Enter Hu Xijin, Chief Editor of Global Times and a favorite punching bag of Weibo users. Hu weighed in on the Weibo spat between Zhang and Wang [zh] and the ensuing rage at his paper on the evening of May 28, calling out “big Vs” (popular Weibo users with verified accounts) for fanning the flames:

Click to enlarge.

@胡锡进: An evening chat. Muckraking posts that expose people’s secrets and posts that unfairly label people always get hot on Weibo. Wait and see, Weibo’s big Vs will prove themselves incorrigible. How many people are flawless? How many can withstand libelous public opinion? You speak ill of me, I’ll speak ill of you, and in the end there won’t be any decent people left on Weibo. A contribution to the dress-rehearsal in “democracy.”

夜话。揭人隐私的扒粪帖，给人扣帽子的棍子帖，都是微博上最容易火的。等着瞧吧，微博上的大v最后一个也好不了。有几个人能没一点毛病？有几个人能经得起舆论编排？你臭我，我臭你，最后的结果就是微博上没好人呵。就都算为“民主”彩排做贡献啦。

This post has disappeared from Hu’s account, but not this second snipe at his critics from May 29:

@胡锡进: This afternoon, @王文 [Wang Wen] returned to give a lecture at Global Times English after leaving the paper four months ago to establish @人大重阳 [Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, Remin University], where he has already enjoyed initial success. He spoke about the cumulative effect of eight years at Global Times, including the many scholars and friends he met and the contacts and experiences here that enabled him start his new project. His former colleagues gave him a round of applause. Finally, one person mentioned that on Weibo, many people curse us, and everyone laughed. [Source]

今天下午@王文 回环球时报英文版讲课，他4个月前离开了报社，主持@人大重阳 的创建，如今他已经有了最初的成就。他讲了环球时报8年对他人生的重要积累，包括他交了那么多学者朋友，这些人脉和经验助推了他的新事业。他的英文版前同 事们报以掌声，笑声。最后有人提到微博上有人骂我们，大家又笑了。

Commenters on this second weibo were hardly laughing:

@封新城: I’m a “small V” who can’t get popular, but I’m scared of this post.

咱也是一不入流的的小V，可还是给这个帖子吓着了。

@羊肉88串: Have a publicly televised debate, see who laughs and who cries. But this won’t be allowed, and everybody understands why.

来一场公开电视辩论，看谁哭谁笑。不过，这是不被允许的，大家都懂。

@就是要学习2012: Editor Hu, isn’t your performance evaluated according to how much people curse you online? The louder the scolding, the greater your contribution. You all use the weight behind your social status to cover up your present interests. Understandable.

胡主编，你的绩效考核是不是根据网上的骂声来做的。网上骂声越大，说明贡献越大。这也对，因为你们本来就是用身后名来换眼前利的吗！可以理解。

@蚂蚁爬上树: Finally, someone mentioned that on Weibo, many people curse us, and everyone wiped the spittle from their faces and laughed happily…

最后有人提到微博上有人骂我们，大家抹着满脸的唾沫星子，开心的笑了。。。

@风之杀小童鞋: Okay, so at Global Times English, you enjoy a higher degree of free speech than they do over at Nanfang.

嗯，在英文版享受比南方系还高的言论自由

@郑一红: This is what it means to have confidence in the path!

这就是道路自信！

A reference to the three confidences.

@西海的方向: If Editor Hu really paid no attention to the criticism of netizens, then he wouldn’t have given us this type of Ah Q response. You always pay a price when you sell your soul for money and status. Let’s hope that this Ah Q spirit can allow Editor Hu to forget the unease in his heart as he holds the frisbee in his mouth, allowing his spirit and mind some peace.

胡编如果真正不在意网络上的批评的话，就不会有这种阿Q式的回应。出卖灵魂换取金钱和地位总是要付出代价的，希望这种阿Q精神能让胡编忘记叼飞盘时的耻辱和夜深时内心深处的不安，让你的灵魂和精神得到安宁。

@冷月看江湖: When you squat at the main entrance, everyone smiles.

说到你蹲在大门口，大家都笑了。

Via CDT Chinese. Translation by Josh Rudolph.

© Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Global Times, Hu xijin, Netizen Voices, state media, weibo
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Click any image to launch gallery view.

© Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Dai Xu, Drawing the News, Hu xijin, political cartoons, political humor
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The authorities in Pyongyang said scientists had set off a “miniaturised” nuclear device with a greater explosive force than those used in two previous nuclear tests, in 2006 and 2009.

“It was confirmed that the nuclear test that was carried out at a high level in a safe and perfect manner using a miniaturised and lighter nuclear device with greater explosive force than previously did not pose any negative impact on the surrounding ecological environment,” KCNA, the North’s official news agency, announced.

The agency said the test had been in response to “outrageous” US hostility that “violently” undermined the regime’s right to peacefully launch satellites – a reference to the condemnation and tighter sanctions that greeted Pyongyang’s successful rocket launch almost two months ago.

For the latest updates, see liveblogs at NKNews.org and Reuters.

After some initial confusion, China’s Foreign Ministry expressed “resolute” opposition to the test (Chinese), which has placed Beijing in an awkward position. From Jane Perlez at The New York Times:

The nuclear test by North Korea on Tuesday, in defiance of warnings by China, leaves the new Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, with a choice: Does he upset North Korea just a bit by agreeing to stepped up United Nations sanctions, or does he rattle the regime by pulling the plug on infusions of Chinese oil and investments that keep North Korea afloat?

[…] The Obama administration excoriated Mr. Hu [Jintao] after North Korea’s second nuclear test in 2009, accusing him of “willful blindness” to the country’s actions.

“With Hu out of the picture the administration is intent on determining whether Xi Jinping will prove more attentive to U.S. security concerns,” Jonathan D. Pollack, director of the John L. Thornton China Center at the Brookings Institution said. “How Xi chooses to respond will be an important early signal of his foreign policy priorities and whether he is ready to cooperate much more openly and fully with Washington and Seoul than his predecessor.”

China’s patience with its wayward satellite had already been wearing thin: an editorial in the state-run Global Times early this month urged that North Korea “must pay a heavy price” for a third nuclear test. From Christopher Bodeen at The Associated Press:

“Perhaps Kim Jong Un thinks Xi Jinping will indulge him. Perhaps he’s in for a surprise,” said Richard Bush, Director of the Center for Northeast Asian Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution in Washington D.C.

[…] “At the start, China gave him a warm welcome and, I think, some aid. But we got no gratitude. They take us for granted,” said Jin Canrong, an international affairs expert at Renmin University in Beijing. “China tried to get closer to him, but it was not successful. China has become very disappointed.”

Yet Beijing also sees Pyongyang as a crucial buffer against U.S. troops based in South Korea and Japan. It also deeply fears a regime collapse could send swarms of refugees across its border. For those reasons, Beijing is unlikely to cut Pyongyang adrift, even if it pushes North Korea harder to end its nuclear provocations and reform its broken-down economy.

The New York Time’s Perlez had also examined the debate prior to the test:

For all the concern in some quarters about North Korea’s wayward behavior, that dread of losing a buffer still prevails among China’s most influential policy makers, particularly in the military, according to Jia Qingguo, a professor at Beijing University’s School of International Studies who is a proponent of a new policy toward North Korea.

“It’s better than before, but it is still difficult to overcome” the mind-set, he said. “A lot of people are taking the very old-fashioned belief that North Korea is a strategic buffer, and they still believe American invaders would march over North Korea to come to China.”

[…] Despite the strains, many analysts are convinced that China remains a firm ally of North Korea. China was only blowing off steam by allowing news media criticism of Pyongyang, said Stephanie Kleine-Ahlbrandt, North East Asia director and China adviser for the International Crisis Group in Beijing.

“The traditionalists in the People’s Liberation Army and the International Liaison Department of the Communist Party control foreign policy [on North Korea],” she said. “The political relationship between China and North Korea right now is at a low point, but China’s longstanding priorities on the Korean Peninsula of no war, no instability and no nukes remain in that order of priority.”

