Continuing with our China Online theme, we will firstly look at the popular websites visited by the Chinese. While some of the top internet brands are there,the domestic brands are more popular for the moment. Search engines, news and blogs are key features of these sites, however, content needs to be carefully considered so as not to impinge on the ever increasing list of banned words identified by the Chinese government.
Top 10 websites
Take a look at some of these sites and see how they compare to their Western equivalents.
1 Baidu.com
The leading Chinese language search engine, provides a simple and reliable search experience, strong in Chinese language and multi-media content including MP3 music and movies, the first to offer WAP and PDA-based mobile search in China.
2 QQ.com
The most popular free instant messaging site in Mainland China, and the world’s third most popular IM service. Aside from the chat program, QQ has also developed many subfeatures including games, pets, ringtone downloads, etc.
3 Sina.com.cn
Largest Chinese language infotainment web portal. It provides news, information, infotainment and email services with localized content plus celebrity blogs.
4 Google.cn
Chinese language google service.
5 Taobao.com
Online auction website
6 163.com
Web portal operated by Netease
7 Google.com
8 Yahoo.com
9 Sohu.com
Search engine, online multi-player gaming and other services.
10 Youku.com
Online video sharing website.
Issues of Censorship
China has the world’s largest net-using population, yet the Internet in China is kept under tight control. The government monitors the internet using a mix of filtering technologies, cyber-police surveillance and propaganda, in all of which China invests heavily. Its censorship hones in on anything to do with human rights, democracy and freedom of belief. The victims of this censorship are the Internet users, bloggers, independent journalists and ISPs.
Extensive forms of communication have been established between the leading commercial websites and the Internet supervisory bodies, including phone, email, text, web platforms and weekly meetings. The supervisory body will instruct sites to not publish an article, to not cover an event, or to put a stop to certain comments. Weekly meetings are held to to determine the subjects to be covered in the coming week, articles to be written under their supervision and articles to be removed. Furthermore, online companies have to strictly monitor all postings, blogs, comments, articles and other messages on their sites. Sensitive content is immediately masked or erased and the username or IP address of the person who posted it is also blocked.
Censorship using key words
This tight control on information has led web sites to practice self-censorship and to use filters to block “key-words” including:
• masked words – words replaced by an asterisk
• sensitive words – words needed to be checked by a moderator
• taboo words – words that cannot be posted or appear in an article’s content
Filters not only have to block the “key-words” but also their synonyms and homonyms culminating in the number of banned key-words to be around 500 words.
It is therefore paramount for any company with an online presence in China to keep up to date with policies and procedures regarding censorship. Sites with blogs and forums need to monitor carefully messages and comments left by users.
For assistance in creating your web presence in China, and helping you understand further the dynamics of the internet in China including how best for your company to reach it’s target audience, contact Thinkmonkeys.com.
Thinkmonkeys.com is a web design and development company based in the UK, Australia and Thailand. We specialise in professional sites ranging in functionality and sophistication. Look at some of our work here.
