Dazhou

Dazhou (Chinese: 达州; pinyin: Dázhōu; Wade–Giles: Ta-chou) is a prefecture-level city in north-eastern Sichuan province.

Geography

Dazhou borders Shaanxi in the north and Chongqing in the south. It is centrally located between the four major cities of Western China, Chongqing, Chengdu, Xi'an and Wuhan. The area is 16,600 km².

History

Dazhou's history goes back to the Eastern Han Dynasty when in 90 AD it was made a county by the name of Liweizhou (历为州). Then until the Liao Dynasty its name was Zaidi (在地. During the Liao and Tang its name was again changed, this time to Tongzhou (通州). Finally in the Song Dynasty it names was changed to the present Dazhou. Notable people from Chinese history from Dazhou include the Three Kingdoms writer Chen Shou, Song Dynasty astronomer Zhang Sixun (张思训), Ming and Qing Dynasty philosopher and educator Tang Zhen (唐甄). Dazhou is also important for its contributions to the Communist Revolution. Red army heroes such as Xu Xiangqian (徐向前)、Li Xiannian (李先念)、Xu Shiyou (许世友)、Wang Weizhou (王维舟)、and Zhang Aiping (张爱萍) were all from or lived in Dazhou.

Administration

It is one of Sichuan's most populous cities with 6,380,000 residents.

District:

• Tongchuan District (通川区)

Counties:

• Da (达县)
• Dazhu (大竹县)
• Xuanhan (宣汉县)
• Kaijiang (开江县)
• Qu (渠县)

City:

• Wanyuan (万源市)

Economy

Dazhou is an important river and land transportation hub for the region. Numerous national highways, expressways, and rail lines pass through Dazhou connecting it directly with major cities in China such as Chengdu, Xi'an, Wuhan, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Beijing, etc., making it one of Sichuan's important trade centers.

Dazhou has numerous natural resources including large natural gas fields and an abundance of mineral resources such as salt, coal, manganese, lithium, and limestone. Major agricultural products include pork, beef, and tea. Other industries are chemical production, coal power, metallurgy, textiles, building materials, and processed food.

Tourism

Dazhou is blessed with both cultural and natural attractions. There are several national and provincial cultural sites and many national and provincial protected forests and nature reserves. Xuanhan's Baili Gorges have scenery and rapids comparable to the "Little Three Gorges". Mountains are this area's greatest attraction.

Protest of January 2007

Dazhou gained its notoriety for the corruption of Dazhu (大竹) county that caused mass protest in January 2007. The incident involved a 16-year old waitress at KTV of Laishide (莱仕德) Hotel.

Laishide (莱仕德) Hotel was a four-star hotel built by investment from local officials and local police, and the sentiment against the hotel among the local populace has already long existed long before the mass protest in January 2007 due to the illegal and corruption activities behind the closed doors of the hotel.

Miss Yang Daili (杨代莉), A 16-year old young girl working at the KTV of the hotel was famed for her beauty and her height, 1.70 metre. On December 29, 2006, three high ranking provincial officials went to the Laishide (莱仕德) Hotel and asked Miss Yang Daili to have dinner with them, and took her out at the same night. The next morgning, Miss Yang Daili was found dead in suite at the hotel. According to the police report, Miss Yang was drugged and raped, and she suffered brutal torture, including her tongue being cut, her teeth was broken due to beating, her nipples were cut off, and her privates mutilated.

Miss Yang Daili's family started to protest outside the hotel on January 12, 2007 after their received no explanation from the hotel despite repeated requests, and sympathizers and those who resent the corruption gathered around the family to show their support, and their number first increased by dozens daily, then hundreds, and eventually by thousands. The attempt of Laishide (莱仕德) Hotel to settle before catching the real killer only increased the public outrage even further, because previously, there were already two waitresses and a security guard working at the hotel were killed, and no suspects have been found yet. The official local governmental news website, however, failed to mention anything on these three previous murders and it once again attempted do the same thing for the most current murder at Laishide (莱仕德) Hotel.

By the afternoon of January 17, 2007, more than ten thousand protesters had gathered outside the hotel and as the news of Laishide (莱仕德) Hotel offering Miss Yang Daili's family half a million dollars to settle before killers being found and the offering was rejected by the family members who only wanted to find out the real killer (killers) reached the crowd, the people finally had had enough. Angry protesters rushed into the hotel and damaged the everything inside, and eventually set fire on the hotel that was not put out until five hours later.

As the number of protesters and public outrage increased, the official local government could no longer keep the murder as a secret like it had done for the previous three murders, and was forced to release the police findings on January 18, 2007. However, the official local governmental news release only publicized the police report of the crime scene, and attempted to blame the crime on one of the male hotel employee with last name Liu (劉). This act of the local government is unanimously viewed by the local populace as an attempt to cover up for involvement of the three high ranking governmental official of provincial level, and in all of the previous three murders that were kept secret by the local government but forced to be publicized due this event, governmental officials were involved in every case. The enraged protesters continued to gather after the fire was put out, and clashed with riot police sent in to forcibly in protest of the local government's news release and irresponsible acts.

External link

• Official Website(Chinese)