#china 11

[wolfythewitch]

Do you think Jesus ever felt homesick. Do you think he missed his mom

[iwrite-sinsandtragedies]

Day 6 — Reconciliation ₊˚✧ ﾟ

Submission for @minthe-drawings #BaxterMCWeek!

MC: Ai/Sky

[futazolam]

New vid from (half the) fob!!! They are going to headline a festival in chengdu (May 2th)

Edit: sorry I got too excited and cut a few seconds off in the end when first posted it orrrrz

[alpacacare-archive]

' W.D '

[ethiack]

Crowd ROARS When Jon Stewart TURNS ON Biden and MSNBC After Pardon

Watch as the crowd roars when Jon Stewart turns on Joe Biden and MSNBC after the controversial pardon of his son Hunter Biden. Don't miss this moment!

[jokeanddaggerdept]

[sunskate]

look at them❤️

[zoueriemandzijnopmars]

People on here often make fun of US Americans, claiming that they know very little of the rest of the world, but I want to test that claim (on the topic of foreign politics)

(I say head of government below, because I’m not interested in people who know that Charles is the UK’s head of state, the prime minister is much more interesting. But for like France the president is totally fine. I want to know how much people know of foreign politics)

Bonus: put in the tags how many you know and where you’re from

[roomselfcontain2]

Federal light standard sharp single room visit website Selfcontain house for rent is a virgin house with pop false ceiling decor located at golf estate in port harcourt city rivers state Nigeria.

[rxvera]

Sometimes I think people need to take a step back from arguing about Israel and Palestine all day and realize that there are much larger scale problems in the world. Everyone's become so focused one issue that they're willing to ignore and belittle the suffering of everyone else.

[lylaseb]

Just saw the news about China - France they did it 3-0 👏

Now do it again

[toastingpencils37]

Remember how on May 31st, the Dragons Rising Part 1 episodes released in Chinese? And how a ton of people where throwing shitfits, crying about how "they were leaked"?

I'm sorry. But they weren't leaked. It was June 1st in China, meaning that they were officially released, meaning that people shouldn't have been complaining like they were.

[swagging-back-to]

ive always wondered what the rest of the world thinks about Panem. do they know anything about the Hunger Games? do they willingly sit by and allow it or are they helpless? just watching on in horror?

[carbone14]

Exécution du criminel de guerre japonais Kiyoshi Matsumoto par un officier de police chinois – Guerre sino-japonaise – Chine – 11 juin 1947

[hellonew-yorkgirl]

4. Viel zu sehen in NY: Brooklyn-Bridge, Downtown Manhattan, China-Town und Little Itlay

[tzeming-janice]

Case Study on China

The Great Firewall of China

The Chinese government has voiced worries about the internet since 1998, viewing it as a potential source of social and political challenges to the regime's cultural values and ideology (Cawford, 2023). In response, China's Ministry of Public Security (MPS) directed the Golden Shield project, which was started in 1998 and finished in 2006 (Open Society Institute, n.d.). This initiative is a regulatory framework accompanied by an extensive system of internet censorship. According to Kerner, the western media has called it "The Great Firewall of China”, implying that it encompasses a set of tools, services, and regulations that the government of the People’s Republic of China uses to prevent access to specific online information by individuals who are physically inside its boundaries.

If you've read this far, you might be wondering how the Great Firewall of China blocks content.

The Great Firewall of China uses various methods to block content. It inspects internet traffic entering and leaving China, blocking entire domains and IP address ranges. Additionally, when a user attempts to search for the blocked keywords and phrases, the Great Firewall will block and redirect the website query in a way that does not let the user access the requested information. Additionally, the firewall also actively scans network connections for potential proxy IPs used to bypass it, such as VPNs or Tor privacy networks (Kerner, n.d.).

Criticism and Concerns of the Great Firewall of China

The Chinese government has come under criticism from numerous human rights organisations for the extensive and invasive state monitoring methods used by the Great Firewall. Critics argued that China has restricted its citizens' freedom of access to information sources by enforcing the Great Firewall's strict censorship (Gisonna, 2023). To illustrate, Google holds less than a 2% market share in China, primarily due to government restrictions, with Baidu being the dominant search engine service (Seth, 2022). In March 2009, the Chinese government also banned access to YouTube after the dissemination of videos regarding security personnel beating protestors in Tibet, a region of China (Zed Biz, 2023).

According to Gisonna (2023), in spite of the Great Firewall facing criticism, numerous technology firms have yielded to the Chinese government's self-censorship guidelines, adapting their products to align with Chinese regulations. For example, Microsoft Corporation has produced an altered version of its web search engine, Bing.

China’s powerful app - WeChat

WeChat was developed by Chinese technology giant Tencent Group and was first introduced in 2011 (Sapra, 2019).

