README.adoc

I love Beijing Tiananmen Square +
The sun rises over the Tiananmen
____

Full song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Is_Z2K7guKs

.Cover of the Hong Kong 97. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hong_Kong_97_cover.jpg[Source].
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Hong_Kong_97_cover.jpg[height=400]

.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_aXcH1zDEE The venerable https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angry_Video_Game_Nerd[Angry Video Game Nerd] made a review of Hong Kong 97.
video::M_aXcH1zDEE[youtube,height=400,width=600]

[[hong-kong-protests-2014]]
===== 2014 Hong Kong protests (Umbrella movement, 雨伞运动占领区)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Hong_Kong_protests
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umbrella_Movement
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/雨傘運動佔領區

.A common logo used in the Umbrella movement, depicting an stylized umbrella with yellow background. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Umbrella_Revolution_icon_3.svg[Source].
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Umbrella_movement_icon.png[height=400]

.Sea of seated protesters during the <<hong-kong-protests-2014>> gathering at the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Admiralty,_Hong_Kong[Admiralty] (https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/金鐘[金鐘]) on 2014-10-10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Umbrella_Revolution_in_Admiralty_Night_View_20141010.jpg[Source].
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Umbrella_movement_in_Admiralty_night_View_20141010.jpg[height=400]

[[hong-kong-national-security-law]]
===== Hong Kong National Security Law (香港国安法, 2020)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong_national_security_law
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/中華人民共和國香港特別行政區維護國家安全法

News:

* 2020-01-06 https://www.ft.com/content/ff253c71-6efb-4ca7-9d6c-b5e43d9371ba "Hong Kong police round up dozens of pro-democracy politicians"
* 2020-11-12 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-54899171 "Hong Kong pro-democracy lawmakers resign after China ruling"
* 2020-08-30 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWxuzuBXh1U "Chinese Police Arrest Hong Kong Activist Andy Li (李宇轩), 11 Others, for Attempting to Flee to Taiwan"
** 2021-01-4 https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3116301/mainland-chinese-lawyer-who-assisted-one-hong-kong "Mainland Chinese lawyer who helped one of the Hong Kong fugitives in Shenzhen threatened with loss of licence"
* 2020-08-22 https://hk.appledaily.com/us/20200822/QS26FF4DBFE7PG2LJJEO4NSQTQ/ they are already trying to remove sensitive materials from history textbooks
** 2020-08-21 https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/trad/chinese-news-53846482 "香港通識科課本大幅度修改涉政治取向內容引發爭議" appears to give more concrete details. An English infographic at: https://www.reddit.com/r/China/comments/ig9xca/some_censorship_examples_of_the_latest_changes/
* 2020-08-10 https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-10/hong-kong-media-tycoon-jimmy-lai-arrested-apple-daily-reports[] "Hong Kong Media Tycoon Arrested in Latest Blow to Democracy Camp"
+
<<jimmy-lai>> is the founder of <<apple-daily>>, the flagship newspaper under Next Digital and the biggest pro-democracy paper in Hong Kong, reported that nearly 200 officers were entering their offices. 
+
Other notable arrests:
** <<agnes-chow>> https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2020/08/10/who-are-jimmy-lai-agnes-chow-two-hong-kong-democracy-advocates-arrested-monday/
+
The CCP is not even pretending anymore.
+
2020-08-12: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/08/hong-kong-media-tycoon-lai-released-bail-arrest-200811173810887.html[]: they were released on bail
* 2020-08-30 https://edition.cnn.com/2020/07/29/asia/hong-kong-security-law-election-intl-hnk/index.html "Four Hong Kong student activists arrested for 'secession' over social media posts": the arrests against online freedom of speech begin https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-53616583 gives the names, all are abroad it seems:
+
____
Police in Hong Kong are seeking the arrest of six pro-democracy activists living in exile in Western countries, including the UK, media reports say.

The group reportedly includes former UK consulate worker Simon Cheng, well-known activist Nathan Law and US citizen Samuel Chu.
____
* 2020-07-08 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-hongkong-protests-china-security/china-converts-hong-kong-hotel-into-new-national-security-office-idUSKBN24903Z "China converts Hong Kong hotel into new national security office"
+
The name of the hotel is Metropark Hotel (維景酒店), address: 148 Tung Lo Wan Rd, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong: https://goo.gl/maps/1uR4RntpLMFaCYpq6
+
Using hotels as a base of operations is of coures common in occupied regions, see e.g.:
** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Peninsula_Paris[The Peninsula Paris] (previously Hotel Majestique), which was used by the <<nazi,Gestapo>> and figures in the movie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Army_of_Shadows[Army of the Shadows (1969)]. An important quote from that movie when a prisoner of the Nazis dies, his friend says:
+
____
All debts will be paid. +
Toutes les dettes se paieront.
____
* 2020-06-29 https://www.commerce.gov/news/press-releases/2020/06/statement-us-secretary-commerce-wilbur-ross-revocation-hong-kong "Statement from U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross on Revocation of Hong Kong Special Status"
+
____
With the Chinese Communist Party's imposition of new security measures on Hong Kong, the risk that sensitive U.S. technology will be diverted to the People's Liberation Army or <<ministry-of-state-security,Ministry of State Security>> has increased, all while undermining the territory's autonomy. Those are risks the U.S. refuses to accept and have resulted in the revocation of Hong Kong's special status.
____
* 2020-06-03 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/03/britain-could-change-immigration-rules-for-hong-kong-citizens "Boris Johnson lays out visa offer to nearly 3m Hong Kong citizens"
* 2020-05-29 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-52842303 "UK could offer 'path to citizenship' for Hong Kong's British passport holders"
* 2020-05-24 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/24/beijing-to-impose-hong-kong-security-laws-without-delay

Resources:

* https://hkchronicles.com/ Blocked on early 2021 in Hong Kong: https://hkchronicles.com/d/view/announcement-on-blockage

.Over 100 police officers raid the Apple Daily Hong Kong newspaper soon after the <<hong-kong-national-security-law>> started. https://hongkongfp.com/2020/08/10/scores-of-police-raid-office-of-hong-kong-pro-democracy-newspaper-apple-daily/[Source].
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Apple_Daily_raid.webp[height=600]

====== Hong kong national security department hotline

2020-11-06 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-54835955 "Hong Kong: Snitch hotline gets more than 1,000 calls"

An official source: https://www.police.gov.hk/ppp_en/03_police_message/nsdrh.html (https://web.archive.org/web/20201106164104/https://www.police.gov.hk/ppp_en/03_police_message/nsdrh.html[archive]).

The contacts:

* Wechat id: NSD62717171
* SMS: 62717171
* Email: nsd-public@police.gov.hk

Related: <<cac-report-website>>

Discussion:

* https://www.reddit.com/r/China/comments/jp3s8a/hong_kong_snitch_hotline_to_report_people/ on <<reddit>>
* https://lihkg.com/thread/2272029/page/1 on <<lihkg>>

===== 2019 Hong Kong anti-extradition bill protests

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Hong_Kong_anti-extradition_bill_protests
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEvalUQuClE "Last Hong Kong governor Chris Patten: Gov't defense of extradition bill 'absolute nonsense'", Hong Kong Free Press
** 2019-10 https://twitter.com/Slasher/status/1181442535962632193 Blizzard bans top Hearthstone esports player Blitzchung (Ng Wai Chung) for pro Hong Kong message in interview
+
Wiki page of the event: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blitzchung_controversy

Songs:

* Glory to Hong Kong
** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glory_to_Hong_Kong
** https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/願榮光歸香港

.https://youtube.com/watch?v=YhN6jipSHFI Hong Kong Yoga - Sammy J S2 (ep31) published by ABC Comedy on 2019-09-19. Very good.
video::YhN6jipSHFI[youtube,height=400,width=600]

====== LeBron James opposes Hong Kong anti-extradition bill protests (2019)

NBA is huge in China.

