Inside a media crackdown in China

January 2, 2006 10:31 PM

Every weekly meeting causes me to feel ashamed. I listen to people lie. I listen to people lie shamelessly and authoritatively. And you cannot refute them. You cannot stand up and say, "You are lying. What are you lying?" Tolerating lies is regarded as wisdom. Those who are anxious to speak the truth are regarded as being victims of too much hormone. People make fun of themselves this way, and then wisely say: "Those naive actions will only bring even worse consequences. Be mature, be rational, be practical. Research more issues and talk less about theories."

This was written by an employee at The Beijing News after three of it's head editors were fired from their positions last week. The paper, one of the most progressive newspapers in China, was taken over by editors from The Guangming Daily, a paper directly controlled by "The Ministry of Publicity". Via Eastwestnorthsouth who translated the original blog post as well as this one written by another member of the staff at The Beijing News.
posted by afu (22 comments total)

I believe the Internet will slowly help to change China.
posted by Protocols of the Elders of Awesome at 10:52 PM on January 2, 2006

Have you tried using the internet in China? Even worse, have you ever been subjected to the horror of the "China only" internet available to university students living in dorms?

I see your point, and I don't disagree, but suing the internet here really drives me insane. Any time I want to read a blog, or visit wikipedia, or do any number of things, I have to use an unreliable and painfully slow proxy to bypass the firewall. Also, the sheer volume of propaganda here nauseating.
posted by [expletive deleted] at 11:05 PM on January 2, 2006

Maybe Amnesty International should start a programme of hosting fast proxies with variable IPs.
posted by Protocols of the Elders of Awesome at 11:16 PM on January 2, 2006

Have you tried using the internet in China?

Er, yes -- read a lot of MeFi!
posted by Wolof at 11:46 PM on January 2, 2006

I have to use an unreliable and painfully slow proxy to bypass the firewall.
Try Tor.

The university ban on the international internet really is beyond the pale. It makes me think of how every university campus here has only a few gates, clearly to allow for easy student control should the need arise. The government is frightened of students and thus their lives are regimented. Students spend 30-40 hours in the classroom each week, are required to live on campus (where the gates lock at night), many did not freely choose their major, and everyone has to take indoctrinatory courses on topics such as Deng Xiao Ping Thought.

At at least one local university proxies are posted somewhere on the university website to allow students access to the outside world. Interestingly, most students don't really have a need for this, as they are much more comfortable surfing the Chinese-language web. Similarly, I'm much more comfortable in the English-language web, so I haven't really developed a sense of the variety of thought in the Chinese web. For this reason, I really appreciate ESWN for making some of the Chinese online world available in English and for linking to interesting Chinese-language blogs. After reading this one, I have slightly more confidence in the "The internet will change China" way of thinking. But the change will come from within the Chinese-language net.

This Beijing News story is interesting, all the more so because of the online discussion apparently taking place about it.
posted by Treeline at 12:52 AM on January 3, 2006

Oh, don't get me started about the gates and walls. One of the things I hate the most about Beijing is the goddamn walls everywhere. Walls, walls, walls. Gotta have walls. Everywhere walls. If we don't have city walls, university walls, apartment complex walls, great walls, walls walls walls, then the Mongolians will come and get us. I swear, I spend 2/3 of my time on foot here walking around walls, rather than taking a direct route to where I'm going. Either that or jumping over them.

The university walls are the worst though, one near me is topped with razor wire and broken glass. It feels like a prison, and I guess if the need ever arises, it could easily become one.

The universities here in general are disgusting, and I take every opportunity to tell my students this.
posted by [expletive deleted] at 1:21 AM on January 3, 2006

Whenever I hear about the Chinese overtaking the West I think about the sorry state of it's higher education. Of course this also scares the shit out of me because college students are also some of the most nationalistic and jingoistic chinese people I have met.

I am of mixed mind about whether the internet will help freedom of speech in China. On one hand it allows people a quick medium to publish whatever they want and distribute it to as many people as want to read it. On the other hand the government controls most of the major portals, search engines and blog hosting services and does not let dissident comment sit for very long. I also suspect the Chinese government uses the internet to disseminate propaganda and drum up things like the anti japanese riots when it wants to.

