https://www.scmp.com/rss/16325/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Ou Shaokun has made a name for himself in China's lively social media scene with his relentless exposure of official misuse of government cars. He takes photos of these cars, posts them on his widely followed Weibo account, then reports the abuse to the authorities. Ou, who is in his 60s and widely known as "Uncle Ou of Guangzhou", is said to be "more famous than the mayor". He has become even more famous in recent days. In Hunan two weeks ago, he uploaded photos of two cars he said were... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1757608/chinese-public-starting-shun-government-shame-parades?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1757608/chinese-public-starting-shun-government-shame-parades?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 06 Apr 2015 10:18:16 +0000 Just before International Women's Day on March 8, Chinese police detained a number of women's rights activists in Beijing, Guangzhou and Hangzhou . Five of the activists - Li Tingting (better known as Li Maizi), Wei Tingting, Wang Man, Zheng Churan and Wu Rongrong - are suspected of "picking quarrels and provoking troubles", a charge police have used in recent years to target dissidents. The women were planning to protest against sexual harassment on public transport. The five are thought to be... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1739150/xi-jinpings-crackdown-civil-society-even-womens-rights?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1739150/xi-jinpings-crackdown-civil-society-even-womens-rights?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 16 Mar 2015 09:24:21 +0000 On November 14, civil society activist Xiao Liang bought a mop while in Bangkok and attached a woman's portrait to the stick. Holding it, she headed for the United Nations Conference Centre, where the "Asian and Pacific Conference on Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment: Beijing + 20 Review" was being held. The portrait was that of Xiao Liang's friend and fellow activist, Zheng Churan. The two young women were travelling to Bangkok to attend the UN meeting when Zheng was detained at the... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1647745/chinese-must-fight-their-right-freely-enter-or-leave-their?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1647745/chinese-must-fight-their-right-freely-enter-or-leave-their?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 24 Nov 2014 08:45:00 +0000 In the summer of 2009, I exchanged views with a group of mainland judges and prosecutors at the University of Hong Kong. From them, I learned that the Hong Kong government has for many years sponsored such study trips for mainland legal professionals, many of them from Shenzhen. Even though the legal systems on the two sides of the border are vastly different, those I spoke to felt that they benefited from the visit. They noted that, among mainland cities, Shenzhen was widely seen to have the... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1631212/under-partys-grip-chinese-legal-reforms-wont-get-far?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1631212/under-partys-grip-chinese-legal-reforms-wont-get-far?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 03 Nov 2014 09:15:15 +0000 "Take a walk on the street and you can find the true Hong Kong spirit: the discipline and order, the impressive ability of the people to self-organise and protest in a way that is peaceful and rational," Hong Kong-based journalist Zhang Jieping wrote in an article on Occupy Central. "Voices were raised in song, and the shops around were friendly. At night, the students and police officers both were seen clearing away rubbish left from the day." After more than 10 days of a civil disobedience... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1610645/protesters-must-be-clear-goal-universal-suffrage?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1610645/protesters-must-be-clear-goal-universal-suffrage?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 06 Oct 2014 09:15:00 +0000 As part of the United Kingdom, Scotland has been administered in a way no worse than Hong Kong has under Chinese rule. Certainly, it has had more autonomy than the so-called autonomous regions of Tibet and Xinjiang. Still, in Scotland, the calls for secession have never ceased, and now its people are poised to vote in a referendum for independence. This is how democratic societies handle conflict. Many expect this example of democracy in action to put Beijing to shame, and they have waited in... https://www.scmp.com/comment/article/1593789/scottish-exercise-democracy-becomes-anti-democracy-fodder-chinese-press?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/article/1593789/scottish-exercise-democracy-becomes-anti-democracy-fodder-chinese-press?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 16 Sep 2014 06:00:00 +0000 Chu Anping, the renowned liberal scholar and journalist who was persecuted and "disappeared" during the Cultural Revolution, once said: "Under the Kuomintang's rule, democracy is a matter of degree, of having more or less democracy. Under communist rule, it is a choice between some and none." Only two weeks ago, the debate in Hong Kong on how to implement universal suffrage in the 2017 election centred on a question of degree - namely, what kind of arrangements would be the most democratic. On... https://www.scmp.com/comment/article/1587915/todays-china-democracy-even-possible?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/article/1587915/todays-china-democracy-even-possible?