CRF-2005-03-text.qxd 9/8/05 3:14 PM Page 102

LOGGING ON IN CHINA’S INTERNET CAFÉS

AN HRIC FIELD SURVEY1

China’s reputation as the second most ever, the dominant media focus on the exponential growth in “wired” country in the world conceals the online netizens neglects the reality of China’s digital divide and its implications for equitable distribution of access to tech- vast access gulf that exists between the nology,information and an expanding virtual public space. urban elite and less advantaged groups. More than 25 percent of China’s online population depends on Internet cafés as an online access point.6 Outside of large urban areas, among China’s most vulnerable With more than 100 million users online,2 China is now sec- groups—adults and children of migrants, rural populations ond only to the United States in the number of its people and ethnic minorities—low levels of home computer owner- accessing the Internet. Given current growth rates, this number ship mean that 80 percent of Internet users are able to access is expected to reach 300 million by 2008.3 The online popula- the Internet only through Internet cafés.7 Away from the more tion today is fueling Web sites, community forums, blogs, affluent coastal regions of Beijing, Shanghai,Tianjin and online games and more—in recent months, estimates for the Guangdong,8 Internet cafés become the only resource avail- number of bloggers have reached as high as five million,4 able for many users.9 The six most underdeveloped provinces while online gamers have been placed at 20 million.5 How- comprise less than one percent of China’s entire Internet pop- ulation;10 in contrast to the wealthy,urban elite who have easy access to Internet-enabled home, office and even school com- puters, the economically disadvantaged have to rely almost exclusively on Internet cafés for online communication, information, and expression. Internet café closures11 and the stiff, complex maze of regu- lations that govern these cafés,12 disproportionately impact population groups who are not among the wealthy,urban elite. For these groups, Internet cafés represent their most prac- tical, and perhaps only,point of access to the Internet.13 In an effort to better understand the situation regarding access to online information that these groups are experiencing, and the actual environment of China’s Internet cafés, both physical and virtual, Human Rights in China (HRIC) conducted a limited preliminary field survey of thirty-five Internet cafés in eight cities across the central southern and eastern regions of China between July and August of 2005. This field survey describes the availability and locations of cafés surveyed; software and hardware installed, including censorship and surveillance software and practices; and user demographics and ambiance inside the cafés.Although there was some disparity in technology,for the most part, the cafés encountered possessed excellent hardware and Internet con- nection speed regardless of socio-economic location. Unsur- A web café in Xi’an with an older clientele. The user on the first machine prisingly,online gaming and chatting comprised the most is playing a puzzle game, while the woman at the second terminal uses popular activities, but not all cafés were devoted to gaming or QQchat. The man in the rear is watching a movie. Photo: HRIC to the traditional younger male clientele.The survey found CRF-2005-03-text.qxd 9/8/053:14PMPage103 ue,aduls ietdt pcfcmcie would selecta andunlessdirected toaspecific machine, puter, we those passedinthecourseofgeneraltransitaround thecity Cafésincloseproximity otheror toeach actually surveyed. Targeting highprobability astransportation sitessuch 4. Walking inthemore compressed oncitystreets (primarily 3. withlocalshopkeepers andvendors Inquiring for locations; 2. Usingpublic networks transportation inNan- (primarily 1. methods: we ofthefield cafésselectedtobeincludedaspart surveyInternet andscopeofsurvey Methodology installed onallcomputerssurveyed withoutexception. fo However, theofficial oversight inphysical lacking in thecafés. the notable exceptionofanalmostuniversal absence ofminors caféswereInternet enforced haphazardly andunequally—with andregulations theofficial that rules govern ingeneral, that, rm re re neacf a oae,thesurveyor would request acom- Once acaféwas located, Most citiescontainedmany more cafésthanthenumber areas. commercialcentersortourist hubs, and Guiyang andNanchang); asXi’an, city centerareas such ZhengzhouandChangsha); jing,

