README.adoc

==== Baidu Baike (百度百科, Chinese censored Wikipedia clone)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baidu_Baike
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/百度百科

The leading Chinese Wikipedia clone by <<baidu>>.

<<censorship,Censored to the brim>> needless to say, see e.g. <<baidu-baike-censorship-of-hao-haidong>>.

Website: https://baike.baidu.com/[].

Seems to not have edit history. <<wayback-machine,History >> is bad for censorship, because you never know when you might need to rewrite it ;-) See also: <<nineteen-eighty-four>>.

Also has:

* a blogging platform embedded into it called TA说, e.g.: https://web.archive.org/web/20210413095903/https://baike.baidu.com/tashuo/browse/content?id=c9fdac1dcf27bdd1280ac9e1&lemmaId=22214113&fromLemmaModule=pcBottom
* a decent, but unarchivable, comment section: https://web.archive.org/web/20210427075821/https://baike.baidu.com/planet/talk?lemmaId=22214113

[[sohu]]
==== Sohu (搜狐, smaller Chinese Google)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sohu
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/搜狐

Literal name translation: "search fox". The English name and domain name are not in proper pinyin, the proper pinyin is souhu.

But since there is no "so" syllable in pinyin, and the sound is correct in English, it was a good replacement.

A less successful <<baidu>>, but still considerable.

In addition to search, also has:

* blogs, e.g. https://www.sohu.com/a/270132785_100279655 from <<xiang-gong>>

[[alibaba]]
=== Alibaba (阿里巴巴, Chinese Amazon clone)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alibaba_Group
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/阿里巴巴集团

[[jack-ma]]
==== Jack Ma (马云, Alibaba founder)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Ma
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/马云

[[jack-mas-disappearance-2021]]
===== Jack Ma's disappearance (马云的失踪, 2021)

Got https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=bitch%20slapped[bitchslapped] by <<xi-jinping>>, 3 months disappearance:

* 2021-02-16 https://web.archive.org/web/20210219160944/https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-blocked-jack-mas-ant-ipo-after-an-investigation-revealed-who-stood-to-gain-11613491292 "China Blocked Jack Ma’s Ant IPO After Investigation Revealed Likely Beneficiaries. Well-connected Chinese power players, including some with links to political families that represent a potential challenge to President Xi". Mentioned specifically are Jiang Zhicheng
* https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/jan/23/the-strange-case-of-alibabas-jack-ma-and-his-three-month-vanishing-act

.Cartoon of Jack Ma, <<winnie-the-pooh>> (representing <<xi-jinping>>) and <<that-rabbit>> (representing the Chinese people) splitting cookies. Winnie has a huge pile, Jack has a medium pile, and That Rabbit has a tiny pile. Winnie is saying "那个资本家夺走了你的饼干！" (That capitalist stole your cookies!). The cartoon suggests that the Chinese state has a lot of money and power, extremely successful entrepreneurs have a medium power, and the common people, who are manipulated by the CCP, have basically nothing. https://www.reddit.com/r/chonglangTV/comments/lyxlf9/不_言_而_喻一_目_了_然/[Source].
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Jack_Ma_Winnie_the_Pooh_and_That_Rabbit_splitting_cookies.jpg[height=500]


[[xiaomi]]
=== Xiaomi (小米, cell phone company)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xiaomi
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/小米集團

News:

* https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2020/04/30/exclusive-warning-over-chinese-mobile-giant-xiaomi-recording-millions-of-peoples-private-web-and-phone-use/?sh=6cceaf311b2a "Exclusive: Warning Over Chinese Mobile Giant Xiaomi Recording Millions Of People’s ‘Private’ Web And Phone Use".
+
____
When he looked around the Web on the device’s default Xiaomi browser, it recorded all the websites he visited, including search engine queries whether with Google or the privacy-focused DuckDuckGo, and every item viewed on a news feed feature of the Xiaomi software. That tracking appeared to be happening even if he used the supposedly private “incognito” mode.
____
+
____
"It’s a backdoor with phone functionality," quips Gabi Cirlig about his new Xiaomi phone. He's only half-joking.
____

[[netease]]
=== Netease (网易, online gaming company)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NetEase
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/网易

Website: https://www.163.com/

Operates some MMORPGs in China. According to Wikipedia: "The company also owns several pig farms." That's the most amazing thing <<ciro-santilli>> has ever heard.

[[tencent]]
=== Tencent (腾讯, WeChat owner)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tencent
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/腾讯

==== oa.com

Tencent owns the oa.com domain since 2020 which they bought from some small early American Internet company, although they don't announce that clearly on the main domain itself. But they have several subdomains of that being used actively.

On the original company, it stood for "Object Automation" as seen e.g. at https://archive.vn/SsvSV#selection-1123.0-1123.155[]:

____
OA is the industry leader and pioneer in the deployment of object-based industrial automation, distributed control, and operational intelligence solutions.
____

https://domainnamewire.com/author/kasseylee/ mentions that it was sold for $609,068 in 2020, and references https://namebio.com/?s==QjN2UTN1kjM which gives date, value and sale location (https://sedo.com) but not buyer and seller info. https://domainnamewire.com/2020/09/16/why-are-two-letter-domains-so-sought-after-in-china/ says such domains are highly sought after in China.

Some subdomains on <<archive-today>>: https://archive.vn/*.oa.com

Domain selection:

* https://ilns.isec.oa.com[], which from the name is likely some kind of internal censorship/information security portal:
** 2021-08-25 http://ilnstest.isec.oa.com/ a new variant
** 2021-07-22 4 hits one user from https://ilns.isec.oa.com to GitHub repository
** 2021-06-04 4 hits from 1 user. Note that this is <<tiananmen>> day.
** 2021-05-17 https://ilns.isec.oa.com/command-manage/command-analysis/2073645[]
* 2020-12-07 https://tapd.oa.com/markdown-style-guide/zh.html links to: http://einverne.github.io/markdown-style-guide/zh.html
* 2020-09-23 http://git.code.oa.com/wegame_server/rail/blob/master/docs/web_and_web_api/web-api-specification/web-api-specification.md to /markdown-style-guide/zh.html
* 2017-06 http://km.oa.com/articles/show/329260 to ELF hello world

[[wechat]]
==== WeChat (微信, Weixin)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WeChat
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/微信

The dominating Chinese WhatsApp clone as of 2020, with infinitely many other functionality added, notably payments.

The West should ban WeChat until one open source end to end encrypted chat app is made available in China.

[[sina]]
=== Sina Corp (新浪, Weibo owner)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sina_Corp
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/新浪

[[weibo]]
==== Weibo (新浪微博)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WeChat
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/微信

The dominating Chinese Facebook/Twitter clone as of 2020.

[[weibo-logo]]
.<<weibo>> logo vs Sauron's eye 微博标志vs索倫魔眼 by <<ciro-santilli>>.
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Weibo_Sauron.jpg[height=600]

[[ciro-santillis-weibo-block]]
===== Ciro Santilli's Weibo block (三西猴被微博屏蔽)

Somewhere around 2021, Ciro's Weibo was blocked: https://www.weibo.com/p/1005055601627311

Ciro never wrote any public posts in it, and only replied minimally to a few private messages many years before.

