The following news excerpts were tweeted by Lian Yue, translated by CDT:

(1)  From China News Net 2009-10-23 18:19:4

Dongting Lake, the second largest freshwater lake in China, is now in the most severe water crisis of the last sixty years.  The water levels are super low, fishermen have no fish to catch, and their livehood is endangered.  Chen Wenping, director of the integral department of the Command Center for Flood and Drought Prevention of Hunan Province, told reporters, there has been a continual drought in the Dongting Lake region since August, and the main reason for such extreme low water levels is the experimental water storage of Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River.

中国第二大淡水湖洞庭湖陷入60年来罕见水危机，超低水位导致渔民无鱼可捕，生计陷入困境。湖南省防汛抗旱指挥部综合处处长陈文平对记者表示，8月以来洞庭湖周边水系地区持久干旱，以及长江三峡试验性蓄水是造成水位超低的主要原因 -

(2) From Xinhua News Agency 2007-3-7

On March 2007, Peng Qiyou (彭启友), director of the Science and Technology Committee of China Yangtze River Three Gorges Project Development Company, told Xinhua News Agency: “The Three Gorges Dam Project’s ecological and environmental impact on the downstream lakes is being exaggerated.”

2007年3月，全国人大代表、中国长江三峡工程开发总公司科技委员会主任彭启友对新华社说：“三峡工程对下游湖泊的生态环境影响被夸大了。”

© Xiao Qiang for China Digital Times (CDT), 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Dongting lake, Lian Yue, Three Gorges Dam
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“A whole new world of expression and influencing public opinion has come to China with the spread of the Internet. The Internet provides people in China an unprecedented platform to express themselves, a place that’s boundless and centerless, and has brought about an explosion of personal expression.

Traditional elites in the Chinese society can no longer monopolize the power to shape public opinion, as ordinary citizens and anonymous bloggers are becoming more and more influential in online forums and blogs.

One can no longer ignore the boisterous opinions posted on the Internet, because they are powerful enough to bring significant change to the real world.

A group of opinion leaders stands out among the sea of bloggers and commentators on the Internet. Some of them were originally well-known intellectuals, and their influence has been expanded by the Internet. Some of them were not known to the public at all, but the Internet has given them an opportunity to reach an audience of tens of millions.

They come from a variety of professions, ranging from business executives to employees, from officials to scholars, from professors to freelancers. But they belong to the single community of netizens when they express their opinions on the Internet.
　　
We have selected 20 of them as representatives in order to paint a collective portrait of the influential figures in China’s Internet era.

Those selected are active on the Internet, are well-known to the public and possess a considerable amount of power in influencing public opinion.

They are different from traditional intellectuals not only in the tools they use — instead of pen and paper, they use keyboards and web pages — but also in their style of writing. They are much more personal and casual…

They are put into six categories, based on the subject and style of their writings:
Public Enlightenment: He Weifang, Li Yinhe, Xiao Han, Wang Shuya;
Criticism on the Establishment: Song Zude, Han Han, Fang Zhouzi;
Satire: Tao Tie, Qian Liexian, Wang Xiaofeng, Hecaitou;
General Commentary: Shiniankancai, Wuyuesanren, Lian Yue, An Ti, Yang Hengjun;
Rebellious: Mu Zi Mei, Luo Yonghao;
Business & Economics: Han Zhiguo, Ren Zhiqiang. ”

© Xiao Qiang for China Digital Times (CDT), 2008. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: bloggers, Fang Zhouzi, Han Han, He Weifang, hecaitou, Li Yinhe, Lian Yue, Luo Yonghao, Michael Anti, Muzimei, online public opinion, Shiniankancai, Song Zude, wang xiaofeng, wang yi, Wuyuesanren, Xiao Han, Yang Hengjun
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Lian Yue, a well-known social critic and blogger, attended the fourth Chinese Bloggers Conference in Guangzhou this year. The following are excerpts from the talk he gave during the conference, translated by Lucy Lin:

… I think the themes presented in today’s forum in the “Southern Metropolis Daily” on the creation, changes and transformation of a citizen society is very close-fitting to the agenda of our Annual Bloggers Conference. I feel that blogs are used for such purposes as well, so today in the afternoon when a lot of people asked questions, one person replied, “I am pessimistic.” What he meant by that is, “All that I have said and done and what others have done is useless.” At that time, the topic I was discussing was that it’s immoral for us to say that we’re pessimistic at the present stage; however, if you are a pessimist, you must keep it in your heart. To build a citizen society, the stage we are in right now is really very nascent. We only have a few blogs interlinked with each other trying to promote social progress. This effort seems so young, nonsensical, and far-fetched. In these moments, are you going to discourage him and set him back? Or are you going to tell him that his blogging is useless? If you say that this website is useless, then how will it even develop? The sprouts of citizen society will then be entangled. So at this time, I believe that at the present stage in China, a pessimistic outlook is immoral. (Audience applause)

