Digital China: Ten Things Worth Knowing about the Chinese Internet

Thanks largely to the Olympics, 2008 will go down in history as a turning point year for China -- or, rather, one when the country passed several milestones. It'll be remembered as a turning point year in Chinese sports history, due to the country getting its first chance to host the Games, and the history of Beijing's redevelopment, due to all of that has been torn down and built up to ready the city to play host. 2008 will go down as a turning point year in the history of cross-strait relations as well, thanks to the resumption today, after over half-a-century, of regularly scheduled Taiwan-mainland flights. Here, though, we focus on still another thing that 2008 is likely to be remembered as: a turning point year for the Chinese Internet.

Consider how many Internet-related developments have already taken place. In January, YouTube videos helped publicize Shanghai protests against extensions of a high-speed train line. In February, China replaced America as the country with the most Internet users. In March and April, bloggers and hackers made headlines, as the furor over the Tibet riots and the roughing up of a Chinese torchbearer in Paris played out in cyberspace as well as on the ground. In May, Wen Jiabao became China's first leader with a Facebook page. In June, Hu Jintao became China's first leader to respond to questions online.

And throughout 2008, news and views about the Olympics have shown up on the Chinese Internet, thanks to everything from the official Beijing Games website that features non-stop promotion of and updates about the event, to a flurry of unofficial postings, such as ones by angry netizens who complained right after the May earthquake government television was still showing triumphant images of the torch relay when the time had come to focus on the suffering of the people of Sichuan.

By now, in the wake of these and other digital events, news-savvy Americans all know the Internet has become an important force in Chinese life -- but not necessarily what kind of force. Here are ten things to keep in mind whenever the Chinese Internet makes headlines.

1. Optimists have long forecast -- inaccurately -- that the Internet will swiftly transform China into a completely open society.
Among others, George Will, Thomas Friedman, and Bill Clinton all predicted around the millennium's turn that the arrival of the Internet would inevitably and swiftly set China free. This hasn't happened. China's still run by a Communist Party that takes harsh measures against organizations that threaten its hold on power.

2. Pessimists continue to suggest -- also inaccurately -- that Chinese political life hasn't really changed and cannot be said to have changed until the Communist Party falls. This ignores shifts in which the Internet has figured centrally.

China's leaders may not have to stand for re-election and certainly limit some forms of dissent, but the Chinese public sphere has become a more freewheeling, interesting and chaotic arena for expressions of opinion than it was. This isn't all due to the Internet (crusading print journalists and activists have also done their part), but bloggers calling attention to official corruption or mocking government policies have definitely helped alter the political landscape. It's misleading to suggest -- as the New Republic does in its latest special issue, "Meet the New China (Same as the Old One)" --that the realm of Chinese politics has remained static.

3. It's misleading to imagine that the only Chinese Internet activity that matters politically involves "dissidents" and collective acts of protest.

Often, the politically significant things happening online involve forms of communication, such as efforts to call attention to corrupt acts by local officials, that dovetail with policies that are promoted or at least given lip service by the central authorities. In many cases, these take the form of satirical discussions, which only gradually move toward anything like a "dissident" position. A recent illustration involved reports that pigs raised to be eaten by Olympic competitors are fed a special organic diet to ensure that pork-consuming athletes won't get so full of chemicals they'll fail drug tests. This led to a flurry of Internet postings about the health risks ordinary Chinese face when eating "normal" pigs. First one and then scores of bloggers connected the dots between the regime's attentiveness to the well being of athletes and seeming lack of concern for other groups, like miners. (There are scores of coal mining accidents each year, only some of which are officially acknowledged.) Many corners of the Chinese blogosphere were suddenly plastered with variations on the line: "I'd rather be an Olympic pig than a man in a coal mine!"

4. The political uses of the Chinese Internet that draw attention here and in China often differ.

Take, for example, Zeng Jingyan, wife of AIDS activist Hu Jia. After blogging about her experiences trying to free Hu from detention, she and her husband made Time's list of the 100 most influential people. But her actions haven't gained the kind of traction in her own country as, say, the Olympic pig stories did.

