Blogs » Politics » The Day I Got Arrested in China

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• The Day I Got Arrested in China
• Comment on Death by China
• Diaoyu Dispute Sparks Anti-Japanese Protests
• Scenes from China’s Consumerist Revolution
• The Day I Got Arrested in China
• Cartoon: The Nationalists Go Quack Quack, by Hexie Farm (蟹农场)
• Hexie Farm (蟹农场): The Nationalists Go Quack Quack
• Beijing Flood Censorship Directives
• Politburo Projection Contest!
• Motorola China Staff Protest Layoffs, Trade Critics Confused
• Ancient Morality Text Updated for Young
• Miss China on Top of the World
• China, DPRK Vow to Develop Economic Ties
• Should the Chinese Government “Fight Back” Against Rumors on Social Media?
• China: Anti-Japanese Protests
• Nationalism in Hong Kong
• China: Foreigner-Chinese Confrontations
• The Myth of Chinese Non-Intervention

The Day I Got Arrested in China Posted: 19 Aug 2012 07:51 PM PDT Hannah from Seeing Red in China blogs about his experience of being stopped and detained by traffic police for a suspected car stolen case while driving back from a trip to the Great Wall. Written by Oiwan Lam · comments (0) Share: Donate · facebook · twitter · reddit · StumbleUpon · delicious · Instapaper

Comment on Death by China Posted: 19 Aug 2012 07:42 PM PDT C. Custer finds the upcoming documentary Death By China by Peter Navarro sensational, arrogant and distorting. Written by Oiwan Lam · comments (0) Share: Donate · facebook · twitter · reddit · StumbleUpon · delicious · Instapaper

Diaoyu Dispute Sparks Anti-Japanese Protests Posted: 19 Aug 2012 08:05 PM PDT Anti-Japan protests swept across China on Sunday, after Japanese activists landed on the Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea and unfurled Japanese flags just days after Japan detained a group of activists from Hong Kong for attempting to similarly assert China's sovereignty on the disputed territory. From The New York Times: The Chinese state news media portrayed the demonstrations as fairly small, each involving fewer than 200 people, and not extending to inland provinces. But photographs posted on Sina Weibo, the country's most widely used microblogging service, suggested that the crowds had been far larger. In one photo said to be from the southwestern city of Chengdu, deep in China's interior, the number of protesters appeared to be tens of thousands. "Defend the Diaoyu Islands to the death," one banner said. Another said, "Even if China is covered with graves, we must kill all Japanese." Another photograph showed a handwritten sign taped to the entrance of Suning, a popular electronics store, telling customers it was no longer selling Japanese products. Some protests appear to have turned violent. According to several postings, demonstrators on Sunday attacked sushi restaurants or other businesses perceived to have a Japanese connection. Several photographs said to be from Shenzhen, across the border from Hong Kong, showed what appeared to be damaged or overturned cars — most of them Japanese models — as well as several police vehicles. Tensions on the Diaoyu Islands (Senkaku Islands in Japanese) have escalated since April, when the governor of Tokyo announced plans for the city to purchase them. Despite warnings from Chinese state media telling the Japanese not to interfere with the boat from Hong Kong, the Japanese Coast Guard detained 14 of the activists before allowing them to return to Hong Kong on Saturday. The China Daily then reported that 10 Japanese activists landed on the Diaoyu Islands on Sunday morning, despite not having approval from the Japanese government. They are believed to be part of a larger fleet of 150 Japanese activists and 21 vessels that planned to hold a ceremony in the nearby waters for those who died in World War II. Xinhua news called the Japanese landing "illegal" and lamented the damage it had inflicted on ties between the two countries: Sunday's landing, along with a barrage of other provocations, has poisoned the atmosphere of the Sino-Japanese relations and constituted another setback for both countries' efforts to further their political and economic ties. The Japanese rightists should immediately stop any action that undermines Chinese territorial sovereignty and be barred from fuelling the tension between the two neighbors. To this end, the Japanese government should act with great responsibility and proceed from the overall interests of the Sino-Japanese relations to seek a peaceful settlement of any disputes. The demonstrations in China "mark the worst deterioration in relations since 2010," according to The Financial Times: Chinese protestors gathered in dozens of cities, in some cases vandalising Japanese-made cars and retail outlets. About 1,000 people marched in the southern city of Shenzhen, overturning a Japanese-made police vehicle and attacking a Japanese restaurant, according to Xinhua, the Chinese state news agency. In the western city of Chengdu, a branch of Uniqlo, the Japanese clothing store, had to close due to the protests. Demonstrations were also reported in a dozen other Chinese cities including Shanghai, Guangzhou, Xian, Jinan and Qingdao. In Beijing, a few protesters appeared outside the Japanese embassy on Sunday morning amid heightened security, but there was no other sign of unrest in the capital. The Nanfang has posted a number of photos that have emerged on microblogging site Sina Weibo, including the ones below: © Scott Greene for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: activism, anti-japan demonstration, Chengdu, diaoyu islands, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Japan, maritime disputes, Qingdao, regional security, Shanghai, Shenzhen, territorial disputes Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

