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John Kennedy

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About John Kennedy

740 posts · joined 2006-03-23

Former amateur renderer of racy Chinese poems, documentary subtitler, translator of half a spy novel, (cyber-)activist, Internet censorship researcher and GVO Chinese Language Editor. Now when I'm not writing for GVO, I spend most of my time thinking about Internet culture, civic identity, political technology and whatever's hot on Twitter.

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Stories

October 7th, 2009

China: Plenty of trash to burn

As landfills run out of space and NIMBY protests occur across China, the number of trash incineration plants has increased in step. With one such plant planned for a densely-populated residential area in Guangzhou, locals have plenty of heated words for authorities.

September 25th, 2009

East Asia

Beijing-based Twitter user Maggie Rauch had her camera ready when her local Xinjiang food restaurant exploded on Friday morning. “Could feel the explosion from my apartment,” she writes on her Twitpic of the blast. “Some of the guys who work there standing outside.” One week remains until the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

September 24th, 2009

China: Is Bo Xilai's corruption crackdown good for China?

"Who can ensure that the impartial and incorruptible anti-corruption heroes of today, with their unrestricted power, won't end up on the same path as their predecessors tomorrow?"

September 9th, 2009

China: Considering Han chauvinism

"Within the ranks of CCP cadres, it's not only ethnic minorities who have been deprived of their religious rights, but the Han majority too...As a Han born and raised in China, we really don't see any so-called Han chauvinism!"

September 8th, 2009

East Asia

Activist Tan Zuoren, little-known outside China, is the inspiration for a new documentary from artist Ai Weiwei and his Sugar Jar posse. Featuring civil rights lawyers Liu Xiaoyuan and Pu Zhiqiang, Chinese netizens have since begun transcribing and translating subtitles for the film.

September 6th, 2009

China: Are syringe attacks terrorism?

Fresh protests broke out in Xinjiang this week following news that Uighurs had been attacking people with syringe needles. Is this terrorism? Why resort to a tactic like this? Just some of the questions being asked of the autonomous region, still disconnected from the Internet after two months.