BANNED: WALL STREET JOURNAL

www.wsj.com

www.wsj.com/asia

M.A's commentary:
A lot of financial news on these sites. I work at a university and some of my students are learning English to work in international business or financial sectors. How can you prepare to enter these careers without current ideas? 

Indigo's commentary:
The Wall Street Journal is free to critique businesses and/or report on companies that are failing or doing well. I'm guessing these sites are blocked because the government doesn't want the general public to be aware of the status of some Chinese companies. If one of the top employers in a region is in financial trouble and an employee observes this on The Wall Street Journal, it could cause unrest, further economic trouble and possibly even protests. 

It is unfortunate that my mother is unable to gain access to financial news and pass it on to her students. In some ways the general population of China could greatly benefit from becoming more aware of national and global financial markets. China is a country full of entrepreneurs, family restaurants and people trying to work for themselves. The more information they have access to, to help them build their small companies, the better these businesses will do and the better the Chinese market will do. 

Obviously I see the wisdom in allowing citizens to read about the stock markets, companies and financial news. However, I can also see why it might be in the Chinese governments best interest to regulate what news the population sees. The best way to prevent civil unrest and rebellion is to paint a happy picture of the Chinese economy. It has been proven that in times of economic prosperity and high growth, the people are less likely to care about human rights violations or more strict laws, simply because they are able to be prosperous in such a regime. Singapore is a prime example of this. So, I think the Chinese government is merely trying to protect their image, as is their right.