You don't always get what you bargain for

For decades, China has coveted the Nobel Peace Prize, in hopes that one day one of their own citizens (while living in China) could claim it as a recipient. To China, winning the Nobel Peace Prize would ultimately prove to the world that China has indeed become a country to reckon with and has finally caught up to, if not surpassed, the Western powers. This year, China's wish was granted, although not in the form they were expecting it. What can I say? You can't always get what you bargain for.

Back in early October, it was announced that the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize would be awarded to Liu Xiaobo, a Chinese dissent currently jailed for subversion of state power, after co-authoring Charter 08, a highly critical political manifesto on the Chinese government. Liu was also a notable figure in the 1989 Tiananmen Square student protests.

To say that China wasn't thrilled upon learning Liu Xiaobo was awarded this year's Nobel Prize would be an understatement. As soon as the announcement was made, China quickly called the Norwegian ambassador to express their anger and publicly  retorted by calling the decision "blasphemy."

Additionally, the story of that the first Chinese man ever had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize was shushed quiet throughout Chinese media outlets. News story concerning the prize form international news outlets, such as CNN or the BBC were also blacked out (CNN and BBC are only available in apartment complexes catered to foreigners and in nice hotels.). Many western news websites featuring stories about the award and Internet searches on "Liu Xiaobo" and "Nobel Peace Prize" were also blocked by the Great Chinese Firewall. Lastly, and perhaps the most creepily, as the news of the decision spread, the Chinese government erased the characters composing the characters of Liu Xiaobo's name out of the SMS (texting) database so that no text messages containing his name could be sent out. Those who succeeded prior to the big erased found their messages blocked and sometimes SIM cards deactivated.

Not surprisingly, this past weekend as the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony was held in Oslo, Norway, many Western news websites were blocked once again.Without using a VPN, I couldn't access CNN.com; although ironically, I could access the NY Times where the "Empty Chair" was one of the leading stories of the weekend. (Since Liu Xiaobo was obviously not allowed to attend the ceremony in Oslo and accept his award, the award was given to an "empty chair," thus all the "Empty Chair" headlines about the Nobel Peace Prize this weekend.)