A4 china
7 – 13 june 2011
China’s Clothing Industry
Faces Rocky Road
By Li Xiaoyu
Epoch Times Staff
TOXIC: The heavily-contaminated Xiang River in Hunan, China. Due to large amounts of untreated industrial discharge, the Xiang river has
the highest level of heavy metal pollution in the country, severely impacting crops grown in the region. public domain
Heavy Metal Contamination
Threatens Chinese Agriculture
By Chen Yilian
Epoch Times Staff
The Ministry of Land and Resources in
China recently admitted that more than 10
percent of arable land has been polluted by
heavy metal toxins. Since 2009, there have
been more than 30 reported cases of severe
heavy metal pollution. Reports emerge of
people dying from cadmium poisoning, or
cases like that near the industrial centre of
Chenzhou where at least 250 children have
been found to suffer from elevated lead
levels in their blood.
Particularly hard hit is Hunan Province,
traditionally considered the home of heavy
metal minerals. The level of pollution from
heavy metal in Hunan is currently the highest
in China. In areas with metal mineral mines,
nearly all agricultural produces have ceased
to grow. Soils in the Xiang River region have
been heavily polluted and are no longer able
to support crops. Water resources have also
been polluted, and the ground water has
been depleted.
Xiang River Dying
The 856 km (532 mile) Xiang River is
known as the “Mother River” of Hunan.
According to the China-based Economic
Observer, for several years, many mining
companies operated in the river’s vicinity
without environmental safeguards. Large
amounts of untreated discharge containing
9
Commentaries
on the
Communist
Party
heavy metal toxins were thus dumped into
the river and its tributaries. This, along with
waste discharge by other industries, made
the heavy metal pollution in the Xiang River
the highest in the country.
Niexi Village in Chenzhou is located
near Chongling, the Xiang River’s
main tributary. The mountain range is
surrounded by mining operations, and large
amounts of heavy metal toxins are directly
discharged into the river. Every family in
Niexi traditionally planted soybeans, but the
pollution destroyed crop and now there is
nearly no produce.
A few years ago, villagers planted more
than 500 mu (82 acres) of orange and other
trees, which grew only a couple of feet in
five years and failed to produce fruit.
Soil and Water Depleted
Yizhang County is home to more than
36 kinds of minerals. As more and more
mining companies set up shop, the area’s
soil solidification has accelerated and water
resources are quickly being depleted.
Huang Yuanxun of Jiangshui Village told
The Epoch Times that all areas with mineral
mines suffer the same problem, but that it
is just a matter of degree. “The well water
contains heavy metals,” he said. “When the
land is irrigated with the polluted water,
the soil turns into solid chunks and can no
longer be used for planting. When people
drink the polluted water, they become
sick and many of the diseases they suffer
are hard to diagnose. Some even develop
cancer.”
One villager named Cao said that now all
the ground water has been drained and there
is no water left for irrigation; in other cases,
mineral excavation caused houses and fields
to collapse. “This kind of mining is illegal.
It was permitted only to line the pockets
of government officials. For example, the
Political and Legal Commission Secretary of
our district owns a lot of stock in the mining
company. So do his family members. That’s
why he does everything he can to protect the
‘legitimacy’ of this mine,” he said.
Export quality Chinese apparel is being sold
at giveaway prices within the country as the
clothing industry, hit hard by the slump in
the global economy, struggles to thrive in the
international market.
A recent field survey by mainland Chinese
journalists in Guangdong Province revealed
that with rapidly increasing production costs,
foreign orders have declined significantly, and
that China’s clothing and footwear factories are
looking at a crisis.
According to a report by Guangzhou Daily
on May 21, on the Shangxiajiubuxing Street of
Liwan district in Guangzhou, one store put up
a sign saying “last day clearance” with a pile of
clothing at the entrance marked at “3-9 yuan/
item” (S$0.57-S$1.71/item). The store clerk said
the price reduction was mainly due to the closing
down of many factories. Another store had a sign
saying “super bargains: 1 yuan/item” (S$0.19/
item) for children’s clothes. These discounted
items were 100 percent cotton, and of good
quality.
Shangxiajiubuxing Street is one of the busy
commercial centres in Guangzhou city, and
many of the stores there sell factory surplus
items at discounted rates, directly connecting
the factories with the retailers. It also means that
the prices at these stores are an indicator of the
industry.
