December 30, 2009

These Are the People Who Made China Cry

Each year, pictures like this cycle through the internet, with newer ones added in.

Title: These Are the People Who Made China Cry...A Hundred Times Better Than the List Compiled by CCTV

1. He kneels in front of the tomb of his wife and child
This man, Liangshan Zhang (张良善), is a member of the transportation corps in Tibet, and each medal signifies the contribution he made to China. Perhaps the greatest sacrifice he has ever made to the country is that in fulfilling duties as a soldier, he was not able to accompany his wife who underwent a difficult childbirth and died.


2. The life of an old women in the Chinese country side
Comments:
1. There are many old people like this where we live. Interested reporters and editors can come and take a look. There is one old man in particular who has not bathed in 10 years. I sometimes wonder how he makes a living for himself.

2. Too many similar cases in the villages. Some farmer became homeless in his old age because he gave the house to his sons!


3. Another elder striving to make ends meet
4. Let's look at the blossoms of our motherland ("blossoms of motherland" is an typical expression to mean children)

The Chinese in the picture translates to:
One day, an English teacher came to our village and taught us our first English sentence: "I want go to school."

Do you hear their plea? It's the most shocking.



5. A retired professor organizes an one-man protest against charging tuition for k-12 education.

He wrote:
"No school should view its students as profit-generating objects. No country should extort its students. They are not commodities and sources for money."

6. Contrast

In this Xi'an restaurant, somebody spent 30,000 yuan on one meal,

...while some children must have their lessons outdoors
7. Another contrast

In a promotion event, a female celebrity sold lamb kabobs on the street. One man bought her charred kabob for an astounding 17,888 yuan, turned around, and gave the bad-tasting meat to a kid.

Here two children dropped out of school because they could not afford a few hundred yuan of tuition. They must now take care of the farm and feed their families.

To them, 100 yuan is an astronomical number...
Another appalling classroom
8. Two classes
8. They were just trying to claim their wages...

Each year, similar incidents take place across China, some even make the news. A separate report for example: http://www.wangchao.net.cn/junshi/detail_28349.html
9.City urban administrators left this old man sobbing. They cut both the front wheel and chain, so he no longer can use this vehicle to sell baked potatoes.
But before being so thorough in performing their duties, perhaps the administrators should consider how else the old man can make a living? No construction site wants a weak old man. No brothel wants an old man.

10. Respect the old; love the young

11. Have you ever eaten what they are eating? Would you ever want to eat what they are eating?
12. In many Chinese news reports, it is the old who are still giving.
13. Just for a few yuan

14. Imagine walking more than 1km with a 200kg load on your back. This 17 year old mine worker has done that many times. Each trip only earns him 1 yuan.
15. Boat trackers
16. Mother and scavenger. This is how she grew old.
17. When we asked to take her picture, she borrowed this backpack. It used to be a 400g detergent box
18. To live..
19. One of the government slogans--the old will enjoy a good life.

Source(s):
http://www.greatwuyi.com/forum/viewthread.php?tid=650&extra=&page=1
http://web.wenxuecity.com/BBSView.php?SubID=mychina&MsgID=432901

December 24, 2009

Court Upholds Original Verdict on the First Case of "Human Flesh Search"

The dust has finally settled on the first lawsuit ever concerning the controversial "human flesh search." In the end, Beijing Second Intermediate People's Court upheld the original ruling. One of the defendants Leyi Zhang (张乐奕) is found guilty of defamation against Fei Wang (王菲). All infringing articles are to be deleted. Furthermore, Zhang must formally apologize to Wang on his website and pay the plaintiff 5684 yuan to coverage litigation costs and any harm to the man's mental well-being.

On December 29, 2007, 31 year old white-collar Yan Jiang (姜岩) jumped from her 24 storied apartment because her husband Fei Wang betrayed their marriage. Two months prior to her suicide, Jiang had written about her inner journey on MSN space, where a photo of the straying husband with his mistress was also uploaded. To commemorate the dead and to criticize Wang's infidelity, Jiang's college classmate Leyi Zhang built the website "The Migrant Bird That Flies North" to host articles that Jiang's relatives, friends, and Mr. Zhang himself wrote in memoriam. A few days later, Daqi dedicated a section of its website to the tragedy, exposing the real names and photos of Fei Wang and the mistress Dong Fang [Note: both of which were already on Jiang's MSN Space].

In the next month, Fei Wang was searched by human flesh, hassled by Netizens, fired by his company, unable to obtain new employment, and even his parent's apartments were plastered with condemnatory messages. After 4 months of living like a frightened bird, Wang decided to sue Daqi, Tianya, and Leyi Zhang, asking for 135,000 yuan for his troubles. The Beijing Chaoyang Court convicted Daqi Website and Zhang, but Zhang decided to appeal the decision at Beijing Second Intermediate People's Court.

Beijing Second Intermediate People's Court acknowledged the undesirability of Fei Wang's infidelity, stating that adultery upsets the social order and breaks the moral code. However, by posting Wang's information on orionchris.cn and allowing the World Wide Web to disseminate this information, Zhang has essentially abetted the "human flesh search," causing disruptions to Wang and his parents' lives. This behavior damaged Wang's reputation.

Reaction to the Verdict

As before, Fei Wang failed to appear at court. His lawyer in proxy told the reporter that Wang has already found a new job but claimed ignorance to his dating status. "Fei Wang would like the public to forget him. After all, he has played a disgraceful role in this affair."