located through theoneormore ofthefollowing generally not surveyed independently. w as present virtually, as monitoring software was asmonitoring as present virtually, secured web location. c an exploration ofthemachine’s hardware andsoftware anda politically-oriented and various Web was followed sites.This by GoogleandGMail Webwith several simpleFlashgames, sites, c ve thesur- For café, each andleavingpatrons entering thecafé. inordertoallowdoor was chosen additionalobservations of facing the a machine Ifpossible, the actionsofotherpatrons. sufficientlyterminal far intothecafétoafford abetterview of hnsa ua 4 6 5 6 3 0 3 6 0 8 0 9 8 Hunan Changsha, 3 1 5 Guizhou Guiyang, 1 K Sichuan Chengdu, #ofCafés Surveyed 20 Shaanxi Xi’an, Henan Zhengzhou, Jiangsu Nanjing, #ofCafés Visited Shanghai Shandong Qingdao, Beijing Province City, T acag inx 4 5 T Jiangxi Nanchang, tl7 35 70 otal heck ofbandwidth beforeheck theresults were uploadedtoa specificallyhecking for accesstotheHRIC a WebWeb site, site nig unn44 4 Yunnan unming, able 1: Overview of Internet cafésvisitedandsurveyed. ofInternet able 1:Overview y or spentapproximately onehourbrowsing theInternet,

GLOBAL COMMUNICATION—THE VIRTUAL FRONTIER 103 CHINA RIGHTS FORUM NO. 3, 2005 CRF-2005-03-text.qxd 9/8/05 3:14 PM Page 104

Table 2: Overview of the most popular games encountered Although the Internet café experience of an obvious out- during the survey. sider is inevitably different from that of locals, it is still possible Origin to observe and draw valid conclusions.Technical considera- Name Category Developer Nationality tions do not change, but culturally,the reaction towards an Counterstrike First Person Shooter Sierra Entertainment U.S. outsider or foreigner is entirely different from that directed at Grand Theft Auto a Chinese citizen.With this in mind, it was critical to pay more Vice City First Person Shooter Rockstar Games Great Britain attention to the surroundings than the experience; for exam- Puzzle Games Puzzle Games Bianfeng* China ple, watching the front desk to see what was asked of people WOOOL MMORPG Shanda Entertainment China entering and leaving, noting the uses other clients were mak- The Legend ing of the computers, and observing the attention being paid of Mir II MMORPG Wemade Entertainment Korean towards them by café employees or official monitors. Everquest 2 MMORPG Sony Online U.S. Entertainment Availability and locations World of Warcraft MMORPG Blizzard Entertainment U.S. Most cities have Internet cafés widely available regardless of Age of Empires 2 Real Time Strategy Microsoft U.S. neighborhood.While the majority of cafés surveyed were Starcraft Real Time Strategy Blizzard Entertainment U.S. located in mid- to high-end commercial neighborhoods, Warcraft 3 numerous cafés could also be found in low-end commercial Frozen Throne Real Time Strategy Blizzard Entertainment U.S. and residential neighborhoods. Red Alert 2 Real Time Strategy Westwood Studios U.S. The “genre,” type and quality of cafés tended to differ NBA 2005 Sports Game Electronic Arts U.S. based on location; those in higher income neighborhoods pos- sessed more modern hardware and software, as well as gener- FIFA 2005 Sports Game Electronic Arts U.S. ally more comfortable surroundings than those located in less Need For Speed Underground 2 Racing Game Electronic Arts U.S. prosperous areas. Cafés found in low-end commercial and resi- dential zones tended to fall into two main categories.Although Crazy Taxi Racing Game Sega U.S. highly similar in appearance, their target audience/patronage Heroes of Might and Magic Turn Based Strategy Ubisoft U.S. was widely diverse. The first consisted of gaming cafés, frequented primarily by Diablo 2 Roleplaying Game Blizzard Entertainment U.S. younger adults, with computers optimized for games (e.g., * Acquired by Shanda Entertainment in July 2004. higher memory/CPU).The second consisted of cafés fre-

