human rights VS overpopulation: a hot potato

A Chinese professor, Yang Zhizhu, was sacked because he refused to pay £20,000 fine for his second child to the government.‏

I read this eye-freshing piece of news from a Chinese Media. Long time of being my family's only child, I have to say something.

Before we jump into the conclusion of accusing anybody, some facts should be cleared, especially for our Western readers.

Birth Control policy was adopted fourty years ago.

It will be easier to spoil the child if he is the only child of the family, according to a social study.

Most people who live in rural places of China have more children.(see the figures in the second article)

China has the largest population in the world which causes many problems such as poverty, hunger...

Western world is against abortion but China does not forbid.

The professor is teaching law in China. It is he who voilated Chinese law.

This innocent child will face many problems. She is not given her Hu Kou issued by the Government, a special civial residence evidence to go to school or hospital. Just because her father refused to pay the fine.

Freedom of having birth becomes an issue to be tackled during China's process of being a citizen society.

The fine is to support a special department of Chinese Government named Birth Control Office.

According to Hu An gang, one of brain stormer for Chinese highest level government says, "population is not the one that leads to the pressure of resource and environment problems."

One Child policy was supposed to be welcomed not a enforcement.

Ma Yinchu advised the birth control that every couple had two children almost 50 years ago. We fail to surpass him.

Chinese people hate changes. They tend to accept changes step by step, gradually.

Chinese people are the best people in the world, according to Han Han, who is just selected as an influencial youth in the world. They never seek for unstable elements to solve their own problems, which makes it easier for their government to govern.


...


BEIJING, China, April 7, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A prominent university professor in Beijing has been fired because he and his wife had a second child in defiance of China's infamous one-child policy, says Chinese Human Rights Defenders.
Law professor Yang Zhizhu was notified by officials from the China Youth University for Political Sciences on March 26 that he was being fired because he had violated Beijing's family planning regulations.
Yang's wife gave birth to their second child on December 21, 2009. On the same day, university officials promulgated guidelines that outlined punishments for employees who violated the city's family planning regulations, which included such sanctions as a three-year ban on promotions and a one-year suspension.
Yang has been a vocal opponent of China's population control regime, challenging the city's laws and the school's guidelines in articles and a blog.
"Prof Yang is only the latest of many Chinese government employees who have been fired for breaking the one-child policy,” commented Stephen Mosher of the U.S.-based Population Research Institute, who has done extensive on-the-ground research into China's population control policies.
"While the government now claims that the policy is enforced only by fines, the reality is that the population control police remain on the lookout for illegal children,” Mosher continued. “In the countryside village sweeps remain common, with women pregnant outside the state plan arrested and aborted.”
“In the cities both the husband and the wife can be fined, demoted, transferred, and fired for having a second child,” he added.
Because of the hefty fines levied for additional children, which amount to several years' worth of income, Mosher explained “now without employment, Prof. Zhou will still have to mortgage his family's future in order to scrape together enough money to pay this fine.”
The one-child policy, originally instituted in the 1970s, has resulted in a rapidly aging population, raising fears among some of an impending economic decline.
Realizing the demographic issues associated with the one-child policy, the city of Shanghai began encouraging married couples to have a second child last summer. Reports have indicated that their efforts are failing, however.
According to Mosher, "China's population is falling over a demographic cliff.”
“It is aging rapidly - more rapidly than any human population has ever aged - and the worker-to-retiree ratio will soon be unsustainable,” he said. “All this calls into question whether China will be able to sustain its phenomenal economic growth over the long run."


A Beijing university fires law professor for having two children
Discrimination and punishment still meted out to people who break family planning laws. A university in the capital fires professor for having a second child. The ‘One Child’ policy is undermining China’s economic growth.