This clearly shows how Chinese platforms (obviously) target specific users specifically, regardless of what they did in a particular platform:

* unblocked 2021-02 https://archive.is/LUMsT
* blocked 2021-06 https://archive.is/U94Me

The block message afte redirect is:

____
该账号因被投诉违反法律法规和《微博社区公约》的相关规定，现已无法查看。

The account is now unavailable for being complained of violating laws and regulations and the relevant provisions of the "Weibo Community Convention".
____

Related:

* https://www.wakwb.com/ 我爱看围脖 seems to be a Weibo mirror. TODO is it uncensored? Sample post replication: the condom post from https://www.wakwb.com/t/?containerid=231522type%3D1%26t%3D10%26q%3D%23%E6%9D%9C%E8%95%BE%E6%96%AF%E7%88%B1%E6%97%A0%E9%99%90%23&luicode=10000011&lfid=231522type%3D1%26t%3D10%26q%3D%23%E6%9D%9C%E8%95%BE%E6%96%AF%E7%88%B1%E6%97%A0%E9%99%90%23&page=2 has origin at https://weibo.com/5586291457/K9Vg7ceM7?type=comment#_rnd1629010637474 see also <<communist-bread>>

[[qihoo]]
=== Qihoo 360 (奇虎360, Internet security company)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qihoo_360
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/奇虎360

[[chinese-censorship-companies]]
=== Chinese censorship companies (中国审查公司)

[[dahua-technology]]
==== Dahua Technology (大华股份)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dahua_Technology
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/大华股份

Facial recognition, used in <<xinjiang>>.

===== EM_NATION_TYPE_UYGUR (2020)

https://twitter.com/q3k/status/1322943395497680897 highlighted a snippet of code:

....
    //民族
    public static class EM_NATION_TYPE extends MyStructure
    {
      public static final int EM_NATION_TYPE_UNKNOWN = 0;                   // 未知
      public static final int EM_NATION_TYPE_UYGUR = 1;                     // 维族(新疆)
      public static final int EM_NATION_TYPE_OTHER = 2;                     // 其他
      public static final int EM_NATION_TYPE_UNIDENTIFIED = 3;              // 设备未识别
    }
....

indicating that <<xinjiang,Uyghurs>> are particularly targeted for facial recognition by Dahua.

The code is present in official downloads from:

* https://dahuasecurity.s3-ap-southeast-1.amazonaws.com/uploads/soft/20200421/General_NetSDK_ChnEng_JAVA_Linux64_IS_V3.052.0000001.0.R.200407.zip
* http://web.archive.org/save/https://dahuasecurity.s3-ap-southeast-1.amazonaws.com/uploads/soft/20200421/General_NetSDK_ChnEng_JAVA_Linux64_IS_V3.052.0000001.0.R.200407.zip
* SHA256: f8052a5d19db090d155eae05ce5bf39177d4151ab46f7c454a1670b7b62a5d81

which was visible from: https://www.dahuasecurity.com/support/downloadCenter/softwares?child=3&page=2 under download name "General_NetSDK_ChnEng_JAVA_Linux64_IS_V3.052.0000001.0.R.200407" before being taken down after the reports:

* up 2020-11-03 https://web.archive.org/web/20201103025846/https://www.dahuasecurity.com/support/downloadCenter/softwares?child=3&page=2
* down 2020-11-04 https://web.archive.org/web/20201104220410/https://www.dahuasecurity.com/support/downloadCenter/softwares?child=3&page=2

The code was spotted mirrored on GitHub, likely unofficially, but it was soon taken down, archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20201102065525/https://raw.githubusercontent.com/gaomingbo/dahua-netsdk/master/src/main/java/com/dahua/lib/NetSDKLib.java

<<ciro-santilli>> downloaded it from the official website and verified that the code in question was there.

Discussions:

* https://www.reddit.com/r/China/comments/jmo42m/china_makes_use_of_video_software_tailored_for/
* https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24960749

On 2020-11-20, Dahua DMCAed https://github.com/cirosantilli/epps-service at https://github.com/github/dmca/blob/master/2020/11/2020-11-25-Dahua.md which had been forked https://github.com/gaomingbo/epps-service from https://web.archive.org/web/20201102170146/https://github.com/cirosantilli/epps-service but Ciro is not sure it contains anything of particular interest, he had just forked all repos from gaomingbo. That one appeared to be just a car plate recognition sytem.

Related:

* 2021-01-13 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-55634388 "Huawei patent mentions use of Uighur-spotting tech", see also: <<huawei>>

[[knowlesys]]
==== Knowlesys (乐思软件)

* https://www.knowlesys.cn/
* http://www.knowlesys.com/

.Slide from a presentation of the Knowlesys Hong Kong social media censorship/misinformation company with words "Social Media as Weapons", "Your Enemy", leaked by the CCP_Unmasked hacker group on 2020/08/20, possible <<telegram>> account: https://t.me/ccp_unmasked[]. The leaks also contained data on  Yunrun Big Data Service, a company based in Guangzhou, and OneSight, based in Beijing. From this hack they apparently also managed obtained passwords used by those companies to manage CCP social media, and they posted some messages about their efforst through those accounts. Western countries have also used terrorism as an excuse way to reduce privacy/start wars, but of course, things are much worse in dictatorships where there is no freedom of speech, related <<evil-west>>. https://www.vice.com/en_in/article/dyzewz/hackers-leak-alleged-internal-files-of-chinese-social-media-monitoring-firmscv[Source].
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Social_Media_as_Weapons.webp[height=400]

[[zhenhua-data-leak]]
==== Zhenhua Data leak (深圳振华数据信息技术有限公司, 2020)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhenhua_Data_leak
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/深圳振华数据信息技术有限公司

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/14/zhenhua-data-full-list-leak-database-personal-details-millions-china-tech-company

[[backlinks]]
== Backlinks to this page (连接到这个网页的网页)

Or to Ciro's other online presences, due to China activity.

For Zhihu backlinks, see: <<zhihu-questions-related-to-ciro-santilli>>.

For lower profile links, see: https://github.com/cirosantilli/china-dictatorship/wiki

