The Scariest Scene

Journalist turned writer Li Chengpeng held a book signing event on Sunday in Beijing to promote his new essay collection 'Everyone in the World Knows'. This was the second leg of his campaign for the new book. Last week in Chengdu, he was told not to say a word during the entire process. He was even denied to say 'Good morning' at the beginning of the event. He also was not allowed to say 'thank you' to his readers. That was a scary scene.

In his book, he pointed out absurdities in some seemingly normal every life. It encourages readers to reflect on simple facts, and tell right from wrong. It is not political, not even toughing any ongoing events. However, it tries to bring out people's own judgement and feeling, independent from politics.

Readers lined up for 3 hours to get book signed. It is a very cold winter day, single digit in Fahrenheit. It is also a 'crazy bad' smog day, with PM10 number shooting 1,000.

Half way through, one Maoist punched Li when he was signing for a reader, then disappeared. There were dozens of uniformed police and security at the scene to monitor Li and intimidate readers. Police did not do anything to stop the attack or the attacker. It was a scary scene.

Towards the end, another Maoist threw a chef's knife at Li. The knife barely missed Li. This time, the attacker was subdued by readers, and handed over to police. The attacker was let go by the police, no charge was filed. It was a scary scene.

However, the most scariest scene of all, was that over 1,000 readers showed up in that police trap, in a prohibitive cold and polluted day to support Li, with over 7,000 book signed. Frankly, it's not that a great writing, or even not some great subjects to be read. There was nothing really intriguing, provoking, or even any where sensational. Li himself is a soft-spoken thinker advocating for evolution rather than revolution. Li campaigned for a lower level delegate two years ago. However, when the Party passed a message of disapproval, he immediately abolished his campaign. Over 1,000 readers showed up in defiance, despite police harassment and harsh weather, only because Li was perceived to be a person with value. Over one thousand ordinary people waited more than three hours outdoor to support a fairly moderate writer, just because it was 'a different voice'. It's a vivid testimony on how hard people's resentment has been looking for a vent.

That, is the most scariest scene.

Foreign Donations are Insults to China

Vice-Chair of the Financial and Economic Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) Mr. He Keng said foreign donors were evil minded to insult China.

The comment was made in the context of a joint mega yard sale organized by the foreign consulates, commissions and diplomatic agencies in southern city Guangzhou on Dec 9, 2012 for disabled local residents. The yard sale raised about RMB 330,000, or $50,000.

Mr. He posted on Weibo that official Chinese charities raised way more money annually inside China from Chinese people. Comparing to the amount Chinese government spent on disabled people, the $50,000 is not even close to pocket changes. Foreigners who donate to China are evil minded to shame Chinese people. Mr. He's exact wording is, quote: "the only intention of foreign missions was to ashame Chinese people. Those yard sale organizers are shameless," unquote.

Mr. He Keng is a member of the standing committee of NPC, and formal vice director of the National Bureau of Statistics of China.

To set the record straight, we, Chinese people welcome any help to our needs. As of today, we do not have a government that bothers to take care of regular people, who do not have a voice. We appreciate every penny and will put them into good use.

Update: Mr. He further justifies his accusation with more postings, in which he questions the necessity of holding such a yard sale to raise funds. "The US Counselor in Guangzhou earns more than $50,000 in 6 weeks. Why didn't he just donate his salary if he were sincere?' asked Mr. He.

Connecting Dots

Wang Lijun's whereabouts between Monday 2/6/2012 and Wednesday 2/8/2012 might never be confirmed by either Chinese or American government. We may never know what happened inside the US Chengdu General Consulate. Having that said, below is one most plausible plot:

In the months leading to the final show down, Wang should have already sensed Bo's malice. Because of Bo's absolute power in Chongqing, as well as his political clot in the nation, Wang has no chance at all to fight back. Judging from Bo's track record, it was logical for Wang to believe Bo would harm him and very possibly his families and friends. Therefore, it amounted to a duty and obligation for Wang to strike back.

The US consulate is picked perhaps because it is the only place in the southeastern China where Wang can have a direct and uninterrupted communication with central government in Beijing. Wang was under tight monitoring long before he had been stripped off Police Chief duty. He was not allowed to travel. If he try to flee on foot, he might be immediately arrested, or quietly killed as a fugitive.

