CENSURED

Highly embarrassing, non? That stylish photo-blog, Un Oeil Sur la Chine (An Eye on China) notes that the regime's chief censor has been removed from his post a matter of days after the French government awarded him the Légion d’Honneur. (I suppose Jacques Chirac thinks a book-pulper needs all the encouragement he can get.) More details in the Times:

Mr Long had said last month that he planned to tighten controls on China’s growing multitude of bloggers, a statement in line with policy but at odds with government efforts to cultivate a more liberal international image before the 2008 Beijing Olympics.