The couplet for the surname Sun is,

願乘風破萬里浪,---Yuan4 cheng2 feng po4 wan4 li3 lang4,
甘面壁讀十年書.---Gan mian4 bi4 du2 shi2 nian2 shu.

Daring to ride the wind and brave the waves for ten thousand miles,
I endure to lock myself up and study for ten years.

(By Sun Wen 孫文 the Founder of the Republic of China).

http://www.asiawind.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=4218

                         
                                      
                                                                                                 



This list of hundreds of family surnames was compiled during the Sung Dynasty.  It records family names during the Zhou Dynasty.  The first name is that of the Emperor Zhou.  The second name is that of the Prime Minister whose surname was Chen.  The third name is that of Sun which was the largest family.  Today, Sun is the twelfth largest family.




                         

• Sun Tsu (544 – 496 BC) – a militarist in the Spring and Autumn Period, the author of The Art of War
• Sun Yang (Bole) – a horse physiognomer of the Spring and Autumn Period.
• Sun Bin (a.k.a. Sun Pin) birth and death date are uncertain (c. 380 - 316 BC) – a militarist in the Warring States Period and descendant of Sun Tzu.
• Sun Cheng (died 132)
• Sun Jing (孫敬) – 2nd-century native of Hsin-tu in Chihli, who was such an ardent student that at night he always tied his hair to a beam overhead, to prevent himself from dozing over his books. He also habitually bolted the door of his study to keep out intruders.
• Sun Jian (155–191), Military General and Warlord in the Late Han Dynasty
• Sun Ce (175–200),Eldest Son of Sun Jian Warlord in the Late Han Dynasty
• Sun Quan (182–252),Second Son of Sun Jian Founding Emperor of Eastern Wu
• Sun Liang (243–260), Second Emperor of Eastern Wu
• Sun Xiu (235–264), Third Emperor of Eastern Wu
• Sun Hao (242–284), Fourth and Last Emperor of Eastern Wu
• Lady Sun Sun Jian Daughter Third Wife of Liu Bei
• Sun Jing Brother of Sun Jian general in the Late Han Dynasty
• Sun Yu
• Sun Fu
• Sun Ben, General and Nephew under Sun Jian
• Sun Yi, Third Son of Sun Jian
• Sun Kuang, Fourth Son of Sun Jian
• Sun Lang, legitimate son of Sun Jian
• Sun Deng, Sun Quan Eldest Son
• Sun He, Sun Quan Third Son and Father of Sun Hao
• Sunj Qian, Official of Warlord Liu Bei in the late Han Dynasty.
• Sun Kang (孫康; 4th century) – A native of Luoyang, who in his youth was so poor that he could not afford a lamp to read by. He therefore studied in winter by light reflected from the snow, and ultimately rose to be a Censor.
• Sun Sheng (4th century) – a Chinese historian.
• Sun Tzu (a.k.a. Sunzi; fl. 4th century) – mathematician famous for the Chinese remainder theorem.
• Sun Chuo (320–377) – a poet of the six Dynasties poetry tradition.
• Sun En (died 402) – leader of a rebellion against the Jin dynasty .
• Sun Simiao (581–682)- a traditional Chinese medicine physician of the Sui and Tang dynasties.
• Sun Yuanheng (died 696)
• Sun Shi (962–1033) – a native of Po-p'ing in Shandong, who graduated as jinshi after nine attempts and entered the public service, rising to high office under the Emperor Cheu Tseung. In 1008 there was a pretended revelation from God in the form of a letter, which the Emperor and his Court regarded with profound awe. But Sun Shi said, "I have heard that God does not speak; how then should He write a letter?"
• Sun Ch'ang-ju – a scholar of the Song dynasty, noted for his vast collection of books, which earned for him the sobriquet of Library Sun. In 1015 he was made Magistrate of Hsun-chou in Kuangsi, and subsequently rose to an important office in the household of the Heir Apparent
• Sun Fang (12th century) – An Imperial physician, who called himself the Hermit of the Four Stops. He explained this to mean that when he had taken his fill of plain food, he stopped; when he had put on enough plain clothes to keep himself warm, he stopped; when he had realised a fair proportion of his wishes, he stopped; and that after growing old, free from covetousness or envy, he would also be prepared to stop.
• Sun Qifeng (1583–1675) – a Confucian scholar.
• Sun Chuangting (1593–1643) – a Chinese Field Marshal.
• Sun Sike (died 1700) – a Chinese Bannerman, noted for his successes against the Oelots, against the Shensi rebels in 1675–79, and against Galdan.  He rose to be a general, and was ennobled as Baron.
• Sun Yu (1990-1990) - Film director and idealistic poet. Directed controversial film called The Life of Wu Xun 武訓傳.  Translated the poems of Li Bai
• Sun Dawu (1954 - ) He designed China's first Family Business Constitution.  This peasant farmer advanced social entrepreurship through Confucianism and ancestor reverence.  The implications of his arrest on property rights affected the design of Chinese constitutional law.  The develpment of Dawu village acts as a model for the realistic application of Confucian ethics.  He is a government appointed protector of Fu Shan where Huangdi united the tribes around 3000 B.C.E

Government and Military

• Sun Kaihua (died 1893) – a Chinese general in the Battle of
• Sun Jiagan (1683–1753) – a Qing Dynasty Chinese official.
• Sun Shivi (1720–1796) – a Chinese Viceroy.
• Sun Zhizu – a native of Hangzhou, who graduated as in 1766, and served as a Censor. Author of a work on the discrepancies in the various editions of the famous work by Xiao Tong; and also of a hostile criticism of the Kong
• Sun Xingyan (1752–1818) – A native of Jiangsu. From 1795 to 1811 he served with distinction in Shantung, where his honesty was often distasteful to his superiors. He published editions of several Classics and topographies he wrote many classical and antiquarian works; and he discovered the graves of  Min Sun, Tantai Mieming and Zeng Dian, three of the disciples of Confucius.
• Sun Yutin (1752–1834) – a Chinese Governor.
• Sun Jiagu – a Qing Dynasty envoy.

• Sun Yat-sen or Sun Wen 孫文 (1866–1925) – remains unique among 20th-century Chinese leaders for having a high reputation in both mainland China and in Taiwan. He is seen as the father of the Republic of China.

• Sun Chuangfang (1885-1935) a Zhili clique warlord.

• Sun Li-jen (1900–1990) – a general of the Republic of China who fought in the Second Sino Japanese War. World War II and the Chinese Civil War.

                                            

 
              

                                    Sun Tze

One of the five temples at Sun Temple Park is dedicated to Sun Tze.  The Art of War is required reading at any military college.  The author has seen original texts written on bamboo which had been preserved in water.

 

The reader may be surprised to learn that the first factor to be taken into account in the deliberation of war is The Moral Law.  Basically, the people and ruler must be in total harmony with each other.  In this circumstance the people will follow their leader with complete confidence.

 

While Confucius said that he himself was unversed in military matters; nevertheless, he exercised both civic and military duties.  He successfully designed strategies to defeat the armies of Lai and Pi.  It was a statement of fact when he said that “If I fight, I conquer.”  Today, one might consider using Sun Tze’s tactics as a means to further Confucian ends.

 

                                  
                   

                                Sun Quan

The Sanguo Zhi records that Sun Quan's father Sun Jian was a descendant of Sun Tzu, the great military strategist of the Warring States period.  In early 207, his forces finally won complete victory over Huang Zu, a military leader under Liu Biao, who dominated the Middle Yangtze.  Allied with the refugee warlord Liu Bei and employing the combined strategies of Zhuge Liang, Zhou Yu, Huang Gai and Pang Tong, they decisively defeated Cao Cao at the Battle of Red Cliffs.

Because of his skill in gathering important, honourable men to his cause, Sun Quan was able to delegate authority to capable figures. This primary strength served him well in gaining the support of the common people and surrounding himself with capable generals.

Sun Quan died in 252 at the age of 71. He enjoyed the longest reign among all the founders of the Three Kingdoms. He was succeeded as Emperor of Wu by his son Sun Liang.

Wikipedia




                                              
                         
 
                                              Sun Bin                              

Sun Bin was an outstanding military strategist during the Warring States period.  He was said to be the descendant of Sun Tse.  

A well-known idiom associated with Sun was called “General Tian Ji’s horse-racing strategy whereby an army’s weakest element is sacrificed in order to eventually gain the maximum effect”.

Sun Bin defeated his arch rival General Pang and his forces when they laid siege to the Zhao and Han states through the respective strategies of “Besiege Wei to rescue Zhao” and “Reducing Stoves”.

The simultaneous discovery of bamboo strips in the same tomb dated between 140 – 110 B.C. in Linyi, Shandong of Sun Tzu’ s The Art of War and Sun Bin’s The Art of Warfare also known as Military Matters showed that both Suns were historic figures writing on military strategies.









                                       

Sun Simiao 孙思邈 was an outstanding practitioner of herbal medicine during the Tang Dynasty.  He completed two 30-volume works. TheQianjin Yaofang recorded 4500 herbal remedies as well as a treatise on medical practice.  It was reported that Dr. Luo Xiwen 罗希文 (who is China’s foremost translator of Traditional Chinese Medicine classics) has died in the process of translating this magnum opus. The supplementary work called Qianjin Yifang collected folk remedies, provided medicinal materials and presented 2000 formulae. 

Dr. Sun (Father of Medicine) declined at least three court positions offered by several emperors. Instead, he preferred to treat the rural population where he treated patients equally through Taoist principles. He also blended Confucian and Buddhist principles into his philosophy. 

Dr. Sun also wrote an entire work on Taoist alchemical prescriptions intended to promote longevity.  Sun lived to the age of 101. His most important alchemical contribution was the Taiqing Danjing Yaojue.  He is said to have subdued the tiger and cured the dragon. 

Sun Simiao introduced medical ethics to the profession. In the Qianjin Yaofang he argued that “human life is of paramount importance” 1.  In the Beijii Qianjin Yaofang he advocated the importance of prevention of disease and restraint in one’s behavior. 

1.  Ethics in Modern Practice of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)

by Subhuti Dharmananda Ph.D

itmonline.org/articles/ethics/ethics.htm

                               
               

                                   Sun Yat-sen

Sun Yat-sen (Sun Wen) remains unique among 20th-century Chinese leaders for having a high reputation both in mainland China and in Taiwan. He is seen as the Father of the Republic of China.  

The aspects of Sun's political ideal has been most influential. This ideal is expressed as The Three Principles: nationalism, democracy and the people's livelihood.  This focuses on the idea that a country would only be successful if it was run by the people and for the people." 

Sun played an instrumental role in the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty during the years leading up to the Double Ten Revolution.  He was appointed to serve as Provisional President of the Republic of China, when it was founded in 1912. He later co-founded the Kuomintang (KMT) -- serving as its first leader.  Sun was a uniting figure in post imperial China and remains unique among 20th-century Chinese politicians for being widely revered amongst the people from both sides of the Taiwan Strait.

Wikipedia

His three visits to Canada occurred in 1897, 1910, and 1911. The first visit was limited to Victoria and Vancouver, where most Canadian Chinese then lived. The latter two visits included eastern Canada as well. By the time of the third visit, early 1911, political excitement was high among Vancouver's Chinese.  He lectured daily in Sing Kew Chinese Theatre.  Support and attendance were claimed to have been unprecedented.  In October, the Chinese Revolution succeeded. The Qing Dynasty was overturned and a republic was established in its place.

www.generasian.ca



                                   Lily Sui-fong Sun  孫穗芳 


                          


"To mark this year's 100th anniversary of the Xinhai Revolution, 76-year-old Lily Sun has been working to preserve her grandfather's legacy.  The most influential aspect of this legacy is Sun's political ideal of The Three Principles: nationalism, democracy and the people's livelihood. This focused on the idea that a country would only be successful if it was run by the people and for the people." 

New Tang Dynasty Television,  October 4, 2011

                                


                                                       Sun Dawu

In 2004 Sun Dawu investigated various management systems for his business. These included joint-share, senior joint-share and family joint-share systems. However, he foresaw conflicts between individual interests and responsibilities.  As a result, he devised the first Family Business Constitution in China which separated the rights of ownership, decision-making and operations.

Sun drew upon many outside sources in order to devise a sustainable development of the family business. He was inspired by lessons to be learned from The Incident at Xuanwu Gate in the early years of the Tang Dynasty.  He also looked at the Central Government System of Three Councils and Six Boards in the Sui Dynasty. His research included both the Constitutional Monarchy in the U.K and the Separation of Powers in the US.

As a result, Sun Dawu designed a Family Business Constitution.  This was intended to create a stable system in which "the three powers could co-exist while checking and balancing each other at the same time" according to Professor Yuping Du.  The Constitution is the bedrock of the system.

D. Carlton Rossi

 

Langwuzhuang and Dawu Villages

The village of Langwuzhuang began 600 years ago in the countryside.  At the beginning of the 20^th century it had 1200 residents.  It is probable that each one owned several mu of farmland.  The village sprawls over quite a large area.

Sun Dawu’s family was born there on the east side which was bounded by a river. The west side, too, was bounded by a river; although both have since dried up.  His mother and father worked the fields.  Later, his brother opened a prosperous store in the village.

Sun Dawu was able to lease the only available land which was west of the village. His brother helped him with some start-up costs.   The business prospered so much so that his two brothers joined him there in 1995.  His mother and father were the last to leave the village due to their farming ties, but they were persuaded by their sons to join them there.  

The village of Dawu began thirty years ago.  The thirtieth anniversary of the Dawu Group was celebrated on October 10th.  By 2014, its inhabitants numbered about 3000.  Its total area though appears smaller than Langwuzhuang.

Dawu Group is expanding in all directions.  However, the primary direction of expansion seems to be toward Langwuzhuang. If everything else is equal then Sun Dawu has estimated that in another twenty years the village of Dawu will meet the village of Langwuzhuang. In fact, the walk between the two villages is becoming shorter and shorter with the construction of each new set of apartment buildings. 

However, there is another factor that also must be considered.  The new highway called G106 which was constructed by the Dawu Group begins/ends at Langwuzhuang. It is inevitable that greater road access will also contribute to the growth of both Dawu and Langwuzhuang. The end result will be the amalgamation of two villages with close historical and cultural ties.  

                                      


                                                        孙瑜  (Sun Yu) 

孙瑜   (Sun Yu) was born on the 21^st of March 1900 in Chongqing, Sichuan Province.  He often accompanied his father--who was a scholar at the provincial level-- around China.  Sun Yu, too, pursued scholarly study at The New York Institute of Photography as well as Qinghua, Columbia and Wisconsin Universities.  It was at the University of Wisconsin where he completed his thesis “On English Translations of the Poetry of Li Bai." [Li Po].  He was highly influenced by this Taoist poet who was born in Jiangyou, Sichuan, but wandered seemingly idly or ideally about China most of his life.

The first film which he directed was called Yu Cha Guai Xia  渔叉怪侠  ("Strange Hero").  It was a martial arts film. During scenes he may have thought of the poet Li Bai who was a martial arts expert.  It was said by the Tang poet that "When I was fifteen, I was fond of sword play, and with that art I challenged quite a few great men.” During breaks Sun would recite the poetry of Li Bai.

His films are steeped in traditional Chinese culture. They blended the romantic and realistic to search for the idealistic.  In the 1932 film called the Blood of Love Under the Volcano, which employs Taoist imagery, the hero lives a paradisical life with his family in a Chinese village. It is interrupted though by a rapacious landlord who destroys his family. The hero flees to an island where he falls in love with a woman. The landlord seems to follow the hero who dramatically throws him into the volcano. 



                            

  

Sun’s creative career came to an end with the release of The Life of Wu Xun 武訓傳 in 1951. The film was about an historical figure who had no chance for an education as a child but who saved funds throughout his life to provide a free education for peasant children.  It was screened before government and political officials who included both Premier Zhou Enlai and Commander-in-Chief Zhu De.  However, the film was criticized shortly thereafter at the highest level through The People’s Daily. The director and idealistic poet never recovered from the persecution he suffered through cult cadres during The Cultural Revolution. After sixty years one can now view the film for “research purposes only” in the context of dialectical materialism.

李白詩新譯 / Li Po : a new translation / translated by Sun Yu. Li Bai shi xin yi / Li Po : A new translation / translated by Sun Yu.

Hong Kong : Commercial Press, 1982.

description

ISBN 9620710258, 9789620710254

PL2671 .A275 1982

Available in the East Asian section of the Robart’s Library at the University of Toronto

                                                                                   
                                                    


Entrepreneur Sent to Jail on Iffy Financial Charges

Beijing Today (November 7, 2003), page 3

By Shan Jinliang


After the verdict was passed, Sun told a reporter from Guangdong-based South Metropolitan Daily on Saturday that he would not appeal the case to a higher court because he felt the judgment was a “social development” for him and he could use the time for self-examination. “I will grow into a more mature person,” Sun said in another interview with that paper on Tuesday. “Plus, this incident should promote better understanding between banks and private companies and make it easier to get financing.”

According to Liu Ping, Dawu General manager, this case is being used as precedent for dangerous attacks on private entrepreneurs. She told the Guangdong-based 21st Century Economic Herald that some local governments in Shanxi, Shaanxi and Guizhou povinces are lining up to punish some other private entrepreneurs on the same grounds that ended up putting Sun in jail.

Passage of the court’s sentence has only added fuel to already heated debate about Sun’s case in business and legal circles and online. Economist Mao Yushi told the press on September 25, 2003  that the related laws and regulations were drawn up years ago and need to be amended or dropped because they conflict with the principles of a market economy. As a result, someone can break these laws without actually committing a crime or bad deed. Sun’s actions are technically ‘illegal’ but are actually good deeds.”


https://issuu.com/beijingtoday/docs/2003-11-07/3


https://archive.org/stream/BeijingTodayCN20031107/2003-11-07_djvu.txt






                                    

"I didn't do anything to make connections with officials, I didn't do anything like fabricating figures; yet I went to jail. What happened to me illustrated that it is hard for an entrepreneur to take the right and righteous road." Sun Dawu 孙大午

The Grandson Great Noon is reprieved, November 11, 2003

今年2月27日，大午集团同加拿大红鹿学院 (RED DEER COLLEGE) 签订《关于建立加拿大红鹿学院中国大午分院的协议》 .大午集团提供校舍教室等固定资产，红鹿学院负责外教师资和招生。中国社会科学院哲学所罗希文教授担任校长。罗希文教授于1985－1996年间主办了 “中国社会科学院英语培训中心”，具有中外合作办学的经验。这个分院第一阶段将从旅游专业和英语专业方面招生，同时作为国内学生留学加拿大的一个招生基 地。从这份已经失效的协议中看到，大午集团在其中的盈利分成相当可观。

On February 27, 2003, the Dawu Group signed an agreement with Red Deer College of Alberta,Canada, i.e. an agreement to build a China Dawu Branch of Red Deer College. According to the agreement, Dawu Group would provide real estate such as school buildings and classrooms while Red Deer College would be responsible for recruiting foreign teachers and students. Professor Luo Xiwen, a scholar in the Institute of Philosophy, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, will be the Principal. Professor Luo was in charge of the operation of “English Training Centre, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences” during 1985-1996 and has collected plentiful experience on joint educational programs between China and foreign countries. This branch will train students in tourism and English at its first stage, and play a base for students desiring higher education in Canada. From this valid agreement, we can find that Dawu Group will benefit from this program.

出狱后孙大午得知，当他被捕时，仍留在大午中学上课的外教丹尼斯 (Dennis Rossi) 用绝食表示抗议。“在被工作组驱逐走之前的最后两天，丹尼斯不吃饭，不喝水，不说话。我当时在监狱里写信给县长，想出来亲自送走他，没有批 准。”孙大午叹息，“我们要善待外国人啊，这样子做太影响我们的国际形象了。”

Before Sun Dawu was arrested, Dennis Rossi (a foreign teacher) had presented a get acquainted lecture at the Dawu middle school and later protested against the police action against Sun through a fast. It was when Sun Dawu was released from prison that he learned about this matter. “In the last two days before being driven away by the Work Group of the government, Dennis did not eat, nor drink, nor speak. At that time, I wrote the Governor of the county and expressed my wish to see him right away, but I was refused. ” Sun Dawu signed, “We should treat foreigners well, if not then it will bring disadvantage to the fame of our people and country in the world.”

11月9日，孙大午出狱后第一次和主持学院合作事宜的罗希文教授联系。罗希文告诉他：“我给他们发了好几封电子邮件询问。现在继续合作已经不合适，明年慢慢联系吧。”孙大午非常痛心：“这个协议很好，失去是很遗憾的事情，非常遗憾。我心不死啊。”

On November 9, 2004, after he was released from incarceration, Sun Dawu contacted Professor Luo Xiwen about the matter of a joint college. Professor Luo told him, “I have sent several emails to our Canadian partners. It seems that cooperation is not suitable at present, let’s be concerned about it next year. ” Sun Dawu became grieved, and said, “This agreement is very good. To lose it makes me regretful. I cannot face the fact.”

放下电话，孙大午难以掩盖他的陡然伤感：“我本人并未做对不起社会的事情，并未给学校企业蒙羞，我本人没做丢人的事情。据罗教授说，外国人是完全理解我的，但是对我的企业是否还有未来很没有把握。”

Putting down the telephone, Sun Dawu could not hold his sudden sorrow. He said, “I have not done any unfair thing toward the society, nor brought bad fame to the school. I have not undertook any infamous things by myself.  According to Professor’s Luo’s message, foreigners fully understood me, but were uncertain about the future of my enterprises.”

面对这样的打击，孙大午对自己的命运也没有把握：“唉，一切都是命啊。卦爻辞算卦，给我也算一算吧，人对前途没有把握的时候，就要依赖算命了。”

Facing this blow, Sun Dawu also becomes uncertain about his own future. He sighed, “Alas, all is predestined. Individuals use hexagrams to foretell their future. I would like to predict my future from them, too. When a person is uncertain about his future, what he can rely on is only fortune-telling.”

The Grandson Great Noon is Reprieved, November 11, 2003

孙大午: 迷茫的下一步孙大午还需闯四大关 世界经理人周刊 www.icxo.com ( 日期：2003-11-14 )

11月9日清晨，河北徐水的气温降至零下。出狱一周的孙大午躺在办公室的沙发上，盖着一床半新不旧的绿色棉被，身旁的不锈钢架上吊着一个盛满黄色药液 的吊瓶，正在输液。从徐水监狱出来以后，孙大午进行了身体检查，医生告诉他血粘度比原来高了，必须每天输液。 记者进屋那一刻，发现孙大午望着天花板发呆，仿佛在看很远的地方。他对记者解释：“我很担心妻子，担心她现在过得好不好，冷不冷。”孙大午身上的毛衣 等衣物都是妻子刘会茹去年帮他选购的。紫灰衬衫，深棕毛衣，搭配红底白点领带，显得孙大午非常稳重和入时。

对于健谈的孙大午来说，最难以回答记者提问的就是“下一步怎么走？”。他一直挠头：“下一步怎么办，我真的不清楚。我为什么被逮捕进监狱，为什么被判刑，我现在都很糊涂，不知道为什么。我不知道下一步该怎么走。”

跟孙大午的迷茫不同，工人们、学生们都有一种苦难过后的快乐，甚至悠闲。记者看到，即使在周末，大午饲料公司门前还是有满载饲料的农用三轮车 驶出来。走进饲料库，扑鼻而来的就是发酵的浓重的豆饼味道。工人们在绞碎炉前使用铁铲操作。一位已经下班的工人坐在大门口的水泥墩上，从容地享受一袋烟。

大午中学的学生们都很快乐，有的追逐着打雪仗，有的在打篮球。宿舍楼挂着各种颜色的衣服，好几个小男生从不同的窗口探出脑袋对持相机的记者大叫：“给咱拍一个，给咱拍一个嘛！”

对于前景，企业领导人很困惑，然而企业底层很乐观。如何顺利渡过这个艰难的过渡期，矗立在孙大午面前的是四道大关。

对于一个企业领导人而言，第一道关莫过于如何扭转企业亏损的不良状况。“去年盈利90 0万，今年就是亏损了。”孙大午说完就沉默了。

这个本来红火的民营家族企业，现在是肢体残缺不齐。

自从5月27日起被关押在徐水监狱的大午集团8位管理高层，只有孙大午一人背负罪名出狱。集团管理无法运转。

大午集团人员流失1/3.300人的建筑队解散，搅拌机、吊重机等施工设备已

Retrospective of Events Three Years Later in 2006

In terms of background, this page substantially represents the final part of the website as it appeared in the third week of August 2003. At this point, Sun and his brothers were awaiting trial. The website of Dawu Group was shut down by authorities. The company funds were seized and assets frozen. Basically, Dawu Group could not operate.

I returned to Beijing. It was there I began to write the text of my website; although it would be registered abroad. I would tell the world about SUN Dawu and his model village at Langwuzhuang, Hebei. SUN Dawu spoke up for what he deemed to be right, stood against what he was taught to be wrong and supported what he thought ought to be done.

It was brought to my attention that SUN Meng wanted to hire a lawyer on behalf of his father. I tried to secure a lawyer for SUN while I stayed in Beijing, but no one was willing to take the case because of its nature.  I was even photographed by an unknown person while I talked to a lawyer and former judge at an outdoor restaurant.

It seems that I had become a person of interest.  I was followed by a man in a taxi who wanted to take the same bus for which I waited. There was a man stationed permanently on my balcony for a period of two weeks. I played loud music for his benefit. He may still hear "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" in his mind since it was played hundreds of times. I also played it loud enough that the whole compound could hear the music and realize that things were not what they appeared to be.  A camera's long distance lens poked through the curtain of a window about 50 meters away.

I returned to TO (Toronto, Canada).  I contacted a reporter at The Globe and Mail. The reporter suggested that I contact someone else at the newpaper, but nothing materialized. I talked to the editor of a local paper owned by the Southam newspaper chain. The editor showed no interest in the story. Next, I phoned a New York lawyer specializing in cases similar to Mr. Sun's. He wished to defend SUN Dawu. Unfortunately, he needed Mr. Sun's express permission before he could undertake the case. We were unable to contact Mr. Sun because he was held incommunicado. He could neither be contacted by members of his family nor could he make any outside contact.

I decided to self-publish my experiences at the village during that fateful period of time. It had to be done before the uncertain date of the trial; although it was imminent.  I included the series of interrogations of myself by the arresting officers and official. It seemed to me that the interrogations reflected to some degree Sun's own experience with his interrogators. On the website, I characterized Sun as a Confucian philosopher. This approach was reflected in several avant-garde newspapers and blogs within China. I scanned brochure pictures that SUN had given me. My website became a source of the few pictures that were available at the time. The Dawu website was forced to shut-down. The pictures were picked up by the Chinese and international press outside of Canada.

The Sun Trial became one of the most famous in modern Chinese history.  It dealt with the economic rights of the new entrepreneurial class. The unspoken theme was whether or not this class would be able to wield political power, too. However, the impact of the trial was even more profound because China's property law was formulated over the following year. Certain issues concerning Sun were repeatedly referred to when legislators and legalists were debating the property law. For example, the new property law ensures that a business can operate as a going concern until the defendant is found innocent or guilty.  SUN Dawu himself emerged as an outstanding leader based on moral authority.  While Sun Dawu was freed his brothers were still in prison.  Sun had to sign an official paper which  guaranteed that the local government would not be sued after his brothers were released. 

Most of the following accounts were removed from the website after the trial. They had served their purpose. They are now republished on the web in order to document events that transpired three years ago.

At 3:00 a.m. on the 27th of May, I was awakened by a disturbance. It took place directly across from my hotel room on the fourth floor of a student dormitory. Someone yelled in Chinese "Sit down!" I saw lights turned on and off in various rooms. I followed flashlights as they went from room to room. Then, all was quiet until I heard the soft breathing of a policeman beneath my window.

