Officials deceive woman into having sterilization operation

Posted on 2019-04-07 by wrchina

Author: WRIC Volunteer: Tan Chunsheng . Aug, 2013

Luo was born in 1983 in Guangxi province, China. She was married and moved to her husband’s village within Anqing City, Anhui province in 2001. She gave birth to a boy in 2002 and a girl in 2006. The family was poor. Ms. Luo’s husband was unemployed. The burden fell entirely on her shoulders. Ms. Luo was a migrant worker for long periods of time.

At midnight, January 30, 2007, while she was home for the Chinese New Year holiday, Ms. Luo was taken by officials including the village leader, Women’s League commissioner and Birth Planning officials into a vehicle. The officials and agents brought her to the county seat for a sterilization operation. The tubal ligation procedure was hurriedly done under the name of another woman of the village. The officials deceived Ms. Luo that if the operation was done in other people’s names, she would not have to pay the expenses. As a result, Ms. Luo didn’t even receive her own certificate of sterilization.

Photos: WRIC Yao Cheng was interview Lu’s husband and his mother. (Photos WRIC)

A woman in Ms. Luo’s village, Fang, had two daughters at the time. In order to have a son, Fang conspired with the village mayor to avoid the required sterilization. The mayor contacted Ms. Luo’s mother in law to propose using Ms. Luo as a substitute to meet the quota. If the family agreed, Fang was willing to foot the 2000 Yuan medical bill as an incentive. In truth, tubal ligations ordered by the Birth Planning Policy were paid for by the government. The suggestion of the mayor was a scam. The village authorities collected these fees solely for their own benefits. The mayor received money from Fang’s family for arranging the substitution, the precise amount of which was not disclosed by the parties.

Fang finally had a son in 2010. She had a sterilization operation. But it was not known whether the sterilization certificate carried Ms. Luo’s name. In the five years since the hurried midnight tubal ligation, Ms. Luo developed serious side effects. She had been in constant pain in the operated area. Her mother in law tried to visit the mayor many times. But the mayor claimed that hospital mistakes were not the jurisdiction of the village government. Because Ms. Luo did not receive the requisite sterilization certificate, she could not receive any welfare mandated by the Birth Planning Policy. She could not even receive a checkup on post-operation side effects. Ms. Luo’s husband was a member of an ethnic minority (Zhuang), which by law enjoyed more lenient Birth Planning Policy. However, Ms. Luo could not receive any such benefits but unfair treatment. She had suffered years of pain from post tubal ligation complications. Worse, she could not prove the complications were results of the operation as the certificate was in another person’s name.

I interviewed Ms. Luo, her husband and mother-in-law. The family was extremely poor. The only electronics were a fan and an old television. Hopefully it will be possible to provide her an OBGYN checkup and negotiate with the village Population Control Committee for the expenses of the medical treatment and a certificate of sterilization. If the village government refuses, then it would be necessary to find attorneys and enter the legal process.

Assist Baby Girls in Mountain Area

Posted on 2019-04-05 by wrchina

WRIC Yao Cheng March 8th, 2011

Over three months that the activity of WRIC is carried out in Feixi County, Anhui Province, it has been extended to four towns of Gaoliu, Gaodian, Gaoting and Mingchuan. On March 7th, WRIC volunteers came to Jinqiao Village, Guanting Town, which borders with Lu’an, to grant subsidies to female infants and pregnant women.

Jinqiao Village is located at the edge of Dabie Mountain., through which the Pihe River excavated artificially in 1950 s passes. It is in hilly area. Jinqiao Village, with more than 2800 people, is the poorest village in Feixi County. The villagers here live disperse. When we first came here, we couldn’t find a suitable place to distribute subsidies. So we chose village’s center, the village committee.

Helped baby girl of WRIC’s The Rural Baby Girl Assistance. (Program. Photo by Yao Cheng)

Because we informed them by telephone in advance, more than a dozen recipients of subsidies came here early. When they got the subsidies from our volunteers, they thought we were from the Family Planning Office of village. We explained that this was the money donated by some American non-profit organizations and benevolent people for the protection of baby girls. They told us that the Family Planning Office also has registered the data of baby girls and government would give them subsidies. But no one had received it. This made the village officers present very embarrassed.

There are neither good mountains nor farmlands. In order to maintain their livelihoods, most young and middle-aged people can only go out to work and do some hard work in the city. But they cannot earn much money. Family planning officer didn’t distribute subsidies for a long time. So it is very welcome for us to pay them money. Therefore, when I proposed to look the situation of the birth of infants, she also provided information actively and introduced the relevant situations.

The specialist cadres told us there are nine children were born in this village, seven boys and two girls. There is a big gap between genders. The work of family planning is more and more difficult to ddo. Almost of them are pregnant when working outside. Why are there so many boys and little girls? She didn’t know either. The situation of pregnancy cannot be accurately mastered. When we were distributing subsidies, a villager asked if we could give some subsidies to a legs-disabled woman. She had a disability certificate but could not get the disability allowance. I immediately called a disabled friend in Hefei. He told me clearly that as long as she had a disability certificate, the government would definitely have subsidy for her. The reason why she didn’t receive it was probably that the village withheld it. I asked the specialist about it. She answered that she couldn’t receive both minimum living allowance and disability allowance.

