Back against the wall: Zuckerberg visits Terracotta Warriors, jogs around Xi’an and posts Facebook pics despite website being blocked in China
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg took a trip to the ancient Chinese capital city of Xi’an this week, where he took a leisurely run along its famous city wall amid slight drizzle on Monday and visited the site of the Terracotta Warriors.
We know this because he posted photos and updates of the trip on his Facebook wall during his stay in the country. This is a little strange because the social media site has been blocked in China for seven years.
Twitter, Google and a number of other social media and news are also blocked in the country.
Although internet users can effectively jump over China’s Great Firewall using a virtual private network (VPN), which channels traffic through proxy servers, would Zuckerberg have risked angering those with whom he wants to reconcile by resorting to this measure?
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It is unclear how Zuckerberg managed to upload the photos while still in China. He could have dodged the censors by using international data roaming on a US carrier such as T-Mobile or AT&T, but resorting to the use of a VPN may have been quicker and easier. VPN services can be rented for as little as US$5 a month and usually serve as a means of bypassing China’s censors. But recently Beijing has also been cracking down on these.