This is super interesting! I recall my first stay in Beijing, in the summer of 2001. We had access to internet in those amazing Internet cafes, chatting with my family in Italy on Microsoft Messenger, and browsing anything outside China. But this is years later, it’s amazing to hear your experience in the years leading up to that moment, the proclamation of the 2008 Olympics. I was in Chengdu from 2005-2008, I completely agree that things began to tighten during the March 10 Tibetan repression that year and the tragic Wenchuan Earthquake. But before then, I recall I opened my first Google and Facebook account in 2006 while living in Sichuan. 2008 was a watershed.
This is super interesting! I recall my first stay in Beijing, in the summer of 2001. We had access to internet in those amazing Internet cafes, chatting with my family in Italy on Microsoft Messenger, and browsing anything outside China. But this is years later, it’s amazing to hear your experience in the years leading up to that moment, the proclamation of the 2008 Olympics. I was in Chengdu from 2005-2008, I completely agree that things began to tighten during the March 10 Tibetan repression that year and the tragic Wenchuan Earthquake. But before then, I recall I opened my first Google and Facebook account in 2006 while living in Sichuan. 2008 was a watershed.