Posts tagged “beijing”.

iTunes blocked by Great Firewall of China

August 20th, 2008

Remember last week when I found that collection of “Free Tibet” songs on iTunes? Turns out the Chinese found it, too.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the communist government of China is blocking iTunes and the Songs for Tibet collection. All after finding out some Olympic athletes were downloading the music.

Maybe they just don’t like Moby?

Anyway, those cryptic Chinese messages I found in the reviews section of the collection? Ars Technica found the translations, and they’re not very nice. Is this anyway to treat Apple after they decided to build a store in Beijing?

How sad. Here we were worried about the Olympic athletes choking on all the smog; in reality, they’re chocking on the authoritarian bullshit.

Free Tibet!…through iTunes

August 8th, 2008

Just in time for the Summer Olympics, iTunes is offering a “Songs for Tibet – The Art of Peace” collection from big-name artists like John Mayer, Jackson Browne, and Imogen Heap.

A lot of the music features acoustic or remixed versions of already-released songs (Moby’s “We Are All Made of Stars (2008)” for instance), with a few originals, and when you purchase the collection as a whole, you get a 15 minute spoken word piece from the Dalai Lama.

You hear a lot about Tibet’s struggle from the artistic community, but if you want to learn more yourself, I suggest reading “Seven Years in Tibet” by Heinrich Harrer (I haven’t seen the movie yet). Harrer was a World War II German refuge who traveled Tibet and tutored the Dalai Lama, and was part of the escape crew that lead Tibet’s government out of the country when China took over.

I think the timing of this music collection is perfect, but not everyone agrees with me. In the reviews, you’ll see a one-star review given by a commenter that types in Chinese characters (maybe? I’m not familiar with the language) who might be towing the Communist Party line: Tibet is a China, always has been. I’ve seen this type of thing even as recent as last weekend in Chicago. While browsing through the Tibet exhibit at the Field Museum, a display showed sticky notes where people could write their opinion about the Tibet situation:

Chicago - "Tibet is part of China"

See the note in the bottom-right corner? That’s what the iTunes review is probably like.

But enough speculation. iTunes offers a great music collection and a chance to raise awareness about Tibet’s plight, and it’s a heckuva chance to put on some tunes and read up on the history of this mysterious land.