China and Self Censorship

[Chedney Honks]

Chairman Mao's favourite dish was notoriously hongshao rou, a delicious braised pork dish with rich, hearty spicing and delicate aromatics.

Xi's favourite Dood is seamed pork bun. Ehhh.

[Pearly-Dewdrops Drops]

Winnie The Pooh got banned in China because of comparisons (made by Chinese citizens) between the appearance of the character and their president, Xi Jinping.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/07/china-bans-winnie-the-pooh-film-to-stop-comparisons-to-president-xi

Great example of the kind of uninformed propaganda that is "reported" in outlets like the Guardian. What is the source for the claim that the movie was specifically banned in order to not offend Xi Jinping? It is pure speculation based on a pre-conceived narrative. Many Hollywood movies are not allowed to be released in China for completely anodyne reasons. Buried waaay at the end: "Another reason for the film's rejection by the authorities may be that China only allows 34 foreign films to be released in cinemas each year. That leaves Hollywood summer blockbusters, family films and contenders from across the world jockeying for a tiny number of spots."

Obviously this is a dumb issue that is largely irrelevant, but it is illustrative as an example of the way Western outlets fraudulently push certain narratives through misleading reporting. (Setting aside how absolutely hilarious this Winnie the Pooh meme is; always nice to see white people making a non-white person based on their appearance.)

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-55651798

Another pathetic weasel of a human specimen here bowing down to potential China money. Have to love how terrified people are of criticising China.

In fact the original link in this thread does the same thing. The narrative pushed on the public (and clearly accepted as the premise of this thread) is that this is about fear at entertaining the most mild criticism of the Chinese government. The lede is buried in that "[the guest in question] has also been associated with Falun Gong, a spiritual movement banned by the Chinese government." No real explanation of the BBC as to what Falun Gong is (an extreme right-wing quasi cult) other than a misleading blurb and the implication that Evil China has falsely deemed it a cult. Great, responsible reporting by the BBC.

I presume this YouTuber has a large audience of Chinese viewers who he does not want to alienate. Why does his choice to voluntarily avoid offending them constitute some dark conspiracy by the evil Chinese government? Ironically, the premise of this thread is to demand reverse censorship in that anyone who does not comply with an extremist anti-China narrative is deemed a weak patsy.

And an NBA player tweeted support for the protesters in Hong Kong causing the NBA to apologise for it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Basketball_Association_criticisms_and_controversies#2019–20_Hong_Kong_protests

South Park did an episode all about the controversies and willingly got themselves banned in China to comment on the hypocrisy of US businesses turning a blind eye to China's poor record on human rights.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Band_in_China

Business is business. Why are you shocked that a profit-driven enterprise is cautious about offending a massive part of its market? The portrayal of all this as some kind of evil Chinese conspiracy is jingoistic nonsense. This is no different then advertisers not wanting to be associated with Trump's virulent racism, the Proud Boys, or the recent attack on the Capitol Building.

And as for Trey Parker and Matt Stone, they are highly informed and well-known experts on China (with perfect political views).

[Captain Z]

Will leaves China disappointed [/tag]

[Pearly-Dewdrops Drops]

image management, propaganda and abuses

Considering these are inherent attributes of any large government regardless of leader or purported ideology, I'm not sure it has anything to do with Xi. As Mister Six just posted, however, Xi as definitely centralized his control over the Party in a way that is different from his most recent predecessors.

[Mister Six]

(Setting aside how absolutely hilarious this Winnie the Pooh meme is; always nice to see white people making a non-white person based on their appearance.)

The Winnie the Pooh meme was rife in China until it was banned from social media. I know plenty of Chinese people who made the same joke.

[Pearly-Dewdrops Drops]

The Winnie the Pooh meme was rife in China until it was banned from social media. I know plenty of Chinese people who made the same joke.

Much like there is no "but I heard it in a rap song" pass for using the n-word, that does not make its prevalence among Western anti-China lunatics like Marsha Blackburn (or the Guardian for the matter) any less suspect

(Also unclear to me that Winnie the Pooh is actually "banned" in China)

[Mister Six]

Dunno what Blackburn said specifically, but Xi does look like Winnie the Pooh.

It's like saying there's something racist about making fun of Trump's anus mouth or combover or absurd orange skin. Or Biden being a glassy-eyed wight.

