It's been about 15 hours since Xinhua released news of Bo Xilai's ouster from his Party posts -- released at just the time when no domestic media would be able to turn it around until the next morning, we should note (luckily, BJC keeps late hours). We've given the original Xinhua release another look, and two things stand out: 1. Bo Xilai is accused of "违纪" (wéijì), not "违法" (wéifǎ) -- "disciplinary violat ...

Over the past month, there's been a lot of smoke regarding Bo Xilai, some of which we've been happy to fan here, but when it comes to Chinese politics and media, you know there's definitely a fire when that smoke is being blown by none other than Xinhua. A little more than an hour ago, the official news agency of the People's Republic of China released a terse 98-word statement that's more damning than all ...

Via China's Forbidden News (NTDTV.com) By RFH When Hu Yaobang, the reformist Party General Secretary whose death two year laters would spark the Tiananmen demonstrations, was purged for the second time in 1987, it was Bo Yibo who drew up the official charges. The only Politburo member who backed Hu was Xi Zhongshun, a member of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress. ...

Earlier today, Bo Xilai was ousted from his post as party secretary of Chongqing, a stunning -- if not altogether unexpected -- end to an unusually public saga that began when Wang Lijun showed up at the US embassy in Chengdu on February 6 with dirt on his former boss. At 11:43 am, a film producer with the Sina Weibo account "Billionaires" (柒月二十六) created a timeline of Bo's life and career. As of this momen ...

Via Anlicia Li In the January 28 issue of The Economist, the editors wrote: "In this issue we launch a weekly section devoted to China. It is the first time since we began our detailed coverage of the United States in 1942 that we have singled out a country in this way." Two weeks later, BJC reader Anlicia picked up a copy of the February 18 issue from Page One, a reputable book store in Beijing's central b ...