![The Tank Man [site homepage]](../art/p_title.gif){kind=small}
Since FRONTLINE published its first Web site in 1995, the series has published five reports online focusing on China - two with streamed video of the full broadcast program. Because Chinese Internet users are blocked from many Western news sites, we've always been interested in the level of access to FRONTLINE's reports on China. For example, our Web site for the 2003 report "China in the Red" offered the entire program in streaming video and our logs show that there were tens of thousands of online viewers inside China. So there is some access. But we've also received reports -- and occasionally experienced it firsthand in our travels -- that our site is unavailable to users in China. Based on visits to Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen over the past nine months, and through follow-up checks using proxy servers, here's a rundown of which FRONTLINE reports can and cannot be seen.
The Tank Man
(Airdate April 11, 2006) This site currently is available in China. Since most of this report focuses on the government's crushing of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, it's likely this Web site will soon be filtered.
Update: (May 20, 2006) We have received several reports from users in China that this site is no longer accessible.
China in The Red
(Airdate Feb. 13, 2003) This report, which includes full video streaming, deals with China's dramatic efforts to modernize its economy and focuses on the personal stories of individuals who are winners and losers in this transformation. It has not been blocked.
Dangerous Straits
(Airdate Oct. 18, 2001) This report examines the highly sensitive topic of Taiwan, the capitalist and now democratic island that China has been trying to reclaim for more than five decades. The site is currently accessible in China.
Dreams of Tibet
(Airdate Oct. 28, 1997) This site is blocked in China. It focuses on the Chinese destruction of Tibetan culture, U.S.-Chinese relations, human rights violations in Tibet and Hollywood's fascination with Tibet.
The Gate of Heavenly Peace
(Airdate June 4, 1996) This site is blocked in China. It deals with the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and the government's crackdown on June 3-4, 1989.