China: Touchy topics · Global Voices
John Kennedy

BBS forums used to be the venue of choice to make oneself seen and heard in the Chinese blogsphere, until blogs came along and most of the biggest and best BBS names took their reputations and readers and set up their own spaces. While BBSes, some in blog+BBS hybrid form, are still running strong, though not as wild as in their heyday, they still do offer a quantity that blogs do not. Anonymity with a guaranteed profile probably remains the biggest draw, and many stories are broken there that can't be seen in mainstream Chinese media.
But it's not all for free. Of the thousands of posts coming into the bigger sites—most self-censoring just enough to keep themselves open but not so much as to bore readers—each day, undoubtedly many posts disappear with no-one the wiser. At KDNet, however, one of the biggest of the big, one strategy which seems to be working for them is to keep the offending post, but keep it on lockdown, available to read but closed to comments. Not blocked yet in some way not safe, what do these kinds of posts imply? A sensitive topic edge of mentionability? Fittingly, KDNet's locked links appear grey instead of the usual black. Here are those found posted Wednesday night, Beijing time:
Don't force yourself to take Mao Zedong for granted, posts Qin Xiaoying, stating first that most people are familiar with Mao Zedong's October 1, 1949 proclamation from the steps of Tiananmen square that ‘the people of China hereby rise up!’, then denouncing it as a myth.
毛泽东在那个时刻、那个地点真说过这句话吗？提出这个问题，也许有人会认为是多余。因为每逢国庆或一些重要场合，无论是媒体，还是文艺作品都会提到这句话。 然而，历史的真相是，在开国大典毛泽东宣读的那份关于中华人民共和国中央人民政府成立的公告中，完全没有那句话！而从文献档案资料上我们却可以看到：在1949年9月21 日举行的中国人民政治协商会议第一届全体会议开幕式上，毛泽东所致的开幕词中确有类似的表述。他的原话是这样的：”我们的工作将写在人类的历史上，它将表明：占人类总数四分之一的中国人从此站立起来了……我们的民族将再也不是一个被人侮辱的民族了，我们已经站起来了。”
我建议：今后无论是正式讲话、媒体言论、特别是毛家后人的著作，凡涉及到有关开国大典毛泽东的讲话时，都不要用”毛主席说：中国人民从此站起来了”这样的表述。这句话当然可以用，但不要冠之以”毛泽东说”。如果用”毛泽东说”，应以他在1949年9月21日的讲话为准。
Interesting, but is it true? Does the Communist Party of China really spin its own history? No qualification as comments have been blocked, but the decision to let it stand gives a certain amount of authority. Others blocked tonight: reposting of Kuomingtang chairman and Taipei mayor Ma Ying-jeou‘s saying the future of cross-straits relations must be accepted by the people of Taiwan, more Mao in ‘The all-knowing, all-powerful Mao Zedong and all-ignorant, all-unselfish Washington‘, comparing the former leaders of the two world superpowers and even more comparing Mao with fellow mass-murderers Hitler and Stalin and some speculation on what China would have been like if Mao had never been:
假如历史上希特勒不存在，那么就不会有几百万犹太人被屠杀，欧洲就不会有二次大战@@@。假如历史上斯大林不存在，那么法西斯德国就完全有可能占领俄罗斯，占领高加索油田获得石油之后，恐怕美国也难对付。假如历史上日本天皇不存在，那么亚洲人民就不会有日本侵略时的苦难。等等。
那么，假如历史上毛泽东不存在，历史将怎样演化呢？
我认为，首先中国共产党不会有机会执政。实际上就是毛泽东在时，共产党的策略只要错一点点，就不会有后来的全国胜利…
A Communist-free China? The Democratic Party of China? In your BBSes, maybe, along with all of China's other political parties. Just how many are there? asks and answers ttttrr:
中国国民党革命委员会、中国民主同盟、中国民主建国会、中国民主促进会、中国农工民主党、中国致公党、九三学社、台湾民主自治同盟。民主党派在政治上拥护共产党的领导，这是它们在与共产党长期合作、共同奋斗过程中作出的历史选择。各民主党派享有宪法规定范围内的政治自由、组织独立和法律地位平等。中国共产党与各民主党派合作的基本方针是“长期共存、互相监督、肝胆相照、荣辱与共”。
八个民主党派的成员发展各有侧重,民革主要是与台有关系和与原国民党有关的人员,现在也发展一些其他方面的人.民盟主要是大学的教授和讲师,民建主要是经济界的人士和从事经济研究的人员.民进主要是中教老师和出版界人士,农工党主要是医务工作者.致公党主要是归侨,侨属以及与侨有关人员.九三学社主要是科技工作者.台盟主要是台湾籍的人士,不知你是那类人士?可向你所在地方组织提出申请,如区级组织或市级,这要看你所在的单位是省直还是在市直或民营企业,还需要到你本人所在单位党委考察.有很多程序,较麻烦
民主党派有规定，不在在校学生中发展成员。民主党派主要吸收具有高等学历及中级以上职称的知识分子，并符合该党派其它条件的人员。
Nothing like a juicy diplomatic gaffe to get your post greylisted. Leading up to Chinese Chairman Hu Jintao‘s visit to India this coming Monday, a post about Chinese ambassador to India Sun Yuxi who in a recent interview with CNN said that the entire border province of Arunachal Pradesh is Chinese territory—a stance the poster says is in step with the Party line—giving rise to a huge controversy which has resulted in the Indian government asking for the diplomat to be immediately recalled.
Just back from India is winner of this year's Deutsche Welle Best of Blogs Bratwurst award, Zeng Jinyan—the bravest woman in China?—who this summer skipped grey and went straight to blocked, within China at least, on her MSN Spaces blog, hence the lack of comments on her latest post detailing her reception this past week at Beijing International airport:
平安回到北京！
我在北京机场入关被问了几个问题：
哪里人——福建人；
从哪里回来——印度，在泰国转机；
干什么去了——旅游（拿的是旅游签证）；
旅游怎么这么长时间——先在泰国学习，再去印度旅游；
自己去的还是和人去的——同行好几个人；
他们在哪里——那边（我朝同行的高等人指了指）；
然后他就叫来另一个警官：”检查一下她的签证是不是假的。”
检查过程不到20分钟后，他们让我走了。
第二天看见本地的国保远远地跟着，具体多少个人不知道，但是已经没有了出国前咄咄逼人的气势。
今天已经没有发现跟踪的车或人了，我觉得很轻松，但愿能持久。对于国家，不必要浪费财力物力在跟踪我身上，也不应该干此等有失体面的事。
听说跟踪软禁其他人的警察昨天撤退了，是不是一个积极的信号
？胡佳仍然处于被软禁之中，121天了，好希望他能自由地行走。
Guangzhou-based Southern Metropolis Daily editor, MSN Spaces blogger and recent Jefferson Fellowship for Journalists fellow Deng Zhixin, freshly back from his tour around the Pacific, just happened to be in Thailand and India at the same time as Zeng, here's a bit of what he had to say about the latter country:
初到印度，印象最深的莫过于糟糕的基础设施建设，从德里的甘地机场到市中心并无高速路。而公路边随处小便男人、猴子、牛和天上飞鸟，当然，路边杂乱的棚屋以及无处不在的大小乞丐，则是跟国内类似的景象。时间所限，我把最后半天空闲时间花在新德里的书店，而没有像其他同伴那样找到了德里最”现代”的一面。当然，首都德里只是政治中心，更繁华的金融、商业中心孟买本来在行程安排内，可是为了会见领导人而放弃了。更值得一说的是，我接触到的印度人大都比较傲气，宣称印度是最大的民主国家，经济发展势头良好……即使当我们提到外界批评印度官僚制度，他们也只是一笑而置之，嗯，他们总是要花很多时间来辩论，各方都需要表达自己的观点。