[Pearly-Dewdrops Drops]

Dunno what Blackburn said specifically, but Xi does look like Winnie the Pooh.

It's like saying there's something racist about making fun of Trump's anus mouth or combover or absurd orange skin. Or Biden being a glassy-eyed wight.

Except Trump is a white supremacist WASP asshole, and there is an extraordinary level of anti-Chinese/anti-Asian racism in the West.

Much of the anti-CCP narrative in the United States is premised on lurking racism, including the outrage over the concept that Chinese consumers should be able to influence the market in the same way that Western consumers do.

[NoSleep]

Great example of the kind of uninformed propaganda that is "reported" in outlets like the Guardian. What is the source for the claim that the movie was specifically banned in order to not offend Xi Jinping? It is pure speculation based on a pre-conceived narrative. Many Hollywood movies are not allowed to be released in China for completely anodyne reasons. Buried waaay at the end: "Another reason for the film's rejection by the authorities may be that China only allows 34 foreign films to be released in cinemas each year. That leaves Hollywood summer blockbusters, family films and contenders from across the world jockeying for a tiny number of spots."

Obviously this is a dumb issue that is largely irrelevant, but it is illustrative as an example of the way Western outlets fraudulently push certain narratives through misleading reporting. (Setting aside how absolutely hilarious this Winnie the Pooh meme is; always nice to see white people making a non-white person based on their appearance.)

In fact the original link in this thread does the same thing. The narrative pushed on the public (and clearly accepted as the premise of this thread) is that this is about fear at entertaining the most mild criticism of the Chinese government. The lede is buried in that "[the guest in question] has also been associated with Falun Gong, a spiritual movement banned by the Chinese government." No real explanation of the BBC as to what Falun Gong is (an extreme right-wing quasi cult) other than a misleading blurb and the implication that Evil China has falsely deemed it a cult. Great, responsible reporting by the BBC.

I presume this YouTuber has a large audience of Chinese viewers who he does not want to alienate. Why does his choice to voluntarily avoid offending them constitute some dark conspiracy by the evil Chinese government? Ironically, the premise of this thread is to demand reverse censorship in that anyone who does not comply with an extremist anti-China narrative is deemed a weak patsy.

Business is business. Why are you shocked that a profit-driven enterprise is cautious about offending a massive part of its market? The portrayal of all this as some kind of evil Chinese conspiracy is jingoistic nonsense. This is no different then advertisers not wanting to be associated with Trump's virulent racism, the Proud Boys, or the recent attack on the Capitol Building.

And as for Trey Parker and Matt Stone, they are highly informed and well-known experts on China (with perfect political views).

That's a lot of words and myopia to say "nothing to see here, everything's fine and dandy". You don't have to be an expert on China to see the cowardice of other countries who do business with them. I'm also sure there's several advertising billionaires involved in supporting Trump's claims about a rigged election and the subsequent fallout.

[Pearly-Dewdrops Drops]

That's a lot of words to say "nothing to see here, everything's fine and dandy". You don't have to be an expert on China to see the cowardice of other countries who do business with them. I'm also sure there's several advertising billionaires involved in supporting Trump's claims about a rigged election and the subsequent fallout.

Thank you for engaging with the substance of what I said. I see now that I was wrong, and that you are correct: China is bad, and countries that choose to do business with China are cowards (?).

[NoSleep]

Countries like ours who do business with China are destroying rights for workers in their own countries by exploiting Chinese workers.

[Pearly-Dewdrops Drops]

Countries like ours who do business with China are destroying rights for workers in their own countries by exploiting Chinese workers.

That's true, though it doesn't strike me as anything to do with cowardice or an unwillingness to criticize the Chinese government. Greedy Western corporations want lower labour costs, and the neoliberal takeover of Western governments has ensured that there are no legal barriers in their way.

None of the anti-China political responses in the West (as from the Trump administration) have been about restoring manufacturing jobs to the West, though. They've been about desperately trying to stunt China's growth and development so that it remains a neutered source of low wage labour for cheap consumer goods while control over intellectual property, et cetera, remains in the West. Free market colonialism.

Western governments are terrified of rising development in China, because once the Chinese consumer base starts to approximate the Western consumer base, suddenly the cheap labour source is gone.

[NoSleep]

Censoring dissent in your own country and in your culture to suck up to the Chinese government should be called out. It isn't about causing offence to Chinese people; let the Chinese censor it themselves. It seems to be a much wider problem than the 30-odd foreign films that get through. Obviously far more films are made to comply than actually get through, so more content is needlessly being censored worldwide.

