[Prague and Beijing 1/2]
China suffered a rare diplomatic discomfiture earlier this week.

Zdeněk Hřib from the Pirate Caucus, Prague’s newly-installed mayor, broached changes to the “one-China” clause in the sister city treaty with Chinese diplomats in March, arguing that #Prague should not be entangled in China’s territorial disputes and that his city must uphold human rights and universal values when furthering relations with China.

“Thirty years after the Velvet Revolution, we must remind ourselves that conscience is not for sale,” tweeted Michaela Krausova, head of the Pirate Caucus at the Prague City Council. The Facebook of the Pirate Caucus also blamed China kept bullying Prague with open threats and ended the thread by a meme of Xi and Winnie-the-Pooh. The Chinese leader is often caricatured for his passing resemblance to the teddy bear, although any such comparison is strictly banned in China.

The sister-city agreement was signed by Prague's previous municipal authorities led by then mayor Adriana Krnacova in 2016 ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to the Prague.

But after the upstart Pirate party took over the Prague mayorship in November 2018, Prague has publicly supported freedom in Taiwan and Tibet.

#DiplomaticRelations #AntiAuthoritarian #SayNoToChina #Xinniethepooh
Source: Asia Times
https://www.asiatimes.com/2019/10/article/taiwan-gets-ally-as-prague-mayor-cuts-beijing-ties/

Read the recent development of Prague-China Relations:
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/8104

[ 2/2 Creative Fight Online]

An online campaign inspired by the South Park "Official Apology" after being censored in China. Netizens challenge the Chinese censorship of Winnie the Pooh. They started the #XinniethePooh Challenge by drawing the forbidden bear and posted it to social media.

#XinniethePooh #censorship

https://lihkg.com/thread/1640322/page/1

Xi Jinping’s administration to foreign businesses recently draws international attention again.

From 2017 Winnie the Pooh to recent NBA incident, netizens continue to make amusing memes for Winnie the Pooh and Xi.
#Xinniethepooh

#GlobalSupport #BoycottBlizzard #FreeSpeech #FreeHK

Mitsubishi Taiwan pulls Hearthstone sponsorship after suspension of Hong Kong player.

On Oct. 6, "Blitzchung" protested against injustices in Hong Kong in his post-game winner's interview , he appeared on stream wearing a gas mask — a symbol of the social movements in Hong Kong — and shouted, “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our time.” It has sparked criticisms and ongoing protests. It is then confirmed that Mitsubishi Taiwan ended its sponsorship on 9th Oct.

Blizzard has not yet responded to Polygon’s inquiry. But it will expect more protests at the annual convention, BlizzCon, begins this weekend in Anaheim.

[ Protest schedule ]

1) Anaheim, USA - #BoycottBlizzard T-shirt distribution
Date：31-Oct to 02-Nov
Time：Exhibition Opening Hours
Venue：Anaheim Convention Center
https://www.facebook.com/events/501411020413254

2) Anaheim, USA- Protest at Blizzcon
Date：01-Nov
Time：12:00
Venue：Anaheim Convention Center
https://www.facebook.com/events/402379580661468

3) Anaheim, USA - #XinniethePooh Flashmob at BlizzCon
Date：01-Nov to 02-Nov
Time：anytime during the BlizzCon
Venue：Anaheim Convention Center
https://www.facebook.com/events/774192323009692

“Picking up Xi Dada’s wife” in WeChat
Chinese netizen is arrested and now missing

A netizen in Guangdong province was trying to flirt with the first lady of China, leaving a message of “picking up Xi Dada’s wife” in WeChat, which caused himself trouble. According to the internal notice of the internet police of Public Security Bureau in Meizhou, Mr Xu, who named himself “A Fengshun CheungKee Hairy Crab” on the internet, has been arrested. The whereabout of this netizen is unknown until now (07-Jan).

According to the notice, a message of “Picking up Xi Jinping’s wife” in WeChat, posted by a netizen in Tangkeng city in Fengshun province, was reported. Informed by the Public Security Bureau, internet police have started an investigation. By following the rule of “Cracking down messages related to politic rumours”, the netizen was arrested. In the notice, the real name of the netizen is Xu Yi Xiang. His identity card, phone number and home address is disclosed. The authority claimed that they will further investigate on the arrestee to see if there is any political purpose, and if there is a usage of VPNs.

