The first dissident site run from inside China has unsurprisingly been shut down and officials are hunting for its organisers and the hosting company.

While China is normally renowned for its open attitude towards its citizens' opposing beliefs - it no longer kills them, it just locks them up - the Ministry of State Security (every good country should have one) took exception to the "counter-revolutionary content" which was "too sharp and anti-government". Quite right, too.

The Chinese government takes a keen interest in Internet technology and provides first-hand expertise through supervision of everyone's Web sites. It helpfully cuts out news and political sites from outside China, saving its people from unnecessary confusion.

As for the removed site, the only clue police have to go on is the name given to the man who set up the site - Xin Wenming. Which apparently sounds like "new culture" in Chinese. ®

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