I've been collating and organizing my past and current research making historical connections among Human Flesh Search and the Cultural Revolution in preparation for writing my graduate thesis. As such, I wrote a piece over at Tea Leaf Nation making comparisons between netizens on the Chinese Internet and Red Guards of the Cultural Revolution. These comparisons and the article act as a summary of broad themes that I am researching for my graduate thesis, which will take my undergraduate work and delve deeper into making connections and fleshing out themes in Chinese history that I merely touched upon in the past.
Read the article HERE.
Showing posts with label historical connection. Show all posts
Showing posts with label historical connection. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Fighting Corruption
Website ChinaSmack.com, which posts and translates hot news items from the Chinese internet, translated an article that has become a hot topic on the Chinese web. One great aspect about ChinaSmack is that the website also posts and translates comments from netizens.
From the Chinese paper Global Times, the article titled "People should permit a moderate [or appropriate] amount of corruption in China" sparked outcry among netizens and ChinaSmack has reported the post received over 250k comments within the day. The article's author argues that "fighting corruption is not something that can be completely “fought” nor completely “reformed” because at the same time, it needs “development” to help solve it." The article goes on to argue that corruption in China, while a number one priority, will not go away any time soon. Unlike the western nations (the article notes Hong Kong, the US, and Singapore), where officials and politicians are wealthy, Chinese officials have low salaries which will often lead them to find money on the side and to make connections.
"China can never be a country where other aspects are very backward and only its government officials are clean. Even if it is for a time, it won’t last long." Overall the tone of the article insinuates that corruption in China, at least for the time being, is tolerable and necessary for the nation's growth and advancement. The article was posted following the firing of China's Railway Minister Liu Zhijun, but I have to also wonder if the article's author (or authors) would praise or condone the actions of the Human Flesh Search Engine in weeding out and targeting low-level officials involved in corruption.
Another aspect that dawned on me after reading this article and the posted comments was that the internet draws another parallel to the Maoist period of Chinese history. It appears that the internet has become the location for mass criticism, with aims to better the nation/Party and to call out individuals (in this case, the article's author).
The article says that while other Asian nations are also plagued with corruption, China has the most "pronounced sense of resentment towards corruption," which is clearly evident in the following comments posted to the original article:
蓝色多瑙河123: Corruption should be given the support of the law.
dbl128: From so many netizen comments we can see just how much the people resent corruption.
订婚坐花轿: Global Times: People should permit a moderate amount of corruption in China. Can poor people with low wages moderately go rob a bank?
潜风润梦: Moderate, moderate, what great wording! However, can one talk about moderation in corruption? As long as it is corruption, it is all excessive.
网易北京市网友: The discussion is very intense, but even if you criticize it, so what, nothing will change.
Best白: Bullshit, then the people should be allowed to choose their own government officials.
(source: chinaSMACK)
From the Chinese paper Global Times, the article titled "People should permit a moderate [or appropriate] amount of corruption in China" sparked outcry among netizens and ChinaSmack has reported the post received over 250k comments within the day. The article's author argues that "fighting corruption is not something that can be completely “fought” nor completely “reformed” because at the same time, it needs “development” to help solve it." The article goes on to argue that corruption in China, while a number one priority, will not go away any time soon. Unlike the western nations (the article notes Hong Kong, the US, and Singapore), where officials and politicians are wealthy, Chinese officials have low salaries which will often lead them to find money on the side and to make connections.
"China can never be a country where other aspects are very backward and only its government officials are clean. Even if it is for a time, it won’t last long." Overall the tone of the article insinuates that corruption in China, at least for the time being, is tolerable and necessary for the nation's growth and advancement. The article was posted following the firing of China's Railway Minister Liu Zhijun, but I have to also wonder if the article's author (or authors) would praise or condone the actions of the Human Flesh Search Engine in weeding out and targeting low-level officials involved in corruption.
Another aspect that dawned on me after reading this article and the posted comments was that the internet draws another parallel to the Maoist period of Chinese history. It appears that the internet has become the location for mass criticism, with aims to better the nation/Party and to call out individuals (in this case, the article's author).
The article says that while other Asian nations are also plagued with corruption, China has the most "pronounced sense of resentment towards corruption," which is clearly evident in the following comments posted to the original article:
蓝色多瑙河123: Corruption should be given the support of the law.
dbl128: From so many netizen comments we can see just how much the people resent corruption.
订婚坐花轿: Global Times: People should permit a moderate amount of corruption in China. Can poor people with low wages moderately go rob a bank?
潜风润梦: Moderate, moderate, what great wording! However, can one talk about moderation in corruption? As long as it is corruption, it is all excessive.
网易北京市网友: The discussion is very intense, but even if you criticize it, so what, nothing will change.
Best白: Bullshit, then the people should be allowed to choose their own government officials.
(source: chinaSMACK)
Thursday, May 3, 2012
I made a Weibo account this morning to "try" to see if I can locate microblog posts on my own without having to go through already-translated western media sources to find out what's going on over on the Chinese internet.
As I began to set up my profile, I noticed the tabbed section on the top "广场" (Public Square), an area to keep up with latest trends and news (like Twitter). I just found this very intriguing because it relates to my research where I related the HFSE and crowd-sourcing in China to public squares and Big Character Posters of the Cultural Revolution - public areas in villages and towns where citizens would read up on the news and postings about recent denunciations.
Anyway, if you have a Weibo account, follow me: 柯文森212.
As I began to set up my profile, I noticed the tabbed section on the top "广场" (Public Square), an area to keep up with latest trends and news (like Twitter). I just found this very intriguing because it relates to my research where I related the HFSE and crowd-sourcing in China to public squares and Big Character Posters of the Cultural Revolution - public areas in villages and towns where citizens would read up on the news and postings about recent denunciations.
Anyway, if you have a Weibo account, follow me: 柯文森212.
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
UMass Boston HGSA
Presented my research at UMass Boston's History graduate Student Association's first graduate history conference entitled "The Value of Historical Work" this past weekend.
As a result of the conference the various discussions and questions from the audience, many questions into the Human Flesh Search Engine have arisen. The most basic, where did the name originate? Why this literal meaning of the phrase? My answer is that what began as a human-run method of collaboration to uncover obscure information faster than accessing a database or offline medium has evolved into a human-run method of collaboration which targets humans.
Another topic that seemed to be of interest was comparisons to the internet in America, most notably the growth of online collaboration. I've recently been thinking about this area myself as I see echoes of the HFSE on websites such as Tumblr and Reddit, not to mention the recent controversy of potential employers insisting interviewees to turn over their Facebook passwords. However, what about the internet in America stops online collaboration from turning into a witch hunt?
Another current event to consider - how web groups aimed to target corrupt governments and incite protests thrive on internet anonymity - just look at the group Anonymous.
The conference also allowed me (with help from the audience) make deeper historical connections to the Cultural Revolution-era of Chinese history. On one sense, the HFSE is powered by young, college-aged students who are utilizing the internet and HFSE to enact justice. This is comparable to the Cultural Revolution which was powered by Red Guards of the same age-group who were mostly urban youth who left the cities to live among the peasants.
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