Oppressive heat, heavy rain: Beijing summers have always been hot, and the thunderstorms and downpours in the capital city can sometimes be fierce. However, what happened a few weeks ago was truly extreme. Torrential rains from the sky washed away entire bridges. On other days, temperatures exceeded all records.
Climate researchers predict that heatwaves like the one this summer will occur every five years in the future. Especially the North China Plain, where Beijing is located, will be affected – a region where hundreds of millions of people reside. Joern Petring describes what scientists are forecasting for China and Europe.
Meanwhile, dealing with unwanted environmentalists is somewhat easier to manage than the whims of the climate: Just lock them away and that’s that. This, at least, seems to be the logic of Chinese authorities. However, a healthy and clean environment has been officially recognized as a human right since last year. At least, that’s what the United Nations says.
Hence, the UN is raising critical questions about the whereabouts of nine Tibetan environmental activists who have gone missing. It is known that three of them are in custody, and one is known to have been tortured. The others have disappeared without a trace. In January, the issue is likely to be discussed at the Human Rights Council in Geneva, as Marcel Grzanna writes, explaining what is known about the situation.
United Nations special rapporteurs are putting Chinese authorities on the spot. In a report released in early August, they are demanding information about the fate of nine Tibetan environmental activists. The UN experts want to know why the Tibetans are in detention and how they are faring. All nine were arrested between 2010 and 2019.
In most cases, there is only scant information available. The families of those detained are left in the dark. It is not known if and why the activists were sentenced, where they are being held, or if they are even alive. Only in three cases does the UN have knowledge of the duration of the sentences. “The lack of information from the Chinese authorities could be seen as a deliberate attempt to make the world forget about these human rights defenders as they spend year after year in isolation,” the statement says.
The move by the rapporteurs comes about a year after the UN recognized the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment through a resolution by the Human Rights Council and the General Assembly. In July 2022, 161 countries voted in favor of the resolution. China and seven other states abstained.
Although the handling of human rights activists was not explicitly mentioned in the resolution at the time, leading to criticism from some member states, it now serves as a backdoor for the rapporteurs to confront China with these questions. The resolution enhances the legitimacy of the experts to remind the People’s Republic of its own commitments and to hold it accountable. The report states, “If China commits to combating the impacts of climate change, it should refrain from persecuting human rights defenders in the environmental sector and immediately release all nine.”
The report is the responsibility of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, and the Special Rapporteur on human rights obligations relating to the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment. The trio, which is in contact with the Chinese government, provides a preview of what China can expect before the Human Rights Council in Geneva in January of the coming year. During the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), the People’s Republic will be required to provide concrete answers to the progress it has made in human rights work.
The Tibetan environmental activists will also be discussed then. The nine mentioned individuals are said to have been imprisoned after protesting against illegal mining activities or exposing the poaching of endangered species. According to the UN experts, it is unclear to what extent the Tibetans had access to legal representation and whether they are receiving medical care. The health condition of at least one detainee is a cause for concern.
Anya Sengdra was arrested in September 2018 and arbitrarily detained for over a year before being sentenced to seven years in prison in December 2019. He is likely serving his sentence in the Golog Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Qinghai Province. There are reports from human rights organizations that the 52-year-old has been tortured and is in poor physical condition. In court, he was accused of provoking trouble and forming a group to disrupt social order, among other charges.
The rapporteurs have much less information about Dorjee Daktal and Kelsang Choklang. In Daktal’s case, it is only known that he is expected to be released from prison in the Tibetan prefecture of Naqu after eleven years of imprisonment for his engagement against illegal mining at the end of next year. Monk Choklang would have completed his sentence by early 2024. Whether he is still alive is uncertain. The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Dharamsala, India, the seat of the Tibetan government in exile, could only determine the reason for his arrest. He had illegally organized an assembly, it said. In the cases of the six other Tibetans mentioned in the report, the duration of their sentences is unclear.
In any case, the nine individuals are just the tip of the iceberg. About a year ago, the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) documented 50 cases of Tibetan environmental activists who have been sentenced to between 21 months and 21 years in prison since 2008. Kai Mueller, executive director of ICT, sees a pattern behind this. He demands that China must prove that the alleged priority of environmental protection is more than just a smokescreen for the unbridled exploitation of the Tibetan plateau.
Mueller hopes that the nine cases will be brought up before the UN Human Rights Council and also sees German politics as responsible. He calls on the German government to raise issues of rule of law and human rights in the planned climate and transformation dialogue with the Chinese government.
Large parts of China are currently experiencing an unusual heatwave. If what researchers predict in a new analysis comes true, then the People’s Republic is likely to be affected by extremely high temperatures much more frequently in the future.
