An exchange student from Spain asked me when he got to know that Facebook, Twitter and YouTube were blocked and even Google cannot work well in China.
The Great Firewall of China
Our ancient built the Great Wall to defense other nations' offense and made it a wonder of the world.
During the last ten years, the high-tech government has been building an invisible great wall to prevent his people to be "eroded" by the whole world.
The huge amount of people is isolated from the whole world.
Back in China, I tried a lot of ways to "climb over" the wall.
Thanks to the smart high-tech geniuses, it's not that difficult to jump out and explore the world outside of China.
Usually, I used a VPN to fake my IP address. But as you can imagine, it worked not very well. I was kicked-off by the world sometimes.
And you have to pay if you want more stable Internet.
The Great Firewall is really powerful and loyal.
The New York Times was blocked in China after a long story about our premier Wen Jiabao's rich family.
And the next day, you cannot find the website anymore.
The story about Wen Jiabao. It's a fun read!
And yes, even the Blogger is blocked in China.
So my friends cannot read my blog in a normal way.
But the strange thing is there were two hits from China and after half months, they disappeared.
Pictures from Internet
Facebook & Twitter
In the past two months, one of the most frequent questions I was asked was "can you use Facebook in China. When I answered "no," everyone was shocked.
It is most probably because the July 2009 Urumuqi Riots. Urumuqi is the capital city of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
The government believed they used Facebook and Twitter to organize the riot and spread the information. After that, you'll find fewer and fewer Chinese on Facebook.
Because there are few friends on Facebook and we have a Chinese version of Facebook, so we basically don't use it.
But when I travelled out of mainland China, I was so excited that I can log into Facebook without a VPN.
But something interesting happened.
When Wen Jiabao, the sixth Premier of China gave a speech last year (I cannot remember the exact time), he mentioned he used Facebook, Twitter and YouTube several times.
The 2014 Summer Youth Olympic Games will be held in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province.
The government decided to tear down the Great Firewall for the athletes live in a certain area.
"The young athletes need to contact and share photos with their friends back home."
I have to say sometimes my dear government is very considerate.
What do we do with the Internet
Well, you may find strange that most Chinese post nothing on Facebook (if they have one account).
We do post photos and update the status like most people who have access to the Internet.
I met a girl who was going to do her Masters in history when I travelled in Vietnam.
She said that our government was so great. In order to protect the Chinese companies, they blocked the Facebook and Twitter. So the Chinese companies can earn more money.
I smiled all the way.
The Chinese companies created Weibo, Chinese version of Twitter; Renren, Chinese version of Facebook; Youku, the Chinese version of YouTube; Baidu, Chinese version of Google, etc.
Basically, we have everything in Chinese version, thanks to the Great Firewall.
All the websites are not bad and we had a lot of fun because of them.
But we are isolated from the world.
TV Programs
Most families don't have the foreign TV channels, which means we can only watch the Chinese TV channels.
Share an interesting story.
A visiting professor in my home university last year worked for CNN for 14 years. Though he left CNN, he still has friends there.
When he was in China, he could watch CNN and other American channel in his apartment, which was only for foreigners.
But when there's something negative or just sensitive things about China, the TV went black.
After the news finished, the TV came back again.
So sometimes, he had to ask his friends in CNN what did they talk about China.
Just imagine, there's a poor guy sitting in front of the TV with a button all day and all night.
He has to watch the CNN news carefully. When there's something not suitable to be on a TV in China, he pushed the button to block the news.
Oh, why we have this weird job!
Things are getting better
With the development of Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter since 2009, things are getting better.
More people have a place to speak out. Some government staff and even mayors were dismissed because people reported their misconduct on Weibo.
A high rank government official was sentenced for 14 years because of a photo.
What do we do with the Internet
Well, you may find strange that most Chinese post nothing on Facebook (if they have one account).
We do post photos and update the status like most people who have access to the Internet.
I met a girl who was going to do her Masters in history when I travelled in Vietnam.
She said that our government was so great. In order to protect the Chinese companies, they blocked the Facebook and Twitter. So the Chinese companies can earn more money.
I smiled all the way.
The Chinese companies created Weibo, Chinese version of Twitter; Renren, Chinese version of Facebook; Youku, the Chinese version of YouTube; Baidu, Chinese version of Google, etc.
Basically, we have everything in Chinese version, thanks to the Great Firewall.
All the websites are not bad and we had a lot of fun because of them.
But we are isolated from the world.
TV Programs
Most families don't have the foreign TV channels, which means we can only watch the Chinese TV channels.
Share an interesting story.
A visiting professor in my home university last year worked for CNN for 14 years. Though he left CNN, he still has friends there.
When he was in China, he could watch CNN and other American channel in his apartment, which was only for foreigners.
But when there's something negative or just sensitive things about China, the TV went black.
After the news finished, the TV came back again.
So sometimes, he had to ask his friends in CNN what did they talk about China.
Just imagine, there's a poor guy sitting in front of the TV with a button all day and all night.
He has to watch the CNN news carefully. When there's something not suitable to be on a TV in China, he pushed the button to block the news.
Oh, why we have this weird job!
Things are getting better
With the development of Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter since 2009, things are getting better.
More people have a place to speak out. Some government staff and even mayors were dismissed because people reported their misconduct on Weibo.
A high rank government official was sentenced for 14 years because of a photo.
Caida Yang smiled in a car accident spot. Then people found his watch was super expensive.
People found more photos of Yang and found he had a lot of expensive watches.
Finally, he was found guilty of corruption and sentenced 14 years.
This is one of the most famous case happened in recent years in China.
We begin to have voices and more power with the help of internet.
But still, the government, the Communist Party controls a lot.
I was really jealous and ashamed when Burma finally allowed their people to use Facebook and pulled down the censorship.
I really embarrassed and upset when people said "there's no press freedom in China" after they know my major is journalism.
Someday, I wish China, Chinese can really become a part of the Internet World.
The Great Wall is our pride forever, but the Great Firewall, should be torn down ASAP!
Finally, he was found guilty of corruption and sentenced 14 years.
This is one of the most famous case happened in recent years in China.
We begin to have voices and more power with the help of internet.
But still, the government, the Communist Party controls a lot.
I was really jealous and ashamed when Burma finally allowed their people to use Facebook and pulled down the censorship.
I really embarrassed and upset when people said "there's no press freedom in China" after they know my major is journalism.
Someday, I wish China, Chinese can really become a part of the Internet World.
The Great Wall is our pride forever, but the Great Firewall, should be torn down ASAP!
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