Before reading chapter one from Dodson's China Inside Out, I simply knew that China was a communist country with strict rules and regulations. I was not aware that the internet is such an important possession to the Chinese people. Not only is it important as a way to stay connected with the information published on the internet, it's a way of forming bonds with other people. Also, it's this huge forum for the Chinese people to voice their opinions relatively safely, whereas if they were to speak out in any other way they would be punished. While internet users speaking badly about the government or other topics the Chinese government doesn't want people to know about can be identified and imprisoned for their actions, many Chinese citizens speak out through the internet regardless of the consequences.
I was not shocked to read that the government censors the information on the internet. I cannot imagine the frustration the Chinese people must feel knowing that the government is controlling them in yet another way and is actively hiding information from its citizens. As for censoring pornography on the internet, once again it's not all too surprising that this is happening. I feel like the more they censor, the more citizens will rebel against it. Prohibiting alcohol did not work at all, as the production, sale and consumption of alcohol still went on, it was just secretive and illegal.
Because Katherine Boo's story is a narrative of specific events, I found it hard to become really interested and involved in Dodson's work. He uses a lot of examples and cites many sources. While it's nice to have these as references and to know that Dodson put a lot of research work into his writing, it's very hard to immediately connect with his work. Behind the Beautiful Forevers was so much more of a personal and emotional story, whereas China Inside Out is all about the facts and information rather than the narrative.
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