Elena Likhach and her husband Oleg spoke about the peculiarities of China’s Internet isolation
Hello friends! For the last 3 years we have been living in the heavenly realm. And not a few places managed to visit China during this time. Now we live in the south, near Hong Kong in the city of Shenzhen. Of course, this is not the whole country and what is described here refers to personal impressions and personal vision of China.
China has long banned many of the world’s online resources. China prefers to remain a country independent of foreign developments, having its own network, chats. WhatsApp, Google, Facebook, Instagram, and other popular communication options are banned. Moreover, the authorities did not stand on ceremony with the people, blocking access to these networks at once. If you want to open “import” social networks in a search engine, it simply does not give anything. Foreigners arriving in the country are forced to use a VPN to gain access to their “native” social Internet resources. Most of the Chinese do not disobey the decrees of the government, follow the letter of the law: if it is forbidden, it is not allowed.
Chinese IT specialists and programmers have developed alternative Internet packages for locals. Browsers, programs and social networks are not loading well yet. Although their development does not stop, impressing with new options. A foreigner has a hard time: he doesn’t want to violate Chinese law, but he can’t do without social networks allowed in his homeland.
Once we had to return to Russia for 8 days. The trip was a necessity and came after a six-month stay in China. Russian Internet impressed, amazed and surprised. At this time in our homeland, we absolutely did not know problems with online, enjoying the speed of downloads, options. You could freely go to Instagram, scroll through the usual news feed, bright photos and events.
The Chinese, on the other hand, sit for half an hour, agonizingly waiting for one photo to be uploaded. They are accustomed to this, do not get annoyed, patiently wait. Before China, my husband and I were picky. That one picture did not load, then the video did not load, and I immediately abandoned such downloads. It didn’t even occur to me to expect. Oleg needs good quality videos from 1080p. Arriving in the Middle Kingdom, my eyes were opened: I lived in the paradise of Internet freedom! A Chinese man rejoices as he opens the picture in 480p. For foreigners living in China, such an Internet is a torment, a test of a sense of patience, calmness. As a result, a foreigner is forced to leave the Internet, use other sources of news and entertainment. You enter the network only on business and not for long.
Perception of the world in China
The Chinese have a different worldview and attitude. They have a special relationship with other nationalities, countries. The country is strongly influenced by communist ideas, and it does not occur to the people to criticize the authorities. Hence the habit of putting up with slow Internet, patience, a sense of tact towards the developers of slow programs and online social resources.
China lives in an internet-isolated zone controlled by the government. People themselves direct the ideology in the right direction to please the government. The rulers of any country would agree to such an attitude of the people towards the authorities. Unfortunately, the world is not yet particularly aware of the potential that lies in the Celestial Empire. Which will sink into the soul of Europe or the West. Without China, it is impossible to live in a harmonious world, create and enjoy life to the fullest.
