COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT CHINA APRIL 2006 RDS – IND COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION SERVICE CHINA APRIL 2006 Contents Paragraphs 1. SCOPE OF DOCUMENT ...................................................................... 1.01 2. GEOGRAPHY.................................................................................... 2.01 Languages...................................................................................... 2.05 Mandarin (Putonghua).................................................................... 2.05 Pinyin translation system................................................................ 2.06 Naming conventions....................................................................... 2.07 Tibetan names................................................................................ 2.08 Population ...................................................................................... 2.09 3. ECONOMY........................................................................................ 3.01 Shadow banks................................................................................ 3.02 Opening a bank account in China .................................................. 3.04 Consequences for non-payment of a loan ..................................... 3.05 Remittance ..................................................................................... 3.06 Poverty ........................................................................................... 3.07 Environment ................................................................................... 3.10 State owned enterprises (SOEs).................................................... 3.12 Unemployment ............................................................................... 3.17 Currency......................................................................................... 3.18 Corruption....................................................................................... 3.19 Punishment of corrupt officials ....................................................... 3.27 Breaches of Party discipline .......................................................... 3.33 Guanxi (social connections) .......................................................... 3.34 4. HISTORY .......................................................................................... 4.01 1949-1976: The Mao Zedong era................................................... 4.01 1978-1989: Deng Xiaoping as paramount leader........................... 4.03 Tiananmen Square protests (1989)................................................ 4.04 Post-Tiananmen Square ................................................................ 4.06 Jiang Zemin as core leader ............................................................ 4.07 Hu Jintao: Chairman of the Board .................................................. 4.08 5. STATE STRUCTURES ........................................................................ 5.01 The Constitution........................................................................... 5.01 Citizenship and nationality.............................................................. 5.04 The political system ..................................................................... 5.08 Chinese Communist Party (CCP)................................................... 5.10 Elections......................................................................................... 5.11 The leadership (fourth generation) ................................................. 5.13 Judiciary........................................................................................ 5.15 Restrictions on lawyers ................................................................. 5.25 Punishment of minor offences........................................................ 5.27 Hitting an official ............................................................................. 5.28 Arrest warrants ............................................................................... 5.29 Wanted posters ............................................................................. 5.31 Legal rights/detention.................................................................. 5.34 The petitioning system ................................................................... 5.40 Criminal procedure law (1997) ....................................................... 5.49 State security law (1993)................................................................ 5.50 Double jeopardy ............................................................................. 5.52 Death penalty ................................................................................. 5.55 People exempted from the death penalty....................................... 5.67 Organ harvesting............................................................................ 5.70 Internal security............................................................................ 5.71 ii This Country of Origin Information Report contains the most up-to-date publicly available information as at 10 March 2006. Older source material has been included where it contains relevant information not available in more recent documents. APRIL 2006 CHINA Police and paramilitary bodies ....................................................... 5.72 People’s Armed Police (PAP)......................................................... 5.74 Police jurisdiction............................................................................ 5.75 Protection of witnesses .................................................................. 5.76 Prisons and prison conditions.................................................... 5.77 Treatment of prisoners ................................................................... 5.81 Ankang system............................................................................... 5.86 Prisons in Fujian............................................................................. 5.89 Drapchi prison (Tibet)..................................................................... 5.90 Other known detention facilities in Tibet......................................... 5.94 Administrative detention ................................................................. 5.95 Re-education through labour (RTL)................................................ 5.95 Other forms of administrative detention ......................................... 5.103 Military service ............................................................................. 5.105 Conscientious objectors and deserters .......................................... 5.107 Medical services........................................................................... 5.111 Psychiatric treatment...................................................................... 5.117 Suicides ......................................................................................... 5.120 HIV/AIDS ........................................................................................ 5.121 Availability of anti-retroviral therapy ............................................... 5.124 Discrimination................................................................................. 5.127 Intravenous drug users (IDUs) ...................................................... 5.130 People with disabilities ................................................................... 5.131 Educational system...................................................................... 5.133 Higher education ............................................................................ 5.137 6. HUMAN RIGHTS ................................................................................ 6.01 6.A HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES .................................................................... 6.01 Overview ........................................................................................ 6.01 UN visits ........................................................................................ 6.09 Torture............................................................................................ 6.13 Police and official accountability..................................................... 6.17 Freedom of speech and the media ............................................. 6.25 Journalists ...................................................................................... 6.39 Intellectuals .................................................................................... 6.46 Freedom of religion...................................................................... 6.48 Registration .................................................................................... 6.54 Religious groups .......................................................................... 6.66 Buddhists........................................................................................ 6.66 Taoists............................................................................................ 6.67 Christians ....................................................................................... 6.69 Availability of bibles .........................................................................6.73 Catholics......................................................................................... 6.75 Protestants (includes “house churches”)........................................ 6.83 Russian Orthodox Church .............................................................. 6.92 Jehovah’s Witnesses ....................................................................