Censorship in China meets reality of networked communications

Yet another example of networked communications -- this time a mobile phone message containing a poem criticizing corrupt officials -- making a big splash in China, and proving once again that the state has lost control of the message and the people. From Edward Cody of the Washington Post:

... But then Qin did something that would turn it into a big deal. He transmitted the poem to the cellphones of a half-dozen friends. They in turn transmitted it to their friends, in a widening circle. Eventually it ended up in the cellphone of Zhang Fu'An, chairman of Pengshui County's local People's Congress. Outraged, he took it to the county administrator, who was equally upset and asked the Public Security Bureau to identify the author.

Not only did this message manage to circumvent China's traditional media censors, but the belated actions of the authorities to punish the author (Qin Zhongfei of Pengshui, Sichuan) resulted in another wave of networked outrage, this time via blogs and traditional mass media:

... The case, meanwhile, had struck a journalistic nerve with Li. He wrote an article for a blog denouncing Qin's treatment as "a modern-day word crime," harking back to a much-ridiculed Qing dynasty practice of jailing writers who tripped over the intricate Mandarin language of the time.

The historical reference caught people's fancy across the country. Internet comment flourished. A Hong Kong newspaper, not subject to the mainland's censorship rules, published the first article. Then mainland newspapers took up the dare; several carried their own accounts. Eventually, even a Web site run by the official People's Daily allowed someone to post an article.

I've said it before (most notably back in 2005, in "Another reason China should fear the 'Net: A million people with camera phones") and I'll say it again: Networked communications can not be stopped by China's traditional mass media controls, short of pulling the plug on the Internet and cell phone networks, both of which are contributing to China's economic growth. People now accept these networks as a place to read and discuss politics and social trends, and they know the state can't stop them with rules or occasional punishments. The train is out of the station, and it's too late to stop it now.