The reality on China: the connectivity is already deep

■"The Laptop Trail: The Modern PC Is a Model Of Hyperefficient Production And Geopolitical Sensitivities," by Jason Dean and Pui-Wing Tam, Wall Street Journal, 9 June 2005, p. B1.

■"China Tightens Restrictions On Bloggers and Web Owners: Nervousness about the power of the Net being in private hands," by Howard W. French, New York Times, 8 June 2005, p. A9.

■"China Weighs Limits on Foreign-Made Cartoons," by Geoffrey A. Fowler, Wall Street Journal, 8 June 2005, p. B3.

■"A Migrant Worker Sees Rural Home In a New Light: In China, Those Who Left Find City, Village Life Don't Mix; Showing Off Cellphones," by Leslie T. Chang, Wall Street Journal, 9 June 2005, p. A1.

Great WSJ piece on the global laptop that shows not just how integrated Taiwan is becoming with China, but how integrated China is becoming with the world. Dell, Apple, Gateway, Acer and HP: the outsourcing ratio for all is 100%.

My God, and we let IBM sell its PC production unit to China's Lenovo? Another "missed development" perhaps!

Meanwhile, China pushes harder to control the burgeoning web use of its people, roughly a hundred million strong and rapidly growing. Four million bloggers, we are told. And now the government wants them all to register, claiming a success rate of 75% already.

Say what you want on the web. Just don't criticize the Party.

Yes, yes, I would say the Commies are right on top of this one. Right out of 1984, when Winston Smith blogged away for the world to see.

No, wait a minute. Didn't his journal get hidden each day in a hole in his wall?

Okay, so it's almost just like "1984." Almost.

Now the party is floating pro-government propagandists in online communities and chat rooms to sing the praises of the government. I can see that working so much better in a virtual environment than a real one.

Meanwhile, the connectivity grows . . .

China wants to limit the amount of foreign cartoons on its TV networks. Fear of foreign ideas? No. China wants to protect and grow its nascent animation industry. It sees Japan's huge anime exports and Disney's long track record and wants to get some of that global pie for itself.

So China the government pretends it can control this huge amount of development by simply censoring what the masses say about it behind its back. But what's happening here is so much bigger than just politics. China's experiencing the biggest migration in human history: from the rural areas to the city. And once you leave the little town and see the big city, there's no going backófor anyone.