On 2019-10-05 (Friday) 7:41PM Daryl Morey, NBA's Houston Rockets manager sent a tweet with an image that read:

____
Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong.
____

Archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20191005025317if_/https://twitter.com/dmorey/status/1180312072027947008

Then Daryl was a coward, removed this tweet, and apologized on 2019-10-07 (Monday) 1:18 AM  https://twitter.com/dmorey/status/1181000808399114240 (https://archive.is/6Sdpn[archive]), so by then it was already deleted.

____
I did not intend my tweet to cause any offense to Rockets fans and friends of mine in China
____

Then TODO date the uberstar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LeBron_James[LeBron James] (not a Houston Rockets player), a big supporter of black rights in the US, criticized this.

https://apnews.com/article/dd96d002394f45a6859c280c889afcb7[LeBron's words]:

____
I don't want to get into a word or sentence feud with Daryl Morey, but I believe he wasn't educated on the situation
____

Related video of LeBron saying similar things on interview (TODO same?): 2019-10-15 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjM43blzaRc "LeBron addresses Daryl Morey's tweet and Lakers' trip to China | NBA on ESPN"

Led to: <<sport-event-live-broadcast-image-attacks>>.

* 2019-10-15 https://apnews.com/article/dd96d002394f45a6859c280c889afcb7 "LeBron: Rockets' Morey 'wasn't educated' on China tweet"
* 2019-10-07 (Monday) "Rockets' general manager's Hong Kong comments anger China"
* 2019-10-07 Lakers vs. Heat NBA Tencent Live Stream cancelled due to fan wearing the <<taiwan,Taiwanese>> flag
+
.Fan wearing Taiwan flag in 2019-10-07 Lakers vs. Heat showing fan and text (TODO from Tencent?) saying that the match will be cancelled. https://www.reddit.com/r/China/comments/dtrx4b/tencent_nba_live_broadcast_got_cancelled_because[Source].
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/NBA_Taiwan_flag.jpg[height=600]
** https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-49956385
** https://edition.cnn.com/2019/10/07/business/houston-rockets-nba-china-daryl-morey/index.html

Some good LeBron cartoons:

* https://twitter.com/Christi71386739/status/1312730174497058816/photo/1 <<rebel-pepper>> 2019-10-15 "You are the king"
* https://twitter.com/Christi71386739/status/1312730174497058816/photo/2 Adam Zyglis "Kneeling", NFL vs NBA

.In 2020-10-04 American billboard company https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outfront_Media[Outfront Media] refused to post this ad by the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Legal_and_Policy_Center[NLPC conservative think tank] critical of LeBron James' stand on Hong Kong. The ad shows the NBA superstar with a Chinese flag covering his mouth and the message "Silence is Violence." and URL http://freedom4china.com/[]. https://www.foxnews.com/sports/billboard-company-refuses-to-post-ad-critical-of-lebron-james-stand-on-china[Source].
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Silence_is_violence.jpg[height=400]

=== What should all pro-democracy people do about China?

A propaganda slogan from a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Resistance[French Resistance] flyer (see also <<nazi>>):

____
To obey is to betray. +
To disobey is to serve.

Obéir c'est trahir. +
Désobéir c'est servir.
____

."Obéir c'est trahir. Désobéir c'est servir." flyer featuring the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_of_Lorraine[cross of Lorraine] https://www.larousse.fr/encyclopedie/images/Obéir_cest_trahir_Désobéir_cest_servir/1314227[Source].
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/To_obey_is_to_betray.jpg[height=400]

==== Photobombing-like attacks

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

In online video games:

* 2020-04-08 https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-08/nintendo-s-animal-crossing-becomes-new-hong-kong-protest-ground Animal Crossing
* <<taiwan-number-one>>

Explicitly forbidden in China by the law: <<real-username-law>>.

See also: <<keyword-attack>>.

===== Appropriation attack

An appropriation attack is one where the attackers attempt to associate an existing symbol to their cause.

For example during the <<2019-hong-kong-anti-extradition-bill-protests>> attackers attempted to use this technique to associate a generic https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chun-Li[Chinese Chun-Li-like] character Mei from Blizzard's link:++https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overwatch_(video_game)++[Overwatch game] to try and get it blocked in China after the gaming company punished a pro gamer for defending the Hong Kong protests. Coverage https://www.businessinsider.com/blizzard-fans-overwatch-mei-hong-kong-protests-memes-2019-10 (https://web.archive.org/web/20191012094950/https://www.businessinsider.com/blizzard-fans-overwatch-mei-hong-kong-protests-memes-2019-10[archive]).

.Mei from Blizzard's Overwatch was used in an attempted <<appropriation-attack>> during the <<2019-hong-kong-anti-extradition-bill-protests>>. https://twitter.com/marnofavonlea/status/1182557311539150849[Source].
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Mei_with_Hong_kong.jpg[height=600]

===== Sport event live broadcast image attacks

NBA in particular is super popular in China, and people sitting at the front row can easily bomb emissions due to the small court size:

* China's Tencent halts NBA live broadcast over <<taiwan,Taiwanese>> flag
* https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3813842

Started in particular due to the <<lebron-james-opposes-hong-kong-anti-extradition-bill-protests-2019>>

==== What should Western countries do about China?

Force all their Western servers to accept <<ensi>> connections only: <<ensi>>.

Western governments must reciprocate unfair Chinese practices: https://politics.stackexchange.com/questions/18508/why-dont-western-countries-penalize-chinese-companies-in-the-same-way-that-chin

Companies only care about money and have no long term view, the following must be imposed by governments on Western companies.

Serious sanctions must be pot on companies that sell sensitive things to dictatorships:

* <<western-companies-that-sell-censorship-technology-to-dictatorships,censorship or anti-privacy software>>

Related approaches taken by the CCP that should also be stopped dead by strict enforcement of the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_Agents_Registration_Act[Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA)]:

* <<chinese-interference-in-western-media>>, notably <<china-watch>>, must 
* <<ccp-apologists>>

Physical presence influence must be completely blocked, e.g. cultural centers that report directly to the CCP such as <<confucius-institute>> and <<cssa>> must be banned.

News about Chinese state media using Western social media:

* 2016 https://qz.com/671211/chinas-propaganda-outlets-have-leaped-the-top-of-facebook-even-though-it-banned-at-home/ "China's propaganda news outlets are absolutely crushing it on Facebook"

Accounts that are not labelled as being from the Chinese government, but which support the CCP, must be investigated to determine if they are actually funded by the Chinese government.

TODO what to do with websites of: <<chinese-government-media>>? Blocking them has the downsides that:

* it would be harder to monitor what crazy shit the commies are doing
* those censorship mechanisms could be reused to block good websites by Western governments that are becoming Evil

Let's just leave them up to start with, who gives a fuck about them? :-) If they are getting too many page views, we can make search engines add the disclaimer too.

Chinese social media such as WeChat and <<tiktok>> must be banned. This is less serious than regular websites, because you can always repost on Western social media but without getting spied on:

* 2020-08-07 https://www.engadget.com/tiktok-wechat-executive-order-014615752.html "Trump executive order seeks to ban <<tiktok,TikTok>>, WeChat 'transactions' in 45 days"

Whenever China kicks out a western journalist who is in China and reports there, the Western country must do the same and kick out a Chinese journalists for a Chinese media.

An upside of restricting Chinese servies is that it would hugely bolster <<censorship-circumvention>> technologies, as every Chinese expat would need to buy a VPN.

* https://politics.stackexchange.com/questions/18508/why-dont-western-countries-penalize-chinese-companies-in-the-same-way-that-chin

Western governments must identify raw material dependencies on China, and reduce them, while at the same time forbidding technology transfer to China. China has been trading cheap resources for technology, and we must stop that now.

