README.adoc

* It has become more organized.
+
But why shouldn't they organize to defend themselves now that they have the chance without being put into prison?
+
The CCP is highly organized and has way more resources.
* Less emphasis is given to the religious / mystical aspect, and more to the corporal exercises, and health aspect.
+
This may be because people in the "West" are:
+
** are "scientific-educated" atheists who wouldn't go for a "religion"
** already have other religions, which would view FLG as a taboo

Also maybe only the richest and most educated believers managed to escape China, and thus the movement carried that bias outside China.

If you know more ways in which it may have changed, let me know.

But once again, we can know nothing for sure about the past in China because of censorship.

Even if you saw something yourself, how can you be sure that it is representative?

And if it has changed, now that it has changed, maybe China should unban it?

==== FLG has been funded by the US government at least once, therefore it is evil

1.5M USD in 2010 for a FLG controlled internet freedom group http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8678760.stm

But well, if you are going to do something anyways, and someone offers you money, why wouldn't you take it?

Taking the money does of course give a "bad impression" that someone is trying to buy influence, but does it in itself imply that you are doing something bad?

But do you really think that the US government paid that to buy influence in FLG? What would they force upon that FLG group that they didn't already want to do? Isn't it more likely that the US government wanted them to continue doing exactly what they were doing?

Every government funds groups it supports, it is an all out war I suppose. Compare that to the propaganda funds of the CCP.

What about the funding of political campaigns, which vastly outnumbers 1.5M USD every year?

==== FLG is illegal in China, we must follow the law

This might be a bad law that should be changed.

It was perfectly legal for Nazis to kill Jews. Does it make that right?

==== FLG is fake

The same can be argued about any other religion or political belief of type: it is better if we organize society in this or that way.

How can you disprove their belief, when as in any other religion, every affirmation made hinges on "miracles only happen around when true believers are around" or "only true believers can perceive evidence in their hearts / minds directly". He died of cancer? Not a true believer.

Conversely, do you understand the full sequence of experiments that imply quantum field theory? Have you seen videos of those experiments? Have you attended live demonstrations? Do you understand the construction of the experimentation apparatus? Yet, why do you believe it?

More importantly: what do you propose that should be done about it? Should we kill followers? Or is jail enough?

Also do let me know when you have achieved irrefutable proof that democracy / freedom of speech are the optimal ways to organize the government: <<democracy-is-a-religion>>.

See also: <<flg-religion>>

[[flg-verifiable]]
===== FLG never makes any predictions that can be reasonably verified by non-believers

Exactly, just like any other <<flg-religion>>, this is why I'm <<do-you-believe-in-or-practice-falun-gong,agnostic>>.

The closest claims to observable I've heard are:

* when pictures are taken in sacred events, notably Shen Yun, sometimes you can see magic Falun energy wheels in the pictures
* in the homes of some followers, small magic good plants-like fungi-like things have grown
* the sacred books of some believers had a closed lotus flower when they were bought, and after several years, the flower opened

but I suspect they are not even <<flg-canon,canon>>, just believer oral culture.

Of course, like every other religion, reality happens to be is constructed in a way that prevents non-believers to verify anything with their eyes in a reproducible way.

===== FLG is a very new religion and therefore fake

The Romans called Christianism the "Cult of Jesus".

If I tell a lie today, will it become true in a thousand years? Or a truth today become a lie?

Try sending an email to <<flg-lhz,LHZ>> asking him to prove his powers to you :-)

==== Many people both are against censorship and FLG

I know that, and that supporting FLG is "bad" for my public image with most Chinese, including those that are against censorship.

But without censorship, there will be democracy, and with democracy FLG followers will have voting rights, and FLG will become legal.

I think the situation is very similar to Scientology in the USA today: most people dislike it, but believe that you can believe whatever you want.

Democracy and Communism <<democracy-is-a-religion,can also be considered as religions and persecuted>>.

Isn't it convenient when a dictatorship gets rid of those weirdos for you? But not so much when suddenly you or your family is the weirdo...

If you are not ready to accept the beliefs of others, dictatorship is the only choice for you.

See also: <<flg-bias>>

[[democracy-is-a-religion]]
===== Why do you say that democracy is a religion just like FLG?

Because it also specifies irrational and fundamental aspects of how one should live, notably voting and freedom of speech.

Like the Cult of CCP has one fundamental belief: the Party is always right.

[[flg-stability]]
===== Falung Gong had to be banned because it was a threat to the stability of the country

Then they link to the Taping Rebellion:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiping_Rebellion
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiping_Heavenly_Kingdom

Of course FLG it was a threat to the stability of the country.

It is, as I have said, a highly organized political power: <<flg-political>>.

However, <<democracy-is-a-religion,democracy>> is a threat to the stability country in the exact same way:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Revolution

Anything that goes against a dictatorship is a threat to the stability of the country.

Now read: <<stability>>

==== Many people say they do FLG only to get VISAs to the USA

Heard this a few times, and I believe it has happened.

But I don't see how this is relevant at all to this discussion:

* if they are not really FLG believers, they should be prosecuted, but this says nothing about the real FLG believers,
* if they are, then why wouldn't they seek a VISA, since they are in constant threat of going to jail or worse in China, and the USA law gives them that right?

Sample news:

* https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2018/09/28/652218318/thousands-could-be-deported-as-government-targets-asylum-mills-clients

[[flg-witness]]
==== I have personally seen people do bad things because of Falun Gong

Either direct suicide or <<flg-medication,dying because of not taking medication>>.

First, I'm not saying I don't believe you, and I'm sorry about what happened.

But your testimony is worthless unless you give the following:

* clear unique personal identification
+
This is because the CCP has thousands of wumaos who could make fake reports.
+
There are basically two ways to do that:
+
.  your testimony is done in video form on YouTube clearly showing your face as you make it
.  links between a notable social media presence that is hard to achieve, e.g. Twitter with many followers, Stack overflow with a lot of rep, and the account
+
Either of those must contain / link to information that uniquely identifies you. Generally, full name, city and date of birth is enough.
* a precise testimony that states exactly what you saw happen with your own eyes, or heard from people that are very close to you.
+
The testimony must include:
+
--
** when the events happened
** where they happened, in which city at the very least
** the full names of who did what
--
+
This is to:
+
** make it easier to verify the truth of the event
** uniquely identify the event so we don't count a single event multiple times

If you do provide all of the above, I add your report to a list of reports that I will maintain. This list does not exist yet because there were no valid reports yet.

Next consider this:

* are you sure that Falun Gong made the person do the bad thing, and that the person wouldn't have done it anyways?
+
Did someone from Falun Gong told the person to do it?
+
I bet that if you look into patients of psychiatrists, you will find more suicides than average. So should we ban psychiatry?
* are you sure that the order came from <<flg-lhz,LHZ>>, and that it was not just some disgruntled local leader using Falun Gong for his personal madness and doing things he did not approve?
+
Branch Davidians were inspired by Christianism. So should we ban Christianity? What about the majority of Christians who have never done anything bad?
* only statistics has any meaning, and it would require a very large number of reports to make up statistics, so you will likely be wasting your time. I will do my part and maintain a list however.
* if ask for FLG believers to compile a list of horrors they have suffered, which they have already been doing since the start of the persecution, I bet that their list will be much longer than yours, because they are so <<flg-organized,well organized>>

==== FLG does not have proof of their persecution claims

How much proof do you think they would be able to get when there is no freedom of press?

Do you think that forbidding a 70 million person religion could have gone smoothly?

Do you think the thousands of personal of accounts of human rights violations that exist are all fake, and don't indicate that many, many more have taken place but fallen under censorship?

Conversely, there is no reliable proof that FLG is bad as claimed by CCP that has been verified by international media.

==== Someone from movement X did something bad, therefore the movement should be banned

By this logic, everyone should go to jail. The law should only punish individuals.

The communist party, which has had continuous power since 1949, killed millions during the cultural revolution. Surely they must be banned, no?

But the CCP has changed so much since those days, I hear you say.

I agree. And <<flg-changed,so has FLG>>.

[[flg-political]]
==== People from movement X are only in it for political power

For every desire of the masses, there will be amoral representatives that will step to use that power.

Still, those representatives cannot gain power if there is no backing desire from the society.

And at least the representatives have to pretend and to things for that group to retain their power.

==== Western media has exaggerated reports on FLG for propaganda reasons

Possibly true, but which reports are you talking about specifically?

All that I care about is:

* it is censored today
* if you do it you go to jail
* there were tens of millions of followers at the time of the ban

which I think are undeniable.

The only question that matters is: should it be banned or not?

==== Do you believe in the allegations of organ harvesting made by Falun Gong believers?

In short: I believe that it has happened to many people.

Long version:

It is obviously very hard to prove and quantify it definitely, much like it was hard to prove the Holocaust: bodies were cremated, and bribes were paid.

Even if we had a video showing the whole process, showing the whole money flow from donor to prison guard, it would still be hard to quantify it, so I do have some room for doubt in this opinion.

But consider the following, which is based on what I heard.

Even Chinese officials have admitted that in the past, if the body of the executed person is not claimed by family, then the organs can be extracted even without the consent of the prisoner:

* https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/07/china-still-using-executed-prisoners-organs-transplants-vatican
* https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/in-the-face-of-criticism-china-has-been-cleaning-up-its-organ-transplant-industry/2017/09/14/d689444e-e1a2-11e6-a419-eefe8eff0835_story.html

Perhaps now that they claim that there is a large voluntary organ donor database, then this has stopped or been reduced, but let's focus on that period when the extractions were widely done.

From this, even though China does not publish execution statistics, we can imagine that a large part of the organs come from prisoners sentenced to death.

Then, consider that a 70 MILLION person religion was banned, leading to a HUGE influx of prisoners from that religion.

FLG followers are just de-facto criminals like any other, and so extracting their organs is also de-facto legal.

Also, people from that religion don't drink alcohol, smoke or take drugs, and their organs are of good quality.

Furthermore, FLG prisoners continue to not bow down to the government even in prison, e.g. by doing their <<flg-religion,Falun Gong meditation>>, which makes them clearly identifiable and dangerous to the system.

Finally, add to that mix the huge level of corruption found in dictatorships.

Don't you think, then, that it is extremely likely that it has happened many times that such people have been selected to be executed earlier than others on average, due to the monetary value of their organs?

Bibliography:

* The Slaughter: Mass Killings, Organ Harvesting, and China's Secret Solution to Its Dissident Problem, by Ehtan Gutmann, 2014
** <https://www.amazon.com/Slaughter-Killings-Harvesting-Solution-Dissident/dp/161614940X>
** <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethan_Gutmann#The_Slaughter:_Mass_Killings,_Organ_Harvesting,_and_China's_Secret_Solution_to_Its_Dissident_Problem>

===== 2018 China Tribunal

2018 https://chinatribunal.com/

This is a mock tribunal, without any power of law, and was of course initially lobbied / organized brought up by FLG: https://endtransplantabuse.org/

However, none of the lawyers / jury members are FLG followers I believe, and I do believe that they are trying to honestly decide if there is enough evidence or not for organ harvesting in China.

