China Digital Times

Stories tagged with: slideshow (62)

• Slideshow: Anti-Terrorism Exercises in China

  

  From Boston.com:

  Earlier in June, China launched a week-long series of anti-terrorist drills called “Great Wall 5″, in preparation for the upcoming 2008 Olympic Games. The drills involved emergency responders, “police forces, the People’s Armed Police, the People’s Liberation Army and the health, environmental protection, meteorology and transportation departments.” according to China’s Xinhua News Agency. (14 photos total)

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  • July 10, 2008 7:04 PM

• Sichuan Earthquake Aftermath: Slideshow

  

  A quake volunteer on the Tianya BBS posted striking photographs of the Sichuan earthquake aftermath.

  The following slideshow presents selected photos from the set. Scroll over “Notes” in the slideshow’s bottom right-hand corner for more information on the pictures and for some CDT translated captions.

  » Read more
  • June 1, 2008 12:35 AM

• Slideshow: Anti-France Protests in Hefei

  

  From the EastSouthWestNorth blog: The following is a photo play of the events that took place outside the Carrefour store in Hefei city (Anhui province) on April 19, 2008.

  Show on map

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  • April 26, 2008 10:23 PM

• Netizens Find Space to Comment on Lhasa Riots

  

  Tibetan unrest has prompted the Chinese government to undertake its most comprehensive Internet censorship campaign in recent memory. YouTube has been blocked inside China, presumably to stop the spread of videos of the chaos in Tibet, and one of CDT’s Beijing-based contributors reports his MyYahoo! page has been inaccessible ever since Tibet-related headlines started showing up in wire service RSS feeds. Only Xinhua versions of the news are available on mainstream news portals like Sina, Sohu and Netease, and comment functions under those articlesare now locked.

  But as the Hainan-based Tianya online community demonstrates, Chinese netizens have ways of working around even the most stringent of online controls.

  The Tianya Forum records roughly 200,000 online users, hundreds of thousands of new posts, and millions of comments per day. The entire Tianya community boasts more than six million registered members. In other words, anything posted to the site will be viewed extensively. Sure enough, most of the Lhasa riots-related posts are being deleted by Tianya moderators right away. Community members have nevertheless been able to comment on the riots thanks to a post called “Walk into Lhasa.” The content of the post consists entirely of touristic impressions of the Tibetan capital: blue skies, the sound of trumpets, old wrinkled men in the streets. As a result, the innocuous post–and it’s less than innocuous comment section–have so far survived the censors. Some selected comments, translated by CDT:

  * We are all living in a helpless situation…… They won’t let us to care about this so what can we do!?

  * Hehe, all gone.

  * Lu Xun said there are only two kinds of people in China: those who are happy to be slaves, and those who want to be slaves but can’t.

  * Let’s have a grand migration: Everyone in Xinjiang move to Tibet, everyone in Tibet move to Xinjiang. Then name another “Dalai.” I think representative Mao Xinyu is well suited for the job.

  * Learn the wisdom of posting from this author.

  * Even three Japanese were rescued? F…K, don’t they strongly support (Tibet independence)?

  * This is hopeless. I published a post supporting the unity of the country, but it was deleted anyway.

  * “Your post … is being moved to the “underground square.” If you have questions, please contact the editor of this forum.” What does “underground square” mean? Hell?

  * I don’t know. Any posts that have “sensitive words” are deleted. Except for posts containing “beautiful scenery,” nothing else can be published, or is deleted as soon as it published.

  * F…K. All deleted.

  * Such big news. Why is the discussion inside of China completely banned? All real Chinese people should care about this.

  * Good job, moderator. You are really efficient.

  * The government wants to handle this with a low profile. Please understand this. After all, this is quite tense timing. We should not give others any ammunition to use against us.

  * What’s to discuss? Separatist trash should be all killed. It’s not a good idea to just talk about it. Even if there is democracy some day, I will support a nationalist party coming to power.

  * But even then it is wrong to ban the subject. People in China have the right to know. Such a big website like Tianya has no news focus on this, no discussion pages on this. Plus, most Chinese people will defend unity.

  * Yep, that’s why CCTV broadcast it. They [the government] must be afraid of more radical points surfacing in the debate.

  * Not sure if people inside China can watch YOUTUBE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9QNKB34cJo&&
  Many comments from Chinese students abroad were deleted by YouTube. Just now I saw a bunch of comments, but they disappeared after reloading.

  * What if someone is about to travel to Tibet but isn’t aware of the situation?

  * YouTube is already blocked inside China.

  * At this moment Chinese should be in solidarity. Don’t give those who want to disrupt the Olympics a chance.

  * We do not have to love the government or the party, but we must love China.

  * It’s already on CCTV. Why can’t Tianya not publicize it? Pretending to be a virgin? F…K!

  * Strange, such a big thing but there’s nothing on Tianya.

  * I published many posts, none of them survived. All deleted. F…K!

  *There is a difference between statement and discussion.

  * I say let have the government send in a few thousand chengguan (城管，”Urban Management Forces”). Problem solved.

  * The most handsome photo of Brother Tao [Hu Jintao] is the where he’s wearing a helmet, standing on the streets of Lhasa in 1989.

  * Sh…t. These days every word is sensitive and can’t be published online. The propaganda department is really insecure.

  * Ganzi county in Sichuan has also started up (demonstrations)

  * So sensitive. The whole world is watching Beijing now.

  Rebecca MacKinnon has posted some interesting observations on the online response to the riots, with several links to other translations:

  For those living in the West who didn’t realize that there’s little sympathy for Tibet independence among ethnic Chinese in the PRC, this blog post on Global Voices will be a shocker. John Kennedy has translated chatter from Chinese blogs and chatrooms that generally runs along the lines of: those ungrateful minorities, we give them modern conveniences and look how they thank us… where have we heard this before? Reuters has a roundup on the Washington Post that begins: “a look at Chinese blogs reveals a vitriolic outpouring of anger and nationalism directed against Tibetans and the West.”

  Finally, some photo taken on March 16, around 2 pm, by a Lhasa-based blogger.

  Also from the blogger in the same post: “I saw two military trucks carrying about 20 to 30 rioters, their heads were pushed down by PLA soldiers, on the Second Ring Road to the suburbs of Lhasa. I could not get the picture because the trucks were driving too fast.”

  » Read more
  • March 16, 2008 4:42 PM

• Who Is That “Small Minority of People” Who Are Attacking and Burning Lhasa?

  

  Here are some relevant information about the Tibet protests. First, Xinhua’s account of the events in Lhasa:

  Xinhua, in Chinese, Saturday Morning 1:30 AM

  Responsible Person in TAR Says that A Very Small Minority of People are Attacking, Smashing, Shooting and Burning, answering queries from a Xinhua Journalist

  Xinhua March 14 Lhasa. In recent days, a very small minority of people have been attacking, smashing, shooting and burning, disturbing public order and harming the safety of the lives and property of the masses. These is sufficient evidence to say that this been plotted, organized and painstakingly planned by the Dalai clique. This has already aroused great anger and strong condemnation among all the nationalities of the TAR. The relevant departments in Tibet are according to law taking appropriate measures. We are entirely capable of preserving Tibet’s social stability and protecting the lives and property of all the nationalities of Tibet. The plots of a small minority is scheming to destroy the stability and harmony of Tibet is not winning the hearts of the people and so is doomed to failure.

  The following commentary about the demographics behind the Tibet protests is translated from a Chinese text:

  While Tibetans have very serious grievances including racism and broad spectrum oppression, there are also other factors including demography and employment.

  Tibet’s population is very young. The median age in a population is according to some scholars linked to phenomena such as violent crime which is committed disproportionately by people in their 20s. Now the median age in the U.S. is 36 years up from about 27 years in 1968. The U.S. 60’s youth culture culminated that year — which also the year the U.S. had the lowest median age over the past 70 years. See here.

  Tibet has a developing country population structure (might demographics be a factor in turbulent politics?) while China is reaching a “developed country” population structure.

  I did a little looking around and found data on Tibet’s (Tibetan Autonomous Region) median age and China’s median age in 2000. Tibet: 21 years (half the population was under 21 in 2000), China: 28.95 years. China’s population had a median age of 21 back in 1978, just five or so years after China’s birth rate started its sharp decline. Family planning rules are not applied to the TAR countryside, but do apply in cities, particularly for government workers and party members. Thus Tibet has a very different demographic profile than the rest of the PRC. Probably true of Xinjiang as well, where relaxed family planning rules apply in the countryside. China’s median population is projected to increase to 33.21 years in 2010, 35.44 years in 2020, 38.51 years in 2030, and 40.58 years in 2040. So the demographic contrast between the TAR and the PRC will continue to widen for many years to come.

  Think about unemployment. Many Chinese provinces let off some pressure by the large numbers of people who go off to other provinces to seek work. This is much harder for Tibetans, (and similarly for Uighurs, I think) because of the big language barrier they face in a Chinese speaking world and the alienness of Han culture to them. So rural unemployment in Tibet is a bigger problem (even allowing for serious poverty and lack of development) since the safety valve can’t work as well as it does in the provinces of the interior. Now discrimination in employment that Tibetans feel is sometimes due to ethnic Han racism against them, but probably is often because many Tibetans can’t speak Chinese as well as migrant competitors from the interior. (I saw the same problem in Xinjiang ten years ago), even so, it is felt as discrimination against them as Tibetans. Then there is discrimination for political reasons, with tour guides being the most famous example, since Tibetan tour guides might say politically incorrect things. Not to mention the herders who are settled in cities with nothing to do.

  More about Tibet’s developing country population structure is here (in Chinese).

  Here is a video clips from RussiaToday:

  » Read more
  • March 15, 2008 1:45 PM

• Slideshow: A Flipbook on China

  

  View the last 60 years of Chinese history through the Magnum lens. According to Slate, the photo agency’s China archive can be now be seen in motion:

  

  The series’ release coincides with FotoFest 2008: The Twelfth International Biennial of Photography and Photo-Related Art, which opened in Houston March 7 and continues through March 20. This year, its dual themes are “China” and “Transformations.” Details from FotoFest:

  Politically and culturally, photography has been a key element in creating the public face of China since the late 19th century. From 1870 to 1920, photography helped explain and justify European economic exploitation and occupation of China. From 1938 - 1980, photography became a major tool in Communist Party campaigns to win internal public support for its philosophy and programs - and the message it wanted to send to the outside world. From 1980 - 2008, photography has become one of the major mediums of communication, public and private, about contemporary Chinese society.

  Departing from most contemporary art programs on China, the FOTOFEST2008 exhibitions and programs will present both historical and contemporary work. The historical component features three exhibitions showing works from 1934 - 1975 that have never been shown outside of China before. Seven contemporary programs and exhibitions present work from the late 1980’s to 2008 - classical and mixed media work by Chinese artists addressing religion, ethnicity, gender, urban transformation, identity, globalization, and the inter-relationship of current art to classical Chinese art and history. All the exhibitions are by Chinese artists working in mainland China. Much of the work to be presented by FotoFest will be seen outside of China for the first time.

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  • March 10, 2008 8:57 PM

• Slideshow: Guangzhou Fanyu Casio Factory Workers Go On Strike

  

  According to the Guangzhou-based Southern Metropolitan Daily, more than 4,000 workers from the Fanyu Casio factory in Guangzhou went on strike for their wages on the morning of March 6, 2008. The authorities sent out anti-riot police and public security personnel to return workers to the factory; twenty workers were injured in the process.

  This news went online in Chinese cyberspace for only few hours before being taken down from many major news sites. But photos and comments are still spreading in BBS and blogs. Radio Free Asia also reported the incident. Here are some photos, from Southern Metropolitan Daily etc.

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  • March 7, 2008 11:03 PM

• Slideshow: Behind the Dried Bamboo Curtain

  

  Dried bamboo shoots (笋干) are a popular specialty food product manufactured by hand in Yong’an (永安), Fujian in a back-breaking process few Chinese consumers of the snack appreciate. One photographer recently went to a bamboo mountain in Fujian last spring to document how the snack is made, via fengniao.com:

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  • March 2, 2008 2:44 PM

• Slideshow: Those Who Remain in Rural Zhejiang

  

  A photographer from Haining City in Zhejiang presents his works of the countryside areas in Zhejiang on fengniao.com. Most of the photos were taken during Labor Day, National Day and Spring Festival in 2006 and 2007. Through these photos, we see that most of the younger generation in the rural areas have flocked to the cities. What’s left are old people, women and children. In some of the photos, we can see old people still work very hard to make a living, instead of being taken care of by their children like those in the cities. However, even though the younger generation who become migrant workers also work hard in the cities, many of them still don’t get paid or get paid late from the employers.

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  • February 18, 2008 1:48 PM

• Slideshow: All About Train Tickets

  

  A netizen with the nickname Zeng Guangyong posted some photos taken recently on fengniao.com. These photos illustrate how difficult it is for common people in China to buy train tickets back home for Spring Festival. Zeng Guangyong says that it is the holiday season and so he should post some “harmonious” photos, but he just cannot hide these non-harmonious ones which present the reality of ticket-buying for most Chinese people.

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  • February 18, 2008 8:47 AM

• Valentine’s Day With Chinese Characteristics.

  

  An article in Beijing’s central state-run English daily reveals just how much the West’s most famous Hallmark holiday means to some in China. From China Daily:

  “Nowadays, Valentine’s Day is widely celebrated in China, and divorce on this ‘day of love’ could be hurtful,” the newspaper cited Gao Zhi, a judge at the Xicheng District Court, as saying.

  “We didn’t arrange the sessions of any divorce cases on Thursday, which is courtesy, rather than a policy,” said Yu Lihua, a senior female judge in charge of divorces at the Shijingshan District Court.

  The reason for the practice, according to Yu, is that the majority of the judges presiding over divorce proceedings are young people who take the Valentine’s Day seriously.

  Below are Some photos taken on Valentine’s Day in China, via fengniao.com and Daqi.com:

  And in another China Daily article, Chinese fall hard for imported holiday of Valentine’s Day:

  In the booming eastern city of Wenzhou, young couples rushing to get married on this special day led a downtown registry office to open 30 minutes early on Thursday morning — and to stop accepting divorce applications for the day.

  Even old couples want to try the Western holiday: 60 years into their marriage, a couple in Xi’an in northwestern Shaanxi Province decided they, too, wanted to celebrate Valentine’s Day.

  The news was published on a local newspaper on Tuesday and by 6 p.m. on Wednesday, about 1,500 people had put up Internet postings, 90 percent of which voiced support.

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  • February 17, 2008 11:27 AM

• Slideshow: New Year and New Unpaid Migrant Workers

  

  On Feb 5, 2008, nine migrant construction workers, holding up signs that read “repay my blood and sweat,” (还我血汗钱) blocked the main road near Dabeiyao Bridge and Jianwai Soho in Beijing, causing serious traffic jams.

  The protesters said their company, located in Beijing’s tony Jianwai SOHO complex, promised to pay their wages immediately after they finished the work, so they worked overtime in Beijing instead of going home for the Spring Festival. After the work was completed, however, the company refused to pay, saying that the money had been handed over to a middleman. The workers said they had no other choice but to take their complaints to the street.

  - Source from Fengniao.com
  - Read also Photo Series: Who Is Gonna Take Responsibility for 150 Million Unpaid Migrant Workers? via CDT

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  • February 10, 2008 2:17 PM

• Slideshow: Huge Dumpling Banquet

  

  On 2008 Chinese Lunar New Year’s Eve, people in Liuminying Village in Beijing’s Daxing District continued their 28-year-tradition: A massive dumpling banquet, large in both the number of people attending (thousands) and the size of the dumplings (multiple kilograms, in one case) via Fengniao.

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  • February 10, 2008 11:21 AM

• Slideshow: A Little Fun During the Snowstorm

  

  Millions of Chinese people suffered from the severe snowstorms recently. However, the big snow brought not only suffering to people but also relaxing moments. A post on Tianya.com collects the pictures of snowmen people built within the past week.

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  • February 4, 2008 6:21 PM

• Music Series: A Song to Migrant Workers Who are Going Home for 2008 Spring Festival

  

  Singer-songwriter Hu Pan has composed a song, “Going Home 2008,” to soothe migrant workers whose long-awaited trips home for Spring Festival have been thwarted by devastating winter weather in southern China. Lyrics translated by CDT, with photos and video via Youtube:

  “Going Home 2008″

  Windy Snow
  I am on my way home
  Mom is sleeping by the road
  She was expecting I would return home in full glory
  The old village looks run down in the winter
  We migrant workers are away from home and working all over the country
  We are the migratory birds of this time

  Fly and fly and fly over the freezing walls, fly and fly…
  The dreams were with me on the way to the city
  Fly and fly and fly over neon lights, fly and fly…
  I am on my way home desiring the days we are altogether

  Father is really getting old
  His hair is like the late-season rice stalks waiting to be harvested
  He is waiting for me at the door, his love from adolescence, and my good news from the city

  Fly over the freezing walls, fly and fly…
  (repeat)

  And here is an eight minute video, showing some reality at the train station, from YouTube:

  

  » Read more
  • February 3, 2008 11:44 AM