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2023 has been a challenging year for investigative journalism in China. In this year’s Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index, China ranks second-to-last out of 180 countries, just ahead of North Korea. The point of censorship and manipulation of data through the Chinese government has reached a very complicated point. Working in investigative journalism in those situations is incredibly tricky and made this year’s variety of editors a challenge. Of the 8 stories selected, only two were from mainland China.
Fortunately, more investigative reports in Chinese outside China have been published this year, as well as reports in English involving Chinese journalists. Given the deterioration of press freedom in China, long-term investigations would likely take such forms. In our range this year, we have included 4 Chinese-language investigative reports from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore, as well as two English-language reports from the BBC and the Financial Times. No doubt, there are many perfect English research reports. reports on China, but for this list we have included stories directed by (or with significant input from) journalists of Chinese descent. Below is our selection of the most productive surveys of 2023 related to China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
On September 1, 2022, a landslide at a giant iron ore mine in northern China’s Shanxi province killed 3 people. As a result, this and other local mines were closed for rectification. In 2023, China Newsweek (not connected to US Newsweek) won a report alleging that more than 30 deaths at the Shanxi-based mining company, caused by protection accidents, had been covered up.
The China Newsweek reporter traveled through Shanxi, Shaanxi and Chongqing, visiting a total of 20 villages to investigate and determine the alleged cover-up. Their findings revealed several unreported mining injuries between 2007 and 2022, involving at least 17 miners. The investigation included interviews with several relatives of the deceased miners, whose testimonies demonstrated the secrecy surrounding the tragedy. It also offers an overview of the local iron ore mining industry: the region’s largest former contractor, who had been convicted of leading organized crime, and his foremen. They were guilty of most of the mining work.
Shortly after the investigation was published, China’s Mining Safety Administration cracked down on the mine’s concealment and launched a nationwide crusade to tackle the challenge of false claims of mining accidents. As a result, the criminals’ fees were opposed to nine American miners. company.
Beijing’s Doudian Mosque, famous for its impressive domes and intricate minarets, is one of the most magnificent in northern China. This year, however, its minarets have been dismantled, its domes replaced by pagoda-style cones, and its square Arabic-style arches. This transformation of the Doudian Mosque reflects a broader trend in China, where, over the past five years, many mosques have undergone similar modifications.
A visual investigation by the Financial Times using satellite images shows a widespread policy of removing Arabic-style elements from mosques, replacing them with classical Chinese motifs. In some cases, mosques have been completely demolished. Satellite survey of the western region of Ningxia shows that more than 90% of mosques of Islamic architecture have been modified. In the northwestern province of Gansu, the figure exceeds 80%.
To monitor the Chinese government’s sinicization policy, the reporting team compiled a body of knowledge from 4,450 mosque sites in China, created by merging search effects from Baidu Maps, Google Maps, and OpenStreetMap, as well as insights into mosques in Xinjiang from the Australian Institute for Strategic Policy. They also used Google Earth satellite imagery to identify mosques and track architectural adjustments over time. Of the 2,312 mosques known to have Islamic architecture, 1,714 (74. 3%) had their Arabic-style elements removed or changed between 2018 and 2023.
Over the past two decades, the global rate of tobacco use has declined by 11%. However, in China, the decline was only 1%. Despite accounting for one-fifth of the world’s population, China has lately consumed almost a share of the world’s tobacco consumption. cigarettes (more than 2. 4 trillion a year), a figure that exceeds the combined total of the next 67 countries. The prevalence of smoking in China has serious public health consequences, with smoking-related deaths expected to increase by 700 million people. Smokers.
Initium Media conducted a series of investigations to answer 3 questions: Why is it so difficult to fight smoking in China?What role does the tobacco industry play, and how do tobacco producers behave in this monopoly system?
China’s National Tobacco Corporation, a colossal state-owned enterprise, oversees the country’s regulation as well as the production and sale of tobacco. Initium Media’s investigation found that the corporation only played a pivotal role in negotiating and translating the Chinese edition of the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), but also hindered, delayed, and strategically influenced the implementation of the FCTC in China. By leveraging its economic strength and government status, it has weakened China’s public health policies and influenced a number of high-level Chinese leaders.
On April 18, 2023, a main fire broke out at Beijing’s Changfeng Hospital, killing another 29 people and injuring 42, in addition to a direct economic loss of 38. 3 million yen ($5. 4 million). The Chinese government decided that the fire was caused by the illegal task of renovating the hospital and the chaotic control of the protection of the structure and daily operations, combined with a futile emergency response. As a result of the fire, another 12 people, adding control of the hospital and the managers of the structure company, were criminally arrested.
Caixin’s immediate investigation into the tragedy detailed the fireplace scene, investigated the causes, and systematically analyzed the long-standing disorders at the hospital. This hospital had invested heavily in online marketing and had spent significant sums on search engine advertising. However, it has suffered steady losses in recent years, with a developing debt-to-equity ratio. In addition, the hospital had illegally altered the original design of its building, leading to serious violations of chimney separation and evacuation protection regulations. Many of their chimney protection installations had never been tested.
Since the fire occurred in Beijing, the Chinese capital, and caused many casualties, reporting on it was incredibly sensitive. Caixin’s team, through interviews and in-depth investigations, provided investigations into the cause of the fire and the business situation of the company involved, making their report one of the most important investigations into the incident.
The BBC has exposed a disturbing online marketplace where thousands of videos are sold showing men sexually assaulting women in public spaces across East Asia. Customers can even order custom attacks. In the middle of this operation is a mysterious figure known as “Uncle Qi,” respected as the mastermind of a clandestine network of sexual predators. The investigation takes a dramatic turn in Japan, focusing on the infamous phenomenon of Chikan, a Japanese term for public sexual assault.
In this video investigation, BBC Hounds used open-source studies and covert techniques to reveal Uncle Qi’s true identity, resulting in a dramatic confrontation between the BBC Hounds and Uncle Qi, who then fled Japan. This research paper has attracted a great deal of attention in mainland China. , where it has been widely shared and discussed. Notably, various state-run media outlets and even the police department’s Weibo accounts broadcast the BBC’s investigation, boosting the impact of the investigation and raising awareness of this very important issue.
Since 2020, China has imposed trade sanctions on Australia, including a ban on lobsters from that country. As a result, these lobsters have found new markets in Hong Kong and Taiwan. In 2022 alone, Taiwanese imports of Australian lobsters surged by over 800 tons. An investigation by The Reporter found that smuggling Australian lobsters has become a burgeoning industry in Taiwan, as many of these lobsters are instead smuggled to Kinmen and Matsu islands close to mainland China, and from there, Chinese fishing vessels are illicitly transported to Chinese cities.
According to the report, the profits from Australian lobster smuggling are staggering: a 20-kilogram box of lobsters, which costs 24,000 new Taiwan dollars (US$766) to import, can fetch up to NTD 66,000 (US$2,106) when smuggled into China. Through a series of three investigative articles, The Reporter exposed this smuggling network and proved the ancient and geographical points that contribute to the expansion of smuggling in Kinmen and Matsu.
Since 2005, Chinese sand dredging ships have been illegally extracting sand from the seas near Taiwan’s outer islands. According to estimates by biodiversity researchers, at the peak of these activities, Taiwan avoided the theft of more than a million tons of marine sand. over the year. The sight of many Chinese dredging boats is a daily occurrence for the island’s inhabitants.
The Reporter’s investigation revealed that those Chinese sand dredgers, first concentrated around Kinmen, have moved their operations to the seas near Matsu and Penghu. Not only has this severely damaged the marine ecosystem, but it has also affected fishing activities in Penghu, leading to a halving of annual catches of vital fish species, such as ringed jaws, and a drop in annual grouper catches from over three hundred tonnes to three hundred tonnes. Less than 80 tons. In the past six years, sand dredging has also ruptured undersea cables between Taiwan and Matsu about 30 times.
Through the media, the investigation described the chain of origin of China’s sand dredging industry and revealed that the activity fluctuates widely depending on Beijing’s policies and follows an explicit geopolitical pattern. Although China intensified its crackdown on dredging in 2020-2021, with the easing of the pandemic and economic recovery, the demand for sea sand has risen again and it remains to be seen whether China will continue to implement strong measures.
In early September 2023, Hong Kong experienced the strongest storm in 140 years. Torrential rains triggered landslides, revealing possible illegal structures and encroachments on low-density villa spaces on the Red Hill Peninsula. The new nonprofit research service, The Collective, conducted on-site inspections and verified documents from the structure branch and the plan-making board. They exposed several cases of unauthorized slum structing, one example of which encroached on government land for 23 years.
How has the Hong Kong government enforced regulations in the past?The Collective’s review of more than 50 coastal detached home files revealed that 8 of them had been ordered through the building department to demolish unauthorized structures. Three of the orders, issued between a year and a part and just 3 years ago, had not yet been executed.
Shortly after the release of the investigative report, the Hong Kong government announced that of the 85 coastal independent houses on Red Hill Peninsula, 70 were involved in unauthorized constructions, 40 in encroaching on government land, and over 30 in both. However, considering the government’s past enforcement track record, the outcome of rectifying these issues remains concerning.
Joey Qi is the editor-in-chief of GIJN in Chinese. She has more than 10 years of experience in journalism, totaling 3 years in media management. He is one of the founding members of The Initium Media, where he designed the news segment. and built the team.
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