Saturday, March 12, 2011

Micro-expectations of Chinese bloggers

Killjoy, Chinese parliamentary season, with its exasperating security measures, his speeches and his show vaguely soothing folk representatives of ethnic minorities in ceremonial dress? You're not: ever National People's Congress (ANP) and the People's Political Consultative Conference of China (CPPCC), which hold their annual meeting in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, had passionate so many people ...

Weibo on the site micro-blogging in China. Like Twitter, which is blocked in China, Weibo works by a hundred messages of characters - specifically, 140 ideograms. Launched by the portal Sina in 2009, the service has exploded, with nearly 100 million users. After humble beginnings in the 2010 edition of the two meetings, the Chinese Twitter cover this year's event a true pro: matters relating to the congress arrive daily at the beginning of the most debated topics on Weibo.

And the operator was careful to guide users: the "micro-expectations" and offers citizens a voice on everything that hinders their quest Minsheng, or "welfare", the new national goal the next five year plan, which members must vote Monday, March 14, is supposed to promote: we find the price of housing, employment, wages, congestion, retirement and lack of enrollment tongue.

"The interest of people to the conference via Weibo is a new phenomenon. It has become so large that it exceeds the private space and personal blog: it is well wide of a public space, making it an interesting step in building a civil society, "said Chang Liu, professor of information sciences at the University of Chinese media in Beijing.

A delegate to issue a proposal incongruous in debates or on its own Weibo (169 deputies of the NPC and 212 CPPCC members have opened, but they are tens to feed them), and users are mobilizing . Wednesday, 400,000 of them attacked the statements of Wang Ping, director of the Museum of Art in Beijing and minority member of the CPPCC.

It wishes to discourage rural children to go to university: the family into debt, children do not enter the village, and it is a tragedy. The blood of Internet users, whose social conscience is undeniable, has a beat: they tore the unhappy company. "And the children of executives who go abroad and do not want to be Chinese is not a greater tragedy that?" Quipped the micro-blogger Liyanx.

The gap between rich and poor is a favorite theme of micro-debates. And composition of the two assemblies is gently scandal since the party took care to co-opt the Chinese elite, the PNA welcomed into its ranks the greatest Chinese patterns, as Zeng Qinghou, the boss of Wahaha, the first capital of China , or Wang Jianlin, chairman of Wanda Group.

Is there not more billionaires than the U.S. Congress, commentators have pointed out, peeling Hurun list of richest Chinese? The CPPCC is filled with celebrities. "Long live Congress Renminbi, full of rich, celebrities, and executives of the party!" Joked qingqingboyuan. Please note that the outspokenness has limits: while MPs are expected to review the budget and vote, the funds allocated to the maintenance of "stability", that is to say for security forces and justice , exceeded for the first time this year the military budget.

Discussions on the subject disappeared from Weibo, and searching with the term "stability budget" gives the words: "There are no matches to the laws and rules." Some subjects, however, raise macro-micro-discussions: the case of the one-child policy. In its report presented Saturday, March 5 at the meeting, Premier Wen Jiabao for the first time mentioned a "gradual improvement" of family planning.

A signal: some members have renewed the call for a relaxation of the one-child policy. Sina immediately started a poll on March 7 Weibo: 83% of participants voted in favor of loosening the rules of family planning. The Micro-Democracy Will it change China? "It has nothing to do with democracy, even if Weibo exert some pressure of public opinion.

The power has also a little scared, but he listens to people's opinion only when it suits "said political scientist Zhang Ming, of Renmin University in Beijing. It must be said that both meetings have no real powers: most laws are passed by a standing committee of the ANP-dependent party.

The CPPCC, designed as a high consultative chamber, is "neither more nor less than a tea room," said Li Datong, a famous media executive dismissed a few years ago for criticizing censorship. It gives the illusion of free debate. Members are "puppets", he continues, that does not count in the decision process: "The day we have real members, then Weibo may be useful for communicating between voters and MPs!" Pedroletti @ bbc.

Brice en Pedroletti Article published in the edition of 12.03.11

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