tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59795776653270029852024-03-16T09:12:41.760+08:00Fei Chang DaoChronicling Free Speech With PRC Characteristics Since 2012William Farrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13032546011990734899noreply@blogger.comBlogger682125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5979577665327002985.post-55594649792159233932024-02-15T08:08:00.000+08:002024-02-15T08:08:57.059+08:00Translation: Xu Zhiyong's Statement in His Own Defense Source: https://chinadigitaltimes.net/chinese/694913.html China Digital Times: On April 10, 2023, Xu Zhiyong, a well-known human rights defender, and Ding Jiaxi, a human rights lawyer, who had been detained for more than three years, were sentenced by the authorities to 14 years and 12 years, respectively, for "subversion of state power." This article is Xu Zhiyong's self-defense statement,William Farrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13032546011990734899noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5979577665327002985.post-52022186102994465602024-02-12T15:58:00.000+08:002024-02-12T15:58:45.794+08:00Li Qiaochu Jailed for Inciting Subversion for Helping Xu Zhiyong Post His Articles (Full Judgment and Translation)On February 16, 2020, police placed Li Qiaochu (李翘楚) under residential surveillance at a designated residence in Beijing. On March 19, 2022 former Beijing-based civil rights lawyer Wang Yu (王宇) posted the following on her Twitter account:Li Qiao has been indicted!A
kind young woman, because she was "deeply influenced by her lover's
thoughts," "set up a personal website for him" and "uploaded William Farrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13032546011990734899noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5979577665327002985.post-28549358718666784592024-02-07T01:02:00.000+08:002024-02-07T01:02:16.308+08:00Sina Weibo Censors Topic on People's Daily Article About Economic OptimismThis screenshot was taken on February 2, 2024, and shows that a search on Sina Weibo for the topic "#There is an Atmosphere of Optimism Throughout the Country" (#整个国家都洋溢着乐观向上的氛围) returns search results, but users are told "According to relevant laws, regulations and policies, the content of this topic is not displayed. The following are the search results for that term." (根据相关法律法规和政策,该话题内容未予显示,以下William Farrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13032546011990734899noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5979577665327002985.post-53638873717066668952024-01-23T23:14:00.000+08:002024-01-23T23:14:12.394+08:00Party Investigates Another Person Citing He Read Books with "Political Problems"As noted previously on this blog, the PRC Communist Party considers reading books with "political problems" to be grounds to punish government officials. See: "Party Expels Official Citing He Read Books with 'Political Problems'" https://blog.feichangdao.com/2023/06/party-expels-official-citing-he-read.html Now the Party is citing the same justification in a decision to punish a businessman.William Farrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13032546011990734899noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5979577665327002985.post-64438987810252149552024-01-22T02:33:00.003+08:002024-01-22T07:00:04.544+08:00Censorship of the Police Torture and Murder of Sun RenzeOn January 13, 2023, the PRC state-sponsored media outlet Caixin published an article titled "The Death of Suspect Sun Renze" (嫌疑人孙任泽之死) authored by Wang Heyan (王和岩). The article chronicled how eight PRC police officers tortured Sun in an effort to force a confession out of him. According to the article, a PRC
court found that the police had tortured Sun using the following
methods:Suspending William Farrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13032546011990734899noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5979577665327002985.post-51598373691742357542024-01-03T19:09:00.000+08:002024-01-03T19:09:28.073+08:00Caixin's Farewell to People We Lost in 2023 CensoredOn December 30, 2023, Caixin (财新), a PRC state-sponsored media outlet well known for publishing articles that are subsequently censored by authorities, published an online tribute to people who passed away in 2023. The feature was titled "The Farewells We Said in 2023: On the Occasion of Bidding Farewell to the Old and Welcoming the New, We Commemorate Those Who Have Passed Away and William Farrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13032546011990734899noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5979577665327002985.post-45513097224488872762023-12-01T18:17:00.002+08:002023-12-01T18:34:40.694+08:00Internet Censorship on the First Anniversary of the White Paper MovementThe White Paper Revolution, also known as the White Paper Movement, A4 Revolution, Blank Paper Protests, was a series of protests that occurred across China in November 2022. Protesters used blank sheets of paper as a form of silent protest to
symbolize the government's censorship and suppression of free speech,
and chanted slogans such as "End zero-COVID," "We want human rights,"