Unfair Chinese commercial practices must be reciprocated. Chinese companies should be forced to open joint ventures to operate outside of China, which is a trick China uses to control profits and more easily steal IP from Western companies:

* https://www.msn.com/zh-hk/news/other/us-entrepreneurs-make-a-choice-rewards-of-doing-business-in-china-often-outweigh-risks-of-losing-trade-secrets/ar-BBSPC69 (https://web.archive.org/web/20190905071456/https://www.msn.com/zh-hk/news/other/us-entrepreneurs-make-a-choice-rewards-of-doing-business-in-china-often-outweigh-risks-of-losing-trade-secrets/ar-BBSPC69:[archive])
* https://www.chinalawblog.com/2019/02/china-joint-ventures-the-long-version.html (https://web.archive.org/web/20190905071738/https://www.chinalawblog.com/2019/02/china-joint-ventures-the-long-version.html:[archive])

Sanctions must be imposed directly on Chinese officials. They must not be allowed to "escape to a better life or have investments in the West":

* 2020-08-08 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-53699084 "Hong Kong: US imposes sanctions on chief executive Carrie Lam"

.<<rebel-pepper>> 2016-09-07 cartoon entitled "宽衣<<xi-jinping-memes,撒币>>" depicting <<xi-jinping>> as a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pole_dance[pole dancer] and throwing money at other world leaders during the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_G20_Hangzhou_summit[2016 G20 Hangzhou summit] is a reference to how China buys political influence in other countries by promising profitable trade deals with those countries. https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/biantailajiaomanhua/biantailajiaomanhua-09072016131637.html[Source].
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Xi_pole.jpg[height=400]

===== Mark government controlled social media

All posts of all state-sponsored social media accounts must be clearly marked as such.

This should be done not only for China, but of all countries, including Western democracies.

Even better, they should add funny censored images on top of those that are from dictatorship countries.

Furthermore, marked media from dictatorships must be forbidden to both monetize and pay to promote its content.

Any outlets that do not announce themselves as state sponsored but are, must be banned forever when they are found out.

What to do about personal accounts is much harder to decide however, and especially so in the case of <<ccp-apologists>>, where they might really not be state sponsored, and the creator's nationality won't help make the decision either.

Some websites have started marking such accounts, which is a great start.

* YouTube in 2018: https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/2/16964190/youtube-state-funded-broadcasters
* Facebook in 2020: https://techcrunch.com/2020/06/04/facebook-adds-labels-identifying-state-controlled-media/
* Twitter in 2020:
** report https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3096380/twitter-begin-labelling-state-affiliated-media
** example from https://twitter.com/PDChina <<peoples-daily>> marked as "China state-affiliated media" and links to https://help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/state-affiliated-china

Reports of Chinese influence on social media:

* 2020-06 Twitter has also implicated in receiving advertising money from <<china-daily>>, see also: <<china-watch>>
** 2020-06-12 https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/company/2020/information-operations-june-2020.html
** 2020-06-12 https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/jun/12/twitter-deletes-170000-accounts-linked-to-china-influence-campaign "Twitter deletes 170,000 accounts linked to China influence campaign"
** The Chinese government later contested this decision: https://variety.com/2020/digital/asia/china-victim-wants-twitter-to-delete-attackers-1234633860/
* 2020-04-07 https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/9397v8/chinas-been-flooding-facebook-with-shady-ads-blaming-trump-for-the-coronavirus-crisis "China's Been Flooding Facebook With Shady Ads Blaming Trump for the Coronavirus Crisis"

[[spy]]
===== China spy stories

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

Do not underestimate the CCP and its control over every Chinese companies and people. Every Chinese company and person is a potential spy.

This is <<evil-west,true for all countries however>>, and <<ciro-santilli>> does not not reproach China specifically for its secret service, e.g. <<snowden>> used https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Snowden#NSA_sub-contractee_as_an_employee_for_Dell[Dell] as an NSA front-end.

The point is just that the West should not underestimate this menace that comes from a <<dictatorship>>.

For university espionage in particular see: <<university-espionage>>.

Some Chinese spy stories:

* 2020-03-20 Tarmo Kõuts from Estonia
** https://news.err.ee/1608148489/court-sentences-estonian-marine-scientist-to-prison-for-spying-for-china "Court sentences Estonian marine scientist to prison for spying for China"
* 2020-12-25 https://in.news.yahoo.com/detention-10-chinese-spies-afghanistan-040901520.html "Detention of 10 Chinese spies in Afghanistan leaves Beijing red-faced" TODO better source.
* 2020-12-09 Christine Fang https://www.axios.com/china-spy-california-politicians-9d2dfb99-f839-4e00-8bd8-59dec0daf589.html "Exclusive: Suspected Chinese spy targeted California politicians". In 2015, she was fucking some politicians and infiltrating parties, but as suspicions arose, Beijing likely called her back.
* 2020-09-21 Baimadajie Angwang
** https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2020/09/21/nypd-cop-charged-with-acting-as-china-agent.html "New York City police officer spied on fellow Tibetans for China, prosecutors charge"
* 2020-08-21 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3hwdsbh6-M "I worked for the Chinese State Department – 中公教育党委 – offcn CCP Committee" more info at <<aaron-dewitt>>
* 2019-01-15 Kevin Mallory
** 2019-01-15 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-46557096 "Kevin Mallory: The churchgoing patriot who spied for China"
+
Good profile. He was first approached via LinkedIn. As a related case, Jun Wei Yeo was arrested as LinkedIn spy recruiter in 2020: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-53544505
+
And those stupid Chines handlers gave him a phone that was supposed to be encrypted, but it crashed and then rebooted unencrypted, right when the FBI agents were around.
+
____
But after the 2008 real estate crash, his fortunes changed. His house plummeted in value, and later he lost his job.
____
** 2019-04-04 https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/how-230-000-debt-linkedin-message-led-ex-cia-officer-n990691 "How a $230,000 debt and a LinkedIn message led an ex-CIA officer to spy for China"
+
Good profile, gives important points: he was 230k in debt, and "Mallory began reaching out to former CIA colleagues in an apparent effort to pump them for information. The ex-colleagues grew suspicious and contacted the CIA, prosecutors say."
** 2019-05-18 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-48319058 "Kevin Mallory: Ex-CIA agent jailed for spying for China".
+
The article also contains a good summary section "CIA spy operation in China: Key dates".
* 2019-11: Wang Liqiang spy defection to Australia
** https://www.smh.com.au/national/defecting-chinese-spy-offers-information-trove-to-australian-government-20191122-p53d1l.html
* 2019-11: Jerry Chun Shing Lee, naturalized American, convicted for being double agent while working at CIA after being in custody for 2 years
** https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/former-cia-officer-sentenced-19-years-conspiring-chinese-spies-n1089341
* 2018-06-05 Ron Rockwell Hansen
** https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-44364437

====== 2010 dismantling of CIA's network in China

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_activities_in_China#2010

Around2010-2012 about 20 CIA spies in China were killed. One was shot right in the courtyard of a government building as a message to others.

After identifying some of the websites, possibly with a double agent, Iran was able to reach the rest through Google searches for similar sites.

The trouble started in when the CIA was investigating nuclear weapons in Iran in 2009.

The fact that China soon followed could indicate that Iran sold the secret to China.

TODO do we have any such sample websites or screenshots of them? https://github.com/cirosantilli/china-dictatorship/issues/167

https://news.yahoo.com/cias-communications-suffered-catastrophic-compromise-started-iran-090018710.html mentions that:

____
A 2011 Iranian television broadcast that touted the government's destruction of the CIA network said U.S. intelligence operatives had created websites for fake companies to recruit agents in Iran by promising them jobs, visas and education abroad. Iranians who initially thought they were responding to legitimate opportunities would end up meeting with CIA officers in places like Dubai or Istanbul for recruitment, according to the broadcast.
____

therefore the websites might not have been in English.

