SHUZI'S TIP OF THE DAY
IN THE NEWS
SXSW Report: Ben Walker on 'Net Censorship in China'
WorldChanging’s Emily Gertz reports from the South By Southwest Conference on some common misconceptions on Chinese net censorship…
Misconception 1: We in the west assume that millions of Chinese are searching for information to aid their revolutionary struggles. Truth: Most Internet users in China are looking for the same thing most Western users are looking for. Porn.
Misconception 2: Information from the outside gets blocked at the national level, especially on oppressed movements such as Falun Gong. Truth: Chinese get flooded with unwanted email about this and a lot of other things, and just like users in the west, they consider it spam.
Misconception 3: There are 30,000 to 50,000 “Internet police” who do nothing but monitor people’s email, web surfing, etc.
Truth: This is a number invented by officials for official propaganda missives, aimed at the national media, not Western reporters, who nonetheless take up information ministry press releases as legitimate and use them as source material.Misconception 4: Only the most tech-sophisticated kids know how to use proxies to get beyond the firewall and onto “banned sites.” Truth: Lots and lots of users regularly use proxies to not only get to more content, but to avoid extra pay-per-service charges. (Although, apparently even this does not manage to evade the highly effective national censoring of porn content.)
Misconception 5: Censorship is all happening at the government level. Truth: Censorship is more prevalent at the personal level, with bloggers omitting or removing references to certain ideas or issues in order to avoid trouble with the authorities. Service providers in China also must cooperate with the authorities on screening for certain words and phrases and intervening with those who post them, but the active hand of the government with individuals is rare.
Posted By: AH •
Friday 3.18.05 •
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Category: Joy Luck Stick
SHUZI'S TIP OF THE DAY
IN THE NEWS
Chinese Online Gaming Income Triples
The Industry Standard reports gross income for online gaming in China is exploding. The country’s largest online games provider, Shanda Interactive Entertainment, expects even more profits for the years to come. The company has started negotiations with Microsoft to offer online games on television and is developing a new PC-enabled set-top box with Intel. China Economic Net had a similar report on two other major online games providers in China, Netease and The9, who have also experienced rapid growth over the past year. Such impressive returns on investment should boost investor confidence and lead to more foreign collaboration.
Posted By: James Li •
Thursday 3.17.05 •
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Category: Joy Luck Stick
SHUZI'S TIP OF THE DAY
IN THE NEWS
Chinese Film Financing Gets Boost
The People’s Daily reports that a majority of films in China are now financed through private and foreign sources. A growing amount of foreign capital also goes to the construction of cinemas in China. The potential for big profits will likely generate a higher level of competition across all film companies in the Chinese film market, as well as between the domestic and foreign domains.
Posted By: James Li •
Wednesday 3.16.05 •
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Category: Electric Shadow
SHUZI'S TIP OF THE DAY
IN THE NEWS
Chinese Films Rival Foreign
Several domestic films were so enthusiastically received in the Chinese film market in 2004 that together their box-office income defeated that of foreign films for the first time in about ten years. But it still seems difficult to predict how long this situation will last. As the rules for film importing are gradually loosening up, foreign films will soon flood in to set a larger impact on the film market. Can the Chinese film makers really beat the invading Hollywood media moguls? The following article may give you some thoughts about this question.
"A battle for market share is in store."
Posted By: James Li •
Tuesday 3.15.05 •
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Category: Electric Shadow
SHUZI'S TIP OF THE DAY
IN THE NEWS
Murdoch Gets Red
Murdoch has been busy setting up shop in China. On the heels of National Geographic’s deal to supply content to
China’s one and only television conglom CCTV, Rupert’s Fox Entertainment was given the greenlight to be the
first foreign media company to have a formal joint venture with the state-owned media company. Fox has a 50% stake in National Geographic so this deal will give them a tremendous advantage over other media companies.
Murdoch’s interests in the country have been strong. Says the UK Telegraph
Mr. Murdoch’s highest profile personal role in the country is a directorship of China Netcom, the country’s second-largest telecoms firm. A fellow director is Jiang Mianheng, son of the former Party general secretary, and president Jiang Zemin, who is one of the most important players in China’s new-tech boom.
But his strategic goal has always been television. He has a stake in Phoenix, a Hong Kong broadcaster which is watched via satellite by more than 40m people in China, thanks to lax enforcement of rules under which it should be restricted to hotels and foreigners’ residences.
Posted By: AH •
Monday 3.14.05 •
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Category: One Billion Screens