Chinese Law Prof on melamine milk-powder scandal.

Professor Clarke commented on the court ruling in the melamine milk scandal. He replicated the relevant passages of the statutes without a translation.

I’ll offer a rough translation (without any legal authority):

Original

第一百一十五条  放火、决水、爆炸、投毒或者以其他危险方法致人重伤、死亡或者使公私财产遭受重大损失的，处十年以上有期徒刑、无期徒刑或者死刑。
过失犯前款罪的，处三年以上七年以下有期徒刑；情节较轻的，处三年以下有期徒刑或者拘役。

第一百四十条  生产者、销售者在产品中掺杂、掺假，以假充真，以次充好或者以不合格产品冒充合格产品，销售金额五万元以上不满二十万元的，处二年以下有期徒刑或者拘役， 并处或者单处销售金额百分之五十以上二倍以下罚金；销售金额二十万元以上不满五十万元的，处二年以上七年以下有期徒刑，并处销售金额百分之五十以上二倍以 下罚金；销售金额五十万元以上不满二百万元的，处七年以上有期徒刑，并处销售金额百分之五十以上二倍以下罚金；销售金额二百万元以上的，处十五年有期徒刑 或者无期徒刑，并处销售金额百分之五十以上二倍以下罚金或者没收财产。

第一百四十四条  在生产、销售的食品中掺入有毒、有害的非食品原料的，或者销售明知掺有有毒、有害的非食品原料的食品的，处五年以下有期徒刑或者拘役，并处或者单处销售金 额百分之五十以上二倍以下罚金；造成严重食物中毒事故或者其他严重食源性疾患，对人体健康造成严重危害的，处五年以上十年以下有期徒刑，并处销售金额百分 之五十以上二倍以下罚金；致人死亡或者对人体健康造成特别严重危害的，依照本法第一百四十一条的规定处罚。[The relevant text from Art. 141 says, "致人死亡或者对人体健康造成特别严重危害的，处十年以上有期徒刑、无期 徒刑或者死刑."]

Translation

Article 115: Arson, cutting of water, explosion, poisoning and other dangerous methods leading to severe injuries, death or severe loss of public or private property are to be sentenced to above ten years prison, life imprisonment or death penalty.

Article 140: Producer and vendor who adulterate the product, sell fake product as original, sell substandard product as premium, sell non-qualified product as qualified, will be punished according to the sales volume. If the sales volume is above 50,000 RMB and below 20,000 RMB, the sentence is below two years imprisonment, detention [ 1], and/or a payment equaling more than 50% and less than twice the sales volume. If the sales volume is above 20,000 RMB and below 50,000, the sentence is more than two years and less than seven years imprisonment, and a payment equaling more than 50% and less than twice the sales volume. If the sales volume is more than 50,000 RMB and less than 2,000,000 RMB, the sentence is more than seven yearsnon-life imprisonment, and a payment equaling more than 50% and less than twice the sales volume. If the sales volume is more than 2.000.000 RMB, the sentence is more than 15 years or life imprisonment, and the payment equaling more than 50% and less than twice the sales volume or the confiscation of the property.

Article 144: Someone adding toxic, harmful non-edible material to food during production or sale, or selling food in certain knowledge that it contains toxic, harmful non-edible material, is to be sentenced to less than five years imprisonment or detention [1], and the payment of more than 50% and less than twice the sales volume. Someone causing severe food poisoning or other food-related diseases, or causing great danger to the human health, is to be sentenced to more than five years and less than ten years imprisonment, and the payment equaling more than 50% and less than twice the sales volume. Someone causing death of a person or unusually severe harm is to be sentenced according to the rules of Art. 141 of this statute. [The relevant text from Art. 144 says, "Someone causing the death of a person or unusually severe harm to the health, is to be sentenced to more than ten years, life imprisonment or death penalty."]

Notes

I am not scholarly in the discipline of legal Chinese, so forgive me for all the pain I have caused to the sinophilic amongst the readers.

[1] 拘役 [jū yì] is translated as dentention and is a form of punishment. According to Baike, dentention is executed in a dentention centre or other guarded facilities by the public security. The punished is allowed to go home for one to two days a month within the sentenced period, and those who work may receive a lessened reward.

