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Post-Quake, China Cuts Access to Entertainment Web Sites

Posted by timothy on from the perhaps-a-good-thing dept.

thefickler writes "The Chinese Government has issued orders that all entertainment web sites and regular television programming be shut down completely for the next 3 days. Only web sites covering the recent tragic 7.8 magnitude earthquake and television stations broadcasting CCTV earthquake programming will be allowed to remain live." Can anyone with Web access in China confirm this report? From an AP story on the state of communications in the country right now, it appears at least that China is (despite ongoing monitoring) allowing freer than usual communications in the wake of the quake.

9 of 334 comments (clear)

  1. The real reason by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    No, it is a three days national mourning to honour victims in the earthquake. China is not only suspending entertainment websites, but also suspending everything from public entertainment to olympic torch relay and all Chinese flags will be flown at half-mast. There will also be a 3-minute silence everywhere in China at 2:28pm China time today.

    Check out:
    http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/olympics/05/18/bc.as.gen.china.earthquake.olympic.ap/

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/1982617/China-earthquake-Rescue-teams-overwhelmed-by-disaster.html

  2. Re:China can't read slashdot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    reading slashdot here in shenzhen right now.

  3. Re:Whats the point? by clragon · · Score: 5, Informative

    What the hell is it supposed to do?

    I would think that after a tragedy, it would better to OPEN the internet as much as possible.

    I think this is part of the 3 days of mourning going on in China right now, to raise even more awareness of the quake.

    Also, sites regarding the earthquake will stay up. So the websites created by people to track missing relatives, or to gather donations, will stay online. Was this absolutely necessary? probably not. But I don't think this move will hinder the rescue effort at all, but rather raise more awareness of it since earthquake related info is all the Chinese people will get in the next 3 days.

  4. "National Mourning Days" they say by prof.nemo · · Score: 5, Informative

    I am in Hong Kong, all I heard from the the official news from mainland is that there will be 3 days of "mourning for the victims of earthquake". All entertainment facilities (casino, clubs etc.) in mainland are supposedly to be closed for these 3 days, and all mainland citizens are supposed to dress "less colorfully" as well. Didn't realize that includes entertainment websites though. Of course over here in Hong Kong we find it a bit strange and obviously the local government won't follow suit. Most Hong Kong locals don't understand the logic too, but maybe it's kind of cultural difference thing again.

  5. Re:Over the top by Beijing+Monster · · Score: 5, Informative

    I think this is a bit over the top. Many people lost relatives or friends in the quake. Some entertainment can help them get over the grief. Now they're constanty reminded of the quake by the media. That can't be good for them. I live in Beijing. Such sentiments as above sound so selfish and self-indulgent. Great shows of national mourning are not unusual, even in our own western countries (or at least they used to be). I am no apologist for China but, on this, please cut the Chinese a bit of slack. You have no idea how this tragedy has affected people in China and while three days of mourning might seem excessive it is not necessarily so here. Moreover, it helps focus the national mind on what has to be done next: no more hope for rescue, the need for rebuilding, fund raising, etc. BTW, I have so far not been affected in my access to the internet or TV, etc.
  6. Live From Beijing: Its Monday Morning. by fotoflo · · Score: 5, Informative

    and everything seems normal. A search for ææ or gaming on baidu returns a thousand similar sites: http://www.baidu.com/s?wd=%D3%CE%CF%B7 , all of them working. Lesson to be learned: twitter isnt a great news source, and neither are twitter-derived news sites.

  7. Its regional by Demonicat · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Before I launch into opinion, let me first state the facts jack. China's Internet censorship (the great firewall part of golden shield) is regionally based. Similar to the US radio having locality based censorship. In February for example, the university I teach at(Inner Mongolia Uni of Tech/science), could not access wikipedia- but could access flickr. In Beijing, it was the opposite- its locality based and gladder for firefox kills it anyway. That said, I still have full internet. Yesterday the DNS kept crashing out, but internet is rolling along fine and dandy...or as close as we get here at 100kbs on a pppoe. All sites are behaving normally. Now opinion. While I am a firm believer and activist for Freedom of Information, in this case I believe shutting down a bit of commuications may be needed. Many people in China are a bit on edge currently, with the olympics, the protests, the whole t1b3t thing- and the earthquake moved them right to the edge. Rumours are circulating around the country here about radiation dangers, the government not acting, the goverment causing the earthquake like some kind of James Bond Villian...lots of BS. The end result of this is that people are too panicked and nervous to help out with reconstruction or aiding survivors- not good. The limiting of information until the area is secure and survivors helped is very important at this time.

  8. I do not have sock puppets by twatt3r · · Score: 5, Funny

    Help! Help! I have been a victim of unfair moderations!

    As you can see from my previous posts, I am generally a trolling idiot who has nothing constructive to say.

    But, but! Someone moderated me to +4 Insightful! If math serves me correctly, 3 someones!

    I ask you to stop this unfair moderation and return me to my target of "-1 hopeless."

    Arigatou gozaimashita!

    (Besides, I don't have "sock puppets." That accusation is unfair to the world's other sufferers of dissociative identity disorder, who function just fine in society.)

  9. Re:monitored is not free by Christopher+Neufeld · · Score: 5, Informative

    I'm in China right now. I was here (Beijing) the day the earthquake hit. At 6:00, I was having dinner in a restaurant, and the television was tuned to the national news service. I speak Chinese, and I understand it well. It was all-earthquake, all the time. Reporters were everywhere in Sichuan (they hadn't arrived in the worst-hit areas yet, it having been less than four hours). The premier was on TV talking about sending help. There were pictures of people carrying bodies and bandaged victims on their backs, footage of destroyed buildings, everything you would expect to see in a major disaster, with no conspicuous absences. It was the exact antithesis of news suppression.

    In the days following the quake, I've turned on the television a couple of times. There is a lot of earthquake coverage, but I've also seen costume dramas, soap operas, musical variety shows, fund raisers, home-shopping-network style shows, and billiards tournaments.

    I proxy my internet through an SSH tunnel, so I haven't noticed any changes to website availability, but I just fired up an unproxied konqueror, and I can get to the BBC, CBC, arstechnica, and slashdot through the national firewall. If somebody wants to post URLs they think are unreachable, I can give quickly determine whether they are reachable.