China: Not Tweeting a Revolution

It seems premature, Anonymous speculated on February 20, for the Jasmine Revolution to spread to China. Although seen by some as a joke from the onset, Chinese Twitter users tweeted furiously for two weeks and created a stir the main result of which has been numerous arrests, assaults on journalists, and the 50 Cent Party‘s expansion onto Twitter. References to the Kaohsiung Incident have stopped.

So, are the people who feigned to stand up to the all-powerful Chinese authorities to demand freedom and democracy crazy, irrelevant, or just cowardly? Below are a number of tweets which represent much of the discussion leading up February 20, the first day of China's Twitter-based ‘Jasmine Revolution’.

February 16, before the initial anonymous call to gather had been made:

https://twitter.com/kielboat/status/37837151110434816
去年的研究即发现,推特已经成为当局统治的工具之一,用来收集异议者和社会活跃人士的言论和活动信息。所以,推特革命与推特统治是推特政治的两个方面。
7:34 PM Feb 16th

Research from last year discovered that Twitter has already become one of the main tools authorities use to maintain rule, collecting comments and information about activities from dissidents and social activists. Which is why Twitter revolutions and rule through Twitter are two sides to Twitter politics.

https://twitter.com/kielboat/status/37887037289799681
埃及之后,中国的互联网和社运将面临更艰险、诡谲的环境。光诚事件,禁乞事件,只是开始吧。
10:52 PM Feb 16th

Post-Egypt, China's activists and social movements face a tough and tricky environment. The Chen Guangcheng incident, banning beggars, these are just the beginning.

February 18, when the anonymous post had already appeared but was yet to receive much notice:

https://twitter.com/zeroyeung/status/38291154021777408
@myen 民主只需要8岁的智慧,另外需要不精明不世故,不被封建古文化污染的年轻的心,我想中国的民主可能最能依靠的是青年人了。据说90后很自私,我想自私是民主可能发生的最好原因.民主就是有效率的自私.
1:38 AM Feb 18th

Even an 8-year-old can understand democracy. You don't need to be clever or sophisticated, but you do need a young heart untainted by ancient feudal culture. The best chance for democracy in China rests with its young people. They say the Post-90s generation is selfish, but I think selfishness is one of the best reasons why democracy can occur. Democracy is just efficient selfishness.

https://twitter.com/startime/status/38528431352193024
我怎么觉得茉莉花革命有点像国宝为了经费编出来的呢?
5:21 PM Feb 18th

Why do I get the feeling that the Jasmine revolution was set up by the domestic security department as a way to up their funding?

February 19:

https://twitter.com/qiuqiuaibaozi/status/38811105337806848
明天茉莉花革命集会?谁发起的?感觉好莽撞都没有准备;至少该先攻占(技术攻占)电视台来蛊惑下大众效果会比较好吧
12:04 PM Feb 19th

Is there a Jasmine gathering tomorrow? Who initiated it? This all seems reckless and out of nowhere; at least we should first go storm the TV stations to confuse people, for better effect.

https://twitter.com/wentommy/status/38630103810310144
新浪脖友:有开枪的政府,不一定有跪倒的民众;有跪倒的民众,一定有开枪的政府。
12:05 AM Feb 19th

Sina Weiboer: The government will shoot, but that doesn't necessarily mean the people will kneel. However if the people do kneel, the government will definitely shoot.

https://twitter.com/wentommy/status/38631600128270336
一个决定对民众开枪的政府,不会制造冤案,只有赤裸裸的屠杀。
12:11 AM Feb 19th

A government which decides to shoot doesn't worry about injustice, it only worries about how to slaughter everyone.

https://twitter.com/cxzj/status/38813823561498624
当局因“中国茉莉花革命”消息攻击博讯网站纯属吃饱撑得,放开了传明天上街也都是去购物的。
12:15 PM Feb 19th

Authorities’ response to news of the “Chinese Jasmine Revolution”, attacking Boxun, is totally useless. Even if they were to just let the news spread, everyone on the streets tomorrow will still all be shoppers.

https://twitter.com/cxzj/status/38816438282240000
中国现在根本就不具备“茉莉花革命”的群众思想基础,你连大学生在学校里“罢灶”的革命都掀不起来,哪来的革命?空喊“革命”只能损害异议群体自己本来已经不多的公信力。
12:25 PM Feb 19th

The Chinese public today isn't anywhere close to having the ideological foundation required for a “Jasmine revolution”. Chinese university students today can't even be bothered to cross the street to avoid the canteen food they won't stop complaining about, so forget about any revolution. Shouting “revolution” only hurts the dissident community which was already lacking in credibility to begin with.

https://twitter.com/startime/status/38829181391478785
说实话,所谓的茉莉花革命,越看越像经费行动
1:16 PM Feb 19th

To be honest, this so-called Jasmine revolution is looking more and more like a funding fishing expedition.

