The Great Firewall of China

Internet

Key: Black=Internet blackholes; Gold=Under surveillance; Yellow=Some censorship; Blue=No censorship

I’ve already had issues with blocked internet sites, especially ones that I am unsure as to why they would ever be blocked! When I try to access one of these sites, it just says “Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage” or I am redirected to a list of links that look like ads.

Internet censorship in the China is overseen technically by the Ministry of Information Industry (MII). Policy about what substantive content is to be censored is largely directed by the State Council Information Office and the Chinese Communist Party’s Propaganda Department, with input from other government and public security organizations.

Content on the internet that is censored include:

• Websites related to the persecuted Falun Gong spiritual practice.
• News sources that often cover some taboo topics such as police brutality, Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, freedom of speech, democracy, and Marxist sites.
• Media sites which may include unregulated content, social commentary or political commentary censored by China, such as Chinese Wikipedia.
• Sites hosted by Taiwan's government and major newspaper and television media and other sites with information on Taiwanese independence.
• Websites that contain obscenity, pornography, and criminal activity.
  Sites linked with the Dalai Lama and his International Tibet Independence Movement, including his teachings.

Banned sites aren’t uniform across China. Some are banned in certain cities, while allowed in others. Blocks have often been lifted for special occasions and some blocks are temporary. For example, The New York Times was unblocked when reporters in a private interview with Jiang Zemin specifically asked about the block and he replied that he would look into the matter. During the APEC summit in Shanghai during 2001, normally-blocked media sources such as CNN, NBC, and the Washington Post suddenly became accessible. Since 2001, the content controls have been further relaxed on a permanent basis, and these sites are now accessible from mainland China. However, access to the New York Times had been recently blocked as of December 20, 2008, but is currently accessible to me in Hefei. The Chinese-language service of BBC News is still blocked. Both the Chinese and English versions of Wikipedia as a whole or pages deemed “sensitive” have been blocked and unblocked over time.

Here are just a few examples of other banned sites:

Youtube. A few weeks after I moved here, I started getting the “cannot display the webpage” error, after I had been accessing it previously. This site has been sporadically blocked in the past. When I did have access to the site, I uploaded a video on my blog (March 21 post), but now I can’t view it! Others in China can’t either but it is viewable elsewhere.

I thought this posting on an online forum of English speakers in Hefei was humorous from April 1: “On Tuesday, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said that China "is not afraid of the internet". However, he was unable to confirm if YouTube had been blocked. (It has been...)”

Columbus Council on World Affairs, http://www.columbusworldaffairs.org/: NO IDEA why this is blocked. It is non-profit, non-partisan organization in Columbus, Ohio focused on improving international awareness in central Ohio. Its mission is to educate the community about the people and events that shape our world. The Council is a member of the National Council of World Affairs Organizations, linking the Columbus organization to 80 world affairs councils across the nation. Interestingly the National Council of World Affairs is NOT blocked, http://www.worldaffairscouncils.org/.

Internet Freedom: http://www.internetfreedom.org/, Go figure!

Rconversation, a blog site: http://www.rconversation.blogs.com/.

United Nations News, http://www.rciviva.ca/rci/ch/.

Central Tibetan Administration: http://www.tibet.net/, http://www.tibet.com/.

I am surprised certain ones are NOT blocked, but I don’t want to list them here and then conveniently they WILL be blocked. I do think that as time goes on, less and less sites will be blocked due to increased worldwide and domestic criticism as well as relaxed laws. I don’t see the benefits created by all the effort put into blocking and censoring these sites. I found a list of blocked sites created in 2002, http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/filtering/china/China-highlights.html, of which many that I have checked now are no longer blocked. So it seems like there is already a relaxation of these regulations taking place over time. Top Tech News reports that “such censorship in China may not be possible once Apple, Inc.'s iPhone debuts” because it doesn't use the same ports for the transfer of data.

Amnesty International notes that China “has the largest recorded number of imprisoned journalists and cyber-dissidents in the world.” The offences of which they are accused include communicating with groups abroad, opposing the persecution of the Falun Gong, signing online petitions, and calling for reform and an end to corruption.

Films

While researching the censorship issue, I also came across a list of films that have been banned in China that was also interesting. Because only 20 imported films are granted permission to screen each year in China, only blockbuster or widely known films are on this list. It may be noted that some films which do not arrive in theatres nonetheless become available as pirated DVD editions.

• 1960: Ben-Hur, for containing "propaganda of superstitious beliefs, namely Christianity." (Never given permission to screen)
• 1994: To Live, for its satirical portrayal of various policies and campaigns of the Communist government. (Never given permission to screen)
• 1997: Kundun, regarded as Tibetan nationalism (Banned outright along with director Martin Scorsese)
• 1997: Seven Years in Tibet, for its view on a free Tibet. (Banned outright along with actors Brad Pitt and David Thewlis for life)
• 2000: Devils on the Doorstep, for its controversial portrayal of the Japanese Occupation of China during the Second Sino-Japanese War despite being a Chinese-made film (Never given permission to screen)
• 2005: Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life, for its unflattering depictions of Chinese society (Never given permission to screen)
• 2006: Memoirs of a Geisha, over concerns it could rouse anti-Japanese sentiment. (Banned outright)
• 2006: Brokeback Mountain, for its depictions of homosexuality. (Never given permission to screen)
• 2006: Scorsese's The Departed, for suggesting that the government intends to use nuclear weapons on Taiwan, which is a very sensitive political issue. (Never given permission to screen)
• 2006: Over the Hedge was banned due to a difficulty with the DVD copy and some killing scenes of the animals. (Never given permission to screen)
• 2006: Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, for its depiction of incest. (Never given permission to screen)
• 2007: Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End was banned because according to Xinhua, the state news agency of China, 10 minutes of footage containing Chow Yun-Fat's portrayal of Singaporean pirate Sao Feng have been trimmed from versions of the film which may be shown in China. Chow is onscreen for 20 minutes in the uncensored theatrical release of the film. No official reason for the censorship was given, but unofficial sources within China have indicated that the character offered a negative and stereotypical portrayal of the Chinese people.

References

http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/filtering/china/

http://en.wikipedia.org/

http://www.giantdatamart.com/hrw/3.htm

http://hefeiexpat.com/forum/

http://www.internetfreedom.org/

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/20/world/asia/20china.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper

http://www.toptechnews.com/story.xhtml?story_id=0010003AINYO