Fight decades of misinformation on China with official Chinese sources.
Community moderation
I've transferred the community to GrainEater and left the mod team, I will now apply for mod again.
Here are some reasons why I want to be mod:
- I'm Chinese, I was born in China, raised in Singapore, studied for a while in Canada, returned to China.
- I like fact checking, but that doesn't mean I'm always right or the authoritative source on China.
- I have some experience with being a moderator.
Here are some reasons why I might not be suitable for mod:
- I am not a neutral or impartial third party and will never be one, I side with China not just because of my nationality, but also because I believe China is truly developing Marxism or scientific socialism.
- While I like fact checking, I didn't apply it rigorously to every post/comment in /c/China or on China-related posts/comments on Lemmygrad. There are times when I see questionable statements and let it slide because it's too troublesome to fact check it properly. Sometimes it's because the content is posted on websites not accessible in China and I don't use a VPN (unlike others), and alternative front-ends like Invidious (for YouTube) or those for X/Twitter or Reddit may not be working properly. (News sites are fine because of archive services.)
I'd be glad to include caffeine in the list of substances too, this anti-promotion rule is not a ban on mentioning them. As many others have pointed out, certain substances have positive effects, in fact I'd say all of them have positive effects one way or another, whether medically or not. That's why I think having positive effects is not a reason to exclude a substance from the list.
Community moderation
@[email protected] A community mod can't appoint an admin as community mod apparently, so I have to ask you to do so yourself.
Community moderation
As mentioned in the post (https://lemmygrad.ml/post/5205977) discussing a rule about anti-promotion of drugs and other substances:
If a lot of people oppose this rule, either by downvotes and/or number of comments, I will willingly step down as moderator of this community.
I didn't see a large opposition to this rule which has now been deleted (see https://lemmygrad.ml/post/5220158), but I will pass the moderator position back to the instance admins nevertheless, specifically to @[email protected] who gave me the position when I requested it months ago. This post can be used to select new moderators by leaving a comment if you're interested. I will also take part in applying to become a mod.
Summary of discussion about Rule 4 on anti-promotion of drugs and other substances
I'm sure some have seen the discussion around a new rule against the promotion of various substances in this community. This will be the summary based on data collected at this snapshot in time.
Post score (upvotes/downvotes): 33/19 (Note that hexbear users cannot downvote)
Number of users who left comments (including me): 21
Number of comments: 51 = 19 (left by me) + 32 (others)
The following is a crude categorization of the 32 comments left by others, each category begins with the name and a 4-tuple of (number of unique users, number of comments, total comment upvotes, maximum upvotes obtained by a single comment). If the same user left multiple comments that are categorized the same, only the comment with the highest upvote will be counted when tallying upvotes, the rest are excluded.
- Agree (2 users, 4 comments, 7 upvotes total, 4 upvotes max): Comments that agree without giving an explanation, 2 comments excluded from upvotes total.
- Agr
Why did you bring up morphine, to prove that we should be able to discuss morphine or related substances outside the context of medical use or research?
Indeed, there should be a defined process for the introduction of new rules in a community, maybe in the form of suggestions, or when an incident requiring moderation occurred that wasn't covered by the rules. My next step might be making a post to receive suggestions for community rules, though /c/China isn't a particularly active community so there hasn't been many rule violations.
I'd like to add that such phrases should be backed up with sources and details, and not just as a matter-of-fact statement. Other factual statements like "X substance is legal in Y country" or "X substance is proven scientifically to have Y properties and Z effects" might not be fine depending on the context, like if the statements are used to justify promoting the substance in a person's comment/post.
See my latest improvement to the rule that attempts resolve this disparity between different cultures, which includes a modification of your last suggestion: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/5205977/4756875
After input from various comrades, I've decided to improve the rule with some explanation, this is my latest suggestion:
Rule 4: Do not promote drugs/alcohol/tobacco/weed/psychedelics/inhalants or any other substance that may be abused. We do not discuss the personal use of these substances out of consideration for comrades who might be affected by substance abuse or have bad experiences related to them. We understand that some substances may be used [medically|(for treatment)] in different cultures, but we think that this community is not the appropriate channel to receive medical advice.
I think you meant to write "to" instead of "in" in your last sentence "keep those topics in other forums", that's what confused me.
