Refugee Review Tribunal AUSTRALIA RRT RESEARCH RESPONSE Research Response Number: CHN33872 Country: China Date: 7 October 2008 Keywords: China – Jiangxi Province – Qianshan County – Corruption – Qianshan County Construction Engineering Company – Shi Gu Wang This response was prepared by the Research & Information Services Section of the Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT) after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the RRT within time constraints. This response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. This research response may not, under any circumstance, be cited in a decision or any other document. Anyone wishing to use this information may only cite the primary source material contained herein. Questions 1. What is known of government corruption in Qianshan County? 2. Is anything known of Qianshan County Construction Engineering Co Ltd? 3. Is Shi Gu Wang the President of Qianshan County and is anything known of him? RESPONSE 1. What is known of government corruption in Qianshan County, Jiangxi Province? Very little information was found in the sources consulted on government corruption in Qianshan County (铅山县), also known as Yanshan Country, Jiangxi Province (江西省). This information is provided below together with general information on Qianshan County. In July 2002 BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific – Political reporting trials in Yanshan County stated: Recently, in its initial trial, Shangrao Intermediate People’s Court, in Jiangxi Province, sentenced Tu Fusheng (3205 4395 3932) and his successor, Li Zaichun (2621 0375 2504), secretaries of the Yanshan County Committee, to three years and two years imprisonment, respectively. The court also sentenced Zhou Xianzhen (0719 3759 3791), director of the Organization Department of Yanshan County, to five years imprisonment for allegedly accepting bribes (‘Death sentences, crime reported in China, May-June’ 2002, BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific – Political, source: Guangzhou Ribao, Guangzhou, in Chinese, 12 Jun 02 pA4, 6 July – Attachment 1). Of some interest may be an April 2007 China Daily news article reporting an investigation of the head of the Haidian District government in Beijing for allegedly accepting bribes to approve real estate deals. This person was a native of Qianshan County in Jiangxi Province (Juan, Shan 2007, ‘Haidian head in graft probe’, China Daily, 17 April – Attachment 2). Qianshan County Sources indicate that Qianshan County in Jiangxi Province is sometimes referred to as Yanshan County (‘China: Jiangxi’ (undated), City Population website http://www.citypopulation.de/China-Jiangxi.html – Accessed 3 October 2008 – Attachment 3; Fox, Josephine et al. 2006, ‘Qianshan County’ in ‘MAFIQC: Mortality and Fertility in Qing China – demographic and social patterns in the Lower Yangzi Valley circa 1760-1830’, Internet Publications Bureau, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies (RSPAS), The Australian National University http://coombs.anu.edu.au/SpecialProj/MAFIQC- for.2nd.edition/geography-full.html – Accessed 3 October 2008 – Attachment 4; ‘Yongping Cu-W deposit, Yanshan Co. (Qianshan Co.), Shangrao Prefecture, Jiangxi Province, China’ (undated), Mindat.org website http://www.mindat.org/loc-26689.html – Accessed 3 October 2008 – Attachment 5). Qianshan County is a county under the prefecture of Shangrao City (上饶市). Country information indicates that the capital of the county is Hekou, which is also referred to as Yanshan (‘List of administrative divisions of Jiangxi’ (undated), NationMaster.com website http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/List-of-administrative-divisions-of-Jiangxi – Accessed 3 October 2008 – Attachment 6; Fox, Josephine et al. 2006, ‘Qianshan County’ in ‘MAFIQC: Mortality and Fertility in Qing China – demographic and social patterns in the Lower Yangzi Valley circa 1760-1830’, Internet Publications Bureau, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies (RSPAS), The Australian National University http://coombs.anu.edu.au/SpecialProj/MAFIQC-for.2nd.edition/geography-full.html – Accessed 3 October 2008 – Attachment 4; ‘China [Extract]’ 2003, Collins, Rev. Ed., London – Attachment 7). Attached are two maps: • An extract from a China map published by Collins on which Fuqing, Yanshan (Hekou), Shangrao City and Nanchang (Jiangxi’s capital) are highlighted. Yanshan (Hekou) is approximately 350kms (in a direct line) north west of Fuqing (‘China [Extract]’ 2003, Collins, Rev. Ed., London – Attachment 7). • A Chinese language map of Qianshan County (Jiangxi) from the guang.net website on which the capital Hekou is highlighted (‘Qianshan County’ (undated), guang.net website http://www.9654.com/m/qianshan.htm – Accessed 2 October 