They also have non-FLG witnesses.

Wether you believe in their partiality or not, I highly recommend watching some of what the witnesses, which I find very convincing and informative:

* https://youtu.be/oW3IaaXWE8s?t=7225 Swedish man who spent several years in prison in China

A notable precursor to mock tribunals is the link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell_Tribunal[Russel Tribunal].

===== Falun Gong is not important to be worth discussing

The main reason I emphasise FLG it that is shows how the CCP can mercilessly crush a 70M strong group (according to CCPs own statistics) out of a population of 1.3B in 2000, i.e. 5% of the population.

If that is correct, I'm curious to understand what you consider an important movement? :-)

Anything much larger would take down the government and change China's history forever.

OK, maybe the fact that 69M of those were likely old ladies didn't help much either. Tip to next prophet: make something that appeals to aspiring military officers.

And of course: <<flg-bias>>

==== Falun Gong overviews

Some possibly neutral overviews.

For:

* http://www.icsahome.com/articles/the-prc-and-falun-gong-langone

Against:

* http://www.culteducation.com/group/1254-falun-gong.html

Interesting:

* http://www.orange-papers.org/orange-cult_q0.html

==== Things I personally dislike about FLG

But also as explaining why I don't think it justifies the ban.

This section also gives me more credibility as a balanced critic >:-)

[[flg-religion]]
===== FLG downplays the fact that it is a religion

If asked if they follow a religion, I think most FLG practitioners will say no. E.g. they call themselves "practitioners" instead of believers.

But I strongly believe that all most people in the West would classify FLG as a religion if they are told that for FLG:

* absolute truth comes from an enlightened <<flg-lhz,prophet>>, who is perfect and has super human abilities
* weekly meetings where they read from a sacred book, either written by the prophet, or transcribed from his presentations to disciples, including the disciples questions, much like traditional Chinese texts like link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analects[The Analects of Confucius]
* prescribed daily meditation exercise hours, somewhat like Muslim Salah prayers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fazhengnian
* higher intelligent beings
* other dimensions
* aliens that looks like humans are amongst us, they gave us part of our modern technology
* meetings in which people tell their religious testimonies: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testimony#Religion
* an impending link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Judgment[final judgement]-like event, which will happen "very soon" (<<flg-verifiable,unspecified date>>), and in which the just will be rewarded
+
I predict that when <<flg-lhz>> dies, the claim will be that he went to another dimension so save us all, therefore putting this final judgement on hold, a bit like Jesus.

Or a cult, which is nothing but a new / small religion with negative connotation, and thus meaningless.

But consider this: how to classify what a religion is?

Some would answer: science is what everyone can perceive with their own senses.

But FLG followers claim to feel FLG energies when doing the exercises, and a few of them have the power of seeing the other dimensions.

On the other hand, how many of your friends have experienced the laws of quantum field theory or general relativity in a very direct way?

And aren't pro-democracy believers also taking actions based solely on a shared belief, possibly organized by a pro-democracy leader?

From a purely strategic point of view, the "religion" denomination would be:

* good to FLG because the concept of freedom of religion carries considerable weight in the West
* bad for FLG because people who already have a religion would be less likely to try it out and start believing

[[flg-organized]]
===== FLG downplays the fact that it is highly organized

Many FLG practitioners claim that they are not at all organized, or that they have no political interest, and I truly believe that they mean it.

But it is obvious from the size of the FLG related media, namely:

* link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NDTV[NDTV television network]
* link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epoch_Times[Epoch Times newspaper]
* link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shen_Yun_Performing_Arts[Shen Yun Performing Arts]

that in practice they do have are a highly organized hierarchical structure, and very likely with <<flg-lhz,LHZ>> at the very top, e.g.:

* Shen Yun's 2018 libretto says that their Artistic Director and founder is "D.F." (likely an abbreviation for Da Fa, which is an abbreviation for Falun Gong Dafa, which is a full name of Falun Gong), with a picture of LHZ on top. It also amusingly says that D.F. is a "Distinguished Professor of Music and Dance at Fei Tian College in New York", which is likely where many of Shen Yun's dancers are trained, and therefore controlled by himself to a large extent

Furthermore, Falun Gong practitioners have directly lobbied for foreign governments to take action against human rights abuses in China, e.g.:

* http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+MOTION+P7-RC-2013-0562+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN
* https://www.eff.org/press/releases/eff-court-cisco-must-be-held-accountable-aiding-chinas-human-rights-abuses

Like any other religion, they have all the right to take those actions, and it is definitely in their best interest, and perhaps in the best interest of the whole world, that they do so.

The only thing that annoys me is their lack of self perception on this matter: the large majority of Western people would definitely classify them as an organized political force after having observed their activities. When they say otherwise, they are hurting their own credibility.

====== FLG media is not transparent about its affiliation

Agreed, and it is a point that hurts more than helps their cause.

But the media is not legally obliged to state their affiliation.

And if that were the case, then we should force _all_ newspapers start taking pools of how many employees follow which religion and support which political party, and then put that in their print.

===== FLG dislikes several other groups like homosexuals and some other religions

Like most old religions.

Democracy dislikes dictators.

You and I dislike certain personality traits without any logical reason.

What matters is that we treat everyone with respect and without bias at work, even if we don't like them.

But the law can't force you to like everyone.

If one specific FLG member breaks a law by discriminating someone, they should be punished just like anyone else.

[[flg-medication]]
===== FLG believers are less likely to take necessary medication

Due to their beliefs in the healing power of FLG, which seems to have certain level of support on <<flg-canon,canonical texts>> TODO precise quotes.

This is a point that makes me worry, and I do believe that it is true for some believers, that but consider:

* what matters are statistics. Maybe FLG people live longer than non FLG in average. But we will never have statistics because of censorship: http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/27529/have-many-falun-gong-practitioners-forgone-medical-treatment-and-died-of-treatab
* maybe people should be link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_legislation[allowed to choose how they want to die], not to take medication if they don't want to
* maybe the number of people killed during persecution vastly outnumbers those who died because they would not take medication
* several religions, including Christianism have miraculous cure claims. My impression is that claims were mostly notable in the old times apparently, likely because people noticed that Christians were still dying of all kinds of diseases like everyone else, no matter how devout!
* maybe the main reason why communists banned FLG is the political threat it posed, but that a ban was unjustified given the situation. Christian crosses are being taken down as of 2016, have they stopped taking their medications as well?
* maybe many of those people would also have died soon even if they had taken medication
* maybe not all Falun Gong believers thought that it was wise to stop taking medication. But their religion was banned anyways. Who can agree and follow all the innumerable prescriptions of any religious or legal system?
* all the following also reduce people's lifespan:
+
--
** riding motorcycles vs cars / buses
** smoking
** moving to a poor country to do charity there
** eating fast food
--
+
Forbidding them also has huge humanitarian costs (more expensive vehicles, creation of a black market, ...). So why not forbid them as well?

[[flg-lhz]]
===== FLG is dangerous because LHZ has too much power over followers

LHZ (Li Hongzhi) is the creator of FLG: link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Hongzhi[], or as I prefer to call it, its <<flg-religion,prophet>>.

I agree that there is danger in every religion, and specially new religions.

However the same point can be made about political parties and in particular the CCP and its chairman.

Couldn't a charismatic leader chairman gain more and more power (like Xi seems to be doing), and eventually start a war and kill millions? Or just kill some minority which is not happy about the situation.

Similarly, any charismatic leader of a pro democracy movement could become the leader of a terrorist organization.

If you ever want democracy, you will have to learn to accept the beliefs of others, and only punish them when they actually break a law.

Finally, LHZ was born in 1951, so he will die in 20 years, unless FLG is true and a miracle happens, and then this argument will become invalid.

From what I hear, LHZ has always maintained that he is the only source of truth on FLG, and therefore, so his death will very likely remove any danger once and for all.

Furthermore, it also seems to me that FLG is clearly anti-violence and self-harm, so I wonder how many would follow a contradictory order such as killing or suicide?

It is also interesting to look into the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonestown case. When the suicide order came, most people wanted out! Without physically controlling the followers, I don't think you can make them do much.

===== Some FLG people make phone telemarketing

I've seen that happen, they made phone calls to people in China to explain why FLG is good, and I disapprove of it.

Visual ads on the street on Internet I can stand, but not any kind of advertising that generates notifications on my feeds.

=== How do different websites view your profile?

==== Zhihu ban

I was banned from Zhihu on 2018-06-25 for "politically sensitive" content.

I have however never posted anything politically sensitive on Zhihu, unless my name and profile picture have reached that distinction, and therefore the ban is clearly an unfair per-person ban.

But of course, all is fair in love and war, and politics.

Posting any sensitive content on Chinese websites is a waste of time, since it only means that they will be removed and you will waste time creating a new account, I will never do that.

The only significant content I ever posted on Zhihu is the answer to: https://www.zhihu.com/question/46957710/answer/122827944 which is purely technical, and trivial replies on threads that other people have started about me. Have those people been blocked like me?

My posts are still up and it does not appear to be possible for people to see that I have been banned, but whenever I try to take any action on the website a popup appears saying:

____
由于严重违反 知乎社区管理规定 ，该帐号已被永久禁言
____

This includes liking, commenting, answering, asking or trying to update my profile to say that I have been blocked.

This message also shows on my public page for everyone to see: https://www.zhihu.com/people/cirosantilli/activities but they use some JavaScript scheme complicated enough that archive.is cannot capture it.

I still get notifications however, but I am unable to reply to them, specially given that all Chinese accounts, unlike mine, have no personal identifiable information due to the understandable fear Chinese citizens have of their own government (even though such accounts https://techcrunch.com/2017/08/27/china-doubles-down-on-real-name-registration-laws-forbidding-anonymous-online-posts/[might be illegal in theory to my understanding]).

The only action that I can take now is to report abusive comments people make to me.

Obviously, the only effect of such ban is that I will create an anonymous account under Tor with a second cell phone if I wish to contribute in the future, and China will have less information about my political interests than before.

The private messages the website sends while banning you are:

____
知乎管理员 ：您好，根据用户举报，您的帐号发布了「政治敏感」内容，帐号已根据知乎社区规范被永久禁言。处理详情可查看社区服务中心。具体规范请查看知乎社区管理规定。 6月25日 16:37 回复 | 删除

知乎管理员 ：您好，根据用户举报，您的部分个人信息由于不符合知乎用户信息管理规范已被重置。用户名可以在设置页面中修改，修改后会自动进入审核等待通过；其他个人信息可以在个人主页中编辑。感谢您对知乎社区的理解和支持。 6月25日 16:37 回复 | 删除
____

Those messages contain links to: https://www.zhihu.com/terms2 | http://archive.is/wdXSz and https://www.zhihu.com/question/19551824 | http://archive.is/BrgV2

The ban came soon after I posted a link to my GitHub repo as a comment at: https://techcrunch.com/2018/06/21/ice-employee-list-github-linkedin/ maybe they are related.

