“Xi Jinping has reiterated many times that China must insist on ‘opening up’ and welcome the internet age, but when he’s talking about all this, the country’s [censorship] is becoming more and more like that of North Korea,” she said. “It’s way too strict.”
Cheng said she had been dismayed to discover recently that even Pinterest, a photo sharing website particularly popular among designers and artists, was no longer accessible on the mainland.
“All the young people who have been using Pinterest to share and gain inspiration for their art design are furious,” she said. “I must speak up. If I don’t what am I doing here at the CPPCC? I’m not here to be a yes woman. “
Cheng’s proposal and remarks met with strong support from her panel, whose members include representatives of sectors ranging from business to health care and education. It also received many “likes” in a WeChat group joined by about 50 CPPCC members.
One of them was biologist Luo Yongzhang, a cancer expert at Tsinghua University.
He said internet censorship made his work more difficult. Without Google, he could only use Baidu, the biggest search engine on the mainland, for academic research, but it was always a hassle.
“It’s all in Chinese and can’t search for English entries,” he said. “And many [search results] aren’t that accurate.
“[The censorship] has indeed hindered the progress of scientific research. We can’t get the latest information or the most accurate.”
He said he agreed with the government that politically sensitive information should be blocked, because “the common folks do not have the ability to tell [right from wrong]”, but access to Google Scholar, a search engine for academic literature, should be allowed for the sake of academics, researchers and scientists.
