CHINA:Fast rise in Chinese web users makes censorship harder, writes Clifford Coonanin Beijing
China has one of the world's most tightly controlled online environments, surrounded by what has become known as "the Great Firewall of China", but this has not stopped the march of the internet and the country will soon have more "webizens" than the US, new data has shown.
There are 210 million internet users in China, which puts it just five million shy of the US figure and marks a 53 per cent rise over 2006, according to the state-run China Internet Network Information Centre (CNNIC).
"Rapid economic growth and accompanying family income helped drive internet use . . There's no doubt that China will have the largest web population soon as there's still so much growth potential," it said in a report.
The numbers mask a more complicated picture. The online penetration rate in China is still relatively low, just 16 per cent, lower than the global average of 19 per cent, while three-quarters of US adults are online. At about 300 million, the US population is less than one quarter of China's 1.3 billion. However, the number of web users is rising so fast that it is only a matter of time before the penetration rate reflects the broader figures.
While the government promotes the education and business aspects of cyberspace, it is swift to clamp down on criticism of the Communist Party or anything it considers to be pornographic or offensive.
An anti-smut campaign ahead of the Beijing Olympics has led to the suppression of 44,000 pornographic websites and homepages, with 868 arrests. Authorities also investigated 524 criminal cases involving online pornography and "penalised" another 1,911 people, the Xinhua news agency reported.
The crackdown on pornography and "unhealthy" web content was launched by President Hu Jintao, who said the internet posed a threat to social stability. Last month, the government said it would keep a tight rein on video-sharing websites and allow only state-controlled sites to post video content online.
The offensive is not being taken entirely seriously online. One of the internet sensations of the year so far is the phrase "very yellow, very violent" - yellow is used to describe something erotic.
A primary school student, Zhang Shufan, appeared on CCTV saying she had come across a web page that was "very yellow, very violent". "I hastily closed the page," she said.
The expression has become a popular catchphrase, with people compiling lists of their top 10 "very yellow, very violent" movies and using the phrase as a term of endearment, the Hong Kong site EastSouthWestNorth reported.
The huge rise in the number of people using the internet in China is making it very difficult for the "Great Firewall" to block the freeflow of information, even though China has a large contingent of internet police to ensure that issues such as land rights and agitation for democracy are blocked.
Footage of a recent demonstration by thousands of people against a chemical plant in the southern city of Xiamen found its way on to the internet, and rights activists have posted footage online of the police keeping them under house arrest.
While Microsoft, Google and Yahoo are all operating under restricted conditions in China, even their tacit assistance will not keep the "Great Firewall" shut against differing voices forever, rights defenders say.
Despite the government's best efforts to block controversial content, most web users say they do not feel constrained when using the internet and happily discuss whatever topic they want to. It has to be said, democracy and human rights are not common subjects of discussion in China.
Nevertheless, the police say they will use whatever resources are required to "cleanse" the internet of vile content.
"We will put whatever police forces are needed into this," said Gao Feng, deputy head of the Public Security Bureau's economic crimes unit.
The issue of internet privacy is not high on the agenda in China, but it is becoming a topic for discussion. A couple who were filmed kissing in the Shanghai subway are planning to sue the railway after the footage appeared on the internet.
The three-minute video was uploaded to YouTube and other websites last week and drew more than 15,000 hits in two days, English language newspaper China Daily said.
The footage appears to have been shot on security cameras, and Shanghai Metro said that it would punish staff found to have uploaded the film.
The case has led to renewed calls in the legal community for better privacy legislation to regulate the use of video footage and for penalties for those who abuse privacy.
Then there is the question of reliability. People were touched by the story of Yin, a young teacher in Gansu province who taught at a local elementary school for free, even though she had no formal education. When the schoolroom, which was made of grass, was blown over in the wind, she became a prostitute to pay for a new school.
Then she passed away and the flag at the school was lowered to half-mast. It was a story that touched the hearts of thousands on the web - until a blogger admitted he had made it up as an exercise in internet marketing.