Scenes from China’s Consumerist Revolution Posted: 19 Aug 2012 07:50 PM PDT A precarious economic outlook and efforts to stem officials' conspicuous consumption have prompted fears for the health of China's luxury market. Sales of prestigious Moutai liquor have indeed drooped, but Hermes and Remy Cointreau both insisted last month that they had seen no slowdown in China, and while prices of cheaper jade products have tumbled, the high end has held steady. At New York magazine's The Cut, April Rabkin recounts a series of encounters with some of the luxury shoppers tirelessly battling to keep the bauble rolling. "I like luxury goods; I love to consume," he says. "I have money; I gotta spend it." He is wearing Ferragamo shoes, an Armani polo, and Kiton pants. The wallet is from Bottega Veneta, the socks from Prada. The underwear? He says I have to accompany him to the hot springs to find out, but he assures me that they cost more than 800 yuan, or $125. "We all used to wear plastic slippers," a young man named Wu Ruiqi says while sipping Champagne. "There wasn't fashion before. Everyone wore the same thing. Now there are two kinds of shoppers: fashion-forward, and clichéd customers who all buy whatever brand just for the logo, like a swarm of bees." "I don't have any other hobbies," she says. "My only hobby is shopping." She is wearing a white-lace dress and a diamond Dior monogram necklace, the same one that a girl who walked out of Chanel a few minutes before her was wearing. "Beijing girls, they all buy the same luxury items," she says. "It doesn't matter if it takes a month's worth of salary. Chinese people are blind followers. Some people say they hate rich people, but it's just sour grapes. If they had money they would buy it too." The article also includes an illustrated guide to fashion jargon, from 暴发户 to 自拍. The broader retail sector has cooled both in China and elsewhere in Asia, and CNBC recently reported that middle class Chinese are increasingly shunning luxury goods in favour of foreign travel. But with prices abroad far lower than in China, the two often go hand in hand. Hubei TV reporter Tong Li wrote in Global Times this month that colleagues covering the London Olympics had descended in a "shopping frenzy" on the nearby Bicester Village outlet centre. At The New Yorker last year, Evan Osnos described a 'Grand Tour' of Europe with a coachload of bargain hunting Chinese tourists. © Samuel Wade for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: consumerism, fashion industry, luxury, luxury goods, moutai, nouveau riche, waste Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

