I Love China

Well actually, no, it has not been banned, but that is how the western media seem to be reporting this news. It appears that the 2D version is being withdrawn, but the 3D version is still going strong. Now riddle me this : if the Chinese were really concerned about the movie’s impact on the Chinese population, why would the only “ban” the 2D version? I haven’t seen it but I am 99% sure the 3D version has the same plotline as the 2D version.

I’m personally not concerned in the least if they are withdrawing the 2D version to make way for some Chinese blockbusters in time for the imminent Chinese New Year festive season. It soulds like common sense to me. But of course, the western press wants its readers to think China is a very restricted country and people have no freedoms whatsoever. And I suppose “Avatar 2D withdrawn due to lack of interest, as everyone prefers to go for the 3D version” doesn’t make for exciting news headlines. Ironic really because it’s the western population that is getting distorted information rather than independent and impartial news. On this occasion anyway.

You’ve probably heard about recent censorship of certain websites in China due to the sensitive anniversary of the 1989 “protests”.  We’ve only just got some sites back again here in China, but it looks like as a result of the rioting in Xinjiang in the last few days, the net nanny has gone crazy once again and arbitrarily blocked various popular websites including Twitter and Facebook, much to the irritation of many Chinese netizens. All part of the fun of living in the PRC. On a positive note, I might actually get some work done today!

Everytime we get close to something politically sensitive such as the anniversary of Tiananmen or the annual communist party conference, those in charge of deciding which Internet sites are blocked and which are accessible in China start behaving unpredictably, much to the irritation of the online community.

I for one have had 2 of my blog sites caught in the net nanny’s crosshairs, one of which now happens to be accessible again and the other is still blocked.  Blogger / Blogspot is now blocked in China but was freely accessible for quite a while until recently and YouTube has been bloced for several months now.

So what can we poor souls do if we want to view that hilarious dancing dog video on YouTube or read the Woody Allen Quote Blog?

Well, there are free proxy sites some of which still work to some degree. These include Megaproxy which seems to work well at the moment for reading blocked sites such as Blogger, although commenting on blogs that are blocked may still be a problem.

Some people swear by Hotspot Shield which is also free, but some seem to have trouble getting it to work properly so your mileage may vary.

If you use Firefox, installing TOR and Privoxy was a great way to get around the GFW (Great Fire Wall) but sadly this is now blocked in China as well.

What does WoAi do? Well, I’m a firm believer in paying for stuff if it serves a purpose and delivers what it is supposed to, so yes, I pay for a personal VPN from WiTopia. It cost me US$40 per year, but for that, I get to unfettered access to any site I like including YouTube and Blogger. I personally think it’s a small price to pay and beats trying to get some free proxy site to work.

BBC’s iPlayer is great for downloading your favourite BBC TV shows, as long as you’re in the UK.

WiTopia is useful in other ways too. The BBC has a download site called BBC iPlayer which is great for viewing BBC TV shows for homesick Brits like myself. But alas, iPlayer is not available to viewers outside the UK due to licensing issues. I am guessing if they sell programming to other countries, part of the agreement must be that the BBC does not then make those same programmes available for free to people in that country, or something like that.

But WiTopia has a UK gateway, which means when you log on via the UK gateway, it’s as though you were logging on from inside the UK, so iPlayer thinks you’re in the UK and lets you download whatever you like. I spent a large part of the recent long weekend downloading and watching programmes like Eastenders and Jonathan Ross, as well as other light entertainment shows and it’s GREAT but slightly addictive!

So if you’re feeling a bit restricted in your online adventures, give WiTopia a try.

As of today, the famous video sharing site has been blocked by the Chinese authorities, as reported by the BBC News website, which itself was blocked for many years until recently.

Just a few days ago a friend was asking if I was going to see Oasis when they come to Shanghai in April.  Well, I can now give a definite answer: no.  And neither will anyone else.  All the China shows have been cancelled after the Chinese authorities have changed their minds about allowing the concert to go ahead.  Apparently it’s because they’ve just found out that Mr Gallagher took part in a Free T*bet protest 12 years ago.

I suppose it didn’t help that exactly one year ago yesterday, Bjork caused controversy when she held a concert in Shanghai and shouted “T*bet, T*bet” at the end of the concert.  I guess the authorities are somewhat nervous about a similar stunt happening if Oasis are allowed to play here.

All I’m going to say is : you’d never have this kind of trouble with Kylie!

Yes, who knows for how long, perhaps it’s related to the Olympics coming up in August, but after years of being blocked by the government, Blogspot is currently accessible from China – enjoy it while it lasts folks! I for one am headed straight to Angie’s blog to catch up on the latest and perhaps I’ll stop by Pastey White Guy.

[Edit: 1st March 2008] Well that didn’t last very long, did it!  Already blocked again, I guess it was just a glitch.

It is so hard to keep up with the net nanny’s latest insane behaviour.  My last update was only last month but now here’s another update:

Blogger is (for now) unblocked and I can read and comment without the aid of a proxy, same for Typepad where my old blog is hosted (but had to stop using after it was blocked).  Wikipedia, sadly, is the only constant and continues to be inaccessible within the Chinese mainland (Taiwan and Hong Kong are of course free of any censorship).

Flickr continues to work BUT the images are blocked so you can only see the text of each page (which defeats the object of a photo website!) and the latest news is that Youtube is now blocked which is why my earlier post on Beijing Bling will not be viewable in China.

Terrific!

So after a short period of being accessible in China, Wikipedia is now blocked again, damnit, while Typepad seems to be accessible, just as I have grown comfortable with my new blog location and accepted the loss of my former blog site.

I suppose while I am on the topic I may as well give the full run down, so all blogspot / blogger sites such as Shopgirl and Pastey White Guy are still blocked and Flickr is “filtered” meaning you can access the sites but most of the images will not load.  Lovely.

Those who are interested can use TOR with Firefox to access blocked sites and Flickr addicts can use this Flickr addon to access Flickr in China.

Well, my previous two blogs have been blocked by the Chinese net nanny, so this is my third blog site. However, I’ve done something a bit different this time – I have hosted this blog on my own domain name using my existing host, having downloaded the WordPress blogging software. What this means is that I am not using any of the big blog sites like Blogspot, Typepad etc which HOPEFULLY will mean I will never get blocked again, unless I personally say something to upset the net nanny (aka the Chinese internet censor).

In the past, the net nanny has put a blanket block on all sites hosted by some of the big blog sites because one or two users have in some way offended China even though (I presume) my own blog has not caused (enough) offense to warrant a block.

Oh yes, and I have posted back some old posts from my old blog, which is why you will notice there are posts here from the past, but I haven’t copied over the comments as this would be too complicated.

Okay, that’s all for now. I will be posting more very soon so make sure you bookmark this URL and come back soon. Comments always appreciated!