A July 31 People’s Daily overseas edition editorial simultaneously called for internal reform and warned against U.S. efforts to undermine China from the grassroots. Netizens have latched on to this passage in particular:
…with ‘Internet freedom’ as its slogan, they [the Americans] will attack ‘top down’ governance in order to push forward the traditional model of liberal democracy; through the use of ‘rights lawyers’, underground religion, dissidents, internet heroes, and disadvantaged social groups as the core forces, they will push for a ‘bottom-up’ approach to Chinese governance from the grassroots to lay a foundation for changing China…
。。。以“网络自由”为旗号，改变“自上而下”推进民主自由的传统模式，以维权律师、地下宗教、异见人士、网络领袖、弱势群体为核心，以期通过“自下而上”的方式渗透中国基层，为中国的“改变”创造条件。。。
China’s “rights lawyers,” people like Chen Guangcheng and Si Weijiang, struggle under a system that at best selectively enforces rule of law.
Cui Weiping, an outspoken professor at the Beijing Film Academy, gave an especially piquant retort to this editorial on Weibo:
BeijingCuiWeiping: Everyone can relate to at least one of these: “rights lawyers, underground religion, dissidents, internet heroes, and disadvantaged social groups.”
北京崔卫平: 总有一款适合你：“维权律师、地下宗教、异见人士、网络领袖、弱势群体”。
Others have compared the article’s list of five bad influences to the five black categories of the Cultural Revolution:
GuoOldStudent: The old five black categories: land owners, the rich, anti-revolutionaries, bad elements, rightists. The new five black categories: rights lawyers, underground religion, dissidents, internet heroes, and disadvantaged social groups.
郭老学徒: 老黑五类：地、富、反、坏、右。新黑五类：维、教、异、网、弱。
LittleKe: First comes family, then country, then everything else. Average Chinese are just trying to get by in their daily lives. They won’t be able to help the country until their own situation is stable, and after that they’ll naturally consider everything else. The people of Shifang and Qidong are doing just that: protecting their own. They’re perfectly capable of protecting the interests of the country. Whether you believe it or not, I firmly do.
小柯: 圣人训：先家，后国，再天下。小民百姓，讨生活，过日子，保得了家才能卫得了国，而后自然威天下。十方在保家，启冬在保家，他们一定也能护国。不管你们信不信，我坚信。
HeBin: I’ve heard those American devils plan to use rights lawyers and online activists to destroy our Communist society. But how come, to this day, I still haven’t gotten any secret signals from a female spy?
何兵：据说美国鬼子要通过维权律师和网络意见领袖，使我红色江山易帜。怎么到现在，女特务还没和我对暗号？
C_thun: Top-down change? We of the disadvantaged social groups have never seen such a thing.
C_thun：自上而下？弱势群体表示没见过。
MakeCCPDrinkSanlu: All the princesses are in the U.S., and yet you have the nerve to say stupid stuff like this.
冲杯三鹿给傥喝：公主都在美国，好意思说这种屁话
CrazyApe: So you admit the U.S. is the one addressing the most basic, urgent demands of the Chinese people, huh?
疯猿：那么就是承认美国抓住了天朝百姓最基本迫切的诉求了是么
SecondGenZhengjiuFutian: Aren’t the five types of people this People’s Daily articles points out the targets of the government’s security and stability maintenance projects?
二代症久富田： 人民日报所指的五种人是否就是政府的防备对象，维稳对象。
PennyNerd: Liberal democracy is traditionally advanced with the “top down” approach? Did Puyi or the Nationalists pave the way for building the New China? The People’s Daily is talking crazy again.
PennyNerd： 推进民主自由的传统模式是“自上而下”？原来建立新中国也是傅仪或者民国政府禅让出来的？日人民报又抽风了。
ChenYoshi: So this is where this article originally comes from. A lot of people haven’t been able to find it because it’s being posted under different titles. Man, they actually put ‘rights lawyers’ in the five black categories… All you lawyers out there, take warning.
陈有西:出处原文原来在这里。好多人未捜到是题目不同。真把「维权律师」列入新黑五类了。律师们清醒吧。
SanXiaAncientTea: What this article really means: ‘rights lawyers,’ underground religion, dissidents, Internet heroes, and disadvantaged social groups are the least stable elements of Chinese society, and the Party will take action against them when needed.
三峡自古出好茶：言下之意：维权律师、地下宗教、异见人士、网络领袖、弱势群体属于当前社会极不稳定因素，必要时党要采取措施
Via CDT Chinese. Translation by Little Bluegill.