2008 – Attachment 8). From the attached Chinese language map the highlighted inset box on Qianshan County (铅山县) was unofficially translated by a Chinese-speaking Tribunal officer as follows: Qiangshan County: County within the jurisdiction of Shangrao City. Located at the northeastern part of the province (ie Jiangxi). Fujian Wu Yi Shan is its neighbour at south. Area is 2,178 square kilometres. Population is 410,000. County government is based in He Kau Town. Dominated by low undulating knolls. Hilly areas, undulating knolls comprised 81% of the county’s total area. Most areas are covered by forests. It is the principal forest area within the province. Northern slope of Hwang Gang Shan has Qianshan Wu Yi Shan Nature Reserve Area. Xin Jiang crosses the north part of the county. Affluent in copper, lead, zinc, coal, and marble mineral resources. Industrial activities are mainly construction material, machinery, food, coal, sulphuric acid, cement, tea, metallurgy processing, bamboo and wood processing, stone material processing. Specialty products include “Gu Han Wine”, willow wood steaming cage, sericeous fan, bamboo wares, lianshizhi (a paper made of bamboo), etc. Agriculture mainly comprises paddy rice farming, coleseed, and soya bean. Crossing borders are Yue Jiang, Shang Fen Motorway, and Heng Nan (crossing south) Railway. Historical relics include Ge Xian Shan (mountain), Er Hu (Goose Lake) Academic Institute, former home of Xin Qi Ji (a famous writer) at Piao Quan (spring) (Unofficial translation of an inset box in ‘Qianshan County’ (undated), guang.net website http://www.9654.com/m/qianshan.htm – Accessed 2 October 2008 – Attachment 8). 2. Is anything known of the Qianshan County Construction Engineering Co Ltd (also referred to as “Qianshan Construction”)? No information was found in the English language sources consulted specifically on the “Qianshan County Construction Engineering Company”, “Yanshan County Construction Engineering”, “Qianshan Construction” or “Yanshan Construction”. However, companies with variations to these names were found. Also, using Google Translate and the Google search engine, references in Chinese were found to a “Yanshan County Construction Company”. Note that Google translations can often be poor and can contain errors – as such they give only a rough indication of the contents of a document. For any further reliance on this information, a better translation should be obtained. The following variations to the “Qianshan County Construction Engineering” name were found: Keywords: Qianshan County Xinyu1 Construction Engineering Co., Ltd. (Single location) … Address: No.26, South Shengli Road, Hekou Town, Qianshan County SHANGRAO, JIANGXI CHINA 33450 Telephone: 0086 – (793) 533-2653 (‘Report Overview’ (undated), Alacra Store website http://www.alacrastore.com/storecontent/dnb2/528570307 – Accessed 2 October 2008 – Attachment 9). And: QIANSHAN CONSTRUCTION DESIGN OFFICE ChengNan Street, QianShan County, ShangRao, Jiangxi Phone: 0793-5332290 Contact: Baicheng, WANG (‘Jiangxi: Business Listings’ (undated), Yellow Pages China website http://www.yellowpageschina.com/13990/5 – 2 October 2008 – Attachment 10). With the assistance of a Chinese-speaking Tribunal Officer the Chinese characters “铅山县建筑工程公司” for “Qianshan County Construction Engineering Company” and the characters “江西省” for Jiangxi, were used in a Google search. Six entries were returned. Two relevant results refer to the same “铅山县建筑工程公司” translated by Google 1 Xinyu is another town in Jiangxi Province. Translator as “Yanshan County Construction Company”. The two sources, with Google translations, are attached: • ‘铅山县建筑工程公司 [Yanshan County Construction Company]’ (undated), china- brand net website http://www.china-brand.net/company/21-211000075905- contact.html – Accessed 3 October 2008 – Attachment 11. • ‘企业黄页: 铅山县建筑工程公司 [Yellow Pages business: Yanshan County construction company]’ (undated), huochepiao.com website http://www.huochepiao.com/114/show.asp?id=219578&area=jiangxi – Accessed 3 October 2008 – Attachment 12. The two sources had the same Chinese characters for their address (江西省上饶地区铅山县复兴街42号); however, there was a slight difference in the Google translation. The address was unofficially translated by the Chinese-speaking Tribunal Officer as: 江西省[Jiangxi Province]上饶地区[Shangrao Area/District]铅山县[Qianshan County]复兴街[Fuxing St]42号[no. 42] Both sources listed the post code as 334500 and the company’s telephone number as 5332652. 3. Is Shi Gu Wang the President of Qianshan County and is anything known of him? No information on Shi Gu Wang was found in the sources consulted. Google searches were also conducted using the Chinese characters “世辜王” and “王辜世” for the name Shi Gu Wang and 铅山县 for Qianshan County. No results were returned. List of Sources