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RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC 0095

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 GUANGZHOU 000645 
 
SIPDIS 
STATE FOR EAP/CM, INR/EAP, and EEB/CIP 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/20/2034 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM SCUL KWWW SOCI EINT KEMS CH
SUBJECT: CHINESE BLOGGERS CONFERENCE MORE DIFFICULT TO 
ORGANIZE WITH EACH PASSING YEAR 
 
Ref: A: 08 BEIJING 4522 
 B: 09 BEIJING 1970 
 
GUANGZHOU 00000645  001.2 OF 004 
 
 
Classified By: Consul General Brian L. Goldbeck.  Reasons 1.4 
(b) and (d). 
 
¶1. (C) SUMMARY:  It can be tough being a blogger in China. 
But try gathering dozens of bloggers from all around the 
country for a conference and then you'll face some challenges. 
The 5th Annual China Blogger Conference faced numerous 
obstacles from the initial planning stages right up to the 
last day of the event, according to organizers.  Bloggers 
attending the conference, held in Lianzhou, Guangdong Province 
from November 7-8, discussed the meaning of this year's theme, 
"Micro Actions Broaden the World," shared know-how on scaling 
China's Great Firewall to access blocked content, and hailed 
Twitter as the best online communication tool today even 
though it has been blocked in China since June 2009.  (Note: 
Septel will report on bloggers' views of the current and 
future role and influence of the Internet in Chinese society. 
End note.)  End Summary. 
 
------------------------- 
"Chased Away" to Lianzhou 
------------------------- 
 
¶2. (C) This year's conference was held in a fourth-tier city 
in the mountains of northern Guangdong because the conference 
was "driven out of large cities," said Wen Yunchao (aka Bei 
Feng, strictly protect), a prominent blogger and one of the 
conference's organizers.   The annual event had government 
support for the first conference five years ago in Shanghai. 
Subsequently, it was held successfully in Beijing, Hangzhou, 
and Guangzhou.  However, each year, the conference has become 
harder to plan and organize than the last, Wen lamented, 
saying that fellow organizers had approached the governments 
of Xiamen and Haikou, only to be turned down because they 
apparently viewed the conference as too sensitive and high 
profile. (Comment: The Xiamen government may have been 
particularly sensitive to the issue given recent arrests in 
Fujian of bloggers who reported police inaction and possible 
corruption in regards to the alleged gang rape and murder case 
of Yan Xiaoling.  End comment.) 
 
¶3. (C) Another organizer, Mao Xianghui (aka Isaac Mao, 
strictly protect), also commented to ConGenOff that many 
obstacles stood in the way of the event this year. 
Specifically, he said that organizers were unable to nail down 
the details because they had to wait until mid-October for the 
60th anniversary National Day celebrations to be over before 
making any final plans and announcements.  Publicity about the 
event was very low profile this year.  News about the 
conference was mainly disseminated by word of mouth.  Two 
postings were posted on the Internet at 
"http://www.cnbloggercon.org/blog" and "http://www. 
geekcook.org", but the latter, which included logistical 
information, was blocked or deleted after only a few days. 
Additionally, Mao told Beijing PolOff that the organizers had 
tried to get Zeng Jinyan, a blogger and AIDS activist, to 
participate either in person or via video conference but it 
was not possible.  (Note: Zeng's husband, Hu Jia, is an AIDS, 
environmental, and human rights activist.  The couple 
aggressively blogged about alleged harassment by officials and 
frequent house arrests.  Hu was sentenced to three and a half 
years in prison in April 2008 for "inciting subversion of 
state power."  Since Hu's imprisonment, Zeng has continued to 
blog about life under house arrest with a husband in jail. 
End note.)  Mao said that he hopes to have Zeng's entire 
family, including their young daughter, at next year's 
conference. 
 
¶4. (C) According to Wen Yunchao, he and other conference 
organizers settled on Lianzhou because Wen had good relations 
with the city and was able to secure the support of the city's 
largest economic players -- Lianzhou's two main tourist 
destinations.  Wen told ConGenOff that, as a consequence, the 
local government allowed organizers to register the conference 
and to hold the event at the Lianzhou Underground River 
tourist site.  (Comment:  Lianzhou government support for the 
 
GUANGZHOU 00000645  002.2 OF 004 
 
 
conference appeared to have been largely influenced by 
economic factors in addition to Wen's apparent good relations 
with the local government.  The conference attracted a large 
number of people to little known Lianzhou for two to three 
days, and likely put the tiny city on the map for the greater 
blogosphere audience.  End comment.) 
 
