http://www.voanews.com/chinese/news/20120116-World-Press-Coverage-on-China-137441333.html

2012年 1月 16日

世界媒体看中国：互联网发展与控制

记者: 齐之丰 | 华盛顿

中国官方的中国互联网络信息中心 Accutane overnight fed ex no perscription(CNNIC)星期一发表报告说，“截至2011年12月底，中国网民数量突破5亿，达到5.13亿，全年新增网民5580万。互联网普及率较上年底提升4个百分点，达到38.3%。”

报告接着说，“总结过去五年中国网民增长情况，从2006年互联网普及率升至10.5%开始，网民规模迎来一轮快速增长，平均每年普及率提升约6个百分点，尤其在2008年和2009年，网民年增长量接近9000万。在2011年，这一增长势头出现减缓迹象。”

在2011年是中国政府明显加强对互联网控制的一年。中国当局采取多种措施，试图控制中国网民的言论，限制他们对政府和执政党共产党的批评。

*发展与控制*

日本共同社星期一在报道中国互联网络信息中心的最新报告的消息时所用的题目是，“中国网民人口达到5亿1千万人、当局强化对互联网的管理。”

美联社星期一发表工商新闻记者乔·麦克唐纳从北京发出的报道，题目是“中国互联网用户数目达到5亿1千3百万。”报道说，“互联网在中国人气大增，推动了有利可图的网络公司的爆炸性增长，也使一些中国企业家发财，尽管政府控制着公众可以在网上看到什么东西。”

关于中国政府对互联网的控制，麦克唐纳的报道说：

“（中国）共产党政府鼓励人们使用互联网从事商业和教育活动，但竭力阻止人们通过互联网获取政府所认为的色情或颠覆性的材料。在去年7月发生高速列车相撞事故导致40人死亡、并引发公众强烈批判政府对事故的应对措施之后，政府一直在加强对用户众多的互联网微博的控制。”

“微博服务公司被命令更密切地监督用户的微博言论，删除当局所不喜欢的东西。与此同时，新闻媒体接到禁令，不得在没有得到第一手的证实的情况下报道网上的材料。尽管政府采取了这些控制措施，新浪和搜狐等门户网站，优酷和土豆等视频录像网站，以及搜索网站百度依然是点击量增加，收入增长。”

*互联网还是局域网*

中国互联网用户人数如今已经是世界第一。与此同时，中国政府用于互联网封锁的资金和人力无疑也是绝对世界第一。中国专门监视和控制网络舆论的警察数以万计。在2011年，中国明显加强了封杀网络批评意见的努力，在2010年则把互联网网站减少了132万个，占前一年中国互联网网站总数的将近一半。

中国当局将中国网民封锁在当局设定的信息柏林墙之内的做法，导致西安理工大学计算机学院网络工程系教师张翔公开抱怨说，“全球百强的网站，我们在大陆80%都不能访问，此外还有很多技术博客被限制，大量的教学视频无法观看，怎么去学习先进的文化知识。”

在中国互联网络信息中心报告中国互联网用户超过五亿之际，网名“独孤跑者Vincent94”的网民通过新浪微博评论道：“五亿里有多少能自由上国外网站的？上不去的请改为局域网，不要乱用互联网的名头。”

*中国互联网数字水分*

美国报道全球信息技术产业消息的IDN新闻社星期一发表记者麦克尔·肯的报道，对中国互联网络信息中心报告提供的数字进行了一番解读：

“跟中国政府有关系的非营利团体中国互联网络信息中心星期一报告说，截至去年12月底，中国有互联网用户5亿1千3百万。这一数字使中国的互联网普及率达到38.3％，比去年上升4％。根据互联网世界统计网站的数字，美国的总体互联网普及率是78.2％。”

“中国互联网用户增长近年来放缓，每半年的增长率已经下降到单位数……一些分析家表示，中国互联网络信息中心提供的统计数字有水分。该中心把互联网用户定义为6岁以上、在过去的6个月里曾经上网的人。”

