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But the regime's ability to restrict the free flow of information is threatened as never before by the internet.
The images of the Tiananmen Square massacre are some of the most confronting of the 20th century. The brutal crackdown showed the world just how determined the Communist Party was to crush dissent.
One of China's leading writers was among those targeted. Dai Xing, 66, still lives in China, even though her books are banned there.
She is in Australia for a year writing a book about dictatorships. It's a subject she knows well, especially after serving 10 months in a Chinese prison.
"This is a prison specially for political prisoners," she said.
"So when I was there, one person, one small cell, we don't have these kind of [hardships like being] dirty or hungry or being beaten, these kind of things, only all the time, only you, yourself.
"You must be very strong inside."
The front line of this battle is changing though, and now the internet has a major role to play.
Ms Dai's books are banned but she can still get her message across.
The blog started four months ago and has so far attracted 380,000 hits.
But she says many of the same challenges remain.
"This early morning, I tried to publish an article which I wrote almost 15 years ago but the internet police banned my article," she said.
Great firewall of China
This new battle is one the Chinese Communist Party has spent considerable time arming itself for.
Some reports say the party has spent more than $1 billion and employs 50,000 cyber police across the country.
Former Falun Gong spokesman Erping Zhang says many people call it 'The great firewall of China'.
"What happens is between the Chinese internet and world cyberspace there are three gateways, essentially, that turn the Chinese internet into an intranet," he said.
"There's one gateway in Shanghai, one gateway in Beijing and one in Guangzhou."
Mr Zhang is banned from China but is now taking the fight against internet censorship to the rest of the world.
He recently toured a number of Australian universities trying to raise awareness about the issue.
Ms Dai says internet censorship is a valuable weapon for the Chinese Government.
"This is [a] very important weapon to control, to make the media and freedom [of] speech or ... [thought] under strict control ... this is the very important tradition for the ruling of the Communist Party," she said.
The fight for control of cyberspace is a battle Mao Tse Tung would understand. He said that to have power you need two things: the gun and the pen.
When you log on to the internet in China, you won't see websites about Tiananmen Square or Falun Gong.
But there are cracks in this great firewall.
While most large internet companies cooperate with Beijing, in some cases leading to the arrest of bloggers, small companies in the US supply software that can overcome the firewall. Mr Zhang says this gives him hope.
"If they can allow about 25 million users inside China to have access to this by anti-censorship software, effectively the great firewall system will be brought down because then people will pass this free software to other people," he said.
Whether or not it brings about change, the internet has given hope to campaigners like Ms Dai. She is even optimistic that the book she is working on about dictatorships may one day be published in her home country.
"I do hope it will publish in China. I hope. Because without hope, I cannot survive or I cannot still live on in this country," she said.
"I always hold my hope but every minute I [am] prepared that, you know, some terrible things happen on me." © 2007 Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Posted October 20th, 2007 by Dinka