Whatever the situation is regarding drug incarceration in America, it is not contradictory to my anti-promotion stance. My view is that anti-promotion should be encouraged to stop more people from becoming possible victims of substance abuse. As for people that are currently undergoing issues with substance abuse, they should at the minimum not be discriminated against, and if possible be helped into a better situation.
I was considering adding "(for non-medicinal purposes)" to the rule, but people who mention medical purposes have proved to me that this is unnecessary. I'm going to repeat this again, online spaces are not a good place to receive advice on medical prescription from others just because they use it in their culture or country.
Where in the post and my comments have I said to ban these substances? I find it frustrating that people come to me and mention so-and-so substance can have medicinal properties, because I understand this concept, but I'm assuming this type of medicine is prescribed by a certified doctor or therapist, and not by random people on the internet just because they use it in their culture or country.
One solution is for someone from hexbear to comment that they're against this new rule, and then people from hexbear can upvote that comment.
It's almost 24 hours since I posted this, and the overall feeling I get is that this rule is "ok" only because of China's history, and not because it makes sense.
Let's imagine a scenario where the new rule only mentions "Do not promote or put alcohol in a positive light." What would be the reactions then? Keep in mind that in China, alcohol is legal for adults and can be advertised on national TV, but has the following restrictions: (from the 广告法 Advertising Law)
第二十三条 酒类广告不得含有下列内容：
（一）诱导、怂恿饮酒或者宣传无节制饮酒；
（二）出现饮酒的动作；
（三）表现驾驶车、船、飞机等活动；
（四）明示或者暗示饮酒有消除紧张和焦虑、增加体力等功效。
(DeepL translate) Article 23 Liquor advertisements shall not contain the following:
(1) Inducing or encouraging the consumption of alcohol or publicizing the uncontrolled consumption of alcohol;
(2) Showing actions of drinking;
(3) Exhibiting activities such as driving a car, boat, or airplane;
(4) Explicitly or implicitly suggesting that drinking alcohol has the effect of eliminating tension and anxiety, increasing physical strength, and so forth.
Is it unfair to lump all these substances together as though they have similar levels of influence on a person? Maybe it is, because why didn't I include games that are designed to be addicting, or mention porn, or other forms of escapism?
Speaking of porn, why can there be a Lemmygrad instance-wide rule 4 of "No porn or sexually explicit content (even if marked NSFW)", but I have to be met with a possible majority resistance (hexbear users can't downvote this post due to how their instance works) for anti-promotion (not a ban on mentioning them) of the listed substances in this community?
Anyway, this discussion post will be pinned for some time until enough consensus has been made on this new rule, and I will suspend the enforcement of this rule 4 in the meantime (not that there has been any violation yet).
I don't think anyone will do so, but they might instead talk about their experiences with such substances in a neutral or positive tone, they might describe the experience as "interesting" or "cool". While a person might not be intentionally promoting a substance when they talk about it in this way, what will people who are addicted to the substance think about such opinions? If there's no opposition raised, the substance might be viewed as any other normal item.
This is not a rule to ostracize people who are addicted to various substances, it's to clearly signal that these substances are not cool, not interesting, not something to joke about, not something to try out.
This is the /c/China community on Lemmygrad.ml, not hexbear.net.
Some of these substances might indeed have medicinal use, this does not contradict the idea of anti-promotion. The rule can thus be improved by making more clarifications with the input of other comments here, something like:
Do not promote the use of drugs/alcohol/tobacco/weed/psychedelics/inhalants (for non-medicinal purposes).
The phrase "for non-medicinal purposes" might be open for interpretation so I am against it, but it can be added if needed. I'd also like to add that online forums without verified experts are not the best places for medical advice. Any scientific discussion should be held elsewhere, or strictly limited to information from authoritative sources without subjective opinions of those involved.
Note that there can be ads for alcohol in China but not for tobacco, and both substances are legal for adults. This community rule goes further than the current legal situation in China.
Online resources for theoretical works by Chinese Communists
(Note that this post might be updated over time, do not cross-post it by copying the contents as it might become outdated)
There are already well-known platforms like marxists.org that have a comprehensive collection of the works of various Marxists, but they have yet to include prominent figures like Xi Jinping. As this is a community on China, this post will focus primarily on the works of Chinese Communists from official Chinese websites. The available Chinese resources are more comprehensive than English resources.
