China news tagged with: jasmine revolution (15)

• Well-Oiled Security Apparatus in China Stifles Calls for Change

  

  The New York Times reports on the Chinese security apparatus that cracks down on activists and dissidents, and the relationship between Beijing and the provincial governments that carry out the orders locally:

  Despite persistent calls for political reform among the country’s small and embattled group of human rights advocates, most analysts agreed that China faced a smaller risk of street unrest than did Egypt, Libya and Bahrain. Unlike those countries, where oligarchic rule and high unemployment have fed discontent, China’s leaders have largely tamed widespread antipathy through policies that have led to robust economic growth and through selective repression that most Chinese have come to tolerate.

  Over the past five years, stability maintenance, known as “weiwen” in Chinese, has become a multiagency juggernaut that relies on a sophisticated menu of Internet censorship, the harassment of blacklisted troublemakers and an industrial complex of paid informants and contractors. The vast bureaucracy extends from the Politiburo Standing Committee’s chief law enforcer, Zhou Yongkang, to neighborhood “safety patrol” volunteers on the lookout for Falun Gong members and low-level clashes that can mushroom into large-scale disturbances.

  The party has matched this tight fist with a buildup of mediation techniques and manpower within party organizations and a system of rewards and punishments for bureaucrats who fulfill — or fail to meet — social harmony goals.

  The problem, critics say, is that the high-level pressures to achieve stability often force local officials to clamp down on the symptoms of social discontent rather than address the underlying inequities. That feeds a spiral of new abuses and controls. Just as troubling, legal scholars and judges say, is a party drive to prioritize defusing conflict over adjudication by law.

  Yu Jianrong, a leading sociologist at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, has been blogging and traveling the country to warn local officials that the fixation on weiwen fuels government mistrust. “It is tantamount to drinking poison to quench one’s thirst,” he recently wrote in Caixin weekly.

  » Read more
  • February 28, 2011 10:43 PM

• Diplomats Slam China Harassment of Journalists

  

  Ambassador Jon Huntsman, who made a cameo appearance at the first Jasmine protests in Beijing, has condemned Chinese authorities’ treatment of foreign journalists over the weekend:

  U.S. Ambassador Jon Huntsman said in a statement that he had met on Monday with foreign reporters who had been harassed, and called such intimidation “unacceptable and deeply disturbing.”

  “I am disappointed that the Chinese public security authorities could not protect the safety and property of foreign journalists doing their jobs,” Huntsman said.

  In a similar statement, the European Union’s delegation in China urged authorities to respect the right of foreign journalists to report freely.

  It was the second Sunday in a row that China deployed large numbers of police to squelch overt protests modeled on recent democratic movements in the Middle East. This time, police near Shanghai’s People’s Square also blew shrill whistles nonstop to keep people moving, while street cleaning trucks in Beijing drove repeatedly up the Wangfujing shopping street, spraying water to keep crowds pressed to the edges.

  Authorities had called foreign reporters in Beijing and Shanghai on Friday and over the weekend, indirectly warning them to stay away from protest sites. Pressure to tamp down protest is higher in Beijing. Senior politicians from around the country converge on the capital this week for the legislature’s annual session and a simultaneous meeting of a top advisory body — events that always bring high security.

  See a previous report from CDT about mistreatment of journalists reporting on the Jasmine protests.

  » Read more
  • February 28, 2011 2:53 PM

• Remarkable Quotes from the Fifty Cent Party: Anti-Jasmine Revolution Tweets

  

  Since the first tweet calling for “Jasmine Revolution” protests went viral on the Chinese Internet, the Chinese state machine has gone into overdrive to prevent this imagined uprising. Among other visible measures such as arresting activists, censoring the Chinese Internet, and sending police to every designated “protest” site, Chinese Twitter users have noticed that suddenly a new group of Chinese Twitter accounts opened and became active during the last week. Some of these accounts have forged the names of activists and even included avatar photos of dissidents and activists. Most of the messages sent from these accounts, which have been tracked and compiled by other Chinese Twitter users, include pro-government comments typically sent by the so-called 50 Cent Party. CDT has translated a selection of these tweets:

  kesen7李成龙: 美国真“好”，对内民主，对外专制，让他国“民主”便于其插手他国事物，最终实现其统治世界的目的。我们看到的是美国要和平演变我们，美帝亡我之心不死。 8 hours ago
  kesen7 Li Chenglong: America is such a “nice” country, while its own people enjoy the privilege of democracy, it acts like a dictator in terms of international relationships. It tries to “democratize” other countries, and become involved in their internal affairs as a pretext for one day ruling the world. What we can see is that America wants to “peacefully transform” us. The empire of the United States of America always wishes our destruction.

  kesen7李成龙: 以史为镜可以正衣冠，苏联曾经多么辉煌，后来人们动摇了，最终沦落成众独联体作鸟兽散，要钱没钱、要人没人、要科技没科技，俄罗斯要想突破重重枷锁重新崛起，恐怕要等上百年了。 8 hours ago
  kesen7 Li Chenglong: As the old saying goes, history can be used as a mirror. The Soviet Union was such a glorious country, but because the people were lacking firm resolve, the country eventually disintegrated. Look at Russia now, it has no money, no human resources, and no competitive technology. To see the rise of Russia again, we would probably have to wait for more than a hundred years.

  kesen7李成龙: 日本鹦鹉们请闭嘴吧，别拿着美国爹玩剩下的东西当宝贝，当今世界激烈竞争的环境下，我们中国要是不能强硬坚持自己的发展道路，必然死的 很惨，我们有自己的民众，现在美国是想害谁就给谁整民主，俄罗斯、乌克兰、吉尔吉斯斯坦都民主了，怎么样 8 hours ago
  kesen7 Li Chenglong: Please shut up, Japanese parrot, don’t treat American daddy’s leftover as treasure. In a competitive international environment, if China can’t stick to its own development path, China will be thrown out brutally. We have our own people. Nowadays, whichever country America wants to destroy, it “democratizes” them; Russia, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan are all successfully democratized, so what?

  kesen4李建龙: 这几天老有警察跟我说不要参与茉莉花的事，我说sb才参与呢 16 hours ago kesen4 Li Jianlong: Recently there were some police officers who told me not to participate in the “Jasmine” thing. I replied that only idiots would participate.

  meimeib1101yuan都TMD是浮云，政治从来都是真真假假、虚虚实实，纵观几千年闹来闹去的所谓的革命最后吃亏的总是我们老百 姓。我只知道我家上有老下有小，我自己过我自己的小老百姓日子挺好，我是来打酱油的，勿谈国事，政治是肮脏的都是骗子，大家要保护好自己。 17 hours ago
  meimeib1101yuan: It’s all f* “floating clouds[1], politics is always uncertain, take a look at all the so-called “revolutions” in the thousands of years of human history, the ordinary people are always the ultimate victim. The only fact I care about is that I have both young and old in my family. The ordinary life I lead is satisfying. I am here only to “fetch some soy sauce”[2] but not to discuss national affairs. Politics is always dirty; politicians are all liars; you guys should know how to protect yourselves.

  meimeib1101yuan: 孩子们，我现在都是四十多岁的人了，我们这波人参加过的事情恐怕大家都有所耳闻，看见你们狂发这些东西，想起了我们当年激 昂亢奋的情景。但现在回想起当年我们是多么幼稚，其实年轻的我们根本不懂什么是社会什么是国家什么是政治，年轻可以有激愤、可以有想法，但千万不要毁了自 己。 17 hours ago meimeib1101yuan: Kids, I am more than forty years old, I think more or less you have heard about the event of our generation.[3] Seeing the internet full of these kind of thoughts, I start to remember how excited and passionate we were. However, this also reminds me how immature and inexperienced we were at that time. We were too young to understand what a society is, what a country is, and what politics are. Youngsters are allowed to be passionate and full of ideas, but beware of the self-destruction that goes along with it.

  meimeib1101yuan: 民主了我们就会有好多派别，这样美国支持一派势力、俄罗斯支持一派势力、日本支持一派势力……，哈哈中国人最擅长当汉奸出卖国家利益了，窝里斗最强，到时候中国的历史又轮回了。 17 hours ago
  meimeib1101yuan: If we are democratized, there will be bunch of groups. America would support one, Russia another and Japan another…haha. Chinese people are famous for being traitors who sell out the national interests, and Chinese people are good at fighting against each other. When the time comes, China’s history will repeat itself again.

  meimeib1101yuan: 都是在网上说的轻巧，真正实施起来哪有那么容易，许多都要考虑，虽然现在生活貌似说的不好，但什么是好？！等动乱了，吃不着，穿不上，没事干，生命都没保障了！！ 17 hours ago
  meimeib1101yuan: It is much easier to talk about things online, then it is to actually put them into practice. There are more matters to consider. Although [China’s] standard of living has been criticized, what is a good standard of living? Wait until there is no stability in the country; there will be no food, no clothes and no job. Our very lives would not be protected!!

  meimeib1101yuan: 我觉得现在过得不错，美国什么的就没有阴暗面了？事物都是两面的，我可不愿冒着倒退的危险去革命，回头再真把自己命革了，这不是吃饱了撑的吗！ 17 hours ago meimeib1101yuan: I am satisfied with the way things are. Does America have no dark side? Each coin has two sides, I am not willing to participate in any revolution which risks deteriorating my quality of life. What if I were to lose my life in the revolution? I am not that dumb.

  meimeib1101yuan: 大傻冒去散步，大傻子去鲜花，放着安省日子不过，跑大街上喝冷风去，弄个扰乱秩序罪到牢房待几天就美了？！ 17 hours ago meimeib1101yuan: Only dumbasses would go “for a walk”[4], only idiots would go and lay flowers. Why leave the good life and go out into the cold and windy street. Wait until you are put in jail for the charge of social disturbance, you will definitely feel more satisfied then!

  meimeib1101yuan: 这中国要是动乱了，得让多少西方国家和臭小日本，印度阿三什么的偷着笑。我觉得万万不能搞这种事，这不是搬起石头砸自己的脚，脑袋进水了。 17 hours ago
  meimeib1101yuan: If this country, China fell into chaos just think how many Western countries, stinky Japanese, Indian bastards, etc. would be secretly laughing at us? I feel like we absolutely cannot let this happen. This isn’t like picking up a rock to hit one’s foot. Those people are messed up in the head.

  meimeib1101yuan: 我坚决反对，共产党是有腐败，有错误，但你们敢说你们党派就没有？？！你们就那么光明磊落？说没有谁都不信，你们无非就借着这次机会夺权上位，然后有机会大捞特捞，你们是爽了，但我们老百姓呢，苦的是我们！ 17 hours ago
  meimeib1101yuan: I absolutely oppose this. While the Communist Party may be corrupt and may make mistakes, but are you people willing to say that your political party does not have any of those issues??! Can you say that you are so upright? Even if you were to claim this no one would believe. You should not steal this opportunity to seek power and authority which you use to exploit even further. You may be very smug about this but it is us ordinary people that will suffer.

  meimeib1101yuan: 说这些话的人太恶毒了，简直是司马昭之心路人皆知啊，不就是自己想当中国领导人吗，然后呼风唤雨，奴役我们？！想都别想！! 17 hours ago
  meimeib1101yuan: People who are saying these things [encouraging a jasmine revolution] are totally evil. Their evil intentions are abundantly clear. Isn’t it the case that they themselves are attempting to be the rulers of China and then use their power to enslave us?! Don’t even think about it!!!

  meimeib1101yuan: 凭心而论，中国是有不平等的地方，但是和50年前比，难道不是变好了？ 17 hours ago
  meimeib1101yuan: speaking from the heart, while it’s true that China has some inequities, when you compare China to how it was 50 years ago, you can only conclude that things have gotten better.

  meimeib1101yuan: 帝国主义从来都是纸老虎，不要指望他们对咱们社会有什么推动重要，当年八国联军只知道掠夺的本性还不明显吗，难道你们还没看清他们面目吗！ 17 hours ago meimeib1101yuan: Imperialism has always been a paper tiger. You shouldn’t hope that they have any great contribution to our society. When the Eight-Nation Alliance swept into China [in 1900] they only thing they knew how to do was to plunder. Isn’t this abundantly clear? Is it possible that you haven’t seen their true faces!

  meimeib1101yuan埃及的教训还不明显吗，你们投靠美国，没有价值的时候也会被他们无情甩掉！！ 17 hours ago
  meimeib1101yuan: The lesson from Egypt is abundantly clear. You can turn to America but when you are of no value [to America], it will cast you aside without pity.

  meimeib1101yuan五千年的中国历史证明中国适合一党专政，多党执政必乱，搞变革，受苦受难的只能是老百姓！ 17 hours ago
  meimeib1101yuan: Five-thousand years of Chinese history proves that China is best suited to a one party dictatorship. Multi-party rule will certainly sow chaos and change. Those who will suffer hardship and difficulty will be ordinary citizens!

  meimeib1101yuan: 坚决痛斥卖国求荣的还假装道貌岸然的人，打着变革的旗号分裂中国，这是任何中华子民不允许的事，你们不配称自己中国人，别 再给祖国抹黑，滚回美国去！！ 17 hours ago
  meimeib1101yuan: I resolutely reprimand those who seek personal glory by betraying their country while acting sanctimoniously [about their actions]. [I reprimand] those who use the banner of change to splinter China. No citizens of China will tolerate such actions. You are not worthy to call yourselves Chinese. Stop tarnishing the motherland and get the hell back to America.

  meimeib1101yuan: 作为一个大国，如何学会承受各种压力，如何善于在压力甚至是打压之下更好地发展。上街游行不可取，扰乱了社会秩序，不利于社会的稳定。 17 hours ago meimeib1101yuan: As a large country, learning how to bear this kind of pressure, how to develop better under this kind of pressure, even repression [thought not completed]. Taking to the streets to protest is not viable. It disturbs social order and is not beneficial to social stability.

  meimeib1101yuan: 经历改革开放30多年，古老的中国日益焕发青春，进入了改革发展的关键期。中国正在走向强国之路，也在涵养大国心态。上街游行不是一种理智的行为，应该从合法的渠道来表达群众的民意。 17 hours ago
  meimeib1101yuan: After thirty years of reform and opening up, the ancient country of China is daily exuding the exuberance of youth. [China] has entered the critical stage of its reforms and development. China is currently taking the path of [becoming] a strong country and is developing the attitude of a great nation. Taking to the streets in protest is not a rational action. [People] should use legal channels to express the will of the people.

  meimeib1101yuan: 神经病吃饭吃堵着了吧没地方撒野跑那去浪去。 17 hours ago
  meimeib1101yuan: Insane. [It’s like] they’ve eaten until they’re all plugged up; with nowhere to go to behave badly, they just vent randomly.

  meimeib1101yuan 煞笔 游行操你妹的，没事瞎比搞，搞毛啊，真TM垃圾，脑残货有脑没脑。 17 hours ago
  meimeib1101yuan: f***ing protests, go f*** your little sister, what f***ing garbage, what retards, don’t you have a brain?

  meimeib1101yuan这次中东一些国家政变，是好事，是坏事，50年内看不出来，现阶段唯一一个能衡量好坏的是人民过的怎样，埃 及、突尼斯正在舔着自己的伤口，人民生活秩序完全打乱，文化的多元，信仰不同，使得每个地区有不同生活方式，只能说，没有最好的生活方式，只有最适合的生 活方式。 17 hours ago
  meimeib1101yuan: Whether or not these changes in government in some Middle Eastern countries are a good thing or a bad thing will be impossible to determine within the next fifty years. In the current stage, the only way to measure whether it is good or bad is to see how the people are faring. [People in] Egypt and Tunisia are currently licking their wounds; the order of people’s lives is in complete chaos. The pluralistic nature of the culture, the differences in religious belief—these cause every region to have different ways of living. One can only say that there is no one best way of living, there is only the way of living that suits people the best.

  meimeib1101yuan: 改革是必要的，前进是必然的，任何制度都有缺陷，没有十全十美的制度，而每个制度所要做的是不断完善制度， 消除不公平、不正义，美国如此，中东也如此，没有必要打破现在相对公平的制度，套用西方的制度，记住，人类文化是多元的。 17 hours ago
  meimeib1101yuan: Reforms are necessary, progress is inevitable. Any system has its faults, there is no perfect system. However, what every system attempts to do is to continually improve upon the system, and eliminate unfairness and unjustness. America is this way and so is the Middle East. There is no need to tear down the relatively fair system that exists now and blindly copy the Western system. Remember, human culture is pluralistic.

  meimeib1101yuan: 看待茉莉花革命，有一个误区，以为他是在争取革命，实际不是这样，这只是政治大亨的政治博弈，利益的重新分 配，财富又转移到另一小撮人的手里，改革要一步一步来，需要民众有公平、正义、利己利人的觉悟，这样的改革才是真正的为了人民。
  meimeib1101yuan: Those who are watching the jasmine revolutions often mistakenly think they are about producing a revolution. In actuality, this is not the case. This is just a game being played by the political big shots. This is just a redistribution of interests and a transfer of wealth into the hands of a relatively small group. Reforms must come step by step. Reforms require the people to have an awakening to the values of fairness, justice, and mutual benefits. Only this kind of reform is truly for the people.

  meimeib1101yuan: 不要暴动，不要流血，茉莉花革命以暴力流血动乱换来另一个烂摊子而已，国家财富损失，人民正常的生产生活收到干扰，得不偿失啊。 17 hours ago meimeib1101yuan: Don’t be violent, don’t spill blood. The jasmine revolutions by using violence and spilling blood are proving themselves to be just another broken system. They damage a country’s assets and disrupt people’s ordinary lives and production without compensation.

  meimeib1101yuan: 看到个数据，最近突尼斯那个事情，造成78人死亡，94人受伤，经济损失高达20亿美元。看看，值得吗，唯恐天下不乱的小人们啊，消停消停吧 17 hours ago meimeib1101yuan: According to statistics, that thing in Tunisia has caused 78 deaths, 94 injuries and economic damage greater than two billion US dollars. Just look at it. Is it worth it? You troublemakers who are best pleased when there is no peace under heaven—cut it out immediately.

  meimeib1101yuan: 什么垃圾茉莉花革命，瞎掺合，去死吧，让世界平静一些吧 17 hours ago
  meimeib1101yuan: What garbage, this jasmine revolution. Go die. Let the world have some peace and quiet.

  meimeib1101yuan: 愚蠢，愚昧的人，参加所谓“茉莉花革命”，你们能得到什么利益啊，被被别人当枪使，傻玩意儿 17 hours ago
  meimeib1101yuan: Silly, foolish people. What benefit have you gotten from participating in this jasmine revolution? You’ve been used as a weapon by others. What idiocy.

  meimeib1101 yuan: 回去搞对门老婆才是王道，游行有啥意思 17 hours ago
  meimeib1101yuan: What you really should do is to go f*** your neighbor’s wife. Protests are pointless.

  meimeib1101yuan: 大家镇定，好好给自己女朋友培育玫瑰花吧，什么破茉莉花革命，去他丫的 17 hours ago
  meimeib1101yuan: Everyone calm down, just focus on cultivating a nice rose for your girlfriend. What bullsh*** jasmine revolution. Go f**** it.

  meimeib1101yuan: 一帮脑袋里都是大粪的青年上街游行哪？别丢你爸的脸了
  meimeib1101yuan: What are a bunch of kids doing with sh*** for brains doing protesting? Don’t make your daddy lose face.

  meimeib1101yuan: 稳定压倒一切一切一起我们不要被国外的分裂分子蛊惑了
  meimeib1101yuan: Stability is paramount. Let’s not allow ourselves to be seduced by foreign separationist forces.

  meimeib1101yuan: 埃及搞革命18天股市暴跌50%!人民会幸福？广大的股民们！不要跟着瞎起哄啊！亏死你们！
  meimeib1101yuan: In 18 days of Egypt’s revolution their stock market dropped 50%. Is this making people happy? All you stockholders out there, don’t make such mischief blindly!

  meimeib1101yuan: 都21世纪了，还搞什么革命啊，想社会倒退啊
  meimeib1101yuan: It’s already the 21st century, what are doing trying to make a revolution. Are you trying to set society back?

  meimeib1101yuan: 家和万事兴！埃及人民的苦日子在后头呢
  meimeib1101yuan: Everything will go well is one’s family in harmony. The bitter days of the Egyptian people are before them.

  meimeib1101 yuan 好好在家安居乐业吧，革什么命啊，瞎玩 17 hours ago
  meimeib1101Stay at home, get on with your life. What “revolution” is this? It’s just a silly game.

  meimeib1101 yuan: 茉莉花，死全家 17 hours ago
  meimeib1101Jasmine flowers have deadly powers.

  meimeib1101 yuan: 谁选的茉莉花啊，有人同意么，有人批准么，瞎搞聚会这不是乱来么，算了吧，最后自己还要承担责任 17 hours ago
  meimeib1101 yuan: Who picked “Jasmine”? Does anyone agree? Does anyone approve? Messing around with these groups is just foolish, that’s all there is to it. In the end, you’ve still got to take responsibility for yourself.

  meimeib1101 yuan: 你让年轻人去参加中国的茉莉花革命，还不如祈祷学校食堂的饭菜价格猛涨来得有意义，对学生有吸引力何影响力 17 hours ago
  meimeib1101 yuan: You’re asking young people to go out and take part in China’s Jasmine Revolution, but you’d be better off praying for the food prices in their school canteens to soar: that’d be more attractive and influential to them.

  meimeib1101 yuan: 不知道明天会不会有参加茉莉花革命的网友痛骂人民的愚昧，去了之后发现，屁事也搞不起来，只是自己被骗了 17 hours ago
  meimeib1101 yuan: I wonder whether tomorrow some of the netizens taking part in this Jasmine Revolution and scolding the ignorance of the masses might realise, once they’ve gone, that their little game didn’t accomplish anything, and they’re the only ones who’ve been cheated.

  meimeib1101 yuan: 这个中国茉莉花行动是一挺好的行为艺术策划，没事搞什么革命啊，搞搞艺术吧 17 hours ago
  meimeib1101 yuan: This Chinese Jasmine movement is a very artsy proposal. Nothing to do with revolution, it’s just a performance.

  meimeib1101 yuan: 好好一个周末你们怎么就不能让国保、网管、警察们休息休息呢？非要山寨一次茉莉花革命。 17 hours ago
  meimeib1101 yuan: Why can’t you just let the DSD, webmasters and police take the weekend off? Do you have to go through with this phoney “Jasmine Revolution”?

  meimeib1101 yuan: 革命的意义再于创造幸福生活，我们现在生活得挺不错的，小康社会呢，还需要革命么 17 hours ago
  meimeib1101 yuan: The whole point of a revolution is to bring back a happy life, but our lives now are just fine. We’ve got a peaceful and prosperous society, who needs revolution?

  sikaozhe 思考者: 中国需要革命吗？中国现在经济的高速发展，都是被你们这些人搞乱的。 17 hours ago
  sikaozhe: Does China need a revolution? You people would just mess up China’s current rapid economic development.

  leofreebug leofreebug: 我的网闪断了，我觉得这事情不靠谱。这网上说的事谁能做主啊，万一到时候被抓进去了，谁把我救出来啊 21 Feb
  leofreebug leofreebug: My web connection got cut off. I think this situation is getting out of hand. Who’ll take responsibility for talking this up online? If it happens that I’m arrested, who’s going to rescue me?

  yiwannianaini yiwannianaini: 游行解决不了问题，只会给政府添乱，影响国家的发展计划，希望民众都能保持清醒的头脑，不要人云亦云。
  yiwannianaini yiwannianaini: Marches can’t resolve problems, they’ll just give the government trouble, and affect the country’s development plan. I hope people can keep cool heads; don’t just parrot each others’ words.

  yiwannianaini yiwannianaini: 很多事情都可以和平解决，为什么一定要采取极端的方式？显然，群聚示威的行为会激化社会矛盾，也让许多围观群众情绪激动，易发生流血冲突从而造成不必要的损伤！21 Feb
  yiwannianaini yiwannianaini: A lot of things can be resolved by peaceful means; why do we have to adopt extreme measures? Obviously, mass protests could intensify social conflict and stir up bystanders: there could easily be violence, leading to unnecessary harm!

  yiwannianaini yiwannianaini: 每次政治革命，牺牲的都是百姓的幸福，大家一定要擦亮眼。
  yiwannianaini yiwannianaini: Every time there’s a political revolution, it’s at the expense of the common people’s happiness. Everyone’s got to open their eyes.

  yiwannianaini yiwannianaini: 又是外国人挑事让中国人自己干自己吧。 21 Feb
  yiwannianaini yiwannianaini: This is foreigners stirring up trouble again, getting Chinese to do their dirty work.

  yiwannianaini yiwannianaini: 网上的消息多数是假的，谣言！ 21 Feb
  yiwannianaini yiwannianaini: Most information online is false. It’s just rumours!

  yiwannianaini yiwannianaini: 相信中国有能力解决自己发展道路上的问题，中国在什么时候也不会走向歧途RT 21 Feb
  yiwannianaini yiwannianaini: I believe China can solve its own problems along the path of development, but that doesn’t mean we can’t head down a wrong turn at times like this.

  yiwannianaini yiwannianaini: 美国把中国视为最强大的敌人，千方百计对中国进行干涉破坏，千万不要上当受骗啊 21 Feb
  yiwannianaini yiwannianaini: The US sees China as its greatest enemy, and one way or another, they’ll sabotage our progress. Don’t be duped!

  yiwannianaini yiwannianaini: 美国整完了伊斯兰世界，整阿拉伯；整完了阿拉伯世界，回头再整伊朗伊斯兰世界。整完了伊朗，正在为整东南亚铺路。真是害群之马，唯恐世界不乱。对世界分而治之，浑水摸鱼。21 Feb
  yiwannianaini yiwannianaini: America finished off the Islamic world, and punished the Arabs; that done, they did the same to Iranian muslims. And now, they’re paving the way for South East Asia. They’re really the bad apple, they’ll cast the whole world into chaos, dividing the world to conquer it, and muddying the water to catch fish.

  yiwannianaini yiwannianaini: 日本鬼子关注中国能有什么好心，不想当汉奸的人们一定要警惕起来。 21 Feb
  yiwannianaini yiwannianaini: The Japs are watching China closely to see our intentions; we’ve got to keep an eye out for traitors.

  yiwannianaini yiwannianaini: 一个国家，无论怎样的民主与不民主，安定就是对世界的贡献――以“民主” 的名义去动荡别国，都是私利在其中 21 Feb
  yiwannianaini yiwannianaini: Whether a country is democratic or not, its stability is a contribution to the world — using the name of “democracy” to bring turmoil to another country is all about selfish interests.

  yiwannianaini yiwannianaini: 最近看了一条国际新闻，那就是埃及的动荡，总结出一个结论：那就是谁做美国的走狗，都没有什么好的下场，美国人永远都是过完河就拆桥的人！ 21 Feb yiwannianaini yiwannianaini: I’ve seen a story in the international news lately, about the upheaval in Egypt. My conclusion, in short, is that it’s been brought about by the Americans’ running dogs, and no good will come of it. Americans are the sort who’ll blow up the bridge once they’re across it themselves.

  yiwannianaini yiwannianaini: 就像原来乌克兰颜色革命一样，西方原来非常推崇，大势宣传这种民主革命，可后来革命后一两年内乌克兰国内依然不景气，失业率继续攀升，新政府执政能力弱， 经验不足，最后不得不下台，原政府恢复。关键的一个问题是，现在没有一个力量可以统一埃及政治力量，这样的内斗不断，谈何经济恢复？RT @js 21 Feb
  yiwannianaini yiwannianaini Just as with the Ukrainian colour revolution before it, the West heaps praise on it at first, loudly proclaiming the democratic revolution … but within a year or two of the revolution, Ukraine’s in the same old slump, unemployment keeps rising, and the new government can barely rule. They’re too inexperienced, and in the end have no choice but to step down in favour of the old regime. A key problem is that there’s no political force at the moment that can unify Egypt, so this internal strife will continue. What chance is there of economic recovery?

  lesley_mo lesley_mo: 说什么刘晓波的妻子刘霞上告诉朋友自己长期与亲友隔绝，精神面临崩溃，我看她生活的挺滋润的，难着外国友人的美金逍遥自在，怪不得那么多人不好好干活，非要瞎折腾，原来可以如此轻松的不劳而获，还是美金，啧啧！！20 Feb
  lesley_mo lesley_mo: Whatever Liu Xiaobo’s wife, Liu Xia, told her friend about being cut off for a long time from her friends and family, and her morale collapsing, her life looks very comfortable to me, taking foreign friends’ US dollars and enjoying life. No wonder so many people don’t really work and just make trouble here, because they can just live off of US dollars! Wow!

  wangwei7509 wangwei: 好好在家安居乐业吧，革什么命啊，瞎玩 20 Feb
  wangwei7509 wangwei: Stay at home, get on with your life. What “revolution” is this? It’s just a silly game.

  wangwei7509 wangwei: 总说共产党不好，你来管管15 亿人试试？绝大部分人能认可就是很了不起的成绩了！美国也不是所有人都说好的啊，要不哪那么多犯罪啊？ 20 Feb
  wangwei7509 wangwei: Those of you always going on about how bad the Communist Party is, why don’t you try governing 1.5 billion people for a bit? Winning the approval of the vast majority of people as they have is an amazing achievement! Not everyone gets along in America, either: why do you think there’s so much crime there?

  wangwei7509 wangwei 我就是小屁民，我可不去散步，真让国保盯上了，天天喝茉莉花，估计得喝吐了。 20 Feb
  wangwei7509 wangwei I’m just an ordinary guy, I can’t march, bringing the national treasure’s [5] attention on myself. They’d have me drinking Jasmine tea day after day till I had to spit it out.

