• Shanghai subway to scantily clad women: No wonder you'll be sexually harassed!

    Peter Parks / AFP - Getty Images

    A man passes a women wearing shorts as she waits for a subway train in Shanghai on Wednesday. A subway operator in the Chinese metropolis of Shanghai has caused uproar by warning women not to wear revealing clothes to avoid being groped by the city's "perverts."

    By Ed Flanagan, NBC News

    BEIJING – For women in Shanghai looking to beat the heat this summer with skimpier clothes, the city’s subway authorities have a message: dress appropriately or be ready to deal with the inevitable sexual harassment. 

    The controversy online started on June 20 when someone posted on the Shanghai Number 2 Subway Line official Weibo account – Chinese version of Twitter – a picture of a female passenger wearing a revealing dress with the comment: “If that’s what you wear on the subway, then no wonder you will be sexually harassed! There are perverts riding the subway every day and we can’t catch them all. Girls, you’ve got to respect yourself!”

    Outrage over the comment was swift and voluminous, quickly becoming the second-most discussed topic on Weibo with nearly 16,000 forwards and 7,000 comments tagged to the original post alone.

    No right to judge!
    The overwhelming number of comments condemned the message and its insinuation that revealing dress could be viewed as an invitation for harassment; branding it blatant gender discrimination. 

    "It's a woman’s business to choose what to wear, if laws or your regulations do not forbid her from dressing like this, you [the Metro] have no right to chastise them,” wrote one commentator. “If your logic were right, then all men would harass women in the swimming pool.”

    “You have the right to judge whether people are dressing elegantly or not.  And you have the right to like it or not,” wrote another critic of the Shanghai Metro. “But you have no right to harass anyone!” 

    Some people also raised questions about the fact that the Shanghai Metro staff took a photo of the unwitting passenger in the first place, and, adding insult to injury, used the photo in its controversial public service announcement. 

    Zhejiang Province Police

    The Zhejiang province police department's diagram meant to give women guidance on how men's lurking eyes can lead to sexual harrassment.

    “First I think the Metro has no right to insult others, especially their passengers. It's a matter of professional decency,” wrote Hao Junbo, a lawyer on Weibo. “If the Metro published this person's picture without approval beforehand, it violates the passenger's rights.”

    Responding to the criticism, Lan Tian, a press officer for Shanghai Shentong Metro Group, the authority that runs the Shanghai subway, justified the company’s comments to the Chinese state newspaper Global Times.

    "As the city's subway operator, we have the responsibility to warn women of the potential danger of sexual harassment on the subway," he told the Global Times. "At the same time, we are not justifying any kind of sexual harassment or inappropriate behavior." 

    Nevertheless, perhaps inspired by the general sentiment expressed online, a couple days later on June 24, several women went to another subway station in Shanghai to protest the Weibo post by the Shanghai Metro.

    Donning black veils that covered their faces and holding signs that said things like, “Just because I'm slutty doesn't mean you can be dirty,” the girls rode the subway in an attempt to call attention to the issue.

    Interestingly, this time though, online sentiment was against the protestors, with many arguing that women should in fact dress more conservatively while riding the subway. A recent online poll by Sina Weibo found that 55 percent of over 10,000 people agreed with that sentiment.

    Elaborate diagrams to thwart harassment
    By all accounts, reports of sexual harassment on the Shanghai metro have been on the rise this year. An editorial in Wednesday’s edition of China’s People’s Daily noted that there had been seven cases of sexual harassment since May of this year.

    There has been a greater emphasis nationally to raise awareness about sexual harassment and to educate Chinese women on how to protect themselves. But some of the recent articles on how to avoid becoming a victim of sexual harassment verge on the ridiculous. 

    A recent article by the popular Chinese web portal, QQ, includes a number of graphics showing how men attempt to harass women by looking up skirts on elevators or even when women try on shoes at department stores.  

    But this diagram put out on the Zhejiang province police department’s official Weibo account earlier this year was perhaps the most puzzling. It looks like an elaborate SAT math question requiring a thorough grounding in geometry. For example, the second and third illustrations are designed to help women understand the angles at which men can position their heads or bodies to look up their skirts while riding the subway.

    If the diagram is confusing already with its multiple diagrams, consider the English translation of the explanation:

    “If the eyes of the ‘observer’, i.e. the point E, is right on the extension of segment BC, then point B would fall into his eyesight. Then, let's make another line of DE which goes through E and is perpendicular to the extension of AC, then the right triangle of DEC is similar to the right triangle of ABC. So clearly, the length of DC is the horizontal distance between the man's eye and the lady’s skirt. Ladies, have you figured that out?” 

    Unsure if you have figured out whether that man is looking up your skirt? Consult the closest math teacher in your subway car.

    NBC News’ Horace Lu contributed to this report.

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  • 'My head says that China is number one, my heart always says America'

    Lebo Mothae, a teacher from Soweto, South Africa, describes her view of the United States.

    By Rohit Kachroo , NBC News

    JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – When Lebo Mothae speaks about the United States of America, she smiles brightly. “If I could go to America that would be my dream – just to be there!”

    Mothae’s only contact with American people is when she encounters the crowds of tourists that she must cut through to walk her 4-year-old son from home to a nursery school close to Vilakazi Street in Soweto, the South African township. The area is popular with visitors because it is the street where former President Nelson Mandela once lived and former Archbishop Desmond Tutu still has a home.

    A special NBC News series: What The World Thinks of U.S. Click here for more information

    To Mothae, a 32-year-old nursery school teacher, the United States represents a beacon of relative racial harmony.

    The U.S. and South Africa share a dark racial past, but South Africa’s is much more recent – white minority rule by the apartheid regime ended when Mandela was released from prison in 1990 and became president in 1994 after the country’s first democratic elections.

    And although Mothae questioned her belief in the American people during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the election of an African-American president in the U.S. renewed her hopes for racial equality at home and abroad.

    “That election made me feel so warm about the American people,” she said.

    Her faith in all things American was enhanced when first lady Michelle Obama visited South Africa last year, a trip that included a visit to Soweto.

    “She’s a darling,” Mothae said. “I remember the day and the time that she came to this side [South Africa]. She’s a nice lady. She’s quite down-to-earth. I like her.

    “I see a mother – a caring person. She’s devoted to what she’s doing. She is an icon for all black women in America, in South Africa and around the world.”

    China means big money
    But when Mothae talks of the future, and envisages the type of massive investment which might transform Soweto for her child’s generation, she speaks of China, not the United States. 

    “China is the number one country because they produce so many things. So many things come from China. Even in America they have to go to China. That makes them the number one country.”

    Lesego Seitisho, an unemployed IT administrator in Soweto, South Africa, talks about America.

