online media – The Nanfang

China Leads the World with 700 Million People Online

Charles Liu — Fri, 05 Aug 2016 03:55:34 +0000

According to statistics released by the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), the number of Chinese with Internet access continues to grow at an astounding rate.

As of June 2016, there were 710 million internet users in China, 21.3 million of which accessed the internet for the first time this year. Interestingly, 191 million internet users in China live in rural areas, accounting for almost a quarter of all users.

Nine out of ten of all of China’s internet users access the internet using their mobile phones, and apps are driving internet use. Drive sharing apps are very popular among Chinese internet users, totaling 159 million people. Apps for ordering take out food were used by 149 million mobile users.

Instant messaging apps are used by 92 percent of China’s mobile internet users. Other popular mobile apps include search programs, online payment systems and online music and video apps.

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Chinese Music Industry Cracking Down On Online Piracy

Charles Liu — Mon, 22 Feb 2016 03:29:49 +0000

In an effort to promote copyright protection, the Chinese music industry is banding together to combat online piracy. In a recent meeting of the Copyright Society of China, the organization discussed ways China could emulate the digital music business of the United States, which generates 4.6 billion per year in sales.

“China’s digital music market has great potential,” said Qi Xuchun, Vice-Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, China’s top political advisory body.

Last July, a crackdown on illegal online distribution resulted in 2.2 million songs being removed from online music platforms, said the National Copyright Administration of China. And in November, internet giants TenCent and NetEase, were among a number of Chinese companies that sued each other for illegally using songs each company claimed to have exclusive licenses to. The conflict resulted in a diverse consortium of Chinese streamers, Chinese labels, and international major labels, signing a mandate agreeing to enforce music copyrights.

Online music has implemented a number of censorship controls recently. In January, music streaming platforms began censoring their catalog of songs for “improper content”, and last August 120 songs were blacklisted from the internet by the Ministry of Culture.

Online music piracy has been a constant thorn in the side of the Chinese music industry. Companies like Baidu got their start in the early days of the Chinese internet by allowing users to freely search for pirated mp3s.

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China is Tightening Censorship of Streaming Music

Charles Liu — Thu, 12 Nov 2015 01:09:52 +0000

Chinese censors are going to be paying much closer attention to songs released in China, meaning we might hear more of the saccharine ballads that often blare through loudspeakers across the country.

The Ministry of Culture says all Chinese internet companies must start policing the music it offers online starting January 1. The plan calls for these companies to self-censor by hiring and training its own in-house staff to conduct detailed investigations of which songs are unacceptable to the ministry, which will then be added to a blacklist and removed from their servers.

The plan is similar to how internet companies in China are already forced to deal with other content offered online through the use of in-house censors.

The announcement comes at a time when music streaming apps and services are becoming popular with the public, with middle-class consumers paying for some of these services.

This past August, the Ministry of Culture put out a blacklist of 120 songs that are banned from all Chinese internet sites, the majority of them songs with “morally harmful” content from artists like MC Hotdog (pictured) that mostly featured sexist or immature content.

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As SCMP Declines Further, Online Media in Hong Kong Starts to Thrive

Big Lychee — Thu, 02 Jul 2015 03:13:11 +0000

One of Hong Kong democrats’ most over-used metaphors is the frog in the pan of water. The frog = Hong Kong, and the person who (for reasons that are not explained) has put the frog in the pan = China. If the water is put straight to boil, the frog panics and jumps out. But if the temperature is increased slowly, the frog gets drowsy and doesn’t realize that it’s going to die. The message is that the Communist Party and its surrogates will squeeze and suffocate Hong Kong gradually – so we must be forever on our guard.

The South China Morning Post on the day following the July 1 handover anniversary seems to have other ideas. One stridently patriotic-toned headline and story comes after another, as if to frizzle the frog with a flamethrower…

Yet Hong Kong’s English-language current-affairs media scene is alive and well – online. We have The Nanfang (with particularly good Taiwan commentary), the specifically local Real Hong Kong News, Coconuts and Harbour Times, and the regional Asia Sentinel, all with their own writing, photography or video content of interest, and there are other blogs, translated material, bilingual sites and aggregators. And now, as you have probably noticed from the fanfare, Hong Kong Free Press has just joined the field.

On the subject of offerings, the manufacturer of my favourite kumquat-flavoured candy is going public. To my dismay, they are ditching their old logo of a depressed middle-aged bald comb-over guy with what we may imagine to be his irrepressibly cheerful (possibly dancing) aunty…

I entirely understand and would definitely do the same – but I will miss him.

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