Since I started the girl assistance program, I have visited many village committees. I have always been unclear about the sources of funds of village cadres for organizing tourism and drinking. The village does not belong to the first-level government departments. It should be said their funds are limited. The minimum living allowances are also allocated according to proportion of the population. Such as that disabled person, she occupies a quota of minimum living allowance. Then the village can withhold her disability allowance. In fact, she can receive disability allowance and give her minimum living allowance to another family. However, the village took her disability allowance as the funding of the village committee. In addition, I believe the government must have allocated the subsidies for families with girls. I have read the registration form, which is complete. Because the villagers are honest, they dare not ask for village cadres every day, or the cadres excuse them that the subsidies are not ready. Then it will be end with nothing.

Corruption of village cadres is a very serious problem in China, not only in Wukan, but also in almost all village committees throughout the country. The poorer the village, the more serious it is.

Women’s Rights in China Ten Years Anniversary Forum

Posted on 2017-09-23 by wrchina

By WRIC September 23,2017

In 2005, a series of pictures of children and elderly cooking and feasting on an infant’s corpse was spread on the internet: a tiny body washed, the serene body laid upon a chopping board with expensive Chinese medicine, an grotesque man next to a small pot placed on the fire…the last picture was the whole family sitting around the table chewing on the meat with the skin, and drinking the soup…experienced journalist Jing Zhang was in great shock. Not long after, she came upon the reports of two girls who had their uterus forcibly removed by Nantong Orphanage. The orphanage supervisor justified his actions by claiming it was a burden to clean up during their menstruation and that it would prevent them from getting pregnant. He said the same practice was common throughout the country. Journalists subsequently uncovered lists of female orphans who had been victimized by the procedure. Jing, working in the media in New York at that time, vowed to fight with all she could for the rights of girls like them in China. After a chance conversation with human rights activist Gao Yu, Jing was inspired in 2007 to found Women’s Rights in China, an NGO devoted to defend the rights of persecuted women and children in China and advocate for their welfare and a more just society.

After extensive research, WRIC found that the cruel, systemic and long-lasting Family Planning Policy was at the root of the disastrous state of women’s rights in China. It has led to widespread gender imbalance, population aging and child trafficking. It has produced in effect the greatest massacre by casualty count in human history. It is therefore, the job of Women’s Rights in China to assist women, children and their families who were in the crosshairs of the government policy, particularly in the Chinese countryside, to fight against forced abortions and human trafficking in the past decade.

Ann Noonan(Right 2), Executive Director Committee for U.S. International Broadcasting presented WRIC with a commemorative plaque.

Writer Eva was speaking.

Ann Noonan was speaking.

Lawyer Teng Biao was speaking.

Yao Cheng was speaking.

Chen Liqun was speaking.

Jing Zhang was speaking.

Human Rights Crisis, Wukan Villager in DC Calls for Aid

Posted on 2016-10-23 by wrchina

Source: WRIC Translation: Xu, Wen Oct 18, 2016 Washington DC

On October 17, 2016, Zhuang Liehong, former Wukan Village Autonomy Committee Member, and Yao Cheng, Mainland Project Leader of Women’s Rights in China (WRIC) came to Washington DC seeking attentions on the Human Rights crisis in Wukan Village. Three seminars were conducted in three different departments: The Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, & Labor in US Department of State, The National Endowment for Democracy (NED), and The Congress – China issue related departments.

During these meetings, detailed accounts of the turmoil and current decline of Human Rights in Wukan was discussed. Villager Mr. Zhuang explained that beginning in 2011, government officials confiscated land from the villagers and sold it to real estate developers without permission or proper compensation. Villagers petitioned, but got no response. Eventually protests ensued, forcing out local authorities and forming the Wukan Village Autonomy Committee. Since then, this small fishing village has been under constant scrutiny and suppressions. In 2012 and 2016, it suffered two large-scale armed crackdowns by the government authorities.

Zhuang Liehong and Yao Cheng in Washington DC,October 17, 2016

Zhuang said, “Wukan village is currently in a total blockade, like a big prison.” Streets are swarmed with armed police officers and plainclothes. Anyone comes in and out of the village has to go through security and almost no outsiders are able to enter Wukan. The villagers have no farmland to cultivate and no business patronized. Some families are in poverty, living on food and money sent by their friends and relatives. Networks are totally blocked not only in Wukan, but also several nearby villages. More than 70 people are arrested and their whereabouts unknown. During the armed crackdown on Sept 13^th, an eighty-year-old woman was shot and her life is still uncertain; a woman was beaten and injured her spine will suffer a life-long paralysis; more than 100 people injured in the crackdown are not getting treatment from the government and cannot afford it themselves.

Living in this free nation, being the only Wukan villager that can speak up, Zhuang said that he still gets threat from the Chinese government. Zhuang was choked by personnel at the Chinese Consulate in New York, while trying to submit a petition letter to Premier Li Keqiang, during the United Nations General Assembly. The Chinese police even called Zhuang to warn him from any further activism, threatening him with his father in Chinese detention center.

