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Explosions at BeiDa and Qinghua?

 
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Seth



Joined: 05 Feb 2003
Posts: 575
Location: in exile

PostPosted: Wed Feb 26, 2003 4:17 am    Post subject: Explosions at BeiDa and Qinghua? Reply with quote

I was on some Chinese chat rooms last night and heard some people talking about simultaneous explosions in the cafeterias at Beijing and Qinghua universities, which supposedly happened yesterday. Terrorism suspected. Has anyone else heard this? I found nothing on the net when I searched and my TV is out of order at the moment so I can't watch the news. I hope it's just a baseless rumor!
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Steven C



Joined: 25 Feb 2003
Posts: 7
Location: Guangzhou, China

PostPosted: Wed Feb 26, 2003 4:59 am    Post subject: The explosion have been confirmed Reply with quote

The 2 explosion have been confirmed on the Chinese Government News site. 9 people was injured no death has been reported. Didn't mention anything about the attacks being related to any terrorist group.
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Paul G



Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Posts: 125
Location: China & USA

PostPosted: Wed Feb 26, 2003 7:00 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here's the latest news from Reuters.

China Universities Seek to Allay Fears After Blast

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's top two universities declared their campuses safe Wednesday as they sought to calm worried students and their parents a day after twin bomb attacks injured nine people.

No one has claimed responsibility for the explosions, which shattered glass doors and windows at cafeterias in the capital's Peking and Tsinghua universities, shocking students accustomed to lives of relative safety. Police vowed to find those responsible.

"The school hopes all students and their parents, including Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan students, need not worry," Peking University said on its Web site (www.pku.edu.cn).

"At present, every place in the entire school is in good order. The school has taken all measures to protect the safety of teachers, students and employees."

A shattered glass door and windows at the Peking University cafeteria had been replaced, but the canteen remained cordoned off by yellow and white tape Wednesday. Four security guards patrolled the vicinity.

Tsinghua University said on its Web site (www.tsinghua.edu.cn) "the mood of teachers and students was stable."

Fueled by easy access to explosives, China has seen bombings linked to disgruntled workers, spurned lovers and Muslim separatists in recent years.

The blasts came as police tightened security before the annual session of the National People's Congress, or parliament, which opens on March 5.

The blasts sparked nervous conversation and debate late into the night over whether someone with a grudge, or perhaps militants, were to blame.

"My parents were worried and called," said Chen Hsi-ning, a Taiwan student who studies international relations at Peking University.

"In the past, I thought the mainland was safe. I'll avoid crowded public places these days," she said.

Chen Jing, 24, a Peking University student from China's northeastern province of Heilongjiang, was also worried.

"I will pay more attention to the people around me," said Chen, not related to the Taiwan student. "Some students suspect terrorists were responsible, but I don't think so because casualties were not heavy."

For Peking University sophomore Andy Li, bomb attacks were things that happened far away, perhaps in the Middle East.

"The explosion here was a real surprise," said Li, 19, a electronics student from the southwestern province of Sichuan.

But he added: "I think it was probably a one-off thing -- somebody with a grievance."

Police have said the blasts were caused by home-made explosives. They gave no details of the probe or named suspects, but the attacks appeared linked as they hit cafeterias within two hours of each other around the lunch hour.

"Now, police are exerting their utmost efforts to solve this case. Order at both universities is stable and work is proceeding as normal," the official Xinhua news agency reported.

China's state-controlled media played down coverage of the explosions, an indication that they struck a raw nerve.

Beijing's Chinese-language dailies ran on inside pages the same Xinhua report of the blast, with no pictures or witness interviews. The story, six sentences, carried few details.
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Paul G



Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Posts: 125
Location: China & USA

PostPosted: Wed Feb 26, 2003 7:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here's an AP Story.

Nine Hurt in Blasts at Beijing Colleges
Tue Feb 25, 8:48 AM ET
Add World - AP to My Yahoo!

By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN, Associated Press Writer

BEIJING - Two bombs exploded 90 minutes apart Tuesday at two elite universities in Beijing, injuring nine people, officials said.

The explosions came at lunchtime in cafeterias at Peking University and Tsinghua University, both in northwestern Beijing.

Police were still investigating but believe both devices contained homemade gunpowder, said a Beijing police spokeswoman, who would give only her family name, Gao.

There were no immediate claims of responsibility. The explosions came a day after a visit to Beijing by Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) and a week before China's national legislature opens its annual session, but there was no indication the blasts were connected to those events.

In a country where guns are for the most part prohibited, violent disputes in China often involve explosives.

The first explosion occurred in a teacher's cafeteria at the center of the Tsinghua University campus about 11:50 a.m., said a university spokeswoman who would not give her name. She said six people suffered leg injuries.

The official Xinhua News Agency said witnesses could smell gunpowder after the blast.

At Peking University, three people were "slightly injured" in a second explosion in a dining hall about 1:20 p.m., a university spokeswoman said. She would identify herself only by the family name Zhang.

Afterward, about 100 people gathered outside. The blast damaged the ceiling of the dining hall, shattered a glass door and blew out a second-story window.

The damage at Tsinghua wasn't visible from the street, and police prevented people from looking inside.

Tsinghua University, one of China's leading science and engineering schools, is the alma mater of both Premier Zhu Rongji and Hu Jintao, the new Communist Party general secretary who is expected to be named president next month.
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ChinaLady



Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 171
Location: Guangzhou, Guangdong PRC

PostPosted: Fri Feb 28, 2003 7:15 am    Post subject: Is University food really all that bad??? Reply with quote

Some of the students in Shanghai have voiced the opinion that this was a small protest of the food served at the universities. I suggested that a better way would be to protest would be to organize and avoid the dining halls on all Wednesdays for the entire month of March. There are plenty of cheap snack stands near the university. They said this was a much safer idea then to blow up the dining hall. Note: the food at most Chinese universities is cheap but very low quality and sometimes not very clean.
Keep your chopsticks handy?
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Roger



Joined: 19 Jan 2003
Posts: 9138

PostPosted: Sat Mar 08, 2003 3:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

In the 11 p.m. news on some HK TV channel: The suspected culprit has been apprehended in Fuzhou. It was a 27-year old man who apparently set off the explosions "to make news".
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