Friday, May 20, 2016

Sogou and Microsoft's Bing Cooperate on English Language Search

On May 20, 2016, the state sponsored China Daily published an article entitled “Sogou, Bing Unite for ‘Bigger World' Searches.” Some excerpts:
Sogou Inc joined forces with a Western search engine giant in a new English-language search service, looking to take advantage of Baidu Inc's recent crisis to gain more market share.

Sogou, which operates China's third-largest online search engine, said on Thursday that to satisfy Chinese curiosity for global information, it has teamed up with Microsoft's Bing to launch an English-language search engine.

Wang Xiaochuan, CEO of Beijing-based Sogou, said the desire to closely link with the whole world prompted his company to launch the service. "We invite you, together with us, to embrace a bigger world.”
All of the following screenshots were taken on May 20, 2016.

Sogou’s English search engine found over 38,000 results for “Cai Yingwen,” but no results for “Xi Jinping.”
Baidu was able to find results for "Xi Jinping" in English.

Sogou’s English search engine found over 3,000 results for “Great Leap Forward,” but no results for “Cultural Revolution.”


Baidu was able to find results for "Cultural Revolution" in English.


Sogou’s English search engine found over 8 Million results for “Forbidden City,” but no results for “Tiananmen.”


Baidu was able to find results for "Tiananmen" in English.


Sogou’s English search engine found over 4 million results for “Dalai Lama,” but no results for “Li Hongzhi.”

Baidu was able to find results for "Li Hongzhi" in English. 
Sogou’s English search engine found almost 2 million results for “Independent Tibet,” but no results for “Tibetan Independence.”


Baidu was able to find results for "Tibetan Independence" in English.


Sogou’s English search engine found almost 2 million results for “Obscenity,” but no results for “Pornography.”


Baidu was able to find results for "Pornography" in English.

Sogou’s English search engine found over 13 million results for “Vagina,” but no results for “Penis.”

Baidu was able to find results for "Penis" in English.

On Day of Tsai Ing-wen's Inauguration, Sina Weibo Censors "Cai Yingwen" and "Taiwan"

See also: During Taiwan Elections Sina Weibo Begins Censoring "Taiwan" 

On May 20, 2016, the state sponsored Global Times published an editorial entitled “Cross-Straits Ties Enter Era of Uncertainty Under Tsai.” Some excerpts:
Today is the day Taiwan's new "president" Tsai Ing-wen and "vice president" Chen Chien-jen are to deliver their inauguration speeches and assume office. A new era for a cross-Straits region that is characterized by uncertainty officially kicks off.
. . . .
The mainland's endeavors during Chen's "presidency" showed that "jurisprudential independence" will never work out on the island. However, certain people are still holding on to the fantasy that "soft independence" might be workable. Perhaps a new round of contention is inevitable to completely drive the topic of Taiwan independence away while making the one-China principle the one and only starting point to maintain the status quo.

The DPP resuming office and refusing to acknowledge the 1992 Consensus are becoming key factors that may reverse cross-Strait ties. If the mainland indulges it, the result could be that all our previous efforts will be lost.
These screenshots were taken on the morning of May 20, 2016, and show that searches for “Tsai Ing-wen” (蔡英文) and “Taiwan” (台湾) on Sina Weibo returned no results.

Tuesday, May 17, 2016

On the 50th Anniversary of the Cultural Revolution Baidu Bans Forums on the Cultural Revolution

On May 17, 2016, the state sponsored Global Times published an editorial entitled “Society Firmly Rejects Cultural Revolution” (“文革”已被彻底否定) by “Shan Renping” - a pseudonym used by Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief of the Global Times. Some excerpts:
Discussions over China's Cultural Revolution have been emerging on the Internet. The decade-long internal chaos was a huge disaster. It is thus normal to hear people talking about it on the 50th anniversary of this movement. On the other hand, however, such discussions cannot be treated as a cleavage in people's ideological understanding.
. . . .
We have bid farewell to the Cultural Revolution. We can say it once again today that the Cultural Revolution cannot and will not come back. There is no place for it in today's China.
That same day, the People’s Daily ran an editorial in its print edition entitled “Appraising History is Done for a Better Future” (以史为鉴是为了更好前进). Also by an author who coincidentally had the name “Ren Ping” (任 平 - albeit with a different Character for “Ren” than the author of the Global Times’ editorial). Some excerpts:
We must unify our ideology and our actions with the policies set forth by the Party, as well as with the spirit of important statements of Secretary General Xi Jinping . . . . 
我们要把思想和行动统一到党中央的决策部署上来,统一到习近平总书记系列重要讲话精神上来 . . . .
These screenshots were taken on May 15, 2016, and show that Baidu was censoring image search results for “Cultural Revolution,” and had banned users from establishing a PostBar (Tieba 贴吧) forum on the subject of the Cultural Revolution.

