README.adoc

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.
* link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-air_preaching[street preaching] with stands and leaflets like link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jehovah%27s_Witnesses[Jehovah's Witnesses]

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

See also: <<flg-daily>>.

[[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
* LHZ mentions NDTV, Epoch Times and Shen Yun extensively on his <<flg-canon>>. TODO link to source, this based on unintentionally overhearing to my family members reading it.

Furthermore, Falun Gong practitioners directly lobby 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.

==== Falun Gong bibliography

* https://www.quora.com/Why-is-the-Chinese-government-against-Falun-Gong
* http://www.zhihu.com/question/23988890 (https://web.archive.org/web/20160311140407/https://www.zhihu.com/question/23988890[archive]) "全能神教在境外，法轮功也在境外，为什么他们不祸害境外人民、偏偏只祸害大陆人？"

[[news]]
== News 新闻

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

* 2019-10-16 https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/10/16/gitlab_employees_gagged/ GitLab prevents employees from discussing politics at work, and will not veto clients. This is not confirmed, but I guess it is very likely in reply to the <<2019-hong-kong-anti-extradition-bill-protests>> given the timing. The https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/www-gitlab-com/merge_requests/30656[merge request] (http://web.archive.org/web/20191017080216/https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/www-gitlab-com/merge_requests/30656[archive]).
* Twitter to block operations by oppressive foreign state media
** https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/company/2019/information_operations_directed_at_Hong_Kong.html Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/China/comments/csodbt/twitter_suspends_nearly_1000_accounts_connected/
** https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/company/2019/advertising_policies_on_state_media.html Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/China/comments/csnsyn/twitter_policy_change_we_will_not_accept/
* 2019-07-12 https://www.apnews.com/a2584de07c014e4786a21bcf9f446a40 "37 countries rally around China at top UN human rights body"
** <<biased-media,(biased)>> http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-07/15/c_138229200.htm
** the full scanned letter: https://twitter.com/KevinPinner/status/1151868854781526016
* 2019-07-02 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/02/chinese-border-guards-surveillance-app-tourists-phones "Chinese border guards put secret surveillance app on tourists' phones"
* 2019-06-18 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmId2ZP3h0c "Inside China's 'thought transformation' camps - BBC News" China gives BBC "access" to a chosen show camp where everyone claims is happy and willing to stay. Amazing dark-comedy like stuff.
* 2019-05-09 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2hBtXdaYsQ&list=PLcZOZrP1P_V5d7RMOKXF1PT70fcfYJpgY&index=2&t=14s Cynthia Liu, daughter of Liu Changming pleas freedom on YouTube, commented upload by CBS, TODO can't find original video on YouTube, maybe they sent straight to CBS?
* 2019-04-28 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-48084019 Hong Kong: Thousands protest against China extradition law
** https://www.reddit.com/r/China/comments/auqkdl/biotech_giant_thermo_fisher_stops_selling_dna/
* 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

[[nine-nine-six-icu]]
==== 996.ICU

https://github.com/996icu/996.ICU

Repository published in 2019-04 protesting against excessive work hours by Chinese programmers.

The name refers to:

* "996": work from 9AM to 9PM 6 days a week
* "ICU": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intensive_care_unit[Intensive Care Unit]

Reached 180k stars in a week, and was the second most starred repository as of 2019-10 https://github.com/search?q=stars%3A%3E100&s=stars&type=Repositories[] (https://web.archive.org/web/20191023084929/https://github.com/search?q=stars%3A%3E100&s=stars&type=Repositories[archive])!!!

This is therefore the best example for Chinese tech workers that freedom of speech is a good thing.

Coverage:

* https://www.reddit.com/r/China/comments/b927sk/tencent_xiaomi_and_others_block_github_page/
* https://www.reddit.com/r/cscareerquestions/comments/b8t8cc/overworked_chinese_developers_gather_on_github_to/

.996.ICU logo. https://github.com/996icu[Source].
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20191023085035/https://avatars3.githubusercontent.com/u/48942249[height=400]

=== News 2018

* 2018-11 https://www.businessinsider.com/liu-changming-china-holds-officials-family-hostage-to-force-return-2018-11 China is holding a renegade official's family hostage to pressure him to come back. Western media, for the love of God, include names in Chinese news titles: Liu Changming, wife Sandra Han, children Victor and Cynthia Liu.
* 2018-08 https://theintercept.com/2018/08/08/google-censorship-china-blacklist/
* 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
* 2018-02 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/

==== Xi abolishes term limits 2018-03

* 包子露宪 https://chinadigitaltimes.net/2018/03/phrase-week-steamed-bun-betrays-constitution
* https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/10/world/asia/china-xi-jinping-term-limit-explainer.html

.https://www.rfa.org/english/cartoons/XiJinping-Eternity-cartoon-02282018104813.html[Source].
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20191013080140if_/https://www.rfa.org/english/cartoons/XiJinping-Eternity-cartoon-02282018104813.html/180227RFA-XiJinping-Eternity.jpg[height=400]

Some reasonable Xitler photoshops:

.https://www.reddit.com/r/HongKong/comments/cuf3p7/chinazi_xitler/[Source].
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20191013080128if_/https://i.redd.it/c9q6vdybr7i31.jpg[height=400]

.https://foreignerinformosa.typepad.com/the_foreigner_in_formosa/2017/07/president-xitler-of-china-murders-political-dissident-liu-xiaobo.html[Source].
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20191013080043if_/https://foreignerinformosa.typepad.com/.a/6a00d834523d5069e201b7c90b8e9c970b-pi[height=400]

.http://chinhdangvu1.blogspot.com/2017/09/xitler-chinazism.html[Source]
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20191013080031if_/https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DGlPeEmXcAAaeQa.jpg[height=400]

=== 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://citizenlab.ca/2017/04/we-cant-chat-709-crackdown-discussions-blocked-on-weibo-and-wechat/
* 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.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.
** Lam Wingkee is another one of the detaine bookselers
*** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lam_Wing-kee
*** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHq0f_eGLhE 2016 interview in freedom
*** https://china-journal.org/2019/04/27/abducted-hong-kong-bookseller-has-fled-to-taiwan-to-avoid-extradition-to-china/
* 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: link: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
** https://file.wikileaks.org/file/tibet-protest-photos/ Good gory photos from the event.
* 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
* 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

[[tiananmen]]
==== Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989 六四事件

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

* 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
* http://www.ursulagauthier.fr/tiananmen-15-minutes-dapocalypse/  (https://web.archive.org/web/20190607142501/http://www.ursulagauthier.fr/tiananmen-15-minutes-dapocalypse/[archive]) a few gory photos

.Sea of protesters in Tiananmen Square. No, not even that many people can influence dictatorships if they don't have weapons. https://abcnews.go.com/International/tiananmen-square-29th-anniversary-crackdown/story?id=55564966[Source].
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20190714002904im_/https://s.abcnews.com/images/International/tiananmen-massacre-gty-04-jpo-180531_hpEmbed_3x2_992.jpg[height=400]

.Corpses by the road in after the Tiananmen Square Protests were crushed. http://www.ursulagauthier.fr/tiananmen-15-minutes-dapocalypse/[Source].
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20190607142501im_/http://www.ursulagauthier.fr/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Tiananmen-7-715x1024.jpg[height=400]

[[tank-man]]
===== Tank man 坦克人

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tank_Man https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%9D%A6%E5%85%8B%E4%BA%BA

Good list of all photos: https://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2014/05/30/the-other-tank-man-photographs/

CNN video of Tank Man: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeFzeNAHEhU[].

.Arthur Tsang's photo of Tank Man. https://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2014/05/30/the-other-tank-man-photographs/[Source].
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20190808091019im_/http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/images/BN-CZ715_tam2_G_20140529081612.jpg[height=400]

== Media 媒体

Sources of information pertinent to this repository.

=== Commentary media

The following offer interesting commentary, but not to be used as primary sources:

* https://china-journal.org
* http://www.chinafile.com Some good articles. "ChinaFile is an online magazine published by the Center on U.S.-China Relations at Asia Society", based in New York.

