Golden Shield – China’s Great Firewall

In 1998 the governing party of the Chinese government had concerns that the opposing China Democratic Party (CDP) would create a network that they would not be able to control or censor and allowing the citizens of this country access to uncensored information. The Communist Party of China decided to address this issue by doing two things; 1) outlaw the CDP and arrest all it’s members, and 2) embark on a massive censorship project called the Golden Shield Project.

Commonly referred to as the Great Firewall Of China, this government funded technology project sought to censor and monitor what their citizens accessed via the Internet. It achieves this through a system of firewalls and proxy servers at Internet gateways that can block content based on IP (Internet Protocol) addresses. While one of the original intents was to use this firewall as a surveillance tool, the Chinese government doesn’t appear to be doing this as it is technically impractical due to the amount of information and data that the 250 million Internet users send and receive on a daily basis.

Some of the methods that the Golden Shield Project uses to censor what their citizens can access include;

IP Blocking – This denies the user the ability to access websites contained at certain IP addresses that the government has deemed unacceptable. Many websites use something called “shared hosting” where several websites are hosted on the same IP address. In a case like this, the Great Firewall blocks all sites contained at that location from its citizens regardless of content.

DNS Filtering and Redirection – When you type in an URL into your web browser, the domain name must be resolved and return the site’s physical location in the form of an IP address. China’s firewall will block this resolution or return false information and redirect the user to a different website.

URL Keyword Filtering – If a Chinese citizen enters an URL with a banned keyword or phrase, the firewall denies access to the website. Research projects have compiled lists of these banned keywords; they are mostly political in nature, but there’s quite a few head-scratchers in there too.

Packet Filtering – The Great Firewall of China will terminate the transmission of data once a certain number of identified or controversial keywords are detected.

The Chinese government constantly tracks and maintains what websites and content the Golden Shield Project denies to their citizens. They routinely block political dissident websites, news sources that cover police brutality by the state, sites deemed obscene or pornographic and any sites related to the Dalai Lama or the International Tibet Independence Movement.

Citizens have been able to figure out ways to bypass the Great Firewall, much to the annoyance of the Chinese governing party. Proxy servers that are hosted outside of China are the most common solution to accessing websites that have been blocked by the firewall. There is also a growing business for companies that offer bypassing services.

Overall privacy and freedom of expression advocates have been extremely critical of this massive technology project, and the Chinese government has occasionally bowed to pressures by the Internation community. For instance, during the 2008 Olympic Games government officials allowed Internet access to be unblocked in Internet cafes, hotels and other destinations that foreign travelers may frequent. They have unblocked resource sites such as Wikipedia and BBC and have even allowed their citizens temporary access to YouTube before once again blocking it.

Additional reading material

If you’re looking for some historical information on China and the adoption of the Internet in that country, you might want to check an excellent book called Red Wired – China’s Internet Revolution. Written by a leading Chinese technology reporter by the name of Sherman So, Red Wired describes how China’s citizens, businesses and government have adopted the Internet and grown its user base to over 250 million people.

Forbidden keywords

The Great Firewall will frown on a vast number of sites and keywords, but here’s a sample.