Tuesday’s detonation may force China’s hand. Global Times’ Wang Zhang and Hao Zhou reported on February 5th that Beijing had been “diplomatically cornered” by the threat of the test:

[… A] South Korean embassy official told the Global Times that Seoul is well aware that North Korea rarely listens to Beijing’s advice. What South Korea expects is just pressure from China in line with the other participants of the Six-Party Talks to deliver a clear message before it attempts an audacious and defiant third nuclear test, the official said.

“This is a grave test of China’s diplomacy,” said Zhang Liangui, a professor on Korean Peninsula issues at the Party School of the Communist Party of China Central Committee.

If China fails to persuade North Korea to give up its plan for a fresh nuclear test or fails to deliver immediate and severe sanctions that could substantially hit North Korea after the test, China will forever lose the chance to play a dominant role on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue and all the previous efforts to realize the denuclearization of the peninsula will have been in vain, Zhang said.

But the diplomatic mushroom cloud may have a silver lining. From The Economist, on February 2nd:

Now, more than ever, China might want to seem a contributor to regional peace. Its belligerence over the disputed Senkaku or Diaoyu islands has brought relations with Japan to their worst level since 1945, with China now considering Japan’s proposal for a summit between its prime minister, Shinzo Abe, and the Communist Party leader, Xi Jinping. China’s assertion of territorial claims in the South China Sea has soured relations there, too. The Philippines has been provoked into asking a UN tribunal to rule on whether part of China’s claim has a legal basis.

On both those issues China will find it hard to offer concessions. This week Mr Xi growled that “no country should presume that we will engage in trade involving our core interests or that we will swallow the ‘bitter fruit’ of harming our sovereignty, security or development.”

North Korea offers a chance for China to seem flexible without jeopardising any “core interests” and, indeed, to enhance its own security at the same time. The new treatment of North Korea could also strengthen China’s relations with South Korea, which were damaged by the failure to join the widespread international condemnation of the North for attacks on the South in 2010. And it would offer what Zhu Feng, a scholar at Peking University, calls “a new platform for China and the United States to get closer”.

In any case, many Chinese netizens appear to have lost patience. From Liz Carter at Tea Leaf Nation:

Writer and critic Yao Bo took to Sina Weibo, China’s Twitter, asking, “Who can North Korea threaten with its nuke? It can’t reach America, and it doesn’t have any grievance with Japan. They share a language and culture with the South Koreans. What can they do besides threaten China? There are still people saying this is a good thing, and they must be mentally ill, beyond hope. Raising a mad dog to protect your house really is the logic of a patriotraitor [slang for a traitor who pretends to be a patriot].”

[…] Even Hu Xijin, editor of China’s party-line, state-run news organization the Global Times, remarked on Weibo, “North Korea just experienced a ‘man-made earthquake,’ which is likely a nuclear test. North Korea is headed down the wrong path. Its people will pay the price for the country’s mistakes. The legitimacy of North Korean rule should be reconsidered.”

Siegfried S. Hecker, former director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, recently gave a detailed guide to what to expect from a North Korean nuclear test at Foreign Policy, based in part on his own observations from past visits to North Korean nuclear facilities. At The New York Times last month, David E. Sanger and William J. Broad discussed what the United States and Iran would hope to learn from the test and its aftermath. See more on North Korea and nuclear weapons via CDT.

© Samuel Wade for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
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Hu Xijin as a loyal dog. “Don’t go! My master is about to undress! Just give him ten more years!” (Rebel Pepper)

Official corruption is front and center on Weibo. As netizens expose greedy politicians online, Xi Jinping is vowing to crack down. Among the issues citizens want addressed is the lack of public disclosure of officials’ financial assets.

On December 19, Global Times Chief Editor Hu Xijin addressed the issue of financial disclosure on Weibo, bringing on a barrage of angry comments. His post was gone the next morning:

@HuXijin: I think it is unrealistic to immediately have all officials publicly disclose their assets. If we push the process, we will inevitably create more problems than the ones we already need to solve. But financial disclosure is the way of the future. The clear road map and timetable for supporting financial disclosure nationally involves, first, implementation among reserve and newly appointed officials. Those who do not disclose will not be hired. From there, we can transition all officials to the system of disclosure. If we can complete this process in ten years’ time, China will be quite fortunate.

Gone, too, was a lively exchange between Caijing Magazine and Hu:

@Caijing: [Middle of the Night] Why is it unrealistic to immediately have all officials publicly disclose their assets? Could you specify which new problems it will create? If it’s that the prison system won’t be able to handle the influx, why not just build more prisons? You’d stimulate demand and create jobs in one fell swoop.

@HuXijin: Heh heh, how old are you? Could you post this under your name instead of Caijing’s?

Netizens took Hu to task:

@ProudBreeze: If the reform fails, then the revolution will undoubtedly come. If we have to wait ten years for minor progress like disclosing government officials’ financial assets, then how long must we wait for other reforms? One more question: do you think the party-state could afford to wait ten years? If there is no substantial action, people will lose faith in you within five years.

@傲气尘风：改革不成，则革命必来！一个小小的公示都要等上十年，其它的改革又要多久？再问一句，你觉得党国等得起十年吗?若无实质的动作，不出五年，民众就会失去对你们的信心。

@hu_jia: Global Times Chief Editor Hu Xijin says before going to work this morning, he will delete the Weibo post which says we need ten years to disclose officials’ assets. This post has 3,000 fantastic comments. One of the newest: “Ten years from now the officials will be hung on the street lamps, and their assets will be disclosed naturally.” For Communist Party officials, the outcome of financial disclosure will be terrible, but will it be better if they don’t disclose? Financial disclosure has to happen immediately. There are no technical or legal barriers. Refusing to disclose financial assets is proof of the corruption of the Chinese Communist Party.

@hu_jia：环球时报主编胡锡进说今早上班之前会删掉他关于官员财产公开要十年的微博。此条微博三千条评论很精彩，最新一条是：“十年后官员们都被挂路灯上了，财产自然就会公开了。”对共产党的官员而言，公开财产结局很坏，不公开财产的结局就会好吗。财产公开必须马上实施，不存在技术和法律障碍。拒绝公开财产，就是中共贪腐的证据。

@MaGuanqingHibernate: It’s not realistic for you to disclose financial assets, yet it is realistic for you to spend with extravagance while citizens drift hopelessly?

@马观晴已冬眠：官员财产公开制度不现实，你们奢侈挥霍，国家公民颠沛流离就现实？！

Hu aids in the Wolf Vegetarian Plan. “Just wait a moment, Brother, and we’ll be all done!” (Rebel Pepper)

@Elselooker: For the disclosure of officials’ personal assets, Hu Xijin wildly suggests that we “first implement [it] among reserve and newly appointed officials. Those who do not disclose will not be hired. From there, we can transition all officials to the system of disclosure. If we can complete this process in ten years’ time…” An excuse like this shows that the well-fed cannot know how the starving suffer. It’s obvious he’s dodging the issue. If the people’s resistance doesn’t continue to grow in scale and brutality, to the point that the official system can’t control them, we won’t achieve financial disclosure in 10,000 years!

@监政铲腐：公布个财产，胡锡进 竟然规划，“先从新后备和新提拔的官员开始财产公开，不公开的不予提拔。然后逐步向全体官员过渡。如果这个进程能10年内完成”，这真是饱汉不知饿汉饥的说辞，推脱之意非常明显，如果没有人民群众越来越大面积的高效强力的抗争，直到让公器也无法控制，恐怕一万年也难！

@Poetjustice: Hu Xijin thinks “it is unrealistic to immediately have all officials publicly disclose their assets. If we push the process, we will inevitably create more problems than the ones we already need to solve.”–I would like to ask Chief Hu: Why is it unrealistic? Which new problems will it create? How could Sweden implement financial disclosure more than 200 years ago? How could most countries in the world implement it? How could Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan implement it? Is it true that the superiority of socialism lies in the infeasibility of officials’ financial disclosure?

