felicity2010

* A/ U+ e7 G2 L* T4 t; ?公仔箱論壇
. t. v  `/ g2 A; x公仔箱論壇China Appears to Censor Any Online Discussion of an Ex-Leader’s Health: u" _, o1 x$ D/ o/ K
Andrew Jacobs New York Times   7 Jul 2011
! d: _& T4 E" }/ U) d9 q, Y( r公仔箱論壇tvb now,tvbnow,bttvb( U: t+ I  k: N+ ]0 b
5.39.217.760 l2 ?/ \; y$ c; ~! f, n6 ?

4 j" M- S6 y% q- G* l1 h公仔箱論壇5.39.217.76* D$ b/ Q: z9 x- @4 p: @) p( O3 _
$ X: _: m$ A6 a; t
公仔箱論壇: ^, @* f4 ~' N+ K0 U4 u+ [
What do Jiangsu Province, the minor pop idol Jiang Yirong and Huadong Hospital in Shanghai have in common? Over the past day, these and scores of other words and expressions have been blocked on much of the Chinese Internet, a result of the government’s unrelenting attempt to quash widespread rumors that the former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin is dead or dying.
5 p6 n) G& @7 Q: jtvb now,tvbnow,bttvb公仔箱論壇; [9 F9 [( ]1 |% e% l, ~2 Y
Not surprisingly, the stepped-up effort to silence speculation about the well being of Mr. Jiang, 84, who officially retired as party chief in 2002 and as president in 2003, has generated even more rumors since last Friday after he failed to attend the 90th anniversary gala commemorating the birth of the Chinese Communist Party.% U! `% }0 j% K$ N, q
5.39.217.76. Y- u+ ^$ L" |
On Thursday morning, the official Xinhua News Agency issued an English-language response to the reports that Mr. Jiang had died, saying they were “pure rumor” and quoting what it said were“authoritative sources.” Later in the day, during a regularly scheduled news conference, a Foreign Ministry spokesman declined to answer any questions about Mr. Jiang’s health, referring journalists to the Xinhua statement. That exchange, however, was curiously omitted from a transcript of the news conference posted on the ministry’s website.7 `5 ]8 P/ D% O% S

, x. H; x! N, y2 b* U" y: z公仔箱論壇While China’s ruling party has not in recent years suppressed news about the death of an important leader, officials rarely, if ever, discuss the health of current or former leaders, and they ban news coverage of those subjects.
7 Q1 U8 `! L  |" n; u$ O
) ^* X1 h, k# @2 OTVBNOW 含有熱門話題，最新最快電視，軟體，遊戲，電影，動漫及日常生活及興趣交流等資訊。“I don’t want to believe rumors, but what am I supposed to do when rumors always turn out to be true in this country?” said a posting on Sina Weibo, the popular microblogging site that on Wednesday seemed to be suffering an especially zealous rash of censorship.
+ J7 i' J7 }/ E  X3 Q; m" ^9 t
+ F2 x/ v# D( k0 G8 qtvb now,tvbnow,bttvbIn many instances, the offending words contain the character “Jiang,” the former leader’s surname, which also means “river” in Chinese. Huadong, also unsearchable, is the top-notch hospital where Mr. Jiang,the once jaunty Communist Party general secretary, may or may not have been treated for a heart attack, a stroke or infected mosquito bites — all ailments alternately blamed for his disappearance from public view.0 Q# t  E" K! {! n4 O
6 \( P( y% p$ Q
Speculative online accounts have repeated as fact the rumor that the respirator supposedly keeping Mr. Jiang alive would be unplugged on July 8. The number eight is considered lucky among the Chinese because it rhymes with another character meaning prosperity. (While the accounts are likely to be false, some historical accounts say an ailing Mao Zedong was taken off life support on Sept. 9, 1976, because the ninth day of the ninth month would be an easy date for the masses to remember.)
, x  D# T+ m( r% I3 Y  e5.39.217.76公仔箱論壇$ v' C9 t4 u0 t: a+ ?
Mr. Jiang last appeared on state television in2009, when he joined other senior leaders reviewing a military spectacle marking the 60th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China.
3 d2 \8 F5 x0 l! `5.39.217.765.39.217.76; r" i4 R: S' W+ |6 j  h" x" L
Talk about Mr. Jiang’s impending demise has ricocheted across the Internet and then faded numerous times over the years.But his failure to show up at the 90th anniversary celebration, a required event for retired party elders as well as current leaders, raises the likelihood that he is in fact ailing.
1 E% M; l" |  T6 Utvb now,tvbnow,bttvb
0 _$ r1 R! ~+ Q8 z公仔箱論壇A Hong Kong television station went so far as to broadcast news of Mr. Jiang’s death before retracting the report. And overseas Chinese Web sites that specialize in political gossip have been claiming that Mr. Jiang died Tuesday night or that a large number of police officers were spotted outside the Beijing hospital that caters to senior leaders. (Not surprisingly, that institution, the 301 Military Hospital, can no longer be searched on the Internet.)tvb now,tvbnow,bttvb3 N. Y! d6 S7 B1 w5 w( A( K
5.39.217.768 @- G; g& P" W9 E
Sam Crane, a China expert at Williams College, suggested that the government censorship machine was counterproductive. “It’s making them look very foolish,” he said. “The state is trying to control information so they can control the narrative, but in the Internet era that’s harder and harder to do.”
3 F7 y/ |5 v, o( K) B8 [公仔箱論壇
9 V: W3 M+ ?% G8 S# @7 Z6 Vtvb now,tvbnow,bttvbThe narrative about Communist Party leaders has always been a fraught business, with the passing of top leaders sometimes proving politically disruptive. In 1976, after the death of the beloved Prime Minister Zhou Enlai, party leaders tried to suppress public mourning. In the end, as many as two million people defied the authorities by gathering in Tiananmen Square, where they criticized the Gang of Four, Mao and the excesses of his Cultural Revolution.公仔箱論壇2 _3 t/ Z4 @% L

