Warning: this story contains disturbing reference of politics and ideology. It may upset some people
Once all was perfect…
We’ve been blessed by that gift on that day. Cross the █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █, we can reach every corner of this world. We walk among angels and faeries as it’s common in that time. We chant magic words, commanding power only limited by our imagination. Everything is real, we can see the truth.
Yet, that memory is fading. There is no record when that start as if the record itself has been wiped from this reality. Place by place, person by person. They are disappearing. Those we once know, we were once close to, they simply no longer there any more. Maybe they will come back later, maybe it’s temporary. Things will get better. We will get it over.
But, they never return… They…Who are they? What are they? Are they even real? I searched near and far, asking people. Their faces are confused, looking at me as if I am a person lost sanity. But, I remember. In my memory, I know those things I am searching for are real.
Time has passed. People have been used to a world without those memories. Even slightest thoughts that connected to them is too dangerous to mention. Even a name, a word, a hint, a connection to them can be troublesome. They shall not be mentioned! We shall not question this reality! This is all the truth and there is nothing else we shall believe in. We are fighting for a cause of all humanity! We are doing the right thing!
Yet, I remember, there is something off. Something they are hiding from us.
If you cannot image what we have lost.
Think about this, one day you find yourself wake up in a place where all people around you have no idea what’s Google, Facebook, Steam, Youtube, █ █ █ █ █ and Neolithia. The Internet is like never invented to them. But, they think you are the person who needs help. Why you are wasting your time day-dreaming such things only exit in your imagination? You have been told such…Your thoughts are dangerous. They can cause conflicts, They bring pain. Forget them and you will be happy like others!
But, I can’t…
I remember the secret world I have been. I am the memory of this world. And I do not regret.
Please remember me, if one day they make me never exists.
What is this place?
This is China.
I remember the childhood when animes were still on TV.
I remember the days when the Great Firewall was not built in 1990s
Google has been banned from China since 2006.
People thought it will be unbanned soon after a political event over.
However, it ends up wiped from people’s memory. People now use Baidu instead, the search results are sorted by who pay more money.
Facebook and Youtube never existed in China. They are like banned on day 1.
Steam community is banned from China in 2017 which is likely violating the promise China made when join WTO. Tencent is building their version of Steam to take over the market just like Baidu did to Google.
“Cross the greatwall, we can reach every corner of this world” was the first message China sent out to the world when this nation connected to Internet for the first time.
Ironically, now people need to do everything to break through the Great Firewall to connect to the world.