The warning comes from the World Weather Attribution Research Group, an international consortium of climate researchers. According to their report released at the end of July, China could experience a major heatwave every five years in the future. This would make it significantly more affected than other regions of the world. For Mexico and the United States, heatwaves are predicted every 15 years, while in Southern Europe, exceptionally high temperatures could occur every ten years.
The researchers clearly attribute the increase in extreme weather events to climate change. “Without human-caused climate change, these heat events would be extremely rare,” the authors write. In China, similar heat events as today would only occur every 250 years. In America and Southern Europe, such heatwaves would be “virtually ruled out”.
“If the world doesn’t stop burning fossil fuels soon, these events will become even more frequent and the world will experience even hotter and longer-lasting heatwaves,” the researchers warn.
Scientists have been warning about the effects of future heatwaves in China for some time. According to a study published last year under the direction of climate researcher Wang Pinya, the North China Plain (华北平原) is expected to become a future hotspot.
The area includes the cities of Beijing and Tianjin, as well as the provinces of Hebei, Shandong, Henan, Anhui and Jiangsu. It is an area where hundreds of millions of people live. According to the study, no other region will be more affected by extremely high temperatures and ozone pollution by 2050.
Between 2014 and 2019, the region experienced 40 days of extreme heat and ozone pollution, which amounts to almost seven days per year. However, according to one of the four scenarios presented in the study, during the period from 2046 to 2050, there could be 110 such extreme days, which corresponds to an additional 15 days per year. Despite measures to reduce ozone pollution, a significant increase by 2050 is certain in all four presented scenarios, the scientists warned.
Especially Beijing has already been grappling with extreme heat this summer. Temperatures have repeatedly risen above 40 degrees Celsius. By mid-July, the capital city had already broken the record for the most hot days in a year. Up to that point, temperatures had climbed above the 35-degree Celsius mark on 27 days.
Even according to the traditional lunar calendar, the heat in China is set to continue for a while. The country entered the so-called Sanfu period (三伏) of the year on July 11th, according to this calendar. This period is divided into three parts: tou fu (头伏), zhong fu (中伏) and mo fu (末伏). The Chinese “dog days” are expected to last about 40 days this year, until Aug. 20.
“Berlin and Chengdu are quite similar,” says Xuedan Tang, the director of the C/LENS Film Festival Berlin. “Both cities are very open and multicultural.” However, what particularly impresses her about the German capital is that even when her film screenings delve into somewhat lengthy and weighty topics, the audiences in Berlin are usually very receptive, curious and ask really insightful questions. “We have a full house every time,” Tang summarizes.
Xuedan Tang stumbled upon her path to Berlin somewhat by chance. Born in Chengdu, her love for film blossomed during her middle school years when she discovered arthouse films on the emerging Chinese internet. Directors like Lou Ye, Jia Zhangke, and, more recently, Gu Tao and Chen Dongnan, kept inspiring her. Yet, she initially chose to pursue political studies in Shanghai before embracing film courses during her semester abroad in New York, gradually professionalizing herself in the field.
A topic that has always resonated with her from the start: urbanization and the situation of migrant workers and their children in China. Tang can personally relate to this theme; her own grandfather moved from rural areas to the provincial capital, Chengdu, due to his strong academic performance. This fortunate event, according to Tang, was the catalyst for the numerous opportunities she now benefits from.
After completing her bachelor’s, Tang decided to opt for something “more practical” than politics in China, leading her to study arts and cultural management in London. She then temporarily returned to China as a documentary film producer. In 2021, she arrived in Berlin through the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation’s Chancellor Fellowship. From the desire to engage with the city, her own identity in a foreign land, and to make a contribution, she developed the idea for the Chinese indie film festival “C/LENS”. Its focus is on intertwining different German and Chinese realities, with thematic emphasis on gender, feminism, urbanization and precarious work conditions.
Contrary to expectations, there is a vibrant independent film scene in China. However, due to censorship, these films rarely make it into official theaters, Tang explains. Instead, there are self-organized film collectives and private screenings that regularly showcase a wide range of film projects. Some directors even make their works available on the internet for voluntary donations, knowing that a state-approved release is not an option. These are the films that Tang aims to introduce to a German audience in Berlin through the “C/LENS” festival.
Tang has since extended her visa for three more years and hopes to continue expanding the festival. The next event is scheduled for October 2023, and a collaboration with other Asian film festivals is also in the works. Clemens Ruben
Stormy beach day – the dark blue clouds hang over Jintan beach as this fisherman carries his net home. Jintan is located on Wanwei Island in China’s southern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, bordering Vietnam.