===== Who reported me on Zhihu

At the same time the ban happened I received a public comment from user ``Eureka'' https://www.zhihu.com/people/crb912/activities | http://archive.is/1F3t6 on this thread: https://www.zhihu.com/question/46957710 | http://archive.is/PVOLd saying:

____
你滥用了github， 也滥用了Stackover。这个一个纯粹计算机、编程和知识分享的地方，请不要带入政治性的色彩。请不要这么做， 维护社区的非政治性、中立和技术性纯粹，是每个热爱cs的人应尽的义务。
____

I am unable to get an URL that shows the comment on archive.is, so I have no proof of this claim. If you trust me, then here is a screenshot: https://imgur.com/a/YCiEEax

Since I expect the ban lists to be private, I find it extremely likely that this was the user who reported me, unless both were simultaneously triggered by a third event which I have not seen. So correct me if I’m wrong here.

Users with the same user id `crb912`, related ``Eureka'' username or same profile picture, can be found at:

* https://www.weibo.com/crb912 (unable to archive)
* https://github.com/crb912 | http://archive.is/heGfd which suggests a possible real name

By Googling the email found on the GitHub repos, we find: http://www.360doc.com/content/15/0809/11/25724933_490492490.shtml | http://archive.is/2UnGL which might, at last, contain a photo of my nemesis.

My public message to the reporter whomever he may be:

____
While you have also raised issues that were raised a thousand times before, and clearly answered in the FAQ, at least you were able to take some actual action leading to an actual ban, and I respect you for that.

I hope that one day you will redirect that cunning and initiative towards taking down the root cause of the problem, which are the Chinese communist Party and their Firewall themselves.
____

==== Quora

https://www.quora.com/profile/Ciro-Santilli

* 2016 blocked Chinese keywords on both my username and credentials. Justification: non-English.
* 2017 created on in English: Cook Tiananmen Square Noodle Shop.
+
Added my Noodle shop to maps: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Tiananmen+Square+Noodle+Shop/@60.6132538,15.6687509,15z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x94603408e3c63fb3!8m2!3d60.6132538!4d15.6687509
+
Leaches that picked it up: http://kvalster.se/Falu/Uthyres/Lagenheter/Gammelvagen_49_1417351

== News

Trying to keep only "neutral" sources here, let me know if you spot something too biased: <<biased-media>>.

How I find them: <<anti-commie-info>>.

=== News 2019

* 2019-02-24 http://fortune.com/2019/02/21/thermo-fisher-xinjiang-china-uighurs/
** https://www.reddit.com/r/China/comments/auqkdl/biotech_giant_thermo_fisher_stops_selling_dna/
* 2019-02-17 https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/2186547/china-data-leak-exposes-vast-hi-tech-surveillance-operation "China data leak exposes vast hi-tech surveillance operation in Xinjiang", leak by SenseNets Technology.
* 2019-01 https://www.apnews.com/40f7cf4c0c6e43f18121af93f1e418f7 Microsoft Bing https://www.bing.com/ search engine blocked in China
* 2019-01 https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/02/business/china-internet-censor.html interview with Beyondsoft, a company that offers censoring services

=== News 2018

* 2018-12 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzWApdCNdik 100 Christians detained in China crackdown
* 2018-12 https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=8&v=dsd1NkCKaNg In full: 'I begged them to kill me' - ex-Xinjiang detainee Mihrigul Tursun gives testimony in the US
* 2018-11 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-45812419 Xinjiang legalises 're-education' camps
* 2018-08 https://theintercept.com/2018/08/08/google-censorship-china-blacklist/
* 2018-08 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-rights-un/u-n-says-it-has-credible-reports-that-china-holds-million-uighurs-in-secret-camps-idUSKBN1KV1SU
* 2018-07 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eak3WRtcdko Sairagul Sawytbai testifies to the existence of Chinese concentration camps in Xinjiang
* 2018-06 https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/06/china-bans-online-mention-of-john-oliver-after-he-mocks-chinas-president/ https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6m5b3o
* 2018-05 https://www.whatsonweibo.com/public-shaming-of-drug-users-in-guangdong-drug-related-crimes-in-family-painted-on-houses/
* 2018-04 https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-china-lawmaking/china-makes-defaming-revolutionary-heroes-punishable-by-law-idUKKBN1HY16C
* 2018-04 https://chinadigitaltimes.net/2018/04/translation-open-letter-on-peking-university-metoo-case/ https://github.com/sikaozhe1997/Xin-Yue
* 2018-04 https://www.whatsonweibo.com/weibos-new-online-guidelines-no-homosexuality-allowed/
* 2018-04 https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/congressional-leaders-urge-us-to-press-china-over-reports-of-mass-uighur-detentions/2018/04/05/9bd17c90-38b3-11e8-b57c-9445cc4dfa5e_story.html
* 2018-03 https://supchina.com/2018/03/29/no-tattoos-at-the-2018-strawberry-music-festival-in-hangzhou/ Funny pics at: http://app.myzaker.com/news/article.php?f=xiongzhang&pk=5ac0eb1877ac6465da676481
* 2018-03 Xi prepares for life rule 包子露宪
** https://chinadigitaltimes.net/2018/03/phrase-week-steamed-bun-betrays-constitution
* 2018-02 https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/25/world/asia/china-xi-jinping.html
* 2018-02 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/25/at-least-120000-muslim-uighurs-held-in-chinese-re-education-camps-report
* 2018-01 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/19/outspoken-chinese-human-rights-lawyer-yu-wensheng-arrested
* 2018-01 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-hongkong-politics/hong-kong-activist-banned-from-by-election-in-what-pro-democracy-party-calls-payback-idUSKBN1FG06P
* 2018-01 https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/12/world/asia/china-church-dynamite.html
* 2018-01 http://uk.businessinsider.com/china-marriott-tweets-censorship-2018-1?r=US&IR=T Marriott lists Taiwan as country in the website
* 2018-01 http://chuangcn.org/2018/01/the-mastermind/
* 2018-01 http://time.com/5112061/china-hip-hop-ban-tattoos-television/