English resources
- Qiushi Journal (http://en.qstheory.cn/) - English Edition of 求是杂志, a CPC Central Committee Bimonthly. Please note that this website does not support HTTPS!
- Includes all 4 volumes of Xi Jinping: The governance of China, but does not include footnotes. Volume I, Volume II, Volume III
People have different opinions on each of the listed substances, that's fine by me. This is an anti-promotion rule that will definitely limit the discussion that people can have about them, including but not limited to:
- advocacy for these substances
- comparing pros and cons, then concluding that they're a net good
- saying that they have little or no side effects in small doses
it really shouldn’t be controversial to be asked to keep those topics in other forums.
I'm not sure what you mean by this last sentence, are there some words missing?
It has been brought to my attention in the same private channel that some comrades have mentioned them casually in other communities, and I'm not going to wait for it to happen here before making up this new rule. The last rule I came up with was Rule 0 in reaction to someone who thought Taiwan was a country and not part of the People's Republic of China.
Clarification: Comments or posts that violate rules in this community will either be deleted or be given a warning, the violating user would not be banned unless there's a need to. The 30-day ban mentioned in the post is for people who come into this post and argue for substance abuse, not for people who simply disagree with anti-promotion.
Suggestions for improvements to this rule are welcome, here's one:
Do not promote the use of drugs/alcohol/tobacco/weed/psychedelics/inhalants (for non-medicinal purposes).
I'd be warning them and then deleting their comments if necessary, not ban them, unless they double down. The ban is for people who come into this post and argue for substance abuse, I should probably make that clear.
Discussion of new Rule 4: Do not promote or put drugs/alcohol/tobacco/weed/psychedelics/inhalants in a positive light.
Rule 4: Do not promote or put drugs/alcohol/tobacco/weed/psychedelics/inhalants in a positive light.
Some comrades mentioned in private channels that weed is not addictive, I'm not going to argue on this point because this is a fundamental divide between China and some western countries.
My view is that whether you're addicted to them or not, you shouldn't promote these substances or put them in a positive light. It's fine if you don't agree with me, but anyone who leaves a comment here arguing the opposite will be banned from the community (30 days for now).
If a lot of people oppose this rule, either by downvotes and/or number of comments, I will willingly step down as moderator of this community.
Xi's special representative mourns passing of Nguyen Phu Trong in Vietnam
Video: https://tv.cctv.cn/2024/07/25/VIDENuIio6DE9JiE7N3qrQZE240725.shtml
Xi's special representative mourns passing of Nguyen Phu Trong in Vietnam
https://english.news.cn/20240726/3252e5446f7a47d09d3c7930cd4cbcfe/c.html
HANOI, July 25 (Xinhua) -- As General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee Xi Jinping's Special Representative, China's top political advisor Wang Huning led a CPC delegation to Hanoi to mourn the passing of Nguyen Phu Trong, general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), on Thursday.
Wang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, also met with Vietnamese President To Lam and Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh.
A respect-paying ceremony was held at the Nati
Add flag of Palestine as a banner to Lemmygrad's interface
I chanced upon another piece of software that includes support for Ukraine on their homepage: pandoc.org, previously saw it on www.vim.org. There are apparently lots of projects on GitHub that do this too: StandWithUkraine. The same cannot be said for Palestine.
So people of Lemmygrad, should we include the flag of Palestine as a banner? Support could also shown in other forms, as long as it's immediately obvious that it's for Palestine.
Resolution of CPC Central Committee on further deepening reform comprehensively to advance Chinese modernization
BEIJING, July 21 (Xinhua) -- The Resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) on Further Deepening Reform Comprehensively to Advance Chinese Modernization was made public on Sunday.
The resolution was adopted at the third plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Committee on Thursday.
Please see the attachment for the English translation of the full text of the resolution.
Original Chinese text: http://www.news.cn/politics/20240721/cec09ea2bde840dfb99331c48ab5523a/c.html
Xi mourns passing of Nguyen Phu Trong
Video: https://tv.cctv.cn/2024/07/20/VIDEURgvhNytIhzH9EIPlHJ3240720.shtml
https://english.news.cn/20240720/9db9a2e30b8e4775855f29da1c75946e/c.html
BEIJING, July 20 (Xinhua) -- Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and Chinese president, went to the Embassy of Vietnam in China on Saturday to mourn the passing of General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee Nguyen Phu Trong.
