首先，请阅读本文谷歌官方博客上发布。 这是所有你需要阅读的时刻，因为那里没有更多的第一手资料。

它被出版了约5个小时前。 它说，在一个相当混乱的方式基本上是：

1. ，谷歌已经检测到的攻击，导致盗窃知识产权，特别是在中国的Gmail帐户，通过谷歌服务器，但只是黑客入侵用户的电脑。
2. ，谷歌有证据证明其他主要西方国家的公司在各行业也发生类似的攻击。
3. 针对性的信息是有关中国的人权倡导者。
4. 是因为这一切，谷歌是不是愿意继续审查 Google.cn上的搜索结果，并说：“我们将与中国政府商讨，如果在所有的基础上，我们可以在法律范围内运行一个未经过滤的搜索引擎，。 我们认识到，这很可能意味着我们不得不关闭Google.cn，并有可能我们在中国的办事处。“

这是非常令人吃惊的消息，它正迅速使世界媒体的两轮。 这里有一些初步的中午休息的想法。 对不起要点，但我太激动了，做真正的散文：

有关消息和意图

• 消息听起来很不一致，对2个完全不同的问题，因为它是抱怨。 1 - 电子邮件的黑客影响许多公司和它不一定由中国当局做，既不是它直接关系到谷歌。 2 -在Google.cn搜索引擎操纵或扫描电镜，我们已经看到了这里 。

• 其他西方国家的公司所涉及的Google显然发送一个信号到他们，他们要么支持谷歌在其困境，否则他们将被提到名称，并承担与公关的后果（G是在做梦，如果它认为，如果他们将遵循化工企业已所剩无几，在这个部门已经失去）

• 无处它的消息说，有证据表明，中国当局是负责电子邮件的黑客。 虽然这可能似乎是显而易见的，在西方文化中有一个推定无罪的申请。 正常的顺序是首先要讨回公道，只有当有关当局拒绝司法然后抱怨。

• 你可以相信谷歌中的“非恶”的，但我们的个人信息处理这么多的公司，这是不完全无私。 非邪恶的G黄金，和世界停止信任谷歌，谷歌应用程序+手机的整个扩建计划的分钟付诸东流。

• 这不是不可能的，涉及到计算站起来向中国，谷歌能够获得更多的学分全球比它失去离开中国，其业务也有可能不是非常有利可图今天。 随着新的谷歌手机，排除高科技世界的战斗是在其高峰期，商誉将是对苹果和微软的重要武器。

• 是谷歌基本上为非作恶，或者是它为非作恶，只是因为它适合其业务？ 是邪恶的狮子，因为它吃羚羊，是一家石油公司的邪恶，因为它给你你想要购买的产品吗？ 哲学问题，这些人将被要求的今天，但我认为有没有这样走下去。 谷歌是一个公司，不是慈善事业，我们首先应该从这个角度来判断它的行动。

• 对于公司试图“改变世界”本身是完全超出范围，它是毫无意义的，它会导致其破产，它相当于以追求政治目的，它有没有合法性。 如果谷歌不希望有审查Google.cn，那么他们有权强制，而是一种“报复”的中国政府黑客活动家电子邮件的是一个完全不同的事情。

• 总之，消息听起来不一致的，即兴的，它是很难相信，它从一个精打细算。 我不知道谁真正写博客，但如果这是真的从谷歌高管很是吓人，特别是从股东POV。 无论谷歌的真实意图，我的第一次评估是该职位是一个错误的决定。

一些更多的想法，在我未来的后果下一篇文章 。

圣诞快乐大家。 伤心圣诞节对于中国来说，我们都爱这个国家，相信在自由，尊严和真理的人。

整整一年前，在圣诞节那天，我发表这篇文章关于刘宪章。 我是主动的关键原因是多方面的：它包含的矛盾，它是被动的，而不是主动，这不是一个以团结所有中国人的“宪章”。 但最重要的是，该文件的起草方式，确保它没有飞翔的机会。

这一举措实际上出生时死了，“联合国宪章”，甚至从来没有在09年初在中国的大课题，这是我们当时看了危机和刺激。 党已经从一开始就赢得了比赛，所以什么时候欺负刘现在，一年后呢？ 显然，只是为了树立一个榜样，以确保将关闭，其余的签名，并避免在未来几年内的新举措。 “杀了鸡来吓唬猴子”，中国传统的说。 ，这是不正义的，但一个恶心的黑手党技巧。

即使你不相信中国在民主，即使你认为（像我这样做），西方的虚伪政府给这里甚至没有教训，如果“宪章”可能不是最好的方式来实现的崇高原则它宣称。 即便如此，任何正派的人可以看到这样的文件不应该是一个被剥夺了自由人的一个原因。

党知道这一点，这是再次审查，趴在互联网上，从中国人民隐瞒其卑鄙。

现在这个故事已经拿起了CNN，它使一些噪音。 如果我们很幸运，这远远不够，甚至奥巴马可能会给我们一个难忘的线。 但它不会改变任何东西，因为这一切都是与中国打交道的一部分。 和句子是没有更多或更少比什么可以预计中国政府今天。

