{"id":126511,"date":"2011-11-08T22:56:02","date_gmt":"2011-11-09T05:56:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?p=126511"},"modified":"2011-11-08T22:56:02","modified_gmt":"2011-11-09T05:56:02","slug":"in-hong-kong-drama-china%e2%80%99s-communist-party-casts-virginian-as-a-villain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2011\/11\/in-hong-kong-drama-china%e2%80%99s-communist-party-casts-virginian-as-a-villain\/","title":{"rendered":"In Hong Kong Drama, China\u2019s Communist Party Casts Virginian as a Villain"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Washington Post profiles Mark Simon, an American working for Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai <\/strong><\/a>who has recently become a target of the Chinese government for his boss’ support of pro-democracy groups:<\/p>\n

\nSimon, who moved to Hong Kong in 1992 to take a job with a shipping company, surfaced as a focus of attention last month after the financial records of his boss, Lai, mysteriously popped up on the Internet. They revealed that Lai had made donations of nearly $8 million over five years to pro-democracy groups and individuals \u2014 and that Simon, as head of his private office, handled the payments.<\/p>\n

The donations broke no laws and were tiny compared with those made to pro-China parties by Hong Kong businessmen whose identities have remained secret. Financial statements show that Lai and a few other donors gave $770,000 to Hong Kong\u2019s Democratic Party over a 12-month period that ended in March 2010, while unidentified donors contributed $6.2 million over the same period to the Democrats\u2019 main rival, the Beijing-friendly Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong.<\/p>\n

China\u2019s official government representatives in Hong Kong kept quiet, but an extensive network of party-controlled organizations mobilized for attack. The party still operates in Hong Kong as it did under British rule as an underground organization: It is not registered, and its membership is secret. It nonetheless controls newspapers, trade union groups and a host of other bodies loyal to Beijing.<\/p>\n

