In China, 120 million Netizens challenge Communist control.

• Author: Kristof, Nicholas D.
• Position: OPINION - Brief article

China is not the police state that its leaders sometimes would like it to be; the Communist Party's monopoly on information is crumbling, and its monopoly on power will follow. The Internet is chipping away at the party, for even 30,000 censors can't keep up with 120 million Chinese Netizens. With the Internet, China is developing--for the first time in 4,000 years of history--a powerful independent institution that offers checks and balances on the emperors. The Internet is just too big and complex for State Security to control, and so the Web is beginning to assume the watchdog role filled by the news...