刘知道这口井，他决定去，尽管它。 那是因为他是一个理想主义者和英雄。 他将记住。

在这种情况下， 在这里 。 此外，从我自己的博客： 在这里 ， 在 这里和这里 。

这些原则，在中国于2008年出版的303勇士们：

自由 ，自由是普世价值的核心。 言论自由，新闻自由，集会自由，结社自由，在那里生活的自由，罢工，示威，抗议，其中包括自由，自由需要的形式。 没有自由，中国将始终保持远离文明的理想。

不是由一个国家赋予的人权。人权。 每个人与生俱来的尊严和自由的固有权利。 政府为保护其公民的人权存在。 由人民行使国家权力必须被授权。 在中国近代历史的政治灾害的继承是一个政权无视人权的直接后果。

平等。正直，尊严和自由，每个人，不论社会地位，职业，性别，经济状况，种族，肤色，宗教或政治信仰是任何其他的相同。 面前人人平等的法律和社会，经济，文化，公民和政治权利平等的原则必须坚持。

共和，共和，认为权力应政府和利益争夺的不同分支之间的平衡，应送达类似于中国传统的政治理想“在所有的公平性下天堂。”，它允许不同的利益群体和社会的集会，并与人各种各样的文化和信仰，行使民主自治和审议，以达到政府和自由和公平竞争的平等机会的基础上和平解决公共问题。

民主，民主，最根本的原则是人民主权和人民选择自己的政府。 民主具有以下特点：（1）政治权力开始与人民政权的合法性来源于人民。 （2）政治权力的行使通过人作出的选择。 （3）各级政府主要官员职位的持有人有决心通过定期的竞争性选举。 （4）尊重多数人的意志的同时，基本尊严，自由，人权和少数民族的保护。 总之，民主使政府成为一个现代化的手段“的人，由人民，为人民。”

宪政。宪政是通过法律制度和法律法规的实施，是宪法规定的原则规则。 这意味着自由和公民权利的保护，限制和界定合法政府的权力范围，并提供必要为这些目的的行政机构。

有过很多的事情上来， 最近 “领域媒体的消亡“。 特别是在中国，我们已经看到的壮观的由詹姆斯·法洛斯和其他一系列职位 ，铸造一些奥巴马对中国的访问结果。 对于旧与新媒体的辩论，这不能算作命中，因为双方在讨论报纸的人。 但是中国有一个使事情变得更加有趣的方式，在这里我们看到了整个事情，从不同的角度。

没有人真正关心“在人民日报，媒体辩论，而不是在这里被陷害亲中国与反中国的国家媒体的消亡”。 奥巴马的这次访问是一个伟大的案例分析 ，因为这段时间的争论是太晦涩，以激发广大人民群众，我们可以看看它没有西螺母和愤青朋友的偏光效果。

在所有的关于西方媒体的偏见的讨论中，我一直站在1难受中间地面：我没有不同意1世界的阴谋破坏中国的形象，但我看到有一些在许多新闻项严重的偏见，我试着去了解这种情况的原因。 这是我的尝试提供了一个解释：它有三个主要权力，在不同的比例，影响所有的大众媒体：美国，商业和读者做。

• 媒体主要由国家控制，这包括一些BBC或全国公共广播电台等主要西方球员，加上大部分中国媒体。 他们工作的关键是可信的机制的存在，以确保其从执政党的独立性，这是在党和国家不显着的国家是不可能的。 在某些情况下，像BBC，他们可以产生高质量的结果，但没有可扩展性的系统是：如果所有的媒体是由国家控制，信誉将受到严重损害。

• 媒体主要由商业控制，无论是媒体公司本身或他们的主要广告客户。 这可以包括论文，如“华尔街日报”和新闻集团和许多当地的报纸，其读者（ ）取得地理位置的原因，其面临的主要挑战是不是真的，以获得更多的读者（在其领土上的人口是有限的），但为了获得最好的广告经营与当地的商业机构。

• 读者主要是由控制媒体是一个力求尽可能多的读者，请以增加其流通。 例子包括英国小报和网络媒体的很大一部分。 从次普利策的斗争中获得更多的读者一直是重要的，但与新技术和报纸上的危机，它已成为重要的。 在互联网上，没有人关心企业的意见，甚至是一个国家的法律。 唯一有效的参数是点击每一个月，只要你提供的广告不问问题。

所有这三种权力在不同程度上影响所有媒体，和他们都不是导电公正的报告。 但很少有人写关于这一点，因为我们大多数人已经条款与严酷的现实：无论是好还是坏，这些影响是不可避免的。 因此，辩论不是有关如何获取完全公正的报纸，而是如何保存的已经存在许多不完善的，其偏差在不同方向和强加给对方的“制衡”的，让关键的读者得出一些结论。

这种多样性是必不可少的，我们看到，如今在西方，是一个不断增长的一致性，请读者渴望。 具有讽刺意味的​​是，媒体中解放出来，从最初的两个大国本身，下降了第三个囚犯。 互联网已经变成一个完美的市场竞争中的信息，其中消费者是国王，但正如我们在这里看到 ，“看不见的手”是不是所有的客观报道好。

当读者要求独立的记者，他们很少是指从自己的独立性。 但事实上，他们可以成为最具破坏性的影响：他们不仅很容易欺骗自己成群结队，但他们也缺乏制衡的观点角度把信息。 当媒体告诉读者他们想要听到的，它关闭，这是难以逃脱的党派纷争和成见的反馈环路，外部真相调查成为次要的。 这是媒体的主要危险的今天，无论新老之一。

