Tea Leaf Nation http://tealeafnation.posterous.com TeaLeafNation.com: An e-magazine offering fresh analysis and original commentary on news and trends from China’s social media space, with a focus on current affairs, social issues and culture. posterous.com Wed, 25 Jan 2012 21:23:00 -0800 Mr. Anti-America Goes to Washington (and Gets Hurt) http://tealeafnation.posterous.com/mr-anti-america-goes-to-washington-and-gets-h http://tealeafnation.posterous.com/mr-anti-america-goes-to-washington-and-gets-h

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Escalator
More than 2,500 years ago, Sun Tze advised warriors to “keep a vigilant eye on defenses” while on enemy terrains in the Art of War. In 2012, he may need to add “…and stand still on an escalator.”

Mr. Yu Li, an essayist who writes under the pen name Sima Nan, was involved in a freak accident on an escalator at Dulles airport in Washington DC on January 20. Sima Nan sustained only minor physical injuries from the accident but continues to suffer from a virtual pummeling on Weibo, China’s Twitter. The very presence of Sima Nan, whom many netizens considered an “anti-America warrior,” in the capital of the USA was enough to invite suspicions of hypocrisy and an overflow of ridicule on Weibo.

The last tweet Sima Nan posted on Weibo before he boarded a flight bound for Washington reads:

“America is the enemy of all the people in the world. It produces IOUs (U.S. dollars) in exchange for real products, and exploits countries around the world. It has planted economic roots in all continents. Its energy consumption level is more than ten times the world average. It’s like a giant tumor. Its military bases are all around the world. All wars after World War II were instigated, engineered or started by America. People around the world and governments of different countries are questioning [American policy]…”

The timing of Sima Nan’s visit to the U.S. coincided with Chinese New Year, when tradition calls for family reunions. As rumors that Sima Nan was in the U.S. to visit his wife and child made the rounds on the Internet, netizens responded to the news of Sima Nan’s misfortune with plenty of schadenfreude, calling it a “Chinese New Year comedy special.” “Reading comments on Sima Nan’s injury is much more entertaining than watching the CCTV Chinese New Year Gala” is a common sentiment. Some netizens congratulated the CIA for “developing an escalator with artificial intelligence” and “foiling Sima Nan’s mission to liberate the American people.”

Blogger Li Chengpeng tweeted,

“The American imperialists can no longer produce weapons of mass destruction due to their declining economy, so they switched from a war using aircraft carriers to a war using escalators. Mr. Sima astutely caught wind of this, and bravely went to enemy territory… and successfully destroyed the imperialists’ weapon in the testing phase.”

The less than charitable reaction to Sima Nan’s accident likely stems from netizens’ aversion to the perceived doubletalk by some Chinese officials and other defenders of the Celestial Dynasty. For example, Mr. Bo Xilai, the party boss of Chongqing municipality and a leading contender for a coveted seat on the Standing Committee of the Politburo, China’s top governing body, has preached a return to Maoist-era values. He initiated the infamous “Singing Red” campaign that reminded many of the bad old days of the Cultural Revolution. On the other hand, his son, Bo Guagua, holds degrees from Harrow School and Oxford and cruises around town in a FerrariPictures of Bo junior’s drunken partying at Oxford have gone viral on the Internet.

Netizens have invented the term “naked officials” to describe Chinese public servants who have sent their families and assets offshore. Many have raised the possibility that Sima Nan is a “naked fifty cents.” As of the time of publication, Sima Nan has deflected rumors that his wife and child have emigrated to the U.S. for good but has not responded to questions of whether they in fact live there.

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Tue, 24 Jan 2012 10:38:00 -0800 Netizens React: Beijing Professor Calls Hong Kongers “Dogs” http://tealeafnation.posterous.com/netizens-react-beijing-professor-calls-hong-k http://tealeafnation.posterous.com/netizens-react-beijing-professor-calls-hong-k

Kongqingdong1
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Hong Kong’s fraught relationship with mainland China is not off to an auspicious start in the Year of the Dragon. On social networking site Tianya.cn and Sina Weibo, China’s Twitter, netizens have spent days throwing verbal bombs afterwell-known Maoist Kong Qingdong declared that “many Hong Kongers are dogs” on an online news show. This follows a recentwar of words which erupted when a Hong Kong branch of Dolce & Gabbana appeared to give its mainland customers favorable treatment.

On January 19, while a guest on V1.cn, Kong Qingdong, a professor at the prestigious Peking University, declared that “many Hong Kong people are good people, but many Hong Kong people are still dogs.” He also said that all Chinese had a “duty” to speak Putonghua, the standard mainland dialect supported by Beijing. Those who “purposefully do not speak Putonghua…are bastards.” His comments came after a video showing Hong Kongers criticizing mainland visitors, mostly in Cantonese, for eating on a Hong Kong subway went viral on the Internet.

Kong’s rant spurred online commentary that resembled a crash course in both modern and classic Chinese insults. Commenters alternatively labeled Kong, or those critiquing him, “dogs” and “bastards,” but also more au courantexpletives such as the net slang “2B.” People from the mainland were “uncouth,” people from Hong Kong “snobs.”

But interspersed among the bitter rhetoric, some reasonable debate managed to survive. A netizen from Shanghai pleaded, “Please do not casually call people ‘traitors’ or ‘running dogs,’ posting [these comments] does not encourage ethnic harmony…please do not be a bad example to [our] children.”  Others pleaded for civility during Spring Festival, or Chinese New Year, saying that a cease-fire during Spring Festival was an “unwritten rule.”

Many netizens criticized Kong’s rhetoric as “extreme” or “harsh.” Kong’s critics did not just hail from Taiwan or Hong Kong. In one poll on Weibo, whose users are overwhelmingly mainland Chinese, 41% felt that Kong “should apologize,” while 47% felt Kong should resign because his “conduct was unbecoming [of] a Peking University professor.”

Some netizens countered that Kong was quoted out of context, although Kong repeated his insults several times and seemed determined to make his views explicit. Others felt people in Hong Kong were being too sensitive; “Someone insulted a minority of you…the sky is not going to fall.” One netizen calling herself “just a small commoner” reminded Hong Kong that its people’s average income was “at least three times the [average income] in the richest mainland city; we are [thousands of miles] away from achieving Hong Kong’s standard of living.” This sentiment suggests that a healthy dose of jealousy lurks behind some of the resentment that mainland Chinese harbor towards Hong Kong citizens. The irony is that many Hong Kongers are equally jealous of the flagrant displays of wealth by affluent mainland visitors, who seem to snap up Gucci handbags and luxury apartments with abandon.

In part because some protesters called on the Hong Kong government to punish Kong for his comments, many netizens focused on freedom of speech and its limits. Some criticized the Hong Kong citizens who protested Kong’s words, writing without evidence that they were being paid to do so, or inferring they came from the “lower rungs” of Hong Kong society and were using Hong Kong law as a cover to persecute Kong for his unpopular views. Others argued that Kong’s words went beyond mere speech and his “insults were at best a civil offense, at worst a criminal offense.” One netizen cited with approval Germany’s “wise laws” prohibiting fascist speech.

In truth, both mainlanders and Hong Kongers have reason to be aggrieved. Professor Kong’s words were indefensible, and some netizens’ contention that his words were calculated merely to inflame is the most charitable interpretation. Meanwhile, the Hong Kongers in the video to which Professor Kong was responding appeared to over-react to the rather anodyne sight of a mainland child eating noodles on a subway.

Many netizens pointed out that the 15th anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover to China is imminent, and “it has already gotten to the point…[that the situation cannot support] preserving one country.” It may be dawning on both sides that the 35 years remaining before Hong Kong’s full integration into China may both be too much time for the mainland to stay away, yet not enough time to repair the rift between the two. With millions of mainlanders streaming over Hong Kong’s border, and millions of Hong Kong citizens traveling to the mainland for business and pleasure, more dustups will doubtless occur. More videos of occasional boorish behavior from individuals on both sides will be captured and will then go viral. All the twain can truly control is whether to respond with venom or grace.

