Usually these come on Monday, of course. Sometimes the top of the week gets delayed. Links.

Hu Xijin and other state media bid Chen Guangcheng adieu. “Hu Xijin, the Global Times‘ editor, offered a slightly warmer message for Chen via Sina Weibo, China‘s Twitter-like microblog service, where he wrote that he wished Chen well. He added darkly that he hopes that in the U.S., Chen ‘truly “studies abroad,” in a place so far from the motherland calmly considers what has happened, and understands why he has had so many “lucky encounters.”’ He also expressed his ‘Hope that in a place where it is so easy to be controlled, [Chen] can stand out.’” [Time]

James Fallows weighs in on Yang Rui: “On his Sina Weibo account, Dialogue host Yang Rui let loose with an anti-foreigner rant so extreme that on first reading I was sure it had to be a parody. Only it wasn’t. It’s as if you heard a Stephen Colbert “in character” riff on his show — and then suddenly realized he wasn’t kidding. To put it further in context, it’s as if a well-known figure whose trademark was urbane earnestness — again let’s say Ted Koppel, or Charlie Rose — let rip with a David Duke-style diatribe and evidently meant it.” [The Atlantic]

The economy. “Premier Wen Jiabao seems worried about the economy. Yesterday he urged efforts to maintain growth – Xinhua and his comments made the front page of Monday’s People’s Daily–把稳增长放在更加重要的位置. Some bears are skeptical of the government’s ability to reinvigorate growth, believing that the government gas pedal may be connected through a fuel line with so much leakage that the gas will barely get to the engine now.” [Sinocism]

Wang Lijun to face charges of treason. “If the trial goes ahead as reported, it will serve as a good indication that the outcome of two other connected cases, those of Bo and of his wife Gu Kailai, a murder suspect in the mysterious death of a British businessman, will also be known shortly. // Analysts say the central leadership intends to wrap up the political scandal before an important party congress slated for later this year, as Bo’s downfall has given rise to endless speculation on a split in the top echelon of the Communist Party.” [SCMP via China Digital Times]

What does Chen Guangcheng and Daoism founder Mo Tzu have in common? “As to Daoism, it is easy to see how Chen would be drawn to Zhuangzi and the Daodejing. Both texts value individuals at the margins of society: the weak, the poor, the disabled.  They also put forth powerful critiques of the powerful and the rich.” [The Useless Tree]

Boyce’s intro to his “Beijing Bar Hall of Fame” goes on like this for a while. “What if Frank Siegel never changed jobs and opened Frank’s Place? What if Henry Li had never moved to Beijing and started spots such as Vogue and Neo Lounge? What if George Zhou and Echo Sun had not left First Cafe and stuck to quality cocktails, in a town then largely focused on quantity, when they opened Midnight Cafe and then Q Bar? What if Kris Ryan, Nick Ma and company had…” [Beijing Boyce]

Edison Chen, who enjoys making sex tapes, involved in Sanlitun fight. “Hong Kong-based Canadian actor Edison Chen was involved in a confrontation Sunday morning in Sanlitun where his entourage allegedly assaulted a paparazzo, the Legal Mirror reported. // Chen, who has returned to show business after a sex scandal in 2008, was dining in a bar around midnight when his companions became embroiled with a photographer from tabloid agency FX. // Police questioned the assailants but did not detain Chen, who did not join the fight. Chen apologized later and paid the photographer 5,000 yuan ($790) in damages.” [Global Times]

Two Korean men beat up Chinese woman?

Finally…

Cops nab two suspects for USC shooting deaths. [AP via NYT]

Forgers get death penalty. [China Whisper]

Death sentence reprieve for Wu Ying. [WSJ]

A job ad to be a censor? [WSJ]

Yahoo to unload its 40 percent stake in Alibaba. [Forbes]

Finally, finally…

The Beijinger's caption for this picture reads: "Special celebrity appearance by Bez of the Happy Mondays"

[The Beijinger]

Here’s that picture I promised you from about 12 hours ago. Thus concludes our “Where is Chen Guangcheng?” series. Have a lovely Sunday afternoon.

On the left of that ancient gate is the new town of Zhangjiakou, a prefecture-level city in Hebei Province. On the right is Old Town. Now you know.

Here‘s a refresher on why we’re tracking Chen Guangcheng’s progress across China. Hebei, as you know, borders Beijing, so in all likelihood Chen will be back at the US Embassy — or wherever he’s supposed to be, and where the censors say he’s not — in time for lunch.

Wuhan’s Yellow Crane Tower offers quite the vista of the city. I’ll let you enjoy it in peace.

Look at him there, atop Mt. Emei near Chengdu. He had to climb a lot of stars to get to the top, but he’s made it, and look at him… there he is.

Chen Guangcheng’s flight was delayed, so he didn’t have much time in Nanjing. He did, however, manage to take a picture on the seven-kilometer “Spirit Way” in the Ming Dynasty Tombs. Look at him there, so strapping, with the Bactrian camels behind him ready to kowtow to his gait.

By the way, there are also “unicorns” on Spirit Way. Chen much prefers them to horses, because unicorns are freakin’ awesome.

