The effects of blogging and Internet use on Chinese politics and society have been a hotly debated topic in contemporary Chinese studies. Blogging first became popular in China in 2003 when the notorious online intimate diary of a young woman called Muzi Mei (b. 1978) created a scandal among China's netizens. After more than a decade we can start to assess the implications of these practices for the longue durée of intellectual life and cultural creativity in the country.