Julian Assange shot his wad. Wikileaks, which had previously distributed selections from its massive trove of US diplomatic cables in carefully metered distributions to the media, has suddenly (prematurely?) released its full holding of secret files.

The full set of cables is now available from Cryptome.org and other sources. It’s a 368 MB compressed file, which turns into a 1.7 GB csv file. Large enough to stymie most text editors. But I d/l'ed the file last night and I began my own textual analysis.

Mainly I was looking for naughty words like “sex” and “poop”. (Afraid I’ve never outgrown the schoolboy joys of scanning new texts for obscenities.) “Sex” turned up the most depressing accounts of slavery and exploitation. “Poop” occurred once or twice, in anecdotes about Turkmen horse parades or in nautical contexts.

But as my search broadened, and I came across this report from Shanghai about the punk rock scene there.

SUBJECT: EAST CHINA DISPATCHES, MAY 14, 2007

(U) Sensitive but Unclassified - please protect accordingly.

Not for dissemination outside USG channels.

1. (SBU) Summary: In this Dispatch, we learn that Shanghai loves luxury cars, anti-Japanese sentiment still simmers, Internet rumors spread quickly in Shanghai, even migrants dream of making it big on the stock market, information on IPR continues to be welcomed, and some Shanghai youth are passionate about punk music. This is the first in a series of periodic short-subject cables designed to offer more anecdotal reflections on life in East China.

—SNIP—

Shanghai Rocks Out To Sonic Youth

12. (U) In the past year Shanghai has hosted an increasing number of concerts by foreign performers, including the Rolling Stones, James Brown and the Black Eyed Peas. The audiences at all of the concerts have been remarkably consistent, mostly foreigners (of all ages) with few Chinese. As a result, most foreigners expected a similar audience at an April 24 show by New York-based punk band Sonic Youth. Unbeknownst to most (Econoff included) Sonic Youth has a large, devoted following in China.

13. (U) The concert was held at the Shanghai Concert Hall, a historic building in the center of People's Park that primarily hosts classical music concerts. Before the show started the mostly twenty-something clean-cut Chinese audience was seated politely, many still in work attire, most with backpacks, a far cry from the typical Sonic Youth crowd in the United States. There was no alcohol or soda sold, only water. As soon as the lights dimmed, however, pandemonium erupted.

14. (U) The Chinese security seemed unsure how to react; for the first hour every time they tried to control the audience, the band would castigate them. Five minutes into the show the audience rushed the stage but the security stopped the surging crowd and aggressively pushed the audience back to their seats at which point the band stopped singing and asked the security to let the crowd approach the stage. Security held firm until a particularly popular song whipped the crowd into such a frenzy that it overwhelmed the security guards and the audience took over the stage pit. As the concert went on, security eased up more and more so that by the end they were allowing stage diving.

15. (U) According to Lilo Wang, a 24-year old accountant, who spent most of the show in the heart of the mosh pit, Sonic Youth had been popular in China for a long time and within the rock crowd was extremely popular. She said that Shanghai's rock scene was weak because all everyone cared about was making money and they were not passionate about life. She said the cost of the tickets (RMB 480 or USD 62) was worth it and that she hoped more bands like Sonic Youth would come to China and that rock, especially punk, would grow in popularity in Shanghai.

16. (U) Regards from Shanghai.

JARRETT