China
goes cyber
Internet opens window to dissent as leaders reach for economic
gain
Didi Tang
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
September 25, 2000
In a
country where dissidents risk prison terms for putting up wall posters
expressing mild criticism of the government, the arrival of the Internet
has made it possible for Chinese to speak out as never before.
``There
is one thing I have always wanted to say,'' reads a recent posting
on a U.S.-based Chinese-language Web site, addressed to President
Jiang Zemin and accessible to millions of Chinese readers.
``That
is, we only have the freedom to praise the Chinese Communist Party
in mainland China. To criticize it, there's no freedom.''
The
three-page letter, teeming with strong words and passionate metaphors,
asks the president to redefine communism, establish an impeachment
system, grant freedom of speech and end economic monopolies.
Similar
messages and political jokes are proliferating on the Web and the
electronic bulletin boards of Chinese universities as residents of
the world's most populous country explore the limits of what can be
said.
But the
easing of China's strict limits on public speech is not a sudden embrace
of Western notions of free speech. Rather, it illustrates a desire
of the leadership to cash in on economic globalization and the business
growth that the Internet can bring - even at the cost of losing its
grip on public speech.
``China
actually is enthusiastically embracing the Internet, because in various
other areas of technological leapfrogging and progress, China has
always been behind. . . . So this time, we're determined not to be
left behind,'' said Zhao Qizheng, chief spokesman for China's State
Council, during a visit to Washington in August.
The growth
of Chinese Internet use has been rapid. From January 1999 to July
2000, the number of computers wired to the Internet soared from 747,000
to 6.5 million. The number of Internet users rose to 16.9 million
from 2.1 million in the same period, according to the China Internet
Network Information Center (CNNIC).
The
center, managed by the China Science Academy, has been keeping track
of China's Internet development since its establishment in 1997.
``Had
it not been for favorable policies, the Internet wouldn't be like
this,'' said Zhang Yuanyuan, a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in
Washington. ``We see [the Internet] as a very good way of popularizing
information and helping our people.''
Villagers
are peddling family products directly to international buyers on the
Web. City youngsters are on line, chatting, playing games and seeking
soul mates. Most departments of the central government make announcements
and promote their services on sophisticated Web sites.
But political
dissidents also have seized on the opportunities, using the Web to
disseminate previously unavailable information and, in the process,
forcing the mainstream media to deal with issues they never before
touched.
They
do so at some risk. The government has shut down Web sites and arrested
individuals for Internet-related activities inside China. It also
has tried to block foreign Web sites and e-mail coming from abroad,
setting up a cat-and-mouse game with some of the overseas dissidents.
One such
dissident Web site is ``Bignews.org,'' begun in 1997 by Chinese dissidents
living in the United States. The title, parodying the name of a publication
available only to high-level Beijing officials, focuses on democracy
and human rights in China.
The
site became inaccessible in China last summer, said Richard Long,
the Washington-based founder, who casts himself as ``a champion of
free speech in Chinese cyberspace.''
Mr.
Long said the Chinese government blocks links to news sites in Taiwan,
Hong Kong and the United States, including the New York Times and
The Washington Post.
Yet,
Big News has managed to bypass the block. Mr. Long has collected tens
of thousands of e-mail addresses in China to which he can send news
and commentaries regularly.
He said
he believes more than 10 million people in China have access to his
e-mail service, and the real number may be even larger because many
people share computers at work.
``Our
style is to test the limits of the freedom of speech in China,'' Mr.
Long said. ``We have a political agenda.''
The collection
of e-mail addresses is considered subversive by the Communist Party
and bears considerable risks, Mr. Long said. Lin Hai, a Chinese software
entrepreneur in Shanghai, was sentenced to two years in prison last
year for supplying e-mail addresses to Mr. Long's group.
Yet the
young, computer-savvy generation in China seems optimistic about free
speech.
``We
have much more freedom than 10 years ago,'' said Thomas Zhang, a 24-
year-old Chinese studying in Britain who was interviewed on line.
``And I'm sure we will have much more 10 years later. The Internet
is such a thing that no one can resist it.''
Many
of the Chinese Web sites feature chat rooms, where topics range from
government corruption to youngsters' cohabitation, from the Taiwan
issue to Hollywood blockbusters, and from classic literature to modern
personal financing.
Crime,
official corruption and scandals involving pop stars all are popular
fare on Chinese news sites, such as dayoo.com and 21dnn.com, based
in Guangdong province and Beijing respectively. The sites usually
include articles from major newspapers.