The Day I Got Arrested in China Posted: 19 Aug 2012 06:56 PM PDT Sean and I were driving back from the Great Wall. It had really been a fantastic day. It was my fifth time to the Wall but first time to Jinshanling, and was quite pleased with the sparse crowds and pleasant hike. The sky out in the mountains was a shade of brilliant blue I had never known. As far as we were concerned, our biggest problem was the Beijing highway: the slow drivers clogging the left lane, the fast ones sneaking down the breakdown lane, and everyone cutting each other off in between. We had just about hit the exit for the fourth ring road when a police car pulled up next to us, flashing its lights, and three guys in it motioned for us to pull over. "What the…?" Sean, who had gotten his Chinese driver's license a few months prior, had been driving the speed limit and was wearing a seat belt. By all measures, he was probably the most reasonable driver on the road. Two police cars pulled up, one in front and one in back. Six men, two in the baby-blue police blue uniforms and four in the pale-green security officer uniforms surrounded the car. Upon command, he handed them his license, registration, rental agreement, and passport. I could already picture the blog post in my head: Beijing Cops Pull over Foreigners for Looking Foreign. Sean asked what he had been doing wrong. They ignored him. Three officers came around to my side of the car. I opened the door. "What's the matter?" "Where did you get this car?" "My friend rented it." "Where and when?" "This morning at a place near Gongti stadium." Thankfully they did not ask for my passport. I don't know what they'd do with my passport number, but even if I've committed no crime, I don't want anything sketchy associated with my name. The policeman holding Sean's four documents suddenly announced with great fanfare, "This car's been stolen!" They then told us to collect our things and follow the man in black. Man in black? There was a young man wearing a tight black shirt, black pants, and black shoes. I felt a surge of hate as I recognized him to be a semi-plain-clothes policeman; the type of government-sponsored thug who throws protesters in cars. I pointed at him and said, "Is this man an officer?" (or rather, the Chinese would say "Is this man a keeper of the peace?") No one answered. He looked away, and the main officer told us to follow the young man in all black. He had just pulled up in a big white van with blackened windows. It said "Public Security" on the side. I often see these vans around Beijing, and when I do I wonder who they've picked up — who is looking out those blackened windows, and what they think as they look out at the free pedestrians. Every story about a political prisoner starts with a ride in one of these vans. We entered through the back door. Sean, then me, then the man in black. I wasn't worried about being charged with grand theft, but I was pretty shook-up by that car. Like I was walking someone else's Green Mile. As we drove to Chaoyang police station, the young man in black texted and answered phone calls. "Did you eat? — no, me neither — sure, I'll pick some up. How many bottles? — Nah, I got stuff to take care of right now. Yeah, I'm busy, I'll see you later." At the police station, we exited out the back door (despite there being two side doors), and the man in black told us to not forget anything in the car, ending his sentence with the sensitive "ah" (in Chinese, ending sentences with the sound "ah" can express sympathy or concern). He tagged along as we were taken to a combination office/interrogation room, perhaps best called "soft-core interrogation room." A sign said "Please read the report to confirm it reflects your statement accurately." I knew then that we were not in serious trouble. Two police sat at computers browsing the Security Bureau's website, checking out pictures from some police officer bro-out party and reading picture comments. The guy in black kicked his feet up on a chair in the corner. Someone told us to sit down. No one paid any attention to us for half an hour, and I took that to mean that we were just a formality. Everyone was smoking. One man even rolled his own cigarettes. I took out my yo-yo and started to do some tricks. The guy in black switched out for a younger kid in black. He was maybe nineteen years old, and the black outfit sagged on his body. He spent the first five minutes slapping his watch on the chair's armrest. I turned to him, "What's wrong with you?" "It's broken," he smiled. "So why are you hitting it more?" The police officers laughed from their desks, blowing out smoke. Things were getting annoying. Eventually someone came and wrote down our names and passport numbers (I forgot mine. I gave them my phone number instead.). Then he handed us back the car key. "So, the car wasn't stolen?" Sean asked. "We'll take care of these matters," the policeman said. As we walked out, I saw the original guy in black lounging in the entrance way, feet again kicked up on the counter. "Goodbye, friend." I smiled and waved. He looked away. When we walked into the car rental office an hour later, the lady behind the desk started cracking up. "They're here! The customers who got arrested!" I guess it was pretty funny, and all the easier to laugh about since we were released and refunded in full. Needless to say, it wasn't your typical trip to the Great Wall. Filed under: Current Events Tagged: Beijing, China, Great Wall, Great Wall of China, Jinshanling, Police car, Police officer, Security Bureau

Cartoon: The Nationalists Go Quack Quack, by Hexie Farm (蟹农场) Posted: 19 Aug 2012 06:49 PM PDT The Nationalists Go Quack Quack © Samuel Wade for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