At the break of dawn, I went for my regular exercise. However, Sun did not appear that morning. When I returned to my room I found a short note left on my desk. It told me to immediately prepare to leave for Beijing. This was strange since I wasn't slated to leave for another two weeks. Later, XU (Dean of the Middle School and also a government official) came to my room. He asked me if I had heard the police siren last night. He informed me that Sun had been arrested. In a surprising move, he asked for the return of his note. I said that I had thrown it away. He retrieved the note from the waste paper basket and tore it into small pieces. Then he ordered me to pack my suitcase.

I asked him why was Sun arrested? He told me that Sun had strange ideas. I replied "Strange ideas?" He clarified his remark by saying that Sun's ideas were advanced. I asked how anyone could be arrested for advanced ideas? Xu replied that it was better to know nothing.

An half hour later, Xu returned to my room. He told me, now, to unpack all my bags. I was not to appear to be leaving. In fact, I must stay. I was under house arrest.

The situation was exceedingly serious. It was obvious that my arrest was connected in some way to the arrest of Sun. He was in terrible, unutterable trouble over his advanced ideas.

Xu said to me that my meals would be brought to my room. Did I want anything special? I replied no salt, no M.S.G and no garlic. In other words, I wanted nothing. My meal was brought at supper time. I refused it. Xu phoned me and told me that I must accept the food; so I allowed the food to be placed on my desk.

Xu also informed me that I would be interviewed by the Xu Shui Police. Nothing to worry about, he said. You will have lots of time to read. Actually, I had been reading Conrad's Nostromo at the time. The theme of this novel seemed to parallel in a strange way the situation at Dawu.  It seemed rather ironical since Sun had been officially charged with establishing an unofficial co-operative bank on behalf of the peasants.

I told him that I wished to speak to the Canadian Embassy. This request was never granted. The cable line to my computer was cut.  Mr. Xu had been quite concerned about a mobile telephone call that I had made earlier to a friend just prior to the time my card had run out of money. He asked me if I had phoned the embassy. I replied "No".

A breakfast meal was brought to my room and placed on my desk. There was a bit of confusion since the staff noticed that I hadn't eaten the previous meal. This necessitated another visit from Xu and the following conversation ensued.

XU    You must eat your food.

dr      Oh.

XU    Why don't you eat your food?

dr     I follow Gandi.

XU    You have a gun?

dr    I didn't say that I had a gun. I said that I follow GANDI.

XU    Do you mean the leader of the Indian independence movement?

dr    I don't advocate an independence movement.

XU    Then how do you follow Gandi?

dr     I adopt his slow fast.

XU    Slow fast?

dr     Yes, slo dow you mov too fas.

XU    What does that mean?

dr      Not eat feat (feet).

XU    Can I get you anything else?

dr    I need to talk with the Canadian Embassy.

 

I had never seen police at the Langwuzhuang village, so to be interviewed by police here was an extraordinary event. In fact, they were conspicuous by their absence. There was no need for police here in the past since there had been next to no crime.

The next morning I was interviewed by two uniformed police officers (PO) from the Xu Shui station. The one officer (graduate of Shenyang Police Academy) sat at my desk; although, she had to clear a space between the untouched meals. The police were mainly interested in the date of my arrival, my purpose and who had invited me. Xu interpreted.

PO    It's hot in here. Let's open the windows. You don't want to catch SARS through poor ventilation.

dr    I was given a full battery of tests upon my arrival which included temperature reading, blood tests and chest x-rays in the new hospital built by Sun.  However, I will set your mind at ease.--for the next two minutes I stuck my own  thermometer in my mouth.

dr  You see, my temperature is 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit below a normal reading of 98.6.  I have no fever.  I am in exceptional health.

PO     We have been tested, too. Do you have anything to drink?

dr     I have Dawu white wine and Tibetan barley wine for you.

PO    Chinese tea would be better, thanks. I'd like to see your passport.

dr     Here it is.

PO    I'd like to see your residence permit.

 dr    Here it is.

PO    I'd like to see your Foreign Experts Certificate.

dr     Here it is.

PO.  When did you arrive at the hotel?

dr    I don't exactly know.

PO    Why did you come?

dr     I am here to set the groundwork for a college that will be established. The students may be from poor families, but they are exceptional in their character and work habits. Look around you. Everything I see is good. There is a library, hospital and school.

(Author's note: It was a cooperative endeavour between Dawu Group and Red Deer College, Alberta. We had held discussions in Beijing. College representatives had previously visited the middle school and a contract was signed. Canadian embassy officials had approved this school after their visit. Mr. Sun was making plans for a large building program at the new college. I had convinced an Australian colleague from Dalian to teach at the school. We were negotiating additional agreements with several other colleges in Beijing and with a Japanese college to establish a nanny training program. I had successfully negotiated with a 4 star hotel in Dalian to train our students on the job. My official position at the college was Dean and member of the Board of Directors. The college was set to begin in three months or September 2003. It would have been called Dawu Red Deer College.  Red Deer College lost interest in the project upon Mr. Sun's arrest in June 2003.)

 

PO    How long have you been here?

dr     I don't know.

 PO    Who invited you?

dr    The secretary.

PO    We're finished for now.

 

At two o'clock, the Xu Shui police, the officers from Baoding (BPO) and Xu who acted as interpreter entered my room.

 

BPO    Why are you not eating?

dr      I'm not hungry.

BPO    Is something wrong with you?

 dr      (No answer)

BPO    What are you doing here?

 dr.     I'm writing poetry. Here is a copy of a poem in progress called

          "The Question Mark".

BPO    Hmm. How long have you stayed?

dr     I'm unsure. I live in the present. I don't know what date it is or even the               month.

BPO     When did you arrive?

dr     I'm not sure. Why don't you check the hotel records?

PO    You have stayed at the hotel for more than 10 days and failed to report to the police station.

dr     I thought that I had 30 days to report.

PO     No, that is only when you are entering the country.

BPO   You have contravened Article 44.

dr      What is the penalty?

BPO   It is a warning or fine of 500 yuan (equivalent to $90 Canadian).

dr     I accept responsibility. I'll pay the fine.

BPO   Please read Article 1.

dr     Do you mean read it out loud?

BPO   Yes.

(dr reading Article 1- National Security)

BPO   Do you understand?

dr     Yes.

BPO   Who invited you?

dr     The secretary.

BPO    Did you come to teach?

dr      I came to establish an administrative infrastructure for a college.

BPO   But you taught students?

dr      I merely gave lectures to an assembly hall filled with three hundred students to            promote the program and get students excited about it.

BPO    Were you paid?

dr     I came as Sun's friend. I received no money. I can provide witnesses who will               verify it. (Xu himself among others)

PO    You may pay your fine now.  

dr     I'd like a receipt

PO    It isn't available

 

Later, Xu told me why my 500 yuan was returned. It had been determined that I had not been at the hotel for ten days, but that I had been a few hours short of the period. Technically speaking, I was innocent.

Xu arranged for a driver to take me back to Beijing on Friday at 9:00 am the next day. However, at 10:30 p.m. that night I received a call from a teacher of the Communist Youth League.  He and his wife had agreed to take a weekend holiday at the hotel as my guests and as the guests of Mr. Sun. This acceptance was the fruit of several months of dinners and discussions with me and conversations with Mr. Sun. The visitors would represent their uncle who owned a major agricultural concern in Shanxi and Outer Mongolia. He had also started four middle schools. In my opinion, this was a match made in Confucian heaven for the Dawu Group.

At seven a.m. the next morning I walked into Xu's class and then met him outside in the hall. I told Xu that I was staying at the hotel even if Sun had been arrested.  I wanted the car that would have taken me to Beijing to pick up my guests from Beijing.  I would return with my guests on Sunday.  I also told him that I wanted to establish this college and link it to the world.  I'll realize SUN Dawu's dream for him.  Xu was a man of one thousand eXcUses.  For example, he replied that it can't be done because of SARS. Peasants were quarantined. I told him that my friend was a Chinese teacher and member of the Communist Youth League rather than a peasant.  Finally, I said to him that I had the authority to ask these guests here.  He refused to allow my guests to visit and ordered me to return to Beijing.

As I was leaving, Xu made a strange request to me. He wanted to exchange a ten yuan note for some Canadian pocket change. He said that it would impress the children. I did not want to to take any money from him for any purpose, so I refused his request.  I felt that he was laying a trap. Furthermore, I wondered what on earth he was thinking.  Mr. Sun was just arrested and he is asking me for pocket change?  The car did not pick me up at the hotel. I was forced to walk 150 meters down the village road. As I left, I counted fifteen undercover police trying to look inconspicuous.

 

 

                                                                             


                                                  Dawu Village 2002-2003

These excerpts originate from the September 06, 2003 version of the poet’s website.  At that time, Sun was incarcerated.  He was awaiting trial on charges that might carry eighteen years in prison. It may be appropriate at this time to republish these comments on the twelfth anniversary of his release from prison.  

“In one lecture, I was trying to convey the concept of question and answer with regard to family names.  I would ask students “What is your family name?” The answer was “My family name is SUN”. I showed how the answer proceeds from the question and is actually a part of it. 

I wrote a poem at the Dawu School.  Sun asked to read it.  I have dedicated it to Dawu SUN.  It is called The Question Mark.”

 

(The copyright of the poem is May 25, 2003.  To put it into a general perspective, SARS was ravaging Beijing at this time. Sun Zhugang had been arrested, tortured and murdered in the medical center of the repatriation center. The date of May 25, 2003 was only a few days before Sun’s arrest and the subsequent house arrest of the poet a day after his arrest. At that time, the poet refused to eat when meals were brought to his room. He set them down outside the door. 

“This marks the first publication of any of my poems.  It may be difficult for a western reader or leader to appreciate the fact that it is illegal to publish avant-garde poetry in unofficial magazines or books within China and impossible in official media. The Public Security Bureau (PSB but not PBS) takes a dim view of underground literary composition of free-form which is characterized by the freedom of poetry and the structure of philosophy.”

 

“Sun’s philosophy is composed of principles for guidance in practical affairs, so to some extent it resembles the common sense philosophy of Benjamin Franklin. The wisest American formed a club of mutual improvement to discuss and debate moral, philosophical and public service issues.  Sun attended Confucian philosophical conferences in Beijing while welcoming scholars to his village.  Franklin ran his successful printing business on the basis of industry and temperance.  Sun has built an agricultural enterprise on the same principles. Both were men of self-education who founded schools. Franklin founded Philadelphia’s first public library while Sun is in the process of completing a seven story library in a remote village.  In 1751, Franklin acted in the service of man with the establishment of a public hospital while Sun opened a hospital in 2003. Finally, Franklin wrote articles in the farmer’s Almanac and newspapers while Sun has published articles in both print and electronic form as a means to educate, inform and influence.” 

Sun Da noon the document, We Won
November 14, 2003


(Author is one of Sun Da Noon's document lawyers, Beijing University law school doctors) 孙大午案，我们胜利了吗 December 14, 2003

孙大午被判缓刑，获得释放，被广泛称为“双赢”的结局。且不说我们的对手控方算不算赢———回首几个月以前大午公司可怕的前景以及今天不得不 释放孙大午的结局，我们真的不敢断言对方到底是不是赢了，至少作为大午公司的辩护人我并没有感到赢，回首几个月以来的艰辛和梦想，我没有感到太多胜利的喜 悦。 　　虽然对于这个判决结果并不感到吃惊，但我还是一直等到审判长宣读到“缓刑四年”的时候，一颗悬着的心才算放了下来。 将近4个月以前我和张星水律师一起决定正式介入这个案件的时候（此前已经有朱久虎律师介入），我曾经对代理董事长孙萌说过，我们会作无罪辩护，但这个 案件目前最理想的结局是缓刑，因为有关部门已经把人抓了，他们不会轻易放人，而且最重要的是，法院依据现有法律做出有罪判决不能算是错案，这就决定了他们 一定会判的，那么，除非现有法律或政治环境发生重大变化，我们能争取的最好的结局也就是缓刑了。经过了三个多月的艰难较量之后，今天，这个最现实的也是可 以接受的理想结果已经达到了。 可是，接下来的几天里，我们并没有庆祝，因为我们依然要面对沉重的现实。 　　大午公司为何贷不到款 大午公司多年来与周边的村民建立了很好的信用关系，在贷款难的时代背景下，大午公司融资依靠的是周边村民的闲散资金。可是现在，在大午公司遭受重创的 同时，这条资金链突然被斩断，大午公司今后发展如果仅仅靠自己的积累的话，那将需要一个漫长的过程。大午公司要想尽快还清欠款发展壮大，剩下的只有一条路 ——申请贷款。 可是，大午公司这么多年申请贷款，除了两笔国家给的政策性贷款之外，从来没有申请到过。本来，从纯粹市场经济角度考虑，中小企业由于经营风险大，贷款 额度小手续成本高，大的银行金融机构不愿意给他们贷款，这就需要中小金融机构或者合作金融提供资金，金融机构要多元化才能符合市场经济需求。可是我们国家 的金融体制问题还远远不止是经济问题。 在徐水，大午集团已经算是大企业了，效益一直不错，为什么从来都贷不到款，尤其令人难以理解的是，为什么一些亏损企业甚至骗子却能贷到款？公司保存的 22张从未有结果的贷款申请单已经说明，在这里，贷款在一定程度上已经不是市场经济行为，同在徐水县的巨力集团贷款居然需要县长“亲自协调”，这进一步说 明，贷款在一定程度上已经变成权力行为。 大午公司得不到权力的照顾，因为孙大午和政府部门关系一直不好，他不仅不讨好掌握权力的人，有时还敢到法院起诉他们。 如果说，在过去，孙大午依靠周边百姓就可以不理会腐败的金融机构不理会权力部门的话，现在，他不得不低头了。权力借助僵化的法律终于迫使他投降了，这 个曾一度在“体制外”循环的民营企业，不得不纳入僵化的腐败的呆坏账成堆的金融体制内了。 　 　　“非法吸收公众存款”罪 大午公司毕竟还在徐水，在中国内陆，从我们打这场官司面临的重重困境来看，我们不得不为大午公司担忧，孙大午除了屈服还能有别的选择吗？当有人等待着 乃至迫使孙大午“吸取教训”的时候，当有人满腔善意劝告孙大午“悠着点”的时候，我感到的不是一种进步的希望，而是一种可怕的悲哀。其实，孙大午绝不是那 种不通世故的人，他很了解这个社会，他也尽力做到“圆滑”了，但是，他坚持了一些正气的东西，一些常人不能坚守的道义理念———而这正是我们这个时代所渴 求的，也因为如此的渴求我们才如此关注孙大午，可如今，这梦想和希望随时可能破灭。我们曾试图努力撕开一片乌云，可几天之后，一切几乎都恢复常态。 刑法176条这个口袋罪还在张着口，随时有可能被用作对“不听话的”民营企业家打击报复的工具。什么是刑法中的非法吸收公众存款？徐水县公检法机关起 初是这样理解的：公司借的钱有的是来自职工，有的是来自亲属，有的是来自陌生的人，所以，这些钱是向不特定的对象借的，所以是“非法吸收公众存款”，所 以，“所有的借款”都属于涉罪金额。也正是在这个逻辑之下，9月10日徐水县检察院提起的第一份公诉书中，大午公司涉嫌非法吸收公众存款的数额是1.5亿 多元，余额3500多万元。这3500多万元中其中就有孙大午父母捡破烂积累的存款4000元，难道孙大午借自己父母的钱也叫非法吸收公众存款？....

针对这份荒唐的起诉书，我们在9月15日决定划分借款对象与大午公司的社会关系，区分哪些是公司员工的借款，哪些是员工亲友的借款，哪些是与 公司有固定经济往来的客户的借款，我们认为，即使按照国务院第247号令的标准，大午向这些具有特定的社会关系的人借款，也不能算是违法。在我们取证开始 三天之后，检察院就申请撤诉了，到了第二次起诉，涉罪金额就变成了1400多万









                          All Things Originate from Heaven."   Li Chi


                                      






Images of Sun Dawu 孙大午


It may be necessary to click on pictures 2 or three times

Picture #1     Courtroom

Picture #2     Movers and Shakers in China's Economy

Picture #3     In China: Profit At Your Peril

Picture #4     Guiding Light for China's Farmers

Picture #5     The Economic Observer
 
Picture #6      CCTV


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大午改制 The Great Noon Changes the System

本报记者章轲发自北京

电话那端的孙大午语调低沉但不失热情。

“噢，你是章轲啊。我每天都在公司上班，除了关心中央近期有关非公经济发展的文件精神外，更关心大午集团改制的事。”孙大午对记者说，“谢谢你的关心，也欢迎你再次 来徐水坐坐。”

这天是2005年8月10日。看书、上网和滑旱冰

今年50岁的孙大午曾是河北徐水市大午集团董事长，市养殖协会会长，也是探讨中国民营企业发展和民间金融问题时难以回避的人物。2003年5月27日，他因“非法吸收公众存款罪”入狱，当年11月1日走出看守所。

回到集团后，孙大午把整个集团都交给儿子去管理，自己退到后台。但他每天仍然会到原来的办公室里办公、看书学习。

“我刚看完《杰斐逊集》，对我的启发实在是太大了。”孙大午对记者说，书上有关权力的分割和制约，对大午集团的改制非常有帮助。家族企业靠血缘、亲缘、地缘相维系，这是一种宗法式的管理，必须向现代的公司治理转型。

The Great Noon Changes the System  
2005-8-10 Finance.sina.com.cn







China's Rich Try To Rival Communist Party's Power?

Stategic Forecasting Inc. June 6, 2003


The Dawu Group, one of China's largest private companies, has been penalized and its founder Sun Dawu arrested by Chinese authorities for public criticisms and for trying to establish an independent credit cooperative as an alternative to state-controlled banks. As a politically active, wealthy entrepreneur who publicly opposed Beijing's policies, Sun represents a worst-case scenario for China's leaders -- and very well might represent the vanguard of an alternative source of political power in the Middle Kingdom.

http://www.stratfor.com/corporate/index.neo?page=center&storyId=218447






In China: Profit at your own peril 

David J. Lynch USA TODAY December 22, 2003


Back at the helm of the Dawu Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Group, Sun, 49, says his reprieve, which he links to support from influential friends and local farmers, demonstrates that China's rulers are becoming more responsive to public opinion. "This incident does show the society is moving forward," he says. "Twenty years ago, there would have been no way you could get out of it."


http://www.usatoday.com/money/world/2003-12-22-china_x.htm 





Well, One Man In China Is Happy

Mr Sun also believes his detention has drawn unprecedented attention to the difficulties private rural enterprises face in raising credit, an issue analysts say threatens efforts to raise the living standards of the estimated 800 million rural Chinese.

Mr Sun says his company repeatedly tried to raise loans for expansion from local state credit co-operatives, only to be rejected because it "lacked scale, lacked approval and lacked [a place in lending] quotas".

http://www.livinginchina.com/review/archives/000394.html




My news clippings

Professor Xu Zhiyong August 23, 2003

Xu Zhiyong, a law professor at Telecommunications University in Beijing, comments on the case of SUN Dawu, a rural businessmen who ran an illegal credit cooperative and lured millions of dollars in deposits away from state banks: "One of the biggest problems for peasants is that local officials decide who gets money and who doesn't."

On a separate note, "Chinese act to help rural lenders", Financial Times reported on Friday.

http://www.sinosplice.com/~teasalon/2003_08_01_t-salon_archive.html







China Businessman Arrested For Democratic Views

China Reform Monitor Editor: Al Santoli August 10, 2003

A prominent rural Chinese businessman,Sun Dawu, has been jailed in Hebei province for making calls for democratic reform, reports New York Newsday. Sun, born to a farming family in Hebei Province's Langwuzhang village, had built one of China's largest agricultural conglomerates. He subsequently opened a bank, built a high school and paved the road linking his village to the outside world. He also began declaring that democracy is the only way to solve the problems of rural China. Since May 2003, he has been held in jail nearly incommunicado.

http://www.afpc.org/crm/crm509.shtml






Farm-grown rebel fights corruption

theage.com Hamish McDonald January 10, 2004


Xushui officials must have seethed at being transformed into a nationally known case study in corruption and feather-bedding.

In May, they found their excuse for action. Mr Sun had the effrontery to withdraw 3 million yuan ($A500,000) of his own money from a state-owned bank.

Swarms of police arrived at the Dawu headquarters, confiscating its three computers and piles of documents, and arresting Mr Sun and his two brothers, while his wife Liu Huiru went into hiding.

Eventually, as Mr Sun sweated in solitary confinement, officials found an offence: the company had been taking deposits from local farmers, paying double the 1.8 per cent interest rate offered by the Government's banks.

http://www.theage.com.au/text/articles/2004/01/09/1073437468912.html





Guiding Light for China's Farmers 

The Sydney Morning Herald Hamish McDonald January 10, 2002

In March last year, Mr Sun's appreciative internet audience paid him the honour of an invitation to speak at Beijing University and the China Agricultural University in Beijing. He let rip with a devastating critique of the Government's plans to solve the rural poverty problem by moving hundreds of millions of people into hastily built cities over the next 20 years, without trying to improve conditions in the villages.

Last month a fax came from the Central Party School, the main communist party training institution in Beijing, saying a panel of officials and academics had honoured him as one of China's business leaders helping to bring economic growth to rural areas. In addition, a team from state-run China Central Television came out to do an interview. China's third revolution may only just be starting.


http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/01/09/1073437472940.html 




Financial Enterprises in China at Odds with Party Politics 

Washington Post Peter S. Goodman January 2, 2004

XUSHUI, China -- Sun Dawu had big plans but little capital. He wanted to expand his livestock business and he needed a bank loan. But he is a private businessman in a country still controlled by a Communist Party government. Despite the transition toward capitalism, China's banking system remains the preserve of state-owned companies.

"I applied for a loan so many times and they always refused," Sun said in an interview at his complex of factories in northeastern China, 100 miles southwest of Beijing. "In China, there are only two ways for a private businessman to borrow money. One is to get help from a party official. The other is to pay someone off."

Sun came up with a third: Be the bank. He enticed his workers to deposit their wages with his company, offering higher interest rates than state banks while promising to build a school and a hospital. It was the sort of ingenuity that has fueled the rise of China's fast-growing private economy. It allowed Sun to raise $25 million over the past decade.

 

Washington Post  January 1, 2004



Blog CH January 10,2004

The relative lenience of Sun's sentence has been construed as a signal that creative finance will be tolerated as the only way to relieve the credit crunch vexing private companies -- now the source of two-thirds of Chinese jobs.

http://tigrine.blogspot.com/2004_01_01_tigrine_archive.html






China's Emerging Economy

Murie Dickie Session 2 Economic Reality and Economic Security pp.8-10


While preventing any explosions banks and regulators need to find ways to encourage lending to the long-neglected private sector. This challenge is particularly acute in rural areas, where even successful entrepreneurs often struggle to raise funds. Sun Dawu, an outspoken rural businessman, became a cause celebre this year when he was detained on charges of illegally taking deposits from the public in order to finance his company's expansion.

Adding to the problem of capital misallocation is endemic corruption that affects all levels of economic activity. While the government has made repeated efforts to clean up graft, single party rule has prevented the creation of the kind of independent oversight and institutional checks that might have a more lasting effect than sporadic crackdowns. The government's continued direct control of large swathes of the economy may itself stifle innovation and encourage rent-seeking, becoming a long-term drag on growth not just in banking, but also in areas such as telecoms, insurance, transport and logistics. Chinese state enterprises are often surprisingly competitive and the listing of many in China and abroad is helping introduce capitalist management practices, but even in its most recent policy plans, Beijing has made clear that state ownership is to maintain its central role.

As the cases of Mr Sun and other recently detained or convicted businessmen makes clear, much of China's entrepreneurial activity continues to take place in something of a legal grey area. And the lack of true rule of law can make it harder to deal with the social stresses caused by economic transformation.

Those stresses are considerable and likely to increase. Wang Mengkui, head of the cabinet's most influential think tank, says 300 million or more rural people will move into towns and cities over the next two decades. Such migrants will be a source of economic growth, but also of social instability in cities where extremes of poverty and wealth already crowd out any official claims to communist egalitarianism. Indeed, Mr Wang admits that the income gap between urban and rural residents and eastern and western regions will continue to increase for years to come





The Case of Sun Dawu 孙大午

The moment Mr. Sun Dawu walked out of the Chinese jail, villagers swarmed his home giving him the warmest reception and support. Meanwhile, many elites in China rise up speaking for basic human rights in China. Mr. Liu Chuanzhi CEO of the Liangxiang Group faxed a letter to Sun Meng, expressing sympathy and support.

http://www.cicus/org/news/newsdetail.php?id=1596





Charismatic rural Chinese tycoon arrested for financial crimes

Agence France-Presse (via Clari-Net) July 11, 2003

The charismatic Sun has also been a vocal champion of badly needed reforms in China's impoverished rural sector and demanded greater freedom for farmers to speak out and organize in an effort to protect and develop their economic interests.





