From Global Voices:
Well, leave it to a young Hunanese vegetable farmer-blogger with social conscience and hunger for fame to throw down his basket, grab a camera and head off to any number of Chinese internet bars to blog one of the biggest news stories in China of 2007 and, by doing so, establish a precedent and a step-by-step guide for NewAssignment, Reuters and many others to follow. One just needs some sisu, thick skin, no hesitation in asking people for money and then spending it. No tax declarations or NGO status to worry about doesn’t hurt either. And, in contradiction to an earlier blog post, Zola“one of the earliest contributors to China’s latest blog buzz initiative”is not even China’s first citizen reporter, he’s just the first to bring it mainstream. [Full text]