Blogs » Politics » China Still Exists; Beijing’s Doomsday Problem Persists

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• China Still Exists; Beijing’s Doomsday Problem Persists
• Writers Honored for Free Expression Commitment
• A Good Year for Chinese-English Translation
• Photo: Waiting for the End of the World, by Mark Hobbs
• Extinction Threatens 40% of China’s Minority Languages
• What Chinese Web Users Searched For in 2012, And What It Means
• Censorship Vault: Marriage by Death and More
• Eastern Lightning may be a cult, but they still have rights
• Ministry of Truth: Neither Negative nor Positive
• No humans and animals allowed to enter trash bins, warns Bijie government

China Still Exists; Beijing’s Doomsday Problem Persists Posted: 21 Dec 2012 07:29 PM PST The People's Republic of China, like the rest of the world, still existed as of 19:30 PST on December 21st, 2012. U.F.O.-watchers had gathered in Hunan, anti-cult organisations had issued reassuring text messages, and the United Nations' had denied on its official Sina Weibo account that it sold tickets for an ark. Meanwhile, the number of 'Almighty God' "cultists" detained by authorities reached 1,000 on Thursday. From Reuters: In recent weeks, hundreds of members of the Almighty God group have clashed with police, sometimes outside government buildings, in central Henan, northern Shaanxi and southwestern Gansu provinces, according to photos on popular microblogs. The government says it is a cult calling for a "decisive battle" to slay the "Red Dragon" Communist Party, and which has been spreading doomsday alerts related an old Mayan calendar seen by some as predicting "the end of the world" on December 21. Police have now detained around 1,000 members the Almighty God group across some seven provinces, the People's Daily reported on its website on Thursday, saying about 400 of them had been detained in the remote western province of Qinghai. The group is also accused, according to Global Times, of "encouraging people to donate all of their belongings" to its leaders before the end arrived, a strategy also suggested by sceptical astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. At The New York Review of Books, Ian Johnson argued that the crackdown reflects the Beijing's growing uncertainty in the face of a broader religious resurgence. It would be easy to see this as just a Chinese version of the global Mayan craze. And given the problems facing Xi Jinping, China's new leader—among them a slowing economy and escalating tensions with maritime neighbors—groups like the Almighty God might seem like a sideshow. But this would be a mistake. Following decades of suppression, religious movements have become a potent force in China, attracting hundreds of millions of Chinese. This has made groups like Almighty God a growing challenge for the new government. Above all, Beijing is struggling with the question of social control—how much it can continue to wield over an increasingly wealthy, educated, and assertive population. Religion has become a focus for these tensions because China is undergoing a religious revival driven in part by widespread concern that age-old Chinese values have been eroded by "getting rich is glorious" economic modernization. Organized religion and other spiritual movements, such as Confucianism and efforts to protect traditional culture, are rapidly gaining traction. Many religious groups have decided they can't wait for government approval and are simply organizing and seeing how the chips fall. To a surprising degree, they have succeeded: unregistered churches, lay Buddhist organizations, and clan-based charities have all developed under the government's radar screen. Much of the government's unease arises from fear of foreign agitation, illustrated repeatedly by its insistence that the Dalai Lama is behind Tibetan self-immolations, and again this week by a set of leaked instructions on dealing with foreign missionary activity. From William Wan at The Washington Post: The 16-page notice — obtained this month by a U.S.-based Christian group — uses language from the cold war era to depict a conspiracy by "overseas hostile forces" to infiltrate Chinese campuses under the guise of academic exchanges while their real intent is to use religion in "westernizing and dividing China." […] The document talks about infiltration by religion as a whole, but it singles out Christianity as particularly dangerous and the United States as leading the effort. No other country or religion is mentioned by name. […] In the document, authorities warn that foreigners are using academic research, study abroad, English-language instruction and charitable work as pretexts to spread religion among China's youths. "The intensity of infiltration is increasing," the document reads. "You must not underestimate the current harm and the long-term effect of such phenomenon and you must take forceful measures." Religious groups were also described as a U.S.-backed threat in an essay which provoked fierce criticism after appearing in the overseas edition of People's Daily in July. But discussing the leaked document on his Sinostand blog, the Economic Observer's Eric Fish suggested that the authorities have mistaken the goals of missionary activity in China. As the document suggests, there are indeed thousands of these people in China; many of whom conduct activities that would raise legal issues even in Western democracies. I heard stories of teachers requiring students to attend Bible studies in order to pass their class. Many used Christian teaching materials and held English classes based on Biblical themes. I even heard about a teacher requiring his students to put on a play about the seven deadly sins that featured Jesus lugging a crucifix. But a few things jumped out at me from this document. The first was how the government still fundamentally misunderstands what motivates Christian missionaries. To some degree, this is understandable. Chinese officials tend to be pragmatic worldly people with little exposure to religion. The idea that someone would spend so much time and resources changing others' beliefs for no tangible reason makes no sense. That these missionaries feel duty-bound to a supernatural deity and believe they're literally saving their converts just doesn't register. Clearly, there must be some devious political agenda beneath that pious surface. There are indeed those like Bob Fu who have explicit regime-change goals, but they seem to be a small minority. Most seem to consciously avoid even mentioning politics. They may expend disproportionate effort on students with political ambitions, but this is more in hopes of getting religious policy relaxed, not overthrowing the entire system. © Samuel Wade for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: Christianity, Dalai Lama, ian johnson, religion, religious freedom, self-immolations, United States, Xi Jinping Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

Writers Honored for Free Expression Commitment Posted: 21 Dec 2012 04:08 PM PST 12 writers from China are among the 41 who received Human Rights Watch's 2012 Hellman/Hammett grants "for their commitment to free expression and their courage in the face of persecution". The organisation suggested that the presence of so many writers from one country reflected "especially severe repression of free expression". The grants are named for the American playwright Lillian Hellman and her longtime companion, the novelist Dashiell Hammett. Both were both questioned by US congressional committees about their political beliefs and affiliations during the aggressive anti-communist investigations inspired by Sen. Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s. Hellman suffered professionally and had trouble finding work. Hammett spent time in prison. In 1989, the trustees appointed in Hellman's will asked Human Rights Watch to devise a program to help writers who were targeted for expressing views that their governments oppose, for criticizing government officials or actions, or for writing about subjects that their governments did not want reported. […] A concentration of grantees in certain countries points to especially severe repression of free expression by those governments. Twelve of this year's grantees come from the People's Republic of China; four of them are Tibetan and remain anonymous for security reasons. Five grantees are from Vietnam, four from Ethiopia, and three from Iran. In addition to the four anonymous and imprisoned Tibetans, the honorees include one ethnic Mongolian, Huuchinhuu Govruud, and two Uyghur writers, Memetjan Abdulla and Gulmire Imin. Wang Lihong, Qi Chonghuai, Huang Qi, He Depu and Sun Wenguang also received grants. Profiles of all the named writers are available at HRW.org. See also the November edition of Words without Borders magazine, which focused on banned Chinese writers and is still available for free. © Samuel Wade for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: Ethiopia, free expression, freedom of expression, huang qi, human rights watch, Iran, mongolians, Qi Chonghuai, Tibetans, Uyghurs, Vietnam, Wang Lihong, writers Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

