Photo: Small shops, by Francisco Anzola
chinadigitaltimes.net/2026/10/phot...
China Digital Times
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a Berkeley-based nonprofit publishing news and translations focused on human rights and freedom of expression in China
!["If you guess [the death toll] right, it’s 'leaking state secrets.' If you guess wrong, it’s 'spreading rumors.' Either way, you’re screwed." - An online comment in response to the news that Chinese cyberspace authorities punished 10 people for "spreading rumors" about the death toll and scale of flooding along the China-Nepal border](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ppd3ypfty6f2rlonrydgsjgj/bafkreih2vizlzhluzuy77m3wzpjkftti5zr7iiv4agieodnoit4oh6l5bu)
!["[Death tolls] like that are never released all at once: you report one figure first, wait for approval from the higher-ups, then report the next figure. That’s the procedure." - From a deleted article by WeChat blogger Li Yuchen, examining how the death toll from a May 22 coal mine explosion in Liushenyu, Shanxi, suddenly jumped from 8 to 82. It was China's deadliest mine disaster in nearly 17 years.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ppd3ypfty6f2rlonrydgsjgj/bafkreiaaccnegzgpigqkbhio2khiylk67yoweng7fuqg2guqvyryyzv6we)
!["When confronted by that force constantly threatening to drag us down, we must deliberately exert a countervailing force, lest we be overcome by that downward momentum. [...] Don’t give in to anger, or lower yourself to the level of your opponents, or succumb to defeatism if at first you don’t succeed." - Legal scholar Lao Dongyan, in one of 2025's most notable Chinese essays, offering advice for combatting "political depression"](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ppd3ypfty6f2rlonrydgsjgj/bafkreibpxznjt5enwcxsn6lgv2w6d3hhjfcmppt56ptuvgdngzdgrkjufy)