https://twitter.com/startime/status/38832689306013696
作为国宝,发动革命宣传攻势不仅可以增加收入,而且可以对上说这是“狼来了”的战术,多次虚假革命消息可以让反动分子不相信任何革命消息。

1:30 PM Feb 19th
For the domestic security department, launching a revolution propaganda blitz would not only up their income, but they could just as easily turn and claim ‘crying wolf’ tactics, that repetition of fake revolution news would make reactionaries stop believing all information about any revolution.

https://twitter.com/zuola/status/38838373128863744
什么 茉莉花革命 啊,又是山寨版。抄袭国外模式,抄完google、facebook、youtube、twitter,现在又抄groupon、quora,连人家诺贝尔和平奖和茉莉花革命也要抄,哪个热闹抄哪个。什么时候抄全民选举啊。
1:52 PM Feb 19th

What ‘Jasmine revolution'? Just more shanzhai. People copying everything from overseas, Google, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, now even Groupon, quora. People are even plagiarizing the Nobel Peace prize and the Jasmine Revolution. Whatever gets any attention gets copied. How long until we start plagiarizing nationwide elections?

https://twitter.com/FreeManchuria/status/38842672173027328
以后茉莉花革命这种网上动员可以常搞,上不上街不要紧,网上一放话,土共就着急,就紧张,就严阵以待,就气急败坏,过个把月搞一次,让土共惶惶不可终日。他要是时间长了习惯了放松了警惕,就干一票真格的!
2:09 PM Feb 19th

Online mobilizations like this Jasmine Revolution should be a regular thing, it doesn't matter if people take to the street or not. The second the call goes online, the CCP gets jumpy, then nervous, then goes into battle mode, then flustered. It should happen every month until the Commies can't calm back down. If it goes on long enough, they'll get used to it and drop their guard, and then it'll be time for the real thing!

https://twitter.com/messagerl/status/38882885540777984
中国能不能发生“茉莉花革命”不在于群众有没有这个思想基础,而是要有信仰基础。我们这个没有信仰的民族,没有“革命”,只有“起义”。“革命”是在有信仰的基础上对社会制度强烈的变革要求;”起义”是因吃不饱,穿不暖而对进行的反抗,谁打江山谁做主。
4:49 PM Feb 19th

Whether or not a “Jasmine Revolution” will take place in China has nothing to do with the ideological foundation of the public, but whether or not they fundamentally believe in what it stands for. We're a faithless nation, there will be no “revolution”, only “uprising”. Revolutions are when people with fundamental beliefs make strong demands for change in the social system. Revolutions, on the other hand, take place when people revolt because they can't feed themselves or keep themselves warm. You only get to call the shots once you seize political power.

https://twitter.com/wentommy/status/38885990433034240
一个把枪口对准民众的政府,自己先变成了鬼。
5:01 PM Feb 19th

Any government which points its guns at its own people is already a ghost.

https://twitter.com/higuain1984/status/38900730425389056
昨晚算计了一下如果真发生革命或经济崩溃时我的处境会如何,结论是对我一点好处都没有,我们家难以出国,会更惨。
6:00 PM Feb 19th

Last night I thought for a bit about where I would be if there were a revolution or if the economy were to collapse. My conclusion is that there isn't a single thing in it for me. For those of us who can't just up and leave the country, it'd be even worse.

https://twitter.com/zsjiangjun/status/38925497626796032
明天的”茉莉花之约”持续发酵,百度的众多贴吧都相继进入无敌状态。这反而让更多的人开始从研究贴吧为何开无敌进而开始研究“茉莉花之约”,虽然我也认为这次约会来得太过仓促,但看起来也未必是见坏事。
7:38 PM Feb 19th

Tomorrow's “Jasmine Revolution” keeps brewing; one by one, Baidu topic threads keep shutting it down. Though, in doing so, Baidu has led people to go from questioning why to wondering just what Jasmine is all about. Even though I think everything Jasmine so far hasn't been thought through very well, this perhaps isn't necessarily a bad thing.

https://twitter.com/wenyunchao/status/38925305091457024
茉莉花開不開不知道,倒是我觀察當局如何進行信息管制和封鎖的好機會,除了斷網,能使的手段也就今天這樣了吧。
7:38 PM Feb 19th

I have no idea where Jasmine will blossom, but I do find this a good opportunity to observe authorities’ response of implementing information lockdown measures. Barring shutting off the Internet, what we've seen today is about all they can do.

https://twitter.com/zsjiangjun/status/38925986640695296
所以我希望,对此次约会有想法的朋友,可以用一些比较温和的词语来加以描述,以便跃过障碍。比如说“茉莉花之约”、“相约茉莉花”,希望有才的朋友们能够组合出更多有创意的词汇。
7:40 PM Feb 19th

So I'm hoping, people with ideas about this thing can try describing using more moderate language, perhaps as a way to get around keyword blocks. For example, instead of ‘Jasmine Day’, they could try something like “a date with Jasmine”. I think people with more imagination can come up with more creative descriptions.