从中国看的结论

我不知道到什么程度这个读者的因素是负责媒体的质量不好，但我相信它发挥了主要作用在知觉的反华偏见。 正如我们在新疆看到，有许多西方记者见证中国制度的残酷，就像华盛顿记者跟随奥巴马见证检查和新兴中国电力。 在这两种情况下的故事被预先书面西方读者的期望，大多数媒体和新老脚本乖乖地跟着。

我相信读者的偏见问题的根源是因为我根本无法找到任何其他的解释。 它不能成为大企业的利益，当大多数企业在中国有很大的赌注，和崛起的民族主义或贸易战争只能给他们带来的损失。 它不能像美国这样的政府，这将获得在中国的民族主义和军事化的崛起有什么利益。 这是媒体的偏见，只是反映了在西方社会对中国的形象，图像和反思，不断地喂对方。

世界需要良好的接地，合理的CPP政策的批评，特别是灾难性的人权记录。 但不幸的是，专注于错误的目标和错误的时间（例如，当中国的数百名被杀害在乌鲁木齐）西方媒体只设法疏远自己从中国的追随者，建立中国和西方之间的误解，更。 通过这样做，他们正在不知不觉地提供燃料，CPP需要生存的民族主义，并进一步拖延，最诚实，我们希望为中国的自由。

假如媒体真的关心公平报告，他们可以设法让更多的中国记者和读者，并听取他们的意见，介绍其与西方读者的闭环抗衡。 如果中共真正关心的有关中国的形象，他们可以很长的路要走，以改善它 ，而不必放弃自己的独裁权力。

但我们不要梦想太多，无论是中共的，也没有主流媒体有这样的优先顺序。 他们来自不同的世界，旧的结构，和他们分享一个共同的目标：生存在快速变化的时期。

我上ESWN看到本韩寒的“时代”周刊采访时，因为我已经写了关于他之前 ，我想它是值得评论。 这也是有趣的，因为它说明了东方与西方之间的郭怡可怕的误解警告针对最近。 这是，在我看来，关键段落：

尽管他年轻的虚张声势，他已出版了14本书和选集，汉，一般保持距离的敏感问题，如民主和人权。 刘禾说，在哥伦比亚大学中国法与比较文学教授，他计算出的叛逆，体现执政的共产党伪造潜紧凑他这一代已离我们而去，有乐趣，我们不会挑战你的权利运行国家。 “他被称为是一个尖锐地批评政府和编制，但他是不是真的，”刘说。 相反，她说，韩寒是个愿意在过程参与者，渠道心怀不满的青年到消费的能源。 “在他的小说叙事策略的语言是很容易阅读，”刘说。 “基本上是同一本书。”

作家的文学价值判断之前，刘太太使他的叛逆的道德判断：这是不是足够强烈到她的味道，他处理问题不够敏感。 我觉得我不是从真理太远了，如果我说，这总结了学术界的很大一部分认为，西方主流舆论的延伸。 你可能已经注意到，刘女士是在文学方面的专家，而不是在政治上，。 但是，当涉及到中国政治，大家都知道比他们更好。

hecaitou的博客还发布了采访，我们可以看到中国的一些讨论彼此。 允许为奇数的巨魔，这是一个相当均衡的讨论，从一个聪明的中国论坛时，他们不觉得西方的眼睛观察。 也许最重要的评论，给大气的想法，是：

- 相比那些发言刑事犯罪，韩寒有没有胆量。 他只是戏弄，也不敢谈论系统。

- 你的意思是，他需要的是一个烈士呢？ 为了争取自己的权利，即使它仅仅是一个位，获得公民尊严的意识，这些都是需要有人来捕捉他们的事项。 为了能够发言，从内部瓦解这个系统，是真正的高手。

一个东方与西方之间的误解，很大一部分来自我们彼此有不合理的期望。 西方舆论，特别是希望中国的公众人物，自己的政府英勇抗击，甚至自杀。 中国的政治制度是如此邪恶，逻辑，应致力于打击任何值得我们关注的公众人物。

现在，我认为，中国需要政治上的变化和对人权的尊重，我很佩服一些持不同政见者的勇气。 但真正的英雄应该是自愿的，像德蕾莎修女，没有舆论压力的金额都不能创建一个。 更少的外国公众的压力。

万一我有一些天真的读者，以及它只是通知你这里，西方的政策是作为被指控在中国共产党的任意和在国际舞台上的残酷。 和都是同样充满善意。 我们为什么不适用相同的标准，用我们自己的公众人物？ 我们要求我们的作家，以打制？ 他们已经签署了一个紧凑的驾驶抗议反对不公正的世界，而不是消费主义沉睡？

我们不这样做。 我们就像中国的行动，满足自己与他认为，“世界是不公平的，但有位系统中的耐心和信心，它最终将成为一个更好的地方”。以“中国 ”“ 世界”你有中国的主流思想。