Zhuang called on the US government, Congress and the international community to concern about the Wukan villagers and the Human Rights crisis in Wukan; to pressure Chinese government on releasing the arrested protesters, giving injured villagers free treatment, withdrawing the riot police, restoring the network, and returning lands to the villagers, so that villagers can live no longer under fear.

Mr. Yao Cheng stressed in his speech that as the first and only village forced out the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership, and elected their own leadership committee, Wukan not only set an example for land right activism, but also made a historical breakthrough on democratic election under the rule of CCP in mainland China. The two major armed crackdowns were essentially a serious violation of democracy, human rights and universal values.

Yao Cheng agreed with Zhuang Liehong on locking down Hu Chunhua, Secretary of the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee, as the main responsibility person of the second main suppression (2016). He also addressed that the previous secretary Wang Yang was no better. The reason he compromised on the legitimacy of Wukan Autonomous Committee, at the first suppression (2012), was only because over 100 foreign reporters from stayed in the village at that time. It is proved that the compromise of Wang Yang was just a delaying tactic. This time when Hu Chunhua moved troops from Huizhou to suppress the riot in Wukan, his main attention was to get his way in the 19th National Congress of the CCP. The troop captured the Committee leaders in the middle of the night, cut the networks and cut the foreign media from coming in the village. When the riot broke out, Hu commanded the police to use rubber bullets, tear gas, and even a more powerful blast bomb, leaving several villagers with bloody backs and faces.

During the seminar, Yao Cheng introduced the non-government organization WRIC, and its human right projects in mainland China. He said that after the outbreak of Wukan protests in 2011, Su Changlan and Chen Qitang, WRIC members in Guangdong timely followed up with the status in the village. They were found and restricted by the local police when they tried to enter the village. Under such situation, Yao was sent into Wukan by WRIC, where he witnessed thrilling scenes. After the Wukan protests, Xi government strengthened supervision and suppression on NGOs, and arrested another four WRIC members while Su and Chen were remaining under detention.

WRIC is very concerned of Wukan protests because women were the group of people injured most in the suppression. Majority of men in Wukan village (population 13,000) work outside of the village, leaving the village with mostly elderly, women and children residents. During the armed crackdown, women had to be the main force to fight back and protect their family.

Yao Cheng met Zhuang Liehong in New York. When the second crackdown happened on Sept. 13^th this year, WRIC committed to assist Zhuang Liehong on submitting an open letter to the UN, and petitioning to Chinese Premier Li Keqiang during his attendance at the UN General Assembly. Zhang Jing, founder of the WRIC gave advice on the petition and contacted media. Yao Cheng accompanied Mr. Zhuang for four consecutive days walking around Warldorf Hotel and the Chinese Consulate General in New York seeking opportunities to get contact with Li Keqiang. On October 4^th at the seminar held by NYU discussing Wukan related issues, Yao introduced the current condition in Wukan. Today, he again accompanied Mr. Zhuang to Washington DC to join discussions with the US government and Congress on the Wukan issue. Yao Cheng hopes that the US can put some pressure on Chinese government to release the arrested villagers and other NGO members, give back villagers their farmland, and give back the villager a normal peaceful life. He believed that only under the international attention and pressures that can Wukan situation is likely to be improved.

YYao Cheng also called for the release of WRIC’s volunteers Su, Changlan, Chen,Qitang.

Reluctant Brides in Slavery of China

Posted on 2016-03-27 by wrchina

Children are kidnapped easily from playgrounds, schools, and even outside of houses. Chinese traffickers snatch young girls and even babies from their parents and sell them illegally. In China, boys outnumber girls by 118:100 due to one-child policy. As a result of the one-child, girls were therefore often aborted or – hardly born – killed.

Decades of practice led to the world’s largest surplus of men, which is noticeable especially in the rural areas of China. There are villages where for years no wedding took place because there are lack of unmarried women.

ZDF correspondent Nicola Albrecht accompanied Yao Cheng for more than a year. Yao worked since 2007 for an organization called Women’s Rights in China to rescue abducted girls and women. He repeatedly visited villages where a lack of awareness that trafficking in women is a crime. For his work Yao was declared by the Chinese Government as a Public Enemy. Although the government in propaganda films staged their own success in the fight against human trafficking, Yao was still monitored by the security agencies and even put into prison regularly. “The government covered up because the whole world was shocked when the dimension of the problem would be made public,” said Yao.

WRIC Volunteers Find the Abducted 23-Year Girl Elisa

Posted on 2015-08-18 by wrchina

Article by WRIC Hui Li Translator by Anna Li July 23, 2015

On August 6, 2011, Yao Cheng(Tan Chunsheng), a mainland worker involved with WRIC, saw on a personal website with an article about a missing person named Chen Jie. During September 2013, Yao Cheng was discharged from jail for 1 year 10 months after helping Zhang Anne escape to the United States. After he went home, he found that many people on the Internet left him a message, one included a lady, Tan Shaoping who believes she is actually Chen Jie. From the photograph she provided after her abduction, Yao Cheng also believed that she is the missing child in the pictures on the article. As a result, Yao Cheng helped both sides communicate.