    Across Africa, the sudden emergence of massive Chinese investment, much of it in natural resources to satisfy the needs of its rapidly growing economy, has changed entire communities. Bilateral trade between China and Africa has grown exponentially – particularly in just the last few decades.

    In 1950 China-Africa bilateral trade was just $12 million, but by 1980, it topped $1 billion, according to China’s Ministry of Commerce. That number jumped over the last 30 years, with China-Africa trade volume reaching $114 billion by 2010, according to the Chinese. Some analysts estimate that figure is likely to reach $300 billion by 2015.

    The money has helped to build highways, stadiums and parliament buildings across the continent – while also taking away many of the continent’s natural resources.  

    Many leaders, including South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma, have been impressed by China’s enthusiasm for Africa as well as its perceived “no strings attached” approach to investment.

    Perhaps in response, U.S. President Barack Obama unveiled a new “U.S. Strategy Toward Sub-Saharan Africa” earlier in June.

    The strategy's most important objectives are “strengthening democratic institutions and promoting economic growth, trade and investment,” according to the White House.

    Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reinforced the idea of Africa as an ideal place for investment in the 21st century on the same day as Obama’s announcement.

    “Africa offers the highest rate of return on foreign direct investment of any developing region in the world,” said Clinton. “We in the United States like to talk about ourselves as the country that is the land of opportunity. It’s a point of national pride. Well, in the 21st century, Africa is the continent that is the land of opportunity.”  

    While the U.S. may have an uphill battle selling itself as an economic powerhouse, in terms of cultural influence, it still tops China. 

    NBC News speaks with citizens from around the globe, asking the question, 'What Does America Mean to You?'

    U.S. will always have Oprah and Beyonce
    Close to Vilakazi Street, Ayanda Mchunu, a 26-year-old street-vendor, said his souvenir business has been boosted by a surge in Chinese tourists.

    “I keep my eye out for the Americans and the Chinese; we think they have the most money,” he said.


    And, despite the ascendancy of China, he said that the “soft power” of the United States would endure through its cultural influence

    “Even children – they always talk about the U.S.”

    “Most of the children, they watch films…The characters are from the U.S.,” Mchunu said. “That’s why they’re inspired by the U.S.”

    Nearby, Lesego Seitisho, a former IT administrator, was stopping passers-by in search of work after completing a contract with a Chinese company. He found his employer’s approach to workplace discipline enlightening and hopes to find a job with another Chinese firm.

    But he believed that American culture and the popularity of celebrities like Oprah Winfrey and Beyonce in South Africa give the United States influence that China could never match.

    “America is on TV all the time and when the TV’s off America is still switched on in your mind.”

    “My head says that China is number one, my heart always says America.”

    This story is part of a series by msnbc.com and NBC News "What the World Thinks of US". The series aims to check the pulse on current perceptions of America's global stature during the election year and ahead of our annual Independence Day. Share your thoughts about this story and our series on Twitter using #AmericaMeans 

    Special series: What the World Thinks of US 

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    For many Pakistanis, 'USA' means 'drones' 

    One man's mission: Promote Chinese patriotism in the face of Western onslaught

    In South Africa: 'My head says China is number one, my heart says America'

    Not all Thais are Gaga about America

    Family moves from the Bronx to Jerusalem, but US remains land of 'liberty and freedom'

    Palestinian: US supports 'an apartheid system that is suffocating us' 

    Afghans are 'no different from any American

     

     

  • One man's mission: Promote Chinese patriotism in face of Western onslaught

    Rao Jin, founder of April Media in Beijing, talks about the US role in the world.

    By Bo Gu, NBC News

    BEIJING – With more than 1.3 billion people, China has a plethora of views on the United States and its influence on the global stage.

    Some see America as over-controlling, trying all the time to force its influence across the globe, while others see it as a beacon of individual freedom unheard of in China. And many are in between those views.

    A special NBC News series: What The World Thinks of U.S. Click here for more information

    In an effort to check the pulse on the current Chinese take on the U.S., NBC News in Beijing spoke to two men with very different views on the country.

    Rao Jin has made it his life’s work to channel Chinese patriotism in the face of what he sees as a Western media onslaught. On the other hand, fellow Beijinger Ye Nan can’t wait for his next trip back to Disneyland in the U.S. and thinks the Chinese and American public’s views aren’t that far apart.

    Not happy with the ‘world police’
    Rao first made a name for himself in China in the spring of 2008, when news of one of the biggest riots in Tibet spread around the world.  

    China’s official news outlets routinely blamed the exiled Dalai Lama and his refugee government as the “instigators,” while most of the Western media took a sympathetic stand and attributed the riots to long-term persecution and dominance by China.

    During the peak of the riots, quite a few foreign broadcasters, including CNN and the BBC, became targets of intense Chinese criticism and threats for allegedly biased coverage of the protests in Tibet. CNN in particular came under fire for using inaccurate photos and for remarks made by commentator Jack Cafferty, who referred to China's leaders – not the Chinese people – as a "bunch of goons and thugs."   

    Mood turns ugly in Beijing

    That outraged Rao, then a 24-year-old who had just graduated from the engineering physics department at Tsinghua University, one of the top educational institutions in China.

    Rao, who already had his own IT company, created a website called ANTI-CNN that spread criticism of Western news reporting and soon gained wide support from Chinese citizens.

    The website continued to draw millions of hits daily during the chaotic pre-Olympic torch relay when pro-Tibet protesters interrupted several legs of the torch run in America and some European countries. (One particularly egregious incident was when a Chinese Paralympian in a wheel chair was attacked by pro-Tibetan protesters while she bravely guarded the torch).

    NBC News speaks with citizens from around the globe, asking the question, 'What Does America Mean to You?'

    Originally from the southern coastal province of Fujian, Rao has since become a quasi-spokesman for those in China’s population who are unhappy about how China is viewed and reported in the West. He has been interviewed by many foreign media in China, as well as being invited to events by embassies and NGOs in Beijing.

    “I don’t think we represent the whole young generation, but we do represent some,” said Rao at his office in a high-rise in northern Beijing, where 30 employees concentrated on their computers.

    Rao’s original ANTI-CNN website became April Media in 2010, named after a month he likes for its symbolism of power and rejuvenation. He said the website “represents a generation of youth who are familiar with Western culture and have international views as well as a sense of patriotism.”

    Aiming to become a cross between a Chinese Huffington Post and a think-tank, April Media now has about 200 columnists and almost one million registered members.

    On the left side of the homepage, next to a small photo of the Statue of Liberty, there are a few U.S.-related articles, including “American truth: leader of wasting energy,” “Is property expensive in the U.S.?” “Do American minorities get preferential treatment?” “Americans really don’t wear long underwear?” “What is an American green card?”

    Rao toured the United States from the West Coast to the East Coast in late 2010. He was impressed by the natural scenery, but didn’t find the real America to be too different from his pre-conceived notions and what he saw in Hollywood movies.

    “In aspects of the economy, politics and culture, the U.S. has shown an admirable spirit of innovation,” Rao told NBC News in his office, but he argued that America is “a world leader that failed to perform well.”

    “The U.S. has always imposed its own values on others and acted as a hegemonic state and as the world police,” he said. “It has fought too many wars it shouldn’t have fought.”

    Ye Nan, a digital business manager in Beijing, describes how he views America.

    America ‘fights for justice’
    A short drive from Rao’s office, 42-year-old Ye Nan, a business director of another influential news portal, has a completely different view of the U.S.  

    “The U.S. is just like a strong, robust, but brusque, next-door neighbor,” said Ye in a garden next to his office. “He fights for justice and gets himself involved when there’s a problem. He gives everyone else the impression of being warm-hearted, and having a sense of justice. Some people are afraid of him, but most like him.”

    Ye’s family story is like a condensed version of China’s own tumultuous history. 

    His grandfather was one of the earliest Chinese students to study in the United States, graduating from Johns Hopkins University in the 1920s and being trained at the West Point Military Academy. After he went back to China, he fought shoulder to shoulder with American soldiers in Burma and India during World War II.


    But by the time Ye’s father came of age during China’s Cultural Revolution, Chinese-U.S. relations had changed. During Chairman Mao’s “Young Intellectuals Go Down to the Countryside” campaign in the late 1960s and early 1970s, he and other privileged youth were forced to learn from workers and farmers. He was forced to leave Beijing and died in an accident in Tibet when Ye Nan was only five.

    “I’m sure he was told to write those communist posters criticizing America since he was educated,” said Ye in looking back at his father’s life during the Cultural Revolution.

    Ye first set his foot on American soil last year to visit his wife, who was a visiting psychologist at the University of California at Berkeley.

    His impressions were positive, “The air was much better, people were friendly, cars would wait for pedestrians,” he said. He was also happy to be able to surf any websites – quite a different from his experience in China, where many sites are blocked, including Twitter and Facebook.

    What really amazed Ye, though, was the prompt reply from Johns Hopkins University when his wife emailed them and asked if they could help find Ye’s grandfather’s files. The university sent a 10-page file, including letters and academic documents. Such free and quick service is almost impossible in China, he said.

    “Freedom is in American people’s blood,” Ye said. “Individual freedom is the basis of everything, while China values collectivism that stresses personal sacrifice for the group.”

    He thinks, though, that the differences are narrowing.

    “In my grandfather’s generation, America and China were friends who fought together in World War II. In my father’s generation, they were enemies. The young generation now is greatly influenced by America. They all drink Coca-Cola and watch Hollywood movies. They agree more than they disagree. The world is flat and the two countries will gradually come to a consensus on many matters.” 

    Ye said his next trip to the U.S. will probably include a visit to Disneyland that he promised his 8-year-old son. And like many Chinese parents, Ye and his wife hope to send their son to study in the U.S. one day. 

    This story is part of a series by msnbc.com and NBC News "What the World Thinks of US". The series aims to check the pulse on current perceptions of America's global stature during the election year and ahead of our annual Independence Day. Share your thoughts about this story and our series on Twitter using #AmericaMeans  

    Stories in the series: What the World Thinks of US  

    How I see America, from a former Gitmo prisoner

    Bye, bye, GI: Deep impact for many Germans as US troops downsize

    Post-revolution Egypt to US: Stay out 

    Iran's dentist to the stars offers views on US

    For many Pakistanis, 'USA' means 'drones' 

    One man's mission: Promote Chinese patriotism in the face of Western onslaught

    In South Africa: 'My head says China is number one, my heart says America'

    Not all Thais are Gaga about America

    Family moves from the Bronx to Jerusalem, but US remains land of 'liberty and freedom'

    Palestinian: US supports 'an apartheid system that is suffocating us' 

    Afghans are 'no different from any American


     

  • Monkeys make mockery of monk's video

    By Ed Flanagan, NBC News

    BEIJING – They say working with animals on screen can be maddeningly unpredictable, even with Zen-like patience. 

    So there could be no better person to test that theory than a Buddhist monk, right? 

    Yen Shen, a monk who serves as a director of the Cangzhou Buddhist Association in China’s Hebei province was at Mount Emei – a popular tourist site and home to a well-known Buddhist temple – in western Sichuan shooting a little video about the beauty of the region.

    With lush forest and fog draped valleys behind him, Yen was speaking poetically about the beauty of the region and the need to take time to connect with nature. “As the years pass, let us bless our friends, let us bless everything,” he waxes on poetically in the video, “when the year’s pass let us bless spring and the autumn.”

    That’s when the monkey business starts. (Click to watch the video above). 

    Just 10 seconds into his monologue, what looks like a Tibetan macaque next to him starts grabbing Yen’s robes and playing with them. Showing incredible TV professional poise though, Yen continues talking about Buddhist spirituality without skipping a beat.

    Then 1:30 into the video, two macaques run up and jump onto Yen, turning him into a human jungle gym. Yen appears momentarily frozen in panic, but recovers and then continues talking; ignoring the growing giggles and chatter of onlookers.

    A third monkey joins in on the fun at 1:58, before someone hands one of the macaques what appears to be a cookie and pulls Yen out of the way.

    Further attempts to continue the video are derailed as one monkey who will not be denied his 15 minutes of fame, perches itself next to Yen and starts clutching his robe, only letting go long enough to devour more biscuits handed to him just off screen by a helper.

    As biscuit after biscuit is handed over to the ravenous monkey, Yen simply looks at him with seeming amusement, all while passersby yell advice on how to deal with the monkeys and urge him to look back up at the camera and continue.

    The video has racked up almost 1 million hits since it was posted on Sina, the Chinese web site, Wednesday. Online commentators mostly express admiration for Yen’s ability to keep talking despite the distraction. Strangely though, many more commentators seemed interested in discussing the monk’s “strange” accent as much as the rambunctious macaques.

    Regardless, a marvelous big screen debut by both man and monkeys. 


  • Chinese artist Ai Weiwei warned not to attend his own court case

    Andy Wong / AP

    Ai Weiwei, second from left, stopped by a plain clothes policeman while he argues with another policeman, foreground, outside his home in Beijing on Wednesday.

    By Ed Flanagan, NBC News

    BEIJING – While Ai Weiwei didn’t get his day in court Wednesday, he did get his case heard.

    The Chinese artist and social activist was noticeably absent from opening arguments at a Beijing courtroom after he was warned off by police. Instead, Ai, 54, stayed home at his studio while his wife, Lu Qing, represented their design company, Beijing Fake Cultural Development Ltd., with a team of lawyers.

    Ai and his wife are challenging a ruling by the tax office that rejected their appeal against a steep fine imposed for alleged tax evasion, a charge roundly rejected as false and trumped up by Ai and his supporters.

    NBC News spoke to Ai Weiwei by phone late Wednesday afternoon, but he could not comment on how legal proceedings had gone.

    The government previously ordered Ai’s company to pay a staggering 15 million yuan ($2.4 million) in alleged back taxes and additional fines. Surprisingly, Ai raised the money needed to pay an 8.45 million yuan ($1.3 million) bond needed to contest the tax charges through donations and contributions from around 30,000 supporters after he called for assistance through social media, a favored tool of his and other activists in China.

    Stunts like these as well as his pokes at authority – see the photo he posted yesterday on Twitter sporting a too-tight Chinese police uniform – anger authorities who view Ai as a troublemaker. 

    In April 2011, Ai was detained without charge during a national roundup of activists and dissidents following the many pro-democracy uprisings in the Middle East.

    It was only after his 81-day detention that tax-evasion charges against Ai and his company were made, lending credence to claims made by human rights watchers and Ai supporters that the move was retaliation by the government.

    The case against Ai has been shrouded in secrecy due to the government’s unwillingness, or inability, to reveal any original tax documents as evidence of tax evasion they purport to have.

    Slideshow: The artist strikes a nerve

    Sharron Lovell / Polaris

    Click to see a slideshow of photos of projects done by the Chinese artist and activist Ai Wei Wei.

    Launch slideshow

    A hearing held last July during which the government’s evidence would ostensibly have been revealed was closed and the company’s lawyers were barred from attending, a decision Ai’s lawyers claim was illegal.

    It is a sensitive time politically in China as President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao are poised to step down later this year. Despite the political drama swirling around the fleeing of dissident Chen Guangcheng to the United States and the ongoing Bo Xilai scandal, Beijing desperately wants to make the transition peaceful and is doing everything possible this year to mitigate sensitive stories.

    Yet, as has sometimes proven the case when it comes to Ai, attempts to muzzle or contain him can backfire.

    While Beijing police have discouraged local dissidents from going to the courthouse to support Ai, security was said to be intense around the court with a ring of police cars around it and officers telling foreign press to stay away as well. Still, supporters of Ai were seen outside holding small signs that said “Ai Weiwei, we love you” and “No justice without a fight.”


    Meanwhile, the detention of Ai’s legal consultant, Liu Xiaoyuan, by security forces Tuesday outraged Ai, who announced it on Twitter and called for Liu’s immediate release. Ai told NBC News that Liu’s phone had been turned off and that he had been “taken away to the countryside for some sort of treatment by the police.”

    Additionally, Ai has also been using Twitter to call attention to the heavy police presence outside his home. He pointed to a bust up at his home yesterday when someone in his studio took a photo of what Ai described as “30-40 police cars.” Ai alleges that police rushed the photographer to grab the camera, causing some minor scratches and bruises which were tweeted here.

    As part of his conditional release late last year, Ai’s travel rights were taken away and he was told to refrain from criticism of the government through social media.

    Friday was supposed to be the day those restrictions would be lifted, but in lieu of Ai’s continued defiance, it is hard to believe local authorities won’t extend these restraints in order to rein him in. 

    More world news from msnbc.com and NBC News:

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  • China's space mission a test of docking precision

    Liu Yang becomes the first Chinese female astronaut to go to space while traveling on the Shenzhou 9 capsule. NBC's Ed Flanagan reports.

    By Ed Flanagan, NBC News

    BEIJING -- China's first woman in space, Liu Yang, will be conducting space medical experiments on a 10-day mission that started Saturday, but experts are deeply interested in the mechanics of the mission -- namely the manual space docking the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft will attempt with the Tiangong-1 module.

    Launched last September, the Tiangong-1 is China’s first space laboratory module and a key cog in Beijing’s larger ambitions of establishing a space station by 2020. From this outpost, Chinese scientists over the next few years will be able to test out new equipment and experiment with future space station capabilities. 

    But first Chinese astronauts need to prove they can actually dock with it. 

    Last year, China successfully got its unmanned Shenzhou-8 spacecraft to remotely link up with the Tiangong-1 module, but this will be the first time Chinese astronauts will attempt to manually guide a spacecraft into docking. 


    "Some people describe the manual docking as threading a needle from 100 meters away, so you can see how difficult and precise the procedure would be” said astronaut Jing Haipeng, who with 14 years of experience in China’s space program, will be responsible for this critical aspect of the mission. 

    "The manual space rendezvous ... is a huge test for astronauts' ability to judge spatial position, eye-hand coordination and psychological abilities," he added. 

    According to NBC News space analyst, James Oberg, the sooner China’s astronauts master how to linkup with the Tiangong-1, the faster the country will be able to realize its long-term vision. 

    “The Tiangong-1 is not just a docking target ... this is a full-fledged, live support module that can also can be used as a living space if the Chinese decide to move beyond low-Earth out to the moon or deep space” said Oberg. “The Tiangong-1 is exactly the kind of module for long term, deep space missions.” 

    China’s space rise a cause for concern?
    According to Oberg, China’s rapid development in space capability is quickly bringing the nation to the same level as the other major space powers. 

    “What the Chinese are doing is not just going on a tail chase of ancient space race accomplishments,” says Oberg, “They are bringing themselves right up to and in some cases maybe even taking a step ahead of some of the other space powers.” 

    “It’s a very, very impressive program on a very broad front,” he adds.

    There have been some questions, though, about whether China’s space program is going too fast. An annual U.S. Department of Defense report on China’s military and security developments released in May theorized that China’s space program might be encountering challenges in system reliability, pointing to an August 2011 malfunctioning of a Long March 2C rocket. 

    China is currently in the process of several large scale improvements in its space capabilities. The design of the much larger Long March 5 booster and the construction of a new rocket launch site on Hainan Island are just two examples that will push China’s technological expertise. 

    Report: First Chinese female astronaut joins space club

    Increased reliability and confidence in China’s space capabilities will be critical for another important Chinese aspiration: increased commercial opportunities. European and American satellite builders have traditionally corned the market on satellite construction and launching. A U.S. ban on the use of American components in satellites launched by China have effectively kept China out of the competition for satellite construction bids. 

    The success of Chinese designed, constructed and launched satellites could position China to be a major player in the industry. 

    “When the Chinese get credibility for their technology that space successes give them, they elbow their way to the top rank,” says Oberg, “the slice of the U.S. pie will shrink when the Chinese start getting a bigger slice.”

