Chinese Proverb - A book tightly shut is but a block of paper.

Censorship is rampant in China. And this isn't a big secret. In my time, I have lived in India, the world's largest democracy, USA, the paragon of human rights, and Oman, a Sultanate. I have some experience living under authoritarian rule, as Oman would qualify as one. But China is a whole different ballgame. The censorship here has gotten people killed, whereas in Oman only vocal and public blasphemy would do that. I used to joke that about 3 minutes before I get on the plane out of Beijing, I was going to Google things like "Communism sucks" or "Democracy rules" or "Tiananmen brutality". That way, they can't get me, and I'll know what the information available to a young Chinese is. The truth however, is simple. You do not take these chances while in China. While researching for an article, I realized that Wikipedia did not have any pages on Tibet, or the Dalai Lama, or the Democracy movement in China. There was an article on censorship, but all its links were blocked. The new york times was blocked, as were all blogs. When talking about this with my professor, I found out that these were blocked because they were becoming voices of dissent. And no one can stand dissent in the CCP. There are cameras everywhere. In the college, in the hotel, on the street. Just imagine what that is like. For someone growing up in China, apart from government mandated education, the internet also presents an idealized society where the children only learn what they should, and never know about the concept of dissent. How would that be, to wake up one day and not have "freedom", "dissent" or "democracy" to exist? Well, like Natalie Imbruglia once sang, I shiver! Also, iTunes is blocked. So much for downloading some Imbruglia.