Your irregular China round-up

[Junkenstein]

http://en.rocketnews24.com/2013/04/21/chinese-woman-on-trial-for-killing-man-by-squeezing-his-scrotum/

On 8 April, the trial began for a woman accused of killing a man in an excruciating fashion.

It all started on 19 April of the previous year. The suspect was picking up her child when she parked an electric bike in front of a shop. The man running the shop came out and shouted "you're blocking my business!"

The resulting argument must have gotten pretty heated as it resulted in the mother clutching the shopkeeper's testicles in her vice-like grip.


As she held the man in a nut lock, witnesses reported her to have shouted, "I'll squeeze it to death, you'll never have children again!"

Apparently she didn't know how right she was, because soon after the man went into shock from the pain. Paramedics rushed to the scene and treated the victim but he was soon pronounced dead.

With the trial ongoing, the result may hinge on the woman's alleged statement of "squeeze it to death." Depending on how it's interpreted, she may be convicted of murder.

[P3nT4gR4m]

Dude showed remarkable restraint, imo. I have a no-hitting-women policy but I think if I was getting my junk squeezed hard enough to kill me I'd be unable to stick to it

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

http://en.rocketnews24.com/2013/04/21/chinese-woman-on-trial-for-killing-man-by-squeezing-his-scrotum/

On 8 April, the trial began for a woman accused of killing a man in an excruciating fashion.

It all started on 19 April of the previous year. The suspect was picking up her child when she parked an electric bike in front of a shop. The man running the shop came out and shouted "you're blocking my business!"

The resulting argument must have gotten pretty heated as it resulted in the mother clutching the shopkeeper's testicles in her vice-like grip.


As she held the man in a nut lock, witnesses reported her to have shouted, "I'll squeeze it to death, you'll never have children again!"

Apparently she didn't know how right she was, because soon after the man went into shock from the pain. Paramedics rushed to the scene and treated the victim but he was soon pronounced dead.

With the trial ongoing, the result may hinge on the woman's alleged statement of "squeeze it to death." Depending on how it's interpreted, she may be convicted of murder.

So, I'm not even going to bother researching this one. I'm just going to point out that it hits every single completely classic flag for fake news.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

http://en.rocketnews24.com/2013/04/21/chinese-woman-on-trial-for-killing-man-by-squeezing-his-scrotum/

On 8 April, the trial began for a woman accused of killing a man in an excruciating fashion.

It all started on 19 April of the previous year. The suspect was picking up her child when she parked an electric bike in front of a shop. The man running the shop came out and shouted "you're blocking my business!"

The resulting argument must have gotten pretty heated as it resulted in the mother clutching the shopkeeper's testicles in her vice-like grip.


As she held the man in a nut lock, witnesses reported her to have shouted, "I'll squeeze it to death, you'll never have children again!"

Apparently she didn't know how right she was, because soon after the man went into shock from the pain. Paramedics rushed to the scene and treated the victim but he was soon pronounced dead.

With the trial ongoing, the result may hinge on the woman's alleged statement of "squeeze it to death." Depending on how it's interpreted, she may be convicted of murder.

Nice source.

[Junkenstein]

Factual, Interesting, Amusing.

I can do 2 out of 3.

Sometimes.

You should all be thankful I manage to make 1 out of 3 any of the fucking time. Ungrateful heathens.

[Cain]

There's been a bit too much of this on PD, lately.

I am considering making an UNLIMITED I DON'T CHECK MY NEWSOURCES thread, to name and shame offenders.  Thoughts?

[Junkenstein]

I'd encourage it, I've been pretty lazy checking sources of late.

Above, for example, I just didn't. Copy-paste-post. Cheap laugh, next thing. Not the best of attitudes.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

There's been a bit too much of this on PD, lately.

I am considering making an UNLIMITED I DON'T CHECK MY NEWSOURCES thread, to name and shame offenders.  Thoughts?

Very yes.

[LMNO]

Yes very much yes very much.

[Cain]

I am amused, for more than one reason:

A failing student who tried to bribe his tutor while carrying a loaded air pistol has been jailed for 12 months.

Yang Li, 26, placed £5,000 in cash on the professor's table but when he was told to leave, the gun fell from his pocket.

Sentencing Li at Bristol Crown Court, Judge Michael Longman told him the weapon had caused "fear" and "alarm".

Li, who admitted bribery and possessing an imitation firearm, was also ordered to pay £4,800 in costs.

The court heard the innovation and technology management masters student had arranged the meeting with his University of Bath professor on 23 November.

I am amused mostly because I know more than a few people who went to the University of Bath, and I am going to use this to troll their Facebook feeds about the quality of students accepted there.

Also, doing it wrong.  You give £50,000 to the head of department as an endowment via your father, sans imitation firearms, if you want to go about bribing a University in the UK.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

There's been a bit too much of this on PD, lately.

I am considering making an UNLIMITED I DON'T CHECK MY NEWSOURCES thread, to name and shame offenders.  Thoughts?

YESSSSS

I expect better of folks here. I have to be constantly on guard for stupidity everywhere else in my life, this is the place I come to to relax a little, under the assumption that everyone has their critical-thinking cap on.

