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Jason Lee / Reuters
China's Chongqing Municipality Communist Party Secretary Bo Xilai waves a Chinese national flag during an event in Chongqing municipality in this June 2011 file photo.
BEIJING – It’s the biggest news in China in a long time – and China’s netizens are finding ways to get around censors to gossip and get the latest online rumors.
The scandal, which has spread to the New York Times front page and other Western news outlets, is centered on Bo Xilai, the former Communist Party secretary of Chongqing, China’s biggest municipality with 30 million residents, and his wife, Gu Kailai, who is a murder suspect in the death of British businessman Neil Heywood.
Before the bombshell announcement from China’s official news agency, Bo had been considered one of the top contenders for the country’s highest echelon of power, the standing committee of the politburo of the Communist Party, in the upcoming power reshuffle this fall.
No further official information has been released since last Tuesday’s news, but it still seems as if China’s entire population of 1.3 billion people is talking about the scandal. And despite the government’s best efforts to squelch online chatter, the country’s savvy computer fans have come up with novel ways to circumvent Beijing’s watchdogs.
Foreign 'rumors'
Foreign media have continued to feed the voracious appetite for more juicy details from Chinese netizens.
Kyodo / Reuters
China's former Chongqing Municipality Communist Party Secretary Bo Xilai and his wife Gu Kailai in a January 2007 file photo.
Many in China have made use of VPNs (virtual private networks) to circumvent the Great Firewall to access these Western reports, as well as overseas Chinese websites like Boxun, or Hong Kong and Taiwanese media reports.
Every time a new article comes out, it’s instantly translated into Chinese and posted on Weibo, China’s most popular Twitter-like service, followed by tons of comments and re-tweets.
The foreign reports have delved into everything about Gu Kailai, Bo’s wife, from her business dealings to her friends and close personal relationship with Heywood.
The extravagant lifestyle of Bo Guagua, Bo Xilai and Gu’s only son, has also come under the spotlight in foreign news reports – from his hard-partying ways at expensive private schools such as, Harrow, Oxford and Harvard, to his penchant for fast cars.
And on Tuesday Reuters added a new wrinkle to the story with a report that Bo initially agreed to a police probe of his wife's role in the murder before abruptly reversing course and demoting his police chief, which eventually led to the downfall of both men.
The government has applied every method possible to silence not just the local press, but the public passing along tidbits from the foreign reports.
Posts regarding the Bo scandal, defined by the official media as “rumors,” are usually deleted quickly after they show up online. Major web portals have been ordered to intensify their monitoring of allegedly scurrilous reports. And government mouthpieces like CCTV and Xinhua have appealed to the public to stop spreading rumors.
Chinese authorities do not issue empty threats – at least six people were recently arrested for posting gossip about a rumored military coup in Beijing.
Getting around the Great Firewall
But cracking down on gossip is an enormous project in China. The country’s sophisticated netizens – who now number up to an estimated 500 million – pass along rumors using puns, hints and words with different Chinese characters but similar pronunciation to key words.
For instance, the word “Bo,” which also means “thin” in Chinese, has been replaced by the term “not thick.” Many posts have called Bo “the not thick governor” in order to slide past censors.
Meanwhile, some witty netizens have referred to the city of Chongqing as “tomato,” because tomato is pronounced “Xi Hong Shi” in Chinese, which sounds the same as “Western Red City.” That seemingly cryptic reference is to the “red revolutionary song” campaign initiated by Bo when he was governing Chongqing. As the son of a major leader of China’s Communist Revolution, Bo was also famous for promoting a campaign to revive Cultural Revolution-era “red culture.”
“This is the most remarkable event [in China] ever since 1976, when the Gang of Four was arrested,” said Yao Bo, a China-based Internet observer and blogger, in a phone interview with NBC News. He was referring to when the leaders of China’s disastrous Cultural Revolution were publicly purged from the Communist Party a month after Chairman Mao’s death – marking the end of one of China’s most turbulent political eras.
“When people used to talk about politics on forums or bulletins before, it was censored much more easily, since such discussion always had a topic. Weibo is like a virus, it can share information much faster and becomes uncontrollable,” Yao said.
