来源：德国之声中文网
在美国东海岸地区遭遇的飓风灾难中，死亡人数还在继续上升。根据官方公布的数据，目前已经找到98具遇难者遗体，其中在纽约就有40具。金融中心纽约的大约65万居民仍然生活在断电状态下。纽约市长布隆贝格（Bloomberg）透露，国民警卫队和志愿者已经开始向有困难的居民分发食品。红十字会也设立了户外厨房以提供食物。与纽约相邻的新泽西州目前情况仍然危急，那里的发电机缺乏燃料，无法发电。
Friday, November 2, 2012
美国飓风灾害遇难人数逼近100
来源：德国之声中文网
在美国东海岸地区遭遇的飓风灾难中，死亡人数还在继续上升。根据官方公布的数据，目前已经找到98具遇难者遗体，其中在纽约就有40具。金融中心纽约的大约65万居民仍然生活在断电状态下。纽约市长布隆贝格（Bloomberg）透露，国民警卫队和志愿者已经开始向有困难的居民分发食品。红十字会也设立了户外厨房以提供食物。与纽约相邻的新泽西州目前情况仍然危急，那里的发电机缺乏燃料，无法发电。
薄熙来案引向纵深 其弟薄熙成涉案被调查
请看博讯热点：王立军、薄熙来事件
(博讯北京时间2012年11月03日 转载)
薄熙成1951年生人，在薄家兄妹中排行第六。网络公开资料显示其为中共党员、高级经济师，任职中国扶贫开发协会副会长，北京六合兴科贸有限公司董事长、北京六合兴饭店管理有限公司董事长、北京兴大助学基金会理事长、中信证券股份有限公司独立董事等。而实际可查的只有“北京兴大助学基金会理事长”一职，该机构简介称其是一家正式在北京市民政局登记注册成立的专门致力于助学扶贫的独立民办非经营性事业单位，也是中国扶贫开发协会的一个分支机构，法人代表即为薄熙成。
据称薄熙成其人属于不甘寂寞的类型，上世纪80年代任职北京旅游局的薄熙成还管理着艺术品商店“白孔雀”，但随后该公司爆出重大贪污弊案，而弊案的揭发人是时任的北京市旅游局长。随后，薄熙成报复举报该局长收受礼品不上缴，构成犯罪。他本人则因“检举腐败”有功，荣升北京市旅游局长。
刘松萝在一篇记述其父亲刘绍棠的文章里提到过此事说，1985年北京市要让薄熙成担任旅游局长，时任北京市人大常委会委员的父亲坚决不同意。刘绍棠批评薄熙成身背处分，也不懂外事工作，而旅游局还有很多有经验、有能力的干部。此外，刘绍棠还指出任人唯亲是很危险的。不过，最终刘绍棠逆不过形势，和一些人一起缺席第二次会议，薄熙成的任命才顺利通过。
不过，1992年北京市第九届人民代表大会常务委员会第35次会议的决定显示，薄熙成北京市旅游事业管理局局长职务已被免去。
如此看来，薄熙成与薄熙来性格上的相似很可能是薄家一脉相承。从父辈看，薄一波曾被老一辈中共元老私下评价为“气量不大”，1980年代末，薄一波等元老批判时任中共总书记胡耀邦时，习仲勋挺身而出怒斥薄一波违反党内规则“逼宫”，虽然不能回天，但此举至今仍被党内外人士津津乐道。从某些方面来说，薄家后代所作所为，不能不说是接受了其父的耳濡目染所致。
不过，薄一波去世后薄熙成回忆父亲对子女的教育时说，父亲对我们的要求就是，做一个普通人，做一个普通的劳动者，能够自食其力，如果有机会、有能力，要为党、为国家做点事情，一辈子做一个本本分分的好人，好党员。父亲从来不过问子女的具体工作，只要求我们，做好自己的本职工作。
“长城防火墙”突发神威 十八大前大陆网民遭殃
(博讯北京时间2012年11月03日 转载)
自由亚洲电台2012-11-02报导
中共十八大前夕，中国内地网络封锁再度加剧，社交网络再出现大规模删号，多个名博被禁言。访问境外网站近期呈现不稳定状态。
图片：被禁言后，发布任何消息都提示违反政策。（心语截图）
i
中共十八大前夕当局不断加强网络审查，有网民在社交网络中反映微博服务商近期加强了对所谓“不和谐”言论的删帖力度。
名博禁言网民删号
中国作家协会成员“浪子不回头”的微博资料中称，自己又被禁言48小时，本台记者浏览他未被删除的微博，除了关心大小的维权事件外，也对当局提出不少批评。这已经是他第七次被禁言。
此外，著名经济学家、董辅礽基金会副秘书长袁飏已被禁言超过一个月。历史学者章立凡也在近日遭到同样命运。
除了名人被禁言之外，不少关心时事的网民微博也都遭殃。近日新浪中又出现一群被不断封号而要开新号的所谓转世党成员。