These screenshots were also taken on May 15, and show web search results for “Cultural Revolution” on Baidu and Bing.


The top results on Baidu were from the following websites:
  • Baidu.com (4 results)
  • 163.com (government licensed website, article was from 2015)
  • Tianya.cn (government licensed bulletin board, post was from 2010)
  • China.com (state sponsored media outlet)
  • qq.com (government licensed website)
  • Gov.cn (China’s central government website)
  • 83133.com (government licensed website, article was from 2015)
The top results on Bing.com were from the following websites:
  • Wikipedia.org (4 results - one each for simplified Chinese, Japanese, and the Macau and Jiangnan Chinese dialects)
  • Epochtimes.com (foreign news outlet)
  • Xinhuanet.com (China’s official news agency)
  • Youtube.com (foreign video website)
  • Gov.cn (China’s central government website)
Baidu did not show a censorship notice.

These screenshots show that Baidu was able to find the “Cultural Revolution” Wikipedia articles in Japanese and the Macau and Jiangnan Chinese dialects, but not in simplified Chinese.

These screenshots show that Baidu could not find any results from Epochtimes.com or Youtube.com.


Monday, May 16, 2016

An Overview of China's First "Right to be Forgotten" Lawsuit

On May 4, 2016, the Haidian District People's Court in Beijing published an article on its website entitled "Haidian Court Completes Investigation in Nation's First Case of 'Right to be Forgotten'" (海淀法院审结全国首例“被遗忘权”案) Some excerpts:
Recently the Haidian Court concluded a case involving a lawsuit filed by Plaintiff Ren against a certain Internet Services Company for infringement of the right of reputation, name, and general personality.  On May 13, 2014, a European court issued a final judgment confirming that ordinary citizens have a "right to be forgotten" with respect to personal information, and following that the European Union has established the scope of a "right to be forgotten." During the two year period following the European court's recognition of the "right to be forgotten," the Haidian Court has concluded proceedings in the first case involving the scope of judicial protection of the "right to be forgotten" for a citizen's personal information. This case study has significant theoretical and practical value with respect to the issue of how China will conduct regulatory development and judicial practice to safeguard the "right to be forgotten" for personal information in the Internet age.

Mr. Ren's work related to various fields in the area of administration education, such as human resources management and business administration. Beginning on July 1, 2014 he performed educational work in those areas for a company in Wuxi. On November 26, 2014, that technology company issued a "Notice of Automatic Termination" to Mr. Ren, terminating the parties' labor relationship. A certain Internet service company was a commercial provider of search link services such as web page search and related search.

近日,海淀法院审结了原告任某某诉被告某网络服务公司侵犯名誉权、姓名权、一般人格权(“被遗忘权”)一案。2014年5月13日,欧盟法院作出了确认普通公民对个人信息拥有“被遗忘权”终审裁定,进而在欧盟范围确立了“被遗忘权”。在该权利被欧盟法院确认近两周年之际,海淀法院依法审结了公民个人信息“被遗忘权”司法保护领域的全国首例案件。该案件对我国在网络时代如何保护个人信息的“被遗忘权”问题进行了有益的规则探索和司法实践,具有理论和实务的重大研究意义。
   
任某某系人力资源管理、企事业管理等管理学领域的从业人员,其于2014年7月1日起在无锡某公司从事过相关的教育工作。2014年11月26日,该科技公司向任某某发出了《自动离职通知书》,解除了双方劳动关系。某网络服务公司系提供网页搜索、相关搜索等搜索链接服务的提供商。
It is unclear why the announcement refused to use the full names of the parties involved, particularly given that at the time the full text of both the decisions of the lower court and the court of appeals were available online without any of the parties' names being redacted. See:
Screenshot of the Ren Jiayu Court of Appeals Decision on court.gov.cn.
 According to the text of the court judgments, the parties implicated were:
  • Ren Jiayu (任甲玉), a designer and engineer born in 1972.
  • Beijing Baidu Network Data Technology Company Limited (北京百度网讯科技有限公司)
  • Taoshi Education (陶氏教育)
  • Beijing Daoyaxuan Commercial Trading Company Limited (北京道雅轩商贸有限公司)
The following summary is based on the text of the court of first instance judgment, which was subsequently confirmed by the appellate court.

