In an article from the Los Angeles Times, author David Pierson covers the steps that the Chinese government has been taking in order to subdue the small revolts occurring in Beijing. Possibly inspired by the recent and successful uprisings throughout the Middle East, “an anonymous online campaign calling for pro-democracy demonstrations across China” has emerged, calling for a “jasmine revolution” in major Chinese cities. As the article mentions, the revolts are nowhere near as revolutionary as those in Egypt or Libya, however they have caught the Chinese government’s attention, maybe hinting at the fact that Chinese officials fear that similar revolutions could take place. The government’s fear can be displayed by the action it is taking to stop the possibility of revolution. For example, Chinese officials have “charged five activists this week with ‘subversion of power’ and ‘inciting subversion of state power,’ serious crimes that carry” relatively long prison sentences. In addition, the article suggests that these arrests “coincide” with the recent disappearances of three human rights lawyers. The government has done much more, however, than only targeting individuals who have spoken up. The Chinese government has always been more stringent in its censorship policies, so it comes as no surprise that Twitter, a site where revolutionary supporters have been communicating, was blocked in 2009. Along with Twitter, China has banned the search of “Wangfujing,” a neighborhood in Beijing where certain protests are “supposed to take place,” as well as searches for “Egypt,” “Jasmine,” “Jon Huntsman,” (American ambassador seen as a protest) and the social networking site “LinkedIn.”
Sources:
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/feb/26/world/la-fgw-china-crackdown-20110227/2
**Image is not necessarily from these recent protests
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