有一位广东网民表示，自己已经被封禁超过两百个号。记者在转世党的群组中看到，不时有网民发表自己被封号的消息。
转世党们在微博中长期发表或转载热点事件，也有不少内容是批评当局的做法，他们轻则被删帖禁言，重则被封号消名。
一位网民在群中说“看到敏感消息都不敢转了”，因为账号过度敏感。
网络技术专家利里接受本台采访时表示：“不论发生什么重大事情或者社会上有什么热点问题，（当局）他们就最害怕网络舆论。现在马上要开十八大了，这一次他们先做出一种预先防御的姿态，而不是以前那种突发事件事后才进行的网络封锁。现在他们非常心虚，所以只能用这种方法。刘晓原律师曾经说，他因为在微博谈论宁波镇海的事情就把他屏蔽了。就此来看，他们可能有针对性的封锁一些影响力大的公众人物、维权人士或者律师的帐号。刘律师还说，别人就可以贴图而他就不可以。所以他们还是在监视那些活跃人士比较多一些。”
海外网络封锁加剧
有网络技术专家近日上传测试结果，发现用来负责屏蔽境外互联网的防火长城系统（GFW）加强了对谷歌邮箱的干扰。
有网民表示，近期不设置翻墙（代理）情况下谷歌邮箱几乎无法正常浏览，即使打开也无法使用gtalk（即时通讯）。
此外，谷歌的搜索服务虽然能顺利打开，但搜索任何结果网页都会出现“无法出示结果”的字样。
不少使用VPN翻墙的用户近期也抱怨服务器被屏蔽的密度越来越高，另有不少没有被封锁的境外网站近期也出现访问速度过慢的情况。
网络技术专家东小兴告诉本台记者：“从（中国）大陆到谷歌主要服务器的连接遭到了有间歇性的干扰，后来这个干扰曾经消失了一段时间，但是最近一段时间这个封锁又出现了。而且这一次的封锁完全是随机一样的干扰。很早以前对谷歌邮箱加密网址的干扰是非常有规律的，例如一个小时的前十五到二十分钟可以访问，但是后十五到二十分钟就不能访问了。现在这种干扰变成随机的了，比如说前五分钟可以访问，后五分钟就不能访问了。这样就让你看起来非常像是网站本身的问题，不像是中国这边动了手脚的问题了。”
Thursday, November 1, 2012
China Continues Crackdown on Dissent
November 01, 2012
China Continues Crackdown on Dissent
China continued its latest crackdown on dissent Thursday by sentencing a man to eight years in prison for advocating constitutional democracy and criticizing the ruling Communist Party.
The lawyer for Cao Haibo, 27, says his client was sentenced for "subversion of state power" at a secret court hearing in the southwestern city of Kunming. He says Cao, who worked at an Internet cafe, posted pro-democracy articles on a popular online messaging service.
Beijing authorities have carried out a campaign to silence critics in the lead-up to the once-a-decade power handover, which begins next Thursday with the 18th Party Congress.
Rights groups say prominent dissidents have been placed under house arrest or given other severe restrictions, while the capital of Beijing is in a state of virtual lockdown as the date of the meeting gets closer.