Ren Jiayu sued Baidu because:
Beijing Daoyaxuan Commercial Trading Company Limited (Party A) and Ren Jiayu (Party B) negotiated a mutually agreed voluntary formal termination of their labor agreement relationship to take place on March 12, 2015, with the termination grounds being, after Party A hired Party B on a trial basis, it was discovered that "Wuxi Taoshi Education Ren Jiayu" was appearing online on Baidu, and that many people believed that Taoshi Education was a dishonest company, with some going so far as to claim it was an evil cult. Because Party A required that the work performed by Party B be beyond reproach, both parties voluntarily terminated the contract. 
北京道雅轩商贸有限公司(甲方)与任甲玉(乙方)协商一致自愿于2015年3月12日正式解除劳动合同关系,解除理由是自甲方聘用乙方并开始试用后,发现百度网络上显示“无锡陶氏教育任甲玉”,陶氏教育被很多人称为骗子公司,甚至有人说是邪教,因甲方对乙方从事的工作需要对信誉度要求高,双方自愿解除合同,原定甲方聘用乙方约定的60万元年薪,由于时间短,乙方同意甲方不支付任何工资和任何经济补偿。
Ren Jiayu not only wanted Baidu to compensate him for the income he lost as a result of the termination of the labor contract, he also wanted the court to grant him injunctive relief against Baidu, specifically:
When entering "Ren Jiayu" into the Baidu search interface and conducting a search, the following six keywords shall not appear in the search results:
  • Taoshi Ren Jiayu
  • Taoshi Super Study Method
  • Super Fast Study Method
  • Super Study Method
  • Taoshi Education Ren Jiayu
  • Wuxi Taoshi Education Ren Jiayu
在百度搜索界面中输入“任甲玉”进行搜索,搜索结果中不得出现“陶氏任甲玉”、“陶氏超能学习法”、“超能急速学习法”、“超能学习法”、“陶氏教育任甲玉”和“无锡陶氏教育任甲玉”等六个关键词。
As the court put it, Ren Jiayu had two specific requests:
First, directly or indirectly confirm that a company he had previously collaborated with, "Taoshi Education," did not have a good professional reputation, and second, attempt to conceal, at least on the Internet, his work history from potential students and education cooperation clients.
两项具体的诉求意向:其一是正向或反向确认其曾经合作过的“陶氏教育”不具有良好商誉;其二是试图向后续的学生及教育合作客户至少在网络上隐瞒其曾经的工作经历。
This is probably a good point to pause and understand exactly what Ren Jiayu was objecting to. Ren did not claim that the "keywords" in question were appearing in Baidu's "organic" search results. That is, the listing of titles and snippets that generally take up the bulk of the space on a search result page.

Ren was objecting to what Baidu refers to as "Related Searches" (相关搜索). In the screenshot below the "related searches" for "Xi Jinping" are outlined in red.


