For at least a little while, millions of television viewers were distracted by the pomp and pageantry of the Beijing Olympics. However, human rights activists say neither an eight-foot wall built along Luomashi Boulevard to conceal run-down businesses nor the extravagant flash of CGI (computer-generated imagery) fireworks can mask China’s policy of abusing human rights.

Some examples:

State vs. Family

China takes gifted children out of their homes at an early age, and from then on drills them on their specialty with singular purpose to show the world the superiority of the communist state. The People’s Republic cites “individual freedom” as a societal abuse. AFP photo by Franck Fife

Harmony vs. Gendercide

China’s manic adherence to a one-child policy has resulted in the gendercide of thousands of female children, both born and unborn.

A byproduct of this has been the last two generations of Chinese population have been so lacking in females that the population has become more aggressive — and that’s not a good thing on the world stage. Reuters photo by Claro Cortes

Persecution of Christians

China fashions itself as tolerant of Christianity (and other religions), but it maintains a state-run Catholic Church, routinely harasses faithful Catholics and imprisons bishops and priests loyal to the Pope. Just prior to the Olympics, thousands of Bibles were confiscated that an evangelical group planned to distribute. Photo by Zumawire