Well, it's a step in the right direction, albeit, a microscopic one. The rationale of why they're making the change isn't particularly encouraging though.
""If they can't go on to Facebook or read the New York Times, they may naturally wonder how special the free-trade zone is compared with the rest of China," the source said."
I wonder how special the free-trade zone is if someone makes a Facebook post linking to a NYT article criticizing the Chinese government and it gets a bunch of "likes."
It's crazy to imagine not having the freedoms we take for granted every day. Open internet access definitely leads to some stupid stuff produced by the USA, but I will take the stupidity along with the freedoms any day.
I find it comical that the main reason for this is to make foreigners "feel at home". Something tells me they are going to reverse this in the near future.
I find it comical that the main reason for this is to make foreigners "feel at home". Something tells me they are going to reverse this in the near future.
This move is certainly more evolutionary than revolutionary considering that it was done only to promote the new Shanghai Free Trade Zone. As others have pointed out, this seems silly since everywhere outside the "zone" will not enjoy this freedom.
I lived abroad in India for a while last year, and at one point there was rioting over some issue. The government's response was to restrict text messages to halt the spread of rumors; you could only send 20 per day. It wasn't effective. The information still got out and people were angry at the government for trying to censor them. Way to go China!
Google failed in China and took a back seat to Baidu. Facebook was never allowed. eBAY never quite took off but other sites like babatrade and taobao stepped in. Historically speaking China is a tough market...
Google couldn't make it. Baidu stepped in and is now publicly traded. Ebay couldn't make it but Babatrade and taobao are thriving. Groupon failed as well. internationally firms face an uphill battle in the Chinese market.
Google couldn't make it. Baidu stepped in and is now publicly traded. Ebay couldn't make it but Babatrade and taobao are thriving. Groupon failed as well. internationally firms face an uphill battle in the Chinese market.
Google couldn't make it. Baidu stepped in and is now publicly traded. Ebay couldn't make it but Babatrade and taobao are thriving. Groupon failed as well. internationally firms face an uphill battle in the Chinese market.
I agree with the last paragraph in the article. American companies should definitely be wary of getting involved with anything to do with the Chinese government. We think the NSA is bad, I can only imagine what China's equivalent is up to.
I hope China goes ahead with their decision. Although opening up some of these restrictions will unlikely lead to anything constructive, at least the country will be able to communicate more freely. Plus, I own FB shares, maybe this will increase its share price!
The internet censorship not only filters some sort of “sensitive” news, but also protects domestic social networking companies from competition. On the other hand, even the government blocks the internet, we are still able to get access to the Facebook or Twitter through VPN. So to some Chinese, who understands English and uses VPN, it makes little change. Besides, you might think that making foreigners feel at home sounds ridiculous. But as far as I know, Chinese government has approved to unblock the internet on campus of New York University-Shanghai Branch. So this kind of approval is not for political or business purpose only.
Unblocking the access to Facebook, Twitter and other websites in Shanghai was a small step in China, but it is really important. I think the government should unlock these websites in the whole country. It is more necessary to give Chinese people the right to communicate with people in the world than to let forgeign visitors feel more at home.
I do think that this does represent an important step for China in regards to internet and website access. It is important partly because it is Twitter specifically. Twitter has played a very up front role in movements like the Arab Spring uprisings and therefore allowing this site is perhaps more important than other social media sites in terms of symbolism. Also, as Yuxin Xi pointed out, NYU-Shanghai has also seen important steps in opening up internet access. A 9/25 NPR story mentioned that there was a signigificant amount of funding for NYU-Shanghai that came from Chinese businessmen hoping to impact the Chinese educational system.
I am interested to see how this all plays out. Although this is something that should help both citizens in China and foreigners, I do not think this will make foreigners feel anymore at "home", or even their citizens. Any country that blocks social media because the government felt it was getting in the way of their priorities, should be a red flag. There are a lot of issues in parts of China that need to be resolved to ensure the well-being of the people living in the country. While unblocking Twitter and other social media sites is correct action to take, there are many more steps to go. One small step...
While the government may be unblocking social media in the free-trade zone, the international community will still need to monitor the government's reactions to individuals representing contrarian views thru these channels.
It's a shame that places like this still exist. We're so privileged here in the U.S. where we can speak freely on social media. I think China should embrace all the positives social media can potentially deliver to the country instead of worrying about blocking everybody. Social media can be a fabulous tool for companies, the government, and citizens in general.
It's a shame that places like this still exist. We're so privileged here in the U.S. where we can speak freely on social media. I think China should embrace all the positives social media can potentially deliver to the country instead of worrying about blocking everybody. Social media can be a fabulous tool for companies, the government, and citizens in general.
