Blogs » Politics » Sensitive Words: “Watch Brother” and “Watch Uncle”
Blogs » Politics » Sensitive Words: “Watch Brother” and “Watch Uncle” |
- Sensitive Words: “Watch Brother” and “Watch Uncle”
- Rational Patriotism in the (Canned) Air
- China Announces Handover of First Aircraft Carrier
- China’s first aircraft carrier enters into service
- Taiwanese Ships Join The Diaoyu Fray
- If Attacked, Would Taiwan Fight?
- Protests Roiling, China’s Mainstream Media Showed an Alternate Reality
- Spotted on Weibo: … Oh, I Get It.
- Cartoon: Reading the Truth, by Hexie Farm (蟹农场)
- Widespread Fighting Erupts at Foxconn Factory, Possibly Spurred by iPhone 5 Demand
- Hexie Farm (蟹农场): Reading the Truth
- Standing in Silence: One Family’s Stories from the Sino-Japanese War
- Japan: Misreporting on “1,000 Chinese Boats” Headed for Disputed Islands
- The Daily Twit – 9/24/12: I Been Wanglijailed, Diaoyued, and Foxconned
- Is It Time to Start Pitying China Copyright Pirates?
- Miss Bikini International mixes swimwear with Peking Opera
- Some Guy on Weibo Says That Foxconn Workers Have Established a People’s Commune
- Wang Lijun Sentenced to 15 Years
- Foxconn Closes Plant After Worker Brawl
- On China’s Got Talent, husband begs for a chance for his wife to sing
| Sensitive Words: “Watch Brother” and “Watch Uncle” Posted: 24 Sep 2012 10:27 PM PDT As of September 24, the following search terms are blocked on Sina Weibo (not including the "search for user" function):  Amid the online scrutiny of his watch collection, Yuan Dacai admitted to purchasing five, but netizens identified a few more. "Watch Brother" Gone, "Watch Uncle" in Crosshairs: Last month, Shaanxi Provincial Work Safety Administration Chief Yang Dacai became infamous for smiling at the scene of a terrible road accident that killed 36. Netizens found photos of Yang wearing various luxury watches—many more than he could afford on his public salary. Now relieved of his post, "Watch Brother" has drawn attention to Shaanxi Vice Governor Li Jinzhu, a man some claim covered up Yang's corruption. - Li Jin(zhu) (李金（柱）) Note: All Chinese-language words are tested using simplified characters. The same terms in traditional characters occasionally return different results. CDT Chinese runs a project that crowd-sources filtered keywords on Sina Weibo search. CDT independently tests the keywords before posting them, but some searches later become accessible again. We welcome readers to contribute to this project so that we can include the most up-to-date information. To add words, check out the form at the bottom of CDT Chinese's latest sensitive words post. © Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us |
| Rational Patriotism in the (Canned) Air Posted: 24 Sep 2012 10:26 PM PDT Recycling tycoon Chen Guangbiao leapt into action after the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake, travelling to Japan to distribute food, blankets and good wishes from China, and personally—according to one Chinese newspaper—pulling three survivors from the rubble. Even then, Chinese reactions were coloured by nationalism, with one netizen suggesting that the billionaire "must have been kicked in the head by a donkey". Now, amid the ongoing dispute over the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands, Chen has tried to encourage "rational patriotism" by offering to replace his microblog followers' cars destroyed in recent anti-Japan protests. On the arguably less rational side, he has been selling cans of 'Chen Guangbiao: Nice Guy'-branded fresh air to raise money for the Chinese military. From Tea Leaf Nation's Liz Carter at The Atlantic, with pictures:
Global Times gives more details on the air cans and their reception by the public:
© Samuel Wade for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us |
| China Announces Handover of First Aircraft Carrier Posted: 24 Sep 2012 10:09 PM PDT China's Ministry of Defense has announced the country's first aircraft carrier has entered the ranks of the navy. The announcement comes amid ongoing tensions with Japan over the disputed Diaoyu (Senkaku) Islands. From Reuters:
While its status is not entirely clear, official media has reported that it will be ready for combat missions "soon," and that it is prepared to play a role in resolving the Diaoyus dispute. From Shanghai Daily:
© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us |
| China’s first aircraft carrier enters into service Posted: 24 Sep 2012 01:37 PM PDT
China's first aircraft carrier has been handed over to Chinese Navy to enter into service, amid escalating tensions over Diaoyu Islands. The giant vessel, remodeled from Soviet-era carrier Varyag, was given a new name as "Liaoning", in honor of China's northeastern province where it was re-constructed. After numerous sea voyages and trainings, Chinese navy took delivery of the first aircraft carrier on Sunday. It was reported, the carrier is used as a training platform while China builds its own aircraft carriers. |
| Taiwanese Ships Join The Diaoyu Fray Posted: 24 Sep 2012 07:44 PM PDT A number of Taiwanese boats entered the waters around the disputed Diaoyu Islands on Tuesday, according to the Japanese Coast Guard, just a day after two Chinese surveillance ships arrived on their own "rights defense" patrol. From AFP:
China's state-run Global Times is reporting that the Taiwanese contingent consists of nearly 100 vessels, mostly fishing boats:
In a press briefing on Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei also pressed "compatriots" across the Taiwan Strait to work together to protect China's territorial sovereignty. © Scott Greene for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us |
| If Attacked, Would Taiwan Fight? Posted: 24 Sep 2012 07:15 PM PDT The Diplomat's J. Michael Cole challenges the assumption that a majority of Taiwanese would choose not to fight if China attacked their country, writing that Taiwan's unique national identity would likely trump any socio-ethnic similarities its people may share with the Mainland:
© Scott Greene for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us |
| Protests Roiling, China’s Mainstream Media Showed an Alternate Reality Posted: 24 Sep 2012 06:10 PM PDT  A glance at Beijing print newspapers from September 16 suggested things were rather harmonious It's already entered the annals of China's brief but rich Internet history: On Sina Weibo, China's Twitter, posts showing massive anti-Japan protests in China went viral on September 15th and 16th. Out in the real world, protestors across dozens of Chinese cities marched in the thousands. In addition to objecting to Japan's purchase of the uninhibited island, Chinese netizen chatter has zeroed in on two issues: China's nationwide anti-Japan protests and some protesters' violent behavior. Sina, the company that provides China's main Weibo platform, initially seemed unsure of how to deal with the events. Sina deleted a number of "sensitive" posts, extending even to one feel-good story surrounding the protests, when a young man bravely fashioned a makeshift sign warning drivers of Japanese cars to avoid one violent scene. On September 15, user @鹦鹉史航 sighed, "I don't know how many posts you (Sina) have deleted today, but it makes me sick to see you delete that post … The government won't force you to delete this one." The photo was posted by other users and in the end "survived" the censor's scalpel. Meanwhile, off the grid… However, given China's strict media censorship system, are the majority of China's non-netizens aware of the violent protests in the real world? How about the older and the less connected, those not on Weibo who rely on traditional print and broadcast media for their news? This writer conducted a search of the front page headlines of 19 major print media in the cities of Beijing, Qingdao, Changsha, Guangzhou and Xi'an on September 16, the day following the first day of mass protests in these cities. 13 out of the 19 covered only the geographic coordinates of the Diaoyu Islands released by China's State Oceanic Administration on September 15. Beijing Youth Daily (北京青年报) and Xiao Xiang Morning News (潇湘晨报) were the only two media surveyed who actually published photos of their city's protests on their front page. Xi'An Daily (西安日报), Xiao Xiang Morning News (潇湘晨报), Southern Metropolis Daily (南方都市报), and New Express Daily (新快报) included calls to express patriotism in a rational manner. China's mainstream media was scarcely more forthcoming on the Internet. A search of keywords such as "anti-Japan (反日)" and "anti-Japan protest (反日游行)" on the websites of several major print media in China on September 22 showed a similar caution when it came to reporting facts on the ground. One example is the website of Nandu Daily, the most influential daily newspaper in southern China known for independent-minded reporting. Searches for "anti-Japan protests" up to September 22 yielded only two news stories. One had been published on November 7, 2007, covering soldiers in the Second World War against Japan, while the other was published on May 12, 2008, and reported a lecture about patriotism. The website of the Dongfang Daily, a major Shanghai-based major newspaper, was little better. The same search yielded eight stories, none of which covered the protests directly. Five of them covered the reactions of Japanese people, Japanese embassy and Japanese car companies to the protests. One article from Xinhua News, China's government-controlled wire service, called for "rational patriotism" in the face of tensions.  