Agreed that 2008-2012 was relatively much more liberal. Hosting the Olympics boosted China's confidence as a prosperous and prominent nation on the world stage.

Agreed that 2008-2012 was relatively much more liberal. Hosting the Olympics boosted China's confidence as a prosperous and prominent nation on the world stage. There were growing grass root movements against corruption and restrictive cultural policies. Technology tools available around that time were not sophisticated enough to effectively carry out censorship. Google had quit the Mainland Chinese market but most of their services were still accessible without VPNs (which were easily obtainable and almost always worked with minimal tweaks) via google.com.hk. Weibo was filled with great social commentary and critique. It got optimistic enough that some individuals hoped that Xi Jinping as the incoming president will actually carry out political liberalization. Obviously it did not take long for him to show his true colours.