MCLC: Kong Qingdong fabrication

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: kirk (denton.2 at osu.edu)
Subject: Kong Qingdong fabrication
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Source: Sinosphere blog, NYT (3/27/14):
http://sinosphere.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/03/27/rumors-of-confrontation-easi
ly-debunked-touch-a-nerve/

Confrontation Rumors, Easily Debunked, Touch a Nerve
By ANDREW JACOBS AND YUAN REN

It was just after Michelle Obama, the American first lady, had extolled
the glories of free speech, during a talk last Saturday at the prestigious
Peking University, that the student allegedly blurted out her sarcastic
retort to the guest of honor.

“Is America’s strength a result of the U.S. secret services listening to
the voices of its citizens?” the young woman supposedly asked. “Could you
tell me in America what the difference is between ‘listening to’ and
‘listening in’?”

Kong Qingdong, a professor at the university who relayed the exchange via
his microblog account on Sina Weibo, described the first lady’s response
this way: “Dumbfounded by the question, Michelle Obama eventually replied
that she was not there to talk about politics,” Mr. Kong wrote, stirring a
maelstrom of indignation from some of his two million followers.

There was only one problem with Mr. Kong’s story: It was completely
untrue, according to reporters and students who attended the event.

While Ms. Obama’s weeklong tour across China produced mostly favorable
reviews in both Chinese and foreign news media, Mr. Kong’s fabricated
narrative — and the ugly war of words it inspired — has exposed the
anti-American sentiment nurtured by many Chinese nationalists, some of
whom, like Mr. Kong, occupy influential positions in government and higher
education.

Although the first lady’s three-city tour was billed as an apolitical,
feel-good “people-to-people” exchange, her visit provoked ire among some
who were displeased that Mrs. Obama managed during her public appearances
to sneak in an impassioned defense of a free press, an uncensored Internet
and the importance of protecting the rights of minorities. Just before
leaving China on Wednesday, she dined at a Tibetan restaurant, a
not-so-subtle show of support for one of the nation’s more beleaguered
minorities.

Mr. Kong was among those who took umbrage. But despite the initial burst
of support, his microblog postings prompted a fierce backlash from
thousands of users and drawing renewed attention to his role as an
educator at one of China’s most vaunted citadels of higher learning.

An anti-Western neo-Maoist who claims to be a descendent of the ancient
philosopher Confucius, Mr. Kong relishes his role as a contrarian social
critic.

In 2012, he provoked widespread outrage in Hong Kong, the semi-autonomous
Chinese city and former British colony, after he described its residents
as “bastards,” “thieves” and “dogs of British imperialists.” In previous
outbursts, he has questioned news reports about chronic hunger in North
Korea, cheered the death of Steven P. Jobs and voiced approval for the
execution of journalists.

Mr. Kong was among the panelists who in 2011 bestowed President Vladimir
V. Putin of Russia with the “Confucius Peace Prize” — a widely ridiculed
homegrown challenge to the Nobel Peace Prize.

Although Mr. Kong boasts a huge following from Chinese neo-leftists and
nationalists, he has plenty of enemies. In recent years, editors at
Xinhua, the state news agency, and students at Peking University have
campaigned, unsuccessfully, to have him dismissed from the university.

Mr. Kong did not respond to emailed requests for an interview, and an
employee who answered the phone at the university’s department of Chinese
declined to discuss the controversy.

Throughout the week, as it became apparent that he had fabricated the
exchange between Mrs. Obama and the imaginary female student, Mr. Kong
found himself on the receiving end of online anger and indignant newspaper
commentaries.

“This is the hijacking of rumors in the name of patriotism,” the Shenzhen
Daily News wrote in an editorial.

As reposts of his tale reached tens of thousands, high-profile
commentators called on the authorities to investigate his online behavior.
Among them was Ren Zhiqiang, a property magnate with more than 19 million
followers on Sina Weibo, who noted that Mr. Kong’s made-up story had
exceeded 500 repostings, the threshold that would allow the authorities to
prosecute him for “spreading rumors” under a new law that carries a
three-year jail term.

As of Thursday, however, Mr. Kong remained unshackled, and unrepentant.

“All of you are dogs of America,” one of his posts read, “and traitors to
China.”