{"id":115912,"date":"2010-11-27T23:40:29","date_gmt":"2010-11-28T06:40:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?p=115912"},"modified":"2010-11-28T19:04:36","modified_gmt":"2010-11-29T02:04:36","slug":"caught-in-an-%e2%80%98authoritarian-moment%e2%80%99","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/11\/caught-in-an-%e2%80%98authoritarian-moment%e2%80%99\/","title":{"rendered":"Caught In An \u2018Authoritarian Moment\u2019."},"content":{"rendered":"

When Xia Shang, a writer, wanted to commemorate the deaths of 58 people in an apartment building fire in Shanghai last week, he turned to the Internet for help.\u00a0 Please read the article in the New York Times here<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Mr. Xia\u2019s offer to buy flowers for the victims, posted on his microblog, was taken up by thousands of netizens. But he quickly found himself at war with the country\u2019s Internet police. First they deleted his post. It was back up hours later, but then seven of them showed up in person at his home and took him away for questioning. Mr. Xia was released after two hours\u2019 interrogation at the police station by \u201cthree or four\u201d men he says belonged to the \u201cInternet security police.\u201d The experience left him angry.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a tool, microblogs and things will definitely speed up democratization in China<\/a>,\u201d he said. \u201cBut it\u2019s not as free as you might think.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Xia\u2019s experience was a striking illustration of how freedom and repression are spreading simultaneously in China, an apparent contradiction that is growing as individual and Internet- and cellphone-based communications challenge authoritarian norms.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Xia Shang, a writer, wanted to commemorate the deaths of 58 people in an apartment building fire in Shanghai last week, he turned to the Internet for help.\u00a0 Please read the article in the New York Times here: Mr. Xia\u2019s offer to buy flowers for the victims, posted on his microblog, was taken up […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":965,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[116,7,5],"tags":[6300,6313,8336],"class_list":["post-115912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-world","category-information-revolution","category-society","tag-internet-censorship","tag-internet-freedom","tag-xiao-qiang","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nCaught In An \u2018Authoritarian 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