China’s reform and China’s rise have simultaneously been plunged into the deep end. These are two separate zones, not just one. They both are impacting the future of the Chinese people. We cannot attend to just one; both must be taken into account. China is groping for stones in the midst of the great river of human history. China was pushed into this river. There is no escape route from reform, nor is there an escape route from ascendance. The only way out is to move towards the other shore.

“Retweeted” 577 times and left with 487 comments as of May 14 (a few retweets have since disappeared), Hu’s post has its supporters and detractors. But as often happens on his Weibo, the detractors here are more vocal. Deng Bolun has translated select comments. Read the original post and all of the comments on Weibo.

PinchHim: What does “rise” mean? Is it the ability to face off with the U.S. military? Based on this standard, the 200-some small- and medium-sized countries never have and will never rise. They’ll never cross the river, will they? China’s rise won’t be marked by a military rise, but the rise of human rights. If there is no rise of human rights, China won’t withstand a single blow in a military face-off.
把掐他：“崛起”是什么意思？ 有能力与美国军事对峙才叫崛起？按照这个标准，世界上二百多个中小国家，从来没有，也不可能崛起，它们是不是永远过不了河了？中国的崛起，标志不是军事崛起，而是人权的崛起。没有人权的崛起，中国在任何军事对抗中都将是不堪一击的。

FutureOfFutureOfFreedom: The officials aren’t even willing to publicly announce their personal wealth. What’s the use of reform!
自由未来的未来：官员连个人财产都不敢公布，改革有嘛用！

SillyLittleWeasel: Groan. Editor Hu wants to outline an even scarier future for those of us who can’t afford to see a doctor or buy a house. He tells us, “You’re all very happy now.”
傻瓜阿狸：哼哼，胡编想给看不起病，买不起房的我们勾画一个更可怕的未来。告诉我们，你们现在很幸福。

DesertPoplarHy: What is the opposite shore like? Like North Korea or Taiwan?
沙漠胡杨hy：对岸是什么样的。是朝鲜还是台湾？

SunJianguoOk: Where is the opposite shore? What’s there? Does it have the human rights, freedom and constitutional democracy that other earthlings enjoy? Solid policy comes from deliberation; a country’s nature and fundamental structure are very important. Ours needs to be reconstructed. A foundation must be lain for long-term development. The one-party system is definitely not going to work. Peaceful, rational and good-intentioned competition must be allowed! Oppose civil war, palace coups, brutal in-fighting and disgusting internal conflict! China will go toward a civilized rebirth! With freedom lighting the way!
孙 建国ok：对岸在哪儿？对岸有什么？有地球人都有的人权，自由，宪政民主吗？具体的政策出于商讨，国家的性质与基本架构很重要，需要建立重构，以为未来长 远发展奠定基础。一党制肯定不行了，要允许和平理性善意的竞争！反对内战，宫廷政变，残酷内斗，恶性内讧！中国走向文明新生！自由照亮前路！

JiaoChengJun: I completely disagree with the notion that Chinese reform has gone into the “deep end.” The concept is vague, it confuses everyone. Just say it. Should China Westernize? Should it have a separation of powers? Should multiple parties rotate through power? Why are you so talkative?! You should just ask the people.
焦成君：非常不同意中国改革进入到什么‘深水区’的提法。概念模糊、让百姓糊涂。就直说吧，中国要不要全面西化、要不要三权分立、要不要多党轮替不就完了吗还啰嗦个啥！下面就该问问百姓吧。

UnmatchedHunger: Mr. Hu’s ass-kissing garbage talk. Two deep ends? Reform and rise don’t happen simultaneously? So-called logic and complexity are just fig leaves to coverall you  lackeys! Grope your mom’s stones and cross the river, there’s obviously a bridge!
盖世太饿：胡氏舔菊废话体。两个深水区？改革和崛起没有交集？所谓理性、复杂都你们这些狗奴才的遮羞布！摸你妈的石头过河，桥明明就在那！

MaoMaoLovesFreedom2010: The masses crossed the river long ago. It’s just you and your master that still pretend to be holding on to the river stones as a matter of life and death!
毛毛爱自由2010：人民群众早就过河了，就你和你主子还假装摸着石头死活不放手呢！

