How to visit some blocked websites

Last time,I translated Fermi's smart means,and luckily he read it and promised to tell us how to put wikipedia and livejournal in the script.

This evening, I open his blog again and happy to see some updates of the proxy.pac:

function FindProxyForURL(url,host){
if(dnsDomainIs(host, ".blogspot.com")){
    return "PROXY 72.14.219.190:80";
}
if(dnsDomainIs(host, ".wikipedia.org")){
    return "PROXY 66.230.200.101:80";
}
if(dnsDomainIs(host, ".wordpress.com")){
    return "PROXY 72.232.101.41:80";
}
if(dnsDomainIs(host, ".livejournal.com")){
    return "PROXY 204.9.177.19:80";
}
return "DIRECT";
}

Yes,do as we did last time:save these codes as proxy.pac,and place it anywhere in your hardware (take C:/ for example).In Firefox,Tools->Options->Advanced->Network->Settings...->tick "Automatic proxy configuration URL" and insert the following text in the blank:

file:///C:/proxy.pac

then click Reload button on the right,press OK, and OK,and you're done.check it up with these links Wikipedia(not including zh)，WordPress，LiveJournal ;)

In IE(LAN network):

Tools -> Internet Options -> Connections -> LAN settings -> Use automatic configuration script ->file:///C:\proxy.pac

In Opera:

Options -> Advanced -> Networking -> Proxy -> C:\proxy.pac

How Does the Script Work?

My understanding is,GFW block a website by banning its prime IP,while this script will directs web browser to the backup IP address that do not in the banned list.

Kevin Smith has a post to explain the theory,you should read it.

Other websites

Technorati? No idea,but I usually visit Technorati Japan to see who links my and the blog rank.

zh.wikipedia.org ? Fermi said GFW censorship filter URL that contain words like zh.wikipedia.org,so the script does not work for zh,wikipedia.However,Fermi recommend wiki.biti.org.cn ,a HTTPS-based mirror wikipedia.


Technorati Tags: fermi, gfw, proxy, technorati, wikipedia, blogspot, wordpress

Zola is investigating the “nail house”

Does the "coolest nail house in history" still stands in the pool-like construction pit near the light rail station Yangjiaping in Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality?I don't know,even it doesn't right now.

Knowing the Government has warned the Chinese media to stay away from this topic,Zola,a Chinese blogger who professes himself to be "Untypical Angry Youth",set out from Hunan Province to investigate the "nail house" yesterday(March 28,2007).

with the house owner WuPing.Zola is guy on the left

From his last two articles,we can find something interesting,such as Why the "nail house" can successfully attract people's attention in short time？One of the important reasons is the house owner put up a large white cloth with the words"公民的合法私有财产不受侵犯"（the legal private property of the individual should not be infringed）.As the house and the slogan are so near to the light rail,passengers will,of course,can't help to take pictures of this ironic sight and spread this NEWS over the nation.

In the cause of Zola's investigation,he met some local people,asking what they thought of this issue.As you can anticipate,most of them back up the house owners to protect their property,just only one feel the request of house owners was excessive.Among the interviewed people,two senior citizens told him about their similar stories,the difference is they are too weak to fight against the real estate developers who kicked them away by force.The two poor victims used to appeal to the Beijing authorities for help,but nobody accepted.

The investigation is going on,God bless this brave youth.

Update:John Kennedy has translated Zola's post,check it!
Josie Liu wrote another article about it.

Technorati Tags: nail house, chongqing, zola, blogger, china

Top 40 blogs according to Zhuaxia stats

I don't really understand why some Chinese IT Bloggers like to translate English post into Chinese even the foreign posts are insignificant to Chinese readers.Top 40 sites according to FeedBurner stats,for instance,has nothing to do with the China while this post is still widely spread.

Yes,we should have the proper humility as we approach powerful bloggers in English speaking countries.But don't forget the communication is a two-way operation;successful medias do not consist in being an translating machine.

OK,back to the topic.Today I wanna list the Top 40 blogs according to Zhuaxia stats.

Why I chose Zhuaxia as the measuring tool?

1. Zhuaxia is currently the most popular online rss reader in mainland China,I guess over 30% of Chinese RSS users(about 60,000+) use it.(view the stats of my Chinese Blog for reference)
2. Most citizens here cannot tell the difference between Feedburner feed and Feedsky feed and original feed.It's not realistic to measure the stats of Feedburner or Feedsky,but zhuaxia has the capabilities to combine multiple feeds into one in their system(it's equal to the "subscribers" at bloglines ),and most bloggers had required them to do so.Hence,I think the stats on Zhuaxia is more authority than other feed stats.
   
3. I just want to show my readers an overview of Chinese Blogosphere,that is,no need to be professional!In fact,you will find many blogs in the top list are about IT,just because most of their readers use RSS and zhuaxia.