* 2021-07-15 https://weibo.com/3009149283/KoREYEIA2?type=comment#_rnd1629010985150 on <<weibo>> #反华 挂一个垃圾仓库 cirosantilli/china-dictatorship (#anti-china Found a trash repository.) Does not understand the CCP != China: <<does-ciro-santilli-hate-china>>. Perhaps this is what triggered <<ciro-santillis-weibo-block>>.
* 2021-08-13 https://www.kdocs.cn/ to https://github.com/cirosantilli/cirosantilli[]. That's a Google Docs clone it seems. Used by the Chengdu government. Chinese name: 金山文档 (golden mountain documents). Also had 50 unique cloners on 11 and 12th. Is it <<github-gov-takedowns>> time at last??
* 2021-07-22 http://se.warning.360.cn/warn/ to https://cirosantilli.com/ after adding keywords to page header. This is from <<qihoo>>, a security/spyware company.
* 2021-07 http://https--github--com--e3919.proxy.xianning.gov.cn/topics/chinese-communist-party[], presumably viewing https://github.com/topics/chinese-communist-party[]. Saw it http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:5qHGJxZncvUJ:https--github--com--e3919.proxy.xianning.gov.cn/topics/chinese-communist-party+&cd=8&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk&lr=lang_en%7Clang_zh-CN%7Clang_zh-TW&client=ubuntu[on Google cache], semi viewable at https://archive.ph/wip/2qVIX[], but not rendering very well
* 2021-05-23 LinkedIn profile view from https://www.linkedin.com/company/circussocial/ Circus Social https://www.circussocial.com/[]. Some of their China stuff: https://www.circussocial.com/blog/tag/china-social-media/
* 2021-05-07 https://twitter.com/dingyi/status/1390861129191071754 (https://archive.ph/fS1TF[archive]) link to github.com/china-dictatorship commenting "Github 竟然还有这种项目。。。" (I'm surprised that there's still this kind of project on GitHub). Account had 150k followers at the time. What do they do to have so many followers? As of 2021-05-14, three days later after Ciro replied on 2021-05-11, the account had been made protected: https://archive.ph/davkj This is the <<chilling-effect>>, self-<<censorship,censor>> or perish. It was later un-protected. https://newsletter.dex.group/about/ says their DEX is a sort of online magazine. GitHub profile: https://github.com/dingyi
* 2021-04-16 https://manti.netease.com/ from <<netease>> to https://cirosantilli.com/china-dictatorship can't find any information on it.
* 2021-03-23 https://my.cscglobal.com/ to cirosantilli.com/china-dictatorship another compliance company, previous https://cms.securimate.com hits come to mind. China related articles:
** https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200728005641/en/CSC-Becomes-First-Foreign-Owned-Company-to-Receive-Domain-Registrar-License-in-China this company has some serious weight with Chinese regulators!
** https://www.cscglobal.com/service/webinar/china-web-policies/ talks mostly about ICP licenses
** https://www.cscglobal.com/service/webinar/china-ngo-law/
** https://www.cscglobal.com/cscglobal/pdfs/DBS/CSC-Your-Brand-Secured.pdf features Jayce Yeo, and mentions social media management
** https://medium.com/@hackermaderas/the-beginning-of-one-hackers-thoroughly-referenced-evidenced-osint-investigation-of-clearview-ai-1aa2e9109492 has a technical analysis that points that CSC has links to Clearview AI, and seem to be front-companies
- 2021-03-08 https://us3124.scholar.eu.org to GitHub repo. Redirects to: https://www.library.ac.cn/ip.html?f=us3124 which is a 403 "Your IP is not allowed to visit this site.
This site is only available in Mainland China." The about of the blog leads to another domain: https://www.virtual.hk/author/ircli but both seem to be mirrors. The website is a Wordpress which contain images of certain plants under a microscope, and "ircli" is the author's username.
- 2021-02-21 and 2020-02-22: https://developer.aliyun.com/ to https://cirosantilli.com and https://cirosantilli.com/china-dictatorship The china-dictatorship landing pages had tracking queries leaked: `?spm=.14275010.0.0.60be9dc4PsRmA` and `?spm=a2c6h.14275010.0.0.60be9dc4vwIZTP`. The source domain is visible publicly and entitled 开发者社区 (Developer community) for Aliyun. Who knows, maybe Jack Ma's people are starting a full out revolt after he was put in jail! :) These tracking queries are added to every single one of their links, including outlinks, as can be seen at: https://developer.aliyun.com/article/616542 for example. Edit: noticed https://developer.aliyun.com/mirror/npm/package/china-dictatorship was removed, so that was it.
* 2021-02-18 https://cms.securimate.com securimate.com now redirects to https://steeleglobal.com "Your employees and business partners are confronted with ethical decisions every day that impact your company. To create a culture of integrity, you need to empower people to make the right choices. Steele partners with the world’s largest, most respected companies to deliver compliance products and services that help organizations embrace a culture of compliance while protecting their brand." Here we go. Securimate is a Texas-based acquisition apparently: https://www.planetcompliance.com/securimate/ Googling the company for China leads mostly to honorable anti-corruption and export compliance activityactivity e.g. https://steeleglobal.com/managing-third-party-vendors-china/ , nothing to do with brand protection of course, who would support a dictatorship to help their brand, right?
* 2020-09-09 https://www.xataka.com/servicios/github-inesperado-ultimo-reducto-libertad-expresion-gran-firewall-que-pone-jaque-intereses-china "Github, el inesperado último reducto de libertad de expresión ante el 'Gran Firewall' pone en jaque los intereses de China", Spanish for "Github, the unexpected last stronghold of freedom of expression before the 'Great Firewall' puts the interests of China in check" basically talking about <<cute-cat-theory-of-digital-activism>>. Links to https://github.com/cirosantilli/chenmei-caiwei-ziyou under link text "Terminus2049" which is a bit misleading, could be a link mistake, led to 15 unique clicks. Contacted author at: https://twitter.com/cirosantilli/status/1307717620863467522
* 2020-08-29 https://www.reddit.com/r/saraba2nd/comments/iipjov/github有哪些反共项目/ (Which anti-communist projects are there on GitHub?) <<github-repositories-with-censored-information>> of course! User spuspended when thread was found, so couldn't message them.
* 2020-05-23: traffic reached 3k views on that day, compared to a normal 150, but the number of individual users is the same as always. The accessed pages were only meta repo pages like "Issues", "Wiki", "Stargazers" so either of:
** someone attempted a baby DDoS with wget and a single IP
** someone is scraping repository metadata, e.g. Chinese secret service or some other commercial bot that landed here by chance for the first time
* 2020-05-09: http://lj.rossia.org/users/perfect_kiss/36513.html Google translated of about in that website: "LJ.Rossia.org (LJR) is a nonprofit project created to support freedom of speech, develop civil society and promote free exchange of views."
* 2020-04-21: 4 hits from https://raidforums.com/ but can't locate it, maybe coming from their very fast temporary chat wall
* 2019-10-31: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6595454363743981568/ (https://web.archive.org/web/20191101094814/https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6595454363743981568/[archive]) "Good rundown of all the major news from China you don't see. Notice how you don't see anything about the Hong Kong protests anymore?"
* 2019-10 https://github.com/kon9chunkit/GitHub-Chinese-Top-Charts/blob/7131e2c1158a806f41c8f55308977048b02d2959/README-Part2.md Automatically generated list of repos with Chinese characters in their descriptions with the most upvotes per programming language. TODO why is this repo on their README-Part2 only? Has more stars than some stuff on main README. Edit: now in main README: https://github.com/kon9chunkit/GitHub-Chinese-Top-Charts/tree/73ef00e9f846dd380769095f08648e5e1a06596f Let's see how long until it gets censored.
* 2019-10-12: https://hacpai.com/article/1570686552645 Login required, cowards. Post title: "更新 GitHub 官方 Repo 的人，竟然是个反华分子". Manual page dump after my replies with links to this FAQ: https://ia801505.us.archive.org/27/items/cirosantilli/hacpai_1570686552645.html OP then deleted my comments because they don't speak English "HacPai 是个文明的社区，不会发生辱骂的现象，你有你的观点，我们有我们的观点。但抱歉，我们的水平有限，没有阅读英文的能力，还请发送有效回复，否则只能折叠处理". It is some developper website: https://hacpai.com/article/1440573175609 (https://web.archive.org/web/20190811205230/https://hacpai.com/article/1440573175609[archive]) linked to https://github.com/b3log/solo[]. OP then made an useless post here: https://github.com/cirosantilli/china-dictatorship/issues/70 As of 2019-10-12, I can't login there anymore, either because the website is shitty, or I was blocked. GitHub login just fails silently, cannot reset password. If blocked, cowards. This led me to update: <<reply-policy>> with the canned reply.
* 2019-09-13 https://twitter.com/sang_what/status/1172692888766959619 (https://archive.is/taPpH[archive]) https://t.co/qag5ekL12F link:https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/thoughts-github-going-china-kevin-xu/
* 2019-06: https://gking.harvard.edu/ interesting. OK, likely due to: https://gking.harvard.edu/category/research-interests/applications/information-control-by-authoritarian-governments but no direct links found though.
* 2019-05: someone used the FAQ to answer a question: https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/bt1mth/if_i_disappear_chinese_students_make_farewell/eou5a5q/ | https://web.archive.org/web/20190527072431/https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/bt1mth/if_i_disappear_chinese_students_make_farewell/eou5a5q/ "'If I disappear': Chinese students make farewell messages amid crackdowns over labor activism"
* 2019-04-10: https://twitter.com/jnzst/status/1115824398961913857 gGTYgFulPg
** https://twitter.com/jnzst/status/1111395254408613888
* 2019-01-10: https://twitter.com/ninoseki/statuses/1083512317952704512 | https://archive.is/vCwep 1300 followers.
* 2018-08: https://www.reddit.com/r/CCJ2/comments/93klir/moron_tries_to_dismantle_chinese_government_by | https://archive.is/HtYng "moron tries to dismantle chinese government by putting a few moon runes on some websites" Peak of 100 unique visitors/day from the base rate of 5
** led to: https://lihkg.com/thread/762440/page/1 <<lihkg>> https://archive.is/7REOi "佢個個人home page好多5毛留言, 唔知會唔會搞到block堆stackoverflow"
* 2018-07: http://4-ch.net/general/kareha.pl/1531480621/l50 | https://web.archive.org/web/20180815081351/http://4-ch.net/general/kareha.pl/1531480621/l50 "No more Xi Jinping"
* 2018-06: https://medarc.org/pac.txt | https://web.archive.org/web/20180712094944/http://medarc.org/pac.txt puts cirosantilli.com in a blacklist containing the likes of asianpiss.com and clearwisdom.net. Awesome. Then I grepped the main one https://github.com/gfwlist/gfwlist with `while true; do git checkout HEAD~; if ! base64 -d gfwlist.txt | grep -q cirosan; then break; fi; done` and found that I was added in 24a6f6f29e24d1d7eb27946bf51d7a072ddb3e6d Tue Apr 24 2018. That is input data for https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/autoproxy/ which turns on a proxy only for certain websites. Therefore that is a definitive list of interesting stuff. I wonder how it is curated.
* 2018-05: a few hits from https://chinadigitaltimes.net from <<china-digital-times>> but Google cannot find any links
* 2018-05-20:
** https://www.1point3acres.com/bbs/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=425684 Archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20190701085047/https://www.1point3acres.com/bbs/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=425684
** https://web.archive.org/web/20180520210006/http://www.1point3acres.com/bbs/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=425684&pid=3954113&page=1&extra=
* 2018-04-13: traffic peak, but no linkbacks. Many new Chinese followers, but few new stars on this repo, maybe they are afraid to star. I also blocked a user from on GitHub due to impolite post. Also possibly linked to me posting a link to the FAQ more clearly on my home page recently: https://github.com/cirosantilli/cirosantilli.github.io/commit/f31d1651c0e7fef587e5910ff2dc1e2aba9a5763
+
Someone subscribed me to a hundred GovDelivery mailing lists. This bullshit is also mentioned at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:GovLoop[]. This is the URL you can use to subscribe someone to dozens and dozens of emails by clicking checkboxes: https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/USEERE/subscriber/new[] without email verification, those idiots. I have to say, this was a good attack. I just mark everything from them as spam nowadays, and only get a few every other month.
* 2018-03-11: got a large traffic peak (60 vs 10 average), but no linkbacks to match. Likely source: parcerier pinged me at: https://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/267715/is-stack-overflow-accessible-in-china/267723#comment562812_288497 and I revamped the and FAQ replied with https://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/267715/is-stack-overflow-accessible-in-china/267723#comment562840_320914 Someone also made: https://archive.is/jcZCA which points to: https://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/267715/is-stack-overflow-accessible-in-china/267723#comment562810_267723 . This issue was opened that day as well: https://github.com/cirosantilli/china-dictatorship/issues/12
* 2018-01: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1088&context=cs_etds this site appears on the reference of a PhD thesis paper haha, links to complete-gfw-rulebook-for-wikipedia-v3.0.pdf.
* 2017-05: https://t.co/AosRq06akz TODO where from. "Measuring Decentralization of Chinese Censorship in Three Industry Segments" by Jeffrey Knockel. Now at Citizenlab: https://www.cs.unm.edu/~jeffk/
* 2015-09-03: (deleted) http://www.weibo.com/2014703917/Cyc1gFt7A on <<weibo>> This is the user: http://www.weibo.com/2014703917 There have also been accesses from link:http://weibo.cn/sinaurl[], but I don't know what that means.
* 2015-08-03: 21 visitor Facebook peak, can't find the source
* 2015-06-20: (deleted) link:https://www.plurk.com/p/l1jjn4[] Archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20150918110032/https://www.plurk.com/p/l1jjn4 "這阿豆阿的名字XDD" by https://www.plurk.com/m/u/cyuanXD
* 2015-05-30: <<zhou-fengsuo>> linked to <<ciro-santilli>>'s stack overflow account!!!

