Among memorable events in China in 2009, Internet-related ones probably will stand out.  The number of Chinese netizens is estimated to reach some 350 million, up from 4 million a decade ago, and the numbers keep growing.  But development has been more substantial even than the number suggests.

In May, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) issued a directive, requiring that from July 1st all personal computers sold in China must pre-install a software package called Green Dam–Youth Escort.  The software was said to be able to filter out unhealthy content such as pornography.

But Chinese netizens alleged that the real purpose of the software was to bar their access to information that the government did not want them to view.  Moreover, they were afraid that their online activities would be monitored and their privacy compromised.  With mounting pressures and overwhelming complaints from China’s Internet community, the government had to delay the mandatory pre-installation of the software.

Also in May, Deng Yujiao, a 21-year-old waitress at a hotel in Hubei province, turned herself in after fatally stabbing a local government official and slightly wounding his colleague.  She was then arrested.

When it was revealed that the official actually wanted to rape Deng after his demand of sex was refused, the case angered the online community.  Chinese Netizens hailed her act as self-defense and called her a heroine who had the courage to stand up to the mighty state.  A rights group provided legal assistance for her defense.  All of this was the result of Chinese people’s accumulated outrage toward government officials who have become corrupt and abuse their power.

In the end, while finding Deng guilty of causing injury with intent, the court also ruled in her favor and freed her without a sentence.  It is said that China’s high court intervened, but the case was mostly viewed as a victory not only for justice, but also for public opinion.
 
There were several other similar cases in which Chinese netizens exposed corruption or wrongdoing.  Zhou Senfeng, who became “China’s youngest mayor” in Hubei province at the age of 29, for example, was found to have plagiarized parts of two papers submitted for his master’s degree from Qinghua University.  Despite no new developments, the reputations of both the young mayor and the prestigious Qinghua University were damaged.

Netizens also found that Zhou Jiugeng, a district bureau chief in charge of real estate development in Jiangsu province, smoked cigarettes that cost more than 1,500 yuan per pack and wore a Vacheron Constantin watch worth more than 100,000 yuan.  An official investigation found Zhou guilty of bribery and landed him in prison for 11 years.

These cases are unusual; not only did Chinese netizens challenge the authoritarian regime by using the Internet at a time when regular channels are inaccessible, but they prevailed over the pervasive state.

In most circumstances, however, online resources could be censored.  This was exactly why during his visit to China, U.S. President Barack Obama raised the issue of Internet censorship in the townhall dialogue with university students.  The question brought up by the U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman Jr. read: “In a country with 350 million Internet users and 60 million bloggers, do you know of the firewall? ... Should we be able to use Twitter freely?”

Indeed, President Obama’s answer held up openness as a key foundation for a free society.  He implicitly pointed to the lack of this critical value in China.  In a sense, his remark also echoed what Thomas L. Friedman, a columnist of the New York Times, commented on censoring Google in China: It is equivalent to “curtailing people’s ability to imagine and try anything they want.”