5. A lot of what happens on the Chinese Internet isn't political.
Increasingly, Chinese Internet usage reflects the broad range of online activities happening in the US, Europe, Japan, and other wired countries. Most Chinese Internet cafes are packed with students playing online video games, not checking out political websites. Online chat rooms are packed. Online commerce is growing rapidly. Online stock trading has taken off. And after the Sichuan earthquake, Chinese donated millions of dollars online.

6. Though the Internet is thought of as an "international space," postings on it can be intensely patriotic, even jingoistic (in China and elsewhere).

Early Internet pioneers opined that the Internet would increasingly make national boundaries and identities irrelevant, especially among the wired young. But Chinese netizens can be nationalistic as well as cosmopolitan. In the spring, after the Tibet and Paris incident, for example, fenqing ("angry youths") took to the net , creating YouTube videos and blog posts that denigrated Tibetan rioters and railed against the French.

7. Self-styled patriotic postings can make the government uneasy.

Unrestrained nationalism has often been a problem for the Chinese government. So officials are understandably wary when young people start to toss about nationalist slogans on the Internet and sometimes act quickly to rein things in. For instance, in April 2005, when anti-Japanese protests broke out across China in response to debates over the content of Japanese history textbooks (and their portrayal of World War II events), internet censors quickly added the word "demonstration" to their list of banned words at QQ, China's most popular internet messaging service. This spring, the government initially allowed anti-French sentiment to build, but soon was moving to tamp it down as online activists began calling for boycotts of international companies whose investment money Beijng has courted.

8. Censorship is more complex than just "Big Brother" blocking sites or the "Great Firewall of China" keeping things out.

While Chinese Internet censorship is widespread, it's not a single unified system. There is some meta-level screening of taboo words and images (like the Dalai Lama's name and face), but the "firewall" is actually a series of blocks -- some at the national level, some at the local level. Universities, schools, and companies monitor and screen Internet traffic, as do Internet service providers and even individual websites. At the Chinese news blog Danwei, they've coined the catchy phrase "Net Nanny" to better reflect the Chinese government efforts to prevent its citizens from being exposed to the wrong kinds of things. Some observers, like Rebecca MacKinnon, have noted the playful language games netizens use to circumvent the filters, but other discussions simply never take place, due not just to ham-handed interference but also self-censorship.

9. China isn't always just following trends when it comes to Internet usage, as it sometimes set them.

This is true of software and technology developments for Internet censorship. It's also true of some creative areas. For instance, before the final installment of Harry Potter's adventures hit bookshelves last year, Chinese fans were able to read multiple versions online -- written by Chinese authors riffing on J.K. Rowling's popular series -- as well as several unauthorized translations of the real deal. Another example is that books made up of posting from popular blogs began making regular appearances on Chinese bestseller lists back in 2006 when these were still very rarely published in the West.

10. You don't have to read Chinese to know what Chinese bloggers are saying.

You can go to "Blog for China," a site started by a group of American-based Chinese students during the recent firestorm over alleged Western bias in media coverage of China, Or visit sites like China Digital Times, Danwei, EastSouthWestNorth, Shanghaiist, and RConversation, all of which regularly translate posts from and track development relating to the Chinese Internet. We depend heavily on them in our work for "The China Beat: Blogging How the East is Read" a site launched by academics and freelance writers interested in Chinese affairs. And as anyone who has gone to the links we've provided above will know by now, we've relied upon them in creating this top ten list on the challenging, important topic of making sense of an increasingly wired and ever-changing China.

Read more HuffPost coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games

Comments

[emsique]

The internet in China is also SLOW, in part because of the government controls. I haven't been to China since some of the latest media bans, including Youtube and Huffpost, but I found that in the private home you could access most news websites. Internet cafes were another story. There are more filters there, which could contribute to the fact that most young people are just playing games. I tried to access email at one cafe that was Quaalude slow.

However, the internet is opening a big world to the people who use it. I have met many people online from there, including my wife. There are millions wanting to know more about the outside world and who want to meet foreign people. Ideas are exchanged, friends are made.

