Medium is fast becoming my go-to place whenever the need to write anything strikes me. Or at least it will be now I’ve just seen the ‘start writing’ section at the top of the Medium homescreen. Every other site that’s in my heavy rotation distracts me from what I was trying to do the instead I lay eyes on it. Here, I have less excuses. So expect more writing, more often, and temper that with a dash of cynicism gained from my track-record of saying similar things. If you’ve been reading these from the start and have made the jump across mediums, excuse the contextual pun, then I hope you’ll find the output more regular, and the quality improving.
Since my last dispatch I’ve been to Hong Kong. That trip entailed much in the constituent parts and smaller moments. Given colour by two solid days of life on a Chinese train. Highlighted by the easy camaraderie and overdose of nostalgia caused by a son and father reuniting after years in a locale far from home. It was a good trip. But that is not what I’m in the mood for writing right now.
Instead, I want to proverbially put on paper and solidify with the pledge of published word my plan for an upcoming piece. How to circumvent the Great Firewall of China. One could ask, how do you remain a netizen in the land of nationalized networks, in the world’s largest police state, where the goal of domestic digital development is made plain through global DDoS hooliganism? Well, it’s quite simple really. And done with confidence. Though my criticism of even the most egregious of my resident country’s flaws is done with some apprehension, I do it anyway. How safe can I really be behind a few bucks a month worth of protection? When a country of over a billion people throws its weight at stopping you from doing something, you’d think that weight would be felt. Yet day after day Facebook notifications keep popping and the Twitter bird keeps chirping.
So that will be the topic of pursuit for the next indeterminate amount of time. I’ll be taking note of personal interactions with my VPN, quantifying my annoyances into valid information. Researching the cost and scope of this Great Firewall to see what my stoic VPN underdog is up against. And asking other foreigners across China for a peek into their experiences. For this last part I ask something of you readers, for referral to anyone you know who lived in China in the past or currently, for any length of time and in any role and capacity. It would help tremendously.
So until next time, which will likely be a quick Hong Kong digest, focused more on replicable tourist advice then personal remembrance, stay well everyone.