YuZhengzhi: The only way out is for the Chinese Communist Party to pocket its pride and stop making empty calls for “serving the people.” Instead it should accept accountability to the people by realizing competitive elections for People’s Congress representatives, then gradually establishing a civil society of freedom, democracy and rule of law.
余正之：唯一的出路就是中国共产党放下架子，不是空喊“为人民服务”这样的假话，而是接受人民的监督，先推进实现人大代表公开全民竞争选举，逐步建立自由、民主、法治的公民社会。

DukeOfHarmony: Sh*t, ten years into reform we were told we’re in the river, 20 years later we were told we’re still in the river, and 30 years on we’re still told we’re in the river. It’s getting deeper and deeper! If we keep going, won’t the entire population be “reformed” into the sea? How come we never make it to shore?
大公大同：靠，10年了告诉我们在河里，20年了告诉我们还在河里，30年了告诉我们仍然在河里，还越来越深！继续下去，是不是把全国人民“改革”进大海里啊？怎么老是上不了岸？

GraceLHY: Editor Hu’s style is my favorite. Every character is a Chinese character. Each sentence is disconnected from the next. He wrote 140 characters but said absolutely nothing. None of it resembles the Chinese language~
雍容LHY：胡总这种风格我最喜欢了，每个字都是汉字，每一句都和另一句没关系，写了140字还是啥都没说，全不像汉语~

Pekinggdq: The problem is you’ll never reach the other shore.
pekinggdq：问题是你永远到不了对岸.

© Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Deng Bolun, Global Times, Hu xijin, sina weibo, weibo
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I’m taking my Godfather into battle!

Hot Topics:

• BJDaily (BJ日报): Beijing Daily
• Show-Off Girl (炫富女), Ma Lihong (马力宏): Weibo user Yang Zilu (@杨紫璐) wrote that her godfather chartered a plane for 8.88 million yuan for himself and Yang to see the London Olympics, posting snazzy photos as well. Some netizens think the “Lihong” Yang mentions is not the pop star Wang Lihong, but instead Zhejiang Province Communist Party Party Provost Ma Lihong.
• Ma Chi + Ferrari + Singapore (马驰+法拉利+新加坡): Reportedly, Ma Chi is the wealthy Sichuan man who died while driving recklessly in Singapore.
• Liu Mingze (刘明泽): Blogger Han Han sued Liu Mingze in January following allegations by Fang Zhouzi that Han Han’s writing is produced by ghostwriters. Liu is said to have sent information about the ghostwriters to Fang. But Han Han withdrew his case against Liu just one day after he had filed at the Shanghai Putuo District Court. Danwei details the Han Han v. Fang case.

Internet “Nicknames” for Security Chief Zhou Yongkang, an alleged backer of Bo Xilai:

• Zhouyong (周永)
• zyKang (zy康)
• zYongK (z永K)

Note: All Chinese-language words are tested using simplified characters. The same terms in traditional characters occasionally return different results.

CDT Chinese runs a project that crowd-sources filtered keywords on Sina Weibo search. CDT independently tests the keywords before posting them, but some searches later become accessible again. We welcome readers to contribute to this project so that we can include the most up-to-date information.

© Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Beijing Daily, Bo Xilai, Fang Zhouzi, Ferrari, filtered words, Han Han, sensitive words, sina weibo, Wang Lihong, weibo, Zhou Yongkang
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Monitoring Editor: 1) Handle various tasks related to information safety; 2) propose specific information safety-related requirements, oversee the implementation and analysis of data; 3) gather requirements for information safety editing, oversee implementation and guarantee implementation results. Job requirements: undergraduate degree or junior college plus three or more years of work experience; experience working as a monitoring editor. Resume.

…

Sina Weibo users largely mocked the ad on Monday. “Compensation: 50 Cents,” wrote one user, a reference to the amount of money government-hired online commentators are rumored to receive for every pro-government comment they post online.

“Monitoring experience a must, editing experience not necessary,” joked another.

Readers unsure if they’re cut out for the position can have a look at the comments below the job posting and see which ones jump out at them as in need of further monitoring.

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Post tags: Internet censorship, online public opinion, propaganda, sina weibo
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The speed with which China’s citizens have embraced all things digital is one sign that things are in motion in the country. But e-commerce, which has changed the balance of power between retailers and consumers, didn’t take off until the Chinese need for reassurance was satisfied. Even when transactions are arranged online, most purchases are completed in person, with shoppers examining the product and handing over their cash offline.