One of the things that really pisses me off is how much companies like Cisco, microsoft or yahoo help the CCP perpetuate it's censorship. There needs to be a lot more outrage in the US.
posted by afu at 1:42 AM on January 3, 2006 [1 favorite]

and if you want to help free speech in China, you could adopt a blog
posted by afu at 1:47 AM on January 3, 2006 [1 favorite]

Thanks afu, this is a really good post. It should have dozens of comments, but unfortunately, I think most people in the west are pretty apathetic when it comes to talking about China. If this was about press freedom in Iraq, there would be 200 comments.
posted by [expletive deleted] at 2:26 AM on January 3, 2006

This was the best mefi post today, imo. I have always been disgusted by the idea of an industrialized nation filtering the Internet; with print media falling victim too, what else can I do but feel helpless? Change will only come from within.

Aside, I always enjoy your comments, [expletive deleted]. It's always a pleasure to hear insight from the lone cynical MeFite in Beijing.
posted by adzm at 3:14 AM on January 3, 2006

Agreed,More China news needed.

Human Rights in China is an incredibly complex issue that seems to be simply ignored by the mainstream media.

It's an amazing period in history for the world right now and what happens in regards to the people of china over the next few years is one of the key lynchpins on the worlds development.

The amount of stories being ignored is franly nuts.
e.g. "China's mining industry is one of the most dangerous in the world, with more than 6,000 miners dying last year" vs Blast traps US miners underground

While a count of the dead is not the way to run a news organisation , it would be interesting to see the amount of global air time devoted to the two stories.
posted by doogyrev at 4:09 AM on January 3, 2006

Great post, and what [ed] said.
posted by languagehat at 4:25 AM on January 3, 2006

you could adopt a blog

This is such a great idea, I wish I could adopt several blogs, but as far as I know all my god-mother's domains (where I would host such blogs) are banned in china :( That would make it impossible for a Chinese blogger to access their blog if we hosted it, right? *clueless*
posted by zarah at 4:43 AM on January 3, 2006

Someone told me that according to news.sina.com.cn the editors were given their jobs back. I can't read Chinese, can anyone confirm this?
posted by StickyCarpet at 9:05 AM on January 3, 2006

I too wish we read more here about China, and Asia in general. Thanks for the post.
posted by stinkycheese at 9:28 AM on January 3, 2006

I'm not sure I agree that increased outrage from the west is appropriate or will change anything. It's a bit like protesting America from Red Square, isn't it? I think it's more important that Americans focus on their own government at this time, so I think it's fine that a hypothetical post on freedom in US-controlled Iraq would receive hundreds more comments than this one. That said, this is a good post and the more informed perspectives on China the better. To that end.
posted by Treeline at 5:11 PM on January 3, 2006

StickyCarpet, I couldn't find anything on news.sina.com.cn about it but I think I remember reading somewhere that the two deputy editors were reinstated. I can't seem to find it so I may have dreamt it.
posted by Treeline at 6:45 PM on January 3, 2006

I'm not sure I agree that increased outrage from the west is appropriate or will change anything.

That's a strange attitude. Perhaps you're unaware that pressure from the West did a great deal to loosen up the Soviet Union (hastening its collapse). I direct your attention also to apartheid-era South Africa. But perhaps you're not bothered by the current regime in China?
posted by languagehat at 4:19 AM on January 4, 2006

Of course you're right, languagehat, that properly directed pressure from outside can help to change countries. I suppose my statement does look a bit strange. It was based on a few thoughts: that the vast majority of the westerners I know here in China, even those who speak excellent Mandarin, have little to no understanding of China in Chinese terms; that I've spent too much time lurking at metafilter to have any illusion that those 200 hypothetical comments would be remotely meaningful or well informed; that the shine is off America - if we're able to fix our own current problems (do I need to elaborate here?) our outrage might have more of an impact.

