the Beijing News
March 27, 2008

You are permitted to have a dog now
Top headline of the front page: Low-income families in Beijing that receive welfare from the government can own dogs and mobile phones now. According to a previous regulation of the Beijing Civil Administration Bureau, Beijing residents who had incomes lower than 330 yuan a month could apply for government aid but families that owned cars, expensive jewelry, mobile phones, air conditioners and pets would not be considered. The new rule made a slight change, allowing mobile phone and pet owners to qualify for benefits.

Director of Tourism Bureau fired for fake tiger video
There have been new developments in the investigation into the recent fake tiger video affairin in Pingjiang (平江), Hunan Province (see previous Danwei post):

It has come to light that Pingjiang's local tourism bureau and a tourism company were involved in producing the fake video. According to an insider, the people who came up with this idea were inspired by home porm king Edison Chen, and Tiger Zhou, a.k.a. Zhou Zhenglong the farmer who was responsible for last year's fake South China tiger photos.

Police guilty of evidence fabrication
The head of the local police bureau was dismissed in Shaoyang (邵阳), Hunan Province. Wang Huimin (王惠民), a member of the local Political Consultative Committee, was charged with violence against police officers. The evidence used against him, mainly a doctor's appraisal of an injured cop was later found to be fabricated by the police. Along with the article, there is a photo showing Mr Wang handing a steel bar which according to him, was used for self-defence.

Other stories on the front page:
• Ba Bao Shan revolutionary cemetery is preparing for the coming Qing Ming festival rush, when Chinese people traditionally visit and clean their family graves.
• Foreign media went to Tibet.
• Yuan Ming Yuan park moved all residents out.
• The big photo shows the Environment Protection Bureau changing their name to the Ministry of Environment Protection.

Stories on the other pages:
• China's Journalist Association condemned foreign media for their distorted coverage of the Lhasa riot.
• An article quotes Tibetan scholar Labapingcuo (拉巴平措) saying that "the monks should have education about laws, and it's necessary that religion should develop within the framework of laws." He also said that monks should be patriotic.
• Sun Lanyu (孙兰雨), the Party secretary of Gaotang (高唐), Shandong province was dismissed from his job. He was responsible for detaining three citizens for 22 days whom he accused of "slandering and smearing" him online.
• A cadre in Dongpo district (东坡区) of Meishan (眉山), Sichuan province asked civil servants to recite at least ten poems of Su Dongpo (苏东坡), a famous ancient poet to whom the district was named after.