The Great Chinese BBS Crackdown

China Digital Times has the detailed coverage (and Washington Post).  My interest is in the two-part Chinese-language documents that have been circulated (part 1 and part 2).  These documents were collected by an individual with the name 'h sisyphe' and contained a number of announcements and letters by various organizations and individuals from everywhere.  They are unorganized and lengthy, so that there is no point for me to translate all of them.  I will translate a small number of them because they bring up some interesting issues and positioning.

This particular wave of crackdown was apparently generated by an edict from high above and was applied to all the bulletin board systems at the higher institutions of education.  The definitive documents were known as 

- Document #16: Concerning the next step about the decision to enhance the moral and thought education of university students 《关于进一步加强大学生思想道德教育的决定》
- Document #17: Concerning the next step about the decision to increase the control of information on the Internet《关于进一步加强互联网信息管理的决定》

The edict probably left it up to the individual institutions to determine the implementation, and there seems to be different interpretations about what each BBS was required to do.  How did each institution inform its users about the changes in policies and procedures?  There was a great deal of variation, ranging from the mundanely technical to the anguished plea for understanding and cooperation.  Here are some samples:

• "I Love Nankai BBS" (nkbbs.org):  Due to system maintenance, the BBS committee has made the decision to discontinue the registration of new users as of midnight of March 3.  We apologize for causing any inconvenience for our users.  We estimate the stoppage to last approximately ten days.  We will inform you later about when we will resume.
   
• "Xian Jiaotung University" (bbs.xjtu.edu.cn): Pursuant to orders from the upper-level administration, the visiting policy to our BBS will be revamped during the period of the Two Congresses.  As of March 5, 2005,
  1. Our BBS can only be accessed from inside our school.  The IP number and URL for bbs.xanet.edu.cn will be eliminated.
  2. Our firewall will prevent access from outside our network.
  Based upon these restrictions, many board activities conducted from outside the school will no longer be possible.  During this period, we will not consider any board activities that cannot be accomplished.  We do not recommend our users at the school to provide any service of convenience on behalf of others.
  As for users outside the school, we recommend that you save your files immediately so that you won't suffer any losses.
  These policies will be in place until the upper-level administrators instruct us otherwise. 
   
• "Dongbei University White Mountain Black Water BBS": In order to promote the healthy development of the White Mountain Black Water BBS and in recognition of the actual situation at our university, we have decided to enhance our account management system.  The details are as follows:
  1. All previously approved accounts must be reconfirmed.  All White Mountain Black Water BBS users must register in their true identities before the deadline of April 15.  At that time, the BBS will examine the registration data for all users and delete all those whose identities have not been confirmed.
  2. For new accounts, the following rules apply:
  (1) You must register with your real name
  (2) You must state your real work unit, including your department, major and class year
  (3) You must register your real address (your building, your floor and your room number)
  (4) You must list your room telephone number, and the account manager will then verify your identity over the telephone before you can be approved
  (5) You can only register from an IP address inside the school
  (6) Anyone whose registration information is false will be deleted
  (7) All previous approved users from outside the school will be restricted to "read-only" privileges as of April 15, 2005
  3. All questions should be directed to the Sysop.
   
• "Beijing University Weiming BBS": Due to the rapid increases in average and peak-time visits to our BBS recently, especially from the outside public, we have decided to undertake system maintenance as of 23:00 on March 4, 2005 in order to enhance our system capability, to increase the network speed, to maintain our administrative ability and to better serve our Internet friends.  The system maintenance will affect some of the extermal visitors to our net, and other services may also be affected in the short run . Our BBS committee apologizes for any convenience that our system maintenance may cause the public.
   
  "Beijing University Weiming BBS" (March 9): After many tries, it is now possible for people outside the university to access the BBS anonymously.  We are currently going through various means to restore services to external users.  However, the upper-level administrators have requested that we must enter a period of extraordinary management in order to guarantee the stability of regular operations at the Beijing University Weiming BBS.  During this period, the system operators will interject themselves into board operations, primarily to make sure that certain sensitive or harmful posts are removed as well as to ban the associated user ID's.  We hope that everybody will understand and support our decision, and our system committee will work hard to make sure that everything is restored to normalcy as quickly as possible.  We hope that you will cooperate with our committee and to protect the security of Weiming!
   
• "Xidian.edu.cn":  Based upon the requirement from above and standardization within the university, we have implemented the policy of requiring current students to register under their real names.  The details are as follows:
  (1) New users must fill out the "New User Registration" form on the BBS and to verify that the user ID that they requested has not been issued before;
  (2) After receiving a user ID, the student must proceed to the registration office (East Cafeteria, Third Floor, Student Activity Center) during office hours (Monday, Wednesday and Friday 4:00pm-6:00pm) with their identity papers (both identity card and student card) and turn in their user application forms.  This will permit the verification of the identity of the applicant;
  (3) After completing step (2) subject to the approval of the examiner, the student will receive the related information about their user rights and access method.
   
• "SMTH Tsinghua University" (March 8): Based upon the relevant regulations, we have ceased accepting new users and we are only permitting visits from within the university for the time being.  We will let you know when we can restore services.  We look for your understanding and support.
   