“伪善”，我会写。 但我不认为它甚至。 这是简单的封闭意识，无法看到对方的事情。

因此，奥巴马是在中国，即使他是不是我的总统，他仍然是我最喜欢的总统。 这里是我的第一手访问的分析。

最重要的新闻，令人惊讶了注意，所有观察员的是，奥巴马想成为欧洲在中国广西巴马。 这是我读新的拼写他的名字在字符，通过该网站提出白宫 ：

欧巴马（oubama）将取代奥巴马，其中欧汉字欧洲，​​使中国的名字听起来像欧巴马。

也许有人会说，新的拼写选择更大的拼音相似，或者是因为它是在台湾的标准，但是当政治家听取语言学家？ 欧元奥巴马命名有明确的政治动机，并在该项目中我看到了光明的未来。

我觉得我说话的时候我说，我们非常高兴地看到，在执行这个计划终于大量的欧洲人。 奥巴马先生，请扫除一堆不称职的总统和总理，并成为欧洲联盟的国王。 然后，也许在下次会议上与中国可以代表我们团结的利益，而不是让每个欧洲部落中共发送其小的可怜的行政巧妙地划分和操纵A LA “孙子兵法 。

我喜欢的是欧洲的事情之一是，你可以对UE进行彻底爱国，无人问津。 亲爱的华盛顿邮报的评论员，请不用担心了。 美国是不是尚未下降，也不会是很长一段时间。 除其他原因，因为它需要的是太无能团结在国际政治中的欧洲国家。 而事实上，当中国人看到奥巴马，他们看到尽可能多的西方领导人，因为他们看到的美国领导人。 因为从这里看到，西，欧洲，美洲，或欧美研究（欧美）的概念从未所有不同。

这个重要的地缘政治考虑后，可以继续读什么是阅读访问。 基本上没有，因为没有真正的新闻已经出现的是，大多数记者和博客都在其列，他们的最好，以填补与中国泛泛。 除了上面的链接，有趣的问题是：

• 奥巴马将“ 人权观察“的黑监狱和其他人权问题的报告发表评论？ 当然，这不会发生，没有更多的比胡锦涛将阐述新的理论，解放西藏。 但有趣的是辩论的缘故。

• 也许更可能的是，他提到了环境，这个博客建议 。 我敢肯定，两国领导人会提到它，其实，不同的是有多少承诺将来自会议。 从无声世界的其余部分，我们将拭目以待，看2个巨人，如果最终决定，使一招，并退出其油烟发送到我们​​的后院。

• 最后，还有很多文章说奥巴马狂热，并作出了大不了的，因为在选举之前已在中国流传Obamao图标。 我的看法是，年轻的现代中国人往往喜欢奥巴马，他是轻微比布什更受欢迎。 但有没有这样的事情，我们在欧洲看到的Obamania和这里大多数人采取“观望”的冷立场。 分钟欧也提到了一些微妙的问题，或遇到一些老喇嘛，它会采取不超过一分钟以及措辞的中央电视台新闻抹成稀薄的空气Obamania。

所以已经退出Obamaos，并给我一些Eurobamas，我们越来越厌倦了政治，在这个大陆的另一边。

现在，我是在一个自由的互联网国家，我的机会来看看CDT的网站，我发现这个有趣的问题，从人贾兹拉：如果失去了毛，会发生什么？

我不是在对反事实历史的原则，它可以在很多情况下是有用的，从不同的角度看到的事件。 这也使得热闹的酒吧交谈和博客评论。 但这种运动意义的基本条件是，在我看来，连锁分析事件有任何实际发生的机会。

例如：它可能是有趣的想象世界本来如果希特勒在1944年企图暗杀丧生，或会出现什么情况，如果毛泽东之前死于大跃进。 在物理实验，通过隔离稍后因素，以类似的方式，我们尝试分析政策的影响到这一点。 但有分析的结果不可能甚至荒唐的事件，幽默的目的以外的兴趣不大。 如果希特勒在1941年突然成为和平主义者？

回到了这一点：“如果毛泽东失去了什么？”这个问题视为只是一个历史的意外，运气问题，结果，像希特勒的炸弹，可能已决定由Fluke蒋介石战败。

但江泽民的失败（或撤退）是不是一个单一的战斗的结果。 问这个问题的人忘记，江泽民有多年的力量，与所有国家的工具，在他的控制之下最大的人口和领土的一部分，和来自其他国家的军事和经济援助。 多年来，所有的赔率是在他的身边。 “如果毛泽东失去了吗？”在这个问题隐含的机会已经给江。 和最好的答案是：

如果失去了毛泽东，江泽民失去反正

有深刻的原因，江泽民的系统是不可能的。 其中他的思想或缺乏，没有呼吁在一个时刻，中国需要1催化剂，其释放出的能量。 东西是需要对外国人打土豪的压迫和团结人民，江泽民不提供任何在两条战线。 中国相信，如果毛泽东没有去过那里，另一位领导人将已售出的想法，或其他更糟糕的想法 ，谁知道可怕的政权，有可能导致需要的东西。

这江泽民失败的启发，他的政权固有的腐败，谴责他施加原力的力量。 计划运作良好，当他搬到台湾，与当地人口相对大量的支持者和士兵，但它根本无法在中国内地工作。 这将需要一个有组织的暴行，只有狂热可以接受的水平。

