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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Excellent Links / Through the Great Firewall

Through the Great Firewall

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If you’ve ever wondered what Balloon-Juice looks like through the Great Firewall of China, reader Brian sends this screenshot (click to embiggen). Basically, the text makes it through, but YouTube is blocked. On the plus side, there doesn’t seem to be an ad for a sugar daddy matching service. Brian has more about Internet access in China in a post on his blog.

After all the attention given to Foxconn and working conditions in China, Brian’s also working on a series on his experiences in China. Here’s his first post about a young woman he got to know who worked 12 hour days in some kind of tourist trap art gallery. Brian also promised that he would write about a conversation about Michelle Bachmann with a Taiwanese lady he met in Kaohsiung (in the southern part of Taiwan).

Reader Interactions

34Comments

  1. 1.

    Schlemizel

    Thants funny because thats exactly what it looks like for me too. Well, except that the babe in my ad is European 8-{D

  5. 5.

    scav

    Imagine someone hitting the

    Translate the page into Polish OK NO

    (or other language) button — there’s an automatic translation vision of epic beauty, terror and hilarity.

  11. 11.

    matt

    Turns out it’s very easy to bypass the Great Wall, if you have a computer abroad you can SSH into.

    Ergo, the elites in China can see everything, of course.

  12. 12.

    Brandon

    I don’t get Youtube or any embedded images with the mobile version on my Blackberry. Nothing like freedom.

  14. 14.

    Kane

    While traveling in Beijing in 2010, I was struck that the Chinese had not yet caught on to the idea of an Internet Cafe. There were businesses in place that offered on-site use of computers, but the places were dark and unseemly with a negative vibe as if any minute the police would be crashing down the door. Everyone there seemed to be more interested in Internet games rather than blog-hopping.

  15. 15.

    What's your vector victor

    I travel a couple times a year to China. The firewall is regional. If you are in Shanghai, you see more content. In Beijing, crackdown.

    My blackberry facebook app always worked. My Android facebook app worked in Shanghai, but not in Beijing.

    I left a PC on at home and used LOGMEIN free to access it using remote desktop sharing.

    Of course, sometimes the internet connection speeds are spotty. Sometimes spotty enough you just give up accessing the internet at all.

  21. 21.

    Paul in KY

    @amk: Maybe you can answer this conondrum for me. I work with several Indian nationals. A couple of times I have asked them ‘what time is it now in India?’. Say for example it is 2200 over here when I ask the question. They have answered that it is ‘1030’ or something like that (after consulting their watches for a few secs). Note that the minutes are 1/2 hour off. So far as I know all timezones are in 1 hour increments.

    Are they just fucking with me, or is there some kind of within-the-subcontinent breakdown within whatever timezone or zones India is in?

    Appreciate your answer.

  22. 22.

    West of the Cascades

    it is SO glorious to have adblock on — the blogad is gone but the Tunch-endorsed products and Pet calendar are still visible!

  24. 24.

    mick

    @paul in KY:

    some places are on the half-hour, as in “GMT+5:30” for Bhopal.

    Kathmandu is gmt+5:45, as is Pokhara and a handfull of other real oddballs.

    last time i was in china, Digby was completely blocked in Beijing. she has been for years. no idea why.

    right now i am in Conakry, Guinea. i have a mac laptop with the aluminum case. hotel wiring is such that every time i touch the case i get a mild shock. third world electrical code is non-existent.

  26. 26.

    Isidor

    This is “Brian” and I really apprecaite mistermix introducing these two posts to all of you. Definitely open to hearing any thoughts you may have. And it’s a bonus to see some other “in-China” people here.

    @slag: Thanks and looks forward to hearing any comments you have.

    @jeffreyw: We hear you just fine in lowercaps. That actually raises the issue that some in China aren’t aware of how all caps can “sound”. Thankfully, politely (in private) pointing it out to people usually leads to a lower volume in the future.

    @Michael Demmons: I was actually pondering a similar question — how did any YouTube message get through if it’s blocked in China? For now, I’ll raise two potentially relevant points. One is that I hadn’t cleaned cookies, files, etc. from the browser before testing Balloon Juice (I did it separately from the formal testing I reference in the post). So, YouTube may have previously preloaded this message onto my computer (while I was using a VPN and able to “get through” the firewall) for whenever needed. Two, my overall computer settings and browser settings are for English and YouTube should be able to detect that (though, sometimes things like that don’t work as one would hope).

    @MariedeGournay: It’s a short conversation but it certainly surprised me. Good to know you’re interested. It’s on my list.

  27. 27.

    sally

    I hope this link gets Isidor’s Fugue some more traffic, as it’s a very high-quality blog. And a breath of fresh air during election season.

    For a laugh, don’t miss the knock-off Apple stores Brian photographed a few weeks ago.

  28. 28.

    Paul in KY

    @mick: Thank you for answering. Never knew that some places did that. I didn’t think they were messing with me (almost all of them are very serious), but no one could really explain it.

    I guess the explanation is this is the way a particular goverement wants to do it.

  29. 29.

    amk

    @Paul in KY: India has got only one time zone and we are ahead of GMT by 51/2 hours. Since the US is all GMT – 1, – 2 etc., you get the 1/2 hour diff.

  32. 32.

    santla

    Basically, what Bain Capital did to GS Technologies and their workers is a miniature model of what they want and have been doing to America- extract the resources, enrich themselves, loot the Federal treasury, then tell the people there is no money left and we’re going to have to cut your pensions, your SS, and your medical care while they run off to overseas tax havens to deposit their loot while chanting about job creation and free markets. Bain and Mitt Romney pocketed $8 million for the price of a community, all these workers pay and benefits and pension, and $44 million in federal money.

  33. 33.

    Paul in KY

    @amk: Didn’t know you could officially have times that were not in 1 hour increments.

    Just an insular American having his horizons expanded…

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