Rumors of Jiang Zemin's Death Sparks Chinese Government Censorship (ContributorNetwork)

There are some unconfirmed reports that former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin has died. There is no official confirmation of the passage from the Chinese government, however. In fact the Chinese are moving to squash the rumors.

Indeed the Chinese government's efforts to scrub the Internet inside the country of the rumor has proven to be so thorough that Chinese twitterers are being reduced to using code language that the government censors cannot catch to discuss the story.

The hurly burly surrounding the rumors of Jiang's death illustrates the continuing efforts of the Chinese communist government to maintain absolute control of the information the Chinese people are permitted to have and the problems of doing so in the Internet age. Computer social networks are so diffuse and the people using them are so adroit in using them, tyrannies such as the current one in Beijing might as well try to bottle up smoke as they are to suppress news they do not want to be known.

Jiang, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica, was General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party between 1989 and 2002 and president of China from 1993 to 2003. Jiang had been chosen as a compromise candidate for the former post in the wake of the Tiananmen Square Massacre of pro democracy student demonstrators.

He continued the policy of encouraging private enterprise while clamping down on personal freedom. Jiang fostered the privatization of state owned industries starting in 1997. China achieved some of the greatest economic growth it has enjoyed in the 20th century under Jiang's regime, thus becoming an economic power.

The economic power China came to enjoy began to be translated into political, military, and diplomatic power. Nevertheless, Jiang pursued a policy of more or less friendly relations with the United States

Rumors of Jiang's ill health and his impending demise have been swirling about for months. He did not show up at the celebration of the 90^th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party last Friday, for example.

No doubt the Chinese want to announce Jiang's death in a controlled way in order to ensure stability. It may well not be able to do so entirely.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20110713/pl_ac/8756517_rumors_of_jiang_zemins_death_sparks_chinese_government_censorship

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