所以，毛泽东赢得了，然后什么？

因此，回到现实中来：毛泽东赢了。 他演奏了他的卡好多了，他赢得了一英里。 若干年后，他被证明是作为一个政治家，不是天才作为一种革命性的。 更糟的是，这实在是他的最严重的罪过，他爱上了与自己和权力，他不具有良好的听感能力顾问，也没有退休时，他仍然是在时间的尊严。 “70％good/30％坏”的判断邓小平通过可能过于宽松，但不可避免的谴责毛泽东谴责他一生的工作。 邓小平不能够做的比他，来到他的那些，没有一个人有什么需要，甚至不敢触及这个问题。

这里是在我看来，问题的核心：为什么是毛泽东还是那么目前在中国人的心理？ 当我们要继续前进？ 主席是不是仅仅在墙壁上卡住，他烙印非常深刻的中国人的集体头脑中，并通过强制性的教育，宣传和像上周的游行，他认为自己的位置并没有任何经济进步的可以扫他离开。

这里是我的意思的例子：最近，我借的书“毛泽东：鲜为人知的故事” ，由长荣的毛一个中国朋友，这是非常关键的一本书。 这位朋友是年轻，自由点，他认为达赖是一个好人。 然而，当两个星期后，我问他这本书，我的反应，吓了我一跳。 “这女人是不是真的中国”，“你可以不理解”，包括他抱怨破碎的词组。 我知道这本书肯定不是最均衡的毛泽东传记，我是开放的，接受他的许多论点。 但我看到有没有进一步讨论，因为不知何故，我们已经在伤感情的领土降落。

但有趣的讨论，今天是不是毛泽东70％的权利或17.5％。 过去是过去，有没有除在历史的专家，在挖的骷髅再次使用。 关键是现在，查找原因，毛泽东仍然认为他的地方，应在今天的领导人。

答案很简单：毛泽东是因为他仍然需要。 无论他的失败是多么可怕，多么残酷的后果和大多数中国人都知道，毛泽东仍是只有一个系统，使一些思想内容。 他上周丰富多彩的游行和黑色适合木乃伊的游行是“具有中国特色的社会主义”的含义。 那就是为什么大多数中国人都是这么快就原谅他的理由：“他是由他的妻子用好人”，他们说，“这是不是他的过错，他是老年”。

是重要的，相信自己的社会理想。 在西方，我们有民主，人权，宗教，他们的整个范围，以适应所有的情面。 经常没有，他们正在利用政客为自己的自私的目标，任何真正意义devoided。 但至少他们的理想，他们给我们的错觉，我们的斗争是值得为之奋斗。 我看到讨论奥巴马还是布什的人，无论其政策的实际效果可能很明显，他们给一个意思，在美国politcs。

相反，在中国，一直以来毛泽东唯一的理想死亡邓小平的“致富”。 以来已发表的许多理论与党的说辞，灌装厚书，但不是他们的单载有任何人民可以相信，或者甚至理解。 一次又一次，党的行动已经表明，任何其他考虑之上，唯一重要的目标是国内生产总值，现状的维护保养。

有一个领导在中国共产党党本身的内部机制，部分原因是由于严重缺乏。 严格唯物主义的目标是迅速dissapointing，为实现他们尽可能为留守者，人民自然为灵感可用的唯一理想：民族主义和毛泽东。 ，所以它发生，旧的肖像不能取下来，因为它涵盖了一个洞。 中国政治的黑洞。

对此，许多博客已经写，但我还是想要做的许志永，被逮捕的3个星期前我自己的职位。 提供在这里，我有没有新的信息 - 信息将是即将举行的，只有当警​​察的决定 - 但如果你正在阅读，请不要让的情况下被埋藏在你的新闻阅读器流。 相反，利用这个机会赶上一些背景， 这个非同 寻常的 人 。

If anyone still harboured doubts as to the integrity and dedication of Xu, here is a new series of posts by Wang Jianshuo, a non-political Chinese blogger known for years for his honest writing, who happens to know Xu personally from the Young Leaders Forum. Xu is one of the rare cases of activists taken seriously by both Western media and the party's mouthpieces. The last article quoting him on the People's Daily came out just one week before his office was stormed by the police, and ironically it was about how government information should be disclosed.

There has been some speculation on the net – especially on Chinese official media – about whether Xu's NGO really had taxes unpaid and why. This discussion is completely beside the point, unless the Global Times explains that it is normal to be abducted 3 weeks for a first-time, minor tax offense. No, the real reason why Xu has been arrested can be understood in this Xinhua article issued last week :

In the national Justice conference the Minister of Justice Wu Aiying required: […] lawyers in our country must support the party leaders, adhere to the scientific development concept as a guide, uphold socialism with Chinese characteristics, ensure the correct political direction in lawyer's work.

The message is simple, you do things with the party or against the party. There is no middle ground, and trying to find it by studying hard and following the law simply will not do. Because the party leaders are above the law.

我相信许多高置于党内反对这项逮捕，我相信很多人不敢说话，生怕失去自己的位置。 这不是我第一次得到这样的结论：我们将看到真正的变化，在中国一天与足够的cojones改变的事情有一些真正的领袖。 邓小平说：“改革”的改革是，这些的说，“ 规则 法 “，为世界开了个玩笑。 诚实的中国人不好的时候。

客人刚离开，一晚！ The tense atmosphere of a final match in my Shanghai apartment; high expectations and a sense of History. Friends, all of different nationalities, sharing my wine and watching the first speech of President Obama. The silence during the 18 minutes was complete.