To further verify the accuracy of both sides, on July 14, Yao Cheng brought Chen Jie’s parents to Hefei, (Chen Jie lives in the Dabie Mountain area in Anqing Susong County, Anhui Province, which from Hefei is also three one hundred kilometers or so). After, both sides talked through video chat.

On July 16, Wu Julian couple, eager to find their daughter Chen Jianhua, rushed to Huizhou. Both parties went through another round of verification, which showed that Tan Shaoping is Chen Jianhua, the daughter of the Wu Julian couple that was abducted 23 years ago. On July 24, Tan Shaoping returned to Jiro Susong County in Anhui Province. The village folks warmly welcomed the family back. WRIC volunteers also went to celebrate.

It is worth mentioning that, since 2013, WRIC volunteers in mainland China are basically gone. Yao Cheng was just released from prison while Su Changlan and Tianli are in custody, I lost my freedom to interact with others and was closely monitored by the police several times. Meanwhile, Tao Cheng found Gao Xiaojun who work in Hangzhou and Fang Yan who work in Shenzhen, hoping they will volunteer as WRIC volunteers to finish this search.

Both women did not hesitate to contribute to this case and smoothly helped the parties to complete the DNA tests.

WRIC admire the two volunteers who helped with love and dedication and without fear, they are our true heroes. Let us go hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder, to go against human trafficking and help more families find their loved ones.

In Chinese version: http://wrchina.org/archives/4343

Photo: Chen Jie returned back to her family and saw her long lost mother. (Photo by WRIC)

Photo: Chen Jie meets her long lost father as well. (Photo by WRIC)

Hefei Province “Public Disturbance” Case Begins

Posted on 2014-08-08 by wrchina

Source: Women’s Rights in China volunteer Translated by: Qing Zhang Aug 8,2014

Last February, officials escorted Chinese dissident Lin Zhang’s daughter, Anni, away from her elementary school and detained her for several hours. When three activists, Huapin Li, Cheng Yao and Weilin Zhou held a rally for Anni’s right to return to school, they were arrested for creating a public disturbance. Today at 9 am at Shushan’s district court, the three activists’ hearing began. The local prosecutor’s office has charged them with planning and organizing dissident activity. Both Yao and Zhou have pleaded not guilty. The hearing adjourned at one o’clock without a clear sentence.

During last year’s rally to support Xiao Anni Zhang’s right to return to school, the Ministry of Public Security detained Yao and Zhou on two separate occasions. But in the middle of last July, Yao secretly brought Anni and her older sister, Ruli, to the US Consulate in Shanghai to seek asylum. The two girls were granted visas and boarded a plane to the States, where they were invited to stay in the home of Reggie Littlejohn, the founder and president of the NGO Woman’s Rights Without Borders. The rescue operation was carried out by Littlejohn, Woman’s Rights in China founder, Jing Zhang, and Anne Noonan, the executive director of the Committee for US International broadcasting. Yao was arrested soon after, and as of now is still in custody.

Currently, Lin Zhang’s case has been postponed twice, and is set to reconvene on August 19th receive sentencing. Huapin Li’s case has also been postponed.

This photo is of Cheng Yao and Anni Zhang, a month before the latter was safely brought to the States. (Photo credit Cheng Yao of Woman Rights in China)

Swiss National Television Interviews WRIC Volunteer

Posted on 2014-01-02 by wrchina

Author： WRIC Translated by Alexandra Khoo 11-26-2013

On 28 August 2013, Swiss National Television went to Hefei, a city in Anhui province, for an exclusive interview with Yao Cheng, a WRIC volunteer who campaigns for women and children’s rights. They also interviewed a child bride, originally from Putien city in Fujian province, who was working in Hefei.

On August,313 2013, Yao Cheng (right) accompanies little Anne (right) as she accepts a Boxun reporter’s interview and explains her schooling situation.

Yao Cheng said that for the past six years, through dozens of searches, WRIC has found the biological parents of over twenty abducted or abandoned individuals, and has been helping thousands of children and their families. In recent years, help has especially been extended to Putien child brides in search of their biological parents. WRIC has also greatly assisted monastery orphans and enabled interviews and reports for various foreign media outlets. It is precisely for this reason that WRIC has suffered government suppression.

Yao Cheng told Swiss National Television that the next move is to step up the search for Putien child brides’ biological parents given that many of them are at risk of passing away. This makes the hope of reunion dimmer with time. The situation is also worsening for girls who live in monasteries: They may be forcibly transferred to welfare centers after seven Chinese ministries jointly prohibited private orphanages in June this year. For the second time, these girls may lose what they know as home.

The interview was successfully conducted in the outskirts of Hebei and later set in Yao Cheng’s residence within the city. However, during the journey, the television crew had an unknown car hitting their rented car thrice consecutively. No one was hurt in the incident.