While I believe that China’s allowance of Facebook, Twitter and the New York Times is a step in the right direction we will see if it continues into the long term. Also while they may have unblocked these sites it is still highly likely that China will continue to monitor all Internet activity within the free trade zone. Therefore this action is more than likely no more than a red herring by the Chinese government to attempt to appear to relax some of its totalitarian restrictions.
Allowing the restrictions to be lowered in one area leaves hope and expectations that other areas will also be lowered. I can imagine that this is seen as a sign of future independence and freedom for the Chinese people. Because China's economy is largely dependent on Americans, their decision to make Americans feel more at home is, I'm sure, mainly derived from a business perspective. However, I don't believe that is necessarily bad. Surely other opportunities will also appear that will bring huge economic incentive for China to loosen its tight hold on censorship.
I find it interesting that it's only for the "Free Trade Zone". The intent is to make foreigners feel more at home, not to provide access to external content for the masses.
Of all the internet censorship that goes on in China, "maybe" unblocking Twitter in one city is practically meaningless. The Chinese government blames social media for the riots of 2009. Did they ever stop to think that maybe it's their own policies that caused the riots? If the people are getting their needs met, social media is merely an outlet for cute pictures of cats.
Looks like step in right direction but again its not like other democratic states and Tiananmen Square is not too far in memory. I think they are just experimenting with these tools of democracy and see if they work for their communist agenda and if they do, they will open up for larger population. Right now, it's only Free Trade Zone, these region bring in most money and keeps the economy wheels spinning. They have no interest in free will of people.
It would be interesting to see how they plan on measuring the failure/success of this plan. I imagine that, regardless of the outcome, they will go back to blocking those sites.
China would like Shanghai to become a major economic center and not alienating foreigners is an easy first step. Perhaps they will soon treat their own citizens so well.
If it goes through then it will be a good thing for the "foreigners". However, since it is only in the "free trade zone" it seems that the rest of China will still be stuck behind the firewall. I also see why it is difficult for American companies to work with the Chinese government since the government has such strict restrictions on social media sites.
I think it will take more than "unblocking" twitter to make foreign visitors feel more comfortable visiting China. It's unimaginable to be "locked out" of participating in social media and the freedom it allows those of us who are fortunate to live in America.
32 comments:
Well, it's a step in the right direction, albeit, a microscopic one. The rationale of why they're making the change isn't particularly encouraging though.
""If they can't go on to Facebook or read the New York Times, they may naturally wonder how special the free-trade zone is compared with the rest of China," the source said."
I wonder how special the free-trade zone is if someone makes a Facebook post linking to a NYT article criticizing the Chinese government and it gets a bunch of "likes."
It's crazy to imagine not having the freedoms we take for granted every day. Open internet access definitely leads to some stupid stuff produced by the USA, but I will take the stupidity along with the freedoms any day.
I find it comical that the main reason for this is to make foreigners "feel at home". Something tells me they are going to reverse this in the near future.
I find it comical that the main reason for this is to make foreigners "feel at home". Something tells me they are going to reverse this in the near future.
Without an open internet, how would we get our daily dose of cat videos?
This move is certainly more evolutionary than revolutionary considering that it was done only to promote the new Shanghai Free Trade Zone. As others have pointed out, this seems silly since everywhere outside the "zone" will not enjoy this freedom.
I lived abroad in India for a while last year, and at one point there was rioting over some issue. The government's response was to restrict text messages to halt the spread of rumors; you could only send 20 per day. It wasn't effective. The information still got out and people were angry at the government for trying to censor them. Way to go China!
Google failed in China and took a back seat to Baidu. Facebook was never allowed. eBAY never quite took off but other sites like babatrade and taobao stepped in. Historically speaking China is a tough market...
Google couldn't make it. Baidu stepped in and is now publicly traded. Ebay couldn't make it but Babatrade and taobao are thriving. Groupon failed as well. internationally firms face an uphill battle in the Chinese market.
Google couldn't make it. Baidu stepped in and is now publicly traded. Ebay couldn't make it but Babatrade and taobao are thriving. Groupon failed as well. internationally firms face an uphill battle in the Chinese market.
Google couldn't make it. Baidu stepped in and is now publicly traded. Ebay couldn't make it but Babatrade and taobao are thriving. Groupon failed as well. internationally firms face an uphill battle in the Chinese market.
I agree with the last paragraph in the article. American companies should definitely be wary of getting involved with anything to do with the Chinese government. We think the NSA is bad, I can only imagine what China's equivalent is up to.
I hope China goes ahead with their decision. Although opening up some of these restrictions will unlikely lead to anything constructive, at least the country will be able to communicate more freely. Plus, I own FB shares, maybe this will increase its share price!
