反中共政治宣传库。Anti-Chinese government propaganda. 常见问答集新闻集饭店音乐建议。卐习万岁卐FAQ, news compilation and restaurant and music recommendations. 卐 Heil Xi 卐.

住在中国大陆有真名用户或者用中国邮箱的网友请别给星星,不然你要被警察请喝茶。先注册一个Gmail/Protonmail匿名用户才来,最好也要用VPN/Tor/ShadowSocks. Friends who live in China and have real name on account or who use a Chinese email provider, please don’t star this repo, or else the police might pay you a visit some day. First create an anonymous account with Gmail/Protonmail instead (non Chinese email provider), preferably from behind VPN/Tor/ShadowSocks. 你不是一个人。未来需要隐藏的将是今天的五毛,而不是你。You are not alone. In the future, it is the wumaos who will have to hide, not you. See also: What should pro-democracy Chinese living in China do about the dictatorship? 想要民主住在中国大陆的人应该干什么?.

Xi Jinping The Governance of China photo

1. About (关于)

This repo has the following goals:

2. Copypasta

Here’s an image/sentence copypasta/summary of key events for the Screen name keyword attack (网名审查关键字攻击).

Another advantage of this is that since it comes first in the repo, it ensures that key elements show up on github.com despite file size cutups: https://github.com/isaacs/github/issues/1610.

Each summary section contains a link to the main section, which contains sources and description of each image.

社会主义核心价值观 Core socialist values

Core socialist values

水浒传 Water margin

Water Margin tribute to dissidents

我喜欢我的独裁制度 I like my dictatorship

Anonymous middle fingers
Immoral and uneducated
Immoral and uneducated en
Pig politics Chinese
Rebel pepper pig can%27t eat democracy cartoon translated to English by Ciro Santilli

六四事件 Tiananmen square protests 1989

Music!

Tiananmen students sitting
Tank Man
Tiananmen crushed dead

法轮功 Falun Gong 1999 70M believer religion banned

Falun Gong Guangzhou
Falun Gong lady silenced

新疆改造中心 Xinjiang re-education camps 2018

Xinjiang prisoners sitting identified
Xinjiang prisoners march
Uyghur sale website
Xinjiang camp in camp

小熊维尼 Winnie the Pooh 2018

Xi Pooh Obama
Xi Abe Pooh
Xi Jinping heart

郝海东 Hao Haidong Chinese soccer superstar turns against the CCP 2020

Hao Haidong kick

冠状病毒审查 Censorship of the 2019 Corona Virus

Li Wenliang covid

基督迫害 Christian persecution 2018

Church demolition
Last Supper Mao
Pope CCP deal

LGBT权利 The suppression of homosexuality

Tiananmen lesbian kiss
Addicted bed

996.ICU

996ICU

Gay Putin

Gay Putin

The poisoning of Alexei Navalny 2020

Navalny hospital sitting

Vajiralongkorn Hamtaro

Side by side comparison between Thai king Vajiralongkorn and Hamtaro
Thai king crop top

3. Mirrors of this page (此网页的镜像)

You can download the webpage locally from GitHub at: https://github.com/cirosantilli/china-dictatorship/archive/gh-pages.zip

Media such as images are not stored in this repository, but rather at https://github.com/cirosantilli/china-dictatorship-media to keep the lightweight clone. That downloaded HTML will read images from that repository, e.g. https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cirosantilli/china-dictatorship-media/master/Xi_Jinping_The_Governance_of_China_photo.jpg. But we’ve learnt after creating that maybe the raw.githubusercontent.com subdomain is censored: GitHub censored subdomains (GitHub 审查的子域). If anyone can confirm, we will start using another image provider by default.

Clone locally with Git using GitHub images:

git clone https://github.com/cirosantilli/china-dictatorship
cd china-dictatorship
git checkout gh-pages
xdg-open README.html

Build it yourself:

bundle install
make
xdg-open README.html

Build and view the multipage version:

make multipage
xdg-open out/multipage/README.html

Build with GitLab served images:

git clone https://github.com/cirosantilli/china-dictatorship
cd china-dictatorship
make MEDIA=MEDIA=https://gitlab.com/cirosantilli/china-dictatorship-media/-/raw/master

Build with local images:

git clone https://github.com/cirosantilli/china-dictatorship
git clone https://github.com/cirosantilli/china-dictatorship-media
cd china-dictatorship
make MEDIA=../china-dictatorship-media

or build to use GitLab images:

Given GitHub censored subdomains (GitHub 审查的子域), this might be the only way to view the images from China.

The cool thing about Git is that we can maintain several mirrors on multiple websites very easily:

Ones that went down:

It is really interesting to see how many people star the GitHub repository, and then a few minutes later they think about how they might get put in jail, and then unstar it. Talk about Chilling effect (寒蝉效应)! But yes, for the love of God, please stay safe: What should pro-democracy Chinese living in China do about the dictatorship? 想要民主住在中国大陆的人应该干什么?.

The perfect solution might be to download all images and upload them to https://github.com/cirosantilli/media since GitHub content does not go through Camo, we have to see if such images don’t fail to load as often.

A few NPM/Git CDNs can also be used to bypass subdomain blocks, and some actually render HTML with the correct content type. Lists of such CDNs:

Some we’ve found, with HTML content type:

Without HTML content type:

We’ve also tried to use jsfiddle like-services, but most don’t work well:

3.1. Software package mirrors (软件包管理器镜像)

We also have a NPM Node.js package https://www.npmjs.com/package/china-dictatorship. After installing NPM, you can be use it as:

npm i -g china-dictatorship
china-dictatorship > README.html

This forces China to also block/curate package managers to block this repo. The package is already available in the following NPM Chinese mirrors, both which were blocked at some point:

There is actually a cnpm tool to install from Chinese mirrors: https://github.com/cnpm/cnpm.

We also managed to upload a Python PyPi package at: https://pypi.org/project/china-dictatorship/ Is as:

python3 -m pip install --user --upgrade china-dictatorship
china-dictatorship.py > README.html

Like NPM, this will also have Chinese mirrors that will need to be censored by their admins ovrview https://titanwolf.org/Network/Articles/Article?AID=25a20c20-c97b-4bfe-af67-760861343658 :

We later found on Google by chance that libraries.io picked it up and rendered the README.adoc nicely as well: https://libraries.io/pypi/china-dictatorship (archive). This is why packaging is a good idea.

A programmatic interface is also exposed on those packages, making it easy to quickly add a --china option to your project, e.g. from Python:

import china_dictatorship
assert "Tiananmen Square protests" in china_dictatorship.get_data()

print(china_dictatorship.get_data())

or from Node.js:

const china_dictatorship = require('china-dictatorship');
if (!china_dictatorship.get_data().includes("Tiannmen Square protests")) throw 0;

console.log(china_dictatorship.get_data());

You have to do the assert after the imports because otherwise Chinese mirrors could replace the real package with dummy packages to not break imports, as was already done once at https://registry.npm.taobao.org/china-dictatorship.

This outputs the rendered HTML, which end users should the pipe into a file:

./your-program --china > README.html
xdg-open README.html

Concrete examples:

These also offer great plausible deniability: a citizen in China could always argue that they were just interested in the software itself, and had no choice but to download it.

TODO: create an Ubuntu PPA and Ruby gem as well.

Create tags,and update all mirrors in one go with: push-mirrors:

sudo apt install python3-setuptools
python3 -m pip install --user setuptools wheel twine
./push-mirrors

In particular, that script calls push:

./push

which is more lightweight and pushes just to GitHub and GitLab Pages, so we are going to be using that more often to avoid overloading package managers too much.

./push is used to publish every commit.

There is no need to update package versions or add git tags, all of that gets done automatically by the script!

See also: Protestware.

3.1.1. GitHub proxies (GitHub的代理)

Another source of China-specific mirroring of this project are GitHub proxies, https://linuxpip.org/github-in-china/ contains an overview:

4. GitHub repositories with censored information (政治敏感的GitHub库)

For lists of censored information outside of GitHub see: Lists of material censored in China.

For content outside of GitHub: Lists of material censored in China.

Mentioned in other sections:

Not mentioned in other sections:

Interesting users:

Non-information but also interesting:

TODO evaluate:

Reasonable topics:

4.2. Terminus2049 (端点星计划, 2049bbs)

Jekyll GitHub Pages repository that saves full text copies of censored articles:

本仓库存放被删文章

This repository stores deleted articles.

Also accompanies a dynamic forum https://2049bbs.xyz/ which appears to be where content for the static pages gets discussed and brought up. But it possible that the website has been compromised and is leaking identity of users. At some point, https://2049bbs.xyz went down. Live https://web.archive.org/web/20200719151022/https://2049bbs.xyz/ dead: https://archive.vn/JFqCJ

The "Terminus" in the repo name seems to be a reference to Isaac Asimov’s fictional Terminus planet which is called 端点星 in Chinese, but it is not clear where the 2049 comes from in that context. Forgetting the Chinese name, Terminus2049 could be a reference to the fictional "World War Terminus" from the Blade Runner 2049 (2019) movie, which also explains the 2049.

First commit on 2018-04-27, GitHub pages domain blocked in China at least since 2019-03 according to GreatFire (自由微博): https://zh.greatfire.org/search/all/https%3A//terminus2049.github.io but not in GitHub gov-takedowns (由其各自政府在某个国家审查的仓库的GitHub官方列表) as of 2020-04.

The full post list can be seen most conveniently at: https://github.com/Terminus2049/Terminus2049.github.io/tree/master/_posts The number of articles is insane, usually several every day.

Most articles appear to be taken from recent news at the time of writting, although there are a few from before the repo started. As of 2020-04, the oldest article was from 2016 MeToo events reported by Yue Xin (岳昕), some other topics include:

They use Jekyll tags a lot, which makes for a good grouping of the topics.

In 2020-04-25, it was reported that three Beijing-based contributors were arrested during Censorship of the 2019 Corona Virus (2019冠状病毒病早期迹象审查):

People:

In 2020-06-12 their families received calls saying that they had been charged with Picking quarrels and provoking trouble (寻衅滋事罪):

How their identities were found:

Terrible opsec…​ they used real name GitHub emails on early commits, including the institutional university address, before they started better opsec under https://github.com/TerminusBot / terminus2049@protonmail.com

https://github.com/thphd/2047 is a project to restore terminus, live at https://2047.name Ciro mention at: https://2047.name/e/76182458 by https://2047.name/u/5155 which is similar to a Mohu (膜乎) mention, so they seem to share the database? Who knows what’s the relation between all those Pincong (品葱, uncensored forum) lookalikes. TODO that website shows an ICP license 非经营性网站备案 (2000)? Very confusingly also mirrored at https://pincong.org e.g. https://pincong.org/t/10219/https://2047.name/t/10219[], which is very similar to Pincong (品葱, uncensored forum)'s address. Related account: https://github.com/PincongBot

https://2047.name has a links section at: https://2047.name/links shown on the sideboard, containg links of interest. Some all not are very China specific.

https://2047.name/register registration requires an invitation code.

https://github.com/2049bbs/2049bbs.github.io / https://2049bbs.github.io/ maintains another archive up to 2019-03-03.

Chenmei Caowei
Figure 1. Side-by-side photos of Chen Mei (陈玫) and Cai Wei (蔡伟) from Terminus2049 (端点星计划, 2049bbs). Source.

4.4. duty-machine GitHub account (责任机器GitHub用户)

Anonymous user with automation setup such that anyone can request certain webpages to be copied on to GitHub anonymously through a separate website, notably:

The project claims to have been inspired by Terminus2049 (端点星计划, 2049bbs), but hopefully they will have better operational security.

Unfortunately, it was found that the project could be used by malicious users to at mention spam GitHub users: https://github.com/cirosantilli/china-dictatorship/issues/192, let’s see if they patch it. Edit: the did.

4.4.1. duty-machine porn attack (责任机器色情攻击)

https://github.com/duty-machine/duty-machine/tree/d6ee9ff8e504b863352f163f7e143e84161ac349 explains that the automatic submission had to be taken down because Wumao (五毛) uploaded porn which is against GitHub’s content policy.

Related idiotic attempt on China Dictatorship (中国独裁统治) project: https://github.com/cirosantilli/china-dictatorship/issues/500 where user crazy3523 uploaded some of Ciro’s own existing anti-China images, and tried to pretend to be anti-CCP, and slipped a few child porn softcore in the middle hoping Ciro wouldn’t see them. Their email was <crazy3523@protonmail.com>. They even went as far as creating another apparently anti-CCP post at: https://github.com/cirosantilli/china-dictatorship/issues/386 previously.

This highlights the following ideas:

  • it is impossible to have uncurated anyonymous content on GitHub

  • censorship of non-political issues can seep into censorship of political issues

4.5. Zhao Heming (召赫名)

A few accounts were created by this pseudonym, e.g.:

Much more sanely encoded/formatted/rendered versions can be found at:

Both Zhao Heming repos contain reproductions of two manifestos are pasted together on a single file, and somewhat broken encoding.

Ciro noticed that thoe repos attracted an incredible ammount of Wumao (五毛) on the comments, despite having very simple copy pasted content, it was very impressive!!! Ciro was jealous, and added some anti-wumao comments in. On commits:

https://github.com/zhaohmng/-21-/issues/416#issuecomment-784939665 "为什么这个屎一样的东西会出现在我个人主页左侧的repositories中,那里不是应该只有自己的项目才会出现吗?有办法屏蔽它吗?还是github故意的?" explains why so many people come comment in the repository: it is because it appears on the "Explore repositories" repository suggestions which show on the side bar of your GitHub homepage, and on searches. This was also mentioned at: https://github.com/cirosantilli/china-dictatorship/issues/201 originally titled " 一搜索中文就跑出这屌鬼玩意,爱玩政治去竞选总统啊,笨,死扑街". Ciro feels that that Chinese people might use GitHub search much more than Western people because their search engines are shit due to Censorship (审查), Censorship makes countries poorer (审查使国家更穷) comes vibrantly to mind.

After further inspection, taught understood that repository descriptions given to GitHub can be really huge for SEO: they had pasted the entire 21st century text there.

So Ciro attempted the same approach, and pasted all of https://github.com/cirosantilli/china-dictatorship/blob/master/赫连禾-21世纪新政宣言.md, https://github.com/cirosantilli/china-dictatorship/blob/master/郝雪森-三朝罪恶元凶王沪宁.adoc and https://github.com/cirosantilli/china-dictatorship/blob/master/魏京生-第五个现代化.md in there on 2021-03-23, and the effect was dramatic: an immediate 4x more views on the following day according to https://github.com/cirosantilli/china-dictatorship/graphs/traffic (40 unique visitors to 100 on a Wednesday), and a few wumao comments. And a wumao soon confirmed that it was working directly: https://github.com/cirosantilli/china-dictatorship/issues/201.

Ciro believes that this is due to two reasons:

  • there aren’t so many good Chinese repositories to compete with

  • perhaps more importantly, Chinese language does not have spaces, which makes implementing search for it more difficult, because if you hit all the characters, even if they are not part of the search words, it also gets counted as a hit

This can be automated with: description.sh.

Further optimizations using description by using GitHub-Chinese-Top-Charts (GitHub中文排行榜):

git clone https://github.com/kon9chunkit/GitHub-Chinese-Top-Charts
./description

this does some processing to increase density creates a BOMB:

As of late 2022, Ciro noticed that GitHub had limited maximum repository description lengths to something way way smaller like 512 characters. Ciro’s old descriptions were kept, but they cannot be edited anymore unless reduced to 512 characters. So they will likely remain unchanged forever now.

Ciro started using that one instead to see if it was going to be more effective on 2021-03-28. First it hit a peak of 168 visitors on Monday 2021-03-29, and then fell back to 90 and 81 on the following days, so similar to the previous Chinese political input. It is very hard to understand why the first day was so different.

It also includes:

  • https://github.com/trending?since=monthly&spoken_language_code=zh trending Chinese repositories

    A large part of those projects falls in the following categories:

    • interview preparation. Competition is of course cutthroat with such a large population.

    • collections of interesting things Chinese like repositories or blog posts

      but it also does feel like China might be building up more basic infrastructure as open source than in the west, where things developped closed source first on pre-Internet days, and somewhat stayed that way. That’s a cool thing about China.

Furthermore, Ciro later noticed that under GitHub’s settings, there is a "Preferred spoken language" box described as "We’ll use this language preference to filter the trending repository lists on Explore and our Trending Repositories page." Therefore, the secret to get lots of hits is to add Chinese programming keywords to the repository description string.

New issues:

On top commented/liked issues:

The first is "21世纪新政宣言" (New System Declaration for the 21st Century).

It proposes a peaceful reunification of China with Taiwan (Republic of China, 台湾, 中華民國) under their specified political system described in 12 paragraphs. This system is a reformed type of Western democracy, which the manifesto also criticize downsides of.

The manifesto is dated drafted 2019.8.6, and several versions have different update dates and revision numbers, e.g. our copy is dated 7th edition of 2020.6.19. TODO what is canonical?

The manifesto provides an email "wanghunn@gmx.com" for those who signed it to send the signed version to, and describes the author as male 70 years old Chinese person.

TODO what does: "起草人:赫连禾" mean?

The second is "三朝罪恶元凶王沪宁" (The Culprit of Three Dynasties Wang Huning).

The title presumably refers to Wang Huning (王沪宁).

Wikipedia mentions:

Wang is believed to have been one of the principal architects behind the official political ideologies of three paramount leaders: "Three Represents" by Jiang Zemin, the Scientific Development Concept by Hu Jintao, and the Chinese Dream and Xi Jinping Thought (习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想, 2017) of Xi Jinping.

so it must be about him.

The manifesto is divided into 23 numbered headers which appear to be independently published texts later collected. It is signed by 郝雪森 (Hao Xuesen) 2016-09-10. One of the sections gives the email: haoxuesen@gmx.com[].

Related:

4.6. Bot + issue mention attack

In March 2021, this repo had a traffic search spike for: "Search · 联级选择器"

This term refers to https://ant.design/components/cascader-cn/ which seems to be a CSS live selector

Someone actually used wumao techniques mentioned at:

to attack that repo:

TODO which exact GitHub action did they rely on? That repo currently has a https://github.com/ant-design/ant-design-pro/actions/workflows/issue-open-check.yml Issue Open Check GitHub action sample run: https://github.com/ant-design/ant-design-pro/runs/2209272410?check_suite_focus=true we see the similarity issue analysis thing, but how could that have worked more precisely to link across repos? Asked at: https://github.com/cirosantilli/china-dictatorship/issues/203

4.7. Wumao GitHub repos (由五毛的GitHub库)

Not in other setions:

In other sections:

Related:

5. FAQ (常见问答集)

5.1. Why attack websites with censored keywords? (用审查词攻击网站有什么用呢?)

This would then end Censorship (审查).

And then Ciro believes that this would also end the dictatorship.

The keyword attacks increase the cost of censorship.

If commies censor things, they will get worse IT technology, and thus become less rich and militarily powerful.

Since all they care about, like any other politicians, is power, the only way to make them stop censorship is to make the cost of censorship higher than not censoring.

Without the threat that China will be less technologically, and therefore militarily advanced, there is no incentive for the CCP to destroy the firewall.

The goal is to put them in a position where they have to choose between either:

but not both, since having both means that they will start WW3 and destroy humanity.

And if they decide to destroy the dictatorship, Ciro wants to help China become the most awesome country on Earth.

Related attack: Photobombing-like attacks.

5.1.1. Does Ciro Santilli want to harm the Chinese programmers? 三西猴想要伤害中国程序员吗?

No.

This is not a revenge of any kind.

Ciro knows that he is harming you in the short term, and he doesn’t like that.

But he believes that this harm is a necessary means to reach his real goal, which is to destroy the firewall, and the dictatorship.

Don’t you think it is worth a try? Destroying the firewall, would enormously benefit not only Chinese programmers, but every single other Chinese person too.

Once the firewall is destroyed, which may destroy the dictatorship, he want China to develop the best science and technology in the world, and Would Ciro Santilli like to live in China? (三西猴想住在中国吗?).

And by the way, with his extensive contributions to open source software, Ciro is already helping China, and all underdeveloped countries, to become stronger. His hope is that if poor countries become richer and better educated, that they will be less likely to be influenced by the CCP’s money, and therefore are more likely to be allies of democracy.

5.1.1.1. Does Ciro Santilli want to make the Chinese people people look bad? (三西猴是想让中国人脸色不好?)

No, the opposite.

Ciro only wants their dictatorial government to look bad to destroy it, and help China become the most awesome country on Earth.

Even the Chinese that are against their own Government cannot do much about it openly, so it is not their fault.

And even those who supported their dictatorship must be respected, whoever stupid and brainwashed you might think they are, since it is impossible to prove who is right or wrong in politics.

See also: About (关于).

5.1.2. Does Ciro Santilli think that the Chinese are stupid or brainwashed? (三西猴觉得中国人是傻子或是被洗脑了吗?)

Obviously not, if you even thought about this, it is likely because of: The CCP exaggerates the threat of the West to keep in power (中共夸大了西方要继续掌权的威胁).

Don’t you see that this is just pure and simple politics? And likely ineffective one at that: Will the keyword attacks really help to destroy the firewall? (关键字攻击真的有助于破坏防火墙吗?).

Related:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2ncGTvkxDQ How does propaganda change our beliefs? by Etienne Augé (2021). At: https://youtu.be/K2ncGTvkxDQ?t=139 he mentions his 6 principles of propaganda, the first of which is that it should be undetected. As soon as Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的) saw that, he changed the description of this repository from "Anti-Chinese government information." to "Anti-Chinese government propaganda.".

5.1.3. Screen name keyword attack (网名审查关键字攻击)

A keyword consists of adding censored words to your username: https://stackoverflow.com/users/895245

This only works on websites that show usernames everywhere.

This then leads to your username appearing on thousands of pages, depending on how much you contribute to the website.

It is also possible to do it with images, although this is less effective in taking down websites since images are harder for the firewall to track automatically. But:

  • they are more memorable than words

  • they also work on websites like GitHub where your real name does not show on most pages, only slug

so maybe the most effective approach is to use both keywords and images to get the best of both worlds ;-)

This type of attack is essentially an Embargoes make dictatorships stronger (禁运使独裁更强大), and it is especially effective in websites that contain valuable technical content, such as Stack Overflow and GitHub.

See also:

Some non-screen name ones: * https://tatoeba.org/en/sentences/show/6620655, that site is open source BTW, great initiative: https://github.com/Tatoeba/tatoeba2

Some people say don’t shift where you eat. Ciro says: bring a shitbucket to the canteen, and start a shitfight.

Chrysanthemum Xi Jinping with black red liusi added by Ciro Santilli
Figure 2. Chrysanthemium Xi Jinping (菊花习近平, 2015) has been used by Ciro Santilli as a profile picture censored image attack

5.1.4. Cute cat theory of digital activism (可爱猫理论)

Someone told Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的) a while after he had started doing his Screen name keyword attack (网名审查关键字攻击) on Stack Overflow, he didn’t know about it before, but it is basically what he was doing.

You can never invent anything new anymore nowadays!

This is especially relevant to GitHub! And GitHub’s mascot is also a cat ;-) Some mentions of this:

Related:

5.1.4.1. Anti-CCP content in the Bitcoin blockchain (在比特币区块链的反中共内容)

Blockchain technologies, such as Bitcoin, provide essentially uncensorable (at a transaction cost), because the messages are put together with financial transactions which are extremely valuable to its users.

Services that can be used to easily view this data online include:

We have been able to find the following anti-CCP information in the blockchain so far:

But of course, there are crypto-Wumao (五毛)'s there too!!! The incongruence of a dictatorship and uncensorability is just mind blowing:

Neutral references:

  • blk01341.txt tx 3d2226aa2591acfb0d3c9206b9bb2058b0a488ad6d0e9c61e0c8f3c53d0d4b90 "EW Hello Xi Jingping" (mispelled). "EW" is a service identifier, not part of the message.

On the test blockchain (boring!):

Bibliography:

Other blockchains:

5.1.4.2. Collateral Freedom (依附的自由)

GreatFire (自由微博) people called a Cute cat theory of digital activism (可爱猫理论)-related project of theirs "Collateral Freedom" (a reference to collateral damage), in which they seem to be trying to forward censored websites somehow through AWS to force the Chinese Government to block the entire AWS in China:

Collateral Freedom ties access to information to the Chinese economy. If [authorities] truly want to block access to this information, then they must give up certain access to economic freedoms.

At some point the Wikipedia page was created, but the concept was largely publicized by Greatfire most likely, although it might have been older. It is also not obvious that it satisfiers notability requirements of Wikipedia as of 2021.

There’s an useless Wiki page for that: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collateral_freedom

https://www.theregister.com/2019/05/10/amazon_backtracks_on_s3/ clarifies that on Amazon S3 the question is about:

the second of which can be easily blocked by domain, but the first can’t, and how amazon was planning on killing the first option.

5.1.4.4. Dual-use technology (军民两用技术)

Normally, the term "dual-use technology" is used in the context of blocking exports that can be used either for peace, but also for war.

However, as mentioned by a Twitter friend, a Screen name keyword attack (网名审查关键字攻击) for Freedom of Speech is also essentially a dual-use matter.

5.2. Politics should not be posted in technical websites such as GitHub or Stack Overflow 不应该在技术网站例如Stack Overflow和GitHub讨论政治

So, where do you propose politics be posted? On Facebook or Twitter, which are already blocked by the Great Firewall (GFW, 防火长城)? Or maybe on Weibo (新浪微博), where it will be taken down within seconds due to internal censorship?

Is the Chinese government using the Internet the way it was meant to be used, by investing billions in Censorship (审查)?

What about 996.ICU (2019)? Did you also complain about it, or did you just star it like 250k of your fellow programmers?

Any act of protest will use things in ways that it was not meant to be used.

For example, the street is not meant to showcase protest banners, it is meant to be a passageway for cars.

As engineers, we have a moral responsibility towards society. We should not blindly follow orders of those in power if it violates our principles, e.g. build weapons or censorship mechanisms. And we should freely express our principles and violation concerns.

Making a statement where no one will ever see it, like a personal website, is sure to have no effect.

Much of the best art and technology is about using something in a way that it wasn’t meant to be used.

Finally, the political powers of each website decide what is allowed or not on their website, and what is not allowed gets blocked. So far, Stack Overflow and GitHub’s Terms of Service have said to go ahead:

Another consideration is that any profile information is essentially a form of advertisement. Some people advertise their skills for hire, or their company and product. Other people, advertise their religion or sexual orientation. So why should you not be able to advertise your political position? Companies pay millions of dollars to grab other people’s attention. Ciro feels it is much fairer to instead pay for those ads with your labour of love.

致"反对此项目的墙内程序员"

本项目上线第二天,就收获 363 个 star 兼 88 个 fork,甚至还挤进 GitHub 的"当日 Trending"——俺很荣幸,也很高兴有这么多人给俺捧场。

但是在本项目的 issue 列表中也看到好几个反对此项目的程序员(应该都来自墙内),他们担心这个项目导致 GitHub 被 GFW 封杀。

这几年来,类似的言论俺已经看了不少。就好比强盗拿刀杀人,围观者不但没有谴责强盗,反而去谴责卖刀的店家——这就是传说中的"斯德哥尔摩综合症"。

有兴趣的同学,可以看俺之前的博文——《天朝民众的心理分析:斯德哥尔摩综合症

Translation:

In reply to: "Programmers behind the GFW who are against this project"

The second day after the project went online, it got 363 stars and 88 forks, and even squeezed into GitHub’s "Trending repositories of the Day". I am honored and I am so happy that so many people gave me their support.

However, in the issue list of this project, I also saw several programmers who opposed this project (likely all from within the GFW), and they worried that this project would cause GitHub to be blocked by GFW.

Over the past few years, I have read a lot of similar comments. A good comparison would be if a robber were killing someone with a knife, and the onlookers not only did not condemn the robber, but instead condemned the shop that sold the knife. This is the legendary "Stockholm syndrome".

The more places we can denounce dictators, the better people are off, the minor annoyance to sensitive people is worth it. Ciro wrote a poem:

Don’t discuss politics on Stack Overflow.
Don’t discuss politics on GitHub.
Don’t discuss politics on YouTube.
Don’t discuss politics on Facebook.
Don’t discuss politics on Twitter.
Don’t discuss politics.
Don’t discuss.
Don’t.
.

Infinite duplicate pool:

5.2.1. Is Ciro Santilli making programming contributions with the main intent of promoting his political agenda?

No, that is just a side effect.

For example, if that were the case, he would definitely target more widely used technologies, in particular Web and JavaScript, instead of obscure things like C and assembly in which I have spent tons of my time.

Also, any attempt to influence a billin people is unlikely to have any effect. Much more likely to have any effect, would be for Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的) to become rich and powerful first, and the best way to do that is to invest in whatever he thinks is most useful.

Actually, it can even be argued that Ciro’s somewhat irrational, since he would be much more likely to become rich and powerful by bowing down to the CCP and trying to get their money instead.

On the other hand, becoming rich and powerful is also highly unlikely, so maybe it’s justa matter of taking a low-risk low-reward path?

Ciro has have very little free time, and he will never do something for political reasons, only things that interest me technically.

Finally, do you really think he’d be able to do such awesome projects if he had primarily political considerations in mind? XD

5.2.1.1. Is Ciro Santilli making trivial edits on questions just to spam your name further?

No.

I just think that the website is great, and want to push it to perfection, in particular with better Google keyword hits, and uniform grammatically correct titles.

If you think that any of my edits were harmful, please ping me and open a meta thread to discuss specific edits, and I will comply with consensus.

5.2.2. Communist bread (中共面包)

Earliest sources found so far are from Reddit:

English text:

Stop interfering in China’s internal affairs Bread

Chinese text:

中国人不吃这一套
美国没有资格
居高临下同中国说话
巧克力酱面包
保质期10天

Translation:

The Chinese people don’t eat this trick
The United States is not qualified to
Take the high ground and look down on China
Chocolate sauce bread
Best before: 10 days

Here is a different picture of the same product from April 14th: https://twitter.com/YukayuyuWasGod/status/1382218316895244295 That one might allow better brand identification: 万X福 That one also posted at: https://www.reddit.com/r/China_irl/comments/o2zbsw/偶然看到这张图不知道是不是真的/ Watermarked Weibo @第三豹弹

Stop interfering in China s internal affairs bread
Figure 3. Chinese dual-use bread. More info at: Communist bread (中共面包).
Stop interfering in China s internal affairs bread
Figure 4. Communist bread vs Communist condom. Someone made a brilliant communist condom Photoshop reply to the Communist bread (中共面包). Pointed out at: https://github.com/cirosantilli/china-dictatorship/issues/523 and a previous source at: https://weibo.com/5586291457/K9Vg7ceM7?type=comment#_rnd162900969912. Part of the joke is that the Chinese message reads "中国人不吃这一套" (The Chinese people won’t fall for this trick, literally "don’t eat this trick"), and "套" is the last character for condom in Chinese (避孕套), so the sentence is recast as "The Chinese people won’t eat this condom.". "套" more generally means a type of "slip-on cover or envelope". Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的) reposted at: https://www.reddit.com/r/China/comments/p4p3u3/stop_interfering_in_chinas_internal_affairs/ on r/China Reddit sub. As mentioned at https://www.reddit.com/r/China/comments/p4p3u3/stop_interfering_in_chinas_internal_affairs/h90foja the association of the Chinese sentence with condoms had been done independently before this Photoshop emerged, see e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdEQ7JavgLw by GFWfrog (墙国蛙蛤蛤). GFWfrog also twitted this image of course: https://twitter.com/gfwfrog/status/1387121102967672835.

5.3. Why would China be better without its Dictatorship? (为什么没有独裁的中国会更好?)

Because it would make China, and the world:

5.3.1. Why would democracy and freedom of speech make China richer? (为什么民主和言论自由能够让中国变得更加富有?)

There is infinite debate about this out there, some examples:

For:

Against:

  • presidents only care about the 4-8 year horizon, while dictators can make longer term decisions to maintain power forever, their power being limited only by "the people are happy enough to not start a revolution"

  • dictatorships can make changes faster without the same amount of discussion that happens in democracies, where power is more spread out.

    Killing a million people will make us richer? No problem, let’s do it.

    That is great when they make good decisions, but it sucks when they make bad ones more likely.

Maybe China was poor because of Mao’s crazy communist regime. Similar regimes also made Russia (俄罗斯) poor. And yes, before that exploitation by the West may have been a factor.

Definitely, the current regime is better than Mao’s, but just imagine how rich China could be if it had more freedom and justice.

Imperial China lost the race for the Industrial Revolution. Will another dictatorship be able to stay on top of the next technological revolution?

XKCD 937 tornado guard
Figure 5. XKCD 937 "TornadoGuard" comes to mind in relationship to the variable performance of dictatorships. Source.
5.3.1.1. Dictatorships have greater development variability (专政具有更大的发展可变性)

While average rate of growth do not appear to differ much between democracies and authoritarian regimes, the variability in performance does differ more among authoritarian governments. China has had remarkable growth since the 1980s, but the prolonged devastation and hardship produced by China’s "Great Leap Forward (大跃进, da4 yue4 jin4, 1958-1960)" (when millions of farmers starved to death) and its Cultural Revolution would unlikely have occurred in a democratic country like say India. Nor is it likely that say Cuba and many African nations would have suffered so long with such terrible economic policies if they had reasonably democratic institutions.

5.3.1.2. Tea egg incident (茶葉蛋事件, 2011)

A Taiwanese celebrity said many people in China can’t even buy tea eggs, which are extremely cheap and easy to make at home: you just need to cook some eggs in any cheap tea! Chinese internet Wumao (五毛)s made fun of that, and likely rightly so.

5.3.2. Censorship makes countries poorer (审查使国家更穷)

Dictatorships need Censorship (审查) to survive, and they must control all information to make themselves always look good: Would ending the Great Firewall truly end the dictatorship? (结束防火墙真的会结束独裁吗?).

As a result, knowledge of problems flows more slowly, and therefore they also take longer to solve.

Maybe this hurts the argument, but Hillary agrees: :-)

But countries that restrict free access to information or violate the basic rights of internet users risk walling themselves off from the progress of the next century

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccGzOJHE1rw&t=2110 "Secretary Clinton Speaks on Internet Freedom", U.S. Department of State, 2010-01-22

This suggestion is even more explicit in the fictional World War Z 2006 novel by Max Brooks about a virus outbreak in China. It was later adapted into the World War Z (2013) movie by Paramount:

The death of one man is a tragedy, the death of millions is a statistic.

Amartya Sen is another famous proponent of similar arguments in the area of hungers: https://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/211/44284.html (archive)

In democratic countries, even very poor ones, the survival of the ruling government would be threatened by famine, since elections are not easy to win after famines; nor is it easy to withstand criticism of opposition parties and newspapers. That is why famine does not occur in democratic countries. Unfortunately, there are a great many countries in the world which do not yet have democratic systems.

although like any other political argument, some disagree.

Virus outbreaks and other natural disasters also illustrate this well: Censorship of the 2019 Corona Virus (2019冠状病毒病早期迹象审查).

Bibliography:

5.3.2.1. Chernobyl 2019 miniseries (切尔诺贝利_(迷你剧))
  • link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_(miniseries)

  • link:https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/切尔诺贝利_(迷你剧)

Suggests that part of the reason why Chernobyl happened is because of the Soviet Union’s obsession to save face, and illustrates well how Censorship makes countries poorer (审查使国家更穷).

The URSS only admitted Chernobyl three days after when Swedish nuclear plant radiation detector alarms started going off.

Related:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocBVLMHK6c8 Chernobyl supercut scene where the reactor explodes, and a chief engineer "Comrade Dyatlov" accepts a hastily made radiation measurement of 3.6 Roentgen as "Not great, not terrible" and forwards it to his superiors who take actions based on that, even though the radiation measurement apparatus only goes up to 3.6 Roentgen! Needless to say, the actual radiation was much, much higher: when a proper measurement was made much later on, the value was 15000 Roentgen!
3 6 Roentgen
Figure 6. Photo of a CDV-717 radioactivity meter that maxes out at 3.6 Roentgen (倫琴) like the one that would have been used in Chernobyl. Source.
5.3.2.2. Censorship makes no one trust your country (审查使得沒有人相信你的国家)

Who would trust a government that does not trust its own journalists and citizens?

Even democracies cannot be trusted, but dictatorships? No one ever believes what they say, even when it’s true.

And as a result, this makes it very difficult to have allies.

Sure, other dictatorships will seem to become allies with your dictatorship and collaborate.

But deep down, you know that they are all just waiting patiently to put a knife in one other’s backs.

Dictators will always live in fear.

5.3.2.3. Censorship of the 2019 Corona Virus (2019冠状病毒病早期迹象审查)

The Chinese Government censored the initial outbreak in January and did not inform Wuhan on January 8, which likely made the situation much worse than what it could have been.

On the other hand, one may argue that the "city closure" measures were stronger/faster than in democracies, and maybe that is true.

And Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的) does believe that the virus would have escaped even if there had been no censorship. Although maybe thousands of lives would have been saved due to smaller saturation of hospitals had a proper early warning been given.

So Ciro’s main criticism is that of the censorship of citizen reports the event: People arrested for reporting on the 2019 Corona Virus (因报道 2019 年冠状病毒而被捕的人). Why do you need to censor things when you are doing so well?

And it should also be said that some Western politicians have used "blame China" as an excuse to divert attention from their own failures.

Some believe that the Chinese government grossly under-reported death counts. Initial official figures were about only 3300 deaths, in the insanely densely populated Wuhan area, while Italy had reached 10000 deaths:

Maybe China is saying the truth this time. Maybe the rapid Dictatorship response worked. But maybe the most important lesson to take out of this is that no one trusts in a Dictatorship after an infinitely long history of lies and lack of freedom of the press.

Good timelines so without a fucking paywall:

Timeline:

News coverage:

In other countries:

Covid gag mask
Figure 7. Assemblage of a respirator mask with a BDSM gag ball (口塞) attached to it, suggesting that citizen reports of COVID-19 in China have been censored. Source.
CCP Olympic medal 2020 vs COVID death counts
Figure 9. Comparison of how some Chinese sources counted COVID deaths excluding Taiwan (Republic of China, 台湾, 中華民國) and Hong Kong (香港), while at the same time including their gold medals in their gold medal count to overcome the United States' medal count. TODO original untranslated source. Source.
5.3.2.3.2. Li Wenliang (李文亮)

He reported the virus, but was told by authorities to stay quiet, and later died from the virus, becoming somewhat of a martyr:

The following excerpt from his forced confession trended:

你能做到吗?
你听明白了吗?

Translation:

Can you manage?
Do you understand?

Li Wenliang covid
Figure 10. Selfie of Li Wenliang (李文亮) on his hospital bed before he died. Source.
Li Wenliang COVID barbed wire mark by Kuang Biao
Figure 11. Caricature of Li Wenliang (李文亮) wearing a mask made of barbed wire by artist Kuang Biao (邝飚). The image circulated on Weibo for some time. Source.
5.3.2.3.3. nCovMemory

Popular GitHub repo documenting personal experiences and media reports:

Related:

5.3.2.3.4. People arrested for reporting on the 2019 Corona Virus (因报道 2019 年冠状病毒而被捕的人)

TODO maybe not arrested but relevant:

5.3.2.3.5. Fang Bin (方斌)

He was the second Chinese citizen journalist to vanish while reporting from coronavirus epicentre" by South China Morning Post (SCMP, 南华早报)

Hist last YouTube video simply shows the following caligraphed message with him reading it twice:

全民反抗
还政于民
方斌书

which translates as:

All the people, revolt.
Return the country (politics) to its people.
Written (calligraphed) by Fang Bin.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7VIG2qp0j4 Fang Bin’s last YouTube video from 2020-02-09.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUvBNpkxrJo "Fang Bin is second Chinese citizen journalist to vanish while reporting from coronavirus epicentre" by South China Morning Post (SCMP, 南华早报)
Fang Bin
Figure 12. Montage with images from two of Fang Bin’s last YouTube videos: on the left from the antepenultimate video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUXV4Ih2xrk, and on the right from the last "All the people, revolt" one.

5.3.4. Why would democracy and freedom of speech make China less likely to start a war? (为什么民主和言论自由会让中国不太可能发动战争?)

This has been discussed to death:

Some arguments include:

  • the people who will actually fight and die on the front can’t vote against it

  • dictators have huge power, so if they put it in their heads that they want to start a war, it is much harder for sensible people to stop them

  • dictators need to keep the people in fear all the time to keep their power, and a war is a great way to achieve that

Of course China won’t say that they are starting a war when they do.

They will of course start with territories which they claim as theirs, to add to other recent additions which were not theirs until the recent past, even though their inhabitants desperately want to leave China:

When China calls the USA Imperialist (帝国主义), there is of course some truth to it, but it is also very ironic, because as Lindybeige mentions, China is obviously the largest empire on Earth! Despite its uniformization efforts, China is highly diverse since it is obviously made up of a large stitched up carpet of nations that were conquered by a single empire. E.g. Xinjiang (新疆) translates literally as "The New Frontier"! Not to mention obviously the unification of the Warring States period (战国时期, 475-221 BC).

Bibliography:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRmHOSnehTk Ending of the Sportpalast speech, AKA total war (总体战) speech by Goebbels, given in 1943, when Germany started to lose the war. This was later target of opposing allied propaganda. Total war, that’s what dictatorship bring you. Fucking YouTube likely deleted a better uncommented version https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRmHOSnehTk it as of 2022, political correctness idiots.
5.3.4.1. The United States has recently started several wars and killed millions! (美国最近发动了几场战争,造成数百万人死亡!)

Not even democracies can fully protect people from other countries, because they don’t vote. Yes, congratulations, Western democracies are not perfect (西方的民主有很多缺点).

But if the USA were a dictatorship like China it would kill way more, because it would censor every report against the war internally to its own people, and the wars would just go on like in [nineteen-eighty-four-war-is-peace].

How many times do we have to bring Hitler up? 70-85 million deaths in one go: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties

The only reason China has not started wars is because it is a poor country, and it would lose them. If it were rich, it would have started more wars and killed 100 times more people.

Finally, some wars are good.

If a country is oppressed by a dictatorship, and most of its people want to be free, it might be right to help them be free.

If a country sponsors terrorism, it might be a good idea to take out their Government.

This has to be analyzed on a case-by-case basis, and maybe a verdict will never be reached. But at least in a democracy the people can decide based on varied information. In a dictatorship, whatever the dictator decides happens.

Also, most of those small wars that he USA started end up being proxy wars between the USA and Russia (俄罗斯)/China, with the USA pushing for democracy, and Russia/China pushing for more dictatorships.

5.3.5. The Chinese masses are still uneducated, and not fit for free speech and democracy 中国大众愚昧,不能好好选领导

When will they be ready? Who decides? What if they think that they are ready now?

In George Bernard Shaw’s "Maxims for Revolutionists" words:

Democracy substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few.

Many democracy supporters jokingly recognize democracy’s shortcomings.

The best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter.

Art Spander:

The great thing about democracy is that it gives every voter a chance to do something stupid.

Laurence J Peter:

Democracy is a process by which the people are free to choose the man who will get the blame.

Immoral and uneducated
Figure 13. Preaching to the mob meme template: "中国人道德低下素质差。所以不适合民主。" Translation: The Chinese people are immoral and uneducated (people are angry). That’s why they’re not suitable for democracy (people are happy). This makes fun of the fact even if you say bad things about the Chinese, some people will complain that you are racist. But the same people will also say the same bad things about the Chinese people as a way to explain why it is better if they don’t vote, and no one minds that. Source.
Immoral and uneducated en
Figure 14. Translation of the above.
5.3.5.1. The Chinese masses are not interested in politics and therefore not ready to vote (中国群众对政治不感兴趣,因此不准备投票)

But how would they be interested in politics or be able to discuss it, if it is impossible to have a different view without going to jail? See also: Chilling effect (寒蝉效应).

What about the 1 million people in Tiananmen and the 70 million Falun Gong (法轮功, Qigong new religion/cult) followers? Did they not care?

5.3.5.1.1. Lurker (吃瓜群众)

Most people dare not comment, they just watch, knowing that any comment, in either direction, is a risk they take, with little likely benefit.

5.3.6. As long as China is developing economically, it is fine to violate the human rights of a few million people (只要经济好,我不在乎人权)

Herman Goring actually justified the atrocities of Nazism in the exact same way during his appearance on the Nuremberg trials.

What is the point of having all that wealth, when you risk being put into jail for unfair reasons?

Pig politics Chinese
Figure 15. Rebel Pepper (变态辣椒, RFA cartoonist) cartoon about a pig who does not care about politics because it cannot be eaten. 民主又不能当饭吃 Source.
Rebel pepper pig can%27t eat democracy cartoon translated to English by Ciro Santilli
Figure 16. Translation by Ciro Santilli of the Rebel Pepper cartoon about the pig who does not care about politics because it cannot be eaten.

5.3.7. Democracies have less corruption than dictatorships (民主国家的腐败比独裁国家少)

One of the key points of Xi Jinping’s governments has been to quench corruption. And use that as an excuse to get rid of rivals while at it.

However, there is one much better solution to that: democracy and freedom of speech.

The reason is obvious: with censorship, corrupt politicians can censor anything bad that they did, and so it becomes much harder to destroy corruption.

In George Bernard Shaw’s "Maxims for Revolutionists" words:

Democracy substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few.

Ciro does however believe the China spy stories (中国间谍故事) claims made at https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/12/21/china-stolen-us-data-exposed-cia-operatives-spy-networks/ that the anti-corruption is also a legitimate national security issue for China, in addition to being a tool to take down political rivals:

Over the course of their investigation into the CIA’s China-based agent network, Chinese officials learned that the agency was secretly paying the "promotion fees" - in other words, the bribes - regularly required to rise up within the Chinese bureaucracy, according to four current and former officials. It was how the CIA got "disaffected people up in the ranks. But this was not done once, and wasn’t done just in the [Chinese military]," recalled a current Capitol Hill staffer. "Paying their bribes was an example of long-term thinking that was extraordinary for us," said a former senior counterintelligence official. "Recruiting foreign military officers is nearly impossible. It was a way to exploit the corruption to our advantage." At the time, "promotion fees" sometimes ran into the millions of dollars, according to a former senior CIA official: "It was quite amazing the level of corruption that was going on." The compensation sometimes included paying tuition and board for children studying at expensive foreign universities, according to another CIA officer.

https://youtu.be/8F0kSDV9U_E?t=408 Shocking Russian Military Corruption Exposed by Task & Purpose (2022) poses an interesting thesis: the toplevel of corrupt governments know about the corruption of officials and accept it. And this is in part to have leverage over them, to be able to bring them down whenever they feel like it. This incentivizes loyalty.

Well known corruption cases:

Related events:

5.3.7.1. Operation Fox Hunt

Trying to prevent corruption is fine, but violating the laws of other countries in doing so, or the Rule of law (法治) of their family is not.

5.3.7.1.1. The detention of Liu Changming’s (刘昌明) family (2018)

China imposed an exit ban on the ex-official’s family, who are also USA citizens:

  • officer Liu Changming (刘昌明)

  • wife Sandra Han

  • children Victor Liu (born July 1999 in the USA) and Cynthia Liu (27 in 2019, born in China, but also American citizen)

China says that the children and wife do have valid Chinese documents, so maybe those idiots did not give up their Chinese citizenship and went to China. Why, why, why would you do that? Don’t they know anything about China?

Cynthia claimed her father has left home a long time ago and that they are not in contact with their father.

Liu is a so called naked official (裸官), who let his family go live outside of China to prevent such problems with the CCP.

The wiki page also explains that in 2014 rules were added to prevent promotion of officials whose spouses live abroad.

This reminds Ciro of a Mafia movie, maybe Godfather II, where the bad guy says he "likes doing business with a man that has a family, because he has more collateral".

Coverage:

2019-05-09 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2hBtXdaYsQ Cynthia Liu, daughter of Liu Changming (刘昌明) pleas freedom on YouTube. Commented upload by CBS, TODO can’t find original video on YouTube, maybe they sent straight to CBS?

5.4. Will the keyword attacks really help to destroy the firewall? (关键字攻击真的有助于破坏防火墙吗?)

It is both unlikely, and hard to be sure.

Just like it is unlikely that the activity of on individual can have a big influence in any group of 1 billion people.

Every action is statistical: I just push the balance a little bit towards freedom.

This FAQ and any talk is useless. You and I are wasting our time here.

The possibility of blocking Stack Overflow and GitHub is 1000x more useful than any talk, but it is still useless.

However, potentially blocking those websites takes 0 of my time, I just leave the content there, so it is worth my time.

To have an idea, in 2015 there are about:

And if we never start somewhere, nothing will ever happen.

Furthermore, even if the GFW falls, it is not clear that this will imply the end of the dictatorship: Would ending the Great Firewall truly end the dictatorship? (结束防火墙真的会结束独裁吗?).

Nobody can hear you
Figure 19. House of Cards S01E02 "Nobody can hear you. Nobody cares about you. Nothing will come of this." GIF. Source.

5.4.1. Embargoes make dictatorships stronger (禁运使独裁更强大)

The keyword attack is basically an embargo.

There is already a lot of literature about this, especially in the cases of Cuba and North Korea. It is basically a libertarian vs conservative/Cato vs Heritage thing in the US:

The key dilemma is:

  • if we keep contact with the Dictatorship, maybe its people will see that democracy is better and start a liberating revolution

  • if we keep giving technology to the Dictatorship and it does not become a democracy, we are making a Dictatorship more technologically advanced, and therefore dangerous

Some interesting aspects of the keyword attack embargo:

  • it is immediately self-enforcing: we don’t need politicians to decide and enforce the complex "if you do this, we punish you like that" question.

    By political and technological information is together, and this immediately puts the dictatorship in a bad spot, without us having to decide anything.

  • by affecting programmers in particular through Stack Overflow and GitHub, we make them more likely to develop better Firewall climbing tools themselves

One point in favor of the embargo is that China has opened up since the '80s '90s, but did freedom improve at all? Under Xi Jinping (习近平, 2012-∞, Heil卐!), it may be argued that it did not, and maybe that we should just stop feeding them technology and accept that they won’t become free.

Trump’s 2019 China trade war, and in particular the Huawei (华为, Chinese Qualcomm) ban, is an event that has brought this question to the spotlight once again.

5.4.1.1. Keyword attacks could be used by certain CCP political groups to justify blocking off the entire external Internet, and make the dictatorship even more pervasive

It is a risk, but it would make China drastically less powerful, so at least they wouldn’t be able to start or sustain WW3. So I don’t think it will go that way.

5.4.2. Stack Overflow and GitHub could be blocked at no cost by the Chinese government (中国政府可以免费封锁 Stack Overflow 和 GitHub)

Hitting the block button has, of course, no cost.

The cost of blocking Stack Overflow lies of course in the loss of information, and slower technological development, see also: Why attack websites with censored keywords? (用审查词攻击网站有什么用呢?)

The 2019 996.ICU (2019) event however brought to my attention that Chinese (usually WebKit-based) browsers are already censoring HTTPS websites selectively of course, see e.g.: https://github.com/996browser/996.BROWSER/tree/77f28a36a862e3cc4d238dc47c19872156096bc4

But Ciro doubt developers use those browsers, right? The only way would be for China to forbid foreign browsers entirely.

BTW, TLS 1.3 ENSI brings a whole new dimension to HTTPS by encrypting the domain name as well!

5.4.2.1. Is Stack Overflow blocked in China? (Stack Overflow 在中国被封锁了吗?)

It worth noting however that as mentioned at Is Stack Overflow blocked in China? (Stack Overflow 在中国被封锁了吗?) that websites can become non-functional if CDNs they rely on are taken down, instead of the website being taken down itself.

For example, Stack Overflow relied on Google for some of its JavaScript and on Imgur for images, both of which are blocked in China.

5.4.3. Keyword attack profiles disturb me (关键字攻击个人资料页打扰我)

But isn’t it better to be annoyed than having war, being poor or put into jail unfairly?

Installing any of those immediately give you 10 Sesame Points, 习万岁.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwCyQINNXwE "What is more obscene: sex or war?" scene from The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996). Ciro just can’t stop thinking about that scene when someone tells him that his profile disturbs them. What is more obscene? Xi Jinping memes (习近平模因) or human rights violations?
5.4.3.1. Browser extensions to hide keyword attacks (隐藏关键字攻击的浏览器扩展)

If the truth is too much for you to bear, worry not, you could use one of:

5.5. Non-Chinese people should not interfere in Chinese politics (外国人不应该干预中国政治)

Why don’t you go instead shitpost in one of the following repositories and which are written in Chinese by Chinese citizens, many of which have many times more stars than china-dictatorship, and therefore are much more effective at taking down the GFW? GitHub repositories with censored information (政治敏感的GitHub库).

See also:

5.5.1. The CCP would not be in power if it weren’t for the Second Sino-Japanese War (如果没有抗日战争,中共就不会执政)

TODO study further to confirm:

5.5.2. Non-Chinese people have been brainwashed by the USA know nothing about China (非中国人被美国洗脑,对中国一无所知)

Everyone is "brainwashed" by their environment.

E.g. people in the West are brainwashed to believe in democracy, freedom of speech and human rights.

Saying that "someone is not Chinese, he does not understand China", is just an useless Ad hominem (訴諸人身) argument and closely related to Non-Chinese people should not interfere in Chinese politics (外国人不应该干预中国政治).

Since you know so much about China, why why don’t you just actually prove your point by teaching Ciro one single interesting about China that Ciro didn’t know about? He loves learning new things.

But please, link to reference material instead of just saying it, it will be much more convincing.

But if you are Chinese, also consider that you have been brainwashed by the commies, so likely much more than Ciro since you live in a dictatorship.

See also:

5.5.3. The CCP exaggerates the threat of the West to keep in power (中共夸大了西方要继续掌权的威胁)

However, the CCP greatly exaggerates how evil the West is, because making your people constantly afraid is a classic strategy used by dictators to stay in power.

Or in fable form:

Once upon a time, there was a farmer with a farm.

One day, the animals on the farm started feeling a bit trapped, and started bumping against the fence to get out.

The farmer, however, was smart, and told the animals:

Careful! There is a wolf outside! If you go out, you will be eaten by the wolf!

The animals, were not that smart, and listened to the farmer, they were afraid!

From time to time, one of the animals would disappear (and without their knowledge, reappear on the farmer’s dinner table).

But the farmer kept giving the animals delicious food without them making any effort, so they decided to believe the farmer’s explanation that animal had escaped and been eaten by the wolf.

Maybe, there was actually a wolf outside. But if they had escaped, only some of the animals would have been eaten by that wolf.

But by staying on the farm, all the animals were, sooner or later, eaten one by one.

TODO source.

This theme is also highlighted in many well known works/events.

North Korea for example, China’s good and trusty friend, is just a caricatural level of this, since it manages to be more a dictatorship than even China itself!

In fiction, Nineteen Eighty-Four: A Novel (1984, 乔治·奥威尔 一九八四, 1949) is undoubtedly the most prominent example, in which the Party constantly switches from being at war with one country to the other in a never ending perpetual war (exactly like North Korea vs South Korea, or China vs Taiwan (Republic of China, 台湾, 中華民國)).

One of the best related quotes comes in Part Two, Chapter 9 when Winston reads Emmanuel Goldstein’s subversive text, one of the chapters contains (emphasis by Ciro):

The war, therefore, if we judge it by the standards of previous wars, is merely an imposture. It is like the battles between certain ruminant animals whose horns are set at such an angle that they are incapable of hurting one another. But though it is unreal it is not meaningless. It eats up the surplus of consumable goods, and it helps to preserve the special mental atmosphere that a hierarchical society needs. War, it will be seen, is now a purely internal affair. In the past, the ruling groups of all countries, although they might recognize their common interest and therefore limit the destructiveness of war, did fight against one another, and the victor always plundered the vanquished. In our own day they are not fighting against one another at all. The war is waged by each ruling group against its own subjects, and the object of the war is not to make or prevent conquests of territory, but to keep the structure of society intact. The very word 'war', therefore, has become misleading. It would probably be accurate to say that by becoming continuous war has ceased to exist. The peculiar pressure that it exerted on human beings between the Neolithic Age and the early twentieth century has disappeared and been replaced by something quite different. The effect would be much the same if the three super-states, instead of fighting one another, should agree to live in perpetual peace, each inviolate within its own boundaries. For in that case each would still be a self-contained universe, freed for ever from the sobering influence of external danger. A peace that was truly permanent would be the same as a permanent war. This—​although the vast majority of Party members understand it only in a shallower sense—​is the inner meaning of the Party slogan: WAR IS PEACE.

This is also the first line of the party slogan, which perfectly resonates with the CCP:

WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH

or in Part One, Chapter 3:

Since about that time, war had been literally continuous, though strictly speaking it had not always been the same war. For several months during his childhood there had been confused street fighting in London itself, some of which he remembered vividly. But to trace out the history of the whole period, to say who was fighting whom at any given moment, would have been utterly impossible, since no written record, and no spoken word, ever made mention of any other alignment than the existing one. At this moment, for example, in 1984 (if it was 1984), Oceania was at war with Eurasia and in alliance with Eastasia. In no public or private utterance was it ever admitted that the three powers had at any time been grouped along different lines. Actually, as Winston well knew, it was only four years since Oceania had been at war with Eastasia and in alliance with Eurasia. But that was merely a piece of furtive knowledge which he happened to possess because his memory was not satisfactorily under control. Officially the change of partners had never happened. Oceania was at war with Eurasia: therefore Oceania had always been at war with Eurasia. The enemy of the moment always represented absolute evil, and it followed that any past or future agreement with him was impossible.

Another amazing quote that comes to mind is from the 1982 BBC TV adaptation of John Le Carre’s spy novel "Smiley’s People". In it, master British spy codenamed Smiley manages to coerce the head of the KGB spies, codename "Karla" to defect to the West by threatening to publicize illegal acts Karla committed for the benefit of the health mentally troubled daughter, and which would likely lead to his execution. In a letter he writes to Karla, he says, likely copied verbatim from the novel:

And I am not going to make any claims about the moral superiority of the West. I’m sure you can see through our values, just as I can see through yours in the East. You and I have spent our lives looking for the weaknesses in each other’s systems. I’m sure each of us experienced innumerable technical satisfactions in our wretched cold war. But now your own side is going to shoot you, for nothing. For misdemeanors you have not committed, because of a power struggle within your own kind, because of someone’s suspicions or sheer incompetence.

https://youtu.be/74Mw3N6WxG0?t=174 Cant Get You Out of My Head S01E05 Part Five The Lordly Ones also (2021, BBC) mentions that a huge propaganda machinery was created to spread the fake news that Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989 (六四事件) was an evil western plot.

Bibliography:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcoBv6ibh8M The excessive fear of external country theme is also mentioned in https://youtube.com/watch?v=TcoBv6ibh8M V for Vendetta (2005) "What you think will happen" scene., where a viral outbreak is used by governments to increase their power over the people.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n59ugeOA4mA A random dude re-enacts the scene from Smiley’s People
5.5.3.1. Friendly West-China moments (中西友好时刻)
5.5.3.1.1. United China Relief (葛思德)

United China Relief was the largest humanitarian effort in the United States to aid the Chinese people up to that time. The organization, which was renamed United Service to China (USC) after the Second World War, raised over US$50 million in donations over ten ten years.

United China Relief 3 million Chinese
Figure 21. 1942 billboard by United China Relief that reads "3,000,000 Chinese have given their lives for democracy. What have you given?"

5.6. Ciro Santilli and this page are completely biased against the Chinese Government! (三西猴和本页完全对中国政府有偏见!)

If we had more Western democracies are not perfect (西方的民主有很多缺点) content, then maybe this repository would be considered a more reputable source by Chinese people.

However, there are a few practical problems to that:

For those reasons, we currently forbid, posting several evil-West news without explaining why dictatorships handle it better. It would just generates more noise than signal.

If you do explain however why dictatorships/China handle it better, then the post is welcome.

Any political material that is censored by any country besides China, will also be readily accepted.

Any evidence of positive political progress towards freedom will also be added to this repo, e.g. people openly discussing politics online, human rights activists doing political stuff and not being put into jail, etc.

See also:

5.6.1. Ciro Santilli’s claim to the Qing Dynasty throne (三西猴清朝皇帝觊觎)

Ciro Santilli’s Ciro Santilli’s wife (三西猴的老婆), her mother, and paternal cousin, believe that Ciro’s wife is the descendant of the brother of a recent Qing emperor through her father’s family.

Although they have not been able to produce concrete evidence, which could be explained by the endless political turmoils in 20th century China, Ciro decided that this would be a good bet to take, and married her anyway.

If anyone is able to provide further evidence of this relationship, please, please, please get in touch.

One thing to keep in mind is that the Qing Dynasty (清朝, 大清, 1636-1912), like the previous Ming Dynasty (明朝, 1368-1644), used Generation names (行辈), such that the first character of the given name is the same for all people in a given generation (counted directly from the first emperor that adopted the rule.

For example, this wiki page contains a good family tree of the most important Qing people: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_tree_of_Chinese_monarchs_(late)#Qing_dynasty and we see that many important people around 1861 were Zai 載something, e.g.: Zaichun, Zaiyi, Zaitian, etc.

The last emperor was Puyi, so Pu is the last well known mark. But there were others planned that never got used for after him as shown at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aisin_Gioro#List_of_generation_prefixes.

  • Zai (before Pu)

  • Pu (wife’s great-grandfather)

  • Yu (wife’s grandfather)

  • Heng (wife’s father)

  • Qi (wife)

  • Dao (wife’s children). At least one thing is decided from this: Ciro’s children Chinese names will all be Ai Dao Something.

The family tree that Ciro has reconstructed orally from his mother-in-law is:

Many of them have had different names in different places/countries, notably many used the name 肇(Zhao) rather than 艾.

Further anecdotal indicators follow.

Ciro’s wife and family are clearly of the Manchu ethnicity just by looking at them, and they originally lived in the North East of China

Ciro’s wife’s family name is the 艾, pronounced "ai4", which she claims is a reference to the 愛 (also pronounced ai4) in Aisin Gioro (愛新覺羅氏), which is the name of the Manchu ruling clan of the Qing dynasty.

艾 iself is however a somewhat common family name, e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ai_(surname) mentions that it is listed in the Hundred Family Surnames (百家姓), a list of common surnames compiled in the Song Dynasty (宋朝, 960-1279) with around 400.000 members as of 2008. Presumably members of the falling Qing dynasty chose that relatively common Chinese name to avoid persecution, while still retaining a bit of their history.

Bibliography:

Ciro Santilli portrait as Qing emperor
Figure 22. Ciro Santilli’s portrait as Qing emperor. Original image.

5.6.2. Ciro Santilli’s father-in-law (三西猴的)

Ciro’s father-in-law, who he barely met, was very old when he had Ciro’s wife, and passed away before Ciro could talk a lot with him, they only saw each other once or twice over Skype, he died soon afterwards.

Having a child late which is consistent with the claims that he spent several years in jail during Mao’s purges, see also: Ciro Santilli’s wife (三西猴的老婆). Being an educated person was a crime in those days, and he was a chemical engineer.

His brother and sister both managed to escape to the USA and Japan, but he took his grandma’s advice and stayed in China.

Ciro’s wife adores her father, who she strongly resembles, and it is a huge shame Ciro didn’t manage to meet him better.

Like his daughter, he was a bibliophile, foodie, Buddhist and incredibly morally upright.

The fact that he survived so many years in prison also attests to his incredible hopefulness and mental health: Ciro Santilli’s mother-in-law (三西猴的岳母) always tells how many other prisoners killed themselves in those days out of hopelessness. Ciro’s wife shares that amazing quality, which Ciro also believes is compatible with the Royalty theory.

After jail, he actually stayed in the same shitty city where he had been imprisoned, and continued to work as a chemical engineer to make a living and try and improve the country that had so badly betrayed him a few years back.

He also seemed to be an amazing story teller, of which he knew many. At one point, a jail cook took him under his wing, even tough he did not know how to cook too well yet, just to hear his stores. Being highly intelligent, the father-in-law man learned to cook too of course.

Another remarkable episode is when he was working in the prison kitchen, and some man was starving and asked for food. He told the man to come later during the evening. The man came, and he gave him a bowl that seemed to be full of cooked vegetables (likely 白菜). The next day, the man came back, and kowtowed him. Beneath the vegetables, he had hidden some good chunks of then very precious meat!! This story makes Ciro cry.

5.6.3. Ciro Santilli has a preconceived opinion about China that cannot be changed (三西猴对中国成见很深,无法改变)

Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的) tries to justify why he think China would be better with democracy, but I know that ultimately all of this is useless.

Everyone’s opinions are all determined genetically and by bring-up, and there is nothing he can do to change yours, or you change his.

From that point of view, all of this is just a cold blooded political game, in which Ciro tries to force the CCP to take down the Firewall: Why attack websites with censored keywords? (用审查词攻击网站有什么用呢?).

Ciro never gets mad about China, even if your opinion is contrary to his, and therefore wrong.

Using the reply policy is one of the reasons why Ciro never gets mad.

Ciro also has doubts about the efficiency of certain things I do as expressed throughout this FAQ, e.g. Embargoes make dictatorships stronger (禁运使独裁更强大).

Also, Ciro have never said that anyone else is wrong.

In the end, he just end up thinking about new replies to things people say to him, and add them to this FAQ so that future replies will be faster to copy paste. See also: Doesn’t Ciro Santilli have anything better to do than pissing off China? (除了反对中共以外,三西猴有没有别的更好的事儿要作吗?).

The real goal of any online discussion, is not to convince people, but rather to determine who is an ally and who is not, and get those allies together to defeat the commies.

5.6.4. Does Ciro Santilli support Falun Gong just because his wife and mother-in-law do it? (三西猴是否仅仅因为他的妻子和岳母就支持法轮功?)

Not consciously, Ciro thinks would likely support them even if I didn’t have family ties to Falun Gong (法轮功, Qigong new religion/cult).

Likely he wouldn’t have started this campaign if he didn’t know them of course.

But of course, this is impossible to answer objectively.

Wouldn’t you be rather upset if your mother in law were put into jail unfairly for 15 days?

But don’t you think that 70 million people (6% of the total population in 2000!) getting completely squashed by the Party illustrates extremely well the dangers of the dictatorship?

Or if a Jew has escaped a concentration camp and told the world about its horrors, would you just dismiss their claims due to their biased opinion?

With that in mind, Ciro tries his best to give FLG only the right level of exposure I think it deserves relative to other events, according to these guidelines: How does Ciro Santilli choose keywords for the keyword attack? (三西猴如何为关键词攻击选择关键词?).

If more recent events of mass human rights violations happen, especially affecting in the order of tens of million people, I will probably rank higher than Falun Gong, this was the case for Xinjiang in 2019 for example, even though it only affected a measly million.

5.6.5. Why did Ciro Santilli start his keyword attack? (为什么三西猴开始他的关键字攻击?)

The last straw that led Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的) to start the Screen name keyword attack (网名审查关键字攻击) on Stack Overflow was when on March 2015 his girlfriend’s mother was arbitrarily kept 15 days in jail for doing Falun Gong (法轮功, Qigong new religion/cult). He posted about this at:

He then continued because he hate political censorship, and because I love China.

Every time Ciro thinks about this, he notices how stupid humans are. We see the forest fire smoke, and just never think that it will ever reach your home on the border of the forest.

Until it actually does, and then you are really fucked.

So in a sense it was a good thing that Ciro had this little backyard fire with this mother-in-law, as it woke him up further to how serious the CCP thread was, and led him to action.

Because before that, he was one of the majority who just constantly hears about the increasing mountain of evidence of human rights violations, and does nothing about it.

The Darkest Hour (2017) film comes to mind: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xA1Uz_TMzhs. The movie shows that Britain was truly hesitant whether to negotiate or fight Hitler, even after the Nazis had already started invading other European countries, and would clearly not stop. Luckily, we are not at a position of war yet, and might never be due to nuclear weapons. But still, a similar blindness applies. Censorship of the 2019 Corona Virus (2019冠状病毒病早期迹象审查) woke up many people, but even then some haven’t faced it.

5.6.5.2. Ciro Santilli’s post when his mother-in-law was put into jail for doing Falun Gong (岳母因修炼法轮功入狱时的帖子)

Maybe some people would be happy if their mother-in-law were put into jail. But unfortunately, this wasn’t the case for Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的).

Ciro Santilli with his mother in law during his wedding in 2017
Figure 23. Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的) with his soon-to-be mother-in-law before his wedding in 2017. Annoying? Sometimes. But threat to the fucking Chinese State? How fucked does your political system have to be for the answer to be a "yes"?
5.6.5.2.1. Jail post en

My girlfriend’s mother, a 63 year old lady, was kept 15 days inside a Chinese "correctional facility" because she does Falun Gong.

She had to stay all the time in a small room with a bed and a toilet, under video surveillance, being fed three meager meals a day.

I see Falun Gong https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong as just another moderate religion which causes no harm to its believers. The only reason that it is unofficially outlawed in China is because the communists fear it as a political competitor.

There was no trial and no explanation. She was going to take a train to visit her sister. But she didn’t know that there was an important political event happening in the capital: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12th_National_People’s_Congress So the police at the station, who already knew she did Falun Gong, took her away.

When she came back home, the house had been searched and was all messed up. Her religious books and computer were missing.

I’m glad she was not physically harmed. I find it fascinating how even well educated Chinese support a government which simply does not represent some of its people. How will you feel when something like that happens to your own family, and there is nothing you can do about it?

5.6.5.2.2. Jail post zh

Translation by my wife:

我女朋友的母亲,一位63岁的女士被监禁在一个中国的"劳教所",只因为她炼法轮功。

她被迫待在一个小屋子里面,只有一张床和一个排泄的地方,一直处在监视器下,每天两个窝头一碗只有几个白菜叶的汤。

我看过法轮功https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong 只是一个和平的信仰,对相信它的人没有任何坏处。它在中国被非官方的定为违法(其实没有一项明确法律禁止),唯一的原因就是工产党害怕它是一个政治竞争对手。

没有审讯没有任何解释。她正准备坐火车去看她的姐姐。但是她并不知道那个时候有重要的政治会议正在首都进行:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12th_National_People’s_Congress 所以那些知道她炼法轮功的铁路警察把她带走了。

当她回到家中时,房子被搜查过了,四处一切混乱。她的信仰书籍和电脑都没有了。

我很庆幸的是她身体并没有受到伤害。我觉得很意思的是一些受过良好教育的中国人怎么能够迫害一部分它的人民的政府呢?如果这样的事情发生在你的家庭,而你什么都不能做,你会怎么想?

5.6.5.2.3. Jail post pt

Translation by myself:

A mãe da minha namorada ficou 15 dias num "centro de correção" chines porque ela faz Falun Gong.

Ela ficou o tempo todo num quarto pequeno com uma cama e banheiro, sobe videovigilância, recebendo 3 refeições pequenas por dia.

Para mim, o Falun Gong https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong é apenas mais uma religião moderada que não causa nenhum problema para seus crentes. A única razão pela qual ele é proibido na China é porque os comunistas tem medo dele como competidor politico.

Não houve julgamento nem explicação. Ela ia pegar um trem para ver sua irmã, mas ela não sabia que teria um evento político importante na capital: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12th_National_People’s_Congress Então a polícia da estação, que já sabia que ela faz Falun Gong pegou ela.

Quando ela voltou pra casa, a casa tinha sido procurada pela polícia e estava uma bagunça. Os livros religiosos e seu computador foram confiscados.

Eu fico feliz apenas que ela não sofreu abuso físico. Eu acho fascinante como mesmo muitos chineses educados apoiam ainda um governo que não representa parte do povo. Como você vai se sentir quando algo do tipo acontecerá com a sua família, e você não pode fazer nada sobre isso?

5.6.5.3. Further details about Ciro Santilli’s mother-in-law’s persecution (三西猴岳母受迫害的更多细节)

March 2015: 15 days in jail for no reason: https://www.facebook.com/cirosantilli/posts/952661734753174. They took her computer. When she left jail, she asked to get it back, and a cop said they would only give it back if she paid 10,000 yuan for it.

June 2017: 3 cops came to her house. She was there. They asked if she still did Falun Gong. She said yes. They took photos of her Falun Gong books/posters. They were polite.

October 2017: 7 - 8 cops came to her house at 11PM. They knocked the door strongly and made noise, and questioned neighbours of her whereabouts. Luckily she was not there.

5.6.5.4. In the Tweet about his mother in law, Ciro Santilli says "correctional facility", but reeducation through labour has been abolished

He was not very precise here, the precise term is "jail". He was not talking about: Re-education through labor (劳动教养). Unfortunately it is not possible to edit a Tweet.

5.7. China is fine as it is, stop making it worse (中国很好,别让它变得更糟)

Welcome to the wonderful world of democracy, a world where people can have different political opinions than you :-)

If you are so fine, why are you reading this at all? Go back to being fine.

See also:

5.7.1. I like my Dictatorship (我喜欢我的独裁统治)

And it must feel good to have absolute truth in the Cult of Xi, and let the black police get rid of weirdos for you.

But what happens when the dictatorship turns again you our your family? Will you fight, or will you just let them do whatever they want because they can never be wrong? See also: Most Chinese people don’t care about the minorities (大多数中国人不关心少数民族).

And when your son betrays you or sacrifices himself for the Dictator, will you just smile and accept it in pride?

Intolerance is a risky way to live.

5.7.1.1. Seventeen Moments of Spring (1973, 春天的十七个瞬间, Soviet series about a Soviet spy against the Nazis, 关于苏联间谍反对纳粹的苏联系列)

Soviet mini-series about about Stierlitz, who is an undercover Soviet spy acting as a Nazi officer in Nazi Germany during WW2.

