It looks like the Brainysmurf had a good, oh, <a href="http://www.brainysmurf.org/archives/000844.html" title="China’s Peasants: A Survey">four or five months</a> on the New York Times.  From <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/09/international/asia/09peas.html?pagewanted=print" class="article title" title="New York Times">Exposé of Peasants' Plight Is Suppressed by China</a>:

<quote>"An Investigation of China's Peasantry" deals with little else. It praises the spirit of central government efforts to reduce the rural tax burden and raise farm incomes. But it shows how such policies are sooner or later undone by local party bosses determined to line their own pockets.

It also details how local officials deceive China's top leaders, including Jiang Zemin, the retired party chief who still leads the military, and Zhu Rongji, the retired prime minister. Even Mr. Wen, whom the authors credit with understanding rural problems better than other leaders, is portrayed as being unable to penetrate the local officials' Potemkin displays of fealty.</quote>

I think it's the potential collaboration between peasant muscle and <span class="info" title="intelligentsia">知识分子</span> brains that unsettles the Center.