Not as much as he thought. Bei Ling, who is a U.S. permanent resident, traveled to Beijing in late May. On Aug. 11 he planned to attend a cultural forum. Bei Ling never showed up. He was detained by police, arrest-ed and held incommunicado in Qinghe Detention Center. Last Thursday his brother Huang Feng, 32, was also detained by police. Bei’s stateside supporters warned that the arrest could rouse anti-Beijing sentiment on the eve of a congressional debate over granting permanent normal trading status to China. U.S. authorities have protested the detention, too. “Freedom of expression is a core issue for the U.S.,” says Joseph Prueher, Washington’s ambassador to Beijing, citing “a fundamental difference with China.” Boston-based Tendency cofounder Meng Lang says he’ll proceed with plans to put the journal on the Web later this year. “The Internet is breaking down the Communist Party’s tools of control,” Meng says. Just not fast enough to help a daring poet.