Hexie Farm (蟹农场): The Nationalists Go Quack Quack Posted: 19 Aug 2012 06:33 PM PDT For the latest instalment in his CDT series, cartoonist Crazy Crab of Hexie Farm shows a flock of ducks mounting an anti-sushi protest outside the famous Quanjude Peking roast duck restaurant. They brandish placards reading "Love The Hung Oven", "Safeguard Quanjude", "Safeguard The Hung Oven", "Boycott Sushi" and "The Closed Oven is Ours Too", oblivious to the fates of their brothers and sisters in the restaurant yard. The hung oven (used at Quanjude) and the closed oven are the two methods of roasting Peking duck. The camera carried by one of the ducks is a reference to a photo of a protester wearing a "Boycott Japanese Products" T-shirt with a Japanese Canon camera slung around his neck. 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.] © Samuel Wade for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: diaoyu islands, gas, hexie farm, oil, Peking duck, senkaku islands Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

Beijing Flood Censorship Directives Posted: 19 Aug 2012 06:00 PM PDT The following example of censorship instructions, issued to the media and/or Internet companies by various central (and sometimes local) government authorities, has been leaked and distributed online. Chinese journalists and bloggers often refer to those instructions as "Directives from the Ministry of Truth." CDT has collected the selections we translate here from a variety of sources and has checked them against official Chinese media reports to confirm their implementation. State Council Information Office: Some changes have occurred today in the online discussion of the Beijing flood: challenges and calls for accountability have markedly increased, while some people have seized the opportunity to attack the Party and the government, as well as the social system. We request that all websites boost their manpower and do everything possible to clean out harmful information on the Beijing flood. Attention: Leave untouched general messages calling the situation into question, but diligently erase those which are malicious and hostile. Furthermore, judging from the current situation, online discussion of the "7.23" anniversary has clearly heated up, and a number of malicious and hostile messages have appeared. Measures must be taken to delete messages which use this issue to attack the Party and the government, as well as the social system. Related discussions must be played down. Websites must not actively recommend and promote these messages. (July 23, 2012) 国新办：今天有关北京暴雨的网上舆情发生了一些变化：质疑和问责的言论明显增多，有人借机发表攻击党和政府、攻击社会制度的信息。请各网加强工作人力，全力清理有关北京暴雨的不良信息。注意：一般质疑反思的不要动，恶意攻击的要坚决删除。而且，从现在情况看，网上涉"7.23"周年纪念的言论明显升温，出现了不少恶意攻击性言论，要采取措施，坚决删除借此事攻击党和政府、攻击我社会制度的信息，相关讨论要淡化，网站不得主动推荐、置顶。 © Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: Beijing, beijing flood 2012, censorship, Directives from the Ministry of Truth, Ministry of Truth, propaganda, State Council Information Office Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

Politburo Projection Contest! Posted: 19 Aug 2012 05:42 PM PDT With the conclusion of the Beidaihe leadership retreat, it's safe to assume that the shadowy horse-trading is over and the next Politburo has been decided. We're now just waiting to hear the date of the 18th Party Congress – at which time the CCP will be so kind as to inform us who they've decided will run China for the next five years. But who will reign at the top in the Politburo Standing Committee (PBSC) and determine the course of the world's biggest nation? You tell me. This is a contest to see which of my dear readers can correctly predict the 9 (or 7, or 11?) leaders that will make up the new PBSC. The winner will receive a $20 Amazon gift card, but more importantly, they'll forever be immortalized here as Sino-Political Dork Guru! Rules 1. Write out the names of who you think will make up the PBSC and rank them. For instance, the current order is: Hu Jintao Wu Bangguo Wen Jiabao Jia Qinglin Li Changchun Xi Jinping Li Keqiang He Guoqiang Zhou Yongkang To win, you need only guess the correct makeup, not the correct order. The ranking will just be used as a tie-breaker (or to show how incredibly brilliant you are). However, you must get the number of people right. So if you guess 7 correctly and there ends up being 9 people on the PBSC, tough luck. 2. Put down your guess and your name and send it to sinostand@gmail.com with the subject line "Politburo Projection" by September 1st . 3. Obviously, winners will be announced whenever we find out – which could be anytime from September to November. If you win I'll contact you about what info you'd like published here (ie – name, blog, organization, twitter name, etc.). 4. If there are multiple winners, I'll post whoever's right, but the ranking will break a tie for the gift card. If there are multiple correct rankings, only the first submission I received will get the gift card (which will be sent electronically). 5. Only one guess per person. Yes, you could hypothetically submit several guesses under different emails and names, but this is for fun, so don't be an asshole. Will the first woman ever make the cut? Will Bo Xilai make the comeback of the century? Do some digging and make your guess. Nobody but me will ever know you tried unless you're right, so take a shot and perhaps build your China credentials.