Is it only me, or the first half was more intense than the second? The former was full of the brave ideals we wanted to hear; the latter, more martial and patriotic, containing the obvious honesty, courage and loyalty, together with the reference to race.

It is 3am in China. I will leave it to American experts to analyze more deeply, I just want to highlight this passage which stands out from the rest:

We reject as false the choice between our safety and our Ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the Rule of Law and the Rights of Man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. 这些理想依然照亮着世界，我们不会让他们为权宜的缘故。 等所有其他国家的人民和政府谁是看今天，从繁华的首都到我父亲出生的小村庄：知道，美国是每个国家的朋友，每个男人，女人和儿童谁寻求一个和平的未来和尊严，我们准备再次带领大家。

。

Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.

“Rule of Law and Rights of Man”. 是。 And how to achieve them in the World? By the “justness of our cause, the force of our example”. That is exactly what we wished to hear. It has become true in the speech, and I sincerely hope it will become true in real life.

Many things can change in the World if our most powerful country -our 老大, or “eldest”, as many Chinese humbly refer to America- conducts itself according to these principles, abiding by those same laws that it proposed and signed, and creating new ones as its Ideals may require.

For, though the oath forgets to mention it, the responsibility of the highest political power on Earth is towards the whole of Humanity. And only a great man can be up to that position.

It looks like for the first time in many, many years, we have found our Man.

For those who are following the developments around Chrter 08:

I have discovered a website containing the full original Chinese Charter (+ translations) that is still not blocked by the censors. It is also open to comments, apparently not manipulated:

https://knol.google.com/k/-/-/3jhi1zdzvxj3f/9

Thanks to heroic advocate of freedom of speech David Ferguson who, by introducing himself as an editor in a Chinese goverment news portal (china.org) and then pretending to be a detractor of the Charter, has obtained the insider information. And what is more, he has the guts to publicize this link right in the Opinion section of their website . 尊重！

Re the link. It is a website at knol.google apparently set up by blogger Zuola. It is very surprising that it has escaped the censorship (Zuola's blog itself is censored) and I can only think it is because:

1. It uses https connection and the quick “ Charter patch ” has somehow missed it, or else,
2. Advocate Ferguson has asked his bosses at the State Council to unblock it.

Please pass this link to anyone you know in China. Let's get the document finally circulated, and send your thanks to the China Internet Information Center at china.org.cn

https://knol.google.com/k/-/-/3jhi1zdzvxj3f/9

Last Sunday I did a post on internet censorship in China where I mixed in various different ideas and I'm afraid the final result regarding Search Engine Censorship didn't come out as clear as I would have liked. I think it is an important subject, so here are the complete results:

We will be looking at Google.cn, Google.com and Baidu.com, and we will try in each of them 3 different kind of search terms.

A- Chrter 08: In all its combinations, which are 08宪章 and 零八宪章
B- Political Terms: Tiananmen incidents (天安门六四事件), FLG.
C- Vulgar words: Sex. I will employ the “blog job” and the “chicken bar”.

It is understood that in all cases the search terms are in Simplified Chinese. The browser is Firefox 3.0.5. and the connection is a normal home DSL by China Telecom. The possible results are:

• Free Search – Results look consistent and realistic, like the ones obtained in the West.
• Reset Connection (RC) – This can only be seen in Mainland China. The result is an image like the one below and the search engine cannot open anymore for a while (I estimate 30 seconds). RC is not directly done by the Search Engine. Wikipedia internal search also gives RCs for B Terms.
• Forbidden Message (FM) – This is the forbidden Message that, with slight variations, is the same as shown below. It says something in the lines of: “Some results are not displayed according to the local laws, regulations and policies”.
• Manipulated Results (MR)- This is the case where the results are obviously manipulated, for example in the search of 天安门六四事件 (Tiananmen incident) on Baidu, where all the results are official newspapers such as People's Daily, etc. Sometimes it can also carry on top of the page a FM.

Google.com
A -Free Search. (But click some individual results gives RC).
B- Reset Connection
C- Manipulated Results.

Google.cn
A- Forbidden Message and ( sometimes *) Manipulated Results
B- Reset Connection.
C- Forbidden Message. When used “” gives Manipulated Results.

Baidu.com
A- Manipulated Results. When used “” gives Forbidden Message.
B- FM and Manipulated results.
C-FM and Manipulated Results.

结论

1- The results are somewhat erratic and it is difficult to see a pattern: it all looks like a series of patches on top of each other rather than a systematic implementation. Also, things change in time, as in *, where the Manipulated Result I saw Sunday cannot be seen anymore.

2- Baidu has a different system from Google: it has no Reset Connections. This is very advantageous for Baidu and I understand it is unfair competition, as a RC is one of the worst experiences while surfing.

3- This might be due to Google's own preference server location : the involvement of the Search Engines in the RC is unclear no direct involvement (even Wikipedia has RCs!) whereas Manipulated Results obviously requires their action, and can more easily attract attention from Advocacy Groups. Of course, in the case of sexual terms (C), this is not a problem as the Manipulated Results can just be called “Safe Search”.

