Here we are in 2016. But before we leap headlong into what will certainly be a twelve-month roller coaster ride of China stories — we already have the probable abduction of (another) Hong Kong publisher, test landings in the disputed Spratly Islands, and a “wild ride” on China’s share markets — how do we make sense of 2015?
Fortunately, we can count on the creative energy of China’s mobile internet. One of my favourite year-end reflections is this darkly humorous one, shared across Chinese social networks since late last month. The piece, “2015: Whose Grief?”, was apparently posted first to Qzone Diary (QQ空间日志), a blog-like service added in 2013 to Tencent’s Qzone (itself developed in 2005). I first saw the post when Chinese friends on WeChat shared it, remarking that it was “an excellent summary.”
I share my feeble translation here.

2015: Whose Grief?
By “Fragrant Wu” (吾乃芬芳) / December 29, 2015
In just a few days, 2015 will be history. This year, I can say that I’ve been fortunate, and I’ve been unfortunate . . .
When the stampede occurred in Shanghai, I was fortunate — because I hadn’t rushed out to join the celebrations.
When the Oriental Star cruise ship sank, I was fortunate — because I hadn’t gone off on a holiday.
When the chemical explosion occurred in Tianjin, I was fortunate — because I don’t live in Tianjin.
When the “mountain of mud” collapsed in Shenzhen, I was fortunate — because there was some distance between me and Shenzhen.
Still, I don’t know how long my good fortune will last. I’ve managed to escape earthquakes and floods, to hide from [collapsing] “tofu dreg” developments. But is it possible to avoid such things as gutter oil, GMO foods or all those other potential misfortunes that might befall me, for which there is no responsibility or oversight?
This year, 2015, has afforded us so many memories, so many things that are impossible to forget, but which we have now consigned to oblivion . . .
For the big tigers [in the Chinese Communist Party], this year has been an unending nightmare . . .
We saw the death this year of [Xu] Caihou], who left behind a hefty pile of personal treasure. Had he passed away two years earlier, [his reputation and fortune] might have been saved. His death would have been a momentous occasion — conferring, perhaps, the title “great commander.” Xu’s death in 2015 saved the system instead. He died with grave dishonour, seen as a “national monster.”
[Zhou] Yongkang was sentenced this year too. Those television hosts with whom he once flirted — in whose beds are they gently panting now? The security chief who once commanded millions of armed police sits now behind bars. The very same man who once said, “We will not tolerate an iota of corruption!” I wonder at how much strength must it have taken to utter those words without cracking a smile?
This year [Ling] Jihua entered [a prison cell]. In the end, did he manage his get-rich plan with success? His only son died [in a high-speed crash], and still he managed to go on making reports just like nothing happened . . .
If we rely on human beings to oppose corruption, corruption will persist . . .
This was a year of major economic crisis.
The stock market tanked this year; the factories of the Celestial Empire shut down, falling like dominoes. The bigwigs of the middle class were slashed by what, 90 percent? [Migrant] workers got to go home early, and there was no need for them to scrabble for train tickets [as is generally necessary during the annual Spring Festival].
This year, the rich rednecks died from credit trusts, the middle classers died from “non-standardized debt assets,” and the lowest losers died from peer-to-peer lending. In 2015, more than 1,000 P2P platforms died. Meanwhile, those coal barons from Shanxi who used to hold lavish weddings for their daughters were crippled by debt.
This year, neither the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership nor the Trans-Pacific Partnership would have anything to do with us. When we’ve entirely exhausted our population advantage, when we’ve entirely exhausted our natural resources, can our economic brilliance continue? Here we are, still comforting ourselves. “We have such huge domestic demand,” [we say]. “We have our brothers in Africa,” [we say]. “Capitalism has not abandoned its will to destroy us,” [we say].
Our country is still throwing money around, throwing money around, money . . .
For the Chinese people, this has been the most wonderful of years.
As it was a race against the clock on the scene of disaster, as lives were buried suddenly under a mountain of earth, all in a flash, and [there on the scene] we had the most wonderful pledge [as firefighters made a pledge to the flag of the Chinese Communist Party].
That faithful servant of the people in Beijing, [Mayor Wang Anshun (王安顺)], made such a wonderful promise with those brave words that put his head on the line [NOTE: Wang said he would cut off his own head if he couldn’t solve the problem of air pollution], and this deserves to go down as the most wonderful joke of the year.
Around the dinner table, [television host] Bi Fujian (毕姥爷) acted out a different sort of Avenue of Stars [an altered revolutionary song making fun of Mao Zedong], and he suffered the most wonderful of secret filmings . . . honouring us with the year’s most wonderful lyrics.
Over the summer, in a Uniqlo changing room, a couple were locked in lovemaking, and [the resulting sex video] made Uniqlo known to the world, giving us the year’s most wonderful advertisement.
……
A friend once asked me: Why is it you can’t find any positive energy anywhere? In response, I said I found positive energy in the way lawyer Pu [Zhiqiang] kept on standing, the way he fought for the freedom of the people to resist, the way he never compromised or gave up, the way he stood up for others even as so many of us remained silent.
Chai Jing’s “Under the Dome” was also positive energy. All for nothing did she make a documentary about air pollution. Its shocking portrayal made Chinese sit up and take notice. She did what any responsible journalist should do, what any mother should do.
Regrettably, as 2015 comes to an end, I find all of a sudden that as big as the world may be, there is no escape whatsoever.