As a fun note, it seems that Putin (Путин, 普京, 1999-2008, 2012-∞) is a Stierlitz fan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stierlitz#cite_note-Sakwa-5, and Putin also served in Germany like Stierlitz, but in Dresden, which was in East Germany.

A scene from the awesome mini-series comes to mind when thinking about I like my Dictatorship (我喜欢我的独裁统治).

In Episode 7, Stierlitz travels on a train with a Nazi officer.

The war is almost over, and the desolate officer tells Stierlitz:

I told my children: I hate any democracy!

No democracy in our Reich!

Any democracy in our country is doomed to end up with one thing: the dictatorship of small shopkeepers.

The more freedom we have, the sooner we want to be controlled by SS troops again.

And then we want our the secret police back, and concentration death camps again, and the universal fear everywhere! Only then we feel calm and secure.

No need to prove your point of view in defending the fate of the homeland.

No responsibility.

Just raise your hand in honor of him, who will take care of everything for you,

Just shout out "Hail Hitler!" and everything will become understandable.

No more worries.

https://youtu.be/pc6DP1jNEec?list=PLHiAMOiVIvsD2u8g0RLwvdRScEe9yiUr5&t=1527 Seventeen Moments of Spring (1973), Episode 7, general confession scene.

It is amusing to see Soviet series criticizing dictatorships, given that the Soviet Union was itself a major dictatorship!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xoM6-1SWl4&t=191 The Living Dead Episode 1: On the Desperate Edge of Now by Adam Curtis (1995) describes how the Nazis, disilusioned by both democracy and communism, built Nationalism by creating a mythical past. In Nationalism, the individuals would surrenders themselves to the State.
5.7.1.2. Most Chinese people like their dictatorship (中国大众支持他们的独裁)

One is reminded of the game "We Happy Few" (2018), which which people are forced to be happy. Nineteen Eighty-Four: A Novel (1984, 乔治·奥威尔 一九八四, 1949) also comes to mind of course.

The interesting thing, is that even those pro-CCP are much more likely to stay anonymous because:

  • you never know when something you said will become a sin against some new trend of the dictatorship

  • when the dictatorship inevitably falls, you would be persecuted by the victorious freedom fighters

We cant complain
Figure 24. Westerner: "How is life in China?" Chinese: "Oh, we can’t complain." Westerner: "That’s awesome." Chinese: "No, seriously…​ we can’t." is a word play between the more common "we can’t complain because everything is great" and "we can’t complain because Xi will make us disappear". Source
We cant complain zh
Figure 25. Translation of the above.
Scarfolk public displays of personal distress are unpatriotic
Figure 26. "Public displays of personal distress are unpatriotic" spoof poster by Scarfolk Council (2017). Source.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xoM6-1SWl4&t=1606 The Living Dead Episode 1: On the Desperate Edge of Now by Adam Curtis (1995) comments on how interviews with Hermann Goring (赫尔曼·戈林) during the Nuremberg trials (纽伦堡审判) went: "Again and again, Jackson accused Goring of corruptly using his powers to commit crimes. Each time, Goring replied that such acts might be considered crimes in a democratic state, but that in Germany, democracy had failed. Eliminating the political opposition was necessary, to fulfill a higher principle: that of the Nation. And that it had worked, Goring insisted. It had brought order and prosperity to Germany". Jackson asks: "Well, if you wanted a certain people killed, you would have to have some organization that would kill them didn’t you?". Goring replies: "This was the only possible form of government at the time and it proved that Germany could be pulled out of the abyss of misery, poverty and unemployment and withing a short space of time be made flourish and bloom." This is exactly the justification given by the CCP for oppressing minorities and freedom of speech: the CCP is indistinguishable from the Nazis.
Anonymous middle fingers
Figure 27. Presumed Chinese people giving the middle finger (竖中指) to various Chinese Communist Party (CCP, 中国共产党, 1949-, Cult of Mao/Xi, 毛习邪教, 10.000 year Reich) symbols, most notably Xi Jinping (习近平, 2012-∞, Heil卐!). Even if this was made by the CIA, it perfectly illustrates the point that obviously no one speaks against the CCP because otherwise they will be put in jail. If you are going to do this, for Fuck’s Sake please cover your fingers, like the ones using gloves, or the banknotes, because if the photo resolution is good enough, you could be identified by your fingerprint. A r/China repost. This photo seems to be the result of a campaign started by GFWfrog (墙国蛙蛤蛤) in response to the 100th anniversary of the Party in 2021. This was also explained at: https://chinadigitaltimes.net/chinese/667778.html on China Digital Times (CDT, 中国数字时代, USA government media). Related: Anonymous accounts ban (2017). This project was perhaps inspired by pro CCP images celebrating the 100 years such as https://archive.ph/OJGHl/5f09f24ce2e3f856b08e79cdade72ad2af72e9a0.jpg from https://kknews.cc/culture/gmnl5vy.html on kknews (pro-CCP media). Source.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_y2FIqfIpiw (GitHub reupload) Give Xi Jinping (习近平, 2012-∞, Heil卐!) the middle finger silly GIF by GFWfrog (墙国蛙蛤蛤) 给习近平竖中指由墙国蛙蛤蛤傻逼视频. Source.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zndzntIDLFE IGN review of the "We Happy Few" (2018) game.
5.7.1.2.1. Sitong Bridge protest (北京四通桥抗议, 2022)

不要核酸要吃饭
不要封城要自由
不要谎言要尊严
不要文革要改革
不要领袖要选票
不做奴隶做公民
No covid test, but food!
No lockdown, but freedom!
No lies, but dignity!
No the Cultural Revolution, but reform!
No leaders, but votes!
No slave, but citizen!

罢免独裁国贼习近平
Remove the dictatorial state traitor Xi Jinping!

And the dude had a loudspeaker too, he was not planning to flee at all:

要吃饭,要自由,要选票!罢课,罢工,罢免独裁国贼习近平!
Demand food, freedom, ballot! Students, workers, strike and depose the despotic traitor Xi Jinping!

Sitong Bridge protest
Figure 28. Sitong Bridge protest photo from the crosswalk. Source.
5.7.1.2.2. Chilling effect (寒蝉效应)

It is really interesting to see how many people star the GitHub repository, and then a few minutes later they think about how they might get put in jail, and then unstar it.

Unstarring events are exceedingly rare in Ciro’s other repositories.

The expression two steps forward, one step back comes to mind.

Luckily in this case, it does not seem possible to view who unstarred a repository after the fact:

The catch 22 of dictorships is that:

  • if is citizens express themselves anonymously, they are dismissed as foreign agents

  • if they express themselves non anonymously, they go to jail

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-hCdbsyWw0 "my paranoia as a Russian YouTuber" by NFKRZ (2020) talks about the Chilling effect (寒蝉效应)
5.7.1.2.3. View all users who starred a repository on GitHub including those who unstarred

The Chilling effect (寒蝉效应) is extremelly visible on GitHub.

Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的) is able to see this easily because the star notification remains in the GitHub dashboard even after unstarring.

However, star events are also publicly visible permanently on events API under the WatchEvent: https://docs.github.com/en/developers/webhooks-and-events/events/github-event-types#watchevent

This appears to get them all from GitHub Archive's Google BigQuery up to the last whole month:

SELECT actor.login, MAX(created_at)
FROM `githubarchive.month.*`
WHERE type = 'WatchEvent'
AND repo.name = 'cirosantilli/china-dictatorship'
GROUP BY actor.login
ORDER BY MAX(created_at) DESC

Ciro verified that does include people who unstarred.

That one exceeds the free data limits as of December 2021 however, so you need to select more specific months/years at a time. Note that year data is only released once every year.

The following ranges manage to get all data as December 2021 for free:

FROM `githubarchive.year.201*`
FROM `githubarchive.year.202*`
FROM `githubarchive.month.2021*`

supposing that unique starrers

You can then "Save results" as CSV to view all users.

There don’t appear to be unstar events however. You can see single people star multiple times, which means that each new star gives a new row, which is why we do the GROUP BY.

5.7.1.3. Most Chinese people don’t care about the minorities (大多数中国人不关心少数民族)

How can you be that certain that your children won’t have dissident ideas and be punished unfairly for them?

Intolerance is a risky way to live. Everyone is part of one minority in one way. If all minorities were oppressed, everyone would be oppressed.

Dictatorships crush minorities much more than democracies.

Do think the majority of the Chinese people would vote to put 50 year old Falun Gong (法轮功, Qigong new religion/cult) meditating aunties in jail, if the CCP hadn’t made a huge propaganda campaign and used an iron fist?

Are the Chinese really that selfish to vote for this oppression, even as the free media would show videos of meditating old ladies in jail on national television? Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的) does not believe this.

Minorities are put in jail because the CCP fears them. Dictatorships can only survive if there is zero difference in opinion in the population.

The famous quote from Evelyn Beatrice Hall (伊夫林·比阿特丽斯·霍尔) comes to mind:

I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.
我不同意你的意见,但我以死捍卫你说话的权利”

See also:

5.7.1.3.1. First they came (起初他們)

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out
Because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak for me.

A translation from Wikipedia:

起初,纳粹抓共产党人的时候, 我沉默,因为我不是共产党人。

当他们抓社会民主主义者的时候, 我沉默,因为我不是社会民主主义者。

当他们抓工会成员的时候, 我沉默,因为我不是工会成员。

当他们抓犹太人的时候, 我沉默,因为我不是犹太人。

最后当他们来抓我时, 再也没有人站起来为我说话了。

5.7.1.3.3. This is Ciro Santilli’s personal problem, we have nothing to do with it, stop punishing us for it (这是三西猴的个人问题,我们与此无关,不要因此而惩罚我们)

We have to fight for justice for our fellows, or else when injustice happens to us, no one will fight for use either: Most Chinese people don’t care about the minorities (大多数中国人不关心少数民族).

Every form of protest incurs some damage. E.g., if we manifest on the street, it generates a traffic jam.

If you just work to make money and have a good life, without any plans to improve the government, you are just making the economy of the dictatorship stronger, then when they start a war or kill yet another minority, blood will also be on your hands. See also: What should Western countries do about China? (西方国家应该怎么对待中国?).

5.7.1.3.4. If anyone disagrees with the government they must be punished to keep the stability of the country (如果有人不同意政府,他们必须受到惩罚以保持国家的稳定)

The most possible stable state is a Why does Ciro Santilli say that China is a dictatorship? (中国不是独裁!) like Nazi Germany. Except for the part where they try to take over the world and fail. This is exactly what China is becoming: the freaking Fourth Reich (希特勒只有一个蛋, 1939).

Destroying diversity is the best way to reach a point where everyone can agree to start a new big war and destroy everything.

The CCP thrives on the excessive fear it instigates into its own people.

How can society improve, if we are never allowed to try new things out?

Change in democracies does not require violence. Violence happens because the government punishes any dissidence, even if pacific, to retain its own power.

In democracies, radical policy changes happen without dropping a single drop of blood. People vote, and policies change, end of the story. In JFK’s words:

Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable

See also:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXRG7yiqR3I Passage of Kennedy’s discourse that contains the quote "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable".

5.8. There are bad things happening all over the world, why doesn’t Ciro Santilli fight for those causes as well/instead? (世界各地都有不好的事情发生,为什么三西猴不为这些原因而战/相反?)

We have to choose the one we think is the worst, and focus on it.

Ciro SO username and protest time are not infinite.

However, it is good that different people have different interests, and someone will surely be fighting for whatever cause you care about.

See also:

5.8.1. Western democracies are not perfect (西方的民主有很多缺点)

That is definitely true.

Nothing is perfect in this world.

As Churchill once brilliantly put it:

Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.

However, this is all obviously subjective, and believing that dictatorship is a better form of government is also a valid belief, e.g. Dictatorships have greater development variability (专政具有更大的发展可变性).

If you find an event on a Western democracy that you would like to highlight, send a pull request.

We will not however include events that are not currently censored.

Every country did fucked-up things in the past, the question is if they currently allow discussion about it or not.

Posts that only mention "evil West" non-censored events without adding anything to the discussion will be marked as I want to take my chances and make a shitpost in cirosantilli/china-dictatorship (屎帖子) and treated as such, since spamming those is the primary Wumao (五毛) technique to stop intelligent discussion.

The reason why "Evil China" posts are not shitposts in general on the other hand, is that they have one specific purpose: to destroy censorship.

This "Western censorship copypasta string" was posted automatically by a bot during r/China purge day:

North Dakota Access Pipeline Protests 北达科他州接入管道抗议
Ferguson Riots 弗格森暴动
2017 St. Louis protests2017 年圣路易斯抗议活动
Nuclear testing at Bikini Atoll 比基尼环礁的核试验
Unite the Right rally 团结右集会
Charlotte riots 夏洛特暴动
Attack on the Sui-ho Dam 袭击穗河水坝
Milwaukee riots 密尔沃基骚乱
Shooting of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile 奥尔顿·斯特林和菲兰多·卡斯蒂利亚的射击
Occupation of the Malheur NationalWildlife Refuge Malheur国家野生动物保护区的占领
death of Freddie Gray 弗雷迪·格雷的死
Shooting of Michael Brown迈克尔·布朗的拍摄
death of Eric Garner, Oakland California 奥克兰奥克兰市埃里克·加纳(Eric Garner)逝世
Operation Condor 神鹰行动
Occupy WallStreet 占领华尔街
My Lai Massacre 我的大屠杀
St. Petersburg, Florida 佛罗里达州圣彼得堡
Kandahar Massacre 坎大哈屠杀
1992 Washington Heights riots 1992年华盛顿高地暴动
No Gun Ri Massacre 无枪杀案
L.A. Rodney King riots 洛杉矶罗德尼·金暴动
1979 Greensboro Massacre 1979年格林斯伯勒大屠杀
Vietnam War 越南战争
Kent State shootings肯特州枪击案
Bombing of Tokyo 轰炸东京
San Francisco Police Department Park Station bombing 旧金山警察局公园站爆炸案
Assassination of MartinLuther King, Jr. 小马丁·路德·金遭暗杀。
Long Hot Summer of 1967 1967年炎热的夏天
Bagram 巴格拉姆
Selma to Montgomery marches 塞尔玛到蒙哥马利游行
Highway of Death 死亡之路
Ax Handle Saturday 星期六斧头
Battle of Evarts 埃瓦茨战役
Battle ofBlair Mountain 布莱尔山战役
McCarthyism 麦卡锡主义
Red Summer 红色夏天
Rock Springs massacre 岩泉大屠杀
Pottawatomie massacre 盆大屠杀
Jeju uprising 济州起义
Colfaxmassacre 科尔法克斯大屠杀
Reading Railroad massacre 阅读铁路大屠杀
Rock Springs massacre 岩泉大屠杀
Bay viewMassacre 湾景大屠杀
Lattimer massacre 拉蒂默大屠杀
Ludlow massacre 拉德洛屠杀
Everett massacre 埃弗里特屠杀Centralia Massacre 中部大屠杀
Ocoee massacre Ocoee大屠杀
Herrin Massacre 赫林大屠杀
Redwood Massacre红木大屠杀
Columbine Mine Massacre 哥伦拜恩矿难
Guantanamo bay (关塔那摩湾拘押中心)
extraordinary rendition 非凡的演绎
Abu Ghraib torture and prison abuse 阿布格莱布的酷刑和监狱虐待
Henry Kissinger 亨利·基辛格 1953 Iranian coup d’état (TPAJAX Project, Operation Ajax, 1953年伊朗政變)
Eight-Nation Alliance (八國聯軍) (1900)
Unequal treaty (不平等条约) (1842-1933)

See also:

Free speech umbrella
Figure 29. Signe Wilkinson 2017 Free Speech "Can you just move it so it doesn’t cover them?" (TODO proper translation, with a quickly fixed up Google Translate: 你可以移动雨伞以使其不会遮盖住他们吗?) umbrella cartoon. Ciro once saw a Wumao (五毛) post this. It made him smile. If the cartoon were about dictatorships, Uncle Sam would be instead decapitating and raping the people on one half of the umbrella. Of course humans are shit in democracies as well, but at least that system makes it harder for them to oppress each other. Source.
Guantanamo bay protest London 2008
Figure 30. At https://github.com/cirosantilli/china-dictatorship/issues/260 ((archive)a Wumao (五毛) posted this image of Amnesty International (国际特赦组织) protesters outside the American embassy in London in September 2008 protesting against the Guantanamo bay (关塔那摩湾拘押中心) camps. The wumao used this to criticize Guantanamo bay, saying that it was like Xinjiang "re-education" camps (新疆再教育營, 2017-) but in the USA, apparently unaware that this was a staged protest. So it actually has the exact opposite effect than intended: because there is no Censorship (审查), here people in the West can together to denounce something they don’t like. Imagine if a crowd of 100 people in China got together to denounce the Xinjiang camps! They’d go to jail immediately. Furthermore as Ciro repeated a million times: Guantanamo bay detainees are not American citizens, and democracies cannot fully protect people who can’t vote. In China however, no one can vote, so everyone can be oppressed. Source.
China imperialism cartoon
Figure 31. French political cartoon from 1898 by Henri Meyer showing leaders of Western powers, Russia and Japan splitting up China between them. The CCP would arguably not have raised to power if not due to Japanese interference. Maybe the West deserves the Nazi CCP they helped create, much like post World War I treaties helped create Nazi Germany. Colonialism was horrendous. As a Brazillian, Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的) knows this all too well. Source.
5.8.1.2. The West is racist against black people (西方人对黑人有种族主义)

Obviously Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的) and everyone else knows that the Chinese are INCREDIBLY racist against blacks, way way more than in the West, based on conversations he’s had/overheard, and other circumstantial indications:

China is so openly racist that as far as the culture is concerned it isn’t racism but rather stating a fact. They think it’s totally normal and correct to believe terrible things about black peple. Its really shameful.

Label: racist-west

The only reason wumaos can point to the USA is that there are so many blacks there, and because for historical reasons they are in such a fucked up condition still today. Also in China, so people are just all much more generally fucked on average, so the difference wouldn’t show as much.

wumaos notably mention:

The murder video went viral and was not taken down (would have been in China), all four officers were charged, and the event sparked nation wide protests:

Of course there is racism in the West. And we must recognize that, and fight it.

BTW the USA, and other Western countries besides Germany, were/are also incredibly racist against Jews, e.g. Richard Feynman could not be admitted in certain universities due to a Jewish quota, even though he was not a believer himself, therefore based on race alone!

Racism in the West vs China George Floyd vs Xinjiang
Figure 32. Racism in the West vs racism in China. Of course there is racism in the West against black people. But the people have the choice to speak up against it to try and change things. In China however, speaking up against Muslim racism, means going to jail. Image sources: murder of George Floyd, George Floyd protests in Philadelphia, Xinjiang prisoners, Tiananmen Square on 2021-06-03, the anniversary of Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989 (六四事件).
5.8.1.2.1. You criticized China so you are racist (你批评中国,所以你是种族主义者)

As of the 2020’s, given the importance of political correctness in the West, some wumaos have tried to turn to this line of defense.

Of course, it rarely works, because criticizing a government is different from criticizing a race.

This is something however that wumaos have trouble understanding, because their Nazi estate insists that Insistence that the group is THE ONLY WAY (Orange Papers, 坚持他们的团体是唯一的方式生活, 橙色文件), and that CCP equals China.

This does however highlight one of the fundamental dangers of any type of Censorship (审查), including political correctness: what if you are criticizing something that is actually bad?

5.8.1.2.2. We Don’t Hire Blacks by Aaron Dewitt (我们不雇用黑人, 2020)

This amazing video was originally uploaded to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d81mEbL8Yw8 by Aaron DeWitt (The Chinese Tea) on 2020-09-21 but it was down as of 2021-06-21. Last Wayback Machine (web.archive.org, 网站时光机) archive as of that date: 2020-11-03.

The video description was:

This is an exposé of racist companies that I worked for, some of which operate in the United States and Canada, all of which are headquartered in China.

In it, Aaron describes his experiences with the recruitment team of one of his former employers, an unnamed "Chinese ed-tech company in Beijing", for which he worked in human resources. In another also deleted video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6uFGGunRxc he mentions that he cannot mention the name of the company because he was under NDA.

Notably, in that video, he gives several screenshots of Google Sheets spreadsheets with explicitly racist reasons why people were not hired, one of which is reproduced here. Examples of such reasons include:

  • "Skin color"

  • "Non-Caucasian"

  • "62-years old"

  • "elderly"

  • "Hispanic"

He mentions:

On the first day at this company, I had an orientation with my supervisor Ng, who is the head of the training department. She told me:

"We hire blacks. Obama black is OK. But no darker, or they’ll scare the kids. The kids will think they’re some kind of monster!"

which would lead parents to just go to a competitor instead. Then he mentions about the Google Sheets documents that:

They shared this document with the entire management team in Beijing, and everyone not only knew, but expected this discrimination to take place.

In the video he also explains how he once went to a 2 week holiday to Bali, and when he came back with his skin darker due to the tanning, he was reprimanded by a manager, who said that he could not work looking like that.

He explicitly mentions later the video that VIPKid, for which he did not work, is a similar company in nature, but not the one he is talking about.

Wikipedia mentions about VIPKid

Its online-classroom portal enables students to receive 25-minute English language lessons from fluent English-speaking teachers.

In March 2019, VIPKid fired two American teachers for discussing the 1989 Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989 (六四事件) and Taiwan (Republic of China, 台湾, 中華民國) with their students in China. Teachers have also reported witnessing child abuse when teaching lessons, but they found little recourse to report such issues.

As of 2021-05-05, the banner image of VIPKid’s website explicitly includes a token black person: https://web.archive.org/web/20210505045920/https://www.vipkid.com/, so their PR department clearly caught air of this. This is however only a frontend for hiring American teachers. The real Chinese client website https://www.vipkid.com.cn/, rest assured, contains no black people: (archive)

Wikipedia links as one of its sources to this 2019 article https://www.wired.com/story/when-online-teaching-job-becomes-window-child-abuse/ which mentions:

Of the dozens of companies vying to cash in on the tutoring business, it is by far the largest, having raised $825 million in investment capital since its founding. Other major players include Qkids, Magic Ears, DaDa, and Gogokid, all based in China.

so it is overwhelmingly likely that one of those is the one mentioned Aaron is talking about:

  • Qkids

  • Magic Ears

  • DaDa

  • Gogokid

Later in the video Aaron mentions that the company in question "basically went bankrupt".

He also mentions that he later worked for offcn, which is run by the Chinese Government, and they would absolutely not hire black people.

We don t hire blacks by Aaron DeWitt 2020
Figure 33. Screenshot of the video We Don’t Hire Blacks by Aaron Dewitt (我们不雇用黑人, 2020) showing a list racist job interview candidate rejection reasons.
5.8.1.3. Western democracies have invaded other countries and crushed separatism (西方民主国家侵略别国粉碎分裂主义)

What matters is that citizens can disagree with those actions, publicly say it, vote accordingly, and not go to jail, so that policy will be changed if the majority so wants.

In China, the minority controls the majority, and the majority cannot say anything even if they disagree.

If the majority wants to do evil however, evil will get done, it is impossible to prevent that.

People from other countries don’t vote for your politicians in democracy. Therefore, democracies cannot protect them.

Too young, too naive. China is already invading its own citizens right now as of 2020 to obtain resources! Xinjiang "re-education" camps (新疆再教育營, 2017-). And it is using the exact same excuse as the American politicians: terrorism!

Even when the US invades another country, the people who support the US enemy can still pick up arms and fight. And Russia can send help if they want to annoy the Americans, making local resistance stand an actual chance. But when you oppress your own people, they are completely defenseless, and 100% certain to be fully oppressed, since no foreign country would risk world war 3 by sending help.

Do you really think that the CCP would give a fuck about invading other countries? And furthermore, China is specifically oppressing Islamic people in Xinjiang, exactly the same religion of people who live where? In the Middle East.

Xinjiang is China’s Middle East.

The reason the USA has invaded countries in the Middle east and China hasn’t yet is a mixture of:

  • the USA is more developed, and has greater fuel needs, and greater capacity to carry such a war.

    Although as we’ve seen, they’ve been essentially losing those wars quite often now, by not saying long enough to establish a new stable government.

    Part of their defeat is also due to Russia (俄罗斯), and increasingly China, helping the other side however.

  • the Middle East is full of dictatorships, and dictatorships are natural allies of other dictatorships therefore it is more likely that they won’t invade one another.

  • the Cold War is still fresh in the American mind. Oil is crucial to fight a war. Countries will do anything to survive, even if it means killing others.

Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的) is not saying that any of this justifies the actions of the Western powers in the Middle East. But simply that it has nothing to do with democracy or non-democracy.

See also:

5.8.1.4. Western democracies also censor subjects such as child porn and hate speech (西方民主国家也审查儿童色情和仇恨言论等主题)

First, child porn and hate speech are also banned in China, so shut up. every type of speech is less free in Why does Ciro Santilli say that China is a dictatorship? (中国不是独裁!).

Second, if you don’t think child porn should be banned, there isn’t much point in arguing with you.

Now, hate speech is a very complex subject. Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的) does feel that we should be very careful when banning hate speech, and he is not sure if it should be banned at all, as perhaps it might just make matters worse.

But of course, there is also censorship in Western democracies, and there is a gray area between what should be censored or not.

Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的) only argues that there is on type of speech that must never ever be censored: political speech.

This way, the majority can always discuss and vote to change what can be censored or not.

In China, however, trying to discuss such changes in laws puts you in jail, so bad laws cannot be changed. This lack of freedom also gives the impression to many brainwashed Chinese that dicatorships are better because you see less conflict online. Which is great, until your human rights are violated, and you’ve got no one to talk to.

The lack of ability to discuss political problems leads to extremely serious problems:

Deciding on hate speech, means having to decide what level of hardcoreness we are willing to accept, and there is no clear right or wrong answer.

For example, which of the following do you think should be banned:

  • This scientific study suggests that white people do less well in IQ tests.

  • This scientific study suggests that black people do less well in IQ tests.

  • I’m an idiotic irrational racist and I dislike white/black people. I won’t kill them, but I dislike them, and I can’t change that, I’m really sorry.

  • Let’s all gather together and kill our black/white/gay/straight/Muslim/Christian neighbours tomorrow.

  • Let’s all gather together and kill our oppressive dictator/president tomorrow.

Ciro believes that none of the above should ever be censored, because any form of "hate-speech censorship" immediately opens a precedent for political censorship.

If someone is idiotic enough to organize illegal acts like hurting someone publicly before doing it, it will just make it easier for them to get caught.

And if its just empty words, just block those idiots to not see their posts, or downvotes their posts to reduce their impact.

And if the majority supports idiotic acts like killing someone because of their race, it will get done in a democracy regardless, because that’s what democracies do: they cater to what the majority wants.

There’s not point in censoring them. Such censorship only makes things worse, as the perpetrators will use that as publicity for their cause.

See also:

5.8.1.4.1. Fake news (假新闻)

When a government controls all information to make it look good, and no one can challenge it, you cannot trust any of the news produced by that country, as anything could be fake.

It is much better to have some fake news, but also few sources that are likely telling the truth.

Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的) is also extremely critical of Western social media companies such as Twitter (推特) and Facebook which have censored "fake news" from real legitimate accounts or real people, which is a point that Trump has justly criticized in Ciro’s opinion.

If it is from a Chinese/Russian botnet, sure, destroy those accounts.

But from legitimate accounts of citizens? The people have to decide for themselves what is fake or real, not you, Twitter and Facebook. If the majority is made of idiots who believe in fake news, then so be it, that’s how democracy works.

Censoring any citizen, no matter how stupid you think they are, creates a precedent for dictatorship, and even an incentive to terrorism.

More interesting case is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knight_First_Amendment_Institute_v._Trump. Ciro feels strongly that people who try to have meaningful discussions on Twitter should automatically lose a lawsuit, and that people should be able to block whoever they want from their personal controlled accounts or forums. It is only the companies who provide the forum service that must be neutral.

5.8.1.4.2. Unjust social media censorship in the West (西方不公正的社交媒体审查)

Minor:

YouTube:

5.8.1.4.3. Censorship of "politically incorrect speech" (审查政治不正确言论)

I think Trump is disgusting as a person

because they thought Trump would become sad and cry.

Western governments should pass laws that prevent this kind of arbitrary political censorship by companies.

Please enjoy this politically correct cartoon
Figure 34. "Please enjoy this culturally ethnically religiously and politically correct cartoon responsibly" cartoon by Michael Shaw from the New Yorker (2006) makes a reference to the fact that all humour is a criticism of something, and that excessive political correctness can be used as a way to limit free speech.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiqDZlAZygU Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean) defending freedom of speech in the context of the Reform Section 5 campaign to remove all criminalization of insults. The campaigns slogan was "Feel free to insult me!". He then quotes: "The strongest weapon against hateful speech is not repression, it is more speech" from an Obama speech.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNjYSns0op0 Munk Debate on Political Correctness (2018) features Stephen Fry and Jordan Peterson speaking against political correctness. Those dudes are awesome. https://youtu.be/rJOMYEXK6cs?t=150 summarizes it well.
5.8.1.5. Western society is extremely unequal (西方社会极度不平等)

Exactly! And this is something Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的) fights daily against through his open source contributions.

And politicians don’t really care enough. Partially because:

  • the poor don’t have access to proper education and vote less often

  • corporations pay for their election campaigns

  • many of the politicians are rich themselves

But do you really think that further increasing the power concentration as done is China is going to help reduce inequality?

If so, you have been brainwashed beyond reason. Increasing the concentration of power will obviously make society even more unequal and corrupt, never less.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHFrhIAj0ME Can’t get you out of my head - Part 1 (2021) documentary by Adam Curtis for the BBC. This awesome documentary suggests and explains why Western politicians care less and less about the people, and why Western companies have gained more and more power. It also mentions how after China gave up on communism and became a capitalist country, it completely lost any guiding ideal. The West still had the ideal of democracy. But for China, there was only one thing left: money. Our dear Xi Jinping (习近平, 2012-∞, Heil卐!) is of course doing his best to instill nationalism into China to fill that void. What could possible go wrong with that?
5.8.1.7. Snowden (斯诺登)

Censoring anyone who says "my president is shit", which is what China does, is much, much more serious than censoring intelligence leaks.

The problem with dictatorships, is that they make every information that makes them look bad a "state secret". Including any information that hundreds of thousands of people have witnessed, or economic performance metrics! See also: Internal censorship is necessary to prevent fake USA accounts from creating harmful propaganda (内部审查是必要的,以防止虚假的美国账户制造有害宣传).

The level of unknown surveillance that Snowden uncovered is a bad thing about the US.

Snowden’s prosecution was inevitable. Countries need secret services. Secret services need laws that prevent leaking classified information that was produced by government officials.

Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的) has never and will never criticize China or any other country for spying or prosecuting spies.

If Snowden were Chinese, the Chinese government would ban talking about him or anything he uncovered. A keyword attack with "Snowden" in the West has no effect.

It is obvious that the level of surveillance in any dictatorship will be infinitely higher, since the Government has much more power and no-one can criticize.

On the West however, the debate Snowden sparked cannot be censored, and has helped to control excessive and secret state power.

Ultimately, Ciro thinks camera surveillance is somewhat inevitable, because people will always want to fight crime and terrorism and surveillance technology keeps getting cheaper and cheaper.

He is however strictly against the ban of cryptography.

He also believes that a good solution to balance out government power is the Second amendment (美國憲法第二修正案). It is better to have more school shootings and less full-blown dictatorship led genocides / mass human rights violations.

In 2019 China amusingly censored passages Snowden’s "Permanent Record" autobiography book, which Snowden then published on Twitter:

I don’t think they understand that what Snowden stands for is completely the opposite of what the Chinese gov is lol

Snowden then later released the entire Chinese version of the book for free online with the censored parts underlined: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/02/10/snowden_china_censorship (archive), link to the book: https://a.temporaryrecord.com/Permanent_Record_-_CN_edition_with_underlined_redactions.pdf (archive). One wonders why he didn’t just do that in the first place for all versions, maybe he needed to pay the writer that helped him?

Snowden
Figure 35. Snowden highlighted defects on abuses of power in a Western democracy, and the discussion he sparked helped to control such abuses. To obey is to betray comes to mind. Source.

https://youtu.be/MhJldILZhJ8?t=138 "A matter of internal security: the age old cry of the oppressor". Picard, Star Trek: The Next Generation s03e11 "The Hunted". video::MhJldILZhJ8[youtube,height=400,width=600,time=138]

5.8.1.8. Bad things have been done in the name of freedom (以自由的名义人做过很多坏事)

Bad things have been done in the name of anything.

It’s just that much, worse things are done without freedom than with it.

Democracies cannot necessarily protect weak countries from powerful ones either. No political system can do that, because humans are trash essentially.

What democracy do is to protect its own people against its own government. Because when the government turns against part of the population in a dictatorship, that part of the population gets crushed entirely, without any chance to fight, because they don’t have an army or ally countries like other countries do.

Here are some images that Wumao (五毛)'s like to post:

5.9. Is the Chinese government evil? (中国共产党是邪恶的吗?)

Obviously not, just inefficient and dangerous.

It is just another non-democratic empire like the Qing Dynasty (清朝, 大清, 1636-1912), we might as well cal it:

共产朝
The Communist Dynasty

Like any other organization and individual everywhere in the entire world, they are just doing everything that they can to maintain their own power.

It just happens that China’s the current is political system allows the CCP to do really bad things.

And it should also be noted that it is in part the West’s fault that China currently has this shitty system.

Falun Gong (法轮功, Qigong new religion/cult) thinks otherwise of course, they think the CCP is actually made up of real actual devils in some dimension: Does Ciro Santilli believe in or practice Falun Gong? (三西猴信仰或者练法轮功吗?). E.g. on the https://endccp.com/ Falun Gong lead campaign:

The demon CCP has plundered the ancient land of China

5.9.1. Chinese politicians really care about the Chinese citizens (中国政客真正关心中国公民)

Sometimes people say Ciro Santilli is naive.

Politicians are the same all over the world.

Some might have good intentions, but most don’t give a shit about anyone else.

But all must play a careful political game, and sometimes betray their own beliefs to not lose power entirely.

Even those that genuinely care might have to play such political games.

China’s problem is not its politicians.

Western politicians don’t care about the people either: Western society is extremely unequal (西方社会极度不平等). But at least they have to pretend a little.

By John Kenneth Galbraith, possibly based on an earlier Soviet Union (苏联) joke https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/ocasio-cortez-capitalism-quote/:

Under capitalism, man oppresses man. Under socialism, it’s just the opposite.

5.9.2. Is Chinese politician X evil? (中国政客X邪恶吗?)

The term evil does not make sense unless you are religious.

The best definition of evil is a psychopath with zero empathy for anyone: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychopathy although this can be better characterized as a disease or extreme personality trait.

The huge majority of those politicians are just regular dudes with a knack for politics but brought up in a fucked up political situation.

Just like you, Ciro Santilli and other politicians in any country.

5.10. Comparisons between the CCP and Nazi Germany (纳粹德国和中共长得很想)

Both CCP and Nazis share the same basic core ideology: capitalism, love your country/leader mindlessly, work hard, throw any dissidents under the bus, and everyone will become richer (except the dissidents who will be in jail or dead).

Thankfully, the CCP is possibly less bad as of 2020 it has less of "this minority (Jews) is the cause of all our problems/racial supremacy approach". But everything else, and arguably the key points that got most German people on-board in the first place, are so similar, that it has to raise huge red flags.

We must however be careful not to demonize the Nazis, as that is not a helpful way to learn from the past.

The Nazis were also people like us, and that is the scary thing we must never forget, thus we should never fall for:

Notably, it can be argued that the Nazis did bring economic growth and stability to Germany, which the people desperately needed, see also Goring’s appearance on the Nuremberg trials.

Keywords:

  • Xitler (习特勒). 习 "xi2" is very close in sound to the Chinese name of Hitler: 希特勒 (xi1 te4 le4)

  • Chinazi (赤纳粹 Chi Na Cui). TODO why 赤. Means Red, which is a reference to Communism, although red was of course it was also the color of the original Nazis. But where else is it used? Chi is also chosen to achieve the sound "Chi Na" as a variant of Shina (zhina, 支那)

See also:

Articles:

Would you have stood up to Hitler when he came to power? Or would you have been an appeaser, like Chamberlain? Or perhaps even a supporter of fascism, like the Daily Mail’s owner at the time?

We all like to imagine we’re courageous enough to stand up to tyranny and persecution. That we would have stood up to the villains of the past. Seen them for what they really were, even helped rescue their victims from danger. We certainly don’t like to think we would have bought their goods or funded, invested in their economies…​

Well today, you’re going to find out what you’re made of.

TODO some failed attempts at ASCII art flags:

卐卐卐卐卐卐卐卐卐卐卐卐卐卐卐卐卐卐卐卐卐卐卐卐卐
卐                                              卐
卐                  卐                          卐
卐        卐卐                                  卐
卐    卐  卐            卐                      卐
卐    卐卐卐卐卐                                卐
卐        卐 卐         卐                      卐
卐    卐卐卐                                    卐
卐                  卐                          卐
卐                                              卐
卐                                              卐
卐                                              卐
卐                                              卐
卐卐卐卐卐卐卐卐卐卐卐卐卐卐卐卐卐卐卐卐卐卐卐卐卐
Xi Nazi war flag
Figure 36. Photoshopped Xi Jinping (习近平, 2012-∞, Heil卐!) with raised fist with Nazi uniform and flag on the background. Source.
Xi raised fist
Figure 37. Likely original or similar image of Xi Jinping (习近平, 2012-∞, Heil卐!) with raised fist as he took oath when coming into or renewing office. Source.
Nazi war flag
Figure 38. German’s 1938-1945 war flag called the "War Ensign of Germany" in English or "Reichskriegsflagge" in German. Source.
Hitler angry rehearsal
Figure 39. Hitler has of course a few raised fists on Google Images, but they tend to be more aggressive, and less compatible with Xi’s apathic poker face. Source.
Xi mein kampf
Figure 40. Photoshopped cover of Mein Kampf with Xi’s face on top of Hitler’s and other modifications such as Mian instead of Mein, likely the same 面 (mian4, face) as the Chinese character at the bottom right. Xi Jinping Thought (习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想, 2017) also comes to mind. Source.
Mein kampf
Figure 41. Original cover of Mein Kampf. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QERDzr6HSQ How Rich Was Hitler? by Mark Felton Productions (2021) mentions that the success of the book helped Hitler a financially a lot when he was in great need. Ciro speculates that the same applies to Li Hongzhi (李洪志, LHZ, Falun Gong prophet), which has retained copyright of all his works (despite them being the truth of the universe, a natural force essentially), as can be seen by the copyright notice on https://en.falundafa.org/. Source.
Xi Nazi car salute photoshop
Figure 42. Photoshopped photo of Hitler giving the Nazi salute from a car with Himmler on the background with Xi’s face on top of Hitler’s. Source.
Hitler Himmler salute
Figure 43. Original photo of Hitler giving the Nazi salute from a car with Himmler on the background. This photo shows them reviewing SS troops during a Reichsparteitag (Reich Party Day) parade in Nuremberg (1938-09-05 - 1938-09-12). Source.
Chinazi flag
Figure 44. Chinazi flag (赤纳粹旗) by Hong Kong protesters. Seen on streets. An example of Flag desecration (亵渎旗帜). Source.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wD53MEbLDIE laowhy86 video "Can We Compare China to Nazi Germany?" published on 2020-04-29. Good side-by-side video comparisons. Says that China is more like Nazi than Russia (俄罗斯), but Ciro disagrees, all three are evil dictatorships.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hn1VxaMEjRU Mitchell and Webb "Are we the Baddies?" Nazi Sketch. In this sketch, Mitchel, a cute self-conscious Nazi, starts to wonder with Webber, his Nazi friend, if they aren’t on the side of evil, particularly due to the usage of Nazi skulls (Totenkopf) on their uniforms. This echoes Goring’s appearance on the Nuremberg trials. Like the CCP, many Nazis thought of course that they were doing great things.

5.10.1. Hitler Has Only Got One Ball (希特勒只有一个蛋, 1939)

We have to make a Xi Jinping (习近平, 2012-∞, Heil卐!) version of this!!!

There’s even an Uncencyclopedia page for it.

We have to do a Chinese version. A starting point:

近平,只  有一只蛋
泽东,还好有一个半
泽民,
小平,
Hitler has only got one ball
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1tF-Yrwe3U A version of the "Hitler Has Only Got One Ball" song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1DWJQkOJew The Armstrong and Miller Show "Hitler Has Only Got One Ball" sketch depicts in a funny way the imaginary creation of the song.

5.10.2. Thousand-Year Reich (中华人民共和国万岁)

As mentioned at https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Reich&oldid=1054809270#During_the_Nazi_period a popular way of referring to the Nazi rule was as the:

Thousand-Year Reich

In China, a popoular expression for "Long Live" is "万岁", which means "live for ten thousand years".

This comes from old Imperial times, but applies perfectly to the Nazi/CCP analogy.

5.10.2.1. Fourth Reich (希特勒只有一个蛋, 1939)

Neo-Nazis thought they might be the ones. Skinhead newbs. China beat them to it by a mile.

5.10.3. China is like the Borg from Star Trek (博格 (星际旅行和中共长得很想)

TODO memes?? Only one image here: https://www.techinasia.com/qihoo-acquistion-updates-sogou-talks-confirmed-chukong-rumors-denied but we need more, e.g. several top commies with Borg photoshop, or even better something showing the people as borgs as well.

Notable mentions:

5.11. Contributing guidelines (贡献指南)

5.11.1. I want to take my chances and make a shitpost in cirosantilli/china-dictatorship (屎帖子)

So, have you reached the conclusion that your shitpost is worth the risk of getting blocked?

Remember that shitposts can also be creative: if you are going to insult Ciro Santilli, at least do it in a creative way, or else you look like an even bigger idiot than you really are.

A collection of shitposts for you to take inspiration from can be found at: https://github.com/cirosantilli/china-dictatorship/issues?q=label%3Ashitpost+

Also, when opening a shitpost you may mark it clearly such with the shitpost issue template which automatically assigns the shitpost label. Doing so will make you look like less of an idiot.

While we require polite replies to polite posts, no matter what which side they are defending, if a post is marked as a shitpost, things are much more relaxed and fun, and you can generally get away with telling the OP to fuck themselves without getting blocked.

Shit
Figure 46. Real shit photos may be posted in reply to shitposts. Source.
Kin no unko
Figure 47. Amazing shitposts may recieve a Golden Shit award and the golden-shit label. The image is from a Japanese Kin no unko (金のうんこ), which is likely inspired by golden Sycees. Source.
Like shitposts
Figure 48. To censor or not to censor good shitposts: that is not the question, Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的) will never censor them! Source.
Caonima
Figure 49. The legendary Grass Mud Horse (草泥马, caonima) is also said to appear in shitposts from time to time.

5.11.2. I am going to write a huge wall of text to prove my point

Feel free to do that, but no one will ever read most of it.

If you want your comment to be read, choose your key point well, and deliver it.

It is a shame that most people who are ever able to do that are shitposters, but credit where credit is due.

5.11.3. Can I contact Ciro Santilli in Chinese? (我可以用中文联系三西猴吗?)

If you don’t know English well enough, that’s fine though, go for Chinese, Ciro Santilli will likely understand it: Does Ciro Santilli speak Chinese? (三西猴会说中文吗?).

But if you do, use English.

Ciro is not going to learn Chinese because of your message.

It is more productive for you to write in English, so that the rest of the West can also learn something new.

Especially since it seems that most Chinese already know what you are talking about, so you are better off teaching Western people about it.

5.11.3.1. I am going to use a bunch of Chinese slangs because it makes me feel smart (我知道网络语言,我很聪明)

Obviously, if you want to be understood, use simple and standard Chinese, since as Ciro has already stated clearly, his Chinese sucks: Does Ciro Santilli speak Chinese? (三西猴会说中文吗?).

Avoid slangs, otherwise Ciro might not have patience to Google your useless slangs down Zhihu questions.

Of course, if you have to read this, you likely are not going to say anything useful in the first place, so not reading your post is likely fine, just make sure to mark it as a I want to take my chances and make a shitpost in cirosantilli/china-dictatorship (屎帖子) if you don’t want Ciro to think you are a complete idiot.

Using slangs makes some people feel smart due their advanced knowledge of a specific subculture, or makes them feel part of that subculture to gather allies. I.e., it is a form of shibboleth. It mainly comes down to a way of avoiding any rational conversation about China’s obvious problems by highlighting Non-Chinese people should not interfere in Chinese politics (外国人不应该干预中国政治).

Or maybe they just want to waste Ciro’s time.

Such idiots don’t see however that every major slang is Googleable, and that every overly obscure slang is already not understandable by a large part of the Chinese population, and won’t be understood by anybody in 5 years, so that you are wasting your time writing this gibberish. But since you are an idiot, it’s not like you have anything better to do with your time, so maybe it doesn’t matter.

If you want to efficiently prevent anyone from understanding your stuff, Ciro recommends that you just use SHA-256 instead:

$ printf 'heil xi' | sha256sum
286b183bf41d6c9de5315bbd64f1ca35a58157ae2e7f38086978c108e67c4882  -

A Chinese insult tip 101, avoid similar sound euphemisms. If you are going to say shit at least grow some balls or tits and use the proper characters, Ciro will respect you more for it:

Places to try and decrypt Internet slang when you feel like wasting your time:

Random slangs of interest and related concepts:

Some useful slangs seen on the wild:

In other sections:

Rugae vaginales with black hole
Figure 50. A Vagina (阴道) also known as cunt (屄), is the female reproductive organ, including the naturally occurring black hole that appears in front of it whenever a picture is taken to prevent GitHub from taking down this page. Even though you’ve never seen one, there’s no need to be afraid of it, and refer to it in euphemisms like "SB". Background source and black hole source.
5.11.3.1.1. Ruhua (to disgrace china, 辱华, 乳华)

Basically a 2 character slang for Hurt the feelings of the Chinese people (伤害中国人民的感情) which cool people in the web use:

The pardox is: as soon as you start talking about ruhua, you start to risk getting banned in China, because most of ruhua is banned in China itself.

In this project for example: https://github.com/leiroc/insults the author is aiming to create a list of such insults. So someone came and suggested adding this project to the list at: https://github.com/leiroc/insults/issues/4, which is obviouly censored in China, as an example. They even have an ICP license 非经营性网站备案 (2000) at https://insults.cn/, isn’t that cute?

To which the repo owner replied:

感谢提交,这个人有点疯狂了。我就不给加到记录里面了,因为加进去,看到的人就会更加多。对于这些信息不是所有人都有分别真伪的能力。害怕有些人信了他的,或者被他诱导。所以还是让他消声少曝光的好,这些人国家肯定一直在监控的,我们可以放心。

Google Translate:

Thanks for submitting, this person is a bit crazy. I won’t add it to the record, because if you add it, you will see more people. Not everyone has the ability to distinguish between authenticity and falsehood for this information. I’m afraid that some people will believe him or be induced by him. Therefore, it is better to silence him and reduce exposure. These people and countries must have been monitoring them, so we can rest assured.

This perfecly shows the ruhua paradox. In the end, you are only allowed to talk about the most idiotic and insipid events, while censoring any serious self criticism.

TODO the README says that it is a static blog, but I can’t find the source on GitHub anywhere, that repo contains almost nothing.

The large majority of posts are about Western companies that comply with Chinese censorship requests (遵守中国审查要求的西方公司), because those cowards retract their claims afterwards.

Some sample posts that are not about Western companies:

5.12. Personal questions about Ciro Santilli (关于三西猴的问题)

5.12.1. Has Ciro Santilli you ever lived in China? (三西猴住过中国吗?)

Not as of 2019, he has only visited once in 2012, and it was amazingly beautiful.

Ciro Santilli with a stone carved Budai in the Feilai Feng caves near the Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou in 2012
Figure 51. Ciro Santilli with a stone carved Budai (布袋和尚) in the Feilai Feng caves (飞来峰) near the Lingyin Temple (灵隐寺) in Hangzhou taken during his legendary 2012 touristic trip to China. Will he ever be able to go to China again to re-experience such marvelous locations? If the CCP falls before he dies, and if the statue hasn’t been destroyed by the commies, Ciro will return to that exact spot and take a second picture. How will he look like?

But he doesn’t think it is a good idea for him to do that now, in case his Visa got accepted, because he is not interested in learning about the Chinese jail system! :-)

He knows that if you don’t mind contributing to making WW3 deadlier and shut up and obey the CCP, China is already a fine place to live as much as any other developing country.

5.12.1.1. Would Ciro Santilli like to live in China? (三西猴想住在中国吗?)

If the dictatorship ends, Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的) would like to migrate to China if given a decent job to help China develop and become awesomer.

Before the Dictatorship, Ciro likely won’t be able to enter/it wouldn’t be a good idea: Would Ciro Santilli be able to visit China before the CCP ends? (三西猴能否在中共结束之前访问中国?).

And it is immoral to help make dictatorships richer by working for their companies: What should Western countries do about China? (西方国家应该怎么对待中国?).

5.12.1.2. Would Ciro Santilli be able to visit China before the CCP ends? (三西猴能否在中共结束之前访问中国?)

It would be interesting to apply for a VISA to find out.

But Ciro won’t do it because it is too risky that it would be a waste of Ciro’s precious time and money.

Firstly, Jamal Khashoggi taught us that walking into enemy into consulates of enemy countries is a bad idea.

Then, even if the VISA were accepted, Ciro could still be turned back on entering the country, thus wasting the flight time and money. This could either be a genius plot to waste the money of enemies of the state, or due to a crappy divided IT system between the border control and the VISA people.

Finally, even after the border, there is still the possibility that Ciro could be stopped in the country half-way through the visit and sent back, or be interrogated for a few days, or less likely murdered with poison.

Therefore, if you think that living in China is fundamental to understand it, please just explain what you think one can learn from the experience instead. Do you really need to live there to see its censorship machine working? It would arguably be harder to see it from the inside.

5.12.3. Does Ciro Santilli speak Chinese? (三西猴会说中文吗?)

As of 2019, oral enough for daily things, but not understand most natural casual dinner conversation or watch TV series, because they go too quickly into vocabulary subject areas that he doesn’t know. And obviously, using slangs just makes things really hard.

When it matters, and with some patience, he can make himself understood though with some analogies (archive) and a dictionary.

From the HSK vocabulary list, he estimates that he is definitely HSK 3, but not quite HSK 4. This would likely equate A2/B1 in the European system.

Phonetics wise, Ciro can’t distinguish or produce a few sounds, notably -ing vs -in and his off-tone rate is high, but it tends to not matter at all compared to his lack of vocabulary. Except for his mother-in-law, who sometimes does not understand it at all without correct tones!

Ciro reads with https://github.com/cschiller/zhongwen after Perapera died when he wants to learn new words/has patience/something is very important, and can basically understand everything in that way. TODO perapera support stopped in 2021: https://www.perapera.org/plugins/ and since browsers don’t have stable API’s it very quickly stopped working for everyone. Alternatives asked at: https://softwarerecs.stackexchange.com/questions/78268/on-mouse-hover-pop-up-chinese-dictionary-browser-extension-alternative-to-perape/ Zhongwen worked, source at https://github.com/cschiller/zhongwen

When he has no patience or for larger not very important chunks of text though, he reads with Google Translate as it tends to work, and then if there is an important sentence that was translated to garbage with Perapera.

Ciro writes with a mixture of Pleco, Google translate and Googling to see if Chinese actually say the sentences that way, never Google translate alone as it would be too imprecise.

Ciro really wishes he could learn more Chinese. Ciro really loves the Chinese language. But he has other more important endeavors at the moment. There simply aren’t enough hours in a day.

Spoken Chinese is in Ciro’s opinion a relatively easy language to learn from scratch, because word formation is so often logical:, e.g.:

  • volcano = fire + mountain: 火山(huo shan)

  • train = fire + car: 火车 (huo che), a reference to old steam locomotives

and there is no useless crap like verb grammatical conjugation, grammatical gender, plural inflection, capitalization, etc. (latino sine flexione anyone?)

Ciro hasn’t tried to learn characters because too much effort, but he did learn some of the most common ones without trying.

Ciro initially learnt from book that come with audio recordings in the first 6-months to 1 year in 2010, but that got impossibly boring afterward, so he later moved to just basically talking as much as possible non-important things to his wife in Chinese, and whenever he reaches one that he doesn’t know that seems useful, he Plecos it up or just 怎么说 to his Ciro Santilli’s wife (三西猴的老婆) and then Pleco.

It should also be mentioned that Ciro also feels that it would be better if all countries more officially adopted English as an international language that everyone should learn for reasons explained at: https://cirosantilli.com/#having-more-than-one-natural-language-is-bad-for-the-world

5.12.3.1. Chinese characters are insane (汉字是疯狂的)

But they should have gone further and reduced it to pinyin like the Korean and Vietnamese did, this will make your culture much easier to export.

No foreign adult will every learn to read and write Chinese unless they are completely obsessed by the culture or need it as part of their jobs. And even then, they will avoid it at all costs, because life is just too short!

Japanese furigana also comes to mind. The characters are so insane that you need to a well specified and widely used phonetic reading aid, especially for teenagers, but likely not only in case of rarer characters! There’s even an HTML tag for that for God’s sake: the HTML Ruby tag.

Yes, ideograms are:

but they just take too much time for any sane person adult to learn, it’s harder than C++!

Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的) smirked when he came across the character "蒄" in Pleco, and the translation was: "meaning unknown (herb mentioned in old books)". Yes, at the word level, the same like exists in phonetic systems, but that it takes up a modern dictionary and Unicode slot is still funny.

He also smiles very broadly whenever his wife finds a character she doesn’t remember. Or when she spends 20 seconds tabbing to find the correct character for some Proper name she wants to type in pinyin. It feels good to be right.

Posts that express similar ideas:

Chinese character extreme
Figure 52. The "fictional" Chinese character "Dou" from Uncyclopedia is roughly translated as "Impossibly complex pictogram-based writing system that takes a person a thousand thousand years to learn." and illustrates well why pictograms are a bad idea. Source.
Sweet brown chinese characters meme
Figure 53. The Sweet Brown Ain’t Nobody Got Time for That meme (knowyourmeme) fits perfectly into how Ciro feels about learning Chinese characters.
Sweet brown chinese characters meme zh
Figure 54. Translation of the above.
Chinese typewriter
Figure 55. Chinese typewriter. As you would expect, it is insanely complex, and slow to type with. Source.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZcui85b4EE RARE Japanese Toshiba Typewriter. Types in Japanese, Chinese + English. Toshiba Typewriter Model BW-2112.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNUEUth7qjc Commercial for IBM’s Selectric Typewriter 1960’s Contrast with the above.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_cbW5JK9WM "The most complex Chinese character" by Vladimir Skultety does a reasonable analysis of which Chinese character is the most complex
5.12.3.1.1. Seal (印章)

Seals are also of course top to bottom right to left as in the traditional texts.

5.12.4. Is Ciro Santilli a radical? (三西猴是激进分子吗?)

Saying that someone is a radical is useless Ad hominem (訴諸人身).

If you want to say something useful, give specific reasons why you think one specific thing that Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的) said is incorrect.

Do you consider him a radical because it is unthinkable that China is not perfect?

Or just because he’s trying to take down some more websites that your dictatorship still does not dislike enough to block: China is fine as it is, stop making it worse (中国很好,别让它变得更糟)?

See also:

And Ciro never gets mad. Only a slightly sad or annoyed sometimes.

But maybe no radical ever considers themselves a radical? Hmmm…​

5.12.6. Is Ciro Santilli a SJW?

One major difference between Ciro and the stereotypical SJW is that he never engage in lengthy discussions as per Ciro Santilli’s reply policy (三西猴的回答政策).

He limits himself to listening as much as he can to learn new arguments.

So the rationale of his actions is no_ to convince anyone, but rather:

5.12.7. Does Ciro Santilli hate China? (三西猴讨厌中国吗?)

On the contrary. China has his favorite:

As Bjarne said:

There are only two kinds of programming languages: those people always bitch about and those nobody uses

Ciro only focus here on negative things to provide content that will activate the Great Firewall.

A small poem:

持华反党
爱国恨党

Support the Chinese people, oppose the Party
Love the country, hate the Party

Yuyuan garden door
Figure 56. Round gate at Yu Garden (豫园) in Shanghai. The large characters on top read (left to right) "流翠" TODO not sure about the second character, understand reference. Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的) thinks that Chinese gardens (中国园林) are amazing!!! Source.
5.12.7.3. Why does Ciro Santilli love China so much? (为什么三西猴喜欢中国那么多?)

It is interesting how different people get different impressions!

Of course, the fact that his wife is Chinese and does Falun Gong may or may not have played a role in it :-)

It was like this: Ciro started getting interested in Chinese culture, then he started hanging out with Chinese people, and then he started hanging out with his wife!

So yes, it is a chicken and egg type of thing. The fact that she is one of the most intelligent, morally upright, cute, and "never give up" person I know may have helped me choose too.

5.12.8. Ciro Santilli’s China freedom campaign is selfish (三西猴是自私的)

See also:

5.12.8.1. Ciro Santilli is doing his China freedom campaign to become famous (三西猴正在做他的中国自由运动以成名)

No, he am a selfless human being, only concerned with the greater well being of humankind.

More serious answer:

  • he believes in this. As evidence, it has limiting effects on his technological career: Does your employer support this project? (你的雇主支持此项目吗?), and he doesn’t think he can/wants to become a politician in China if the CCP ever falls

  • the more famous Ciro is, the more impact he will have in the future

  • the more famous Ciro is, the more feedback he have that what he’s been doing has been working

Keyword: attention whore.

Duplicate pool:

5.12.8.3. Is Ciro Santilli’s china-dictatorship campaign funded or otherwise supported by some organization? 谁收买三西猴散布关于中国的谣言?

Sure, the CIA sends Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的) 10 thousand USD checks from time to time, but that doesn’t change at all what he would be doing.

And sometimes the NSA, FBI, MI6, MI5, Mossad, Al-Qaeda and ISIS also pitch in a bit depending on their needs.

Just kidding.

A shady supporting organization might require that he does not disclose their support, so maybe the best answer is that you will never know for sure.

Of course, a hidden support would represent a reputation hit for both such organizations and for Ciro, which makes it less likely that I would have accepted or had such an offer.

Also consider Ciro’s motivation. If your mother in law were put into jail unfairly for 15 days, for following the same religion that your wife follows, and if you had a social media presence, wouldn’t you be tempted to do the same?

What about you, are you funded by the CCP?

The fact that Ciro Santilli is obviously a real full time software engineer based on his open source contributions, and so does not need government funding, is perhaps the single greatest advantage of not having carried this campaign anonymously:

It’s nothing world breaking, but it is at a level where it simply cannot be faked.

5.12.9. Would Ciro Santilli be doing his China freedom campaign if he was in China? (如果他在中国,三西猴会做他的中国自由运动吗?)

Not with his real name attached to it, see also:

5.12.9.1. Does your employer support this project? (你的雇主支持此项目吗?)

My employer has nothing to do with this.

He doesn’t approve or disapprove of the Chinese government or of my private actions.

The only thing that my employer does believe in is that employees can have their own political opinions, and that this should not affect hiring decisions.

Obviously, this action limits my ability to lead high profile deals with China.

Also I’m quite curious if this would limit my ability to go to China for business, but I haven’t applied for a visa since I’ve started this. It likely wouldn’t be a good idea for me to go to China :-)

But my employer believes that inclusion and non-discrimination are more valuable.

I will always do my best to not let my personal opinions affect my professional decisions, as that would be unfair to my employer.

5.12.10. Doesn’t Ciro Santilli have anything better to do than pissing off China? (除了反对中共以外,三西猴有没有别的更好的事儿要作吗?)

The Internet gives everyone the magic power of writing something, and having million people read it for free!

This is how much time Ciro spends on this project to give you an idea:

Then Ciro just contributes to programming websites exactly as he would if he weren’t making this campaign, and voila.

What has happened more and more is that Ciro has been expanding resources by short burst rather than continuously. This began especially at the end of 2019 and start of 2020 was such as hot year with 2019 Hong Kong anti-extradition bill protests (反对逃犯条例修订草案运动) and Censorship of the 2019 Corona Virus (2019冠状病毒病早期迹象审查).

But Ciro only works on this when his brain was too tired of technical stuff and unable to do more, or as a brain warm up routine in the morning. So it doesn’t take any work time away from him.

Telling the CCP to fuck off is surprisingly relaxing, you should try it some time too. It uses a different part of your brain other than the programming one. It is, one could say, an art form.

5.12.11. Is Ciro Santilli against Communism/Socialism in general or just against the Chinese Communist Party specifically?

Anti-dictatorship and censorship, not anti-communist in general. In this project, Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的) has sometimes used the word "communist/commie" loosely as a shortcut for "supporter of the CCP", but it does not extend by default to communism in general.

Most importantly, China is far from being socialist or communist. It is just a dictatorship with savage capitalism. Exactly like Nazi Germany.

It is true that the CCP takes greater control of corporations, as shown e.g. in the Tech Crackdown of 2021, which is also something Ciro Santilli has asked for in the West, see also: https://cirosantilli.com/governments-have-lost-all-power-to-companies

But to call it communist or socialist is a joke. There are no big specific benefits to citizens that are not already present in capitalist countries. It is nothing like the Soviet Union, where people had actual job guarantees, and everything provieded for (in theory).

And Ciro has a fundamental and irrational belief that we should not violate human rights to reach those goals, which is why he opposes the CCP (and others who violate human rights).

Classify Ciro’s techno-political goals as you will:

A possible way to get closer to either: https://cirosantilli.com/electronic-voting

Anything in between however, he’s not sure about.

5.13. People in China have already considered democracy, and rejected it (中国人已经考虑要不要民主, 到底决定不要了)

OK, shall we put that to an anonymous vote just to make sure?

Dear sir or madam: do you want more control over your government? y/n

Oops, I forgot that proposing such a vote would put in you jail, never mind.

5.14. Would it be right to use violence to overthrow the CCP? (用暴力推翻中共正确吗?)

In an ideal world, Ciro Santilli is of course "against violence".

But what if you could prevent a lot of future violence with some violence today?

Ah, the eternal question which only God can answer:

Do you really think that the communists will step down if you ask them nicely enough? Even after Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989 (六四事件)?

A quote from V for Vendetta (2005) comes to mind:

Q: If they do, what do you think will happen [the people protest against their Government]?

A: What usually happens when people without guns stand up to people with guns.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=TcoBv6ibh8M V for Vendetta (2005) "What you think will happen" scene.

How do you think the CCP or any other party got into power and maintained that power in the first place? Obviously through violence. And likely due to earlier Japanese invasions which weakened the Guomindang.

And the CCP actually uses "the ends justify the means" as an argument to justify its own actions: As long as China is developing economically, it is fine to violate the human rights of a few million people (只要经济好,我不在乎人权).

The question of if anything is morally right or wrong makes no sense. All that matters is: what is the government that maximizes the happines of its own people, and who has the power to do what? Getting richer, is part of the equation, but so is not being constantly affraid that you will be randomly put in jail for no good reason.

Baby Hitler vs 5 million Jews trolley problem
Figure 58. One baby Hitler or 5 Million Jews trolley problem illustrates well the moral dilemma of "the ends justify the means".
What Chinese men really want
Figure 59. Translation: What women think men want (a kiss). What men actually want (decapitating Xi Jinping (习近平, 2012-∞, Heil卐!)). The image from the left comes from the Japanese manga Okaeri Alice according to Reddit comments. The image to the right is based on an illustration of the decapitation of Louis XVI (路易十六) during the French Revolution (法国大革命), but with Louis' head replaced by Xi Jinping’s head. An original can be found at: https://castinet.castilleja.org/users/pmckee/frenchrev/violentphase.html. Source.

5.14.1. Second amendment (美國憲法第二修正案)

If China had the second amendment in 1989, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP, 中国共产党, 1949-, Cult of Mao/Xi, 毛习邪教, 10.000 year Reich) would not be in power in 1990.

The availability of guns however only explains part of the problem of gun violence in the USA: the other huge thing that must be addressed is to reduce inequality.

A somewhat popular Wumao (五毛) criticism of gun violence in the USA (+ other problems) in song/poem form was brought up at https://github.com/cirosantilli/china-dictatorship/issues/215

歌颂美国

自由美利坚,
枪击每一天;
白恨黑卑微,
黑仇黄有钱。
世界第一强,
川普再号强;
新冠启示录,
群体免疫法;
比强还更强,
世界一病夫。
如今五十万,
耶稣爱美国,
与民天国欢。
人命如草芥,
不及股市贵;
战火连中东,
此乃真民主。

Related discussions:

TODO origin?

5.15. Why does Ciro Santilli say that China is a dictatorship? (中国不是独裁!)

Ciro is using the word in an slightly extended/joking sense.

Maybe "authoritarian" is a more precise term, but it is just too much of a mouthful.

In particular, dictatorships are harder to sustain than authoritarianism, since it generally implies even less freedom, and a single leader whose death can destabilize everything.

The CCP is more like a social class with a large number of members and various sub-layers, and it is therefore much harder to take down on the other hand.

Dictatorship is becoming more and more precise under Xi however.

Even Mao Zedong (毛泽东, 1954–1976) admits it and put it into the constitution: People’s democratic dictatorship 人民民主专政, so funny.

Well known Evil Western media that also call China a dictatorship:

Further discussions about this useless terminology question:

5.15.1. Where can I find good words for a keyword attack? (我在哪里可以找到关键字攻击的好词?)

See also:

5.15.1.1. How does Ciro Santilli choose keywords for the keyword attack? (三西猴如何为关键词攻击选择关键词?)

I haven’t counted, but the limit for Stack Overflow is quite low, and I’m always almost at the maximum, which is about "Ciro Santilli" + 3 3-4 Chinese character events with a separator.

These are some of my prioritization guidelines:

  • recent cases receive a large prime over the raw death toll, because older cases can always be attributed to other people.

    E.g., I’ve heard there is even some opening towards acknowledging the Great Famine, thus 烏坎事件 (and others from my previous profile names)

  • words must refer to a precise event, and must be clearly summarizable in very few chars, for increased impact, and profile name length limitations.

    E.g. "High corruption rates, high pollution", although very serious, feel too generic.

  • events that relate directly to freedom of speech receive a prime, since they can only happen in China and very few other countries.

    Non e.g.: corruption and pollution. Those are hard to quantify, and there is always an immediate reply: china GDP per capita is low, same happens in India, Brazil, etc.

    Freedom of speech however, is immediately verifiable (e.g. "my Weibo was taken down"), and undeniably caused by the current central government.

  • the more people affected, and the more deeply they have been affected, the more important obviously

I am currently trying to maintain in my Stack Overflow Location a ranking of events in a single string, so that it can be easily copy pasted around. The location appears on every page if you hover over my account name, so it is likely in the HTML at least.

If you think that this list can be improved, please open an issue explaining how and why.

5.15.2. Other notable keyword attacks (其他值得注意的关键字攻击)

5.15.2.1. Notepad++

It might be a newbie text editors for newbie Windows users, but at least they use it to good use by doing keyword attacks:

The creator appears to be a Vietnamese immigrant or descendant living in France. There are many such immigrants due to Vietnam being an ex-colony: https://github.com/donho Also he must have good reason to dislike the commies due to similar commit bullshit in Vietnam. He was at Paris Diderot in 2000: https://donho.github.io/#education (archive).

5.15.2.1.1. Notepad++ Chinese browsers block (2020)

https://techcrunch.com/2020/08/17/notepad-plus-plus-blocked-in-china/ "Text editor Notepad++ banned in China after ‘Stand With Hong Kong' update" where "banned" means "the download page where they keywords are shown is now blocked in Chinese browsers". The rest of the website is still up. So no domain block due to HTTPS, browser only action for now.

5.16. What should all pro-democracy people do about China? (所有的民主派人士应该干什么?)

To obey is to betray.
To disobey is to serve.

服从就是背叛
违抗就是服务

Obéir c’est trahir.
Désobéir c’est servir.

To obey is to betray
Figure 60. To obey is to betray. To disobey is to server ("Obéir c’est trahir. Désobéir c’est servir" in French) flyer featuring the cross of Lorraine (洛林十字). Snowden (斯诺登) comes to mind. Source.

5.16.1. Civil disobedience (公民不服從)

5.16.1.1. Lie Flat movement (躺平主义)

The movement notably contradicts one of the Core socialist values (社会主义核心价值观): dedication (敬业).

Good cat lying down meme: https://www.marxist.com/china-lie-flat.htm

5.16.1.1.1. Little girl has ho hopes for school video (2021, 小姑娘对学校没有希望)

Transcript and translation:

你害怕开学吗?
随便。
对这个学校有什么期待吗?
没有。
为什么呢?
不知道。
新学期有什么新的愿望吗?
呵?
新学期有什么新的愿望吗?
没有。
没有望阿。
你一点心愿都没吗? 有没有小心愿阿?
没有。
希望怎么样有没有?
没有希望。

Are you afraid of starting school?
Whatever.
What are you looking forward in this school?
Nothing.
Why?
I don’t know.
What hopes do you have for new school term?
Huh?
What hopes do you have for new school term?
None.
Hmmm, you don’t have any hopes.
You don’t have any small wishes?
None.
What about hopes?
I have no hope.

Note: 没有希望。 would likely more accurately be translated as "I have no hopes for school". But the same sentence also means "I have no hope", and it was too tempting to recast it in terms of the Lie Flat movement.

On the background sign, we read:

二中青龙湾小学校师阳光台

Sunshine Terrace (? announcement board) of the teachers of the Qinglongwan Elementary School No. 2

The school is mentioned in a news report from 2020 at: https://moment.rednet.cn/pc/content/2020/08/24/8249389.html 市二中青龙湾小学9月1日将迎来首批学生 (City No. 2 Middle School Qinglongwan Primary School will welcome its first batch of students on September 1st) which says it is located at Qinglongwan Town, Lukou District in Hunan Province (湖南省) (青龙湾小镇, 株洲县,)

Lie flat girl
Figure 61. Still from the above.

5.16.2. Photobombing-like attacks

Explicitly forbidden in China by the law: Real username law (2015).

See also:

5.16.2.1. Appropriation attack

An appropriation attack is one where the attackers attempt to associate an existing symbol to their cause.

For example during the 2019 Hong Kong anti-extradition bill protests (反对逃犯条例修订草案运动) attackers attempted to use this technique to associate a generic Chinese Chun-Li-like character Mei from Blizzard’s Overwatch game to try and get it blocked in China after the gaming company punished a pro gamer for defending the Hong Kong protests. Coverage https://www.businessinsider.com/blizzard-fans-overwatch-mei-hong-kong-protests-memes-2019-10 (archive).

Mei with Hong kong
Figure 62. Mei from Blizzard’s Overwatch was used in an attempted Appropriation attack during the 2019 Hong Kong anti-extradition bill protests (反对逃犯条例修订草案运动). Source.

5.16.3. What should Western countries do about China? (西方国家应该怎么对待中国?)

Force all their Western servers to accept TLS 1.3 ENSI connections only: TLS 1.3 ENSI.

Companies only care about money and have no long term view, the following must be imposed by governments on Western companies.

Serious sanctions must be pot on companies that sell sensitive things to dictatorships:

Related approaches taken by the CCP that should also be stopped dead by strict enforcement of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA):

Physical presence influence must be completely blocked, e.g. cultural centers that report directly to the CCP such as Confucius institute (孔子学院) and Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA, 中国学生学者联合会) must be banned.

News about Chinese state media using Western social media:

Accounts that are not labelled as being from the Chinese government, but which support the CCP, must be investigated to determine if they are actually funded by the Chinese government.

TODO what to do with websites of: Chinese government media (中国政府媒体)? Blocking them has the downsides that:

  • it would be harder to monitor what crazy shit the commies are doing

  • those censorship mechanisms could be reused to block good websites by Western governments that are becoming Evil

Let’s just leave them up to start with, who gives a fuck about them? :-) If they are getting too many page views, we can make search engines add the disclaimer too.

Chinese social media such as WeChat (微信, Weixin) and TikTok (Douyin, 抖音) must be banned. This is less serious than regular websites, because you can always repost on Western social media but without getting spied on:

Whenever China kicks out a western journalist who is in China and reports there, the Western country must do the same and kick out a Chinese journalists for a Chinese media.

An upside of restricting Chinese servies is that it would hugely bolster Censorship circumvention (翻墙) technologies, as every Chinese expat would need to buy a VPN.

Western governments must identify raw material dependencies on China, and reduce them, while at the same time forbidding technology transfer to China. China has been trading cheap resources for technology, and we must stop that now.

Unfair Chinese commercial practices must be reciprocated. Chinese companies should be forced to open joint ventures to operate outside of China, which is a trick China uses to control profits and more easily steal IP from Western companies:

Sanctions must be imposed directly on Chinese officials. They must not be allowed to "escape to a better life or have investments in the West":

Xi pole
Figure 63. Rebel Pepper (变态辣椒, RFA cartoonist) 2016-09-07 cartoon entitled "宽衣撒币" depicting Xi Jinping (习近平, 2012-∞, Heil卐!) as a pole dancer and throwing money at other world leaders during the 2016 G20 Hangzhou summit is a reference to how China buys political influence in other countries by promising profitable trade deals with those countries. Source.
5.16.3.1. Mark government controlled social media (将政府控制的社交媒体帐户标记为此类)

All posts of all state-sponsored social media accounts must be clearly marked as such.

This should be done not only for China, but of all countries, including Western democracies.

Even better, they should add funny censored images on top of those that are from dictatorship countries.

Furthermore, marked media from dictatorships must be forbidden to both monetize and pay to promote its content.

Any outlets that do not announce themselves as state sponsored but are, must be banned forever when they are found out.

What to do about personal accounts is much harder to decide however, and especially so in the case of CCP apologists (中共辩护士), where they might really not be state sponsored, and the creator’s nationality won’t help make the decision either.

