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• Are Politburo Hopefuls Ready to Lead?
• Source: Bo Xilai “is Denying Everything”
• Foreigners to Face Stricter Regulations
• Photo: Workers sort bottles by hand, Yunguiyuan, Guangzhou, by Aaron Webb
• Chen Guangcheng: “They Are Scared of the Countryside”
• Polls Show US Concerns Over a Rising China
• The Great Leap From Myth to History
• Officials Linked to Forced-abortion Scandal Punished
• Migrant Workers Riot in Guangdong
• The Daily Twit (@chinahearsay links) – 6/27/12
• Word of the Week: Chāi nǎ (Demolish It)
• Shanghai Court: Aggressive Spamming is Not Unfair Competition
• Sensitive Words: Riots in Guangdong
• Netizen Voices: Hounded Out of House and Home

Are Politburo Hopefuls Ready to Lead? Posted: 28 Jun 2012 12:41 AM PDT With the Bo Xilai scandal still hanging over China's upcoming leadership transition, and with Beijing's top leaders packing up their swimsuits for their summer retreat in Beidaihe, The Diplomat's Minxin Pei questions whether the incoming generation of Politburo members are up to the challenges posed by a China at a social, political and economic crossroads: In the eyes of most Western elites, businessmen and politicians alike, Chinese leaders are practically synonymous with "smart, capable, dynamic, decisive, and forward looking." Many of them are impressed, usually after relatively brief meetings, by the perceived sophistication, intelligence, and leadership skills of Chinese officials. The truth is, of course, quite different. Compared with their revolutionary predecessors, the current generation of leaders is obviously better educated, younger, culturally more sophisticated. But does the current system in China actually promote the most capable leaders to the top? Can such leaders actually govern effectively once installed? Evidence based on academic research and press reports in China suggest that personal patronage and factional strength, not demonstrated achievements, are far more important in the selection of top leaders than objective factors such as record of administration. For example, Victor Shih of the University of California in San Diego and his collaborators combed through extensive personnel data and local economic growth rates to find whether promotion of officials in China actually depends on their demonstrated ability to deliver economic growth. Their conclusion is that political patronage (specifically ties with powerful leaders), not growth rates, determines promotion. This finding equally applies to the selection of top leaders. With a small number of exceptions, most candidates slated for top positions in the PSC and the Politburo don't have records that inspire confidence and admiration. Other than the most strict and objective limit – their age – the only factor that influences their chances of being elevated to the top is whether they have powerful backers. © Scott Greene for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: Beidaihe, Bo Xilai, CCP 5th generation, leadership transition, Politburo, Politburo Standing Committee Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

Source: Bo Xilai “is Denying Everything” Posted: 27 Jun 2012 11:56 PM PDT The Telegraph's Tom Phillips reports that disgraced former Chongqing party chief Bo Xilai has denied involvement in or knowledge of the events surrounding the death of British businessman Neil Heywood, according to a source close to the investigation: A well-placed source in Chongqing, who has spoken to senior government officials with knowledge of the investigation's progress, said: "Bo is denying everything, [saying] that he knows nothing." … Government sources in Chongqing say Wang Lijun is likely to be tried next month in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province. Mrs Gu and Mr Bo are also expected to be tried before the autumn congress. But the source in Chongqing said the central government had yet to decide how to deal with Mr Bo, who still enjoys significant support within the Party. "There is still fierce struggle going on up there [in Beijing]," they said. "Bo's political life is over but it [the government] has yet to decide to what extent he will be punished." "There are still quite a lot of senior people who support him. I feel they have been less harsh on Bo, probably out of the need for party unity." Meanwhile, a Financial Times investigation into Bo's finances shows that the family bought luxury London properties between May 2002 and May 2003, and that French architect Patrick Henri Devillers occupied one of the flats during various stretches between 2003 and 2010. Devillers was arrested earlier this month in Cambodia in cooperation with a request by the Chinese government, which is seeking his extradition in connection with the investigation into Bo's wife's role in Heywood's death. The Telegraph's Phillips has an update on the situation in a separate Wednesday report: Speaking in Phnom Penh on Wednesday, Khieu Kanharith, Cambodia's Information Minister, said: "Up to now, there has not been any charge against Patrick Devillers and, according to research I have conducted, this Patrick Devillers was importantly in charge of keeping money for the wife of Bo Xilai." Kanharith said Cambodia would not extradite Mr Devillers to China but suggested Beijing would send investigators to Phnom Penh to interrogate the French architect. "We cannot extradite him to China because he is a French man and… China has not provided any information yet. But I think China can send their investigating judge to Cambodia for investigation." The plot continues to thicken for Gu Kailai, who reportedly confessed to the murder of Heywood last week. But while her story has been "irresistible" to the netizen masses and foreign media, China author Paul French writes that Gu Kailai is just the latest in a long line of Chinese "dragon ladies" that includes Madames Chiang Kai-shek and Mao. © Scott Greene for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: Bo Xilai, cambodia, corruption, gu kailai, Jiang Qing, murder, Neil Heywood, Patrick Henri Devillers, scandal, Soong Mei-ling Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

