NYTimes has a post on the 23rd anniversary of Tiananmen Crackdown has possible effects in the Shanghai Stock Market's decline.
Anniversary of Tiananmen Crackdown Echoes Through Shanghai Market
By KEITH BRADSHER
Published: June 4, 2012
HONG KONG — The Shanghai Stock Exchange produced an unlikely, almost ghostly result on the 23rd anniversary of the military crackdown in Tiananmen Square, an odd echo of a tragedy thatChina’s leaders have tried desperately to erase from their country’s consciousness.
The index fell 64.89 points on Monday, a figure that looks like June 4, 1989. In yet another unusual development, the index opened on Monday at 2346.98 — a figure that looks like the date of the crackdown written backward, followed by the 23rd anniversary.
Hopefully, most of you realize how silly this is to think that there is a meaning in the numbers 89/6/4 = 89 June 4. We have all read silly things like this being read into things. Which reminds me of my Cargo Cult Science post.
What is real though is the activity of China's censors.
Chinese censors, showing characteristic heavy-handedness, especially on anniversaries of Tiananmen Square, began blocking searches for “stock market,” “Shanghai stock” and “Shanghai stock market” and started deleting large numbers of microblog postings about the numerical fluke.
This got me thinking what happens when China's censors delete and block content.
The Chinese have great pride in figuring out how to be smarter than the next guy, including countries, races, as well as individuals. What comes to mind is with tthe billion plus people in China, there must be thousands and thousands of people who are trying to figure out how to be smarter than the censors. Why? It is like a game to show how smart you are.
