The Straits Times man in Beijing, Peh Shing Huei, continues to provide readers here with glimpses into the Chinese communist regime's paranoia over one word: "jasmine".
In a commentary piece today (1 March), he says:
"The Internet was heavily scrubbed of any mention of "jasmine" Even Chinese President Hu Jintao did not escape. Videos of him singing the Chinese song A Beautiful Jasmine Flower during a trip to Kenya in 2006 were taken down.
"Cable news channels like CNN went black frequently, at the merest mention of Egypt, jasmine and the gatherings [huh? what gatherings?] in China.
[Hmmm. I guess men in China with the women in their life with the name "Jasmine" will suddenly find they can't text them on their cellphone. The telcos would have scrubbed that vile name out! Go a teahouse in any Chinese city and ask for jasmine tea at your own peril... security goons will whisk you away! And, ladies, if your name is "Jasmine Ong Ah Lian", etc, or even "Jas M. Ines", I suggest you postpone that holiday trip to the Forbidden City, or any other place in the country, while the Great Chinese Farce is raging.]
Peh also wryly adds:
"One [security] man asked me where I was from. Despite parking himself next to me for some 20 minutes, he said, in a nonchalant an air as he could possibly muster, that he could not make out my speech as I spoke to a fellow Singaporean. Who would have thought that Singlish had the potential to be a useful code language." [Yeah, viva la Singlish!!]
All this paranoia from just a mysterious online call for anti-government protests -- given the moniker "Chinese Jasmine Revolution" -- in various Chinese cities two Sundays ago. Nothing happened on the first Sunday (Feb 20) and ditto on Feb 27 (see my posting yesterday). Expect more wayang show this Sunday.
Indeed, in a news report today, Peh said: "Few people [in Beijing last Sunday] seemed aware of the 'jasmine rallies', with several onlookers overheard asking the police if there was an important politician or celebrity around... The jittery authorities had ensured that news of the gatherings [again, what gatherings??] did not reach most regular Chinese. There has been no mention of it in the mainstream media and online talk was heavily censored. So the main action at the gathering points became a tussle between the two largest groups present -- police and foreign journalists [at least one of whom was roughed up such that he required medical treatment].
True, Chinese history is full of turbulence and violent revolts. But it is the Chinese who invented the idea of luan (chaos) in the sense that luan is to be feared while social stability is to be revered. But the Chinese are also superstitious, and believe in the idea of the Mandate of Heaven. I think this is the regime's fear behind its paranoia over the word "jasmine". But no one in his right mind would imagine that the present regime is in danger of losing its mandate. Yet.
No comments:
Post a Comment