Motorola China Staff Protest Layoffs, Trade Critics Confused Posted: 19 Aug 2012 10:50 AM PDT Cutbacks in staff will reach 700 in the Beijing based company, said a software engineer of the company, adding that the company noticed [sic] the employees to sign the termination agreement within one day, and some pregnant staffs [sic #2] were seen on the list of the layoffs. It is said that employees who lost their jobs gathered around the company's building in Chaoyang district in Beijing at around 11 am on Friday. The protest lasted more than one hour. (Xinhua) OK, here's a U.S. company laying off Chinese workers because of cost/productivity concerns. I'm not up on the latest criticism of international trade, so help me out here. As a loyal American populist, should I: 1. Be mad at Motorola for cutting jobs? 2. Be happy that a U.S. company is hiring fewer Chinese workers? 3. Be disappointed that Motorola isn't closing its China operations entirely and moving back to Illinois? Seriously, the whole thing makes me dizzy. I'm reminded, indirectly, of a Matt Miller Op/Ed in the Washington Post (couple years ago maybe, and sorry, no link) in which he posed the following question to critics of free trade (and I paraphrase loosely): what's the moral basis for protectionist policies that may save a few jobs at "home" if it means that a poorer country, or any country for that matter, loses out on those jobs and that income? It's a good question, and one that also pulls in issues relating to nationalism. But let's put it another way. Suppose Motorola was really going to close down a big operation here and move back home. China would lose, just for the sake of argument, 5,000 jobs, while the U.S. would benefit from that loss. Where's the good and evil in that tale? Would protectionists be OK with China giving Motorola a big fat tax break to stay? Seems to me that when you reverse Country A and Country B in these tales, you can't help but think about this stuff a little differently. And keep in mind that in the very near future, Chinese companies are going to be coming to North Carolina or Mississippi or wherever and hiring folks there. Then we'll all be confused when we talk about trade policy. © Stan for China Hearsay, 2012. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us Post tags:

Ancient Morality Text Updated for Young Posted: 19 Aug 2012 11:28 AM PDT China has updated the '24 Filial Exemplars', an ancient morality text, to promote filial piety among the new generation. From Tania Branigan at The Guardian: The original 24 Filial Exemplars date from around the 14th century, when Yuan dynasty scholar Guo Jujing collected the tales of obedient children. They were endlessly reprinted in the centuries that followed, until the Communist party banned them as it sought to eradicate backwards thinking. The heroes of the work include the son who strangled a tiger to save his father and Dong Yong, a Han dynasty figure who sold himself to pay for his father's funeral rites. […] The new list, promoted by the All China Women's Federation and the China National Committee on Ageing, appears more prosaic. It urges people to ensure their parents have sufficient health insurance, to take them for medical checks and to give them enough spending money. […] Changing social mores, the embryonic state of the social safety net and the demographic "timebomb" of a fast-ageing population have made officials keener than ever to promote filial piety. © Mengyu Dong for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: aging populaion, cultural heritage, cultural preservation, demographics, filial piety, traditional culture, values Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

Miss China on Top of the World Posted: 19 Aug 2012 09:59 AM PDT As China embraces beauty pageants, Miss China Yu Wenxia was crowned Miss World on Saturday. She is the second contestant to win from China: 2007′s Zhang Zilin was the first Chinese contestant to win an international beauty contest. From the Associated Press: China's Yu Wenxia has been crowned the 2012 Miss World. The first runner-up is Sophie Elizabeth Moulds of Wales and the second runner-up is Jessica Michelle Kahawaty of Australia. The 23-year-old Yu is a music student who says she wants to become a music teacher. This is the first time for the Inner Mongolian city of Ordos to host the international beauty pageant. The host city of Ordos is known as "China's biggest ghost town" following a burst of government-funded construction that far outpaced utilisation. Pageant contestants expressed optimism about the city's future, however. From AFP: "Ordos could be the next Dubai," Marielle Wilkie, representing the Caribbean nation of Barbados, confidently predicted. Albanian contestant Floriana Garo chimed in with her own bold statement. "In ten years, this city will be booming," she said. Architecture in Ordos, where the city museum is shaped like an undulating blob, is "world class," added Markysa O'Loughlin, representing St. Kitts and Nevis, also in the Caribbean. © Melissa M. Chan for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: beauty contest, Inner Mongolia, miss china, Ordos, soft power Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

