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\f0\fs24 \cf2 (Image source: {\field{\*\fldinst{HYPERLINK "http://www.scmp.com/comment/blogs/article/1121880/southern-weekends-moment-reckoning"}}{\fldrslt
\cf3 \ul \ulc3 Sina Weibo / South China Morning Post}})\
\ \
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\b \cf2 BY ZACH TOOMBS \b0 \
\ \
A show of resistance Monday against China\'92s tight grip on its journalists. A relatively
progressive Chinese newspaper, Southern Weekend, is on strike and drawing public support after
saying \'93no\'94 to state censorship.\ \
Southern Weekend staffers say almost 20 articles in each edition of their weekly paper are
regularly revised by Communist Party censors. But it was a New Year\'92s Day editorial about
political reform \'97\'a0entirely rewritten by Guangdong Province propaganda chief Tuo
Zhen that prompted protest. [Video: {\field{\*\fldinst{HYPERLINK "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0fI_cpFaJk"}}{\fldrslt
\cf3 \ul \ulc3 NTDTV}}]\ \
The {\field{\*\fldinst{HYPERLINK "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-20911823"}}{\fldrslt \cf3 \ul \ulc3 BBC\'92s}} Martin Patience
reports from outside the Southern Weekend\'92s offices in Guangzhou.\
\
\b \'93Now, this strike is significant, because It\'92s believed to be the first strike of
its kind among staff from a major Chinese newspaper in over 20 years.\'94
\b0 \ \
As the {\field{\*\fldinst{HYPERLINK "http://www.scmp.com/comment/blogs/article/1121880/southern-weekends-moment-reckoning"}}{\fldrslt \cf3 \ul \ulc3 South China Morning Post}}
shows, public supporters gathered outside the paper\'92s office with signs calling for
the propaganda chief\'92s resignation and with flowers \'97 white and yellow chrysanthemums,
to be exact, flowers meant to symbolize mourning. In a sign of the times, photos posted to China\'92s
Sina Weibo microblog site showed crowds of protesters.\
\ But that\'92s not to say Chinese authorities
didn\'92t at least try to erase signs of public protest from the Internet.\
\ One enterprising Weibo user posted to {\field{\*\fldinst{HYPERLINK
"https://twitter.com/idzhang3/status/287951384316375040"}}{\fldrslt \cf3 \ul \ulc3 Twitter}} to show authorities
had blocked online searches for any of the characters that made up Southern Weekend\'92s
Mandarin name: \f1 \'93\'ec\'95\'fb\'8e\'fc\'96\'96
\f0 .\ \
The row over media censorship presents a unique challenge for President Xi Jinping and the
rest of China\'92s new leadership, installed just two months ago. With that timing in mind,
hopes for censorship reform are relatively high. [Video: {\field{\*\fldinst{HYPERLINK
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hguiuVxy-nw"}}{\fldrslt \cf3 \ul \ulc3 The Telegraph}}]\
\ Zhan Jiang, a journalism professor at Beijing
Foreign Studies University, tells the {\field{\*\fldinst{HYPERLINK "http://www.latimes.com/news/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-china-southern-weekly-protest-20130107,0,4086092.story"}}{\fldrslt
\cf3 \ul \ulc3 Los Angeles Times}}: \b "This is happening at a good time because
leaders have just taken their posts \'85 There's a power vacuum."
\b0 \ \
But if new leaders do have less media censorship in mind for China, it hasn\'92t shown yet.
A law passed just last month forces Internet users to register their real names \'97 doing
away with anonymity that had given citizens at least some assurance of safety when criticizing
their own government.\ }