Oppressive heat, heavy rain: Beijing summers have always been hot, and the thunderstorms and downpours in the capital city can sometimes be fierce. However, what happened a few weeks ago was truly extreme. Torrential rains from the sky washed away entire bridges. On other days, temperatures exceeded all records.
Climate researchers predict that heatwaves like the one this summer will occur every five years in the future. Especially the North China Plain, where Beijing is located, will be affected – a region where hundreds of millions of people reside. Joern Petring describes what scientists are forecasting for China and Europe.
Meanwhile, dealing with unwanted environmentalists is somewhat easier to manage than the whims of the climate: Just lock them away and that’s that. This, at least, seems to be the logic of Chinese authorities. However, a healthy and clean environment has been officially recognized as a human right since last year. At least, that’s what the United Nations says.
Hence, the UN is raising critical questions about the whereabouts of nine Tibetan environmental activists who have gone missing. It is known that three of them are in custody, and one is known to have been tortured. The others have disappeared without a trace. In January, the issue is likely to be discussed at the Human Rights Council in Geneva, as Marcel Grzanna writes, explaining what is known about the situation.
United Nations special rapporteurs are putting Chinese authorities on the spot. In a report released in early August, they are demanding information about the fate of nine Tibetan environmental activists. The UN experts want to know why the Tibetans are in detention and how they are faring. All nine were arrested between 2010 and 2019.
In most cases, there is only scant information available. The families of those detained are left in the dark. It is not known if and why the activists were sentenced, where they are being held, or if they are even alive. Only in three cases does the UN have knowledge of the duration of the sentences. “The lack of information from the Chinese authorities could be seen as a deliberate attempt to make the world forget about these human rights defenders as they spend year after year in isolation,” the statement says.
The move by the rapporteurs comes about a year after the UN recognized the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment through a resolution by the Human Rights Council and the General Assembly. In July 2022, 161 countries voted in favor of the resolution. China and seven other states abstained.
Although the handling of human rights activists was not explicitly mentioned in the resolution at the time, leading to criticism from some member states, it now serves as a backdoor for the rapporteurs to confront China with these questions. The resolution enhances the legitimacy of the experts to remind the People’s Republic of its own commitments and to hold it accountable. The report states, “If China commits to combating the impacts of climate change, it should refrain from persecuting human rights defenders in the environmental sector and immediately release all nine.”
The report is the responsibility of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, and the Special Rapporteur on human rights obligations relating to the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment. The trio, which is in contact with the Chinese government, provides a preview of what China can expect before the Human Rights Council in Geneva in January of the coming year. During the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), the People’s Republic will be required to provide concrete answers to the progress it has made in human rights work.
The Tibetan environmental activists will also be discussed then. The nine mentioned individuals are said to have been imprisoned after protesting against illegal mining activities or exposing the poaching of endangered species. According to the UN experts, it is unclear to what extent the Tibetans had access to legal representation and whether they are receiving medical care. The health condition of at least one detainee is a cause for concern.
Anya Sengdra was arrested in September 2018 and arbitrarily detained for over a year before being sentenced to seven years in prison in December 2019. He is likely serving his sentence in the Golog Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Qinghai Province. There are reports from human rights organizations that the 52-year-old has been tortured and is in poor physical condition. In court, he was accused of provoking trouble and forming a group to disrupt social order, among other charges.
The rapporteurs have much less information about Dorjee Daktal and Kelsang Choklang. In Daktal’s case, it is only known that he is expected to be released from prison in the Tibetan prefecture of Naqu after eleven years of imprisonment for his engagement against illegal mining at the end of next year. Monk Choklang would have completed his sentence by early 2024. Whether he is still alive is uncertain. The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Dharamsala, India, the seat of the Tibetan government in exile, could only determine the reason for his arrest. He had illegally organized an assembly, it said. In the cases of the six other Tibetans mentioned in the report, the duration of their sentences is unclear.
In any case, the nine individuals are just the tip of the iceberg. About a year ago, the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) documented 50 cases of Tibetan environmental activists who have been sentenced to between 21 months and 21 years in prison since 2008. Kai Mueller, executive director of ICT, sees a pattern behind this. He demands that China must prove that the alleged priority of environmental protection is more than just a smokescreen for the unbridled exploitation of the Tibetan plateau.
Mueller hopes that the nine cases will be brought up before the UN Human Rights Council and also sees German politics as responsible. He calls on the German government to raise issues of rule of law and human rights in the planned climate and transformation dialogue with the Chinese government.
Large parts of China are currently experiencing an unusual heatwave. If what researchers predict in a new analysis comes true, then the People’s Republic is likely to be affected by extremely high temperatures much more frequently in the future.