https://twitter.com/jason5ng32/status/38928538715422720
明天是否有中国版茉莉花革命没人知道,但看到今天政府的各种行动,它们就是热锅上的蚂蚁。
7:51 PM Feb 19th

Nobody knows if China's Jasmine Revolution is about to unfold tomorrow, but just looking at the government's various responses, they definitely are ants in a frying pan now.

https://twitter.com/wenyunchao/status/38934699170729984
突然就到身邊了,突然就含苞待放了,突然就零距離了。
8:15 PM Feb 19th

Suddenly, it arrives. Suddenly, it's about to bloom. Suddenly, it's all round us.

https://twitter.com/noooo0000/status/38941869522157568
有人在拼命论证茉莉花革命不成呢^_^我笑了。 Rt @lihlii2 @noooo0000 茉莉花革命成功已成定局。哈哈,连奴才《明报》都报道了。
8:43 PM Feb 19th

People are frantically trying to rationalize why a Jasmine Revolution won't happen. ^_^ Gotta laugh. RT @lihlii2 @noooo0000: The Jasmine Revolution is a sure thing, even flunky paper Ming Pao has reported on it.

https://twitter.com/lihlii2/status/38943478410907648
@noooo0000 一个明显的正面效果,是把“革命”这个词,和中共国的现实联系起来了。就算你是反革命,只要谈论革命问题,那就已经是进步了。哈哈
8:50 PM Feb 19th

@noooo0000 One obvious effect has been to make “revolution” a reality for the CCP. Even if you yourself are against the revolution, just discussing the question of revolutions is progress in itself. Haha.

https://twitter.com/leewua/status/38944535463735296
传说中的茉莉花革命,谁看了都像笑话,可是让官方如此恐惧,看来他们之前内心中就已经很恐惧了。RT @zokio: 茉莉溜土共的喜剧效果,堪比2000多年前的烽火戏诸侯,俺像褒姒一般地笑了。
8:54 PM Feb 19th

This rumored Jasmine Revolution, everyone's just treating it like a joke. But with the way it's made authorities so terrified, it appears they've been terrified for quite some time already. RT @zokio: Jasmine sure has had quite a comic effect on the Commies, even has me laughing like the concubine Baosi.

https://twitter.com/leewua/status/38945087572410368
据说警察都累得像小狗一样,都忙不开了。茉莉花革命的玩笑让那些非法占有权利的强盗们恐惧的不得了,他们知道他们手里的权利是根本不应该是他们的, 强盗最怕别人把自己手中的东西又抢走。RT @nuochan: 每个月搞一次茉莉花集结,一年之后警察和国宝就该成我们的人了
8:56 PM Feb 19th

From the sound of it, police must tired like dogs by now, they just can't keep up. This Jasmine Revolution joke has those illegitimate power bandits completely freaked out. They know the authority they hold doesn't belong to them, and the one thing bandits fear most is people snatching things out of their grasp. RT @nuochan: If there was a Jasmine assembly every month, a year from now the police and domestic security agents would be on our side.

https://twitter.com/wufake/status/38947230731739136
一朵虚拟的茉莉花,尽然惊动了党中央。
9:05 PM Feb 19th

A virtual jasmine flower, scared the crap out of the Party Central Committee.

https://twitter.com/Toxsch/status/38954427368873984
网上热传茉莉花革命,本来只是觉得大概又是一种行为艺术,不打算去掺和,熟料今天茉莉花就成了敏感词了。好吧,既然政府这么重视这次行动,不参加多浪费已经被花掉的维稳费用啊。明天一定去围观!
9:33 PM Feb 19th

The Jasmine Revolution is hot online, I kept thinking it was just another piece of performance art. Then today Jasmine became a banned sensitive keyword. Fine, if the government is taking this so seriously, to not take part now would be a major waste of Stability Office money. Tomorrow I'm definitely going to check it out!

https://twitter.com/wenyunchao/status/38961468103852032
目前來看,當局的應對手段,一是嚴密封鎖境內網站防止消息傳播,二是嚴密監控重點活躍人士。流傳中的集會地點現場現在有沒有加強戒備還沒有消息。
10:01 PM Feb 19th

From the look of it, authorities have responded in two ways: first, by heavily blocking any spread of the news on mainland websites; second, by heavily cracking down on activists. Still waiting to hear if barriers are being set up at sites of the planned locations being spread around.

https://twitter.com/majunspace/status/38964340308578304
茉莉花的价值在于她喊了一声,狼来了,,,,,
10:13 PM Feb 19th

The Jasmine Flower's importance is that the first time she cried out, the wolf showed up…..

https://twitter.com/wangningnick/status/38967728639442944
为什么要用茉莉花?不如改用玫瑰花,并把所有的情侣都发展成运动成员,最糟不过是政府把把情人节禁了,也是个不错的结果
10:26 PM Feb 19th

