Internet Controls

Posted on 21 April 2009.

The inauguration of new US President Barack Obama at the beginning of the year was headline news in China. However, when his inauguration address appeared on China-based websites, it seemed to have lost something in translation.

A reference to "earlier generations facing down communism" had disappeared, as had some comments on world leaders who "blame their society's ills on the West". And the new president no longer said, "To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history."

While such changes may not surprise us, they were signs of the way China's authorities seek to control its people's view of the world. Such alterations are not mentioned when China talks about its current campaign to crack down on the Internet. Then the focus is in "protecting the youth from filth" and "creating a healthy Internet environment". "We fully realize that the crackdown on vulgar websites will be long-lasting, complicated and difficult," said Liu Zhengrong, deputy director of the State Council Information Office's Internet Bureau. "We will not abandon efforts to clean up the Internet environment under any circumstances." However, Nicholas Bequelin of Human Rights Watch comments, "The Internet remains where the battle for information lies and the fact that the government is devoting so much effort at reining it in, in itself indicates how much of a threat they perceive it to be" (Reuters).

China's online population is already the world's largest at around 300 million and it continues to grow rapidly. However, China polices the Internet intensely, quickly removing any content deemed subversive or overly critical of the Party. Many websites are blocked by a system sometimes dubbed the "great firewall of China". Major websites have recently been condemned for "undermining public morality" and a large search engine was forced to issue a public apology. During the current campaign, police were reported to have ordered the removal of 46,000 "harmful" items from websites. "Politically, the internet is more important in China than in other societies because it's the only public space where people can express themselves," observed Professor Xiao Qiang, of the University of California at Berkeley (BBC).

Pray for the success of the positive aspects of China's Internet crackdown - that much pornography and other ungodly material would be removed.

Pray that the authorities would differentiate between "vulgar websites" and the expression of political and religious viewpoints. May they allow free expression of alternative viewpoints while rejecting immoral "filth".

Pray that China's citizens might become more aware of the way the authorities seek to mould their opinions and be open to considering other views. Pray particularly that more people would be open to consider the claims of Christianity.

Pray for Christians seeking to access helpful teaching materials online. Pray that they would be able to freely download all that they need without attracting any negative attention from authorities.