‘We Firmly Support the Central Party’
The government has tried to introduce a counter-campaign of sorts by ordering all major newspapers and TV news channels to pledge their loyalty to the Communist Party. Within a few days after Bo’s scandal was exposed, a variety of publications had editorials with the same headline: “We Firmly Support the Central Party.”
Some leftist websites that openly supported a return to a Maoist-like regime have been mysteriously shut down in recent days – another signal suggesting its best time to stick to the party line. None of them has publicly stated that they are following an official order, but they all went into “maintenance-mode” simultaneously.
Over the last few days less gossip devoted to the Bo scandal has appeared online, which Yao attributed to both censorship and the political nature of the scandal.
“What Bo did was to pull China in an extreme direction when nobody knew where it was going. The leftists say ‘it’s a red trial,’ the rightists say ‘it’s a disaster.’ Now he’s down, people have nothing to argue about. This is a signal sent by the highest leaders that they do not wish to go back to China’s past.”
“This has made netizens realize one thing: rumor is another name for truth,” said Yao.
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Leave a Comment:
This is my third try at posting a comment. I wonder if the Chinese are censoring this site also.
LOL.....
We have a "scandal" almost every day on the beltway and with government employees taking "spring breaks" on taxpayers money.
Just wait until the Internet Cybersecurity Act is fully implemented using the Data Center in Bluffdale, Utah. That will make the .50 cent twitter sensors in China look like kindergarten stuff.
Ever wonder why MSNBC does NOT allow threads on some of their articles ? Because, the articles are too controversial for this administration.
@ldo
Couldn't agree more. Our government has already gotten its iron clasp on all other forms of mainstream media. The Internet is the last bastion of true freedom.
yes Ido, like most articles relating to money, business and the economy? now, that is censorship. money is soooo emotional, I could cry.
And the economy isn't related to politics at all? Give me a break.
I do give you a break. politics is big time related to the economy and actually frames it, but somehow it's taboo and they just do as they please.
What complete and utter bunk. Try again, this has been disproved so many times its ridiculous.
Ummm need we point out....
And the Executive Order was recently overhauled, hmmmm.
I should have bolded, the data center part is the bunk.
Laugh-Out-Loud! The harder that gov't tries to censor their citizens the harder they'll work at getting around them - and their Spring will come - wait for it.
And yes, of course that gov't is / wants to censor everything
I find the Chinese government's constant attempts to control communication quite amusing. They've fostered a populace that is smart, relatively wealthy, and increasingly tech-savvy, and yet they're still trying to apply censorship techniques that were only marginally effective a decade ago. They've banned foreign communication services like Twitter, then allowed a home-grown version that turns out to be just as unmanageable.
Still, I personally doubt there will be a Chinese Spring, ever. I think the Communist Party will vanish with a whimper, rather than a bang. They've already created a society that operates without any of the centralization that is the basis of Communist theory. They have news, business, supply chains, local police and utilities that don't rely on the central government, and a population that finds it easier and easier to work around and through "the system" that is specifically designed to suppress them. Eventually the forces outside the government will no longer need it at all, and gradually sweep it aside.
If China wanted to keep its people properly oppressed, they should have gone all the way like their little buddy, North Korea. No infrastructure, no communication, and practically no economy, so that the people literally have no recourse but to rely on your parasitic institutions and bloated military. That's the only way you can be sure to stay relevant while still making rebellion impossible.
Agreed SF! On top of that, China's growing middle class and increasingly high education-level per-capita is going to cause them to shift into a consumer-economy as fewer people will be willing to ship themselves and their children off to cut-rate, hand-severing factory labor. On top of that, China's upper-echelons' desire to keep the country as an export-driven economy (to keep their manufacturing moguls wealthy) via suppressed currency is resulting in eroding their own population's international purchasing power.
The revolt will be slow, and economic in substance and the powers that be will simply pull up roots and move into Vietnam and Myanmar as China's population wants similar freedoms that much of the rest of the world enjoys without looking over their shoulder or fearing for their family.
It cannot happen soon enough...but slower reduces bloodshed, so I'll be patient.
Kind of like criticizing Obama here. Sure invitation to getting shouted down.
You seemed to fare just fine...I wonder why
Being shouted down for voicing an unpopular opinion - because your post stubbornly keeps existing and no one ever arrives at your home to drag you to the gulag - is a mark of free speech, not suppression of it.