Why are we using Jasmine Flower? Why not Rose? Then all lovers can help further the movement. The worst part of that would be that the government would ban Valentine's Day, which actually wouldn't be so bad an outcome.

https://twitter.com/liulen/status/38969929692610560
满眼尽是茉莉花…可是这恐怕是一场梦吧!他国能用网络革命,我们却总被网络忽悠。刚刚接到在青岛北海舰队任副营的哥们电话,说明天可能在各地出现类似法轮功的活动,劝我远离…我只能劝他不用紧张…你们上级被忽悠了!
10:35 PM Feb 19th

Jasmine flowers everywhere….too bad this is all one big dream! Other countries are having Internet revolutions, but our Internet just gets used against us. I just got a call from my boy who's a deputy commander in the navy up in Beihai, Qingdao. He says things might happen tomorrow like Falun Gong activities, told me to stay away. All I could do was tell him not to be nervous…and that his superiors got punked.

https://twitter.com/xiaocao07/status/38971167721132032
茉莉成了高危花种,明天茶室要不要禁销茉莉?莫谈国事,莫喝茉莉,一朵小花疯魔一个国家,盛世中国新型疫病:恐花症
10:40 PM Feb 19th

The Jasmine has become an endangered species. Are we going to find all Jasmine tea banned from officies tomorrow? No politics allowed, no Jasmine allowed either. A tiny flower has made an entire country go berserk, a new epidemic for a prosperous China: anthophobia.

https://twitter.com/jason5ng32/status/38972423248289792
每次有什么风吹草动,就让微博审查人员加班加点,真灭绝人性。
10:45 PM Feb 19th

Every time any little breeze comes along, microblog censors all have to work overtime. Savages.

https://twitter.com/2011u/status/38975329997430784
声东击西是草泥们比较喜欢的一个策略.在对方的武装力量有限的情况下,草泥马们的人数优势可以充分发挥出来..网上放风大家都去人民广场.政府部署2000武警封锁广场.但是不知道拿个人说,大家去电视台,于是草泥马们占领了到电视台..宣布革命成功.呵呵,意淫一下
10:56 PM Feb 19th

Faking a left, going right, that's one of the favorite moves of the Grass Mud Horse. With its opponent limited in armed force options, the grass mud horse's power in numbers can be played to full advantage…by posting online that everyone will be going to People's Plaza. Then the government deploys 2,000 military police to seal off the plaza. What they didn't expect is that someone would make the call to head to the TV tower, which is where the grass mud horses went, and occupied the TV tower…to declare the revolution a success. Hehe, just having fun.

https://twitter.com/jieaodeheipi/status/38985277275901952
紧急通知:明天茉莉花活动的时间提前到今晚24点,地点改为各大城市主要干道上的加油站,排队的都是自己人!
11:36 PM Feb 19th

Emergency notice: The time for tomorrow's Jasmine activity has been pushed up to midnight tonight. Location: Every gas station on every major road in every major city. Everyone lined up is on our side!

https://twitter.com/huyong/status/38988441538666496
今日凌晨接到新浪微博小秘书通知:最近形势紧张,请您少发或不发国外骚乱信息,特告知!/中国的事情很有意思,国外有了情况,一律呼之为骚乱;国内有了情况,绝不能叫骚乱,那叫群体性事件。
11:49 PM Feb 19th

A notice this morning from the Sina Weibo secretary bot: Given the recent tense situation, please refrain from posting news of foreign riots. You've been informed! //Everything is so interesting in China. Some things happen outside the country, and they all become riots. Things happen inside the country, but never get called riots. Those are called mass incidents.

https://twitter.com/wufake/status/38989551678529536
感觉党中央对茉莉花的敏感度已经不亚于炸药奖和河蟹宴。
11:53 PM Feb 19th

Thank you to the Party Central Committee for making Jasmine Flowers just as sensitive as the Nobel Peace Prize or Ai Weiwei's crab feast.

February 20, the day of the initial gatherings:

https://twitter.com/cxzj/status/38991198236577792
看起来这次“革命”的直接后果是一堆人被喝茶,一堆微博账号被删,一堆推特客户端被墙,而国内微博也将迎来更严厉的管控——而99.9%的国内民众对这次“伤亡惨重”的“革命”闻所未闻。
12:00 AM Feb 20th

It seems the direct result of this “revolution” has been that a bunch of people have been called out for tea, a bunch of microblog accounts have been deleted, a bunch of Twitter 3rd party clients have been blocked, and microblogs are under heavier controls than they ever have before—and, 99.9% of the mainland public haven't heard a thing about this “heavy casualty revolution”.

https://twitter.com/mottled_shadow/status/39007864739598336
@XY5 现在这帮明珠斗士除了嘴炮根本就搞不出什么把戏,明天的散步也不会有什么效果,因为现在国内的矛盾还没尖锐到不革命就不能活下去的地步
1:06 AM Feb 20th