Foreigners to Face Stricter Regulations Posted: 27 Jun 2012 11:12 PM PDT The South China Morning Post reports that the National People's Congress Standing Committee is drafting a law that would, among other things, tighten visa restrictions by halving the minimum stay for foreigners working in China: It was submitted to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress yesterday following concerns over the behaviour of some expatriates that has led to a rise in anti-foreigner sentiment. Zhang Bailin, deputy director of the NPC Law Committee, said the change was proposed as some foreigners only came for short-term jobs. The draft law also proposes fines of up to 10,000 yuan (HK$12,200) for companies that offer foreigners illegal invitation letters. The companies will also be asked to cover the cost of deporting the foreigners. The draft law was proposed to tackle concerns about foreigners who have entered the mainland illegally, or who have overstayed or worked illegally on the mainland. … "By shortening the period a foreigner can stay in China, it is easier for the authorities to control foreigners here," said Ong Yew-kim, a visiting professor at China University of Political Science and Law. "It will be easier for the authorities to send foreigners they don't like out of the country." After protests in Guangzhou last week over the death of an African man involved in a bicycle-taxi fare dispute, The New Yorker's Evan Osnos writes that the issue of immigration is as real in China as it is back in the United States: There was more to this than a taxi-fare dispute. The Africans in Guangzhou constitute perhaps the single largest foreign enclave in China and thus have been a kind of test-case for China's handling of foreign aspirants ever since the community popped up a decade or so ago. I wrote about that neighborhood in the magazine in 2009; at the time, the Africans complained that they were subject to intense scrutiny, and were frequently jailed and deported for immigration violations. Recently, China embarked on a "hundred-day crackdown" against those working and staying in the country illegally, and people are now advised to carry a passport in case of random checks. The issue will only grow in coming years, as more and more foreigners seek to settle in China for more than a few months or years. Chinese officials are now reviewing the nation's first-ever immigration law, which will determine what kinds of workers can stay, for how long, and for what kinds of jobs. (Among the details one hopes do not pass: a plan to collect "biological data," whatever that means, to keep track of new arrivals.) But the tensions in the Nigerian community, and the "hundred-day crackdown," should not obscure the fact that, in many ways, China is a promising place to be for a foreigner who arrives in search of education or opportunity. With some exceptions, visas are plentiful, unemployment is low, and it's arguably easier to be an American working illegally in China than in Europe. China has no Tea Party arguing that these people are taking anything away from Chinese job-seekers, and Chinese policymakers are acutely aware of the value that foreign ideas pose to stimulating innovation. They are unlikely to do anything that closes off that pathway of new ideas. Curiously, China's late arrival to the question of immigration may be to its advantage: if China can follow the learning curve on immigration as fast as it has on other things, and begin to provide university and employment opportunities to the best minds from around the world, it just may take a page from our history and become a destination for talented young aspirants who once imagined that they would make their lives in the United States. If America won't have them, China just might. Osnos also has a piece on last week's episode of This American Life, in which he examines the expat life and China's perception of foreigners. See also recent CDT coverage of foreigners in China, including a recent "clean-up" campaign initiated in Beijing to weed out those foreigners visiting, living or working in the city illegally. © Scott Greene for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: Africa, foreigners in China, Guangzhou, immigration, racism Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

Photo: Workers sort bottles by hand, Yunguiyuan, Guangzhou, by Aaron Webb Posted: 27 Jun 2012 09:58 PM PDT Workers sort bottles by hand, Yunguiyuan, Guangzhou © Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

