README.adoc

Source: the first International email sent from China in 1987 by https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/王运丰[Wang Yunfeng (王运丰)] in the Beijing-based Institute for Computer Application (ICA) of the China Ordnance Industry Corporation under the https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/中华人民共和国机械电子工业部[Ministry of Machinery and Electronics of the People's Republic of China (中华人民共和国机械电子工业部)] to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werner_Zorn[Werner Zorn] from the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karlsruhe_Institute_of_Technology[Karlsruhe Institute of Technology] see also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_in_China[].

[[dictator-needs-gfw]]
===== Would ending the Great Firewall truly end the dictatorship?

Not 100% sure.

In <<russia>>, for example, the Internet is relatively free, but the government controls most professional media, which is what most people end up seeing, by suing dissidents media out of business.

But on the other hand Russia is already much freer than China.

Although I don't like them, I can't deny one thing: the commies are smart, and when they do something (e.g. censorship), it tends to keep them in power.

===== The Great Firewall is necessary to protect China from harmful USA propaganda and data collection

<<ciro-santilli>> doesn'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 emphasized 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? <<evil-west>>
* 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!

<<deng-xiaoping>> notably had this ideology, even though he explicitly recognizes that there are also <<censorship-makes-countries-poorer,benefits to not having online censorship>>:

____
打开窗户，新鲜空气和苍蝇就会一起进来。
____

which translates as:

____
If you open the window, both fresh air and flies will enter.
____

[[google]]
====== Google China 谷歌中国

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_China
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/谷歌中国

.Faithful Google China users/employees made a funeral-like flower tribute on the company's entry sign in Beijing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuspark[Tsinghua Science Park] when the company was https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Aurora[kicked/hacked out of China in the 2010 Operation Aurora]. This was one example of the unfair <<what-should-western-countries-do-about-china,joint venture technique imposed on foreign companies>> by China. https://qz.com/1352137/why-internet-users-chose-baidu-over-google-when-it-was-in-china/[Source].
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20200315134918if_/https://cms.qz.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/google-china-flowers-baidu.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1600&h=901[height=400]

[[jingjing-chacha]]
===== Jingjing and Chacha 警警察察

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

Friendly looking mascots of Internet Censorship in China created by the Shenzhen Government in 2006.

https://youtu.be/ZB8ODpw_om8?t=583 "Roger Dingledine - The Tor Censorship Arms Race The Next Chapter - DEF CON 27 Conference" mentions that choosing friendly looking mascots for internet censorship is a comon practice in several dictatorships, so to suggest that they are just <<evil-west,protecting citizens>>, These show the cute UAE censorship page for example:

* Iran https://business.financialpost.com/technology/canadian-software-used-to-filter-internet-in-middle-east
* Quatar https://rankingdigitalrights.org/2019/06/12/arab-regions-telecommunications-companies-fail-to-respect-users-digital-rights/

The images were https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jingjing_and_Chacha&oldid=917408711[removed from Wikipedia] presumably due to fair use concerns, so Ciro asked how to check that at: https://webapps.stackexchange.com/questions/137977/how-to-check-why-a-fair-use-image-was-removed-from-wikipedia After understanding the case, Ciro https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jingjing_and_Chacha&oldid=936842199[reuploaded the images], hopefully for good.

.Jinjing (警警) is the male cop. https://web.archive.org/web/20070825092952/http://www.e-gov.org.cn/Article/news003/2006-01-02/15229.html[Source].
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20070825092952im_/http://www.e-gov.org.cn/Article/UploadFiles/200601/20060102092326277.jpg[height=400]

.Chacha (警警) is the female cop. https://web.archive.org/web/20070825092952/http://www.e-gov.org.cn/Article/news003/2006-01-02/15229.html[Source].
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20070825092952im_/http://www.e-gov.org.cn/Article/UploadFiles/200601/20060102092327204.jpg[height=400]

.Jingjing and Chacha picture shown on the street, presumably in China. https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/bnvy38/jingjing-and-chacha[Source].
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20200115110135if_/https://images.vice.com/vice/images/articles/meta/2012/03/06/jingjing-and-chacha-1413461637268.jpeg[height=400]

.Image with Jingjing and Chacha together and explanations (深圳网络警察,Shenzhen Network Police), good for copy pasting. TODO a bit small. https://www.reddit.com/r/Cyberpunk/comments/84vbut/cute_official_mascot_design_of_chinese_internet/[Source]..
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20200115110425im_/https://i.redd.it/ns9jhaeel4m01.jpg[height=400]

.Beijing version of the Shenzhen-created Jingjing and Chacha. TODO what does it say on the images? On car "XX网络110" (XX Internet 110) so it must be the phone number of the Internet police department. At bottom right something like (联合新作, joint XX), so likely means it is a joint action between two departments. https://www.nbcnews.com/id/20477258/ns/technology_and_science-internet/t/beijing-police-launch-virtual-web-patrol/[Source].
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20200315112507if_/http://media2.s-nbcnews.com/j/ap/bej10508281134.grid-6x2.jpg[height=400]

