One thing to keep in mind when commenting on China. The Communist party there is NOT presiding over the country in any God like manner. In fact it is teetering towards serious troubles. It knows it. When the weather took a serious toll during Chinese New Year the Premier came out to apologize and bowed to the people. The party now is merely trying to survive, to stay viable in a tsunami of forces that buffet China today including wealth gap, population movement. If you think that the party is super powerful in China, then you are wrong. It is merely trying to stay one step ahead of the massive changes sweeping the land. You outside of China are not experiencing the changes first hand. If the Chinese people think their government is doing a fair job balancing openness and protecting stability in their volatile world, who are you to say Nay.

Kato, Regina, Canada

When I read responses from citizens like Yin Yang I am reminded of my work in family law. It is amazing how many beaten and battered women would jump to the defense of their drunken and abusive boyfriends or husbands. "Oh, he was just drunk" or "he is not really a bad guy, I started it."

The communist party is simply another drunken abusive father figure that has controlled and abused its people for so long they know of no other way. Most, like Yin Yang, are intelligent enough, but uneducated in any meaningful sense of the word. I have the same reaction to her as I did many of my clients: A deep sense of pity mixed with a inappropriate amount of disdain when they try and defend the loathsome monster that beats them

Unfortunately blind loyalists like her never suffer. It is the brave souls who stand up to the abuse that end up chained in re-education through labor camps without a warrant, public records, a public trial or a lawyer. They betray their own people through Party loyalty.

Walter Eggars, Huron, USA/SD

People like Yin Yang will always be right - they are free to say what they want in China because they say what the government wants them to say.

My question to Yin Yang - have you ever used this level of zeal to openly criticize your leaders? Would you ever dare to go the square or a public place where it is legal to hold up a sign challenging party positions? Wait, there is no such place.

You speak of freedoms and rights that exist because you regurgitate propoganda. Try, just once, to disagree publicly with the Communist leadership in the same manner you disagree with the people who have posted opinions on this site. I don't believe you have the courage to post a single image of yourself holding a sign criticizing your beloved party. You would be jailed.

I live in China. My Chinese colleagues, more than I, find your defense of this problem to the single largest contributer to the CPC's entrenched power and corruption. They just can't say so publicly for all the obvious reasons.

Julie Smith, Dalian, China/Liaoning

Good points Yin. Too many Westerners comment on life in China without actually having experienced it. It is no where near as bad as certain types of media claim. British TV journalism seems the worst when hyping the situation here and only ever show one side of the story.

Simon, Hangzhou, China

Yea a lot of western sites are blocked, but this one isn't and neither is the financial times or CNN. And it isn't like how western media try to protray it, ie if you dare to type in bbc.co.uk the police will trace your ip and are coming to get you, if they really did do that there won't be enough policemen to go around. And they really don't give a rats ass about which site you went on, they're only sensitive about those who go around spreading rumours.

Zhou Ma, Guiyang, China

I found it fascinating that Americans are so ignorant about the world outside U.S. (or even their state). Americans sensor themselves: conservatives watch Fox; liberals watch ABC. The most interesting thing I observed in America was that they have the strong tendency to get into other people's business. People try to prevent gay marriage, saying that it will ruin the sanctuary of marriage. Let me tell you: DIVORCE, not gay marriage, is ruining your sanctuary.
This extends to international politics. China was occupied by western powers (British, France, Germany, U.S. and Japan and many others.) for more than 100 years. Did any of you guys try to develop democracy in China? Only after 1949, when the communists take over, did Chinese start to enjoy freedom and prosperity. Tell me then why did you guys want the Chinese communist party down so eagerly and so badly than Chinese?

Yin yang, Beijing, China

Tell me,
Why this site is not blocked?
Why so many of you foreigners in China that can see this complain about internet blocking?
If you are a spy in China, you will be closely monitored. You'd better, or our security is not doing their job.

Yin yang, Beijing, China

I find it fascinating that there are so many comments here from Chinese who claim that censorship does not exist in china. If you beleive this is so and you live in China, then please tell me about the events that occurred in Tianamen Square on June 4, 1989.

I agree that western society is not as free as we like to think. Multinational corporations are able to exert enormous political and economic control through wealth and access to polititians. But there is a great deal more candor in political discourse.

It makes me shudder to think that people beleive that the communist party will ever give up absolute power. Democracy reform will never happen in china because those who hold power, hold it absolutely. The more wealth china has, the less likely its people will ever have the freedom to speak openly.

We should struggle against all those that hold power and use it to limit the freedom of others. This includes governments and corporations, as well as individuals.

eric , Portland,

Hi, Anise Li:
I just wonder whether you have been China because what you said is not true.
Actually, we always discuss political issues anywhere.

Common, Beijing, China

I just recently returned to Canada after living in China for an extensive period of time. I found the amount of internet blocks and censorship incredibly disturbing. The worst was that wikipedia.org is blocked and that is a wonderful forum of discourse, and a wealth of information.
A lot of blocking happens in China superfluously. My aunt's (who lives in China) website for her new company was blocked for no apparent reason, and there was no recourse for her to have in unblocked.
It's also not true that white collar workers don't talk about politics. They commonly do, but only amongst those they trust. The fact that people are afraid that political discourse will lead to less freedom is so unbelievable wrong that I don't know how to start to address the issue.
China: you are currently in a period of rapid growth and power. This is not just power to the government, but power to the people as well. Take the opportunity to demand the political rights and change that you deserve.

Anise Li, Vancouver, Canada

I live in china, i love china! China is developing so fast in the recently years and i guess this is the reason why somebody wants to denigrate china! That's jealous!

amanda, QD,

I live in China, love (most aspects of) the culture and people and this isn't news to me or many of my friends. It's common knowledge amongst expats here that the internet, telephone (including mobile communication) and sometimes even post is monitored.

Of course some Western governments also monitor forms of communication but let's not draw any parallels here. China, N Korea, and other communist countries censor and monitor on an scale that cannot be compared to Western countries. The concept of civil liberty and freedom of speech and belief simply does not exist here in the minds of those in power.

AO, Chengdu, China

I come from China, what you said in the article is the off-limits of the Party. Most chinese internet users ( especialy for the white collar in the urban) do not talk about political,some believe that it is dangerous and will result in less freedom, just like the story of Zhao Jing ( Anti is his penname in blog ). Internt as a media , its first function is mouthpiece,entertainment secondary.
GFW do exist,but just like our Minister said that we should boom our economic first and democracy reform second,if we act the two things at the wrong sequence, Party will lost control of the country.
Last, pay tribute to idealists and showing tolerance those who choose to be pragmatic.
God bless China.

js, Wuxi,

I don't know who wrote the article, but i am sure he finished it with a pair of color glasses. I am living Chian now. In my opinion, Chinese Internet is very freedom with a little bit limitting. What's more, it has nothing to do with democracy. Every country has its own special culture, so it is normal that there are differences in different countries. We know, most people's telephones are monitored in US, however china's governmen t doesn't do this.

Dylan, dsf, US

Here in the United States there is a great deal of censorhip that your publication seems to be overlooking.

Here in Minnesota the State Legislators have installed a "spam filter" that prohibits mail on controversial topics like socialized health care from reaching them... then they just say they haven't heard from their constituents.

If this isn't ensorship and the most foul form of abuse of peoples' rights I don't know what is... so much for American democracy.

Alan L. Maki, Warroad, Minnesota

There are some interesting developments within the graphical multi-user world of Second Life, such as 'universal translator' that translates written chat text between users. It's still crude but could open up a world without language borders.....Will participation within such graphical web worlds that begin to emerge, still allow for extensive censorship?.... Oh yes, the web still threatens the divides between nations in my opinion, towards truly a global village. I will be impressed with the Chinese government's censorship technology if it retains its hold over internet content in 50 years time. If it does, it will miss great opportunities. And what will become of cultural values? There are some that are obvious in all countries, and should continue to be distilled in our children. We need to fight cybercrime in the west with vigilance, and unite more strongly in open scorn and dismay concerning the proliferation of devaluing pornography etc....

Ade McO-Campbell, Cheshire, UK