It would be too generous to call the childish, partisian mud-slinging around here "debate", but at the very least the elementary-school-level bickering is quite robust and free.
Then quit trying to spread rumors that Obama is a Muslim born in Kenya who wants to take away everyone's guns.
@Garrick
Not sure about the Kenya born Muslim story, but he is definitely trying to take away guns.
@Joe, from Kalispell
Agreed, even if he's not a Muslim he's still a Christian with a racist and hateful pastor. But that's not nearly as important as his stance on gun control and big government.
"Gun Control" is an oxymoron in more ways than one!
I was always under the impression that "gun control" meant a steady trigger finger.
Gun control don't work. Here in the UK, we have strict gun control. But I am telling you that, myself, living in London, can go out tonight and buy an AK47 for a few hundred £'s no problem.
They must have found out the foil on the rabbit ear trick
Well at least thats one less dictator in power.
100 to take his place.
I imagine that most of the Chinese charges against Bo are fabricated to help justify keeping him out of the ruling council.
I'll have to check with my brother, he's been working in China since early 2007. He can give me the straight scoop, I don't trust the Chinese media any more than I trust ours.
The problems, with the central Chinese government, is that they're lead-footed. The changes will come at an accelerated pace. They may think that they can stay ahead of the tidal wave, but I think their crystal ball is cloudy. There will never be another Tienanmen Square. By the time that the shoe falls, all that the central government will be able to do is announce open elections, and stand back. And then, the monied powers will take over. As it should be.
Does anyone else find that strange?
Popular names in China
Like John and David are in English speaking societies
But definitely a funny coincidence.
Chinese Government are old style and does not fit to run country anymore. Communist Party and its elites are only for themselves, grab as much as they can. It is a matter of time. Change is comming for good.
Dear god who gives a @!$%#!
It seems that the present leadership in China signalling it doesn't wish to return to the brutal policies of Mao is a good thing. Despite the means to the end in this case I don't see a downside for the people of China or the world at large.
I remember Bo Xilai way back in the very early 90's when he was getting his start as mayor of Dalian in Liaoning Province. He was a young, charismatic, promising leader with great English and a very progressive outlook.
One thing is for sure in China. If you stay in that game long enough, you will either become corrupt or the corruption surrounding you will frame you and bring you down.
I bet he didn't do it. But I bet someone close to him did, and it's likely he knew.
4th time posting , no success. i have true story. is china or obama watching these posts?
5th time on . only 2nd post allowed. bo xilai is good man. dont know whole story yet. he cleaned up dalian. provided housing for homeless in chongqing. good man. is this obama politics? i have chinese family . i have lived in china for 9 mnths. i am marine vet of 2 combat tours. just home from iraq aug 2011. dont believe the hype. bo xilai is good man. just the fall guy. obama, go ahead w/ ur plan to continue to devalue theyuan. make more good chinese people go hungry
Looks like da fit hit da shan
HAHAHAH
Being Great at Your Job Can Be a Dangerous Thing in China. Hard work and competence should be rewarded, but that's not what happens in Chinese government. Sometimes when you do great work at a CCCP (Chinese Communist Party) you not only get shafted but kicked to the curb.
Many Chinese Communist members sold out their bosses and families to advance their agenda and climb up ladders all the time. They are holding on to power as long as they humanly possible to enrich themselves and families.
Popular Premier Chu Enlai and many honorable Chinese heroes ended up in a tragic tragedy and their families suffered for many years. History is about to repeat itself. Now Bo Xilai is a best example. If you work at a job toxic enough to fire you for being excellent. Bo Xilai and his allies should always be prepared for the worst, even if you're the best.
Chinese Government are old style and does not fit to run country anymore. Communist Party and its elites are only for themselves, grab as much as they can. It is a matter of time. Change is comming for good. CCCP surround themselves with cronies. Unfortunately, Bo Xilian stands out the most with his cunning leadership, different styles and approaches.
Chinese premier Wen Jiabao and President Hu Jintao betrayed and even sold out their mentors in their professional politic career.
Remember the Gang of Four after the poor victims, there will be a mass campaigns against Bo Xilian and his associates within the next 6 months until new China leadership is in place.