Links » Crème » Mid-Week Links: Sina Weibo pushes censorship onto users, a Good Samaritan is saved by surveillance tape, and be better, foreigners
Links » Crème » Mid-Week Links: Sina Weibo pushes censorship onto users, a Good Samaritan is saved by surveillance tape, and be better, foreigners |
- Mid-Week Links: Sina Weibo pushes censorship onto users, a Good Samaritan is saved by surveillance tape, and be better, foreigners
- Top 10 Search List (May 30)
- Today’s China Readings May 30, 2012
| Posted: 30 May 2012 05:00 AM PDT
There's a "Beijing Creatives" meeting happening right now at Great Leap Brewing, winner of the "Place in Which You're Most Likely to Hear the Phrase 'You've Probably Never Heard of Them'" award in the BJC Bar and Club Awards. Go check it out and show them how creative you are by reading these links.
On being a "foreigner," etc. "I would like to propose the following – that we expats living in China improve our efforts to police ourselves. When we hear our friends talking about looking for work, we push them to get the proper visas. When we see obnoxiously drunk expats staggering out of a bar, we get them into a cab and on their way home. When we hear of teachers sleeping with their own students, we take action to protect their students. You can also focus on your own behavior- like withstanding the pushing on the bus without screaming and maybe even give up your seat when no one else is willing. Reply to as many 'Haalllooows' with a friendly smile and wave as long as you can stomach. As unfair as it is, remember that wherever you go, you're not only representing yourself or even your country, but all waiguoren, all ~5.6 billion of us." [Seeing Red in China] This comment about sums up my reaction: "I'm so upset, the citizens of our country…": "In Linyi city of Shandong province, a post-80s generation young man who helped an injured elderly person who was trapped under an electric tricycle due to a traffic accident was instead wrongly accused as the perpetrator. Fortunately, after the Hedong district police of Linyi city checked the surveillance footage of the intersection, the entire course of the young man's good deed in aiding the old man was restored." [chinaSMACK] Luckily, it's not like we at BJC are fans of puns or anything. "The service, Sina Weibo, imposed 'user contracts' that award each of its 300 million microbloggers a starting score of 80 points. // Points can be deducted for online comments that are judged to be offensive. When a blogger reaches zero, the service stated, a user's account will be canceled… // Most notably, the contracts also will punish time-honored tactics that bloggers have used to avoid censorship, like disguising comments on censored topics by using homonyms (where two different Chinese characters have nearly identical sounds), puns and other dodges." [NY Times] On China's Internet: "As reader #3 says, 'the question is whether or not China can build a world-class society while building a giant intranet that is China-specific.' By my lights, the answer to that question must be No. Everything I have learned about the world tells me that 'world-class' powers must be open to the world." [James Fallows, The Atlantic] Cop breaks car window to administer breathalyzer. "We assume the result was not favorable, which begs the question: What did the driver think was going to happen? Then again, the driver was likely not in a state conducive to lucid, rational thought. Or perhaps he knew all too well the new, beefed up penalties in China that have made drunk driving a criminal offense." [Tea Leaf Nation] The end of the grand experiment to take 300 shots of baijiu. "I started my blog by confessing that I did not like baijiu, and now I end my journey with another: I started liking baijiu months ago. By 'liking,' I don't just mean 'tolerating,' either. I mean enjoying the taste of baijiu, enjoying the ritual of baijiu drinking and enjoying the surprising fact that it rarely produces a nasty hangover. I could tolerate baijiu very early on, after, say, 50 shots. By around 100 my feelings were neutral and by 200 I happily downed just about anything put in front of me. Sauce aroma, strong aroma, Erguotou, whatever. I could drink it all. I don't believe it takes 300 shots to start liking baijiu – it takes far less." [300 Shots at Greatness] To castrate or not castrate? "The South Korean Ministry of Justice announced last week it would use chemical castration on a repeat sex offender, who violently sexually assaulted four children under the age of 13… Do such measures work? Should they be introduced in China? The Global Times invited three commentators to contribute their thoughts." [Global Times] At least this knockoff iMac looks good. "But if you turn it on and use it, you will find out it's a slow, underpowered and cheap PC." [MIC Gadget] Your Nescafe "coffee" interlude: Finally… "Most Chinese support patriotism." [Global Times] Craft beer festival in Beijing on Saturday, 1-6 pm. [Beijing Boyce] Where all the women bloggers be? [Stan Abrams, China Hearsay] |
