China Health & Science

“I Wish We Never Bought A Japanese Car” – Lasting Scars of Anti-Japanese Demonstrations

Published

8 years ago

December 18, 2016

It has been four years since violent anti-Japanese demonstrations erupted across China. Still hospitalized for his injuries, Xi’an resident Wang Jianli was attacked during the protests for driving a Japanese car. In a recent interview that has been going around Chinese social media, his wife blames Japan for their suffering.

It was September 2012 when violent anti-Japanese protests (反日游行) erupted in different cities across China, including Beijing, over the status of the Senkaku/Diaoyu island group. The long-standing dispute reached a zenith after the Japanese government nationalized control of three of the largest islands, triggering people to take to the streets across the country to vent their anger.

The demonstrations became a much-discussed topic again this week on Chinese social media, as Chinese news outlet Pear Video brought the story of Wang Jianli (李建利), a man from Xi’an who was hit in the head by demonstrators in 2012 for owning a Japanese car. Now, four years later, the man is still hospitalized for head injury.

In an online interview, Wang’s wife made some remarkable statements; she did not speak of the protesters who hit her husband, but instead expressed her regret over buying a Japanese car and blamed Japan for her husband’s fate.

“Sushi restaurants had a statement hanging on the wall saying their sushi was NOT Japanese.”

In that late Summer of 2012, the nationalist and anti-Japanese sentiments were clear all over China. In Beijing, virtually all houses in the old hutong streets had a flag hanging by their door. Sushi restaurants had a statement hanging on the wall saying their sushi was NOT Japanese, and local clothing markets were selling t-shirts with “The Diaoyu Islands Are Chinese” prints on them.

Flags hanging from houses in Beijing Gulou area (photo by author).

Sushi restaurant statement: “This sushi comes from Taiwan. This is a CHINESE chain” (photo by author, 2012).

“China’s Diaoyu Islands. Protect the Diaoyu Islands” (t-shirt purchased in 2012, photo by author).

It was during this time that protests against Japan’s claim on the islands in the East China Sea turned so violent that angry crowds ravaged Japanese businesses, smashed Japanese-branded cars, threw rocks at the Japanese embassy, and burned Japanese flags. There was also a mass boycott of Japanese goods.

“Japan is all to blame for this, for stealing our Diaoyu islands.”

In the video report by Pear Media, Wang Jianlin returns to the place where he was attacked on September 15, 2012. Wang, who was then 51 years old, was driving a Japanese car and found himself in the middle of a group of an anti-Japanese protest, where one demonstrator violently beat him on the head with a stick.

footage

He was admitted to the hospital with serious head injuries. Four years later, he is still unable to function independently and needs everyday medical care. His medical bills are now over 800,000 RMB (±115,000 US$).

wang

“Who would have thought that buying a Japanese car would wreck our lives?”, his wife tells Pear Media: “Perhaps Japan is all to blame for this, for stealing our Diaoyu islands. If they wouldn’t have done that, there would have been no protests.”

Since the attack, Wang is unable to eat, drink or walk by himself. He needs daily treatments and care to get through his everyday life.

Wang and his wife.

The couple says that their future is unsure since Wang’s injuries: “Tonight I will go to sleep, but I don’t know if I will wake up tomorrow”, Wang says.

“It is not because of a Japanese car that your life was ruined, it is because of an ignorant Chinese person.”

Wang’s story triggered thousands of comments on Sina Weibo on Saturday. Although the majority of netizens are sympathetic towards Wang and his wife, they also criticized the woman for blaming everything on Japan.

“It is not because of a Japanese car that your life was ruined, it is because of an ignorant Chinese person,” one commenter writes.

“Don’t blame Japanese goods for this,” another netizen said: “Blame the persons who did this. They were no protesters, they were idiots hating on people with money.”

“Many military and police vehicles are also made-in-Japan. Why didn’t the protesters smash those cars?”, one Weibo user wonders.

An official military car by the Toyota brand.

Many netizens express their anger over the 2012 demonstrations: “You bastards went and smashed the Japanese embassy, and collided with your own compatriots. You’re deranged. You call that patriotism? Who will take up the bill for the remaining days of this man? So what if this Toyota car wasn’t made in China? What is the motive behind this parade and smashing up men like this?”

“These are patriotic traitors!”, another person said about the violent demonstrators.

As for Wang and his wife, their whole life has changed since the September anti-Japanese demonstrations. “I don’t know what happiness is anymore,” Wang’s wife says: “Life is just no fun anymore.”

– By Manya Koetse
Follow on Twitter or Like on Facebook

China Health & Science

Stolen Bodies, Censored Headlines: Shanxi Aorui’s Human Bone Scandal

A Chinese company illegally acquired thousands of corpses to produce bone graft materials sold to hospitals—a major scandal now being tightly controlled on social media.

Published

4 months ago

August 9, 2024

Manya Koetse

On Thursday night, August 8, while most trending topic lists on Weibo were all about the Olympics, a new and remarkable topic suddenly rose to the number one, namely that about the “Illegal Human Bone Case.” Just moments later, however, the topic had already disappeared from the Weibo hot search list.

An article about the topic by Chinese media outlet The Paper (澎湃)¹ that had just been published hours earlier on August 8 had already been taken offline. Later, an article published on The Observer (观察)² was also redirected. Another article published on the website of Caixin and state broadcaster CCTV similarly disappeared, ³ along with many other headlines.⁴

However, at the time of writing, there are some articles on the issue, such as by Sina News or Phoenix News, that remained accessible.

The story centers on Shanxi Aorui Bio-Materials Co., Ltd. (山西奥瑞生物材料有限公司), also known as Shanxi Osteorad in English, a company founded in 1999 that specializes in the production and supply of bone graft products.

On August 7, a prominent Chinese lawyer named Yi Shenghua (易胜华), who has a large following on Weibo, exposed details of Shanxi Aorui’s involvement in illegal and unethical practices surrounding the purchase of human bones. The company engaged in these practices for over eight years, from January 2015 to June 2023, generating an income of 380 million yuan ($53 million) from these activities.

These details had previously been disclosed by the Taiyuan Public Security Bureau in May of this year. The case has allegedly been transferred to the Taiyuan Procuratorate for review and potential prosecution, but it has yet to be concluded due to its complexity, involving some 75 suspects.

Over the years, Shanxi Aorui illegally acquired thousands of human remains, reportedly forging body donation registration forms and other documents to illegally purchase bodies from hospitals, funeral homes, and crematoriums from various places, from Sichuan Guangxi, Shandong, and other places. These human remains were then used to produce allogeneic bone implant materials, primarily sold to hospitals.

Due to the high demand for bone implant materials and limited supply, it is an incredibly lucrative industry. Some reports claim that those selling the human remains to Shanxi Aorui could charge between 10,000 and 22,000 yuan per corpse ($1400-$3000).

“I’ve been a criminal lawyer for many years, and have handled all kinds of cases, but this is the first time for me to be so shocked and angry,” Yi Shenghua wrote in his post (screenshot available via RFA.org).”What makes me particularly lose hope is that the maximum punishment for these kinds of people under the current law is only three years.”

However, Yi Shenghua’s Weibo post about the issue was later blocked from public view. “I can still see my own post, but apparently, others cannot,” Yi wrote at 17:35 on Thursday.

On August 9, China’s major pharmaceutical company Sinopharm issued a statement in light of the controversy surrounding the human bone case, stating it has never had any kind of relationship with the Shanxi Aorui company.

On Friday, the news topic on Chinese social media was tightly controlled. Various media outlets, from Weibo to Douyin, reported on the issue, but despite the public’s interest in the scandal, not a single comment could be seen under multiple threads.

‘Even Douyin blocked the Shanxi Aorui incident. Is this the government stepping in?’ one commenter wondered.

‘Why are they suppressing this hot search topic? Do they think the public is stupid?’ another person wrote.

One individual implicated in this case is Li Baoxing (李宝兴, born 1955), who was General Manager at Shanxi Aorui. Li is a renowned research professor who was reportedly awarded the title of National Model Worker in 2005. He was formerly affiliated with the Institute of Biomaterials Science and Technology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, where he developed bone implant materials that benefited thousands of patients across the country. He allegedly joined the Communist Party in 1985.

Some commenters called the entire scandal a “horror film,” with Li Baoxing being the director.

“We know about 4000 [human remains], what about those we don’t know about?”

“These so-called ‘human remains’ were once people like you and me,” another Weibo user wrote: “They were alive, their voices and smile are still in the hearts of family and friends. They liked to be clean, they had their privacy, they are still being missed. We can’t replace ourselves or our loved ones, [yet] they were used and peeled layer by layer.”

By Manya Koetse

Follow @whatsonweibo

¹ Title: “探访涉盗卖数千具人体骨骼的山西奥瑞公司，此前已被公安查封” (“Investigation into Shanxi Aorui Bio, involved in the illegal sale of thousands of human bones, which had previously been seized by police”). Original link: https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_28348324

² Title: “涉嫌非法盗卖数千具遗体用于制作植入材料，山西奥瑞生物八年营收3.8亿” (“Suspected of illegally stealing and selling thousands of human remains for use in making implant materials, Shanxi Aorui Bio made an eight-year revenue of 380 million yuan”). Original link: https://www.guancha.cn/GongSi/2024_08_08_744234.shtml

³ CCTV’s publication is the same as the article published by The Paper, namely: “探访涉盗卖数千具人体骨骼的山西奥瑞公司，此前已被公安查封” (“Investigation into Shanxi Aorui Bio, involved in the illegal sale of thousands of human bones, which had previously been seized by police”). Original link: https://news.cctv.com/2024/08/08/ARTIkxoJEQuHmvTxmxGVmDug240808.shtml. Caixin’s publication was titled “75人卷入山西盗窃倒卖遗体案多地民政局称已跟进调查” (75 people involved in the theft and sale of human remains in Shanxi, investigations underway by various civil affairs bureaus).

