Google stops censorship in China

While Spring is something to cheer for, as it battles on with coldness and Winter, there is something else going on worth more of our attention.

By now most should know the ongoing saga between Google and the Chinese government. While Google is the champion of freedom with its “Don’t be evil” slogan, it has attracted criticism for complying with the censorship when entering the China market. Things seem to have turn 180 degrees a few weeks ago when Google threatens to pull out of China. It cited a few cyber attacks on the Gmail account of a few Chinese activities (and such attacks in general) as the reason. It also wants to stop complying with the strict censorship the Chinese government imposes.

Now it has just done that! After talks broke down between the two parties, Google seems to have gone for it. www.google.cn would now be directed to www.google.com.hk where there is uncensored search results. Sensitive topics such as the Tiananmen Massacre and Fa Lung Gong are now available as search results. While I’m not sure if people in China are able to access it like I do, this is what I get

The homepage says “欢迎您来到谷歌搜索在中国的新家” or “Welcome to the new home of Google in China”.

I think this is a historic movement. It shows that there are still individuals and organizations willing to stand up for what is right. While how much effect this has on the freedom of speech in China is yet to be seen, I would like to thank Google for taking such a big step. It is hard not to succumb to political pressure and economic gains, and whatever the true intention of Google, it has my full respect.

However, this should not be a moment of triumph, but just a glimpse of hope. The next thing to follow is almost certainly the complete ban of Google in China. The road to freedom and democracy is far and long.

UPDATE: People in China are unable to view any uncensored search results due to the firewall. This has turned out to be a mere symbolic gesture. No real benefit for the netizens.

Cambridge Diary VI

Lent term is over. It’s not over for me until after the 2 supervisions tomorrow. I will be packing and leaving this lovely town. It is definitely time to give a short hiatus to this mad pace. The feeling this time is a little bit different. Last term seems to have been forever, with all the excitement of new environment and friends. Then after the Christmas holiday, things just whoosh pass, and now here I am again for another holiday.

Oh well it will definitely not be a normal holiday. There are just so much to study and revise. I was barely afloat at the start of the term, and when the waves started coming in week 4 or 5 I was drowned immediately. Some people find it really easy though. Maybe they don’t find it “easy”, but they can juggle rowing, partying and study at the same time, when one of them would have easily killed me. If you are not smart enough, but pretend to be so by being in a good school, you know what I mean.

Enough said about how hard life is. Just want to give a brief summary the term. I had poorer time management. Did less work, and in the meantime socialized less as well. No idea where the time has gone too. I used to pace my work, so that I do not need to cram too much in one night. For this term, the situation is like this. The deadline is the next day, and I had not even started on a single question yet.

I will stop thinking about all these now and start packing.