Oh well. So much for the facade. Many people have pointed to China as a model for the US, claiming that there is a new attitude of personal freedom in the Chinese government. Those claims have been proven false, yet once again.
Following calls on the internet for a so-called "Jasmine Revolution", modeled after the protests in other countries, China has once again been clamped down. Facebook, Twitter, and Boxun have been blocked, along with Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter. Individual postings are being blocked, and all links referencing the democratic revolution are being returned with the message,"Unavailable due to restrictions".
Police are gathering en masse in likely spots for a demonstration, and in at least 13 cities, police showed up in full riot gear to quell any possible disruptions. Human rights groups said that at least 100 Chinese have been rounded up and detained in connection with internet posts calling for democracy in China.
So regardless of what we are being told by our own, China is still not that shining city on a hill, and will likely not be for a long, long time. The thing is, most Chinese don't even know about the revolutions in other countries, because the news is forbidden. For now, public scrutiny has kept the violence to a minimum. Many foreign journalists have also flocked to the protest sites. But if things come to head, they will be ejected by the Chinese government so they can get their house in order, in private.