More academic censorship likely - Victor Shih

Victor Shih

The move by the Cambridge University Press to censor over 300 articles from its China website is most likely only the beginning of more government-led curtailing, says associate professor Victor Shih, author of Factions and Finance in China: Elite Conflict and Inflation to Reuters. Shih himself had two article published at the site.

Reuters:

Many foreign universities have nonetheless rushed to establish partnerships with China to try to tap its growing demand for Western-style education. Critics fear the universities may be compromising academic freedoms to gain access to the China market. 

Victor Shih, an associate professor of political economy at the University of California San Diego, who has had two articles published in the China Quarterly, said he expected more censorship to come. 

"I think it's the first move among many that are still to come as China tries to completely censor all kinds of media content. But I think moves like this shoot themselves in the foot."

More at Reuters.

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Censorship will prevail, even when Facebook enters China - Kaiser Kuo

Kaiser Kuo

Mark Zuckerberg caused quite some controversy when plans emerged to censor Facebook to facilitate a possible return for the company to China again. Whether you agree or disagree, the way China censors the internet is more than just blocking a few Western sites, and will not go away says internet expert Kaiser Kuo in ChinaFile.

Kaiser Kuo:

Given China’s increasingly strict Internet censorship, it should surprise no one that any re-entry by Facebook would be conditional not only on the company’s acquiescing to censorship, but on its demonstrating the ability to carry it out to Beijing’s satisfaction. Equally if not even more troubling would be the requirement, all but inevitable, that Facebook store Chinese user data on servers in China, making that data accessible to Chinese courts and law enforcement. Even if Beijing deigns to allow Facebook a presence in China, Facebook will face a firestorm of criticism from human rights and data privacy activists. 

It will defend its decision by invoking the same logic that American proponents of engagement have always deployed. Some connectivity is surely better than none, which is essentially what Facebook has today: a tiny, inconsequential handful of China’s over 700 million Internet users are regular users of platforms like Facebook or Twitter. Facebook probably won’t make its case by suggesting that connecting China will bring about political change; it was, after all, suspicion of that sort of thing that got them blocked in the first place. They may instead point to the inherent good in connectedness, and note the evil—mistrust and misunderstanding—that arises in its absence. All this justifies compromise. 

Google faced a similar dilemma when it decided to enter China in early 2006. But the moral calculus has shifted in the intervening 11 years. Google may have been viewed with suspicion even then, but now—after various Color Revolutions and Arab Spring uprisings with the names of American Internet properties conveniently appended to them by the American media—Beijing will exact far greater compromise. China blocks far more foreign websites, and blocks them more aggressively, than it did then. Chinese users have excellent alternatives: social media platforms where their friends already are. They aren’t clamoring for Facebook, and those who want it have little trouble hopping the Great Firewall to get to it: nationalists bent on trolling pro-independence Taiwanese celebs hopped the wall in droves this past summer, after all. So Facebook has little leverage to speak of; it will play by Beijing’s rules or not at all. 

Indeed, Facebook’s only real card is the public relations value to Beijing of letting the company in: “See? All that nonsense about censorship was clearly overblown.” But it’s not. One of the regrettable effects of our use of the “Great Firewall” as a metonym for Chinese Internet censorship is that too many people equate censorship with the blocking of sites such as Google, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. In fact, the censorship of domestic Chinese sites is far more onerous, and impacts a far greater number of users. That won’t change with a Facebook entry. 

Whatever your posture toward Facebook for its willingness to compromise on freedom of expression in the name of engagement and greater global connectivity, the unblocking of Facebook to users in the People’s Republic of China, should it come to pass, must not be construed in any way as a loosening of censorship.

More viewpoints in ChinaFile.

Kaiser Kuo is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers´request form.

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Facebook makes more chance than Google in China - Kaiser Kuo

Kaiser Kuo

Western internet companies have a troublesome history in China, but - says internet veteran Kaiser Kuo in the Technology Review - Facebook has a bigger chance to reenter China than Google. "Google is not trusted."

Technology Review:

This past June, Google’s CEO, ­Sundar Pichai, said that he wanted the company to properly return to the country. “We want to be in China, serving Chinese users,” he said, speaking at the Code Conference. Tsui says there have been “rumors” that Google’s Play Store may enter China (the company declined to comment). Google’s Android mobile operating system is wildly popular in China, but the company’s ability to extract revenue from that position is limited because the Play Store isn’t ­available. 

