Dai Peng, a reporter with Changsha’s Sanxiang Metropolis Daily, pretended to be a homeless mute on Monday evening to expose physical abuse in the city’s homeless shelters. He sort of got exactly the story he was after. Shanghai Daily reports that on Monday evening, Dai put on shabby clothes and waited at an intersection until... Read more »
At 10:50 am today, a shooting in Changsha, Hunan province left two men seriously injured, though only one of them from a gunshot. Preliminary reports are that a man surnamed Li, 42, was entangled in a debt dispute with another man surnamed Peng, 36. The two had a court-ordered deadline of today to resolve their differences.... Read more »
I’m guessing if you’re not a businessperson, you’ll likely disagree with a recently released ranking by leading conservative Canadian think tank Fraser Institute that places Hong Kong above the US, Canada, and all Scandinavian countries in terms of “human freedom.” In Towards a Worldwide Index of Human Freedom, the institute “focuses on creating the first comprehensive... Read more »
Media reports say that some Southern Weekly journalists were told they could return to their former posts and that the paper would publish today, as normal. It's yet to arrive. We'll keep an eye on people who are in Guangzhou keeping an eye on this.
At one point early in this video, there's a case to be made that these two men are not fighting but engaged in ballet, thus is the symmetry of their kicks. Then the fists fly, swinging roundhouses, a phone is kicked out from under one of their feet, and yeah, you realize they probably hate each other. But then they come together in a hug of sorts, the avuncular headlock, and when they finally part, standing toe to toe, you think: humanity has a chance.
The Central Propaganda Department can force papers to run their government-line editorials, but even with the power vested in them by the Party, it can't determine where those op-eds appear.
Like, say, next to a humongous ad for pesticide control.
China may finally be reforming its frightening system of “re-education through labor” (RTL), according to state news agencies -- but to what extent? While state media initially reported Monday that the CPC Central Committee would be pushing through a proposal to end the system by 2013, officials quickly backpedaled and settled on “reforming” the system, according to China Digital Times.
More than a few journalists and observers have averred the significance of the Southern Weekly "incident," but the actual story has appeared to fall short of their expectations. As I wrote two days ago, "But is this really a watershed moment for media rights in China, as some hope... or will we return to our jobs soon and let the more vested parties enter negotiations on the future of both Tuo Zhen and Southern Weekly?" There's nothing wrong with hoping, but as Zhongnanhai points out, sometimes we would do well to step back to view the story in its proper context.
Two big Southern Weekly updates this morning. First, it appears the ripples have spread to Beijing News, a sibling publication to Southern Weekly under the ownership of Nanfang Media Group, where the top publisher has resigned instead of publishing a pro-government editorial.
Brad Pitt, who is technically still banned from China, opened a verified Sina Weibo account yesterday, @Brad_Pitt. His first message, published at exactly noon, was simple and to the point: "It is the truth. Yup, I'm coming..." In two hours, according to Tech in Asia, that post had amassed more than 8,000 comments and 20,000 forwards. And now it's been deleted.
