This one’s a labor case, and it looks ugly. As you recall, last time Carrefour got into hot water, it was because of France’s pre-Olympic rhetoric regarding China’s policy towards certain, uh, how should I phrase this? . . . Western provinces. Boycotts and ultranationalistic silliness ensued.

And now there’s this:

French supermarket chain Carrefour is facing a lawsuit in Beijing for allegedly exploiting their suppliers’ saleswomen.

Sheng Yucang, a 34-year-old saleswoman from Shandong province, filed the lawsuit against Carrefour in Fengtai District People’s Court, asking for social security compensation and overtime pay.

“I am not doing this for myself, I am doing it for all the saleswomen exploited by these foreign-owned supermarkets,” said Sheng, who is back in her hometown in Shandong and asked her lawyer to submit the lawsuit to the court on her behalf yesterday.

I’m already not liking this woman. I understand she is advocating her case in the press and all, but to pull out the nationalism card like that — for shame. You realize that if this case were simple and straightforward (i.e. Carrefour owing overtime and benefits payments to Ms. Sheng), this would not be in the news at all.

No, of course there’s more. (more…)

Interesting news has been almost nonexistent during this holiday interregnum (unless you live in Iran), but today we saw the end to the tragic, and highly publicized case of Akmal Shaikh, who was executed this afternoon.

Why the interest? Mr. Shaikh was a British national executed by the government of the PRC for drug smuggling. This was not just a petty infraction mind you, but a whopping 4 kilos of heroin that he brought into China. He claimed that neither the drugs nor the suitcase were his, but that he was carrying the bag as a favor to someone else. Yes, he used the old chestnut defense of “I don’t know how the four kilos of heroin got into that bag I was carrying.” Ouch. That even sounds weak in my paraphrase.

I don’t usually write about these sorts of criminal cases. I have no particular insight (I’m a corporate and IP lawyer) and they tend to be quite boring after a while. This case was no different except for the nationality of the defendant. (more…)

For religious reasons, of course, the staff here at China Hearsay only observes one holiday this time of year. For any readers who might be celebrating one of those other holidays — relax, have fun, stay safe, and we’ll see you after all the merriment dies down and you have to return to your otherwise drab, wretched lives.

I do so love the holidays. What a special time of year.

Needless to say, I assume that majority of my readers (i.e. the rest of us) celebrate the one true holiday, Festivus. Although the holiday is now over (formal observance was yesterday), and as is custom most of you have already had your Festivus dinner, followed by the Feats of Strength, some of your families like mine might be observing an extended period of the Airing of Grievances (2009 was quite a year, after all). If you have anything you wish to share on that front, feel free to send an email and vent.

I do have a Festivus miracle to share with you. Yesterday morning (i.e. Festivus Day), I made a pot of coffee. As usual, I expected that I would be able to pour two cups for myself and two for my wife. But after we each drank two cups, I went to the coffee pot one last time, and lo and behold, there was enough for (nearly) a third cup! Praise be to . . . someone. Praise be.