The Chinese Ministry of Public Security has punished almost 200 people by detention due to "spreading rumors online" of China's continuous stock market instability, industrial explosions in Tianjin and a military parade scheduled on Thursday "commemorate the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II."
According to nytimes.com, the ministry's action against the almost 200 was a part of a special campaign. The "rumor" concerning the market collapse and slowing economy affected the country's leaders the most. President Xi Jinping announced a few months ago that he and other senior Chinese officials had called the military parade as a sign if nationalism and at the same time, President Xi's first state visit to the United States. However, both events might be shadowed by different cases and issues that affected whole of China.
In accordance with the ministry's efforts of eradicating the "rumors", the reporter Wang Xiaolu, was ordered to confess in national television that he had written a "sensational and irresponsible" article about the company's stock market. Mr. Wang's article was published last July 20, 2015 and it said that China Securities Regulatory Commission "was seeking to withdraw funds from the stock market." Last August 25, Wang got detained and his articles was taken down from their website.
According to wsj.com [Wall Street Journal], the Chinese government was taking a lot of heat from its citizens due to slowing economy and the tragedy Tianjin warehouse explosion had caused. The ministry didn't name all that were being punished, giving out only surnames of the detainees. The four of the detained have already expressed their regret in spreading disruptive rumors about their country.
Some of the alleged false rumors that circulated online consist of, a man jumping out of the roof due to stock market's drop, the Tianjian explosion's death toll had already reached 1,300 and "inflammatory rumors related to China's commemorations of the 70th anniversary of victory in World War II."