Praising Trong as a staunch Marxist and a great leader of the CPV and the Vietnamese people, Xi said that Trong had devoted himself entirely to the CPV and the country, to the Vietnamese people and to the cause of socialism in Vietnam, and had been deeply respected and admired by the party, military and people of Vietnam.
Xi recalled that over the past decade, he and Trong had maintained close contact and developed a deep camaraderie, and that l
CPC Central Committee sends condolences over death of Vietnam's Nguyen Phu Trong
https://english.news.cn/20240719/faef7a6641b744428663d49bd71ebac2/c.html
CPC Central Committee sends condolences over death of Vietnam's Nguyen Phu Trong
BEIJING, July 19 (Xinhua) -- The Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee on Friday sent condolences to the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee and deeply mourned the death of General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong.
The following is the full text of the condolence message:
General Secretary of the CPV Central Committee Nguyen Phu Trong passed away. The CPC and the Chinese people lost a good comrade, a good brother and a good friend. With immense grief, we extend our deepest condolences and sincerest sympathies to the Central Committee of the CPV, the Vietnamese government and the Vietnamese people.
Trong was a staunch Marxist and a great leader of the CPV and the Vietnamese people. He dedicated his entire life to the causes of his party and nation, making outstanding contributions to Vietnam's
PSA: New Community Rule 0: Taiwan, Xizang (Tibet), Xinjiang, Hong Kong are all part of China.
Rule 0: Taiwan, Xizang (Tibet), Xinjiang, Hong Kong are all part of China.
Why single these four out? These are the main targets of local and foreign "independence" (read: separatist) activists ("台独", "藏独", "疆独", "港独").
If anyone comes in here and claims otherwise, they will have one chance to change their opinion before I ban them from the community.
I haven't put Diaoyu Islands (Japan claims them to be the Senkaku Islands) or other territorial disputes yet.
Feel free to leave suggestions for more rules in this community.
CPC expels two former Chinese defense ministers for serious violation of Party discipline and the law
- (Xinhua) CPC expels former Chinese defense minister Li Shangfu
- (Xinhua) CPC expels former Chinese defense minister Wei Fenghe
- (AP News) China expels 2 former defense ministers from its ruling Communist Party over graft allegations
- (CNN) China expels two former defense ministers from Communist Party as military purge deepens
Wei Fenghe was defense minister from 2018 to 2023, Li Shangfu held the post from March 2023 to October 2023.
Address by Xi Jinping At the Conference Marking the 70th Anniversary of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence
(Concise History of the CPC) #6 The Northern Expedition and the Worker and Peasant Movements
(See first post for background: #1 Cultural Revolution, previous post: #5 Rise of First KMT-CPC Cooperation and Climax of the Great Revolution)
A Concise History of the Communist Party of China (2021, ISBN 978-7-5117-3978-0), pg. 30-35
《中国共产党简史》, pg. 25-28
(Chapter 1)
5. The Northern Expedition and the Worker and Peasant Movements
The Victorious March of the Northern Expedition
In July 1926, the National Revolutionary Army launched the Northern Expedition. The direct targets of the expedition were the imperialist-backed Northern Warlords, mainly Wu Peifu, Sun Chuanfang, and Zhang Zuolin, who had 700,000 troops under their direct control. The National Revolutionary Army under the Nationalist Government totaled around 100,000 men.
Vastly outnumbered, the NRA, under the guidance of Soviet advisors, opted for a strategy o
(Concise History of the CPC) #5 Rise of First KMT-CPC Cooperation and Climax of the Great Revolution
(See first post for background: #1 Cultural Revolution, previous post: #4 Founding of CPC and Creation of Platform of Democratic Revolution)
A Concise History of the Communist Party of China (2021, ISBN 978-7-5117-3978-0), pg. 23-30
《中国共产党简史》, pg. 19-24
(Chapter 1)
4. The Rise of the First KMT-CPC Cooperation and the Climax of the Great Revolution
The Third National Congress of the CPC and the Establishment of KMT-CPC Cooperation
Chinese Communists saw from the failure of the Beijing-Hankou Railway strike that revolutionary forces in China were far less powerful than their imperialist and feudal counterparts. The CPC recognized the importance of forming the broadest possible united front. It thus decided to take positive steps to unite with the Kuomintang (KMT), which was led by Sun Yat-sen.
