BEIJING // Chinese censors blocked web searches of a host of terms related to blind activist Chen Guangcheng, from his name to The Shawshank Redemption, the prison-break film being compared to his case.
Searches for Chen's name and the Chinese terms for "Shawshank", "blind person", "embassy", and Chen's home village of Dongshigu were all blocked on Sina Weibo, China's leading microblogging service.
Also blocked was "UA898", a United Airlines direct flight from Beijing to Washington, apparently after people speculated online about the possibility Chen would gain US asylum.
Other blocked terms included the names of Chen's relatives and the internet nickname of a woman, He Peirong, who reportedly helped him escape.
The searches triggered messages saying the results could not be displayed because of "relevant regulations".
Some web users had used the Chinese characters for "Shawshank" to refer to the case.
The Shawshank Redemption was a 1994 film based on a novella by US author Stephen King, about a convict's escape from an American prison.
The pervasive web censorship system run by China's ruling Communist Party routinely blocks content deemed politically sensitive or embarrassing to the government.
None of China's print or other media have made any mention of the Chen affair.
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Key changes
Commission caps
For life insurance products with a savings component, Peter Hodgins of Clyde & Co said different caps apply to the saving and protection elements:
• For the saving component, a cap of 4.5 per cent of the annualised premium per year (which may not exceed 90 per cent of the annualised premium over the policy term).
• On the protection component, there is a cap of 10 per cent of the annualised premium per year (which may not exceed 160 per cent of the annualised premium over the policy term).
• Indemnity commission, the amount of commission that can be advanced to a product salesperson, can be 50 per cent of the annualised premium for the first year or 50 per cent of the total commissions on the policy calculated.
• The remaining commission after deduction of the indemnity commission is paid equally over the premium payment term.
• For pure protection products, which only offer a life insurance component, the maximum commission will be 10 per cent of the annualised premium multiplied by the length of the policy in years.
Disclosure
Customers must now be provided with a full illustration of the product they are buying to ensure they understand the potential returns on savings products as well as the effects of any charges. There is also a “free-look” period of 30 days, where insurers must provide a full refund if the buyer wishes to cancel the policy.
“The illustration should provide for at least two scenarios to illustrate the performance of the product,” said Mr Hodgins. “All illustrations are required to be signed by the customer.”
Another illustration must outline surrender charges to ensure they understand the costs of exiting a fixed-term product early.
Illustrations must also be kept updatedand insurers must provide information on the top five investment funds available annually, including at least five years' performance data.
“This may be segregated based on the risk appetite of the customer (in which case, the top five funds for each segment must be provided),” said Mr Hodgins.
Product providers must also disclose the ratio of protection benefit to savings benefits. If a protection benefit ratio is less than 10 per cent "the product must carry a warning stating that it has limited or no protection benefit" Mr Hodgins added.
