In the absence of a Moe Tkacik China report, I pluck this graf out of a NYT piece. It describes the aftermath of Obama’s Shanghai townhall:

“I will not forget this morning,” one Chinese Twitter user posted on the Internet, apparently using software to get around the government firewall. “I heard, on my shaky Internet connection, a question about our own freedom which only a foreign leader can discuss.”

I don’t honestly know the durability of that impact, but that struck me. As the Times reports, Obama declined to discuss human rights in Xinjiang and Tibet. I wonder if his message would have been more or less resonant if he did. We often forget that we’re not the only ones who fall victim to nationalism.