China’s blogging heavyweights talk firewalls, strategic marketing and “Checkpoint China” at the Under the Digital Influence conference

It’s been over a year since crotchety Alaska Senator, Ted Stevens, famously explained that the Internet was not a truck, but rather a series of tubes. Few others have defined the Internet so eloquently, but last month several of China’s own leading Internet heads met in Beijing last month to discuss where those tubes might eventually lead.

The conference, Under the Digital Influence, sponsored by the American Chamber of Commerce to promote its new blog amchamdaily.com, featured two panels comprised of a "virtual" who's who of the China Internet world (thanks to Josh Gartner of chinaexpat.com for that one). Organized by AmCham’s Jim Boyce, an accomplished blogger in his own right (do not commit yourself to a life of drinking in the Chinese capital without first immersing yourself in beijingboyce.com), the conference hit trends shaping the Internet in China along with the business side of blogging.

The first panel, Decoding China’s Internet Scene, addressed two issues critical to the Chinese Internet today–access to online portals and what sites are accessible once the connection is made. After techie talk about how wireless technology will prove to be the footbridge over the digital divide (eight out of nine people have never been online in China), the talked turned to a much more compelling topic–sites at risk of being shutdown. Andrew Lih, a new media academic writing a book about online collaboration, said that the tools the Chinese government uses to block certain websites are getting stronger and more precise. While the trend is disturbing at some levels, he argued that increased precision is actually a good thing. Following up on his blog, Silicon Hutong, David Wolf stressed that the term “Great Firewall of China” is really no longer applicable. “The expression originated when China’s government was attempting to create an alternate Internet that was walled off from the rest of the world … Today, however, the Internet in China is largely integrated into that of the rest of the world, with specific, increasingly pinpointed sites and services walled off from access … It would be far more accurate to talk about ‘Checkpoint China.’”

Jeremy Goldkorn of the media watchdog site Danwei.org said that websites featuring user-generated content are the most likely to be shut down: “Sites like Wikipedia, blog host providers, YouTube and any forum or BBS are at risk.” While the thought of living in China without YouTube is a terrifying one, Goldkorn believes that individual bloggers, especially those posting in English, have little to worry about: “It’s very hard to get a blog blocked if it’s in English. It’s keyword based. They really don't spend a lot of time monitoring English blogs.”

The second half of the conference brought out the blogging heavies including Goldkorn, China-briefing.com’s Chris Devonshire-Ellis, China Law Blog’s Dan Harris, and the Image Thief himself, Will Moss. Devonshire-Ellis, Moss and Harris emphasized the ways in which their blogs serve as cheap promotional tools to display their expertise. Moss and Harris discussed the potential pitfalls of blogging in an arena where clients become readers. While both admitted that there is risk, they maintained that the opportunity to build chemistry with clients outweighed the risk of chasing business away. Harris, founding member of the law firm Harris and Moure, said that his company is small enough that even if his blog offended half the world, the other half would still be full of potential clients.

Goldkorn’s position is different than the other panelists because his blog is his primary occupation not just a marketing tool. He said that he blogs because China has a lot of stories but very little information. “China is not even understood by its own citizens, but that misunderstanding is much more acute in the English-speaking world,” he says. “People continue to have some very strange perceptions of what China is around the world. Obviously, I believe China is important. I think, like the United States, China is reaching a point where if something goes wrong it will hurt everyone else in the world. Being able to provide information about this country to people in the English-speaking world makes Danwei an interesting project."

The central role of blogs in the exchange of information obviously means that bloggers have a great responsibility to the public at large. Goldkorn says, “[Whatever the forum] if you say something in public, you have a responsibility to do good work. That means you shouldn’t libel others, you shouldn’t lie and you shouldn't persecute people. There really are no basic differences in that regard between bloggers and journalists.” Still, Goldkorn allows that while bloggers should feel compelled to produce quality material, subject matter is not an issue: “Some people keep diaries of their cat’s eating habits, and that’s okay too.”

BLOG ENQUIRER

Egg on your Face

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Keanu Reeves in Shanghai

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Ten-year-old Huang Li had her hands and feet bound before being thrown into the Xiangjiang River for three hours. Apparently, her overzealous father is training her to swim across the English Channel. –Asianoffbeat.com

Crazy English, Insane Guru

Li Yang, inventor of the Crazy English, drew criticism after his “crazy” methodology of shouting English phrases got even crazier. Recently, photos surfaced of 3,000 Baotou middle school students on their knees, kowtowing to show gratitude to Li after one of his seminars. –Asianoffbeat.com

by Jonathan Haagen