Chinese journalists take orders: don't talk too much about Christmas!

'Tis the season for many westerners living in China, and of course those in several countries all over the world. It's the season for giving, compassion, and egg nog -- but not necessarily here in China. Some believe that China regards Christmas as another example of the "soft power" invading from the west; judging by the high number of Christmas decorations dotting store windows and lobbies here in Beijing, perhaps those people are right.

But the government doesn't want it to get out of hand. It has made clear to journalists to avoid "emphasizing" Christmas in their reports. Let's see how many Christmas stories now appear in the Chinese media.

In other news...

Zhongnanhai is happy to claim that it is batting 1.00 on "guesses" about government changes. (For evidence, please read this... okay, it wasn't much of a gamble at the time, but the part about pressure to lower the number of people on the standing committee of the politburo from 9 to 7 was later confirmed in an article in the International Herald Tribune/NY Times.) We certainly don't like to trumpet our one correct guess, but merely to state it for the record. We like to think of ourselves as quite bashful here at Zhongnanhai.

Bloggers already have a bad reputation for reporting opinion and gossip as "facts", so we don't wish to go down that road (at least too far). However, we'll take as responsible a stab as possible regarding the following:

In March next year, new portfolios will be handed out to the nine members of the Politburo Standing Committee. This is a regular occurrence which follows the Party Congress the previous October. However this year, Zhongnanhai is hearing much larger and high-profile government personnel changes are in store. One highly-respected US news agency is already seeking confirmation prior to running a report.

We'll be sure to post anything here as soon as we get confirmation. Stay tuned.