.Angry Chinese cop cartoons extracted from https://web.archive.org/web/20191209021646/http://encyclopediadramatica.rs/China[Encyclopedia Dramatica] with the racist subtitles removed. It is hard to be sure what is the original image that they were Photoshopped from, but they are very similar to the Beijing Jingjing and Chacha although this is not a direct copy paste of the above since several details differ. The image was uploaded in 2011 to ED. https://web.archive.org/web/20170525180028/https://encyclopediadramatica.rs/File:Preasetoshowpapers.jpg[Source].
image::{cirosantilli-media-base}Jingjing_Chacha_angry.jpg[height=400]

.The Qatar friendly censorship page likely from around 2011. China is not alone in this "cute censorship" technique. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Qatar_filtering_message._Qtel_network.jpg[Source].
image::https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Qatar_filtering_message._Qtel_network.jpg[height=600]

===== Western companies that sell censorship technology to dictatorships

To China:

* Cisco may have knowingly helped to build the Chinese internet censorship infrastructure in the 2000's
** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cisco_Systems#Censorship_in_China
** https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2016/04/ciscos-latest-attempt-dodge-responsibility-facilitating-human-rights-abuses-export
*** https://www.eff.org/files/2016/01/12/113_second_amended_complaint_does_v._cisco_9.18.13.pdf they had a demo with a <<falun-gong>> module
** https://www.wired.com/2008/05/leaked-cisco-do/
*** Internal CISCO documents quote the Chinese Government saying: "The Golden Shield Project ... Combat Falun Gong evil religion and other hostiles"

To other dictatorships:

* 2019: IBM https://gizmodo.com/ibm-sells-face-recognition-surveillance-to-a-dictatorsh-1835101881
* 2017: Amesys France for facial recognition surveillance in Egypt: https://www.fidh.org/en/region/north-africa-middle-east/egypt/sale-of-surveillance-equipment-to-egypt-by-french-company-amesys
* 2011: Netsweeper Inc. from Canada to UAE
** claim: https://business.financialpost.com/technology/canadian-software-used-to-filter-internet-in-middle-east
* 2009: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forcepoint[Forcepoint], previously Websense
** claims on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forcepoint#Censorship

In 2019, the European Union was considering making stricter laws about cyber surveillance exports, to include more technologies that can be used either for Censorship or other non-evil applications (dual-use), <<what-should-western-countries-do-about-china,kudos to them>>:

* https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html?reference=EPRS_BRI%282016%29589832
* https://ec.europa.eu/trade/import-and-export-rules/export-from-eu/dual-use-controls/index_en.htm
* https://www.osborneclarke.com/insights/upcoming-changes-to-bring-cyber-surveillance-technology-within-eu-export-control-regime/
* https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/12/eu-plans-restrict-export-dual-spy-tech-171210061410639.html

See also: <<western-companies-that-comply-with-chinese-censorship-requests>>.

.Cartoon showing how Amesys systems are used to suppress citizens in Egypt. Do you want the logo of your company to figure there instead? https://www.fidh.org/en/region/north-africa-middle-east/egypt/sale-of-surveillance-equipment-to-egypt-by-french-company-amesys[Source].
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20200315112732if_/https://www.fidh.org/local/cache-gd2/86/564727cb219a210145a0dd6a1b7561.jpg?1556188970[height=400]

===== Censorship monitoring

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

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Websites_blocked_in_mainland_China
** https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/中华人民共和国被封锁网站列表
* Garry King Harvard papers:
** https://gking.harvard.edu/50c#
** https://gking.harvard.edu/publications/how-Censorship-China-Allows-Government-Criticism-Silences-Collective-Expression
** https://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

It is also worth noting that as mentioned at <<is-stack-overflow-blocked-in-china>> that websites can become non-functional if CDNs they rely on are taken down, instead of the website being taken down itself.

[[greatfire]]
====== GreatFire 自由微博

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GreatFire
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/自由微博

A group that produces tools and websites against censorship in China, central website: https://greatfire.org/

Backed by <<rfa>> and therefore USA Government.

The GreatFire Analyzer is their most important tool, it checks if websites are blocked or not in China:

* https://en.greatfire.org/analyzer
* https://zh.greatfire.org/analyzer

It also keeps a calendar of previous checks so you can see when a website started getting blocked.

One of the highlighted collections is the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexa_Internet[Alexa] Top 1000 domain block analysis: https://en.greatfire.org/search/alexa-top-1000-domains

Quite a few amazingly named porn ones, how could you live without them? <<porn>>

* https://chaturbate.com
* https://bongacams.com/

And some interesting random stuff that is hard to understand why its blocked, some of them appear to be pure protectionism:

* https://sourceforge.net/ interesting! The ex-<<github>> was blocked unlike GitHub as of 2020: https://www.quora.com/Is-SourceForge-still-relevant-to-open-source-projects/answer/Ciro-Santilli
* https://www.homedepot.com
* weirdly named <<google,Google>>. Do the names mean anything? Are they owned? The fact that they are Alexa top 1000 domains is just so funny, Google redirects for China.
** https://gdl5vtbbv0lj.com
** https://au79nt5wic4x.com
* https://www.jw.org/en/ Jehovah's Witness
* https://www.yodobashi.com/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yodobashi_Camera a Japanese Electronics retailer

Other tools:

* https://freeweibo.com a Weibo archive to overcome deleted posts
* 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

[[wayback-machine]]
====== Wayback Machine 网站时光机

Their Wayback Machine tool archive snapshots of webpages and allows youto browse the history of all archives:

* https://web.archive.org/
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayback_Machine
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/网站时光机

By the Internet Archive organization:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Archive
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/互联网档案馆

This Chrome extension helps to quickly archive pages: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/wayback-machine/fpnmgdkabkmnadcjpehmlllkndpkmiak

But remember that if you archive too many in a very quick succession before the previous ones have been archived, even if manually through that plugin, your account/IP might get blocked, so just give a few seconds for the current archive to terminate before starting new ones.

This happed to Ciro in 2020-06-14, but then he emailed the admins as mentioned at: https://help.archive.org/hc/en-us/articles/360016379432-Accounts-Tips-Troubleshooting- and they re-enabled it.

[[archive-today]]
====== archive.today

http://archive.is/

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archive.today
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archive.is

Like <<wayback-machine>> by uknown shady individuals, so less trustworthy.

But it does not care about robots.txt, so it sometimes works where Wayback Machine fails, so its better than nothing when it does.

And no, you can't Wayback Machine archive an archive.is, they blocked the domain.

[[google-cache]]
====== Google Cache

https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/1687222?hl=en

Google caches every indexed page that shows up on the search, you just have to click on the arrow and select "Cache" to see it.

The advantage over <<wayback-machine>> is that Google crawls many more pages than the Wayback Machine.

How to get the Google cache for a given URL: https://webapps.stackexchange.com/questions/15633/how-to-modify-a-url-to-get-a-google-cached-version-of-page

It is not possible however to see old caches, therefore you have to archive the Google caches with <<wayback-machine>> if you find anything interesting in them to not lose it:

* https://webapps.stackexchange.com/questions/45306/how-do-you-view-all-the-cached-versions-of-a-web-page
* https://support.google.com/websearch/thread/18638126?hl=en

The Google cache also has a text-only mode which is great for more complex webpages like those on <<zhihu>>, which due to JavaScript madness keep showing and disappearing.

===== Lists of material censored in China

For materials hosted on GitHub, see: <<github-repositories-with-censored-information>>.

For books, see: <<books>>

Websites:

* <<falun-gong-media>> contains a few:
** <<bannedbook-org>>

===== 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-circumvention>> 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]]
===== Censorship circumvention 翻墙

* https://www.bypasscensorship.org

It is interesting to note how <<falun-gong>> is a good source of censorship-circumvention material, see e.g.: <<github-gov-takedowns>>.

[[icp-license]]
===== ICP license 非经营性网站备案 (2000)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICP_license
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/非经营性网站备案

Part of the <<internal-censorship,Internet censorship machine>>, although it predates the GFW proper.

It can be seen at the bottom of many many many websites, it is likely mandatory to display it.

If you see one of those, you already know hat it cannot be trusted for politics.

For example, https://archive.is/ePBM9[as of April 2020], the <<zhihu>> sidebar shows:

____
京 ICP 备 13052560 号 - 1
____

where "京" indicates that the certificate was issued by the Beijing Provincial level city.

In 2014, almost 15 years later, <<russia>> finally caught up, what a relief: <<russia-mandatory-registration-of-bloggers>>.

[[anonymous-accounts-ban]]
===== Anonymous accounts ban (2017)

* https://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/ban-08282017112633.html
* https://techcrunch.com/2017/08/27/china-doubles-down-on-real-name-registration-laws-forbidding-anonymous-online-posts/
* https://advox.globalvoices.org/2017/08/27/china-to-ban-anonymous-online-comments-blacklist-users/

[[porn]]
===== Pornography ban 色情禁令

This will be the fall of China:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pornography_in_China
* https://www.quora.com/Why-is-pornography-banned-in-China

And yet, every single Chinese teenager knows very well the meaning of "AV": Adult Video, the term https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronology_of_adult_videos_in_Japan[originating notably from Japan] (the Chinese really), which is one of the most common ways of referring to vide pornography.

Curious, right?

The <<nineteen-eighty-four>> quote "The sex instinct will be eradicated." comes to mind, see that section for fuller context.

Some news coverage:

* 2020 during <<corona>>, while https://www.pornhub.com/press/show?id=1951[Pornhub was offering free premium subscriptions], China was cracking down on porn harder than usual
** https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/03/06/internet-sex-coronavirus-no-porn-for-chinese-stuck-under-virus-lockdown/ FP report
** (<<chinese-government-media,biased>>) http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-12/25/c_138657340.htm "China intensifies crackdown on pornography, illegal publications"
* 2018-01-15 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-42640569 "Sora Aoi: Japan's porn star who taught a Chinese generation about sex. When Japanese actress and former porn star Sora Aoi announced her marriage online, it set off a frenzy on Chinese social media."
* 2017-06-17 https://qz.com/1001366/how-the-chinese-watch-porn-on-chinas-censored-internet/ "Watching porn on China’s censored internet is an infinitely evolving cat-and-mouse game"

[[intercourse]]
.Human https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_penis[penis] (https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/人類陰莖[陰莖]) penetrating a human <<vagina,vagina>> while wearing a condom during https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_intercourse[human sexual intercourse] (https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/性交[性交]), showing the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_birds_and_the_bees[naturally occuring bees] that automatically appear during the event to obscure the view and prevent <<github>> from taking down this page. This is also basically what all porn looks like (sometimes without the bees), and it is very, very boring to watch. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Coitus20092.JPG[background Source] and https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Delivery_Bee.png[bee source].
image::{cirosantilli-media-base}/Coitus_with_bees.jpg[height=400]