 

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Tue, 24 Jan 2012 09:17:00 -0800 What’s What on Weibo, China’s Twitter — The Mascots http://tealeafnation.posterous.com/whats-what-on-weibo-chinas-twitter-the-mascot http://tealeafnation.posterous.com/whats-what-on-weibo-chinas-twitter-the-mascot

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Whatswhat3
After What’s What on Weibo — The Lay of the Land and What’s What on Weibo — The Main Characters, Tea Leaf Nation brings you two social media classics: The River Crab and the Grass Mud Horse.

河蟹 (he xie) = River Crab = Mascot of censorship

Netizens invented this largecrustacean meanie, whose name is a homonym for harmony, as a symbol of the Chinese government’s attempts to hide social ills by censoring their discussion. Building a “harmonious society” has been the ostensible goal of the Chinese government since 2004, but censorship may have worsened during this span. Be warned that the River Crab may pinch you if you push the envelope of free speech in China.

草泥马 (cao ni ma) = Grass Mud Horse = Mascot of grass-roots resistance to censorship

Netizens invented this cuddly alpaca look-alike as an expression of their anger and disgruntlement at the River Crab. Its very name is one of the worst insults in the Chinese language, unpronounceable in good company and “inharmonious” to the extreme. It is often summoned by netizens toirk the River Crab and express their frustration.

 

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Mon, 23 Jan 2012 19:46:00 -0800 Maobama!? http://tealeafnation.posterous.com/maobama http://tealeafnation.posterous.com/maobama

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Maobama
In a public speech on Constitution Avenue, President Obama has praised the benefits of Chairman Mao’s firm hand in managing China’s domestic politics and foreign relations. Rush Limbaugh should be working up a lather. Only, apparently, he has never heard of this speech, probably because he does not read Sina Weibo, China’s Twitter.

This curious news item, entitled “American President Obama’s Surprising Opinion of Chairman Mao” was posted on January 18 on the website of the Academy of Marxism at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), China’s premier social sciences research organization, and tweeted by Zhu Jidong, a verified personality on Sina Weibo whose profile says that he is a long-time reporter for Xinhua News Agency who studied for a Ph.D. in Marxism at CASS.

The alleged speech was given on the afternoon of January 1 in preparation for the 2012 elections and reads, in part:

“As a politician who did not often leave his country, after [Mao] won absolute support in China he made China’s presence felt on the world stage. For a period of time, Mao Zedong was not afraid to oppose America. If the ruling party can obtain unwavering support at home, with the citizenry feeling responsible for their country and, in certain circumstances, be willing to make sacrifices in order to protect their country and its future, then a country will have the foundations for strong foreign relations. People power is power in foreign relations; this is the most basic principle of foreign relations. This is my deepest feeling about Mao’s foreign relations policy.”

A small but vocal group of presumed Maoists has come out in support of this dubious news item, tweeting comments such as “Mao is a great person,” “He is a hero after all,” and “This is a slap in the face of all the so-called experts and professors who attack Mao!”

However, for most Chinese netizens, the post seems to be stretching the limits of credulity. Skeptical netizens are calling for the post to “please provide the English link [to the speech]” and for the “American embassy in China to please come out to refute this.” Netizens tweeted: “The Maoist left cannot survive if they don’t manufacture falsehood,” “Nobody would use Mao’s policies for governing a country now” and “I am against Maoists, so I am going to stop following you [Zhu Jidong]. Anyone who eulogizes a monster does not deserve respect!” One netizen simply advises Zhu, “My dear, it’s time to go home and take your medication.”

The White House website shows that President Obama did not make a speech on January 1, 2012. Neither did he make a speech on January 1, 2011 or 2010.  On January 1, 2009 he was not yet inaugurated. A search of the website for references to Mao in Obama’s speeches turned up one remark given by President Obama at his acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize on December 10, 2009, which reads in part:

“In light of the Cultural Revolution’s horrors, Nixon’s meeting with Mao appeared inexcusable — and yet it surely helped set China on a path where millions of its citizens have been lifted from poverty and connected to open societies.”

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Sun, 22 Jan 2012 08:24:00 -0800 Why Chinese New Year Is Better Than Christmas, and Worse http://tealeafnation.posterous.com/why-chinese-new-year-is-better-than-christmas http://tealeafnation.posterous.com/why-chinese-new-year-is-better-than-christmas

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Cny1
Ah the holidays. Chinese New Year is, of course, a wondrous occasion — a season of pure pyrotechnical and gastronomical joy. There is nothing quite like vegging out with loved ones surrounded by loads of food after enduring an almost ritualistically arduous journey home. In fact, Chinese New Year is better than Christmas and Thanksgiving, combined, because there is the prospect of receiving red pockets full of cash from one’s elders. Yes, cold hard cash to add to the iPad 3 fund (it will come out soon, we just know it), not just ill-fitting sweaters without gift receipts.

The big catch is that the old neighbors, family friends and distant relatives one only sees during Chinese New Year will always want to have a little chat before they release the red pockets into one’s eagerly grasping hands. And, per Chinese custom, these uncles and aunties do not hold back. Here are some of the top dreaded questions asked during Chinese New Year from Sina Weibo, as ranked by Tea Leaf Nation.

5) Hey kid, how did you do on your exams? Oh don’t you remember me? I held you once when you were a baby.

4) What did you eat to get to your size?!

3) When are you going to buy an apartment?

2) Where are you working now? How much do you make a month?

And the most dreaded question of them all:

1) Got a boy/girlfriend? When are you getting married?

Netizens are driven up the wall by the “extreme, excessive and over-the-top” attention to this personal question. One young woman concludes, “the question heard most during Chinese New Year is ‘are you with someone?’ The well-wishers all ‘hope you bring someone back next year.’ The most circulated gossip is ‘so-and-so has found someone.”

The situation has grown so desperate for the lonely-hearted during the holiday season that a cottage industry was born. Starting from a few years ago, some enterprising college students have hired themselves out as fake boy/girlfriends for the holiday season, so the hapless twenty- and thirty-somethings can reassure family members and fend off prying neighbors. However, well-reported disputes have ensued as the “couple” later argue about who takes the red pockets.

Our advice to netizens? Channel some Bridget Jones, do a little verbal dance or just ‘fess up if you want those red pockets.

Happy Year of the Dragon! Hope lots of red pockets come your way.

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Fri, 20 Jan 2012 11:21:00 -0800 Netizens Try to Save White Collar Criminal From Death Row http://tealeafnation.posterous.com/netizens-try-to-save-white-collar-criminal-fr http://tealeafnation.posterous.com/netizens-try-to-save-white-collar-criminal-fr

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Wuyingfinal
Netizens like to say that posting online complaints about government wrongdoing, or “onlooking,” is “changing China.” Now, they are putting that slogan to the test as they try to save a young woman’s life. With a remarkable degree of candor and rage, Netizens have surged online to demand that Chinese authorities strike down a provincial court’s ruling sentencing a young woman to death.

On January 18, the Zhejiang Province high court affirmed a lower court’s death sentence for Wu Ying, the 31-year-old woman convicted of illegally accumulating over RMB380 million, or about US$60 million, through a combination of loansharking and Ponzi schemes directed at (mostly wealthy) individuals and families. The conviction capped a stunning fall for Ms. Wu, who was listed as the sixth-richest woman in China in 2006. Wu had appealed the lower court decision against her, arguing among other things that there was no intent to deceive or squander, and the borrowed funds were used in management of her companies. But in a short announcement, a judge for Zhejiang’s highest court affirmed the lower court’s judgment, refusing to take questions from reporters afterward.

The day after the judgment, netizens posted millions of comments on Weibo, China’s Twitter, many objecting to the ruling in the strongest possible terms. They called it “China’s shame,” “the law’s shame” and “the people’s shame.”