Robin Hood in Trouble with Beijing 

Taipei Times, New York Times Service, Beijing August 25, 2003

The arrest of a rural businessman who antagonized government officials but earned a loyal following among peasants has created a sensation in Beijing where influential academics say he showed how to improve life in the vast, backward Chinese countryside.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2003/08/25/2003065163 





Tycoons at Risk in China's Murky Business World

Financial Times (London) Mure Dickie July 17, 2003

Sun Dawu, an outspoken agricultural entrepreneur in China, was arrested for creating a de facto savings bank for employees and local residents after speaking out against the possible pooling of funds to rich cities by the government. Many believe that his business was singled out and found to be illegal because of his political outspokeness.

http://www.celcee.edu/abstracts/c20032313.html





Strange Happenings in China Today

China Clipper August 28, 2003

He refused to pay bribes, said one depositor. For a long time, officials tried to get money from him, but he refused.

http://www.bollback.com/MegaSite/story-august-28.htm



Rural Chinese tycoon under investigation, website shut down

Agence France-Presse (Via ClariNet) June 04, 2003

The company was also fined 15,000 yuan and forced to shut down its www.dawu.com.cn website for six months because of the anti-government content on the site, she said.

http://biomedlib.dartmouth.edu/webnews/wed/cw/Qchina-banks-internet.Rke_Du4.html 

Chinese version, The Challenger Type

挑战型资本家 福布斯中国富豪排行榜前 100 位并没有河北大午集团董事长孙大午的名字，但把孙大午说成是当代中国最着名的资本家并不是夸大之词。北京理工大学经济学教授胡星斗称孙是中国最优秀民营企业家、中国企业家的良心（14

<a href="http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=2313388">

The Economist, Speaking Out, Businessmen are starting to Challenge the Authorities, December 30, 2003</a>

http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=2313388

1. 孫大午接兩弟回家再送妻「投案自首

明报 12/23/2003 8:11:00 AM 518 202

2. 中央插手 释孙大午 明报 11/20/2003 3:55:00 PM 2344 293

3. 人民日报[今日关注]: 学界评孙大午案件 中华工商时报 11/19/2003 6:09:00 PM 3155 185

4. 民营企业家孙大午作客新浪总裁在线(实录) 新浪财经讯 11/13/2003 5:06:00 PM 10540 146

5. 从孙大午事件看基层政府的掠夺性本质 刘水 11/10/2003 6:11:00 PM 1868 108

6. 农民企业家孙大午获释背景 BBC 11/10/2003 8:02:00 AM 989 134

7. 孙大午获罪前后 经济观察报 11/8/2003 6:39:00 AM 3398 122

8. 政府该如何对待孙大午 秋风 11/7/2003 7:46:00 PM 2232 108

9. 孙大午等案激发中国各界精英纷起悍卫言论自由 联合早报 11/5/2003 10:29:00 AM 2366 148

10. 报告文学：农民英雄孙大午----秘书眼中的孙大午 佚名 11/4/2003 9:49:00 PM 29026 216

11. 孙大午终于回家 表示大午集团还要好好干 北京青年报 11/2/2003 12:51:00 PM 3437 137

12. 果然如此！富豪孙大午判三缓四，被从轻发落 中国青年报 10/30/2003 6:00:00 PM 1149 211

13. 民间的力量挽救了孙大午----胡锦涛亲批救人 草庵居士 10/28/2003 10:44:00 PM 378 488

14. 传胡锦涛介入, 孙大午案出现转机 星岛日报 10/28/2003 10:18:00 AM 478 177

15. 孙大午其人：从军官、行政干部到农民的传奇 老实顺民 10/16/2003 12:44:00 PM 6602 223

16. 孙大午案是个信号 顾则徐 10/3/2003 8:15:00 PM 5527 148

17. 如何处理孙大午案意义重大 刘宾雁 9/18/2003 2:26:00 PM 1600 193

18. 恶法治国及其受害者----评孙大午非法融资案 刘晓波 9/8/2003 11:29:00 AM 3536 114

19. 孙大午案是个信号 顾则徐 8/12/2003 8:44:00 AM 5536 185

20. 愿意为孙大午提供实际帮助的人请联系 博讯 8/10/2003 8:32:00 PM 4014 84

21. 当局逮捕孙大午, 醉翁之意不在酒 金海涛 8/6/2003 9:42:00 PM 1533 210

22. 孙大午案, 北京学者律师促释法 明报 8/5/2003 5:42:00 PM 498 123

23. 孙大午事件研讨会流产 (图) 明报 8/3/2003 11:02:00 AM 696 179

24. 中国经济时报：谁把孙大午逼进了困境？ 华中炜 唐福勇 8/2/2003 11:57:00 PM 2180 227

25. 保卫孙大午！ 东海一枭 8/1/2003 10:30:00 AM 2692 165

26. 孙大午为什么失败？ 自由湘军 7/24/2003 10:58:00 PM 2292 172

27. 孙大午被捕之后 中国《新闻周刊》 7/23/2003 1:26:00 PM 3442 227

28. 亿万富翁孙大午涉罪调查 中国《新闻周刊》： 7/23/2003 1:24:00 PM 6662 174

29. 孙大午事件值得中国工商界和知识界最大程度的关注 作者: 狼协 7/23/2003 1:16:00 PM 2082 131

30.《财经时报》 关于河北巨富孙大午的报道(图) 田予冬 7/21/2003 2:45:00 PM 4226 239

31. 从孙大午案看民间融资困境和金融垄断 王怡 7/21/2003 12:47:00 PM 3818 120

32. 孙大午案可能意味着中国民营企业的更大危机 杨支柱 7/17/2003 12:03:00 PM 2327 145

<a href="http://iso.hrichina.org/download_repository/2/a4_TwoTycoons1.2004.pdf">New Links!! Two Tycoons, Two Fates: Zhou Zhengyi and Sun Dawu 孙大午(English)</a>

written by Qin Hui, December 17, 2003 (Chinese)

杒嫗: 拞幮橉壢泏弌斉幮 Subject: Sun Dawu 孙大午: Businessman

A new biography published in Chinese, June 2004, pp.277

782.88 1426 2004

SUN DAWU'S CASE HIGHLIGHTS RURAL FINANCING

AUGUST 24，2003 (蔚然报道)

**孙大午被捕事件反映的问题**

中国的农民企业家孙大午上个月被捕的消息，突显了中国农村民营企业融资难，以及所谓 非法集资的罪名界定不清的问题，引起中国国内农业问题和法学界专家的辩论。 *有影响的农民企业家*

孙大午是白手起家的农民企业家，靠养殖一千只鸡和50头猪起家，发展成固定资产上亿的大午集团。1995年，大午集团被评为中国全国私营企业500强之列。此外，孙大午还曾多次在北大等高校发表关于农村问题的演讲。 声名显赫的孙大午，上个月却突然被逮捕，罪名是非法吸收公众存款，也就是人们常说的非法集资。河北省徐水县的有关部门宣布，经调查，大午集团在1995年7月1号以来，累计吸收了公众存款一亿八千多万人民币。 *民营企业贷款难*

据报 道，大午集团选择从民间集资，是因为从国营银行贷不到钱。纽约时报的文章引述大午集团负责人的话说，他们在发展期间，遇到了融资的问题。尽管他们为徐水县 创造了一千五百个就业机会，但是却无法从当地的国营银行申请到贷款，因为这些国营银行贷款的主要对象是国营公司或是行贿银行官员的企业。 在这种情况下，孙大午决定向本集团的职工集资。职工们把钱存在大午集团，还能得到比银行更高的利息。这一储蓄集资的措施非常受欢迎，后来连附近村民也开始在大午存钱。 *学者质疑*

孙大午被捕，引起了中国学术界的关心。支持孙大午的人表示，希望政府能修订融资的规定，给企业家更多的融资自由，并进一步限制国营银行和地方官员的权力。此外，很多知名学者还要求政府明确界定所谓的 非法吸收公众存款 的法律规定。有文章引述前政法大学校长江平的话说，也许是政府违反了法律，错误地指责孙大午有罪。如果这个案件不恰当处理的话，会严重影响农村的经济发展。 北京邮电大学法学博士许志永也说，农民面对的一大问题就是，地方官员掌握着贷款的决定权，眼下的问题是让金融不受政治因素影响的问题。许志永还说，现行法律过于含糊，给了地方官员太多的权力，你向一两个人借钱不会有人抓你，你向一百个人借钱就会有麻烦。在这两者间，缺少法律的界定。 *论政招祸？*

还有一种说法认为，孙大午被捕是因为他今年在很多地方公开讲话，对政府的农村政策提出了尖锐置疑，因此是因言获罪。 孙大午在网上发表文章，提出小城镇建设无非是政府投资的政绩工程，最终还要搜刮民财还债；孙大午说，农民向城 市转移不仅是行不通的，而且是危险的，因为农民在农村不会发生暴力革命，但农村问题一旦成为城市问题的时候，国家就要乱了。孙大午还曾明确提出，土生土长 的草根金融是符合中国农村经济发展的有生命力的金融。 目前，孙大午的案件还在等候审理。有关专家认为，孙大午一案最后的处理结果，能够间接影响中国农村企业融资政策未来的走向。 The Sun Dawu Case, August 05,2003, p.46

<a href="http://www.nanfangdaily.com.cn/zm/20031106/xw/tb/200311060663.asp">Nanfang Daily Article and Pictures</a>

亿万富翁孙大午的梦和痛 南方周末　 　2003-11-06 14:43:12

　　本报记者 王景春 摄 　　■他本是一个亿万富翁，却过着苦行僧一般的生活，当了董事长还帮工人掏粪。

　　■他本该以追逐利润为第一要务，却办免费的农民技校、赔钱的中学，赔多少都不在乎。

　　■他深知商场官场潜规则，手中毫无政治资源可依仗，却不肯和光同尘，梗直倔强。

　　■他在事业顶峰时曾评论自己：看似可喜可贺，其实是可悲可叹的人物。几乎一语成谶。

http://www.nanfangdaily.com.cn/zm/20031106/xw/tb/200311060663.asp

孙大午，河北大午集团有限公司董事长

1954 年6月出生在河北省徐水县高林村镇郎五庄村

1963 年在高林村镇在学

1971 年-1978年6月在山西临汾二十八军八十二师服役

1979 年-1989年在徐水县农行工作

1989 年，孙大午毅然辞去工作，创办河北大午农牧集团有限公司

1978 年-1982 年进修语言文学自修大学

1984-1986 年自修河北政法函授

1996 年 6月被河北省人民政府授予 河北省养鸡壮元

1995年，当选保定市人大代表

1996 年 8月，当选保定市禽蛋产业联合会理事长

1996 年 9月20日，被授予1996年度保 定捐资助教先进个人荣誉称号

2001年 兼任大午学校校长

2002 年 10月被中国农业大学农?裎侍庋芯克盖胛呒堆芯吭?

http://finance.qianlong.com/26/2003/11/12/206@1706465.htm

Formerly active and unblocked websites

1. <a href="http://www.usc.cuhk.edu.hk/wk_wzdetails.asp?id=2643"> http://www.usc.cuhk.edu.hk/wk_wzdetails.asp?id=2643</a> 2003-11-06,亿万富翁孙大午的梦和痛, 从孙大午融资案看民间金融

2. <a href="http://www.usc.cuhk.edu.hk/wk_wzdetails.asp?id=3073"> http://www.usc.cuhk.edu.hk/wk_wzdetails.asp?id=3073</a> 2003-11-06,亿万富翁孙大午的梦和痛

3. <a href="http://cn.dir.yahoo.com/Regional/Countries_and_Regions/Mainland_China/Society_and_Culture/People/Sun_Dawu/">http://cn.dir.yahoo.com/Regional/Countries_and_Regions/Mainland_China/Society_and_Culture/People/Sun_Dawu</a> 提供相关新闻报道及图片

4. <a href="http://finance.tom.com/1001/1002/2003117-28323.html"> http://finance.tom.com/1001/1002/2003117-28323.html</a> 2003-11-07, 孙大午的梦和痛:不是合格企业家? 行政官司不断

5. <a href="http://www.sc.xinhuanet.com/2003-12/23/content_1388969.htm">http://www.sc.xinhuanet.com/2003-12/23/content_1388969.htm</a> 2003-12-23, 四川孙大午 的昭雪和陈凯的被捕

6.<a href=" http://info.news.hc360.com/HTML/001/002/003/013/19556.htm"> http://info.news.hc360.com/HTML/001/002/003/013/19556.htm</a> 2003-11-03, 孙大午资金链缺口千万 柳传志亲自写信表示支持

7. http://www.dzwww.com/licai/caijingxinwen/200406071067.htm

Commentary: How China Turns Entrepreneurs into Outlaws

Businessweek.com: Business Week Online
June 28, 2003, Mark L. Clifford

It's almost impossible to operate within the law in China. Anything local officials choose to permit is permitted--until it isn't

...Beijing really doesn't know what to do with its entrepreneurs.  It  is almost impossible for the owners of sizable private businesses to operate altogether within the law in China. Restrictive company laws, a dysfunctional tax system, and a government shrouded in corruption and secrecy all conspire against the development of an entrepreneurial culture that can fuel the growth the country's economy so badly needs.

This isn't anything new. Hong Kong Securities & Futures Commission Chairman Andrew Sheng, the territory's top securities cop, thinks China lost its economic momentum three centuries ago "because private-sector property rights were never defined by civil law." Today, legal changes are slowly being put in place to ensure that entrepreneurs are not discriminated against. Yet there have been a series of high-profile arrests of businessmen. Two months ago, authorities took into custody Zhou Zhengyi, the head of Shanghai Land Holdings, one of the city's largest property developers. And Sun Dawu, founder and head of one of China's biggest agricultural companies, has been held by authorities in Hebei Province since May on charges of running an illegal bank.

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/03_30/b3843133_mz033.htm



Press arrests taint China's reform image

By Ed Lanfranco
UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL

BEIJING, March 22 (UPI)... A mainland legal scholar said Sunday that gray areas in the law were being used to punish members of a muckraking newspaper group....

"This is an ill-defined area of law," according to Zhang Xingshui, a lawyer from the Beijing Kingdom Law Firm who was present at the news conference. Speaking about the events on March 19 in the context of presumed innocence, Zhang used a quote from one of the country's noted legal theoreticians who observed, "Criminal law takes precedence over civil law in China when it should be the other way around."


In December the newspaper was the first to report on the reemergence of SARS in Guangdong before government authorities had informed the World Health Organization. It has also carried extensive coverage on the trial of Sun Dawu, one of China's wealthiest private entrepreneurs jailed for alleged financial improprieties but later released.

http://www.google.ca/search?q=cache:JCuAjf-1QWgJ:washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20040322-051716-5202r.htm+sun+dawu+news&hl=en&start=117



SUN DAWU'S CASE HIGHLIGHTS RURAL FINANCING

AUGUST 24，2003 (蔚然报道)

**孙大午被捕事件反映的问题**

中国的农民企业家孙大午上个月被捕的消息，突显了中国农村民营企业融资难，以及所谓非法集资的罪名界定不清的问题，引起中国国内农业问题和法学界专家的辩论。 *有影响的农民企业家*

孙大午是白手起家的农民企业家，靠养殖一千只鸡和50头猪起家，发展成固定资产上亿的大午集团。1995年，大午集团被评为中国全国私营企业 500强之列。此外，孙大午还曾多次在北大等高校发表关于农村问题的演讲。 声名显赫的孙大午，上个月却突然被逮捕，罪名是非法吸收公众存款，也就是人们常说的非法集资。河北省徐水县的有关部门宣布，经调查，大午集团在1995年 7月1号以来，累计吸收了公众存款一亿八千多万人民币。 *民营企业贷款难*

据报道，大午集团选择从民间集资，是因为从国营银行贷不到钱。纽约时报的文章引述大午集团负责人的话说，他们在发展期间，遇到了融资的问题。尽管 他们为徐水县创造了一千五百个就业机会，但是却无法从当地的国营银行申请到贷款，因为这些国营银行贷款的主要对象是国营公司或是行贿银行官员的企业。 在这种情况下，孙大午决定向本集团的职工集资。职工们把钱存在大午集团，还能得到比银行更高的利息。这一储蓄集资的措施非常受欢迎，后来连附近村民也开始 在大午存钱。 *学者质疑*

孙大午被捕，引起了中国学术界的关心。支持孙大午的人表示，希望政府能修订融资的规定，给企业家更多的融资自由，并进一步限制国营银行和地方官员 的权力。此外，很多知名学者还要求政府明确界定所谓的非法吸收公众存款的法律规定。有文章引述前政法大学校长江平的话说，也许是政府违反了法 律，错误地指责孙大午有罪。如果这个案件不恰当处理的话，会严重影响农村的经济发展。 北京邮电大学法学博士许志永也说，农民面对的一大问题就是，地方官员掌握着贷款的决定权，眼下的问题是让金融不受政治因素影响的问题。许志永还说，现行法 律过于含糊，给了地方官员太多的权力，你向一两个人借钱不会有人抓你，你向一百个人借钱就会有麻烦。在这两者间，缺少法律的界定。 *论政招祸？*

还有一种说法认为，孙大午被捕是因为他今年在很多地方公开讲话，对政府的农村政策提出了尖锐置疑，因此是因言获罪。 孙大午在网上发表文章，提出小城镇建设无非是政府投资的政绩工程，最终还要搜刮民财还债；孙大午说，农民向城市转移不仅是行不通的，而且是危险的，因为农 民在农村不会发生暴力革命，但农村问题一旦成为城市问题的时候，国家就要乱了。孙大午还曾明确提出，土生土长的草根金融是符合中国农村经济发展的有生命力 的金融。 目前，孙大午的案件还在等候审理。有关专家认为，孙大午一案最后的处理结果，能够间接影响中国农村企业融资政策未来的走向。 The Sun Dawu Case, August 05,2003, p.46

http://iso.hrichina.org/download_repository/2/a4_TwoTycoons1.2004.pdf



Nanfang Daily Article and Pictures

亿万富翁孙大午的梦和痛 南方周末 2003-11-06 14:43:12

本报记者 王景春 摄 ■他本是一个亿万富翁，却过着苦行僧一般的生活，当了董事长还帮工人掏粪。
■他本该以追逐利润为第一要务，却办免费的农民技校、赔钱的中学，赔多少都不在乎。
■他深知商场官场潜规则，手中毫无政治资源可依仗，却不肯和光同尘，梗直倔强。
■他在事业顶峰时曾评论自己：看似可喜可贺，其实是可悲可叹的人物。几乎一语成谶。

http://www.nanfangdaily.com.cn/zm/20031106/xw/tb/200311060663.asp


孙大午，河北大午集团有限公司董事长

1954年6月出生在河北省徐水县高林村镇郎五庄村
1963年在高林村镇在学
1971年-1978年6月在山西临汾二十八军八十二师服役
1979年-1989年在徐水县农行工作
1989年，孙大午毅然辞去工作，创办河北大午农牧集团有限公司
1978年-1982年进修语言文学自修大学
1984-1986年自修河北政法函授
1996年6月被河北省人民政府授予河北省养鸡壮元
1995年，当选保定市人大代表
1996年8月，当选保定市禽蛋产业联合会理事长
1996年9月20日，被授予1996年度保 定捐资助教先进个人荣誉称号
2001年兼任大午学校校长
2002年10月被中国农业大学农?裎侍庋芯克盖胛呒堆芯吭?

http://finance.qianlong.com/26/2003/11/12/206@1706465.htm


CHINESE ACTIVE AND UNBLOCKED WEBSITES


1. http://www.usc.cuhk.edu.hk/wk_wzdetails.asp?id=2643 2003-11-06,亿万富翁孙大午的梦和痛, 从孙大午融资案看民间金融

2. http://www.usc.cuhk.edu.hk/wk_wzdetails.asp?id=3073 2003-11-06,亿万富翁孙大午的梦和痛

4. http://finance.tom.com/1001/1002/2003117-28323.html 2003-11-07, 孙大午的梦和痛:不是合格企业家? 行政官司不断


6. http://info.news.hc360.com/HTML/001/002/003/013/19556.htm   2003-11-03, 孙大午资金链缺口千万 柳传志亲自写信表示支持

7 http://www.dzwww.com/licai/caijingxinwen/200406071067.htm

As a self-designated champion of rural reform and a spokesman for China's peasantry,
Sun had some official support. He criticized excessive bureaucratic procedures as hindering rural entrepreneurship and found audiences at China's prestigious Beijing University. Sun's outspokenness won him some fame, and he became the subject of recent articles in publications such as the Economic Times and Singapore's The Straight Times.

China's Rich Try to Rival Communist Party's Power?

Strategic Forecasting Inc., June 06, 2003



Sun 孙大午 eventually pushed the envelope too far, however. In a recent essay published on his company's web site, he criticized Beijing for neglecting rural development and railed against state-owned banks for moving funds--largely made up of China's 800 million rural residents' personal savings--into urban projects. At the same time, Sun withdrew 3 million ($360,000) from a state bank, allegedly to establish a private rural credit cooperative. This was far beyond limits.



China: Foreign Lending Soars Amid Cash Crunch at Home

Strategic Forecasting Inc., August 08, 2003

In June, Sun, one of China's leading entrepreneurs, was arrested for trying to establish an independent credit cooperative as an other state-controlled banks. Sun publicly criticized Beijing for neglecting rural development, and he railed against state-owned banks for moving funds--largely made up of China's 800 million rural residents' personal savings--into urban projects.

Sun's case raised a critical issue. He suggested that if Chinese citizens do not approve of Beijing's' fiscal policy, they could influence the government by withdrawing their funds from the state banks, a move that could have dire consequences for the government if it were to become the impetus for a run on the banks.



Chinese Farm Reform: Something Revolutionary This Way Comes?

Jan 06, 2004
http://www.stratfor.biz/Print.neo?storyId=226675


Beijing has announced a new round of measures to help alleviate Chinese farmers' economic burdens. Although reforms have been implemented piecemeal over the past several years with marginal success, events in 2003 in China -- including the government's slap-on-the-wrist punishment of entrepreneur Sun Dawu -- suggest that more radical steps could be in the offing.

Officials with the Chinese Ministry of Finance and the State Development and Reform Commission said Jan. 5 that they have abolished, exempted or lowered 15 types of financial charges in order to reduce the financial burden on the country's approximately 800 million farmers. The government reportedly will not approve any new fees on farmers before the end of 2005 and urged regional and local authorities to lower their fees as well.

The move is Beijing's latest bid to improve the Chinese peasantry's lot in life. Rural incomes remain flat, and farmers face stagnant prices, competition from agricultural imports and the caprices of corrupt local leaders. New President’s administration has been responsive in meeting some of the needs of China's rural residents in recent months, including considering some radical changes and consenting to direct political challenge....

The second, and even more surprising, event is the rehabilitation of Chinese tycoon and self-appointed champion of the peasant, Sun. He was arrested after publishing essays critical of government policies and state-controlled banks and for establishing an unauthorized independent credit cooperative for farmers. The outspoken businessman committed two venal sins in China: First, he openly criticized the government, and by extension the Party; and, second, he encouraged Chinese farmers to withdraw their money from state-controlled banks if they did not like the way the government loaned money -- an idea that strikes a chord with the farmers who seethe at the thought that the vast majority of the loans from China's Big Four commercial banks go to unproductive state-owned enterprises, while they find it difficult borrow anything.

Not long ago, Sun would have received a one-way ticket to a re-education camp in a barren part of China, but he got off with little more than a sharp slap on the wrist, heavy fines and a three-year suspended sentence for "causing disorder in the local financial sector." Sun's favourable treatment indicates a couple of things: First, he is well-connected, and that is what likely saved his skin. But more importantly, his commuted sentence reveals that -- in the eyes of Beijing -- the entrepreneur's charges against the state were correct....

Sun's rehabilitation by the Party could set a fatal precedent. There are many entrepreneurs, workers, farmers, religious adherents and intellectuals across China who have ideas on how Beijing could better run the country, and their activism is almost always rewarded with censure. But now, other well-placed individuals with convictions could become emboldened. Since it invites more dissent, allowing a small amount of plurality in an authoritarian regime can be a slippery slope.

Although the unexpected behavior from Beijing regarding mortgaging land rights and Sun's light punishment suggest the situation possibly has become desperate enough that the government is being forced to go to extraordinary lengths to tackle the problems, it also demonstrates the administration's ability to react more quickly and decisively than that of his predecessor, Jiang Zemin. The first year of the new president's administration has been marked by a number of popular policy decisions, including his agile handling of the SARS crisis early in the year, repealing outdated vagrancy laws and canceling the leadership's annual retreat to a seashore resort in Beidaihe. Judging by the President’s track record in 2003, the upcoming year could see sweeping changes in China's countryside which will begin to address adequately the complaints of the majority of the country's population.


Press Arrests Taint Reform Image, Ed Lanfranco

United Press International

In December the newspaper was the first to report on the re-emergence of SARS in Guangdong before government authorities had informed the World Health Organization. It has also carried extensive coverage on the trial of Sun, one of China's wealthiest private entrepreneurs jailed for alleged financial improprieties but later released.

http://wwww.washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/ 20040322-051716-5202r.htm


The Challenger Type

China's Strategy, Volume 1, January 30, 2004
by CSIS International Security Program and China Media Net Inc.
Bai Shazhou, The Growing Influence of China's Capitalists

Sun's uniqueness does not lie in the fact that he has turned a family livestock farm, with 1,000 chickens and 50 pigs, into a large enterprise called Dawu group. His uniqueness doesn't lie in how many employees he has hired or how much capital he has generated. It does not lie in the fact that he has invested in a technical school for poor kids or a charitable hospital. He is unique because he refuses to ally with those in power to obtain wealth in China, where connections with the power elite is the short cut to becoming rich.


On October 27, 2002, an inside source was quoted on a US-based Chinese-language online forum as saying that the President expressed concerns about Sun's case after he read various news articles about it. Three days later, the local court in Hebei released Sun with a sentence of three years in prison, four year's probation, and a 100,000-yuan fine.

href="http://www.google.ca/search?q=cache:l34_Q8ZO7zcJ:www.csis.org/isp/csn/040130.pdf+sundawu+strategic&hl=en


The Economist ,Speaking out : Businesses are starting to Challenge the Authorities
December 30, 2003



http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=2313388




Tolerance shall be upheld

By Shao Yingbo 2003-11-11 14:00:43


The problem remains that those who have always regarded law as a weapon have not fully understood the whole meaning of basic principles defined by this Criminal Law, including the immense spirit of tolerance. Principles of presumption of innocence, statuary crimes and suitability between crimes and penalties are all defined under this spirit. In the absence of clear definition as a crime, a conduct shall not be regarded as a crime. That is meant to forgive all conducts that have not been defined by criminal law to be punished. As for suitability between crimes and penalties, a crime shall be punished accordingly. Conviction and judgment shall follow the rules strictly, and equate the crime and its penalty. Neither laissez-faire nor excesiveness shall be excised. Meantime, both humanism and leniency are also important connotations of modern criminal law.

Sun 孙大午 has created values with his own hands for the society in an underdeveloped region. However, same as many other private entrepreneurs, he stepped into a legal blind area out of caution when he encountered the difficulty of raising funds. He raised RMB 13.08 million of private deposits from more than 500 persons with higher interest rate than that of banks, and has been suspected of illegal fund-raising under the current law.

In academic circles, scholars have not come to an agreement on whether Sun's conduct is a criminal offense. However, the incompleteness of Article 176 of Criminal Law has been highlighted in the debate. Under this situation, the Court is not to be criticized that it has convicted Sun based on the Article itself and disregarding academic interpretations. At the same time, the Court held Sun's conduct has not caused serious social damages according to law and facts, and therefore adopted a reprieve.

Only if a conduct has caused serious social damages, shall it possibly constitute of a crime. If not, Criminal Law shall never be applied. In most cases, the actors do not have a bad will, and Criminal Law shall be that rigid as to punish them. Because once Criminal Law is applied, the subject will be bound to suffer.

Nowadays, more and more citizens are exposed to modern legal concepts. Words like tool, struggle and weapon have been abandoned. The reason why people love law is that the law itself is returning to original meaning of fairness, justice and rights although the return process is still expected to be long and winding.


http://www.eobserver.com.cn/ReadNews.asp?NewsID=6771


Peasant Millionaire Sentenced on Iffy Charges

Xiao Rong, February 5, 2005, Beijing Today

The announcement on October 30 of well-known peasant millionaire Sun Dawu 孙大午 being sentenced to three years of jail and four years of probation for illegal fund-raising highlighted for many the pitfalls of Chinese financial system, which impede the development of private domestic enterprises.Not long after Sun was detained by local police in Hebei Province this July, Beijing Today visited Xushui county, where Sun has built his empire since 1985, and published the story on page 1 on July 25.

Sun Dawu, 49, chairman of Dawu Agriculture and Breeding Group, was accused in September by Xushui County Procuratorate Court of violating banking laws and State Council regulations by borrowing over 13 million yuan from almost 5,000 local farmers since 1995. The amount stood as high as 181 million yuan at the beginning of the detention of Sun. Local villagers volunteered to invest their money in our company to support our development, because Dawu Group has contributed a lot to the local economy over these years, said son Sun Meng, now acting chairman of the Dawu Group has provided jobs to over 300 people in Langwuzhuang village and paid salaries totaling over two million yuan per year, according to him. Sun Dawu also established the private Dawu High School in 1998, keeping tuition charges low so that the school was reliant on funds from the Group to keep operating. After investing nearly 1.7 million yuan in the school, Sun began to seek outside financing to support its operation.

Xushui county government, however, maintained that it was illegal for Dawu Group to raise funds from the general public without authorization from the Peoples Bank of China. The Xushui Peoples Bank told the company repeatedly to stop the illegal fund raising, according to Yu Zhenhai, director of the press office of the county party committee.

Due to our rapid development, we have frequently applied to borrow money from local state banks since 1998, but seldom with success, said Liu Pi, acting vice president of Dawu Group. That is why we had to finance the growth of our business by raising funds from employees and local villagers. In the opinion of Li Zhiying, secretary of Beijing Renben Development and Research Center, Sun Dawu case reflects the universal difficulty of Chinese private enterprises in raising finance for development.Most private enterprise in China have actually been trying underground loans as a way of raising funds, given that the government is monopolizing the finance sector by only authorizing state banks to grant loans, he said.

