King of Bans

[MirrorMan]

China censors Beijing air quality app during Apec summit

PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 12 November, 2014, 12:17pm
UPDATED : Wednesday, 12 November, 2014, 5:12pm

James Griffiths [email protected]

Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Barack Obama in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing during this week's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit. Photo: AP

A popular air quality mobile application has been ordered to remove readings for Beijing, the developer said.

China Air Quality Index, an Android and iOS app which provides readings for more than 190 cities, removed the data for the capital this week, replacing it with a message saying the government had ordered its censorship.

“We cannot continue to show air quality data released by the US embassy in our software,” developer Fresh-Ideas Studio told Agence France-Presse. “We hope you can understand.”

Screenshot showing censorship message in the China Air Quality Index app. Photo: SCMP Pictures

Data from the US embassy, which is widely regarded as more reliable than Chinese sources, is still available online. As of 11am on Wednesday, the air quality index was 25, or “good” according to the embassy’s six-point scale.

Beijing is currently hosting world leaders and dignitaries for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) conference, including US President Barack Obama and Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, waves with a shovel as he joins other world leaders for a tree planting ceremony at Friendship Lawn by Yanqi Lake for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit. Photo: AP

Air quality continues to be a major problem in the capital. In October there was widespread anger and shock when the Beijing Marathon went ahead despite pollution soaring to 16 times the maximum recommended level.

Authorities have taken drastic measures to improve air quality in the city during the summit, including banning people from burning the clothes of dead relatives for funeral rites, limits on car use, closure of factories, and giving public sector employees a six-day holiday.

According to China Daily, neighbouring Hebei province shut more than 2,000 companies and halted work at nearly 2,500 construction sites in order to ensure “blue skies” for world leaders.

Air quality in the Central Business District in Beijing on November 7, 2014 as Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit ministerial meetings starts at the China National Convention Centre in Beijing. Photo: AFP

The success of the measures is a major part of Beijing’s bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics, for which it has pledged “clean air.”

“My hope is that every day we will sea a blue sky, green mountains and clear rivers” throughout China, President Xi Jinping said during a welcome banquet for Apec leaders and their spouses.

By the end of the dinner, pollution had hit “very unhealthy” levels, according to the US embassy readings.

 

[VPutin]

This thread is about my gay brother. What about me? I am also attention whore.

 

[KimJongUn]

Eh how come i am not invited to the summit???

 

[ControlFreak]

Beijing bans student leaders from taking trip to mainland to press for democracy

Federation representatives demand to know why their travel documents were invalidated even before they boarded flight to the capital

PUBLISHED : Saturday, 15 November, 2014, 5:57pm
UPDATED : Sunday, 16 November, 2014, 7:46pm

Joyce Ng, Amy Nip and Stuart Lau

Nathan Law, Alex Chow and Eason Chung at Hong Kong airport after being banned from flying. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Three student leaders at the heart of the Occupy Central protests are demanding the Hong Kong government explain why their travel documents were invalidated yesterday, hours before they were to fly to Beijing to press their demands for true universal suffrage.

It is extremely rare for authorities to revoke a Hongkonger's "home return permit" before they even reach the mainland. Local pro-democracy activists have in the past either had their entry denied without their travel permits affected, had their applications for renewal of the permits rejected, or had their permits confiscated on mainland soil.

The students and pan-democratic lawmakers said the decision was an "affront to the law" and a sign that Beijing would not listen to Hong Kong people's views.

This came as US President Barack Obama gave his strongest statement yet on the Occupy movement, saying that Hongkongers were demanding a universal, not Western, value.

The students said they were "shocked and angry" to discover that their travel documents had been invalidated. "Why is a great state like China afraid of just three students?" federation secretary general Alex Chow Yong-kang said. "We have not even stepped on mainland soil."

It is the first time Federation of Students representatives have had their entry permits terminated; three times in the past 26 years, delegations have been allowed to visit over sensitive issues.

Chow said he would demand an explanation from the Hong Kong government because it was only Cathay Pacific, the airline they were booked on, that told them their permits were revoked.

The Security Bureau did not comment. An Immigration Department spokeswoman said the Airport Authority was responsible for the area where the three were turned back. The authority said it did not have the power to turn back the students.

The students wanted to go to Beijing to seek meetings with state leaders including Premier Li Keqiang to express a demand for genuine universal suffrage for the 2017 chief executive election. They had three banners bearing slogans with Occupy protesters' signatures.

Supporters of Federation of Students representatives hold yellow umbrellas inside Hong Kong International Airport on Saturday. Photo: EPA

At about 3.50pm yesterday, Chow and federation members Nathan Law Kwun-chung and Eason Chung Yiu-wa were escorted by airport staff through a crew entrance to have their baggage scanned and documents checked. They were told that they should use the crew entrance because the departure hall was packed with their supporters.

But once inside, they were stopped by several police officers and Airport Authority staff and taken aside. After almost 30 minutes of questioning and waiting, Chow said they were told that they had to go back. A Cathay staff member told the students that the airline was "informed by relevant parties this morning" that their home return permits had been made void.

Former federation member Jeffrey Tsang, who planned to take the same flight to help the trio with accommodation and transport, was also informed by Cathay that his travel permit had been invalidated.

The decision was "an affront to the rule of law" and "arbitrary use of power", said Alan Leong Kah-kit, convenor of a weekly meeting of 23 pan-democratic lawmakers. He said he saw no point in the Hong Kong government starting the next round of public consultation on political reform as Beijing had stopped listening to the people.

But Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee, a lawmaker and former security minister, said mainland authorities had the right to revoke the travel documents of suspected terrorists, criminals or troublemakers.

"The students are just staging a show. Their attitude is poor," Ip said. She said the trio's case could be compared to that of whistle-blower Edward Snowden, as the British government told airlines around the world not to allow him on board flights to the UK after the US government alleged he had leaked state secrets.

Ip's comment echoed that of the Global Times, a state-run tabloid, which said in an editorial yesterday that the students' plan was "a show just to create an atmosphere of martyrdom".

Meanwhile, Obama had words of support for the protesters who have occupied sites in Admiralty, Mong Kok and Causeway Bay for seven weeks. "Today, people in Hong Kong are speaking out for their universal rights," Obama said in a speech in Australia, where he was attending the G20 summit.

"When we speak out on these issues, we're told that democracy is just a Western value; I fundamentally disagree with that."

In response, the Chief Executive's Office reiterated that the government hoped foreign governments and legislatures would "respect" the principle that constitutional development was an "internal affair" of Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, Markus Ederer, state secretary of Germany's Federal Foreign Office, told a law conference at the Chinese University of Hong Kong that people should "recognise and accept the legal and political limits", respect the rule of law and make compromises on political reform.

He said he had met local officials and Beijing's representatives on Friday.

 

[ControlFreak]

China blocks thousands more websites as ‘Great Firewall’ targets cloud services

PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 18 November, 2014, 4:08pm
UPDATED : Tuesday, 18 November, 2014, 7:28pm

James Griffiths [email protected]

A man plays a computer game at an internet cafe in Beijing. Photo: Reuters

Thousands of websites are no longer accessible from China after the country’s censorship authorities blocked a major hosting and cloud services company.

According to internet freedom watchdog GreatFire.org, the EdgeCast content delivery network (CDN), which “provides cloud services to thousands of websites and apps in China”, has been partially blocked by the so-called Great Firewall.

The websites of a number of major international companies have been affected by the block, including The Atlantic, Sony Mobile, and websites related to the Firefox web browser.

“We have been hearing from our CDN and monitoring partners throughout the industry and our own customers that more sites, CDNs and networks are being filtered or blocked by the Great Firewall of China,” EdgeCast said in a statement posted on its website.

“This week we’ve seen the filtering escalate with an increasing number of popular web properties impacted and even one of our many domains being partially blocked … with no rhyme or reason as to why.”

Sony's Tokyo headquarters. The company has been affected by the EdgeCast block, according to GreatFire.org. Photo: Reuters

The blocking of a major CDN such as EdgeCast marks a significant escalation in the efforts of Chinese censors to keep the country’s internet free of unwanted outside influence.

“Taking down so many sites in one go will have a huge economic impact - online commerce, trade, even academia will all be affected by this,” Charlie Smith, founder of GreatFire, told the South China Morning Post.

“While the economic cost is huge, the authorities are also risking upsetting Chinese netizens who suddenly wake up to find out that they cannot access a plethora of websites.”