A web café in Zhengzhou showing the common practice of multiple people sharing a single computer. Photo: HRIC CRF-2005-03-text.qxd 9/8/053:14PMPage105 aktivsos Revenue $298 from onlinegamesreached market investors. anditssuccesshascometothe noticeofmany of theInternet, hasprofiteding industry from extraordinarily theproliferation China’s gam- online gamingastaple cafés, activityinInternet (Massively Multi-player OnlineRole-playing Games).With isgaming—particularly onlineMMORPGs their clientele, of andthesourceofmuch cafés, usefor Internet A primary Gaming Software we computersavailable by olderpatrons.The quented primarily f usually only the to have minimalgamingsoftware installed, surfing andonlinechatting.These computerswere more likely aé,aswell asacollectionofsimplepuzzle-typegames. café), irst personshooter re oped in1979at EssexUniversity by Roy Trubshaw, Devel-to connectplayers through networked computers. the ground-breaking gamethat was thefirst ever domain”), and “multi-user ously expandedto “multi-user dungeon” lion users. article June2005 a Inarecent example, world. the “real” Vi Recent developments Online Systemsreleased thefirstIn 1997Origin MMORPG, ofonlinegaming Brief overview puter games. (MMORPGs) are thelatest innovation inthedesignofcom- Massively Multiplayer OnlineRole-playing Games Gaming BackgrounderSidebar or fight each other.or fight each defeat particularly powerful creatures trade different skills, v v travel tonew locales andaccumulate rare and on quests, players depart theircharacters, and well-equipped.Through they tobecomeincreasingly build upexperience powerful worldcomplex virtual where over thecourseofgame a they are able tocustomizethephysical In many instances, racesandspecializations. from ofpossible avariety species, the foundations for today’s onlinegamingindustry. thriving paving rooms, ofinterconnectedchat composed ofaseries games allowed userstointeractinafantasy environment of otherMUDsthat are stillwidely played today.These text-based adventure gamewould eventually spawn ofahost ppearance of their characters.These avatarsppearance oftheircharacters.These existinalarge, ieadtx esgn ytm,andcometogetherto oice andtextmessaging systems, lal epn n aia tm.Playersaluable interactusing weapons andmagical items.

r often far tothoseinthetypicalcaféusedfor inferior web tual interactionsandneedsseem toeasily blur thelinesof Players by ofMMORPGsbuild choosing acharacter , which grewwhich mil- more thanaquarter toincorporate 2 r eported that aShanghaimanreceivedeported asuspended Ultima Online Counterstrike w as agraphical update toMUD(vari- 14 (a staple fixture inevery China Daily 1 the Ultima 2005. openedinBeijingMarch treating addiction” “Internet thefirst government-operated clinic China’s boom, Internet inresponse to Purportedly gamers are genuine addicts. have fueledanon-goingdebate over whetherhabitual ov death sentencefor adispute amurder committedduring million in2004, and Baidu.comhave generated only highlightsthestarkdispar- asShanda Theflushofexcitementthat companiessuch scape. nent toemerge from China’s rapidly developing land- Internet Baidu.com’s isonly story thelatest andmostpromi- Google, growth of116percent from theprevious year. a market andrecorded revenues of$132millionin2004, controls 60percentofthedomestic online gameoperator, percent increase from its$27IPOprice. ticipate intheprogram. and The9 have NetEase, pledgedtopar- including Shanda, and high-profilesuch titlesas including phase inOctoberaffecting more thantengames, willbeginatrial body regulates onlinegaming, which thegovernmental tration ofPress andPublications (GAPP), announcedby theGeneral Adminis- The new restrictions, fi game willbeforced towithdraw from thegamefor at least who spendmore thanfive continuous hoursinanonline .Cr eda,“Chinagovernment stepsuplimitsononlinegam- Feldman, Curt 5. 2005, 25, BBCNews,August Chinaimposesonlinegamingcurbs,” 4. July 1, Press, “Beijingclinicministerstoonlineaddicts,”Associated 3. 2. 1. NOTES the number ofhoursplayers spendonMMORPGS; playing gamesorchatting.marathon hoursanddays online, operator, y China, enginein mostwidely-used search market.The Nasdaq stock generated amedia frenzy withits August 2005listingonthe w $1.3 billionby 2009. a,Shandawas rated theworld’sear, highestvalued onlinegame ve rd China’s home-grown enginegiantBaidu.com search orld, er a virtual itemvalueder avirtual at over 7,000 ing,” http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4183340.stm. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8430811/. 2005, content_449494.htm. http://www2.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-06/08/ “Death sentencefor onlinegamer,”Li Cao, history,” http://www.ludd.luth.se/mud/aber/mud-history.html. “Early MUD 1990, November 19, e-mailto Alan Cox, Bartle, Richard oercnl,ChinahasannouncedmeasuresMore tolimit recently, Not tobeovershadowed by theonlineentertainment com/news/2005/08/24/news_6131845.html.