According to Liu Ping, The case of Sun is being used as precedent for dangerous attacks on private entrepreneurs, as some local governments in Shanxi, Shaanxi and Guizhou provinces are lining up to punish some other private entrepreneurs on the same grounds that ended up putting Sun in jail.

http://www.bjtoday.ynet.com/attachment.db?2887799 (pdf) Newspaper page

http://bjtoday.ynet.com/article.jsp?oid=2887222&pageno=1

http://www.bjtoday.ynet.com/article.jsp?oid=2887222 - 38k - 2005





Wu Zhong, The Standard, December 2, 2003


However, what is shocking and somewhat underhanded, is that amid these negative reports about the tycoons, some regional government officials have sought to disgrace, take advantage of, or even blackmail local private business people. The now widely publicized case of Sun Dawu is an example. On July 5th, Sun 孙大午, billionaire president of the Hebei Dawu Agriculture & Stock Group, was arrested by public security of Xushui county in the northern province of Hebei on charges of ``illegal fund-raising from the public''.

His arrest alarmed the public. The villagers who had lent money to Sun's company said the loans were voluntary.


Well-know public figures, including economists and businessmen, such as the founder of Legend Holdings, Liu Chuanzhi, signed petitions to the Central Government to protest against Sun's arrest.

Vice-Premier Hui Liangyu reportedly demanded Xushui officials deal with Sun's case with care.

On October 30, the Xushui county court convicted Sun of raising 13 million yuan from more than 600 local villagers without approval of the People's Bank of China (PBOC) or the central bank.

On the mainland, illegal fund raising is a serious crime, and offenders could be given lengthy jail terms or even the death penalty.

Sun 孙大午, however, was given a three-year jail term, suspended for four years. He and his company were also fined.

The lenient "punishment'' suggested that Sun's prosecution was very questionable. Some commentators have pointed out that senior Xushui government officials wanted to disgrace Sun because he was not "obedient" and always refused to give them bribes.

Sun might also have offended local officials because he often publicly criticized government policy towards agriculture and revealed difficulties farmers were facing.



China's Business Leaders Assuming a Political Role?

by Richard C. Bush

A principal reason that more people want change is their treatment at the hands of the state, particularly local officials.... The state banks would not lend to him (Sun Dawu) preferring larger state-owned firms or private entrepreneurs who would "encourage" loans by
offering favours to bank officials.

Sun solved the problem by creating a private credit cooperative and attracting deposits by paying interest rates that were slightly higher than those of the state banks. The latter soon suffered from this competitive strength of Sun's cooperative. They sought relief and Sun ended up in jail charged with "illegal fund-raising".

http://www.brookings.edu/dybdocroot/fp/cnaps/papers/survey2004/7china2.pdf


Save privately operated entrepreneur Sun Da Wu

by Hu Star, translation

Contemporary China's most outstanding privately operated entrepreneur Mr. Sun Da Wu to May 29th, 2003 by Hebei Province. Why is it said that Mr. Sun Da Wu was the Chinese most outstanding privately operated entrepreneur.

One, in his name is a billionaire, but in the pocket nearly has not actually been rich because he Qian Du Yong helps poor peasants become rich. He manages the professional school, constructs the middle school, the adoption of orphans, wholeheartedly must realize " socialism is wealthy together".

Two, his moral character is noble, he behaves as one should, does not hope to drift along, does not hope to bribe any official, does not hope by any untimely method to seek profit. Naturally offended one group of officials

Please rescue China's most outstanding privately operated entrepreneur who is Grandson Great Noon, leaves behind one livelihood means for the local poor peasant, leaves behind the opportunity for over a thousand peasant family juniors which goes to school, leaves behind one ray of hope to China.

http://www.yangzhizhu.com/sundawu10.htm



China Tightens Communists' Grip on Power

2005-3-2

But there have been some displays of tolerance. Li Boguang, who helped disgruntled farmers write petitions seeking to sack corrupt officials, was freed in January after 40 days in custody.

Cyber dissidents Du Daobin and Liu Di were released last year after weeks of detention. And rural businessman Sun Dawu was spared imprisonment in 2003 for illegally taking deposits.

"It's not magnanimity," said Liang, the political commentator. "The authorities want to control everything but can't." (Reuters)



The Latin Americanization of China

George J. Gilboy and Eric Heginbotham

China's rural areas are now in deep crisis with sluggish income growth,peasants burdened by excessive taxes and fees and local governments overstaffed, in debt, and unable to provide adequate services for peasant families.

http://www.cfr.org/pdf/gilboyhegin.pdf



China's Economy
   

The US-China Business Council, December 21, 2004

Many rural issues are at the heart of conflict between the central and local governments. Illustrating this conflict of interest is the case of Sun Dawu who built up a successful agricultural company that employed more than 1,000 people from a small family farm. His success drew the eye of several universities in Beijing, who invited him to speak. What he had to say regarding local corruption, the impossibility of obtaining a loan without paying bribes and kickbacks, and government rural policies, most of which he also made available on the company's website, did not go down well with local officials, who imprisoned him. After five months, a local court convicted him of setting up an independent rural credit cooperative without permission. (He had collected deposits from employees, paying a higher rate than local banks, in place of the loans he could not get from state banks.) He was released with a suspended sentence and a fine. Ironically, soon after his release the Central Chinese Communist Party (CCP) School in Beijing awarded him a prize for his efforts to bring economic growth to rural areas.

http://www.uschina.org/statistics/2004economyforecast.html



Finding Holes in China's Great Firewall

by Paul Mooney, South China Morning Post, May 24, 2004

The Sun Dawu 孙大午 case is another example of the power of web opinion. Sun, a popular entrepreneur dubbed China's Robin Hood, was arrested last year on what appeared to be politically motivated charges of running an illegal bank, and was sentenced to a long prison term. He was set free after just 158 days in prison, after his case was taken up by China's 'netizens'.

http://www.pjmooney.com/firewall-scmp.shtml



Billionaire Sun Dawu's Dreams and Tribulations

 

Southern Weekend on Sun Dawu, November 3, 2003

The Southern Weekend (nanfang zhoumo) is a weekly paper that occasionally gets into trouble for its reporting on the dodgy doings of corrupt officials. Despite a recent purge of its most aggressive editors, the paper retains a whiff of controversy about it. This is the Southern Weekend's front page from November 6. The lead story is about Sun Dawu, with the headline Billionaire Sun Dawu's Dreams and Tribulations.

The red bar at the top of the page summarizes the story thus: 
- He's a billionaire but he lives an ordinary life. He's a CEO, but he still helps workers clean out the toilets.
- Profit should be his most important goal, but he opens free technical schools for peasants and money-losing middle schools. He doesn't care how much money he loses.
- He completely understands the unwritten rules of the market and of the corridors of power. Although he has no political resources to back him up, he sticks to his guns with stubborn integrity.
- At the height of his career, he summed up himself like this: "What looks like happiness and joy is in fact tragic and sad". His words were almost prophetic.

http://www.danwei.org/archives/000381.html




CHINA: Suspended jail term for internet dissident

by Nailene Chou Wiest, South China Morning Post, June 12, 2004

Mr Wang, who teaches law at Chengdu University, said the outcome of Du's case was a means for the authorities to save face.

The penalty is the same as that given Sun Dawu , a populist entrepreneur whose outspoken criticism of the government landed him in detention on a charge of illegal fund-raising. The leniency shown Du recalls the treatment of Liu Di , a student detained for her internet writings who was released without charge after a year.

All three received widespread public support inside and outside China. Mr Wang said such pressure must have persuaded the authorities the arbitrary arrest of such vocal, but harmless, people was not worth the trouble.

http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=11959




open-society.com (summary by David Cowhig)

13 May 2004

The recent Sun Dawu web dissident case gives an example of the power of web opinion. Traditional conservative media such as Central Television were forbidden to report on this case.

http://www.sino.uni-heidelberg.de/staff/volland/materialien/newsboard.html


Press arrests taint China's reform image

By Ed Lanfranco, Published 3/22/2004 5:52 AM

The Southern Metropolis Daily is one of the country's most financially successful papers for probing the boundaries of editorial independence and for its aggressive coverage of social problems.

In December, hte newspaper was the first to report on the reemergence of SARS in Guangdong before government authorities had informed the World Health Organization. It has also carried extensive coverage on the trial of Sun Dawu, one of China's wealthiest private entrepreneurs jailed for alleged financial improprieties but later released.

http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20040322-051716-5202r



Constitutional Protection for Private Property Stirs Controversy

2004-03-04, Interactive Investor

The DRC's Zhang said the "sins" of Chinese capitalists -- corruption, breaking government rules and operating in grey areas -- could not be blamed on the entrepreneurs themselves but on the lack of a proper market system.

The problem is illustrated by the case of Sun Dawu, a successful and popular Hebei-based private businessman who created thousands of jobs for local people and built hospitals and schools for his local community.

With no access to bank loans to expand his business, partly due to his bad relations with local government officials, Sun borrowed money from local residents.

Although authorities turned a blind eye to his activities for several years, he made the fatal mistake of angering local officials and was promptly arrested for illegally taking deposits.

A national outcry followed and Sun was let off with a light sentence.

http://www.iii.co.uk/shares/?type=news&articleid=4905900&action=article


Entrepreneurs and Politics

   

Professor Liu Ji
Executive President of China Europe International Business School
Dec. 06-07, 2003, Pdf file
Note: Download takes several minutes

Third, politics will exert impact on you even if you ignore it, because you are born and living in a political atmosphere. This is quite plain to see, I believe as is demonstrated in the case of Sun Dawu. A very talented rural entrepreneur himself, Sun Dawu can be called a good egg in terms of his morality. Unfortunately, he was unconcerned and ignorant of politics to such a great extent that he was finally thrown into prison. His degenerated experience should ring a bell to all other entrepreneurs that they must have a sharp eye on politics.

http://www.ceibs.edu/pdf/magazine/0403.pdf

Despotism of the one party state. Refusing to participate in buying political support, Sun Dawu cried out against the extortionate nature of different departments of the one party state machine. He informed students at Beijing university that the big problem in China is lack of political reform: “In China, it is 8 big hats (government bureaucracies) trying to control a straw hat (farmers)”. For Sun, the lack of political reform blocked real economic reform and development. Sun was framed in a financial matter and was sentenced to three years of probation.





Presentation at the International Conference on Corporate Governance in Asia and China, March 11, 2005

Hongbin Cai (UCLA)
Qiao Liu (HKU)
Geng Xiao (XKU)

Does Competition encourage unethical behaviour? The case of corporate profit hiding in China.

Sun Dawu and Ex CEO of Dawu Group
"My group's fixed assets amount to over RMB 100 million, but I could not get any bank loans".

Concern #2
Firms that have been consistently discriminated against behave differently.

(Partial Quote of Text)

2. Successfully created a model that was later called "Dawu model". Never borrow from banks (because you cannot), borrow directly from your fellow villagers. Has borrowed RMB 159.89 million directly from more than 3185 households.

4. Arrested and charged with a crime called "illegal deposit taking" in early 2003; his case immediately drew tremendous amount of media attention, which made him a hero, of course in China's informal sectors.

5 His eldest son succeeded him and became the CEO of Dawu Group; his first priority, as he claimed, is to establish good relationship with local government and try to get loan from the banks, which his father and failed for past 8 years.




http://www.baf.cuhk.edu.hk/research/cig/pdf_ ... age%20Unethical%20Behavior.ppt

http://www.baf.cuhk.edu.hk/research/cig/pdf_download/Does%20Competition%20Encourage%20Unethical%20Behavior.ppt.




Chinese Intellectuals Fighting Ideas in Global Context

Kate Zhou <University of Hawaii>

 

Sun Dawu was another liberal critic from rural Hebei that suffered for speaking out and for pushing for more reform in China. 

Personal interview with Sun Dawu, in Xushui, Hebei, July 5, 2005., p.36

A Project Proposal


The Financing Environment of Private Enterprises:
from the Sun Dawu Case, July 31, 2003

Contents:

The defects of current financing system.
The necessity and feasibility for opening financial market.
The relationship between government and private enterprises.
The barriers of current law to the development of private enterprises.

Experts:

Jiang Ping (Prof. Chinese University of Political Science and Law)
Sheng Hong (Prof. Unirule)
Bao Yujun (Vice Chairman, National Association of Industry and Commerce
Chen Ping (Prof. Peking University)
Zhou Zhenxiang (Prof. China Youth College Of Political Science, deceased)
Zhang Shuguang (Prof. Unirule)
Li Shuguang (Prof. Chinese University of Political Science and Law)
Zhu Jiuhu (Lawyer)
Zhang Xingshui (Lawyer)


Impact:

Mr. Sun Dawu 孙大午 got out of prison on probation. The survival environment of private firms attracted more and more focuses.




Closet Liberal or Conservative

Reuters, September 27, 2005
Benjamin Kang Lim

"The leadership is using very moderate methods because domestic contradictions have deepened and cannot be resolved," Wu Guoguang, a professor of political science at the University of Victoria in Canada, said referring to social tensions.

On the contentious issue of media and speech freedoms, too, there have been rare displays of official tolerance. Internet dissidents Liu Di and Du Daobin were released last year after months of detention, and private entrepreneur Sun Dawu, accused of illegally taking deposits, was spared imprisonment in 2003.




World Briefing | Asia: China: Businessman, A Hero To Many, Freed

by Chris Buckley (NYT)
October 31, 2003

A court in northeastern Hebei Province convicted and then freed a rural businessman who has gained a national reputation as a modern Robin Hood. Under a law that many considered to be vague, the businessman, Sun Dawu, 50, was accused of running an illegal bank. To raise money for his agriculture business, Mr. Sun had accepted money from his employees, paying them interest rates above those of state banks. Soon even nonemployees were making deposits. The court found him guilty but ordered his immediate release, a decision hailed by advocates of precise definitions for Chinese laws. ''The criminal code still needs clearer explanation,'' one of his lawyers said, ''but this is one step forward.'' Chris Buckley (NYT)

http:/ /www.nytimes.com/2003/10/31/international/asia/31BRIE1.html


The Grandson Great Noon

一个民营企业家的意外被捕揭示了中国金融体制的深层次悖论，也凸现出政治民主改革对建立公民社会和塑造商业环境的意义


2004年5月27日，当大午集团的员工们坐在阶梯教室里看凤凰卫视和中央电视台对集团的相关报道时，看到妻子坐在那里哭，孙大午还是感慨万端，写下两首 诗。前言为：阶梯教室看光盘，纪念蒙难一周年。满腔愤怒无呐喊，妻哭无泪诗两篇。其一曰：回首噩梦已经年，亲人仍旧泪涟涟。别说晴天愁阴影，本分农民耕田 难！自由劳动生财富，淳风化雨多善男。不是大午花一点，万国遍呈桃花园。

http://www.info.china.alibaba.com/news/detail/v5000060-d5622927.html

http://info.china.alibaba.com

2006-01-01 07:00

But, Professor Gu said things were often different in practice"
"There are cases when the private firm bosses have been prosecuted even when the case is outside the validity period. There's no point backdating crimes to when the legal and economic environments were far from sound." Professor Gu said....

Sun Dawu, a well-known Hebei private entrepreneur convicted of illegally taking deposits said he found the report confusing. "I read the report twice and I still don't understand what it means. What is 'original sin'? Is it applicable to my case? I don't think it means much to me anyway because I had been convicted," he said when asked to comment on the new rules.

Zhang Xingshui, a lawyer who defended Mr.Sun, called the new rules a friendly gesture by the Hebei authorities although their exact application might be vague. "It is a good gesture. It signals that there is a change in the attitude of Hebei officials to private enterprises and it is a positive change" he said.


http://www.ail-archive.com/pen-1@galaxy.csuchico.edu/msg85424.html

Businessmen are starting to challenge authorities

January 15, 2004
"I have to acknowledge the fact that there are lots of unfair things in our country such as the example told by above essay. However, we should notice the changes happened in these days. I believe the new leaders in our country are trying to change the mistakes which were made by their predecessors. The only point that they need is time. There is a strong resistance which has existed for a long time in China. Changing them is not an easy thing. But we are so glad to make a notice of that the progress has been a trend now in China. Many people including intellectuals, entrepreneurs, even leaders of young generation have been a powerful strength to accelerate this process. I can see through the future years a great success will happen in China."


http://ahead.blog-city.com

http://www.google.ca/search?q=cache:qikIoQ7Ue8kJ:ahead.blog-city.com/+sun+dawu+blog&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

Blog CH January 10, 2004

"The relative lenience of Sun's sentence has been construed as a signal that creative finance will be tolerated as the only way to relieve the credit crunch vexing private companies -- now the source of two-thirds of Chinese jobs."

http://tigrine.blogspot.com/2004_01_01_tigrine_archive.html

Wednesday, December 31, 2003

"Aw, this is depressing. Over a week ago David J. Lynch wrote about Sun Dawu and his reduced sentence in In China: Profit at your own peril. That's not so depressing; it's a pretty decent article. The thing is, it's in USA Today of all places. The subscriber-only article in the Economist is pretty lousy by comparison. And where were the WaPo and the NYT?"

http://tigrine.blogspot.com/2003_12_01_tigrine_archive.html

Tea Salon

A law professor at Telecommunications University in Beijing, comments on the case of SUN Dawu, a rural businessmen who ran an illegal credit cooperative and lured millions of dollars in deposits away from state banks: "One of the biggest problems for peasants is that local officials decide who gets money and who doesn't."


"This time the strength of the government's support for the trial policy for rural credit cooperative reform is very great, combining elements that involve fiscal, tax, funding and interest rate measures,"

Mr Zhou [governor of the People's Bank of China] said in a speech published by state media yesterday.
He said the central bank would issue loans or paper to rural credit co-operatives equivalent to 50 per cent of their negative net assets. State media said lending rate flexibility and tax breaks would also be granted.


http://www.sinosplice.com/~teasalon/2003_08_01_t-salon_archive.html

Solicitude for Sun Dawu's Case

Su Shaozhi:
We are all concerned with case of Dawu Group Company

Hu Xingdou:
Appeal for saving Sun Dawu, best entrepreneur of private business in China

East Sea Owl:
Applaud and shout for Sun Dawu

Zhong Dajun:
Break out systematic and political encirclement! ?Turning point for Chinese private enterprises

Lang Xie:
Sun Dawu’s case is worth most extensive attention from commercial and academic circles

Wang Yi:
Non-governmental financing dilemma and governmental financial monopoly

Yang Zhizhu:
Legal sense of Sun Dawu’s case


http://chinaorg/10e-mulu10.htm

China's "Robin Hood" detained

Another big news story to follow. Sun Dawu, who is being called the Chinese Robin Hood for his working with peasants and farmers in setting up a bank and promoting the countryside with funds, has been detained for operating an illegal credit cooperative:

What makes this story fascinating is that there is a political leader in China who seems to be directly involved in challenging the government solidly and forcefully, but it seems has only recently met with unfavour by challenging Chinese officials too directly:

It is no surprise to see a businessman fall from favor only to be jailed. It is a surprise to see that the outcome of his jailing could have lasting consequences on the development of poorer areas. He more or less got engaged in private banking, but then used that enterprise to develop the countryside, and very successfully. There doesn't seem to be any specific law against such a practise, but given the success of it it will be difficult for the PRC to jail him:

Here's another take on the same story from the Taipei Times, and Newsday is carrying a very warm piece centered more on his life and town.

Let's hope this opportunity isn't missed.




He refused to pay bribes," said Li. "For a long time, officials tried to get money from him, but he refused."
I think this is the real reason for his arrest. I have seen Sun Dawu in a TV interview a month ago. He had donated quite a big sum to the flood victims in the central region.


9 posted on 08/23/2003 9:01:06 PM PDT by FreepForever



tigrine.blogspot.com

... I say, the sun rises, and there's a ray of sun for everyone. ...
It sounds like a proverb, and I ...
... room in the sun for everyone, especially when everyone wants to ...
... summary of the Sun Dawu case and its implications. Oops. I meant ...

http://tigrine.blogspot.com/2004_01_01_tigrine_archive.html ? Sunday,




Professor Yao Jianfu Lectured on the Issue of Agriculture, Rural Development and Farmers

PKU NEWS
Thursday 2004-03-01 11:21

Peking University, Beijing, Feb 26th 2004:

Professor Yao Jianfu from Harvard University gave a speech on the problem of agriculture, rural developement and farmers in Peking University. Different from the process of ordinary speeches professor Yao Jianfu began with listening to the questions of the audiences. According to these widely concerned questions professor Yao focused his speech on the following three points: the modernization of agriculture, the rights that farmers deserved to, then comments on the case of Sun Dawu.

First of all, Professor Yao emphasized that there is a long way to go before we attain our destination: the modernization of agriculture. In addition to this, different region should have the right to choose its own proper method because of different climate, hypsography and so on.

Secondly, Professor Yao listed several rights should be equally enjoyed between farmers and citizens. For example, the tax and fees paid by farmers should be reduced in order to fill the gap of the salaries between farmers and citizens. The farmers shouldn’t be responsible for the cost of compulsory education. Furthermore the government should loose the restriction against migration of farmers. Finally, the best method to solve the problem of farmers is to reduce the number of farmers.

Last but not least, Professor Yao commented on the case of Sun Dawu which had become the center of public attention. In his opinion the society is lack of trust which is highly regarded by Sun Dawu. What’s more, the enterprise of Sun Dawu helps to solve the problem of excess labors in countries. It is the disaccord development of market in rural areas that leads to the tragedy of Sun Dawu.

http://www.google.ca/search?q=cache:EUA7r1b_l7QJ:ennews.pku.edu.cn/news.php%3Fs=78111184+sun+dawu&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

http://ennews.pku.edu.cn/news.php?=78111184



August 20, 2003 Vol.I, No.6

Fearing the potential in-fluence of these open discussions, the Beijing government is moving quickly to stamp out these activities. One event that was stifled, the “Sun Dawu (editor’s note) case discussion seminar? was planned to take place Aug 1st in Guangzhou City. Another suppressed event, one that had attracted the support of nearly 100,000 people, was the online signature drive, “Against using Japanese high speed train technology?




Billionaire Sun Dawu's Trials and Tribulations

Danwei Org., November 13, 2003

Profit should be his most important goal, but he opens free technical schools for peasants and money-losing middle schools. He doesn't care how much money he loses.
- He completely understands the unwritten rules of the market and of the corridors of power. Although he has no political resources to back him up, he sticks to his guns with stubborn integrity.
- At the height of his career, he summed up himself like this: "What looks like happiness and joy is in fact tragic and sad". His words were almost prophetic.


http://www.danwwei.org/2003/11/southern_weeken.html




ChinaDaily, On Line Community


Sun Dawu ??? is still a farmer although he was given the honorary title of entrepreneur.

His entrepreneuer title can't change his farmer status, but tells us clearly he is not a worker, or a cadre, etc. just like the classification listed in the Hukou certificate.

When we call him farmer entrepreneuer, it is kind of praise or a reminder?

 
2004-11-29 16:41

http://www.yannan.cn/data/detail.php?id=2424




When we call him farmer entrepreneuer, it is kind of praise or a reminder?

If you think it is kind of praise, the farmer is discriminated.
If you think it is a reminder, the farmer is discriminated too.
2004-11-29 16:47






Agree with tumu. First I thought of farmer-turned-entrepreneur...
2005-02-08 11:14


I know what China is. Sun Dawu  is China, Kong Fansen is China, thousands of miners risking their lives for the state's relentless economic development projects are China, thinkers who want a better future for the people and the region are China.

March 27, 2005 




A precious trip

Thursday I got a chance to see Sun Dawu, thanks to L and his classmate M.

Sun's stories are so moving and his spirit inspired me so much. I decided to write something for him, a benevolent sage and brave revolutionalist [sic].

This trip sharpened my understanding of the valuable traditional thoughts of the Doctrine of the Mean(??), and the Practice instead of Theory as the original resource of creativity and the real prescription for the problems.

I also further understood success & failure, Freedom & Equality, rich & poor.

I believe that there're still many excellent peasant entrepreneurs, peasant politicians and peasant professionals that deserve our broad attention and respect.

Wisdom lies in common sense. The most scarce gut is the bravery to insist on common sense.


posted Saturday, 18 June 2005, Mayflower






Commentary: How China Turns Entrepreneurs into Outlaws

Businessweek.com: Business Week Online
June 28, 2003, Mark L. Clifford

It's almost impossible to operate within the law in China. Anything local officials choose to permit is permitted--until it isn't

...Beijing really doesn't know what to do with its entrepreneurs.  It  is almost impossible for the owners of sizable private businesses to operate altogether within the law in China. Restrictive company laws, a dysfunctional tax system, and a government shrouded in corruption and secrecy all conspire against the development of an entrepreneurial culture that can fuel the growth the country's economy so badly needs.

This isn't anything new. Hong Kong Securities & Futures Commission Chairman Andrew Sheng, the territory's top securities cop, thinks China lost its economic momentum three centuries ago "because private-sector property rights were never defined by civil law." Today, legal changes are slowly being put in place to ensure that entrepreneurs are not discriminated against. Yet there have been a series of high-profile arrests of businessmen. Two months ago, authorities took into custody Zhou Zhengyi, the head of Shanghai Land Holdings, one of the city's largest property developers. And Sun Dawu, founder and head of one of China's biggest agricultural companies, has been held by authorities in Hebei Province since May on charges of running an illegal bank.

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/03_30/b3843133_mz033.htm



Press arrests taint China's reform image

By Ed Lanfranco
UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL

BEIJING, March 22 (UPI)... A mainland legal scholar said Sunday that gray areas in the law were being used to punish members of a muckraking newspaper group....

"This is an ill-defined area of law," according to Zhang Xingshui, a lawyer from the Beijing Kingdom Law Firm who was present at the news conference. Speaking about the events on March 19 in the context of presumed innocence, Zhang used a quote from one of the country's noted legal theoreticians who observed, "Criminal law takes precedence over civil law in China when it should be the other way around."


