Censorship → Censored!
Language:
I found something very interesting last summer, when my friend from Beijing came to visit me in Xi’an and he gave me this magazine.
The magazine was a special issue of National Geographic about China.
Before he arrived in Xi’an, he skimmed through the magazine and noticed that some pages were thicker than others… and also, yet another strange observation, page 125 was followed by page 130… (instead of page 126). He then discovered the reason for these pages being thicker than others: they had been glued together! The “X” that you see here on the left page on the photo are the marks left by the glue that pulled off ink from the next page, glue that was placed there by the Ministry of Propaganda.
The text is about the repression of political dissidents and also mentions a case where an artist cut his little finger to protest against the 1989 events at the Tian’anmen Square.
At pages 100 and 101, one can see four artistic representations of chairman Mao: Mao with Stalin’s moustache, Mao swimming in a river of blood, Mao with a flower on his lips and the official portrait of Mao, out of focus.
Chinese cartography has always been a controversial issue. This is because on some parts of the border, the limits have still not been negociated with the neighboring countries and some have not yet received international recognition. On this map, Taiwan appears in white, as if the Island was not a part of China.
On this map it is not Taiwan that is missing, but some borders claimed by China are not recognized. These regions are currently under the administration of foreign countries, mainly India.
And finally, the most ridiculous example of censorship in our era of widespread computers and Internet: censorship by a black marker pen! Under a strong light one can see what lies hidden behind the black marks:
“After 1900, when the Boxer Rebellion swept across Beijing, every decade included at least one major political upheaval. Usually these events were violent, ranging from…”
[the Japanese invasion to the Cultural Revolution to the massacre around Tiananmen Square in 1989].
The pages that were not censored are mostly about the new Chinese Economy, the Nouveaux Riches, the ancient Chinese Culture, the technological achievements of China, fashion, urbanism and also about air pollution and water shortages.
September 18th, 2009 at 0:41
lol quand même ! il faut vouloir pour commencer à censored au marquer noir et coller des pages ensemble !!
le portrait de Mao a-t-il seulement une version officiel existante ? ou c’est seulement par leur caractère dit offensant qu’il on été censuré ?
September 18th, 2009 at 4:43
En URSS, notre famille recevait le National Geographic 4-10 numeros par an. Alors, la censure chinoise est assez liberale!
September 18th, 2009 at 10:39
Que Pena….
muestran al pueblo lo que es conveniencia de ellos…
En verdad… que pena..
Saludos
September 18th, 2009 at 12:40
Sleeplow: Le portrait officiel de Mao, je crois, est celui qui est accroché à la Place Tian’anmen:
http://www.tidbitsfromtheworld.com/2008/11/lhistoire/#portraitmao
Apparemment, même si les erreurs de Mao sont reconnues par les Chinois, il semble qu’il soit encore tabou d’altérer son image. Il est encore une figure très respectée en Chine, pour être le fondateur de la Chine moderne.
Boris: En URSS, est-ce qu’il manquait des pages aux magazines que vous receviez? Que pensiez-vous de la censure?
Nicole: gracias por pasar.
September 18th, 2009 at 15:02
Non, on ne recevait pas simplement quelques numeros. L’existence de la censure etait le plus grand secret, mais on savait qu’elle existait. J’imagine que la majorite de la population, excepte des intellectuels, y etait indifferent.
September 18th, 2009 at 18:09
说真话的记者！
September 20th, 2009 at 17:21
Je veux ajouter que dans les cartes sovietiques / russes le Taiwan est toujours designe comme une partie de la Chine.
September 21st, 2009 at 0:59
Fascinating, Alexandre! Censorship was one of the things I found to be quite oppressive while living in China. But truly, they are not very thorough about it. For all the censors they employ, one would think they would do a better job of it.
September 21st, 2009 at 1:02
Oh, and by the way — please put me on the record as officially objecting to your choice of using an American flag to represent the English language on your website. If you’re going to use the Spanish flag to represent the Spanish language (when it isn’t the country with the largest Spanish-speaking population), I don’t see why you should use the US flag to represent English. :-)
September 21st, 2009 at 12:39
Hey 秦沛!
Well, my first choice of flags was Quebec for the French language, Canada for English and Chile for Spanish… but I reckoned that too few people would have been familiar with those flags, so I decided against it and I chose the major flags for each language. Which flag would you use for English? The British, American or Australian flag? (Or any other)
That’s a fact that the censorship in China is full of holes and one can access anything they want if they really want to. It just makes the process more troublesome. But also, the authorities are more lax when it comes to censoring websites in English or in any language other than Chinese. The Chinese web is much more carefully monitored and controlled.
September 21st, 2009 at 12:43
Boris: Je crois qu’en Occident, généralement, dans les cartes du monde, Taiwan n’est pas inclus dans la Chine. Mais dans les cartes gouvernementales officielles, c’est différent, parce que la plupart des pays ont reconnu Taiwan comme faisant partie de la Chine (prérequis pour pouvoir faire affaire avec la Chine continentale). Mais ces mêmes gouvernements gardent des relations diplomatiques de facto avec le gouvernement de Taiwan.
Peut-être que c’est pour ça que les Chinois aiment les Russes!
September 21st, 2009 at 14:31
Country of the language’s origin works (i.e. use the Union Jack). Just my opinion ;-)
In this digital age, I am uncertain as to whether any censorship can or will be effective. It is extremely easy to circumvent the barriers put in place, and as such, censoring any given topic will likely only draw added attention to it.
September 27th, 2009 at 1:51
ça fait un bail…!
Ne t’inquiète pas je sais très bien que tu parles l’espagnol latino-américain comme aussi l’anglais américain… et moi… je ne sais pas si je parle le français canadien ou le français de la France… alors je suis très heureux quand le monde francophone peut me compredre…
además si quieres poner la bandera de Suiza para referirte al francés está bien, después de todo en Suiza hay tres idiomas oficiales Francés, Alemán e Italiano más el Romanche que es lengua nacional… jajajaj
fais attention de toi !!!!
un abrazo très fort… quand vas-tu venir au Chili??? des fois tu me manques beaucoup !!!
September 27th, 2009 at 12:35
Salut Gerson!
Le monde francophone te comprend très bien! Félicitations!
Ah, le Chili! J’espère y retourner le plus tôt possible! Ce pays me manque beaucoup.
November 27th, 2009 at 10:16
你总能发现新素材！
November 27th, 2009 at 10:17
你总能发现新素材！