Xinhua recently posted a cheery little article fondly reminiscing about that time when the Chinese state cut all internet access, text messaging, and international phone calls within Xinjiang province in 2009. The 10-month black-out was apparently great fun, when “young people who [normally] surf the web all day, left their homes to hang out with friends in restaurants, drinking beer and feasting on mutton kebabs.” The reality, as Far West China’s Josh Summers points out, wasn’t all just beers and chuanr.