The Japanese had massacred five thousand of the townsfolk in 1944. Survivors of Hengyang dug up the corpses in 1946 and carefully arranged them on a hillside for the memorial. In the upper right and bottom left are the bones of the victims.

Both the photo and the caption are from ESWN’s grimly fascinating post about this horrifying photo. Anyone curious as to why the Chinese still bear a mild grudge against the Japanese should go read this post now. After describing some especially barbaric acts against innocent Chinese civilians, ESWN remarks:

Understandably, to vastly understate the case, the residents of Hengyang don’t like what was done to them. Now, it may be possible to persuade them that it is time to move on because people cannot dwell on past history forever. It is a lot harder if they keep reading that the Japanese want to revise their history textbooks (see previous post Japanese History Textbooks (2005 edition), as in “The only reason that Japan entered China and Korea was to liberate those people from the western imperialists!”

Understatement is right. ESWN, forgive me for stealing, but this was a very moving post.

Even though its opinions on domestic issues are radically different from my own (to give you an idea: Michelle Malkin is listed on the blogroll), I still enjoyed looking over this relative newcomer to the Chinese blogosystem. Good observations of the current Japan-bashing and other goings-on on the Mainland. (On US politics, let’s just hope he comes around and realizes that the Left is Right and the Right is Wrong.)

Delay is finished. Expect him to resign any day now.

And to think that such scum typified the moral fiber of the Age of Bush. How tragic, how pathetic, how fucking sad. Just look at how America has descended, step by step, into moral depravity. This is what we voted for last November, and now we are reaping that which we sowed. Who could have ever predicted that a once great nation would plummet to such despicable depths?

Update: That post was written in the middle of an insomniacal night and on second glance is way too histrionic. But the fact remains, here is a case of amazingly blatant corruption, punishable crimes — and yet Delay remains one of the most powerful men in the world, protected by his corruption-drenched party. It really is indicative of our age, where you can get away with absolutely anything if you are rich and connected. The man is a criminal, there’s simply no way around it.

For another perspective, along with some good links and photos, check out Jeremy’s post.

All that’s missing from this rather dramatic story is a source:

China is apparently planning an “out-of-the-blue” (OOTB) attack on Taiwan, that will initially consist mainly of missiles, warplanes, paratroopers and troops out on “training exercises”. What this means is that, during what appears to be peacetime maneuvers, the troops involved will suddenly move against a nearby nation and invade. This tactic was developed by Russia during the Cold War, but never used. They prepared for it by holding large scale training exercises twice a year, near the border with West Germany. The Russian troops were all ready to practice, or go to war. An OOTB attack could be ordered by having the troops to cross the border and attack NATO forces, who would have insufficient warning to deal with the sudden offensive. NATO finally caught on to this plan, and put the troops on alert during the Russian field exercises. The OOTB was most noticeably used, and successfully at that, when the Russian trained Egyptian army surprised the Israelis and recaptured the Suez canal in 1973.

If everyone is on to OOTB attacks, how does China expect to get away with it? Especially when it would involve an amphibious operation involving at least ten hours time at sea for the ships of the amphibious force. The exact details are kept secret, but the plan involves using over 600 ballistic missiles, and several hundred warplanes, which China has stationed within range of Taiwan. Within an hour, the missiles could hit Taiwanese anti-aircraft missile launchers, radars, airbases, ships in harbor and army barracks and combat vehicles. Launch the attack in the pre-dawn hours, and you catch most of the troops in their barracks, and the ships, warplanes and tanks lined up and vulnerable. Amphibious troops would already be on their ships, for an amphibious exercises, escorted by numerous warships. As the amphibious fleet headed for Taiwan, hundreds of Chinese warplanes would return to hit whatever targets had been missed.

Taiwanese commanders have responded with plans to keep warships at sea and some aircraft in the air at all times during Chinese exercises. Even 900 ballistic missiles, which the Chinese will have in place during the next few years, would not be sufficient to shut down the Taiwanese armed forces. But if the missiles, and air strikes soon thereafter, could do enough damage to prevent the first wave of amphibious ships from getting hit bad, Taiwan would be in big trouble. In fact, if the Chinese could get control of the air over Taiwan for a day or so, three Chinese airborne divisions could be dropped on Taiwan as well.

Taiwan has always expected assistance from the U.S. Navy and Air Force. But without advance warning to get a carrier or two into the area, and a few hundred U.S. Air Force planes alerted for movement to Taiwan, Japan and Guam, the American assistance would be too late. Thus, for Taiwan, an OOTB attack, which the Chinese appear to be preparing to carry out, is something to worry about.

This is about as sensationalistic as you can get. Amazingly, it got picked up by the King of Kings, so it’s going to be widely read and linked to. Why didn’t The Good Professor raise the incredibly obvious question: Where the hell is this story coming from???

This is scary as hell.

A Chinese man jailed and badly beaten for his wife’s murder has been freed after she turned up not only alive but with another husband, domestic media have said, revealing a brutal arbitrariness to China’s legal system.

She Xianglin’s wife, Zhang Zaiyu, disappeared after a domestic dispute in 1994 and when a woman’s body was found in a local reservoir, She was detained on suspicion of killing his wife, the China Daily said.

The body was so decomposed it could not be identified, but a local court found She, a former part-time police officer from central Hubei province, guilty of murder and sentenced him to death.