Some websites have started marking such accounts, which is a great start.

Reports of Chinese influence on social media:

5.16.3.2. China spy stories (中国间谍故事)

Do not underestimate the CCP and its control over every Chinese companies and people. Every Chinese company and person is a potential spy.

This is true for all countries however, and Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的) does not not reproach China specifically for its secret service, e.g. Snowden (斯诺登) used Dell as an NSA front-end.

The point is just that the West should not underestimate this menace that comes from a Why does Ciro Santilli say that China is a dictatorship? (中国不是独裁!).

For university espionage in particular see: University espionage (大学间谍).

Some Chinese spy stories:

[[2010-dismantling-of-cia-s-network-in-china-2010]] ====== 2010 dismantling of CIA’s network in China (2010 拆除中情局在华网络)

Around2010-2012 about 20 CIA spies in China were killed. One was shot right in the courtyard of a government building as a message to others.

After identifying some of the websites, possibly with a double agent, Iran was able to reach the rest through Google searches for similar sites.

The trouble started in when the CIA was investigating nuclear weapons in Iran in 2009.

The fact that China soon followed could indicate that Iran sold the secret to China.

TODO do we have any such sample websites or screenshots of them? https://github.com/cirosantilli/china-dictatorship/issues/167

A 2011 Iranian television broadcast that touted the government’s destruction of the CIA network said U.S. intelligence operatives had created websites for fake companies to recruit agents in Iran by promising them jobs, visas and education abroad. Iranians who initially thought they were responding to legitimate opportunities would end up meeting with CIA officers in places like Dubai or Istanbul for recruitment, according to the broadcast.

therefore the websites might not have been in English.

TODO find that broadcast. News broke 2019-06-22[] apparently: * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMilJGTIvkI "US calls for Iran to free alleged CIA spy" by euronews (in English) (2011-12-20) shows a forced confession on state television by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amir_Mirza_Hekmati. He claims to have been tortured with forced drug withdrawal. Given that Iran is in the Golden Crescent, Ciro would guess they gave him heroin, see also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium_in_Iran "Opium in Iran is widely available, and the country was thought to have the highest per capita number of opiate addicts in the world[1][2] at a rate of 2.8% of Iranians over age 15."

Iran claims to have captured spies working for CIA

5.16.3.2.2. People’s Liberation Army (PLA, 中国人民解放军, 解放军, People’s Oppression Army, 镇压军)

The Chinese army, and also one of the central intelligence agencies, notably on cyberattacks.

As highlighted on The Gate of Heavenly Peace (1995, 天安门纪录片) 1:41, the PLA were really thought of as heroes of the people, partly due to Mao-era propaganda, as their name indicates. But when they stepped into Tiananmen, some of that was lost.

PLA soldier breaking bricks on head
Figure 64. A Chinese soldier smashes bricks on a colleague’s head during joint Chinese-India (伊朗) anti-terrorism exercises in Kunming in 2007. http://mil.news.sina.com.cn/2014-02-26/0954766058.html from Sina Corp (新浪, Weibo owner) give the Chinese term "油锤贯顶". Source. Better source with worse image quality.
5.16.3.3. The West must ban the Chinese telecommunications software and hardware (西方必须禁止中国电信软件和硬件)

They are an entry point to spying, censorship and Fake news (假新闻). Notable companies that should be banned:

Reports:

5.16.3.4. What should Western media do about China? (西方媒体应该怎么对待中国?)

When you report something about a person, for fuck’s sake include the person’s name in the title of the article, at the very least the pinyin.

Then, in the body, also add the corresponding Chinese characters on the first mention. This is how you do it: "San Xihou (三西猴)"

Yes, Chinese people also have names. And yes, pinyin has infinitely more homonyms than characters.

In the body of the article, notably in photos, include the exact location of the event if applicable.

City at the very least, but if recognizable, where withing the city.

Yes, China is big! There are many different places in China.

5.16.4. Western companies that comply with Chinese censorship requests (遵守中国审查要求的西方公司)

Western governments should prevent companies from complying to Chinese censorship requests, or at least impose fines and sanctions on them.

Citizens should boycott such companies and require them to be punished.

Some hell known companies and events:

Brand censorship chart
Figure 65. 2019 summary of companies that kowtow to China. Source.
Xi bat
Figure 66. Rebel Pepper (变态辣椒, RFA cartoonist) 2019-10 carton showing several brands kowtowing to Xi Jinping (习近平, 2012-∞, Heil卐!), while South Park alone gives the middle finger. Source.
Xi Apple
Figure 67. Rebel Pepper (变态辣椒, RFA cartoonist) 2017-07 showing Xi Jinping (习近平, 2012-∞, Heil卐!) eating an Apple Inc. logo referring to the many events where Apple gave in to Chinese demands to have access to the Chinese market. Source.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4WBsahU3X4 Stephen Colbert comments in 2015 on how American films make a good image of China to be allowed in China by censors to increase sales.
5.16.4.2. LinkedIn (领英)

Immediately censors anything that the Chinese government asks to censor in China.

Hi Ciro,

Your LinkedIn profile is an integral part of how you present your professional self to the world. That’s why we believe it’s important to inform you that due to the presence of prohibited content located in the headline, background image and volunteer experience sections of your LinkedIn profile, your profile and your public activity, such as your comments and items you share with your network, will not be made viewable in China. Your profile and activity continues to remain viewable throughout the rest of the countries in which LinkedIn is available. We will work with you to minimize the impact and can review your profile’s accessibility within China if you update the headline, background image and volunteer experience sections of your profile. But the decision whether to update your profile is yours.

In February 2014, we began offering a localized version of LinkedIn in China. We believe that people everywhere can benefit from Chinese individuals connecting with each other and LinkedIn members in other parts of the world, and that the creation of economic opportunity can have a profound impact on their lives and the lives of their families and communities.

While we strongly support freedom of expression, we recognized when we launched that we would need to adhere to the requirements of the Chinese government in order to operate in China. As a reminder, your profile will remain viewable throughout the rest of the countries in which LinkedIn is available.

If you have any questions, please contact Customer Service.

Regards,

LinkedIn Support Team

2021-10-14 https://techcrunch.com/2021/10/14/microsoft-to-pull-linkedin-from-chinese-market/ Microsoft to pull LinkedIn from Chinese market

The leading Chinese clone appear to be MaiMai (脉脉):

300M investment and not even an English Wikipedia page, we live on different planets: https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/脉脉

Interestingly however, Ciro still received some profile views from Chinese profiles from time to time, he wonders why, do they have a permit of some sort? E.g.:

They also have a Anonymous accounts ban (2017) policy for all countries:

Related:

Ciro Santilli LinkedIn China ban
Figure 69. 3 days after Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的) put up anti-CCP messages on his LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cirosantilli, the account was banned in China. They are quite efficient. Zhou Fengsuo (周锋锁) had notably previously achieved this. Another report by a Peter Humphrey.
5.16.4.3. Chinese interference in Western media (中国干预西方媒体)

This lists links between owners of several US media outlets and China: https://thefederalist.com/2020/05/04/has-china-compromised-every-major-mainstream-media-entity/ "A Rundown Of Major U.S. Corporate Media’s Business Ties To China". No direct evidence that this has affected the news however.

Related:

5.16.4.3.1. China watch (2011-)

Campaign by China Daily (中国日报, CCP media) to add paid articles/ads that read like news in/distributed with Western newspapers. They appeared to be marked as China watch ads, but still, they should be crushed.

China Daily has also developed diversified cooperation with over 40 media organizations around the world, including The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Daily Telegraph, the Guardian, etc.

5.16.4.4. bandinchina GitHub repository

Contains a "List of companies who have apologized to the Chinese government and implemented censorship requests".

It only lists companies that implemented censorship outside of China however (with Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau defined as outside of China), therefore it is basically a Taiwan flag takedown + Hong Kong / Taiwan censorship list:

5.17. Chinese Interference in the Western education systems (中共对西方教育体系的干预)

Related about university interference:

China buying pre-University educational institutions:

5.17.2. University espionage (大学间谍)

Lists:

People:

5.17.3. Chinese student coordinator in Germany tells exchange students not to support democracy (2020, 德国学校开班会4反对民主)

YET UNCONFIRMED VIDEO, we have to find who that person is exactly.

The video shows what seems to be Chinese a high school dorm coordinator saying that their Chinese exchange students must stay away from ideas Democracy (民主) and freedom.

And remember that "democracy" and "freedom" are two of the Core socialist values (社会主义核心价值观)!

First ripped from uploader’s Douyin account named Michael_c118, who also appears to be the person on the video.

Original proeminent report on the West: 2020-10-04 https://twitter.com/SDeutschlands/status/1312682617888796673 by "Voice From Germany 德國之音"

https://m.yorkbbs.ca/forum/chat/5228712.aspx contains reported screenshots of the Douyin profile (no web interface it seems), include a clear face shot.

Video also commented at:

Key markings:

  • "德国学校开班会4"

  • "This man is a coordinator of Chinese high school students who study in Germany"

  • "We have to say there’s some problems in our dorm right now"

https://twitter.com/Hujo_DR/status/1312793758203748357/photo/1 is a screenshot of the Douyin profile showing a phone number, which looks like a Chinese number due to prefix 139: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_numbers_in_China#Mobile_phones

The screnshots posted on yorkbbs link him to "北京智享德意国际教育" (Beijing Zhixiang German/Italian International Education).

Googling "北京智享德意国际教育 linkedin" leads to UNCONFIRMED a Yun Xiao https://www.linkedin.com/in/xiaoyun79/ | https://archive.vn/CzZft which is not marked as working in the above organization, but could be the person in the video based on the profile picture (uncertain), and also works with education, thus the Google hit at his current organization (北京智晗未来教育咨询有限公司).

Searching for Google exact hits to "北京智享德意国际教育" leads to https://www.tianyancha.com/company/3283146644 which rejects foreign visits as of 2020-10-26, shows up on Google cache at on 2020-10-21 (archive).

5.18. What should pro-democracy Chinese living in China do about the dictatorship? 想要民主住在中国大陆的人应该干什么?

First of all, hide and stay safe, unless you can deal the final blow. From World at war, 1973, ep. 16:

A dictatorship is like a snake. If you put your foot on its tail as you do it, it will just bite you and nobody will be helped. You have to strike the head.
独裁就像一条蛇。 如果你在这样做的时候把脚放在它的尾巴上,它只会咬你,没有人会得到帮助。 你必须击打头部。

Once that is taken care of, a few good options are:

  • hide your thoughts, manipulate your enemies, infiltrate the corporate, political and military power circles, and go up the ladder

  • if you are an technological innovator, leave China and come work for the West. Don’t strengthen commie power.

    Alternatively, with technology you could also try the anonymous rebellion route, but the risk of getting caught is significant, leaving the country first is likely a good idea. See also:

If you don’t manage to do either of the above, don’t do any technological work. Go work on the fields or washing dishes. Working well for Chinese companies makes the Chinese Dictatorship stronger and more deadly. See also: Embargoes make dictatorships stronger (禁运使独裁更强大).

And regardless: remind your kids that the commies are bastards every day.

Related:

Lu Xun 1930 petition
Figure 70. Petition quote by Lu Xun (鲁迅) 1926. Original quote: "请愿虽然是无论那一国度里常有的事,不至于死的事,但我们已经知道中国是例外,除非你能将’枪林弹雨’消除。" (Petitions are a common thing in any country, it is not something that results in death. But we already know that China is an exception, unless you can avoid a "barrage of bullets"."). Visible e.g. at https://www.marxists.org/chinese/reference-books/luxun/09/016.htm but also at https://www.zhihu.com/question/54231137/answer/277760001 鲁迅的文字有多一针见血? (How sharp is Lu Xun’s writing? that answerer dude has balls! A chenyu is used: https://baike.baidu.com/item/枪林弹雨/31136 枪林弹雨.

5.19. Ciro Santilli’s reply policy (三西猴的回答政策)

People get kind of passionate sometimes about politics. And some of them might also be just malicious wumaos, although it is generally not possible to distinguish between them.

If you are not a wumao, consider this:

In order to not waste too much time on those, Ciro Santilli uses the following strategy.

If the original thread post is not very interesting, try to parse it quickly and reply once, always linking to the FAQ, and then unfollow the thread. This shows that you’re still alive, and takes little effort.

Always quote reply, and always write down the ID of the OP on your reply, because discussions like this lead to a large number of comment and account deletions, which could make your reply not make much sense without the context.

After the link addressing anything that they might have said, add three randomly selected images from this repository to it. This is fundamental because the average Little pink (小粉紅, 小紅粉, 兔友) does not speak English. Therefore writing is pointless.

Meme images, however, cross the language barrier beautifully. It is even better if they have Chinese captions.

For websites that don’t accept image on comments, we just have to revert to random-links to start with.

Another way to see it is that we are creating a harder to censor Instagram channel.

You can think of them metaphorically as throwing hand grenades over the Great Firewall (GFW, 防火长城). Ciro strives to add the following elements in the image itself where applicable:

  • English explanation

  • Chinese explanation

  • date

  • location

Because the CCP censors politics, and the West does not, we can never "lose" a shitargument. Even if the Wumao (五毛) supports his country in a thread, just being in the same thread as the censored material could already be problematic for the wumao, as it is proof that they’ve seen something they should not have seen.

Therefore the only option for them is to run away.

Finally, also try to extract the email of the user from one of their repositories. When successful, Ciro takes a Wayback Machine (web.archive.org, 网站时光机) snapshot of the repository as proof of SHA, and then forks it to https://github.com/wumaoland to possibly keep their email safe in case of account deletion. You never know when this information might be useful.

Then, after replying, do your best never to read the inevitable reply again, and above all, never ever reply. An interesting reply never follows from a non-interesting original post. It is hard at first, but you will eventually get the hang of it.

If the user keeps generating notifications, block them as per CONTRIBUTING.md, replying to a single person multiple times is useless.

Never block users for an initial shitposts, just reply with a stupid joke instead. This approach creates more uncertainty and makes you look cooler. It also allows you to identify who the enemy is. Only block if the user is generating multiple notifications.

If a shitpost is made on most other social media except GitHub issues in this repository, e.g. Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, immediately block the user on that website if you have the permission to do that, with a canned reply:

Hi <idiot’s name>, I don’t reply to China issues here, please open an issue at: https://github.com/cirosantilli/china-dictatorship/issues instead, cheers.

Note however that this is not possible on idiotic websites like Quora where such comments may be deleted, possibly automatically, who the fuck knows, e.g. as done at: https://www.quora.com/What-would-happen-if-I-walked-around-Beijing-with-a-t-shirt-that-said-freedom-of-speech-is-pretty-great/answer/Ciro-Santilli/comment/143227962 In that case just link to sections of the FAQ, or mute people, or maybe just block all comments on the post to not waste time with new useless notifications.

This is because it is not worth answering anywhere else where the information will be scattered and impossible to find later on, and especially on websites that are already blocked in China. Shitposts on Stack Overflow and other non-blocked websites are encouraged however, as they further help to get the website blocked in China.

For outbursts of activity from Chinese websites, usually programming (v2ex, hacpai, pincong), only post the following canned answer and nothing else, because cowards/people who don’t know English from the website might delete your posts, so you shouldn’t waste time there with that shit:

大家你好

在我的GitHub中国FAQ repository我已经回答了好几个关于我常见的问题。

你们要是在那儿找不到一个回答,请在那个repository开一个issue,我马上就回答。

我不要再在这个网页评论。

Finally, don’t forget the golden rule from Proverbs 26:4:

Don’t answer the foolish arguments of fools, or you will become as foolish as they are.

which is now usually seen in the form of unclear attribution:

Never argue with an idiot. They will only bring you down to their level and beat you with experience.

Where basically idiot == someone who creates posts that obviously aren’t teaching you any new useful thing, or that not praising you :-)

Alternatively, there is also the Chinese chengyu version:

对牛弹琴

which means:

Playing the qin to a cow.

which means to talk to someone who does not have intellectual conditions of understanding what you are trying to say, bibliography:

https://github.com/cirosantilli/china-dictatorship/issues/733 by https://github.com/newcih is an interesting issue. OP has managed to close and change the issue title despite being blocked. Is he raising support tickets? Or can blocked people do that now? E.g. note towards https://github.com/cirosantilli/china-dictatorship/issues/733#event-5930333327 how cirosantilli managed to reopen twice without any visible closes in the middle. They also have a Twitter BTW: https://twitter.com/newcih2020/status/1520405835679109120

Play qin to cow
Figure 71. Cartoon depiction of the chengyu "Playing the qin to a cow" 《对牛弹琴》. Source.
Someone is wrong on the Internet
Figure 72. XKCD 386 "Duty Calls" and the famous "Someone is wrong on the Internet" quote. It is a waste of time to be like that. Source.

5.19.1. Asymmetric information warfare (不对称信息战)

This is a term "invented" by Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的) to denote the type of democracy vs dictatorship propaganda warfare that naturally emerges.

This concept is a mixture of the concepts of:

Pokemon political meme little pink super effective
Figure 73. It’s Super Effective! meme by Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的) describing how he deals with wumaos and little pinks. Humour is the greatest weapon against dictators, and images help cross the language barrier. Composition CC BY-SA 2021, fair use on copyrighted individual elements.
Pokemon political meme little pink super effective zh
Figure 74. Chinese translation of the above.

5.19.2. china-dictatorship reply bot

Due to the nature of Asymmetric information warfare (不对称信息战), Ciro has created a reply bot based on GitHub Actions that does the above automatically, therefore handling 99% of the work, see:

The bot works beautifully because it makes Ciro not feel the need to reply to every idiot Wumao (五毛) that comes along. Also Ciro can hide like a coward behind the bot by editing the bot’s comment, which is perfect. This reminded Ciro from something that was said in Better Call Saul S01 E01:

And they find themselves in a little room with a detective who acts like he’s their best friend.

"Talk to me," he says. "Help me clear this thing up."

"You don’t need a lawyer, only guilty people need lawyers."

And, boom, hey, that’s when it all goes south.

That’s when you want someone in your corner.

Someone who will fight tooth and nail.

Lawyers, we’re like health insurance.

You hope you never need it, but, man, oh, man, not having it? No.

The bot is basically Ciro’s lawyer, always loyally on his corner of the fighting ring.

There is only one bug with the bot as of 2021: if a Wumao (五毛) with unverified email makes several comments very fast, only the first one generates the reply, see e.g.:

Ciro is however curious how those unverified accounts can comment at all, as that seemd impossible when he last tried it with a dummy account, to be confirmed.

5.20. Who is behind this amazing FAQ? (谁是这个惊人的常见问题解答的幕后推手?)

5.20.1. Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的)

Ciro Santilli
Figure 75. Ciro testing his webcam for an Ask Ubuntu answer.
5.20.1.1. Ciro Santilli’s wife (三西猴的老婆)

Believes to be descendant of the brother of a recent Qing emperor, see also: Ciro Santilli’s claim to the Qing Dynasty throne (三西猴清朝皇帝觊觎).

For this same reason, her father, who Ciro’s wife worships, spent around 10 years in the 50’s for being branded a counter revolutionary rightist (右派) during one of Mao’s purges, possibly:

It is also for this reason that many Manchu changed their names to hide their Manchu origins, which makes reconstructing their family tree much harder, as mentioned at: https://www.scmp.com/article/982136/proud-manchu-reclaims-his-rich-heritage for the purposes of Ciro Santilli’s claim to the Qing Dynasty throne (三西猴清朝皇帝觊觎).

Ciro’s wife:

and is way smarter than Ciro.

Wumaos can say many things about her, but claiming that she is not intelligent or has no culture or would have any difficulty in obtaining a qualified worker VISA without a marriage, is a lost argument from the start, she would likely kick your butt in a raw intelligence competition.

Ciro is actually the lucky one for having found her!

The fake "the woman makes the man" Obama story comes to mind https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/spousal-success-story/ (Obama would never say that in public):

One night President Obama and his wife Michelle decided to do something out of routine and go for a casual dinner at a restaurant that wasn’t too luxurious. When they were seated, the owner of the restaurant asked the President’s Secret Service if he could please speak to the First Lady in private. They obliged and Michelle had a conversation with the owner.

Following this conversation President Obama asked Michelle, "Why was he so interested in talking to you?" She mentioned that in her teenage years, he had been madly in love with her. President Obama then said, "So if you had married him, you would now be the owner of this lovely restaurant," to which Michelle responded, "No. If I had married him, he would now be the President."

Less "China-related" remarks at: https://cirosantilli.com/ciro-santilli-s-wife

5.21. How do different websites view Ciro Santilli’s profile? (不同的网站如何看来 Ciro Santilli 的个人资料?)

5.21.1. Stack Overflow

For non-programmers, Stack Overflow is by far the leading programmer question and answer forum of the Internet.

A programmer’s daily job involves asking Google about 50 times a day "how to do X", and 90% of the time or more the best answer will be found on the Stack Overflow result that will be one of the top 3 results.

This makes Stack Overflow a fundamental tool of every programmer’s daily jobs.

The current community consensus says that keyword attacks are allowed:

However, you can’t say "Public figure X is disgusting as a person" so Wumao (五毛)s, could you please report Ciro making fun of Xi Jinping X and see what they do about it?

Reposts:

The Chinese law doesn’t allow Ciro’s profile unfortunately: Real username law (2015)

Since you will fail through Stack Overflow moderation, please consider instead making a report on the CAC report website (12321.cn, 12377.cn, 12339, 中央网信办举报网站).

5.21.1.1. Stack Overflow forbids criticizing the character of genocidal political leaders like Xi Jinping

Edit: as was made clearer later on at Stack Overflow mods refuse to clarify if anti-CCP imagery is allowed or not (2021), they just generally refuse to say clearly what is allowed or not.

Ciro was actually quite shocked by this.

He thought more people on Stack Overflow would have sided with him and favored stronger freedom of speech.

But this event made him notice that people in Stack Overflow simply didn’t push back against Ciro’s anti Xi Jinping campaign because they don’t know who the fuck Xi Jinping is, or they don’t care, or they are completely hypocrite and allow criticizing Xi Jinping but not Trump.

But they do know who Trump is, and "offending Trump" makes their feeble little feelings be hurt, and they must maintain their sacred "political correctness" at all costs, even when talking about politicians. Including that the cost of freedom.

This therefore morally justifies the take-down attempts made by hundreds of Wumao (五毛)s against Ciro’s anti Xi Jinping content.

First by initiative of Stack Overflow employee Cesar Manara (Brazilian), the sentence:

I think Trump is disgusting as a person

was removed from Ciro’s profile and notified.

In response, Ciro created a meta thread to confirm that the community agreed, and they did: Can I say on my profile that I find that an (ex) president of a country or other major political public figure is “disgusting as a person”? and the community agreed with the removal: it reached only 5 upvotes and 25 downvotes. Ciro’s profile at the time was linked to Trump’s ban on social media: trump-ban-is-bad.md.

There was no yes/no answer by anyone, because the of cowardice and hypocrisy:

  • saying "you can" would imply you can criticize Trump

  • saying "you can’t" would imply they support genocide

So their brains just tilted, and they clicked the "delete" button as the only possible resolution. The overly speedy deletion of posts was then raised as an issue two days later for an unrelated post: https://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/405585/can-we-slow-down-on-the-deletes-on-meta-folks

Then Ciro created an answer to "Does the Be Nice policy require SE users to “be nice” to people who are not SE users (e.g. public figures)?" which is a superset of the previous ones referred by them. That post is reproduced at https://github.com/cirosantilli/china-dictatorship/issues/198#issuecomment-787047242 It cites the case in which the law was tested, but it was single-handedly by journeyman-geek (from Singapore) without any justification.

Ciro then finally updated his profile picture to contain Real photo of Xi Jinping edited to look like Winnie the Pooh. Source., archive at: https://archive.vn/iV1L8 to test the Winnie-the-Pooh case which people simply refused to answer. Let’s see show that goes. As Ciro learned however, only wumaos will continue to complain, and due to hypocrisy their complaints will be ignored.

Other users who publicly went against freedom of speech in that case (in the name of "political correctness"):

Freedom of speech in social media is truly threatened by the Censorship of "politically incorrect speech" (审查政治不正确言论).

5.21.1.2. Stack Overflow political image answer placeholder (2021)

Of course, once again, just like mentioned at Stack Overflow forbids criticizing the character of genocidal political leaders like Xi Jinping, people prefer to:

No archives unfortunately, but:

The full moderation team at the time can be seen publicly at https://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/users?tab=moderators (archive) and it also contains:

Deletion message:

Hello,

We’re writing in reference to your Graphic Design Stack Exchange account:

We think you are already aware of what we are going to say, but we are going to say it anyway. Stack Exchange is an apolitical platform, and we like to keep politics as for away from our content as possible. Our little nook on the net is about Graphic Design, which has nothing to do with politics (even though it is used in the political arena all the time).

We acknowledge that politic profiles are somewhat allowed as per https://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/267368/are-political-avatars-and-profiles-ok, although we do question the usefulness of 'campaigning' through a Stack Exchange profile.

We want to draw the line however at political content. There is no need to use images or other content that might be controversial or cause emotional distress, while another image or content would serve the same function. That is why we deleted you answer on this question.

We want to welcome you on our site and encourage you to keep contributing with answers. Your other answers are fine, and judging by the amount of votes, mostly well-received by the community. You may repost the answer if you can swap out the images for more neutral ones.

At the same time we want to warn you that this type of content will not be tolerated in the future and further infractions may lead to more severe consequences.

Thanks for your understanding an cooperation, we wish you a pleasant experience on GDSE.

Regards,

Graphic Design Stack Exchange Moderation Team

Ciro’s reply:

Hi,

Is this a policy specific to graphic design website, or is it network wide, and is there an open meta question for it?

The mods then changed their discourse to mention spam rules rather than only on the "people will feel bad" aspect:

Be inclusive and respectful.

Exposing others to images of violent and traumatic events is not respectful to those on whom those images have a strong effect. This is only acceptable if the topic of the question make this inevitable, which also suffices to warn of those who are triggered by those images: Images about violent events are to be expected in a question about such events, not in a question about concatenating two images.

Rules against spam:

A post should be marked as spam only if it advertises a product, service, or similar and is unsolicited or lacks disclosure. […] Unsolicited means that mentioning the product serves no purpose other than promotion. […]

You were promoting a political position and including the promotional content (instead of a neutral picture) served no purpose other than promotion. It’s analogous to using a picture advertising a product as an example.

OK, the spam argument would likely win.

Ciro then hacked the images to his "The world is perfect" kitsch placeholder, and mods approved it, so here we go.

Ciro was planning the following meta post, but gave up on it:

Can I use political images as placeholders for questions involving images when it does not affect the validity of the answer?

For example when answering the following ImageMagick question: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/20737061/merge-images-side-by-sidehorizontally/63575228#63575228 I used an image with political content.

The choice of the placeholder was completely arbitrary, and does not affect the answer in any way.

But today admins of Graphic Design Stack Exchange https://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/questions/83446/gimp-how-to-combine-two-images-side-by-side/145543#145543 deleted the post saying it is not allowed on the Graphic Design website.

We want to draw the line however at political content. There is no need to use images or other content that might be controversial or cause emotional distress, while another image or content would serve the same function. That is why we deleted you answer on this question.

The admins mention that on profiles it is OK linking to: https://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/267368/are-political-avatars-and-profiles-ok but on answers it is not.

So I would like to clarify if:

  • is this a policy specific to Graphic Design or if it applies to the entire network.

  • if it applies to the entire network:

    • Can I use images of myself, Ciro Santilli, or is that currently considered political content?

    • At https://stackoverflow.com/a/57389607/895245 I needed several images, and I had used a list of USA presidents in chronological order without much thought. Do I have to modify that answer to use another set of images?

and planned answer:

Any images that can be used on a profile picture should also usable as a placeholder

When you answer a question, you should have a very wide choice of what to use as a placeholder.

Politics is a perfectly legal topic, just like flowers, animals, and scenery.

The "can it be used on the profile picture" test should already filter out any content that is deemed unacceptable due to legal concerns.

Another issue is that it is extremely difficult and possibly unfair to classify what is political or not.

Suppose that Ciro Santilli became famous enough outside of programming circles such that he starts to be considered a political subject.

Would his images then start to be considered political content?

But that would be discriminatory against certain people and not others.

Freedom of speech is extremely valuable, and we should be very careful about restricting it.

There are people literally unfairly dying, right now, because they don’t have it.

Do you really want to reduce yours?

The only way to prevent history from repeating itself, is to remember it.

Related spam meta posts:

The world is perfect Stack Overflow
Figure 77. "The world is perfect" as used to update Ciro Santilli’s deleted answer. Instead of redoing the tutorial from scratch, Ciro just pasted the new image on top of the old one Stack Exchange censored: Ciro Santilli’s CC BY-SA Tank Man image. Borders of the censored image were intentionally left over however as a reminder that Stack Exchange censors. This is a work of art.
Tank Man drawing censored by Ciro Santilli CC BY SA
Figure 78. Politically correct version of Ciro Santilli’s CC By-SA Tank Man image. This is how Stack Exchange wants the world to remember Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989 (六四事件).
At one point in Richard Feynman’s talk "Los Alamos from below", he describes how external letter censorship was implemented at Los Alamos, and how he went to thoroughly test the limits of what would be censored or not.
5.21.1.3. Stack Overflow mods refuse to clarify if anti-CCP imagery is allowed or not (2021)

This one again highlights the hypocrisy of many people in the West: we decide who is good and who is evil. The CCP is now evil, so you can criticize it, even if it shocks Chinese people. Ah, Nazism shocks us, even though it is an event from the past, so that you can’t do. You can only shock the Chinese people, not us.

Or: we like human rights. But not potentially disturbing someone at work even slightly is more important.

We refuse to make a public decision.

In response, Ciro wrote the following essay on his profile page: stack-exchange-lost-freedom-of-speech.md.

The following quote from Ron Maimon comes to mind:

Unfortunately, when you’re in a minority, the only way to correct the consensus view is to just shout it, and repeat it, until people go and look and check for themselves. The reason is that it creates an adversarial atmosphere where the people have to pick sides, and they don’t like to pick sides, they would rather have everyone be happy. So when you have to pick sides, what do you do? You either butt out, you just leave it alone, you run away. Or you sit and review the evidence until you know which side to pick.

Notable people who went against in the comments:

First close voters:

First reopen voters:

The interesting thing is that none of them had the courage to actually say "forbid Tiananmen", "forbid Falun Gong". But they all said "forbid not suitable for work". But they won’t clarify if "not suitable for work" includes "not suitable for work in China".

On 2021-05-29 Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的) added almost all images from this page to his Stack Overflow account as shown at: https://archive.ph/nZLgI

Hello,

We’re writing in reference to your Meta Stack Exchange account:

We note that you were previously contacted for part of your profile being offensive. It has been brought to our attention that a significant part of your profile is filled with shock pictures, nazi imagery and similar images.

We’d note that people do use this site at work, and while users have some freedom over the content of their profile, there are fairly obvious lines that shouldn’t be crossed.

We do not recommend that you restore the content we removed - specifically the images without checking back with us.

We have temporarily suspended your account; you may return after 7 days.

Regards, Meta Stack Exchange Moderation Team

As can be publicly seen at https://web.archive.org/web/20210506210320/https://stackexchange.com/about/moderators the list of moderators of that website at the time was:

Ciro replied:

Hello,

Could you clarify if the following types of images are OK or not:

  • people imprisoned in Xinjiang concentration camps

  • Tiananmen square protests

  • making fun of Xi Jinping

  • Falun Gong persecution

supposing that they show no explicit gore or violence?

All the above are considered highly shocking to many Chinese people, due in part to their strict censorship rules, and not suitable for the workplace in China.

I have been using such images for many years to criticize what I believe are terrible events in China, and the decision so far has been that I was allowed to use them.

The intent of the Nazi images is clearly to compare both regimes to criticize the Chinese Government, which I believe is following the same path as the Nazis (e.g. Concentration Camps in Xinjiang, no freedom of speech, etc.), to help prevent such abuses from happening again in the future.

I just want to clearly understand the rationale of of why anti-CCP images are OK, but anti-Nazi ones aren’t, so I can follow your rules correctly and save everyone’s time in the future by correctly deciding which images are OK or not.

Cheers.

On their next reply, they tried to dodge a directly reply, but suggested that anti-CCP imagery is forbidden:

Could you clarify if the following types of images are OK or not:

Its not the 'topic' but rather the content.

All the above are considered highly shocking to many Chinese people, due in part to their strict censorship rules, and not suitable for the workplace in China.

Well if your intent is to shock - don’t. These are your words, not ours - and hopefully reflects a better understanding of what’s not acceptable.

I just want to clearly understand the rationale of of why anti-CCP images are OK, but anti-Nazi ones aren’t, so I can follow your rules correctly and save everyone’s time in the future by correctly deciding which images are OK or not.

We never said that. We gave specific examples of objectionable content. If you realise something isn’t suitable - that it is something shocking, and not suitable for the workplace, as you seem to realise, it shouldn’t be on your profile.

In short, we believe you have a very clear idea, from your own response, of what’s not acceptable, and we hope you exercise better judgement in this regard in future.

Ciro’s Reply:

We never said that. We gave specific examples of objectionable content. If you realise something isn’t suitable - that it is something shocking, and not suitable for the workplace, as you seem to realise, it shouldn’t be on your profile.

My intent is to convey extremely important information, not to shock.

However, in dictatorships like China, extremely important information is forbidden for unfair reasons, and therefore shocking.

We never said that. We gave specific examples of objectionable content. If you realise something isn’t suitable - that it is something shocking, and not suitable for the workplace, as you seem to realise, it shouldn’t be on your profile.

You forbade any Nazi imagery clearly, including to criticize the Nazis, so that is clear and I will never again add Nazi imagery.

All anti-CCP content is extremely shocking to many Chinese people (but not others). And it is not suitable for the workplace for anyone there, that is unquestionable.

Therefore, from your reply, I understand that anti-CCP content is not allowed because it is not suitable for the workplace in China, as it is shocking.

Is this understand correct? Can you please confirm very clearly and directly: do you forbid all anti-CCP imagery or not? And if it is just a partial ban, what is allowed and what is not more precisely?

My understanding from top answers at: https://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/349131/users-political-display-name-triggering-government-action-against-users-who-vie is that such criticism of the CCP is allowed on the website, even though it is clearly not suitable for the workplace in China.

Sorry to ask this further, but I need a clearer guideline so I can follow it.

5.21.1.4. Other openly dissident users on Stack Overflow (Stack Overflow 上的其他公开持不同政见的用户)

For non-Stack Overflow specific ones see: Chinese dissidents (中国持不同政见者)

Notable ones only here (high rep or innovative criticism):

Users who had GFW references but removed it:

Misc interesting stuff:

5.21.1.4.1. Stack Overflow anti-dissident users (Stack Overflow 反异见用户)

5.21.2. GitHub

GitHub’s site policy can be seen at: https://help.github.com/en/github/site-policy

If you believe this page violates those policies, see: How to report a user on GitHub (GitHub上怎么举报用户?).

China’s GitHub censorship history is documented at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_of_GitHub#China, some events:

Related:

5.21.2.2. How to report a user on GitHub (GitHub上怎么举报用户?)

Click the report abuse button on Ciro’s profile, which links to: https://github.com/contact/report-abuse?report=cirosantilli+%28user%29 or you can just contacat support@github.com

If you do so, please feel free to also open an issue on this repository saying why you believe the site policy has been violated.

It will be fun to watch you try, and fail.

This is because you do not understand how important the concept of freedom of speech is in the West, and how amazing it feels when you are right, and it protects you.

In order to get this repository in gov-takedown, your best bet is to use the CAC report website (12321.cn, 12377.cn, 12339, 中央网信办举报网站).

admin.github.com hits to cirosantilli.com:

  • 2021-05-21

  • 2019-09

admin.github.com hits to GitHub repository:

  • 2021-05-30 6 from 1 user

Bibliography:

How to report an user on GitHub
Figure 79. How to report an user on GitHhub.
5.21.2.4. GitHub gov-takedowns (由其各自政府在某个国家审查的仓库的GitHub官方列表)

This official GitHub repository tracks which repositories are blocked in specific countries.

GitHub has absolute transparency about Government takedowns, which is awesome: https://github.com/github/gov-takedowns/tree/master/China

This makes that repo into a list of fun things.

As of 2019-05 there had only been only two takedowns by China however, compared to dozens by Russia (俄罗斯). The Chinese commies are not big fans of transparency it seems.

As of 2020-03, besides the Zhao takedown, all other takedowns happened in 2019, and most seem to be Falun Gong (法轮功, Qigong new religion/cult)/The Epoch Times (明慧网, Falun Gong media) sponsored ways to climb the wall.

The message GitHub shows on the blocked countries is:

Repository unavailable in your location

This repository is currently disabled in your location. For more details please see the takedown notice.

Here are some examples of people reacting to the blocking of https://github.com/programthink/zhao/issues/38 as per https://github.com/github/gov-takedowns/blob/78775b09e64d85f08547287cab204b48b2491192/China/2016/2016-06-08-programthink-zhao.md from China (and likely on the entire repository, which appears to be the block granularity implemented):

To check China only takedowns such as this, we cannot use Great Fire Analyzer, which reports the page as accessible: the only tool Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的) could find so far to capture a page from China a bit like Web Archive was: geoscreenshot

GitHub Programthink Zhao issue 38 China geoscreenshot 2020 09 31
Figure 80. geoscreenshot of https://github.com/programthink/zhao/issues/38 from Programthink (编程随想) taken on 2020-09-31 from China. The "Repository unavailable in your location" message shows, since this repository is in gov-takedowns/china.
5.21.2.4.1. Strategy if this repo gets added to GitHub gov-takedowns (如果此 repo 被添加到 GitHub gov-takedowns 中的策略)

If this happens, we well proceed to create alternative repos china-dictatorship-2, china-dictatorship-3, etc. and it would be fun to see how that gets handled.

Ciro then later renamed it to https://github.com/cirosantilli/china-dictatorhsip-2 with an intentional typo to make the censorship noise even greater.

Can Github add an entire user to gov-takedowns? We shall find out.

Ciro also created a separate org for it to also prevent simple username blocks: https://github.com/coding-stuffs/china-dictatorshrip

But remember that we also have: Mirrors of this page (此网页的镜像), and that this can be easily rendered as a single HTML page and uploaded to any static website host.

5.21.2.5. GitHub "This repository may contain objectionable content" (此仓库可能包含令人反感的内容)

GitHub has a veru little known feature called:

This repository may contain objectionable content

TODO exact Chinese phrase on UI.

When GitHub admins set this on a repository, it has the following effects:

  • the repository cannot be seen by logged off users! Trying to do that results in a redirect. This puts such repositories at great disadvantage on search engine optimization

  • the first time you visit the repository, they ask you if you want to continue

This is not a transparent mechanism, as it does not clearly state why the repository has objectionable content.

Known repositories with that enabled:

TODO: Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的) once saw that message when visiting: https://github.com/Yanqiu-gui/-/issues/5 on 2021-05-19 for the first time, but not on the following ones.

How does that message get added exactly?

And you are forced you to login to view that repository!

Incredible, a hidden undocumented semi-hide-repo feature.

Here’s an archive: https://archive.ph/VJQdD That click wall also prevents archives of the repository therefore.

5.21.2.6. GitHub censorship guidelines (GitHub 审查指南)

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9966118 GitHub threatens to shut down a repository for using the word 'retard' (2015)

5.21.2.7. Gitee

For our mirror there, see: Gitee censorship (Gitee 审查).

Linked to "Open Source China" (开源中国) according to TechCrunch:

The project will be carried out by a consortium led by Open Source China, the Shenzhen-based firm behind its namesake open-source community and Gitee.

At https://gitee.com/mirrors they mirrors 21 thousand repositories as of 2021, updating them daily, with the goal of having "higher download speeds" in mainland China. Not that their speed is shit because of censorships of course.

Mirrors containing Ciro’s keywords or related interesting stuff:

As of 2021, it requires login to see:

Lol.

News:

5.21.2.7.1. Gitee censorship (Gitee 审查)

After posting our Mirrors of this page (此网页的镜像) there, it was blocked in 12 hours:

The block email is:

通知

仓库 cirosantilli/China Dictatorship 已被锁定

原因: 根据相关法律法规和政策,本仓库暂停访问。

Other known blocked china-dictatorship forks:

5.21.2.8. GitHub-Chinese-Top-Charts (GitHub中文排行榜)

Automatically generated list of repos with Chinese characters in their descriptions with the most upvotes per programming language.

At https://github.com/kon9chunkit/GitHub-Chinese-Top-Charts/issues/177 a Wumao (五毛) asked "为什么一些奇怪的项目也能进榜单?" (Why can some weird projects appear in the project list?)

5.21.3. Zhihu (知乎, censored Quora clone, 审查 Quora 克隆)

The Chinese Quora clone, but highly censored: Zhihu censorship (知乎审查).

The Zhihu 404 page image. When they take the posts down as of 2020, it shows the 404 page which reads "你似乎来到了没有知识存在的荒原" (you seem to have come to a wasteland about which does does not exist any knowledge), and shows this symbol. Source.

i mage::https://web.archive.org/web/20200614114535im_/https://static.zhihu.com/heifetz/assets/liukanshan_wire.e7247fbf.svg[height=500]

5.21.4. Zhihu censorship (知乎审查)

More general censorship discussion at: Censorship (审查).

Examples of Zhihu censorship:

Other discussions:

5.21.4.1. Ciro Santilli’s Zhihu purge 2019-11-03 (三西猴被知乎抹去)

On this day, not only the posts made by Ciro himself were deleted: he had never asked any questions or made any Zhuanlan posts himself, only replied to those. But that content made by other users was still removed. Therefore, this is not just a simple user ban, but active censorship.

Ciro received an email from account@mail.zhihu.com:

您好,Ciro Santilli,很抱歉您的回答受到了牵连,您回答过的问题「github.com@cirosantilli 是谁维护的,为什么会收集邮箱地址?」因「违反互联网相关法律法规」已被删除。

followed by Ciro’s answer to github.com@cirosantilli 是谁维护的,为什么会收集邮箱地址?. Ciro could not login anymore, the login screen showed:

帐号已停用,请联系:user@zhihu.com

So likely someone must have used the fact that this was an edgy personally information release subject issue, and then someone from Zhihu decided to purge Ciro and anyone posts that ever talked about him.

Ciro’s blocked account:

Furthermore, all questions related to Ciro, including the posts criticizing him such as https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/25600138 (archive), were taken down. This made Ciro laugh: in China, you can’t even criticize that which is censored, or your post also gets taken down.

Ciro then created an anonymous Zhihu account after this event.

Interestingly however, the following answer came up later on: Answer to the Zhihu question "How do you evaluate Ted Chiang’s 'Evil Chinese Characters' essay?" "如何评价姜峯楠(Ted Chiang)在纽约客上的随笔《坏汉字》?"的回答 and stayed up for at least 5 months, which indicates that Zhihu did a one-off removal, and did not set up a filter for Ciro’s name.

5.21.4.1.1. Ciro Santilli’s Zhihu ban 2018-06-25

As a result, since that time I will be answering Zhihu questions as issues in this repo with the zhihu label: https://github.com/cirosantilli/china-dictatorship/issues?q=label%3Azhihu+

I have however never posted anything politically sensitive on Zhihu, unless my name and profile picture have reached that distinction, and therefore the ban is clearly an unfair per-person ban.

But of course, all is fair in love and war, and politics.

Posting any sensitive content on Chinese websites is a waste of time, since it only means that they will be removed and you will waste time creating a new account, I will never do that.

The only significant content I ever posted on Zhihu is the answer to: https://www.zhihu.com/question/46957710/answer/122827944 which is purely technical, and trivial replies on threads that other people have started about me. Have those people been blocked like me?

My posts are still up and it does not appear to be possible for people to see that I have been banned, but whenever I try to take any action on the website a popup appears saying:

由于严重违反 知乎社区管理规定 ,该帐号已被永久禁言

This includes liking, commenting, answering, asking or trying to update my profile to say that I have been blocked.

This message also shows on my public page for everyone to see: https://www.zhihu.com/people/cirosantilli/activities but they use some JavaScript scheme complicated enough that archive.is cannot capture it.

I still get notifications however, but I am unable to reply to them, especially given that all Chinese accounts, unlike mine, have no personal identifiable information due to the understandable fear Chinese citizens have of their own government, even though such accounts might be illegal in theory: Anonymous accounts ban (2017).

The only action that I can take now is to report abusive comments people make to me.

Obviously, the only effect of such ban is that I will create an anonymous account under Tor with a second cell phone if I wish to contribute in the future, and China will have less information about my political interests than before.

The private messages the website sends while banning you are:

知乎管理员 :您好,根据用户举报,您的帐号发布了「政治敏感」内容,帐号已根据知乎社区规范被永久禁言。处理详情可查看社区服务中心。具体规范请查看知乎社区管理规定。 6月25日 16:37 回复 | 删除

知乎管理员 :您好,根据用户举报,您的部分个人信息由于不符合知乎用户信息管理规范已被重置。用户名可以在设置页面中修改,修改后会自动进入审核等待通过;其他个人信息可以在个人主页中编辑。感谢您对知乎社区的理解和支持。 6月25日 16:37 回复 | 删除

The ban came soon after I posted a link to my GitHub repo as a comment at: https://techcrunch.com/2018/06/21/ice-employee-list-github-linkedin/ maybe they are related.

5.21.4.1.2. Who reported Ciro Santilli on Zhihu (谁在知乎上举报了 Ciro Santilli)

At the same time the ban happened I received a public comment from user "Eureka" https://www.zhihu.com/people/crb912/activities | https://archive.is/1F3t6 on this thread: https://www.zhihu.com/question/46957710 | https://archive.is/PVOLd saying:

你滥用了github, 也滥用了Stackover。这个一个纯粹计算机、编程和知识分享的地方,请不要带入政治性的色彩。请不要这么做, 维护社区的非政治性、中立和技术性纯粹,是每个热爱cs的人应尽的义务。

I am unable to get a URL that shows the comment on archive.is, so I have no proof of this claim. If you trust me, then here is a screenshot: https://imgur.com/a/YCiEEax

Since I expect the ban lists to be private, I find it extremely likely that this was the user who reported me, unless both were simultaneously triggered by a third event which I have not seen. So correct me if I’m wrong here.

Users with the same user id crb912, related "Eureka" username or same profile picture, can be found at:

By Googling the email found on the GitHub repos, we find: http://www.360doc.com/content/15/0809/11/25724933_490492490.shtml | https://archive.is/2UnGL which might, at last, contain a photo of my nemesis.

My public message to the reporter whomever he may be:

While you have also raised issues that were raised a thousand times before, and clearly answered in the FAQ, at least you were able to take some actual action leading to an actual ban, and I respect you for that.

I hope that one day you will redirect that cunning and initiative towards taking down the root cause of the problem, which are the Chinese communist Party and their Firewall themselves.

All Zhihu posts related to Ciro Santilli were deleted following Ciro Santilli’s Zhihu purge 2019-11-03 (三西猴被知乎抹去). Some had been deleted before.

A random control question that shows that archive.org 404’s are actually deleted questions: https://www.zhihu.com/question/316700165 (archive).

Mentions not yet deleted as of writing:

5.21.4.2.1. Answer to the Zhihu question "How do you evaluate Ted Chiang’s 'Evil Chinese Characters' essay?" "如何评价姜峯楠(Ted Chiang)在纽约客上的随笔《坏汉字》?"的回答

Contains reactions to the post: Evil Chinese Characters by Ted Chiang (坏汉字由Ted Chiang), and this answer says that even though Ciro Santilli is amazingly smart, he cannot be bothered to learn Chinese characters, quoting Ciro’s comments from: Does Ciro Santilli speak Chinese? (三西猴会说中文吗?).

This post was interesting because it happened after Ciro Santilli’s Zhihu purge 2019-11-03 (三西猴被知乎抹去), which indicates that Zhihu did not setup an automated "Ciro Santilli" filter.

5.21.4.2.2. github.com@cirosantilli 是谁维护的,为什么会收集邮箱地址?

Asked in 2016-09 after Ciro published: https://github.com/cirosantilli/all-github-commit-emails

Deleted after Ciro Santilli’s Zhihu purge 2019-11-03 (三西猴被知乎抹去). Ciro’s answer before deletion:

你用的git config user.email当然是公开的:谁都会git clone就知道了。

问题就是git repository很大,我们不会都clone.

但是github有一个API,收集很多信息,包括邮件。

然后,Google用了那个API给他们的https://cloud.google.com/bigquery/…​信息。

BigQuery对程序员很容易提取信息,是我用的。

我发表邮件以后,两个东西变化了:

  1. Google 把邮件从BigQuery删除

  2. GitHub 更新他们的隐私声明GitHub Privacy Statement

这就是我的木比:保护人们的隐私权

我的README.md更详细地解释。

5.21.5. Quora

Quora is a generally shitty website, with mechanisms that allow wumaos to quench freedom of speech.

Quora is a major platform for Astroturfing.

Ironically, as usual, is it also blocked in China:

Examples of activity related to Ciro Santilli:

Quora is also shitty because wumaos can downvote your answer privately regardless of reputation and make it become collapsed as "Answer may need improvement", which means it goes to the bottom and readers have to click an "expand collapsed answers" button to see it, so that very few people will ever see it.

Then have to appeal and wait for moderators to evaluate it.

Ciro appealed in 2020-03-10 and the answer was reinstated on day later, but by then the question was already not being suggested as much to readers, and the other wumao answers (which criticize the USA rather than answering the question about China).

While there is some probability that the answers themselves are not wumaos, their upvoters almost certainly are and must be investigated.

Other shitty aspects of Quora include:

  • block Wayback Machine (web.archive.org, 网站时光机) archives with their robots.txt, gotta use archive.today (archive.is)

  • automatically add random topics that you don’t care about to your suggestions, with no easy way to prevent that.

  • questions cannot have more than one sentence. There used to be a question body, but it was replaced with a "link for context". Ridiculous.

As a result, on the few occasions that Ciro posts on Quora, all content will also be mirrored here. Ciro’s China Quora answers include:

Some wumaos:

Related posts:

5.21.6. PTT Bulletin Board System (Taiwanese message board, 批踢踢實業坊)

Popular Taiwanese forum system and server from 1995, pre HTML, works from telnet terminal, so likely very programmer heavy, and obviously anti-CCP, as of 2020 often shows Falun Gong (法轮功, Qigong new religion/cult) ads.

Archaic, fucking impossible to learn how to use. Ciro Santilli hasn’t managed yet, so if you want a reply from him, open an issue on this repo instead. Some tips:

  • on the web UI rendering replies can be either likes (推 as in 推荐), dislikes (噓, hush!) or neutral (right arrow)

  • per-page threads are basically flat. You can however reply to another post with a "Re:" post. One application of this seems to be to post images which might only be allowed on the thread starters, e.g.: https://www.ptt.cc/bbs/joke/M.1602324724.A.CA0.html is a "Re:" to https://www.ptt.cc/bbs/joke/M.1602211516.A.3FB.html It is not clear if Re: and original posts are interlinked in any way.

TODO: can anyone comment, without having a Taiwanese university address? This suggests no: https://www.reddit.com/r/taiwan/comments/1etbvb/anyone_on_pttcc_advice_suggestions/ Also asked at:

A source informed Ciro that now only NTU alumni can have an account.

Maybe the email requirement is the only way to prevent wumaos from flooding the website.

Normal people see it on a web viewer hosted on: https://www.ptt.cc/bbs/index.html

However it is fucking impossible to web archive that web interface because there is a cookie I’m 18-years-old confirmation before the first connection.

This shows how to connect for the first time: https://www.ptt.cc/index.firstbbs.html

One attempt is:

luit -encoding big5 telnet ptt.cc

But the main page says:

"本站目前暫停開放新帳號註冊。" "This site is currently suspended for new account registration."

And you try new it says: "目前無法註冊帳號![按任意鍵繼續]" "Account cannot be registered at this time."

OK, ptt2 went further:

luit -encoding big5 telnet ptt2.cc

Then there is a registration process that seem to require you to prove that you work at Taiwanese university, but not sure it is mandatory to post.

But I couldn’t find Gossiping there either, which is the only board that matters, so not sure it is on this server.

5.21.7. LIHKG (連登, Hong Kong Reddit clone)

Hong Kong (香港) Reddit clone. Requires a Hong Kong IP or university address to login, a bit in the spirit of PTT Bulletin Board System (Taiwanese message board, 批踢踢實業坊) to avoid Wumao (五毛) invasion.

If it goes down, they created: https://www.reddit.com/r/LIHKG/ on Reddit.

TODO meaning of "LI"?

5.21.8. Google (谷歌)

Related subjects:

5.21.8.1. Google mirrors (谷歌镜像)

Do the names mean anything? Are they owned? The fact that they are Alexa top 1000 domains is just so funny, Google redirects for China.

Alexa top 1000 domains and blocked in China as per GreatFire (自由微博):

Other mirrors:

No HTTPS?!?! Brains?!?!

Lists of mirrors:

5.21.8.1.1. library.ac.cn

https://library.ac.cn/ large list of university Google/Google Scholar/Wikipedia/Twitter mirrors maintained by Chinese university students under an unified system. Each one asks for verification that you are from that university via some little known fact about the university:

Website now points to: https://github.com/librarycloud/iwiki

Related URLs:

6. Anti-CCP information sources (反中共信息来源)

https://www.reddit.com/r/China is what Ciro uses daily for news, see also: Reddit

In other sections:

6.1. Reddit

Subs with lots of anti-commie info:

Related:

Non-China specific but relevant:

TODO review:

6.1.1. r/China Reddit sub

That catches all the important news.

A large part of the posts has controversial material.

Has some noise of course as well, but less than other media I find.

Highly worth your feed.

6.1.2. r/chonglangTV Reddit sub

15k users 2020-03.

Banned 2022-03 for some likely very lightweight "doxxing" that had already been published everywhere. https://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/reddit-03042022114155.html from Radio Free Asia (RFA, 自由亚洲电台, USA government media) gives more context, translation;

The reason why chonglangTV was blocked was "disclosure of personal information". It is suspected that they have something to do with a "patriotic pink" named "Xu Hao" (徐好) who claimed to be an employee of a bank in Shanghai. "Xu Hao" claimed that he used his power to intercept multiple donations to Ukraine, and was later "opened the box" by netizens. (i.e. starting with personal information).

Other threads:

Chinese language, pretty good content, anti-CCP samples:

6.1.3. Pro dictatorship Reddit subs

6.1.3.1. r/sino

The ban message is:

You have been permanently banned from participating in r/Sino. You can still view and subscribe to r/Sino, but you won’t be able to post or comment.

Try r/westerner TRASH doesn’t get by mods here. Tiananmen Square is vindicated by China’s development. Anti terror system in Xinjiang is working. End result for HK is the same since 1997, regardless of rioters. Scientology-esque FLG/Shen Yun cult show has failed for decades, if you believe their claims, it’s all of them losing badly.

Dec 31 China informed WHO about mysterious pneumonia. Jan 11 Chinese reveal virus genome Jan 23 Wuhan quarantine - businessinsider/sciencemag

You had the genome and saw the lengths China went to. Don’t blame others for failing months later.

US accused of 'modern piracy' after diversion of masks meant for Europe - theguardian

Democracies Are Better at Fighting Outbreaks - theatlantic XD

The US leads in coronavirus cases, but not pandemic response - sciencemag XD

Beliefs of founder cultleader of Falun Gong from own lectures on official falundafa site https://redd.it/42wlvf

6.1.3.2. r/GenZedong

Ciro commented linking to https://cirosantilli.com/why-ciro-santilli-refers-to-himself-in-the-third-person and was autobanned immediately with message:

You have been banned due to participation in anti-communist subreddits. This action was performed automatically by a bot.

Hong Kong is China. Mao already freed Tibet in 1950. The Xinjiang counter-terrorism program is both effective and humane, unlike the US War on Terror which is neither. Long Live President Xi Jinping and the Communist Party of China!

It appears that the word cirosantilli.com is itself banned?

Sub description:

This is a Dengist subreddit in favor of Bashar al-Assad with no information leading to the arrest of Hillary Rodham Clinton, our fellow liberal and queen. This subreddit is not ironic, we are Marxist-Leninists.

The Reddit was quarantined in March 2022: https://www.reddit.com/r/ShitLiberalsSay/comments/tkurmc/breaking_news_rgenzedong_has_been_quarantined/ Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的) is against this quarantine BTW. We shouldn’t ban any discussion forum, at least not until we have an anonymous way to verify the nationality of people: Unjust social media censorship in the West (西方不公正的社交媒体审查).

6.4. Twitter (推特)

Particularly interesting ones:

News:

Unfair censorship:

Trump silenced by Twitter by Kuang Biao
Figure 81. Cartoon showing Donald Trump’s mouth sewn shut in a "Twitter" shape by Kuang Biao (邝飚) (2021) after Trump was banned from Twitter. You know it’s bad when the artists who normally criticize the CCP start to criticize you. Rebel Pepper (变态辣椒, RFA cartoonist)'s "I can’t Tweet" comes to mind, although it was about The West is racist against black people (西方人对黑人有种族主义) instad. Source.

6.4.1. The Great Translation Movement (大翻译运动官方推号)

but he just doesn’t have the knowledge/time/patience to do it as well as that Twitter channel.

This is a good movement because many people in the West do not fully appreciate the level of dictatorship in China. E.g. a well educated friend of Ciro once asked him circa 2020 which one he thought was worse: the terrible president of Brazil at the time, Jair Bolsonaro, or Xi Jinping (习近平, 2012-∞, Heil卐!)! It is of course impossible to compare individuals in completely different situations, but how can you not point the finger to the major dictator! It is like asking who do you hate the most, Hitler or Donald Trump! That question was an eye opener.

6.4.2. GFWfrog (墙国蛙蛤蛤)

The username is a reference to a frog that jumps over the Great Firewall (GFW, 防火长城).

Or perhaps it is also a reference to Taiwan frog (台蛙蛙).

Amazing selection of Chinese-only anti-CCP content.

6.6. Tumblr

7. Separatism (分离主义, Taiwan 台湾, Xinjiang 新疆, Hong Kong 香港)

If a large number of people in a given region want to leave an country strongly or have greater autonomy, Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的) believes that they should be allowed to do so.

Rationale:

What makes Ciro the maddest is the censorship. If you are going to put people in jail, write a clear law about it, and let international reporters come to see the situation.

But why do you do something and then hide it? Maybe because you are not doing the right thing?

Ciro also believes that although terrorists must be fought with all our strength, they must also be given some degree respect (interspersed simultaneously with humour). He sometimes prefers the term "warriors" or "fighters", because their actions are largely indistinguishable from many ideological or purely greed based actions that larger nation states have done many times over and over. It is just a war, plain and simple.

The reason why they kill mostly civilians is that they don’t have the means to kill the presidents those civilians elected. An amazing scene from The Battle of Algiers (1966) comes to mind. After the head of the Algerian independence movement and terrorist, Larbi Ben M’hidi is arrested, the French military let him be interviewed by the press on 4 March 1967 https://youtu.be/uHWZkiBuKGY?t=5312 (TODO real words? Cannot find source):

Translation:

Journalist: Don’t you think that it is cowardly to use the handbags and pushchairs of your women to transport your bombs? Those bombs that make so many innocent victims? [Earlier in the movie, we saw women carriying bombs into the French areas of Algiers through those means]

Larbi Ben M’hidi: And you, don’t you think that it is much more cowardly to drop on defenseless villages your napalm bombs that kill thousands times more? Obviously, with airplanes, it would have been much more convenient for us. Give us your bombers, and we will give you the pushchairs.

Original text:

Journalist: Ne trouvez-vous pas plutôt lâche d’utiliser les sacs et les couffins de vos femmes pour transporter vos bombes? Ces bombes qui font tant de victimes innocentes?

Larbi Ben M’hidi: Et vous, ne vous semble t-il beacoup plus lache de larguer sur des vilages sans défence vos bombes au napalme qui tuent mille fois plus d’innocents? Évidement, avec des avions, ca aurait été beaucoup plus comode pour nous. Donnez vous vos bombardiers monsieur, et on vous donnera les couffins.

7.1. Taiwan (Republic of China, 台湾, 中華民國)

If you are interested in Taiwan, one important programmer forum is: PTT Bulletin Board System (Taiwanese message board, 批踢踢實業坊).

Some interesting links:

  • https://youtube.com/watch?v=6aZkM_ZLvjE?t=50 (zh) "【這就是科學|柯文哲】EP3/從癌症治療看政治!除惡務盡→除惡「勿」盡?「與敵共存」才是生存之道!", 柯文哲, 2019-06-26. Ko Wen-je, the mayor of Taipei 台北 and a professor in medicine, applies the concept of isolation and mutation in evolution to Taiwan and China

News:

Discussion:

7.1.1. Taiwan-United States relations (臺灣與美國關係史)

7.1.1.1. One China policy (一个中国)

Taiwan is a completely separate country split due to civil war, long ago.

Almost every country, and all reasonably powerful countries, have diplomatic relations with Taiwan. They just don’t call them diplomatic relations to not piss off China so they can keep doing business.

The fact that most countries in the world does officially recognize Taiwan as a country is a joke, considering that the only thing keeping it afloat is the West’s military threat.

The West must not let China advance and take more territories. The more they take, the more they will want.

The West must protect China’s neighboring countries with military support and assurance.

The West must recognize Taiwan for what it is: a separate country, under threat of invasion, and in need of support.

If China’s claim to Taiwan is valid, then Taiwan also has an equally valid claim on China.

If China’s claim to Taiwan is valid, then so will its claim to any other country.

China, if you want to claim that Taiwan is a part of you, just grow some balls and invade them already. Or just stop this stupid joke.

Taiwan’s Status Is a Geopolitical Absurdity

polite fiction

A well educated Mainlander who lived outside of China once told Ciro:

Taiwan should not be considered a country by China, because then it would not join back to China when China becomes a democracy, and would be used by the USA to do evil things as they did in the Middle East

Ciro was shocked. He considered that person highly intelligent and not fully brainwashed! Reply:

China claiming that Taiwan is a part of them only drives Taiwan closer to the West! Who wants to be part of a dictatorship unless you have been brainwashed by one?

The US first caved in in 1972 with the Shanghai Communiqué.

News:

Related:

Flag of the Republic of China
Figure 82. The flag of Taiwan. Like most modern countries, Taiwan has one. Source.
Taiwan White House
Figure 83. Presidential Office Building of Taiwan (總統府_(臺灣) | 总统府 (台湾)). What is that flag we see on top of the central government building of Taiwan? It appears to have a blue rectangle on the top left! Source.
Countries that recognize Taiwan
Figure 84. It is fun to see that some small random Latin American countries like Paraguay recognize only Taiwan and not Mainland China. Brave warriors!!! Source.
TECRO Washington
Figure 85. Washington DC TECRO. Instead of "embassies", Taiwan has "Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Offices" (TECROs) (台北经济文化代表处|臺北經濟文化代表處) in 2013. The just happen to issue VISAs and passports like embassies, but remember, they are not embassies. No flag you see? This is because idiotic countries don’t allow TECROs to have the Taiwan flag. In 2019 Senator Ted Cruz planned on passing a law to allow that though: https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3825086. Source.
Taiwan we are China cartoon
Figure 86. 2014 cartoon by D Nguyen summarizing the Taiwan China relationship in history. Featuring: fatter and fatter Mao Zedong (毛泽东, 1954–1976) on first three cartoons to the left, likely Deng Xiaoping (邓小平, 1982-1987) to left on the last, and Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石, 蔣中正) to the right. TODO middle figure on last cartoon. TODO find proper attribution source, originally seen at: https://i.redd.it/xb5qr3asfns41.jpg.
China Taiwan reunification flag
Figure 87. Proposed reunification flag for Taiwan and China. Source.
West Taiwan map
Figure 88. West Taiwan (西台湾), also known as Mainland Taiwan (台湾大陆), also known as China. Not to be confused with Western Taiwan (台湾西部), which is a region of Taiwan. Source.
7.1.1.2. Pelosi visits Taiwan (佩洛西访问台湾, 2022)

The USA has to support Taiwan as silently.

And we especially don’t need to do it loudly in the middle of the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War (俄乌战争, Російсько-українська війна, 2014-), which already requires incredible Western support to Ukraine.

Even Biden, which is a democrat just like Pelosi advised against it in public: https://rollcall.com/2022/08/02/pelosi-defies-biden-pokes-china-with-taiwan-visit/ though he coudn’t be more explicit due to separation of powers concerns apparently.

7.1.2. Taiwan #1 (2915)

2015 meme started by H1Z1 streamer AngryPug, in which he repeatedly taunts the Chinese streamer Em0 by pretending to be Taiwanese.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=vTqZ9xrxhHk ANGRYPUG’s official YouTube upload of the clip "Taiwan #1" meme.

7.1.3. Hololive Kiryu Coco firing incident (Hololive 台湾事件, 2020)

Hololive is a VTuber management company from Japan, a subsidiary of a company called Cover Corporation.

When a VTubber either quits of is fired, they euphemistically often call it "graduation". But it is more like "death". The managemente company likely retains all rights to the character.

Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的) didn’t know WTF a VTuber was before coming across this event, he’s too old for that. But basically is mostly some Japanese chicks that have live generated anime like virtual avatars that motion track them. They are meant to feel like real-world anime characters, as they can reply to comments to be more interactive.

Hololive is the main VTuber agency. These agencies are similar in nature to modern singer agencies, and even more so to the agencies that build up Korean K-pop idols. They are all trying to turn your youth into idiotic superfluous robots, the opposite of science.

And this is likely exremelly popular amongst the sex-deprived young Chinese poeple, much like Japanese AV.

Fucking Japanese corporates, curbing freedom of speech in China. Those dudes are going to deserve it when Japan gets invaded by Xi’s fourth Reich…​

The key event was 2020-09-28 https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/4018580 "Japanese VTubers banned for mentioning Taiwan during livestream":

During their most recent livestreams, Hololive Japanese VTubers Kiryu Coco and Akai Haato announced the countries where they have received the most followers based on YouTube analytics. One of the countries that they highlighted was Taiwan because it accounted for seven percent of viewers and they displayed the flag of Taiwan to represent the nation.

  • Pixiv, which is "a Japanese online community for artists" which likely has lots of VTubers,

  • Japanese language, although one of the very extremely erudite and trustworthy comments at: https://boards.4channel.org/vt/thread/1403290/really-makes-you suggests that the Japanese at there is completely broken, and it is likely just a Chinese person using Google Translate

It is however hard to understand the rationale of such posts, why here on China dictatorship?

https://youtube.com/watch?v=yWLsy9w0zTE I’m angry about the Kiryu Coco situation…​ by Nuxanor (2020) This other VTubber, not affiliated with Hololive, is saying Hololive are bastards.

7.1.7. Greater China (大中华)

Politically ambiguous euphemism designed to not make it clear if you think Taiwan is part of China or not.

7.2. Xinjiang (新疆)

Events:

Terrorist attacks done by Xinjiang separatists:

Notable terrorist attacks:

People:

Xinjiang camp in camp
Figure 89. Rebel Pepper 2017-04 cartoon showing that Xinjiang is like a prison inside a greater prison, which is China itself. Chinese characters read: 新疆(Xinjiang) and 中国(China). TODO source.
Xinjiang chained butcher knives
Figure 90. Uyghur butcher with chained knives in Xinjiang (2021). Knives at shops in Xinjiang have to remain chained, and each blade is tracked with a QR code. A Zhihu (知乎, censored Quora clone, 审查 Quora 克隆) question about it https://www.zhihu.com/question/294738809: 为什么菜刀要用铁链子栓起来? 来乌市快有一个月啦,我很好奇为什么所有的店里都要用铁链子把菜刀栓起来? (Why are kitchen knifes tied up with an iron chain? It’s been almost a month since I came to Urumqi [capital of Xinjiang]? I am curious why all the shops have to tie up kitchen knives with iron chains?). Source.
CCP terrorism Taliban vs Chinese citizens
Figure 91. The CCP accuses and punishes its own citizens of terrorism, while at the same time it supports terrorist friendly regimes like the Taliban, referring to simultaneous events of 2021. Source.

7.2.1. Xinjiang "re-education" camps (新疆再教育營, 2017-)

The keyword is Rule of law (法治): because of a few terrorists, every single Muslim was fucked even if they did not commit any crime.

Overview projects:

News:

全疆年均培训城乡各类劳动者128.8万人次,其中,南疆地区年均培训45.14万人次。参训人员至少掌握1项就业技能,绝大多数取得了职业资格证书、职业技能等级证书或专项职业能力证书,实现稳定就业。

+ Google translation:

+

The average annual training for all kinds of workers in urban and rural areas in Xinjiang is 1.288 million, of which 451,400 are trained in southern Xinjiang. Participants have mastered at least one employment skill, and most of them have obtained vocational qualification certificates, vocational skill level certificates or special vocational ability certificates to achieve stable employment.

Dabancheng reeducation camp
Figure 93. Workers walking next to a prison-like security wall with concertina wire and barbed wire in the Dabancheng (达坂城区) re-education camp circa 2019. Source.
Artux city reeducation camp
Figure 94. Security towers and inmate buildings of the Artux city (阿图什市) re-education camp circa 2018-12-03. Source.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cI8bJO-to8I In Search of Concentration Camps in XinJiang - A Documentary on Urban/Rural China by Guanguan (2021) This was later featured in Western media, e.g. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10225133/Prisons-centre-Beijings-clampdown-Muslim-minorities-Xinjiang-caught-video.html, which mentions without evidence that he is a Chinese student in Taiwan. Radio Free Asia (RFA, 自由亚洲电台, USA government media) coverage: https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/guanguan-video-11182021184058.html.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxnS4z-cSlI (GitHub reupload) 2021 video showing dozens of Uyghurs standing on a large court being brainwashed by a woman saying on a loudspeaker: 社会主义核心价值观,一定维护民族团结 (Core socialist values definitely maintain ethnic harmony). The echo of the speaker on the background buildings is eery. UNCONFIRMED. https://twitter.com/Inty/status/1381002964551168000[Source].
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUmom_z6nQ4 (GitHub reupload) TikTok (Douyin, 抖音) video of a few dozen Uyghur chilren being marched on the street with large bags, presumably during a displacement. The adults organizing it are a laugh, presumably at something cute one of the children did. Video markings: "@MaD DaN", location: "伯干村" (Bogancun, a town in Xinjiang according to Google Maps), rolling banner TODO confirm, understand: "诗书达理之山人刨作原声". TODO identify Chinese music being sang on background, it is not clear if it is an edit or from the footage. The echo of the speaker on the background buildings is eery. UNCONFIRMED. Source.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcLbAveuemI Here is a trick to getting longer lashes by feroza.x (2019). In this TikTok (Douyin, 抖音) video, American then 17-year old Feroza Aziz, alias feroza.x, starts what looks likea regular makeup video, but which soon turns out to be a bait-and-switch video drawing attention to the Xinjiang "re-education" camps (新疆再教育營, 2017-). This is somewhat similar to a Screen name keyword attack (网名审查关键字攻击) with its Dual-use technology (军民两用技术) approach.

On 2019-09-22 Drone footage of Xinjiang prisoner transfer surfaced. TODO confirm the location and that these are political prisoners rather than "normal criminals".

News coverage

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGYoeJ5U7cQ 2019 Drone footage of Xinjiang prisoner transfer. The prisoners are blindfolded and shackled. On the HUD of the footage we can see "dji", which was a popular drone manufacturer of the period.
Xinjiang prisoners march
Figure 95. Video still of 2019-09-23 drone footage of blindfolded Xinjiang prisoners being marched taken at time 00:30. Source.
7.2.1.2. Xinjiang model camps for foreign media (新疆外媒示范营)

Starting in 2019, China officially invited foreign journalists to some of their model camps to show how happy people were.

It is hard to understand why they did this, as it just made everything worse for them, because everything was so obviously fake, and it actually allowed glimpses in some of the horrors. Why would a bunch of adults be playing games and learning useless stuff rather than be with their families working to earn money?

Online commentators have compared such camps to:

Examples:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmId2ZP3h0c "Inside China’s 'thought transformation' camps - BBC News" 2019-06-18. Accompagning article: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-asia-china-48667221. China gives BBC "access" to a chosen show camp where everyone claims they are happy and willing to stay. They are however clearly adults being treated like children, taking courses and even having to sing and dance for the camera. 486s is also golden, when the CCP officer Zhang Zhisheng explains how they are just preventing future crime from happening. How can they be so stupid? How can they not see that this is not what the West wants to hear? Amazing dark-comedy like stuff.
Uyghur playing guitar
Figure 97. Man wearing traditional Xinjiang clothing and playing a traditional instrument inside a classroom setting inside a prison camp, as the CCP tries to show the world that they are happy and their culture is being respected, and only makes things worse. The man also shows on the video at: https://youtu.be/WmId2ZP3h0c?t=407 made by the BBC when they got supervised access to the camps to film, nearby segment uploaded at: https://github.com/cirosantilli/china-dictatorship/issues/169. Source.
7.2.1.3. Forced displacement of Uyghurs across China (2020, 维吾尔人被迫流离失所)

Many videos were published on TikTok (Douyin, 抖音), 2020-07-09 https://www.codastory.com/authoritarian-tech/china-uyghur-migration/ "Revealed: New videos expose China’s forced migration of Uyghurs during the pandemic" has compilations of the most well known videos, with direct MP4 uploads that are easy to download.