[Fambo Number Mive]

What evidence is there that Falun Gong is a cult? I'm not saying it isn't, buy I'd be  interested to see why it is.

[Fambo Number Mive]

A hesitancy to criticize China does not strike me as very high on the list of most common attributes in the English-speaking world these days.

I'd say it does on the political left of most countries, which is why people on the right fill the vacuum and can mix reasonable criticism of the Chinese government with plan sabre-waving, xenophobia and an attempt to shift the blame from Western leaders.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

What evidence is there that Falun Gong is a cult? I'm not saying it isn't, buy I'd be  interested to see why it is.

It is officially defined and self-identifies as a religious movement so there you go. There is no difference between a religion and a cult.

[NoSleep]

None of the anti-China political responses in the West (as from the Trump administration) have been about restoring manufacturing jobs to the West, though. They've been about desperately trying to stunt China's growth and development so that it remains a neutered source of low wage labour for cheap consumer goods while control over intellectual property, et cetera, remains in the West. Free market colonialism.

I know something about how Huawei has been cut off from suppliers of high quality components for their new products by the US (hadn't realised that Chinese manufacturers were so far down the food chain in this respect); effectively being starved out of existence at the moment. Though I'm wondering, by the randomness and varying effectiveness of the numerous ploys, whether this has been a personal project of Trump's that we may see an end to, or at least an easing, with the change to Biden.

But you're saying this is part of a more general strategy.

It still doesn't excuse self censorship, of course.

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

Chairman Mao's favourite dish was notoriously hongshao rou, a delicious braised pork dish with rich, hearty spicing and delicate aromatics.

Xi's favourite food is steamed pork bun. Ehhh.

A man who never eats pork bun is never a whole man.

[Chedney Honks]

Haha fucking BRILLIANT callback

[Pink Gregory]

Considering these are inherent attributes of any large government regardless of leader or purported ideology, I'm not sure it has anything to do with Xi. As Mister Six just posted, however, Xi as definitely centralized his control over the Party in a way that is different from his most recent predecessors.

Oh yeah I know that, just asking if it was noticeably more so.  But you answered my question with that last line.

[Pearly-Dewdrops Drops]

What evidence is there that Falun Gong is a cult? I'm not saying it isn't, buy I'd be  interested to see why it is.

Even just on its face, it's a suspiciously wealthy weird esoteric religious movement founded in the 1990s by a single charismatic leader. Here is a YouTube explainer (take that for what's it worth) from a non-pro-CCP source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JaPzJKycxc&t

I'm not all that interested in their religious views or whether they are an actual "cult" as much as their overt political influence, however. Their primary mouthpiece in the right-wing outlet The Epoch Times, which is all over the place here in the U.S., and they are virulently anti-Communist, anti-CCP, pro-Trump, QAnon-peddling in a way that is just openly propagandistic and non-credible. That would not be such a big deal if they did not have such a huge platform.

For example they are one of the fastest growing news sources in the U.S. right now in terms of iOS downloads:
https://www.appannie.com/en/apps/ios/top/united-states/news/iphone/
https://www.appannie.com/en/apps/ios/top/united-states/news/ipad/

[Chedney Honks]

Feel like pure shit just wanna hotel dryer noodles

Anyone seen Menu around by the way? I actually wonder about how that guy turned out. He seemed to really get angry about China no matter the context or intent

Anyone like hot dry noodles?

China is great.

[Dex Sawash]

Anyone like hot dry noodles?

Unable to find. The big asian market has some packs of prepared ones I assume have to be bad.

[rack and peanut]

A man who never eats pork bun is never a whole man.

You bastard I wanted to say that!

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

You look like you could use a pork bun.

[Urinal Cake]

Xi was compared to Winnie because there was a photo of Xi and Obama together and people compared it to a picture of Tigger and Winnie the Pooh.

Winnie the Pooh isn't censored in China only in the context of Xi and politics.

China is not going to listen to anyone because everybody is a hypocrite. It's not going to be like the US and talk about rights, principles etc. The best of hope for is that China keeps it's armed conflicts on it's borders and doesn't throw it's economic weight around too much.

[Chedney Honks]

Very best wishes to China CCP and every Chinaman HAPPY in the PRC CCCCCCC