A child bride from Putien, Fujian province indicated the clothing she had on when she was sent to her foster parents.（Photo by WRIC）

During the interview, Yao Cheng invited a child bride from Fujian who currently works in Anhui to share her story.（Photo by WRIC）

The “Only-Child, Second Birth” Policy Can’t Conceal the Real Violation of Human Rights

Posted on 2013-12-18 by wrchina

By WRIC Jing Zhang 12-17-2013

（Chinese version shall prevail : http://www.wrchina.org/archives/2269）

The Chinese Communist Party’s announced a new policy in which couples with a only child will be allowed to have two children at the end of the Third Plenary Session in November 2013 drew immense coverage from both domestic and international media. The new policy stipulates that married couples in which one member with an only child will be allowed to raise two children. Many believe that it’s a sign that implementations of the 34-year-old family planning policy have been relaxed, and that it will benefit city-dwellers who wish to raise a second child. On the surface, the new policy isn’t targeted at any special demographic but the reality is that this “fine-tuning” does not benefit three large groups of people: most of the ≈900 million-strong rural population, as well as ethnic minorities in distant regions. The benefits of the new policy don’t affect them practically. Furthermore, the authorities aren’t reviewing the effects of the human rights disaster on women, girls, and families that the 34 years of the one-child policy have brought on them. It is especially unfair to the majority of women.

China’s rural villages have a large amount of land but few people. Their levels of education fall behind urban regions, their economy is impoverished, and government investment ranges from little to none. As a result, the history of the family planning policy in rural villages is different from the cities. Even during the 80s, when enforcement of the policy was at its strictest, rural couples that gave birth to a girl could wait a period of time (often 3-5 years) and have a second child. Because of misogynistic cultural attitudes, rural families would often take any opportunity to have more than one child. They were willing to endure arrests, the confiscation of assets, immense fines, forced abortions, and other threats. These “societal raising fees” (in reality, fines) charged for “illegal” births became a key source of revenue for local authorities. In 2013, 14 women lawyers jointly requested each province to publicly share how these “fees” were used. According to incomplete estimates, “societal raising fees” amounted to over 20 billion RMB nation-wide. Clearly, the rural population of China (over 70% of the entire population) must be paying the bulk of these “societal raising fees.” Those rural children who grew up after the 70s and 80s, and whose parents paid immense fines to the government for, are now an affordable, yet quality labor force in China. Factories and “dirty” industries have imported many of them to work in the cities, where they have become a major pillar of labor for the Chinese economy.

The night of August 5, 2011, near Yiwu labor market, many migrant workers on the streets. (Images from Shenyang)

Mr. Sun (of Zhuchang Village, Bijie City in Guizhou) was holding one of the so-called “societal raising receipts fee”. He was fined three times and he is holding one of the receipts that were fined by the government. (Photo by WRIC)

However, local authorities have not treated these rural workers and their children well. One case in particular serves as a good example of the living conditions of the rural workers’ families. In November 2013, five boys aged 9 to 13 from rural workers’ families in Guizhou’s region Bijie, traveled from their home far away to the city to look for food and fun. Their parents were away, and at night they gathered around a large dumpster in the alley for warmth. The bodies of the five children were discovered on the morning of the 16th. Three of them were ineligible for hukou (registered residences) as they were “excessive births.” These children of rural workers had never received any benefits from society or care from the government. WRIC volunteer Li Yuanlong took the lead in investigating and exposing this sad case to the media. However, he was heavily pressured and threatened by local authorities as a result.

Six children found hiding in the trash to keep warm in Bijie。Five out of the six were suffocated by lack of oxygen in the closed dumpster.（Photo by WRIC 2013）

Starving Bijie children left in the countryside.（Photo by WRIC 2012）

Around 2011, several local governments made a big push to hire “special position workers” for birth control. They were specially hired to deal with various illegal pregnancies and births, and to enforce forcible abortions, 结扎?, and other tasks. From WRIC’s understanding, 4600 “birth control special position workers” were hired in Bijie City in Guizhou province in the year 2012 alone. Awards [and compensation] were given to these special workers just like other cadres working in birth control. The amount of “societal raising fees” were used to determine the size of the awards and served as the salaries for the special workers. It’s still a mystery as to why neither the central nor local governments have ever released reports and details on expenses related to birth control.

Due to the aforementioned geographic, cultural, and strategic factors, rural folk rarely encounter the problems of having just one child. Logically speaking, rural folk have already paid a heavy price for having more children, but have never received the equivalent benefits afforded to urban-dwellers. The Chinese Communist Party’s new policy completely overlooks the practical needs of rural folk, nor does it allow them to share in the policy’s benefits. The policy’s benefits are for urban-dwellers. Only an allowance of three children would have practical significance for people living in rural villages. Furthermore, eliminating heavy fines would not only reduce the burden for rural folk but also demonstrate the government’s humanity, and eliminate the important problem of the imbalanced human sex ratio. The imbalanced sex ratio isn’t obvious in the cities, but it is alarming in rural areas. According to surveys conducted by WRIC, four villages Wanhe county Suizhou, Hubei had a male-female sex ratio in live births of 100:190 in 2010. Some scholars have warned, not without evidence, that China could have 100 million men unable to find spouses in 2050.

It could be said that the new “Only-child, Second Birth” policy that authorities have unveiled is a policy that is unfair and prejudicial to rural citizens.

