Google Blocked In China

It seems that someone didn’t get the Christmas gift they wanted, as Google is now blocked in China. Totally! I’m not just talking about the (often) useless Google Docs, or some maps of Goverment resources…I’m saying that everything on the Google.com (http and https) is now blocked!

Google Blocked In China

Google blocked in China

That means China has blocked access to Gmail! It means I can’t access search! It means…well…we have been here before, so right now it doesn’t mean much. If it lasts more than a few days, then it’s time to get scared.

Why is Google blocked in China? A recent story in the Global Times said that there might be a shutdown if the company didn’t comply with moving maps servers to the mainland next year…but few thought that it would happen this quickly.

As a site-block-veteran ™, I would expect full service to resume in the next 48 hours. Until then, time to get on your China VPN and resume normal service. I’ll try to keep this post updated for any news about the Google China block – if you hear any news or gossip then please share in the comments!

My Christmas Gift – 我的圣诞礼物

Short story: I was interviewed by Ctrip’s travel blog, read it by clicking here – China Blogger Spotlight: Oli Denton on his Shanghai blog and living the good life in China!

精简版：我被携程旅游网采访了，点击这里查看 – China Blogger Spotlight: Oli Denton on his Shanghai blog and living the good life in China!

Long story: I had a great early Christmas present the other day, when the lovely Aimee from The China Travel Blog asked me to be interviewed about my blog.

完整版： 某日我收到了一份最棒的提前到来的圣诞礼物，就是The China Travel Blog的亲爱的Aimee要采访我关于我的博客。

She grilled me like an oyster…but you can click below to see the interview in full (as well as some hot photos of me doing Jesus poses) on their website!

我就像一个牡蛎一样被她拷问…点击下面链接你可以看到完整的采访（还有一些我凹造型的照片）在他们的网站上！

Don’t forget to press the LIKE button on their site at the bottom of the article!

别忘了点击文章下面的LIKE键！

Icy Chill #2 – 冰天雪地

I just found out that my dear cousin Alice and her husband James are stuck in the freezing UK and can’t fly away to the sun (they have tickets for the next Ashes cricket test match in Australia)! When I heard that a lot of flights from the UK had been delayed I didn’t think at all that they would affect anyone I knew…the only thing I could think of was snow! Snow! SNOW!

我刚刚发现我亲爱的表妹Alice和她的丈夫James被困在了冰冷的英国，不能飞向阳光（他们已经拿到了下一届Ashes澳大利亚板球赛的门票）！当我听说很多英国航班延误的时候，我根本没想到会影响到我认识的人…我唯一能想到的是下雪！下雪！下雪！

It is the British way to wish for a white Christmas, and then complain when it happens. I would never wish for a cold Christmas, because I know what can happen…you wake up in your cold bed…you can see your own breath in the air…you put on your cold slippers…walk to your cold bathroom…

希望有一个白色圣诞是英国人的传统，然后真的发生的时候又开始抱怨。我可不希望有一个寒冷的圣诞节，因为我知道会发生什么…你在冰冷的床上醒来…看见自己呼吸冒出的热气…穿上冰冷的拖鞋…走进冰冷的浴室…

…give me sun every time!

…我要太阳！

It’s now official – Facebook is a terrorist hangout (perhaps)

Due to what some see as draconian approach to media control, news stories don’t always come quickly to the mainland. Sometimes, however, the opposite is true!

I read a story in the Telegraph this morning which reminded me of something I’d heard many times before…but I just couldn’t put my finger on exactly where, so I did about 5 minutes of research and put together this super-timeline…

It was a shock when terrorism hit China before the Olympics…

August 2008 – Beijing Olympics security fears as terror attack kills 16 Chinese policemen

“The seemingly well-coordinated assault [...] appears to be China’s most serious act of political terror in more than a decade.”

“Ten days ago, a Muslim group which said it was fighting for the liberation of the region posted a video to a security website threatening to make the “most critical points of the Olympics” a target.

Riots in Western China saw more than 100 killed…

July 2009 – China riots: 156 killed in Urumqi as riots spread to Kashgar, according to Xinhua

“Calm had settled over Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang province, after 20,000 police, troops and firefighters reclaimed the streets from rioters who burnt and smashed vehicles and shops, and clashed with security forces over Sunday night.”

The Telegraph’s coverage was, as usual, accurate and well-researched…

August 2009 – The battle to scale the Great Firewall of China

“[T]he Chinese government cLose Weight Exercise/”>Lose Weight Exercised [...] Facebook four weeks ago. This is because the government believes the rioters in Xinjiang province on July 5 used networking sites to communicate.”

As well as this golden nugget…

“When expats move to China, the issue of internet access is one of the first culture shocks. The first surprising thing is that internet cafés do not exist.”

Earlier this year released a whitepaper about its block of FB and similar sites…

June 2010 – China defends censoring web

“Anything considered subversive or threatening to “national unity”, China said, would however continue to be blocked.”

And now today’s breaking news…

December 2010 – Facebook emerges as ‘terrorist recruiting ground’

“The US government has warned that terrorist groups like al-Qaeda are targeting Facebook as a prime recruitment ground.”

It’s hard for progressive techophiles to argue the virtues of unblocking this type of website (or at least question the reasoning of the censorship) when Western governments underline the same fears…and more than a year later!

Bathroom Tips – 厕所里的小贴士

Sometimes the most obvious advice is the best.

有时候很明显的意见也是最好的意见

Lose Weight Exercise/”>Lose Weight Exercise for missiles, switching to guns…” title=”Too cLose Weight Exercise/”>Lose Weight Exercise for missiles, switching to guns…” width=”500″ height=”375″ class=”alignnone size-full wp-image-2613″ />

Snow my God! – 雪！

As my lovely girlfriend is often reminding me, my Dad (probably 70 years older than me and 1/4 as wise) is a MUCH better photographer than me.

因为我可爱的女朋友总是提醒我，我的爸爸（可能比我大70岁可是只有我1/4的智慧）拍照比我好。

With that in mind, here’s some photos of the crazy landscape at my old house in England today!

因为这样，有了这些今天在英国的我的老房子的风景照！

I hope they’re wearing their wooly underwear!

我希望他们都穿着羊毛内衣！