- Nov 5, 2011
- 5,855
Mystery and Rumor Dominate China in the Time of Bo - for you all ..
Mystery and Rumor Dominate China in the Time of Bo : on businessweek.com : http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-04-30/mystery-and-rumor-dominate-china-in-the-time-of-bo
' .. Much of the political ferment originates on China’s unruly Internet, now with 485 million users and 300 million registered microbloggers. Despite its best efforts, including sophisticated monitoring software and legions of self censors at Sina and Tencent, the two biggest hosts of China’s Twitter-like weibo, Beijing struggles to control what is posted online. Even the most remote villages usually have rundown Internet bars, often filled with choking cigarette smoke. And even those who don’t have access to the net are recycling information that often first appeared in an online posting. “It is the first real elite political problem for China in the Internet age,” says Bill Bishop, an independent analyst in Beijing who monitors China’s media and Internet. “Sina Weibo is more powerful than [national state-owned broadcaster] CCTV in how the message gets out to the public.”
The political intrigue gripping China “is incredible,” says Duncan Clark, chairman of the British Chamber of Commerce in China. “It is the most interesting and alarming thing that has happened in the almost 20 years I have been in China. Who knows what will come next?” '
Mystery and Rumor Dominate China in the Time of Bo : on businessweek.com : http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-04-30/mystery-and-rumor-dominate-china-in-the-time-of-bo
' .. Much of the political ferment originates on China’s unruly Internet, now with 485 million users and 300 million registered microbloggers. Despite its best efforts, including sophisticated monitoring software and legions of self censors at Sina and Tencent, the two biggest hosts of China’s Twitter-like weibo, Beijing struggles to control what is posted online. Even the most remote villages usually have rundown Internet bars, often filled with choking cigarette smoke. And even those who don’t have access to the net are recycling information that often first appeared in an online posting. “It is the first real elite political problem for China in the Internet age,” says Bill Bishop, an independent analyst in Beijing who monitors China’s media and Internet. “Sina Weibo is more powerful than [national state-owned broadcaster] CCTV in how the message gets out to the public.”
The political intrigue gripping China “is incredible,” says Duncan Clark, chairman of the British Chamber of Commerce in China. “It is the most interesting and alarming thing that has happened in the almost 20 years I have been in China. Who knows what will come next?” '