    More world news from msnbc.com and NBC News:

    Follow us on Twitter: @msnbc_world

     

  • Gruesome photos put spotlight on China's one-child policy

    Family photo

    Photos of Feng Jianmei on her hospital bed after a forced abortion have been circulating on the web. The photos were taken by her sister who in turn contacted the media about the story. The photos originally appeared in a local newspaper report online and then they were picked by netizens and distributed online.

    By Bo Gu, NBC News

    Updated at 10:33 p.m. ET: China state media says city officials have apologized to Feng Jiamei and suspended three officials, the BBC reported.

    Xinhua news said the Ankang city government will urge the county government to review its family planning operations, according to the BBC report.

    BEIJING – Feng Jianmei  says she was manhandled by seven people, some of them local family planning officials, some of whom she didn’t know. 

    Feng, 22 years old and seven months pregnant, was dragged out of her relative’s home, carried and shoved into a van that headed straight to a hospital on June 2, she told NBC News in phone interview.

    She was blindfolded, thrown on a bed, and forced to sign a document that she couldn’t read with the blindfold still on her eyes. Then two shots were injected into her belly. Thirty hours later, on the morning June 4, she gave birth to a dead baby girl.

    Feng is one of the many Chinese women who have been forced to have abortions under China’s strict one-child-only policy started in late 1970s to contain the country’s fast growing population, which has now topped 1.3 billion people.

    One-child policy
    China’s long time Communist leader Chairman Mao Zedong originally encouraged women to have as many children as possible during the Cold War-era when human power was believed to be an important force if war broke out. But the country’s rulers soon found it too difficult to feed the huge population – so they adopted a harsh policy that allows urban citizens to have only one child, and rural couples to have two, if the first child is a girl.  

    The policy has been carried out for more than three decades despite public opposition, from human rights activists to ordinary people. Thousands of years of Chinese culture fostered the belief that “more children is more blessing,” especially in remote and rural areas where the elderly lack adequate social benefits and depend on children as they grow old.

    Government family planning officials are also under pressure to make sure their constituencies follow the quota of babies allowed. When there’s no clear law telling them what they can and cannot do, forced abortions, often on late-terms pregnancies, have become the norm, particularly for the poor who are unable to pay the hefty fines to have additional children.   

    Advocates on behalf of these women are usually ignored or face government repression. For example, Chen Guangcheng, the famous blind lawyer and human rights activist, represented victims of family planning abuse in Shandong Province. Chen was jailed for four years for his advocacy and put under house arrest until he recently escaped illegal detainment and fled to the U.S. last month.

    More on Chen Guangcheng

    There are no official figures of how many women in China unwillingly terminate pregnancies every year. “All Girls Allowed,” an organized founded by former 1989 student protest leader Chai Ling, claims there are 1.3 million forced abortions annually. 

    ‘How can I agree to do that, as a mother?’
    Feng Jianmei didn’t realize she wasn’t allowed to have a second child (her first daughter was born in 2007) since everyone else around her was permitted to have a second child. Both she and her husband Deng Jiyuan took for granted that they would have the same right.  But the family planning office in Zengjiazhen, a small town in Shaanxi province in the heart of China, thought differently.  

    Through a rigorous and rigid household registration system designed to control population movement, the central government classifies all its citizens as either city dwellers or rural peasants.  The registration, also known in Chinese as hukou, determines not only a citizen’s residence but also what kind of social services individuals are eligible for.

    It is very difficult to change one’s hukou although there are many ways, including marrying a person with a different registration status, applying for a new status through one’s job, or paying an enormous sum of money. 

    The local family planning office decided that Feng wasn’t allowed to have a second child because she didn’t have the necessary permit – apparently she had failed to relocate her hukou to Zengjiazhen when she moved from her original province of Inner Mongolia.

    But the couple says they had no idea their plan to have a second child was connected with Feng’s hukou.

    They were given another option that would solve the problem: pay a fine of $6,400. But that was an impossible amount for the couple to afford – Deng is a migrant worker and Feng is a farmer. 

    “I told you, $6,400, not even a penny less. I told your dad that and he said he has no money,” the family planning official wrote to Deng in a text message that has been made public. “You were too careless, you didn’t think this was a big deal.”

    Feng’s sister received the same warning;  if they couldn’t afford to help pay the fine, it was only a matter of time before her sister had to get rid of the baby, whether she wanted to or not.

    Things came to a head on June 2, but according to the local government, Feng agreed to the abortion.

    The Zhenping Population and Family Planning Bureau released on June 11 an official stamped document, which says  that “after government cadre’s repeated persuasion, Feng Jianmei agreed to have an abortion at 15:40 on June 2.” 

    “No, I didn’t agree to do it,” Feng told NBC News. “How can I agree to do that, as a mother?”

    She sobbed when asked what happened next, and said she was too upset to think about it. She said all those officials who kidnapped her disappeared after the abortion, and she’s still suffering from a constant headache.

    Two appalling photos of her were taken and posted online that show her lying in bed, looking weak and helpless, with a dead and bloody baby next to her. The photos were taken by her sister who in turn contacted the media about the story. The photos originally appeared in a local newspaper report online and then they were picked by netizens and distributed online.

    ‘If this evil policy is not stopped, this country will have no humanity’
    Forced abortions in China are not new, but Feng’s story spread rapidly via social media, and outrage was immediate and unanimous. On Weibo, China’s Twitter-like microblogging site, netizens left thousands of angry comments, although many of the posts were quickly deleted by government censors.   

    “The purpose of family planning was to control population, but now it has become murder population,” wrote Li Chengpeng, a well-known Chinese writer. “It was a method to contain population, but now it is a way to make money. When you can make money by killing, what else are you afraid to do? A seven-month baby can think already. I want to ask the murderer, how do you face your own mother when you go home? If this evil policy is not stopped, this country will have no humanity.”

    Zhao Chu, another writer, called it pure murder. “This is not about enforcing the policy, it is about depriving someone’s right to live. We avoid the nature of it by using a medical word ‘enforced abortion.’ For so long family planning seems like something completely irrelevant of human life. It’s like coal mining or digging mushrooms. Human life has become lifeless indexes, some cold, meaningless numbers.

    “Also, pushed by heavy fines, the controversial policy has become profit-oriented activities that everyone hates. The worst victims are those of low-class rural people who have no power to fight. Their tears and cries are not heard by so called mainstream society and the victims become worse than the untouchables,” said Zhao.

    Many called for the one-child policy to be outlawed. “We feel so sorry for the dead baby girl, we criticize those so-called law enforcers. But we should rethink the 30-year-long family planning policy. It’d be worth it if this could help to change the policy! We keep our eyes open!” commented user A-Kun on his Weibo page.

    Even Hu Xijin, chief editor of Global Times, one of China’s most pro-government newspapers, criticized the forced abortion on his Weibo account.