Most commenters in opposition felt the penalty was too strong given the crime. Many argued that a death sentence for an economic crime was “draconian,” drawing parallels to the case of Ma Yanqin, a woman famously sentenced to death in 1980s-era China for operating an illegal dance hall.

Other netizens note that the lines between legal and illegal economic activity were simply too ambiguous. Many economists asserted that Wu Ying’s case is only a symptom of the growing pains of a vibrant but unruly shadow banking system, underground capital-raising arrangements among local clans outside the purview of state-owned banks. Even Mr. Hu Xijin, the conservative editor-in-chief of the Global Times [link] who usually toes the party line, tweeted that he personally opposes the death penalty for Wu because she has taken no life.

The greatest source of ire was the contrast between the system’s treatment of Wu and its treatment of corrupt Party officials, who often receive slaps on the wrist. Popular novelist Liu Liu spoke for many when she complained that “some officials who embezzled RMB2 billion [about US$317 million] don’t get the death penalty, but Wu Ying gets it for RMB300 million? Can someone please explain the legal basis for this so I know what’s the cheapest way to break the law.”

Many commenters felt sure that Wu is a scapegoat who must be sacrificed to protect the “big fish,” perceiving “obviously a huge inside job” and “not ruling out out a dirty, extra-legal hand manipulating” the process. Essayist Zhou Xiaoyun tweeted the rumor that Wu Ying’s penalty was particularly harsh because she implicated local officials of wrongdoing. Mr. Ye Kuangzheng, a scholar and poet, scoffed that the local officials’ joint efforts to ensure the death penalty was “not only to silence her” but also, invoking a Chinese metaphor, “killing a chicken to scare the monkeys so others do not dare bite the officials.”

The government did have its defenders. Many used non-verified accounts with few followers, with one criticizing the “公知,” or public intellectuals, who overwhelmingly condemn the ruling. Although the precise backstories of some of Wu’s victims remain ambiguous, one commenter argued she had stolen from “ordinary people,” a crime worse than officials’ stealing “the country’s money.” Another wrote, “Wu Ying’s [situation] is tragic, but [that of] the families she has hurt is more tragic.”

Regardless of the officials’ motives, many netizens were outraged that this woman, “a blade of grass with no special rights or resources,” has been sentenced to death while “corrupt officials” committing similar crimes rarely are. One fumed, “The public has heard enough about huge corruption [resulting in] ‘commuted sentences’ and ‘expulsion from the Party.’” In such arguments, enthusiasm for the death penalty quickly resurfaced: “If you kill Wu Ying, then you must kill corrupt officials…who do people hate more? Who harms [society] more?” Another exhorted, “Kill the corrupt officials, and ten thousand citizens will rejoice!” Many called for the highest court in China to review Wu Ying’s case and respect the “people’s will.”

Will netizens’ calls for intervention be heeded? Initial signs are not good. A search for “Wu Ying” on Sina Weibo yielded over 3 million posts on January 19, with one user observing, “Today, everything is about Wu Ying!” Less than one day later, the same search showed over 600,000 posts, suggesting censors are hard at work.

Regardless of how the government chooses to react, the outpouring of support for Wu Ying has not gone unnoticed. The case has highlighted China’s best and worst aspects: A power system that can seem indifferent to fundamental notions of fairness, and a populace of millions willing to speak up to save a single woman they have never met. Just hours before this article’s publication, Wu Ying’s father, Wu Yongzheng, sent a message on Weibo that seemed to grasp both:

“I read Weibo all night and went without sleep. I am a farmer with a low level of culture; I can’t really type so asked someone else help me send this. Here I’d like to thank all those friends who have watched over and supported my daughter Wu Ying. In three days, it will be the Spring Festival. I think back to when the court announced its judgment, my daughter turned around repeatedly and silently mouthed the word ‘Papa.’ I looked at her emaciated body, and I couldn’t stop my tears.”

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Fri, 20 Jan 2012 08:19:00 -0800 What’s What on Weibo, China’s Twitter – The Main Characters http://tealeafnation.posterous.com/whats-what-on-weibo-chinas-twitter-the-main-c http://tealeafnation.posterous.com/whats-what-on-weibo-chinas-twitter-the-main-c

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After What’s What on Weibo – The Lay of the Land, Tea Leaf Nation brings you the main characters involved in the War of Wordcraft in China’s social media. Please email us at editors@tealeafnation.com if you would like to suggest a new term to add to the list.

To understand why there are two cute alpacas on this picture, please stay tuned for our next installment.

50centnote
五毛党 (wu mao dang) = Fifty Cents Party = Defenders of the Chinese government and/or the Communist party

“Pump Up the Regime or Die Tryin’” may be the motto of this fearsome army of online commentators, conjured by “relevant departments” of the Chinese government to “guide public opinion” and battle all possible “subversive elements” online. They are reportedly paid fifty Chinese cents (about US$0.08) for every post that either defends the government’s stance or disputes countervailing viewpoints. The term has been expanded to include all defenders of the regime, whether or not there is any evidence of them being in the government’s pocket. See, e.g. Tea Leaf Nation’s coverage on Who’s Who’s on Weibo – Conservatives.

公知 (gong zhi) = Public Intellectual = Vocal writers, academics, journalists, lawyers, and social critics

The advent of social media in China has freed a small fellowship of (mostly liberal) public intellectuals from the shackles of traditional press and publication censorship techniques. They have blossomed into important opinion leaders online through their attention to hot-button social events. They are the mortal enemy of the Fifty Cents Party, who sees these public intellectuals as unpatriotic elitists out of touch with Chinese realities, and uses the term as a pejorative. See, e.g. Tea Leaf Nation’s coverage on Who’s Who’s on Weibo - Writers and Economists andAcademics.

围观者 (wei guan zhe) = Onlooker = Social media users who actively opine on a certain event

Armed with the slogan “onlooking is changing China,” many netizens are fond of gathering around the proverbial water cooler to discuss events of the day. Such topics sometimes go viral and may affect the authorities’ handling of an issue. With so many events competing for onlookers’ limited attention span, however, many issues quickly fall into theunforgiving cycle that Tea Leaf Nation has outlined. On the other hand, onlookers can reach from cyberspace into the real world and subject the individuals involved to mob justice.

酱油党 (jiang you dang) = Soy Sauce Party = Apathetic onlookers

A netizen is said to be “getting soy sauce” if she expresses indifference to an issue, either out of true apathy or mere frustration stemming from her powerlessness to change the state of affairs. For the etymologically curious, the origin of this phrase dates back to the infamous Edison Chen photo scandal.

 

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Thu, 19 Jan 2012 07:25:00 -0800 Netizens React: WSJ Reports China’s GDP Possibly “Exaggerated” http://tealeafnation.posterous.com/netizens-react-wsj-reports-chinas-gdp-possibl http://tealeafnation.posterous.com/netizens-react-wsj-reports-chinas-gdp-possibl

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Gdp1
On January 18, the Wall Street Journal reported that Derek Scissors, a China analyst at the Heritage Foundation, has publicly speculated that Chinese authorities are “very likely exaggerating [economic] growth.” Numbers released by China’s Bureau of Statistics show a decline from 10.4% Chinese GDP growth in 2010 to 9.2% in 2011, but Scissors said he suspects the decline is much sharper.

What do China’s netizens think of the story? On Weibo, China’s Twitter, they reacted with the vivid, often-humorous cynicism that decades of propaganda can inculcate.

Many commenters suspected there was at least some exaggeration on the part of Chinese authorities. One compared China’s GDP numbers to a kind of dice game: “Whatever number you want to show, that’s what you get.” Another, playing off a Chinese pun, joked, “Why does an ox fly? Because the Bureau of Statistics is blowing wind from below.”