The warning comes from the World Weather Attribution Research Group, an international consortium of climate researchers. According to their report released at the end of July, China could experience a major heatwave every five years in the future. This would make it significantly more affected than other regions of the world. For Mexico and the United States, heatwaves are predicted every 15 years, while in Southern Europe, exceptionally high temperatures could occur every ten years.
The researchers clearly attribute the increase in extreme weather events to climate change. “Without human-caused climate change, these heat events would be extremely rare,” the authors write. In China, similar heat events as today would only occur every 250 years. In America and Southern Europe, such heatwaves would be “virtually ruled out”.
“If the world doesn’t stop burning fossil fuels soon, these events will become even more frequent and the world will experience even hotter and longer-lasting heatwaves,” the researchers warn.
Scientists have been warning about the effects of future heatwaves in China for some time. According to a study published last year under the direction of climate researcher Wang Pinya, the North China Plain (华北平原) is expected to become a future hotspot.
The area includes the cities of Beijing and Tianjin, as well as the provinces of Hebei, Shandong, Henan, Anhui and Jiangsu. It is an area where hundreds of millions of people live. According to the study, no other region will be more affected by extremely high temperatures and ozone pollution by 2050.
Between 2014 and 2019, the region experienced 40 days of extreme heat and ozone pollution, which amounts to almost seven days per year. However, according to one of the four scenarios presented in the study, during the period from 2046 to 2050, there could be 110 such extreme days, which corresponds to an additional 15 days per year. Despite measures to reduce ozone pollution, a significant increase by 2050 is certain in all four presented scenarios, the scientists warned.
Especially Beijing has already been grappling with extreme heat this summer. Temperatures have repeatedly risen above 40 degrees Celsius. By mid-July, the capital city had already broken the record for the most hot days in a year. Up to that point, temperatures had climbed above the 35-degree Celsius mark on 27 days.
Even according to the traditional lunar calendar, the heat in China is set to continue for a while. The country entered the so-called Sanfu period (三伏) of the year on July 11th, according to this calendar. This period is divided into three parts: tou fu (头伏), zhong fu (中伏) and mo fu (末伏). The Chinese “dog days” are expected to last about 40 days this year, until Aug. 20.
“Berlin and Chengdu are quite similar,” says Xuedan Tang, the director of the C/LENS Film Festival Berlin. “Both cities are very open and multicultural.” However, what particularly impresses her about the German capital is that even when her film screenings delve into somewhat lengthy and weighty topics, the audiences in Berlin are usually very receptive, curious and ask really insightful questions. “We have a full house every time,” Tang summarizes.
Xuedan Tang stumbled upon her path to Berlin somewhat by chance. Born in Chengdu, her love for film blossomed during her middle school years when she discovered arthouse films on the emerging Chinese internet. Directors like Lou Ye, Jia Zhangke, and, more recently, Gu Tao and Chen Dongnan, kept inspiring her. Yet, she initially chose to pursue political studies in Shanghai before embracing film courses during her semester abroad in New York, gradually professionalizing herself in the field.
A topic that has always resonated with her from the start: urbanization and the situation of migrant workers and their children in China. Tang can personally relate to this theme; her own grandfather moved from rural areas to the provincial capital, Chengdu, due to his strong academic performance. This fortunate event, according to Tang, was the catalyst for the numerous opportunities she now benefits from.
After completing her bachelor’s, Tang decided to opt for something “more practical” than politics in China, leading her to study arts and cultural management in London. She then temporarily returned to China as a documentary film producer. In 2021, she arrived in Berlin through the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation’s Chancellor Fellowship. From the desire to engage with the city, her own identity in a foreign land, and to make a contribution, she developed the idea for the Chinese indie film festival “C/LENS”. Its focus is on intertwining different German and Chinese realities, with thematic emphasis on gender, feminism, urbanization and precarious work conditions.
Contrary to expectations, there is a vibrant independent film scene in China. However, due to censorship, these films rarely make it into official theaters, Tang explains. Instead, there are self-organized film collectives and private screenings that regularly showcase a wide range of film projects. Some directors even make their works available on the internet for voluntary donations, knowing that a state-approved release is not an option. These are the films that Tang aims to introduce to a German audience in Berlin through the “C/LENS” festival.
Tang has since extended her visa for three more years and hopes to continue expanding the festival. The next event is scheduled for October 2023, and a collaboration with other Asian film festivals is also in the works. Clemens Ruben
Stormy beach day – the dark blue clouds hang over Jintan beach as this fisherman carries his net home. Jintan is located on Wanwei Island in China’s southern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, bordering Vietnam.
