When is a protest march not a protest march? When it's in China, of course. It appears 200 people joined a march to protest against the construction of two industrial plans in Chengdu this week.
Locals fear the proposed new ethylene plant and oil refinery will bring further environmental pollution, adding toxins to the air and water of Chengdu - home of the giant panda.
Or at lest that's how it might have been written up in a Western newspaper.
Here, the state media say local residents held a 'group walk' on Sunday afternoon to 'express concerns over the environmental impact' the two plants may have on their city.
It was, say the papers, 'a two-hour leisurely walk from Nine-Hole Bridge to Wangjiang Pavilion in the eastern part of the city'.
China Daily quotes a local driver as saying that the walkers did not carry posters, nor did they shout slogans. So it definitely wasn't a protest, right?
Officials at the information office of the Chengdu municipal government declined to comment on the walk, and officials at the city police department said they had not heard of it.
So there are protests taking place in China over issues that affect people's lives - it's just that they can't call them protests.
It might seem like weak coverage by the national press, but at least they covered it. That, odd though it may seem, is a sign of progress.
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