    “I strongly oppose the barbarous forced abortion to this 7-month-pregnant mother. Time has changed and the intensity of enforcing family planning has changed. We should promote civilized family planning,” Hu wrote.

    But he added that he didn’t think the whole policy should be abolished. “Don’t use Hong Kong and Japan as an argument to deny China’s population policy. Those places are small and developed early, fed by the whole world’s resources. But the world resources cannot afford to feed a China with billions of people.”

    ‘This has damaged the image of family planning work’
    NBC News tried to contact both town and city level family planning offices in Zengjiazhen and Ankang, but the calls went unanswered.  

    A report from Xinhua, China’s official government news agency, released on Thursday said that the Shaanxi Provincial Family Planning Committee has sent an investigation team to Zengjiazhen and requested local government to have the responsible parties held accountable.


    “This has damaged the image of family planning work, and had an adverse effect on the society. The committee will resolutely prevent such things from happening again,” the Xinhua news report said.

    Feng’s conversation with NBC News was interrupted three times by what she said were government cadres entering her hospital ward to talk.

    When asked what she would do next or whether they will seek legal help, she uttered an answer in a very low voice: “I have no idea.” 

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  • With before-death notes, China activists attempt to preempt being 'suicided'

    Tyrone Siu / Reuters

    Thousands of protesters hold banners as they march along a street, to protest and urge the Chinese authorities to carry out a proper investigation into the death of dissident Li Wangyang, in Hong Kong on June 10.

    By Bo Gu, NBC News

    BEIJING – “I will not commit suicide” has become a new mantra among China’s human rights activists. 

    They are responding half-mockingly and half-seriously to fears that they could be “suicided” by the Chinese government for their activism.

    The movement comes in response to the suspicious death of Li Wangyang, a Chinese dissident jailed after the 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protesters. Li, 61, was found dead in a hospital ward on June 6 under what his family says were suspicious circumstances, just two days after the 23rd anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown. He had served over 20 years in Chinese prison for his activism.  

    Hu Jia, a high-profile HIV/AIDS activist who served three and a half years in prison for the same crime Li was jailed for, “subversion of state power,” recently tweeted about the need to counter any foul play by the government.

    Tiananmen activist found dead under suspicious circumstances

    “It looks like I should leave a notarized document with my lawyer, saying: ‘Citizen Hu Jia will never commit suicide at any time, because of anyone, in any situation, or for anything,’” Hu tweeted. “If you are a dissident, activist or political prisoner constantly detained by secret police, I suggest you make a declaration or notarize such a document. This country does not lack people who were “suicided.’”

    Wu Gan, another outspoken dissident known by the nickname “super vulgar butcher” on China’s blogosphere, also tried to pre-empt any future suicide claims by the government for his activism. “Here’s my announcement,” he wrote on Weibo, China’s most popular Twitter-like service. “I’m healthy (apart from fatty liver disease), optimistic, and have a lot of hope in the future. I wait for the day when the sky clears up and they are brought to justice. I will absolutely never commit suicide.” 

    The movement didn’t take long to reach Twitter, where a "#Iwillnotcommitsuicide” hash tag was created on June 8, just two days after Li’s mysterious death, and has been widely re-tweeted over the last three days.  

    Philippe Lopez / AFP - Getty Images

    People take part in a protest for the cause of late Chinese dissident Li Wangyang in Hong Kong on June 10.

    Another activist, Liu Ping, from the southern province of Jiangxi, wrote on her Weibo account:  “I solemnly declare, if I’m caught (by police) I will never commit suicide!” 

    Wang Lihong, a former Beijing businesswoman, jailed for eight months for her activism, expanded on the theme on her Twitter account. “I, Wang Lihong, once tried to kill myself in prison. It wasn’t because I was weak. I was only defending my dignity. But I will never do that again, no matter how you lure, ask, or even force – I will not commit suicide, unless you do it.” 

    Li’s body was found in the Daxiang District Hospital in Shaoyang, Hunan Province, where he was receiving treatment for long-term ailments related to the more than 20 years he spent in prison. He had been released on May 5, 2011. 

    But he may have grown too confident in his new-found freedom. On June 4, the 23rd anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown,  i-CABLE, a Hong Kong based news channel, broadcast an interview with Li in which he was extremely outspoken in his description of his torture during his time in prison.  

    Two days after the interview, he was found dead in his hospital room.

    According to the local government in Shaoyang, Li’s body was cremated on the morning of June 9 with his relatives’ consent. They also said an autopsy was conducted by four legal and forensic experts the day before, which was witnessed and filmed by local congressional representatives and journalists.  

    NBC News could not verify the reports with Li’s sister or her husband because their cell phones remained off on Monday.  


  • China summit seen as counterpunch to US moves

    Pool / Reuters

    Chinese President Hu Jintao greets Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Thursday.

    By Eric Baculinao, NBC News Beijing Bureau Chief

    BEIJING – Will an international summit hosted by China that includes major “movers and shakers” in Asia, including Iran, Russia, India and Afghanistan, lead to an eastern version of NATO? 

    “Absolutely not,” Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Cheng Guoping told NBC News. 

    Cheng was speaking at a media event as some 16 heads of state and top officials, representing more than half of the world’s population, have gathered as members, observers and dialogue partners of the innocuous-sounding Shanghai Cooperation Organization, an economic and anti-terrorist security bloc initiated by China and Russia in 2001.

    The meeting comes as China’s rising profile has raised questions about a possible power struggle between the U.S. and Beijing, with the recent Asia tour of U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta highlighting America’s effort to strengthen military alliances and partnerships in the region.

    And as a sign of efforts to dilute U.S. influence, the summit granted observer status to Afghanistan on Thursday, a move should position China and the bloc to cultivate ties and play a greater role in the impoverished war-torn country even before NATO ends its military mission by 2014.

    Already, Chinese firms have moved into Afghanistan, with designs on the country’s untapped trillion-dollar mineral and energy resources. 

    Granting observer status and inviting Afghan President Hamid Karzai will help to strengthen “political, economic and civilian cooperation between the SCO states and Afghanistan,” said Cheng at the media event. 

    Pool / Reuters

    Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit leaders and observers gather for a family photo, (from left to right)India's External Affairs Minister SM Krishna, President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, Mongolia President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj, Uzbekistan's President Islam Karimov, Kyrgyzstan President Almazbek Sharshenovich Atambayev, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Hu Jintao, Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Tajikistan's President Emomali Rakhmon, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing June 7, 2012.

    “No military alliance” but…
    When NBC News asked Cheng if the Shanghai Cooperation Organization would become an “eastern NATO” or a military alliance in the future, he very firmly downplayed the possibility.

    “The main purpose is politics, economics and security and under no circumstances will the SCO become a military organization,” he said.. 

