Alex in China

We Americans love our free speech. Even though it’s not always as free as we claim it is, we still consider it one of our greatest attributes (and rightly so!). However, we’ve never really been content with keeping this freedom to our selfs. Having “seen the light” we usually feel obliged to try and spread this right to other nations as well. It makes sense…we have something that we know is good and we want to share it. And of course, we are always appalled when we discover a nation that has not given this necessary freedom to it’s people. We start protests, write accusatory articles, watch our celebrities pound their chests, and demand that our government do something to right the wrong. But is this really the best way to handle an international dilemma?

Now, let me clarify myself, I am not saying that freedom of speech is unimportant or that is shouldn’t be given to all people. I am not saying that we should ignore the many nations who restrict their people’s right to free speech. I am saying, however, that we should make sure we fully understand the culture, history, and situation of other nations before we blindly charge forward into the battle of human rights.

I’ve been living in China for over six weeks now and I’ve had the opportunity to observe the culture, talk to the people, and get a brief glimpse into their expansive history. This, in no way, makes me an expert on China or qualifies me to make a concrete solution to their problems. It has, however, opened my eyes to some different point of views that I had not previously been able to see regarding the issue of censorship in China.

So why does China continue their censorship of news and media? Clearly the US has made their opinion on the subject apparent. We have given China more than enough reasons (in our opinion) to loosen their grasp on information and permit more freedom of speech. But there in lies the problem, China doesn’t need us to tell them what to do…and they certainly don’t want to hear us say otherwise.

It’s almost ironic. Here we are, the good ‘ole US of A, trying to make suggestions and improve an ally nation but it’s these very suggestions that are causing much of the tension between us.

To understand why this is so, there is a very simple point that must be made. The Chinese don’t forget their history. I realized this after listening to one of our directors, Randy Kluver, give an in depth lecture on Chinese history and how it shapes the way they think today. China was not always the powerhouse that it is today. During both WWI and WWII it struggled as many of the more advanced nations began to carve away at China and claim parts of it for themselves. China was very limited in power compared to the rest of the world and found itself being changed and molded by the more powerful nations.

Obviously China is not in that situation today but that does not mean that they have not forgotten it. They remember how it feels to be controlled by a powerful nation. This is most likely one of the key reasons they respond so coldly to the constant US attempts at stopping censorship. Having them watch us run around chanting “Free Tibet” has only caused more problems than it has solved. The true problem we need to be worrying about is finding a way that we can communicate our ideas to China while being culturally sensitive and understanding of our differences.

One of the main things that seems to be misunderstood about censorship in China is how it works. We were at lunch recently with one of Tio’s previous Chinese students, Liu Yang, and the subject of censorship eventually made its way up. Liu Yang runs a Chinese political blog so I was curious to see what he had to say on the subject. I told him about how frustrated I was that I had to work through proxies to access my blog in China. Was this because the government wanted to block outside opinions and truths from the people? No, was his reply. Of course not. Any Chinese citizen who really wants to know American opinions or world news can easily get around the “Great Firewall of China” the same way I had been doing it myself, through proxies.

So if it’s so easy to break through and get outside information, why even bother with online censorship. Liu Yang’s next answer surprised me. “The point of the firewall is not to block outside information, but to stop the people inside from sharing information”. The biggest fear of China’s government right now is mass assembly. This same fear appears to be the underlying cause of most censorship in China, including what many people consider to be religious persecution in China.

For the most part, it seems that the Chinese government does not care what religious beliefs the people follow, however they do care about the mass assembly that comes along with religion. Religion can become a very powerful tool when used in a political environment. In a nation of more than one billion people, large assemblies of believers can pose a threat to the government if religious leaders decide to get political. While it is true that China is able to restrict religious organizations, I don’t think it’s as extreme as some people imagine. Christians certainly aren’t being as persecuted in China as I had been told, in fact in the cities it is almost the opposite. There are churchs, there are “I love Jesus” shirts, and it is not hard to find a Christian. I will say, however, that I haven’t been to much of rural China so I can’t speak for the situation there-

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I feel like I’m starting to ramble and that’s no good. There really is a lot to be said about censorship in China, in fact whole books have been written on the topic. But this isn’t a book, it’s a post, so I think this would be a good point to cut myself off.

A little side note though:

As I’m sitting here typing this I can’t help but feel that this post has a slightly controversial feel to it. That wasn’t my intent but I think there is always that kind of feel when you discuss something that is a “hot topic” at the moment…especially when it involves politics and religion. This post is really just what I’ve seen from my point of view with a little bit of opinion thrown in to spice things up!

To even things out, maybe I’ll make my next post on a lighter topic…like why all the babies here have holes in their pants instead of diapers. I guarantee it’ll be a real page turner! -a