The protesters abseiled down the front of the building and hung a banner reading “Free Tibet” in Chinese and English. Chinese security officers tried to stop journalists from filming the event.

The rare outburst by Wang Wei matched the severe tone of the world’s media, which has been frustrated by China’s promises of media freedom while encountering continued internet censorship, internal blackouts on Chinese reporting, harassment, detention, obfuscation and, repeatedly, lies.

Uniformed police pounced on John Ray, the China correspondent for Independent Television News (ITN), shortly after the ‘Students for a Free Tibet’ group unfurled the protest banner, the reporter and another ITN staff member said. Mr. Ray was released a short time later, but without his equipment.

Chinese nationalism is rampant, the poison by which the so-called Communist regime sustains its right to govern today. Talk to any semi-educated Han and you will hear all about China’s phenomenal 5000 years of culture; dig into that talk and you will understand how the past 100 years of Chinese turbulence and misery are the fault of the West.

Edward Romero is being sought by Chinese authorities for painting two upscale Beijing hotel rooms with anti-oppression slogans like, “Speak out for those who have no voice,” and “Beijing 2008 Our world Our nightmare.”

While a promise was made to foreign journalists, China’s media had only the cold assurance, based on bitter experience, that they would face during the Olympics the same tightening of controls that precede any event of profound circumstance in China.

Today, directors, writers and painters who seek to expose the darker side of authoritarian rule not only enrage the censors, but also often find themselves shut out of the lucrative market for Chinese art, books and film. Many of those who find less political outlets for their talent, on the other hand, can get rich.

In the seven years since Beijing was awarded the Olympic Games, the Communist Party has adapted and navigated its way forward, loosening its grip on elements of society even as it crushes or co-opts threats to its hold on political power.

In June, I sat down for a private meeting with the Dalai Lama, and we talked at length about what kind of a deal he and China might be willing to accept. He was far more flexible and pragmatic about a resolution of the Tibet question than public statements had led me to believe.

The official website en.beijing2008.cn had its main headlines in blue this morning, but smaller headings were all in orange, as were some other elements of the design - a reference to a campaign by Danish human rights activist and artist Jens Galschiot.