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¡¡¡¡Doth we protest too much?

¡¡¡¡Sep 21st 2010, 13:18 by J.M. | BEIJING

¡¡¡¡CHINA'S official news agency, Xinhua, usually prefers to play down the extent of any public protest. But its reporting on recent anti-Japanese unrest has erred on the other side. On September 18th, some Chinese and foreign observers had predicted that Chinese might take to the streets in large numbers to protest against Japan’s continuing detention of a Chinese fisherman accused of ramming Japanese patrol boats near the disputed Diaoyu/Senkaku islands in the East China Sea. That day happened to be an emotive one relating to Japan’s occupation of north-eastern China in 1931. In the event, the turnout was paltry.