A Good Year for Chinese-English Translation Posted: 21 Dec 2012 04:37 PM PST At Paper Republic, Nicky Harman celebrates a good year for Chinese-to-English translations, listing twenty books published—mostly—in 2012. OK, I've cheated a bit – three of the publications below are poetry, and two others come out in January 2013. Still, it's a good haul and many times better than the annual total, say, ten years ago. (Please post a comment if I've missed anyone out.) I couldn't begin to add up just how many hours of translation the whole list represents, and that's without the extra work translators have put in, on some of these books, to get them off the ground. So, lets raise a glass to translation and all pat ourselves on the back! […] PS On Twitter, @cfbcuk (that's the China Fiction Book Club) has posted each one with review links, tagged #abook4xmas. Among the twenty is Mo Yan's Sandalwood Death, translated by Howard Goldblatt. Goldblatt has been variously credited with accurately rendering the Nobel-winner's prose by Mo's admirers, and with flattering it by his critics. Two titles were translated by Allan Barr, professor of Chinese at Pomona College. The school's website features an interview on his translations of Han Han's This Generation and Yu Hua's China in Ten Words: "Han Han's style is sarcastic and playful, full of mischievous puns, and channeling his distinctive voice and conveying his wicked sense of humor were the biggest challenges I faced," says Barr, who has been at Pomona since 1981. […] The concept of one book, China in Ten Words, was developed after Yu [Hua] spoke at Pomona in 2009. Barr had invited the writer to speak during his U.S. tour for his novel Brothers. When discussing the topic of Yu's speech, Barr suggested Yu speak about China from a writer's point of view, and Yu built his presentation around two common words in the contemporary Chinese language: 人民 ("people") and 领袖 ("leader"). He realized he had other words he wanted to write about and developed the idea into a book. "When I drove him to LAX at the end of his visit here, we agreed that I would translate the book into English," recalls Barr. "Yu Hua wrote China in Ten Words over the months that followed, sending me each chapter as he completed it. The book's 10 chapters all take a different word as their theme, in a wide-ranging discussion that involves memoir, anecdote, and analysis." The book's Taiwan edition mentions Pomona in the preface, says Barr, but that reference didn't make it into the English edition. The book was not published in mainland China due to its critiques of the country. See Yu Hua's own words on the book, translated by CDT's Don Weinland, and Perry Link's review, via CDT. On Han Han, see recent profiles and reviews by Jeffrey Wasserstrom at Words without Borders, Rebecca Liao at The New Inquiry, Katrina Hamlin at Reuters' Breakingviews, Duncan Hewitt at The Daily Beast and Ian Johnson at The New York Review of Books, as well as an excerpt from This Generation at The Daily Beast. © Samuel Wade for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: books, Han Han, literature, mo yan, reading, translation excerpt, yu hua Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

Photo: Waiting for the End of the World, by Mark Hobbs Posted: 21 Dec 2012 02:46 PM PST Waiting for the End of the World © 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

Extinction Threatens 40% of China’s Minority Languages Posted: 21 Dec 2012 02:36 PM PST A widespread fear among Tibetans, both at home and in exile, is that their language will die out. Education reforms relegating Tibetan to secondary status in schools are one of the core grievances against Chinese authorities, and concern for the language's future has been voiced in a recent petition from 91 international scholars to Xi Jinping and the last words of some self-immolators. While Tibetan's survival seems relatively likely, a report at ChinaNews.com [zh] shows that other minority languages in China are in critical danger. From Bruce Humes' translated highlights at Ethnic ChinaLit: Non-han languages: 55 officially designated "peoples" (民族) speak an estimated 130 languages Populations: one-half of non-Han languages are spoken by groups that number under 10,000 members, of which 20+ have 1,000 speakers or less Endangered languages: Manchu, Tatar, She, Hezhen can no longer be used for conversation; another 20 percent, such as Nu, Yilao, Pumi and Jinuo are approaching that state; and a total of 40 percent are in danger of extinction in the mid-term. Manchu: 11 million ethnic Manchus, but only 100 or so can speak fluently and less than a dozen read and write well. Language decline and extinction is by no means limited to China: up to half of the 7,000 languages currently spoken may disappear by the end of the 21st Century, equivalent on average to three dying out each month. Technology has helped reverse the decline of some North American aboriginal languages, however, and Tibetan has also been bolstered by blogging and online organisation and resources. Monk, font designer and software developer Lobsang Monlam discussed these developments in an interview at Trace Foundation: Compared with developed countries, the impact of digital technology on Tibetans is relatively small and not extensive. However, in comparison to smaller communities, the impact in only a few years has been great and the progress is remarkable. To preserve the Tibetan language, there must be an appropriate forum for its use, and we must use it accordingly. There also must be proper conditions for its use. I see this as particularly important inside Tibet. […] From a dharma