NGO's - Intellectuals detained, released

Shortly before he was arrested Liu Xiabo, president of the independent Chinese Pen Center, said (in a transcript by ESWN): ""In Chinese society today, from the viewpoint of either the civil society or officialdom (and especially officialdom), the signals that have been released after the ascension of Hu Jintao are very complex. You cannot say that they are totally positive nor can you say that they are totally negative. On one hand, official suppression continues and ideological control has increased. On the other hand, the authorities have certainly done a number of things that they have never done before, such as the Liu Di case, the Du Daobin case, reversing the Nanfeng Metropolitan News verdict, the release of Cheng Yizong, the Sun Daiwu sentence of 3 years plus 4 years of suspended sentence, the insertion of human rights into the constitution, the abolition of the detention/expulsion system as well as the current attempt to reform the petition system. Based upon all this, you cannot make any simple rightist versus leftist judgment."
Liu was, together with Yu Jie "summoned to assist in an investigation" and detained for several hours.
We should not look too much what is happening at the top, he says in the interview. "In reality, the true impetus comes from the hidden strength of civil society. " More here at ESWN.