The following tweet was posted by a user named “American Mike” on Weibo.com, a Chinese microblogging site, on September 24, 2011:<\/p>\n
@AmericanMike: Hello everyone. My name is Mike. I\u2019m from the U.S. I\u2019ve just arrived in Beijing. I want to contact my family members through Facebook, but I can\u2019t… Is there any way to get on Facebook?<\/p>\n
@\u7f8e\u56fd\u4eba\u9ea6\u514b:\u5927\u5bb6\u597d\uff0c\u6211\u53eb\u9ea6\u514b\uff0c\u6765\u81ea\u7f8e\u56fd\uff0c\u6211\u521a\u5230\u5317\u4eac\uff0c\u6211\u60f3\u4e0afacebook\u548c\u5bb6\u4eba\u8054\u7cfb\uff0c\u4f46\u662f\u4e0a\u4e0d\u53bb\u4e86\uff0c\u6709\u4ec0\u4e48\u529e\u6cd5\u5417\uff1f<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
This tweet soon generated a large number of comments from Chinese netizens, many of which have been re-posted on various online discussion\u00a0forums and social media sites.\u00a0\u00a0Following are some examples of the comments translated by CDT:<\/p>\n
\n@wenlongxiong: Across the Great Firewall, we can reach every corner of the world [This is a reference to the first email sent out from China in 1987, which read: “Across the Great Wall, we can reach every corner in the world”<\/a>]<\/p>\n
@shennanyunfu: A: Go home! B: Scale the wall<\/a>.<\/p>\n
@kenneth_wang_wei\uff1aPlease contact the police should you encounter any problems*. [This sentence was translated as \u201cdifficult to find the police\u201d on an information board in a popular tourist attraction of Jiangxi province. A picture of this board was widely re-posted on cyberspace.]<\/p>\n
@duoluoxi-tuotuo: Welcome to the Great Chinese LAN<\/a>.<\/p>\n
@ajichihuo: Once you overthrow our government, you\u2019ll be able to access Facebook.<\/p>\n
@yan-at-shanghai: Bro, once you are in China, you\u2019d better to use QQ and Renren.com*. And you should let your American family members to learn how to use QQ and Renren.\u00a0\u00a0[*Renren.com is a popular social networking site in Mainland China that is similar to Facebook.]<\/p>\n
@youmutianna: According to our relevant laws and regulations, your request is denied.<\/p>\n
@anarchy_whale: If you are unable to scale the wall<\/a>, you\u2019ll have to bring your friends and family to Sina Weibo…<\/p>\n
@yimanfu: Two methods: First, join our revolution and help us build a democratic government — this method will solve the problem once and for all, and it\u2019ll ensure your access to Facebook the next time you\u2019re in Beijing; second, use circumvention tools such as Autoproxy or Freegate (thanks to your government for funding these tools, which have been helping us learn a lot of truths) — this method is easy and low-cost, but I can\u2019t guarantee it\u2019ll always work.<\/p>\n
@Nanyiqichidechunjie: \u00a0Foreign Ministry Spokesperson: You need to obey China\u2019s relevant laws and regulations. You can let your family members sign up for Kaixin001.com*. [Kaixin001.com is another popular social networking site in Mainland China.]<\/p>\n
@feishangzhe: Bingo! Lost connection means you are in China.<\/p>\n
@zengjianren: Please go to Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications and look for President Fang Binxing<\/a>.<\/p>\n
@wolaiwozhengfu: You guys are so unfriendly towards our foreign friend. All you care about is money!\/\/@lalalala: Your excellency, I can offer you a magical software that only costs 49.98 U.S. dollars \/\/@mohuluojia: Your excellency, I can offer you a magical software that only costs 49.99 U.S. dollars. \/\/@pikemeng: Your excellency, I can offer you a magical software that it only costs 50 U.S. dollars.<\/p>\n
@Qingtianbairi: If you have an Android phone, please download Puffin Browser. So you can access Facebook without circumvention.<\/p>\n
@wonverjiaoliangxiaoxiao: I can loan you my \u201clittle dove.\u201d [\u201cLittle dove\u201d is a nickname of the popular free circumvention tool named \u201cFreegate.\u201d]<\/p>\n
@XeonivX: If you\u2019re unwilling to break the law, you can teach your family members how to use Renren.com*. But it takes some knowledge of Chinese language…<\/p>\n
@Yizhangbanzhuanlian: Why the hell wouldn’t you just call them?<\/p>\n
@Paiyunchu: It\u2019s how it is here. Facebook has always been blocked in China for the purpose of maintaining stability. We used to be able to access it through circumvention, but since the October 1st National day is approaching, China is blocking the Internet even more\u00a0desperately. So circumvention is really difficult these days. But you know, there\u2019s Kaixin001.com in China, which is the \u201cstabilized\u201d copycat version of Facebook. So why don\u2019t you invite your family members to Kaixin001? Haha! I\u2019m not sure whether you\u2019d understand what I\u2019ve just said. If not, please ask some Chinese students for explanation.<\/p>\n
@gezhidaoni: So why did you even come to China? It\u2019s just a piece of crap here. Internet surfing in China is limited to the Great Chinese LAN<\/a>–there is no \u00a0external network! We can\u2019t receive any information from the outside world! In China you can only be a frog in the well and all you can see is what\u2019s above you! I urge you to go back to the U.S.! China\u2019s ditch oil<\/a> and 70KPH<\/a> can both make you disappear without a trace! The point is: The Celestial Empire<\/a> is dangerous!<\/p>\n
@BuzhuangAbuzhuangC: Why do you need Facebook? You should watch CCTV\u2019s News Simulcast and read People\u2019s Daily as well as Global Times so that you can experience the superiority of socialism.<\/p>\n
@yanwuyo: Thank you for testing our Great Chinese LAN<\/a>. Apparently, it\u2019s worth our taxpayers\u2019 money. For someone that\u2019s newly arrived like you, please just go with the flow. It\u2019s such a great effort of our government. And as an American, why are you trying to access an American website in China here? You\u2019re definitely causing trouble here. I\u2019d like to represent the Chinese taxpayers who wish to peacefully live in the Great Chinese LAN and offer you the most tepid protest.<\/p>\n
@Lanlingfeiniao: Isn\u2019t he stupid? Why do you need Facebook in the Celestial Empire<\/a>? Please watch CCTV\u2019s News Simulcast, which enables you to know the entire world simultaneously. Oh yeah, let me check my Alipay* account and see if I\u2019ve gotten paid 50 cents<\/a>. [*Alipay is a Chinese third-party online payment platform that\u2019s similar to Paypal. ]<\/p>\n
@Zhuyili: In the Celestial Empire<\/a>, Facebook has to die.\u00a0[*Facebook is often phonetically translated into Chinese as \u201chas-to-die.\u201d (Fei Si Bu Ke, \u975e\u6b7b\u4e0d\u53ef)]<\/p>\n
@Xiaokunjun: Hurry up and travel backward in time. It\u2019s 1997 here.<\/p>\n
@WeilianchumozhuyiIX: Had to quietly bookmark this post…<\/p>\n
@V-LiLLian: Scale the wall<\/a>! \u00a0You can jump out of the window and crouch on top of the wall, then you will be able to access Facebook.<\/p>\n