Chinese Women

BEIJING -- One reason for holding two mammoth women's conferences in China was the belief that it would spread new ideas to the fifth of the world's female population living here.But as the last of the two gatherings comes to a close this week, not many Chinese women will have gotten the message, much less been allowed to act on it.Documents obtained by The Sun, as well as interviews with dozens of Chinese delegates and staff members, reveal that China's propaganda and security apparatus fixed a tight hold over the Chinese participants, thoroughly indoctrinating them before and after meetings, as well as directing their movements during the two-week conferences that drew more than 30,000 foreigners.

BEIJING - The contrast is stark. There are the Chinese women gymnasts, tiny tots so light and lithe yet so fiercely unafraid they will throw themselves, all 73 pounds, one, two, three times off the uneven bars in a whirl of speed that makes it hard to count the tricks. There are the U.S. women gymnasts, taller, older, carrying the aches and pains from hundreds of practices, years of pounding. Chellsie Memmel has an ankle that throbs. Alicia Sacramone is taped from knee to foot. The Americans offer both the power of Shawn Johnson's thuddingly ferocious balance beam routine to go with the finesse of Nastia Liukin's elegant uneven bars work.

BEIJING -- Hillary Rodham Clinton met with some of the best and brightest of Beijing's vibrant women's movement yesterday, discussing a wide range of sometimes sensitive issues from domestic violence to unemployment to China's high rates of female suicide.Clinton mostly listened as the panel of seven Chinese women told of the multitude of problems women in this country still face and of their work to solve them.Although many of the panelists have been outspoken on women's issues in front of small groups, frank discussion in a public international forum was unusual.

ZHONGJIANG, China -- Seventeen-year-old Yang Tingxiu became suspicious when she noticed the "factory director" was dressed like a peasant. After she stepped inside the man's home, his family members closed the door and blocked her escape."

JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Aileen remains traumatized by the men who broke into her room July 2 and raped and mutilated her. They singled her out, she is convinced, because she is Chinese.Scores of Chinese women report similar experiences in Indonesia this year, victims of a vicious expression of ethnic hatred in a nation with a history of interracial blood feuds.Government ministers acknowledge that such gang rapes have taken place since mobs burned more than 5,000 Chinese stores and shopping malls in mid-May, led by agitators yelling, "Death to the Chinese."

ATLANTA -- Are they or aren't they?The Chinese women's swim team has been under a cloud of suspicion since the four-year steroid scandal that shocked the swimming world and culminated in the suspension of seven swimmers after the 1994 Asian Games, but the first two days of Olympic competition may be proof that the Chinese have cleaned up their act.World-record holder Le Jingyi won the gold medal Saturday night in the 100-meter freestyle, but several other...

ZHONGJIANG, China -- Seventeen-year-old Yang Tingxiu became suspicious when she noticed the "factory director" was dressed like a peasant. After she stepped inside the man's home, his family members closed the door and blocked her escape."

HOLLYWOOD -- In the tile game mah-jongg, the Mandarin expression "hu le" -- meaning "I have the arrangement" -- is said when the winning hand is about to be played.The same also might be said for Disney's Hollywood Pictures, which sources say is about to play its own hand in adapting Amy Tan's best-selling book "The Joy Luck Club" to the screen. The book is a tale of interlocking stories about four elderly Chinese women -- told while sitting around playing mah-jongg -- and their American-born daughters.

In less than a week, Chinese women runners have made a shambles of track and field's established standards by setting four world records.Some would say they have also made a mockery of the sport."

Chinese officials have gone on the offensive to counter speculation about the use of illegal, performance-enhancing drugs within their sports system, but one of their wonder women gave the track and field world cause to wonder anew yesterday.Competing in China's National Games at Beijing, Wang Junxia ran the 10,000 meters in 29 minutes, 31.78 seconds, becoming the first woman to break the 30-minute barrier and eclipsing by 41.96 seconds the world record set in 1986 by Norway's Ingrid Kristiansen.

JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Aileen remains traumatized by the men who broke into her room July 2 and raped and mutilated her. They singled her out, she is convinced, because she is Chinese.Scores of Chinese women report similar experiences in Indonesia this year, victims of a vicious expression of ethnic hatred in a nation with a history of interracial blood feuds.Government ministers acknowledge that such gang rapes have taken place since mobs burned more than 5,000 Chinese stores and shopping malls in mid-May, led by agitators yelling, "Death to the Chinese."

BEIJING -- Hillary Rodham Clinton met with some of the best and brightest of Beijing's vibrant women's movement yesterday, discussing a wide range of sometimes sensitive issues from domestic violence to unemployment to China's high rates of female suicide.Clinton mostly listened as the panel of seven Chinese women told of the multitude of problems women in this country still face and of their work to solve them.Although many of the panelists have been outspoken on women's issues in front of small groups, frank discussion in a public international forum was unusual.

BEIJING -- For the millions of rural women who have flooded into China's big cities over the past few years, life can be traumatic. Health problems, legal chicanery and brutal bosses lead many to suicide and prostitution.But now these women are getting some help. Inspired by two massive United Nations conferences on women held a year ago in Beijing, a group of women has set up the Beijing Home for Migrant Women, the nation's first center where rural women can meet and discuss problems with experts and each other.

ATLANTA -- Are they or aren't they?The Chinese women's swim team has been under a cloud of suspicion since the four-year steroid scandal that shocked the swimming world and culminated in the suspension of seven swimmers after the 1994 Asian Games, but the first two days of Olympic competition may be proof that the Chinese have cleaned up their act.World-record holder Le Jingyi won the gold medal Saturday night in the 100-meter freestyle, but several other...

BEIJING -- One reason for holding two mammoth women's conferences in China was the belief that it would spread new ideas to the fifth of the world's female population living here.But as the last of the two gatherings comes to a close this week, not many Chinese women will have gotten the message, much less been allowed to act on it.Documents obtained by The Sun, as well as interviews with dozens of Chinese delegates and staff members, reveal that China's propaganda and security apparatus fixed a tight hold over the Chinese participants, thoroughly indoctrinating them before and after meetings, as well as directing their movements during the two-week conferences that drew more than 30,000 foreigners.

HUAIROU, China -- When it looked as if Hillary Rodham Clinton wouldn't come to Beijing for the United Nations World Conference on Women, the Chinese seemed slighted.When she leaves today, they'll probably think "good riddance."Ever since the first lady arrived, she has been nothing but trouble for the Chinese government. Yesterday, she continued her courtship of grass-roots rights organizations, and she and her entourage got a firsthand glimpse of the organizational nightmare that has troubled two parallel women's conferences here over the past week.

BEIJING - The contrast is stark. There are the Chinese women gymnasts, tiny tots so light and lithe yet so fiercely unafraid they will throw themselves, all 73 pounds, one, two, three times off the uneven bars in a whirl of speed that makes it hard to count the tricks. There are the U.S. women gymnasts, taller, older, carrying the aches and pains from hundreds of practices, years of pounding. Chellsie Memmel has an ankle that throbs. Alicia Sacramone is taped from knee to foot. The Americans offer both the power of Shawn Johnson's thuddingly ferocious balance beam routine to go with the finesse of Nastia Liukin's elegant uneven bars work.

Start with sour grapes, and you end up with whine. But NBC gave an airing to some ugly rumors during its prime-time show last night, and maybe we shouldn't be so quick to dismiss them.There are whispers about the Chinese women swimmers who have performed so well at these Games. The talk is of performance-enhancing drugs.The Chinese women seemingly came from nowhere at the Games, displacing traditional powers, mainly the United States. So, was this the talk of sore losers? After all, one of the complainers was U.S. Olympic Committee vice president George Steinbrenner, not known for his sportsmanship.

BEIJING -- When Wang Xiaohong's husband decided to quit farm work in favor of a better-paying job, he didn't have to worry that his small plot of land would be untended. His wife could do the backbreaking field work and raise his son while he drove a taxi in the city."I'm glad he got a job in the city, but I'd like to work there, too," Ms. Wang said. "Men get the best jobs while we are left running the farms. It doesn't seem fair."Unfair, perhaps, but typical for China's 450 million rural women, who are finding that the past 15 years of economic reforms have helped many escape poverty but burdened them with new responsibilities and problems.

In less than a week, Chinese women runners have made a shambles of track and field's established standards by setting four world records.Some would say they have also made a mockery of the sport."