hours, or their character willsuffer reduced ortheircharacter abilities. hours, Lineage II 3 19 Most ofitspatients are youths whohave spent Gamespot News Baidu.com endeditsfirst day onNasdaqwitha354 18 supplanting Taiwan gamingcompany NCSoft. . China’s mostprominent gameoperators, 15 ,A and analysts expectthemarket togrow to gs 4 05 http://www.gamespot. 2005, ugust 24, 16 5 hnaEtranet China’s leading Shanda Entertainment, Wo r ld of Warcraft China Daily yuan 20 , T Hailed asthenext he Legend ofMirII .S uch incidents uch 17 , ue8 2005, June 8, That same 4 players

GLOBAL COMMUNICATION—THE VIRTUAL FRONTIER 105 CHINA RIGHTS FORUM NO. 3, 2005 CRF-2005-03-text.qxd 9/8/05 3:14 PM Page 106

A web café in Guiyang showing the standard central room with semi-private booths along the right wall. Photo: HRIC

ity illustrated by the very real and very rapidly increasing digi- were markedly nationalistic; in one, set in Shanghai during the tal divide that China is facing today. time of the Japanese invasion, players employ street warfare tac- At the time of this survey,the most popular of the tics to hunt down and eliminate legions of Japanese soldiers. MMORPGs was World of Warcraft, which could be found on Most cafés optimized for gaming had 20 to 30 different nearly every café computer. One month after its official release online role-playing games, with titles available from both for- in China, Blizzard Entertainment issued a press release claim- eign and domestic companies. ing more than 1.5 million Chinese subscribers, compared with two million subscribers in North America, Europe,Australia Instant messaging software and Korea combined.21 Without exception, every single Internet café computer World of Warcraft is closely tied into the general marketing encountered had installed at least one form of instant messag- culture targeted at youths.At the time of this survey,a nation- ing software.The most popular, QQchat23 (developed by Ten- wide promotional campaign was well underway,with the pop- cent), has spread to a level where it has even inspired stores to ular singing group S.H.E. featured prominently on advertising carry a variety of clothing bearing its logo and trademark. It billboards for Coca-Cola, dressed in the costumes and armor of was not uncommon to come across young people who did not World of Warcraft characters. Promotional codes, given away have email addresses, but did have instant messaging accounts. under the caps of Coca-Cola bottles, could be redeemed for Students use their cell phone’s text messaging functionality to half an hour of playing time. establish times to meet online for chat sessions. Many cafés Unlike American MMORPGs, which generally use credit card also had webcams available for video chats, which were payment systems, Chinese MMORPGs use pre-paid money cards observed to be used quite frequently. to validate accounts.22 A money card with a value of 30 yuan pur- chases 60 hours of play time, which is credited to an account User software through the Internet. Registering a card to create an account In addition to a wide variety of games and chatting software, requires providing the identification number of a government the most common software installed on Internet café comput- issued ID card. In addition, it is possible to connect only to game ers were Microsoft programs, including Microsoft Internet servers physically located inside China; servers from the United Explorer,Windows Media Player and Microsoft Word. States, Korea and Japan were found to be inaccessible. In general, the systems did not appear designed to protect Other interesting games found in the cafés included the against user interference.This survey found that the user could popular first person shooter Counterstrike, the fantasy MMORPG install new controls onto the machines (for example, Macro- The Legend of Mir II, and various games developed in China. Some media Flash Player, Java and other simple application software) CRF-2005-03-text.qxd 9/8/053:15PMPage107 ing how computerhadbeeninuse. longeach andmonitor- the centralconsoletoenable anddisable access, asallowing such software alsoprovided caféspecific functions, the keyword filtration andgeneralcensorship, to monitoring, Inaddition Both were designedspecifically cafés. for Internet 0s withvery few olderpeople in evidence.40’s, cafésappearedusing Internet tobeintheirlate 20’s tomid Mostofthe adults gaming audienceoranolderaudience. their presence. patronage by studentssuggestedactive discouraging deterrents of thelack directly across thestreet from amiddleschool, where at leastonecaféwas located Qingdao, the caseof we Although the primary purpose ofthecaféswas toprovide purpose Although theprimary W cafés surveyed, net. ab to bemore movies oftenwatching were (which readily avail- f couldbe aswell asmanual workers, older professionals, y caféclienteletiltedheavilyAlthough theInternet towards P Ambience werehard drives wipedandreplaced onaregular basis. showed noevidence ofprevious would suggestthat users.This they generally security), (suggesting generally pooranti-virus and ofvirus puters hadavariety Trojan horseprograms running were allthecom- seeninseveral cafés.Although uncommon, ab although mostdidhave oneortwo open andavail- USBports floppy drives), CD/DVD-rom drives, access bays (for example, Megabytes ofmemory. aswere computerswith512 (GHz)wereGigahertz common, r theadvancedconsistent withthedesire tosupport system caféshadexcellenthardwareMost computersintheInternet Hardware use—PubWin Tw Monitoring software tionality ontheDesktop. mousebuttonmanually func- commandsorusetheright run the Control Panel and Task anddidnotallow usersto Manager, but deniedaccessto allowedterminals programs, userstorun minal software program tosubstantially limituseractions.The w exceptiontothis issues.The intopermissions without running ud ahrta aig theolderpatrons were observed Rather thangaming, ound. qieet fmdr ae.CPUspeedsinexcessof2 games. equirements ofmodern ugml tdns asignificant number ofwomen and oung malestudents, atrons eb orcafé si uyn,where every singlecafésurveyed usedater- as inGuiyang, et onc aea rfahdie.Fahdie,while Flashdrives, le toconnectcamerasorflashdrives. le from anumber ofonlinesources)orsurfing theInter- re o primary monitoring software packages monitoring wereo primary invisible ngnrl caféswere found tofocus oneitherayounger In general, Minors (youths under18)were rarely seenintheInternet didnothave themachines exterior Generally speaking,