The following post by Sina Weibo user “Zhang Wen’s essays” (章文的文章) was deleted from the social media service sometime before 11:01AM today, December 22, 2015, after being live for approximately 150 minutes. The post expresses support for jailed rights lawyer and former CMP fellow Pu Zhiqiang (浦志强), who today was given a three-year suspended sentence after being found guilty of “inciting ethnic hatred” and “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” on the basis of posts he made to social media. [For more deleted posts visit the HKU Weiboscope, created by the Journalism & Media Studies Centre at the University of Hong Kong.]
This post is just one among many commenting on the Pu Zhiqiang case that have been deleted in recent weeks.
A translation of the post follows:

We are waiting for the verdict! But no matter what the result, to my mind he is guilty of nothing.

Here is the original Chinese-language post:

等待判决中！不论判决结果怎样，他在我心目中都是无罪的。

China’s World Internet Conference is last week’s news, but the event will likely reverberate for years to come, as China seeks international support for its notion of a “multilateral” approach to the governance of global cyberspace.
The piece that follows is one of the most informative I have read so far on the so-called “Wuzhen Summit,” attended this year by President Xi Jinping. Published in The Initium, a Hong Kong start-up that has done some very good reporting on China over the past six months, the piece is written by Fang Kecheng (方可成), a former journalist at Guangzhou’s Southern Weekly newspaper.

[ABOVE: President Xi Jinping addresses China’s World Internet Conference on December 16, 2015.]
Fang, the author of a book called Old Friends of China (中国人民的老朋友) about the history of China’s foreign policy, is currently studying for his PhD at the University of Pennsylvania.
My translation follows. Enjoy.