admin.github.com hits listed at: <<github-report>>.

[[v2ex]]
=== V2EX (semi-censored forum)

https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/V2EX

Website: https://v2ex.com/

Although this website appears to have some degree of freedom of speech, as of 2020, if you post something that is "unwelcome" an unclear definition or unwelcome, your IP gets immediately blocked and trying to even access the site redirects to a "403 Forbidden nginx" page.

It is therefore impossible to have any political talk on that website, and they should not be trusted.

This happened when Ciro tried to reply to https://v2ex.com/t/378274[] around 2020-07-23 with:

____
他放弃了https://stackoverflow.com/users/815408 | https://web.archive.org/web/20170602054631/https://stackoverflow.com/users/815408/%E8%AF%B7%E5%B0%81%E6%8E%89ciro-santilli-%E4%B8%AD%E5%9B%BD%E5%85%B1%E4%BA%A7%E5%85%9A%E4%B8%87%E5%B2%81

参看我的china repository fb6c69cfec0d4e9008730c0c1a9c42c2d851e678#stack-overflow-anti-dissident-users
____

and it doesn't seem like there's anything super sensitive in that comment.

They then tell you to contact them if you want to be restored:

____
请不要发布在V2EX不被欢迎的内容，如果你觉得这是规则误判请邮件联系hello@v2ex.com
____

but Ciro did that and there was no reply.

Later on Ciro noticed that his account was giving 400:

* https://v2ex.com/member/cirosantilli
* https://web.archive.org/web/20200511191411/https://v2ex.com/member/cirosantilli

The forum is largely programmer dominated.

It had an <<icp-license>> in 2016, but lost it in 2019 to move servers back to USA, which is extremely shady. https://zh.greatfire.org/v2ex.com[Blocked in China as of 2020-06] according to <<greatfire>>.

* 2017-07-27 https://v2ex.com/t/378274 (http://web.archive.org/web/20200723082356/https://v2ex.com/t/378274[archive]) "stackoverflow 上的较量。。" http://web.archive.org/web/20200723082356/https://v2ex.com/t/378274 talks about https://stackoverflow.com/users/815408 which is mentioned at <<stack-overflow-anti-dissident-users>>
* 2015-12-23: https://v2ex.com/t/245507 (link:https://github.com/cirosantilli/media/blob/9f7b07e915c4638d45a1b4922ba95c61e2ef87dc/webpages/v2ex-2015-12.html[Chromium CTRL-S save]) "搜 StackOverflow，无意间发现了这个，重点在那个评论" by https://v2ex.com/member/happypy1
* http://v2ex.com/t/214015 TODO restricted without mobile phone confirmation, while most other threads still work. So they must have some kind of restricted posts.
* 2015-04-10: https://v2ex.com/t/182766 (cannot archive, login requires CAPTCHA, link:https://github.com/cirosantilli/media/blob/9f7b07e915c4638d45a1b4922ba95c61e2ef87dc/webpages/v2ex-2015-04.html[Chromium CTRL-S save]) "Stack Overflow 上看到一个丧心病狂的程序员" by https://v2ex.com/member/cloudhunter

When Ciro later checked the above threads on 2020-12-20, he noticed that all of them had been made restricted to logged in members only, while previously only one of them had been.