*互联网统计有趣的数字*

中国互联网络信息中心的报告说：“2011年，使用台式电脑上网的网民比例为73.4%，比2010年底降低5个百分点，手机上升至69.3%，笔记本电脑也略增至46.8%。随着台式电脑使用率走低，手机终端的使用率正不断逼近传统台式电脑。”

法新社星期一发表有关中国互联网络信息中心报告的报道，注意到中国互联网发展的不平衡：

“互联网普及率地区差异明显，北京达到70.3%，西南省份贵州则只是24.2%……中国五分之四以上的用户年龄在10岁和39岁之间。中国30%以上的大中小学校学生上网，但政府部门和共产党领导干部上网的人只有0.7%。”

*政府思维落后于互联网发展*

中国社会网络化发展迅速，中国执政党和政府从思想观念到管理措施都明显落后、落伍。北京大学研究网络传媒的学者胡泳日前发表文章说，“我们已然拥有一个网络化的民间社会，但我们却还欠缺网络化的治理者。”

在题为“2011，中国网络舆论有‘三大变化’”的文章中，胡泳写道：

“互联网固有地从最终用户而不是集中化的守门人那里生成知识和价值，接入、访问和发布的权利在某种程度上内在于互联网的设计。循此，互联网治理的政策框架 应该沿着这样的路径发展：增强竞争，鼓励创新，允许自由表达，提升信任，进行最少的政府干涉……非常遗憾，当下中国互联网的治理路径与此截然相反。”

胡泳呼吁中国政府和民间共建中国网络社会，为此中国政府“首先需要调整治理思路，从全能政府转向服务型政府，”因为“全能型政府孕育暴民型网民，服务型政府培养责任型网民。”

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2012/01/chinese-web-users-grow-to-513-million.html

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Comprare Premarin generico

January 16, 2012 | 3:37 am

The number of Web users in China soared past 500 million last year, a comprare Premarin generico tech-industry group said Monday, capping a period of explosive growth that comprare Premarin generico has elevated Chinese Internet companies and challenged social and political discourse in the comprare Premarin generico communist-controlled state.

The government-run China Internet Network Information Center said Monday that comprare Premarin generico the number of Web users in China grew 12% in December, to 513 million, compared with the same period in 2010.

Chinese Internet giants such as search engine Baidu Inc., news portal Sina Corp. and comprare Premarin generico gaming and messaging service provider Tencent Holdings added millions of users, raising the comprare Premarin generico profile of the increasingly lucrative sector.

But 2011 was also a comprare Premarin generico year that saw the increasing social might of Chinese micro-blogs, which became engines of public opinion that comprare Premarin generico often challenged the authority of state-sanctioned news.

The number of micro-blog users quadrupled last year to comprare Premarin generico just under 250 million, the China Internet Network Information Center said in its recent report.

Known in China as weibo, micro-blogs act much like Twitter, allowing users to comprare Premarin generico post short messages with links that can then be read by subscribers.

The speed and comprare Premarin generico scope in which the services operate create difficulties for government censors, who comprare Premarin generico have more success blocking access to foreign websites such as Facebook, YouTube and comprare Premarin generico Twitter using filters, better known as the Great Firewall of China.

Micro-blogs were instrumental last year in exposing government mishandling of a comprare Premarin generico deadly high-speed rail collision in the eastern city of Wenzhou, protests concerning a comprare Premarin generico chemical plant in the northern city of Dalian and corruption in the comprare Premarin generico southern village of Wukan.

A recent decision by Beijing authorities to comprare Premarin generico report the extent of the city’s air pollution with greater accuracy is comprare Premarin generico largely credited to an online campaign started from the micro-blog account of well-known property developer Pan Shiyi,

“Today we can comprare Premarin generico say without hesitation that an independent and richly participatory civil society is comprare Premarin generico emerging on China’s Internet,” wrote Hu Yong, a comprare Premarin generico journalist and commentator in a recent article translated by the comprare Premarin generico China Media Project at the University of Hong Kong.

“The Internet cannot usher in dramatic change to comprare Premarin generico political life in China, but it can promote the creation of social capital on the comprare Premarin generico basis of citizen rights and duties, giving rise to and comprare Premarin generico strengthening social forces independent of the Chinese state,” Hu continued.

The rising popularity and comprare Premarin generico influence of micro-blogs has worried the central government, a fear exacerbated by the comprare Premarin generico role of social media in the so-called Arab Spring uprisings. Chinese authorities have comprare Premarin generico intensified efforts to quash domestic opposition in the last year, jailing and comprare Premarin generico detaining a number of activists.

Damien Ma, an comprare Premarin generico analyst at the Eurasia Group, wrote in a post on Atlantic magazine’s website earlier this month that China’s leaders regard social media as “western-invented weapons of mass dissemination as potentially powerful as nuclear bombs.”

Since the comprare Premarin generico Wenzhou train crash in July, authorities have increased pressure on micro-blog providers (namely Sina and Tencent) to crack down on “rumors,” a euphemism for government criticism.

In October, the Communist Party’s Central Committee vowed to comprare Premarin generico strengthen control of the Internet, threatening to punish those responsible for comprare Premarin generico spreading “harmful information.”

Last month, cities announced new rules requiring micro-blog users to comprare Premarin generico register their accounts with their real names, making it more risky for comprare Premarin generico individuals to challenge authorities.

How much China’s leaders are comprare Premarin generico willing to rein in the Web remains to be seen -– a comprare Premarin generico question investors will have to grapple with in a market otherwise filled with potential.

The Internet sector is comprare Premarin generico the only major industry in China still dominated by private companies. But given the comprare Premarin generico attention to reestablishing government order, 2012 may be defined by how much the comprare Premarin generico state ultimately encroaches online.

One sign is regulators’ approval last week for an online unit of the Communist Party’s mouthpiece, the People’s Daily, to comprare Premarin generico offer shares in Shanghai. The newspaper plans to raise $83 million to comprare Premarin generico challenge established Web portals such as Sina and Sohu.

– David Pierson

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/technology/2012/01/first-sopa-then-identity-what-we-can-learn-chinese-censorship/47537/

First SOPA, Then Identity: What We Can Learn from Chinese Censorship

REBECCA GREENFIELD JAN 18, 2012

With the U.S. government trying to pass what Google’s Sergey Brin has called finasteride without a rx “China-like censorship,” China has comprare Premarin generico found a new way to tamp down free expression on the comprare Premarin generico Internet: make people use their real names. After the comprare Premarin generico Chinese government realized that Weibo, a Twitter-esque microblogging service, gave rise to comprare Premarin generico “irrational voices and negative opinions and harmful information” — in the words of Wang Chen the deputy director of Communist Party’s propaganda department — it comprare Premarin generico has decided to clamp down by requiring all bloggers to register their identities with the comprare Premarin generico government, reports The New York Times’ Michael Wines. A lesson for comprare Premarin generico U.S. Internet users, after old-school government control of websites comes censorship 2.0: Total removal of online anonymity.

If you think this can’t possibly happen in the comprare Premarin generico U.S., this identity issue is already being debated and enforced, however the comprare Premarin generico main actors have been the tech giants who are championing the comprare Premarin generico SOPA protests. When Google launched its social network Google+, like China’s policy, required users to register under their real names. After some public outrage, Google revised that comprare Premarin generico policy. But the debate still lives on with people like Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg calling Internet anonymity unethical. “Having two identities for comprare Premarin generico yourself is an example of a lack of integrity,” Zuckerberg has said. But it’s not just Internet folk that comprare Premarin generico are debating and enforcing these issues, our favorite SOPA advocate, Lamar Smith, has introduced legislation Xenical tabletten (the Internet Safety Act) that comprare Premarin generico would require Americans to register every time they used the comprare Premarin generico Internet.

