But I’m not the only Internet site about Route 66 to be blocked by China’s servers.
I found this from the Tulsa-based Batesline blog. There is a site, Great Firewall of China, in which you can type in a URL to find out whether China blocks the site to its citizens. There is a disclaimer that says the URL can be read as blocked when it could be technical problems.
Testing was done about 1 a.m. Beijing time — not exactly a high-traffic period.
Other 66 sites that were blocked:
Route 66 sites that were allowed by China:
- Route 66 Motels
- National Historic Route 66 Federation
- Historic Route 66
- Route 66 Magazine
- American Road
- Route 66 Place
- Route 66 Association of Missouri
- California Route 66 Preservation Foundation
- Friends of the Mother Road
- Illinois Route 66 Association
- “Cars,” the movie site
- Route 66 Pulse
- Route 66 Museum in Clinton, Okla.
- Oklahoma Route 66 Association
- Kids on 66
- Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program
The testing page, however, is erratic. Route 66 Pulse was shown as blocked in one instance, but allowed in a second attempt. Ditto for the Route 66 Museum. Route 66 Kids was allowed on the third try. So if a site was initially blocked, I quintuple-checked to ensure that was truly the case. Still, I can’t vouch for the Great Firewall of China’s accuracy.
To my surprise, the Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program, which is an arm of the U.S. government, was allowed after two tries.
It didn’t surprise me that Route 66 News was blocked. Apparently the Chinese leaders don’t like news sites and blogs, and Route 66 News is both. But not allowing Route 66 Food — a restaurants listing — and the California 66 association is bizarre. There probably is an otherwise-innocuous keyword that’s tripping the Chinese servers.
This reminds me of the “Tickle Tummy Hill” controversy, in which a report about a historic bridge in Carthage, Mo., kept government computers from accessing Route 66 News.