the black China hand

This site has been run on and off since the fall of 2006, today it is basically dead. It was murdered by the Great Firewall of China, which has blocked blogspot continuously since early June. The crime committed? Originally locating this blog on blogspot.

While I am sorry to hear the news -A Modern Lei Feng is a great blog that I often found wisdom and knowledge in- I disagree with the reasoning behind the decision to end it. Writing a consistent blog is no easy task especially if you are not getting paid for it. Many of us write for the simple pleasure of trying to express ourselves or share our interests. But life often has other demands. And so we write when we can, when we’re inspired or passionate but that is not an everyday occurrence. And to that special niche of “China” bloggers, there are countless other impediments to maintaining a consistent posting rhythm. This is even more so if you’re blogging within China and not having access to actually see your site … where getting outside the Chinese Firewall (CF) to access your site on somedays mind-numbingly painful.¹ It’s like a sculptor working statute in the dark … you can only hope that your “sense of touch” is effective. But it is exactly for those reason that we all have to persevere and let our voices be heard. What most of us are doing, as A Modern Lei Feng says, is anything but sinister. We are just speaking out loud in a now global commons. Most of us can’t be heard over the din of all the voices. But that doesn’t mean what were are saying is useless or that we should be quieted. Big walls crumble when mold and mildew eat at them. We are that mold and mildew. So I would urge A Modern Lei Feng, I you have something to say, keep at it and don’t give in just because it’s hard to do so. There is no need to have to post every day … maybe once a week is all. Those ears that have grown use to your voice will seek you out.

活雷锋 – A Modern Lei Feng: Giving in to the Great Firewall

1. It basically entails finding a list of DNS numbers from various websites, then punching in those numbers into your computer to see if it will get you outside the CF. Sometimes the first number you pick is correct and you’re able to breach the CF and access outside sites like Blogpost, Twitter or the NY Times. But more often, you have to run through 10+ number sequences before your successful. And yet, because China monitors which numbers work and deny those they find to be workable one that they find, it is a daily sometimes hourly battle to get outside the CF. A battle that as mentioned above is not for everyone especially when you don’t have an hour or two each day to find out which DNS number gets you out. [↩]