A few, however, defended the official numbers. Some urged observers to consider the source – one called the Heritage Foundation, an organization well known for its conservatism even in China, “dirty.” One asked rhetorically, “Excuse me but which country [has] dependable [numbers]? The U.S.? Greece?” Another added that while “everyone knows” the GDP numbers are not reliable, it would be pointless to reject them unless other, better estimates were available. More vividly, some compared the statistics to “putting makeup on a ‘beauty’- [at least] we can still tell it’s a woman.”

Most commenters looked to the larger issues beyond the statistics. Some lamented a larger deficit of trust,  complaining that “every industry and field is rife with fraud,” and asking rhetorically, “What is reliable these days?” To others, quality of life was more important. One netizen asked, “Trustworthy or not, what does it matter to the average person? Can [the numbers] be traded in for a packs of unsoiled diapers? Can they buy a few real eggs? Can they buy a house?” Another added, “It’s not a lie that GDP is growing, but our environment and sense of happiness are declining at the same time.”

 

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Wed, 18 Jan 2012 13:45:00 -0800 Railway’s Move Online Worsens Chinese New Years Travel Crunch http://tealeafnation.posterous.com/railways-move-online-worsens-chinese-new-year http://tealeafnation.posterous.com/railways-move-online-worsens-chinese-new-year

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Needticket
Mark Zuckerberg, eat your heart out.  12306.cn may not sound like the most alluring, or easy to remember, website, but starting on January fifth of this year its average daily page views have exceeded 1 billion, making it one of the world’s most trafficked sites.  No, it’s not the next Facebook or Google.  It’s the rather staid ticketing portal for the Chinese railway.

The phenomenon powering this site’s popularity is China’s perenially hectic Lunar New Year travel season.  Travelers will make roughly three billion trips during a period of some forty days – with each train, plane or bus journey counted as a separate trip – as they hurry to and from China’s teeming metropolises to reunite with their families.

To create a (still inadequate) analogy with the United States would require piling Christmas on top of Thanksgiving, with Black Friday and a few long weekends tossed in for good measure.  All this in a country with more than four times the population of the United States and a sometimes rather unreliable transportation system.

Perhaps it is not surprising then that snarls and hiccups abound.  The railway system, which due to its low cost carries the bulk of travelers, switched for the first time this year to an online booking system to relieve the pressure at ticket windows.  Aside from painful wait times and website crashes, the move has exacerbated already painful class division by styming many travelers who lack the basic web-savvy necessary to negotiate the website.

One highly frustrated netizen perhaps summed it up best: “To the railway’s customer service center – 12306 – I just want to say to you the name of the animal pictured [a ‘grass mud horse’, a pun for one of the worst insults in the Chinese language] the number of times pictured.”

Many of the unfortunate travelers are migrant workers, of which China has over 200 million.  They work away from home for much of the year, can usually only afford to travel by train and are willing to, and often do, endure extreme inconveniences in order to get home to their loved ones for this most treasured of traditional family reunions.

This year, one such worker, Li Zhuqing, who does not know how to use the Internet and was unable to buy a ticket over the phone, slept in the Hangzhou train station for six straight nights in the hopes of buying a ticket home for his family.  His 80-year-old mother cried over the telephone when she heard of her son’s plight.

His story eventually caught the attention of a reporter and spread like wild fire online.  Sympathetic Chinese netizens tweeted: “This story really saddens me,” “Can anyone help him buy tickets online?” and “It’s the honest, ordinary people who have it toughest…when will their suffering end?”

Some big-hearted netizens decided to take matters into their own hands, with one microblogger writing, “Who can contact him?  I want to buy him a plane ticket so that he can immediately fly back to his mother…I would ask other netizens to help according to their ability…” to which another responded “please let me know the account number; I can pitch in twenty yuan [a little over three U.S. dollars].”    

The plight of people like Li Zhuqing (pictured on the right) highlight flaws in the country’s “hukou”, or residential permit, system, a vestige of Mao-era China that essentially forbids hundreds of millions of blue collar migrant workers from bringing their families to their new cities. One popular microblogger, Xu Xiaonian, a business school professor and a former consultant for the World Bank, wrote:

Hundreds of millions of people flowing between the cities and the countryside like migratory birds; this is not normal.  If peasant workers’ families can come live in the cities instead of [the workers] going back home, their family lives would become normal and the lunar new year migration would not have so much pressure.  This requires annulling the hukou policy, lowering housing prices, increasing public facilities and services in the cities and opening up the cities’ healthcare, education and social security services to rural migrants.

Another microblogger simply wrote: “When can we wanderers have a stable home?  I have not returned home for five years…”

 

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Tue, 17 Jan 2012 20:02:00 -0800 What’s What on Weibo, China’s Twitter – The Lay of the Land http://tealeafnation.posterous.com/whats-what-on-weibo-chinas-twitter-the-lay-of http://tealeafnation.posterous.com/whats-what-on-weibo-chinas-twitter-the-lay-of

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China_map
Following our well-received seriesWho’s Who on Weibo, Tea Leaf Nation is pleased bring you a second series discussing some of the popular memes and terms of art in the Chinese social media. Please email us ateditors@tealeafnation.com if you would like to suggest a new term to add to the list.

天朝 (tian chao) = Celestial Dynasty =  China’s current regime

Netizens have steeped this antiqued moniker for “China” in a generous dose of irony and sarcasm. They use it to refer to the current regime, which claims to have liberated the Chinese people from feudal dynastic cycles of the ancien regime in 1949. A related term is the “Red Dynasty” (红朝).

帝都 (di du) = Imperial City = Beijing

The center of “All Under Heaven” can be none other than the capital of the People’s Republic, with a “Bird’s Nest” full of China’s most precious cultural assets, and a pair of “Big Boxer Shorts” (大裤衩) full of the country’s most important political jewels.

魔都 (mo du) = Magical City / Devil’s City = Shanghai

It is a city of magic, or black magic, depending on your point of view. Order coexists with chaos, modern marvels sprout up alongside ancient mysteries, and wily business dealings take place amidst refined bourgeois culture. In the 21st century, Shanghai never inspires indifference; it is either where you want to be, or where you want to escape from.

Please stay tuned for Part 2 – The Main Characters.

 

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Mon, 16 Jan 2012 10:59:00 -0800 On China's Twitter, Children of the '80s Take the Stage http://tealeafnation.posterous.com/on-chinas-twitter-children-of-the-80s-take-th http://tealeafnation.posterous.com/on-chinas-twitter-children-of-the-80s-take-th

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Liulili
Were the Bard alive today, he might find China’s blogosphere a welcoming, albeit cacophonous, place. Netizens have rushed to the defense of Liu Lili, a sassy young woman educated in New Zealand who found herself besieged from the host and judges of a popular reality show after declaring she “enjoyed reading Shakespeare.”

On January 13, Tianjin Satellite Television aired the latest episode of “Only You,” an “Apprentice”-style reality show where twelve Chinese company managers, sitting in twelve thrones encircling a stage, interview and evaluate one job applicant at a time. Successful applicants are offered jobs on the spot, while unsuccessful ones go home.

Liu’s 15 minutes on stage are painful to watch. She introduces herself as an English-language B.A. with three years’ study at a New Zealand prep school and an affinity for Shakespeare. The show’s host, Zhang Shaogang, is icy from the start. Liu, trying to maintain her composure under Zhang’s withering gaze, discusses why she enjoys poetry with heroic couplets, breaks momentarily (and perhaps purposefully) into English, then explains her decision to return home because “China was changing so much.”

Host Zhang pounces on guest Liu as soon as the word “China” escapes her lips. “I almost never talk that way with my friends. … This is our own country. … We [just] say, ‘here.’” If Zhang’s reaction is rooted in patriotism, it is not the kind most Internet commenters recognize. Netizens, quite used to using the word “China,” derided Zhang in posts on Weibo, China’s Twitter. One wrote, “From now on, ‘Team China’ will be called ‘Team Here’…we were wrong all these years!”