Leyi Zhang's lawyer stated that the wisdom of this court ruling remains to be seen. "I believe that not every one agrees with this verdict."

Timeline of Events

  • February 22, 2006, Fei Wang and Yan Jiang married.
  • Yan Jiang created an account in MSN Space [before her marriage]. In July, 2007 Jiang cut off access to her personal blog but continued writing.
  • December 27, 2007 was the date of Yan Jiang's first attempt to commit suicide by swallowing sleeping pills. Prior to that day, she revealed the password of her blog to an on-line friend, requesting that her blog to be made public again after 12 hours. Jiang was found in time and revived.
  • December 29, 2007, Jiang jumped down from her apartment located on the 24th floor.
  • January 11, 2008, Leyi Zhang created the not-for-profit website "The Migrant Bird That Flies North." Friends and relatives of Jiang wrote several articles to commemorate her. Its link was posted on both Tianya and Sina.
  • January 14, 2008, Daqi Website published "The Last Blog Entries Written By the MM Who Jumped to Her Death from 24th Floor." The article included real names and photos obtained from Jiang's blog. Fei was consequently human flesh searched. Some Netizens even spray painted "Wife Killer", "Blood Debt Needs to be Paid in Blood" outside his home.
  • March 3, 2008, Fei Wang sued Zhang, Daqi, and Tianya for defamation of character.
What Netizens Think

coming home [to Leyi Zhang]
December 24th, 2009 at 1:20 am
I thought I would be angry, but I am not. I am just sad. Deeply. When a legal system cannot reflect the people’s needs and protect the moral goodness, something is seriously wrong. Wait, maybe that is a reflection of the current society - who cares what you have done, shameless people win. It is a festival for people having no shame and bottom line.

Does that mean you have to delete the three articles? Is there any way to put this website on an overseas server so it is out of China’s jurisdiction? I know very little of computer/network.

Also, what are the consequences if you don’t follow the judgment? If there will only be civil penalty, I will donate if you want to keep fighting. But no pressure, please, you have done a lot.

2009-12-24 06:45:34 Sina Guangdong Mobilephone User
You cheated on your wife. Your reputation was already in tatters. If you didn't love her, why not divorce her. She died because of you, and her blog only spoke the truth. The court judges were retarded to think that your reputation was damaged by others!

2009-12-24 09:48:38 Sina Sichuan Mobilephone User
The law failed to support morality. A person who has done inmoral things relies on the law to protect his laughable reputation. Tragedy.

2009-12-24 09:59:15 Sina Beijing Mobilephone User
The law was never intended for the protection of the weak.

2009-12-24 09:28:47 Sina Guangdou Mobilephone User
Support the verdict. Everyone of us can become a victim of human flesh search. Who dares to say he never did anything inmoral in his life? Protecting Fei Wang's right is protecting our right!

2009-12-24 11:49:01 Sina Guizhou Mobilephone User
A SB committed suicide. Her lover created a lot of fuss over her. A bunch of resentful wives cheered him on.

2009-12-24 19:51:51 Sina Guangdou Mobilephone User
Why are people mixing the two up? The court said that human flesh search is legal; that doesn't mean it supports xiao san! If Fei Wang had something to do with Yan Jiang's death, her relatives can separately sue!

2009-12-24 17:21:35 Zhejiang Hangzhou Big Pand
Xiao sans have become strong!
Source(s)
人肉搜索第一案终审维持原判:大旗网等被判侵权 http://tech.sina.com.cn/i/2009-12-24/02493705327.shtml
还快乐吧 http://orionchris.cn/archives/68.html

Has it come to this?

Social satirist and blogger hecaitou twittered:

In the past 10 years, the World Wide Web has provided countless news tips, writers, content and articles to the traditional media. Today, the World Wide Web is facing the coldest spells in ten years, teetering on the brink of obliteration. We earnestly request friends from paper media to speak out on behalf of the internet. If we go extinct, your days will be numbered too.

在过去十年,互联网为平媒提供了无数新闻线索、专栏作家、内容文字。如今,互联网正在遭受十年来最大的寒流,覆亡在即。恳请平媒的朋友为网络说点什么,我们如果死光了,你们的日子也不会长了。
I had noticed SINA, among others, began requiring real-name registration, and any comments on the news report takes at least five minutes to clear moderation/censors.

I had noticed that CCTV recently published an article titled "Internet Triad in Control of Public Opinion: Five Million yuan Bribe Can Influence Court Decision (网络黑社会操控舆论:花五万元可左右法院判决)." In it, CCTV "exposed" a thriving industry "bent on" harming the Chinese businesses, the Chinese people, and indirectly the Chinese government. Given how the state-media operate, I knew this has to be either the harbinger of some new Net policy or paving the way for one.

At the websites I visits, there are many exasperatingly restrictive measures, and this is when my personal use just consists of personal entertainment and information gathering (I mean, I would understand being censored if I expressing anti-government sentiments).

But hecaitou's plea still came as a shock.

Many Netizens often jokingly say that the internet is the only venue where pi min (a derogatory term for people who expose any wrongdoing) can at least talk about the injustices without fear of swift retaliation. What happens when internet likewise becomes sanitized? I can't wait to see the formulaic 3-step reporting of "1. Chinese people are happy; 2. Chinese leaders are busy looking into the welfare of the Chinese people; 3. People everywhere else are living in hell" on the web too.

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