Never mind, for the moment, the merit of Tiananmen vox pox in Sanlitun. We’re two days away from the 25th anniversary of that incident, and everyone is on edge. Careful out there.

UPDATE, 7:29 pm: The full email from the FCCC:

The FCCC condemns the increasing harassment and intimidation of overseas media and their local staff by Chinese authorities in an apparent effort to block reporting about the 25th anniversary of the military crackdown on Tiananmen Square.

The FCCC is deeply concerned that correspondents and their local staff have been summoned by Public Security officers to their office to be given videotaped lectures dissuading them from reporting on the anniversary. Some of the journalists were warned of serious consequences should they disobey the authorities.

This effort to deter news coverage is a gross violation of Chinese government rules governing foreign correspondents, which expressly permit them to interview anybody who consents to be interviewed.

The FCCC calls on the Chinese government and police to halt their harassment of foreign reporters and to abide by their own rules concerning the international media.

Examples of harassment:
“We showed the iconic photo of “Tank-Man” (a civilian who stood in front of a tank during the military crackdown on June 4th 1989) to people on the street in Sanlitun and tried to interview them about the events 25 years ago.
After 10 minutes police showed up and stopped our reporting. They ordered us into their police car and brought us to Sanlitun police station. They told us they had orders from PSB to do so. After one hour PSB officers showed up and interrogated us. They searched my handbag against my will. They took out the photos, put them in front of us and filmed the photos with us in the background. They took away two business cards of my contacts and photocopied them. We had to hand over the chip from our camera, which had no images on it. They separated us and questioned us for hours while video taping everything. The officer said: “You were speaking about a sensitive topic. You know that the topic is sensitive and the government don’t want people to speak about it.” I asked which Chinese law I broke. He answered: “It’s not a matter of law. It’s a matter of culture. The culture is above the law.”  They brought us back to the corner where we did our interviews. We had to show them where we interviewed people. They videotaped us showing the places. They kept our press cards and ordered us to come to the PSB the next day. We were released at around 9pm after six hours of interrogation.
The next day at the PSB two officers questioned us while another one was videoing. They accused us of “disturbance of public order”. We had to go in front of a video camera and they recorded our statements. We had to admit that we did something “very sensitive” which could cause “disturbance” and  we had to promise not to do what we are accused of in the next days. We got our press cards back and were warned that next time police will keep the press cards and our visas will be canceled.”
– French Broadcaster

“We were reporting on the strict security in central Beijing ahead of the June 4th anniversary.  In a span of two hours, police asked me for my documents five times. The next day two policemen came into my flat, which also serves as my office. They came with two women, who didn´t wear uniform. These women recorded my house with some mobile phones while the police asked us for documentation. The police said the documentation was for internal use.”
– European broadcaster

“I was called to the (police) Entry and Exit Bureau (which issues visas), and basically told this year security will be specially strict during the “sensitive period”, in “sensitive areas”, and with “sensitive interviews” related to the June 4thanniversary. They asked me to convey this to the bureau chief and other journalists in our bureau. They said that this is a second warning for me personally, and if I do not abide Chinese law, I should ‘expect the most serious consequences.”
– North American Media

“I found it very difficult to interview people this year regarding June fourth anniversary. Several well-known intellectuals, including people who are not considered dissidents, refused to be interviewed. They expressed concern for their own freedom or fear they would not be allowed to travel or to continue their work. Two had already been approached and specifically told not to give interviews on the topic. I had to cancel one interview in person the day before the meeting, since the interviewee told me the police was showing up to every appointment. The person later confirmed that the police showed up at the entrance of the compound as well as at the door at the time we were supposed to meet, and left only after been told I wasn’t going.”
– TV Correspondent

People’s Daily, the gift that keeps on giving, did a most glorious thing at 1:39 am today by “publicly condemn[ing]” a parody Twitter account, The Relevant Organs. “We have noticed that a Twitter account has been misleading people by stealing People’s Daily ‘s web address and National emblem of China to make false impression that the account is related to China officials or People’s Daily,” reads PD’s tweeted statement. “We hereby solemnly declare that this Twitter account is not related to or does not have connection with any Chinese official bodies, including People’s Daily.”

The Relevant Organs has been around since 2010 and literally no one thinks it’s related to “China officials or People’s Daily.” If English-language Twitter users were only as clueless as People’s Daily editors about satire, maybe that notice would have been necessary. As is – holy hayrick of cowdung, PD. (Is this a savvy play for more Twitter followers?) The China Girls blog has a small roundup of reactions from the Twittersphere, e.g., “oh my goodness i’m dying of laughter.” We’ve tracked some more reactions in the Storify below.

The best part is PD uses language parodied by its satirists. Note that The Relevant Organs’s Twitter tagline is, “China’s soft-power vanguard, rectifying your thought since 2010.” Here’s PD:

People’s Daily publicly condemns such theft and forgery conduct and demands the user of this account to make immediate rectification.

First of all, it’s users. Second…. PD is a bit out of its jurisdiction, isn’t it? In any case, it doesn’t look like The Relevant Organs is listening:

Investigating unauthorized @PDChina account. Initial data indicates 2,000 followers since May 2011.

— The Relevant Organs (@relevantorgans) April 25, 2014

We have over 5,000 years of history and 1.3 billion followers once you get rid of a bunch of girls. Which news source would YOU trust?

— The Relevant Organs (@relevantorgans) April 25, 2014

Smoking gun: So-called @pdchina “caught” us a year after our retirement. Much too fast for a real Party news organ. Rookie move, comrades.

— The Relevant Organs (@relevantorgans) April 25, 2014

Here’s PD’s full statement:

It’s adorable. We really want to know though: why did @XHNews tweet the following at @TheOnion?

RT China’s #moonrover #Yutu awake after troubled dormancy http://t.co/PJco3XwDiN @NASA @TheOnion @HuffingtonPost @BreakingNews @googlenews

— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) February 13, 2014

Although… that would explain a few things about Chinese media.

UPDATE, 2/14: Hmm.

People’s Daily publishes “Jade Rabbit’s Diary”, “I have no regrets”: http://t.co/xdV9YwtJpq

— Chris Buckley 储百亮 (@ChuBailiang) February 14, 2014

Hairong Ma is a Chinese artist based in Baotou, Inner Mongolia. You can check out his work here – they include paintings with lots of bright, bright colors, such as the above. But we haven’t spent much time with his pieces and can’t tell you much more about them (they’re really bright). What we do want to talk about, however, is his Twitter account.

It’s unclear how long Ma has been tweeting, but on December 11, he decided Twitter would be the best way to introduce himself to the world. Tim Cook, Jonathan Ive, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Emma Watson received this message:

“Hello, I am Ma Hairong.”

But then, perhaps uncomfortable with the presumption that celebrities would care about him / his name, Ma simplified his message. All but two of his next 33 tweets contained a mere word, “hello,” directed at someone or other. The only two exceptions: “hello weiwei,” for Ai Weiwei, and this from 10 days ago:

@artfinder hrllo

— Hairong Ma (@mhr74620) December 19, 2013

Which Ma immediately rectified:

@artfinder hello

— Hairong Ma (@mhr74620) December 19, 2013

Recipients of Ma’s tweets include Ai Weiwei, Kelly Clarkson, The Warhol Museum, Mia Farrow, Taylor Swift, and Karin Giannone of the BBC. To the best of our knowledge, none of them have tweeted back.

Which isn’t too surprising, as public figures rarely acknowledge one-word tweets. But look… Hairong Ma is just saying hi. He really wants to wish you a good day. Will someone please say hello back?

Tweet at us, Hairong. We’ll shout at ya.

Trial of the century! Please be properly excited.

At this rate, the biggest scoop of the century will be the guy who tweets a picture of Bo Xilai first. Though we know who’s getting that scoop: Xinhua News. 3-to-2 odds it’s them. UPDATE: It wasn’t them.

You can follow more on the Jinan Intermediate People’s Court’s Sina Weibo.

If you’re a China correspondent, you’re likely in Jinan, Shandong province right now, where disgraced former Chongqing Party Chief Bo Xilai, 64, will stand open trial for corruption tomorrow at the Jinan Intermediate People’s Court. Let’s have a peek at all the fun.

That was quite the collective experience, Beijing.

An hour ago, a dam in the sky broke. Rain turned into pellets of ice, the sound of its steady assault only interrupted by thunderclap that set off car alarms. One imagines Qu Yuan sitting somewhere with his feet propped up, enjoying the show.

As quickly as the storm came, it departed — but not before the sun shone out of a hole while the clouds were wrung dry. Now it is quiet, the singing of birds and rustling leaves beginning to fade amid the resumption of human activity, vehicles, construction.

