'Netizens' changing politics in China

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BEIJING -- Communist officials tote the latest laptops under their arms. Citizens go online to chat with national legislators. Internet bulletin-board users post statements critical of the government, if only by a smidgen.

China's stodgy political world is easing into the digital age, inviting the public to voice opinions via the Web and increasingly relying on high-tech devices to manage such big events as this spring's meeting of the National People's Congress (NPC).

With about 80 million "wang min" -- "netizens" -- China now has the second-largest number of Internet users in the world, after the United States. But the Communist Party's new willingness to use the Web seems to have done nothing to dispel its ambivalence toward it.

The government has tightened controls on Internet chat rooms, bulletin boards and other online venues used increasingly by the public to vent frustrations and air criticisms. The rules come amid a renewed campaign to shut down unauthorized Internet cafes and bars.

In seeking control, the government is waging a tough battle: In China, the ascent of consumer electronics -- and all that accompanies it, from going online to text messaging by cell phone -- is starting to change even politics.

Delegates to the NPC, which held its yearly session in March, showed up at regional discussions sporting laptops.

"I receive hundreds of e-mails a year from members of the public. Most are opinions," said Chen Yiheng, a delegate who teaches mechanics at a university in the northern province of Shaanxi.

Qin Chijiang, a delegate from Heilongjiang province in the far northeast, said he opposes Internet spam and pornography, but added, "We should let good information get through."

"Netizens are a special constituency who can express their will at ease on the Internet, and their activities will facilitate to some extent the development of democracy in China," says a Web site run by legislator Zhou Hongyu.

Mobile phone companies offer short-messaging services, allowing ordinary citizens the chance to voice opinions for the equivalent of 3 cents each.