Police arrested Cao in October 2011, just three months after he married. His wife, Zhang Nian, told reporters that she was shocked at the severity of the sentence, adding that she did not know whether he would appeal.
Subversion of power is a vaguely defined charge that is often used to silence critics of the Communist Party. Those who face subversion, or the lesser charge of inciting subversion, are rarely acquitted by Party-controlled courts.
In February, a court sentenced democracy activist Zhu Yufu to seven years in prison for "inciting subversion" by posting a poem calling for mass protests like those that have recently swept North Africa and the Middle East.
The lawyer for Cao Haibo, 27, says his client was sentenced for "subversion of state power" at a secret court hearing in the southwestern city of Kunming. He says Cao, who worked at an Internet cafe, posted pro-democracy articles on a popular online messaging service.
Beijing authorities have carried out a campaign to silence critics in the lead-up to the once-a-decade power handover, which begins next Thursday with the 18th Party Congress.
Rights groups say prominent dissidents have been placed under house arrest or given other severe restrictions, while the capital of Beijing is in a state of virtual lockdown as the date of the meeting gets closer.
Police arrested Cao in October 2011, just three months after he married. His wife, Zhang Nian, told reporters that she was shocked at the severity of the sentence, adding that she did not know whether he would appeal.
Subversion of power is a vaguely defined charge that is often used to silence critics of the Communist Party. Those who face subversion, or the lesser charge of inciting subversion, are rarely acquitted by Party-controlled courts.
In February, a court sentenced democracy activist Zhu Yufu to seven years in prison for "inciting subversion" by posting a poem calling for mass protests like those that have recently swept North Africa and the Middle East.
Beijing Bans Knives and Dissent
2012-10-31
Chinese citizens face a nationwide clampdown ahead of a key meeting of the Community Party.
Police launch an enforcement and patrol campaign in northwest China'sTaiyuan city on Aug. 22, 2012 in an early preparation for next week's key Communist Party meeting.
Chinese authorities have banned the sale of knives in Beijing, sent rights activists to labor camp and forced lawyers and dissidents to leave their homes in a nationwide clampdown ahead of the 18th ruling Chinese Communist Party Congress, activists and rights groups said on Wednesday.
An employee who answered the phone at a branch of the hypermarket chain Carrefour in the eastern Beijing district of Chaoyang said retailers had been ordered not to sell any knives or knife-like objects ahead of the meeting scheduled for Nov. 8.
"They are clamping down very strictly on sales of knives, because the 18th Party Congress is about to start," the employee said. "Our store took all of the knives off the shelves about two or three days ago now."
"They won't let us sell them," he said, adding that other large retailers had received similar orders.
Taxis
Beijing taxis had also had all of the handles controlling rear passenger windows removed, according to a resident surnamed Feng.
"They have taken the handles off, and you can't lower the window at all now," Feng said. "It's because people have thrown petitions out of cab windows in the past, as they were driving through Tiananmen Square."
"I think it's to stop that sort of thing from happening," he said. "There is now a police officer riding shotgun on every bus that goes past Tiananmen Square."
Zhu Ruifeng, editor-in-chief of the anti-corruption website Supervision by the People, said such measures weren't suited to a modern society.
"These measures are illegal, and they're a lot like what they used to do in the time of the Qin Emperor (246-210 BC)," Zhu said. "They would confiscate people's pots and chopping knives back then [for fear of assassins]."
The government has also recruited more than a million volunteers to help with the massive "stability" operation in the Chinese capital ahead of a once-in-a-decade leadership transition, official media reported.
Zhu said many of the volunteers were retired people and unemployed youths. "They just patrol the streets in red armbands, watching people," he said. "They are being used for surveillance, in the same way they were for the [2008 Beijing] Olympics."
New leaders
The 300-strong Central Committee of China's ruling Communist Party will start its last meeting in the current 17th Party Congress on Thursday, to make way for the new generation of leaders who will be announced at the 18th Congress a few days later.
