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August 2009

Money is the Authoritarian Power

2009-07-31 - chong
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A legal aid group in Beijing was recently shut down by the government and was subject to a penalty of 1.2 million yuan (US$175,000) for alleged tax evasion. Xu Zhidong, a member of the group, was detained by the authority on July 30. By coincidence, in Hong Kong, a supposedly free city of China, two cultural preservationists were suddenly charged with HK$270,000 (US$34,000) as a compensation for the cost of a judicial review two years ago. Money seems to be a new weapon for the Beijing and Hong Kong governments to suppress the civil society.

An unknown future for Chinese civil society

2009-08-18 - chong
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Author/Poon Ka Wai

Recently, I have been concerned with the news about some civic organizations repressed by the authority. What is involved is the China government's restricting the registration of civic organizations and receiving foreign sponsorship. I have some knowledge about the mainland churches who have been pushed by the government to "register". Both civic organization and churche are a part of "civil society". Here I would like share my views regarding these problems.