Chen Guangcheng: “They Are Scared of the Countryside” Posted: 27 Jun 2012 07:55 PM PDT Ian Johnson interviews dissident Chen Guangcheng in a New York University classroom. Continuing the transcript style of his Bao Tong interview, Johnson asks Chen many probing questions, from China's incoming leadership to grassroots political consciousness and spiritual awareness: Ian Johnson:How do you account for Chinese officials' frequent disregard of China's own laws? Is it a lack of checks and balances—that officials think they can get away with anything so they do anything? Chen Guangcheng: It's also that they don't dare do the right thing and don't dare not do the wrong thing. Chinese police and prosecutors, do you think they don't understand Chinese law? They definitely understand. But these people illegally kept me under detention. They all knew [that what they were doing was illegal] but they didn't dare take a step to rectify the situation. They weren't able to. Why is it like this? A Xinhua News Agency journalist came and saw me twice; as a result he lost his job. So you can see that once you enter the system, you need to become bad. If you don't become bad, you can't survive. Chen also argues that some dissidents and China observers overlook urban-rural differences: There's nothing positive about urbanization? I think for those who go to the city and work there's a benefit. But the current way of villages being turned into towns—I don't think there's an advantage to that. People in the village often rely on ordinary kinds of labor to earn a living, like working in the fields, or raising geese or fish and things like that. So now what happens? They turn a village into one high-rise apartment building and that's all that's left of the village. Then the land is used for real estate projects controlled by the officials. Where are the people supposed to work? How is that supposed to function? People abroad look at China's human rights situation and they mainly see the situation of better-known people. But they don't know about all the violations of ordinary people. You know my situation but you don't know the situation of the huge number of the disabled in China, or the women who are bullied and abused, or the orphans in China. You probably don't know much about them or just about a few of them. But this is why the officials are so afraid—because they know the true extent of the problem. They are terribly afraid of people organizing. It's very delicate in the countryside now. This is why they constantly resort to detentions and so on. They don't even try to find an excuse, they just do it—they are that scared. Read more about Chen Guangcheng, who recently arrived in New York after escaping from illegal house arrest in his home village of Linyi, Shandong. © Wendy Qian for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: Chen Guangcheng, dissidents, forced abortion, new york university, political system, urban rural divide Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

Polls Show US Concerns Over a Rising China Posted: 27 Jun 2012 05:31 PM PDT Committee of 100 (百人会), a non-partisan, non-profit organization striving to bring "a Chinese-American perspective to issues concerning Asian Americans and U.S.-China relations" recently released the results of their fourth opinion survey. The introduction to their report describes the survey: The Committee of 100's opinion survey project began in 1994 and produced opinion surveys in 2001, 2005, 2007, and 2012. The objective of this study is to determine American attitudes toward China, and, as a "mirror," measure Chinese attitudes toward America on key issues in US-China relations and salient domestic issues in both countries. The target respondent groups in both countries include general public, opinion leaders and business leaders with a stand-alone sample of the US policy community. The survey findings provide unique, comprehensive and comparative information that can be used to enhance US-China relations and formulate recommendations on how to forge mutually beneficial partnerships, including leader-to-leader, people-to-people, organization-to-organization, and many others to foster greater understanding and build trust between the United States and China. An article in the New York Times summarizes the reports findings, and contrasts them with the Gallup-China Daily USA poll from earlier this year: Two-thirds of Americans now see China as a serious or potential military threat to the United States. Nearly six in 10 Chinese believe their country is destined to become the world's leading superpower, and increasing numbers of everyday Chinese believe the United States is trying to prevent them from achieving that status. Most Americans don't believe that U.S. media outlets report truthfully about China, and about half of Chinese feel the same way about their media. Six in 10 Americans think the U.S. government has done a poor job handling relations with China — although things have improved since 2007 — while two-thirds of Chinese think Beijing is mishandling relations with Washington. For the general Chinese public, corruption is the No. 1 concern, followed by jobs and the economy, a growing wealth gap and the rise in housing prices. But Chinese opinion leaders worry most about a decline in morality, followed by concerns over Taiwan, while business leaders cite HIV/AIDS as their top issue. The results of a survey by KPMG's Global Technology Innovation Center, released today, suggest that China may soon overtake the U.S. as the world's leading technological innovator. The Wall Street Journal reports: Almost half of all global executives polled believe that the technology innovation center of the world will move from Silicon Valley to another country in the next four years according to a survey published Wednesday. KPMG's global Tech Innovation Survey 2012 found 43 percent of respondents said Silicon Valley's crown would be passed elsewhere by 2016. China was named as the country most likely to be the next innovation centre (45%), followed by India (21%) and Japan (9%) and Korea (9%). Israel came in fifth while Europe barely featured. The survey also found that China and the U.S. are the two countries most likely to come up with "disruptive technology breakthroughs" that will have a global impact in the next two to four years. Also see CDT coverage of a recent Pew survey showing that, for the first time, the world sees China as its top economic power. © josh rudolph for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: China's rise, polls, public opinion, surveys, views of China Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

