Great Firewall of China

Determined bloggers and Google’s experts have the means to defeat China’s Internet censors, and the government can’t do anything to stop it, writes The Guardian’s Xia Qiang. He uses the example of Han Han, a 28-year-old bestselling author and blogger who is “a star of Chinese cyberspace”. Qiang wrote: “This week, Han Han blogged about Google’s closure of its China-based search engine and wrote: ‘China has 200 million Internet users. If Google asked all of them if they want to see uncensored search results, I think this 200 million minus the number of [government paid] internet commentators will agree.’ His post was soon deleted; however his words have been reposted by devoted readers. Just Google Han Han’s name: his supposedly censored words are still all over the Chinese cyberspace. This is what China’s leaders most fear: the power of truth-telling among the Chinese population, which directly challenges their privilege, ideological control, and the legitimacy of the regime. The Chinese government has learned that it can’t merely target internet users, but must focus on information technologies, access to the network, and the companies that provide these tools.”