How it works

All domestic websites must be registered, including non-commercial websites. The government assigns monitors to comment in chat rooms, direct the discussion and thereby influence public opinion. Server rooms control website content, under the supervision of the Internet Data Centre (IDC): if they discover sensitive content on websites under their jurisdiction, then the IDC will exert pressure to delete that content. ISPs and ICPs [internet content providers] are also tapped for content control. All sorts of online intimidation, complaints, administrative punishments and legal actions are employed to guarantee that all content is under the government’s control.

Netizen opposition

In 2003, I read an article, ‘Word filtering systems are unlawful, illegal, and unconstitutional’, by noted legal activist Si Ning, who was active online. Through that article, I became aware that keyword filtering systems are crude, illegal management systems.

Discussion closed

On 13 September 2004, Peking University’s Yita Hutu BBS was closed. There were no official media reports on this affair, and many forums and websites were pressured by the Communications Administration to filter the words ‘Yita Hutu’ and ‘ytht’ to prohibit discussion of the topic. China’s netizens could find no related content on Baidu and a search on Google for ‘Yita Hutu’ would cause a page reset, making the page contents unviewable.

Searching for Mao Zedong

Subsequently, many netizens discovered that the names of national leaders, such as Mao Zedong, tripped a keyword filter during Google searches, rendering Google.com unreachable for several minutes.

Registration of non-commercial websites

The ‘Non-Commercial Internet Service Record Management’ regulations were passed by the 12th session of the Ministry of Information Industries on 28 January 2005. They were subsequently made public and went into effect on 20 March 2005.

GFW

In 2004, many netizens discovered a new phrase: GFW, the Great Firewall. China’s Internet censorship regime is relatively strict, but China’s commu- nications administrations only have jurisdiction over machines within the country. Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and foreign networks are not subject to restrictions. Hence the GFW, directed at ‘non-compliant’ foreign websites. It is a system spanning the machines on the country’s top-level network, made up of sophisticated information filtering equipment bought by the Chinese government with taxpayers’ money. The GFW can block netizens from browsing content. When the Chinese browse sensitive content overseas that the government does not wish them to see, the GFW will automatically cut off their connection to that website.

Google enters China

In 2005, Google entered China and set up the google.cn website to provide mainland users with a domestic web page search service, which would allow them to avoid disruption from the GFW.

Baidu doesn’t have a cock

Baidu may claim to be Chinese, but in 2006, a netizen discovered that there was no rooster discussion group among the Chinese zodiac forums in Baidu’s Post-Bar section. Baidu Post Bars are named using the topic keyword followed by the character , ‘bar’. All other animals had forums, like the Rat Bar ( , shu ba), but only the Cock Bar ( ji ba) was missing. It may be due to the connotations of ‘cock’ (which, as in English, is slang for ‘penis’) that discussion of roosters is prohibited. Netizens therefore joke that without a Cock Bar, Baidu has been castrated. At the same time, they mock the Internet censorship system that has forced a commercial company to do such a ridiculous thing. Google is in the same situation: by setting up its mainland website, google.cn, it cannot hide from the government invitation to join the censorship system and screen names of people and events that the Chinese government deems sensitive.

The greatest nail house of Chongqing

In February 2007, a photograph appeared on the Chinese Internet: a two-storey brick building standing on top of a ten-metre-high mountain of earth, surrounded by a massive pit. Netizens called this the ‘world’s greatest nail house’. The photo was taken beside the Yangjiaping light- rail station in Chongqing, which meant that all passengers going in and out of the station were able to see the real thing. The photo first circulated on the net, and then domestic and international media streamed to Chongqing to get a look at the nail house. Around 24 March, I noticed that state media reports had cooled down, blog reports had been deleted, and the special news section that the major portal Netease had created on the topic had been removed. I knew that the Publicity Department had begun to issue ‘propaganda notices’ to the domestic media to ‘guide public opinion’ and had started to block media reports on the Chongqing nail house. As an ordinary blogger with his own domain name, I was not restricted by the media system, so I decided to go to Chongqing to see the latest conditions of the nail house. When I arrived in Chongqing, I began to record what I saw and heard, and then presented the information I gathered to the readers of my blog. One week later, the owner of the nail house, Wu Ping, finally reached a compromise agreement that resolved the issue peacefully and legally. The same day the house was bulldozed, the website that I had set up in the USA, zuola.com, was blocked by the GFW.