⁴ For example, by Sina News: “起底倒卖4000具尸体操控者李宝兴- 曾获“全国劳模”称号” (“Li Baoxing, the manipulator who speculated in 4,000 corpses, was awarded the title of “national labor model”). Original link: https://finance.sina.com.cn/chanjing/gsnews/2024-08-08/doc-inchxqva1690315.shtml?cre=sinapc&mod=g.

Spotted a mistake or want to add something? Please let us know in comments below or email us. First-time commenters, please be patient – we will have to manually approve your comment before it appears.

China Food & Drinks

Chinese Woman with Heartbreak Passes Away after Drinking Bottle of Baijiu

Three friends are held partially responsible for not intervening when the woman consumed 500ml of baijiu.

Published

11 months ago

December 15, 2023

Manya Koetse

An incident that happened on the night of May 21, 2023, has become a trending topic on Chinese social media today after a local court examined the case.

A woman named ‘Xiao Qiu’ (alias), a resident of Jiangxi’s Nanchang, apparently attempted to drink her sorrows away after a heartbreaking breakup.

She spent the night at a friend’s house, where she drank about 50cl of baijiu (白酒), a popular Chinese spirit distilled from fermented sorghum that contains between 35% and 60% alcohol. One entire bottle of baijiu, such as Moutai, is usually 50cl.

She was together with three female friends. One of them also consumed baijiu, although not as much, and the two other friends did not drink at all.

As reported by Jiupai News, the intoxicated Xiao Qu ended up sleeping in her car, while one of her sober friends stayed with her. However, at about 5 AM, her friend discovered that Xiao Qiu was no longer breathing. Just about an hour later, she was declared dead at the local Emergency Center. The cause of death was ruled as cardiac and respiratory failure due to alcohol poisoning.

The court found that Xiao Qu’s friends were partly responsible for her death, citing their failure to prevent her excessive drinking and inadequate assistance following her baijiu binge drink session. Each friend was directed to contribute to the compensation for medical expenses and pain and suffering incurred by Qiu’s family.

The friend who also consumed baijiu was assigned a 6% compensation responsibility, while the other two were assigned 3% each.

On Weibo, many commenters do not agree with the court’s decision, asserting that adult individuals should not be held accountable when a friend goes on a drinking spree. Some commenters wrote: “You can tell someone not to drink, but what if they don’t listen?” “Should we record ourselves telling friends not to drink too much from now on?”

This is not the first time for friends to be held liable for an alcohol-related death in China. In 2018, multiple stories went viral involving people who died after excessive drinking at social gatherings.

One case involved a 30-year-old Chinese man who was found dead in his hotel room bathtub in Yangzhou after a formal dinner with friends where he allegedly drank heavily. The man reportedly died of a heart attack. His friends reached a 1 million yuan (±US$157,000) settlement with his family, with the cost shared among the friends who were present during the night.

Surveillance cameras in Jinhua captured how the man was unable to stand or walk after drinking with his friends.

Another case involved a man who died when he was left by his friends at a hotel in Jinhua, Zhejiang province, after heavily drinking at a banquet. Surveillance cameras captured how the man was unable to stand or walk after drinking with his friends. Those friends also paid a compensation together of 610,000 yuan (US$96,000) to the man’s family.

Organisers of an alcohol drinking contest in Henan province were also ordered to pay a compensation of over US$70,000 after one participant died due to excessive alcohol intake in July of 2017.

These cases also triggered online discussions about how Chinese traditional drinking culture often encourages people at the table to drink as much as they can or to exceed their limits; the goal sometimes is to literally “take someone to the ground by drinking.” When someone proposes a toast, everyone at the table is required to finish their glasses, sometimes at a very high pace.

In light of the latest news, some commenters write on Weibo: “No matter what kind of drinking gathering it is, for someone who is already drunk, others should intervene to prevent them from continuing to drink. Even if they invite, provoke, or insist on drinking themselves, they should not be allowed to continue. Otherwise, it not only harms them, you might end up facing legal responsibility yourself.”

Others remind people that overindulging in alcohol when you’re in a state of distress is never a good idea, and that no heartbreak is worth getting drunk over: “There are plenty of other fish in the sea.”

By Manya Koetse

Follow @whatsonweibo