Blogs » Politics » Photo: Short trip, by Mark Hobbs
Blogs » Politics » Photo: Short trip, by Mark Hobbs |
- Photo: Short trip, by Mark Hobbs
- A Glimpse of the Human Moment of Chinese Leaders
- China's “Great Global Thinkers” for 2012
- China: Model Sentenced for Posing in a Police Uniform
- Savaged Again, Understanding the BBC’s Role
- Chinese Music Video
- U.S. Treasury: China Not a Currency Manipulator
- Why Are Government Jobs in China So Popular?
- China’s lack of concern for the safety of children
- Online Chatter May Herald Deep Reforms in China’s Administrative Government
- Tibet Self-Immolations Moving to “New Phase”; 86th Reported
- China’s “Great Global Thinkers” for 2012
- Thailand Increases Controls on Cyberspace Through Use of Archaic Laws
- State Dept.: U.S. Does Not Endorse China Passport Map
- Military Growth Not a Threat, Says Defense Minister
- People’s Daily Hails Kim Jong-Un as “Sexiest Man Alive”
- Notice: VPNs Are Not for Fun
- China’s J-15 Carrier Operations: Putting One Foot in Front of the Other
- The Troubling Inner Workings of One “U.S. College Application Consulting Company” in China
- Censorship Vault: Beijing Internet Instructions Series (20)
| Photo: Short trip, by Mark Hobbs Posted: 27 Nov 2012 10:50 PM PST  Short trip © Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us |
| A Glimpse of the Human Moment of Chinese Leaders Posted: 27 Nov 2012 10:12 PM PST  Premier Wen Jiabao (left) and President Hu Jintao (right) sharing a laugh following a day's work at the recent 18th Party Congress A Chinese micro-blogger, Wang Dongdong tweeted the above image on Sina Weibo, China's Twitter on November 23, which has been retweeted over 103,000 times. The blogger [zh] said,
Tealeafnation has picked up the story. Written by Abby · comments (0) |
| China's “Great Global Thinkers” for 2012 Posted: 27 Nov 2012 08:56 PM PST Samuel Wade from China Digital Times introduced the six Chinese civil society leaders - Chen Guangcheng, Ai Weiwei, Yu Jianrong, Ma Jun, Wang Jisi, Kai-fu Lee - who are listed in the Foreign Policy's 2012 Great Global Thinkers. Written by Oiwan Lam · comments (0) |
| China: Model Sentenced for Posing in a Police Uniform Posted: 27 Nov 2012 07:21 PM PST A model who posted a risque photo of herself in a police uniform was sentenced to 9 months in jail and one-year probation upon court review. Beijing Cream believes that the punishment is more about her mentioning "government leaders" in her micro-blog attached to the picture:
Written by Oiwan Lam · comments (0) |
| Savaged Again, Understanding the BBC’s Role Posted: 27 Nov 2012 09:39 PM PST Copyright, Truthout.org. Reprinted with permission. Savaged Again, Understanding the BBC's Role In the Middle East, the Israeli state has successfully intimidated the BBC into presenting the theft of Palestinian land and the caging, torturing and killing of its people as an intractable "conflict" between equals. Understanding the BBC as a pre-eminent state propagandist is on no public agenda and it ought to be. The truth of this statement was equal to its irony. On November 24, 1965, the BBC banned The War Game as "too horrifying for the medium of broadcasting. "This was false. The real reason was spelled out by the chairman of the BBC Board of Governors, Lord Normanbrook, in a secret letter to the secretary to the cabinet, Sir Burke Trend. "[The War Game] is not designed as propaganda," he wrote, "it is intended as a purely factual statement and is based on careful research into official material … But the showing of the film on television might have a significant effect on public attitudes towards the policy of the nuclear deterrent. "Following a screening attended by senior Whitehall officials, the film was banned because it told an intolerable truth. Sixteen years later, the then BBC director-general, Sir Ian Trethowan, renewed the ban, saying that he feared for the film's effect on people of "limited mental intelligence". Watkins' brilliant work was eventually shown in 1985 to a late-night minority audience. It was introduced by Ludovic Kennedy, who repeated the official lie. What happened to The War Game is the function of the state broadcaster as a cornerstone of Britain's ruling elite. With its outstanding production values, often fine popular drama, natural history and sporting coverage, the BBC enjoys wide appeal and, according to its managers and beneficiaries, "trust." This "trust" may well apply to the series "Springwatch" and Sir David Attenborough, but there is no demonstrable basis for it in much of the news and so-called current affairs that claim to make sense of the world, especially the machinations of rampant power. There are honorable individual exceptions, but watch how these are tamed the longer they remain in the institution: a "defenestration," as one senior BBC journalist describes it. This is notably true in the Middle East where the Israeli state has successfully intimidated the BBC into presenting the theft of Palestinian land and the caging, torturing and killing of its people as an intractable "conflict" between equals. Standing in the rubble from an Israeli attack, one BBC journalist went further and referred to "Gaza's strong culture of martyrdom." So great is this distortion that young viewers of BBC news have told Glasgow University researchers they are left with the impression that Palestinians are the illegal colonizers of their own country. The current BBC "coverage" of Gaza's genocidal misery reinforces this. The BBC's "Reithian values" of impartiality and independence are almost scriptural in their mythology. Soon after the corporation was founded in the 1920s by Lord John Reith, Britain was consumed by the General Strike. "Reith emerged as a kind of hero," wrote the historian Patrick Renshaw, "who had acted responsibly and yet preserved the precious independence of the BBC. But though this myth persisted it has little basis in reality … the price of that independence was in fact doing what the government wanted done. [Prime Minister Stanley] Baldwin … saw that if they preserved the BBC's independence, it would be much easier for them to get their way on important questions and use it to broadcast Government propaganda." Unknown to the public, Reith had been the prime minister's speech writer. Ambitious to become Viceroy of India, he ensured the BBC became an evangelist of imperial power, with "impartiality" duly suspended whenever that power was threatened. This "principle" has applied to the BBC's coverage of every colonial war of the modern era: from the covered-up genocide in Indonesia and suppression of eyewitness film of the American bombing of North Vietnam to support for the illegal Blair/Bush invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the now familiar echo of Israeli propaganda whenever that lawless state abuses its captive, Palestine. This reached a nadir in 2009 when, terrified of Israeli reaction, the BBC refused to broadcast a combined charities appeal for the people of Gaza, half of whom are children, most of them malnourished and traumatized by Israeli attacks. The United Nations Rapporteur, Richard Falk, has likened Israel's blockade of Gaza to the Warsaw Ghetto under siege by the Nazis. Yet, to the BBC, Gaza – like the 2010 humanitarian relief flotilla murderously attacked by Israeli commandos – largely presents a public relations problem for Israel and its US sponsor. Mark Regev, Israel's chief propagandist, seemingly has a place reserved for him near the top of BBC news bulletins. In 2010, when I pointed this out to Fran Unsworth, now elevated to director of news, she strongly objected to the description of Regev as a propagandist, adding, "It's not our job to go out and appoint the Palestinian spokesperson". With similar logic, Unsworth's predecessor, Helen Boaden, described the BBC's reporting of the criminal carnage in Iraq as based on the "fact that Bush has tried to export democracy and human rights to Iraq. "To prove her point, Boaden supplied six A4 pages of verifiable lies from Bush and Tony Blair. That ventriloquism is not journalism seemed not to occur to either woman. What has changed at the BBC is the arrival of the cult of the corporate manager. George Entwistle, the briefly-appointed director general who said he knew nothing about false accusations of child abuse against a Tory grandee on the show "Newsnight," is to receive 450,000 pounds of public money for agreeing to resign before he was sacked: the corporate way. This and the preceding Jimmy Savile scandal might have been scripted for the Daily Mail and the Murdoch press, whose self-serving hatred of the BBC has long provided the corporation with its "embattled" facade as the guardian of "public service broadcasting." Understanding the BBC as a pre-eminent state propagandist and censor by omission – more often than not in tune with its right-wing enemies – is on no public agenda and it ought to be. Copyright, Truthout. May not be reprinted without permission. |
| Posted: 27 Nov 2012 07:19 PM PST This music video has been circulating amongst PLA enthusiasts back home; pretty cute. |
| U.S. Treasury: China Not a Currency Manipulator Posted: 27 Nov 2012 06:39 PM PST In its semi-annual currency report to Congress on Tuesday, the U.S. Treasury Department said the yuan "remains significantly undervalued" but stopped short of branding China a currency manipulator as former presidential candidate Mitt Romney had threatened to do. From Bloomberg:
At a forum in Beijing last week, People's Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan said that China would seek increased convertibility of its currency as it continues to liberalize its capital markets. The yuan closed at a record high on Tuesday, according to Reuters, but one U.S. legislator reiterated his calls for China to be formally labeled a manipulator so that tangible action can be taken on the issue:
© Scott Greene for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us |
