The tale of censorship apparently revolves around an odd accident in which the reportedly illegitimate son of a senior member of the country's Communist Party may have been behind the wheel of a Ferrari 458 Italia Spyder that crashed, killing the politically-sensitive mystery man and leaving two other people severely injured.
Reports claim that all three victims were in the Ferrari when the accident took place. The driver was ejected from the car and died, while his two female passengers suffered serious injuries including head injuries, burns and at least one broken leg.
According to reports, authorities in China started blocking internet searches of the word "Ferrari" and deleting content posted on blogs.
Discussion of the story can be found in the NY Times blogs, The Atlantic, The Globe and Mail, and the Guardian. More interestingly, perhaps, are the Chinese-language reports - by CPD.com.cn and New Tang Dynasty Television - as well as one rather strongly-worded article in China's Global Times.
I wonder - if Google were around in 1969, would people be able to search for "Chappaquiddick"?
One note of caution: if you have friends in China (or who might be there at the moment), don't email this to them. Their email is being monitored. Trust us - we found out the hard way!
(Photo from CPD.com.cn).
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