Diplomacy is the Point of China’s World Internet Conference
By Fang Kecheng (方可成) / The Initium
On December 18, the curtains closed on the three-day long 2nd World Internet Conference (WIC2), held in the town of Wuzhen in [China’s] Zhejiang province.
The event was lively: Chinese internet bosses attended the event, and quite a number of well-known [foreign] internet companies sent their representatives to attend the conference. The latter included a founder of LinkedIn, which has launched a castrated version for the China market. In addition, many domestic and foreign officials, representatives from international organisations, entrepreneurs, experts and others were on the guest list.
Observing from the virtual sidelines, ordinary [Chinese] internet users did Photoshop jobs on images emerging from the conference, their interest focusing chiefly on the likes of Jack Ma (马云), Pony Ma (马化腾), Robin Li (李彦宏), Lei Jun (雷军), Liu Qiangdong (刘强东) and Zhou Hongyi (周鸿祎) . . . . Without a doubt, these billionaires from China’s internet giants are celebrities in today’s China. But the Jack Ma’s and Lei Jun’s weren’t in fact the heart of the World Internet Conference. They were merely in Wuzhen as supporting characters for another. I‘m talking of course about Xi Jinping (习近平).
At this conference organised by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) and the provincial government of Zhejiang, the Chinese government was the principal character at the very core. And the core objective of the Chinese government in holding this conference was to push out a core agenda — which was not to discuss those topics the commercial and tech media love to talk about, like the internet industry, or the “Internet plus” strategy, or internet banking, or intelligent manufacturing, or tech startups, or any of that.
Two words were at the heart of the World Internet Conference agenda: foreign affairs (外交). Everything else was meant only to serve these two words.
A Victory on the Eve of the Conference
In November last year, when the 1st World Internet Conference was held in Wuzhen, Xi Jinping sent a message of congratulations to the event. This year, Xi attended in person and made a speech, signalling clearly that China’s leadership was giving the conference high priority.
The topic of Xi Jinping’s speech was “promoting the transformation of the global system of internet governance” (推进全球互联网治理体系变革), for which he outlined “four principles” (四项原则) and made “five propositions” (五点主张). This was the core agenda of the World Internet Conference.
It is the hope of China’s government that a new concept for internet governance can be disseminated across the world, and the first and essential principle of this concept is the notion of “respecting cyber-sovereignty” (尊重网络主权). In more concrete terms this means, in Xi Jinping’s words, “respecting each country’s right to choose its own internet development path, its own internet management model, its own public policies on the internet, and to participate on an equal basis in the governance of international cyberspace — avoiding cyber-hegemony, and avoiding interference in the internal affairs of other countries.”
Not surprisingly, one of the most important diplomatic guests at the conference, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, supported Xi Jinping’s proposals in his own speech.
In fact, China and Russia have acted in close partnership to promote this principle of [internet] governance. And as chance would have it, the day before the curtain opened on WIC2, China, Russia and other allies achieved a limited foreign relations victory at another important conference on internet governance.
On December 16, the 10th meeting of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS10) was held at United Nations headquarters in New York. As the name suggests, the chief task of this meeting was to review the implementation of WSIS work since the holding of the first summit 10 years ago in Geneva. While the results of the review are not binding on participants, it remains an important United Nations document, and it could have a strong impact on the future development of the global internet governance system.
Through a six-month process of negotiation [over the language of the WSIS10 document], China, Russia and other countries successfully lobbied for the inclusion of the term “multilateral” (多边) [in the final language of WSIS10]. This word had drawn fierce opposition from Western countries, companies and civil society groups throughout the summit.
Last year, representatives from nearly 180 countries attended another major conference on global internet governance called NetMundial, hosted by Brazil. At that conference, China energetically pushed the idea of “multilateral” internet governance. But the resolution emerging from that event did not ultimately include the word — resulting in the refusal of China, Russia, Iran, India and a number of other countries to sign the document.
In his speech to the 2nd World Internet Conference, Xi Jinping stressed the word “multilateral”: “[We must] build,” he said, “a multilateral, democratic and transparent governance system for the global internet.”
Why is this word so important? And why does the adoption of this language mean China has achieved a tentative victory in its foreign relations push over the issue of global internet governance?
Multilateral VS Multi-stakeholder
In the language of global internet governance, the word “multilateral” stands in opposition to the word “multi-stakeholder” (多利益相关方).
These words, while superficially similar, signal two radically different visions of internet governance.
The “multi-stakeholder” approach to internet governance has up to now been affirmed and accepted by the vast majority of Western democratic countries. Its core idea is to allow all parties with an interest in the internet to sit down together on equal footing, openly and transparently to mutually discuss the development of the internet. These interested parties include national governments, international organisations, private companies, members of the engineering community, academics, civil society groups and ordinary internet users — and no single parties are to have any decisive dominance over the process. For this reason, some have referred to this approach as a “distributed” (分散 or 分布式) approach to governance.
In contrast, the core of the “multilateral” approach is to position national governments as the leading decision-makers. Various countries can make their own isolated decisions about internet governance methods, and no country can interfere [in this right].
The Brookings Institution, [a private nonprofit organisation] in the United States, said in a report that while this approach to governance also allows for the participation of various side, it affords governments more special privileges (特权). As a report in the New York Times put it, “[m]ultilateral is code for states making the rules.”
In the guest makeup of the 2nd World Internet Conference itself we can see the shadow of the multilateral governance approach: state governments play the leading role, while the remaining seats are taken by foreign dignitaries friendly to China, internet business leaders and a selection of leading academics and engineers. Finally, overseas university students are bundled in to give the event a more lively appearance. As for civil society groups, they are left entirely out of the equation.
What result will either of these governance approaches have?
For one thing, we can say that if the multi-stakeholder approach had been truly and properly implemented in practice, then massive spying programs like that of America’s National Security Agency (NSA), [exposed by whistleblower Edward Snowden], would not have happened, because other stake-holders could have monitored such conduct, other national governments and international organisations could have pressured the United States over these programs, corporations could have resisted demands that they be complicit, and civil society groups could have spoken out on the issue.
And what if a “multilateral” system had been in place instead? In that case, NSA spying would probably have been more reckless, because each national government could claim a leading role on questions of domestic internet governance, and civil society groups and ordinary consumers would be given inferior status. Other national governments and international organisations, meanwhile, would have not right to say a thing.
It is worth pointing out that the current system at the United Nations is at its very foundation a multilateral foreign affairs system. In the Charter of the United Nations, it says that the body “is based on the principle of the sovereign equality of all its Members,” and it explicitly mentions “non-intervention in domestic affairs” and other principles. For this reason, the Charter is often cited by China in its push for a multilateral system of global internet governance. In his WIC2 speech, Xi Jinping even singled out the document, saying: “The principles and spirit of the Charter of the United Nations should be applied to cyberspace.”
The 2nd Third World Internet Conference?
In order to advance the multilateral approach to internet governance, not only has China spared no effort in its related diplomacy at the United Nations and at other global events organised by other countries, but it has also created its own dedicated foreign affairs base back at home. For this is exactly what the World Internet Conference amounts to.
In the midst of this year’s event, there was some derision about the motives of the foreign dignitaries present — essentially, that it seemed they had attended in strong numbers only to queue up for economic assistance from China. A joke made the rounds on social media that went like this:

First, let me warmly welcome this lofty event, the 2nd World Internet Conference, which is attended by Uncle Xi himself! However, searching all around, it seemed to me that the title of the event must have been misreported. Only after careful consideration did I realise they left off a word: “third.” We should say that the curtain has opened on the 2nd Third World Internet Conference. China is being visited by representatives from this -stan and that -stan, testing my knowledge of geography. China must be mighty. From now on, when developed nations host conferences, let’s not even go.

In fact, DT Finance made its own accounting of the World Internet Conference and found that just 8 of the 21 major countries attending WIC2 ranked above the global average according to the ICT Development Index (IDI) of internet indicators in the recently released 2015 report by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the specialised UN agency for information and communication technologies, or ICTs.
This tells us that the vast majority of developed nations in the West have not bought into China’s multilateral program. On the other hand, it reveals the thread of China’s foreign policy strategy here: Begin by uniting around this idea all of those countries in the so-called Third World that seek economic assistance, or have deep misgivings about Western democracy. For their part, Chinese internet users came up with their own very vivid characterisation: “Buy a high-speed rail, we’ll throw in a national firewall free of charge” (买高铁送防火墙).
According to the above-mentioned report in the New York Times, China’s victory over the language of multilateralism at WSIS10 owed in part to this alliance of countries. Lately, the so-called Group of 77 (G77), a loose coalition of developing nations at the United Nations, has been in negotiations over support for the multilateral model of internet governance China has pushed so hard.
In his WIC2 speech, Xi Jinping said that, “The current rules for the governance of cyberspace made it difficult to reflect the hopes and interests of the majority of countries.” Now we understand what Xi means by the “majority of countries.”
Pro-government pundits at home have spared no effort in praising China’s foreign relations efforts on this front. Wang Yiwei (王义桅), director of the School International Affairs at Renmin University of China, wrote in the overseas edition of the official People’s Daily newspaper that Xi Jinping’s four principles of internet governance “remind us of the five principles of peaceful coexistence that China presented at the Bandung Conference in 1955. One is for today, the other for 60 years ago; one is for the virtual world, the other for the physical world; four principles, and five principles, both emphasising sovereignty and peaceful coexistence. [These principles will] take internet governance concepts to a new and elevated place, and will become the linchpin of global internet order.”
Wang is not entirely remiss in likening the 2nd World Internet Conference to the Bandung Conference that took place in Indonesia. The various national independence movements unfolding in the wake of the Second World War formed the backdrop of the Bandung Conference, and this World Internet Conference is happening against the backdrop of the growing penetration of the internet into these developing countries, so that they are now the chief source of new internet users globally. The Bandung Conference was directed toward colonialism, and toward the hegemonism of the United States and the Soviet Union — and there is no denying that for historical reasons, the internet today is still principally dominated by the United States.
But there are also very obvious differences between Bandung and the WIC. On the internet today, the United States does not have the kind of hegemonic status it certainly possessed 60 years ago. Colonialism is more or less a spectre of the past. The Cold War ended long ago. China today is in a far more powerful position than it occupied at the time of the Bandung Conference. It is no longer a weak player hoping desperately to find its place in the world, a newly born political power. It is a major power whose economy has risen, that itches for its chance politically. To give you one example of how this is already happening, the current secretary-general of the International Telecommunications Union is Zhao Houlin (赵厚麟). His election naturally has owes a great deal to the efforts of China’s government, and from his post Zhao will be sure to do his utmost to assist China’s efforts in pushing the multilateral internet governance model.
The finally difference we must note between the Bandung Conference and the World Internet Conference leaves us with what is perhaps the most important question of all. The Bandung Conference arose in opposition to colonialism and imperialism, and it was significant in supporting popular liberation movements and independence — with the support and sympathy of societies in the West.
But what, we should ask, does today’s World Internet Conference oppose, and what does it support?

