As Beijing Takes Control, Chinese Tech Companies Lose Jobs and Hope - The New York Times - "The ranks of the unemployed technology workers are swelling, as China’s once vibrant internet industry is hit by a harsh and capricious regulatory crackdown. Under the direction of China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, the government’s unbridled hand is meddling in big ways and small, leaving companies second-guessing their strategies and praying to not become the next targets for crackdown... The crackdown is killing the innovation, creativity and entrepreneurial spirit that made China a tech power in the past decade. It is destroying companies, profits and jobs that used to attract China’s best and brightest. Even people within the system are alarmed by the heavy-handed approach. The former head of China’s sovereign wealth fund urged restrictions on the power of regulators. Hu Xijin, the newly retired editor of the official newspaper Global Times and an infamous propagandist, said he hoped that regulatory actions should help make most companies healthier instead of leaving them “dying on the operating table.” The damage has been done. Some internet companies have been forced to shut down, while others are suffering from huge losses or disappointing earnings. Many publicly listed companies have seen their share prices fall by half, if not more... “The biggest problem for our industry is severe shortage of content supply,” iQiyi’s chief executive, Gong Yu, told analysts in November. He blamed, in part, censors’ slow approval... Many film, TV and streaming projects have been canceled or killed over concerns of increasingly harsh and unpredictable censorship, said people in the industry. Lilian Li, a writer in Beijing, said Tencent and a studio working with iQiyi approached her last year about creating a streaming series based on one of her history novels. A few weeks later, both companies told her that they had decided not to proceed because there was little hope of getting the censors’ approval for a history series. She said she received far fewer collaboration requests from content providers in 2021. Chinese content creators always joke that they dance with shackles on, meaning they try to satisfy the censors while appealing to their audiences. By now it’s clear that no matter the creative concessions, there’s no guarantee that their projects can see the light of the day. One of the most anticipated movies for the 2021 Christmas season had to change its name to “Fire on the Plain,” from “Moses on the Plain,” possibly because of its Christianity reference. Then four days before its release, the production team said it was postponed without giving an explanation. “Restrict this, cancel that. Regulate this, censor that,” Chen Jian, a stock market investor, wrote on the social media platform Weibo. This country “will become a cultural desert eventually.” Beijing wants its cyberspace to become a tool of governance and national rejuvenation. And it will penalize anyone who fails to serve the goal. In mid-December, the country’s internet regulator said it had ordered platforms to shut down more than 20,000 accounts of top influencers in 2021, including people who spoke ill of the country’s martyrs, entertainers involved in scandals and major livestreaming stars... To prove their loyalty, many tech firms are positioning themselves to help build key technologies that will help the country break free from what Mr. Xi described as “stranglehold” weaknesses that the United States can exploit. That includes semiconductors, new energy and other advanced technologies. A Beijing-based venture capitalist said his firm had given up on investing in consumer tech completely and had been busy persuading scientists and semiconductor engineers to start businesses. It hasn’t been easy because not many scientists have the entrepreneurial drive, said the venture capitalist, who spoke on the condition of anonymity given the political environment. Li Chengdong, an e-commerce consultant who invests in start-ups, said some consumer internet companies he owned were struggling with higher compliance costs. “To stay on the safe side, they have to be stricter in compliance than what the government requires,” he said. The crackdowns are having a chilling effect on the job market. Many young Chinese are looking to the public sector for more stable positions, even though they pay less."
Remove your tattoos, Beijing tells Chinese football players - "Footballers playing in China's national team should remove any existing tattoos and are "strictly prohibited" from getting any new ones, the country's sports administration body has said. The sport has found itself in the crosshairs of the Communist Party's purity drive in recent years, and players on the national football team routinely cover their arms with long sleeves or bandages to hide their tattoos... It went on to say that the under-20 national teams and those even younger were "strictly prohibited" from recruiting anyone with tattoos... The Chinese Football Association has ordered players in the national team to cover tattoos in recent years and packed young footballers off to military camps for drills and Marxist-style "thought education". That has prompted complaints from fans that it is thinking more about politics than sport. Last year, a women's university football match was eventually called off after players were told they were not allowed to have dyed hair. President Xi Jinping wants China to host and even win the World Cup one day... Beijing has also pushed through a series of restrictions on youth culture, including sweeping measures to ban "abnormal aesthetics" and crack down on the perceived excesses of modern entertainment. It has made an example out of movie stars that allegedly stepped out of line, banned reality talent shows and ordered broadcasters to stop featuring "sissy" men and "vulgar influencers". As tensions have mounted with the West, China has also pushed a nationalist and militaristic narrative at home, including a vision of tough masculinity."
Fight Club gets a new ending in China - and the authorities win - "The Narrator still kills off Durden, but the exploding building scene is replaced with a black screen and a coda: “The police rapidly figured out the whole plan and arrested all criminals, successfully preventing the bomb from exploding”. It then adds that Tyler – a figment of The Narrator’s imagination – was sent to a “lunatic asylum” for psychological treatment and was later discharged."
Moazzam Begg on Twitter - MFA China: "The failure to shut down the Guantanamo Bay prison epitomizes the stains that cannot be wiped away in the US’ human rights track record. The abhorrent atrocities in the Guantanamo Bay prison constitute textbook examples of human rights abuses."
"As a survivor #Guantanamo I remind you that Chinese intelligence came to Gimto to interrogate 22 #Uyghurs detainees. No doubt US abuses have scarred us for life but as Uyghurs told me, they were thankful they were in the ended up in Gitmo and not in a Chinese re-education camp."
Damn CIA, placing their agents in Guantanamo!
Warriors' Chamath Palihapitiya: No one cares about Uyghurs - "A minority owner of the Golden State Warriors is getting shredded on social media for callously admitting he does not care about Uyghur genocide in China. Chamath Palihapitiya, a venture capitalist who owns 2 percent of the NBA franchise, expressed cold indifference to the plight of the Uyghurs, an ethnic Muslim minority that has been persecuted in China... “But if you’re asking me do I care about a segment of a class of people in another country? Not until we can take care of ourselves will I prioritize them over us. I think a lot of people believe that and I’m sorry if that’s a hard truth to hear. But every time I say that I care about the Uyghurs, I’m really just lying if I don’t really care.”"
So no one should care about the Palestinians till their countries are perfect. And since no country will ever be perfect...
Woke NBA players have no problem taking money from Chinese shoe companies that boast about using "cotton plantation slave labor" - "Seeing a market opportunity, two Chinese companies called Li-Ning and Anta announced publicly "that they will continue to proudly use cotton produced from Muslim slave labor"... they've signed contracts with star American NBA players for their brands"
Communist Party Members Share Letter Urging Removal of Xi Jinping - "Communist Party leaders have reportedly begun circulating a letter demanding an emergency Politburo to address dictator Xi Jinping’s poor performance leading the country... The author of the letter, which does not identify him or herself, urges three senior Communist Party officials – Premier Li Keqiang, Chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Wang Yang, and Vice President Wang Qishan – to convene a special Politburo meeting to discuss “Xi’s issues.” A copy of the letter highlighted by Asia Times notes that Xi’s failure to contain the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak adds renewed urgency to a discussion on his exacerbating tensions with the United States, failing to run basic government operations like functional schools and hospitals, and pouring money into “backward nations” in Africa...
' Have China’s international relations … improved or worsened since Xi Jinping came to power? Is making enemies on all sides and deteriorating U.S. relations good or bad for China’s development? Regardless of the current situation of the country, is it true that large expenditures in backward countries in places like Africa is proper for China’s own development and international relations?'...
Both RFA and Asia Times linked the letter to increasingly loud discontent among Communist Party leaders over the disappearance of Ren Zhiqiang, a real estate tycoon and formerly one of China’s richest and most powerful people. Ren disappeared last week after publishing an article titled “The Lives of the People Are Ruined By the Virus and a Seriously Sick System” in which he insulted Xi as a clown – without naming him – and described him using the well-known story of the emperor who has no clothes, but all are too afraid to tell him so.