China, DPRK Vow to Develop Economic Ties Posted: 19 Aug 2012 10:01 AM PDT As a visit to Beijing by Kim Jong-Un's uncle, Jang Song-thaek, comes to an end, China Daily reports that China and North Korea vow to develop economic ties: China and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea said on Friday that they would push forward in developing economic zones. The message came during a meeting between Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and a DPRK delegation headed by Jang Song Thaek, chief of the central administrative department of the Workers' Party of Korea. Wen said the government would continue to push bilateral ties forward, support DPRK to improve its economy and people's well-being. He is confident the country will also make progress in national development. Jang said Kim Jong Un, top leader of DPRK, attached importance to the bilateral relations, believing the friendship will be passed from generation to generation. Aside from developing joint economic projects, Wen has urged Pyongyang to allow the market to revamp North Korea's economy. From Reuters: Premier Wen Jiabao encouraged North Korea to allow "market mechanisms" help revamp its economy, state media said on Saturday, and laid down other pre-conditions as China tries to wean its impoverished ally off its dependence on Chinese aid. As well as allowing freer rein to market forces, the Chinese premier also recommended Pyongyang encourage economic growth by improving laws and regulations, encouraging business investment and reforming its customs services. Beijing has had difficulty managing the relationship with North Korea, which it views as a strategically critical buffer between itself and U.S. military forces in South Korea. But North Korea is often more cantankerous than China would like, in particular towards South Korea, even though the economic relationship between China and South Korea is far more important. Bilateral ties are also not always smooth. According to the New York Times, Jang's visit has garnered an unusual amount of attention from North Korean media: Mr. Jang, 66, widely seen as Mr. Kim's point man in overseeing the development of the zones, is the most powerful North Korean official to visit China since Mr. Kim's father, Kim Jong-il, went there in August 2011. South Korean analysts consider Mr. Jang to be a significant influence in Kim Jong-un's recent efforts to tame his military and carry out his economic revitalization program, which, according to South Korean news media, includes allowing farmers to own part of their annual yield as an incentive. Such a plan, if put into effect, would be one of the most drastic reforms in North Korea, which officially sticks to "socialist economic principles." Mr. Jang is the brother-in-law of Mr. Kim's father, who died in December. When Kim Jong-il was alive, Mr. Jang often preferred to stand in the background while party secretaries and military leaders stood closer to the elder Mr. Kim during official functions. Mr. Kim once banished Mr. Jang from Pyongyang, the capital. But his prominence has risen with the ascension of Kim Jong-un. Mr. Jang and his wife have climbed the party hierarchy as they worked to ensure a smooth transition of power in the Kim dynasty. North Korea's state-run news media have provided daily updates on Mr. Jang's trip, coverage that is highly unusual for anyone except for the top leader. Bolstering that prominence was China's willingness to grant Mr. Jang meetings with its top leaders — a treatment that South Korean news media called "a level befitting a head of state." Mr. Jang was visiting China as the chief of the central administrative department of the Workers' Party of Korea. Amid continuing speculation on Kim Jong-Un's first visit to China, Jang's visit is seen as a prelude for the young Kim's own trip, China Daily reports: The visit is also widely speculated as a prelude to one by Kim Jong-un to Beijing. Kim has yet to visit Beijing but his father, Kim Jong-il, was a frequent visitor to China in his later years. "It is a custom for the DPRK top leader to pay his first foreign visit to China," said Zhang Liangui, a professor on Korean Peninsula studies at the Party School of the Communist Party of China Central Committee. "In the current situation, it is necessary for Pyongyang to step up communication with Beijing and to let the Chinese leaders and Kim Jong-un know each other." On Friday both Hu and Wen offered condolences for floods which severely hit the DPRK this summer.   © Melissa M. Chan for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: bilateral ties, economic development, Kim Jong-un, North Korea. North Korea relations, Wen Jiabao Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