(L) The Bachelors of Fenghuang County in Hunan,China. (Photo by WRIC Yao Cheng)

(R) The Wu brothers of Xiaqiantan, a bachelor village in Fenghuang County, Hunan Province. (Photo by WRIC Yao Cheng)

Neither did the new policy take into consideration the interests of ethnic minorities in remote areas. Past Family Planning Policies always differed between Han and minority ethnicities, who were usually allowed to have two children. Other than the expansiveness and sparse population density of minority areas, the other reason for the policy difference was the low levels of medical care that led to high infant mortality in these ethnicities. For example, in Tibet, infant mortality had been reported to have “dropped” to 21.15‰, according to Xinhua News Agency’s March 27^th, 2010 report. Statistics from the Ministry of Health showed that recent national infant mortality was 13.2‰. It was 9‰ in Taiwan, 1.8‰ in Hong Kong. For Tibetans, clearly even the two child quota was not nearly enough. How much did the government contribute in 50 years to the health and protection of Tibetan women and children? Why was Tibet’s infant mortality rate so much higher than Han areas? This was not only a problem for Tibetans but other ethnic minorities as well. A people with low population numbers to begin with, lacking medicine and medical care, living in poverty, faced the threat of annihilation. The “micro adjustment” of the Central Committee did not extend to ethnic minority areas. Its benefits did not extend to minorities as they did the Han. Minorities were left out in the cold in the same way as the farmers.

Tibetan orphan who fled China to Daramsala, India. （Photo by WRIC Jing Zhang）

A priority of China’s population policy ought to be the relaxation of birth control over minorities, comprehensive improvements of their health care and aid programs, allowing minorities to enjoy the same levels of health care, education and other social welfare as the Han ethnicity, to limit minority infant mortality to reasonable range, even if it is impossible to compare to Taiwan or Hong Kong, at least in line with Han infant mortality rate. The protection of ethnic minority population, culture and traditions, maintaining and balancing economic development, prohibiting exploitative extraction from minority areas, is also an important signifier of a country’s civilization level.

Women were the main victims of the Family Planning Policy during its implementation over the decades. Scholars pointed out from the Ministry of Health’s 2010 Statistical Compilation that from 1971 to 2009, 350 million abortion operations took place in China. In 1971 Population Control became a experimental national policy. It was written into the Constitution in 1975. The One Child Policy began in 1979. Around 2010, statistics related to Population Control became national secrets. All true information was seals. The facts showed that 350 million women were forced by the Population Control National Policy to undergo abortion, many of them suffered post-operation infections, misdiagnoses and malpractice that resulted in disabilities and death. Many were detained in “Population Education Camps” and tortured. Children were “confiscated” for illegal birth fines. In 2012, Feng Jianmei was forced to abort her child in a case that garnered international attention. WRIC reported Cao Ruyi’s escape while in pregnancy. Nie Lina was kidnapped while heavily expectant. Farmers Zhang Ronghua and Ma Jihong both died in the operating room during abortion operations. Inhumane Forced abortions, sterilization and collection of heavy fines still threatened the mental and physical health of Chinese women. 50 years ago, the Chinese government demanded more population, “More People Means Greater Strength”. Women were encouraged to have large families. The average per family was five children. Poor children were forced to pick food from garbage. 30 years ago, the government mandated that one family could only have one child. Women were driven like cattle into operating rooms for forced abortions and forced sterilizations, through unimaginable humiliation. Chinese women completely lost control of their bodies. Their reproductive system was under total control of the Party. Independent scholars estimate that the number of women who had died from forced abortions was above 100,000. Even more suffered psychological illness post-operation. Millions suffered aftereffects of these operations.

Ma Jihong of Lijin County, Shandong Province, was kidnapped in the fields by Family Planning agents while she was seven months pregnant. Mother and baby died in the operating room. Ma’s husband and five- year-old daughter.

(Photo by WRIC Yao Cheng, 2011)

Zhang Ronghua, of Tenzhou, Shandong, died on October 3^rd, 2012 in the Municipal Women and Children’s Hospital operating room. Left: Zhang Family. Right: Zhang’s husband with her memento .Right: Zhang’s family. (Photo by WRIC volunteer Changlan Su 2012)

The “micro-adjustment” of the Chinese government did not return control over their own bodies to Chinese women, did not compensate victimized women, did not provide safeguards or remedies to existing and ongoing injustices against Chinese women. The current government’s crimes could not be covered up by this “micro” new policy. Many experts have pointed out that the “Two only-children couple allowed to have two children” policy could not address the population aging problem. I might add that a social policy that did not respect universal human rights, could not stand up to historical examination, and would eventually bring ruin to the population and society. Only total abolition of the Family Planning Policy, putting an end to forced abortions, sterilizations and heavy fines would return control of their bodies to women. Only an open population policy could reflect genuine humane care befitting a civilized country. Reducing military expenditure, balancing regional economic development, alleviating ethnic minority poverty levels, building infrastructure in rural areas, guaranteeing equal welfare to farmers comparable to urban dwellers to enable them to be productive in the vast countryside and reducing urban crowding were sustainable methods to improve society.