[[jin-ping-mei]]
.Ming-era dynasty illustration of a scene from the novel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jin_Ping_Mei[Jin Ping Mei] (https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/金瓶梅[金瓶梅]) where Qing Ximen (西門) and Golden Lotus (潘金蓮) are engaging in foreplay in a <<yuyuan-garden,beautiful ancient Chinese house>>. For an old depiction of homosexual male sexual activity, see: <<qing-gay-scroll,this image>>. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:金瓶梅格子门插图2.JPG[Source].
image::https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/金瓶梅格子门插图2.JPG[height=600]

[[wumao]]
==== 50 Cent Party 五毛党 (Wumao Dang)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/50_Cent_Party
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/网络评论员

They can be classified as a form of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_warfare[information warfare] (https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/信息战[信息战]).

To a large extent, wumao's goals are to dillute useful conversation with shit. Therefore, it is crucial to have a working algorithmic policy to handle them: <<how-to-deal-with-wumaos>>.

A wise person once said:

____
It is impossible to distinguish wumaos, idiots and <<not-chinese,brain washed>> people. So we just call all of them wumaos.
____

It has been pointed out however that there is a funny slang name for brainwashed CCP supporters who are not necessarily paid professional wumaos: "https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/小粉紅[小粉紅]" (little pinks)

Notable wumaos should be investigated by intelligence agencies.

If it is determined that they are knowingly funded by China, they should be put into jail as foreign agents.

There is a tradeoff between privacy rights and snuffing out wumaos, and it is hard to decide where to set the line. But snuffing out wumaos is important, and must be done.

If we were to give up on privacy completely, one possible rule would be: block anyone that lives in China and whose revenue therefore cannot be investigated properly by your government to determine if they are funded by the CCP.

Here are some people completely against blocking wumaos. Those silly Democrats never prepare well enough for war:

* https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/22/opinion/how-to-counter-chinas-global-propaganda-offensive.html
** it mentions the "Countering Information Warfare Act of 2016" https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/2692[], which is exactly what Western countries should do

Wumaos are particularly easy to spot on <<censorship-monitoring,Western websites banned in China>> and when written in English, since there is no way that strong pro-CCP opinions would get any support in such circumstances:

* https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaSlyjhR4WC7QhYuaivxb6g/videos Nathan Rich. As mentioned at: https://medium.com/swlh/how-china-is-influencing-youtubers-into-posting-state-propaganda-db72acf18dfa:
+
____
His vlogging career is inexplicably successful. He has 385,000 subscribers on his channel, a huge amount for someone with so little time and so few videos on the platform.".
____
+
https://www.reddit.com/r/China/comments/au8az3/exscientologist_nathan_rich_is_a_convicted_felon/ mentions another interesting very strong evidence:
+
____
His videos feature perfect Chinese in the subtitles along with Chinese video titles, meaning that he is almost certainly having these videos produced by someone else/and or a group of people. I can guarantee that based on his pronunciation of the few Chinese words he says in the video, his Chinese ability should not be anywhere close to fluent.
____
+
And at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRqcA04FtmM he says <<serpentza-laowhy86,SerpentZA>> is a fraud "because he criticizes China".
* <<quora>> is completely infested by wumaos as of 2020, see more information on that section

Bibliography:

* 2020-03-12 https://twitter.com/jenniferatntd/status/1238076579466674178 <<jennifer-zeng>>'s publishing of purported Wumao guidelines with translation. Translated title: "CAC (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberspace_Administration_of_China[Cyberspace Administration of China]) Internal Documentation for Internet Commentators (no spreading)"
* 2018-09-27 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCnnPf2OnHo "Chinese Internet Trolls Get Paid 50 Cents For Every Comment" by <<serpentza-laowhy86,laowhy86>>
* 2017-04-09 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"
* https://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/files-05202015150018.html
* 2015-05-20 https://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/files-05202015150018.html "Hackers Leak Files Showing Inner Workings of 'China's 50-Cent Army'", hacker group name "Unicorn Nocturne". TODO material, silly reporters that don't give links
* 2014 emails of some Wumaos were hacked/phished and leaked at https://xiaolan.me/50-cent-party-jxgzzg.html (down, no web archive, but https://archive.is/BNNQe[]) revealing operational details
** https://qz.com/311832/hacked-emails-reveal-chinas-elaborate-and-absurd-internet-propaganda-machine/

毛 (mao2) is a colloquial form of 角 (jiao3) both meaning "one-tenth". Coins actually use 角. See also:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renminbi#Coins The fourth and fifth series Wikipedia currently have a 50 cent picture:
** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_series_of_the_renminbi
** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_series_of_the_renminbi
* https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/8355/角-毛-10-cents-for-money-why
* https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/26832834/六元四角-vs-六块四毛钱

.50-cent coin (五角) from the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_series_of_the_renminbi[fourth series of renminbi] (https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/第四套人民币[第四套人民币], 1987-1997). This image is going to be very useful. Note the beautiful plum blossom drawings reminiscent of <<chinese-traditional-painting>> which <<ciro-santilli>> loves. Note how it uses 角 (jiao3) instead of 毛 (mao2). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:5-chinese-jiao-coin-national-emblem-obverse-1.jpg[Source].
image::https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/5-chinese-jiao-coin-national-emblem-obverse-1.jpg[height=400]

[[how-to-deal-with-wumaos]]
===== How to deal with wumaos 如何应对五毛

Above all, never reply intelligently to wumaos. Ignore all their notifications, and ignore their profile wherever possible. And if they start generating too many notifications, block them.

* <<reply-policy>>
* https://github.com/ckhung[C.K. Hung]'s wumao reply strategy: https://ckhung0.blogspot.com/2017/07/50-cents-party.html "為什麼我不刪五毛的回應反而要刪你的回應? 因為你只能跟人類講道理， 沒辦法跟原始物種講道理啊!" "Why I delete your posts, but I don't delete wumao's posts? Because it is only possible to reason with humans, it is not possible to reason with primitive animals!"
* https://chinadigitaltimes.net/chinese/2019/08/【麻辣总局】新型敏感词武器：赵弹磁铁/

[[real-username-law]]
==== Real username law (2015)

* 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/ "New Internet Rules in China Target Usernames, Avatars as Subversive Tools"
** https://www.engadget.com/2015/02/28/china-username-policy-purge/ "Chinese internet giants purge 60,000 accounts for inappropriate usernames"

And guess which idiotic Western website requires real usernames and no privacy? <<quora>>, of course: https://techcrunch.com/2011/02/14/quora-to-oddly-named-users-papers-please/

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

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Credit_System
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/社会信用体系

Coverage:

* 2019-06-04 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cGB8dCDf3c "A Look Inside China’s Social Credit System | NBC News Now" by "NBC News"
* 2018-12-12 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dkw15LkZ_Kw "China’s "Social Credit System" Has Caused More Than Just Public Shaming (HBO)" by "VICE News". https://youtu.be/Dkw15LkZ_Kw?t=238[328s] shows how you can donate money to the party to increase your score. This is not a hidden practice, they were filmed and everyone is showing their faces. What a brilliant idea that could never ever lead to corruption! Ciro's jaw just dropped. How can the commies not hide this kind of shit from the West, but hide other stuff the West couldn't care less about?
+
video::Dkw15LkZ_Kw[youtube,height=400,width=600]

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

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belt_and_Road_Initiative
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/一带一路

[[communist-youth-league]]
=== Communist Youth League of China 中国共产主义青年团

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Youth_League_of_China
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/中国少年先锋队

Had a membership of 109 million (by the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/17th_National_Congress_of_the_Communist_Party_of_China[17th National Congress]).

Such state sponsored youth organizations are a hallmark of <<dictatorship,dictatorships>>, and serve both as an indoctrination device, and as a selection tool for future politicians:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitler_Youth[Hitler Youth] was the <<nazi,Nazi Germany>> youth organization
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Komsomol[Komsomol] was the Soviet youth organization

One may argue that https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scout_Association[the scouts] are https://www.sundaypost.com/fp/creator-of-taggart-reveals-the-human-stories-behind-an-unlikely-and-unsettling-alliance-on-the-eve-of-wartherell-be-no-more-murders-tv-sleuth-writer-rules-out-comeback/[a similar organization in the West], but one notable difference is the scale of such dictatorship-led youth organizations.

Related news:

* 2020-02-19: https://supchina.com/2020/02/19/communist-youth-league-patriotic-idols/ "The Communist Youth League Thought It Was Creating Patriotic Idols. Instead, It Started A Conversation About Women's Rights". The anime-style mascots are named Jiangshanjiao 江山娇 and Hongqiman 红旗漫.

[[young-pioneers-of-china]]
==== Young Pioneers of China 中国少年先锋队

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Pioneers_of_China
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/中国少年先锋队

<<brainwashed-by-usa,Brainwashing>> for kids younger than the <<communist-youth-league>>.

[[xi-salute-young-pioneers]]
.Xi Jinping basically <<nazi,Nazi saluting>> representatives attending the 7th National Congress of the Chinese Young Pioneers in Beijing, June 1, 2015. http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-06/01/c_138108706.htm[Source] (http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-06/01/c_138108706.htm[biased]).
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20200109143505im_/http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-06/01/XxjwshE007055_20190601_CBMFN1A006_11n.jpg[height=500]

[[one-child-policy]]
=== One-child policy 一孩政策 (1979–2015)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-child_policy
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/一孩政策

[[rule-of-law]]
=== Rule of law 法治

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_law
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/法治

The commies keep saying over and over that rule of law is always observed.

But in reality they punish anyone who poses a political threat, even if they did nothing wrong themselves, some cases that come to mind:

* 2020-06 Hao Runze, son of Hao Haidong, lost his job because his father spoke up against the CCP: <<hao-haidong>>. Did the CCP speak up for him, like the speak up whenever a Chinese citizen gets hurt?

[[picking-quarrels]]
==== Picking quarrels and provoking trouble 寻衅滋事罪

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picking_quarrels_and_provoking_trouble
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/寻衅滋事罪

[[mirrors]]
== Mirrors of this page 这个网页的镜像

The cool thing about Git is that we can maintain several mirrors on multiple websites very easily:

* https://github.com/cirosantilli/china-dictatorship Canonical source and rendered output. If ever <<github-gov-takedowns>> we do this: <<strategy-if-this-repo-gets-added-to-github-gov-takedowns>>
* https://gitlab.com/cirosantilli/china-dictatorship Maybe some day https://gitlab.cn/ ? :-)
* https://bitbucket.org/cirosantilli/china-dictatorship

GitHub Pages: https://cirosantilli.com/china-dictatorship Trade-offs with https://github.com/cirosantilli/china-dictatorship[]

* pro
** https://help.github.com/en/github/authenticating-to-github/about-anonymized-image-urls[GitHub's camo] keeps hiccuping and not showing images
** and YouTube videos show inline there
* cons
** Camo bypasses the need for VPN, since most images are served from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Archive[Internet Archive] which is <<censorship,blocked in China>>.

The perfect solution might be to download all images and upload them to https://github.com/cirosantilli/media since GitHub content does not go through Camo, we have to see if such images don't fail to load as often.

You can also view the GitHub pages version locally with:

....
git clone https://github.com/cirosantilli/china-dictatorship
cd china-dictatorship
git checkout gh-pages
xdg-open README.html
....

or built it yourself:

....
gem install asciidoctor
make
xdg-open README.html
....

We also have a NPM Node.js package https://www.npmjs.com/package/china-dictatorship[]. After https://askubuntu.com/questions/594656/how-to-install-the-latest-versions-of-nodejs-and-npm/971612#971612[installing NPM], you can be use it as:

....
npm i -g china-dictatorship
china-dictatorship > README.html
....

This would force China to also block/curate package managers to block this repo. The package is already available in this Chinese Taobao mirror: https://registry.npm.taobao.org/china-dictatorship (https://web.archive.org/web/20200406081433/http://registry.npm.taobao.org/china-dictatorship[archive]).

We also managed to upload a Python PyPi package at: https://pypi.org/project/china-dictatorship/ Is as:

....
python3 -m pip install --user --upgrade china-dictatorship
china-dictatorship.py > README.html
....

We later found on Google by chance that libraries.io picked it up and rendered the README.adoc nicely as well: https://libraries.io/pypi/china-dictatorship (https://web.archive.org/web/20200318043050/https://libraries.io/pypi/china-dictatorship[archive]). This is why packaging is a good idea.

TODO: create an Ubuntu PPA and Ruby gem as well.

Update all mirrors in one go with: link:push-mirrors[]:

....
./push-mirrors
....

There is no need to update package versions or add git tags, all of that gets done automatically by the script!

