Hacker News Reader

Comment by duxup | Hacker News Reader

They've even got totalitarian apps:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/07/world/asia/china-xi-jinpi...

>Schools are shaming students with low app scores. Government offices are holding study sessions and forcing workers who fall behind to write reports criticizing themselves. Private companies, hoping to curry favor with party officials, are ranking employees based on their use of the app and awarding top performers the title of “star learner.”

>Many employers now require workers to submit daily screenshots documenting how many points they have earned.

How long until we see weaker nations require the same of their own people? Participating in the firewall, etc?

View on HN

And that app is only used by / required for (? not sure) CCP party members. I know this because I have confirmed with personal Chinese acquaintances, including one party member and several non-members. While many Chinese nationals are party members, the vast majority aren't, so the app has nothing to do with them. The article doesn't mention that at all.

Also, I was told by the one who actually use the app that many of the quiz questions in the app are just about general scientific/cultural knowledge and stuff; only a small percentage involves current events (censored or not) or politics. I find that pointless, but again NY Times chose to cherry-pick the content here to paint a more horrifying picture.

It's intentionally or unintentionally (I don't know which) incomplete or cherry-picked coverage like this that makes me not trust Western coverage of China, Russia, or any other "enemy" nation at all.

Also, I find the claim "Study the Great Nation has become the most downloaded app on Apple’s digital storefront in China" in the article pretty unbelievable. No way it could beat WeChat, Weibo, etc., even if it does have 100 million users.

If you read it, the article clearly states it goes beyond party members. They did not forget or not mention that fact... they claim it is something else entirely.

I did read it, and just read it again. I don't see where "it clearly states it goes beyond party members", but maybe I missed it, so a quotation is welcome. The relevant descriptions include "Tens of millions of Chinese workers, students and civil servants...", "Many employers now require workers to submit daily screenshots..." but those don't really allude to party-affiliation or lack thereof (as far as I know college students are allowed to join the party, and I suppose certain workplaces like government offices might consist entirely of party members).

The article does say there are >100M users of the app, and according to Wikipedia, CCP has ~100M members, so the numbers appear in line.

More detailed anecdata: the aforementioned acquaintance who use the app is employed at a Chinese university, and according to him they do have an institution-wide rank (among employees; students not included); party members are ranked, but non-party members are not (because they're not required to "study", as I already pointed out). He even told me he's ranked at around 30% at the moment, lol.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com