Studio Session 1- Chinese Blogosphere

This studio session was a good introduction to the Chinese Blogosphere. I did not know very much about the topic going in, so it was interesting to learn more about the internet culture of China. We researched different bloggers and popular sites. One blogger that caught my interest was Han Han because he is a popular public figure who is a race car driver, but also discusses politics on his blog. Most political posts are censored or deleted by the government, and some bloggers have even gone to jail like Ai Weiwei. Some blogs are political, but many focus on fashion and other diverse topics. One of our group members grew up in China, and it was very interesting to hear her perspective on the Chinese Blogosphere. She mentioned that whenever someone's blog was deleted or a post was removed, the government would say that westerners influenced them to write what they did. The government censors much of what reaches the public, but an unique example is a youtube documentary "Under the Dome" about smog that was allowed on the internet for a few days, but quickly removed. I am interested to look at what content is seen as inappropriate, and how the public feels about such strict censorship.