| Posted: 30 May 2012 12:13 AM PDT
1. 双汇肋排现蛆虫 Shuānghuì lèipái xiàn qūchóng – An online user from Henan province uploaded pictures of dead maggots discovered from the pork spare ribs he purchased from Shuanghui Group, one of China's largest meat processing companies. Shuanghui has yet to provide Chinese consumers with a satisfactory explanation or an official apology. Here's the story in Chinese. 2. 一分钱捐款 yīfēnqián juānkuǎn – Chongqing Charity Foundation recently received a 1 cent RMB donation from a company in Fujian, and reported its receipt as it usually does with all donations. Many interprete the 1 cent donation as a clever way of testing the transparency and attitude of charitable organizations in the country. Here's the story in Chinese. 3. 医院内50块买卖婴儿 yīyuànnèi 50 kuài mǎimai yīngér – Authorities recently solved a case of illegal baby trafficking in a hospital in Shandong. One of the people involved in this case admitted to the authorities that she connected the sellers with potential buyers for a 50-yuan introduction fee. Netizens are storming the online forums and flooding microblogs with disgust and anger in response. Here's the story in Chinese. 4. 逃犯变身校长 táofàn biànshēn xiàozhǎng – Netizens are questioning how Shi Baoyue, a suspect of forging value-added tax receipts totaling in the millions 13 years ago, was able to dodge legal repercussions and take on a new fake identity to acquire reputable official posts such as the Deputy Head of Zhangjiagang city Municipal Party Committee Academy. Online users are wondering if the government should be held responsible for letting a suspected criminal fall through the cracks in civil service recruitments. Here's the story in Chinese. 5. 选秀奇葩女 xuǎnxiù qípānǚ -Huang Xinxin recently appeared on television as a contestant of the "Huaerduoduo" Talent Show, and has garnered a fair amount of online fame for her unusual attire, over-the-top performance, and for responding crudely to one of the judges inquiring about her relationship with the man she shamelessly professed her one-side love to on-stage. She has been nicknamed "Talent show exotic flower" for her odd behavior on national television. Here's the story in Chinese. 6. 全聚德致歉 Quánjùdé zhìqiàn – Well-known Beijing Duck restaurant Quanjude issued a public apology for selling leftover duck oil and other waste oils and fats to vendors through third-party dealers. Here's the story in Chinese. 7. 市长亲吻批文 shìzhǎng qīnwěn pīwén – A picture of Guangdong Zhanjiang's mayor kissing an approval document for the city's steel development project drew a great deal of attention online. Online articles suggest this unexpected gesture caught on photo reflects the mayor's sincere emotional investment in the well-being of the city. Here's the story in Chinese. 8. 深圳飙车顶包 Shēnzhèn biāochē dǐngbāo – Online users suspect the police of tampering with security footage evidence from the car speeding that took place this Tuesday in Shenzhen. Here's the story in Chinese. 9. 给猪建别墅 gěi zhū jiàn biéshù– A pig farmer in Suining county, Jiangsu province, has built a house for his two little pigs—not of straw, sticks, or bricks, but of actual concrete. The hut he erected for his little porkers set a certain Mr. Chen back RMB 8000, and neighbors joke that Chen's pigs are leading a "modestly prosperous existence"—a "小康生活" (xiaokang shenghuo) in the Chinese phrase. Others are more indignant, but for all their huffing and puffing the piggy house remains standing. Here's the story in Chinese. 10. 女版郭德纲爆红 nǚbǎn Guō Dégāng bàohóng－ A woman bearing an uncanny resemblance to the cross-talk (相声，xiangsheng) comedian Guo Degang became an overnight sensation when her picture was posted on Sina Weibo. "Whoever says I look like Guo Degang will get a beating!" she railed. One typical reply: "I must speak the truth, even if it means suffering a beating." Here's the story in Chinese.        |