About Rural developments

The Central [Government] is continuosly increasing the vigor of policies for strengthening and favouring the farmers¹(中央将不断加大强农惠农政策力度). China Youth Daily (中国青年报）October 1st 2008, retrieved same day.

Original (extracts):

From http://zqb.cyol.com/content/2008-10/01/content_2378146.htm

定于10月9日至12日召开的党的十七届三中全会将专题研究新形势下推进农村改革发展问题。中共中央总书记、国家主席、中央军委主席胡锦涛国庆前夕专程前往安徽省考察农村改革发展情况。

金秋时节，江淮大地稻黄豆熟、瓜果飘香。9月30日，胡锦涛在安徽省委书记王金山和省长王三运等陪同下，深入田间地头、龙头企业、农户家中，同干部群众共商农村改革发展大计。

30年前，滁州市凤阳县小岗村18位村民率先实行“大包干 “，迈出了我国农村改革的第一步。30日上午一到安徽，总书记就驱车前往小岗村考察。

村外田野里喜人的丰收景象，让总书记的脸上露出了笑容。他让停下车来，沿着田埂地坝走进水稻田和黑豆地，仔细察看饱满的稻穗和即将成熟的豆荚。胡锦涛兴致勃勃地同正在田间劳作的几位村民聊起农事，问亩产、问销售价格、问农技推广和粮食直补政策落实情况。

[...]

Translation:

The third plenum of the 17th [CPC²] Central Committee which is scheduled from October 9th to 12th will specially discuss the issue how to further reforms and development in the rural areas under the new circumstances³. The General-Secretary of CPC, President, and Chairman of the Central Military Commission, Hu Jintao went to Province Anhui to inspect the situation of the rural reforms and development the day before the National Day [October 1st].

It is autumn’s Golden Week,  rice and beans are ripe on the [fecond] soil between Changjian and Huaihe, [the air is filled with] the sweet incense of the fruits and melons⁴. On September the 30th, Hu Jingtao visited the fields, model companies⁵ and rural families in the company of Anhui’s provincial party secretary Wan Jinsan and governor Wan Sanyun, and discussed the [grand] strategies for the rural reforms and development with the functionaries and the public.

Thirty years ago, 18 villagers from Village Xiaogang in the District of Fengyang, City of Chuzhou, took the lead for the “Dabaogan” (大包干)⁶, and the first step for China’s rural reforms. After arriving in Anhui in the morning of September the 30th, the General-Secretary [Hu Jintao] went to Village Xiaogang by car to inspect.

The scene of the gratifying and abundant harvest in the fields raised a smile on General-Secretary’s face. Stopping the car, he got off, went along the irrigation dam and entered the rice and black bean fields. He carefully examined the full ears of rice and maturing bean pods. Full of enthusiasm, Hu Jintao talked about farming with some farmers who were working in the fields. He asked about the yields, thesales price, the spread of agricultural technologies and the implementation of food subsidy policies.

[...]

Notes

1 强农惠农 [qiáng nóng huì nóng] means literally “stregthen farmers/farming, favour farmers/farming”.

2 CPC: Communist Party of China

3 New circumstances: China is fast developing, so it probably means the general trend of modernisation.

4 This “objective” account utilises the pictorial aspect of Chinese very well, it is quite hard to translate it satisfactorily, especially concerning the fact that I am not professionally involved in the studies of “socialist realism” in literature. Golden Week is the week around the National Day which is holidays by law.

5 龙头企业 [lóng tóu qǐ yè], literally: dragon’s head company; means model or leading company.

6 大包干 [dà bāo gān]. The District of Fenyang is apparently the first place to implement this policy. There is an article on the subject in English, it loads slowly sometimes.

Strawberry Weekly issue no. 68

Strawberry Weekly issue no. 68 (草莓周刊（第68期）：虚假的奥运，虚荣的国度，虚幻的未来). From memedia.cn Wednesday August 27th 2008, retrieved September 29th 2008.

