China.

I wrote extensively about “Arab Spring” throughout the first half of 2011 and as can be seen in the sidebar some of those posts are among the ten most-read since Google began providing stats in 2009.  I never received one email from an Arab or Arab-American.

Six years ago I began writing on China. Some of those posts are also among the most-read.  I have received many emails from people in the PRC, from Chinese-Americans, from Chinese in the Diaspora.

It seems to me the Chinese people want to know, they want to be heard, and if the vessel for communication is foreign-registered so be it. When Public Occurrences was blocked in the PRC I still heard from people there, although not as much.  In the last half of 2011 however, as the Chinese regime began clamping down on the internet, and on dissidents, things have noticeably dried up.  When I wrote here offering to help Ai Weiwei I was told “It is hard to find someone who will write to you” from China. Hu Jintao has made purifying Chinese culture of foreign influence his project for his last year in office. More dissidents and activists have been arrested; microblog users must now register using their real names. Chinese governments have shown again and again throughout three thousand years of rule that there are no limits to their efforts at repression.  Time and again, as in Tiananmen, they have won.  They are winning now.

Imgage: "Sorrow while Traveling," Ni Zan (1301-1374).