Book launch/reading: Blocked on Weibo
posted August 4, 2013 12:31 PM RSS | iCal | +googleCal
Thu August 29 at 6:00 PM, The Vivian and David Campbell Conference Facility, Munk School of Global Affairs
1 Devonshire Place, University of Toronto - St. George Campus, Toronto, ON M5S 3K7, Canada (Map & Directions)
I'll be doing a presentation about Chinese social media censorship for my book launch at the University of Toronto. Come out and buy a copy of the book if you feel inclined. Event is free and there should be drinks/snax if that's your jam.
More info about the book from the registration page:
Though often described with foreboding buzzwords such as “The Great Firewall” and “censorship regime,” Internet regulation in China is rarely either obvious or straightforward. This was the inspiration for China specialist Jason Q. Ng to write an innovative computer script that would make it possible to deduce just which terms are suppressed on China’s most important social media site, Sina Weibo. The remarkable and groundbreaking result is Blocked on Weibo, which began as a highly praised blog and has been expanded here to list over 150 forbidden keywords, as well as offer possible explanations why the Chinese government would find these terms sensitive. Ranging from fairly obvious words, including “tank” (a reference to the “Tank Man” who stared down the Chinese army in Tiananmen Square) and the names of top government officials (if they can’t be mentioned they can’t be criticized), to deeply obscure words including the Chinese phrase for “The Four Gentlemen” (though it means a set of four traditional flowers, it can also refer to various quartets of dissidents) and “hairy bacon” (a coded insult for Mao’s embalmed body), Blocked on Weibo chronicles many of the phrases that could get a Chinese Internet user invited to the local police station “for a cup of tea”—a euphemism for being illegally detained by the authorities. An invaluable guide to sensitive topics in modern day China, Blocked on Weibo also exposes the fascinating fissures between the idealized society that Chinese authorities dream of having and the actual one that Chinese netizens are creating each day.
Though often described with foreboding buzzwords such as “The Great Firewall” and “censorship regime,” Internet regulation in China is rarely either obvious or straightforward. This was the inspiration for China specialist Jason Q. Ng to write an innovative computer script that would make it possible to deduce just which terms are suppressed on China’s most important social media site, Sina Weibo. The remarkable and groundbreaking result is Blocked on Weibo, which began as a highly praised blog and has been expanded here to list over 150 forbidden keywords, as well as offer possible explanations why the Chinese government would find these terms sensitive. Ranging from fairly obvious words, including “tank” (a reference to the “Tank Man” who stared down the Chinese army in Tiananmen Square) and the names of top government officials (if they can’t be mentioned they can’t be criticized), to deeply obscure words including the Chinese phrase for “The Four Gentlemen” (though it means a set of four traditional flowers, it can also refer to various quartets of dissidents) and “hairy bacon” (a coded insult for Mao’s embalmed body), Blocked on Weibo chronicles many of the phrases that could get a Chinese Internet user invited to the local police station “for a cup of tea”—a euphemism for being illegally detained by the authorities. An invaluable guide to sensitive topics in modern day China, Blocked on Weibo also exposes the fascinating fissures between the idealized society that Chinese authorities dream of having and the actual one that Chinese netizens are creating each day.
Super interesting, but I can't make it alas!
posted by typewriter at 4:59 AM on August 25, 2013
posted by typewriter at 4:59 AM on August 25, 2013
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posted by Joad at 6:39 PM on August 5, 2013