Dozens of blogs by some of China's most outspoken users have been abruptly shut down in an apparent crackdown.
The move comes amid unexplained changes to popular Twitter-like websites that have users worried the government is trying to restrict them, too. One microblog site is down for maintenance, and the other three now show a "beta" tag as if they are in testing, though they have been operating for months.
The blogs of well-known writers, lawyers and others were shut down abruptly yesterday on the popular Sohu portal, which hosts both regular and microblogs.
"I was writing a new post and suddenly my blog couldn't open," lawyer Pu Zhiqiang told AP.
Legal expert Xu Zhiyong said his blog was also shut down on Wednesday, a day after his Sohu microblog was closed. Both men are well- nown for taking on sensitive issues.
Blogger Yao Yuan listed at least 61 blocked Sohu blogs, including his own, on a separate, unblocked blog today. He called the closings mass murder.
"If internet users don't speak out, all sites will be cracked down on in the future," said Yao, who owns an internet promotion company in Shanghai. "Ordinary people will forever lose their freedom to speak online, and the government can rest without worrying anymore."
Xiao Qiang, director of the China Internet Project at the University of California-Berkeley said:
"However, given the speed and volume of microblogging content produced in Chinese cyberspace, censors are still several steps behind at this stage," he said.
But for how long?