Many dissidents and rights lawyers have already been forced to leave the capital, while activists elsewhere in China have been handed sentences in labor camp, or are being held under "criminal detention" for the duration of the congress, activists said.
Beijing-based rights activist Wang Lihong said she had been informed that she must leave Beijing during the Congress, and go "on holiday."
"I will probably have left Beijing in a couple of days," Wang said on Wednesday. "Of course they have required that I go...probably to [the southern island province of] Hainan."
"They didn't say [when I could return] but it's sure to be after the congress is over," she said. "I guess Beijing will be supposedly safer after they have got rid of all the troublemakers."
Beijing-based pro-democracy activist Zha Jianguo said he had also been ordered to leave the capital, while the rights website Weiquan Wang said AIDS activist Hu Jia, public interest lawyers Xu Zhiyong, Li Xiongbin and Li Fangping, along with pro-democracy activists Zhang Zuhua, He Depu and Xu Yonghai had already left, or were about to leave, on police orders.
All had been ordered to stay away until the congress was over, it said.
'Ridiculous'
Beijing-based lawyer Liu Xiaoyuan, who was ordered back to his ancestral hometown in the eastern province of Jiangxi, said he thought the new controls were "ridiculous."
"Are all these people really a danger to a single Party meeting?" he said. "They are afraid we will cause trouble and endanger social stability."
Elsewhere in China, Shanghai petitioner Dong Guoqing was sentenced to a year's "re-education through labor."
Dong's wife, Zhang Fangxian said her husband had been handed the sentence after being held for a month under criminal detention.
"They said he was disturbing social order," said Zhang, who received notification of the sentenced on Saturday. "They said it was for one year."
And Sichuan-based rights activist Chen Yunfei said he had been held in a police station for five hours on Tuesday and warned by police not to leave the provincial capital, Chengdu.
"They said it was because of the 18th Party Congress," Chen said on Wednesday. "They told me not to say anything too sensitive, and not to leave Chengdu."
"I told them I wasn't going to [inform them if I did] and they started cursing me out, and they would have beaten me up, but the police station chief stopped them," he said.
Media
China's censors have also kept a stranglehold on the media ahead of the congress, according to the New York-based Committee For the Protection of Journalists (CPJ).
"Information security is notoriously tight before the five-yearly congress, which is expected to usher in high-level leadership change in 2012," the group said in a statement on its website.
It cited the blocking of the New York Times' English- and Chinese-language websites on Friday after the newspaper published an in-depth report on the financial assets held by premier Wen Jiabao's family, which Beijing later denied.
"Reporting on political leaders—especially anything revealing they have profited from their status—is heavily controlled in China's domestic media," the group said.
It said men in plainclothes had obstructed a Sky News TV crew reporting on environmental protests in the eastern city of Ningbo on Monday, pushing, dragging and kicking them.
Police also briefly detained an Agence France-Presse journalist at the scene of the protests, but did not identify the journalist by name, the CPJ said.
"It is a bad sign for China if the Communist Party introduces new leaders in a wave of censorship and anti-press aggression," said Bob Dietz, CPJ Asia program coordinator.
Reported by Grace Kei Lai-see and Wen Yuqing for RFA's Cantonese service, and by Qiao Long for the Mandarin service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.
An employee who answered the phone at a branch of the hypermarket chain Carrefour in the eastern Beijing district of Chaoyang said retailers had been ordered not to sell any knives or knife-like objects ahead of the meeting scheduled for Nov. 8.
"They are clamping down very strictly on sales of knives, because the 18th Party Congress is about to start," the employee said. "Our store took all of the knives off the shelves about two or three days ago now."
"They won't let us sell them," he said, adding that other large retailers had received similar orders.
Taxis
Beijing taxis had also had all of the handles controlling rear passenger windows removed, according to a resident surnamed Feng.
"They have taken the handles off, and you can't lower the window at all now," Feng said. "It's because people have thrown petitions out of cab windows in the past, as they were driving through Tiananmen Square."
"I think it's to stop that sort of thing from happening," he said. "There is now a police officer riding shotgun on every bus that goes past Tiananmen Square."
Zhu Ruifeng, editor-in-chief of the anti-corruption website Supervision by the People, said such measures weren't suited to a modern society.
"These measures are illegal, and they're a lot like what they used to do in the time of the Qin Emperor (246-210 BC)," Zhu said. "They would confiscate people's pots and chopping knives back then [for fear of assassins]."
The government has also recruited more than a million volunteers to help with the massive "stability" operation in the Chinese capital ahead of a once-in-a-decade leadership transition, official media reported.
Zhu said many of the volunteers were retired people and unemployed youths. "They just patrol the streets in red armbands, watching people," he said. "They are being used for surveillance, in the same way they were for the [2008 Beijing] Olympics."
New leaders
The 300-strong Central Committee of China's ruling Communist Party will start its last meeting in the current 17th Party Congress on Thursday, to make way for the new generation of leaders who will be announced at the 18th Congress a few days later.
Many dissidents and rights lawyers have already been forced to leave the capital, while activists elsewhere in China have been handed sentences in labor camp, or are being held under "criminal detention" for the duration of the congress, activists said.
Beijing-based rights activist Wang Lihong said she had been informed that she must leave Beijing during the Congress, and go "on holiday."
"I will probably have left Beijing in a couple of days," Wang said on Wednesday. "Of course they have required that I go...probably to [the southern island province of] Hainan."
"They didn't say [when I could return] but it's sure to be after the congress is over," she said. "I guess Beijing will be supposedly safer after they have got rid of all the troublemakers."
Beijing-based pro-democracy activist Zha Jianguo said he had also been ordered to leave the capital, while the rights website Weiquan Wang said AIDS activist Hu Jia, public interest lawyers Xu Zhiyong, Li Xiongbin and Li Fangping, along with pro-democracy activists Zhang Zuhua, He Depu and Xu Yonghai had already left, or were about to leave, on police orders.
All had been ordered to stay away until the congress was over, it said.
'Ridiculous'
Beijing-based lawyer Liu Xiaoyuan, who was ordered back to his ancestral hometown in the eastern province of Jiangxi, said he thought the new controls were "ridiculous."
"Are all these people really a danger to a single Party meeting?" he said. "They are afraid we will cause trouble and endanger social stability."
Elsewhere in China, Shanghai petitioner Dong Guoqing was sentenced to a year's "re-education through labor."
Dong's wife, Zhang Fangxian said her husband had been handed the sentence after being held for a month under criminal detention.
"They said he was disturbing social order," said Zhang, who received notification of the sentenced on Saturday. "They said it was for one year."
And Sichuan-based rights activist Chen Yunfei said he had been held in a police station for five hours on Tuesday and warned by police not to leave the provincial capital, Chengdu.
"They said it was because of the 18th Party Congress," Chen said on Wednesday. "They told me not to say anything too sensitive, and not to leave Chengdu."
"I told them I wasn't going to [inform them if I did] and they started cursing me out, and they would have beaten me up, but the police station chief stopped them," he said.
Media
China's censors have also kept a stranglehold on the media ahead of the congress, according to the New York-based Committee For the Protection of Journalists (CPJ).
"Information security is notoriously tight before the five-yearly congress, which is expected to usher in high-level leadership change in 2012," the group said in a statement on its website.
It cited the blocking of the New York Times' English- and Chinese-language websites on Friday after the newspaper published an in-depth report on the financial assets held by premier Wen Jiabao's family, which Beijing later denied.
"Reporting on political leaders—especially anything revealing they have profited from their status—is heavily controlled in China's domestic media," the group said.
It said men in plainclothes had obstructed a Sky News TV crew reporting on environmental protests in the eastern city of Ningbo on Monday, pushing, dragging and kicking them.
Police also briefly detained an Agence France-Presse journalist at the scene of the protests, but did not identify the journalist by name, the CPJ said.
"It is a bad sign for China if the Communist Party introduces new leaders in a wave of censorship and anti-press aggression," said Bob Dietz, CPJ Asia program coordinator.