Hong Kong papers run by the party and a media group owned by a pro-China businessman suggested that the money Lai donated had originated in America, citing as evidence Simon\u2019s former Pentagon job and his position in 2005 as head of the Hong Kong branch of Republicans Abroad. This, said Wen Wei Po, a party-run newspaper, showed that Hong Kong\u2019s pro-democracy camp is led by \u201cpolitical agents nurtured and funded by American intelligence organs.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Washington Post profiles Mark Simon, an American working for Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai who has recently become a target of the Chinese government for his boss’ support of pro-democracy groups: Simon, who moved to Hong Kong in 1992 to take a job with a shipping company, surfaced as a focus of attention […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[35,7,100],"tags":[5949,6436,6438,548],"class_list":["post-126511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hong-kong","category-information-revolution","category-politics","tag-hong-kong-democracy","tag-hong-kong-media","tag-jimmy-lai","tag-next-media","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nIn Hong Kong Drama, China\u2019s Communist Party Casts Virginian as a Villain<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2011\/11\/in-hong-kong-drama-china\u2019s-communist-party-casts-virginian-as-a-villain\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"In Hong Kong Drama, China\u2019s Communist Party Casts Virginian as a Villain\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Washington Post profiles Mark Simon, an American working for Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai who has recently become a target of the Chinese government for his boss’ support of pro-democracy groups: Simon, who moved to Hong Kong in 1992 to take a job with a shipping company, surfaced as a focus of attention […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2011\/11\/in-hong-kong-drama-china\u2019s-communist-party-casts-virginian-as-a-villain\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"China Digital Times (CDT)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ChinaDigitalTimes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-11-09T05:56:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/CDT-logo.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"186\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"177\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sophie Beach\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@cdt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@cdt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sophie Beach\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2011\/11\/in-hong-kong-drama-china%e2%80%99s-communist-party-casts-virginian-as-a-villain\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2011\/11\/in-hong-kong-drama-china%e2%80%99s-communist-party-casts-virginian-as-a-villain\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sophie Beach\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#\/schema\/person\/7f19e31b674d57a7dc20aab8e908c663\"},\"headline\":\"In Hong Kong Drama, China\u2019s Communist Party Casts Virginian as a Villain\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-11-09T05:56:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-11-09T05:56:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2011\/11\/in-hong-kong-drama-china%e2%80%99s-communist-party-casts-virginian-as-a-villain\/\"},\"wordCount\":325,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Hong Kong democracy\",\"Hong Kong media\",\"Jimmy Lai\",\"next media\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Hong Kong\",\"Information Revolution\",\"Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2011\/11\/in-hong-kong-drama-china%e2%80%99s-communist-party-casts-virginian-as-a-villain\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2011\/11\/in-hong-kong-drama-china%e2%80%99s-communist-party-casts-virginian-as-a-villain\/\",\"name\":\"In Hong Kong Drama, China\u2019s Communist Party Casts Virginian as a Villain\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-11-09T05:56:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-11-09T05:56:02+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2011\/11\/in-hong-kong-drama-china%e2%80%99s-communist-party-casts-virginian-as-a-villain\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2011\/11\/in-hong-kong-drama-china%e2%80%99s-communist-party-casts-virginian-as-a-villain\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2011\/11\/in-hong-kong-drama-china%e2%80%99s-communist-party-casts-virginian-as-a-villain\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"In Hong Kong Drama, China\u2019s Communist Party Casts Virginian as a Villain\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/\",\"name\":\"China Digital Times (CDT)\",\"description\":\"Covering China from Cyberspace\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#organization\",\"name\":\"China Digital Times\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/CDT-logo.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/CDT-logo.jpg\",\"width\":186,\"height\":177,\"caption\":\"China Digital Times\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ChinaDigitalTimes\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/cdt\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#\/schema\/person\/7f19e31b674d57a7dc20aab8e908c663\",\"name\":\"Sophie Beach\",\"description\":\"Sophie Beach is CDT's Operations and Communications Manager. From 2003-2021, she served as Executive Editor of CDT English. She lives in Berkeley, California.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/author\/sophie-beach\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"In Hong Kong Drama, China\u2019s Communist Party Casts Virginian as a Villain","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2011\/11\/in-hong-kong-drama-china\u2019s-communist-party-casts-virginian-as-a-villain\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"In Hong Kong Drama, China\u2019s Communist Party Casts Virginian as a Villain","og_description":"The Washington Post profiles Mark Simon, an American working for Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai who has recently become a target of the Chinese government for his boss’ support of pro-democracy groups: Simon, who moved to Hong Kong in 1992 to take a job with a shipping company, surfaced as a focus of attention […]","og_url":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2011\/11\/in-hong-kong-drama-china\u2019s-communist-party-casts-virginian-as-a-villain\/","og_site_name":"China Digital Times (CDT)","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ChinaDigitalTimes","article_published_time":"2011-11-09T05:56:02+00:00","og_image":[{"width":186,"height":177,"url":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/CDT-logo.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Sophie Beach","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@cdt","twitter_site":"@cdt","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Sophie Beach","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2011\/11\/in-hong-kong-drama-china%e2%80%99s-communist-party-casts-virginian-as-a-villain\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2011\/11\/in-hong-kong-drama-china%e2%80%99s-communist-party-casts-virginian-as-a-villain\/"},"author":{"name":"Sophie Beach","@id":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#\/schema\/person\/7f19e31b674d57a7dc20aab8e908c663"},"headline":"In Hong Kong Drama, China\u2019s Communist Party Casts Virginian as a Villain","datePublished":"2011-11-09T05:56:02+00:00","dateModified":"2011-11-09T05:56:02+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2011\/11\/in-hong-kong-drama-china%e2%80%99s-communist-party-casts-virginian-as-a-villain\/"},"wordCount":325,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#organization"},"keywords":["Hong Kong democracy","Hong Kong media","Jimmy Lai","next media"],"articleSection":["Hong Kong","Information Revolution","Politics"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2011\/11\/in-hong-kong-drama-china%e2%80%99s-communist-party-casts-virginian-as-a-villain\/","url":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2011\/11\/in-hong-kong-drama-china%e2%80%99s-communist-party-casts-virginian-as-a-villain\/","name":"In Hong Kong Drama, China\u2019s Communist Party Casts Virginian as a Villain","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-11-09T05:56:02+00:00","dateModified":"2011-11-09T05:56:02+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2011\/11\/in-hong-kong-drama-china%e2%80%99s-communist-party-casts-virginian-as-a-villain\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2011\/11\/in-hong-kong-drama-china%e2%80%99s-communist-party-casts-virginian-as-a-villain\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2011\/11\/in-hong-kong-drama-china%e2%80%99s-communist-party-casts-virginian-as-a-villain\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"In Hong Kong Drama, China\u2019s Communist Party Casts Virginian as a Villain"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#website","url":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/","name":"China Digital Times (CDT)","description":"Covering China from Cyberspace","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#organization","name":"China Digital Times","url":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/CDT-logo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/CDT-logo.jpg","width":186,"height":177,"caption":"China Digital Times"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ChinaDigitalTimes","https:\/\/x.com\/cdt"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#\/schema\/person\/7f19e31b674d57a7dc20aab8e908c663","name":"Sophie Beach","description":"Sophie Beach is CDT's Operations and Communications Manager. From 2003-2021, she served as Executive Editor of CDT English. She lives in Berkeley, California.","sameAs":["http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net"],"url":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/author\/sophie-beach\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126511"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126511\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}