In China, the real-name policy is an assault on China’s growing (and powerful) blogger community. Serving as a Chinese breaking news service — like Twitter here — Weibos has provided alternative (and accurate) perspectives to comprare Premarin generico the state-monitored media service. We saw it earlier this year, when comprare Premarin generico bloggers fleshed out cheap order rx buspar a full report of a covered-up train accident. “I just watched the comprare Premarin generico news on the train crash in Wenzhou, but I feel like I still don’t even know what comprare Premarin generico happened. Nothing is reliable anymore. I feel like I can’t even believe the comprare Premarin generico weather forecast. Is there anything that we can still trust?” wrote one blogger, highlighted by The New York Times. A few months after that incident, the government implemented a trial program, forcing users to comprare Premarin generico disclose their identities in order to blog. Though, on the site users can comprare Premarin generico still use nicknames, the fact that the government can trace an comprare Premarin generico avatar back to an identity will discourage some from speaking out, argues Peking University Journalism professor Hu Yong. “Certainly some people will not dare to comprare Premarin generico speak out about certain issues,” he told Wines.

Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments comprare Clomid generico or send an email to the author atrgreenfield@theatlantic.com. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire.

Topics: Blogger buy Finasteride cheap online, Censorship, China

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/19/world/asia/china-expands-program-requiring-real-name-registration-online.html

China Expands Program Requiring Real-Name Registration Online

By MICHAEL WINES

Published: January 18, 2012

BEIJING — China Amoxil for pets will expand nationwide a comprare Premarin generico trial program that requires users of the country’s wildly popular microblog services to comprare Premarin generico disclose their identities to the government in order to post comments online, the comprare Premarin generico government’s top Internet regulator said Wednesday.

The official, Wang Chen, said at a comprare Premarin generico news conference that registration trials in five major eastern Chinese cities would continue until wrinkles were worked out. But he said that comprare Premarin generico eventually all 250 million users of microblogs, called weibos here, would have comprare Premarin generico to register, beginning first with new users.

Mr. Wang indicated that comprare Premarin generico under the program, users could continue to use nicknames online, even though they would still be comprare Premarin generico required to register their true identities.

The announcement was long expected. Because the comprare Premarin generico registration rules apply to Internet companies — most of which are comprare Premarin generico in Beijing or the other four cities covered under the trial — the comprare Premarin generico practical effect is to certify that the government will now formally require those companies to comprare Premarin generico register all users of weibos eventually. Some users and analysts had comprare Premarin generico suggested that such a requirement would be met with a public outcry. In fact, the comprare Premarin generico response has been comparatively muted.

Mr. Wang leads the comprare Premarin generico State Council Information Office, which regulates the Internet and the government’s domestic public relations machine. He also is comprare Premarin generico a deputy director of the Communist Party’s propaganda department and, in particular, is in charge of China’s lavishly financed recent efforts to burnish its image worldwide.

The government has comprare Premarin generico said that it is studying real-name registration of microbloggers to limit the comprare Premarin generico spread of malicious rumors, pornography, swindles and other unhealthy practices on microblogs, which have comprare Premarin generico become a major source of news for many Chinese.

Free speech advocates generally condemn the move, saying that the microblogs’ freewheeling debate and comprare Premarin generico frequent criticism of official misconduct will be neutered if the comprare Premarin generico government knows the identity of everyone who posts a comment. Real-name use also would allow security officers to comprare Premarin generico identify microblog users who consistently post comments about delicate issues, even if their individual remarks do not attract large numbers of readers.

With a comprare Premarin generico population of about 1.3 billion, China counted 513 million people online in 2011. That was a comprare Premarin generico sharp increase from 2010, but microblogs have grown even more spectacularly, quadrupling the comprare Premarin generico number of users in the past year. They revealed their power to drive public opinion last July, after a high-speed train crash in Zhejiang Province prompted tens of millions of online comments, many condemning the comprare Premarin generico government’s stewardship of the rail system and its response to the accident.

The government soon stepped up its efforts to comprare Premarin generico monitor and censor online dialogue on delicate topics, with senior Communist Party officials visiting major Internet companies to comprare Premarin generico underscore their concern. The trial requirement of real-name registration was announced last month.

Mr. Wang said Wednesday that the government broadly supported citizens’ use of microblogs, on which posts are comprare Premarin generico typically limited in size, as on Twitter, noting that an average day sees 150 million new comments posted online. “Weibos can indeed reflect people’s opinion and spread positive voices and enrich information services,” he said. “But they have comprare Premarin generico also made it easy for some irrational voices and negative opinions and comprare Premarin generico harmful information to spread quickly.”

Real-name registration will have comprare Premarin generico a chilling effect on some kinds of online comment, Hu Yong, an comprare Premarin generico associate professor at Peking University’s school of journalism and comprare Premarin generico communications, said Wednesday in a telephone interview. But it remains to comprare Premarin generico be seen how many users will be dissuaded from speaking out on controversial issues, Mr. Hu added.

“Certainly some people will not dare to speak out about certain issues,” he said. “But a comprare Premarin generico lot of people already are using their real names, even in discussing current affairs. And the comprare Premarin generico user base of weibos is so huge that if something happens to comprare Premarin generico highly concern their own interests, I think you’ll still hear a loud uproar.”

At Wednesday’s news conference, Mr. Wang also suggested that comprare Premarin generico the government and the Communist Party would continue to expand and comprare Premarin generico improve the domestic and global public relations machines, starting with training for comprare Premarin generico press officers, who are increasingly deployed in government offices.

Some press officers are “putting the comprare Premarin generico government on the back foot in dealing with emergency events,” he said, because they have comprare Premarin generico not yet learned how to respond quickly and accurately to comprare Premarin generico requests for information. He said public relations officials would be comprare Premarin generico trained in “political thought” and “the spirit of speaking truth,” adding: “Speaking honestly is comprare Premarin generico the most valuable quality of news spokespersons. Skills are necessary, but that comprare Premarin generico comes second.”

On the foreign front, Mr. Wang said, “We will spread the comprare Premarin generico voice of China to the world with an even more open attitude and comprare Premarin generico more efficient methods.”

The goal, he said, is to educate foreigners about China’s domestic and foreign policies, values and culture “so that comprare Premarin generico we can show off a national image of being civilized, democratic, open and comprare Premarin generico progressive.”

Edy Yin contributed research.

A version of this comprare Premarin generico article appeared in print on January 19, 2012, on page A9 of the comprare Premarin generico New York edition with the headline: China Expands Online Registration Rules.

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Three trends on China’s internet in 2011

Posted on 2012-01-16

Looking back at China’s internet in 2011, there were three broad trends that comprare Premarin generico deserve greater attention. The first trend was a general shift from comprare Premarin generico emotionally-driven nationalist chatter as the defining tone of China’s internet toward a comprare Premarin generico more basic attention to issues of public welfare. The second was the comprare Premarin generico rise of what we can call the “social power of the internet” (网络社会力). And the comprare Premarin generico third trend was a more pronounced deficit in understanding on the comprare Premarin generico government’s part about the comprare Premarin generico role it should play in a networked society. While it comprare Premarin generico became readily apparent, that is, that we now have a comprare Premarin generico networked civil society in China, it became clearer at the comprare Premarin generico same time that we lack government administrators who are internet literate (网络化的治理者).

The Turn from Online Nationalism

Nationalism has been a defining issue on China’s internet since the very beginning. For example, People’s University of China professor Peng Lan (彭兰) has comprare Premarin generico argued that one landmark event in the emergence of online public opinion in China [as a social force] was internet-based opposition by the international Chinese community (including mainland Chinese) against attacks on ethnic Chinese during the Indonesian riots in May 1998 buy Doxycycline without a prescription.