--------------------- 
Keeping a Low Profile 
--------------------- 
 
¶5. (C) The conference attracted about 150 participants from 
all over China this year, well short of the 300-plus 
participants last year.  Attendees however were not made aware 
of the event's start time and schedule until the eve or 
morning of the conference, many attendees told ConGenOff. 
Organizers did not previously post or hand out agendas at the 
conference, making announcements regarding each day's 
activities as the event progressed.  On the first day of the 
conference, Wen Yunchao and Mao Xianghui told ConGenOff that 
they had more controversial topics planned for the end of the 
second day, but they would have to run it by the local 
government that night.  "If the government is not comfortable 
with it, we are prepared to cut the conference short," 
explained Wen.  Mao also shared that in order to avoid 
scrutiny, organizers tried to diversify the topics discussed 
at the conference, including an emphasis on civil society. 
Several hours were dedicated to showcasing small grassroots 
civil society organizations with an online presence. 
Representatives from these organizations ranged from student 
groups to social entrepreneurs who hoped to use the conference 
as a marketing platform.  Conference organizers appeared 
particularly cautious this year in an attempt to keep the 
event as low profile as possible, but this may have also 
contributed to the impression that the event was not well 
organized. 
 
¶6. (C) Despite attempts to avoid attention, the conference was 
monitored closely by local authorities.  Besides local 
government officials, 40 local police officers were also 
present at the conference site, claimed Wen.  He said that 
while most of the officers remained outside the actual venue, 
one or two plain clothes officers penetrated the conference 
and recorded the event.  Multiple attendees identified for 
Beijing PolOff and ConGenOff a middle aged man whom they 
claimed was an undercover security officer.  Multiple 
attendees were observed to use Twitter to inform others of the 
movements, location and appearance of the supposed 
infiltrator.  The presumed plain clothes officer took pictures 
and video of conference presenters and participants. 
However, Wen Yunchao expressed that he was glad they did not 
disrupt the conference, speculating that it was likely because 
he had been forthcoming with the authorities by providing them 
with a name list beforehand of sensitive individuals who would 
be in attendance.  Wen also commented that local police 
officers with whom he spoke said they did not understand the 
presentations made at the conference. 
 
--------------------------------- 
"Micro Actions Broaden the World" 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶7. (C) The theme of this year's conference was "Micro Actions 
Broaden the World," or the idea that small actions taken by 
individuals can together change the world, explained keynote 
speaker Hu Yong (strictly protect), an associate professor at 
Beijing University who researches Internet media.  Asking the 
audience "if there is no criticism, how can you talk of 
'constructivism,'" Hu emphasized that every individual has a 
responsibility to voice their thoughts, and the Internet gives 
people the right to speak, which he called "a kind of 
freedom."  The idea that small actors can do something grand 
was also raised by Mao Xianghui, who pointed to the conference 
volunteers and organizers as an example of this in practice. 
Both Mao and Wen commented that they were not the leaders or 
center of the conference, saying that the conference each year 
comes together organically in large part due to the efforts of 
many people connecting on the Internet and offering to 
contribute.  However, based on conversations witnessed by 
 
GUANGZHOU 00000645  003.2 OF 004 
 
 
ConGenOff and Beijing PolOff during the conference, both Mao 
and Wen were major players and decision makers this year. 
 
------------------------------------------- 
Blogger Conference, aka Twitter Conference? 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶8. (C) A show of hands at the conference in response to one 
presenter's on the spot survey revealed that the online 
communication tool of choice among attendees was Twitter. 
According to conference goers, there are many ways to access 
Twitter and other blocked sites.  A 20-minute presentation was 
dedicated to equipping participants with tools to access 
Twitter.  (See paragraph 12.) ConGenOff and Beijing PolOff 
witnessed many attendees "tweeting" while at the conference. 
"It is the biggest Internet movement in China today, so if 
people want to understand China, they can use Twitter," said 
David Feng (strictly protect), a self-proclaimed avid Twitter 
user who has attended the blogger conference multiple times. 
Although the government appears determined to block Twitter, 
bloggers agreed that there was no way the Chinese government 
could or would completely deny access to Mainland netizens 
determined to use Twitter because there is no effective way of 
doing so, short of completely shutting down the Internet. 
They argued that such a move would be too high an economic 
cost for the government to bear. 
 
