Mainland space officials poured cold water on attempts to report on China's lunar expedition programme in the lead-up to this week's 80th anniversary of the People's Liberation Army.
Responses to questions were particularly frosty from Costind, the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence, where communications officers trumpeted anniversary propaganda but turned down all interview requests about the lunar programme.
'We accept no interviews about the programme,' one said. 'It's just not appropriate timing.'
According to a previously released schedule, the nation's first lunar orbiting satellite will take off soon, and staff at Costind's Lunar Exploration Programme Centre said this could be one explanation for the chilliness.
'The countdown has begun,' a staff member said.
Despite the lack of new detail, the lunar programme, hailed as the third milestone in Chinese space technology, is still the mainland's most transparent space project.