To many Chinese readers, the report of an outburst by Premier Wen Jiabao helped define Beijing's take-charge response to the quake—though that report has never been officially corroborated. Nor has it run on state TV, or over the Xinhua News Agency wire. Yet the individual who filed it figures to have been with one of the four press and broadcast organs in China’s official press detail. The word around journalist circles is that he or she works for China Central Television.

His or her dispatch was neither agitprop wire copy, nor an “internal report” designated strictly for high-level consumption. Rather, it was a barrage of voyeuristic tittle-tattle fired out over OQ, the leading Chinese IM interface. From there it was spewed across Chinese bulletin boards and blogs (such as this one).

In the exchange, purportedly recorded the night of the May 12 quake, the mystery micro-blogger claims to be in the company of Premier Wen Jiabao. Amid the craggy rubble of a decimated school building, Wen is seen stumbling and suffering a bloody cut on his arm. Yet he waves off medical assistance. Minutes later, he’s taking command of this rescue scene, and going commando on military officers being tested by conditions up ahead. Sometimes the chronicler refers to Wen by the reverential moniker lao yezi, which means Grandpa. The term was often reserved for the just magistrate in dynastic times.

It all seems the stuff of Red Army lore, except the drama is bloggishly raw. A number of Chinese journalist sources said they took the thread to be the real deal. Most added that the leaker, who seems to be messaging to and fro with a friend or junior colleague, likely acted alone, rather than on behalf of the propaganda apparatus. One said the text messenger was a journalist for CCTV.

The transcript offers a relatively rare behind-the-scenes peep not made for official dissemination. But more interesting and unusual is the fact that it did officially surface. Domestic publishing rights to the words and actions of central leaders are exclusively held by official media outlets, and Party offices must vet the material first. Yet state radio cited one of Wen’s barbs, and the Guangzhou Daily, administered by the Communist Party committee of China's tabloidish town, picked up a detailed bright about the QQ exchange from Hong Kong’s Wen Hui Po, under the headline: "Wen Jiabao: I Just Want the 100,000 People out of Danger, That's an Order." Reposted on Sina.com, it drew nearly 35,000 comments in nine hours.

Besides the parts that filtered out, according to one Chinese journalist source, Wen also had far less palatable words for the military men at the time. Words which the journalist deemed unfit to repeat.

Herewith are highlights of the transcript, translated by my colleague Wang Zhenru: