Hotznplotzn

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/49591118

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The younger generation [in China] now regards sex as a key part of a loving relationship. But there is still a lingering cultural emphasis on the value of female virginity, highlighting different social expectations for men and women.

Within this lies a contradiction. Young men expect their girlfriends to be willing to have sex as a demonstration of love and commitment. Yet many also expect their brides to be virgins. This is a considerable source of tension and anxiety for many young women.

This means women who openly embrace feminist principles to assert their sexual agency and pleasure remain in the minority. Most are still conservative in outlook and behaviour. Despite the increased incidence of premarital sex, the number of young women’s sexual partners before marriage (on average, one) is not noticeably different from women of older generations.

[...]

As well as these unequal social norms, the Chinese job market still rewards men more than women. This means in later life, men tend to have accumulated more wealth and status, and so are regarded as still desirable. In contrast, an older woman in a lower-paid job might be regarded as less attractive in the dating market.

As wives have children and grow older, they may need to find ways to prevent their husbands from abandoning their families – which is where the mistress dispeller comes in. Typically, only wealthier and young urban women without children feel able to initiate divorce.

[...]

Ressearch helps show that while sex outside marriage has become more normalised in China, sexual attitudes are held in check by deep-rooted traditional views. This has created an environment that disproportionately favours men and a privileged elite, leaving many wives no option but to find help from mistress dispellers when their husbands cheat. Anyone speaking of a sexual revolution in China needs to bear this in mind.

...

The younger generation [in China] now regards sex as a key part of a loving relationship. But there is still a lingering cultural emphasis on the value of female virginity, highlighting different social expectations for men and women.

Within this lies a contradiction. Young men expect their girlfriends to be willing to have sex as a demonstration of love and commitment. Yet many also expect their brides to be virgins. This is a considerable source of tension and anxiety for many young women.

This means women who openly embrace feminist principles to assert their sexual agency and pleasure remain in the minority. Most are still conservative in outlook and behaviour. Despite the increased incidence of premarital sex, the number of young women’s sexual partners before marriage (on average, one) is not noticeably different from women of older generations.

[...]

As well as these unequal social norms, the Chinese job market still rewards men more than women. This means in later life, men tend to have accumulated more wealth and status, and so are regarded as still desirable. In contrast, an older woman in a lower-paid job might be regarded as less attractive in the dating market.

As wives have children and grow older, they may need to find ways to prevent their husbands from abandoning their families – which is where the mistress dispeller comes in. Typically, only wealthier and young urban women without children feel able to initiate divorce.

[...]

Ressearch helps show that while sex outside marriage has become more normalised in China, sexual attitudes are held in check by deep-rooted traditional views. This has created an environment that disproportionately favours men and a privileged elite, leaving many wives no option but to find help from mistress dispellers when their husbands cheat. Anyone speaking of a sexual revolution in China needs to bear this in mind.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/49588795

Guan Heng, who exposed human rights abuses in his native China, has been in U.S. custody since being swept up in an immigration enforcement operation in August. He says he dares not even think about what would happen to him if he were sent back.

“I would be prosecuted, I would be jailed, I would be tortured. All of that could happen,” Guan, 38, told The Associated Press in a recent call from the Broome County Correctional Facility in New York.

A judge on Monday is to consider his appeal to remain in the United States, where he sought asylum after fleeing his homeland more than four years ago to publish video footage of detention facilities in China’s Xinjiang region.

The Department of Homeland Security initially sought to deport him to Uganda, but dropped the plan in December after his plight raised public concerns and attracted attention on Capitol Hill. But his future remains unclear.

[...]

Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, a member of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, has urged Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to release Guan and approve his asylum request.

In a statement to the AP on Friday in reference to Guan's case, the Illinois Democrat called for “careful adherence to due process and America’s long-standing commitment to protecting human rights whistleblowers.”

Immigrants can apply for asylum when there’s a fear of harm back home because of their race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/49590174

• China's cooperation in global debt deals at risk, restructuring experts say
• Trump's oil revenue leverage could impact debtholders' claims
• Venezuela, China agreed on oil as payment since 2019 sanctions

U.S. control of Venezuela's oil exports has ensnared barrels that had been servicing debt to China, lining up another potential showdown between the two superpowers that could further complicate the South American country's path out of default.

Around a tenth ​of Venezuela's $150 billion foreign debt pile is estimated to be loans from China that the OPEC member was paying in oil cargoes - until the U.S. seized Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro earlier this ‌month.

[...]

AidData, a research lab at the U.S. university William & Mary that tracks lending, said some cash proceeds from oil sent to China went into an account controlled by Beijing and on to service the debt - even as ‍sanctions and default blocked payments to many of Venezuela's other creditors.

