As a follow-up to my post on Ai Weiwei and the forthcoming cultural exchange between the state-run Virginia Museum and the government-run Palace Museum in Beijing, let’s take a look behind the bamboo curtain to see if anything has changed.
According to this piece from The Australian, regarding the spreading unrest in the Middle Kingdom, we learn that:
Some Chinese academics believe that the true number of protests in the country last year was more than 180,000. After several big clashes in recent weeks the names of half a dozen big towns have been eradicated from the search engines of the country’s most popular microblogging sites.
One of the “disappeared” cities, Dongguan, is the fourth-largest producer of exports in the country and has a population only slightly smaller than London’s.
Even in a nation as large as China, 180,000 protests is significant. Far more troubling is the “disappearing” of large cities where the unrest is happening. If Richmond was to suddenly disappear from Google searches owning to unrest (say, over plans to remove the paving stones on Monument Avenue and replace them with asphalt, we are genteel here), people would notice. Or I would hope they would notice.
Or consider this, also from The Australian:
New restrictions have been introduced in the biggest clampdown on correspondents since the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Aggressive actions at the weekend, which saw several reporters and cameramen hit and kicked in Beijing, have been backed with warnings to journalists about how they cover events. The serial and violent protests in the Middle East have made the Chinese authorities very nervous. Local journalists already labour under heavy restrictions from the powerful Propaganda Department and a number of senior editors from boundary-pushing publications have recently been sacked.
So much for freedom of expression…let alone freedom of the press.
So it seems things are only getting worse in China for those who dare to challenge the government, and those who would report on it.
And yet the commonwealth remains intent on continuing its cultural exchange with the murderous thugs who run the Chinese government.
Sic Semper Tyrannis, indeed.
(Cross-posted at Score Radio Network)
