Censorship in China

I was reading through the New York Times today and noticed on the front page of their World section an article concerning the Chinese government and its censorship of the internet. The article primarily focussed on the government's over-censorship of sites such as flickr. I know there are laws in China that censor websites containing political content, but I could not understand the sudden blocking of many popular, far from political websites. We have discussed in class how the Chinese government is becoming more capitalistic, and not centered on the spread of Communism, but with the 2008 summer games bearing down, I figured there would be greater flexibility in certain areas. The world will not come to Beijing with an objective option of the country or its government if it is obvious the Chinese people are banned from even viewing a non-political photo sharing website. It is as if China wants to break the stereotype that has plagued the mainland for decades, yet they continue to perpetuate the image of such a restrictive government.

Here is the link if anyone wants to read it: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/04/world/asia/04china.html?ref=world