@徐昕：胡锡进认为：立即实行所有官员财产公开制度不现实。如果强推它，新制造的问题必将多于它要解决的问题——请教胡总：为什么不现实？会制造哪些新问题？为什么瑞典200多年前就可实行？为什么世界大多数国家可实行？为什么港澳台可实行？难道社会主义优越性就在于不能实行官员财产公开制度吗？

@GuoGuangdong: “Heh heh, how old are you?”–This’ll go viral.

@郭光东：“呵呵，你几岁？”——胡总编这句估计要火。

@Cinderana: Why is it unrealistic to disclose financial assets right now? 90% of the countries in the world have disclosed officials’ assets. Can’t we display the superiority of socialism here? If we wait for another ten years, the corrupt officials will all be retired. Mr. Hu even goes on to ask how old the other person is. Doesn’t he just say the darndest things? Mr. Hu, when you comment on historical figures, would you please ask yourself how old you are first?

@迷仰：为什么马上公开财产不现实？世界90%的国家都公开了，社会主义的优越性不能在这儿体现一下吗？再等个10年，贪官们也退休了吧。还问别人几岁，真是态度可掬。胡编您下次评价历史人物的时候也先问问自己几岁好吗！

@Weiwenjinhechu: Ten years is still too fast. We should design a hundred-year plan, no, a thousand-year plan!

@为问今何处：十年还是太快了，应该设计个百年大计，不，千年大计。

@Northwind: Hu Xijin says the disclosure of officials’ assets  “will inevitably create more problems than the ones we already need to solve.” He has essentially made it clear that the bulk of officials are corrupt. He directly proves that China’s anti-corruption effort is a complete failure. (Of course, everybody knows this, but it’s rare for Frisbee Hu to say so. Don’t pretend that you are confident in the ideology, the system, and the path.)

@北风：胡锡进说，（财产公开）“新制造的问题必将大于它要解决的问题”，这句话其实已经挑明了中国官员的腐败占了大多数，也直接说明中国的反腐败是彻底失败的。（当然这是人尽皆知的事，但飞盘胡能说出来，也难得。就别装什么理论自信制度自信道路自信了。）

@Xushaolin: This weibo from Hu Xijin last night was deleted. Don’t know if it was deleted by him because he felt it was inappropriate, or deleted by Sina. I think this Hu guy sometimes fights fire with fire. Intentionally or not, he often reveals the real thoughts of government officials. Judging from netizens’ comments, his idea is a gross violation of the popular will. The disclosure of officials’ personal assets is the right way to go, and we must proceed. We can be careful and thoughtful in the process, but this cannot be used as an excuse to stall.

@老徐时评：胡锡进昨晚的这条微博被删了，不知是他自己感觉不妥删的还是新浪给删的。感觉胡这个人有时真是个高级黑，经常有意无意地将官员们内心真实想法泄露出 来。从当时网友的评论看，他的想法是多么的有违民意。官员财产公示是大势所趋必须往前走。程序上可以谨慎周到，但绝不能成为无所作为拖延时间的借口。

Via CDT Chinese. Translation by Mengyu Dong.

© Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: financial disclosure, Global Times, Hu xijin, Netizen Voices, netizens, official corruption, sina weibo, weibo
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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.

‘Frisbee Hu’ has come back into fashion online during the Southern Weekly protests. Weibo user @sunjinwei74 quipped on January 8 about “that cruel moment when the dog nabs the Frisbee.”

飞盘胡 (Fēipán Hú): Frisbee Hu

Amid the fallout of the Bo Xilai scandal, Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief of the Global Times, published an editorial entitled “Bo’s Case Shows Resilience of Rule of Law.”

Netizens were scornful of the attempt to find a silver lining in the scandal, wondering why, if the rule of law was so resilient in China, Bo was not questioned earlier for a pattern of alleged misconduct that stretched over decades.

One Weibo user posted his two reactions to Hu Xijin’s comments:

(1) Master Hu has a knack for finding the tasty morsels in any turd you stick in his mouth. (2) No matter how far his masters throw the Frisbee, Master Hu will always fetch it back for them.

1、什么屎到了胡老师嘴里都能吃出甜味来 2、主人的飞盘甩得再远，胡老师都能给她叼回来

“Frisbee Hu” is an editor who will eagerly take a positive spin on whatever facts the government throws him.

© Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
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Netizens dug up this image of China Daily reporter Tuo Yannan, whom they suspect is the daughter of Guangdong propaganda chief Tuo Zhen.

WeiboSearch: Limiting Search to Individual Weibo Accounts: Currently, there are two ways to do this: (1) Go to his or her homepage (to search your own Weibo, go to your homepage). There will be a search bar in the upper righthand corner of the first post; (2) Enter keywords into the search bar in the top navigation bar. On the search results page under “advanced search,” enter the account whose posts you want to search. See below↓↓

微博搜索：【如何限定只搜索某个人的微博内容】目前有2种方法：1.去ta首页（如果是想搜自己的微博，就去自己的微博页），第一条微博右上角会有个搜索框；2.在顶部导航的搜索框里输入关键词，进入搜索页，在“高级搜索”的昵称栏填入要搜的人的昵称。具体见下图↓↓

(Does Chief Editor Hu have moral integrity?!)

Supporters in front of the Ningbo Daily: “End press censorship; freedom of the press; freedom of speech.”

Supporters at National Chengchi University in Taiwan: “Support Southern Weekly, defend press freedom.”

Found them! Found them! I found the ancestors of the external hostile forces! To @HuXijin @GlobalTimes

With every flower, blossoms power.

Ordinary People Support Southern Weekly
I don’t think I change the world, I just don’t want this world to change me.

Performance Art: Seeing the Doctor.

© Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
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Janphel Yeshi set himself on fire and ran through the streets of New Delhi in March before Hu Jintao’s visit to India. His image appears on the cover of the latest edition of iSun Affairs.

Soon after announcing that “inciting” self-immolation would be prosecuted as murder, Chinese authorities arrested a monk and his nephew in Sichuan Province for “goading” people to set themselves alight. Global Times Chief Editor Hu Xijin condemned these “murderers,” and the Dalai Lama, on Weibo:

HuXijin: Sichuan has cracked the case of Tibetan lamas inciting self-immolation. Instigated by the Dalai clique, two culprits have incited and goaded eight people to self-immolate since 2009, resulting in three deaths. This truly is an unforgivable evil. How vicious does one have to be to use religious ecstasy to engineer self-immolations, and thus exert political pressure? I say it’s right to classify this as intentional homicide. Life is above politics–it is above all else.

胡锡进：四川破了煽动藏人喇嘛自焚的案子，两名罪犯受达赖集团指使，从09年后先后煽动唆使8人自焚，致3人死亡。这真是十恶不赦。利用宗教迷醉制造自焚，以此施加政治压力，这要多么恶毒才干得出来。把这定为故意杀人罪，我看没错。生命高于政治，高于一切。

Dazed netizens complained that Hu’s comments came out of nowhere–before last week, the Chinese press had been silent on the violence in Tibet. Many couldn’t believe that people could be simply “incited” to set themselves on fire. They also called Hu’s bluff on his proclamation that “life is above politics,” since he tows the Party line for a state-run newspaper. Some of the comments:

zhaochu1962: Almost none of these cases of self-immolation were allowed to be reported. When people go from ignorance to awareness, of course they will suspect this kind of case-cracking. Burning yourself to death because you were goaded–sounds like a fantasy story. Suicide is not a crime. The evolution of the situation in Tibet to today’s tragic state requires consideration of policy, not dubious victories to anesthetize the public. If we are to maintain unity [of the country], we must face this issue head-on.

