Uploaded September 2013 | Updated September 2026, 3 hours ago
Bo Xilai, the fallen Chinese politician who is awaiting sentencing for corruption and abuse of power among other charges, wrote a letter from prison addressed to his family. The letter was subsequently published in Chinese media and has caused much speculation. Watch this video for the full story.
Bo Xilai, the fallen Chinese politician who is awaiting sentencing for corruption and abuse of power among other charges, wrote a letter from prison addressed to his family. The letter was subsequently published in Chinese media and has caused much speculation. Watch this video for the full story.
![BYD Unveils Electric Taxi Fleet in Hong Kong
Traffic jams, and air pollution. But as Hong Kong roads become more congested with vehicles, solutions are also popping up.
Meet Hong Kongs first fleet of electric powered taxis. Auto maker BYD Co Ltd rolled them out today.
[Wang Chuanfu, CEO of BYD]:
According to estimates, if Hong Kongs 18,000 taxis and 12,000 diesel-fueled buses are all replaced with electric cars or electric buses, the reduction of emissions will be equivalent to that of 800,000 private cars and it will reduce Hong Kongs emissions by 50 percent.
BYD wants to put 5,000 electric taxis on Hong Kong roads by 2015. But convincing the market to take it up may be challenging.
[Eddie Wong, Taxi Driver for 11 Years]:
Electric car has its advantages, its environmentally friendly. But its drawback is charging, itll be a waste of time, because it takes a few hours every time you charge.
BYD says it takes two hours to fully charge its e6 electric car, and the charge will keep the car going for 186 miles. But right now there is little supporting infrastructure, and some taxi drivers dont want to risk running low.
[Gary Fung, Taxi Driver for 10 Years]:
I dont think I will. Firstly there arent many places where you can charge it, so youll have to wait, and it cant charge much anyway. Also, traffic is bad in Hong Kong, so I dont think its suitable for Hong Kong.
Others are skeptical that it really is a more environmental solution, at least for now. China gets most of its electricity from coal, one of the dirtiest sources of energy on the planet. While these cabs may help cut emissions, it has not addressed its bigger problem of dependency on coal.
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![62 Injured in Hong Kong Train Derailment
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62 people were injured after a Light Rail Transit train derailed in Hong Kong today.
The accident happened as the train was negotiating a turn, and then moved off the tracks, according to local media reports.
Hong Kong broadcaster ATV showed pictures of emergency crews carrying injured passengers off the train, some on stretchers, and treating people on the scene.
[Train Passenger]
When it crashed the train flipped on its side. The chair in front of me crushed me, a woman told ATV.
[Train Passenger]
The bend is very sharp. The train almost flipped on its side. I was standing to one side in the carriage.
The accident damaged overhead cables, train carriages and tracks.
According to reports, at least four people were seriously injured and taken to hospital, but most suffered minor injuries.
[Train Passenger]
People were all crushed together. The train was really full. It was very chaotic with people screaming and many bleeding, including my brother (behind me.
Police say they are investigating the cause of the accident. 62 Injured in Hong Kong Train Derailment](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/qMTpulEo5FM/mqdefault.jpg)







![Shen Yun Returns from 5-Month Tour
Theyve been touring the world for five months. On Tuesday morning, Shen Yun performing arts returned to New York.
[Leeshai Lemish, Shen Yun Host]:
Weve just returned from a five-month tour, in which we went to many countries. We stayed in Taiwan for six or seven weeks. Then we went to Korea, Japan, and Hawaii before returning to the US. And weve the feeling of returning home. But the tour isnt finished yet. We still have two performances.
This was the first time for me to go to Asia to perform. Previously, I always went to Europe and North America. So the changes are very big—many shows and big audiences. It was great.
Shen Yun Performing Arts carries the mission of reviving traditional Chinese culture, much of which has been lost in Mainland China. Principle dancer Tim Wu says this sets Shen Yun apart from other performing arts companies.
[Tim Wu, Shen Yun Principle Dancer]:
Shen Yun isnt your ordinary performing arts company. Our shows are not just about making people happy. What we want to present is traditional Chinese culture. Whats more is that our traditional culture has been destroyed in China, and we present the truth in the show. Because everybodys hearts are together in this, I feel we carry a different kind of energy.
