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China's Net users find their voice

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During the past two weeks, thousands of deputies and delegates have taken part in annual plenums in Beijing. But according to Min Dahong, an expert on new media from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, many more have discovered the internet as a channel for expressing views on just about everything.

Professor Min said that while some people taking part in online discussions were simply irrational, at least traditional media outlets no longer dictated what people could say.

'Online commentaries demonstrate nationalism in foreign affairs and realistic criticism when it comes to domestic issues,' he said.

Anti-Japanese sentiment is there for all to see on the internet, as is the desire for the reunification of the mainland and Taiwan. Issues of corruption and injustice also receive a great deal of attention on sites where discussion of such matters are not blocked. And contributions to these sites appear to be having an impact on events outside cyberspace.

Last year at least two municipal-level officials were heavily criticised on the internet. One was Shenzhen's deputy party secretary, Li Yizhen, who was alleged to have forced local students to pay to watch a film his daughter wrote, produced and starred in. The claim appeared on the Net, with what parents said was proof of his heavy handedness.

The public outcry soon aroused the interest of the media, bringing the issue to national attention.

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