Uyghur sale website
Figure 98. Advertisement published by Qingdao Decai Decoration Co. claiming to supply government-sponsored Uyghur workers from Xinjiang to other provinces. Source of translation: "Uyghurs for sale" report. Original website archive from 16 Jan 2020: http://archive.ph/r7T8r. The ad features a caricature of two dancing Uyghurs in traditional clothing. This is evidence of the CCP’s mass forced eviction and slavery of Uyghurs. Another report at 2021-04-16 https://news.sky.com/story/amp/new-evidence-of-the-strict-controls-uighurs-face-in-factories-thousands-of-miles-from-home-12276248 "Batches of 50 to 100 Uighur workers are being advertised on the Chinese internet" suggests that a Baidu (百度, Chinese Google) search for "劳务派遣" leads to incriminating ads, but which they fail to translate. Report lead: Vicky Xu (许秀中).
Uyghur workers waving China flag
Figure 99. Uyghur workers at Qingdao Taekwang Shoe Manufacturing Co. Ltd (青岛泰光制鞋有限公司) in Laixi, Shandong (莱西市, 山东) waving the Chinese flag, October 2019. Viewable on the pro-CCP China Ethnic Religion Net (中国民族宗教网) website: http://www.mzb.com.cn/html/report/191130765-1.htm, and also shown in the "Uyghurs for sale" report. Company address: 山东省青岛市莱西市李权庄镇工业园区泰光路71号.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mx0JFgwATho&t=128 "New footage shows Uyghurs bussed across China for forced labour in factories". At the given timestamp, contains 30 seconds of footage extracted from 3 social media posts showing Uyghurs being sent in busses to work in far way regions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mx0JFgwATho New footage shows Uyghurs bussed across China for forced labour in factories by Channel 4 News (2020) contains one of the many edits made with a bella ciao (啊朋友再见) background, Chinese version showing uyghurs being sent in busses to work in far away locations in China. The music fits perfectly, literal translation of the Chinese version is "Ah, friend, goodbie".
7.2.1.4. Merdan Ghappar’s Xinjiang prison video (2020, 麥爾丹·阿巴的新疆监狱视频)

Self made video shows the ex-model chained to a bed in a camp. Text messages give further details.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tg4sWv3dEvU&list=PLQReVuWUFgXOlOOmJGRgVDtp2XqED0-8Y is a playlist with dozens of videos of him being cute while modelling. Appears to be mostly a Douyin dump mostly. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUr97pK9qmU is particularly good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mX-jY1tgL_o Merdan Ghappar’s video footage, terrible screen capture from the BBC original, but can’t find a better one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYhcrXYA6tM Rare footage of former model held for “re-education” in China’s detention system - BBC News (2020) Reportage with more context, including previous modeling work. They’re incapable of adding the name "Merdan Ghappar" to the title or description however, what newbs.
7.2.1.5. Xinjiang cotton (新疆棉花, 2021)

Reports surfaced that Xinjiang "re-education" camps (新疆再教育營, 2017-) people were being used to pick cotton, and boycotts followed.

Companies that supported:

Reports:

Xinjiang cotton vs American plantation from 1908
Figure 100. Side-by-side comparison of black american slaves from 1908 and happy Xinjiang workers working in cotton collection. This was posted by the verified account of Chinese government official Hua Chunying (华春莹) on Twitter: https://twitter.com/SpokespersonCHN/status/1375015592944537605, archives: https://archive.ph/3PTiA and https://web.archive.org/web/20210326034948/https://twitter.com/SpokespersonCHN/status/1375015592944537605. Pure beauty. Does she have a brain? The images read: "The cotton planter and his pickers, H. Tees, West Point, Miss[ssisipy]", source, and "Uighus people picking cotton in Xinjiang China". Holocaust denial (犹太人大屠杀否定论), here we go.
7.2.1.6. Why don’t many Islamic countries speak up for the Uyghur persecution? (为什么很多伊斯兰国家不反对维吾尔族迫害?)

Either because those countries:

  • are also dictatorships and completely corrupt to the brim

  • or because Muslim schisms make them hate split groups even more than they hate other religions doe to the Uncanny valley (恐怖谷理论) effect.

Analyses:

Related:

Xinjiang I won
Figure 101. Rebel Pepper (变态辣椒, RFA cartoonist) 2019-07 cartoon showing Xi Jinping (习近平, 2012-∞, Heil卐!) claiming to have won the global opinion on the Xinjiang re-education camps because all other dictatorships support him, including Islamic dictatorships. Source.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=YlHPEgE3fjk Pakistan (巴基斯坦) Prime Minister Imran Khan refuses to acknowledge Muslim Uyghur oppression in Xinjiang during interview, cites Chinese money by HBO (2021). Correctly mentions Israel (以色列) in his defense.
7.2.1.7. Holocaust denial (犹太人大屠杀否定论)
Holocaust denial cartoon by Francoise Pichard
Figure 102. Holocaust denial cartoon by far-right cartoonist Françoise Pichard was a runner-up the Iranian International Holocaust Cartoon Competition of 2006, which obviously aimed at discrediting Israel. The cartoon shows two Hasidic Judaism[Hasidic jews] and reads in French: "Qui l’a mis par terre? Faurisson. Myth des chambres a gaz" which can be translated as: "Who put it down? Faurisson. Myth of the gas chambers (毒气室)". Farisson is a reference to famous French holocaust denier Robert Faurisson. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP, 中国共产党, 1949-, Cult of Mao/Xi, 毛习邪教, 10.000 year Reich) is doing the same as of 2020 in Xinjiang, e.g. through works such as "Blood Cotton Initiative" by wuheqilin. Source.
Holocaust denial cartoon vs Palestine
Figure 103. Holocaust denial cartoon suggesting that the Holocaust killed much less than Israel did during the Palestinian conflict TODO confirm artist, source image address suggests Moroccan Naji Benaji. Palestine is a tragedy, also mentioned at Israel (以色列), but trying to justify its horrors by comparing it to the horrors of other countries. We must recognize and fight against injustices of all countries. One injustice cannot justify the other. Source.
Blood Cotton Initiative by Wuheqilin
Figure 104. Blood Cotton Initiative by <wuheqilin>>. This pro-Chinese Communist Party (CCP, 中国共产党, 1949-, Cult of Mao/Xi, 毛习邪教, 10.000 year Reich) propaganda work suggests that the Xinjiang cotton (新疆棉花, 2021) is a fabrication of Evil West. It depicts Americans as wearing Ku Klux Klan in an usual CCP reminder that The West is racist against black people (西方人对黑人有种族主义). It is basically a Holocaust denial (犹太人大屠杀否定论) cartoon. Source.

7.3. Inner mongolia (内蒙古)

7.3.1. Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (新疆生产建设兵团, 兵团)

Wikipedia mentions:

In October 1954 the Production Division was ordered by the Mao Zedong to form People’s Liberation Army Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, tasked to "Integrate labor with violence, colonize and populate the frontier" in 1954.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqbNuejnP_4 Secrets of the Tomato Industry: The Empire of Red Gold by Java Discover (2022) Has some good Bingtuan mentions.

7.4. Tibet (西藏)

Events linked to reducing the teaching of the Tibetan language in schools and replacing it with Mandarin:

7.4.4. 1987-1989 Tibetan unrest (1989年拉萨骚乱)

https://youtube.com/watch?v=qMZgoRuPJBg "Troops stormed the Tibetan holy site the Jokhang Temple and beat monks"
https://youtube.com/watch?v=3uQcGcGGepw "Latest Spate Of Violent Unrest In Lhasa And The Imposition Of Martial Law" by AP Archive

7.5. Hong Kong (香港)

There is only one solution to Hong Kong’s problem:

  • give inhabitants people easy VISAs to leave China, with priority to the rich/educated ones. Give them free language courses on the country of arrival, and help them find jobs

  • treat Hong Kong exactly like any other part of China, removing any special commercial treaty with the reagion, which it has enjoyed for many years

These have started happening seriously in response to the Hong Kong National Security Law (香港国安法, 2020).

Related:

7.5.1. Hong Kong 97 SNES video game (香港 97 SNES 电子游戏)

1995 video game realistically depicts the fight of Hong Kong against the Communist Party predicted to happen at the handover, featuring Bruce Lee (often represented as Jackie Chan) who returned from the grave to join the fight and kick Jiang Zemin’s ass.

The dead body from the game over screen was taken from a still from a video of the 1992 Bosnian War: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCDWyzZyNdw

The track is a sample of the "I Love Beijing Tiananmen" (我爱北京天安门) Cultural Revolution song that was popular before Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989 (六四事件) and later became an ironic protest song:

我爱北京天安门
天安门上太阳升

which means:

I love Beijing Tiananmen Square
The sun rises over the Tiananmen

Hong Kong 97 cover
Figure 106. Cover of the Hong Kong 97. Source.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_aXcH1zDEE The venerable Angry Video Game Nerd made a review of Hong Kong 97.

7.5.3. Hong Kong slogan

7.5.3.1. Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times (光復香港,時代革命)

If is often used in salute/response form: the first person or leader says:

Liberate Hong Kong

and the second replies:

Revolution of our times

In mandarin:

Guang1fu4 xiang1gang3 shi2dai4 ge2ming4

Liberate Hong Kong Admiralty 2019
Figure 109. Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times (光復香港,時代革命) banner hang on 5 August 2019 at Harcourt Road in Admiralty. Source.

7.5.4. Hong Kong National Security Law (香港国安法, 2020)

News:

Resources:

Apple Daily raid
Figure 110. Over 100 police officers raid the Apple Daily (苹果日报) Hong Kong newspaper soon after the Hong Kong National Security Law (香港国安法, 2020) started. A Chinese source. Source.

7.5.5. 2019 Hong Kong anti-extradition bill protests (反对逃犯条例修订草案运动)

Songs:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=YhN6jipSHFI Hong Kong Yoga - Sammy J S2 (ep31) published by ABC Comedy on 2019-09-19. Very good.
7.5.5.2. LeBron James opposes Hong Kong anti-extradition bill protests (2019)

NBA is huge in China.

On 2019-10-05 (Friday) 7:41PM Daryl Morey, NBA’s Houston Rockets manager sent a tweet with an image that read:

Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong.

Then Daryl was a coward, removed this tweet, and apologized on 2019-10-07 (Monday) 1:18 AM https://twitter.com/dmorey/status/1181000808399114240 (archive), so by then it was already deleted.

I did not intend my tweet to cause any offense to Rockets fans and friends of mine in China

Then TODO date the uberstar LeBron James (not a Houston Rockets player), a big supporter of black rights in the US, criticized this.

I don’t want to get into a word or sentence feud with Daryl Morey, but I believe he wasn’t educated on the situation

Related video of LeBron saying similar things on interview (TODO same?): 2019-10-15 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjM43blzaRc "LeBron addresses Daryl Morey’s tweet and Lakers' trip to China | NBA on ESPN"

Some good LeBron cartoons:

Kneeling by Adam Zyglis NFL Colin Kaepernick vs NBA LeBron James
Figure 112. "Kneeling" by Adam Zyglis (2019) compares the NFL’s Colin Kaepernick (科林·卡佩尼克), who kneeled during the playing of the U.S. national anthem during the 2016 season to protest against social injustice, vs NBA’s LeBron James, who instead supports China’s dictatorship unconditionally. Source.
Silence is violence
Figure 113. In 2020-10-04 American billboard company Outfront Media refused to post this ad by the NLPC conservative think tank critical of LeBron James' stand on Hong Kong. The ad shows the NBA superstar with a Chinese flag covering his mouth and the message "Silence is Violence." and URL http://freedom4china.com/. To obey is to betray comes to mind. Source.

8. Falun Gong (法轮功, Qigong new religion/cult)

Religion created in the '80s by a Chinese dude called Li Hongzhi (李洪志, LHZ, Falun Gong prophet).

With the support of the Communist Party to Qigong movements, it reached 70 million believers in 1999, at which point the commies decided they had to be shut down and banned the religion.

Li fled to the USA and lives near New York, where he continues to run the religion as of 2020.

Bibliography:

Falun Gong lady silenced
Figure 114. Falun Gong (法轮功, Qigong new religion/cult) believer arrested by police in Beijing Tiananmen Square in 2000-01-10. Source.
Police steps over Falun Gong believer s face in 2000 at Tiananmen
Figure 115. Police steps over Falun Gong (法轮功, Qigong new religion/cult) believer’s face in 2000 at Tiananmen. This images was on the cover of the July 2, 2001 cover of Time Magazine "Crushing Falun Gong". Source.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClvX7ED8UUI Tim and Eric's Zone Theory. If you want to stop Falun Gong (法轮功, Qigong new religion/cult), don’t put them in jail like the dictators. Do it the same way you stop dictators: with comedy. Otherwise, the dictators remain in power, and next person in jail, will be you.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=IAQ14AnAsmU YouTubber under pseudonym "Aarvoll" (TODO full real name, face shown in channel all the time) tells about his experience playing trumpet for Shen Yun in 2013 as a non-believer and Falun Gong in general. Reading the sacred books and doing Falun Gong exercises were mandatory. He also talks about Falun Gong downplays the fact that it is highly organized (法轮功淡化了它高度组织化的事实). Ciro agrees/finds what he says convincing. In one interesting anecdote, he tells how although Li Hongzhi claims to be a God, he looked like an average slightly overweight dude, and had a trumpet since he used to play it, but couldn’t really play it because he hadn’t practiced in so long. He also comments on the obvious fact that Li does not speak English very well, e.g. on the Shen Yun tour bus he was there one day answering questions, and a translator was needed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwoO7Nekmpw&t=445 Christine Marie is the founder of the Voices for Dignity charity which takes care of people who decide to leave the FLDS (a major Mormon denomination). Leaving that group is not an easy task given the importance it plays in members lives, see also "No Exit" from Orange Papers (橙色文件). She was interviewed in VICE documentary "Polygamist Mafia: Escaping The Kingston Clan". While Ciro does not believe Falun Gong is as extreme as FLDS, he does really like the things Christine says. E.g., she calls "cult leaders" with the neutral religious form "prophet", just like Ciro, and mentions the important fact that "And the another thing that the public doesn’t realise, is that there are also beautiful thing within those communities". This is the mindset of tolerance that the world needs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJxM3POU92w Amazing Cultivation Simulator review by SsethTzeentach (2021). Amazing Cultivation Simulator (Baidu: 了不起的修仙模拟器) is Rimworld-like Chinese game which was a large hit in China (700k sales as of 2020) and then went on to be translated into English. In it, you join a Qi Gong cult, and level up your Qi Gong magical abilities by practicing the Gong (练功). Falun Gong basically claims the same thing, but for real life. Ciro believes that a great part of the appeal of Falun Gong is the gamification of life development, much like that video game does, see also: Promised Powers or Knowledge (Orange Papers, 应许的功能或知识, 橙色文件). It is also interesting to note that such Qi Gong-like are present in a more or less popular video game, which shows that such ideas are widely known in China, while they are not widely known in the West. Notably, Qi Gong ideas are widely present in Wuxia (https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/武侠文化(武侠), lit. martial knight-errant) novels, or slightly more specifically xianxia (仙侠 lit. God knight-errant), the most popular version of Chinese high fantasy (古典奇幻). Another interesting point is how in the game you make the "small fish" cult members work long hours for free https://youtu.be/wJxM3POU92w?t=259, as Seth brilliantly puts it: "You are running sect. […​]. A sect has outer disciples that will happily do all your mundane, tedious labour for a competitive salary of about zero dollars. They are not "slaves" as per say, we don’t use that word here, it’s more like an internship, which never ends. But […​] they can become inner disciples".

Less good ones:

8.1. Why is it important to discus Falun Gong’s even if you don’t believe in it? (为什么不信仰法轮功也很重要要讨论它?)

The main reason Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的) emphasizes Falun Gong is that it shows how the CCP can mercilessly crush a 70 million strong group (according to CCPs own statistics) out of a population of 1.3B in 2000, i.e. 5% of the population, and of course not because of Does Ciro Santilli support Falun Gong just because his wife and mother-in-law do it? (三西猴是否仅仅因为他的妻子和岳母就支持法轮功?), since Ciro is completely and totally unbiased.

If that number is correct, Ciro wonders curious what you would consider an important movement?

Anything much larger would take down the government and change China’s history forever.

Aren’t you concerned that you or your children might be part of the next 5% purge? See also: Most Chinese people don’t care about the minorities (大多数中国人不关心少数民族).

OK, maybe the fact that 69 million of those 70 million were likely old ladies didn’t help much either. Tip to next prophet: make something that appeals to aspiring military officers.

Let’s try to gather some well sourced footage showing huge numbers of believers on the streets:

Falun Gong Guangzhou
Figure 116. Thousands of Falun Gong (法轮功, Qigong new religion/cult) practitioners in Guangzhou, China, 1998. Source.
Falun Gong Liaoning
Figure 117. Thousands of Falun Gong (法轮功, Qigong new religion/cult) practitioners in Liaoning Industrial Exhibition, China, likely 1998. Source.
Falun Gong Chengdu
Figure 118. Hundreds of Falun Gong (法轮功, Qigong new religion/cult) believers in Chengdu, China, 1998. Source.

8.2. Does Ciro Santilli believe in or practice Falun Gong? (三西猴信仰或者练法轮功吗?)

Here are some things that he doesn’t like about Falun Gong for example: Things Ciro Santilli dislikes about Falun Gong (三西猴不喜欢法轮功的事情).

Ciro believes Falun Gong can be split into two parts, like any other religion:

Ciro thinks that FLG’s self-help part could potentially be good for you, just like many other meditative practices such as Yoga, Buddhist meditation, Tai chi, deep Catholic prayer, etc. As far as he has heard, all of it sounded good standard religious self-help: be peaceful, be good to others, etc. Like any other well managed religion, FLG does have good things to offer, see also: Christine Marie’s interview.

However Ciro believes that the metaphysics is all complete and utter bullshit, child stories made up by Li Hongzhi, and just as real as Father Christmas or the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

Also the "obligation to reach Salvation" is boring like for many other prophetic religion.

From a purely strategic point of view, the metaphysics is a trade-off:

  • some people will believe you are a freaking living God

  • others will laugh at you and say you are a charlatan

It may be argued however that Li played this card beautifully: since all Chinese power is concentrated in the CCP, any non-CCP movement dies out, so he was better off long run playing the metaphysics game. The only other choice would have been joining the CCP.

To Ciro it is obvious that Falun Gong is just one of the many very similar movements that came out of the Qi Gong Boom, such as: Zhong Gong (中功, 中华养生益智功, Qigong religion). It just happens to be the one that survived due to better luck and strategy.

The absolute truth is already known by the prophet, although he does not want to give clear evidence for reasons: Falun Gong never makes any predictions that can be reasonably verified by non-believers (法轮功从不做任何非信徒可以合理验证的预言), and Ciro finds that utterly boring. There’s no fun in living in a world where the absolute truth has been found.

For these reasons, Ciro cannot bother to read even into the self-help part: how can you read that when there is so much bullshit every other page?

Ciro would really like to know if Li Hongzhi (李洪志, LHZ, Falun Gong prophet) really believes in FLG himself, or is just a complete manipulating charlatan, but unfortunately we will never know that. Just imagine if before he died he published a video saying: "it was a joke, gotcha!". Now that would be epic!

Since Ciro is good-natured, it’s hard for him to believe that he doesn’t believe in anything, how can anyone be that evil? Maybe he believes in part of it, but made up some stuff to sell it better, maybe with good intentions that selling the fake part would also lead more people to see the good part?

Like any other prophetic religion, FLG gives tiny evidence that you can directly feel through meditation. The energies, which Ciro believe are real feelings. And then using that entry point asks you to believe a whole lot more, that you can’t feel: Falun Gong never makes any predictions that can be reasonably verified by non-believers (法轮功从不做任何非信徒可以合理验证的预言).

This becomes especially strong when a critical mass of believers is reached, and then they start interpreting all sorts of events as miracles, and you start to believe other believers without questioning them, and a circle is formed.

This post by a former believer gives what Ciro feels is a realistic account that matches Ciro’s observations: Me and Li by Ben Hurley (2017).

And yet, all those who love freedom, must oppose FLG ban, or be themselves enslaved by tyrants themselves: Why does Ciro Santilli say that democracy is a religion just like Falun Gong? (为什么三西猴说民主就像法轮功一样是一种宗教?).

In any case, at least FLG got one thing right: the commies are evil, and we have to get rid of them.

8.3. Is Falun Gong a religion? 法轮功是一个宗教吗?

If asked if they follow a religion, most FLG believers will say "no", and Li Hongzhi (李洪志, LHZ, Falun Gong prophet) explicitly says that in Canonical Falun Gong texts (法轮功的经典著作), e.g. https://falundafa.org/eng/eng/jjyz52.htm:

Falun Dafa is not a religion, but future generations will regard it as one.

E.g. they call themselves "practitioners" or "students" (学员) or "disciples of the Great Law" (大法弟子, or mare accurately, of Li Hongzhi (李洪志, LHZ, Falun Gong prophet)'s Law) instead of "believers", and their peers "practitioner colleagues" (同修). Non believers call them derogatorily "轮子"("little wheels"), or in friendly terms "轮友" (wheel friend).

And if you say you don’t believe in their FLG metaphysics bullshit, they will often reply "he does not understand".

To them, it is not about belief, the truth is clear, and you just don’t see it yet.

To this you should reply: "and you don’t understand that Li Hongzhi is a master manipulator dude who deceived you and millions of others".

But Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的) strongly believes that this is just a language barrier/FLG propaganda question (see also Different levels of truth (Orange Papers, 不同层次的真相, 橙色文件)), and that 99.9999% of people in the West would classify FLG as a religion just like Christianity (基督教) if they are told about FLG’s beliefs:

  • absolute truth comes from an enlightened prophet, who is perfect and has superhuman abilities

  • weekly in-person meetings (学法 "study the Fa", or more verbosely "study the law (of the universe (of Li Hongzhi (李洪志, LHZ, Falun Gong prophet)))")or daily online meetings where they read from a sacred book, either written by the prophet, or transcribed from his presentations to disciples, including the disciples questions, much like traditional Chinese texts like Analects (论语, c. 475-200 BC), just like Christians read from the Bible over and over again.

    In both cases, some believers claim that sometimes even reading the same text again gives them new insight.

  • prescribed daily meditation exercise hours, somewhat like Muslim Salah (礼拜) prayers which they call 发正念 (fa1 zheng4 nian4), which means "send righteous thoughts". They seem to believe that this meditation helps external good magic things happen, so it is half meditation half prayer.

    And for those that are often online on the Falun Gong voice forums, some nice music is played before prayer times, just like Muslim Muezzins (a type of priest) will do the Adhan (sang call to prayer, ideally from the minarets of a mosque)

  • longer "less mandatory" Qigong-like (气功) exercises (lian4 gong1, 练功) followed by a meditation (打坐) and which they collectively call 修炼 "practice austerities". note that this term is borrowed from Taoism but possibly with different precise meaning. There are exactly 5 exercises (meditation being the fifth) some with a fun supernatural name, on Canonical Falun Gong texts (法轮功的经典著作) https://www.falundafa.org/book/eng/flg_2006_4.htm "The Falun Gong Practice System":

    • Buddha Stretching a Thousand Arms

    • Falun Standing Stance

    • Penetrating the Cosmic Extremes

    • Falun Cosmic Orbit

  • memorization of the Canonical Falun Gong texts (法轮功的经典著作), notably Zhuan Falun (转法轮), just like Hafiz (哈菲兹) in Islam

  • higher intelligent beings ("Buddhas")

  • some believers who practice really well can also get some "supernatural powers"

    • other dimensions, which some select people with vision superpowers can see, this being one of the supernatural powers that may be developed, the "Celestial Eye" https://falundafa.org/eng/eng/zfl_21.htm:

      A cultivator of a particular attainment level can only see the scenes on that level. He cannot see or believe the truth beyond that level. Therefore, he only believes what he has seen on his own level. When he has not gone up to such a high level of cultivation, he would think those things do not exist and are incredible.

      and the "Supernormal Capability of Remote Sight" is a closely related ability: https://falundafa.org/eng/eng/zfl_22.htm:

      A supernormal capability directly connected with the Celestial Eye is called the Remote Sight. Someone says that he can see scenes in Beijing, in America or scenes on the other side of the earth while sitting here.

      And finally there is also the past-future vision ability "Supernormal Capability of Total Recall" https://falundafa.org/eng/eng/zfl_23.htm:

      There is another supernormal capability which has a direct relation with the Celestial Eye. It is called Total Recall. Now there are six supernormal capabilities which are generally recognized in the world. They include the Celestial Eye, Remote Sight, and Total Recall. What is Total Recall? It is a supernormal capability with which one can know a person's future and past; if the ability is great, one can know the rise and decline of a society; if the ability is even greater, one can see the Law of the change of the whole celestial body.
  • aliens that look like humans are amongst us, they gave us part of our modern technology, some are evil, others not so evil. E.g. https://falundafa.org/eng/eng/lectures/19980530L.html:

    Science, however, is not something gods imparted to humans. Instead, it was passed down to humans by alien beings inside the Three Realms, and for the purpose of controlling humankind. People’s belief in it has surpassed everything. But I tell you that precisely because of its shallowness, this science has caused the degeneration of morality in human society.

    Despite this however, Falun Gong benefits from information technology enormously. For example, many (most?) believers use the Internet daily to study the Fa, and to organize their media outlets.

  • meetings in which people tell their religious testimonies ("experience sharing" TODO Chinese name, possibly just "分享修炼的美好", e.g. source): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testimony#Religion

    As Jesus put it in Matthew 18:20:

    For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them

    which highlights the critical believer mass effect of reinforced beliefs.

  • an impending final judgment-like event, which will happen "very soon" (unspecified date), and in which the just will be rewarded

    Ciro predict that when Li Hongzhi (李洪志, LHZ, Falun Gong prophet) dies, the claim will be that he went to another dimension so save us all, therefore putting this final judgment on hold, a bit like Jesus.

  • non-believers are fundamentally different from believers. Although non-followers who do good things are actually doing FLG without knowing it.

    FLG has a specific terminology for non-believers, which is translated in English as "ordinary people" (常人), as opposed to Falun Gong Believers, which Li calls Falun Gong disciples (大法弟子).

    Non-FLG people should therefore logically call Falun Gong believers abnormal people (异常人) in return, much like Ciro likes to call the Chinese who call him 老外 as "老内".

    Like other aspects of FLG however, this appears in other religions, e.g. my mother mentioned the funny term used by her Protestant’s group term but Ciro forgot it, and you can see it in Harry Potter as well: The Muggles.

  • You can support FLG by doing X and Y, it is not mandatory, but why wouldn’t you since you are saving other people?. Explaining that Falun Gong is good contrary to CCP propaganda also known as "Fa-rectification" in the English translation jargon.

  • alternate dimensions

  • pre-civilization: civilization is actually much older than what we believe, and was super advanced, but societal collapse events led us to forget about it, a bit like atlantis.

    Notably, this also implies that the theory of evolution is wrong, since there existed modern humans hundred of millions of years ago (the current scientific estimates for anatomically modern humans is 500,000 years): https://falundafa.org/eng/eng/zfl_14.htm

    Archaeologists have found in the world a kind of organism called "three-leaves insect", which came into being between 600 million and 260 million years ago, and became extinct thereafter. An American scientist found a fossil of "three-leaves insect", on which there was also a human footprint, left by a shoe he was wearing, and clearly printed on the fossil. Aren’t they joking with the historians? How could there possibly have been human beings 260 million years ago according to Darwin’s theory of evolution?

  • Maybe FLG will make you healthier, but no promises, but it will make you a better person, and that’s why you should do it, but if you really really believe, you get healthier. But people who seemed to be believers also die, because deep within their hearts, there was a belief problem.

  • Falun Gong believes that the CCP is literally a manifestation of real devils (法轮功认为中共是真正恶魔的化身)

From this, it is obvious that Falun Gong is just a New Age (新纪元运动) syncretic (综摄) religion combining Qigong, Buddhism, some aspects of Christianity (基督教), and whatever other crazy things Li Hongzhi (李洪志, LHZ, Falun Gong prophet) believes in.

Synchronism is of course the easiest way to start a new religion, because it attempts to divert the irrational belief of people in some unprovable bullshit into a new unprovable bullshit, but that resonates more with the current political situation. This is exactly what Jesus did with Judaism. And it is then exactly what the Islam did to Christianity.

Or you could call Falun Gong a cult, which is nothing but a new/small religion with negative connotation, and thus meaningless.

FLG is very similar to Scientology in Ciro’s view: a new religion that mixes elements of both old and new. And just like any other religion, their practice must be allowed.

But consider this: how to classify what a religion is?

Some would answer: science is what every one can perceive with their own senses.

But FLG followers claim to feel FLG energies when doing the exercises, and a few of them have the power of seeing the other dimensions.

On the other hand, how many of your friends have experienced the laws of quantum field theory or general relativity in a very direct way?

And aren’t pro-democracy believers also taking actions based solely on a shared belief, possibly organized by a pro-democracy leader?

From a purely strategic point of view, the "religion" denomination would be:

  • bad to FLG because the concept of freedom of religion carries considerable weight in the West. And if you are not a religion, you are more likely to be a cult, which carries a black mark instead.

  • good for FLG because people who already have a religion would be less likely to try it out and start believing

    Falun Gong’s recruitment strategy is to focus on the exercises first, and in particular its health benefits and then as some people start to feel things, they start introducing the metaphysics.

    Other new religions have also taken this "I’m not a religion approach", see e.g.: Baha’i https://youtu.be/9qDN0COSvds?t=287.

See also:

8.3.1. Falun Gong believes that the CCP is literally a manifestation of real devils (法轮功认为中共是真正恶魔的化身)

Unlike Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的) which does not think most CCP politicians are actually evil, Falun Gong seems to believe that they literally as in they are representatives of, or evil supernatural beings themselves.

E.g. Jiang Zemin (江泽民, 1989-2002) is actually an evil frog in some alternate dimension, literally, not just memecally.

And those devils they are literally responsible for example for creating Covid-19, which is itself a magic force which tests the evil and good: Falun Gong’s view of epidemics (法轮功的流行病观).

And Trump likely represents a magical anti-devil force of the universe.

Some of the most direct canon suggestions we could find: https://en.falundafa.org/eng/HongYin5.htm:

The Red Devil uses lies and money to meddle with man

All along, lowlife secret agents of the wicked CCP have been constantly gathering so-called "Falun Gong intelligence."

Falun Gong gives the CCP too much credit. The CCP are just a bunch of lazy and greedy people like you and me.

8.3.2. Falun Gong preaching (法轮功传教)

Street preaching is an important aspect of Falun Gong, using stands and leaflets on the streets much like Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Jargon:

  • 讲真相: "truth-telling"

  • hongfa (TODO characters?)

The Falun Gong organization also specifies guidelines on how to preach, although these might not be canon, even though if they are not, it is extremely likely that LHZ is directly involved in their specification

Falun Gong has also used phone call preaching.

All of this is part of their effort to "save people (救人)", i.e. convert them to Falun Gong.

Li Hongzhi (李洪志, LHZ, Falun Gong prophet) personally heavily emphasises the importance of preaching in Canonical Falun Gong texts (法轮功的经典著作) TODO link/quote, and because of this is it a de-facto religious obligation, and a major part of Making cult members work long hours for free (Orange papers, 让信徒免费长时间工作, 橙色文件).

Falun Gong street preaching 2016 London
Figure 119. Falun Gong believers preaching on the street in London in 2016. This image taken from a believer website shows a typical local regular gathering of believers on weekends, or even week days if there are enough retired believers in the group. They will put on their exercise music, and do exercises to attract more followers. Someone will also stand on their stall giving out propaganda flyers, or asking people to sign petitions for Western governments to support Falun Gong, e.g. opposing their alleged organ harvesting. In the case of touristic areas with Chinese people walking around, they will also ask the Chinese tourists to quit the their CCP membership, possibly using a fake name. Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的) has to say: it is very amusing to see those Chinese people trying to pretend to ignore the censored religion, when some of them are clearly curious about it, especially the younger ones who didn’t see it live. Some just get mad, and say how the CCP is so great to them. Source.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=315&v=nD6792YoOmY from Mikey Chen shows a parade/preaching event in San Francisco.

8.3.2.1. Some Falun Gong people make phone telemarketing (一些法轮功人搞电话推销)

Ciro Santilli has seen Falun Gong people making phone calls to people in China with to explain why FLG is with his own eyes, and therefore is sure it has happened on some scale.

Particularly during Censorship of the 2019 Corona Virus (2019冠状病毒病早期迹象审查), Falun Gong ramped up the telemarketing calls and some voluntary believers were making calls all day nonstop.

Ciro does not know how the called numbers were obtained and if callees voluntarily signed up for it, but that feels extremely unlikely.

Interestingly however, many of the callees seemed interesting in what they had to say, and they often had long chats, Ciro was surprised by that. Maybe they were just bored senseless due to the Corona lockdown. Or maybe many Chinese People actually don’t like their Government and the CCP is fucked.

Also, of course, the callers received call scripts and guidelines to makes those calls, because obviously Falun Gong downplays the fact that it is highly organized (法轮功淡化了它高度组织化的事实).

Ciro strongly disapproves of this, Just like for any product, visual ads on the street are impossible to prevent, but any kind of advertising that generates notifications on feeds, or takes people’s time, is unacceptable.

Ciro has not however seen them talking about making automated phone calls.

https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1940394/how-rampant-phone-scams-highlight-chinas-need-tighter also mentions that Falun Gong makes telemarketing in passing without any reference.

8.3.3. Is Falun Gong a cult? (法轮功是邪教吗?)

Is the CCP a cult? Yes: CCP cult (中共邪教).

Is Christianity (基督教) a cult? Yes.

Is modern science a cult? Maybe.

Therefore, the only question that matters for all the above is the same: are they good or bad cults?

Falun Gong clearly share many many many characteristics with what many people classify as a "cult", see e.g.: Orange Papers (橙色文件).

However, Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的) strongly believes that so does any other existing religion e.g. Christianity, and that Falun Gong is not any worse or better than those other well known religions.

Ciro therefore believes that the only reasonable stances are to either:

  • be against all religions (including Christianity and Falun Gong), and classify all of them as Cults

  • allow both Christianity and Falun Gong to exist, and support religious freedom

but not "oppose Falun Gong" and support Christianity.

Some people will say: Falun Gong is a cult because it is too new and therefore obviously fake!

So, if I tell a lie today, will it become true in a thousand years? Or a truth today become a lie? The Romans called Christianity (基督教) the "Cult of Jesus"!

Try sending an email to LHZ asking him to prove his powers to you :-)

Others will say: Falun Gong is a cult because its prophet is still alive!

But then, worry not, because Li Hongzhi was born in 1951, and therefore will almost certainly die by 2040, unless he truly is a living God as he claims.

Now, for the really important question of weather Falun Gong is a "good" or "bad" religion, Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的) has seen absolutely nothing in it that is worse than any other major religion say, e.g., Christianity (基督教).

Some possibly neutral Cult analysts analyzing if FLG is good or bad:

Against:

In the end however, since there is nothing obviously completely creepy about FLG, all such discussions are basically equivalent to "is the Left better than the Right", and cannot be answered.

One interesting linguistic aspect is that "cult" normally translates in Chinese as "邪教" which means "Evil religion".

As mentioned before, Ciro does not believe that FLG is an "Evil Cult", just another "Acceptable Cult", and therefore would not use "邪教" to describe it.

Amusingly, Li calls the communists Communist Evil Party (中共邪党) in cannon, well played: https://gb.falundafa.org/chigb/jiangfa5_2.htm

The word "Cult" is much more ambiguous in English however, and does not necessarily imply "Evil" in certain contexts, just "worship".

For example, People from Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的)'s mother’s Protestant Church in Brazil, all say that they are going "to the cult" ("culto" in Portuguese) when referring to when they are going to church to pray, sing and read the Bible together, here’s a Wikipedia page in Portuguese page about it: https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culto_(Evangelicalismo)

And obviously, the origin of the word "cult" is exactly the same as that of "cultivate" as in "cultivate the crops" (which is also how Falun Gong believers refer to practicing Falun Gong: "cultivation practice"). All of those come from the Latin "colō", which means simply "to protect".

8.3.3.1. CCP cult (中共邪教)

The CCP also has many cult-like characteristics, notably "The Guru is always right", which is mentioned on Orange Papers (橙色文件) itself under "The Guru is always right." (highlight by Ciro):

The Guru, his church, and his teachings are always right, and above criticism, and beyond reproach.

In some cults, the guru is dead, but the principle is the same. I use the word "guru" loosely here; in many cults the charismatic leader has the title of minister, priest, yogi, swami, prophet, or all-knowing wise man. Or even, "Chairman Mao." In any case, the leader is always right.

And they also claim that Alcoholics Anonymous could be characterized as a cult. Very cool. What else could be powerful enough to get you off a physical addiction, than a mental addiction, right? The Midnight Mass (2021) miniseries by Netflix episode 2 makes that suggestion nicely on a side by side collage at about 8 minutes. It later mentions Rational Recovery (RR), which is a "non-religious" alternative to the AA.

Mao is the Father
Xi is the Son
The CCP is the Holy Spirit

Both Mao and Xi have produced their own sacred books which must be revered, much like Li Hongzhi (李洪志, LHZ, Falun Gong prophet)'s Canonical Falun Gong texts (法轮功的经典著作):

Furthermore, both of those books are based on speeches, just like just like Li Hongzhi’s speeches become instant canon.

This devotion can also be seen in Xi’s benevolent personification: Xi Dada (习大大, 2015).

See also:

CCP in religious ceremonies:

Ex official Ge Yang (戈扬), who was in the USA when Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989 (六四事件) broke out, and refused to return because she did not approve of the government’s reactions, and who features in The Gate of Heavenly Peace (1995, 天安门纪录片) at several points, comments:

共产党已同一个邪教差不多,是不可以信赖的、不可以和它靠近的。否则,多好的人,也会变坏。
The Communist Party is almost the same as a cult. It cannot be trusted or approached. Otherwise, even good people will become bad.

Xi Jinping thought halo
Figure 120. Xi Jinping with a Halo edited in to make the obvious more obvious. The texts reads "习近平思想" (Xi Jinping Thought). Watermark reads "Gucci Minh @Laborwave", so presumably from https://www.instagram.com/laborwavedesigns/, but I didn’t have the patience to find the picture, but it very likey comes from there, a ton of great communist memes in that account. Source.
Xi Jinping vs Li Hongzhi prophet pictures
Figure 121. Side-by-side comparison between devotional pictures of Xi Jinping (习近平, 2012-∞, Heil卐!) (taken from the cover of Xi Jinping Thought (习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想, 2017)) and Li Hongzhi (李洪志, LHZ, Falun Gong prophet). The stylistic resemblance is striking.
8.3.3.2. Orange Papers (橙色文件)

Amazing website talking about Cults and many other things!

The key page of the website is the "Cult Test": https://www.orange-papers.org/orange-cult_q0.html. This is a must read. It is basically the TV Tropes of Cults.

Down as of 2020-04 archive:

TODO who is the author? Copyright says by "A. Orange". Is it the real name, or just a pun for "I ate an orange"?

https://www.reddit.com/r/Orangepapers/comments/5sh7kg/any_info_on_what_happened_to_the_orange_papers/ mentions the creator’s first name is "Terry", and that the website went down due to financial trouble.

The website also offered compressed archives, but Ciro could not find any of those on the Wayback Machine, although it is hard to be sure because there are many different timestamps available, the section reads:

Get this entire web site in a set of compressed packages so that you can read it later offline (and burn CDs and give copies to friends).

Archives are available in both Unix/Linux tarred-gzipped format, or Micro$uck Windoze winzip format.

Current as of 2016-12-07 (yyyy-mm-dd).

Total Size = 900 MB compressed (1.7 GB uncompressed), but no file is larger than 14 MB, to prevent file size problems with some systems, like Comcast.

Get either set; you don’t need both, as the files contained are identical.

File names are of form:

  • Orange_Papers-alpha-2016-12-07.tar.gz

  • Orange_Papers-imgs000-2011-01-01.tar.gz

A mirror with many broken links and images: http://aorange1.tripod.com/

And the website also has a Free Tibet flag at the bottom.

Many of the points highlighted at are very very interesting and Ciro feels that they apply strongly to Falun Gong (法轮功, Qigong new religion/cult):

There are also however some points which Ciro feels don’t apply, and Ciro praises Falun Gong for those:

  • "Dual Purposes": not much of that, most of their propaganda is "we are persecuted unfairly by China", not "let’s help the poor"

  • "The End Justifies The Means": Li has made it clear that believers must follow the laws of their countries. Cults that violate this tend to not last as long, this is the smart move for cult leaders.

And some points which Ciro feels apply which were mentioned in some other article, (or maybe in Orange Papers but he couldn’t find them, TODO find reference?)

  • "No time for fun": how could you possibly spend leisure time watching television, etc. when you could be saving the world instead?

  • "Focus on the persecution of the Cult": while obviously people who have been persecuted have the right, and almost an obligation, to look for help and share their stories, it is also clear that this is a selling point for the Cult.

    Why would a nation state attack a Cult? This could give the impression that it is because there is something powerful and true in the Cult, and actually menaces this nation state.

    For example, Falun Gong puts huge emphasis on its persecution in China, much like the Martyrdom of the Catholic Saints is highly emphasised.

This is especially interesting, because the website does not mention Falun Gong at all it seems: it really seems that all those cults are very similar.

It should also be mentioned though that these points extend to any type of human organization, e.g. other religions, political parties, job associations, etc.

8.3.3.2.1. Cult speak (邪教话,Orange Papers, 橙色文件)

Falun Gong’s slogan is the quite direct to the point:

法轮大法好 Falun Gong is good

This is in part to fight off the mountains of anti-Falun Gong propaganda created by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP, 中国共产党, 1949-, Cult of Mao/Xi, 毛习邪教, 10.000 year Reich).

Their core values are:

The slogan and the core values are often placed together as:

法轮大法好。真善忍好。 Falun Gong is good. Truthfulness, compassion and forbearance are good.

8.3.3.2.2. Careful control of your image (Orange Papers, 小心控制你的形象, 橙色文件)

The cult leader is a master at controlling how people view them.

One aspect of that, is after reaching a certain critical mass of mindless followers, to limit your public appearances to situations in which you have the most control, and notably being surrounded only by your believers.

Because of course: you are human, not a God, and you are going to fuck up from time to time, so why take any risks now that you are already established?

Li Hongzhi (李洪志, LHZ, Falun Gong prophet) does not announce where he is going for the most part, even though he is followed by millions: he just shows up unannounced, and local believers whisper to one another in short advance and come to see him when possible.

As a result, there are almost no recordings of Li Hongzhi except from the early days when he actually had to go out and get new believers hooked himself.

What if he (brain-)farted during a presentation, like we all do from time to time? Don’t want recordings of that, do we? Canonical Falun Gong texts (法轮功的经典著作) related to those private presentations is only published after careful review of course.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2Cv5hZfOmk&t=1177 Siberian Cult Leader Thinks He’s Jesus by VICE (2012) In this documentary, which VICE was allowed to visit and interview Siberian prophet Vissarion (real name Sergey Anatolyevitch Torop Серге́й Анато́льевич То́роп, AKA "The Russian Jesus"), and they note how well he controlled his appearance. Ciro also heard similar stories of Stalin (斯大林, 1922-1952) and Mao Zedong (毛泽东, 1954–1976) when they would retreat from the public eye for a while. Part of appearance control generally requires you to select select cult members of the inner circle to act for you, so you can minimize your surface of errors. This in exchange gives them greater status in the community.
8.3.3.2.3. Different levels of truth (Orange Papers, 不同层次的真相, 橙色文件)

And closely related: "Deceptive Recruiting"

Falun Gong people don’t talk freely about their funny beliefs like aliens are amongst us to outsiders.

Rather, they lure you in with the exercises first.

Ciro has personally heard the following said many times: "you should not tell this to non-believers, they are not ready for this truth yet".

Conversely, dictatorships, just like cults, also have practice different levels of truth, because in the end some level of decision maker has to know the actual truth of the world:

Some other cults that come to mind:

8.3.3.2.6. Promised Powers or Knowledge (Orange Papers, 应许的功能或知识, 橙色文件)

Many/most Falun Gong believers believe that:

But in the end, since everything is fake, there is only one reward that you can possibly get if you are both lucky and crazy hard working: some attention from the master.

See also:

8.3.3.2.7. Making cult members work long hours for free (Orange papers, 让信徒免费长时间工作, 橙色文件)

Many Falun Gong members work long long hours for free to help spread their religion, either by:

because spreading those are religious obligations.

But on the other hand, why wouldn’t do that if you believed that there is a living god on our Earth which most "ordinary people" don’t know about, and that you are saving people’s souls? If a religion doesn’t make you do things for it, that belief is useless. In the case of Christianity however this is possibly in part linked to the Evangelical belief of salvation by grace alone. Quite convenient right, you don’t really have to do anything concrete to be saved, only believe and repent.

Furthermore, a very similar mindset is present in entrepreneurs, who are often driven to do long long work for an ideal. Sometimes, e.g. in Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的)'s case, even to make a not-for-profit.

And Ciro Santilli’s mother would spend countless hours helping the less fortunate after her retirement in activities semi-linked to her Protestant church.

So this point is not so simple to criticize.

But it is sad to watch people waste their lives for something that is a lie.

8.3.3.2.8. Membership Rivalry (Orange papers, 让信徒免费长时间工作, 橙色文件)

While Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的) hasn’t personally witnessed any malicious internal competition in Falun Gong, this does make the more interesting point that:

Members vie with one another for the guru's attention, and for status within the group. Everyone is trying to become part of the favored inner circle. The leader plays the members off against each other in order to maintain his hold over the cult.

and this is very true. Because since you, everything is a lie you don’t get the promised goods, and the only thing that is left for you to actually get is the guru’s attention and the social status associated with it.

The inner circle status mechanic is also closed related to Careful control of your image (Orange Papers, 小心控制你的形象, 橙色文件), see the Vissarion video.

Some inner circle mechanics are also well shown in Wild Wild Country (2017, 大师_(电影)) through Sheela.

8.4. Canonical Falun Gong texts (法轮功的经典著作)

It appears that Falun Gong cannon is present at: https://falundafa.org/

The two main books are:

The initial versions of both of those texts contained versions of Li Hongzhi’s hagiography (李洪志的圣徒传记).

It contains LHZ's approved texts/speech transcriptions, which are sacred.

The only sacred version is Chinese which is a sacred language, and of which there is only one perfect revision.

This is perfectly analogous to the role of:

Protestants and later the Catholic church, have moved away from such really bad strategy however, the accessibility of Christianity is seen on the entrance of many many churches which have a sign "ALL are welcome". Perhaps this is also related to the fact that Christianism was already based on translating earlier Judaic texts to Greek, so the sacred language barrier was already broken. Well played.

The English translation is made by followers, and gets new revisions from time to time to reduce translation imperfections.

However, the Chinese language seems to be fundamentally sacred, and there might never be a sacred English version approved by LHZ.

LHZ is of course a de-facto God with superpowers, and can of course speak all languages, but for reasons he didn’t just write an English translation himself.

This is a reasonable command to download the English cannon for grepping:

wget -r -l inf --no-remove-listing --no-clobber --no-parent -w 2 https://en.falundafa.org/falun-dafa-books.html

TODO: need to find a way to wrap lines, otherwise grep might fail on sentences.

But funnily the Canon books appear to all be copyrighted, likely "to avoid other people from modifying his sacred text", which is funny since the dude’s the voice of absolute truth of the universe, but you still gotta copyright that I guess.

Nothing else is canonical. LHZ seems to have said that there are enlightened followers, but has not specified who, so we can’t derive canon from anyone else.

Notably, FLG media such as https://www.minghui.org/ is believer led and thus not canonical, even though believers have very high confidence in it, and LHZ directly supports it.

CCP cult leaders such as Xi Jinping (习近平, 2012-∞, Heil卐!) and Mao Zedong (毛泽东, 1954–1976) have also published their own canon books, e.g.:

8.4.1. Zhuan Falun (转法轮)

Published in January 1995.

According to Wikipedia:

Zhuan Falun is the main teaching and the most comprehensive work; it is an edited version of Li’s nine-lecture series, 54 of which he taught across China between 1992 and 1994.

Believers very often read from this text when they "study the Fa" in their gatherings. They often read one chapter per session, and can often just say "we read the Nth teaching" (第N讲, so apparently each chapter corresponds to a separate talk). Just like Xi Jinping Thought (习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想, 2017) (and other Chinese religious traditions)!

Zhuan Falun
Figure 122. Front and back cover of Zhuan Falun (转法轮), first edition (1994). It is said amongst believers that the Lotus flower on the back of these books have magically opened progressively as time passed. Source.
Zhuan Falun 2010s English vs Chinese
Figure 123. Side-by-side English and Chinese version of Zhuan Falun (转法轮) circa 2010s. These covers are very widespread. Note how the Chinese cover is yellow, almost golden, to indicate that it is cannon. And translations in all other languages are blue, to indicate non-canon. Also note how the drawings of mystical elements have been removed in favor an abstract presentation. This is part of Different levels of truth (Orange Papers, 不同层次的真相, 橙色文件). That golden cover is a direct recall to Bhuddist scriptures have been published traditionally in some epochs in China, just Google Images for "佛经". Source.

8.5. Does Ciro Santilli support Falun Gong, or just use it because it is censored? (三西猴是支持法轮功,还是仅仅因为它被审查而使用它?)

Ciro uses it in his usernames simply because it is the most banned and censored one in China today.

He considers FLG a religion like any other, and he is against its ban, as that of all other religions.

He also believes that freedom of speech and democracy imply that FLG and other religions will exist. If you want freedom, you have to accept other people’s choices.

8.6. How is it like to live with Falun Gong believers? (与法轮功信徒一起生活是一种怎样的体验?)

This will obviously vary from believer to believer, but here is Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的)'s experience.

Like any other religion that is taken seriously, they spend several hours per week doing their standard religious activities: Is Falun Gong a religion? 法轮功是一个宗教吗?.

Ciro has never seen them, or anyone we know from FLG say or do something that he consider morally incorrect because of FLG.

This does not prevent his wife from working normally.

Ciro’s mother-in-law, who is retired, dedicates all her time to Falun Gong when she is not taking care of the house.

Ciro’s mother is also religious (Protestant), and he gets a very similar feeling about both groups.

Like other religions, Falun Gong gives them meaning in life, and Ciro admires that they pursue their belief energetically, just as he persues his beliefs energetically.

Ciro much prefers that Ciro’s mother-in-law does Falun Gong, which is a noble meaningful goal, rather than watch stupid crap on television.

Also, although he is agnostic, Ciro also lives in a similar way.

Ciro’s religion is that of science and technology, and he pursue it fervently by trying to learn and teach it and spend several hours a week doing that, even when it does not give him money immediately.

If Ciro pursue his meaning, why should he prevent anyone from pursuing theirs?

Previously, Ciro’s wife and mother-in-law would sometimes try to persuade him to learn Falun Gong, which was annoying.

But every time he told them very clearly that he knows where to download the books if I want to, and that he may never want to read them, and that his wife must either accept this fact or leave him.

And they have accepted that: they think Ciro’s a good person, and they can accept that you can also be a good person even without doing Falun Gong.

Ciro does feel Falun Gong makes Ciro’s mother-in-law more reluctant to use or actively search for medication or treatment. But he thinks it is also linked to the fact that she didn’t have a very good education or a good health system around. However, if Ciro and his wife give her something, she will take it. Ciro’s wife does not have any resistance to medication.

One thing that does worry Ciro is that Ciro’s mother in law sleeps too little every night, doing one of the Falun Gong meditations late in the evening, and then waking up very early to a long series of reading and exercise sessions. But it is hard to say if she would be any different without Falun Gong, it could just be her nature.

Bibliography:

8.7. Falun Gong is completely different in the West than it was in China (法轮功在西方与在中国完全不同)

I believe that it has changed.

But isn’t that the case of every cultural religious movement that migrates to a completely new culture?

Main points which may have changed:

  • It has become more organized.

    But why shouldn’t they organize to defend themselves now that they have the chance without being put into prison?

    The CCP is highly organized and has way more resources.

  • Less emphasis is given to the religious/mystical aspect, and more to the corporal exercises, and health aspect.

    This may be because people in the "West" are:

    • are "scientific-educated" atheists who wouldn’t go for a "religion"

    • already have other religions, which would view FLG as a taboo

Also maybe only the richest and most educated believers managed to escape China, and thus the movement carried that bias outside China.

If you know more ways in which it may have changed, let me know.

But once again, we can know nothing for sure about the past in China because of censorship.

Even if you saw something yourself, how can you be sure that it is representative?

And if it has changed, now that it has changed, maybe China should unban it?

See also:

8.8. Falun Gong has been funded by the US government at least once, therefore it is evil (法轮功至少被美国政府资助过一次,所以是邪恶的)

1.5M USD in 2010 for a FLG controlled internet freedom group https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8678760.stm

But well, if you are going to do something anyway, and someone offers you money, why wouldn’t you take it?

Taking the money does of course give a "bad impression" that someone is trying to buy influence, but does it in itself imply that you are doing something bad?

But do you really think that the US government paid that to buy influence in FLG? What would they force upon that FLG group that they didn’t already want to do? Isn’t it more likely that the US government wanted them to continue doing exactly what they were doing?

Every government funds groups it supports, it is an all out war I suppose. Compare that to the propaganda funds of the CCP.

What about the funding of political campaigns, which vastly outnumbers 1.5M USD every year?

8.9. Falun Gong is illegal in China, we must follow the law (法轮功在中国是非法的,我们必须遵守法律)

If a law is unfair, we must fight to change it.

It was perfectly legal for Nazis to kill Jews. Does it make that right?

But in the end, the commies don’t even bother passing or following laws, they just fuck people anyways without one: Rule of law (法治).

The problem in dictatorships is that the people have no power at all to change the law because there is no Democracy (民主).

The excuse that "we have to do this to follow Chinese law in order to operate in China", is exactly what all Western companies that comply with Chinese censorship requests (遵守中国审查要求的西方公司) do. If Chinese law mandated killing Jews, they would likely comply.

The trick though is to delegate the dirty work to Chinese branches and employees, as a way to distance themselves from the activity. This is also generally a regulatory requirement of the Chinese government however.

8.10. Falun Gong is fake (法轮功是假的)

The same can be argued about any other religion or political belief of type: it is better if we organize society in this or that way.

How can you disprove their belief, when as in any other religion, every affirmation made hinges on "miracles only happen around when true believers are around" or "only true believers can perceive evidence in their hearts / minds directly". He died of cancer or Censorship of the 2019 Corona Virus (2019冠状病毒病早期迹象审查)? Not a true believer, deep withing his heart, something was wrong. See also: Falun Gong never makes any predictions that can be reasonably verified by non-believers (法轮功从不做任何非信徒可以合理验证的预言).

Conversely, do you understand the full sequence of experiments that imply quantum field theory? Have you seen videos of those experiments? Have you attended live demonstrations? Do you understand the construction of the experimentation apparatus? Yet, why do you believe it?

Because millions of religious believers feel that they have have directly observed God/other dimensions/energies/aliens/some other religious crap through direct experience several times in their lieves, or even daily. Why then is quantum field theory correct, but their daily direct religious experience wrong?

More importantly: what do you propose that should be done about it? Should we kill followers? Or is jail enough?

Also do let me know when you have achieved irrefutable proof that democracy/freedom of speech are the optimal ways to organize the government: Why does Ciro Santilli say that democracy is a religion just like Falun Gong? (为什么三西猴说民主就像法轮功一样是一种宗教?).

8.10.1. Falun Gong never makes any predictions that can be reasonably verified by non-believers (法轮功从不做任何非信徒可以合理验证的预言)

Notably, Li Hongzhi (李洪志, LHZ, Falun Gong prophet) explicitly forbids display of magical powers gained by believers to non-believers: [flg-supernatural-powers] for "reasons". What a convenient coincidence, that prevents any verifiability!

Just like in Harry Potter, Falun Gong believers are part of the magical Hogwarts world which non-believers, The Muggles, cannot access.

The closest claims to observable Ciro has heard are:

but Ciro suspects they are not even canon, just believer oral culture.

Of course, like every other religion, reality happens to be is constructed in a way that prevents non-believers to verify anything with their eyes in a reproducible way.

Or a Jesus put it in Luke 4:

Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple.

"If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written:

"'He will command his angels concerning you,

and they will lift you up in their hands,

so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'"

Jesus answered him, "It is also written: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"

Ah good old prophets, their tricks haven’t changed a bit in 2 thousand years! This is why Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的) follows instead the religion of science and freedom of speech, because those religions instead say:

Test your God. Test your God a billion times. And if your God proves wrong just once, disbelieve it.

The Pontius Pilate Scene from The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) comes to mind, quotes:

Pontius: It’s also said that you do miracles? Is this good magic or bad magic? Can we have some sort of demonstration?

Jesus: No, I’m not a trained animal, I’m not a magician.

Pontius: Well, that’s disappointing. This means that you are just another Jewish politician.

and:

Pontius: It’s one way to change the way that people live, but you want to change the way that they think and that they feel.

Jesus: All I’m saying is the change will happen with love. Not with killing.

Pontius: Either way it’s dangerous. It’s against Rome. It’s against the way the world is. In killing or loving, it’s all the same. It simply doesn’t matter how you want to change things, we don’t want them changed.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=pXGsio9H1xs The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) - Pontius Pilate Scene (5/10) | Movieclips.

Futurama also has an interesting take:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObbVO3A3BvA Bender meets God in Futurama S03E20 "Godfellas". In their talk, they comment on how "if as God you give them everything, they will grow dependent on you, and if you give them nothing, they will despise you". And so the best approach as a God might be "to influence things as if you weren’t there".

8.11. Many people both are against both censorship and Falun Gong (我要民主,但是我还要禁止法轮功)

Ciro know that, and that supporting FLG is "bad" for his public image with most Chinese, including those that are against censorship.

But without censorship, there will be democracy, and with democracy FLG followers will have voting rights, and FLG will become legal.

Ciro thinks that the situation is very similar to Scientology in the USA today: most people dislike it, but believe that you can believe whatever you want.

Isn’t it convenient when a dictatorship gets rid of those weirdos for you? But not so much when suddenly you or your family is the weirdo…​

If you are not ready to accept the beliefs of others, dictatorship is the only choice for you.

It is also interesting to note how Falun Gong is a good source of Censorship circumvention (翻墙) material.

See also:

8.11.1. Why does Ciro Santilli say that democracy is a religion just like Falun Gong? (为什么三西猴说民主就像法轮功一样是一种宗教?)

Because it also specifies irrational and fundamental aspects of how one should live, notably voting and freedom of speech.

Just like the CCP cult (中共邪教) has one fundamental belief: the Party is always right.

Ban Falun Gong (法轮功, Qigong new religion/cult), and you have banned democracy.

Accept democracy, and you will have Falun Gong (法轮功, Qigong new religion/cult).

There is no in-between.

8.12. Many people say they do Falun Gong only to get VISAs to the USA (很多人说他们修炼法轮功只是为了拿到美国签证)

But I don’t see how this is relevant at all to this discussion:

  • if they are not really FLG believers, they should be prosecuted, but this says nothing about the real FLG believers,

  • if they are, then why wouldn’t they seek a VISA, since they are in constant threat of going to jail or worse in China, and the USA law gives them that right?

Sample news:

8.13. I have personally seen people do bad things because of Falun Gong

Either direct suicide or dying because of not taking medication.

First, I’m not saying I don’t believe you, and I’m sorry about what happened.

But your testimony is worthless unless you give the following:

  • clear unique personal identification

    This is because the CCP has thousands of wumaos who could make fake reports.

    There are basically two ways to do that:

    1. your testimony is done in video form on YouTube clearly showing your face as you make it

    2. links between a notable social media presence that is hard to achieve, e.g. Twitter with many followers, Stack overflow with a lot of rep, and the account

      Either of those must contain / link to information that uniquely identifies you. Generally, full name, city and date of birth is enough.

  • a precise testimony that states exactly what you saw happen with your own eyes, or heard from people that are very close to you.

    The testimony must include:

    • when the events happened

    • where they happened, in which city at the very least

    • the full names of who did what

    This is to:

    • make it easier to verify the truth of the event

    • uniquely identify the event so we don’t count a single event multiple times

If you do provide all of the above, I add your report to a list of reports that I will maintain. This list does not exist yet because there were no valid reports yet.

Next consider this:

  • are you sure that Falun Gong made the person do the bad thing, and that the person wouldn’t have done it anyway?

    Did someone from Falun Gong told the person to do it?

    I bet that if you look into patients of psychiatrists, you will find more suicides than average. So should we ban psychiatry?

  • are you sure that the order came from LHZ, and that it was not just some disgruntled local leader using Falun Gong for his personal madness and doing things he did not approve?

    Branch Davidians were inspired by Christianity (基督教). So should we ban Christianity? What about the majority of Christians who have never done anything bad?

  • only statistics have any meaning, and it would require a very large number of reports to make up statistics, so you will likely be wasting your time. I will do my part and maintain a list however.

  • if we ask for FLG believers to compile a list of horrors they have suffered, which they have already been doing since the start of the persecution, I bet that their list will be much longer than yours, because they are so well organized

8.14. Falun Gong does not have proof of their persecution claims (法轮功没有被迫害的证据)

How much proof do you think they would be able to get when there is no freedom of the press?

Do you think that forbidding a 70 million person religion could have gone smoothly?

Do you think the thousands of personal accounts of human rights violations that exist are all fake, and don’t indicate that many, many more have taken place but fallen under censorship?

Conversely, there is no reliable proof that FLG is bad as claimed by CCP that has been verified by international media.

8.14.1. Western media has exaggerated reports on Falun Gong for propaganda reasons (西方媒体以宣传为由夸大法轮功报道)

Possibly true, but which reports are you talking about specifically?

All that I care about is:

  • it is censored today

  • if you do it you go to jail

  • there were tens of millions of followers at the time of the ban

which I think are undeniable.

The only question that matters is: should it be banned or not?

8.14.2. Sun Yi (孙毅, 2008)

Documentary about him, TODO are the producers Falun Gong believers?

Masanjia re-education through labor camp where he was kept:

Coverage:

8.15. Someone from movement X did something bad, therefore the movement should be banned (X运动中的某个人做了坏事,因此该运动应该被禁止)

By this logic, everyone should go to jail. The law should only punish individuals.

The communist party, which has had continuous power since 1949, killed millions during the Cultural Revolution (文化大革命, 1966-1976). Surely they must be banned, no?

Ciro agrees. And so has Falun Gong.

Or if you like shitty movies: Minority Report (2002).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfTJV-8rtxE review of the A (1998) documentary film about the Aum Shinrikyo (奥姆真理教) Japanese cult that made the Tokyo subway sarin attack in 1995. As mentioned at Is Falun Gong a cult? (法轮功是邪教吗?), Ciro Santilli does consider Falun Gong a peaceful cult, unlike Aum. But even then, Ciro is against the loss of rights of Aum members that were never convicted of any crime, and were possibly also not aware of any crimes that were committed, as shown in this documentary.

8.15.1. Movement X tells people to do something bad, therefore the movement should be banned (运动X告诉人们做坏事,因此运动应该被禁止)

E.g. kill.

Yes, convincing someone to do something bad is as bad as doing it yourself of course, and must be forbidden.

Now proceed to prove that FLG made and will continue making people do bad things, going through:

8.15.1.1. Tiananmen Square self-immolation incident (天安门自焚事件, 2001)

This has been one of the major anti-Falun Gong propaganda pieces by the CCP, and one of the most refuted by Falun Gong propaganda even as of 2020.

8.15.1.1.1. Honour suicides in Chinese history (中国历史上的荣誉自杀, Qu Yuan, 屈原, Wu Zixu, 伍子胥)

As mentioned on Wikipedia, China has a long history of suicide for altruistic/moral/honour reasons in Confucian tradition, some of which are still celebrated to this day.

The Master said, The gentleman who is resolute and ren does not seek to live on at the expense of ren, and there are times when he will sacrifice his life to complete ren.

I love to eat fish; I also love to eat bear paws. If I can’t have both, I will forego the fish and eat the bear paws. I love life; I also love right. If I can’t have both, I will forego life and choose to do right. Life is truly something I love, it is just that there is something else I love more, and so I can’t hold on to life by devious means. And death is truly something I hate, it is just that there is something I hate more than death, and so there are dangers I will not avoid.

If a man loves nothing more than life, then won’t he use whatever means are required to hold onto it? If a man hates nothing more than death, then won’t he use whatever means are required to avoid danger? Yet there are things men won’t do in order to avoid danger and live, and from this we know that there are things men love more than life and hate more than death. It is not just worthy men who have such feelings, all men have them; worthies are simply those who do not lose them.

Notable historical figures who committed suicides are are still celebrated to this day include:

These sound exactly like examples that Xi Dada (习大大, 2015) would want his army to keep in mind: ultimate sacrifice for the motherland.

8.15.1.1.2. Qu Yuan (屈原, 340-278 BC)

He is celebrated in the Dragon Boat Festival (端午节, Double Fifth Festival, 重五节), the third most important festival in modern China.

Held during the fifth day of the fifth lunar month.

He committed suicide by drowning himself in the Miluo River, modern Hubei Province (湖北省), while holding a rock, after his country’s (Chu (楚国)) capital was taken by the Qin enemies during the Warring States period (战国时期, 475-221 BC).

He is a symbol of patriotism respected to this day.

A reference to one of his poems appears e.g. at Hu Yaobang’s memorial in Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989 (六四事件).

8.16. People from movement X are only in it for political power (X运动的人只是为了政治权力)

For every desire of the masses, there will be amoral representatives that will step to use that power.

Still, those representatives cannot gain power if there is no backing desire from society.

The only advantage of democracy, is that those representatives have to pretend harder to do things for that group to retain their power.

Falun Gong believers obviously have the right to do politics, just like any other person, and Ciro greatly encourages this.

But Ciro does not like that Falun Gong tends to not call itself a political force, when it clearly is. But full disclosure is not a legal obligation, and many many media outlets don’t really disclose their obvious political connections. See also: Falun Gong media is not transparent about its affiliation (法轮功媒体对其隶属关系不透明).

Falun Gong directly contacts Government officials, demonstrates in front of government buildings and supports Trump, how can that not be politics?!?! Just call it for what it is, and no one will be able to criticize you for it!

Never get involved in politics, nor interfere with state affairs'.

But at the same, he also greatly encourages Falun Gong media (法轮功媒体), which obviously a political influence method. As usual, everything in Falun Gong is explained in an indirect roundabout way.

Other related canon mentions https://en.minghui.org/html/articles/2003/3/21/33575.html "Explaining the Fa During the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference":

Question: When elections were held in our district, there were people who went to help a few congressional candidates that supported Dafa. But some people thought we shouldn’t get ourselves involved in politics, and that we shouldn’t rely on ordinary people to do things for Dafa. Is that understanding correct?

Teacher: It’s correct in principle, but for this specific matter you should look at it this way. If you say Dafa disciples can’t get involved in ordinary society’s politics, I wouldn’t say that’s 100% correct. What I told you was that Dafa doesn’t get involved in politics. And a lot of our Dafa disciples work in politics, that’s their job. So if there’s a government election, should you take part in it? If you take part in it and cast your vote, well then you’ve gotten involved in politics. A Dafa disciple cultivating in the ordinary society means that you try your best to cultivate while conforming to the ordinary society, and then there won’t be a problem. You, too, are a member of the ordinary society. And the existence of the ordinary society is necessary for Dafa, for the cosmos, and for sentient beings. We can only help maintain it and can’t disrupt it. When you’re supposed to vote, just go vote, that’s not a problem. If you say that a certain Congressman is your personal friend, and you’d like to help him do something, then of course there might be things that involve elections and you’d be doing volunteer work—that doesn’t matter. But our Dafa as a whole doesn’t get involved in politics, and we can’t do anything political in the name of Dafa. For Dafa disciples, validating the Fa should be the priority, though.

The last time there was an election in Taiwan, I had a veteran practitioner call the person in charge of the Taiwan Dafa Association and make it clear to the public that Dafa Associations take no stance on elections. If an individual practitioner wants to support someone, that’s his personal business and it doesn’t represent Dafa. There were Dafa disciples supporting both of the parties. The Falun Dafa Association has no political opinion regarding any party’s election, and it doesn’t get involved. As individual practitioners you can support whoever you’d like. That’s how it works.

The last paragraph is really great, as it indicates how Li’s communication works. His top tenants are known, and their word is as good as the master’s.

Question: During Taiwan’s presidential election, some students' human attachments got stirred up. Was it a test arranged by the old forces? What’s the right way for us to handle this?

Teacher: Even if the sky were to fall, a cultivator’s righteous thoughts would stay unshaken—​that is cultivation, and that is remarkable. (Applause) A cultivator is not attached to anything in this world. Dafa disciples' cultivation takes a different form today. In cultivation you do your best out in the world to conform to ordinary society, you have normal jobs in ordinary society, and you have your families, jobs, and all that—​you are closely tied to society. With the Taiwan election, some students thought a certain person was pretty good and so they wanted to vote for him, while others thought a different person was pretty good and wanted to vote for that one. People have their own, different views, and there’s nothing wrong with that. A person’s own actions out in society don’t represent Dafa. But you can’t be attached to those things the way ordinary people are.

Whoever you vote for, I can’t, as your Master, say that you’re wrong, nor do I get involved in those things. That’s because the path I ask you to take has you cultivate in ordinary society. Cultivators can only benefit a society. You cultivate in ordinary society but you don’t steer human society in one direction or another.

So for each student, it’s fine for you to vote as an individual for whomever you want. It’s just that you can’t be too attached. But through the persecution against Dafa disciples in Mainland China, Dafa disciples have seen through something, and so some are thinking, "Whoever is close to the evil that’s persecuting us, I won’t vote for him." (Applause) And as your Master I have no objection to that either. (Audience laughs, applauds) Those are the students' own thoughts, and as your Master I haven’t told you who to vote for. Still less will I tell you to take any group action, and that’s not allowed. (Audience laughs)

https://youtu.be/ArfGyo6HQ_E?t=1175 Ciro really liked what Doctor Matthew N. Schmalz said on this VICE documentary about Hyung Jin Moon's and his Unification movement ("the Moonies" split-off religion. "I think that any new religion needs a constituency. And especially for a group that is new, that is relatively small, making connections with other groups that might have similar commitments is something that can be quite productive if you are a leader of a new religion". As long as everyone plays the democracy game through democracy rules, peace tends to be maintained, and it is easier for multiple different beliefs to coexist. Falun Gong has obviously gone in this political direction, and that is a positive sign about the religion.

8.16.1. Falun Gong supports Donald (Trump, 法轮功支持特朗普)

Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的) believes without non-circumstantial evidence that the huge majority of Falun Gong believers strongly supports Trump.

Ciro feels that Falun Gong’s support of Trump is a fundamental religious issue to the group.

Like everything else concrete, it is not clear if Li Hongzhi (李洪志, LHZ, Falun Gong prophet) has directly supported this or not.

Ciro feels without proof however that it is extremely likely that he has given very clear private directives to his top tenants to support Trump, notably to the heads of the key Falun Gong media (法轮功媒体) organizations.

And then this belief gets pumped endlessly through the Falun Gong media, which completely unilaterally praises and supports Trump and criticizes his opponents, so that all believers understand that this is Li Hongzhi’s desire.

Edit: around 2021-05-15, this got published on Minghui (明慧网, Falun Gong media): https://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2021/5/18/大纪元新唐人媒体法会讲法-425888.html. It is not on falundafa.org yet, but is extremely likely to be uploaded later and can already be consiered canon. The title is "Fa Teachings at the The Epoch Times (明慧网, Falun Gong media)/New Tang Dynasty Television (NTD, NTDTV, 新唐人電視台, Falun Gong media) media meeting", and it contains the first, unumbiguous support of Trump done in Canon. Although such support took a long time to come out publicly in canon, which ciro-santilli condems, it was a huge positive step forward towards transparency, as it makes Falun Gong’s pre-exising but unannounced religious support for Donald trump publicly official. The key quote on Google Translate is:

Everyone knows that the former president of the United States could not be re-elected, and he was taken down by improper means. I only talk about this phenomenon. Isn’t it a manifestation of the current state of society? Everyone knows that the former president wants to talk about traditions and restore traditions. What he has to do is to change the moral quality of people and society in a better direction, and to restore society to a better social state. Is he going against the current heavenly principle? Because God’s law is not working. Is he against the trend of this society? He is going against the current, and he wants to suffocate the current. If it’s a country, maybe he can do it; what about the entire human society, it’s too difficult. So, if the entire universe is like this, can it be intercepted? Unstoppable. So, those gods who took him down and those bad gods in the old universe were as timid as they had stolen things in their hearts. They knew what he was doing was good. Do not you know? all know. Although those gods are corrupt, at least he still understands these things

which therefore clearly says Trump is a manifestation of supernatural forces of good, and also clearly says that the 2020 American election was in fact stolen by the Democrats as per Donald Trump’s accusations.

It could have been even more direct, but Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的) considers this more than direct enough. A Brazillian saying comes to mind: "Para bom entendedor, meia palavra basta" (For the Connoisseur/Expert, half a word is enough). This was notably used as part of an relentless advertisement campain when Ciro was young (certainly too young to drink) for the overly-long-named beer brand Schincariol, suggesting that you could just call is "schin", e.g. to order it at a bar. Sample ad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vS-UWr1RIQU. Anyways, back to Falun Gong, when it is the word of Living God himself, even a quarter-word is enough I guess.

Prior to that, the most direct public suggestion we can find that Li Hongzhi directly supported Trump was in 2020-11-08 https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/20/11/8/n12534746.htm when the The Epoch Times (明慧网, Falun Gong media) published a poem by Li Hongzhi (李洪志, LHZ, Falun Gong prophet) which Ciro believes is clearly directly supporting Trump, since it was released just after Trump was announced to have lost the presidential elections, amidst claims of electoral fraud under investigation, which Falun Gong media fully and completely supported. The official translation can be found in Canonical Falun Gong texts (法轮功的经典著作) https://en.falundafa.org/eng/articles/20201108A.html:

On the General Election

In this majestic universe, the communist devil is making trouble
Fraud and corruption are harming a great nation
All the machinations make people only more despondent
When will justice be upheld and our conscience restored?