practitioner's point of view, I serve the Tibetan people by preserving the Tibetan language. Our cultural heritage is dependent on this language. As I work hard on these projects, my motivation is pure, which is very important here. […] The Tibetan language still lags behind in the digital technology sphere. We are still only utilizing 5% of Tibetan's capacity with regards to digital technologies. The language can still only be used for word processing, on the Internet and a few other applications. We have need a comprehensive character, grammar and spell check software. We also need to develop software that reads Tibetan words properly; a computer operating system that can be used in Tibetan, and software to convert old Tibetan fonts to the Unicode system. I feel these projects are very important for the digitization of the Tibetan language. We also need Optical Character Recognition software for Tibetan, various databases in the Tibetan language, speech-to-text software for Tibetan, translation software between Tibetan and other languages, and translations of important websites to Tibetan; all this is also very vital for Tibetan language. Tibetan Dechen Pemba of High Peaks Pure Earth contributed to this post. © Samuel Wade for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: blogging, cultural preservation, education, languages, Manchu, online organizing, Tibetan language Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

What Chinese Web Users Searched For in 2012, And What It Means Posted: 21 Dec 2012 01:08 PM PST (iStock Photo/Pressure UA) What did China search for in 2012? It wasn't the hotly disputed Diaoyu Islands or the widely-watched London Olympics. On Baidu.com, China's homegrown search engine commanding about 83 percent of the Chinese search market, the most popular searches focus on stories discovered and spread by Internet denizens themselves. Chinese web users were not only passive consumers of news and entertainment, but also active investigators increasingly suspicious of the official storyline. Common themes included skepticism of government and sharp-eyed scrutiny of officials and their families, but also a keen appreciation for light-hearted and unusual stories. The searches that set the Chinese Web ablaze The below search terms climbed the fastest in 2012. While their total traffic wasn't necessarily the highest, they drew the most attention in a short span of time. #1 Bo Gu Kailai Not surprisingly, China's biggest political scandal in years–the downfall of Bo Xilai and his wife Gu Kailai–topped Baidu's trending list. It was the stuff of spy movies: A British man found dead in his hotel room, a night flight to the U.S. consulate, an intelligent, high-powered woman, and millions of dirty RMB changing hands. It all culminated in a murder trial for Gu and expulsion from the Party for Bo, who had once seemed assured of a place in China's leadership. Starting with the defection of Bo's former right-hand man Wang Lijun in February 2012 (also ranking #1 in Baidu's list of most popular "Social Searches," Baidu's category for searches related to politics, the economy, and other social issues) and culminating with Bo being stripped of all titles and power in September (#3 in Social Searches), the political upheaval allowed a rare glimpse into the enigmatic shadow puppetry of Chinese politics. So who exactly is "Bo Gu Kailai"? It's an odd invention by Chinese mainstream media, a convenient shorthand to refer to wife Gu, who per Chinese tradition kept her surname, while also linking her to hubby Bo. #2 Mengniu (Monmilk) and Yili sales suspended In March 2012, Sina Weibo, a micro-blogging platform, was seized by rumors that dairy products from two major Chinese companies, Monmilk and Yili, had been suddenly discontinued by two Hong Kong supermarket chains. Recalling the 2008 scare in which melamine in baby formula killed several Chinese infants, some Chinese panicked. Subsequent reports revealed that the supermarkets had not carried the products in the first place. In fact, Yili stopped exporting its milk in 2008–a suspicious detail in and of itself–but the damage had been done. Monmilk and Yili shares plummeted. The source of the rumors? Some suspected an unscrupulous competitor. #3 From old mother to young lady The above logo may look unnerving to first-time viewers, but for many Chinese it instantly signals comfort food. Below, the botched re-launch. (Via Weibo) Some makeovers don't take. Popular restaurant chain Da Niang Dumplings changed its logo, seemingly overnight, from a smiling old mother to a curvaceous young woman. Customers were flummoxed. Legitimate franchises of this restaurant chain were mistaken for shanzhai, or imposter, stores (not surprising in the land of USABucks). People complained that Da Niang was destroying a winning formula: The old cartoon mother had a friendly, welcoming smile well suited to a restaurant serving comfort food. The faceless young woman