Michael Anti: Behind the Great Firewall of China

Michael Anti (aka Jing Zhao) has been blogging from China for 12 years. Despite the control the central government has over the Internet -- "All the servers are in Beijing" -- he says that hundreds of millions of microbloggers are in fact creating the first national public sphere in the country's history, and shifting the balance of power in unexpected ways.

Michael Anti (Zhao Jing), a key figure in China's new journalism, explores the growing power of the Chinese internet. Full bio »

[agbontaenefe]

I like this guy already. He was able to say in 15 minutes what a lot of professors cannot say in 15 days. Even with the limited English words...

Love the presentation

[rdAutisticCuckoo]

He does have a strong Chinese accent, but most native English speakers are quite used to listening to such accents and have little difficulty understanding them. But I can understand how people who speak English as a second language might have trouble - even other Chinese.

[armendvojvoda]

This video strengthened me a stereotype I have for Chinese: they are smart people. lmao

Great speech.

[grumpygardner]

This Ted Talk was mentioned in Elizabeth Economys' book 'The Third Revolution '. I thank you for keeping it alive.

[Mhyque]

Studying in China for a year the main problem I had with the censorship was the inability to access online academic journals. It made staying on the cutting edge of any field quite difficult. Aside from that, the inability to easily communicate with people back home through blogs, facebook, and the like was inconvenient, but not terribly damaging.

[DoubleCheezeOnTube]

Ya, man. I hope nothing bad happen to him after this talk. He's got the guts to talk publicly. RESPECT! I will follow him more closely. One point He made is very true that after all Chinese are not so different than Americans. We all want the same thing. free speech, human right, a better life. Under the sky, there is but one family.

[AfroNinjaX]

I love how this man uses the Game of Thrones series as a metaphor at a TED event.

[rushius]

There are Chinese overseas, also Chinese who use VPNs. Also Chinese in Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan where they don't block the internet (yet).

[givennamefamilyname]

Awesome lecture～
objective and profound

很棒的演講，既客觀又深刻！

[RealShanShan]

Facebook, Youtube and many other sites are blocked but can still be accessed using VPN's or proxies.

[ethanbai]

This is a great video and I love the ending mentioning all countries have good cats and bad cats. Yes, no matter where we live, we are not living in pure freedom world. There is always restrain, for example, the government, but the fundamental truth is, it exists for a reason and we just need to fight for what we think is right.

[ahuhu]

dang this was uploaded in 2012.

i'm from china and i would've been so hopeful after watching this if i watched it back then, but now i'm only left with despair.

[samflanagan]

That guy is great. Bar none the best 20 minute TED I've seen yet.

[Zeuts]

I'm an American myself. I just get frustrated because it seems like policy in this country is decided by ignorant, scientifically illiterate people who themselves are hired by even more ignorant, scientifically illiterate people.

[eminemerskyler]

The awkward moment when you have homework concerning this video. 

[中華自由黨中南海支部]

but today criticizing the government is equal to slandering China.

[CurtHowland]

One of the things that people outside of China do not understand about the internal "politics" of China:
It is not tolerated to criticize the Communist -Party-, but criticizing an -individual- in the government is just fine. Criticizing a particular policy can be done as well, if it is done without criticizing the -Party- itself.

[themindlessodyssey]

This is the most interesting TED talk I have ever heard

[erikfu]

mad props to this guy. he's a leader.

[Waranoa]

I honestly learned some interesting stuff about China, and it's a great talk. Pure gold!