Fei Chang Dao

According to the China.org.cn website (which is operated under the auspices of China’s State Council Information Office): In March 1951 [Qiu Shaoyun] (邱少云) joined the Chinese People's Volunteers Army to fight against U.S. in Korea. Part of a squad sent to ambush enemy forces near Kimhwa, on October 11, 1952, Qiu Shaoyun edged close to the enemy defenses using grass and twigs as camouflage. At noon the enemy threw a fire bomb that set fire to the grass near Qiu's position. Realizing that any sound or movement would give away the position of his comrades, Qiu endured the agonizing pain in silence and was burnt to death. Thanks to his sacrifice, his squad won the ensuing battle. Source: http://www.china.org.cn/china/60th_anniversary_people/2009-09/17/content_18547200.htm According to the same website: On March 13, 1988, a major forest fire broke out in Shimian County and [Lai Ning] (赖宁) and his classmates went to help with the fire-fighting efforts. The students were pas

As previously noted on this blog, on October 19, 2016, China's Supreme People's Court published a piece on its website entitled "People's Courts Come to the Defense of the 'Five Heroes of Wolf Tooth Mountain' and Other Model Cases Involving the Right of Human Dignity of Heroic Figures" (人民法院依法保护“狼牙山五壮士”等英雄人物人格权益典型案例).  That article explained why People’s Courts in Beijing had been correct in holding Hong Zhenkuai liable for defaming two dead soldiers. The defamation took place in two articles written by Hong and published in 2013 on the Caijing website and in the Yanhuang Chunqiu magazine. For more on this, see Supreme People's Court Website Explains Why Courts Found Author Guilty of Defaming Dead Heroes . Those two articles questioned the official version of events that took place during World War II, which are summarized on the website of China’s State Council Information Office as follows: In 1941, during the Sino-Japanese war, a group of five

On January 13, 2016, the state sponsored Global Times published an article entitled “ Leftists and Rightists Battle Over How to Interpret Stories of China’s Revolutionary Past .” Some excerpts: Last month, district courts in Beijing ruled against two former authors and editors of Yanhuang Chunqiu, an outspoken liberal political magazine on the right of the Chinese political spectrum, who filed two separate lawsuits against leftist scholars Guo Songmin and Mei Xinyu on charges of defamation. The legal battle can be traced back to November 2013, when Yanhuang Chunqiu published an article by author and historian Hong Zhenkuai which pointed out several incongruities in the different accounts of the story of five famous Chinese revolutionary heroes. The story was edited by Huang Zhong. Both Hong and Huang are former managing editors of the magazine. . . . . This discussion infuriated some leftist scholars, who are often staunch defenders of China's revolutionary history. Guo and

On October 19, 2016, China's Supreme People's Court published a piece on its website entitled "People's Courts Come to the Defense of the 'Five Heroes of Wolf Tooth Mountain' and Other Model Cases Involving the Right of Human Dignity of Heroic Figures" ( 人民法院依法保护“狼牙山五壮士”等英雄人物人格权益典型案例 ).  This blog previously summarized two of the four cases discussed in the article: A Dispute Wherein Huang Zhong and Hong Zhenkuai Sue Mei Xinyu for Infringing Their Right to Reputation A Dispute Wherein Huang Zhong and Hong Zhenkuai Sue Guo Songmin for Infringing Their Right to Reputation See: Courts Hold Referring to Historical Nihilists as "Sons of Bitches" is Not Defamatory The SPC website article began by going over the facts of each case, which are summarized here: In its November 2013 edition the journal Yanhuang Chunqiu (炎黄春秋) published an article entitled “Inconsistent Details in the 'Five Heroes of Wolf Tooth Mountain” (狼牙山五壮士”的细节分歧). The a

On October 24, 2106, the state sponsored Global Times published an article entitled “ Police Detain Man for Spreading Wuhan Steel Firm Protest Rumor Online .” Some excerpts: Police in Wuhan, capital of Central China's Hubei Province said Sunday they have detained a man for uploading a video claiming that lay-offs from the local steel giant had sparked a protest. A viral video, uploaded by the man surnamed Rong, showed hundreds of people gathered in a street with a subtitle saying employees from Wuhan Iron and Steel (Group) Corporation (WISC) held a "procession," Changjiang Daily reported. Police said they detained Rong for five days, and they've concluded that his subtitle was misleading, local police said on its Sina Weibo account on Sunday. These screenshots show that on the same day the Global Times published the article, Baidu was censoring posts on its PostBar (Tieba 贴吧) and Knowledge (Zhidao 知道) forums.  These screenshots show that on October 23,

On October 28, 2016, the state sponsored Global Times published an article entitled “ Xi as Core Long Affirmed by Public Opinion .” Some excerpts: The Sixth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee concluded on Thursday. For the first time "the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core" was written into the communiqué. "Xi as the core" in fact has long been in the minds of the Chinese people and among public opinion. . . . . All Chinese know clearly that the Xi's leadership has played a critical role in the changes in China in the past four years and the significance of the word "core" being written into the Party document. The sixth plenum is themed on strict Party governance. This is what the Chinese people are willing to see. These screenshots were taken on October 27, 2016, and show that users who searched for the single character “Xi“ (习 - Xi Jinping’s surname) on Baidu’s PostBar (Tieba 贴吧) forum are told “Apologies,