Spouting off at the mouth aside, this bunch of pro-democracy warriors are empty-handed. Tomorrow's march won't have any effect, because conflicts on the mainland aren't yet acute enough where revolution is the only way for people to go on with their lives.

https://twitter.com/analysiser/status/39020621065240576
但愿今天的活动顺利,希望能和平地示威游行,希望共产党党卫军不要开枪,希望没有伤亡,希望中国能变好!茉莉花革命也好,牡丹花革命也好,希望能开启中国宪政、民主、自由的新时代。#jasmine #China #JasmineRevolution
1:56 AM Feb 20th

I hope today goes well. I hope the rally is peaceful. I hope the CCP's own SS doesn't start shooting. I hope there are no deaths. I hope China can change for the better! Call it the Jasmine Revolution or the Peony Revolution, all I hope is that it heralds a new era for the constitution, democracy and freedom in China.

https://twitter.com/wenyunchao/status/39022167660302336
五毛還是辛勤工作,就像是魔術師在當著早知道他底細的觀眾在表演,看著都累得慌。
2:03 AM Feb 20th

The 50 Cent Party sure are working hard, like a magician working a crowd that sees through all his tricks, and the audience is bored to death.

https://twitter.com/HeQinglian/status/39099233533558784
中共当局的内心脆弱,于此次应对20日网上流传的“茉莉花革命”可见一斑。正所谓“网上一帖流传,中共心惊胆战”,高压维稳能得逞于一时,不能得计于长远。如此杯弓蛇影、风声鹤唳,还不如趁早还权于民。
7:09 AM Feb 20th

Once can see how vulnerable the CCP authorities are from their response to news of the Feb. 20 “Jasmine Revolution” floating around the Internet. So apparently frightened because of one post being spread around just shows that heavy-handed stability measures may placate them for now, but won't hold up for long. Such paranoia, they'd be better off just giving people their rights back, and soon.

https://twitter.com/HeQinglian/status/39118126352171008
对220茉莉花革命的一点感想:此次事件可谓“一条推文引发的维稳高潮”。某推友鼠标一点,中共维稳费用如海水一样哗哗流走。因成本太高,不太象是中共“烽火戏诸侯”。但如此后隔三岔五来上这么一次,各级政府最后对此视同“狼来了”,维稳前景也不大妙。
8:24 AM Feb 20th

A thought on this Feb. 20 Jasmine Revolution, you could say that a single tweet triggered this flood of stability efforts. With one Twitter user's single click, the CCP's stability maintenance costs surged like a tsunami. But given the high costs, it wouldn't appear the CCP is fooling around. But if this keeps up, when government departments at every level finally realize that it was a prank call, things won't look good for stability maintenance efforts.

https://twitter.com/fansy/status/39146389116166144
我觉得如果中国现在革命了,经济崩溃,到底对百姓有什么好处呢?何况那些命运分子除了抱怨似乎不大会治理国家啊。你们怎么也要有治理国家的能力再谈翻身做主人吧?要不然不就是搞破坏么?
10:16 AM Feb 20th

I think that if China has a revolution now, and the economy collapses, what good will that do for the average citizen? In any event, aside from complaining, these revolutionaries don't seem to have any idea about running a country. If you want to seize power but lack any ability to run a country, aren't you just being destructive?

https://twitter.com/cxzj/status/39152546459291648
所谓“中国茉莉花革命”实际就是一次2B挑逗精神病的无聊行动,后果是一堆无关群众和花花草草因精神病发作被误伤。
10:41 AM Feb 20th

This so-called “Chinese Jasmine Revolution” in reality is just some moron instigating some psychopaths to take some stupid actions. The result will be that a bunch of innocent people and everything around us will end up getting hurt by these psychos.

https://twitter.com/even5435/status/39163284733173760
中国永远不会发生颜色革命,这是中国人的本质决定的:没有信仰、没有公德心、没有正义感、没有对自由的热切向往、没有身为奴隶的耻辱感,有的只是贪婪、狡黠、自私自利、蝇营狗苟、追腥逐臭,所以这片神奇的土地上什么花都开不了,只能是一起毁灭、黄祸。
11:23 AM Feb 20th

China will never see a color revolution, the character of the Chinese people guarantees it: no faith, no sense of social morality, no sense of justice, no desire to gain freedom, no sense of shame for their servitude, only avarice, deceit, self-serving, short-sighted greed and decadence, which is why no flowers will be opening on this mystical piece of land. Only self-destruction awaits it, yellow peril.

https://twitter.com/yinxingongzi/status/39163648790233088
现在很怀疑这个神马花革命就是那些反民主的推友搞的,目的就是想推上的民主人士都被喝茶,他们就好偷着乐鸟~
11:25 AM Feb 20th

