December 31, 2008
Today’s Yangtse Evening Post chose the following ten stories as this year’s top ten fake news items.
‘Fake news’ (假新闻) has become a frequently heard term to refer to made-up stories and hoaxes that have become commonplace in China’s censored anarchic media. According to the Yangtse Evening Post, the following news stories all appeared in Chinese newspapers and print magazines, but it does not name the publications.
Chinese peace keeper swallowed by python in Congo
March 2
A Chinese engineering unit dispatched to Congo (DRC) on a UN peace keeping mission returned home. In an interview, Zhang Yi, a translator with the unit told the newspaper that poisonous snakes and pythons are very common in the country. The barracks were constructed in special ways and the soldiers had to wear long rubber boots to prevent being hurt by the snakes.
Despite all the precautions being taken, tragedy still happened: A soldier didn’t return after going out to relieve himself. The searching group found a huge python with a bulging belly. The beast was killed and gutted and the soldier was found but he was already dead.
On March 5, the peace keeping office of the Defense Ministry denied the report, saying “such accident has never happened to our troops in Congo” . The next day, the media which published the article issued a statement saying that the source provided false information during the interview.
Shanghai dialect “dia” ( 嗲) enters online Oxford dictionary
March 19
The Oxford online dictionary recently added a new entry: “dia” (“嗲” in Chinese). Along with “dia” as a noun, there is also “diaist”, “diaistic”,”diaism” and other derivatives…
…”嗲”, a character which takes its origin from the English word “dear”, now makes its way back to the English language again. According to John Simpson, the chief editor of the Oxford English Dictionary, it was the influence of Shanghai as a global metropolis that convinced the dictionary to create an entry for “dia”.
It is said that the news was denied by Oxford University. Beijing Youth Daily traced the origin of the story to the blog of a Taiwanese university student who was studying in Shanghai.
Real estate developer association chairman: Destroy Forbidden City to make room for new property development
March 25
“The math is very simple: instead of spending billions of yuan on maintenance every year, why can’t we just blow it up, and make room for new buildings, which can solve the high property prices in Beijing caused by the scarcity of land resources?” a developer told the media recently.
Hu Yunjing, chairman of Beijing’s real estate developer association agreed with that idea. According to Hu, 24 million square meters of surface space would be created had the Forbidden City been totally demolished. The space would be enough for buildings capable of housing 1.2 million people.
This, again, is an Internet spoof that made its way to the print media. In the original Internet post, it was clearly stated that the story was a piece of “literature” rather than “fact”.
62-year-old father enrolled by Tsinghua University
May 8
Mr Teng, a 62-year-old man living in Harbin, was very disappointed when his son failed to go to a “name brand” university. In order to set a example for the son, in 2006, after a year’s hard work, Teng was enrolled at the art school of Tsinghua University (清华大学艺术学院) for graduate study.
When Teng went to the university, he found that most of the students in his class were about 30 years old. Even his teacher, who was 46, was younger than him.
Tsinghua University’s art school is actually called “美术学院” instead of “艺术学院”. Also, the “advanced Chnese painting” program which took Teng is in fact a program hosted by the “continued education school” of Tsinghua University. No degree will be issued at the end of the study, neither is there any entrance exam.
Diving star Guo Jingjing pregnant with Huo Qigang’s baby
May 8
According to a Singaporean news source, Guo Jinjing had a pregnancy test that returned positive results.
A emergency meeting was called in the aquatics center. In line with the principle of “people first” and “respect for the athlete’s own choice”, Guo Jingjing was permitted to quit the team. The leaders of the national diving team refused to be interviewed by the reporter from the Singaporean media. According to an inside source, the national diving team, which is now facing a difficult situation, decided not to release the news.
Two soldiers die finding way to the quake zone
May 16
The part of the G213 national road between Yingxing county and Caopo township was called “road of death” because of the big stones rolling downhill on to it.
At about 9am on May 16, a PLA regiment commander was giving a motivational speech to his troops: “Even though it was so dangerous, as the iron army, we must conquer all the difficulties to rescue the people in Caopo township”
Four scouts were sent to explore the route, but only two of them made it back. The other two will never return. Many of the people being evacuated from Wenchuan got hit by the stones. The number of casualties is big…
On May 28, the Jinan Ministry Region authorized Chinanews.com to publish a announcement, saying that the military region had received no casualty report of the soldiers to date and the rescue work was being carried out in a “scientific, effective, well-organized way”.
Bill Gates spend 100 million yuan renting a house in Beijing for Olympics
July 23
Reported earier on Danwei.
Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s ethnic origin was Korean
July 31
After extensive research based on the study of Sun’s ancestry, and ancient Chinese books about Chinese surnames, Korean historian Piao Fenqing found that the pioneer of the Chinese revolution, Sun Yat-sen, had Korean blood.
According to Korean Daily, Professor Piao said that around 1000 BC, a tribe of ancient Koreans who were living on the south end of Korean Peninsula sent their warriors to help the Zhou dynasty in China. Some of them were awarded a piece of land called Sun by the Zhou emperor in return for their services.
Their leader was knighted as Sun Bo, which means the leader of Sun. Their decedents all shared the surname Sun…
The South Korean ambassador to China denied the news in Beijing on October 17. The origin of the story was found to be an article titled Korean Daily: Sun Yat-sen was a Korean that had been posted on Chinese forum website Tianya.cn.
High speed train can cross the Yangtze river in 3 seconds
September 11
Three seconds!
That’s the time that a high-speed train takes to cross the Yangtze River. Yesterday, the Tianxingzhou Yangtze River bridge started operation.
1,092 meters of the 4,657 meter long bridge is above the river…when the train is passing the bridge, it can keep its full speed without slowing down. It has broken the record set by Oresund Strait Bridge for the 160 kilometer per hour speed that it allows trains to pass.
If what this article said is true, then this train must be next generation supersonic one.
Famous TV host Li Xiang’s rich ex-husband Li Houlin marries Singaporean ping ping star Li Jiawei in Beijing in September
October 7
A newspaper said they got married. They had not. The newspaper apologized next day.
- Yangtse Evening Post (Chinese): The top ten fake news stories of 2008