Tim Johnson, Beijing bureau chief for the McLatchy newspaper group (and a standout among the local blogging journalists), has posted about the imminent expiration of the relaxed rules for foreign correspondents that were implemented for the Olympic period. This has been a matter of concern for the Foreign Correspondents Club of China (FCCC), which has publicly called for the new rules to be made permanent (spottily observed though they were). Tim notes that the signs are not good. Tim reports that the question came up at a recent instalment of the regular Ministry of Foreign Affairs briefings for uppity foreign hacks:

[At the briefing] spokeswoman Jiang Yu offered no hint whatsoever that the relaxed rules would continue in their present form.

She was asked, “Any chance these measures may be extended?”

Her answer, according to a transcript on the Foreign Ministry website, was: “I understand your interest in this issue. The Regulation expires on Oct. 17. I would like to stress that China will carry on the opening-up spirit, welcome foreign journalists as always, and protect their legitimate rights and interests in China according to law, including their right to report. We also hope you will abide by Chinese laws and regulations and cover China in an objective and fair manner.”

Exactly the kind of unpromising non-answer that the local bureaucracy excells at. The cynical PR man in me can't help but be impressed by the utterly noncommittal nature of her reply. The avid reader of China news in me less thrilled.

Personally Imagethief feels that the Olympic honeymoon is now over. The downside is that I expect the reporting rules to be allowed to lapse and the air to once again silt up with grunge. The upside is that all the things that were tightened for the Olympics --visas, various petty registration requirements, limits on where you can and can't hike/film/run/walk/drip ice cream-- will relax and it will once again be possible to negotiate around all these issues. The bureaucracy giveth, the bureaucracy taketh away.

The waste no time around these parts, by the way. The banners are coming down, and yesterday on Gongti Beilu crews were already taking down the "Beijing 2008" roadsigns. Back to business as usual, whatever that means for you.