China's other Great Wall

While the new superpower opens its doors to the world, its government cracks down on voices of dissent

"Last December,. a seemingly ambiguous story in the People's Daily, a state-run English-language newspaper in China, exhorted the country's youth to clean up their text messaging habits. After being told that this relatively new form of communication had 'degenerated into a haven for invective, pornography, and insidious superstitious information aimed at fouling our social ideology,' adolescents interested in cleansing themselves were invited to enter a Decent Short Message Competition cosponsored by the prestigious Peking and Renmin Universities. The article concluded that 'in addition to such soft measures . . . necessary legal provisions should also be implemented.' "
Source: Utne