By Britney Wilkins

What would your world be like if you couldn't log on to Facebook or your favorite celebrity or news websites? As a college student in the U.S., you may feel stressed about your heavy workload, competition getting into classes (or getting into school at all), fighting for internships and graduating into a weak economy, but when it comes to freedom of speech and the ability to log on to TMZ during class, you're pretty lucky. Here are 25 shocking facts about Chinese censorship and how students in that country don't have the freedom to surf the net the way you do.

Surveillance

Chinese Internet users are monitored by the government, especially in Internet cafes. Learn more about surveillance here.

The Internet Police: The Internet Police reportedly employs 30,000 agents who investigate individuals who post information online that may be offensive to Chinese government and officials. This kind of information may include rumors or state secrets, as well as material that brings down Chinese morale and its reputation, according to CNN. All keystrokes are recorded: Even in Internet cafes, all chats, online games and e-mails are recorded by the government, making it impossible to fly under the radar or send any truly private messages. The Internet Detective: The Chinese government uses a special kind of spy software called the Internet Detective that records sites you visit, e-mails, games, message board activity and identity card numbers. The government says that it uses this spyware to make it easier to catch criminals who use Internet cafes. Great Firewall vs. Golden Shield: The official name for the online censorship idea is the Golden Shield Project, which began in 1998. Critics of the project refer it to the Great Firewall of China. China has more web surfers than America: China's population is of course larger than the population of the U.S., but Americans once dominated the virtual world. That means that the Internet Police patrol 253 million web surfers.

Jurisdiction and Punishment

If you're caught violating the laws of Chinese censorship and appropriate online behavior, you may have to go to jail. Find out how journalists, web surfers and even U.S. companies become entangled in the Chinese censorship movement.

Offending China online warrants jail time: If you are caught and convicted of offending China and the government, you may be sent to jail. Yahoo! indirectly aided in the arrest of a Chinese journalist: In April 2007, the World Organization for Human Rights sued Yahoo! for "willingly" supplying the Chinese government with the personal information and e-mail addresses for a Chinese journalist and "cyber dissident." The government used that information to arrest both individuals, and Yahoo! was widely criticized for their cooperation in the event, even by the U.S. Congress. Even U.S. companies have to comply with China's rules: U.S. Internet companies like Yahoo! and Google make their services available all over the world, but in China, those services are restricted. Just recently, the Chinese government restricted access to Google altogether "after a government representative accused [Google] of spreading pornography," reports PC World. Fines are issued as punishment: If an individual is found guilty of publishing offensive content on the web, such as "defaming" the government, they could be forced to pay a fine of up to $1800.

Restrictions and Blocked Sites

Learn about blocked sites, taboo topics and more.