The Netherlands play China in a football friendly at Workers’ Stadium at 8 pm. There’s a cooking class over at The Hutong, a circus at the Bird’s Nest, a celebration of Jacques Cousteau’s birthday at Cu Ju, and happy hours everywhere. I have a party to attend in Shuangjing, others have family dinners to share, bikes to ride, music to enjoy. Onward, everyone. The evening awaits.

You’ve heard by now, but Ai Weiwei did something yesterday. And while most reactions to Dumbass, his foul-mouthed song about his 81 days in prison, were predictably enthusiastic, there’s a segment of commentators who believe Ai Weiwei is overexposed, and have reacted with what amounts to a protracted and very loud sigh.

We’ve sampled some reactions on Twitter below. For the really harsh comments, click on the link above and scroll down to see what our readers have said.

Basically, Marc van der Chijs is leaving because of pollution. “I also missed being able to exercise outside, having been forced to run indoors on a treadmill for several years — even while training for marathons.” What unspeakable horrors a treadmill ever inflicted on his chaste body, he’ll never, ever tell.

Where will Marc van der Chijs ever go, with his calificied soul? Will he be okay in the brave new world that is non-China? And his family? We hope he finds a safe, clean pla–

After looking at many places, my family eventually decided that Vancouver would be our preferred place to live.

Will he ever be hireable again? He’s been out of the rat race for so long, who would possibly want to take on a middle-aged white man who’s lived abro–

I joined CrossPacific Capital as a partner, and will help the fund’s North American portfolio companies set up or expand their activities in China.

How will he ever recover from the scars of living in China? How many years, how many afternoons of sitting by a peaceful pond under blue skies in Vancouver, feeding mandarin ducks, are required to bury, if not wash away, the pain and anguish of all th–

I had a fantastic time in China and a much better life than I could have imagined when I arrived there as a 27-year-old. I helped build several businesses, made tons of friends and started seeing the world from a different perspective than the one that the Western media had given me. I liked the international atmosphere of Shanghai, with its many clubs, restaurants and fast-paced business life.

Wait, what the fuck is this column about, again?

Sarah Peel wins the day. The self-described “cocktail lover, single mom, singer, casual yogini, opinionated Asia watcher, and a master of the preschool dark arts” has just completed tweeting a 27-part homage to Spring Festival. Like Dickens, it’s meant to be read in serial, but if you missed it, here it is all in one place:

Chinese New Year begins Sunday, February 10. Have a merry one.

If you write about China, are slightly Asian, live here, or have generally anything to do with this country, there’s a decent chance you know Mesi Chinese, a.k.a. @chinesetutorbei. That’s because she — it — has been on a one-person rampage to find out whether you — yes, you – want to have a Chinese language partner — or in her words, “have interesting to do language exchange with chinese friend?”

Who is this poor girl with 46 followers?

@chinesetutorbei Who are you?

— Anthony Tao (@anthonytao) December 28, 2012

We’ll let you know when we find out.

In the meantime, have a look at the who’s who list of people she’s tweeted at, which includes Andrew Jacobs of the New York Times, Kelly Dwyer of Yahoo’s Ball Don’t Lie blog, professional basketball player Maya Moore, and BJC contributor Allie Jaynes:

(H/T Kevin Collier)

https://twitter.com/angryasianman/status/283408359128969217

Merry Christmas indeed, everyone — wherever you’re spending this day that may or may not mean anything to you.

Twenty minutes past time, and no sign of Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, et al. But don’t freak out: join in on the fun. Twitter is at #WhyXiJinpingIsLate, and it’s lively.

Featuring…

• Andrea Yu
• Mikhail Gorbachev
• The ghost of Mao Zedong
• The ghost of Jiang Zemin — even though he isn’t dead
• George W. Bush
• Clint Eastwood
• Zhou Yongkang
• Jill Kelley

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China’s war of attrition with journalists continues. Hu Jintao is determined to filibuster life itself. If you’re seeing the light, stop walking toward it. Get on Twitter, hashtag #18PC.

https://twitter.com/chinadailyshow/status/266318867171799040

We’ll update periodically here as well.

UPDATE, 10:45 am: Hu Jintao’s speech is over, it’s mercifully over.

https://twitter.com/markmackinnon/status/266370819750510592

Now the bad news: that was the first speech of the day.

Four more years for the big guy in charge. If you’re interested in how China reacted to Barack Obama’s win yesterday, we’ll offer this post by Tea Leaf Nation, which translates several reactions from Sina Weibo, which is China’s Twitter.

But plenty of China watchers were tweeting on actual Twitter, too. We’ve collected some highlights: