Anyone who wants to see blocked sites knows how to use very simple tools to get around the blocks, but if you just go online open up your browser and try to look for things, it can get very frustrating. But I agree with the others who say the quality of the connection is actually often more annoying than the firewall.

(And yes, I live in China, am typing from China, and read/write Chinese)

Just because FeedBurner is blocked in China…

P.S.Check out Windows Live Space Simplified Chinese version if you love this experience. You can’t even submit article with Chinese phrase like freedom, but free*dom is acceptable.

More and more, though, as younger kids grow up – many people are wanting to at least make the choice for themselves rather than have the parental figure government dictate it to them. Many things would stay the same way if people had their choices, but at least they would get to decide for themselves. That would at least nurture the critical thinking instinct in China – which is SEVERELY LACKING and leads to things like copyright piracy and melanine being added to milk (et al).

@bob – mocking oppressive systems, having a laugh at ridiculous policies, and giving a crap about people in other countries are not necessarily mutually exclusive. The heavy-handed control of the internet in China is absurd as well as expenive. Trust me – the billions they spend on that would be much better spent fighting police corruption and rampant prostitution. These things are pervasive in the society and yet due to the nature of the system nothing is done about them. Instead, the gov would like to make sure that people don’t have unfettered access to information.

People have the right to decide what they want to study and what they want to believe. Anywhere. There’s not a single good argument for denying people this right.

Truth is that the OVERWHELMING MAJORITY of Chinese people have absolutely no idea the extent of censorship here. It’s a testiment to how well the government has controlled the flow of information over the years.

Yes – things actually are getting better (slowly), but in terms of twisting/filtering information they are actually getting worse.