and "Down William Farrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13032546011990734899noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5979577665327002985.post-11042136046086044212023-11-27T17:16:00.000+08:002023-11-27T17:16:25.976+08:00Xu Zhiyong's Statement at His Final Appeal On November 24, 2023, former PRC civil rights lawyer Teng Biao posted the following statement:In the cases of lawyers #Xuzhiyong and #Dingjiaxi, the Shandong High Court just announced its second-instance judgment, rejecting the appeal and upholding the original judgment. 14 years for Xu and the 12 years for Ding. The Council of the Bar Associations in Europe (CCBE) awarded this William Farrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13032546011990734899noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5979577665327002985.post-11394973977497264922023-11-14T17:41:00.000+08:002023-11-14T17:41:38.637+08:00From the Archives: Censorship of "Civil Society"Recently I've been reviewing my archives of screenshots illustrating Internet censorship in the PRC. I've got images going back to 2008, and one of the most interesting things to me is to find screenshots showing what was NOT being censored back then, but is being censored now. For example, the screenshot below was taken on January 12, 2011, and shows that a search on Baidu for "Civil William Farrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13032546011990734899noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5979577665327002985.post-8608480500955766862023-09-16T08:37:00.008+08:002023-09-16T09:05:48.128+08:00Tencent's Weixin Censors 1980's People's Daily Article on Cult of PersonalityOn September 3, 2023, an article titled "People's Daily: Exaggerating the Personal Role of Leaders to an Extreme Level will Lead to Superstitious Belief in the Individual" (人民日报:把领袖个人的作用夸大到极端的程度,就会出现对个人的迷信) was posted on the "The Reading Drawer" (抽屉读书) public Weixin account. It was censored within 24 hours and replaced with a notice saying: "This content cannot be viewed due to violations. William Farrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13032546011990734899noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5979577665327002985.post-86970417896296662482023-09-12T07:55:00.000+08:002023-09-12T07:55:42.914+08:00Science with PRC Characteristics: CAS Academics Must "Toe Party Line" On September 6, 2023, the state sponsored media outlet Caixin published an article titled "China’s Top Academics Told to Toe Party Line With Public Statements." https://www.caixinglobal.com/2023-09-06/chinas-top-academics-told-to-toe-party-line-with-public-statements-102101001.html Some excerpts:China’s top science academy has updated its code of conduct with new rules that require members William Farrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13032546011990734899noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5979577665327002985.post-44255040964686657802023-09-08T07:12:00.003+08:002023-09-08T07:34:48.477+08:00Academics Criticise Proposed Public Security Administrative Punishments Law Revisions As noted previously on this blog, in early Septmber 2023, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress solicited public comment on proposed revisions to the Public Security Administrative Punishments Law through September 30, 2023. One of the most drastic proposals was the addition of a new Article 34:Anyone who commits any of the following acts shall be detained for not less William Farrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13032546011990734899noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5979577665327002985.post-65588198917428585212023-09-02T10:09:00.005+08:002023-09-08T06:46:41.459+08:00 Proposed Revisions to the Public Security Administrative Punishments Law and Their Impact on Freedom of SpeechBased on my research in compiling "State Prosecutions of
Speech in the People's Republic of China"
(https://ssrn.com/abstract=4168412),
three of the six offenses commonly employed by the PRC government to
prosecute speech appear in the Public Security Administrative
Punishments Law (治安管理处罚法).
They are:
Article 25 (Disrupting Public Order by Disseminating Rumors).
Example: In 2015, a court held William Farrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13032546011990734899noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5979577665327002985.post-28504958843938656292023-08-23T21:04:00.001+08:002023-08-23T21:04:40.965+08:00Supreme People's Court Finds Problems With Application of the Crime of "Disturbing the Peace"This blog has documented several examples of legal professionals, academics, and officials, calling for the PRC government to address problems with the application of the crime
of disturbing the peace (寻衅滋事, also commonly literally translated as
"picking quarrels and provoking troubles." For more on why I have chosen
to translate this as "disturbing the peace," see "State Prosecutions ofWilliam Farrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13032546011990734899noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5979577665327002985.post-56034756827420232952023-08-10T21:15:00.001+08:002023-08-10T21:15:15.772+08:00Translation: Law Firm's Petition to Abolish Offense Used to Prosecute Pure Speech Crimes On August 6, 2023, this document was posted on Twitter.The document was titled "Legislative Proposal on Abolishing the Crime of Disturbing the Peace," and the image of the envelope posted along with it indicated it was sent by Yu Zhaoyan of the Shandong Xiaolin Law Firm to the "Legislative Affairs Commission of the National People's Congress Standing Committee."The NPC is the onlyWilliam Farrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13032546011990734899noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5979577665327002985.post-87675191737456608882023-08-05T05:40:00.006+08:002023-08-05T06:19:13.050+08:00Translation: Ding Jiaxi 2021 Subversion Indictment Translator' Notes:The
Chinese text was generated by OCR'ing low-quality images of the
original court judgment posted online. I have attempted to identify and
correct the typographical errors that may have been introduced in the
OCR process. Ding Jiaxi is a former civil rights lawyer who, along with fellow civil rights lawyer Xu Zhiyong (who was also prosecuted in this case), William Farrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13032546011990734899noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5979577665327002985.post-66768526380170416262023-07-29T16:11:00.000+08:002023-07-29T16:11:32.428+08:00Translation: Hu Xin's Administrative Detention Notice for Political Tweets
Public Security Bureau of
Jingning County, Gansu
