China Bans Letter N From Internet as Xi Jinping Extends Grip on Power (theguardian.com)

Speaking of things the Chinese government has been censoring in the country, The Guardian reports: It is the 14th letter in the English alphabet and, in Scrabble, the springboard for more than 600 8-letter words. But for the Communist party of China it is also a subversive and intolerable character that was this week banished from the internet as Chinese censors battled to silence criticism of Xi Jinping's bid to set himself up as ruler for life. The contravening consonant was perhaps the most unusual victim of a crackdown targeting words, phrases and even solitary letters censors feared might be used to attack Beijing's controversial decision to abolish constitutional term limits for China's president. The Communist party has painted the move -- which experts say paves the way for Xi to become a dictator for life -- as an expression of overwhelming popular support for China's strongman leader. However, there has been widespread online push-back in China since it was announced on Sunday on the eve of an annual political congress in Beijing.

Comments

Chia Bas Letter From Iteret ?

[mnemotronic]

Well that makes sense.

Re:Chia Bas Letter From Iteret ?

[michelcolman]

o, it makes sese.

Log live Xi Jipig!

Re:Chia Bas Letter From Iteret ?

[ShanghaiBill]

They didn't ban the use of the letter "n" inside words. Only the use of "n" as a standalone character.

It is not clear why it was banned, but sometimes characters and phrases will be used symbolically to get around censorship. For instance the number 64 is often censored because it is used to mean "June 4th" the date of the Tiananmen Square "incident". 54 is also sometimes censored because it is used as a symbol for corruption and betrayal, since the terms of the Versailles Treaty were published in Chinese newspapers on May 4th of 1919. The treaty was seen as a betrayal of China, and a sellout to the Japanese by the Western Allies, resulting in riots and unrest.

One conjecture is that "n" was being used in the sense of "an arbitrary number" to mean the new term limit for the leader of China, replacing the old limit of two terms of five years each.

Re: Chia Bas Letter From Iteret ?

[ShanghaiBill]

How can they not see this is a bad plan with no good long term prospects.

The Chinese people do see it as bad, but what can they do? XJP has all the power. He directly controls the administration and the army. The legislature is just a rubber stamp and has no power. The judiciary is not independent, and follows the directions of the party. He has spent the last 5 years purging the government of anyone disloyal or likely to dissent, under the guise of an anti-corruption campaign.

This is an example of why it is important to start opposing authoritarianism at the outset. If you wait until the oppressor's intentions are clear, it will be too late.

404 Not Found

[Zorro]

Did you mean "M" Comrade?

So...

[YuppieScum]

Chia ow has it's ow iteret?

Re:The two requirements for a trustworthy county

[green1]

We know why the first is important, But I don't know what the point is to the second. You must have a way of removing a leader from office, but a limit on their term doesn't make any real sense. If you have the best leader ever, you need to kick them out despite overwhelming public support just because some arbitrary date has passed? Conversely, many countries with term limits fail to have any way to remove a horrible leader before a set amount of time has passed (a term minimum?) which is, in my opinion, an even worse problem.

No, I think #2 should be replaced with: An effective mechanism to remove leaders.

wheel of fortune needs to ax any trips to china

[Joe_Dragon]

wheel of fortune needs to ax any trips to china

Re:Let's Organize!

[zieroh]

Liberals restricted the govt's ability to hold people with mental issues.

And by "liberals", you are no doubt referring to Ronald Reagan. As governor of California, he signed the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act, which ended the practice of holding mental patients against their will. Then, as president in 1981, Reagan signed the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, largely un-doing Carter's work at improving the federal mental health care system, which itself built upon ideas outlined by Kennedy before his assassination.

Liberals indeed.