  [1]“floating clouds”(fuyun): illusionary, unreal. [2] “fetch soya source”(da jiang you): people who use internet just to take a look rather than make a statement. [3] 1989 Tian’anmen Square student protest [4] “go for a walk”: “protest” is a forbidden word to use, instead, people use “take a walk” to imply assemble and protest. [5] DSD ‘s nick name.

  » Read more
  • February 28, 2011 12:10 AM

• Could Mideast Revolutions Spread to China?

  

  In the Globe and Mail, Mark MacKinnon asks whether Chinese society is ready for a revolutionary movement like those rising up in Egypt and elsewhere in the Arab world:

  The main reasons the crowds aren’t yet calling for the ouster of Mr. Hu and the Politburo are simple: While Georgians and Ukrainians were tired of post-Soviet stagnation, and the Middle East’s uprisings have been driven in large part by jobless youth, China’s economy continues to grow at an impressive pace. The population here is much older than in the angry young societies of the Middle East, and after decades of turmoil, many Chinese are experiencing stability and a little prosperity for the first time. Revolutions don’t happen when people believe their lives are getting better.

  That’s not the whole story, of course. The impressive macroeconomic figures hide the fact that many of China’s poor – while undeniably better off than they were two decades ago – have nonetheless found it impossible to climb the social ladder. In fact, the gap between China’s increasingly modern cities and a countryside that in some places hasn’t changed much since the 19th century is widening by the year.

  The Global Times newspaper, which is run by the Communist Party, reported that the country’s Gini co-efficient (a measure of income inequality) passed the “warning line” of 0.4 a decade ago and is now nearing 0.5, a level substantially worse than in either Egypt or Tunisia.

  The article has sparked quite a response from Chinese readers, as can be seen in the Comments section.

  » Read more
  • February 26, 2011 10:39 PM

• Online Activists Calling for Jasmine Revolution Arrested in China

  

  With more calls for “Jasmine Revolution” protests in China for this weekend, bloggers and others who share information about the gatherings are being detained. From the Telegraph:

  Liang Haiyi, an unemployed 35-year-old woman in the northeast city of Harbin, was taken away Saturday after putting information about the protests on a Chinese chat rooms, according to a lawyer, said the statement by Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy She was questioned and taken away in handcuffs, and her ex-husband has received an official notice saying she has been charged with subversion, added the lawyer, who said he had spoken to the woman’s ex-husband.
  “I don’t think she’s broken any law, she only reposted someone else’s writings on the Chinese internet and it wasn’t her own writing,” said Liang Xiaojun said. “Anyone overseas can see these materials.” Also detained for spreading word of the planned protest online were Hua Chunhui, from Wuxi city in eastern China, and Chen Wei from Suining city in the southwest, the group said in its statement.

  See also “China detains, censors bloggers on ‘Jasmine Revolution’” from the Committee to Protect Journalists.

  Foreign journalists have also reported, via Twitter, being contacted by the PSB in Beijing and warned against reporting on any protests.

  » Read more
  • February 25, 2011 11:48 PM

• China: The Risk of Shutting Up Sina Weibo is Zero!?

  

  Global Voices Online translates web users comments about the future of Sina’s microblogging service in the wake of heightened censorship following calls for a so-called Jasmine Revolution:

  …The issue at stake is probably not whether Sina Weibo will be able to survive, but on Sina Weibo users’ toleration of its censorship practice.
  Predictably, censorship measures have resulted in a tense relationship between the company and its users. When the government tightens it control over online speech, and Weibo as a result has to suffer in order to survive under the censorship system, the conflict intensifies.

  [...] Which helps explain why Sina deputy director Chen Tong (under the username Lao Chen 老沉) popped up in the Sina Tech News’ Weibo thread this morning, claiming that the chance of Sina Weibo being shut down within next 20 years is 0%. Many Weibo users reacted strongly to his assertion, and criticized the current self-censorship practices.

  Here is a selection of comments:

  [...] 山上没有神仙 新浪在党的领导下是不会被关闭的.(今天 09:17)

  No Fairies on the Mountain: Under the leadership of the Party (CCP), Sina will not be shut down. (Today 09:17)

  孙卡拉 被叫停风险还是有的，被公众抛弃的风险也是有的。(今天 09:20)

  Sun Kala: There is a risk of Weibo getting shut down, and there is also a risk of people abandoning it. (Today 09:20)

  钟启华_cola 只会阉，不会关。外国投行真是扯蛋，对中国缺乏基本常识。就这理解能力，中国网络股在美国怎么跌怎么涨都正常。叫停风险0.2%都不到，别说两成了。与其担心政策风险，担心盈利模式更实在。(今天 09:20)

  Amazing China_cola: It will only be castrated and will not shut down. Foreign investment banks are talking bullshit. They don’t have any common sense about China. That’s why it is normal for the stock value to go up and down. The risk is less than 0.2%, the worry should not be over censorship regulations but on having a profit-making model. (Today 09:20)

  丹青兰 被关闭的概率很小，不超过10%，但被监控，被整改的可能性是实实在在存在滴 (今天 09:21)

  Orchid Painting: The chance of Weibo getting shut down is very small, less than 10%. But monitoring and manipulation is part of the reality. (Today 09:21)

  » Read more
  • February 24, 2011 3:46 PM

• Jeffrey Wasserstrom: Media and Revolution 2.0: Tiananmen to Tahrir

  

  For Miller-McCune, China Beat’s Jeffrey Wasserstrom writes that online calls to protest, such as those we saw recently in Egypt (and China), are similar to those issued since the American Revolution, just using a different delivery method:

  Have the latest advances in communication technology radically altered the fundamental dynamics of struggles for change in authoritarian settings? Or have cell phones and social media merely brought about small shifts in the dynamics of revolution? Is the Web a godsend to those trapped in oppressive states, as Nobel Laureate Liu Xiaobo suggests in his essay “The Internet is God’s Gift to China”? Or does this thinking give in to a form of “cyber-utopianism” that glosses over the potential of new media to be used by autocrats, their propaganda ministries and security forces to massage public opinion, keep tabs on dissidents and ensure that populations stay docile and distracted, as Evgeny Morozov argues in The Net Delusion: The Dark Side of Internet Freedom?