The government there may be a clumsy, ham fisted, corrupt bunch, but they do care about public opinion. Large riots do happen there on a pretty regular basis, and are usually in response to some government malfeasance. The communist bosses know that a revolution put them where they are, and they could be deposed by the same thing. Right now they are making a big deal out of new anti corruption laws. These could be window dressing with a few blatant officials getting hauled off to jail and some more being fired, but it is a response to the disapproval felt by such a large segment of the population.

[KPinSEA]

8. Censorship is more complex than just "Big Brother" blocking sites or the "Great Firewall of China" keeping things out.

Indeed, and the long-term effects of this will be fairly interesting. China doesn't really access the Internet, it accesses the Abridged Internet .... and not just abridged, but with DNS redirection it occasionally substitutes state-sanctioned content for the actual website the Chinese citizen was attempting to visit, or tells them the site is unavailable when in fact it's being blocked.

To some degree this must affect the Abridged Internet experience of Chinese users. Do they have less faith in the truth of any objective analysis when it is all subject to censorship and editing? Do they treat all information on the Internet as being the product of government-manipulated propaganda, whether it's their government or someone else's? Does an Internet culture of teaching people to avoid certain taboo keywords create a populace that "knows better than to ask hard questions", and how does this affect scholarly research, scientific development, etc.?

[Marioth]

The Olympics are a qaint waste of time & money.

The billions spent are unjustifyable. How many people would this feed, raise out of poverty, and shown a differnt path? How many higher educations would this provide?

That would be none.

The world has much bigger fish to fry than freely contributing to, in this case, Chinese ego.

[MagisterLudi]

Olympics are an INTERNATIONAL event.
For couple of weeks the world would be united watching cheering and celebrating.
China is simply a host of this great event. And as a graceous host it wants the games to go smoothly.

"The Olympic Games are for the world and all nations must be admitted to them."

For athletes, the Olympics are the ultimate test of their worth.

Florence Griffith Joyner, American athlete, 1988 Summer Olympics:
When anyone tells me I can't do anything, I'm just not listening any more.

Noureddine Morceli, Algerian athlete, 1996 Summer Olympics:
I run to be known as the greatest runner, the greatest of all time. I could not eat or sleep for a week after I lost in the [1992] Olympics. I have to win or die.

[MagisterLudi]

All media exist to invest our lives with artificial perceptions and arbitrary values. Chinese are struggling valiantly against the insipid influence of the worst elements of Western media. But it's a Sisyphean labor.
Chinese old guard just as Muslim Jihadist are doomed to lose. The modes of communication altered their societies to such an extent that no retreat is possible. Medium IS the Message.
Unlike Jihadists, China, under the leadership of the avant guard of the Communist party, will absorb and enhance modern means and modes of production and communication.

[MagisterLudi]

"China's still run by a Communist Party that takes harsh measures against organizations that threaten its hold on power."

And justifiably so. More than anything else, China needs stability and COMPETENT leadership. Chinese Communist Party with its 80 million members provides both.

If Tianamen liberal protesters would've succeded, China would by in chaos now.
CCP took appropriate steps to put down the revolt and Chinese people have benefited.

The control of new media is mainly due to the influence of the old guard in the party.
The new technocrats are more comfortable with it. The ambivalence is about Western liberal and right wing propaganda.U.S. prohibits child pornography on the Net, China prohibits political propaganda for the sake of unity and peace. Viola.

Ironically, the right wingers AND American liberal petty bourgeois are against the Chinese version of communism. Understandable, in the case of right wingers, but Americans liberals? I suspect of that ilk simply ape whatever cause célèbre is pushed in the media.

[KPinSEA]

You'll find the 'American liberal' pretty much against all governments that imprison people for the act of dissenting from state-sanctioned policy.

[MagisterLudi]

I applaude you for your goo intentions. Surely you've heard the old canard about good intentions and where they often lead :-)

Unfortunately, in the real world, sometimes harsh actions have to be taken in order to benefit the society.
In my opinion China, as a whole, GREATLY benefited from the suppression of the Tianamen revolt.

