Firewall? What firewall?

Social media is giving TV stars and creators a more direct relationship with fans.

Social media is giving TV stars and creators a more direct relationship with fans.

Published Jul 11, 2011

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Beijing - Comments by a government official that Western controls over the Internet are far more onerous than in China have set off a storm of mockery by net-savvy Chinese long used to restrictions on what they can say and look at on-line.

China bans numerous websites for a variety of reasons, including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, fearing the uncensored sharing of images and information could cause social instability and harm national security.

It also keeps a close watch on what is said on Chinese sites such as the popular Weibo microblogging service, deleting words or pictures which run afoul of the censors.

But Zang Jiebin, deputy mayor of the southeastern city of Xiamen, told a conference over the weekend that Chinese were in fact fortunate to be living in a country with such a free Internet.

“Supervision and management of ideology and new media in Western countries is far stricter than that in our China,” the Southern Metropolis Daily quoted him as saying.

In Germany, for example, it was hard for ordinary people to use the Internet due to government bureaucracy and high costs, Zang added.

“So we should say that our country is very civilized and democratic, and we should feel happy about it,” he said.

Chinese Internet users were quick to denounce Zang's remarks, which have spread rapidly online.

“Has he mistaken North Korea for Germany?” wrote “Kuangdaishandong” on Weibo, referring to one country which has even tighter Internet controls than China.

“We should thank our country for allowing us to log onto the Internet at all! When will we be to access Twitter without jumping the Great Firewall?,” wondered “Shuangzhouziri”.

While China's restrictions on the Internet have strained relations with Washington, Chinese have become adept at skirting censorship with word play and puns, and revel in making fun of corrupt officials or those who make controversial remarks.

“Do the Germans who live in the pit of misery need us to liberate them?” wrote blogger Wang Zheng, sarcastically. - Reuters

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