| Today’s China Readings May 30, 2012 Posted: 29 May 2012 05:54 PM PDT Is China launching a new economic stimulus package? The Wall Street Journal explains that "China has significantly accelerated approvals for new investment projects by companies and local governments", Bloomberg quotes Xinhua as saying China Has No Plan for Large-Scale Stimulus, People's Daily urges steady growth and prudent investing in 稳增长 要投资不要投资冲动 and the Financial Times provides a summary of what is known so far in China's mini stimulus, explained. Stock markets on Tuesday welcomed news of some kind of stimulus but disappointment may await those expecting anything similar to the massive policy response we saw in 2008-9. The Wall Street Journal's Josh Chin provides a good overview of Sina Weibo's New 'User Credit' Points System, dubbing it Censorship 3.0. Per Chin: "Sina Weibo issued a new warning to users to keep themselves in-check with the introduction Monday of a points-based behavior measurement system…The system, dubbed "Weibo Credit," encourages users to report each other for activities ranging from harassment of others to the spreading of "untrue information," with each negative report resulting in a lower credit score — leading, ultimately, to the public humiliation of a "low-credit user" badge." In 新浪微博：发5条敏感信息将被禁言或封号 Caijing reports that Sina has recruited 5484 community committee members to help enforce new rules (新浪微博公开招募的5484名社区委员也开始履职，与新浪共同维护微博平台的秩序). It sounds like the Internet has helped China progress from neighborhood watch committees to Weibo watch committees. I have written a lot about Sina over at Digicha. People who still insist that Sina Weibo is the "Facebook+Twitter" of China misunderstand the competitive situation, the use case and the "cost structure with Chinese characteristics" that results from the information regulatory regime. China Media Project provides an update on the use of Weibo by the Public Security organs in Chinese police storm into the era of social media, writing that "on May 24, People's Daily Online Public Opinion Monitoring Center released a list of China's top influential microblogs operated by public security offices at the provincial and sub-provincial level in China, determined on the basis of confirmed followers (认证粉丝数), follower activity levels (粉丝活跃率), original posts, average shares and comments and other criteria." Digicha has a post from last October noting that Chinese Police Embrace Microblogs; it is good to see an update on their progress. The censorship load is only going to increase, absent bigger changes, given that A Quarter of Chinese Children Under 7 Are Already Online (Tea Leaf Nation). My last startup tried to build a virtual world for Chinese kids, believing that the market would grow rapidly. At least we were right about the market, though we were very wrong about how to attack it. I am not sure if it is better to be right but screwup or to just be wrong… James Fallows has a good post about China's Internet and the country's future in Is China's Internet Actually 'Slow'? And Does That Matter?. China's Internet is only slow if you try to access the global Internet outside of China. Surfing on the Chinese Internet is very fast and you can find many copies of just about every service on the global Internet, with content differences of course. Innovation is a challenge here, and the CPC Central Committee Politburo just met and urged the country to "deepen the reform of its technological system and accelerate the building of a national innovative mechanism." Internet control is a symptom of the political and cultural environment that stifles innovation, not the cause. Disgraced former Beijing Party Secretary Chen Xitong is in the news after the leak of a new book based on interviews with him following his release from jail. Chen claims he was just following orders in 1989, that he was the innocent victim of a broader power struggle, and that the Tiananmen crackdown was a tragedy. People are getting very excited about this story, but I have a few questions. Do we think he would say "I had significant responsibility for the June 4 crackdown"? If he is innocent, who sold Wangfujing to the Hong Kong developers, and who is responsible for the destruction of a great neighborhood and landmarks like the Peking Opera theater that was razed? And why did his deputy, Wang Baosen, shoot himself in Pinggu? The US military seems to be in full damage control over the report that special operators go into North Korea. David Axe details the reaction to his original post in Context of the Korea Special Forces Story along with confirmations from other reporters present at the talk. Expect Gen. Tolley to be in a different role soon? Ian Johnson has a great story about Bill Porter, author of Road to Heaven: Encounters with Chinese Hermits and Zen Baggage: A Pilgrimage to China, who is finding a much bigger audience in China than he ever found in the West. There is much insight about modern China in Finding Zen and Book Contracts in Beijing.
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