TODO find that broadcast. News broke 2019-06-22[] apparently:
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMilJGTIvkI "US calls for Iran to free alleged CIA spy" by euronews (in English) (2011-12-20) shows a forced confession on state television by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amir_Mirza_Hekmati[]. He claims to have been tortured with forced drug withdrawal. Given that Iran is in the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Crescent[Golden Crescent], Ciro would guess they gave him heroin, see also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium_in_Iran[] "Opium in Iran is widely available, and the country was thought to have the highest per capita number of opiate addicts in the world[1][2] at a rate of 2.8% of Iranians over age 15."

Iran claims to have captured spies working for CIA

* 2017-05-20 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-china-espionage-idUSKCN18G0UM "China killed CIA sources, hobbled U.S. spying from 2010 to 2012: NYT"
* 2018-10-02 https://news.yahoo.com/cias-communications-suffered-catastrophic-compromise-started-iran-090018710.html "The CIA's communications suffered a catastrophic compromise. It started in Iran."

[[ministry-of-state-security]]
====== Ministry of State Security (MSS, Guoanbu, 国安部)

* link:++https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ministry_of_State_Security_(China)++
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/中华人民共和国国家安全部

The Chinese <<snowden,counterintelligence>> organ.

Report website launched in 2018 https://www.12339.gov.cn/[], some coverage:

* https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2141910/china-launches-website-report-foreign-spies-corrupt

[[pla]]
====== People's Liberation Army (PLA, 中国人民解放军)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Liberation_Army
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/中国人民解放军

The Chinese army, and also one of the central intelligence agencies, notably on cyberattacks.

===== The West must ban the Chinese telecommunications software and hardware

They are an entry point to spying, censorship and <<fake-news>>. Notable companies that should be banned:

* <<huawei>>
* <<tiktok>>
* <<zoom>>
* <<alibaba>>

Reports:

* 2020-02 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-china-media/u-s-imposes-new-rules-on-state-owned-chinese-media-over-propaganda-concerns-idUSKBN20C2G1 U.S. imposes new rules on state-owned Chinese media over propaganda concerns, the companies are: Xinhua News Agency, China Global Television Network, China Radio International, China Daily Distribution Corp. and Hai Tian Development USA, Inc. See also: <<chinese-government-media>>.
** 2020-04-03 https://theintercept.com/2020/04/03/zooms-encryption-is-not-suited-for-secrets-and-has-surprising-links-to-china-researchers-discover/ 'Zoom's encryption is "not suited for secrets" and has surprising links to china, researchers discover"

===== What should Western media do about China?

When you report something about a person, for fuck's sake include the person's name in the title of the article, at the very least the pinyin.

Then, in the body, also add the corresponding Chinese characters on the first mention. This is how you do it: "San Xihou (三西猴)"

Yes, Chinese people also have names. And yes, pinyin has infinitely more homonyms than characters.

In the body of the article, notably in photos, include the exact location of the event if applicable.

City at the very least, but if recognizable, where withing the city.

Yes, China is big! There are many different places in China.

==== Western companies that comply with Chinese censorship requests

Western governments should prevent companies from complying to Chinese censorship requests, or at least impose fines and sanctions on them.

Citizens should boycott such companies and require them to be punished.

See also: <<western-companies-that-sell-censorship-technology-to-dictatorships>>

Some hell known companies and events:

* 2020 <<hololive>>
* 2020 Outfront Media, see: <<lebron-james-opposes-hong-kong-anti-extradition-bill-protests-2019>>
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HSBC[HSBC]
** 2020-06 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HSBC#Support_for_China's_Security_Law_for_Hong_Kong_(2020)[Support for China's Security Law for Hong Kong (2020)]
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloomberg_L.P.[Bloomberg L.P.]
** 2020-02 https://theintercept.com/2020/02/18/mike-bloomberg-lp-nda-china/ "When Bloomberg News's Reporting on China Was Challenged, Bloomberg Tried to Ruin Me for Speaking Out"
* 2019-12 Shutterstock implements censorship for searches from China https://techcrunch.com/2019/12/08/in-wake-of-shutterstocks-chinese-censorship-american-companies-need-to-relearn-american-values/
* Apple
** https://applecensorship.com App Store monitoring by <<greatfire>>, source: https://github.com/greatfire/applecensorship
** 2020-03-01 https://techcrunch.com/2020/03/01/china-roundup-apple-closes-app-store-loophole/ "China Roundup: Apple closes a 4-year-old App Store loophole"
** 2020-02-25 https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/feb/25/apple-censorship-requests-china-shareholder-groups-proposal
** 2019-04-12 https://www.theverge.com/2019/4/12/18305087/congress-apple-criticism-china-communist-tiananmen-pro-democracy "Lawmakers lash out at Apple for censoring a song about <<tiananmen,Tiananmen Square protests>>"
+
.Chinese flag with Apple characteristics. https://techcrunch.com/2015/08/11/apple-shares-tumble-5-amidst-china-concerns/[Source].
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Apple_China_flag.png[height=400]
* JPMorgan
** 2016-11 "Sons and Daughters" corruption hiring program for chidren of government officials: https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoinegara/2016/11/17/jpmorgan-agrees-to-pay-264-million-fine-for-sons-and-daughters-hiring-program-in-china/#46746e305688

.2019 summary of companies that kowtow to China. https://twitter.com/hoho90272496/status/1182669015937966080[Source].
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Brand_censorship_chart.jpg[height=600]

.<<rebel-pepper>> 2019-10 carton showing several brands kowtowing to <<xi-jinping>>, while South Park alone gives the middle finger. https://www.rfa.org/english/cartoons/china-hongkong-us-10102019153228.html[Source].
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Xi_bat.jpg[height=400]

.<<rebel-pepper>> 2017-07 showing <<xi-jinping>> eating an Apple Inc. logo referring to the many events where Apple gave in to Chinese demands to have access to the Chinese market. https://www.rfa.org/english/cartoons/China-Apple-cartoon-08242017103540.html[Source].
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Xi_Apple.jpg[height=400]

.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4WBsahU3X4 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Colbert[Stephen Colbert] comments in 2015 on how American films make a good image of China to be allowed in China by censors to increase sales.
video::V4WBsahU3X4[youtube,height=400,width=600]

===== LinkedIn

They have a <<anonymous-accounts-ban>> policy:

* https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/28422/names-allowed-on-profiles you have to use your real name
* https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/topics/6042/6059/430 you have to use your real photo

Extremelly dictatorial, we should test other approaches, e.g. background image, and <<copypasta>> on about.

* 2021-03-11 https://edition.cnn.com/2021/03/11/tech/linkedin-china-microsoft-intl-hnk/index.html "LinkedIn suspends new sign-ups in China":
+
____
We're a global platform with an obligation to respect the laws that apply to us, including adhering to Chinese government regulations for our localized version of LinkedIn in China," LinkedIn added. The company declined to elaborate on which local law it was examining.
____
* 2019-01-04 https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/2180620/linkedin-adhering-beijings-rules-censors-chinese-profile-page-us-based "LinkedIn reverses course after censoring Chinese profile page of US-based human rights activist Zhou Fengsuo", see also: <<zhou-fengsuo>>
* 2014-06-04 https://money.cnn.com/2014/06/04/technology/linkedin-china-censorship/ "LinkedIn draws fire for China censorship" mentions: "Some LinkedIn (LNKD) users have received emails from the company in recent days informing them that their posts will not be shown in mainland China."

3 days after <<ciro-santilli>> put up anti-CCP messages on his LinkedIn, the account was banned in China, with a message under https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/cases/36977487[]:
____
Hi Ciro,

Your LinkedIn profile is an integral part of how you present your professional self to the world. That's why we believe it's important to inform you that due to the presence of prohibited content located in the headline, background image and volunteer experience sections of your LinkedIn profile, your profile and your public activity, such as your comments and items you share with your network, will not be made viewable in China. Your profile and activity continues to remain viewable throughout the rest of the countries in which LinkedIn is available.  We will work with you to minimize the impact and can review your profile’s accessibility within China if you update the headline, background image and volunteer experience sections of your profile.  But the decision whether to update your profile is yours.