“The covert propaganda around the decisions made during the Wuhan coronavirus epidemic will only deceive those who are willing to be deceived,” Ren wrote... Asia Times noted that Ren went to the same high school as Wang Qishan, the vice president the anonymous letter named as necessary to the emergency meeting on removing Xi, and the two are presumably friends. Some experts believe that Wang and Ren agree on Xi’s incompetence. Xi Jinping demoted Wang from leading the nation’s “anti-corruption” change – a purge of Communist Party agents disloyal to Xi – but reportedly empowered him late last year to work on silencing the widespread protests against communism in Hong Kong. Ren’s letter shared a dismissive tone with one written by prominent dissident Xu Zhiyong, arrested for “inciting state subversion” this month as a result of his text. Xu demanded Xi’s resignation in a letter calling the dictator stupid and blaming him for the extent of the destruction caused by Wuhan’s coronavirus outbreak. “You’re not Putin, or Modi, and you’re certainly not Trump,” Xu wrote of the Communist Party leader. “You flirt with Cultural Revolution fanaticism, but you are no true-believing Leftist; you lurch towards bellicose nationalism, but you’re no hawk, either. You’re a big nothing.” Xi Jinping has faced repeated waves of protests within China for years in response to his regime’s inability to maintain quality government services. Plans to build polluting incinerators in densely populated areas, factories violating the human rights of workers, and a nationwide scandal in which multiple vaccine developers watered down their products – leaving over a million children immunocompromised – have all triggered anti-Xi public sentiment."
From 2020
Unfavorable Views of China Reach Historic Highs in Many Countries - "Negative views of China increased most in Australia, where 81% now say they see the country unfavorably, up 24 percentage points since last year. In the UK, around three-quarters now see the country in a negative light – up 19 points. And, in the U.S., negative views of China have increased nearly 20 percentage points since President Donald Trump took office, rising 13 points since just last year. The rise in unfavorable views comes amid widespread criticism over how China has handled the coronavirus pandemic. Across the 14 nations surveyed, a median of 61% say China has done a bad job dealing with the outbreak. This is many more than say the same of the way the COVID-19 pandemic was handled by their own country or by international organizations like the World Health Organization or the European Union. Only the U.S. receives more negative evaluations from the surveyed publics, with a median of 84% saying the U.S. has handled the coronavirus outbreak poorly. Disapproval of how China has handled the COVID-19 pandemic also colors people’s confidence in Chinese President Xi Jinping. A median of 78% say they have not too much or no confidence in him to do the right thing regarding world affairs, including at least seven-in-ten in every country surveyed. This lack of confidence in Xi is at historic highs in every country for which trend data is available except Japan and Spain. In most countries, the percent saying they have not too much or no confidence in him has grown by double digits since last year. For example, in the Netherlands, whereas around half distrusted Xi last year, today 70% say the same – up 17 percentage points."
Hong Kong’s Brain Drain Worsens as Expats, Locals Flee City - Bloomberg - "A population outflow that was triggered by the 2019 protests deepened last year to a record as the realization that the city’s strict Covid policies are here to stay sank in, and the impact of the national security law imposed by Beijing continued to roil public life. The effects of the brain drain in sectors such as education, health care, and even finance will likely be felt by residents for years to come... Even as big banks shrug off geopolitical tensions and continue to push into China, the data show that the city is losing its appeal. The number of American firms with regional headquarters continued to shrink, while people are increasingly thinking about relocating to Singapore, which is open for international travel, or even the mainland, as the utility of being based in Hong Kong for access to China wanes. What’s emerging is a city that’s becoming increasingly dominated by mainland Chinese influence. In the economy, this means more Chinese firms are setting up hubs as those of other countries leave. In schools, children as young as six are being inculcated with patriotic education. Some of the city’s top academic minds are either leaving Hong Kong universities or academia entirely, while student bodies are becoming dominated by a mainland influx. Civil society groups such as trade unions and human rights groups are closing in droves or exiting, and pro-democracy media houses are shuttering while journalists are being arrested... Hong Kong’s population decreased at a record pace in the 12 months that ended in June... 88,800 Hong Kongers applied for British National (Overseas) visas in the first three quarters of last year, according to the U.K. Canada also started a special visa program in February, receiving 8,237 applications as of Sept. 30, according to a spokeswoman for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. People leaving are also taking their savings with them, even though the authorities moved to bar BNO passport holders from withdrawing their funds. Outflows from the mandated retirement plan from people leaving the city hit the highest in at least seven years in the three months through September... The number of American companies with regional headquarters in Hong Kong fell to an 18-year low, bolstering arguments that the city’s national security campaign and Covid Zero strategy are eroding its appeal as a global financial center. Among firms leaving the city are New York-based hedge fund Elliott Management Corp., which has been winding down its Hong Kong operations in recent years. German multinational BASF SE also plans to move its regional division to Singapore this month, according to a LinkedIn post by its Asia-Pacific president. At the same time, the number of mainland Chinese firms with regional headquarters in Hong Kong rose by 5% from 2020, totaling 252. Mainland Chinese bankers are also increasingly holding more senior jobs in the city... almost half of major international banks and asset managers are contemplating moving staff or functions away. The industry body has called on the government to provide a roadmap to exit Hong Kong’s Covid Zero strategy and to ease restrictions. A December study by the British Chamber of Commerce said that “as the rest of the world opens up to international travel, there is a risk that Hong Kong will become increasingly isolated as an international business centre.” Businesses that use Hong Kong as a hub to manage their activities on in China are considering scaling down their operations and moving them to the mainland, while those that use the city as a headquarter for the broader Asia region are considering moving senior executives or functions to other locations in Asia, notably Singapore... To assuage some of the anger of business executives undergoing quarantine, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority has been delivering goodies including wine during hotel isolation for some, while others, including JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon, were exempted from quarantine. A growing number of financial firms are also offering hotel quarantine subsidies for employees. Hong Kong is no longer in the top three listing venues globally as a widening crackdown by China on a vast range of industries hit investor sentiment and share prices... that’s making university campuses less attractive to foreign students. The gap between the number of international pupils and mainland Chinese students has been steadily growing in the last two decades and widened further during the pandemic."
Commentary: Is Hong Kong now just another Chinese city? - "Hong Kong is about to reopen. After a long pandemic that has seen travel collapse, this most international of cities is getting ready to throw its borders open again. But there’s a catch. The territory is only opening its borders one way – to China. For the rest of the world, entry into Hong Kong is about to get harder, rather than easier... It is unsurprising that Hong Kong would prioritise its border with China over the rest of the world – when they are part of the same country and China has been Hong Kong’s largest trade partner since 1985. But China’s zero-COVID policy means that the decision to open up to China necessarily means closing down to the rest of the world. As such, Lam is reinforcing a perception that has been apparent since the middle of 2020 – that Hong Kong is now a Chinese city, and less of an international city. A shift in Hong Kong to becoming more of a Chinese city rather than an autonomous and international territory has been underway, cemented with the passing of the national security law in late June 2020. Since then, the protest movement in Hong Kong has been curbed, leading opposition figures and organisations disbanded or driven overseas, and publications such as Apple Daily have been muted. Elections have been postponed, raids conducted against a suite of opposition figures, protests outlawed, and legislators sympathetic to the protests banned from the unicameral parliament while the rest of the opposition resigned. Electoral reform has made it harder for political candidates associated with the protests to build momentum by reducing the number of directly elected legislators and ruling that only vetted “patriots” can be candidates for political office. These new reforms are also touching everyday aspects of society. In late October, the Hong Kong government passed a new movie censorship law that will “safeguard national security”... Already, international companies and migrants in the city are worried they may fall foul of the broad-based national security law."
Chinese President Xi Jinping praises Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam for election, Covid-19 work, but she comes away empty-handed on border reopening | South China Morning Post
Some China shills blame Carrie Lam for everything that's happened in Hong Kong, claiming that China had nothing to do with it. Weird that Xi approves, then
National security law: Carrie Lam admits new censorship rules have caused Hong Kong filmmakers anxiety | South China Morning Post - "Hong Kong’s leader has conceded that new guidelines authorising the banning of films believed to breach the Beijing-imposed national security law have sparked concerns within the sector, while insisting that “freedom of expression is not without exceptions”."
a href="https://hongkongfp.com/2021/10/21/chinas-national-security-threatened-by-australian-lobster-smuggling-says-new-hong-kong-customs-chief/">China's national security threatened by Australian lobster smuggling, says new Hong Kong customs chief - " Lobsters are one of a number of products from Australia that China has restricted imports of as relations between the countries plunged. But they remain a prized and much sought-after delicacy in mainland China. Imports of Australian rock lobsters to Hong Kong — which maintains no restrictions on the crustaceans — have since sky-rocketed, with suspicions that the vast majority end up on mainland tables... Hong Kong has become the world’s largest importer of Australian lobsters, with monthly trade growing more than 2,000 percent from October to April."
When you need an excuse
Amnesty to shut Hong Kong offices over risks of 'serious' reprisals - "International rights group Amnesty International said on Monday it would close its Hong Kong offices because a China-imposed security law had now made it “effectively impossible” for rights groups to work freely without the risk of reprisals."
Hong Kong tears down ‘Pillar of Shame’ sculpture honoring Tiananmen Square massacre victims - The Washington Post - "Under the cover of darkness early Thursday, authorities in Hong Kong tore down a public sculpture dedicated to the victims of the Tiananmen Square massacre, accelerating a campaign to erase the crackdown from public recollection and stamp out dissent in a city that until recently was one of Asia’s freest. The 26-foot-tall artwork, known as the “Pillar of Shame,” had stood at the University of Hong Kong for nearly a quarter-century and honored the hundreds, if not thousands, of students and others killed on June 4, 1989, when the Chinese military crushed pro-democracy protests. The sculpture, depicting naked bodies twisted together, some in mid-scream, was created by Danish artist Jens Galschiot and was one of the last remaining Tiananmen commemorations on Chinese soil. Each year on the anniversary of the massacre, students would scrub and clean the memorial... since last year, officials in Hong Kong have banned an annual Tiananmen vigil and arrested activists. A museum documenting the crackdown has been shuttered and its online successor blocked in Hong Kong. On Friday, two other universities in the city removed Tiananmen artworks. The Goddess of Democracy statue, installed in 2010 by students and pro-democracy activists at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, was never authorized to be displayed on campus, authorities said, while Lingnan University took down a relief depicting the slaughter in Beijing, citing legal and safety concerns. Chen Weiming, creator of the Goddess of Democracy, called the move “a ripple” in the process of dismantling Hong Kong’s freedom and rule of law. “Hong Kong, as Asia’s once most active civil society, has already quickly collapsed”... Samuel Chu, president of the Campaign for Hong Kong, an advocacy group, condemned the Pillar of Shame’s removal. “Its creation in 1997 was a touchstone for freedom in Hong Kong; its destruction in 2021 would be a tombstone for freedom in Hong Kong"... Online, people drew comparisons to a 2005 episode of “The Simpsons” that mocked China’s censorship of the Tiananmen Square massacre. The online streaming service Disney Plus recently removed that episode in Hong Kong."
Hong Kong risks sinking into Venetian obscurity - Nikkei Asia - "Money is flowing out of Hong Kong, but U.S. and other Western investors are no longer channeling as much money into the city as they once did. Tighter monetary conditions within China itself may have also contributed to reduced inflows, along with more direct competition for capital from the mainland that has been encouraged by a political focus on domestic investment."
Reddit removes post about British aircraft carrier defying China - "User Bennelong posts: “r/worldnews has been infiltrated by China’s 10 million strong army of Internet propagandists. Most of the moderators now aim to glorify China and Russia and demonise the west. I was a moderator on r/worldnews but I was removed as a moderator by /u/green_flash for criticising the Chinese government and banning Chinese shills who savagely abused China critics.”"
