In China, the party wants to keep an eye on everything – even the craft beer scene.
For nine years, the Beijing Homebrewer’s Society (BHS) has been meeting regularly in Beijing pubs, where the many members talk shop about new types of craft beer and exchange tips on brewing beer. The BHS is a loosely organized group of young people who have one thing in common: a love for cool blondes.
Actually harmless, right? In China’s capital, however, the state sees it differently: Since the weekend, the BHS has been listed as an “illegal NGO” and has been banned for ten years. Previously, a hobby block warden – presumably a competing host – had blackened the group with the authorities. They found that the brewing community did not hold an official government license – a license so difficult to come by that the group gave up after years.
The absurd case – even by Chinese standards – creates a mixture of confusion, ridicule and sadness on social media. “We are moving further and further away from a civilization,” comments a user on the Weibo platform. Another, obviously patriotic, user says: “NGOs that fool around with so-called human rights or democratic values should of course disband. But why should one forbid groups that deal with drinks? “
Now the incident could be recorded as a purely Kafkaesque outgrowth of Beijing’s bureaucracy. But it can also be read as a parable about the highly politicized social climate in the Chinese capital, which leaves no room for social freedom beyond state control. A climate of paranoia in which innocent average citizens quickly come under suspicion and others mutate into overzealous block waiters.
Cameras everywhere
Visible to the eye, this climate is nowhere so clearly manifested as in urban planning. China’s capital has become increasingly isolated: the university campus – previously a popular day trip destination – remains closed to guests, state museums can only be entered after registration, including security checks, and surveillance cameras screen virtually every square meter. Almost all residential complexes are also fenced in by high walls and guarded by neighborhood committees in black uniforms. Since the pandemic, they have been measuring the body temperature of all residents and asking non-registered guests for ID. Decades ago, it was the neighborhood committees that helped authorities track down the student activists in Tiananmen Square.
But technological developments have further spurred the Stasi mentality. In Chaoyang alone, Beijing’s most populous district with 3.5 million people, there are 130,000 registered members of a vigilante group, according to the media, who see themselves as voluntary support for the police – and in finding thieves, drug dealers and “suspects” “Helps. The local police authority programmed an app for its supporters four years ago, on which it receives thousands of tips every year.
It was only at the end of last week that the vigilante group took care of their most prominent catch: They reported “suspected prostitution” to the police in a residential complex where the police officers who had rushed to the place finally found 39-year-old star pianist Li Yundi with a prostitute who was ten years younger. The police outed the alleged criminal star on the Weibo account: They posted a photo with a piano keyboard and the signature: “The world is not just black and white, but you have to be able to differentiate between black and white.”
And the Chinese public security bureau just released an “anti-fraud app” in March this year to combat phishing calls and impostures. But the app, which records calls and text messages in real time, among other things, has also resulted in Chinese users being asked for interrogation by the police because they have accessed certain foreign news sites on their mobile phones.
Only yesterday, says a resident from Guangdong in southern China, when he was visiting the local police station, he was asked to install the app on his smartphone. “If not, we cannot help you with your request,” an official is said to have said. Only after a long discussion did they let the man go to the station without the app.