  [...] When it comes to mass protests, it can seem that cyberspace changes everything. This is the implication of a strain of analysis that generated references to a “Twitter Revolution” when demonstrations broke out in Tehran in 2009, and that has more recently led some to present the 2011 struggle in Tahrir Square as fueled by Facebook. But it’s also clear that many things that were part of the revolutionary mix long before the arrival of blogs and BlackBerrys still matter. Many of us kept up with developments in Cairo by looking at displays on decidedly 21st-century devices like iPads and smart phones, but what we saw in pixels often looked like scenes the French painter Jacques-Louis David presented in brush strokes in 1789. When disaffected Egyptians erected barricades, they were doing something already old hat when done by the Parisian Communards in the 1870s.

  » Read more
  • February 24, 2011 3:10 PM

• LinkedIn Blocked in Parts of China; Investigation Under Way

  

  LinkedIn is apparently the latest victim of the Great Firewall. From Bloomberg:

  China, the world’s largest Internet market with 457 million Web users, has shut out sites such as those operated by Facebook Inc., Twitter Inc. and Google Inc.’s YouTube since 2009 to block the flow of information on politically sensitive subjects. LinkedIn’s focus on business professionals seeking jobs has shielded it from the same fate as those sites.

  “We can confirm that access to LinkedIn is being blocked for some in China, and we are currently in the process of investigating the situation further,” Hani Durzy, a spokesman for the Mountain View, California-based company, said in an e- mail. He didn’t elaborate on a possible cause of the service disruption.

  A LinkedIn user in China this week began posting comments discussing whether to spread Tunisia’s Jasmine Revolution to the Asian nation. Yesterday, the user identified online as “Jasmine Z” set up a group discussion called “Jasmine Voice” to discuss whether the revolutions by protesters that brought down governments in Tunisia and Egypt should be brought to China. Protesters in the two North African nations organized using the Facebook and Twitter sites that are blocked in China.

  » Read more
  • February 24, 2011 3:01 PM

• Calls for a ‘Jasmine Revolution’ in China Persist

  

  CDT has been avidly following the calls for a “Jasmine Revolution” in China. The Chinese government, sensitive to growing tumult and revolution in the Middle East, has responded harshly against activists asking for people to demonstrate their displeasure with the government. The “Jasmine Revolution” movement seems to continue in spite of the attempts at crackdown. From the New York Times:

  Organizers have now called for the protests to continue each Sunday, and gave a list of spots in a dozen major cities where people could “go for a stroll” this coming Sunday at 2 p.m.

  Because the calls are made via Twitter and other services widely blocked in China, they circulate only to those who know how to bypass Internet censors. But Chinese authorities have been responding with their customary zeal. On Sunday, a protest in Beijing was overwhelmed by police officers.

  And the word “jasmine” has been blocked on popular social networking sites and chat rooms.

  Below is the text of the latest call to action by the organizers.

  Open Letter to the National People’s Congress from the Organizers of the Chinese Jasmine Rallies

  [English Translation by Human Rights in China]

  First, we would like to thank every participant of the Jasmine Rallies. Your participation has already made the authoritarian government very nervous. Your presence has made the Chinese government understand that they must choose between these two paths:

  The Chinese government will genuinely fight corruption and accept the supervision of the people.
  Suppress popular protest, continue corruption, and continue to refuse the supervision of the people.
  Every Chinese person with dreams hopes that China will become prosperous, rich, and powerful, that the people will not have to worry about food and clothing, that the government is upright and honest, and that the judiciary is impartial and just. But twenty years have passed [since the 1989 Democracy Movement], and what we are witnessing is a government that grows more corrupt by the day, government officials who collude with vested interests, and a citizenry that has not benefitted from the reform, opening up, and economic development. On the contrary, the people have to endure high goods and housing prices, and do not have health care, education, or benefits for the elderly. And what about ten years from now? Will we face a government even more corrupt? A judicial system even more opaque? Will vested interests give up their vested interest?

  Every good and honest Chinese person, please think: So much public housing has been sold to individuals, so many state-owned enterprises and so much land have been sold, and nearly all state-owned property has been sold off. But where has all the money from these sales gone? It goes without saying that state-owned property belongs to the entire people. But what did the people get? Led by an authoritarian regime, the opaque process of privatization has made a small number of people rich, but what did the vast number of ordinary people get?

  Every good and honest Chinese person, please think: When Japan, Korea, and Taiwan were in the process of industrializing, they were able to make the overwhelming majority of their people prosperous. Why is it that during China’s industrialization the ordinary people are becoming poorer? Why is it that in just the last few decades China has gone from being a country with the smallest gap between the rich and the poor to one with the largest? It is because the unfair system has made a small number of people incredibly wealthy, and the vast majority of people remain poor.

  Every good and honest Chinese person, please think: Every year the government uses public money to eat and drink, buy cars, visit foreign places, and raise salaries for officials; yet it doesn’t have money to spend on health care, education, benefits for the elderly, or other basic needs. The vast majority of Chinese people do not have basic health care, education, or benefits for the elderly. Not to mention Europe, America, Japan, or Korea; our welfare system is far behind those of India, Russia, or Brazil. When other countries use the majority of their tax money for the welfare of their people, where does our tax money go?

  Every good and honest Chinese person, please think: At present the renminbiranks first among world currencies in terms of quantity in circulation. This serious “over-issuing” of currency has brought about a vicious cycle of inflation inside China. The excessive printing of currency is recklessly diluting the value of the people’s wealth. Because the renminbi is not an international currency, it is China’s ordinary citizens who are out of luck. The meager income of China’s ordinary people must support goods and housing prices similar to those in Europe and America. On the one hand the government excessively prints money, and on the other hand it uses administrative means to keep housing prices low is this some sort of mockery?

  Every good and honest Chinese person, please think: It is a matter of course that officials, when disclosing their wealth, should accept the supervision of the people, and that the government, when publishing details of tax revenues, should accept the supervision of the people. However, the Chinese people have no such power. We have been waiting for decades. Even if we wait for another ten years, we will not be able to get this kind of power. Should we keep on waiting? Are you willing to wait another 10 years, 20 years, 30 years?

  In short, without pressure from the people, absolutely no authoritarian government would take the initiative to respect the people or accept the people’s supervision. What we need to do now is to put pressure on the Chinese ruling party. If the party does not conscientiously fight corruption and accept the supervision of the people, then will it please exit the stage of history. We call upon each Chinese person who has a dream for China to bravely come out to take an afternoon stroll at two o’clock on Sundays to look around. Each person who joins in will make it clear to the Chinese ruling party that if it does not fight corruption, if the government does not accept their supervision, the Chinese people will not have the patience to wait any longer.

  We do not necessarily have to overthrow the current government. As long as the government fights corruption, the government and officials accept the people’s supervision, the government is sincere about solving the problems regarding judicial independence and freedom of expression and gives a timetable, we can give the ruling party time to solve the problems. We can call a stop to the strolling activities. We have been waiting for decades, if the government is sincere about solving the problem, we do not mind waiting a little longer. However, if the government is not sincere about solving the problems, but only wants to censor the Internet and block information to suppress the protests, the protests will only get stronger. As more and more people find out about “jasmine rallies,” there will definitely be more and more Chinese people joining in.

  We don’t care if we implement a one party system, a two party system, or even a three party system; but we are resolute in asking the government and the officials to accept the supervision of ordinary Chinese people, and we must have an independent judiciary. This is our fundamental demand.