The following post by Rongjian2001 (荣剑2001), was deleted from Sina Weibo sometime before 10:50am today, 16 December 2015. The post asks tongue-in-cheek where Facebook is and what kind of book it is — the popular US-based service of course being blocked in China.
The post answers its own question with a reference to the town of Wuzhen in Zhejiang province, currently the site of China’s World Internet Conference. It shares a screenshot of a Weibo post by Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post (SCMP), which reports that guests at WIC can log on to Facebook and Twitter while in Wuzhen if they use special Wi-Fi accounts.

Rongjian2001 notes that China has the stated goal of fashioning itself as a global Internet power, or wangluo qiangguo (网络强国). The implication: Can it accomplish this if its closes itself off from the global Internet?
A translation of the post follows:

I used to have no idea where Facebook is and what kind of book it is. It turns out it’s in Wuzhen, China. China is going to build itself as an Internet superpower.

The original post in Chinese:

以前不知道Facebook在哪里，是一本什么书，原来就在中国的乌镇。中国现在要建网络强国了。

So far, there seems to be no English-language version of Xi Jinping’s speech to the World Internet Conference earlier today. To make matters more confusing, the WIC’s official website has promoted Xi’s “Message of Congratulations” from last year’s conference to the front page of the English-language side under “News.” So be careful NOT to confuse the two addresses.
There is a “Live Report” up (as of early afternoon) on the WIC website that seems to follow Xi’s address, as given in Chinese, quite closely. Some posts of versions of Xi Jinping’s speech on WeChat have apparently been blocked.
Basically, folks, the World Internet Conference this year is all about China’s attempt to remake global Internet governance, the international aspect of what Xinhua News Agency yesterday characterised as “Version 2.0” of China’s Internet governance. Look at the Chinese-language full-text version of Xi Jinping’s address today and there can be little mistaking this primary agenda.
I’m taking my cues from the online version available from Hong Kong’s Wen Wei Po, which is available here.
I have no time at the moment to get the entire thing up in English. But what I do have follows. And I’ll add to it as time permits.

Full Text of Xi Jinping’s Address to the World Internet Conference
Wen Wei Po / December 16, 2015
[NOTE: I pick up after the point where Xi Jinping welcomes a series of important guests, beginning with Pakistan’s president, Mamnoon Hussain.]
First, in solemn representation of the Chinese government and the people of China, and in a personal capacity as well, I wish you the fondest of welcomes to all of you guests to the 2nd World Internet Conference! And I offer the warmest congratulations for the opening of this conference!
I worked in Zhejiang province for many years in my past, and I came many times to Wuzhen, a place of which I am very fond. The second time Wuzhen underwent regeneration, I was here assisting them with planning, supporting them with the preservation of historic architecture and with the development of the tourism industry. Coming here again today, it feels intimate and familiar, but at the same time so fresh. It’s been so many years since I’ve been here, after all, and my eyes still open wide.
[Xi talks here about the impact of the Internet on Wuzhen, as a microcosm of the influence Internet development has had across China.]
[Xi addresses the historic role of the Internet, the steady progress of humankind from agricultural revolution to industrial revolution, and so on to the information revolution. The Internet has enriched all of our lives, put information at our fingertips, etcetera.]
[Xi introduces the five key development concepts emerging from the Fifth Plenum of the 18th Central Committee of the CCP: “innovation” (创新), “co-ordination” (协调), “sustainability” (绿色), “openness” (开放) and “win-win” (共享). He mentions the development of China as an “Internet power,” or wangluoqiangguo (网络强国), as an important strategy of the 13th Five-Year Plan.]
Guests and friends! In a world characterised increasingly by multi-polarity, globalisation, cultural diversity and social informationization (社会信息化), the Internet is an ever greater factor in driving forward the progress of human civilisation. At the same time, the uneven development of the Internet, the imperfect nature of the rules [governing its use], the unreasonable [situation with respect to] order [on the Internet], are all problems that are increasingly obvious. The information gaps between various countries and regions are being pulled closer together, and the current rules on governance of cyberspace cannot reflect the interests and wishes of the vast majority of countries; across the world, such things as [breaches of] personal data privacy, violations of intellectual property and online crime are happening all the time, and online surveillance, cyber attacks, online terrorism and other activities have become threats of a global nature. Facing these problems and challenges, the international community must, on a foundation of mutual respect and mutual trust, strengthen dialogue and cooperation, promoting a transformation of the global governance system of the Internet — working together to create a peaceful, secure, open and cooperative cyberspace, and to build a multilateral, democratic and transparent global Internet governance system (全球互联网治理体系).