Hongzhi Li
November 8, 2020

To be completely fair, Trump has been vocal about China’s threat way before COVID, and correctly so in Ciro’s opinion, and therefore is a much needed ally of the Falun Gong movement, and to anyone that opposes China’s threat, like Ciro does.

Furthermore, Ciro does believe that there might be a Democrat bias to media, and that certainly social media like Twitter should never ever censor any political statements as it has done for Trump.

And of course, so long as those pro-Trump campaigns respect the laws of the country, Falun Gong is free to do it and must not be interfered with. As if other major American media didn’t have political agendas: USA-based media bias.

This is exactly the same, in fact, as to how religious affiliation has a huge impact in how the average American votes: https://theconversation.com/how-strong-a-role-does-religion-play-in-us-elections-133224.

It seems that Trump’s immigration policies have turned Asian Americans towards the democrat opposition however as of 2019: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/5/13/18308137/asian-american-voters-immigration-democrats-donald-trump.

One saving point of the republicans for Asians is the opposition to university quotas instance, which many Asians feel blocks their high performing kids from top schools for less deserving students. This is suggested for example at: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/02/yang-asian-americans-affirmative-action/605917/ "Opposition to affirmative action was pulling Asians toward the GOP. Then Yang’s campaign began to gather momentum."

Examples:

Question: Misleading news is everywhere in this Internet age, and it’s often hard to tell real news from fake. In the upcoming Taiwan and U.S. general elections in 2020, will fake news cloud people’s judgment?

Master: Degenerate things are common in this troubled world, and it’s hard to accomplish good things. That’s how things are in a troubled world. Many people didn’t expect Trump to be elected in the last U.S. election, but he was. Some people believe that things are supposed to go a certain way, but then they turn out otherwise. I have always said that divine beings are in control of human affairs, and that it is they who have the say. But if I speak too much about it or get into the specifics, it might negatively impact our saving people, so I won’t go into it.

One wonders how Falun Gong views Trump’s ideology of "grabbing them by the pussy". But sure, that was in 2005, he must have converted to Good since.

Analysis of Trumps electoral fraud claims:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaWjFeo0BgU You Are Not Alone by Tony Chen Music (陳東音樂, 2020) is a timeless classic devotional Trump support song. by Tony who is a Falun Gong believer. This is consistent with Ciro’s understanding of FLG’s view of the world, where Falun Gong believes that the CCP is literally a manifestation of real devils (法轮功认为中共是真正恶魔的化身) ("I see the true light - You are the Chosen One to fight the Red Demon") and therefore Trump is the manifestation of a supernatural force oof Good. The Chinese version is even more open about Trump’s God-like status: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZrVbX8jV_o, and contains perls such as (official translation) "I see hope - you are the Chosen One to save the world" and "Trump, Trump, you are not alone! Gods and Buddhas are here with you!". The extensive use of Trump’s slogan "Make America great again" is also in line with Falun Gong’s belief that the world was Good before, but has become Evil today. The Epoch Times (明慧网, Falun Gong media) made a profile of Tony in 2018.

8.17. Does Ciro Santilli believe in the allegations of human rights violations done to Falun Gong believers?

Besides the obvious prohibition of their most fundamental belief, so e.g. being tortured.

Let’s just focus on the evidence:

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CedVnJOgwg4 "Undercover video reveals brutal treatment of Falun Gong prisoners inside Chinese labor camps" by "FOX 11 Los Angeles" published May 21, 2019. Names mentioned: Fuquan Yin,

8.17.1. Does Ciro Santilli believe in the allegations of organ harvesting made by Falun Gong believers?

In short: Ciro believes that it has happened to many people.

Long version follows.

It is obviously very hard to prove and quantify it definitely, much like it was hard to prove the Holocaust: bodies were cremated, and bribes were paid.

Even if we had a video showing the whole process, showing the whole money flow from the donor to the prison guard, it would still be hard to quantify it, so I do have some room for doubt in this opinion.

But consider the following, which is based on what Ciro has heard.

Even Chinese officials have admitted that in the past, if the body of the executed person is not claimed by family, then the organs can be extracted even without the consent of the prisoner:

Perhaps now that they claim that there is a large voluntary organ donor database, then this has stopped or been reduced, but let’s focus on that period when the extractions were widely done.

From this, even though China does not publish execution statistics, we can imagine that a large part of the organs come from prisoners sentenced to death.

Then, consider that a 70 million person religion was banned, leading to a huge influx of prisoners from that religion.

FLG followers are just de-facto criminals like any other, and so extracting their organs is also de-facto legal.

Also, people from that religion don’t drink alcohol, smoke or take drugs, and their organs are of good quality.

Furthermore, FLG prisoners continue to not bow down to the government even in prison, e.g. by doing their Falun Gong meditation, which makes them clearly identifiable and dangerous to the system.

Finally, add to that mix the huge level of corruption found in dictatorships.

Don’t you think, then, that it is extremely likely that it has happened many times that such people have been selected to be executed earlier than others on average, due to the monetary value of their organs?

Bibliography:

Related:

https://youtu.be/0Jorm1di7uA?t=700 Asian boss street inverview with several South Korean people asking how they see China. The only positive view is an old man who received an organ transplant from someone sentenced to death. On Reddit at: https://www.reddit.com/r/China/comments/pve1lr/koreans_interviewed_about_their_views_on_china/.
8.17.1.1. 2018 China Tribunal

This is a mock tribunal, i.e. one without any power of law, and was of course initially lobbied/organized brought up by FLG: https://endtransplantabuse.org/

However, Ciro Santilli believes that none of the lawyers/jury members are Falun Gong believers, and that they are trying to honestly decide if there is enough evidence or not for organ harvesting in China.

They also have non-FLG witnesses.

Whether you believe in their partiality or not, I highly recommend watching some of what the witnesses, which I find very convincing and informative:

A notable precursor to mock tribunals is the Russel Tribunal.

Bibliography:

8.18. Things Ciro Santilli dislikes about Falun Gong (三西猴不喜欢法轮功的事情)

But also as explaining why I don’t think it justifies the ban.

This section also gives me more credibility as a balanced critic >:-)

8.18.1. Falun Gong downplays the fact that it is highly organized (法轮功淡化了它高度组织化的事实)

Many FLG practitioners claim that they are not at all organized, or that they have no political interest, and I truly believe that they mean it.

But it is obvious from the size of the Falun Gong media (法轮功媒体), namely:

that in practice they do have are a highly organized hierarchical structure, and very likely with LHZ at the very top, e.g.:

  • Shen Yun’s 2018 libretto says that their Artistic Director and founder is "D.F." (likely an abbreviation for Da Fa, which is an abbreviation for Falun Gong Dafa, which is a full name of Falun Gong), with a picture of LHZ on top. It also amusingly says that D.F. is a "Distinguished Professor of Music and Dance at Fei Tian College in New York", which is likely where many of Shen Yun’s dancers are trained, and therefore controlled by himself to a large extent. It’s Falun Gong’s dance-only-for-now BYU.

  • LHZ mentions NDTV, Epoch Times and Shen Yun extensively on his Canonical Falun Gong texts (法轮功的经典著作). TODO link to source, this based on unintentionally overhearing to my family members reading it.

Furthermore, Falun Gong practitioners directly lobby foreign governments to take action against human rights abuses in China, e.g.:

Like any other religion, they have all the right to take those actions, and it is definitely in their best interest, and perhaps in the best interest of the whole world, that they do so.

The only thing that annoys me is their lack of self perception on this matter: the large majority of Western people would definitely classify them as an organized political force after having observed their activities. When they say otherwise, they are hurting their own credibility.

8.18.1.1. Falun Gong media is not transparent about its affiliation (法轮功媒体对其隶属关系不透明)

Agreed, and it is a point that hurts more than helps their cause.

This is very clearly put as well at "Front groups" of the Orange Papers (橙色文件).

But the media is not legally obliged to state their affiliation.

And if that were the case, then we should force all newspapers to start taking polls of how many employees follow which religion and support which political party, and then put that in their print.

8.18.2. Falun Gong dislikes several other groups like homosexuals and some other religions (法轮功不喜欢其他几个群体,如同性恋者和其他一些宗教)

Question: Why is homosexuality considered immoral?

Teacher: Think about it, everyone: Is homosexuality human behavior? Heaven created man and woman. What was the purpose? To procreate future generations. A man being with a man, or a woman with a woman - it doesn’t take much thought to know whether that’s right or wrong. When minor things are done incorrectly, a person is said to be wrong. When major things are done incorrectly, it’s a case of people no longer having the moral code of human beings, and then they are unworthy of being human.

Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的) strongly disagrees with that view, because it is the type of thing that makes people feel bad for characteristics that they have, but cannot change.

Also, it is very hard to pass any kind of law that forces people not to be racist/discriminatory, because there is always the lingering question: what if they are right about a particular point?

Because clearly everyone has innate characteristics that make them better suited for certain activities than others, we when we select candidates for a job, we are basically discriminating amongst candidates.

Also any such law can have the opposite effect, acting as a justification for further hate.

You and I dislike certain personality traits without any logical reason.

Democracy dislikes dictators, and it is not necessarily rational.

See also:

8.18.2.1. Falun Gong on races

Strictly speaking, Indians, Egyptians, Persians, the yellow race, the white race, and the black race are the six major races of the present Earth. All the other ones are mixed races.

Mixed race people seem to have some metaphysical defect/peculiarity, https://falundafa.org/eng/eng/lectures/1997L.html:


Question: What did you say last time that a person of mixed race has lost?

Teacher: He has lost the body that comes from the top down through to here. Let me put it this way: People of the yellow race have people of the yellow race up there, and people of the white race have people of the white race up there. He’s lost this thread. _

but they can still go to Heaven:

Question: Can a person of mixed race succeed in cultivation?

Teacher: Whether someone can cultivate and whether he can succeed in cultivation are all up to the person himself. If a person of mixed race can persist in cultivation, he can reach Consummation just the same. When he succeeds in cultivation his Primordial Spirit will return to wherever he came from.

8.18.3. Falun Gong believers are less likely to take necessary medication (法轮功信徒不太可能服用必要的药物)

Based on what Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的) saw and heard, he does believe, without any clear statistical evidence, that it is very likely that it hs happened to in many cases that some Falun Gong believers refused to take modern medications and died of diseases that could be otherwise cured.

But consider the following:

Especially In the beginning, Falun Gong did put a lot of emphasis on its health benefits, just like all the other contemporaneous Qi Gong practices, and it is likely that especially many in the first generation of believers do believe it more than others.

For example, the main initial public announcement of Falun Gong was at a Health Exposition in Beijing.

In Canonical Falun Gong texts (法轮功的经典著作) itself, this is not super explicit and emphasised as far as Ciro can see. Zhuan Falun https://falundafa.org/eng/eng/zfl_74.htm has a chapter entitled "On the Issue of Healing Illnesses", that contains:

Let us talk about the most common illnesses, like tumors, infections or osteoproliferation etc., found in the human body. In another space, a very deep space, there lies an evil intelligent entity.

and the general very beaty-around-the-bush suggestion that if you do master Falun Gong fully, you will be healthy. But with the usual disclaimer that "you have to become a master", and since "there are no graduates", no one is ever a master for sure, and as usual "you don’t get the promised goodies", as as mentioned at: Orange Papers (橙色文件).

https://www.falundafa.org/book/eng/mgjf.htm contains some more direct quotes that suggest that you can take medicine, but you have to try and bear the pain first, and if you can’t, it’s a sign that you haven’t practiced Falun Gong well enough:

So when you take medicine now you’re killing this sickness or the virus at the surface. Medicine can truly kill viruses at the surface. Yet a practitioner’s gong[7] is automatically destroying viruses and karma. But as soon as medicine kills the surface virus that has seeped over from other dimensions, the virus—karma—over on the other side will know, since everything is alive, and it will stop coming over. Then you feel that you’ve recovered because you took the medicine. But let me tell you that it nonetheless accumulates over there. Life after life human beings are accumulating this stuff. When the accumulation reaches a certain extent, the person becomes incurable and when he dies he’s totally destroyed. He loses his life—forever loses his life. That’s how horrifying it is. So here I’ve explained to you the relationship. It’s not that people aren’t allowed to take medicine. When an everyday person gets sick he definitely needs medical treatment.

But how do we cultivators deal with it? Aren’t we purifying your body? Like the annual rings of a tree, there is karma at the very core, and at every layer, life after life, of your body. When you practice cultivation, I keep pushing this karma outward from the center; I push, and push, and push, and push until I completely push the karma out for you. And not all of this can go through the surface of our bodies. You wouldn’t be able to bear it if all of it were to go through the surface of your body. Only a portion of it comes out through the surface. But you still feel that you’re suddenly getting sick, you find it terribly uncomfortable and painful, can’t bear it, regard yourself as an everyday person, and go take medicine. Then you can go ahead and take medicine, as we’ve never said that everyday people can’t take medicine. We only say that your enlightenment quality isn’t up to par and that you didn’t pass this test well.

Ciro does however believe that newer generations believe in this much less, notably because the first believer generation is all basically old or dead, and soon will be entirely dead. This might also have been de-emphasised to reduce the bullshit aspects and help the international spread of Falun Gong. Not even Falun Gong believers are that blind. And this perfectly mimics the beginning of Christianism, where the first generations gave much more emphasis to miraculous cures.

Me and Li by Ben Hurley (2017) has an anecdote on this, which Ciro feels sounds believable:

I think it was Lynn’s* death that finally made me realise it was time to leave. I’d seen the writing on the wall about a year prior when I saw her at a yearly "Fa conference" for believers of Falun Gong, otherwise known as Falun Dafa, to exchange experiences and grow spiritually together. An executive assistant at a Queensland valuation firm, I’d gotten to know her over the years in various events as a warm and level-headed lady who had time for everyone. But I’d noticed she had developed a bulge on the side of her head and I was trying not to look at it when I talked to her. I saw, or at least I believed I saw, some pain in her smile. She was probably questioning herself over and over again what "attachments" she hadn’t let go of that were causing this sickness to spread through her body and endanger her life. I wanted to tell her to just go to a hospital, although I wasn’t at this stage resolute enough in my gradual return to logic. Another part of me feared that by looking at it I was acknowledging it — something you don’t do with illnesses in Falun Gong because Master Li Hongzhi teaches that his pupils don’t get illnesses. He can cure you but only if you don’t have any loopholes in your belief in him and his teachings. Some people with solid beliefs can actually die due to others around them having flaws in their thinking, Li says. Just thinking the wrong way is perilous when you’re a Falun Gong practitioner.

I later heard through the grapevine of Lynn’s death. The cancer went into her brain and she passed away in extreme pain, probably believing to the end that it was her fault she was in this awful predicament. In a way, I guess it was.

and more interesting anecdotes follow, see source.

And Ciro has felt this first hand with his mother-in-law. Whenever she has a health worry, first she tries to hide it. But then she casually mentions it without much thought because she speaks all the time the poor lady, may she be blessed. And then, when Ciro says: OK, let’s try and treat it, even for trivial things that might have simple treatments, she immediately smiles a compassionate smile of "I’m a Falun Gong believer, I don’t need that". This makes Ciro really mad. He tries to not show it, because he thinks people should be able to choose how they die. But Li promises the powers of remote, cross dimensional and past/future vision to some believers, and yet, blinds some of them to the obvious fact that they are aging, and, slowly but surely, their own bodies are starting to fail, like everyone else’s will at one point.

It is also interesting to note how the Chinese government itself supported Falun Gong and other Qi Gong practices for their health benefits, which is why they grew so large in the first place. Li Hongzhi (李洪志, LHZ, Falun Gong prophet) was even awarded prizes and recognized as a Qi Gong master by state backed organizations in 1992 and 1993. And the CCP still has a tendency to support certain non-scientific traditional practices: Support for non-scientific traditional practices (支持非科学的传统做法).

https://youtu.be/kIpaDW3RwtY?t=244 one random thing ex-KGB spy undercover in the USA Jack Barsky mentioned in this BuzzFeed Multiplayer interview stuck to his mind: "The one thing that you have here, that I believe cannot be found anywhere else in the world is called Freedom, with a capital F". If people want to die in a certain way, or believe that some bullshit will cure them, they should be allowed. Natural selection will take care of the rest.
8.18.3.1. Falun Gong’s view of epidemics (法轮功的流行病观)

Li Hongzhi (李洪志, LHZ, Falun Gong prophet) has said in canon things that lead certain believers (including e.g. Ciro’s mother in law) to believe that because they are good Falun Gong believers, that they are more safe from disease from evil people.

For example, in the 2003 "Fa conference" at the time of SARS he said:

You must have seen the epidemic that’s come along in China now, right? Hasn’t a huge epidemic arrived? To put it in human terms, it’s Heaven punishing people. What it’s targeting, we Dafa disciples know full well: it’s targeting those who don’t deserve to be saved, who are impossible to save while Dafa disciples clarify the truth, and who aren’t useful to the evil rotten spirits. This is the first round of cleansing. Heaven is punishing the evil, yet China is still lying to cover up the number of deaths, and I’ll tell you, it’s huge, and it hasn’t peaked yet.

Such beliefs have of course carried over directly to COVID-19. Of course, epidemics make the moral question much more difficult, because not taking care of yourself means you can kill others besides yourself.

Stay Rational

Pandemics and plagues are part of a divine plan and inevitable in the course of history.

Stay rational. Believe in God ;-)

Epidemics are also likely moments where religious grow due to more people being more desperate and looking for solace that cannot be found in this shitty world.

It is indeed tempting to believe that the virus magically kills only the Evil. What reality could be so fucked up where the innocent suffocate to their death? And yet, here we are.

8.18.4. Falun Gong liturgical calendar (法轮功教会年历)

Exactly like other religions, Falun Gong has some important dates that are celebrated to keep believers engaged. Those are:

8.18.5. Li Hongzhi (李洪志, LHZ, Falun Gong prophet)

Falun Gong people call him "master" (师父), which is a common traditional term used to respectfully address experienced teachers in a disciple (弟子)/teacher relation, e.g. Kung Fu or other crafts.

However they also believe that he has many many God-like powers and is comparable figures such as Jesus and Buddha himself.

Notably they believe that he has superpowers, and that everything that he says is the absolute truth of the universe, see also: Is Falun Gong a religion? 法轮功是一个宗教吗?.

The term "master" is also used for example in the fictional film The Master (2012), which is likely inspired in Scientology.

Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的) however prefers to call him prophet, since he feels LHZ is indistinguishable from any other religion. Guru/cult leader could also apply.

It’s funny that even though Falun Gong only came up recently in the 80’s, we still know relatively little about Li. One is kind of reminded of Jesus! See also Li Hongzhi’s family (李洪志的家庭) and Li Hongzhi’s hagiography (李洪志的圣徒传记).

One should note however that this is partly by design: at some point in the 90’s, Li relatively stepped away from public view. This is because once you reach a critical mass of followers, it is better to let them to the preaching for you, while you hide your obvious human defects in a corner. See also comments at Vissarion.

Li Hongzhi footage:

Li Hongzhi
Figure 125. Li Hongzhi (李洪志, LHZ, Falun Gong prophet) is Falun Gong’s prophet/cult leader/living God. He’s a cute North-Westerner 东北人 like Ciro’s wife. Source.
Li Hongzhi stone garden
Figure 126. Li Hongzhi (李洪志, LHZ, Falun Gong prophet) practicing one of his exercises with one of his cute prophet outfits in an extremely nice Chinese rock garden (假山园林), see also: stone garden. TODO exact location and date. Source.
Li Hongzhi blue
Figure 127. Li in front of a light blue background (similar to CCP official portraits) with a halo suggestion around his head. Lower quality version on The Epoch Times (明慧网, Falun Gong media). Source.
Li Hongzhi lotus
Figure 128. Li going Super Saiyan (超级赛亚人) while casually sitting on a giant Lotus flower with a halo (圆光) on his head. Text at bottom: 法轮修炼大法-李洪志 (TODO confirm 3rd and 4th characters, transates something like Falun Practices Dafa - Li Hongzhi). Source on Minghui (明慧网, Falun Gong media).
Li Hongzhi Buddha
Figure 129. Li Hongzhi (李洪志, LHZ, Falun Gong prophet) really turning into a proper Buddha, including physical signs such as the Ushnisha (肉髻) on the head and the "ears as longs as lotus petals". He also has a super powerful Aureola. On the top right corner we see an New Tang Dynasty Television (NTD, NTDTV, 新唐人電視台, Falun Gong media) watermark. On the bottom left we see a few Western Catholic and Roman looking divinities, representing Falun Gong’s syncretic beliefs. The subtitle on center bottom reads in traditional Chinese: "真的有这样光辉形象" (there truly is such a glorious image) Source on bannedbook.org (禁闻网, pro-Falun Gong media).
Li Hongzhi vs Goku Super Saiyan
Figure 130. Side by side comparison of Li Hongzhi (李洪志, LHZ, Falun Gong prophet) vs Super Saiyan (超级赛亚人) Goku from Dragon Ball (孙悟空_(七龙珠)). There is more than just visual similarity to this comparison, since Goku is based on Sun Wukong from Journey to the west (西游记): they have the exact same name in Japanese/Chinese, Goku is monkey like with a tail and giant monkey form, has both have an extending stick weapon (The Power Pole, 如意棒, full Chinese name 如意金箍棒, lit. "as [large as] one wants Golden stick). Notably, the orange color of Goku’s clothing is likely inspired from Buddhism, and so are their Aureolas. Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的) watched Dragon Ball Z this when he was 10 years old.
Li Hongzhi dubstep
Figure 131. Dubstep Li can liangong (练功) at dubstep speed. Source.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7JK576nxm0 音乐视频:《师尊的手》Falun Gong (法轮功, Qigong new religion/cult) music video "The master’s hand" contains some a bit of good old time Li Hongzhi (李洪志, LHZ, Falun Gong prophet) footage.
8.18.5.1. Falun Gong is dangerous because Li Hongzhi has too much power over followers (法轮功是危险的,因为李洪志对追随者的权力太大)

Ciro agrees that there is danger in every religion, and especially new religions.

However the same point can be made about political parties and in particular the CCP and its chairman.

Couldn’t a charismatic leader chairman gain more and more power (like Xi seems to be doing), and eventually start a war and kill millions? Or just kill some minority who is not happy about the situation.

Similarly, any charismatic leader of a pro-democracy movement could become the leader of a terrorist organization.

If you ever want democracy, you will have to learn to accept the beliefs of others, and only punish them when they actually break a law.

Finally, LHZ was born in 1951, so he will die in 20 years, unless FLG is true and a miracle happens, and then this argument will become invalid.

From what Ciro hears, LHZ has always maintained that he is the only source of truth on FLG (see also "The Guru is always right"), and therefore, so his death will very likely remove any danger once and for all.

Furthermore, it also seems to Ciro that FLG is clearly anti-violence and self-harm, so Ciro wonder how many would follow a contradictory order such as killing or suicide? We have had no hint of any incitation to violence so far.

It is also interesting to look into the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonestown case. When the suicide order came, most people wanted out! Without physically controlling the followers, I don’t think you can make them do much.

8.18.5.2. Li Hongzhi’s hagiography (李洪志的圣徒传记)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Hongzhi mentions that there are two versions of the biography:

  • An unofficial biography appeared in the first of Li’s major publications, Zhongguo Falun Gong, supposedly authored by journalist Zhu Huiguang (朱慧光).

    The full text appears to be at available at: http://qingqing.freebbs.tw/viewthread.php?tid=130### (God bless Taiwanese piracy, archive)

    The Life and times of Li Hongzhi by Benjamin Penny (2003) gives the full title of the section + a translation (originally in pinyin, but why?!?! :-)):

    法輪旋轉新天地-記李洪志先生和他創立的法輪功
    "The wheel of the law revolves the new cosmos - on Li Hongzhi and the Falun Gong he founded".

  • A second, official spiritual biography appeared in early editions of Falun Gong’s primary text, Zhuan Falun.

    It is shorter than the first, and is marked as authored by the "Falun Dafa Research Society’s President" (法轮功研究会会长).

    Penny says that it was removed in 1999 (presumably to remove some more glaring magical bullshit help with internationalization).

    A possible Chinese copy might be found at: http://qingqing.freebbs.tw/viewthread.php?tid=165### inside a 1994 version of Zhuan Falun.

    The section is entitled "中国法轮功创始人、法轮功研究会会长 李洪志先生小传", so literally tranlated as a "profile" (小传) rather than a full biography. The index marks it as 附 (addendum), and it comes at the end of the book.

8.18.5.4. Let’s make a mini series about Li Hongzhi’s life (让我们制作一个关于李洪志生平的迷你系列)

Ciro can’t help but to imagine how Falun Gong came about in detail.

Someone should write a "The Last Temptation of Christ".

This deserves an American miniseries like Chernobyl.

It would manage to piss off both FLG and the CCP, which would be amazing. It is a shame that it is so difficult to find good historical information between the infinite barrages of CCP and FLG propaganda.

It could show how:

  • Li was an ordinary dude who could liked to play the trumpet, which partially explains his focus on Shen Yun and Falun Gong musical street parades

  • Li first heard about Qi Gong, and went to practice it under some dude. Then how he saw other people were so into it, and decided to take this opportunity to make a career out of it during the 80’s

  • how he met his wife and had a daughter

  • how he started to notice how people were feeling things during the exercise classes, and started suggesting more and more metaphysics to these first disciples

  • Li could also have some metaphysical moment, like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PW20LbwAmng but at the same time, he must tell his followers some lies which he does not believe

  • how followers started telling others things and "experience sharing" where the cycle of belief stats to take off

  • a clear demonstration of how "A group of early adopters in Changchun became disenchanted after Li forbade his followers from charging fees for the practice at the end of 1994" showing dissent within the cult

  • and finally, the immigration and crackdown, and how he put his fingers on those things, and the creation of media, this could be the last episode

Episodes could be split along:

  • Episode 1: pre Qi Gong, shows Childhood, workplaces, early motivations. Ends with first contact with a Qi Gong lesson

  • Episode 2: early Falun Gong. Opens an academy. Starts without metaphysics, but grows into it. Show him knowingly lying, but also seething magic things. The first followers, and top lieutenants. Makes some management mistake, but gets away with it. Could end in a metaphysical scene, or 13 May 1992 initial public lesson. Maybe a scene of Li’s visit to Thailand (泰国) in 1983 (photo from CCP media found on Google).

  • Episode 3: later Falun Gong in China. It grows, show in Chinese news. Power struggles, problems with early lieutenants, and new lieutenants come up. Many people practice on streets. Battle against Zhong Gong (中功, 中华养生益智功, Qigong religion). Near 1996, something tips Li off to the fact that the CCP is going to crack down on them, and so he announces that he will be spreading abroad full time. Check out if this was before or after the first Anti FLG newspaper article in 1996-06-17.

  • Episode 4: preaching outside of China and emigration. American permanent residence in 1998. Watches crackdown on television. International Falun Gong media. Show him at Falun Gong New York "Dragon Springs" complex

Or maybe, never mind that boring post 1992 stuff which is already highly public, instead we could focus only on the more interesting pre-1992 events, and finish in 1992.

So per-early FLG up to 1992, with childhood flashbacks.

The tone should of course be a mixture of:

  • personal insight of the master

  • the love of a follower

  • external view of their shortcomings

Parts of the series could be filmed in Taiwan (Republic of China, 台湾, 中華民國) maybe?

Related videos:

8.18.5.4.2. Xi Hongzhi and Li Jinping (习洪志和李近平)

In an alternate reality, Xi Hongzhi, not to be confused with Xi Jinping (习近平, 2012-∞, Heil卐!), is an obscure peasant trying to save his kingdom from oppression.

And Li Jinping, not to be confused with Li Hongzhi (李洪志, LHZ, Falun Gong prophet), is an evil Qi Gong who uses his powers to rule over his kingdom ruthlessly, ridding it of non-believers.

We are entering Encyclopedia Dramatica territory here.

8.18.5.5. Li Hongzhi’s family (李洪志的家庭)

Jesus appeared to value chastity. He was born from a virgin. No sex around him at all.

Buddha gave it up after his enlightenment.

But Li doesn’t need that. He’s a God, right, he can both be an Enlightened God part time and still have a normal family part time.

Once thing Ciro approves about Li’s approach to his family is that he seems to have stated (TODO source) that none of them are Gods like him.

It is however very likely that some of his close family members will take up an even greater importance in the inner circle of power once Li dies: What will happen to Falun Gong when Li Honzhi dies? (李洪志死后,法轮功会怎样?), notably his daughter.

Wife’s name: Li Rui (李瑞 according to CCP). Report saying that a follower bought a house and registered it on Li Rui’s name as a gift, but Li later returned the gift back: https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB94140245836194819 TODO house address.

There are also claims that Li’s birth name was Li Lai (李來).

Sources:

Li Hongzhi with wife and daughter
Figure 132. Li Hongzhi with his wife Li Rui and daughter Li Meige presumably in the late 80’s with fishing ships in a shipyard in the background. TODO location. Likely from CCP sources, in many places with kaiwnd watermarks. Anti-FLG source.
Li Meige Shenyun
Figure 133. Photo of Christina Li from Shen Yun, which the CCP claims to be Li Meige, daughter of Li Hongzhi. That page also claims that she was awarded Bronze in the 2009 and 2010 NDT Chinese Dance Competition. Source.
8.18.5.6. Diaries of being in Thailand with Li Hongzhi’s family (我与李洪志一家在泰国的日子——法轮功教主妹夫的自述)

An alleged account of Li Hongzhi’s family in the 1980’s written by his brother-in-law Sun Senlun (Natawut Smittipong, 孙森伦), who married Li Ping.

This is reproduced likely without copyright on many CCP sources, e.g.: http://lihongzhidaqidi.blogspot.com/2013_09_27_archive.html which links to Kaiwind (pro-CCP media)'s HTML reproduction.

It is a good reading if you take everything with a grain of salt, does sound quite believable.

https://web.archive.org/web/20191230151939/http://news.kaiwind.com/features/s/201309/27/t20130927_1121750.shtml claims that Li lived in Sun’s house in Thailand from May 1991 to March 1992. And that he was baffled when Li started telling the miraculous events of his hagiography in the 1992 public talks, how could his wife never told him about any of those amazingly important life events before that point?

TODO find original publishing location and date.

This appears to be an interview with Sun Senlun about the book: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Js0OyNwYw5A (watermarked Kaiwind (pro-CCP media) on top)

Semi weirdly though, https://www.cesnur.org/2001/falun_jan10.htm claims that Senlun was a coordinator of Falun Gong in Thailand as of 2001.

https://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2020/1/16/原北京师大研究生陶渊在浙江第四监狱遭受的迫害-399012.html from 2020 by Minghui (明慧网, Falun Gong media) claims the book slanders Li Hongzhi’s family, and that the CCP forced prisoners to read it.

8.18.5.7. Dragon Springs (龙泉, Falun Gong’s headquarters in New York State)

Li Hongzhi’s Falun Gong complex in New York state countryside, where he lives, and organizes Shen Yun Performing Arts (神韵艺术团, Falun Gong media).

Started in the 2000’s in New York State with money donated by believers.

China Daily (中国日报, CCP media) http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/hqzx/2012-10/17/content_15825454.htm claims that Li Hongzhi (李洪志, LHZ, Falun Gong prophet)'s appartment in 2012 was the number 136-08 on 59th avenue, Flushing, NY. https://www.irishtimes.com/news/seeking-master-li-1.221547 confirms Flushing. Also mentions key 1999 lieutenant Erping Zhang, https://www.c-span.org/person/?erpingzhang confirms with photo.

8.19. Qigong fever (气功热 , 1980’s)

AKA Qigong Boom.

8.19.1. Zhong Gong (中功, 中华养生益智功, Qigong religion)

A very similar religion to Falun Gong (法轮功, Qigong new religion/cult), that also emerged during the Qigong fever (气功热 , 1980’s) of the '80s and '90s.

Zhong Gong was the second most sucessful Qigong Boom religion after Falun Gong.

The similarity of their imagery as seen from propaganda videos is striking. To Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的), this makes Zhong Gong a perfect example of why FLG metaphysics is bullshit: it is obvious that both Zhong Gong and Falun Gong and many others were just random dudes who took advantage of the Qigong fever to create their religions.

Their prophet is Zhang Hongbao (张宏堡).

Interestingly, like Li Hongzhi (李洪志, LHZ, Falun Gong prophet) who is from Jilin (吉林), Hongbao is also from the Northeast of China (Heilongjian Province (黑龙江省)), there must be a reason why those Qi Gong movements come from that region.

Unlike Falun Gong however, Zhong Gong failed to branch the franchise out of China, and basically died out. Hongbao also died in a car crash in 2006 which didn’t help. Li Hongzhi however played smarter, and started branching abroad full force in 1996, he likely predicted that the crackdown was inevitale.

Wikipedia says it reached 34 million followers in China.

Hongbao also has a more spicy history it seems, with sexual allegations and open political goals unlike Li Hongzhi, who hid his goals better. Well played, Li, well played.

Li Hongzhi (李洪志, LHZ, Falun Gong prophet) maintains in canon that Falun Gong is of course extremely different from all of those other extremely similar Qi Gong religions. Zhong Gong is likely not mentioned by name, but it is also likely one of the main targets. E.g. in 1998 canon https://falundafa.org/eng/eng/lectures/19980329L.html:

Dafa can’t be obtained lightly. For example, the diversity of cults and the number of false qigongs are large these days, and they lead people astray. Many people who are capable of cultivating get sucked into them, and some of them engage in suicide - it’s a mess.

this is a perfect example of Uncanny valley (恐怖谷理论).

Zhong Gong videos:

The embassy spokesman says Chinese officials have ample evidence of sect leader Zhang Hongbao’s involvement in crimes such as rape and murder.

Zhong Gong lotus
Figure 134. Zhang Honbao, creator of Zhong Gong (中功, 中华养生益智功, Qigong religion), sitting on a giant flying lotus reaching Enlightenment with a halo. It looks exactly like Falun Gong imagery. But of course, Zhong Gong is just a "completely unrelated and inferior sect" according to Li Hongzhi (李洪志, LHZ, Falun Gong prophet). TODO transcribe. Source.
Zhong gong blue
Figure 135. The blue background, the halos, the praying hands, the master Zhang Hongbao flying above. It is just exactly like Falun Gong imagery. Source (Chinese government media (中国政府媒体))
Falun Gong sky leaflet
Figure 136. Hungarian Falun Gong (法轮功, Qigong new religion/cult) propaganda image with woman meditating in with blue sky background for comparison with similar Zhong Gong imagery. Source.
Zhong Gong vs Falun Gong lotus
Figure 137. Side by side comparison between Zhong Gong (中功, 中华养生益智功, Qigong religion) on the left, and Falun Gong (法轮功, Qigong new religion/cult) on the right. In Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的)'s opinion, nothing highlights better that both are fake than the fact that they are clearly part of the same historical movement of the Qigong Boom, while at the same time affirming that the other one is fake or inferior.

8.19.2. Xiang Gong (香功, 中国芳香智悟气功, Qigong religion)

Literal translation:

  • Fragrant Gong

  • China Fragrang Wisdom Comprehension Gong

It is however so obscure that there isn’t even a wikipedia page for it anymore!

The prophet’s name was Tian Ruisheng (田瑞生). He’s the old due at: https://www.sohu.com/a/270132785_100279655 with little badges on his coat. He can be seen lecturing for example at: https://youtu.be/ItAUwGWSXuI?t=167

Some mentions in English:

Some mentions in Chinese:

In other languages:

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-Zcgk15kkc Treinamento Perfumado Nível 1 (Xianggong) completo (Complete Xiang Gong training, level 1 complete) by Maria Lucia Lee (2017)

    This is the YouTube channel of a Brazillian Xianggong parcticionner.

    This reminded Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的) of a Qigong/Taichi course he went to for a few months when he was a young teenager in Santos, Brazil, attended almost exclusively by older ladies.

    Some people, even outside China, like "mystic stuff", and may start a mystic stuff practice, more or less affiliated to a certain current of mysticism.

    Especially since people know nothing about any of the currents, partly due to the language barrier, it often becomes a larger more dilluted current os mysticisms.

    The same likely applied to that course Ciro attended, but at the time he was clueless and didn’t really classify his teacher’s influences.

    Ciro must say however, that some of the exercises were good, and have become a permanent part of Ciro’s Cirodance.

    The only thing Ciro rejects completely is the metaphysical bullshit: Does Ciro Santilli believe in or practice Falun Gong? (三西猴信仰或者练法轮功吗?).

    Though if something has a lot of metaphysical bullshit, it makes it hard for Ciro to practice it without thinking about the metaphysics.

    Maria speaks perfect Portuguese, and given the name Lee she must be a second or later generation immigrant. She’s likely from Sao Paulo. Here’s a video of her in the 70’s: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaPlwdb5iIw when she was likely in her late 30’s, already as a Qigong teacher.

    Mystical movements like that likely had a decent following in Brazil, especially in the 70’s linked to the Hippies (嬉皮士). Ciro’s mother mentioned some related stories of her friends.

8.20. Falun Gong bibliography (法轮功参考书目)

8.20.2. Me and Li by Ben Hurley (2017)

https://medium.com/@Ben_D_Hurley/-10677166298b "Me and Li" by Ben Hurley published on October 23, 2017.

This post by a former believer gives what Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的) feels is a realistic account that matches Ciro’s observations.

Interesting quotes:

Most would find they had little in common with non-practitioners ("ordinary people" in Falun Gong parlance) but would maintain cordial relations with friends and family nonetheless, and think of various ways to explain the edge off some of Falun Gong’s less palatable teachings about aliens, how heaven views gay people, the inferiority of other religions and Master Li’s role in saving the universe.

8.20.3. History of Falun Gong 法轮功历史

A few non-religious non-CCP resources can be found at:

but those are very rare, because where else would the information come form, right?

Some key events:

  • 1989: initial private beta courses. TODO key interesting moment.

  • 1992-05-13: initial public lecture at the 1992 International Health Exposition in Beijing, and opening main academy on No. 5 Middle School in Changchun, Jilin (吉林) (capital).

    TODO what did he talk about on that Beijing day. This day still celebrated in 2020 as "Falun Dafa Day", in which the major international "Experience Sharing Conference" happens in New York.

    He apparently also taught at Chaoyang Park in Changchun: https://goo.gl/maps/BFwKs2xr48AMUAbx8

9. Christianity (基督教)

The commies are not a fan. But as someone once told me: the commies are not a fan of a bunch of things!

As mentioned at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_in_China there are only a few state approved churches under total CCP control, and the others are forbidden. For example one of them is called the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association! God and CCP on the same sentence. Pope Pius XII excommunicated people from that organization who were appointing new Bishops!

Last Supper arrest
Figure 138. Rebel Pepper (变态辣椒, RFA cartoonist) 2018-09 cartoon showing Jesus and the Apostles in the Last Supper being arrested by CCP guards. Source.
Last Supper Mao
Figure 139. Cartoon by Zhang Hongtu (张宏图) showing Mao Zedong (毛泽东, 1954–1976) and other communist officials at the Last Supper (最后的晚餐) instead of Jesus and the Apostles. Source.
Taihu church Christmas reveillon permission 2020
Figure 140. Permission papers filled to the brim with government stamps required for the Taihu Catholic Church (太湖天主堂) from Wuxi (无锡市) to hold their annual Christmas Reveillon reunion. This is the CCP's version freedom of religion and freedom of assembly. Also mentioned at: https://bitterwinter.org/christmas-was-not-allowed-but-brought-china-a-lot-of-money/ from Bitter Winter (寒冬). Source. TODO original social media post from the church.
Church demolition
Figure 141. Golden Lampstand Church (金灯台教堂) church in Shanxi Province (山西省) being demolished in January 2018. Source.
https://youtu.be/wthHB3iTC7M?t=556 Nazi Jew deleted scene from Life of Brian (布莱恩的一生, 1979). If you want to stop Christianity (基督教), don’t put them in jail like the dictators. Do it the same way you stop dictators: with comedy. Otherwise, the dictators remain in power, and next person in jail, will be you. The secret Life of Brian (2007) is a good documentary about it.
https://youtu.be/tRr_1U9EvWI "How China uses intimidation, negotiation to bring Christians under its control" by CBC News: The National (2018). Talks about the Pope’s deal with the CCP. Shows some good footage of a house church with a guard in front of the door.

9.1. CCP-Vatican deal (中共-梵蒂冈协议, 2018)

In January 2018, the Church was close to negotiating a deal with China that allows China to have more control over the underground churches and allows the Vatican to have more control over the appointment of bishops. While this did not amount to the establishment of formal diplomatic ties, this was seen as a huge step towards formal recognition.[21] However, Joseph Zen Ze-kiun regarded the warming of diplomatic relationships as selling out the Catholic Church in China, as the process involves the resignation of several bishops of the underground church.

Pope CCP deal
Figure 142. Rebel Pepper (变态辣椒, RFA cartoonist) 2018-09 cartoon showing the Pope Francis (方济各教宗) with a Christian cross containing the Hammer and Sickle communist symbol, in reference to one of the accords that the Vatican struck with the Chinese government. Source.

10. Kaifeng Jews (开封犹太人)

11. Gay rights (LGBT权利)

Yes, gay people are also discriminated to different degrees in Western countries, and even legally prohibited notably in the Islamic world.

But like all minorities, they are generally more fucked in dictatorships, since they can be easily crushed by majorities.

Therefore, all gay people must be against the CCP.

See also:

News:

Tiananmen lesbian kiss
Figure 144. Lesbian couple kissing in Tiananmen Square with Mao’s painting and confused/disgusted guards in the background who are likely about to call their superiors to ask what they should do. The photo likely surfaced in 2006 as mentioned in salon.com which said it came form Boing Boing. It was not however picked up by any major website. Ciro actually thought this could have been ripped from some television series due to the amazing expression on the guards' faces. TODO: find the original Chinese source, translate the watermarks, and see if their identity is known. Another one can be seen at: https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/1956753-fully-automated-luxury-gay-space-communism under the title "fully automated lesbians" which is a subset of "Fully Automated Luxury Gay Space Communism". TODO origin. What is that uniform? Source.
Qing Dinasty gay foreplay
Figure 145. Qing Dynasty (清朝, 大清, 1636-1912) (18th–19th c.) panel from a scroll showing two men engaging in foreplay, apparently located in the Kinsey Institute as of 2005. For an ancient depiction of heterosexual sexual activity, see this image. Source.
Lesbian couple Shanghai 30s
Figure 146. Lesbian couple hugging in Shanghai in the 1930s. The woman on the left might have had polio based on the deformity of their right leg. TODO proper source, could not find one on Google reverse image search. Source.

11.1. Everyone can feel that a profound change is underway by Li Guangman (2021, 李光满《每个人都能感受到,一场深刻的变革正在进行!》)

Political essay reposted by major Chinese government media (中国政府媒体):

The hole thing is about exerting greater state control on everything, a trend that has been observed as of August 2021, notably on the media.

The damning Gay rights (LGBT权利) sentence appears to be:

彻底杜绝社会性格中的娘炮和小鲜肉现象,真正让娱乐圈、文艺圈、影视圈风正、气正

which translates as:

Completely put an end to the phenomenon of sissies and teen idols in the social character, and truly make the entertainment, art, and film and television circles upright and upright.

the slang keywords being:

  • 娘炮: sissy

  • 小鲜肉: teen idols (lit. little fresh meat)

The author Li Guangman (李光满) was not notable enough yet to have a Wikipedia page, not even Baidu Baike (百度百科, Chinese censored Wikipedia clone), so Zhihu (知乎, censored Quora clone, 审查 Quora 克隆) for now: https://www.zhihu.com/question/60685910

It should be noted that the homophobia is just a tiny fraction of the essay, which is much more generally about the state taking more control over everything, including culture, and sparking fears of a second Cultural Revolution (文化大革命, 1966-1976).

12. Woman’s rights (妇女权利)

Related Twitter (推特):

News:

12.1. Evil man (中国男性之恶)

A fork from 2021-02-08 is visible at: https://github.com/wumaoland/evil-man and tracked in-tree under this repository at: evil-man

Question about it on Zhihu (知乎, censored Quora clone, 审查 Quora 克隆): https://www.zhihu.com/question/361158296 如何看待微博用户「索多玛-」建立的GitHub仓库「Evil Man - 中国男性之恶」? (What do you think about the repository "Evil Man - Chinese Evil Man" created by Weibo (新浪微博) user "Sodom" (索多玛))?

Related 2021 censored question about the larger phenomena it on Zhihu (知乎, censored Quora clone, 审查 Quora 克隆) http://www.zhihu.com/question/362285803 如何评价热门女权文章《中国男性之恶》? (What do you think about the hot essay "Evil Chinese Man"?). No archives found however. The title can be seen as a link from https://www.zhihu.com/question/361158296.

13. Labour rights (劳工权益)

They key problem seems to be that you cannot freely establish a trade union without government approval, so you not as well represented as an employee.

The same general line that applies to any organization: every movement has to be government approved.

13.1. 996.ICU (2019)

Repository published in 2019-04 protesting against excessive work hours by Chinese programmers.

At some point it moved its README to English.

This was not directly censored to our knowledge, but the fact that it was published on GitHub rather than Chinese social media highlights the obvious fact that Chinese programmers were weary of doing it under CCP controlled media which they do not trust.

The project name refers to:

Reached 180k stars in a week, and was the second most starred repository as of 2019-10 https://github.com/search?q=stars%3A%3E100&s=stars&type=Repositories (archive)!!!

This is therefore the best example for Chinese tech workers that freedom of speech is a good thing.

Coverage:

Related:

996ICU
Figure 147. 996.ICU logo. Source.

13.2. Jasic Workers Solidarity Group (佳士工人声援团, 2018)

Yue Xin (岳昕) was also involved with them.

Yue Xin Jasic shirt
Figure 148. Yue Xin (岳昕) with the Jasic T-shirt. That T-shirt is official to the movement, and can be seen worn by many other people in other photos. TODO what does their T-shirt say??? It is impossible to decode that beautiful script. Looks like: 伺伭就X刀量. And who are the people it depicts? A perfectly clean image can be seen on their Twitter: https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1033004258184941569/2pcCgIUK_400x400.jpg.

13.3. Yue Xin (岳昕)

about the events described at "China’s #MeToo: How a 20-Year-Old Rape Case Became a Rallying Cry" she accuses professor Shen Yang of the Peking University Chinese literature of raping student Gao Yan, ultimately leading to her suicide in 1998:

This was one of the starting points of Terminus2049 (端点星计划, 2049bbs).

Yue was also involved with Jasic Workers Solidarity Group (佳士工人声援团, 2018). An all-round activist.

14. Chinese politicians (中国政治家)

14.1. Xi Jinping (习近平, 2012-∞, Heil卐!)

⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠟⠋⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⢁⠈⢻⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿
⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠃⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠈⡀⠭⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿
⣿⣿⣿⣿⡟⠄⢀⣾⣿⣿⣿⣷⣶⣿⣷⣶⣶⡆⠄⠄⠄⣿⣿⣿⣿
⣿⣿⣿⣿⡇⢀⣼⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣧⠄⠄⢸⣿⣿⣿⣿
⣿⣿⣿⣿⣇⣼⣿⣿⠿⠶⠙⣿⡟⠡⣴⣿⣽⣿⣧⠄⢸⣿⣿⣿⣿
⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣾⣿⣿⣟⣭⣾⣿⣷⣶⣶⣴⣶⣿⣿⢄⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿
⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡟⣩⣿⣿⣿⡏⢻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿
⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣹⡋⠘⠷⣦⣀⣠⡶⠁⠈⠁⠄⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿
⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣍⠃⣴⣶⡔⠒⠄⣠⢀⠄⠄⠄⡨⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿
⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣦⡘⠿⣷⣿⠿⠟⠃⠄⠄⣠⡇⠈⠻⣿⣿⣿⣿
⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⠟⠋⢁⣷⣠⠄⠄⠄⠄⣀⣠⣾⡟⠄⠄⠄⠄⠉⠙⠻
⡿⠟⠋⠁⠄⠄⠄⢸⣿⣿⡯⢓⣴⣾⣿⣿⡟⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄
⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⣿⡟⣷⠄⠹⣿⣿⣿⡿⠁⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄

Bibliography:

14.1.1. Xi Jinping abolishes term limits (习近平取消国家主席任期限制, 2018-03)

Xi sleep Mao
Figure 149. Rebel Pepper (变态辣椒, RFA cartoonist) cartoon showing Xi Jinping preparing to sleep in Mao Zedong’s tomb, meaning that Xi also wants to reach Mao’s "eternal ruler" status when he abolished term limits in 2018. Source.
Mao coffin
Figure 150. 1977 photo showing Mao’s actual glass tomb during his funeral, with famous politicians in the background. It is interesting to see that Mao features on the "Fandom Mummipedia Wiki". Source.
Lets party like its 1793
Figure 151. The Economist "Let’s party like it’s 1793" cover from May 4th – 10th 2013 depicting a painting of Xi Jinping dressed as emperor of China. The famous Qianlong Emperor was in power at that time. The title is likely a joke based on the more well known "Let’s party like it’s 1969" due to the legendary Woodstock festival. Party is also a play on words between the Communist Party and a night party. TODO why 1793 specifically shows another one from Sep 28, 2020 by French Magazine l’Obs entitled "L’Éternel Empire" (The Eternal Empire), using a similar picture to: Ciro Santilli as Qing Emperor. https://www.cafeyn.co/uk/publication/l-obs-hors-serie/21640297 Source.

14.1.2. Panama papers (巴拿马文件, 2016)

Leak of financial data implicating many corruption scandals.

Most notable people implicated:

14.1.2.1. Foreign citizenship of Xi Jinping’s family (习近平家族外籍人士)

Cult leaders hate having their families examined. So let’s do it.

One Redditor translated:

  • Xi’s eldest sis - Canadian

  • Xi’s 2nd sis - Australian

  • Xi’s younger bro - Australia

  • Xi’s daughter - American. Really???

  • Hu’s daughter - American

  • Jiang’s grandchild - American

  • Deng’s son - American

  • Deng’s grandchild - American

  • Mao’s grandchild - American

14.1.2.1.1. Xi Mingze (Xi Jinping’s daughter, 习明泽)

Went to Harvard from 2010 to 2014 under pseudonym, apparently Xiao Muzi (小木子).

The Chinese elite is no doubt keen to avoid questions about how exactly Xi Jinping can afford his daughters fees. Officially, his salary is less than $13,000 a year, and Xi’s circle has been remarkably cagey about reports of his family’s true wealth before.

plus 24-hour bodyguards. Panama papers (巴拿马文件, 2016) comes to mind.

14.1.3. Xi Jinping memes (习近平模因)

Other images:

Xi Jiang Hu
Figure 153. Xi Jinping (习近平, 2012-∞, Heil卐!), Jiang Zemin (江泽民, 1989-2002) and Hu Jintao (胡锦涛, 2002-2012) photoshopped on top of a clothing advertisement (TODO original). The text reads: "江胡险恶 习以为常". TODO understand. 江胡 are the surnames of Jiang Zemin (江泽民, 1989-2002) and Hu Jintao (胡锦涛, 2002-2012). 习 is the surname of; Xi Jinping (习近平, 2012-∞, Heil卐!). "习以为常" is a fixed expression that means "to get accustomed to". Also asked at: https://www.mohu.rocks/question/573 on Mohu (膜乎), and explained at: https://www.secretchina.com/news/gb/2003/12/03/56236.html from Falun Gong media (法轮功媒体). Source
Biden sanctions vs Xi Jinping tech crackdown 2021
Figure 154. Meme impliying that Xi Jinping (习近平, 2012-∞, Heil卐!)'s 2021 tech crackdown was much mroe destructive to the Chinese economy than contemporary economic sanctions imposed by United States president Biden. English source, Chinese source, meme template by Joan Cornella.
14.1.3.1. Xi Jinping nicknames (习近平昵称)

习躲躲

中国的新皇帝

这个年很静

习近平光辉形象

官僚主义

第一书记王沪宁

《生物安全法》

细颈瓶

xdd

XDD

粪坑先生

Mr Shithole

屎進瓶

shit侯

习侯

屎侯

习老八

shit禁评

屎禁评

维尼·屎(Winnie the Poo)

次级乳包

习三拍

吸精瓶

维尼史

维尼写史

维尼DISCO

人民领袖

邪大大

大撒币

冤大头

傻大头

匪酋习维尼

习和谐

习禁评

习包子

我是一个足球迷

人均接近八千万

亲自指挥疫情

疯狂宇宙

维尼连任

秦城监狱

包子金刚腿

读书单

闹得欢

拉清单

足球外交

人尽皆知的体育迷

坡涛汹涌

梁家河

清华毕业

庆丰称帝

禁评封号

不强自息

满脸喷粪

通商宽衣

不同意的举手 没有 没有

10号跳跳虎被维尼拉清单

维尼熊给跳跳虎黄牌

法外狂徒Lucy(德国)

乳透社 小反旗

错误执行者

大海掀翻小池塘

头上三尺有神明

裹嘎举吸钢闸门

金科律玉

颐使气指

岿然不动

格萨尔

习包子的Fa

修宪

游泳一千米

NMSL

孙笑川

时间控制

御板泽民

祈翠

习卒

习二卒

习卒习

每日祈翠

口罩大会

“无罩”现身

智商不重要

64岁

你是反贼吗

习皇帝

习包子

朝令夕改

亲自指挥

百万雄师事件

720事件

塔西佗陷阱

第22条军规

中国爱非洲

迈克尔·索伊

毛装

厕所革命

大撒币

超邓赶毛

一带一路

骑巨龙

野心习

习张三丰

武当七侠的政治斗争

指定接班人

vop

维尼之声

Voice of Pooh

纳翠党

总书记来我家

日子像蜜甜

隔离”的金葫芦

维尼大帝

一天游泳一千米

主席贺词

捐麦子

大大招牌

大大品牌

不知名氏

战“疫”金句

二百五大帝

皇帝梦

2020全面小康

没有网络安全就没有国家安全

“复辟”

“登基”

“黄袍加身”

“皇帝梦”

包子露宪

做N届的主席

“登机”(与登基同音)

“梦回大清”

“习泽东”和“洪宪”(袁世凯的帝号)

信女愿一生吃素

总书记来过我的家

习式病毒

习“甩锅”

大国造疫

大兔

太祖兔

国王

宰相

战疫国

甩锅侠

疫情蔓延

断崖式下跌

两会期间+隐瞒

形式主义防疫

武汉委托李克强

万岁

劝进

习语录

习像章

梦回大清

主席+终身制

动物庄园

维尼熊

平&强

尼哥

习得梁家书卷

阿道夫-习

Adolf Xitler

人民领袖

修宪连任

北红尾鸲

墙内人

颐指气使

称帝修宪

小学博士

老街

扛麦郎

习包皮

洗包皮

戏包皮

吸包皮

喜包皮

系包皮

惜包皮

嬉包皮

袭包皮

悉包皮

嘻包皮

20000T麦子

包包侠

200吨

习奥赛斯库

恩维尔·霍习

仲夏夜之中国梦

習大佬

包包大人

包大人

XD

V尼哥

野兽先辈

重地之战

人民战争

感恩教育

习家军

恩重如删

云视察

包帝巡游

视频看望

共哀宗

叩谢习恩

万岁来武汉

羽日帝

狙击手待命

皇帝亲临忠诚的武汉

狙击手布阵

视频看望

阳台上的哨兵

不敢高声语

恐惊天上人

万岁来武汉了

假.."~bang!卒

共哀宗

叩谢习恩

万岁来武汉

羽日帝

狙击手待命

皇帝亲临忠诚的武汉

当皇帝的小丑

习皇的新装

讨习檄文

央视姓党

任大炮

十日文革

A Big Deal

皇帝的新衣

通商宽衣

孤独的毒王

没规划的葬礼

包惠帝

中字头组长

4中组长

习远凸

习贼

习王的田野上

SB包子

发皇帝梦

翡翠娘娘

親自蒞臨

親自視頻

大锅瞻遗

刁大犬

巴拿马文件

386系统驱动游戏

中国特色射秽煮疫制度

习公奭

刁二将

包子病毒

总统包子习

电脑世代586

习背书

习博士

刁二婚

中国首席造梦大师

习匪

习匪帝

家业论

神明论

冰棒外交

坡涛汹涌

昆明湖涨潮

包子宪法

追思焦裕禄

红二代

武统时代

蹄防

口罩外交

习一尊

禁评的理由

冲塔

无限连任

学包率

学包分子

学包积极分子

青年大学包

动森

动物之森

动物森友会

乳制品

乳包文化

赵弹

维尼梗有害

Cicada 3301 XD

九评

退党

黄俄

习包子

习废帝

总加速师

倒车

electron8964

习低能儿

习犬犬

毛二世

瘟疫领主习近平

天安门合法继承人

东瘟疫之地统治者暨全境守护者

WHO的君王

瘟疫降生习近平

The Xi Factor(习近平因素)

抗麦套装

刁槑夶尛

氼兲嫑炛

九大诉求

公车上书

终身领导人

近身平A

世宗

支那毒王

枪毙名单

习言乱语

习语

近言

平话

包经

外交习语

终身领导人

近身平A

世宗

支那毒王

枪毙名单

习言乱语

习语

近言

平话

包经

外交习语

习澳塞斯库

刁近乎

十一郎习近平

五毛主席

庆丰废物

半羽习近平

庆丰帝的千秋梦

基拉大和习近平

平平

扛麦帝

宽衣帝

喷粪帝

清单帝

bingbang帝

法习斯

墨索里习

中国离岸隐匿资产管理工作领导小组组组长

中国拉清单工作领导小组组长

人类命运共同体首席架构师

习时代

哲欣

习Core

习二胖 习三点

习厉王

习大

习大乞

习大帝

习大郎

习夶

习奥塞斯库

习宽衣

习总

习教父

习梦思

习梦撕

习梦死

习武帝

习歪嘴

习流氓

习二坐船

现任匪首

支那精神野爹

头号球迷

崇祯

席近平

当代秦二世

当代秦 始皇

戏博士

截颈平

慨撒大帝

新影帝

最后领导人

爱新觉罗·近平

末代皇帝

梦帝

毛二

毛孙

毛近平

毛进平

毛魔转世

洗尽贫

独裁者

白猪

糟糕皇帝

红旗下的蛋

细瓶颈

维持会长

腊肉包

花花公子

袁世凯第二

役民五术

耀眼黄红黄

彩色熊

彩色哥

维尼挂彩

晚共昏君

字共狗

号屎洞

号尿壶公

小学居士

习尿瓶

virus king

黑白翠

独彩者

裸宽包子劾心

赵王

送礼平

鞋哥

食腐虫

崇祯帝

老歪脖子树

蔡英文最强助选

民进党 北京中南海支部书记

连专家也为之叹服的电脑天才

沼气专家

初二圣君

添宪宝宝

戴口赵

书单吟诵者

习二世胡亥

疯狂宇宙大帝

习大林

近日成

胡志平

阿平

普近

习达姆

卡近菲

禁评大帝

倒车帝

習敗敗

習敗北

猪禁评

宽衣撸绣单肩扛麦光腚拉碾歪脖撒币小学博士帝

倒车斯基

读稿机

习正日

习尔布特

习条英机

习索里尼

腊肉馅儿包子

灰习牛

疯狂宇宙包

川普的朋友or敌人

尊蛤讨包

习猪头

背书单

专治各种不服

世界最强乞丐

中国离岸隐匿资产管理工作领导小组组组长

习大犬

西朝鲜人民自治岛

䒒(tiáo)菦(qín)苹(píng)

习核心

习思想

东方project

吃赵弹

ChinaXi

亲自删评

亲自封号

赛禁评

集金pay

集金币

集近闭

shuu kinn pei

爱新觉罗近平

习蛤

梁家河贵族

相信有神论的物理学博士

习兵法

韦来书记

刁近猴

普习金

富平学霸刁斤干

习进棺

刁斤山

刁斤二

庆丰包·勃列日涅夫

刁远山

习猪席

毛二习

包禁评

习总输记

领袖习澡水

核平全世界

彭主席(习主席走了太太接班)

包子兵法

冠子兵法

席子兵法

习殡法

习病法

习下台

nmslman(习主席)

Heil Xitler

那翠化

习孢子

shit hole bing fa

粪坑兵法

灭共助推器

习是春竹

习是春绿

习猪下台

Corona Xi(习病毒)

维尼快乐组织(Winnie Happy Organization)简称WHO

坟头蹦迪

习king

习emperor

习屎黄

习瘟猪

小习微信

刁人13

赵人13

贬词包用

文明其精神

野蛮其体魄

野兽主席

亲自考察

亲自脱贫

糖尿维尼

维尼带货

刁人13

CoronaXi

Chairman Xi

Criminal Xi "Xitler" Jinping

习狍

玉习大帝

包皇

习驴

赵付

习付

撒币宝

维尼警察(X)

维稳警察(O)

赵家家仆

习太孑

刁后主

习后主

习 卡 巴 卡

儿童习典

习二二(二零二零年五月二十二日开二会)

习呆呆

习二蛋

nmslese dream

維尼頌

帝皇頌

叼斤干

习近砰

影子末帝

祈翠語言包

习习蛤蛤

大撒幣

14.1.3.1.1. Xi Dada (习大大, 2015)

That article comments on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnRo9AMT8FI "Who is Xi Dada?" by People’s Daily (人民日报, CCP media) (2015-09-23) in which several foreign students in China praise Xi Jinping (习近平, 2012-∞, Heil卐!) in English. https://youtu.be/PnRo9AMT8FI?t=47 notably states: "They also refer to him as Winnie-the-Pooh". Priceless.

Some other sources:

Xi Jinping heart
Figure 155. Golden heart shaped souvenir with a picture of Xi Jinping that was sold in Tiananmen Square in 2018. Source.
Xi Jinping Mao Zedong sculpture souvenirs
Figure 156. Souvenirs sold in Beijing with the bust of Xi Jinping and Mao Zedong circa 2020. TODO: what is the shape of those souvenirs meant to evoke? Source.
Xi dada
Figure 157. Xi Jinping in 2019 wearing his cute compassionate face. Do you think that such a cute cute North-Westerner 东北人 would ever to terrible things like committing cultural genocide of a million people or trying to become ruler for life? Impossible, it must be American lies.
14.1.3.2. Xi Jinping lookalikes (习近平撞脸)
Xi sadomasochist
Figure 158. 2019-05-21 Sadomasochist (虐恋) BDSM (zh, SM) Xi Jinping (习近平, 2012-∞, Heil卐!) lookalike or photoshop in bondage suit (gimp suit, fetish gear) at a cosplay fair. TODO: is this a Photoshop and if yes what’s the original pic, publish dates, location/event. Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的) googled a lot for it, but it was beyond his skills :-( Earliest post found so far: 2019-05-21 08:49:20 GMT+1 (Imgur timestamp) going wild on PTT Bulletin Board System (Taiwanese message board, 批踢踢實業坊): https://www.ptt.cc/bbs/joke/M.1558454171.A.5C9.html entitled "這位coser是誰啊?好眼熟。" (Who is this Cosplayer? He looks familiar.) by user "a15568". Watermark reads "I am Dasen 郭", where "郭" is a common Chinese surname. Notable discussion threads: r/China 2019-08-01, r/China 2020-12-16, 2019-08-01
Mantou Xi lookalike
Figure 159. 2020-01-01 Pan-fried dumpling Xi Jinping lookalike (生煎包习近平撞脸). Furthermore, this reminded people of 習包子. A Taiwanese report from 2020-01-01: https://news.tvbs.com.tw/world/1257030 TODO name, location. One of the many videos of him: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTt8Sjer6cc
Liu Keqing singer Xi lookalike
Figure 160. 2020-05-12 Liu Keqing (刘克清) is an opera singer who had his personal videos on TikTok (Douyin, 抖音) taken down from time to time because he looks too much like The One. China Digital Times report. One of his personal vlogs reuploaded to YouTube where he shared singing techniques and thoughts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPFKUhJdqzk. A video of him performing professionally in a chamber concert: 2018-11-02 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z98-Mqci4ag.

Less good ones:

14.1.3.3. Xi Jinping porn (习近平色情)

Good Photoshops:

Bad Photoshops:

Hentai:

Good possible video bases for usage in Xi Jinping deepfakes (习近平的deepfakes):

14.1.3.4. Xi Jinping looks like Winnie-the-Pooh (习近平长得像小熊维尼, 2017)

Got censored due to comparisons between Xi Jinping and Winnie in 2017: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnie-the-Pooh#Censorship_in_China

In Xi Dada (习大大, 2015) we see that a People’s Daily (人民日报, CCP media) video actually interviews someone who mentions that, so the meme has had a positive connotation at least some point in the past.

Related:

Some good photoshops:

Xi Pooh Obama
Figure 161. Comparison image between Xi Jinping waking with then USA president Barack Obama with a Winnie-the-Pooh cartoon still of Winnie walking with Tigger, the tiger. The original photo is from Xi’s 2013 visit to the Annenberg Retreat at Sunnylands, California. Source.
Xi Abe Pooh
Figure 162. Comparison image between Xi Jinping shaking hands with the Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe and a Winnie-the-Pooh cartoon still of Winnie shaking hands with the Eeyore, the donkey. The original photo is from Abe’s lacklustre 2014 visit to Beijing. Source.
Xi Pooh car
Figure 163. Comparison image between Xi Jinping on a car in a 2015 military parade and a toy Winnie-the-Pooh on a car. Source.
Xi Pooh Photoshop
Figure 164. Real photo of Xi Jinping edited to look like Winnie the Pooh. Source.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHmLUYCUYT0 "Xi Jinping as Winnie the Pooh Dancing to Bat Out of Hell by Meatloaf" by TheFakening (2020). Deep fake of several girls wearing Winnie the Pooh clothes with a Xi Jinping face. The song choice "Bat Out of Hell" is a reference to COVID because one of the theories is that the disease started in bats.
https://youtu.be/QjQbQlN9Ev8?t=398 The original Winnie the pooh story from 1926 became public domain in 2022: https://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2022/01/05/what-winnie-the-pooh-lapsing-into-the-public-domain-really-means/. The Red shirt depiction is from 1932 however, and some key characters like Tigger are also from later years. Stephen Colbert made a Hemingway mashup, as one of Hemingway’s work also became public domain at that same point.
14.1.3.5. Chrysanthemium Xi Jinping (菊花习近平, 2015)

Got creator Dai Jianyong (戴建勇) arrested in 2015:

Chrysanthemum Xi Jinping with black red liusi added by Ciro Santilli
Figure 165. Chrysanthemum Xi Jinping (习近平, 2012-∞, Heil卐!) with 六四 spice added by Ciro Santilli
Chrysanthemum Xi
Figure 166. Original Chrysanthemum Xi Jinping (习近平, 2012-∞, Heil卐!) by Dai Jianyong published in 2015. Source.
Xi Jinping portrait 2012
Figure 167. Possible original Xi Jinping photo used for Chrysanthemum Xi, possibly from 2012. The light blue gradient background was used for the official photos of many Communist officials of the era. Source.

14.1.4. Xi Jinping Thought (习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想, 2017)

Added to the Constitution in preparation for eternal rule.

Xi Jinping (习近平, 2012-∞, Heil卐!)'s Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung (Little Red Book, 毛主席语录, 1976). But since it is the 21st century, there’s an app for it instead called "Study (for a) Strong Country" (学习强国) designed by Alibaba (阿里巴巴, Chinese Amazon clone):

Notably, it consists of 14 chapters, which are called "talks" (讲), e.g. the first talk (第一讲) etc. This is exactly like Li Hongzhi (李洪志, LHZ, Falun Gong prophet)'s Zhuan Falun (and likely like other ancient Chinese religious texts).

Much of it can be considered a type of Newspeak (新语, Nineteen Eighty-Four, 一九八四).

14.1.4.4. Xuexi Qiangguo app (Study for a strong country app, 学习强国, xxqg, 2019)

Literally means "study for a strong country".

One of the beautiful things about that name is that is reminds one of the expression "强国人" (strong country person), coined in during the 2014 during the 2014 Hong Kong protests (Umbrella movement, 雨伞运动占领区) to refer ironically to Mainland Chines people, due to their exaggerated self-perceived strength and superiority, see also Wumao 2011 vs little pink 2021. A homonym "墙国" (wall country) is also known as a reference to the Great Firewall (GFW, 防火长城), sample usage.

The app appears to have both content, and also tests to check that you’ve read the bullshit.

Many people are also forced to use the app "强国学习" in order to keep their jobs. Especially government workers. They have to study XiJinPing thought for certain amount of time each week and do exams.

Within the first four months of Xuexi Qiangguo’s release, it was the most downloaded app in China with over 100 million downloads, surpassing China’s most popular messaging, social media and mobile payment app, WeChat (微信, Weixin) and the Chinese version of TikTok, known as Douyin.

To use the app is not exactly voluntary. The Communist Party has issued directives that requires party members to download the app and use it. Many workplaces have done the same and it has been reported that employees are required to send screenshots to document their progress on the app. If they don’t, they are at risk of a pay deduction.

To put it in perspective, over 90 million Chinese are members of the Communist Party, and there are nearly 850 million internet users and almost 690 million smart phone users in China, as of 2019. It is, however, not clear whether the people who have downloaded the app genuinely are interested in learning about Xi Jinping’s political ideology, or if they feel like they must download it to show loyalty to the party.

14.1.4.4.1. Fuck-XueXiQiangGuo (Fuck学习强国)

This GitHub repository appears to help cheat the Xuexi qiangguo, see also: GitHub repositories with censored information (政治敏感的GitHub库).

The program’s executable file name is actually ./Fuck学习强国, a thing of beauty.

Several video demos can be found on YouTube:

And there there’s an anti-repo for Wumao (五毛) who oppose the cheating: https://github.com/boycott-fuck-xuexiqiangguo/Boycott-Fuck-XueXiQiangGuo It had 150 stars as of 2021, as oppoesd to 7500 of the cheating repo.

https://github.com/TechXueXi/TechXueXi appears to be a "non-cheating" assistant? TODO confirm. It is at the very least more politically correct.

The repository was created by Tang Wenzheng (唐文正, GitHub alias Xmader). https://chinadigitaltimes.net/chinese/663593.html According to https://chinadigitaltimes.net/chinese/663593.html form China Digital Times (CDT, 中国数字时代, USA government media), he accidentally posted with his real name on an issue once (Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的) knows that it is basically impossible not to when juggling multiple accounts simultaneously), and subsequently publicly announced his true identity. Following the name reveal, he did an AMA on Terminus2049 (端点星计划, 2049bbs) https://2047.name/t/11552, and luckily he is abroad, and does not intend to come back. Wenzheng also created the https://github.com/china-digital-times/china-digital-times.github.io GitHub pages mirror of China Digital Times (CDT, 中国数字时代, USA government media), further discussed in that section. At https://github.com/fuck-xuexiqiangguo/Fuck-XueXiQiangGuo/issues/578 on 2021-03-03, he announced that he would stop working on the project because his parents weren’t needing the APP anymore, succession wasn’t announced. A few commits followed in the next days, but presumably minimal maintenance and ramp-down.

Wenzheng was also involved in a notable possible copyright dispute with https://musescore.org/en, a software that Ciro actually enjoyed, as shown at https://github.com/Xmader/musescore-downloader/issues/5#issuecomment-882472815 which was then highlighted at https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/onro8q/head_of_strategy_of_muse_group_muse_score/. At https://web.archive.org/web/20210719115639if_/https://github.com/Xmader/musescore-downloader/issues/5#issuecomment-882450335 the developer noted that this could lead to Xmader’s deportation. Some interpreted this as threat, but Ciro feels that it might be true as the developers noted that they withheld action for a while to prevent his deportation.

Related projects to cheat other stupid things imposed by the CCP’s bureaucracy:

Fuck XueXiQiangGuo 2021 GitHub page screenshot with stars highlighted
Figure 169. Fuck-XueXiQiangGuo 2021 GitHub page screenshot with stars highlighted. 7k stars on a Chinese-only repository is a lot of stars, and very unlikely to be faked. This is what you should show wumaos when they that no Chinese person opposes the Chinese Communist Party (CCP, 中国共产党, 1949-, Cult of Mao/Xi, 毛习邪教, 10.000 year Reich).
14.1.4.5. Chinese dream (中国梦, 4000 BC -)

Chinese version of the American dream (美国梦), which Xi Jinping (习近平, 2012-∞, Heil卐!) insists is completely different and superior to the American dream (美国梦).

The names suggest, they are not real, but just dreams.

美国梦是个人发财的梦
讲究冒险
通过个人奋斗达到所谓的成功
成为有产者
然后去剥削别人

中国梦是共同富裕
追求的是人民幸福

换句话说
美国梦是个人梦
是为美元的梦

中国梦是人民梦
是为人民服务的梦
这就是二者的本质区别

以后不要在我面前提起美国梦
俗气!

The American dream is a dream of personal wealth
it focuses on risk taking
to achieve so-called success through personal struggle
and become a property owner
and then exploit others

The Chinese dream is common prosperity
to pursue the happiness of the people

In other words
the American dream is an individualistic dream
it is a dream of the Dollar

The Chinese dream is the people’s dream
Is a dream of serving the people
This is the essential difference between the two

Don’t bring up the American dream in front of me in the future
Cheesy!

The essay topic of "American drema vs Chinese dream" is not novel in Communist rhetoric, e.g. https://m.aisixiang.com/data/63286.html dated 2013 contains a version by sociologist Ben Xu 徐贲.

