China Blocks LiveJournal

China Blocks LiveJournal (Wired News)

It is no surprise that China has some questionable policies as far as censorship go. Last year Google was criticized for having a censored version for use in China. Now China actively keeps up a firewall keeping any and all unwanted websites from reaching Chinese internet users. Growing up in a country that teaches free speech and gives all citizens the right to say what they want, this censorship in China is obviously not something I agree with. What I want to know is why they block LiveJournal, and why now. They say it might be because of the upcoming National People's Congress. A large meeting of about 3000 citizens, with most of them being members of the Communist Party of China. In the history of the Congress, virtually every single resolution has been passed with little debate. I do not see how a few blogs could affect this Congress. Also why only blog LiveJournal, theres hundreds of blog hosts on the internet, why not block them all. I do not know what sites are blocked in China, but I assume they also block all newspapers from democratic countries. I simply don't understand how a LiveJournal blog could affect the power of the Chinese Communist Party.