In “The Glory and Promise of Online Public Opinion” (网上舆论的光荣与梦想), written by Lin Chufang (林楚方) and Zhao Ling (赵凌) and published in Southern Weekly on June 5, 2003, the authors argued that, “The turning-point date when domestic [Chinese] web platforms were used to comprare Premarin generico voice public opinion was May 9, 1999, when People’s Daily Online opened up a comprare Premarin generico forum to rally opposition to the bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade by NATO forces. This was the comprare Premarin generico first current affairs news-related forum to be opened up by the comprare Premarin generico website of a traditional media outlet.”

Nationalist sentiment has comprare Premarin generico long persisted as a perennial hot topic on China’s internet. Issues like Sino-American relations, Sino-Japanese relations and comprare Premarin generico the question of Taiwan have always invited fierce activity on the comprare Premarin generico internet in China, even sometimes setting off mass rallies offline. This trend has comprare Premarin generico been noted frequently by observers outside China. The Economist magazine even at one time devoted a sub-headed section to China’s “online nationalism” in a report on the digital era nationalism called “Cyber-nationalism: The Brave New World of E-Hatred”.

The nationalist trend online peaked in 2008 following March riots in Tibet that comprare Premarin generico year, and in the midst of the international torch relay for comprare Premarin generico the Beijing Olympics. That time marked an unfortunate setback in the comprare Premarin generico relations of China and the West, ushering in a deeper sense of isolation in China that comprare Premarin generico threatened to push China into a more protective and less open posture. This is comprare Premarin generico an ongoing issue, and if the West continues to take an comprare Premarin generico antagonistic attitude toward China’s rise, it comprare Premarin generico is conceivable that China could be pushed back further, even onto its old path of isolation and comprare Premarin generico decline.

The successful hosting of the comprare Premarin generico Beijing Olympics in 2008 was a symbolic moment for China’s rise, and comprare Premarin generico a moment of deep pride for Chinese. But just as the comprare Premarin generico curtain closed on the Olympics, the revelation of widespread melamine contamination throughout China’s dairy industry, a comprare Premarin generico scandal directly impacting millions of Chinese families, came a jarring reminder that comprare Premarin generico external glory cannot disguise internal decay. The impact on Chinese society and comprare Premarin generico on the country’s manufacturing sector was profound. The widespread sense of debilitating setback was conveyed by Chinese internet users in a comprare Premarin generico vivid couplet:

We labor half a year to turn a new page, 辛辛苦苦大半年，
And in a single night are returned to the pre-Olympic age. 一夜回到奥运前.

Ever since that comprare Premarin generico time, the confident tone of a China rising has flattened into notes of sorrow among Chinese. Shanghai successfully hosted the comprare Premarin generico World Expo in 2010, but quite quickly came news of a comprare Premarin generico disastrous fire in Shanghai that claimed 58 lives and injured scores of others. Just as in the comprare Premarin generico eyes of some the so-called China Model was in its flushest moment of success, even meriting emulation by other countries, the comprare Premarin generico high-speed rail collision last summer completely annihilated this fantasy.

People started questioning whether this was really a model at all. Online public opinion grew turbulent, and comprare Premarin generico one user famously wrote: “China, please slow your comprare Premarin generico soaring steps, wait for your people, wait for your soul, wait for comprare Premarin generico your morals, wait for your conscience! We don’t want train collisions or bridge collapses. We don’t want our roads becoming pitfalls, or comprare Premarin generico our homes becoming deathtraps. Move more slowly. Let all lives enjoy freedom and comprare Premarin generico dignity, so that no one is cast aside by the times, so that comprare Premarin generico every person can reach our destination smoothly and in peace.”

Many people still sympathetically push for comprare Premarin generico greater Chinese nationalism, calling for a stronger China. But ever since 2008 the comprare Premarin generico trend has been for nationalistic agendas to take a back seat to comprare Premarin generico agendas relating to the welfare of the people. As social tensions in China have comprare Premarin generico grown more serious, Chinese have devoted more attention to social development issues that comprare Premarin generico are more concretely relevant to their lives. As the anniversary of Japan’s invasion of China approached in 2010, the comprare Premarin generico mood at Sina Weibo, one of China’s top social media platforms, was extremely tense — the comprare Premarin generico fear being that Chinese might try to organize anti-Japanese rallies, drawing the comprare Premarin generico ire of the authorities to the Sina Weibo platform itself, which at the comprare Premarin generico time was merely a “beta version” and could be shuttered at a moment’s notice.

