China's lifting of Internet blockade denied by state media

Hopes that the Chinese government was about to relax its strict internet censorship regime in Shanghai appear to have been dashed after state-run media ran stories denying previous reports.

An “exclusive” from Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post, referencing anonymous government sources, claimed that the Great Firewall would be lifted inside the new Shanghai Free Trade Zone (FTZ). The mooted plan, which would have allowed access to blocked sites such as Facebook and Twitter, was said by one source to help foreigners working in the zone to “feel like at home.” However, Communist Party mouthpiece the People’s Daily has hit back, claiming from its own unnamed sources that the story is not correct, and that “internet management measures” inside the zone will not be any different from those elsewhere in China. In the meantime, multinational corporations and employees in the People’s Republic will just have to rely on that old staple the VPN for access to an unfettered internet, or check-in to a luxury hotel, most of which offer the same for tourists.