Chinese Censorship is a Contradicting Problem In the contemporary society, with internet expansion the world is extending to be an Information Age. Due to the expansion, a large amount of sensitive information that governments disagree with is widely and rapidly spread. In order to control the dramatic increase of this sensitive information censorship occurs. According to a report, censorship is defined as “…one of the tools used by governments to filter out unwanted information and to prevent the spread through the World Wide Web”. (Antonio Lupetti) In many countries around the world, government censors restrict access to certain kinds of material for their citizens such as movies with sexual content, news with political ideas, and violent video games. Based on the latest data, censorship is a phenomenon of staggering proportions that affects over 25% of the global population. China, with a population of over 1.3 billion people and 360 million active users of the Internet is by far the nation in which the censors’ activity affects the highest number of citizens (China). It is well known among the Chinese that Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are all blocked in China because there is too much sensitive information on them. It is clear that since censorship has begun in China, it has hindered China from developing, updating information and limited the freedom of speech. Censorship has been used in China for centuries. According to the Baidu Encyclopedia which is a very popular Chinese online encyclopedia, the extreme censorship first appeared in 1949 when China was under the Communist Party’s rule and at that time the Communist Party controlled almost every aspect of people’s life. In the 1950’s, the information avaliable to people was totally under the controlled of the government and during this period the Chinese people only heard exactly what the government wanted them to hear, and were effectively cut off from the outside world. Later between 1966 and 1976 the Cultural Revolution took place, it can be described as a war between the citizens and the government for citizens’ freedom. The Chinese Communist Party was forced, by protests of Chinese students and workers, to loosen their stance on censorship. The revolution was very successful, and afterwards the Chinese people had greater freedoms of speech (Gong Chan Dang). Today, although Chinese citizens are experiencing the most relaxed censorship in Chinese history, however the government still uses strict censorship to monitor and control the flows of information and opinions in China, unlike many western countries. Based on Baidu Encyclopedia, there are four major aspects of media control censorship in mainland China. The first, and most important, is to isolate China from the outside world. In order to do this, China makes it difficult for overseas journalists to gain access to the country for interviews and also restricts access to international media in China. The second aspect of media control deals with the control of personnel. The third aspect of control involves the processing of articles and the last way to control the media is to control web content. (Sheng He Zhi Du) With these four different ways of censoring, China actually has reached some achievements. By using these methods, the Chinese government successfully creates a healthy cyberspace for teenagers and a stable regime and is therefore the government’s responsibility. Since the first Internet connection with the global computer network, China has witnessed an explosive Internet development. The developments not only brought tremendous economic profits, but also an abundance of harmful information. Such harmful information includes violent video games, pornographic films and online gambling. Harmful information may cause serious negative effects on teenagers’ physical and mental health. Fortunately with careful as well as strict censorship, the Chinese government has successfully kept harmful information away from teenagers on Internet. According to the Baidu Encyclopedia, there are several Chinese government agencies that take charge of Internet information such as The Ministry of Public Security which is responsible for filtering and monitoring the Internet (Shen He Zhi Du). With a large number of legislations and government agencies, teenagers have a healthy and happy childhood. However, once those teenagers turn 18 that can be considered as adults legally in China; and then they are censored as much as before. They get the right to decide by themselves what they want to see and listen because after 18-year-education, their bodies and souls have well developed. It is also well known that China only has one party which has been in power for centuries. Censorship is one of reasons that the Communist Party in China can have such a stable regime. The Communist Party has been using censorship to block negative news about government in order to keep people from being upset at the government. It is a good thing that the government has taken some control and it should be its responsibility to censor negative news. Because those banned news may cause some political changes or even wars. Political changes and wars may bring turbulences, hungers and poverties that can stop China from moving forward. Thanks to censorship, China now has a stable and healthy environment for its citizens. While enjoying the advantages of censorship, people also have to clearly recognize the disadvantage of it. Besides the benefits, it is clear that strict censorship retards China from developing in some degree and somehow violates human’s right. Although some positive effects have been brought by censorship, we have to admit that Chinese pace of developing and updating information have been slowed down by strict censorship. Based on Chinese ancient history in the Baidu Encyclopedia, dating back to the Qing Dynasty the King of China a man named Kangxi started the well-known Closed-Door Policy. The definition of Closed-Door Policy, as defined by the book Zhouyi Fu, is a policy that “Strictly limits any communication with foreign countries in economic, cultural, scientific and other aspects” (King Wen). Both his son Yongzheng and grandson Qianlong followed the example of Kangxi’s policy (Bi Guan Suo Guo). Due to the closed-door policy of the Qing dynasty people's visions and minds were narrow and conservative, and China was set apart from the world. Before the policy was used, China was one of the most advanced countries in the world. However the censorship policy stopped China from developing and gaining new information of the outside world. The closed-door policy was a tragic example of censorship and, later in 1949 another huge censorship policy was introduced by Chairman Mao (Baidu Encyclopedia). This policy was known as “The Chinese Culture Revolution” and it also hindered China from moving forward. (Wen Hua Da Ge Min) According to an article about the revolution, that describes the lives of the ordinary people in the cities and countryside between 1969 and 1972:
“There was no electricity and oil was too precious to be wasted if it was not completely dark. Everything was done manually, the way it had been for at least 2000 years. There was no machinery, no draft animals, water had to be carried from a well and grain unhusked for every meal. Small branches had to be collected for fuel.” (McDonald 8) It can be seen that people were leading an under-developed life at that time because of censoring latest information from western countries. The Closed-Door Policy and Chinese Culture Revolution are typical considered the first type of Chinese censorship which isolates China from the outside world. Both of them deeply reveal the negative effects of censoring information that may slower a country‘s development. Besides impeding China from moving forward, freedom of speech is another controversial topic raised by censoring information. Freedom of speech of Chinese citizens is violated by various restrictions and laws. The Chinese government keeps violating domestic and international legal guarantees of freedom of press and expression by restricting bloggers, journalists, and millions of internet users. This belongs to the second type of censorship which is the control of personnel. The government requires internet search firms and state media to censor issues regarded officially “sensitive,” and blocks access to foreign websites such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Journalists whose report oversteps official guidelines are exposed under a threat. According to the world report of China in 2012, a large number of journalists have received violence against when they are reporting “sensitive” topics legally. “In May Southern Metropolis Daily editor Song Zhibiao was demoted as a reprisal for criticism of the government’s 2008 Sichuan earthquake recovery efforts.”(World Report 2012: China) Apparently, the freedom of speech is limited because of the censorship as well as “sensitive” information. The Chinese Government tried many ways to stop this news from divulging, but they still failed. In this case controversies of censorship are brought up again. Another similar issue happened again in 2011; police deliberately targeted two reporters with physical violence due to the crime of disturbance of social stability. “On June 1, plainclothes Beijing police assaulted and injured two Beijing Times reporters who refused to delete photos they had taken at the scene of a stabbing.” (World Report 2012: China) Although censorship on speech which is a part of the function of the government exists in any country, it is no doubt that the over strict Chinese censorship on speech infringes people’s freedom of speech and causes a series of violent crimes to happen. It is really confusing that how much freedom people have in order to honestly and completely express their thoughts, their complaints, and their needs and to what degree can their speech can be noted and then be realized. The censorship policy in China should have some changes. While Chinese censorship has helped to offer teenagers a healthy cyberspace and to cement Chinese government regime, we have to clearly acknowledge that there are more negative effects than those positive ones are raised. Because of four different types of censorships Chinese developments are slower and the freedom of speech in China is limited. Censorship has become more relaxed recently however it is still alive in China. In the future with expansions of internet and technology advancements it would be extremely difficult to censor information. In this case, rather than keep banning “sensitive” information from citizens, the Chinese government could start to loosen the extreme censorship policy.