Chp 1

I always knew about China's intense censorship of the internet. However, one new thing that I learned was that China had virtually shut down an area of land they said to be about the size of Alaska. China shut down the people's 'private' cell phone providers to keep the information of riots and protest violence and killings private from the rest of the world. The weirdest part of this section to me was not even the fact that they shut down the communications of the people as a way of censoring the people, but how. I was really shocked that China was able to shut down companies that are considered private in America. To my knowledge, companies like AT&T, Comcast, etc., are not in anyway under government jurisdiction as far as service. (Of course the legal things are under government law - but not the fact that the service itself is active.) Since the people pay for these services and private companies provide them - I found myself more angry that the government shut down a service they did not own or operate. 

As far as pornography on the internet – I guess censoring it is better than promoting it, but at the end of the day, I think people who want to see it are going to find it one way or another.

Finally, I liked how the chapter was broken into easy to digest parts – it helped me categorize and process the information much better than just one long chapter that talked about everything all at once. I feel that pulling out topics helps me focus my reading and comprehension and I enjoy reading things more that way when I don’t have to search around for the point to a writing.

Dodson Ch.1 Response

To be honest, I have little awareness about China and it's many policies. I was aware of who ruled and some of the rulings, but not all of them. This first chapter enlightened me on how the Chinese people utilize their freedoms, and how much value is placed on the internet. They even use the web to do sort of vigilante justice! It helps a country of so many communicate and spread out towards, what they seem to refer as, modernization. I found it slightly shocking (especially with the Human Flesh Searches, something that I see as both awe inspiring and frightful) but was impressed by how such a multitude can unite.

My thoughts on the pornography censorship is that, as described, it seems to be nothing more than a scam. Something the government may have concocted under a more moral guise in order to try and control something that is very volatile. It believe it to be difficult to do, and just a little silly to try, especially with the sheer multitudes of people and ways around the censorship. Grass Mud Horse was one way in which we see  the creative reaction the internet can present in response to the false censorship. I believe this to be a situation to be swept under the rug, unless the government intends on actually doing what it says it is, and taking into account its people while doing so.

As per how Dodson put together the chapter, I found it very well done. It gave a sort of natural flow to the thought which I can admire. Dodson covers the topic thoroughly considering the amount of space he used, and he still made the information very natural and kept it from becoming overwhelming. I enjoy how is both informative yet not an overly complexional read/

ch 1 dodson

I honestly knew virtually nothing about the Chinese government before reading Dodson. I was shocked to find out how they use the Internet. It seems to me to be a really negative environment. Although they are using things like The Human Flesh Search Engine to find people who have committed crimes for the greater good of the people, it just kind of strikes me as inappropriate and invasive. Such things should be the responsibility of the government. Maybe they should be spending more time solving crimes that have been put in the public eye than they are deleting pieces of their past and pornography – people are going to find pornography in some way anyways and it doesn’t affect others. I think the situations that are being put into the public eye could very well be ones that families might want to keep to themselves. I guess having help to find betrayers could be a good thing, but it seems to me like people are constantly wound up about things that are happening over the country and I feel like it gives a very negative outlook to the Chinese.

I’m really torn about the idea of censorship at this point. Reading the first chapter gave me the impression that everything that the Chinese are reacting to and seeing on the internet is really negative and I’m not quite sure how I would feel about that.

I am confused at what the Chinese government is trying to get at by censoring certain negative and controversial events because they are a part of China – a part of their culture and history. I feel like the people should be able to be aware of such things.   

My reaction to this chapter was that Dodson really just blatantly threw the information out there and didn’t really hold back, which I appreciated. I think the governments of other countries are things that we should be aware of, and I’m upset that I wasn’t already aware of how other countries, like China, operated. 

response to Ch. 1 of Dodson

What was new to you in what you learned about China in this chapter?  How do you react to it?  What do you think of government censorship of pornography on the Internet?  What's your initial reaction to Dodson's method of putting together this chapter?  (250-350 words)

China Ch. 1

The first chapter of China Inside Out gave me an idea about what China actually is like currently.  Honestly, I had no idea what living conditions were like there.  I’d been told since a young age that they were very strict; the only example I was ever told was that everyone was only aloud to have one child due to their swelling population.  So I just had the assumption that China currently was like how it was described before 1980, only a little less strict; I never would have thought the government would control were people shopped and whom they married, I thought a person’s family was the one in charge of that in their culture.   But I was pleasantly surprised to find out that my idea of China was outdated about three decades. 

