{"id":72568,"date":"2010-05-14T12:51:48","date_gmt":"2010-05-14T19:51:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?p=72568"},"modified":"2010-05-14T12:51:48","modified_gmt":"2010-05-14T19:51:48","slug":"after-long-ban-western-china-is-back-online","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/05\/after-long-ban-western-china-is-back-online\/","title":{"rendered":"After Long Ban, Western China Is Back Online"},"content":{"rendered":"
As CDT noted yesterday, Internet access was restored in Xinjiang after a ten-month blackout. The New York Times reports<\/a>:<\/p>\n \nThe announcement was made in the morning, and many residents in cities across Xinjiang took the day off from school or work to rush to Internet cafes, where they pored through months of unread e-mail messages or chatted over instant messaging. Some also dived back into online gaming, one of China\u2019s most popular pastimes (\u201cWorld of Warcraft\u201d imitators being the most popular.) <\/p><\/blockquote>\n The resumption of service was accompanied by a government propaganda campaign. New Dominion blog translates “Open Letter to All Netizen Friends Throughout Xinjiang<\/a>” written by the regional government:<\/p>\n \nSince July, as our region began control over Internet communications and implementation of a gradual re-opening, Internet users far and wide have given their complete understanding and immense support, actively contributing to the protection of our region\u2019s social stability and creating favorable conditions for implementing the reinstatement of the Internet throughout the region. For this, we express our heartfelt gratitude to all our netizen friends.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n