V2EX's creator is 刘昕 (Liu Xin, alias "Livid"):

* https://twitter.com/Livid
* https://www.zhihu.com/question/19577697 Livid（刘昕）是谁？ (Who is Livid (Liu Xin)?) on <<zhihu>>

[[pincong]]
=== Pincong (品葱, uncensored forum)

https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/品葱

Website: https://pincong.rocks/

Uses a virtual currency system (游戏币): https://pincong.rocks/currency/rule/ Posting articles costs 20 points, and doing stuff like replying gives you a few points.

* 2019-10-30: link:++https://www.pincong.rocks/question/id-10294__sort_key-agree_count__sort-ASC++[] (link:++https://web.archive.org/web/20191101091242/https://www.pincong.rocks/question/id-10294__sort_key-agree_count__sort-ASC++[archive]) "怎么让大陆把 Github 墙了？" How to get GitHub blocked by the Firewall? OP apparently really wants to block it? If yes, <<so-block-cost,LOL>>. Trigerred by some 2019-10 <<notepad>> activity.
* 2019-04-09: https://pincong.rocks/question/3383 | https://web.archive.org/web/20190413063930/https://pincong.rocks/question/3383 "【小众问题】为何 Stack Overflow 2019 开发者调查报告中，来自中国的开发者最为积极乐观？"
** 2019-05: https://community.riskiq.com/search/pincong.rocks Pingong people deciding if they should ban Ciro Santilli? :-) commented there once: https://pincong.rocks/question/3383 (https://web.archive.org/web/20190810213122/https://pincong.rocks/question/3383[archive]) This also suggests that https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RiskIQ helps censorship in China

<<ciro-santilli>>'s account: https://pincong.rocks/people/cirosantilli

This website might not censor stuff, e.g.: people are using <<winnie-the-pooh>> avatars: https://www.pincong.rocks/people/bushiwumao (https://web.archive.org/web/20200418194038/https://www.pincong.rocks/people/bushiwumao[archive])

TODO is it blocked by <<gfw>> or not? <<greatfire>> just hangs forever on it, e.g.:

* https://zh.greatfire.org/test?url=https%3A//pincong.rocks
* https://zh.greatfire.org/test?url=https%3A//pincong.rocks/question/6601

<<github>> mirror of selected threads: https://github.com/Project-Gutenberg/Pincong

[[mohu]]
==== Mohu (膜乎)

https://www.mohu.rocks

Website openly anti-CCP, e.g. the signup page has <<xi-jinping>> jokes. Very similar appearance to <<pincong>>, likely same engine. https://pincong.rocks/question/24489 asks what is their relationship "请问一下品葱和膜乎之间是什么关系？"

Backlinks to this page:

* 2020-06-03 https://www.mohu.rocks/article/2227 (https://web.archive.org/web/20200606065812/https://www.mohu.rocks/article/2227[archive]) "专门开一个帖子，以后会把从各处搜刮来的六四学潮的视频、历史、文章之类放在这" (I'm creating this post to collect all the videos, history, articles, etc. that can be found anywhere about the <<tiananmen,Tiananmen Square protests>>)
** Then one of the replies by "习羊羊与灰战狼" was "link:https://github.com/cirosantilli/china-dictatorship[] "提供一个很全的链接，几乎可以算是反共手册。里面的4.7是谈六四的" (Here is one very complete link, it could almost be considered an anti-CCP manual. Section 4.7 of that page is about Tiananmen.) Ciro liked the sound of that very much :-) TODO this also appears on something related to <<terminus2049>>: https://2047.name/e/76182458

[[esu-wiki]]
=== Esu Wiki (惡俗維基, politically incorrect wiki)

https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/惡俗維基

Anti-<<ccp>>, doxxing friendly wiki.

https://esu.dog/ is the mirror working as of March 2021.

http://y2wam5fshij3arfjuxirusomu73b2joql524zpre3dhvxmlqw4srcuad.onion/ is a Tor Hidden service version of it working as of March 2021. It is linked to from: ttps://esu.dog/恶俗维基:透明度报告[].

At some point they forbade discussion of politics there, likely due to some prosecution case, and officially forked into <<zhina-wiki>>, where politics is encouraged, presumably under better opsec.

[[zhina-wiki]]
==== Zhina Wiki (支纳维基, politically incorrect wiki)

Apparently addresses were:

* http://zhina.wiki/
* http://zhina.red/ this appears to be the one that lasted longer

but both down as of March 2021.

支纳 (zhina) is likely just another variant of: <<shina>>.

Dissidents, you have to learn to use Tor Onion Services!!! Doxing, even of evil people, is still normally taken down on the West, so there is no other choice!

<<wayback-machine>> has excluded both of the websites for some reason:

* https://web.archive.org/web/20190805183459/https://zhina.red/index.html
* https://web.archive.org/web/20190903104616/https://www.zhina.wiki/首页

but <<archive-today>> hasn't:

* https://archive.is/Z8RM9
* https://archive.is/znasL

[[anti-dictatorship-songs]]
== Anti-dictatorship songs (反对独裁的首歌)

Not necessarily in Chinese or about China specifically.

For Tiananmen songs, see: <<tiananmen-songs>>.

Brazil had a <<military-dictatorship-in-brazil,dictatorship from 1964 to 1985>>, and some amazing songs were made in Portuguese in that era. <<ciro-santilli>>, who is Brazilian, just cannot stop thinking about some of them in relation to China, notably: <<apesar-de-voce,Apesar de você>>.

[[do-you-hear-the-people-sing]]
=== Do you hear the people sing (Les Miserables musical, 1980, 問誰未發聲)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do_You_Hear_the_People_Sing%3F
* https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/À_la_volonté_du_peuple
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do_You_Hear_the_People_Sing%3F

Cantonese version used in <<hong-kong-anti-extradition-bill-protests-2019,Hong Kong>>: https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/問誰未發聲[], literally "ask who has not spoken".

A <<github>> reupload with <<hong-kong>> background images: https://github.com/cirosantilli/china-dictatorship/issues/507

.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojoC-Kbzpo8 English version taken from a scene of the link:++https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Misérables_(2012_film)++[Les Misérables (2012)] film.
video::ojoC-Kbzpo8[youtube,height=400,width=600]

.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAxDKhH1iU8 Original French version, overlayed on top of scenes from the miniseries https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Hugo,_ennemi_d%27État["Victor Hugo, ennemi d'État 2018"].
video::dAxDKhH1iU8[youtube,height=400,width=600]

.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=It3Ny7IY7jA Thousands sing 問誰未發聲 in 26th June 2019 in Hong Kong as a protest song.
video::It3Ny7IY7jA[youtube,height=400,width=600]

[[music]]
== The best Chinese traditional instrumental music albums (中国传统器乐音乐)

Much like <<restaurants,real Chinese food>>, your mind will be blown.

The best approach is to start with the largest multi-artist anthologies available to get a general overview of what is there.

Then, you can start Googling by instrument. The main four instruments are undoubtedly:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guqin[Guqin]
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pipa[Pipa]
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guzheng[Guzheng]
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erhu[Erhu]
** <<suwu>> hearding sheep (苏武牧羊) by Erhu virtuosa Song Fei (https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/宋飛[宋飛]): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uakOkv341P8

but there is also amazing content on others including:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suona[Suona]. Sample: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekqyC1CyfuI
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xiao_(flute)[Xiao flute]

and there is of course the infinite Wikipedia instrument list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Chinese_musical_instruments

Quality indicators:

* bad:
** Western instruments or modern digital effects
** on YouTube: "relax" videos with boring generic music.
+
They usually have some cute landscape scenes or overly produced good looking women as the thumbnail.
+
Good video covers will show the musicians with their instruments, or Chinese traditional painting.
* good: single instrument solo. There are some good multi-instrument and songs as well though, but harder to find.

Due to the language and political barrier, Chinese traditional music distribution is unfortunately atrocious, so learn what an https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Standard_Recording_Code[ISRC] is and don't use BitTorrent which the Chinese call "BT".

