Friedman's Editorial Fileted in China (Again)

I know. I know. This is supposed to be a blog full of serious insights but I couldn't
resist some "editing" fun.

An earlier Mei-Zhong Guanxi post comments on Thomas Friedman's previous editorial, noting that the title went from "A Biblical Seven Years" to "The New York Times: Compared to China, America is a Third World Country." Today, it seems that--for the second time in two weeks--the Net Nanny's revisory cursor has highlighted and deleted. This Mei-Zhong Guanxi post points out the difference between Thomas Friedman's New York Times' editorial and the version published in China. Mei-Zhong Guangxi's post includes the original piece from the New York Times with the text "struck through," revealing the revised piece as it was published in China. I found some of the revisions particularly poignant after my praiseful post below, "Friedman Winks at Green Guangzhou." Here's an example of revised Friedman from Mei-Zhong Guanxi:

So my postcard from Guangzhou would read like this: “Dear Mom and Dad, this place is so much more interesting than it looks from abroad. I met wind and solar companies eager from Western investment and Chinese college students who were organizing a boycott of an Indonesian paper company for despoiling their forest. An ‘Institute of Civil Society’ has quietly opened at the local Sun Yat-sen University. The Communist Party is trying to break the old without breaking its hold. It’s quite a drama. Can’t wait to come back next summer and see how they’re doing…

I wonder what the New York Times' editors think about the revision of its articles. Editing is common when articles are re-published, but this is clearly revision. Translation rules dictate that while the words may change, the meaning shouldn't. Moreover, what does Thomas Friedman think about it? Seeing as the world's flat and Friedman reads my blog every day, perhaps he'll comment in one of his two weekly New York Times' columns.

(Note that Black and White Cat's post, "How the New York Times Should've Reported the Olympics," inspired Mei-Zhong Guanxi.)