Detail of The Beijing News front page, May 28

The National Development and Reform Commission announced yesterday that China will raise fuel prices by 400 yuan per tonne, starting today.

Sina's repost of the short announcement has already received 5,360 comments since it went up at 10pm last night. The news is circulating on other forums and blogs as well.

The reason for all the attention is that on May 27, the day before the holiday weekend, a representative of the NDRC told China National Radio that oil prices would not be raised in the near future:

According to a 5:01pm CNR News report, a CNR reporter has learned from the NDRC that the price of refined oil will not increase in the near future.

Today, many media outlets have been predicting that the retail price of refined oil will be increased tonight. They have high expectations for a price hike, first because the price of oil on the international market has been increasing, and second because the head of Sinopec previously predicted that oil prices would rise on May 28 at the latest.

The NDRC clearly stated today that the price of oil would not be adjusted upward in the near future, and it hoped that everyone would lower their expectations for a price hike and enjoy a happy Duanwu Festival.

In addition, the NDRC representative also said: NDRC employees will leave work as usual today and will not work overtime during the holiday.

Now that the NDRC has raised prices despite last week's denial, Chinese netizens are musing on the precise definition of "near future" (近期).

Hecaitou decides on the definition "within 72 hours," based on a summary of the CNR report that appeared in The Beijing News on Thursday, May 28.

Pan Haitian suggests that the NDRC is operating under different rules:

How could state officials lie to the people? It's got to be that their concept of time is different from that of earthlings.

We exist in two worlds with different time scales, or two different dimensions altogether.