It was over.

But not like Mooo.com or one of the other high-profile, high-flushrate spectacular Internet burnouts from the outside world. In China, everything has happens with Chinese characteristics, nothing is black and white.

Chairman Mao, patron saint of MaoPortal, came up with a phrase in the Cultural Revolution – he had a way with words: The mountains and rivers of China are all red. It may have been true at the time. But really, the phrase should have read: The mountains and rivers of China are all grey. There are few things in this country which are fixed and non-negotiable. You can get away with just about anything in China if you can just find the right way of putting it, give it the right spin, make the right explanation.

So it was with MaoPortal. It didn’t die as Jefferson and the others thought it would at that last meeting. The theatrics were premature. The Powers That Be decided it was too good an idea, and the basic elements too inter-locking with their own image and aims to let it collapse in a public flame-out. Can’t have the Chairman’s name associated with a failed dotcom!!