Posted by John Chan | Apr 27, 2021
Updated at 21:21:47 PDT on Apr 27, 2021:
This post has been updated to note doubts about the reportedly looming census figures.
The latest Chinese census may reveal that China’s population has shrunk for the first time in over fifty years, according to a report by The Financial Times. The census results, which were originally expected to be released this month but have been delayed, are expected to show that China’s population has dipped below 1.4 billion, two years after it reportedly reached that mark. The Financial Times’ Sun Yu
The latest Chinese census, which was completed in December but has yet to be made public, is expected to report the total population of the country at less than 1.4bn, according to people familiar with the research. In 2019, China’s population was reported to have exceeded the 1.4bn mark.
On National Security Education Day, Hong Kong Celebrates Police Brutality
Posted by John Chan | Apr 15, 2021
After weeks of wall-to-wall advertising, the Hong Kong government celebrated its newly created “National Security Education Day” on Thursday. The New York Times’ Vivian Wang
Teddy bears clad in black police riot gear, on sale for more than $60 apiece. Schoolchildren’s messages of gratitude to the authorities, pasted onto the walls of their schools. Uniformed police officers goose-stepping in formation, accompanied by a counterterrorism drill complete with a helicopter and hostage simulation.
[…] The full day of activities was designed to inculcate young and old with the importance of national security. It had been promoted extensively through street-side banners, front-page advertisements in the city’s newspapers, and even a scrolling digital display on one of Hong Kong’s downtown skyscrapers, among the government’s most concentrated propaganda efforts sin
Citizen Journalist Zhang Zhan Is Jailed for COVID Reporting
Posted by John Chan | Dec 28, 2020
Zhang Zhan, lawyer-turned-citizen journalist who documented the lockdown of Wuhan at the start of the COVID-19 epidemic, has been jailed for four years for her reporting. She was the fourth citizen journalist to be arrested and the only one to be formally indicted for “picking quarrels and stirring up trouble,” and has been on hunger strike in prison since shortly after her arrest in June 2020. The Washington Post’s Lily Kuo
In a closed-door trial that lasted less than three hours, authorities in Shanghai handed down the sentence to Zhang Zhan, 37, for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” a charge often used against dissidents.