For researchers devoted to the rule of law, the end was fitting. Drawing on patchwork regulations that appear to violate the Chinese constitution, local authorities in Beijing at last found a pretext to ban the Unirule Institute of Economics, that rarest of things in China, an independent think-tank known for criticising the government. For years Unirule had faced pressure, including evictions from multiple offices, to quiet down, and yet had managed to go on functioning. But it saw no way around the ban, issued last month, and so on August 26th announced that it would stop all activities.
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