|
Blogs
Chinese Blogger Conference 2007 - some thoughtsPosted by Jeremy Goldkorn, November 7, 2007 6:01 PM
The 2007 Chinese Bloggers Conference in Beijing last weekend was, like the 2006 event, an eclectic gathering of geeks, Internet entrepreneurs, bloggers, social activists and NGO bloggers, teachers and educators, medium people and free speech advocates. This year's event attracted more than 400 people to a conference room in a big office building near Tsinghua University. Last year's event in Hangzhou had to be moved to a new venue after a surprise 'electricity cut' that seemed to have been caused by the local authorities. There was no such interference during this years event. The focus of the two day conference was the panel discussions and keynote speeches in the main room, but some of the most interesting discussions happened in small groups outside, and during the dinners and lunches. There was also a large screen in the main room displaying a continually-updated series of messages sent by mobile phone and IM via the servers of local Twitter clone Jiwai. This screen soon started resembling the comments section of a particularly anarchic blog, with conference attendees sending sarcastic comments and shout-outs that were only sometimes related to the discussions happening on stage. As Rebecca MacKinnon comments, it is "one of the most egalitarian conferences on the planet". The event was organized completely by volunteers. It drew together hundreds of people from highly diverse backgrounds for a weekend of discussions covering everything from freedom of speech and the responsibilities of bloggers and the media to ways of using blogs and wikis to raise the level of education in the countryside. It was very easy to meet people: all the attendees are friendly and nobody stands on ceremony. Like last year, your correspondent left the event feeling extraordinarily optimistic about China. John Kennedy live blogged the whole conference here. Finally, Feng37 has a huge collection of links to both English and Chinese posts about the conference here. |
Partner Links
Jobs in China
Recent Comments
AllSeeingE on
Send a postcard to the future
Peter Andr on
Cats and dogs in the animal cruelty law
hanmeng on
Al Jazeera on potential dog meat ban
singingblu on
2012: a disaster movie not suitable for children
NINGT on
Goons and thugs
Len Chiu on
The body in the lake
Christie on
Pole dancing: for fitness, not about sex
China Media Timeline
Major media events over the last three decades
Danwei Model Workers
![]() Recommended blogs and new media
Books on China
Diamond Hill by Feng Chi-shun: Feng's memoir Diamond Hill describes an era of gambling and gangsters, Suzie Wong and squatter villages, fires and food stalls, and the Kowloon Walled City and its white powder. "A time when people were poor, but life was rich," he says. The world that he grew up in no longer exists, but his book - the first ever on the Diamond Hill refugee settlement, in either Chinese or English - offers a candid picture of what life was like for most Hong Kong residents in the 1950s.
William A. Callahan's China: The Pessoptimist Nation: China: The Pessoptimist Nation shows how the heart of Chinese foreign policy is not a security dilemma, but an identity dilemma. Through a careful analysis of how Chinese people understand their new place in the world, the book charts how Chinese identity emerges through the interplay of positive and negative feelings in a dynamic that intertwines China's domestic and international politics.
The WTO ruling: a half victory at best: In August 2009, a World Trade Organization panel ruled against China's system of monopoly control over entertainment products. Was this the victory supporters hailed as the dawn of a new day for American and global entertainment companies in the China market?
Front Page of the Day
A different newspaper every weekday
From the Vault
Classic Danwei posts
+ Street hawker cries of Beijing (2006.12): Yang Changhe demonstrates hawker's cries in a video shot by Muzimei. + New Weekly: Do Chinese kids know anything about traditonal Chinese culture? (2004.06): Q: Do you know what China's four great inventions are? Paper, printing, the compass and gunpowder 49.3% know all four, 37.3% get one or more wrong, 13.3% don't know at all (2004.06.12) + Some questions about SARFT's full-stop for Red Question Mark (2007.09): SARFT axes Red Question Mark (红问号). He Dong (何东) responds.
Danwei Archives
Danwei Feeds
Via Feedsky
or Feedburner |






Comments on Chinese Blogger Conference 2007 - some thoughts
thanks for sharing