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 08 Sep 2014 10:00:00 +0000 The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Chinese Communist Party is rather concerned about whether government officials are in the habit of watching pornographic DVDs and, if they do, where they keep them. Recently, the Inner Mongolia commission for discipline inspection accused the autonomous region's former deputy secretary general Wu Zhizhong of violating laws and discipline. Xinhua reported last month that Wu turned a room at his home into a hall for worship where he hid about... https://www.scmp.com/comment/article/1572040/why-investigators-spread-titillating-gossip-about-chinas-corrupt-officials?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/article/1572040/why-investigators-spread-titillating-gossip-about-chinas-corrupt-officials?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 12 Aug 2014 07:15:30 +0000 In some media reports, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection investigation of Zhou Yongkang has been described as signifying the most serious power struggle in the Communist Party since the Cultural Revolution. This is hardly true. During the Tiananmen pro-democracy movement of 1989, an intense tug of war was going on between one faction that insisted on suppression of the protesters, led by Li Peng , and the faction advocating communicating with the protesters, led by Zhao Ziyang... https://www.scmp.com/comment/article/1564357/fall-zhou-yongkang-no-cause-hope-change?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/article/1564357/fall-zhou-yongkang-no-cause-hope-change?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 01 Aug 2014 11:00:30 +0000 Just before July 1, the Chinese Communist Party hit the headlines with news on several high-profile corruption investigations. This could be its way of celebrating the anniversary of the founding of the party, on July 1, or perhaps it was trying to steal the limelight from the annual march in Hong Kong. On June 27, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection announced that Wan Qingliang, the party chief of Guangzhou and member of the Guangdong Standing Committee, was under investigation for... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1546654/curb-corruption-china-must-do-more-taking-down-tigers?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1546654/curb-corruption-china-must-do-more-taking-down-tigers?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 06 Jul 2014 21:15:45 +0000 Ding Zilin, the founder of the support group Tiananmen Mothers, asked recently: "Would Mr Frank Sieren please ask his ancestors what Nazism means?" She said this after Sieren, the Beijing correspondent of German broadcaster Deutsche Welle, published an article titled "From Tiananmen to Leipzig" on the broadcaster's website on June 4. In the article, he likened the Tiananmen crackdown to a mere "slip" in Chinese contemporary history and said "we might never know what actually happened in Beijing... https://www.scmp.com/comment/article/1534084/june-4-and-crimes-nazism?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/article/1534084/june-4-and-crimes-nazism?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 16 Jun 2014 09:00:00 +0000 In the run-up to the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests, the Chinese government has gone on the offensive. Citing various absurd reasons, it has detained a large number of people who have either criticised the government in the past or whom authorities believe may do so. They include the respected human rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang , retired academic Xu Youyu and political activist Hu Shigen . Their arrests have sparked international concern. Many from around the world - from... https://www.scmp.com/comment/article/1521928/beijing-plays-peoples-fear-stop-dissent-june-4-nears?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/article/1521928/beijing-plays-peoples-fear-stop-dissent-june-4-nears?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 30 May 2014 13:15:45 +0000 Many Chinese fans of American television are feeling aggrieved. They cannot understand why their government is robbing them of even the small pleasures in life. Earlier this month, four US shows - The Big Bang Theory, The Good Wife, NCIS and The Practice - were removed from Chinese internet streaming sites on the censors' order. No reason was given. Since the 1980s, television shows from Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea and the West have won a huge following on the mainland, with Chinese from all... https://www.scmp.com/comment/article/1504883/chinas-censorship-goes-overdrive-ban-us-tv-dramas?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/article/1504883/chinas-censorship-goes-overdrive-ban-us-tv-dramas?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 05 May 2014 11:00:00 +0000 There is never a total new beginning in political power shifts - no "zero hour". Basic conflict can endure for half a century - like the cleavage between the bao shou pai (conservative faction) and zao fan pai (rebels) from the Cultural Revolution. When Xi Jinping says today that the princelings are China's "legitimate heirs" of power, he is referring to an argument that was fiercely debated in the immediate aftermath of the Cultural Revolution. The 1980s, and especially 1989, again saw the... https://www.scmp.com/comment/article/1482104/xis-crackdown-corruption-wont-lead-more-open-society?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/article/1482104/xis-crackdown-corruption-wont-lead-more-open-society?