OCTOBER 2005 (revised November 2005) CHINA Home Office Science and Research Group COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION SERVICE CHINA OCTOBER 2005 Country of origin reports are produced by the Science & Research Group of the Home Office to provide caseworkers and others involved in processing asylum applications with accurate, balanced and up-to-date information about conditions in asylum seekers’ countries of origin. They contain general background information about the issues most commonly raised in asylum/human rights claims made in the UK. The reports are compiled from material produced by a wide range of recognised external information sources. They are not intended to be a detailed or comprehensive survey, nor do they contain Home Office opinion or policy. Second edition (reformatted November 2005) ii Disclaimer: “This country of origin information report contains the most up-to-date publicly available information as at 31 August 2005. Older source material has been included where it contains relevant information not available in more recent documents.” OCTOBER 2005 CHINA 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 Poverty ........................................................................................... 3.04 The Environment ............................................................................ 3.09 State owned enterprises (SOEs).................................................... 3.11 Unemployment ............................................................................... 3.16 Currency......................................................................................... 3.18 Corruption....................................................................................... 3.20 Guanxi ............................................................................................ 3.26 Punishment of corrupt officials ....................................................... 3.28 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 ................................................................ 4.07 Jiang Zemin as core leader ............................................................ 4.09 Hu Jiantao: chairman of the board ................................................. 4.10 5. STATE STRUCTURES ........................................................................ 5.01 The Constitution........................................................................... 5.01 Citizenship and nationality.............................................................. 5.05 The political system ..................................................................... 5.10 Chinese Communist Party (CCP)................................................... 5.11 Elections......................................................................................... 5.11 The leadership (fourth generation) ................................................. 5.15 Judiciary........................................................................................ 5.17 Criminal procedure law (1997) ....................................................... 5.27 State Security Law (1993) .............................................................. 5.31 Double jeopardy ............................................................................. 5.33 Legal rights/detention.................................................................. 5.36 Petitions.......................................................................................... 5.41 State compensation law (1995)...................................................... 5.46 Hitting an official ............................................................................. 5.48 Arrest warrants ............................................................................... 5.49 Death penalty ................................................................................. 5.51 People exempted from the death penalty....................................... 5.61 Child executions ............................................................................. 5.62 Female executions ......................................................................... 5.64 Organ harvesting............................................................................ 5.65 Internal security............................................................................ 5.66 Police and paramilitary bodies ....................................................... 5.67 People’s Armed Police (PAP)......................................................... 5.69 Police jurisdiction............................................................................ 5.70 Protection of witnesses .................................................................. 5.71 Disclaimer: “This country of origin information report contains the most up-to-date publicly available information as iii at 31 August 2005. Older source material has been included where it contains relevant information not available in more recent documents.” CHINA OCTOBER 2005 Prisons and prison conditions.................................................... 5.72 Model prisons ................................................................................. 5.75 Treatment of prisoners ................................................................... 5.77 Prisons in Fujian............................................................................. 5.80 Drapchi prison (Tibet)..................................................................... 5.81 Other known prisons in Tibet.......................................................... 5.85 Administrative detention ................................................................. 5.86 Re-education through labour (RTL)................................................ 5.86 Other forms of administrative detention ......................................... 5.93 Military service ............................................................................. 5.95 Conscientious objectors and deserters .......................................... 5.97 Medical services........................................................................... 5.101 Psychiatric treatment...................................................................... 5.108 HIV/AIDS ........................................................................................ 5.115 Availability of anti-retroviral therapy ............................................... 5.119 Intravenous drug users (IDUs) ....................................................... 5.125 Discrimination................................................................................. 5.128 People with disabilities ................................................................... 5.136 Educational system...................................................................... 5.138 Higher education ............................................................................ 5.142 6. HUMAN RIGHTS ................................................................................ 6.01 6.A HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES .................................................................... 6.01 Overview ........................................................................................ 6.01 Police and official accountability..................................................... 6.11 Freedom of speech and the media ............................................. 6.18 Journalists ...................................................................................... 6.33 Intellectuals .................................................................................... 6.42 Freedom of religion...................................................................... 6.44 Registration .................................................................................... 6.49 Religious groups .......................................................................... 6.61 Buddhists........................................................................................ 6.61 Taoists............................................................................................ 6.62 Christians ....................................................................................... 6.64 Catholics........................................................................................