Initiatives for China translated from Chinese version BBC News of Sept 6th 2008.

The news said that the populace of He Nan province in the city of Zhou Kou has besieged the county government. Over a thousand high school students were involved in quarrels with policemen, and about 20 students were injured. Click here to read it on BBC Chinese website

It is reported that the students of No.2 High School in Shen Qiu County broke windows and doors of the government hall (online video screen shot).
On Saturday, September 6th, the Information Center for Human Rights & Democracy (http://www.hkhkhk.com/) located in Hong Kong said that a group of students went to the county government in protest because they were dissatisfied to find that the school’s playground was being sold for commercial apartment building use.

The BBC Chinese website has found several other websites and forums that have posts and videos of the school playground news. All the websites inform viewers that over a thousand students from No.2 High School, in the county of Shen Qiu, disagreed with the sale of their playground and congregated before the Shen Qiu government hall.

The local news reported that the police physically beat two schoolgirls during the demonstration on Friday, September 5th, at approximately noontime. This provoked the students and in turn, rage was brought to the siege at the county government hall.

Out of anger, some students deliberately broke the windows and doors of the government hall, and some even went as far as setting a fire. Fortunately, the fire was immediately put out.

The Information Center for Human Rights & Democracy proclaimed that the Shen Qiu government called 100 policemen to the county hall to stop the raid, and about 20 of the students were injured in the conflict.

The populace persistently kept their congregating in progress until late that night. The students did not leave until one of the government officials made a promise to negotiate with the real estate land agent.

Reuters cited one of the residents saying that there was indeed an occurrence of turbulence, and that resident expressed his/her support to the high school students who are still unable to get in contact with the Shen Qiu county government even to this day.

“The Sale of Playground for Commercial Apartment Building Use”

According to the information from domestic (China) online forums, the land of the playground in Shen Qiu No.2 High School was purchased by the real estate land agent and had plans to be rebuilt as a commercial apartment building. On August 29th, the land agent started to demolish the playground. Over a thousand students in Shen Qiu No.2 High School defended the playground by setting up a wall using their own bodies.

On Friday, teachers and students in Shen Qiu No.2 High School started a student’s strike. Over a thousand students crowded the streets of Huai Dian town in the Shen Qiu County to show their support. Finally, they gathered before the county government hall in protest.

On September 29th, a post was released via cell-phone in the “Baidu Tieba” (a forum-like website under the largest Chinese search engine “Baidu”). It was titled “A Notice to All the Shen Qiu People from No.2 High School Teachers and Students”, appealing to the local residents to support and defend the playground, and reject the commercial apartment building.

In the post it says: “The new playground they promised to change for the one we have now is far away from our class building. It does not meet the state-formulated emergency escape requirements.”

“Tianya Community” forum (one of the most famous forums in China) had a post released on Friday regarding the playground issue. It said that the Shen Qiu county government had sold the land to the real estate land agency without any permission because of the playground’s convenient transportation facilities.

The post also accuses: “What’s worse is that they said the playground was only leased to the school with a 30 years usufruct, and so the school no longer owns it.”

Among the comments of this post, the responses were varied. Some people chanted, “Down with the Corrupt Officials” and “Dismiss the County Government”, but at the same time some also condemned the teachers who instigated the students’ demonstration and violence. Lastly, a fraction of the responses thought that the students were being used as political tools.

On the other hand, the Hong Kong media cited an official of Xiangxi borough (in Hu Nan province) on Saturday saying that the commotion caused by illegal fund raising has been ceased. The commotion had once involved over 10 thousands populace, but now the traffic has returned to normal.

The official of Xiangxi borough proclaimed that they are now handling the suspects in this illegal fund raising case according to the law.

(Photo 2: Demonstration in train station of Ji-shou City, of Hunan)