China Will Partly Lift Internet Censorship For One of Its Provinces To Promote Tourism (theverge.com) 44
In an effort to promote tourism, the southern tropical Chinese island of Hainan will no longer censor its internet. "Visitors to select areas of Hainan will be able to access Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, according to a new plan authorities have put together to turn the province into a free trade port by 2020," reports The Verge. "It's not clear if other banned platforms will be uncensored." From the report: The three-year action plan was published on Thursday, but removed from the local government website by Friday, as spotted by the South China Morning Post. For Hainan, China will lift part of its censorship system, or what's known as the Great Firewall, that blocks access to most foreign social media and news sites. Tourists will be able to enter designated zones in Hainan's two major cities to access Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. Other banned foreign social media platforms, like Google, Instagram, or WhatsApp, haven't been mentioned.
Ironically, China appears to be censoring people's reactions to the news that some censorship is being lifted. One user on Weibo commented that people weren't allowed a chance to provide any feedback on the new tourism plan. "Thousands of comments have since been deleted. As if censoring people solved the problem."
Ironically, China appears to be censoring people's reactions to the news that some censorship is being lifted. One user on Weibo commented that people weren't allowed a chance to provide any feedback on the new tourism plan. "Thousands of comments have since been deleted. As if censoring people solved the problem."
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I just visited Macau a few months ago. No filtering or blocking anywhere in the territory as far as I could tell, just like Hong Kong.
Certain hotels—mostly catering to wealthy/connected foreigners—in major Chinese cities also have unfiltered Internet.
(I am not going to tell you which ones, sorry.)
If you bring your phone from home, you can use your own carrier's mobile data unfiltered when you're in China. You'll also pay out the nose for it, but it's there.
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There's far more than Hong Kong and Macau in terms of special zones and provinces. China has all sorts of zoning systems where various rules do or don't apply. The most common of these are the special economic zones which promote foreign investment. One example I've seen of a policy in a special economic zones is that foreign companies can punch through the great firewall with a VPN without port blocking or other bans.
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China has the keys so the products work.
Hainan Resort is a fun map... (Score:2)
This is a no brainer (Score:2)
Wanna go to China and you're concerned about censorship? Oh, hey, this place I wanna go to lets me access CNN and FB, let's go!. How about "fuck no, you're giving money to a totalitarian government that is trying to get money from you".
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I'm glad you get to make such a clear-cut and principled choice.
Some of us have family there, and some of the older members are simply not up to travelling overseas.
2+2 Cuts Both Ways, Ya' Know (Score:2)
If You Had Behaved Nicely The Communists Wouldn't Exist
~ Jenny Holzer, Survivor Series
Abuse of Power Comes As No Surprise
~ Ibid.
Censorship is not the only narrative. China has never conducted a foreign war. Its border disputes are complex and its civil wars overwhelm western approximations or experience, but all my life the propaganda-driven mythos of 5 Chinese Brothers has dominated western narratives. All my life the warning is: China is about to lash out as it spirals into chaos and strike by some vague
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Go read Document 9.
The west and China are not just two different competing empires. One values democracy, free press, civil society. The other is a repressive dictatorship.
The trouble with repressive dictatorships is that when they go off the rails there is no peaceful way to change their leaders. Western democracy is not perfect, but bad leaders go, and are limited. Imagine if Trump ran China, without any of our checks and balances. Xi does run China and wants to make China great again.
That is what is
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Go read Document 9.
Reading: What Other People Should Do
Calling either the US or China empires is what Little Big Boys Who Confuse What They See On the tee-vee News with the Game of Risk, and/or Thrones. There's a map somewhere in your realm of confusion. You might read it to see how China is designated a republic, qualified as socialist, while the United States is a democratic republic. They're both full of people that value what their mommies and daddies, and what their mommies and daddies (and so on) had a long time ago. Th
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I also get along fine without most of that stuff when I'm in China. I've still not found a good substitute for Google Translate's character recognition, though. Fortunately, I now know enough of them that I can usually find my way around without much trouble.
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^Look and learn, kids: This is what happens when you hold your copypasta wrong.
Trying a change in one province first (Score:2)
Modern China has a tradition of trying major policy or law changes in one province first (and then, if it goes well possibly extend them to the whole country a few years later).
It makes sense to me: we often have politicians and people in countries debating about the possible impact of some far-reaching legislative or policy changes (and often the discussion mostly ignores precedent from other countries where available). But actually trying it on a limited scale gives some useful data