Chinese dissident’s, Zhang Lin, daughters escape from China

Posted on 2013-09-08 by wrchina

Translated by: Wendy Mei and Anna Li

WRIC Chen LiQun reports：

Women’s Rights in China(WRIC) in conjunction with Women’s Rights Without Frontiers (WRWF) and the Committee of US International Broadcasting (CUSIB) are three organizations responsible for human intervention and positive planning. Zhang Lin’s two daughters, Zhang An Ni and her sister, Zhang Ru Li, finally escaped out of China. As of yesterday (September 7), they safely landed in California.

This year in March and April, internet users and lawyers from all around the country and a total of couple hundreds people helped voiced solidarity for An Ni. An Ni was forced out of school and detained for 20 hours. Finally, the police forcefully cleared the scene and arrested more than a dozen of activists and put them into detention, dozens of people were also beaten and harassed. A few months later, Zhang was detained again afterward. Meanwhile, 10 years old daughter An Ni suffers the threat of being sent to the orphanage. Since her parents were divorced, she lived with her father who entered jail again, An Ni faced extreme difficulties of living and learning. The Women Right’s organization, whose headquarter is in New York, has been concerned about An Ni’s schooling problem. Founder of WRIC, Zhang Jing, decided to help safeguard the rights of the girls, from mid-June she contacted CUSIB founder ANN Noonan and WRWF founder Reggie Littlejohn, who are also concern about democracy and human right’s issues in China. With all their efforts, An Ni Zhang came to America for education with Reggie Littlejohn as her guardian. Three of them worked separately. First, they got the custody rights from Zhang Lin and his ex-wife, this solved the problem of minor child custody and other legal issue. Secondly, contact all forces, including several members of Congress to help write a letter to relelated departments to petition.School starts in early September, Annie was finally allowed to come to United States accompanied by her sister. Both of them got their visa.

Pictured Yao Cheng (right) with the lawyer accompanying Lily and Annie on August 2013 to visit Zhang Lin in the detention center.

We solved the issued of An Ni’s life, learning and visa, but the major problem is how to prevent the Chinese police and security from blocking An Ni to get out of China. Women’s Rights in China volunteer Yao Cheng, Zhang’s friend, also played a key role. From the sisters’ departure from Anhui to Nanjing and the transfer to Shanghai instead of going straight to United States, on each step of the operation, Sun Lin’s (activist), Hu Jia’s and others’ performance was outstanding; they did their best on their part of the operation. Even if Yao Cheng’s important documents were confiscated by police in a hotel, two sisters’ passports were already been safely transferred.

An Ni’s mother take the role of Yao Cheng later, she obeyed Jing Zhang’s instructions. From filling in the application to going on the plane, a total of three days, the United States Consulate officials personally escort them to enter the consular formalities, then escorted to the airport, until a safe takeoff.

After the rescue of the sisters, An Ni’s enrollment rights issue ended. Yao Chang exchanged his freedom for the freedom of the children’s new life. He paid a heavy price but it is valuable and significant. the entire rescue process shows the glory of humanity, on the other hand, this will become an example of Chinese citizens’ movement. Under fair, reasonable, and legitimate premise, gather forces, sincere cooperation, good practical work, strongly protest, not giving up, trying to help the descendants of human rights and democratic freedoms of people with minimal social costs, maximize social benefits, change the unjust social system.

Jing Zhang who has been working for three months for the freedom of Annie said “A ten year old girl was deprived of the right of education and detained because her father is dissidents was inhuman, one of the most absurd scandal. How can Annie have her “Chinese dream” which is now impressed by this “Chinese nightmare.” She became the youngest Chinese exile who didn’t have the care of her parents who are exiles.”

Jing Zhang said “Reggie Littlejohn and her husband welcome An Ni with open arms and was really enthusiastic. Before they pick up the sisters from the airport, they had prepared very spacious room for each of them and health insurance. After some rest and familiarity of the environment, the sisters went to the restaurant and they helped them buy pajamas, clothes and daily necessities. Due to the language barrier, Reggie Littlejohn called Jing Zhang to help with simple translation. On the phone Reggie Littlejohn said: “ The girls says they are not hungry, you have to tell them they must eat something. I saw that when they were looking at the menu they were staring at the price. Tell them don’t mind the price, hand gesture is fine for communication.”

On the behalf of Women’s rights in China, Zhang Jing thanks all the people in China and America who had help An Ni. An Ni is now safe, we wish her to grow up happily and healthy in this land of freedom, United States. Meanwhile, WRIC will continue to focus on women’s rights. Yao Cheng and Zhang Lin continue to solidarity with the Chinese government.

Asia Freedom Radio Reports:

http://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/renquanfazhi/ml-09072013224415.html

Peng Qinglan’s Road Home ( Part 2 )

Posted on 2010-12-01 by wrchina

WRIC’s Yao Cheng All photos by WRIC November 31，2010

On the morning of the 18^th, Chen Fuyu rented a car to drive to Xiaping Village in Machang Town. He went to the Peng family house as soon as he arrived in the village. “I’m here. I’m at Peng Qinglan’s home.” He called me. I asked Mr. Chen to hand the phone to Peng’s relatives to confirm our findings. As soon as the elderly Mr. Peng received the phone he asked me in shaking voice, “Is it my daughter looking for us? Was she looking for us?” I quickly answered yes. “Where is she?” He asked in such desperation I abandoned thoughts of further confirmation. It was a wait of twenty two years. There was no reason for us to force the man and his family, who must have been thinking as they were in a trance, to wait another minute. I gave him Peng Qinglan’s number. Afterwards, her phone stayed busy for the rest of the day. She told me when I met her days later that the call lasted uninterrupted for some twelve hours. She talked to most relatives in the village.