The Great Leap From Myth to History Posted: 27 Jun 2012 04:25 PM PDT In an article for Asia Times Online posted earlier this month, Peter Lee examines the cooling prohibition on discussion of the disastrous effects of the Great Leap Forward. The collection of hastily enacted policies resulted in mass starvation. What dutch historian Frank Dikötter has called "Mao's Great Famine" has long been labeled "The Three Years of Natural Disasters" [三年自然灾害] by official party nomenclature. As this period moves further away on the historical horizon, public commentary, scholarship, and documentation by Chinese nationals is beginning to happen. After providing historical context, Lee points to netizen outrage provoked by a divisive Weibo post by Lin Zhibo, head of People's Daily Gansu, claiming that accounts of the famine were "lies" used to "bash Chairman Mao". Since the online scuffle in April and May of this year, Chinese media outlets have been exploring the once forbidden topic with an accuracy never allowed in the past. Lee cites Southern People Weekly's series of articles in May, one of which [zh] candidly told the story of Liao Bokang, a Chongqing official who proved that policy failures, and not natural disasters, were the cause of so many deaths. From Asia Times Online: The team documented the tragedy in Sichuan in detail, but by the time they submitted the report the political winds had shifted back in Mao's favor. The report was spiked and as of today the only evidence of its existence is the manuscript copy of his section of the report retained by Xiao Feng, who is now 93 years old. It confirms the death toll of 12 million – 17% of the province's total population. For his pains, Liao was the target of a vendetta by the Sichuan provincial government. He was accused of participating in an anti-party clique and spent the next two decades in various labor and detention facilities until he was completely rehabilitated in 1982. Punning on the slogan, "A year (of great leap) is equivalent to 20 years (of ordinary development)", Liao quipped that "3 hours (of reporting to Yang on the Great Leap Forward) worked out to 20 years (of incarceration)." Lee's piece also mentions this Global Times article from May, in which the English-language "voice of combative nationalism" also helps to debunk some of the national myths about "natural disasters" between 1959 and 1961, and mentions the desire to accurately document this period while its graying survivors are still around: According to the History of the Communist Party of China, during the Great Leap Forward, iron and steel production was identified as a key requirement for economic advancement, and many farmers were ordered away from agricultural work to join the iron production workforce. The production of agriculture and light industry production dropped sharply. In 1959, China also experienced the most severe drought in its recent history, the book said. It claims that combined with foreign affairs, especially the deteriorating relationship with the Soviet Union, food shortages became serious. Yang Jisheng, a journalist and author, wrote in his book Tombstone that the famine could fully be blamed on political errors. According to experts from the China Meteorological Administration, no severe weather calamities occurred between 1958 and 1962, he wrote. Also see prior CDT coverage of the Great Leap Forward and projects to historically document it. © josh rudolph for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: censorship, Chinese history, famine, Global Times, great leap forward, Southern People Weekly Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