I'm starting to think that this flower revolution was actually started by some anti-democratic types on Twitter, their goal being to get the pro-democracy types in trouble with the police, which they managed to do so well…

https://twitter.com/inntran/status/39175064259665920
报告首长,今天Twitter精神病院里民主斗士和往常一样,继续YY,一切正常,形势都在我们掌握之中。钓鱼贴已逐渐显示其威力,特别适合这群爱“独立思考”的精神病人群,起到了引蛇出洞的良好效果。//刚从别人电话里听到的。
12:10 PM Feb 20th

Executive report: The pro-democracy warriors in the Twitter psychiatric hospital are acting normal, talking gibberish; as usual, nothing we can't handle. Bait threads are gradually proving their worth, particularly among these “independent thinking” psychos; the plan to draw the snakes out of their holes has been executed perfectly. //OH, via someone else's phone call.

https://twitter.com/harrygg/status/39178438002753536
“@FifthDimen: 据说,茉莉花革命这一天,主要是警察、便衣及熊猫们上街聚会。”
12:24 PM Feb 20th

RT @FifthDimen: Apparently today is the Jasmine Revolution, mostly just police, undercovers and domestic security agents gathering in a rally.

https://twitter.com/shixb90/status/39178709101453312
转自我同学:这次茉莉花革命的幕后黑手绝对是肯德基,希望通过茉莉花,成功做掉在王府井的麦当劳总部!
12:25 PM Feb 20th

Via my classmate: The mastermind behind this Jasmine Revolution is definitely KFC, which hopes to use Jasmine to knock its competitor McDonald's right out of Wangfujing!

https://twitter.com/meirushui/status/39184378709934080
即使国内的青年人不怕死,他们的父母也不准孩子去参加牡丹花革命。因为老年人认为,自己的退休金还得靠共产党发,如果中共垮台,他们的生活没着落了。何况二三十岁的青壮年中,一大部分是独生子女,父母一代人还得靠他们照顾。
12:47 PM Feb 20th

Even if mainland youth aren't afraid to die, their parents still won't let their kids go take part in the Peony Revolution. The way the older generation see it, their pensions come from the Communist Party, and if it goes down, so do their lives. Also, the majority of people in their 20s an 30s were single children, their parents still need them to take care of them.

https://twitter.com/cn220/status/39184471370629120
很多人说中国不具备革命的基础,但看看这两天当局的反应就知道现在是什么情况了,当局对形势掌握得更加清楚。
12:48 PM Feb 20th

Many people say China isn't ready for a revolution, but you can see what the situation is just by looking at the response by authorities these past two days. Authorities have a much clearer idea of what the situation is.

https://twitter.com/Jessy_Dior/status/39196396187820032
苹果日报今天要闻是“中国茉莉✿革命,解放军严正以待”,笑死我了,其实我想说99%的人压根不知道,我们的报禁、互联网监管制度还是很有成效的。
1:35 PM Feb 20th

Top news in today's Apple Daily is “China's Jasmine Revolution, the People's Liberation Army waiting on standby”, made me laugh to death. Actually I think 99% of people have no idea about this, press restrictions and Internet censorship are still just too effective.

https://twitter.com/jk4tt/status/39200033823924224
很好玩,茉莉花革命日,全国警察熊猫都上街散步了。
1:49 PM Feb 20th

This is fun, the Jasmine Revolution is today and the entire country's police and domestic security agents are marching on the street.

https://twitter.com/taotaochong/status/39206836305395712
“目前社会上有一些境外不法分子到处非法集会,请各位同学一定要提高警惕,不相信谣言,不传播谣言,不要围观,不参与各类集会以免给你们带来不必要的麻烦。”选自本人收到的新学期开学通知
2:16 PM Feb 20th

“Certain foreign illegal elements within society are now going around assembling illegally. All classmates must be more vigilant, refrain from spreading rumor or stopping to watch, and must not participate in any form of gathering so as to avoid entanglement in trouble of any sort.” From a class notice we received for the new semester.

https://twitter.com/lymikko/status/39207039456645120
作为一个整天发生活推的人,想说如果你把自己生活过的不好归罪于国家体缺问题,并寄托于xx革命,那还是算了吧。我等老百姓最怕这种小人得志的人。我个人希望致力于国家体制完善的人应当是艾未未这种目的单纯,为了完善体制,暴露体制问题而做些实践的工作。
2:17 PM Feb 20th

As someone who only tweets about my life all day, I think that if you blame the bad things in your life on the nation's flaws, and from that would turn to revolution, I say forget about it. The thing average people like myself fear most are losers like that taking control. I would rather see people with pure motives like Ai Weiwei working to better the country's system, people who do practical work to fix the violent system, to improve the system.

https://twitter.com/wufake/status/39217068851077120
茉莉花革命的博讯文章很有可能是官方自行炮制的,为的是进行一次包括党、政军在内的实兵演练。
2:57 PM Feb 20th

The Jasmine Revolution post on Boxun might have been planted by authorities, as a reason for the Party and the military to carry out field exercises.

https://twitter.com/cxzj/status/39217685585854464
这一次无厘头的“狼来了革命”不但不会让当局对微博客和社交网络的传播动员能力脱敏,相反,会让他们更加警惕。接下来将是对国内各微博更严厉的管制,而GFW也将越筑越高。
2:59 PM Feb 20th

This silly “cry wolf revolution” will not only not desensitize authorities to microblogs and social networking sites being used to mobilize people, rather the opposite, making them even more on guard than they were. Next will be to step up controls on domestic microblogs, and build the Great Firewall of China even higher.

https://twitter.com/jason5ng32/status/39218211719352320
前几天有报道说中国将有茉莉花行动时,我认为那肯定是假的,事实上直到现在我都认为那是个笑话。想不到有人会当真,并做出最高戒备。事情是被政府的紧张感弄假成真的。
3:02 PM Feb 20th

A couple days ago when news appeared about a Jasmine Revolution action in China, I thought for sure it was fake. In fact up until now I thought it was a stupid joke. I didn't expect that people would take it seriously and go on high alert. The government's nervousness is what made this fake thing come true.

https://twitter.com/daxa/status/39218580490813440
希望裆中央政府理性看待“茉莉花儿”,正确对待广大追求自由、公平和正义的“人民群众”,不要盲目使用军队、警察、冲锋枪、坦克车对待手无寸铁、持无论神马花儿的民众。国保、警察、军队不要盲目对民众使用暴力,开枪杀人也许适合毛时代邓时代,但不适合你,因为这不是你个人的时代,杀人要偿命的。
3:03 PM Feb 20th

I hope the central government deals with “Jasmine” rationally, treats “the masses” who seek freedom and justice fair and square, not instead blindly dispatching the army, police, water cannons and tanks against the unarmed. Domestic security agents, police and soldiers should use wanton violent against crowds; shooting to kill is something that belongs back in the Mao era, not with you now, because this era is not just all about you. Killing people comes with a price.

https://twitter.com/xazei/status/39220489037549568
中午便衣男(疑似国保)说,他4点就上班了,就是为了防范今天有人上街扰乱社会秩序。你要认识到你转贴的后果,这是很严重的政治问题,谈什么不好,在网上谈政治,能有什么用。好好珍惜你的工作,别谈政治。
3:11 PM Feb 20th

This afternoon an undercover (domestic security, I suppose) officer said he starts work at 4am, just to stop people from coming on the streets and disrupting social order. He said I should realize the consequences of retweeting, that this is a serious political issue, that making criticisms or talking politics online are useless. He said I should treasure my work, stay away from politics.

https://twitter.com/Pengxiaoyun/status/39223169445265408
如果一个社会被各种粗鄙价值观裹挟,那么,其中年长而手握资源的社会成员,往往易成为既得利益者而不愿意放手,不愿意“知错就改”。基于此,也许今天要发出一种不同的声音:中年智则国智,中年富则国富,中年强则国强,中年独立则国独立,中年自由则国自由,中年进步则国进步!
3:21 PM Feb 20th

When a society gets swamped down by lowly values, then it inevitably becomes easy for those older members of society with vested interests to wind up as stakeholders in those values, unwilling to let go or admit their mistakes. Therefore, perhaps another sort of voice should be heard today: a country is only as intelligent as its elders, and a country only as strong as its elders; independent elders make for an independent country, just like free elders make for a free country. A country progresses along with its elders!

https://twitter.com/wufake/status/39224481474035713
昨日上午境外网站关于“茉莉花革命”的信息,当日晚间警方就开始集中行动,今日更是大费周章,按照以往的经验,官方反应不可能这么迅速敏捷,唯一的可能就是“茉莉花革命”的本身就是官方自行制造,通过这一大规模实兵演练制造恐怖气氛和对未来的不确定情况防范于未然。
3:26 PM Feb 20th

Yesterday news appeared on a foreign website of a “Jasmine Revolution”; by nightfall, police had already launched into action. Today was even worse. Based on past experience, the response by authorities will be neither quick nor subtle, therefore the only inevitable possibility is that the “Jasmine Revolution” will be of authorities’ own making, through their creation of a climate of fear by means of a large-scale military response as well as preventative measures aimed at their own uncertain future.

https://twitter.com/RebelZhao/status/39225020798607360
@quarterback123 从来都是只要在北上广深搞倒,全国就定了~现在的经济形势就是这样~茉莉花革命只能在北上广深这样的地方搞~才能引起最大的效果~然后其他地方就可以了~
3:29 PM Feb 20th

All you need is to take Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, and then the country is won. Given the current economic situation, this is still true. For maximum effect, the Jasmine Revolution can only be carried out in these cities…and then other places will follow…

https://twitter.com/wenyunchao/status/39227300696436736
這次折騰,最惱火的應該是中宣部國新辦,辛辛苦苦封鎖北非中東革命的消息,警方這么大張旗鼓一折騰,經過咱們愛八卦的民眾口耳相傳什麽的,豈不是馬上街知巷聞?
3:38 PM Feb 20th