If you find album cover pictures on Google images, the ISRC should be somewhere on the back.

Other good lists:

* https://www.quora.com/What-are-some-good-Chinese-classical-instrumental-album

[[music-free]]
=== Free music (免费音乐)

Here are the few best I've seen. Not enough to replace the non-free, but pretty good.

* https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcZOZrP1P_V5J2P3ogZNpya0BAuPEgyuE my "Chinese Traditional Music YouTube playlist with all good music videos I found on YouTube. This will give you an initial idea.
** Notable longer videos
*** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35ZKN-H7at4 42 minute live Guqin presentation by Chen Leiji published by "Asia Society" on Jan 23, 2018, recorded in New York, January 20, 2018.
** Channels
*** https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCltmf0pqjXyLtNsF2vek_wQ 自得琴社 Zi De Guqin Studio. Amazing production.
*** https://www.youtube.com/user/yukinachang/videos "SoundofChina Guzheng" channel with a lot of guzheng content!
** Good YouTube lists
*** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qc0CzuA35y8&list=PLXPo1Bj1TYy73e8s99pyKfFD7iHqwigfN "Chinese" by "Ungern Sternberg"
* http://www.silkqin.com/06hear.htm John Thompson's Guqin website. Holy crap amazing list of Guqin pieces by the guy for MP3 download!
** Download all mp3: `wget -r -np -l 1 -A mp3 http://www.silkqin.com/06hear.htm`. Contacted John by email in 2019 telling him to put his stuff on YouTube and offering help.
** John focuses on playing the tunes in a "historically informed performance", in particular using silk strings rather than metal ones which are used by most modern artists: http://www.silkqin.com/08anal/hip.htm
* https://www.ibiblio.org/chinese-music/ several loose tracks for direct download. Not sure if legal, but has been up forever. The following sections are pretty good:
** https://www.ibiblio.org/chinese-music/html/traditional.html
** https://www.ibiblio.org/chinese-music/html/anthology.html#Dream music from the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_of_the_Red_Chamber_(1987_TV_series)link:++https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_of_the_Red_Chamber_(1987_TV_series)++["Dream of the Red Chamber" 1987 TV series]. Amazing!!! See also: <<television-series>>.

[[music-not-free]]
=== Non-free music

[[master-of-chinese-traditional-music]]
==== Master of Chinese Traditional Music 中国民族音乐大师系列

20-CD anthology.

ISRC of CD 1: CN-E01-04-450-00 / A.J6

Amazon link of CD 1: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000QZSWQS (https://web.archive.org/web/20190817223837/https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000QZSWQS[archive])

Publisher: <<china-record-corporation>>.

Chinese information: https://web.archive.org/web/20190816092018/http://www.gyhj.org/read/179301/1/1

English information with Google Translate: https://web.archive.org/web/20190816090447/https://1337x.unblockninja.info/torrent/1254538/Master-of-Chinese-Traditional-Music-Complete-Series-20-CDs-ABEE/

English song names properly copied from images: https://web.archive.org/web/20190816092313/http://muzz.pro/chinese_instrumental_traditional_music_master_of_chinese_traditional_music_20_albums_2005_mp3_tracks_320_kbps-1625006.html

A search on Amazon leads many of their albums in loose form: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=master+of+chinese+traditional+music&i=digital-music and you can patch together most of them by looking at the following two cover art styles:

TODO golden cover vs gray cover: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000QZUFQI (https://web.archive.org/web/20190816082640/https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000QZUFQI[archive]), TODO find the precise list.

[[masters-of-chinese-traditional-music-solo-appreciation]]
==== Masters of Chinese Traditional Music Solo Appreciation 中国民乐大师纯独奏鉴赏

14-CD anthology.

ISRC: CN-A50-06-389-00 / A.J6 (seems to be for the whole anthology)

Chinese information: https://web.archive.org/web/20190817072026/http://keai99.com/thread-435767-1-1.html

Chinese name: 中国民乐大师纯独奏鉴赏

Publisher: Chinese Musicians' Association | https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/中国音乐家协会

[[chinese-ancient-music]]
==== Chinese Ancient Music 中国古乐

ISRC of CD 1: CN-F13-03-435-00 / A.J6

Publisher: <<china-record-corporation>>.

Amazon link of CD 1: https://www.amazon.com/Zhong-Guo-Gu-Chinese-Primitive/dp/B000S996JO (https://web.archive.org/web/20190817224121/http://www.amazon.com/Zhong-Guo-Gu-Chinese-Primitive/dp/B000S996JO[archive]).

English tracklist and front covers: https://web.archive.org/web/20190817221426/https://rutracker.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1298954

==== Not-free TODO evaluate

* Treasury Of Chinese Musical Instruments https://web.archive.org/web/20190817225846/https://muzz.pro/chinese_traditional_folk_treasury_of_chinese_musical_instruments_4_cd_s_2005_mp3_tracks_320_kbps-1624801.html

=== Music publishers

[[china-record-corporation]]
==== China Record Corporation (中国唱片总公司)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Record_Corporation
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/中国唱片总公司

The most important publisher, AKA "CRC Jianian".

<<ccp-evil,Government-owned unfortunately>>, their website takes forever to load: http://www.china-crc.com.cn/[], and features mostly Communist shit, and I can't find the decent traditional music listed there.

One thing to try is an Amazon advanced search by label "China Record Co": https://www.amazon.com/s?i=digital-music&rh=p_33%3AChina+Record+Co&s=relevancerank&Adv-Srch-MP3-Submit.x=42&Adv-Srch-MP3-Submit.y=4&unfiltered=1&ref=sr_adv_m_digital

[[chinese-festivals]]
== Chinese festivals (中国节日)

[[dragon-boat-festival]]
=== Dragon Boat Festival (端午节)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_Boat_Festival
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/端午节

The third most important festival in China, after the Chinese New Year and Mid-Autumn Festival.

[[chinese-history]]
== Chinese history (中国历史)

[[spring-and-autumn-period]]
=== Spring and Autumn period (春秋时代, 771-476 BC)

[[warring-states-period]]
=== Warring States period (战国时期, 475-221)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warring_States_period
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/战国时期

[[the-best-chinese-supermarket-food-products]]
== The best Chinese supermarket food products (中国超市食物)

For more daily needs, when you don't want to spend more money and time at a restaurant, here are a few nice things you can get from your local Chinese supermarket and quickly make something good to eat.

* https://twitter.com/ChinaToday_com/status/992236462841020416/photo/1 huge dabaicai statue (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napa_cabbage[napa cabbage])

[[dumplings]]
=== Dumplings 饺子 (jiao3 zi)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiaozi
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/饺子

A staple food of North-east China.

You can buy them frozen on bags with about 20 for about 4 dollars.

Just boil 10-15 for 10 minutes and you have a decent ready-made meal!

The perfect cooking technique includes:

* at first, before they float, stir often with chopsticks so that they won't stick to the hot bottom of the pan, which will cause the peel to break
* don't ever ever ever overcook. Cook the minimum possible so that it is not raw. This also means taking the jiaozi out of the hot water as soon as they are done.
* after the dumplings rise to the surface after a few minutes, let it boil, and then put some cold water on top of the hot water. Repeat this two, three or four times until they are fully cooked. This helps the jiazi keep a strong peel.

The best way to eat them is to pour some vinegar and ready-to-eat spicy preparations like <<laoganma>> or Ciro's favorite, <<fansaoguang>> in the bowl, and then dip them one by one.

You can also drink the soup, or for cold days, actually eat the jiaozi with their soup. Ciro likes to add soy sauce and more of the above mentioned spices.

Can also be made by hand if you have the patience.