Original (extract):

闹运会

奥运二周，眼见中国的金牌数节节上升，最终到达高潮（金牌51，银牌22 21，铜牌28）。作为本世纪最好大喜功的形象工程，奥运真是又一次民族感大跃进，变成了中国人民无比自豪的精神鸦片。但是，奥运会真是一面不揉沙子的镜子：虚荣心似乎挣足了，却同时把脸面丢尽了，成为国际笑料（你当然无法从官媒看到了）。除了开幕式所引出的一系列造假欺骗行为：假脚印、假唱祖国、假各族儿童、假“ 你和我 ”，还有体育场馆充数的假观众，以及更令人啼笑皆非的体操比赛中的假年龄问题。虽然周正龙祝贺张艺谋，却有人想起诉他。

[...]

Noisy Games¹

Two weeks of Olympics Games, China saw the number of gold medals steadily rising and finally resulting in a climax of 51 gold, 21 silver and 28 bronze medals. As the most ambitious  PR project of this century, the Olympics are truly another Great Leap Forward for the national pride and have turned into an unprecedentedly proud opium for the spirit of the Chinese people(s). However, the Olympics are a mirror not to be rubbed with sand: Enough vanity has been apparently gained, but at the same time the face has been totally lost, [we] have become an international joke (which you, of course, cannot see from the the official sites). Apart from the fakes and lies resulting from the opening ceremony: faked foot prints, faked home-country song , fake ethnic children, fake “You and Me”, and the numerous fake audience in the stadium, and the both ridiculous and sad issue of false ages of gymnasiasts. Although Zhou Zhenglong congratulated Zhou Yimou, someone rather likes to prosecute him.

[...]

Notes:

As a (wanna-be-)translator, it is not my job to align with the opinions I translate. My intention is to give a fair and balanced^TM prospect of the Chinese media, both the official party lines and the underdogs of the blogosphere. Personally, I cannot imagine that many things being faked. But again, who is to be trusted these days?

1 It is a clever pun, or rhyme. Olympic Games: 奥运会 [ào yùn huì]. Noisy games: 闹运会 [nào yùn huì].

Melamine in Chinese Milk

Experts: There is no need for exaggerated concerns regarding the consumption of milk powder contaminated with fairly low level of melamine (专家:服用三聚氰胺含量较低的奶粉 不用过于担心). Xinhua Network (新华网) 17th September 2008 16:45, retrieved on 24th September 08 8:15 UTC.

Original (extracts):

中国疾病控制中心营养与食品安全所研究员李宁，北京儿童医院副院长沈颖做客新华网访谈，就最近大家关注的婴幼儿奶粉事件，与网民进行在线交流。

专家就如何及时诊治婴幼儿结石病向医生提出建议

首先，具有明确的三鹿婴幼儿配方奶粉喂养史的婴幼儿，根据上述临床表现，应高度警惕本病，结合实验室及影像学检 查作出诊断。一旦确诊本病，应立即停用受污染的三鹿婴幼儿配方奶粉。因此类结石较为松散或呈细沙粒样，对结石小于４mm、无尿道梗阻、临床无症状者，经过 多饮水结石自行排出可能性大，无需特殊治疗。对较大结石、有临床症状以及短期尿路梗阻者，多首选内科保守治疗，保守治疗过程中密切监测尿量，结石排出情 况、尿常规、血生化、肾功能，定期复查泌尿系统Ｂ超等。内科保守治疗无效者，要施行外科治疗。

服用三聚氰胺含量较低的奶粉 家长不用过于担心

三聚氰胺相对来说是一个低毒的化工原料，它主要导致结石的原因还是跟它的特性有关系，它在水里是微溶的，在体内 主要是通过肾脏排泄，在排泄过程中因为它微溶于水，容易在尿道、肾小管里沉淀，导致结石。所以从它的发病机理来看，也不是一个毒性很高的物质，所以即使婴 幼儿服用了三聚氰胺含量较低的奶粉，家长们也不用过于担心。

Translation:

Li Ning, research fellow at the Institute for Nutrition and Food Safety of Chinese Center for Disease Control, and Shen Ying, vice-director of Beijing Children’s Hospital, were interviewed by Xinhua and talking online with the net citizens about the recent focus on babies’ milk powder.

Experts give advise to doctors on the timely diagnosis and treatment of babies with kidney stones.

