A blog revolution in China
Over the last week or so, we had a couple of reports about the power of blogging in China. Recall that there were about 600,000 active bloggers in China at the moment.
The current article published in the New Scientist describes the evolution of the blogging phenomena in China.
It traces back the roots to blogging in China to a Isaac Mao who started to blog in 2002 and who found Zheng Yunsheng shortly afterwards. Both met and started a blog called CNBlog.org, China’s first online discussion forum about blogging technology and culture, which attracted some following.
China doesn't appreciate the power of openness too much and they establish control to the Internet via nine gateways that connect China to the global internet.
In addition, its cracks down on undesirable websites, close cybercafes and thinks of other ways to control the flow of information.
"By January 2003, China had about 2000 bloggers when, without warning, the Chinese government blocked all access to blogspot.com, the server that hosts all blogs registered on Blogger, however, this let to a reorientation of the blogging community which started to use Chinese startups that offered blogging sites, such as Blogcn.com, Blogdriver.com and Blogbus.com.
Those sites have some limitation: "Whether in China or elsewhere, such sites are usually moderated by editors who keep them relevant and readable. In China, the moderators also keep their sites’ content acceptable to the censor, so when users try to post a “forbidden” comment they receive a warning message such as “your post contains sensitive and indecent contents”.
Still, people hit the limits. "A magazine writer in Guangzhou in southern China, who wrote under the name Mu Zimei, began keeping a sex diary on blogcn.com. “I have a job that keeps me busy, and in my spare time I have a very humanistic hobby – making love,” she wrote. “The partner I take in my hobby is one I choose and always changes. I rely on a large supply pool. I do not need to take any responsibility for them; neither should I give them love. They will not cause me problems. They are like CDs, which will not make a sound unless I play them.”
With explicit details and sometimes even publishing real names, Mu Zimei’s sex diary was a hit. By mid-November 2003, more than 160,000 people had logged on to her site and the number was growing by 6000 a day. While her explicit writing and lifestyle challenged traditional morals, causing heated debate in the Chinese media, Mu Zimei also made bo ke a familiar word for hundreds of millions of people.
As the Mu Zimei debates raged, the number of users on blogcn.com leapt from 20,000 to 160,000. Other blog sites saw similar increases."
This kept the blogging habit growing. "By the end of October 2004, China had more than 45 large blog-hosting services."
What does all this show? I believe it shows that it is increasingly difficult for countries to control the thirst for information by its population. It started off with simple blogging - or writing of text, so to speak, but now we have photoblogs, moblogs, videoblogs and so on. The will to express yourself will grow stronger, once 3G becomes available in a big wave. So technology does not only change business sectors and business models, but clearly, it transforms countries and empowers the population as well.
(By Asia Business Consulting)
The current article published in the New Scientist describes the evolution of the blogging phenomena in China.
It traces back the roots to blogging in China to a Isaac Mao who started to blog in 2002 and who found Zheng Yunsheng shortly afterwards. Both met and started a blog called CNBlog.org, China’s first online discussion forum about blogging technology and culture, which attracted some following.
China doesn't appreciate the power of openness too much and they establish control to the Internet via nine gateways that connect China to the global internet.
In addition, its cracks down on undesirable websites, close cybercafes and thinks of other ways to control the flow of information.
"By January 2003, China had about 2000 bloggers when, without warning, the Chinese government blocked all access to blogspot.com, the server that hosts all blogs registered on Blogger, however, this let to a reorientation of the blogging community which started to use Chinese startups that offered blogging sites, such as Blogcn.com, Blogdriver.com and Blogbus.com.
Those sites have some limitation: "Whether in China or elsewhere, such sites are usually moderated by editors who keep them relevant and readable. In China, the moderators also keep their sites’ content acceptable to the censor, so when users try to post a “forbidden” comment they receive a warning message such as “your post contains sensitive and indecent contents”.
Still, people hit the limits. "A magazine writer in Guangzhou in southern China, who wrote under the name Mu Zimei, began keeping a sex diary on blogcn.com. “I have a job that keeps me busy, and in my spare time I have a very humanistic hobby – making love,” she wrote. “The partner I take in my hobby is one I choose and always changes. I rely on a large supply pool. I do not need to take any responsibility for them; neither should I give them love. They will not cause me problems. They are like CDs, which will not make a sound unless I play them.”
With explicit details and sometimes even publishing real names, Mu Zimei’s sex diary was a hit. By mid-November 2003, more than 160,000 people had logged on to her site and the number was growing by 6000 a day. While her explicit writing and lifestyle challenged traditional morals, causing heated debate in the Chinese media, Mu Zimei also made bo ke a familiar word for hundreds of millions of people.
As the Mu Zimei debates raged, the number of users on blogcn.com leapt from 20,000 to 160,000. Other blog sites saw similar increases."
This kept the blogging habit growing. "By the end of October 2004, China had more than 45 large blog-hosting services."
What does all this show? I believe it shows that it is increasingly difficult for countries to control the thirst for information by its population. It started off with simple blogging - or writing of text, so to speak, but now we have photoblogs, moblogs, videoblogs and so on. The will to express yourself will grow stronger, once 3G becomes available in a big wave. So technology does not only change business sectors and business models, but clearly, it transforms countries and empowers the population as well.
(By Asia Business Consulting)
posted by Andreas @ 11:53 am
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