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RFA: Beijing Removing English from Road Signs

According to Radio Free Asia (RFA), dual-language road signs in Beijing are being replaced with Chinese-only road signs. Previously, many road signs had both Chinese and English. Authorities in Beijing said the updating will enhance the “overall city image,” give citizens a sense of belonging, and improve road safety and traffic efficiency. The change comes not long after directional signs on highways across China were changed from Chinese-language-only to dual Chinese-and-English signs.

The move  triggered a nationwide online discussion. Some speculated that Beijing may feel that its relationship with the West is completely hopeless, citing the recent meeting between Biden and Xi Jinping at the APEC summit in the US. Some netizens expressed worry that the all-Chinese road signs may cause inconvenience to foreign tourists. Others stated that many government officials send their kids to foreign countries [in the West] even as Western languages are at home in China. Meanwhile, some supporters of the new policy expressed the view that the transportation department’s signage update is a manifestation of cultural confidence and of China’s international status.

Both the Traffic Management Bureau of the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau and Beijing’s Municipal Traffic Service Hotline were unavailable for comment.

Source: RFA, December 1, 2023
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/meiti/gt-12012023070307.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics Social Stability

CBN: 2022 Natural Population Growth Rate was Negative in Twenty Chinese Provinces

Recent data released by China’s National Bureau of Statistics shows a decrease in the country’s birth rate and an increase in provinces experiencing negative natural population growth in 2022.

China Business Network (CBN) reported on the new data, which included statistics on the country’s birth rate, death rate and natural population growth rate in 31 provinces. China recorded 9.56 million births in 2022, a decrease of 1.06 million compared with 2021. The birth rate was 6.77 per thousand (6.77‰), a decrease of 0.75 per thousand from 2021. In 2022, the birth rate in nine provinces exceeded eight per thousand (8‰). In 20 provinces, the natural population growth rate was negative. That’s seven provinces more than in the previous year.

According to the official data, Guangdong has been the largest province in terms of births for five consecutive years. Guangdong Province had a birth population of 1.052 million in 2022, making it the only province in China that had an annual birth population exceeding 1 million in each of the years 2020, 2021, and 2022.

Meanwhile, Henan Province, which currently has the largest registered population of any province in China, had a natural growth rate of -0.08‰ last year. This was the first time since 1961 that the Henan’s natural population growth rate has been negative. Data released by the Henan Provincial Bureau of Statistics showed that the number of births in the province decreased by 60,000 compared with 2021.

China’s rate of first-child births has dropped by 51.3 percent over the past six years. In 2022, the number of first-child births in China was 4.41 million, the number of second-child births was 3.72 million, and the number of third-or-later child births was 1.43 million.

Source: CBN, November 20, 2023
https://m.yicai.com/news/101908004.html

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

Unknown Virus Spreading in China

There is a virus spreading widely in China. Beijing said it is mycoplasma pneumonia, while some other commentators have suggested that it is likely something else. The Chinese Communist Party has a track record of withholding information about pandemics unfolding in China, including the 2002-2004 SARS outbreak and the 2019 COVID outbreak. The World Health Organization (WHO) has requested that China provide details about viruses currently circulating and any increased burden on Chinese hospitals.

China’s hospitals are currently full of patients, including children. The Pediatric Department at Beijing Tsinghua Chang Gung Hospital is used to receiving 300 cases daily, but numbers have now risen to 800. The Deputy Director of the pediatric department called it “the most significant pressure for the hospital’s pediatric department since its establishment.” Meanwhile, the internal medicine department of the Beijing Children’s Hospital has been receiving over 7,000 patients each day, and its infusion center is packed with children and their family members. Tianjin Children’s Hospital is receiving 13,000 patients each day, with some nurses feeling dizzy due to the overload of work. Shanghai’s Renji Hospital, affiliated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, reported that its pediatric outpatient visits exceeded 8,000 people between November 1 and November 13, a 175% increase from the same period last year.

Source: Epoch Times, November 23, 2023
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/23/11/23/n14122818.htm

Source: Nature, November 27, 2023
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-03732-w

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

In China, Conversations in Taxis Are Monitored

A netizen recently shared an experience on a social media platform in China regarding a Beijing taxi ride — there was a notice posted in the taxi indicating that all conversations would  be recorded. The notice included a line of text saying “The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is good” (probably as a reminder to the passengers not to criticize the CCP).

This incident sparked discussions among internet users. Some mentioned that taxis in many cities are conducting full-trip video recording. Some cited instances where verbal altercations between passenger and driver led to later driver reprimands.

In September 2018, Didi, China’s largest ride-hailing car servicer, announced that it would implement “safety reforms” under government pressure. China’s Ministry of Transportation led a joint investigation into Didi involving 10 departments of the government, including the CCP Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission and the Ministry of Public Security. Soon after, Didi began rolling out full-trip recording functionality for its ride-hailing service.