Reported by Grace Kei Lai-see and Wen Yuqing for RFA's Cantonese service, and by Qiao Long for the Mandarin service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.
Call For Child Abuse Laws
2012-11-01
Netizens want tougher punishments after a schoolteacher who abused her pupils is detained on a misdemeanor.
Chinese mothers hold their children at a kindergarten in Jiangsu province, Oct. 27, 2012.
The recent arrest of two kindergarten teachers in the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang has prompted calls for new child protection laws, but it occurred in a society where the physical punishment of children is commonplace, and often seen as necessary, analysts said.
Police in Zhejiang's Wenling city are holding kindergarten teacher Yan Yanhong, 20, after she posted photos of herself smiling while lifting a pupil at the Blue Peacock Kindergarten off the ground by the ears.
After that photo sparked a public outcry, Yan was found to have posted more than 700 photos of child abuse on the popular chat and microblogging site QQ.
Other pictures showed children, aged between four and five, with their mouths sealed by tape, dumped head-first in a trash can, with their clothes stripped off as they danced and made to kiss each other, official media reported at the time.
Yan told local media that she was "just playing" with the children, adding: "It was great fun."
A second teacher, Tong Qingqing, was detained because she took the photos and did nothing to prevent Yan's actions.
However, Yan is currently detained on suspicion of public order offenses rather than for child abuse, because China's current laws limit the definition of child abuse to actions perpetrated by family members.
More than 95 percent of netizens who responded to an online poll on Monday supported making "child abuse" a specific offense under Chinese criminal law.
Routine punishment
Zhang Xingshui, a researcher into minors and the criminal justice system at Beijing's China University of Politics and Law, said that Chinese children were routinely subjected to physical punishment, perhaps blurring the notion of abuse in the public imagination.
"Violence against minors, in particular against children, happens all the time," Zhang told RFA's Mandarin service.
He said there were "no specific rules" in existing legislation governing the protection of minors to forbid the physical punishment of children.
"That's why I think that we could add some legislation on this issue, so that there is some basis in law for designating certain actions illegal," Zhang said.
"That way, we can pursue legal responsibility [for such acts]," he said.
A report in the China Youth Daily newspaper said the online poll had revealed that the physical abuse of children happened mostly in their own homes, and that it was most likely to occur in households where the marital relationship was under strain.
It quoted a 2008 joint study by a non-government child protection group in Xi'an and the Xi'an Jiaotong University as saying that more than 60 percent of children reported being physically and verbally abused by their parents, as well as being forced to stand for long periods, and being denied food and sleep.
More than 49 percent of the 300 elementary schoolchildren surveyed said they had been smacked, while 28 percent reported emotional abuse, including the "cold treatment," at the hands of parents.
The International Union for Child Welfare in 1981 defined "child abuse" as consisting of "neglect or abuse" of children by family members and institutions, or of exploitation outside the home in the form of child labor or prostitution.
Zhang said China's "left-behind" children, whose parents were working in factories in richer cities, were at the greatest risk of abuse.
"They have been without a mother or a father since they were tiny, and develop very callous and closed-in personalities in the course of their personal development and education," he said.
"Particularly those children who have been subjected to violent abuse, will themselves develop violent tendencies," he said. "These people have themselves been victims in the past, so this warps their personalities."
Public attention
Song Meiya, senior editor at the China Women's News, said the Wenling abuse case would now likely focus public attention on the issue.
"Since this case was broadcast by online media, it has made people extremely concerned about an issue that they never really took seriously before," she said.
"Everyone is a journalist nowadays," Song said. "They can all report the news, and ... very quickly, too."
"This is an excellent use of new media; it lets us see right into people's hearts, their spiritual quality," she said.
"If there is a problem, then people should care about it."
Yan was detained "on charges of picking quarrels and stirring up trouble," the official Xinhua news agency quoted the Wenling city government as saying, a charge which carries a maximum jail term of five years.
"China's child-abuse laws only apply to family members, leaving a loophole," the agency quoted police sources as saying, adding that schools were responsible for enforcing child protection laws on their own premises, and for punishing abusive staff.