 The court characterized Baidu's "Related Search" functionality this way:
Baidu's so-called Related Search Terms are automatically generated by the search engine based on entry statistics for terms with a relatively high usage frequency over a given period of time and the searched words that were related to them.
百度公司所称相关搜索词系由过去一定时期内使用频率较高且与当前搜索词相关联的词条统计而由搜索引擎自动生成,并非由于百度公司人为干预。
Ren believed he was entitled to relief in connection with the "Related Search" results displayed by Baidu because, according to him:
[He] never held a job at the Taoshi Education Company, and had never posted any information online about "Taoshi Education Ren Jiayu," "Wuxi Taoshi Education Ren Jiayu," etc., and because Taoshi Education is the subject of controversy, infringing information such as  "Taoshi Education Ren Jiayu" and "Wuxi Taoshi Education Ren Jiayu" has caused extreme harm to [his] reputation.
未曾在陶氏教育公司上班,也从未在网上上传过“陶氏教育任甲玉”、“无锡陶氏教育任甲玉”等信息,由于陶氏教育在外界颇受争议,“陶氏教育任甲玉”、“无锡陶氏教育任甲玉”等侵权信息给任甲玉名誉造成极大侵害。
The court stated that the central question in this dispute was:
Does Baidu's current technical model for "Related Searches" and the related service model constitute an infringement of the rights being advocated by Ren Jiayu in his lawsuit.
百度公司现有“相关搜索”技术模式及相应服务模式本身是否对任甲玉主张的涉诉权益构成现实的侵犯。
The opening sentence of the court judgment states that Ren had brought suit against Baidu for:
[I]nfringement of the right to reputation, right to name, and the general right to personality.侵犯名誉权、姓名权、一般人格权。
In addressing Ren's claim, the court considered one question of fact and one question of law:
  • Question of Fact: Were the terms displayed by Baidu's "Related Search" service that referred to Ren Jiayu subject to any human interference?
  • Question of Law: Did the technology model of Baidu's "Related Search" and the search service provided by the related service model constitute an infringement of Ren Jiayu's right to name, right to reputation, and the so-called "right to be forgotten" within the ordinary right to personality advocated by Ren Jiayu.
  • 百度公司“相关搜索”服务显示的涉及任甲玉的检索词是否受到了该公司人为干预?
  • 百度公司“相关搜索”技术模式及相应服务模式提供的搜索服务是否构成对任甲玉的姓名权、名誉权及任甲玉主张的一般人格权中的所谓“被遗忘权”的侵犯?
The court did not explain the relevance of the question fact, and simply found that there was no evidence of any human interference, and that it was therefore not possible that Baidu had any "specific intent" with respect to Ren Jiayu.

Moving on to the question of law, the court found that the six terms that Ren Jiayu had complained were infringing "did not either on their face or in fact have any judgmental implications, and in and of themselves were merely reference terms indicating their usage in online information retrieval." (本身并无表面及实质性的褒贬含义,本质仍属供网络信息检索使用之参考词汇). Furthermore, Ren apparently did in fact have a prior relationship with Taoshi Education, as the court found:
Based on Ren Jiayu's statements in court, he did in fact engage in actual commercial collaboration with Taoshi Education which was publicized in the media, and that commercial collaboration and publication information was being reflected on the Internet. 
根据任甲玉的法庭陈述,其之前确实与陶氏教育有过现实的业务合作与媒体宣传,这些业务合作与宣传信息反映在互联网上。
Given that it had already been established that Ren Jiayu did in fact have a prior relationship with Taoshi Education, the appearance of those terms was "an objective reflection of the history of Ren Jiayu's educational work with enterprises associated with Taoshi." (任甲玉从事与陶氏相关企业教育工作的历史情况的客观反映。)

