A Single Re-Tweet Lands Chinese Woman in Labor Camp

lee1 writes "A woman in China has been sentenced to a year of 're-education' in a labor camp for the crime of 'disrupting social order' after retweeting a joke on Twitter (which is entirely banned in China, but popular nonetheless). Cheng Jianping had repeated a Twitter comment suggesting that nationalist protesters smash Japan's pavilion at the Shanghai Expo, adding the words 'Charge, angry youth.' At the time, China and Japan were feuding over a group of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea, and groups of young Chinese had been demonstrating against Japan, smashing Japanese products; the tweet amounted to gentle chiding of the protesters. Ms. Cheng may also have been targeted because she is a human rights activist: she had signed petitions calling for the release of China's jailed Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo. She has been detained in the past for several other 'crimes,' including criticizing China's Communist Party."

Comments

Should apply to anyone using Twitter

[PatPending]

Anyone using Twitter should be sentenced to a year of 're-education' in a labour camp.

Public service annoucement

[girlintraining]

If you are a political activist in any country (not just China), don't post things publicly that are unrelated to your cause. Don't post things electronically that are or could be considered illegal, or be used as blackmail material. Remember that you are not representing yourself anymore, you are representing your cause. Everything you say and do will be put under a microscope, and the internet never forgets and never forgives mistakes.

Now that that's out of the way: China, you suck.

Re:Public service annoucement

[icebraining]

In a dictatorship, anything can be illegal at the whims of those who rule.

Re:hate speech is NOT protected anywhere.

[Ossifer]

No, she was imprisoned for making fun of the people actually causing racial unrest...

awaiting the equivalency idiots

[circletimessquare]

you know, the snide comments "well, its almost just as bad/ the same/ worse in the usa/ uk/ western nation"

no

it actually isn't

when you confuse hyperbole and reality, you are no longer commenting intelligently, you are merely broadcasting your ignorance

Re:awaiting the equivalency idiots

[King_TJ]

Except, I don't think most of the people making such statements are *really* idiots who don't get the obvious differences. I think (well, hope at least!) it's a matter of trying to caution/wake up people that nations like the United States are headed down a path that leads there, ultimately, if we don't stop and look at where we're going!

Just this morning, I heard a couple of radio DJs doing their show, and despite their repeated insistence on taking a "libertarian outlook on things" in the past? These guys were obviously defending the full body scanners and pat-down searches at our airports! Their opinion, basically, was one of, "Come on! Someone having a grainy picture of your genitals is no big deal! I'd rather they see that than someone getting a bomb on my airline flight!", coupled with, "Like the TSA says... If you don't like it, just don't fly!"

That mentality is EXACTLY what gets us ever closer to Chinese style government and censorship, people!

Re:awaiting the equivalency idiots

[Anonymusing]

Sir (or ma'am), I truly wish I had mod points.

In America, you can say whatever the hell you want about the government -- even if it is slanderous, false, crazy, whatever -- and unless you are directly threatening to kill somebody, you can get away with it. That is NOTHING like a totalitarian government. If the Obama administration was really like China, Fox News would have been squashed a long time ago, and media types like Beck and Limbaugh would be quickly losing weight in a rock quarry somewhere.

Re:awaiting the equivalency idiots

[tekrat]

EXACTLY!!! How is that American citizens can be treated with less regard than a captured member of the Taliban? How is it that a sexual assault is now necessary and endorsed in order to board a plane? And just try boarding a plane without the sexual assault and you're likely to be shot at, imprisoned, put on a no-fly list, and your life will be essentially ruined by the government, forever, all because you're trying to retain your rights and dignity.

And people want to talk about how bad China is because it makes them feel superior and that they somehow have it better here. Well, in many cases you do not. Elsewhere, you're likely to recieve better healthcare, you're likely to recieve a better education and you're likely to live in country with more equal footing between you and your boss.

And the country won't be entirely run by corporations focused only on greed. Please, tell me how much better off you are here in the Paranoid USA.

Re:awaiting the equivalency idiots

[Dr. Evil]

Look at the Wiki:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Prisoner_population_rate_UN_HDR_2007_2008.PNG

The U.S. just has a different spin on "freedom". Did you catch the video of the TSA assaulting the 3-year-old and the father standing helplessly while it happened for fear of being arrested? Do you suppose in China they watch videos of Americans being waterboarded, or stories about U.K. police gunning innocent people down in the subway?

There's no shortage of ugly propaganda on both sides. Don't think China is so bad, and don't think the U.S. is so good. It's all somewhere in the middle, on both sides.

{Yawn}

[Chordonblue]

Who cares about the human cost as long as we can continue to get cheap electronics, right?

China is the abusive boyfriend of the G8+5.

[Aussenseiter]

Its populace is in a frightening situation, where speaking out against the regime is often a criminal activity. Its economy feeds off itself and other countries, and is reflected strongly to foreign markets, but the smoke-and-mirrors reality draws many comparisons to Cold War Russia, specifically its unsustainable growth and complete disregard for things like environment and human safety. Its foreign policy is bullheaded and unrepentant - and they get away with it, because the rest of the world admonishes it with one hand and spoon-feeds it with the other.

Re:We in the West are so much more... oh wait

[Monkeedude1212]

Its one thing to post a joke bomb threat and have the cops show up. Possibly give you some misdemeanor.

Its another thing to post a joke and have the cops pick you up and put you in a labour camp.

Re:hate speech is NOT protected anywhere.

[NiteShaed]

the KKK were arrested/imprisoned in the US. why didnt anyone whine about that ?

Possibly because it didn't happen? Klan members were arrested and imprisoned for crimes they commited (murder among them), but they still exist today and hold public rallies and events without being imprisoned for speaking.
You seem to be confusing hate-speech with hate-crimes. Going up on a stage and saying that "group X is a bunch of subhuman degenerates" is certainly hateful, but you have the right to do it. Going on stage and saying "group X is a bunch of subhuman degenerates" while beating a member of group-X with a club is a hate crime, and will carry different penalties than just beating someone with a club would normally.

Still better than...

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/11/18/pakistan.blasphemy/index.html?hpt=C1

"This month a Pakistani court sentenced Isham's mother, 45 year old Asia Bibi, to death, not because killed, injured or stole, but simply because she said something."

"The town cleric, Qari Muhammad Salim, reported the incident to police who arrested Bibi. After nearly 15 months in prison came her conviction and the death sentence."

USA's best friends, China and Pakistan. Awesome.

Remember to put "Twitter" in every headline

[Minwee]

Because "Being an anti-government activist lands Chinese woman in labour camp" isn't nearly exciting enough.

But

[Korveck]

If the government don't lock up disruptive individuals who cause public unrest. The harmony in the country will be gone, and the whole economy will tank. Personal freedom is a small price to pay for a thriving economy. Look at the US and Europe now. Their freedom of expression mires them in endless internal silly arguments while not solving any pressing problem.

This is actually a popular view in China and the party actively promotes it. Our increasingly frustrating politics make it more and more believable.

Re:asdf

[Anonymous Coward]

Soon America will be like this, if we don't start electing politicians who remove, rather than add laws.

Re:Athletes get fined for things like this

[Relyx]

...plus a criminal record and a £3000 legal bill when he lost his appeal.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-11736785

Re:asdf

[Paracelcus]

Every time you elect a lawyer to elective office you are guaranteed that you will get a flood of redundant, contradictory, unenforceable & expensive laws, thereby ensuring the perpetual employment of their colleagues who are paid handsomely to unravel, defend against & prosecute this utterly pointless bullshit!

Re:Kudos for unbiased reporting

[Columcille]

"Who says this is a left-leaning website?"

This is a left-leaning website.

There. I said it.

Re:hate speech is NOT protected anywhere.

[NiteShaed]

We probably need a whole new rating system.

Beating someone while shouting racial slurs at them: +10 years

Beating someone while staring into the distance trying to remember if you left the oven on: +0 years

Beating someone while shouting "I love you man!" at them: Actually, that's creepy. +12 years

Re:Kudos for unbiased reporting

[rjstanford]

No, that would be \. This is /. - obviously right-leaning.