In February 2014, we began offering a localized version of LinkedIn in China. We believe that people everywhere can benefit from Chinese individuals connecting with each other and LinkedIn members in other parts of the world, and that the creation of economic opportunity can have a profound impact on their lives and the lives of their families and communities.

While we strongly support freedom of expression, we recognized when we launched that we would need to adhere to the requirements of the Chinese government in order to operate in China.  As a reminder, your profile will remain viewable throughout the rest of the countries in which LinkedIn is available. 

If you have any questions, please contact Customer Service.

Regards,

LinkedIn Support Team
____

.3 days after <<ciro-santilli>> put up anti-CCP messages on his LinkedIn, the account was banned in China. They are quite efficient. <<zhou-fengsuo>> had notably https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/meghara/china-linkedin-zhou-fengsuo[previously achieved this]. Another report by a https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/meghara/linkedin-censorship-peter-humphrey[Peter Humphrey].
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Ciro_Santilli_LinkedIn_China_ban.png[height=600]

===== Chinese interference in Western media

This lists links between owners of several US media outlets and China: https://thefederalist.com/2020/05/04/has-china-compromised-every-major-mainstream-media-entity/[] "A Rundown Of Major U.S. Corporate Media’s Business Ties To China". No direct evidence that this has affected the news however.

[[china-watch]]
====== China watch (2011-)

Campaign by <<china-daily>> to add paid articles/ads that read like news in/distributed with Western newspapers. They appeared to be marked as China watch ads, but still, they should be crushed.

* 2020-06: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Washington_Post[Washington Post], https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wall_Street_Journal[Wall Street Journal] and others figure on official fillings of newspapers paid by China Daily: https://efile.fara.gov/docs/3457-Amendment-20200601-2.pdf[].
+
https://www.opindia.com/2020/06/china-propaganda-daily-washington-post-new-york-times-wall-street-journal-millions-dollars-justice-department-newspapers-paid-content/ summarizes:
+
____
As per the documents filed by China Daily with the Justice Department, the Communist party mouthpiece had paid over $6 million to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), $4.6 million to the Washington Post, $2,40,000 to Foreign Policy, $50,000 to the New York Times, $34,600 to The Des Moines Register and $76,000 to CQ-Roll Call.

Besides, spending $11 million in advertising on prominent US papers, China Daily shelled out an additional $7.6 million to The Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, The Seattle Times, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Houston Chronicle, and The Boston Globe for printing copies of its own paper. For instance, the Los Angeles Times reportedly received $657,523 for printing services. The Communist party-mouthpiece had also spent $2,65,822 on advertising on Twitter.
____
+
The Washington Post is the one that had received the most attention earlier on since 2011:
+
** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Washington_Post#China_Daily_advertising_supplements
** https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/02/official-chinese-propaganda-now-online-from-the-wapo/70690/ "Official Chinese Propaganda: Now Online from the WaPo!"
+
They even had online distribution channel: http://chinawatch.washingtonpost.com/ It is https://web.archive.org/web/20200708133054/http://chinawatch.washingtonpost.com/[dead as of 2020-07], but https://web.archive.org/web/20180330150602/http://chinawatch.washingtonpost.com/[was alive in 2018]
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Daily_Telegraph[Daily Telegraph]: UK Daily Telegraph stops publishing section paid for by China[piece of shit] tabloid, it comes as no surprise that they would sell out to any dictatorship
+
2020-04-14 https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/apr/14/daily-telegraph-stops-publishing-section-paid-for-by-china "Daily Telegraph stops publishing section paid for by China"

China Daily itself claims certain partnerships: <<china-daily>> https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/static_e/global.html[]:

____
China Daily has also developed diversified cooperation with over 40 media organizations around the world, including The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Daily Telegraph, the Guardian, etc.
____

===== bandinchina GitHub repository

https://github.com/caffeine-overload/bandinchina

Contains a "List of companies who have apologized to the Chinese government and implemented censorship requests".

It only lists companies that implemented censorship outside of China however (with Hong Kong, <<taiwan,Taiwan>> and Macau defined as outside of China), therefore it is basically a Taiwan flag takedown + Hong Kong / Taiwan censorship list:

* https://github.com/caffeine-overload/bandinchina/pull/56#issuecomment-541230090
* https://github.com/caffeine-overload/bandinchina/pull/84

Other interesting GitHub repositories: <<github-repositories-with-censored-information>>.

===== Western companies that stood up against the CCP

See also:

* <<xinjiang-cotton>>

====== Western companies that supported the CCP

See also:

* <<western-companies-that-comply-with-chinese-censorship-requests>>
* <<western-companies-that-sell-censorship-technology-to-dictatorships>>
* <<xinjiang-cotton>>

===== Entertainers who support the CCP

Western:

* <<lebron-james-opposes-hong-kong-anti-extradition-bill-protests-2019>>

Chinese who are famous in the West:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_Chan#Political_views_and_controversy[Jackie Chan 陳港生] even though he is born in Hong Kong
** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3T_Dd3O1UM spoke against the <<2019-hong-kong-anti-extradition-bill-protests>>
** https://www.thestandard.com.hk/section-news/fc/21/216376/Police-chief-says-Jackie-Chan-made-him
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liu_Yifei#Controversy[Liu Yifei 刘亦菲] who starred in the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulan_(2020_film)[Mulan 2020] Disney movie. To make matters more fun, some scenes were shot in <<xinjiang>>: https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/4004891
** https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/16/disneys-mulan-star-sparks-call-for-boycott-with-hong-kong-stance opposed the <<2019-hong-kong-anti-extradition-bill-protests>>, notably saying "What a shame for Hong Kong". The <<chinese-government-media,People's Daily>> later quoted her: https://web.archive.org/web/20190816162331/http://en.people.cn/n3/2019/0816/c90000-9606859.html[]

Chinese celebrities who opposed the CCP:

* <<hao-haidong>>

=== Chinese Interference in the Western education systems

Related about university interference:

* 2020-12-05 https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN28F05U "U.S. ends exchange programs with China, calling them 'propaganda'". Only five of the programs were terminated:
** Policymakers Educational China Trip Program
** U.S.-China Friendship Program
** U.S.-China Leadership Exchange Program
** U.S.-China Transpacific Exchange Program
** Hong Kong Educational and Cultural Program
* 2020-06-17 https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Technology/US-blacklists-China-s-MIT-as-tech-war-enters-new-phase Harbin Institute of Technology denied MATLAB support for being in the entity list, apparenty since may: https://www.commerce.gov/news/press-releases/2020/05/commerce-department-add-two-dozen-chinese-companies-ties-wmd-and
* 2020-05-28 https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/motion-backing-hong-kong-blocked-after-campaign-by-chinese-students-at-warwick-fsdfphr26 "Motion backing Hong Kong blocked after campaign by Chinese students at Warwick". The article mentions that "Just under 1,000 students voted in favour of the motion. Turnout was three times higher than other votes and officials said that it was a new record for participation."
* 2020-08 https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/craven-cowardice-unsw-condemned-for-deleting-posts-critical-of-beijing-20200803-p55hy5.html "'Craven cowardice': UNSW condemned for deleting posts critical of Beijing" University of New South Wales
* 2020-05 Drew Pavlou 柏乐志
** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Queensland[University of Queensland], Australia, was trying to get rid of him for anti-CCP campaign
** https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/may/24/how-a-20-year-old-student-put-the-spotlight-on-australian-universities-cosy-relationship-with-china
** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_o1sZefER0E <<china-uncensored,China Unscripted>> interview

China buying pre-University educational institutions:

* 2021-02-21 https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9282617/British-private-institutions-bought-Chinese-firms.html "The British schools selling out to Beijing: Not only are private institutions being bought by Chinese firms but some are giving communist-approved lessons that are a threat to free speech", gives list of 17 schools bought
* 2019-07-10 https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/chinese-buy-up-more-of-england-s-private-schools-pjr6692bq "Chinese buy up more of England’s private schools", "Chinese investors have secured another foothold in the English private school sector with the £150 million purchase of CATS colleges."

[[confucius-institute]]
==== Confucius institute (孔子学院)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confucius_Institute
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/孔子学院

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"

==== University espionage

Lists:

* 2021-02-08 https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/2/8/uk-academics-investigated-over-china-military-research-report "Nearly 200 British academics at more than 12 universities in the United Kingdom are being investigated on suspicion of unwittingly helping the Chinese government build weapons of mass destruction"
* 2020-06-12 https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/06/fifty-four-scientists-have-lost-their-jobs-result-nih-probe-foreign-ties "Fifty-four scientists have lost their jobs as a result of NIH probe into foreign ties" and "In 93% of those cases, the hidden funding came from a Chinese institution." and "In the vast majority of cases, Lauer reported, the person being investigated has been an Asian man in his 50s."
* https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1262441045197049856.html List of professors around America caught selling secret research to the Chinese Communist Regime

People:

* 2020-11-17 Song Guo Zheng, Ohio State University
** https://www.linkedin.com/in/song-guo-zheng-md-phd-48893641/
** https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=MhjbiKIAAAAJ&hl=en
* 2020-09 Haizhou Hu from University of Virginia: https://www.cbs19news.com/story/42560934/uva-researcher-arrested-on-federal-charges
* 2020-07 Houston consulate closed due to alllegations of facilitating intellectual property theft without public proof
** https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-53497193
** https://edition.cnn.com/2020/09/02/politics/us-chinese-diplomat-restrictions/index.html "US imposes new restrictions on Chinese diplomats" has been another direct effect of this most likely
* 2020-07 Juan Tang
** https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/23/chinese-researcher-wanted-by-fbi-flees-to-san-francisco-consulate-as-us-china-row-deepens "Chinese researcher wanted by FBI flees to San Francisco consulate as US-China row deepens"
** https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3094511/us-charges-four-scientists-hiding-ties-chinese-government has her PLA photos
* 2020 Hao Zhang: https://www.voanews.com/usa/chinese-professor-convicted-stealing-trade-secrets-china from Avago and Skyworks
* 2020 Charles Lieber
** https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00291-2
** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_M._Lieber he had won a Wolf Prize in Chemistry
* 2019 Shih Yi-chi from UCLA
** https://www.linkedin.com/in/yi-chi-shih-9884bb20/
** https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3017017/us-federal-court-finds-chinese-american-engineer-shih-yi-chi-guilty

==== German high school coordinator 2020

YET UNCONFIRMED VIDEO, we have to find who that person is exactly.

The video shows what seems to be Chinese a high school dorm coordinator saying that their Chinese exchange students must staty away from ideas democracy and freedom.

.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOArB434ykU
video::aOArB434ykU[youtube,height=400,width=600]

First ripped from uploader's <<tiktok,Douyin>> account named Michael_c118, who also appears to be the person on the video.

Original proeminent report on the West: 2020-10-04 https://twitter.com/SDeutschlands/status/1312682617888796673 by "Voice From Germany 德國之音"

https://m.yorkbbs.ca/forum/chat/5228712.aspx contains reported screenshots of the Douyin profile (no web interface it seems), include a clear face shot.

Video also commented at:

* 2020-10-31 https://forum.gamer.com.tw/C.php?bsn=60076&snA=5984833 from our friends from <<taiwan>>
* 2020-10-25 https://www.reddit.com/r/China/comments/jhx2mc/chinese_student_coordinator_in_germany_talking_to/ on <<reddit>>
* 2020-19-04 https://twitter.com/HKokbore/status/1312802503956848641

Key markings:

* "德国学校开班会4"
* "This man is a coordinator of Chinese high school students who study in Germany"
* "We have to say there's some problems in our dorm right now"

https://twitter.com/Hujo_DR/status/1312793758203748357/photo/1 is a screenshot of the Douyin profile showing a phone number, which looks like a Chinese number due to prefix 139: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_numbers_in_China#Mobile_phones

The screnshots posted on yorkbbs link him to "北京智享德意国际教育" (Beijing Zhixiang German/Italian International Education).

Googling "北京智享德意国际教育 linkedin" leads to UNCONFIRMED a Yun Xiao https://www.linkedin.com/in/xiaoyun79/ | https://archive.vn/CzZft which is not marked as working in the above organization, but could be the person in the video based on the profile picture (uncertain), and also works with education, thus the Google hit at his current organization (北京智晗未来教育咨询有限公司).

Searching for Google exact hits to "北京智享德意国际教育" leads to https://www.tianyancha.com/company/3283146644 which rejects foreign visits as of 2020-10-26, shows up on Google cache at https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:AihPPyAAZr8J:https://www.tianyancha.com/company/3283146644+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk&client=ubuntu[on 2020-10-21] (https://archive.vn/xCfBQ[archive]).

[[thousand-talents-program]]
==== Thousand Talents Program (千人计划)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thousand_Talents_Plan
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/海外高层次人才引进计划

<<ciro-santilli>> believes that this is exactly the type of thing that poor countries need to do to get richer: https://cirosantilli.com/#what-poor-countries-have-to-do-to-get-richer[].

But we can't allow China to do it because China is a <<dictatorship,dictatorship>>.

[[cssa]]
==== Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA, 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])

[[ufwd]]
==== United Front Work Department (UFWD, 中共中央统一战线工作部)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Front_Work_Department
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/中共中央统一战线工作部

China's "Diaspora management" organ.

The likely organizers behind <<confucius-institute>>, <<cssa>>, and likely several forms of <<astroturfing>>.

==== Astroturfing

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astroturfing

[[soft-power]]
===== Soft power (软实力)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soft_power
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/软实力

[[what-should-pro-democracy-chinese-living-in-china-do-about-the-dictatorship]]
=== What should pro-democracy Chinese living in China do about the dictatorship? 想要民主住在中国大陆的人应该干什么？

First of all, hide and stay safe, unless you can deal the final blow. From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World_at_War[World at war, 1973], ep. 16:

____
A dictatorship is like a snake. If you put your foot on its tail as you do it, it will just bite you and nobody will be helped. You have to strike the head.
____

Once that is taken care of, a few good options are:

* hide your thoughts, manipulate your enemies, infiltrate the corporate, political and military power circles, and go up the ladder
* if you are an technological innovator, leave China and come work for the West. Don't strengthen commie power.

If you don't manage to do either of the above, don't do any technological work. Go work on the fields or washing dishes. Working well for Chinese companies makes the Chinese <<dictatorship,Dictatorship>> stronger and <<war,more deadly>>. See also: <<embargo>>.

And regardless: remember your kids that the commies are bastards every day.

[[reply-policy]]
=== Ciro Santilli's reply policy (三西猴的回答政策)

People get kind of passionate sometimes about politics. And some of them might also be just malicious <<wumao,wumaos>>, although it is generally not possible to distinguish between them.

If you are not a wumao, consider this:

* Ciro Santilli is one, and antagonists are millions. It is therefore not possible to reply to all antagonists.
* Ciro has in the past tried to be nice to stupid people, and they gave nasty replies
* all discussion is useless, <<effective,only the keyword attack has any chance of having any effect, and even that is slim>>

In order to not waste too much time on those, Ciro Santilli uses the following strategy.

If the original thread post is not very interesting, try to parse it quickly and reply once, always <<better-to-do,linking to the FAQ>>, and then unfollow the thread. This shows that you're still alive, and takes little effort.

Always quote reply, and always write down the ID of the OP on your reply, because discussions like this lead to a large number of comment and account deletions, which could make your reply not make much sense without the context.

After the link addressing anything that they might have said, add three randomly selected images from this repository to it. This is fundamental because the average <<little-pink>> does not speak English. Therefore writing is pointless.

Meme images, however, cross the language barrier beautifully. It is even better if they have Chinese captions.

Because the <<censorship,CCP censors politics>>, and the West does not, we can never "lose" a shitargument. Even if the <<wumao>> supports his country in a thread, just being in the same thread as the censored material could already be problematic for the wumao, as it is proof that they've seen something they should not have seen.

Therefore the only option for them is to run away.

Ciro has since then created a reply bot based on <<github>> Actions that does the above automatically, therefore handling 99% of the work, see:

* link:action.js[]
* link:.github/workflows/issue.yml[]

Finally, also try to extract the email of the user from one of their repositories. When sucessful, Ciro takes a <<wayback-machine>> snapshot of the repository as proof of SHA, and then forks it to https://github.com/cirosantilli-test-org to keep the email safe in case of account deletion. You never know when this information might be useful.

Then, after replying, do your best never to read the inevitable reply again, and above all, never ever reply. An interesting reply never follows from a non-interesting original post. It is hard at first, but you will eventually get the hang of it.

If the user keeps generating notifications, block them as per link:CONTRIBUTING.md[], replying to a single person multiple times is useless.

Never block users for an initial <<shitpost,shitposts>>, just reply with a stupid joke instead. This approach creates more uncertainty and makes you look cooler. Only block if the user is generating multiple notifications.

If a shitpost is made on most other social media except GitHub issues in this repository, e.g. Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, immediately block the user on that website if you have the permission to do that, with a canned reply:

____
Hi <idiot's name>, I don't reply to China issues here, please open an issue at: https://github.com/cirosantilli/china-dictatorship/issues instead, cheers.
____

Note however that this is not possible on idiotic websites like <<quora>> where such comments may be deleted, possibly automatically, who the fuck knows, e.g. as done at: https://www.quora.com/What-would-happen-if-I-walked-around-Beijing-with-a-t-shirt-that-said-freedom-of-speech-is-pretty-great/answer/Ciro-Santilli/comment/143227962 In that case just link to sections of the FAQ, or mute people, or maybe just block all comments on the post to not waste time with new useless notifications.

This is because it is not worth answering anywhere else where the information will be scattered and impossible to find later on, and especially on websites that are already blocked in China. Shitposts on Stack Overflow and other non-blocked websites are encouraged however, as they further help to get the website blocked in China.

For outbursts of activity from Chinese websites, usually programming (<<backlinks,v2ex, hacpai, pincong>>), only post the following canned answer and nothing else, because cowards/people who don't know English from the website might delete your posts, so you shouldn't waste time there with that shit:

____
大家你好

在我的GitHub中国FAQ repository我已经回答了好几个关于我常见的问题。

你们要是在那儿找不到一个回答，请在那个repository开一个issue，我马上就回答。

我不要再在这个网页评论。
____

Finally, don't forget the golden rule from https://biblehub.com/proverbs/26-4.htm[Proverbs 26:4]:

____
Don't answer the foolish arguments of fools, or you will become as foolish as they are.
____

which is now usually seen in the form https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/66460/origin-of-do-not-argue-with-idiots[of unclear attribution]:

____
Never argue with an idiot. They will only bring you down to their level and beat you with experience.
____

Where basically idiot == someone who creates posts that obviously aren't teaching you any new useful thing, or that not praising you :-)

Alternatively, there is also the Chinese https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chengyu[chengyu] version:

____
对牛弹琴
____

which means:

____
Playing the <<music,qin>> to a cow.
____

which means to talk to someone who does not have intellectual conditions of understanding what you are trying to say, bibliography:

* https://www.theepochtimes.com/chinese-idiom-playing-the-qin-to-a-cow_766205.html
* https://baike.baidu.com/item/对牛弹琴/3490

More <<wumao,wumao>> focused strategies at: <<how-to-deal-with-wumaos>>.

.https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/its-super-effective[It's Super Effective!] meme by <<ciro-santilli>> describing how he deals with <<wumao,wumaos>> and <<little-pink,little pinks>>. Humour is the greatest weapon against dictators, and images help cross the language barrier. Composition CC BY-SA 2021, fair use on copyrighted individual elements.
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Pokemon_political_meme_little_pink_super_effective.png[height=2760]

.Chinese translation of the above.
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Pokemon_political_meme_little_pink_super_effective_zh.png[height=2760]

.Cartoon depiction of the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chengyu[chengyu] "Playing the <<music,qin>> to a cow" 《对牛弹琴》. https://zhidao.baidu.com/question/438181067.html[Source].
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Play_qin_to_cow.png[height=600]

.XKCD 386 "Duty Calls" and the famous "Someone is wrong on the Internet" quote. It is a waste of time to be like that. https://xkcd.com/386/[Source].
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Someone_is_wrong_on_the_Internet.png[height=400]

=== Who is behind this amazing FAQ?

[[ciro-santilli]]
==== Ciro Santilli (三西猴)

Original creator of https://github.com/cirosantilli/china-dictatorship[]: https://cirosantilli.com/

.Ciro testing his webcam for https://askubuntu.com/questions/348838/how-to-check-available-webcams-from-the-command-line/848390#848390[an Ask Ubuntu answer].
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Ciro_Santilli.png[height=400]

[[wife]]
===== Ciro Santilli's wife (三西猴的老婆)

Born and raised in China: <<why-does-ciro-santilli-love-china-so-much>>.

She and her mother do <<falun-gong>>, see also: <<flg-bias>>.

Believes to be descendant of the brother of a recent Qing emperor, see also: <<throne>>.

For this same reason, her father, who Ciro's wife worships, spent around 10 years in the 50's for being branded a counter revolutionary rightist (右派) during one of <<mao-zedong,Mao's>> purges, possibly:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campaign_to_Suppress_Counterrevolutionaries https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/镇压反革命运动
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Rightist_Campaign https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/反右运动

It is also for this reason that many Manchu changed their names to hide their Manchu origins, which makes reconstructing their family tree much harder, as mentioned at: https://www.scmp.com/article/982136/proud-manchu-reclaims-his-rich-heritage for the purposes of <<throne>>.

Ciro's wife:

* studied in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Science_and_Technology_of_China[one of the best universities of China]
* met Ciro his wife when they were in possibly the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/École_Polytechnique[best engineering university in France] after she had refused opportunities to go to the USA
* obtained a PhD in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number_theory[number theory] in one of the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_and_Marie_Curie_University[best mathematics universities in the world]

and is way smarter than Ciro.

<<wumao,Wumaos>> can say many things about her, but claiming that she is not intelligent or has no culture or would have any difficulty in obtaining a qualified worker VISA without a marriage, is a lost argument from the start, she would likely kick your butt in a raw intelligence competition.

Ciro is actually the lucky one for having found her!

The fake "the woman makes the man" Obama story comes to mind https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/spousal-success-story/[] (Obama would never say that in public):

____

One night President Obama and his wife Michelle decided to do something out of routine and go for a casual dinner at a restaurant that wasn't too luxurious. When they were seated, the owner of the restaurant asked the President's Secret Service if he could please speak to the First Lady in private. They obliged and Michelle had a conversation with the owner.

Following this conversation President Obama asked Michelle, "Why was he so interested in talking to you?" She mentioned that in her teenage years, he had been madly in love with her. President Obama then said, "So if you had married him, you would now be the owner of this lovely restaurant," to which Michelle responded, "No. If I had married him, he would now be the President."
____

=== How do different websites view Ciro Santilli's profile?

<<meant-to-be-used>> contains a more general overview. This contains website specifics.

==== Stack Overflow

Stack Overflow is where <<ciro-santilli>> started his <<keyword-attack>> originally in 2015 as explained at: <<why-did-ciro-santilli-start-his-keyword-attack>>.

For non-programmers, Stack Overflow is by far the leading programmer question and answer forum of the Internet.

A programmer's daily job involves asking Google about 50 times a day "how to do X", and 90% of the time or more the best answer will be found on the Stack Overflow result that will be one of the top 3 results.

This makes Stack Overflow a fundamental tool of every programmer's daily jobs.

The current community consensus says that keyword attacks are allowed:

* https://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/267368/are-political-avatars-and-profiles-ok
* https://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/299882/can-a-username-be-considered-spam
* https://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/349131/users-political-display-name-triggering-government-action-against-users-who-vie

However, you can't say "Public figure X is disgusting as a person" so <<wumao>>s, could you please report Ciro making fun of Xi Jinping X and see what they do about it?

* https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/361486/can-i-say-on-my-profile-that-i-find-that-an-ex-president-of-a-country-or-other
* https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/286082/does-the-be-nice-policy-require-se-users-to-be-nice-to-people-who-are-not-se-u

Reposts:

* https://twitter.com/cirosantilli/status/1365409005561147397
* https://www.reddit.com/r/DeclineIntoCensorship/comments/lt8ij5/in_stack_overflow_if_is_currently_not_allowed_to/
* https://www.reddit.com/r/FreeSpeech/comments/lt92ni/in_stack_overflow_if_is_currently_not_allowed_to/
* https://www.reddit.com/r/China/comments/lta1f8/if_a_politician_has_committed_genocide_can_i_say/
* https://www.reddit.com/r/fucktheccp/comments/ltgdpu/leading_programmer_website_stack_overflow_does/

Oh, and you can't criticize God either! https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/231334/is-it-acceptable-to-insult-god-in-a-user-profile

The Chinese law doesn't allow Ciro's profile unfortunately: <<real-username-law>>

Since you will fail through Stack Overflow moderation, please consider instead making a report on the <<cac-report-website>>.

===== Stack Overflow forbids criticizing the character of genocidal political leaders like Xi Jinping

Ciro was actually quite shocked by this.

He thought more people on Stack Overflow would have sided with him and favored stronger freedom of speech.

But this event made him notice that people in Stack Overflow simply didn't push back against Ciro's anti Xi Jinping campaign because they don't know who the fuck Xi Jinping is, or they don't care, or they are completely hypocrite and allow criticizing Xi Jinping but not Trump.

But they do know who Trump is, and "offending Trump" makes their feeble little feelings be hurt, and they must maintain their sacred "<<politically-incorrect,political correctness>>" at all costs, even when talking about politicians. Including that the cost of freedom.

This therefore morally justifies the take-down attempts made by hundreds of <<wumao>>s against Ciro's anti Xi Jinping content.

First by initiative of Stack Overflow employee https://meta.stackexchange.com/users/508266/cesar-m[Cesar Manara (Brazilian)], the sentence:

____
I think Trump is disgusting as a person
____

was removed from Ciro's profile and notified.

In response, Ciro created a meta thread to confirm that the community agreed, and they did: https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/361486/can-i-say-on-my-profile-that-i-find-that-an-ex-president-of-a-country-or-other[Can I say on my profile that I find that an (ex) president of a country or other major political public figure is “disgusting as a person”?] and the community agreed with the removal: it reached only 5 upvotes and 25 downvotes. Ciro's profile at the time was linked to Trump's ban on social media: link:trump-ban-is-bad.md[].

Ciro then created https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/361493/if-a-politician-has-committed-genocide-can-i-say-on-my-profile-they-look-like-w[If a politician has committed genocide, can I say on my profile they look like Winnie-the-Pooh to insult them because they hate that?] was it was also mostly downvoted, and deleted, without any answer. Archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20210227034430/https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/361493/if-a-politician-has-committed-genocide-can-i-say-on-my-profile-they-look-like-w also reproduced at: https://github.com/cirosantilli/china-dictatorship/issues/198#issuecomment-787047672 The deletion voters were:

* https://meta.stackexchange.com/users/215590/polygeo (Australia, big Geographic Information System person, real name based on https://polygeo.com.au/elearning-videos/[] "Graeme Browning")
* https://meta.stackexchange.com/users/135565/journeyman-geek (Singapore). Site elected admin at the time, which implies that his deletion cannot be undone by non-admins. TODO are they born in Singapore? If yes they might also be pro Xi Jinping, which is a clear conflict of interest with freedom of speech. But their English sounds perfect, so Ciro is not sure if it is common for Singapore natives or not.
* https://meta.stackexchange.com/users/140890/martijn-pieters (UK, lots of Python rep)

There was no yes/no answer by anyone, because the of cowardice and hypocrisy:

* saying "you can" would imply you can criticize Trump
* saying "you can't" would imply they support genocide

So their brains just tilted, and they clicked the "delete" button as the only possible resolution. The overly speedy deletion of posts was then raised as an issue two days later for an unrelated post: https://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/405585/can-we-slow-down-on-the-deletes-on-meta-folks

Then Ciro created an answer to https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/286082/does-the-be-nice-policy-require-se-users-to-be-nice-to-people-who-are-not-se-u/361497#361497["Does the Be Nice policy require SE users to “be nice” to people who are not SE users (e.g. public figures)?"] which is a superset of the previous ones referred by them. That post is reproduced at https://github.com/cirosantilli/china-dictatorship/issues/198#issuecomment-787047242 It cites the case in which the law was tested, but it was single-handedly by journeyman-geek (from Singapore) without any justification.

Ciro then finally updated his profile picture to contain <<xi-pooh-photoshop>>, archive at: https://archive.vn/iV1L8 to test the Winnie-the-Pooh case which people simply refused to answer. Let's see show that goes. As Ciro learned however, only wumaos will continue to complain, and due to hypocrisy their complaints will be ignored.

Other users who publicly went against freedom of speech in that case (in the name of "political correctness"):

* https://meta.stackexchange.com/users/665544/bad-coder ("West") replied at: https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/361486/can-i-say-on-my-profile-that-i-find-that-an-ex-president-of-a-country-or-other/361495#361495
* https://meta.stackexchange.com/users/798831/ollie comments, Ciro replies, they delete comment, comments, Ciro reply, they delete comment... Ciro gives up
* https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/361486/can-i-say-on-my-profile-that-i-find-that-an-ex-president-of-a-country-or-other?noredirect=1#comment1206900_361486 wants to close as duplicate of uber generic https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/208551/offensive-profiles-where-to-draw-the-line/208553#208553 and says:
+
____
we don't have to host or pay directly or indirectly to support your opinion. That's well established policy"
____

Freedom of speech in social media is truly threatened by the <<politically-incorrect>>.

Related issue: https://github.com/cirosantilli/china-dictatorship/issues/198

===== Other openly dissident users on Stack Overflow

For non-Stack Overflow specific ones see: <<chinese-dissidents>>

Query to find them: https://data.stackexchange.com/stackoverflow/query/312860/chinese-dissidents-by-keyword-aboutme-or-displayname

Notable ones only here (high rep or innovative criticism):

* "GNUSupporter 8964民主女神 地下教會"
** Real name: Vincent Tam from social media links.
** https://math.stackexchange.com/users/290189/gnusupporter-8964民主女神-地下教會#
** https://web.archive.org/web/20191209202831/https://math.stackexchange.com/users/290189/gnusupporter-8964%E6%B0%91%E4%B8%BB%E5%A5%B3%E7%A5%9E-%E5%9C%B0%E4%B8%8B%E6%95%99%E6%9C%83
** Keyword attack inspired by me
* Yu Hao
** https://stackoverflow.com/users/1009479/yu-hao
** https://archive.is/76FCb
** "<<gfw,GFW (Great Firewall of China)>> is one of the most notorious inventions in the history of Internet. Anyone working for it should be ashamed."
* gotqn
** "Free Tibet From China Domination"
** https://stackoverflow.com/users/1080354/gotqn
** https://web.archive.org/web/20190821105901/https://stackoverflow.com/users/1080354/gotqn