The interview actually worsens from there, as Liu, smiling and standing erect, trades barbs with the host and judges, fends off prying questions about her family, and at one point calls out a male judge for interrupting a female judge. Liu maintains her composure until she is interviewed backstage, where she breaks into tears and declares herself “too angry to speak.”

The interview has touched a generational nerve, prompting over 1.9 million posts on Weibo as of this article’s publication. One January 14th poll showed74% of netizens supporting Liu Lili with only 11% siding with Zhang Shaogang, although rumors of some supporters “defecting” have circulated since Liu pulled down her Weibo account while continuing to refuse media inquiries.

Zhang Shaogang

Zhang clearly stepped beyond the role of an objective host, but his reasons for doing so are the rub. Many online commenters accused the “ungentlemanly” Zhang of “grandstanding” and wrote he was “shamed into anger” because he did not understand Liu’s reference to “heroic couplets” and could not follow her English. But Zhang admitted as much on the air, saying it was Liu’s attitude that mattered, not whether he personally understood her allusions.

By standing up for herself, however inartfully, Liu flipped the Confucian script. An unknown young woman applying for a job is supposed to show deference when thirteen older, mostly male bosses evaluate her credentials while sitting in gold-painted seats. Liu saw it differently, and this incensed her host.

To be sure, Liu was unashamed of her status as a “Sea Turtle,” slang for a native Chinese who studies or works abroad but then returns to the motherland. “Sea Turtles” are largely admired in China; they were either gifted or moneyed enough to make it abroad, but loyal enough to return home, perhaps with extra swagger in their step. Netizens were unperturbed by Liu’s time in New Zealand.

Indeed, on camera Liu did not seem terribly different from any other “post-80.” The term refers to young Chinese people, born after 1980, who tend to be less conformist than preceding generations and more comfortable expressing their individuality. In one Weibo poll, only 5% of respondents felt the televised conflict “resulted from cultural differences,” while 49% agreed the host and bosses were “imposing their values and experience on another.” This suggests there was a schism, but it was generational, not cultural.

Liu seemed to recognize that being young, a job applicant, and a woman did not make her a supplicant. An aging population means workers are scarcer and less fungible than before. Inflation pinches, but it has also spurred workers to demand better wages and lifestyles. Meanwhile, China has become less patriarchal as its workforce leaves the hard-labor countryside and floods into its cities.

These larger trends may explain why netizens, generally a younger crowd, defended Liu’s behavior. While some found her “too radical” or “fake,” another exhorted her to “keep your personality, and trust you will find your happiness.” Many expressed empathy even if they felt that Liu overreacted. One wrote that “many people our age have not experienced doubt and criticism,” while another observed that “everyone is sounding off…because you don’t dare challenge the authority in front of you, so Zhang has become your ‘punching bag’.” Another netizen used a harsher term for Zhang: “Obsolete.”

 

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Sun, 15 Jan 2012 08:57:00 -0800 A Primer on Censorship in Chinese Social Media http://tealeafnation.posterous.com/a-primer-on-censorship-in-chinese-social-medi http://tealeafnation.posterous.com/a-primer-on-censorship-in-chinese-social-medi

Quiet

[See this article and more at www.tealeafnation.com] Censorship has just cost Sina Weibo, China's premier microblogging platform, two of its major liberal voices. Just days apart, Messrs. Zhang Min and Yu Jianrong, two liberal professors that Tea Leaf Nation has profiled in its series "Who's Who on China's Twitter," have defected to Sohu Weibo, an up-and-coming microblogging platform.

 

On January 6, after suffering sarcastic remarks from Mr. Chen Tong, Sina’s main man in charge of Weibo, Professor Zhang charged that "Sina is not a friend" because his tweets had been censored and his followers had been "disappeared" on a regular basis. Zhang's defection appears to have lit a fuse. On January 13, Professor Yu Jianrong announced that he would also stop using Sina Weibo because it "treats netizens horribly." Other prominent Weibo users have wondered aloud whether to follow suit. Many commentators claimed to support Messrs. Zhang and Yu's defection by taking the first steps to activate accounts on Sohu and Tencent's competing microblogging platforms.

It is no secret that Sina, a Nasdaq-listed company which owns millions of dollars worth of media assets, uses a multi-pronged approach to silencing those Weibo voices "not in tune with the main chorus." Rumor has it that half of all Sina Weibo employees are engaged in monitoring posts for inappropriate or sensitive content, primarily to keep the central government off its back. The standard tricks in Sina's repertoire include making tweets disappear, deleting comments, deleting followers, hiding tweets from viewers, and blocking accounts and IP addresses.

At least Big Brother has a sense of humor. In lieu of an outright tweeting ban on certain accounts, Sina Weibo will sometimes ask users simple math or trivia questions, ostensibly to verify they are not a spam-bot. But no answer is ever correct. (Q: Which one eats bamboo: a panda or a crocodile? What's 2 + 4 ? A: no answer will allow you to send out the tweet. Take that, Kafka)

The news that users may abandon Sina Weibo is a boon to Tencent and Sohu. The two have lagged behind Sina in the race to become China's premier microblogging platform. Charles Zhang, Sohu's CEO, has announced that Sohu Weibo will differentiate itself by emphasizing its role as a media outlet, instead of as a social network and gaming platform.

However, it is not clear how Sohu or Tencent will better manage relationships with outspoken users when these providers are under the same pressure as Sina to "harmonize" speech. Microbloggers have voiced doubt that either one will be a better steward of free speech, invoking the Chinese proverb, "All crows in the world have the same dark feathers." This article (in simplified Chinese) and this article (in traditional Chinese) offer closer looks at how censorship works at the major Chinese microblogging platforms.)

It is unfair, of course, to focus on Sina's meager bag of tricks when the Chinese government has more fearsome ways of silencing the un-harmonious. The following exchange on Sina Weibo may elicit a few frustrated chuckles from those familiar with censorship in China but may give chills to those who are not. It happened on January 11 between Mr. Pan Shiyi and Mr. Ren Zhiqiang, both outspoken real estate tycoons and avid Weibo users (see Tea Leaf Nation profiles here):

Pan: Today I cheerfully registered to attend the Beijing People's Congress session, saw tons of reporters there. They said, "the authorities won't allow us to report on anything relating to the real estate market, can you talk about air pollution and PM2.5?" The reporters then called their editors to get approval, and the editors said "OK, write a long piece." After a whole morning of interviews, I just got a short message [from the reporters]: "All articles about PM2.5 were shot down." Now I'm going to cheerfully attend the session.

Ren: I love my country. I love my native land. I love the home where I was born and raised.

Pan: I heard that Ren was "cheerfully" asked to "have a chat." When he came out, the way he tweets has changed completely.

Ren: Yes, I have become "cheerful."

On social media and off, the authorities’ efforts to present China as one cheerful family will likely redouble before the decennial change-up of the Chinese leadership in the second half of 2012. Please stay tuned for further coverage on censorship in China as Tea Leaf Nation gets ready to party with the Party.

 

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Thu, 12 Jan 2012 16:18:00 -0800 The Grim Reaper Has His Eyes on Foxconn http://tealeafnation.posterous.com/the-grim-reaper-has-his-eyes-on-foxconn http://tealeafnation.posterous.com/the-grim-reaper-has-his-eyes-on-foxconn

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Foxconn1
The narrative behind some of the world’s most coveted consumer electronics has turned even grimmer. On January 2, over 150 workers in the city of Wuhan, Hubei province, threatened to jump en masse from a factory roof, alleging that the manufacturer reneged on promised pay. It took the intermediation of the city mayor, backed by a phalanx of fire trucks and emergency cranes, to talk the workers down the next evening.

The strikers worked for Foxconn, the largest contract electronics manufacturer in the world, which churns out iPhones, Xboxes and Kindles. Foxconn is no stranger to controversy. A string of fourteen suicides at the company’s Chinese factories in 2010 made many question the hidden cost of their iPhones.