Tong, who took the pictures and uploaded them, was handed a seven-day administrative detention, the agency said.
The Blue Peacock Kindergarten had failed its educational evaluation this year, it added, according to local official Wu Guojian, who commented of Yan: "She has problems in her moral quality."
Reported by Tang Qiwei for RFA's Mandarin service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.
Police in Zhejiang's Wenling city are holding kindergarten teacher Yan Yanhong, 20, after she posted photos of herself smiling while lifting a pupil at the Blue Peacock Kindergarten off the ground by the ears.
After that photo sparked a public outcry, Yan was found to have posted more than 700 photos of child abuse on the popular chat and microblogging site QQ.
Other pictures showed children, aged between four and five, with their mouths sealed by tape, dumped head-first in a trash can, with their clothes stripped off as they danced and made to kiss each other, official media reported at the time.
Yan told local media that she was "just playing" with the children, adding: "It was great fun."
A second teacher, Tong Qingqing, was detained because she took the photos and did nothing to prevent Yan's actions.
However, Yan is currently detained on suspicion of public order offenses rather than for child abuse, because China's current laws limit the definition of child abuse to actions perpetrated by family members.
More than 95 percent of netizens who responded to an online poll on Monday supported making "child abuse" a specific offense under Chinese criminal law.
Routine punishment
Zhang Xingshui, a researcher into minors and the criminal justice system at Beijing's China University of Politics and Law, said that Chinese children were routinely subjected to physical punishment, perhaps blurring the notion of abuse in the public imagination.
"Violence against minors, in particular against children, happens all the time," Zhang told RFA's Mandarin service.
He said there were "no specific rules" in existing legislation governing the protection of minors to forbid the physical punishment of children.
"That's why I think that we could add some legislation on this issue, so that there is some basis in law for designating certain actions illegal," Zhang said.
"That way, we can pursue legal responsibility [for such acts]," he said.
A report in the China Youth Daily newspaper said the online poll had revealed that the physical abuse of children happened mostly in their own homes, and that it was most likely to occur in households where the marital relationship was under strain.
It quoted a 2008 joint study by a non-government child protection group in Xi'an and the Xi'an Jiaotong University as saying that more than 60 percent of children reported being physically and verbally abused by their parents, as well as being forced to stand for long periods, and being denied food and sleep.
More than 49 percent of the 300 elementary schoolchildren surveyed said they had been smacked, while 28 percent reported emotional abuse, including the "cold treatment," at the hands of parents.
The International Union for Child Welfare in 1981 defined "child abuse" as consisting of "neglect or abuse" of children by family members and institutions, or of exploitation outside the home in the form of child labor or prostitution.
Zhang said China's "left-behind" children, whose parents were working in factories in richer cities, were at the greatest risk of abuse.
"They have been without a mother or a father since they were tiny, and develop very callous and closed-in personalities in the course of their personal development and education," he said.
"Particularly those children who have been subjected to violent abuse, will themselves develop violent tendencies," he said. "These people have themselves been victims in the past, so this warps their personalities."
Public attention
Song Meiya, senior editor at the China Women's News, said the Wenling abuse case would now likely focus public attention on the issue.
"Since this case was broadcast by online media, it has made people extremely concerned about an issue that they never really took seriously before," she said.
"Everyone is a journalist nowadays," Song said. "They can all report the news, and ... very quickly, too."
"This is an excellent use of new media; it lets us see right into people's hearts, their spiritual quality," she said.
"If there is a problem, then people should care about it."
Yan was detained "on charges of picking quarrels and stirring up trouble," the official Xinhua news agency quoted the Wenling city government as saying, a charge which carries a maximum jail term of five years.
"China's child-abuse laws only apply to family members, leaving a loophole," the agency quoted police sources as saying, adding that schools were responsible for enforcing child protection laws on their own premises, and for punishing abusive staff.
Tong, who took the pictures and uploaded them, was handed a seven-day administrative detention, the agency said.
The Blue Peacock Kindergarten had failed its educational evaluation this year, it added, according to local official Wu Guojian, who commented of Yan: "She has problems in her moral quality."
