Loading
Dec 19

By BI Yantao, China

Today(December 19), Lianhe Zaobao (《联合早报》), a mainstream Chinese newspaper based in Singapore, reported that since this October on, teachers in Sichuan, Chongqing, Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Hunan, Hubei, Guangdong went on strike to demand a salary raise.

Dec 19

毕研韬(中国)

自今年9月下旬以来,中国内地已有12个省(市、区)的教师举行大规模或较大规模的罢课、上访,要求提高工资。

据新加坡《联合早报》报道,12月18日,内蒙古赤峰市教师发出罢课倡议书,要求政府增加工资。罢课倡议书提到,“一直以来,教师的总体收入严重低于公务员。特别是公务员实行所谓‘阳光工资’,即绩效工资后,公务员绩效工资达到了年均3万5千元,而教师年均仅1万5000元。我们之间的工资差距更加扩大,同级别公务员工资收入甚至达到了教师的三倍。”

中国《教师法》规定:“教师的平均工资水平应当不低于或者高于国家公务员的平均工资水平,并逐步提高。”

博客ZOL列举了中国近期教师罢课的大致情况(日期:年/月/日):

2008.12.09 湖南省邵阳市大祥区教师罢课
2008.12.09 湖南省涟源市2000多教师罢课
2008.12.09 河南省洛阳市吉利区中小学教师自发请病假一天
2008.12.09 湖南省永州市双牌县教师集体到政府提交请愿书及抗议书
2008.12.09湖北省枝江教师罢课
2008.12.08陕西省汉中市城固县教师罢课
2008.12.05湖南省新邵教师罢课
2008.12.01湖南省邵东县3000教师大罢课
2008.12.01-03湖南省隆回县教师教师大罢课
2008.11.27内蒙古赤峰市宁城县教师罢课
2008.11.26湖北省武汉市汉南区教师罢课
2008.11.24陕西省宁强县数百教师上访
2008.11.24湖北省鄂州市梁子湖区教师罢课
2008.11.20江苏泰州泰兴部分学校罢课。
2008.11.18号四川省泸州市合江县先市中学、大桥学校、佛宝学校等罢课
2008.11.17湖南省娄底市新化县教师大罢课
2008.11.17广西自治区钦州市某幼儿园教师罢课
2008.11.13重庆市永川区退休教师上访
2008.11.13辽宁省葫芦岛市连山区教师罢课
2008.11.12湖南省娄底市娄星区500余名教师上访
2008.11.12湖北省潜江教师大罢课
2008.11.11湖北省潜江周矶中学罢课
2008.11.10重庆市永川区退休教师上访
2008.11.10四川省凉山州会理县罢课
2008.11.10陕西省安塞县教师罢课
2008.11.06湖南省永州市新田县教师大罢课
2008.11.04四川省宜宾市宜宾县教师大罢课 
2008.11.03陕西省汉中市西乡县教师大罢课
2008.11.03黑龙江省齐齐哈尔市铁锋区数百教师上访
2008.11.03广东省湛江市东海岛教师罢课
2008.11.01重庆市永川区退休教师上访
2008.11.01重庆市綦江县教师千人签名
2008.10月 四川省成都市武侯区机投中学罢课
2008.10.月份成都市武侯区也有学校罢课
2008.10.XX山东省新泰市青云办事处教师罢课 
2008.10.28重庆市江津区部分学校罢课
2008.10.28四川省马边彝族自治县的老师罢课
2008.10.27重庆市荣昌县小规模罢课
2008.10.27重庆市万州区部分学校罢课
2008.10.27福建省南平市政和县部分乡镇中学老师罢课
2008.10.24重庆市江津区退休教师上书请愿
2008.10.23重庆市綦江县教师大罢课
2008.10.23重庆市大足县小规模罢课
2008.10.23重庆市璧山县小规模罢课
2008.10.23四川省泸州市江阳区部分学校罢课
2008.10.22重庆市长寿区教师大罢课
2008.10.21四川省遂宁市大英县教师罢课 
2008.10.21四川省遂宁市安居区决山初中全校罢课
2008.10.17重庆市永川区教师全体大罢课
2008.10.15四川省绵竹大规模教师罢课
2008.10.13四川省什邡大规模教师罢课
2008.10.13四川省华蓥大规模老师罢课
2008.10.09四川省资中县大规模老师罢课   
2008.10.09四川省广安区老师罢课
2008.10.08重庆市铜梁县教师“非正常上访事件”
2008.10.07辽宁省大连长兴岛教师罢课 
2008.10.06四川邛崃大规模老师罢课
2008.09.23四川省郫县大规模老师罢课

Teachers Strikes Spread Across China

By BI Yantao, China

Since late September on, teachers in Sichuan, Chongqing, Inner Mongolia, Shannxi, Hunan, Hubei, Henan, Shandong, Guangdong, Heilongjiang, Fujian, Liaoning went on strike, demanding a salary raise. Both the central governments and the local governments across the country are on guard at the moment.

