• One tweet, 10,000 followers: Dissident artist Ai Weiwei slips, briefly, through China censor

    By Ed Flanagan, NBC News

    BEIJING – The sudden appearance and rapid disappearance of dissident artist Ai Weiwei on China’s version of Twitter has provided a window into the zany, fast-paced and utterly incomprehensible world of social media censorship in the communist state.

    Ai told NBC News that he had been told that -- since new rules were introduced over the weekend on the mandatory real-name registration of every account on the Twitter-style Sina Weibo website -- his name was no longer being blocked on the site.

    “Before if you looked up my name on Sina Weibo you got a message that said that it was a ‘sensitive or illegal word being used,’” Ai told NBC News Monday. “Yesterday a friend told me that my name was no longer being blocked, so we thought we’d give it a try.”

    Ai, whose outspoken criticism of China’ ruling Communist Party and alleged tax-evasion led to his detention for 81 days last year, has had his name censored by China’s “Great Firewall” and his physical travel has also been restricted.

    So the sudden discovery that his name was suddenly viewable and searchable on Weibo spurred him to experiment.

    “I just wanted to see if this policy really applies. They [new internet rules] said if you use your real name and identity, you can open your own Weibo account,” Ai said, “so we tried and found that it worked.”

    "Ai Weiwei testing, 3/19/2012" would be Ai’s first and last post under his Weibo account.

    Account deleted
    In a little under two hours, 10,680 people flocked to follow him online before censors deleted his account.

    Though unsurprised by the number of followers he attracted in such a short time, he still can’t explain why he was suddenly able to open an account.

    “I have no idea. Some people said it may just be a mistake, I have no idea,” he said. 

    Read more news from Behind the Wall

    Curiously, the introduction of the new rules was followed shortly afterward by the banning of the Chinese term for “real-name registration.”

    Weibo users had been comparing notes regarding whose accounts had or hadn’t been suspended for not providing their real names. The blocking of “real-name registration” appeared to happen because the discussion of the topic became so widespread.

    Sildeshow: History of US-China relations

    Sina has provided some information about how many of its users have opted to register their Weibo accounts with their real identities. The last official statistic released was a week ago when the company announced that it anticipated 60% of its users would be registered by last Friday’s deadline.

    Earlier Monday, NBC News attempted to create a new Weibo account using an anonymous identity. While the site seemed to accept the information filled in, no confirming email required to start using the account ever showed up in our inbox.

    'Jasmine Revolution'
    However, some users who say they have not submitted any identification to Sina claim they have the ‘V’ badge that all users who verify their identity have on the site.

    China’s government is sensitive about the destabilizing potential of social media sites as seen in places like Egypt, Libya and most recently Syria.

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    An anonymous call for a “Jasmine Revolution” early last year sparked a tightening of restrictions on such sites and increased calls by Chinese regulators and officials for real name registration.

    Another newly banned word was “Ferrari,” amid intense gossiping over the potential identity of the owner of a Ferrari who crashed their car early Sunday morning in Beijing, killing one and injuring two others.

    The topic that was quickly censored after users speculated that the victim could have been the child of a high-level Communist official.

    NBC News’ Bo Gu contributed research to this report.

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  • Hu77 becomes China's latest Twitter sensation

    Bo Gu / NBC News

    Twitter page under the label of #hu77.

    Xinhua News Agency

    Hu visits a family of mother and daughter on Dec 29th, 2010.

    Chinese President Hu Jintao has always been considered a dull figure in the political arena.

    Unlike the Premier Wen Jiabao, who often shows his down-to-earth side by playing basketball with students, shedding tears in front of disaster zone victims or promising a firm stance on political reform when talking to journalists, Hu rarely shows any emotion in public and usually gives long, tedious speeches when he does talk. And his wife only comes into the spotlight when necessary at diplomatic events, and people almost never hear any anecdotes or gossip about the president.

    But Hu just earned himself a new moniker, “Hu77,” in China’s blogosphere and the underworld of Twitter. (Twitter is blocked in China, but Internet savvy users can still access it through proxy servers.)

    It all started from the China Central TV’s (CCTV) primetime news program on Dec 29, when a smiling Hu went on a field trip and talked with a mother and daughter who are supposed to be poor enough to rent an two-bedroom apartment in Beijing for the extremely cheap rate of just $12 a month under the government’s preferential policy for low-income citizens.

    A news report from Beijing News described Hu’s visit in typical propaganda fashion:

    Hu carefully inspected the layout of the apartment and then started to chat with the family cordially. “How much is your rent? Can you afford that?” Hu asked. “Seventy-seven yuan (about $12) a month, yes, I can afford the rent," answered Guo Chunping, the mother of the household, with a big smile on her face. Hu then continued, “The Party and the government put people’s life as a priority. We have taken a series of measures and will make more effort to improve the poor people’s living standard.”

    The comment “seventy-seven yuan” soon became the object of online mass mocking and ridicule. As one of the most expensive cities in China, Beijing has seen property prices skyrocket non-stop in the last decade. Property price is on average three to four times more expensive than ten years ago and still going up despite the government’s pledge to control the rate.

    It costs about $450,000 to buy a two-bedroom apartment in downtown Beijing; and to rent a similar apartment would cost about $750 a month. Citizens of Beijing were furious at the media for reporting this “monthly rent of $12."

