one monitoring station within the consulate and follows the pollution level rating according to the US Environmental Protection Agency which is more stringent than the Chinese one.

It's quite amusing to see the Chinese government trying to use the "authority" card in this latest round of the air quality debate.

But really, whose readings are people going to believe? China or the US?

Strange Coincidence

An interesting side note to June 4 was that China's censors blocked the term "Shanghai stock market" on weibo or popular microblogs yesterday because the index fell to 64.89 points on the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown.

Another bizarre twist is that the Shanghai Composite Index opened at 2346.98 points, which is June 4, 1989 backwards.

Perhaps the Chinese markets are trying to tell us something?