The court therefore rejected Ren Jiayu's claim of infringement of his right to reputation:
Seeing as there exists neither a situation where words are being used to insult, nor a situation where facts are being fabricated to defame, it is clear that there exists no infringing act of insult or defamation with respect to Ren Jiayu. Therefore the aforementioned circumstances of Baidu's Related Search clearly does not constitute an infringement of Ren Jiayu's right to reputation. 
既不存在使用言辞进行侮辱的情况,也不具有捏造事实传播进行诽谤的情况,明显不存在对任甲玉进行侮辱、诽谤等侵权行为,故百度公司相关搜索的前述情形显然不构成对任甲玉名誉权的侵犯。
The court similarly rejected Ren Jiayu's claim of infringement of his right to name, which the court described as the right to "prohibit third parties from interfering with, misappropriating, or passing off as" one's own name. The court held:
Given that there has been no action by Baidu implicating human intervention in the "Related Search" terms regarding "Ren Jiayu," and nothing was specifically directed at a specific individual, then as regards something mechanical like "Related Search," the process whereby the relevant algorithm gathers and process the three characters "Ren Jiayu" is merely combining a string of characters, and does not constitute a meaningful name.  
既然百度公司并无人为干预“相关搜索”有关“任甲玉”词条的行为,没有特定个人的特定指向,那么,对于作为机器的“搜索引擎”而言,“任甲玉”这三个字在相关算法的收集与处理过程中就是一串字符组合,并无姓名的指代意义。
Having established that Ren Jiayu had no claims for the protection of any commonly recognized rights of personhood, the court turned its attention to whether or not a new "right to be forgotten" should be recognized as existing within the broader framework of the ”general right of personhood" (一般人格权). The court first clarified that foreign law would not form the basis of its decision:
China's law as it exists today is unable to define a category of rights that is the so-called "right to be forgotten." The "right to be forgotten" is only touched upon in foreign statutory and case law, which cannot serve as the legal basis for China's protection of this kind of right. 
我国现行法中并无法定称谓为“被遗忘权”的权利类型,“被遗忘权”只是在国外有关法律及判例中有所涉及,但其不能成为我国此类权利保护的法律渊源。
The court defined three criteria for determining whether such a right could be found  within China's own Tort Law:
The right to personhood or general right to personhood protects the subject's personal interests, and encompasses both those personal interests that have already been categorized as legally defined rights, as well as those legitimate legal interests that have not been so categorized but which should receive the protection of law. With respect to the latter, the following three criteria must be met simultaneously: they must not encompass those rights which have already been categorized, and they must be rights which are both legitimate and which require protection.
人格权或一般人格权保护的对象是人格利益,既包括已经类型化的法定权利中所指向的人格利益,也包括未被类型化但应受法律保护的正当法益。就后者而言,必须不能涵盖到既有类型化权利之中,且具有利益的正当性及保护的必要性,三者必须同时具备。
The first criteria was met because, as noted earlier, the court had found that the right that Ren Jiayu was asking the court to protect in this case was not covered by existing rights such as the right to reputation or the right to name.

As for the second and third criteria, the court found that Ren Jiayu arguably did have an "interest" in this case, because there was potentially a direct connection between Ren Jiayu and the information that he wanted "forgotten," to the extent that it could have an adverse impact on his professional reputation, which in turn could jeopardize his ability to recruit students and enjoy other employment opportunities and economic interests.

The court held, however, that Ren Jiayu's "interest" in having information "forgotten" was not "legitimate and requiring the protection of the law."
It is inappropriate to make an abstract assessment of whether a company's reputation is good or bad, or the cause-and-effect relationship a company's reputation may create. Furthermore there is also the latent competitive relationship between Ren Jiayu and Taoshi Education's affiliated enterprises given their operate in identical or closely-related professions. As regards the latter, the information at issue in this lawsuit regarding Ren Jiayu's work history relates to very recent events, and he continues to work in the business administration education profession. This information happens to form a portion of his professional history, and his current individual professional credibility is both of directly relevant and of ongoing concern. Ren Jiayu hopes to make use of his own good reputation in the industry to attract customers and students going forward, but information about his personal qualification is important information that customers and students rely on in making a judgment. Ren Jiayu's collaboration with Taoshi Education affiliated enterprises did not occur at a time when he was a minor or a person with limited or non-existent competence, and there existed no other legal basis for providing special protections to him as a member of a special group. 
不宜抽象地评价商誉好坏及商誉产生后果的因果联系,何况任甲玉目前与陶氏教育相关企业之间仍具有同业或相近行业的潜在竞争关系。就后者而言,涉诉工作经历信息是任甲玉最近发生的情况,其目前仍在企业管理教育行业工作,该信息正是其行业经历的组成部分,与其目前的个人行业资信具有直接的相关性及时效性;任甲玉希望通过自己良好的业界声誉在今后吸引客户或招收学生,但是包括任甲玉工作经历在内的个人资历信息正是客户或学生藉以判断的重要信息依据,也是作为教师诚实信用的体现,这些信息的保留对于包括任甲玉所谓潜在客户或学生在内的公众知悉任甲玉的相关情况具有客观的必要性。任甲玉在与陶氏相关企业从事教育业务合作时并非未成年人或限制行为能力人、无行为能力人,其并不存在法律上对特殊人群予以特殊保护的法理基础。

Thursday, May 5, 2016

Party Puts Ren Zhiqiang on One Year Probation for Online Posts

On March 1, 2016 the state sponsored China Daily published an article entitled “Beijing CPC Committee Vows Punishment for Ren Zhiqiang.” Some excerpts:
A Beijing district committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) pledged severe intraparty penalties for Ren Zhiqiang, a celebrity blogger and property developer whose accounts were closed for allegedly spreading illegal information.

