As stated before, the goal of this site is to provide a window into China unsmeared by media fear-mongering, political agendas, or economic goals. I want people to see what I see, to know the China I know. I know I am not the only person with such a goal.
Because of the current nature of China's economy, outsiders do not usually come individually to China looking to make a fortune. The people that do come to China are less interested in money, and more interested in learning and experiencing. Many of these people do not have much money to begin with, but they often have something far more valuable. They have an open mind and a willingness to try to understand a foreign culture, and to help anyone who will listen to them understand as well.
Some of these people write weblogs (blogs), and some of those blogs are amazingly good. Over the last few years, a community of foreign webloggers ("bloggers") has emerged, and continues growing all the time. This community is having a positive effect on the way the world views China by providing a personal glimpse into life in China in a way that does much more for China's image than the media's tendency to simply reinforce outdated stereotypes.
The foreign blogger community in China is reaching out to the world, and the world is responding. This is exactly what we hope for. Yet the community is more than just a series of monologues directed at a global audience. It is truly an interacting community. Members of this community inspire and support each other, keeping it fresh and vibrant.
Particularly because the intentions of the bloggers in China are overwhelmingly benevolent and favorable to China, it is a continuing source of anguish that so many blogs are being blocked by the Chinese government. Blogspot, a widely known and beloved free host of legions of bloggers, is blocked in China. Sometimes blogs are blocked, seemingly without any reason.
While there are numerous ways to get around these blocks, none of them is 100% reliable. The blocks remain an extreme inconvenience to both the bloggers in China who are blocked, as well as to the members of the foreign community in China who would like to see the blocked content.
Sinosplice is not a dissident voice or an anti-government entity. The Sinosplice Network of blogs simply represents a method for a small community of previously blocked bloggers in China to come out from behind the Great Firewall of China and rejoin the larger community. The benefits are not only convenience, but also a boon in general to the larger effort of promoting better understanding of -- and more goodwill toward -- the nation of China.
