Photo: Lin Miaoke. 
                              Source: Xinhua

Quotes from around China this week

“We find no evidence that China's slowdown in 2012 was greater than officially reported.”
- A report by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. The Atlantic

“We make our home here [at Weibo] and should be protected by Sina. The type of speech that is harmful to people’s physical and mental health should be eradicated. Such speech should not be allowed to exist on the Internet and pollute the air on the Internet. Sina, you can do it.”
- 13-year-old Lin Miaoke, who shot to stardom – and to the center of controversy – when she lip-synced “Ode to the Motherland” at the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Tea Leaf Nation

“Without explanation, the new [Hu Jintao’s] administration lowered its banners and muffled its drums. It studied the ways of North Korea. Control and stability preservation become the salient priority, and this approach was relentless.”
- A recently uncovered article written in 2002 by Sun Liping, a sociologist at Tsinghua University who served as President Xi Jinping’s dissertation advisor The Diplomat

“You can now get on Facebook and Twitter in China! No need to jump over the wall!” – posted on Sina Weibo as an April Fool’s Day joke by Kai-fu Lee, one of China’s most famous microbloggers. The post quickly went viral and sparked heated debate on a myriad of subjects from internet censorship to the Taiwan issue. China Real Time Report.

“A state-to-state relation based on ideology is dangerous because China and North Korea, two socialist countries, differ much more than China disagrees with the West." 
– Study Times journalist Deng Yuwen in an article he wrote in February. Deng was recently “relieved of his position” for publishing this criticism of Chinese foreign policy. The New York Times.

“If media is going to go after Apple, let’s hope they spare some thought for those big Chinese communications companies and other monopolies.” 
– Jiangsu lawyer Cai Tongqi. Time.