Wang jumped on an opportunity when he was arranged to inspect a local university as a stage-show to tell the public everything had been normal. He fled in disguise and drove an unmarked car to the capital city Chengdu of neighboring Sichuan Province, where he scheduled a meeting with the US consulate. The Consulate arranged him to sneak in the US General Consulate in Chengdu. However, Wang was identified by a security agent working for the central government.

What happened in the next 24 hours was not clear. Wang might left some important evidence to prove Bo's involvement in crimes. Wang might discusses refuge or asylum status issue with US officials. Wang might spoke to some senior officials in Beijing. Wang might had a talk with his boos Bo.

In the end, outside the consulate there was an armed stand-off between paramilitary troops equipped with heavy equipment from Chongqing and local police who are reinforced by security forces belonged to central government. Bo tried to take Wang back to Chongqing by force, but was pushed back by Beijing.

The US General Consular was not in the consulate at the time on Tuesday night. He went out for unknown reason but could not come back because of road blocks and a man-made traffic jam. Wang received a call from a commander outside the consulate. Wang was told if he did not walk out, then police would break in using the excuse that there might be a bomb inside the building. Wang contacted the General Consular again, and was told he did not know when could he get back to the consulate. Wang decided to walk out. Spokesperson of the US State Department said Wang walked out in his own volition. She also stated there was no threat to the Chengdu Consulate, and US did not request increased security to the consulate.

While Wang walked out, he shouted to police surrounded the building that he had collected evidence of crimes committed by Bo Xilai. Bo was taken by the security forced loyal to the central government, and flown to Beijing within hours.

Now that it had become an international incident. The central government will have legitimate excuse as well as a procedural obligation to launch an investigation against Wang's charges against Bo. It is revealed that a high level delegate had stationed the Jinniu (Golden Bull) Hotel in Chengdu since the incident, and that there was no sign they were leaving anytime soon.

Who Owns Information

Civil rights activist Mr. Huang Qi was arrested by police on June 10, 2008. Mr. Huang together wish another volunteer was helping the earthquake disaster relief when both were arrested. According to the volunteer who was released a few days later, police questioned him specifically on their investigation of the poor building quality of public schools.

Huang's wife went to the Bureau of Public Safety of Wuhou, Chengdu to inquire the condition of Huang. She was showed a warrant for "Illegal Procession of National Secret". This is about Huang's visiting of victim families connected to collapsed school buildings.

There had been many cases of people arrested for 'Leaking National Secret'. With a broach definition of 'national secret', one could be thrown into jail for mailing a newspaper, or an openly published book. Still, those are about something written or compiled by someone else, even after they were put into public domain. It's often ridiculous to say a newspaper is national secret, but still often, the prosecution will claim that they see it as a national secret. In this case, however, none of such 'published' or 'compiled' materials exists. The said 'national secret' is the numbers and cases Mr. Huang collected from victims' families. There is no leakage either, since Mr. Huang had not had a chance to put this onto his personal website. Therefore, the alleged crime "Illegal Procession" of national secret makes you chill.

Who owns information?

An ancient Chinese saying is "a person lost innocence if he carries a treasure (庶人无罪怀璧其罪)", regardless where does he find the treasure". It's an reflection of a doctrine that everything under the sun belongs to the King. Now, everything in the world, tangible or not, belongs to the CCP.

Where Did Quake Relief Resource Go

The spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry Chen Gang asked the international society keep up help in supplying relief resources, with tents the highest priority and emergency. However, people have to ask where there are already too many tents sent in that they started appearing in unrelated areas and black markets for cheap, while the Chinese authorities are doing nothing about it.

Where did quake relief resource go? Wherever they go, they did not go to those who are in need. While people are suffering in the disaster area, and while people in the rest of the world are reaching deep in their pockets, many relief resources were found in placed they shouldn't belong.