赵楚: 当这些自焚案件几乎不让报道，人们也从无知晓时，这种破案必定会令人生疑。因为教唆就会去自焚，这样的话听来彷佛天方夜谭。自杀不是一种罪行，藏区局势演化到今日可悲的地步要做政策的反思，不要用这些可疑的胜利消息来麻醉公众，要维护统一必须正视问题。

AuthorTianYou-: Any mishap among the Tibetans is the one of the Dalai Lama’s conspiracies, and any mishap among the Xinjiang people [Uyghurs] is one of Rebiya Kadeer’s tricks.

作家天佑–:凡是藏人出事都是达赖的阴谋，凡是疆人出事全是热比娅的诡计。

Iamyuqianqiansmother: If you’re going to write a fiction, at least provide some decent details. What’s truly vicious is framing people groundlessly like this. 96 people have self-immolated, but there’s not one word about it in domestically. The U.S. Congress has already stated it is watching the situation closely, so you all, @HuXijin, go and frame the Dalai Lama. You’re playing like gangsters.

我是遇谦谦她妈：编段子也该编出点像样的细节，这种莫须有的栽赃才是真恶毒。已经96人自焚了，国内毫无报道，美国国会已经表示严重关注，所以你们 @胡锡进 就栽赃给达赖。真是耍流氓。

smallhateforbooks: In this instance, Editor Hu says life is above politics, but in every other case he’ll say politics is above life.

读书恨少：胡编对此事说生命高于政治，而对其他事就会说政治高于生命。

freeCrow: What a load of crap. Why would someone self-immolate just because they were “goaded”?

自由的乌鸦：扯淡。为何一“教唆”，就有人去自焚？

yangdingzhi: I’m in favor of Chief Hu self-immolating. I’ll donate 20 for funeral arrangements. //@TujiaWildman: I’d like to goad Chief Hu to self-immolate, then turn myself in. Is that doable?

澎湃在这：支持胡总自焚，我捐20善后 //@土家野夫: 我想唆使胡总自焚并领罪。可能乎？

shileimemeda: When I go to Tibet, it’s crawling with armed police and real guns. There are military checkpoints all over. So-called “national unity,” heh heh. If it was real unity, you would respect their gods. Some Party would mold itself into the saviors of the people, but in reality manufactured so many cases of murder. Economic development is gained in exchange for the resources of countless generations and the happiness of the people. I think this type of united celebration comes only from goading.

石磊么么哒：我去西藏处处武警，真枪，到处安检查岗，所谓的民族团结，呵呵。真正的团结是你真正信奉他的神，某些党把自己塑造成人民的拯救者，殊不知你制造了多少累累血案，经济的发展是用绵延子孙的资源和人民的幸福换来的，这样的普天同庆我看就是教唆才能来的吧

jiaxuTalktomyself: Oh Hu Xijin, you are a great, glorious, and correct, fair and selfless Communist Party member! You devote everything to the world’s most worthy causes! You ought to give your life for such lofty goals. If you go die today, it will be a powerful testament to the crimes of the old monks! This testament ought only come from you, and can only come from you! Now go die!!!–Did my goading work?

jiaxu自语：胡锡进啊，您是一名伟大光荣正确的大公无私的一切交给世界上最崇高事业的共产党员！你应该为这样的伟大事业献身吧，今天你如果去死，会给老和尚的罪恶作出有力的证明！这个证明应该而且只能你做了！你去死吧！！！—————我的教唆有用吗？

Anthony: Funny, I’d never heard of this case, and all of the sudden it’s been solved… Chief Hu, could you please post a little shout-out to freedom of the press and abolishing media censorship?

安淘泥：奇怪了，从来没有听过案件，现在忽然冒出来来个破案……胡总，麻烦您，发一条微博，先忽悠一下新闻自由，取消媒体审查制。

CitizenMarshalSYuan: Life is above politics? (Human rights are above sovereign rights?) God, this is a blatant declaration of leaving the Party! Editor Hu moves us once again.

公民MarshalSYuan: 生命高於政治？（人權高於主權？）天哪，這是赤裸裸的退黨宣言啊！胡編又讓人感動了一回

LajiesSky: Who will believe you? You didn’t say a word when these things were happening. I guess the pressure [of the situation] has forced you to make up something.

拉杰的天空：谁还会相信你们呢。在发生时你们没有一字的报道。迫于压力你们编吧。

Read more about Tibetan self-immolations from CDT.

Via CDT Chinese.

Netizen Voices is an original CDT series. If you would like to reuse this content, please follow the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 agreement.

Note: This figure, which @yuqianqian first cited on December 3, includes an unconfirmed case. The International Campaign for Tibet and the Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy both count 95 victims of self-immolation as of December 13, 2012. The Hong Kong magazine iSun Affairs lists 96 victims in its latest edition, but gives 97 on its website [zh]. Back.

© Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Dalai Lama, Hu xijin, iSun Affairs, Netizen Voices, self-immolations, Tibet
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Incriminating? T-shirt proclaiming “Give me liberty or give me death.”

Netizens were dumbstruck by Global Times Chief Editor Hu Xijin’s November 21 weibo in favor of free speech:

HuXijin: I hope the long-term impact of the Ren Jianyu case in today’s Internet age is the establishment of precedent that will end the political and cultural tradition of the  “criminalization of speech.” Political speech and the propagation of [other’s] speech which does not infringe upon the rights of others and does not precipitate concrete action should not be criminalized. In other words, if “comment deletion” must continue for a time, then a resolute end should come to the “criminalization of comment posting.” This is a key pathway to achieving a higher level of free speech.

胡锡进：希望任建宇案在互联网时代产生判例的长远影响，终结“因言获罪”的政治和文化传统。不涉及侵权和无任何实际行动的政治性言论和言论传播应获得绝对不 被治罪的权利，换句话说，如果“删贴”还不得不维持一段的话，那么各种“因帖治罪”应彻底结束了。这应是通往更高言论自由的一个关键性台阶。

Ren Jianyu, a young village official in Chongqing, was sentenced to two years of re-education through labor last August for reposting critiques of Chongqing officials on Weibo. This was just months before Chongqing Party Secretary Bo Xilai’s protracted fall from grace. Authorities claimed that T-shirts found in Ren’s apartment emblazoned with the slogan “Give me liberty or give me death” (不自由，毋宁死) proved his intent to stage a coup. Ren was released early from detention on November 19.

Hu Xijin, known as a Party apologist, has been notably outspoken in defense of Ren. He wrote a weibo in this vein in October, before Ren’s appeal court hearing (translated by Tea Leaf Nation):

HuXijin: The appeal hearing of Pengshui University student village official Ren Jianyu’s sentencing to re-education through labor for Weibo retweets has begun. I believe he’ll win. Because [what he did] didn’t harm any individual person, and it was pure speech that didn’t create any social conflicts–the era when these kinds of commentary could be punished for being ‘against the Party [or] against socialism’ needs to come to a thorough conclusion. I hope that when this case is rectified, it will [cut down] the last straw of a thousand-year political tradition of criminalized speech. China needs to move forward.”

胡锡进：重庆彭水县大学生村官任建宇转发微博被劳教申诉案开审。我相信他能赢。因为不带来个人伤害、也不带来社会冲击的的纯言论——无它这些言论多么“反党反社会 主义”——而被治罪的时代该彻底结束了。希望这个案子的纠正成为压倒“因言获罪”千年政治传统的最后一根稻草。中国要往前走。

But netizens shouldn’t get too excited about this about-face. As @waynebabywang (@韦恩卑鄙) points out, Hu still supports censorship through deletion of offending posts. Could it be that Hu thinks this is necessary in a slow move towards real freedom of speech, or merely that he opposes violent punishment for speech “crimes”? Even if Hu does advocate for eventual freedom of speech, he won’t touch the core problem. @yrjang says it right, “ If there is no check on power, sooner or later we’ll backtrack.” Indeed, just one week before Ren’s release, another netizen was arrested for his activity on Twitter, beyond the Great Firewall but not the reach of the police.