            I think the way the Chinese people are using the Internet is great; to make injustice events, like Deng Yujiao, publicly known so that the correct people are seen punished is one of the best uses of the Internet.  The Human Flesh Search Engines seem like a really good way for the people of China to be able to make a political statement.  It shows that they are taking matters into their own hands because of the corrupt government.  I could see this leading to positive changes in China in the future because the people are rebelling and voicing their opinions.   

            One thing that surprised me was that the Chinese government wants to increase the number of people who have access to the Internet.  It just seems like something that they wouldn’t want because of how it’s being used against them.  It would also mean working harder to keep sites blocked and monitoring what is being put out there. But I guess it shows the rest of the world that they are progressing.         

            It’s not surprising that the government would censor pornography when you look at the other things that they censor, like information on the Dalai Lama.  Personally I think that they are too harsh in what they choose to censor, which would include pornography.  I’m sure that there are ways for the Chinese to have access to pornography through means other than the internet, though probably also illegal.  If a person wants to get their hands on something, they will find a way, no matter what the government says, so it seems pointless for the government to block people’s access to it on the Internet.  

China Inside Out, Response

I learned so much from this first chapter. It truly opened up my mind on how to look at the censorship in China. I knew it was an issue, but in reading this first chapter, I was able to look at how everyone reacts to the government’s control.  Since I did not know much about China in the first place, other than knowing they have become a leading nation in the world, seeing how censorship has affected the way people react has made me want to know more about this issue. It made me wonder how I would react to censoring laws if I were in the same situation. At this point, I do not quite know how I feel about the overall idea of censorship. Before reading this first chapter, I felt I had a very strong viewpoint of being against censorship. I am not for it at this point, but I my strong anti-censorship viewpoint has slightly diminished. Maybe it is the barbaric ways in which China has reacted to these limits or the way that the Chinese government has dealt with these issues. It is so incredible how the government is so fearful of their people gaining any influence from Westerners. Through censorship they hope to obtain the most power they could from the Chinese people. I feel that due to this notion, censorship has been a limit of power for China. It has had the opposite effect the government has wished for. As Dodson stated at the end of the chapter, censorship can cause China to loose international business, research, and innovative technological advancements. In regards to government censorship on the internet, I feel like it's a good idea. It limits the younger generation from getting access to any form of pornography. I feel like this is an issue in the United States that should have some form of censorship when it comes to young people. Dodson's way of putting this chapter together becomes very informational. It isn't quite like Boo's idea of narrative, which causes me to get lost around certain points. Overall, I feel like Dodson's method of putting together this chapter works for this specific topic.

China Inside Out- Chapter 1

I found this first chapter to be informationally overwhelming but nonetheless very interesting. I have always known that China has very strict and invasive censorship laws but I suppose that I never truly understood how much power the Chinese government has, considering I have been privileged enough to grow up in a democracy. It seems that the government is so constantly fearful of losing control and having inconvenient truths about itself leaked that it goes to great measures to block any content that it finds dissatisfactory. Many Chinese bloggers and internet uses seem to think that it is their right to have access to whatever content they wish to view or at least the right to post what they like (and it is there right in the case of freedom of speech because it is in their constitution). However, it seems that one of the main reasons that the Chinese government shuts down internet content surrounding potential uprisings, for example in the case of Liu Xiaobo, is because often what begins on the internet manifests in a literal and very physical uprising. Also, the government blocks information about events such as Tianenmen Square because it reflects negatively on the government and how they handled it. Imagine if in the United States every time the government handled an issue poorly they had the ability to block U.S. Citizens from knowing about it. Every little minuscule affair some government in Arkansas has everyone knows about it within a matter of hours. Not to say that the government doesn't probably succeed in hiding some things from the public, I'm sure that does happen. However, once something hits the media it is entirely fair game. Another thing that I found interesting was that while in Liu Xiabo was sent to jail for his attempts at breaking from the Communist Party, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize a year later for his "unwavering stance". It is funny how in China he was a criminal but the rest of the world regarded him almost as a hero. Having recently been presented with the possible opportunity of traveling to China this book is really making me think about how vastly different things are on the other side of the globe and what it would be like to visit there. While China is growing as a world power and while it is one of America's major business powers, there are still parts of their society and government that are so vastly different from our own.