<<ciro-santilli>> could basically eat those every 3-4 days and not get tired.

.Fresh Asia Brand (香源) product line "hand crafted water dumplings" (手工水餃) is a good brand to buy if you can get it. https://www.orientalmart.co.uk/fresh-asia-brand-dumplings-pork-and-chinese-leaf-[Source].
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Jiaozi.jpg[height=400]

.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQkXA1xglU8 How to Cook Frozen Dumplings (Boil) by "Yongle Kitchen" shows the cool water pouring process.
video::YQkXA1xglU8[youtube,height=400,width=600]

[[buns]]
=== Chinese buns 包子 (bao1 zi)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baozi | https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/包子

You can buy them frozen on bags with about 4 for about 4 dollars.

The best way to heat them up by far is to steam.

If you don't have a steaming pot, you can also put them on a bowl inside a regular pot with some water at the bottom, and close the lid.

See also: <<xi-jinping-memes,習包子>>.

[[zongzi]]
=== Zongzi 粽子 (zong4 zi)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zongzi
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/粽

Eaten during <<dragon-boat-festival>>, but can be bought year round.

Buy frozen. Pick the ones with meat and eggs!!! Boil.

Cost about 4 dollars for 2.

You can't eat them every day because too heavy, but they are so amazingly tasty!!!

[[sunflower-seeds]]
=== Sunflower seeds (瓜子, gua1 zi)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guazi
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/瓜子

They are roasted and prepared with some flavoring, often green tea.

They are different from most Western ones you can find, because they tend harde and smooth, and the seeds are not open.

This is good because it makes you feel the flavour that was added to the skin as you break them open.

You have to learn how to open them with your front teeth.

Once you do that, you start eating them nonstop like a machine until the bag is empty.

.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Zh0TiEd63k Chinese dude eating sunflower seeds for 9 hours non-stop. That's a good brand to get BTW: https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/洽洽食品[Chacha Food (洽洽食品)].
video::4Zh0TiEd63k[youtube,height=400,width=600]

.https://www.chinesefoodwiki.org/Qiaqia[Qiaqia] (https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/洽洽食品[洽洽]) sunflower seeds. TODO flavor name? The red one is the "default" flavor, and likely the best. The name of the brand is likely onomatopoeic with the sound of eating sunflower seeds. Partial transcription: "洽洽香瓜子 百煮如未香" Photo by <<ciro-santilli>>, CC BY-SA 4.0 2021.
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Sunflower_seeds_guazi.jpg[height=500]

[[broad-beans]]
=== Dried broad bean snack (干蚕豆, gan1 can2 dou4)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vicia_faba | https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/蚕豆

The name of broad bean in Chinese is interesting: it literally means "silkworm bean", because the shape of the bean looks a bit like that of a silkworm cocoon.

.https://sixfortune.com/en/[Six Fortune (六福)] is a good brand of <<broad-beans>> to buy. Also they are from <<taiwan>>. https://www.tradewindsorientalshop.co.uk/acatalog/Six-Fortune-Prepared-Broad-Bean---170g.html[Source].
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Six_Fortune_broad_bean.jpg[height=400]

[[laoganma]]
=== Lao Gan Ma crispy chilly oil 老干妈 (lao3 gan1 ma1)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lao_Gan_Ma | https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/老干妈

You can basically add it to any stir fried dish ever if it is too bland.

The one with peanuts or black beans is also good.

Just stay away from the Chicken flavoured one. https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=eww[Eww].

.You can even buy Laoganma on Amazon! Photo by <<ciro-santilli>>, CC BY-SA 4.0 2021.
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Laoganma.jpg[height=400]

.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkTQTS2RSCU "What is Lao Gan Ma, and can you make it at home?" by "Chinese Cooking Demystified" published on Nov 19, 2019. Explains how it comes from Guizhou province cuisine (neighbours Sichuan).
video::nkTQTS2RSCU[youtube,height=400,width=600]

[[fansaoguang]]
=== Fansaoguang (饭扫光)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiddlehead_fern | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pteridium_aquilinum | https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/蕨菜

This is the best thing to eat with <<dumplings>> ever!!!

Some other flavours of the same brand are also very much worth trying, e.g. the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enokitake[Enokitake] (https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/金針菇[金针菇]) one. Others are a bit boring.

Oily, spicy and sour.

.Photo of the Fansaoguang Fried https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enokitake[Enokitake] (https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/金針菇[金針菇]) flavor. This is one of the best flavours. Another really good one was Wild brake pickles (野蕨菜), but it became less good in 2020 for some reason, that was one of the <<covid,major disasters>> of that year. Photo by <<ciro-santilli>>, CC BY-SA 4.0 2021.
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Fan_sao_guang.jpg[height=500]

[[hot-pot]]
=== Hot pot 火锅 (huo3 guo1)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_pot

You just have to buy:

* a hot pot base soup
* various kinds of frozen fish/meat balls
* thin sliced frozen beef/lamb meat sold specifically for hot pot
* leafy vegetables like Chinese cabbage or fresh Chinese mushrooms
* you can also add some dry stuff like dried mushrooms or dry tofu products
* sauces to put into a bowl and dip the cooked things in before putting them into your mouth. Could be either dedicated hot pot sauces, but sesame paste, soy sauce, vinegar and <<laoganma>> will already be good enough

Put the electric rice cooker or a regular pot with a portable electric heater on the dining table.

Boil the water with the soup, start with the harder to cook meaty things, and eat/add more as they become ready!

Great fun to do in winter with family and friends!

There are also dedicated hot pot restaurants, but <<ciro-santilli>> is not a fun, since it feels much better to do it in the privacy of your home.

YouTube explains it pretty well, no need for their fancy ying yang pans though, a rice cooker will do just fine:

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQZcPyn-cDU ingredient choice
+
video::UQZcPyn-cDU[youtube,height=400,width=600]
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fqv9hNoiQEs shows the actual eating
+
video::Fqv9hNoiQEs[youtube,height=400,width=600]

[[congee]]
=== Congee (粥, zhou1)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congee#China | https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/粥

A thick rice/cereal/bean porridge. Amazing for breakfast.

You can buy them as dry air tight uncooked cereal/bean mixtures, and there are different types.

You can also buy the ingredients separately of course, but it requires more effort.

If you get the air-tight bag, you can also buy some extra missing ingredients to taste, notably https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jujube[jujubes] (https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/枣[枣]).

Then you just boil them in a rice cooker for a few hours.

It is also possible to buy them ready-to-eat in cans, but those are nowhere near as good.

One particular type which is very good is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laba_congee[Laba congee] (eight treasure congee, 八宝粥).

Then, to eat it, you will want to add salty side dishes, all of which can be bought from the Chinese supermarket, since the congee itself is just mildly sweet and not salty at all:

* cooked <<salted-duck-egg>>

.The HONOR brand (康樂, full name: Honor Products, 康樂產品) Eight treasure congee (八寶粥) is a good brand to buy if you can find it. https://www.hiyou.co/product/honor-eight-treasure-porridge/[Source].
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Eight_treasture_congee.jpg[height=500]

.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermented_bean_curd[fermented bean curd] (https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/腐乳[腐乳, fu3 ru3]) is a good thing to put on <<congee>>. Wangzhihe (https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/王致和[王致和]) is a good brand, <<ciro-santilli>> prefers the dark red ones instead of the white ones. https://www.amazon.com/Wangzhihe-Fermented-Traditional-Bean-DragonMall/dp/B00786YL72[Sample Amazon link]. Photo by <<ciro-santilli>>, CC BY-SA 4.0 2021.
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Fermented_bean_curd_furu.jpg[height=500]

.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIxbJxNRpX0 Video showing how to make eight treasure congee from scratch by "Asian garden 2 table" published on Feb 2, 2020.
video::DIxbJxNRpX0[youtube,height=400,width=600]

[[salted-duck-egg]]
==== Salted duck egg (咸鸭蛋)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salted_duck_egg
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/鹹鴨蛋

[[tea-egg]]
===== Tea egg (咸鸭蛋)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_egg
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/茶葉蛋

This is good!