Beijing (AsiaNews) – A Beijing law professor has been dismissed because his wife gave birth to a second child in violation of the country’s infamous ‘One Child’ policy, adopted in the 1970s to cut down drastically population growth. His dismissal again puts the spotlight on China’s population family planning programme, which the government ostensibly plans to review.
Chinese Human Rights Defender reported that Yang Zhizhu, an associated professor in the Faculty of Law at China Youth University for Political Sciences, was fired on 26 March because on 21 December 2009 he became a father for a second time.
On that same date, China Youth University officials issued a set of guidelines stipulating punishments for school employees who violated Beijing municipal family planning regulations.
Yang also wrote articles and began a blog to challenge the current family planning regulations as well as the school's penalties, which include a three-year ban on promotions for violators as well as a one-year suspension as a disciplinary action.
Since the late 1970s, China has enforced a ‘One Child’ policy. Couples are limited to one child (two in the countryside if the first child is female) and lawbreakers can be heavily fined and subject to discrimination at work.
In addition, abortion has been promoted as a population control method. For years, population control officials have also carried out forced abortions and sterilisation.
However, the policy is gradually undermining China’s economy. According to the Labour and Social Security Ministry, 23 per cent of the population will be over 60 by 2030, that is 351 million new pensioners to be maintained by the government. The proportion of working to non-working population will thus tip in favour of the latter. At present, three people work for every pensioner. In 20 years, that ratio will be two to one.
Labour shortages are already a problem in a country with a population of 1.3 billion people, especially in the golden belt that goes from Guangdong province to Shanghai.
The problem is so acute that Xie Lingli, director of Shanghai Population and Family Planning Commission, has called on families to make more babies.
Shanghai, china’s largest city, has three million over 60, or 22 per cent of the population, a percentage that is expected to reach 34 per cent by 2020.
By 2050, the US Center for Strategic and International Studies expects China to have 438 million people over 60 and 100 million over 80.
At present, the ratio between people in working age and people over 60 is 1.6 to one. In 1975, it was 7.7 to one.

When art meets science - a romance made in a gallery

As romantic moments go, when a woman first meets her husband-to-be is usually special. But who would have thought that when the cold and calculating science of medicine came together with the soft and emotional creative arts, an even more touching moment happens- science and the art fuse together.

“If a body were to be embalmed, John Hunter was sent for… if anything strange in nature occurred, the explanation of it came from him.”*

From one of the oldest anatomical collections in the world to the latest advances in minimal access surgery, the Hunterian Museum which takes its name from reveals 400 years of medical history, a series of events that reveals the connections between microscopy and medicine. It is the 'lens of life'.

Although it has hardly been advertised or reviewed, the exhibition has attracted hundreds of visitors fascinated by the subject. But remember this is a medical museum. You wouldn't expect to see art or artists here. But you would be wrong.

Artists use their creativity to reveal the world in new and sometimes unexpected ways. And that is exactly the point. They try to think outside the box. The Hunterian Museum allows them to do that.

It's a space for them to come and spend the day uninterrupted, sketching human body parts well-preserved in jars for hundreds of years. Being surrounded by thousands of life-sized body parts in jars of varying sizes takes a moment or two of getting used to on entering the museum.

In that jar, a human brain, unremarkable in this setting. Except it belongs to Babbage, the computer inventor. Without that brain we might still be adding sums with a chalk on slate.

Over there, a line of premature babies, from four-weeks-old to nearly full term, hundreds of years have passed but still peacefully at rest, beautiful, exceptional, elegant, unexpected, and mysterious.

Arts tells its own story mysteriously too.

Artist Klein Neason is a regular visitor in need of constant inspiration for his work. His work focuses on the physical world. One day he stumbled into the Hunterian, a museum dedicated to the art and science of anatomy and surgery, and he was hooked.

“It is amazing when my art meets science,” he said. "You have to understand Nature. You cannot build your artistic world from thin air. You have to love the anatomical and have a good and useful knowledge in anatomy."
Klein uses scientific principles to create mesmerizing works of art with inspiration. Like the sketch mused from the facial expressions of premature babies to the three-inch-long foot bone of a Chinese woman.

Klein Neason is not alone.

Several years ago artist Susanna Edwards happened to come upon a collection of Victorian microscopic slides in Hunterian Museum. Intrigued by the creativity and dexterity involved in making these delicate objects, she began to delve into the world of microscopy and that journey pushed her work to a new stage. The result is her stunning photography exhibition which explores microscopy as craft and technology, art and science. Also at the Hunterian museum.

* Jesse Foot, Life of John Hunter.