In December the newspaper was the first to report on the reemergence of SARS in Guangdong before government authorities had informed the World Health Organization. It has also carried extensive coverage on the trial of Sun Dawu, one of China's wealthiest private entrepreneurs jailed for alleged financial improprieties but later released.

http://www.google.ca/search?q=cache:JCuAjf-1QWgJ:washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20040322-051716-5202r.htm+sun+dawu+news&hl=en&start=117



SUN DAWU'S CASE HIGHLIGHTS RURAL FINANCING

AUGUST 24，2003 (蔚然报道)

**孙大午被捕事件反映的问题**

中国的农民企业家孙大午上个月被捕的消息，突显了中国农村民营企业融资难，以及所谓�非法集资�的罪名界定不清的问题，引起中国国内农业问题和法学界专家的辩论。 *有影响的农民企业家*

孙大午是白手起家的农民企业家，靠养殖一千只鸡和50头猪起家，发展成固定资产上亿的大午集团。1995年，大午集团被评为中国全国私营企业 500强之列。此外，孙大午还曾多次在北大等高校发表关于农村问题的演讲。 声名显赫的孙大午，上个月却突然被逮捕，罪名是非法吸收公众存款，也就是人们常说的非法集资。河北省徐水县的有关部门宣布，经调查，大午集团在1995年 7月1号以来，累计吸收了公众存款一亿八千多万人民币。 *民营企业贷款难*

据报道，大午集团选择从民间集资，是因为从国营银行贷不到钱。纽约时报的文章引述大午集团负责人的话说，他们在发展期间，遇到了融资的问题。尽管 他们为徐水县创造了一千五百个就业机会，但是却无法从当地的国营银行申请到贷款，因为这些国营银行贷款的主要对象是国营公司或是行贿银行官员的企业。 在这种情况下，孙大午决定向本集团的职工集资。职工们把钱存在大午集团，还能得到比银行更高的利息。这一储蓄集资的措施非常受欢迎，后来连附近村民也开始 在大午存钱。 *学者质疑*

孙大午被捕，引起了中国学术界的关心。支持孙大午的人表示，希望政府能修订融资的规定，给企业家更多的融资自由，并进一步限制国营银行和地方官员 的权力。此外，很多知名学者还要求政府明确界定所谓的�非法吸收公众存款�的法律规定。有文章引述前政法大学校长江平的话说，也许是政府违反了法 律，错误地指责孙大午有罪。如果这个案件不恰当处理的话，会严重影响农村的经济发展。 北京邮电大学法学博士许志永也说，农民面对的一大问题就是，地方官员掌握着贷款的决定权，眼下的问题是让金融不受政治因素影响的问题。许志永还说，现行法 律过于含糊，给了地方官员太多的权力，你向一两个人借钱不会有人抓你，你向一百个人借钱就会有麻烦。在这两者间，缺少法律的界定。 *论政招祸？*

还有一种说法认为，孙大午被捕是因为他今年在很多地方公开讲话，对政府的农村政策提出了尖锐置疑，因此是因言获罪。 孙大午在网上发表文章，提出小城镇建设无非是政府投资的政绩工程，最终还要搜刮民财还债；孙大午说，农民向城市转移不仅是行不通的，而且是危险的，因为农 民在农村不会发生暴力革命，但农村问题一旦成为城市问题的时候，国家就要乱了。孙大午还曾明确提出，土生土长的草根金融是符合中国农村经济发展的有生命力 的金融。 目前，孙大午的案件还在等候审理。有关专家认为，孙大午一案最后的处理结果，能够间接影响中国农村企业融资政策未来的走向。 The Sun Dawu Case, August 05,2003, p.46

http://iso.hrichina.org/download_repository/2/a4_TwoTycoons1.2004.pdf



Nanfang Daily Article and Pictures

亿万富翁孙大午的梦和痛 南方周末 2003-11-06 14:43:12

本报记者 王景春 摄 ■他本是一个亿万富翁，却过着苦行僧一般的生活，当了董事长还帮工人掏粪。
■他本该以追逐利润为第一要务，却办免费的农民技校、赔钱的中学，赔多少都不在乎。
■他深知商场官场潜规则，手中毫无政治资源可依仗，却不肯和光同尘，梗直倔强。
■他在事业顶峰时曾评论自己：�看似可喜可贺，其实是可悲可叹的人物。�几乎一语成谶。

http://www.nanfangdaily.com.cn/zm/20031106/xw/tb/200311060663.asp


孙大午，河北大午集团有限公司董事长

1954年6月出生在河北省徐水县高林村镇郎五庄村
1963年在高林村镇在学
1971年-1978年6月在山西临汾二十八军八十二师服役
1979年-1989年在徐水县农行工作
1989年，孙大午毅然辞去工作，创办河北大午农牧集团有限公司
1978年-1982年进修语言文学自修大学
1984-1986年自修河北政法函授
1996年6月被河北省人民政府授予�河北省养鸡壮元�
1995年，当选保定市人大代表
1996年8月，当选保定市禽蛋产业联合会理事长
1996年9月20日，被授予1996年度保 定捐资助教先进个人荣誉称号
2001年兼任大午学校校长
2002年10月被中国农业大学农?裎侍庋芯克盖胛呒堆芯吭?

http://finance.qianlong.com/26/2003/11/12/206@1706465.htm


CHINESE ACTIVE AND UNBLOCKED WEBSITES


1. http://www.usc.cuhk.edu.hk/wk_wzdetails.asp?id=2643 2003-11-06,亿万富翁孙大午的梦和痛, 从孙大午融资案看民间金融

2. http://www.usc.cuhk.edu.hk/wk_wzdetails.asp?id=3073 2003-11-06,亿万富翁孙大午的梦和痛

4. http://finance.tom.com/1001/1002/2003117-28323.html 2003-11-07, 孙大午的梦和痛:不是合格企业家? 行政官司不断


6. http://info.news.hc360.com/HTML/001/002/003/013/19556.htm   2003-11-03, 孙大午资金链缺口千万 柳传志亲自写信表示支持

7 http://www.dzwww.com/licai/caijingxinwen/200406071067.htm

As a self-designated champion of rural reform and a spokesman for China's peasantry,
Sun had some official support. He criticized excessive bureaucratic procedures as hindering rural entrepreneurship and found audiences at China's prestigious Beijing University. Sun's outspokenness won him some fame, and he became the subject of recent articles in publications such as the Economic Times and Singapore's The Straight Times.

China's Rich Try to Rival Communist Party's Power?

Strategic Forecasting Inc., June 06, 2003



Sun Dawu  孙大午 eventually pushed the envelope too far, however. In a recent essay published on his company's web site, he criticized Beijing for neglecting rural development and railed against state-owned banks for moving funds--largely made up of China's 800 million rural residents' personal savings--into urban projects. At the same time, Sun withdrew 3 million ($360,000) from a state bank, allegedly to establish a private rural credit cooperative. This was far beyond limits.



China: Foreign Lending Soars Amid Cash Crunch at Home

Strategic Forecasting Inc., August 08, 2003

In June, Sun, one of China's leading entrepreneurs, was arrested for trying to establish an independent credit cooperative as an other state-controlled banks. Sun publicly criticized Beijing for neglecting rural development, and he railed against state-owned banks for moving funds--largely made up of China's 800 million rural residents' personal savings--into urban projects.

Sun's case raised a critical issue. He suggested that if Chinese citizens do not approve of Beijing's' fiscal policy, they could influence the government by withdrawing their funds from the state banks, a move that could have dire consequences for the government if it were to become the impetus for a run on the banks.



Chinese Farm Reform: Something Revolutionary This Way Comes?

Jan 06, 2004
http://www.stratfor.biz/Print.neo?storyId=226675


Beijing has announced a new round of measures to help alleviate Chinese farmers' economic burdens. Although reforms have been implemented piecemeal over the past several years with marginal success, events in 2003 in China -- including the government's slap-on-the-wrist punishment of entrepreneur Sun Dawu -- suggest that more radical steps could be in the offing.

Officials with the Chinese Ministry of Finance and the State Development and Reform Commission said Jan. 5 that they have abolished, exempted or lowered 15 types of financial charges in order to reduce the financial burden on the country's approximately 800 million farmers. The government reportedly will not approve any new fees on farmers before the end of 2005 and urged regional and local authorities to lower their fees as well.

The move is Beijing's latest bid to improve the Chinese peasantry's lot in life. Rural incomes remain flat, and farmers face stagnant prices, competition from agricultural imports and the caprices of corrupt local leaders. New President’s administration has been responsive in meeting some of the needs of China's rural residents in recent months, including considering some radical changes and consenting to direct political challenge....

The second, and even more surprising, event is the rehabilitation of Chinese tycoon and self-appointed champion of the peasant, Sun. He was arrested after publishing essays critical of government policies and state-controlled banks and for establishing an unauthorized independent credit cooperative for farmers. The outspoken businessman committed two venal sins in China: First, he openly criticized the government, and by extension the Party; and, second, he encouraged Chinese farmers to withdraw their money from state-controlled banks if they did not like the way the government loaned money -- an idea that strikes a chord with the farmers who seethe at the thought that the vast majority of the loans from China's Big Four commercial banks go to unproductive state-owned enterprises, while they find it difficult borrow anything.

Not long ago, Sun would have received a one-way ticket to a re-education camp in a barren part of China, but he got off with little more than a sharp slap on the wrist, heavy fines and a three-year suspended sentence for "causing disorder in the local financial sector." Sun's favourable treatment indicates a couple of things: First, he is well-connected, and that is what likely saved his skin. But more importantly, his commuted sentence reveals that -- in the eyes of Beijing -- the entrepreneur's charges against the state were correct....

Sun's rehabilitation by the Party could set a fatal precedent. There are many entrepreneurs, workers, farmers, religious adherents and intellectuals across China who have ideas on how Beijing could better run the country, and their activism is almost always rewarded with censure. But now, other well-placed individuals with convictions could become emboldened. Since it invites more dissent, allowing a small amount of plurality in an authoritarian regime can be a slippery slope.

Although the unexpected behavior from Beijing regarding mortgaging land rights and Sun's light punishment suggest the situation possibly has become desperate enough that the government is being forced to go to extraordinary lengths to tackle the problems, it also demonstrates the administration's ability to react more quickly and decisively than that of his predecessor, Jiang Zemin. The first year of the new president's administration has been marked by a number of popular policy decisions, including his agile handling of the SARS crisis early in the year, repealing outdated vagrancy laws and canceling the leadership's annual retreat to a seashore resort in Beidaihe. Judging by the President’s track record in 2003, the upcoming year could see sweeping changes in China's countryside which will begin to address adequately the complaints of the majority of the country's population.


Press Arrests Taint Reform Image, Ed Lanfranco

United Press International

In December the newspaper was the first to report on the re-emergence of SARS in Guangdong before government authorities had informed the World Health Organization. It has also carried extensive coverage on the trial of Sun, one of China's wealthiest private entrepreneurs jailed for alleged financial improprieties but later released.

http://wwww.washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/ 20040322-051716-5202r.htm


The Challenger Type

China's Strategy, Volume 1, January 30, 2004
by CSIS International Security Program and China Media Net Inc.
Bai Shazhou, The Growing Influence of China's Capitalists

Sun's uniqueness does not lie in the fact that he has turned a family livestock farm, with 1,000 chickens and 50 pigs, into a large enterprise called Dawu group. His uniqueness doesn't lie in how many employees he has hired or how much capital he has generated. It does not lie in the fact that he has invested in a technical school for poor kids or a charitable hospital. He is unique because he refuses to ally with those in power to obtain wealth in China, where connections with the power elite is the short cut to becoming rich.


On October 27, 2002, an inside source was quoted on a US-based Chinese-language online forum as saying that the President expressed concerns about Sun's case after he read various news articles about it. Three days later, the local court in Hebei released Sun with a sentence of three years in prison, four year's probation, and a 100,000-yuan fine.

href="http://www.google.ca/search?q=cache:l34_Q8ZO7zcJ:www.csis.org/isp/csn/040130.pdf+sundawu+strategic&hl=en


The Economist ,Speaking out : Businesses are starting to Challenge the Authorities
December 30, 2003



http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=2313388




Tolerance shall be upheld

By Shao Yingbo 2003-11-11 14:00:43


The problem remains that those who have always regarded law as a weapon have not fully understood the whole meaning of basic principles defined by this Criminal Law, including the immense spirit of tolerance. Principles of presumption of innocence, statuary crimes and suitability between crimes and penalties are all defined under this spirit. In the absence of clear definition as a crime, a conduct shall not be regarded as a crime. That is meant to forgive all conducts that have not been defined by criminal law to be punished. As for suitability between crimes and penalties, a crime shall be punished accordingly. Conviction and judgment shall follow the rules strictly, and equate the crime and its penalty. Neither laissez-faire nor excesiveness shall be excised. Meantime, both humanism and leniency are also important connotations of modern criminal law.

Sun 孙大午 has created values with his own hands for the society in an underdeveloped region. However, same as many other private entrepreneurs, he stepped into a legal blind area out of caution when he encountered the difficulty of raising funds. He raised RMB 13.08 million of private deposits from more than 500 persons with higher interest rate than that of banks, and has been suspected of illegal fund-raising under the current law.

In academic circles, scholars have not come to an agreement on whether Sun's conduct is a criminal offense. However, the incompleteness of Article 176 of Criminal Law has been highlighted in the debate. Under this situation, the Court is not to be criticized that it has convicted Sun based on the Article itself and disregarding academic interpretations. At the same time, the Court held Sun's conduct has not caused serious social damages according to law and facts, and therefore adopted a reprieve.

Only if a conduct has caused serious social damages, shall it possibly constitute of a crime. If not, Criminal Law shall never be applied. In most cases, the actors do not have a bad will, and Criminal Law shall be that rigid as to punish them. Because once Criminal Law is applied, the subject will be bound to suffer.

Nowadays, more and more citizens are exposed to modern legal concepts. Words like tool, struggle and weapon have been abandoned. The reason why people love law is that the law itself is returning to original meaning of fairness, justice and rights although the return process is still expected to be long and winding.


http://www.eobserver.com.cn/ReadNews.asp?NewsID=6771


Peasant Millionaire Sentenced on Iffy Charges

Xiao Rong, February 5, 2005, Beijing Today

The announcement on October 30 of well-known peasant millionaire Sun Dawu 孙大午 being sentenced to three years of jail and four years of probation for illegal fund-raising highlighted for many the pitfalls of Chinese financial system, which impede the development of private domestic enterprises.Not long after Sun was detained by local police in Hebei Province this July, Beijing Today visited Xushui county, where Sun has built his empire since 1985, and published the story on page 1 on July 25.

Sun Dawu, 49, chairman of Dawu Agriculture and Breeding Group, was accused in September by Xushui County Procuratorate Court of violating banking laws and State Council regulations by borrowing over 13 million yuan from almost 5,000 local farmers since 1995. The amount stood as high as 181 million yuan at the beginning of the detention of Sun. Local villagers volunteered to invest their money in our company to support our development, because Dawu Group has contributed a lot to the local economy over these years,¡¡ said son Sun Meng, now acting chairman of the Dawu Group has provided jobs to over 300 people in Langwuzhuang village and paid salaries totaling over two million yuan per year, according to him. Sun Dawu also established the private Dawu High School in 1998, keeping tuition charges low so that the school was reliant on funds from the Group to keep operating. After investing nearly 1.7 million yuan in the school, Sun began to seek outside financing to support its operation.

Xushui county government, however, maintained that it was illegal for Dawu Group to raise funds from the general public without authorization from the Peoples Bank of China. The Xushui Peoples Bank told the company repeatedly to stop the illegal fund raising, according to Yu Zhenhai, director of the press office of the county party committee.

Due to our rapid development, we have frequently applied to borrow money from local state banks since 1998, but seldom with success, said Liu Pi, acting vice president of Dawu Group. That is why we had to finance the growth of our business by raising funds from employees and local villagers. In the opinion of Li Zhiying, secretary of Beijing Renben Development and Research Center, Sun Dawu case reflects the universal difficulty of Chinese private enterprises in raising finance for development.Most private enterprise in China have actually been trying underground loans as a way of raising funds, given that the government is monopolizing the finance sector by only authorizing state banks to grant loans, he said.

According to Liu Ping, The case of Sun is being used as precedent for dangerous attacks on private entrepreneurs, as some local governments in Shanxi, Shaanxi and Guizhou provinces are lining up to punish some other private entrepreneurs on the same grounds that ended up putting Sun in jail.

http://www.bjtoday.ynet.com/attachment.db?2887799 (pdf) Newspaper page

http://bjtoday.ynet.com/article.jsp?oid=2887222&pageno=1

http://www.bjtoday.ynet.com/article.jsp?oid=2887222 - 38k - 2005





Wu Zhong, The Standard, December 2, 2003


However, what is shocking and somewhat underhanded, is that amid these negative reports about the tycoons, some regional government officials have sought to disgrace, take advantage of, or even blackmail local private business people. The now widely publicized case of Sun Dawu is an example. On July 5th, Sun 孙大午, billionaire president of the Hebei Dawu Agriculture & Stock Group, was arrested by public security of Xushui county in the northern province of Hebei on charges of ``illegal fund-raising from the public''.

His arrest alarmed the public. The villagers who had lent money to Sun's company said the loans were voluntary.


Well-know public figures, including economists and businessmen, such as the founder of Legend Holdings, Liu Chuanzhi, signed petitions to the Central Government to protest against Sun's arrest.

Vice-Premier Hui Liangyu reportedly demanded Xushui officials deal with Sun's case with care.

On October 30, the Xushui county court convicted Sun of raising 13 million yuan from more than 600 local villagers without approval of the People's Bank of China (PBOC) or the central bank.

On the mainland, illegal fund raising is a serious crime, and offenders could be given lengthy jail terms or even the death penalty.

Sun 孙大午, however, was given a three-year jail term, suspended for four years. He and his company were also fined.

The lenient "punishment'' suggested that Sun's prosecution was very questionable. Some commentators have pointed out that senior Xushui government officials wanted to disgrace Sun because he was not "obedient" and always refused to give them bribes.

Sun might also have offended local officials because he often publicly criticized government policy towards agriculture and revealed difficulties farmers were facing.



China's Business Leaders Assuming a Political Role?

by Richard C. Bush

A principal reason that more people want change is their treatment at the hands of the state, particularly local officials.... The state banks would not lend to him (Sun Dawu) preferring larger state-owned firms or private entrepreneurs who would "encourage" loans by
offering favours to bank officials.

Sun solved the problem by creating a private credit cooperative and attracting deposits by paying interest rates that were slightly higher than those of the state banks. The latter soon suffered from this competitive strength of Sun's cooperative. They sought relief and Sun ended up in jail charged with "illegal fund-raising".

http://www.brookings.edu/dybdocroot/fp/cnaps/papers/survey2004/7china2.pdf


Save privately operated entrepreneur Sun Da Wu

by Hu Star, translation

Contemporary China's most outstanding privately operated entrepreneur Mr. Sun Da Wu to May 29th, 2003 by Hebei Province. Why is it said that Mr. Sun Da Wu was the Chinese most outstanding privately operated entrepreneur.

One, in his name is a billionaire, but in the pocket nearly has not actually been rich because he Qian Du Yong helps poor peasants become rich. He manages the professional school, constructs the middle school, the adoption of orphans, wholeheartedly must realize " socialism is wealthy together".

Two, his moral character is noble, he behaves as one should, does not hope to drift along, does not hope to bribe any official, does not hope by any untimely method to seek profit. Naturally offended one group of officials

Please rescue China's most outstanding privately operated entrepreneur who is Grandson Great Noon, leaves behind one livelihood means for the local poor peasant, leaves behind the opportunity for over a thousand peasant family juniors which goes to school, leaves behind one ray of hope to China.

http://www.yangzhizhu.com/sundawu10.htm



China Tightens Communists' Grip on Power

2005-3-2

But there have been some displays of tolerance. Li Boguang, who helped disgruntled farmers write petitions seeking to sack corrupt officials, was freed in January after 40 days in custody.

Cyber dissidents Du Daobin and Liu Di were released last year after weeks of detention. And rural businessman Sun Dawu was spared imprisonment in 2003 for illegally taking deposits.

"It's not magnanimity," said Liang, the political commentator. "The authorities want to control everything but can't." (Reuters)



The Latin Americanization of China

George J. Gilboy and Eric Heginbotham

China's rural areas are now in deep crisis with sluggish income growth,peasants burdened by excessive taxes and fees and local governments overstaffed, in debt, and unable to provide adequate services for peasant families.

http://www.cfr.org/pdf/gilboyhegin.pdf



China's Economy
   

The US-China Business Council, December 21, 2004

Many rural issues are at the heart of conflict between the central and local governments. Illustrating this conflict of interest is the case of Sun Dawu who built up a successful agricultural company that employed more than 1,000 people from a small family farm. His success drew the eye of several universities in Beijing, who invited him to speak. What he had to say regarding local corruption, the impossibility of obtaining a loan without paying bribes and kickbacks, and government rural policies, most of which he also made available on the company's website, did not go down well with local officials, who imprisoned him. After five months, a local court convicted him of setting up an independent rural credit cooperative without permission. (He had collected deposits from employees, paying a higher rate than local banks, in place of the loans he could not get from state banks.) He was released with a suspended sentence and a fine. Ironically, soon after his release the Central Chinese Communist Party (CCP) School in Beijing awarded him a prize for his efforts to bring economic growth to rural areas.

http://www.uschina.org/statistics/2004economyforecast.html



Finding Holes in China's Great Firewall

by Paul Mooney, South China Morning Post, May 24, 2004

The Sun Dawu 孙大午 case is another example of the power of web opinion. Sun, a popular entrepreneur dubbed China's Robin Hood, was arrested last year on what appeared to be politically motivated charges of running an illegal bank, and was sentenced to a long prison term. He was set free after just 158 days in prison, after his case was taken up by China's 'netizens'.

http://www.pjmooney.com/firewall-scmp.shtml



Billionaire Sun Dawu's Dreams and Tribulations

 

Southern Weekend on Sun Dawu, November 3, 2003
The Southern Weekend (nanfang zhoumo) is a weekly paper that occasionally gets into trouble for its reporting on the dodgy doings of corrupt officials. Despite a recent purge of its most aggressive editors, the paper retains a whiff of controversy about it. This is the Southern Weekend's front page from November 6. The lead story is about Sun Dawu, with the headline Billionaire Sun Dawu's Dreams and Tribulations.

The red bar at the top of the page summarizes the story thus: 
- He's a billionaire but he lives an ordinary life. He's a CEO, but he still helps workers clean out the toilets.
- Profit should be his most important goal, but he opens free technical schools for peasants and money-losing middle schools. He doesn't care how much money he loses.
- He completely understands the unwritten rules of the market and of the corridors of power. Although he has no political resources to back him up, he sticks to his guns with stubborn integrity.
- At the height of his career, he summed up himself like this: "What looks like happiness and joy is in fact tragic and sad". His words were almost prophetic.

http://www.danwei.org/archives/000381.html




CHINA: Suspended jail term for internet dissident

by Nailene Chou Wiest, South China Morning Post, June 12, 2004

Mr Wang, who teaches law at Chengdu University, said the outcome of Du's case was a means for the authorities to save face.

The penalty is the same as that given Sun Dawu , a populist entrepreneur whose outspoken criticism of the government landed him in detention on a charge of illegal fund-raising. The leniency shown Du recalls the treatment of Liu Di , a student detained for her internet writings who was released without charge after a year.

All three received widespread public support inside and outside China. Mr Wang said such pressure must have persuaded the authorities the arbitrary arrest of such vocal, but harmless, people was not worth the trouble.

http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=11959




open-society.com (summary by David Cowhig)

13 May 2004

The recent Sun Dawu web dissident case gives an example of the power of web opinion. Traditional conservative media such as Central Television were forbidden to report on this case.

http://www.sino.uni-heidelberg.de/staff/volland/materialien/newsboard.html


Press arrests taint China's reform image

By Ed Lanfranco, Published 3/22/2004 5:52 AM

The Southern Metropolis Daily is one of the country's most financially successful papers for probing the boundaries of editorial independence and for its aggressive coverage of social problems.

In December, hte newspaper was the first to report on the reemergence of SARS in Guangdong before government authorities had informed the World Health Organization. It has also carried extensive coverage on the trial of Sun Dawu, one of China's wealthiest private entrepreneurs jailed for alleged financial improprieties but later released.

http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20040322-051716-5202r



Constitutional Protection for Private Property Stirs Controversy

2004-03-04, Interactive Investor

The DRC's Zhang said the "sins" of Chinese capitalists -- corruption, breaking government rules and operating in grey areas -- could not be blamed on the entrepreneurs themselves but on the lack of a proper market system.

The problem is illustrated by the case of Sun Dawu, a successful and popular Hebei-based private businessman who created thousands of jobs for local people and built hospitals and schools for his local community.

With no access to bank loans to expand his business, partly due to his bad relations with local government officials, Sun borrowed money from local residents.

Although authorities turned a blind eye to his activities for several years, he made the fatal mistake of angering local officials and was promptly arrested for illegally taking deposits.

A national outcry followed and Sun was let off with a light sentence.

http://www.iii.co.uk/shares/?type=news&articleid=4905900&action=article


Entrepreneurs and Politics

   

Professor Liu Ji
Executive President of China Europe International Business School
Dec. 06-07, 2003, Pdf file
Note: Download takes several minutes

Third, politics will exert impact on you even if you ignore it, because you are born and living in a political atmosphere. This is quite plain to see, I believe as is demonstrated in the case of Sun Dawu. A very talented rural entrepreneur himself, Sun Dawu can be called a good egg in terms of his morality. Unfortunately, he was unconcerned and ignorant of politics to such a great extent that he was finally thrown into prison. His degenerated experience should ring a bell to all other entrepreneurs that they must have a sharp eye on politics.

http://www.ceibs.edu/pdf/magazine/0403.pdf

Despotism of the one party state. Refusing to participate in buying political support, Sun Dawu cried out against the extortionate nature of different departments of the one party state machine. He informed students at Beijing university that the big problem in China is lack of political reform: “In China, it is 8 big hats (government bureaucracies) trying to control a straw hat (farmers)”. For Sun, the lack of political reform blocked real economic reform and development. Sun was framed in a financial matter and was sentenced to three years of probation.





Presentation at the International Conference on Corporate Governance in Asia and China, March 11, 2005

Hongbin Cai (UCLA)
Qiao Liu (HKU)
Geng Xiao (XKU)

Does Competition encourage unethical behaviour? The case of corporate profit hiding in China.

Sun Dawu and Ex CEO of Dawu Group
"My group's fixed assets amount to over RMB 100 million, but I could not get any bank loans".

Concern #2
Firms that have been consistently discriminated against behave differently.

(Partial Quote of Text)

2. Successfully created a model that was later called "Dawu model". Never borrow from banks (because you cannot), borrow directly from your fellow villagers. Has borrowed RMB 159.89 million directly from more than 3185 households.

4. Arrested and charged with a crime called "illegal deposit taking" in early 2003; his case immediately drew tremendous amount of media attention, which made him a hero, of course in China's informal sectors.

5 His eldest son succeeded him and became the CEO of Dawu Group; his first priority, as he claimed, is to establish good relationship with local government and try to get loan from the banks, which his father and failed for past 8 years.




http://www.baf.cuhk.edu.hk/research/cig/pdf_ ... age%20Unethical%20Behavior.ppt

http://www.baf.cuhk.edu.hk/research/cig/pdf_download/Does%20Competition%20Encourage%20Unethical%20Behavior.ppt.




Chinese Intellectuals Fighting Ideas in Global Context

Kate Zhou <University of Hawaii>

 

Sun Dawu was another liberal critic from rural Hebei that suffered for speaking out and for pushing for more reform in China. Sun Dawu, blamed the lack of rural economic development on the

 

Personal interview with Sun Dawu, in Xushui, Hebei, July 5, 2005., p.36

A Project Proposal


The Financing Environment of Private Enterprises:
from the Sun Dawu Case, July 31, 2003

Contents:

The defects of current financing system.
The necessity and feasibility for opening financial market.
The relationship between government and private enterprises.
The barriers of current law to the development of private enterprises.

Experts:

Jiang Ping (Prof. Chinese University of Political Science and Law)
Sheng Hong (Prof. Unirule)
Bao Yujun (Vice Chairman, National Association of Industry and Commerce
Chen Ping (Prof. Peking University)
Zhou Zhenxiang (Prof. China Youth College Of Political Science, deceased)
Zhang Shuguang (Prof. Unirule)
Li Shuguang (Prof. Chinese University of Political Science and Law)
Zhu Jiuhu (Lawyer)
Zhang Xingshui (Lawyer)


Impact:

Mr. Sun Dawu 孙大午 got out of prison on probation. The survival environment of private firms attracted more and more focuses.




Closet Liberal or Conservative

Reuters, September 27, 2005
Benjamin Kang Lim

"The leadership is using very moderate methods because domestic contradictions have deepened and cannot be resolved," Wu Guoguang, a professor of political science at the University of Victoria in Canada, said referring to social tensions.

On the contentious issue of media and speech freedoms, too, there have been rare displays of official tolerance. Internet dissidents Liu Di and Du Daobin were released last year after months of detention, and private entrepreneur Sun Dawu, accused of illegally taking deposits, was spared imprisonment in 2003.