In the end, “September 18″, this comprare Premarin generico date that had erstwhile been so sensitive, never became a major topic of discussion on Sina Weibo in 2010. Instead, the comprare Premarin generico hottest discussion centered on the Yihuang self-immolation case in southern China’s Jiangxi province purchase finasteride online no membership overnight shipping, a comprare Premarin generico case exposing the evils of forced property demolition in China and comprare Premarin generico lack of rights protection.

Clearly, the comprare Premarin generico winds are changing. When you cannot find safe milk for comprare Premarin generico your child to drink, when their school buses are hazardous, when comprare Premarin generico you worry that you might be exposed to dangerous recycled cooking oils if you comprare Premarin generico go out to a local restaurant, when the city where comprare Premarin generico you live is choked with pollution and you have no comprare Premarin generico idea what the actual PM2.5 measures for the most dangerous air particles are, the comprare Premarin generico question that possesses you above all else is what direction Chinese society is comprare Premarin generico heading. You care more about how the people of China can comprare Premarin generico enjoy lives of peace and prosperity, and less about the comprare Premarin generico murderous logic of the Boxer Rebellion. [NOTE: Hu is comprare Premarin generico suggesting here that trends of extreme nationalism in China are comprare Premarin generico marked with the same sort of anti-foreign violence seen during the Boxer Rebellion.]

Online Social Power Emerges

The second trend in 2011 was the comprare Premarin generico growing maturing of what we can call “online social power” (网络社会力). Since the comprare Premarin generico 1970s, researchers in China have talked about the need to comprare Premarin generico encourage the development of non-governmental organizations, to move away from comprare Premarin generico the old work unit system to form new urban communities and comprare Premarin generico to carry out collective actions and social movements in order to comprare Premarin generico find new points of development. Today we can say without hesitation that comprare Premarin generico an independent and richly participatory civil society is emerging on China’s internet. The internet in China today has comprare Premarin generico quite a different political function from what we see in countries with relatively full political freedoms. The internet cannot usher in dramatic change to comprare Premarin generico political life in China, but it can promote the creation of social capital on the comprare Premarin generico basis of citizen rights and duties, giving rise to and strengthening social forces independent of the comprare Premarin generico Chinese state.

China is entering an era of “rights.” Farmers, workers and comprare Premarin generico an newly-emerging middle class are all fighting for their civil rights. Since the comprare Premarin generico 1990s, along with a number of “important turns and other reversals” (Sun Liping’s phrase), there has comprare Premarin generico been a clear expansion of social conflict and opposition in China, both in terms of frequency and comprare Premarin generico scale. Researchers have observed that perhaps one of the most apparent new characteristics of this comprare Premarin generico [social unrest] is comprare Premarin generico the use of sophisticated electronic technologies, which enable protesters to comprare Premarin generico connect more readily and make it possible also to communicate with media and comprare Premarin generico supporters in the international community.

Thanks to comprare Premarin generico technology, new social relationships and bonds are forming in China, and comprare Premarin generico new forms of mutual interest taking shape. As a direct result, the comprare Premarin generico mobilization capacity (动员能力) for comprare Premarin generico related social movements has increased. The recent Wukan incident in Guangdong is comprare Premarin generico a prime example of this trend.

