In a bookstore near one of Taipei’s leading universities, Zeng Da-fu and his wife work quietly into the evening. Zeng has run this store for decades, tucked in a laneway behind a wall of crumbling posters. They sell books on history and politics and Chinese translations of foreign texts, mainly to students but also once to Taiwan’s president, Tsai Ing-wen, Zeng notes proudly. His work is crucial to the defence of Taiwan’s democracy, he says. This week that battle came close to home. Zeng, 75, is also a big investor…
Tag: Censorship
China’s Search Engines Have More Than 66,000 Rules Controlling Content, Report Says
China’s internet censorship is well known, but a report has quantified the extent of it, uncovering more than 66,000 rules controlling the content that is available to people using search engines. The most diligent censor, by at least one measure, is Microsoft’s search engine Bing, the only foreign search engine operating in the country, according to the report, which was released on Wednesday by the Citizen Lab, a cybersecurity research group at the University of Toronto. The findings suggested that China’s censorship apparatus had become not only more pervasive, but…
China Detains Taiwan-Based Publisher in National Security Investigation
TAIPEI, Taiwan — A Taiwan-based publisher who disappeared while in China has been detained for suspected violations of security laws, Chinese authorities confirmed on Wednesday, fanning concerns in Taiwan that Beijing is sending a warning to the island’s vibrant publishing sector. The publisher, Li Yanhe, widely known by his pen name, Fu Cha, is a Chinese citizen who has been living in Taiwan since 2009. His company, Gusa Publishing, is well known in Taiwan for books that cast a critical eye on China’s ruling Communist Party. Mr. Li had returned…
China Says Chatbots Must Toe the Party Line
Five months after ChatGPT set off an investment frenzy over artificial intelligence, Beijing is moving to rein in China’s chatbots, a show of the government’s resolve to keep tight regulatory control over technology that could define an era. The Cyberspace Administration of China unveiled draft rules this month for so-called generative artificial intelligence — the software systems, like the one behind ChatGPT, that can formulate text and pictures in response to a user’s questions and prompts. According to the regulations, companies must heed the Chinese Communist Party’s strict censorship rules,…
Chinese Censorship Is Quietly Rewriting the Covid-19 Story
Early in 2020, on the same day that a frightening new illness officially got the name Covid-19, a team of scientists from the United States and China released critical data showing how quickly the virus was spreading, and who was dying. The study was cited in health warnings around the world and appeared to be a model of international collaboration in a moment of crisis. Within days, though, the researchers quietly withdrew the paper, which was replaced online by a message telling scientists not to cite it. A few observers…
Screenings of Winnie the Pooh horror film cancelled in Hong Kong
The screening of Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, a British slasher film due to be released in Hong Kong this week, has been cancelled for technical reasons, movie websites said. Moviematic, which had organised a screening of the film for Tuesday evening, reported the cancellation on its social media pages. Several other websites and media also reported the cancellation of screenings. The movie’s distributor in Hong Kong, VII Pillars Entertainment, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A ticket-booking link on its Facebook page brought up a message…
China’s ‘rotten girls’ are escaping into erotic fiction about gay men
“The hand around his waist held him tighter, their bodies pressed closer together, and Xie Lian’s struggling hands were firmly folded and crushed against his own chest; unable to move. His lips were still securely sealed, the kiss deepening, and a stream of gentle, chilled air slowly passed through.” A god kisses a ghost king, and a love story, movie deal and KFC sponsorship are born. The kiss appears in the book Heaven Official’s Blessing, a danmei or “boys love” story. Danmei is romantic fiction about men or male beings…
The Toll That Twitter’s Glitches Is Taking on Chinese Activists
In November, Bao Pu, a veteran human rights activist who was visiting Beijing, posted videos on Twitter of university protests against China’s tough coronavirus lockdown orders. He gained over 10,000 followers in subsequent weeks. But friends and fellow activists soon told him they were having a hard time finding his posts — and even his account — on Twitter. “I was shocked,” said Mr. Bao, who is based in Hong Kong. He said he feared that Twitter was “putting a limit on the influence” that he could have. More than…
China Tries to Play Down Balloon Dispute With Censorship and Memes
On Chinese social media, jokes about the suspected spy balloon have been making the rounds. People quipped that the vessel was a misunderstood attempt at wishing Americans a happy Lantern Festival, the Chinese holiday this past Sunday. Others compared it to a glutinous rice ball, a traditional food eaten during the celebrations. The wisecracking was, in part, what happens on social media anywhere in the world: current events transformed to memes to attract likes and follows. But it also dovetailed with signs of a broader government strategy to downplay an…
Simpsons censored in Hong Kong for mentioning China ‘labour camps’
An episode of the Simpsons that references “forced labour camps” in China has been removed from Disney+ streaming services in Hong Kong. The episode is the second in the long-running US cartoon’s latest season. One Angry Lisa sees Marge buy an interactive training exercise bike, similar to a Peloton bike. On an interactive tour, the guide takes Marge to the Great Wall of China with its wonders of “bitcoin mines, forced labour camps where children make smartphones, and romance”. China’s government has long faced accusations of operating forced labour camps,…