Add Free Search to the Free Tibet Slogan
December 13, 2016
China is notorious for censoring its people’s access to the Internet. I have heard and made more than one pun about the Great Firewall of China. There is search engine in China, but it will not be in Chinese, says Quartz: “How Censored Is China;s First Tibetan Language Search Engine? It Omits The Dalai Lama’s Web Site.”
Yongzin is the first Tibetan language search engine. It is supposed to act as a unified portal for all the major Tibetan language Web sites in China. There are seven million Tibetan people in China, but the two big Chinese search engines: Baidu and Sogou do not include the Tibetan language. Google is banned in China.
Yongzin rips off Google in colors and function. The Chinese government has dealt with tense issues related to the country of Tibet for decades:
The Chinese government wants the service to act as a propaganda tool too. In the future, Yongzin will provide data for the government to guide public opinion across Tibet, and monitor information in Tibetan online for “information security” purposes, Tselo, who’s in charge of Yongzin’s development, told state media (link in Chinese) at Monday’s (Aug. 22) launch event.
When people search Yongzin with Tibet related keywords, such as Dalai Lama and Tibetan tea, China’s censorship shows itself at work. Nothing related to the Dalai Lama is shown, not even his Web site, and an article about illegal publications.
China wants to position itself as guardian of the Tibetan culture, but instead they proffer a Chinese-washed version of Tibet rather than the true thing. It is another reason why the Free Tibet campaign is still important.
Whitney Grace, December 13, 2016
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