More than a hundred people came to our BBC Chinese World Service debate last night. I was there but didn’t understand a word as, for obvious reasons, people were speaking Chinese. The programme will be broadcast this weekend – details here.

I am told that the panel were relatively optimistic about media freedom in China. They pointed out that there is less repression of journalists and a greater diversity of outlets now than there has been in the past. However, the mainly young Chinese audience were far less sanguine. They feel that the Internet delivers higher expectations but no real media freedom.

With the Beijing Games next year this is going to be a fascinating year for China in the media and Polis will continue to cover the story.