Some human rights activists and media professionals are saying that the more the CCP tries to block the Internet, the more people will use FanQiang software to bypass the blockade.
FanQiang is a nickname for anti-censorship software that can be used to break through the Internet blockade. It literally means climb over a wall that is, the Great Internet Firewall that the CCP built between China and the rest of the world.
Chang Ping, chief research fellow for the Southern Metropolis Daily Communication Research Institute, said that Googles departure has made a strong statement to those who began to believe it was okay to give up ones principles for the sake of material gain. Some Western companies also accepted this logic and cooperated with the demands of the Chinese authorities. Googles action shattered that notion and shocked those people.
Renowned dissident scholar Chen Ziming said the more the CCP blocks the Internet, the more people will utilize FanQiang, eventually bringing an end to the CCPs Internet blockade. The regime is very weak now. If many segments of society resist together, it will have to yield, he said.
Since the Communist regime started the persecution of Falun Gong in July 1999, it has spent a great deal of money on Internet censorship and has fostered a great number of cyber spies. The enormous effort was undertaken to justify the persecution of Falun Gong by perpetuating lies. This is why FanQiang software was born five years ago: Overseas Falun Gong practitioners working in hi-tech professions developed this software to make it possible for people in China to learn the truth.
'Five Knights'of Freedom
To date, the FanQiang softwareFreeGate, UltraSurf, GardenNetwork, GPass, and FirePhoenixall developed by Falun Gong practitioners, are known as the Five Knights. These software products have become the essential tools for at least a million people in China to gain Internet freedom.
Former Associate Professor of the School of Journalism and Communication at Peking University, Jiao Guobiao, said, I normally dont surf mainland Chinese Web sites. I use FanQiang to surf outside Web sites; they have information you can never get from the media in China.
Liu Shihui, a lawyer from Guangzhou, said he came across FreeGate two years ago and now cant imagine a day without it. As long as you click on FreeGate, you can browse all the Web sites that promote universal values.
He said a FanQiang community of users has developed. Whenever you have a problem or need more software, all you need to do is mention it in a chat room and someone will send you what you need right away. Its a good illustration of just how popular FanQiang has become in China, Liu said.
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