A self-appointed task force formed by Chengdu Netizens was promptly mobilized to find out who is behind the numerous relief tents appeared in some luxury housing properties. Not only did they find many blue tents distributed by the Chinese Interior Ministry （the blue tent on the red, found in the Chinese Communism Party Sichuan Provincial Institute), but even those donated by the Kuwait Red Crescent Society (the white tent on the left found in Chengdu Garden). They appeared not only in some upscale housing communities (Yinxing Forest, Wanke City Garden, Shangdong Second Phase, to name a few), but also the Sichuan Province Communism Party Institute.

They also witnessed some people who are selling quake relief resources at Wanfuqiao. They were physically threatened when confronting with the crooks. They called the police a few times, but the police didn't arrive until all the bad guys were gone.

It was raining heavily again in the disaster areas. Refugees, those injured, rescue workers and soldiers alike do not have enough tents, but tents donated by the people around the world were selling on the black market. These has been going on for almost a week, with boiling angers filled on Internet forums, but where are the authorities? Busy counting money? Some heads got start rolling!

Heros

• Chengdu Residents. They care, they help and they are positive as they always are.
  
• Military Forces including local defense forces and militarized police forces. From top brasses down to ordinary soldiers risked their lives racing time to save people.
  
• Premier Wen Jiabao, the best Premier in 30 years.
  

Chengdu Residents Stand in Line for Blood Donation

In the wake of the strong earthquake that killed at least 8000 people, Chengdu residents stood in line overnight to donate blood to save their country folks. Chengdu, the capital city of Sichuan province, also suffered damage and life losses from the earthquake although being 92 kilometers away from the center of disaster. Chengdu government advised residents to live in outdoor tents in the next month.

It was circulated on the Net that the historic city of Beichuan was buried by collapsed mountain entirely. Communication to Beichuan had been completely broken so casualties there had not been counted. If true, then I don't know what to say.

Military forces were promptly mobilized to rush to the area that suffered the most damage. Sichuan is notorious for its challenging roads, which had isolated it from the rest of the China in many incidents in history. Attempts to reach the area by helicopters had not been successful due to heavy rain. Elite troops were parachuted to disaster areas to set up communications. Frustrated by broken roads, one troop (First Division of Sichuan Armed Police) was reported having marched more than 30 kilometers in 4 hours on foot to save critical time. 24,000 troops were air lifted from bases across the country along with many specialized rescue teams.

School buildings were among the most in reported building damages. One of the worst scene was a collapsed school building with hundreds of children confirmed killed, and many more still buried under rubbles. The scene raised the concern of the quality of the newly erected school building. Even though it happened in the obvious earthquake, the actual cause of the failure of the building should be investigated after completing the search and rescue tasks. Too many young life perished. They deserve a truth.

Hundreds of thousands of toads were seen migrating two days before the earthquake struke Aba, a rural county close to the center of this earthquake. Many local people thought earthquake was going to happen based on ancient wisdom. Regrettably, the theory was disputed as rumor by the regional earthquake bureau. However, there is no known scientific way that can reliably predict or forecast an earthquake. An exception is the Haicheng Earthquake in 1975 which was successfully predicted mostly by observing abnormal animal behavior similar to the toads migration.

The Happiest Chinese

Chengdu residents were seen playing Mahjong along the river in summer days. The curving colorful line formed by Mahjong tables winds up to dozens of miles in nearby Hongkou National Reserve.

According to an online survey published by the Xinhua on September 29, Chinese live in Chengdu, Sichuan are the happiest, followed by those who live in Hangzhou, Zhejiang. The full list of top ten happiest city are:

Happiest City in China, 2007 Data

1. Chengdu, Sichuan
   
2. Hangzhou, Zhejiang
   
3. Qingdao, Shandong
   
4. Dalian, Liaoning
   
5. Kunming, Yunan
   
6. Suzhou, Jiangsu
   
7. Guilin, Guangxi
   
8. Xiamen, Fujian
   
9. Hong Kong
   
10. Dali, Yunan
    

Chengdu tops the list thanks to its beautiful landscape, leisure lifestyle, low price and low work pressure. It's also not a surprise that those who are living in fast pacing metropolitans such as Beijing, Tianjin or Shanghai were found not planing to move to any other places, because the could enjoy luxury of modern life.