The government of Shanxi province final-ly responded. But the hastily held press conference on Monday left behind more questions than it addressed.

With only 10 minutes or so allowed for inquiries, the half-hour press conference revealed the grating ambivalence on the local authorities' part. On the one hand, they know there must be an official response. On the other hand, they were obviously not ready for our curiosities.

Not only were some of the journalists' questions left unanswered, most of our core concerns were ignored.