Protesters were on the streets of Guangzhou September 16, but not the front page of Guangzhou's papers After reviewing the evidence, it is clear that iSun Affairs' Zhibiao Song was correct when he wrote, "Except for a few left-wing media in Beijing, most of the traditional media in Mainland China are prohibited from reporting [on the protests.] Print and broadcast media are all staying away from this topic, not to mention providing a full report or comprehensive commentary." Indeed, this writer asked one Weibo user from Guangdong TV whether they were forbidden to cover the protests. "Yes, you understand," he responded on Weibo. A few brave souls A few brave media outlets made some effort to cover the protests. The historically heterodox Caijing Magazine created an album called "Photos of Anti-Japan Protest Slogans" on September 18. On September 21, it published an article titled "Experiencing the 9.15 Anti-Japan Protests in Beijing," which described reporter Jin Song (靳松)'s experience covering a protest on September 15. Perhaps more obliquely, 21CN News, another major news website, curiously mentioned the protest in its Sports section with the title "Rational Patriotism Shown During Nationwide Anti-Japan Protests, Japanese Player in Shenzhen not Afraid of Pressures." These are at least efforts at bringing sunlight to a traditional media landscape that remains highly opaque. However, for journalists and other Chinese determined to broadcast the word on the street, Weibo remains the primary destination. Those in China without social media savvy continue to make do with less. |
| Spotted on Weibo: … Oh, I Get It. Posted: 24 Sep 2012 06:02 PM PDT This image will either make no sense or perfect sense to our dear readers.
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| Cartoon: Reading the Truth, by Hexie Farm (蟹农场) Posted: 24 Sep 2012 03:16 PM PDT  Reading the Truth © Samuel Wade for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us |
| Widespread Fighting Erupts at Foxconn Factory, Possibly Spurred by iPhone 5 Demand Posted: 24 Sep 2012 10:58 AM PDT  Via Weibo Foxconn, Apple's largest contractor, suffered another blow to its international image on September 24 when more than 2,000 workers at its Taiyuan factory in Shanxi Province got involved in a massive fight. More than 40 were reportedly injured and 10 were killed. The details of how the fighting began are sketchy, but most accounts point to a tiff between a security guard and a worker who may not have had the right ID. On Sina Weibo, China's Twitter, the Sina Technology Channel (@新浪科技) tweeted, "A large number of workers were moved to Taiyuan to make iPhone 5 in a rush. The security personnel at the factory had a fight with a worker from Shandong Province, dragged him to a van and beat him up. The victim's co-workers from Shandong sought revenge, and workers from Henan Province became involved too, and the situation devolved into chaos where workers chased down security guards and beat them up." [1] Foxconn's factories in China have had a series of labor troubles, which include ham-handed responses to labor shortages. Tea Leaf Nation was among the first English-language outlets to report on one Foxconn factory's move to bus in "interns" from a local university when personnel ran low. Perhaps because of Foxconn's history, many netizens seem inclined to believe the version of the story that security guards abused their powers against workers. @张毅伟yy tweets, "Foxconn has long oppressed its workers, and where there is oppression there is resistance. Resisting is better than committing suicide. More than twenty security guards beat up four workers–that's pretty rare among Chinese companies." [2] @神行者POLO tweets, "Foxconn is such an eventful place. Apple products are filled with Chinese worker's tears." [3] @猫爪子tt asked, "Do they have unions?" [4] @cuanyu的空间 tweets with a hint of disapproval at foreign coverage of the incident: "Something huge happened at the Foxconn factory in Taiyuan yesterday, but I have not seen a report anywhere. I only found out after reading it on Engagdet, but they only cared about what parts are made at the factory and which products would be affected." [5] Initial domestic coverage, however, was confined to the Weibo rumor mills. Searches for the term "Foxconn conflict" (富士康冲突) were and remain blocked, and users this morning issued widespread complaints about having related tweets deleted. Caijing Magazine (@财经网) sought to place the matter in a larger frame: "The living costs of the society is soaring beyond that of the U.K. and the U.S., and the large population of poor young workers are plunged into hopelessness about their futures. If this problem is not faced or not resolved, and no social mobility is provided to this generation of poor workers, there will be no peace in Chinese society in the future. Good night." [6]
Footnotes (? returns to text)
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| Hexie Farm (蟹农场): Reading the Truth Posted: 24 Sep 2012 10:30 AM PDT For the latest installment in his CDT series, cartoonist Crazy Crab of Hexie Farm again comments on government censorship, by drawing a red devil reading a newspaper titled "Truth" while the portraits on the wall all honor the censors' shears.