Mr You, a Chinese social media inspector, told the Radio Free Asia that the main task of the public security system now is to defend on the rumours, slander and malicious speech about politicians, especially related to the leaders of Zhongnanhai (Central and Southern Seas) in China. All these messages in social medial must be eliminated immediately once it is found. In the meantime, netizens who expressed dissatisfaction will be arrested, in order to warn the rest of the public not to tell jokes about politicians. Seniors of CCP are extremely sensitivity to the jokes about politicians. “Xi DaDa” and “Peng MaMa” are the honorific nicknames given by the netizens to XI Jinping and Peng Liyuan respectively. Seniors of CCP would not tolerate any jokes told on the honorific names of politicians because they believe the credibility and prestige of politician will be downgraded.

Mr. You also mentioned that Public Security Bureau in different provinces can detain any person immediately without any investigation when sensitive messages is found. In the past, a person who violated the rule would be invited to the Bureau for “tea”. However, people will be caught by administrative detention without writing a guarantee letter.

Regarding to the case of the netizen “A Fengshun CheungKee Hairy Crab” trying to flirt the first lady of China, Radio Free Asia have contacted the Public Security Bureau in Meizhou city and Fengshun province. Both authorities claimed to let the public relation team of them to respond. Mr. Xu is still missing now.

China is recently in strict surveillance for “openly discussing party policy” in the internet, especially those comments related to the General Secretary of CCP, Xi Jinping. In July 2017, a netizen in Hainan was in administrative detention for 10 days because he left a message saying “How’s Xi, the pig head, doing lately?”

#Taiwan #Xi #Censorship #whiteterror
#XinniethePooh
Source: Apple Daily TW (07-Jan)
https://tw.appledaily.com/new/realtime/20200107/1687520/

#Newspaper

Japanese famous anime director mock himself, saying that “want to use Chinese money to produce Winnie the Pooh”, Chinese netizen threatens to boycott his work.

(18 May)Anime director Tsutomu Mizushima, is in the minority of expressing his political stance and issue bold statements in public in Japan.

He said to have more Hongkongers followers lately and professed his support for democracy in Hong Kong in reference to protests and other activities of Anti-ELAB movement.

His message provoked sensitive Chinese netizens who threw down the gauntlet. Tsutomu posted a message to appreciate comments from other people and hope people could respect the different opinions and freedom of speech. Seiji Mizushima, Tsutomu's best friend, also shared a post next day to show his support on the five demands requested in the Anti-ELAB movement and democracy.

When Tsutomu tweeted about the revision to the public prosecutor's office law, many people left comments, and some of them even showed that they are communists. He responded directly, "a lot of Chinese money is currently flowing into the anime industry, so even if we're able to protest about things in our own country, people are curious to know whether we're allowed to badmouth China. it's true enough that China's got a lot of capital." He then cheekily tweeted: "I want to make a Winnie the Pooh with Chinese Yuen."

Tsutomu's tweet supporting Hong Kong has been re-tweeted more than 6 thousand times and liked by 150 thousand people. However, quarrel messages in that tweet continue. Some Chinese netizens even uploaded a photo of a torn ticket for the SHIROBAKO movie and scolded him to "ruining" many good animation movies.

Animation movies related to Tsutomu in "bilibili", a Chinese video sharing and streaming platform, have been hit requests to be removed. Interestingly, a lot of people asked little pinkies to leave and do not blame it on the movie. The current situation highly resembles the dispute found on Steam earlier this year as some Chinese Netizens are worried that more entertainment may be banned.

Animation movies of Tsutomu Mizushima and Seiji Mizushima include "Mobile Suit Gundam 00" and "Fullmetal Alchemist". While Tsutomu Mizushima has produced "Crayon Shin-chan", "Girls und Panzer der Film" and "Shirobako" which is getting more popular lately.

Source: Udn Game
https://bit.ly/2WVDyNq

#China #Japan #FreedomOfSpeech
#GlobalSupport #AntiElab #Xi #XinnieThePooh

Walking in darkness, Be Water. I will draw until I no longer can.
We can be as humble as dust, but not as twisted as maggots.

Originally published in Ming Pao Weekly, Culture section, "Hong Kong Rare Animals Conservatorium" column

Source: ArtoHK’s IG

#Hongkongers #WinnieThePooh #Xi #CarrieLam #XinnieThePooh #HKSOS