Commentary: Xiao Qiang on graft and the Internet

MANDARIN:  Reporting Corruption on the Internet (08/10/07)

Xiao Qiang (XQ): Today, I would like to talk about the underlying problems of reporting corrupt officials on the Internet. A new trend is emerging as the use of the Internet becomes popularized in China. That is, grass-root Web sites, that encourage the public to report corrupt officials, are popping up all over the Internet. On one hand, the Chinese government is imposing control over the contents on the Internet. But, on the other hand, the government hopes that this new medium will help curb the widespread corruption among local officials by soliciting the help of the netizens in the monitoring and supervision efforts. As a result, many government branches launched Web sites that allow citizens to report corruption via email, with promises that the complaints will be heard and handled accordingly.

Mandarin: Internet subversion case

MANDARIN:  Zhang Jianping’s Subversion Case (09/11/07)

Fang Yuan: According to a report, eight public security officers went to the home of Zhang Jianping in Changzhou city, Jiangsu province, this April and forced him to sign a confession, admitting to the charge of “inciting subversion” for visiting anti-government Web sites. The officers also criticized him of being manipulated by the 64 Tianwang Website and Sound of Hope Radio Network. Zhang refused to sign the document. Two hours later, the officers returned to Zhang’s home with the disciplinary sanction confirmation letter issued by the Changzhou’s Wujin District Public Security Bureau in hand. In the document, Zhang was cited for visiting overseas subversive Web sites since October of last year. He was banned from using the Internet for the next six months as a punishment.

Burma: Continuing violence in Rangoon and Mandalay

The following are translated extracts from interviews done by RFA’s Burmese service:

Eyewitness Account
09/27/07

Speaker: I saw it at Myintha Project area.  That was the Number 31 old bus terminal.   I went there because I heard people couldn’t stand it any more, so they had surrounded the security forces and attacked them with knives. It’s really true that with knives they were attacking people holding guns. According to unconfirmed news [Translator’s Note: Unclear], even the guns have arrived.  The military arrived after we did.  They came in their vehicles, and there were at least 15 people in a vehicle.  I saw four vehicles.  I saw them shooting, with my own eyes.  I saw them shooting, and I saw people shot at.  I don’t know whether they died or how many corpses there were.

China: Pulling the plug on the Internet

FURTHER UPDATE: Authorities in major cities across China have moved to close down large swathes of the Internet, targeting “interactive” sites ahead of the Communist Party congress in mid-October, according to netizens, government Web sites, and service providers.Participatory Web sites, forums, and blogging platforms came under strict new rules last week. But in an unprecedented move, the authorities have begun switching off entire Internet data centers (IDCs), which are home to thousands of servers.This means that if one site doesn’t meet government approval, because it contains pornography or politically sensitive material, all are taken offline.

Mandarin: Listener comment on the Hong Kong media

MANDARIN: LISTENER HOTLINE – Hong Kong Media (08/09/07)
Reporter: Wei Lian
Length: 5:10

Wei Lian: Hi, this is Listener Hotline. I’m Wei Lian.

Male Voice: Hi, Mr. Wei Lian.

Wei Lian: Please tell me where you are calling from.

Male Voice: Jiangxi.

Wei Lian: Hi, listener from Jiangxi. Please go ahead.

Male Voice: I have a question for you. Recently, I read some articles on Chen Liangyu’s case in Hong Kong’s Wen Wei Po and Ta Kung Pao. I’ve found that the Hong Kong media is very different from what it used to be.

MANDARIN: Hubei Villagers Protest Forced Demolition

MANDARIN: Villagers Protest Forced Demolition (07-09-07)
Reporter: Ding Xiao
Length: 4:25

MC: Last Saturday morning, a forced demolition took place in Miao’erzui County, Huangshigang District, Huangshi City of Hubei Province. Two houses were dismantled. One of the two house owners who resisted the dismantlement – the couple of Zhang Sishen and Wu Xirong – were beaten with iron clubs and fainted. Hands and feet tied, they were sent to the hospital. Witnesses told the reporter that, on that day, hundreds of police cars and about five hundred people, including government officials, court officials, police officers, and musclemen were present. Wang Jinxiang, local human rights activist, was present on that day and told Radio Free Asia on Monday:

Sorrow, ah! sorrow: Cardboard buns and the prison undercurrent

Click here to hear the theme song for this post
On July 8, Beijing TV’s Life Channel program <Degree of Transparency> aired the report on “cardboard buns” and gained broad social attention. The Beijing city Industry and Commerce department and the Food Safety Administration paid high attention and formed law enforcement teams to check the breakfast markets in the city. But they did not find any “cardboard buns” at those markets. The Beijing public security bureau formed an investigative team and discovered the truth on July 16.

— from ESWN

I am interested in the meme of cardboard in buns. I think the rumour may have preserved itself in popular culture from a genuine experiment in the labour camps

Babelicious poetry forum seeks Tibetans

I recently received an e-mail from a fellow poet, Rus Bowden, pictured below; he and I used to post on the Atlantic Monthly writers’ forum before it was closed. He has a keen interest in the literary Web, and has gone on to do very interesting things with poetry online. Here, he shares his ideas for a Tibetan literary forum after reading a recent RFA Web story about the closure of a Tibetan site by the Chinese authorities, and asks for a volunteer to help with translation. If you can help, please e-mail Rus on lowelldude@aol.com:

I would not be able to fill the forum, but I would love to have it filled with Tibetan writers from around the world joining in, however word could get out.

– Rus Bowden, personal correspondence

Newsdesk: Student riots in Shandong province

HONG KONG–More than 2,000 students in the northern Chinese province of Shandong rioted last week over plans to change their accommodation just ahead of the exam period, a student told RFA’s Cantonese service.

Video taken by a student on the scene, showed students of Zaozhuang College protesting the changes. Posters demanding compensation for the upheaval had appeared around campus before the riots began, but the school had rejected the idea.

“It took place at 11:00pm on July 6,” the student said. “About 2,000 people protested. Then they vandalized any stuff around them. Some teachers were even beaten.”

The student said the school had cut off communication with the outside world, including the Internet, to stop news of the riot leaking out. No students had been detained.

A spokesman for the college denied the reports. “There was no such incident,” he said. “But if you want to check this issue, you need to contact the relevant departments.” He gave no further details.

An officer at the local police station declined to comment on the report.

<em>Reported in Cantonese by Lee Kin Kwan. RFA Cantonese service director: Shiny Li. Edited by Luisetta Mudie and Sarah Jackson-Han.</em>

China Netcom tracks URLs of broadband users

UPDATE: ADDS comment from Rebecca MacKinnon, Assistant Professor at the University of Hong Kong‘s Journalism and Media Studies Centre.

 

“The data retention and sharing with the law enforcement situation there isn’t much different than in many places. The only difference relates to what is considered a crime, how loosely the information is given out or protected, and the extent to which somebody whose data was wrongfully given out or used can fight in court.”