Read more about Hexie Farm's CDT series, including a Q&A with the anonymous cartoonist, and see all cartoons so far in the series. [CDT owns the copyright for all cartoons in the Hexie Farm CDT series. Please do not reproduce without receiving prior permission from CDT.] © Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us |
| Standing in Silence: One Family’s Stories from the Sino-Japanese War Posted: 24 Sep 2012 08:32 AM PDT  Chinese soldiers in camoflauge. By U.S. National Archives via Wikimedia Commons For most Chinese, antagonism toward Japan is as much of a given as the rice they will have for dinner. The source of this antagonism, the Sino-Japanese War of 1931-45, is often evoked, but rarely reflected upon. Ask any protester in the recent anti-Japanese demonstrations about the war, and they will likely mention three things: The Nanjing Massacre, the infamous Unit 731 that carried out horrific human experiments, and "comfort women" who were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese army. All of these are true. However, the salience of these particular events, all emphasized heavily in history textbooks, reflects a particularized memory of the war in the Chinese collective psyche. The protesters who recently took the streets in China to protest Japan's nationalization of the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands represent a younger generation that has not experienced the horrors of war. Many of them have little memory of the Tiananmen Square uprising, not to mention the Cultural Revolution. To these young men and women, kang zhan (the War to Resist Japanese Aggression) exists as a collection of images, statistical figures, and well-conditioned emotional responses. Such an understanding of the war is neither invalid nor inconsequential, yet it is by nature artificial and thus subject to manipulation. As a member of this new generation, I cannot claim access to a more complete understanding of the war than my peers. However, I would like to share a few wartime stories that my grandmother recently told me. Hopefully, these personal stories will offer another perspective on the historical enmity between China and Japan. Chinese life in wartime My grandmother's family lived in a rural village just outside of Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. My great-grandfather, a small landlord, owned many shops in the town nearby and was thus quite well off. His proudest feat was having travelled to Shanghai to buy a gramophone, the first in the village, for his sister's dowry. She was very pleased and entered her husband's family with a lot of mian zi (face). Soon after the Marco Polo Bridge Incident of July 7th, which marked the beginning of the Japanese Imperial Army's invasion of mainland China, the wealthy province of Zhejiang fell into enemy hands, despite a valiant resistance effort by the Nationalist Army. As the Japanese army advanced upon Hangzhou, my great-grandfather, famous for his cowardice, was the first to flee. He abandoned all his property, and left behind his pregnant wife, infant son, and five-year-old daughter (my grandmother). Yet somehow, one of the female workers my great-grandfather hired caught early wind of his escape and managed to convince him to bring along two of her own sons. My great-grandfather escaped into the mountains with two children that weren't his own. Ironically, because he was the first to flee, he was also the first to run into the Japanese. He came across a Japanese patrolling squad on the edge of a hill and was promptly confronted. Held at gunpoint, he tried to back away, unknowingly towards a cliff, and fell off still clutching the little boys' hands. Miraculously, they all survived—the cliff was probably not very steep. Those two boys under my great-grandfather's care had eight other siblings. While they survived, all of their brothers and sisters, as well as their father, perished in the war. As the Japanese invaded the village, my great-grandmother fled with her maid. Pregnant with her third child, she didn't have the strength to walk more than a few miles. Knowing that Japanese soldiers were going to catch up to them, she urged the maid, still in her teens, to run ahead. She herself sat down in a small wood, clutching her infant son in one hand and my grandmother's hand in the other. The Japanese duly came. Alarmed by the cloth wrapped bundle that my great-grandmother was holding, one soldier stepped up to her, pointing his bayonet directly at the baby, demanding to be shown what was inside. When my great-grandmother unwrapped the cloth to show the infant's face, the Japanese soldier laughed. He waved for her to go, and then turned around and left with the others. Having walked miles and miles, my grandmother, then only five years old, was exhausted by nightfall. As her mother rested at the bottom of a small hill, she lay down on the ground, pressing her facing onto the dirt, and soon fell