It's FONDLEMANIA: Mobile devices outstrip PCs on China's internet

Mobile devices have edged out PCs when it comes to Chinese online browsing, an official government agency in the People's Republic said on Monday. For the first time more Chinese folk are plugging into the internet using phones or tablets, the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) said (PDF in Chinese), according …

[Arctic fox]

This is very interesting.

It will be even more interesting to see the Chinese government's response when they really understand the degree to which they have let the geni out of the bottle. *

*Regardless of the "Great Firewall of China".

[Trevor_Pott]

Re: This is very interesting.

I'm not sure what you mean? China has made corruption a captial crime and is slowly altering both it's government structure and culture to cope with a nation that is both increasingly a mixed economy and has access to unlimited information.

Don't assume that just because China has the Great Firewall today that they will seek to censor information at the same level that they do now forever. Will they always censor some information? Probably; but so do all nations, including the US and UK. Will they forever censor information about Tienanmen? Likely not.

The goal of the Party is to stay in power. That means adapting to changing circumstances, not blindly ignoring them. The difference with them is that they have the time, the culture and the means to adapt at a pace that won't cause massive social upheaval or calls for the government's head.

They can push the really horrible stuff out of the public consciousness until it's so far in the past that it just won't matter to the average citizen. They can milk a gentle lessening of restrictions and increased "freedoms" for all the "we love our government" goodthink that is possible.

China is slowly but surely moving towards a mostly free - but still regulated - press and internet, from a restricted and locked down variant of the same. It's people will love the government for it. Western nations, on the other hand, are moving to a mostly free - but increasingly regulated - press and internet as well...but they're coming from a position of nearly absolute freedom. Their citizens will hate them for it.

China is not going to one day implode because it's citizens will have access to western schools of thought and then turn on their government in recognition that The West Was Always Right and that demand change and revolution. Far from it. China is cultivating a great deal of nationalism and pride in it's citizens who increasingly view the west as immoral, decadent, corrupt cowboys.

As much as we like to play up the people who leave China because they dislike conditions or the government, we don't seem to notice or care about those who leave our nations or culture behind for the same reasons. Every nation has those unhappy with the folks in power. What is hard to see is that people in other nations can actually be - and often are - quite happy with how things are.

The Chinese population is - by and large - quite happy with the government. They want things to be better, but who doesn't, in any nation? Similarly, it would surprise most westerners to know that Putin has massive support in Russia; their culture, beliefs and morality are actually that different. Like China, they view the west as a corrupting immorality that needs to be opposed.

So no, I really don't think China will fall because people have access to the internet. If anything, it will make them stronger, more educated, better able to collaborate and result in a more sophisticated and technologically advanced society. One that the west is going to have a lot of trouble keeping up with for the rest of this century.

[Misty Airhead]

Mobile is the new web

I can't say I am suprised. China is just like the rest of the world, mobile is here and replacing everything we do. Sooner or later PC's and laptops will be unavailable like tapes.

Sincerely,

Misty