Music talks

Nana Dankwa is not just a singer: he is a musician. Music to him is a like a religion and way of life. He makes a mixture of all kinds of genres, a fresh new sound best described as Afrolectricfunk. Music inspired by Africa and an electronic dash of P-Funk.

People appreciate commercial things more than real music. I do not want to be treated that way. I do not consume music like a microwave meal. Music to me is an extension of my soul its all about nature and love.

Nana came from a small town of Ghana in West Africa and spent most of his childhood in East Africa, a land full of nature and love.

“That peaceful place, is where I was born; that is where my music and I originally grew, with love, with nature.”

Nana is unsigned.

“If you want to do music, you cannot burden yourself with other concerns apart from being honest to yourself and follow your heart,” he told me.
Idealism is hard, in this money-hungry society.
Nana spent time producing hip-hop music to fit in with the current trend. And he succeeded.

Then one day he woke up. Overwhelmed by a strong feeling of emptiness. Realising what he was doing was unfulfilling, he decided to suspend his musical career.

During this break from his artform, he picked up on listening to the music he knew in his childhood, such as Hi-life from Ghana to George Clinton's P-Funk. Like a ray of sunshine a new passion in rock and electronic music burned in him.

He mentioned to me that “going back to square one" was the best thing he ever did. Spending time in his continent he returned to his root - express yourself through music. The way it used to be back in the days when African people used music to communicate with each other, to spread the message of peace, love and unity.

“We used to sing each other stories," Nana explains. "That is what I want to do with my music.... Expect the unexpected!” he laughed.
Check out Nana D’s debut album 'Blame It On The Album' released in late 2010.

Look through yourself by tattoos

It seems like everyone has a tattoo these days. What used to be the property of sailors, outlaws, and biker gangs is now a popular body decoration for many people. And it's not just anchors, skulls, and battleships anymore — from school emblems to Celtic designs to personalized symbols, people have found many ways to express themselves with their tattoos.

Cover-up or the naked truth?

“A tattoo is a permanent marking made by inserting ink into the layers of skin. It is my permanent makeup.” says Jo Gardner, a tattoo lover.

A tattoo is a puncture wound, made deep in your skin, that's filled with ink. It is made by penetrating people’s skin with a needle and by injecting ink into the area with a special design.

“Besides your physical appearance, there are still a lot of things worth trying. Like a tattoo!” Jo unbuttoned her shirt, showing me her tattoo at her lower waist.
“For me, a tattoo is a way of regaining power, of remembering pain, tears, happiness and bitterness in life. “

For some people, tattoos represent safety and protection. It is like wearing clothes rather than going naked. You can spend a sunny afternoon narrating your story to a tattoo designer. And by sunset it's there for anyone to see. Your story. Your tattoo.

Every tattoo tells a story
Brian Richards opened a tattoo parlour on at West End of London, a most famous Soho area. As a tattoo enthusiast, he calls himself 'ink', 'tats', 'artist' or 'worker'.
He told me, “Tattoos are still associated with criminality. In the United States many prisoners and criminal gangs use distinctive tattoos to indicate facts about their criminal behaviours, prison sentences, and organizational affiliation. But it is not common to see tattoos used for that purpose here in the UK.”

Sentimental stories are always inspirational to tattoo artists. 'Love' is an endless muse. When emotions need to be expressed a tattoo can do the job.
“Every tattoo has a secret behind it." Brian says. "As a tattoo designer, you have to understand, explore and express that secret.” Getting a tattoo done can take several hours, days or even months but he never minds.

Tattoos used to be done manually — that is, the tattoo artist would puncture the skin with a needle and inject the ink by hand. Though this process is still used in some parts of the world, most tattoo shops use a tattoo machine these days.
But Brian knows how deep to drive the needle into the skin by his brilliant hands.
“We do not offer temporary tattoos. A temporary tattoo is not a tattoo.”
There is a motto on the wall of his Soho shop, says, "look through yourself by your own tattoos".

Before I said goodbye to Brian, he asked me if I would like a tattoo. I declined. For one thing I am so scared of pain and needles. Plus I'm paranoid about infections and allergic reactions. But don't let my fears put you off. Actually, getting a tattoo can hurt, but the level of pain can vary, which depends on your pain threshold, how good the person wielding the tattoo machine is, and where exactly on your body you're getting the tattoo.