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so concern about the peaceful evolution. Thus, Jiang Zemin stressed that the internet must be “actively developed and intensively managed”. During the development, China spent a considerable amount of manpower and materials in organizing internet police force, developing administrative software, and specifying rigorous regulations.
In addition, it also made good use of internet features, employing the internet as an effective tool for propaganda and management. As far as the consolidation of domestic ideology, it, placing patriotism and cultural-nationalism, calls for the construction of socialism with Chinese characteristics to consolidate the consensus of people against the western peaceful evolution.
Section 3 China's Control Methods and Obstruction on Internet
This section is based on survey data published between 1999 and 2010, according to the statistical investigation report of China Internet Network Information Center, an official and private recognized authoritative institution. Founded on internet and digital technology, the new media brought opportunities to development of China but challenges to the administration for the control of speech, which also created difficulties to the ruling CCP and its closed management style.
I. China's Internet Control Methods
Clear analysis is given on China’s internet control, reasons for the control, principles, institutional evolution, and the actual implementation, regulations, etc.
(A) Besides negative effects induced by information flow (such as the proliferation of pornography, gambling, drugs, spread viruses, fraud, hackers, etc.), the reasons of the CCP for political control in the network include spread of network
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information from domestic and international and the disperse of “peaceful evolution”
and network colonialism.
(B) CCP believes in Leninism. A dictatorial country does not allow internet development to surpass its jurisdictional authority. Henceforth, in the principle of management, the master instruction of internet control for the CCP has been developing it progressively, strengthening control, approaching what benefits and avoiding disadvantages, as well as harnessing it as a privately owned.
(C) China’s internet control system is basically associated with the development of information technology. Its evolution can be divided into three phases: the first phase was an experimental control system before 1994; the second phase was a transition system between 1994 and 1998; and the third phase has been the establishment of the department of information industry since 1998 by combining the former department of postal electronics and department of electronic industry, a decision in the national ninth people’s representative conference.
(D) In the internet control strategy, the approaches of data flow control on network are of the two types: “none-technological surveillance” and “technological surveillance”.
(E) The CCP included in the legislative articles unified central leadership and delegated legislative permission to institutions that are, to certain extent, decentralized, multi-level co-existent, and multi-category combined.
The actual implementation of network control can be divided into the following techniques, including internal network control, screening software, firewall, control by software and hardware network technology, content examination by national staff,
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reporting hotline on website, recruitment of internet commentators who help guide online public opinions, network real-name system, requirement of domestic and foreign technology companies for network control, internet police, control of internet cafes, the expansion of the official Chinese website, control of web browsing on oversea sites by pricing, propaganda of network ethics, and industry self-regulation.
II. Network blockade of Rigorous Control
In April 2005, the Open Net Initiative jointly established by Harvard Law School, University of Cambridge, and the University of Toronto published a study on China’s Internet blockade. “China’s internet filtering system is the world's most developed.
Compared to other similar systems in some countries, China’s internet filtering system covers a wide range, employs meticulous techniques, and has significant effectiveness. The whole system, in which a large number of national institutions and thousands of government and enterprise employees are involved, contains multi-level restrictions of legal basis and technical control.” said in the report26.
The China’s government uses western technologies provided by Cisco, Nortel, Sun, 3COM, and Microsoft to block internet and demands internet companies to help filter “sensitive” speech. It is alleged that “key words” filtered by the network control department are as many as 1,000 to 1,500. Microsoft installed filters in its MSN blog space in China and Google removed, in the archive, documentations of its China news channel that had been blockaded by China government. In January 2006 when Google launched google.cn, any content in violation against China government was filtered.
Yahoo China was also accused of helping China authorities in investigating online dissidents.
26 BBC: The internet democratic power causes rebound, By Chang Qiang, Published: September 26th 2005, http://news.bbc.co.uk/chinese/trad/hi/newsid_4280000/newsid_4283500/4283558.stm
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It is reported that the China government blocked most of websites that mention Falun Gong, “June 4” incident or political objection groups. The editorials series of
“Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party” published by the oversea newspaper
“Epoch Times” apparently drew the attention of China government. As reported, 90%
of the websites that mention “nine commentaries” were blockaded.
III. Internet become CCP’s political propaganda tool
On June 20, 2008, China’s President Hu Jintao visited the People's Daily for its founded in the 60th anniversary, and to communicated with the Internet users through the People's Daily Online forum.27
Figure 6: Hu Jintao visited the People's Daily Source: People’s Daily
On February 28, 2009, China’s Premier Wen Jiabao came to the Chinese government net interview room, for his first time online exchange with the Internet users from around the world. In a few hours, it poured into more than 300,000 netizens from around the world to ask him questions, overseas media are widespread attention to theses two activities and realized that, through the Internet, the Chinese people's awareness of political participation and civic awareness are gradually improve, saying that 2009 will be the year of China's “Internet users in politics”.
27People’s Daily：President Hu communicated with internet users through People’s Daily online forum, June 20th 2008,
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Tremendous impact on the network already through social, penetrating to the political level, further changes in the leader's thinking and ideals.28
Figure 7: Wen Jiabao on www.gov.cn Source: www.gov.cn
Although the use of the Internet in Mainland China in all aspects of appearance looks more and more progressive and open, but apart from the building as well as technical aspects of hardware and software have yet to be substantially improved beyond. In addition, the Chinese authorities have basically not willing to let people via the Internet to obtain non-official sources that is not conducive to political control, or difficult to monitor the use of communication channels, so the future Internet development in China is still a very difficult .
We also know that Mainland China has regarded the media as a propaganda tool for the party, emphasizing Party's principles, and apply a unified propaganda caliber to create representations of the point of view, to shape a common understanding.
28GOV : Premier Wen was interviewed by the Chinese government net and Xinhua net, February 28th 2009,http://big5.gov.cn/gate/big5/www.gov.cn/ldhd/2009-02/28/content_1246565.htm
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However it will be hard to be effectively implemented in today's Internet Internet Road, especially under the circumstances of the global popularity of Internet service.
Because of the Internet’s rapid, timely, free and not restricted by space and its unregulated nature, it has become a sharp knife on both sides to the Chinese central leadership. On the one hand the Chinese government worried the caused social problem if their laissez-faire internet speech. On the other hand, the central authorities will not easily give up the monopoly and control of news. But in another respect, because of the potential benefits of the Internet are very rich, the government itself, and even foreign investments want to eat piece of the pie. In the layers of Internet control, the Chinese government forces of excessive intervention and interference, this is very annoying and inconvenient to state-owned enterprises for the relevant bodies, and enterprise. With the Internet industry's long-term development, its uncertainty policy casts a shadow. For this emerging medium of the Internet in Mainland China can be said that it gradually emerging a new powerful media forces, but also because of its no-barrier with the borderless nature makes its central government very nervous.