Great Firewall of China

[[File:1984-Big-Brother.jpg|right|thumb|165px|Always 
watching
 reading.]]
{{ChinesePolitics}}
The '''Great Firewall of China''' is a name coined in 1997 to describe to the online [[censorship]] technologies of [[China]].<ref>[https://www.wired.com/1997/06/china-3/ The Great Firewall of China] by Geremie R. Barme & Sang Ye (Jun 1, 1997 12:00 PM) ''Wired''.</ref><ref name=abbott/> China blocks many sites operated by Western companies, such as [[Facebook]], [[Google]], and [[YouTube]], as well as access to the technologies designed to bypass the firewall. Hell, even the website you're currently reading this on is blocked by the firewall.<ref>[http://www.chinafirewalltest.com/?siteurl=www.rationalwiki.org China Firewall Test]</ref>

==Why==
The legal basis for the firewall derives from a document called the "Measures for the Administration of Internet Information Services" (互联网信息服务管理办法), which was issued by the Chinese State Council on September 20, 2000<ref>[https://www.cecc.gov/resources/legal-provisions/measures-for-the-administration-of-internet-information-services-cecc Measures for the Administration of Internet Information Services (Chinese Text and CECC Partial Translation)] (September 25, 2000) ''Congressional-Executive Commissionon China''.</ref> (as well as a 2010 document<ref>[http://www.china.org.cn/government/whitepaper/2010-06/08/content_20207978.htm ''Protecting Internet Security: Government white Papers'' V. Protecting Internet Security] ''China.org.cn''.</ref><ref name=ng/>{{rp|xxiii}}). Article 15 of the document lists 9 directives for internet providers:
{{cquote|Providers of internet information services may not produce, assist in production of, issue, or broadcast any information:
#opposing the basic principles as they are confirmed in the [[Constitution]];
#jeopardizing the security of the nation, divulging state secrets, subverting state power, or jeopardizing the integrity of the nation’s unity;
#harming the honor or the interests of the nation;
#inciting hatred against peoples, [[racism]] against peoples, or disrupting the solidarity of peoples ;
#disrupting national policies on [[religion]], propagating [[evil]] [[cults]] and [[feudal]] [[superstition]]s;
#spreading rumors, disturbing social order or disrupting social stability;
#spreading obscenity, [[pornography]], [[gambling]], violence, murder, [[Terrorism|terror]], or abetting the commission of a [[crime]];
#insulting or defaming third parties, infringing on the legal rights and interests of third parties; and
#containing any other content prohibited by law or administrative rules.
}}
These directives are not just applied to blocking of IP addresses, but also to domestic censorship of search results (e.g., Baidu), and to social media posts (e.g., Weibo),<ref name=abbott>"Of Grass Mud Horses and Rice Bunnies: Chinese Internet Users: Challenge Beijing’s Censorship and Internet Controls" by Jason P. Abbott (2019) ''Asian Politics & Policy'' 11(1):62–177.</ref> but also the self-censorship and individual reporting of violations that result in increased social score.<ref name=pen>[https://pen.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/PEN-America_Forbidden-Feeds-report-6.6.18.pdf Forbidden Feeds: Government Controls on Social Media in China] (March 13, 2018) ''PEN America''.</ref> The online censorship system has accelerated under President [[Xi Jinping]]'s rule.<ref name=pen/>

==How==
While commonly called a firewall, it is a lot more than that.

This system can be divided in two parts, a more traditional firewall and a censorship system in domestic social media and search engines.

===Firewall===
This system sits in Chinese {{wpl|Autonomous system (Internet)|autonomous systems|,}} giving it the ability to listen to all traffic passing through them. It enforces block lists of IP addresses (such as the public list of [[Tor]] nodes and known VPNs used for circumvention) and sites that are added to it manually, but also performs throttling, blocks usage of [[encryption]] that China doesn't like (such as the Encrypted Client Hello proposal to TLS 1.3<ref>[https://geneva.cs.umd.edu/posts/china-censors-esni/esni/ Exposing and Circumventing China's Censorship of ESNI] August 7, 2020, Kevin Bock, iyouport, Anonymous, Louis-Henri Merino, David Fifield, Amir Houmansadr, Dave Levin, ''University of Maryland, Computer Science department, Geneva''</ref>), and automatically watches out for usage of circumvention technologies (so it's like [[Big Brother]], except this one is really '''always''' watching). 

If there is a suspicion for a connection, such as it possibly being to a Tor bridge or a Shadowsocks server, for example, it will probe the suspected Tor bridge or Shadowsocks server in question to confirm that it really is one. If it returns positive, it will block it automatically.<ref>[https://www.ietf.org/proceedings/95/slides/slides-95-irtfopen-0.pdf How the Great Firewall discovers hidden circumvention servers] Roya Ensafi, David Fifield, Philipp Winter, Nick Feamster, Nicholas Weaver, and Vern Paxson, ''Internet Engineering Task Force''</ref>

The firewall can be easily bypassed by using a personal VPN with an IP address that changes regularly, though many VPNs are blocked by China.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jan/23/china-vpn-cleanup-great-firewall-censorship China cracks down on VPNs, making it harder to circumvent Great Firewall: A 14-month government ‘cleanup’ of internet access services will make it harder for users to access websites that are usually censored or restricted] by Olivia Solon (23 Jan 2017 16.38 EST) ''The Guardian''.</ref>

