I just love rumors:
http://en.178.com/201101/88207672336.html

According to the above linked article on 178.com (Posted on 2011-01-05 14:07:52 BJT, by Davy Jones), the rumor says, that Netease has sent World of Warcraft: Cataclysm [...] for the approval process of China's government.

What is interesting is the following statement on 178.com:
China's WotLK has lasted for 4 months since it was launched on August 31 last year, and it is still in 3.22 version, which means the Chinese players still cannot meet the Lich King in Icecrown. It was supposed that this version should only last for 3 months, so it has been a delay for all players.

So 3.2 should have lasted only 3 month and it is in it's 19th week now. It is time for 3.3 to come.
For those mentioning Arena, the avarage length of an arena seasons is 20 weeks, at least 3 seasons only have lastet 17 weeks or less. So Arena is no arguement here, eventhough some ppl love it, the time is ripe for the new patch NOW.

For Cata it would be a bit early, if it were released this year in mainland China. But if it were to be released in mid 2012 it would be great.

A thing you have to keep in mind is, though TOC lasted roughly 3 months in the rest of the world, WOTLK had already been running for around 8 months. If i remember right ICC doors opened about a year after WOTLK release.

So, here we got it all at once... and yeah the pve progression is a little fucked on mainland, unless you go for the ULD raid achievements (which are fun and reward you with the best looking protodrake).

I bet they'll serve us this patch until at least march. If more it would just mean they don't care about the players needs and just wish to milk them as much as they still can. We'll see.