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from the the-truth-is-what-we-say-it-is dept.
TechCrunch:
"China's web scrubbers have been busy banning a collection of terms and dropping the hammer on user accounts after the Xi Jinping, the country's premier, got the all-clear to become 'President For Life' after the Communist Party moved to amend the constitution to remove an article that limits Presidential terms to two five-year terms."
BBC:
"The comments remaining on the popular Sina Weibo microblog are mostly monosyllabic statements from users simply say they "like" or "approve" the amendments.
They are likely to be from China's "50 Cent Party" - a nickname coined for internet commentators who are paid small amounts to post messages supporting the government's position.
Some posts have attracted thousands of comments - but only a few are available to view. This is traditionally indicative of online censorship by government administrators. "
China Digital Times:
"Following state media's announcement, censorship authorities began work to limit online discussion. CDT Chinese editors found the following terms blocked from being posted on Weibo: [...]"
Sources:
China's web censors go into overdrive as President Xi Jinping consolidates power
China censorship after Xi Jinping presidency extension proposal
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday February 27 2018, @09:10PM (4 children)
Maybe I haven't been browsing Tumblr enough because I haven't seen much of that jive talk. Who's saying it? Got a cite? Maybe an opinion column? Are they reaching back towards 19th century Western imperialism in China?
I'm sure some closely related (but not identical) sentiments are more like:
Nationalist Chinese person: The U.S. had its time at the top, now it's China's time.
Many people (in relation to climate talks): The West had its time to pollute and grow economically, now the rest of the world can have its chance.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday February 27 2018, @09:47PM (1 child)
Oh, it's more than that...China has, if you count the Xia period, a good 5,000 *years* of history. The US has been around for not even 1/20th of that. There is, I suspect, feeling among many Chinese that the world rightfully belongs to them as the oldest still-extant civilization and inventors of, for example, *gunpowder.*
And wasn't there some emperor in the 15th century AD who prohibited seagoing voyages not too long before Columbus and co. made their trips from Spain? Because if I'm remembering that right, that may very well be why we're not all speaking courtly Mandarin right now (and believe me I am trying my damndest to learn...). Such seemingly small things are the fulcrums on which history pivots. It's scary to think about...
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 3, Informative) by Hartree on Tuesday February 27 2018, @11:29PM
I recall that it was at least partly a political battle between the eunuchs and the Confucian scholars. The emperor who had supported the voyages died, then the next emperor restricted the voyages for a short time His successor authorized a seventh one.
Then Admiral Zheng He's (a eunuch) seventh exploration fleet got destroyed by a storm off the coast of Africa and that helped tilt the balance from exploration (expensive) to internal civil works projects (also expensive).
The winning side tried to minimize the memory of Zheng He. He was born a muslim and became a eunuch which were both great ways to be unpopular with the Confucians. (Seeing a recurring pattern of how to handle the opposition? ;) )
This likely kept the Chinese from becoming a much broader empire. Whether they would have reached Europe is speculation.
(Score: 1) by Sulla on Tuesday February 27 2018, @10:48PM (1 child)
This is people I know in real life and not anyone that I know online. I will have to see if I can figure out what publications they read.
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 27 2018, @11:28PM
I feel much better about it, now. Do you seriously imagine that they actually read?