The Xicheng district committee of the CPC on Monday issued a circular saying Ren, "as a CPC member, has been releasing illegal information and making inappropriate comments online, resulting in a vile influence and damage to the party image."

The committee, where Ren's CPC membership is registered and managed, said it would punish him strictly according to party rules.
On March 4, 2016, the official website of the Beijing Xicheng District government published a notice entitled "The Fourth Party Branch of Beijing Xicheng's Department of Security Oversight Launches Study Project on Party Political Discipline and Political Norm Compliance" (西城区安全监管局第四党支部开展遵守党的政治纪律和政治规矩专题学习). Here is a full translation:
Recently, the Fourth Party Branch of Beijing Xicheng's Department of Security Oversight launched study project on Party political discipline and political norm compliance. They communicated the major themes of the "Beijing Xicheng Party Central Committee Notice Regarding Correctly Recognizing Ren Zhiqiang's Severe Discipline Issues, and in addition organized study sessions of the "Central Party's Eight Rules," "Chinese Communist Party Standards for Honesty and Self-discipline," and "Regulations on Chinese Communist Party Disciplinary Sanctions." Through these study sessions, vast numbers of cadres were abel to correctly recognize the problems associated with Ren Zhiqiang's severe violations of Party political discipline, draw lessons from the instruction, and learn a great deal. Their consciousness of discipline compliance and norm compliance was strengthened, particularly as it relates to insisting upon prioritizing the Party political discipline and political norms, remaining steadfastly idealistic, and maintaining a firm political stance, building a firm political conciseness, and an awareness of the overall situation, the bottom lines, the model behaviors, and the red wall [N.B. - a reference to Zhongnanhai], as well as the need to maintain a high degree of consistency with the central Party in their thoughts, politics, and deeds.

近期,西城区安全监管局第四党支部组织开展了一次遵守党的政治纪律和政治规矩的专题学习。传达了《中共北京市西城区委员会关于正确认识任志强严重违纪问题的通知》的重要精神,进一步组织学习《中央八项规定》及《中国共产党廉洁自律准则》和《中国共产党纪律处分条例》。通过此次学习,使广大党员干部正确认识任志强严重违反党的政治纪律的问题,吸取教训、引以为戒;进一步强化守纪律、讲规矩的自觉性,特别是坚持把党的政治纪律和政治规矩挺在前面,坚定了理想信念,站稳政治立场,牢固树立政治意识、大局意识、看齐意识、首善意识和红墙意识,自觉在思想上政治上行动上时刻与党中央保持高度一致。
In early May 2016, the same website published an undated notice entitled "Beijing Xicheng District Central Committee Issues Notice on the Status of Cases Involving Four Incidents of Party Cadre's Discipline Violation" (西城区委通报4起党员干部违纪案件处理情况). An excerpt:
Comrade Ren Zhiqiang, former chairman and deputy Party secretary of the Huayuan Group did, on several occasions, publicly post erroneous statements in micro-blogs, blogs, and other online platforms and public venues that went against the four basic principles and the Party line. His actions severely violated Party political discipline, and it is hereby decided that Ren Zhiqiang shall be placed on Party probation for one year.

华远集团原党委副书记、董事长任志强同志多次在微博、博客等网络平台和其他公开场合公开发表违背四项基本原则、违背党的路线方针政策等方面的错误言论,其行为严重违反党的政治纪律,决定给予任志强同志留党察看一年处分。
Additional Background: Cyberspace Administration of China Orders Websites to Shut Ren Zhiqiang's Accounts

Tuesday, May 3, 2016

Former Party Official Censured for Sina Weibo Statements, Online Essay That "Severely Damaged the Party's Image"

On April 22, 2016, the state sponsored media outlet "The Paper" published an article entitled "Wenling Communist Party Official Censured by Party for Publishing and Reposting Erroneous Statements" (浙江温岭一党员公开发布、转载错误言论,被党内严重警告处分).  According to that report, Mu Yifei, a former official a Party School in Wenling, Zhejiang, had been censured by the Communist Party for violating Article 133(2) of the 2016 "Regulations on Chinese Communist Party Disciplinary Measures" and Article 46 of the 2003 "Regulations on Chinese Communist Party Disciplinary Measures" by publishing and reposting statements that were inconsistent with the Party orthodxy, thereby "severely damaging the Party's image."

