DISTURBING NEWS
A friend tells me reliably that Winnie the Pooh has been banned in China. It seems someone noticed a resemblance between President Xi Jinping and the lovable bear and posted several comparison pictures online, which went viral. This fundamentally changes my view of the Chinese government.
Victor Mair has been following this for some time and is well worth a read
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Yes, this is actually a big deal, and they apparently take it pretty seriously. My Chinese daughter-in-law (who lives in Boston) said that if you mention his name and the character in the same sentence in the Chinese text messaging app WeiChat, they’ll actually review your conversation “in real time, while you’re having it” and might even join your conversation and remind you to consider the good of the nation and value of social harmony and so on. Spooky stuff.
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