===Weibo===
Sina Weibo (新浪微博) is the most important microblogging site in China. In the West it is usually just referred to as Weibo (''weibo'', 微博, meaning microblogging), but other such ''weibo'' sites exist in China.<ref name=ng>''Blocked on Weibo: What Gets Suppressed on China's Version of Twitter (and Why)'' by Jason Q. Ng (2013) The New Press. ISBN 9781595588715.</ref>{{rp|xiv}} Often described as a [[Twitter]] clone in the West, it actually has substantially more features than Twitter.<ref name=ng/>{{rp|xiv}} Social media platforms in China are privately owned, but are required by Chinese law to monitor and censor prohibited content.<ref name=ng/>{{rp|xiv}} Websites do this in several ways: deleting individual posts, preventing searches on some keywords, returning zero results from some searches, and indirectly causing users to self-censor.<ref name=ng/>{{rp|xiv}} The [[vague]]ness of the law (e.g., "harming the honor or the interests of the nation") encourages overreach by Weibo and self-censorship by users.<ref name=ng/>{{rp|xxiii-xxiv}}

Unlike other parts of the Great Firewall, social media sites such as Weibo inform the user that something is prohibited.<ref name=ng/>{{rp|xiv}} Blocked terms fall into several categories: names of people (primarily Communist Party members and dissidents), political terms (e.g., Tiananmen), [[sex]] and [[drugs]], and scandals and disasters.<ref name=ng/>{{rp|xviii}} The elaborate censorship has encouraged users to use an extensive repertoire of censorship evasions (puns, "slang, acronyms, [[memes]], and images"), but censors eventually catch up.<ref name=ng/>{{rp|xxi}}

==China's ecosystem of censorship==
[[File:Google's Censorship in China.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Nothing happened in 1989 in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, China]]
While the firewall was all that was needed in the days of mostly unencrypted communications, where they could scan for things like mentions of the [[Tiananmen Square Massacre]] in search engine results or Wikipedia articles<ref>[https://www.digitaltrends.com/web/china-censors-wikipedia-ahead-of-tiananmen-square-anniversary/#ixzz2VK0jhEHk China censors Wikipedia ahead of Tiananmen Square anniversary] June 4, 2013, Graeme McMillan, ''digitaltrends''</ref>, with the widespread deployment of protocols like HTTPS and browsers showing warnings when accessing HTTP websites, they found themselves in need of more sophisticated solutions. One solution is to block foreign internet companies and offer {{wpl|Baidu|equivalent}} {{wpl|Microblogging in China|services}} through domestic businesses which are subject to greater control.

Another solution is to threaten these foreign companies with cutting access to the Chinese market if they don't comply with censorship, letting their greed do the justification for complying.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4645596.stm Google censors itself for China] January 25, 2006, Unknown writer, ''British Broadcasting Corporation''</ref><ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/17/technology/apple-china-censorship-data.html Censorship, Surveillance and Profits: A Hard Bargain for Apple in China] May 17, 2021, Jack Nicas, Raymond Zhong and Daisuke Wakabayashi, ''New York Times''</ref>

Because of this, nowadays one of the main tasks of the firewall part is to block access to censorship-circumvention technologies and protocols, like Tor and Shadowsocks (which is quite popular in China).
[[File:Blank Paper Stuck on “Freedom” the Slogan Board in Xidian University as Protest, Nov 27 2022.jpg|thumb|center|300px|The end result of tireless censorship: blank pieces of paper as protest symbolism<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/11/28/china-sheet-paper-blank-protest-covid/ How blank sheets of paper became a protest symbol in China] by Sammy Westfall (November 28, 2022 at 8:49 p.m. EST) ''The Washington Post''.</ref> on the Chinese word for freedom (自由) at Xidian University in 2022]]

==In a nutshell==
{{video|youtube|CdVFIFnDcrU}}
<center>Starring {{wpl|Winnie-the-Pooh#Censorship in China|Winnie-the-Pooh as Xi Jinping|,}} courtesy of {{wpl|Grass Mud Horse}}</center>

==External links==
*[http://www.chinafirewalltest.com/ Test the firewall yourself!]
*[https://chinadigitaltimes.net/2018/02/sensitive-words-emperor-xi-jinping-ascend-throne/ List of terms banned from Weibo]
*[https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1cfUKFHLQCiT3alnyti0t4zvNJ10EdVl1NGtd82h-Cl8/pub?single=true&gid=0&output=html 343 words that are blocked on Weibo as of March 13, 2012], with analysis at [https://blockedonweibo.tumblr.com Blocked on Weibo]
*[https://chinadigitaltimes.net/space/Category:Lexicon Welcome to the Grass-Mud Horse Lexicon] ''China Digital Space''
*[https://en.greatfire.org/ Greatfire.org] —&nbsp;"We monitor and challenge internet censorship in China"
*{{wpa|Shadowsocks}}
*{{wpa|Deep packet inspection}}
*{{wpa|List of websites blocked in mainland China}}
*{{wpa|List of websites blocked in Russia}}

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

[[Category:Authoritarianism]]
[[Category:China]]
[[Category:Chinese politics]]
[[Category:Censorship]]
[[Category:Government surveillance]]
[[Category:Internet]]

Categories: Authoritarianism, China, Chinese politics, Censorship, Government surveillance, Internet