Google’s troubled history with Beijing represents a considerable hurdle, however. “They are certainly not trusted,” says Kaiser Kuo, formerly director of international communications at the Chinese search engine Baidu and now the host of the Sinica podcast at China-focused media startup SupChina. Kuo, a well-respected voice on Chinese Internet issues, thinks Facebook’s China prospects look promising. “It’s likely that they will be in with some of their significant services within the coming year,” he says. “There is fairly high-profile engagement with high-ranking Chinese officials and ranking brass at Facebook. You can’t ignore those signals.”

More in the Technology Review.

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Facebook faces more than censors in China - Sam Flemming

Sam Flemming

Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook, has gone to great lenght to appease China´s leadership in an effort to enter the largest internet market again. But, says Sam Flemming, an internet veteran based in Shanghai to Reuters. Local competition might even be a tougher challenge, unlike in the US where Facebook broke new ground.

Reuters:

"The Chinese have been social for years, and Facebook would be just one more option among many," said Sam Flemming, founder of Shanghai-based social media consultancy, CIC. 

"It certainly would have a certain amount of cache, especially among the more internationalized Chinese and foreigners living in China, but it would need a big push in awareness beyond this small group," Flemming said. 

Foreigners and Chinese citizens who want to access Facebook and other blocked sites must use special VPN software to get around China's firewall to do so, meaning a very limited number of Chinese currently use it.

More at Reuters.

Sam Flemming is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speaker´request form.

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Making banned documentaries - Ian Johnson interviews Ai Xiaoming

Ian Johnson

Ai Xiaoming is one of China´s leading documentary makers, and all of them are officially banned in the country. Journalist Ian Johnson sits down with her for the NY Review of Books and discusses how it is to make banned documentaries, and (amongst many other subjects) why China has no intellectuals.

Ian Johnson:

Ian Johnson: Your films are banned in China. Is it demoralizing that so few people can see them? 

Ai Xiaoming: They are collected and shown at festivals. In the Chinese-speaking world, you can see them. Domestically, a lot of friends have seen them. 

So it’s still meaningful? 

Of course. I believe it has great significance. You interviewed Hu Jie and he said the same—perhaps our thoughts are the same. A documentary is important for a society’s memory. Maybe I can’t find the right reason because for me there’s no need to discuss it. It’s just an important matter. 

If you can’t change society, then is your aim to record what has happened? 

It’s like the Tan Zuoren or Pu Zhiqiang trials [in which a leading activist and lawyer were sentenced to jail in what widely are seen as trumped-up charges]. There is no source of information about these cases for hundreds of millions of people. I think recording this history is more important than participating in film festivals or considering foreign audiences, because a lot of historical evidence is being eliminated. It has to be preserved. ... 

Are there still public intellectuals in China? 

The reputation of public intellectuals stinks. 

I was about to call you one! 

Has China ever had public intellectuals? I don’t think so. In the feudal era there was an educated class but it was to serve power. Then came the May 4th Movement [of 1919 that promoted science and democracy, and was part of a flowering of early twentieth-century intellectual life]. But few paid attention to the independence of intellectuals. And then China’s political environment deteriorated even further. The Communists established a government, and in the 1950s Mao declared intellectuals to be the stinking ninth class or as living as si ti bu qin, wu gu bu fen [unable to move your four limbs or distinguish the five crops—to live as a parasite]. So how can you talk of having public intellectuals? There were no intellectuals. 

What about after the reform era? 

This word intellectual is fashionable but what does it mean? They use it to describe anyone who’s literate. If you’re in a small county seat and you’ve got an elementary school degree, you’re an intellectual. And where are they? What have they done? 

Well, there are people like yourself who speak up. 

I think I’m an artist, but it’s hard to say if I’m an intellectual. I’m at the front. I’m on the Web. I pay attention to intellectuals’ discussions. But I don’t do research. I document. 

And what do you see? 