" q9 k3 {7 @- @9 etvb now,tvbnow,bttvbA decade later, the unexpected death of General Secretary Hu Yaobang led to an outpouring of public grief in Tiananmen Square that morphed into a mass protest against the party. That episode, which ended in a hail of gunfire on June 4, 1989, shook the party to its core.+ s/ Z# X# K! C2 l
1 G3 s5 U3 u8 U" t$ B+ O
The death of Mr. Jiang, whose tenure is not especially savored by Chinese liberals, would not be likely to draw such an emotional public response. But the Communist Party does not like to leave anything to chance.
* D  X/ X5 t" C( O) P
6 z/ V+ F1 J- o2 I- J. P6 kRoderick MacFarquhar, a China specialist at Harvard University, said that even if the rumor about Mr. Jiang’s failing health proved true, the party had never hidden public disclosure about the death of a senior leader. Any delay, even if brief, might be aimed at allowing the members of the Politburo Standing Committee to prepare his obituary and public eulogy, which would presumably be delivered by President Hu Jintao, who succeeded him as party chief.
$ T* z5 D# R- l9 L公仔箱論壇TVBNOW 含有熱門話題，最新最快電視，軟體，遊戲，電影，動漫及日常生活及興趣交流等資訊。3 H! M- k& u% f7 k' [6 A$ U7 h* c5 o
“They need time to prepare, not so much for the funeral, but for the description of the man and his place in Chinese Communist Party history,” Mr. MacFarquhar said.& [, w- |0 N" v" U6 I6 l

) r8 _8 D9 D5 y5 `5.39.217.76In the meantime, the government’s handling of the matter seems to be prompting a torrent of ridicule on the Internet, especially on Twitter and other overseas sites that are beyond the control of Beijing’s censors. On Wednesday, people began circulating photographs of Mr. Jiang shaking hands with the former leader Deng Xiaoping (“they meet again”) and a cartoon of a pair of trousers hanging on a clothesline that is meant to be a reference to a Chinese euphemism for death.TVBNOW 含有熱門話題，最新最快電視，軟體，遊戲，電影，動漫及日常生活及興趣交流等資訊。- z: F5 S: S8 z5 y  @

6 g$ j$ a& M) ^0 s5.39.217.76% X' G% ^) f+ C# y7 _
Mia Li and Adam Century contributed research.

felicity2010

5.39.217.762 I" g" @" c# x3 ]6 K) E6 c8 _

! V0 @6 D! C: n7 I0 ~% d/ zJiang Zemin death rumours spark online crackdown in China公仔箱論壇& T1 R+ H3 x& M1 p$ p: z5 y+ A
Tania Branigan and Associated Press   7 Jul 2011
. l# I: U# o- q  c! p+ Utvb now,tvbnow,bttvb/ }: U9 X& ^( Y% I0 |9 d