Officials Linked to Forced-abortion Scandal Punished Posted: 27 Jun 2012 02:34 PM PDT Local officials involved in the gruesome forced abortion case in Shaanxi have been punished, including the head of family planning in the county, who was dismissed. The Los Angeles Times reports: The scandal erupted this month after graphic photos of the grieving mother and her aborted seven-month fetus spread online. The case in Shaanxi province, west of Beijing, drew new anger over the enforcement of family-planning rules, even bringing condemnation from a newspaper linked to the Communist Party. Following the outcry, a municipal government investigation found that forcing the young woman to terminate her pregnancy so late in its term violated her rights, the official Xinhua news agency reported Tuesday. The township also illegally demanded an approximately $6,200 payment for a certificate allowing her to have a second child, which her family did not pay, the report stated. The investigation found that officials "used crude means to violate her intentions," Xinhua reported. The head of family planning in Zhenping county has been removed from his post, Xinhua reported. Other township, county and hospital officials were also punished, including another Zhenping family-planning official, who was given "administrative demerits," the news agency reported. The victim's family has reportedly been harassed and threatened since news of the abortion went viral online. © Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: accountability, family planning, forced abortion, one-child policy Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

Migrant Workers Riot in Guangdong Posted: 27 Jun 2012 01:10 PM PDT More details are coming in about the riots in Shaxi, Guangdong, which were reportedly sparked when a fight broke out between a 15-year-old migrant from Sichuan and a local primary school student. When police intervened and beat the migrant, his family and fellow migrants gathered and began to riot, according to a report in the Guardian, quoting an article from Global Times: About 30 people were injured and the rioters – mostly from Sichuan province in the south-west – smashed and overturned at least two public security vehicles, the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy said. "Right now, there are a few migrants around but mostly as spectators," the Shaxi spokeswoman told Reuters. "The protest has essentially been dispersed. There are a few police vehicles left, and some spectators are still around observing." BBC has further details on the situation: Police tied the boy up to restrain him and he also suffered injuries on his face, the statement added. Family members and friends of the youth gathered outside the offices of local authorities and numbers swelled to about 300 on Monday night. Clashes began after people began throwing rocks, the police statement said. Official statements said the situation was resolved swiftly and effectively, and rioting crowds were dispersed. Photos of the riots have been distributed via weibo and other social media, including several posted yesterday by CDT. On Twitter, @YaxueCao has retweeted and translated posts by blogger Wen Yunchao updating the situation, including a graphic photo of an injured woman, posted as evidence that police opened fire: #Shaxi 沙溪 villagers wear red band to identify own people. "@wenyunchao: 沙溪"象角村用红丝带邦手认自己人"。 weibo.com/1971475425/ypS…" — Yaxue Cao (@YaxueCao) June 27, 2012 Villages nr #Shaxi 沙溪 organize self-defense using among other things mock weapons 4 stage performance. via @wenyunchao weibo.com/1861217964/ypS…" — Yaxue Cao (@YaxueCao) June 27, 2012 #Shaxi (沙溪) unrest continues, gun shots heard, supposedly police firing teargas & sth more via @hzs1975 @wenyunchao twitter.com/wenyunchao/sta…" — Yaxue Cao (@YaxueCao) June 27, 2012 While news about the incident has managed to leak via Twitter and weibo, authorities are clamping down on online reports, and videos of the incident have been erased from major websites. Several search terms related to the riots have been scrubbed from Sina Weibo. Yesterday, elsewhere in Guangdong, riot police clashed with villagers angered over the government sale of their land. Read about more recent riots in China, and about migrant workers, via CDT. © Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: migrant workers, riots, Shaxi Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

The Daily Twit (@chinahearsay links) – 6/27/12 Posted: 27 Jun 2012 11:21 AM PDT My schedule is totally and completely ^@$#&* today, so this will not only be published later than usual, but also be rather brief: Foreign Policy: Tale of the Dragon Lady: The long, sordid history behind China's blame-the-woman syndrome — Must-read article of the day by Paul French. Reuters: EU, U.S., Japan seek further WTO steps over China rare earths — I wrote about this last week, suggesting that even though the US in particular is developing its own sources of rare earths and is therefore not as vulnerable to Chinese export quotas as it used to be, there are still reasons for keeping this dispute alive. Sounds like this is indeed moving forward. Here's the USTR press release for your reference. To Improve Kids' Chinese, Some Parents Move to Asia — if sincere, that kind of dedication is admirable, but it makes me wonder how much of this is mid-life crisis masquerading as good parenting. Sorry, I'm a cynic. Telegraph: Silicon Valley to lose innovation crown to China — I don't think that China is poised to out-innovate the West anytime soon, but the Internet sector may be an exception. Global Times: Huawei, ZTE facing new US ITC patent infringement investigation — More bad news for Huawei in the U.S.? This isn't the first patent case they've had to deal with in the US of course (pretty common in their sector), but what with Congressional investigations going on, this probably isn't the best timing. Tech in Asia: Court Rejects Ganji's Unfair Competition Suit Against Baixing — Pudong court finds in favor of aggressive spammer. Read my response. China Daily Show: US student totally forgot to celebrate Dragon Boat Festival — Finally, some yuks. I particularly enjoy this as it pokes fun at expat cultural assimilation, which I wrote about on Monday. © Stan for China Hearsay, 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags:

