Curiously familiar namesACCORDING to a programme on China Central Television, a state-run broadcaster, the following are the names of traitors: Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao. Well, sort of. The broadcaster itself was clearly not claiming the president of that name, or his prime minister, or their immediate predecessors, were enemies of the people. Rather, it aired a historical drama called “The Qin Empire” and someone slipped the names into the latest episode. Their extraordinary, if fleeting, appearance was a glimpse of the dissent that still lurks in China, and that can sometimes outwit its army of censors.
The Qin was the first unified Chinese state (and gave China its name). Its founder was buried with an army of terracotta warriors. In the episode an earlier Qin leader, who is fighting a rival state, discovers he has been betrayed. An underling is shown reading the traitors’ names, inscribed on a bamboo scroll in an ancient script (see picture). The scene lasted only a second or two but that was long enough for eagle-eyed viewers to read the names. The censors were equally quick, deleting screen...Continue reading
Source: China http://ift.tt/2mFwzq2
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