often located incloseproximity tomiddleschools. 24 25 (by far themostpopular)and WebWatcher. ev ni iga n te iis where cafés en inQingdaoandothercities, 26 In pose of computer and Internet access.pose ofcomputerandInternet pur- whofocused ontheprimary ignored by thecafépatrons, generally employed minimalistefforts that were largely f visit. was refilled periodically which for themthroughout their ity ofcafésprovided patrons withfree teaorboiledwater, f othersalsohadsnack from coolerinthefront; arefrigerated Mostcaféssoldcolddrinks nomenclature. to theirderived many cafésdemonstrated aneffort tolive up computer access, ajn 1pret19percent 37percent 35percent 31percent 17percent 81percent 17percent 63percent 65percent 18percent T 69percent Nanjing 83percent Zhengzhou Xi’an percentofFemale 83percent Patrons Chengdu 82percent K percentofMalePatrons Guiyang Changsha Nanchang City T The cost of using computers in the Internet caféswas generallyThe costofusingcomputersin the Internet Pricing cafés Using Internet lined withcomputers. The caféswere generally setupasonelarge room oftables Layout neighbors withfewer amenities. themore elegantcaféswere similarly to oftenpriced hoods, inpoorneighbor- borhood thantothequalityofcafé; seemed tobefar more closely tiedtothestatus oftheneigh- However, prices tending tohave amore comfortable ambiance. with cafésinmore affluentneighborhoods lated toprice, an expensive restaurant. f containing ofsmallspaceseach but rather aseries tral room, ofsmallapartments.been aseries plumbingindicated that onecaféhadpreviouslyof kitchen thepresence In Xi’an, ing spaceswithminimalmodifications. general view. several cafes hadseparate smallrooms closedofffrom tion, In addi- ally occupiedby groups whohadcomeintogether. withfour tosixcomputersgener- edges ofthemainroom, enclosedboothscouldbefound alongthe small, many cafés, In withseveral onescreen. peoplewatching congregate, where peoplecould(anddid) vided behindthemachines, o evc.Hwvr pr rmtoei hnsa thecafés However, apart from thoseinChangsha, ood service. u optr n oa,withanambiancesimilar tothat of our computersandsofas, oods or dried noodlesavailable sizableoods ordried minor- for purchase.A tl7 ecn 30percent 70percent otal nig5 ecn 43percent 57percent unming able 3: Gender distribution in surveyed Internet cafes. Internet able 3:Genderdistributioninsurveyed Other cafés (primarily inChangsha)wentOther cafés(primarily sofar astooffer The décor in the Internet cafésseemedtoberoughlyThe décorintheInternet corre- On theotherextreme was acaféinChangshawithnocen- caféshadclearly beenbuilt intopre-exist- In poorer areas, 28 27 A widearea ofspacewas oftenpro-

