Han Fei was a philosopher who believed that not only healthy relationships can unite China but also strict rules with punishments for those who broke the laws and rewards for those who are loyal. He synthesized the majority of the legalist beliefs and wrote a book called Han Feizi (Feizi). The Qin dynasty used Legalism to form their government system and to maintain order and peace. Qin Shi Huangdi (the “first emperor”) had two tasks: destroy outside enemies and destroy resistance to his rule. By forcing Chinese citizens to build the Great Wall of China, he protected China by also abused human rights. He also censored media. Media is defined as a way of communicating and storing information such as books. Shi Huangdi ordered all useless or harmful books to be burnt so that their was no opposition to his rule (Si). Although China today doesn’t burn hundreds of books or execute hundreds of people for having a Confusian book, China is currently govern in a similar way to Qin Shi Huangdi because China abuses the human rights of their citizens and censors things such as Winnie the Pooh on social media platforms such as TikTok and Twitter.
On many social media websites, Winnie the pooh is being compared with the president of China, Xi Jinping. One example is Xi Jinping shaking hands with the Prime Minister of Japan being compared with Winnie the Pooh shaking hands with Eeyore. Another example is the president on the roof of a car being compared to Winnie the Pooh on the roof a his little car. The president thinks it is offensive and therefore blocks Winnie the Pooh on all media (Stolworthy). This is similar to the book burning period during Qin Shi Huangdi’s rule in some ways. In addition to the fact that both are media censorship, both actually benefit the country in its own ways. In the Winnie the Pooh situation, the government believes that these comparisons may lead to Winnie the Pooh becoming a symbol for communism. These may be harmless memes in other countries but can have a greater effect on the power and control the president has in China (McDonell). In the book burning situation, Qin Shi Huangdi did this to ensure that order was maintained in the land in his own minaical ways.
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Other media censorship that happens is when the government alters the words of posts on social media. The government can also close discussions of topics that endanger the president since the president wants to maintain and keep all the power (McDonell). When Bytedance purchased TikTok, they started to censor content that was against the Communist Party such as the protests in Hong Kong. In addition, they started to feature videos that are about Xi Jinping. However, TikTok states that they do not censor political things. They said that '[they] have never been asked by the Chinese government to remove any content, and [they] would not do so if asked,” but many do not believe that statement (Yuan). This is similar to when Qin Shi Huangdi tried to erase history (from books) so that he can remain very powerful and influential. Both these examples (Winnie the Pooh and TikTok) show that media was censored to benefit the president and that the rights of Chinese citizens to express their thoughts were denied.
Another example of media censorship and human rights abuse was with the posts on Twitter about the event that occurred in Tiananmen Square. Chai Ling was twenty-three years old when she was interviewed and lives in the Shandong Province where she majored in psychology and was a teacher. She said that it was very dangerous at the time, since there may be a massacre at Tiananmen Square. She also said that the government can and will kill protesters, but the Chinese civilians had to protest for their rights and risked their lives for this movement. She knew that democracy will give the people rights and independence, but there is no independence or human rights in China (Ling). In Shanghai, about one hundred chinese accounts were taken down a few days before the 30th anniversary of the event that occurred at Tiananmen Square. Twitter stated that they were doing a simple routine to try to stop spam but there were some errors and accidentally taken down some accounts. However, when they said that they recovered all the accounts, some users still weren't able to get their accounts back which caused users to not believe that that actually happened. They believed that the accounts were taken down by Chinese authorities. Officers even went to Chinese users to force them to delete their posts or maybe even delete their accounts. For example, a human rights lawyer posted a picture in protest and his account was taken down later. In addition, at the end of 2018, China's Minister of Public Security blocked Chinese Twitter accounts (Mozur).
Hong Kong was previously a British colony but was returned to China in 1997. Although Hong Kong is part of China, it is autonomous (self-governing). This was under the policy, 'one country, two systems' under the Basic Law which invalidates in 2047. However, Beijing is weakening the Basic Law and taking away the independence of Hong Kong. This is being done by the Extradition Plan. This bill with allow people in Hong Kong who oppose (don't follow) the Communist Party to be detained, transferred to China, and imprisoned. This bill is also in relation to 37 other crimes. Therefore, it takes away the rights of citizens of Hong Kong. They will be forced to be a part of the Communist Party. This led to protest. About half a million people protested against the Extradition Bill all because of the fear of having their rights taken away. This protest is still happening right now and is the largest protest since 2003 (Ives).
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