The Great Firewall of China

After my boring stint with VPN Protocols, I had to opt for something that is important for all. What else could be a better topic than one of the greatest nations on this planet – People’s Republic of China! Over my next few articles we will understand the network of China and how to bypass the same!

Before we squeeze into the great country let us understand the firewall that protects her – The Great Firewall of China. Well, it sounds more like the Great Wall of China but this dude is virtual and huge when compared to his physical counterpart. I would require thousands of words to cover The Great Firewall of China but let me bite my tongue and finish it up quickly.

It is officially called as The Golden Shield Project but those who love (and hate) China call it The Great Firewall of China. It is the censorship project operated by Ministry of Public Security (MPS) division within China. The project officially began its operations in November 2002.

The project was an inspiration from the famous quote of 1980s from the Chinese diplomat Deng Xiaoping: “If you open the window for fresh air, you have to expect some flies to blow in.” I guess he messed up the chances of the entire nation to get connected to the outer world. Today, Chinese Internet restricts some of the very famous websites (including the likes of Facebook) which is weird but true.

Some of the common methods used to restrict data in China are:

  • IP Blocking
  • DNS filtering and redirection
  • URL filtering
  • Packet filtering
  • Connection reset

The type of content that the Chinese network blocks is:

  • Websites that could alter the reforms of China (really?)
  • Websites that are linked with Dalai Lama (#lame)
  • Anything that can be tagged as Porn.
  • News sources that can be considered as against China.
  • Anything else that China thinks need to be banned!

There has been plenty of protests in China for The Great Firewall but at last it has been the government who has been winning ever since I was born! In coming days we will learn more about China and her huge (but restricted network).

Salman Siddiqui is an expert technology analyst and regularly blogs on his tech. blog CompuWorld. His vast experience of freelance writing is backed by his passion to swim against the tide. You can grab him on Twitter.

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One Comment

  1. Chinglish Momo
    Posted September 7, 2011 at 1:17 pm | Permalink

    as a Chinese in China now,i can tell you they only g-f-w a part of famous porn sites for the time being,they also need sex,,,so porn is acceptable…
    but anything that is for evoking a real challenge to the China Communist Party is unacceptable to those smart or stupid minions of the Great Fake-Communist Party in China or abroad with fortune right now…
    C.C.P always mislead the Chinese people with lots of lies,they always use the word “Anti-China” to cover all criticisms to their own resolute judgement…
    and maybe nearly all the “plenty of protests in China for The Great Firewall” are some useless words online just like this comment…
    in a word,it’s not China thinks need to be banned,it’s the great C.C.P……

One Trackback

  1. By Why VPN Is A Must While You Are In China! on September 17, 2011 at 8:56 am

    [...] know what is The Great Firewall of China and how weird is the Internet network of China. We have been discussing this for a week now. You [...]

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