GLOBAL COMMUNICATION—THE VIRTUAL FRONTIER 107 CHINA RIGHTS FORUM NO. 3, 2005 CRF-2005-03-text.qxd 9/8/05 3:15 PM Page 108

based on an hourly charge, with prices rounded up or down to Xi’an, Chengdu and Guiyang, cafés in the immediate vicinity the nearest whole or half denomination. Most cafés required of the train station were closed and shuttered, while in Kun- users to submit a deposit of 5 to 20 yuan prior to use, with the ming only four active cafés were found.Three additional cafés remainder refunded at the time the patron left the café. Other had clearly recently been in business, but were no longer open. methods included pre-paying for a set amount of time (with Given the generally busy nature of the remaining establish- no refund of any remaining balance), or simply paying post- ments, it seemed unlikely that the cafés had closed for purely usage. Prices ranged from 1.5 yuan to 4 yuan per hour in direct economic reasons. proportion to the class of neighborhood. Although not as well-equipped as those in more wealthy Addressing the challenges of access and censorship neighborhoods, the quality of computers was not a significant A comprehensive understanding of the Internet café environ- factor for cafés in poor neighborhoods.Those locations often ment in China will require the investigation of significantly still possessed excellent bandwidth and modern hardware at a more Internet cafés in additional locations, such as Xinjiang lower price than a café in a high-end commercial neighbor- and Tibet.However, this initial research effort was valuable in hood, which might have poorer bandwidth and computers at a gaining a more informed appreciation of the operating envi- higher cost.The time of day was also a variable in pricing, with ronment of Internet cafés, as well as a first-hand awareness of the peak hours of 4:00–10:00 p.m. often costing one yuan to the practical issues facing Internet café users in China. two yuan more per hour than less popular times. Although this brief survey seemed to suggest that many of the official regulations governing Internet cafés are selectively Registration policies enforced and inconsistently implemented, their existence still Despite official regulations requiring registration with a gov- places all Internet cafés in a precarious situation and creates an ernment issued ID,29 registration policies at Internet cafés environment that encourages self-censorship and fear.Without seemed to vary widely by region. In the north and the east, knowing when or where monitoring is going on, the only registration requirements were minimal, while in the southern viably safe option for the Internet café user is to assume that all and western regions they were enforced far more strictly. actions are being watched and recorded. Cafés that did not ask for identification often still had a reg- Internet cafés are an integral component in bridging the istration book at the front desk, in which staff members were digital divide by offering access to the Internet and all its seen to write apparently random identification numbers and resources to economically disadvantaged groups who do not names during their free time. have access through their homes, work or school.When Inter- net cafés are forced to adhere to regulations that deter and Web site Accessibility limit their usage, China’s most vulnerable groups are restricted HRIC’s Web site30 was inaccessible from any of the Internet from the full scope of information and interaction that is so cafés surveyed, which was expected given the results of previ- easily and readily available to the wired elite. ous studies.31 The Web site for China Labour Bulletin,32 a Hong The PRC has employed increasingly sophisticated systems Kong-based organization that promotes independent and of information control, including legal regulations, social and democratic unions in mainland China, was similarly unreach- policy controls, censorship and surveillance technology.34 As able.Web sites for The New York Times, CNN and the BBC were also documented in a recent study by Open Net Initiative, less than tried at each café.These English-language news Web sites were ten percent of the search results for terms such as “sex,” almost always reachable, with the few failed attempts plausibly “pornography” and “nude” were blocked, but more than 60 attributable to genuine