Chinese ‘Web Worms’ Find Their Own Sort of Truth

To the surprise of some observers, most Web surfers in China do not search the Internet for subversive political material. Rather, the estimated 22million Chinese “Web worms” are interested in events in China. But the Internet transforms information flows about such events in ways that can also have political consequences.

Two recent incidents--the collision between an American surveillance plane and a Chinese fighter jet and the explosion of a school in rural Jiangxi province--illustrate this dynamic.

Because the Internet offers perspectives not shaped by the state-controlled media, Chinese citizens are being empowered to challenge their Communist Party leadership.

Take last month’s school blast that killed 38 children.

Local authorities blamed a suicide bomber, but regional and foreign journalists who interviewed the anguished parents reported that students had been forced to make firecrackers to supplement the school’s income.

Before the Internet became popular, few would have read these accounts, but when they appeared on Web sites, millions of Chinese could access them, despite some government blocks.

Internet chat rooms and bulletin boards gave angry citizens a public voice--forbidden until now because such voices only existed when people gathered illegally.

“They want to cover up the child labor and the use of schools as workshops, so they have found a dead man as a scapegoat,” one posting said.

Conversation on https://Sina.com, one of the leading private portals, became so heated and critical of Beijing’s attempts to obscure the truth that the forum was shut down.

But by then the story had spread, prompting Premier Zhu Rongji to issue a rare public apology. He promised that the central government would investigate and even acknowledged the reports by foreign journalists.

Chinese citizens, however, will not always use the Internet’s tools in ways that the U.S. will appreciate, as the recent standoff over the April 1 plane collision shows.

Despite plenty of information on Web sites about the U.S. view of the incident, such as the fact that it occurred over international waters, China’s Netizens sided with the Communist Party.

Chat-room chatter was overwhelmingly nationalistic, just as during the accidental bombing by NATO of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade in 1999.

‘We should not lose our national dignity,” one posting said, “even if that means sacrificing [membership in the World Trade Organization].” ’We are ready for the coming war,” said another. Many Web surfers criticized American “hegemony.” ’Never bully the Chinese people,” one posting warned. One Chinese Web site survey found that 87% of 15,000 surfers thought the incident resulted from “deliberate provocation,” views consistent with the one-sided reporting of the state-owned media.

As the standoff wore on, however, postings increasingly criticized the Chinese leadership. Until censored, chat-room denizens chided their leaders for being “soft” and too old. One Netizen wrote, “Why do we have these leaders?” Another commented: “I miss Chairman Mao,” reflecting a popular sentiment.

After U.S. Ambassador Joseph W. Prueher’s letter secured the release of the U.S. plane’s crew, the text of his letter, though never released by the state media, circulated via e-mail. It fueled further criticism of the leadership because many realized that the U.S. was not as contrite as the state media had claimed.

In that incident, as well as the school blast, Chinese citizens used information retrieved from the outside to challenge their leaders. The trend will doubtless continue, and the U.S. should welcome it even if it sometimes runs counter to American interests. This new dynamic may play a role in convincing the Communist Party to undertake reforms that would make leaders more accountable--changes necessary for long-term political stability and a peaceful transition from one-party rule.

At the same time, the Bush administration should be concerned about online America bashing in China. True, chat-room dwellers may not be representative of Internet users, let alone the Chinese population at large, just as in the U.S., where many online discussions were fiercely anti-Chinese. “Blow up Hainan island!” one posting advocated. Although they make up less than 2% of the Chinese population, the demographics of the Web surfers--young, educated and urban--bear a striking resemblance to the 1989 Tiananmen Square student activists for whom the U.S. was a role model.

The Bush administration cannot attribute the anti-American sentiment of these well-informed Web surfers to propaganda alone. While the administration wants to be tough on the Chinese leadership, as Bush’s strong statements about Washington’s willingness to defend Taiwan confirm, the White House should consider the effects of its rhetoric on a younger generation it hopes will one day lead a freer and friendlier China.