World Briefing | Asia: China: Businessman, A Hero To Many, Freed

by Chris Buckley (NYT)
October 31, 2003

A court in northeastern Hebei Province convicted and then freed a rural businessman who has gained a national reputation as a modern Robin Hood. Under a law that many considered to be vague, the businessman, Sun Dawu, 50, was accused of running an illegal bank. To raise money for his agriculture business, Mr. Sun had accepted money from his employees, paying them interest rates above those of state banks. Soon even nonemployees were making deposits. The court found him guilty but ordered his immediate release, a decision hailed by advocates of precise definitions for Chinese laws. ''The criminal code still needs clearer explanation,'' one of his lawyers said, ''but this is one step forward.'' Chris Buckley (NYT)

http:/ /www.nytimes.com/2003/10/31/international/asia/31BRIE1.html


The Grandson Great Noon

一个民营企业家的意外被捕揭示了中国金融体制的深层次悖论，也凸现出政治民主改革对建立公民社会和塑造商业环境的意义


2004年5月27日，当大午集团的员工们坐在阶梯教室里看凤凰卫视和中央电视台对集团的相关报道时，看到妻子坐在那里哭，孙大午还是感慨万端，写下两首 诗。前言为：阶梯教室看光盘，纪念蒙难一周年。满腔愤怒无呐喊，妻哭无泪诗两篇。其一曰：回首噩梦已经年，亲人仍旧泪涟涟。别说晴天愁阴影，本分农民耕田 难！自由劳动生财富，淳风化雨多善男。不是大午花一点，万国遍呈桃花园。

http://www.info.china.alibaba.com/news/detail/v5000060-d5622927.html

http://info.china.alibaba.com

2006-01-01 07:00

But, Professor Gu said things were often different in practice"
"There are cases when the private firm bosses have been prosecuted even when the case is outside the validity period. There's no point backdating crimes to when the legal and economic environments were far from sound." Professor Gu said....

Sun Dawu, a well-known Hebei private entrepreneur convicted of illegally taking deposits said he found the report confusing. "I read the report twice and I still don't understand what it means. What is 'original sin'? Is it applicable to my case? I don't think it means much to me anyway because I had been convicted," he said when asked to comment on the new rules.

Zhang Xingshui, a lawyer who defended Mr.Sun, called the new rules a friendly gesture by the Hebei authorities although their exact application might be vague. "It is a good gesture. It signals that there is a change in the attitude of Hebei officials to private enterprises and it is a positive change" he said.


http://www.ail-archive.com/pen-1@galaxy.csuchico.edu/msg85424.html

Businessmen are starting to challenge authorities

January 15, 2004
"I have to acknowledge the fact that there are lots of unfair things in our country such as the example told by above essay. However, we should notice the changes happened in these days. I believe the new leaders in our country are trying to change the mistakes which were made by their predecessors. The only point that they need is time. There is a strong resistance which has existed for a long time in China. Changing them is not an easy thing. But we are so glad to make a notice of that the progress has been a trend now in China. Many people including intellectuals, entrepreneurs, even leaders of young generation have been a powerful strength to accelerate this process. I can see through the future years a great success will happen in China."


http://ahead.blog-city.com

http://www.google.ca/search?q=cache:qikIoQ7Ue8kJ:ahead.blog-city.com/+sun+dawu+blog&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

Blog CH January 10, 2004

"The relative lenience of Sun's sentence has been construed as a signal that creative finance will be tolerated as the only way to relieve the credit crunch vexing private companies -- now the source of two-thirds of Chinese jobs."

http://tigrine.blogspot.com/2004_01_01_tigrine_archive.html

Wednesday, December 31, 2003

"Aw, this is depressing. Over a week ago David J. Lynch wrote about Sun Dawu and his reduced sentence in In China: Profit at your own peril. That's not so depressing; it's a pretty decent article. The thing is, it's in USA Today of all places. The subscriber-only article in the Economist is pretty lousy by comparison. And where were the WaPo and the NYT?"

http://tigrine.blogspot.com/2003_12_01_tigrine_archive.html

Tea Salon

A law professor at Telecommunications University in Beijing, comments on the case of SUN Dawu, a rural businessmen who ran an illegal credit cooperative and lured millions of dollars in deposits away from state banks: "One of the biggest problems for peasants is that local officials decide who gets money and who doesn't."


"This time the strength of the government's support for the trial policy for rural credit cooperative reform is very great, combining elements that involve fiscal, tax, funding and interest rate measures,"

Mr Zhou [governor of the People's Bank of China] said in a speech published by state media yesterday.
He said the central bank would issue loans or paper to rural credit co-operatives equivalent to 50 per cent of their negative net assets. State media said lending rate flexibility and tax breaks would also be granted.


http://www.sinosplice.com/~teasalon/2003_08_01_t-salon_archive.html

Solicitude for Sun Dawu's Case

Su Shaozhi:
We are all concerned with case of Dawu Group Company

Hu Xingdou:
Appeal for saving Sun Dawu, best entrepreneur of private business in China

East Sea Owl:
Applaud and shout for Sun Dawu

Zhong Dajun:
Break out systematic and political encirclement! ?Turning point for Chinese private enterprises

Lang Xie:
Sun Dawu’s case is worth most extensive attention from commercial and academic circles

Wang Yi:
Non-governmental financing dilemma and governmental financial monopoly

Yang Zhizhu:
Legal sense of Sun Dawu’s case


http://chinaorg/10e-mulu10.htm

China's "Robin Hood" detained

Another big news story to follow. Sun Dawu, who is being called the Chinese Robin Hood for his working with peasants and farmers in setting up a bank and promoting the countryside with funds, has been detained for operating an illegal credit cooperative:

What makes this story fascinating is that there is a political leader in China who seems to be directly involved in challenging the government solidly and forcefully, but it seems has only recently met with unfavour by challenging Chinese officials too directly:

It is no surprise to see a businessman fall from favor only to be jailed. It is a surprise to see that the outcome of his jailing could have lasting consequences on the development of poorer areas. He more or less got engaged in private banking, but then used that enterprise to develop the countryside, and very successfully. There doesn't seem to be any specific law against such a practise, but given the success of it it will be difficult for the PRC to jail him:

Here's another take on the same story from the Taipei Times, and Newsday is carrying a very warm piece centered more on his life and town.

Let's hope this opportunity isn't missed.




He refused to pay bribes," said Li. "For a long time, officials tried to get money from him, but he refused."
I think this is the real reason for his arrest. I have seen Sun Dawu in a TV interview a month ago. He had donated quite a big sum to the flood victims in the central region.


9 posted on 08/23/2003 9:01:06 PM PDT by FreepForever



tigrine.blogspot.com

... I say, the sun rises, and there's a ray of sun for everyone. ...
It sounds like a proverb, and I ...
... room in the sun for everyone, especially when everyone wants to ...
... summary of the Sun Dawu case and its implications. Oops. I meant ...

http://tigrine.blogspot.com/2004_01_01_tigrine_archive.html ? Sunday,




Professor Yao Jianfu Lectured on the Issue of Agriculture, Rural Development and Farmers

PKU NEWS
Thursday 2004-03-01 11:21

Peking University, Beijing, Feb 26th 2004:

Professor Yao Jianfu from Harvard University gave a speech on the problem of agriculture, rural developement and farmers in Peking University. Different from the process of ordinary speeches professor Yao Jianfu began with listening to the questions of the audiences. According to these widely concerned questions professor Yao focused his speech on the following three points: the modernization of agriculture, the rights that farmers deserved to, then comments on the case of Sun Dawu.

First of all, Professor Yao emphasized that there is a long way to go before we attain our destination: the modernization of agriculture. In addition to this, different region should have the right to choose its own proper method because of different climate, hypsography and so on.

Secondly, Professor Yao listed several rights should be equally enjoyed between farmers and citizens. For example, the tax and fees paid by farmers should be reduced in order to fill the gap of the salaries between farmers and citizens. The farmers shouldn’t be responsible for the cost of compulsory education. Furthermore the government should loose the restriction against migration of farmers. Finally, the best method to solve the problem of farmers is to reduce the number of farmers.

Last but not least, Professor Yao commented on the case of Sun Dawu which had become the center of public attention. In his opinion the society is lack of trust which is highly regarded by Sun Dawu. What’s more, the enterprise of Sun Dawu helps to solve the problem of excess labors in countries. It is the disaccord development of market in rural areas that leads to the tragedy of Sun Dawu.

http://www.google.ca/search?q=cache:EUA7r1b_l7QJ:ennews.pku.edu.cn/news.php%3Fs=78111184+sun+dawu&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

http://ennews.pku.edu.cn/news.php?=78111184






August 20, 2003 Vol.I, No.6

Fearing the potential in-fluence of these open discussions, the Beijing government is moving quickly to stamp out these activities. One event that was stifled, the “Sun Dawu (editor’s note) case discussion seminar? was planned to take place Aug 1st in Guangzhou City. Another suppressed event, one that had attracted the support of nearly 100,000 people, was the online signature drive, “Against using Japanese high speed train technology?




Billionaire Sun Dawu's Trials and Tribulations

Danwei Org., November 13, 2003

Profit should be his most important goal, but he opens free technical schools for peasants and money-losing middle schools. He doesn't care how much money he loses.
- He completely understands the unwritten rules of the market and of the corridors of power. Although he has no political resources to back him up, he sticks to his guns with stubborn integrity.
- At the height of his career, he summed up himself like this: "What looks like happiness and joy is in fact tragic and sad". His words were almost prophetic.


http://www.danwwei.org/2003/11/southern_weeken.html




ChinaDaily, On Line Community


Sun Dawu ??? is still a farmer although he was given the honorary title of entrepreneur.

His entrepreneuer title can't change his farmer status, but tells us clearly he is not a worker, or a cadre, etc. just like the classification listed in the Hukou certificate.

When we call him farmer entrepreneuer, it is kind of praise or a reminder?

 
2004-11-29 16:41

http://www.yannan.cn/data/detail.php?id=2424




When we call him farmer entrepreneuer, it is kind of praise or a reminder?

If you think it is kind of praise, the farmer is discriminated.
If you think it is a reminder, the farmer is discriminated too.
2004-11-29 16:47





sun is a peasant-become-entrepreneur and now owns a...
sun, an entrepreneur and a former peasant, was arrested at his office this morning...


agree with :a peasant-become-entrepreneur,good!?????


farmer-cum-entrepreneur
2005-02-08 01:27


peasant and farmer are different in english
(from m-w)
peasant:

1: a member of a European class of persons tilling the soil as small landowners or as laborers; also: a member of a similar class elsewhere

2: a usually uneducated person of low social status
farmer:

1: a person who pays a fixed sum for some privilege or source of income
2: a person who cultivates land or crops or raises animals or fish

kathy's father is a farmer. He owns a farm that produces fruits and vegetables.
kathy drinks only instant coffee. She thinks she has got a peasant's habit.
2005-02-08 04:26



a farmer-turned-entrepreneur -
different from "farmer-cum-entrepreneur" in meaning.
2005-02-08 10:14


Agree with tumu. First I thought of farmer-turned-entrepreneur...
2005-02-08 11:14


I know what China is. Sun Dawu is China, Kong Fansen is China, thousands of miners risking their lives for the state's relentless economic development projects are China, thinkers who want a better future for the people and the region are China.

March 27, 2005 




A precious trip

Thursday I got a chance to see Sun Dawu, thanks to L and his classmate M.

Sun's stories are so moving and his spirit inspired me so much. I decided to write something for him, a benevolent sage and brave revolutionalist [sic].

This trip sharpened my understanding of the valuable traditional thoughts of the Doctrine of the Mean(??), and the Practice instead of Theory as the original resource of creativity and the real prescription for the problems.

I also further understood success & failure, Freedom & Equality, rich & poor.

I believe that there're still many excellent peasant entrepreneurs, peasant politicians and peasant professionals that deserve our broad attention and respect.

Wisdom lies in common sense. The most scarce gut is the bravery to insist on common sense.


posted Saturday, 18 June 2005, Mayflower





Commentary: How China Turns Entrepreneurs into Outlaws

Businessweek.com: Business Week Online
June 28, 2003, Mark L. Clifford

It's almost impossible to operate within the law in China. Anything local officials choose to permit is permitted--until it isn't

...Beijing really doesn't know what to do with its entrepreneurs.  It  is almost impossible for the owners of sizable private businesses to operate altogether within the law in China. Restrictive company laws, a dysfunctional tax system, and a government shrouded in corruption and secrecy all conspire against the development of an entrepreneurial culture that can fuel the growth the country's economy so badly needs.

This isn't anything new. Hong Kong Securities & Futures Commission Chairman Andrew Sheng, the territory's top securities cop, thinks China lost its economic momentum three centuries ago "because private-sector property rights were never defined by civil law." Today, legal changes are slowly being put in place to ensure that entrepreneurs are not discriminated against. Yet there have been a series of high-profile arrests of businessmen. Two months ago, authorities took into custody Zhou Zhengyi, the head of Shanghai Land Holdings, one of the city's largest property developers. And Sun Dawu, founder and head of one of China's biggest agricultural companies, has been held by authorities in Hebei Province since May on charges of running an illegal bank.

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/03_30/b3843133_mz033.htm



Press arrests taint China's reform image

By Ed Lanfranco
UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL

BEIJING, March 22 (UPI)... A mainland legal scholar said Sunday that gray areas in the law were being used to punish members of a muckraking newspaper group....

"This is an ill-defined area of law," according to Zhang Xingshui, a lawyer from the Beijing Kingdom Law Firm who was present at the news conference. Speaking about the events on March 19 in the context of presumed innocence, Zhang used a quote from one of the country's noted legal theoreticians who observed, "Criminal law takes precedence over civil law in China when it should be the other way around."


In December the newspaper was the first to report on the reemergence of SARS in Guangdong before government authorities had informed the World Health Organization. It has also carried extensive coverage on the trial of Sun Dawu, one of China's wealthiest private entrepreneurs jailed for alleged financial improprieties but later released.

http://www.google.ca/search?q=cache:JCuAjf-1QWgJ:washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20040322-051716-5202r.htm+sun+dawu+news&hl=en&start=117



SUN DAWU'S CASE HIGHLIGHTS RURAL FINANCING

AUGUST 24，2003 (蔚然报道)

**孙大午被捕事件反映的问题**

中国的农民企业家孙大午上个月被捕的消息，突显了中国农村民营企业融资难，以及所谓非法集资的罪名界定不清的问题，引起中国国内农业问题和法学界专家的辩论。 *有影响的农民企业家*

孙大午是白手起家的农民企业家，靠养殖一千只鸡和50头猪起家，发展成固定资产上亿的大午集团。1995年，大午集团被评为中国全国私营企业 500强之列。此外，孙大午还曾多次在北大等高校发表关于农村问题的演讲。 声名显赫的孙大午，上个月却突然被逮捕，罪名是非法吸收公众存款，也就是人们常说的非法集资。河北省徐水县的有关部门宣布，经调查，大午集团在1995年 7月1号以来，累计吸收了公众存款一亿八千多万人民币。 *民营企业贷款难*

据报道，大午集团选择从民间集资，是因为从国营银行贷不到钱。纽约时报的文章引述大午集团负责人的话说，他们在发展期间，遇到了融资的问题。尽管 他们为徐水县创造了一千五百个就业机会，但是却无法从当地的国营银行申请到贷款，因为这些国营银行贷款的主要对象是国营公司或是行贿银行官员的企业。 在这种情况下，孙大午决定向本集团的职工集资。职工们把钱存在大午集团，还能得到比银行更高的利息。这一储蓄集资的措施非常受欢迎，后来连附近村民也开始 在大午存钱。 *学者质疑*

孙大午被捕，引起了中国学术界的关心。支持孙大午的人表示，希望政府能修订融资的规定，给企业家更多的融资自由，并进一步限制国营银行和地方官员 的权力。此外，很多知名学者还要求政府明确界定所谓的非法吸收公众存款的法律规定。有文章引述前政法大学校长江平的话说，也许是政府违反了法 律，错误地指责孙大午有罪。如果这个案件不恰当处理的话，会严重影响农村的经济发展。 北京邮电大学法学博士许志永也说，农民面对的一大问题就是，地方官员掌握着贷款的决定权，眼下的问题是让金融不受政治因素影响的问题。许志永还说，现行法 律过于含糊，给了地方官员太多的权力，你向一两个人借钱不会有人抓你，你向一百个人借钱就会有麻烦。在这两者间，缺少法律的界定。 *论政招祸？*

还有一种说法认为，孙大午被捕是因为他今年在很多地方公开讲话，对政府的农村政策提出了尖锐置疑，因此是因言获罪。 孙大午在网上发表文章，提出小城镇建设无非是政府投资的政绩工程，最终还要搜刮民财还债；孙大午说，农民向城市转移不仅是行不通的，而且是危险的，因为农 民在农村不会发生暴力革命，但农村问题一旦成为城市问题的时候，国家就要乱了。孙大午还曾明确提出，土生土长的草根金融是符合中国农村经济发展的有生命力 的金融。 目前，孙大午的案件还在等候审理。有关专家认为，孙大午一案最后的处理结果，能够间接影响中国农村企业融资政策未来的走向。 The Sun Dawu Case, August 05,2003, p.46

http://iso.hrichina.org/download_repository/2/a4_TwoTycoons1.2004.pdf



Nanfang Daily Article and Pictures

亿万富翁孙大午的梦和痛 南方周末 2003-11-06 14:43:12

本报记者 王景春 摄 ■他本是一个亿万富翁，却过着苦行僧一般的生活，当了董事长还帮工人掏粪。
■他本该以追逐利润为第一要务，却办免费的农民技校、赔钱的中学，赔多少都不在乎。
■他深知商场官场潜规则，手中毫无政治资源可依仗，却不肯和光同尘，梗直倔强。
■他在事业顶峰时曾评论自己：看似可喜可贺，其实是可悲可叹的人物。�几乎一语成谶。

http://www.nanfangdaily.com.cn/zm/20031106/xw/tb/200311060663.asp


孙大午，河北大午集团有限公司董事长

1954年6月出生在河北省徐水县高林村镇郎五庄村
1963年在高林村镇在学
1971年-1978年6月在山西临汾二十八军八十二师服役
1979年-1989年在徐水县农行工作
1989年，孙大午毅然辞去工作，创办河北大午农牧集团有限公司
1978年-1982年进修语言文学自修大学
1984-1986年自修河北政法函授
1996年6月被河北省人民政府授予�河北省养鸡壮元�
1995年，当选保定市人大代表
1996年8月，当选保定市禽蛋产业联合会理事长
1996年9月20日，被授予1996年度保 定捐资助教先进个人荣誉称号
2001年兼任大午学校校长
2002年10月被中国农业大学农?裎侍庋芯克盖胛呒堆芯吭?

http://finance.qianlong.com/26/2003/11/12/206@1706465.htm


CHINESE ACTIVE AND UNBLOCKED WEBSITES


1. http://www.usc.cuhk.edu.hk/wk_wzdetails.asp?id=2643 2003-11-06,亿万富翁孙大午的梦和痛, 从孙大午融资案看民间金融

2. http://www.usc.cuhk.edu.hk/wk_wzdetails.asp?id=3073 2003-11-06,亿万富翁孙大午的梦和痛

4. http://finance.tom.com/1001/1002/2003117-28323.html 2003-11-07, 孙大午的梦和痛:不是合格企业家? 行政官司不断


6. http://info.news.hc360.com/HTML/001/002/003/013/19556.htm   2003-11-03, 孙大午资金链缺口千万 柳传志亲自写信表示支持

7 http://www.dzwww.com/licai/caijingxinwen/200406071067.htm

China's Rich Try to Rival Communist Party's Power?

Strategic Forecasting Inc., June 06, 2003



Sun 孙大午 eventually pushed the envelope too far, however. In a recent essay published on his company's web site, he criticized Beijing for neglecting rural development and railed against state-owned banks for moving funds--largely made up of China's 800 million rural residents' personal savings--into urban projects. At the same time, Sun withdrew 3 million ($360,000) from a state bank, allegedly to establish a private rural credit cooperative. This was far beyond limits.



China: Foreign Lending Soars Amid Cash Crunch at Home

Strategic Forecasting Inc., August 08, 2003

In June, Sun, one of China's leading entrepreneurs, was arrested for trying to establish an independent credit cooperative as an other state-controlled banks. Sun publicly criticized Beijing for neglecting rural development, and he railed against state-owned banks for moving funds--largely made up of China's 800 million rural residents' personal savings--into urban projects.

Sun's case raised a critical issue. He suggested that if Chinese citizens do not approve of Beijing's' fiscal policy, they could influence the government by withdrawing their funds from the state banks, a move that could have dire consequences for the government if it were to become the impetus for a run on the banks.



Chinese Farm Reform: Something Revolutionary This Way Comes?

Jan 06, 2004
http://www.stratfor.biz/Print.neo?storyId=226675


Beijing has announced a new round of measures to help alleviate Chinese farmers' economic burdens. Although reforms have been implemented piecemeal over the past several years with marginal success, events in 2003 in China -- including the government's slap-on-the-wrist punishment of entrepreneur Sun Dawu -- suggest that more radical steps could be in the offing.

Officials with the Chinese Ministry of Finance and the State Development and Reform Commission said Jan. 5 that they have abolished, exempted or lowered 15 types of financial charges in order to reduce the financial burden on the country's approximately 800 million farmers. The government reportedly will not approve any new fees on farmers before the end of 2005 and urged regional and local authorities to lower their fees as well.

The move is Beijing's latest bid to improve the Chinese peasantry's lot in life. Rural incomes remain flat, and farmers face stagnant prices, competition from agricultural imports and the caprices of corrupt local leaders. New President’s administration has been responsive in meeting some of the needs of China's rural residents in recent months, including considering some radical changes and consenting to direct political challenge....

The second, and even more surprising, event is the rehabilitation of Chinese tycoon and self-appointed champion of the peasant, Sun. He was arrested after publishing essays critical of government policies and state-controlled banks and for establishing an unauthorized independent credit cooperative for farmers. The outspoken businessman committed two venal sins in China: First, he openly criticized the government, and by extension the Party; and, second, he encouraged Chinese farmers to withdraw their money from state-controlled banks if they did not like the way the government loaned money -- an idea that strikes a chord with the farmers who seethe at the thought that the vast majority of the loans from China's Big Four commercial banks go to unproductive state-owned enterprises, while they find it difficult borrow anything.

Not long ago, Sun would have received a one-way ticket to a re-education camp in a barren part of China, but he got off with little more than a sharp slap on the wrist, heavy fines and a three-year suspended sentence for "causing disorder in the local financial sector." Sun's favourable treatment indicates a couple of things: First, he is well-connected, and that is what likely saved his skin. But more importantly, his commuted sentence reveals that -- in the eyes of Beijing -- the entrepreneur's charges against the state were correct....

Sun's rehabilitation by the Party could set a fatal precedent. There are many entrepreneurs, workers, farmers, religious adherents and intellectuals across China who have ideas on how Beijing could better run the country, and their activism is almost always rewarded with censure. But now, other well-placed individuals with convictions could become emboldened. Since it invites more dissent, allowing a small amount of plurality in an authoritarian regime can be a slippery slope.

Although the unexpected behavior from Beijing regarding mortgaging land rights and Sun's light punishment suggest the situation possibly has become desperate enough that the government is being forced to go to extraordinary lengths to tackle the problems, it also demonstrates the administration's ability to react more quickly and decisively than that of his predecessor, Jiang Zemin. The first year of the new president's administration has been marked by a number of popular policy decisions, including his agile handling of the SARS crisis early in the year, repealing outdated vagrancy laws and canceling the leadership's annual retreat to a seashore resort in Beidaihe. Judging by the President’s track record in 2003, the upcoming year could see sweeping changes in China's countryside which will begin to address adequately the complaints of the majority of the country's population.


Press Arrests Taint Reform Image, Ed Lanfranco

United Press International

In December the newspaper was the first to report on the re-emergence of SARS in Guangdong before government authorities had informed the World Health Organization. It has also carried extensive coverage on the trial of Sun, one of China's wealthiest private entrepreneurs jailed for alleged financial improprieties but later released.

http://wwww.washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/ 20040322-051716-5202r.htm


The Challenger Type

China's Strategy, Volume 1, January 30, 2004
by CSIS International Security Program and China Media Net Inc.
Bai Shazhou, The Growing Influence of China's Capitalists

Sun's uniqueness does not lie in the fact that he has turned a family livestock farm, with 1,000 chickens and 50 pigs, into a large enterprise called Dawu group. His uniqueness doesn't lie in how many employees he has hired or how much capital he has generated. It does not lie in the fact that he has invested in a technical school for poor kids or a charitable hospital. He is unique because he refuses to ally with those in power to obtain wealth in China, where connections with the power elite is the short cut to becoming rich.


On October 27, 2002, an inside source was quoted on a US-based Chinese-language online forum as saying that the President expressed concerns about Sun's case after he read various news articles about it. Three days later, the local court in Hebei released Sun with a sentence of three years in prison, four year's probation, and a 100,000-yuan fine.

href="http://www.google.ca/search?q=cache:l34_Q8ZO7zcJ:www.csis.org/isp/csn/040130.pdf+sundawu+strategic&hl=en


The Economist ,Speaking out : Businesses are starting to Challenge the Authorities
December 30, 2003



http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=2313388






Wu Zhong, The Standard, December 2, 2003


However, what is shocking and somewhat underhanded, is that amid these negative reports about the tycoons, some regional government officials have sought to disgrace, take advantage of, or even blackmail local private business people. The now widely publicized case of Sun Dawu is an example. On July 5th, Sun 孙大午, billionaire president of the Hebei Dawu Agriculture & Stock Group, was arrested by public security of Xushui county in the northern province of Hebei on charges of ``illegal fund-raising from the public''.

His arrest alarmed the public. The villagers who had lent money to Sun's company said the loans were voluntary.


Well-know public figures, including economists and businessmen, such as the founder of Legend Holdings, Liu Chuanzhi, signed petitions to the Central Government to protest against Sun's arrest.

Vice-Premier Hui Liangyu reportedly demanded Xushui officials deal with Sun's case with care.

On October 30, the Xushui county court convicted Sun of raising 13 million yuan from more than 600 local villagers without approval of the People's Bank of China (PBOC) or the central bank.

On the mainland, illegal fund raising is a serious crime, and offenders could be given lengthy jail terms or even the death penalty.

Sun 孙大午, however, was given a three-year jail term, suspended for four years. He and his company were also fined.

The lenient "punishment'' suggested that Sun's prosecution was very questionable. Some commentators have pointed out that senior Xushui government officials wanted to disgrace Sun because he was not "obedient" and always refused to give them bribes.

Sun might also have offended local officials because he often publicly criticized government policy towards agriculture and revealed difficulties farmers were facing.



China's Business Leaders Assuming a Political Role?

by Richard C. Bush

A principal reason that more people want change is their treatment at the hands of the state, particularly local officials.... The state banks would not lend to him (Sun Dawu) preferring larger state-owned firms or private entrepreneurs who would "encourage" loans by
offering favours to bank officials.

Sun solved the problem by creating a private credit cooperative and attracting deposits by paying interest rates that were slightly higher than those of the state banks. The latter soon suffered from this competitive strength of Sun's cooperative. They sought relief and Sun ended up in jail charged with "illegal fund-raising".

http://www.brookings.edu/dybdocroot/fp/cnaps/papers/survey2004/7china2.pdf


Save privately operated entrepreneur Sun Da Wu

by Hu Star, translation

Contemporary China's most outstanding privately operated entrepreneur Mr. Sun Da Wu to May 29th, 2003 by Hebei Province. Why is it said that Mr. Sun Da Wu was the Chinese most outstanding privately operated entrepreneur.