Free speech activists and anti-censorship groups such as GreatFire have been utilising cloud services like EdgeCast’s to create mirrors of sensitive information which cannot be blocked, such as an International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) report on the use of offshore tax havens by Chinese businessmen and officials. The report was uploaded to Amazon’s cloud servers, which, because of their design and encryption, are impossible to block on an individual website or page basis.

Blocking the entire cloud domain would cause significant harm to the businesses of the thousands of Chinese websites, including major corporations, who Amazon says depend on its services for database management and other cloud computing.

“[The Great Firewall] cannot distinguish traffic to our mirror sites and other traffic to the cloud provider which means they cannot block access to our mirror sites without blocking access to all the sites hosted by the CDN,” GreatFire said in a blog post.

“We have acknowledged all along that our method of using ‘collateral freedom’ hinges on the gamble that the Chinese authorities will not block access to global CDNs because they understand the value of China being integrated with the global internet.”

“However […] the authorities are doing just that – attempting to cut China off from the global internet.”

Smith was confident that the workaround will continue to function “until the Chinese authorities decide that they will create a national LAN and entirely cut off access to the global internet for users inside China.”

“Obviously, that would be a fairly major decision for the authorities - this action would likely create social unrest like they have never seen before.”

The blocking comes at an ironic time for China as the World Internet Conference opened in Zhejiang province on Tuesday. Scheduled talks include “An interconnected world shared and governed by all” and “Cross-border e-commerce and economic globalisation”.

“Internet freedom is under attack by governments across the world. Now China appears eager to promote its own domestic internet rules as a model for global regulation. This should send a chill down the spine of anyone that values online freedom,” William Nee, China researcher at Amnesty International, said about the conference.

“China’s internet model is one of extreme control and suppression. The authorities use an army of censors to target individuals and imprison many activists solely for exercising their right to free expression online.”

The Great Firewall blocks hundreds of thousands of websites, including Twitter and Facebook. The South China Morning Post and its Chinese sister site Nanzao.com have been blocked since the beginning of the Occupy Central pro-democracy protests in September.

 

[ControlFreak]

............................

 

[zvsacvx]

This thread is about my gay brother. What about me? I am also attention whore.

disgusting.

 

[MirrorMan]

Beijing bans smoking in public places as China eyes nationwide tobacco crackdown

Move comes amid consultations on nationwide smoking ban, but China's track record of enforcement not encouraging in nation of 300 million smokers

PUBLISHED : Saturday, 29 November, 2014, 4:22pm
UPDATED : Saturday, 29 November, 2014, 9:57pm

Chris Luo and Agence France-Presse

Primary school students pose for pictures with big cigarettes ahead of World No Tobacco Day last year. Photo: Reuters

Beijing's municipal legislature has passed a smoking ban for all indoor public places and offices, amid China's planned consultations for implementing such restrictions nationwide, state media reported.

The new regulation, which comes into force next June, also bans tobacco advertising outdoors, on public transport and on nearly every form of media - including magazines, radio, television, films, newspapers and books, Xinhua reported.

The move comes despite the failure of past attempts to limit places where the country’s 300 million smokers can light up.

The new rule passed by legislature consolidated a decree government issued in 2008 that also extended the ban on smoking in open-air spaces including kindergartens, primary and secondary schools, women and children’s hospitals, sports venues, and cultural relic protection cites.

Individuals found violating the regulations will be fined between 50 yuan (HK$63) and 200 yuan depending on the number of offences, according to the new regulation.

The new rule will affect approximately 4 million smokers in Beijing, a city with a population of some 20 million.

Earlier, a draft version of the regulations sought to incorporate all parks and universities as part of the ban, but they were later dropped from the final version.

A deputy director of the city’s legislature was cited saying that the statute was both unnecessary and unrealistic considering the vast areas that would come under scrutiny.

The city-wide ban passed following China’s first proposed nationwide smoking ban in public spaces, the Ordinance on Restricting Smoking in Public Spaces, released for public consultation on Monday.

It would be a big step towards honouring an international commitment to reduce tobacco use if implemented.

Tobacco kills more than 1 million people a year in China, according to a study by Ministry of Health in 2012. Chinese and foreign experts cited in the study estimated the number of smoking deaths could triple by 2050.

Experts point to the state monopoly on the tobacco industry, which accounts for nearly 10 per cent of national tax revenue, as one of the biggest obstacles to anti-smoking efforts.

