In an effort to be fair, Gmail/social networking sites aren’t the only thing China targets for bans. Here are other things China has banned in recent days:
Since those pesky flower-related “protests” a month ago, Gmail has been, let’s say, not working as well as it is in the U.S. What I, and most people who use it, had hoped would be temporary has stretched into a month of frustrating, erratic and worsening load times. Even with a proxy or VPN, Gmail just doesn’t work properly. Sometimes I can access the sign-in page with relative ease, other times I have to reload once, still other times I have to reload multiple times after a “page will not load” error message and wait a few (really, like 5+) minutes before I am able to get to my inbox. And then…more loading error messages, longer wait time to view e-mails, etc. And, yes, it has stopped me from checking my e-mail so much.
Anyway, a rundown of events since my last post on the subject:
Jiang Yu, a spokeswoman for the foreign ministry, told a regular news conference: “This is an unacceptable accusation.” She declined to comment further. The ministry of commerce and ministry of industry and information technology did not respond to faxed questions.
Some insight from Richard Parris, an expert here in Beijing on computer systems and the Internet, in Josh Gartner’s podcast on what these latest “disruptions” mean about China’s Internet censorship capabilities:
…[W]hat we’re seeing is not just an address list that’s blocked, or not just servers names and keywords that are blocked, but what appears to be some kind of understanding of the service that is provided by the page. And specifically what we’re seeing that’s really changed is very wide scale blocking of things that may be used as communication tools, as rapid communication tools, of the Facebook/Twitter kind, that have been to various degrees hyped as playing a part in recent events in the Middle East, and other places.
It’s a bit disheartening that online censorship is the area in which China, so rarely seen as an innovator, actually does appear to be a leading innovator. Also disheartening is that the Chinese government has already written off social networking tools such as Facebook and Twitter as threats and capable of bringing down the regime, while many people are still debating their actual roles in recent “revolutions” (see Malcolm Gladwell’s piece in the New Yorker last year, for example: “Small Change: Why the revolution will not be tweeted“).
To illustrate just how creepy the Google-China war is, Al Jazeera’s China correspondent, Melissa Chan, gives a detailed look at what may have been behind the hacking attacks on political activists that Google revealed on March 11. No details on where the attacks are coming from, but nevertheless, there appears to be a targeted effort to make various groups of people appear as agitators.
Boyfriend and I moved apartments a couple of weeks ago. Now that I have had time to adjust, settle in and get the amazing dirtiness under control, I would like to say that it’s not as bad as I thought it would be.
Cons first:
Neutrals:
Pros:
It’s one of those “China sucks” days. To wit:
In addition to elaborate multi-course banquets for every lunch and dinner, as well as private rooms in each city’s best hotels, I received tons of gifts from each local government — and sometimes company — we visited on our Anhui media tour. Actually, I’m not really sure who gave each gift, but anyway, they did NOT all fit inside this huge box, courtesy of Hefei’s Daoxianglou hotel:
Ooooh, what's inside?
With just the presents, the box weighed about 20 kilograms. I had just enough room to wedge some shoes and scarves in, so that I could pack some more presents and work files into my suitcase. But onto the gifts! (more…)
This is nice. The Beijing government will start tracking all 20 million people in real-time through their mobile phones. From South China Morning Post:
Wireless communication experts said the system would be particularly useful not only for following the whereabouts of individuals but also in detecting any unusual gathering of a large number of people.
So, you know, the government can keep an out eye for protests. But wait! Knowing where I am at all times isn’t for protecting the government, it’s for my own benefit:
Li Guoguang – deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission, which worked on the project with China Mobile and, presumably, the two other state-owned mobile service providers, China Unicom and China Telecom – told the Beijing Daily that the project would be used only to ease traffic jams.
Beijing traffic is a big pain in the butt, no doubt. But I can think of more effective ways to ease jams, such as — off the top of my head — eliminating subsidies for all cars, downsizing the municipal fleet (700,000 vehicles!) and strictly enforcing all traffic laws.*
But who am I kidding? The only way to ease the traffic jams is to institute a stricter driving test that weeds out insane drivers who 1) switch lanes unnecessarily, such as into the path of an oncoming vehicle that is going faster than them; 2) turn across multiple lanes; 3) have blatant disregard for pedestrians crossing the road, bikers and the bike lane, or other drivers; 4) don’t understand road signs and have no idea where they’re going; and 5) don’t use their turn signals. Because if such a test existed, there would be no drivers in Beijing. Problem solved! No need for tracking my whereabouts.
*The only law they enforce is the speed limit — seriously! Of all traffic laws, the only one you will never find a driver breaking is the speed limit. In fact, they drive a few kilometers under the speed limit, even on the ring roads at midnight, when there are no other cars around.
More to come about my trip to Anhui later, but here was one of the highlights of my trip:
Mmm...can you smell that yet?
It’s chou doufu (stinky tofu), Anhui-style! Delicious. It’s a distinctive charred black, not the usual deep fried tofu brown color, and it’s actually made with dou gan (dried tofu) instead of regular tofu.
For those people who can’t stomach the smell of normal stinky tofu, Anhui-style stinky tofu is here to help you see what it’s all about. It’s still stinky — but only when you get up close to it. Maybe I’m used to the smell, but I could ignore the stinkiness a lot more easily in Anhui than in Beijing, where I can smell the stinky tofu carts before I even see them.
Apparently, that’s what the Economist thinks. According to its annual survey of the living conditions of world cities, Beijing is 72nd out of 140 cities, higher than Tianjin, Suzhou, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Dalian and Qingdao, the other Chinese cities on the list.
The rankings are based on 30 indicators in categories of stability, health care, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure. I can understand how smaller cities such as Tianjin and Suzhou (which were actually 73 and 75???), Dalian and Qingdao rank lower than Beijing — based on education and culture, and maybe (super maybe) infrastructure (Beijing has a subway system). Better than Shenzhen and Guangdong, China’s factory capital — sure.
But the most livable city in mainland China? With average commutes of one hour both ways, inconvenient public transportation system, traffic jams, very bad air quality, smokers smoking EVERYWHERE and so much spitting, how in the world is it the best place to live in China? I vote Shanghai.
Then again, Beijing is just 72nd out of 140. So just because it’s the most livable city in China, it’s still pretty mediocre. OK.
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