This week I haven't had access to any Google applications (including Blogger), social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. etc. etc.) I have a VPN that sometimes works. Here was my first Facebook post from behind the GFW:
DOESN'T work in China: Google (Play Store, Mail, Docs, Drive, Chrome, Blogger, Google search engine, etc.), Whatsapp, LINE, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Viber, and anything that requires confirmation through my Gmail (Skype, bank accounts, PayPal, etc.)
DOES work: Bing, Yahoo, WeChat, Airbnb, Runkeeper
DOWNLOADED since arriving: Baidu, Baidu Maps, Didi (Uber copy)--all in Chinese
Baidu's apps take up too much space on my phone. Baidu Maps drains my battery...but I have no other choice. I have to use it, because it's the only map I have access too. I'm using Yahoo for the first time since 1996 #ffs There's nothing I can do about it. I can't download apps that aren't made in China. This is how the Chinese government has decided that my internet access will be restricted. My paid VPN service works once every few days. I feel closed off from the rest of the world.
I followed the post with panicked warnings about what the US is going to look like if we don't save #netneutrality 😆
I've had a couple of days to get used to being disconnected. I've stopped fretting over Yahoo Search. I get lost a lot since I can't read the map. Nobody would know if I died inside the GFW. Other than these steps back in time in global connectivity, it's actually not so bad.
I've had a couple of days to get used to being disconnected. I've stopped fretting over Yahoo Search. I get lost a lot since I can't read the map. Nobody would know if I died inside the GFW. Other than these steps back in time in global connectivity, it's actually not so bad.
 |
| our neighborhood Beixin Hutong in Beijing, China |
 |
| a main road connecting some hutongs in Dongcheng District, Beijing |
 |
| walking around, enjoying the first cold weather in 4 years: about 0C/32F |
 |
| Wangfujing, a fancy shopping area, 15 min walk from the Forbidden City |
When I told people I was thinking of going to China for a month, the most common response was, “Why?!” That's the reason we came.
In China we are just trying to get a feel for what is going on inside this country. Even for Asia, China is an outlier: insular, massive, “Communist”, and famous for bad manners.
Those things are anecdotal. What is interesting about China is that it’s both futuristic and stuck in the past--as far as globalization is concerned. China charges ahead with technology but doesn't bother to connect to the rest of the world as they do it, which is unique in the world today.
On one hand we have discovered that Beijing works almost entirely without cash. It's the closest thing to a cashless society that I've ever seen. Senior citizens are paying for groceries and hot tea with their phones. Street vendors would rather take money through the Chinese social media WeChat Wallet rather than paper cash. Entrance to the Imperial Palace (the “Forbidden City”) is done by QR code. There is smartphone interaction, automation, and CCTV everywhere.
On one hand we have discovered that Beijing works almost entirely without cash. It's the closest thing to a cashless society that I've ever seen. Senior citizens are paying for groceries and hot tea with their phones. Street vendors would rather take money through the Chinese social media WeChat Wallet rather than paper cash. Entrance to the Imperial Palace (the “Forbidden City”) is done by QR code. There is smartphone interaction, automation, and CCTV everywhere.
 |
| QR codes on everything--this is a band poster for a holiday show |
 |
| QR code payment to get into the Forbidden City (Imperial Palace) |
 |
| Tiananmen Square--under the watchful eye of Chairman Mao + a lot of cameras |
On the other hand, without access to global social media giants I am reduced to searching the internet using search engines that peaked in 1996 and searching maps by using Baidu, which has no translation capabilities. As a foreigner, I'm used to my technology adapting to my language abilities as I travel. China is the first place I haven't had this convenience.
Most countries I've been in Asia place a high value the "tourist dollar" and try to cater to foreigners. In China, it seems, this aspect of the tourism industry has been overlooked.
So I can look at a map but I can’t read it. I can use a translation app to display real-time translations of a Chinese menu and point to what I want to order, but I can’t post my dinner to Instagram. I dry my clothes on a drying rack in the freezing cold courtyard and I pay for my hot coffee without human interaction. This is the weird dichotomy of China for me.
Most countries I've been in Asia place a high value the "tourist dollar" and try to cater to foreigners. In China, it seems, this aspect of the tourism industry has been overlooked.
So I can look at a map but I can’t read it. I can use a translation app to display real-time translations of a Chinese menu and point to what I want to order, but I can’t post my dinner to Instagram. I dry my clothes on a drying rack in the freezing cold courtyard and I pay for my hot coffee without human interaction. This is the weird dichotomy of China for me.
 |
| order + pay for your coffee at a kiosk using your smartphone (no cash transaction) |
 |
| Beijing metro is super efficient. the 2nd longest metro network in the world, after Shanghai. |
I’ve only been here a week but I’m beginning to see why China has closed off to the Western world the way it has. They have to preserve their own economy in the face of Western giants like Apple, Google, Facebook, and Microsoft. In China, Tencent rules the roost. It’s just survival.
China is one of the first countries I’ve been to in Asia that doesn’t seem Westernized. Thailand watches American and UK media, South Korea listens to American pop music, and China remains…well…very Chinese. China is almost sidestepping social media users' demand for globalization merely by limiting their youth's access to the rest of the world. They simply refuse to deal with Western social media. Incredible.
As a result, have they been able to develop technologies that help Chinese people specifically instead of technologies that are being demanded by the entire world? Perhaps. Maybe that is why this country is so fascinating to me. China is hurtling into the future--more than I was aware of as an outsider--but with a tunnel-vision that I haven't encountered in Asia before.
What do you think? How do you think China's internet policies fit into an increasingly globalized world?
As a result, have they been able to develop technologies that help Chinese people specifically instead of technologies that are being demanded by the entire world? Perhaps. Maybe that is why this country is so fascinating to me. China is hurtling into the future--more than I was aware of as an outsider--but with a tunnel-vision that I haven't encountered in Asia before.
What do you think? How do you think China's internet policies fit into an increasingly globalized world?
No comments:
Post a Comment