  "SMTH Tsinghua University" (March 16):  Dear users, we wish you well.  We are writing this letter to tell you that SMTH may continue to modify its administrative policy in light of the continuing change in the circumstances, including the possibility of changing the policy about which IP addresses are permitted.
  Accordingly, the BBS committee wishes to use this letter as a public notice and, at the same time, we ask all our users inside and outside the school to support the decisions of the BBS committee and love SMTH as you have done for the last ten years.
  During these ten years, many of our users have graduated from Tsinghua University and they have maintained their deep emotional attachment to SMTH.  SMTH continues to be an important channel and source of information for them after they graduated.
  During these ten years, many non-Tsinghua users have also benefited from the scholarly and information platforms at SMTH.  Over these ten years, SMTH created a deep foundation for a scholarly board, and the contribution from the outside visitors have given SMTH a great reputation in the field of education.
  The history of the SMTH BBS over the past ten years shows that excellent scholarship and constructive information is possible in a good group setting.  Under an effective and rigorous management system, the outside users will not interfere with board operations or cause instability.  Conversely, an open and rigorous external group can make tremendous contributions towards the vitality and quality of the SMTH BBS and enhance the academic reputation of Tsinghua University.
  Therefore, the BBS committee acknowledges that the external community of users is a spring of vitality for the SMTH BS.  In the past and for the future, under any circumstances, the SMTH BBS will never ever forget the broad community of outside users.
  Any restrictions on visiting rights will be temporary.  We hope that the large number of outside users will work with the SMTH BBS through this period of hardship.
  As for users within the university, the temporary banning of external IP addresses will cause some hardship while you are on vacation.  But the SMTH BBS hopes that you can work with the various operators to maintain order on the various forums and work with the SMTH BBS through this period of hardship.

This is not an easy issue -- ask yourself, what would you do in the position of the Sysop (=System Operator)?  

• Option #1: You can resign so that someone else will take that position and the system will continue to function under the newly imposed restrictions.  If no one else will take your place, the BBS will go silent.  Is that what you really want?  
   
• Option #2: You can continue as best as you can and work under the restrictions while trying to work for more free space.  No armchair observer outside of China should be making that call for them, because you don't know what it is like ... 
   
  [Case study: In October, 1973, US President Richard M. Nixon ordered his Attorney General Elliot Richardson to fire the Watergate Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox; Richardson refused this order and resigned. At that point, William Ruckelshaus, the Deputy Attorney General was asked to carry out the order, and he refused and resigned as well. The third in command, Robert Bork, carried out this order. The events are generally referred to as the Saturday Night Massacre.  Richardson, Ruckelhaus and Bork had agreed upon this outcome beforehand, as the first two would resign in public protest but Bork had to carry on for the sake of the country.]

Oh, you ask, What might this 'free space' under restrictions be?  You can't see it?  Here is a small taste of what is happening on SMTH right now, from InMediaHK (March 22, 2005):

[translation]  Over the past two days, the SMTH BBS (now an intranet) has shown a trend in that more and more people have resorted to quoting Chairman Mao's sayings in their posts and comments.  It has come to point where there seems to be a Sayings programming machine, whereby entire articles are based upon certain quotations of Chairman Mao.  Thus, for any subject in any section of the board, people can find paragraphs upon paragraphs of Chairman Mao's sayings.

Some of these are plain silly, but quite funny all the same, as in this 'mis'-statement: "You must let students read novels during class, you must let students nap during class and you must treasure the bodies of the children.  The teachers should talk less, and let the students watch more.  I think that the student that you are talking about may have future.  He does not attend meetings on Saturdays, and he has the courage not to return on time on Sundays.  When you go back, you can tell this student that it is too early to return to school by eight or nine o'clock.  He can come back at 11 or 12 o'clock.  Who told you people to hold meetings on Sunday nights anyway!?"

And then there are other comments which are dark hints, such as this straight quote: "To rely solely on policy commands, to forbid people to make contact with unusual situations, to bar people from contacting ugly conditions, to ban people from approaching wrong thoughts and to prohibit people from looking at evil people cannot solve the underlying problem."  (1957/3/12 Speech at the Chinese Communist Party National Congress on Propaganda)

Some users oppose and feel negative about this trend because it disrupts the orderliness of the boards.  But there are others who believe that this is a form of protest which uses 'authoritative' texts within the accepted system of language to question and attack the existing reality.  Furthermore, from the viewpoint of cultural researchers such as John Fiske, the so-called masses have the ability to produce and create anew from certain crucial elements within the existing culture in order to escape from or struggle against that hegemonic culture. 

So where does that leave the authorities?  Ban all of Chairman Mao's quotations and their variations from the BBS's?  That would be quite bizarre.  Or set up an Irony Police to search and destroy all ironic use of the Chairman's quotations?  That would be even more bizarre!  (Follow-up at Danwei).

(Post at a BBS, without reference to anything whatsoever): 

在德国，起初他们追杀共产主义者，我没有说话--因为我不是共产主义者；接着他们追杀犹太人，我没有说话--因为我不是犹太人；后来他们追杀工会成员，我没有说话--因为我不是工会成员；此后他们追杀天主教徒，我没有说话--因为我是新教教徒；最后他们奔我而来，却再也没有人站出来为我说话了。

"In Germany they came for the Communists, but I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.  Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up."  [Note: a saying attributed to Pastor Martin Niemoller.]

The poem "Dead Water" by Wen Yidou has been cited often as an elergy for the 'late' SMTH BBS.

作者：闻一多
作品：死水

这是一沟绝望的死水，
清风吹不起半点漪沦。
不如多扔些破铜烂铁，
索性泼你的剩菜残羹。

也许铜的要绿成翡翠，
铁罐上锈出几瓣桃花；
再让油腻织一层罗绮，
霉俊给他蒸出些云霞。

让死水酵成一沟绿酒，
飘满了珍珠似的白沫；
小珠笑一声变成大珠，
又被偷酒的花蚊咬破。

那么一沟绝望的死水，
也就夸得上几分鲜明。
如果青蛙耐不住寂寞，
又算死水叫出了歌声。

这是一沟绝望的死水，
这里断不是美的所在，
不如让给丑恶来开垦，
看他造出个什么世界。

Related post: Does China Need An Internet Nanny?