TripDingo

Yesterday, a good friend of mine (yes, I have friends) told me about Sunday’s protests around People’s Square here in Shanghai over the proposed extension of the Shanghai Maglev train. A few days earlier, there were similar protests (pictured above) around the XuJiaHui area also in Shanghai. Some protestors were out to complain about the dangers of the magnetic fields generated by the Maglev. Others may be exhibiting NIMBY motivations, fearing the construction of the Maglev train will reduce the value of their property. Still others questioned why the government seemed to keep the extension plans quiet, suspecting that the government had malicious reasons for not letting the public know.

Perhaps more interestingly (but somewhat expectedly), there was plenty of hearsay about the government cracking down on the protests and any dissemination of information, coverage, or discussion about the demonstrations. Supposedly, any threads about the incident posted on popular Chinese forums were promptly deleted within minutes and their posters punished (albeit by deducting various forum-based rewards points or whatnot). Several western blogs and forums still have some coverage and material so perhaps the censorship is mostly limited to preventing only the local Chinese from bitching too much amongst themselves.

What I found refreshing, however, was when my friend confided that this is perhaps the first time she has ever really felt upset and disturbed by government censorship. Maybe that’s the silver lining to this all.