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China’s Censors Ban Winnie the Pooh and the Letter ‘N’ After Xi’s Power Grab
- redwood 9y ago1 in 5 humans live under this dictatorship
- nukeop 9y agoAnd most of them are content with it.
- EpicEng 9y agoI'm sure there are a lot of content North Korean's as well.
- cfontes 9y agoAny sources of that claim? because seams very unlikely.
- NegativeLatency 9y agoThe article specifically mentioned it > surveys suggest Mr. Xi has an approval rating of more than 80 percent
- TomMarius 9y agoAnecdote: Many expats that live in China have commented on this. The Chinese don't care, they live their lives and the party lives its.
- wmeredith 9y agoI could say the same thing about myself and the Trump administration. It's mostly a sideshow.
- BuildTheRobots 9y agoI honestly wonder how many of them actually know? If _all_ your media (including news, private messages, encyclopedias, history) hide this fact from you, how can one possibly tell - or understand what it means?
- teolandon 9y agoThe thing I always wonder is how do Chinese people studying or living long-term in foreign countries react to this. They spend a lot of time exposed to media that aren't as heavily censored anymore, and see a lot of negative news about their home country's state. When they go back home, they surely will have a different point of view for everything. Of course, it's very difficult to protest and make a change even after you get to view everything past the Great Firewall of China, but there must be a growing amount of Chinese people that know of the propaganda and the lies.
- nukeop 9y agoThey laugh about. See they at least know they live in an oppressive regime with heavy political censorship, while people in the West, such as Americans, live under similar conditions, but are deluded into thinking they're free.
- cscurmudgeon 9y agoThats why they had to resort to banning a puny letter?
- pmarreck 9y agoBattered wives also come to the defense of their husbands if a third party tries to stop the violence or attack the husband. (I literally personally know not one but TWO guys who tried to intervene in an obvious battering but were then set upon by BOTH members of the couple... Black eye for one and a broken tooth for the other)
- iforgotpassword 9y agoWhat do you think, that the chinese govt purposefully makes their peoples lives miserable? They are doing exactly what they think is necessary to stay in power, whether that is a good thing or not is another question. Beating husbands act out of frustration or other problems but not because they fear losing power, And get a kick out of it. Chinese everyday life is as free or unfree as it is here. It's funny how average Joe is so proud of living in a free country when all his life he is working his ass off to pay the bills never going anywhere, never being the heroic activist changing anything. That handful of people who are like that definitely are better off here than in China, but the general public in China is just as happy with life as long as they get their steady income, a shiny iPhone and whatever the Chinese clone of Netflix is. And They certainly don't care that WhatsApp or some other app/website with zero market penetration in China is blocked over there.
- wtetzner 9y ago> Beating husbands act out of frustration or other problems but not because they fear losing power Are you sure that's the case? It certainly seems like they to it to keep control over the relationship.
- iforgotpassword 9y agoNot sure as in having done research, that's what I picked up from news reports. Still even if, its not like people in China feel threatened or even abused. Like I said, everyday life is almost completely unaffected. The occasional political rant on social media gets deleted sure, which people are annoyed by, but there are no consequences to that unless you really push for it, which brings us back to activism.
- lr4444lr 9y ago... or they don't have the freedom to say they're not.
- iforgotpassword 9y agoThey do. That communist gulag impression hn has of China is ridiculous.
- aianus 9y agoThey literally banned the word “disagree”. Literally.
- iforgotpassword 9y ago...so?
- dkural 9y agoIf they are why not let them vote so we can all see?
- mistermann 9y ago> 1 in 5 humans live under this dictatorship There's a fairly decent chance all of our grandchildren will live under a Chinese dictatorship.
- liberte82 9y agoUnlikely, I see the world heading much more toward a 1984-style triad of powers with constantly shifting alliances to prevent any one power from gaining world control.
- mr_spothawk 9y agogo read "Walkaway"
- liberte82 9y agoThanks!
- mistermann 9y agoWhat force is strong enough to likely overcome China's vast advantages?
- longcommonname 9y agoWelcome to Chia, home of the world's best iteret.
- pmarreck 9y ago[dumb comment removed]
- logfromblammo 9y agoWritten without the letter 'N'.
- pmarreck 9y agoWell ow I feel uitelliget
- blondie9x 9y agoPeople of China, speak up, rise up. You deserve better than this. Chinese people should have the freedom to choose where they can visit and what content they can consume and who they want to lead the country forward. http://www.latimes.com/world/asia/la-fg-china-south-korea-tourism-20180228-htmlstory.html http://www.latimes.com/world/asia/la-fg-china-south-korea-to...
- typon 9y ago1. It's hard to speak up when it could literally mean life or death. 2. Why don't the people of the USA speak up and urge their government to stop the aggression against North Korea? The US's aggression/imperial attitudes are a major reason why China would be uneasy with this missile defense system.
- adventured 9y agoSouth Korea GDP per capita: $27,500 North Korea GDP per capita: $500 There's definitely some aggression going on against the North Korean people.
- sidcool 9y agoI am not sure why you are getting downvoted without rebuttals.