The Trump administration has now said that proceeds from the sale of Venezuela's oil will go into a Qatar-based account controlled by Washington, potentially giving the U.S. President himself substantial leverage over which creditors get paid, and when.

[...]

• China's cooperation in global debt deals at risk, restructuring experts say
• Trump's oil revenue leverage could impact debtholders' claims
• Venezuela, China agreed on oil as payment since 2019 sanctions

U.S. control of Venezuela's oil exports has ensnared barrels that had been servicing debt to China, lining up another potential showdown between the two superpowers that could further complicate the South American country's path out of default.

Around a tenth ​of Venezuela's $150 billion foreign debt pile is estimated to be loans from China that the OPEC member was paying in oil cargoes - until the U.S. seized Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro earlier this ‌month.

[...]

AidData, a research lab at the U.S. university William & Mary that tracks lending, said some cash proceeds from oil sent to China went into an account controlled by Beijing and on to service the debt - even as ‍sanctions and default blocked payments to many of Venezuela's other creditors.

The Trump administration has now said that proceeds from the sale of Venezuela's oil will go into a Qatar-based account controlled by Washington, potentially giving the U.S. President himself substantial leverage over which creditors get paid, and when.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/49588795

Guan Heng, who exposed human rights abuses in his native China, has been in U.S. custody since being swept up in an immigration enforcement operation in August. He says he dares not even think about what would happen to him if he were sent back.

“I would be prosecuted, I would be jailed, I would be tortured. All of that could happen,” Guan, 38, told The Associated Press in a recent call from the Broome County Correctional Facility in New York.

A judge on Monday is to consider his appeal to remain in the United States, where he sought asylum after fleeing his homeland more than four years ago to publish video footage of detention facilities in China’s Xinjiang region.

The Department of Homeland Security initially sought to deport him to Uganda, but dropped the plan in December after his plight raised public concerns and attracted attention on Capitol Hill. But his future remains unclear.

[...]

Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, a member of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, has urged Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to release Guan and approve his asylum request.

In a statement to the AP on Friday in reference to Guan's case, the Illinois Democrat called for “careful adherence to due process and America’s long-standing commitment to protecting human rights whistleblowers.”

Immigrants can apply for asylum when there’s a fear of harm back home because of their race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group.

[...]

Guan Heng, who exposed human rights abuses in his native China, has been in U.S. custody since being swept up in an immigration enforcement operation in August. He says he dares not even think about what would happen to him if he were sent back.

“I would be prosecuted, I would be jailed, I would be tortured. All of that could happen,” Guan, 38, told The Associated Press in a recent call from the Broome County Correctional Facility in New York.

A judge on Monday is to consider his appeal to remain in the United States, where he sought asylum after fleeing his homeland more than four years ago to publish video footage of detention facilities in China’s Xinjiang region.

The Department of Homeland Security initially sought to deport him to Uganda, but dropped the plan in December after his plight raised public concerns and attracted attention on Capitol Hill. But his future remains unclear.

[...]

Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, a member of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, has urged Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to release Guan and approve his asylum request.

In a statement to the AP on Friday in reference to Guan's case, the Illinois Democrat called for “careful adherence to due process and America’s long-standing commitment to protecting human rights whistleblowers.”

Immigrants can apply for asylum when there’s a fear of harm back home because of their race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/49528159

Archived

Peru’s interim president, José Jerí, has denied lying to the country and claimed he was the victim of a plot to discredit him amid a growing political scandal over his secretive meetings with Chinese businessmen.

[...]

The scandal broke with the emergence of videos of the meetings, showing the president, wearing a top with a hood pulled over his head in one and in dark glasses and gesturing wildly while making a telephone call in the other.

Both meetings were with a well-connected Chinese businessman, Yang Zhihua, whom Jerí refers to as “Johnny” and who has resided in Peru for decades. Yang has built a small business empire including shops, restaurants and a concession for a hydroelectric project.

Prosecutors say another Chinese citizen, Ji Wu Xiaodong, who was present at the first meeting in the restaurant, is accused of belonging to an illegal timber-trafficking network known as Los Hostiles de la Amazonia and had been placed under house arrest for two years.

[...]

Official records show Ji Wu, an accredited Spanish translator who had worked with Lima’s Chinese embassy, made several visits to the presidential palace in the last few months, accompanied by Yang.

[...]

The interim president had previously issued a public apology after the meeting at the Chinese restaurant emerged, which appeared to have been shakily filmed on a smartphone [...] But hours after Jerí’s apology, another video emerged showing the second meeting with Yang, at his store in Chinatown, which had been forced to close by Lima’s municipal government for selling unauthorised products.

[...]

The Chinese firm Cosco Shipping Ports built a fully automated deepwater port in Chancay, 50 miles (80km) north of Lima, which has been operating since November 2024 and offers an express trade route to China.

[...]