Reported by Tang Qiwei for RFA's Mandarin service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.
商人被逼迁闯镇政府放火
自由亚洲电台2012-11-01报导
浙江省嘉兴市一食肆商人遭地方政府逼迁，绝望之下携带多个煤气瓶闯入镇政府大楼放火，火势迅速被扑灭，无人伤亡。而纵火者亦当场受控制。在网上疑是纵火者的遗书透露，因受政府蒙骗以致投资化为乌有，被迫以死抗争。（冯日遥报道）
事件发生在王店镇政府大楼，目击者张先生周四下午接受本台记者访问时指，早上事发时，火势十分猛烈，办公楼周围浓烟四起，警察到场将大楼内所有人疏散到安全地方，大批消防员到场，火灾约烧了40分钟被被扑熄，涉嫌放火的拆迁户被公安带走。他说：“我走过去看时，仍然烧得很厉害的，很多人被疏散到地面上，听说那人是拆迁户，他在那儿点燃多瓶煤气瓶放火，说他是受拆迁影响的。”
张先生指，现场见到一部被火烧毁的汽车，相信是该拆迁户用来运戴煤气瓶的车辆，他先将自己车上的一个煤气瓶燃点，其后再闯入办公厅放火，公安目前仍有现场调查。他说：“消防扑熄火后就走了，但附近一带路面仍未解封，仍然有很多公安在场，封路调查。”
另一名居民徐先生向记者指，办公室大楼起火时大批消防人员到场，镇政府办外道路塞满围观的群众和消防车，人车挤至水泄不通，初时以为是意外引致，其后听说是有人纵火。他说：“我知道那边起火后，往外看就见到来了很多消防员和消防车，塞满整条路，初时以为是意外起火罢。
负责救火的嘉兴市消防大队办公室工作人员向记者指，事故中无人伤亡，至于起火原因仍有待调查。他说：我们扑灭火灾后已撤离现场，至于事故的起因，请你打往公安局查问罢，我们不清楚的。”
记者问：那起火的原因呢？是燃点煤气瓶引致的吗？
消防大队办公室回答：这个我不能回答你。
记者说：火警时有泄露煤气吗？可有发生爆炸？
消防大队办公室回答：这些我不太清楚。
而嘉兴市公安局人员，以未能核实记者身份为由，拒绝回应。
嘉兴市政府官方微博消息指，周四上午八时，嘉兴市永诚餐饮服务有限公司负责人谢某开著一部装载煤气瓶的面包车，闯入王店镇政府大厅，打开煤气罐点燃，保安及时报警，火势迅速被扑灭，肇事者当场被控制，无人员伤亡，具体情况正在调查中。当局指事件涉房屋租赁纠纷。
一直关注逼迁问题的六四天网负责人黄琦指，是次事件导火线是当局不但未有理会当事人的诉求，还不断对他进行打压迫害，令当事人积累下来的怨愤终以激烈行为告终。他说：大陆很多失地农民，访民，拆迁户等长年上访，不被理会，更被连番打压，他们被迫采取激烈及恶性行为，如以自焚或点汽油引爆谋求与贪官同归于尽，希望是次当局能深切反思，尽快释除民怨。”
综合微博消息指，该名纵火者在衣服上写著 “只许政府放火、不许百姓点灯”的字样。亦有网民将疑是纵火者的遗书发上互联网，内容大意指，纵火者为永诚餐饮服务有限公司的负责人谢月明，他被镇政府招商骗财，其开设的餐厅今年1月遭迫迁，由于合同仍有一年的期限，谢月明坚决拒绝搬走，结果遭当局派来数十名城管人员强行砸门并破坏公司财物，他多次向镇政府上访均无结果。公司被迫停业，他已没有任何收入来源，且还欠下巨债和贷款，被迫赶上绝路，祇能以死抗争，讨回公道。
记者多次致电谢月明的手机，电话一直无人接听，而其公司办公室的电话，被指用户无交电话费。而王店镇政府办公室和值班室，电话均无人接听。
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