Dec 19

Would an Indian reporter write about Western savages eating the holly cows,
Or Muslim reporter write about Western infidels eating pigs?
Taking matters out of cultural context, this piece of “news” is aimed at nothing but to demonize and dehumanize China, typical craft of the free press spin master.

======================================================================
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081219/ap_on_re_as/as_china_cat_protest

* China pet lovers protest cats as food Slideshow: China pet lovers protest cats as food
By WILLIAM FOREMAN, Associated Press Writer William Foreman, Associated Press Writer – Thu Dec 18, 9:06 pm ET

GUANGZHOU, China – While animal lovers in Beijing protested the killing of cats for food on Thursday, a butcher in Guangdong province — where felines are the main ingredient in a famous soup — just shrugged her shoulders and wielded her cleaver. “Cats have a strong flavor. Dogs taste much better, but if you really want cat meat, I can have it delivered by tomorrow,” said the butcher, who gave only her surname, Huang.

It was just this attitude that outraged about 40 cat lovers who unfurled banners in a tearful protest outside the Guangdong government office in Beijing. Many were retirees who care for stray felines they said were being rounded up by dealers.

“We must make them correct this uncivilized behavior,” said Wang Hongyao, who represented the group in submitting a letter urging the provincial government to crack down on traders and restaurants, although they were breaking no laws.

The protest was the latest clash between age-old traditions and the new sensibilities made possible by China\’s growing affluence. Pet ownership was once rare because the Communist Party condemned it as bourgeois and most people simply couldn’t afford a cat or dog.

The protesters’ indignation was whipped up by recent reports in Chinese newspapers about the cat meat industry. On Monday, the Southern Metropolis Daily — a Guangdong paper famous for its exposes and aggressive reporting — ran a story that said about 1,000 cats were transported by train to Guangdong each day.

The animals came from Nanjing, a major trading hub for cats, the newspaper said. They were brought to market by dealers on motorcycles, crammed into wooden crates and sent to Guangdong on trains. A photo showed a cat with green eyes peering from a crowded crate.

Some people in Nanjing spend their days “fishing for cats,” often stealing pets, the report said.

One cat owner in Guanghzou said people are afraid to let their pets leave the house for fear they will get nabbed.

“It’s never been this bad. Who knows, it might be because of the bad economy. I’ve heard that there are cat-nabbing syndicates from Hunan that are rounding up cats,” said the man, who would only give his surname, Lai, because he feared the cat business might be run by gangsters.

Animal protection groups have occasionally ambushed truck convoys loaded with bamboo cages filled with cats bound for Guangdong. In one recent case, hundreds of cats escaped after their cages were opened, though hundreds more remained penned in the vehicle.

Lai Xiaoyu, who was involved in the attempted “rescue,” said authorities couldn’t stop the cat shipment because the traders said the animals were to be raised as pets.

“The police did what they could, but there’s little they can do to stop or punish those traders from shipping live animals,” Lai said.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, issued a statement Thursday decrying the cruel treatment.

“China has no animal protection laws, and throughout the country scores of cats and dogs are bred or rounded up, crammed onto trucks and driven for days under hellish conditions to animal markets, where they are beaten to death, strangled or boiled alive,” said a spokesman for the group, Michael V. McGraw.

Guangdong is home to the Cantonese people, famous for being the most adventurous eaters in China. There\’s a popular saying: “The Cantonese will eat anything that flies, except airplanes, and anything with legs, except a chair.”

Zhu Huilian, a nutrition and food safety professor at Sun Yat-Sen University in Guangdong’s capital, Guangzhou, said people usually eat cat in restaurants, not at home.

“There’s a famous soup called ‘Dragon, Tiger and Phoenix,'” Zhu said. “It involves cooking snake, cat and chicken together. In winter more people eat cats as they believe it’s extra nutritious.”

The wide-ranging Cantonese culinary tastes are on display daily in Guangzhou, also known as Canton, in the Qing Ping Market. Shopkeepers sit behind cages full of writhing snakes, tubs with turtles and plastic basins with mounds of scorpions crawling over each other.

That’s where the butcher, Huang, sells her meat, sliced on a blood-soaked cutting board in a stall filled with cages of chickens and rabbits.

Hanging on a hook from its head — with its snout cut cleanly off — was a skinned dog with a long curly tail, paws with small clumps of fur still on them and black claws. The dog’s jaw bone was displayed in a metal tray beneath the carcass.

“The cat meat we sell comes from legitimate sources,” said Huang, who gave only her surname because her boss doesn’t allow her to speak to reporters. “It’s from cat farms. The animals are raised the same way cows are.”

She said cat meat sold for about $1.32 a pound, while dog meat was cheaper, at about 95 cents a pound. Chicken was the best buy at 62 cents a pound, while lamb sold for about $1.32.

Huang said customers had to order cat meat a day in advance because it doesn’t sell as well as dog.

“Cat tastes a bit like lamb. I don’t like it much,” she said. “Young cats are tender, but the meat on the older ones is really tough. Usually old people like eating it.”

___

Associated Press writer Gillian Wong in Beijing, researchers Xi Yue in Beijing and Ji Chen in Shanghai, and Carley Petesch in New York contributed to the report.