  We do not support violent revolution; we continue to support non-violent non-cooperation. We invite every participant to stroll, watch, or even just pretend to pass by. As long as you are present, the authoritarian government will be shaking with fear.

  China belongs to every Chinese person, not to any political party. China’s future will be decided by every person. We ask that the government and officials accept the supervision of the people, that the details of tax collection be published, and that taxes are genuinely “collected from the people, and used for the people.” These basic requests are not the least bit excessive. For our country’s future, for the fundamental rights of our children and future generations, please bravely come out. The Chinese people’s thirst for freedom and democracy is unstoppable (as Wen Jiabao said during an interview on CNN).

  If you are unable to participate in the strolls, please tell every Chinese person near you: We need an upright and honest government. We need the right to supervise government tax collection. We need the right to scrutinize officials’ wealth. We need the right to publicly criticize the government. These are the fundamental rights of every Chinese person. Please tell every Chinese person near you: Non-violent non-cooperation is the only path for Chinese democratization. Please use word-of-mouth to break through the news blackout and come show your support.

  The Chinese people rely on themselves to fight for their rights. We should not even dream that an authoritarian regime would take the initiative to award us these rights. Please join us in non-violent non-cooperation to make the Chinese government respect the basic rights of the Chinese people.

  Time: Every Sunday starting on February 20, 2011 at 2 pm. (If the Chinese government is sincere about solving problems such as corruption and public supervision, we will send out a notice stopping the action.)

  Rally Locations:
  Beijing: in front of the McDonald’s on Wangfujing Street
  Shanghai: in front of Peace Cinema at People’s Square
  Tianjin: below the Drum Tower
  Nanjing, [Jiangsu Province]: the entrance of Silk Street Department Store at the Drum Tower Square
  Xi’an, [Shaanxi Province]: the entrance of Carrefour on Beida Street
  Chengdu, [Sichuan Province]: under the Statue of Chairman Mao at Tianfu Square
  Changsha, [Hunan Province]: the entrance of Xindaxin Building at Wuyi Square
  Hangzhou, [Zhejiang Province]: the entrance of Hangzhou Department Store at Wulin Square
  Guangzhou, [Guangdong Province]: in front of the Starbucks at the People’s Park
  Shenyang, [Liaoning Province]: in front of the KFC at North Nanjing Street
  Changchun, [Jilin Province]: in front of Corogo Supermarket at Democratic Avenue of West Culture Square
  Harbin, [Heilongjiang Province]: in front of Harbin Cinema
  Wuhan, [Hubei Province]: in front of the McDonald’s at Jiefang Avenue and the World Trade Plaza

  People who are in cities not listed here, please go to the central square of your city.

  We ask websites to help spread this statement, thank you!

  One of the organizers of China Jasmine Rallies (Posted on Boxun by a friend on February 21, 2011.)

  Read more about the Jasmine Revolution via CDT.

  » Read more
  • February 24, 2011 12:03 AM

• Catching A Whiff Of Jasmine In Kashgar

  

  TWO fire engines stood parked by the road leading past Kashgar’s main mosque. They were clearly not deployed to fight any fires. Atop one sat a helmeted officer behind a shield. The nozzle of the vehicle’s water hose pointed to the junction where an alley leads into the maze-like old city of this ancient oasis town. An officer in camouflage uniform sat on the other vehicle. In a nearby government compound, several more security personnel could be seen wearing helmets and carrying shields, standing next to a line of armoured vehicles. They had not been there the day before.  Read the article in The Economist’s Asia View blog here:

  Kashgar is no stranger to security measures. It belongs to a part of China’s Xinjiang region that is periodically racked by separatist incidents, sometimes violent, involving members of the ethnic Uighur community.  It has been particularly edgy in the past two or three years. An outbreak of deadly clashes between Uighurs and Han Chinese in 2009 in Urumqi, the provincial capital, has left the authorities uneasy.

  But today the government perhaps had reason to be a little more jittery than usual. Calls had been circulating on the internet for Chinese to gather in central areas of 13 major cities (none in Xinjiang were named) on February 20th to stage a “jasmine revolution”—in reference to the upheavals that have are convulsing the Arab world. An unsourced posting to an American-based Chinese website, Boxun.com (in Chinese, and currently under a DDOS-style attack) seems to have started the flurry. Chinese authorities quickly moved to suppress it by blocking posts on microblogs that contain the word “jasmine”. They stepped up surveillance of several activists and deployed large numbers of police near central Beijing, apparently to pre-empt any protests.

  » Read more
  • February 23, 2011 10:35 PM

• China Official Warns Of Domestic Unrest And “Hostile” West

  

  The Chinese government faces a turbulent time of domestic unrest and challenges from “hostile Western forces” that it will fight with more sophisticated controls, a Communist Party law-and-order official said.  Read the article in Reuters here:

  Chen Jiping, deputy secretary general of the Communist Party’s Political and Legal Affairs Committee, gave the toughly worded warning in this week’s issue of Outlook Weekly, and blamed Western democratic countries for fomenting unrest.

  He did not mention the protests that have rocked authoritarian governments in the Middle East, and his words reflect the Communist Party’s own homegrown fears.

  But the uprisings that deposed Egypt‘s long-time president Hosni Mubarak and are now threatening Libya’s strongman Muammar Gaddafi are likely to reinforce the views of Chinese security officials like Chen.

  “The schemes of some hostile Western forces attempting to Western and split us are intensifying, and they are waving the banner of defending rights to meddle in domestic conflicts and maliciously create all kinds of incidents,” Chen told the magazine, which is published by the official Xinhua news agency.

  » Read more
  • February 22, 2011 1:07 PM

• Jason NG: What a Beautiful Sensitive Word

  

  Jason Ng (伍嘉贤) is a Beijing based well-known technology blogger and founder of kenenba.com. He just published a blog post entitled “What a Beautiful Sensitive Word” [1], translated by CDT:

  My last blog entry was written on January 25th. Today is February 21st, so I guess you could say that this is a “menstrual post” [2].

  I was very shocked and pleased by yesterday’s (the 20th of February) Chinese version of “the Jasmine Revolution.” I was shocked by how influential the event was; I was pleased to see the Chinese authorities become the proverbial ants in the hot wok.

  There’s probably a lot of people who don’t know what happened yesterday, so let me provide a basic timeline:

  1. An anonymous person used the public Twitter account name of Shudong (the account is now cleared) to post a Tweet announcing that at 2:00 p.m. on February 20th, every large city in China would be conducting a Jasmine Revolution, the details of which would later be posted on a certain website.

  2. Not many people took a less-than-140-character microblog post seriously; however, those with a guilty conscience are always afraid something will happen.

  3. Thereafter, the person who used the name Shudong was pursued by the police who requested the logs of the server hoping they could ferret out who it was that used the Shudong account to post the information. Currently, the person [who used the Shudong account] has made the account protected [3].

  4. Thereafter, on February 19th, Ran Yunfei, Teng Biao, Pu Fei and other dissidents were “invited to tea” or put under house arrest.

  5. Thereafter, on February 20th, more dissidents were prevented from venturing out. [Agents from] the Domestic Security Department even threatened to rape the wife of You Jingyou.

  6. The Chinese authorities were on a high level of alert. There were reports that the military had prepared live ammunition.

