Nanfang Dushi Bao editor Cheng Yizhong broke new ground in China for his coverage of SARS and breaking the agonizing story of 27-year-old Sun Zhigang, murdered by police in a Guangzhou jail after being arrested for forgetting to carry his ID card. Needless to say, Cheng was recognized by the CCP for his actions and thrown into jail himself.

Cheng was recently named laureate of the 2005 UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize, and ESWN has done us all a great service by translating his extraordinary acceptance speech (scroll down).

I must especially thank my wife Chen Junying. At a time when the black clouds loomed over the city and disaster hung over my head, you were calm, strong and amiable to the point of astonishing. When your eight-year-old son asked you, “Where is my father?” and my eighty-year-old mother asked you, “Where is my son?” you smiled and said, “He is traveling overseas on business. Over there, it is very free and it is a beautiful world.” At a time when eavesdropping and monitoring were present everywhere in our daily lives, when I was illegally arrested and detained for 160 days and nights, when our homes were searched two times and when the judiciary illegally took possession of our personal information, you continued to take your son to piano lessons. The sounds of the piano were bright and fluid, but the people were no longer the same. While my mother called to say that the nightmare woke her up, the son was engrossed in a beautiful world.

A beautiful world! Yes, we need a beautiful world.

A pigsty is not a beautiful world, even if it is a pigsty with ample food and clothing. People should not live in an environment that is hostile to human rights, humanitarianism, human nature and human feelings. People must recover their common values about humankind.

We use common knowledge as our weapons in order to destroy the nightware weaved together by terror and lies. Do not fight against common knowledge. Do not act against conscience. Be alert that lowly, shameless politicians will use the name of truth to attack the truth and to use the claim of political correctness to profit or vent their personal anger. We must enjoy our own personal experiences and the fruits of human civilization.

For us, the most important task is to increase the public’s right to know and to increase political transparency. This is the inescapable responsibility of Chinese news workers which is the “force of the powerless.” As news workers, you have the right not to speak, but you do not have the right to lie. Speaking the truth is not the highest standard for news workers, but it is the bottom line. Yet sadly, this is a highly charged line to cross right now.

There’s more, and it’s all beautiful. As I read it, I kept thinking of those who keep recycling the old canard that Chinese people don’t care about freedom as long as they have food on the table. Yes, food will always come first no matter what your nationality, but don’t sell the Chinese people short. Many are aware that they exist in a political “pigsty,” no matter how many Louis Vuitton boutiques and new car dealerships line the streets.

The NY Times today offers a none-too-uplifting article on China’s labor camps for political prisoners and Falun Gong practitioners.

For a Chinese government that regularly promises its citizens a society governed by the rule of law, the case of a neatly dressed man named Li is a reminder of what still remains outside the law.

Here in a bleak stretch of eastern China, Mr. Li, 40, spent two years in a prison called Shandong No. 2 Labor Re-education Camp. Mr. Li, who spoke on condition that only his surname be used, and other followers of the banned spiritual group Falun Gong have been jailed here despite never having a lawyer or a trial – rights granted under China’s criminal law.

That is because Shandong No. 2 is part of a vast penal system in China that is separate from the judicial system. Falun Gong members are hardly the only inmates. Locked inside more than 300 special prisons are an estimated 300,000 prostitutes, drug users, petty criminals and other political prisoners who have been stripped of any legal rights.

In a nondemocratic country like China, such abuse of legal rights might not seem surprising. But this system, a relic of the Mao era, is presenting a dilemma for a modern Communist Party that faces pressure at home and abroad to change the system yet remains obsessed with security and political control.

The government this year is expected to begin privately considering whether, and how, to change the system.

This puts China in a bind, according to the article, because the country has for many years used the “labor re-education camps” to hold onto power.

The crackdown on Falun Gong followers like Mr. Li is a case in point. The government had paid sporadic attention to Falun Gong until April 1999, when 10,000 followers held an unannounced protest and surrounded the leadership compound in Beijing. The government quickly ordered a crackdown on the group.

The existence of labor re-education meant the police could sweep up masses of people without the time and complications of court trials. “If they wanted to imprison these tens of thousands of followers through normal judicial processes, it would have been impossible because what these people were doing was not a crime,” Mr. Gao said. [Gao Zhisheng, an attorney advocating refom.]In fact the government did not approve an anticult law aimed at the group until months after the crackdown began.

Read the article to see how the CCP has used this “tool” to make sweeping arrests under the guise of helping the offenders see the light and realize the magnanimous intentions of the loving leaders. Needless to say, it’s a cheap trick, a way to silence dissent and to justify the arrest of petitioners and anyone else who dares raise his voice.

Joseph of the Longbow Papers has written an article for the Society of Professional Journalists that offers a critical but optimistic look at freedom in the press in China. While I am somewhat less sanguine than Joseph on this topic, he has some great stories to tell about the progress being made. And the work he’s doing with his students is truly inspiring.