Some other essasys:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MilRo8zZM8A (GitHub reupload) 小粉红谈中国梦与美国梦的区别 (Little pink (小粉紅, 小紅粉, 兔友) explains the difference between the American dream (美国梦) and the Chinese dream (中国梦, 4000 BC -)). That girl should have a look at the state of Labour rights (劳工权益) in China in the 2020’s, where activists for better worker protection are being put into jail. Also tweeted by Radio Free Asia (RFA, 自由亚洲电台, USA government media) at: https://twitter.com/RFA_Chinese/status/1381531661804826627 The Seal (印章) on top left reads: "进击老冯" TODO what is that? Source without subtitles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iw8TfbsNfNI. Ciro also reposted it at: https://www.reddit.com/r/China/comments/msnixt/nationalistic_chinese_girl_compares_the_chinese/ on Reddit. TODO try to identify it by logo of the microphone, looks something like "华浦TV" but not sure. TODO identify background music. TODO original source. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2pdB6hdxkI shows a slightly longer version where the interviewer asks "What is the difference between the Chinese and the American dream? Related: https://github.com/cirosantilli/china-dictatorship/issues/504 Kill the Japanese kid

14.1.6. Xi Jinping deepfakes (习近平的deepfakes)

There are dozens if not hundreds of GIFs watermarked "made with reface app" on LIHKG (連登, Hong Kong Reddit clone), presumably made with https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=video.reface.app&hl=en_GB&gl=US, many also featuring Carrie Lam (林鄭月娥, 2017-). That app currently costs 20 dollars/week for the video refacing though, so it would only be viable after we have a selection ready to convert.

Once you find one on Google Images, you can just click endlessly into more and more of them.

We’re just going to bulk dump them at https://github.com/cirosantilli/china-dictatorship/issues/231 for now.

Talking in English: * https://www.reddit.com/r/China/comments/pr27im/he_spittin_facts/ Would you guys consider jacking off to be a sport? meme copypasta: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/is-jacking-off-a-sport * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INbRpclIFsE xinging Never Gonna Give You Up (Rickrolling song) with Hong Kong protests interspersed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diec9Cdsvg0 Xi Jinping singing YMCA with a wide range of cute expressions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPc3bSbKw28 (GitHub reupload) Xi Jinping (习近平, 2012-∞, Heil卐!) Carrie Lam (林鄭月娥, 2017-) Leonardo di Caprio Kate Winslet Titanic Deepface by GFWfrog (墙国蛙蛤蛤). 由墙国蛙蛤蛤习近平 林郑月娥 莱昂纳多迪卡普里奥 凯特温斯莱特 泰坦尼克号. Source by GFWfrog (墙国蛙蛤蛤). This likely emeged from LIHKG (連登, Hong Kong Reddit clone).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VaNnC8knew (GitHub reupload) Mao Zedong (毛泽东, 1954–1976), Xi Jinping (习近平, 2012-∞, Heil卐!), hitler, Stalin (斯大林, 1922-1952) and Korean dictators Kim Il-sung and his grandson Kim Jong-un singing the popular dance-pop song Dragostea Din Tei by O-Zone (2003), AKA Numa Numa due to a popular pre-YouTube meme. Watermarked wombo.ai which refers to: https://www.wombo.ai/ and appears to be specialized for singing music video deepfakes.

14.3. Hu Jintao (胡锦涛, 2002-2012)

14.3.2. Bo Xilai (薄熙来, 2007-2012)

Communist Party Secretary of Chongqing from 2007 to 2012, i.e. number one of this Provincial level city, which has same the importance as a province.

14.4. Jiang Zemin (江泽民, 1989-2002)

Dictator from 1989 to 2002.

Jiang is often compared to a toad in a meme what is referred to as toad worship (膜蛤), further keywords: 蛤蟆

Jiang has an amazing array of meme-ready funny expressions.

Jiang Zemin frog
Figure 170. Comparison between Jiang Zemin and a 72-feet-tall inflatable toad in a Beijing park seen in 2014 made the rounds on Weibo (新浪微博) and led to some censorship. Source.
Jiang Zemin nose picking
Figure 171. Jiang picking his nose. Source.
Jiang Zemin magnify
Figure 172. Jiang reading through comically large magnifying glass during the opening ceremony of the 19th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (中国共产党全国代表大会, 中共党代会) in 2017. See also: Internal media of China (内参). Source.
Jiang Zemin emoticons montage
Figure 173. More Jiang funny expressions and Photoshops from a Research Gate page! Source.

14.4.1. Too young, too naive

The Chinese also love Jiang’s quote in English during an interview with Hong Kong press:

Too young, too simple, sometimes naive.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=y-JPLzj2poY Jiang Zemin saying "Too simple, sometimes naive."

14.4.2. Li Peng (李鹏, 1988-1998)

For the most part of the 1990’s whe as second in command as Premier from 1988 to 1998.

14.5. Deng Xiaoping (邓小平, 1982-1987)

Although his reign officially ended in 1987/1989, he remained extremely influential until his death, and was a major figure in Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989 (六四事件) most likely.

14.5.1. Xidan Democracy Wall (西单民主墙, 1978-1979)

https://youtu.be/846AtqraCYg?t=799 suggests that Deng Xiaoping (邓小平, 1982-1987) initially encouraged it after during/after killing the Gang of Four.

But then, obviously, people started denouncing corruption in his government, and so Deng made it stop.

The documentary also mentions Wei Jingsheng (魏京生, 1950-) who was a notorious contributor who asked for democracy.

Xidan wall appears on The Gate of Heavenly Peace (1995, 天安门纪录片) at around 19:00.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=40PxfKWgBmY China: Democracy Wall Beijing Dec 1978 video only. This is one of the many footage available of the wall.
14.5.1.1. Wei Jingsheng (魏京生, 1950-)

我们要自己掌握自己的命运,不要神仙和皇帝不要相信有什么救世主,我们要做天下的主人,我们不要作独裁统治者扩张野心的现代化工具,我们要人民生活得现代化,人民的民主、自由与幸福,是我们实现现代化的唯一目的,没有这第五个现代化,一切现代化不过是一 个新的诺言。

We need no Gods or emperors and we don’t believe in saviors of any kind…​ we do not want to serve as mere tools of dictators with personal ambitions for carrying out modernization. We want to modernize the lives of the people. Democracy, freedom, and happiness for all are our sole objectives.

Wei Jingsheng
Figure 175. A young Wei Jingsheng (魏京生, 1950-) side by side with an image of the Xidan Democracy Wall (西单民主墙, 1978-1979). Jinsheng image source: The Gate of Heavenly Peace (1995, 天安门纪录片) 19:09. At https://twitter.com/WEI_JINGSHENG/status/1521873937851990017 Jingsheng mentions that this image is from Qinhai Laogai (劳改) in 1985. The original photo was in Jingsheng’s sister’s possession, there are apparently no known uploads of it. Xidan Wall image source.
14.5.1.1.1. The Fifth Modernization (第五个现代化, 1978)

Key essay written by Wei Jingsheng (魏京生, 1950-), originally published on the Xidan Democracy Wall (西单民主墙, 1978-1979). Full chinese text at: 魏京生-第五个现代化.md.

Not to be confused with the one of the same title made by the CCP in 2013: https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/第五个现代化_(中国共产党)

"Fifth" is a reference to the fifth modernization he felt was necessary in addition to the four modernizations (四个现代化) the government was proposing in its propaganda at the time: agriculture, industry science and defense.

Full text on Jingsheng’s apparently official website: https://weijingsheng.org/doc/cn/46.htm

Most notable quote:

我们要自己掌握自己的命运,不要神仙和皇帝
不要相信有什么救世主,我们要做天下的主人,我们不要作独裁统治者扩张
野心的现代化工具,我们要人民生活得现代化,人民的民主、自由与幸福

We want to be the masters of our own destiny. We need no gods or emperors and we don’t believe in saviors of any kind
we do not want to serve as mere tools of dictators with personal ambitions for carrying out modernization.
We want to modernize the lives of the people. Democracy, freedom, and happiness for all are our sole objectives

14.6. Mao Zedong (毛泽东, 1954–1976)

What could be a better reminder that dictatorships are dangerous than the catastrophes that Mao created such as the Great Leap Forward (大跃进, da4 yue4 jin4, 1958-1960) and Cultural Revolution (文化大革命, 1966-1976)?

https://youtu.be/MHFrhIAj0ME?t=926 "The camp was an intense and exciting place, and many of the guerrilla fighters had affairs. Sex was called undisciplined guerilla warfare". TODO Chinese.

Related:

Mao Zedong in Yanan
Figure 176. Mao Zedong in Yan’an in the 1930’s thinking deeply. This funny looking picture is meme ready and much loved by Uncyclopedia. Source.

14.6.3. Hundred Flowers Campaign 百花齐放 (1956-1957)

Some possible quotes from Mao saying that people should be able to protest, original share: https://www.reddit.com/r/China/comments/i2z5ss/maos_propaganda_poster_saying_protest_and_strike/

允许群众示威。
Citizens should be allowed to protest.

claims from from some 毛泽东选集第五卷 (selected works from Mao Zedong) in speech from the 8th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. https://twitter.com/shijianxingzou/status/1158421996755128323 mentions the anthology was published in 1977.

Liu Shihui (刘士辉) also comes to mind.

14.6.5. Cultural Revolution (文化大革命, 1966-1976)

https://youtube.com/watch?v=kXByOrRrO7c Vox 6 minute explanation with some good footage for impatient Millennials, published on Feb 14, 2020.
14.6.5.2. Struggle session (批斗)
Struggle session cultural revolution dunce cap luo zicheng
Figure 179. Struggle session (批斗) Luo Zicheng (TODO Chinese), head of the work group designated by the provincial Party committee, wearing a dunce cap (TODO 笨蛋帽?) and surrounded by from the staff of the Heilongjiang (黑龙江省) Daily newspaper accusing him of 'following the capitalist line' in 1966. Photo by Li Zhensheng (李振盛). Source.
14.6.5.3. Mao swim across the Yangtze river (毛主席畅游长江, 1966-07-16)

Mao claimed to have set a swimming record by swimming 15km in 65 minutes at the age of 72 at the Yangtze River (长江, Long River) in Wuhan, or an average of 13.8 km/h.

As a comparison, the Olympic swimmers of 2016 covered the lesser distance of 10 km in 113 minutes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swimming_at_the_2016_Summer_Olympics_–_Men%27s_marathon_10_kilometre for an average of 5.3 km/h.

According to this article, the maximum current speed of the Yantze is 128.5 cm/s or 4.62 km/h so even if he were swimming with the current, Mao was faster.

In The Private Life of Chairman Mao (毛泽东私人医生回忆录) however, the doctor says that this was actually true, the current was enough to drag Mao’s big belly quite fast.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9k1ZWoM6g8w How to swim in Wuhan’s Yangtze river Blondie in China (2019)

Dictatorships would never lie about obviously verifiable facts, would they?

And idiots today still celebrate this event that preceded the Cultural Revolution (文化大革命, 1966-1976) which put China’s economy in shambles.

Superputin (Супер Путин) learnt from this and also showed off his swimming skills in 2009.

Mao swim wave
Figure 180. Source.

15.1. Esport events (电子竞技事件)

15.1.1. Blitzchung

2019-10 Blizzard bans top Hearthstone esports player Blitzchung (Ng Wai Chung) for pro Hong Kong message in interview.

16. News (新闻)

Trying to keep only "neutral" sources here, let me know if you spot something too biased: Biased media (偏见媒体).

16.1. News 2020

16.2. News 2019

16.3. News 2018

16.4. News 2017

In other sections:

Not in other sections:

16.5. News 2016

16.6. News 2015

17. Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989 (六四事件)

Master issue with reuploads of everything: https://github.com/cirosantilli/china-dictatorship/issues/225

Good photo selections:

AP footage is pretty good, just do a search on the archive:

Soldiers who spoke up:

Other interesting links:

!!暴行可耻!言论自由!解除报禁!耀邦不朽!

反对暴力!
Oppose violence!

保障人权!
Guarantee human rights!

爱国无罪!
Patriotism is not a crime!

暴行可耻!
Brutality is shameful!

言论自由!
Freedom of speech!

解除报禁!
Abolish censorship!

耀邦不朽!
Yaobang lives on!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4TZ0lB3GQM Students shouting Oppose violence! and other slogans at Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989 (六四事件) on 1989-04-22. Clip from The Gate of Heavenly Peace (1995, 天安门纪录片) at around 42:48.
Tiananmen sea
Figure 181. Sea of protesters (广场人潮涌) in Tiananmen Square on 1989-05-04. No, not even that many people can influence dictatorships if they don’t have weapons. Source.
Pu Zhiqiang tshirt
Figure 182. Pu Zhiqiang (浦志强) was student demonstrator during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. His shirt reads: "Freedom of the press, freedom of association, support the 'World Economic Herald (世界经济导报)', and support just journalists." (辦報自由 結社自由 聲援世经导报 支持正义记者, fully quoted here) Date: 1989-05-10. Pu remained in China as a human rights layer, and was arrested in 2014 for attending a private meeting commemorating the 25th anniversary of Tiananmen. Source.
Tiananmen students sitting
Figure 183. Students from Beijing University stage a huge demonstration in Tiananmen Square as they start an unlimited hunger strike as the part of mass pro-democracy protest against the Chinese government. Photo taken on 1989-05-18 by Catherine Henriette/AFP/Getty Images. Source.
Tiananmen cute girls
Figure 184. Who said there weren’t some cute girls amongst the protesters? Photo taken on 1989-05-19 by AP Photo/Sadayuki Mikami. Source.
Tiananmen troop truck night
Figure 185. Happy protesters surround People’s Liberation Army (PLA, 中国人民解放军, 解放军, People’s Oppression Army, 镇压军) convoy of 4,000 not so happy soldiers on 1989-05-20. Ciro can’t help but to think the politically incorrect idea that the military look considerably younger and poorer/less uneducated than the Beijing masses. Source.

男子: 解放军官兵们,我请求你们,我作为一个学生代表请求你们:拿出你们的正义和勇气,作一个人民的军队、人民的子弟兵,而不要为一小撮人所左右,作一小撮人的狗腿,作中华民族的罪人!
Man: PLA officers and soldiers, I beg you, and as a student representative, I beg you: show your justice and courage, and be a people’s army and soldiers of the people’s sons and brothers [the students protesting], instead of being dominated by a small group of people, being the henchman of a small group, becoming criminals of the Chinese nation!

妇女: 你们知道吗?!我们在做什么你们知道吗?!解放军兄弟,你们是保护人民、保护学生的,你们不能来镇压他们,你们不能这样,不能这样!
Woman: Do you know?! What are we doing you know?! Brothers in the People’s Liberation Army, you protect the people and students, you can’t come to suppress them, you can’t do this, you can’t do this!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVpcyfHc34Q Tiananmen hedgehog protester, footage present in The Gate of Heavenly Peace (1995, 天安门纪录片) at around 1:55:58. The guy smiling at the left on the back looks exactly like some compical peasant character, or maybe a tavern keeper, from a Chinese historical drama, it is uncanny.
Tiananmen sculpt goddess
Figure 186. A student from an art institute plasters the neck of the "Goddess of Democracy" (民主女神) statue on 1989-05-30. Replicas have of course been erected elsewhere, and when the CCP falls one day, this will be rebuilt, obviously. Source.
Tiananmen old lady
Figure 187. An old lady tells those rowdy overpriviledged students that they were complaining for no reason, and that in the good old Mao days you would be lucky to get any food at all, and that they should just go the fuck home on 1989-05-31 (Ciro might or might not have made up the exact content of the conversation). Source.
Tiananmen girl strife
Figure 188. A young woman is caught between civilians and Chinese soldiers, who were trying to remove her from an assembly near the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, on 1989-06-03. AP Photo/Jeff Widener. Source.
Tiananmen announce soldiers
Figure 189. A dissident student asks masses of sitting soldiers to go back home on 1989-06-03. Great shot composition by AP Photo/Jeff Widener. Source.
Li at Tiananmen Eyebeams
Figure 190. Godzilla Li Peng (李鹏, 1988-1998) crushing the Tiananmen Square protests with his green eye laser beams. Source.
Tiananmen helmet
Figure 191. Protester covered in blood while holding an army helmet on 1989-06-04. There is also footage of that moment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=63&v=lXJ6gHFME0w which explains that the man claims his face was cut by a soldier by using the edge of the helmet. This other photo: https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2019-06/4/12/asset/buzzfeed-prod-web-02/sub-buzz-29641-1559664105-1.jpg?downsize=1600:*&output-format=auto&output-quality=auto shows the cut on his head better. There is also footage of the man shown at The Gate of Heavenly Peace (1995, 天安门纪录片) 2:27:11. Source.

这是一个同学的血,我没有受伤。我抬着同学的时候,那个同学脖子后面一股股的热血,我堵也堵不住,我用两块毛巾都没有堵住。他嘴里也是血,满脸都是血。
This is the blood of a classmate, I am not hurt. When I was carrying my classmate, the back of the classmate’s neck was full of hot blood, and I couldn’t stop it. I didn’t stop it with two towels. There was blood in his mouth and blood all over his face.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YkqygAo1jc "This is the blood of a classmate", woman talks in interview on the ealry morning of 1989-06-04. From The Gate of Heavenly Peace (1995, 天安门纪录片) at 2:28:41.
Tiananmen Shuili Hospital dead
Figure 192. Bodies with gun wounds at the mortuary at Shuili Hospital (水利医院太平间, Hospital of the Ministry of Water Resources of China, Google maps, Baidu, New York Times Chinese report), about 8km West of Tiananmen Square. Source.
Tiananmen message board cleanup
Figure 193. The morning after the military crackdown of the pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square, workers clean their posters from bulletin boards. Resume Censorship (审查) as usual. Some related footage present at The Gate of Heavenly Peace (1995, 天安门纪录片) part 2 at around 1:06:04 of part 2. Source.
Tiananmen bicycle bridge
Figure 194. A Chinese couple on a bicycle take cover beneath an underpass as tanks deploy overhead in eastern Beijing on 1989-06-05 by AP Photo/Liu Heung Shing. This photo one is almost poetic. https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2021/06/04/2003758586 contains another wider picture of the same bridge at a different time. Source.
Tiananmen crying mother
Figure 195. Family members try to comfort a mother who has just learned of her son’s death after he was killed by soldiers at Tiananmen Square, June 4. TODO what’s her name? An association Tiananmen Mothers (天安门母亲运动) was created after the events. Getty source. Source.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DU-RuR-qO4Y Democracy by Leonard Cohen (1992). In this interesting song, the Canadian singer suggests that after events such as the fall of the Soviet Union and Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989 (六四事件), greater freedom and democracy would actually first come to the USA, and not to those other countries, the refrain says: "Democracy is coming to the USA" and at one point "It’s coming to America first". This is probably because when there is such an adversarial situation such as the cold war, it tends to also make democracies more like dictatorships, as they become readier and readier for war, and thus weakening civil rights, see e.g. McCarthyism. Related: The CCP exaggerates the threat of the West to keep in power (中共夸大了西方要继续掌权的威胁). The song also criticizes several failures of American democracy, such as social injustice and inequality, suggesting that the newer more peaceful world would help solve them. This is a refreshing take on democracy that has gives it a less religious view.

17.1. Liubukou massacre (六部口惨案)

The source website of the photo below is by French journalist Ursula Gauthier, who explains how those photos were taken by one of the students of the group, who later asked her to take the photos abroad to publish them.

The students were some of the last to leave after the crackdown, and they were trying to escape through a small street that leads into Chang’an Avenue (长安街) when the tanks came at high speed near Liubukou crossroads half mile West of Tiananmen square, and not all students were able evade the tanks.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/jun/01/china.johngittings2 mentions that some bodies had to be scrapped-off the street.

Ursula was later kicked out of China in 2015 after commenting that the CCP had ulterior motives for giving their condolences to the November 2015 Paris attacks. Interesting fact: Ciro was actually less than 1km away from one of the Paris attacks on that night, at his home, and first learnt about what had happened when people started calling to see if he was fine.

The name of the driver of the tank that overran students was reportedly discovered in 2014 as Wu Yanhui (吴彦辉), who was aided by Operation Yellowbird (黄雀行动). This was based on an witness who had shouted "Remember Tank 106". The study was done by Chinese scholar Wu Renhua (吴仁华).

One of the injured survivors was Fang Zheng (方政). At https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHlXF9nTYJ4 方政:在六部口,坦克追杀袭击和平撤离的学生 he claims on an interview with Voice of america (VOA, 美国之音, USA government media) that the students were peacefully evacuating.

Tiananmen crushed dead
Figure 196. Bodies run over by tanks by the road near Liubukou crossroads (六部口) after the Tiananmen Square Protests were crushed in the morning of 1989-06-05. Source.

17.2. Tiananmen Square Protests songs (六四事件歌曲)

English:

Chinese:

Cantonese

Other good lists:

For non-Tiananmen songs see: Anti-dictatorship songs (反对独裁的首歌).

17.3. Tank Man (坦克人)

A list of Tank Man parodies can be found at: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/tank-man

TODO: can’t find a Tank Man ASCII art! How is that possible? Behold!

                                    |
                                    |
                                    |
   Tank Man                         |
   by Ciro Santilli          00     |
   2021 CC-BY-SA 4.0          \\  +-|-+
                               \\/   /|-+o
                                \\--+ / /o
                               /|\\ |/ /oo
                        |     / ----- /oo
                        |    /       /oo
                        |   +-------+oo
                        |   oo+---+ooo
                 00     |   oo     oo
                  \\  +-|-+
                   \\/   /|-+o
                    \\--+ / /o
                   /|\\ |/ /oo
            |     / ----- /oo
            |    /       /oo
            |   +-------+oo
            |   oo+---+ooo
     00     |   oo     oo
      \\  +-|-+
       \\/   /|-+o
        \\--+ / /o
       /|\\ |/ /oo
      / ----- /oo
     /       /oo
    +-------+oo
    oo+---+ooo
    oo     oo
 xx
 --
/||\
|--|
o||0
 ||
 /\
占占点人

where:

  • the first three characters look like tanks (unrelated meaning)

  • the fourth character looks like, and actually means person

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrbwFxd1c-I Michal Jackson’s Tank man performance in Munich (1997) The Cirque du Soliel "accidentally" showed Tank Man imagery for 4 seconds in a Beijing theater on a related 2013 act "Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour": https://edition.cnn.com/2013/08/15/world/asia/tank-man-cirque-soleil/index.html but it was removed on future performances.

Other tankman spoofs: * https://github.com/cirosantilli/china-dictatorship/issues/505 in Doraemon (机器猫), a Japanese cartoon that is very popular in China, Ciro Santilli’s wife (三西猴的老婆) loves it. It is more commonly known in China simply as 机器猫 (mechanical cat)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeFzeNAHEhU CNN video of Tank Man: but not him leaving as other people beg him to, ridiculous, is there a full raw footage somewhere? Subset uploaded to GitHub: https://github.com/cirosantilli/china-dictatorship/issues/168. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qq8zFLIftGk shows the start of the exit. https://twitter.com/carlzha/status/1134582926325104641 shows a bit more. Some wumaos like to claim that the people taking him away indicates that the people didn’t agree with that madman. This interpretation os of course ridiculous. But the fact that you can’t easily find the full footage except from wumaos suggests that there is some Western propaganda that tries to prevent that ridiculous idea nevertheless. https://twitter.com/carlzha/status/1134582926325104641. TODO who made the video? Who owns the rights now?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSbx352cn8A Several quick cuts by CBS news that give a good overview of the incident, including him being pushed away by other protesters at the end.
Tank Man
Figure 197. Arthur Tsang’s photo of Tank Man. Source.
Tank Man new longshot Stuart Franklin
Figure 198. Stuart Franklin’s wider view photo of Tank Man. Source.
Tank Man ground level
Figure 199. Terril Jones photo taken at ground level with Tank Man on background and men running away on the foreground. The photo was only published in 2009. Source.
Tank Man ducks
Figure 200. Photoshop of Arthur Tsang’s photo of Tank Man with huge rubber ducks replacing the tanks. Inspired by a huge inflatable rubber duck sculpture floating in Hong Kong in 2013. Watermark reads "weibo.com/weibolg" on Weibo (新浪微博), which is confirmed by The New York Times. Source.
Lego Tank Man
Figure 201. Rough Lego (乐高) model of the Tank Man scene. A Lego Xinjiang "re-education" camps (新疆再教育營, 2017-) can be seen at https://twitter.com/MidnightMitch/status/1412887665113018371, many people replied with that at: https://twitter.com/LEGO_Group/status/1412743232270876675. A fake Lego advertisement video has also been made: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wphTAEQusLk. Source.
Tank Man FF6
Figure 202. Final Fantasy VI (最终幻想VI) battle screen style depiction of tank man by Cody Walton by it8Bit. Source.
Tank Man drawing by Ciro Santilli CC BY SA
Figure 203. Tank man drawing by Ciro Santilli. The only CC BY-SA 4.0 representaion of Tank Man found on the web? And the prettiest. Created manually with GIMP. This can be very useful e.g. if you are posting Stack Overflow answers about image processing, e.g.: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/20737061/merge-images-side-by-sidehorizontally/63575228#63575228 It was of course taken down later on because it was considered spam: Stack Overflow political image answer placeholder (2021).
121059892 e2a0d380 c7b9 11eb 88f0 cacdefab548c
Figure 204. Xi Jinping erasing tank man by Twatical. Easy mp4 download: https://github.com/cirosantilli/china-dictatorship/issues/357. The character shown is "碾". TODO understand the slang. Source.

17.3.1. Tank Man Song by Xu Lin (坦克人歌曲,作曲家:徐琳, 2016)

This song is amazing!!!

Official tablature on Xu Lin’s blog: https://xulin1523.blogspot.com/2016/01/blog-post_26.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ym88UOz5ZC8 (GitHub reupload) Tank Man Song (2016) video on Xu Lin’s official YouTube channel.

我是坦克人
I am Tank Man

站在天安门
I stand at Tiananmen

面对坦克车队
I face the tank column

从容挺出身
I calmly come and stand (? confirm)

广场人潮涌
A tide of people has rushed the square

群情正沸腾
The feelings of the people are boiling right now (正 == short of 正在?)

发出正义呼声
The voice of justice is calling

结束一党专政
To finish the One Party Dictatorship

国家人人有份
Everyone has a share of the country

岂容他们独吞
How can we put up with them taking more than their fair share? (岂容)

自由天赋权利
Free natural rights

岂可葬于铁轮
How can they be buried under the Iron Wheel? (TODO why Iron Wheel? https://cd.hwxnet.com/view/fkkhdjaknlgbnolg.html mentions possibly Buddhist metaphor "Cast iron wheels. According to the Buddhist legend, the torture instrument used to squeeze evil spirits in hell.")

谁挡了谁的路
Who is standing on whose way?

谁是谁的敌人
Who is whose enemy?

谁是正义一方
Who is on the side of the righteous?

谁是历史罪人
And who are the enemies of History?

你们的枪炮是人民造
Your guns were made by the People

你们的俸禄是民脂民膏
Your salaries were paid by the people’s taxes (民脂民膏 is a poetic way of putting it that references historical events apparently)

为什么枪口对着人民
So why are the guns being pointed at the people?

犯下这罪恶天理难饶
Those who commit this crime, can hardly be forgiven by the Heavenly Principles (天理 is a concept from Song Dynasty Confucianism, "heavenly principles", a type of "feudal ethics" according to Pleco and 1

民主是世界的必行之道
Democracy is a necessary Path of the world

实行了民主大家都好
Once democracy is implemented, everyone will be better off

不要做独裁的镇压工具
Don’t be a tool of suppression of the Dictatorship

还不快停车把头调
Quickly stop the tanks, and correct your point of view

Xu Lin with Tank Man song tablature
Figure 205. Picture of Xu Lin and the tablature of this Tank Man Song (2016). Source of portrait, source of tablature. The video contains several images that would make for good ammo.
17.3.1.1. Xu Lin (徐琳)

https://www.nchrd.org/2018/10/xu-lin/ on Chinese Human Rights Defenders (中国人权捍卫者) says he was arrested in 2017 for Picking quarrels and provoking trouble (寻衅滋事罪), and released on September 2020 at the completion of his sentence. This dude was actually China, what a hero. https://chinachange.org/2018/07/28/guangdong-activist-xu-lin-tried-on-charges-of-stirring-up-trouble-for-writing-songs/ talks about his trial in 2018.

Possible official accounts:

Some songs:

17.5. CCP soldiers were killed in Tiananmen by protesters, therefore the students are wrong (中共士兵在天安门被抗议者杀害,学生错了)

It is basically impossible to put things better than Tiananmen PLA plea. The soldiers should support the pople. Not the ruling dictators.

Individual deaths are all a disaster, on both sides. As perfectly put in the Tank Man Song by Xu Lin (坦克人歌曲,作曲家:徐琳, 2016):

谁挡了谁的路
Who is standing on whose way?

谁是谁的敌人
Who is whose enemy?

谁是正义一方
Who is on the side of the righteous?

谁是历史罪人
And who are the enemies of History?

17.6. Tiananmen Square Protests keywords (天安门广场抗议关键词)

Words:

Lists:

17.7. Tiananmen square protest student leaders (六四学运学生领袖)

17.7.1. Tiananmen student leaders went to USA and are living just fine (天安门学生领袖去了美国,生活还不错)

Ah, if only wumaos had brains:

  • some were executed

  • some went to prison and remained in China

  • some managed to escape

  • some who managed to escape became part of a American propaganda

Does that make the entire movement wrong?

Why would they stay in China to be thrown in jail or killed, and then have a shitty job until they die?

There were a million people in Tiananmen. We can see it in photos. There was huge desire for democracy.

Aren’t all top CCP people extremelly wealthy, and often sending their children to study abroad, or moving abroad themselves, e.g. Xi Mingze (Xi Jinping’s daughter, 习明泽)?

Think wumaos, think.

Related:

17.7.3. Zhou Fengsuo (周锋锁)

After Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的) started his campaign for freedom of speech in china in 2015, Zhou Fengsuo published on Twitter in 2015-05-30 when he had 36K followers at the time: https://twitter.com/ZhouFengSuo/status/604461488716144640 (archive) linking to Ciro Santilli’s Stack Overflow account:

The commies have messed with the wrong guy’s mother-in-law."

一个程序员在专业网站上发布六四和法轮功的消息,目的是触怒中共,封杀网站,从而激起程序员的反抗。因为岳母被抓半个月。

17.7.4. Chai Ling (柴玲)

She was cute and energetic! :-)

人民日报,胡说八道!
欺骗人民,良心何在!
不是不报,时候不到!

People’s Daily,
Full of nonsense
Lying to the people,
Where’s your conscience?
You may think you’re safe,
But your time will come.

Chai has some "dirt" on her as mentioned at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chai_Ling#Controversies

  • she sued and lost a case where she sued The Gate of Heavenly Peace (1995, 天安门纪录片) for defamation over a video where she willingly states bloodshed was necessary in Tiananmen to open people’s eyes, but that she couldn’t bring herself to tell her fellow students that. She requested the interview herself. This is the interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5__ESiklA1A. This position is notably opposed by people such as Liu Xiaobo (刘晓波, 1955-2017), who begged

  • her US company Jenzabar was sued for religious discrimination by ex-employee Jing Zhang in 2012 who claimed she was fired because she refused to pray, this after Chai had converted to Christinanity in 2009. TODO result.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRAmL1D8R-4 (GitHub reupload) Chai Ling People’s Daily speech in Tiananmen Square protests (柴玲—六四学运—国民日报,胡说八道!). Ripped from The BBC miniseries Can’t Get You Out of My Head directed by Alam Curtis (2021) It is also, and perhaps more importantly also shown at The Gate of Heavenly Peace (1995, 天安门纪录片) at around 1:11:40. TODO find exact date. Ordering of the documentary suggests some time after May 10th.
Chai Ling People s Daily speech
Figure 206. Still from the above video with captions. We see that she was either at the headquarters of the People’s Daily (人民日报, CCP media), or in some other office of the organization. TODO confirm exact location.

17.8. Tiananmen square protest documentaries (六四事件纪录片)

The problem of most documentaries is that they are just a bunch of modern interviews with very very quick scenes interspersed.

It would be much more effective to just let the actual scenes sink in by themselves in a fuller uncommented format.

Basically, more footage.

The Gate of Heavenly Peace (1995, 天安门纪录片) is by far the least worse in this aspect.

It is also extremelly difficult to find a good footage database! Ony a journalist would be able to find it.

Some good footage:

17.8.1. The Gate of Heavenly Peace (1995, 天安门纪录片)

Official website: http://tsquare.tv/

Some highlights:

17.8.1.1. Xiao Bin (Tiananmen witness, 肖斌, 六四证人)

A man named Xiao Bin (肖斌) told ABC News that he saw tunks crushing people, and got a 10 year sentence. Lu Xun’s petition quote comes to mind.

Highlighted at The Gate of Heavenly Peace (1995, 天安门纪录片) at around 2:53:52.

Transcript:

First the reporter asks in the background, untrunscripted, with her English accent (a lot like Ciro’s):

你有什么反应对这个事情?
What’s your reaction to the situation

The Chinese transcript starts at:

政府没有这样用坦克车、用装甲车,对这么多学生进行履带压
Is this what the People’s Government does? Using tanks to crush people?

but the Chinese it is missing the crucial start of the sentence! From this part alone it seems like he is starting to say the the Government did not use tanks to crush people. From hearing the words before are:

他怎么去?代表?人的政府,

So a more literal translation would be:

How can this Government claim to represent the people? A government doesn’t use tanks like this, doesn’t use armored vehicles like this, to advance towards so many students and crush them under the vehicle’s tracks?

presumably referring to events such as Liubukou massacre (六部口惨案).

At https://www.npr.org/2009/05/31/104731094/tiananmen-shouts-that-turned-to-silence "I sent a man to labor camp 20 years ago this week." (2009) reporter Alisa Barba who interviewed Xiao Bin reflects on the effect onhis lef

And finally, what happened to Xiao Bin? Five years after he was sent to labor camp, a small item appeared in the Chinese news - Xiao had been paroled. He was sent home to Dalian and tracked down there by ABC staffers still working in China. Xiao was in poor health, they discovered, and he wanted help to go to America. That was the last we heard.

Bibliography:

Xiao bin crush students
Figure 207. Still of the above with captions.

17.8.2. 64memo.com (六四档案)

Website dedicated to collecting photos of the protests and aftermath.

Says you have to login to see the gory photos, but hovering over thumbnails expands all of them, and their email service is broken as of 2020 so you can’t sign up.

17.10. Tiananmen antecedents (六四的来历)

17.10.2. Hu Yaobang (胡耀邦, 1915 - 1989-04-15)

Bibliography:

Hu Yaobang memorial
Figure 208. Hu Yaobang (胡耀邦, 1915 - 1989-04-15) memorial at the Monument to the People’s Heroes (人民英雄纪念碑). Hu’s mourning was the start of Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989 (六四事件). The central banners read left: ttps://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/中央美术学院[中央美院]敬挽 (Condolences from the Central Academy of Fine Arts) and right: 何处招魂 (where we conjure the spirit of the dead, a refernce to some poem: https://zhidao.baidu.com/question/1964020062838200140.html by Qu Yuan (屈原, 340-278 BC)) TODO are there any quotes showing his liberal position? If we find one let’s add to the image side-by-side. Source.

18. Dissidents (持不同政见者)

Related sections:

18.1. Chinese dissidents (中国持不同政见者)

Other sections:

Other dissidents:

Not sure if these are dissidents or not:

18.1.2. Ai Weiwei (艾未未)

TODO understand: https://twitter.com/remonwangxt/status/141825341227417600 by Kuang Biao (邝飚) which shows Ai Weiwei morphed into a penis and balls.

18.1.3. Xu Xiaodong (Mad Dog, 徐晓冬)

MMA fighter who beat up some kung-fu masters to prove that MMA is more effective than their traditional styles.

As of 2019, he had 14 Weibo (新浪微博) accounts blocked (created one, got blocked, created another, got blocked, etc.). Source: https://www.inkstonenews.com/society/chinas-mma-fighter-xu-xiaodong-fight-survival/article/3047417

Profiles and news:

Related:

Uphold science
Figure 209. Uphold science, eradicate superstition "崇尚科学 破除迷信" 1999 poster by the CCP created as an anti-Falun Gong propaganda likely based on a more widely widespread slogan (archive). So why is Xiaodong not being supported by the CCP now that he is beating superstition back into its place? Once again, Censorship makes countries poorer (审查使国家更穷). The poster features images related to the Chinese space program (中华人民共和国航天), which is a major undertaking of the CCP and widely used propaganda point. Source.
Space program Change
Figure 210. 1962 propaganda poster for the Chinese Space program. "Uphold science, eradicate superstition"? Nah, the moon is obviously populated by Chang’e ( (嫦娥), the Chinese Goddess of the moon, which is one of the names for the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program (中国探月工程,嫦娥工程). Other good Chinese space program posters. Also note the emphasis on making babies, the One-child policy (一孩政策, 1979–2015) comes to mind. Source.
Reject superstition accept change
Figure 211. Reject superstition, accept Chang’e (破除迷信, 崇尚嫦娥) side-by-side.
Xu Xiaodong taichi
Figure 212. 2017 Xu Xiaodong (MMA) Vs. Wei Lei (Tai Chi) summary GIF. Source.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XwXaCbfIGw 2017 Xu Xiaodong (MMA) Vs. Wei Lei (Tai Chi) full fight.

18.1.4. Programthink (编程随想)

Very popular Chinese language anonymous blogger that publishes software programming tutorials and political content since 2009, often negative about the CCP, in particular anti-censorship and anti-CCP-brainwashing.

He was likely arrested in 2021 according to an anonymous report to Radio Free Asia (RFA, 自由亚洲电台, USA government media), consistent with an abnormally long lack of posts:

Mentions in other sections:

Programthink
Figure 213. Programthink uses Rodin’s The Thinker sculpture as its avatar, to encourage people to think for themselves rather than blindly believe the Party. Source.

18.1.5. Liu Xiaobo (刘晓波, 1955-2017)

He was abroad in the 80' as a scholar, and then he came back to china in 1989 to support Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989 (六四事件), then he was in and out of jail until he died in 2017.

His 2020-06 Baidu Baike (百度百科, Chinese censored Wikipedia clone) https://baike.baidu.com/item/刘晓波/14900221 (https://web.archive.org/web/20200627130112/https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E5%88%98%E6%99%93%E6%B3%A2/14900221) casually forgot to mention that he might have won the fucking 2010 Nobel Peace Prize, but he seems to be too big to delete the entire page?

It is interesting how Hao Haidong (郝海东, 2020) was fully deleted, the page was only locked. It also does not mention all the times he was in jail, notably after Tiananmen, only some of them.

2017-11 Baidu did mention the Nobel prize however: https://web.archive.org/web/20171114165644/https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E5%88%98%E6%99%93%E6%B3%A2/14900221 it was edited out later.

The article also makes it very clear that his 2009 sentence was "a fair one", and that the organization he worked for in the 90', Federation for a Democratic China (民主中国阵线) was funded by the CIA. Wikipedia does not mention that however, but of course, Baidu content does not need citations.

Liu Xiaobo Tiananmen 1989 06 02
Figure 214. Liu Xiaobo (刘晓波, 1955-2017) at Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989 (六四事件) on 1989-06-02. He is the second from left, with the speaker. The background seems to be Monument to the People’s Heroes (人民英雄纪念碑), and this seems to be a still from a video, TODO identify. That monument cellebrate the Chinese Communist Revolution (1921-1949), and ironically contains images of students from May Fourth Movement (五四运动, 1919) protesting at Tiananmen. Liu was one of the people who was begging the students to leave the square once he felt that the government would violently crack down, in order to save lives. For this is considered one of the four Junzi (君子) of Tiananmen (天安門四君). Other people in the photo from left to right: Zhou Duo (周舵). Ji Gaoxin (及高新). Some/all of the junzi felt that peaceful cooperation with the government was the only way forward. This is opposed to the views of others such as Chai Ling (柴玲), who felt that the sight of blood was necessary to wake up the Chinese masses. Another photo of the four: https://hk.news.yahoo.com/天安門四君子之-周舵認為放下敵我才能推動民主-232800167.html. The term is also a reference to the Four Gentlemen (花中四君子), four plants commonly depicted in Chinese traditional painting of plants. At The Gate of Heavenly Peace (1995, 天安门纪录片) 1:46:14, Liu Xiaobo mentions how some students had the delusion that they would actually be able to stand up to the army. Source

18.1.6. Guo Wengui (郭文贵)

Social media:

Profiles:

18.1.6.1. Hao Haidong (郝海东, 2020)

Hao is widely considered one of the best Chinese soccer players of all time, and he was the top scorer for the Chinese national team of all time as of 2020, and one of the only two Chinese to show on IFFHS Legends page which as of 2020 contains only 52 players including the likes of Pelé and Maradona.

He participated in the 1994, 1998, 2002 and 2006 FIFA World Cup (世界杯) qualifiers, and therefore also at the 2002 FIFA World Cup proper held in South Korea and Japan, which is the only World Cup China classified for as of 2020, and in which it failed to score a single goal.

On 2020-06-03, one day before Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989 (六四事件) anniversary, Hao appeared with his wife Ye Zhaoying (叶钊颖, married 2019), who was also a badmington star, on Guo Wengui (郭文贵)'s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4aN5h0RqD8&t=4496, and spoke up against the CCP:

As a result, his son Hao Runze (郝润泽, from a previous marriage) who is also a soccer player and had nothing to do with it was also sacked from the Serbian club Radnicki Nis in which he played one week later due to pressure from China: https://www.scmp.com/sport/football/article/3088385/hao-haidongs-son-sacked-serbian-club-radnicki-nis-after-pressure The wiki page says that https://www.b92.net/sport/fudbal/vesti.php?yyyy=2020&mm=06&dd=09&nav_id=1693254 says the team says it was just a coincidence and that his contract had ended.

The most interesting thing about all of this, is how Hao’s name was completely nuked form the Chinese Internet, making this a fantastic opportunity to unambiguously document a censorship event. One is reminded of:

The keyword is clear: iconoclasm (破坏偶像主义)

Some examples:

Online reactions:

Listings of the 2002 squad:

Random info about Haidong:

Hao Haidong kick
Figure 215. Hao Haidong (in white) playing for the China national team against the Hong Kong’s national team in a World Cup Asian zone qualifying match at Siu Sai Wan Sports Ground in 2004. Request for James Fridman to remove Haidong from the picture in reference to Censorship of images in the Soviet Union (苏联对图像的审查): https://twitter.com/cirosantilli/status/1308670186640289792. Photo by: South China Morning Post (SCMP, 南华早报). Source.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgSwRwFBNFA Hao Haidong’s top 10 goals, all with CCTV 5 watermark :-)
18.1.6.1.1. Zhihu censorship of Hao Haidong (知乎审查郝海东)

Zhihu (知乎, censored Quora clone, 审查 Quora 克隆) (and the rest of the Chinese Internet) basically nuked a gazillion articles that mentioned him, including old ones that had nothing to do with his political views.

Ciro estimates that very likely thousands of Zhihu posts have been removed, as of 2020-06-14 the Google query "郝海东 site:zhihu.com" had 3,970 results, and every single on Ciro clicked had been taken down.

Not nuked yet as of 2020-06, but nuked after, with before-after archives:

Older archives that were nuked before Ciro managed to archive them on 2020-06-06:

Nuked as per Ciro’s eyewitness on 2020-06-06 without web archive, but could be found either on Google search or Zhihu search before those engines had properly cleared, taking Google caches and web archiving them + web archiving 404’s as of 2020-06-14:

Nuked answers:

Ye also nuked:

18.1.6.1.2. Baidu Baike censorship of Hao Haidong (百度百科审查郝海东)

This served as good evidence of the obvious fact that Baidu Baike (百度百科, Chinese censored Wikipedia clone) is highly censored.

Article about the Chinese national soccer team https://baike.baidu.com/item/中国国家男子足球队:

The article used to mention Hao extensively. He was:

  • second on the 知名人物 (famous people)

  • was the 进球最多者 (top scorer), a category which as completely removed

  • the list 射手榜 (top scorers?) is still there but casually starts at 宿茂臻 with 27 goals, and skips Hao which has 41

  • an entire section about Hao was removed entitled "永远的9号——郝海东" and saying how amazing he was, including a picture

Ye won the BWF World Championships (世界羽毛球锦标赛), a biannual tournament organized by the Badminton World Federation (羽毛球世界联合会) that is likely the most prestigious in the world twice in 1995 and 1997, and her name had to be removed from the list of winners in Baidu https://baike.baidu.com/item/世界羽毛球锦标赛:

The fact that badminton is a single player sport is great in this case, as it just puts more emphasis on her name as opposed to Hao’s multiplayer soccer game:

  • still up 2020-06-14 but locked: https://web.archive.org/web/20200614105842/https://baike.baidu.com/item/郝润泽

  • and casually forgets to mention that he is the fucking son of Haidong, which was likely edited out recently, but there is no edit history in Baidu Baike. Google Cache was already from 2020-06-08 and missed the pre-edit. What a shame

  • The last entry says "2020年5月31日,郝润泽在塞尔维亚超级联赛第27轮尼什工人客场挑战纳普里达克的比赛中,首秀替补出场打入一球,帮助尼什工人实现绝平。" and also casually forgets to mention that he was fired two weeks later.

Baidu Baike Badminton World Federation censored 1995 1997 wins by Ye Zhaoying wife of Hao Haidong
Figure 216. In 2020, due to her criticizing the Chinese government together with her husband Hao Haidong (郝海东, 2020), all mention of badminton player Ye Zhaoying (叶钊颖) removed from Baidu Baike (百度百科, Chinese censored Wikipedia clone). In this particularly funny case, her wins from the 1995 and 1997 Badminton World Federation World Championships (世界羽毛球锦标赛) women’s singles were simply removed, as if that year the event hadn’t happend. In the neighbouring years 1993 and 1999, and every other year, they did of course happen. An earlier web archive shows of course that she was the winner in those years.

18.1.7. Chloe Zhao (Zhao Ting, 赵婷, 2021 Oscar winner, 获第93奥斯卡最佳电影和导演奖)

Born and raised in China, sent to study in the UK by her wealthy father Zhao Yuji 赵玉吉 at age 15 and later moved to US, but retained Chinese citizenship as far as is publicly known.

In 2013 she told the magazine Filmmaker https://web.archive.org/web/20130814185314/https://filmmakermagazine.com/people/chloe-zhao/ (later removed from the website):

It goes back to when I was a teenager in China, being in a place where there are lies everywhere. You felt like you were never going to be able to get out. A lot of info I received when I was younger was not true, and I became very rebellious toward my family and my background. I went to England suddenly and relearned my history. Studying political science in a liberal arts college was a way for me to figure out what is real. Arm yourself with information, and then challenge that too.

TODO was that the only comment she ever made or is there more?

Won the 2021 Oscar (93rd) for best picture and best director on 2021-04-25 for her film Nomadland 无依之地.

And at the same time she was also working on an idiotic superhero movie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternals_(film) to be launched by Disney in the future, and therefore they would likely want it to be released in China, let’s see how that will go.

On 2021-04-26 reports emerged that her win was being censored in China: https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-censors-nomadland-director-chloe-zhaos-oscar-win-11619440550 Unlike Hao Haidong (郝海东, 2020) however, the order was much more specific: to censor only the fact that she won the Oscars.

As of 2021-04-27 her Baidu Baike (百度百科, Chinese censored Wikipedia clone) page https://baike.baidu.com/item/赵婷/22214113 was still up: https://web.archive.org/web/20210427075523/https://baike.baidu.com/item/赵婷/22214113 let’s see how long it lasts. But the page failed to mention the minor detail that she on the Oscar. The comment section, which we’re unable to archive contained two types comments:

  • she’s an American citizen now, not Chinese, just it wasn’t reported. But no one has any proof.

  • she won the Oscar

The page for the 93rd Oscar mysteriously does not exit however: https://baike.baidu.com/item/第93届奥斯卡金像奖 unlike that of all others: https://baike.baidu.com/item/第92届奥斯卡金像奖 (archive) We can’t find an archive either, but it is overwhelmingly likely that it was created and later deleted. As of 2021-06-21, https://baike.baidu.com/item/奥斯卡金像奖/739020#5 (archive) contains a list of all the prizes given so far, linking to the respective per year pages, and the 93rd appears listed but mysteriously without a link.

On Zhihu (知乎, censored Quora clone, 审查 Quora 克隆) the topic 93rd Oscar "第93 届奥斯卡金像奖" https://www.zhihu.com/topic/21594057 was deleted:

The Chloe Zhao topic https://www.zhihu.com/topic/20175085/hot was still up: 2021-04-27 with 8 questions: https://archive.ph/wip/CI3vz but funnily that website is so shit that it still links to some deleted questions e.g.: which used to read https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/368060294 "赵婷获第93届奥斯卡最佳导演奖,有思想的女孩子最可爱" but is down https://archive.ph/wip/6eiTl

Some archived deleted threads:

  • https://www.zhihu.com/question/420850041 (archive) 如何评价中国导演赵婷作品《无依之地》获得第 77 届威尼斯电影节最高奖金狮奖? What do you think about Chloe Zhao’s work nomadland that won the 77th Venice Film Festival

The page of the film is still up 2021-04-27 https://baike.baidu.com/item/无依之地/50656178 (archive).

Some coverage:

Chloe Zhao won 93rd Oscar
Figure 217. Chloe Zhao (Zhao Ting, 赵婷, 2021 Oscar winner, 获第93奥斯卡最佳电影和导演奖) holding the 2021 Oscars for best director and best film. The fact that she won was censored in China because she made one single negative comment about the CCP in 2013.

18.1.10. Vicky Xu (许秀中)

Lead author of the Uyghurs for sale report.

Smear posts:

Praise posts:

18.1.11. Howey Ou (Chinese Great Thunberg, 欧泓奕, 环保活动家, 2019)

The Chinese Great Thunberg. Environmental activist. She speaks English too.

Mandatory Zhihu (知乎, censored Quora clone, 审查 Quora 克隆) question: https://www.zhihu.com/question/354163461 "如何看待中国首位气候活动家欧泓奕?" (What do you think about Chinese climate activist Howei Ou?)

Social media:

News coverage:

Howey Ou 2019
Figure 218. Howey Ou skipped classes for a week to protest about climate change in front of the local government office in Guilin, Guangxi Province (广西壮族自治区, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region), in 2019. TODO transcription of posters. Source.

18.1.12. Chinese university student dissidents abroad (外交中国大学持不同政见者学生)

18.1.12.1. Ji Ziyue 季子越 (2020-06, opengl106, 神楽坂梓月)

Aliases: opengl106 神楽坂梓月

Accounts:

Media coverage:

Reactions:

18.3. Western anti-CCP dissidents

For pro-CCP dissidents see: CCP apologists (中共辩护士)

18.3.1. Winston Sterzel (SerpentZA) and Matthew Tye (laowhy86)

The biggest China expat YouTube channels, and the also collaborated together a lot.

As of 2019, they seem to have moved to the USA because they can’t stand harassment by the Chinese government.

Due to their balanced opinions, fluent Chinese, not being Falun Gong (法轮功, Qigong new religion/cult), and having lived in China for such a long time, the offer what is arguably the one of best CCP criticisms.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDV4s9c9sfQ "How I Got my Family Out of China" published by laowhy86 on 2020-07-08.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7CPqROtanA "How I Escaped From China - The Untold Story" published by laowhy86 on 2020-07-01.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDV4s9c9sfQ "#65 China Is Getting Worse | Laowhy86 and SerpentZA" published on 2020-04-05. SerpentZA and laowhy86 interview on "China Unscripted", a sister channel of China Uncensored (pro-Falun Gong media). This marks them clearly on the side of "openly criticizing the Chinese government".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6PI91n2f9o "China Expels Foreign Press to Protect Its Lies" published on 2020-03-23 during/just after Censorship of the 2019 Corona Virus (2019冠状病毒病早期迹象审查).

18.3.3. Aaron DeWitt (The Chinese Tea)

Online presence:

Deleted some of his videos, so likely either legal trouble or intelligence request.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3hwdsbh6-M "I worked for the Chinese State Department – 中公教育党委 – offcn CCP Committee" (2020-08-21), previously titled "Working for the Chinese State Department" is the most eyepopping video based on its description from archive (video not visible, only description, likely CIA deletion request):

Interviewing potential spies for for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, on behalf of 中公教育 (offcn) - a $30B+ company, funded and managed by the Chinese Communist Party. I worked there from 2019 to 2020. I have lived in China from 2014 - 2020, speak Mandarin Chinese, and am now blacklisted by the Chinese government - a badge of honor.

so holy fuck, Ciro actually feels this one could honestly be a CIA deletion request. Unfortunately Ciro never managed to watch it before it was deleted.

offcn is the short name for the company 中公教育党委 which literally means "Chinese Public Education Party". TODO what do they do exactly? They seem to have strong CCP party links: http://edu.people.com.cn/n1/2018/0510/c1006-29977260.html, maybe they are a "corporate training" company for the CCP itself.

Discussions threads:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFOh9AoAv2U "TikTok Hired Me in China: Exposing their Lies, Insider Leaks" is not archived at all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6uFGGunRxc "Naming the Racist Companies that Don’t Hire Black People". According to https://web.archive.org/web/20201007015433if_/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6uFGGunRxc&feature=youtu.be (viewable 2020-12-31) the original title was "Spilling the Chinese Tea" and the description is:

Discussing companies that operate in America and refuse to hire black people. These companies avoid following U.S. EEO laws because they’re headquartered in mainland China, a country that does not protect people of color from racial discrimination.

The video shows a call with a black man (TODO who is that) where he talks about anti-black racism on employment in China. Nothing eye-popping, mostly references We Don’t Hire Blacks by Aaron Dewitt (我们不雇用黑人, 2020). Mentions he is under NDA and cannot reveal the name of the company.

18.3.4. The woke global times

Anonymous anti-CCP mostly Twitter (推特) commentary about China, large part of it is making fun of right wing Americans saying stupid things about China with witty comments.

The website contains a small number of high quality analysis articles.

19. Media (媒体)

Sources of information pertinent to this repository.

In other sections:

19.1. Commentary media

The following offer interesting commentary, but not to be used as primary sources:

19.2. Biased media (偏见媒体)

I consider the media in this section biased, and never cite it for fact-checking.

19.2.3. Xinhua News Agency (新华通讯社, 新华社, CCP media)

Links:

19.2.3.2. Internal media of China (内参)

The name for this top document is the "Big Reference" (大参考), since the 70s down to today in the 2020s.

TODO: there must be websites hosting some level of those, right?

At https://youtu.be/846AtqraCYg?t=615 the BBC mini-documentary series Can’t Get You Out of My Head (2021) Episode 04 "But What If the People are Stupid" comments that Xinhua had 3 levels of privileged real news for people higher and higher up in the party hierarchy, and that the top one had extra large letters so that the old men who were in that category could read it. See also: Jiang Zemin with magnifying glass.

19.2.3.4. People’s Daily (人民日报, CCP media)

The website has per-language and per province subdomains, e.g.:

As of 2020, some deleted articles show the home page instead of the article, without redirection. Some examples can be seen at: Hao Haidong (郝海东, 2020).

But older pages just show 404.

19.2.3.8. Pro-Chinese government media (pro-CCP media)

These might be independent, but they are clearly pro CCP and thus cannot be trusted:

19.2.3.8.2. kknews (pro-CCP media)

One is reminded of the KKK.

https://www.zhihu.com/question/63052654 kknews.cc 是什么网站?(What is the website kknews.cc?) on Zhihu (知乎, censored Quora clone, 审查 Quora 克隆). One of the answers links to https://www.ptt.cc/bbs/Gossiping/M.1490457159.A.5CA.html on PTT Bulletin Board System (Taiwanese message board, 批踢踢實業坊), it is hilarious. Answers suggest it is a content farm that copy pastes content from other locations without concerns for copyright.

19.2.3.8.3. Kaiwind (pro-CCP media)

Anti-religion, and notably, anti-Falun Gong (法轮功, Qigong new religion/cult) website in Chinese.

It must be said however that they do contain at least some information that seems to be true/interesting.

Including open secrets that every Falun Gong believer knows about but does discuss much publicly, e.g. details of Li Hongzhi’s family (李洪志的家庭), and Sun Senjun’s account.

Ciro has no proof that this is linked to the government, but it is very likely, even the Chinese embassy website links to it:

19.2.4. Falun Gong media (法轮功媒体)

For example, Li refers to Falun Gong media as "our media" in Canonical Falun Gong texts (法轮功的经典著作), and has given many many talks in gatherings specific to those media. E.g. in the Fa Teaching Given at the NTDTV Meeting (2009):

You have your path, while human beings have their affairs. You have things that you need to do. Don’t give any concern or attention to political things or what happens between parties. Of course, our media don’t really have a choice about reporting on it, since those are probably things that ordinary people are interested in.

It could be argued that those media are not "directly" controlled by Li Hongzhi, and Ciro does believe that they were created independently of him initially.

But without doubt they are controlled by his top followers, and if Li Hongzhi ever gave directions, which Ciro has no proof he has ever done, then those media would follow.

And since Li has given such direct endorsement to it, contributing has become a de-facto religious obligation, and one which constitutes a great part of Making cult members work long hours for free (Orange papers, 让信徒免费长时间工作, 橙色文件).

Ciro believes without evidence that Li Hongzhi gives specific directives to the top tenants of those organizations from time to time when important issues arise. Ciro believes that one of such issues is the support of Donald Trump: Falun Gong supports Donald (Trump, 法轮功支持特朗普).

Furthermore, Li appears to directly cite some of the main media in Canon or talk at their conferences as Canon.

One thing must be said in their favour however: they are incorruptible in their fight against the CCP.

Bibliography:

List of smaller ones that didn’t deserve a section:

19.2.4.1. Epoch Media Group

At some point both The Epoch Times (明慧网, Falun Gong media) and New Tang Dynasty Television (NTD, NTDTV, 新唐人電視台, Falun Gong media), previously "independent", were added under a single umbrella organization, known as the "Epoch Media Group".

19.2.4.2. The Epoch Times (明慧网, Falun Gong media)

Falun Gong’s newspaper with news for "general public consumption" an no clear affiliation indication.

In canon: https://gb.falundafa.org/chigb/jiangfa10_3.htm or https://falundafa.org/eng/eng/lectures/20091017L.html "Fa Teaching Given at the Epoch Times Meeting" from 2009-10-17:

There are so many things you have to do. You have to do your ordinary job and do it well, you have to manage your family’s affairs, and as Dafa disciples you need to make time for Fa-study and exercises; you also need to clarify the truth, as well as participate in Dafa projects, such as The Epoch Times.

In 2020-11-08 https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/20/11/8/n12534746.htm the Epoch Times published a poem by Li Hongzhi, just after Trump was announced to lose the presidential elections, see also: Falun Gong supports Donald (Trump, 法轮功支持特朗普).

Related:

19.2.4.3. New Tang Dynasty Television (NTD, NTDTV, 新唐人電視台, Falun Gong media)

Falun Gong’s newspaper with news for "general public consumption" an no clear affiliation indication.

Li speaking to New Tang conference in canon: https://big5.falundafa.org/chibig5/jiangfa9_3.htm 在新唐人電視討論會上的講法 or https://falundafa.org/eng/eng/jjyz3_73.htm "Fa Teaching Given at the NTDTV Meeting" from 2009-06-06:

Things are changing rapidly as the Fa-rectification forges ahead and as Dafa disciples' righteous thoughts grow stronger. The energy emitted by NTDTV is very strong

"Fa-rectification", amazing jargon, see also "Cult-speak" from Orange Papers (橙色文件).

Related shows:

19.2.4.3.1. China Uncensored (pro-Falun Gong media)

Hosted by Chris Chappell.

Syster interview podcast channel: China Unscripted: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_o1sZefER0E The three makers of China Uncesored appear on the videos.

Older shows had an "ndt.tv" water mark on top right, e.g. a 2013 video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmMvS3lgJBs

The video description also links to http://e.ntd.tv/NTDChinaUncensored which is now down, but has archives such as https://web.archive.org/web/20130321071835/http://e.ntd.tv/NTDChinaUncensored which suggest a redirect back to the YouTube channel:

TODO why did newer videos remove the water mark and clear link? Did they break links, or just to hide Falun Gong influence?

Home page gives extremely unusual importance to Falun Gong resources, e.g.:

Website credits as of 2020:

Related:

19.2.4.4. Minghui (明慧网, Falun Gong media)

Falun Gong’s primary "social network"/"Falun Gong"-only news/propaganda website. More Falun Gong specific than The Epoch Times (明慧网, Falun Gong media).

Literally: clear (明) wisdom (慧) network (网)

Li speaking to Minghui conference in canon: https://big5.falundafa.org/chibig5/jiangfa10_1.htm

TODO how https://www.clearwisdom.net/ compares?

19.2.4.5. Shen Yun Performing Arts (神韵艺术团, Falun Gong media)

A good testimony from an ordinary employee from 2013: Aarvoll’s account.

Openly directly controlled by Li Hongzhi (李洪志, LHZ, Falun Gong prophet). He features as director on librettos, e.g. the 2013 one (credited "D. F." (Da Fa) and with his photo).

Shen Yun’s headquarters are also located in/near Dragon Springs (龙泉, Falun Gong’s headquarters in New York State).

On thing Ciro couldn’t help but notice is that the "CCP guards beating up Falun Gong people" scenes felt a lot like Revolutinary operas of the Mao Zedong (毛泽东, 1954–1976) period in their aesthetics. Maybe this is an intentional reference.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mQ8plzWl9g "They tried to get me to post Chinese propaganda" by J.J. McCullough (2019) talks about Shen Yun and Falun Gong in general, and how he was offered to post anti-Shen Yun propaganda for 500 dollars.
19.2.4.7. bannedbook.org (禁闻网, pro-Falun Gong media)

The main Chinese name is 禁闻网 which stands for "banned news network", and is more accurate than the domain name "bannedbook" since the majority of material published appears to be recent banned articles.

Classifying this as Falun Gong media because most or possibly all of the sidebar recommended websites 推荐网站 are also Falun Gong media e.g. as of 2020-04: https://web.archive.org/web/20200427221744/https://www.bannedbook.org/ includes The Epoch Times (明慧网, Falun Gong media) and https://hongzhi.li/, so yeah, not much doubt.

From this we deduce that the "banned book" in the domain name originally likely referred more specifically to the banned Falun Gong sacred books: Canonical Falun Gong texts (法轮功的经典著作).

TODO who is behind this website? They store full text copies of banned articles, e.g. https://www.bannedbook.org/bnews/baitai/20190816/1175647.html is a full text copy of http://yashalong.blog.caixin.com/archives/188877 which is mentioned at: Comparisons between the CCP and Nazi Germany (纳粹德国和中共长得很想).

19.2.4.8. Tuidang movement (退党, Falun Gong media)

Falun Gong campaign asking Chinese people to revoke their CCP membership.

Extremely common when Falun Gong preaching (法轮功传教) on the streets in touristic areas where Chinese tourists will be present. Fake names will be accepted, so it is obviously just a symbolic act.

A bit less than 10% of the Chinese population are registered CCP members: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Communist_Party. So it is not obligatory, and there likely restrictions. But there must also be some kind of benefits involved. See also: https://daily.jstor.org/communist-party-of-china/

19.2.5. USA government media (美国政府媒体)

Partial support:

19.2.5.1. National Endowment for Democracy (NED)
19.2.5.1.2. China Digital Times (CDT, 中国数字时代, USA government media)

They have some amazing anti-CCP content, notably:

A scraped mirror of CDT was created on GitHub pages by Tang Wenzheng from Fuck-XueXiQiangGuo (Fuck学习强国) is present at:

Firs commit Jun 30, 2019. The first article is from 2010, so maybe it did scrape everything. It appears to be automatically updated daily. The images seem to be re-uploaded to https://statically.io/, e.g. https://china-digital-times.github.io/?/id/664606 contains https://cdn.statically.io/gh/china-digital-times/files/master/2021/04/image-1617989397104.png which just fetches from GitHub automatically: https://github.com/china-digital-times/files/blob/master/2021/04/image-1617989397104.png while the original article https://chinadigitaltimes.net/chinese/664606.html stores images locally: https://chinadigitaltimes.net/chinese/files/2021/04/image-1617989397104.png. This approach is more censorship resistant, since all images are under a single domain, so takedown would require a full statically domain takedown, which would break other things. Although CDN blocks are not unheard of, e.g. as mentioned at: https://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/267715/is-stack-overflow-accessible-in-china.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hx28EUiKEUc "From 'fart people' to citizens on China’s internet | Xiao Qiang | TEDxLiberdade" by TEDx Talks (2014). Presentation by Xiao Qiang (萧强), founder of China Digital Times (CDT, 中国数字时代, USA government media). He was a Physicist from USTC who went mad after Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989 (六四事件). Ciro Santilli’s wife (三西猴的老婆) also studied there and said that’s the most anti-CCP of all big Chinese universities.

20. Videos (视频)

21. Funny (搞笑)

Humour is the greatest weapon against dictators:

See also:

21.1. Cartoonists (漫画家)

Reasonable lists:

Other cartoonists/illustrators:

21.1.1. Rebel Pepper (变态辣椒, RFA cartoonist)

Real name: Wang Liming (王立铭)

Personal media:

Without a doubt, the greatest anti-Communist joke cartoonist of the 2010s.

As of 2019 he does work for Radio Free Asia (RFA, 自由亚洲电台, USA government media), so a possible list of all cartoons of this era can be found at: https://www.rfa.org/english/cartoons/story_archive

His best work can be found scattered throughout this document in the relevant sections.

Rebel pepper
Figure 219. Rebel Pepper’s self portrait as a perverted pepper (the literal translation of his Chinese name "变态辣椒") used in his Sina and Tencent (腾讯, Tengxun, WeChat owner) accounts before those got deleted according to the BBC. Source.

21.1.3. Scarfolk Council

Not about China specifically, but broadly anti-dictatorship, and so much of it applies perfectly!!! With that typical British humour touch of course.

We have to translate the following into Chinese and add to the relevant sections:

Scarfolk lose face
Figure 220. "Lose face" spoof poster by Scarfolk Council (2020). "Lose Face" reminds one of the popular Chinese expression "miànzi 面子" translated at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Face_(sociological_concept)#Chinese as "face; side; reputation; self-respect; prestige, honor; social standing" and the corresponding "to lose face": (丢脸, 丢面子 https://baike.baidu.com/item/丢面子 on Baidu Baike (百度百科, Chinese censored Wikipedia clone)). Source.

21.1.6. Paresh Nath

Not China only like Rebel Pepper (变态辣椒, RFA cartoonist), but does have some good China ones.

22. Art (艺术)

22.1. Dictatorships are bad for the arts (独裁统治对艺术不好)

Ermm, fear of going to jail for not kissing up to dictators well enough? Part of Censorship (审查).

https://youtu.be/MCxzMYVvHBg?t=227 Shostakovich - How to Compose Music Despite [ R E D A C T E D ] by Tantacrul (2019) highlights how the famous Russian composer Dimitri Shostakovich had to continually work around the Soviet Union's censorship in his compositions.

22.1.1. Pornography ban (色情禁令)

This will be the fall of China:

And yet, every single Chinese teenager knows very well the meaning of "AV": Adult Video, the term originating notably from Japan (the Chinese really), which is one of the most common ways of referring to vide pornography.

Curious, right?

The Nineteen Eighty-Four: A Novel (1984, 乔治·奥威尔 一九八四, 1949) quote "The sex instinct will be eradicated." comes to mind, see that section for fuller context.

Some news coverage:

Jin ping mei
Figure 221. Ming-era dynasty illustration of a scene from the novel Jin Ping Mei (金瓶梅) where Qing Ximen (西門) and Golden Lotus (潘金蓮) are engaging in foreplay in a beautiful ancient Chinese house. For an old depiction of homosexual male sexual activity, see: this image. Source.

22.1.2. Tattoo television ban (刺青电视禁令, 2018)

And more generally, anything "cringey" was also banned from television in 2018-2019 https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/27/business/china-war-on-fun-earrings-tattoos.html:

Men’s earrings aren’t the only objectionable material that China’s censors are blurring, covering up or cutting out. Soccer players wear long sleeves to cover their tattoos. Women in costumes at a racy video game convention have been told to raise their necklines. Rappers can rhyme only about peace and harmony.

No wonder that China basically unable to produce a lot of worthwhile art with such restrictions.

22.1.2.1. Live streaming (直播)

Fun is forbidden in China, all people must be good Xi Jinping (习近平, 2012-∞, Heil卐!) loving Zealots, or else:

  • 2019-04-15 http://chinafilminsider.com/the-stars-who-vanished-from-chinas-live-streaming-galaxy/ "The Stars Who Vanished from China’s Live-streaming Galaxy" talks about the fall of:

    • Li Tianyou: "Li Tianyou’s downfall was deeply embedded in his rap lyrics and the lifestyle that he promotes in his shows. Several of his now-banned songs praised methamphetamine, calling the illicit drug "wonderful" and capable of "erasing all worries" (our translation), and describing in detail the sensation of being high on meth. Li’s livestreams also featured extravagant displays of wealth, including stacks of cash, luxury watches, and expensive sports cars."

    • Lu Benwei (卢本伟, alias 55kai): "As for Lu Benwei, profanity eventually became his undoing. After being accused of using cheats when live-streaming a game in November 2017, Lu vehemently defended himself on his channel, insulting the content creator who made the accusation and instigating fans to verbally abuse him."

    • Chen Yifa: "offense stemmed from a single live-streaming session in 2016. According to a widely circulated video, Chen made joking mention of historical events such as the Nanjing Massacre and Japan’s occupation of northeast China. She also described a game character’s movement as honoring the Yasukuni"

22.1.2.1.1. Yang Kayli anthem desecration (楊凱莉, 2019)

Yang Kaili (楊凱莉, alias 莉哥): "Yang Kaili, or "Lige," was the only one of the four banned live-streamers to have broken the 2019 live streaming law mentioned at Live streaming (直播).

During a live-streaming show on Huya in October 2018, Yang was seen singing China’s Chinese National Anthem (义勇军进行曲, 1978), "March of the Volunteers," in a jovial tone while waving her arms like an orchestra conductor"

So basically it was somewhat silly, but also cute and likely not intentionally rebelious at all,

2018 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-45859650 Yang Kaili: China live-streamer detained for 'insulting' national anthem

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LKONlosqFM It was just a very small section, as part of the stream opening.

23. Political essays (政治论文)

This seems to be the type of writing that the CCP fears the most in their useless bureocratistic mindset.

And so it is one that we focus on.

In the following sections:

24. Books (书籍)

Either banned, or relevant.

For other censored material types, see: Lists of material censored in China.

24.1. Nineteen Eighty-Four: A Novel (1984, 乔治·奥威尔 一九八四, 1949)

Read for free from Project Gutenberg:

This book is very fun to read, and it is not very long.

1984 has coined some amazing terms which perfectly describe aspects of dictatorships:

Quotes present in other sections:

In Part Three, Chapter 3, O’Brien explains the end goal of their evil government system to Winston:

In our world there will be no emotions except fear, rage, triumph, and self-abasement. Everything else we shall destroy—​everything. Already we are breaking down the habits of thought which have survived from before the Revolution. We have cut the links between child and parent, and between man and man, and between man and woman. No one dares trust a wife or a child or a friend any longer. But in the future there will be no wives and no friends. Children will be taken from their mothers at birth, as one takes eggs from a hen. The sex instinct will be eradicated. Procreation will be an annual formality like the renewal of a ration card. We shall abolish the orgasm. Our neurologists are at work upon it now. There will be no loyalty, except loyalty towards the Party. There will be no love, except the love of Big Brother. There will be no laughter, except the laugh of triumph over a defeated enemy. There will be no art, no literature, no science. When we are omnipotent we shall have no more need of science. There will be no distinction between beauty and ugliness. There will be no curiosity, no enjoyment of the process of life. All competing pleasures will be destroyed. But always—​do not forget this, Winston—​always there will be the intoxication of power, constantly increasing and constantly growing subtler. Always, at every moment, there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless. If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—​for ever.'

On Part Two, Chapter 5, Winston explains the erasing of the past to Julia:

Do you realize that the past, starting from yesterday, has been actually abolished? If it survives anywhere, it’s in a few solid objects with no words attached to them, like that lump of glass there. Already we know almost literally nothing about the Revolution and the years before the Revolution. Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book has been rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street and building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And that process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right. I know, of course, that the past is falsified, but it would never be possible for me to prove it, even when I did the falsification myself. After the thing is done, no evidence ever remains. The only evidence is inside my own mind, and I don’t know with any certainty that any other human being shares my memories.

See also:

With the advent of the Internet and Wayback Machine (web.archive.org, 网站时光机), this has become a bit harder though :-)

There is also a decent movie made released in the year, you guessed, 1984: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four_(1984_film) starring John Hurt.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=flhggnpCeHw Gravity scene from the 1984 movie.

Related:

24.1.1. Law of Gravity passage from Nineteen Eighty-Four (《十九八十四》中的万有引力段落)

On Part Three, Chapter 4, The Law of Gravity quote perfectly illustrates the Chinese Communist Party (CCP, 中国共产党, 1949-, Cult of Mao/Xi, 毛习邪教, 10.000 year Reich)'s approach to lying:

Anything could be true. The so-called laws of Nature were nonsense. The law of gravity was nonsense. 'If I wished,' O’Brien had said, 'I could float off this floor like a soap bubble.' Winston worked it out. 'If he THINKS he floats off the floor, and if I simultaneously THINK I see him do it, then the thing happens.' Suddenly, like a lump of submerged wreckage breaking the surface of water, the thought burst into his mind: 'It doesn’t really happen. We imagine it. It is hallucination.' He pushed the thought under instantly. The fallacy was obvious. It presupposed that somewhere or other, outside oneself, there was a 'real' world where 'real' things happened. But how could there be such a world? What knowledge have we of anything, save through our own minds? All happenings are in the mind. Whatever happens in all minds, truly happens.