A lot of people have retreated from engaging with society. We lack people like Liu Xiaobo who walk straight ahead, or Xu Zhiyong. Right now, walking straight ahead means walking straight to jail. So many people have ended up there that others are disengaging. They’re not walking forward. Intellectuals face a choice. One option is to break with this [ruling] power. We have to make a clear break. This is the only way to have a position of making a thorough judgment. The other choice is to superficially work with it. But what does this accomplish? The government has already detained so many people, and sent so many NGO leaders, weiquan rights-defenders, and lawyers to prison. In this situation, if you still believe the government’s words—that you can preserve some sort of positive interaction—then you are either lying or stupid. But I don’t think it’s a question of stupidity. It’s a lie.

Much more in the New York Review of Books.

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Censorship does not stop China´s tech sector - Kaiser Kuo

Kaiser Kuo

Americans believe that China´s censorship at the internet is stifling creativity in the tech industry. Wrong, says tech commentator Kaiser Kuo who recently left internet giant Baidu as communication director to return on the US in the Washington Post.

The Washington Post:

Outsiders tend to know one thing about China's Internet: It's blocked - no Facebook, Twitter or Google. They imagine a country languishing behind a digital Iron Curtain, waiting, frozen in time, for the fall of the Web's Berlin Wall. 

The United States wants to believe that the scourge of censorship thwarts online innovation, but China is challenging the idea in ways that frighten and confound. 

"There's this strange belief that you can't build a mobile app if you don't know the truth about what happened in Tiananmen Square," said Kaiser Kuo, who recently stepped down as head of international communications for Baidu, one of China's leading tech companies, and hosts Sinica, a popular podcast. "Trouble is, it's not true." 

The truth is that behind the Great Firewall - the system of censorship designed to block content that could challenge the Chinese Communist Party - China's tech scene is flourishing in a parallel universe.

More in the Washington Post.

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Cultural Revolution: still no-go area - Zhang Lijia

Zhang Lijia

The 50-year anniversary of the Cultural Revolution has passed mostly in silence. China media mentioned briefly the event was with hindsight not a good idea, much of the families of Chinese leader - including the Xi family - suffered from it, but talking to victims is not easy discovered the Globe&Mail. Author Zhang Lijia comments.

The Globe&Mail:

Three people contacted by The Globe and Mail for this article declined to talk, citing worries about surveillance. One person postponed an interview by two days, after authorities told him to stay home. Police physically blocked another couple from leaving their home to meet friends for a regular monthly meeting this week. They met The Globe and Mail at a tea house instead, and frequently looked out the window to uniformed police standing outside. 

“What the government is doing is disgraceful, trying to silence people,” said Zhang Lijia, a Beijing-based author and cultural observer. 

“It’s such a major event which has shaped China, and they don’t allow people to discuss it because they don’t want open discussion of anything negative associated with the Chinese Communist Party.” 

That has cut off most avenues of discussion outside the home.

More in the Globe&Mail.

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Is China´s Great Firewall a trade-barrier? - Sara Hsu

Sara Hsu

The USTR, the United State Trade Representative, has qualified the Chinese Great Firewall,  blocking and filtering internet traffic, as a trade barrier. Analyst Sara Hsu is not that sure, and suggests more research to find this our, in the Diplomat.

Sara Hsu:

At present, international online sales account for only a small percentage of total online sales. This is because international shipping costs for goods purchased by Chinese consumers on American websites remain high compared to average purchase prices for online retail goods, restricting U.S.-China online retail sales to relatively low levels. Most non-bulk, lighter manufactured products covering such a distance move via air transportation. Still, online stores with branches in China, such as Amazon, are able to get around the firewall and to ship retail products domestically by maintaining a local presence. For truly international sales from the U.S. to China, shipping costs may decline in the future, and American firms do not want to reduce sales and marketing opportunities even before they open up. 

To truly understand the impact of China’s firewall on international online commerce, more energy must be devoted to scrutinizing the costs and benefits surrounding this industry. The financial and economic impact of firewall restrictions on online commerce is a research topic that is vastly understudied, so there is no information about how much business American firms lose annually due to Chinese firewall blocking. In addition, while the World Trade Organization does study e-commerce, the implications of China’s firewall on international online business has not been examined. E-commerce issues analyzed by the WTO include discussion of IT goods, internet infrastructure services, electronically traded services, and digital products, and not online international sales per se. 

