Where have either one of you been? This news was hot sh!t back in
November:
There have been plenty of reports on the ant farmers in Shenyang. Try
this Sohu search:
http://www.sogou.com/sohu?query=%%D2%%CF%%C1%%A6%%C9%%F1+%%C9%%F2%%D1%%F4&num=10&p...
Also, search for "蚁力神" alone, will yield many articles questioning
this Amway-style herbal viagra MLM company, going back as far as 2004.
- Doesn't the Chinese government have the responsibility to safegaure
the public interest?
Now these farmers who got dupped by the pyramid scheme are threatening
to disrupt train service in Shenyang - is that acceptable behavior
according to democarcy and freedom?
- Shenyang government have warned the public back in 2005 about Magic
Ant Power MLM, and urge people to invest wisely. The government's
hands are also tied that MAP's has thus far met legal technicalities.
- MAP's financial record shows sales are neglegable compared to the
deposit it recevies from distributing ant farms.
- Since the 2004 FDA ban on MAP due to trace of Viagra found in
product, sales have declined. the 2005 financial statements were
manipulated by accounting firm MAP hired thru personal connection.
>
> The plight of China's ant farmers speaks volumes about the dangerously
> unregulated and corrupt nature of Chinese capitalism.
>
> As we landed in Shenyang, the captain uttered the dreaded words: "The
> outside temperature is minus 18..."
>
> Winter is bleak in northeastern China and few places more so than
> Shenyang, where after the collapse of state-owned factories, those who
> were once protected by the Communist "iron rice bowl" of job security
> now scrabble to survive.
>
> The story we had come to investigate speaks volumes about the
> dangerously unregulated and corrupt nature of Chinese capitalism.
>
> Eight years ago, an entrepreneur called Wang Fengyou started a business
> making aphrodisiacs and health potions from squashed ants. Most of his
> profit came not from product sales, but from fees which people paid to
> get boxes of live ants which they reared on egg yolk and cake.
>
> After a fixed period, his agents would collect the now dead insects and
> the ant farmers would receive a 30 per cent return on their investment.
> Most ploughed it back into buying more ants, and so it went on.
>
> This was a classic pyramid or Ponzi scheme, which depended on the
> recruitment of nai"ve people, many elderly, who didn't understand that
> capitalism rarely gives such high returns, and still believed that the
> all-powerful Communist government would step in if anything went wrong.
>
> No wonder the famers are angry - they may have been naive or even
> greedy, but in the end, they are the victims of a disaster caused by
> corrupt officials and lack of a proper legal system.
>
> Wang Fengyou's official photographer was always on hand to snap him
> glad-handing important government officials. Thus he trumpeted that he
> had guanxi - connections - which gave investors confidence that he was
> protected.
>
> Bribes, according to a business consultant who met him, were a regular
> overhead. He got himself a seat in the front row at the New Year Gala
> Spectacular, the most watched TV programme in China. (In the world,
> actually.)
>
> He was filmed with celebrities who endorsed his products. He had his own
> talk show. In short, he was ubiquitous and it seemed nothing could touch
> him.
>
> Until he went bust. And lost more than a million people's life savings.
>
> You might have thought that the government would be concerned that a
> million people had been cheated of their money. But oh no. Police beat
> those who tried to protest and are now harassing those who speak out.
>
> In a nearby village, at first no-one would talk on camera. Some had
> already been beaten by plain clothes police when they tried to go to
> Beijing to petition the authorities.
>
> The ant farmers of Shenyang were more terrified than any other Chinese
> people I have met. None would let us use their names or show their faces.
>
> An old lady, who had lost both her and her sister's life savings, shoved
> us into her flat so the neighbours couldn't see. She smoked nervously
> and pushed us out after a less than an hour. Her children had told her
> not to talk, it would bring more trouble.
>
> In a nearby village, at first no-one would talk on camera. Some had
> already been beaten by plain clothes police when they tried to go to
> Beijing to petition the authorities.
>
> After we left, those we had interviewed were briefly arrested. We kept
> changing sim cards so our calls would not be tapped. Our producer had
> secret assignations to collect video tape of protests.
>
> The ant farmers are threatening to disrupt the Olympics, so no wonder
> the government is determined to stamp out their protest. But no wonder
> the famers are angry - they may have been naive or even greedy, but in
> the end, they are the victims of a disaster caused by corrupt officials
> and lack of a proper legal system.
>
> As for Wang Fengyou, he's been arrested and imprisoned, but not for
> fraud. Instead, he's accused of instigating the protests by ruined
> investors, so has been charged with "disrupting public order and
> interrupting the traffic."
>
> Which many Chinese officials, I suspect, would see as a far more serious
> crime.
>
>
http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/world/asia_pacific/the+magic+po...