| Why Are Government Jobs in China So Popular? Posted: 27 Nov 2012 03:25 PM PST On Nov 25, 2012, about 1.12 million Chinese sat the National Public Servant Exam, an increase of 150,000 from last year, according to a State Administration of Civil Service official. Most candidates are university students; they are competing for about 20,000 government vacancies. More than 1.5 million people registered to take the exam, South China Morning Post reported - a record - and more than 30 times the number sitting the exam a decade ago. The annual National Public Servant Exam includes an aptitude test and a written policy essay, and those who pass the written exam will have to pass a tough interview process before they can get a government job.  Thousands of college graduates flock to take the civil servant exam in China. Screen capture of CCTV news feature. Enthusiasm towards the exam has also triggered heated discussion in Chinese social media and blogospheres where netizens explore the deeper reason behind its popularity. Many say it is an indicator of heavy government corruption where a civil servant with even an average salary can enjoy a good life due to the position's special benefits and power. Others mention negative attitudes in society towards private companies and entrepreneurship. Below are some selected quotes from Weibo, China's version of Twitter [zh]: The Corruption of the System
The Worries of Private Companies
CEO of dhgate.com, Wang Shutong felt sad about situation:
Famous commentator Shi Shusi echoed with Wang:
Written by Abby · comments (0) |
| China’s lack of concern for the safety of children Posted: 27 Nov 2012 05:42 PM PST For the last month, there has been a raging debate over child abuse. It started when Yan Yanhong posted pictures of herself abusing her own kindergarten students; the pictures were taken by her co-worker, Tong Qingqing. She picked her students up by the ears, put children upside-down in garbage cans, and taped their mouths shut for "being disobedient," and in other cases "just for fun." Far more disturbing, was that Yan Yanhong forced her 4-5 year old students to strip, dance, and kiss each other (People's daily reported several times on this story when it broke 1,2,3,4). This is just one of dozens of child abuse cases involving teachers. In Shanxi a girl was slapped in the face for nearly 10 minutes for failing to correctly add 1 and 10. In neighboring Sha'anxi, a 4-year old boy was cut by his teacher for not performing his morning exercises well, while in Nanjing a teacher used a hot iron on the faces of seven children. Despite this despicable behavior, not a single one of these teachers has been tried for child abuse. According to China's criminal codes, child abuse is only a crime if it is done by a family member, meaning that Yan Yanhong and other teachers have to be tried under sections of code like "picking quarrels and provoking troubles." The paper however fails to mention it is exceedingly rare for family members to be tried for child abuse, as police routinely dismiss it as a "family matter." However, a month later, People's Daily is reporting that these teachers were found not guilty of criminal activity. About which the mother was understandably shocked saying, "It is so unfair that the teachers who abused the children for fun will not be punished for their bad behavior, and it will not act as a deterrent to other teachers involved in similar cases." When one combines China's legal loopholes that allow for children to be abused by teachers and family members, and a seeming lack of concern over child abductions, one begins to wonder whether children are valued by China's legal system. This seems unimaginable given Chinese society's emphasis on the importance of children, and yet the system remains broken. This is one of many factors contributing to the growing unrest in China – a sense that children, the family's most valuable asset, is not valued by the state. The state does seem to be acutely aware of the need to protect children as they moved to increase security in schools to prevent stabbings, and the rush to execute the men supposedly behind the melamine scandal. However, cases like the one involving Yan Yanhong remind parents of their own vulnerability in a country where the rule of law is not applied evenly. Their vulnerability is again connected to the state's one child policy. As the Global Times exposed in this heart breaking account, families whose children have died are only entitled to an allowance of 80 yuan per month (some counties are higher, but this is the national standard). Hopefully, these recent scandals help to close the loopholes, but for now China's children are far from being protected by the law. It seems difficult to dream of human rights in China when, after 60 years, there are still no basic protections for children. Filed under: Current Events Tagged: Child abuse, China, Global Times, Yan Yanhong   |
| Online Chatter May Herald Deep Reforms in China’s Administrative Government Posted: 27 Nov 2012 05:05 PM PST  (iStock Photo) For those who look for hints of political reforms after the leadership transition in China's 18th Party Congress, here is a piece of glad tidings: A round of bureau downsizing led by the State Council is likely to come soon. Although not confirmed by any official source yet, a detailed plan to make "super-ministries" out of existing governmental organs has gone viral among Chinese web users. A tweet about the possible reforms from one Weibo user, @卞大巍 which included a link to the rumored plan was re-tweeted almost 9,000 times. It is said that the plan is being discussed within China's State Council. Some of the rumored measures, which are surprisingly bold, would fundamentally change the landscape of China's governmental system if turned into reality:
The implications of such a restructuring would range far and wide. Wang Binshan (@山言両语), professor of urban planning at Tsinghua University, took to Sina Weibo, China's Twitter, to express his excitement about potential reforms in his field: "Should the super-ministry system [大部制] be in effect, it would not only streamline government organs but prevent inconsistency among government agencies. The merging of the Ministry of Land and Resources into the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development would herald an end to the separation of urban planning from overall land management. Fewer real estate projects would be able to exploit loopholes in the land management system. In addition, the merging of the National Tourism Administration and the Administration of Cultural Heritage into the Ministry of Culture would improve the relationship among tourism development, preservation of historic relics and cultural inheritance." Of course, as with all re-allocations of power, the rumored changes would pose great threats to many interest groups. It's certain that the final picture will be subjected to bargaining and tradeoff among various authorities before it passes from rumor to reality. @甘肃郝志强 is rather pessimistic about possible results: "The reform plans will not be finalized until approved by the National People's Congress next spring at earliest. The rearrangement of ministries is so complicated and involved with so many interest groups. Some of the rumored measures, such as the abolition of local taxation bureaus, are ridiculously impossible. Do you think such ministry-level reforms is a game of Legos?" Nevertheless, if history is any guide, a round of reforms is likely to take place in the near future. Since 1982, a spate of new measures to reorganize China's bureaucracy has followed the close of each National Party Congress. The previous six waves of reforms have reduced the number of ministries under the State Council from 100 to 27. Not only did the downsizing efforts enhance administrative efficiency and coherence, but also transferred power to the private market. @先知元 gives a good illustration. "The super-ministry reform is not simply merging some ministries together. At the core is the thinking that the government should take a laissez faire approach to economic affairs and minimize interference with the market–the principle being that the government would not intervene in any matter that the market could resolve by itself. As the government's power wanes, the number of ministries and staff would decrease naturally." However, some Internet commentators are concerned about the reform's potential negative impacts. @墨鉅 worries that the centralization of power caused by the downsizing, given the absence of effective checks and balances, would lead to abuse. "Super-ministry systems in Western countries aim to increase efficiency, but in China, without public elections, without checks and balances from the congress and the judiciary, I don't know how many evil things those 'huge big hands' would do." Moreover, @大彭山人 points out that any attempt to streamline government organs will fail if the number of government officials does not shrink. "I hope that after the reforms are implemented, the State Council would tell us how many jobs and officials are downsized. That's what people really care about. Some previous restructuring efforts ended up changing only signs on the door. This kind of reform … has no real meaning." Underlying those different concerns is the same message: The super-ministry reforms cannot not fully achieve their goals if political reforms in other sectors do not catch up. Though hoping for more profound reforms, Internet users such as @樱桃杀手NO1 still buy into the rumored change: "Despite the fact that the super-ministry system is hard to implement and that it does nothing to cure the root problems, but having the reform is still much better than having no change at all!" |
| Tibet Self-Immolations Moving to “New Phase”; 86th Reported Posted: 27 Nov 2012 05:21 PM PST Dharamshala-based Phayul.com reports than an 86th Tibetan self-immolation took place on Tuesday evening, marking the 24th this month.
The Chinese government's blackout of independent media in Tibetan areas makes independent verification of reports from the region difficult or impossible. Even the number of self-immolations is uncertain: according to activist group Rangzen Alliance and writer Woeser [zh], the current total is 92. (Woeser's tweet states 91, but predates news of the latest incident.) A post by Woeser written on August 1st and translated at High Peaks Pure Earth explains part of the discrepancy. U.S. government-funded Radio Free Asia reported four arrests following student protests on Monday. Independent experts quoted by the similarly funded Voice of America suggested that the self-immolations have moved into a new phase in recent weeks, with activists describing this as an attempt to sway the recently installed Party leadership in Beijing.
