Ai Weiwei

Beijing's retreat on its latest Internet-censorship effort highlights the rise of China's increasingly tech-savvy, vocal public as a factor in the authoritarian government's decisions.

China gave in late Tuesday to complaints by Web users, manufacturers and foreign governments and postponed a plan to require producers to supply a government-endorsed filtering software known as Green Dam with every personal computer sold in China.

Internet users in China celebrated the government's about-face on the Green Dam Web-filtering software with a party Wednesday in a Beijing café.

The event was originally planned to coincide with an Internet boycott planned for the day China had mandated that all new PCs sold in China must have Green Dam. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology abruptly postponed the July 1 deadline on Tuesday, giving the protesters an unexpected victory. The ministry did not say when, if ever, a new deadline might be set.

Chinese Web surfers are being asked to stay off the Internet on July 1 to protest the Chinese government's demand that blocking software Green Dam Youth Escort be installed on all PCs sold in China.

That is the date the software filter sold by Jinhui Computer System Engineering is due to debut. All PCs sold in China on and after this date must have the software. It's also the anniversary date of the founding of the Communist Party in China.