CDT Chinese has collected some of the comments Hu received:

HowToThank: Whoa! The harmonious society has begun, eh?

谢怎么：哟，和谐社会开始了是吗

WhiteRiverFishForMen: Is Chief Hu experiencing temporary consciousness? Regardless, you have to give him credit for this one.

白河钓叟：胡总临时性清醒？无论如何要赞一个

yrjang: Keep dreaming. If there is no check on power, sooner or later we’ll backtrack.

yrjang：做梦，权力不受制约，迟早还得倒退。

kejinjin: Certainly, I must have opened up my weibo incorrectly or something. This can’t be Hu Xijin, right? His account must have been compromised.

肥羊高翔 ：一定是我打开微博的方式不对这货不是胡锡进，一定是被盗号了

BlueDanube01: Heh heh, you can see which way the wind is blowing from Editor Hu’s weibo.

蓝色多瑙河01：呵呵，从胡编滴微博可以看看风往哪边吹。

UnoilyRapeseed: I support this! Re-education through labor must be abandoned!

菜籽不油：支持! 勞教惡法必須廢!

EternalFatLegEra: Editor Hu, what happened to you? Could it be that political reform is actually on its way?

永远是大腿时代：胡编你肿么了？莫非真要政改了？

HappilyTravelHorizon: I applaud Chief Hu this time. Freedom of speech is a legal right of all citizens, given to us by the constitution. It’s written down on paper.

逍遥天涯行：这一次赞扬胡总。言论自由是公民的法定权利，宪法赋予的，写在纸上的。

FishWantsPotatoesNBeef: Why can’t our government earn international respect? Because our government hasn’t respected its own people.

想吃土豆烧牛肉的青鱼：为什么我们政府得不到国际的尊重？是因为我们政府没有尊重自己的人民。

Cadenza: I bet the central authorities had you test water for them, right?

華彩_Cadenza：是中央让你来放口风的吗？

Silentcnm: Did he give his password to someone else?????

沉默cnm：密码给别人了??????

HappyEarthlyPerson: Now this is a humane thought! Reposting. Could it be that Chief Editor Hu is a moral bisexual?

逍遥地人：这条像点人话！要转。难不成胡主编是人格上的双性？

MESSIAH-: He’s moving faster than the higher-ups. Isn’t he afraid of being criticized?

MESSIAH-：步调比上面快了，不怕挨批吗？

waynebabywang: He’s just kissing ass in a new way. He still mentioned that comments will continue to be deleted, and there’s nothing you can do about it.

韦恩卑鄙：舔菊新方向而已，着重表示删帖继续，你们管不着

Westernwuhuapiao: A Nobel Peace Laureate is still in prison

西部五花膘：那还关着一个诺贝尔奖获得者

Read more comments here.

Translation by Little Bluegill.

© Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: censorship, Chongqing, freedom of speech, Global Times, Hu xijin, Internet censorship, Netizen Voices, netizens, political reform, re-education through labor, Ren Jianyu, sina weibo, weibo
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The online media platform NetEase took a veiled jab at Hu Xijin and his newspaper with an allusive Weibo post:

NetEaseNewsClient: The wheel of history rolls forward. Only the grass that is adept at adjusting its direction can keep sticking to the front of the car. @HuXijin @GlobalTimes

网易新闻客户端：历史车轮滚滚向前，只有那些善于调整方向的草，才能继续粘在车头。@胡锡进 @环球时报

The grass alluded to in word and image is the annual fleabane, known as qiangtoucao (墙头草) or “wall-top grass” in Chinese. Qiangtoucao also means “fence-sitter,” someone who bends to the prevailing political or social winds to stay rooted.

This is a surprising post to come from a Chinese media company, but it is not without precedent. This May, the Beijing News left a cryptic apology on Weibo after publishing an editorial which accused the U.S. government of “scheming” to bring the lawyer Chen Guangcheng to its embassy. That post stayed live for nearly 24 hours before it vanished. It’s unclear how long the NetEase comment lasted, but it, too, has been wiped from Weibo.

Via AmazeNews. NetEase post translated by Mengyu Dong. Hu Xijin quotations from Tea Leaf Nation.

© Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Global Times, Hu xijin, mo yan, netease, Nobel Prize, weibo
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Something is missing from China’s aircraft carrier, pictured bottom.

The People’s Liberation Army Navy commissioned its first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, on September 25 and has now launched a destroyer, the Type 052D Luyang III-class. Despite insisting that the Liaoning will help China “enhance its role as a defender of regional stability and world peace,” as Rear Admiral Yang Yi said last month, ordinary people in China and the region are both wary. Global Times Chief Editor Hu Xijin wrote a paean to the Liaoning on Weibo:

HuXijin: Congratulations on the commissioning of China’s first aircraft carrier. This is a great day in the history of the Chinese navy. China is experience the beginning of something which has significance for the entire human race. We must keep up our mindset and our aspirations in step with these changes. The aircraft carrier may well turn the course of Chinese history away from war, not the reverse.

胡锡进：祝贺中国首艘航母服役。这是中国海军史伟大的一天。中国在经历一个有全人类意义的开始，我们的思考，我们的胸怀得跟上这些变化。航母很可能在让中国历史性地远离战争，而不是相反。

The vessel raises obvious concerns about China’s claims to disputed territories in the East and South China seas. Besides the recent protests over Japan’s purchase of some of the Diaoyu Islands, China and the Philippines wrangled over the Scarborough Shoal earlier this year. But the aircraft carrier symbolizes something else to Chinese netizens, who focus instead on the lack of aircraft on this refurbished Ukrainian ship. From CDT Chinese:

Qinsir1978: The entire human race? What the hell! I nearly thought our aircraft carrier landed on the moon.

秦sir1978：吓我，还全人类，我还以为中国航母登月了。

JingZhi: Are we seriously making this big of a deal about a second-hand ship?

敬智：一条二手船至于吗？

PyongyangPropaganda: There are so many stealth aircraft on the carrier. Stealth technology is awesome—it absolutely has significance for the “entire human race.”

平壤宣传：舰上好多隐形战机啊，隐形技术真是太棒鸟——完全具有”全人类意义”。

HotspotShark: Sail to Panjin to maintain stability.

热点shark：开到盘锦去维稳

Edwards-2012: It should be named the Liaoning Panjin.

Edwards-2012：辽宁盘锦号

PreciousSwordSharpenout-Sharpenin: Don’t use it against the people, please.

宝剑锋从磨砺出–磨砺中：不要用来对付人民喔

ChangJiangPo: Waste of money!

长江坡：费钱！

asdone: The Party’s army has one more sharp tool for stability maintenance. We just don’t know when we can get our Diaoyu Islands back.

老大一头牛：党军又多维稳利器。只是不知何时能把钓鱼岛抢回来

DaiJianyeWeibo: The fall of the former Soviet Union was not because the country didn’t have an aircraft carrier, but because its people didn’t have freedom; the prosperity of the United States today is not because of advancement in military technology, but because of its democratic social system.

戴建业微博：前苏联的崩溃，不是由于它的国家没有航母，而是由于它的人民没有自由；今天美国的富强，不是由于拥有先进的军事技术，而是由于它拥有民主的社会制度。

SimiOnWalk: Three years after the former Soviet Union built and sailed this aircraft carrier, the glorious nation fell on its ass. China…

Simi行走在路上： 前苏联建了这艘航母 下水三年 伟大的苏维埃共和国就嗝屁了。中国……

Translation by Mengyu Dong.

“Netizen Voices” is an original CDT series. If you would like to reuse this content, please follow the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 agreement.

© Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Chinese Navy, diaoyu islands, Global Times, Hu xijin, Japan, maritime disputes, Netizen Voices, netizens, People's Liberation Army, philippines, Scarborough Shoal, territorial disputes, weibo
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It’s tough to spin an orgy. The local Party office in question first claimed that the images had been photoshopped; then they dropped that angle and said they were, instead, simply old pictures from elsewhere in China, unrelated to the county. But that explanation ran aground when one of the men—identified in state press reporters as Wang Yu, a deputy secretary of the Youth League Committee of Hefei University in Anhui province—while insisting that “the two other men are his friends, not government officials, conceded that “he regretted his behavior.” (The photos, it seems, were plucked from the computer of one of the participants after the machine was brought in for repair.) Another Party organ was not as contrite. “NAKED GUY IS NOT OUR PARTY CHIEF: LOCAL AUTHORITY” was the headline in the Global Times after the Communist Party committee in Lujiang county declared a case of mistaken identity in response to the suggestion that a bespectacled participant bears an extraordinary resemblance to Wang Minsheng, the local Party secretary. Wang said he had been “slandered” most likely because he was investigating others for corruption, and his office vowed that revenge: “Those behind the smear campaign will be held legally responsible.”

At bottom, the sex party is vexing for the Party because it highlights the gap between the artifice of official solemnity and the unadorned reality beneath, a gap that has become more pronounced in recent years as the Web eats away at the monopoly on authority. The downfall of Bo Xilai is of interest to the Chinese public not simply because it involves murder, corruption, and betrayal but because it is unfolding noisily just offstage from where the Party is desperately seeking to convey the sense that everyone is proceeding according to plan. As the Global Times commented of the group shots, people “feel that this is but scratching the surface of the lives of luxury and sin that many officials secretly enjoy. Such activities are being pointed to as evidence for the decaying morality of government officials.”

Offbeat China has posted a couple of the photos in question, and details the reaction among journalists and netizens:

Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief of pro-government newspaper Global Times, also stood in defense of Lujiang government, and he certainly has a point: “I didn’t go over all the photos from the Lujiang group sex set. However, anyone with the slightest understanding of politics in China won’t believe that these are photos of county Deputy Chief and Secretary of county Party committee. The Internet is a platform for bottom-up supervision. Let’s protect it together and shield it from rumors.”

Later, journalists from Nanfang Daily also dug out an apology by netizen anhui1234567q on Lujiang Baidu Tieba (a large online community hosted by Baidu) explaining how the whole group sex rumor started: “I saw a set of unverified photos on Sina Weibo and thought one of the guys looked like Deputy Chief of Lujiang. I suggested that they photos were of Lujiang county Deputy Chief in accident. I never imaged it would lead to such severe consequences. I feel very sorry. Hereby I sincerely apologize to Deputy Chief Mr. Wang. I’m kneeing down asking for his forgiveness. It wasn’t on purpose. Announcement by anhui1234567q. 8/92012.”

But what netizens choose to believe is another story. At least, the official website of Lujiang government was reported to be hacked hours after the photos went viral online. While most netizens are either actively looking for download links for the photos or are condemning the decayed morality of government officials, some others came up with another hypothesis, that is, to use a group sex rumor to distract people’s attention away from the trial of Gu Kailai, wife of disgraced Chinese politician Bo Xilai, who confessed to murder of a Briton on court yesterday.

© Scott Greene for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Anhui, Hu xijin, information control, Internet censorship, Lujiang Indecent Photos Incident, online public opinion, sex scandals
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I’d like to say a few words to the liberals. You have stirred up China, and you have manufactured its adaptability. You have helped China progress by bringing change from the bottom up, and you have become one of the key forces in China’s reform. At the same time though, you are magnifying China’s risk, and you may one day bring China past that threshold of what it’s able to endure, thereby becoming the cancer cells that will lead to the demise of China. You have become a key tool in the hands of the Americans who want to topple China. I honestly hope you will eventually become a positive force in the destiny of China.

对 自由派说几句话。你们触动了国家，制造了国家新的适应性。你们带来了中国进步自下而上的动力。你们已是推动中国改革的合力之一。同时，你们在加 大中国的风险，你们有可能捅破中国的承受力，成为中国严重病变的癌细胞，你们已是美国试图撬动扳倒中国的主要杠杆。衷心希望你们最终是中国命运的正能 量。

Below are some choice responses to Hu:

UnoccupiedXC: Are we even talking about the same “China”?

闲处xc: 你所说的’中国’是我说的’中国’吗?

MeowMeow: F! I don’t know who’s bringing China past that threshold of what it’s able to endure!

吖喵吖喵: 擦! 不知到是谁在捅破中国的承受力!

WangWeisCourtyard: It’s becoming harder and harder to fool the masses. Are you disappointed, Chief Hu?

王维的院子：群众越来越不好骗了，胡主编很失望？

AMULL: Who’s the bad guy, the liberals or the corrupt mandarins? The people will freely arbitrate this… How long do your masters have left? That’s right! It won’t be China that is toppled, but your dictatorship, its corruption, and its treasonous masters… China will persevere, but its corrupt and incompetent government will surely collapse.

AMULL：自由派和贪官污吏谁坏，人民自由公断…你的主子们还能有多久…对了，扳倒的不是中国，而是你那独裁、贪腐、卖国的主子…中国会永远存在，而腐败无能的政府终将垮台…

Guo-Yongfeng: Spoken very sincerely. Perhaps Editor Hu is also quite helpless. Every day he has to play the game and write essays for use by the imperial court. He cannot be careless when tackling the crucial issues.

郭-永丰：说的是真心话。也许胡总编也很无奈，平日要演好戏，写好御用文章，关键问题上，也不含糊

iWeeklySurroundAndWatch: According to this physiological argument, if liberals are cancer cells, Editor Hu must be a “reproductive organ.”*

iWeekly围观：按生理来论的话，若自由派是癌细胞，那胡主编一定是是圣旨器啦~~

* “Imperial edict machine” (圣旨器 shèngzhǐ qì) sounds like “reproductive organ” (生殖器 shēngzhíqì).

DefendingOpinion: Wow, Chief Hu’s “liberals destroy the nation” talk is seriously intimidating!

守东言论：胡总的＂自由派亡国论＂真吓人啊！

TransmittingSongByFlight: Cancer cells? That’s a joke that only the left wing* is capable of making. If the Cultural Revolution hadn’t ended in ’76, the cancer cells would have spread to the vital organs and killed this country long ago!

飞歌传输：癌细胞？真是笑话，左派才配叫这个词，如不是七六年结束文革，早就癌细胞扩散病入膏肓寿终正寝了！

* In China, the left wing refers to socialists, while the right wing are closer in mindset to Western liberals.

AnShiyou: In answer to your last few words, we are also looking forward to you quickly leaving the stage of history.

安室佑：接上你最后一句。我们也期待你们能够尽快的退出历史的舞台。

Via CDT Chinese. Translation by Josh Rudolph.

© Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Global Times, Hu xijin, Netizen Voices, netizens, sina weibo, weibo
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Irony is lost on Global Times Chief Editor Hu Xijin, who half-enjoyed Han Han’s June 20 essay on his philosophy of life. According to Hu, Han Han’s heart’s in the right place, but he needs to get mind out of the gutter:

HuXijin: Han Han’s extraordinary writing ability shines through in his latest long-form weibo. I just wish he would use his talent in a constructive way for society instead of merely teaching his myriad Chinese fans how to “fuck,” no matter what it is they are “fucking.” This is his responsibility. It’s fine for public figures to have a slovenly appearance, but they cannot “Brother Sharp” ethics to the masses. You can tell Han Han’s personal morals are alright.

胡 锡进：读了韩寒的最新长微博，文中确实透出鬼斧神工般的文字天才。只是希望他将这份才气用来促进社会的建设性，而不是教中国最大的粉丝团如何“操”，无论 “操”的是什么。他确实有这个责任。公众人物可以穿着不修边幅，但不可向大众示范如何装道德“犀利哥”。看得出韩寒是私德不错的人。

As usual, netizens were eager to throw more salty language Hu’s way. A selection of those wry, incisive comments follows. Read more in from CDT Chinese.

TangFlower_fh7: You discredit him, compliment him, push him, pull him… You really know your kungfu.

tang花_fh7：又损又夸又推又拉，功夫深

xd_jackfeng: He’s talking about “fucking” self-righteous people. There’s no chance Chief Editor Hu is one of those people, right?

xd_jackfeng：他操的是那些道貌岸然的人，胡主编不会是这种人吧？？？

Avatar1981: You have no right to criticize Han Han, you self-righteous bum!

阿凡达1981：你还没资格评论韩寒，道貌岸然的家伙！！！！！！！！

ami2020: Isn’t Editor Hu always teaching us how to be good slaves? It’s a shame most people don’t appreciate his efforts.

ami2020：胡编不也天天教导大家如何做奴才吗?可惜大多数人不领情

HappyLaWeibo: Who says criticism isn’t constructive?

开心的啦微博：誰說批評就不是建設性了

massfin: Thanks for the recommendation. It was as good as advertised. Too bad for Han Han, if he drew himself into the system and started using his talent to kiss the Party’s ass, how harmonious would that be?

massfin：谢谢推荐。去看了，写的情之所至不错。可惜韩寒这材料，要是收编进我们组织，专门给党妈舔菊，那得是多和谐的局面啊

ZhaoXiangruiToothPull: I’m afraid Chief Editor Hu misunderstands. Han Han and his followers “fuck” those who are self-righteous hypocrites like Hu.

趙翔叡拉牙彷徨：胡主编恐怕是会错了意，韩寒及他的一班支持者，操的是胡主编这样道貌岸然的伪君子。

ddd88mm2011: Hong Kong’s Apple Daily ran an editorial on June 21 titled “To be a Good Person You Can’t Be Too ‘CCTV,’ To Write Good Articles You Can’t Be Too ‘Global Times.’”

ddd88mm2011：香港《苹果日报》6月21日发表评论文章，称〝做人不能太 CCTV、作文不能太环球〞

6mian10zi: Look at how Chief Hu sits on his high horse. These government lifers have such a superiority complex!

六面十字：看得出胡总还是高高在上的淫 吃皇粮的优越感不是一般的少

FarmVisionaryWeiFeng: You can see the lousy state of Chief Hu’s social morals. He ignores the call of the masses for democracy, swimming against the current. He’s such a Fifty Center.

农业创想家伟峰：看得出，胡总是公德很差的人，因为无视民众对民主的呼唤，逆流而上。贴脸做五毛。

ZhangFeiLovesLiuBei: The government already restricts how we have children. Now they’re going to restrict how we fuck?

张飞爱刘备：国家他妈的限制我们生孩子还想限制我们操吗？

Colorido: You and Fang Zhouzi are quite a match. You two would make a cute gay couple.

Colorido：你和方舟子很合适，你们可以搞基

DumbBirdYuanNian: Han Han is no match for the great, glorious and righteous Screwing People Post, Muddled Shit Times and CCAV. Oh, how noble you all are!

笨鸟元年：比不上《日人民报》 《坏球屎报》 《ccav》 整天伟光正。你们多高尚啊

GreatHuShi: On the one hand you raise the flag of democracy and on the other you oppose it. You even consider those who want to elect local representatives hostile forces. I’ve seen shamelessness, but never this brazen!

胡适的伟大：一边打着民主的旗号，一边反民主，连民众自愿参选个地方人大代表都当成敌对势力，真是见过无耻的，却没有见过这么无耻的！。

sam025: Han Han is fucking this lifeless Celestial Empire. He’s fucking this place that only cares about money and not whether people live or die. He’s fucking this inhumane place where a seven-month-old fetus can be murdered. He’s fucking this unjust place where laborers struggle to survive on scraps. He’s fucking this ridiculous place were the lowly rule and the good are screwed. He’s fucking this place where the government flogs its message of “serve the people” while it exploits and oppresses the people. Did you get all that?

sam025：他操的是天朝这死气沉沉的气息，操的是要钱而不顾他人死活的金钱至上主义，操的是国家可以随便残杀 7个月胎儿的反人类行为， 操的是底层劳动者拼死拼活却仅能糊口的收入分配公，操的是小人当道好人背时的可笑世道，操的是政府打着为人民服务的旗号而残忍剥削压迫人民的行为，这些，你都懂么？

Translation by Little Bluegill.

“Netizen Voices” is an original CDT series. If you would like to reuse this content, please follow the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 agreement.

© Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Global Times, Han Han, Hu xijin, Netizen Voices, netizens' voices, sina weibo, weibo
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The central propaganda machine isn’t taking the Weibo revolution sitting down, though. In a July 5 Weibo post, Global Times Chief Editor Hu Xijin chided netizens for snowballing small problems:

HuXijin: Chinese society perennially harbors discontent. This discontent forms as an amalgamation of various unfortunate circumstances. Through the Internet, a portion of this discontent will naturally be lumped in with the Shifang incident, which in turn will add to the difficulty for Shifang to deal with the aftermath. This is one reason why it’s so easy for any of China’s specific conflicts to balloon into larger issues. The authorities now must do more than merely communicate effectively with the people at large. Online discontent has in fact become a part of the incident. FEATURED OPINION

胡锡进： 中国社会长期都有一些不满情绪，它们是各种不如意的结合物。它们的一部分很自然会通过互联网转移到什邡事件上，反过来增加什邡的善后难度。这也是互联网时 代中国各地具体矛盾容易扩大化的深层原因之一。现在官方不仅要与什邡群众做好沟通，互联网上的不满情绪事实上也已经成为事件的一部分。摘社评

Some netizens were more than happy to add a little difficulty to Hu’s job. A selection of comments on his post are below. Read more from CDT Chinese.

Shanghai-BrotherHu: Still “featuring opinions,” I see. You’re such an enigmatic eunuch. Is it possible for you to stand straight and be a dignified person?

上海-胡哥：还“摘社评”呢，你这阴阳怪气的阉人，能不能直起腰板，做个堂堂正正的人？

DesertTigerX: This guy’s just like clockwork, singing the praises of interest groups!

沙漠虎X微博达人：这货像上了发条似得，如此执着地为利益集团说好话！

SuperWangDapao: Chief Hu’s gibberish, translated into human speech, reads as follow: Don’t f**king use the Internet to talk about your stupid feelings and ruin our work of ass-wiping in Shifang!

超级王大炮：胡总的鸟语翻译成人话就是：别TM利用互联网传达你们各种鸟情绪，来破坏我们什邡那点破事的擦屁眼工作

VRomanticSummit: Hu’s a poser. What he means is: You people should not feel discontent. You must trust the government¹ and the Party. They will resolve everything. That’s what you mean, right? What the fucking shit. We can’t even have feel upset? You must really think you’re freaking Buddha or something.

V浪漫风云峰：胡装B的意思是:你们不该有不满情绪 要相信正腐相信党 他们会解决好一切的。 是不是这意思 劳资草尼麻痹 连不满情绪都不能有 你TM还真把自己当成如来了

¹ 正腐 zhèng fǔ (“completely corrupt”) sounds the same as the word “goverment” 政府.

XieWenVerified: First of all, media of all kinds should be allowed to report from the scene. Every single thing must start from disclosing the truth on the ground.

谢文新浪个人认证 ：首先应该允许各路媒体前往采访报道，一切的一切都要从真相披露开始。

Iced_Tea: You people always complicate simple issues of right and wrong. It’s obvious the local government in Shifang acted against the will of the people and forced through their own self-serving agenda. All the people want to know now is who approved this project, who called the armed police into the city and who commanded the police to strike. These are simple questions that definitely have answers, but all you have to say is that “online discontent has in fact become a part of the incident,” complicating the issue to the point where it cannot be resolved.