The World Health Organisation applauded the move, saying it paved the way for strict anti-smoking legislation at the national level.

“We are thrilled to see the Beijing 100 per cent smoke-free law pass, with no loopholes and no exemptions,” said Bernhard Schwartlander, the WHO representative in China. “China is poised to take a quantum leap forward on tobacco control.”

But that optimism may be premature in the face of past attempts to limit the behaviour of tobacco-hooked China where some brands can be purchased for as little as 3 yuan per packet.

Guidelines that the Ministry of Health published in 2011 banned smoking in “indoor public spaces”, but were criticised as too vague and lacked enforcement.

Most bars, clubs, and many restaurants have continued to allow patrons to light up at will, given the fact that offering a cigarette is a common greeting among many Chinese men.

 

[MirrorMan]

Chinese developers skirt Beijing's golf course ban to entice buyers

Despite the government barring the building of new courses, property companies have turned to developing 'sports parks' to lure rich buyers

PUBLISHED : Monday, 01 December, 2014, 4:33am
UPDATED : Monday, 01 December, 2014, 4:33am

Daniel Ren in Shanghai [email protected]

Golf courses like this one in Hainan have become part of upscale developments designed to lure luxury homebuyers. Photo: SCMP Pictures

It is banned on the mainland but its growing popularity and its appeal to property developers have turned golf into a cat-and-mouse game between the government and golf course operators.

According to the Economic Information Daily, a subsidiary of Xinhua, the number of golf courses across the nation hit 521 at the end of last year, a rise of 47 from 2012. It nearly tripled from 178 in 2004, when the central government banned golf courses.

"The rise of golf courses has prompted the Beijing municipal government to intensify the crackdown, forcing a dozen local courses to close down," said Jin Shan, a researcher at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences. "The government believes golf courses exacerbate the paucity of land resources in the capital."

The Beijing city government issued a circular in September reiterating that all relevant departments need to crack the whip on golf courses as they are illegal. The government would "unswervingly close down any newly built golf course", the note said.

The government has banned building golf courses as it holds the sport unaffordable for the majority of the people while only serving the cause of the property sector. China, for example, said Jin, still lacked basketball courts and football pitches for public use and golf was hardly as popular in the country as it was elsewhere.

Lu Qilin, a research director at Shanghai Deovolente Realty, said developers and local governments were still keen on developing golf courses because they added value to the real estate projects nearby.

"Developers use the term 'sports parks' to build golf courses to attract rich buyers," Lu said. "In many cases, golf facilitates their property sales."

A senior executive at a Shanghai developer who spoke on condition of anonymity said that for many cash-rich homebuyers eager to flaunt their status, a golf course was a must-have.

"We promote our golf courses to convince would-be property buyers of the quality of our projects," he said. "We are even trying to host a national golf completion next year in the hope that it will help our property projects get the right kind of attention."

In big cities such as Shanghai and Beijing, an increasing number of rich Chinese are taking up golf. Joe Zhou, an entrepreneur, said the 800 yuan (HK$1,010) he had to fork out for an 18-hole game was worth every fen.

"I just love this game. To me, it is not a luxury, as the government paints it," Zhou said. "Now that golf has been accepted as an Olympic event, it seems ridiculous to ban it."

Jin predicts the government will probably ease the ban when the number of golf players reaches about 20 million. "That will be a long wait, unless China discovers a superstar golfer in the meantime."

 

[ControlFreak]

Cartoon sites censored in China for 'inappropriate' content

Hung Chao-chun and Staff Reporter
2014-12-04

A cover image from Zombie Brother, an online Chinese comic. (Internet photo)

China's Ministry of Culture announced the censorship of 21 comic and animation websites for content deemed "inappropriate" on Dec. 2.

The online comic-reading and viewing platforms belong to Tencent and China Telecom. According to the ministry, several domestically produced cartoons available on the sites in question contain severe violence, horror and sexual content inappropriate for young viewers, who presumably make up the majority of the readership.

The productions have been given an ultimatum to undergo revision and remain on the site, or else be removed entirely, according to the degree in which they violate internet culture management regulations. The publishers or platforms of such content would receive a fine and could have their license to run websites revoked.

Liu Quiang, an official with the ministry, gave a few examples of comics that have been put in the questionable bin, including the blood-filled Zombie Brother, and Sexxxy Girls, a comic containing "nudity and graphic pornography" (read: mildly titillating content).

