Am I being censored?

Colleagues here in Beijing have been telling me that they have been unable to read my blog. This is all rather exciting - could it be that my blog is being censored? A bizarre thought: if my thoughts on the nature of sportswriting and the solace that comes from Tsing-tao are dangerous for the people of China, life here is even stranger than I thought.

No doubt it's all an error or a misinderstanding. And even if it was censored, the computer-literate Chinese - no small number - are all adept at dodging the clumsy bits of internet censorship by taking a slightly less obvious route towards the material they seek. You'll not meet an educated young Chinese person who doesn't know how to dance rings round the internet censors. Tibet? Amnesty? Just a few clicks away.

Meanwhile, I am here wondering if I have, indeed, run foul of the same censor. I suppose it's possible - I know there was a bit of disquiet when I wrote about a piece in the newspaper about the politicisation of the Olympic Games. I compared the Beijing Games  - but did not say they were identical - with the Berlin Games of 1936.

I also made the point that every Olympic Games is political, not excluding London in 2012 (or 1948, come to that). And when the Games come to London, those who talk about Tibet and Darfur will have every opportunity to discuss the behaviour of the British nation, and to question, for example, the British decision to go to war in Iraq.

So perhaps I should revel in the alleged censorship of this blog, and start telling you all about the iniquities of the Chinese and giving you my right-on in-your-face views about them. But a lot of people have done this sort of thing already, me included. I am not about to forget them. But right now, I am interested in the way China is presenting itself to the world through these Games.

And there seems to me to be an official China, uniformed, paranoid and preposterous, and an unofficial China full of real people, many of them young and hoping to make a bit of a go of their lives and to have some fun while they're about it. Guess which China I'll be cheering for.

Do you want to be judged by your government? Well then. How much more so must this be the case when democracy is still a dangerous and fearful local affair? It seems to me that the people here are living in two different centuries: the old men of government are stuck in in the previous one, while the young go-getters live in the eternal now of youth and change and ambition.

Which of course, has nothing to do with sport - and everything. Is it a sportswriter's job to write of nothing but forehands and backhands, 4-4-2 and 3-5-1? Or do you try and engage with the place and the wider implications of what you see and what happens before you and all around you?

The answer, of course, is as always, both. Both approaches have their point, each has its limitations. Neither way is superior. Each has its own legitimacy, and each has a special legitimacy in the context of the other. I shall sit beside my specialist colleagues when, at last, the action comes, and will learn from them. And draw conclusions of my own, with a bit of luck.

Meanwhile, here's a message to my censors, if any: I think the young Chinese people I have met are all great, and I wish them all the luck in the world - all the luck in the world that they are changing before the eyes of their rulers.

Comments

[Andrew Towell]

One form of "censorships" is "The Golden Shield Project (Chinese: 金盾工程; pinyin: jīndùn gōngchéng), sometimes referred to as the Great Firewall of China, its a censorship and surveillance project operated by the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) of the People's Republic of China. The project started in 1998 and began operations in November of 2003."

Although is may be easy to work your way around this firewall via some proxy servers, it's very hard to continually post information onto the internet without fear of repercussions. The fact that they can scare the public into a state of fear so that they are actually hesitant to criticise the government, for fear of persecution is nothing short of disgusting, here in the 21st century.

The school teacher who posted pictures of the collapsed schools after the China earth quake shattered the shoddy built buildings. Well he is now serving 1 year in a "re-education labour camp", which in essence is just a "re-programming slave labour camp" in my opinion. He never received a trial in court or any type of justice system, they just didn't like what he was posting pictures of and went and arrested him and sent him off to a labour camp to be “re-educated”, like a slave.
So if they don’t like what you say or the way you think, they’ll send you off for “re-education” or re-programming.

It's not really about what they are doing to the journalists at this moment in time but to the people who are living there every day of the year, those who may express a negative aspect of there government or ruling party and/or even cause dissent. It’s a very totalitarian country and by all accounts, the capital looks like some kind of police state with the current level of troops on the streets.

[Andrew Jackson]

I wish you were censored all the time. Especially the nonsense you write about rugby, a sport of which you know next to nothing.

[Kevin Shattock]

Censored? We can only wish with some of the self serving drivel you serve up.

[John]

Not censored in Taipei so I suppose that proves that Taiwan is not part of China...

[chris blunt]

Hey Mr Barnes, it would be a blessing if they censored your miserable mug-shot

[Ironfrost]

It's not anything personal; the whole of Typepad is blocked (along with a number of other popular blog hosts, like LiveJournal). Like a previous poster said, it's easy to work around with proxies like Tor (I'm posting this from Beijing); it's more of a hurdle than a wall.

[kerry livermore]

Desperately trying to get a bit of publicity. Why don't you join the millionaire kids and moan on about how you want a medieval theocracy restored in Tibet?

[Tom Jemesek]

Maybe it's because you are so boring.

[Steven]

Could Simon Barnes please be sent to a sporting 're-education' camp ? Or just a basic education one would do. He can take Martin Samuels and Stephen Jones with him and the rest of us can feel good about following sport again rather than being lectured about how inadequately we grasp the holistic significance of sport in these post-modern times.

[Brendan]

A lot of posts here having a pop at Simon Barnes and his writing. I read his articles because I like his style, and am usually entertained by his ideas and delivery. Why do you read them....?

[Richard]

Come on Times - where is the schedule of Olympic events...

[ian cheese]

If you disagree with Simon Barnes please start your own column & your own blog & see how successful you can be with it. It is easy to knock.

[Martin Newell]

I have lived in China for two years and no blogs hosted on typepad are viewable within the country.

[Avril Smith]

Funny that someone so 'boring' has won so many awards. A bit of jealousy, maybe?
keep up the good work - especially about the Boxing!

[sunny cheng]

A sports writer writing about politics? Please give me a break.

Try mixing in some Gordon Brown when you are reporting Manchester United. That will be a disaster.

[Mark Williams]

Yes, this is the first time I see any volume of anti-Barnes comments....I wonder if they are orchestrated Chinese posts...some of those names seem a bit fishy...KevinShattock???

I love Barnes' writing in general, altough he served up a real shocker on doping in the last couple of days - completely missed the obvious points. Too much Tsing Tao, I guess...

[Allan]

Barnsey and the Cryptic Crossword are the only parts of the Times I really like...

[Carsten]

I'm afraid there is nothing personal in it from the chinese side. All blogs are blocked, when viewed from inside China. Probably because it is difficult to read and censor it all, so it is easier to completely close down all of the more dynamic parts of the net. That's why Wikipedia has been blocked for years, even though it is accessible now.

[CUI SHOUQIN]

During the olympic games, all of the forums and blogs will not available in Mainland China. This decision is making for prenvent the distortion news spreading.
The forums and blogs will recover for access on 20th september.

[ian cheese]

I advised Simon to experience wildlife from a different perspective whilst in China: much of it ends up in the cooking pots. Another way to enjoy! When in Rome...
Now let's see if this passes censorship.

[Adam]

Barnes point about the comparison between the young people and the old rulers is interesting, because essentially this is what happened in Breznhevs' Russia - young people were much more interested in Levi's jeans and Pepsi than Communist theory. It will be a while before China goes the same way as Soviet Russia though, I think.

[zhang]

It is not that strange at all if people are not being able to get access to your blog. There are loads of other English websites are not viewable in mainland China. Does not mean that special attention has been paid to you, nor you are being watched. Now that you've seen the uniformed, paranoid official China, pray that what you saw will not turn you into a paranoia. I only wish you would make a little bit effort to understand China and its people, before expressing your personal views on Chinese culture. Holding a Poetry Of The Late T'ang in hand, never mind it is a Penguin Classic or not, is not going to help you get rid of your prejudice, which is shared by many people in the world.

[maria]

"Both approaches have their point, each has its limitations. Neither way is superior... "

Hey Simon..enough of the relativism. Your stuff is light years ahead of the sports hack pack (and for those who disagree, dont bloody read it).

More on Chinese beer and poetry please.

[Mike Baess]

Simon should be delighted about the Chinese censoring his article. For the first time in many years, it means that someone has actually bothered to read it. What utter drivel.

[Purple Neon Lights]

The more the chinese censor, the more they lose face. The less they censor, the more respect they'll get. They have it backwards. They think they have to filter every piece of information to avoid looking stupid. They have to learn to let the people "do the driving" in order to avoid being the butt of jokes.

[ian cheese]

Adam, the truth is Levi's & all other goods are now manufactured in China!

[Pondering]

I love to read comments from people like Mike Baess and his ilk, he can call an article drivel, but what does he do? Not much I'm guessing. Is Mike really so stupid that he doesn't realize that in order to comment on the actual content of the article he has to have read it? I've never read Simon before, I'm in the US, but I like the columns I read just now, and I bet Simon could spot Mike about 30 IQ points and still win that contest.

[Annoymonous]

"The more the chinese censor, the more they lose face. The less they censor, the more respect they'll get. They have it backwards. They think they have to filter every piece of information to avoid looking stupid. They have to learn to let the people "do the driving" in order to avoid being the butt of jokes."

China is dictatorship, they have 1.3 billion people, only one party is strong enough to lead them. They have 5000 years of history, they've been through much turmoil and still kept together. They are DIFFERENT. Does that make them the butt of jokes? Westerners talk about change and individuality, but they can't accept the fact that China is a different individual country. Just because they don't have democracy. Please make a little more effort to understand the country and its people before adding to this wave of criticism.