"Ai Weiwei, the New Model for Intellectuals"

January 7, 2010
By C. Custer

The magazine Nanfeng Chuang recently ran a short piece about Ai Weiwei‘s busy 2009. It’s a good summary for those who haven’t been following the exploits of the famed artist/activist, and if you have, it’s interesting to see this kind of stuff written about Ai Weiwei in a real magazine rather than on some...
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Qiushi Magazine on Modern Chinese Patriotism

January 6, 2010
By C. Custer
Qiushi Magazine on Modern Chinese Patriotism

The following translation is an excerpt from this article from the Party magazine Qiushi. The whole article is called “The Main Issue for Modern Patriotism: Pushing Forward the Great Undertaking of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics”; we have translated only a small segment of it. It’s not the sort of thing we generally post, but...
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The Death of the GFW? (Probably Not)

January 4, 2010
By C. Custer

UPDATE: Sadly, it seems like the party is already over. That makes the “installing new software” theory seem like the most likely contender. Again, we can’t confirm this, and it seems as though it MUST be temporary, but there are reports that the internet, or at least large parts of it that have been...
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Hecaitou Blocked?

January 3, 2010
By C. Custer

Danwei reports (via GVO) that Hecaitou’s two blogs have been blocked by the net nanny, but our (very unoffical) tests indicated it was accessible in Harbin, China, as of 1:20 PM Sunday, January 3rd (Beijing time). Can those of you in China confirm or deny that the sites are still accessible? Herdict, as of...
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Discussion Section: Predictions for 2010

January 1, 2010
By C. Custer

2009 retrospectives have been done to death, as have decade retrospectives (even though the decade isn’t over until 2011). It’s been a pretty depressing decade anyway, so let’s just steam on ahead and talk about what’s coming. Break out your tea leaves, and peel your eyes for portents of the China to come. What...
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Liu Xiaobo, Drifting With the Tide

December 25, 2009
By C. Custer
Liu Xiaobo, Drifting With the Tide

Westerners worldwide will wake up tomorrow with gifts under their Christmas trees. Liu Xia will wake up tomorrow -- for her, December 26th -- with the knowledge that Christmas brought her an empty home for the next eleven years.
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