This is no doubt due at least in part to a lot of external and internal pressure, but it’s still good to see Microsoft do the right thing.

Their crime? They voted against Bush.

As I keep saying, nothing surprises me nowadays. All Spin Zone has the story, and you should follow the links to the video.

This story should be getting much bigger play. The implications are startling, a sign that Frist’s repulsive characterization of Democrats being “against people of faith” is taking hold. What would Jesus say?

Update: Media coverage is starting to come in.

The minister of a Haywood County Baptist church is telling members of his congregation that if they’re Democrats, they either need to find another place of worship or support President Bush.

Already, the Reverend Chan Chandler has ex-communicated nine members of East Waynesville Baptist Church. Another 40 members have left in protest.

During last Sunday’s sermon, he acknowledged that church members were upset because he named people, and he says he’ll do it again because he has to according to the word of God.

Chandler could not be reached for comment today, but says his actions weren’t politically motivated.

One former church member says Chandler told some of the members that if they didn’t support George Bush, they needed to resign their positions and get out of the church, or go to the altar, repent and agree to vote for Bush.

A former church treasurer says she’s at church to worship God and not the preacher.

Maybe — check it out. It sounds quite promising.

UPDATE: On the other hand, the Accelerator may have serious drawbacks.

This is truly weird. There is a fine post over at Belgravia Dispatch titled “A Modest Proposal For China.” Smart and witty. The odd thing is that it echoes a post that I put up a couple of months ago, even the title! I have been a devoted fan of Belgravia Dispatch for many months and am certain it truly is a coincidence. But still, it is nothing short of bizarre.

It hurts to read stuff like this:

The Bush administration today issued rules that would open up almost 60 million acres of U.S. forestland to road construction, logging and other commercial purposes. States will have 18 months to protest the changes.

The Agriculture Department, which announced the change, said the guidelines should help resolve a debate that’s raged for 40 years, since the Wilderness Act directed the government to determine which areas of national forests should be preserved.

The rule reverses regulations put in place under President Bill Clinton that banned road building on about 58.5 million of the about 192 million acres of forest and grassland managed by the U.S. Forest Service. Two courts ruled against the Clinton road ban in 2001, the same year it was issued. Critics say the Bush rule puts business interests ahead of the environment.

“The Bush administration is once again selling out to the logging and timber industry instead of siding with the American people, who want to protect our last wild forests,” said Deb Callahan, president of the League of Conservation Voters, a nonprofit group that promotes pro-environment laws and policies.

Via Skippy. Read the entire post to get up to speed on other Bush atrocities against the environment.

Some Cassandras in Taiwan are horrified, warning that China’s much publicized gift of two giant pandas is actually a Trojan horse, while others are calling it an act of “animal abuse.”

The offer was made as opposition leader Lien Chan of Taiwan’s Nationalist party ended a historic visit to China. But politicians from Taiwan’s ruling party, as well as pro-independence groups, have criticised the gesture.

They placed newspaper adverts calling the gift a Trojan Horse to trick people and undermine Taiwan’s sovereignty.

Others have pointed out the high cost of caring for the pandas, saying the money would be better spent on protecting endangered species of birds that migrate to Taiwan every year.

Animal welfare groups have called on the government to reject the political gift. They said Beijing’s offer to send the pandas to Taiwan was an act of animal abuse on an endangered species.

Kind of silly, don’t you think? We all know offering the pandas is a strategic political move (and a smart one at that) on the CCP’s part, but that doesn’t mean the gift should be rejected. Let the Taiwanese people enjoy the pandas; it won’t turn them into Hu-ists.

This is funny. Here’s Kevin Drum’s post about the Chinese Internet banning searches for “freedom.”

FREEDOM IN CHINA….The authorities in China have long censored internet access to news sources they dislike, but Peking Duck reports that they are now censoring Google searches for specific words. Apparently they’ve previously targeted specific phrases like “Tiananmen Square,” but an emailer says that a Google search for even a common word like “freedom” now returns garbage, whether the search is done in English or Chinese. Several of PD’s commenters confirmed that the same thing happened when they tried it.

It sounds like there’s some pretty serious paranoia setting in among the powers-that-be in Beijing. Do I have any readers in China who can confirm this?

This is followed by a creative commenter’s rendition of the same exact text, only modified to slip past the CCP Internet censors:

EGG FLOUR SOUP IN CHINA….The sesame buns in China have long mushu rolls to news sources they fry, but Peking Duck tastes that they are now eating sticky rice for specific steamed dishes. Apparently they’ve previously targeted specific noodles like “Salty Prunes,” but an emailer says that a sticky rice for even a common dish like “bean curd” now returns garbage, whether the fish sauce is done in English or Chinese. Several of PD’s scallions confirmed that the same thing happened when they tried it.

It sounds like there’s some pretty serious hunger setting in among the chicken soup-that-be in Beijing. Do I have any readers in China who can confirm this?

Now that is clever.

UPDATE: Simon offers his own unique perspective on the google freedom ban. Be sure to check it out.