seemed cold and out-of-reach. #4 CCTV's goof of Liu Xiang's injury Many were already skeptical that an injured right foot was what really caused 2004 gold medalist hurdler Liu Xiang to withdraw from the London Olympics' 110 meter hurdles. When a China Central Television (CCTV) interview showed Liu with a cast on his left foot, suspicions spiked. CCTV explained (plausibly, it turned out) that editors had flipped the image for aesthetic reasons. #5 Girl dreams of time travel, gets cheated With a string of popular time-travel themed-television series saturating the airwaves, young women all over China have dreamt of journeying back to the Qing dynasty and falling in love with a power-hungry prince (or two). One 19-year-old from Liaoning Province tried to make this fantasy a reality when she paid RMB 1,800–her entire savings–to a woman she met online to purchase a magic wine that would take her back to the past. The best of the rest Various popular memes and scandals rounded out the top ten. These include a young woman (#9) who threw her government-employed father-in-law's integrity into doubt when she showed off images of luxury handbags, shoes and watches on her Weibo account. At #10, another woman became an instant celebrity after cameras caught her napping in the audience at the 2012 Spring Festival Gala, an annual variety show that is the most-watched program in China, and thus the world. Web users praised her honest reaction to a show regarded as steadily declining in quality. Baidu's top people: Sex, crime, and online mascots Surprise! Sex still sells. Ms. Rola Takizawa, newcomer to the Japanese adult film industry, took the #1 spot on Baidu's most searched-for people. Web users could not get enough of Bo Xilai and his family. (Voa Chinese/Wikimedia Commons) Crime and criminals were also reoccurring themes. Justin Lee (#2), son of a wealthy Taiwanese businessman and already known for promiscuously dating models and stars, was indicted for drugging and raping many more women. The late Bai Jing (#3), once a popular actress, was found dead in her home following her husband's suspected murder-suicide in February 2012, while Bo Xilai and Gu Kulai shared the #4 spot. Mr. Zhou Kehua, at #6, was suspected of perpetrating a series of armed robberies from 2004 to 2012–a rare feat in a country with strict gun control. After a four-day-long pursuit ended with police fatally shooting Zhou, many netizens parsing images of the deceased questioned whether police had killed the right man. In a self-referential twist, Du Niang (literally, "Lady Du") came in at #8. Du is a pretty, young woman who serves as de facto mascot for the Baidu search engine. While Lady Du sprung from netizen imagination, she was ultimately adopted by Baidu itself. Refreshingly, a few ordinary (and non-invented) citizens made it on to Baidu's list of trending people. Zhang Lili sat at #6. Zhang is a high school teacher from Heilongjiang province who jumped in front of an oncoming bus to push several students out of danger. The students were saved, but Zhang lost both legs in the accident. Another ordinary citizen, Wu Bin was driving a long-distance bus down a highway when a piece of metallic debris flew through the bus window, stabbing into Wu's abdomen and causing severe organ damage. Wu managed to bring the bus to a safe stop, apply the handbrake, evacuate the passengers, and call the police before finally collapsing. He died of his wounds on June 1. Diaosi: The most popular word of 2012? It's revealing that diaosi (屌丝) may be the single most popular Internet term created in 2012. Enough people were using it–or at least wondering what on earth it meant–to make it the most-searched entry on Baidu, China's Wikipedia equivalent. Diaosi has emerged as a term of self-mockery, in direct contrast to the idealized "tall rich handsome" (gaofushuai) man and "pale rich beautiful" (baifumei) woman. The typical diaosi of popular imagination is poor, short and ugly, spends much of his time online, generally has dreams and ideals but is too passive to pursue them, and has few expectations for the future–a kind-hearted, bumbling loser. Many Web users see a bit of diaosi reflected in themselves and have embraced the term willingly, realizing how difficult it is for the ordinary person to succeed economically and romantically in China's competitive, materialistic, network-based culture. Other popular encyclopedia entries on Baidu include the Baryon number (#3, a concept in quantum mechanics), Gangnam Style (#4), and popular singing competition Voice of China (#5). Bonus section: Chinese curiosity Baidu also tabulated its most popular questions from 2012. Some highlights: When was the first dog created? What is the difference between iPad 2 and iPad 3? What is a good use for shelled pea pods? Why can't one scatter salt on top of open wounds? Why doesn't China take economic sanctions against Japan? Why do pandas pee upside down? Why do cats bury their excrement?

