Keep online opinions on track

Internet technology has played an increasingly important role in driving China's social progress to keep abreast of its rapid development in recent years.

A landmark began with the "Sun Zhigang incident" in 2003, in which Sun, a young Hubei native, was beaten to death in a Guangzhou detention center in Guangdong province. The heated Internet discussion in the wake of Sun's case finally resulted in the abolition of the country's regulations on sending migrant people without temporary local residence permits back to their hometown in a compulsory manner. This new trend has also been reflected in the handling of such cases involving forced labor in unlicensed brick kilns, extorted confession from suspects, re-verification of the fake South China tiger photograph, supply of contaminated milk powder and the mass incident in Weng'an, Guizhou province.

Thanks to the rapid growth of Internet, people have deeply felt the power of information. Due to its nature, speed and low cost, Internet is destined to become the main point for convergence of public opinion in the 21st century. It could even become the main channel, instead of traditional democratic means, for people to exercise their rights in a democracy.