Why should we write blogs? Why should we participate in this Annual Bloggers Conference? Why should everyone convene to communicate? This shows that we believe in ourselves, and we believe that we can change this society. If we can believe in ourselves, then we must also believe in others. I do not believe anyone present today is more brilliant than another. The skills that other people have are not weaker than ours, not by one bit. How many of the actions or words of the approximately one hundred people at this Annual Bloggers Conference are going to change this society? Truthfully speaking, there’s a possibility that this society cannot ever change. However, what use does a citizen society have then? Its use is that everyone is a seed in society. You have to pretend like you’re a seed, and perhaps a year later, each person can influence forty other people, and another year later, each person can influence ten thousand people. Society will change when this happens.

…:I used to frequently say that China is hopeless; I would say China is hopeless, and whatever we do is useless. Before 2007, I would say such things, but after 2007, I realized that I cannot say these kinds of words again. We can never say these kinds of words. We need to always encourage those in action and never set them back. …I am actually naturally a pessimistic person, but I should leave pessimism in my heart, never express those sentiments, and just let those sentiments become a memory.

Secondly, how should we prevent ourselves from becoming mad and delusional after persecution? (Applause) In other words, maybe those of you who are present today have experienced persecution to some extent. How should we maintain a normal mentality and normal state of mind when we are under persecution? This is also something that I have thought through last year.

Last year, whenever I picked up my phone, I would panic and worry whether someone was listening into my phone conversations. I kept on thinking about this problem at that, and after much thought, I reached an epiphany. If the power knows that someone is constantly criticizing and denying it, then it’s be abnormal for it not to utilize such surveillance methods. Since this is a method that is beyond my control, I will just say what I want to say on the phone, and I won’t let it affect my life. I will continue to banter with my wife on the phone as if these people do not exist.

The following are video clips from his talk:

© Xiao Qiang for China Digital Times (CDT), 2008. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: blogger conference 2008, bloggers, Lian Yue
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1. Letter from a Mongolian guy:

I am also a minority, Mongolian. But unlike people from Xinjiang and Tibet, the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region has been relatively calm. Inner Mongolia’s economy is relatively better, as it is said the GDP per capita here ranks 10th in the nation. On the edge of the road of any city, you can see Tibetans selling bones and straps, the Miao minority selling tea, and the Uighurs selling mutton string, but you can not see the Mongolians outside. I was told that to some extent this shows you the Mongolians have a pretty good life today, and do not need to endure a bitter life. I said, oh, that’s right. But I think to a greater extent, it reflects that Mongolian culture has been extremely marginalized and Mongolians are close to losing their identity. I’m very clear that there are inevitably Mongolians who work on the street. But they were not recognized, as their identity has been blurred.

The Mongolians around me in general feel very lost. They are in conflict with the Han Chinese sentiments, but get along very well with Han Chinese in daily life. But the feeling of being lost is strong there, I can sense that. I think I may be alarmist, but if there are days when the intensification of ethnic conflicts arise, the two sides will immediately turn on each other. It is just like World War II, when people were good neighbors the day before, but the next day they tormented you to death. In fact, those of us Mongolians who received higher education do not have such a narrow vision. The Mongolians I know generally think that nationality and state are very narrow things, and using geography or nationality to label a person is very funny. So we have always been opposed to being hostile to the Henanese or the Uygurs.

2. Letter from a Han Chinese girl (born in the late ’80s):

I slowly discovered that we all more or less have a deep-rooted concept that Uighurs are thieves, Tibetans are brutal, Shanghainese are shrewd calculators, Hunanese are hot tempered, Northeasterners love fighting, northern Jiangsuers are very country, and so on …. .. Before getting to know the people we already divided them by this or that kind of identity, just like a master buying slaves according to the condition of their teeth, which was just as brutally insulting. The more people you know, the more you find the crowd maintains this general view, not just toward Tibetans, the Uighurs, and Shanghainese. So many people have their own set of colored standards, such a strong habit of identity grows in the deep bone marrow of the entire nation. It is like blood running everywhere in a continuous cycle.

Today it’s the Tibetans, tomorrow it may be the Henanese who are thrown to the waves. People hurt each other and mutually judge each other. Thus, violence appears sooner or later, and it is far from over.

This time the Chinese Government’s approach has been very passive. It has been marginalized by the international media. If it is counted as a public relations crisis, the Chinese Government has failed, or, like its ethnic policy in Tibet, this effort is invalid.

© Wu Nan for China Digital Times (CDT), 2008. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: ethnic conflict, Lian Yue, minorities, netizens' voices, Tibet
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1、If there is a power that wants to block information, then we should assume this power is bad.

2、If this power actually blocked the information, then this power should be assumed to be worse.

3、If the power which blocked information now publishes only one-sided information, then we should assume this information is false.

4、For all untrue information, the power which blocks information should be held most responsible.

5、The power which blocks information has no credibility to judge related information that flows around.

6、Information blocking is the only reason for making the divide deeper and the situation worse, since people in different positions are all talking from their own perspectives, and cannot be verified.

7、Ultra-nationalism is an emotion, not reason; therefore censorship is a bed for such emotion, fostering extreme-Tibetan, extreme-Han, Japan hatred, Taiwan hatred and other extreme emotions.

8、Mainland China is a place full of such extreme emotions. This extreme emotion supports the power, and likely prevents reform of the power.

9、Only sufficient information and sufficient expression can dissolve such extreme emotion. Trying to control so-called “dangerous speech” is the biggest danger.

10、Therefore, allowing the media to freely enter Tibet to report is a critical way to solve this problem.

March 21, 2008.

© Xiao Qiang for China Digital Times (CDT), 2008. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Lhasa riots, Lian Yue
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The infinite truth,

So hard for me to seek and follow.

I lost my trace like the missing slaves in the Shanxi kilns.

I look up to the stars,

So solemn and holy;

As noble as the milk-fed Olympics pigs.

The stern justice,

Fills me with love and respect.

Like facing the flames burning the poverty den.

(...)
Read the rest of Look Up to the Stars Together – Lian Yue (270 words)

© Wu Nan for China Digital Times (CDT), 2007. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Lian Yue, Olympics food, poems, satire, Shanxi brick kiln, Wen Jiabao
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So far, you have only seen the beginning. According to the recollections and descriptions of some people, the “coerced labor” in the Shanxi brick kilns have traversed more than a decade in time and covered the entire province in scope. Even more disheartening was that we saw the usually crisis public relations management after the affair was exposed. This turned the matter of the “concentration camp” of “kiln slaves” into a straightforward matter of “illegal employment” which can be solved by paying the back wages. All the cruel butcheries (such as knocking someone unconscious and throwing him in the grinder to make minced meat (as reported on June 18, in Zhaoyan Metro News)) was turned into urban legend with a light repartee: “Show me the proof!”

Now that is even more frightening. When “kiln slavery” becomes only “illegal employment,” then what can possibly break the law? Has our nation become a zero-crime nation? It is very hard to accept that utopia has arrived so quickly. Fortunately, this idiocy was corrected. [Full text]

© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2007. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Lian Yue, local power, Shanxi brick kiln
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After The New York Times published explosive special reports about medicine and food safety in China, a huge problem that faces ordinary Chinese people has finally became a international issue. It’s a shocking reminder of how small the world has become: Chinese people can get to know China through The New York Times; Americans can get sick by eating toxic food from China. Nobody was surprised when the vice director of GAQSIQ (General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of PRC), responded that the Chinese government “pays close attention to consumers’ safety and works hard all the time to guarantee the quality of products and health of people.” No one wants to lose face, I can understand this kind of excuse. But perhaps it would be more praiseworthy if they admitted the problems that everyone knows exist. [Full text]

© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2007. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: food safety, Lian Yue
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In the article (translated by CDT), Lian Yue said the one million people in Xiamen, if they are keeping an eye on the local media, should be very familiar with the city’s P-Xylene (a harmful chemical) project, which allegedly is going to yield an annual output worth 80 billion yuan after completion. The project was put in the Fujian governor’s government report. On the official website of the Xiamen government, there is also an article about it dated on Jan. 14, 2007. The article, named “Reporting to the Secretary General”, said that on Nov. 17, 2006, the biggest industry project in Xiamen’s history, the 800 thousand-ton PX project, kicked off. The report said that this means a world-level petrochemical giant (Xiamen) is emerging.

(Photo: the kick-off ceremony of the biggest industry project in Xiamen)

(...)
Read the rest of The Biggest Chemical Project Puts Xiamen in Danger (687 words)

© Mo Ming for China Digital Times (CDT), 2007. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Lian Yue, xiamen, Xiamen PX
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It is said that on the Chinese Internet, the ratio of current affairs among all topics is among the world leaders. Every Chinese person is a political commentator. And the degree of volatility of their speeches (and the number of times that every netizen’s ancestors have been cursed) is also among the world leaders. The Internet watchdogs conclude that it was the anonymity of the Internet which caused this explosion of evil human nature. Aided by a bunch of VIP’s who were abused on the Internet, the real-name registration in every Internet area is gaining ground.

The current proposal for real-name blogger registration is one part of the process. Actually, Internet mob violence is something that the watchdogs ought to consider for another reason. On the mainland Internet many inappropriate websites have already been shut down, leaving only innocence and harmony behind. So why is our Internet still more barbaric than elsewhere? That is because this virtual world is the only place to speak out for many people whose rage have no other venue for release. [Full text]

© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2006. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: blogs, freedom of expression, Lian Yue, real name registration
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