Chinese at all socioeconomic levels try to “win”—that is, climb the ladder of success—while working within the system, not against it. In Chinese consumer culture, there is a constant tension between self-protection and displaying status. This struggle explains the existence of two seemingly conflicting lines of development. On the one hand, we see stratospheric savings rates, extreme price sensitivity and aversion to credit-card interest payments. On the other, there is the Chinese fixation with luxury goods and a willingness to pay as much as 120% of one’s yearly income for a car.

Every day, the Chinese confront shredded social safety nets, a lack of institutions that protect individual wealth, contaminated food products and myriad other risks to home and health. The instinct of consumers to project status through material display is counterbalanced by conservative buying behavior. Protective benefits are the primary consideration for consumers. Even high-end paints must establish their lack of toxicity before touting the virtues of colorful self-expression. Safety is a big concern for all car buyers, at either end of the price spectrum.

Read more about advertising and consumerism in China via CDT.

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Post tags: advertising, consumerism, consumers, foreign companies
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If you are interested in participating in this project by submitting and/or translating terms, please contact the CDT editors at CDT [at] chinadigitaltimes [dot] net.

天朝 (tiān cháo): Celestial Empire

The Celestial Empire is an ancient name for China. Recently, netizens have used the term sarcastically to refer to China under the current government. Oftentimes the term is used to suggest that China’s leaders are self-important and have a China-centric view of the world.

网络用语，中国大陆网民对中华人民共和国的称呼，多见于与动漫相关的网站，使用时往往带有讽刺或称颂色彩。

Dragon, symbol of the Celestial Empire

Character combining the characters for “Celestial” and “Kingdom.”

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Post tags: GMH Lexicon, word of the week
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An editorial in the the paper today criticizes “commercial newspapers and magazines” in China — that would be the likes of Southern Metropolis Daily, Caixin Media, Shanghai’s Oriental Morning Post, etcetera — of being infected with a Western notions of journalism that they do not sufficiently understand.

The editorial argues further that the Western concepts of the media’s role do not suit China’s unique “circumstances”.

“Chinese media must sing the main theme,” the editorial said, a reference to the media’s role as propaganda vehicles for the CCP. “This is determined by China’s political system, and accords with the realities of China as a nation of 1.3 billion people. The fact is that for China to develop it must maintain social stability, and it must create a public opinion environment conducive to stability.”

CMP also pointed out that after the editorial was published, ironically, searches for “Beijing Daily” were blocked from Sina Weibo.

CMP now reports that the above editorial has inspired a lively debate in China about the purpose of the media. They translate a letter to Southern Metropolis Daily in which the author disagrees with the concept of media put forward by the Beijing Daily:

On the question of whether or not media reports on food safety have created a sense of fear and anxiety, we have recently had two media expressing different views on this issue. Beijing Daily says that quite a few report lately — on food safety, doctor-patient conflicts, construction quality, official corruption and other issues — have been built up by the media, giving the impression that all food in China is “poisonous”, the all buildings are “tofu architecture,” that all public officials are corrupt, and suggesting that social tensions are growing ever more severe and prospects for development are grim. “In fact,” the newspaper said, “this is just a mistaken impression created by various media.”

The Xinhua Daily Telegraph responded with an editorial called, “Expert Opinion Helps Calm ‘Food Panic’” (专业舆论有助于消除“吃的恐慌”). The editorial argued that “facing problems head on is the basis of resolving problems, and media reporting on food safety issues is a form of monitoring by public opinion and monitoring by society that should be encouraged” (New Express, May 19).

Naturally, the fact that such issues as food safety, doctor-patient conflict, construction quality and official corruption have become public opinion hotspots has to do with media reports. But if there were no media reports, would these problems be any less obvious or serious? No one lives in a vacuum, and the various problems we come upon were not created because of media reports. Sometimes, naively, I’m even of a mind to feed information to the media! Which is to say, I think there are far too few media reports on negative issues.

© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Beijing Daily, media conditions, press freedom
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Beyond the snark and the state media, a more earnest discussion has gathered force. Despite years of investment and official injunctions to advance Chinese technology, China has yet to produce a brand or original tech product with a fraction of the global influence of Facebook or Apple. Chen Yongdong, a Shanghai-based technology writer, adapted the title of a famous Chinese poem for an essay he called “Raising My Head to Look Up to Facebook; Lowering My Head to Think About Its Chinese Counterparts.” He wrote: “If you don’t have innovation, are you not going to be laughed at by the industry, and by the world?”

In all likelihood, China is approaching the end of its run as the world’s low-skilled workshop. There are fewer workers, and they are pursuing more income and skills; Vietnam and other neighbors are cheaper. The larger problem is existential: The nation that so often reminds the world that it invented printing, paper, gunpowder, and the compass is exceedingly uncomfortable about how far back it has to reach to name its world-beating inventions. China has excelled in several pockets of innovation (genomics and nanotechnology, for example) but those are the exception; Chinese technology is now best known for “process innovation”—reducing the cost of producing, say, low-end mobile phones for Huawei—and for the distinctly Chinese term, “re-innovation,” which involves making something simpler or cheaper than the original.

Even successful Chinese Internet companies, such as Tencent and Alibaba, are respected for their business achievements, not for their original insights. The obstacles are not a mystery: The government has failed to protect intellectual property or promote small- and medium-sized businesses with good ideas, to name a couple of factors.

Imagine, for a moment, the Chinese version of the Facebook story: A no-name undergrad in the Tsinghua University computer-science department gains notoriety for a high-profile prank that makes the university concerned about its digital security; instead of getting expelled, he starts a company, drops out, attracts prominent investors despite ignoring powerful players in the field, is invited to meet the President of the country, continues expanding, goes public, and makes billions. Impossible—for all kinds of reasons (a Chinese student who toys with a university network might not be enrolled by the end of the day), but the most vexing question may be, as an editorial in Nature once put it, “whether a truly vibrant scientific culture is possible without a more widespread societal commitment to free expression.”

The Wall Street Journal’s China Real Time Report, however, claims that China can still teach Facebook a thing or two:

With traffic quickly migrating from personal computers to mobile devices, all of the big Chinese Internet companies are pushing hard into mobile, but some with more success than others. Though Mark Zuckerberg is well aware of the mobile challenge, he might think about following in Tencent’s footsteps, and instead of working on a more streamlined Facebook app or some grander mobile operating system, make a new mobile product from scratch.

China’s largest internet conglomerate, Tencent, launched a new mobile chat service last year called Weixin.

On top of its mobile chat function, Weixin has integrated audio and photo sharing and other quirky features, one of which allows users to shake their phone and start up a conversation with strangers shaking their phone in the area. According to the Chinese media it’s also testing a new circles feature, that has the uncanny power to automatically categorize friends and contacts based on how a person knows them, and even throws in a few similar strangers for good measure.

…

As Kaifu Lee, former head of China for Google points out, what has set Weixin apart is it has left completely behind the “baggage” of being a PC product.

“Facebook’s client was not inventive from the get go for the mobile experience, [it was] just aiming for functional compatibility with desktop version. That may on the positive side it will be more friendly to the desktop client, but the downside is it’s not optimized for mobile,” he said.

See also speculation in Forbes on what impact Facebook’s IPO will have on China’s top social network, Renren.

© cdtstaff for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Facebook, innovation, IPO, renren, social media, social networking
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In his latest contribution to his series for CDT, cartoonist Crazy Crab of Hexie Farm celebrates the news that activist Chen Guangcheng is reportedly on a flight headed for the U.S. after his long saga involving a dangerous escape from de facto house arrest, refuge in the U.S. embassy, and then two weeks in a hospital in Beijing while his fate was decided. When Chen spoke with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton upon his departure from the embassy, it was reported that he told her, “I want to kiss you!” Later, Chen clarified that he had said, “I want to see you.”

Read more about Hexie Farm’s CDT series, including a Q&A with the anonymous cartoonist, and see all cartoons so far in the series. Hexie Farm also runs the Dark Glasses. Portrait website in support of Chen Guangcheng. More of his cartoons featuring Chen Guangcheng are part of a Foreign Policy Magazine slideshow. “9 Ways of Looking at Chen.”

[CDT owns the copyright for all cartoons in the Hexie Farm CDT series. Please do not reproduce without receiving prior permission from CDT.]

© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Chen Guangcheng, hexie farm
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Analysts say the longer Facebook takes to enter China, the harder it will become for the firm to crack the market.

“The point is that they have already missed out on it,” Michael Clendenin of Red Tech Advisors in Beijing tells the BBC.

“They will be naive to think that just because they are Facebook they will be able to come in and capture the market.”

China already has a thriving and fast-growing social networking market and the sector is controlled by domestic players.

Even the official China Daily is asking the question:

While Facebook faces concerns about the durability of its business model, which relies heavily on advertising, some analysts believe the social networking behemoth will seek to enter China, where its services are not yet available, to grow revenue.

In its original prospectus filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in February, China was mentioned nine times, clearing indicating “the country is under serious consideration as a new market for the social network”, said Jon Russell, Asia editor of NextWeb, a technology site.

“It’s very likely that Facebook’s goal is to expand very rapidly. It is looking at China because it’s the only field left open for them,” said Jeffrey Barlow, director of the Berglund Center for Internet Studies at Pacific University in Oregon.

While China Daily acknowledges that Facebook services “are not available” in China, it does not explain the reasons: The site has been blocked by the Great Firewall of China since 2009. As a result, in an infographic on Facebook use in Asia, China is missing.

© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Facebook, foreign IT companies, Great Firewall
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If you are interested in participating in this project by submitting and/or translating terms, please contact the CDT editors at CDT [at] chinadigitaltimes [dot] net.

法律不是挡箭牌 (fǎ lǜ bú shì dǎng jiàn pái): the law is not a shield

This statement was made by Jiang Yu, the Foreign Ministry Spokesman.

During China’s short lived attempt at following the “Jasmine Revolutions,” of the Middle East, foreign journalists attempting to cover the “revolution” were roughed up by police. At a press conference, journalists asked what law they had violated. The following are Jiang Yu’s comments (translated by Human Rights in China).

Question: Can you clearly tell us the specific clause of Chinese law that we have violated?

Answer: The violation is of relevant regulations regarding the need for an application when going places to interview people. Don’t use the law as a shield. The real problem is that there are people who want to see the world in chaos. They want to make trouble in China. For people with these kinds of motives, I think no law can protect them. I hope everyone will sensibly recognize this problem. If you truly are reporters, then you should behave in accordance with the journalists’ professional standards. While in China you should respect China’s laws and regulations. Looking at the past two situations, those journalists who were waiting for something to happen did not get the news they expected. If during those two days there were people who incited and instigated you to go somewhere for an illegal assembly, I suggest that you promptly report that to the police, in order to, one, protect Beijing’s law and order, and two, protect your own safety, rights, and benefits.

Jiang’s comments were extremely controversial, with many netizens wondering ““what good is the law if it doesn’t protect us?.” Perhaps the most notable response to Jiang Yu’s comments was an editorial in the Southern Weekend by Chen Youxi (陈有西). A partial translation of Chen’s comments are below, as translated by the China Media Project.

During the “Cultural Revolution” there was nothing left of the law, and this caused the entire nation to slide into civil strife. Injustice prevailed everywhere, and even the chairman of the republic [Liu Shaoqi] could not be protected. To a large extent it was in drawing lessons from this tragedy that our past 30 years of opening and reform have been not just 30 years of economic reform, but also 30 years of rapid development in building a legal system.

“The law should not be used as a shield” is perhaps just a momentary slip of the tongue, but it reveals the hidden thoughts of a number of officials, and it is worrisome. It gives people the impression that China’s legal system is little more than a slogan or an accessory, something that can be used when it suits the purpose. When the government requires the law, the law can serve as a set of mandatory rules the population must respect; when it seems the law restrains one’s hand, it can be set aside. It’s as though the law is one-directional, serving to check the population but not to check power. If the law comes to be used as a tool, then clearly it is seen as something without sacred importance and not deserving of reverence — just as something utilitarian.

More recently, cartoonist Crazy Crab of Hexie Farm used this phrase when depicting a Foreign Ministry press conference following the expulsion of Al Jazeera correspondent Melissa Chan from China.

© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: foreign journalists, Foreign Ministry, GMH Lexicon, word of the week
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