[[lamian]]
=== Lamian (拉面)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamian
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/拉面

Silk road stuff of course.

[[daikon]]
=== Daikon (白萝卜, big long Chinese white radish)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daikon
* https://zh-yue.wikipedia.org/wiki/白蘿蔔

Ahh, one of those things that got the Japanese name in the West, so unfair.

In Japanese it is (大根, da2 gen1, lit. "big root"), you can still see the sound similarity from Mandarin.

Also crazy how there's no Mandarin Chinese wiki page for it.

[[daikon-pork-rib-soup]]
==== Daikon pork rib soup (排骨萝卜汤)

https://www.xiachufang.com/recipe/1001847/

One of <<ciro-santilli>>'s favorite home made dishes!!! Don't forget to dip the meat into soy sauce at the table, since the soup is not too salty on its own.

[[winter-melon]]
==== Winter melon (冬瓜)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wax_gourd
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/冬瓜

One of those unfortunate translations from the past. Wax, does it come out of someone's ear? Gourd, WTF is a gourd?

Basically a softer <<daikon>>, there's likely some better comparison to a Western vegetable, but Ciro can't think of one right now.

Good ways to eat include:

* <<daikon-pork-rib-soup>> but with winter melon instead of daikon
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweetheart_cake[sweetheart cake filling]. Yup, it can also be used in sweets!

[[restaurants]]
== The best Chinese restaurants outside of China (中国以外最好的中国饭店)

Google Maps list: https://goo.gl/maps/zBkmPaU1wLP2

[[resturants--introduction]]
=== Introduction

Most Western people do not know what real Chinese food is.

When you first see it, your mind is completely blown: there it was, one of the best foods in the world by far, and you had never tried it: only a completely watered down boring version that you get when you are not guided by Chinese people.

We must put a stop to this madness.

After you see the light and eat the real version of a dish, then when you go to a not-real restaurant you start to think: "hey, I know what dish this was supposed to be. But it could be so much more awesome!" This makes non-real restaurants twice as bad. So beware, there is no turning back.

Maybe we should institute a Foodie Dictatorship (美食家独裁) that prevents such fake restaurants from hiding real Chinese food???

[[resturants--rating-system]]
==== Rating system

* tier 1: amazing, worth a trip
* tier 2: worth it, but not exciting, so not worth a trip just for it
* tier 3: I wouldn't go there

[[resturants--how-to-find-good-restaurants]]
==== How to find good restaurants

* go with Chinese food-loving friends to Chinese restaurants
* read up Chinese restaurant recommendation websites written in Chinese by Chinese for Chinese
* read up small shady Chinese food recommendation websites by link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinophile[sinophiles like Ciro Santilli]

Big Western sites like Google Maps reviews and TripAdvisor are completely and utterly useless for this and will recommend places in which poor non-Chinese which don't know what real Chinese food is like.

If you go out on the street by yourself, you are very unlikely to find really good Chinese food since the enormous majority of Chinese restaurants are not real Chinese food.

If there are only Chinese clients inside the restaurant, it is a good indicator that it might be good. If all clients people are Western, run away.

Western people don't know what good Chinese food is, so if you are not in a place that has a very large Chinese population, real Chinese food restaurants cannot survive, and won't exist. This usually implies being in large cities of rich countries.

Beware of restaurant owner changes: if the menu looks a bit different, it has likely happened.

This is <<politically-incorrect,politically incorrect>>, but here goes: if the place looks as if it is maintained by more recent immigrants, and looks more modern, it is more likely to be good. There are however some venerable older uncles who have cooked well their entire lives and are still fine. Things tend to water down across generations, and there was likely not enough real Chinese clientele for them to serve real Chinese food and survive in the past.

If a restaurant advertises itself as "Asian", it is less likely to be very good.

Conversely, restaurants that specialize in a single region of China are more likely to be good (bot not certainly good).

It is already difficult to do the cuisine for one part of China well, imagine for multiple countries.

Just beware of "Sichuan" restaurants: their cuisine is so well known even in the West that I've seen many not so good restaurants that describe themselves like that, even if the owners are from another region. But there are many good ones which really are from there as well.

[[resturants--similar-lists]]
==== Similar lists

[[resturants--how-to-order]]
==== How to order

For all restaurants, ask the waiter for suggestions. Tell him that you:

* want the most typical dishes, not what the foreign locals eat, but what the Chinese eat
* can eat spicy food, way more than any foreign local person can.
+
The spice level you generally want is "zhong1 la4" (medium spicy)
+
If you can't eat spicy, either learn or stop reading now and accept the fact that you will never eat good Chinese food.
* if the restaurant is from some region, ask for dishes from the region, and which are different from other regions.
+
I was once <<dumplings>> (super popular dish everywhere in China which I buy frozen and eat every 3 days) in a Tibetan restaurant... Yes, I do believe Tibetans also eat jiaozi! :-)
* Speaking a little Chinese goes a long way towards convincing the owners that you can handle the real thing.

Only order dishes with meat. Those without are not worth the money/time. Aubergine is the exception.

[[restaurants--france]]
=== France 法国

Traiteurs are simpler restaurants that let you see pre-made foods in a glass showcase for you to choose how big your portions will be.

They are the best way to eat a cheap and balanced meal in Paris, but I have never found one that serves exceptional Chinese food, so beware.

[[restaurants--france--paris]]
==== Paris 巴黎

Paris has one of the largest Chinese communities outside of China in the whole world centered in the 14eme arrondissement, plus a lot of Chinese students with money around.

As a result, you can find some of the best Chinese food in the world outside of China!

Bibliography:

* https://carnetdecroute.blogspot.fr
* http://cnkick.net/2013/09/10/les-meilleurs-restaurants-chinois-de-paris-le-guide-cn-kick/
* https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-best-Chinese-restaurants-in-Paris
* https://www.newsavour.com/restaurants/ Chinese only, Paris, website subsidiary of some larger Chinese group.

* Restaurant Sichuan (川里川外)
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17 Rue le Peletier, 75009 Paris
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Xianglaxie.
+
Last checked: 2017/06
* Chez Yong (Ding Ding Xiang, 鼎鼎香)
+
42, rue de la Colonie, 75013 Paris
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** shui zhu niu rou
** dishes with intestines
* La Chine sur la langue (舌尖美味)
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163 rue Saint-Denis, 75002 Paris
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** Spicy soup with Chinese charcuteries. Ma la tang.
** Large dry and thin bread. Jing dong da bing. 京东大饼. http://www.nipic.com/show/1/55/7885c266f22649ae.html[Picture].
* Quatre Amis (那家小馆)
+
29 rue de Charenton, 75012 Paris
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--
** Fried octopus
** Shui zhu niu rou
** Anything with intestines
--
* Le Céleste Gourmand (福来居, fu lai ju)
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8 Rue de la Tacherie, 75004 Paris
* L'Orient d'Or (福源丰)
+
22, Rue de trévise, 75009 Paris
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--
** Galettes croustillantes au canard (xiang su ya dai bing, 香酥鸭带饼)
** Poisson pimentee (suan tang yu, 酸汤鱼)
** Soupe aux cartilages de porc avec algues (hai dai pau gu tang, 海带排骨汤)
--
+
Hunan style.
+
25 euros / person.
* Carnet de Route
+
57 Rue du Faubourg Montmartre, 75009 Paris