asleep. She woke up to a cold, sticky sensation on her cheek and neck. It was blood that had trickled down from atop the hill. My grandmother remembers frantically running around, struck numb by fear. There were so many dead bodies, she said, the stream was dyed pink. The most frightening moment was when she tripped and fell on what she thought was a log. As she reached down, her fingers touched someone else's, but they were cold and stiff. She'll never forget that coldness, she said, just as she will never forget those long nights of hiding. Chinese life today  The vast majority of recent anti-Japanese protesters have never endured the horrors of war. Via Caijing Before I left for a language program in Japan this summer, I jokingly asked my grandma what she would think if I dated a Japanese girl. She didn't explicitly forbid me from doing so, but from her expression I could see deep disapproval. She said that she knew that today's Japanese were not the ones that invaded China, but she could not overcome the instinctive sense of discomfort that comes with thinking about Japan. I understood how she felt after hearing her story. War leaves one scarred for life. Yet what I don't understand is how the twenty and thirty year olds of today can proclaim to harbor such strong feelings of resentment and hatred towards a people many of them have never met, for a war that they have never endured. War is a deeply personal experience, devastating beyond imagination, and can never be distilled into a few pages in a textbook. When one reflects upon war in its details and nuances, the reaction should not be one of anger and animosity, but rather one of grief and remembrance. Despite what they proclaim to be, those advocating for war against the Japanese over the Diaoyu Islands are the ones least familiar with history. The Chinese people should not seek to perpetuate only a selective memory of the Sino-Japanese War, nor should we try to forget it altogether. To continue to de-personalize war, without reflecting upon its consequences, is truly to betray our past. To know more about what happened before 1945, perhaps we should turn first to our grandparents, while we still have the chance. |
| Japan: Misreporting on “1,000 Chinese Boats” Headed for Disputed Islands Posted: 24 Sep 2012 03:55 AM PDT  The disputed Senkaku (Diaoyu) Islands. Photo from Wikipedia. The watchdog for accuracy in news reporting in Japan reports [ja] in its website gohoo.org that several major Japanese newspapers have recently written posts on the Senkaku (Diaoyu) Islands, which are currently part of an ownership dispute with China (for example), based on false information. Written by Keiko Tanaka · comments (0) |
| The Daily Twit – 9/24/12: I Been Wanglijailed, Diaoyued, and Foxconned Posted: 24 Sep 2012 04:47 AM PDT Three stories in particular today rose out of the disgusting pile of muck that I like to call my Inbox, although only one of them is actually timely news. That's right, I'm deliberately wasting your time by feeding you links of questionable importance. First up is the verdict in the Wang Lijun trial, the police chief we all know and love by now for his role in the Bo Xilai/Gu Kailai/dead guy/attempted defection saga. Try saying that five times really fast. The bottom line: Wang got a 15-year sentence, which is hella lenient, all things considered. Guardian: China jails Bo Xilai's former police chief Wang Lijun for 15 years Reuters: China closes in on Bo Xilai after jailing ex-police chief Xinhua: Wang Lijun sentenced to 15 years in prison Next up, today was a day that ended with a "y" so of course there were plenty of stories out there about the maritime dispute between Japan and China, soon to be immortalized in a new movie from Golden Harvest (working title: "Diaoyu Serious?" or "I Just Stepped in a Pile of Senkaku"). Reuters: China surveillance ships enter waters near disputed islands - A couple "marine surveillance" vessels entered what Japan considers to be its territorial waters. Beijing says there were sent on a "rights defense" patrol. Oy veh. Bloomberg: China-Japan Islands Dispute Stokes S. Korean Tourism Boom — This is what happens when two countries fight with each other. As I've been saying all along, after all the politics and nationalistic fervor dies down, what we'll be left with are the economic repercussions. And for the Japanese hospitality industry, this year's China National Day holiday, which is one week away, is going to suck big time, apparently to the benefit of South Korea. Associated Press: Some Japanese imports to China delayed by more customs checks amid islands row — Speaking of economic fallout, here's another example. What do countries do when they get pissed off? They throw up trade barriers like these. Who benefits? No one, but that's beside the point. The third "big" story of the day involves yet another Foxconn production facility and some sort of "mass incident." The news coverage of