1/ Sony becomes the latest foreign company to be hung out to dry in China for nationalistic reasons. The company's social media account (Weibo) was shut last week, and it was over a post from Oct 12, in which nationalists singled out for insulting China's war heroes and martyrs.
https://twitter.com/globaltimesnews/status/1612363944198537219
2/ Last week, astute Chinese netizens realised Sony's Weibo had been shuttered, for "running afoul of related rules and regulations." (Message in orange wording at the bottom of image) 
3/ Wang Gaofei, the CEO of Weibo, dropped clues to Sony's closure in a public social media entry last week. The block was delayed punishment for a public post by Sony on October 12.
4/ Netizens were left guessing what was the offending post (some accurate guesses) but it wasn’t till Saturday, when CCTV ran a Wechat post explaining Sony’s offense. This was the post that triggered the suspension: a black dog hiding in a sea of red autumn leaves.
5/ The post also featured a line written by Mao Zedong about the beauty of plum blossoms. Nationalists jumped on the post. CCTV explained that plum blossoms were a sign of Party members overcoming adversity. Sony, they said, had been mocking a war hero from the Korean War.
6/ Nationalists said the post Sony had uploaded mocked Qiu Shaoyun, a Chinese soldier who had sacrificed himself to protect his troops on Oct 12 - 70 years earlier. And that the photo of the dog in the bushes resembled this picture.
7/ For background, Qiu had burned to death after the area around him was hit by a petrol bomb and he refused to leave the spot for a nearby water body as it would give away the position of his troops. Oct 12 - the day of Sony’s post - was the 70th anniversary of his sacrifice.
8/ Sony was punished under the “Heroes and Martyrs Protection Law" from 2018, which protects the group from defamation. Enforcing control over Chinese history has been a priority for President Xi, who often talks about restoring the Party to greatness. wsj.com/articles/china…
9/ CCTV’s post also singled out another faux pas by Sony. The Japanese electronics maker had chosen July 7, the anniversary of the start of the Sino-Japan war to launch new smartphones in China in 2021. Sony was fined 100 mln yuan.
10/ China, once seen as an easy & attractive market for sales, has become a lot more challenging for foreign brands. Nationalistic boycotts have hit brands, with 90 incidents between 2008 and 2021, data from the Swedish National China Center shows. kinacentrum.se/en/publication…
11/ The last time a foreign company was openly shamed was Walmart over supposedly stripping Xinjiang products from its shelves (more than a year ago), and Swedish retailer H&M, and sportwear firms Nike and Adidas were also boycotted because of their stance on Xinjiang in 2021.
12/ Businesses and diplomats say that Xi's reign on power has only resulted in much more opacity and unpredictability. @ByChunHan and I write in this piece about the changing winds. wsj.com/articles/china…
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