At that time, Sun Yat-sen
(Concise History of the CPC) #4 Founding of CPC and Creation of Platform of Democratic Revolution
(See first post for background: #1 Cultural Revolution, previous post: #3 May 4th Movement and Spread of Marxism in China)
A Concise History of the Communist Party of China (2021, ISBN 978-7-5117-3978-0), pg. 13-22
《中国共产党简史》, pg. 11-19
(Chapter 1)
3. The Founding of the CPC and the Creation of the Platform of Democratic Revolution
The Establishment of Early Communist Party Organizations and Their Activities
With the dissemination of Marxism in China and the emergence of progressives who embraced its ideas, the conditions were ripe in terms of ideology and personnel for founding the Communist Party of China. The task of establishing a working-class political party was put on the agenda.
The idea of establishing a communist party in China was first mooted by Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao. They realized that to transform Chin
(Concise History of the CPC) #3 May 4th Movement and Spread of Marxism in China
(See first post for background: #1 Cultural Revolution, previous post: #2 China before the CPC)
A Concise History of the Communist Party of China (2021, ISBN 978-7-5117-3978-0), pg. 5-13
《中国共产党简史》, pg. 4-11
(Chapter 1)
2. The May 4th Movement and the Spread of Marxism in China
The New Culture Movement and the Influence of the Russian October Revolution on China
The founding of the Republic of China did not bring the national independence, democracy, and social progress that people longed for. Hope was thus supplanted by profound despair. Since they found the old road impassable, people began to look for new ways out of their plight. Some progressive intellectuals began by reviewing the lessons of the Revolution of 1911. They determined to launch a new enlightenment movement, one that would eliminate obscurantism, awake
(Concise History of the CPC) #2 China before the CPC
(See previous post for background: #1 Cultural Revolution)
A Concise History of the Communist Party of China (2021, ISBN 978-7-5117-3978-0), pg. 1-5
《中国共产党简史》, pg. 1-4
Chapter I
The Founding of the Communist Party of China and Its Involvement in the Great Revolution
One night in July of 1921, the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) opened in secret in a small two-story residence in Shanghai’s French Concession. This moment gave birth to a completely new party of the proletariat whose actions were to be guided by Marxism and Leninism. This was a truly groundbreaking event—a momentous occasion which, like a torch held aloft in the darkness, brought light and hope to the deeply distressed Chinese people. From that moment on, the Chinese people have had in the Party an anchor for their struggles to achieve national independence and liberat
(Concise History of the CPC) #1 Cultural Revolution
Saw this post (https://lemmygrad.ml/post/4110233) about China's Cultural Revolution and remembered my project to transcribe my copy of "A Concise History of the Communist Party of China" (ISBN 978-7-5117-3978-0). The book is an English translation of the Chinese book 中国共产党简史, translated by the Institute of Party History and Literature of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and published by the Central Compilation & Translation Press. There is another English edition published by ACA Publishing Limited which I have not read, but I assume it's basically the same.
The Chinese edition is available to read online at one of the CPC's online learning platform 学习强国: https://article.xuexi.cn/articles/pdf/index.html?art_id=1514845518710518863
The book has 10 chapters and around 700 pages, each chapter has around 5 to 10 sections for a total of 70 sections. I'm thinking of posting one section at a time every 5 days so as to not overwhelm some readers, and to get the entire bo
Xi Jinping meets with representatives of the U.S. business, strategic and academic communities
Central Committee of Democratic Front for Reunification of Korea Formally Dissolved
Pyongyang, March 24 (KCNA) -- A meeting of the Central Committee of the Democratic Front for the Reunification of Korea (DFRK) took place here on Saturday.
Present there were presidium members of the Central Committee of the DFRK and representatives of political parties and social organizations.
The meeting stressed that the Workers' Party of Korea and the DPRK government branded the ROK clans, who have proclaimed the DPRK the “principal enemy” and pursued the "collapse of regime" and "unification by absorption" only in collusion with outside forces for nearly 80 years, as the most hostile state, invariable principal enemy and complete foreign country, not the partner for reconciliation and reunification, and set up a new stand on the north-south relations and reunification policy.
And it reached a consensus that there is no need for the Central Committee of the DFRK, a pan-national united front organization, to exist any longer in the situation where the north-south rela