The Washington Post has two must-read articles on the evolution of Internet use in China, starting with yesterday’s feature on how a journalist’s open letter criticizing pro-government editing practices at a top paper circulated to millions of readers despite attempts by official censors to block it, and continuing with today’s story on the evolution of the Chinese Wikipedia.
Here’s the core of the story:
Eleven years after young Chinese returning from graduate study in the United States persuaded the party to offer Internet access to the public, China is home to one of the largest, fastest-growing and most active populations of Internet users in the world, according to several surveys. With more than 111 million people connected to the Web, China ranks second to the United States.
Although just a fraction of all Chinese go online — and most who do play games, download music or gossip with friends — widespread Internet use in the nation’s largest cities and among the educated is changing the way Chinese learn about the world and weakening the Communist Party’s monopoly on the media. Studies show China’s Internet users spend more time online than they do with television and newspapers, and they are increasingly turning to the Web for news instead of traditional state outlets.
The government has sought to control what people read and write on the Web, employing a bureaucracy of censors and one of the world’s most technologically sophisticated system of filters. But the success of those measures has been mixed. As a catalyst that amplifies voices and accelerates events, the Internet presents a formidable challenge to China’s authoritarian political system. Again and again, ordinary Chinese have used it to challenge the government, force their opinions to be heard and alter political outcomes.
My favorite quote, from a civil rights lawyer in Beijing. “If something is written well enough, they can’t stop it from spreading. People will find a way to read it.”
With all the recent news about American Internet companies cooperating with the Chinese government, these two articles gave me a lot of hope that, despite their knuckling under to government pressure, the network will eventually beat the censors.