On April 28, 2016, the China Youth Online website (sponsored by the Chinese Communist Party Youth League) published an article entitled "A 'Retired But Not Resigned' Official Gets Punished, Why Are Internet Users Protesting an Injustice?" (“休而不退”的公务员被处分,网民因何为其鸣不平?).

That article included images of Sina Weibo posts which it claimed showed Internet users criticizing Mu Yifei. In the example below from 2013,  Mu had reposted a comment by another user regarding a book on reform by Hu Deping - the son of Hu Yaobang and former vice chairman of All-China General Chamber of Industry & Commerce. The Weibo user said:
Is there anything in there about multi-party systems, constitutional governance, freedom of association, independent judiciaries, press freedom, or private publishing? I fear there is not a single sentence, nothing about opposition parties, as there’s only one party, and just the illusion of reform.
To which another Weibo user responds:
What is goal of multi-party systems, constitutional governance, freedom of association, independent judiciaries, press freedom, or private publishing? You are an instructor at a Party school, what do you think you're doing reposting this?
According to images of the Party Decision posted online:
On April 6, 2016, Mu Yifei published an article entitled "The Profound Regrets of Someone 'Retired But Not Resigned'" in the Information Times, a portion of which included erroneous content. It was reposted by many websites, and created a wave of discussion, causing a severely harmful influence.
2016年4月6日,慕毅飞在《信息时报》上发表题为《一个“休而不退”者内心深处的愧疚》的部分内容失实文章,并被多家网站转载,引发了舆论浪潮,造成了严重的不良影响。


 
Below is a full translation of that article, which has since been deleted from the Information Times website.
I've been thinking about writing this article for quite some time. Today I saw a news report from Hunan that made me take up pen. According to the report in the "Outlook" weekly recently in certain places in Hunan there have been some younger "officers" and "hands" whose main job is to provide reports to superiors calling for "public officials over 50 to step aside and enjoy better compensation than they do at their post" and voluntarily apply for "early retirement" and become "ex-officials" who are "retired but not resigned."

I happen to be one of these "ex-officials." I'm from Zhejiang, and in 2008 I took up the life of a "ex-official." Today I'm official retired. Even if I wanted to rectify my mistakes, I no longer have the opportunity, and I therefore can only write this guilt-stricken essay.

First, I feel shame for every penny of my not-insignificant salary. For a period of 8-9 years I did nothing. I collected my salary as usual, and enjoyed substantial benefits. And my salary was no small thing, along the lines of what an individual taxpayer earning over 120,000 yuan would get. Even though it wasn't like I didn't want to do anything, but my hands were tied by policies. But after all is said and done I was dining out on someone else's dime, and the salary I was getting was somewhat impractical.

Second, I feel shame for all the hardships endured by the workers. They work from dawn to dusk, doing the hard labor, and the money they struggle to earn - why should that be going to feed those like us who have jobs but do no work? Are they perfectly content to go on feeding and clothing us like this? Has anyone bothered to seek out their views on this? If we feel no shame before them, then that itself is something to be ashamed of.

Third, I feel shame of those labored 9-5 under me. Those who qualify for "early retirement" are inevitably those who fulfilled unimportant posts. To put it another way, if after you've retired the post can be left, only then do you qualify for "early retirement." Those subordinates of a similar age to me who do not qualify for "early retirement" have no option but to keep clocking in. When things get tense they they have no choice but pop a pill and work overtime. It is hard not to feel somewhat ashamed as I sit back and watch their busy lives.

Everyone knows that workers are best when they are in their 50s, when their experience is high, their energy is strong, and their worries are few. Furthermore, someone who gets by at an unimportant lower level post will usually have some skills. There can be no doubt that it is a waste to allow such people to get a substantial salary while sitting at unemployed. I see my colleagues everywhere raising birds and walking dogs, others sit around every day watching TV, other are fond of playing online games. Those who don't create problems for others and aren't corrupt are already considered outstanding. So who cares if they feel like a candle that's been snuffed out before its burned halfway down?

