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The White House wanted an unscripted “town hall” style meeting with around 1,000 young people, mostly Chinese students, to be broadcast live on television or streamed directly on major Chinese web portals.

What Obama got was a roomful of 500 polite students selected from Shanghai universities, seated in a round theater at the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum in the city’s new Pudong district. When asked by reporters how they were selected, none would reply.

The program was broadcast on local Shanghai TV, rather than nationwide as the U.S. side had requested. State-run Xinhuanet did provide an online Chinese text translation as the event was in progress. The official While House website also aired the broadcast live, but as this was not reported by Chinese media few Chinese citizens were aware of this option.

Responding to the event afterward, netizens in general seemed to approve of Obama’s presentation, describing his manner as humble and sincere. Editors of the popular QQ news portal evaluated Obama’s message to Chinese youth as “moderate,” not as “aggressive” as U.S. President Bill Clinton’s in 1998 and not as “preachy” as President George W. Bush’s in 2002.

China’s state-run media, including the English channel CCTV-9 and news channel CCTV-13, broadcast only brief reports of the meeting, relaying Obama’s friendly remarks about China, its growth and its outstanding achievements as it entered the 21st century. They also quoted him saying that the United States did not “seek to contain China’s rise”; instead, it welcomed China as a “strong and prosperous and successful member of the community of nations.”

Several websites also quickly reported on the one section of Obama’s message that could be considered critical of China. Obama took one question, submitted online and read out by U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman, about China’s Internet firewall and restrictions on the use of the social networking site Twitter.

“I'm a big supporter of non-censorship,” Obama told the young people. “I recognize that different countries have different traditions. I can tell you that in the United States, the fact that we have free Internet – or unrestricted Internet access is a source of strength, and I think should be encouraged.”

Obama admitted that, as president, the free flow of criticism toward him could be uncomfortable. But, in what could be seen as a hint for Chinese leaders, he said, “it makes me a better leader because it forces me to hear opinions that I don't want to hear.”

While Obama spoke of the importance of openness and the free flow of information, the official Xinhua Net experienced a temporary glitch in its transmission of the translated text. Soon more than 50 Chinese websites had posted this section of Obama’s remarks, but all had been removed by the end of the day.

China’s State Council Information Office quickly issued a notice to Chinese news sites forbidding them from hosting discussions on the Q&A section of Obama’s “face-to-face meeting.” It also reportedly restricted the publication of breaking news on Obama’s China trip to that contained in Xinhua News Agency’s official news releases.

In fact, more than 3,000 questions for Obama had been submitted online through Xinhua Net, touching on everything from international relations to China’s many domestic social problems. Other questions posted on the website of the U.S. Embassy to China included more sensitive questions like the one on cyber censorship.

One participant pointed out that countries have different cultures and histories, and asked Obama what he would do to respect these. Saying that the United States could “not assume that what is good for us is automatically good for somebody else,” Obama nonetheless referred to “fundamental principles,” as well as “universal ideals” and “universal values” that had to be upheld. But he avoided controversy by citing only the rights of women and children as an example.

Most Chinese online media ignored his comments about universal values. Some however stated that Obama was once again “advocating U.S. democracy.”

Although some Chinese netizens said they were happy to hear Obama’s message, the overall level of enthusiasm was subdued. “I hope his actions will match his words,” was one typical response.

By Tuesday, only Xinhuanet carried the complete text record of Obama’s dialogue with Chinese students in a special section.

Interestingly, some diligent Chinese netizens conducted an online “manhunt” to discover the identities of the “students” chosen to pose questions to the U.S. president. According to their search results, at least two of the seven who spoke were not students at all, but Chinese Communist Party cadres assigned to the Shanghai universities.

Whatever his understanding before, Obama now has experienced firsthand China’s attitude toward free speech. Surely it is just one of the many new and eye-opening experiences his China trip will bring.