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posted by martyb on Monday January 07 2019, @02:34PM   Printer-friendly
from the keep-your-friends-close-and-your-enemies-closer dept.

The New York Times has an article about China's online censorship factories and how they operate. Censors are specially educated accurately in history and politics so that they have mastery over how to spot and eliminate references, even indirect ones, to forbidden topics. Potential employees for censorship factories have to cram for two weeks for a comprehensive exam which they must pass in order to begin work. This education is followed by ongoing training which includes regularly visiting and reviewing web sites normally blocked by the Great Firewall of China.

Li Chengzhi had a lot to learn when he first got a job as a professional censor.

Like many young people in China, the 24-year-old recent college graduate knew little about the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown. He had never heard of China’s most famous dissident, Liu Xiaobo, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate who died in custody two years ago.

Now, after training, he knows what to look for — and what to block. He spends his hours scanning online content on behalf of Chinese media companies looking for anything that will provoke the government’s wrath. He knows how to spot code words that obliquely refer to Chinese leaders and scandals, or the memes that touch on subjects the Chinese government doesn’t want people to read about.

Previously:
Censorship a Trojan Horse (2018)
Unpublished Chinese Censorship Document Reveals Effort to Eradicate Online Political Content (2018)
The "Great Cannon" of China (2015)


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  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday January 08 2019, @06:20PM (4 children)

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday January 08 2019, @06:20PM (#783778) Journal

    Odds are, by 2030.

    No way. They'll probably be close to or just past having leading GDP by then. But they'll still have some catch up to do to get to the technology and standard of living of the rest of the developed world. 2050 would be the earliest I'd put forth unless the rest of the developed world screws up massively somehow.

  • (Score: 2) by legont on Thursday January 10 2019, @01:46AM (3 children)

    by legont (4179) on Thursday January 10 2019, @01:46AM (#784404)

    Standard of living, yes, it'll take some more time. As per technology, financial and military power, and overall leadership, 10 more years will do it, I think. Unless there is a war.

    We should expect Japan's level per capita in similar to Japan's time frame. And let's not forget that the rest of the region will move forward even faster. It'd be a miracle if the US still has hegemony position in 10 years.

    --
    "Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
    • (Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday January 10 2019, @02:26AM (2 children)

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday January 10 2019, @02:26AM (#784419) Journal

      As per technology, financial and military power, and overall leadership, 10 more years will do it, I think.

      They're not that close. Plus, I think there's at least one huge economic correction in China's future like what happened to the Japanese in 1990. Move wrong on that and they might be indefinitely behind the developed world.

      • (Score: 2) by legont on Thursday January 10 2019, @04:16AM (1 child)

        by legont (4179) on Thursday January 10 2019, @04:16AM (#784463)

        Well, my bet is that in 10 years we will have 1990 Japan adjusted for the population size of China. This should be more than enough to make it the leader.

        I'd agree with you if a serious recession is to happen now - withing 2-3 years - but it got to be a Chinese only recession and a long deep one at that, which is not very likely. Japan got their lost decades only after they achieved comparable living standard.

        --
        "Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
        • (Score: 1) by khallow on Friday January 11 2019, @05:14AM

          by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Friday January 11 2019, @05:14AM (#784904) Journal

          Well, my bet is that in 10 years we will have 1990 Japan adjusted for the population size of China. This should be more than enough to make it the leader.

          They're not that close and they have a huge number of rural people that they need to deal with. And keep in mind that neither the US or EU are standing still for them.

          I'd agree with you if a serious recession is to happen now - withing 2-3 years - but it got to be a Chinese only recession and a long deep one at that, which is not very likely. Japan got their lost decades only after they achieved comparable living standard.

          While that's quite possible, it's not the only time that such a recession can cripple China. The lesson of Japan is not that recessions can hurt, but rather that the response to recessions can cripple for decades.