How many such unemployed people are there around the country? How many financial resources are being used to keep them feed and clothed? An accounting is due. If this is being done to foster new cadres, vacating space for them to occupy, then I have to ask, what's the point of fostering so many new cadres if your not utilizing the cadres you've already fostered? So many highly experienced public officials in the prime of their lives are being set aside, so what is the point of bringing in so many new officials every year? If the only purpose is to solve the employment issue, then is the cost-to-benefit ration for this approach too low? Relevant laws and regulations restrict early retire to those with at least 30 years of work experience, but some localities have taken it on themselves to lower it from 30 to 20. Should that not be suspected of violating the law?

I have been tardy in writing this essay before, mainly because I feared people would say I was reluctant to leave my post, even one so unimportant. Now I am fully retired, so I have no fear of what others may say behind my back. I feel that I must get this long-buried shame off my chest, and in the unlikely event that it offends someone, there is nothing I can do about that.

早就想写这篇文章了。今天看到一则来自湖南的新闻,让我有了动笔的冲动。据《瞭望》周刊报道,在湖南一些地方,近期有些年龄并不算大的“局办委”或乡镇“一把手”、重要班子成员向上级打报告,要求按照地方“公务员50岁以上退居二线,可享受比在职时更高待遇”的政策,自请“早退”,成为“休而不退”的“散吏”。

  我就是这样的一个“散吏”。我来自浙江,从2008年开始“散吏”生涯,现在已经正式退休。我即使想纠错,现在也没机会了,因而只能写写愧疚文章。

  一是,愧对分文不少的薪资。八九年的时间里,什么都不干,照样拿工资,照样享受一点不少的福利待遇;而且工资不算低,属于年薪超过12万元的自行申报个税者。虽然并不是我自己不想干,而是政策不让干,但我吃的毕竟是白食,工资拿得实在有点不踏实。

二是,愧对含辛茹苦的劳动者。他们起早贪黑,辛苦劳作,他们辛苦挣来的钱,凭什么要养活我们这样的尸位素餐者?用这样的方式养我们,他们心甘情愿吗?有什么人征求过他们意见吗?如果对他们没有愧疚感,我觉得正是极需愧疚的地方。

三是,愧对朝九晚五的下属们。有资格“早退”的,必然是当过一官半职的人。换句话说,你退了以后,可以空出一个官位,你才有资格“早退”。那些跟我年龄相仿的没资格“早退”的下属们,则只能照常按时签到,一旦紧张起来,还得照样“白加黑”、“五加二”。悠闲地看着他们忙碌的身影,我难免会有些愧意。

谁都知道,在工作岗位上,50岁是最佳年龄,经验最足,精力最强,牵挂最少;而且,能在基层混个一官半职的人,通常会有一定的能耐。让这样的人,拿着不低的薪资,赋闲在家,无疑是极大的浪费。看看我的同僚们,有四处架鸟遛狗的,有每天看电视剧的,有热衷玩网络游戏的……他们不给组织添麻烦,不利用余热牟私利,已经很优秀了,谁在乎他们像蜡烛烧了一半被硬生生掐灭的感觉呢?

全国各地有多少这样赋闲的人?需要用多少财政收入来养活他们?这个账应该算。如果说是为了培养新干部,需要腾出位子给他们,那么试问,培养好了的干部都不用,干嘛又培养那么多新干部?有那么多经验丰富、年富力强的公务员闲置不用,何须每年再进那么多新的公务员?如果仅仅为了解决就业,这样的解决办法,性价比是不是太低?有关法规限定工作期满30年才能提前退休,有些地方擅自将30年改作20年,是否涉嫌违法?

以前迟迟没写这篇文章,主要还是怕人说我恋栈,舍不得那一官半职,现在已经彻底退休了,也就不怕别人背后议论了。我有愧埋藏在内心深处多年,不吐不快,万一得罪了谁,也顾不得了。
These screenshots show that article originally appeared on page A26 of the April 6 edition, but that entire page was subsequently removed from the Information Times' website.

Translation: Xu Zhiyong's Statement in His Own Defense

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