Police officials from Zhejiang province travelled by train to Beijing on Friday to make a rare public apology to a journalist and the Economic Observer, ending a stand-off between local government officials and the respected economic newspaper.
The saga began in June when Qiu Ziming , 28, a Shanghai-based reporter for the newspaper, wrote the first of four articles accusing the Zhejiang Kan Specialty Materials, a company in Shuichang county, Zhejiang, of insider trading and other financial wrongdoing.
The powerful local company went to the local police for help, and an internet search warrant was issued on July 23 for the reporter, who immediately went into hiding.
The story aroused widespread attention among journalists, lawyers and intellectuals, who began discussing the issue on blogs and microblogs, a local version of Twitter. That same evening, Qiu wrote on his microblog, generating even more discussion.
'Those who have done no wrong are not afraid of ghosts knocking in the middle of the night,' Qiu wrote defiantly. He also correctly predicted that the police would eventually apologise to him.
The next day, media began to report on the incident, sympathising with Qiu.