According to the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (China’s censoring body, otherwise known as SAPPRFT), for the next five days, holiday programming on Chinese network television will be dedicated exclusively to the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II. That’s right: exclusively.

Thanks to the SAPPRFT order, this weekend viewers will have to go without popular shows like Daddy Where Are We Going?, the Chinese version of The Voice, and the Chinese version of Korean celebrity reality show, Running Man. Instead the next five days will be loaded with Anti-Japanese War programming – just in case you’re unfamiliar with the outcome of WWII, or you’re interested in a unique retelling from the Chinese perspective.

The programming will include WWII “documentaries” such as Main Battlefield in the East, Confessions of a Japanese War Criminal, Light and Haze, and The War of Resistance: The Eternal Achievement. There will also be a number of war dramas, including Who is a Real Hero, War Souls, War God, and Attack on Moon Island.

And to ensure the holiday remains a truly family affair, there will also be a number of cartoons for the kids to enjoy like New Tunnel War (pictured), The Urgent Letter and The Battle to Defend Yuanzi Cliffs.

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Located in Fuxingmen, Xidan, Dongdan, and Jianguomen, and featured on the Chang’an Street parade throughfare, the arrangements are military themed, and include spaceships, submarines and cartoon character soldiers.

The post Look: Beijing Rolls Out Elaborate Flower Arrangements Across the City Ahead of September 3 Holiday appeared first on The Nanfang.

Affected areas include the popular Taikoo Li South mall and Courtyard Four, an area located across the street from Taikoo Li. A letter from Swire Properties and given to Sanlitun business tenants reads in part as follows:

In line with the work of commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and in accordance with arrangements and notices from related Beijing Municipal Government departments, on August 22 and August 23, Sanlitun Taikoo Li South will come under martial law measures.

According to the requirements of related Beijing Municipal Government departments, during that period, all stores must temporarily cease operations. The time period is: August 22, 2015 3pm to August 23, 2015 2pm.

Several temporary measures have been implemented in order to accommodate the military parade that will be held in Beijing on September 3, including closing down the city’s airport, shutting down subway stations, halting the operation of tens of thousands of factories and power plants, and increasing security protocol on the delivery of mail and packages in the city.

Local authorities have previously announced the closure of Tiananmen Square and the Wangfujing area in order to hold rehearsals for the parade, two places within a few kilometers of Sanlitun.

The post Sanlitun to Close This Weekend as Martial Law Declared appeared first on The Nanfang.

Shenzhen-based telecoms company ZTE produced a slick propaganda video honoring China’s war veterans, and the video is being broadcast in Times Square. While the effectiveness of a Chinese-language video publicly broadcast to Americans is debatable, the message is getting through loud and clear in China. ZTE has since released a second video showing New Yorkers in Times Square with the war memorial video playing on a big screen in the background.

It should be noted that this was not just an altruistic endeavour, as ZTE does plenty of self-promotion in the video.

The video mentions the needs of Chinese veterans just as it praises ZTE for meeting those needs. In a bit of shameless self-promotion, ZTE claimed that it “never ceased its efforts in the past decade to care for the remaining veterans” through the contribution of “love money”. The veterans are grateful and “feel love and warmth” towards ZTE because of its efforts. The video closes by saying “ZTE will go on a love expedition” and “[offer] love and care so the warmth can be felt”.

Here’s the video showing the broadcast from Times Square:

And here’s the actual video itself, complete with stirring music and narration:

The full, and translated, text of the video is:

70 years ago, they were all young soldiers
Today, they are all old
Most of them have passed away quietly
No time should be lost to find and salute these surviving heroes
ZTE has never ceased efforts in the past decade to care for the remaining veterans
Every year, we travel long distances to deliver “love money” to the beloved
Veterans feel love and warmth from this
Every time we meet, we cherish the memory of the martyrs, and recall history
Each visit is full of moving moments
What does 10 years mean?
Representing business, he offers love and care so the warmth can be felt
and for life to enjoy due respect
They don’t need too much
They just need people to remember them, and chat with them
Ten years is just a beginning
ZTE will go on a love expedition

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Seven provinces including Hebei, Tianjin, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Shandong and Henan as well as the municipality of Beijing will implement temporary controls on local industries, power plants and construction between August 28 and September 4.

Deputy mayor of Beijing Gong Zhang said more than 10,000 factories will be shut down or have their production staggered. As well, a number of coal-fired power plants will be shut down for maintenance, while construction at nearly 9,000 sites will be halted.

Meanwhile, vehicle use in the capital will be severely restricted by a quota system between August 20 and September 3, during which some 80 percent of all government cars will be taken off the roads.

According to Zhang, the efforts will help reduce emissions of major air pollutants by 40 percent in Beijing and 30 percent in other regions. Environment Minister Chen Jining has said clean air is integral to the success of the parade and to serve as a showcase for the capital.

