First: I think I have enough pictures already to create a page with all the pics and videos I took here in Beijing. So make sure you check for updates these following days ’cause I might update soon.

Second: I have written this short article regarding this little struggle going between google and china. So if you guys would like to check it out and gimme some feedback I’d be really thankful!

Why Google Didn’t Succeed In China.

That’s all for now guys! Whenever I have time I’m gonna post here again. Stay tuned!

Cheers,
Dan

At first, I thought I would have some sort of bad cultural shock and that it would take a long time to get used to it. However, I have noticed that things here were not THAT different from what I’m used to. The influence from other countries in China is visible to anyone who wants to see it: the architecture of the buildings, the high number of foreign cuisine restaurants, foreign famous brands and so on.  It’s not hard to go out and find McDonald’s, KFC, Subway and 7-eleven. To give you guys an idea, I have to confess that I have been here for one month and I have yet to taste the famous chinese food, I usually just go out and have my lunch at italian restaurants or even brazilian restaurants!

I have noticed though, that the western influence reaches the country just as much as the government allows. What do I mean? Well, to give you guys an example, recently the famous movie “Avatar” has been replaced in movie theaters by chinese movies. Not to mention that the internet is heavily censored here. One thing I have asked myself is why youtube is blocked here and I think it’s partly because they don’t want the western “pop” culture to get famous here. One curious thing is that around 95% of the radios here play only chinese songs and the international radios mostly play songs that are a bit….old.Speaking of music, of course, I have to mention MTV too. Yes, there IS MTV China and mostly it only plays chinese songs! There wasn’t a single time when I would tune in to MTV and see a worldwide famous artist.

The last thing I’d like to talk about is religion. I’m not really a religious person but it couldn’t escape my eyes that there are no churches here! I have asked about them to a few people and they say that even though there are a few churches here they are very small and kind of hard to be found. Well, it’s not a surprise that religion is a nice instrument of mass control. So any guesses why most of the people here follow just one religion?
So, I feel inclined to ask: “Why only a few western things reach China?” Seriously, what’s the point? I believe that by doing that they are trying to prove to the outside world that they can accept changes and that they are actually welcome here as long as it doesn’t interfere with the way they run their country!

That’s just my opinion though. What do you guys think about the western influence in China? Is the government right by limiting the information that the country receives?

Well, let me explain these two concepts I’ve came up with. Back in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, we’ve had a pretty serious issue which is VIOLENCE. When you watch all those things on tv about “carnaval”, beaches, happiness and so on you usually have no idea of what’s really going on there. In Brazil we don’t have what I call “Physical Freedom” in a nutshell: We have to avoid places, we can’t go to the place we want whenever we feel like doing it simply because it’s too dangerous! Anything could happen! You can’t even be sure if you’ll be back home alive. Too dramatic? I don’t think so. Just check the news. No, no the REAL news. Just a few weeks before I left Rio I remember a helicopter was shot down by drug dealers! Amazing, huh? Now, here in China, I have the freedom to come and go wherever I want and be assured that most likely nothing will happen to me, guns are not even allowed here! This is simply awesome and it’s something that most people from other less violent places around the world don’t really care about. It’s gold for me, I love to go out the whole day and come back just at night to rest and use the internet a little.

On the other hand…

Not everything is a bed of roses here and China, many things make me even miss my dear country. Here, I don’t have the freedom to express myself the way I want. The problems start when I get back home and turn on the tv and all I have is 9 CCTV channels or more! Fortunately, I have cable tv so I can watch some movies but recently I found out that some movies also get censored here! Sometimes it’s so ridiculous that even a 5yo would note that it has been edited. TV is not my favorite thing anyway, so I turn on my computer and start to surf on the web. Since, I can watch TV here I try to go to youtube, but SURPRISE it’s blocked! But it’s ok! I can share my awesome news with my friends on facebook! Oh wait, dammit! It’s blocked! So I try to read some news about China in some sites, you won’t be surprised to know that they are also blocked , right? Seriously guys, there’s a serious information deprivation going on here!And that’s what I call “Virtual Freedom”

At first, I thought “Hey, it’s ok. At least, I still don’t have to fear violence”. I’m having second thoughts though as I think how bad it might be for people who were born here. They are kind of isolated from the outside world(I’d say completely isolated but I just haven’t been here long enough). I was surprised to know that my favorite music genre, heavy metal, is basically unknown here! Anyway, I have put myself in their shoes, just imagine how would it be if you didn’t know of anything that was really going on, it’s a nightmare!

So, I’d really like your opinion about this! Which is better in your opinion, “Physical Freedom” or “Virtual Freedom”.
I can’t really pick one just yet, but I’d really like to know your thoughts!

Daniel