Word of the threatened mass suicide–and the concomitant threat of temporary halt to production of Microsoft’s video game console Xbox 360, which the Wuhan facility manufactures–quickly ricocheted through China’s blogosphere.

The majority of commenters on Sina Weibo, China’s Twitter, looked past the workers entirely, some to beyond China’s borders. They condemned “foreigners” for “taking Chinese people’s money” and “pressing our people into a cheap labor force.” By “foreigner,” some netizens surely meant the Taiwanese owners of Foxconn. One called for an outright boycott on Taiwanese firms.

But given that the showdown occurred at a company making electronics for the global market, most anti-foreigner rhetoric appeared to lack a discrete target. While foreigners say currency manipulation gives China an unfair trade advantage, many Chinese also complain about the RMB’s weakness. Using the Chinese shorthand for government, “ZF,” to avoid detection, one commenter wrote, “It’s as if ZF sees all of Chinese soil as one big processing plant to make finished goods on the cheap, then buys back its own cheap goods as expensive imports.”

Perhaps the most vocal group of commenters felt their government has failed adequately to protect China’s workers. The lack of a strong social welfare system gives employers huge leverage, which is seldom counterbalanced by serious workplace regulation. One netizen wondered aloud, “If 1.3 billion Chinese were to jump [to their deaths] at Tiananmen Square, would that cause any change?” Another lamented, “[Even] suicide jumpers need to organize into a group before the mayor pays attention…the system needs fixing.” Some wondered why labor unions were not “out there fighting for everyone,” although most Chinese know unions are de facto extensions of the Communist Party and thus more “decorative” than real.

While few will dispute that China’s labor protections are thin gruel, that has been true for decades. The immediate driver behind increasing worker dissatisfaction is rising prices, which puts upward pressure on wages and, ultimately, imperils China’s role as “factory to the world.” One commenter wrote, “Prices, GDP and worker pay are not increasing at the same clip,” sowing a sense, palpable online, that some average Chinese feel their quality of life declining despite their nation’s growing wealth.

The rising price of labor threatens the old way of doing business. One microblogger who claimed to work for Foxconn wrote that “profits in the industry are slim; it hasn’t been easy for Foxconn to persist as long as it has.” Another added, “Many companies that continue to use the old methods of paying low wages and cheating their workers are already finding survival difficult.” If, as one commenter argued, “The honeymoon period for foreign enterprises [in China] is over,” then companies looking to compete on price may have to start training their sights elsewhere. One netizen had advice for Foxconn CEO Terry Guo, generally reviled in the blogosphere: “Old Guo, hurry and move [the factory] to Vietnam!”

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Wed, 11 Jan 2012 21:57:00 -0800 Who's Who on China's Twitter-Conservatives http://tealeafnation.posterous.com/93629385 http://tealeafnation.posterous.com/93629385

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Ranxiang

This is the last installment of TeaLeafNation’s series of the key players on Weibo. Please see Part 1Part 2, and Part 3.

Fifty Cents”  - @染香(320,000+ followers): The unverified blogger Ran Xiang purports to be a well-endowed and sharp-tongued hottie who vehemently argues against democracy and liberalization. Combative and mysterious, the self-proclaimed “Chairman of the Fifty Cents Party” has started multiple flame wars with well-known liberals on Weibo to increase her notoriety. She has so far eluded the “human flesh search engine” and actively encourages speculations about her age, background, even gender. One theory pins her down as a female partner at McKinsey China (yes, quite shocking) but it has never been confirmed.

Sample tweet from Ran Xiang (December 31, 2011): Farewell thoughts in 2011 – Should China adopt a multi-party system? The answer is definitely “No!” The chaotic political reality in Taiwan, the future special administrative region of China, has sufficiently proven that a multi-party system means stepping back in time. The one-party rule in China is the choice of its people and of history. If [China] adopts a Western-style electoral system, China will end up taking orders from the U.S. just like Japan and Korea. Indeed, Japan and Korea have suffered financial robbery from the U.S.!

Conservative mouthpiece - @胡锡进(1.5 million+ followers): Mr. Hu Xijin is the editor in chief of Global Times, a tabloid version of People’s Daily which, unlike its mother ship, actually enjoys a wide readership base. Mr. Hu fills his Weibo account with defenses of the current regime but carefully avoids sounding overly zealous.

Sample tweet from Mr. Hu (December 29, 2011): Local courts recently imprisoned two people on charges of inciting the subversion of state power, and Western media accused China [of abusing] human rights. The crime of inciting subversion of state power is clearly defined in China’s criminal law. We support the conviction of such people in accordance with the law. Some advocate the freedom of speech without limitations and the legalization of inciting subversion – this is a malicious attempt to guide the society towards an irrational view of freedom of speech, and it damages the relatively relaxed freedom of speech that we currently enjoy.

Maoist - @孔庆东(440,000+ followers): Professor Kong Qingdong, a descendant of Confucius, is also an unapologetic Maoist who hasn’t given much thought to the irony that Mao tried to erase Confucianism from Chinese culture. He often refers to liberal scholars and media who call for political reform as traitors (once refusing a simple interview request by Southern Weekly, a prominent liberal newspaper, with a tweet full of expletives) and prescribes a return to the Maoist era as the solution to all of Chinese society’s ills.

Sample tweet from Professor Kong (January 11, 2012): You Jing’s short play “Save a Bullet” is a story set in the early days of the resistance movement against the Japanese invasion in the 1930′s. A Chinese traitor were spreading rumors on the street and the refugees wanted to beat him up. A boy wanted to take the traitor to the government to be punished by law, but a female refugee disagreed. She went up to the traitor and bit him, telling everyone that she wanted to “save a bullet” for the government, and the refugees applauded her action. Today there are traitors everywhere. How can we save some bullets?

 

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Wed, 11 Jan 2012 05:53:00 -0800 Two Hong Kong Luxuries in Peril: Dolce & Gabbana and Specialness http://tealeafnation.posterous.com/two-hong-kong-luxuries-in-peril-dolce-gabbana http://tealeafnation.posterous.com/two-hong-kong-luxuries-in-peril-dolce-gabbana

Dng
It’s no secret that purveyors of luxury goods are eyeing the growing mainland Chinese market with glinting eyes. Dolce & Gabbana (D&G), the Italian fashion powerhouse, can certainly afford a crack public relations team in Hong Kong, the former British colony where China’s newly minted RMBs are spent with abandon by shopper-tourists from the mainland. They definitely need one now.

On January 5, the Hong Kong press reported that security guards at D&G’s flagship store on Canton Road, Hong Kong’s version of Fifth Avenue, shooed away local pedestrians taking photographs of the store front. Significantly, the reports say, guards allowed mainland tourists to shoot away. As of the publication of this article, D&G has done nothing more than issue a one-sentence statement denying the alleged discrimination.

The incident has enraged the locals. Over the weekend of January 7, hundreds of banner-carrying Hong Kong residents picketed D&G’s stores to protest thefaux pas. But the real target of their frustration, judging by commentaries from local newspapers and social media, is their mainland compatriots.

On Canton Road, dubbed a “mainland concession area” by some locals, mainland shoppers regularly form queues outside the likes of Chanel, Cartier, and Louis Vuitton. Some would doubtlessly be glad if images of them clad in bling appeared online. Others, particularly anyone shopping with ill-gotten gains from China’s Wild Wild East economy, would almost certainly prefer anonymity. If the guards were acting on corporate orders, it was likely because D&G wished to protect this lucrative segment of its customer base from unwanted scrutiny.

The D&G incident has evolved from a simple matter of alleged discrimination by one vendor to become an “outlet of tension in Hong Kong’s relationship with mainlanders.” Hong Kong locals commenting online described nouveau riche mainlanders’ increasingly flagrant displays of wealth as “an eye sore” and resent the fact that “store clerks now greet shoppers in Mandarin first” instead of Cantonese, Hong Kong’s native tongue.

