Fang Binxing, the architect of China’s Great Firewall, became famously known as “the father of GFW” after one of his microblogs was inundated with eggs and shoes.

Does China view the Wall as an iron curtain 2.0 that allows them to gain greater insight into society and mold it to their ends? Let’s examine this in detail.

Origins of the Great Firewall

Western media have coined the phrase ‘The Great Firewall (GFW), to refer to China’s set of tools, services, and regulations which prevent its citizens from accessing free and open internet content. It was first deployed under the Ministry of Public Security in 1996, currently administered by the Cyberspace Administration of China.

Fang Binxing is widely recognized as the principal architect behind China’s Great Firewall, earning him the moniker “the father of GFW.” His role in creating the world’s most sophisticated internet censorship system made him controversial. Illustrating the polarizing views on his work, a notable incident occurred when Fang’s microblog received a barrage of virtual ‘eggs and shoes’ from netizens – symbols of protest and disapproval in Chinese culture. 

This digital “throwing” act highlighted the strong sentiments of many who opposed the restrictive measures of the Great Firewall and further solidified Fang’s place in the annals of internet history.

Critics argue it is an inappropriate response to global information networks spreading opposition to communist rule; its supporters claim it is essential for national security and social stability.

Due to the Arab Spring’s demonstration that people can organize massive protests through social media, Chinese government officials have expressed fears of similar backlashes within their borders. Chinese authorities established a digital barrier that filters out foreign websites while blocking international digital companies like Google, Facebook, and Dropbox to combat this risk.

GFW censors employ multiple techniques to block sites, including DNS injection, keyword filtering, and man-in-the-middle attacks on encryption – all designed to get into what are supposed to be private data packets. They recently began using advanced machine-learning techniques to detect and kill VPN connections.

How Does the Firewall Work?

The Great Firewall is a combination of tools and services used by Chinese authorities to monitor Internet traffic entering and leaving China. Formerly known as the Golden Shield Project, its operation now falls under the auspices of China’s Cyberspace Administration. Access into and out of China occurs via limited network access points allowing authorities to analyze traffic much more accessible than in countries like the United States.

An integral component of any firewall is deep packet inspection, which filters traffic based on specific content and behavior. For instance, when someone attempts to bypass the firewall using virtual private networks (VPNs), GFWs will inspect data packets to assess any suspicious activities before sending reset packets back both ways on any connections that no longer need each other – effectively telling both computers they no longer have anything in common with each other.

GFW works by filtering keywords and blocking certain words or phrases that contain ideologies outside those controlled by the Communist Party to maintain social stability. This approach allows the government to more flexibly manage public opinion while at the same time restricting critical thought that is crucial for economic growth and innovation. Furthermore, this wall effectively blocks international Internet companies. It forces them to cooperate with Chinese providers such as the Baidu search engine, WeChat social media platform, and Didi ride-sharing service.

Censored Content

China has implemented a firewall that blocks most international social media platforms; however, domestic platforms like WeChat, Sina Weibo, and Douban still enjoy vibrant cultures based on the content being approved by Chinese censors – this censorship goes far beyond simple content censorship, covering anything that could be considered sensitive as well.

China’s goal with censorship is not just to limit information flow but to shape and direct it. The government achieves this by pushing a specific view of China’s history and international politics to foster nationalist sentiments, blocking access to foreign websites, censoring comments critical of the CCP, and filtering search results are some ways they do.

Government authorities continually adjust their techniques to counter efforts by netizens to bypass the Firewall, with sensitive words frequently changing; this dance drains energy away from netizens who often resort to self-censorship for fear of account closure or real-world reprisals for criticism online.

China may believe that by continuing to allow foreigners to bypass its Firewall, China will receive less attention and pressure from international communities. Unfortunately, however, this strategy is flawed in several ways. First, it undermines all global Internet governance principles and free internet usage. Moreover, providing more freedom for foreigners only strengthens Beijing’s resolve to restrict domestic and foreign information to protect national security.

Impact on Foreign Businesses Operating in China

China’s internet censorship has tightened rapidly since President Xi Jinping assumed office. To protect their cyber sovereignty from foreign influence, Xi has adopted cyber sovereignty legislation, leading to increased restrictions such as blocking popular services like WhatsApp and tighter regulation on virtual private networks (VPNs).

The Great Firewall of China presents one of the most significant obstacles to doing business there, blocking Chinese citizens from accessing international social media platforms like Google and Facebook; foreign news agencies and websites, like BBC and Reuters, are also blocked, leading many leading technology firms like Apple and SAP from offering their cloud services in China.

As Chinese companies fear government interference and potential fines if they breach China’s data security laws, accessing foreign content and technologies has become essential to competing effectively in global markets. Without access, Chinese firms would find it nearly impossible to remain competitive on international platforms. With the recent property bubble in China exploding, this investment from foreign income will be more cautious going ahead until the number two economy restarts, which it once again will.

As well, China’s Great Firewall is undermining its innovation culture. It has resulted in an entire generation of Chinese youth having never experienced many of the world’s leading international internet companies or learning about how they work from friends abroad who have spent time there – thus leaving China’s domestic internet industry growing fast, but lacking some of the benefits provided by US tech giants and technological know-how.

Bypassing the Wall

As China opened up economically during the 1990s, the Internet became a tool for citizens to communicate and exchange ideas online. Unfortunately, this exposed them to beliefs and attitudes which the Communist Party felt threatened its social values and political ideology – hence Fang Binxing’s development of software enabling government monitoring of data being sent or received, blocking of IP addresses/domain names/websites, etc. – earning him both fame among Chinese netizens as well as being known as the Father of the Great Firewall.

At one time, circumventing China’s firewall was relatively straightforward for Chinese citizens. They could purchase illegal subscriptions to foreign-based virtual private networks that offered full access to Western internet sources – something seen more as naughty rather than criminal behavior.

But the government has taken steps to undermine these services, including injecting fake DNS responses into routers and blocking more Chinese internet users from using these tools to get around China’s Great Firewall. Over time, this cannot be good news for the innovation culture in China and may alienate its middle class, which supports the Communist Party so strongly.

Sellers online of VPN services have found that there is a crackdown on these tools, and so many even affiliates of VPN services, have felt the hand of Chinese law, so people in China continue to use any back door VPN they can find. Is data still being recorded and analyzed at a packet level? I’ll let you decide. It sure is easy, just requires an enormous amount of processing power.

Global Implications

The Great Firewall of China is an international issue, causing economic harm in countries outside its borders. While not an impediment to trade, its presence impedes foreign companies from operating within China. It restricts access to customer information about Chinese customers and technologies Chinese firms use.

China has made circumventing its firewall relatively easy for residents using free tools like VPNs and tunneling software; however, the government’s increasingly harsh enforcement has made circumvention more challenging.

Experts agree that Beijing’s ultimate aim should be shaping public opinion rather than suppressing revolts like the 2010 Arab Spring. Restricting access to information makes citizens more sympathetic toward its government while lessening international criticism of Beijing’s human rights record.

An integral component of China’s anti-opposition efforts is the “splinternet,” an encrypted version of the Internet that limits users within China to only receiving limited data controlled by their government. Though many other nations impose some form of censorship, China’s is widely considered the world’s most extensive. Although Beijing cites maintaining social stability and protecting national security as justification for its firewall system, critics view it as paranoia about what could spread opposition against one-party rule through Internet usage.