=== News 2017

* 2017-12 https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/25/world/asia/china-wu-gan-sentence.html
* 2017-11 低端人口 Low-end population
** https://qz.com/1138395/low-end-population-what-you-need-to-know-about-chinas-crackdown-on-migrant-workers/
* 2017-11 https://www.reddit.com/r/China/comments/7a7hf9/the_worlds_largest_academic_publisher_blocks/ Springer nature pulls sensitive articles. TODO article list.
* 2017-09 https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/25/business/china-whatsapp-blocked.html
* 2017-08 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/china-muslim-minority-school-language-ban-han-xinjiang-uyghur-hotan-hetian-government-communist-a7873446.html
* 2017-07 https://qz.com/1056938/cambridge-university-press-china-quarterly-complies-with-censorship-removes-300-articles-on-topics-like-tiananmen-and-tibet-in-china/ Book list: https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-file-manager/file/59970028145fd05f66868bf5?utm_content=bufferb652b&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer archive: http://web.archive.org/web/20170905214500/https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-file-manager/file/59970028145fd05f66868bf5?utm_content=bufferb652b&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
* 2017-07 https://techcrunch.com/2017/07/29/apple-removes-vpn-apps-from-the-app-store-in-china/
* 2017-07 http://shanghaiist.com/2017/07/26/liu-xia-home-visit.php
* 2017-06 http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/ordered-05092017155554.html Uyghurs studying abroad ordered to return to China
* 2017-06 http://www.whatsonweibo.com/new-rules-online-videos-china-no-displays-homosexuality/
* 2017-06 http://mashable.com/2017/06/23/china-bans-livestreaming/#FJ4h.sLYQqq9
* 2017-05 https://qz.com/989454/a-chinese-students-commencement-speech-at-the-university-of-maryland-praising-fresh-air-and-democracy-is-riling-chinas-internet/
* 2017-05 http://www.sixthtone.com/news/1000233/at-wedding-market%2C-mothers-of-gays-and-lesbians-face-resistance
* 2017-05 https://ktar.com/story/1564381/ap-exclusive-china-lawyers-family-says-us-helped-them-flee
* 2017-04 https://chinachange.org/2017/05/03/breaking-lawyer-chen-jiangang-with-family-and-two-friends-seized-by-armed-police-in-yunnan/
* 2017-03 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-39137293 BBC Team forced to sign confession

=== News 2016

* 2016-11 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/video_and_audio/headlines/38005603 Election china style, BBC interview with Chinese candidate, while thugs block him physically from nocking the door: Funny / scary stuff. https://www.reddit.com/r/China/comments/5dfigb/this_is_democracy_chinesestyle/
* 2016-11 https://www.reddit.com/r/China/comments/5ai1s6/chinese_citizen_arrested_after_wearing_xitler/ https://wqw2010.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/101.html Possible Twitter: https://twitter.com/kwonpyong
* 2016-09: http://qz.com/783026/china-censorship-chinese-citizens-are-being-arrested-for-sharing-news-about-the-wukan-village-rebellion-online/ http://qz.com/781989/foreign-journalists-are-wanted-for-3000-by-chinese-authorities-for-inciting-unrest-in-a-village/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wukan_protests
* 2016-06 https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/jun/28/china-lady-gaga-ban-list-hostile-foreign-forces-meeting-dalai-lama
* 2016-06 https://github.com/github/gov-takedowns/blob/78775b09e64d85f08547287cab204b48b2491192/China/2016/2016-06-08-programthink-zhao.md first GitHub takedown
* 2016 http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/12/world/asia/china-britain-queen-xi-jinping.html?_r=0 queen says Chinese were rude in state visit
* 2016 http://shanghaiist.com/2016/05/06/dont_eat_that_banana.php Sexy banana eating forbidden
* 201X http://qz.com/671211/chinas-propaganda-outlets-have-leaped-the-top-of-facebook-even-though-it-banned-at-home/ Chinese government uses forbidden media in China like Facebook and Twitter, possibly click farmed
* 2016-04 http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2016/01/26/china-threatens-sanctions-against-u-s-companies-is-this-the-future/ China economic sanctions companies that sell weapons to Taiwan (some of those companies also sell civilian products to China)
* 2016-04 http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/china-demands-shutdown-disneylife-service-887599 Disney Life blocked
* 2016-04 http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/china-demands-shutdown-apples-film-886831 Apple iTunes and iBooks blocked
* 2016 http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-35968855 China’s 'Great Firewall' blocks its creator
* 2016 Panama papers 巴拿马文件
** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Papers
** https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%B7%B4%E6%8B%BF%E9%A6%AC%E6%96%87%E4%BB%B6
** mention Deng Jiagui 邓家贵 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deng_Jiagui , who is Xi Jinping’s brother-in-law
* 2016 http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/mar/04/china-bans-gay-people-television-clampdown-xi-jinping-censorship gay depiction banned on television
* 2016 http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/27/world/asia/china-zhejiang-christians-pastor-crosses.html pastor 14 years jail
* 2016 http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-35496562 Armani Communist - http://www.ibtimes.com/xi-jinping-wants-overhaul-image-chinas-rich-kids-1961207 - first section of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKQ5ijFZ_j8
* 2016 http://freebeacon.com/national-security/chinese-defector-reveals-beijings-secrets/ Ling Wancheng defects
* 2016 http://chinachange.org/2016/01/21/activist-in-xinjiang-sentenced-to-19-years-for-online-writings-and-rights-activities/ Zhang Haitao (张海涛) faces 19 years in jail for his blog posts
* 2016 http://money.cnn.com/2016/01/20/technology/facebook-android-tor/ Facebook Android app implements Tor option
* 2016 https://www.reddit.com/r/China/comments/41y6ig/hong_kong_movie_predicts_dark_future_for_city/ Honk Kong (2016) movie