So,here it is,the Top 40 blogs according to the number of their Zhuaxia readers(Note:non-Blogs sites are not counted)

1. [07059] Keso's Blog *Introduction
2. [05608] Google China Blog
   
3. [04132] Wangxiaofeng *Interview video
   
4. [03873] Gseeker *Introduction
5. [03772] Blog Chinese translation
   
6. [03418] LifeBang *Chinese Lifehack?
   
7. [03367] Xujinglei *The Queen Blogger
   
8. [03303] Minority software *dedicated to share green software
   
9. [03097] Web2.0 Weekly
10. [02965] LaoBai's Blog
11. [02736] Williamlong
12. [02356] Hanhan
13. [02346] Wangtam
14. [02337] Engadget Simplified Chinese
15. [02269] Jimmy's Photo Blog
16. [02242] Luoyonghao
17. [02211] PostShow *Dreaming to be boingboing
    
18. [02086] NetNoEase
19. [01905] Caijing Observation *a journalist of CCTV
    
20. [01829] Liuren's Blog
21. [01783] Wangxiaoxing
22. [01780] Wangjianshuo *His English Blog
23. [01736] Hecaitou's Blog
24. [01610] Kuangfeng's Blog
25. [01529] Jandan *Introduction
26. [01505] Internet is a gold mine
27. [01416] Maitian's reading life
28. [01397] LookGirl
29. [01383] Incomplete *the author of CWR
30. [01334] Dangnianmingyue
31. [01334] Chedong's Blog
32. [01295] Honghuang *introduction@Danwei
    
33. [01272] Flypig
34. [01245] Google Show
35. [01176] AJAX China
36. [01143] Share 2.0
37. [01108] rosu
38. [01097] YeeYan & English *introduction@RWW
39. [01098] Plum‘s Diary
    
40. [01097] SEO Research
    

Technorati Tags: china, blog, rank, top, zhuaxia, feedburner, feedsky, feed

Another way to visited the banned blogspot

Fermi Zhang writes a nice post about How to Visit the Banned Blogspot,in the post he introduces a smarter way(compare with the less efficient one) to visit the banned blogspot.

Use the Notepad (or other text editor softwares) to write a file with the following codes:

function FindProxyForURL(url,host){
if(dnsDomainIs(host, ".blogspot.com")){
return "PROXY 72.14.219.190:80";
}
}

save it as proxy.pac and put it in the root directory of C:\ .Take Firefox for example,click Tools->Options->Advanced->Network->Settings...-> fill the codes below in the blank that under "Automatic proxy configuration URL":

file:///C:/proxy.pac

then press Reload on the right,press OK,and OK.And relaunch Firefox,done!

Update:codes for wordpress.com are

function FindProxyForURL(url,host){
if(dnsDomainIs(host, ".blogspot.com")){
return "PROXY 72.14.219.190:80";
}
if(dnsDomainIs(host, ".wordpress.com")){
return "PROXY 72.232.101.41:80";
}
}

Update2: For IE and LAN users(by uponsnow,I'm not using LAN so not check it yet)

Tools -> Internet Options -> Connections -> LAN settings -> Use automatic configuration script ->file:///C:\proxy.pac

Technorati Tags: block, blogspot, proxy, gfw

Edit Your Hosts to Visit Blogpost

Again,Blogspot has been blocked.

I know this situation is common to every blogspot user in China,I'm not surprise at all,really.Don't complain the GFW because that's waste your time and life.

As the blogspot has been blocked so many times before,we have found out a simple but effective way to break through the wall.

Open the file below with Notepad:

C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

Then add the following IP and domain to the bottom

59.151.21.100 yourname.blogspot.com

notice each line can only be add one ip and one domain.

A netizen called GG GG has set up a Hosts Wiki for Blogspot,the address is :
　http://groups.google.com/group/ggpi/web/hostwiki

from GSeeker

Note:The new Hosts does not work at once until reboot your Windows.

Update:Another way to visited the banned blogspot

Technorati Tags: host, china, blogspot, blogger, block

Baidu Japan's Porn Images

Baidu,the leading Search Engine in China,recently launched its Japanese search engine.

But...as you saw the title,some Chinese Male Bloggers have noticed that it's quite convenience to use the Japanese search engine to find something that could be found easily on other search engine - a scale of porn images,like this link and this(Warming:DO NOT click them if you are under 18).

According to the theory of Chinese Government,dirty images are not permitted and any foreign websites who provide porn pictures should be censored.So I'm wondering if the Baidu Japan will be blocked one day?


Technorati Tags: baidu japan, porn, image, search engine

Yahoo Japan Copied Digg

Digg mode is very popular in Western countries,especially after the digg-like CMS Pligg was launched.
Obviously,Yahoo Japan is willing to copy this booming mode,they have already made one which may called Minna Topics (everyone's topics?).It is just another digg-like site,but there are something different:

• Various Topics,not focus on a special one.While I notice popular posts there are mainly the International/Home News and Beauties. :)
  
• Funny UI design,the comic character above the digg button I mean
  
• Few comments were made.This situation is quite similar to all Chinese Digg sites,may be digg mode is not agree with Eastern culture.

