Mainland Chinese netizens are blocked from visiting certain websites dis-preferred by the government, such as Google and Facebook. Surprisingly, a recent BBC news article reported that a large number of comments on a site restricted by the Chinese government are written in simplified Chinese script, evidence that the comments originated from mainland China.
This raises the question: how did the netizens cross the online barrier?
The first way they can do this is through overseas school networks, mostly known as Virtual Public Networks (VPN). Registered university students can install a simple program on their computer and log in to their school’s VPN system. By doing this, students can not only access online resources offered by their schools, but are able to view many websites blocked by the Chinese government.
A second way that a user can exploit censorship loopholes to log in on a masked mother domain. For example, simply typing “facebook.com” into a browser will not enable a user to view the website. However, entering through the Web page of a mother domain would produce a clear view of contents on Facebook. This mother website enables a person go through one website to reach another, without showing the domain the other website.
In addition, a plethora of online forums innovate new ways of breaching the censorship barrier and offer software for doing so for free downloading. A user can find such forums by Googling “fan qiang” (翻墙), Chinese for “climb over the wall.”
The existence of this online “fan qiang” community has led to an ongoing battle between the Chinese government and innovative Internet users. The search that a user one day may not produce the same results the next simply because the Chinese government continually generates defense mechanisms against breaches in their censorship barrier. Thus, “fan qiang” methods posted in 2007 most likely would not function any more.
China has caught much recent attention on the world stage with its rapid economic growth. Onlookers are not only focusing on how China has generated a new double-digit GDP growth rate, but notice how such a large country lacks freedom of speech. Chinese citizens themselves have also become aware of this problem. China’s Reform and Opening-Up Policies in the 1980s started to open the country economically to the world. Citizens’ persistent attempts to “fan qiang” could indicate that, at least on the Internet, a sphere of free speech is also beginning to open up.