Censorship Vault: Marriage by Death and More Posted: 21 Dec 2012 08:24 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. 2 April 2007, 20:39:58 All websites are to reprint the newest article of Chongqing Hualong Net concerning the nail house: http://cqtoday.cqnews.net/system/2007/04/02/000777513.shtml. 3 April 2007, 18:12 Concerning the incident where the Chongqing nail house was pulled down, websites must not reprint or release new information, reports or comments anymore, and may not follow trails or look back. Blogs and forums may not recommend this sort of article, where posts are overly concentrated, they must be firmly removed. All posts attacking the handling result of this matter or encouraging trouble-making must be firmly blocked and deleted. 6 April 2007 All websites, concerning the matter of "Peking University Student Forces Liu Dehua to Marry Yang Lijuan by Death," please immediately delete this, forums, also delete this in blogs and other interactive segments. 6 April 2007 All websites are requested not to reprint "Three Large Petroleum Tycoons 'Jump into the Sea' to Pursue Hot Ocean Project Sector" and corresponding reports, where it has been reprinted, please delete it, thank you. 6 April 2007 All websites are requested to close trackers for "Shenyang Natural Gas Leak Accident Causes Large Fire" and corresponding news, thank you. 10 April 2007 All websites: Please immediately push information concerning "railway speed-up" to the back stage, existing information is inaccurate in many places. 13 April 2007, 18:28:40 Do not reprint reports on the issue of the legality of land use for the construction of the Olympic water park in Shunyi, interactive segments are not to disseminate or discuss this. All websites: recently, the farmer Guo Baoshun from Shunyi District, Beijing, published discourse concerning the so-called "issue of the legality of land use for the construction of the Olympic water park in Shunyi" that does not conform to reality. All websites are requested to not reprint reports concerning this matter, interactive segments may not disseminate or discuss this matter, delete corresponding content. 13 April 2007, 18:25:26 Do not reprint reports on the so-called "Last Redress of a Strangled Rural Party Member," interactive segments are not to discuss or disseminate this. All websites: Do not reprint reports related to the so-called Beijing Shunyi District Gaoliying Township Village Six Party member Lü Lianyou applying to withdraw from the Party, interactive segments are not to discuss or disseminate corresponding content. Interactive segments are to earnestly search for and delete the text "The Last Redress of a Strangled Rural Party Member" written by Lü Lianyou. 2007年4月北京网管办发出的禁令（一） 2007-04-02 20:39:58 各网站转载重庆华龙网关于钉子户的最新报道http://cqtoday.cqnews.net/system/2007/04/02/000777513.shtml 2007年4月3日17时12分 关于重庆钉子户拆迁事件，网站不要再转发、编发新的消息、报道、评论，不得进行追踪、回顾。博客、论坛不得推荐此类文章，帖文过于集中的要坚决删除。凡攻击此事处理结果、鼓动闹事的帖文要坚决封堵、删除。 2007年4月6日 各网:关于"北京大学生以死逼迫刘德华娶杨丽娟"一事请马上删除,论坛、博客等互动环节也删除。 2007年4月6日 "三大石油巨头下海将催热海洋工程业"及与此相关报道，请各网站不要转载，已转载的请删除，谢谢 2007年4月6日 "沈阳天然气泄漏事故引发大火"及其相关新闻，请各网站关闭跟贴，谢谢 2007年4月10日 各网:请马上将"火车提速"的消息压到后台,现有消息有多处不实. 2007-04-13 18:28:40 不转载顺义奥林匹克水上公园建设占地合法性问题的报道，互动环节不传播、不讨论。 各网：近日，北京顺义区农民郭宝顺就所谓"顺义奥林匹克水上公园建设占地合法性问题"在网站上发表不符合实际的言论。请各网不要转载对此事的报道，互动环节不传播、不讨论此事，并删除相关内容。 2007-04-13 18:25:26 不转载所谓"农村党员被扼杀之后最后一次申冤"的报道，互动环节不讨论、不传播。 各网：不要转载所谓北京顺义区高丽营镇六村党员吕连友申请退党的相关报道，互动环节不讨论、不传播相关内容。互动环节认真查找、删除吕连友所写的《农村党员被扼杀之后最后一次申冤》一文。 These translated directives were first posted by Rogier Creemers on China Copyright and Media on December 20, 2012 (here). This post is the 44th in the series. © Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: Beijing Internet Instructions, censorship, Censorship Vault, Directives from the Ministry of Truth, Internet censorship, Ministry of Truth, propaganda Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

