ABSTRACT
Governments all over the world set different degrees of limits on freedom of expression, but China is an intriguing outlier known for its particularly severe control of the media and its people's freedom of expression. This chapter provides an overview of the situation in China regarding censorship and freedom of expression. The analysis is primarily focused on internet freedom and censorship since the internet is the dominant space for public expression in China. The chapter contains five parts: (a) rationales behind censorship practices; (b) content and topical restrictions; (c) tools of censorship; (d) temporal and geographical variations of censorship; and (e) public opinion about censorship in the context of misinformation.
