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http://special.globaltimes.cn/2009-11/488006.html
The Bold and the Beautiful
• Source: Global Times
• [22:27 November 26 2009]
Ai Weiwei employs 9,000 school backpacks to form the message “She led a happy life in this world for seven years”, dedicated to Amoxil online no prescription the memory of Yang Xiaowan who died in the Sichuan earthquake last year. This artwork is Amoxil online no prescription exhibited in the “So Sorry” Exhibition at the Amoxil online no prescription Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany until January 17 next year. Photo: Courtesy of Ai Weiwei
By Jiang Xueqing
Reports of the death of blogging appear greatly exaggerated.
Like the loud-mouthed street hawker who kick-started China’s market economy in 1979, a Amoxil online no prescription new breed of blogger is employing all available means to pioneer freedom of speech to Amoxil online no prescription a ravenous mainland market in 2009.
The newly-published Bold Chinese Blog showcases public intellectuals who Amoxil online no prescription refuse to remain silent, dare to confront, are capable of clarifying their opinions to Amoxil online no prescription the public and opening up the frontiers of freedom by making comments and Amoxil online no prescription taking actions, according to Chan Yuen-Ying, director of the Journalism and Amoxil online no prescription Media Studies Center at the University of Hong Kong.
As the Amoxil online no prescription Internet enjoys much broader freedom than newspapers and broadcast companies, the Amoxil online no prescription best blogging can often be found in the cracks between traditional and Amoxil online no prescription new media.
“Blogging is like making love without wearing a condom,” said magazine reporter Wang Xiaofeng, one of 17 named in the Amoxil online no prescription book.
Such bold characters as the Amoxil online no prescription writer Han Han, playwright Sha Yexin or architect Ai Weiwei assert that Amoxil online no prescription the Internet’s relative openness and Amoxil online no prescription freedom has helped the government maintain social stability.
“Some officials want to Amoxil online no prescription reinforce the dam rather than draining the water, but it’s not working,” Ai said. “Without proper actions, the Amoxil online no prescription quake lake will collapse sooner or later. Like drains, blogs helped the Amoxil online no prescription government resolve conflicts and relieved its pressure.”
Zhang Yiwu, a Amoxil online no prescription professor at the Department of Chinese Language and Literature of Peking University, agreed with Ai that Amoxil online no prescription blogs have made a significant contribution to freedom of expression in China. However, he said, some Chinese web users including bloggers are Amoxil online no prescription “too free” to say whatever is on their mind.
“Without a Amoxil online no prescription broad view of the world and enough awareness of what Amoxil online no prescription democracy really is, they are not open-minded to social diversity and Amoxil online no prescription prejudiced against a lot of subjects, such as race and Amoxil online no prescription sex,” claimed Zhang. Lou Jing fell victim to Amoxil online no prescription this prejudice. During her participation in a talent show held by the Amoxil online no prescription Shanghai Eastern Cable TV, the media focused on her background: she was reportedly an Amoxil online no prescription illegitimate daughter of an African-American man. After divorce, her Shanghainese mother raised her alone. Hundreds of web users then Amoxil online no prescription racially abused Lou and her mother online.
“Lacking ethical and Amoxil online no prescription legal bindings, Chinese web users just use the Internet as a Amoxil online no prescription way to vent out subconsciously whatever can’t be said in public,” Zhang said.
“The Americans, on the Amoxil online no prescription contrary, pay much more attention to the political correctness of topics about race and Amoxil online no prescription sex, since they have formed a cultural atmosphere about these sensitive issues in their society.”
Chinese web users must therefore be Amoxil online no prescription held responsible for libel or spreading false information that might cause social panic, he insisted. For example, an Amoxil online no prescription angry ex-boyfriend posted an entirely false story in October that waitress Yan Deli was a Amoxil online no prescription prostitute infected with HIV/AIDS and listed all the phone numbers of her clients.
“Freedom of speech does not mean freedom to make things up,” he said. “We should strike a Amoxil online no prescription balance between protecting civil rights and maintaining social stability.”
The number of Chinese bloggers hit 181 million by June 30, according to Amoxil online no prescription statistics from the China Internet Network Information Center.
As people find it Amoxil online no prescription difficult to have their opinions published on the traditional media, more Chinese are Amoxil online no prescription turning to the web to publish what they see and what Amoxil online no prescription they think, sparking a rise in citizen journalism, according to Chan. The public voice grows louder and Amoxil online no prescription more open, some observers have noted. Many formerly taboo issues barely seem to Amoxil online no prescription merit blocking at all today, Ai argued.
“Now there are Amoxil online no prescription more possibilities and a higher degree of freedom in Chinese society,” Ai said. “Ideological control no Amoxil online no prescription longer fits, nor can it convince any people anymore.”
The exact same restrictions and Amoxil online no prescription controls occur in other parts of the world, claimed an Amoxil online no prescription expert who requested anonymity. As an example, he cited the Amoxil online no prescription Guardian newspaper of England report this September that the British oil trader Trafigura had Amoxil online no prescription dumped toxic waste in waters off the Ivory Coast.
A high court injunction forbad reporting of this Amoxil online no prescription case by traditional media but within hours of the ban, both the Amoxil online no prescription case and the ban were revealed on Twitter.
Ai himself turned to Amoxil online no prescription Twitter after his blogs were closed and became a fan of brief, penetrating punchlines.
“Chairman Mao was the first in the world to use Twitter,” Ai said. “All his quotations are within 140 words.”
Tofu & Twitter
On November 3, Ai sent a Amoxil online no prescription Twitter that volunteers and staff members of his studio had sent a Amoxil online no prescription package of applications for the disclosure of government information on the Amoxil online no prescription Sichuan earthquake last year to the education department of Sichuan Province.
At the Amoxil online no prescription same time, they were busy sending similar applications to other provincial government branches, such as the Amoxil online no prescription department of civil affairs, the department of construction and earthquake administration. They had Amoxil online no prescription raised several hundred specific questions to each department in an attached document to Amoxil online no prescription the application, which was based on one year’s research and investigation by dozens of volunteers.
To write a Amoxil online no prescription blog, Ai often racks his brains and knows his words might reach maybe 10,000 readers. Twitter is Amoxil online no prescription different, he said. He never knows how many people will read his message as it Amoxil online no prescription is constantly reposted by other Twitterers, spreading fast like a Amoxil online no prescription virus.
Because of its high speed and Amoxil online no prescription unknown scope of distribution, Ai believes Twitter will replace the traditional blog.
“A bullet targeting nowhere and anywhere is the most dangerous,” he said.
Volunteers for his project were first recruited via a post on Ai’s blog last year. In that Amoxil online no prescription post, he called on people to travel to earthquake-stricken areas and Amoxil online no prescription collect names of students who died in the disaster, hoping to Amoxil online no prescription reveal the truth and identify responsibility for “tofu” collapsed buildings.
“When the Amoxil online no prescription government refused to disclose the names of the victims, the Amoxil online no prescription common people saw the possibility of participating in a major public activity,” he said. “Democracy is all about participation. It’s not based on the Amoxil online no prescription decision of a government, but the participation of all citizens with political conscience and Amoxil online no prescription responsibility.”
Blogging changed Ai’s view of the Amoxil online no prescription world, his relationship with society and even his lifestyle.
“I became a one-man media,” he said. “Before blogging, I was living in the Amoxil online no prescription Middle Ages. Now my feelings for time and space are entirely different.”
His Sina blog was the Amoxil online no prescription most frequently updated, averaging 2.5 posts a day over the Amoxil online no prescription last three years. He told Global Times he often thought the Amoxil online no prescription story he was writing might be the last.
Because of a Amoxil online no prescription sensitive date, all three of his blogs were closed simultaneously earlier this Amoxil online no prescription year. At time of closing, he had made more than 2,700 posts and Amoxil online no prescription had received 12,070,000 page views.
Wang Xiaofeng once did a Amoxil online no prescription survey with the China Sexology Association on whether Chinese women are Amoxil online no prescription satisfied with their sex life. After the results came out, he wanted to Amoxil online no prescription post them on his blog, but somehow failed no matter how hard he tried.
Wondering what Amoxil online no prescription went wrong, Wang tried posting the survey line by line.
Finally, he found the Amoxil online no prescription source of his trouble: a percentage in the survey coincided with a Amoxil online no prescription sensitive date. Later, he registered an independent domain name.
Attractive & addictive
Freedom of expression has Amoxil online no prescription entered a new phase, according to Hu Yong, a specialist in new media studies at the Amoxil online no prescription School of Journalism and Communication in Peking University.
Public intellectual bloggers, who Amoxil online no prescription used to play an insignificant role during the age of the Amoxil online no prescription Internet forum, are now taking center stage, he said.