Locals’ complaints go beyond mere perception. Professor Po Chung Chow of Hong Kong Chinese University summarized Hong Kong’s dilemma on Weibo, China’s Twitter, in the following terms:

There is no possibility of democratization of the political process. Most wealth is monopolized by capitalists. More and more have fallen into poverty but social welfare has not caught up. Inequality of opportunity has worsened. Only [after understanding] this dilemma can you comprehend why many Hong Kong locals believe mainlanders are a threat and feel resentful towards them.

Two trends magnify Hong Kong natives’ sense that Damocles’ sword is dangling over their lifestyle. Birth tourism has become so prevalent that around half of all babies born in Hong Kong in 2011 had mainland parents. In addition, many mainlanders use Hong Kong real estate as a haven to park their extra cash, causing speculative volatility in Hong Kong’s property market and pricing many locals out of better homes.

It is thus disappointing but not surprising that xenophobic comments saturate Hong Kong’s social media sphere in any discussion of these issues. Even milder views among locals charge the Hong Kong government with “kowtowing to their bosses in Beijing and the interests of big businesses” and “losing touch with the needs of the ordinary people.”

Hong Kong netizens who lambast mainland visitors are probably barking up the wrong tree. While some microbloggers in the mainland have fought back by proffering their own stereotypes of Hong Kong people, many others have pointed out that this is “not really a quarrel between ordinary mainlanders and Hong Kong people,” and “many social problems [in Hong Kong] have been over-simplified and blamed on mainlanders.” Indeed, many mainland microbloggers have cheered on the Hong Kong protesters to “exercise their rights of assembly” and “take photos in front of the luxury stores to catch corrupt [mainland] officials” who presumably make up some of the clientèle.

Although Hong Kong’s legal absorption into mainland China will be complete by 2047, Beijing must be keen to know how fast it can nudge the timetable forde facto control. From the glaring lights of Canton Road to the secretive corridors of power, Hong Kong’s “specialness” will continue to be tested.

 

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Mon, 09 Jan 2012 21:38:00 -0800 We Are Moving to TeaLeafNation.com! http://tealeafnation.posterous.com/we-are-moving-to-tealeafnationcom http://tealeafnation.posterous.com/we-are-moving-to-tealeafnationcom

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Mon, 09 Jan 2012 21:29:00 -0800 Suicidal Wife’s “Resurrection” Spurs Online Discussion of Fidelity http://tealeafnation.posterous.com/suicidal-wifes-resurrection-spurs-online-disc http://tealeafnation.posterous.com/suicidal-wifes-resurrection-spurs-online-disc

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Skeletons
Is it a New Years’ miracle? An elaborate media charade? A Greek tragedy? Microbloggers on Weibo, China’s Twitter, diverge sharply on the story of Xiao Yanqin, the betrayed young wife who reportedly commited suicide on Christmas day, only to appear, very much alive, for a January 1 interview on Beijing television after her “resurrection” was announced one hour before the new year.

In the interview, Xiao states she attempted suicide on December 25, two years to the day after registering to marry Jiang Hong, the ex-husband she divorced in November 2011. Discussion of divorce began after Xiao obtained hotel records proving Jiang’s dalliances with another woman.

Before attempting suicide, Xiao wrote a farewell note over 10,000 characters long (Chinese) detailing what she had discovered and when. Her brother posted the note online the next day, and although he quickly pulled it back down, it had already gone viral and made a celebrity of Xiao. On January 1, she appeared on television to explain how, after her sister discovered her attempting to hang herself and intervened, her close family agreed not to reveal that Xiao was still alive. But upon learning of the outpouring of emotion her letter had stirred online, Xiao said, she felt compelled to come public. The interview ended with Xiao bowing deeply to the camera and apologizing to netizens, loved ones, and friends.

Discussion of this wild turn of events, and the larger social issue of mistresses, colloquially known as “little thirds” in Chinese, has generated almost 8 million comments on Weibo. Xiao’s ex-husband has issued statements on Weibo asking outsiders not to rush to judgment, and condemning Xiao’s “fake death” and “the team behind the hype.”

Indeed, many netizens doubt the veracity of Xiao’s story. They say they feel used, that Xiao should be ready for her fans to “defect,” and that netizens’ “embarrassment will turn to rage” over the “dirty trick.” One offered a rather unique take: “If it’s really [just] hype, then I admire [Xiao]! … Try asking how many women in the world swallowed their pride [and put up with it] when faced with their husband’s little third? Xiao, if it’s hype, then you’re my idol.”

Yet there is no shortage of netizens calling Xiao’s ex-husband “scum.” One addressed Jiang directly: “You aren’t qualified to speak on this. Who do you think you are, the State Department, issuing declaration after declaration?”

Many microbloggers have reflected on the prevalence of “little thirds” generally, some with applause. One commenter tweeted happily, “I’ve finally become someone’s little third!” Another wrote, “[Being] a little third is great, it proves you’re young and have a market.” Explaining why men sleep with their mistresses but seldom marry them, one netizen wrote that “the little third issue can be traced back to an economic theory: diminishing marginal utility. ‘Going off track’ [a Chinese term for having an affair] at its root is just pursuing carnal satisfaction.”

The use of economic terminology is likely not intended as humor. Although Jiang Hong himself is not reported to be rich, many Chinese men who pursue mistresses exploit wealth differences between them and their intended target. The “little thirds” are often lured with paid rent or gaudy gifts, while the men often see their comely acquisitions as status symbols.

Mistresses thus trigger a pain point in the broader community, as modern avarice collides with the Confucian values that still lie at Chinese society’s sometimes-hidden roots. Netizens have responded to earlier stories of other, particularly shameless mistresses with outrage, sometimes conducting “human flesh searches” to ascertain and then publish their identities. From this perspective, it is understandable why netizens are angry and confused by the possibility that Xiao Yanqin, the supposed victim, may have outmaneuvered them.

Despite these strong feelings, most netizens view mistresses as problems requiring nuanced solutions. One wrote, “If my father had an affair…I would hope that my parents would forget about the past and find a way to muddle through, however unwillingly.” A married commenter wrote, “I always ask my husband, what are you off to do? His usual answer is: To find a little third! I thought that’s quite funny [but] from now on I will make sure he is not lying.”

Mistress aside, polling on Weibo shows a plurality of users agree that it isn’t about the “little third” at all–the man is the key actor. That may signal a healthy shift in a society that, like many others, still holds women and men to different standards. One post lamented this status quo:

Woman: I’ve already got a boyfriend. Man: I don’t mind, I still like you. Bystanders: What infatuation!
Man: I’ve already got a girlfriend. Woman: I don’t mind, I still like you. Bystanders: [Expletive]! What a shameless ‘little third!’

 

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Mon, 09 Jan 2012 21:27:00 -0800 Women Declare Men of Average Income “Undeserving” of Marriage http://tealeafnation.posterous.com/women-declare-men-of-average-income-undeservi http://tealeafnation.posterous.com/women-declare-men-of-average-income-undeservi

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Is romance dead? It may be for some Chinese men, unless they happen to make twice China’s national average income.

In a survey released by the Civil Affairs Ministry of China on January 4, more than 80% of single women interviewed believed that a man “does not deserve” to be in a romantic relationship if he makes less than RMB4,000 (around US$650) a month. Almost 50% believed that a man needs to shoulder the full cost of an apartment (or at least the down payment) before he is eligible to marry. That’s bad news for millions of “bare branches,” a Chinese term for bachelors, since the national average income of urban residents in China was only about RMB1,750 (around US$300) in 2010.

The predictable handwringing over “ever declining social mores” filled China’s blogosphere, with over 10 million tweets alone discussing this topic on Sina Weibo, China’s Twitter. While many wondered where the love went, thousands of young people scoffed at the survey for lowballing the bottom line. “You mean US$4,000, right?” asked a female advertising manager.

