Chinese Media: Charity Bicycles Given to State-Owned Enterprises (2012-04-26) [CMP summary] ― The China Red Cross (中国红十字), which faced scandal in June 2011 over the alleged private use of charity funds, is now under the spotlight again after media reported that a donation of more than 10,000 bicycles meant for poverty-stricken rural areas went to state-owned enterprises and retired Party cadres instead.
State Council Announces Five-Year Plan to Admit Additional 10,000 Poor Students to University (2012-04-24) [CMP summary] ― China's State Council has announced that it will launch a program this year to provide direct college entrance to an additional 10,000 students over five years from a list of 680 impoverished counties across China. The government said the project will not affect the normal college entrance procedures for regions not designated as poverty-stricken.
Appalling Conditions and Qinhai Gelatin Factory at Center of Latest Consumer Safety Scandal (2012-04-24) [CMP summary] ― A report in the China Business Herald details the appalling conditions of Qinhai Gelatin, a company at the center of the ongoing scandal over the use of recycled leather and bones with high levels of chromium in the manufacture of gelatin used for medicinal capsules and also sold as a food additive. Local sources tell the newspaper that bones from restaurant garbage were also a key raw material, and the stench of the factory drove many people in the area in recent years to sell their homes and relocate.
Lijiang Government: Officer Killed in Attack by Villagers in Yunnan (2012-04-20) [CMP summary] ― According to a news report by Yunnan Online, the communication office of the Lijiang City Government in China's southwest Yunnan province announced today that one civil police officer (民警) was killed and several others injured in a conflict with villagers in Yongsheng County (永胜县) on April 18. The report said a group of officers was "in the process of carrying out legal publicity and education" when villagers suddenly attacked them "with knives and clubs" According to authorities in Lijiang, villagers from Xiaoganqing Village (小干箐村) in Renhe Township (仁和镇) petitioned outside the Yongsheng County government offices on April 12 and voiced concern over possible geologic hazards posed by a local coal mine. The villagers reportedly asked for relocation and compensation.
Premier Wen Jiabao Calls for Clean Governance Through Greater Transparency (2012-04-16) [CMP summary] ― In a piece published in the most recent edition of the official Party journal Qiushi (求是), and shared across China's internet today, Premier Wen Jiaobao (温家宝) calls for great government transparency, "creating the conditions for the people to monitor the government." The piece, drawn from Premier Wen's March 26 speech on clean governance at the State Council, comes right on the heels of the official announcement last week that former Chongqing Party Secretary Bo Xilai has been removed from the Party's Central Committee for "serious discipline violations."