Military Bans Blogging

Recently revised regulations from the People's Liberation Army (PLA) state that Chinese soldiers are banned from blogging on fears that they may inadvertently leak military secrets.

The revised PLA Internal Administration Regulations which came into effect about two weeks ago says soldiers are prohibited from setting up websites, homepages or blogging on the Internet.

"It means soldiers cannot open blogs on the Internet, no matter if he or she does it in the capacity of a soldier or not," Wan Long, the political commissar of a regiment in the Guangzhou Military Area Command was quoted by the PLA Daily as saying.

"The Internet is complicated and we should guard against online traps," he said.

The revised regulations also ban soldiers from issuing "lonely hearts" and job hunting advertisements in the mass media.

"If information of military officers and their unit aroused attention of people with ulterior motives, it'll pose a threat to the confidentiality of the armed forces," Yang Jigui, commander of the Xigaze military sub-command in Tibet Autonomous Region was quoted as saying.

The ban on blogging is completely understandable; many companies and organizations forbid employees from talking about their work online.

But the rule about not being allowed to look for mates online is a tricky one.

Many men go into the military because they can't get a good job, and after getting in, they become more eligible because Chinese women have a high admiration for soldiers.

However, what are the chances of finding a mate if they can't even let single women know they are looking?

Sounds like lonely hearts in the military have gotten a lot lonelier.