There is nothing "virtual" about the problems China's communist rulers confront with the internet. Although critical to China's goals of modernization and globalization, the internet threatens the political status quo. So no surprise at the government's often schizophrenic response to it: while broadly encouraging the internet's development, some party factions seek to suppress it by arresting IT entrepreneurs and web dissidents. Nonetheless, China's more than 35 million internet users - a number that doubles every nine months - have access to a wide variety of previously censored information, including sites that are officially banned.
There is nothing "virtual" about the problems China's communist rulers confront with the internet. Although critical to China's goals of modernization and globalization, the internet threatens the political status quo. So no surprise at the government's often schizophrenic response to it: while broadly encouraging the internet's development, some party factions seek to suppress it by arresting IT entrepreneurs and web dissidents. Nonetheless, China's more than 35 million internet users - a number that doubles every nine months - have access to a wide variety of previously censored information, including sites that are officially banned.