Memorial flowers left at Google's China headquarters (image source: The Shanghaist) On The China Beat, Ying Zhu and Bruce Robinson give a fascinating take on two major cultural controversies in China so far this year: the showdown between Google and the Chinese government, and the pulling of Avatar from Chinese theater chains. In their article, Zhu and Robinson identify the Chinese citizenry as an increasingly empowered force in shaping their society. They cite this to expla