As per Zhang (2018), WeChat has evolved beyond its original purpose as a messaging and social networking app. Tencent has effectively transformed WeChat into a super app, serving as a comprehensive platform where users can seamlessly access a multitude of authorized third-party services. These services range from tasks like ride-hailing, purchasing movie tickets, ordering food delivery, booking hotels, paying bills, and many other functionalities. Long story short, it is nearly impossible to do anything without access to WeChat nowadays (Sapra, 2019).

Tencent (2018) argued that “WeChat aims to embed itself in every moment of the user's daily life, from morning till night, anytime, anywhere.”

Why WeChat fails when expanding abroad?

The majority of features of WeChat were constrained due to the absence of collaboration with local suppliers to offer those services. This is why WeChat is losing its competitive edge and transforming into merely another messaging application (Seppam, 2023).

Simultaneously, as per Medium (2019), WeChat's failure can be attributed to its delayed entry into the foreign market. By the time WeChat ventured into the international market in April 2012, WhatsApp had already surpassed its innovation period, spanning from 2009 to 2011. This indicates that WeChat faced limited growth opportunities to capture the global market.

Social Credit System in China

China's social credit system comprises databases and initiatives designed to monitor and evaluate the reliability of individuals, businesses, government entities, and the judiciary (Lee, 2020). It was formally introduced to the public in 2014 with the unveiling of the Outline for the Construction and Planning of the Social Credit System. In addition to looking at financial history and activity, that similar to credit rating systems in other nations, it also considers things like unethical behaviour and legal infractions (Koty & Huld, 2023).

A credit score may benefit from making good contributions to society through the establishment of social programmes, donations to charitable organisations, or other corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives. A high credit score may grant access to discounted public housing or priority medical care. Conversely, engaging in such undesirable behaviour as dishonest or unlawful taxation, misleading customer behaviour, and so forth, may result in a low rating and adverse outcomes including being barred from trains and aeroplanes (Lee, 2020).

Is the social credit system a way to instill good behaviour and provide safety to citizens?

From my point of view, the opinions on this question are diverse. Supporters argue that the Social Credit System could potentially improve overall societal conduct by promoting trust and integrity. They suggest that by rewarding responsible behaviour and penalising misconduct, the system could contribute to a safer and more orderly society.

On the other hand, critics express concerns about privacy violations, the potential for abuse of power, and the impact on individual freedoms. The system involves extensive surveillance and data collection, raising worries about government intervening into citizens' lives. There are fears that the system could be used for social and political control, suppressing dissent, and restricting individual freedoms.

In general, the goal of China's social credit system is to ensure that residents and companies doing business there adhere to local laws and regulations (Velocity Global, 2023). It is important to strive for a balance between the potential benefits of improved societal behaviour and the protection of individual rights.

References:

Crawford, D. (2023, February 3). What is the Great Firewall of China and how does it work. Proton VPN Blog. https://protonvpn.com/blog/great-firewall-china/

Gisonna, N. (2023, September 21). Great Firewall. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Great-Firewall

Kerner, S. M. (n.d.). Great firewall of China. WhatIs.com. https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/definition/Great-Firewall-of-China

Koty, A. C. & Huld, A. (2023, March 24). China’s social credit system: What businesses need to know. China Briefing News. https://www.china-briefing.com/news/chinas-social-credit-system-how-it-works/

Lee, A. (2020, August 9). What is China’s social credit system and why is it controversial? South China Morning Post. https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3096090/what-chinas-social-credit-system-and-why-it-controversial

Medium. (2019, November 19). Identify and explore why “WeChat” failed internationally. https://medium.com/@uncigolini/identify-and-explore-why-wechat-failed-internationally-605cff5043d9

Sapra, B. (2019, December 21). This Chinese super-app is Apple’s biggest threat in China and could be a blueprint for Facebook’s future. Here’s what it’s like to use WeChat, which helps a billion users order food and hail rides. Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/chinese-superapp-wechat-best-feature-walkthrough-2019-12

Seppam, M. (2023, April 5). How China’s Super-App WeChat Failed in USA and Europe.  Why do other successful local apps fail when expanding abroad? https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-chinas-super-app-wechat-failed-usa-europe-why-do-other-seppam/

Seth, S. (2022, December 31). Baidu vs. Google: What's the Difference. Investopedia. https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/051215/baidu-vs-google-how-are-they-different.asp#:~:text=Google%20has%20a%20strong%2C%20dominant,government%20has%20restricted%20its%20use.

Velocity Global. (2023, October 6). The Chinese Social Credit System: What to know as a business owner. https://velocityglobal.com/resources/blog/chinese-social-credit-system/

Zhang, M. (2018, March 26). China’s WeChat: The Power of the Super App. Medium. https://medium.com/@miaozhenzhang666/chinas-wechat-the-power-of-the-super-app-dc144657625e