Green Dam: They Told You So

Laws are just a mean to ensure the perpetual rule on China by the CCP. Nothing more. Laws are for protection of the Chinese government and will be enacted and enforced selectively when it is beneficial to the Chinese government, especially in strengthening the hold on power by the CCP. "The Law must serve the revolution" is the key to anyone studying about law in China.

http://china.blogs.time.com/2009/06/17/just-when-you-thought-things-couldnt-get-any-worse-for-green-dam/#comment-2576

I told you so too? =p There's simply too much backlash against that pos software. It'll be on 'indefinite hold', and by year's end, everyone will have forgotten all about it and it will be like just a fleetingly bad dream.

And btw, this is the first time I agree nearly whole-heartedly and without reservation with JS's post.

Zhangsan, I do hope you are right about the indefinite hold. But it seems China Daily is suggesting that it is only a matter of time before the directive will take effect.

I'd bet good money that the China Daily article is purely for the purposes of saving face. Once they canceled the roll-out at the 11th hour, there has been a deluge of articles and reports about how 'China backed down', 'China bows to public pressure', etc. Thus, the China Daily article pops out to serve as cover and to muddy the waters a bit and make it look as though the government hasn't 'really' backed down, but it's an example of the classic Chinese phrase, '无中生有'; bringing something out of nothing. Green Dam is dead, although I wouldn't be surprised if a more sophisticated Green Dam'esque software pops up later. Right now, all that's happening is just a few post-mortem spasms. That's what I genuinely believe.

I propose that Chinese government should fix a "green dam" on every infant's head as soon as they are born to protect their mind not to be eroded by "western liberalistic thought" and "capitalistic carrion lifestyle".

Wow...thanks for this post. Finally a journalist who knows about China and does their homework. You put New York Times, Wall Street Journal and all those other China "experts" to shame. Seriously, most of us who watch China (and are not rabid anti-commies) knew this was never going to go through - the fact that Hu Jintao-backed China Youth Daily criticised it showed that there was dissent within the party.

Also, even though they "censor" the net, the Chinese govt knows that the internet is the release valve for the Chinese bourgeoise who know they can generally get away with criticising the government online as long as they don't get too popular or too close to something sensitive. Long way to go until China becomes anything close to free but it's a start...

oh and one thing i forgot to mention - thanks for realising that it wasn't do to lobbying by Western governments (usually lobbying by washington makes things worse for people on the ground in China).