NOTE! – for those who can’t read the article on geocities, i posted it now on my blurty. please read it if you know chinese and help to spread the word. Thanks!
Politics are so depressing. As I slowly diving into Chinese politics, I start to feel the dilemma. Yesterday I spent much time reading chinalaborunion.org. It provides some of the most heartbreaking stories about chinese citizens. When you see these photos, you will want to jump and say GOSH, CHINA HAS TO CHANGE! Then i read an article that is a letter written to the central government pleading for an investigation in a village in northern china. The article is posted on 2003-12-8 so I assumed it’s written recently. Let me summarize what the letter is about.
A company in the village had poluted the only source of drinking water. Since 1998, the villagers had complained to the local government to make the company produce standard waste into the river so the water won’t be poluted. The government never responded. Earlier this year some villagers had been poisoned for drinking the water. The villagers could no longer stand the irresponsibility and protested against the government. Instead of getting something positive, the company’s manager hired someone to drive a truck through the villager’s work unit. four villagers were killed and six wounded. The villagers found out this because they captured the driver and questioned him. Later the police department sent a team to investigate. despite of the outcries by the villagers, the police department concluded the killing as a simple traffic accident. it’s clear then that the corruption was so deep rooted that there’s very little the villagers could do to protect their lives and to seek justice for those who were killed. so a respresentative sent this letter to the central government hoping they will be some response. since the local government also tightly controlled the media (so no reports of the incident were on TV), the author also posted this article online and wish more can hear about what happened.
I tried to post the link on some mainlanders’ bloggers’ site so they can help deliver the message. But I found the chinese government had completely blocked chinalaborunion.org. I really do believe the article should be heard so I moved the article to my geocities site. When I posted the new link from my geocities site and briefly explained what it was for again to the mainlander bloggers, i didn’t get any response. I don’t know whether it’s just because they didn’t have time to respond or don’t want to visit stuff on a site that’s blocked by the chinese government. it greatly saddens me. there’s another article on the chinalaborunion.org saying how cold hearted chinese people can be. they are much more concerned about their own good than helping others (partly caused by the corruption as well). there are many cases where people will not respond if someone’s being raped in the public or chased by killers even when they heard the screams for help. i partly believe the article and the lack of response from those bloggers reinforced my belief. this morning when i found i got no responses, i just wanted to cry. then i read this interview.. David basically argued what is being brought up in this article: “Asian values can be taken as a code word for a temporary repression of human rights in favor of economic development.” And I know many city people share his belief. Perhaps China will become a democratic country someday. Maybe someday Chinese government will no longer blocking chinalaborunion.org, but what about all the people who suffered so much from the totalitarian government before then?! they are just meant to be scarficed as necessary stepping stones? how much more suffering chinese farmers (and we are still talking about the majority of the population) have to endure? from 1850 to now….. and to when?
side note: chinese government blocked chinalaborunion.org because it’s sponsored by Wei Jingsheng Foundation – Wei is a political prisoner who promoted democracy since Deng’s Four Modernization (calling fifth modernization – democracy)
Pure-Essence.Net 
It makes me so sad to see thier faces when we have so so very much here.
What do you think people like us can do?
that’s a tricky question. i don’t think money alone is going to solve the problem. it’s so complicated. i think for those who care, read more about china.. know china better.. understanding helps. here is a list of chinese blogs worth reading.
The reason no-one is reading your geocities site is that geocities sites are also blocked in mainland China, as are blogspot sites, Chinalabourunioun etc etc. Very frustrating for me here in Shanghai
i posted in my blurty now. i think you can access it!
http://blurty.com/~dodozhang21
Those pictures are really heartbreaking. I have never been to China, and my family isn’t Chinese either, but that’s really awful. Anyway, thanks for raising awareness about these issues.
I’m so sorry dodo, not because mainlander bloggers didn’t care about it, it is because geocities is also blocked in China.
Oh my gosh, that’s terrible. I had no idea that the China Government is so restrictive. But I still remember that I was able to access geocities and blogspot sites when I was in China 2 years ago… Can’t imagine some enthusiastic China-based bloggers who cannot access their own sites… 😡
Anyway, I just received your Christmas Card 😛 The cat is so cute! Thank you so much 🙂
Geocities is blocked in china… I thought you would know. So are news sites like cnn and bbc.
Sad yes, but I still don’t understand why this means the chinese government is worse than others and should be used as a scapegoat.
i dont know what to say. cause i hate the govt no matter where they are. they;re so corrupt its sick.
China is communist now; it’s no more than can be expected ¬_¬
The world is polluted with corruption, violence, hatred east to west, and west to east. It is a truely a sad state of affairs. It’s not only China that is using censorship as a method to restrict it’s citizens, plenty of other countries are doing it too (even the so-called free countries are doing it to a certain extent). It is truly sad to know that we live in a world where people don’t have the right to read what they want, express their opinions, and even stand up for themselves.
I feel so sad for those villagers 😦 But it is nice to know that at least to a certain extent people in China, and worldwide are rising up, although their hopes seem to be dashed every time, I think that it still makes a difference.
Also don’t be too sad about the fact that nobody responded, while it is true that living under oppression can distill such fear in people’s hearts that they become cold and ignorant to the world and only struggle to survive themselves, not seeing the whole picture. Still, although you maybe unaware of it, that article will have made a difference. Hopefully someday the world will be rid of these awful totalitarian governments, until then the only thing we can do is to spread the knowledge because knowledge is power. Only then the lives of those people that had to live under torment and oppression has not been in vain.
🙂
by the way I just looked at those pictures, they are simply heartbreaking 😦 😦 😦
thanks for the comment. i agree with you. i was also sad coz i spent a lot of time moving those articles to geocities only to find it’s blocked as well.
Hey there, long time no see.
Well, I have to say they are very sad stories and they certainly deserve a read. Sometimes in remote areas where the power of central government is unable to reach, things like this do happen. We all don’t want such things to happen. But this just can’t be solved in a short time – it too complicated…
God bless them.
yes i know they can’t be solved over night. and no one knows how long will it take to solve those problems.
I am very interested — if you don’t mind — in posting those links on my webserver that I know is not blocked. I don’t want to do so without your permission. Because both geocities and china labour bulleten is blocked mainlanders can’t access it. I can though.
Please contact me via email.
Those articles you get are not the face of China really. If anyone who has some tribute for China, they will love China, even it has something not finished. Mr. Wei’s laborunion couldn’t be good for China, I mean, its China, not take China as a Communist china again, its now changed, and our homeland need some useful ideas for its stronger future, but not Wei series. (I’m not communist and not in mainland)
never in my post did i support wei’s idea but the fact is he deserves freedom of speech just like everyone else whether you agree with him or not. but shut him out completely is just fundamentally wrong.