Layered over this are a network of megacities whose populations outstrip those of many European nations, with the country's 1.5 billion population forming a patchwork of 56 recognized ethnic groups, dozens of languages and dialects, and food traditions so varied that the catch-all "Chinese cuisine" barely grazes the surface. Visiting can be a thrilling and bewildering experience. The scale is overwhelming (one time zone spans five natural ones),
Chinese censorship sprang a major leak on September 11, when researchers confirmed that more than 500GB of internal documents, source code, work logs, and internal communications from the so-called Great Firewall were dumped online, including packaging repos and operational runbooks used to build and maintain China's national traffic filtering system. The files appear to originate from Geedge Networks, a company that has long been linked to Fang Binxing - widely described as the "father" of the Great Firewall -