Who came up with the phrase “positive energy” I don’t know. But the phrase getting hot goes back to a Zhang Lixian film called Beijing Blues, in which his character says “positive energy” over and over again — and that’s how its popularity took off. Of course, anyone who knows the rudiments of physics knows that energy doesn’t give a hoot about positive or negative, that it’s all about where energy goes or is induced. But when people in the arts use such a term it has a kind of infectious simplicity about it, and it goes right to the heart.
However, this term having now become popular, we find that the Party and government, and those closely aligned with them, are especially fond of using this term too. they open their mouths or shut them, and it’s all about positive energy.
Originally, the notion of positive energy was directed in our minds toward light, sunshine, love and decency. So a play, or a novel, so long as it made one feel a sort of warmth, we could say it was full of positive energy. Now, however, as use of the term has become habitual, we find its meaning has changed its flavour.
So-called positive energy now denotes patriotism, love for the government, love for the Party. It even bears along with this the sense of opposing Japan, opposing America and opposing the West. Articles, or posts on Weibo, no matter what the content, even if they are nothing more than abusive name-calling, are considered positive energy as long as they have this flavour. Some people make the most outlandish claims online, saying that the United States has no forced demolition because it massacred all of the native Americans, that the French president’s dining budget runs to 96 million euros, that US President Barack Obama and his family spend four million dollars each time they dine together, or that Obama’s mobile costs 27 million dollars. But because all of these statements suit the demand that we love the Party, the government and the country, and that we oppose Japan, America and the West, they all pass the positive energy test.
Positive energy having evolved to this point, we are now in a state of confusion as to what exactly is positive and what is wicked. Even if it were true that the American and French presidents were unpardonably evil, that they were the chieftains of imperialism, we can’t just throw mud indiscriminately, can we? If the definition of political correctness makes allowances for wild rumourmongering, if the ends justify the means anda all is fair however foul, how do we think the people of the world will view this country of ours?
The authorities, perhaps, have seen the situation prevailing online and feel that their own image is too lamentable, that there is too much praise for South Korea, Japan, America and the West. They imagine articles leaning in a different direction, that can be written in such a way as to suit the online style and earn approving eyes, and that they might, if energetically promoted, bring some balance or even turn the tide of public opinion in their favour. For the authorities, this is a kind of Operation Rescue, and there is no time to consider its implications more carefully.
But this term, “positive energy,” has been utterly befouled. It has become a political correctness utterly devoid of principle. And as a direct consequence people not only hold the concept itself in low regard, but beyond this look down on the authorities themselves, who have seen fit to elevate [online propagandists] like Zhou Xiaoping (周小平) so solemnly. The inference people draw from this is that the authorities have a weak capacity, insofar as they are incapable of finding writers of better quality.
Actually, in most places in the world, when people talk about positive energy they mean pretty much the same thing — those things that warm our hearts like a ray of sunshine. In any country in the world, regardless of its political system, regardless of the complexion of its people, love is something invariable. Without love, there is no positive energy. To politicise positive energy, and to uphold as champions of positive energy a group of hacks who will say anything in the pursuit of political correctness — this might deceive fools who lack any basic common sense, but the losses ultimately outweigh the gains.
In the end, public opinion cannot be swayed by the lowliest of fools. They are credulous and fickle. And never in history have they won the day.

Chinese lawyer and former CMP fellow Pu Zhiqiang will face trial in Beijing today on charges of “inciting ethnic hatred” and “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” stemming from a series of posts he made to social media between July 2011 and May 2014.
The circumstances of Pu Zhiqiang’s case clearly indicate that this is a political witch-hunt meant to silence one of China’s most outspoken advocates for social and legal reform. We will all be watching the case closely.
The following is a comment on Pu’s case posted late last night by Taiwanese writer and former cultural minister Lung Ying-tai.