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 14 Apr 2014 13:30:00 +0000 As US first lady Michelle Obama concluded her week-long trip to China, The New York Times compared the visit to similar ones made by two of her predecessors. In 1995, then first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton angered the Chinese government by delivering a speech titled "Women's rights are human rights", as part of the UN's Fourth Conference on Women in Beijing. Just a week before Obama's visit, human rights activist Cao Shunli died in custody while in a Beijing hospital. Cao was detained by... https://www.scmp.com/comment/article/1461709/rights-abuses-take-gloss-smiling-michelle-obamas-trip-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/article/1461709/rights-abuses-take-gloss-smiling-michelle-obamas-trip-china?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 31 Mar 2014 11:00:30 +0000 The annual sessions of the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference are taking place this week. Chinese internet users wryly noted that many of the delegates attending had rushed back to Beijing from different parts of the world in order to take part. Some Chinese even took to the streets to protest against the interference of these "foreign forces" in local politics. The detractors were, of course, pointing out the irony that many members of the... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1439378/chinas-npc-meeting-little-or-no-consequence?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1439378/chinas-npc-meeting-little-or-no-consequence?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 03 Mar 2014 10:00:15 +0000 Welcome to the Year of the Whores!" This subtitle mistakenly appeared two weeks ago on a BBC news programme reporting the start of the Year of the Horse. Now China's social media users are praising the broadcaster for its "vision". As it turned out, on the first Sunday after the holiday, CCTV broadcast an "exposé" of the sex industry in Dongguan, in a departure from its usual fare. Hours later, 6,000 police officers raided nearly 2,000 saunas, karaoke lounges and other places of entertainment in... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1429033/womens-rights-all-invisible-dongguans-crackdown-sex-trade?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1429033/womens-rights-all-invisible-dongguans-crackdown-sex-trade?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 16 Feb 2014 19:05:01 +0000 Is our society moving with the times? This abstract but important question was the preoccupation of our generation of Chinese journalists. We believed its answer would decide the value of our work, the recompense for our toil. To one newspaperman, the answer was a resounding "yes". At the founding of The Beijing News in 2003, its then chief editor, Cheng Yizhong, said: "No force in this world can stop time! … Respect it, and history will be ours!" It was an exhilarating time. The Beijing News... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1421296/china-moving-backwards-societys-quest-freer-media?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1421296/china-moving-backwards-societys-quest-freer-media?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 05 Feb 2014 08:45:45 +0000 A few years ago, a young man walking along a street in Tianjin saw from afar then president Hu Jintao leading an inspection tour of the area. He was so excited he tried to call his friend on his mobile phone, but there was no signal. Only after Hu and his entourage left did the network signal return. The person he had tried to call told me this story. After news spread two weeks ago of Xi Jinping's visit to the Qingfeng steamed bun shop, I thought to myself that if the Tianjin story was true, I... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1404659/chance-encounter-xi-beijing-bun-shop-proves-very-hard?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1404659/chance-encounter-xi-beijing-bun-shop-proves-very-hard?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 14 Jan 2014 01:37:40 +0000 Whenever a new leadership takes over or a major Communist Party meeting is convened, Chinese intellectuals often appeal to their leaders to carry out political reform and adopt democratic constitutional rule. Their key argument is not that the people deserve elections, the rule of law, freedom of speech or other civil rights. Rather, they try to persuade Beijing that change is necessary because it will ensure the party's survival and continued rule and promote social stability. Or else, they... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1386919/beijing-wants-no-advice-earnest-friends-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1386919/beijing-wants-no-advice-earnest-friends-china?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 22 Dec 2013 20:00:49 +0000 A Western media company recently commissioned me to write an article but suggested that I do so under a different name. That's because articles with my name on are blocked on the internet by Chinese censors, and the company naturally wished to reach more readers on the mainland. Given these concerns, I am grateful the company still wanted me to write. Such is the power of the Communist Party in getting the international media to self-censor. Earlier this month, Bloomberg reporter Robert Hutton... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1377510/self-censorship-beijings-most-effective-gag-truth?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1377510/self-censorship-beijings-most-effective-gag-truth?