So another childhood dream just got squashed by the Communists.
On the one hand, mainland China went on my bucket list at age nine or 10, decades before "bucket list" was even a thing. On the other hand, I hate doing time in a forced labor camp, or whatever re-education facilities Communist China now uses for people who speak badly of it even on foreign soil.
I wish I were making this up, but starting next week, Beijing's Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress will do just that.
Since the Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress must come up several times in this column, and it's a typically Communist mouthful of nothing, how about we agree to call it either LOPEUP (which hurts my eyes), or the Winnie the Pooh Hush-You Act?
See? This is why I can't go to China, because Winnie the Xi just outlawed even overseas dissent by us nasty yang guizi.
That's "foreign devils," and you probably rank as one just for reading this.
Anyway, under LOPEUP, criticism of minority ethnic or religious issues — such as the various forms of ethnic cleansing and/or genocide Beijing is committing in Xinjiang and Tibet — is outlawed effective July 1. Mild violations can incur fines of up to ¥50,000 RMB (about $7,000) for individuals or groups spreading "separatist" ideas or violating "ethnic harmony" rules.
Inciting ethnic hatred or discrimination (presumably, only when it's against Han Chinese) is punishable by three years or more in prison. The more severe cases — promoting separatism or "undermining national unity" — can result in even longer prison terms.
Good luck figuring out what "ethnic harmony" or "undermining national unity" mean in practice, so you'd better just keep your mouth shut. Which is entirely the point, you can be sure.
No shock here, but statements supporting Taiwan's independence could find you in violation of the Winnie the Pooh Hush-You Act.
But here's where China got kicked off my bucket list. According to one of those charming Japanese X accounts that started showing up on my timeline a few months back, "The worst part is Article 63's extraterritorial application," which "explicitly states that the speech and actions of foreigners located outside of China, such as in Japan, can also be subject to punishment."
While it isn't like China will send secret police to arrest me here in the U.S., my new Japanese acquaintance noted that "the moment you travel to China or even just transit through a Chinese airport, you risk being detained out of nowhere."
PJ Media serves as home to nearly 25 years of VodkaPundit items supporting Taiwan independence and arming them with anything and everything shy of nuclear weapons. I've also written a time or three about the genocide in Xinjiang and Beijing's efforts to snuff out the Tibetan nations through language suppression and Han Chinese colonization.
Then there is the small matter of all those Xi-Jinping-as-Winnie-the-Pooh memes I might have shared on social media over the years.
More propaganda from
— Shawn🇺🇸 (@big_killa_) June 21, 2026
Winnie Xi Pooh pic.twitter.com/nBuZyugasl
Oops, I did it again.
And Another Thing: Communist China didn't open to Western tourists until after both the Cultural Revolution and Mao Zedong were both good and dead. I got the bug to go after my great-grandmother, who traveled extensively, was on one of those very early tours in 1978 or '79. She told anyone who would listen that Orville Redenbacher was part of her (tightly controlled, highly choreographed) tour group, but sadly, I couldn't find any record of that. But what a weirdly great name to drop, right?
LOPEUP simply puts into law what Beijing has been up to for a long time: promoting Han Chinese at the expense of everyone else. It isn't often appreciated in the West, but while China is 90% or better ethnically Chinese, that still leaves room for a couple hundred million Uyghurs, Tibetans, Mongolians, and more.
Check this out:
Beijing's solution to the minority "problem" is as simple as it is brutal: suppress or eliminate anything that isn't part of the 90%. Hence, the "Promoting Ethnic Unity" part of LOPEUP, perhaps the most explicitly nationalist law on the books of any major nation. The "Progress" part depends entirely, I suppose, on how you view the marriage between nationalism and socialism.
Nationalism and socialism joined together? Where have I seen that before?
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Goodbye, China. Hello, extras you can't get anywhere else.
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