Recent protest, including strikes by some reporters, against Chinese authorities' heavy censorship of new year articles by the Southern Weekly, a Guangdong newspaper known for its hard-hitting investigations, points to Chinese people's strong desire for freedom of speech and expression.

The protests should be taken as an expression of the Chinese people's deep resentment of a widening disparity between rich and poor, rampant corruption and the Chinese Communist Party's iron grip on society. Freedom of speech may not be coming anytime soon in China, but the people's desire to attain this right will not die down despite the party's efforts to suppress it.

The Southern Weekly protest started after it came to light that the propaganda section of the Communist Party's Guangdong committee heavily censored a New Year's message and other articles that the Southern Weekly had planned to publish on Jan. 3.