If you were taking advantage of Chinese characters to write long, expressive Tweets and you happen to be a Chinese citizen, the jig’s up.  The Chinese government has blocked access to Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, and multiple other Web 2.0 sites – including all WordPress and Blogger blogs.  (So if you live in China, you’re most likely not reading this.)

The general guess is that these sites are blocked in order to minimize online chatter in Mainland China about the Tianemens Square Massacre (or “June Fourth Incident,” as you will), which occurred 20 years ago on June 4th.

Interestingly, for the past couple weeks there have consistently been multiple hits on this blog’s old Beijing Olympics post, for no apparent reason.  Coincidence?  Hmm.

As far as we know, CafePress is not blocked in China. According to someone we know who is currently traveling in Mainland China, we are blocked in China.  That being said, you still probably definitely don’t want to wear your “Free Tibet” T-shirt if you’re planning a trip to China – even if you wear it with the same apathy or sheer cluelessness with which so many hipsters sport a Che T-shirt.

Because while unfettered self-expression and the “get it off your mind and onto your chest” philosophy is at the heart of CafePress, the best rule of international travel is to remember where you’re going.  And act accordingly.  (One caveat: if you ever travel to Quito, you’ll notice that locals jump off moving buses.  Having lived there and having drastically underestimated the velocity of a slowing bus during a hackneyed attempt to blend in, I advise all readers to simply ask the driver to stop rather than risking a dramatic – and very public – wipeout in the streets of Ecuador.)

And so we will award a Fantasy T-wearer Award (not to be worn in international travel) to Biz Stone and Evan Williams, co-founders of Twitter today.  May they enjoy the “Banned in China” T-shirt, above.

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While news of the Olympic torch protests made its way around the world, the Chinese press had a very different message and focus than most the Western press stories.

With news of the protests minimalized in China and the message being one of criticizing the protesters for their actions, many wondered what China would do about actual people – particularly the foreigners – showing up in Beijing to protest various Chinese political policies and the Olympics themselves.

That question has been answered by the Chinese government, which claims that it will allow Olympic protests in three designated city parks.

According to the BBC:

Liu Shaowu, director of the Beijing organising committee’s security department, said protests would be allowed in Shijie, Zizhuyuan and Ritan parks.

Organisers say that fans won’t be able to take in any banners or leaflets which contain political, religious, racial, commercial, military, or other messages The BBC’s James Reynolds Reynolds’ China: Protesters’ parks

“They are all close to the city proper and the Olympic venues,” he told a press conference on the city’s security preparations.

But Mr Wu was hazy about how potential protesters would apply for permission, and on whether spontaneous demonstrations would be allowed.

“As for the concrete application, and who handles those applications, I have no clear information at this time,” he said.

What’s interesting about China’s protesting rules: they forgot the power of the almighty t-shirt.  As noted above in the BBC article, China is prohibiting attendees from carrying politically-charged banners or leaflets – and we’ll assume that a sticker can be construed as a leaflet.  However, there is no mention of whether wearing it loud will be grounds for expulsion or any other undesired Olympic experience for the wearer.

Now, that’s not to say that we’re advocating that anyone experiment with wearing a “FREE TIBET!” t-shirt to the opening ceremonies.  However, if you do so please let us know what happened…

One travel tip we will give you:  don’t forget your inhaler.

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Early last week some protestors climbed the Golden Gate Bridge to unfurl a couple banners to draw attention to Chinese action in Tibet. Talk about gutmonkey – these climbers risked life, limb and arrest to get their point across. SFGate.com got some great photos and video, letting the world know that this was a precursor of a much larger protest to be had when the Olympic Torch was to be run through San Francisco on Wednesday.

Of course, it didn’t escape our notice that the climbers were wearing T-shirts emblazoned with big block “TEAM TIBET” lettering. Right on.

This kind of free expression is at the heart of CafePress, and knowing that Wednesday was to be a day where thousands would wear, voice and show their opinions, a fearless coworker and myself decided to go into the city and talk to some protestors about their fashion statements and why they choose to express themselves via the almighty T-shirt.

We hit the Embarcadero, which was the heart of the protest scene and supposedly the site of the torch relay. You will notice that the video we took contains folks all wearing pro-Tibet T-shirts or Save Darfur shirts – also a remarkably common sight that day. This is not to say that we didn’t see any pro-China T-shirts; we did, though they were in the vast minority. However, we weren’t able to get on-camera commentary from anyone wearing a pro-China T-shirt, so if anyone reading this has thoughts on the matter we certainly welcome them via the comment field.

Anyway, here’s the video we did:

What we didn’t see: the Olympic Torch. Apparently Mayor Newsom decided to avoid the fray and they secretly ran the torch across town. Oh well. What we did see: thousands of people, news cameras, a lot of chanting and shouting and marching and singing, a band, police in riot gear, police on bicycles, police in general, and thousands of signs, flags (both Chinese and Tibetan), T-shirts, stickers and buttons speaking out for the bearers. We even saw a dog wearing a “Free Tibet” T-shirt – and, as you saw, he was kind enough to grant us an interview.

For more good pix of the protest, check out Google images.

Interesting things heard throughout the day:

“What’s Tibet?” (pronounced “Tibbet”)

- a teenage girl wearing a “Save Darfur” T-shirt

“Does anyone else find it ironic that people are out here holding Chinese flags in America to support a government that doesn’t allow the Tibetan people to fly their own flag in their own country?”

- random observer

“If San Francisco is about free expression, man, why is the Mayor hiding the protest from the world?”

- annoyed observer once the crowd found out the torch had been secretly run in another part of the city

“This is crazier than Pride!”

- passerby marching with the crowd

“I just gave my kids the day off school and they didn’t even get to see the torch.”

- local teacher

Hmm. Perhaps we should make some “I took the day off work to see the Olympic Torch and all I saw was some lousy T-Shirts” T-shirts…

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