• 大罢工 — Great strike
• 老毛奇 — Helmuth Karl Bernhard von Moltke
• 反共产国际公约 — Anti-Comintern Pact
• 我的奋斗 — Mein Kampf (My Struggle)
• 卡普暴动 — The Kapp Putsch
• 反人类罪 — Crime against humanity
• 马尔梅迪屠杀 — Malmedy massacre
• 格但斯克大屠杀 — The Gdansk massacre
• 印度支那共产党总书记 — The Communist Party of Vietnam
• 赵紫阳 — Zhao Ziyang
• 专政 — Dictatorship (party)
• 安源大罢工 — Anyuan great strike
• 北大法科礼堂 — Peking University Law School Auditorium
• 藏独 — Tibet Independence Movement
• 明慧 — Ming Hui (related to Falun Gong)
• 法轮大法 — Falun Dafa
• 鲍彤 — Bao Tong (related to June 4th protests)
• 人民报 (中文) — People’s Daily (Chinese edition)
• 大纪元時報 — The Epoch Times
• 多维 — Duo Wei (Chinese newspaper based in the United States)
• 中俄边界冲突 — Sino-Russian border issue
• 镇压 — Suppression
• 群体灭绝 — Genocide (related to Falun Gong)
• 卖国 — Traitor
• 清末留学运动 — Late Qing Dynasty campaign of sending students to study abroad
• 六四事件 — June 4th events (1989 Tiananmen Square protests)
• 邓力群 — Deng Liqun (historical figure)
• 共匪 — Communist bandit (“Commie,” used as historical term)
• 罢工权 — The right to strike
• 江泽民文选 — Collections of Jiang Zemin
• 广场绝食团 — Tiananmen Square Hunger Strike Group
• 异见人士 — Dissident
• 黄菊 — Huang Ju (politician, historical)
• 香港立法会 — The Hong Kong Legislative Council
• 新闻封锁 — News blackout
• 内蒙古独立运动 — Inner Mongolia independence movement
• 新疆独立运动 — Xinjiang independence movement
• 彭泽民 — Peng Zemin (historical figure)
• 封杀 — Block
• 大参考 — Dacankao Daily News
• 色情电影 — Erotic movies
• 专政机关 — Dictatorship organs
• 色情按摩 — Sexual massage
• 政治迫害 — Political persecution
• 关于进一步做好刑满释放、解除劳教人员促进就业和社会保障工作的意见 — Views on how to better help inmates who are released after prison term or released from education through
• 全国人民代表大会常务委员会关于严禁卖淫嫖娼的决定 — The decision of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress on strictly prohibiting prostitution
• 红色恐怖 — Red Terror
• 无产阶级专政下继续革命理论 — Theory of continuing revolution under the proletariat dictatorship
• 无产阶级专政 — Dictatorship of the proletariat
• 爱国主义还是卖国主义？ — Patriotism or traitors doctrine?
• 六七武装暴动 — June 7th armed rebellions
• 文艺黑线专政论 — Literary and art black line dictatorship theory
• 群众专政 — Populace dictatorship
• 接班人 — Political successor
• 反党反社会主义分子 — Counter-party counter-socialism member
• 中央农民运动讲习所 — Central peasant movement institute
• 湖南农民运动考察报告 — Hunan farmer movement investigation report
• 美国之音 — Voice of America
• 国民革命与农民运动 — Nationalist revolution and farmer movement
• 唐山市总同盟罢工 — Tangshan City Alliance strike
• 开滦煤矿大罢工 — The Kailuan coal mine great strike
• 变相劳改 — Disguised reform-through-labor
• 莫斯科公审 — Public trial in Moscow
• 民主专制 — Democracy or dictatorship
• 反饥饿、反内战、反迫害运动 — Anti-hunger, anti-civil war, anti-persecution movement
• 反党反社会主义 — Anti-party, anti-socialism
• 大纪元时报 — Epoch Times
• Category:六四事件 — Category: June 4th events (1989 Tiananmen Square protests)
• 一党专政 — One party dictatorship
• 王刚 — Wang Gang
• 汕尾事件 — Shanwei Event
• 民运 — Civil rights movement
• 六四天安门事件 — June 4th Tiananmen Incident
• 王文怡 — Wang Wenyi (journalist)
• 独裁主义 — Dictatorship principle
• 处女卖淫案 — Virgin prostitution law case
• 王斌余事件 — Wang Binyu incident
• 中华人民共和国集会游行示威法 — The PRC Law on mass rallies and demonstrations
• Freenet — Freenet
• 方舟子 — Fang Zhouzi
