Shanghai Turns Down the Volume

It's been three weeks since more than 10,000 people staged massive anti-Japanese protests in the city of Shanghai, throwing rotten tomatoes at the Japanese consulate, breaking windows of Japanese eateries and overturning Japanese-brand vehicles while police did little to stop the violence. So it was a surprise early last week when the local media reported that 42 people had belatedly been detained for allegedly disturbing social order and damaging the city's image. The announcement was quickly followed by an editorial in the local Communist Party mouthpiece Liberation Daily labeling the demonstrations over Japan's perceived unwillingness to atone for its brutal...