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

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

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

* 2020-05-23: traffic reached 3k views on that day, compared to a normal 150, but the number of individual users is the same as always. The accessed pages were only meta repo pages like "Issues", "Wiki", "Stargazers" so either of:
** someone attempted a baby DDoS with wget and a single IP
** someone is scraping repository metadata, e.g. Chinese secret service or some other commercial bot that landed here by chance for the first time
* 2020-05-09: http://lj.rossia.org/users/perfect_kiss/36513.html Google translated of about in that website: "LJ.Rossia.org (LJR) is a nonprofit project created to support freedom of speech, develop civil society and promote free exchange of views."
* 2020-04-21: 4 hits from https://raidforums.com/ but can't locate it, maybe coming from their very fast temporary chat wall
* 2019-10-31: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6595454363743981568/ (https://web.archive.org/web/20191101094814/https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6595454363743981568/[archive]) "Good rundown of all the major news from China you don't see. Notice how you don't see anything about the Hong Kong protests anymore?"
* 2019-10 https://github.com/kon9chunkit/GitHub-Chinese-Top-Charts/blob/7131e2c1158a806f41c8f55308977048b02d2959/README-Part2.md Automatically generated list of repos with Chinese characters in their descriptions with the most upvotes per programming language. TODO why is this repo on their README-Part2 only? Has more stars than some stuff on main README.
* 2019-10-12: https://hacpai.com/article/1570686552645 Login required, cowards. Post title: "更新 GitHub 官方 Repo 的人，竟然是个反华分子". Manual page dump after my replies with links to this FAQ: https://ia801505.us.archive.org/27/items/cirosantilli/hacpai_1570686552645.html OP then deleted my comments because they don't speak English "HacPai 是个文明的社区，不会发生辱骂的现象，你有你的观点，我们有我们的观点。但抱歉，我们的水平有限，没有阅读英文的能力，还请发送有效回复，否则只能折叠处理". It is some developper website: https://hacpai.com/article/1440573175609 (https://web.archive.org/web/20190811205230/https://hacpai.com/article/1440573175609[archive]) linked to https://github.com/b3log/solo[]. OP then made an useless post here: https://github.com/cirosantilli/china-dictatorship/issues/70 As of 2019-10-12, I can't login there anymore, either because the website is shitty, or I was blocked. GitHub login just fails silently, cannot reset password. If blocked, cowards. This led me to update: <<reply-policy>> with the canned reply.
* 2019-09: https://admin.github.com Someone from GitHub has been thinking about us. s2 to you.
* "https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/thoughts-github-going-china-kevin-xu/" https://twitter.com/sang_what/status/1172692888766959619 (https://archive.is/taPpH[archive]) https://t.co/qag5ekL12F
* 2019-06: https://gking.harvard.edu/ interesting. OK, likely due to: https://gking.harvard.edu/category/research-interests/applications/information-control-by-authoritarian-governments but no direct links found though.
* 2019-05: someone used the FAQ to answer a question: https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/bt1mth/if_i_disappear_chinese_students_make_farewell/eou5a5q/ | https://web.archive.org/web/20190527072431/https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/bt1mth/if_i_disappear_chinese_students_make_farewell/eou5a5q/ "‘If I disappear’: Chinese students make farewell messages amid crackdowns over labor activism"
* 2019-04-10: https://twitter.com/jnzst/status/1115824398961913857 gGTYgFulPg
** https://twitter.com/jnzst/status/1111395254408613888
* 2019-01-10: https://twitter.com/ninoseki/statuses/1083512317952704512 | https://archive.is/vCwep 1300 followers.
* 2018-08: https://www.reddit.com/r/CCJ2/comments/93klir/moron_tries_to_dismantle_chinese_government_by | https://archive.is/HtYng "moron tries to dismantle chinese government by putting a few moon runes on some websites" Peak of 100 unique visitors/day from the base rate of 5
** led to: https://lihkg.com/thread/762440/page/1 | https://archive.is/7REOi "佢個個人home page好多5毛留言, 唔知會唔會搞到block堆stackoverflow"
* 2018-07: http://4-ch.net/general/kareha.pl/1531480621/l50 | https://web.archive.org/web/20180815081351/http://4-ch.net/general/kareha.pl/1531480621/l50 "No more Xi Jinping"
* 2018-06: https://medarc.org/pac.txt | https://web.archive.org/web/20180712094944/http://medarc.org/pac.txt puts cirosantilli.com in a blacklist containing the likes of asianpiss.com and clearwisdom.net. Awesome. Then I grepped the main one https://github.com/gfwlist/gfwlist with `while true; do git checkout HEAD~; if ! base64 -d gfwlist.txt | grep -q cirosan; then break; fi; done` and found that I was added in 24a6f6f29e24d1d7eb27946bf51d7a072ddb3e6d Tue Apr 24 2018. That is input data for https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/autoproxy/ which turns on a proxy only for certain websites. Therefore that is a definitive list of interesting stuff. I wonder how it is curated.
* 2018-05: a few hits from https://chinadigitaltimes.net but Google cannot find any links
* 2018-05-20:
** https://www.1point3acres.com/bbs/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=425684 Archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20190701085047/https://www.1point3acres.com/bbs/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=425684
** https://web.archive.org/web/20180520210006/http://www.1point3acres.com/bbs/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=425684&pid=3954113&page=1&extra=
* 2018-04-13: traffic peak, but no linkbacks. Many new Chinese followers, but few new stars on this repo, maybe they are afraid to star? Also someone (bot?) subscribed me to a hundred GovDelivery mailing lists, possibly linked? I also blocked a user from on GitHub due to impolite post. Also possibly linked to me posting a link to the FAQ more clearly on my home page recently: https://github.com/cirosantilli/cirosantilli.github.io/commit/f31d1651c0e7fef587e5910ff2dc1e2aba9a5763
* 2018-03-11: got a large traffic peak (60 vs 10 average), but no linkbacks to match. Likely source: parcerier pinged me at: https://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/267715/is-stack-overflow-accessible-in-china/267723#comment562812_288497 and I revamped the and FAQ replied with https://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/267715/is-stack-overflow-accessible-in-china/267723#comment562840_320914 Someone also made: https://archive.is/jcZCA which points to: https://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/267715/is-stack-overflow-accessible-in-china/267723#comment562810_267723 . This issue was opened that day as well: https://github.com/cirosantilli/china-dictatorship/issues/12
* 2018-01: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1088&context=cs_etds this site appears on the reference of a PhD thesis paper haha, links to complete-gfw-rulebook-for-wikipedia-v3.0.pdf.
* 2017-05: https://t.co/AosRq06akz TODO where from. "Measuring Decentralization of Chinese Censorship in Three Industry Segments" by Jeffrey Knockel. Now at Citizenlab: https://www.cs.unm.edu/~jeffk/
* 2015-09-03: (deleted) http://www.weibo.com/2014703917/Cyc1gFt7A This is the user: http://www.weibo.com/2014703917 There have also been accesses from link:http://weibo.cn/sinaurl[], but I don't know what that means.
* 2015-08-03: 21 visitor Facebook peak, can't find the source
* 2015-06-20: (deleted) link:https://www.plurk.com/p/l1jjn4[] Archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20150918110032/https://www.plurk.com/p/l1jjn4 "這阿豆阿的名字XDD" by https://www.plurk.com/m/u/cyuanXD
* 2015-05-30: <<zhou-fengsuo>> linked to <<ciro-santilli>>'s stack overflow account!!!

=== V2EX

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

Website: https://v2ex.com/

Anything goes forum, but largely programmer dominated. Had <<icp-license>> in 2016, but lost it in 2019 to move servers back to USA, so shady. https://zh.greatfire.org/v2ex.com[Blocked in China as of 2020-06] according to <<greatfire>>.

* 2015-12-23: https://v2ex.com/t/245507 (link:https://github.com/cirosantilli/media/blob/9f7b07e915c4638d45a1b4922ba95c61e2ef87dc/webpages/v2ex-2015-12.html[Chromium CTRL-S save]) "搜 StackOverflow，无意间发现了这个，重点在那个评论" by https://v2ex.com/member/happypy1
* http://v2ex.com/t/214015 TODO restricted without mobile phone confirmation, while most other threads still work. So they must have some kind of restricted posts.
* 2015-04-10: https://v2ex.com/t/182766 (cannot archive, login requires CAPTCHA, link:https://github.com/cirosantilli/media/blob/9f7b07e915c4638d45a1b4922ba95c61e2ef87dc/webpages/v2ex-2015-04.html[Chromium CTRL-S save]) "Stack Overflow 上看到一个丧心病狂的程序员" by https://v2ex.com/member/cloudhunter

[[pincong]]
=== Pincong 品葱

https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/品葱

Website: https://pincong.rocks/

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

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

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

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

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

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

[[mohu]]
==== Mohu 膜乎

https://www.mohu.rocks

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

Backlinks to this page:

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

https://github.com/cirosantilli/china-dictatorship
提供一个很全的链接，几乎可以算是反共手册。里面的4.7是谈六四的。

== 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]

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

Not necessarily in Chinese or about China specifically.

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

Brazil had a dictatorship from 1964 to 1985, and some amazing songs were made in Portuguese in that era. <<ciro-santilli>>, who is Brazillian, just cannot stop thinking about some of them in relation to China.

.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33-bMTOlvx0 Apesar de Você (In spite of you [the Dictatorship])] by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chico_Buarque[Chico Buarque] published in 1970. https://www.musixmatch.com/lyrics/Chico-Buarque/Apesar-De-Voc%C3%AA/translation/english[Lyrics with translation]. Top quotes: "You [the dictatorship] who invented this State, who invented sin, forgot to invent forgiveness." and "Where will you hide, from the enormous euphoria [of a revolution]? How will you prohibit it when the rooster insists in singing?"
video::33-bMTOlvx0[youtube,height=400,width=600]

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

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

Cantonese version used in <<2019-hong-kong-anti-extradition-bill-protests,Hong Kong>>: https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/問誰未發聲

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guqin[Guqin]
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pipa[Pipa]
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guzheng[Guzheng]
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erhu[Erhu]

but there is also amazing content on others including:

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

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

Quality indicators:

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

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

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

Other good lists:

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

[[music-free]]
=== Free music 免费音乐

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

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

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

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

20-CD anthology.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

14-CD anthology.

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

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

Chinese name: 中国民乐大师纯独奏鉴赏

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

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

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

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

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

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

==== Not-free TODO evaluate

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

=== Music publishers

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

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

The most important publisher, AKA "CRC Jianian".

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

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

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

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

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

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

A staple food of North-east China.

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

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

The perfect cooking technique includes:

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

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

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

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

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

.Fresh Asia Brand (香源) product line "hand crafted water dumplings" (手工水餃) is a good brand to buy if you can get it. https://www.orientalmart.co.uk/fresh-asia-brand-dumplings-pork-and-chinese-leaf-[Source].
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20200413093814if_/http://www.orientalmart.co.uk/route/images/products/753/small/1523115362-020452000.jpg[height=400]

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

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

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

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

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

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

See also: <<xi-jinping-memes,習包子>>.

[[zongzi]]
=== Zongzi 粽子 (zong4 zi)

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

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

Cost about 4 dollars for 2.

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

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

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

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

They are different from most Western ones you can find, because they tend to be harder, the seeds are not open.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

.https://sixfortune.com/en/[Six Fortune (六福)] is a good brand. https://www.tradewindsorientalshop.co.uk/acatalog/Six-Fortune-Prepared-Broad-Bean---170g.html[Source].
image::https://web.archive.org/save/_embed/https://www.tradewindsorientalshop.co.uk/acatalog/Six-Fortune-Prepared-Broad-Bean-170G.jpg[height=400]

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

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

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

The one with peanuts or black beans is also good.

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

.You can even buy Laoganma on Amazon! https://www.amazon.com/Laoganma-Crispy-Chilli-Oil-Grams/dp/B003WC0RME[Source].
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20190412211211if_/https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91t77uD2UiL._SL1500_.jpg[height=400]

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

[[fansaoguang-wild-brake-pickles]]
=== Fansaoguang Wild Brake Pickles 饭扫光野蕨菜

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

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

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

Oily, spicy and sour.

.Photo of the Fansaoguang Wild Brake Pickles jar. https://52piepie.com/products/饭扫光野蕨菜-fsg-wild-brake-pickles[Source].
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20200315123848if_/https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/2288/6331/products/WeChat_Image_20180912222515_1024x1024@2x.jpg?v=1543685883[height=400]

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

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

You just have to buy:

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

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

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

Great fun to do in winter with family and friends!

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

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

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

[[congee]]
=== Congee 粥 (zhou1)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salted_duck_egg[cooked salted duck] (https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/鹹鴨蛋[咸鸭蛋])
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermented_bean_curd[fermented bean curd] (https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/腐乳[腐乳]). Wangzhihe (https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/王致和[王致和]) is a good brand, <<ciro-santilli>> prefers the red ones instead of the white ones. https://www.amazon.com/Wangzhihe-Fermented-Traditional-Bean-DragonMall/dp/B00786YL72[Sample Amazon link].

.The HONOR brand (康樂, full name: Honor Products, 康樂產品) Eight treasure congee (八寶粥) is a good brand to buy if you can find it. https://www.hiyou.co/product/honor-eight-treasure-porridge/[Source].
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20200413090640if_/https://www.koreashop.co.uk/images/201712/goods_img/3723_G_1512738516831.jpg[height=500]

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

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

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

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

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

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

We must put a stop to this madness.

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

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

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

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