The Chinese authorities have praised the return of Tianya – which was one of the country’s most popular internet forums in the pre-algorithm, pre-short-video era – while cautioning that freedom of speech must be balanced with responsibility. The pioneering web portal was launched by Tianya Community Network Technology Co. in 1999, when the internet was in its infancy in China, but suddenly closed in April 2023 due to financial problems. On Sunday, the company announced that the forum would come.