[Junkenstein]

Somewhat related:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-22290746

Two Tibetan monks have died after setting themselves alight in southern China's Sichuan province, reports say.

The monks, aged 20 and 23, set themselves on fire at the Kirti monastery in Aba county, said Radio Free Asia and Free Tibet.

The monastery has been a focal point of protests in recent months.

More than 100 Tibetans, mostly young monks, have set themselves on fire since 2011 - many fatally - in apparent protest against Chinese rule.

The event isn't particualry new or even that uncommon. Just considering how long it will be until self immolation is classed as an act of terror.

[Cain]

Thus China's continued evolution towards a Mafia state continues:

Life as a Chinese government official isn't what it used to be. Lavish, liquor-heavy banquets have been outlawed. It will soon be harder to get those handy military license plates, useful for avoiding hassle from traffic police. And these days, with China's army of voracious and ever-watchful bloggers, every inappropriate smile, public temper tantrum, or luxury watch collection soon gets seen by the entire country.

In the last two weeks, two Chinese officials have mysteriously died after being detained by authorities under the party's internal discipline system, shuanggui. The family of Jia Jiuxiang, vice president of a court in Henan province, said Jia turned up badly bruised at a local hospital after being detained for 11 days. He died on the morning of April 25.

A week ago, a Chinese official by the name of Yu Qiyi died after arriving in a local hospital in Zhejiang province beaten, with blood coming out of his nose and ears . Chinese state media said Yu had "suffered an accident" while being questioned by party discipline officials. In both cases, reports said the officials were being investigated for corruption, but no more details were given.

Jia and Yu are just two examples of many more officials subject to shuanggui, which translates roughly as "double regulation," a way of keeping cadres in check that is essentially a separate, opaque, judicial system just for party and government officials.

Now, more officials may be at risk under an anti-corruption campaign launched by China's new leader Xi Jinping. The party appointed one of its most well-respected officials, Wang Qishan, as head of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), which implements the shuanggui -- a sign some have taken to mean a serious crackdown is underway. Authorities say they have investigated over 660,000 officials over the past five years.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Wow. 

[I_Kicked_Kennedy]

What scares me about this is that it is usually indicative of a power structure that is slowly losing its grip. Look at corruption in the states. Fewer bodies (for the most part). If you step out of line, you either end up on page six with a torrid homosexual affair "brought to light", or you find yourself on the main page of CNN after suffering a "mental breakdown", or some financial structure cashes in their chips and empties out your war chest. If the tentacles truly do reach every pipe; it's real easy to cut you off without too much blood.

Usually, they'll even take the plata o plomo approach, which is "hey, you can leave with a few bucks in your pocket, a private "consulting" practice, and a nice place in West Virginia if you hold a press conference and claim you want to spend more time with family. Just play the game, and no one ends up face down in puke on a curb in Kenilworth.

The reason why this scares me is because, as someone with a lot of friends still working in the Shanghai area, there is an increasingly tense unrest in the population, formerly reserved to the young adult demo. At the same time, a large part of the anti-government sentiment comes from those of the NeoMaoist disposition, which is slowly gaining a foothold in the growing industrial class. It's one thing when the government is keeping tabs on a specific group of people, but when there's multiple agitators, with some crossover in areas, it's much harder to do so.

Plus, the things they would need to do to appease these groups would be the direct undoing of the structure. The technology industry has, historically, been funded by having at least a tangential interest in improving the surveillance apparatus which is, by all accounts, massive. To accept the terms and open up the Great Firewall of China would put hundreds of thousands of very intelligent Chinese who have add direct access to a lot of sensitive info on the street, looking for the highest bidder. If they were to appease the Maoists by redistributing the assets of the insanely rich ogliarchy, they would lose the support of many well-financed industries, moving millions of jobs to the DPRK, Vietnam, or anywhere they can get cheap labor... Not to mention the fact many members of the politburo are either the ogliarchs themselves, or reliant upon their backing.

It becomes a ticking time bomb, and too much of the world economy has made themselves dependent on a semi-stable but corrupt China. If one too many heads roll, the cards fall down, and not a single economy won't lose a large amount of their trade in the process.

My friend just wrote a 40 page doc on the coming Great Fall of China. I don't know if I can get access to anything other than the abstract, but if I do, I'll be sure to put it here. He's having trouble getting it published because many replies have come back with a similar "...great work, but is it possible the publication would be the straw that breaks the camel's back? As a scholarly journal, we don't intend to play such an influential role..." (Translation - "Our board of directors could stand to lose serious funds if people buy into what you're saying.")

It's not just stories like the one Cain referenced. And it's not just the dangerous housing/infrastructure bubble. Watch carefully the way the commodities market is shifting. One of the unspoken understandings is China both relies upon and produces obscene percentages of the world's raw material. If the market starts raising or lowering prices at too fast a rate, China's currency will become increasingly difficult to manipulate which is, by all accounts, one of the pillars of their economy's power. Plus, the growth of personal savings is slowing (which, thanks to the nuked numbers suggests it may even be decreasing). Citation: http://www.cnbc.com/id/100678048

TL;DR - I think it would behoove us to keep an eye on some peculiar news coming out of China. They may be the cracks in foundation.