Teacher gets two years for anti-Communist Net remark

Chinese authorities have jailed a teacher for criticising the government on the Internet.

Jiang Shihua posted a note on an online bulleting board saying: "I just want to say: Down with the Communist Party," AP reports.

This remark, part of an online discussion on corruption, was enough to get the 27-year-old electronics teacher arrested on subversion charges. He is now is serving a two-year sentence in a detention centre in Nanchong, in Sichuan province.

In China, outside news sites are banned, dissident sites are shut down, and cybercafes are not allowed to be within 200 metres of schools for fear that they could taint the nation's youth.

After Shihua's arrest, China's thought police ordered schools in Nanchong to start a campaign to train teachers and other staff in the correct ideology. ®

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