Elaboration: Most of us westerners here get all of our information of China through western newspapers and websites. It comes pre-filtered through western cultural blinders. The lack of a free press here gives us the illusion that we're better informed about China than locals are (of course, when it comes to scandal, riot, and outrage, we are, though sometimes not). If I had a nickel for every fresh college graduate I've met who's been here for a year and understands exactly how China works, well, I could buy a few sock puppets. Many of us are exceedingly arrogant, and, in large part due to government propaganda here, many Chinese people see only Western arrogance in pro-democracy rants.

Change in China will come from within China. I linked to a danwei post above that I found particularly hopeful in this regard.

Your last accusation is odd. Did you read my first comment in this thread?
posted by Treeline at 9:21 PM on January 4, 2006

Yes, I did. You complain about the university ban on the international internet. That's not exactly the same as saying the Chinese government is one of the world's worst violators of human rights and people should do whatever they can to hasten its demise. But my last comment wasn't an accusation, it was a (slightly snarky, I admit) question; I actually assumed you were bothered by the current regime, and was trying to point out how self-defeating your attitude towards outside pressure was. But now that you've responded so civilly, I regret the snark.

As for the bulk of your comment, it seems to me you've fallen into a very common trap. Intelligent person goes to foreign country, quickly comes to realize he knew very little about said country and much of what he thought he knew was wrong, gets increasingly impatient with foreigners who Don't Get It, and winds up becoming that classic figure, the Old China Hand (replace China with Kenya, Vietnam, etc., as appropriate), constantly muttering "You don't know what you're talking about—you have to spend years here before you even understand how to read the paper, let alone how the politics work..."

Which is fine, except that you can lose perspective, and the ignorant foreigner may see certain things more clearly than you. (This is why it's a bad idea for Washington reporters to spend too much time in Washington social circles, hanging out with the people they're supposed to be reporting on: they get minor scoops but lose their ability to see the big picture, and some newbie gets the Watergate story because they were too busy writing it off as Business As Usual.) It's true that most people who go around hollering Free Tibet! or yammering about "how China works" know very little, and you could demonstrate their ignorance in about five seconds. But the important fact is that on the basic issue they're right, just as people who wanted to boycott South Africa in the seventies were right even though they didn't know black from colored and would have been surprised to learn that it wasn't only white Afrikaners who spoke Afrikaans, just as Reagan was right (and I say this through gritted teeth) to take on the Soviet Union as strongly as he did even though he was a half-witted actor who had no business being a politician, let alone president. If only well-informed people who are pure of heart are capable of changing things, we're fucked. (Yes, we probably are fucked anyway, but that's another issue.) We need as many dumb, prejudiced, foolish people as possible making noise about China, so the politicians will take a moment out from their single-minded pursuit of power, glory, and sweet, sweet cash to grumblingly do a few things that will make it harder for the Chinese government to continue on its way as before. It may or may not work, but it's better than doing nothing because it's all so complicated.
posted by languagehat at 7:22 AM on January 5, 2006

It stings a bit, but you have a point about my cynicism regarding other foreigners here. I certainly don't see myself as an Old China Hand, though, but maybe you'd say that's just part of the conceit of the Old China Hand. Let's forget the label.

I'm not advocating "doing nothing because it's all so complicated". How do you imagine change in China taking place? Do you see any other way than change from within? I'm telling you that people here are not always as poorly informed and worthy of outside benevolence as they are often portrayed. "Dumb, prejudiced, foolish people making noise about China" is not something they're going to listen to, and in fact it often feels like arrogant condescension.

I think I see the root of our misunderstanding here. You're talking about the efficacy of international pressure on China and I'm narrowly focusing on how semi-informed criticism of China feels to people here. Change from within may have to be helped by international pressure. Point conceded.
posted by Treeline at 5:18 PM on January 5, 2006

*leaps over net, shakes Treeline's hand*

Thanks for taking the trouble to read my overlong comment and respond. See, dialogue can work!
posted by languagehat at 5:26 AM on January 6, 2006