In a profile in this week's New Yorker, Evan Osnos describes Caijing's many scoops: the collapse of school buildings after the Sichuan earthquake, the SARS virus and the Chinese government's attempted coverup, the shady privatization of a conglomerate called Luneng. In each case, Hu and her reporters were willing to challenge a system that usually relies on intimidation to keep journalists in line. According to Osnos, China has 28 journalists in prison, more than any other country except Iran. The media are regulated by the shadowy Central Propaganda Department, which has some firm guidelines (no coverage of "the military, religion, ethnic disputes, and the inner workings of government") but usually relies on editors to decide for themselves what will get them in trouble. Professor Perry Link describes Chinese censorship as "a giant anaconda coiled in an overhead chandelier." He writes,

Normally, the great snake doesn't move. It doesn't have to. It feels no need to be clear about its provisions. Its silent constant message is 'You yourself decide,' after which, more often than not, everyone in its shadows make his or her large and small adjustments — all quite 'naturally.'

Hu avoids provoking the "great snake" through careful calculation of how far she can go (Caijing eventually had to stop covering the SARS story) and through management of the tenor of her criticism. She says, "we never say a word in a very emotional or casual way, like 'You lied.' We try to analyze the system and say why a good idea or a good wish cannot become reality." As a result of Hu's calibrations, Caijing has become much more independent and internationally respected than most other Chinese publications (Xinhua, for instance, published a story describing a rocket launch before the rocket actually left the ground).

Some, however, say that Hu is just propping up the government in a different way from more traditional publications. Analyzing one of her 2007 columns, Osnos points out that she seems to see reform as a way to strengthen the existing government, not overthrow it. And Cheng Yizhong, a former editor-in-chief of Southern Metropolis Daily who was jailed after his investigation into the government's corrupt detention camps, says,

Caijing's topics haven't affected the fundamental ruling system, so it is relatively safe. I'm not criticizing Hu Shuli, but in some ways Caijing is just serving of more powerful or relatively better interest group.

Hu Shuli operates with relative freedom inside an extremely restrictive system, and thus is almost certain to receive criticism. Should she be doing more to challenge the government that censors her fellow journalists and sends them to prison? Perhaps, but it's not at all clear that Hu objects to the Communist government per se. In fact, conspicuously absent from Osnos's piece is any overarching statement of Hu's political beliefs. However, Qian Gang, a former editor of Caijing, offers this description of Hu's pragmatic approach:

A flood is ferocious, but it solves no problems. In Chinese, we say you can bore a hole in a stone by the steady dripping of water.

Image from The New Yorker.

The Forbidden Zone [New Yorker]

The Huffington Post reported on the first few productions of the play in Beijing in March, when it was still known as V. Although the crowd appeared excited about the show ("I'd never, ever seen anything like that!" said one college student), reporter Julian Baird Gewirtz noticed that many women were unwilling to shout "bi", a slang term akin to pussy, when one actress tried to start a chant:

But there was one particularly revealing moment from the audience that may itself capture the current cultural situation in China as much as the action on stage. As in the English-language version, the actress Lin Han concluded one of her pieces by chanting the word "bi" over and over again, zealously calling on the largely female audience to do the same. But from this Beiing crowd, a few male voices yelled out the word once; not a single female voice could be heard.

Like the change in title — which director Wang Chong said was necessary in order for him to book a venue — the lack of audience participation points to the conservative beliefs many Chinese still hold about female sexuality. "They are . . . the second sex" in China, Wang said. "In Mao's period, women had a better position in society: equal to men. But now those socialist ideals have disappeared."

Chinese producers first tried to bring Ensler's play in Shanghai in 2004, but the show was canceled by officials, who told the director that the play was "not yet mature." Five years later, and several months after the successful run in Beijing, The Vagina Monologues has returned to Shanghai. Wang has translated the script from English to Chinese, trying to stay as close to the original as possible. Of his decision to change the name for Beijing, Wang said: "In China, things should be handled Chinesely."

"Chinesely" apparently means discreetly. As Time reports, sexual freedom in China is a strange and elusive beast. For the most part, sexual limits are "set by parents, not the Communist party." However, the government has been known to issue crackdowns on sex-related events and pornography, but they do so in a manner that is unpredictable and confusing (the gay pride festival is OK, as are drag shows, but a screening of The Laramie Project is not). The initial name change was not endorsed by Ensler's camp, but it may have been necessary for the show to go on. Although there is a certain irony to the censorship of the word "vagina," as noted by a professor of women's studies at Sun Yat-sen University, Wang hopes that his production will help free women from social restrictions. He also advises men to see the play: "I highly recommend male audience to see this show because really finding a vagina is about really finding a female and at the same time when you know what a female is you know what a male is. It's about both sexes."

In China, V Is For The Vagina Monologues [Time]
The Vagina Monologues Are Coming To Shanghai [The Shanghaiist]
The Vagina Monologues Comes To Beijing [Huffington Post]

This video and ones like it are a phenomenon in China because in Chinese "grass-mud horse" sounds like the phrase "fuck your mother." Since the written characters and literal translation are benign, the video slipped past the strict censors that police the internet in China. The mythical creature has now become an anti-censorship mascot, with stores selling grass-mud horse dolls and scholars analyzing the videos' significance. [The New York Times via Newser]

First off, for some background, the ladies were told in their message from Bret to "dress to impress" for their challenge. This is how they interpreted that.

And specifically how Marcia interpreted that.

Bret liked it though.

I don't even want to know what I'm not supposed to be seeing here.

What's weird is that sometimes the editors of the show employ blurring, while other times, they opt for blacking things out entirely.

I wonder what the conversations on those judgment calls entail. However, sometimes they use blurring and blacking out at the same time.

Seriously, this woman did not give a shit about covering her tits up. It wasn't just a momentary thing. Once they were out…

…they stayed out.

Maybe it had to do with the rack of clothes that Bret provided for the ladies that night, made by a designer I've never heard of.

But that doesn't explain why they blurred this woman's nipples, even though she had a shirt on.

This is my favorite thing for no reason. Her LOL speak is all wrong.

And lastly, I found the most offensive thing of the episode to not be censored at all: Bret's eye makeup. It's like he just completely went back to his original look in Poison, except without any irony or retro reference. He's just decided that this is working for him.

To which I say:

• Here are seven facts about HPV and Gardasil that every woman should know (like, did you know that HPV infection risk can increase with birth control pill use?). • Did you know that the inventor of the Slinky joined a Bolivian religious cult during a mid-life crisis in the 1960s? • The newest Wallace and Gromit film, A Matter of Loaf and Death, will not be eligible for an Oscar until 2010. • A female tiger cub was given a rare blood transfusion on Sunday after being beaten and then rescued by fearful villagers in India. • Australian Health Department officials are investigating dozens of massage parlors/brothels that write off their services as "therapeutic massages" and illegally billing health insurers. • The National Board of Health and Welfare in Sweden announced today that it is removing transvestism, gender identity disorder, fetishism and four other sexual behaviors from its list of diseases. • A recent study claims that young women who smoke are twice as likely to develop moderate to severe PMS. • Athene Donald, a British scientist whose research may help with treatment of Alzheimer's, was made a laureate for the prestigious For Women In Science awards coming up next March. • The Girls' Schools Association in the UK plans to launch a website in January aimed at parents of teenage daughters. • Tennis player Martina Navratilova says that her snoring is so loud that she has woken herself up on occasion. • People with low levels of the tau protein (which helps people maintain good memory skills) have fewer protein tangles that are associated with Alzheimer's. • In female life expectancy, Britain comes up 16th out of 25 European countries. The top Euro country for women? France. • A French court of appeals has overruled a previous verdict that annulled a marriage of two Muslims because the wife lied about her virginity. • Mothers in Seattle join up in groups for intensive pre-dawn workouts to fit in some exercise and stress relief in their hectic schedules. • The Australian Sex Party will be launched on Thursday and runs on a platform of sex education, reducing censorship and supporting gay marriage. Sounds good to us! •

