What is the Chinese Firewall?

The Chinese Firewall is a system designed by the Chinese government to censor sensitive material online for its people. China has been systematically blocking websites since August, 1996. A majority of sites containing or about sensitive topics (e.g. seditious, anti-communist, pro-democracy) or protests against the Chinese authorities are blocked by the firewall and/or taken down. Blocking may take the form of IP blocking, DNS filtering, and URL filtering--essentially completely blocking websites or drastically slowing down connections and page loading, such that people would be inclined to give up on searching for that particular topic.

The things that I have experienced personally when on visits to China do seem to show that the firewall has almost minimal influence on one’s life. The most obnoxious limitation that I encountered was not being able to easily access Chrome (more lag) or other Google apps, since the firewall tries to block or filter content on those particular apps. However, other search engines, such as Microsoft Edge and Bing, proved to be reliable alternatives. In addition, I had a VPN (Virtual Private Network) set up for a couple weeks such that I could still freely access usually restricted content. Overall, it isn’t so much the firewall itself that hinders people’s daily lives, but rather the political and ideological implications behind it that is the most restricting.

Since Internet censorship is against the ideology of freedom of speech for America, the general public opinion of Americans aware of the Chinese firewall is one of animosity and concern. Interestingly, however, within China the opinions of the people are mixed. Bennett Haselton from Peacefire, an app designed to get past the Chinese firewall, has said that most Chinese people he has talked to either said they supported the Chinese government in their decision or did not care. However, the American people aware of the Chinese firewall, as well as companies and organizations banned in China, have indirectly tried to help the Chinese citizens who wanted to browse without the firewall by funding apps such as Peacefire, Freegate, and Circumventor. Citizens themselves can set up VPNs to also try and achieve the same end goal.

Personally, I am ideologically against the firewall, since I believe free speech to be an essential component of a healthy society. However, I do see that people can live happily and prosperously even under these circumstances, and my hope is that the Chinese government will gradually open up and accept free speech through cyberspace.