The Bold and the Beautiful

• Source: Global Times
• [22:27 November 26 2009]
• Comments

Attractive & addictive

Freedom of expression has entered a new phase, according to Hu Yong, a specialist in new media studies at the School of Journalism and Communication in Peking University.

Public intellectual bloggers, who used to play an insignificant role during the age of the Internet forum, are now taking center stage, he said.

There are three kinds of blog, he said:

• blogs by "angry youth", young urban residents expressing indignation towards social, cultural and ethical issues in contemporary China;

• mainstream blogs, written by the middle class in big cities, mostly talking about lifestyle and fashion; and

• business-related.

For many Chinese, blogging is a new way to take part in politics. As people have limited channels of political participation, this new channel is helpful and effective as far as Hu is concerned.

"The negative side is many bloggers are keen to make naïve and extreme criticisms, which lack systematic thinking," he said. "Without reasonable discussions, people cannot make sound judgments or find solutions to a problem."

It's only natural for Chinese bloggers to make irrational remarks, he said, as there was no such space for expression before and the Internet has become the only open outlet.

"As the flood from all over the country hits the same water gate, a violent eruption will definitely come up," he said. "The officials can't only blame web users for being irrational."

If the government could encourage the traditional media to open up, encourage social interactions, enhance direct communication between officials and common people and provide effective channels for citizens to participate in national affairs, the wild uproar and noise coming from netizens would gradually diminish, he said.

Traditional media editors trove the web for information or inspiration from popular blogs looking for a sharp point of view. The recent Shanghai taxi entrapment cases, for example, only gained nationwide attention after the stories were re-posted by Han Han on his popular blog.

"The right of saying is decentralized," Hu said. "Like a pyramid, it used to be controlled exclusively by people on the top, but now it is moving down to the bottom."

As bloggers eye the government more critically than traditional media, it is possible to form a culture of political participation based on discussions of citizen values and rights while Chinese society is transforming slowly, Hu argued.

Some people and organizations are even employing blogs to organize events and call for action.

Zhang Shihe, whose blog "Tiger Temple" is well-known for its grass-roots reporting, in December 2007 by chance discovered dozens of homeless people in the Qianmen area in Beijing. At that time, Qianmen Avenue was under renovation and the homeless took shelter in temporary shelters.

Zhang decided to find them a better and safer place to live by renting rooms for them in Daxing District of Beijing. He posted a call for small donations on his blog and soon received enough money from web users. Now 15 homeless people – mostly seniors and disabled – live in five rooms at a rental of 160-180 yuan per month each room.

Zhang covered his own long trips by bike to a number of provinces for three consecutive years since 2007. During the latest trip starting in August, he kept sending photos and videos via mobile phone and computer to his blog and Twitter.

After first learning how to type, Ai Weiwei soon discovered the benefits of blogging, spending more than 10 hours a day uploading pictures, posting interviews with other modern artists and making comments on the latest hot public affairs.

"Expressing oneself is like a drug," he said. "I'm so addicted to it."

Whether or not a person can become a free individual totally depends on whether that person can obtain information independently and whether he has the opportunity to express his own voice, according to Ai.

This channel of communication did not exist in the past. Most people never made themselves heard from cradle to grave.

"Only with the Internet can a peasant I have never met hear my voice and I can learn what's on his mind," he said. "A fairy tale has come true."

The elite always emphasize the grassroots channel to speak out, Wang Xiaofeng said.

"When the public want a voice, they will look hard for a channel, whether it's blog, Internet forum or word of mouth."