24.3. Brave New World books passage (美丽新世界的书籍段落, 1932)

This amazing passage from from Chapter 17 is a good example of Different levels of truth (Orange Papers, 不同层次的真相, 橙色文件):

The Controller, meanwhile, had crossed to the other side of the room and was unlocking a large safe set into the wall between the bookshelves. The heavy door swung open. Rummaging in the darkness within, "It’s a subject," he said, "that has always had a great interest for me." He pulled out a thick black volume. "You’ve never read this, for example."

The Savage took it. "The Holy Bible, containing the Old and New Testaments" he read aloud from the title-page.

"Nor this." It was a small book and had lost its cover.

"The Imitation of Christ"

"Nor this." He handed out another volume.

"The Varieties of Religious Experience. By William James."

"And I’ve got plenty more," Mustapha Mond continued, resuming his seat. "A whole collection of pornographic old books. God in the safe and Ford on the shelves." He pointed with a laugh to his avowed library to the shelves of books, the rack full of reading-machine bobbins and soundtrack rolls.

"But if you know about God, why don’t you tell them?"

24.4. Classical Chinese Books

Interesting websites:

24.4.1. Water Margin (水浒传)

We should make a montage with some Chinese dissidents (中国持不同政见者) side by side with Water Margin characters. The analogy is just so strong!

The slogan would be 现代好汉,替天行道:向持不同政见者水浒传的致敬 (Modern day Heroes: Water Margin Homage to the dissidents)

For the image:

Some others that could be used in the future:

https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/266089281 contains all images of some version, but not the 1998 series outro.

Chapter 65:

Because the emperor has been deluded and permits corrupt officials to hold power and harm the people, they have all volunteered to help me act on Heaven’s behalf.

Chapter 71: Song Jiang takes power at Liang Shan.

Chapter 81:

Song Jiang and his band have Act in Heaven’s Behalf written on their banner. They never attack a government seat or harm the people. They kill only corrupt and slanderous officials.

Couldn’t find any perfect one, so I just wrote my own unfortunately:

当贪官当权时
英雄沦为土匪

替天行道

新的水浒传

When corrupt Officials take power,
the heroes must become bandits.

Doing Heaven’s Will

The New Water Margin

Water Margin tribute to dissidents
Figure 222. Montage of Chinese dissidents (中国持不同政见者) intermixed with Water Margin (水浒传) characters.

25. Chinese Communist Party (CCP, 中国共产党, 1949-, Cult of Mao/Xi, 毛习邪教, 10.000 year Reich)

The CCP is a cult: CCP cult (中共邪教).

25.1. CCP organization (中共组织)

25.2. CCP symbol (中共标志)

In other sections:

25.2.1. Chinese National Anthem (义勇军进行曲, 1978)

Because this is a revolutionary song, it contains great protest reusability, e.g. as seen in: 2022-04 https://www.voanews.com/a/china-censors-national-anthem-lyrics-used-as-lockdown-protest-/6539716.html China Censors Chinese National Anthem (义勇军进行曲, 1978) Lyrics Used as Lockdown Protest in the April 2022 Shanghai lockdown on Voice of america (VOA, 美国之音, USA government media), in which the very first verse was censored! 起来!不愿做奴隶的人们! (Stand up! Those who refuse to be slaves!)

Rise up! Those who refuse to be slaves!
With our flesh and blood, let’s build our newest Great Wall!
The Chinese Nation is at its greatest peril,
Each one is forced to let out one last roar.
Stand up! Stand up! Stand up!
We are billions of one heart,
Braving the enemies' fire, March on!
Braving the enemies' fire, March on!
March on! March on! On!

起来!不愿做奴隶的人们!
把我们的血肉,筑成我们新的长城!
中华民族到了最危险的时候,
每个人被迫着发出最后的吼声。
起来!起来!起来!
我们万众一心,
冒着敌人的炮火,前进
冒着敌人的炮火,前进!
前进!前进!进!

In other sections:

It is funny to note how completely Western and boring the music anthem is! Just another boring march. The opening verse has obviously way too few characters. They didn’t bother to add anything from Chinese traditional music. This just makes it so clear how The CCP exaggerates the threat of the West to keep in power (中共夸大了西方要继续掌权的威胁) is just completely superficial. Do other non-Western countries do better?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlKbg-1_7Bk Chinese National Anthem by Charlie Cook (2017) This crazy dude plays several tunes on trumpet on one hand, while using a handgun for the beat on the other hand.

25.2.2. Flag desecration (亵渎旗帜)

Fuck all countries, long live humanity.

Examples:

To be fair, also done/almost done in the West. Idiots:

Other examples:

China flag NMSL
Figure 224. Chinese flag with small stars replaced by letters NMSL (你妈死了, you mother died), a common Internet prophanity slang. Source. Original source likely impossible to determine.

25.3. Chinese state data leaks

25.3.2. CCP Shanghai member data leak (中共上海党员名单泄露, 2020)

Public news: 2020-12-13. Date of extraction: 2016.

After authenticating the material, with the help of data security analysts Internet 2.0, IPAC passed the database to four media organisations around the world, including The Mail on Sunday.

Security sources believe the initial data leak came from a dissident who targeted an outwardly unremarkable office block in Shanghai which housed the records.

Despite the near certainty of being executed for treason if caught, he or she probably accessed it via a server before downloading it on to a laptop and releasing it on Telegram where it was found by IPAC.

The database was originally leaked on Telegram, the encrypted instant messaging app, and passed in September by a Chinese dissident to the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), which comprises more than 150 legislators around the world who are concerned by the influence and activities of the Chinese government.

Ms Markson [a journalist from The Daily Telegraph] said the data was extracted from a Shanghai server by Chinese dissidents, whistleblowers, in April 2016, who have been using it for counter-intelligence purposes.

This had likely been mentioned by The Epoch Times (明慧网, Falun Gong media) on 2020-08-19 with a half censored and out of focus Microfot Excel screenshot: https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/20/8/18/n12340991.htm translation:

On the same day, the news that the personal information of 1.95 million party members in Shanghai had been leaked was suddenly widely discussed in major overseas forums. Many comments pointed out that the relevant list appeared to be authentic.

Epoch Times reporters downloaded two Excel files containing information about CCP members of Shanghai governments, institutions, and enterprises according to the relevant links.

This list appeared on the Internet as early as a month ago. On July 21, a person named "Chief Referee" (总裁判) broke the news on Overseas Chinese Network (海外中文网爆料) that "the register of all party members in Shanghai was leaked."

  • 上海市黃俄黨黨員信息集合第一部分.xlsx

  • 上海市黃俄黨黨員信息集合第二部分.xlsx

  • SHA384 (上海市黃俄黨黨員信息集合第一部分.xlsx) = cb4108956d74f46ef39a5ae0e7039e365e79a1c45d44a0e589fb5b5272b0c8a760a3440f0551f233dba9a07d28589062

  • SHA384 (上海市黃俄黨黨員信息集合第二部分.xlsx) = 9bf5c1b42177993a0aa05c193ba28e8a08e69b965d8d5f6f04111f5a3f9aa05fca7818d7459a5605515b55de7aca7763

An upload was apparently available at: https://gitlab.com/shanghai-ccp-member-db/shanghai-ccp-member-db but it got nuked soon after 2020-12-13 brought more visibility to it.

26. Policies (政策)

26.1. Censorship (审查)

Related:

A fundamental quote by Blaise Pascal (布莱兹·帕斯卡) from his Lettres provinciales (1656-1657):

The war in which violence endeavours to crush truth is a strange and a long one.

All the efforts of violence cannot weaken truth, but only serve to exalt it the more.

The light of truth can do nothing to arrest violence; nay, it serves to provoke it still more.

When force opposes force, the more powerful destroys the less; when words are opposed to words, those which are true and convincing destroy and scatter those which are vain and false; but violence and truth can do nothing against each other.

Yet, let no one imagine that things are equal between them; for there is this final difference, that the course of violence is limited by the ordinance of God, who directs its workings to the glory of the truth, which it attacks; whereas truth subsists eternally, and triumphs finally over its enemies, because it is eternal, and powerful, like God Himself.

Eric Drooker censorship
Figure 225. Eric Drooker's "Censorship" (TODO year) has become one of the most recognizable censorship symbols as of 2020. Source.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vpPqYYyUdU Inside a Chinese internet censorship centre by South China Morning Post (SCMP, 南华早报) (2019) Interview with Zhi Heng from the censorship department of the live streaming company Inke (映客), "China’s largest live-streaming app" at the time according to SCMP. company website. Heng proudly shows how they use machine learning to help their censoring efforts, and how the managed to block live streaming based on GPS location around a manifestation once. Pure gold. That company has close CCP ties as can be seen on China Daily (中国日报, CCP media) https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/business/tech/2017-02/17/content_28239744.htm "Inke hires 1000 supervisors to clean up live-streaming content" (2017).

26.1.1. Internal censorship is necessary to prevent fake USA accounts from creating harmful propaganda (内部审查是必要的,以防止虚假的美国账户制造有害宣传)

The USA cannot create enough fake accounts to overwhelm real 1.5 billion Chinese accounts, especially considering things like forcing mobile number account verification.

Chinese politicians are just using this fear as an excuse to stay in power: The CCP exaggerates the threat of the West to keep in power (中共夸大了西方要继续掌权的威胁).

What if a Chinese person who really loves China and wants to improve the country disagrees with the Government?

What if this person is right, and wants to express this publicly to get support and make change happen?

Should this person just be put into jail as is done currently? Do you really think that the CCP can never do anything seriously wrong? Chinese politicians really care about the Chinese citizens (中国政客真正关心中国公民)?

When citizens stop trying to contribute due to fear, this is known as the Chilling effect (寒蝉效应).

What if a politician does something bad, and suppresses the news to protect themselves?

Without freedom of speech, who will watch over the actions of those in power? Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

I hear always the admonishment of my friends:

"Bolt her in, constrain her!"

But who will guard the guardians? The wife plans ahead and begins with them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SymuEg6NRp0 Scene from The Man in the High Castle S04E06 in which the devoted young Thomas Smith hands himself in to be killed by the Nazis whom he worships after discovering that he has a disease, which is not acceptable in Nazi America.

The famous Heinrich Heine (German but from the 19th century, before the Nazis) saying also comes to mind:

Where they have burned books, they will end in burning human beings
他们在哪里烧书籍,他们也会烧人

Do you not think that this translates well to the modern version:

Where they have deleted online posts, they will end in deleting human beings.

The Burning of books and burying of scholars (焚书坑儒, 212 BC) also comes to mind.

It is actually easier for the USA to manipulate a dictatorship than a democracy, because then all you have to do is buy/blackmail a few key corrupt politicians instead of manipulating millions of people’s feeds.

Frog in well
Figure 226. Internal censorship is so strong, that many Chinese people who leave China to live abroad continue to believe that the CCP is always right, despite having access evidence that suggests otherwise. This Rebel Pepper (变态辣椒, RFA cartoonist) 2019-08 cartoon shows frogs coming out of a big well still remain inside their own small wells made up of Chinese media such as Zhihu and CCTV. It is a reference to the Chinese proverb 井底之蛙 which means that a frog in the bottom of the well can only see a very limited portion of the sky. Source.
Nazi book burning
Figure 227. Nazis burning books in Berlin in 1933. Source.
Falun Gong road roller book destruction
Figure 228. Falun Gong (法轮功, Qigong new religion/cult) books being destroyed with a road roller (压路机) in 1999 in China. This appears to be an extremely low quality image fromte early Internet. https://youtu.be/v7cz4Tkbwy8?t=2226 contains a 1 second cut of a video very likely taken at the same event, as the roller and background building look identical, and preceeded by another presumed book destruction where hundreds of blue books (presumably Falun Gong) are dumped into some kind type of destruction device. Both have Chinese watermarkrs, TODO identify. How far away do you think mass jailings and torture would be? One wonders why they didn’t burn the books though. Source.
Nazi book burning vs Falun Gong book destruction
Figure 229. Side-by-side comparison between Nazi book burning, and Falun Gong (法轮功, Qigong new religion/cult) book destruction with the simplified Heinrich Heine quote: "Where they burn books, they will also burn people".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHCmiWaHUCw The Burning of the Books 10 May 1933 by British Pathé. Shows some good footage of book being burnt at night, followed by a Goebles speech at the same site. TODO subtitles, YouTube’s auto-generation and translation is reasonable.

26.1.2. China has more freedom of speech than the USA! (中国比美国有更多的言论自由!)

When you hear that online, it really makes you wonder if those people believe it or are paid to say it.

Luckily, this is easy to verify: just create an online account on a Chinese website, and start posting about censored political subjects, and wait for your account to get banned.

Then create an account on an American website, and start posting about censored political subjects. The first good question is: what will you post about since no political subject is censored?

Here is one concrete and well documented example: Ciro Santilli’s Zhihu purge 2019-11-03 (三西猴被知乎抹去).

Another option is to point them to the political report categories of the CAC report website (12321.cn, 12377.cn, 12339, 中央网信办举报网站).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1HdCIW2Xtk 2016-10-18 BBC reporter stopped from visiting China local election independent candidate Liu Huizhen (刘惠珍) by local thugs who block him physically from nocking the door. Funny/scary stuff. The BBC returned a few days later when the thugs weren’t there: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eroTCMRn2yQ. Accompaging article: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-37997706 "China elections: Independent candidates fight for the ballot".
26.1.2.1. What happens if you wear a T-shirt with censored words in China? (如果你在中国穿一件带有审查词的 T 恤会怎样?)

Some cases where that didn’t end well for them:

Related:

  • 2000 https://en.minghui.org/emh/articles/2000/11/8/6250.html Autralian Zhang Cuiying (张翠英) went to China to protest against Falun Gong oppression and was kept 8 months in jail there. When she returned to Australia on 2000-11-04, she wore a t-shirt saying:

    为了一句公道话,
    法轮大法是正法,
    为此坐牢八个月,
    历经艰险讨公道,
    头可断,血可流,
    浩气丹心留狱中,
    中国镇压法轮功,
    将成为千古罪人。

    translated as:

    Because of the truth I said
    Falun Dafa is righteous
    I was imprisoned for 8 months
    I went through the hardship just to attain the justice
    I am not afraid of bleeding or other sacrifice
    My righteous mind was shown in the prison
    China suppresses Falun Gong
    Which is unforgivable

Quan Ping tshirt
Figure 230. In 2016 activist Quan Ping (Kwon Pyong, 权平, BraveJohnny) was sent to jail for wearing a Xitler/習包子/大撒币 t-shirt in public and posting selfies online. This photo is in front of a Government building (TODO exact location, reports say he is from Jilin City (吉林市) in Jilin (吉林) transcription of the sign on top of building: 诚信立市 工业强市 依法治…​) New York Times coverage. He was later sentenced and served 18 months in prison because of this: https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/profile/kwon-pyong on Front Line Defenders (前线卫士). Source.
Liu Shihui tshirt
Figure 231. In 2009 activist Liu Shihui (刘士辉) was arrested for wearing a t-shirt saying "One-party rule is a disaster" (一党独裁,遍地是灾) in 2009 in Guangzhou. This is a quote from a Xinhua News editorial from the 1940s. On the back was another quote by former president Liu Shaoqi (刘少奇) "The CP [Communist Party] opposes the Kuomintang’s one-party dictatorship, but the CP will not establish a one-party dictatorship". This interesting Zhihu (知乎, censored Quora clone, 审查 Quora 克隆) page has many other similar quotes BTW: https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/59503784 (archive). He was later assaulted, spent 108 days in jail without a trial, and was forcefully sent back to his home town in Inner Mongolia: https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/case/case-history-liu-shihui on Front Line Defenders (前线卫士). Quotes from the Hundred Flowers Campaign 百花齐放 (1956-1957) also come to mind. Source.
Grandma Wong t shirt
Figure 232. Activist Alexandra Wong (王鳳瑤), AKA Grandma Wong (王婆婆) wearing a t-shirt that says in grass script "生於亂世,有種責任" (Born in troubled times, have the courage to do your duty) circa 2018 in Hong Kong (香港). The transcription can be found here. Her scarf reads 光復香港 (Liberate Hong Kong), the first part of Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times (光復香港,時代革命), and is presumably the same that she was wearing in 2018 during the trial of activist Edward Leung (梁天琦) for which she was fined HK$1,000 for contempt of court. https://evchk.wikia.org/zh/wiki/生於亂世有種責任 mentions that the t-shirt sentence is a 2014 Hong Kong protests (Umbrella movement, 雨伞运动占领区) protest slogan. She disappeared from August 2019 to October 2020 for Picking quarrels and provoking trouble (寻衅滋事罪). Source.

26.1.3. Great Firewall (GFW, 防火长城)

Golden Shield Project:

And so, the spirit of Internet freedom that the Chinese themselves had at the start, was crushed:

越过长城
走向世界

Across the Great Wall, we can reach every corner in the world.

https://gist.github.com/yefuchs/4648713 "GFW Contributers" has a list of people that contributed to the GFW.

Source: the first International email sent from China in 1987 by Wang Yunfeng (王运丰) in the Beijing-based Institute for Computer Application (ICA) of the China Ordnance Industry Corporation under the Ministry of Machinery and Electronics of the People’s Republic of China (中华人民共和国机械电子工业部) to Werner Zorn from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology see also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_in_China.

终有一天,墙会倒塌。 然后我们会看到彼此的真实面目。
One day, the wall will fall. And then we will see one another for what we really are.

26.1.3.1. To be walled off (被墙)
26.1.3.2. Would ending the Great Firewall truly end the dictatorship? (结束防火墙真的会结束独裁吗?)

Not 100% sure.

In Russia (俄罗斯), for example, the Internet is relatively free, but the government controls most professional media, which is what most people end up seeing, by suing dissidents media out of business.

But on the other hand Russia is already much freer than China.

Although I don’t like them, I can’t deny one thing: the commies are smart, and when they do something (e.g. censorship), it tends to keep them in power.

26.1.3.3. The Great Firewall is necessary to protect China from harmful USA propaganda and data collection (防火墙对于保护中国免受美国有害的宣传和数据收集是必要的)
  • without censorship, you would be much richer and stronger, and more able to defend yourselves

  • why does China also censor its own people in addition to foreign propaganda?

  • maybe this fear is greatly emphasized by the Chinese government beyond truth just to help them keep control of the country by fear and maintain their own power. Can the Americans really have that much influence in your country? The CCP exaggerates the threat of the West to keep in power (中共夸大了西方要继续掌权的威胁)

  • maybe the regions that want to split from China feel like China is not giving them anything back, and they are themselves looking for allies outside of China to help them split. With democracy, people are more likely to get what they want, and there will be split parties and votes.

  • the same argument can be used to justify any action, no matter how bad. E.g.: we must put all who criticize the government in jail, or else they will make China less united and weaker against the USA!

Deng Xiaoping (邓小平, 1982-1987) notably had this ideology, even though he explicitly recognizes that there are also benefits to not having online censorship:

打开窗户,新鲜空气和苍蝇就会一起进来。

which translates as:

If you open the window, both fresh air and flies will enter.

26.1.3.3.1. Google China (谷歌中国)
Google funeral
Figure 233. Faithful Google China users/employees made a funeral-like flower tribute on the company’s entry sign in Beijing Tsinghua Science Park when the company was kicked/hacked out of China in the 2010 Operation Aurora (极光行动). This was one example of the unfair joint venture technique imposed on foreign companies by China. Source.
26.1.3.4. Jingjing and Chacha (警警察察)

Friendly looking mascots of Internet Censorship in China created by the Shenzhen Government in 2006.

https://youtu.be/ZB8ODpw_om8?t=583 "Roger Dingledine - The Tor Censorship Arms Race The Next Chapter - DEF CON 27 Conference" mentions that choosing friendly looking mascots for internet censorship is a comon practice in several dictatorships, so to suggest that they are just protecting citizens, These show the cute UAE censorship page for example:

The images were removed from Wikipedia presumably due to fair use concerns, so Ciro asked how to check that at: https://webapps.stackexchange.com/questions/137977/how-to-check-why-a-fair-use-image-was-removed-from-wikipedia After understanding the case, Ciro reuploaded the images, hopefully for good.

Jingjing
Figure 234. Jinjing (警警) is the male cop. Source.
Chacha
Figure 235. Chacha (警警) is the female cop. Source.
Jingjing Chacha street
Figure 236. Jingjing and Chacha picture shown on the street, presumably in China. Source.
Jingjing Chacha Shenzhen police
Figure 237. Image with Jingjing and Chacha together and explanations (深圳网络警察,Shenzhen Network Police), good for copy pasting. TODO a bit small. Source..
Jingjing Chacha Beijing
Figure 238. Beijing version of the Shenzhen-created Jingjing and Chacha. TODO what does it say on the images? On car "XX网络110" (XX Internet 110) so it must be the phone number of the Internet police department. At bottom right something like (联合新作, joint XX), so likely means it is a joint action between two departments. Source.
Jingjing Chacha angry
Figure 239. Angry Chinese cop cartoons extracted from Encyclopedia Dramatica with the racist subtitles removed. It is hard to be sure what is the original image that they were Photoshopped from, but they are very similar to the Beijing Jingjing and Chacha although this is not a direct copy paste of the above since several details differ. The image was uploaded in 2011 to ED. Source.
Qatar web censorship page
Figure 240. The Qatar friendly censorship page likely from around 2011 sowing that China is not alone in this "cute censorship mascots" technique. Source.
26.1.3.5. Western companies that sell censorship technology to dictatorships

To China:

To other dictatorships:

In 2019, the European Union was considering making stricter laws about cyber surveillance exports, to include more Dual-use technology (军民两用技术), so kudos to them:

Amesys
Figure 241. Cartoon showing how Amesys systems are used to suppress citizens in Egypt. Do you want the logo of your company to figure there instead? Source.
26.1.3.6. Censorship monitoring

Projects that attempt to understand how the Great Firewall works and what it blocks:

It is also worth noting that as mentioned at Is Stack Overflow blocked in China? (Stack Overflow 在中国被封锁了吗?) that websites can become non-functional if CDNs they rely on are taken down, instead of the website being taken down itself.

News:

26.1.3.6.1. Censorship monitoring tools on GitHub
26.1.3.6.2. GreatFire (自由微博)

A group that produces tools and websites against censorship in China, central website: https://greatfire.org/

Backed by Radio Free Asia (RFA, 自由亚洲电台, USA government media) and therefore USA Government.

The GreatFire Analyzer is their most important tool, it checks if websites are blocked or not in China:

Alternatives from other providers:

It also keeps a calendar of previous checks so you can see when a website started getting blocked.

One of the highlighted collections is the Alexa Top 1000 domain block analysis: https://en.greatfire.org/search/alexa-top-1000-domains

Quite a few amazingly named porn ones, how could you live without them? Pornography ban (色情禁令)

And some interesting random stuff that is hard to understand why its blocked, some of them appear to be pure protectionism:

Other tools and projects:

Who is behind them:

26.1.3.6.3. Wayback Machine (web.archive.org, 网站时光机)

Their Wayback Machine tool archive snapshots of webpages and allows youto browse the history of all archives:

By the Internet Archive organization:

But remember that if you archive too many in a very quick succession before the previous ones have been archived, even if manually through that plugin, your account/IP might get blocked, so just give a few seconds for the current archive to terminate before starting new ones.

This happened to Ciro in 2020-06-14, but then he emailed the admins as mentioned at: https://help.archive.org/hc/en-us/articles/360016379432-Accounts-Tips-Troubleshooting- and they re-enabled it.

As of 2021, it annoys Ciro very much that you have to wait for a few minutes for the archived page to become visible. That’s an eternity when you are writting a text and need to link to an archive.

It is also extremelly annoying that they sometimes change image URLs randomly after they’ve become visible. Why is that? E.g. Ciro saw breaks between different timestamps:

and aso betweeen im vs if as in:

so it is just not reliable enough to use generally.

It is possible to request social media pages you own to be removed from the archive in some circumstances: https://webapps.stackexchange.com/questions/143529/is-it-possible-to-request-to-remove-page-snapshots-from-a-personal-social-media

Some website specific techniques:

+

And, yes, of course SPN has a brand new API that you can use to automate a range of Web archiving projects. Please write to us at info@archive.org if you would like to learn more about the API.

+ No publicly documented API? Docs by email only? Ridiculous, you make me laugh.

26.1.3.6.4. archive.today (archive.is)

Like Wayback Machine (web.archive.org, 网站时光机) by unknown shady individuals, so less trustworthy.

Does not care about robots.txt, so it sometimes works where Wayback Machine fails, so its better than nothing when it does. E.g. it is a good option for Quora.

And no, you can’t Wayback Machine archive an archive.is, they blocked the domain.

Has specific LinkedIn handling as it has a logged scrape account, e.g.: https://archive.vn/EPaEH. TODO find account URL.

Also has specific GitHub handling, e.g. as seen at: https://github.com/TinkoffCreditSystems/invest-openapi/issues/278 TODO what for?

Their github account was: https://github.com/volth an archive https://archive.vn/kqftP The account was completely deleted presumaly after GitHub noticed the anti-ToS usage: all their issues created have been deleted, not converted to ghost as happens with account deletion, and non-owners cannot delete their issues, only comments. Since he was such a large NixOS contributor, this was notice by other contributors: https://discourse.nixos.org/t/how-was-this-treewide-pr-performed/11174/15 | https://twitter.com/grhmc/status/1334138105738256389

From the non-trivial contributions, they were a big NixOS contributor, and are clearly fluent Russian:

By cloning NixOS NixOS/nixpkgs we obtain an email, it uses custom domain http://volth.com/ as of 2021-02-04 has a copy of the Google 404: https://web.archive.org/web/20190913083033/http://volth.com/ This is the case since 2013. In 2011 it was some other random company.

Google photo matches exactly this "Masha Rabinovich" https://www.linkedin.com/in/masha-rabinovich-52aa3a197/, or is just some image of a well known person? Account marked as "Bachelor of Engineering" at the Humboldt University of Berlin.

The same photo seems to be used for all fetches: https://archive.vn/IPEEd.

Googling name leads to an YouTube account whose only video is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1bp1VxMwP4 | https://archive.vn/9Xq6w "How to make an archive.is link with selection hashtag", so yes, the relation is almost certain.

https://www.northkoreatech.org/2016/09/21/north-koreas-dns-files-reveal-internet-websites/ has an archive.is related comment by an user of the same name Masha Rabinovich: September 22, 2016 at 17:55 "There are some more websites in .kp: http://archive.is/*.kp"

In 2008 they had some interest in compilers: https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/tinycc-devel/2008-11/msg00015.html The obvious gmail email can be obtained from there. The only hit is in this creepy email list: https://api.intelx.io/file/read?type=1&systemid=989faa9e-46a1-440f-87fa-2a98b616c66d&k=7b256c65-6ebf-4bb8-a301-070bce8dec01

Removing the space leads to more matches:

Wikipedia suggests that the name Masha Rabinovich is likely of Russian Ashkenazi Jewish origin:

so if the LinkedIn information is real, maybe they just went to study in Germany, or their ancestors migrated there.

The name in Cyrillic would be "Маша рабинович", but we couldn’t find any information of interest by searching for that.

26.1.3.6.5. Google Cache

Google caches every indexed page that shows up on the search, you just have to click on the arrow and select "Cache" to see it.

The advantage over Wayback Machine (web.archive.org, 网站时光机) is that Google crawls many more pages than the Wayback Machine.

It is not possible however to see old caches, therefore you have to archive the Google caches with Wayback Machine (web.archive.org, 网站时光机) if you find anything interesting in them to not lose it:

The Google cache also has a text-only mode which is great for more complex webpages like those on Zhihu (知乎, censored Quora clone, 审查 Quora 克隆), which due to JavaScript madness keep showing and disappearing.

26.1.3.6.6. geoscreenshot

Takes screenshots of the websites much like Wayback Machine (web.archive.org, 网站时光机), but you can select the location.

Once the screenshot is made, you can "view the HTML", and that gives an Amazon AWS link, and warns that JavaScript and CSS might/will be disabled. The screenshot does not state what the origin URL/data is, so it cannot be used as a proof. But we can Wayback Machine (web.archive.org, 网站时光机) archive it to make sure it remains visible. E.g.:

The free trial is very limited, and you can’t share the screenshots on a public URL. See also: Censorship monitoring.

26.1.3.6.7. Geo Targetly

Small deatail: it doesn’t work, or it takes forever, either one.

26.1.3.8. gfwlist

Chinese people widely use this website list with browser extensions, so as to only use more expensive and risky Censorship circumvention (翻墙) traffic when accessing certain webpages.

The result is a well maintained list of interesting websites. About half of which is porn.

Get the full list with:

base64 -d gfwlist.txt

See also:

26.1.3.9. Censorship circumvention (翻墙)

Lists:

It is interesting to note how Falun Gong (法轮功, Qigong new religion/cult) is a good source of censorship-circumvention material, see e.g.: GitHub gov-takedowns (由其各自政府在某个国家审查的仓库的GitHub官方列表).

Projects:

More info:

26.1.3.9.4. TLS 1.3 ECH

This amazing standardized feature encrypts the domain as well as the URL.

This means that censors are unable to block only certain websites via DNS blocks, which is one of the main techniques used. But they can still block by IP, no?

In 2020-08, it was reported that the firewall was already blocking it: https://www.zdnet.com/article/china-is-now-blocking-all-encrypted-https-traffic-using-tls-1-3-and-esni/

Therefore, all the West has to do is to force all of its websites to serve ENSI-only!

26.1.3.9.5. ShadowSocks

TODO vs VPN:

26.1.3.10. ICP license 非经营性网站备案 (2000)

Part of the Internet censorship machine, although it predates the GFW proper.

It can be seen at the bottom of many many many websites, it is likely mandatory to display it.

If you see one of those, you already know that it cannot be trusted for politics.

京 ICP 备 13052560 号 - 1

where "京" indicates that the certificate was issued by the Beijing Provincial level city.

In 2014, almost 15 years later, Russia (俄罗斯) finally caught up, what a relief: Mandatory registration of Russian bloggers (2014).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xH_tiIAk5Q8 Missing typewriter scene from The Lives of Others (2016) (竊聽風暴). The Wikipedia page for Samizdat (Soviet underground propagation of censored materials, 秘密出版物, самиздат) mentions that: "All Soviet-produced typewriters and printing devices were officially registered, with their typographic samples collected right at the factory and stored in the government directory." This reminded Ciro of this movie set in East Germany, in which finding a typewriter plays as big role as evidence of authorship of subversive materials. In the movie, the typewriter was not present under the floor boards as had been informed by the Leading Lady who betrayed her lover, the Leading Man, under duress. The typewriter had been previously secretly removed by a disgruntled intelligence officer who turns against the censorship and surveillance system in the middle of the film. The disgruntled officer is then fired/has his career stalled by his colleagues, who suspect him but have no direct evidence, and the Leading Man, after investigating how the machine could have disappeared, eventually discovers the identify of the officer, but ends up not meeting him, as he would not know what to say. Just another story of the horrors of the surveillance state.
26.1.3.10.1. Social media license

Ahh, this is a perfect excuse to delete all Wumao (五毛) comments!

  • 2021-02-20 https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/4129352 "Beginning next week, the Cyberspace Administration of China will require bloggers and influencers to have a government-approved credential before they can publish on a wide range of subjects. Some fear that only state media and official propaganda accounts will get permission. While permits have been needed since at least 2017 to write about topics such as political and military affairs, enforcement has not been widespread. The new rules expand that requirement to health, economics, education and judicial matters."

26.1.3.11. Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC, 国家互联网信息办公室, 中央网信办)

This is where the Internet censors work.

26.1.3.11.1. CAC report website (12321.cn, 12377.cn, 12339, 中央网信办举报网站)

These are official Chinese government websites that can be used to report cybercrime, including fraud and identity theft, but also political thoughcrime:

Reports such as https://www.theage.com.au/world/asia/china-exporting-ccp-speech-controls-to-australia-as-second-university-caught-in-row-20200805-p55irf.html highlighted that these websites has a "report harmful or garbage information" entry, which can notably be used by Chinese expats to report people who badmouth the CCP, and in particular other Chinese nationals.

Typing "国家互联网信息办公室" on Google autocompleted to "国家互联网信息办公室举报" (举报 == report), and finds http://www.cac.gov.cn/hdzx/jbzx/A091102index_1.htm.

This is clearly an official government website due to the gov.cn URL, and it also has an ICP license 非经营性网站备案 (2000).

One of the categories of report on that page is: "网络不良与垃圾信息举报受理中心" (center for reporting harmful or garbage information, archive).

Notably, there is one separate entry for illegal activity as well (网络违法犯罪举报网站) and another one for pornography (中国扫黄打非网), so it is interesting to see that there is one specifically for "misinformation".

The harmful information page redirects to: https://www.12321.cn/ (archive) which has further categories.

The "report website" (举报不良网站) category links to https://www.12321.cn/web (archive) and then has a "reactonary and politically sensitive" (反动政治敏感) checkbox.

After you submit, it leads you to: https://www.12321.cn/suc (archive) in which you can optionally provide further contact details: https://www.12321.cn/reg. This appears to be no link with the previous page, so they might just do it via IP. Registration requires both a cell phone and an email.

From the website source code (very simple, hand written, we see that it uses Baidu Analytics. The CCP obviously trusts Baidu a lot :-)

On 2020-09-07, cirosantilli.com/china-dictatorship's Google Analytics had a hit coming from http://jbcz.12377.cn/report/center/web.index ("This site can’t be reached" on Chrome). This was soon after Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的) mentioned CAC report website (12321.cn, 12377.cn, 12339, 中央网信办举报网站) at https://github.com/cirosantilli/china-dictatorship/issues/149#issuecomment-688084645. This is presumably the censor’s web UI to review reports. "jb" from jbcz presumably means Ju Bao (举报), the CZ Ciro couldn’t guess. Other hits:

The toplevel http://12377.cn (archive) is entitled "中央网信办(国家互联网信息办公室)违法和不良信息举报中心" and is another report website. It is also linked to from http://www.cac.gov.cn/hdzx/jbzx/A091102index_1.htm under different categories, so it is also official.

The first category in that page is "政治类" (political category). From there we have some awesome information.

First it links to the report guidelines (举报指南) https://www.12377.cn/jbzn.html?tab=4 (archive)

涉攻击党和国家制度及重大方针政策,攻击"two safeguards,两个维护",危害国家安全、泄露国家秘密,破坏国家统一和领土完整,损害国家形象荣誉利益,破坏国家民族宗教政策、宣扬邪教,诋毁英雄烈士等内容的互联网违法和不良信息,请在此举报。

which states:

Involved in attacking the party and state system and major policies, attacking the "two safeguards", endangering national security, leaking state secrets, undermining national unity and territorial integrity, damaging national image, honor and interests, undermining national and religious policies, promoting cults, and vilifying heroes. Please report illegal and harmful information on the Internet of martyrs and other content.

so yes, attacking the party and major policies is illegal in China, big news, right? "Involved in attacking the party and state system and major policies" is then one of the categories in the report page.

Soon after the previous events in 2020-09-08, anaytics got a hit from http://openurls.com.cn/ to https://cirosantilli.com/china-dictatorship. The only function of that website appears to be to open a newline separated list of websites into separate tabs. Maybe a censor bulk quickly having a look at several tasks. It is basically a clone of https://www.openallurls.com/ but with an ICP license 非经营性网站备案 (2000) :-) The 2020-10-14 hit from http://jbcz.12377.cn was followed by another hit from http://openurls.com.cn/, further reinforcing that this is part of their review procedure. 3 more hits on / and /ciro-santilli on 2020-02-22 after pinging a few people on https://github.com/zaohmeing/21- issues. Another hit 2021-03-19 to https://cirosantilli.com, unknown cause

Further hits from https://openurls.com.cn:

Other report websites:

12321 report procedure april 2021
Figure 242. https://www.12321.cn procedure to report political content as of April 2021.
12377 report procedure april 2021
Figure 243. https://www.12377.cn procedure to report political content as of April 2021.
26.1.3.12. It is not possible to block a single page of an HTTPS website (无法阻止 HTTPS 网站的单个页面)

It is not possible for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP, 中国共产党, 1949-, Cult of Mao/Xi, 毛习邪教, 10.000 year Reich) to block only certain pages of websites that use HTTPS.

This is because the connection is encrypted: the CCP can only see which domain the user is accessing, but only the website itself can see which page was requested.

So either they have to block the entire IP/domain name, or nothing.

One way that the CCP works around this is Chinese web browser censorship (中国网页浏览器审查).

Known events:

  • 2020-08: https://techcrunch.com/2020/08/17/notepad-plus-plus-blocked-in-china/ "Text editor Notepad++ banned in China after ‘Stand With Hong Kong' update" where "banned" means "the download page where they keywords are shown is now blocked in Chinese browsers". The rest of the website is still up. So no domain block due to HTTPS, browser only action for now.

26.1.4. Wumao (五毛)

50 Cent Party, 五毛党, Wumao Dang:

They can be classified as a form of information warfare (信息战).

A wise person once said:

It is impossible to distinguish wumaos, idiots and brain washed people. So we just call all of them wumaos.

But of course, the CCP is a cult (and democracy, a religion), and therefore any discussion is also pointless in general.

This leads to endless idiotic conversions of type:

You: Chinese friend, your house is on fire, let’s try to put the fire out!

Wumao: I don’t care, your house is also on fire!

You: that’s true, that fire is also very serious, and I’m trying to put it out!

Wumao: look everyone, his house is on fire! Mine isn’t!

Therefore, it is crucial to have a working algorithmic policy to handle them: How to deal with wumaos (如何应对五毛).

If it is determined that they are knowingly funded by China, they should be put into jail as foreign agents.

There is a tradeoff between privacy rights and snuffing out wumaos, and it is hard to decide where to set the line. But snuffing out wumaos is important, and must be done.

If we were to give up on privacy completely, one possible rule would be: block anyone that lives in China and whose revenue therefore cannot be investigated properly by your government to determine if they are funded by the CCP.

Here are some people completely against blocking wumaos. Those silly Democrats never prepare well enough for war:

五毛,网络流行语,指收钱为某单位在网络上说好话的人

Fifty cents, an internet buzzword, refers to people who collect money for a certain unit to say good things on the Internet

"Good". And not mention of the CCP in the article, of course.

Other names:

Bibliography:

毛 (mao2) is a colloquial form of 角 (jiao3) both meaning "one-tenth". Coins actually use 角. See also:

In other sections:

Wujiao
Figure 244. 50-cent coin (五角) from the fourth series of renminbi (第四套人民币, 1987-1997). This image is going to be very useful. Note the beautiful plum blossom drawings reminiscent of Chinese traditional painting (中国传统绘画) which Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的) loves. Note how it uses 角 (jiao3) instead of 毛 (mao2). Source.
26.1.4.1. Little pink (小粉紅, 小紅粉, 兔友)

Slang name for brainwashed CCP supporters who are not necessarily paid professional wumaos, notably young, idealistic and enthusiastic ones, Little pink explains the difference between the American dream and the Chinese dream contains a prototypical video example.

兔友 (friend of the rabbit) is another variant referring to: That Rabbit (那兔).

Bibliography:

  • 2020-06-29 "小粉红"现象调查 (An investigation of the "Little Pink" phenomenon)

  • 2017 http://www.8bb.com/zaojiao/5264.html "小红粉小粉红是什么 家长发现孩子自称小粉红怎么办" (What is a little pink? If a parent discovers that their children call themselves little pinks, what should they do about it?). Kill them.

Wumao 2011 vs Little Pink 2021
Figure 245. Perceived comparison between Wumao (五毛) and Little pink (小粉紅, 小紅粉, 兔友) suggesting that unpaid Little Pinks are more nationalist and extreme than the paid wumaos, which is not too surprising, considering that they do it for free. A translation is available at: https://www.reddit.com/r/China/comments/ntghfa/a_lot_changed_after_xi_jin_pooh_became_chairman/. https://twitter.com/Inty/status/1376942681956487168[Source].
26.1.4.1.1. That Rabbit (那兔)

Little pinks are often symbolized by a rabbit.

The origin of this appears to be the 2011 webcomic Year Hare Affair (那年那兔那些事, literally "That year, That rabbit, Those events), where different animals represent different countries, and the rabbit represented China.

The little pink rabbit is generally called simply "那兔" (That Rabbit) derived from the Chinese title.

Bibliography:

That Rabbit cute
Figure 246. As of 2020, a particularly popular representation is this cute one wearing a People’s Liberation Army (PLA, 中国人民解放军, 解放军, People’s Oppression Army, 镇压军)-hat and with a red star (红星) on the chest, but in the original cartoon That Rabbit appeared to be more aggressive. Ciro Santilli’s wife (三西猴的老婆) told him that That Rabbit (那兔) reminded her of Mashimaro (流氓兔), a cute Korean cartoon she used to watch when she was small. Source.
26.1.4.2. How to deal with wumaos (如何应对五毛)

Above all, never reply intelligently to wumaos. Ignore all their notifications, and ignore their profile wherever possible. And if they start generating too many notifications, block them.

26.1.4.3. Where to find wumaos (哪里可以找到五毛?)

Wumaos are particularly easy to spot on Western websites banned in China and when written in English, since there is no way that strong pro-CCP opinions would get any support in such circumstances:

  • Quora is completely infested by wumaos as of 2020, see more information on that section

When they write in Chinese, it is much harder to know if they are paid or not, most are just brainwashed, some places to find them:

26.1.4.4. Internet Water Army (网络水军, DDP, 1450)

1450 is a reference to a publicly known budget allocated to them of 14.5 million New Taiwan dollar ($485k as of 2022) in 2019: https://www.quora.com/What-does-Taiwan-1450-mean/answer/Shannon-Fu-5

Chinese wumaos, love to criticize that, e.g. see: https://github.com/cirosantilli/china-dictatorhsip-4/issues/17, it is a very thing funny to see, considering that China’s wumao system must be at least 1000x larger.

26.1.4.5. CCP apologists (中共辩护士)

If it is ever proven that those people are directly supported by the Chinese government, their nationalities should be revoked, it is very simple.

Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的) feels that it is unlikely however that the CCP directly pays those apologists, as that would be too risky for both parties.

Rather, Ciro believes that they are either:

  • saying that the CCP is good to get more views and ad revenue from CCP supporters that want to hear it from a white (most cases)

  • even bigger complete idiots who actually believe China is good (the minority)

Then, when they reach a certain size, the CCP can support them indirectly, notably by featuring them in Chinese government media (中国政府媒体) such as China Global Television Network (CGTN, 中国环球电视网, CCP media), e.g. as happened Nathan Rich (Hotpot King, 火锅大王) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRK1XDlZkng, in order to boost their views and ad revenue.

For this reason, it is very hard to stop them without quenching freedom of expression.

Ciro’s currently recommended approach is the following: if a prominent pro-CCP YouTubber never ever criticized the CCP, and it gets featured in CCP media, treat that channel exactly as you should treat CCP media, which is by adding a notice at the bottom along the lines of:

This account supports the Chinese Government, which is a fucking murderous dictatorship.

followed by a funny meme image that is forbidden in China, e.g. Xi Jinping memes (习近平模因).

It would be amazing if we could demonetize the apologist channels only for views coming from Chinese citizens, and it would be possible without completely destroying privacy by using decentralized ring signatures as mentioned at: https://cirosantilli.com/electronic-voting.

It is also interesting to note that many of them don’t speak a word of Chinese, or very basic Chinese. It is fine when you say "the CCP is great" as a foreigner, but if you say "the CCP is bad", then Non-Chinese people should not interfere in Chinese politics (外国人不应该干预中国政治).

TODO decide:

Non-political (as far as we can tell) channels of interest:

Bibliography:

Discussion/lists: Quora:

Reddit threads:

French Nazi SS poster 1942
Figure 247. Elbow-to-elbow against the common enemy! French division of the Waffen SS (Coude a coude contre l’ennemi commun! Division française de la Waffen SS) 1942 propaganda poster for the French SS division, formally known as 33rd Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS Charlemagne. Mentioned at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJpWB5hi3hQ French SS - Berlin 1945 by Mark Felton Productions (2020). Source.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HGgzK2yVX4 The LAST White Monkey Jobs in China by laowhy86 (2022). An overview of CCP apologists on YouTube.
26.1.4.5.1. Tankie

Adapted from the cold war, this term has been widely used to describe pro-CCP western people, i.e. CCP apologists (中共辩护士), examples:

26.1.4.5.2. Nathan Rich (Hotpot King, 火锅大王)

His vlogging career is inexplicably successful. He has 385,000 subscribers on his channel, a huge amount for someone with so little time and so few videos on the platform.".

https://www.reddit.com/r/China/comments/au8az3/exscientologist_nathan_rich_is_a_convicted_felon/ mentions another interesting very strong circumstantial evidence:

His videos feature perfect Chinese in the subtitles along with Chinese video titles, meaning that he is almost certainly having these videos produced by someone else/and or a group of people. I can guarantee that based on his pronunciation of the few Chinese words he says in the video, his Chinese ability should not be anywhere close to fluent.

Sample videos:

Reception:

2020-06-01 https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3941420 "China propagandist Nathan Rich’s criminal record revealed" contains an outline of Richs criminal records, with including mugshots. Most of this was already likely known, but it gives good detail. In particular, it comments on the fact that in 2013 Beijing started to more strictly do criminal background checks for VISA applicants: https://www.china-briefing.com/news/non-criminal-record-certificate-required-for-employment-license-application-in-beijing/, and that Rich managed to get the VISA two years later nonetheless, notably including a drug trafficking charge.

白https://secure.avaaz.org/community_petitions/en/youtubers_social_commentators_anybody_interested_i_remove_youtube_user_nathan_rich_from_google_services/ characterises him as "左五无毛". While this does not seems like a specific expression, and maybe is not even accurate, learning the meaning of "左五" is of interest:

26.1.4.5.3. Barrett Channel

The Times has found that some of their videos were funded by China Radio International (CRI, 中国国际广播电台, CCP media), a media organisation that has been exposed as the secret owner of an international network of propaganda radio stations.

…​

In November they visited the Shaanxi district of China with several other foreign YouTubers who live in China and make videos supporting the government.

The trip was organised and funded by the Chinese Radio International and an official press release described the visit as "International Internet Celebrities Witnessing the Happiness of Shaanxi People".

In a candid video about the visit that was subsequently removed, Lee admitted that a trip to a mountain was cancelled so they could witness "propaganda" regarding the area’s prosperity.

He said: "It wasn’t until the second day they started talking about cutting the trip short by a day, and there was no real reason given for that." A fellow YouTuber Jayoe Nation said: "They had to fit in more propaganda."

Lee replied: "They didn’t say that, did they, but that’s what happened."

Various videos from the trip show the YouTubers visiting locations in the district including a farm where Oli performed a farcical dance while holding vegetables.

Father and son British expats: Lee Barrett, the father, and Oli Barrett, the son.

100k subs one year after. Don’t speak a word of Chinese it seems, but all videos have full bilingual translation.

Their tone is natural unlike others more exaggerated like Nathan Rich (Hotpot King, 火锅大王), so maybe they believe in the shit they say? Either that, or they are a good fake by the CCP.

Sample videos:

26.1.4.5.4. Daniel Dumbrill

Daniel’s family name is telling: "DUMB rill", so don’t be too hard on him.

Sample content form his channel:

At 2021-03-29 https://pincong.rocks/question/37519 (archive) from Pincong (品葱, uncensored forum) people are saying that they even if the USA is evil, the CCP is more, one commenter quoted Churchill:

If Hitler invaded Hell I would make at least a favourable reference to the Devil in the House of Commons.

26.1.4.5.5. Nigel Ng (ungle-roger, mrnigelng, 罗杰叔叔)

2021-01-12:

Nigel had published a collaboration video called "Uncle Roger Review UGLIEST DUMPLING EVER" with another YouTuber called Mikey Chen, who unknown to Nigel, is a somewhat discreet Falun Gong (法轮功, Qigong new religion/cult) believer (source)

The video then removed solely because of Mikey’s believes expressed elsewhere. The apology on Weibo (新浪微博): https://weibo.com/7231497816/JCQPH5vzK Excerpt:

During the process of working with the content-creator, I wasn’t aware of his political thoughts and his past incorrect remarks about China. This is my negligence, and I will be more careful when I make content in the future.

This is the original video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8N_wKd5UUg4 according to this reaction video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsatmCWeVb8 No archives of the original were made unfortunately.

Nigel had 125k Weibo (新浪微博) followers at that point, and reuploads every YouTube video he posts over there with Chinese subtitles: https://weibo.com/u/7231497816, extremely likely done by paid professionals.

26.1.4.5.6. Raz Gal-Or (高佑思, Ychina, Y-Platform, 歪果仁研究协会)

Israeli, studied at Peking University. Ychina (歪果仁研究协会) is his pro-CCP propaganda organization, based in Beijing.

His father Amir Gal-Or (高哲铭), also Israeli, is a venture capitalist based in China. So that’s the collateral for his son’s media access. Amir is an ex-Israeli Air Force. What a disgrace. Mossad is going to pay those people a visit one day. Supposing they are not already working for Mossad. Here’s the happy family: https://twitter.com/AmirGalOr/status/911491366995103744, father and son entitled "being interviewed by my son in China Central Television (CCTV, 中国中央电视台, 央视, CCP media) headquarters .. a new era .." Here’s his TED talk on how to educate your children to support Hitler v2 do holocaust v2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uk4ztwRvUxs "How to educate the next generation of global communications? | Amir Galor | TEDxYouth@Hangzhou" (2019). The Nazi Jew scene from The Life of Brian comes to mind very strongly.

Media:

Sample posts:

Associates:

26.1.4.5.7. Jerry Goode (诸葛杰瑞)

Sample videos:

26.1.4.5.8. World war ii propaganda (二战宣传)
  • one CIA operative drew up a plan to also have packets of extra-large condoms, labelled only "small" or "medium"

  • the CIA made a propaganda porn film of President Sukarno of Indonesia

26.1.4.5.9. World war 2 radio propaganda (二战电台宣传)

During WW2, lots of pro-Nazi and pro-Alllied radio propaganda was produced and transmitted to the enemy:

Most notable pro-Nazi ones:

Most notable Allied ones:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrT3rILfIzA "Tokyo Rose" - WW2 Traitor or Victim? by Mark Felton Productions (2021) talks about Tokyo Rose (東京玫瑰), alias for several women who broadcast English propaganda for the Japanese, but most notably Iva Toguri D’Aquino. This one was really good, she was cute and made fun of herself, and played music, the Americans actually enjoyed listening to it. Soft power at its best.

26.1.5. Real username law (2015)

And guess which idiotic Western websites requires real usernames and no privacy? Quora and LinkedIn (领英), of course: https://techcrunch.com/2011/02/14/quora-to-oddly-named-users-papers-please/

26.1.5.1. Anonymous accounts ban (2017)

It is interesting to note that anonymous accounts are in theory banned, almost all Chinese people still have anonymous accounts, even little pinks, brecause everyone is always afraid of saying the wrong thing, or of the payback of when the dictatorship falls.

Related:

26.1.6. Journalism (新闻业)

26.1.6.1. Freedom of the press (新闻自由)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIMsALZlvuQ (GitHub reupload) Scene from documentary film In the Same Breath (2021) showing nine Chinese television anchors saying the exact same announcement about Censorship of the 2019 Corona Virus (2019冠状病毒病早期迹象审查), at the exact same pace, with audios superimposed, quoting the Wuhan Police department: "武汉市公安局官方微博发布消息称关于当前武汉市肺炎疫情的情况,《八人散播谣言者被依法查处》" (Eight people were punished for spreading rumors about an unknown pneumonia). Also note how shit English that translation by the documentary is.

武汉市公安局官方微博发布消息称,关于当前武汉市肺炎疫情的情况

26.2. Social Credit System (社会信用体系)

A fundamental problem with this system is highlighted e.g. in the book Human Compatible by Stuart J. Russell (2019): kindness will lose all meaning, and you will never be sure if people like you, or if they are just doing things for the social credit:

There are several problems with [a social credit system]. First, it ignores the psychic cost of living under a system of intrusive monitoring and coercion; outward harmony masking inner misery is hardly an ideal state. Every act of kindness ceases to be an act of kindness and becomes instead an act of personal score maximization and is per ceived as such by the recipient. Or worse, the very concept of a voluntary act of kindness gradually becomes just a fading memory something people used to do. Visiting an ailing friend in hospital will, under such a system, have no more moral significance and emotional of value than stopping at a red light.

Coverage:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dkw15LkZ_Kw China’s "Social Credit System" Has Caused More Than Just Public Shaming (HBO) by VICE News (2018). 328s shows how you can donate money to the party to increase your score. This is not a hidden practice, they were filmed and everyone is showing their faces. What a brilliant idea that could never ever lead to corruption! Ciro’s jaw just dropped. How can the commies not hide this kind of shit from the West, but hide other stuff the West couldn’t care less about?

26.4. Communist Youth League of China (中国共产主义青年团)

Had a membership of 109 million (by the 17th National Congress).

Such state sponsored youth organizations are a hallmark of dictatorships, and serve both as an indoctrination device, and as a selection tool for future politicians:

One may argue that the scouts are a similar organization in the West, but one notable difference is the scale of such dictatorship-led youth organizations.

Related news:

26.7. One-child policy (一孩政策, 1979–2015)

http://ftp.iza.org/dp3214.pdf suggests that a 1% increase in the male/female sex ratio raised violent and property crime rates by some 3%, mentioned with percentage error at https://youtu.be/DytBlcScGNk?t=1304

Scarfolk children the cause of crime
Figure 252. "Children: the cause of crime" spoof poster by Scarfolk Council (2017). Applies perfectly to Xinjiang (新疆) forced abortion accusations. The One-child policy (一孩政策, 1979–2015) also comes to mind. Source.

26.9. Core socialist values (社会主义核心价值观)

A list of 12 values the CCP claims to support, some of which are ridiculously and obviously the opposite, notably democracy and freedom.

Related:

We made a single image mocking all of them at: core socialist values collage:

TODO improve:

  • 法治 Rule of law

  • 文明 Civility

  • 公正 Justice

  • 平等 Equality

Core socialist values near Jianguomen metro station 2021
Figure 253. Core socialist values displayed on street near Jiaguomen metro station (建国门站) in Beijing on July 2021, with the most ridiculously fake ones highlighted by Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的). Source.
Core socialist values
Figure 254. Collage mocking each of the core socialist values by Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的). Image sources given at: Core socialist values (社会主义核心价值观). Composition license: CC BY-SA 4.0 2021, most individual images are only fair use however.
Core socialist values by 1V9ex
Figure 255. Collage mocking each of the core socialist values by Twitter user 1V9ex (维尼十九号机.8964Ver). Source.

TODO understand each image of the above:

26.9.2. Rule of law (法治)

The commies keep saying over and over that rule of law is always observed.

Of course, some times shitty laws are passed, and we must fight those as well: Falun Gong is illegal in China, we must follow the law (法轮功在中国是非法的,我们必须遵守法律).

But many times, the commies don’t even bother setting up a bad law, they just fuck a million people and that’s it.

But in reality they punish anyone who poses a political threat, even if they did nothing wrong themselves, some cases that come to mind:

Notably, they punish people for their general beliefs rather than specific actions:

Qelbinur Sedik call with cop
Figure 256. On 2021-03-31, a uniformed Chinese cop called Qelbinur Sedik, who was a teacher in the Xinjiang "re-education" camps (新疆再教育營, 2017-) who fled China and spoke to the media what she saw, to menace her through her sister, who is still in China. When he noticed that she had taken a screenshot due to a screenshot sound, he immediately took off the uniform. Source.
Scarfolk whatever you do dont
Figure 257. "Whatever you do, don’t" spoof poster by Scarfolk Council (2013). This applies perfectly to Stack Overflow mods refuse to clarify if anti-CCP imagery is allowed or not (2021) Was actually given in the answer by Journeyman Geek’s answer, and was the first time Ciro saw Scarfolk. so kudos for that. Source.

26.10. 709 crackdown (2015, 中國709維權律師大抓捕事件)

Hundreds of human rights activists put into jail in quick succession. Short forms:

  • 709大抓捕

  • 710律师劫

709 refers to the date when the arrests started: 09 July 2015. There were about 200 arrests.

It is impossible to have Rule of law (法治) when the lawyers for certain causes always go to jail.

News coverage:

709 lawyers
Figure 258. Baidiucao (巴丢草) cartoon of about 40 of the arrested lawyers. TODO full name list. Source.
709 lawyers
Figure 259. Wu Gan (吴淦) is a human rights activist detained in 2015 around the 709 crackdown, and sentenced in 2017 for 8 years for Inciting subversion of state power (煽动颠覆国家政权罪). In this image from 2013 he is stating a protest on the streets. By complete "accident", he had spinal injury while he was detained before trial.
I need to talk to a human rights lawyer
Figure 260. "I need to talk to a human rights lawyer. Well, you’ve come to the right place." by Harry Harrison (2015), presumably referring to 709 crackdown (2015, 中國709維權律師大抓捕事件). Source.
Scarfolk win your human rights
Figure 261. "Win your human rights" spoof poster by Scarfolk Council (2016). Source.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1ixo2TyamI Secretly imprisoned human rights lawyers by Xu Lin (徐琳) (2017, 秘密关押的人权律师). A tribute to 709 crackdown (2015, 中國709維權律師大抓捕事件).

26.11. Crime and punishment (犯罪与惩罚)

26.11.2. Picking quarrels and provoking trouble (寻衅滋事罪)

26.11.2.3. Politically sensitive (政治敏感)

That’s how the censors refer to stuff censored for political reasons, e.g.:

See also:

Typing that on Google also suggested "People also searched for: 网络审查利弊" (What are the pros and cons of censorship?) Priceless. Bomb at: https://github.com/cirosantilli/china-dictatorship/issues/150. Dictatorships have greater development variability (专政具有更大的发展可变性) comes to mind.

26.11.2.4. Residential Surveillance at a Designated Location (指定居所监视居住, RSDL)

More accurately: in prison at a secret location, and without the rights to see who you wish, not even a lawyer.

26.11.3. Police invite to drink tea (被请喝茶)

27. Chinese companies (中国公司)

27.1. Zoom

American company, with Chinese-born now American Citizen CEO Eric Yuan (袁征), migrated to the US around 1997), and development teams largely China-based to reduce costs.

News:

Zoom Boris
Figure 262. 2020-03-27 photo showing UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson using Zoom on a Cabinet meeting (a high level Government meeting) during Censorship of the 2019 Corona Virus (2019冠状病毒病早期迹象审查). If you don’t properly ban risky dictatorship-linked software, it will get used at the highest levels of Government by clueless people. Source.

27.2. Huawei (华为, Chinese Qualcomm)

Just look at the Chinese name of the company:

  • 华 (China)

  • 为 (to do something for)

How can the West not see this?

No proof is needed. They belong to a Why does Ciro Santilli say that China is a dictatorship? (中国不是独裁!), and therefore must not be trusted. Doing so is always a risk which we should not take.

Also have a look at their Wikipedia page:

Ren sought to reverse engineer foreign technologies with local researchers. At a time when all of China’s telecommunications technology was imported from abroad, Ren hoped to build a domestic Chinese telecommunication company that could compete with, and ultimately replace, foreign competitors.

During its first several years the company’s business model consisted mainly of reselling private branch exchange (PBX) switches imported from Hong Kong. Meanwhile, it was reverse-engineering imported switches and investing heavily in research and development to manufacture its own technologies. By 1990 the company had approximately 600 R&D staff and began its own independent commercialization of PBX switches targeting hotels and small enterprises.

The company’s first major breakthrough came in 1993 when it launched its C&C08 program controlled telephone switch. It was by far the most powerful switch available in China at the time. By initially deploying in small cities and rural areas and placing emphasis on service and customizability, the company gained market share and made its way into the mainstream market.

Huawei also won a key contract to build the first national telecommunications network for the People’s Liberation Army, a deal one employee described as "small in terms of our overall business, but large in terms of our relationships". In 1994, founder Ren Zhengfei had a meeting with Party general secretary Jiang Zemin, telling him that "switching equipment technology was related to national security, and that a nation that did not have its own switching equipment was like one that lacked its own military." Jiang reportedly agreed with this assessment.

Another major turning point for the company came in 1996 when the government in Beijing adopted an explicit policy of supporting domestic telecommunications manufacturers and restricting access to foreign competitors. Huawei was promoted by both the government and the military as a national champion, and established new research and development offices.

At any point the Chinese government could make a request that they cannot deny.

List of bad things Huawei has done: https://github.com/evil-huawei/evil-huawei Mostly not political.

List of Huawei joke:s https://github.com/HuaweiJoke/Huawei-Joke "This project is collecting jokes about Huawei company that are deleted due to censorship. You are welcome to contribute."

Some news:

When you send a good joke from your Huawei phone
Figure 263. When you send a good joke from your Huawei phone (你用你的华为手机发个好笑话的时候), Xi Jinping (习近平, 2012-∞, Heil卐!) is also listening and laughing with you, girls. Source, shitty Chinese translation by Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的).
Huawei why does the whole world hate me
Figure 264. Rebel Pepper (变态辣椒, RFA cartoonist) 2018-12-10 "Why does the whole world hate me" Huawei cartoon, where Huawei’s shadow shows the hammer and sickle to suggest that Huawei is controlled by the CCP. Source.
Huawei Statue of Liberty
Figure 265. Rebel Pepper (变态辣椒, RFA cartoonist) 2019-03-08 showing Huawei slapping the Statue of Liberty with "The Constitution of the United States" when Huawei sued the US Government for violating the Constitution when it banned government agencies from buying Huawei equipment. This illustrates the usual dilemma where China uses Western freedom of speech as a weapon against the West itself. Source.
China USB theft
Figure 266. Cartoon showing a huge China flag branded USB sucking up Western personal and military information like a vacuum cleaner in 2019-04-29 article entitled "Britain will regret doing business with Huawei". TODO cartoon author. Source.
Huawei 5G Trojan
Figure 267. Cartoon suggesting that Huawei’s 5G is a like a Trojan Horse being gifted to Europe. TODO: source of original non-China generic Trojan Horse background image that was edited and repurposed. Source.
Huawei 5G my precious
Figure 268. Rebel Pepper (变态辣椒, RFA cartoonist) 2019-06-22 cartoon depicting Germany, Hungary and the United Kingdom as Gollums from The Lord of The Rings and China as Sauron offering a ring which reads "5G to rule them" and "Huawei" to the Gollums who are eager to obtain it. This is a reference to The Lord of the Rings backstory in which Sauron bribed and controlled the rulers of the world by giving them rings of power. Now that Ciro thinks about it, maybe this was actually Tolkien making a reference to the political situation of his time. Source.

27.3. TikTok (Douyin, 抖音)

News:

Reports:

Douyin does not seem to have a web interface: https://www.zhihu.com/question/269102675 "有没有抖音网页版或者抖音电脑版?"

27.4. Baidu (百度, Chinese Google)

The "Google of China":

27.4.2. Sohu (搜狐, smaller Chinese Google)

Literal name translation: "search fox". The English name and domain name are not in proper pinyin, the proper pinyin is souhu.

But since there is no "so" syllable in pinyin, and the sound is correct in English, it was a good replacement.

A less successful Baidu (百度, Chinese Google), but still considerable.

In addition to search, also has:

27.5. Alibaba (阿里巴巴, Chinese Amazon clone)

27.5.1. Jack Ma (马云, Alibaba founder)

27.5.1.1. Jack Ma’s disappearance (马云的失踪, 2021)
Jack Ma Winnie the Pooh and That Rabbit splitting cookies
Figure 269. Cartoon of Jack Ma, Xi Jinping looks like Winnie-the-Pooh (习近平长得像小熊维尼, 2017) (representing Xi Jinping (习近平, 2012-∞, Heil卐!)) and That Rabbit (那兔) (representing the Chinese people) splitting cookies. Winnie has a huge pile, Jack has a medium pile, and That Rabbit has a tiny pile. Winnie is saying "那个资本家夺走了你的饼干!" (That capitalist stole your cookies!). The cartoon suggests that the Chinese state has a lot of money and power, extremely successful entrepreneurs have a medium power, and the common people, who are manipulated by the CCP, have basically nothing. Source.

27.6. Xiaomi (小米, cell phone company)

News:

27.8. Tencent (腾讯, Tengxun, WeChat owner)

27.8.2. oa.com

Tencent owns the oa.com domain since 2020 which they bought from some small early American Internet company, although they don’t announce that clearly on the main domain itself. But they have several subdomains of that being used actively.

On the original company, it stood for "Object Automation" as seen e.g. at https://archive.vn/SsvSV#selection-1123.0-1123.155:

OA is the industry leader and pioneer in the deployment of object-based industrial automation, distributed control, and operational intelligence solutions.

https://domainnamewire.com/author/kasseylee/ mentions that it was sold for $609,068 in 2020, and references https://namebio.com/?s==QjN2UTN1kjM which gives date, value and sale location (https://sedo.com) but not buyer and seller info. https://domainnamewire.com/2020/09/16/why-are-two-letter-domains-so-sought-after-in-china/ says such domains are highly sought after in China.

Subdomain selection:

27.8.3. WeChat (微信, Weixin)

The dominating Chinese WhatsApp clone as of 2020, with infinitely many other functionality added, notably payments.

The West should ban WeChat until one open source end to end encrypted chat app is made available in China.

27.9. Sina Corp (新浪, Weibo owner)

27.9.1. Weibo (新浪微博)

The dominating Chinese Facebook/Twitter clone as of 2020.

"微博" (Weibo) by itself just means "microblogging" in general, but Sina Corp (新浪, Weibo owner)'s is so dominant that everyone just calls it Weibo.

27.9.1.1. Ciro Santilli’s Weibo block (三西猴被微博屏蔽)

Somewhere around 2021, Ciro’s Weibo was blocked: https://www.weibo.com/p/1005055601627311

Ciro never wrote any public posts in it, and only replied minimally to a few private messages many years before.

This clearly shows how Chinese platforms (obviously) target specific users specifically, regardless of what they did in a particular platform:

The block message afte redirect is:

该账号因被投诉违反法律法规和《微博社区公约》的相关规定,现已无法查看。

The account is now unavailable for being complained of violating laws and regulations and the relevant provisions of the "Weibo Community Convention".

Related:

27.12. Chinese censorship companies (中国审查公司)

27.12.1. Dahua Technology (大华股份)

Facial recognition, used in Xinjiang (新疆).

27.12.1.1. EM_NATION_TYPE_UYGUR (2020)
    //民族
    public static class EM_NATION_TYPE extends MyStructure
    {
      public static final int EM_NATION_TYPE_UNKNOWN = 0;                   // 未知
      public static final int EM_NATION_TYPE_UYGUR = 1;                     // 维族(新疆)
      public static final int EM_NATION_TYPE_OTHER = 2;                     // 其他
      public static final int EM_NATION_TYPE_UNIDENTIFIED = 3;              // 设备未识别
    }

indicating that Uyghurs are particularly targeted for facial recognition by Dahua.

The code is present in official downloads from:

which was visible from: https://www.dahuasecurity.com/support/downloadCenter/softwares?child=3&page=2 under download name "General_NetSDK_ChnEng_JAVA_Linux64_IS_V3.052.0000001.0.R.200407" before being taken down after the reports:

The code was spotted mirrored on GitHub, likely unofficially, but it was soon taken down, archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20201102065525/https://raw.githubusercontent.com/gaomingbo/dahua-netsdk/master/src/main/java/com/dahua/lib/NetSDKLib.java

Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的) downloaded it from the official website and verified that the code in question was there.

Discussions:

On 2020-11-20, Dahua DMCAed https://github.com/cirosantilli/epps-service at https://github.com/github/dmca/blob/master/2020/11/2020-11-25-Dahua.md which had been forked https://github.com/gaomingbo/epps-service from https://web.archive.org/web/20201102170146/https://github.com/cirosantilli/epps-service but Ciro is not sure it contains anything of particular interest, he had just forked all repos from gaomingbo. That one appeared to be just a car plate recognition sytem.

Related:

27.12.2. Knowlesys (乐思软件)

Social Media as Weapons
Figure 271. Slide from a presentation of the Knowlesys Hong Kong social media censorship/misinformation company with words "Social Media as Weapons", "Your Enemy", leaked by the CCP_Unmasked hacker group on 2020/08/20, possible Telegram (TG) account: https://t.me/ccp_unmasked. The leaks also contained data on Yunrun Big Data Service, a company based in Guangzhou, and OneSight, based in Beijing. From this hack they apparently also managed obtained passwords used by those companies to manage CCP social media, and they posted some messages about their efforst through those accounts. Western countries have also used terrorism as an excuse way to reduce privacy/start wars, but of course, things are much worse in dictatorships where there is no freedom of speech, related The CCP exaggerates the threat of the West to keep in power (中共夸大了西方要继续掌权的威胁). Source.

Or to Ciro’s other online presences, due to China activity.

In other sections:

28.1. sogou.com traffic

Until 2021-11, the GitHub repository https://github.com/cirosantilli/china-dictatorship/graphs/traffic was getting quite a lot of traffic (500 unique hits over 14 days) from the Sogou search engine:

Someone seems to have noticed this after https://www.reddit.com/r/chonglangTV/comments/q7am6x/github这个仓库issue_岁静码农粉蛆暴跳如雷全被翻译成英文_效果好到爆 from r/chonglangTV Reddit sub after which they finally blocked the repo. With such measures from Chinese search engines making their engines shit, it is no wonder that Chines people are forced to use GitHub search, see also: Zhao Heming (召赫名).

28.2. V2EX (semi-censored forum)

Although this website appears to have some degree of freedom of speech, as of 2020, if you post something that is "unwelcome" an unclear definition or unwelcome, your IP gets immediately blocked and trying to even access the site redirects to a "403 Forbidden nginx" page.

It is therefore impossible to have any political talk on that website, and they should not be trusted.

This happened when Ciro tried to reply to https://v2ex.com/t/378274 around 2020-07-23 with:

参看我的china repository fb6c69cfec0d4e9008730c0c1a9c42c2d851e678#stack-overflow-anti-dissident-users

and it doesn’t seem like there’s anything super sensitive in that comment.

They then tell you to contact them if you want to be restored:

请不要发布在V2EX不被欢迎的内容,如果你觉得这是规则误判请邮件联系hello@v2ex.com

but Ciro did that and there was no reply.

Later on Ciro noticed that his account was giving 400:

The forum is largely programmer dominated.

It had an ICP license 非经营性网站备案 (2000) in 2016, but lost it in 2019 to move servers back to USA, which is extremely shady. Blocked in China as of 2020-06 according to GreatFire (自由微博).

When Ciro later checked the above threads on 2020-12-20, he noticed that all of them had been made restricted to logged in members only, while previously only one of them had been.

V2EX’s creator is 刘昕 (Liu Xin, alias "Livid"):

28.3. Pincong (品葱, uncensored forum)

Uses a virtual currency system (游戏币): https://pincong.rocks/currency/rule/ Posting articles costs 20 points, and doing stuff like replying gives you a few points.

TODO is it blocked by Great Firewall (GFW, 防火长城) or not? GreatFire (自由微博) just hangs forever on it, e.g.:

28.3.1. Mohu (膜乎)

Website openly anti-CCP, e.g. the signup page has Xi Jinping (习近平, 2012-∞, Heil卐!) jokes. Very similar appearance to Pincong (品葱, uncensored forum), likely same engine. https://pincong.rocks/question/24489 asks what is their relationship "请问一下品葱和膜乎之间是什么关系?"

Backlinks to this page:

28.4. Esu Wiki (惡俗維基, politically incorrect wiki)

https://esu.dog/ is the mirror working as of March 2021.

http://y2wam5fshij3arfjuxirusomu73b2joql524zpre3dhvxmlqw4srcuad.onion/ is a Tor Hidden service version of it working as of March 2021. It is linked to from: ttps://esu.dog/恶俗维基:透明度报告[].

At some point they forbade discussion of politics there, likely due to some prosecution case, and officially forked into Zhina Wiki (支纳维基, politically incorrect wiki), where politics is encouraged, presumably under better opsec.

28.4.1. Zhina Wiki (支纳维基, politically incorrect wiki)

Apparently addresses were:

but both down as of March 2021.

支纳 (zhina) is likely just another variant of: Shina (zhina, 支那).

Dissidents, you have to learn to use Tor Onion Services!!! Doxing, even of evil people, is still normally taken down on the West, so there is no other choice!

Wayback Machine (web.archive.org, 网站时光机) has excluded both of the websites for some reason:

29. Anti-dictatorship songs (反对独裁的首歌)

Not necessarily in Chinese or about China specifically.

Brazil had a dictatorship from 1964 to 1985, and some amazing songs were made in Portuguese in that era. Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的), who is Brazilian, just cannot stop thinking about some of them in relation to China, notably: Apesar de você.

30. The best Chinese traditional instrumental music albums (中国传统器乐音乐)

Much like real Chinese food, your mind will be blown.

The best approach is to start with the largest multi-artist anthologies available to get a general overview of what is there.

Then, you can start Googling by instrument. The main four instruments are undoubtedly:

but there is also amazing content on others including:

and there is of course the infinite Wikipedia instrument list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Chinese_musical_instruments

Quality indicators:

  • bad:

    • Western instruments or modern digital effects

    • on YouTube: "relax" videos with boring generic music.

      They usually have some cute landscape scenes or overly produced good looking women as the thumbnail.

      Good video covers will show the musicians with their instruments, or Chinese traditional painting.

  • good: single instrument solo. There are some good multi-instrument and songs as well though, but harder to find.

