Internet and Email

The China Center has four student desktop computers and two faculty computers, all equipped with wireless, broadband ADSL Internet. In addition there is an Internet hub with portals for up to eight laptop computers. The wireless access point is available throughout the China Center, and can accommodate a virtually unlimited number of student notebook computers with wireless capability. This wireless network operates on the 802.11b standard, so students who want to purchase wireless Ethernet adapters for use on our network need to purchase an 802.11b or 802.11g compatible notebook or wireless PCI card. For students purchasing a new computer, those equipped with Intel’s Centrino processor have an integrated Intel 802.11b wireless card, which tend to have less compatibility issues than those placed externally in the PCI slot. Students purchasing notebooks equipped with 802.11g cards will still be able to use their cards on our 802.11b network.

Students may also apply for broadband internet access in their dormitory rooms at the International Students Building. This will cost the student CNY 110 for the first two months and CNY 50 for each additional month. Students must provide a photocopy of a valid passport and a Zhejiang University student identification to apply for their own internet access at the front desk of the International Students Dormitory soon after the orientation period. Students should not expect Internet access immediately after arrival since it can take one business week for the Foreign Affairs Office to provide student identification and another business week for the internet provider to activate service.

Students living in the off-campus university apartments may also apply for broadband internet service by arranging a technician through the apartment manager, Ms. Pan, and paying a CNY 200 installation fee. Roommates sharing an apartment may typically apply for separate ADSL accounts, but some students decide to split the fee for a single shared account and purchase a wireless router to provide internet access throughout the apartment.

During Orientation Week in the fall semester, the China Center will invite a computer technician on staff, Dai Xudong, to help you configure your laptop computer to connect to the wireless network and printer. For students without integrated wireless cards, he will also help you purchase wireless PCI cards compatible with your computer, of course at your own expense.

The Chinese authorities in the Ministry of Public Security in Beijing restrict domestic access to thousands of internet sites located on international servers deemed subversive by the government, including but not limited to sexually explicit material, domestic separatist movements, and heterodox religious cults. The method of censorship includes government filtering and other surveillance tools that restrict access to sites that contain combinations of objectionable terms. Although such sites may be listed as results in search engines such as Google, users of domestic Web portals may receive a "The page cannot be displayed" message when attempting to access a restricted site.

Known euphemistically as the Great Firewall of China, the government internet filtering system is effective, albeit irregular, leaving many subversive sites hostile to the Chinese government unblocked and blocking some sites with no perceivable connection to China or its policies. According to the report, Empirical Analysis of Internet Filtering in China, by Jonathan Zittrain and Benjamin Edelman from Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society, in 2002 the government filtering system even blocked access to the Red Lobster Seafood Restaurant homepage, presumably because the term "red" is often used to refer negatively to communist governments. While this site is now accessible in China, as are many originally blocked during the above mentioned study, others remain inaccessible, ranging from the predictable to the ridiculous, such as a site created by two college freshmen called Cult of the Rabid Petunias, "dedicated to worshipping question marks and chrome-plated tuning forks in the Northeast."

Perhaps then it is no surprise that China’s gateway filtering has also blocked domestic access to the China Center homepage. Since our website is one of the primary means by which faculty inform students of schedule changes and other academic matters, it is very important that students bringing notebook computers configure these with a web proxy that will allow access to this and other restricted sites in China.

All computers at the China Center are configured to use a proxy server that allows access to all websites blocked by the Chinese Government, including the China Center homepage. There are several means to configure a student notebook computer to use a web proxy that will allow access to any public website. The simplest method is to subscribe to America Online and install the AOL software on your own computer. Using the AOL software to browse online will allow access to all sites typically blocked by the Chinese government. Another method is to subscribe to an anonymous web surfing proxy service that blocks your computer’s ISP address, such as Shadow Browser. There are many free proxy servers that students can use as well, but not all are easy to install nor do all allow access to blocked sites within China. The combination of freeware programs we use with success at the China Center is Tor, an anonymous Internet communications system that uses a distributed network of servers to block traffic analysis, which used in conjunction with Privoxy, a web proxy with advanced filtering capabilities, works successfully when browsing with Mozilla Firefox, an open source internet browser. Students are advised to download and configure these three programs on any computer to be brought to China in advance of departure, since some of these download sites may also be blocked here. These programs can be difficult to configure for novice users, so please ask the technician at your current campus for assistance if necessary.

Students are duly advised that Chinese networks are especially susceptible to malicious computer viruses, worms, and Trojan horses. For this reason, we take the precaution at the China Center to install firewalls on each computer, and all Internet communications are accessed through a wireless modem, which includes its own firewall for extra security. If you are using a laptop with wireless capability—and especially if you plug directly into the network through the hub—we strongly suggest that you first install your own personal firewall, such as the freeware Zone Alarm by Zone Labs. You should also purchase and regularly update your virus detection software, such as Norton AntiVirus by Symantec. You should be warned that viruses in China are often transmitted either through self-executing email attachments, file sharing, or from viewing pornographic websites. In many cases it is simply a form of spyware that installs on your computer to send you unwanted pop-up advertisements in Chinese and invariably slows down your system. The networks here are extremely active, constantly pinging host computers on the network with possible security holes to exploit, so you should keep your operating system current. If you use Windows, select the "automatic" radio button on the Automatic Updates icon located in the Control Panel of your computer and see the automatic updates page of the Microsoft website for more information. Another easy way to catch a computer virus is by sharing a USB or other portable storage drive with a computer at an Internet bar or printing service. Computers at these locations are notorious for being ridden with viruses, so make sure your security updates are current and reformat your portable drive before using on your own computer again.



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