The internet censorship not only filters some sort of “sensitive” news, but also protects domestic social networking companies from competition. On the other hand, even the government blocks the internet, we are still able to get access to the Facebook or Twitter through VPN. So to some Chinese, who understands English and uses VPN, it makes little change.
Besides, you might think that making foreigners feel at home sounds ridiculous. But as far as I know, Chinese government has approved to unblock the internet on campus of New York University-Shanghai Branch. So this kind of approval is not for political or business purpose only.
Unblocking the access to Facebook, Twitter and other websites in Shanghai was a small step in China, but it is really important. I think the government should unlock these websites in the whole country. It is more necessary to give Chinese people the right to communicate with people in the world than to let forgeign visitors feel more at home.
This makes me wonder how many other countries have blocked social media and if they will follow China's lead.
I do think that this does represent an important step for China in regards to internet and website access. It is important partly because it is Twitter specifically. Twitter has played a very up front role in movements like the Arab Spring uprisings and therefore allowing this site is perhaps more important than other social media sites in terms of symbolism. Also, as Yuxin Xi pointed out, NYU-Shanghai has also seen important steps in opening up internet access. A 9/25 NPR story mentioned that there was a signigificant amount of funding for NYU-Shanghai that came from Chinese businessmen hoping to impact the Chinese educational system.
I am interested to see how this all plays out. Although this is something that should help both citizens in China and foreigners, I do not think this will make foreigners feel anymore at "home", or even their citizens. Any country that blocks social media because the government felt it was getting in the way of their priorities, should be a red flag. There are a lot of issues in parts of China that need to be resolved to ensure the well-being of the people living in the country. While unblocking Twitter and other social media sites is correct action to take, there are many more steps to go. One small step...
While the government may be unblocking social media in the free-trade zone, the international community will still need to monitor the government's reactions to individuals representing contrarian views thru these channels.
It's a shame that places like this still exist. We're so privileged here in the U.S. where we can speak freely on social media. I think China should embrace all the positives social media can potentially deliver to the country instead of worrying about blocking everybody. Social media can be a fabulous tool for companies, the government, and citizens in general.
It's a shame that places like this still exist. We're so privileged here in the U.S. where we can speak freely on social media. I think China should embrace all the positives social media can potentially deliver to the country instead of worrying about blocking everybody. Social media can be a fabulous tool for companies, the government, and citizens in general.
While I believe that China’s allowance of Facebook, Twitter and the New York Times is a step in the right direction we will see if it continues into the long term. Also while they may have unblocked these sites it is still highly likely that China will continue to monitor all Internet activity within the free trade zone. Therefore this action is more than likely no more than a red herring by the Chinese government to attempt to appear to relax some of its totalitarian restrictions.
Allowing the restrictions to be lowered in one area leaves hope and expectations that other areas will also be lowered. I can imagine that this is seen as a sign of future independence and freedom for the Chinese people. Because China's economy is largely dependent on Americans, their decision to make Americans feel more at home is, I'm sure, mainly derived from a business perspective. However, I don't believe that is necessarily bad. Surely other opportunities will also appear that will bring huge economic incentive for China to loosen its tight hold on censorship.
I find it interesting that it's only for the "Free Trade Zone". The intent is to make foreigners feel more at home, not to provide access to external content for the masses.
Of all the internet censorship that goes on in China, "maybe" unblocking Twitter in one city is practically meaningless. The Chinese government blames social media for the riots of 2009. Did they ever stop to think that maybe it's their own policies that caused the riots? If the people are getting their needs met, social media is merely an outlet for cute pictures of cats.
Looks like step in right direction but again its not like other democratic states and Tiananmen Square is not too far in memory. I think they are just experimenting with these tools of democracy and see if they work for their communist agenda and if they do, they will open up for larger population. Right now, it's only Free Trade Zone, these region bring in most money and keeps the economy wheels spinning. They have no interest in free will of people.
It would be interesting to see how they plan on measuring the failure/success of this plan. I imagine that, regardless of the outcome, they will go back to blocking those sites.
China would like Shanghai to become a major economic center and not alienating foreigners is an easy first step. Perhaps they will soon treat their own citizens so well.
If it goes through then it will be a good thing for the "foreigners". However, since it is only in the "free trade zone" it seems that the rest of China will still be stuck behind the firewall. I also see why it is difficult for American companies to work with the Chinese government since the government has such strict restrictions on social media sites.
I think it will take more than "unblocking" twitter to make foreign visitors feel more comfortable visiting China. It's unimaginable to be "locked out" of participating in social media and the freedom it allows those of us who are fortunate to live in America.
Its a step in the right direction but China still has a long way to go. Would this make me still feel like traveling to China. Probably not.
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