Hurst
Lin, a senior official at Sina.com, one of the major Web sites based
in California and serving Chinese communities worldwide, said it would
be ``foolish to expect to say in China what you can say in the United
States. [China] has its own limits.''
The
anonymity of chat rooms makes people feel free to speak their minds,
he said, but it also allows them to avoid responsibility.
Besides
news, e-commerce is another selling point for China's Web sites. ``Business-to-business,''
``on-line bidding'' and ``e-trade'' are buzz words in fashion magazines
targeted at young urban professionals, both male and female.
Shrewd
businessmen see the Internet as an opportunity to expand business.
Chao
Wang, a professor at Zhejiang University in southeast China, recently
used the Internet to bid successfully on a contract with the General
Electric Co.
Mr. Wang
leads a university laboratory that specializes in commercial applications
of fluorescent materials. His market had been limited to Chinese bulb
manufacturers until he discovered on-line bidding, which permits potential
suppliers and buyers to connect electronically.
``The
Internet is amazing,'' said Mr. Wang, who was interviewed in Zhejiang
by e-mail. ``It gives a breakthrough in our market, and we've made
ourselves known.''
Major
Web sites in China also offer services such as on-line shopping, hotel
reservations and job searching. Addresses such as 163.net and 263.net
promote themselves as e-commerce sites.
Overseas,
one of the most popular Chinese-language Web sites is Sina.com, a
California-based joint enterprise between a U.S. company and a Chinese
computer firm.
It has
over 7 million registered users worldwide and racks up 34 million
page views on an average day, according to Sina.com's statistics.
These
and other on-line companies seeking to serve the Chinese market find
their greatest obstacle is the lack of financial infrastructure in
a country where credit cards and personal checks are alien to most
people.
Nationwide
bank networks are still under development and are not yet ready to
handle large-scale on-line trading.
E-commerce
in China ``is in an early stage,'' said Mr. Lin, the U.S. general
manager of Sina.com. ``But it is important to be the No. 1 player,''
he said by telephone from California.
Most
Chinese still prefer to pay in cash when a product ordered on line
arrives at the doorstep, especially when the cost is more than $120,
according to a recent survey by the CNNIC.
That,
in turn, has limited e-commerce by forcing some companies to restrict
sales to an immediate urban area. A note on a site saying, ``Only
Beijing patrons, please'' is not unusual.
The
CNNIC reported that only 16 percent of the people it surveyed had
ordered products on line and just 8 percent said they had auctioned
or bid in cyberspace. Yet the respondents judged on-line shopping
to be the most promising service on the Internet.
Mr. Zhang,
the spokesman at the Chinese Embassy in Washington, said Chinese are
slow to give up the traditional way of transaction.
`It is
only in the past couple of years that we have started to see supermarkets
and consumer-friendly shopping centers,'' he said. ``E-commerce is
very new.'' For now, the Internet is a luxury in China, used only
by an estimated 17 million people in a population of 1.26 billion.
The CNNIC
survey also found that Chinese Internet users were overwhelmingly
male, young and highly educated.
Many
prospective users stay off the Internet or limit their use because
of the fees charged by Internet service providers. Computers themselves,
at prices of $1,000 and more, cost more than an average citizen's
annual income, which ranges from $720 in the cities to $365 in the
countryside, according to the China Statistical Abstract compiled
by the China's Census Bureau. China's telecommunications infrastructure
also needs development, with just 13 phone lines for every 100 people,
according to a report by the Ministry of Information Industry in March.
In major cities, the figure is 28.4 phone lines per 100 people.
Regular
net users told CNNIC their biggest frustration was lack of speed and
high connection fees. Nearly 70 percent said they would prefer to
pay no more than $40 a month for Internet service.
Mr. Zhao,
the State Council spokesman, identified three problems with China's
Internet during his Washington visit.
``One
is limited bandwidth,'' he said, noting that China's capacity is only
a tiny fraction of U.S. standards. ``Chinese-language content is only
about 3.8 percent of what's on the Internet. People's understanding
about the Internet is still relatively shallow.''
Whatever
the problems, many believe there can be no turning back for China
from the Internet age.
``There'll
be bumps and conservative forces would say it's going too fast,''
said Mr. Lin at Sina.com. ``But the future is bright. More and more
people are getting onto the Net. The Net is global, and you can't
shut people out of it.''
Reprinted with permission
Copyright©2000, The Washington Post
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