On this episode of China Uncensored,
Call all you want,
but there’s no one home.
And you’re not gonna reach my thousand dollar iPhone.
Speaking of, not using your phone?
Then its reeducation camp for you!
And finally,
China comes up with a great way
to make money off saving the environment.
This is China Uncensored.
Hi.
Welcome to China Uncensored.
I’m your host Chris Chappell.
Breaking news, everyone:
The CCP may be spying on people.
We recently aired a 10-minute segment
focused exclusively on how the WeChat app
has helped the CCP monitor Chinese citizens
by collecting data on every aspect of their lives—
like where they travel,
who their friends are,
the content of their messages,
even what food they like—
and then sharing that WeChat data
with the Chinese government.
Well it turns out,
there’s an even better way
to monitor everyone’s phones.
It was recently revealed that
Trojan horse malware called xRAT
was going around WeChat
and another Chinese messaging app
owned by the same company
during the 2014 Hong Kong Umbrella Movement.
It basically allows the perpetrator
full admin access to your phone.
In other words,
it’s like if you handed your phone to a stranger
and told them all your passwords.
“All of your phone is exposed.
Photos stored, downloads, documents,
any Apps to other services installed,
chat logs, phone records,
contact lists, and of course,
your browser and its entire browsing history,
which may include credit card
and password and login information.”
But before you jump to blame the CCP,
there’s no evidence that this app
was created or spread by the CCP.
It might just be a coincidence that xRAT
happened to target Chinese dissidents,
and was found on the mobile phones
of a lot of pro-democracy protesters
in Hong Kong.
Just like it’s a coincidence
that Bruce Wayne and Batman
are never seen in the same room
at the same time.
Speaking of monitoring people,
WeChat users are freaking out about
a new law that will go into effect this October.
It makes, “creators of online groups responsible
for managing information within their forums
and the behavior of members.”
Not just “responsible.”
The creators of those chat groups
could be criminally liable
and face both administrative detention
and political consequences
if their group members
discuss one of nine prohibited topics.
Topics include:
news from Hong Kong or Macau
that has not been officially reported
by Chinese state-run media.
So for example,
if you create a WeChat group,
and someone in your chat group
that you don’t even know
pastes a direct quote from a Hong Kong newspaper,
you could go to jail.
And if you’ve ever been on the Internet,
you know you don’t want to be responsible
for the crazy stuff other people say online.
I mean, what if I were responsible
for all the stuff people say in the comments
to our YouTube videos?”
Um...Shelley?
The CCP can’t see our comments section, right?
’Cause YouTube is blocked in China?
Anyway, chat groups scare the Chinese regime
because they’re a way for a lot of people
to share information, organize,
and mobilize if they ever felt so inclined.
Oh, and did you know that
if you say something bad online,
the Chinese government can lower your credit score?
There is a silver lining to this though.
It probably won’t be happening
to the latest iPhone model sold in China.
Not because it’s more secure in any way.
No.
It’s because Chinese people may not buy it.
“With the iPhone 8 set to sell at a higher price,
Chinese shoppers may skip this year’s model.
Lots of supply chain experts expect that
this phone to be over a thousand dollars,
and that’s double the average Chinese salary.”
If true, this would be a big blow to Apple.
I mean, the whole reason
Apple has been bowing to Chinese censorship demands
is so they can keep selling iPhones in China!
But frankly,
I don’t think the high price tag
will stop sales.
People are going still going to buy iPhones.
Not everyone.
I mean, nearly a billion people in China
live on less than $10 a day.
But fortunately,
China also has a huge wealth gap,
so there’s lots of rich people, too!
And how will their friends know they’re rich
if they don’t have the latest gold iPhone?
But with the thousand-dollar price tag,
even the wealthy may have to make sacrifices.
Like the son-of-a-billionaire
who bought eight iPhone 7s for his dog last year.
Well he’s going to have to cut back
for the iPhone 8.
But really,
what kind of dog needs
more than four iPhones?
Speaking of phones,
I told you a couple months ago
about how the Communist Party
is forcing people in the Xinjiang region
to install surveillance apps
on their mobile phones.
Well a lot of people have been resisting.
So what can the poor CCP do?
The answer is,
send them to reeducation camps!
They’ve sent about 2,000 people so far.
At first the reeducation camps were branded as
“Counter-Extremism Training Schools”
because they were for Muslims.
After all,
you’ve got to counter that extreme behavior,
like feeling uncomfortable being monitored
at all times.
So the CCP imprisoned people
and cut off their contact with their families.
It’s only logical that when you round people up,
isolate them, and abuse them,
they become less extreme.
But the name “Counter-Extremism Training Schools”
didn’t sound so good.
So the CCP re-branded these camps as
“Socialism Training Schools.”
Hmm...still kind of suspicious.
But then they re-re-branded them as
“Professional Education Schools.”
Who could be opposed to that?
It’s like the Auschwitz School for Manual Labor and Chemical Engineering.
What?
Too soon?
Now it’s hard to find a place
as terrible as the Auschwitz School.
But there are lots of places
I wouldn’t want to be stuck in
even for one night.
Like the 2017 Alibaba Annual Party.
When your boss is the richest man in China,
you put up with some eccentricities.
It’s what you do.
Well at this year’s event,
a mysterious masked figure appeared.
Kind of dressed like Michael Jackson.
And kind of dancing like Michael Jackson.
Who could it be?!
Jack Ma.
It was the Alibaba CEO.
Then, all the other slightly out of shape bosses
joined him on stage for...
an even lamer dance.
This wasn’t really a first for Ma.
In the past he’s appeared on stage as a princess!
And, well there’s a lot to process here.
At least Alibaba events aren’t boring.
Unlike that two-hour long iPhone announcement.
I mean, I don’t even know who this guy is!
And speaking of billionaires
who do things in an unusual way,
Donald Trump.
rump is likely to make his first
presidential trip to China in November,
according to a US official.
Trump will be in Asia anyway,
to attend acronym-based summits
like ASEAN, APEC and EAS.
So it would be rude if he didn’t drop by China
and check out Xi Jinping’s cool digs.
Maybe he can also check out
that flattering Trump statue in Taiyuan.
Hopefully Trump won’t stay long, though,
because a new study claims
the pollution in China is so bad,
it’ll take three and a half years off your life.
Chinese premier Li Keqiang
has promised a war on pollution.
So I guess casualties are to be expected.
Now, China is looking into a plan
to ban gasoline and diesel cars.
It’s unclear when the ban would go into effect,
but I agree,
it’s a great idea.
Switching to electric vehicles
will make big difference
in reducing pollution.
Now, cars can run on clean electricity...
from China’s growing number of coal-fired power plants.
Speaking of pollution,
China is cleaning up the countryside.
And the latest project:
Cleaning up 300 tons of dead pigs
that had been buried in a hillside,
rotting away for four years.
It turns out they were dumped there
by a medical waste treatment company.
Tragically, the manager responsible
probably won’t be indicted for this—
since apparently he’s already in prison
for a separate,
unrelated crime.
Speaking of tragedy,
the price of Tungsten has doubled, thanks to China.
Tungsten is used as filament
in old fashioned lightbulbs,
also known as...
regular light bulbs.
Tungsten is a hard metal
that’s also used to strengthen industrial tools.
Tungsten is hard on the environment, too.
That’s the reason China gave
for putting a quota on the output of Tungsten.
Technically, China already had a quota,
but in June they announced that this time,
they’re going to be enforcing that quota,
for realsies.
This was a smart move by China,
because China mines 80% of the world’s Tungsten,
and the restrictions have made the price of Tungsten
double in the last three months.
Of course, this move is all about
protecting the environment.
Those mines are so polluting,
they just had to be shut down.
Cha-ching!
China has us by the precious metals.
And coming up after the break,
we’ll take a look at a fair and open trial in China.
I know.
You’re upset about the price of tungsten.
But if you want to really light up your day,
go to ChinaUncensored.tv.
Every Friday we upload full half hour episodes
of the show for free.
And that’s more precious than gold.
Or tungsten.
So head over to ChinaUncensored.tv now!