Word of the Week: Chāi nǎ (Demolish It) Posted: 27 Jun 2012 12:00 PM PDT Editor's Note: The Word of the Week comes from China Digital Space's Grass-Mud Horse Lexicon, a glossary of terms created by Chinese netizens and frequently encountered in online political discussions. These are the words of China's online "resistance discourse," used to mock and subvert the official language around censorship and political correctness. If you are interested in participating in this project by submitting and/or translating terms, please contact the CDT editors at CDT [at] chinadigitaltimes [dot] net. 拆哪 (chāi nǎ) Demolish it; literally "Where to demolish?" Bulldozer with the character "demolish" written on it depicted as the extension of the bureaucratic arm. "Chāi nǎ" mimics the sound of the English word "China." Chāi 拆, "demolish," has a special meaning in China. Demolitions, often forced on tenants with little or no compensation, are one of the major sources of social instability in China. Developers and the local government profit greatly from forcibly evicting people from their homes to build on the land. Anger over forced demolition lead the people of Wukan, Guangdong to fight the local government, eventually laying siege to their village in December 2011. Nǎ 哪 means "where" or "which." Hence, "chāi nǎ" also sounds like the question, "Demolish where?" and mocks the ubiquity of demolition. All over China, one sees "拆" spray-painted on the sides of buildings slated for demolition. People who have had their homes demolished are called chāiqiānhù 拆迁户. Victor Mair has a collection of nicknames for China, including chāi nǎ, at Language Log. © Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: forced demolition, forced eviction, GMH Lexicon, grass-mud horse lexicon, word of the week, Wukan Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

Shanghai Court: Aggressive Spamming is Not Unfair Competition Posted: 27 Jun 2012 10:49 AM PDT Yesterday, a Shanghai court rejected Craigslist-like Chinese web platform Ganji's unfair competition lawsuit against competing site Baixing. The suit arose after Baixing users mined the QQ numbers of Ganji users from Ganji's site, and then spammed those users' email accounts with advertisements for Baixing's competing services. The Shanghai court found that this behavior did not qualify as unfair competition and thus rejected Ganji's suit. (TechinAsia) This strikes me as one of those cases that looks like one thing with a cursory glance but something entirely different when examined a little more carefully. It's also another reason to be careful when commenting on litigation before thinking through the legal analysis. As you can see from the above quote, the actions here by Baixing included aggressive email spamming. They essentially trolled through user listings, extracted email addresses, and spammed the hell out of Ganji users. By the way, that's very easy to do these days and can be done automatically via off-the-shelf software. Scary, eh? Slimy as the practice may be, the question is whether this rises to the level of unfair competition under China law. That's when a deep breath, and some thinking, is required. It also doesn't hurt to take a look at the Anti-Unfair Competition Law itself. What kinds of activities does the law prohibit? To summarize: 1. Creating customer confusion via use of another's trademark, name, or other indicia (Article 5). 2. Various provisions now covered by the Anti-monopoly Law, such as tying/forced purchases and selling below cost (Articles 6, 7, 11, 12). 3. Commercial bribery (Article 8). 4. False advertising (Article 9). 5. Appropriating or disseminating business secrets (Article 10), which are defined as "technical information and business information which is unknown by the public, which may create business interests or profit for its legal owners, and also is maintained secrecy by its legal owners." 6. Defamation (Article 14). That pretty much covers the basics of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law. So for Ganji to prevail on its case, it would have had to successfully argue that email address extraction and spamming fit into one of those categories. I don't know about you, but I don't see it. Yes, these companies are competitors, and yes, Baixing was aggressively marketing itself to Ganji users using contact information it found on the online platform operated by Ganji. However, that information was not a business secret, but email addresses that were publicly available. In other words, Baixing did not crack into Ganji's database and steal these email addresses, which were not proprietary information, or otherwise uncover other business secrets. In spamming these users, it appears that Baixing was just marketing it's own service, not making false statements or holding itself out as being somehow affiliated with Ganji. I'm not aware that there was any question of Baixing making defamatory statements about Ganji in these promotional messages. Not all dodgy business practices are in violation of unfair competition law, and I think the court's decision here makes a lot of sense. That isn't to say, of course, that other methods of aggressive email collection and spamming may not rise to the level of unfair competition — as usual, that would depend on the specific facts. By the way, Ganji is not the first Net company to run into this problem, and there are ways to fix it. One would be to limit access to registered users who must agree to a no-spam policy as part of the sign-up process. Hard to enforce that policy, though, and it sounds as though Ganji has actually turned off some user accounts in the past because of spamming. Another solution, more expensive yet much more effective, is to have an in-network messaging system, whereby users communicate with one another using the operator's domain and not outside email addresses. That way all email communication goes through the operator, and in the case of spamming, they can simply block that activity themselves. © Stan for China Hearsay, 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: Baixing, Ganji, spam, unfair competition

