China Has A New Great Wall

Just when they thought they were out, the government pulls them back in, to paraphrase Al Pacino in Godfather III.

A few weeks ago I mentioned that I am starting to notice an increase in new coin issue distribution through eBay. Several of the sellers are not U.S. based and one of the major ones offering some of the most interesting items is based in China. This was a very encouraging sign for me, as I see China as the biggest emerging market for the future of global numismatics.

But yesterday I was a bit disheartened by a CNN story about the email problems China has been experiencing recently. It has become clear that government instituted electronic censorship of email content has created problems for Chinas growing concern of Internet users. Most importantly, this could have a big effect on business development and interaction between worldwide customers and Chinese firms. Nothing can stop this 900-pound gorilla, but building a second GreatWall, in electronic communications, could really slow it down.