No More Confucius Prize

After only one year, China is ditching its alternative to the Nobel Peace Prize.

The Confucius Prize is no more, according to multiple reports. The prize was handed out last year amid China's indignant response after the Nobel Peace Prize was given to imprisoned Chinese writer and regime critic Liu Xiaobo. Beijing reacted with fury to Liu's Nobel, and he became the first recipient of the prize not allowed a representative at the award ceremony in Norway.

Liu remains in prison on an 11-year sentence for inciting subversion, for his part in writing a citizen-led plea for human rights, Charter '08. Liu was also the first Chinese citizen living in China to win a Nobel Prize of any kind.

The one-time-only Confucius award was given last year to Taiwanese politician Lien Chan, head of the Koumintang Party. This year, organizers of the prize had announced that finalists were Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and the Panchen Lama, China's preferred, approved Tibetan religious leader.