4- The Chrter 08 has different treatment than other political terms, but it might just be because it was banned urgently and suddenly, so it is only a quick fix added to existing structure. It does not provoke RC in any case. It looks like they have decided to leave it alone on Google.com to avoid attention from Western advocacy groups, but in exchange Google has had to give up Google.cn and apply the infamous “porn block” to it which is active censorship by SE . Why the FM and not RC? Who knows, I am guessing perhaps RC is more complicated to implement.

5- In any case, and however negative, I understand it is always better to show FM than Manipulated Results, because the former is openly admitting censorship, whereas the latter is a lie and a distortion of reality. Forbidden Message does increase transparency, yet does not justify involvement in political censorship . From this perspective, Google is closer to the truth than Baidu. Baidu seems indeed a more active participant in the government's information control schemes, and Chinese users of Baidu are clearly the most exposed to Search Engine brainwash.

更新： Following corrections by international expert Nart Villeneuve below: I have introduced a few changes of my own (in blue). In any case, this post is just a very basic review of the SE Censorship system from the perspective of a normal user. If you really want to understand how the GFW works, you should read proper research papers like this one, or this one.

。

IMAGES:

1- FORBIDDEN MESSAGE (FM)

2- RESET CONNECTION (RC)

NOTE: If someone is interested in this or has some more information to share please put it in comments. Unfortunately my time is very limited so I only ran 2 or 3 terms for each of the classes A, B and C above. There might be things I overlooked and I would be grateful if you can point them out.

When I started my article about the Chrter 08 last month I couldn't help wondering if it was well worth the effort. Most of the English speaking blogs and media had been very quiet about this issue, and in China nobody seemed to know anything about it. Two weeks after the Charter's publication, I thought perhaps that was all we were going to hear of it.

I am pleased to see after all that the Chrter 08, in spite of the weaknesses I noted, is indeed slowly “flying into 2009″. From the English language blogs, it has since got more attention, with featured posts by Xujun Eberlein , Peking Duck , FM , and now also ESWN . Most importantly, in the Chinese speaking circles it is slowly gaining momentum, as is proven by the fact that the government is getting nervous and has closed down the whole site bullog .

ESWN and the CSM have written about this rather optimistically in my opinion. CSM quotes :

Zhang says more than 300,000 websites now link to the charter, and it's being discussed on blogs, QQ groups, and other chat rooms. “It's impossible to block information in society now,” he says.

I am afraid this statement has yet to be proved. Like ESWN's Roland Soong notes, this number 300,000 is taken from the number of Google.com results. It is a relatively large number and it indicates that the subject has become popular in the Chinese internet forums. But little more than that. Of these results, only 1/3 come from mainland China, and 100,000 is attained easily by many of the hot topics coming up regularly on Chinese BBS (see ChinaSMACK ).

The fact is that Chrter 08 is still an unknown movement in mainland China. Out of 5 local friends I asked, all with university degrees and fluent English, even today only one of them had heard the term (but knew no details). As for the majority of Chinese who live out of the cities and don't use the internet, there is no way they can have heard about it. I don't know who is the “peasant” that CSM mentions as a signer, but until I get some tangible evidence otherwise, I maintain that China doesn't know about the Charter .

This is a very important point because, of the difficult path that Chrter 08 will need to run to achieve its goals, the first unavoidable condition is to become known to the public by beating the censors at their own game. As I said in my previous posts, the government has done an impressive job of silencing Chrter 08, but it is a sign of hope to see it little by little creeping back into the mainstream.

As I see it, the 3 phases and 3 main difficulties that the Charter will have to face to grow into a real mass movement are, in this order:

1-To be Known vs. internet censorship and lack of freedom of speech

2-To be Trusted vs. weaknesses that make it easy to manipulate against

3-To be Loved vs. lack of a spark, a leader, a name: the material of which Change is made

。

Charter Step 1 and the Internet Underworld

We will leave point 3 for a post in the future, supposing we ever get there. For the moment we are still stuck in phase 1, and it is far from clear that the Charter will make it past this point. We know that the Chinese government has developed a very sophisticated system to control information on the internet. But how does it work? What are its strengths and weaknesses to oppose the Charter? Following ESWN, I have conducted some research on Google and found the curious results below.

First, as Roland points out, if you search for Chrter 08 in Chinese, Google.cn is sending back this message:

“Some results are not displayed according to local laws, regulations and policies.”

This has made me think that indeed, when it comes to fighting censorship, the Charter has an insurmountable flaw: it is a document. Therefore, its title and content are fixed and it is extremely easy to locate by a bot. Worse even, in this era of internet search engines, nobody has still given the Charter a better nickname than that easily searchable title 08宪章. Any internet conversation where the Charter comes up, even if the contents are not copied, is sure to attract the Censor's eye.

It might sound ridiculous at this point, but I'm serious: The Chrter 08 should be named Wang. Or Zhang or Liu, any other term that is not exclusively related to it and therefore cannot be banned. Two centuries ago, the first Spanish constitution of 1812 was nicknamed by the people “La Pepa”, a popular name for a girl that many intellectuals scorned at the time. Two years later, during the reign of autocrat Fernando VII, this name became extremely useful to dissidents to acclaim the Constitution without risk to their lifes, with the famous slogan “Viva la Pepa!!”