technical issues. Prior to August 1, percent of Chinese-language sites with information on opposi- access to Google and Gmail was inconsistent at best, with only tion political parties were inaccessible.35 Impeding access to around 60 percent of attempts resolving appropriately.How- Internet cafés will effectively contribute to undermining and ever, during the month of August up through the end of this silencing the online voices of China’s underprivileged citizens. survey,access improved considerably,with only 10 percent of More research is needed to develop solutions to work attempts failing. towards addressing the related challenges of equal and fair Interestingly,these limited results ran contrary to recent access to information technologies and an uncensored and reports33 that found access to the BBC’s Web site consistently diverse virtual public space that will contribute to the strength- blocked from within China.The irregularity with which Web ening of the growing civil society in China. sites are blocked, both within the span of this short survey and in relation to other reports and comprehensive studies, lends additional evidence to the theory that China’s Internet censor- NOTES ship is fluid and constantly evolving. 1. Field research was carried out from July to August 2005 by “Ni Gaoren,” an HRIC consultant with more than six years of IT-related experience. Closed cafés 2. China Internet Network Information Center, 16th Statistical Survey Report on As previously noted, violations of several of the regulations the Internet Development in China, July 2005, p. 50. governing Internet cafés—particularly with regards to the 3. Steven Cherry,“The Net Effect”, IEEE Spectrum, June 1, 2005, http://www. presence of minors and registration—seemed to be common, spectrum.ieee.org/WEBONLY/publicfeature/jun05/0605cnet.html. apparently leaving cafés vulnerable to being shut down. In 4. As reported in “Blog founder seeks writ large,” South China Morning Post, CRF-2005-03-text.qxd 9/8/053:15PMPage109 18. Network ChinaInternet Information Centre, 10. 17. 16. study says,” “Onlinegaminggrowing fast inChina, DanNystedt, 15. seehttp://www.counter-strike.net. For more information, 14. “China’s Cafes require Internet heed,” 13. 12. anestimated 12,000Internet Between OctoberandDecember2004, 11. .“Chinaimposesonlinegamingcurbs,” 5. 8. China Internet Network ChinaInternet Information Center, 8. 6. China Internet Network ChinaInternet Information Center, 6. .Jc icunQuadLuigZhou QiuandLiuning Jack Linchuan 9. .“NolosersasChinagrows,” 7. thousand blogs,” “Death by a Kristof, place thenumber ofblogs D. at 4million(Nicholas being madethat ablogger canhave Otherestimates more thanoneblog. the number ofbloggers andthenumber ofblogs—with adistinction degree ofconfusionregarding seemstobeacertain tid=26700.There http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?paren- 2005, July 12, Internet usersare bloggingInternet online. official statistic that 10.5percentofChina’s estimated 103million Developmenttical Survey ofChina ontheInternet Report v b blogs wait to “InChina, gers at 300,000–600,000 (DanGillmor, news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4183340.stm. 21stcentury.com.cn/print.php?sid=15464. 21st Century http://www.fool.com/News/mft/2005/mft05020405.htm. 2005, Effect”, CountryStudy 2004–2005:A 267. p. 2005), SAGE Publications, edited Lokman Tsui (UK: No.2, net Café,” Development inChina the Internet UNICEF, the Internet Development inChina the Internet ikAitteMnri,“Shandaplays to win,” Rick Munarriz, Aristotle Ibid. 04/04/chinagaming/. News Service 269–273. pp. 2005), Publications, Contemporary ChinaStudies Café,” oftheInternet “Through thePrism “China’s Cafes require Internet heed,” Filmand Televisionof Radio, See alsohave powers. somesupervisory andState ofInformation Industry andtheMinistry Administration cafés, the information onthecomputersinInternet ofCulture supervises istry theMin- and Commerceissuesbusiness licensesandoffers registration, theState Administration for Industry cafés, ofInternet security Internet F WEBONLY/publicfeature/jun05/0605cnet.html. we cafélicenses 2100Internet 2005, andinMarch cafes were shutdown, Divide or example, the Ministry of Public Security oversees ofPublic theMinistry Security and spotsecurity or example, alley.com/mld/siliconvalley/10238306.htm).The CNNIC’s loom,” re F