Due to the language and political barrier, Chinese traditional music distribution is unfortunately atrocious, so learn what an ISRC is and don’t use BitTorrent which the Chinese call "BT".

If you find album cover pictures on Google images, the ISRC should be somewhere on the back.

Other good lists:

30.2. Free music (免费音乐)

Here are the few best I’ve seen. Not enough to replace the non-free, but pretty good.

30.3. Non-free music

30.3.2. Masters of Chinese Traditional Music Solo Appreciation 中国民乐大师纯独奏鉴赏

14-CD anthology.

ISRC: CN-A50-06-389-00 / A.J6 (seems to be for the whole anthology)

Chinese name: 中国民乐大师纯独奏鉴赏

Publisher: Chinese Musicians' Association | https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/中国音乐家协会

31. Chinese festivals (中国节日)

32. Chinese history (中国历史)

33. The best Chinese food (中国最好的食物)

Then dishes:

Tier 2, also amazing, just not as mind blowing:

There are also many amazing pasta dishes, although many are not so clearly named, and quality variability is also very large.

33.1. Eight Cuisines of China (八大菜系)

Basically:

and then some more distinct ones:

  • Hunan

  • Sichuan

  • Cantonese

  • Shandong

but these 8 are of course not all inclusive at all, e.g. some notable ones even Ciro knows about include: Beijing, Guizhou and Northeastern.

34. The best Chinese supermarket food products (中国超市食物)

For more daily needs, when you don’t want to spend more money and time at a restaurant, here are a few nice things you can get from your local Chinese supermarket and quickly make something good to eat.

34.1. Dumplings (饺子, jiao3 zi)

A staple food of North-east China.

You can buy them frozen on bags with about 20 for about 4 dollars.

Just boil 10-15 for 10 minutes and you have a decent ready-made meal!

The perfect cooking technique includes:

  • at first, before they float, stir often with chopsticks so that they won’t stick to the hot bottom of the pan, which will cause the peel to break

  • don’t ever ever ever overcook. Cook the minimum possible so that it is not raw. This also means taking the jiaozi out of the hot water as soon as they are done.

  • after the dumplings rise to the surface after a few minutes, let it boil, and then put some cold water on top of the hot water. Repeat this two, three or four times until they are fully cooked. This helps the jiazi keep a strong peel.

The best way to eat them is to pour some vinegar and ready-to-eat spicy preparations like Lao Gan Ma crispy chilly oil 老干妈 (lao3 gan1 ma1) or Ciro’s favorite, Fansaoguang (饭扫光) in the bowl, and then dip them one by one.

You can also drink the soup, or for cold days, actually eat the jiaozi with their soup. Ciro likes to add soy sauce and more of the above mentioned spices.

Can also be made by hand if you have the patience. Ciro Santilli’s mother-in-law (三西猴的岳母), being from the North East, can make them very skillfuly. Ciro’s favorite flavour is Shrimp + Egg + Chives (韭菜). Shrimps can be bought frozen for cheap, don’t cut them up too much!

Jiaozi
Figure 273. Fresh Asia Brand (香源) product line "hand crafted water dumplings" (手工水餃) is a good brand to buy if you can get it. Source.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQkXA1xglU8 How to Cook Frozen Dumplings (Boil) by "Yongle Kitchen" shows the cool water pouring process.

34.2. Chinese buns 包子 (bao1 zi)

You can buy them frozen on bags with about 4 for about 4 dollars.

The best way to heat them up by far is to steam.

If you don’t have a steaming pot, you can also put them on a bowl inside a regular pot with some water at the bottom, and close the lid.

See also: 習包子.

34.3. Zongzi 粽子 (zong4 zi)

Eaten during Dragon Boat Festival (端午节, Double Fifth Festival, 重五节), but can be bought year round.

Buy frozen. Pick the ones with meat and eggs!!! Boil.

Cost about 4 dollars for 2.

You can’t eat them every day because too heavy, but they are so amazingly tasty!!!

34.4. Sunflower seeds (瓜子, gua1 zi)

They are roasted and prepared with some flavoring, often green tea.

They are different from most Western ones you can find, because they tend harde and smooth, and the seeds are not open.

This is good because it makes you feel the flavour that was added to the skin as you break them open.

You have to learn how to open them with your front teeth.

Once you do that, you start eating them nonstop like a machine until the bag is empty.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Zh0TiEd63k Chinese dude eating sunflower seeds for 9 hours non-stop. That’s a good brand to get BTW: Chacha Food (洽洽食品).
Sunflower seeds guazi
Figure 274. Qiaqia (洽洽) sunflower seeds. TODO flavor name? The red one is the "default" flavor, and likely the best. The name of the brand is likely onomatopoeic with the sound of eating sunflower seeds. Partial transcription: "洽洽香瓜子 百煮如未香" Photo by Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的), CC BY-SA 4.0 2021.

34.5. Dried broad bean snack (干蚕豆, gan1 can2 dou4)

The name of broad bean in Chinese is interesting: it literally means "silkworm bean", because the shape of the bean looks a bit like that of a silkworm cocoon.

34.6. Lao Gan Ma crispy chilly oil 老干妈 (lao3 gan1 ma1)

You can basically add it to any stir fried dish ever if it is too bland.

The one with peanuts or black beans is also good.

Just stay away from the Chicken flavoured one. Eww.

Laoganma
Figure 276. You can even buy Laoganma on Amazon! Photo by Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的), CC BY-SA 4.0 2021.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkTQTS2RSCU "What is Lao Gan Ma, and can you make it at home?" by "Chinese Cooking Demystified" published on Nov 19, 2019. Explains how it comes from Guizhou province cuisine (neighbours Sichuan).

34.7. Fansaoguang (饭扫光)

This is the best thing to eat with Dumplings (饺子, jiao3 zi) ever!!! Oily, spicy and sour.

Flavour review: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiddlehead_fern | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pteridium_aquilinum | https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/蕨菜 this was the best one. Got a bit worse circa 2020 * Enokitake (金针菇) one. Others are a bit boring. * "Preserved pickled mustard" (香辣酸菜): 2021: a bit meh. Made of Mustart suan cai.

Fan sao guang
Figure 277. Photo of the Fansaoguang Fried Enokitake (金針菇) flavor. This is one of the best flavours. Another really good one was Wild brake pickles (野蕨菜), but it became less good in 2020 for some reason, that was one of the major disasters of that year. Photo by Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的), CC BY-SA 4.0 2021.

34.8. Hot pot 火锅 (huo3 guo1)

You just have to buy:

  • a hot pot base soup

  • various kinds of frozen fish/meat balls

  • thin sliced frozen beef/lamb meat sold specifically for hot pot

  • leafy vegetables like Chinese cabbage or fresh Chinese mushrooms

  • you can also add some dry stuff like dried mushrooms or dry tofu products

  • sauces to put into a bowl and dip the cooked things in before putting them into your mouth. Could be either dedicated hot pot sauces, but sesame paste, soy sauce, vinegar and Lao Gan Ma crispy chilly oil 老干妈 (lao3 gan1 ma1) will already be good enough

Put the electric rice cooker or a regular pot with a portable electric heater on the dining table.

Boil the water with the soup, start with the harder to cook meaty things, and eat/add more as they become ready!

Great fun to do in winter with family and friends!

There are also dedicated hot pot restaurants, but Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的) is not a fun, since it feels much better to do it in the privacy of your home.

YouTube explains it pretty well, no need for their fancy ying yang pans though, a rice cooker will do just fine:

34.9. Congee (粥, zhou1)

A thick rice/cereal/bean porridge. Amazing for breakfast.

You can buy them as dry air tight uncooked cereal/bean mixtures, and there are different types.

You can also buy the ingredients separately of course, but it requires more effort.

If you get the air-tight bag, you can also buy some extra missing ingredients to taste, notably jujubes ().

Then you just boil them in a rice cooker for a few hours.

It is also possible to buy them ready-to-eat in cans, but those are nowhere near as good.

One particular type which is very good is: Laba congee (eight treasure congee, 八宝粥).

Then, to eat it, you will want to add salty side dishes, all of which can be bought from the Chinese supermarket, since the congee itself is just mildly sweet and not salty at all:

Eight treasture congee
Figure 278. The HONOR brand (康樂, full name: Honor Products, 康樂產品) Eight treasure congee (八寶粥) is a good brand to buy if you can find it. Source.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIxbJxNRpX0 Video showing how to make eight treasure congee from scratch by "Asian garden 2 table" published on Feb 2, 2020.

34.11. Daikon (白萝卜, big long Chinese white radish)

Ahh, one of those things that got the Japanese name in the West, so unfair.

In Japanese it is (大根, da2 gen1, lit. "big root"), you can still see the sound similarity from Mandarin.

Also crazy how there’s no Mandarin Chinese wiki page for it.

34.11.1. Daikon pork rib soup (排骨萝卜汤)

One of Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的)'s favorite home made dishes!!! Don’t forget to dip the meat into soy sauce at the table, since the soup is not too salty on its own.

34.11.2. Winter melon (冬瓜)

One of those unfortunate translations from the past. Wax, does it come out of someone’s ear? Gourd, WTF is a gourd?

Basically a softer Daikon (白萝卜, big long Chinese white radish), there’s likely some better comparison to a Western vegetable, but Ciro can’t think of one right now.

Good ways to eat include:

35. The best Chinese restaurants outside of China (中国以外最好的中国饭店)

35.1. Introduction

Most Western people do not know what real Chinese food is.

When you first see it, your mind is completely blown: there it was, one of the best foods in the world by far, and you had never tried it: only a completely watered down boring version that you get when you are not guided by Chinese people.

We must put a stop to this madness.

After you see the light and eat the real version of a dish, then when you go to a not-real restaurant you start to think: "hey, I know what dish this was supposed to be. But it could be so much more awesome!" This makes non-real restaurants twice as bad. So beware, there is no turning back.

Maybe we should institute a Foodie Dictatorship (美食家独裁) that prevents such fake restaurants from hiding real Chinese food???

35.1.1. Rating system

  • tier 1: amazing, worth a trip

  • tier 2: worth it, but not exciting, so not worth a trip just for it

  • tier 3: I wouldn’t go there

35.1.2. How to find good restaurants

  • go with Chinese food-loving friends to Chinese restaurants

  • read up Chinese restaurant recommendation websites written in Chinese by Chinese for Chinese

  • read up small shady Chinese food recommendation websites by sinophiles like Ciro Santilli

Big Western sites like Google Maps reviews and TripAdvisor are completely and utterly useless for this and will recommend places in which poor non-Chinese which don’t know what real Chinese food is like.

If you go out on the street by yourself, you are very unlikely to find really good Chinese food since the enormous majority of Chinese restaurants are not real Chinese food.

If there are only Chinese clients inside the restaurant, it is a good indicator that it might be good. If all clients people are Western, run away.

Western people don’t know what good Chinese food is, so if you are not in a place that has a very large Chinese population, real Chinese food restaurants cannot survive, and won’t exist. This usually implies being in large cities of rich countries.

Beware of restaurant owner changes: if the menu looks a bit different, it has likely happened.

This is politically incorrect, but here goes: if the place looks as if it is maintained by more recent immigrants, and looks more modern, it is more likely to be good. There are however some venerable older uncles who have cooked well their entire lives and are still fine. Things tend to water down across generations, and there was likely not enough real Chinese clientele for them to serve real Chinese food and survive in the past.

If a restaurant advertises itself as "Asian", it is less likely to be very good.

Conversely, restaurants that specialize in a single region of China are more likely to be good (bot not certainly good).

It is already difficult to do the cuisine for one part of China well, imagine for multiple countries.

Just beware of "Sichuan" restaurants: their cuisine is so well known even in the West that I’ve seen many not so good restaurants that describe themselves like that, even if the owners are from another region. But there are many good ones which really are from there as well.

35.1.4. How to order

For all restaurants, ask the waiter for suggestions. Tell him that you:

  • want the most typical dishes, not what the foreign locals eat, but what the Chinese eat

  • can eat spicy food, way more than any foreign local person can.

    The spice level you generally want is "zhong1 la4" (medium spicy)

    If you can’t eat spicy, either learn or stop reading now and accept the fact that you will never eat good Chinese food.

  • if the restaurant is from some region, ask for dishes from the region, and which are different from other regions.

    I was once Dumplings (饺子, jiao3 zi) (super popular dish everywhere in China which I buy frozen and eat every 3 days) in a Tibetan restaurant…​ Yes, I do believe Tibetans also eat jiaozi! :-)

  • Speaking a little Chinese goes a long way towards convincing the owners that you can handle the real thing.

Only order dishes with meat. Those without are not worth the money/time. Aubergine is the exception.

35.2. France 法国

Traiteurs are simpler restaurants that let you see pre-made foods in a glass showcase for you to choose how big your portions will be.

They are the best way to eat a cheap and balanced meal in Paris, but I have never found one that serves exceptional Chinese food, so beware.

35.2.1. Paris 巴黎

Paris has one of the largest Chinese communities outside of China in the whole world centered in the 14eme arrondissement, plus a lot of Chinese students with money around.

As a result, you can find some of the best Chinese food in the world outside of China!

Bibliography:

  • https://carnetdecroute.blogspot.fr

  • http://cnkick.net/2013/09/10/les-meilleurs-restaurants-chinois-de-paris-le-guide-cn-kick/

  • https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-best-Chinese-restaurants-in-Paris

  • https://www.newsavour.com/restaurants/ Chinese only, Paris, website subsidiary of some larger Chinese group.

  • Restaurant Sichuan (川里川外)

    17 Rue le Peletier, 75009 Paris

    Xianglaxie.

    Last checked: 2017/06

  • Chez Yong (Ding Ding Xiang, 鼎鼎香)

    42, rue de la Colonie, 75013 Paris

    • shui zhu niu rou

    • dishes with intestines

  • La Chine sur la langue (舌尖美味)

    163 rue Saint-Denis, 75002 Paris

    • Spicy soup with Chinese charcuteries. Ma la tang.

    • Large dry and thin bread. Jing dong da bing. 京东大饼. Picture.

  • Quatre Amis (那家小馆)

    29 rue de Charenton, 75012 Paris

    • Fried octopus

    • Shui zhu niu rou

    • Anything with intestines

  • Le Céleste Gourmand (福来居, fu lai ju)

    8 Rue de la Tacherie, 75004 Paris

  • L’Orient d’Or (福源丰)

    22, Rue de trévise, 75009 Paris

    • Galettes croustillantes au canard (xiang su ya dai bing, 香酥鸭带饼)

    • Poisson pimentee (suan tang yu, 酸汤鱼)

    • Soupe aux cartilages de porc avec algues (hai dai pau gu tang, 海带排骨汤)

    Hunan style.

    25 euros / person.

  • Carnet de Route

    57 Rue du Faubourg Montmartre, 75009 Paris

    Last checked: 2016/04

  • 0 d’Attente (锅先生不等位)

    55 Boulevard Saint-Marcel, 75013 Paris

    +33 9 81 49 68 06

    Like style of chairs and cutlery.

    Ironically, the service was not particularly fast as the name indicates. Normal, but not ultra-fast as I imagined :-)

    lotus with rice (Nuo mi tang ou) and boeuf sechee (guo xian sheng …​) not very good, but baked fish and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meigan_cai kaorou were great.

    Last checked: 2016/02

  • Autour du Yangtse (食尚煮意)

    12 Rue du Helder, 75009 Paris

    • Marmite de poisson et de tofu (豆花鱼)

    • Saliva chicken (口水鸡)

    • Aubergines farcies sur plaqua chauffante (铁板脆皮茄)

  • Deux Fois Plus De Piment (绝代双椒)

    Address: 33 Rue Saint-Sébastien, 75011 Paris

    Sichuan style.

  • Délices de Shandong (山东小馆)

    88 Boulevard de l’Hôpital, 75013 Paris

  • Hakka Home

    3 Rue Voltaire, 75011 Paris

    Food from the Hakka people https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hakka_people

    Most dishes are like other good Chinese restaurants in Paris, but there were a few different ones.

  • Maison Dong (东馆)

    36 Rue Vivienne, 75002 Paris

    Last checked: 2017/04

  • Royal Tching Tao (青岛人家)

    8 Rue du Bel-Air, 75012 Paris

    • Galettes croustillantes au canard. Shi zi tou.

    • Sweet fish (Song shu gui yu 松鼠桂鱼)

  • Le Pont de Yunnan (滋味云南)

    15 Rue Notre Dame de Lorette, 75009

    Great food, but we had a bad service experience: got kicked out too early, even with a reservation.

  • Tien Hiang (天香)

    14, rue Bichat, 75010 Paris

    Vegetarian food: most dishes are an imitation of a dish with meat.

    Not as good as the original meat for me, but very interesting and good for a change.

    Chinese vegetarians are rare. In theory, the origin of the food in this restaurant is Hong Kong Buddhism (Buddhist monks cannot eat meat, while other believers can.)

  • Likafo (利口福酒家)

    39 Avenue de Choisy, 75013 Paris

  • Restaurant Sichuan (四川人家)

    31-33 Rue Descartes, 75005 Paris

    Perfect Fuqi feipian.

    Huiguorou is good not my style, I prefer with leek.

    Last checked: 2017/04

35.2.1.1. Paris tier 2

Cheaper / simpler restaurants that are really worth it if you want not to be hungry, but not worth it if you want eat exceptional food:

  • Ace Boucherie

    58 Rue Sainte-Anne, 75002 Paris

    Korean takeaway traiteur. Very good. Try calamar.

    Last checked: 2017/06

  • Ji Bai He

    108 Rue Olivier de Serres, 75015 Paris

    Jiaozi and accompanying small dishes are great.

    Last checked: 2016/03

  • SUCREPICE

    5 Rue d’Arras, 75005 Paris

    M10: Cardinal Lemoine

    Liang ban mian, but do ask "wei la, they are strong.

  • Noodle No 1

    54 rue Sainte Anne, 75002 Paris

    • Soupe aux nouilles pimentées

  • Noodle bar

    31 Rue nationale, 75013 Paris, France

  • Chez Shen

    39 Rue au Maire, 75003 Paris, France

  • Dosanko Larmen

    40 Rue Sainte-Anne, 75002 Paris

    Order the big portion at your own risk. :-)

    Last checked: 2017/04

  • Chez Mamie (外婆家)

    18 Rue du Grenier-Saint-Lazare, 75003 Paris,

    Last checked: 2017/06

35.2.2. Marseille (马赛)

  • Shanghai kitchen

    14 Cours Jean Ballard, 13001 Marseille, France

35.3. United Kingdom (英国)

Bibilography:

35.3.1. London 伦敦

35.3.1.1. Little Wooden Hut 小木屋

Address:

Little Newport Street
WC2H 7JJ

Last checked: 2016/08

Not yet on Google maps so I don’t know the number, but the street is very small so should be easy to find.

35.3.1.2. Murger Han

Address:

8A Sackville St
Mayfair, London
W1S 3EZ

Last checked: 2019/01

Cuisine: Xi’an

Biangbiang noodles with all extras zhongla are amazing!!! Niuroupaomo OK, but not exciting. Roujiamo not very interesting, too bland for my taste.

35.3.1.3. London tier 2
35.3.1.3.1. Chinese Tapas House

Address:

Little Newport Street
WC2H 7JJ

Not yet on Google maps so I don’t know the number, but the street is very small so should be easy to find.

Jianbing guozi, interesting spicy fast food.

35.3.1.3.2. Rice Coming Restaurant 米齐临

Rice noodles are good, and small dishes authentic.

Address: 10A Coptic St, Holborn, London WC1A 1NH

Last checked: 2019-04

35.3.2. Cambridge 剑桥

35.3.2.1. Spring Restaurant 春天

Address:

66 Mill Rd
CB1 2AS

Last checked: 2017/08

Spicy chicken with pasta and potatoes.

35.3.2.2. Seven Days 天天美食剑桥

Address:

66 Regent St
CB2 1DP
35.3.2.3. @72 China

Address:

72 Regent St
CB2 1DP

Douhuaniurou 豆花牛肉, kaoyu.

35.3.2.4. Golden House

Address:

12 Lensfield Rd
CB2 1EG

Meicaikourou, luobo bing.

35.3.2.5. 1 + 1 Rougamo

Tier: 2

Address:

84 Regent St
CB2 1DP

Last checked: 2019/05

Roujiamo very good. Also good: broad noodles, 凉皮.

35.3.3. Oxford 牛津

35.3.3.1. A Taste Of China 三秦百味

Tier: 2

Last checked: 2019/03

Redamian good, Biangbiangmian not as interesting. Nice people working there. Two two seat tables only, mostly takeaway. Fair price.

35.3.3.2. Xi’an

Tier: 3

Last checked: 2019/03

Not real Chinese food I’m afraid. Songshuyu was not cut correctly into stripes and too much liquid sauce. Sijidou beans not dry enough, maybe need more frying. Early immigration (1968, mentioned on menu), almost no Chinese clients. Nice decoration and environment.

35.3.4. Sheffield 谢菲尔德

  • China Red Restaurant

    3 Rockingham Gate, Sheffield S1 4JD, United Kingdom

    Last checked: 2016/06, shuizhuyu.

35.4. Brazil 巴西

35.4.1. Sao Paulo 圣保罗

  • Chuanxiangyuan Restaurante (川香园餐馆 )

    \R. Barão de Iguape, 47 - Liberdade, São Paulo - SP

    Eat the big fish dishes, they are worth it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuqi_feipian was not very good.

    Free tea was good.

    Rice could be better.

    Owners are actually from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tianjin , not Sichuan, as implied by the 川 in the name of the restaurant. GF told me that those big fish dishes are typical from there.

    Last checked: 2016/01/09

35.5. Canada 加拿大

35.5.1. Montreal 加拿大蒙特利尔,

Last checked: 2016/01

  • Cuisine Szechuan

    2350 Rue Guy, Montréal, QC H3H 2M2, Canada

  • Kanbai

    1110 Rue Clark, Montréal, QC H2Z 1K3, Canada Good

  • Délice oriental

    1858 Rue Ste-Catherine O, Montréal, QC H3H 1M1

Not worth it:

  • Chez Chili

    1050B rue Clark

36. The best East Asian museums outside of China (中国以外最好的东亚博物馆)

37. Chinese television series (中国电视剧)

Modern themed television series are generally crap due to Censorship (审查), but this leads to a big focus on ancient stuff, and some of it is amazing.

A good place to start are the canonical TV adaptations of the Four Great Classic Novels (四大名著)

There must be other good adaptations for other classics mentioned at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_literature, gotta find them.

38. Tips to learn Chinese (学习中文方法建议)

To overhear people and learn characters/new words Pleco: https://www.pleco.com/

It really hurts that there is no online Pleco, you have to go back and forth from cell phone to computer, is there anything as good online?

Maybe some day something will be extracted from: https://github.com/skishore/makemeahanzi which jas a huge JSON of character data.

When you want to learn "how to say something in Chinese", the only valid routes are:

  • does it have a Wikipedia page? Go on the English one then change language

  • put an English sentence on Google Translate, then Google for it.

    If it is a common word, it will give useless dictionary results, so search instead with site:bbc.com or site:zhihu.com.

    Then find a sentence that contains the word written by a native Chinese, and understand the full sentence to confirm that it means what you want it to mean in a similar context.

    Just using the Google translate directly will lead 70% to a weird/wrong/incomprehensible translation that no Chinese person would ever say.

Good Chinese content to consume to learn:

  • 几分钟看完: illegal 10 minute summaries of movies with clips from the movies and a narrator speaking quickly instead of movie sounds.

    Some have Chinese subtitles, e.g.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFSMvtS6SYQ and it is great content to learn from, because it is someone telling a not too boring story in a natural and clear way, with supporting images to help with context.

38.1. Chinese character sentence component mnemonic systems

Associate one word to each character/character component.

One good way to find mnemonics is to just Google for whatever random words you want to fit into a sentence. You end up learning fun things this way, and those make the best mnemonics.

Then to learn a new character, break it down into components, and create a sentence or short story that includes all the component words.

Japanese Kanji:

38.2. Lists of the most common characters and words

This is a good approach to tick off high frequency stuff you don’t know you don’t know:

39. History of China (中国历史)

40. Geography of China (中国地理)

40.3. Provinces of China (中国一级行政区)

40.3.1. How to people look like in different provinces of China?

TODO failed to find an amazing post, the best ones I’ve found so far:

40.3.10. Heilongjian Province (黑龙江省)

China’s Northermost and Easternomst province.

Literaly: "Black Dragon River" province. The name refers to the massive Amur river (黑龙江) that passes through the region.

Does not however border North Korea, only Liaoning Province (辽宁省) and Jilin (吉林) do.

40.3.12. Jilin (吉林)

The capital city is also named Jilin (Jilin City).

The origin of the name has nothing to do with a forest (林), it is a transliteration from Manchu language for "along the river".

40.3.15. Shanxi Province (山西省)

The name refers to it being West of the Taihang Mountains (太行山).

41. Chinese languages (汉语)

Map of sinitic languages full en
Figure 280. Map of sinitic languages. Source.

41.1. Cantonese (广东话)

Spoken in Guangdong Province (广东省, Canton) unsurprisingly.

Interintelligibility of written text with Mandarin:

They don’t have a standardized pinyin/romanization/transliteration, it is quite insane:

but most schemes are quite similar it seems.

6 tones, though average speakers themselves can’t tell the tone of each character because it is not taught in school: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/cantonese-tones-explained-nicholas-angiers/.

They actually have two different rising and three different level tones, which is completely insane, how can you differentiate that??

Some people count 9 due to syllables that end in p, t or k and which can only have 3 of the previous 6, but better just group those three with the corresponding of the other 6.

No "turn around the middle" tones though. So a common notation is start point to end point:

  • 55 high level

  • 35 mid rising

  • 33 mid level

  • 21 low falling

  • 22 low level

  • 23 low rising

There was also a high falling 52/53 but it merged with 55 in Hong Kong, so it is not normally noted anymore.

42. Chinese cheatsheet (中文备忘单)

Single author open source Pleco + "Remembering Simplified Hanzi" in a single .adoc file? Let’s go.

We’d use https://rtega.be/chmn/ as basis if it weren’t for the NO in CC-BY-NO-SA? But that NO is evil, what the heck does it even mean to gain money from something? Too restrictive.

Format will be very constant, database like. Would therefore be cool to parse it from the Asciidoctor into a proper database as a way to verify and allow third party usage.

Base mnemonic components can come more or less directly from the 214 Kangxi radicals: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kangxi_radical

One key principle is that characters and words often don’t have a well translatable meaning: the minimal always translatable unit is a sentence: Chinese sentences!

You can’t fully learn a language by learning words and characters alone, you must learn sentences.

42.1. Characters (汉字)

Format:

[[<character>]]
=== <character> (<pinyin>, <mnemonic name>)

Short forms: <<short-form>>, <<short-form>>

Mnemonic: <<mnemonic-story>>.

Words:

* <chinese-word-containing>
* <chinese-word-containing>

Characters:

* <character-containing>
* <character-containing>

Translations:

* <<english-word>>
** <<chinese-sentence-containing>>

Sentences:

* <<chinese-sentence-containing>>

Notes: <<random-text>>

Notes:

* <<random-text>>
* <<random-text>>

Notes:

  • Translations is only used when it is a single character word, if it goes inside a word, only the word will contain the sentence

42.1.1. Top part of 每 (, pistol)

Mnemonic: Can’t find the freaking Unicode. It looks like a pistol.

Characters:

  • 每 TODO each

42.1.2. Top part of 存 (, market stall)

Mnemonic: looks like one.

Characters:

42.1.3. 龶 (-, crown)

Mnemonic: the dot indicates something that stays on top of the head of a king (王 (wang2, king))

Characters:

Notes: there is no "proper" Chinese name for this, it is just known as "the top part of 青 (qing1, blue)" (青字頭) https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/龶

42.1.6. 白 (bai2, white)

Mnemonic: the sun (日 (ri4, sun)) is so bright on that one (一 (yi1, one)) day, that it was almost white

Characters:

42.1.8. 勹 (bao1, plastic wrap)

Mnemonic: Kangxi 20 is "wrap". So we choose plastic wrap as a specific type of wrapping that will give good mnemonics.

Characters:

42.1.9. 本 (ben3, potato)

Mnemonic: one (一 (yi1, one)) thing is always beloow a tree (本 (ben3, potato)): potato roots

Characters:

42.1.10. 匕 (bi3, spoon)

Mnemonic: an ancient spoon, looks like this: https://read01.com/aAEn50x.html#.XnfZDN_niV4 "古人吃饭最早不用筷子,用的是"匕",那"匕"是什么?

42.1.11. 表 (biao3, watch [device])

Mnemonic: imagine a soldier wearing green (龶 (-, crown)) camouflage clothes (衣 (yi1, clothes)), and checking his watch to know if it is time to attack

Words:

42.1.12. 卜 (bu3, magic wand)

Mnemonic: the kangxi description is "divination". Since this is completely unrelated to common contexts of modern people, we select a wand use a magic-related object that can be easily put into fun stories: a magic wand.

Characters:

42.1.13. 不 (bu4, not)

Mnemonic: unclear, possibly magic wand 卜 (bu3, magic wand)

Words:

42.1.14. 查 (cha2, check)

Mnemonic: every dawn 旦 (dan4, dawn), men have to check if their penises are hard as wood 木 (mu4, wood, tree), and if so they have to stay in bed for a while longer because it is too embarrassing to walk out like that, see also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morning_wood

Words:

42.1.17. 彳 (chi4, step)

Mnemonic: Kangxi 60.

Characters:

42.1.18. 辵 (chuo4, walk)

Short forms: ⻌,⻍,⻎

Characters:

42.1.19. 存 (cun2, survive)

Mnemonic: the Jewish child (子 (zi, child)) survived from the Nazis by hiding under a market stall (Top part of 存 (, market stall))

Words:

42.1.22. 歹 (dai3, supervillain)

Mnemonic: that evening (夕 (xi1, evening)), one (一 (yi1, one)) supervillain attacked us!

Characters:

Words:

42.1.23. 单 (dan1, bill)

Mnemonic: that lunch bill cost as much as buying eighty (十 (shi2, ten) 八 (ba1, eight)) rice fields (田 (tian1, field))!

Words:

  • TODO 买单

42.1.24. 旦 (dan4, dawn)

Mnemonic: dawn is when the sun (日 (ri4, sun)) is raising over the horizon (一 (yi1, one))

Characters:

Words:

42.1.25. 但 (dan4, but)

Mnemonic: I saw a person (人 (ren2, person)) walking at dawn (旦 (dan4, dawn)). It was beautiful, but why wouldn’t they be sleeping instead?

42.1.27. 的 (de, my)

Mnemonic: my penis looks like a white (白 (bai2, white)) wrap sandwitch (勺 (shao2, wrap sandwitch))

42.1.29. 动 (dong4, move)

Mnemonic: his superpower (力 (li4, superpower)) is to move fart clouds (云 (yun2, cloud)) with his mind

Words:

42.1.30. 对 (dui4, correct)

Mnemonic: to progress slowly, adding inch (寸 (cun4, inch)) by inch, again (又 (you4, again)) and again, is the correct way to progress

Characters:

42.1.31. 多 (duo1, many)

Mnemonic: one wrap sandwitch (勺 (shao2, wrap sandwitch)) is fine for lunch, but two on too many

42.1.33. 尔 (er3, you)

Mnemonic: I’ll stab you with a small (小 (xiao3, small)) knife (刀 (dao1, knife))

Characters:

42.1.34. 二 (er4, two)

Characters:

42.1.35. 肺 (fei4, lungs)

Mnemonic: he didn’t have two lungs, but rather one moon (月 (yue4, moon)) and one lung (巿 (fu2, lung))

Words:

42.1.36. 巿 (fu2, lung)

Mnemonic: due to an infection, doctors had to dry up one (一 (yi1, one)) of his lung with a towel (巾 (jin1, towel))

Characters:

42.1.39. 根 (gen1, roots)

Mnemonic: roots one root (艮 (gen4, root)) plus one root and lots of wood (木 (mu4, wood, tree))

42.1.40. 艮 (gen4, root)

Mnemonic: radical of roots (根 (gen1, roots))

Notes: this is a Kangxi radical, but its English name "stopping" is just too close to the more important "stop" 止 (zhi3, stop) and would cause confusion. So we just use the common phonetic compound roots (根 (gen1, roots)) as the mnemonic. It was tempting to leave "root" for 本 (ben3, potato), which looks perfectly like a root, but we did character first, and "potato" makes for even better mnemonics.

Characters:

42.1.41. 冠 (guan1, corona)

Mnemonic: when Queen Elizabeth was crowned, the first (元 (yuan2, first)) thing they put a one inch (寸 (cun4, inch)) hajib 冖 (mi4, hajib [Muslim female head scarf]) on her head, and then the corona of a Christian saint saint appeared on her head

42.1.42. 禾 (he2, grain)

Mnemonic: imagine one 一 (yi1, one) grain of rice coming out of wood (木 (mu4, wood, tree))

Characters:

42.1.43. 和 (he2, harmonious)

Mnemonic: nothing is more harmonious than putting some grains 禾 (he2, grain) in your mouth 口 (kou3, mouth)

Characters:

42.1.44. 很 (hen3, very)

Mnemonic: stepping (彳 (chi4, step)) on a tree root (艮 (gen4, root)) is a very bad idea, it might be a tree spirit that gets angry and eats you!

42.1.47. 交 (jiao1, exchange student)

Mnemonic: we measured six 六 (liu4, six) American exchange students 交 (jiao1, exchange student) on a balance 乂 (yi4, balance) to see which one was heaviest. Idea comes from 交流 (exchange student).

Words:

42.1.48. 巾 (jin1, towel)

Mnemonic: person carrying bath towel over shoulders.

Characters:

42.1.51. 里 (li3, mile)

Mnemonic: his field (田 (tian1, field)) streched over one mile (里 (li3, mile)), but it consisted of barren soil (土 (tu3, soil)) without any plants

Characters:

42.1.52. 理 (li3, science)

Mnemonic: the king (王 (wang2, king)) Louis XIV was a big patron of the mectric system, which intends to improve science by removing useless units like the mile (里 (li3, mile))

Words:

42.1.54. 列 (lie4, list)

Mnemonic: there must exist a list of supervillains (歹 (dai3, supervillain)) with knives (刀 (dao1, knife)) on the web? A knife-yielding supervillain list! https://techland.time.com/2010/09/03/top-ten-heroes-and-villians-with-big-knives/

Words:

42.1.55. 林 (lin2, woods)

Mnemonic: there are lots of trees 木 (mu4, wood, tree) in the woods 林 (lin2, woods)

Characters:

42.1.56. 临 (lin2, temporary)

Mnemonic: the simplified character was completely mutilated into a bunch of senseless traces unmemorizable traces. The traditional 臨 can be broken into: the Prime minister (臣 (chen2, minister)) temporarily decided to increase production of an important product (品 (pin3, product)): pistols (Top part of 每 (, pistol)), until the zombie apocalypse would be over.

Words:

42.1.57. 仑 (lun2, logic)

Mnemonic: spoon theory is very logical and explains how using spoons (匕 (bi3, spoon)) is a good metaphor for a person's (人 (ren2, person)) energy consumption

Characters:

42.1.58. 论 (lun4, rationale)

Mnemonic: "rationale" the fancy way that engineers say (言 (yan2, speak, say)) "logic" (仑 (lun2, logic))

Words:

42.1.59. 轮 (lun4, wheel)

Mnemonic: it is pretty logical (仑 (lun2, logic)) that a car (车 (che1, car)) needs wheels

Words:

42.1.60. 没 (mei2, not have)

Mnemonic: if you do not have any water (水 (shui3, water)) for your coffee (殳 (shu1, coffee)), it won’t be very good

42.1.61. 冖 (mi4, hajib [Muslim female head scarf])

Notes: the Wikipedia Kangxi is "cloth cover". Ciro guesses this was originally something to do with food covering. But let’s just go with hajib which will allow for easy politically incorrect mnemonics. "Crown" from 冠 (guan1, corona) would also be another good one, but we had already used crown for 龶 (-, crown).

Characters:

42.1.64. 疒 (ne4, sick)

Mnemonic: Kangxi 104.

Characters:

42.1.66. 牛 (niu2, cow)

Short forms: 牜,⺧

Characters:

42.1.67. 爬 (pa2, climb)

Mnemonic: you need claws (爪 (zhao3, claws)) to climb (爬) Brazil's (巴 (ba1, Brazil)) tallest mountain: Pico da Neblina

Words:

42.1.68. 品 (pin3, product)

Mnemonic: you need a lot of food products to feed the three mouths (口 (kou3, mouth)) of three children!

Words:

  • 食品 TODO

Characters:

42.1.69. 攴 (pu1, to tap)

Short forms: 攵

Mnemonic: to transform a frog into a princess, you have to tap your magic wand (卜 (bu3, magic wand)) again and again (又 (you4, again)) on it

Characters:

42.1.70. 千 (qian2, thousand)

Mnemonic: a super powerful 十 (shi2, ten) with an extra trace

Notes: careful to not confuse with 干 (gan1, dry) which has a straight top.

Characters:

42.1.72. 青 (qing1, blue)

Mnemonic: the crown (龶 (-, crown)) of the king was blue and moon-shaped (月 (yue4, moon))

Notes: it is more like green-blue/Cyan, see also https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/青色 but let’s call it blue because it will be used in many constructs.

Characters:

Words:

42.1.73. 清 (qing1, clear)

Mnemonic: imagine a Caribbean sea water (水 (shui3, water)) was is blue (青 (qing1, blue)) and clear

Notes: clear in the sense of "not dirty" and "a clear explanation". "Clear colors" use TODO 浅 as in 浅蓝.

Words:

42.1.74. 情 (qing2, lust)

Mnemonic: in his heart (心 (xin1, heart)), the greatest lust was that of blue (青 (qing1, blue)) underwear

Words:

42.1.75. 犬 (quan3, dog)

Mnemonic: imagine one big (大 (da4, big)) dog wagging its tail, the extra dot is the tail

Short forms: 犭

Characters:

42.1.79. 勺 (shao2, wrap sandwitch)

Mnemonic: it is something that you would put inside plastic wrap (勹 (bao1, plastic wrap))

Notes: this is one of the main words for spoon, but that mnemonic is already taken by the Kangxi 匕 (bi3, spoon), so we had to go for something else.

Characters:

42.1.82. 审 (shen3, inspect)

Mnemonic: if you are going to inspect what’s making those noises on the roof (宀 (mian2, roof)), you will certainly find that it was God (申 (shen1, God))

42.1.83. 生 (sheng1, be born, birth)

Mnemonic: as soon as the prince was born 生 (sheng1, be born, birth), only one (一 (yi1, one)) crown 龶 (-, crown) was put on his head, not two as expected since he was the child of the rulers of kingdoms

Words:

42.1.85. 时 (shi2, time)

Mnemonic: if the sun (日 (ri4, sun)) moves an inch (寸 (cun4, inch)) in the sky, then that means that 1 minute of time has passed

Words:

42.1.86. 使 (shi3, TODO)

Mnemonic: TODO 人 (ren2, person)

Translations:

42.1.87. 示 (shi4, spirit)

Short forms: 礻

Mnemonic: imagine two 二 (er4, two) small 小 (xiao3, small) child spirits playing with one another, maybe they died during a nuclear explosion and never noticed what happened

Characters:

42.1.88. 水 (shui3, water)

Short forms: 氵,氺

Chars:

42.1.90. 私 (si1, privacy)

Mnemonic: privacy is all about storing your precious grain (禾 (he2, grain)) in a private (厶 (si1, private)) location

42.1.91. 殳 (shu1, coffee)

Mnemonic: his coffee keeps falling from the side table (几 (ji3, side table)) on the floor again (又 (you4, again)) and again

Characters:

Note: this shows what a 殳 weapon actually was: http://wenzhengwenhua.com/article-2023-1.html

Sentences:

42.1.92. 树 (shu4, trees)

Mnemonic: it is correct (对 (dui4, correct)) to say that trees (树) are made out of of wood (木 (mu4, wood, tree))

42.1.93. 讨 (tao3, discuss)

Mnemonic: in their discussions (讨论 (tao3 luan4, discuss)), they always talked (言 (yan2, speak, say)) about how his penis was only one inch 寸 (cun4, inch) long

Words:

42.1.94. 台 (tai2, platform)

Mnemonic: he was doing something private (厶 (si1, private)) to her with his mouth (口 (kou3, mouth)) on the train platform

Characters:

Words:

42.1.96. 体 (ti3, body)

Mnemonic: the Irish people 人 (ren2, person) eat so much potato (本 (ben3, potato)) that 90% of their bodies are made out of potato molecules

Words:

42.1.97. 土 (tu3, soil)

Notes: the normal Kangxi translation is "earth", but we are afraid that this could be ambiguous with the "Planet Earth", so choosing soil instead

Characters:

42.1.100. 勿 (wu4, atom)

Mnemonic: atoms are part of matter 物 (wu4, matter [Physics])

42.1.101. 物 (wu4, matter [Physics])

Mnemonic: cows (牛 (niu2, cow)) are made of atoms (勿 (wu4, atom)), both of which are made of matter

Words:

42.1.104. 心 (xin1, heart)

Short forms: 忄,⺗

Mnemonic: Kangxi 42.

Characters:

42.1.106. 性 (xing4, sex)

Mnemonic: to give birth 生 (sheng1, be born, birth) to a person 人 (ren2, person) you must first have sex 性 (xing4, sex)

Words:

Translations:

42.1.107. 言 (yan2, speak, say)

Short forms: 讠

Mnemonic: imagine two (二 (er4, two)) flying mouths (口 (kou3, mouth)) trying to speak, but they can’t because a plastic lid (亠 (tou2, pan lid)) has been placed on them

42.1.108. 炎 (yan2, inflammation)

Mnemonic: getting burnt by two fires (火 (huo3, fire)) tends to cause skin inflammation

Words:

42.1.111. 乂 (yi4, balance)

Mnemonic: balance. Looks like a balance, and it is the symbol of justice 义 (yi4, justice)

Characters:

42.1.112. 义 (yi4, justice)

Mnemonic: a balance 乂 (yi4, balance) is the symbol of justice 义 (yi4, justice)

42.1.113. 疫 (yi4, epidemic)

Mnemonic: the world’s greatest epidemic which is making people sick (疒 (ne4, sick)) is coffee (殳 (shu1, coffee)) drinking

Words:

42.1.115. 元 (yuan2, first)

Mnemonic: my first son (儿 (er2, son)) had two (二 (er4, two)) legs, but the second one had three!

42.1.117. 云 (yun2, cloud)

Mnemonic: she made two (二 (er4, two)) private (厶 (si1, private)) farts in her home, but that produced a fart cloud that surrounded her for the rest of the week

Characters:

42.1.118. 运 (yun4, sports)

Notes: the most watched sport in heaven is that cloud (云 (yun2, cloud)) speed walking (辵 (chuo4, walk))

Words:

42.1.119. 爪 (zhao3, claws)

Short forms: 爫

Characters:

42.1.120. 政 (zheng4, politics)

Mnemonic: to do politics in China, you have to tap (攴 (pu1, to tap)) those Uyghurs on the shoulder and tell them to straighten (正 (zheng4, straighten)) their backs

Words:

42.1.121. 正 (zheng4, straighten)

Mnemonic: one (一 (yi1, one)) stop (止 (zhi3, stop)) at the bone doctor is all it takes to straighten up your hurting back

Characters:

42.1.122. 之 (zhi1)

Translations:

Notes: (no) in Japanese, as can be seen from Agnes Chow (周庭)'s Japanese nickname "民主の女神".

42.1.124. 治 (zhi4, cure)

Mnemonic: she cured him from his heat stroke with water water (水 (shui3, water)) right on the train platform (台 (tai2, platform))

Words:

42.1.125. 重 (zhong4, dumbbell)

Mnemonic: the best exercise to get fit is to carry one thousand (千 (qian2, thousand)) dumbells over one thousand miles (里 (li3, mile))

Words:

42.1.127. 子 (zi, child)

Mnemonic: Kangxi 39.

Characters:

42.2. English words

Format:

[[<<english-word>>]]
==== <<english-word>> (<<chinese-translation>>, <<chinese-translation>>)

* <<chinese-translation>>: <<explanation of this usage>>
* <<chinese-translation>>: <<explanation of this usage>>

This section exists mostly to disambiguate the multiple possible Chinese translations of a given English word.

42.2.1. Close (关, 合)

  • 关 TODO

  • 合 TODO close a book

42.2.2. List (清单, 列表)

42.3. Chinese words

Format:

[[<word>]]
=== <word> (<pinyin>, <main-translation>)

Characters:

* <character-contained>
* <character-contained>

Words:

* <word-containing>
* <word-containing>

Subwords:

* <word-contained>
* <word-contained>

Translations:

* <<english-word>>
** <<chinese-sentence-containing>>
*** <<note-on-this-sentence>>

Sentences:

* <<chinese-sentence-containing>>
** <<note-on-this-sentence>>

Notes:

* <<random text>>

Notes:

  • translations is useful if there are multiple possible English translations, and examples if it is more one-to-one with the main-translation

  • "Sentences" is like "Translations", but for when the header translation is enough and there are not multiple meanings, so no need to repeat the English word again

  • mnemonics are mostly useful for proper nouns, for common nouns, it is usually obvious from the composing characters. This is why Chinese is amazing.

42.3.15. 六 (liu4, six)

Mnemonic: we had eight 八 (ba1, eight) pan lids 亠 (tou2, pan lid), but two broke, so we have six 六 (liu4, six) left

Characters:

42.4. Chinese sentences

Format:

[[<chinese-sentence>]]
==== <chinese-sentence> (<<translation>>)

Source: <<source-url>> (<<source-url-archive>>)

Context: <<context>>

Words: <<sentence-with-linked-breakdown>>

Sentences: <<example>>

Translations:

* <<english-translation-1>>
* <<english-translation-2>>

Notes

  • Sentences: is mostly for when you have a smaller colloquial phrase that feels too generic for a "word", but which can also go inside a larger "super-sentence"

42.4.1. 测量体重 (Measure body weight, to weight oneself)

Words:

Sentences:

42.4.5. 海外生存之惑 (hai3 wai4, The puzzle of surviving abroad (of China))

Words: 海外生存之 (zhi1)

Notes: this is the name of a 2013 series of lifestyle articles by BBC Chinese for Chinese living abroad (in the UK)

43. Military dictatorship in Brazil (巴西军事独裁, 1964-1985)

Created with the help of…​ the United States (美国), while fighting the Cold War to prevent the spread of Communism. Fear is the mind killer, and the Cold War served as an excuse for many atrocities, notably in the Middle East (中东):

One of Ciro’s favorite stories about the dictatorship is how cake recipes or classical Luís_de_Camões (1524-1580) poetry were introduced in newspapers to replace news that had been censored in the last minute:

Who would have thought that even the limiting and ancient limitations of pagination would have their usefulness!!! Today’s Chinese censors have it easy, as they can just remove the stuff and that damned HTML reflow automatically to fit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXF-9GtHsek "These photos sparked a Cold War propaganda feud" by Vox (2021). CCP you should learn from this Brazillian magazine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RhKTzVVDno Apesar de Você (In spite of you [the Dictatorship])] by Chico Buarque (1970) with English and Spanish subtitles. That video unfortunately mixes anti-dictatorship and anti-Bolsonaro (2020) imagery. A video with better epoch image but no English subtitles can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33-bMTOlvx0. This is one of the many anti-Brazilian-dictatorship songs of the time, and Ciro really enjoys it. Lyrics with translation. Top quotes: "You [the dictatorship] who invented this State, who invented sin, forgot to invent forgiveness." and "Where will you hide, from the enormous euphoria [of a revolution]? How will you prohibit it when the rooster insists in singing?". Slideshows with that song have been made for several events, e.g. the Syrian civil war, and Ciro would like to do a China-themed one as well one day.
Os problemas da imprensa livre
Figure 281. Jornal da Tarde (Afternoon Newspaper) issue entitled on top "Os problemas da imprensa livre nas Américas" (The problems of the Free Press), followed by small rectangles with coverage of several countries such as the USA, Cuba, and others, but not Brazil. The bottom half of the page however hilariously contains recipes for "Doces" (Sweets) and "Salgados" (Salted dishes, especially Hors d’oeuvre), instead of the presumed coverage about Brazil. Possibly dated 1973 based on the top of the image. Source.
O Estado de Sao Paulo newspaper censorship Lusiadas 1974
Figure 282. 1974 edition of the nespaper O Estado de Sao Paulo with a copy of some verses of Os Lusíadas in the middle of the front page, replacing material that was censored on the last minute. Os Lusiadas was written in 1572 and the most important epic poem of the Portuguese language. It is also of course completely irrelevant to anything to do with modern politics of the 1970’s. Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的) believes however that a related phenomena happens in China in the early 21st century: there is an incredible number of period dramas in Chinese television and cinema. Ciro believes that this is in part because it would be much harder to offend the CCP censors with this kind of old source material. Of course, the effect is that Dictatorships are bad for the arts (独裁统治对艺术不好). Source.

44. India (伊朗)

45. Middle East (中东)

45.3. Libya (利比亚)

https://youtu.be/3J6rU3NUMM0?t=3033 HyperNormalisation by Adam Curtis (2016) starting at timestamp 50:30 comments on how the United States made Colonel Gaddafi into a fictional supervillain scapegoat, to cover up for their failures in Lebanon, starting by blaming the 1985 Rome and Vienna airport attacks on Libya with great certainty, although Italian secret services said it was Syria who was behind it. Gaddafi then did not deny his involvement, and instead used that publicity to bolster his position as a "world revolutionary", including helping the liberation of blacks in the United States through armed struggle.

In 1986, the USA also accused Libya of the West Berlin discotheque bombing, once again against European intelligence, and this time the USA decided to retaliate as internal political pressure to "do something" increased.

46. North Korea (朝鲜)

We don’t talk about North Korea here. What’s the point of talking about a joke nation?

47. Russia (俄罗斯)

Russia is clearly the number 2 Why does Ciro Santilli say that China is a dictatorship? (中国不是独裁!) in the world by population / GDP and the #1 nuclear arsenal, so here we go.

Ciro has always been curious about how Russia can be both oppressive and a appear democratic, unlike China which doesn’t even try to pretend. This is what he gathers:

  • the government controls all major media. If any media says bad things against them, the government finds pretexts to create lawsuits or increase taxes against such companies. Therefore all people end up thinking that the government is good.

  • just like China, they emphasize the threat of the foreign countries, especially the US, as a justification for having an oppressive power.

  • the government puts pressure on any significant opposition candidate. One technique is to find some reason to put them in jail for two months, which by Russian law forbids them from participating in further elections. Only candidates that don’t really stand a chance are left as a fake opposition. But if you reach some prominence, you start taking the same risks as politicians, although you are more likely to face more brutal illegal gangster violence threats as you are less visible

While we are at it, some interesting news:

The Russians have very different style to the Chinese, who are much more subtle, and just put people in jail or handicap them in several ways without killing them.

Other political murders or attempts:

Some other interesting political suppression lists:

Other random stuff:

47.1. Putin (Путин, 普京, 1999-2008, 2012-∞)

Coverage:

Notable dissidents:

https://youtu.be/fAoMzxKkH2M?t=3628 Can’t Get You Out of My Head S01E06 "Are We Pigeon Or Are We Dancer" highlights the fact that Putin came to power without a vision, without ideals and without personality. He was clearly just put there by the corrupt oligarchs who controlled the media as an administrator who would favor corruption.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiI5UuCiEoU Russian Youtuber Bashir Dokhov puts Putin portrait in a lift as an opinion poll. TODO evidence that it was not staged, e.g. address, identities of people shown. But in any case, Ciro does feel that as of 2020 Putin’s power is very precarious compared to Xi Jinping (习近平, 2012-∞, Heil卐!) for example. E.g., whenever Ciro spoke to Russians abroad, they were all able to criticize Putin. But about on third to half of the Chinese abroad were completely brainwahsed and thought China has the best government possible. Original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeb3MMl3lB4.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kk9igTqTx9s The Putin Files: Masha Gessen interview with PBS ()

47.1.1. Vladolf Putler (Владольф Путлер)

Combination os Putin (Путин, 普京, 1999-2008, 2012-∞) and Hitler. Of course the T joins just as nicely both in Russian and English.

Wikipedia also mentions the derived slogan "Путлер Капут" (Putler Kaput)

Other images:

47.1.4. Putin-sponsored poisonings (Путинские отравления)

Russia apparently has a long list of poisoning political enemies: https://nypost.com/2018/06/23/inside-russias-long-history-of-poisoning-political-enemies/

News:

47.1.4.1. Sergei Skripal (2018-03-04, Серге́й Ви́кторович Скрипáль)

In 4 March 2018, the Russian double agent and his daughter were poisoned with Novichok agent (Новичо́к), a Soviet-era nerve agent, which was likely put on their front door knob in Salisbury, UK, exact address Christie Miller Road! Straight out of a spy novel.

On 30 June 2018, the man of an unlucky drug addict couple found the counterfeit expensive looking Nina Ricci Premier Jour perfume bottle containing the poison, and gave it to the woman who died. How unlucky can you fucking be, as if heavy drug addiction weren’t enough, you still have to deal with fucking Russian Novichok!

Skripal assassins station
Figure 284. The assassination suspects Alexander Mishkin (Алекса́ндр Евге́ньевич Ми́шкин, alias Alexander Petrov) and Anatoliy Chepiga (Анатолий Владимирович Чепига, alias Ruslan Boshirov) in a CCTV still at Salisbury Station on 3rd March 2018 the day before the assassination. Both GRU and Alexander being a doctor, which is consistent with a poisoning assassination attempt. They later explained on an RT interview that they were visiting the world renowned Salisbury Cathedral in their 3 day trip to the UK, and that they were not gay. Some Western sources interpreted this as an intentional suggestion that they are gay, which for many Russians would imply that they cannot be FSB agents. Source.
Skripal perfume
Figure 285. Counterfeit Nina Ricci Premier Jour packet that contained the Novichok. Source.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ku8OQNyI2i0 "Full Skripal case interview with the UK’s suspects (EXCLUSIVE)" by Russia Today (RT, Russian state media foreign propaganda arm, 俄罗斯官方媒体) with Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov. Not gay moment at: 461s.
47.1.4.2. Alexander Litvinenko (Литвиненко, Александр Вальтерович, 2006)

Poisoned with polonium-210, for more poisonings see: Putin-sponsored poisonings (Путинские отравления):

Litvinenko hospital bed
Figure 286. Litvinenko in his death bed.
47.1.4.3. Anna Politkovskaya (Анна Политковская, 2006)

47.1.5. Superputin (Супер Путин)

Meme partially supported by Putin himself, showing how physically strong and manly the president is. A form of personality cult.

Similar to Chuck Norris facts.

"Putin does manly things" photo galleries:

Related:

Putin swim
Figure 287. Putin swims Butterfly stroke in a Siberian lake around August 2009. The Telegraph correctly interpreted this as a sign that he would be re-elected in 2012. For reference Lake Baikal in Siberia has a maximum temperature of 14 °C in summer. Other dictators have used similar swim tactics before, the most notable possibly being Mao swim across the Yangtze river (毛主席畅游长江, 1966-07-16). Source.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZzK32Cfcq8 "RASPUTIN - Vladimir Putin - Love The Way You Move (Funk Overload) @slocband" by Pace Audio (2016). Somewhere in the 2010’s the Rasputin 1978 song by Boney M. saw a meme resurgence by adapting the song to refer to Vladmir Putin instead of the original song’s originally intended Grigori Rasputin. This video adds amazing cute animations of Russian scientists trying to create the perfect funk dancing machine, and highlights the Superputin (Супер Путин) meme as Putin himself is the perfect dancing machine in the end.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbBaSfgNJnE Putin is number one greatest president song by Animation Domination High Def (2014). Good graphics, but the song is crap unlike the Rasputin one unfortunately. Many Gay Putin (Гей Путин, 2017) suggestions.
47.1.5.1. Putin riding things (Путин верхом на вещах)

TODO: Photoshoppers, PLEASE

We just need to use some gay porn meme.

Some other ones:

Putin horse
Figure 288. Putin riding a horse shirtless near Lake Seliger in August 2009. Source. There are others, e.g. here: https://www.vox.com/2015/6/17/8796659/vladimir-putin-shirtless-video we see putin feeding the horse in ultra high resolution. Getting cozy. We need one of Putin fucking a horse.
Putin bear
Figure 289. Putin riding a bear. Source.
Putin shark
Figure 290. Putin riding a shark. Source.
Putin eagle
Figure 291. Putin riding a giant eagle. Source.
Putin meteor
Figure 292. Putin riding a meteor. Source.
Putin dinosaur
Figure 293. Putin riding a dinosaur in a Sci-Fi planet. Source.
47.1.5.2. Night wolves (Ночные волки)

Russian ultra-nationalist and motorcycle group supported by Putin.

Notably, they have made large incredibly cheesy Putin supported music/theatrical/stunt shows to revive Russian nationalism.

Mentioned at https://youtu.be/9Q1hZmAcE08?t=4974 "Can’t Get You Out of My Head - Part 6: Are We Pigeon? Or Are We Dancer?"

47.1.6. Gay Putin (Гей Путин, 2017)

Often used to stress the poor condition of Gay rights (LGBT权利) in Russia:

The meme is especially funny due to Putin’s own personality cult which portrays himself as super-masculine, see: Superputin (Супер Путин).

Coverage:

But there is a pro-Putin gay group, OMG:

Other images:

Gay Putin
Figure 294. The possibly Gay Putin (Гей Путин) clown image banned in 2017. Source.
Gay Putin with Gay Medvedev
Figure 295. Gay Putin (Гей Путин) with Gay Medvedev (Гей Медведев). This image was used as a poster in the 34th Berlin Christopher Street Day parade in 2012, the German version of the Gay Pride parade (骄傲游行). Some other good homoerotic real propaganda photos can be seen at: https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2015/09/01/436569328/just-two-russian-bros-working-out-grilling-steak-drinking-tea. Source.
Putin Trump kiss
Figure 296. Possibly Gay Putin kissing possibly Gay Trump mural entitled Make Everything Great Again painted in Lithuania in 2016 by by artists Dominykas Čečkauskas and Mindaugas Bonanu. It references the Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections. It was later vandalized. Now we just need a Putin Xi Jinping (习近平, 2012-∞, Heil卐!) kiss. Trump Xi kiss can be found here. Xi Carrie Lam kiss: https://lih.kg/siCRcoX. Source.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1d7Llx4rm8 SUPER GAY PUTIN [original] by Squallido Anal Smithee (2014)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8xSZ9Fr4c0 What Putin thinks about gays by BBC News (2014) ahead of the Sochi Olympics. Basically he says we don’t discriminate against gays. We passed this law that prevents them from promoting themselves. But that’s mostly a anti-pedophilia law to start with, gays will be fine.

47.1.7. Electoral fraud in Russian elections

Besides barring opposition from participating such as Alexei Navalny (Навальный, Алексей Анатольевич), electoral fraud was off the charts:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KQlCRLCw_I 2019-09-12 CCTV footage of Vasily Dyachenko (Василий Дьяченко), who had reported electoral fraud concerns regional 2019 elections, getting surprise punched in the stomach at the St. Petersburg polling station 1619, while the police who is right in front of it do nothing about it. English coverage: https://www.rferl.org/a/russian-police-stand-idly-by-as-election-observer-sucker-punched/30160427.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oSeRyaFllY 2018-03-18 alleged ballot stuffing electoral fraud caught on CCTV in Lyubertsy, Moscow Oblast

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMEqv-NNLW4 Мусора избили ребёнка и наблюдателей на выборах TODO find English version

Related:

47.1.10. Putin opposition

List:

People:

47.1.10.2. Alexei Navalny (Навальный, Алексей Анатольевич)

Casually barred from the 2018 presidential campaign:

His Wiki page does say one thing of interest though, he has right wing tendencies which scared off liberals:

The BBC noted in a profile of Navalny that his endorsement of a political campaign called "Stop feeding the Caucasus" and his willingness to speak at ultra-nationalist events "have caused concern among liberals".

Related:

News:

47.1.10.2.1. The poisoning of Alexei Navalny (2020)

The second one! The first one was in 2019, but this one is more serious, the German government said tests confirmed it unequivocally that it was Novichok, which was also recently used in Sergei Skripal (2018-03-04, Серге́й Ви́кторович Скрипáль).

He was forcibly kept in Russia for a few days to make the poison effect undetectable before they allowed him to be flown to Berlin.

Several policemen prevented family access to him while in Russia.

First doctors told family he was poisoned, but then soon after they changed their minds to some random excuse.

Poison effects consistent with cholinesterase inhibitors, but the exact substance was not identified in tests.

Navalny hospital sitting
Figure 297. Photo published on Navalny's Twitter on 2020-09-15 of him sitting awake in a hospital bed in Germany with his family. Source.

47.2. Freedom of speech in Russia

Natasha Sindeeva (Синдеева, Наталья Владимировна)

47.2.2. Federal List of Extremist Materials (Федеральный список экстремистских материалов)

Unlike the Chinese, they have a public list, each entry had a numerical ID even. This is the best thing ever made! The dream for keyword attackers!

Most of it appears to be anti/Comparisons between the CCP and Nazi Germany (纳粹德国和中共长得很想), and notably anti-anti-semitic but several items are purely political anti-freedoms.

One wonders if the majority of the items are just fillers to hide the really juicy anti-freedom ones.

We need to make a GitHub mirror of all of those some day!

The list: http://minjust.gov.ru/ru/extremist-materials Here’s an archive: http://web.archive.org/web/20200817142035/http://minjust.gov.ru/ru/extremist-materials/export.csv?attach=page. The website has a CSV for download with all entries at the bottom. Enca says the encoding is "MS-Windows code page 1251", convert to UTF-8 with:

iconv -f WINDOWS-1251 -t UTF-8//IGNORE export.csv

//IGNORE is needed because their fucking CSV export has a bug and otherwise iconv stops at the first error.

From this we can grep, and then to overcome translation limits as there is no offline option yet: https://askubuntu.com/questions/380847/is-it-possible-to-translate-words-via-terminal, dump your selection on a gist and use Google translate on the Gist.

A website "dedicated" to bypassing censorship of the list: http://zapretno.info/. TODO much of that website’s content is not clearly marked as being on the list.

Some notable additions:

47.2.4. Mandatory registration of Russian bloggers (2014)

Bloggers with more than 3000 daily readers must register and cannot be anonymous.

The following Chinese policies come to mind:

47.5. Soviet Union (苏联)

47.5.1. Censorship of images in the Soviet Union (苏联对图像的审查)

Nikolai Yezhov Stalin canal edit
Figure 298. Before/after comparison of picture of Stalin with Nikolai Yezhov at the Moscow Canal censored circa 1940. Nikolai was edited out form the second picture. (Credit: Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images & AFP/GettyImages) Source.
Malchenko no Malchenko
Figure 299. Above: a meeting of the St. Petersburg chapter of the Union of Struggle for the Liberation of the Working Class in February 1897, including Lenin and Alexander Malchenko. Source. Belos: same as above, but with Alexander Malchenko edited out. Source.

47.5.2. Soviet Union radio stations (苏联苏联无线电干扰)

Ah, the good old days before the TCP/IP, when you could just jam around a border ;-)

Soviet radio jamming vs Jingjing
Figure 300. Soviet vertical curtain array of antennas for radio jamming in the 1960s vs Jingjing from Jingjing and Chacha (警警察察). Source.

47.5.3. Soviet Union propaganda (苏联宣传)

47.6. Stalin (斯大林, 1922-1952)

Stalin bitch please
Figure 301. Light Yagami from Death Note: "I can kill anyone by simply writing his name here". Stalin: "Bitch please". Source.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZT2z0nrsQ8o "Rasputin vs Stalin." Epic Rap Battles of History YouTube video. This is fire. Explanations.

47.8. Mini-Russias

47.8.1. Belarus (Белоруссия)

Moscow Minsk friendship mural girl with barbed wire
Figure 302. The Moscow-Minsk friendship mural in Minsk (capital of Belarus), originally meant to show the harmonious alliance between Belarus and Russia, was defaced in 2016 by adding barbed wire amidst the flowers held and worn by the boy and girl which represent Russia and Belarus respectively, which indicates that the friendship is actually a prison for Belarus. Dictatorships tend to work together (独裁政权倾向于合作) comes to mind. Photo by Aleh Larychau. Upload on Wikimedia Commons deleted because of the lack of Freedom of panorama in Belarus. https://www.euronews.com/2020/12/21/how-the-crisis-in-belarus-is-politicising-a-new-wave-of-street-artists.
47.8.1.1. Alexander Lukashenko (Лукашенко, Александр Григорьевич)

47.8.2. Russo-Ukrainian War (俄乌战争, Російсько-українська війна, 2014-)

The situation is basically the same as that of Belarus (Белоруссия): Russia wants buffer states/human shields between itself and its possible enemies, The West. Just like he USA did during the Cuban Missile Crisis (古巴导弹危机, 1962). It is just too important strategically for the Russians.

Some things that must be said:

  • Ukraine is/was not a proper democracy. There was only limited freedom of speech.

  • there is a some level neo-Nazi-like movement in Ukraine. Of course, this is just an excuse for Russian invasion, but it is there.

This is something the USA should recognize, and promise not to expand NATO/EU there:

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnHo6JXxcQM The War in Ukraine by Glenn Greenwald (2022) Mentions how USA was very influential in Ukraine since the 2014 revolution. Another point is on the Trump election, democrats were accusing Trump of being supported by the Russians, which led it to become a taboo to talk to Russians, and strained relations between the USA and Russia.

Some other pearls:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8X7Ng75e5gQ Vladimir Pozner: How the United States Created Vladimir Putin (2018) Basically says it was a similar bullshit to what the allies did after WWI, rather than invest in the country, they were more willing to punish it, or ignore it. Notably disastrous was the enlargement of NATO in 1996 to move East including Poland, which the USA had promised not to do during discussions for the reunification of Germany in 1989. When Putin came to power, he propoesd that Russia should join the NATO or the European Union, and again he was turned down.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrMiSQAGOS4 Why is Ukraine the West’s Fault? by John Mearsheimer (2015) Interesting points: 1) Ukraine is badly split, the East is really pro-Russia unification, and the West really pro-European. 2) The Americans didn’t like the Cuban Missile Crisis (古巴导弹危机, 1962)", where an enemy power would install weapons on its borders. Ukraine is the same for the Russians. 3) The West wants Russia to be on our side against China. That is the big fight coming up. And in the Middle East. So we have to give some them some concessions. Ciro is a bit saddened by this kind of Realpolitik (现实政治), which completely disregards principles, but unfortunately, especially when dealing with dictatorships, it is the only way perhaps, choosing the lesser of two evils.
https://youtu.be/wtyA3VJQn1g?t=53 French state television pre 2022 invasion interview with brainwashed Russian. The pricesless moment is when they ask if the troop buildup on Ukraine’s borders pre-2022 invasion don’t worry him. To which he answers: "it’s our side of the border, so we can do whatever we want". Ukraine, on the other hand, can’t do whatever they want, e.g. join NATO.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-gpIs3rcFk Ukraine: Invade us if you are gay | Russia: meme.
47.8.2.2. Marina Ovsyannikova (Марина Овсянникова, 2022, anti war poster on live news)

Many have suggested however that this was staged and that Marina is actually a FSB operative. She later started asking for an end to sanctions.

Marina Ovsyannikova
Figure 303. Marina Ovsyannikova (Марина Овсянникова) showing an anti-war banner on live television news report in the program Vremya on Channel One on 14 March 2022, during a live broadcast related to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Source.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_MG0os17XM Marina Ovsyannikova’s photobomb and statement video glued up by The Guardian.

47.8.3. Kazakhstan (哈萨克斯坦)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eB9O4PU5Nnk "How Much Do You Know About The Real Kazakhstan?" by Journeyman Pictures (2016) shows how Western leaders turn a blind eye to Kazakhstan’s dictator at the time, Nursultan Nazarbayev, because they have oil and are willing to cooperate with the West on the war in Afghanistan. In 2019 he was replaced by Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, gotta learn more about the new one. Includes interviews with Pamela L. Spratlen, an US diplomat, where she diplomatically refuses to say anything meaningful.

47.9. Dictatorships tend to work together (独裁政权倾向于合作)

Dictatorships naturally become allies.

The thing a dictatorship is afraid more than anything is of their own citizens, and therefore that they might be influenced by democracies to rebel against the oppression.

For this reason, the world basically always tumbles into a dictatorship vs democracy global war.

Also, since dictatorships don’t need to convince their people of anything, they tend to make such alliances much faster.

But this presents a serious dilemma to dictatorships, because you can’t really trust the other dictator either, as they are just waiting to put a knife behind your back at all times.

This leads to constant tensions between allied dictatorships, e.g. Russia (俄罗斯) vs China:

This creates one of the most serious strategic problems faced by dictatorships. It is similar situation with organized crime.

And of course, when a smaller dictatorship makes an alliance with a larger dictatorship, they basically immediately become a vassal state, e.g.:

48. Spain (西班牙)

49. Thailand (泰国)

It is a crime to criticize the royal family (Lèse majesté):

I was always convinced that there is no where you should’t go. There are no sacred cows. And if there are, if they are really sacred, let’s see how much we puncture them and see if they still float.

Or in other words:


Vajiralongkorn, you little piece of shit, grow some balls and learn how to take an insult. A man who cannot take an insult is not a man, but a big pussy. _

Everyone who has political power must know how to be laughed at criticized, otherwise dicatorship follows:

Dissidents:

Side by side comparison between Thai king Vajiralongkorn and Hamtaro
Thai king prostrated officers
Figure 305. Leading Thai politicians prostrate themselves before Vajiralongkorn in 2016, presumably during his ascension to the throne. Source.
Thai king prostrated wife
Figure 306. Suthida Tidjai, Vajiralongkorn’s wife, prostrated before him during their marriage in 2016 before he officially ascended to the throne. Yes, prostration is a big thing in Thailand. An older king, Rama V, had apparently even abolished this practice in 1873. Clearly, Xi Jinping (习近平, 2012-∞, Heil卐!) could learn a thing or two from a proper monarch like Vajiralongkorn. Source.
Thai king crop top
Figure 307. Thai king Vajiralongkorn wearing a crop top so tight that it could be called a bra, and accompanied by one of his many girlfriends, in a shopping center in Munich. He can wear whatever the fuck wants, but to both wear that and enforce Lèse majesté? That’s the ultimate torture for the Thai people, how can you not make fun of him??? TODO date, exact location, original report. Here is one of the many reports, sample report from 2017 in a British tabloid.

50. United States (美国)

Major violations:

50.1. Afghanistan and Iraq wars

50.1.1. Iraq War (2003-2011, 伊拉克战争)

This had purely political/strategic motivations. They had to fake intelligence in order to justify the war by saying that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, and they went against the UN. A geopolitical disaster!

50.1.2. Guantanamo bay (关塔那摩湾拘押中心)

50.1.2.1. Enhanced interrogation techniques
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdQTm6eQTU8 Ex-CIA interrogator James Mitchell supports enhanced interrogation techniques (2017) Interview by the BBC (英国广播公司, British government media). How can someone go in front of a camera and say the they support torture? It is very very hard to comprehend. Don’t they see that this is creating more terrorists than it is apprehending? Are they that blind?

50.2. Israel (以色列)

Israel is a military base for the United States (美国) to protect oil reserves in the Middle East.

A popular and in Ciro Santilli (三西猴, anti-CCP fanatic, 反中共狂热, stupid cunt, 傻屄, CIA agent, CIA特工, 肏你妈的)'s view reasonable analogy of the situation is with the apartheid:

Clearly, the best solution for the region as of 2021 would be to just give the West Bank to the Palestinians:

As of July 2017 it has an estimated population of 2,747,943 Palestinians, and approximately 391,000 Israeli settlers,

For comparison, the population os Israel in 2020 was 9 million people, 20% Arab.

Just look at the map of the 2017 Oslo accords: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Bank Clearly Palestinians are split into dozens of small islands, while Israel controls one big sea of territory around them all. It is ridiculous.

And the settler population just keeps increasing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:IsraeliSettlementGrowthLineGraph.png

Basically every single country supports that resolution, except the United States due to their strategic interests, and other rich Western countries that would lose too much by fighting the US over it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_recognition_of_the_State_of_Palestine. Even human rights organizations from those countries recognize that:

Europe mumbles something about "stop being naughty Israeal, I’ll make an Embargo". But these never lead anywhere, because the United States has laws that prohibit Israel embargoes, and as a result this would force removal of US investments in any European country that creates such embargo. And as mentioned at https://cirosantilli.com/having-more-than-one-natural-language-is-bad-for-the-world Europe is too divided to do anything about anything compared to the United States, and so nothing ever gets done:

The correct solution for this would be to actually force Israel to give the entire West Bank to Palestine, not only through sanctions, but also through military action supporting the independent West Bank state. But of course, it would never come to that. The USA needs Israel as a military base in the region. And if the USA would stop support, Israel would ally itself with China or Russia, as they’d be fucked without external support. Israeli settlers in the West Bank would then have a choice of staying under the new government, possibly obtaining Palestine citizenship, or moving back to Israel.

Bibliography:

50.3. Cuban Missile Crisis (古巴导弹危机, 1962)

This even highlighted that even for the "supposedly freedom supporting United States", some sovereign foreign nations don’t really have full freedom to do what they like when it becomes a strategic problem for the USA, e.g. Cuba can’t just have their own missiles.

It is so amazing how they then made a "naval quarantine", which is totally not a "naval blockade, which would be an act of war. One is reminded of how they totally did not "torture" people at Guantanamo bay (关塔那摩湾拘押中心), they only used Enhanced interrogation techniques.

This has very strong parallels to how:

51. Other sections