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Blogging Sweeps China
An anonymous reader writes "Dissident astro-physicist, Xiao Qiang, director of the China Internet Project at UC Berkeley, interviews Isaac Mao, founder of CNBlog for New Scientist. Asked what is his strategy to expand blogging under China's censorship regime, Mao's response is typically Taoist: 'What is our strategy? We do not have a strategy. But the information flow in the blogosphere has its own Way. The Way is our strategy: personal, fast, connected and networked.'"
China is one of those funny places where they really crack down on the incoming news. Taking a look at some of their latest news, it's hard to reconcile the rosy glow that they have in regards to their country with the actual happenings of their military overseas (submarine in Japanese waters) and communist neighbors (not a word about the imminent overthrow of Kim Jong Illmatic).
On the other hand, unlike many Western countries *cough cough* that send the secret police to "visit" people who wish to express an unpopular opinion, China allows its dissidents a full voice. They of course drown out the voices with their own party-led voices proclaiming the benefits of the Komintang. But as far as stifling free speech, China has one of the best records in that area.
The sound of one hand blogging
99 bottles of beer in 175 characte
.. of a Douglas Adams quote:
He believed in a door. He must find that door. The door was the way to... to...
The Door was The Way.
Good.
Capital letters were always the best way of dealing with things you didn't have a good answer to.
More spam comes from the US than from China or South Korea. It just happens that there are more servers that allow spam in China.
So how would you like to write an apology to 1billion+ people? Perhaps a mass email?
Sounds like an IBM ad!
Tomorrows news.
China blocks all blog sites.
I like muppets.
TWW
"Encyclopedia" is to "Wikipedia" what "Library" is to "Some people at a bus stop"
"The Way is our strategy: personal, fast, connected and networked.'"
I think they forgot "...and censored, too."
It is interesting that once again sex became the big reason many people have jumped on to a new technology. As that article said, blogging got a big boost from a sex blog, the sex increased visibility for the blog server and introduced many new users to blogging. It just seems to be a pity to me that people can't find something better than sex to get people to assert their collective voice.
99 bottles of beer in 175 characte
You say: China allows its dissidents a full voice.
http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=1964
Tiananmen dissident tortured to the point of becoming psychotic. He splattered paint on Mao Zedong's portrait.
Beijing (AsiaNews/SCMP) - An imprisoned Chinese dissident has become psychotic as a result of the torture inflicted upon him, one of the man's friend told Free Asia after fleeing China.
Yu Dongyue is a former newspaper editor who was arrested during the Tiananmen protests and sentenced to life for "counter-revolutionary propaganda": he had defaced Mao's portrait by splattering it with paint.
In 2001 Lu Decheng, another dissident, who was jailed for years but released early, saw Yu in Hunan No1 Prison. "He was almost unrecognisable," Mr Lu said who recently escaped the mainland in a perilous three-month journey. "He had a totally dull look in his eyes, and he kept repeating words over and over again as if he were chanting a mantra. He didn't recognise anyone."
"There was a big scar on the right side of his head. I asked his mother if Yu had ever received a head injury, but she said he never had."
Mr Lu said that another inmate at the prison told him that Yu had been tied to a power pole and left in the sun for several days.
"After that, they locked him in solitary confinement for two years and that's when he got like that," Mr Lu stressed. "He has been tortured to the point of psychosis."
Officials at the Hunan No1 Prison were not available for comment.
Yu Dongyue, Lu Decheng and Yu Zhijian were school friends from Hunan province and had been active in the pro-democracy movement before travelling to Beijing in May 1989 to join thousands of demonstrators on Tiananmen Square.
As a result of his involvement, Mr Lu said, his house was demolished, his wife threatened to the point that the authorities forced her to divorce him, and his minibus confiscated, depriving him of the means to earn a living.
Phone tapping, mail interception and surveillance became a regular part of his life, he added.
Speaking from an undisclosed location, he said he fled so that he could tell Yu's story. He did not reveal any details about his escape.
Good for the Chinese. Courage to communicate in spite of government's attitude is a positive sign from a country coming out of the dark ages. Now, how about some Iraqi blogs? For all the funds being pumped in there, one would think the Iraqis would have something to say. I'm tired of hearing everything about what is really happening there, third hand. Just so they use a language that can be translated by services such as http://www.worldlingo.com/
Haha. but seriously...
I got up this morning and took a shit so that I could survive until the next time I had sex.
I took the dog out because owning another creature raises the possibility of having sex with another interested human.
I made blueberry muffins because eating is fundamental to survival, and attracting the opposite sex with a special skill like cooking is important to having sex.
I checked my email in order to 1) answer emails from friends who may introduce me to future sex partners, and 2) make money which increases the chances that I have sex.
I updates some DNS zones because it increases the possibility of having sex with women who may understand what that is.
I had coffee because I like coffee and what I like is reflected in my outlook of the day, and if I look happy and content my possibility to havce sex increases.
I brushed my teeth because it increases my chances of having sex.
I checked the forum that I moderate because there might be a female posting which I can attract with moderation points. I may also be able to increase my sexual attractiveness by making myself more well-rounded.
I spent the day idling on IRC and browsing because there might be a chance that a female may log onto IRC, and there is always the possibility of rubbing one out to some internet porn (not quite sex, but a reasonable approximation).
Yes. All about sex.
Somehow I'm a little skeptical of the "meh, it'll all work out by itself in the end" style of planning
Blogging Sweeps China
Great that those bloggers are lending a hand! With the economic expansion and lack of time and all, the dust has really been piling up in the corners lately.
Trust the Computer. The Computer is your friend.
Chinese Blogger Executed After Testicle Electrocution.
Shouldn't you be asking if mainstream media is accurate and trustworthy, assuming you're being sincere and not sarcastic of course?.
To answer your sincere question then, bloggers as a whole may not be accurate and trustworthy - can you really trust someone you barely know, except through the thoughts they choose to post online?
However, Bloggers do tell you about their lives, as they live it, about the things that happen in their country and how it affects them. So while blogs may lack decent grammar and spelling, it is at least, to me, a more realistic view of the average person's situation. (Note: this does not apply to the ravings of bored teenage girls with smiley addictions! - of which there are way too many in the blogosphere)
"I'm going to worry like hell and that's not an easy job, believe me" - Lu-Tze "Thief of Time"