=== 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://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

[[confucious-institute]]
===== Confucious institute 孔子学院

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

News and reports:

* 2019-09 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-49511231 (https://web.archive.org/web/20191013185933/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-49511231[archive]) "Confucius Institutes: The growth of China's controversial cultural branch"
* 2019-01 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2019/01/11/u-s-universities-have-shut-down-confucius-institutes-heres-what-you-need-to-know/ (https://web.archive.org/web/20190616134959/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2019/01/11/u-s-universities-have-shut-down-confucius-institutes-heres-what-you-need-to-know/[archive]) "Why U.S. universities are shutting down China-funded Confucius Institutes"

[[cssa]]
===== Chinese Students and Scholars Association 中国学生学者联合会

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

Abbreviation: CSSA.

News and reports:

* 2019-10-13 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-10-13/cssa-influence-australian-universities-documents-revealed/11587454 (https://web.archive.org/web/20191014032348/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-10-13/cssa-influence-australian-universities-documents-revealed/11587454[archive]) "Chinese Students and Scholars Association's deep links to the embassy revealed" in Australia.
* 2018-03-07 https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/03/07/chinas-long-arm-reaches-into-american-campuses-chinese-students-scholars-association-university-communist-party/ (https://web.archive.org/web/20191012103953/https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/03/07/chinas-long-arm-reaches-into-american-campuses-chinese-students-scholars-association-university-communist-party/[archive])

==== 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
* http://dongtaiwang.com
** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freegate

==== USA government media

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

[[radio-free-asia]]
===== Radio Free Asia 自由亚洲电台

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Free_Asia | https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%87%AA%E7%94%B1%E4%BA%9A%E6%B4%B2%E7%94%B5%E5%8F%B0

Website: https://www.rfa.org

Just because they are/were funded/founded by the CIA, it doesn't mean that we can't use their xref:rebel-pepper[amazing satirical cartoons] to fight xref:dictatorship[], right?

[[videos]]
== Videos 视频

See my "China Politics" playlist for a collection of all sensitive videos I have ever found on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcZOZrP1P_V5d7RMOKXF1PT70fcfYJpgY Ping me if you find any I haven't included.

Interesting videos that were deleted / made private since I added them:

* 2019-04-17 http://web.archive.org/web/20190424021220/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPnnHCeRH3w the Leica ad: https://www.theverge.com/2019/4/19/18508009/leica-china-censored-ad-tiananmen-square-protests-weibo Re-upload by SCMP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcuLZDHLFt8
* 2019-05-18 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAEUafI_lyI not on Web Archive, lesson learnt

[[funny]]
== Funny 好笑

Humour is the greatest weapon against dictators:

* https://i.redd.it/nodgcqmwtcg31.jpg "When you send a good joke from your Huawei phone" http://web.archive.org/web/20190814074955/https://i.redd.it/nodgcqmwtcg31.jpg
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_Religious_Affairs_Bureau_Order_No._5 officially named "Measures on the Management of the Reincarnation of Living Buddhas" (藏传佛教活佛转世管理办法)
* 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/
* South Park S32 E1 "Band in China" (2019), episode criticizing Chinese censorship
** free preview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6DI6XuvCwE
** free episode but only for US / Canada... https://southpark.cc.com/full-episodes/s23e02-band-in-china
** reply from show creators to censorship https://twitter.com/SouthPark/status/1181273539799736320
** BBC's report https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-49968867
* https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EGPZYFeUUAAYMQf?format=jpg&name=large "Tibet, Uyghur, Hong Kong, World" China death knocking door cartoon. TODO source, originally seen at: https://twitter.com/Lawrence_HKer/status/1181026542786203648 (http://web.archive.org/web/20191008075035/https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EGPZYFeUUAAYMQf?format=jpg[archive])

.Weibo logo vs Sauron's eye 微博标志vs索倫魔眼.
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20191013080406if_/https://i.imgur.com/eKPmYyz.png[height=400]

[[chrysanthemium-xi-jinping]]
=== Chrysanthemium Xi Jinping 菊花习近平

Got creator Dai Jianyong (戴建勇) arrested in 2015:

* https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/chinese-artist-who-posted-funny-image-of-president-xi-jinping-facing-five-years-in-prison-as-10282630.html
* https://chinadigitaltimes.net/2015/05/artist-detained-after-posting-humorous-photo-of-xi-jinping/

.Chrysanthemum Xi Jinping with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_Tiananmen_Square_protests[六四] spice added by Ciro Santilli
image::https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cirosantilli/media/master/Chrysanthemum_Xi_Jinping_with_liusi_added_by_Ciro_Santilli.jpeg[height=400]

[[rebel-pepper]]
=== Rebel Pepper 变态辣椒

https://twitter.com/remonwangxt

https://rebelpeppercartoons.com/

Without a doubt, the greatest anti-Communist joke cartoonist of the 2010s.

As of 2019 he does work for xref:radio-free-asia[], so a possible list of all cartoons of this era can be found at: https://www.rfa.org/english/cartoons/story_archive

His best work can be found scattered throughout this document in the relevant sections.

[[winnie-the-pooh]]
=== Winnie-the-Pooh 小熊維尼

Got censored due to comparisons between Xi Jinping and Winnie in 2017: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnie-the-Pooh#Censorship_in_China

Some good photoshops:

.https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/07/17/oh-bother-chinese-censors-block-winnie-pooh-meme-comparing-xi/[Source].
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20170801011641if_/http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02590/TIGGER_2590531b.jpg[height=400]

.https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/07/china-bans-winnie-the-pooh-film-to-stop-comparisons-to-president-xi[Source].
image::http://web.archive.org/web/20191012100528im_/https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/84b60992d857bccf54c384e4ebeb0ea7f207246b/37_0_752_451/master/752.jpg?width=620&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=e33410b2fb10c3d6de6a6ed65b6a7d8e[height=400]

.https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-china-blog-40627855[Source].
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20191012100855oe_/https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/DD1F/production/_96970665_4587b36b-011f-4007-b16f-34389d385aec.jpg[height=400]

[[art]]
== Art 艺术

* https://www.yuumeiart.com/fisheye-placebo-chapters Fisheye Placebo by Wenqing Yan. Webcomic that talks a lot about climbing the xref:censorship[great wall]. Artist obviously pro-democracy: https://twitter.com/Yuumei_Art/status/1174394851179167744

[[policies]]
== Policies 政策

[[censorship]]
=== Censorship 审查

==== Censorship is necessary to protect China from harmful USA propaganda

I don't think this is below the USA, but:

* without censorship, you would be much richer and stronger, and more able to defend yourselves
* why does China also censor its own people in addition to foreign propaganda?
* maybe this fear is greatly emphasised by the Chinese government beyond truth just to help them keep control of the country by fear and maintain their own power. Can the Americans really have that much influence in your country?
* maybe the regions that want to split from China feel like China is not giving them anything back, and they are themselves looking for allies outside of China to help them split. With democracy, people are more likely to get what they want, and there will be split parties and votes.
* the same argument can be used to justify any action, no matter how bad. E.g.: we must put all who criticize the government in jail, or else they will make China less united and weaker against the USA!

==== Censorship monitoring

Projects that atttempt to understand how the Great Firewall works and what it blocks:

* http://greatfire.org/
** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GreatFire
** https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%87%AA%E7%94%B1%E5%BE%AE%E5%8D%9A
** https://freeweibo.com/ related project by the same organization, a Weibo archive it seems
** https://en.greatfire.org/blog/2013/nov/google-can-bring-end-censorship-10-days-heres-how made some noise at the time
** https://twitter.com/GreatFireChina
* other websites: http://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/267715/is-stack-overflow-accessible-in-china/288497#288497
* Garry King Harvard papers:
** http://gking.harvard.edu/50c#
** http://gking.harvard.edu/publications/how-Censorship-China-Allows-Government-Criticism-Silences-Collective-Expression
** http://gking.harvard.edu/publications/randomized-experimental-study-censorship-china
* https://github.com/phoeagon/gfw-sim GFW emulation
* https://github.com/citizenlab/chat-censorship data on Censorship

==== gfwlist

https://github.com/gfwlist/gfwlist

Chinese people widely use this website list with browser extensions, so as to only use more expensive and risky censorship circunvention traffic when accessing certain webpages.

The result is a well maintained list of interesting websites. About half of which is porn.

Get the full list with:

....
base64 -d gfwlist.txt
....

See also:

* https://github.com/gfwlist/gfwlist/issues/3 "How to use this repo?"
* https://github.com/gfwlist/gfwlist/issues/1141 "Add categories tags to each entry"

==== Censorship circumvention

* https://www.bypasscensorship.org

[[fifty-cent-party]]
==== 50 Cent Party 五毛党

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/50_Cent_Party

* https://gking.harvard.edu/files/gking/files/50c.pdf "How the Chinese Government Fabricates Social Media Posts for Strategic Distraction, not Engaged Argument" by "Gary King, Jennifer Pan, Margaret E. Roberts" published on 2017-04-09
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCnnPf2OnHo "Chinese Internet Trolls Get Paid 50 Cents For Every Comment" by "laowhy86" published on 2018-09-27

[[social-credit-system]]
=== Social Credit System 社会信用体系

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

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dkw15LkZ_Kw "China’s "Social Credit System" Has Caused More Than Just Public Shaming (HBO)" by "VICE News" published on 2018-12-12
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cGB8dCDf3c "A Look Inside China’s Social Credit System | NBC News Now" by "NBC News" published on 2019-06-04

[[belt-and-road-initiative]]
== Belt and Road Initiative 一带一路

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

[[music]]
== The best Chinese traditional instrumental music albums

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]

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 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.

[[music-free]]
=== Free

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, recoded 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 that 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!!!

[[music-not-free]]
=== Not-free

==== Master of Chinese Traditional Music

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 (http://web.archive.org/web/20190817223837/https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000QZSWQS[archive])

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

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

English information with Google translate: http://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: http://web.archive.org/web/20190816092313/https://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 (http://web.archive.org/web/20190816082640/https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000QZUFQI[archive]), TODO find precise list.

==== Masters of Chinese Traditional Music Solo Appreciation

14-CD anthology.

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

Chinese information: http://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: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Musicians%27_Association[Chinese Musicians' Association]

==== Chinese Ancient Music

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

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

==== Not-free TODO evaluate

* Treasury Of Chinese Musical Instruments http://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

=== Publishers

==== China Record Corporation

The most important publisher: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Record_Corporation[China Record Corporation], AKA "CRC Jianian".

<<do-you-think-the-chinese-government-is-evil,Government-owned unfortunately>>, their the 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

=== Best-of lists

Other lists similar to this one:

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

[[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.

[[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 me]

Big Western sites like Google Maps reviews and TripAdvisor are completely and utterly useless for this and will recommend you 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, 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 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 is "zhong1 la2" (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 given https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiaozi[jiaozi] (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!

Bibilography:

* http://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
* http://www.newsavour.com/restaurants/ Chinese only, Paris, website subsidiary of some larger Chinese group.

* Restaurant Sichuan (川里川外)
+
17 Rue le Peletier, 75009 Paris
+
Xianglaxie.
+
Last checked: 2017/06
* Chez Yong (Ding Ding Xiang, 鼎鼎香)
+
42, rue de la Colonie, 75013 Paris
+
** shui zhu niu rou
** dishes with intestines
* La Chine sur la langue (舌尖美味)
+
163 rue Saint-Denis, 75002 Paris
+
** 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
+
--
** Fried octopus
** Shui zhu niu rou
** Anything with intestines
--
* Le Céleste Gourmand (福来居, fu lai ju)
+
8 Rue de la Tacherie, 75004 Paris
* L'Orient d'Or (福源丰)
+
22, Rue de trévise, 75009 Paris
+
--
** 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
+
Last checked: 2016/04
* 0 d'Attente (锅先生不等位)
+
55 Boulevard Saint Marcel, 75013 Paris
+
+33 9 81 49 68 06
+
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g187147-d6984996-Reviews-0_d_Attente-Paris_Ile_de_France.html
+
Like style of chairs and cutlery.
+
Ironically, the service was not particularly fast as the name indicates. Normal, but not ultra fast as I imagined :-)
+
lotus with rice (Nuo mi tang ou) and boeuf sechee (guo xian sheng ...) not very good, but baked fish and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meigan_cai kaorou were great.
+
Last checked: 2016/02
* Autour du Yangtse (食尚煮意)
+
12 Rue du Helder, 75009 Paris
+
--
** Marmite de poisson et de tofu (豆花鱼)
** Saliva chiken (口水鸡)
** Aubergines farcies sur plaqua chauffante (铁板脆皮茄)
--
+
http://www.autourduyangtse.com/
* Deux Fois Plus De Piment (绝代双椒)
+
Address: 33 Rue Saint-Sébastien, 75011 Paris
+
Sichuan style.
* Délices de Shandong (山东小馆)
+
88 Boulevard de l'Hôpital, 75013 Paris
* Hakka Home
+
3 Rue Voltaire, 75011 Paris
+
Food from the Hakka people https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hakka_people
+
Most dishes are like other good Chinese restaurants in Paris, but there were a few different ones.
* Maison Dong (东馆)
+
36 Rue Vivienne, 75002 Paris
+
Last checked: 2017/04
* Royal Tching Tao (青岛人家)
+
8 Rue du Bel-Air, 75012 Paris
+
** Galettes croustillantes au canard. Shi zi tou.
** Sweet fish （Song shu gui yu 松鼠桂鱼)
* Le Pont de Yunnan (滋味云南)
+
15 Rue Notre Dame de Lorette, 75009
+
Great food, but we had a bad service experience: got kicked out too early, even with a reservation.
* Tien Hiang (天香)
+
14, rue Bichat, 75010 Paris
+
Vegetarian food: most dishes are an imitation of a dish with meat.
+
Not as good as the original meat for me, but very interesting and good for a change.
+
Chinese vegetarians are rare. In theory, the origin of the food in this restaurant is Hong Kong Buddhism (Buddhist monks cannot eat meat, while other believers can.)
* Likafo (利口福酒家)
+
39 Avenue de Choisy, 75013 Paris
+
https://www.facebook.com/pages/LIKAFO-%E5%88%A9%E5%8F%A3%E7%A6%8F%E9%85%92%E5%AE%B6/139814799396
+
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meigan_cai[Meigan cai] roast pork (梅菜扣肉) http://img.epochtimes.com/i6/901120923161469.jpg
* Restaurant Sichuan (四川人家)
+
31-33 Rue Descartes, 75005 Paris
+
Perfect Fuqi feipian.
+
Huiguorou is good not my style, I prefer with leek.
+
Last checked: 2017/04

[[resturants--france--paris--tier-2]]
===== Paris tier 2

Cheaper / simpler restaurants that are really worth it if you want to not be hungry, but not worth it if you want eat exceptional food:

* Ace Boucherie
+
58 Rue Sainte-Anne, 75002 Paris
+
Korean take-away traiteur. Very good. Try calamar.
+
Last checked: 2017/06
* Ji Bai He
+
108 Rue Olivier de Serres, 75015 Paris
+
Jiaozi and accompanying small dishes are great.
+
Last checked: 2016/03
* SUCREPICE
+
5 Rue d'Arras, 75005 Paris
+
M10: Cardinal Lemoine
+
Liang ban mian, but do ask "wei la, they are strong.
* Noodle No 1
+
54 rue Sainte Anne, 75002 Paris
+
--
** Soupe aux nouilles pimentées
--
* Noodle bar
+
31 Rue nationale, 75013 Paris, France
* Chez Shen
+
39 Rue au Maire, 75003 Paris, France
* Dosanko Larmen
+
40 Rue Sainte-Anne, 75002 Paris
+
Order big portion at your own risk. :-)