China's leaders losing the battle over free speech Malcolm Moore, London July 30, 2011
Mocked ... Wen Jiabao ratcheted up levels of public anger. Photo: Reuters
SHANGHAI: Whenever China suffers a major disaster, a visit from Wen Jiabao, or ''Grandpa Wen'', is usually enough to comfort the victims and reassure the country that its Communist leaders are looking after them.
So five days after two Chinese bullet trains collided in the south of the country, killing at least 39 and injuring more than 200, Mr Wen duly arrived at the scene.
Standing on a patch of gravel on Thursday that had been cleared of the wreckage, the Premier promised to ''get to the bottom'' of what had gone wrong and apologised for not arriving sooner, blaming an 11-day illness.
In the past, that might have been the end of it. But on Thursday, Mr Wen only succeeded in ratcheting up public anger.
Within hours, photographs of him in seemingly perfect health at functions during the past week had been posted on the internet. His tears at the sites of various disasters over the years had already earned him the mocking title of China's ''Best Actor''.
What has changed over the past year is partly the growing inability of China's leaders to control free speech.
Journalists have openly defied instructions from China's censors not to report on the crash and even CCTV, the state broadcaster, has turned on the government.
''Can we live in apartments that do not fall down? Can the roads we drive on in our cities not collapse? Can we travel in safe trains? And if there is a major accident, can we not be in a hurry to bury the trains? Can we afford the people a basic sense of security? China, please slow down. If you are too fast, you may leave the souls of your people behind,'' said Qiu Qiming, a CCTV news anchor, live on air.
The emergence of Sina Weibo, a clone of Twitter that allows 200 million Chinese to post their thoughts in real time, has resulted in a deluge of information the government is finding difficult to control.
''Thousands of web users were posting real eyewitness accounts, photos, videos,'' said David Bandurski, a researcher at the China Media Project in Hong Kong. '' Traditional media, including solid professional outfits as well as the party media, have been using Weibo to aggregate and share information. Ordinary users, journalists, writers, lawyers, academics, intellectuals, a broad swathe of people, have been digging out old media coverage that illuminates these recent events.''
Shi Anbin, a professor of media studies at Tsinghua University in Beijing, said the availability of information on Weibo had helped mainstream media to push the boundaries and caused the public to lose confidence in the government.
''Weibo is amplifying information the government does not announce,'' he said. ''There is pressure from these grassroots [for the media to be more critical]. CCTV has heard the message. I think the leadership has acknowledged it too.''
For the middle class, there is anger over safety scandals and corruption. For workers, anger stems from rapidly rising prices, an absurd wealth gap, and a constant helplessness against injustice.
As it loses the battle to control the population through the media, and through internet and video surveillance, the government has resorted in recent months to displays of raw power, sending squadrons of paramilitary police on to the streets of several cities to prevent riots.
China now spends almost $90 billion a year on ''internal security'', more than on the People's Liberation Army. But it has not been able to stop the number of riots from tripling in the past five years to 180,000 in 2011 - or 493 a day - according to a professor at Tsinghua University.
Beijing is jittery about the prospect of an Arab Spring, and anxious enough that it detained hundreds of lawyers and activists in February.
''It is much too early [to tell whether the public anger will force a fundamental change],'' Mr Bandurski said. ''Let's not forget the episode of SARS and Sun Zhigang in 2003.
Reporting on the beating to death of a young Sun Zhigang rallied public anger and eventually brought the repeal of China's law on detention and repatriation. But once the storm had passed, party leaders disciplined 10 media that had been among the most outspoken, signalling the time for boldness was over.'' Telegraph, London
I know one real case: one graduate encouter same situation like him in 2001.. fortunately he is very strong and has some martial arts. Even two polis guys could not forece him to squat.... 作者: StephenW 时间: 2011-8-2 12:13
Police must learn that they are also subject to the law. It is a very difficult culture to change, even in the western countries. 作者: hbv30year 时间: 2011-8-9 23:43
Wen is a good political leader, but he will step down the power soon, so sometimes he can't control the situation. after 2012, if the left wing of the party will gain majority again, Mr.Bo may lead the whole country to sing red song, that will be a drawback to the country.作者: StephenW 时间: 2011-8-10 10:39
I don't think you can turn the tide, whoever comes to power. But you do need a strong leader to push through more democratic reforms. Bo may be elevated but what about the other anointed successor? I think it will be a collective leadership again.
Just my personal opinion from an amateur looking through a crack from outside.
P.S. Look like another man-storm financial storm has subsided - some are laughing and some are contemplating the jump. 作者: hbv30year 时间: 2011-8-10 22:42
No, man, I never want to get involved in politics. Not any individual can change the tide, except the whole chinese people. For me, my country is canada by law, though I don't really enjoy it. I hope china to be prosperous, that is it.
Financial crisis is coming. who will be the winner this time? My total assets are under water 3 years ago, so the storm can't affect me at all. How about you, my friend? 作者: StephenW 时间: 2011-8-10 23:05
I am the type that buys but never sells. Luckily I don't have much invested in the stock markets, so I just sink and surface with the waves and hope the storm will stop eventually. But indirectly because all our superannuation funds invest in the stock markets, we all suffer. Personally, I hope all those in America who supported the wars and the Republic Party would suffer.
Mocked ... Wen Jiabao ratcheted up levels of public anger. Photo: Reuters