One, in his name is a billionaire, but in the pocket nearly has not actually been rich because he Qian Du Yong helps poor peasants become rich. He manages the professional school, constructs the middle school, the adoption of orphans, wholeheartedly must realize " socialism is wealthy together".

Two, his moral character is noble, he behaves as one should, does not hope to drift along, does not hope to bribe any official, does not hope by any untimely method to seek profit. Naturally offended one group of officials

Please rescue China's most outstanding privately operated entrepreneur who is Grandson Great Noon, leaves behind one livelihood means for the local poor peasant, leaves behind the opportunity for over a thousand peasant family juniors which goes to school, leaves behind one ray of hope to China.

http://www.yangzhizhu.com/sundawu10.htm



China Tightens Communists' Grip on Power

2005-3-2

But there have been some displays of tolerance. Li Boguang, who helped disgruntled farmers write petitions seeking to sack corrupt officials, was freed in January after 40 days in custody.

Cyber dissidents Du Daobin and Liu Di were released last year after weeks of detention. And rural businessman Sun Dawu was spared imprisonment in 2003 for illegally taking deposits.

"It's not magnanimity," said Liang, the political commentator. "The authorities want to control everything but can't." (Reuters)



The Latin Americanization of China

George J. Gilboy and Eric Heginbotham

China's rural areas are now in deep crisis with sluggish income growth,peasants burdened by excessive taxes and fees and local governments overstaffed, in debt, and unable to provide adequate services for peasant families.

http://www.cfr.org/pdf/gilboyhegin.pdf



China's Economy
   

The US-China Business Council, December 21, 2004

Many rural issues are at the heart of conflict between the central and local governments. Illustrating this conflict of interest is the case of Sun Dawu who built up a successful agricultural company that employed more than 1,000 people from a small family farm. His success drew the eye of several universities in Beijing, who invited him to speak. What he had to say regarding local corruption, the impossibility of obtaining a loan without paying bribes and kickbacks, and government rural policies, most of which he also made available on the company's website, did not go down well with local officials, who imprisoned him. After five months, a local court convicted him of setting up an independent rural credit cooperative without permission. (He had collected deposits from employees, paying a higher rate than local banks, in place of the loans he could not get from state banks.) He was released with a suspended sentence and a fine. Ironically, soon after his release the Central Chinese Communist Party (CCP) School in Beijing awarded him a prize for his efforts to bring economic growth to rural areas.

http://www.uschina.org/statistics/2004economyforecast.html



Finding Holes in China's Great Firewall

by Paul Mooney, South China Morning Post, May 24, 2004

The Sun Dawu 孙大午 case is another example of the power of web opinion. Sun, a popular entrepreneur dubbed China's Robin Hood, was arrested last year on what appeared to be politically motivated charges of running an illegal bank, and was sentenced to a long prison term. He was set free after just 158 days in prison, after his case was taken up by China's 'netizens'.

http://www.pjmooney.com/firewall-scmp.shtml



Billionaire Sun Dawu's Dreams and Tribulations

 

Southern Weekend on Sun Dawu, November 3, 2003
The Southern Weekend (nanfang zhoumo) is a weekly paper that occasionally gets into trouble for its reporting on the dodgy doings of corrupt officials. Despite a recent purge of its most aggressive editors, the paper retains a whiff of controversy about it. This is the Southern Weekend's front page from November 6. The lead story is about Sun Dawu, with the headline Billionaire Sun Dawu's Dreams and Tribulations.

The red bar at the top of the page summarizes the story thus: 
- He's a billionaire but he lives an ordinary life. He's a CEO, but he still helps workers clean out the toilets.
- Profit should be his most important goal, but he opens free technical schools for peasants and money-losing middle schools. He doesn't care how much money he loses.
- He completely understands the unwritten rules of the market and of the corridors of power. Although he has no political resources to back him up, he sticks to his guns with stubborn integrity.
- At the height of his career, he summed up himself like this: "What looks like happiness and joy is in fact tragic and sad". His words were almost prophetic.

http://www.danwei.org/archives/000381.html




CHINA: Suspended jail term for internet dissident

by Nailene Chou Wiest, South China Morning Post, June 12, 2004

Mr Wang, who teaches law at Chengdu University, said the outcome of Du's case was a means for the authorities to save face.

The penalty is the same as that given Sun Dawu , a populist entrepreneur whose outspoken criticism of the government landed him in detention on a charge of illegal fund-raising. The leniency shown Du recalls the treatment of Liu Di , a student detained for her internet writings who was released without charge after a year.

All three received widespread public support inside and outside China. Mr Wang said such pressure must have persuaded the authorities the arbitrary arrest of such vocal, but harmless, people was not worth the trouble.

http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=11959




open-society.com (summary by David Cowhig)

13 May 2004

The recent Sun Dawu web dissident case gives an example of the power of web opinion. Traditional conservative media such as Central Television were forbidden to report on this case.

http://www.sino.uni-heidelberg.de/staff/volland/materialien/newsboard.html


Press arrests taint China's reform image

By Ed Lanfranco, Published 3/22/2004 5:52 AM

The Southern Metropolis Daily is one of the country's most financially successful papers for probing the boundaries of editorial independence and for its aggressive coverage of social problems.

In December, hte newspaper was the first to report on the reemergence of SARS in Guangdong before government authorities had informed the World Health Organization. It has also carried extensive coverage on the trial of Sun Dawu, one of China's wealthiest private entrepreneurs jailed for alleged financial improprieties but later released.

http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20040322-051716-5202r



Constitutional Protection for Private Property Stirs Controversy

2004-03-04, Interactive Investor

The DRC's Zhang said the "sins" of Chinese capitalists -- corruption, breaking government rules and operating in grey areas -- could not be blamed on the entrepreneurs themselves but on the lack of a proper market system.

The problem is illustrated by the case of Sun Dawu, a successful and popular Hebei-based private businessman who created thousands of jobs for local people and built hospitals and schools for his local community.

With no access to bank loans to expand his business, partly due to his bad relations with local government officials, Sun borrowed money from local residents.

Although authorities turned a blind eye to his activities for several years, he made the fatal mistake of angering local officials and was promptly arrested for illegally taking deposits.

A national outcry followed and Sun was let off with a light sentence.

http://www.iii.co.uk/shares/?type=news&articleid=4905900&action=article


Entrepreneurs and Politics

   

Professor Liu Ji
Executive President of China Europe International Business School
Dec. 06-07, 2003, Pdf file
Note: Download takes several minutes

Third, politics will exert impact on you even if you ignore it, because you are born and living in a political atmosphere. This is quite plain to see, I believe as is demonstrated in the case of Sun Dawu. A very talented rural entrepreneur himself, Sun Dawu can be called a good egg in terms of his morality. Unfortunately, he was unconcerned and ignorant of politics to such a great extent that he was finally thrown into prison. His degenerated experience should ring a bell to all other entrepreneurs that they must have a sharp eye on politics.

http://www.ceibs.edu/pdf/magazine/0403.pdf

despotism of the one party state. Refusing to participate in buying political support, Sun Dawu cried out against the extortionate nature of different departments of the one party state machine. He informed students at Beijing university that the big problem in China is lack of political reform: “In China, it is 8 big hats (government bureaucracies) trying to control a straw hat (farmers)”. For Sun, the lack of political reform blocked real economic reform and development. Sun was framed in a financial matter and was sentenced to three years of probation.





Presentation at the International Conference on Corporate Governance in Asia and China, March 11, 2005

Hongbin Cai (UCLA)
Qiao Liu (HKU)
Geng Xiao (XKU)

Does Competition encourage unethical behaviour? The case of corporate profit hiding in China.

Sun Dawu and Ex CEO of Dawu Group
"My group's fixed assets amount to over RMB 100 million, but I could not get any bank loans".

Concern #2
Firms that have been consistently discriminated against behave differently.

(Partial Quote of Text)

2. Successfully created a model that was later called "Dawu model". Never borrow from banks (because you cannot), borrow directly from your fellow villagers. Has borrowed RMB 159.89 million directly from more than 3185 households.

4. Arrested and charged with a crime called "illegal deposit taking" in early 2003; his case immediately drew tremendous amount of media attention, which made him a hero, of course in China's informal sectors.

5 His eldest son succeeded him and became the CEO of Dawu Group; his first priority, as he claimed, is to establish good relationship with local government and try to get loan from the banks, which his father and failed for past 8 years.




http://www.baf.cuhk.edu.hk/research/cig/pdf_ ... age%20Unethical%20Behavior.ppt

http://www.baf.cuhk.edu.hk/research/cig/pdf_download/Does%20Competition%20Encourage%20Unethical%20Behavior.ppt.




Chinese Intellectuals Fighting Ideas in Global Context

Kate Zhou <University of Hawaii>

 

Sun Dawu was another liberal critic from rural Hebei that suffered for speaking out and for pushing for more reform in China. Sun Dawu, blamed the lack of rural economic development on the

 

Personal interview with Sun Dawu, in Xushui, Hebei, July 5, 2005., p.36

A Project Proposal


The Financing Environment of Private Enterprises:
from the Sun Dawu Case, July 31, 2003

Contents:

The defects of current financing system.
The necessity and feasibility for opening financial market.
The relationship between government and private enterprises.
The barriers of current law to the development of private enterprises.

Experts:

Jiang Ping (Prof. Chinese University of Political Science and Law)
Sheng Hong (Prof. Unirule)
Bao Yujun (Vice Chairman, National Association of Industry and Commerce
Chen Ping (Prof. Peking University)
Zhou Zhenxiang (Prof. China Youth College Of Political Science, deceased)
Zhang Shuguang (Prof. Unirule)
Li Shuguang (Prof. Chinese University of Political Science and Law)
Zhu Jiuhu (Lawyer)
Zhang Xingshui (Lawyer)


Impact:

Mr. Sun Dawu 孙大午 got out of prison on probation. The survival environment of private firms attracted more and more focuses.




Closet Liberal or Conservative

Reuters, September 27, 2005
Benjamin Kang Lim

"The leadership is using very moderate methods because domestic contradictions have deepened and cannot be resolved," Wu Guoguang, a professor of political science at the University of Victoria in Canada, said referring to social tensions.

On the contentious issue of media and speech freedoms, too, there have been rare displays of official tolerance. Internet dissidents Liu Di and Du Daobin were released last year after months of detention, and private entrepreneur Sun Dawu, accused of illegally taking deposits, was spared imprisonment in 2003.




World Briefing | Asia: China: Businessman, A Hero To Many, Freed

by Chris Buckley (NYT)
October 31, 2003

A court in northeastern Hebei Province convicted and then freed a rural businessman who has gained a national reputation as a modern Robin Hood. Under a law that many considered to be vague, the businessman, Sun Dawu, 50, was accused of running an illegal bank. To raise money for his agriculture business, Mr. Sun had accepted money from his employees, paying them interest rates above those of state banks. Soon even nonemployees were making deposits. The court found him guilty but ordered his immediate release, a decision hailed by advocates of precise definitions for Chinese laws. ''The criminal code still needs clearer explanation,'' one of his lawyers said, ''but this is one step forward.'' Chris Buckley (NYT)

http:/ /www.nytimes.com/2003/10/31/international/asia/31BRIE1.html


The Grandson Great Noon

一个民营企业家的意外被捕揭示了中国金融体制的深层次悖论，也凸现出政治民主改革对建立公民社会和塑造商业环境的意义


2004年5月27日，当大午集团的员工们坐在阶梯教室里看凤凰卫视和中央电视台对集团的相关报道时，看到妻子坐在那里哭，孙大午还是感慨万端，写下两首 诗。前言为：阶梯教室看光盘，纪念蒙难一周年。满腔愤怒无呐喊，妻哭无泪诗两篇。其一曰：回首噩梦已经年，亲人仍旧泪涟涟。别说晴天愁阴影，本分农民耕田 难！自由劳动生财富，淳风化雨多善男。不是大午花一点，万国遍呈桃花园。

http://www.info.china.alibaba.com/news/detail/v5000060-d5622927.html

http://info.china.alibaba.com

2006-01-01 07:00

But, Professor Gu said things were often different in practice"
"There are cases when the private firm bosses have been prosecuted even when the case is outside the validity period. There's no point backdating crimes to when the legal and economic environments were far from sound." Professor Gu said....

Sun Dawu, a well-known Hebei private entrepreneur convicted of illegally taking deposits said he found the report confusing. "I read the report twice and I still don't understand what it means. What is 'original sin'? Is it applicable to my case? I don't think it means much to me anyway because I had been convicted," he said when asked to comment on the new rules.

Zhang Xingshui, a lawyer who defended Mr.Sun, called the new rules a friendly gesture by the Hebei authorities although their exact application might be vague. "It is a good gesture. It signals that there is a change in the attitude of Hebei officials to private enterprises and it is a positive change" he said.


http://www.ail-archive.com/pen-1@galaxy.csuchico.edu/msg85424.html

Businessmen are starting to challenge authorities

January 15, 2004
"I have to acknowledge the fact that there are lots of unfair things in our country such as the example told by above essay. However, we should notice the changes happened in these days. I believe the new leaders in our country are trying to change the mistakes which were made by their predecessors. The only point that they need is time. There is a strong resistance which has existed for a long time in China. Changing them is not an easy thing. But we are so glad to make a notice of that the progress has been a trend now in China. Many people including intellectuals, entrepreneurs, even leaders of young generation have been a powerful strength to accelerate this process. I can see through the future years a great success will happen in China."


http://ahead.blog-city.com

http://www.google.ca/search?q=cache:qikIoQ7Ue8kJ:ahead.blog-city.com/+sun+dawu+blog&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

Blog CH January 10, 2004

"The relative lenience of Sun's sentence has been construed as a signal that creative finance will be tolerated as the only way to relieve the credit crunch vexing private companies -- now the source of two-thirds of Chinese jobs."

http://tigrine.blogspot.com/2004_01_01_tigrine_archive.html

Wednesday, December 31, 2003

"Aw, this is depressing. Over a week ago David J. Lynch wrote about Sun Dawu and his reduced sentence in In China: Profit at your own peril. That's not so depressing; it's a pretty decent article. The thing is, it's in USA Today of all places. The subscriber-only article in the Economist is pretty lousy by comparison. And where were the WaPo and the NYT?"

http://tigrine.blogspot.com/2003_12_01_tigrine_archive.html

Tea Salon

A law professor at Telecommunications University in Beijing, comments on the case of SUN Dawu, a rural businessmen who ran an illegal credit cooperative and lured millions of dollars in deposits away from state banks: "One of the biggest problems for peasants is that local officials decide who gets money and who doesn't."


"This time the strength of the government's support for the trial policy for rural credit cooperative reform is very great, combining elements that involve fiscal, tax, funding and interest rate measures,"

Mr Zhou [governor of the People's Bank of China] said in a speech published by state media yesterday.
He said the central bank would issue loans or paper to rural credit co-operatives equivalent to 50 per cent of their negative net assets. State media said lending rate flexibility and tax breaks would also be granted.


http://www.sinosplice.com/~teasalon/2003_08_01_t-salon_archive.html

Solicitude for Sun Dawu's Case

Su Shaozhi:
We are all concerned with case of Dawu Group Company

Hu Xingdou:
Appeal for saving Sun Dawu, best entrepreneur of private business in China

East Sea Owl:
Applaud and shout for Sun Dawu

Zhong Dajun:
Break out systematic and political encirclement! ?Turning point for Chinese private enterprises

Lang Xie:
Sun Dawu’s case is worth most extensive attention from commercial and academic circles

Wang Yi:
Non-governmental financing dilemma and governmental financial monopoly

Yang Zhizhu:
Legal sense of Sun Dawu’s case


http://chinaorg/10e-mulu10.htm

China's "Robin Hood" detained

Another big news story to follow. Sun Dawu, who is being called the Chinese Robin Hood for his working with peasants and farmers in setting up a bank and promoting the countryside with funds, has been detained for operating an illegal credit cooperative:

What makes this story fascinating is that there is a political leader in China who seems to be directly involved in challenging the government solidly and forcefully, but it seems has only recently met with unfavour by challenging Chinese officials too directly:

It is no surprise to see a businessman fall from favor only to be jailed. It is a surprise to see that the outcome of his jailing could have lasting consequences on the development of poorer areas. He more or less got engaged in private banking, but then used that enterprise to develop the countryside, and very successfully. There doesn't seem to be any specific law against such a practise, but given the success of it it will be difficult for the PRC to jail him:

Here's another take on the same story from the Taipei Times, and Newsday is carrying a very warm piece centered more on his life and town.

Let's hope this opportunity isn't missed.




He refused to pay bribes," said Li. "For a long time, officials tried to get money from him, but he refused."
I think this is the real reason for his arrest. I have seen Sun Dawu in a TV interview a month ago. He had donated quite a big sum to the flood victims in the central region.


9 posted on 08/23/2003 9:01:06 PM PDT by FreepForever



tigrine.blogspot.com

... I say, the sun rises, and there's a ray of sun for everyone. ...
It sounds like a proverb, and I ...
... room in the sun for everyone, especially when everyone wants to ...
... summary of the Sun Dawu case and its implications. Oops. I meant ...

http://tigrine.blogspot.com/2004_01_01_tigrine_archive.html ? Sunday,




Professor Yao Jianfu Lectured on the Issue of Agriculture, Rural Development and Farmers

PKU NEWS
Thursday 2004-03-01 11:21

Peking University, Beijing, Feb 26th 2004:

Professor Yao Jianfu from Harvard University gave a speech on the problem of agriculture, rural developement and farmers in Peking University. Different from the process of ordinary speeches professor Yao Jianfu began with listening to the questions of the audiences. According to these widely concerned questions professor Yao focused his speech on the following three points: the modernization of agriculture, the rights that farmers deserved to, then comments on the case of Sun Dawu.

First of all, Professor Yao emphasized that there is a long way to go before we attain our destination: the modernization of agriculture. In addition to this, different region should have the right to choose its own proper method because of different climate, hypsography and so on.

Secondly, Professor Yao listed several rights should be equally enjoyed between farmers and citizens. For example, the tax and fees paid by farmers should be reduced in order to fill the gap of the salaries between farmers and citizens. The farmers shouldn’t be responsible for the cost of compulsory education. Furthermore the government should loose the restriction against migration of farmers. Finally, the best method to solve the problem of farmers is to reduce the number of farmers.

Last but not least, Professor Yao commented on the case of Sun Dawu which had become the center of public attention. In his opinion the society is lack of trust which is highly regarded by Sun Dawu. What’s more, the enterprise of Sun Dawu helps to solve the problem of excess labors in countries. It is the disaccord development of market in rural areas that leads to the tragedy of Sun Dawu.

http://www.google.ca/search?q=cache:EUA7r1b_l7QJ:ennews.pku.edu.cn/news.php%3Fs=78111184+sun+dawu&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

http://ennews.pku.edu.cn/news.php?=78111184






August 20, 2003 Vol.I, No.6

Fearing the potential in-fluence of these open discussions, the Beijing government is moving quickly to stamp out these activities. One event that was stifled, the “Sun Dawu (editor’s note) case discussion seminar? was planned to take place Aug 1st in Guangzhou City. Another suppressed event, one that had attracted the support of nearly 100,000 people, was the online signature drive, “Against using Japanese high speed train technology?




Billionaire Sun Dawu's Trials and Tribulations

Danwei Org., November 13, 2003

Profit should be his most important goal, but he opens free technical schools for peasants and money-losing middle schools. He doesn't care how much money he loses.
- He completely understands the unwritten rules of the market and of the corridors of power. Although he has no political resources to back him up, he sticks to his guns with stubborn integrity.
- At the height of his career, he summed up himself like this: "What looks like happiness and joy is in fact tragic and sad". His words were almost prophetic.


http://www.danwwei.org/2003/11/southern_weeken.html




ChinaDaily, On Line Community


Sun Dawu ??? is still a farmer although he was given the honorary title of entrepreneur.

His entrepreneuer title can't change his farmer status, but tells us clearly he is not a worker, or a cadre, etc. just like the classification listed in the Hukou certificate.

When we call him farmer entrepreneuer, it is kind of praise or a reminder?

 
2004-11-29 16:41

http://www.yannan.cn/data/detail.php?id=2424




When we call him farmer entrepreneuer, it is kind of praise or a reminder?

If you think it is kind of praise, the farmer is discriminated.
If you think it is a reminder, the farmer is discriminated too.
2004-11-29 16:47





sun is a peasant-become-entrepreneur and now owns a...
sun, an entrepreneur and a former peasant, was arrested at his office this morning...


agree with :a peasant-become-entrepreneur,good!?????


farmer-cum-entrepreneur
2005-02-08 01:27


peasant and farmer are different in english
(from m-w)
peasant:

1: a member of a European class of persons tilling the soil as small landowners or as laborers; also: a member of a similar class elsewhere

2: a usually uneducated person of low social status
farmer:

1: a person who pays a fixed sum for some privilege or source of income
2: a person who cultivates land or crops or raises animals or fish

kathy's father is a farmer. He owns a farm that produces fruits and vegetables.
kathy drinks only instant coffee. She thinks she has got a peasant's habit.
2005-02-08 04:26



A precious trip

Thursday I got a chance to see Sun Dawu, thanks to L and his classmate M.

Sun's stories are so moving and his spirit inspired me so much. I decided to write something for him, a benevolent sage and brave revolutionalist [sic].

This trip sharpened my understanding of the valuable traditional thoughts of the Doctrine of the Mean(??), and the Practice instead of Theory as the original resource of creativity and the real prescription for the problems.

I also further understood success & failure, Freedom & Equality, rich & poor.

I believe that there're still many excellent peasant entrepreneurs, peasant politicians and peasant professionals that deserve our broad attention and respect.

Wisdom lies in common sense. The most scarce gut is the bravery to insist on common sense.


posted Saturday, 18 June 2005, Mayflower









The Washington Post reported in February 2006 that the following key words are known to trigger content-blocking software, or are simply banned, in China


People’s names — Bao Tong, Chen Yonglin, Cui Yingjie, Ding Jiaban, Du Zhaoyong, Gao Jingyun, Gao Zhisheng, He Jiadong, He Weifang, Hu Xingdou, Hu Yuehua, Hua Guofeng, Huang Jingao, Jiang Mianheng, Jiang Yangyong, Jiang Zemin, Jiao Guobiao, Jin Zhong, Li Zhiying, Liang Yuncai, Liu Jianfeng, Liu Junning, Liu Xiabobo, Nie Shubin, Sun Dawu, Wang Binyu, Wang Lixiong, Xu Zhiyong, Yang Bin, Yang Dongping, Yu Jie, Zhang Weiying, Zhang Xingshu, Zhang Zuhua, Zhao Yan, Zhao Qing, Zhu Chenghu, Zhu Wenhu, Zi Yang (in English), Ziyang (in Chinese), Ziyang (in English), zzy (in English, abbreviation for Zhao Ziyang)

 

"In May 2003,  Mr. Sun was arrested for 'illegally absorbing public funds'.  Mr. Sun had refused to bribe bank officials to obtain loans.  Instead, he turned to the employees of his company and asked them to contribute funds.  This practice was widespread in the 1980's and a legitimate source of start-up capital for many TVEs.  He ran into the iron fist of the Chinese financial regulators determined to stamp out all form of informal finance. Sun's company was destroyed.  (In his prison cell, Mr. Sun coined a phrase thereafter invoked by many Chinese journalists, Chinese peasants, your name is misery.")

Yasheng Huang, Capitalism with Chinese Characteristics: Entrepreneurship and the State, Chapter 3, The Great Financing Squeeze, Cambridge University Press, 2008, p 159.

 

 

Before and after Sun Dawu being Convicted

By:  Shi Yan & Huang Yikun

In the evening of 29th October, the streets of Xushui County Hebei Province were blazed with lights. Shops along the main street had already been closed except that Xushui Hotel, the best equipped hotel in the town, was crowded with law enforcement officials of Hebei Province who had rented more than 30 rooms and all come for the case of Sun Dawu. On 30th October, Xushui County People’s Court held an open trial on the case of Sun Dawu—the extremely rich man in Hebei Province was accused of illegally absorbing public deposit. The case, which involved RMB 13 million, was the most influential case in Xushui. Twenty-minute drive from the county town, Dawu Village of Langwu Town is the place where the headquarter of Hebei Dawu Agriculture & Husbandry Group Co. Ltd. is located. Its employees were guarded in their comments about the trial the next day. The Village has been placed on with Sun’s expectation of a “Haven of Peace”: In 2005, Dawu New City, a modern town, will be built composed mainly of enterprises, and of hospital and schools. Sun’s words were still ringing in our ears, while he had been detained for more than five months in Xushui County Detention House. Sun’s eldest son, 25-year-old Sun Meng who has delayed his plan to study overseas because of this case and his cousin 28-year-old Liu Ping are now the provisional managers of Dawu Group.

Many journalists have swarmed to Xushui County in several days, and Dawu Manor of the County has been the gathering place of them. Meantime, Xushui Police has sent policemen to Dawu Village. One policeman said that this is meant to keep things in control when the court makes its judgment. Xu Zhiyong, one of the defendant lawyers and a lecturer of Beijing Post & Telecommunication University, suddenly felt increasing pressure and was “on tenterhooks”. On 29th, one press reported on Internet that “Xu Zhiyong disclosed that the case ‘will be concluded with a basically predictable and satisfactory result’ after a half-year mediation. In other words, Sun will be ‘conditionally released on court’”. Although “very annoyed”, Xu had no time to argue with the reporter who had “garbled” his optimistic remarks. Xu was unwilling to comment on the influence of this side issue cropping up unexpectedly on the final gaming result of all party concerned. He and other two defendant lawyers, Zhu Jiuhu and Zhang Xingshui, were busy with the final preparation of their defence.

Xu Zhiyong told Economic Observer the strategy of lawyers’ team is to “suspend disputes”, and get Sun “out of detention house as soon as possible”. After Sun was detained, the County Government made known its position that the Government would continue its support of private enterprises. Although Dawu Group is still in normal operation, the influence of the case is self-evident. Jin Fengyu, secretary of Su Dawu, said RMB 3 million operating fund of the company has been frozen. So far, there is no evidence of release. However, the Company cannot count on bank loans. When in detention, Su Dawu once passed a message to Sun Meng that the Company can manage to borrow some money from some private business owners with strength in Xushui, but things are not optimistic.

On early morning of 30th October, Xushui Police disposed a large number of policemen in front of County People’s Court and two security lines were placed. Trial was held in the biggest trial hall of the Court. 113 public hearing cards were issued, but Dawu Group, with more than 1500 employees, was only given 3 of them. Journalists who had arrived very early were not allowed to enter the Court, and they were only allowed the access through repeated coordination after the trial had begun for one hour.

Hundreds of people could only wait for the news in front of the Court. Most of them were Sun’s supporter, and were very straightforward in expressing their emotion. Guo Xinmin, an employee of Dawu said, “Without Sun, I would be jobless; Without Sun, my son would not have a school to study.” Liu Jiuxiang, a villager, said “We trust Sun, otherwise we won’t give him our life-subsisting money.” In the Court, the argument was even more intense. Gao Suying, chief procurator of Xushui County Procuratorate and quite well known in Hebei Province, appeared in court in person. When hearing the accusations of public procurator, Sun remained calm. The defendant lawyers’ team decided to initiate a “non-guilty defense”. Zhu Jiuhu, one member of the defendant team, knew clearly that it was not an easy job. Sun accepted the testimony of the person in charge of a deposit agency submitted by the public procurators that was unfavorable to him. In final statement, this legendary man in Xushui County could not help crying bitterly. The trial lasted six hours. At three O’clock pm, Su Dawu regained his composure when he walked out of the Court after the Chief Judge announced the judgment.

