Google’s challenge to the Chinese government brought into stark relief the frustration many foreign IT companies feel working around Chinese government censorship. But many in the domestic industry feel the same way, as this widely retweeted post from technology blogger Jarain makes clear (translated by CDT):
If you are grassroots, if you don’t have a backstage supporter like China Pingan Insurance and Tsinghua Tongfang do, if you have strong confidence in the Chinese Internet, if you want to rely on your own efforts to accomplish something in the Internet business, do remember this:
Don’t touch BBS. Don’t touch microblogs. Don’t touch SNS. Don’t touch news. Don’t touch IDC. Don’t touch online photo albums. Don’t touch video. Don’t touch music. Don’t touch search engines. Don’t touch blogs. Don’t touch fiction.
Websites as listed above might bring you charges by the society or the state on such issues as copyright, pornography, censorship, subversion, instigation, etc..
If you remain hopeful, I would recommend you do business on “online shopping” websites.
However, judging from the perspective of the crackdown on pornography, cultural censorship, food safety and Internet: you can’t do business on sex products, foreign publication, dairy products, or online virtual products.
Well, if you still hold a slice of hope, I have nothing to say.