Swiss Ph.D student’s dismissal spotlights China’s influence - "A Swiss Ph.D. student tweeted critically about China. Afterward, his professor at the University of St. Gallen wanted nothing more to do with him, worried that her own ability to get a visa would be at risk. When Oliver Gerber* first heard that his tweets might cost him his future Ph.D., he was sitting in his old childhood bedroom. It was March 28, 2020, at 9:50 p.m. An email had appeared in Gerber's mailbox from his doctoral supervisor at the University of St. Gallen. The subject line read: «Very urgent: Complaint from China about your Twitter.» He opened the email on his smartphone. The professor had written that she had received «angry emails from China.» Gerber was accused of spreading «neo-Nazi-like content» on Twitter. She said that was dangerous, even for her. «Ultimately, it may even turn out that I won’t be able to get a visa to China because of you. This is definitely going too far, and I would have to end our advisory relationship,» she wrote. He should «tone down his political expression immediately», she added. She had «no desire to receive emails like this because of one of my doctoral students.» Gerber had to read the message twice. He had been tweeting for just 10 days, and had fewer than 10 followers. No question, he had been harshly critical of the Chinese government. For example, on March 21, he had posted, in English: «#CCP made fighting #COVID-19 plan B. Only to be executed if Plan A – covering it up – fails. Those are the actions of paranoid cowards. They neither deserve my respect nor gratitude #ChinaLiedPeopleDied». Yet the student was shocked. This was supposed to be «neo-Nazi-like» content?... the professor got back to him. Her tone was distant, and she didn’t respond to Gerber's questions. She had copied his second doctoral adviser on this email, writing that she wished him good luck with his «Chinese studies». However, there was at that time «no supervisory relationship between you and us,» the message read. It was the last email Gerber would receive though his St. Gallen account. The next day, he found he couldn’t access his messages. An IT technician told him on the phone that his account didn’t exist. «It felt like I had been purged overnight,» Gerber said... China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs banned all researchers from Europe’s largest research institute specializing in China from entering the country. Such demonstrations of power intimidate researchers around the world – especially if they depend on traveling to China for work. This can lead them to preemptively avoid topics that could be perceived as critical of the Chinese government... Oliver Gerber is not in fact the student’s real name. Because his partner's family lives in China and fears retaliation if his name appears in the newspaper, he asked to remain anonymous. For this reason, the professor too has not been mentioned by name. However, the NZZ has spoken directly with both sides... «I can't believe something like this happened in Switzerland.» And no wonder: his three years of research have been destroyed because of a tweet... In September 2018, he flew to Wuhan, quickly made friends and fell in love. A Chinese professor there told him that his Ph.D. topic was «boring» – a euphemism for being too critical of the government. As a part of his fellowship, he also had to attend classes, and says today he couldn’t believe how much censorship took place in the course of everyday university life. When he submitted an essay on reeducation camps, he received the lowest grade possible... education in China is highly politicized under the rule of Xi Jinping, the head of state and the Chinese Communist Party’s leader . For example, the prestigious Fudan University in Shanghai has replaced the term «freedom of expression» in its statutes with a reference to «Xi Jinping's socialist ideology.»... His girlfriend was shocked when she saw some of the tweets. Talking with him on the telephone, she begged him to stop. Not because she necessarily disagreed with anything. But because she was worried about retaliation by the Chinese government. «I'm in Switzerland, not China,» Gerber replied. «I can say what I want here.» Cooperation between Chinese and Swiss universities has expanded in recent years... In a report issued last year, the Swiss intelligence service warned that Chinese spies might be masquerading as students or researchers. The issue of links between Swiss universities and China was also recently taken up in the Swiss parliament... Ralph Weber, a China expert and professor at the University of Basel, is critical of Swiss universities for often failing to perform sufficient due diligence on their foreign partners – especially those from China. In some sectors of the economy, he notes, it is normal procedure to examine the constraints under which a partner operates when it comes to important business. «I don’t see an approach like this being taken at many universities»"
China population: article demanding Communist Party members have three children goes viral | South China Morning Post - "Members of China’s Communist Party (CCP) have a personal obligation to help tackle the country’s plunging fertility rate by having three children, according to a commentary that has since been scrubbed from the internet. “No party member should use any excuse, objective or personal, to not marry or have children, nor can they use any excuse to have only one or two children,” said the article published by China Reports Network... Thousands of Weibo users expressed shock and indignation at the commentary, with one citing the Law on the Protection of Rights and Interests of Women which stipulates individuals have the freedom not to give birth... Part of the government’s motivation to crack down on the private tutoring sector and property market in school districts is to address the rising costs of education, which remains a major deterrent for parents thinking of having children"