Should the Chinese Government “Fight Back” Against Rumors on Social Media? Posted: 19 Aug 2012 09:42 AM PDT The characters on the tongue reads "Internet rumors" Part of our job here at Tea Leaf Nation is trying our best to separate real (often censored) news from unsubstantiated rumors on China's social media (e.g. see here and here). We wonder if there is any truth in the piece below that appeared on August 17 in Beijing Daily, a Party-controlled paper known to take a hard-line stance on issues such as freedom of speech. Tea Leaf Nation has translated the editorial in full, along with some comments by netizens and a brief analysis. Within the article, links and emphasis are the translator's own. We Must Do Our Best to Keep Fake News From Fermenting For Too Long (on Weibo) 8/17/2012 02:26:10 Beijing Time   Source: Beijing Daily, by Zhang Di The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) recently announced the so-called "six restrictions on television dramas" were not real. These restrictions, which made a lot of people in the industry worried out of their minds, turned out to be totally fake. On the subject of fake news, there are two other recent cases. The first is "a foreign girl in Shanghai saves an elderly person and laments the Chinese for being heartless," and another is "a girl in Panjin is raped by the police chief and others." After going viral, these were proven to be fake stories. Fake news is so widespread these days that it has become a societal phenomenon, especially in emerging online platforms like Weibo. All kinds of information gets mixed up together, and in the confusion, it's becoming harder and harder to distinguish real and fake. In the past few years, the harmful impact fake news has on society can be clearly seen. It has destroyed reputations and corporate images, and even set off panic in society. The accounts of its negative impact are too many to name. But this being the case, why do some people still insist on spewing this nonsense? How can fake news be so popular and spread so rampantly? This is something we should be concerned about. We must see that as competition becomes more and more fierce in the media sector, some media outlets lose their heads in the pursuit of their own interests, abandoning professional ethics. In their opinion, it doesn't matter if news is true or not; as long as it attracts an audience and attention it'll do. As for rumors that circulate online, there is no system in place to tell true from fake at all. People plagiarize all the time, using new and old stories alike. People take the most ridiculous crap and spin it into eye-catching so-called "news." It's these kinds of baseless, sensationalizing methods, and netizens' promoting and hyping anything outrageous, that allow fake news to make headlines. The media have gotten all the attention they need, while the truth drifts farther and farther out of society's sights. If you take another look at the methods for making these fake news stories, it's not difficult to see that there are certainly strategies and established formats for them. In the examples I gave earlier, you can see "restrictions" "the heartless Chinese" and "police chief." These consciously stressed words are all meant to appeal to the sentiments of today's cynical and embittered society. That's why this kind of news, while it gains so much attention, is also reposted and commented on with such fervor and stereotypical opinions. As the tides rise and the currents grow stronger, public opinion can eventually grow so strong that it encourages others to believe. For some people, it's as if reality doesn't exist at all. After the fact, it doesn't matter whether people there on the scene work hard to dispel the rumors or disprove them, it's almost impossible to achieve. It's also important not to ignore how widespread fake news really is. This is due in large part to the failure of relevant authorities to respond appropriately. In the face of fake news, some government departments are not quick enough to take a clear stance or dispel rumors. They insist on waiting until public discourse has spiraled out of control to do anything, and by then, it's too late. In some cases they can't say what they mean clearly, or they are overcautious, and in the end not only have the rumors not been dispelled, they've generated an entirely new layer of hype. The longer the story goes, the darker it gets, and there's no saving it. In truth, it's because of the methods for dealing with this kind of public discourse aren't yet fully developed that fake news has a chance to grow and ferment, greatly obscuring reality. In today's China, with all of these diverging interests and the complexity of the structure of society, it's unavoidable that there will be all kinds of fake news, which will put a great strain on society's material and psychological resources. We can't back down in the face of this – we must fight back harder against fake news. Only when there is a system for correcting fake news in a timely manner throughout all of society will we have a healthier environment for development. The article above blames China's version of Twitter, or Weibos, netizens, short-sighted journalists, and cynicism for this fake news crisis, but does not address the role that an information vacuum plays in creating a demand for information by any means necessary. Comments were disabled on at least five of the websites that reprinted this article, but on China's Twitter-like microblogging platforms, a few had voiced an opinion. Wrote @云中一滴水007 on Tencent Weibo, "Fight fake news, fight fake harmony." On Sina Weibo, @emengweb wrote "Are you trying to say that you're going to expand the list of 'sensitive words'?" @柯雷行者 tweets, "It might be easier for you to list the real news items that you have published." [1] Perhaps most interesting was a seemingly unrelated comment on the Beijing Daily's posting of the article by @就是八不 that simply read: "Mei Ninghua [the editor-in-chief of Beijing Daily] was removed from his post as Beijing Daily's Party committee secretary and made assistant Party committee secretary." Official media gave no explanation for Mei Ninghua's demotion, which was mentioned only briefly by the Beijing Daily in a list of 101 recent promotions, demotions and removals; importantly, no reason is given for any of the changes. According to Radio Free International, Mei Ninghua recently fell out of favor due to his conservatism and backing of Bo Xilai, the prominent Chinese politician who was purged earlier this year. Perhaps Beijing Daily should not let this piece of "fake news" ferment for too long as well?  Footnotes    (? returns to text) 你列举一下你这里曾发过的真新闻可能更容易?

