I'm sure you know, but many websites such as FaceBook and YouTube aren't accessible from China unless you're using a proxy server. However, even these can be compromised, like we saw during the minuscule Jasmine protests in Beijing.
Now these proxies are failing again as the Chinese government consolidates its internet monitors to one government agency.
For the past few weeks, the internet has been particularly spotty in Nanjing, China. And even more particularly, in places of education. It's almost impossible to log on if I'm connecting at the school I work at or the campus I live on. Skype is just as equally difficult to get onto.
Some of my friends have been traveling to Beijing for vacation--apparently the internet was working fine there, although they weren't really on any campuses. And as far as I know (because expats would raise hell about it on every blog and news site) Shanghai isn't under such restrictions.
So why (presumably) just Nanjing?
A few theories include the fact that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il visited Nanjing a few days ago to look at factories. Can't have dissidents on the internet then...! Slightly more concerning--is Nanjing an experiment for what the rest of the country will be like once the holes in the Great Firewall are completely sealed over? Only time will tell.
In other words, updates to this blog will be sporadic for the time being as Livejournal is one of those websites that doesn't agree with proxies and firewalls...
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