On October 26, 2016, the state sponsored China Daily published an article entitled “ Death Toll From Explosion Rises to 14 .” Some excerpts: The death toll from a blast in a residential apartment block in Fugu county, Shaanxi province, on Monday has increased to 14, local authorities said. The local police said after a preliminary investigation that the cause of the accident was explosives. . . . . "Emergency rescue work has ended, as there have been no new reports of missing people from the blast," said Zhang Jiuping, director of Yulin city government's information office. . . . . Investigations showed that the five apartments that were completely destroyed in Monday's blast might have contained illegally stored explosives owned by a resident, surnamed Zhang, who is under police investigation. These screenshots were taken on October 27, 2016, and show that Sina Weibo was completely censoring search results for “Fugu Big Explosion” (府谷 大爆炸) and “Yulin Big Expl

On October 12, 2016, the state sponsored Global Times published an article entitled “ China Vows to Address ‘Challenges Facing Veterans' After Protest .” Some excerpts: China's military authorities on Wednesday pledged to continue addressing the difficulties facing some military veterans, after over 1,000 of them gathered outside a military building to protest their dismissal. China's Ministry of National Defense confirmed the gathering with the Global Times in a statement sent by its Information Bureau on Wednesday, saying that in recent years some veterans have been facing personal and employment problems, and that they have appealed with letters and calls. The statement said that the Communist Party of China, the State Council--China's Cabinet--and the Central Military Commission care about veterans and pay high attention to solving their problems. . . . . More than 1,000 protesters marched and chanted in front of China's defense ministry Tuesday, the

On September 29, 2016, China’s official news agency Xinhua published a report entitled “ China Publishes New Action Plan on Human Rights .” Some excerpts: The Chinese government on Thursday published its third national action plan on human rights protection, addressing challenges and promising to improve people's standard of living and quality of life. The National Human Rights Action Plan of China (2016-2020), released by the State Council Information Office (SCIO), follows the previous two which covered 2009-2010 and 2012-2015 periods. From the section of the Action Plan entitled “ Rights of Expression and Supervision ”: Services shall be further improved for netizens to express their opinions, and great store shall be set on social sentiments and public opinions as expressed on the Internet. These screenshots were taken on September 30, 2016, and show that Baidu continues to ban users from establishing PostBar (Tieba 贴吧) forums on the topic of “Human Rights” (人权)， “freedo

Also from this blog: Sina Weibo Begins Censoring Names of Lawyers Wang Yu and Li Heping   Sina Weibo Censors "Lawyer Chang Boyang" and "Lawyer Jiang Tianyong"     Chinese Police "Smash" "Criminal Gang" of "Rights Defense" Lawyers For "Hyping"   Baidu Censors "Attorney Wang Yu" - Lawyer Detained for "Hyping Up" "Sensitive Incidents"   Baidu Censorship Promotes Government Articles Smearing "Rights Defense" Lawyer Wang Yu Baidu and Sina Censor Discussion About Trial of "709" Lawyers Labeled by State Media as "Transparent"   On July 13, 2015, the state sponsored China Daily published an article entitled “ Lawyers ‘Tried to Influence Verdicts’ .” Some excerpts: A group suspected of disturbing public order and making profits by illegally hiring protesters in an attempt to influence court decisions has been broken up, the top public security authority said.

 Also from this blog: Baidu, Sina, Tencent Search Results for "Xu Jinbo" - Man Who Died in Police Custody   Sina and Tencent Censor "Wukan" on Their Weibos     Tencent's Tribute to Dissent Gets Deleted, Censored on Weibos On September 15, 2016, the state sponsored Global Times published an editorial entitled “ Foreign Media Fails to Trick Wukan Villagers on Rumor .” Some excerpts: After police in Lufeng, a city in South China’s Guangdong Province that oversees Wukan Village, arrested 13 people on Tuesday morning at the village for disrupting public order and inciting illegal assemblies, life began to return to normal. . . . . Some foreign media sent their reporters to the village to wait for conflicts between police and villagers to happen right after they heard about the Wukan incident. Unfortunately, they waited for nothing in the end. The local government chose to avoid conflicts and confrontations. Even though some foreign media have been unscru

Also from this Blog: Baidu Censors Diary of Du Daozheng - Former Head of China's Book Censorship Agency   Baidu and Sina Censor Information About Yanhuang Chunqiu Magazine and Former Editor Du Daozheng In its November 2013 edition the journal Yanhuang Chunqiu (炎黄春秋) published an article entitled “Inconsistent Details in the 'Five Heroes of Wolf Tooth Mountain” ( 狼牙山五壮士”的细节分歧 ). The article was authored by Hong Zhenkuai (洪振快) and edited by Huang Zhong (黄钟). Some excerpts: Article as it appeared on Yanhuang Chunqiu Website The story of the "Five Heroes of Wolf Tooth Mountain" is a famous one, and because it has been included in grade school literature textbooks for decades, on could say that it is known to all. The official version of the story can seen in this representative account published by Xinhua Beijing on June 16, 2005 and on the following day in the People's Daily: In August 1941, the invading Japanese army assembled a force of over 70,000