The real China
Just the reminder by Ellen Bork of Freedom House that as you watch the Olympics the China you see is not the China you see. (Special Freedom House report here).
The PRC’s [People's Republic of China's] leaders still control what Chinese people read and watch on television on any topic where they perceive their interests to be at stake. All publications and broadcast media are licensed by the government. Journalists are required to undergo Marxist indoctrination and can be singled out to perform self-criticism. Unsatisfactory political attitudes or behavior can lead to prosecution and surveillance. The party’s Central Propaganda Department also dictates content through texted and faxed directives telling journalists how to handle sensitive issues like the outbreak of SARS and anniversaries of the Tiananmen Square massacre.
The directives and blacklists are kept secret, perhaps to keep their targets off balance, or to maintain the façade of openness that Chinese authorities wish to present to the rest of the world. A journalist, Shi Tao, who relayed the content of such a directive to an overseas Chinese Web site, is in jail on a 10-year sentence for leaking such “state secrets.”
The Internet — through which some Chinese citizens can access overseas Web sites — has not significantly eroded control of information. The Chinese government has a formidable firewall to block sites it doesn’t want its citizenry to view. It’s manned by thousands of censors who monitor sites and recommend them for blocking. Although a persistent citizen can evade the technology that blocks foreign sites, the authorities compensate by making the system slow and cumbersome.
Self-censorship and intimidation also play a significant role in keeping the Internet safe for consumption. Many Internet companies voluntarily remove content that the authorities consider politically problematic. American companies like Google, which tailors its search engine to Chinese demands, and Yahoo, which cooperated in the investigation of the journalist Shi Tao, also perform this censorship function. The party may rely heavily on such indirect pressures to contain the Internet’s influence, but it doesn’t skimp on policing, coercion and repression.
Estimates of the number of people employed to monitor the Internet run into the tens of thousands. According to Reporters Without Borders, at least 50 Internet dissidents are in jail. Of course, none of this will be visible to a foreign visitor.
Pollution, skyscrapers and development reflect China’s rapid economic growth, not political change. There have been no significant political reforms in China since the 1980s. Meanwhile, economic growth has enabled more intense but sophisticated approach to political repression.