Comments On Foreign Citizens in China
On 16 May 2012, Yang made comments on Sina Weibo criticising some foreign citizens and journalists in China, including Melissa Chan of Al Jazeera English, who was effectively expelled from the country. Yang's statement occurred during an official Chinese government campaign to identify illegal foreign residents in China. Yang's full posting (translated from Mandarin by The Wall Street Journal) was:
The Public Security Bureau wants to clean out the foreign trash: To arrest foreign thugs and protect innocent girls, they need to concentrate on the disaster zones in Wudaokou and Sanlitun. Cut off the foreign snake heads. People who can’t find jobs in the U.S. and Europe come to China to grab our money, engage in human trafficking and spread deceitful lies to encourage emigration. Foreign spies seek out Chinese girls to mask their espionage and pretend to be tourists while compiling maps and GPS data for Japan, Korea and the West. We kicked out that foreign bitch and closed Al-Jazeera’s Beijing bureau. We should shut up those who demonize China and send them packing.
Yang released a statement on 21 May 2012 defending his comments and seeking to correct mischaracterisations of his message and the English translation of "foreign bitch" instead of "foreign shrew".
Next Media Animation responded to China CCTV's Yang Rui alleged xenophobic comments posted on his Sina Weibo account. The mock animated news story was posted to their site on May 23, 2012, depicting Yang as a dog, with his owners, the CCP, giving him a bone for a job well done, stating "as a Communist Party mouthpiece, Yang is doing a great job!". Viewers were left with the question "Is Yang Rui an idiot or just a jerk?"
Another repercussion of Yang's comments has been an outcry to boycott his Dialogue show. Charlie Custer from the website chinageeks.org, who had previously been a guest on Mr. Rui's show, stated, "I would strongly suggest that foreigners boycott CCTV Dialogue and decline any future invitations." Another former guest, James Fallows of The Atlantic Monthly, also called on invitees of the show to decline their invitations.
Read more about this topic: Yang Rui
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