In a further broadening of the protest movement, Phayul reports that coordinated hunger strikes have broken out across Tibetan areas:
© Samuel Wade for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us |
| China’s “Great Global Thinkers” for 2012 Posted: 27 Nov 2012 03:56 PM PST As the season of lists gets underway, Foreign Policy has released its ranking of the 100 Top Global Thinkers of 2012. Fresh from his coronation as GQ magazine's Rebel of the Year, and leading the Chinese contingent at number 9, is legal activist Chen Guangcheng:
An interview with Chen Guangcheng by Isaac Stone Fish accompanies the list. In it, Chen discusses how the central government allows abuses by local authorities—see Guizhou journalist Li Yuanlong's detention last week for a recent example—and the chances of change or even revolution in China's near future.
Chen does not appear to view the possibility of revolution with any great relish: when asked what the worst idea of the year is, he answered "violence". Controversial artist Ai Weiwei, still unable to leave China over a year after his 81-day detention in 2011, is ranked 26th:
Foreign Policy also published a slideshow from Ai's first North American retrospective at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C., noting that "the artist was not in attendance." British singer Elton John added a concert dedication to Ai's list of recent accolades on Sunday. While dismissing this "disrespectful" gesture, Global Times took the opportunity to critique Chen and Ai's inclusion in the Foreign Policy list:
A more nuanced piece of Aiconoclasm came last week from Paul Gladston at Randian:
At 54 in the Foreign Policy list is Yu Jianrong, for his concise but detailed roadmap for reform.
China Media Project's David Bandurski translated Yu's plan in March. Soon afterwards, Didi Kirsten Tatlow described it at The International Herald Tribune, together with some criticism from Tsinghua University political scientist Liu Yu:
Yu's nomination for best idea of 2012 is Mo Yan's controversial selection for the Nobel Prize for Literature. Mo's chief rival for the award, Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami, took 49th place on the Foreign Policy list as a consolation prize. At 69 is environmentalist Ma Jun:
Wang Jisi, "China's most respected expert on the United States", came in at 73:
And at 83 is the Taiwanese-American former head of Google China, venture capitalist Kai-fu Lee:
Perhaps more significant to China for now than any of the above are Aung San Suu Kyi and Thein Sein, who top the list having begun to pilot the formerly reliable Chinese satellite of Myanmar (also known as Burma) into a more open and international orbit:
See more on Chen Guangcheng, Ai Weiwei, Yu Jianrong, Ma Jun, Wang Jisi, Kai-fu Lee and Myanmar/Burma at CDT. © Samuel Wade for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us |
| Thailand Increases Controls on Cyberspace Through Use of Archaic Laws Posted: 27 Nov 2012 02:48 PM PST Memo #193 By Kieran Bergmann – kieran.bergmann [at] utoronto.ca
The government's primary method of controlling cyberspace has been to prosecute "offenders" under the lèse-majesté provision in the criminal code, which prohibits any act considered defamatory to the monarchy, and the 2007 Computer Crimes Act. The use of these two legal instruments in conjunction has extended the criminalization of lèse-majesté into cyberspace and broadened the pool of potential lèse-majesté "criminals." In 2006, only 30 such charges were filed. In 2007, the year the Computer Crimes Act was adopted, 126 charges were filed. In 2010, a whopping 478 charges were filed. I found that the lack of clarity surrounding these laws and the very real threat of prosecution prompts many Thai commentators and editors to exercise self censorship. When the current prime minister, Yingluck Shinawatra, was elected in July 2011, there was hope that the number of such charges would drop. Her Pheu Thai party maintains close ties with her brother, former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. He was deposed in the 2006 coup amidst accusations of criminal conduct, including charges of lèse-majesté. But the government has ramped up its efforts. Last December, a "war room" was established in police headquarters where technicians work around the clock to monitor web sites for lèse-majesté content. Citizens are pushing back. In May, after a 62-year old man died a few months into his 20-year prison sentence for allegedly sending lèse-majesté text messages, hundreds of citizens protested outside the Bangkok Criminal Court demanding reform of these laws. In June, a petition proposing amendments to the lèse-majesté laws was submitted to parliament under Article 163 of the Constitution, which requires any proposed amendment to a law to be examined if at least 10,000 citizens sign a petition of support. Unfortunately the amendments were rejected. The struggle for control of cyberspace continues in Thailand. Kieran Bergmann is the Google Policy Fellow at the Citizen Lab, Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto. She previously worked at the Canadian Embassy to Thailand, Burma, Cambodia, and Laos. If you enjoyed this memo, subscribe to our e-newsletter for free and receive new memos 2+ times per week via email.  Thai citizens call for reform of lèse-majesté laws (source: BBC). Links:
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| State Dept.: U.S. Does Not Endorse China Passport Map Posted: 27 Nov 2012 02:00 PM PST A new passport design incorporating a controversial map of China has met a range of responses from neighbouring countries over the last week. The map's apparent purpose is to force neighbours to acknowledge China's territorial claims when adding visas to the marked pages. To avoid this, Vietnam has taken to giving out visas on separate sheets of paper, while India is stamping in its own version of the map. At a press conference on Monday, State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland presented the U.S. position: that accepting the passports for entry to the U.S. does not constitute endorsement of any territorial claims, and that the department expects "a conversation" on the issue with China.