this odd event, which has been called a riot, a brawl, and a disturbance, annoyed me (I responded with: Some Guy on Weibo Says That Foxconn Workers Have Established a People's Commune). New York Times: Foxconn Factory in China Is Closed After Worker Riot ZDNet: Foxconn riot shuts down China factory for a day Guardian: Foxconn closes China factory after brawl In other news: Global Times: Majority of civil suits caused by contract disputes — These are stats collected from one court in Shanghai. The conclusion here is that folks need to be better educated, have more in-house legal help, etc. I'm not so sure. A healthy economy generates lots of contract disputes — it's not always a bad thing. Reuters: China's corruption crackdown takes shine off luxury boom — A new "frugal working style" rule set to go into effect may mean fewer luxury purchases by government officials in China. Good for public budgets, good for the country, but not so good for the luxury goods sector. I think I can live with that. MarketWatch: Corporate China — exposed abroad — In addition to all the other challenges facing Chinese companies that are going overseas is the demand for transparency. They will either have to adapt or give up and go home. For many that are listed in the U.S., they've decided on the latter option. © Stan for China Hearsay, 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us |
| Is It Time to Start Pitying China Copyright Pirates? Posted: 24 Sep 2012 02:26 AM PDT Seriously, it's getting hard to be a
Damn. You might be surprised to hear this, but the idea that one could take a digital copy and trace not only the identity of the screener, but then also find the online platform operator and distribution statistics, that's physically arousing. Well, probably only for IP lawyers who have been around a while. And don't get out much. I would guess that tech workarounds already exist to extract these watermarks, but at least in this instance, the system worked as intended. Two enthusiastic thumbs up. © Stan for China Hearsay, 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us |
| Miss Bikini International mixes swimwear with Peking Opera Posted: 23 Sep 2012 06:36 PM PDT
What kind of fashion trend do you think it will create, when Peking Opera, as the quintessence of Chinese culture, mixes with the sexy swimwear? In a recent launching ceremony of this year's Miss Bikini International (China Division) finals, the contestants donned swimwear with the highlight of Peking Opera element to show off their grace. The attempt of the integration of Chinese tradition and modern fashion however did not earn praise from the public. Instead of viewing it as a creative or fashionable combination, many called it lousy and unfit. "It ruined the glorious treasure passed down from our ancestors for hundreds of years," said a netizen. How do you think?
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| Some Guy on Weibo Says That Foxconn Workers Have Established a People’s Commune Posted: 24 Sep 2012 01:32 AM PDT
Early this morning, while I was sitting at my desk with my decaf (I'm trying it for a month, just because) when I saw a report from a tech journalist that thousands of workers had rioted at a Foxconn plant in Taiyuan. Wow, big news. I read the article, which had zero direct sources but only referenced a weibo microblog post. Hmm. I thought I'd better sit this one out for a while and see whether it was real or not. Over the next couple of hours, I saw that some of the major papers jumped on it and confirmed that yes, there was something going on at that particular factory. By now, you may have seen one of these reports. All the major news agencies have covered it by now. The facts seem to be that: 1. Several hundred to a couple of thousand workers were involved. 2. The factory suffered some damage, including broken windows, but it is unclear how severe it was. 3. The factory was closed down following the whatever-it-was, and remains closed. 4. The cause of all this remains a mystery. 5. Several workers were arrested, and quite a few were hospitalized, perhaps as many as 40. Now the annoying bits. I'm not going to do a proper fisking with quotes and links — screw it, I'm not interested. They know who they are. First, is this really a story that merits emergency coverage by leading international media outlets? Maybe, but without knowing more details, the importance of the story escapes me. Nevertheless, they ran with it with little information, apparently fearing that all those tech blogs would scoop them by running groundless rumors about a violent struggle between the workers and their bosses. Second, just about every news article I read about this today thought it was really important to find out whether this factory was involved in either supplying parts for the iPhone 5 or assembling it. Does this factoid at all illuminate the situation? We don't even know what the dispute was all about, for God's