"Excuse me soldier, heard any good coup rumors lately?"
Is there something more than the usual paranoid nonsense going on behind the "Gate of New China?" There appears at least to be a shortage of Imodium.
网站正在维护中……
"This website is under maintenance..."
That was the message we neo-Maoists started to get yesterday when we tried to access our favorite website (other than www.hotchinesefemalesoldiers.com), the neo-Maoist “Utopia,” http://www.wyzxsx.com/.
The Center has turned its censorious eye from pro-liberalization websites to neo-Maoist websites. It has shut down 17 of them recently. But isn’t China , like, Maoist? Isn’t that, like, Mao’s mausoleum in the middle of Tiananmen Square ? What’s the prob?
“Utopia” was one of the favorite haunts of supporters of Bo Xilai who was purged a few weeks ago; Bo was popular among the people of Chongqing, where he was Party Secretary, for fighting corruption there; the Chongqingers sang the old Cultural Revolution songs of which Bo was so fond; China is in the middle of a “transition” of power this year (How is that going?); transition by “consensus” (of the ruling elite) is the Chinese Way; popularity is not an approved method of transition.
The initial run on Imodium was caused by Bo’s taste in music. The Cultural Revolution scares the shit out of the Center. So, they purged him, he’s outta there, what-is-the-problem? China-watchers are not sure. Indeed there were coup rumors on the Chinese internet the last two weeks. But that’s the internet, you can find anything on the internet, except Utopia right now. To this amateur China-watcher the most significant indication that something more than the usual paranoid nonsense might be going on is the Center’s directive to the military yesterday in the “Liberation Army Daily:”
"[R]esolutely resist the incursion of all kinds of erroneous ideas, not be disturbed by noise, not be affected by rumours, and not be drawn by undercurrents, and ensure that at all times and under all circumstances the military absolutely obeys the command of the Party central leadership, the Central Military Commission and Chairman Hu."
Was that really necessary? China watchers don’t know. Bo knows.
