I'm going to ask you a question. Are any of you watching this video from China? Probably
not many of you. And those of you who can watch VisualPolitik from China will be doing
so because you are using a VPN.
And why do I know that nobody watches VisualPolitik from China? Very simple, because YouTube is
censored in China. But you already know that. What you probably don't know is that the fact
that YouTube, Google or Facebook can't be seen from China is a technological marvel.
Censoring the internet is not as simple as passing a couple of laws. To give you an idea,
it's estimated that in 2020 alone, China spent over $6.6 billion on internet censorship.
That's half of what it cost to stage the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
In addition, there are more than two million people working to keep the Chinese internet
clean from freedom.
In other words, the great cyber wall of China is something like the Burj Khalifa of oppression:
a marvel of technology... even if it is used for evil. And, as we know, if there’s one
thing China knows how to do well, it is to export its technological marvels. So the question
is, what if China also wanted to export its censorship to the West? In this video we're
going to tell you about it. I was born in the year 1989. Don’t do the
math. At that time, almost no country had China as a major trading partner. The United
States dominated virtually every market. Thirty-four years later, the picture is totally different.
That translates into money but also a lot of political clout. Check this out.
("H&M, Nike, Adidas, among others, in China's crosshairs for their criticism of the situation
of Uyghurs". France 24)
That’s right. Everyone wants to enter the huge Chinese market. But that market has very
strict rules. Rules that go beyond industry regulations. And, if clothing brands have
to worry, imagine other industries like this one.
(Chinese Censors Force Disney To Cut Kissing Scene In Mulan. IMDB)
I’m not making this up! Basically, if Disney wants its movies to be seen in China, it has
to pass censorship rules. Rules that, in many cases, go way beyond cutting out a kiss. In
this case we're talking about the 2020 remake of "MULAN".
In order for the film to be seen in China,Disney had to "adapt" to Chinese tastes, which included,
of course, adapting to the tastes of the Chinese Communist Party. The problem with all this
is that we are talking about a film made for the international market.
Put another way, without realizing it, all of us viewers have had to suffer indirectly
from Chinese censorship.
So the question we are asking today is: How far does Chinese censorship go, and should
we really be worried? Today we are going to answer these questions but first, let's take
a look at some history.
(THE GREAT CYBER WALL OF CHINA)
China has shown that you can open up to the world and keep your dictatorship. You only
have to control one thing, the flow of information. And if not, just look at Cuba.
Fortunately this is increasingly difficult to achieve. Before the internet, there were
few media outlets so it was easy to control them. Now thousands of blogs, websites, and
articles on social media are created every second! That explains why censoring the internet
is an impossible task even for the worst dictatorships.
For example: Belarus is as oppressive a dictatorship as China can be. However... some of you probably
live near this country. Even Belarusians themselves share memes of their dictator on the internet.
This doesn't mean that Alexander Lukashenko is a reasonable dictator. It means he doesn't
have the money or the technology to control how his nearly 9.5 million citizens use the
internet. However, China is another world.
And to start talking about censorship in China, you have to understand how everything behind
it works. We know that China doesn't release much information about the way they censor,
but testimonies, international agencies and investigations have helped to reveal the way
this country censors.
In 1994, China laid its first internet cables. At that time, there were hardly any websites
in the world, so there wasn't much to censor. But as the first digital media and blogs emerged,
Beijing realized it had to get to work. And that's how the so-called "Great Firewall of
China" or, as we call it here, the Great Cyberwall of China, was born.
This project began operating in 2003, with an investment equivalent to $800 million dollars.
This firewall has been intensified with the arrival of Xi Jingping to the government of
China in 2013.
But let's go back to the firewall, its mission was to block content, and this was done through
lists of blocked IPs and censored keywords. Let me give you an example: imagine that a
news portal in Holland posts a news item that criticizes the Chinese Communist Party. Well,
the Chinese cyber wall would detect the keywords and block the news story. That is, it would
not be able to be seen from a Chinese IP.
To give you an idea, today there are companies that offer their technological services to
the Chinese communist party. And what do they censor? Well, basically everything that contradicts
any narrative or position of the Communist Party. For example, almost any article that
talks about Tibet, Taiwan or the Uyghurs is likely to be censored. And that explains this
news item from 2010;
(Google Pulls Search Engine Out Of China. Business Insider 22 Mar 2010)
The internet giant arrived in 2006 with the condition from China to censor its search
results. At first, Google agreed. Think about it, how could they miss the opportunity of
tapping the Chinese market and its millions of users?
Well, according to estimates, Google managed to have a market share close to 30% in that
country. These numbers are not bad if we take into account that China already had a search
engine: Baidu, which at that time had 58% of the market share. However, problems did
not take long to appear.
Google took a risky decision that the communist party didn't like at all. It started to warn
users when some search results were removed. As you can imagine, this was publicly acknowledging
censorship. And how did China react? The first response was Operation Aurora: a series of
cyber-attacks by Chinese hackers on Google.
At the same time, China created an entire ecosystem to give priority to local companies.
In 2010, Google stopped censoring content and... left China. After Google, Facebook
and many others followed suit. This was bad news for freedom in China... but great news
for many Chinese companies.
