Produced by Ai Weiwei, this is a rousing portrait of Liu Ximei, an astonishingly resilient Aids activist; it also sheds light on a controversial government campaign that accelerated the epidemic in 1990s China. During the first half of the decade, poor farmers were encouraged to donate their blood in exchange for money. Due to a lack of health and safety standards, a staggering number of donors as well as those who received transfusions contracted HIV. In Ximei’s province of Henan, more than 300,000 villagers live with the debilitating effects of…
Tag: Society
London council rejects new Chinese embassy amid residents’ safety fears
London councillors have rejected plans for a new Chinese embassy, which would have been the largest diplomatic base in the UK, after residents and advocacy groups raised safety concerns. In a tense meeting, the Tower Hamlets council voted unanimously against the proposed development to move the current embassy to a 2-hectare (5-acre) site opposite the Tower of London. Local residents and advocacy groups, who feared being swept into protests, called the plans into question, saying they would endanger people’s lives. Simon Cheng, the founder of Hongkongers in Britain and a…
‘People want to live’: views from China on the Covid lockdown protests
Protests against China’s zero-Covid policy have continued in cities including Shanghai, Beijing and Chengdu. The protests are a remarkable expression of defiance in a country where this type of public dissent is rare. They often feature people holding up blank sheets of paper, symbolising censorship. Four people in various Chinese cities spoke to the Guardian on condition of anonymity to share their views on the protests. ‘I’ve seen very mixed reactions’ Yun*, living in Shanghai “We were at the protest in the heart of Shanghai from around 2pm [on Sunday]…
Canadian pop star Kris Wu sentenced to 13 years in jail for rape in China
A Beijing court has sentenced the Chinese-born Canadian pop star Kris Wu to 13 years in jail after finding him guilty of crimes including rape. The court in Chaoyang district said investigations showed that from November to December 2020, Wu, also known as Wu Yifan, raped three women. It also found him guilty of the crime of assembling a crowd to engage in sexual promiscuity in July 2018, the court’s official WeChat account said. It said Wu, 32, would be deported, although lawyers in China have said deportations typically take…
Chinese government attempts to boost birth rate with new policies
The Chinese government has pledged to improve pre- and post-natal services to encourage more people to have children and reiterated its intent to “discourage” abortions as it seeks to turn around a declining birth rate. The measures announced by the country’s national health commission include a pledge to make fertility treatments more accessible. For several years authorities have flagged expanding IVF access to single women but it remains available only to married couples. A court challenge by a woman was recently struck down. The commission said it would guide local…
China mobilises to control latest Covid outbreak – in pictures
Country steps up efforts to control a surge in coronavirus cases as it tries to maintain its zero Covid policy. Major cities such as Shenzhen and Changchun have been locked down as Covid cases hit a two-year high. Nearly 90% of new infections are in Jilin province, while tens of millions of people across the country remain confined to their homes The Guardian
‘It’s like we are being left to die’: Hong Kong tackles deadliest Covid wave
Staff meetings are often mundane affairs and rarely end in tears. But on Wednesday Ho Hiu-fai, the accident and emergency chief at Hong Kong’s Queen Elizabeth hospital, broke down in front of his team. “It has been so hard for our colleagues to hold up this past month,” he could be heard saying in a video, shortly after the hospital was converted into a Covid treatment facility and 400 non-Covid patients were transferred elsewhere. <gu-island name="EmbedBlockComponent" deferuntil="visible" props="{"html":"","isTracking":true,"isMainMedia":false,"source":"Facebook","sourceDomain":"facebook.com"}” readability=”3″> Allow Facebook content? This article includes content provided by Facebook. We…
Nearly 30% think China likely to have spread Covid on purpose, UK poll finds
More than a quarter of people believe Covid-19 was likely to have been a biological weapon intentionally spread by the Chinese state, according to a new UK poll highlighting the spread of conspiracy theories. The findings are contained in a major report by the campaign group Hope Not Hate (HNH) warning that the rise of Covid conspiracy theories and the antilockdown movement are recruiting young people to far-right ideas and movements. It also says the economic hardship of the past year and worries about the future have created an environment…
‘A new culture’: discovery in China reveals ochre processing in east Asia up to 41,000 years ago
A 40,000-year-old archaeological site in northern China has unearthed the earliest evidence of ochre processing in east Asia, researchers say. The site was discovered at Xiamabei in the Nihewan Basin, in the northern Chinese province of Hebei. Ochre pieces and tools found in the area suggest that the clay earth pigment was processed there, via grinding and pounding, to produce powders of different colours and grain sizes. Near lumps of ochre, archaeologists unearthed a hammer stone as well as a flat limestone slab that showed signs of battering. In a…
China’s dating shows for over-65s challenge taboos about older people and sex
Standing before the studio audience the slim older man holds a microphone in front of his blue polo shirt, buttoned to the neck. Wang Qingming seems a little nervous as he faces his prospective date, a formidable looking woman with long black hair piled in a loose bun, her name tag obscured. “What bad habits do you have?” he asks. “I’m hungry,” she replies to laughter. “But no mahjong, no smoking, no drinking.” Asked about her health the woman says her physical condition is good, “but I can’t get pregnant…