New York Times: Beijing Journal
A Home on the Internet Shelters Beijing’s Homeless
Published: March 3, 2009
BEIJING — South of Tiananmen Square, mazelike neighborhoods are being bulldozed and grand shopping promenades erected, but homeless people keep resurfacing. Read the rest of the article.
My view: This problem intrigued me when I was in Beijing; I asked my teacher, "What happens to vagrants in Beijing, and why they can't receive help from the government?"
She replied, "They can receive help for a period of time, but then are often required to move back home, to their home as recorded on their HuKou (a government issued residence card)." She went on to speculate that they make more money in Beijing as beggars or sellers of trinkets than they could in their hometowns.
Later, I translated a post by Zhang Shihe, the subject of the New York Times piece, or "Tiger Temple" as he's known on the net. Read the post on CDT.
To briefly plug CDT, there's something happening on the Internet in China, a growing discontent with the government, often captured by the China Digital Times. The story of the Homeless of TianAnMen shows a strong link between blog discussions dealing in words and pixels, and tangible physical and fiscal change. It is a fascinating development in modern Chinese history, and indeed world history.
TianAnMen Dawn: On one of my last days in Beijing, I met my friend Chris in TianAnMen to watch the daily flag raising ceremony. At dawn, beneath the gaze of Chairman Mao's portrait, the anthem played and the flag rose. These things remind me that, "When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty" (Thomas Jefferson).
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