Russia,as a whole greatly benefited from suppressing those who loved the chaos of the Yeltsin years.
I fully supported the arrest and imprisonment of the Russian oligarch who presumed that his money can give him the right to play king maker and use his "freedom of speech."The trial was grossly unjust, but it benefited the country.

U.S. greatly benefited from unfair arrests and imprisonment of the KKK members.

So what sometimes it takes an injustice to produce greater good. Think about it.

Good intentions such as yours often leads to great suffering. Not always, but often enough.

[austinobserver]

In the US, the corporate oligarchy recognized long ago it does not need to imprison dissenters. It uses flood speech to drown out all the free speech of the dissenters. It is just as much mind control, but much more sophisticated, and not with a scintilla of concern for the welfare of society.

In constructing a working society that benefits the majority, there are no easy answers, no algorithms. I wish there were.

[OgreDaddy]

I think communication will change things in China much faster than their government will ever believe.

It may still take another generation to replace the Old Guard, but it's still going to happen amazingly
fast especially when you compare their history and culture to most Western civilizations.

Their kids will hack their way through the firewalls and restrictions just the way ours have in no time.

[cylindar]

I hate to say this but the Chinese internet is stupid. There is nothing there of value for anyone. Everything is censored and you do not have freedom of speech or expression. It is not the same internet that we experience here in the USA. Yes, you can call it the internet--but think about it, seriously. They also do not do much e-commerce and are pretty backward by American standards.

[RaptorRex]

This post is just ignorant. I lived in China for 2.5 years and used the Internet fruitfully everyday.

I could shop and buy online (taobao) cheaper than store shopping for just about anything and have it delivered usually the next day

I could recharge my cellphone card online

Although wikipedia is banned I could get the same info from answers.com (it dupes wiki)

Movies download fast enough. In the range of (50-200kps). So I could see new movies after a few hours if I start downloading the day before or early morning. No big deal. I can wait.

Porn is freely available (just go the English sites)

I functioned as well in China as here with the exception of 3 sites that were banned (bbc.co.uk, wikipedia.com, blogger.com) Blogger is back now, I think.

These days I can video chat with friends back in China with no detriment in quality.

Online dating has recently taken off big time as well.

And here is something I love about China. They don't trust the sellers. If you buy something online (taobao is like (better than) eBay) you do not pay for the product until you have received it and inspected it. Then you go back online and pay the seller or return the product. My friends there were surprised to hear that it is the other way around here. I guess you can trust Chinese people more or we are just less trusting.

[DAE]

This is stupid propaganda. I've ordered books and other commodities from China over the internet and its no different than ordering from France or Germany. Read the article which directly contradicts what this anti-China fool states.

[OgreDaddy]

I can't help wondering what will happen when free thinking tourists or athletes take advantage
of international TV exposure to protest human rights violations live during the games with
billions of people watching.

Yes I'm sure there will be broadcast time delays in place, but if the authorities move in to
arrest protesters, it could get rather awkward if not real messy.

I'm not sure how the Chinese government will handle people who are perfectly used to
speaking truth to power.

[DAE]

Sorry to post again, but why do you want to politicize the Olympics? Where were the protests against the Sydney Olympics? The treatment of the Aboriginal people of Australia was and is much more genocidal than what's occurred in Tibet. Hell, we're occupying and devastating a country 1000's of miles from our shores. Get your own damn house in order before making a fuss about human rights in China. What a farce.

[S1m0n]

260 MILLION chinese migrated from the countryside to find work in factories along the strip of coastal cities. It's the biggest migration the earth has seen, and one that has a massive capacity to turn ugly if work and some form of housing isn't available. 260 million young men, unemployed as well as single (because of the girl shortage caused by the one-child policy) could turn volatile in a flash.

So maybe that's the appropriate amount of social upheaval for the time being. Wishing for a revolution looks pretty foolhardy from here.

[GayGrandpa]

On a social level I have always wondered what the one child thing would do for China...with more boys will homosexuality rise...naturally? If anyone has a thought let me know. Thanks.