5 j/ J1 C; r5 c+ I8 F4 ytvb now,tvbnow,bttvbAll internet searches for former leader – whose name means river – blocked, but savvy users find ways to get around it  |& }/ U$ T: {! _
TVBNOW 含有熱門話題，最新最快電視，軟體，遊戲，電影，動漫及日常生活及興趣交流等資訊。& T+ W: h/ x! c2 Y
Even for China's rigorous internet censors, it has proved an unusually busy day. References to rivers and laundry are among the apparently innocuous items vanishing from postings and search results amid rumours that Jiang Zemin, who led the country before president Hu Jintao took over in 2002, is dead or seriously ill.tvb now,tvbnow,bttvb* m: K8 Q1 L( m# M

9 r7 _1 s2 u/ p( I! D" h5.39.217.76Similar tales have circulated several times in the past. This time they seem to have been prompted by the 84-year-old's absence from celebrations for the 90th anniversary of the Communist party on Friday. Heis normally a staple of such events and other former leaders were shown at the gathering.7 [# ^; S# W' p

1 S- Z+ Y+ u1 W- K) ySina, which runs a wildly popular microblog service, went to increasing lengths to keep the topic off-limits. Searches forthe leader's name, or even just for "jiang" – river – resulted in the warning: "Search results are not shown due to relevant laws and policies."公仔箱論壇. Y, A8 @, T+ d

2 e) ]$ a6 k* [2 w. y1 j* S5 MThey even began to remove one of the cheekiest references to Jiang: an empty set of clothes hanging up, with the trousers hitched to Simon Cowell-level. The former leader is known for his high waistline.
5 P( P: G9 F# c# |2 g公仔箱論壇tvb now,tvbnow,bttvb8 i9 K+ K  s5 G
But some internet users began posting about a leader called "River", using the English word.$ N( [3 W" f& I/ Y) B

8 n/ e- b( J. etvb now,tvbnow,bttvbThe lengths to which authorities are going are all the more striking because Jiang's death would be unlikely to cause major ripples.
, k2 E; D& s$ n7 J" i1 S公仔箱論壇
' v3 ~& o. {3 v4 w5.39.217.76"We are not going to see a palace coup of any sort," said Steve Tsang of the University of Nottingham, an expert on succession in China.公仔箱論壇6 j4 r- v5 o9 q9 K( p; o) n

7 N4 [+ m5 O& C3 N1 e& I5.39.217.76"We are not going to see a leadership change as a result of Jiang Zemin's passing away and we are not going to see a majorreversal in any major policy."
# A1 l# V) C' E4 |2 z+ a/ j0 r4 Y5.39.217.76
  ]. m) ]+ v7 n" u/ |Two Hong Kong television stations have reported that Jiang has died, citing unidentified sources.
, o; a, z$ C& b9 ^4 j# `; _) q公仔箱論壇tvb now,tvbnow,bttvb  e5 K+ \% h$ @: I* L$ |' |
The Wall Street Journal's website reported that Sina had also blocked searches for words such as "myocardial infarction", "hung" – a euphemism for death – and "301Hospital" – a reference to the medical facility that often treats top leaders." b# F! Q& s* w) |2 b) I) {

7 S& N. o9 h$ V  d. a8 Ltvb now,tvbnow,bttvbChinese internet users have become increasingly adept at evading censorship, often using images, analogies, Roman script and puns. But David Bandurski, of the University of Hong Kong's China Media Project, said censorship ghettoises discussions, so that they do not spread beyond small groups of people who recognise the relevant code words.5.39.217.76- i& ?9 g0 h& E5 E/ h: F. [/ S2 L
1 {( C( v2 c: p! o) G
Chinese officials still "want to control the conversation as ultimately as they can," he said.

felicity2010

5 F1 @" M: B. d( ~; a  V7 `' Ytvb now,tvbnow,bttvb
2 h& Z# U9 I8 O9 Ntvb now,tvbnow,bttvbChina insistsreports of Jiang Zemin's death are 'pure rumour'$ }3 Y: q5 W6 r( y
Johnathan Watts   The Guardian   7 Jul 2011
$ a: a1 ^) {- }$ B* K6 v" j5 ITVBNOW 含有熱門話題，最新最快電視，軟體，遊戲，電影，動漫及日常生活及興趣交流等資訊。
* O5 ]# B+ ~/ n$ o, h9 v4 L5.39.217.765.39.217.760 R7 [4 p. S5 [# K! l/ c' Y
Denial that former president has died unlikely to quell online and overseas speculation
+ Q% D5 a/ j1 y
6 T( b3 s$ Q) A! JReports of the death of the former president Jiang Zemin have been greatly exaggerated, the Chinese state media has insisted, amid a frenzy of speculation online and overseas.3 Z$ X- e$ `) T' {! G0 w

. |& l- G9 i$ GIn an unusual move, state news agency Xinhua issued a brief denial that the 84-year-old statesman had passed away to quell rumours that began on Friday when Jiang failed to attend the biggest political event of the year – a 90th anniversary celebration to mark the founding of the Chinese Communist party.
+ w. f2 s+ `+ [: s/ L7 s5 [2 @
+ n* Z; }# E0 N. C# }5.39.217.76Asia Television of Hong Kong broadcast a report on Wednesday claiming Jiang had died of an unnamed illness. Japanese and South Korean media issued similar bulletins. Chinese journalists said they had been told to expect news on Thursday, but the only comment was a single line from Xinhua.
' u& x8 x# y  l( {: Q. iTVBNOW 含有熱門話題，最新最快電視，軟體，遊戲，電影，動漫及日常生活及興趣交流等資訊。
" A( {; N. ?$ z$ ^4 j0 h公仔箱論壇"Recent reports of some overseas media organizations about Jiang Zemin's death from illness are pure rumour," the newswire said, quoting unnamed "authoritative sources".* ?4 u7 ]' t0 P6 x2 t

4 o! X7 O8 T3 f! MDespite the denial, speculation is unlikely to fully die down until Jiang is seen again in public. The last such big occasionwas in October 2009 for the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic. Jiang was also present at an event in Sichuan last year, where his car was reportedly followed by an ambulance. Jiang is said to be suffering from an illness and possibly hospitalised, although it is hard to confirm because China treats the health of its leaders as a state secret.
+ a! A- w1 z, T" W% {4 o9 r8 wtvb now,tvbnow,bttvbTVBNOW 含有熱門話題，最新最快電視，軟體，遊戲，電影，動漫及日常生活及興趣交流等資訊。4 L+ d% A( W- I8 w1 j
Until today, censors have tried to quell speculation by blocking references to related words on blogs and search engines: "Jiang", "myocardial infarction", "hung"– a euphemism for death – and "301 Hospital" – a reference to the medical facility where he was said to be treated.TVBNOW 含有熱門話題，最新最快電視，軟體，遊戲，電影，動漫及日常生活及興趣交流等資訊。1 N: i0 v" v$ Z1 r: n8 \3 z& b" Q: ?

: r& b5 j5 Y( K# y* vSearches for "jiang", which means river,resulted in the warning: "Search results are not shown due to relevant laws and policies." Netizens sidestepped the prohibition by using English words and allusions.
8 k6 l9 ^5 Y- X7 D2 g5.39.217.76
& y1 {1 J: s7 t) \, V: s公仔箱論壇The US-based dissident news site Boxun.com said Shandong News in eastern China had its website disabled by authorities for reporting Jiang's death, though the newspaper dismissed Boxun's report.公仔箱論壇; E; z( D/ I6 `9 n
5.39.217.76" H+ h$ Z: O7 l8 J
Boxun showed what it said was a screenshot of Shandong News with a banner headline reading "Venerable Comrade Jiang Zemin Will Never Be Forgotten" next to a photo of the former leader.公仔箱論壇6 a) x8 k- b* L, \, s

8 n& e5 R. I8 F' T, }tvb now,tvbnow,bttvbA woman in the news department at Shandong News said the newspaper's site went offline on Wednesday because its servers crashed and it was still trying to fix the problem.
9 @/ k- ^& P3 \' _tvb now,tvbnow,bttvb
" W/ S) e; Q, ~5 pThe woman, who would only give her surname, Wang,said the website never posted news saying Jiang had died.
' M" `" m0 q* p* ?4 q7 n5 {# |1 \公仔箱論壇; P$ p, F' Q1 \; y& E; O' B
"That's a rumour," she said. "Maybe someone with ulterior motives made that screenshot."tvb now,tvbnow,bttvb; }3 V# m! y; Y; ?
TVBNOW 含有熱門話題，最新最快電視，軟體，遊戲，電影，動漫及日常生活及興趣交流等資訊。# e, q8 `7 Z" Q4 F. e# s7 y
The internet cat-and-mouse game over the possible death of a former leader underscores how secretive China's Communist party leadership remains – and the difficulties of maintaining that secrecy in a well-wired society.6 e6 y4 h% }' L; b0 C3 H$ e1 \

5 H/ U9 l+ o  Y) V; O- ^- NJiang Zemin rose to power in the wake of the 1989 Tiananmen Square killings, oversaw the handover of Hong Kong in 1997 and led his country until 2002, by which time it was one of the world's most powerful economies. He was replaced by the current president Hu Jintao.