True objectivity in journalism may be an unachieveable ideal -- the craft is as much about storytelling as reporting, with the requisite narrative structures that confirm or deny bias -- but that doesn't mean a journalist should actively neglect his or her duty to truthful storytelling.
Unless you work in Chinese media.
We see traffic accidents every day, but in Fuan, Fujian province, one such incident on Saturday reportedly sparked a protest/riot involving “thousands” of residents. The Associated Press reports, “Police said it was instigated by ‘a handful of lawless people.’ One resident said people became angry because police and paramedics took nearly an hour to arrive... Read more »
Advisory: highway signs are being covered up in Ningbo because of some reason. That reason does not concern you. The highway signs are covered up in a city somewhere for no reason. There is no reason. The signs in a place are on the highway. No highway, actually. Not a city. @jaytao says the highway... Read more »
Another widespread protest against a factory in China has yielded, at least on paper, another victory, following the one in Shifang, Sichuan province in July. Does it matter that no one believes the city government’s statement saying it’ll halt its construction plans? First the background: In Ningbo, Zhejiang province, thousands of locals have clashed with... Read more »
Reuters reports that more than a thousand people gathered in Ningbo, Zhejiang province yesterday to protest plans for a petrochemical plant that is a subsidiary of China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation. And according to the BBC, witnesses said authorities used tear gas and have arrested some people. Searches on Youku for “Ningbo” turn up nothing. Sina... Read more »
People rioted in Luzhou, Sichuan province on Wednesday evening after they heard that police had beaten a truck driver to death in broad daylight. Tea Leaf Nation relayed several messages from incensed netizens who never doubted it, notably from a Sina Weibo user, @Aluo阿罗, who declared, “Luzhou police have beaten someone to death, causing tens of thousands... Read more »
They’re rioting again in Sichuan province. Tea Leaf Nation reports that yesterday evening, an anti-police protest turned violent after three police officers beat a driver to death in broad daylight in front of several witnesses. (Someone at the scene began filming after the driver was killed; the video is embedded here — no matter who you... Read more »
When is a riot just a fight with a lot of people? When is a fight with a lot of people a riot? In Chinese factories, where thousands of workers live in close proximity, it can be difficult to tell sometimes — and there is ample risk, from a journalistic standpoint, in using the “R”... Read more »
No two protests are ever the same, as the above video will show. In Changsha, people flip cars. In Dali, they sing the national anthem. In Qingdao, they chant. (Actually, they sing and chant everywhere, but you know what I mean.) There are a lot of banners that read “Japanese Devils,” a term that originates... Read more »
We’ve gone way beyond civil disobedience. Who are the Chinese attacking? Chinese-owned Japanese restaurants, and Japanese people who may call China home, and now journalists. It is, as the proverb goes, shitting on your carpet to spite the neighbor. We’ve seen this line of indiscriminate violence in this country before — it was called the... Read more »
A foreigner nearly incited a riot in Zhengzhou, capital of Henan province on Friday evening after he got into a physical confrontation with a Chinese woman on the road. The foreigner, riding a BYD, apparently thought the female had hit his car with her electric bike, so he got out and slapped her twice across the... Read more »
Wow. So protests in China work? At 5:58 pm today, the official Weibo page of the Shifang, Sichuan municipal government posted a message stating that plans for a proposed molybdenum copper plant, which caused protests that began Saturday and escalated yesterday, have been permanently shelved. Perhaps local leaders read the writing on the wall when the term... Read more »
From where we sit and judging by the videos we’ve seen, the situation in Shifang, Sichuan yesterday looked a lot like a riot that was trying to happen but never materialized. In the above, people stand around while tear gas goes off around them. In the second video, which appears after the jump (along with the... Read more »
The only info I have about this picture is the watermark and the caption, from Weibo user zhouwenneng, which reads, “In how many years will this picture win a big prize?” We’ll update you again tomorrow in the a.m. For now, see our earlier post: Riot Police And Protestors Clash In Shifang, Sichuan Province (residents... Read more »
In Shifang, Sichuan province, hundreds, possibly thousands of people have taken to the street to protest a molybdenum cooper project (run by HTC?) that people fear will be harmful to their environment and health. Netizens on Weibo are currently discussing the incident as it relates to riot police skirmishing with residents and setting off tear gas in the middle of a huge crowd, which they say was unnecessary. Also, several pictures have emerged, which appear after the jump.
I imagine a Chinese cadre seeing this is having heart palpitations at the moment. The picture comes from the site Hong Wrong, which is where you should be paying attention if you’re interested in developments in Hong Kong’s handover protests.
Less than an hour after posting about the upheaval in Zuotan, Foshan, Guangdong province, I realized there was a bigger, concurrent riot in the province, in Zhongshan City. According to NetEase via the website Democracy and Law Network, the fight started Monday around 6 pm when, in front of a primary school, a 13-year-old got beat up... Read more »
China Digital Times curates a news story from Caijing reporting that yesterday before dawn, thousands of residents clashed with hundreds of riot police in Zuotan, part of the city of Foshan, Guangdong province. According to Caijing: “Zuotan officials secretly arranged for the sale of land in three neighborhoods to developers. The officials thought they could claim... Read more »
Celestine Elebechi is the Nigerian who died in police custody on Monday, sparking a big protest the next day involving more than 100 Africans. BJC contributor Alicia found this video recently (more are beginning to appear on Youku). I'm particularly surprised by how brazen the protestors are, appearing to throw objects at the approaching police brigade. By all indications, the protest/mini-riot ended after only a few hours without many injuries, which is a blessing. Because judging by this snippet here, it could have been worse.
Update, 6/21, 1:02 am: Please see after the jump. 1:15 am: Videos of the protest have surfaced. Here’s a good one. The Chinese blogosphere, specifically Weibo, is abuzz after an incident yesterday involving an African expat, believed to be Nigerian, in Guangzhou. Specifically, he died in police custody. According to Tea Leaf Nation: One netizen, @GingerYip reports, “According... Read more »