Associate company manager Michelle Ren says presenting traditional culture in different countries is a moving experience for the audience and performers alike.
[Michelle Ren, Shen Yun Associate Company Manager]:
Each country brings us a different feeling. It has different characteristics, for example during our last performance in Taiwan, many audience members applauded especially passionately. Then they said, We love you Shen Yun. I could feel their mood, and their passion for Shen Yun, and I felt very moved. I felt there really is a lot of meaning to what were doing—reviving traditional culture.
The tour comprised over 200 performances. But it was not all work and no fun. The performers had time to experience the local culture.
[Leeshai Lemish, Shen Yun Host]:
The food in Asia is delicious.
Shen Yun will be back in 2014 with an all-new program. Shen Yun Returns from 5-Month Tour](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ru7j2bD1cqw/mqdefault.jpg)
![Where Sexual Predators Are Lurking in China: The School System
A report done by South China Morning Post shed light on a disturbing phenomenon in China [SHOW Thrown to the wolves: Chinas children at the mercy of foreign predators]. The article, talks about how foreign teachers with a history of child abuse have been getting teaching jobs in China without background checks.
Just this year, four foreign teachers have been arrested for sex offenses involving minors.
One notable case was an American English teacher named David McMahon who was arrested this June for abusing four girls and two boys, aged 6 to 10. In this case, all the victims were foreign nationals. He reportedly took the children alone to secluded areas on the pretext of checking their homework, then forced them to take off their clothes and molested them. Before his arrest, McMahon spent many years teaching at various schools in China.
Neil Robinson, a fugitive in Britain with eight charges of sex offenses to minors, is another case. He turned himself in to the Beijing police in May after his crimes were exposed on Reddit. He had been working in China since 2002, and teaching in Beijing since 2008.
Not all sex offenders are caught, however.
Wesley Lowe was a convicted child molester in the US but got a job at a private English language teaching center in Nanjing. Lowes colleague Wayne Prete tried to expose him as a sex offender after discovering that Lowe was convicted in four different US states. The school refused to fire Lowe however, even when Prete threatened to hand out copies of the convictions to parents and students. Instead, the school transferred Lowe to another school in Nanjing in 2009. Lowe continued to work in China until January this year when he left due to visa problems.
So how do criminals like these enter the Chinese school system and why did it take so long for these criminals to be recognized?
Well, apart from major international schools, most regular schools, kindergartens and teaching centers in mainland China dont require police records from the applicants home country. And for the sake of time, most dont do any background checks at all.
According to Jonathan Mellen, a history and geography teacher in Beijing, only 10 schools in Beijing do any sort of background checks on foreign employees. Some schools dont even require a bachelors degree.
In addition to the schools lack of due diligence, the Chinese government may also be partially responsible. Among the list of documents necessary to obtain an employment visa in China, a certificate of no criminal conviction is not required anymore.This explains how sex offenders can enter the country so easily.
Once sex offenders enter China and obtain a job in education, schools and authorities often turn a blind eye to their crimes.
For example, while investigating Wesley Lowe, Prete also found three other US child molesters teaching in Nanjing. He contacted the police and the respective schools where they were teaching but his warnings were ignored. Michael Dunne, a scholar at the Children and Youth Research Center at Queensland University of Technology gives two reasons for this. First is that some schools are more interested in upholding their reputations than protecting students. Second is that school administrators just dont believe that such things are actually happening.
Those who have read the report have commented that while foreign sexual predators are indeed a concern, attention should not be diverted from sex crimes committed by Chinese nationals. Recently, China has seen several cases involving local teachers who abuse and molest their students. Six young girls in a village in Jiangxi developed genital warts after being sexually abused by their 62-year-old teacher. Then theres the even more notorious case of a school principal in Hainan Province taking elementary school children to a hotel, possibly drugging and raping them.
These were shocking cases to say the least, but sadly they are not that uncommon. In my opinion, not only should school administrations and police authorities establish stricter requirements for teachers, both foreign and local, students should be taught how to better protect themselves from sexual predators, such as what are the signs, what is inappropriate behavior from the teacher, and who they can reach out to. Where Sexual Predators Are Lurking in China: The School System](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/srEhygzUKNY/mqdefault.jpg)