Essay on Censorship in China

Since early dynastic governments, China has monitored and controlled media to avoid the undermining of its authority. Some reasons for this censorship are well known by Westerners, others less so. In 221 B.C, Emperor Qin Shi Huang burned Confucian and Taoist books in order to rid the dynasty of different political perspectives. He did this not only to maintain order and unity, but also because he was impelled by other ancient Chinese values. Values that included a belief in state’s rights over human rights and the preservation of the dynasty at all costs. The more complex models of censorship used in China today were first used in the Soviet Union from 1922-1991 and are rooted in Marxist- Leninist thought. Westerners would be wise to consider China’s political history and deeply held social

“‘The chase continues north in in the city! Police helicopters are covering on Avenue 87 and Elm Grove Park!’”(Ray Bradbury 148) In this quote the media gives false information to the public on the arrest of Guy Montag. They Purposely say they have the situation under control while they do not, and cannot find Guy Montag. Cfr.org states “China’s constitution affords its citizens freedom of speech and press, but the opacity of Chinese media regulations allows authorities to crack down on news stories by claiming that they expose state secrets and endanger the country.” China’s constitution does not give press the right to say their country's secrets. China has a common censorship to Fahrenheit 451 where they do not allow the city see or state their faults or flaws. This has a similar standard to Fahrenheit 451 in where the citizens have a government wall that obstructs them from the

Censorship is the suppression or prohibition of any parts of books, films, news, etc. that are considered obscene, politically unacceptable, or a threat to security. There are good reasons why censorship is used, such as some information might have to be censored for the content it might display and which in turn might cause a disturbance in peace. Countries try not abuse the fact they are allowed to do this because they are the ones who create the rules. However, China is abusing this fact and has been doing it to the point people are fearing what they can post or use on the internet. This issue was brought up in recent years because it has many different types of medians that were found in the New York Times. Firstly, the discussion

In the book 1984, the government has control over all media “and so it was with every class of recorded fact, great or small. Everything faded away into a shadow-world in which, finally, even the date of the year had become uncertain” (Orwell 37). Due to the party’s restraint of all media, there are no actual certainty of written records. Without written records, no one knows if the government is being truthful about what has happened in the past. The citizens even question their memories and logic because there is no certainty of the past. Without records, the government can rearrange history however they please because there is no evidence to prove they are wrong. Similarly, in the article, “The Other Side Of the Great Firewall”, China has set up an immense system of “online censorship, commonly known as the Great Firewall, [which] blocks the populace from viewing material deemed dangerous to the state” (Beech etal 2). The chinese government has blocked the chinese citizens from being able to go on a variety of websites in order to protect China from western influences. Without certain websites, the government can regulate what their citizens can see and can hide what they don’t want their citizens to see. The citizens are being blocked from information that is considered dangerous to their government. The government continually will have total jurisdiction through the use of blocking websites

China today still follows a similar style of governing by blocking websites, altering news and punishing scholars (Buckley). In addition, due to the concealment of information citizens of China are living life in ignorance (Buckley). These actions might jeopardize the prosperity of China in the future just as it did during the Qin Dynasty. Ceasing media censorship now in China may benefit their society in the years a head due to all of the conflict in the apparent world around

Censorship in China has gained much attention recently because of the conflict between Google and the Chinese government’s self-censorship policies. In fact, censorship has been practiced since ancient China and the intensity only increases by the years. Nowadays, the most notable measure of censorship is being done on the Internet. More and more restrictions have been put into actions by the Chinese government, which make the life of Chinese Internet users, the Chinese netizens, very inconvenient. With the intensity of censorship increasing and the censoring technology improving, Internet censorship has mainly negative effects on Chinese society.

In Communist China, thought confining and regulation for access to banned book are existing. The authoritarian government controls all the knowledge, spiritual and cultural disseminating channel, for example, media, publishing, films, drama, etc. (Chen 2006 p.5)

There is also no freedom of speech in China. Authors of the criticizing articles about China were executed under the reason, “protection of state

Ilham Tohti, Gao Yu, Yang Tongyan, Shi Tao, Xue Deyun, and Zhao Zhenkai: what do all these people have in common? They are a few among many that are either previous or current Chinese convicts, all guilty of a common crime. The crime in question? Writing to speak their minds. One from a country such as the US, whose enforced First Amendment to the US Constitution promises that “Congress shall make no law [...] abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press”, might question how writing could be considered a crime, and yet in China strict censorship of the media that restricts what can be said and what can be seen by the Chinese people continue into the modern age, where “even a single tweet can get a citizen detained”. As unbelievable as it might seem, expressing yourself in a way that the Chinese government finds threatening to its authority can land you behind bars for up to the rest of your life, as Ilham Tohti

Within the United States, the first amendment, freedom of speech includes the cyber-web. However, the government may try to examine personal information to protect its citizens from planned terroristic activities. Even so, these terrorists are allowed to say whatever they want, but it does not mean it will be ignored and not taken as a literal threat by the government. Throughout other parts the world, however, countries rely on communicating through means of the internet as ways to spread propaganda. In countries like China specifically, their government censors its citizens to prevent the spreading of propaganda or other radicalism. However, due to the fact that China’s strategy is so

In the United States, every child, teenager and adult uses Wikipedia, YouTube and Facebook, among numerous other sites, regularly. The internet is open and uncensored for the most part, other than parental controls. In China, most, if not all of those types of sites are or have been blocked. As in, you could not go to them, unless you found some way around the web filters and firewalls the Chinese government runs in their country. While China defends their practice of internet censorship, based on “protecting” the people, heavy internet censorship is a block to free speech and impedes economic and social development in the 21st century.

The Chinese government had enforced these rules and regulations through blocking, filtering and shutting down Internet cafes. According to Amnesty International, the Chinese government routinely blocks news sites, especially those with dissident views or banned groups. Anniversary’s such as the 1989 pro-democracy protests are heavily guarded days that see increase Internet blocking. Internet blocking of major search gateways is also

Google’s policy of self-censorship in China did not sit well with the public or human rights organizations.

There are lots of countries that use internet censorship. A few of them are China, North Korea, and Russia. China is one of the leaders in using and censoring the internet. They have the biggest internet censorship system on the globe. Their system grew rapidly compared to most of the other countries censorship systems.

By having complete control over the few entities and their network connections, the Chinese government is able to monitor and regulate the Internet more effectively. Sherman, co-author of “Red Wired: China’s Internet Revolution”, explained that “China is not on the Internet, it's basically an intranet. Everything is banned by the Great Firewall”. Although Internet is accessible outside of China, the vast majority of the population refuse to use it because it is so inconvenient (Herold, 2012). For instance, recurrent time-outs, very slow Internet connection, and the content