China patriotism: producers to be forced to label dual citizenship actors in bid to remove non-Chinese artists from screens | South China Morning Post - "Television drama producers in China will be required to reveal the nationalities of foreign actors they employ from April, a move by the mainland government to further limit on-camera opportunities for ethnically Chinese actors with foreign citizenship. This is according to the new TV drama production standard issued by the National Radio and Television Administration... The stipulation also covers cast and crew members from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. It has been a common practice for years for TV dramas and movies to list the nationalities of actors holding foreign citizenship as well as those who are from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. But it’s the first time that the state authority has made it mandatory. The requirement came amid rising patriotism mainland authorities are stoking, as the rift between China and the West widens over human rights in Xinjiang, tensions over Taiwan and political freedoms in Hong Kong. Two years ago a comprehensive programme content rule barred the use of “inappropriate” actors from outside the mainland. Industry insiders regarded this as an order to limit the use of stars from overseas because the criteria for “inappropriate” actors was vague and unclear resulting in arbitrary interpretations. China bans dual citizenship, however many famous Chinese entertainers have obtained foreign citizenship, such as Beijing-born kung fu star Jet Li who is a Singaporean citizen, Crystal Liu Yifei, an American citizen who was born and grew up in Wuhan, and Siqin Gaowa, an accomplished Inner Mongolian actress who is a Swiss national. In 2008, when mainland-based top actress Gong Li who enjoyed global fame was forced to relinquish her Chinese citizenship in order to obtain Singaporean nationality, it triggered public outrage on the mainland. Many people lambasted her for “betraying China”. When she starred in the 2020 film Leap that depicts how China’s national women’s volleyball team won the world championships, internet users criticised the filmmaker for using Gong, by then a Singaporean national, to play Lang Ping, a former volleyball athlete and coach who is regarded as a hero in China... China’s entertainment industry is under an ongoing crackdown, with actors accused of being immoral or behaviour not in line with the authorities views receiving severe punishment and sanction. Last year, police in Beijing arrested singer Kris Wu Yifan for alleged rape. The online anger in response to the news was amplified after Wu was reported to be a Canadian citizen."
China’s Museums Rewrite History to Boost Xi - WSJ - "When a museum paying tribute to China’s economic reforms opened here in December, visitors were welcomed by a panoramic sculpture depicting a local visit by Deng Xiaoping, hailed in Communist Party history for launching the country’s rise to prosperity. Then in early June, the museum was closed for what it called “upgrading.” When it reopened in August, the sculpture was gone, replaced by video screens showing local development and a beige wall adorned with a quote from President Xi Jinping... Since taking power in late 2012, Mr. Xi has sought to adapt Chinese history for his agenda, rewriting official accounts while flexing legal and media muscles to enforce his narratives. Officials have updated textbooks and museums to imprint the president’s policies. A new law prescribes criminal and civil penalties for defaming party-approved “heroes and martyrs.”... This has unsettled some Chinese, who worry their leader is reviving Mao-style dictatorship. Last month, a professor at the prestigious Tsinghua University stirred debate with a widely read essay condemning Mr. Xi for what he called the president’s authoritarian turn and efforts to generate a personality cult... Mr. Xi once eagerly invoked Deng. Weeks after becoming Communist Party chief, he traveled through Guangdong province in China’s south on a trip that echoed one Deng had taken two decades earlier, stopping at a Shenzhen park to lay flowers beneath a statue of the former leader. Since then, Mr. Xi has dismantled parts of Deng’s legacy. He has centralized decision-making powers and scrapped presidential term limits. He has insisted that “the party leads everything” and declared a new era for “socialism with Chinese characteristics”—a Deng-era slogan that provided ideological footing for market remedies... At the national art museum in Beijing, paintings of Mr. Xi and his late father—who helped steer reforms as a provincial chief—were displayed prominently at a reform-anniversary exhibition, overshadowing artwork depicting Deng and other past leaders. In 2008, Deng artwork dominated a 30th anniversary exhibition at the same museum, according to photos on its website. A state publisher released a 371-page book titled “Research Into Xi Jinping Thought on Reform and Opening-Up.” State media credited Mr. Xi’s stints as a regional leader for development successes in Fujian and Zhejiang provinces. Those commentaries often omitted Deng, even though Mr. Xi—as a provincial official—had cited the late leader’s policies as a guide for his own."