Source: Aboluo, November 11, 2023
https://www.aboluowang.com/2023/1111/1976870.html

Briefings | | |   @CS Social Stability

Cities in Shandong Province to Consolidate Local Police Stations

Several regions, including Qingdao, Huangdao, Linyi, and Weifang cities, in Shandong Province, have recently announced the consolidation and merger of local police stations. Police stations are a key component of the Chinese Communist Party’s stability control (people control). The move to cut down police stations has sparked discussions among netizens, with some speculating that the move is motivated by local governments’ severe budget shortfalls.

Source: Epoch Times, October 30, 2023
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/23/10/30/n14106030.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics Social Stability

After Li Keqiang’s Death, Chinese Communist Party Bans Unofficial Memorial Activities

After the death of former Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, Chinese authorities have moved to prevent protests and unrest. Internet searches for Li Keqiang have been restricted to only return content from official news sources. Many universities received orders prohibiting gatherings and limiting memorial tributes. By the evening of Li’s death, some people had visited Li’s former residence to lay flowers.

The news of Li’s death was announced October 27 and quickly trended online. However, despite 2.24 billion reads on Weibo, only 609,000 comments remained on the Weibo post, showing self-censorship. Only condolences appeared in comments; other posts were deleted. Official accounts disabled comments. Foreign embassies’ condolences were also blocked. On WeChat and Baidu, only official media appeared in searches regarding Li Keqiang.

Messages showed several universities were ordered to ban student gatherings honoring Li. Notices from Shanghai Jiaotong and other schools ordered monitoring of memorial activities, banning gatherings, and reporting to authorities. The Hainan University Student Union was told student leaders could only repost the official obituary with the text “In Memory of the Former Premier.” Online or offline group memorial activities were prohibited.

When former leader Hu Yaobang died in 1989, gatherings to mourn him led to demands for democratic reforms and eventually the Tiananmen Square protests. Chinese authorities aim to prevent any similar unrest after Li Keqiang’s death through censorship and banning public memorials.

Source: Central News Agency (Taiwan), October 27, 2023
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202310270339.aspx

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

China Quickly Removes the Word “Emigrate” from Search Rankings

According to a recent report by Taiwanese news site NewTalk, there was a recent surge of search volume for the word “emigrate” on China’s top social media network WeChat. Volume surged by 1,156 percent, with an astonishing 510 million searches in one day. A few days later, the term “emigrate” (移民, also translated as “migrate”) was directly deleted from the WeChat Index, demonstrating China’s authoritarian control and the fear it has of its own people.

WeChat’s search index, based on big data collected by the company, represents the change in popularity of a certain keywords on WeChat. As early as when China first implemented the Zero Covid policy, many people began searching for terms related to emmigration, and the keyword’s popularity in WeChat increased rapidly, exceeding 100 million searches. Later during the White Paper Protests near the end of 2022, people’s desire for physical mobility became even stronger, with the WeChat Index recording 116 million searches. China’s economic difficulties have led to more and more Chinese people being dissatisfied with their living conditions.

Although the Chinese authorities attempted to remove terms related to migration from the supported vocabulary of WeChat’s hot-search system, this amounts to nothing more than an act of self-deception; the population’s dissatisfaction with the government will not disappear just because the word “emigrate” has been deleted from the search index.

Source: Newtalk, October 25, 2023
https://newtalk.tw/news/view/2023-10-25/893847

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology Social Stability

LTN: China Ranks Last in 2023 Internet Freedom Survey

Non-profit organization Freedom House recently released its 2023 report “Freedom on the Net.” Major Taiwanese news network Liberty Times Network (LTN) cited the report, saying that, among the 70 countries considered in the report, China’s Internet freedom has ranked at the very bottom for the past nine consecutive years.

China scored only 9 points out of 100, and it rated as “not free”. Taiwan scored 78 points, ranking first in the Asia-Pacific region, and was rated as “free.” The Freedom House report researched the internet environment throughout the world, covering 89 percent of internet users globally. The report ranked the countries based on the criteria of “obstacles to accessing the Internet,” “restrictions on content,” and “user rights violations.”

The report showed that the country with the highest freedom in the world is Iceland (94 points), followed by Estonia (93 points), Canada (88 points), Costa Rica (85 points), the United Kingdom (79 points), Taiwan (78 points), Germany and Japan (77 points), and then United States, France, Australia and the Republic of Georgia (scoring 76 points each). Freedom House has published reports on internet freedom for 13 consecutive years.

The Chinese government has invested heavily in the AI industry, ensuring that internet-related companies follow the government’s authoritarian rule. After years of efforts, China’s Cyberspace Administration has successfully used algorithms, synthetic media and AI to conduct heavy-duty censorship of China’s Internet environment.

Source: LTN, October 5, 2023
https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/world/breakingnews/4449090

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend Social Stability