Eastern Lightning may be a cult, but they still have rights Posted: 21 Dec 2012 08:19 AM PST As you've likely already heard, thousands of doomsday predictors have been arrested throughout China as part of the "evil cult" Eastern Lightning. Unfortunately many Chinese Christians are willing to dismiss them as a cult and agree with their treatment, but these arrests should concern everyone advocating for human rights in China and especially those concerned with religious freedom and yet there has been little discussion of this within the Western Media. Within this story are several important issues worth taking a moment to consider. While Eastern Lightning meets many of the sociological definitions of a cult by urging members to cut off ties to their non-believing family members and friends, unquestioning faith in their charismatic leader, and exerting coercive pressure on those who try to leave (a piece focusing on the practices of this group appeared in Time magazine back in 2001); it has persisted for decades without facing mass arrests. What has changed is their growing public demonstrations, distribution of pamphlets and their calls for overthrowing the Party during a time when the Party is already nervous about their grip on power. While I may not agree with their beliefs and am concerned about abuses being committed by this group, they should still have a right to pray in public and distribute their information (and there is so far no evidence that these arrests are connected to concerns over abuses within the sect), however these basic rights are denied to all Chinese people. Their mass arrests do not seem to be based on rule of law as there has been no due process, but rather on an arbitrary label of "evil cult." As noted Human Rights Lawyer Teng Biao tweeted, "The government has no power to determine what is a cult. The law can punish only actions, not thoughts." Furthermore, it should be considered in what kind of environment is the end of the world treated as good news? As the BBC reported, most of the arrests have come in Guizhou and Qinghai province, two of China's poorest provinces. In China's not so distant past, Falun Gong gained great popularity in the countryside as rural health care fell apart. Looking even further back, the Taiping Rebellion took route in Guangxi province and attracted people from the countryside who were looking for any other option than continuing their current lives. And while the Communist Party is not a religious movement, it was able to mobilize this same mistreated demographic. Many would argue that the key to a revolution in China is the "peasants," and the concern from the Party is that cults grow most successfully among these marginalized groups, but their response of cracking down on believers ignores the roots – China's rural citizens receive far less support than their urban counterparts. So far, I have been incredibly disappointed by the media coverage on this important development, and feel that if thousands of Christians, dissidents, lawyers, or teachers had been arrested the coverage would have been vastly different. The idea that the cult members should be treated any differently from these other groups ignores many fundamental beliefs related to human rights. Within China (and every other country), it is not uncommon for major religious groups to act against "new" religious groups. In this case we see orthodox Christians acting against this heterodox sect, but in other cases we see Buddhists acting against Christian house churches in places where Christianity is growing quickly, and Atheists acting against Muslims in places where Islam and racial politics are difficult to unwind. Their complicit cooperation with the state's desire to control religious practice is a major stumbling block for further improvement in human rights.  Unfortunately, these groups are failing to see that their own ability to express their beliefs freely are wrapped up in the ability of others to practice freely. So while it may be easy for many to dismiss the arrest of thousands of cult members, it should be difficult for us to ignore the trampling of the rule of law, the limitations on religious freedom, and the rights of individuals to gather and make themselves heard. Filed under: christianity, Current Events Tagged: China, Christianity, communist, Eastern Lightning, Falun Gong, Guangxi, Qinghai, Taiping Rebellion