    “But I personally think that, as the international environment becomes more complex, the SCO should enhance its cooperation with the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), for the sake of peace and stability in Central Asia,” he added. 

    It’s extremely rare for Chinese senior diplomats to offer their personal views to foreign media, and Cheng’s pronouncements may be China’s trial-balloon for new security thinking. 

    The Collective Security Treaty Organization, of which China is not a member, is a defense alliance formed in 1992 by Russia and former Soviet Republics, which Russia has been trying to reinvigorate in recent years, with stronger military contingents to counter the “eastward expansion of NATO,” among other threats. 

    By using the Shanghai Cooperation Organization as a vehicle to coordinate closely with the Collective Security Treaty Organization, China may be hoping to benefit from stronger military ties with Russia, while avoiding the pitfalls of a formal military alignment. 

    Alexey Druzhinin / AFP - Getty Images

    Russia's President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Hu Jintao shake hands before a meeting at a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Beijing, on Thursday.

    “It is my personal view,” Vice-Minister Cheng emphasized to NBC News, “but I will try to push for it."

    “The peace and stability of Central Asia is related to China’s core interests, we will not allow the unrest in West Asia and North Africa to spread to Central Asia,” he said, referring to the threat of Arab-style upheavals.

    Tiananmen activist found dead under suspicious circumstances

    “America should not worry”
    “I don’t think America should worry about China’s Central Asia strategy,” said Professor Shi Yinhong, a leading international affairs expert at Renmin University, one of China’s top research institutions. 

    “There is no possibility for SCO to become a formal military alliance like NATO, but there can be greater security cooperation among SCO’s member-countries,” he told NBC News. 

    Nonetheless, Shi conceded there are “some elements" of counter-balancing strategy in China’s latest moves.   

    “China has neither the stomach nor the power to confront America’s strategic advantage in East Asia, but China has the capability to improve cooperation in Central Asia,” he said. 

    “China’s difficulty in East Asia is a motivation for China to do good diplomacy in Central Asia, otherwise things will become very difficult for China,” he explained. 

    Researcher Horace Lu contributed to this report.


  • Tiananmen activist found dead under suspicious circumstances

    Courtesy Of Li Wangling / Courtesy of Li Wangling

    A recent photo of Li Wangyang, a former labor activist and Chinese dissident, with his sister Li Wangling. He who was found dead under suspicious circumstances on June 6, two days after the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown and an outspoken interview he did with a Hong King based TV-network aired.

    By Bo Gu, NBC News

    BEIJING – Li Wangyang, a former labor activist and Chinese dissident jailed after the 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Beijing, was found dead in a hospital ward under what his family says were suspicious circumstances, just two days after the 23rd anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown. 

    His sister, Li Wangling, and brother-in-law, Zhao Baozhu, found his body when they paid a routine visit to the Daxiang District Hospital in Shaoyang, a city roughly 1,000 miles south of Beijing, on the morning of June 6.

    They found him dead in his hospital room, hanging by a security bar in a window with hospital bandages around his neck. (Disturbing photos of Li circulating on Weibo, China’s version of Twitter, show Li’s feet on the ground, something that puts in doubt the idea that he hung himself).  

    Security and hospital authorities said that he had committed suicide.  

    But his family is not buying that. 

    "I'd never believe Li killed himself,” his brother-in-law Zhao said during a rushed phone interview with NBC News on Thursday. 


    When asked what he thought was the true cause of Li’s death, Zhao said, "I don't know.  But the government has agreed to our request to do an autopsy at a lawyer's presence. No matter what, we want justice." 

     

    Li had done a controversial interview with a Hong Kong-based TV channel that aired on June 4, the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests, in which he detailed the torture he underwent during the more than 20 years he spent in Chinese prisons.When Zhao was asked if he thought that interview had something to do with Li’s death, he said, “Yes.”

    Zhao then quickly hung up the phone, saying someone had entered his hotel room, "It's not convenient now, let's talk later." 

    Over 20 years in prison
    Li, 61, had worked as a glass factory worker before he took the position of Chairman of Shaoyang Autonomous Workers Federation in 1989. He was a supporter of the student protests in Beijing in 1989 before they were brutally suppressed by the government with hundreds, if not thousands, of people killed by the army. 

    Li was first arrested on June 9, 1989 for the crime of "active participation in a counter-revolutionary group.” He spent 11 years in a local prison. 

    Vincent Yu / AP

    Protesters mourn the death of Chinese labor activist Li Wangyang, seen in picture at center, during a protest outside the Chinese central government's liaison office, in Hong Kong on Thursday.

    When Li was released from that prison term in 2000, he was suffering from severe heart disease, hyperthyroidism, and cervical vertebra diseases, according to family and friends. He was extremely weak and lost most of his hearing and sight in his left eye.

    His second arrest, just one year later, made him one of the longest-serving political prisoners in China. 

    In September 2001, Li was sentenced to 10 more years in prison for the crime of "subversion of state power.” That sentence was a result of a 22-day hunger strike by Li as an effort to protest the continuous persecution he had been subjected to after his release. His medical treatment was terminated and his house had been demolished, leaving him in frail health with nowhere to go, according to media reports.

    After he went back to prison, his sister, Li Wangling, was put in a forced labor camp for three years for accepting interviews with the Voice of America and Radio Free Asia. 

    Li was finally released from that prison sentence on May 5, 2011. Huang Lihong, a local teacher and Li’s friend, told NBC News that Li’s health was greatly damaged at the time. 

    "He had lost his sight and hearing. He couldn’t walk, and suffered from diabetes and heart disease, due to longtime torture. His muscles contracted and he was in bed all the time,” said Huang.

    However, Huang believed Li had been doing better in the past 12 months. "His health was improving and he remained hopeful. He was happy when we told him we believed the 1989 movement would be redressed soon." 

    Too outspoken: ‘I’m not afraid of death’
    But Li may have been too confident that past wrongs would be righted soon. In an interview on June 4, the 23rd anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown, with i-CABLE, a Hong Kong based news channel, Li was extremely outspoken in his description of his torture during his various prison terms. 

    "The prison had their own tailored handcuffs, smaller than your wrists,” Li explained. “They used pliers to handcuff me, and that was almost like clamping my wrist bones with pliers. When they did that I almost lost consciousness and couldn’t see anymore." 

    In the two-minute-long video interview, Li, who appeared physically deteriorated, said he didn’t regret what he did. "Every man has a share of responsibility for the fate of his country. I’m not afraid of death, if that would fasten China’s process to enter a multi-party and democratic society." 

    When asked about the candle vigil on the night of the anniversary in Hong Kong, Li said, "I hope Hong Kong’s memorial will spread all over China," with his arm waving firmly in the air and a very thick Hunan accent, "I hope it’s remembered by all Chinese people." 

    Two days after the interview he was found dead in his hospital room. 

    ‘Everything seemed fine’ two days before
    Another longtime friend of Li’s also expressed disbelief that he would ever take his own life. 

    "Everything seemed fine when I visited him on June 4," Zhu Chengzhi, a long-term activist and former school mate of Li’s, told NBC News in a phone interview Thursday. 

    "We talked about many things, like Syria deporting foreign ambassadors. He was in a good mood, and seemed to be more open minded since last May,” said Zhu. “As a close friend, I don’t believe he would commit suicide." 

    Zhu also said in another interview that just one day before his death, Li asked his sister to buy him a radio so he could listen to the news.

    Zhou Zhirong, a local leader of China’s legal, but powerless, "Democratic Party", is organizing a "committee of investigation into the death of Li Wangyang," under the risk of being arrested himself for doing so. 


    "I have no evidence whether [Li] was killed, but I think the long term persecution by the authorities led to Li’s death," said Zhou in a phone interview with NBC News Thursday. "Li Wangyang is Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela in China. I don’t believe our investigation will come to any fruition, but it will wake up the citizens and make them fight for their rights." 

    NBC News calls to Shaoyang and Longhui police for comment on Li’s death went unanswered.  

    As of Thursday afternoon 2,700 people, including prominent Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei, scholars, lawyers and writers, had signed an online petition to step up pressure on China to investigate Li’s death, according to Reuters.  

    Horace Lu contributed to this report.

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  • China censorship: Shares fall 64.89 points on June 4, 1989 protest anniversary

    Bobby Yip / Reuters

    People take part in a candlelight vigil at Hong Kong's Victoria Park on Monday to commemorate those who died during the military crackdown of the pro-democracy movement at Beijing's Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989.

    By Ed Flanagan, NBC News

    BEIJING – Government controls many aspects of life in China, but for today at least the invisible hand of market forces proved too strong even for the country’s ruling Communist Party.

    In an apparent coincidence, Shanghai’s local stock market, the Shanghai Composite Index, opened trading this morning at 2346.98 points. Read backwards, it looks like the date, June 4, 1989 – this day 23 years ago when the Communists brutally cracked down on pro-democracy activists in Tiananmen Square and elsewhere in the capital.

    Even more bizarre? By the end of trading in the afternoon, the market had lost 64.89 points.

    PhotoBlog: Thousands remember Tiananmen Square crackdown

    The significance of the numbers might have passed without comment had authorities not tried to censor discussion of the anniversary by preventing users on Weibo - China’s equivalent of Twitter – from posting terms such as “six four,” “candle” and “never forget.” With users abuzz over the Shanghai Composite Index numbers, censors had to widen the list of banned terms to include the Chinese word for ‘Index’.

    Hundreds of students and other civilians are estimated to have been killed in 1989 as People’s Liberation Army soldiers entered the capital to clear the streets of protesters. The topic of the crackdown is taboo in this country and little discussed aside from sanitized official accounts in textbooks that call the event a “political disturbance.”  

    Security around Tiananmen Square is typically boosted before the anniversary and censors work to keep discussion to a minimum. 

    June 4, 1989: NBC News reports as Chinese soldiers crush demonstrations.

    State Department deputy spokesman, Mark Toner, issued a statement on Sunday urging the Chinese government to "release all those still serving sentences for their participation in the demonstrations; to provide a full public accounting of those killed, detained or missing; and to end the continued harassment of demonstration participants and their families."

    In response, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Liu Weimin, called U.S. statements on the June 4th incident a “crude meddling in domestic Chinese affairs.”

    More world news from msnbc.com and NBC News:

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  • Regaining moral high ground? Google tells Chinese when they're being censored

    By Ed Flanagan, NBC News

    BEIJING – Google has started telling users in China when web searches contain keywords that could be tracked by the country's keen-eyed censors, one of the company's top officials announced.

    “Starting today we’ll notify users in mainland China when they enter a keyword that may cause connection issues,” Alan Eustace, a Senior Vice President for Google, wrote on the company's Inside Search blog on Thursday.  “By prompting people to revise their queries, we hope to reduce these disruptions and improve our user experience from mainland China.”

    As the video on Eustace's blog shows (see below), triggering connectivity issues on Google.com.hk can be as easy as searching for one of the country’s greatest natural landmarks: The Yangtze River.

    Presumably in this case, "Jiang" the Chinese character for river, is a sensitive term because it is also the last name of former Chinese President Jiang Zemin. The 85-year-old, who is thought to still be politically connected, is the focus of constant erroneous rumors and reports about his death.

    Consequently, if you are looking for "Chang Jiang," the popular name of the Yangtze River here in China, you could run afoul of sensors looking to block rumors of the former leader's death and have your connection to Google temporarily terminated.

    Online coup rumors spark China crackdown on social media websites

    The video on Eustace's blog shows how it took about 90 seconds after each sensitive search for the connection to be re-established on several Internet browsers and devices.

    This graphic shows the message that will appear when users try to search for these restricted words:

    Google

    Google’s move will ostensibly allow users on the mainland to see when their searches are being censored and understand why the service is disrupted. Other Google products, such as Google Mail and Documents, often fail to load and frequently require refreshing or an enabled virtual private network (VPN) to access freely.

    However, since Google’s high profile “pullout” of its search engine from China in 2010, Google’s share of the search market here in China has shrunk from 30 percent in 2009 to 16.6 percent in 2012, according to Beijing-based research firm Analysys International.

    Much of that share has been ceded to its Chinese rival, Baidu, which now dominates the arena with 78.5 percent of the search market. Even Google Maps, which was the most popular online mapping service on the mainland for some time, recently lost the top spot  to a competitor.

    One tweet, 10,000 followers: Dissident artist Ai Weiwei slips, briefly, through China censor

    Those dwindling mainland users who have undoubtedly already encountered search restrictions and disconnection issues before, but continue to rely on Google, will probably not benefit too much from the company's new measures. After all, many of the users who suffered through 90-second connection resets in the past have already turned to other ways to bypass the restrictions.

    What this move will do, though, is help Google regain the moral high ground internationally by reclaiming “Don’t be Evil,” it's informal corporate motto. Google has long fought for a more open Internet around the world, and even created “Transparency Report,” which looks closely at net freedom issues.

    Read more news from Behind the Wall

    However, privacy issues in the United States and a European Union warning to Google to review its recently revamped privacy policies have haunted the Silicon Valley giant, forcing its data mining practices to the forefront.

    Google’s new service may help some mainland Chinese users better understand how Beijing restricts its netizens from accessing certain material, but for the message to be really effective, Google first needs to get people to use its service again. 

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