See also Global Times' special coverage of the passport controversy. © Samuel Wade for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us |
| Military Growth Not a Threat, Says Defense Minister Posted: 27 Nov 2012 11:59 AM PST Chinese state media reports Chinese Defense Minister, Liang Guanglie, met the United States Navy Secretary, Ray Mabus, and called for mutual trust between the two countries. This meeting comes amid continuing tensions in the South China Sea, where the US has also played an active role. from Xinhua:
Despite China's growing military with its recent successful flight landing on its first aircraft carrier, an increase in its jet engine research budget, and unveiling of a new stealth fighter jet, Mabus said there is no need to 'worry' about China's growth, Reuters adds:
According to AP, there has been a push to increase contact and cooperation between the two countries:
© Melissa M. Chan for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us |
| People’s Daily Hails Kim Jong-Un as “Sexiest Man Alive” Posted: 27 Nov 2012 11:55 AM PST China's official Communist Party newspaper treated a satirical article naming North Korean leader Kim Jong-un the "Sexiest Man Alive" as a genuine report. The report by the People's Daily quotes The Onion, a humor newspaper, and includes a fifty-five image slideshow of Kim, from the People's Daily Online:
Although the People's Daily has been known to be a stern follower of the party line, the online version can print more controversial stories than its print version, The Washington Post adds:
The Onion has also responded to the the reprinting of their article on the People's Daily, according to The New York Times:
This is not the first time that Chinese media has mistaken The Onion for a genuine source of news, The Washington Post adds:
Update: AP interviewed a People's Daily editor who acknowledged that the Onion report was satirical:
See Also The Onion on China, via CDT. © Melissa M. Chan for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us |
| Posted: 27 Nov 2012 11:32 AM PST These two notices, posted to Google+ last week, inform employees at a business center in the Shandong capital of new measures to ensure that virtual private networks (VPNs) are used for work purposes only. VPNs allow users to connect to the Internet outside of China's Great Firewall. Without access to the free Internet, it would be near impossible for most international organizations to do business in China. But because they have "abused their privilege," these employees will now have to let technical staff know whenever they need access.
