11 tourists fell into water, two still missing in Chongqing

The title is a faithful duplication of the official Xinhua News: 11 people fell into water after the collision. Nine had been rescued, while 2 were still missing. The spokesperson of the Rail Ministry, Mr. Wang Yongping, said, ".. whether you believe it or not...well, I did."

The accident happened earlier today, near downtown of Chongqing Municipal, the largest city in China (by population), watched by thousands of people in daylight. The dining tour boat capsized and submerged entirely in less than 5 seconds (video).

Look at the first photo, and count how many heads do you see. Perhaps, the official Xinhua News reporter was a crazy mathematician with one finger missing. She counted, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 1, 2, 3, ......

And now you know why Flickr, PBase, etc. were all blocked in China.

Photos Don't Lie, the Criminal Justice System Did

June, 2010, Washington DC. Congressman Bob Etheridge grabbed and battered a college kid, who asked him in a calm soft voice, 'Do you fully support the Obama agenda?', after greeting him on a public sidewalk.

obvious problem: An attack and battery case was committed under daylight on a busy street in front of numerous bystanders caught on tape, which was posted to Youbute, and the story was carried by more than 600 news sites.

reality check: No charge filed

June 12, 2010, Maryland. Montgomery County police officer Dina Hoffman was acquitted of perjury. Family celebrated in the courtroom.

obvious problem: Officer Hoffman claimed she caught, and wakened a man behind the wheel in a running car who had passed out drunk. Hoffman had testified against the man 12 times in court, until a surveillance video from a nearby shop surfaced. At the time, the video showed, the man was sleeping in a backseat of his friend's car in a park-to-ride parking lot, waiting for his friend to give him a ride home.

reality check: Officer was acquitted.

unrelated, but also in Maryland, a neighboring County called Frederick, also a female officer, Officer First Class Megan Mattingly admitted she lied in a drug case. Mattingly admitted she did not witness an alleged drug deal, although she wrote in her report that she did. In a sense, officer Mattingly was 'bedeviled'. She testified in the court that her training at the Police Academy instructed that an officer always write in the first person, whether they witnessed something firsthand or not. No wonder the police chief invited the good o' neighbor Montgomery Police Department to 'investigate'. The aforementioned officer Dina Hoffman is a member of the Montgomery Police Department. No charge is filed.

March 15, 2010, Maryland. State trooper Joseph David Uhler, in plain clothes, driving an unmarked car, with no lights flashing, intercepted a motorist and pulled his gun on him, alleging driving 80 in 65 zone on I95. The guy has a video camera attached to his helmet, which recorded the scene continuously. The guy then posted the video online. Maryland State trooper detained the guy's entire family, including his parents and little sister who is still at school age. Seized his parent's three computers, and threw the guy in jail.

obvious problem: No law is violated by the guy when videotaping on a public road. Maryland State law specifically stated: State courts interpreted laws to protect communications only when parties have a reasonable expectation of privacy. Plus, the guy does not even live with his parents. Actually, the judge who later released the guy after he was able to posting a $15,000 bail 26 hours later said, "I have no idea why you're charged with this".

reality check: Maryland State Trooper did not admit wrongdoing, while the judge who signed the search warranty of the guy's parents' home claimed 'privacy'.

Being 'too yellow', Chinese American denied passport

Chinese American Mr. Li of New Jersey was denied US passport because the officer at the State Department found his photo 'too yellow'.

You don't need to know Chinese to read these photos

If you are still wondering how come made in China goods are so dirt cheap, often even before cost, here is why: polution.

EeePC Shot

It's the EeePC baby!

Photo Triggered 'Political Accident'

A photo reporter was fired on a photo which failed to portrait a county leader from a more flattering angle.

County newspaper "Tongzhou Communication" fired its photo reporter after a 'political accident' over a less flattering photo showing the county leader was published. The picture, which shows the county leader reporting to local legislature, was deemed having conveyed a misleading political signal and thus a political accident. The reporter Mr. Wang Lili, who had been the chief photographer of the local newspaper in the past 4 years, was fired hours after the photo made publication.

According to the publisher, Wang took six pictures of the county leader reading the report in the duration of half hour. Because the county leader was reading the notes, Wang couldn't take a picture with the leader's face looking up, the positive gesture. The said picture appeared ok on computer screen when the editor made the paper with some of the leader's eyes showing. In the print edition however, it looks the leader's eyes were closed. Pragmatically, a photo reporter shoots photos, while the text reporter and editors make decision on which photo to pick. In other words, Mr. Wang should not be technically held responsible for the 'accident'.

Tongzhou is a county of Beijing. The county leader who was photoed was Deng Naiping. What made this tragedy more troubling is that it happened in Beijing. Comparing to similar events happened across country, it make it not as easy to make excuse of isolated incident in rural areas while implying officials in major cities to be more qualified than their country side counterparts. While Chinese people often make fun of the shortage of consumer goods in North Korea, they sadly discovered China was not that farther away from its northern neighbor.

The story exploded when it was first reported by the Southern Metropolitan Weekly (SMW), a national media. It could also be tracked back to a blog by narrative (pangbai) on Jan 11, 2008, which was picked up by EastSouthWestNorth on Feb 14, 2008. News media in mainland China was ordered by the State Council News Office to delete the story immediately.