1. In the movie you go to the murdered and raped girls and to the people whose houses are destroyed. How do you know what is going on? How do you know where you have to go to report the social problems?
   I read a lot of story and have sense to know which one is important and will be forbidden to report on mainstream media. I am behalf myself, I can report on my blog
2. What happened to you after the Arab Spring? Did the government also talk to you such as to the other activitst in the movie?
   I am did nothing after the Arab Spring, I am not expect a revolution, did not involve Jasmine Revolution in China, because the economy still growth ,the unemployment rate not high in City, farmer also work in city, difficult make noise, and, revolution will bring a lot of violence , and have to rebuild culture after revolution even win. I hope civil society became strong and can handle society management after economy going down , I think society will be chaos after economy down before democracy come. I expect the democracy soft landing than hard landing.
3. I heard you now live in Taiwan. Are you still going to China to make blogposts about the situation there?
   yes, I still blog issue on blog, January I were came back to home village and report  forced imposition lands issue, see http://www.fengmuqiao.com
4. Do you think you are watched by the Chinese government when you are in Taiwan? And do you think they watch you while you are here in the Netherlands?
   I think I am watched by Chinese police. they follow my blog and twitter, but I don’t care, welcome be my audience, and I have chance to do some influence as possible as I can. of course, some activities won’t be blog if need:)
5. Are you and your family still safe in China now this movie is in the theaters?
   of course my family is safe, no one threat my family because my activity.  and I am not the real dissident  like tradition activist. I am always encourage people involve social issue to make Citizen Participation real.
6. What do you think about us, in Europe, making such a fuss about the situation in China, while we can’t do anything about it?
   Thank you pay attention to me, I won’t thank you pay attention to China because I can’t behalf China I think we should remind people the Communism created a lot of suffering in history, Don’t make dictator be real, Don’t give up rights to make dictator appear.
7. How are your parents?
   my father and mother getting older, live in countryside.
8. How is life in Taiwan? Are there the same problems as in China?
   Taiwan is much better:)
9. Did the Chinese government do anything to stop you making this movie?
   Chinese government did not try to stop making, but try to stop screening in Sheffield Doc/Fest
   http://realscreen.com/2012/06/13/exclusive-chinese-delegation-pulls-out-of-docfest/

1. Can you share your name and what you do?
   Zola: yes, My name is Zhou Shuguang (aka. Zola ) ，I am a Chinese blogger. below is my biography , another biography at http://blog.zuola.com/2013/02/who-is-zola.htm
   Zhou Shuguang, a.k.a. Zola, is a self-taught internet technologist and former network administrator who received his certification as a network engineer in 2004. Since May 2004, Zola has maintained a blog at http://www.zuola.com
   where he shares often useful and interesting information, occasionally focused on social issues. In 2007, Zola reported on what was being called “the most awesome nail house in history” in Chongqing, subsequently attracting the attention of traditional media. Since then, Zola has participated on the reports of various sensitive stories and breaking news events such as the “Resist P-Xylene Plant” Demonstration in Xiamen, the Yilishen scandal in Shenyang, the “Weng’an Uproar”, the CCTV headquarters fire, the stabbing of a prominent blogger in Qianliexian, and the news of Hangzhou resident Tan Zhuo who was killed by a speeding sports car. By reporting on these and other events, through various social networking platforms, Zola has since received widespread international attention. He is one of the many veterans fighting the censorship of news and Internet restrictions in China. Zola has received interviews by both domestic and international media, and is the subject of much academic discussion in the area of new media. Zola has been invited to Beijing Foreign Studies University, Beijing University, Tianjin Normal University to exchange with journalism students. Zola continues to host seminars on new media technology in Beijing, Guangzhou and throughout mainland China. At present, Zola has been providing independent blog services and other technical training services for netizens.
2. What are the current problems facing Asia in regards to censorship and surveillance?
   Zola: I am Chinese, I only face censorship in China. I have experience on internet censorship. In China, people create content on Internet, will be filter key words before publish, or get punishment after publish sensitive content , for example , account get freeze few days,or delete account directly. If I am website owner in China, my web site have to register to authority , if authority found any sensitive content or any key words, I will get a message from authority to ask remove content.  If my website host on foreign country, the Great Firewall will block the site who frequently include sensitive content, my personal blog http://www.zuola.com was blocked in China. there are four level of censor by Great Firewall: key words filtration;  URL filtration; IP blocking; DNS Poisoning.  My website experienced all of method from Great Firewall, and I make a paper to introduce Internet Censor Solutions and Anti Solutions in 2009 March:  http://space.zuola.com/D2AC7D299F493A68_241.html
3. What circumvention tools are used in Asia?
   Zola: VPN, Tor, OTR, Google two step verification,Goagent, Psiphon,Freegate, yourfreedom,Hotspot Shield, Suqid Proxy, and so on.
4. What are the problems you most see with tools? (For example UX is bad)
   lot of free tools face problem are become invalid, because GFW detect unknown traffic then block it.
5. What advice/comments do you want to share with circumvention tech community?
   Zola: Hope a browser plugin and VPN client can be customize， Configure some parameter then genera a package to allow people can distribute again.
6. Any news/current event you think its important for people to know about?
   Zola: most sensitive content was deleted. this is too bad, we need archive it. this is my anti censorship Strategy,archive it, not only circumvent.
7. What issues/topics do you think the 2013 Hong Kong Summit should focus on? 
   I need know how to protect personal communication by GPG or PGP, how to use it in Gmail?
8. Anything else you want to add?
   May I introduce the Internet Censor Solutions and Anti Solutions ？ if so, I will submit a paper in English version.