Net Breaches Chinese Wall
May 01, 2011
In a room Sana Lina described as poorly lit and cramped, the 32-year-old sat at his desk and furiously typed on his computer in Chinese. Mr. Linda is just one member of China's information revolution. In 2010 the Chinese purchased more than one million personal computers--up 55% from the previous year. After Japan, China is the fastest-growing computer market in Asia with more potential customers than any other country in the world. Equipped with computers, many Chinese seek access to the Internet, sending e-mail messages, joining newsgroups on Usenet or visiting sites on the World Wide Web to gather information on culture, politics, philosophy and history. ``The Internet allows me to write to others about issues I couldn't imagine being open about before. Forget cross-Strait relations, negotiations are already happening between us--the mainlanders and the Taiwanese--on the Internet,'' wrote Mr. Linda via e-mail from his home in the southern portion of Beijing. Users such as Mr. Linda correspond in Chinese with increasing ease. Advances in computer software allow them to type in Chinese characters instead of struggling to communicate in English. ``The increase is incredible. With affordable and efficient Chinese software programs, users from around the world are on the Internet using their native language every day to discuss politics as well as conduct business,'' said Alexander Hutson, who monitors AsianNet and TaiwanNet, two popular Web sites. ``But what is really encouraging is that the Chinese Internet community is becoming as varied as the English Internet community.'' The most noticeable place for diversity of information in Chinese is on the Web, the graphical portion of the Internet. There, Web sites, often with pictures and sound as well as text, range from information on Chinese medicinal practices and modern history to one that provides information on Buddhist texts with a thorough bibliography of hundreds of related books and articles. Many Web sites, while catering primarily to a Chinese-language audience, also provide information in English. One such site offers information about Singapore, developed by the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce. The most widely visited part of this site is a bulletin board for Chinese companies seeking international business opportunities. All information is available in English as well as traditional and simplified Chinese, and visitors can send inquiries via e-mail links on the page. In addition to visiting Web sites, thousands of Chinese users have already joined Usenet, where users discuss topics in forums, or newsgroups. Hundreds of Chinese-language newsgroups already exist, and new ones spring up on the Internet each day. One newsgroup devotes itself to China in the post-Deng era. Another concerns itself with the latest hairstyles in Shanghai. Yet others ponder the Chinese classics--one group contemplates Tang poetry, while another dissects the Tao Te Ching. ``How odd that we are looking at poems written so many years ago on the Internet. I wonder what the Tang poets would think of our dialogue,'' said Saran Chanda, a Chinese literature student at Beijing University. ``The discussions we have include students of Chinese literature all over the world--this allows us to have up-to-date knowledge of the latest schools of thought in America, Europe and of course Asia.'' While the newsgroups may be diverse in topic, most have one notion in common--they do not welcome people who can't read and write in Chinese. ``Those who can't keep up with the pace of discussion because of lack of Chinese-language experience aren't as dynamic and interesting as those who can,'' said Marotta Hsu-Hulda, a student at Taiwan University, in a telephone interview. ``Our discussions assume a high level of understanding regarding Chinese and Taiwanese politics, and this means members should know how to read and write Chinese.'' But all the Chinese language skills in the world won't help without a basic understanding of the necessary communications technology. Whether posting messages to Usenet newsgroups, or looking at Web pages, differences in ASCII coding, or raw text, can mean that the Chinese characters may appear as garbage, or unrecognizable letters. Most Web browsers will display Chinese characters on pages properly by changing a setting within the software application. Or, users can purchase a program specifically for character translation, such as Vastsoft Windows 3.1 Chinese edition, Twinbridge or Unionway. These programs allow users to type in Chinese--with the option of simplified or complex characters. Because typical computer keyboards cannot accommodate full-blown Chinese characters straightforwardly, the new software requires a two-step process. First, the user must type in the Chinese word via a simplified transliteration method, which offers options for notating tones. Then the program allows the user to select the right character. Learning how to use the language programs can be challenging, since different countries use different codes to read and write Chinese. Another challenge to communication is if users operate incompatible software programs. Bryan Hale, a Chinese literature student at the University of Colorado at Boulder, said that he knows how to use the Chinese-language software but those he corresponds with often do not use the same software to decode the characters. ``Our messages in Chinese come across in gibberish.'' For would-be Sino-netsurfers, the net itself offers assistance in the form of two newsgroups that answer questions regarding Chinese-language communication: ``alt.chinese.text,'' and ``alt.chinese.text.big5.'' A far more serious challenge than orthography comes to this growing Internet community from Beijing. According to press reports, recently the government threatened that Internet users would have to register with the government. ChinaNet, the country's main Internet service provider, placed a temporary cap on the number of new users. While many Chinese Internet users suspect political motivations, most remain optimistic about the future of information exchange in this medium. Mr. Linda, finishing off the last of the 30 e-mails he said he sent during the day, wrote: ``The Internet is pervasive, especially when new communications technologies continue to emerge. It would be near impossible to block Internet access completely--even in China.'' Ms. Worthen is a staff member of Vast Press Television.
