The above was tweeted out by @beidajin this afternoon: around 10 am today* outside the US embassy in Beijing, four grandmothers from Xinyang city, Henan province took off their clothes and raised signs "to cry out for sons and daughters."
Beijing’s Third Annual Craft Beer Festival drew thousands of visitors and brewers from around China to the Galaxy Soho complex in Chaoyangmen this weekend. It was some of the nicest whether Beijing has seen this year, with rainbows being spotted around the city.
It was just another day on the Square, though it seemed there were slightly fewer people than usual. Many must have gotten turned away at the security line underground, as officers informed, "If you don't have ID, don't bother waiting in line." The sternest reprimand we heard all day came from an officer who halted a woman sauntering past the queue. "Go wait in line," he barked. "Do you not see all these people waiting?"
China ramped up its censorship considerably in the lead-up to today, both of words and Internet services. Google is by far the biggest company to find its services halted -- as anyone trying to access Gmail without a VPN knows well -- and Google has by far the best response to it. We really want this to be true, anyway -- via Jonah Kessel:
Via NY Times: "A photograph of Tiananmen Square that was uploaded to the Chinese social network Weibo ahead of the 25th anniversary of the crackdown there on pro-democracy protesters on June 4, 1989."
This notice has been going around Twitter and Facebook all day, so it's likely you've seen it, but we want to hear from the students in Beijing -- what happens if you say no to this "study tour" that "all foreign students have to attend"? Drop us a line.
It's that time of the year, when plainclothes policemen outnumber ISB students in Sanlitun. This from the Foreign Correspondents' Club of China via China watchers on Twitter:
