Here's a selection of Best Mainland China blogs....

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CHINA: Changing the Subject: The “Invisible” Control Mechanism in Chinese Media... This was the first use of a tactic that would be employed throughout the evening. The first step was to flatter us, to elevate us above the mass of ordinary foreigners, implying in the process that foreigners who criticize China simply do so out of ignorance (“…they are knowledgeable about our country and [therefore] are very friendly to us”), and finally to adopt an affected modesty in order to garner sympathetic support for their difficult task of introducing the glorious true face of China to the biased world media. This tactic, transparent as it was, actually seemed to work quite well as the evening wore on... But also about academics knuckling under due to the fear of being banned from China. Not unreasonable. Just wise to keep in mind that, like Arab journalists who don't risk their lives writing pro-US pieces for middle-eastern media, info hacks in China are in the same position. Caveat emptor...

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Interesting blog by an opinionated journo in China here: China Herald Has a thoughtful take down the page on blogs revolutionizing & replacing journalism and thus putting many hacks out of work (about time, I say, given the reflexive parroting that's the primary constituent of so much journalism). He replies to comments...

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Christmas in Szechuan 1993: Retro-Taipei craziness, southern China style... In the evening, total surrealism once again reared its melting clock head, as we attended -- get this - a combination Christmas Party/Chairman Mao's 100th Birthday Party. ... We took a bike ride around the city at one point to see what was going on -- the smog was so thick you could cut it with a knife -- ... I listened for 15 minutes to a semi-crazy woman who spoke mostly Chinese, peppered with a few English words and phrases. Her basic message was that I was her friend -- she kept saying "You beautiful me," though I have no idea what she meant by that -- and that Mike, being sandy-blonde, was obviously a German and therefore bad. She kept inviting me to her home, the address of which she kept saying over and over again, writing it on my hand with her fingernail. Bizarre. Sounds just like Taipei in the old days, especially before the hordes of Engrish teachers and Chimplish students fell off the boat in vast numbers after Tiananmen...

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Another installment: 【九評之二】評中國共產黨是怎樣起家的 If Secret China News can be trusted to tell a secret, this series has heavily impacted party heavyweights (oof!@#!! choked on that cliche) in China. Either way, the author is intelligent and in the first installment (above is the second) demonstrated that he has something to say and can get to the point...