• 台湾建国党 — The Taiwan Nation Party (formerly the Taiwan Independence Party)
• 转化率 — Conversion rate
• 专制统治 — Dictatorship control
• 东方专制主义 — Oriental despotism
• 佟泽民 — Tong Zemin
• 刘晓光 — Liu Xiaoguang (professional Go player)
• 彭小枫 — Peng Xiaofeng (anti-Japanese advocate)
• 劳改 — Reform-through-labor
• zh-yue:六四事件 — zh-yue: June 4th events (1989 Tiananmen Square protests)
• 六四內部日記 — June 4th internal diaries
• 六四遊行 — June 4th parades
• 全国学联筹委会 — National Student Federation Preparation Committee
• 必须旗帜鲜明地反对动乱 — Must clearly and unequivocally make public stand, oppose the turmoil
• 维权绝食接力 — Relay hunger strikes
• 封从德 — Feng Congde (related to June 4th protests)
• 钦本立 — Qin Benli (journalist)
• 绝食 — Hunger strike
• 政治异议人士 — Political dissident
• 王丹 (1969年) — Wang Dan (year 1969) (related to June 4th protests)
• 上海净业社儿童教养院 — Shanghai Jingye Society child reformatory
• 两岸关系 — Cross-Strait relations (between China and Taiwan)
• 北京之春雜誌 — Beijing Spring magazine
• 蒋培坤 — Jiang Peishen (husband of one of the “Tiananmen Mothers”)
• 東土耳其斯坦流亡政府 — East Turkistan government in exile
• 东土耳其斯坦 — East Turkistan
• 百灵庙暴动 — Bailing Temples rebellions
• 学联 — Student federation
• 刘晓峰 — Liu Xiaofeng (politician)
• 东土耳其斯坦解放组织 — East Turkestan Liberation Organization
• 桥头电厂 — (Qinghai) Qiaotou power plant
• 善意的独裁者（英文） — Good dictator (English)
• 新宿西口廣場 — West Shinjuku Square (Traditional characters)
• 国人暴动 — Chinese riots
• 丁纪元 — Ding Jiyuan
• 卢多维克·阿里奥斯托 — Ludovico Ariosto
• 国民革命与农民运动 — Nationalist revolution and farmers’ movement (in China)
• 弗拉基米尔·弗谢沃洛多维奇 — Vladimir Vsevolodovich
• 東京都道新宿副都心十號線 — Tokyo Road on the 10th line to Tokyo Shinjuku district center
• 六四事件 — June 4th events (1989 Tiananmen Square protests)
• 江泽民 — Jiang Zemin
• 中宣部 — Chinese Central Propaganda Department
• 赵紫阳 — Zhao Ziyang
• Category:六四事件 — Category: June 4th events (1989 Tiananmen Square protests)
• 专政 — Dictatorship (party)
• 专制 — Dictatorship
• 一党专政 — One party dictatorship
• 六四天安门事件 — June 4th Tiananmen Incident
• 共匪 — Communist bandit
• 独裁 — Dictatorship
• 邓力群 — Deng Liqun
• 太子党 — Crown Prince Party
• 江八点 — Jiang’s eight points
• 全国学联 — National students federation
• safeweb — safeweb
• 黄菊 — Huang Ju
• 民运 — Civil rights movement
• 支那派遣軍 — Japanese troops sent to invade China
• 全国农民运动会 — The National Farmers Games
• 六四天安門事件 — The June 4th Tiananmen event
• 司法院大法官 — Judicial yuan grand justices
• 多维尔 — Deauville, a town in France
• 大参考 — Dacankao Daily News
• 希特勒 — Hitler
• 南京大屠杀 — Nanjing Massacre
• 北莱茵-威斯特法伦 — Nordrhein-Westfalen (North Rhine-Westphalia)
• 罢工 — Strike
• Category:南京大屠杀 — Category: Nanjing Massacre
• 阿道夫·希特勒 — Adolf Hitler
• 群众专政 — Populace dictatorship
• 反党反社会主义分子 — Counter-party counter-socialism member
• 美国之音 — Voice of America
• 法轮功 — Falun Gong
• 西藏流亡政府 — The Tibetan government in exile
• 自由亚洲电台 — Radio Free Asia (RFA)
• 色情 — Pornography
• 大纪元时报 — Epoch Times
• 汕尾 — Shanwei
• 佟泽民 — Tong Zemin
• 六四 — June 4th
• 国际地质科学联合会 — International geological scientific federation (Beijing)
• Category:中俄边界问题 — Category: Sino-Russian border issue
• 2.5-2.6反革命暴动 — 2.5-2.6 counter-revolutionary riot
• 阿塞拜疆独立共和国 — The Independent Republic of Azerbaijan
• 东土耳其斯坦解放组织 — East Turkestan Liberation Organization
• 酷刑 — Brutal torture