China Grows Its Own Twitter

Stirfry192 writes "Twitter is banned in China, and the authorities are trying to foster a censored version of the service, but the speed and nature of such services calls into question China's ability to retain control — especially in combustible, highly emotional situations."

Comments

Re:they can use it to track down people who post a

[Anonymous Coward]

No, no. The Chinese really know how to make money. They will make it ad-supported and force people to post. Not twitting daily will become a subversive activity.

Seriously, though, according tot TFA it's a Chinese company that is doing this. So this is not an evil masterplan of the Chinese government to track down everyone (governments already monitor Internet usage, if it is not HTTPS they know exactly what you're writting/reading).

Re:Looks like they have some catching up to do.

[DigiShaman]

I believe it. Shanghai isn't that bad, so I'm guessing you visited a more rural area. But, you might be speaking of Shanghai too. I don't know, I honestly haven't been all over that city due to it being so big

During one of my trips deep inside the mainland with my Chinese wife, I needed to use the restroom. It's like one of those stand-alone buildings you often see at a national park. But this one was really bad. It reeked of urine, and everything was covered with white tiles stained brownish yellow. Chinese love tiles in and around their buildings for some reason. Anyways, that as the piss trough running the entire length of one wall. The toilets were just holes in the ground with a length of PVC pipe cut lengthwise to capture the waste. But it get's better. Much better.

In order to use this lovely little restroom, I had to pay a usage fee to a man standing outside the door. I think it was 1 or 2 Yuan. Very little really. I felt paying for that little time of hell was both strange and insulting to me at the same time. My wife assured me that this was normal out here. They weren't trying to milk a foreigner here. In fact, I bet I'm the first one they've ever saw.

Throughout all my ordeal, I wasn't upset. Rather, I felt bad for an entire nation with a deep and rich history all but forgotten amongst the people. Because of the CCP, China was a nation that could have been much more than ever dreamed possible, but never had the chance. Here before me stands a man in his 40s working his glorious soul-sucking job of collecting toiletry money. I can only imagine how the educated class in China must feel. Them hearing about the Cultural Revolution and the epic failure that it was must be gut-wrenching to their national pride.