rafrhrdsuso,seJc icunQuadLuigZhou Qiuand Liuning seeJack Linchuan discussion, or afurther , re July 2003. vo IEEE Spectrum San Jose MercuryNews, T k , he State ofthe World’s Children 2005 China Information:A Journal onContemporary ChinaStudies China Information:A , ed.The OpenNetInitiative, ed.The pi ,20,http://www.macworld.com/news/2005/ 2005, 4, April Ce ae tbgtm, coe 4 04 http://www. 2004, October14, “Chen makes itbigtime,” New YorkTimes , ue1 05 http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/ 2005, June 1, ,v l I,N.,eie omnTu U:SAGE editedLokman Tsui (UK: No.2, XIX, ol. , pi 4 05 1 Steven “TheNet Cherry, 11; 2005, 14, April ,J , oebr2,20,http://www.silicon- 2004, November 21, uy20,p 50. p. July 2005, China Daily nay20,p 5. p. anuary 2005, ,M ay

4 2005)andthenumber ofblog- 24, , China Business Weekly, “Through the Prism oftheInter- “Through thePrism China Business Weekly, , Internet FilteringinChina Internet BBC ac 0 04 ascitedin 2004, 20, March , eebr9 2004. December 9, China Information:A Journal on China Information:A ,A 15th Statistical Survey on Report 16th Statistical Survey on Report Overcoming China’s Digital gives aconservative gs 5 05 http:// 2005, ugust 25, T he MotleyFool a 8 2004. May 18, a 8 2004. May 18, ,Febr ,v 16th Statis- l XIX, ol. uary 4, uary IDG , 19. Don Lee, “Baidu.com went from unknown to No. 1 search enginein 1search “Baidu.comwent from unknown toNo. DonLee, 19. 7 For more information ontheregulated physical layout cafes, ofInternet 27. 6 Thisisapparently inviolation ofregulations mandating that Internet 26. “Baidugetsrousing welcome,” Paul Shread, 20. 8 o ute icsino nentcf rcn,seeQiuandZhou For cafépricing, discussiononInternet afurther 28. 5 eeal,rsrcin gis iosaea olw:minorsare prohib- against restrictions Generally, minorsare asfollows: 25. seehttp://www.pubwin.com.cn. For more information, 24. 23. thepre-paid cards Employed toovercome therampantpiracyinChina, 22. “World of BlizzardEntertainment, Warcraft 1.5MillionPaying Reaches 21. 5 h pnNtIiitv,p 3. p. TheOpenNetInitiative, 35. Censorship,” “ChinaNetStarCries 33. http://gb.china-labour.org.hk/gate/gb/big5.china-labour.org.hk/ 32. 3. p. TheOpenNetInitiative, 31. http://www.hrichina.org andhttp://www.zhongguorenquan.org. 30. 34. Sharon Hom,Amy Sharon “TheRiseoftheInternet Hom,Amy Tai Nichols, andGabriel 34. 9 See 29. China,” see QiuandZhou Cafes require heed,” See “China’s Internet cafés cannotoperate within220yards ofschools. Section 3. Notice on Additional Measures CaféOperations inOverseeing Internet Bureau, Public Security Administration for andCommerce, Industry b b Business Establishment y by entry that thoseunder18 prohibition orfail topostsignsbarring andoperators canbefined ifthey violate cafés, ited from usingInternet messenger/. globalvoices/ V postingtoGlobal Frank Dai, name andgovernment issuedidentification. m a In July 2005,Tencent announcedthat administrators ofQQGroups, network pointsthroughout China. ofdistribution The cardsare difficult toduplicate andare disseminated through awide b http://www.blizzard.com/press/050720.shtml.Customers inChina,” 3525711. http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/2005, public/main. and Advancing HumanRights,” 3. p. OpenNetInitiative, hi/world/asia-pacific/4496163.stm).The Great Firewall,” “Breaking down Kevin the Anderson, Net+Star+Cries+Censorship). (http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=13354&hed=China+ Zhou ascitedinQiuand ber 2002, (Hulianwang shangwangfuwu yingyechangsuo guanlitiaoli) p. aso g.State Council, ears ofage. ie nie uy2,20,http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/ 2005, July 21, oices Online, usiness/ usiness. usiness modelwas successfully pioneered by ShandaEntertainment. liue htfaue would berequired toregister withtheirreal feature, ulti-user chat 265. Regulations on The Administration ofBusinessSitesInternet Access Services Los Angeles Times la-fi-baidu23aug23,1,7686012.story?coll=la-headlines- 2005/07/21/china-real-name-registration-for-instant- BBC , ,N p. , Business Weekly pi 0 05 (http://newswww.bbc.net.uk/1/ 2005, 30, April ov 278. ,A . gs 3 05 http://www.latimes.com/ 2005, ugust 23, 5 02At 1 iityo utr,State ofCulture, Ministry 21; 2002,Art. 15, Measures for theadministration ofInternet Access Service China RightsForum, ,M , Red Herring p. ay 278.

8 2004. 18, Internetnews.com ,A gs 6 2005, ugust 26, ,A o 3(2004). No. rt ce2,29Septem- icle 23, ,M ,A ay

ugust 5, 6 2005, 26, ,

GLOBAL COMMUNICATION—THE VIRTUAL FRONTIER 109 CHINA RIGHTS FORUM NO. 3, 2005