First of all, for babies who have a clear history of feeding on the Sanlu baby milk powder, based on the clinical symptoms described above [not translated] and with extreme alert on this disease, a diagnosis has to be made combining examinations of lab tests and medical imaging. Once this disease is clearly diagnosed, the use of contaminated Sanlu baby milk should be immediately stopped. Because this kind of calculus is rather loose and of small particle size, calculi smaller than 4mm do not block the urinary passage. Patients without clinical symptoms have a great chance to discharge the calculus on their own after drinking large amount of water, and their is no need for special treatments. For rather larger calculi in patients with clinial symptoms and short-term blockage of the urinary passage, mainly supporting (?) therapies¹ should be employed first. The amount and frequency of urination, the discharge of any calculi, the blood tests, the kidney functions should be closely observed as well as ultrasound images on a frequent basis. If the therapies are not effective, surgeries have to be applied.

Parents do not have to worry extensively about the use of Sanlu contaminated with a low level of melamine

Melamine is a relatively lowly toxic chemical compound. Its main cause to induce calculi is related to its chemical properties.  It is hardly soluble in water. In the body, it is mainly excreted by the kidneys. During the excretion, due to its low solubility it often precipitates in the urinary passage and in the renal tubules, causing calculi. Thus regarding its pathogenesis, it is not a highly toxic material. Therefore parents who fed their children with milk powder containing low amount of melamine do not have to worry excessively.

Notes

1 I have no idea what 内科保守治疗 is or how to translate it.

Russia — Georgia Conflict

I was trying to find some comments in the official papers on the matter. The issue is not in the headlines (on the Internet). There are some articles which are all objective accounts without any bias. When I tried to open a link [DO NOT OPEN] on the People’s Daily Net, my antivirus found HTML/Infected.WebPage.Gen. Even SiteAdvisor doesn’t like the website.

What Zhan Yimou says about cultural differences.

Zhan Yimou discloses the opening ceremony (张艺谋解密开幕式). Interview with Nanfang Weekend on Aug 14th 2008, retrieved on Aug 26th 2008 22:00 CET.

Orginal (extract):

张艺谋:他们都没有说这个,他们只是觉得———其实我觉得我们是两种东西在一起,产生的效果,就是人的表 演。我老跟他们开玩笑说,说我们人的表演是天下第二,天下第一是朝鲜,就是整齐到了一个相当的程度,整齐死了!就是这种传统的整齐的动作带来的美感,这一 步我们中国人能做到,中国人通过严谨的训练、刻苦的训练能做到。像那活字模,那完全是口令,代表一听口令,完全做到,像电脑一样,外国人很惊叹,这是我们 中国人的志气,我们把人的表演通过我们的努力和聪明能做到这一步,这是人的表演,这一步是很多外国人做不到的。

我排过西方的歌剧,那 个麻烦呀!一个星期只工作四天半,中间要喝两次咖啡,不能加任何的班,稍微有一点不舒服都不行,因为人权,那个排练能把人急死,哎哟!一个星期,我都觉得 咱早就能把它排整齐了,他有时候队伍还没站整齐。你还不能说谁,他是有组织的人, [...] 他都是有各种制度,工会制度。咱们不是,咱们刻苦,能吃苦耐劳,咱的训练一个星期下来绝对是他两个月的层次,所以我们可以把演员做到这样的表演质量,我觉 得是除了朝鲜,世界没有一个国家能做到。[...]

Translation:

Zhan Yimou: They [The Europeans, transl. note] haven’t said that. They only felt… In fact, I feel we have two things together, the result of the production, is the performance of the people. I have always joked with them that our [the Chinese] performance is the second in the world, the first in the world is North Korea. They are so neat [1] to such an extent, it’s just bloody neat! It is this kind of traditional, uniform movements which bring the asthetics. That one step is what we Chinese can make. Chinese people can do that through rigorous and hard training. Like the “living/moving letters” [the first performance in the opening ceremony], that’s all oral commands. When the delegate says the command, everything is done, like a computer. The foreigners are very suprised. That is our Chinese spirit. We can make people’s performance look like that through our hard work and intelligence. That is performance by people, that is what many foreigners can’t achieve.

I performed Western operas, that was so troublesome! Ther are only four and a half working days in a week, and there are two coffee breaks inbetween. There is no overtime, it can’t be a little bit uncomfortable. Because of human rights, those rehearsals can annoy you to death, ach! In one week, I think, it could be all rehearsed, but sometimes they won’t even have the group together [by then]. And you can’t critise anyone. They have organisations [trade unions], [...] They have different kinds of regulations, labour regulations. We don’t, we are diligent and we can work hard. What we rehearse in one week is definitively what they can achieve within two months. That is why we have this degree of quality in our performance. I believe that apart from North Korea, there is no country in the world which can do that. [...]

Notes:

This attitude is not a single opinion. I am sure there are many other Chinese who agree with him. I decide to translate it because there is an article in Spiegel (one week later than the interview) commenting on this.

[1] 整齐 (zhěng qí) means neat or tidy. It can also mean uniform, but without the corresponding political connatation. I will use them interchangably.

The Olympics and the Economics

“Will the employees lose their jobs which are created in the course of the Olympics?” (因奥运就业者会不会失业？). People’s Daily — 人民网-《人民日报》, retrieved Aug 26th 2008 09:40 UTC.

Original (full text):

举办奥运会，为北京和各协办城市创造了大量就业岗位。据北京市统计局的分析，2005—2008年4年里，以奥运为背景新增就业岗位150万个。人们担心，奥运结束后，与奥运直接相关的就业岗位将陆续取消，就业者是否会面临失业的风险？

“不会有太大风险。”北京市经济与社会发展研究所所长杨开忠说。奥运会后，相关主协办城市的基础设施投资规模仍然会很大。北京现在的地铁还不到200公里，到2015年要超过500公里。按照目前的城市规划，还有很多投资没有完成。因此，参与奥运场馆建设的就业者可能会转移到新的基础设施建设领域中。

奥运会带动最大的是我国发展相对滞后的现代服务业，新增就业岗位里有相当部分是在现代服务部门，如金融、通信、邮政、物流、服务、广告等领域。这些就业岗位大部分会稳定下来，按国际经验大约占20%。

为奥运服务的过程中，劳动者自身的素质和劳动技能有了大幅提高。“他参与过奥运会，在要求十分严格的环境下工作过，无论从理念、技能、知识、素质等各方面，都会在劳动力市场上占有一个非常有利的位置，所以也不用过度地担心。”王一鸣说。

Translation:

For the organisation of the Games, many jobs were created in Beijing and the other participating cities. According to the analysis of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Statistic, in the four years from 2005 to 2008 1.5m jobs were created with the Olympics as the background. People are afraid that after the Games jobs which are directly related to the Olympics will be cut bit by bit. Are the workers facing the danger of unemployment?

“There won’t be a great danger”, says Yang Kaishi, the head of the Beijing Municipal Insitute for Economic and Social Development. After the Olympics, the scale of investment into infrastructure of the major organising cities will be still quite large. Beijing’s underground is currently less than 200km long, it is planned to be over 500km long by 2015. On the basis of the current city planning, there are lots of unfinished investments. Therefore, the employees [migration workers?, transl. note] involved in the construction of the Olympic sports halls will probably be transferred to new construction sites for infrastructure.

The Olympic Games gave impetus mostly to the modern service industry which relatively lagged behind in China. A considerable part of the newly created jobs is in the modern service sector, like finance, telecommunication, post, logistics, commerce, advertising and other sectors. These jobs will largely remain, according to international experience they make up 20% [of the labour market?, transl. note].

During the service for the Olympic Games, the character and labour skills of the labourers have greatly increased.  “Whoever has participated in the Olympics [literal meaning], has worked in a very demanding environment. Regarding their ideology [理念; there might be a more fitting translation.  It means less the political alignment than the general world view], skills, know-how, personal character and other aspects, they have a very advantageous position on the labour market, Therefore, there is no need for exaggerated concerns”, Wan Yiming says.

What the Legal Daily has to say about the Olympics

The 29th Olympic Games close satisfactorily (第二十九届奥运会圆满闭幕). Headline of the Aug 25th on 法子网 (www.legaldaily.com.cn), retrieved Aug 25th 2008 8:45 UTC.

