Ya Dead Yet? Nah, Mon!

And...We're back, and without the football (soccer) season to think about, our mind's focused on the "upcoming" 2010 Olympics, so why not reference a movie about another Olympics that was held in Canada?

Sorry about that bit of babble, but indulge me, we've been gone for a long time. So here's the plan, this blog will undergo a bit of rebranding, the focus will mainly be on the Beijing food and fashion scenes, expect fewer posts a week, but hopefully more quality. There have been a few promising Beijing foodie blogs, but they all end up sputtering out over time, as this is a big area of interest to us and we think we have something to offer on the subject, that's going to be the focus. So expect something like 70% food related posts, 20% fashion/shopping information, and 10% randomness.

If you've dropped us from your blogrolls, shame on you, you're gong to want to add us again! Also, thanks to all who've offered support and encouragement since we've gone silent. The return is thanks to purchasing a Witopia VPN, while its unbelievably slow and frustrating (any recommendations for a better VPN?!?), it gives us access to the world beyond the Firewall. All posts will be cross-posted at Modern Leifeng Inside the GFW for those who have to deal with the evil that is the Firewall, and we'll start out slowly, if all goes well, it may finally be time to purchase our own url.

Thanks to all the readers out there, please come back! And thanks to those who named us one of the Top 50 Blogs on China.

Finally, while this blog has dealt with sports in the past, we're moving all that to our blog Beijing Football (or for those outside of China, you can go to Gongti Legends).

Giving in to the Great Firewall

This site has been run on and off since the fall of 2006, today it is basically dead. It was murdered by the Great Firewall of China, which has blocked blogspot continuously since early June. The crime committed? Originally locating this blog on blogspot.

I've been critical of the government from time to time on this blog, but I've always kept an open, rational mind and tried to see things from the government's point of view. I've never been negative to be negative and I've never attempted to score cheap points by taking the easy way out. I love China, it's my home, and I want to see her get even stronger.

At the same time, I feel beaten down by the government. I can no longer access sites like facebook, blogspot, or twitter. I know how to access a proxy and can get around these bans, but the hassle of it all has made visiting sites that were once part of my daily routine, now they are sporadic at best.

I'm not an enemy of the state, I don't intend on writing things to embarass it, but due to the government's blanket ban, I've fallen victim to it. I get asked at times why the government tries to block information, knowing that things like proxies and VPNs are readily available to get around them.

The answer, because the Great Firewall works. Most, like me, will start to fight at first, but as a site block goes from days to months, we slowly lose the resolve and only the most vigilant continue bothering. I want this site to continue, but the writers outside the Firewall have given up because the number of readers dropped severely after the block, at the same time, writers inside the Wall can no longer write on the site, so everyone just gives up.

If this is the death of this site, then so be it, we'll see if I can continue the good fight. But, if indeed this is the end, for all you "out there", please remember us buried inside the Great Firewall.