To some extent, then, the impact of the Great Firewall on international e-commerce and trade is a gray area, and assertions supporting or rejecting the idea that the firewall is a trade barrier must be bolstered with concrete economic and regulatory study. As use of online sales spreads, as is occurring rapidly in China, international retail sales are likely to expand on the assumption that shipping constraints will ease. Until that time, this controversial area should be made a point of study, both by the Office of the US Trade Representative, and by the World Trade Organization.

More in the Diplomat.

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Censored by LinkedIn - Shaun Rein

+Shaun Rein 

When LinkedIn gained access to the attractive Chinese market, it had to make sure it would adhere to the country´s laws and regulations, including the censorship. Now, at June 4 we know what that means. Business analyst Shaun Rein tells the Wall Street Journal how he was censored.

The Wall Street Journal:

Shaun Rein, the head of consulting firm China Market Research Group, said he received a notice last week from LinkedIn indicating he could no longer post to different groups on the site without first receiving approval by a moderator. Mr. Rein, who has been posting regularly on LinkedIn for about six years, said the change came after he posted about difficulties faced by U.S. firms in China following the back-and-forth between the two over cyberespionage.

"I've been backing up my contacts because I'm worried they'll block me and I won't be able to reach anyone," said Mr. Rein, adding that on LinkedIn "people are looking to show their knowledge and sell their services; if you can't have a discussion, that's an issue."Mr. Rein said his firm has completed three projects for LinkedIn in the past. LinkedIn declined to respond to Mr. Rein's comments.

More at the Wall Street Journal.

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Google block hurts Chinese interests - Shaun Rein

+Shaun Rein 

Google services in China have been disrupted for the past ten days and business analyst Shaun Rein explains at Bloomberg TV how foreign and domestic businesses in China face limitations in their global operations. Although in the short run US tech firms suffer most.

Shaun Rein is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers´ request form.  

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How to deal with information paternalism in China - Tricia Wang

+Tricia Wang 

The outside world calls it censorship, but sociologist Tricia Wang prefers the term "information paternalism". Chinese teens are finding new ways to express themselves. 88-bar summarizes a speech of Tricia on online identity.

88-Bar:

Tricia’s research discusses how Chinese youth are experiencing their coming of age in a culture of information paternalism. That she does not call it censorship is an important distinction, because in China today, the dominant narrative around control is “father knows what’s best for you.” Here, “father” can refer to an actual teen’s parents, relatives, teachers or the Chinese government.

This dense sphere of paternalistic control (on top of the historical-cultural forces at work) drives Chinese teens to seek alternate channels of expression and socialization online.

To effectively escape, Chinese teens experiment with their identity and grow up online by cloaking themselves under pseudonyms and login handles. This type of experimentation, the polar opposite of on and offline real-name social networks, allows youth to develop what Tricia calls an “elastic self.” One great finding was that Chinese youth had developed an entire chain of rituals to convert an anonymous social interaction into a real life close connection. Interactions begin by finding people on social networks with similar interests or horoscopes. This then turns into casual conversation and e-cards for birthdays. That in turn leads to people sending little physical gifts to each other to verify a physical address. And then people will share their phone number, followed by a photo and then, lastly, a 30-second video conference to ensure the veracity of the photo. In the same way Chinese youth are finding each other online, they are also discovering more parts of themselves. Tricia structures the phases of the elastic self as 1) exploratory, 2) trusting, and 3) participatory. Only in the last phase do teens become politically active, and not everyone makes it to third phase.

More at 88-Bar.

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China's internet "freer than ever" - Jeremy Goldkorn

Jeremy Goldkorn

The internet in China might face yet another clampdown by the authorities, internet veteran Jeremy Goldkorn points out in USA Today that despite those actions, China's internet is freer than ever, although microblog services of Tencent and Sina had to hold commenting temporary.

USA Today:

The clampdown on Sina and Tencent is "not an extreme act of censorship but reminds everybody of who is in charge; it sends a signal to the Internet companies and users that the government is watching you," said Jeremy Goldkorn, director of Danwei.com, a website focused on Chinese media and Internet. 

China's Internet today "is the freest platform of public expression ever, but there is also a constant effort by the government to rein it in," Goldkorn said.

More in USA Today.

Jeremy Goldkorn is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

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