¶9. (C) Twitter was again widely discussed during two other 
sessions.  Zui Hulu (pseudonym, strictly protect) led a 
session on social reporting during which he listed the 
essential tools for a "citizen reporter."  Zui relayed his 
experiences in publicizing the June Nankang furniture protests 
(ref B). Besides emphasizing the need to have a "public 
sense," he said that one must also be technically prepared by 
having a mobile phone with online capabilities; knowledge of 
how to scale the Great Firewall; and a Twitter account so one 
can disseminate the information to millions.  In another 
session, Twitter was hailed as the tool that helped free Guo 
Baofeng (aka Amoiist, strictly protect), who was detained in 
July ostensibly for commenting on an alleged gang rape.  Guo, 
joining the conference through live video from his home 
because his legal status prevented him from leaving Xiamen 
city, shared that when he was detained, it was his ability to 
log onto Twitter via his mobile phone and send messages to his 
online contacts, many of whom he met while attending previous 
blogger conferences, that made it possible for netizens to 
initiate a "mail to jail" campaign to free him. (Note: 
Netizens sentpostcards to the detention center where Guo was 
held.  Each postcard read, "Guo Baofeng, Your mom is telling 
you come home for dinner."  According to those familiar with 
the campaign, the large volume of postcards likely pressured 
the local authorities to release Guo.  End note.)  Commenting 
on this incident, Mao said that the Guo Baofeng incident is 
the perfect example of "micro actions" working together to 
achieve a greater goal. 
 
-------------------------- 
Scaling the Great Firewall 
-------------------------- 
 
¶10. (C) The conference included a 20-minute presentation on 
the various tools one can employ to break through the Great 
Firewall and access blocked sites like Twitter.  Led by Zhou 
Shuguang (aka Zuola, strictly protect), the presentation 
touched on proxies but mainly focused on ways to access 
Twitter.  Zhou directed interested users to his website 
(http://www.zuola.com) to obtain a list of frequently updated 
IP addresses that can be used to gain access to Twitter.  For 
users of mobile phones with online capabilities, he 
recommended installing the international versions of DABR, 
UserWeb, or Opera Mini browsers and interfaces.  Zhou also 
made suggestions on how to use Twitter within a particular 
type of browser.  For example, he said that one can install 
the Twitter Fox plug-in, a FireFox extension, to use Twitter 
within FireFox.  Zhou rushed through his session due to time 
constraints, but many conference participants approached him 
afterwards to obtain more detail. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
GUANGZHOU 00000645  004.2 OF 004 
 
 
Unprecedented Venue Inspires Conference Organizers 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
¶11. (C) Held outdoors at the entrance of a large cave that 
houses the Lianzhou Underground River, the conference site was 
impressive, but not without its difficulties.  Large groups of 
tourists heading to the cave often interrupted the conference 
and disrupted the audio quality.  PowerPoint presentations 
prepared by the speakers were ineffective because outdoor 
light was not ideal for projecting visuals.  There were also 
snags in video conferencing plans with Hong Kong supporters 
when the network stopped working. 
 
¶12. (C) Despite these challenges, the conference continued as 
scheduled, said the organizers.  As a bloggers conference, 
Internet connectivity was a must, said Wen. He noted that just 
having connectivity at the mouth of a cave in a fourth-tier 
Chinese city was a noteworthy achievement in itself.  He also 
stated that he and his fellow bloggers would likely find 
unique and symbolic venues in the future to demonstrate the 
power of the Internet. (Comment: This was likely another way 
of saying that conference organizers will have to be more 
creative in the future given the expected ongoing government 
scrutiny.  End comment.) 
 
¶13. (U) This cable was coordinated with Embassy Beijing. 
 
 
GOLDBECK