Economist, Mar 17 (on Bo)

choi

(1) Chinese politics | The Sacking of Bo Xilai; A princeling’s downfall reveals the rottenness at the heart of Chinese politics.
http://www.economist.com/node/21550309

Quote:

"Behind closed doors, it is fair to assume that politics in China are no less vicious than in the Rome of Julius Caesar.

"His downfall represents the biggest public rift in China’s leadership for two decades. There are reasons to celebrate it; yet the manner of his going is a sharp reminder of what’s wrong with China’s political system.

"The [Bo's red-song] campaign showed breathtaking hypocrisy as well as forgiveness. Mr Bo himself suffered during the Cultural Revolution.

(2) Power games | Bo Bo Black Sheep; The dismissal of a powerful chief sends tremors across China’s political landscape.

My comment:
(a) The article has a little merit, but I am unsure if it is worth your time. Read it only if you have plenty of time on hand.
(b) The "stinger" in the sentence "In China’s guarded political language, that [Wen's reprimand hours before Bo's fall from grace] was a stinger" is a noun that means:
"1: one that stings; specifically : a sharp blow or remark
2: a sharp organ (as of a bee, scorpion, or stingray) that is usually connected with a poison gland or otherwise adapted to wound by piercing and injecting a poison"
www.m-w.com

(3) The power of microblogs | Zombie Followers and Fake Re-Tweets; The state is responding to microblogs and the rumours they start.
http://www.economist.com/node/21550333

My comment:
(a) This article is very interesting to me--both the historical accounts and the notion that PRC actually is listening, not merely busy monitoring AND deleting.
(b) The historical accounts are unknown to me and fellow Taiwanese. I do not know what Chinese learn or learned when growing up in PRC. The History classes in Taiwan only gloss over events (who did what and when)--little time was spent on why or how--whether it is ancient or modern (little if any is tounched on of events after 1912), Chinese or foreign. (We considered ourselves Chinese back then).
(c) To suggest PRC is listening to popular demands reminds me of Mr Chiang Ching-kuo, who, it was popularly believed without concrete evidence, read publications printed by opposition--though at the same time, those publications were constantly banned and confiscated (especially in the period when Chiang was bursting into the scene), presumably not by him--and dispatched interlocutors to keep dialogue open. (The interlocutors did not say they spoke for Chiang; rather the interlocutors were deemed reformers within KMT who, like other KMT big shots, somehow could communicate with Chiang.) Because of these, officials in Taiwan under Chiang were more benign than those under his father. (Then again Chiang often suffered from complications of diabetes, necessitating hospitalization (frequently on long stretches) and sometimes on the brink of death (state secrets that came to light years later).  
(d) The article is tangent about Messrs Bo Xilai and Wang Lijun, mentioning them in a paragraph.
(e)  
(i) Sisyphean (adj): "of, relating to, or suggestive of the labors of Sisyphus <a Sisyphean task>"
(ii) Sisyphus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisyphus