China’s efforts to shape country’s internet content look like a gigantic social experiment
- Beijing’s control of online information has not stopped China’s internet services providers from finding new ways to capture the attention of online users
- The government has even come up with specific rules to modify apps’ algorithms so that these would project ‘positive energy’ into society
Dream of the Red Chamber, considered one of the greatest Chinese novels, features the Precious Mirror of Voluptuousness, a magical tool given by a Taoist monk to a young man hopelessly in love with a lady who looks down upon him.
Through the mirror, the young man can enter a virtual world to satisfy all his emotional and sexual desires with the lady’s avatar, but he ultimately indulges himself to death.
This story came up during a recent conversation with a Chinese sociologist, who referred to the smartphone as “the Precious Mirror of Voluptuousness for everyone”. In an era when the average time people spend on this device is steadily rising, he has a point.
A smartphone is not only a tool to help get real world things done, such as sending messages or finding information, but it has become a device through which we interact socially and express our emotions.
How much time should a person spend on their phone? What would happen if every individual indulged in a virtual world tailored for them? And is it the government’s job to separate citizens from their phone screens?
As China redoubled efforts to contain the impact of technology, it is also conducting a massive social experiment that has few precedents.
On one hand, the Chinese state plays the Big Brother role by censoring online content that does not fit official narratives. But on the other hand, its control of online information has not stopped Chinese internet services providers from finding new ways, such as short videos and video games, to capture the attention of internet users.