Beijing authorities banned an inter-university debate competition on the 1911 revolution scheduled to open last night.
The first ban in the event's history comes at a sensitive time - with still no word from prominent artist Ai Weiwei a week after he was detained at Beijing airport, and amid a broad crackdown on dissidents and mass gatherings following calls for a 'jasmine revolution' on the mainland.
Renmin University politics professor Zhang Ming, who was to be one of the competition's judges, said the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Communist Youth League suddenly ordered organisers to cancel the competition on Friday, a day before the opening ceremony.
The debates, held annually since 2002, were to focus on 'The Three Principles of the People - nationalism, democracy, and livelihood', the guiding political philosophy for the 1911 revolution developed by Dr Sun Yat-sen, the founding father of modern China.
The organisers, from the Beijing Institute of Technology, said the competition aimed to encourage students to review the 1911 revolution and reflect on today's China.
'Let us reassess this part of the history [the 1911 revolution] against the backdrop of its 100th anniversary,' a statement on the competition's website said.