March 11, 2019

"The database, whose server is in China, included fields labeled in English for sex, age, education, marital status, as well as a column titled 'BreedReady'..."

"... which could be a poor translation of Chinese terms to describe whether a woman has children or is of child-bearing age, observers noted.... The data breach is alarming in the context of official concerns over China’s falling birthrates. Women rights advocates and critics of China’s use of strict family planning rules worry about how far the government will go to encourage more women to have children.... In a thread titled 'Is this the prologue to The Handmaid’s Tale?' on the discussion forum Douban, Chinese internet users likened the database to the television show based on a future where women are forced to reproduce. 'This kind of database is very indicative and frightening,' said one user, adding: 'I’m a pessimist and the fact that stories like The Handmaid’s Tale exist means the signs are already there.'"

From "China database lists 'breedready' status of 1.8 million women/Dutch researcher finds cache of information including phone numbers, addresses and ages" The Guardian).

38 comments:

mccullough said...

The one child policy and forced abortion and sterilization were real.

That’s what was happening when Atwood was writing her fairy tales.

Feminists are the last to know. China is a totalitarian state. Has been for 70 years. The technology is new. The rest is not.

mccullough said...

Lay back and think of Mao ladies.

chuck said...

The Handmaid’s Tale? No way, Christians in China are a minority.

BarrySanders20 said...

Thomas Friedman's fantasy.
"I have fantasized—don't get me wrong—but that what if we could just be China for a day? I mean, just, just, just one day. You know, I mean, where we could actually, you know, authorize the right solutions, and I do think there is a sense of that, on, on everything from the economy to environment."

mccullough said...

China’s air pollution is horrible. Friedman is a fucking fool. But he married well. His wife is a billionaire heiress. Will be sad for him when AOC and her revolutionaries take his houses and send him to a camp.

Rick said...

In a thread titled 'Is this the prologue to The Handmaid’s Tale?' on the discussion forum Douban, Chinese internet users likened the database to the television show based on a future where women are forced to reproduce. '

So...Republicans have taken over China now? Luckily we have those brave Women's Studies grads to protect us here.

Lucid-Ideas said...

As someone who lived in China and speaks the language I can reveal two important facts

1) Birthrates are falling as more women enter the middle class.
2) The more affluent they are the less they want to 'breed' with Chinese men. THIS is a far bigger problem that is much more hush-hush.

I love how these westernised dystopian fantasies always end up happening pretty much everywhere EXCEPT the West first.

Gahrie said...

Women rights advocates and critics of China’s use of strict family planning rules worry about how far the government will go to encourage more women to have children.

Is there any question? This is the same regime that imposed the one child policy on their population. If they are willing to force a woman to have an abortion against her will, forcing her to become pregnant will mean nothing to them.

For thousands of years the governments of China have been abusing the common people, both male and female.

W.B. Picklesworth said...

Communist China embodies a liberal author's nightmare of conservatism. Who would have thought? It's almost as if they slough off on conservatives all of their worst qualities.

n.n said...

It's a catastrophic misalignment forced by a demand for social progress. The tale is that one-child and selective-child are significantly different forcings with respect to human rights and viability.

gilbar said...

one word: Breeder Hips

Big Mike said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
n.n said...

sex... the range of allowable values in that field

Haven't the civilized nations reached a consensus on 50 shades of female?

Barry Dauphin said...

It contained a curious entry for someone named "Jenny" @ 867-5309.

rhhardin said...

Things were simpler when they were called waiters and waitresses instead of servers.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

any 'breeding-hearlt' libs over there ?

Ignorance is Bliss said...

I’m a pessimist and the fact that stories like The Handmaid’s Tale exist means the signs are already there.

Idiocracy and Dumb and Dumber both also exist, and your comment is another sign that is already there...

Big Mike said...

After reading the article, and especially the tweet by Victor Gevers about the correlation of ages with 1 and 0 in the field labeled "Breedready." A
good guess is that "BreedReady" is a mistranslation of "Fertile," and this is a database of women looking for husbands or at least long-term male companionship. It appears to be a Boolean field, with 1 meaning "True" (i.e., fertile, or perhaps interested in sex) and zero for "False," meaning unable or unwilling to have a child, or, alternatively, uninterested in a sexual relationship.

That this is some sort Chinese hook-up site is also suggested by the fact that 82% live in 北京市, which is the city we know as Beijing.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

Nubile is the term I use in my database...

YoungHegelian said...

As someone who has spent a lot of time in Asian groceries shopping for the Mrs who loved to cook Chinese & Thai cuisine, I'd just like to point out just how appalling translations are from east Asian languages to English as a matter of course. It's so bad that the cook books recommend either listing for oneself or bringing the book to the proprietor to help find what you're looking for.

"BreedReady" sounds like one of those translation issues. Not that's there's any form of evil I'd put past the Chinese government, but still...

Christy said...

Romania under Ceaușescu had, er, strongly encouraged breeding. Birth control was outlawed; divorce was not allowed. Remember all those Romanian adoptions after the regime fell? I had a colleague who'd escaped, a highly educated woman with ties to the Ceaușescu family - one of the elites, if you will. Her husband, even after the marriage broke up still lived in the family home because it was safer for all concerned. She managed in part because her best friend was a GYN. Even as an elite, much of her life was coerced. If you think the new world order will be your friend because you are special, think again.

The Vault Dweller said...

So even though China is officially a Communist country, it is essentially a Fascist country now right? It is highly nationalist, has a very controlling government that is involved in all aspects of a citizen's life, and while there is some free enterprise, especially at higher levels in industry there is heavy government involvement with corporations.

The interesting thing though is that the main significant change that occurred in China over the last 2 generations is that it has gotten more free enterprise oriented. So I guess China moved into fascism by becoming more free?

Retail Lawyer said...

Vault Dweller - Exactly right. Fascism seems preferable to communism, but don't say that.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

from "bare branches" to "breedready"

re: china's demography
https://www.steynonline.com/9128/a-forest-of-bare-branches

narciso said...

Well it's more like the kuomintang regime that preceded mao, which in turn split off from the sun yatsen revolutionary movement

Darrell said...

Communism is always a struggle between its breed-ready and shovel-ready factions.

Sebastian said...

"a future where women are forced to reproduce"

As opposed to the past, when the Commies forced women to abort or kill their babies, if they had more than one.

Seeing Red said...

With the Chinese Communists’ social points structure, if you don’t breed, you might starve to death. They’re already taking away your right to travel and rent an apt.

But this is what you AOC followers want...

iowan2 said...

I was just going to bring up China's social points structure. Already in place and punishing citizens as we speak

The left dreams of the same ability. Already testing it out with Tucker Carlson. Their most recent lab rat.

Maillard Reactionary said...

You know they are breedready when they turn reddish and start to make little hollows in the sand.

tim in vermont said...

So wait a minute? The Handmaid’s Tale takes place in a socialist country? Here I thought that it was a free market economy with a limited government that was doing that to women!

Leland said...

What is China's problem? Don't they know the solution is simply to open their borders and take in refugees from other countries? I think we know a few socialists that would love it there.

tim in vermont said...

So even though China is officially a Communist country, it is essentially a Fascist country now right?

Just like with the former Soviet Union, all it takes to go from communism to fascism is to change a few job titles and re-work the propaganda. But we are supposed to believe that they are polar opposites, when really they are just Macy’s and Gimbal’s.

Bob Loblaw said...

This is a lot of hyperventilating over a clumsy translation. Feminists need something to do.

Yancey Ward said...

Fuckable is the right English word.

Yancey Ward said...

I thought Trump's election was the notification that the Handmaid's Tale was already here?

Renee said...

Handmaid's tale is already occurring. It's called surrogacy.

stlcdr said...

Shocked, I tell you! Shocked!