Mandarin Course

“Internet Maintenance Day” in China

And June 4 represented another special day in China this year: Chinese Internet Maintenance Day—at least thats what some websites are claiming. Hundreds of popular Chinese sites are inaccessible, but many have posted messages suggesting theyre under maintenance. Its unclear whether Chinese authorities told these sites to shut down during the sensitive 20th anniversary of Tiananmen, or whether theyre doing it on their own—but either way some of the messages appear to be a subtle protest against the regimes online censorship. This is the Chinese dictionary site WordKu.com as of June 4: It says the site has been taken down for Chinese Internet Maintenance Day. Geektang.com has a similar message, and Wuqing.org simply says, I, too, am under maintenance!