Items Tagged With Chinese Government

Interesting. While combing the China news today, I learned that new anti-graft regulations were just passed to ensure government officials who are more squeaky clean. As the AP article put it:

The taboos included lobbying officials of higher rank, handing out pamphlets or souvenirs without authorization, holding social activities to form cliques, and offering or taking bribes.

Also on the list were making phone calls, giving gifts, holding banquets or conducting visits to win support; covering up illicit activities; spreading hearsay against others; using intimidation or deception; and arranging jobs for others.

ok...follow me here. So...um, if these new measures are not on the books as illegal, does that mean they were ok before? Hmm, that explains a whole lot.

I like the "covering up illicit activites" one. I wish they clarified somewhere what those illicit activities are. Would have been an interesting list.

By now, many people have heard about a man in China who was beaten to death after he was caught filming a clash between the local city management officers aka "Chengguan" and citizens protesting an urban trash dump encroaching into their residential area.

Whenever I hear about China news of this nature hitting the Google News headlines and written up in CNN Headlines as "China blogger beaten to death" the first thing I do is turn to the inside sources of China news and commentary I trust. Either Global Voices Online, China Herald or Danwei.org

I learned a long time ago, that I can't trust CNN headlines. They're there to catch world attention, not to necessarily provide in depth coverage of a story. Afterall, this is the same company that inserts "scary intro music" along with threatening titles such as RED STORM RISING when it comes to covering segments on China courtesy of Chinaphobic Lou Dobbs. You would think from the headlines and the way people repost and blog about it afterwards that this was about the Chinese government cracking down on bloggers in China.

For starters, can anyone confirm this man was a blogger? There is something emotional about the word blogger amongst the blogger community. I appreciate it. I get it. But there is nowhere in credible news sources that this man was a blogger. No link to a blog of his. It appears he was an unfortunate man with a cell phone camera who didn't realize the Chengguan would turn on him in the way they did. I mention this because had the title of the news story reflected what actually took place

"Man Beaten To Death By Corrupt Local City Management Officers For Taping Clash With Citizens Over A Trash Dump"

...I highly doubt that it would've gotten the attention of widely read tech blogs such as TechCrunch

But insert the word "blogger" in there, and it makes a huge difference as to who pays attention. It also leads to the story being debated in the wrong context. Before you know it, I'm reading about suggestions by TechCrunch readers for an international boycott by bloggers of the Beijing Olympics over this incident.

Anyone care to read between the mainstream media headlines? According to John Kennedy's post on Global Voices Online, the incident is less to do with the Chinese government cracking down on Chinese bloggers and more to do with the growing outrage over the corruption of local government employees who often abuse what little power they are given.

It’s important to note that the Chengguan in China who often abuse their local power are often no more than a bunch of uneducated thugs who overstep the boundaries of what little power is given to them at the municipal level. The beating of this man was not sanctioned by the Chinese government. It appears it was an attempt by these local “municipal authorities” to ensure they weren’t exposed for their corrupt ways. In fact, I would bet that the 4 guys that were arrested are headed for some serious punishment - especially since this incident made it to the international press and caused another loss of face for the Chinese government.

I just want to point out that what is often portrayed by generic coverage by CNN and reposted on blogs like TechCrunch often reflect a shallow level of understanding that instantaneously translates in our RSS readers as “evil Chinese government cracks down on bloggers in China” — without a better understanding of what sparked the situation to begin with and what the outrage in China internet is about. The Chenguan did not beat this man to death because he was a blogger. They were trying to keep from getting in trouble themselves for having their actions taped and exposed by a passerby.

This issue is more about growing outrage of citizens in China over the corruption in the country by local officials than it is about bloggers getting singled out and silenced by the Chinese government.

True, whether or not this man was a blogger doesn't take away from the fact that an innocent man was killed over trying to capture something unjust that he was witnessing. Just wanted to get the facts straight as there is much more to the story than censorship of bloggers in China. The bigger issue at hand is rampant corruption at the local government levels that threaten stability in China as citizens grow tired of having to put up with it.