Comments readers leave on the sites would also be censored to ensure no obscene language is used, said Liu.

The output value of China's comic and animation industry has exceeded US$14.1 billion, with 30% of it coming from Guangdong province. Local governments, such as those in Shanghai, Hangzhou, Changsha, Fuzhou and Shenzhen, have in recent years stepped up efforts to develop the cartoon industry. Many Taiwanese talents in the field have been hired to work in mainland China in recent years.

 

[KimJongUn]

PAP IB get to work!

 

[DefJam]

I emerge as the victor. Unbeatable.

Chey! PAP IB Molanyong

 

[MirrorMan]

China bans national anthem at weddings

Xinhua, December 12, 2014

The national anthem should not be performed or chanted at weddings and funerals or in commercial arenas, Chinese authorities said Friday.

Also banned is performing or chanting the anthem during entertainment activities such as balls or non-political celebrations, according to a statement issued by the Communist Party of China central committee's general office and the general office of the State Council.

The statement standardizes proper etiquette for the national anthem, which reflects national independence and liberation, a prosperous, strong country and the affluence of the people.

The national anthem may be played in the beginning of important celebrations or public political gatherings, formal diplomatic occasions or significant international gatherings.

It is also allowed during the national flag rising ceremony, at the beginning of important sports events, when Chinese athletes win in international sports games and at arenas where national dignity should be fought for and safeguarded. The anthem should be promoted in schools and kindergartens across the country, the statement read.

Local governments are urged to supervise performance of the anthem and those violating etiquette will be criticized and corrected, according to the statement.

China'a national anthem is "March of the Volunteers," with lyrics by poet Tian Han and music proposed by Nie Er.

 

[Jah_rastafar_I]

Go china!! Go Go!! Go chinese!!

 

[KimJongUn]

Go china!! Go Go!! Go chinese!!

Self Pwned again. If u get agitated whenever i bash Mainlanders, then i have succeeded in pissing off the PAP IB.

See Control Freak's siggy to know who are the biggest allies of the PAP and having the same ideology.

 

[uszwv]

Temporary Google Ban Lift Causes Brief Sensation among Netizens

Dec 16, 2014

News spread fast on the afternoon of December 15 when several netizens discovered that the ban on Google appeared to have been lifted and they were able to access the search engine without the assistance of a VPN.

Many of the users speculated that the government and Google had reached some kind of agreement and were excited at the possibility of being able to access it.

However, by yesterday evening, users found that the ban was back in place, and the temporary glitch was due to a routine upgrade in the Great Firewall meaning for now, a Google-China reconciliation is still a distant dream.

 

[Wedge]

Russia makes Facebook block page of Putin's top critic

AFP | Dec 21, 2014, 05.03 PM IST

Russian President Vladimir Putin.

MOSCOW: Russian authorities convinced Facebook to shut off a page inviting people to attend a rally in support of an opposition politician, drawing ire from internet users on Sunday.

Supporters on Friday created an event page for January 15, the day President Vladimir Putin's biggest critic Alexei Navalny will hear his verdict in a controversial embezzlement case which could see him sent him to prison for up to 10 years.

Russia's internet watchdog Roskomnadzor said Sunday that the page has been blocked on orders of the general prosecutor.

The prosecutor "demanded to limit access to a number of resources calling for an unsanctioned mass event, including social networking groups. The demand has been fulfilled," RIA-Novosti news agency quoted spokesman Vadim Ampelonsky as saying.

The Facebook event, called "Public gathering to discuss the verdict", had over 12,000 people signed up at the time it was blocked, and now opens only through a non-Russian IP and only for non-Russian users.

Navalny, whose leadership role in the opposition was built up over the years via his popular anti-corruption blog and carefully-managed internet campaigns, criticized the social networking giant for quickly bending under Kremlin's pressure.

"It's a rather unpleasant and surprising behaviour by Russian Facebook. I thought they would at least demand a court order rather than rush to block pages as soon as crooks from the Roskomnadzor (the internet watchdog) ask," he wrote on his personal page.

Former US ambassador to Moscow Michael McFaul wrote on his Twitter blog that the block set a "horrible precedent" and that Facebook should correct their "mistake" as soon as possible.

AlexeiNavalny, Russian President Vladimir Putin's biggest critic.

