Land of Many Nationalisms

If the events of this January were omens, 2013 should be an eventful year for the People's Republic of China (PRC). It began with crowds of protesters gathering in front of the headquarters of Southern Weekend, a newspaper based in Guangdong province that has earned a reputation for covering controversial stories. The protesters, mostly youths, carried posters calling for freedom of the press and in some cases wore Guy Fawkes masks of the kind sported by an opponent of dictatorship in the V for Vendetta comic books and film. They took to the streets to show their support for the newspaper in its most recent struggle against offi cial censors who, in this case, had deleted the publication's New Year editorial calling for political reform and put in its place an anodyne commentary backing the government.