=== News 2015

* 2015-11 http://technode.com/2015/11/24/surge-advanced-proxy-tool-ios-pulled-app-store/
* 2015 https://news.vice.com/article/the-missing-hong-kong-booksellers-family-isnt-buying-his-televised-confession Gui Minhai, 51, from publisher Mighty Current who was going to publish a book about Xi Jinping’s love life.
* 2015 https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/christians-in-china-feel-full-force-of-authorities-repression/2015/12/23/7dd0ec5a-a736-11e5-b596-113f59ee069a_story.html
* 2015 Taiwan #1
** https://www.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/comments/3tz3jq/what_is_the_point_of_the_taiwan_1_thing/
** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTqZ9xrxhHk
* 2015 Taiwanese beauty queen kicked out of Miss Earth pageant for refusing to change `Taiwan ROC' sash to `Chinese Taipei' http://shanghaiist.com/2015/11/23/miss-earth-ting-wen-yin.php
* 2015 https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/08/speech-enables-speech-china-takes-aim-its-coders https://github.com/shadowsocks/shadowsocks shadowsocks creator threatened
* 2015 http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-34630829 Lego refuses to sell to Ai Weiwei
* 2015 http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/13/world/asia/china-bao-zhuoxuan-son-wang-yu-rights-lawyer-house-arrest.html Bao Zhuoxuan 16-year old son of human rights layer in house arrest
* 2015 Human rights activists crackdown 200+ in jail
** http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/23/world/asia/china-crackdown-human-rights-lawyers.html
** http://edition.cnn.com/2015/07/13/china/china-activists-arrests/
** http://time.com/3954935/china-arrests-lawyers-human-rights/
** https://program-think.blogspot.com/2015/07/weekly-share-90.html
** https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%B8%AD%E5%9C%8B710%E3%80%8C%E7%B6%AD%E6%AC%8A%E5%BE%8B%E5%B8%AB%E3%80%8D%E5%A4%A7%E6%8A%93%E6%8D%95%E4%BA%8B%E4%BB%B6
** #710律师劫
** https://program-think.blogspot.com/2015/07/weekly-share-90.html
* 2015-03 China forces real usernames on the net, and provoking ones
** https://advox.globalvoices.org/2015/04/16/new-internet-rules-in-china-target-usernames-avatars-as-subversive-tools/
** http://www.engadget.com/2015/02/28/china-username-policy-purge/

=== News pre-2015

* 2014 https://www.reddit.com/r/China/comments/4hmhzt/xinjiang_massacre_2014_resulted_in_30005000_deaths/ something very serious happened in Xinjiang.
* 2014 https://youtu.be/Gq1B3Hgclyo?t=261 http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/28/china-media-watchdog-bans-wordplay-puns pun control
* 2013 https://www.ft.com/content/db8b9e36-1119-11e8-940e-08320fc2a277 Peter Humphrey
* 2012 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuctech. One of the most blocked on Wikipedia according to: [complete-gfw-rulebook-for-wikipedia-v3.0.pdf][] Nutech Namiba Hu Haifeng corruption scandal 纳米比亚威视胡海峰腐败丑闻
* 2011 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Chinese_pro-democracy_protests https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%B8%AD%E5%9C%8B%E8%8C%89%E8%8E%89%E8%8A%B1%E9%9D%A9%E5%91%BD Chinese pro-democracy protests
* 2010 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8682145.stm 10 month Xinjiang internet blackout
* 2009 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tan_Zuoren#2009_court_case Ai Weiwei documentary about it: https://aiweiwei.com/documentaries/disturbing-the-peace/index.html
* 2008 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tofu-dreg_project 豆腐渣工程 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China%27s_Unnatural_Disaster:_The_Tears_of_Sichuan_Province
* 2008 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wenzhou_train_collision#Government_response https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011%E5%B9%B4%E7%94%AC%E5%8F%B0%E6%B8%A9%E9%93%81%E8%B7%AF%E5%88%97%E8%BD%A6%E8%BF%BD%E5%B0%BE%E4%BA%8B%E6%95%85 Wenzhou train collision 2011年甬台温铁路列车追尾事故:
* 2008 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Tibetan_unrest https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008%E5%B9%B4%E8%A5%BF%E8%97%8F%E9%AA%9A%E4%B9%B1 Tibetan unrest 西藏骚乱
* 2005 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dongzhou_protests https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%B8%9C%E6%B4%B2%E4%BA%8B%E4%BB%B6 Dongzhou protests
* 1999 http://www.lionsroar.com/apple-thinks-different-about-the-dalai-lama-in-china-2/ Apple censors Dalai Lama for China
* 1989 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiananmen_Square_protests_of_1989 https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%85%AD%E5%9B%9B%E4%BA%8B%E4%BB%B6 Tiananmen Square protests 六四事件:
** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goddess_of_Democracy https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/中国国际广播电台
** AP footage is pretty good, just do a search on the archive:
*** http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/China-Student-Demonstrations/5d1cd01250c9e5e9397f20ef9f1327df
*** http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/China-Student-Demonstrations/cfc6890746010c73f9414e20906268aa
** Zhang Shijun is the most notable soldier who spoke up it seems:
*** https://chinadigitaltimes.net/2009/03/china-detains-writer-of-critical-web-letter-to-hu/
*** https://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/flashbacks-06042018133558.html
*** https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/mar/20/tiananmen-square-china-zhang-shijun
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1986_Chinese_student_demonstrations https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%85%AB%E5%85%AD%E5%AD%A6%E6%BD%AE 八六学潮
* 1987–1989 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1987%E2%80%9389_Tibetan_unrest https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989%E5%B9%B4%E6%8B%89%E8%90%A8%E9%AA%9A%E4%B9%B1. Videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jylh1qfOG4, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMZgoRuPJBg Tibetan unrest 年拉萨骚乱
* 1978, 1997 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beijing_Spring https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%8C%97%E4%BA%AC%E4%B9%8B%E6%98%A5 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy_Wall https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%A5%BF%E5%8D%95%E6%B0%91%E4%B8%BB%E5%A2%99

