Xiong Chengyu

internet - Not Prof Lessig but Tim Wu meets prof Xiong (revised)

Writer Tim Wu decribes on the weblog of Stanford law professor Larry Lessig a meeting with Tsinghua professor Xiong Chengyu, seen as "a personal advisor to Chinese President Hu Jintao on internet policy". A rather typical West-meets-East gathering. Wu ends up being amazed:

Xiong was of the new breed, and preempting me, he wore jeans with a jacket, like a 60-year old internet hipster. In conversation it turned out he was something of an internet utopian himself. He spoke of a network of great transformative power for China’s economy, culture, and society. A network that would take China out of its present cage, its underdeveloped version of itself. That would create applications to match and compete with U.S. versions, and even interestingly, a content industry that can best Hollywood.

Of course Wu has to bring up the current restraints on the internet in China (he wrote a book about it) and Xiong tries to explain why these restraints are needed to offer an unprecedented freedom. Wu tried to find a way to frame the China story. Will it develop like Singapore, Europe, or more like the US? Of course Xiong does not buy that.
More of these meetings are needed. (Hattip to China Web 2.0 review)

Update I: I'm still looking for prof. Xiong's account of the meeting, but I have not found a weblog he might have. I did find this (slightly outdated) paper he presented in 2002.
Update II: Frank Dai of Global Voices pointed out I made a mistake in the earlier edition of this entry. Not Lessig but another writer, Tim Wu, wrote the entry about his meeting at Lessig's weblog. Thanks, Frank!