Do you still think this is not relevant? Well, follow me with the next google experiment. If you are in China, try to search Google.cn for sensitive political terms like: Falungong, Tiananmen 89 massacre, Liu Xiaobo, you name it. You might be surprised to find not the message above, but rather a reset connection, which only affects viewers from mainland China and which is easily bypassable with a proxy or VPN. It looks like this:

So what is that first message that Roland Soong and myself have been obtaining? It is not the political censorship message, but another one with which many Chinese men are acquainted. It is the notice you get when you look for some well defined terms, like those found in pornography. As an example, I suggest you try a search for the word “口交”. I will not translate it directly here, but let's just say it is not a blog job . Run the search, surprised? Try any other “vulgar” word and you will end up with Google's Chrter 08 message. This is the first and most basic level of defense in the Great Wall, the porn block !

Pretty annoying for the drafters, I guess. But above all, it is very negative for the transmission of Chrter 08, because by calling it this name, the supporters are giving themselves away directly to the Censors. And this is before phase 2- direct manipulation- has even kicked in.

So we are back to the basics. Like I already said, this Charter is lacking the popular element , the leadership that succesful movements have had in the past, the brand and name and life that would make a whole people roar “Viva la Pepa!”, or the one that years ago inspired a man to dance with the tanks on Changan Avenue. As it stands, it is the cold work of the intellectuals, and nobody has felt the urge to call it Wang.

。

Note on Censorship

Finally, one more thing I cannot leave unmentioned. It is not news for anyone that Google have a deal with the Chinese government to collaborate in the repression of the internet. What is news to me is that Google is so openly censoring the principles by which all decent democratic countries abide, including the most basic of Human Rights. Google should be careful, they are entering a dangerous area, one which can backfire in a not very far future.

One more final test for the shame of the censors: when you run the Charter o8 search on Google.cn and you get the message screen, go to the number 4 item on the list of results. I just did that tonight and I believe I found out the essence of Google's repression algorithm: “Ban all except the People's Daily” . Indeed, this is the only way I can imagine that a People's Daily article comes up as the single result for the search 零八宪章. It is a random PD article that coincidentially contains separate instances of 宪章 and 零八.

What a shame, Google, what a shame. Watch your steps today, lest you might find tomorrow that the people does not forget.

。

UPDATE: The results on Google change with time, and this last People's daily result is not on page 4 anymore. In any case, the search for 零八宪章 on Google.cn gives results that have always one thing in common: they are all from websites controlled by the government, like china.com, cctv, etc. No results from the thousands of forums and blogs that discussed the issue.

UPDATE2: See this post for a more clear explanation of how the internet censorship works in China and this one for the ways in which Google -and many other search engines- collaborate with the Chinese government. I have learned a lot in the year since I wrote this article, and I know now some of the info contained is not technically correct. I am not updating the text above anymore, so if you are interested in the technical part you should absolutely visit these two posts.

I got a bit excited last night with my new VPN connection. For a few hours I thought I'd found Democracy in a Box, neatly packaged in a 40$ yearly subscription. I have been since exploring new horizons.

Today, second day using VPN I've had 2 surprises, one good and one bad:

• The good one was to discover that I could finally connect to the Time China Blog.

• The bad one was the first article I read in this excellent blog, containing the paragraph:

Today a prominent mainland blog site, bullog.cn , was blocked, which may also be connected to Chrter 08. A few of the liberal outlet's bloggers wrote about the document, and at least four signed it. I spoke briefly with Bullog founder Luo Yonghao this afternoon. He said he wasn't sure why the site was blocked, and wouldn't speculate on a Chrter 08 connection. CA Yeung of the Under the Jacaranda Tree blog noted in December that Bullog had dropped two of its bloggers, apparently for writing about Chrter 08.

Which means that now I cannot connect anymore to the blogs of Anti and Lianyue, where I used to spend many a nerdy hour trying to decipher their mandarin.

As you see there is a more than possible connection with the Chrter 08. The repression of the Charter movement seems to be gaining momentum as the weeks pass, proving that the government is taking it as a serious menace. This is sad in itself, but there is even worse.

First of all, I want to clarify one point, lest someone misunderstands Ramzy's article. Normally when we say a site has been “blocked” in China, what happens is that the site continues operating but it is just not accessible from the mainland due to the censors' Firewall. This is not the case now, the site has been completely closed down. VPNs, proxies or any other other gadget will not get it open for you anymore.

And this makes me think: How can the Chinese authorities be so disrespectful with their citizens? I mean, even supposing they were right to suppress the Charter. There are millions of Chinese that go into that website every day and run blogs, exchange comments, make friends, speak of anything else but politics. These officials think nothing of closing all the blogs down, and I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't even give bloggers the time to save their archives (mental note: backup daily, Nanny might show up tomorrow!)

This is not only a political problem. This is a basic problem of decency and respect for the citizenry. Let's hope at least that, like Figaro said, repression will only make the Charter more prominent, and it will allow all the affected Chinese to open their eyes and see how their harmonious government really cares about them. And perhaps some day those same officials will have to regret this.

Nay, never laugh faster than China laughs.