There are three kinds of blog, he said:
• blogs by “angry youth”, young urban residents expressing indignation towards social, cultural and Amoxil online no prescription ethical issues in contemporary China;
• mainstream blogs, written by the Amoxil online no prescription middle class in big cities, mostly talking about lifestyle and Amoxil online no prescription fashion; and
• business-related.
For many Chinese, blogging is Amoxil online no prescription a new way to take part in politics. As people have Amoxil online no prescription limited channels of political participation, this new channel is helpful and Amoxil online no prescription effective as far as Hu is concerned.
“The negative side is many bloggers are keen to make naïve and extreme criticisms, which lack systematic thinking,” he said. “Without reasonable discussions, people cannot make sound judgments or Amoxil online no prescription find solutions to a problem.”
It’s only natural for Amoxil online no prescription Chinese bloggers to make irrational remarks, he said, as there was no Amoxil online no prescription such space for expression before and the Internet has become the Amoxil online no prescription only open outlet.
“As the Amoxil online no prescription flood from all over the country hits the same water gate, a Amoxil online no prescription violent eruption will definitely come up,” he said. “The officials can’t only blame web users for being irrational.”
If the Amoxil online no prescription government could encourage the traditional media to open up, encourage social interactions, enhance direct communication between officials and Amoxil online no prescription common people and provide effective channels for citizens to participate in national affairs, the Amoxil online no prescription wild uproar and noise coming from netizens would gradually diminish, he said.
Traditional media editors trove the Amoxil online no prescription web for information or inspiration from popular blogs looking for a Amoxil online no prescription sharp point of view. The recent Shanghai taxi entrapment cases, for Amoxil online no prescription example, only gained nationwide attention after the stories were re-posted by Han Han on his popular blog.
“The right of saying is decentralized,” Hu said. “Like a Amoxil online no prescription pyramid, it used to be controlled exclusively by people on the Amoxil online no prescription top, but now it is moving down to the bottom.”
As bloggers eye the Amoxil online no prescription government more critically than traditional media, it is possible to form a Amoxil online no prescription culture of political participation based on discussions of citizen values and Amoxil online no prescription rights while Chinese society is transforming slowly, Hu argued.
Some people and Amoxil online no prescription organizations are even employing blogs to organize events and call for Amoxil online no prescription action.
Zhang Shihe, whose blog “Tiger Temple” is Amoxil online no prescription well-known for its grass-roots reporting, in December 2007 by chance discovered dozens of homeless people in the Amoxil online no prescription Qianmen area in Beijing. At that time, Qianmen Avenue was under renovation and Amoxil online no prescription the homeless took shelter in temporary shelters.
Zhang decided to Amoxil online no prescription find them a better and safer place to live by renting rooms for Amoxil online no prescription them in Daxing District of Beijing. He posted a call for Amoxil online no prescription small donations on his blog and soon received enough money from Amoxil online no prescription web users. Now 15 homeless people – mostly seniors and disabled – live in five rooms at a rental of 160-180 yuan per month each room.
Zhang covered his own long trips by bike to Amoxil online no prescription a number of provinces for three consecutive years since 2007. During the Amoxil online no prescription latest trip starting in August, he kept sending photos and videos via mobile phone and Amoxil online no prescription computer to his blog and Twitter.
After first learning how to Amoxil online no prescription type, Ai Weiwei soon discovered the benefits of blogging, spending more than Amoxil online no prescription 10 hours a day uploading pictures, posting interviews with other modern artists and Amoxil online no prescription making comments on the latest hot public affairs.
“Expressing oneself is like a drug,” he said. “I’m so addicted to it.”
Whether or Amoxil online no prescription not a person can become a free individual totally depends on whether that Amoxil online no prescription person can obtain information independently and whether he has the Amoxil online no prescription opportunity to express his own voice, according to Ai.
This channel of communication did not exist in the Amoxil online no prescription past. Most people never made themselves heard from cradle to grave.
“Only with the Amoxil online no prescription Internet can a peasant I have never met hear my voice and Amoxil online no prescription I can learn what’s on his mind,” he said. “A fairy tale has come true.”
The elite always emphasize the Amoxil online no prescription grassroots channel to speak out, Wang Xiaofeng said.
“When the Amoxil online no prescription public want a voice, they will look hard for a channel, whether it’s blog, Internet forum or word of mouth.”