As pioneering Chinese web forum returns, authorities warn free speech has limits

Chinese authorities have praised the return of Tianya – which was one of the country’s most popular internet forums in the pre-algorithm, pre-short-video era – while cautioning that freedom of speech must be balanced with responsibility.

The pioneering web portal was launched by Tianya Community Network Technology Co. in 1999, when the internet was in its infancy in China, but suddenly closed in April 2023 due to financial problems. On Sunday, the company announced that the forum would come back online the following day.

“Tianya’s return is by no means a simple revival but an evolution oriented towards the new era. In this era dominated by algorithms and fragmented information, echo chambers narrow people’s perspectives, and hurried fast-food content leaves no space for the soul to rest,” the company’s statement said, adding that it aimed to create an “open, diverse, inclusive and deep original content platform”.

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The Tianya forum was once a “gathering place for intellectuals”, a commentary by the Zhejiang Provincial Communist Party Committee’s Publicity Department said on Tuesday.

People wrote novels, analysed historical events and exchanged views on China’s economy, and sometimes a discussion could last for years with many posters contributing to the conversation, it said.

“People felt nostalgic [for Tianya] because it had a lively atmosphere,” the commentary said.

But it said the forum still faced a lot of problems, such as finding the balance between real-name registration and free discussion. The platform must also find a way to ensure posts remain factual and high-quality rather than descending into vitriol and venting.

South China Morning Post