Another woman was even blunter: “Isn’t marriage the point of a relationship, and children the point of marriage? Raising children costs money. With high price levels and lots of living pressure, how is RMB4,000 [expletive] enough? In any case my boyfriend’s income must be at least 1.5 times mine.” It is surely a sign of the times that she writes romance novels for a living.

The real culprit behind Cupid’s apparent demise is skyrocketing housing costs and living expenses in major Chinese cities. “European prices and African salaries” is the depressing reality for many an aspiring Romeo. One prominent blogger broke down the costs for his readers: “For one date, a casual meal for two costs RMB300 or so, a movie for two costs RMB100, and taxi rides cost RMB60. That’s RMB460 without getting flowers or gifts. If the girl happens to fancy a leather jacket, that’s a few months’ salary.”

Matters get even more complicated, and costly, as the relationship progresses. The expectation of real property as a de facto bridal price, already hotly contested, was further pushed to the fore by a new interpretation of China’s Marriage Law issued in 2011. That law now excludes homes purchased by one spouse before marriage from the definition of “marital property” that comes up for grabs when couples part ways.

The interpretation was intended to return China to the halcyon days when lovebirds did not marry for brick and stone, but it has had the opposite effect. The same survey shows that at least 40% of women now expect their intended to put the woman’s name on the title deed before marriage, citing poor legal protection for women upon divorce (for example, China does not have a reliable system for garnishing men’s wages for child support after divorce). Unsurprisingly, about 40% of men reject the notion.

Amid this war of sexes, at least one microblogger kept his eyes on the ball: “I made 2,000 last month. Somebody hurry and find me half a girl!”

 

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Mon, 09 Jan 2012 21:25:00 -0800 Through the Looking Glass – Chinese Netizens Opine on Taiwanese Election http://tealeafnation.posterous.com/93147502 http://tealeafnation.posterous.com/93147502

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A democratic election is soon to take place in the Republic of China–not the People’s Republic of China, commonly known as mainland China, but Taiwan. This island sits just east of China and retains the official name “Republic of China” from the days before the bloody Chinese civil war, which ended in 1949 when the Nationalist government fled to Taiwan. Many Chinese insist that Taiwan remains a part of China, although Taiwan has its own military and its own democratic government, which provides a possible glimpse into what democracy might look like on the mainland. The upcoming presidential election in Taiwan, scheduled for January 14, has thus captured the attention of mainland Chinese and generated a stream of commentary online.

Most Chinese netizens support incumbent President Ma Ying-jeou, who favours a stable relationship with the People’s Republic. Commenters on Sina Weibo, China’s Twitter, were impressed that Ma politely answers questions and campaigns for votes in street markets, writing, “The type of political system really determines the quality of its leaders” and “We both share the same Confucian culture but our different systems have given us such different lives!” One microblogger exclaimed, “It’s only been 62 years [since the civil war]; why do I feel that there is 620 years of difference between us?”

Netizens were particularly taken with a campaign video on Ma’s Facebook page called Visa of Love.  The video tells the story of a young Taiwanese travel guide whose globetrotting leaves him longing to return home and pursue the girl of his dreams. The video is meant to illustrate the Ma government’s success in convincing sixty-three additional foreign countries – for a total of 117 – to lift visa requirements on Taiwanese citizens.

In contrast to the Taiwanese, mainland Chinese can travel visa-free to only 30 or so countries, most of which don’t top anyone’s list. Chinese netizens mostly expressed admiration at the differential, not to mention some poignant jealousy: “I thought Hong Kong and Macau were part of our country. Then why do we need a visa to visit [these parts of] our own country? If only our brothers across the [Taiwan] strait would issue me a passport! Then I could freely travel the world.” Some netizens even expressed a desire, likely facetious, for “Taiwan to retake the mainland” in order to liberate them from “their painful existence.”

By depicting Taiwan as a warm and safe place to call home, Ma’s campaign video also addressed themes of displacement and return. These themes resonate deeply in mainland China, a country afflicted with wrenching dislocations and daily insecurities. Many netizens wrote they were “deeply moved” by the video, which they felt reflected “[Taiwanese] leadership’s ability to listen to the desires of its people” and the “pride, freedom and happiness” of the Taiwanese.

Even Ma’s opponent, Ms. Tsai Ying-wen of the Democratic Progressive Party, which favors the eventual de jure independence of Taiwan from China, has her supporters on the mainland. In a recent campaign speech, Tsai could just as easily have been speaking to mainland Chinese when she said, “I want to create a united yet just society and a government that will not use tractors to roll over people’s land, will not use terror to deal with political opponents, will not use public resources for private gain, will not use money and political power to control the media and will not sacrifice human rights for short term interests.”

These are the kinds of words many mainland Chinese wish they could hear from their own leaders. One microblogger exclaimed with apparent amazement: “These words were spoken by a Chinese person!” although Tsai herself would probably not have appreciated the appellation. Others also responded positively, writing, “Every word is a true portrayal of mainland China,”  “really hope this kind of person will become the president of mainland China” and imploring Tsai to “please organize a government to manage China!”

 

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Mon, 09 Jan 2012 21:05:00 -0800 Who’s Who on China’s Twitter – Finance and Entertainment http://tealeafnation.posterous.com/93146179 http://tealeafnation.posterous.com/93146179

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TeaLeafNation has previously brought you Part 1 and Part 2 of the roadmap to the key players on Weibo, China’s Twitter. Without further ado, here is Part 3.

Real estate tycoons - @任志强(5.8 million+ followers): Mr. Ren “Loose Cannon” Zhiqiang, head of a mighty state-owned real estate developer until 2011, lives up to his nickname with memorable quotes such “go back to the countryside if you can’t afford housing” and “I’m a businessman, I don’t think about poor people.” Mr. Ren’s public image has become marginally more human through the use of Weibo. Mr. Ren takes a firm stance against government interventions in China’s real estate market, prompting at least one official to accuse him of biting the hand that fed him (and made him fat). Honorable mention: @潘石屹(8.6 million+ followers): Mr. Pan Shiyi, the developer of architectural controversies such as SOHO Beijing, cuts a jollier figure and often trades friendly barbs with Mr. Ren on Weibo.

Sample tweet from Mr. Ren (December 30, 2011): Is having fewer people improve their living conditions really the goal of government regulation? Why is government regulation evaluated based on the suppression of consumption? [In response to a news report that new home sales in Beijing dropped to a 10-year low in 2011.]

Investment Community – @薛蛮子(1.6 million+ followers): Mr. Charles Xue is known as the first angel investor in China. He is the most vocal of a group of prominent Chinese investors who openly call for liberalization and reform of China’s political system. Honorable mentions: @王功权(1.1 million+ followers): Mr. Wang Gongquan wears many hats: billionaire venture capitalist, democracy advocate, Chinese poetry enthusiast, and protagonist in the infamous “Elopement Gate” that continues to be an Internet meme in China.

Sample tweet from Mr. Xue (January 1, 2012): Corruption has become systematic today, and under-the-table bribery is now over-the-table. Without open and transparent systematic reforms and media oversight, punishing one or two corrupt officials is like catching a couple of fleas on a man who hasn’t showered in years. Do you agree?”

Entertainment – @姚晨(15.6 million+ followers): Actress Yao Chen is one of the first celebrities to fully embrace Weibo and the astronomical number of her followers often makes international headlines. Her favorite topics are the plight of refugees worldwide and the comings and goings of her cat, Badun. Honorable mention: @冯小刚 (6.7 million+ followers): Director Feng Xiaogang is the Steven Spielberg of the Chinese movie industry, with an uncanny grasp of the tastes of Chinese moviegoers.  He reliably churns out blockbuster after blockbuster, be it romantic comedies, period dramas or tearjerkers. He has reduced Weibo use since his controversial October 2011 tweet on the Cultural Revolution.

Sample tweet from Ms. Yao (January 2, 2012): The new year’s wish of my cat Badun – getting canned cat food every day in 2012! (I say in response that sometimes we all mistake fantasies for legitimate goals)

Stay tuned for the last installment!

 

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