    Tired of hearing the story, netizens posted thousands of mocking and sarcastic comments on Twitter, the only virtual forum they feel free to talk on without censorship (albeit through a proxy server).

    A label named “Hu77” was created in days and posts used this label to mock the same propaganda sentence structure:

    “Hu came to inspect the Internet administration and chatted with the staffer. 'How many posts do you censor every day? Can you afford that?’ ‘I censor 77 posts every day and yes I can afford that.’ Hu smiled in satisfaction.”

    “Hu came to inspect the black jail and chatted with the cop. 'How many petitioners do you beat up every day? Can you afford that?’ ‘I only beat up 77 petitioners every day and yes I can afford that.’ Hu smiled in satisfaction.”

    “Hu came to inspect CCTV news programs and chatted with the presenters. 'How many times do you lie every day in your program? Can you afford that?’ ‘I lie 77 times every day and yes I can afford that.’ Hu smiled in satisfaction.”

    Other than #hu77, Chinese tweeters also did a “human flesh” search on Guo Chunping, the woman who pays 77 yuan for rent, and found that she actually works for the government. Photos of her trip to Hainan, China's Hawaii, were also exposed, along with the airplane tickets that cost 40 times her rent. Neighbors claimed Guo rarely shows up in the building and is suspected of renting her apartment out to someone else.

    Guo later denied that she was the woman in the travel photo and claimed she was greatly hurt by so much attention. The truthfulness of Guo’s identity and her wealth can't be independently verified since all the research and analysis was done by netizens alone, but many tend to believe that the apartment inspection was staged.

    No matter what, #hu77 has become the hottest label in the Chinese Twitter world which seems likely to be closely followed for a while.

    A Twitter user “Geekinmedia” posted a tweet that makes a cynical but fun point: “It has only proved Hu’s group is not as professional as Wen Jiabao’s group. They lack experience acting. From actresses to directors, they all overacted. After all Wen has the honor of being called ‘the best actor in China’...” (Wen Jiabao is nicknamed “best actor” for his tear shedding in disaster zone and repetitive promises of political reform that has never happened)

  • Tweeting dissident had long history of activism

    By Ed Flanagan, NBC News

    BEIJING – Covering the news in China, one quickly becomes acquainted with the names and deeds of a slew of human rights activists here who walk a very fine line between legally advocating for social justice and operating outside the ambiguous, but all-encompassing boundaries set by the government.

    Admittedly, before today I’d never heard of Cheng Jianping, the 46-year old activist who was sentenced to a year in a forced labor camp for “disrupting the social order” by retweeting a satirical message.

    Where people like Liu Xiaobo, Ai Weiwei, Gao Zhisheng and most recently, Zhao Lianhai have made headlines with their stance on issues ranging from democracy in China to greater transparency on food regulation, Cheng has toiled in relative anonymity – often without the support system that often grows around activists who gain notoriety.

    Originally a businesswoman based out of China’s industrial hub of Zhejiang province, Cheng began her career in activism in 2006 after the alleged brutal rape and murder in Hubei of Gao Yingying. Government officials quickly ruled it a suicide and claimed Gao had leapt to her death from the roof of the hotel she worked at, but various bruises and cuts on her wrists and face suggested foul play.

    The speed at which the government mobilized to shut down media coverage and gloss over critical bits of evidence – namely Gao’s underwear, which had sperm found on it by forensics experts – implied a well-connected assailant.

    Jolted into action by the brutality alleged and the local government’s implicit cooperation in the cover-up, Cheng left her job and turned to popular Chinese messaging service, QQ, to call attention to Gao’s case and to organize netizens who were willing to provide legal or financial assistance to the family.

    Through her QQ groups, Cheng made and distributed videos explaining Gao’s case, collected donations and organized signature drives. However, the case never gained enough traction and Gao’s father was even thrown in jail for a year after he spoke out against the government’s handling of the case.

    In an interview she conducted earlier this year, Cheng noted that the Gao Yingying case was a seminal moment in her life, “This campaign completely changed my values of life. I realize the root of all this country’s tragedy was the system – a system without supervision.”

    In the years since the Gao Yingying case, Cheng Jianping has been involved in a number of other campaigns:

    * In 2006, Cheng organized support online for another young female employee who was raped and murdered in Sichuan.

    * In 2007, she campaigned for villagers who protested and rioted over tightened enforcement of birth control policies as well as provided assistance to the now infamous “Nailhouse” family of Chongqing.

    * She helped form the “Blue Ribbon Campaign,” an online movement to bring awareness to over 1,500 children who were rescued after being enslaved at brick kilns in Shanxi.

    * She organized the “Zhejiang Yellow Ribbon New Year Card Campaign,” a drive to send Chinese New Year greeting cards to imprisoned dissidents across China.

    Though few have acknowledged it, Cheng helped pioneer the internet activism and awareness that we are now seeing manifest itself in everything from unfair murder cases to coverage of embarrassing city fires.

    It’s probably little consolation to Cheng now as she now serves her year in a labor camp, but in a bitter twist of irony, her detention finally allows her to receive the credit she deserves.

    NBC News' Gu Bo contributed to this report.