Sensitive Words: Riots in Guangdong Posted: 27 Jun 2012 11:12 AM PDT As of June 27, the following search terms are blocked on Weibo (not including the "search for user" function): Riot police in Zhongshan. Riots in Zhongshan, Guangdong: On Monday a fight broke out between a child from Sichuan and local children in the village of Haotu in Shaxi Township, Guangdong Province. The argument over began over picking mangos and lead to blows. A local security officer was beaten in the scuffle. Migrant workers from Sichuan then began to gather, protest and riot. Officials kept silent about the incident for two days before announcing "the scene is clear." Video of the clashes have been removed from all major websites. More on the incident from CDT and the BBC. Shaxi (沙溪) Haotu (豪吐) Zhongshan + riot (中山+骚乱) Zhongshan + gathering (中山+聚集) Zhongshan + mango (中山+芒果) Sichuan + elementary school student (四川+小学生) Sichuan + mango (四川+芒果)   Protest in Zuotan Township, Foshan, Guangdong: Residents encircled city hall for about 12 hours on Monday to demand an explanation of the cheap sale of their land from the village Party secretary. Riot police dispersed the crowd early Tuesday morning. More from CDT. Zuotan (左滩)   Retests of Related Words: blockade (封锁) riot (暴乱) conflict (冲突) special police (特警) 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 Post tags: blocked words, filtered words, land disputes, land grabs, migrant workers, riots, sensitive words, Shaxi, sina weibo, weibo, Zhongshan, Zuotan Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