The vice-chairman of Guangzhou Association
of Clothes Industry said many of the clothes sold
for less than twenty yuan (S$3.79) on Shangjiu
Road are below manufacturing cost. During the
financial crash of 2008, the majority of items
meant for export that never left the country were
sold at discounted rates domestically. However,
most of the discount sales today are due to
surplus factory items or the factory clearing out
their stock before closing down.
According to a report by the Chinese Textile
Exchange Market website, during the China
International Clothing and Accessories Fair this
March, the rise in cost of production was the
most talked about topic by merchants.
In 2010, the cost of cotton went up by 50
percent while labour costs went up by more than
15 percent. Many clothes manufacturers said that
in less than one year, the total cost of one piece of
clothing went up by 20 percent. In the footwear
industry, the situation is even worse, with total
cost increasing by 30 to 40 percent.
Guangzhou Daily reports on a company in
Xintang town of Guangzhou city that specialises
in making brand-name jeans for children. One
third of their orders are domestic while two
thirds used to be exported to Europe. In the
past, the average monthly production reached
220,000-250,000 items, but since March their
orders have greatly reduced; now, their monthly
demands barely reach 100,000 items.
Ditai Textile is a medium sized apparel
factory. Zhan Jiafu, the factory director, said
that there are seven production units, but only
three are currently operating and almost all the
orders have been completed; new orders are
not coming, and many of the workers are on
vacation. “The situation this year is worse than
that of the financial crisis earlier,” Zhan said.
The footwear industry is also in trouble. Guo
Zhenhua is the owner of Baofu Rubber Products
Factory; his factory specialises in supplying
raw material to shoe factories. He said that the
increasing production cost is making China’s
footwear prices increase; many of the foreign
customers have switched to ordering from
Vietnam and other countries.
Mr Guo also said that Guangdong mainly
produces medium to high end shoes; since
October of last year, the orders have reduced by
about 30 percent. Jinjiang in Fujian Province
produces mainly medium to low end shoes, and
the situation there is even worse. He recently
visited Jinjiang and reported that there were no
orders, workers have been dismissed and many
factories are already closed.
Metal Pollution
Heavy metals, including arsenic,
cadmium, and lead can severely damage the
human body and even lead to death: Arsenic
is highly toxic, cadmium is a major cancercausing agent, and lead brings constipation
and damages the blood system.
According to Century Weekly, rice,
the main staple of the Chinese, is being
threatened by heavy metal pollution.
A random test of samples showed that
approximately 10 percent of the rice in the
market has elevated levels of cadmium.
Many researchers believe that heavy metal
toxins will replace pesticides as the top
pollutant in China.
Conservative estimates show that 12
million tons of grains are polluted by heavy
metal every year, causing over 20 billion
yuan (S$3.8 billion) in damages.
Labourers working at a sock factory in Jinjiang, in southeast China's Fujian province, on May
9. China's clothing industry was hit hard by the slump in the global economy. STR/AFP/Getty
The ‘Nine Commentaries’ is the book that is disintegrating the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and changing China.
This award-winning Epoch Times editorial series discloses the true history and nature of the CCP. Now it is serialised here.
Part 6: On How the Chinese Communist Party Destroyed Traditional Culture
QUITTING THE CCP
II. How the Communist Party
Sabotages Traditional
Culture
Inspired by the
‘Nine Commentaries’,
as of June 5, at 11:00 a.m.
96,300,587
Chinese people have announced their
intentions to quit the Chinese Communist Party and its affiliated organisations
on a special website established by The
Epoch Times.
Many others, unable to break through
the Chinese Internet blockade, have
posted their withdrawal statements on
poles or buildings. Others have written
them on Chinese currency.
Read recent statements of Chinese
quitting the Party, the latest news on the
“Nine Commentaries”, and more at
http://www.NineCommentaries.com
Liao Dynasty (916-1125 AD) were destroyed. The
Beiye scripture [34] that an eminent Indian monk
brought to China 2,000 years ago was burned.
A rare treasure, the Jade Horse, was smashed to
pieces. Several years later, Cambodian King in
Exile Norodom Sihanouk made a special request
to pay homage to the White Horse Temple. Zhou
Enlai, the Chinese premier at the time, hurriedly
ordered the transport to Luoyang of the Beiye
scripture stored in the Imperial Palace in Beijing
and the statues of the Eighteen Arhats built in the
Qing Dynasty from the Temple of Azure Clouds
(Biyun Temple) located at Xiangshan Park [35] in
suburban Beijing. With this bogus replacement,
a diplomatic difficulty was ‘solved’ [36].
Everything the CCP does serves a political
purpose. In order to seize, maintain and
consolidate its tyranny, the CCP needs to replace
human nature with its evil Party nature, and the
Chinese traditional culture with its Party culture
of “deceit, wickedness and violence”. This
destruction and substitution include cultural
relics, historical sites and ancient books, which
are tangible, and such intangible things as the
traditional outlook on morality, life and the
world. All aspects of people’s lives are involved,
including their actions, thoughts and lifestyles.
At the same time, the CCP regards insignificant
and superficial cultural manifestations as the
“essence”, retaining them, and then puts this
“essence” up as a façade. The Party keeps the
semblance of tradition while replacing the real
tradition with Party culture. It then deceives
the people and international society behind a
façade of “carrying on and developing” Chinese
traditional culture.
Simultaneously Extinguishing the
Three Religions
Owing to the fact that the traditional culture
is rooted in Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, the CCP’s first step in destroying traditional
culture was to extinguish the manifestation of the
divine principles in the human world, eradicating the three religions corresponding to them.
All three major religions, Confucianism,
Buddhism, and Taoism, encountered destruction in different historical time periods. Take
Buddhism for example. It has suffered four major tribulations in history, which are historically
known as the “Three Wus and One Zong” persecution of Buddhist devotees by four Chinese
emperors. Emperor Taiwu [28] of the Northern
Wei Dynasty (386-534 AD) and Emperor Wuzong [29] of the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD)
both tried to extinguish Buddhism in order to
have Taoism prevail. Emperor Wu [30] of the
Northern Zhou Dynasty (557-581 AD) tried to
extinguish Buddhism and Taoism together, but
Notes:
The Great Cultural Revolution saw the destruction of several precious relics housed in The
White Horse Temple, the first Buddhist temple built in China. These included the 1000-yearold statues of the Eighteen Arhats, the Jade Horse, and the 2000-year-old Beiye scripture.
Epoch Times Illustration
venerated Confucianism. Emperor Shizong [31]
of the Later Zhou Dynasty (951-960 AD) tried to
extinguish Buddhism merely to use the Buddha
statues to mint coins, and did not touch Taoism
or Confucianism.
The CCP is the only regime to extinguish the
three religions simultaneously.
Soon after the CCP established a government, it began to destroy temples, burn scriptures and forced the Buddhist monks and nuns
to return to secular life. Neither was it any softer
in destroying other religious places. By the
1960s, there were hardly any religious places left
in China. The Great Cultural Revolution brought
even greater religious and cultural catastrophe in
the campaign of “Casting Away the Four Olds”
[32]—i.e., old ideas, old culture, old customs and
old habits.
For example, the first Buddhist temple
in China was the White Horse Temple (Bai
Ma Temple) [33] built in the early Eastern Han
Dynasty (25-220 AD) outside Luoyang city,
Henan Province. It is honoured as “the Cradle
of Buddhism in China” and “the Founder’s
Home”. During “Casting Away the Four Olds”,
the White Horse Temple, of course, could not
escape looting.
There was a White Horse Temple production brigade near the temple. The Party branch
secretary led peasants to smash the temple in
the name of ‘revolution’. The over 1,000-year-old
clay statues of the Eighteen Arhats built in the
[28] Emperor Taiwu of the Northern Wei, alias Tuo Tao
(r. 424-452 AD)
[29] Emperor Wuzong of the Tang Dynasty, alias Li
Yan, (r. 840-846 AD)
[30] Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, alias
Yu Yong, (r. 561-579 AD)
[31] Emperor Shizong of the Later Zhou Dynasty, alias
Chairong, (r. 954-959 AD)
[32] A slogan used in the mid 1960s during the Cultural
Revolution in China.
[33] The White Horse Temple, the first Buddhist
monastery in China, was built in A.D. 68, the eleventh
year of Yong Ping in the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220
AD).
[34] In the Dai language, the Beiye Scripture is
pronounced Tanlan. Beiye is a subtropical plant
belonging to the palm family. It is a tall kind of tree with
thick leaves, which are mothproof and very slow to dry
out. In ancient times when paper was not yet invented,
the Dai’s ancestors imprinted letters or articles on the
leaf. The letters carved on the leaf are called the Beiye
correspondence, and the scripture on it, Tanlan (Beiye
scripture).
[35] Xiangshan Park, also called Fragrant Hills Park, is
located 28 kilometres (17 miles) northwest of downtown
Beijing. Initially built in 1186 in the Jin Dynasty, it
became a summer resort for imperial families during
the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties.
[36] From How Many Cultural Relics Were Committed
To Flames by Ding Shu.
 To be continued in the next issue