The temporary measures come at a time when Beijing has changed from having some of the best air in China to having some of the worst. According to the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP), Beijing ranked as one of the top ten worst Chinese cities with polluted air this past July when 65 percent of the month was considered to be “polluted”.

At the same time, most of the other cities in the top ten  are among the areas that will implement the temporary measures. Xingtai, Tangshan, Baoding, Handan, Hengshui and Langfang are near Beijing in Hebei Province, while other top polluted cities include Jinnan, Shandong and Zhengzhou, Henan.

September 3 is a national holiday this year so China can commemorate the 70th Anniversary of the end of World War II. A military parade will go through Tiananmen Square.

Other measures implemented to ensure the smooth facilitation of the military parade include the closure of Beijing Airport and the Beijing Metro on September 3rd as well as putting all mail and packages sent to the capital through tight security protocols.

The post Beijing Almost Entirely Shutting Down to Ensure Clear Skies for September 3 Parade appeared first on The Nanfang.

Director of the national mail department, Ma Junsheng, explains that like other recent announcements, such as the closing of Beijing airport and the mandatory implementation of strict car restrictions, the security measures are to prevent any potential attacks on the day of the parade.

Across the country, Chinese residents will get three days off work to celebrate: September 3, 4 and 5. As a result, Sunday, September 6 will be a regular work day.

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Beijing residents are being warned about a number of inconveniences as China gets ready to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression with a military parade held on September 3, China’s newest holiday.

We’ve already told you how the city is already planning to shut down Beijing International Airport as well as Nanyuan Airport in the south of the city, but the changes don’t stop there. Car restrictions will be enforced on Beijing roads in the 15 days leading up to the event. From August 20 until September 3, a single-odd license plate quota system will limit half of all Beijing cars from hitting the streets on a daily basis.

The single-odd licence plate restrictions were enforced previously ahead of major international events in order to improve the city’s poor air quality, such as during last year’s APEC summit, the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and presumably for the future 2022 Beijing Olympics.

But that’s not the only disruption to Beijing’s transportation system. Beijing will close subway stations and limit service to various public transportation lines during the September 3 morning parade, but will only disclose details five days in advance.

Meanwhile, Beijingers are also prohibited from buying their own aircraft until August 21. Furthermore, private and commercial use of aircraft in the skies above the Chinese capital will be banned from August 22 until September 4.

Tiananmen Square stopped accepting visitors at the beginning of this month and will be off-limits to the public until September 7. As well, the road along Chang’an Avenue is said to be “explosion-proof” after upgrades were made to the road in July.

Although China misses out on getting a holiday this year for Mid-Autumn Festival, workers will get the day off from work on September 3 to celebrate the “victory over fascism”, leading to a mini-holiday on September 3, 4, and 5. As a result, September 6, a Sunday, is designated a regular work day in China this year.

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China will be celebrating its newest holiday on September 3 when the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II will be marked with all kinds of pomp. But for any industrious Beijingers who are looking to get away from the capital during the short break, consider yourself warned: don’t schedule a flight on this day.

From 9:30am to 12:30pm on September 3, Beijing International Airport will shutdown operations and temporarily suspend all flights in and out of the airport.

As well, the airspace above Beijing and the surrounding area will become a prohibited area at this time with the creation of a no-fly zone (seen above).

The eastern branch of the Civil Aviation Authority of China (CAAC) says the flight restrictions are to ensure the smooth operation of that day’s military parade, which will celebrate “China’s victory over Japanese imperialist forces”.

And with military aircraft involved in the festivities, there will be a lot of practicing to do before the big day arrives. What this means for airline passengers is that for the rest of the summer until September 3, you should expect delays. The CAAC says the military practicing should only take up one hour every day at the very most.

With September 3 falling on a Thursday, workers in China will have a three day holiday (September 3, 4, and 5). However, it’s back to work on Sunday, September 6 which has been designated a regular work day. The September 3 holiday comes at a time when China’s usual September holiday, Mid-Autumn Festival, falls on a Sunday (September 27), so this should help offset that loss.

The last military parade to be held in Beijing was in 2009 when the 60th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party was commemorated.

China’s airspace is heavily regulated and is controlled by the country’s military, reported to have been the source of several airport closures and airline delays in the past.

Related:

• Massive Flight Delays As China Conducts Military Exercises In Civilian Airspace
• Red Alert Issued for Severe Flight Delays in China Today, See Which Airports Affected
• Chinese University Says Deadly Shanghai Stampede Proof Western Holidays Shouldn’t Be Celebrated in China
• China’s Antiquated National Holiday System Could Be Overhauled

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More seriously, it’s pretty clear the ROC government is pushing hard on this WWII anniversary and on enlarging its role, as an important component of its perceived legitimacy — perceived inside the ROC bubble world, that is. Academia Sinica just hosted a symposium on it, where they found an American scholar — another example of how foreigners validate in Taiwan — to tell them about how it was really the ROC and not the Communists who saved China in WWII. Of course missing from all this narrative is the story of the Taiwanese who fought in the Japanese Army. Against the ROC.

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