“Three year imprisonment with a four-year reprieve and jointly with a fine of RMB 100,000”—everybody including Sun Meng, Liu Ping and three lawyers were excited with this judgment. They thought this was an expected result. Liu Ping said, “The most important thing is that the President of the board of directors can go home. It is vitally important for our company and 611 depositors.”

Finally, Sun could go back home with convicted offence after so many days.

However, Sun stressed that he will never change his principles of conduct because of this lawsuit, but people around him were worrying about him.

When serving in the Army, Sun was demoted from battalion commander to company commander and to acting platoon leader in the end. This was opposite to others’ promotion. Since 1985, Su Dawu has created with his own hands Dawu Group with five companies and 1 high school. It was appraised by State Industry & Commerce Administration as one of the 500 largest private enterprises in 1985. However, Professor Hu Xingdou of Beijing Science & Technology University who is quite familiar with him doesn’t think he is a qualified entrepreneur--“He is unwilling to live in degradation, and unwilling to bribe officials. He even refused to give kickback to those purchasers. He is more like a thinker.” Dawu Group and Sun himself have been involved in many conflicts with administrative organs during the growth process of the enterprise, but unyielding Sun has never swallowed an insult. In 1997, Dawu Group confronted with Xushui County Tax Bureau on tax issues that resulted in two bank accounts were frozen and fund was transferred without their consent. Although the County Commission and County Government coordinated in-between for the sake of “maintaining stability and unity”, Su still sued Baoding City Local Tax Bureau who levied delayed payment on the Group, and reported Jiang Tao, director of Enforcement Department of Baoding City Local Tax Bureau to competent authority for abuse of power. Besides, Dawu Group also confronted with Administration of Industry & Commerce, Health Bureau and Technical Supervision Bureau.

In Xushui, those who know Sun understand that he has a very strong character. He often disagreed with others in some issues, and he was once beaten by somebody with an iron bar that resulted in unconsciousness and comminuted fracture of his right thumb. He also published some articles on the issues of agriculture, rural areas and peasants with sharp comments. On 13th March, Sun described the development environment of private enterprises in rural areas as “eight uniform caps (administrative organs) governing one shabby straw hat (peasants)” when he gave a speech in Peking University.

Nevertheless, the association between Sun’s conviction and his bad relations with governmental departments is only informal presumption. On the Letter of Accusation served by the Procuratorate on 10th September, it said, “Dawu Company has absorbed public deposit amounting RMB 150 million since 1998.” After the verification by lawyers, the figure was finally amended by the Procuratorate to RMB 13 million—a significant difference from the original figure. Based on Chinese traditional concepts, Sun is still respected by peasants in the region. Although his personal assets have exceeded RMB 100 million, he does not have an exclusive car, lives in low and poky bungalow, and he even does not have many presentable clothes. As a farmer entrepreneur, he has learned English by himself and managed his companies with Confucian thoughts. He pursued to be better off together with his town fellows. He has built a school, and paved the roads, and done many good deeds. These are the foundation that he has won sympathy from many people.

The benefit of Sun’s return on Dawu Company is beyond calculation. During his detention, the profit of Dawu Company had been declining although a run on the Company by depositors has not taken place. Before the trial, Dawu Company has refunded all those accounts under RMB 5000, but the planned winery was unable to be put into production as scheduled. The operation of Dawu Group has fails in further development. In the detention house, Sun said, “If I am released, I can repay all debts in two years.” Meantime, the County Government also expressed its position that it would not sit back and watch Dawu Company declining henceforth. An official from the County Government said, “If Dawu Group declines because of this case, it will hinder the development of Xushui. After all, Dawu has offered 1500 jobs and paid RMB 7 million salary.”

Sun was convicted for money. After this ordeal, he still has to face the difficulty of funds. Nobody knows if anything will change.

So far, Dawu Group has only got two policy-related loans amounting RMB 4.3 million. Also as a private enterprise, Juli Group in Xushui County has developed from RMB2000 at the beginning to RMB 200 million. The most important channel of financing has been the loans from state financial institutions thanks to the coordination of the County Government. However, Sun Dawu who has enjoyed good reputation among ordinary people has failed to achieve this. Although he was once the person in charge of Rural Credit Cooperative Society, Sun was ridiculed as “pedantic” on loaning matters. Sun once complained about the difficulty to get a loan, “My Company has a fixed asset of more than 100 million, but I still can’t get a loan. At the end of last year, I need half a million for the Feed Plant. I had at my hand a deposit of 1 million due in March. So there is only 1 month left. In order to save RMB3000 interest, I took this deposit receipt to the bank and wanted to get a mortgage loan of half a million. However, the Bank required the signature of all members of the board of directors, and I then said, “Forget the loan.” In fact, many companies cannot simply get a loan because they have to 10% to 15% kickback. Three years ago, I built a grape yard. The project, approved by Baoding City Government, needed an investment of 12 million. The asked me to loan 6 million, and I agreed and thought it was worthwhile to spend tens of thousands. However, I failed to get a loan. Now my grape yard has had a bumper harvest, but I have not got even one-cent loan.

Sun’s straightforwardness has gone beyond the understanding of many people. Liu Ping said, “On the issue of the grape yard, he finally gave in under others’ persuasion and decided to get in by the back door, and gave RMB 10000 to the person in charge of Credit Cooperative Society. However, RMB 10000 is too small to get things done. According to the life experience of many people, we will just forget the money, and regard it as an investment for future convenience. Nevertheless, the President was so angry that he insisted on getting back the RMB10,000, and finally he got back RMB6,000. Since then, he hasn’t tried to bribe Credit Cooperative Society for favors any more. Certainly, our loan has been rejected every year.”

Sun’s character has resulted in an unsmooth business road. Yao Jianfu from Rural Economics Research Institute of Ministry of Agriculture held that, “With an asset of only 100 million, Sun has yet invested 40 million into a unprofitable high school. If he hasn’t done this, he doesn’t have to borrow from others. His lesson is being too idealistic.”

In fact, the background for Sun’s “illegally absorbing public deposit” has been that he has been unable to get a loan. Sun’s conduct is quite similar to underground banks popular in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Fujian. The difference is that Sun hasn’t practiced usury. Xu Zhiyong held that “the origin of Sun’s case is attribute to the rigid and monopoly financial order. Two phenomena coexist in banking sector: one is illegal fund-raising; the other one is legal money-collecting. As for unstoppable ‘grassroots banking’, the most practical option is instruction and management, instead of simple prohibition.”

As far as Sun Dawu is concerned, these issues are not imperative at the moment. His two brothers are still being detained, and obviously their destiny worries him more than anything else.

2003-11-3

eobserver.com.cn/english/readnews.asp?ID=56   (inactive)

The Economic Researcher

                                  

                                          158天在监狱里

审判后他被关在“小号”。“小号”是只有6平方米大小的小屋，从一头走到另一头只需要三步。里面除了床、脸盆和一个便桶外再无一物。外面24小时有警察轮 岗，但是他们被要求不许和孙大午说一句话，也不允许给他纸、笔和书。监牢的房顶上悬着一盏长明灯，永远亮着，永远分不清白天还是黑夜，时间漫长得像死了一 样。

 
                                           158 days in prison

After the trial he was in small cell which was  only a  6 square meter sized cabin. His walk from one side to another required only three steps. There was no foreign object outside the bed, sink and commode. Outside there was  24 hour  police rotation.  They were ordered not to say a word.  Sun Dawu was not allowed to have paper, pens and books. A long light hung which was always on hung from the ceiling of the prison.  There was no way to distinguish day from night. It felt to be a long time dead.






漫步乡野，无槊赋诗。

愧对红颜，天命老矣。

酒色财气，并驾齐驱。

斗转星移，排列有序。

思无可思，欲无可欲。

虞姬轻生，霸王小气。

不渡乌江，沽名钓誉。

月暗星密，嘉宾连席。

但闻姜尚，九叩为师。

釜山之巅，和合相济。

周公吐哺，天下归一。


孙大午




Wander the countryside, no lance poetry.

Unworthy of roots, old men of destiny.

Cardinal vices, neck and neck.

Passage of time, arranged in order.

Think no thought, no desire desire.

Yuji suicide, King stingy.

Not crossing the Wujiang River, fame.

January dense dark star, the guests even seats.

But Wen Jiang Shang, nine call for the division.

Busan summit, harmony with mercy.

Duke spit-feeding, the world normalized.


Sun Dawu








                                 


Rare Photo taken the day after Sun Dawu's Arrest showing police seals

Date May 28, 2003



                        Remembrance of Things Past


孙大午：免于恐惧的自由2012年04月24日
来源：《全球商业经典》杂志 作者：黄冰

大概是1963年，孙大午是八九岁的年纪—有些记忆已经模糊了，但是另外一些记忆却仿佛镌刻在血液里一样难以忘怀—那年河北发大水，孙大午的故乡郎五庄下了七天七夜的雨，人们用土把所有的村口堵起来防水，很多人逃走了，留下的是老人和孩子。后来村庄周围变成了河，一些房屋像是浮在水面上的小船。暴雨声响模糊了整个世界，天空黑乎乎地压下来，四周昏黄黯淡，分不清白天黑夜。

“宛如末日，”孙大午说，“当人们处在低洼地带的时候，当人们处在阴暗角落里的时候，很容易滋生出一种渺小自卑的心理。”

40年后的2003年，恐惧的感觉再次来临。因为“非法吸收公众存款”的罪名，孙大午在监狱中被关押了158天。

第一次预审的时候，孙大午对着预审人员说：“你们好大胆，竟敢抓我？审我？”

儿子孙萌劝他认罪的时候，他十分生气地说：“快刀不杀无罪之人。”

听说两个弟弟在押，妻子被追捕，家中还有两个老人在等待的时候，他说：“我伏法，但是不认罪。”



Sun Dawu: Freedom from Fear  on April 24, 2012

Source: "Global Business" magazine author: Huang Bing

Probably in 1963, Sun Dawu was eight-year's of age - some memories have been blurred, but others seemed engraved in the memory of the blood as unforgettable - that Hebei flood, the hometown of Sun Dawu's Langwuzhuang. For the next seven days and nights it rained, people of the village plugged up holes with waterproof soil, many people fled, leaving behind the elderly and children. Later, around the village, some of the houses were like boats floating on the river. Rain sound blurred the whole world, the sky was dark and pressed down, surrounded by dim dim, can not distinguish day and night.

"Like doomsday," Sun Dawu said, "When people in low-lying areas, and when people are in a dark corner, it is very easy to breed a kind of small inferior mentality."

2003 40 years later, the feeling of fear came again because the "illegal deposits from the public" charges. Sun Dawu was held in prison for 158 days.

In the first pre-trial which he faced Sun Dawu said to the examining officer: "Hello bold, dare I challenge at my trial?"

His son Sun Meng advised him to plead guilty. Sun Dawu was very angry and said: "sharp sword does not kill innocent people."

I heard that two brothers were in custody, my wife was hunted, there are two elderly people at home at the time who wait, he said:. "I will be executed, but I'm not guilty."







更新: 2003-10-29 1:40 AM       标签: 孙大午

[大纪元10月28日报导]（中央社台北二十八日电）中国大陆备受瞩目的河北民营企业家孙大午“非法集资”案，确定三十日在徐水县地方法院开庭审判。据了解，在大陆国主席胡锦涛、副总理回良玉的关切与批示下，孙大午案出现转机，辩护律师透露，孙大午将被判缓刑后当庭释放。


星岛日报引述孙大午辩护律师许志永的说法指出，经过半年来多方协商，孙大午基本上“有了一个可以预期的、令人满意的结果”。他透露，孙大午在接受缓刑条件后，将于周四开庭时获得“有条件的当庭释放”。

农民出身的民营企业家孙大午，于七月五日因涉嫌“非法吸收公众存款罪”遭逮捕，由于他经常就农村问题发表大胆言论并自办网站讨论，这个案子在大陆引起很大争议，北京知识界及工商界不少知名人士都他不平，孙大午命运也一面倒的受到舆论广泛同情。孙大午案为何出现“柳暗花明”的转机？知情人士透露，主要是因为胡锦涛表示关注后，回良玉对此下了批示，强调经济案件的审查“一定要慎重”。




Updated: 2003-10-29 1:40 AM WASHINGTON October 28 reported] (CNA Taipei, 28) in mainland China, Hebei high-profile private entrepreneur Sun Dawu "illegal fund-raising" case, the trial in thirty days to determine Xushui County District Court. It is understood that under the President of the mainland State Hu Jintao, Vice Premier Hui Liangyu concerns and instructions, Sun Dawu has a turnaround case, the defense lawyer said, Sun Dawu will be released immediately after the suspended sentence.


Sing Tao Daily quoted Sun Dawu defense lawyer Xu Zhiyong statement pointed out that after six months multilateral negotiations, Sun Dawu substantially "can be expected with a satisfactory result." He said Sun Dawu after receiving probation conditions, will get "conditional release in court," Thursday hearing.

Peasant private entrepreneur Sun Dawu, on July 5 on suspicion of "the crime of illegal deposits from the public," was arrested because of his frequent bold speech on rural issues and running the site discussion, the case caused much controversy in mainland China, Beijing many intellectuals and business celebrities are his grievances, Sun Dawu fate sided by widespread public sympathy. Sun Dawu case why a "way out" turning point? Informed sources, mainly because after President Hu expressed concern, under the instructions of  Hui Liangyu stressed economic review of the case "must be careful."        


                                 


The  Great Noon is Reprieved



 2003年11月11日 15:44 网易商业报道 专题：孙大午缓刑四年之后 网友酷评：孙大午非法集资案可"多赢"解决 父子共患难——孙萌照顾正在输液的父亲 大午饲料公司已经开始正常生产销售——附近村庄的饲养专业户驾车满载大午饲料而归 尘封很久的大午集团职工俱乐部——对联似乎并不相配(网易商业报道 陆媛 摄) 11月9日清晨，河北徐水的气温降至零下。出狱一周的孙大午躺在办公室的沙发上，盖着一床半新不旧的绿色棉被，身旁的不锈钢架上吊着一个盛满黄色药液的吊瓶，正在输液。从徐水监狱出来以后，孙大午进行了身体检查，医生告诉他血粘度比原来高了，必须每天输液。 记者进屋那一刻，发现孙大午望着天花板发呆，仿佛在看很远的地方。他对记者解释：“我很担心妻子，担心她现在过得好不好，冷不冷。”孙大午身上的毛衣等衣物都是妻子刘会茹去年帮他选购的。紫灰衬衫，深棕毛衣，搭配红底白点领带，显得孙大午非常稳重和入时。 对于健谈的孙大午来说，最难以回答记者提问的就是“下一步怎么走？”。他一直挠头：“下一步怎么办，我真的不清楚。我为什么被逮捕进监狱，为什么被判刑，我现在都很糊涂，不知道为什么。我不知道下一步该怎么走。” 跟孙大午的迷茫不同，工人们、学生们都有一种苦难过后的快乐，甚至悠闲。记者看到，即使在周末，大午饲料公司门前还是有满载饲料的农用三轮车驶出来。 走进饲料库，扑鼻而来的就是发酵的浓重的豆饼味道。工人们在绞碎炉前使用铁铲操作。一位已经下班的工人坐在大门口的水泥墩上，从容地享受一袋烟。 大午中学的学生们都很快乐，有的追逐着打雪仗，有的在打篮球。宿舍楼挂着各种颜色的衣服，好几个小男生从不同的窗口探出脑袋对持相机的记者大叫：“给咱拍一个，给咱拍一个嘛！” 对于前景，企业领导人很困惑，然而企业底层很乐观。如何顺利渡过这个艰难的过渡期，矗立在孙大午面前的是四道大关。


更新: 2003-10-31 2:06 AM 标签: 孙大午 [10月31日讯] 被当局关押逾五个月的大陆著名农民企业家孙大午，10月30日被徐水县法院以”非法吸收公众存款罪”，判处有期徒刑三年，缓刑四年，并处罚金十万元人民币。孙大午拥有的企业大午农牧集团公司，亦同时被处罚金三十万元。宣判结果表明，孙大午明天即可获得自由回家。

[10月31日讯]被当局关押逾五个月的大陆著名农民企业家孙大午，10月30日被徐水县法院以”非法吸收公众存款罪”，判处有期徒刑三年，缓刑四年，并处罚金十万元人民币。孙大午拥有的企业大午农牧集团公司，亦同时被处罚金三十万元。宣判结果表明，孙大午明天即可获得自由回家。

被海内外媒体称为”中国农民英雄”的孙大午，在当地拥有相当的威望，颇得民心，当天早晨尚未开庭之前，法院门外已聚集近两百支持的民众，据称这也是当局改变初衷，轻判孙大午的原因。该案的审判是于早上八点半开始，至下午两时四十分方结束。

拥有一百二十座位的旁听席座无虚席，但辩方只获得三张旁听证，其余均为当局所安排。 孙大午家属及大午集团，对这一审判结果表示无奈，但也只能接受，表示”不会上诉”，希望孙大午早日会到公司，主持已经遭受”严重损失”的公司业务。大午集团原有一千五百名员工，大部分都为周围的村民，但自孙被捕至今，已经有六百多人失业。孙大午被捕之后，该案引起了海内外的广泛关注，北京一些法律界人士已经对有关法律的僵化和滞后提出质疑。 



The authorities detained for more than five months the mainland famous, farmer entrepreneur Sun Dawu. On October 30th, at Xushui County Court, he was sentenced to three years imprisonment for "illegal deposits from the public crimes" which was suspended for four years and fined one hundred thousand yuan. Sun Dawu owned the large agricultural enterprise group Dawujituan which was also fined three hundred thousand yuan. The results show that with this sentencing  Sun Dawu can be free to go home  tomorrow.

On the 30th at Xushui, Hebei, the BBC Chinese network special correspondent Lin Fong  reported  about Sun Dawu who had been under criminal detention by the Xushui County Public Security Bureau and formally arrested on July 4th. Authorities had accused Sun Dawu as representative of the company Taiwujituan of taking illegal deposits from the public of more than one hundred and eighty million yuan, and the illegal possession of ammunition. But the final count of the indictment had not seen a post until it finally found it "illegally" taking public deposits.

Overseas media saw Sun Dawu as a "Chinese Farmers' Hero". On the morning before the hearing,  he had considerable local prestige from the people. Two hundred people gathered outside the court to support him .  It is alleged that the size of the crowd changed the mind of the authorities toward a more lenient sentence. The case was on trial beginning at 8:30 am to 2:30 pm. The court's one hundred and twenty-seat public gallery was packed.  However, the defense only got three passes for visitors. The rest were arranged by the authorities.

At the outcome of the trial, the family of Sun Dawu  and Taiwujituan expressed frustration, but could only accept and say they "will not appeal".  Sun Dawu hoped to return to the company which has suffered "serious losses" to the business. Originally, Dawujituan had fifteen hundred employees comprised of most of the local villagers, but since Sun was arrested there have been 600 people unemployed. After Sun Dawu was arrested, the case attracted wide attention at home and abroad. Some of Beijing's legal profession have questioned the law's rigidity and delay.





曹雅学：维权律师代理的典型案件 (2003-2015)

2015.08.07 05:24

曹雅学   Cao Yaxue            



孙大午案 （经济改革）

孙大午是河北著名的民营企业家，是主营农牧产品的大午集团的董事长。大午集团因长期无法从银行获得贷款，转向员工、亲朋和附近村民募集资金。这种做法在民营企业中相当普遍。2003年5月，孙大午被法院以“非法吸收公共存款罪”逮捕。后在社会舆论、专家学者意见一边倒支持他的情况下，孙大午被判缓刑，获得释放。孙的辩护律师许志永认为这是在法院不会承认自己办了错案的国情下能达到的“最理想的结局”。这个案子也被法律界、舆论界称为是政府和民间的“双赢”。许志永后来写道，他代理孙案是想“通过孙大午案推动中国市场经济改革，民营企业生存发展环境能够得到优化”。




Sun Dawu Case (Economic Reform)

Sun Dawu is a well-known private entrepreneur who is Chairman of the Afternoon Group of agricultural products in Hebei. The Group was unable to obtain loans from the banks for a long time and turned to employees, friends and relatives to raise funds from nearby villagers. This approach is quite common in private enterprises. In May 2003, Sun Dawu was arrested for the crime of "illegally absorbing public deposits". After the public opinion, experts and scholars to support  his case, Sun Dawu was sentenced to probation and released. Sun's defense lawyer Xu Zhiyong believes that the court would not admit that it prosecuted the wrong case and for national conditions achieved the "best ending." This case has also been seen from the legal profession and public opinion as a government and civil "win-win." Xu Zhiyong later wrote that the Sun Dawu case promoted the optimization of China's market economy reform, private enterprise survival and development environment.

http://www.voachinese.com/a/caoyaxue-china-lawyers-20150806/2904574.html




                                         Sun Dawu's Motto

                      
                                                                                               


                                                    
                                                                             
                                     Sun Dawu : Philsopher 孙大午: 哲学家




SUN Dawu 孙大午, President of the Board of Directors of Hebei Dawu Group of companies. He was born at Lang Wu Zhuang Village, Gaolin town, Xushui County, Hebei Province in June, 1954. In 1963, he attended school in Gaolin town. During the years 1971-1978, he undertook military service at Lin Fen, Shanxi province. Then, during the period 1979-1989, he worked at the China Agriculture Bank in Xushui. In 1989, he built Hebei Dawu Agriculture and Husbandry Co. He was self-educated during the years 1978-1982 in language and literature to the level of college graduate. He continued his self-education between 1984-1986 through a correspondence college degree program offered by Hebei University of Politics and Law. In June 1996, he was awarded the Champion of Raising Poultry of Hebei province. At this time, he was elected as representative for the People of Baoding city, Hebei Province. In August 1996, he was elected as Lee Chair of Baoding Poultry and Egg Industry United Farm Society. On September 20th, 1996, he was awarded the Title of Baoding Pioneer Individual World Health Organization (WHO) Donors' Fund for School and Education. In the year 2001, he became the master of Dawu School. In October 2002, SUN Dawu was appointed as Senior researcher at the Institute of Peasant Problems, China Agriculture University.

                                    



                                      




 


Perhaps there is no better way to understand a foreign country and its people than through the everyday routine of a job. I have worked in the People's Republic of China as a teacher and foreign expert from Canada for six years. During this time, I have taught doctoral students at the Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. I do not pretend to describe all of China nor every Chinese, but rather to depict a particular village called Langwuzhuang and a special person whose name is Sun Dawu. His Chinese name is 孙大午.

The man named Sun is a pragmatic philosopher in the Confucian school of true value virtue. Confucians believe "in the fundamental goodness of man, supporting rule by moral persuasion according to the concept of li. In other words, Confucianism as a social philosophy is mainly concerned with ren or compassion for others which can be achieved by those who understand thoroughly rules of propriety and ritual forms.

This Confucian entrepreneur or theoretical farmer advocates the transformation of an agricultural based society into a cultural community; as well as the expansion of the service sector economy and establishment of ecosystem services.

I agreed to start a college in Hebei Province at the request of a Distinguished Scholar of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The emphasis of the college would be on the 3 R's (reading, writing and arithmetic. The new institution was to be established at a small village called Langwuzhuang, Xushui County, Hebei Province. The village is located 48 kilometers south-west of Beijing. Currently, there is a private middle school on the property which boasts a student population of over 2200 and a teaching staff of 200. It may be noted that three-quarters of the students come from other provinces.

The educator wished to give the students an affordable quality education at a higher institute of learning by building a college on the property. The educator's name is SUN Dawu who was already known nationwide because his young students are versed in ancient Tang and Song poetry and Confucian morality. We had met Sun at a conference of scholars who were interested in Confucian principles.

In early December 2002, I flew into Beijing on a domestic airline. We then drove to Xu Shui from Beijing. A thick fog blanketed the landscape. At the toll gate, we were redirected to a secondary road because of a serious accident. It was a Chinese philosopher who proverbially said "May you live in interesting times". I am not sure if he meant that as a blessing or bane. I might it express it poetically as follows:

This is that which lives
That were this which left.

We turned onto a country road bustling with agricultural commerce and three wheel vehicles. This is the three kilometer road built by Sun to provide access to his school and business. In order to gain the right-of-way, he pays the farmers a yearly sum and also gives them usage of the road at no cost; in other words, there is no toll gate. This demonstrates his fairness and facility to act cooperatively with his fellow farmers.

We arrived somewhere in the middle of nowhere within the Middle Kingdom. What I mean is that there is nothing for the eye to fix on until one reaches the Dawu site. Then one sees an amazing sight. A middle school complex, a farming community and thriving agricultural business arises from the land. How on earth did this get here? It was through the effort, enterprise and ingenuity of Sun and thousands of employees. The fog cleared and the sun rose.



On Life, Chapter XII, Leo Tolstoy


知道别人的优点，知道别人的缺点。知道别人优点中的缺点，知道别人缺点中的优点。才是知道别人。先知道别人，然后教育别人，

Sun spent ten years in the military where he became a leader of men and master of machinery. Then, ten years were spent in the Department of Agriculture where he became an agricultural and banking expert. Then, when reaching middle age, the business was launched on only 10,000 yuan or the equivalent of $2000 Canadian. It is now a multi-million dollar vertically integrated enterprise.

If one can judge character by appearance then it may be concluded that Sun is supremely serene. One has the overall impression of a dignified country gentleman without pretense. A sense of calmness and quietude pervades his face. His eyelids appear half-open or half-closed as if they were simultaneously open to truth and closed to untruth. His sweater is a familiar favorite which is worn thread-bare at the elbows. It covers a slightly portly belly which suggests a contentedness with self and affable disposition towards others. Finally, one senses that his physical motions are economical in nature so that his energy can be channeled into mental and spiritual endeavors.

I recall my first visit to the Dawu Group as I sit on a bench at the Confucian temple built during the Yuan Dynasty (1302 A.D.) in the nation's capital. Its most precious relics are eight stone drums of the Zhou Dynasty (827-782 B.C) inscribed with four-letter poems. In the main hall there is a shrine for holding memorial ceremonies to ancestors of Confucius. It is rather sad to see the temple in a gross state of neglect and disrepair.

In contrast, the Dawu Group is alive with growth and prospects of continued prosperity. A statue of a rearing white stallion greeted me at the entrance. Next, I am dazzled by a mosaic rooster as I read the lines of a couplet "As the rooster announces the arrival of the dawn, a chick strikes open the shell of a chaotic universe". Finally, I see real animals---thousands of roosters, hens and chicks. Do you think a chick is cuddly? You'll find 60,000 cuddlesome chicks per day on this farm.




















孙大午, Sun Dawu, 刘会茹,Dawu Group, 私营企业主立宪制度, 大午农牧集团有限公司,河北省,徐水县郎,五庄,2020年11月11日,November 11,2020,1911,辛亥革命,孫德明, 三民主义,Unirule,天则经济研究所,茅于轼,土地扣押,农民,农业集体 伦理资,本主义,D.Carlton Rossi,拆迁,寻衅滋事,709案,709大抓捕,警察,保护伞.

Sun Dawu, Sun Dawu, Liu Huiru, Dawu Group, Private Entrepreneur Constitutional System, Dawu Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Group Co., Ltd.,Langwuzhuang, Xushui County, Hebei Province, November 11, 2020, November 11,2020,1911,Xinhai Revolution,Sun Deming,Three Principles of the People,Unirule, Tianze Economic Research Institute,Mao Yushi,land seizure,farmers,agricultural collective,ethical capitalism,D. Carlton Rossi,demolition and relocation,picking quarrels and provoking troubles,709 case,709 crackdown,police,protective umbrella.