Protest and the internet

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Protest and the internet
The growing power of the internet in China

Road rage, and web rage

Jan 29th 2004 | BEIJING
From The Economist print edition


The growing power of the internet


China



The internet





China is one of the fastest growing markets in the world for BMWs, but the average urban resident of Harbin would take 100 years to earn enough to buy one. Miss Su's lawyer argued that the case would not have attracted such public interest if her client had been driving a cheaper brand.

The ruling has triggered one of the biggest outpourings of internet rage ever seen in China. One of the country's most popular web portals, Sina.com, received some 200,000 postings on the subject in ten days, close to last year's reaction to the outbreak of the respiratory disease SARS. According to official figures, some 80m people are now regular internet users, nearly 35% more than in 2002. Many Chinese saw the verdict as proof that the judicial system is far too easily manipulated by the rich and powerful.

Some official newspapers joined the furore. Southern Weekend said the public's response “reflected the almost complete loss of confidence in the judicial system among average citizens” and gave warning that there could be “serious” nationwide repercussions. Remarkably, the government appeared to buckle under the pressure, announcing in mid-January that the case would be re-examined.

It has some reason to be worried. An official magazine, Oriental Outlook, said in December that last year saw a “flood” of petitions submitted by citizens to the central authorities complaining about official wrongdoing or judicial failings. It said the numbers of petitioners who made their way to Beijing was the biggest in 25 years, despite stringent efforts by many provincial governments to stop them.

Li Xiguang, a journalism specialist at Tsinghua University in Beijing, says the government has decided to pay more attention to the internet. Many analysts believe that internet outcries last year shaped the government's response to other incidents, such as cellmates beating to death a student detained for failing to carry a residence permit, and the sentencing of a mafia boss in the north-east. The police were subsequently stripped of their power to detain those without permits, and the gangster's suspended death sentence was changed to execution.

Mr Li sees a negative side to this internet populism. “Court decisions are so easily overthrown by chatroom comment, which represents only a segment of public opinion,” he says. “A democracy needs an independent judicial system.”