Ministry of Truth: Neither Negative nor Positive Posted: 21 Dec 2012 07:59 AM PST The following censorship instructions, issued to the media by central government authorities, have been leaked and distributed online. Ren Jianyu after his release from a labor re-education camp. (Reuters) Central Propaganda Department: In the near future, the media are to produce neither positive nor negative reporting on Chongqing except for Xinhua wire copy. (December 20, 2012) 中宣部：近期除新华社通稿外，各媒体不作关于重庆的正面或负面相关报道。 Central Propaganda Department: Ren Jianyu's court case will soon be heard in Chongqing. Except for low-key coverage using Xinhua wire copy, no media are to produce any other reports or commentary. Do not send reporters to Chongqing. (December 20, 2012) 中宣部：近日，任建宇案将在重庆开庭审理，除采用新华社通稿并低调处理外，各媒体不作其他任何报道评论，不派记者去重庆采访. 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. Since directives are sometimes communicated orally to journalists and editors, who then leak them online, the wording published here may not be exact. The original publication date is noted after the directives; the date given may indicate when the directive was leaked, rather than when it was issued. CDT does its utmost to verify dates and wording, but also takes precautions to protect the source. © Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: censorship, Chongqing, Directives from the Ministry of Truth, media censorship, Ministry of Truth, propaganda, Ren Jianyu Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

No humans and animals allowed to enter trash bins, warns Bijie government Posted: 20 Dec 2012 03:46 PM PST After being scapegoated by the CCP regime, which attempted to ease the public hostility after five homeless children were found dead in a rubbish bin in the town of Bijie, the local officials now put up warnings on all roadside dumpsters: "No entry for humans and animals, enter at your own risk! (严禁人畜入内, 违者责任自负!)" The dead bodies of five children, reportedly aged between 9 and 13, were found by an elderly rag picker in Bijie, in the mountainous and impoverished province of Guizhou, on the morning of November 16, 2012. The initial investigation suggested the children died of carbon monoxide poisoning. It's thought they tried to warm themselves by burning charcoal inside the bin and closed the lid, when temperatures dropped to 6 degrees Celsius. The tragedy has quickly triggered public outcries over the social inequality and plight of our children left behind by parents who have migrated to coastal cities to earn a living. In response to the unrest, the Party had sacked several officials of the local government, including the two deputy heads of Qixingguan district responsible for civil affairs and education, and two school principals. Surprisingly, on December 19, the trash bins on the streets of the town then were spotted by some web users painted with new words that read "No entry for humans and animals, entry at your own risk!" It sparked off a new wave of condemnation from the masses! "Kids don't read well; animals are illiterate – only our government can read the slogan. They should be the ones entering the trash bins!" said one Weibo user named @胶东县令. "They are purely scums. They attempt to shirk their responsibilities in this way if the similar tragedy happens again in the town," criticized another one. "The officials never thought to provide more shelters and food to homeless children, or develop a child welfare system, or improve the living conditions of impoverished areas, but just abusing their power to obtain as more money as possible in their own pockets." Facing the pressure, the mayor of the local government later made an open apology, saying, "I sincerely apologize for the improper words on our town's trash bins that hurt everyone's feelings. We will mend our fault immediately." Duh! h/o to HugChina

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