China’s Internet censors are really outdoing themselves with the Southern Weekend scandal. Not only have they blocked searches for “Southern Weekend” on Sina Weibo and other microblogs, they’re making some attempts to block discussion within the Chinese diaspora.
Ever since I realized that Huawei doesn’t just make cheap phones, I’ve found them to be a fascinating company. They certainly have PR and political problems, but they’re one of the only Chinese tech companies that’s competitive globally. And what they’ve been doing with telecoms equipment, they’re now looking to do with smartphones.
When I think of happy bears, I think of Baloo from The Jungle Book or George Wendt and Chris Farley. I absolutely do not think of Asiatic black bears that have been imprisoned since birth in order to extract bile from their gall bladders.
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 »
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.
Late in the game on Wednesday in Ningbo, Bayi was clinging to a three-point lead and had the ball against Qingdao in a hard-fought, physical game in which the teams combined to take 81 free throws (43 for Bayi, 38 for Qingdao). Then, in the final minute, the refs botched a call so horribly that no one who was watching could have avoided the obvious question: "Is the fix on?"
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.
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.
We just received a tip, one person removed, from the public relations office at the Nanfang Media Group that Southern Weekly has been cancelled. No new content will be published on the website or under the name “Southern Weekly” (also known as Southern Weekend). The Nanfang Group’s PR staff, which has been sequestered inside their office... Read more »