The sun will be up soon!
The lawyer Pu Zhiqiang is a courageous and principled citizen of China. Today at 9AM, he will be brought before the Beijing Second Intermediate People’s Court to face trial.
The judge should understand that all the Chinese people of the world will be waiting for this 9AM, waiting and watching: Under the greatness of the “Chinese Dream,” how will the machinery of the state handle Pu Zhiqiang and the 600 words that he wrote?
That’s right, Beijing, please show us what you do. We want to know just how civilised this “Chinese Dream” of yours is.
Lung Ying-tai (3:10AM)

Just over a year ago, leaders from tech firms around the globe converged on the ancient canal town of Wuzhen, in China’s Zhejiang province, for the 1st World Internet Conference (WIC). At the event, which Reuters dubbed China’s “online coming-out party,” Internet industry leaders from China rubbed shoulders with executives from Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Samsung — to name just a few — as well as attendees on Internet governance, such as Fadi Chehade, president and chief executive of the non-profit Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).
If China’s agenda in establishing the WIC “summit” was unclear to anyone at the start, it became unsettlingly clear after the Chinese hosts slipped a draft declaration under the hotel room doors of attendees on the eve of the conference’s final day, hoping to rush through a “consensus” on the need to establish “an international Internet governance system of multilateralism, democracy and transparency” that would “respect [the] Internet sovereignty of all countries.”

[ABOVE: “Xi Jinping, Painted Portrait,” photo by Thierry Ehrmann available at Flickr.com under Creative Commons license.]
Internet sovereignty, or cybersovereignty, is now a central policy concept for the Chinese Communist Party in dealing with the Internet. And the concept will be the unquestioned theme from the get-go at this year’s World Internet Conference, to be held once again in Wuzhen from December 16–18: “An Interconnected World Shared and Governed By All: Building a Cyberspace Community of Shared Destiny.”
Last year’s event apparently had something of a slapped-together feel. That’s understandable, perhaps, when you consider it was China’s first official international summit on the Internet. But there have obviously been hiccups this year too. The first announcement for the event came in late September, and said the conference would be begin on October 28. This was eventually pushed back six weeks. (Could international guests not make it on such short notice?)
The WIC, it seems, is still a bewildering work in progress. Don’t believe me? Go to their English-language website and scroll across the content tabs.
Click on “Sponsors” and you get “Coming Soon.” Click on “EXPO” and you get “Coming Soon.’ Click on “Partners” and you get “Coming Soon.”
But of course, the 2nd World Internet Conference is just around the corner. So, how soon is soon?
What about the conference agenda? There’s a special tab for that on the WIC website too. Let’s have a look . . . Oh.

Well, fortunately we have China’s trusted state media to tell us everything we want to know. And today, in anticipation of the upcoming World Internet Conference, the “Studying Xi on the Road” column is devoted to Xi Jinping’s utterances concerning the Internet.
Enjoy.

Studying Xi On The Road (学习路上): Xi Jinping’s “Web View”: Working to Build an Strong Internet Power, the Fruits Benefitting the People
People’s Daily Online / December 8, 2015
The Internet is one of the great inventions of the 20th century, turning the world into a “global village,” and profoundly changing people’s basic production and living conditions. As a term, the Internet has featured highly in the speeches of Xi Jinping, [with such utterances as] “letting the 1.3 billion people of China benefit from the fruits of Internet development,” “the Internet is not a ‘realm outside the law,’” and “without cybersecurity there is no national security.” These involve both practical considerations and strategic considerations.
The 2nd World Internet Conference (Wuzhen Summit) will be held in Wuzhen, in Zhejiang province, from December 16 to 18. In light of this, “Studying Xi On The Road” will look back with you at Xi Jinping’s “Web View.”
1. Building a Strong Internet Power (建设网络强国)

“Cybersecurity and informatisation concern national security and national development, and are a major strategic issue for the work and lives of the masses. [We] must, starting from major international and domestic trends, make overall arrangements, coordinate various aspects, and seek innovation and development, working hard to build our nation as a strong internet power.” — February 27, 2014, Xi Jinping addresses the first conference of the Central Leading Group for Cyberspace Affairs

“Strategic deployments for the building of [China as] an internet power must proceed in step with the struggle toward the ‘Two Centenary Goals’, with steady progress toward basic popularisation of Internet infrastructure, the strengthening of our capacity for basic innovation, the full development of the digital economy, and strong cybersecurity protections.” — February 27, 2014, Xi Jinping addresses the first conference of the Central Leading Group for Cyberspace Affairs
“China is now actively promoting Internet construction, so that the 1.3 billion people of China benefit from the fruits of Internet development.” — November 19, 2014, Xi Jinping’s message of congratulation to the 1st World Internet Conference

2. Safeguarding Cybersecurity

“Internet and information security are matters of national security and social stability, and they are a new comprehensive challenge that we face.” — November 15, 2013, Xi Jinping in “Explanations Concerning ‘Decision of the CCCPC on Some Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Deepening Reforms’”

