That the Chinese government's attempt to subdue political expression is an uphill battle is suggested by an April 21 New York Times article headlined "China Detains and Isolates Liberal Computer Wiz." The article is about Yang Zili, who had run a liberal Web site and, moreover, had become "renowned in liberal circles as a computer troubleshooter who could run circles around government fire walls and set up e-mail accounts that could not be tapped, a generous computer jock who, if asked, would lend his services to any progressive cause."

One point that comes across in the article is how much free expression is possible in China these days even amid a crackdown. "Most of us are very careful in expressing our ideas," a friend of Yang Zili's is quoted as saying. "We post things on the Internet, but we don't sign our articles. But Yang Zili is very open. You might say naive. That's just the kind of person he is." Obviously, it would be nice if the Chinese government didn't detain people for posting and signing radical essays (though the reason for his detainment seems to have been mainly his renegade use of his computer skills). Still, 30 years ago, the current situation—in which Chinese citizens can anonymously post radical essays without getting jailed—would have seemed like a major advance, even if the most radical anonymous essays were deleted by vigilant authorities not long after posting.

And sometimes, even in the current repressive climate, radical postings aren't deleted. In the wake of Yang Zili's arrest, this posting was allowed to stand: "Beijing University teachers and students! Resist the secret kidnapping of Yang Zili by the Beijing Security Bureau. … The case of Mr. Yang Zili is the latest step of the Chinese government's oppression of intellectuals."

The Times piece also conveys that, for every free-spirited intellectual who is singled out for persecution, scores continue to thrive, notwithstanding periodic crackdowns:

Once upon a time, it was easy to divide China into dissidents and everyone else. But increasingly, there is a new and large group that lives on the divide—mainstream intellectuals with daring ideas. In good weeks, they enjoy a full life in the increasingly open society, filled with lively political discussion in restaurants, on the Web or even at academic forums. But then, suddenly and unpredictably, they find themselves the focus of the police or other authorities—often for activities that have proceeded openly and with impunity for months or years. In the last year, for example, prominent liberal academics have been abruptly discharged from their university posts or publicly criticized by top officials for their work.

The overall impression you get from the Times piece—and from coverage of China generally over the past year—is of a government fighting a losing battle against technologically lubricated liberation. That isn't to say the government couldn't escalate the battle, with some success. But it is to say that to achieve much success it would have to clamp down on basic forms of communication—e.g., e-mail—so dramatically as to increasingly hamper China's economic growth.