Muzzled: The China Development Brief

Briton Nick Young, founding editor and publisher of the China Development Brief (we're surprised this website is still up and running), has been ordered to shut down his politically-sensitive newsletter here and has been accused of 'conducting unauthorised surveys'. He also faces possible deportation and a 5-year ban from China.

Danwei surmises that the shutdown may have been caused by a number of factors, including "a recent China Development Brief party attended by more than 300 people mostly in the NGO community, and Young's plans to hand over the entire operation to Chinese citizens after his departure". It also reveals that Young "had initially wanted to stay hush hush and try to sort the problem out", but someone had posted information on a mailing list subscribed by many foreign correspondents in China and within 24 hours, the news had gone all over the internet.

Miscellaneous quotes from Nick Young:

I have spent the last decade telling foreigners that China is not as repressive and totalitarian as Western media often portray it to be. [The Straits Times]

I have bent over backwards to be the Communist party's best friend, but presumably, they realised we have influence. You can do anything in China to a certain level. It is only when you have influence that you get in trouble... They knew my plan and thought this is a good time to close us down and make it impossible for us to make the transition. Ahead of the party congress, they want to sweep out undesirable elements. And we are top of the list. [The Guardian]

Related links
The Straits Times: Briton ordered to shut down his newsletter [Subscription required]
Time blog: Beijing stops the presses
New York Times: China shuts down Western run newsletter
The Christian Science Monitor: Magazine covering civil-society groups is shut down in China