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 10 Dec 2013 10:45:45 +0000 In the 1990s, I lived for some time in a basement where a friend was running an entertainment business. Next door was a nightclub which the police would raid from time to time, arresting a group of people each time. We called these raids "Repairing the Second Ring Road". The government was at the time rebuilding the road, and such arrests no doubt provided free labour for the project. The legal term for this punishment was "re-education through labour". As long as this structure of power... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1365399/end-chinas-labour-camps-wont-halt-government-abuse-power?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1365399/end-chinas-labour-camps-wont-halt-government-abuse-power?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 25 Nov 2013 11:00:30 +0000 Leaders of Western countries may well be jealous at the excited attention being heaped on a plenary meeting of the Communist Party's Central Committee, which starts this weekend. Ever since the date of the third plenum was announced, it has been the top news item in mainland newspapers big and small. There is no end to the upbeat coverage, it seems. Once again, a people starved of hope are going overboard with their expectations of change. No one seems to doubt Beijing will roll out effective... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1350935/dont-believe-hype-over-third-plenum?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1350935/dont-believe-hype-over-third-plenum?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 08 Nov 2013 10:52:11 +0000 After prominent online commentator Charles Xue Biqun, better known as Xue Manzi, was detained on suspicion of soliciting prostitutes, Pan Shiyi, another household name in online media, appeared on a CCTV programme and stammered while speaking about the social responsibility of China's star bloggers. The government's crackdown on internet speech has clearly shaken its "big V" online celebrities (those with a "verified" Sina Weibo account), who have become more careful about what they say and post... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1334654/chinas-social-media-may-diversify-amid-crackdown-celebrity?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1334654/chinas-social-media-may-diversify-amid-crackdown-celebrity?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 20 Oct 2013 19:23:25 +0000 To the relief of many people, Xinhua issued a one-line statement on National Day denying reports that a new edition of Quotations from Chairman Mao would be published this year. But this was no rumour. After all, in the earlier media reports on the republication of the title - better known as that symbol of the Cultural Revolution, the "little red book" - the book's editor Chen Yu, a researcher at the Academy of Military Sciences, was widely quoted on details of the edition. Since he came to... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1324500/little-red-book-republication-saga-all-about-political?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1324500/little-red-book-republication-saga-all-about-political?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 06 Oct 2013 16:00:00 +0000 A stern-looking Wen Jiabao told hundreds of journalists at a press conference last March that the Communist Party stood by its judgment on the Great Cultural Revolution, passed in late 1978 at the historic Third Plenum of the 11th Party Congress. “History tells us,” said the then premier, “all practices in line with the people’s interests must also take lessons from history, and stand the test of history themselves.” Looking back on this moment as we do now, a week after Bo Xilai’s trial, we can... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1301341/dont-be-fooled-bo-xilais-trial?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1301341/dont-be-fooled-bo-xilais-trial?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 01 Sep 2013 13:01:50 +0000 When China was in the grip of Peng Liyuan fever, back in March, Gu Kailai was already serving time for murder. I don't know whether Gu read any of the glowing media reports about the new first lady and, if she did, what she thought of them. If her husband, Bo Xilai , really did have his eye on the top ranks of Chinese politics, Gu must have once coveted the role now taken by Peng, and believed she could have played it better. Sadly for her, Bo's downfall meant the end of such hopes; her public... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1300110/tragedy-gu-kailai?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1300110/tragedy-gu-kailai?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 28 Aug 2013 16:00:00 +0000 The latest attack on constitutionalism by its opponents in the Chinese Communist Party appeared this month in three commentaries in the overseas edition of the People's Daily. The articles, which ran over three consecutive days, were all written under the pen name Ma Zhongcheng : "Constitutionalism is a weapon in the war for public opinion", "American constitutionalism is incompatible with socialism", and "Constitutionalism in China is futile and bound to fail". Writing such articles under a pen... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1297833/what-propaganda-against-constitutionalism-tells-us-about?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1297833/what-propaganda-against-constitutionalism-tells-us-about?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 19 Aug 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Last weekend, Guizhou vice-governor Chen Mingming commented on his Sina Weibo microblog on a shooting case in Miami, Florida. A subsequent exchange with another blogger led him to say: "Some people curse their own country every day, but they continue to stay here rather than move to the US! [They should] go to America as fast as they can! But first they should have plastic surgery, so they won't be recognised as Chinese." One blogger suggested that such criticism stems from people's love of... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1293928/why-chinas-mass-line-movement-headed-dead-end?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1293928/why-chinas-mass-line-movement-headed-dead-end?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 02 Aug 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Lawyer Zhou Litai became famous over a decade ago for being a champion of workers' rights. Based in Shenzhen, he fought for compensation for dozens of young workers who lost limbs or suffered other serious injuries at work. Their cases were not complicated. All employers were required by law to contribute to their employees' social security fund, which, in the event of an accident that led to injury, would pay for their medical expenses and part of their living costs. But this rarely happened in... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1277376/enforcing-filial-piety-no-solution-chinas-pension-shortfall?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1277376/enforcing-filial-piety-no-solution-chinas-pension-shortfall?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 07 Jul 2013 16:00:00 +0000 “An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind”. During my recent trip to the 5th World Congress against the Death Penalty in Madrid, the famous saying from Mahatma Gandhi was heard everywhere. To me, this “blindness” resulting from revenge killing is even more harmful, because it blocks out any other possibilities of reconciliation. It is especially the case in China. This year’s congress was supposed to focus on movements in the Arab world to abolish the death penalty in the wake of the... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1269459/violence-poisons-air-we-breathe?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1269459/violence-poisons-air-we-breathe?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 26 Jun 2013 08:07:04 +0000 In the year when the Gang of Four was toppled, a young teacher in my hometown shot to fame playing Jiang Qing on stage. His performance was simple: he slapped on some make-up, wore a big, loose colourful dress, walked coyly on stage and then laughed wildly for 10 minutes. The show was hugely popular. He captured the essence of Jiang's public image: a mannish, witch-like woman who was unfit to be China's first lady. Even now, many ordinary Chinese have no clear idea of the crimes Jiang was... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1262991/chinas-first-lady-fever-betrays-its-backward-politics?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1262991/chinas-first-lady-fever-betrays-its-backward-politics?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 17 Jun 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Once democratised, China could hurt Hong Kong even more. This is what Dr Horace Chin Wan-kan, a core member of the "nativist" movement in Hong Kong, told Hongkongers in an article published on June 4. This is not the first time Dr Chin has warned of the dangers of a more democratic China. In his latest publication, he has once again substituted imagination for reason. "What we Hongkongers need is not a democratic China, but to build Hong Kong into an autonomous city-state first, merging the... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1256939/will-democratic-china-harm-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1256939/will-democratic-china-harm-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 09 Jun 2013 01:36:45 +0000 When the Tiananmen students' movement was taking place 24 years ago, Du Bin was a junior secondary school student in Linyi , Shandong , and knew little of what was happening. When he joined the army later, he was posted to a unit that had taken part in the crackdown. But no one talked about it. It was only in 2004 that Du, having scaled the internet firewall, first encountered this piece of history. Students believed what repression was necessary to China's economic development Two weeks ago,... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1252675/breaking-silence-over-june-4?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1252675/breaking-silence-over-june-4?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 03 Jun 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Before the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008, the most serious public incident in Chengdu was the protest against the setting up of a petrochemical plant in the suburbs of Pengzhou city. People answered blog calls and gathered "for a peaceful stroll" on May 4. That followed a number of anti-pollution protests in Xiamen. A large number of police officers were on hand at the protest site, dispersing any passers-by who looked likely to linger for an assembly. City authorities and businesses also called... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1242898/beijings-increasingly-heavy-handed-response-maintain?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1242898/beijings-increasingly-heavy-handed-response-maintain?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 21 May 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Soon after the Yaan earthquake in Sichuan , a weibo message of concern posted by the Red Cross Society of China attracted pages of derisive responses from internet users, with many telling it to "get lost". The charity should not be surprised. It got a similar reception last year during Beijing's deadly floods. But perhaps it thought things would be different this time, since compared with the lower casualty numbers of the floods, an earthquake of tragic proportions would surely elicit more... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1229419/black-mark-against-chinas-charity-sector?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1229419/black-mark-against-chinas-charity-sector?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 03 May 2013 16:00:00 +0000 A speech Xi Jinping made during his "southern tour" last month is being circulated within party ranks, veteran journalist Gao Yu said in an article published on the website of the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle. The full text of the speech has been posted online. If that is indeed the speech Xi made, then it is clear China has a new leader who is more conservative and more intractable than his predecessors. Xi's words dashed hopes for change. While Deng Xiaoping's "southern tour speeches" 20... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1142568/xis-southern-tour-speech-shows-why-womens-rights-must?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1142568/xis-southern-tour-speech-shows-why-womens-rights-must?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 03 Feb 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Wang Yang has never been far from the limelight during his five years as Guangdong party chief, so cue the headlines when he stepped down last month for another posting. Reviewing his own performance in the south, Wang said he "had not been lazy or deceptive, or tried to avoid facing up to problems". This was solid praise indeed, rather different from the self-effacing assessment that senior officials usually give themselves at the end of a job. Unfortunately, in this case, the huge gap between... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1116763/wang-yang-no-reformist-leader?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1116763/wang-yang-no-reformist-leader?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 31 Dec 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Imagine you were an expert in a particular field, and you were invited to present your ideas to a high- ranking government official called Secretary Wang. You took the assignment seriously and carefully prepared a speech. At the meeting, you were the first to speak, so you started with: "Respected Secretary Wang …" Before you could go on, Secretary Wang cut you off, and asked you to skip the pleasantries and get to the point. He added: "No prepared speeches are allowed in meetings with me. Do... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1102289/dont-put-too-much-hope-new-style-chinese-leadership?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1102289/dont-put-too-much-hope-new-style-chinese-leadership?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 10 Dec 2012 16:00:00 +0000 A New York Times article last week on China's incoming premier quoted one of his contemporaries as saying: "Like all of us back then, Li Keqiang was idealistic, open-minded, incisive and eager to see China change." The speaker was Wang Juntao, a pro- democracy activist once jailed by the government for his role in the Tiananmen protests, and who now lives in exile. The article, titled "Reformist hopes for China's new No 2", described Li's years as an undergraduate at Peking University. "Mr Li... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1089261/dont-pin-reform-hopes-chinese-leaders-youthful-idealism?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1089261/dont-pin-reform-hopes-chinese-leaders-youthful-idealism?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 23 Nov 2012 16:00:00 +0000 I still remember that afternoon more than 20 years ago when I first read Red Sorghum. I was bowled over. I hadn't yet come across the works of William Faulkner or Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and as I read Red Sorghum then, I felt a rush of elation that a story about "my grandfather" and "my grandmother" could be told so boldly and without restraint. Now when I reread the novel to try and recapture that thrill, I realised it is gone for good. I also tried to read Mo Yan's other works that I hadn't... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1066541/writers-should-be-true-their-convictions?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1066541/writers-should-be-true-their-convictions?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 21 Oct 2012 16:00:00 +0000 During the trial of the Gang of Four in the winter of 1980, Jiang Qing delivered a two-hour tirade in her own defence, during which she famously described herself as a dog of Mao Zedong. More than 30 years later, another political wife stood accused in a Chinese court of law, one believed to have been similarly corrupted by the power wielded by her husband. But there were no hysterics from Gu Kailai, the wife of former Chongqing party secretary Bo Xilai. Handed a suspended death sentence for... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1048748/china-doesnt-need-more-show-trials?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1048748/china-doesnt-need-more-show-trials?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 27 Sep 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Here we are again, faced with another student movement. In Hong Kong, a campaign opposing the introduction of moral and national education in schools is gaining momentum: protesters are taking turns to fast in a hunger strike relay; some are calling for a class boycott. The movement, started by a group of secondary school students who call themselves Scholarism, has received support from different sectors of society. Their main demand is for the government to scrap the course. We see the same... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1031794/hks-student-protesters-must-stay-focused-national-education?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1031794/hks-student-protesters-must-stay-focused-national-education?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 07 Sep 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Zhou Kehua was a hardened criminal who robbed banks, murdered the innocent and shot at the police in a series of cases that shocked the nation and made him one of China's most wanted fugitives. His crime spree - spanning Chongqing , Jiangsu and Hunan - lasted eight years. He died on August 14 - shot dead by brave policemen, according to the police, but some people believe he committed suicide. A few days later, rumours began circulating online that the authorities had issued a gag order: all... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1023656/zhou-kehua-case-reflects-chinese-medias-sanitised-crime?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1023656/zhou-kehua-case-reflects-chinese-medias-sanitised-crime?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 27 Aug 2012 16:00:00 +0000 With the 18th Communist Party congress just around the corner, the government is doing everything in its power to create a picture of harmony to welcome the country's incoming leaders. But the almost non-stop outbreak of mass protests this year is severely testing its "stability maintenance" efforts. Last month, the residents of Shifang , Sichuan and Qidong , Jiangsu , took to the streets in separate protests. Both opposed a development project they said would pollute the environment, and both... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1013208/cracks-chinas-stability-drive?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1013208/cracks-chinas-stability-drive?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 13 Aug 2012 16:00:00 +0000 The death toll of any major disaster is a natural concern for those of us lucky enough to be alive. Yet on the mainland, the public demand for such information has been a perennial headache for the government. The Beijing rainstorm last weekend took the problem to new heights. Though officials eventually provided and increased the death toll, the action came only much foot-dragging. Two days after the heavy rain, Beijing's Fangshan district reported: 'Sixty-six thousand houses were damaged,... https://www.scmp.com/article/1007907/casualty-lies?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/1007907/casualty-lies?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 27 Jul 2012 16:00:00 +0000 The mass protest in Shifang, Sichuan, this month over an infrastructure project feared to be polluting was not new. Similar concerns also mobilised residents in Xiamen in Fujian, Panyu in Guangdong, and Dalian in Liaoning. Like in these earlier protests, the people of Shifang won a victory, at least temporarily, when officials agreed to suspend the project. But two things made Shifang different. First, the rally turned violent and the police used batons and tear gas to disperse the crowd.... https://www.scmp.com/article/1006643/defining-dissent?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/1006643/defining-dissent?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 12 Jul 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Yet another blind man is in the news. If the story of the first shocked the world, what happened to the second only fuelled our outrage. One was disabled from a young age, jailed by the authorities on sham charges for helping his fellow villagers fight for their rights, and put under illegal house arrest after his release from jail. Finally, after seven years of misery, he and his family became free with the help of the US embassy. His name is Chen Guangcheng . The other grew up healthy but... https://www.scmp.com/article/1004068/tracking-back?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/1004068/tracking-back?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 15 Jun 2012 16:00:00 +0000 It was my first night in the United States. My landlord had yet to tidy up my room so I stayed in his study. Waking in the middle of the night, I took a random book from a shelf: Chinese in San Francisco. The first sentences in the foreword led me into deep thought: when Irish, German and Mexican people arrived in America, they took it as home and became masters there. Chinese, on the other hand, tended to think they would return to China eventually - despite the fact that they and their... https://www.scmp.com/article/1002748/call-home?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/1002748/call-home?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 01 Jun 2012 16:00:00 +0000 A rumour circulated on the internet late last month that Premier Wen Jiabao had suggested a reappraisal of the June 4 movement. Perhaps because of this, many more people posted online the infamous People's Daily editorial on April 26, 1989 that fatefully condemned the student protests as an anti-socialism upheaval. So I reread it. I'd read it so many times that I'd become numb to its content. This time, I tried to treat it as political comment, and read it with fresh eyes. Between April and June... https://www.scmp.com/article/1000106/china-needs-address-causes-june-4-not-just-seek-its-reappraisal?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/1000106/china-needs-address-causes-june-4-not-just-seek-its-reappraisal?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 04 May 2012 16:00:00 +0000