This editorial cartoon is about freedom of speech in China.
There are a number of Chinese citizens being interviewed by foreign press, but their mouths are all locked up with padlocks. It indicates that the Chinese government are trying to avoid foreign press to know what really happened in China and what the people feels. The Chinese citizens are deprived of freedom of speech. They are not allowed to say anything bad about the government to the press or in the internet. The Chinese citizens are also looking very upset, they look like they have something to tell the others, but the Chinese Communist Government, represented by the two flags at the back, are keeping track of them, as if they are doing this for the nation.
The cartoonist mainly uses symbolism techniques in this cartoon. The China flags tell that the interviewees
are Chinese citizens. The padlock refers to the institutional arrangements of the Chinese government, that people are not given the freedom of speech. Also, there are skulls on the padlocks, they symbolizes that the governors who uses these padlocks are evil and people will receive horrible punishments if they break the rules.
The cartoonist doesn’t like China because they deprived their citizens’ human rights, like freedom of speech, as in this editorial cartoon. He thinks that China is covering too much about the bad things of the country, and the people are forced to follow the country’s commands. I agree with the cartoonist views about China, the Chinese
government has been hiding the real situations happening in the country, also its authoritarian governance.
For example, China has blocked Facebook in its territory, also other foreign social media like twitter and Youtube, to avoid foreign ideologies and information flowing into the Mainland. The government was scared about social disharmony and oppositions to the government. The other examples are civic activist like Aiweiwei and Zhaolianhai are arrested of protesting and expressing opposition views to the government. Both of them were put into jail. Overall, I think this cartoon does match what’s happening in China now.
Photo Source: http://www.gocomics.com/viewsasia/2013/01/11