sake. Who cares what widget or doohickey these workers were putting together? The reality of course is that if a similar riot had occurred at a Chinese factory that produces a more mundane item, like cheese straighteners, the incident would have gotten scant attention even in 5,000 workers were involved. Third, this is a good lesson about timing. The earliest reporting on this went with the tech journo's version, which was just grabbing information from a weibo post. The rumor, or at least the suggestion, at that time was that this was a labor clash. A bit later in the morning, after folks called Foxconn, they ran with stories that simply used a quote from management, who said that the dispute was not work related, without getting the other side of the story. The latest round now says that there may have been a fight between a security guard and a worker that sparked the whole thing. Please. If this is what I get from the newspapers, I might just throw all my subscriptions in the trash and just read the weekly news magazines, if any still exist. Take a breath, folks. I thought it was verboten to run articles with this kind of thin sourcing. It seems that journalists have some sort of biochemical/hormonal reaction to the word "iPhone" that makes them goofy. Kind of like putting a plate of french fries in front of a toddler or showing a 14-year-old boy a picture of naked breasts. I still don't know what happened in that factory last night. Maybe I'll find out on Friday when the Economist comes out. © Stan for China Hearsay, 2012. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us |
| Wang Lijun Sentenced to 15 Years Posted: 24 Sep 2012 01:03 AM PDT Xinhua reports that former Chongqing police chief Wang Lijun has been sentenced to fifteen years in prison "for bending the law for selfish ends, defection, abuse of power and bribe-taking".
Defence lawyer Wang Yuncai suggested to The Telegraph's Malcolm Moore, however, that there is some possibility of Wang's early release on medical grounds:
Wang's sentence is the latest omen of the fate of his former superior, Bo Xilai, for whom its relative lightness—Wang could have faced the death penalty—may be a bad sign. A nine-page Xinhua account of Wang's trial explained last week that the defence had sought a reduced sentence in recognition of his "meritorious reporting" of others' crimes. The account also implied that Bo had been aware of his wife Gu Kailai's killing of Neil Heywood for over a week before Wang finally brought it to light, suggesting his complicity in the cover-up for which Wang, Gu and several others have already been prosecuted. Caixin editor-in-chief Hu Shuli alluded to the possibility of a Bo trial in an editorial on Friday:
In the wake of Wang's trial and sentencing, the South China Morning Post examined how Bo's criminal prosecution might come about:
Li himself faced charges, later dropped, of "fabricating evidence" in defence of a client during one of Bo's signature anti-Mafia campaigns. AFP's account today of Wang's rise and fall describes how he personally "confronted Li at the airport, in front of dozens of police cars, their lights flashing, greeting him with the words 'Li Zhuang, we meet again!' before taking him into custody, the lawyer said." Another profile by The Guardian's Tania Branigan also describes Wang's expansive flamboyant side, as well as his extreme dedication to police work:
© Samuel Wade for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us |
| Foxconn Closes Plant After Worker Brawl Posted: 24 Sep 2012 12:26 AM PDT Foxconn closed its plant in the city of Taiyuan in northern China's Shaanxi province on Monday after a brawl involving 2,000 workers broke out in a dormitory late on Sunday night, according to Reuters:
Taiwan-based Foxconn is the world's largest contract maker of electronic goods and has come under fire along with Apple for the labor conditions at its China factories, though a report released last month found that conditions were improving. The New York Times reported that unconfirmed photographs and video emerged on social media showing riot police and smashed windows at what is believed to be Foxconn's Taiyuan plant:
See also "Meet China's Factory Workers" from CDT. © Scott Greene for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us |
| On China’s Got Talent, husband begs for a chance for his wife to sing Posted: 23 Sep 2012 11:05 PM PDT I came across this video couple of days ago of a failed performance on China's Got Talent, but the contestant begged the judges instead for a chance for his wife to sing. I was deeply moved by this couple, their modest means to life. The song the wife end up singing is about a toast between two friends. In many ways, the song is about the two of them too. Friendship alone can defeat a mountain of bitterness. When thinking about China's last couple of centuries, I am of the same mood too. |
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