GOOD MORNING FROM LONDON
HSBC Bank distributes a weekly publication about developments in China and the current issue reports the case of a mentally ill woman chained in a freezing outhouse near the city of Xuzhou in Jiangsu.
There have been criticisms of the local authority for delay in investigating the matter. As a result, some Chinese citizens are trying to force action by boycotting the products and local government bonds issued by Xuzhou City
One consumer is quoted “I refuse to do business with Xuzhou, I won’t buy supermarket products if they are from Xuzhou or from an online merchant if they are from Xuzhou.” Others have gone further, suggesting that the plight of the chained woman is indicative of a deeper rot in the debt-ridden area. Ratingdog, a popular app covering fixed income securities, went on the attack highlighting mismanagement in the local economy. Publicly searchable court verdicts also showed numerous application for divorce by women who said they had been trafficked.
One letter of protest from Peking University graduates called on the Communist Party to carry out a thorough investigation of what led to the woman being chained in a hut + why she was allowed to bear eight children despite being mentally unwell.
Two academics, Lao Dongyan, a law professor at Tsinghua University and Wu Bihu, a professor at Peking University’s Urban and Environmental Sciences College, have expressed concerns about the case. Wu was particularly critical of the All-China Women’s Federation which has only issued a brief statement on the case.
Critics of China like to misrepresent China as a country where only good news is reported as a way of lauding the Government + the Party. But reports abound in the media of similar issues and this should not be a surprise to observers of China. China has made enormous strides and the well-being of the people is much improved. But it is a process and many blemishes do exist.
#364 WILL BE PUBLISHED ON 28 FEBRUARY 2022
THE COVID FIGURES