Supporters quickly signed up onto newly-created event pages and made new ones blasting Facebook's "censorship".

Navalny, a 38-year-old lawyer, is accused together with his brother Oleg of embezzling nearly 27 million rubles (more than half a million dollars at the exchange rate at the time) when Yves Rocher Vostok, the company's Russian wing, used their delivery firm.

The case is only one of many against him. A previous probe into embezzlement of a state timber company saw him sentenced to five years though the sentence was suspended later.

In his final word this week Navalny, who has spent nearly a year under house arrest, said the case is based on "utter lies".

 

[Smoke]

Child's wish for Xi Jinping to lose weight taken off internet

Staff Reporter
2014-12-21

An image of the letter to Chinese president Xi Jinping by Niu Ziru. (Photo/ Want Daily)

Niu Ziru. (Photo/ Want Daily)

An image of a letter from an elementary school student in central China's Henan province suggesting the country's president Xi Jinping "lose some weight" went viral online. But news related to the letter or its author was pulled promptly by internet censors as it was deemed too sensitive to remain public, reports our Chinese-language sister paper Want Daily.

Niu Ziru, a fourth-grader in Zhengzhou, wrote a letter to President Xi for one of his composition class assignments, according to the report. In the letter, he suggested Xi develop technology to land on Mars, and advises the general secretary of the Communist Party to reduce some weight.

President Xi has the appearance of a Chinese leader but seems "a little chubby," Niu wrote, adding that Xi doesn't have to be as fit as President Barack Obama of the US but a figure similar to the famously buff President Vladimir Putin of Russia will do.

Niu's father was amused by his son's work and shared it online for the amusement of others. Some netizens who have read the article joked that the boy would be sent to a labor camp.

 

[ControlFreak]

Voting for PAP means more censorship and bans. Refer to my siggy for countries that shares the same ideology.

 

[ControlFreak]

Wenzhou bans Christmas in schools

By Yuen Yeuk-laam Source: Global Times Published: 2014-12-25 0:28:02

Xi’an university requires pre-holiday viewing of Confucius documentary

Workers move a Santa Claus figure outside a club in Beijing on Christmas Eve on Wednesday. The Western festival has exploded in the officially atheist nation in recent years, with marketers using everything from saxophones and Smurfs to steam trains to get shoppers to open their wallets. Photo: AFP

Schools in Wenzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province, have been forbidden from holding any Christmas-related events this year, according to a notice released by the city's education authorities.

The notice said the ban on Christmas events covers all high schools, middle schools, primary schools and kindergartens.

Several schools in Wenzhou reached by the Global Times confirmed that they have received the notice.

An official from the local bureau of education said it is the first time the city has issued an official ban. They hope schools can pay more attention to Chinese traditional festivals instead of Western traditions, the Wenzhou Evening Post reported.

Wenzhou has been for years a hub of Christian missionary activities. The city is home for roughly a million Christians, according to previous reports.

"We are not suppressing Western festivals, but we hope schools can be more balanced on this. Students can learn about Western festivals but they should not be over-enthusiastic about it," he said.

The official said traditional festivals such as Winter Solstice, which fell on Monday of this week, are more worth celebrating.

A Weibo user from Zhejiang Province said the policy should be spread to other cities in China so that students can keep Chinese traditional festivals in mind.

In a separate case, students from Xi'an-based Northwest University were required to watch Confucius-themed documentaries every Christmas Eve, The Beijing News newspaper reported on Wednesday.

A photo online showed a banner on campus that read "Be good sons and daughters of your country, stand against Western holidays."

A student told The Beijing News that teachers would guard the classroom doors and "punish anyone trying to leave the room."

Christmas has become increasingly popular in China in recent years. Christmas carols and Christmas decorations have become relatively common sights on the streets of large cities.

The holiday was even celebrated in western China's Qinghai Province. A villager from the suburbs of Golmud, Qinghai Province said they prepared dance performance and mini-dramas this year, and bought Christmas hats, masks, and presents.

The ban on Christmas events came on the heels of a series of conflicts between Zhejiang Christians and authorities this year, as the local government tried to demolish churches and crosses that violated construction standards.

A church in Yongjia county, Wenzhou was nearly torn down earlier this year. The authority said the building was not built lawfully and was in violation of construction regulations. The church was eventually saved after a series of negotiations in April.