China: Anti-Japanese Protests Posted: 19 Aug 2012 06:57 AM PDT A series of anti-Japanese protests in major Chinese cities has been triggered off by the arrest of Hong Kong activists who landed on the disputed Diaoyu Island by the Japan government. The Nanfang.com reported on the protests in Shenzhen and Guangzhou today on 19 August 2012. Written by Oiwan Lam · comments (0) Share: Donate · facebook · twitter · reddit · StumbleUpon · delicious · Instapaper

Nationalism in Hong Kong Posted: 19 Aug 2012 06:52 AM PDT Dictionary of Politically Incorrect Hong Kong Cantonese discusses about the political contradictions of Hong Kong activists who travelled to Diaoyu Island against Japanese territorial claim. Written by Oiwan Lam · comments (0) Share: Donate · facebook · twitter · reddit · StumbleUpon · delicious · Instapaper

China: Foreigner-Chinese Confrontations Posted: 19 Aug 2012 06:42 AM PDT Anthony Tao from Beijing Cream highlighted a foreigner-Chinese confrontation in Zhengzhou, capital of Henan province, that nearly triggered a riot. Written by Oiwan Lam · comments (0) Share: Donate · facebook · twitter · reddit · StumbleUpon · delicious · Instapaper

The Myth of Chinese Non-Intervention Posted: 19 Aug 2012 12:00 AM PDT Unlike most other myths about China that are created and perpetuated by the West, this myth – the notion that China does not ever interfere in the internal affairs of other sovereign nation states – was created by China itself. It is perpetuated primarily by China's historical record of non-intervention. Consequently, over time this principle of non-intervention has unnecessarily taken on an absolutist and unilateral character, while casting aside one small but vital element of Premier Zhou's original doctrine: 互. A bit of background for new readers who may not be familiar with the doctrinal foundations of PRC foreign policy. Shortly after the founding of the Republic, Premier Zhou Enlai outlined five basic principles by which China conducts relations with other nation-states: "互相尊重主权和领土完整、互不侵犯、互不干涉内政、平等互利、和平共处" These principles are roughly translated as "mutual respect of sovereignty and territorial integrity, mutual non-aggression, mutual non-interference of internal affairs, equality & mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence", and they remain the basis of Chinese foreign policy to this day. The word "互", or "mutual", by definition implies a reciprocal, non-unilateral relationship. Therefore, under the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, China has NO moral, legal, or doctrinal obligation to respect the sovereignty of nation-states that interfere in China's internal affairs, since such restraint must be reciprocal. Needless to say, I have a very specific and narrow group of countries in mind that fits the category above. As China increases its comprehensive national power, it must realize external intervention will not simply go away; it will be ever more critical for China to develop the talent, infrastructure, and institutions necessary to engage in retaliatory foreign intervention (when opportunities arise). I would hope that this capability would be used in a conservative,  judicious, and proportional manner. Perhaps one way to start would be to help a political dissident break free of persecution… >;-]

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