On November 14, civil society activist Xiao Liang bought a mop while in Bangkok and attached a woman's portrait to the stick.

In the summer of 2009, I exchanged views with a group of mainland judges and prosecutors at the University of Hong Kong.

After more than 10 days of a civil disobedience protest in which students first boycotted class then took to blocking major roads, the protesters have held onto their Hong Kong way.

As part of the United Kingdom, Scotland has been administered in a way no worse than Hong Kong has under Chinese rule. Certainly, it has had more autonomy than the so-called autonomous regions of Tibet and Xinjiang.

Chu Anping once said: "Under the Kuomintang's rule, democracy is a matter of degree, of having more or less democracy. Under communist rule, it is a choice between some and none."

The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Chinese Communist Party is rather concerned about whether government officials are in the habit of watching pornographic DVDs and, if they do, where they keep them.

In some media reports, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection investigation of Zhou Yongkang has been described as signifying the most serious power struggle in the Communist Party since the Cultural Revolution.

Just before July 1, the Chinese Communist Party hit the headlines with news on several high-profile corruption investigations. This could be its way of celebrating the anniversary of the founding of the party, on July 1, or perhaps it was trying to steal the limelight from the annual march in Hong Kong.

Ding Zilin, the founder of the support group Tiananmen Mothers, asked recently: "Would Mr Frank Sieren please ask his ancestors what Nazism means?"

In the run-up to the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests, the Chinese government has gone on the offensive. Citing various absurd reasons, it has detained a large number of people who have either criticised the government in the past or whom authorities believe may do so.

Many Chinese fans of American television are feeling aggrieved. They cannot understand why their government is robbing them of even the small pleasures in life.

There is never a total new beginning in political power shifts - no "zero hour". Basic conflict can endure for half a century - like the cleavage between the bao shou pai (conservative faction) and zao fan pai (rebels) from the Cultural Revolution.

As US first lady Michelle Obama concluded her week-long trip to China, The New York Times compared the visit to similar ones made by two of her predecessors.

The annual sessions of the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference are taking place this week. Chinese internet users wryly noted that many of the delegates attending had rushed back to Beijing from different parts of the world in order to take part.

"Welcome to the Year of the Whores!" This subtitle mistakenly appeared two weeks ago on a BBC news programme reporting the start of the Year of the Horse. Now China's social media users are praising the broadcaster for its "vision".

Is our society moving with the times? This abstract but important question was the preoccupation of our generation of Chinese journalists. We believed its answer would decide the value of our work, the recompense for our toil.

Whenever a new leadership takes over or a major Communist Party meeting is convened, Chinese intellectuals often appeal to their leaders to carry out political reform and adopt democratic constitutional rule.

After prominent online commentator Charles Xue Biqun, better known as Xue Manzi, was detained on suspicion of soliciting prostitutes, Pan Shiyi, another household name in online media, appeared on a CCTV programme and stammered while speaking about the social responsibility of China's star bloggers.

To the relief of many people, Xinhua issued a one-line statement on National Day denying reports that a new edition of Quotations from Chairman Mao would be published this year.

When China was in the grip of Peng Liyuan fever, back in March, Gu Kailai was already serving time for murder. I don't know whether Gu read any of the glowing media reports about the new first lady and, if she did, what she thought of them. If her husband, Bo Xilai , really did have his eye on the top ranks of Chinese politics, Gu must have once coveted the role now taken by Peng, and believed she could have played it better.

The latest attack on constitutionalism by its opponents in the Chinese Communist Party appeared this month in three commentaries in the overseas edition of the People's Daily. 

Last weekend, Guizhou vice-governor Chen Mingming commented on his Sina Weibo microblog on a shooting case in Miami, Florida.

Lawyer Zhou Litai became famous over a decade ago for being a champion of workers' rights. Based in Shenzhen, he fought for compensation for dozens of young workers who lost limbs or suffered other serious injuries at work.

Once democratised, China could hurt Hong Kong even more. This is what Dr Horace Chin Wan-kan, a core member of the "nativist" movement in Hong Kong, told Hongkongers in an article published on June 4.

Before the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008, the most serious public incident in Chengdu was the protest against the setting up of a petrochemical plant in the suburbs of Pengzhou city. People answered blog calls and gathered "for a peaceful stroll" on May 4. That followed a number of anti-pollution protests in Xiamen.

A speech Xi Jinping made during his "southern tour" last month is being circulated within party ranks, veteran journalist Gao Yu said in an article published on the website of the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle. The full text of the speech has been posted online. If that is indeed the speech Xi made, then it is clear China has a new leader who is more conservative and more intractable than his predecessors.