Archived

Peru’s interim president, José Jerí, has denied lying to the country and claimed he was the victim of a plot to discredit him amid a growing political scandal over his secretive meetings with Chinese businessmen.

[...]

The scandal broke with the emergence of videos of the meetings, showing the president, wearing a top with a hood pulled over his head in one and in dark glasses and gesturing wildly while making a telephone call in the other.

Both meetings were with a well-connected Chinese businessman, Yang Zhihua, whom Jerí refers to as “Johnny” and who has resided in Peru for decades. Yang has built a small business empire including shops, restaurants and a concession for a hydroelectric project.

Prosecutors say another Chinese citizen, Ji Wu Xiaodong, who was present at the first meeting in the restaurant, is accused of belonging to an illegal timber-trafficking network known as Los Hostiles de la Amazonia and had been placed under house arrest for two years.

[...]

Official records show Ji Wu, an accredited Spanish translator who had worked with Lima’s Chinese embassy, made several visits to the presidential palace in the last few months, accompanied by Yang.

[...]

The interim president had previously issued a public apology after the meeting at the Chinese restaurant emerged, which appeared to have been shakily filmed on a smartphone [...] But hours after Jerí’s apology, another video emerged showing the second meeting with Yang, at his store in Chinatown, which had been forced to close by Lima’s municipal government for selling unauthorised products.

[...]

The Chinese firm Cosco Shipping Ports built a fully automated deepwater port in Chancay, 50 miles (80km) north of Lima, which has been operating since November 2024 and offers an express trade route to China.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/49511667

Archived

On 18 January 2026, woman human rights defender Yang Li was intercepted by plain-clothes police, detained and forcibly prevented from travelling to Beijing to seek urgent medical treatment whilst in a critical condition.

[...]

Yang Li is a woman land human rights defender from Jintan District, Changzhou City, Jiangsu Province. Since 2014, she has peacefully documented and spoken publicly about the human rights impact of illegal land expropriation, forced eviction, and demolition in her community, including the displacement of residents and the lack of adequate compensation. She has pursued legal redress through cases before the Jiangsu High People’s Court and a petition submitted in 2023 to Beijing’s National Public Complaints and Proposals Administration.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/49511667

Archived

On 18 January 2026, woman human rights defender Yang Li was intercepted by plain-clothes police, detained and forcibly prevented from travelling to Beijing to seek urgent medical treatment whilst in a critical condition.

[...]

Yang Li is a woman land human rights defender from Jintan District, Changzhou City, Jiangsu Province. Since 2014, she has peacefully documented and spoken publicly about the human rights impact of illegal land expropriation, forced eviction, and demolition in her community, including the displacement of residents and the lack of adequate compensation. She has pursued legal redress through cases before the Jiangsu High People’s Court and a petition submitted in 2023 to Beijing’s National Public Complaints and Proposals Administration.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/49511598

Archived

UN experts expressed deep concern regarding persistent allegations of forced labour affecting Uyghur, Kazakh and Kyrgyz minority groups as well as Tibetans within the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and across other parts of China.

“There is a persistent pattern of alleged State-imposed forced labour involving ethnic minorities across multiple provinces in China,” the experts said. “In many cases, the coercive elements are so severe that they may amount to forcible transfer and/or enslavement as a crime against humanity.”

According to the experts, forced labour in China is enabled through the State-mandated “poverty alleviation through labour transfer” programme, which coerces Uyghurs and members of other minority groups into jobs in Xinjiang and other regions. They are reportedly subjected to systematic monitoring, surveillance and exploitation, with no choice to refuse or change the work due to a pervasive fear of punishment and arbitrary detention. Xinjiang’s five-year plan (2021 to 2025) projects 13.75 million instances of labour transfers. The actual numbers have reached new heights.

[...]

The experts said Tibetans are also subject to forced labour through similar schemes such as the Training and Labour Transfer Action Plan, with calls for systematic training and transfer of “rural surplus labourers.” “These policies justify coercive methods such as military-style vocational training methods. The number of Tibetans affected by labour transfers in 2024 are estimated to be close to 650’000.

Tibetans are also reportedly displaced through the “whole-village relocation” programme which applies coercion to manufacture consent, such as repeated home visits, implicit threats of punishment, banning of criticism, or threats of cutting essential home services.

“Between 2000 and 2025 some 3.36 million Tibetans have been affected by government programmes requiring them to rebuild their house for nomads to become sedentary, whilst official statistics say that around 930,000 rural Tibetans have been relocated through either whole village relocation or individual household relocations,” the experts said.

[...]

The experts urged investors and businesses operating and sourcing from China to conduct human rights due diligence in line with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights by taking the supply-chain related risks into consideration.

“Companies must ensure that their operations and value chains are not tainted by forced labour,” they said, reiterating their call for unfettered access by independent UN human rights mechanisms to China.

[...]