A provincial court later commuted the sentence to 15 years in prison.

She, 39, was coerced into confessing to her murder and badly beaten in prison, the China Daily said.

International human rights groups say police torture is widespread in China and that suspects are held for long periods without trial. But it is rare for a victim, or the domestic media, to go public about police brutality.

She told the Beijing News that when he was first apprehended, police took him to a remote house and interrogated him for 11 days. He was given just two bowls of rice a day, nearly no water, prevented from sleeping and threatened with death.

“A policeman put his gun to my head and said, ‘Believe me, I could shoot you right now’,” She was quoted as saying from a prison hospital bed, where he was receiving a physical check before being released on Friday.

He said he did not remember making a confession, though the local court that ruled on his case was told he had.

The China Daily said photographs published since She’s release showed he had been severely beaten while in jail and his legs and fingers broken.

I hope the wife gets hers for allowing this to happen. Talk about selfish, and talk about Kafkaesque.

Some commenters here were discussing why China has been relatively silent about the passing of the Pope, and some argued that the event has little to no significane to most Chinese. That makes sense enough to me; I can’t imagine Americans being very interested in, say, the death of a Buddhist leader in Thailand.

So when I saw this article, I was somewhat surprised — if the Chinese don’t care about the Pope’s death, why are so many trying to comment on it? And why is someone trying to stop them?

China’s web portals have blocked prayers, blessings and other comment on the death of Pope John Paul II from being posted on the Internet, officials said.

While popular portals such as Sina.com and Sohu.com’s on-line discussion forums were flooded with messages about the pope Saturday, no messages could be seen Monday.

An official with Sohu.com confirmed the company had censored the comments, using sophisticated technology to allow only the writer to see his or her own comments.

“Religious issues are special. We are afraid of problems arising,” said a Sohu official.

“It’s not that they are taken off, it just means whoever issued the statement, only they can see it. Other people cannot see it,” the official told AFP.

Asked whether the portal had received an order from the government, the official insisted it was the company’s own decision.

No, I’m sure the CCP wouldn’t butt its head into religious issues. Why would anyone think that? Oh, and please note the doublespeak: “It’s not that they are taken off, it just means whoever issued the statement, only they can see it.” If no one else can see it, isn’t that the same as being taken off? Censorship by any other name….

Via CDN.

UPDATE: See this article for more on how the Pope is being mourned in China. (Thanks, Lisa.)

I know, it’s not China-related, but Eleanor Clift is one of my heroes, a member of my top-ten list of most brilliant pundits, and her tribute to her husband Tom who passed away last week is unbelievably moving. To think that for weeks she argued (beautifully)about the Terri Schiavo case without once mentioning her personal tragedy — suffice it to say that I hold her in the highest regard, and although I don’t believe in God my prayers are with her. (Even agnoistics can pray, in their own Godless way.)

Tian sent me this BBC article on a topic dear to many of our hearts. While it veers off in several directions, from blogging in China to blogging worldwide to whether blogging is in general a positive or negative thing, chances are you’ll want to read it.

In fact, the list of things you cannot talk about in China is almost as long as the things you can, as Cai Chongguo, a Chinese dissident, explains.

“We can’t talk about police or military corruption.

“And of course we can’t say anything about workers or farmer demonstrations. All that’s taboo.”

According to Reporters Sans Frontieres, at least 63 bloggers have been arrested, and most of those are publishing articles outside of the country.

“These are people who are really resisting government oppression.”

So why are authoritarian governments so worried about blogging?

In the same way that spammers can reach millions of people in an easy way, ideas deemed dangerously democratic by many regimes can spread faster than bacteria on a petri-dish.

The Internet in general poses the same threats, but blogs are different because anyone can set one up in a matter of minutes, and with no technical knowledge to speak of. No wonder the CCP is worried.

This comment was really upsetting.

Please help us—Hepatatitis B carriers in china.

The chinese health department and the state media tell the public: The hepatitis B virus can be spread when you are sharing food ,eating utentils or water with Hepatitis B carriers. (unlike the western food, the chinese like to take the food from the same plate). The hepatitis B is a very high infectious disease.The hepatitis B carriers are not allowed to take the job as cooker, waiters and other job for public service. Only after I went to the WHO and other foreign website, I realized that the goverment is misleading the public.

Due to the outcry of Chinese Hepatitis B carriers, the central goverment was reluctant to abolish the regulation that the hepatitis B carriers are not allowed to take the job as public servant. BUt the Public servants are still requested to take the hepatitis B test before they become goverment employees. It shows the goverment care little about our labour right and privacy.

In china, most famous enterprises offer health examination to their employees(once a year). The hepatitis B test is surely included. The hepatitis B carriers will be fired or not be given a job offer.

One thing I have to point out is: almost all the international companies in china( of couse including the American companies) say NO to the hepatitis B carriers.

Most chinese people know little about the hepatitis B, they think It is an infectious disease, working or living with hepatitis B carriers is dangerous.But they don’t know the hepatitis B vaccinate is available.The goverment did little to let people know the vaccinate although we have 1200 millions carriers.

It is true that the hepatitis B carriers in china are in desperate.

help!!!!

The world is full of unfairness and inequity. But this is just so unnecessary, so tragic. The original post generated some of the most wrenching and heartbreaking emails I’ve ever received.