A growing number of Internet users in China are reportedly becoming more and more frustrated with government censorship. Feelings of frustration came to boiling point for one man, who said he threw eggs and shoes at Fang Binxing, the architect of China’s “great firewall”.
Chinese police are reportedly looking for the man who confessed the act, although Fang Binxing himself has denied that the attack ever happened. The incident, which allegedly happened at Wuhan University in Hubei province, has also not been reported anywhere in the domestic press, although it is certainly not unusual for controversial subjects to be ignored/censored by the Chinese press.
Associated Press reported that police were sent to the university to investigate the incident, citing an officer at the Luojiashan public security bureau. The man who claims to have thrown the items is known by the Twitter name @hanunyi, where he wrote: “The egg missed the target. The first shoe hit the target. The second shoe was blocked by a man and a woman.”
The man was then swamped on Twitter with mass appreciation from members of the Chinese online community, with offers of everything from Nike trainers to replace his lost footwear, to iPads, jobs, and even sex. A few hours later he also added “I didn’t think this little thing would get such a big response.”
China have developed the world’s most sophisticated and comprehensive Internet censorship system, with increasingly stringent controls that curb the online activities of an estimated 477 million Internet users. While the vast majority of these people seem indifferent to the massive national firewall, a growing number of users are becoming frustrated for not being able to access foreign news and social media sites.
In the address to graduating students that ignited this fierce response, Binxing warned: “Political chaos in north Africa and the Middle East has enticed the great expectations of anti-China forces … More than ever, democracy activists abroad are taking advantage of the internet. They are inciting netizens to take up planned, step-by-step action and bring about political chaos in China, accomplishing their goal through the work of others. Now the question is, Who is it that wants turmoil in China after all? Who is it that wants China to sink into the mire of chaos?”
23 May, 2011
By Radu Tysina
