By now I’m sure most of you have heard that the Chinese government [PRC] has banned 50 video game titles. What disturbed me wasn’t this fact, but rather that the article also stated that the same government “…will focus on combating illegal publications. This especially concerns pirated textbooks, electronic publications and illegal journals…”
This is simply a pretext to go ban textbooks, for anything that’s brought from outside of the PRC’s jurisdiction is considered pirated materials. What do journals/textbooks have in common? They educate. They inform. They tell of things outside the figurative box in which one lives. Even if some aren’t always correct, the possibility still remains. The statement quoted above is a silent reminder that China is still very much a Commmunist nation intent on keeping its people in a limited (read: oppressed) situation.
Tying with the above subject; today a Chinese double-gold medalist in Athens was kicked off the olympic team for being toopublicized. These tidbits are of the news this week. Now picture the situation being like so all year round.
I’m detailing this because I’ve seen an increasing number of articles praising the progress of the People’s Republic of China with regards to world ties. Though China has opened up more market ties in recent years, the nation is still very much authotarian, and that is a fact that should not be so soon forgotten (*cough*).