MOE: Ohhhhh mann, I'm still like on Seattle time or something
MEGAN: I'm on "got home at midnight after an 8 hour drive" fog.
MOE: What should we talk about? Yikes!
MEGAN: Oh, see, I was going to suggest that we talk about how Alaskan Republican Senator Ted "Series of Tubes" Stevens was indicted on 7 counts yesterday, but fetish hookers is way more prurient. Also, rumors around the courts here in D.C. is that touchy-feely ass-grabbing Congressman Don Young is next. Actually, that's just been the rumor for a while, but doesn't it sound cooler when I semi-source it?
MOE: Isn't just the fact that Alaska has two senators corruption in itself?
MEGAN: Well, they do have a whole 100,000 more people than Washington, DC, so of course they deserve 2 Senators and a Congressman and D.C. shouldn't get either.
Geek moment: Did you know that there are more people in Hawai'i than Alaska? Like, almost twice as many.
MOE: Yes. Does that surprise you? Any more than, like, this? Oh god I need coffee.
MEGAN: Back to Stevens, the most hilarious thing of all is that they couldn't charge him with bribery because sometimes he just took the lavish gifts from Veco and told them to fuck off! It's sort of like how Congressmen and Senators feel about campaign contributions only flashier (now including a Land Rover and a Viking Grill!).
As a white resident of upstate New York, I particularly like this statement of Sharpton's:

"We have all made mistakes. We have all erred, and we ought not try to sugar coat when we err."

Oh, really, Al?
MOE: The Ted Stevens thing reminds me of when I used to cover Nike for the Journal, and the guys from SLAM just couldn't figure out why I wasn't allowed to take free shoes. "Sure, it's bribery, but when EVERYONE bribes you you're still objective!"
MEGAN: "As long as you 'slam' them later," right? (Apologies for the bad but necessary pun).Speaking of apologies...
MOE: Jesus this totally makes the AMA's timing look COMPLETELY NORMAL!

In February, the Senate apologized for atrocities committed against Native Americans, and the body apologized in 2005 for standing by during a lynching campaign against African Americans throughout much of the past century. Twenty years ago, Congress apologized for interning Japanese Americans in concentration camps during World War II.

MEGAN: Well, you know, they're really, really worried about reparations. That's, like, a completely legitimate concern.
MOE: As I'm sure is the fact that there is a lot in those Jim Crow laws some Americans still would like to resurrect! Sorry, that's a year old, but I didn't remember it until today.
MEGAN: Luckily for Jonah and at the behest of plenty of Republican state governments, states are passing government-ID laws to make it more difficult for people to vote, especially poor people. You heard, right, that the first people fucked over by that law were a bunch of nuns and students? But it was the Democratic primary, so that was the intention, anyway, to keep Democrats from voting, so hooray Indiana for designing a law that actually works as it was intended. Sort of hooray. More like, um, FUCK YOU Mitch Daniels. Cialis was marketed under his tenure at Lilly, by the way. You knew he was a pharmaceutical company exec before he was OMB Director before he was Governor of Indiana, right?
MOE: Uh no but doesn't that just make this world make a little more sense! That and this guy. Um I just blew some of my literacy reading this. Also, is it just me or is it surprising that nuns of all people would not have their IDs ready? I know they probably don't get carded too often, but isn't it in the nun personality type?
MEGAN: But why would they need an ID? And, yes, OMG, can we please, please, please stop dumbing Michelle Obama down so that people think she's more like them? Please? It makes my brain hurty. Oh, and did you see that the International Olympics Committee negotiated a secret deal with the Chinese to limit journalists' internet access?
MOE: God everytime I think I know how full of shitheads the IOC is I am proved wrong. Who are these IOC officials anyway? Hey, maybe there's a job for Mitt Romney!
MEGAN: Someone's got to give him on eventually if McCain won't. His hair is too bulletproof to retire.
MOE: So $15,000 a month is Rielle Hunter's hush money . I feel like we should do a poll on how much you'd ask if you'd been knocked up by a filthy rich presidential candidate. I think fifteen grand is good, because there's not a whole lot an unimaginative person like myself can't do on that money, but it's not so disgusting people will question her genuine love for the bastard. But hey, where's the "real father" Andrew Young in all of this?
MEGAN:Apparently, getting paid off by the same middleman! That's $180,000 a year, or, if it continues at the same rate, $3.24 million over the next 18, not including tuition. I don't think I'll make $3 million in the next 18 years. Also, can we just discuss how exactly the Enquirer knew that Rielle was in the hotel, whose name she checked in under and when Edwards would show? Because between that and the news that she's negotiating a paid interview, I don't think the "hush" part of the money is working.