== Biased media

I consider the media in this section biased, and never cite it for fact checking.

=== Chinese government media

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xinhua_News_Agency
** https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%96%B0%E5%8D%8E%E7%A4%BE
** http://www.xinhuanet.com/
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Daily
** https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%BA%BA%E6%B0%91%E6%97%A5%E6%8A%A5
** http://people.cn/
** https://twitter.com/PDChina
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Daily
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confucius_Institute
** https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%AD%94%E5%AD%90%E5%AD%A6%E9%99%A2
** http://www.economist.com/node/17969895>
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Radio_International
** https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%B8%AD%E5%9B%BD%E5%9B%BD%E9%99%85%E5%B9%BF%E6%92%AD%E7%94%B5%E5%8F%B0
** http://www.cri.cn> <http://english.cri.cn/
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Central_Television
** https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgrNz-aDmcr2uuto8_DL2jg CGTN, CCTV's international branch in English
* http://facts.org.cn/
** http://wap.kaiwind.com/
** I have no proof that this is linked to the government, but it is very likely, even the Chinese embassy website links to it:
*** http://www.china-embassy.org/eng/lj/t36322.htm
*** http://web.archive.org/web/20180414233331/http://www.china-embassy.org/eng/lj/t36322.htm

=== Falun Gong media

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Tang_Dynasty_Television
** https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%96%B0%E5%94%90%E4%BA%BA%E9%9B%BB%E8%A6%96%E5%8F%B0
** https://www.youtube.com/user/Laowaikanzhongguo Laowai kan Zhongguo
** https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgFP46yVT-GG4o1TgXn-04Q China Uncensored
** https://www.youtube.com/user/NTDOffTheGreatWall Off the Great Wall
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Epoch_Times
** https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%A4%A7%E7%BA%AA%E5%85%83%E6%97%B6%E6%8A%A5
* http://en.minghui.org/
** http://falundafa.org/ links to it
** http://www.clearwisdom.net/
* http://www.secretchina.com/
* http://fofg.org/
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_of_Hope
** http://www.soundofhope.org/
** http://www.bayvoice.net/gb/
* http://lotus-sacre.com/
* https://en.tuidang.org/
** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuidang_movement

=== USA government media

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_of_America
** http://www.voa.com/
** http://www.voachinese.com/
** http://www.voacantonese.com/

[[funny]]
== Funny 好笑

Humour is the greatest weapon against dictators:

* https://web.archive.org/web/20170801011641/http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02590/TIGGER_2590531b.jpg Whinnie the Pooh Xi Jinping Obama Tiger
* http://media.cagle.com/78/2017/03/08/192621_600.jpg
* https://www.reddit.com/r/China/comments/3pqljx/zimbabwes_ruthless_dictator_mugabe_wins_chinas/ 2015 Zimbabwe dictator wins Confucius prize
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4WBsahU3X4 Stephen Colbert comments on how American films make a good image of China to be allowed in China by censors to increase sales.
* https://www.hongkongfp.com/2015/09/03/in-pictures-censored-memes-search-terms-and-images-from-chinas-wwii-parade/
* https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/ec/Duck_man.jpg
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong_97_%28video_game%29 https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%A6%99%E6%B8%AF97_%28%E9%81%8A%E6%88%B2%29
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%B3%95%E5%80%AB A Swedish city called Falun 名为法倫的瑞典城市 Oh, BTW, one of the oldest operating companies in the world is from there: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Mine
* http://9gag.com/gag/ayn7KmW?ref=fbp Left Right Slaughterhouse comic, Dictatorships love this one.
* http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2015/05/artist-detained-after-posting-humorous-photo-of-xi-jinping/
* http://www.miniharm.com/

== Other sections

TODO migrate all into this README.

. link:censorship.md[Censorship]
. link:media.md[Media]
. link:dissidents.md[Dissidents]
. link:movements.md[Movements against the Dictatorship]
. link:images/[Images]
. link:policies.md[Policies]
. link:stack-overflow.md[Stack Overflow]
. link:stack-overflow-profile.md[Stack Overflow profile]
. Personal
.. link:communities-that-censor-politics.md[Communities that censor politics]