Two more Hong Kong universities have removed works of art marking Beijing’s deadly 1989 crackdown on Tiananmen Square democracy protesters, as authorities move to erase memorials to the event. The removals come a day after Hong Kong’s oldest university took down a statue named the Pillar of Shame, commemorating the events of 1989, sparking outcry by activists and dissident artists in the city and abroad. Hong Kong used to be the one place in China where mass remembrance of Tiananmen was still tolerated, with thousands gathering each year to mourn…
Day: December 23, 2021
Covid news live: New York scales back New Year’s Eve celebrations; AstraZeneca booster protects against Omicron, study finds
China is reporting 87 new confirmed coronavirus cases for Thursday, 23 December. The figure is a slight decrease from 100 reported a day earlier, its health authority said on Friday. Of the new infections, 55 were locally transmitted, including 49 in the northern city of Xi’an currently under lockdown, according to a statement by the National Health Commission, compared with 71 from a day earlier. China reported 26 new asymptomatic cases, which it classifies separately from confirmed cases, up from 19 a day earlier. There were no new deaths, leaving…
U.S. Effort to Combat Forced Labor Targets Corporate China Ties
A far-reaching bill aimed at barring products made with forced labor in China became law after President Biden signed the bill on Thursday. But the next four months — during which the Biden administration will convene hearings to investigate how pervasive forced labor is and what to do about it — will be crucial in determining how far the legislation goes in altering the behavior of companies that source products from China. While it is against U.S. law to knowingly import goods made with slave labor, the Uyghur Forced Labor…
As Olympics Near, China Tightens Rules and Athletes Invent Their Own
The exemption, however, comes with a stringent requirement that foreigners not leave a “closed loop” of hotels and sports venues, linked by special buses and trains. “We must never go outside the closed loop, let alone reach the city level — this is our bottom line,” said Huang Chun, deputy director of the Olympic organizing committee’s Office of Epidemic Prevention and Control. For those outside China, getting to the Olympics in the first place remained the most urgent goal. Many are now taking proactive measures to keep the virus at…
China tells Winter Olympic spectators to clap, not cheer, for athletes, and Xi’an, a major city, locks down.
ZHANGJIAKOU, China — Spectators at the Winter Olympics next February should clap but not shout in support of athletes. Waiters, cleaners and other support staff will not be allowed to leave Olympic venues to visit their families. And any Olympic participants leaving the vicinity for the rest of China will be required to spend at least one week in quarantine, followed by at least two weeks of isolation at home. As the Omicron variant spreads rapidly around the globe, China is taking elaborate precautions to prevent the coronavirus from reaching…
Intel apologizes over its statement on forced labor in Xinjiang.
Intel apologized on Thursday after a letter in which the chip maker said it would avoid products and labor from Xinjiang set off an outcry on Chinese social media, making it the latest American company caught between the world’s two largest economies. The chip maker apologized to its Chinese customers, partners and the public in a Chinese-language statement on Weibo, the popular social media site. The company said that the letter, which had been sent to suppliers, was an effort at expressing its compliance with United States sanctions against Xinjiang,…
Fury in China After Li Tiantian, an Outspoken Teacher, Disappears
Chinese social media sites have echoed for days with a question that has been met with silence by Communist Party officials: Where is Li Tiantian? Ms. Li, an outspoken but previously little known teacher at a rural school in Hunan Province, southern China, disappeared after telling friends that police officers had forced their way into her home and were taking her to a psychiatric hospital. She told them the authorities had accused her of violating the bounds of officially acceptable comment on social media. In recent weeks, Ms. Li had…
China locks down 13 million people in Xi’an after detecting 127 Covid cases
Up to 13 million people have been placed into lockdown in the city of Xi’an in China, as authorities move to clamp down on the community spread of Covid-19 after 127 infections were found in a second round of mass testing. The snap lockdown on Thursday comes little over a month before Beijing is set to host the Winter Olympics. All residents in Xi’an are barred from leaving their houses except to buy living necessities every other day or for emergencies, while travel to and from the city is suspended…