A number of social networking and sharing websites are blocked in China, including Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Wikipedia, and certain Google applications. From time to time, Chinese authorities have also blocked access to news publications in retaliation for unfavorable reporting.

Web users' responses to the CCTV post comparing China and its Communist neighbor are interesting for two reasons. First, they capture a shifting baseline of comparison, which contribute to peoples' understanding of themselves and their environment. Second, particularly in the broader context of last week's Southern Weekly controversy, the responses highlight how patterns of communication are changing. Both have implications for people's expectations for dialogue and participation.

Shifting Baselines of Comparison

Web users are citizens of the world. They are quick to compare everything from Internet speed to freedom of speech with their international peers. One of the most common complaints in China is about Internet speed. "Damn! Last time I was in the Seoul airport - that was [expletive] fast!" exclaimed @花古朵. "It's so simple for [other countries' networks] to exceed China's Internet speed," added @亚茉莉. Globalization coupled with the World Wide Web has made the norms of developed countries more apparent than ever to a massive and growing population of Chinese Internet users and, increasingly, to people located in the country's less developed interior.

The Communist Party and nationalist media take a nuanced approach to international comparisons. The official narrative goes something like this: "China's progress must be viewed in the context of its unique historical and cultural circumstances. There may be a time and place for unfettered and free flow of ideas, but China has not yet reached that phase of its social development." This official approach favors selective comparisons. Chinese citizens are urged to take comfort because freedom of expression and the press is relatively greater than it was just decades ago. And, as with CCTV's report, official media is happy to point out China's freedom compared to closed societies like North Korea.

Public access to the Internet and social media makes it more difficult for the state to impose this particular perspective. Web users engage with and identify as part of a broader, sometimes international, online community. Although the state would like to measure progress against China's past--or against less developed, closed countries like North Korea--Chinese gradually have become more critical, more worldly, and more savvy as consumers of information. Instead of looking back and comparing Internet speed or freedom to the China of old, they look around at the state of contemporary global online culture in places like South Korea, Hong Kong, and the U.S.