The Chinese government has ordered Google to block internet searches of overseas sites. Meanwhile, perhaps you're also aware of discord about the Chinese government edict that from 1 July, computers sold in China are required to contain the software "Green Dam Youth Escort," ostensibly to protect young people from the worst of the web. Many are skeptical that that's the true mission of the software.
China appears increasingly concerned about the way its citizens use the internet. One element worrisome to the leadership, it looks like, is the way its citizenry uses the web to mobilize.
A timely story here: Echoing the response of ordinary Iranians, ordinary citizens of the Chinese city of Shishou, Hubei province, mobilized this weekend to protest the handling by authorities of a suspect death.
The story of the death of Xu Yuangao, a hotel chef, is here. Local people didn't like the looks of how their authorities were handling the investigation and estimates are 10,000 to 40,000 to 70,000 people formed a protective cordon around the body before being driven away by authorities, who finally recovered the body.
This photo, from ZonaEuropa, allegedly shows the government's response. Here is a video clip that purports to be of the ensuing unrest.
Echoing Iran this weekend, there is a Twitter stream, with many tweets appearing to come from Shishou residents. The Twitter stream suggests anger among the locals, and links in the stream to photos, like this one, to fanfou.com, come up without photos.
Xinhua wrote not much more than that "he was pessimistic and hates the world. Thus the death was believed then as suicide."
We've written a number of times (for example here) about the challenges facing the Chinese authorities this year. Could it be that other challenges, like in Iran, may come from directions they aren't looking?
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