A Chinese micro-blogger could hardly have picked a more high-profile place to recite the virtues of free speech in spite of government suppression than the op-ed page of today's NY Times. The dynamics of blogging described by Murong Xuecun sound pretty familiar by now: the public space opened up by the internet even in a closed-down society, the leadership of the daring early writers, the society's hunger for knowledge and speech, the affiliation of growing others, the government reprisals. Good things may come of this in time, but in these early days the micro-bloggers still expect to be arrested:

• My friends and I channel our lingering anxiety into jokes about being on a government hit list. But of course this is a serious matter — and really all we can do is prepare for the inevitable.... As we contemplate the government’s next target, I keep my fear in check. I understand that for China to change, some people will have to pay a price.