* PPPoE: Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet
Read more about the travails of VPNs, Google, and the free Internet in China from CDT. Via CDT Chinese. Translation by Little Bluegill. © Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us |
| China’s J-15 Carrier Operations: Putting One Foot in Front of the Other Posted: 27 Nov 2012 09:01 AM PST  Colonel Brian Killough is the U.S. Air Force Military Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. On November 25, the Peoples' Republic of China (PRC) announced that it had successfully landed a fighter on the aircraft carrier, Liaoning, and then taken off again. Furthermore, Beijing released video of the event to prove it. Perhaps the most surprising but little mentioned aspect of the demonstration was that the People's Liberation Army Naval Air Force (PLANAF) chose to use the new J-15 fighter jet to demonstrate this capability. The J-15, a modified descendant of the Russian SU-33, has been in development since 2002 with a maiden flight in August 2009. The PLANAF could have gone the safer route and modified an older, lighter aircraft as a test-bed to develop procedures and steadily work its way toward a modern capability. Instead, it took considerable risk to do the test with a developmental fourth-generation fighter. Of note, the gear on the J-15 appear to be massive and capable of absorbing the high stress of carrier operations, and the aircraft engines clearly had no trouble achieving takeoff velocity on departure from the carrier (without any external stores—missiles, bombs or fuel tanks). Of course, questions remain. Are all components of the aircraft robust and dependable enough for repeated operations in a very stressful, physically corrosive environment? The J-15 was clearly a test aircraft (note the telemetry decals on the aircraft) and, as far as we know, none of the J-15s are fully operational. Additionally, as one would expect, the aircraft was completely clean with no external stores onboard. Finally, taking off and landing on an aircraft carrier under ideal conditions (note the clear weather and calm seas) with no other shipboard aircraft or operations is a routine act for modern naval aviators. (For anyone interested in a historical perspective, the U.S. Navy has been operating jet aircraft off carriers since 1947, beginning with the McDonnell FH Phantom.) So, what are the implications for this latest capability demonstration for the PLANAF? First, the massive amount of development and work required to field and operate a wing of these aircraft will take considerable time. That time will be shortened by the PLANAF's ability to apply lessons learned by other navies but it will still have its share of obstacles to overcome. Ultimately, as I have noted before, putting a carrier to sea and putting expensive aircraft onboard makes it a very lucrative target that must also be accompanied by a supporting cast of ships in a carrier battle group. This group must be developed, fielded, and trained to operate as an effective force before it can be a credible extension of PRC national power. If there is one thing we have come to know about the People's Liberation Army (PLA) of the twenty-first century, it is that the PRC is determined to attain and demonstrate capabilities that prove the PLA is a first-rate global military power. The PLA has demonstrated anti-satellite capability as well as produced and flown two prototype fifth-generation stealth aircraft. What the PLANAF has done this week is to continue putting one foot in front of the other on the path toward a credible global navy. It just seems to many that the steps were a little quicker than expected. The views expressed are those of the author and do not reflect the policies or positions of the U.S. government or Department of Defense. |
| The Troubling Inner Workings of One “U.S. College Application Consulting Company” in China Posted: 27 Nov 2012 08:14 AM PST  The Yale University campus, one place where Chinese students hiring "consultants" are no doubt keen to go. (Ragesoss/Wikimedia Commons) This summer, I gave presentations about the American college application process at Company X, one of the largest companies in China that specializes in language training and overseas study consulting. In September, a few months after I gave the presentation, I received a job offer from Company X: "We are very impressed with your academic background and experiences, so we would like to ask for your help in editing (or rewriting an application essay of a top student here in our company.) He has got a SAT score of more than 2200 and a TOEFL score of 110. The scores are very competitive in applying to top U.S. universities." Attached in the email was a 699-word draft of an anonymous personal statement. I read the essay, corrected the grammar, and pointed out conceptual and organizational issues that I thought the applicant should focus on. I emailed the edited draft back to A. The next day, I received my official title: " College Application Counselor/Application Essay Editor" of the "U.S. college application department" (美国本科部文案顾问). I quickly realized, however, that what Company X was looking for was not an "application essay editor" but an "application essay rewriter." When I emailed back the edited draft of the second personal statement that they sent me, my new boss replied to me and said, "I am afraid that editing may not lead to the best possible effect. If you feel it would be better to rewrite the essay, then please rewrite it because I know that sometimes editing may be even more grueling than rewriting."  One online advert suggets a Harvard admissions offer can be delivered via serendipitous stork. I replied, "I can edit grammatical errors, help restructure the essay, and point out conceptual gaps that need more elaboration, but I cannot rewrite personal statements. Personal statements should be written by the applicants themselves." My boss did not reply; she just sent me another essay to edit instead. A few weeks later, my boss tried once again to trick me into doing more than just editing an essay. This time, she was somewhat subtler—she wanted me to write a personal statement for this following question posed by University of Pennsylvania's application: "Ben Franklin once said, 'All mankind is divided into three classes: those that are immovable, those that are movable, and those that move.' Which are you?" Her email continued, "The UPenn question is rather vague and [the applicant] cannot really understand the topic. What does the movable and immovable mean here? Does it mean that some people only have opinions and never take actions, while some people do really take actions towards his [sic] goals and ambitions?" Appalled, I explained to my boss, "The point of UPenn's question is to make the applicant think about what those terms mean to herself and to explain them. All the interpretations you provided are valid–no one interpretation is correct or wrong, as long as the applicant explains herself fully. I can't tell [the applicant] how to interpret the terms because, well, that's what the entire essay is about. Just know that there is no "wrong" answer." "Oh, OK," my boss simply replied, "thank you very much for your clarification and explanation!" Fortunately, my boss seemed to understand whenever I explained to her that I would edit but not completely rewrite (or write) essays. But these incidents did make me wonder—how many editors are there who do agree to rewrite essays? If we communicated better with the applicants and helped them improve their essay themselves, could we prevent plagiarism? Once, I suggested to my boss, "If I email [the applicant] directly and discuss the personal statement with [her], it would be much easier for both of us." "No, you cannot do that," she replied curtly, "applicants must go through the company." Essay editing, like many other procedures in China, is bureaucratic. The applicant first sends the draft to Company X and Company X evaluates how likely the applicant is to be accepted by American colleges. If they decide that the applicant is sufficiently competitive, then the Chinese editors working in the "U.S. college application department" take a stab at the draft. "Attached is his draft of the application essay, I have edited it but was not satisfied with the effect," my boss once told me. "The essay needs to be polished and edited." At the very end, after the original draft has gone through its initial round of editing (or, quite possibly, rewriting), Company X emails the draft to its foreign editors. Foreign editors who work for Company X are divided into ranks. "We need to have a test before we can set the price for an editor," my boss once said. "The compensation ranges from 300 RMB to 500 RMB (about US$50 to US$80) per 500 words depending on the work of the editor." Company X reserves the "best" editors for the most competitive applicants because "not every applicant needs such high quality [editing] work due to their limited academic conditions." High SAT scores and fluent English, however, are not enough to gain access to the "high quality work" Company X offers; the applicants also need cash. For every essay I edit, the applicants pay about 2000 RMB (about US$320), equivalent to approximately a half month's salary for an average worker in Beijing. Out of this 2000 RMB, only 500 RMB (about US$80) reaches my pocket. Assuming that the applicant always pays four times the amount I receive, one of the applicants I worked with, let's call her D, whose father works at a bank and whose mother used to work in public relations, has so far paid RMB16,400 (approximately US$2,600) to Company X to have me edit her essays. As rich Chinese students increase their competitiveness in the American college application process by pouring Renminbi into essay editing, those students with fewer resources are left to struggle on their own. In a way, with help from companies like my employer, these rich Chinese students are buying their way into American colleges. And the poor are left behind, stuck. It is difficult, however, to point fingers at the Chinese students who turn to Company X for advice. When I applied to U.S. colleges from Japan, because I attended the American School In Japan, I could turn to my teachers and counsellors for help. But if you go to a regular Chinese high school where no one is familiar with the American college application process, who else can you turn to for help? Furthermore, asking other people to edit your personal statement itself is not cheating. Many American applicants seek advice from friends, siblings, teachers, and parents. Oftentimes, this goes beyond copy-editing; they give conceptual guidance that influences the applicant's ideas as well. From my experience with the process, however, what the Chinese overseas study consulting companies are trying to offer is not just essay editing but something dangerously close to plagiarism. Because the concept of intellectual property is still relatively weak in China, however, many people do not regard rewriting essays as problematic; they view it as an easy, efficient alternative to the "gruelling" process of editing. The Chinese students' readiness to have their essays rewritten by foreign, "qualified" editors also reflects distrust in their own abilities to write quality personal statements. Even my boss, the "U.S. college application consultant," seems unsure about her expertise in the field. "What kind of formatting do you think is the easiest on the eye? Do you think the font size should be 12, and the line space should be 1.5?" she once asked me. You can't fool the admissions offices with formatting, I thought to myself; I just hope they won't be fooled by other tricks either. |
| Censorship Vault: Beijing Internet Instructions Series (20) Posted: 27 Nov 2012 08:32 AM PST In partnership with the China Copyright and Media blog, CDT is adding the "Beijing Internet Instructions" series to the Censorship Vault. These directives were originally published on Canyu.org (Participate) and date from 2005 to 2007. According to Canyu, the directives were issued by the Beijing Municipal Network Propaganda Management Office and the State Council Internet management departments and provided to to Canyu by insiders. China Copyright and Media has not verified the source. The translations are by Rogier Creemers of China Copyright and Media.
These translated directives were first posted by Rogier Creemers on China Copyright and Media on November 27, 2012 (here). © Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us |
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