The Great Firewall

For those avid readers, you will realize that I haven't updated my blog in a little longer than normal period. About two weeks ago, when on a trip, I got a message from Teddy (our advisor) saying that blogspot has been blocked. It was anything but a surprise. I wasn't too stoked about this news, but knew that Danthemanstan was using a program to get around it. So I did some research, and bought access to the VPN host which he uses. I had to do some troubleshooting, as the Great Firewall even blocks some levels of the program, but obviously it is running and working now. There are many very popular ways around the Firewall, but unfortunately for me, most of them are written for Windows, as it (or an illegal copy of it) is the primary operating system used in China. So far, the firewall (or Golden Shield Project, as it's officially titled) hadn't really affected me, as many of the news sites blocked in Chinese are open in English, and I don't watch too many YouTube videos. But, with blogspot being blocked, it got too inconvenient, so now, with the click of a button I am enjoying some good ol' Internet from the U.S.

The agreed upon (although not official or admitted) reason for the block is the upcoming twentieth anniversary of the Tian'anmen Square massacre on June 4th. I had read a little about the firewall before, but did a little more reading about it recently. It is actually commended for being one of the best developed Internet blocking technologies in the world, and apparently the Chinese government has given advice to other countries that also share China's aversion to freedom of the press. It's a pretty public project, but surprisingly, all of the students I talked to were unaware that the Internet was blocked here. So I guess the firewall isn't doing too bad of a job. In general, most of my students don't really care. They can access all the sites they want to and are in general just pretty happy to have a cell phone or laptop to access the Internet. It's part of an overall feeling that I see a lot in my students and most of the Chinese people I talk with. Through the middle of the twentieth century China suffered a civil war, massive starvation due to the Great Leap Forward, and a significant clamp down on freedom via the Cultural and Spiritual Revolutions. So, for most of my students, the massive development and enrichment made by the government (since opening to the world in 1978) is much more important than gaining 'rights' which they and their families never really knew before. Most of the dissent in China comes from the small group of wealthy, educated people living in Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzen. As I see it, the rest don't really see the value in dissent, when the current government has done so much to enrich and educate them. This is a major generalization and simplification, but I contend it's quite accurate. A very good article in the NY Times talked about how irrelevant the Tian'anmen Square massacre is to most young Chinese. This just kind of makes the whole blocking ironic, as few Chinese even seek out the information that is blocked, because, like as previously mentioned, they don't really care. The two pictures show life with and without the VPN program. So, the blogs will start rolling soon.