README.adoc

Previously, my wife and mother-in-law would sometimes try to persuade me to learn FLG, which was annoying.

But every time I told them very clearly that I know where to download the books if I want to, and that I may never want to read them, and that my wife must either accept this fact or leave me.

And they have accepted that: they think I'm a good person, and they can accept that you can also be a good person even without doing FLG.

I do feel Falun Gong makes my mother-in-law more reluctant to use or actively search for <<flg-medication,medication or treatment>>. But I think it is also linked to the fact that she didn't have a very good education or a good health system around. However, if we give her something, she will take it. My wife does not have any resistance to medication.

One thing that does worry me is that my mother in law sleeps too little every night, doing one of the Falun Gong meditations late in the evening, and then waking up very early to a long series of reading and exercise sessions.

Bibliography:

* http://www.zhihu.com/question/27659795 (https://www.zhihu.com/question/27659795[archive]) 家里有人练法轮功是一种怎样的体验？ How is it like to live with Falun Gong believers?

==== In the Tweet about his mother in law, Ciro Santilli says "correctional facility", but reeducation through labour has been abolished

He was not very precise https://twitter.com/cirosantilli/status/579270450984984576[here], the precise term is "jail". He was _not_ talking about: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Re-education_through_labor Unfortunately it is not possible to edit a Tweet.

[[flg-changed]]
==== Falun Gong is completely different in the West than it was in China

I believe that it has changed.

But isn't that the case of every cultural religious movement that migrates to a completely new culture?

Main points which may have changed:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This might be a bad law that should be changed.

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

[[flg-fake]]
==== FLG is fake 法轮功是假的

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

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

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

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

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

See also: <<flg-religion>>

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

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

The closest claims to observable I've heard are:

* when pictures are taken in sacred events, notably Shen Yun, sometimes you can see magic Falun energy wheels in the pictures
* in the homes of some followers, small magic good plants-like fungi-like things have grown
+
.Image of the magic good small plants that grew on a believer's home. They took a photo and it published on <<falun-gong-media,Minghui>> as a 2018 Chinese New Year good wish page to <<li-hongzhi>>. If any biologist reads this, for the love of God send me a Wikipedia page with the possible species. TODO transcribe the Chinese. http://en.minghui.org/html/articles/2018/2/17/168396p.html[Source].
image::http://web.archive.org/web/20200312085051im_/http://en.minghui.org/u/article_images/e9c2b07e224d28984998a094deb53f85.jpg[height=400]
* the sacred books of some believers had a closed lotus flower when they were bought, and after several years, the flower opened

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

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

[[flg-cult]]
===== FLG is a very new religion and therefore fake

The Romans called <<christianity>> the "Cult of Jesus".

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

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

[[against-censorship-and-flg]]
==== Many people both are against censorship and FLG

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

But <<dictator-needs-gfw,without censorship, there will be democracy>>, and with democracy FLG followers will have voting rights, and FLG will become legal.

Ciro thinks that the situation is very similar to <<flg-religion,Scientology>> in the USA today: most people dislike it, but believe that you can believe whatever you want.

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

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

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

It is also interesting to note how Falun Gong is a good source of <<censorship-circumvention>> material.

See also: <<flg-bias>>

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

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

Like the Cult of CCP has one fundamental belief: <<stability,the Party is always right>>.

Ban FLG, and you have banned democracy.

Accept democracy, and you will have FLG.

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

Then they link to the Taping Rebellion:

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

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

It is, as <<ciro-santilli>> has said, a highly organized political power: <<flg-political>>.

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

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

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

Now read: <<stability>>

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

<<ciro-santilli>> heard this a few times, and I believe it has happened.

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

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

Sample news:

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

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

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

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

But your testimony is worthless unless you give the following:

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

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

Next consider this:

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

[[flg-persecution]]
==== FLG does not have proof of their persecution claims

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

Do you think that forbidding a <<falun-gong-is-not-important-to-be-worth-discussing,70 million>> person religion could have gone smoothly?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thoughtcrime[thoughtcrime] from <<nineteen-eighty-four>>.

Or if you like shitty movies: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minority_Report_(film)[Minority Report (2002)].

===== Movement X tells people to do something bad, therefore the movement should be banned

E.g. kill.

Yes, convincing someone to do something bad is as bad as doing it yourself of course, and must be forbidden.

Now proceed to prove that FLG made and will continue making people do bad things, going through:

* <<flg-witness>>
* <<flg-changed>>

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

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

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

The only advantage of <<richer,democracy>>, is that those representatives have to pretend harder to do things for that group to retain their power.

[[flg-trump]]
===== FLG supports Donald Trump 法轮功支持特朗普

<<ciro-santilli>> believes he has heard praises to Trump directly in <<li-hongzhi,Li Hongzhi>>'s speeches, but could not find a source.

Also, the <<flg-organized,Epoch Times Falun Gong controlled newspaper>> has donated: $1.5 million https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/trump-qanon-impending-judgment-day-behind-facebook-fueled-rise-epoch-n1044121

But of course, so long as those respect the laws of the country, they are free to do it and must not be interfered. As if other major American media didn't have political agendas.

It is therefore extremely likely that 99.999% of Falun Gong believers also support Trump.

This is exactly the same, in fact, as <<flg-religion,Christian groups>> which always gather behind "the right".

In the case of the Falun Gong however, Trump has been vocal about China's threat, and therefore is a much needed ally of the movement.

Trump's immigration policies have turned Asian Americans towards the democrat opposition however as of 2019: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/5/13/18308137/asian-american-voters-immigration-democrats-donald-trump

One saving point of the republicans for Asians is the opposition to university quotas instance, which many Asians feel blocks their high performing kids from top schools for less deserving Black students. This also plays into possible cross Asian-Black racism tensions.

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

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

All that I care about is:

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

which I think are undeniable.

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

==== Do you believe in the allegations of human rights violations done to Falun Gong believers?

Let's just focus on the evidence:

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CedVnJOgwg4 "Undercover video reveals brutal treatment of Falun Gong prisoners inside Chinese labor camps" by "FOX 11 Los Angeles" published May 21, 2019. Names mentioned: Fuquan Yin,

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

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

Long version:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Then, consider that a <<falun-gong-is-not-important-to-be-worth-discussing,70 million>> person religion was banned, leading to a huge influx of prisoners from that religion.

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

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

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

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

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

Bibliography:

* https://bmcmedethics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12910-019-0406-6 (https://web.archive.org/web/20191118135832/https://bmcmedethics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12910-019-0406-6[archive]) "Analysis of official deceased organ donation data casts doubt on the credibility of China’s organ transplant reform" by Matthew P. Robertson, Raymond L. Hinde and Jacob Lavee published at "BMC Medical Ethics" which is part of Springer Nature in 14 November 2019
* The Slaughter: Mass Killings, Organ Harvesting, and China's Secret Solution to Its Dissident Problem, by Ethan Gutmann, 2014
** <https://www.amazon.com/Slaughter-Killings-Harvesting-Solution-Dissident/dp/161614940X>
** <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethan_Gutmann#The_Slaughter:_Mass_Killings,_Organ_Harvesting,_and_China's_Secret_Solution_to_Its_Dissident_Problem>

====== 2018 China Tribunal

2018 https://chinatribunal.com/

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

However, Ciro Santilli believes that none of the lawyers / jury members are FLG believers, and that they are trying to honestly decide if there is enough evidence or not for organ harvesting in China.

They also have non-FLG witnesses.

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

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

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

Bibliography:

* Dr. Enver Tothi, has spoken openly about his organ harvesting activities in the 1990s in several tribunals in Europe
** 2020 https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/surgeon-who-harvested-organs-slaughtered-21040274 "Surgeon who harvested organs of slaughtered dissident now London Uber driver"
** 2019 in EU parliament: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7n-9n897jIo
** 2017 Him speaking in : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoXKMw4slHY at Ireland's https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoXKMw4slHY[House of the Oireachtas]

==== Falun Gong overviews

Some possibly neutral overviews.

For:

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

Against:

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

Interesting:

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

==== Things I personally dislike about FLG

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

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

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

If asked if they follow a religion, most FLG believers will say no.

E.g. they call themselves "practitioners" instead of believers.

But Ciro Santilli strongly believes that this is just a language barrier/FLG propaganda question, and that people in the West would classify FLG as a religion if they are told that for FLG:

* absolute truth comes from an enlightened <<li-hongzhi,prophet>>, who is perfect and has superhuman abilities
* weekly meetings where they read from a sacred book, either written by the prophet, or transcribed from his presentations to disciples, including the disciples questions, much like traditional Chinese texts like link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analects[The Analects of Confucius]
* prescribed daily meditation exercise hours, somewhat like Muslim https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salah[Salah] prayers which they call https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fazhengnian[发正念 (fa1 zheng4 nian4)]
* higher intelligent beings
* other dimensions
* aliens that look like humans are amongst us, they gave us part of our modern technology
* meetings in which people tell their religious testimonies ("experience sharing"): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testimony#Religion
* an impending link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Judgment[final judgment]-like event, which will happen "very soon" (<<flg-verifiable,unspecified date>>), and in which the just will be rewarded
+
I predict that when <<li-hongzhi>> dies, the claim will be that he went to another dimension so save us all, therefore putting this final judgment on hold, a bit like Jesus.
* link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-air_preaching[street preaching] with stands and leaflets on the streets exactly like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jehovah's_Witnesses[Jehovah's Witnesses]. The Falun Gong organization also specifies guidelines on how to preach, although these might not be <<flg-canon,canon>>, even though if they are not, it is extremely likely that <<li-hongzhi,LHZ>> is directly involved in their specification

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

FLG is very similar to Scientology in Ciro's view: a new religion that mixes elements of both old and new. And just like any other religion, <<democracy-is-a-religion,their practice must be allowed>>.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

See also: <<flg-daily>>.

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

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

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

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

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

* Shen Yun's 2018 libretto says that their Artistic Director and founder is "D.F." (likely an abbreviation for Da Fa, which is an abbreviation for Falun Gong Dafa, which is a full name of Falun Gong), with a picture of LHZ on top. It also amusingly says that D.F. is a "Distinguished Professor of Music and Dance at Fei Tian College in New York", which is likely where many of Shen Yun's dancers are trained, and therefore controlled by himself to a large extent
* LHZ mentions NDTV, Epoch Times and Shen Yun extensively on his <<flg-canon>>. TODO link to source, this based on unintentionally overhearing to my family members reading it.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[[flg-intolerance]]
===== FLG dislikes several other groups like homosexuals and some other religions

Like most <<flg-religion,old religions>>.

Democracy dislikes dictators.

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

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

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

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

See also:

* <<intolerance>>
* <<gay-rights>>

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

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

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

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

[[li-hongzhi]]
===== FLG is dangerous because Li Hongzhi has too much power over followers

Li Hongzhi (LHZ,李洪志) is the creator of FLG: link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Hongzhi[].

Falun Gong people call him "master" (师傅), which is a common traditional term used to respectfully address experienced teachers in a disciple (弟子)/teacher relation, e.g. Kung Fu or other crafts.

The term "master" is also used for example in the fictional film The Master (2012), which is likely inspired in <<flg-religion,Scientology>>.

<<ciro-santilli>> prefers to call him <<flg-religion,prophet>>, since he feels LHZ is indistinguishable from <<flg-religion,any other religion>>.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

.Li Hongzhi is Falun Gong's prophet/cult leader/living God. He's a cute north-Western 东北人 like <<wife,Ciro's wife>>. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Hongzhi[Source].
image::https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/06/Li_Hongzhi_1.jpg[height=400]

.Li Hongzhi practicing one of his exercises with one of his cute prophet outfits in an extremely nice Chinese <<does-ciro-santilli-hate-china,stone garden>>. TODO exact location and date. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Li_Hongzhi_Falun_Gong.jpg[Source].
image::https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/Li_Hongzhi_Falun_Gong.jpg[height=600]

.Li going https://dragonball.fandom.com/wiki/Super_Saiyan[Super Saiyan] while casually sitting on a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_lotus_in_religious_art[giant Lotus flower] with a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_(religious_iconography)[halo] on his head. https://www.pinterest.fr/pin/8022105562347289/[Source].
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20200226083545/https://i.pinimg.com/564x/32/fc/95/32fc954e99d658751da18a0b20ae2894.jpg[height=600]

.Dubstep Li can liangong at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubstep[dubstep] speed. https://giphy.com/gifs/dubstep-gifs-dubstepgifs-xUOwFY1prqgUdPuFvW[Source].
image::http://web.archive.org/web/20200229161316if_/https://i.giphy.com/media/xUOwFY1prqgUdPuFvW/giphy.webp[height=400]

===== Some Falun Gong people make phone telemarketing

Ciro Santilli has seen Falun Gong people making phone calls to people in China with to explain why FLG is with his own eyes, particularly during <<corona>>, and therefore is sure it has happened on some scale.

It also seems that such directives had <<li-hongzhi>>'s direct approval, although Ciro does not have proof of that.

Ciro strongly disapproves of this, Just like for any product, visual ads on the street are impossible to prevent, but any kind of advertising that generates notifications on feeds, or takes people's time, is unacceptable.

Ciro has not however seen them talking about making automated phone calls.

https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1940394/how-rampant-phone-scams-highlight-chinas-need-tighter also mentions that Falun Gong makes telemarketing in passing without any reference.

==== Falun Gong bibliography

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

[[politicians]]
== Chinese politicians 中国政治家

[[xi-jinping]]
=== Xi Jinping 习近平 (2012-∞)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xi_Jinping | https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/习近平

[[xi-abolishes-term-limits-2018-03]]
==== Xi abolishes term limits 2018-03 习近平取消席连任不得超过两届的限制规则

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

.<<rebel-pepper>> cartoon showing Xi Jinping preparing to sleep in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mausoleum_of_Mao_Zedong[Mao Zedong's tomb], meaning that Xi also wants to reach Mao's "eternal ruler" status when he abolished term limits in 2018. https://www.rfa.org/english/cartoons/XiJinping-Eternity-cartoon-02282018104813.html[Source].
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20191013080140if_/https://www.rfa.org/english/cartoons/XiJinping-Eternity-cartoon-02282018104813.html/180227RFA-XiJinping-Eternity.jpg[height=400]

.1977 photo showing Mao's actual glass tomb during his funeral, with famous politicians in the background. It is interesting to see that Mao https://mummipedia.fandom.com/wiki/Mao_Zedong[features on the "Fandom Mummipedia Wiki"]. https://apnews.com/a94a0d7a824b474fb11545e8c4481c21[Source].
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20200121105502if_/https://storage.googleapis.com/afs-prod/media/media:c65bb5f4e2664bb88aae7881f8adbba0/800.jpeg[height=400]

.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Economist[The Economist] "Let’s party like it’s 1793" cover from May 4th – 10th 2013 depicting a painting of Xi Jinping dressed as emperor of China. The famous https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qianlong_Empero[Qianlong Emperor] was in power at that time. The title is likely a joke based on the more well known https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/party-like-its-1969-woodstock-forty-years-on-1722695.html["Let's party like it's 1969"] due to the legendary https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodstock[Woodstock festival]. Party is also a play on words between the Communist Party and a night party. TODO why 1793 specifically. https://twitter.com/TheEconomist/status/329929668155293696[Source].
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20200225220314/https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BJQlSP_CQAA52BG?format=jpg[height=600]

[[xi-jinping-memes]]
==== Xi Jinping memes 习近平模因

* 習包子: https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=29230 says:
+
____
Xi Jinping got his nickname as "Xí bāozi 習包子" ("steamed stuffed bun Xi") due to the much publicized visit he made to the famous Qìngfēng bāozi pù 庆丰包子铺 ("Qingfeng baozi shop") in Beijing.  During and after his visit to the shop, media swarmed over the place and were eager to portray an image of Xi as being down to earth and close to the people.  Those who dislike Xi use this nickname sarcastically against him for being a hick and for hypocritically "putting on a show" (zuòxiù 作秀).
____
+
See also: <<buns>>.
* 大撒币: https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=29230 says:
+
____
It can be translated as "big spender," a play on the literal translation of the words sā bì 撒币 "throw money" and "stupid cunt" (shǎ bī 傻逼). The nickname takes aim at the economic aid Xi has promised to foreign countries; the moniker is so widely used on Chinese social media that the censors' repressive measures only draw more attention to it, and to the criticism embedded within it.
____
+
See also: <<shitpost>>.

[[chrysanthemium-xi-jinping]]
===== Chrysanthemium Xi Jinping 菊花习近平 (2015)

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

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

.Chrysanthemum Xi Jinping with <<tiananmen,六四>> spice added by Ciro Santilli
image::{cirosantilli-media-base}/Chrysanthemum_Xi_Jinping_with_black_red_liusi_added_by_Ciro_Santilli.jpg[height=400]

.Original Chrysanthemum Xi Jinping by Dai Jianyong published in 2015. https://chinadigitaltimes.net/2015/05/artist-detained-after-posting-humorous-photo-of-xi-jinping/[Source].
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20200113200256im_/https://chinadigitaltimes.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/daijianyong.jpeg[height=400]

.Possible original Xi Jinping photo used for Chrysanthemum Xi, possibly from 2012. The light blue gradient background was used for the official photos of many Communist officials of the era. http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2111975_2111976_2112111,00.html[Source].
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20190417164247im_/http://img.timeinc.net/time/2012/t100/t100_xi_alt.jpg[height=400]

[[winnie-the-pooh]]
===== Comparisons between Xi Jinping and Winnie-the-Pooh 小熊維尼 (2017)

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

Some good photoshops:

.Comparison image between Xi Jinping waking with then USA president https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama[Barack Obama] with a Winnie-the-Pooh cartoon still of Winnie walking with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tigger[Tigger, the tiger]. The original photo is from https://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-06-09/obama2c-xi-forge-rapport-in-debut-summit/4742616[Xi's 2013 visit to the Annenberg Retreat at Sunnylands, California]. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/07/17/oh-bother-chinese-censors-block-winnie-pooh-meme-comparing-xi/[Source].
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20170801011641if_/http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02590/TIGGER_2590531b.jpg[height=400]

.Comparison image between Xi Jinping shaking hands with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinzo_Abe[the Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe] and a Winnie-the-Pooh cartoon still of Winnie shaking hands with the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eeyore[Eeyore, the donkey]. The original photo is from https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/11/world/asia/leaders-of-china-and-japan-hold-long-awaited-meeting.html[Abe's lacklustre 2014 visit to Beijing]. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/07/china-bans-winnie-the-pooh-film-to-stop-comparisons-to-president-xi[Source].
image::http://web.archive.org/web/20191012100528im_/https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/84b60992d857bccf54c384e4ebeb0ea7f207246b/37_0_752_451/master/752.jpg?width=620&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=e33410b2fb10c3d6de6a6ed65b6a7d8e[height=400]

.Comparison image between Xi Jinping on a car in a 2015 military parade and a toy Winnie-the-Pooh on a car. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-china-blog-40627855[Source].
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20191012100855oe_/https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/DD1F/production/_96970665_4587b36b-011f-4007-b16f-34389d385aec.jpg[height=400]

.Real photo of Xi Jinping edited to look like Winnie the Pooh. https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/dcabzh/this_image_of_xi_jiping_as_winnie_the_pooh_is/[Source].
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20191009075747if_/https://external-preview.redd.it/lqDFDXXvfqMs7kyQ9y1FrGcQzdCE23uMPlcxFqo_oYE.png?auto=webp&s=02b97678eaaa104d58af8e3a5b59563113d7a5b9[height=400]

[[panama-papers]]
===== Panama papers 巴拿马文件 (2016)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Papers | https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/巴拿馬文件

Leak of financial data implicating many corruption scandals.

Mentions <<xi-jinping>>'s brother-in-law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deng_Jiagui[Deng Jiagui] (https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/邓家贵[邓家贵]), 

See also <<ciro-santilli>>'s answer to https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-net-worth-of-Xi-Jinping/answer/Ciro-Santilli[What is the net worth of Xi Jinping?] answer on <<quora>>.

[[jiang-zemin]]
=== Jiang Zemin 江泽民 (1989-2002)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiang_Zemin | https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/江泽民

<<dictatorship,Dictator>> from 1989 to 2002.

Jiang is often compared to a toad in a meme what is referred to as toad worship (膜蛤), further keywords: 蛤蟆

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toad_worship
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/膜蛤文化

The Chinese also love Jiang's quote in English during an interview with Hong Kong press:

____
Too young, too simple, sometimes naive.
____

.https://youtube.com/watch?v=y-JPLzj2poY Jiang Zemin saying "Too simple, sometimes naive."
video::y-JPLzj2poY[youtube,height=400,width=600,start=57]

Jiang also has an amazing array of meme-ready funny expressions.

.Comparison between Jiang Zemin and a 72-feet-tall inflatable toad in a Beijing park seen in 2014 made the rounds on Weibo and led to some <<censorship,censorship>>. https://edition.cnn.com/2014/08/01/world/asia/toad-jiang-zemin/index.html[Source].
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20190928083410if_/https://cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/140801124717-toad-jiang-zemin-split-horizontal-large-gallery.png[height=400]

.Jiang picking his nose. https://pieceofmindful.com/2013/12/12/chinese-exceptionalism/[Source].
image::http://web.archive.org/web/20200311093005if_/https://pieceofmind.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/jiang-zemin-former-president-china.jpg[height=400]

.Jiang reading through comically large magnifying glass during the opening ceremony of the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/19th_National_Congress_of_the_Communist_Party_of_China[19th Party Congress] in 2017. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/18/back-from-the-dead-chinas-internet-goes-wild-over-youthful-jiang-zemin[Source].
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20190111105703im_/https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0adcb9d8e3bd4593ce5075b4eee109f6cf3a3315/0_0_2048_1229/master/2048.jpg?width=620&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=8e9f9a4929b37518887108431fa80981[height=400]

.More Jiang funny expressions and Photoshops from a Research Gate page! https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Jiang-as-emoticons-often-used-in-chats_fig4_325864518[Source].
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20200311092251if_/https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kecheng_Fang/publication/325864518/figure/fig4/AS:650525523574786@1532108779265/Jiang-as-emoticons-often-used-in-chats.png[height=400]

[[deng-xiaoping]]
=== Deng Xiaoping 邓小平 (1982-1987)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deng_Xiaoping | https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/邓小平

[[mao-zedong]]
=== Mao Zedong 毛泽东 (1954–1976)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mao_Zedong | https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/毛泽东

What could be a better reminder that <<xi-jinping,dictatorships are dangerous>> than the catastrophes that Mao created such as the <<great-leap-forward>> and <<cultural-revolution>>?

.Mao Zedong in Yan'an in the 1930's thinking deeply. This funny looking picture is meme ready and https://uncyclopedia.ca/wiki/Chairman_Mao[much loved by Uncyclopedia]. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mao_Zedong_in_Yan%27an.jpg[Source].
image::https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9d/Mao_Zedong_in_Yan%27an.jpg[height=400]

[[great-leap-forward]]
==== Great Leap Forward 大跃进 (1958-1960)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Leap_Forward
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/大跃进

.A high tower of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wax_gourd[winter gourds] "冬瓜上高楼" propaganda poster for the Great Leap Forward by https://chineseposters.net/artists/jinmeisheng.php[Jin Meisheng] published in 1959. <<western-democracies-are-not-perfect,Even in democracies>>, politicians promise the fat gourds. But when there is <<censorship,no free media to control their>> lies, things can get really out of hand. http://www.iisg.nl/exhibitions/chairman/chn11.php[Source].
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20200131210244/https://live.staticflickr.com/4135/4754681204_1784cd9f89_w.jpg[height=600]

[[cultural-revolution]]
==== Cultural Revolution 文化大革命 (1966-1976)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_Revolution
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/文化大革命

.https://youtube.com/watch?v=kXByOrRrO7c Vox 6 minute explanation with some good footage for impatient Millennials, published on Feb 14, 2020.
video::kXByOrRrO7c[youtube,height=400,width=600]

[[mao-swim]]
===== Mao swim across the Yangtze river 毛主席畅游长江 (1966-07-16)

https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/毛主席畅游长江

Good SMCP article: https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/1999098/chairman-maos-historic-swim-glorified-china

Mao claimed to have set a swimming record by swimming 15km in 65 minutes at the age of 72 at the Yangtze in Wuhan, or an average of 13.8 km/h.

As a comparison, the Olympic swimmers of 2016 covered the lesser distance of 10 km in 113 minutes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swimming_at_the_2016_Summer_Olympics_–_Men%27s_marathon_10_kilometre for an average of 5.3 km/h.

According to https://www.researchgate.net/publication/311977913_Analysis_of_the_characteristics_of_offshore_currents_in_the_Changjiang_Yangtze_River_estuarine_waters_based_on_buoy_observations[this article], the maximum current speed of the Yantze is 128.5 cm/s or 4.62 km/h so even if he were swimming with the current, Mao was faster.

Dictatorships would never lie about obviously verifiable facts, would they?

And idiots today still celebrate this event that preceded the <<cultural-revolution>> which put China's economy in shambles.

<<superputin>> learnt from this and also showed off his swimming skills in 2009.

.https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:1966-10_1966年毛泽东游长江2.jpg[Source].
image::https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/1966-10_1966年毛泽东游长江2.jpg[height=400]

[[news]]
== News 新闻

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

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

=== News 2019

* 2020-01 https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3045657/china-human-rights-activist-ding-jiaxi-under-investigation one more human rights person Ding Jiaxi. The list is endless, should we care?

=== News 2019

* 2019-12-18 Fudan University in China removes "freedom of thought" from university charters, students protes
* 2019-10-16 https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/10/16/gitlab_employees_gagged/ GitLab prevents employees from discussing politics at work, and will not veto clients. This is not confirmed, but I guess it is very likely in reply to the <<2019-hong-kong-anti-extradition-bill-protests>> given the timing. The https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/www-gitlab-com/merge_requests/30656[merge request] (http://web.archive.org/web/20191017080216/https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/www-gitlab-com/merge_requests/30656[archive]).
* Twitter to block operations by oppressive foreign state media
** https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/company/2019/information_operations_directed_at_Hong_Kong.html Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/China/comments/csodbt/twitter_suspends_nearly_1000_accounts_connected/
** https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/company/2019/advertising_policies_on_state_media.html Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/China/comments/csnsyn/twitter_policy_change_we_will_not_accept/
* 2019-07-12 https://www.apnews.com/a2584de07c014e4786a21bcf9f446a40 "37 countries rally around China at top UN human rights body"
** <<biased-media,(biased)>> http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-07/15/c_138229200.htm
** the full scanned letter: https://twitter.com/KevinPinner/status/1151868854781526016
* 2019-07-02 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/02/chinese-border-guards-surveillance-app-tourists-phones "Chinese border guards put secret surveillance app on tourists' phones"
* 2019-05-09 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2hBtXdaYsQ Cynthia Liu, daughter of Liu Changming (刘昌明) pleas freedom on YouTube, commented upload by CBS, TODO can't find original video on YouTube, maybe they sent straight to CBS?
+
video::t2hBtXdaYsQ[youtube,height=400,width=600]
** 2018-11 https://www.businessinsider.com/liu-changming-china-holds-officials-family-hostage-to-force-return-2018-11 China is holding a renegade official's family hostage to pressure him to come back. Western media, for the love of God, include names in Chinese news titles: Liu Changming (刘昌明), wife Sandra Han, children Victor and Cynthia Liu.
* 2019-04-28 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-48084019 Hong Kong: Thousands protest against China extradition law
** https://www.reddit.com/r/China/comments/auqkdl/biotech_giant_thermo_fisher_stops_selling_dna/
* 2019-01 https://www.apnews.com/40f7cf4c0c6e43f18121af93f1e418f7 Microsoft Bing https://www.bing.com/ search engine blocked in China
* 2019-01 https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/02/business/china-internet-censor.html interview with Beyondsoft, a company that offers censorship services

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

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

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

The name refers to:

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

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

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

Coverage:

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

Other interesting GitHub repositories: <<other-interesting-github-information-repositories>>.

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

=== News 2018

* 2018-08 https://theintercept.com/2018/08/08/google-censorship-china-blacklist/
* 2018-06 https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/06/china-bans-online-mention-of-john-oliver-after-he-mocks-chinas-president/ https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6m5b3o
* 2018-05 https://www.whatsonweibo.com/public-shaming-of-drug-users-in-guangdong-drug-related-crimes-in-family-painted-on-houses/
* 2018-04 https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-china-lawmaking/china-makes-defaming-revolutionary-heroes-punishable-by-law-idUKKBN1HY16C
* 2018-04 https://chinadigitaltimes.net/2018/04/translation-open-letter-on-peking-university-metoo-case/ https://github.com/sikaozhe1997/Xin-Yue
* 2018-04 https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/congressional-leaders-urge-us-to-press-china-over-reports-of-mass-uighur-detentions/2018/04/05/9bd17c90-38b3-11e8-b57c-9445cc4dfa5e_story.html
* 2018-03 https://supchina.com/2018/03/29/no-tattoos-at-the-2018-strawberry-music-festival-in-hangzhou/ Funny pics at: http://app.myzaker.com/news/article.php?f=xiongzhang&pk=5ac0eb1877ac6465da676481
* 2018-02 https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/25/world/asia/china-xi-jinping.html
* 2018-02 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/25/at-least-120000-muslim-uighurs-held-in-chinese-re-education-camps-report
* 2018-01 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/19/outspoken-chinese-human-rights-lawyer-yu-wensheng-arrested
* 2018-01 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-hongkong-politics/hong-kong-activist-banned-from-by-election-in-what-pro-democracy-party-calls-payback-idUSKBN1FG06P
* 2018-01 https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/12/world/asia/china-church-dynamite.html
* 2018-01 http://uk.businessinsider.com/china-marriott-tweets-censorship-2018-1?r=US&IR=T Marriott lists <<taiwan,Taiwan>> as country on the website
* 2018-01 http://chuangcn.org/2018/01/the-mastermind/
* 2018-01 http://time.com/5112061/china-hip-hop-ban-tattoos-television/

=== News 2017

* 2017-12 https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/25/world/asia/china-wu-gan-sentence.html
* 2017-11 低端人口 Low-end population
** https://qz.com/1138395/low-end-population-what-you-need-to-know-about-chinas-crackdown-on-migrant-workers/
* 2017-11 https://www.reddit.com/r/China/comments/7a7hf9/the_worlds_largest_academic_publisher_blocks/ Springer nature pulls sensitive articles. TODO article list.
* 2017-09 https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/25/business/china-whatsapp-blocked.html
* 2017-08 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/china-muslim-minority-school-language-ban-han-xinjiang-uyghur-hotan-hetian-government-communist-a7873446.html
* 2017-07 https://qz.com/1056938/cambridge-university-press-china-quarterly-complies-with-censorship-removes-300-articles-on-topics-like-tiananmen-and-tibet-in-china/ Book list: https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-file-manager/file/59970028145fd05f66868bf5?utm_content=bufferb652b&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer archive: http://web.archive.org/web/20170905214500/https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-file-manager/file/59970028145fd05f66868bf5?utm_content=bufferb652b&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
* 2017-07 https://techcrunch.com/2017/07/29/apple-removes-vpn-apps-from-the-app-store-in-china/
* 2017-07 http://shanghaiist.com/2017/07/26/liu-xia-home-visit.php
* 2017-06 http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/ordered-05092017155554.html Uyghurs studying abroad ordered to return to China
* 2017-06 http://mashable.com/2017/06/23/china-bans-livestreaming/#FJ4h.sLYQqq9
* 2017-05 https://qz.com/989454/a-chinese-students-commencement-speech-at-the-university-of-maryland-praising-fresh-air-and-democracy-is-riling-chinas-internet/
* 2017-05 http://www.sixthtone.com/news/1000233/at-wedding-market%2C-mothers-of-gays-and-lesbians-face-resistance
* 2017-05 https://ktar.com/story/1564381/ap-exclusive-china-lawyers-family-says-us-helped-them-flee
* 2017-04 https://chinachange.org/2017/05/03/breaking-lawyer-chen-jiangang-with-family-and-two-friends-seized-by-armed-police-in-yunnan/
* 2017-03 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-39137293 "China congress: BBC team forced to sign confession"

=== News 2016

* 2016-11 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/video_and_audio/headlines/38005603 Election china style, BBC interview with Chinese candidate, while thugs block him physically from nocking the door: Funny / scary stuff. https://www.reddit.com/r/China/comments/5dfigb/this_is_democracy_chinesestyle/
* 2016-11 https://www.reddit.com/r/China/comments/5ai1s6/chinese_citizen_arrested_after_wearing_xitler/ https://wqw2010.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/101.html Possible Twitter: https://twitter.com/kwonpyong
* 2016-09: http://qz.com/783026/china-censorship-chinese-citizens-are-being-arrested-for-sharing-news-about-the-wukan-village-rebellion-online/ http://qz.com/781989/foreign-journalists-are-wanted-for-3000-by-chinese-authorities-for-inciting-unrest-in-a-village/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wukan_protests
* 2016-06 https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/jun/28/china-lady-gaga-ban-list-hostile-foreign-forces-meeting-dalai-lama
* 2016-06 https://github.com/github/gov-takedowns/blob/78775b09e64d85f08547287cab204b48b2491192/China/2016/2016-06-08-programthink-zhao.md first GitHub takedown, see also: <<programthink>>
* 2016 http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/12/world/asia/china-britain-queen-xi-jinping.html?_r=0 "Queen Elizabeth II Says Chinese Officials Were ‘Very Rude’ on State Visit"
* 2016 http://shanghaiist.com/2016/05/06/dont_eat_that_banana.php Sexy banana eating forbidden
* 2016-04 http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2016/01/26/china-threatens-sanctions-against-u-s-companies-is-this-the-future/ China economic sanctions companies that sell weapons to <<taiwan,Taiwan>> (some of those companies also sell civilian products to China)
* 2016-04 http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/china-demands-shutdown-disneylife-service-887599 Disney Life blocked
* 2016-04 http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/china-demands-shutdown-apples-film-886831 Apple iTunes and iBooks blocked
* 2016 http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-35968855 China's '<<gfw,Great Firewall>>' blocks its creator
* 2016 http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/mar/04/china-bans-gay-people-television-clampdown-xi-jinping-censorship gay depiction banned on television
* 2016 http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-35496562 Armani Communist - http://www.ibtimes.com/xi-jinping-wants-overhaul-image-chinas-rich-kids-1961207 - first section of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKQ5ijFZ_j8
* 2016 http://freebeacon.com/national-security/chinese-defector-reveals-beijings-secrets/ Ling Wancheng defects
* 2016 http://chinachange.org/2016/01/21/activist-in-xinjiang-sentenced-to-19-years-for-online-writings-and-rights-activities/ Zhang Haitao (张海涛) faces 19 years in jail for his blog posts
* 2016 http://money.cnn.com/2016/01/20/technology/facebook-android-tor/ Facebook Android app implements Tor option
* 2016 https://www.reddit.com/r/China/comments/41y6ig/hong_kong_movie_predicts_dark_future_for_city/ Honk Kong (2016) movie

=== News 2015

* 2015-11 http://technode.com/2015/11/24/surge-advanced-proxy-tool-ios-pulled-app-store/
* 2015-09 https://www.hongkongfp.com/2015/09/03/in-pictures-censored-memes-search-terms-and-images-from-chinas-wwii-parade/
* 2015 https://news.vice.com/article/the-missing-hong-kong-booksellers-family-isnt-buying-his-televised-confession Gui Minhai, 51, from publisher Mighty Current who was going to publish a book about <<xi-jinping>>'s love life.
** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gui_Minhai
** 2020: stenced to 10 years https://www.hongkongfp.com/2020/02/25/bookseller-gui-minhai-jailed-10-years-china-illegally-providing-intelligence-overseas-parties
** Lam Wing-kee (林榮基) is another one of the detained booksellers of the Causeway Bay Books group
*** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lam_Wing-kee
*** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHq0f_eGLhE 2016 interview in freedom
*** https://china-journal.org/2019/04/27/abducted-hong-kong-bookseller-has-fled-to-taiwan-to-avoid-extradition-to-china/
* <<taiwan-number-one>>
* 2015 Taiwanese beauty queen kicked out of Miss Earth pageant for refusing to change `Taiwan ROC' sash to `Chinese Taipei' http://shanghaiist.com/2015/11/23/miss-earth-ting-wen-yin.php
* 2015 https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/08/speech-enables-speech-china-takes-aim-its-coders https://github.com/shadowsocks/shadowsocks shadowsocks creator threatened
* 2015 http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-34630829 Lego refuses to sell to Ai Weiwei
* 2015 http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/13/world/asia/china-bao-zhuoxuan-son-wang-yu-rights-lawyer-house-arrest.html Bao Zhuoxuan 16-year old son of human rights layer in house arrest

[[the-709-crackdown]]
==== 709 crackdown 中國709維權律師大抓捕事件 (2015)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/709_crackdown
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/中國709維權律師大抓捕事件

Hundreds of human rights activists put into jail in quick succession. Short forms:

* 710律师劫
* 709大抓捕

News coverage:

* 2015
** http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/23/world/asia/china-crackdown-human-rights-lawyers.html
** http://edition.cnn.com/2015/07/13/china/china-activists-arrests/
** http://time.com/3954935/china-arrests-lawyers-human-rights/
** https://program-think.blogspot.com/2015/07/weekly-share-90.html from <<programthink>>
* 2017
** 2017-04 https://citizenlab.ca/2017/04/we-cant-chat-709-crackdown-discussions-blocked-on-weibo-and-wechat/

Se also: <<intolerance>>

=== News pre-2015

* 2014 https://www.reddit.com/r/China/comments/4hmhzt/xinjiang_massacre_2014_resulted_in_30005000_deaths/ something very serious happened in Xinjiang.
* 2014 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/28/china-media-watchdog-bans-wordplay-puns "China bans wordplay in attempt at pun control"
* 2013 https://www.ft.com/content/db8b9e36-1119-11e8-940e-08320fc2a277 Peter Humphrey
* 2012 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuctech. One of the most blocked on Wikipedia according to: link:complete-gfw-rulebook-for-wikipedia-v3.0.pdf[] Nutech Namibia Hu Haifeng corruption scandal 纳米比亚威视胡海峰腐败丑闻
* 2011 2011 Chinese pro-democracy protests https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Chinese_pro-democracy_protests | https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/中国茉莉花活动
* 2010 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8682145.stm 10 month Xinjiang Internet blackout
* 2009 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tan_Zuoren#2009_court_case Ai Weiwei documentary about it: https://aiweiwei.com/documentaries/disturbing-the-peace/index.html
* 2008 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tofu-dreg_project | https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/豆腐渣工程 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China%27s_Unnatural_Disaster:_The_Tears_of_Sichuan_Province
* 2008 Wenzhou train collision https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wenzhou_train_collision#Government_response https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011年甬台温铁路列车追尾事故
* 2008 Tibetan unrest
** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Tibetan_unrest | https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008年西藏骚乱
** Videos:
+
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=B-tEi4uLM_E "Hundreds of Tibetan protesters clash with police after anti-China protest" published by AP Archive.
video::B-tEi4uLM_E[youtube,height=400,width=600]
** https://file.wikileaks.org/file/tibet-protest-photos/ (http://web.archive.org/web/20200410200709/https://file.wikileaks.org/file/tibet-protest-photos/[archive]) Good gory photos from the event.
* 2005 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dongzhou_protests | https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/东洲事件 Dongzhou protests
* 1999 http://www.lionsroar.com/apple-thinks-different-about-the-dalai-lama-in-china-2/ Apple censors Dalai Lama for China
* 1986 Chinese student demonstrations https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1986_Chinese_student_demonstrations | https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/八六学潮
* 1987-1989 Tibetan unrest
** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1987–1989_Tibetan_unrest | https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989年拉萨骚乱
** Videos:
+
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=qMZgoRuPJBg "Troops stormed the Tibetan holy site the Jokhang Temple and beat monks"
video::qMZgoRuPJBg[youtube,height=400,width=600]
+
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=3uQcGcGGepw "Latest Spate Of Violent Unrest In Lhasa And The Imposition Of Martial Law" by AP Archive
video::3uQcGcGGepw[youtube,height=400,width=600]
* 1978-1979 Beijing Spring
** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beijing_Spring | https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/北京之春
** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xidan[Xidan (西单)] Democracy Wall https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy_Wall | https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/西单民主墙
+
.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Xidan_Wall,_May_1979.jpg[Source].
image::https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/Xidan_Wall%2C_May_1979.jpg[height=400]

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

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiananmen_Square_protests_of_1989 | https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/六四事件

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goddess_of_Democracy https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/中国国际广播电台
* AP footage is pretty good, just do a search on the archive:
** http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/China-Student-Demonstrations/5d1cd01250c9e5e9397f20ef9f1327df
** http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/China-Student-Demonstrations/cfc6890746010c73f9414e20906268aa
* Zhang Shijun is the most notable soldier who spoke up it seems:
** https://chinadigitaltimes.net/2009/03/china-detains-writer-of-critical-web-letter-to-hu/
** https://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/flashbacks-06042018133558.html
** https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/mar/20/tiananmen-square-china-zhang-shijun
* Good photo selections:
** 2014 https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2014/06/1989-tiananmen-square-protests-photos/100751/ "Photos: The 1989 Tiananmen Square Protests" 
** 2014 http://www.ursulagauthier.fr/tiananmen-15-minutes-dapocalypse/  (https://web.archive.org/web/20190607142501/http://www.ursulagauthier.fr/tiananmen-15-minutes-dapocalypse/[archive]) a few gory photos
** 2015 https://allthatsinteresting.com/tiananmen-square-massacre "The Hidden History Of The Tiananmen Square Massacre"
** 2019 https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/gabrielsanchez/pictures-tiananmen-square-anniversary "These Horrifying Pictures Show The Tiananmen Square Protests Like You've Never Seen Them"

.Sea of protesters in Tiananmen Square. No, not even that many people can influence dictatorships if they don't have weapons. https://abcnews.go.com/International/tiananmen-square-29th-anniversary-crackdown/story?id=55564966[Source].
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20190714002904im_/https://s.abcnews.com/images/International/tiananmen-massacre-gty-04-jpo-180531_hpEmbed_3x2_992.jpg[height=600]

[[pu-zhiqiang-shirt]]
.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pu_Zhiqiang[Pu Zhiqiang (浦志强)], a student demonstrator during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. His shirt reads: "Freedom of the press, freedom of association, support the 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Economic_Herald[World Economic Herald (世界经济导报)]', and support just journalists." (辦報自由 結社自由 聲援link:https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/世界经济导报[世经导报] 支持正义记者, full quoted https://cinacn.blogspot.com/2001/07/28.html[here]) May 10, 1989. Pu remained in China as a human rights layer, and https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-35157525[was arrested in 2014] for attending a private meeting commemorating the 25th anniversary of Tiananmen. https://allthatsinteresting.com/tiananmen-square-massacre[Source].
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20191123101626im_/https://allthatsinteresting.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/pu-zhiqiang-protest.jpg[height=500]

.Students from Beijing University stage a huge demonstration in Tiananmen Square as they start an unlimited hunger strike as the part of mass pro-democracy protest against the Chinese government, on May 18, 1989. Catherine Henriette/AFP/Getty Images. https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2014/06/1989-tiananmen-square-protests-photos/100751/[Source].
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20190816074546im_/https://cdn.theatlantic.com/assets/media/img/photo/2014/06/tiananmen-square-25-years-ago/t04_52017200/main_1200.jpg?1420497899[height=400]

.Happy protesters surround army convoy of 4,000 not so happy soldiers on May 20, 1989. Ciro can't help but to think the politically incorrect idea that the military <<uneducated-masses,look considerably younger and poorer/less uneducated than the Beijing masses>>. https://www.pri.org/stories/2019-06-04/1989-tiananmen-square-protests-photos[Source].
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20191104220423im_/https://media.pri.org/s3fs-public/styles/w2304/public/images/2019/06/20190601tiananmen9.jpg?itok=UciBSEHP[]

.A young woman is caught between civilians and Chinese soldiers, who were trying to remove her from an assembly near the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, on June 3, 1989. AP Photo/Jeff Widener. https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2014/06/1989-tiananmen-square-protests-photos/100751/[Source].
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20190816074546im_/https://cdn.theatlantic.com/assets/media/img/photo/2014/06/tiananmen-square-25-years-ago/t21_06030443/main_1200.jpg?1420497909[height=400]

.Godzilla https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Peng[Li Peng (李鹏)] crushing the Tiananmen Square protests with his green eye laser beams. https://en.uncyclopedia.co/wiki/File:Li_at_Tiananmen_Eyebeams.jpg[Source].
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20200313094607if_/https://images.uncyclomedia.co/uncyclopedia/en/d/dd/Li_at_Tiananmen_Eyebeams.jpg[height=400]

.Protester covered in blood holding an army helmet. https://www.pri.org/stories/2019-06-04/1989-tiananmen-square-protests-photos[Source].
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20191104220423im_/https://media.pri.org/s3fs-public/styles/w2304/public/images/2019/06/20190601tiananmen5.jpg?itok=ex5BwXbv[height=500]

.Bodies by the road in after the Tiananmen Square Protests were crushed. http://www.ursulagauthier.fr/tiananmen-15-minutes-dapocalypse/[Source].
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20190607142501im_/http://www.ursulagauthier.fr/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Tiananmen-7-715x1024.jpg[height=600]

.Bodies with gun wounds at the mortuary at Shuili hospital. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/30/world/asia/tiananmen-square-protest-photos.html[Source].
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20191208063503if_/https://static01.nyt.com/images/2019/05/30/world/00tiananmen-images-15/00tiananmen-images-15-superJumbo.jpg[height=500]

.A Chinese couple on a bicycle take cover beneath an underpass as tanks deploy overhead in eastern Beijing, on June 5, 1989. AP Photo/Liu Heung Shing. This one is almost poetic. https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2014/06/1989-tiananmen-square-protests-photos/100751/[Source].
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20190816074546im_/https://cdn.theatlantic.com/assets/media/img/photo/2014/06/tiananmen-square-25-years-ago/t42_06050128/main_1200.jpg?1420497920[height=800]

.Family members try to comfort a mother who has just learned of her son's death after he was killed by soldiers at Tiananmen Square, June 4. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/gabrielsanchez/pictures-tiananmen-square-anniversary[Source].
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20190610212031/https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2019-06/4/12/asset/buzzfeed-prod-web-02/sub-buzz-30462-1559664775-8.jpg?downsize=1600:*&output-format=auto&output-quality=auto[height=500]

.The morning after the military crackdown of the pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square, workers clean their posters from bulletin boards. Resume <<censorship>> as usual. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/gabrielsanchez/pictures-tiananmen-square-anniversary[Source].
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20190610212031/https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2019-06/4/12/asset/buzzfeed-prod-web-01/sub-buzz-11644-1559664808-1.jpg?downsize=1600:*&output-format=auto&output-quality=auto[height=500]

[[tiananmen-songs]]