I wish Minna Topics can be a hit in Japan soon,because I'm really curious whether digg-mode is right for Eastern Culture or not.

http://minna.topics.yahoo.co.jp/

Technorati Tags: digg, yahoo, japan, pligg, mina topics

Crazy for the One-Yuan "CN" Domain

Here was a news from People's Daily on March 08,2007:

China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), the country's domain name administrator, says the first-year registration fee for domain names ending in ".cn" will be one yuan(one U.S. dollar equals 7.74 yuan).

CNNIC is hoping the move will attract registrations from
enterprises and netizens. Previously is cost between 80 and 100 yuan to
register a domain name in China.

People who register a domain name before May 31 will be
charged only one yuan for the first year, while subsequent years will
still cost 80 to 100 yuan a year, according to the CNNIC.

At the end of 2006, China had 1.8 million websites that ended
in ".cn", up 64.4 percent year on year. The "CN" suffix is Asia's
largest and the world's fourth largest, statistics from the CNNIC show.

In all there are 4.2 million registered domain names in China with most using the suffix .com or .net.

Observers said with 137 million netizens and more than 40
million enterprises huge potential remains for the development of
domain names ending with ".cn".

I don't think the one-yuan will do good to anybody except CNNIC:

1. individuals are not allowed to register the "cn" domain according to the policy of CNNIC.But this time,more individuals are willing to register without the fear of being confiscated.
2. Each domain will still cost 80 to 100 yuan a year in subsequent years,so many people register just for fun.Can you count on them to help the development of China Internet?
3. Running a website in China need to do a lot of "extra work",the most famous and basic one is the Realname System.In my memory,the process will last for 6~30 days,sometimes they even don't tell whether your sites are permitted to run or not.
   
4. As the register fee falls,the cost of setting up a great deal of meaningless sites(we called them "garbage sites" in China), which are just for SEO,will falls too.And then,Search engines like Google may take some strict actions to punish this practice,possibly they will lower the importance of all domains ended with ".cn".I believe this evil assumption is going to happen.
   

What about the CNNIC ?

They are counting the money...

Technorati Tags: cn, domain, cnnic, china, realname

Yo2Blog will be the next wordpress.com

Knowing my Chinese Blog was blocked and lost some data,oneoo from yo2(co-founder actually) suggested me to try their advanced services in beta and helped them find out bugs.Their services sounded good,so I agreed to switch my Wordpress-based to yo2blog.

To my surprise,after importing my data to yo2blog,it is virtually the same to the original one:

1. Yo2 allowed me to host my domain(iyee.cn)
2. URL-Rewrite is supported,so links to my posts still work.
3. Import and export technology is based on RSS,so I think posts and comments and trackbacks from different BSP are able to import to yo2.
4. The control panel is the almost the same to independent wordpress.Different from many wordpress-based bsp,yo2blog is developed from wordpress 2.05 not Wordpress Mu!
5. Free to upload your own theme.Yo2 do not open the theme edit panel because of security problems,but they allow users to upload any themes that are designed for wordpress.That means there are countless themes for yo2.
   
6. Third party tools supported.Like Zoundry,Google Docs,Performancing and so on.
7. Unlimited space and bandwidth.

Above are just some features I feel important when compare with wordpress.com,may be you should register a free account and have a try.By the way,functions like domain name and url-rewrite are under test,so now yo2 only provide basic services.

Good news is that the advanced services are going to be lunched in this May,and the services are free for the first month.The price is quite (un)reasonable,just RMB36.5/Year ( RMB0.1/Day or $4.68/Year). Too cheap!


Technorati Tags: yo2, yo2blog, wordpress, bsp

Using the Custom Domain

I determined to use blogger custom domain for this blog.May be you will find my decision outrageous because I clearly know this behavior means readers from mainland China can not visit here directly.Yes,I just want this situation happens.

There are a bunch of reasons,like my former web-host freehostia.com was unfriendly to google robot,and I also notice that freehostia has its censor system that publish some key words will cause the block.

Of course,I had considered to host on Dreamhost,the web hosting company that is welcomed by Chinese bloggers because it's crazy price,but something just happened and I can't successfully host my domain.

I'm tired of managing two blocked blogs(especially the Chinese one),finding out the best plan for them in such a busy day is killing me.So I have to use the custom domain for this blog,at least foreign readers can get information from it.

Considering there are so some silly cunt in China internet,make blog blocked may be a smart idea to prevent them coming here to irritate me.眼不见以为净

BTW,this feed is available :) http://feeds.feedburner.com/yaiyee


Technorati Tags: block, yee, custom domain