Crack the Crunch with the Crunch Breaker

As Obama arrives, I leave. It’s all go in Shanghai

November 26, 2009

Last Sunday I was in Shanghai airport on my way to Hong Kong, sipping a beer, waiting for my flight to be called. At the same time, Barack Obama was due to arrive, at the start of a 3 day Presidential visit of China.

Shanghai is an extraordinary place – one of the biggest cities in the world, thriving and buzzing. The commercial centre of Mainland China.

Obama – loved with almost saint-live reverence outside his own country, represents so much to the Chinese people.

The ability of the underdog to win
Freedom to all
Self expression
Equal rights.

I was therefore shocked (but sadly not surprised) to learn how so much of Obama’s visit was censored by the Chinese authorities.

Obama went to a local college the following day in Shanghai and spoke about the importance of freedom and equality. This was on the news the following day in Hong Kong and other countries, but not in Mainland China, where it had been censored out of the news.

It simply hadn’t happened.

Ask a young Chinese what they can and can’t do and it will be a shock to you and I.

• Facebook banned
• Twitter banned
• Heavily censored internet coverage and website access
• No BBC
• Permission denied to travel in parts of the country or the same city
• Only government approved Western films allowed

Plus many other restrictions you and I would take for granted.

This country has a long way to go. Of course I respect all cultural differences but the Chinese system is one of flexible communism – an entrepreneurial spirit but of total control.

You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.