On the afternoon of the 21^st, I arrived in Putian. Peng Qinglan and her Putian relatives welcomed me at the station and found a hotel for me. I called Mr. Chen, who was in the hotel to send me over the internet pictures he took of the Peng family in Xiaping village. Peng Qinglan waited anxiously by the laptop. I could only wish that the speed online could accelerate little by little.

WRIC’s volunteers Yao Cheng and Peng Qinglan.

“Papa looks the same, only older. My mother was a little pudgier back then, but much thinner now. Even my sister looks old now.” Said Peng as she looked over the photos. We onlookers didn’t say anything, sharing in silence all her emotions of deep joy and sorrow.

I interviewed Peng about her kidnapping and the rest of her life. It was a day during the summer vacation in 1988, the eight-year-old Peng Qinglan and a neighbor’s daughter went to visit her father who was working about twenty kilometers away. On the way they met a middle aged woman who was holding a boy. The woman told the girls she was going the same way. The girls were trusting, so they went with the woman, who spoke the local dialect. When they felt something was wrong and wanted to go home, the woman told them she was going to buy some pretty clothes for the girls. They already had no idea where they were. The woman brought the girls on a bus then a train, all the way across southern China to the coastal Fujian Province. Peng Qinglan was sold to the Wu family. About the other girl, there was no news since.

There are two child brides in this family. This is a typical family structure in Putian region.

Peng’s name was changed to Wu Yuqin. The Wu family had seven children counting Peng. She had three new elder sisters, three younger brothers and a younger sister. She helped her “adopted” mother with chores and didn’t go to school since the time she was eight. She married at age nineteen, to a famous local opera singer. The local opera was a nationally recognized cultural heritage and was subsidized by the government. She now had an eleven-year-old son in school. She worked in a factory. She told me that life was relatively good. Her adopted parents treated her well. Relations with her adopted siblings were also very good. After she found her Guizhou family, a brother in the Wu family actually came back from work in Xinjiang (northwest China) to visit.

The brother who came back from Xinjiang invited us all to dinner. Peng’s husband had to perform that night. He would see me a day later.

Peng Qinglan’s Road Home ( Part 4 )

Posted on 2010-12-01 by wrchina

WRIC’s Yao Cheng All photos by WRIC December 1, 2010

At 8:30pm, November 24, the crowd stood along both sides of Liuzhi Tequ Street. Among them were local residents and the Peng family and their friends who came from thirty kilometers away. As soon as our small convoy drove into the street, throngs of people surrounded our vehicles to catch a glimpse of the woman who disappeared for twenty two years. Peng Qinglan, who had been talking with us lightheartedly a minute ago, broke into tears as she stepped out of the car. Peng cried in the embrace of her mother and sister. Twenty two years of heartbreak came out at that moment.

Peng Qinglan’s father,mother and a sister.

Mr. Chen Fuyu and I received from the Peng family flowers and pennants thanking our service. After a brief interview with the media, our cars drove straight to their home village of Xiaping. Three miles away from the village, we heard the sound of firecrackers going off in celebration. Fireworks lit up the night sky and painted colors on the dark mountainsides.

Child hood memories came rushing back to Peng Qinglan. The river and the elementary school were still there. The old mud brick family home was not, replaced by a three-room brick house. Friends and classmates of the pass had all turned to middle age.

The most awkward reminder was the difficulty in language. She could not speak a sentence of the local dialect. Any conversation between the blood relative had to go through a translator.

Peng’s husband, a brother and a cousin from the Wu family also made the same trip. The atmosphere was amicable, other then a briefly uncomfortable exchange between Peng’s sister and the Wu brother. “Your family had seven siblings, why kidnap our sister?” Others laughed, but the brother was downcast. “We didn’t kidnap her. We only paid so she would be with us. Now that we are all one family, let’s not talk anymore about this.”

It was a raucous party for the whole village till dawn. Peng’s family would not allow us to travel through the hills by night so we stayed. But the noise didn’t allow us much sleep anyhow. When I woke up, Peng’s family volunteered to lead me to see the fields, school and the river, which I had only known as topographical features on a computer map when we were searching for the family.

After breakfast, we prepared to leave the village. All the Peng family came out to say farewell, plus many others from the village. An elderly woman waited by the village gate the longest. She was the mother of Peng Simei, the girl who was kidnapped with Peng Qinglan twenty two years ago. We waved at her so she could leave lest she catch the chilly mountain air in the morning. The night before, I had explained to her again and again that it was much harder for parents to look for children than for kidnapped children who reached adulthood to search back for their parents. We would look for information of Peng Simei from all sides. She was lost at the same age of eight or nine with Peng Qinglan. We could believe that she remembered her village and family as well.

WRIC’s Yao Cheng was holding Pengqing Lan’s family gave honor flags. Photography by WRIC