Blogger defies the censors to air views on Tiananmen crackdown

Despite authorities tightening their grip on the internet, at least one mainland netizen is using a personal blog to get around the 'Great Firewall of China' to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown.

By late yesterday afternoon, a Chinese-language blog named Do Not Forget the June 4, 20th Anniversary Commemoration was still available on one of the mainland's best-known websites after more than two weeks and about 1,400 page views.

The blog has a black background and white characters and features a photograph taken 20 years ago of the white Goddess of Democracy statue that stood in Tiananmen Square.

The author of the blog, which was launched in mid-January, says in his profile that he is male, was born on June 4, 1989 (the day of the crackdown), and was born and lives in Donghuamen Street in Beijing's Dongcheng district. He did not provide his name or online ID.

Five entries have been posted on the blog in the past two weeks. Three include uploaded videos that cannot be opened, and one entry has been blocked. The most recent, posted on Saturday, is an article from the US-based Chinese-language magazine World Journal published on June 14, 1992, in which two victims describe the crackdown in the square in detail.

This year is particularly important for mainland authorities, with about half a dozen anniversaries related to sensitive political issues, including the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic and the 50th anniversary of the Tibet uprising.

In the past month, mainland censors have shut down at least 1,500 websites accused of 'containing low-class content', a campaign some overseas media say is more about curbing dissent in a politically sensitive year than about vulgar material.