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Raymond Wu
Dr. Gayle
English 812
17 March 2015
Progression in Chinas Culture
Technology has been growing at a rapid pace that no one saw it coming. People half a
century ago can only dream about one day everything you do is revolving around technology and
the internet. Entertainment in the 21st century goes hand in hand with the internet. Humans have
come a long way in terms of entertainment: telling stories to listening to radios and reading
newspaper and finally the internet. The internet may be the greatest invention in the eyes of some
people, but it may also be the worst invention. The effect of internet and technology is immense
in the sense of influencing countries around the world. Cultures of countries are influenced the
most as it has to adapt to the ever growing nature of technology and internet. China in particular
has censorship on their internet, but that does not stop their citizens from going on the internet
and enjoying the perks. The internet, with the entertainment industry has users in China addicted
to it and there are no signs of stopping.
Many countries around the world have the luxury of using the internet without any
restrictions. This cannot be said the same for China because of their authoritarian state. Users of
the internet there are strictly restricted in terms of things that they can do on the world wide web.
Chinas party- state has deployed an army of cyber-police, hardware engineers, software
developers, web monitors and paid online propagandists to watch, filter, censor and guide
Chinese internet users (A Giant Cage). This doesnt stop the population of close to 1.4 billion
from using the internet. Many users still have access to the internet and all the benefits it come

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with. People are able to find new ways of entertaining themselves on the web, whether its
watching videos, talking to people, or even playing games.
With a population that large, the government can certainly gain a lot more money and
economic status if they did not restrict the internet like they do. In the first quarter of 2000, there
were only four million users of the internet. The last quarter of that year has grown into around
fourteen million users. (Thomas 160) The statistic was only for the beginning of this millennial;
imagine the possibilities and growth the internet can have right now. The only thing stopping that
increase in users to grow even quicker is the government; if they reduce their restrictions, more
people will join the internet. The more the government tries to restrict their people from having
non regulated internet, the more the citizens will rebel against them. Since 1998, dozens of
intruders have been tracked down spreading rumor during the SARS epidemic (Qiu 12)
Internet hacking has been easier to perform as the technology improve. If the government would
stop the regulations, hacking to rebel against the government will greatly decrease. People
should be able to have their own freedom in what they want and dont want to do in the internet
without having to be granted permission from the government.
In the Chinese political culture, there is no translation either to distinguish censorship
from regulation (Qui 11). The government of China does not censor or regulate the internet on
purpose. With that many users and no one watching over them, they will think that they can do
anything without being watched over. All that power that the citizens will have can become a bad
thing; a regular person would not know what to do with all that power and believe that
everything that they do is correct. With the regulations the government can watch over their
citizens and protect them from the cyber community. The government is not only protecting their

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citizens from the negativity, but they are also helping to lessen the epidemic of internet addiction
that many people get from being on the internet.
As the internet become more and easily accessible to people in China, there is the
problem of internet addiction. Chinas greater income combines with lower access costs and
lower costs of computers, to make the Internet more affordable (Press). As the case to many
addictions, once people get their hand on certain things (in this case internet) they cannot stop
using it until rehab is done. However, in the case of using the internet, rehab cannot be done
because it has inherently instilled into our culture now. Whatever the culture used to be, whether
if its fashion, language, values, food, entertainment, or religion; it has been influenced by the
usage of the internet. A study was done regarding this problem, where students in the Guang
Dong providence of China were conducted in a research study. During this study, students were
surveyed and tested for Problematic Internet Use (PIU). Out of 12,446 students who were
internet users, 1,515 of them were diagnosed with PIU. That is a percentage of 12% and the
study was published in 2011. With PIU, High study- related stress, having social friends, poor
relations with teachers and students and conflictive family relationships were risk factors for
PIU (Wang). All of these are major problems and risks that are put through many internet users.
In conclusion, entertainment has been influenced by the internet in China immensely.
With the easy access and popularity of it, most of the population in China has the opportunity to
use it at the despair of their own. The flaws of using the internet in China would be the many
restrictions that are put upon their users from the government. Restrictions and censorship may
be a smart move by the government because of the increasing rate of internet addiction to its
user. All in all, the internet has played a huge part in China and it will only keep increasing.

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Works Cited
"A Giant Cage." The Economist. The Economist Newspaper, 6 Apr. 2013. Web. 17
Mar. 2015.
<http://www.economist.com/news/special-report/21574628-internet-wasexpected-helpdemocratise-china-instead-it-has-enabled>.

Press, Larry et al. The Internet in India and China. First Monday, [S.l.], Oct. 2002. ISSN
13960466. Available at: <http://journals.uic.edu/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/997/918>.
Date accessed: 17 Mar. 2015. doi:10.5210/fm.v7i10.997.
Qiu, Jack Linchuan. The Internet in China: Data and Issues. Annenberg Research Seminar on
International Communication. (2003): 1-21. Print
Thomas, Timothy. The Internet In China: Civilian and Military Uses. Information & Seucrity
An Internationall Journal 7. (2001): 159-173. Print.
Wang, Hui et al. Problematic Internet Use in HighSchool Students in Guangdong Province,
China. PLOS. May. 2011. Web. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0019660