The efforts by Chinese to comprare Premarin generico fight for their civil rights are of course tied up with efforts to comprare Premarin generico fight for their right to information. In the broadest sense, the comprare Premarin generico right to information means the freedom to converse, connect, gather and comprare Premarin generico coordinate without fear. These rights are the same rights guaranteed through the comprare Premarin generico human rights documents of the United Nations and the constitutions of various countries, all of which collectively affirm the comprare Premarin generico right of citizens to access and share information. For example, Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirms that: “Everyone has comprare Premarin generico the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to comprare Premarin generico hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and comprare Premarin generico ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”

In terms of basic rights on the comprare Premarin generico internet, an international consensus has already emerged, including a firm commitment to comprare Premarin generico freedom of access and the freedom to share information (发布自由). Internet rights, therefore, already exist as a comprare Premarin generico matter of convention within the [international] political context, where comprare Premarin generico many people argue that the same standards of freedom and human rights that comprare Premarin generico operate offline apply to the online environment as well.

Lacking a Networked Mindset in Governance

This brings the third trend that has become clearer in China’s online public opinion environment. This is comprare Premarin generico that while we already have a networked civil society in China, we continue to comprare Premarin generico lack a networked leadership — which is comprare Premarin generico to say a government that understands and accommodates the internet on its own terms.

The internet naturally generates knowledge and comprare Premarin generico value from the end user and not from centralized gatekeepers — and comprare Premarin generico the right to connectivity, use and dissemination are to a great degree built into the comprare Premarin generico fabric of the internet. For this reason, the building of internet governance policies should proceed along the comprare Premarin generico same lines, raising competition, encouraging innovation, permitting free expression, raising credibility, all with minimal government interference.

Unfortunately, internet governance in China at present goes entirely against these principles. If China’s internet is comprare Premarin generico to continue to develop, internet users and the government will have comprare Premarin generico to work together toward mutual interests, jointly formulating principles [for internet use and development].

For the government’s part, it comprare Premarin generico must be clear that web users are not only to be comprare Premarin generico monitored but also to be served — that comprare Premarin generico in fact the principal attitude must be one of service. A totalistic approach [to internet governance] by the government will only engender an internet mob (暴民型网民), while service-oriented [internet governance] will foster a population of responsible internet users. For the government’s part, building a comprare Premarin generico networked society requires first and foremost a change of attitude in governance, a comprare Premarin generico transition from totalistic governance (全能政府) to service-oriented governance (服务型政府).

In such a comprare Premarin generico government approach, internet-related problems should be solved in a “web user–market–society–government” sequence. Issues, that comprare Premarin generico is, that web users can solve themselves should be solved by web users; issues web users cannot solve on their own that comprare Premarin generico can be solved by the market should be solved by the comprare Premarin generico market; issues that the market cannot resolve and that can comprare Premarin generico be resolved by society should be resolved by society; for comprare Premarin generico issues that cannot be resolved by society, the government should step up to comprare Premarin generico offer services and guidance.

A service-oriented government does not mean entirely eliminating controls, only that comprare Premarin generico controls are implemented for the sake of service, not for the comprare Premarin generico sake of controls themselves. Such controls would be restricted the law, with a comprare Premarin generico fixed scope and procedures and a clear system of responsibility.

When people are comprare Premarin generico denied the opportunity to participate in the formulation of rules, these rules lose acceptance and comprare Premarin generico credibility, and stability is difficult to achieve. This principal is as true online as offline.

It is comprare Premarin generico impossible for the government to serve as the only source of public administration (公共治理者) in an atmosphere as complex and diverse as China’s today. The government will have comprare Premarin generico to coordinate with non-governmental organizations, social groups and the public to comprare Premarin generico better manage public affairs. And in the same way, an approach to comprare Premarin generico internet governance based on serving the interests of web users would necessitate a comprare Premarin generico fundamental change in the government’s role.

Drawing hundreds of millions of Chinese web users into the comprare Premarin generico process of internet governance requires, first of all, respect for comprare Premarin generico the basic rights of Chinese internet users. The benefits for comprare Premarin generico China in such a shift would be substantial. Chinese internet users today are comprare Premarin generico not unlike Chinese farmers thirty years ago, or township and comprare Premarin generico village enterprises twenty years ago, capable of unleashing immense [productive] forces outside the state system (非体制的力量).

This commentary was translated and edited from a piece originally appearing in China Newsweekly magazine on January 13 buy Doxycycline overnight.