("Baidu imitates Google and launches its own browser". RTVE)
Exactly! The departure of Google and the rest of the giants of Silicon Valley opened the
door for a lot of Chinese Internet companies to make a killing. It was around this time
that companies like WeChat appeared and companies like Baidu were consolidated. In other words:
in Bejing they were in luck. Not only had they managed to maintain censorship. They
had also managed to create their own online industry. An industry much easier to control
than any other foreign company.
And I know what you're thinking now: ok, we know there's censorship in China but... How
can you export that censorship? Well, we are going to take a look at that right now.
(THE BIG CHINESE MARKET)
Until 2008, China was known for being the factory of the world. A centre of cheap labour,
full of factories and all kinds of imitation goods... and the world thought that would
last forever. However, after the 2008 crisis, China was also revealed as a market.
Here on VisualPolitik, we have already told you how LEGO, the toy company, has managed
to survive thanks, in part, to the Chinese market. It's an old video but, if you're a
veteran follower, you've surely seen it.
By the way, this is a great time to remind you that we release new videos on this channel
every week so subscribe to this channel and hit the little bell so you don't miss any
of our updates. But let's get back to our story.
The truth is that China is not just a factory: it is also a market. And it is becoming more
and more lucrative. Take a look at this graph. Here you can see the IMF outlook for the Chinese
economy. Technically, by 2028, China could surpass the United States in GDP. This does
not mean that China is going to be richer than the United States.
Remember that China's population is several times larger than that of the United States.
But the truth is that the Chinese market is attractive for any company. Even more so if
we take into account that they have recovered faster than any nation after the coronavirus
crisis.
And we're not just talking about a marketplace for selling mobile phones. We are also talking
about cultural products: sports, movies and all kinds of video content. So the question
is – how to adapt to the Chinese market? Well, we are going to look at that right now.
(HERE WE SPEAK WITH CENSORSHIP)
Let's look at a very famous case of current censorship. We are going to talk about a Disney
movie called Mulan. And no, we're not talking about the animated version but the new version.
Of this movie.
And you'll say what, Mulan? But what line could this Disney film possibly cross? Well,
Mulan tells the story of a woman who defends China from the attacks of the evil Huns.
However, the lead actress who played the role of Mulan in the Disney version had expressed
her support for the protesters in Hong Kong. That means that many groups in China called
for a boycott of the movie.
But not only that! The Chinese Government removed a kissing scene in the film, as explained
the director of Mulan herself:
("It was a very beautiful scene, but the Chinese office said it couldn't be done, it didn't
look good to Chinese audiences, so we took it out" Niki Caro, director of Mulan).
The question is: if Disney has removed the kiss from Mulan, how many parts of the script
have had to be adapted to meet all aspects of the Chinese narrative? Think about it:
Mulan is a film for international consumption.
In other words, it's meant to be seen in all markets: including Europe and the United States.
That means that we will all be watching a film that not only has Chinese censorship
but, in many cases, could also be Communist Party propaganda.
Of course, this wouldn't be a problem if we were only talking about one film in particular.
But what if Disney and all the big production companies ended up doing the same thing with
all their films?
But wait a minute because we're not just talking about movies! We're also talking about sports.
For example, the NBA. As you know, the NBA is the American Basketball league. That is
to say, it’s where the most important basketball teams from all over the United States can
be found.
Well, Houston Rockets president, Daryl Morey, posted a tweet where he shared a slogan supporting
the Hong Kong protests. This seems harmless enough if we were in any Western country.
However, in China it triggered a diplomatic crisis costing billions of dollars.
Suddenly, China censored every game featuring the Houston Rockets, took down billboards,
and brought all possible pressure against the NBA.
As you can imagine, the next time an American athlete or executive wants to express a political
opinion that goes against Beijing's interests, he or she will think twice.
To give you an idea, we can find signs of Chinese censorship even at the Oscars.
("Chloé Zhao wins an Oscar for "Nomadland," but the news was censored in China". CNN)
Chloe Zhao is a Chinese actress who was awarded the Oscar for Best Director at the 2021 Oscars.
However, the news was censored by news agencies and publications in social media in that country.
And why is that, you may ask?
Well, because in 2013, this woman said, plain and simple, that "her country of origin is
full of lies". And to say that being Chinese is going to cost you. And this is just one
more case.
However, China remains an increasingly attractive market. So attractive that even those companies
that abandoned it want to return. Check it out.
("Facebook opens a subsidiary in China, the forbidden country". La Vanguardia)
With this move, Facebook would join companies like Apple and Google, which have also given
in to Xi Jinping's government by making concessions in order to operate in the country.
And you may be wondering, is this really a problem? Are you saying that in the future
I won't be able to watch uncensored movies, or post whatever I want on Facebook? Well,
not exactly, but it is a growing problem and we may not be aware of it. Because we are
increasingly seeing censorship as something acceptable.
The coronavirus has made us accept a lot of restrictions that were not allowed before,
such as confinements and curfews. We will have to be careful because we could end the
freedoms we are used to. It's food for thought.
After this little dose of free reflection by Visualpolitik, now it's your turn. What
can you do to avoid Chinese censorship? Do you mind watching a censored film? How can
you stand up to the Asian giant?
You can leave me your answer in the comments. And as always, don't forget that here at VisualPolitik,
we release new videos every week so subscribe to the channel and hit the little bell so
you don't miss any of our updates. If you liked this video, please LIKE it and see you
in the next one. Take care and see you soon.