  7. On the 19th and 20th of February, a large number of people who were likely members of the fifty cent party registered on Twitter and immediately started calling on people to not participate in the Jasmine Revolution, that the Jasmine Revolution was a secret plot by the Americans, and that participating in the Jasmine Revolution was against the law. As of now, I have detected over fifty people who are likely members of the fifty cent party. I have placed their names on this list here.

  8. On February 19th, Renren.com designated the word “tomorrow” as a sensitive word.

  9. On February 20th, Renren.com designated the word “today” as a sensitive word.

  10. At 2:00 p.m. on February 20th, a large number of people gathered in front of the McDonalds in the Wangfujing area of Beijing. What is certain is that a lot of people didn’t even know what was going on. There were even people who thought that a big movie star had arrived. The large number of armed police and plainclothes officers made passersby curious. They hurriedly pulled out their cell phones to take pictures which they then posted on microblogs.

  11. A large number of foreign journalists gathered in front of the Wangfujing McDonalds waiting to see what would happen.

  12. On the afternoon of February 20th, Xinlang’s microblog suspended its search function, suspended users’ ability to post photographs, and suspended users’ ability to forward posts. [Xinlang’s microblog] also designated “Jasmine Revolution” as a sensitive word.

  13. There were people at the scene who were carried away by the police. Attached are two pictures from the scene.

  To be honest, when Shudong posted the call to protest, I felt absolutely certain that it was a joke. Even now I still feel like it was a joke. Not only do I feel this way, but a lot of people also feel this way.

  If the government hadn’t had such a big reaction, I believe that not so many people would have participated in the Jasmine Revolution.

  Unfortunately, for those who have guilty consciences, at a certain point, demons can be heard in the sound of the midnight wind.

  ____________________________________________________
  [1] The title is a reference to the word “jasmine” which has become a “sensitive word”.

  [2] A “menstrual post” is a recurring, unwanted internet post. The term refers to the regularity with which these posts appear (because, for example, certain netizens who write these posts only have time on the weekends or evenings.) See here. (Chinese).

  [3] Twitter accounts are either public or protected. Public accounts have profile pages that are visible to everyone, while protected accounts manually approve those who view its Tweets.

  See also Next Media Animation’s take on the Jasmine Revolution:
  

  » Read more
  • February 22, 2011 10:38 AM

• Chinese Lawyer Beaten Ahead of Jasmine Revolution Protests

  

  More details are emerging about the treatment of activists whom officials feared would respond to calls to join protests as part of the so-called Jasmine Revolution, including this account in the Guardian from lawyer Liu Shihui in Guangzhou:

  Human rights campaigners report that scores of activists across China were questioned or detained following an online call for “jasmine revolution” demonstrations in 13 cities on Sunday, including Guangzhou.

  “A man came to me and dragged me to the side of the street. Then four other guys jumped out of a van parked by the roadside and rushed over to me. They put a rice bag over my head and started beating me up,” said Liu.

  “It lasted for about five minutes … I was so scared. I thought they were just going to beat me to death.”

  Liu, who spoke to the Guardian via a friend’s phone because his mobile service was cut off on Sunday, said the men did not identify themselves. He believed they were domestic security police because of an incident in December, when he was snatched on the night of the Nobel peace prize ceremony. Many dissidents were detained or harassed owing to the authorities’ anger that the jailed dissident Liu Xiaobo was being honoured.

  His abductors, who that time identified themselves as domestic security, dumped him in a remote town, where he spent a freezing night on the roadside. “Back then they told me that I’d better watch my behaviour, otherwise they would get serious with me. This time they are getting serious,” he said.

  » Read more
  • February 21, 2011 3:01 PM

• China Police Show Up En Masse at Hint of Protest

  

  Messages from an unknown source that called for protests in 13 cities around China generated a heavy police and media presence but few protesters. From the Los Angeles Times:

  By 2 p.m. Sunday, hundreds of people had gathered in front of a McDonald’s on Wangfujing, a pedestrian tourist mall, near Tiananmen Square. But in the throngs gathering at one of the most crowded venues in Beijing, it was impossible to distinguish curiosity seekers from actual demonstrators.

  Three people were taken away by police, who also questioned a young man who laid white flowers, apparently a reference to jasmine, on a planter in front of the McDonald’s and tried to photograph them with his cellphone.

  In Shanghai, another three people were detained after a skirmish in front of a Starbucks, the Associated Press reported.

  Wan Yanhai, an AIDS activist who fled to the United States last year because of political repression, said that many of the prominent activists he knows were reluctant to be involved and even refrained from re-tweeting messages about the demonstrations. The anonymous postings, he said, first appeared about 10 days ago, and the location of the planned protests was announced Saturday.

  “Maybe it was a joke. Maybe it was performance art. Maybe it was an intelligent political plan, but nobody knows,” Wan said. “Most of the prominent activist groups hesitated to push these demonstrations.”

  Global Times, an official sister publication of People’s Daily, meanwhile, had a different explanation for why few protesters rallied to the cause:

  Experts told the Global Times that the wave of revolutions in the Middle East was unlikely to happen in China as the Chinese people favored social stability and gradual reforms, not radical ones.

  See also “The Secret Politburo Meeting Behind China’s New Democracy Crackdown” by Perry Link on the New York Review of Books blog.

  » Read more
  • February 20, 2011 8:29 PM

• Activists Detained as China Web Users Call for ‘Jasmine Revolution’ (Updated)

  

  Messages spread through Chinese cyberspace calling for laid-off workers and other disgruntled citizens to publicly protest on Sunday in 13 cities to join in the “Jasmine Revolution” that is fueling protests throughout the Middle East.

  As a result, propaganda authorities have banned the word “jasmine” from microblogs and other online forums and several activists have been detained. From AFP:

  “We welcome… laid off workers and victims of forced evictions to participate in demonstrations, shout slogans and seek freedom, democracy and political reform to end ‘one party rule’,” one posting said.

  The postings, many of which appeared to have originated on overseas websites run by exiled Chinese political activists, called for protests in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and 10 other major Chinese cities.

  Protesters were urged to shout slogans including “we want food to eat,” “we want work,” we want housing,” “we want justice,” “long live freedom,” and “long live democracy.”

  Chinese authorities have sought to restrict media reports on the recent political turmoil that began in Tunisia as the “Jasmine Revolution” and spread to Egypt and throughout the Middle East.

  According to updates on Twitter, many of the locations named as potential protest sites are being heavily guarded by armed riot police and university students and faculty are being warned not to leave campus on Sunday. Follow updates on Twitter at hashtag #cn220. Meanwhile, as many as 15 prominent activists and lawyers have been detained, including Teng Biao, Xu Zhiyong and Jiang Tianyong. As of this writing, the last Twitter message from lawyer Teng Biao, sent at 10 pm Saturday night Beijing time, was in response to news that blogger Ran Yunfei had been detained for questioning by police, or invited to “drink tea.” Teng wrote: “In the future, anyone who is invited to “drink tea” should not hope to drink jasmine tea.”

  But there seem to be differing opinions on the impact in China of events in Egypt, Tunisia and elsewhere in the Middle East. An article on Monsters and Critics says, “Chinese activists inspired by Egypt protests,” while an article in the Financial Times argues, “Why the Chinese are not inspired by Egypt.”

  » Read more
  • February 19, 2011 9:33 PM