3 posts tagged “china”
One of the first things I learnt about accessing the Internet from within China is that you can't go to all of the web sites that you can if you are outside China. This is not just my experience - it is widely reported and there are a collection of proxy servers outside China that knowledgeable Chinese can connect to in order to bypass the blocks that are in place.
Indeed, I use my company's proxy server if I want to access the BBC's news web site. A curious blockage considering that my hotel TV shows the BBC World News programme!
So it was with interest that I read in today's English language China newspaper that for the Olympics, reporters will be given uncensored access to the Internet. I found this announcement interesting for two reasons:
- I think it is very forward thinking of the China government to take this approach. The last thing they want is more press coverage of how access to the Internet is restrictive.
- This is the first time I have heard of an acknowledgement that there is censorship going on. A fairly recent report on the BBC's web site about this topic said, if my recollection is correct, that a Chinese official said that the BBC news web site was unavailable due to technical difficulties and not censorship.
The China <-> rest of the world Internet boundary definitely causes problems. It is a bandwidth limiter as everything has to go through government systems. Only time will tell as to how the government continues to treat this issue.
I wrote yesterday about how the smog had lifted off Beijing to reveal a blue sky and the mountains. It didn't last long ...
The photo on the left is pretty much the same viewpoint as I used yesterday but the mountains are no longer visible.
The photo on the right was taken from the window of our Beijing office. You ought to be able to see the telecom tower from here but it is totally lost in the smog.
I had read that, for the Olympics in 2008, they are going to fire something into the atmosphere from great big guns in order to disperse the smog. They are certainly going to have to do something because otherwise it is going to look really, really dismal.
A shame really as Beijing and the surrounding area is really pretty.
It almost seems surreal, really, that after the weeks of planning the business trip to the China office, the day has finally come! I'm actually posting this from my hotel in China so I've arrived safely and with everything intact, which is a huge relief.
I was pleased with the increase in size in carry-on luggage as it allowed me to use a rucksack instead of a computer case and, as a result, take the more important things onboard with me, just in case the suitacase went astray. Of course, I was then worrying about having to explain why I had a Chinese power distribution block in my bag (we'd had the plug on it modified so it would fit the UPS) but the UK authorities didn't blink. In fact, everything went really smoothly. The main drawback initially was the long queue for BA's fast bag drop counters ... too many people are either checking-in online or using the machines at the terminal. I think I read that Terminal 5 will have something like 90 check-in terminals. If that is right, I hope that BA have loads of fast bag drop counters.
I'd managed to blag a Club World seat so I was fast-tracked through security, only to find that the main lounge at Terminal 4 was horrendously busy! It calmed down quite quickly but this is going to have to be another area that BA needs to pay some attention to ... they know how many seats they've got & how many potential lounge users they've got ...
The flight was good. I watched X-Men 3 while I ate and then tried to sleep while listening to some music on my Minidisc player. I definitely slept at some point because I remember that at one point I was listening to Sting and the next thing I know is that I'm listening to the end of an Anastacia album. No comments on my taste in music :).
Landed at Beijing, got off the plane quite quickly and made my way through to security. I don't know if this was one of the first flights of the day or what, but there initially weren't any people on duty! Quite strange :). Still, it didn't take long to get through passport control then on to baggage collection. Waited for the suitcase to arrive - not too long a wait thankfully - and then out through the "nothing to declare" point. Changed some US$ travellers cheques into Chinese currency and then catch a taxi to the hotel. I'd forgotten how long the journey took - I was beginning to worry that I was literally being taken for a ride but we got there in one piece.
So now I just need to adjust to the local timezone and start my working week tomorrow. Fingers crossed that it goes well and that I don't have any trouble getting a taxi back to the hotel afterwards ...
