Regardless of its booming economy, China still shows what communism is all about: The party holds the truth and you mustn’t even consider other versions of the story. Usually, there aren’t any.

In a move that shows China is as communist as it gets, the Beijing government cut off the country’s access to YouTube.com after video footage depicting scenes from the crackdown on the Tibetan protesters were uploaded on the video sharing website for all users to view.

"At this stage I think it's really difficult in Lhasa to use the Internet at all," said a Tibetan journalist located in Nepal according to AFP. Landline and mobile phone services were also cut off, said the journalist.

"People suspect that the Chinese government is listening to their phones, so they don't talk. They are afraid," he added.

The access was also denied for foreigners and tourists who want to enter Lhasa.

Anyone trying to access YouTube from anywhere in China is now seeing an error message or black screen on the monitor. And the Chinese authorities haven’t stopped here. Access to other Web sites containing information about the Tibetan protests was denied and Internet café shops were closed as an attempt to discourage the Chinese to use the Internet.

The only Web sites that provide information regarding the demonstrations taking place in Lhasa, Tibet are the China-based video Web sites 56.com, youku.com and tudou.com.

Beijing officials refuse to comment on the move. The Chinese government actually encourages its people to use the Internet, but only for education and business purposes. Access to material considered subversive or pornographic is filtered and any material can be subversive if the government considers it so.

Access to foreign Web sites that belong to the news or human rights organizations is usually denied if they contain subversive information. Beijing requires the country’s operators of online bulletin boards to monitor the content of the foreign Web sites and censor them when necessary.

With approximately 210 million Internet users, China will most certainly overtake the U.S. and become the country with the biggest population of Web surfers.