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Chinese tweets defy Beijing
The prize that Beijing considers an insult was the most talked about tweet on the banned Chinese Twitter by Friday evening.
The prize that Beijing considers an insult was the most talked about tweet on the banned Chinese Twitter by Friday evening.
Invitations for celebratory dinners and drinks flew on the underground Internet accessed through proxy servers, even as propaganda machinery censored the news and tried to block cell phone text messages with the words Liu Xiaobo.
China's tweeting dissenters, including a prominent group of activists, artists, lawyers and blogging intellectuals, who access the blocked networking site through proxy servers and use it as a platform to protest issues like forced demolitions and arrests, reacted that the joke was now on Beijng. Several posted that the news had moved them to tears. Messages flew that firecrackers were heard in two prominent universities soon after the announcement.
"Long live freedom!" said a defiant tweet.”Today, many people's first reaction to the news was to cry," posted rights lawyer Michael Anti.
"Are there brothers in Shanghai? Let's have a banquet! We'll meet in the People's Square," went one message. Foreign media reports said that police were questioning activists who tried to celebrate in small groups in Beijing and Shanghai.
