Researchers Voice Rights Concerns Over Emotion Recognition Technology

by Joseph Brouwer | Mar 03, 2021

Emotion recognition technology is being marketed globally as the next frontier of facial recognition, with proponents claiming it particularly well-suited for two starkly different environments: schools and prisons. In the Chinese context, companies have explicitly attached themselves to nationwide surveillance schemes such as the Sharp Eyes program, which aims to conduct real-time surveillance of vast swaths of China using high-tech surveillance cameras, facial recognition technology, and algorithmic modeling. In January 2021, British human rights organization Article 19 published a...

Today, to be guilty of our common ideals, I am deeply honoured.

- former Hong Kong LegCo member Eddie Chu Hoi-dick, before his bail hearing

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CDT Weekly: How to Read It From Now On

Mar 1, 2021

The third edition of CDT’s weekly email newsletter was published on Friday, and covers the launch of our new Chinese-language Sensitive Words calendar, China’s probably coincidental ban on Taiwanese pineapple, “incorrect collective memories” of the Wuhan lockdown one year on, the steadily constricting environment for online speech and other expression, and more. Each week, the newsletter aims to provide an overview of new content across CDT’s English and Chinese sites, as well as the bilingual China Digital Space wiki, and related content elsewhere. To help launch CDT...

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Hong Kong Prosecutors Charge 47 With Subversion, Supporters Rally Outside Bail Hearing

Mar 1, 2021

In an orchestrated spectacle seemingly timed to coordinate with leaders in Beijing, 47 prominent pro-democracy supporters—including very nearly every member of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy camp—were crammed into a West Kowloon courtroom on Monday, March 1 for a bail hearing. They were charged the day prior with subversion under the Hong Kong National Security Law (NSL) for running in an informal primary election in July 2020, in which more than 600,000 Hong Kong people voted. If ultimately convicted, they face up to life in prison. After adjourning for several hours when it emerged that...

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New Details Emerge from Xinjiang Camps Amid Government Efforts to Discredit Victims

Mar 2, 2021

As a campaign of mass internment of Uyghurs in northwest China seemingly begins to transition into a new stage involving forced labor and population transfers, details of the detainees’ experiences continue to emerge. In early February, a BBC investigation uncovered evidence of systematic rape in the camps, “the-situation-that-must-not-be-mentioned” in the words of Weibo users trying to avoid censors’ gazes. At The New Yorker, a visual essay written by Ben Mauk, with artwork by Matt Huynh, drew on extensive interviews to provide deeply personal testimony on life in Xinjiang during the...

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Translation: Weibo User Sentenced to Six Months Over Wuhan Poem

Feb 24, 2021

Last April, Weibo user “Marilyn Monroe” (@玛丽莲梦六) wrote a widely-shared post of vignettes from the Wuhan lockdown. The user reported that they were “asked to tea” soon after the post went viral, and later disappeared. Now they have been convicted of “picking quarrels and provoking troubles” and sentenced to six months in prison: Zhang Wenfang, a Hebei based Weibo user, sentenced to 6 months in prison for a piece of content she posted on Weibo, which mentioned dozens of untold sad stories during the Covid lockdown in Wuhan City, and which authority claimed contained rumors....

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New Details Emerge from Xinjiang Camps Amid Government Efforts to Discredit Victims

Mar 2, 2021

As a campaign of mass internment of Uyghurs in northwest China seemingly begins to transition into a new stage involving forced labor and population transfers, details of the detainees’ experiences continue to emerge. In early February, a BBC investigation uncovered evidence of systematic rape in the camps, “the-situation-that-must-not-be-mentioned” in the words of Weibo users trying to avoid censors’ gazes. At The New Yorker, a visual essay written by Ben Mauk, with artwork by Matt Huynh, drew on extensive interviews to provide deeply personal testimony on life in Xinjiang during the...

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How the HK47 Prepared for Charges Under the National Security Law, and International Reactions

Mar 2, 2021

On Sunday, February 28, 47 prominent Hong Kong pro-democracy activists were charged with subversion under the Hong Kong National Security Law. The charges were widely expected after the activists were first arrested in a massive sweep in January 2021. After initially being released on bail after their arrests, they were notified on Friday, February 26th to report to police stations across the city at 2pm on Sunday, giving them just days to prepare. On social media and with local media outlets, the 47 documented their last days of freedom and their final messages to the public. On Sunday,...

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Another Brick In the Wall: Music Site’s Blocking Further Closes Off Chinese Internet

Feb 19, 2021

Nobody was surprised when Clubhouse, the viral app on which Chinese users shared their unfiltered views with global audiences, was blocked in China. Users had widely anticipated that Clubhouse would have to die. But the sudden blocking of Bandcamp, an international independent music platform, shocked Chinese and international observers. Together with the recent raid on Renren Yingshi, the subtitling group that provided uncensored international film and television translations to the Chinese public, the block illustrates the significant ongoing constriction of space for unregulated cultural...

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Q&A: Leta Hong Fincher on China’s Resilient Feminists

Q&A: Leta Hong Fincher on China’s Resilient Feminists

Jun 5, 2019

A former journalist, Leta Hong Fincher was the first American to receive a PhD in Sociology from Tsinghua University in Beijing. Her research there led to her first book, “Leftover Women: The Resurgence of Gender Inequality in China,” which examined rising gender inequalities in China today through the lens of economics, marriage, and the real estate market. Her widely acclaimed second book, “Betraying Big Brother: The Feminist Awakening in China,” examines the rise of a new feminist movement in China and profiles several of the key participants, including the...

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Divorce Restrictions Endanger Women as Leaders Focus on Demographic Crisis

Mar 3, 2021

China has implemented a mandatory “cooling-off” period for divorces, mandating that spouses observe a 30-day waiting period to deter impulsive divorces. But the new requirement, which went into effect on January 1st of this year, has created a variety of side effects, from a surge of divorces in the final days of 2020 to appointment “scalping” under the new system. The controversy about the waiting period and how to manage China’s growing divorce rate comes as Chinese lawmakers wrestle with a long foretold demographic crisis of an aging population and falling...

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Divorce Restrictions Endanger Women as Leaders Focus on Demographic Crisis

Mar 3, 2021

China has implemented a mandatory “cooling-off” period for divorces, mandating that spouses observe a 30-day waiting period to deter impulsive divorces. But the new requirement, which went into effect on January 1st of this year, has created a variety of side effects, from a surge of divorces in the final days of 2020 to appointment “scalping” under the new system. The controversy about the waiting period and how to manage China’s growing divorce rate comes as Chinese lawmakers wrestle with a long foretold demographic crisis of an aging population and falling...

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Researchers Voice Rights Concerns Over Emotion Recognition Technology

Mar 3, 2021

Emotion recognition technology is being marketed globally as the next frontier of facial recognition, with proponents claiming it particularly well-suited for two starkly different environments: schools and prisons. In the Chinese context, companies have explicitly attached themselves to nationwide surveillance schemes such as the Sharp Eyes program, which aims to conduct real-time surveillance of vast swaths of China using high-tech surveillance cameras, facial recognition technology, and algorithmic modeling. In January 2021, British human rights organization Article 19 published a...

More Stories

Divorce Restrictions Endanger Women as Leaders Focus on Demographic Crisis

Mar 3, 2021

China has implemented a mandatory “cooling-off” period for divorces, mandating that spouses observe a 30-day waiting period to deter impulsive divorces. But the new requirement, which went into effect on January 1st of this year, has created a variety of side effects, from a surge of divorces in the final days of 2020 to appointment “scalping” under the new system. The controversy about the waiting period and how to manage China’s growing divorce rate comes as Chinese lawmakers wrestle with a long foretold demographic crisis of an aging population and falling...

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Chinese Countryside Better Off Than Ever Before, While Some Reforms Stagnate

Jan 26, 2021

In early December, President Xi Jinping declared that China had eliminated absolute poverty. His announcement was the culmination of a years-long campaign that sought to raise the annual income of every person in China’s countryside above 4,000 yuan. The Economist reviewed the campaign and found it largely effective in eliminating the destitution previously endemic to China’s countryside: Sceptics understandably ask whether China fiddled its numbers in order to win what it calls the “battle against poverty”. There are of course still isolated cases of abject deprivation. China, however, set...

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New Details Emerge from Xinjiang Camps Amid Government Efforts to Discredit Victims

Mar 2, 2021

As a campaign of mass internment of Uyghurs in northwest China seemingly begins to transition into a new stage involving forced labor and population transfers, details of the detainees’ experiences continue to emerge. In early February, a BBC investigation uncovered evidence of systematic rape in the camps, “the-situation-that-must-not-be-mentioned” in the words of Weibo users trying to avoid censors’ gazes. At The New Yorker, a visual essay written by Ben Mauk, with artwork by Matt Huynh, drew on extensive interviews to provide deeply personal testimony on life in Xinjiang during the...

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Translation: “The Situation-That-Must-not-be-Mentioned” – Chinese Netizens Respond to Xinjiang Camps

Feb 5, 2021

This week, the BBC published an investigation into reports of systematic rape at internment camps in Xinjiang, including graphic and disturbing detail from former detainees and camp staff. This is the latest of many recent reports alleging mistreatment, political indoctrination, forced labor, and more at the camps. While Chinese censors prohibit any discussion of events in Xinjiang from entering the domestic media space, official statements responding to news reports dismiss the allegations, claiming that residents of Xinjiang are living “a happy life in such a stable environment.” Despite...

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Critics Facing Uphill Battle in Efforts to Organize Olympics Boycott

Feb 17, 2021

A growing number of voices are calling for a boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. While discussion among Western countries about a boycott has circulated for months, voices in favor of a boycott have grown stronger in light of growing evidence of gross human rights violations in China, including the recent U.S. designation of ongoing atrocities in Xinjiang as genocide. The Washington Post’s Ellen Nakashima, Rick Maese, and John Hudson reported on the ongoing U.S. debate about an Olympics boycott: Two weeks into its term, the Biden administration is far from settling on a course...

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China & the World

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WHO’s China Research Trip Ends With More Questions Than Answers

Feb 9, 2021

During a press conference that marked the end of the World Health Organization’s 12-day China-based investigation into the coronavirus’ origins, WHO experts seemingly ruled out the possibility of a lab leak, instead asserting that the disease likely crossed into humans from animals. Establishing the virus’ origin is critical for future pandemic prevention, yet the Chinese government delayed the WHO’s investigation for over a year. When Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison called for a WHO investigation in April 2020, the Chinese government launched a trade war against Australia and...

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Divorce Restrictions Endanger Women as Leaders Focus on Demographic Crisis

Mar 3, 2021

China has implemented a mandatory “cooling-off” period for divorces, mandating that spouses observe a 30-day waiting period to deter impulsive divorces. But the new requirement, which went into effect on January 1st of this year, has created a variety of side effects, from a surge of divorces in the final days of 2020 to appointment “scalping” under the new system. The controversy about the waiting period and how to manage China’s growing divorce rate comes as Chinese lawmakers wrestle with a long foretold demographic crisis of an aging population and falling...

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Information Revolution

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Government Partners With Private Corporations To Monitor China’s Internet

Dec 22, 2020

New investigations by ChinaFile and The New York Times reveal the complexities of the vast and diffuse organs tasked by the Chinese state with understanding (and manipulating) online public opinion. The Great Firewall, the “Fifty Cent Party,” and CDT’s “Directives From the Ministry of Truth” are well known examples of the Chinese government’s efforts to control the internet. The investigations by ChinaFile and The Times show that public-private partnerships built on sophisticated software programs are the new frontier of internet control in China. Jessica Batke and Mareike Ohlberg’s...

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Translation: Weibo User Sentenced to Six Months Over Wuhan Poem

Feb 24, 2021

Last April, Weibo user “Marilyn Monroe” (@玛丽莲梦六) wrote a widely-shared post of vignettes from the Wuhan lockdown. The user reported that they were “asked to tea” soon after the post went viral, and later disappeared. Now they have been convicted of “picking quarrels and provoking troubles” and sentenced to six months in prison: Zhang Wenfang, a Hebei based Weibo user, sentenced to 6 months in prison for a piece of content she posted on Weibo, which mentioned dozens of untold sad stories during the Covid lockdown in Wuhan City, and which authority claimed contained rumors....

More Stories

The Great Divide

Latest

Chinese Countryside Better Off Than Ever Before, While Some Reforms Stagnate

Jan 26, 2021

In early December, President Xi Jinping declared that China had eliminated absolute poverty. His announcement was the culmination of a years-long campaign that sought to raise the annual income of every person in China’s countryside above 4,000 yuan. The Economist reviewed the campaign and found it largely effective in eliminating the destitution previously endemic to China’s countryside: Sceptics understandably ask whether China fiddled its numbers in order to win what it calls the “battle against poverty”. There are of course still isolated cases of abject deprivation. China, however, set...

More Stories

Sci-Tech

Latest

Researchers Voice Rights Concerns Over Emotion Recognition Technology

Mar 3, 2021

Emotion recognition technology is being marketed globally as the next frontier of facial recognition, with proponents claiming it particularly well-suited for two starkly different environments: schools and prisons. In the Chinese context, companies have explicitly attached themselves to nationwide surveillance schemes such as the Sharp Eyes program, which aims to conduct real-time surveillance of vast swaths of China using high-tech surveillance cameras, facial recognition technology, and algorithmic modeling. In January 2021, British human rights organization Article 19 published a...

More Stories

Environment

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Xi’s Climate Pledge Stuns World But Barriers Remain

Sep 29, 2020

Chinese leader Xi Jinping unexpectedly announced sweeping and potentially transformative, albeit vague, commitments to cut China’s carbon footprint last week. In an address before the United Nation’s General Assembly, Xi said, “We aim to have CO2 emissions peak before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060.“ Xi’s pledge both reaffirmed goals set by the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, and unilaterally set a new benchmark for emissions control. Since Trump’s ascension to the American presidency, China has angled to assume a global leadership position on climate change. Xi’s speech comes...

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Hong Kong

Latest

How the HK47 Prepared for Charges Under the National Security Law, and International Reactions

Mar 2, 2021

On Sunday, February 28, 47 prominent Hong Kong pro-democracy activists were charged with subversion under the Hong Kong National Security Law. The charges were widely expected after the activists were first arrested in a massive sweep in January 2021. After initially being released on bail after their arrests, they were notified on Friday, February 26th to report to police stations across the city at 2pm on Sunday, giving them just days to prepare. On social media and with local media outlets, the 47 documented their last days of freedom and their final messages to the public. On Sunday,...

More Stories

Taiwan

Latest

In First Phone Call, Biden and Xi Hash Out Differences, Set Stage for “Extreme Competition”

Feb 11, 2021

On February 10, newly elected President Joe Biden spoke with Chinese leader Xi Jinping for the first time in office. The Biden White House and China’s Xinhua News both provided readouts of the call. Human rights appeared to be a central issue in their conversation as Biden expressed “fundamental concerns” about the “crackdown in Hong Kong, human rights abuses in Xinjiang, and increasingly assertive actions in the region, including toward Taiwan.” Xinhua’s readout curtly claimed those issues to be China’s internal affairs. The two leaders also spoke about climate change, security policy, and...

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