- jerf 9y agoThe mention of North Korea. The first sentence would be unobjectionable and true. If nothing else it's a violation of the putative local norms in which you really shouldn't bring an unrelated political hotbutton topic in to a discussion. Though I am both aware of the fact that rule is a great deal more nuanced in its connotations than its denotations, and the fact that whether it is "unrelated" is a matter of debate. (Though personally I'd submit that the evidence is that China would be cracking down regardless of the state of North Korea in any way shape or form, so yes, it's unrelated.)
- 9y ago
- wernercd 9y agoTrump: I can say anything to make people go crazy... No one can top me! China: Here... hold my beer.
- detaro 9y agopreviously: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16482406 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16482406
- fenwick67 9y agoI'm admittedly naive about some of this, but is there a good way for me as an American citizen to enable Chinese users to access an uncensored internet? I don't really want to run a TOR exit node at my house because I'm afraid I'll get in trouble over illegal (in the US) activity.
- vinceguidry 9y agoNo. CCCP blocks Tor anyway. When you have physical control over the networks you have unlimited power to determine what flows over those networks. Nothing any of us can do about it.
- trevyn 9y agoThose SpaceX Internet satellites are looking mighty interesting right about now.
- fenwick67 9y agoThat sounds nice but I doubt Musk has the guts to park geosynchronous satellites over China without their permission.
- vinceguidry 9y agoGeosynchronous orbits are all over the equator.
- trevyn 9y agoThey’re LEO, they orbit the whole earth.
- fenwick67 9y agoThanks for the correction
- woah 9y agoIf you know people in China you can host a vpn for their use. Or you can donate to organizations such as https://noisetor.net https://noisetor.net which will run tor exit nodes. Although from the sounds of it tor is blocked in China?
- pmarreck 9y agoI love that Chinese university students are posting George Washington's farewell address (which at the time was the first (?) peaceful turn-over of power ever?) I also love the freedoms I have in the States even more now.
- masterofcookies 9y agoIt certainly was not the first peaceful turn-over of power in history - there are many examples, but Cincinnatus[1] immediately sprang to my mind. He actually was given and then gave up dictatorial powers twice (note that being a dictator meant in the Roman political system something different than what it means today [2]). [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucius_Quinctius_Cincinnatus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucius_Quinctius_Cincinnatus [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_dictator https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_dictator
- Tyr42 9y agoCincinnatus is the most famous, but not even the first Roman dictator to give up power. He was however, the first one to do so from the generation which never lived under the Kings of Rome, and had first hand experience with long term dictatorial power. He was also known to the early Americans, who respected him so much they named the city of Cincinnati after him.
- thwave 9y agoSolon[1] is my favorite example, and how I think a benevolent ruler should act; Write a good constitution and take a step back. I think Juan Carlos of Spain did something similar: "Expected to continue Franco's legacy, Juan Carlos, however, soon after his accession introduced reforms to dismantle the Francoist regime and begin the Spanish transition to democracy" [2]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solon [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Carlos_I_of_Spain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Carlos_I_of_Spain
- pmarreck 9y agoah, this is very interesting! thanks!
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- PakG1 9y agoI'm not sure why they would ban Winnie the Pooh. If I were Xi, I think it would be a fantastic image-softening strategy. Look at him, he's like Winnie the Pooh, so cute and cuddly and trustworthy! I would have totally taken the Winnie the Pooh thing and made it my own subliminally, and I think it would have worked well, because it's not contrived; it came from the people first.
- mattnewton 9y agoDo you fear Winnie the Pooh?
- jerf 9y agoYou'd have to ask a Chinese native whether their connotations are the same. It's possible the connotations of Winnie the Pooh took a twist on their way East. For instance, it would not be hard to see Pooh primarily as a childish wimp or something. Anyone got any direct knowledge of the Chinese connotations of "Winnie the Pooh"?
- mtgx 9y agoIt's because dictators tend to become petty and take everything personally because they think they can afford to do that. This is the #1 reason why countries should not fall under dictatorship. Humans are flawed, and flawed rulers with a lot of power are extremely dangerous. They tend to retaliate aggressively either against individuals or other countries because there are no "checks and balances" to keep them from abusing their power when they get emotional about something. This is how you can easily end-up with insane decisions at the highest-level of a government such as "banning the letter N" because the ruler's feeling were hurt. And this is just an example. We'll see many more like this once he's officially declared a dictator (or Permanent President, or "The Senate" - whatever they decide to call him).
- craftyguy 9y ago> become petty and take everything personally because they think they can afford to do that. Not just dictators but also, as we've seen recently, US presidents too.
- z2 9y agoNot just in 'N>2' as the article states, but 'N' is also commonly used in Chinese slang as an mathematically-inspired, exaggerated or arbitrarily large number. E.g. "I've already told you N times" or "This plan has N number of problems." It's really N>>2.
- udp 9y ago> It's really N>>2. N bitwise right shift 2 positions?
