Recently the Chinese government has carried out a series of actions demonstrating that Chinese Premier Hu Jintao is advocating for “message-board democracy.”

In 1979, Deng Xiaoping successfully used the Xidan Wall of Democracy as a medium for the fight for democracy and human rights, and to bring down Huang Guofeng, then Chinese premier, who was also the president of the Central Military Committee and the leader of the Chinese Communist Party.

(Editor’s note: The Xidan Wall of Democracy was a wall in the Xidan District in Beijing where activists were encouraged to post criticism of the existing government. Today, Internet message boards and other internet websites, which are frequently used by Chinese democracy advocates and intellectuals to display opinions and criticisms against the existing government, may play a role in influencing change in today's Chinese government.)

On July 12, Asia Times Online published an article titled “Mysterious Website, Possibly Receiving Support From High Level Officials, Uncovers Corruption In China,” which later became extremely popular. The article introduces “Chinese Appeal Web,” a website which describes itself as a public opinion notification mechanism and refers to the creation and introduction of this website as a precursor to a new milestone for the people to monitor the government administration. It also stated that the website was constructed to meet the demands of the central government.

After this article was published, there was a flood of discussions on topics regarding governmental e-administration and people monitoring government administration. The article “Revealing The Construction of China’s Governmental E-Administration: The Fraud Lies In The Administration,” published on the Chinese government’s official Xinhua Net website on July 13, criticizes the websites of many ministries and commissions as being superficial and endorses their improvement. Xinhua Net published another article on July 14 called, “Discussion with Gao Mu: Use of the Internet as a Means to Monitor the Government’s Corruption.” Subsequently, a column appeared on People’s Daily Online called, “Observation of Public Opinion at People’s Daily Online: A Selection of Messages in Response to News on July 14.” These examples confirm the move towards message-board democracy.

What’s worth noting is that during Jiang Zemin’s reign, China kept a tight rein over the Internet. Since Huang Qi and his wife Ceng Li from the Chinese Internet industry established “Tianwang Web” in 1999, which was made to help search for missing people, many visitors posted messages concerning anti-corruption and the Tiananmen Massacre. On June 3, 2000, Huang Qi was detained by the public security police and put on trial on May 9. 2001. He was sentence to 5 years’ imprisonment for “instigating rebellion against the government.”

Former Chinese President Jiang Zemin (R) with his successor President Hu Jintao (Goh Chai Hin/AFP/Getty Images)

It has been said that President Hu Jintao and Jiang Zemin, the Chairman of the Central Military Committee, have different opinions that cause conflicts between them. This matter makes others recall the conflict between Deng Xiaoping’s “experimental approach” to economic revitalization versus Huang Guofeng’s “Anything that Mao said was good.”

Of more coincidence, Deng Xiaoping, who took Hu Jingtao under his wings, succeeded in using the Xidan Wall of Democracy in the name of democracy and human rights to bring down Huang Guofeng, who was the Chinese Premier, as well as the president of the Central Military Committee and the leader of the Chinese Communist Party at that time. Whether Hu Jingtao is going to use Deng Xiaoping’s method in the future is still under the focus of every one.

However, Deng Xiaoping tightened the controls over public opinion soon after attaining power, and detained Wei Jingsheng, a vocal advocate for democratic reform. Deng’s betrayal of his promise after achieving his goal, brings the idea of message-board democracy into question.

Chinese cyber-dissident Liu Di (AFP/Getty Images)

At the end of last year, a college girl named Liu Di, posting under the pen name Stainless Steel Mouse, published a political review online. After a year in prison, she was released without being prosecuted and is now back in school. This June, Chinese Internet writer Du Daobin was sentenced to three years with four-years’ probation. In actuality, he was released immediately after sentencing. Hu Jintao’s role in these two incidents remains a mystery.

Experts on China issues point out that the periods when Chinese citizens obtain any temporary freedom of speech were always at times of intense disagreements within the government. Is this round of message-board democracy similar to those of the past? This question remains on everyone’s lips.