Some people say Chen Guangcheng is in Beijing. I don’t know why they would say that.

Reuters (and everyone else) is reporting that “blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng is under U.S. protection in Beijing”:

Texas-based ChinaAid said it “learned from a source close to the Chen Guangcheng situation that Chen is under U.S. protection and high level talks are currently under way between U.S. and Chinese officials regarding Chen’s status.”

All of this is unconfirmed, but healthy skepticism aside, it at least makes sense that Chen would seek protection at the US Embassy. For all of America’s shortcomings, the country is still seen as a beacon of justice — a symbol if nothing else, but a powerful symbol — and it clearly has the diplomatic muscle to at least bring Chinese officials to the negotiation table.

It should be noted that all of the sources who say Chen is in the US Embassy are friends of his who would want the press to believe he’s there. Journalists have been more than happy to tie this story with Hillary Clinton’s impending visit and the Bo Xilai scandal, meaning Chen’s story is being amplified. And because it’s amplified, it raises awareness among Chinese observers, which in turn puts more pressure on the central government to do the right thing. Those in charge can no longer hide behind their go-to reason for ignoring human rights abuse: the overused excuse that “we didn’t know about the maltreatment of so-and-so over at B.F.E. Village because news never got to us, since our walls are made of ivory.” More and more people are learning about Chen’s plight, about the Linyi myrmidons charged with browbeating all who approach his home and the lengths they’ll go to keep an ailing blind man from communicating to the outside world. And now they know — or are beginning to find out — that the central government also knows. No more of your masquerade of ignorance, Zhongnanhai.

If American diplomats weren’t talking to Chinese officials right now about Chen, one wonders if China would have imposed its blanket blackout of CGC coverage. There’s radio silence on the airwaves, which is to be expected, but as China Media Project points out, there’s also been a heavy-handed tightening of censorship on social media:

Nearly all possible searches have been blocked, and even the Chinese word for “blind person”, ormang’ren (盲人) — Chen Guangcheng lost his sight during his early childhood — turns up the familiar warning that: “According to relevant laws, regulations and policies, these search results cannot be shown.”

Here are some examples of what can’t be found:

…A search for the Chinese surname of Cheng Guangcheng, but replacing the last two characters of his name with the letters “GC” brings a warning from Sina Weibo that results cannot be shown.

…A search for the English initials of the three Chinese characters making up Chen Guangcheng’s name, “CGC”, brings a warning from Sina Weibo that results cannot be shown.

…A search for Linyi (临沂), the now-infamous prefecture in Linyi where Chen was held under house arrest for 19 months, brings a warning from Sina Weibo that results cannot be shown.

…A search for the word “embassy” (大使馆) brings a warning from Sina Weibo that results cannot be shown.

…A search for a shortened form of “U.S. embassy” (美使馆) brings a warning from Sina Weibo that results cannot be shown.

And even this:

…A search for the word “consulate” (领事馆) brings a warning from Sina Weibo that results cannot be shown.

Someone really doesn’t want netizens to know that a person named Chen or any blind person in the world might or might not be at the US or any other country’s embassy or consulate. Do the censors really think so little of their fellow man’s ability to find news?

The short answer: yes. And that’s a reflection of their stupidity, so plainly evident that to say anything more about it would be to waste your time, and mine. So, enough talk. Over the next 10 or so hours, we’re going to continue asking where Chen Guangcheng is, because despite what the authorities want you to believe, he can be shown — he can be shown in Yunnan province, and he can be shown in Nanjing, and in Chengdu, and Wuhan. We’ll show him in Tiananmen with his face superimposed on Mao’s portrait if we have to. Just look, China: he’s right the fuck there.

On his way from Dali to Kunming, the blind activist lawyer Chen Guangcheng made the bus driver pull over so he could personally pull a truck out of a roadside ditch. As the truck held several rows of cages containing dogs headed to the slaughterhouse, Chen convinced the driver of the virtues of “man’s best friend,” and upon the end of his oratory the surrounding crowd was so moved as to adopt every last mutt.

Some people say Chen Guangcheng is under US protection in Beijing. I don’t know why they would say that.

Here he is talking about the beauty of Kunming’s scenic karst formations (via LA Times, with full translated transcript on Steven Jiang’s Enter the News Dragon [you might remember him as the CNN reporter who accompanied Batman in an attempt to visit Chen last December]):

Activist lawyer Chen Guangcheng escaped from house arrest in Linyi, Shandong province on Sunday. Some say he’s at the US Embassy, while others deny it. Very few people know for sure, though two hours ago, he was at Lijiang’s Black Dragon Pool. But judging by the picture above, it appears he’s now under the clouds in a village in Dali.

Although the way the blind move around these days, eluding village thugs, I wouldn’t be surprised if Chen were someplace new in about two hours…

Activist lawyer Chen Guangcheng escaped from house arrest in Linyi, Shandong province on Sunday. Some say he’s at the US Embassy, while others deny it. Very few people know for sure. But judging by the picture above, it appears he’s at Lijiang’s Black Dragon Pool at the foot of Elephant Hill in Old Town.

Although the way the blind move around these days, eluding village thugs, I wouldn’t be surprised if Chen were someplace new in about two hours…