{"id":3307,"date":"2012-04-14T06:34:19","date_gmt":"2012-04-14T10:34:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=3307"},"modified":"2012-04-14T06:34:19","modified_gmt":"2012-04-14T10:34:19","slug":"china-blocks-foreign-websites-for-one-hour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2012\/04\/china-blocks-foreign-websites-for-one-hour\/","title":{"rendered":"China blocks foreign websites for one hour"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

(Photo: International Herald Tribune)<\/p><\/div>\n

(Source: The Guardian<\/a>)<\/p>\n

China’s internet users have been cut off from accessing all foreign websites for around an hour in an unexplained incident that sparked speculation the country’s censorship system was being tested or further tightened.<\/p>\n

The “great firewall” already blocks many sites hosted from other countries, but users in Beijing, Shanghai and other parts of China reported that they could not reach any foreign sites whatsoever on Thursday morning \u2013 although it was not clear whether the problems were universal.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, users abroad and in Hong Kong \u2013 which is part of China but not subject to Beijing’s net censorship \u2013 said they were unable to reach any sites on the Chinese mainland.<\/p>\n

Some believed it was purely a technical failure, with several suggesting that Wednesday’s massive earthquakes had hit an undersea cable, disrupting services. In 2007, a tremor hit a major cable and dramatically slowed access to overseas sites for months.<\/p>\n

Xu Chuanchao, an executive at Sohu, one of the country’s biggest internet portals, wrote on his microblog: “This malfunction is caused by the failure of China’s backbone network and is under renovation.”<\/p>\n

But one company, Data Centre for China Internet, posted: “Latest news: most foreign websites can’t be accessed. Analysis: for commonly known reasons, a large number of foreign URLs are blocked. It is possible that the great firewall is undergoing some readjustment, mistakenly adding many foreign websites to the blocking list. The details are unclear.” (Continue reading article…)<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What is clear is that we know China actively<\/em> blocks foreign websites that criticize their government<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0 The Chinese website of the Voice of America and Radio Canada International have been blocked for years. \u00a0China also censors search engine results<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I believe this incident was most likely a fault in their “great firewall” rather than any network backbone. International broadcasters should take note: as you pull shortwave services targeting China, how will your audience there hear you?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Source: The Guardian) China’s internet users have been cut off from accessing all foreign websites for around an hour in an unexplained incident that sparked speculation the country’s censorship system was being tested or further tightened. The “great firewall” already blocks many sites hosted from other countries, but users in Beijing, Shanghai and other parts […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[56,3,43],"tags":[83,146,662,1056,102,84],"class_list":["post-3307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-broadcasters","category-news","category-shortwave-radio","tag-censorship","tag-china","tag-internet","tag-internet-censorship","tag-why-radio","tag-why-shortwave-radio"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-Rl","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":27315,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2017\/07\/dw-south-sudan-blocks-access-to-independent-websites\/","url_meta":{"origin":3307,"position":0},"title":"DW: South Sudan blocks access to independent websites","author":"Thomas","date":"July 23, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"(Source:\u00a0Deutsche Welle) Internet and mobile phone users in South Sudan are not able to access the websites of at least four independent media outlets. The government has grown increasingly hostile to the media since civil war began in 2013. The South Sudanese government has blocked access to the websites of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "International Broadcasting"","block_context":{"text":"International Broadcasting","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/international-broadcasting\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/SouthSudan-Block.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/SouthSudan-Block.jpeg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/SouthSudan-Block.jpeg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3266,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2012\/04\/censorship-in-djibouti-international-broadcasters-take-note\/","url_meta":{"origin":3307,"position":1},"title":"Censorship in Djibouti: International broadcasters, take note","author":"Thomas","date":"April 10, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I just caught wind of a now all-too-familiar story in international broadcasting--this time, via Reporters Without Borders. While I encourage you to read the full press release below, the summarized story is that\u00a0Reporters Without Borders has launched a mirror web site for\u00a0La Voix de Djibouti, an independent news source in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/reporterswithoutborders-300x295.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":59385,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2024\/04\/taiwan-breaking-through-censorship-via-shortwave\/","url_meta":{"origin":3307,"position":2},"title":"Taiwan: Breaking through censorship via shortwave","author":"Thomas","date":"April 1, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, David Iurescia, who shares the following story: How Taiwan breaches censors' barriers (VOA News) Breaking the barriers of censorship in China, Myanmar and North Korea is a daunting task, as these countries have built almost impenetrable firewalls against outside news and information. But Radio\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/XHDATA-D109-WB-002-001-scaled-e1706022455779.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/XHDATA-D109-WB-002-001-scaled-e1706022455779.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/XHDATA-D109-WB-002-001-scaled-e1706022455779.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/XHDATA-D109-WB-002-001-scaled-e1706022455779.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/XHDATA-D109-WB-002-001-scaled-e1706022455779.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6612,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2013\/06\/the-24th-anniversary-of-tiananmen-square\/","url_meta":{"origin":3307,"position":3},"title":"The 24th Anniversary of Tiananmen Square","author":"Thomas","date":"June 5, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday, I had two reminders of how important shortwave radio is in China. The first was this incredible recording shared by David Goren--an unidentified Radio Beijing announcer who departed from the script and commented on the massacre of protestors in Tiananmen Square in 1989. It's believed this announcer is still\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/articles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Tiananmen Square_man_blocks_tank_238","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Tiananmen-Square_man_blocks_tank_238.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1137,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2011\/05\/voa-criticized-for-dropping-mandarin-service-to-china\/","url_meta":{"origin":3307,"position":4},"title":"VOA criticized for dropping Mandarin service to China","author":"Thomas","date":"May 30, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I just noticed this article from the VOA website regarding criticism it recently received from the Heritage Foundation for shutting down VOA's Mandarin language shortwave radio service to China. It's may be once in a blue moon when I agree with a Washington think tank, but in this case, the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Broadcasters"","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/a999voalogo_2050081722-26491.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8872,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/03\/why-shortwave-russia-blocks-web-pages-linked-to-ukraine-protests\/","url_meta":{"origin":3307,"position":5},"title":"Why shortwave? Russia blocks web pages linked to Ukraine protests","author":"Thomas","date":"March 5, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"In response to the BBG's request for comments on the relevancy of shortwave radio, SWLing Post reader, Rick, writes: \"Here is the reason why VOA needs to keep broadcasting on shortwave. Russia (or China or Angola or Zimbabwe or Iraq or Afghanistan or Syria) can easily block Internet access --\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Broadcasters"","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"(Photo: VOA News)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/UkraineRiots.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3307\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}