Who needs votes when netizens have this power?

But that was before the case got webbed. Net news spreads even faster than wildfire. Within days, the case had national coverage through blogs, chatrooms and message networks. And with that the story changed. This was the oppression of a hapless 21-year-old by corrupt and licentious officials. Three were involved. Two survived but are now unemployed. Ms Deng on the other hand is now free.

Netizens are a force to be reckoned with in China. There are 300 million of them and growing fast. If they don't like something, they spread it around and, increasingly, things get changed as a result.

Corrupt officials are popular targets, particularly their expenses, when naming and shaming seems quite effective. And of course anything to do with the underdog is a winner. Even the man who killed six policemen in a Shanghai police station managed to get some popular support, although not in Shanghai.

Then there was the Green Dam Youth Escort project. This little home-grown program (well, apart from a bit of borrowed source code) was due to become required software in every PC sold after 1 July. Designed to protect against the horrors of pornography, it was thought to do a lot more in terms of backdoor censorship.

The response of netizens was predictably vitriolic. After a stormy campaign, the proposal was shelved or "delayed" in government speak. Another victory for electronic people power. There isn't much in the way of democratic voting here but, with the rising power of the web lobby, who needs it?

As part of its governance push, the Shanghai Stock Exchange recently announced its annual appraisal of secretaries to directorates, aka company secretaries. Of the 858 listed companies tested only seven individuals were found to be "unqualified". Since the appraisal was based on a self-assessment report, they must have been seriously deficient.

The Shanghai residential property market has been amazingly strong over the past couple of months, largely fuelled by out-of-town buyers. Locals remain more cautious. Since the collapse of a nearly completed block of flats last month, they are starting to be very picky about construction quality.