Netizen Voices: Hounded Out of House and Home Posted: 27 Jun 2012 07:45 AM PDT Forced eviction plagues Chinese homeowners, as local governments make land grabs to get rich quick. The popular takeover of Wukan, Guangdong last winter, and rioting in Zuotan this week, have their root in forced eviction and demolition. Land grabs threaten social upheaval, writes journalist Xiong Peiyun. Weibo user Baipenyao2012, identifying himself as a Communist Party member, denounced the forced demolition of his home on June 9. According to Baipenyao2012, three families in Beijing's Baipenyao neighborhood had their homes demolished, and in the struggle with the authorities one resident suffered brain hemorrhaging. Baipenyao2012: I joined the Party in '99. I've been a senior Party member for over ten years now. I have always obeyed the law, protected our motherland and championed our Party. Yesterday, my house was forcibly demolished, and I was beaten until my skull hemorrhaged. As a Party member, I now seek the support and attention of society at large. 白盆窑2012 ：本人在99年入党，十多年的老党员了，一直以来遵纪守法，用户我们的祖国我们的党，在昨天却遭人拆掉房屋，被打成颅内出血，一个党员的控诉，寻求社会的支持，公众厉害得关注 Baipenyao2012: Our home was demolished, and still no one speaks out. Is this not the land of the Communist Party? 白盆窑2012 ：目前，我们被强拆，还是没有人出来说话，还是共产党的天下吗 Netizens did not react to this man's post with the sympathy usually afforded victims of forced demolitions. Because of his Party status, many answered responded with scorn. Still, a portion of netizens was somewhat sympathetic, saying no victim of forced demolition should be ridiculed. Below are a selection of comments on Baipenyao2012's posts. Read more at CDT Chinese. Translated by Little Bluegill. CulturalRevolutionMemorial: This is an internal issue1 for you. It's not something for us outsiders to get involved in. 文革纪念馆：这属于你们的内政，我们外人不好干预。 JobsYi: This is a most unharmonious note to sound right before the 18th Plenary Session of the People's Congress. I suspect you aren't actually a Party member. If this unfolded as you say, you must treat it rationally and examine yourself for its cause. But understanding alone is not enough. Why didn't you take the initiative to demolish your house before the authorities were forced to do it? Seeing as this issue has already caused problems, the only thing you can do now is turn yourself in and ask for disciplinary action on yourself. 乔布斯易：这是十八大前最不和谐的音符，我怀疑你做为一名党员的真实性，如情况属实，一定要理性对待，在自身上找原因，觉悟肯定是不够的，为什么不自己主动拆掉非要等到强拆呢?鉴于已造成的负面影响，唯有主动请求党纪处分以谢天下。 ScribbleBaba: Party Oath: "I… am prepared at all times to sacrifice everything for the Party and for the people… I implore the organization to test me!"2 Your entire life and property all belong to the Party. Have you forgotten? 狂草巴巴: [入党誓词]:"我……随时准备为党和人民牺牲一切……请组织考验我！"你的一切生命和财产都是党的，你忘了？ Wonphen: You have to demonstrate your advanced nature as a Party member, starting with the demolition of your home.  Such a lack of ideological awareness… You're a senior Party member, alright. Wonphen：你要发挥你党员的先进性啊，就该从你家拆起，连这点思想觉悟都没有，还是个老党员 LiTing—-2012: You're a Party insider. You should report anything that happens to you to the Party itself. When you joined the Party you pledged your life to them. Right now the Party wants your crappy house. You're just flapping your gums. Your Party spirit is weak, my dear. 李婷—–2012: 你是党内的人。发生了一切的事应该跟党说。入党时你已经宣誓了。一生献给党。现在党要你个破屋。你就讥讥歪歪的了。你党性不强啊亲 HappyNoisy3Lives: What, you can't make a little sacrifice for the Party-state?? Where'd your Party spirit go?? 乐翻天闹翻天三世：就不能为党国牺牲点吗？？你的党性哪去了？？ WangZuzhe: So, what you're saying is that since you're a Party member you shouldn't be subjected to forced demolition, but it's okay for everyone else? You don't say a word when other folks' homes are destroyed, but when it's your turn, all of a sudden, you're screaming, "I'm a Party member! I'm one of you guys!" Is this right? 王祖哲 : 仅仅身为党员，就不应该遭受强拆；非党员，是可以遭到强拆的——是这个意思吗？这个党员，在别人遭到强拆的时候，一直不吭声，轮到他自己，突然高喊"我是党员，我和你们是一伙的！"这合适吗？ WangXiaotian: What glorious comments. It looks like the Fifty Cent Party has lost a member. 王笑天：看评论，光彩熠熠，我觉得吧，五毛队伍又少一人~ SweetOrange: Looking at all these comments, I'm surprised to see that most people are ridiculing this man. Virtually no one is sympathetic. How would you feel if your house was forcibly demolished? Just because he's a Party member, does it serve him right? 甜橙橙橙:大概看了下评论，震惊的是大部分人居然都是持讽刺的态度，几乎没有人为他不平。那等哪天我也面对相同的状况，是不是只是因为是个党员就活该被冷嘲热讽？ 1 Chinese officials and press often accuse foreign countries who make a statement on Chinese human rights issues of interfering in "internal affairs." Meeting with the Dalai Lama and issuing calls to redress the Tiananmen Massacre are frequently condemned by China in this way. 2 Full text of the Chinese Communist Party admission oath, from the constitution: "It is my will to join the Communist Party of China, uphold the Party's program, observe the provisions of the Party Constitution, fulfill a Party member's duties, carry out the Party's decisions, strictly observe Party discipline, guard Party secrets, be loyal to the Party, work hard, fight for communism throughout my life, be ready at all times to sacrifice my all for the Party and the people, and never betray the Party." © Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: forced demolition, netizens' voices Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

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