Administrative
Punishment Notice Transcript
Agency Executing the Notice: Network Security Protection
Brigade of the Public Security Bureau of Ping Liang, Jingning
County, Gansu
Notifying Parties: Yue Zhanqiang and Li Yun
Notified Parties: Hu Xin
Legal Representative of: —---William Farrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13032546011990734899noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5979577665327002985.post-62747625003993094752023-07-29T08:45:00.001+08:002023-07-29T09:00:05.697+08:00How PRC Websites Disappeared Civil Rights Lawyer Lu Siwei (卢思伟)On July 28, 2023, the Associated Press reported: Lu Siwei was seized by Laotian police Friday morning while boarding a train for Thailand. He was on his way to Bangkok to catch a flight to the United States to join his wife and daughter.....Lu had a history of taking on sensitive cases, and of navigating the fraught and murky waters of defending people who are deemed to be political targets by William Farrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13032546011990734899noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5979577665327002985.post-30370948581546133762023-07-24T20:35:00.005+08:002023-07-25T10:53:50.371+08:00Translation: The "Changsha Public Interest 3" Subversion JudgmentTranslator' Notes:The judgment was posted on the Twitter account of Cheng Yuan's wife: https://twitter.com/MindyShi227/status/1668491636026884097. Below I have also translated the tweets that she posted accompanying the judgment.The
Chinese text was generated by OCR'ing low-quality images of the
original court judgment posted online. I have attempted to identify and
correct the typographical William Farrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13032546011990734899noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5979577665327002985.post-60539384216535395342023-07-18T20:08:00.003+08:002023-07-18T20:09:23.973+08:00PRC Websites Censor Cremation Data On July 17, 2023, the PRC media outlet Caixin published an article titled "In the First Quarter of 2023, the Number of Cremated Remains in Zhejiang Province Increased by 72.7% Year-on-Year." These screenshots show that it was censored the following day.Original URL: https://www.caixin.com/2023-07-17/102076519.htmlArchive: https://archive.ph/6waq7After Censorship: https://archive.ph/mlxWK AnWilliam Farrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13032546011990734899noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5979577665327002985.post-89579554304985347782023-07-15T09:13:00.001+08:002023-07-24T20:16:37.648+08:00Translated Selections From the "Program Think" Blog Last week the New York Times published an article titled "China Took Her Husband. She Was Left to Uncover His Secret Cause." An excerpt:[S]he never imagined just how little she knew about her husband, Ruan Xiaohuan, until the Shanghai police stormed into the couple’s apartment and took him away.The authorities accused Mr. Ruan of plotting to overthrow the Chinese government, by writing William Farrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13032546011990734899noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5979577665327002985.post-75872211636506140782023-07-02T07:19:00.003+08:002023-07-30T07:19:01.721+08:00Translation: 2019 Ji Xiaolong "Toilet Revolution" Court JudgmentTranslator' Notes:The Chinese text was generated by OCR'ing low-quality images of the original court judgment posted online. I have attempted to identify and correct the typographical errors that may have been introduced in the OCR process.Ji Xiaolong was convicted for committing the crime of "寻衅滋事." I translate this as "disturbing the peace," while other translators translate it as "picking William Farrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13032546011990734899noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5979577665327002985.post-5095466380489957032023-06-29T06:19:00.002+08:002023-06-29T06:19:44.948+08:00Party Expels Official Citing He Read Books with "Political Problems"The following is a translation of a notice posted on the website of the Beijing Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection and Beijing Municipal Supervision Commission.Zhang Guilin, Former Director of the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the Beijing People's Government, Expelled From the Party and Public Office for Serious Violations of Discipline and LawSource:William Farrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13032546011990734899noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5979577665327002985.post-41641736225734160762023-06-26T21:13:00.001+08:002023-06-26T21:29:28.039+08:00Translation: Court Judgment in the Liu Feiyue Political Cartoon Case Translator' Notes:The Chinese text was generated by OCR'ing low-quality images of the original court judgment posted online. I have attempted to identify and correct the typographical errors that may have been introduced in the OCR process.This judgment is notable for several reasons:This is the first court judgment I've translated that quotes extensively from the opinions of government William Farrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13032546011990734899noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5979577665327002985.post-54137445754372307792023-06-13T08:17:00.001+08:002023-06-13T08:20:06.005+08:00Translation: Ding Jiaxi's Appeal Petition Appeal PetitionAppellant: Ding JiaxiAppeal Request: AcquittalGrounds for Appeal:This trial has nothing to do with evidence or the law. This trial is a naked political persecution. It is an attempt to suppress the efforts of citizens to fight for their rights, to suppress the awakening of the Chinese people's awareness of their rights, and to block the process of China realizing a civil William Farrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13032546011990734899noreply@blogger.com