- Mindless2112 9y agoN≫2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/≫ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/≫
- sdm 9y agoCan it really be called a "power grab" when he already had all the power? This is more fait accompli. A lot of speculation is that Xi is doing this because it's now basically impossible for him to retire now. Through the anti-corruption campaigns, the taking down of so many tigers, and pushing out vested interests as China tries to avoid the middle income trap, Xi has made too many enemies. If he were to retire as planned, there are too many in the party who would then move on him.
- mr_spothawk 9y agointeresting idea. move on him, how?
- sdm 9y agoArrest and jail. Like what Xi did to Zhou Yongkang. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhou_Yongkang#Downfall https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhou_Yongkang#Downfall
- bonsai80 9y agoWith a few companies working on global, fast, low-latency satellite internet it seems that censorship will get much harder. I'd guess the place to stop people would be in preventing them from paying for the service. Are there still ways to control this form of internet access? If not, satellite internet development seem worth it even if only as a humanitarian effort.
- aianus 9y agoUnless the upload signal was somehow ultra-directional like a laser or something, they would detect your upload transmissions and come and arrest you. Same as if you started up a cell phone jammer in the US.
- crowbahr 9y agoYeah, it's pretty old tech to triangulate a broadcast but I'm decently certain that satellite transmissions need to be directional. The problem then is you need the tech of a directional satellite dish that knows where to send the data.
- trevyn 9y agoThe antenna on the satellite itself is highly directional, which is enough to get you a good enough link budget to Earth for many applications with a relatively omni antenna on the ground. See e.g. XM radio, Iridium.
- bonsai80 9y agoAh, bummer.
- ausjke 9y agoChina is actively using USA as an example to show that Democracy does not work well these days too, for instance it appears gun violence, immigration and race issues can never be fixed here, and the national debt keeps increasing for years and there is no sign to stop. So, whatever their leader does must be better than others nowadays. Admit or not, the overall impression these days is that China is an uprising power while US is in the decline. At the time they're building the best transportation system and investing heavily into robots and AI, we are here debating gender-less restroom, legalizing marijuana, keeping proving president is tied with Russia,etc. The tipping point has passed, the gap will keep getting wider, based on history, there is no fix, countries rise and fall cyclically.
- Erik816 9y agoI would be careful to not confuse the news with the underlying reality of the situation. There are plenty of great things happening in America you don't hear about, and plenty of horrible things in China you don't hear about. Long-run, I'll take democracy personally.
- landryraccoon 9y agoHe has a point that democracy really needs to step up its game. We’re not exactly having a good run at the moment.
- afterburner 9y agoPresident acts like a corrupt asshat, almost immediately comes under investigation, there have been 23 indictments so far. The alternative to democracy is not letting people have a say in government, and allowing rulers to rule for long periods until they pass down power to favoured successors or are violently overthrown. Both of those things are absolutely terrible for the health and safety of a society.
- landryraccoon 9y agoYou don’t have to convince me. But I think it’s a bad sign if defenders of democracy can only get defensive when they have to face mistakes. Is it really that hard to say we dropped the ball here, badly, and we need to do better, rather than immediately going to whataboutism about China? Yes, they have problems. That in no way contradicts the fact that we need to do better.
- dewiz 9y agoAmazo lost 16% of its brand. Nothing to worry for Microsoft Apple Facebook Google Uber, yet
- dkural 9y agoXi is saying his rule is needed for China to become a superpower. A country doesn't seem so strong to me, if it depends on any one person's single man rule to become a superpower. A truly strong country does not depend on a any single man, good or bad.
- iconjack 9y agoJust a few days ago, Google apparently banned shopping results for "water guns" and so forth. The urge to censor in service of one's politics is strong everywhere.
- adventured 9y agoAnd yet I type "water guns" into Google and click "shopping" and get endless pages of shopping results. Or, you know, I could just go directly to Amazon and buy one too. So much for that whataboutism.
- baybal2 9y agoIs this thread being marked as a dupe after being on line one? ...
- newdayrising 9y agoLeave it to the New York Times to call Chairman Mao's rule "traumatic." 46 million dead is, at the very least, a genocidal rule. Not mentioning this fact in an article about Communist China's totalitarian tendencies is a problem.
- dlwdlw 9y agoA similar issue for companies and even communities is not total power but focused power where value can be extracted. Increasing total power is scalable but increasing it in a chosen direction is not. A free market for example is "efficient" but you can't control (and take credit) for anything it produces. It's output is wild. So what's good for the Chinese people may not necessarily be good for the concept of China and if the concept of China is broken so is the concept of being Chinese. HK/Taiwan already stress this dynamic somewhat. As to why it's so important for this concept to remain whole I suspect it's historical/cultural. Fragmented city states proper as long as the ecosystem does not contain warmongers. Each city-state requiring its own military is like each individual being hunter-gatherers. Civilization doesn't proceed without the freedom to specialize. The "humiliation of China" which started via the opium wars is very fresh relatively speaking. Many countries including the US still operate with a domination oriented mindset rather than mutual prospering. To China's credit. Historically it has never over extended and tried to dominate other countries in the way many western countries have despite often being able to do so.