With new polls underscoring the continuation of a long-standing lack of basic knowledge   between the populations of two of the world’s biggest powers, it seems only appropriate to lay out a few basic facts to ground any ensuing argument.  As of May 1^st of this year, there are over 404 million internet users in the People’s Republic of China, despite the limitations to access imposed on the Xinjiang/East Turkestan region, giving China the largest online population of any country.  Within a year of the release of Charter 08, a vocal call for democracy and governmental reform signed by 300 mainland Chinese intellectuals, 70 of the signatories had been detained or interrogated.