Hey all, after bit of researching in the business news found the following snippets. Not looking good though, read on...original links at the bottom.

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NetEase (Nasdaq:NTES) said June 30 that it will delay opening server groups for its licensed 3D MMORPG World of Warcraft, due to extra time spent analyzing and testing game data, as well as its wait for government approval.

A General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP) director said Tuesday that World of Warcraft has begun the regular approval process, reports People.com.cn. While it usually takes 20 days to approve a game, WoW's content inspection will require another 60 days, and approval may take longer if the content needs revision, GAPP said June 22.

A company insider said NetEase employees tested the game internally on June 30, including "Battle.net" registration and binding "WoW" and Battle.net accounts, reports Duowan.com.

NetEase (Nasdaq:NTES) has submitted "The Burning Crusade," WoW's first expansion, to the GAPP for approval, according to a Beijing Municipal Bureau of Press and Publication source.
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Chinese game developer and operator Netease (Nasdaq: NTES) announced last night that it has encountered some unexpected circumstances in the run-up to the World of Warcraft launch that will delay its servers going online. One complication has been that obtaining final results and costs for testing, analysis and adjustments has taken longer than expected. No date has been set for the servers to re-open.

Nevertheless, Netease said gamers will be able to quickly set up a Battle.Net passport and bind it to their WoW accounts. At the same time that Netease opens Battle.Net for registration it will also launch an entirely new Chinese mainland official WoW website, www.warcraftchina.com, and use it as a platform to keep gamers informed about their progress until the servers are back online.
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Chinese online game operator NetEase.com has published a report stating that it feels sorry that the servers of World of Warcraft are unable to be opened on time, due to unexpected circumstances.

However, the company states its new Chinese official website for WoW will be unveiled soon and all the latest news about this online game will be published through this platform.

Prior to this, NetEase.com issued a public letter to the Chinese users of Blizzard's WoW in May 2009, stating that the first batch of its WoW servers would be opened in late June. But with the ending of June, many users feel disappointed at NetEase.com's breaking of its promise.

To ease the anxiety and discontent of these users, NetEase.com said in the report that it apologizes for the delay of server opening. The company encountered an unexpected situation, which prolonged the period of testing.

The company did not mention when it will open these servers in the report.
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BEIJING, Jul 02, 2009 (SinoCast Daily Business Beat via COMTEX) -- NTES | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- NetEase.com Inc. (Nasdaq: NTES | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) released the official Web site of World of Warcraft (WoW) in Mainland China on July 1, 2009, as a prelude to reoperating the popular online game in the mainland.

On the same day, Battlenet.com.cn began providing registration service for Chinese players, who can bundle their old and new accounts together. Thus, they will be able to check their data, although the information of their virtual extras is still not available.

In less than one hour after the service started, it received warm welcome from players, disclosed Li Riqiang, a top NetEase.com executive taking charge of the operation of WoW.

Previously, the leading Chinese online game developer and operator exposed that it completed the installation and debugging of the hardware system for the game ahead of schedule.

NetEase.com expressed its regret about the delay of the WoW reoperation, assuring that it will further optimize the game and make full preparations. The reoperation will commence immediately after the Chinese authority gives approval.
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SHANGHAI, July 1 (Reuters) - NetEase.com Inc (NTES.O), China's No. 2 online games operator, said the China relaunch of the popular World of Warcraft computer game would be delayed due to what it said were factors out of its control.

NetEase in April won the licence to host the lucrative online role-playing game, developed by Blizzard Entertainment, in China.

It was supposed to relaunch the game at the end of June.

But in statements late on Tuesday, NetEase said it could not give a timeframe for the relaunch and noted that a prolonged delay could affect its profits from the game.

A spokesman for the firm declined to comment.

"We have met with some factors which are out of our control, the servers reopening will be delayed," the firm said in a posting on its World of Warcraft website, www.wow.163.com

"As of now, we don't have a specific reopening timeframe."

In an SEC filing on Tuesday, the firm said the relaunch was subject to the receipt of necessary governmental approvals and that if the relaunch was significantly delayed, the game's popularity and profitability may be adversely affected.

China has the world's fastest growing online game market, with more than 55 million online gamers. The firm's Nasdaq-traded shares have climbed 14.2 percent since it announced it had won the hosting licence from The9 Ltd (NCTY.O), but NetEase shares fell 2.17 percent in U.S. trade on Tuesday. (Reporting by Melanie Lee; Editing by Ken Wills)
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Links:
http://www.jlmpacificepoch.com/newsstories?id=151580_0_5_0_M

http://www.marbridgeconsulting.com/marbridgedaily/2009-07-01/article/27426/netease_to_delay_re_opening_of_wow_servers

http://www.chinatechnews.com/2009/07/01/10064-neteasecom-apologizes-for-postponed-wow-game-server-opening/


http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/2402567/

http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssTechMediaTelecomNews/idUSSHA14674820090701

Not the best of news I think you will agree, but at least its information. Hopefully puts an end to our speculation. It seems its not a problem with the9, nor withheld data, neither will we have character problems, resets etc.

Just pure bureaucracy, the government are really dragging their heels on this one...pure and simple i believe due to their earlier mentioned stand on international/homegrown games and is merely a ploy to ween people off WOW and onto local games, seeing as TBC was running foe ages before the transition and now suddenly has to be re approved?? But hey..I'm speculating AGAIN.

either way we are back on the road to getting our game back...however long that road may be!

Seriously what a bunch of morons, they already bitch us with wotlk for almost a year and now they bitch us with tbc again when it was approved before?
It s not because they want their homegrown games ashra, because in the end it's a chinese company who make the most profit, they just pee in their pant caus they don't want a game with stuff who could harm their ideologie. That's why they spend months of testing. God it's lucky we can buy pirate games in China otherwise most of them wouldn't be released caus of the censure...
Raaa F@&% this, they show hyper violent war films at 16h00 in the afternoon where you see guys cutting half the head of another with sabers with a big zoom on it, when in my country you would only see cartoons, caus it's supposed to be the time childrens watch TV, but no it's normal caus one of the guy was japanese, it's history... f@%&ing freaking morons, and a peg7 game need a whole life of approval?!...

I don't think this situation really applies, because I'm sure the government would have approved Netease's license to operate the game. It's just that their policy of having to suspend the approval process since The9 has sued Blizzard. Trial dates are set for July 18th so we'll have to wait until then. So probably no CWoW until July is over.