Original:

新华社北京8月24日电 记者孙承斌 汪涌 高鹏 体坛盛会精彩闭幕，奥运圣火永存心中。第二十九届奥林匹克运动会闭幕式24日晚在国家体育场隆重举行，来自各国各地区的运动员、教练员和来宾在团结、欢乐、和谐的气氛中，共同庆祝北京奥运会取得圆满成功。

胡锦涛、江泽民、吴邦国、温家宝、贾庆林、李长春、习近平、李克强、贺国强、周永康等党和国家领导人，国际奥委会主席
罗格、终身名誉主席萨马兰奇，以及来自世界各地的领导人和贵宾出席闭幕式。

北京奥运会是在奥林匹克运动史上留下辉煌一页的体育盛会。来自204个国家和地区的1万余名运动员在过 去16天里挑战极限、攀越新高，刷新了38项世界纪录和85项奥运会纪录，多个国家和地区实现了奥运会金牌和奖牌零的突破，奏响了更快、更高、更强的激情 乐章，描绘了团结、友谊、和平的壮丽画卷。作为东道主的中国，为把北京奥运会办成一届有特色、高水平的奥运会作出了巨大努力，完善的比赛场馆设施，出色的 组织服务工作，赢得了奥林匹克大家庭和国际社会的广泛好评。中国体育代表团取得了51枚金牌、100枚奖牌的优异成绩，第一次名列奥运会金牌榜首位，创造 了中国体育代表团参加奥运会以来的最好成绩。

[...]

Translation:

From Xinhua, Beijing on Aug 24th. Reporters Sun Chengbin, Wan Yong, Gao Peng. The Olympics closes spectacularly. The Olympic Flame stays in our heart forever. The Games of the XXIX Olympiad was held at the National Stadium [The birds nest, translator's note] in the evening of the 24th. Athletes, trainers and guests from around the world celebrated together the sound success of the Beijing Olympics in the atmosphere of togetherness, joy and harmony.

Hu Jintao, Jiang Zhemin, Wu Bangguo, Wen Jiabao, [... many other names ...] and other party and government leaders, IOC president Rogge, the Honorary President for Life Samaranch and other leaders and guests from around the world were present at the closing ceremony.

The Beijing Olympics wrote a glorious chapter of sporting events in the history of the Olympic Games. Over 10,000 athletes coming from 204 countries and regions have challenged the limits, made new peak perfomances, updated 38 world records and 85 Olympic records. Many countries and regions achieved a break-through in the medal counts. They orchestrated a faster, higher, stronger and exciting movement [a part of a musical composition, transl. note], drew a magnificient picture of togetherness, friendship and peace. As the host, China made huge efforts to present the Beijing Olympics with Chinese characteristics, a high standard, optimal facilities in the sport halls and an outstanding organisation and service. It won the extensive good critics of the Olympic family and the world community. The Chinese delegation won 51 gold medals, 100 medals in sum, which is an excellent outcome. It is the first time China lead the Olympic gold medal count and has created the best result so far for China’s Olympic delegation.

[...]

Notes:

Chinese can be very picturesque in descriptions without being cheesy. Translations are either flattened or like cliches (or very excellent).  In some parts I was quite literary, in others I only transferred the meaning (i.e. translated the cultural context, as best as I can).

The articles continues to praise the Games and China. It describes with details the closing ceremony and ends with the listing of the attending Chinese party and government leaders, which is — I assume — very important as everyone wants to know their rank in the pecking order.

Note that the article is published in a newspaper which is supposed to report on legal matters.

Chinese perception of its perception by the others

Some cold thought amidst the hot competitions (热场缅中的冷思考）. People’s Daily Overseas Edition (人民日报 海外版） Aug 20th 2008, front page.

Translation

One word shines splendidly at the Beijing Olympics: China.

The whole world bears good critics for the Beijing Olympics: “Beijing Olympics wins over the sympathy of the world for China”, “The new China rises from the bird’s nest”, “China truly regains its position as a world power” etc etc. Chinese medal count has long since exceeded the one of the last Olympics and to date leading the table sovereignly. Our excellent disciplines shooting, weightlifting, gymnastics, diving, table tennis and badminton continue to hold and expand their advantage, and we start gaining gold medals in disciplines we don’t excel.

It’s already possible to say that China has hosted a successful Olympics. Chinese athletes have gained a tremendous victory, and China rejoices!

Notes

The writers then comments Chinese football which is a less favourable topic.