The most aggravated right now is probably the Central Propaganda Dept. and the State Council Information Office, working overtime trying to block any news about the MENA revolutions. With the overkill response from police, plus our public love of gossip, everyone will know what's going on in no time.

https://twitter.com/LoveHideMe/status/39236336380674048
哎,猛宣传茉莉花,但终究只有这里的人看到,有意思吗?需要宣传的是不能来这的人。既然这么想革命,有可行的计划吗?有团队吗?下一朵茉莉花,切忌鲁莽。
4:14 PM Feb 20th

Aye, everyone's talking about Jasmine like crazy, but if it's only us who wind up hearing about it, what's the point? The people who need to hear about it are the one's who can't get here on Twitter. And with people talking about a revolution, is there even a viable plan? A group? Let's hope this next stage of the Jasmine revolution isn't just a reckless mad rush.

https://twitter.com/Pangoo/status/39236448653819904
今天一场“茉莉花革命”闹剧,动用了多少党国的维稳经费,又浪费了多少纳税人的钱。 #CN0220
4:14 PM Feb 20th

How much of the Party state Stability budget went into today's farce of a “Jasmine revolution”? How much taxpayer money was wasted?

https://twitter.com/Jessy_Dior/status/39237560345567232
今天极限也接到上级主管部门的通知了,公安部要求屏蔽一系列词汇,貌似也没看到今天有什么动静,严查期为20日,可怜死了好多API,这又是何必呢
4:18 PM Feb 20th

Today our company also received notice from the higher-up management department, the Public Security Bureau wants us to filter out a long list of words, but there doesn't seem to be anything going on today. Inspections are for the 20th, and so many poor APIs got killed off, I just don't see the point.

https://twitter.com/79Ting/status/39239994707156992
新浪微博真的开始限制功能了,随之而来的满屏幕原本不关心时事的人在互相问:出什么大事儿了?
4:28 PM Feb 20th

Sina Weibo really has started censoring functions, and now my screen is full of people who usually pay no attention to current events asking each other: did something big happen today?

https://twitter.com/79Ting/status/39243321486491648
越来越觉得这事儿像是哪个有理想有抱负的四有新人,为了报复请他喝茶的国宝而发动的恶作剧。
4:41 PM Feb 20th

I have this growing feeling that this is just a practical joke some ambitious young idealist decided to play on the Domestic Security Department as revenge for inviting him out to drink tea.

https://twitter.com/kafeiyanlei2010/status/39247292770955264
新浪微薄都不能发图片和连接了,原来的搜索框也没有了,难道是怕有人闹革命
4:57 PM Feb 20th

I can't upload photos or post links to Sina Weibo now, and even the search box is gone. Are they seriously afraid there's going to be a revolution?

https://twitter.com/zishe0/status/39251760396763136
甭管这一次是不是鸟贼们故意演习,吃饱饭没吃饱饭的人们每周上街散一次步,无组织无纪律无口号无标语,花开不革命,锻炼身体,很不错。有人担心浪费纳税人的钱,那钱,有没有这些事情他们都收走的,不用在这儿,也花不到你头上。
5:15 PM Feb 20th

Forget whether or not this is some performance put on by morons, or that there's no organization, no discipline, no slogans or message, it's still good for the comfortable and the starving alike to get out on the street once a week to get some exercise. People are worried this is a waste of taxpayer money, but come one, that money was going to be theirs whether this was happening or not. And even if that money wasn't being spent on this, it still definitely wouldn't be spent on you.

https://twitter.com/crimethink/status/39260602941706240
下次可以用蔬菜,比花好找多了,比如人手一片白菜叶子。RT @mozhixu: 话说这次的茉莉花行为艺术还是有破绽的,二月间哪里去找茉莉花嘛,唉,现在的都市青年看来都没养过花嘛。
5:50 PM Feb 20th

Next time they should choose a vegetable, much easier to find than flowers. Can you imagine everyone carrying around bok choy leaves? RT @mozhixu: Anyway, this Jasmine Revolution performance art wasn't going anywhere: you can't find Jasmine Flowers in the middle of February. Aye, city kids these days know nothing about floriculture.

https://twitter.com/engengpu/status/39257095182221312
警察说即使玩笑,也要当回事。我笑说:可能一大帮警察去了,发现有一大帮警察在那儿,互相以为是网友扮的,就打起来了。这就是茉莉花革命。警苦笑。
5:36 PM Feb 20th

The police officer said that even if this is a joke, it's still being taken seriously. I laughed and said: You might get a bunch of police heading there only to discover another bunch of police already there, all dressed up as netizens. If they start fighting, then you get your Jasmine revolution. The officer gave a bitter smile.

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