The Chinese government has traditionally shown little willingness to embrace the concept of consumer empowerment. The country’s 160 million internet users have never been allowed to use the online channel to criticise party officials, that is until now. In a landmark case, a senior government official has this week been dismissed for assaulting an 11 year old girl, following a web-based protest. The incident was captured on CCTV and rapidly spread around China’s video-sharing websites.
It would appear that even the most powerful exponent of command and control management is now incapable of ignoring the crowd. It will be interesting to see whether the Chinese public – newly empowered by the internet and emboldened by their success in punishing this official – start criticising their own government. As governments have discovered through the centuries, the awarding of partial freedom merely encourages people to demand more.
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[...] a lid on most forms of public protest, but as we saw late last year – with the case of a senior party official brought to justice (after attacking a young girl) following a web-based pro… - things are changing. It will be interesting to observe whether the Chinese web community [...]