Celebrity Drug Case Renewed Discussion on Law and Ethics

Wenjun Man is a farmer turned singer, a celebrity with fame and a large fan base in Beijing. Man along with his wife Li Li were arrested for holding a drug part at his house. Man was detained for 15 days for taking ecstasy himself, while his wife was sentenced one year jail time for supplying ketamine to Man and his friends.

Li Li denied drug charges in the court, but was only rebut by a testimony of Man, her own husband.

Legal experts questioned whether Man had to testify against his wife. Throughout history of China, by law a person does not have to provide damaging information on his family members. For example, legal archives dated 2000 years ago (in Han Dynasty) says a son does not have to turn in his father under any circumstances; while a father does not have to turn in his son, except his son committed high crime such as murder. The principle has been adopted in every law passed in Chinese history, including as close as the criminal code of the Republic of China (now exile in Taiwan after loosing the mainland in civil war in 1949) published in 1937. However, after the communists taking over the power, such exemptions were crossed out of the law. One has to turn in his family member on anything suspicious. During the Great Cultural Revolution, wives are forced to turn in their husbands, students are encouraged to torture their teachers. The family architecture is totally crushed so that people are only loyal to one body, the Party.

The consequence is however, people no longer trust anyone but themselves. In a long run, this may not be good even to the Party because already people are questioning their loyalty to the Party.

Army Recruiters vs Roofing Workers

The suicide under stressful work environment of four Army recruiters in Houston Recruiting Battalion finally reached the attention of national media. In a sense, the Houston Battalion must have suffered higher fatality rate among all combat battalions in Iraq or Afghanistan. However, an Army investigation lead by Brigadier General Frank Turner concluded that all four cases were evidently result of failed or failing relationship. In at least tow cases, the recruiter killed himself right after having a fight with their wife or girlfriend.

Most army recruiters, to be precise 78% of them, are veterans returning from either Iraq, Afghanistan, or both. They must recruit two persons per month. As questioned by one of the recruiters' father, 'How could you be over there and see some of the things he saw and dealt with, and try to hire people to go over there and do that?'.

A man's life is hanging on two chains with heavy burden: his career and his family. The conclusion that should be drawn from General Turner's report is: the recruiters died when the only remaining chain was cut. It's worthless to argue which party is more guilty on the recruiters' deaths. Whether it's the army who cut the first chain in the first place, or the domestic partners who cut the remaining one.

With the economic meltdown, the news were filled with cases of suicide after kill. On the contrary, the four recruiters in Houston did not do any harm to other people. After returning from real battlefield seeing life and death, they were more likely to pull the trigger, without excessive mulling. It's probably the process of mulling that leads to harm to other people.

Survey said roofing workers are the most depressed career in the US. No wonder, they have seen too much out there.

A Little Girl's Call of Duty

Xiao Dongxiang (little winter aroma) teared when she talked about her mother.

Lei Dongxiang is a 12 years gril who lives in Group 4, Shidi Village, Daxi Town, Jiuyang County of Chongqing. Her Dad died when she was 5 years old, left her a mentally disordered mother and a retard big brother Lei Maolin. From then on, 5 years old Dong Xiang took the duty of taking care of her family.

Dongxiang remembers the morning when her mother was found dead outside two years ago. She died when fell to a dig. "I felt my brother and I were doomed. Although Mom never helped but cause trouble, but when she died, I found totally lost. When Dad died, I knew we still had Mom. When Mom became crazy, I knew the family would rely on me. However, when Mom died, I knew we couldn't live without Mom, but we have to."

"Now I realized, although Mom was crazy, she still loved my brother and me. Now that I couldn't do anything for Mom. Mom is no longer here. I have to take good care of my big brother so that my Mom is happy looking down from heaven."

Dongxiang's 18 years old brother is retard. Dongxiang had to keep an eye on him all the time so that he doesn't make trouble or hurt himself.

Every morning, Dongxiang will get up before the day break, make breakfast and make sure big brother eat his. Then Dongxiang will walk 1 hour to school. She is a 5 grader. Coming back from school, she will do homework and cook dinner for the family. She does not have lunch at school. On Weekends, she washes clothes. Her brother always has many clothes need to be washed, as he always makes them dirty.

Last year, the brother fell ill again. Dongxiang rush to help, but the brother slapped her and beat her, as he always did when ill. Later, the brother saw the marks on Dongxiang's arm and asked her what's it about. After learned what had happened, the brother said, 'I don't know what I did. Please don't get close to me if I fell ill in the future. I will get better in a while'. This is the first time her brother said something that's so intimate and touching. Dong Xiang had a good cry in his arms.

A few nice people had offered to adopt Dongxiang. Everything Dongxiang would ask, 'can my brother come with me?' When she learned it's not a possibility, she determined to live with and take care of her brother all by herself.

"I used to thought my crazy Mom was a burden. I knew I was wrong when Mom died. Now I no longer think my brother is a burden". Dongxiang sometimes discussed stuff with her brother. "Although he doesn't understand, but in the least I have someone to talk to".

Dong Xiang's hobby is drawing. She drew a lot of paintings of her Mom. She has little memory of her Dad. She said her Mom was the most beautiful Mom in the world.

source: small people who touched China

Wealthiest Chinese Families

Xinhua News: The 0.1% of wealthiest families in China controls 41.4% of the total properties. The number of families that have more than $1 million properties rises from 121K in 2001 to 310k in 2006. The number places No. 5 in the world, following the US, Japan, the UK and Germany. The world wide figure is 9.6 million (0.7%) families with more than $1 million properties controls 33.9% of the total properties. In other words, the depth of the gap between wealthiest families and the rest of the society in China is 8.5 times deeper than the world average.