冰 _红茶：你们这些人每次都把简单的事情对错复杂化.明明是这个什邡地方政府不顾民意,强行推行利己政策,现在大家要求的就是交代是谁拍板一定要上马这项目 的?是谁叫武警进城,叫武警打人的?这么简单的问题,一定有答案的事,你偏要拉上”互联网上的不满情绪事实上也已经成为事件的一部分”让这事复杂到只能不 了了之.

1UnderBerlinWall: Hu Xijin figured out another way to kiss the Party’s² ass…

1柏林墙下面1微博达人：胡锡进又在想办法给裆舔菊花了。。。

² 裆 dāng “crotch” sounds like 党 dǎng “Party.”

ProtectCountryTempleSnack: Here’s what I get from Hu Xijin: Before, no one knew what the real situation was, or the people’s discontent couldn’t make it onto the nightly news. But now, it’s different. With the Internet, the government’s job just gets harder and harder.

护国寺小吃：解读胡锡进：以前大家不知道真相，或者百姓的不满也上不了新闻联播。但现在不同了，有了互联网，政府越来越不容易了。

HanLei_Julius: “Opinion,” eh? Hilarious. I’m surprised I would even pay attention to someone like you. I want to see if you would dig up the same “underlying causes” and pick the same “opinion” if industrial waste flowed by your front door, or if it was your close friends being beaten by the authorities while trying to protect the environment.

韩磊_Julius：还“社评”呢，真逗，我竟然会关注你这种货。如果工业污染流到你家门前，如果你的亲友因捍卫环境被官方打的皮开肉绽，我要看你会不会挖出同样的“深层原因”，摘同样的“社评”。

FocusBressonUnfocusCapa: In this country, the most unstable element is that which holds up the Bolshevik regime; the most costly stability maintenance is again what holds up the Bolshevik regime. It echoes the internal factors which lead to the collapse of Chiang Kai-shek’s government: the cost of controlling society exceeded the ability to create and adapt social values.

聚焦的布列松与失焦的卡帕：在这片土地上，最不稳定的因素，就是维护布尔什维克党的政权稳定；成本最高的维稳，也是维护布尔什维克党的政权稳定。当年老蒋垮掉的内因跟今天的状况极其雷同，就是社会管制成本超过了社会价值创造能力与承受能力。

XiaoXiangChirp: Bullshit! No matter what happens, it’s always because there’s something wrong with the people’s heads, or their conscience, or level of education, or morals, or life, or judgment… The government is always great, glorious and just!

潇湘虫鸣：放屁！发生了什么事都是民众头脑有问题，意识有问题，文化水平有问题，道德水平有问题，生活有问题，判断力有问题……政府永远伟光正！

IVAFeiFei2012: Little Hu, the people will remember you. There will come the day when you will have to eat the crap that has been spewing out of your mouth.

IVA飞飞2012加油微博达人：小胡呀，人民不会忘记你的，你的嘴里喷出来的屎都是要被你吃回去的

TimeFlowsLikeWater: Today it’s them, tomorrow it could be us (not you). So why wouldn’t we (not you) pay attention?

指缝中的似氺流年：今天是他们，明天有可能就是我们（不包括你），所以，我们（不包括你）为什么不关注呢？

Translation by Little Bluegill.

“Netizen Voices” is an original CDT series. If you would like to reuse this content, please follow the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 agreement.

© Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Global Times, Hu xijin, Netizen Voices, netizens' voices, Shifang, sina weibo, weibo
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HuXijin: Today’s “protest” in “ongKong” is quite normal. Under the policy of “one country two systems,” Hong Kong administers its own affairs. Beijing has no right to get involved, and probably has no desire, either. I don’t think this is an “anti-China ‘protest.’” The slogans are all about real estate tycoons, police abusing their powers, universal pensions, reforming the tax codes and granting workers 5 days more of vacation. 500 Indonesian maids also joined in to ask for a minimum wage of 4000 Hong Kong dollars. Beijing can voice its wishes, but solving these issues is not within the power of the CCP Central Committee.

胡 锡进：ongKong今天出protest，这很正常。一国两制，港人治港，中央无权干涉，大概也没想干涉。我不认为这是“反中protest”，口号都 是打倒地产霸权，抗议警察滥权，全民退保，改革不义税制，还有“劳工假+5天”等，500名印佣也加入了，要求最低工资4000港元。中央可以提希望，但 解决这些不是中央职权。

Protesters did have a range of grievances, but Hu left out the more outstanding among them. He tried to explain himself after the Weibo firestorm was well under way, but his response only dug him deeper:

HuXijin: I’m a realist. Today I posted a Weibo that strung together Chinese and English. Still, it’s better than before Weibo. I believe the day will come when there aren’t so many keywords as now. At that time I won’t mix Chinese and English again. I’m older than a lot of people, I’ve seen China’s process of change, and I’m happy for it. I don’t think good things are ready-made. That’s why I’ll work hard to promote China’s change. Many others are doing the same.

胡 锡进：我是现实主义者，今天有微博了，但我得中英文串着发，纠结。但比过去没微博时好多了。我相信总有一天，关键词会比现在少很多，到时我就不用再中央文串了。我比很多人年长，看到中国变化的过程，并为这个过程高兴。我不认为好东西会是现成的，所以我很努力，做这个过程的推动者之一。很多人也是。

“Keywords” are of course those “sensitive words” which the censors block and which netizens allude to in various forms, from puns to pinyin to, yes, English.

In all, Hu’s two posts received 2121 comments and 1935 reposts. Below are a selection of translated comments. Read more from CDT Chinese.

2:30p.m.: 1. Using the word “probably” shows that you haven’t received editorial training. 2. This is indeed not anti-China, it’s anti-Party. 3. The CCP’s official powers are to solve problems and serve the people, not voice its wishes. 4. This isn’t a “protest,” it’s a “demonstration.”

下午2点30：1. 用“大概”这个词 说明你没有受过编辑培训。2. 这确实不是反中,这是反党. 3.中共职权是解决问题，为人民服务，而不是提希望。4. 这不是protest, 这是demonstration.

LittleParty: Where’s “ongKong”? What’s a “protest”? Do you have the guts to speak Chinese?

小党:ongKong是哪啊，protest是啥啊？敢说中文不

BurningYanXiaokang: Everything on TV yesterday was “get China out of Hong Kong,” “end the one-party dictatorship,” “redress **.” [“Redress” is usually followed by “64,” standing for June 4th.] Chief Hu must not have gotten the memo.

燃烧吧燕小抗：昨天满屏都是“中联办滚出香港”、”结束一档读财 平反**”，胡总日理万机大概没顾上看。

LiShitaoInGermany: You have a point. Why don’t you write about this in the Global Times?

李世涛在德国：说的有道理，为啥不放到环球时报上报道一下呢？

DOUDOUEast: Hey, who’s Li +yang, Chief Hu? I can’t understand what they’re saying. And by the way, did they apply to “protest”?

DOUDOU东：李+阳是谁啊，胡总，他们说的我们都听不懂，另外，他们protest申请了吗

CatRaisesFishforLove: I’m reporting you for writing inappropriate posts.

为爱养鱼的猫：举报你发不实信息

MyNonBaldHubby: Chief Hu, when do we mainlanders get to take to the streets?

不秃他爹：胡总，我们大陆的什么时候能上街？

M_JLT: You’re missing complaints! How could you forget?

M_JLT：还有口号你没发吧！怎么不发全？

TonyBear: Editor Hu is possessed by the spirit of Guo Meimei. Now he’s flinging English.

拖尼熊: 郭美美灵魂附体，胡总编猛拽英语。

LongWobbler: Please speak Mandarin thank you. Chief Hu, we still must sinicize the whole world.

悠哉晃悠:请讲国语谢谢，胡总我们还要汉化全球呢

“Netizen Voices” is an original CDT series. If you would like to reuse this content, please follow the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 agreement.

© Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: CCP, English, Global Times, Hong Kong, Hu xijin, July 1 protests, mandarin, Netizen Voices, netizens' voices, one country two systems, Sensitive Words Series
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