“Without cybersecurity there can be no national security; without informatisation there can be no modernisation.” — February 27, 2014, Xi Jinping addresses the first conference of the Central Leading Group for Cyberspace Affairs
“Cybersecurity and informatisation are two wings on a single body, two driving wheels, and they must work together, be deployed together, be advanced together, and be implemented together. To properly do the work of cybersecurity and informatisation, [we] must properly handle the relationship between security and development, ensuring they are coordinated and advance together, so that security guarantees development and development guarantees security, and we make efforts for the long-term and secure growth of the industry.” — February 27, 2014, Xi Jinping addresses the first conference of the Central Leading Group for Cyberspace Affairs
“In the world today, the Internet raises new challenges for national autonomy, security and development, and we must meet these seriously. Although the Internet is highly global in nature, the autonomy of no country must be encroached upon in the information sphere. Even as Internet technology continues to develop, the information autonomy of no country can be violated. In the information sphere, there are no double standards, and every country [has the right] to defend its own information security. It must not be the case that one country is secure while others are not, or that some countries are secure while some others are not. Nor can [a country] seek its own so-called absolute security while sacrificing the security of other nations.” — July 16, 2014, Xi Jinping speech to National Congress of Brazil
“As one of the great inventions of the 20th century, the Internet has made the world a ‘global village,’ profoundly changing people’s basic production and living conditions and promoting social development, and it is highly global in its character. However, this ‘new frontier’ (新疆域) is not ‘a realm outside the law,’ and it too must respect rule of law, it too must preserve national autonomy, security and development interests.” — September 22, 2015, Xi Jinping in an interview with the Wall Street Journal
3. Grasping Core Technologies

“To build an internet power, [we] must have our own technologies, technology of the highest quality; [we] must have full and comprehensive information services, and a rich and developed Internet culture; [we] must have a sound information infrastructure, creating a strong information economy.” — February 27, 2014, Xi Jinping addresses the first conference of the Central Leading Group for Cyberspace Affairs
“Information technologies and the level of [Internet] industry development determine the level of development of informatisation. [We] must strengthen independent innovation of core technologies and the building of basic infrastructure, raising our capacity in terms of information gathering, handling, dissemination, use and security, ensuring the people benefit.” — February 27, 2014, Xi Jinping addresses the first conference of the Central Leading Group for Cyberspace Affairs
“In many ways, scientific and technological strength determine changes in terms of where [a nation] stands politically and economically in the world, and it determines too the fate of the people of various nations.” — June 9, 2014, Xi Jinping speech to the Chinese Academy of Engineerring general assembly at the 17th Academic Conference of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
“Only with core technologies in our own hands can we truly grasp the initiative in competition and development, and only this way can we ensure national economic security, national defence and other forms of security from the roots.” — June 9, 2014, Xi Jinping speech to the Chinese Academy of Engineerring general assembly at the 17th Academic Conference of the Chinese Academy of Sciences

4. A Clear and Bright Online Space

“[We] must consolidate and strengthen [the Party’s] mainstream ideas and public opinion, carrying forward the main theme (弘扬主旋律), spreading positive energy (传播正能量), exciting among the whole society a great strength in moving forward. Most critical is raising quality and properly grasping the timing, degree and effectiveness [of information], increasing its attractiveness and infectiousness , so that the masses love to listen to and watch it, and [so that they] develop a sense of resonance, giving full play to positive propaganda in inspiring and motivating people.” — August 19, 2013, Xi Jinping to the National Propaganda Work Conference

“[We must] persist in the active use, scientific development and legal management [of the Internet]. With the guiding principle of ensuring security, we must increase the intensity of legal management of the Internet, and improve our leadership system for Internet management (互联网管理领导体制).” — November 15, 2013, Xi Jinping in “Explanations Concerning ‘Decision of the CCCPC on Some Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Deepening Reforms’”
“Properly conducting public opinion work online is a long-term task, and [we] must innovate and improve our online propaganda, using the principles of Internet communication, carrying forward the main theme, exciting positive energy, and energetically fostering and fulfilling the socialist core values, ensuring a good grasp of the timing, degree and effectiveness of online public opinion channeling, so that the online space becomes clear and bright.” — February 27, 2014, Xi Jinping addresses the first conference of the Central Leading Group for Cyberspace Affairs

[NOTE: Two sections following, on “gathering Internet talent” and “increasing international cooperation,” are not translated.]