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Home » Opinion » Chinese Views
On de-mo-ke-la-xi and sai-yin-si in China
May 6, 2009, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
CHENG Yunjie, Liu Baosen and Shen Yang
FOR the family of Li Wenyan, who was declared dead in late March at the Jiujiang City Detention Center, the promise from the Jiangxi Provincial Public Security authority to make public the investigation of Li's death did not come easily.
The initial reason given for Li's death, according to an analysis report of the detention center, was "a nightmare" Li had before he died in the early morning on March 27, more than two months after being detained for allegedly stealing cable intended for flood control.
Responding to the inquiry by Li's family, the detention center offered Li Wenfu and Li Wenwei, his two brothers, only part of the videotape showing Li's life during incarceration. Officials claimed that a hard disk failure caused their videotape player to malfunction right before Li's death.
A public letter posted by the two brothers onto the people.com immediately triggered sympathy and support from Chinese Netizens who suspected "intentional deletion" by the detention center - that outcry caused the local prosecutor to step in.
But the latter's investigation proved that the disk failure story was true as no videotape players recorded any image between the crucial time period: from 9:30 am on March 26 to 5 am March 27. An autopsy report became the only chance for the family to find out the truth. It's due to be released this month.
This is at least the second time in a year that Chinese people used the Internet to challenge law enforcement authorities for the truth behind their relatives' death in detention centers.
Another inmate, Li Qiaoming, in Kunming, capital of Yunnan Province, who allegedly died during a "hide-and-seek" inmate game on February 8, was later found to have been beaten to death by three inmates.
Tang Lan, deputy chief of the Information and Social Development Department of the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, said that from "playing hide-and-seek" to "having a nightmare," these fishy analyses receiving public exposure not only showed the rising power of Internet in upholding democracy but also revealed deeper problems facing China's development.
"These problems have nothing to do with economic expansion but might jeopardize the health of Chinese economy if not being tackled properly. To have the market forces go a long way, China needs a more forceful framework cemented by democracy and science," he said.
Nearly a century ago, democracy and science (from the West) were exotic for the Chinese. Avant-garde urban intellectuals brought them in and personalized them as "Mr De" and "Mr Sai" because their literal translation in Chinese sound respectively like De-mo-ke-la-xi and Sai-yin-si. This triggered the New Culture Movement (1915-1921), which called for the creation of a new Chinese culture based on Western standards, especially democracy and science, and climaxed with the May Fourth Movement (in 1919).
For this year's celebration, general-secretary Hu Jintao of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China encouraged young Chinese to not only uphold excellent traditional Chinese culture but also absorb the fruits of world civilization.
In Guangdong, the front line of China's economic reform, provincial governor Wang Yang inspired youth to break off ideological shackles and emancipate their mind to blaze a new trail for scientific development.
"One reason for the May Fourth Movement to be ceremoniously commemorated lies in its everlasting value from holding high the banners of democracy and science. What China lacks most are democracy and science on its way from backwardness to modernization and prosperity," said Bao Xinjian, vice chairman of the Chinese Society of Political Science and professor of Shandong University.
Many problems facing contemporary China, he said, have gone beyond economic sphere, including bureaucratism, corruption, lack of credibility, personality cult.
Scientific manner
"When official ranks and wealth are used as the popular gauge to judge a person's social worth, I must say our society is at the risk of deviating from the objective of upholding science," Bao said.
"Science refers to not only technology to elevate productivity, but also the awareness to act in a scientific manner and having a scientific social system."
Huang Nansen, 87, a retired professor of philosophy of Peking University, said the repercussions of the May Fourth Movement were indelible among the people of his generation.
"There were twists and turns while the Chinese people sought for a decent life in the past century. But democracy and science have always served as the lighthouse, guiding the nation to stick to what was right and modify what was wrong," he said.
For instance, the solely state-owned economic system was eased to allow the existence and prosperity of private economy.
For another example, the governing Communist Party of China made a clear declaration in 2007 to promote inner-party democracy and inter-party harmony. The Party's Constitution was revised to make sure the development is for the people, relying on the people and shared by all Chinese.
In mid-April, the Chinese government put forth its first human rights action plan that forbids law enforcement officers to extort a confession by torture or exercise illegal detention. It pledges to strengthen supervision of law enforcement to protect the human rights of the detainees.
"These measures mark the awakening of the governing party. A scientific outlook will allow democratic systems to prosper and the people to seek and cherish truth. Otherwise, China's future development can hardly sustain itself," said Bao Xinjian.
(The authors are Xinhua writers.)
FOR the family of Li Wenyan, who was declared dead in late March at the Jiujiang City Detention Center, the promise from the Jiangxi Provincial Public Security authority to make public the investigation of Li's death did not come easily.
The initial reason given for Li's death, according to an analysis report of the detention center, was "a nightmare" Li had before he died in the early morning on March 27, more than two months after being detained for allegedly stealing cable intended for flood control.
Responding to the inquiry by Li's family, the detention center offered Li Wenfu and Li Wenwei, his two brothers, only part of the videotape showing Li's life during incarceration. Officials claimed that a hard disk failure caused their videotape player to malfunction right before Li's death.
A public letter posted by the two brothers onto the people.com immediately triggered sympathy and support from Chinese Netizens who suspected "intentional deletion" by the detention center - that outcry caused the local prosecutor to step in.
But the latter's investigation proved that the disk failure story was true as no videotape players recorded any image between the crucial time period: from 9:30 am on March 26 to 5 am March 27. An autopsy report became the only chance for the family to find out the truth. It's due to be released this month.
This is at least the second time in a year that Chinese people used the Internet to challenge law enforcement authorities for the truth behind their relatives' death in detention centers.
Another inmate, Li Qiaoming, in Kunming, capital of Yunnan Province, who allegedly died during a "hide-and-seek" inmate game on February 8, was later found to have been beaten to death by three inmates.
Tang Lan, deputy chief of the Information and Social Development Department of the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, said that from "playing hide-and-seek" to "having a nightmare," these fishy analyses receiving public exposure not only showed the rising power of Internet in upholding democracy but also revealed deeper problems facing China's development.
"These problems have nothing to do with economic expansion but might jeopardize the health of Chinese economy if not being tackled properly. To have the market forces go a long way, China needs a more forceful framework cemented by democracy and science," he said.
Nearly a century ago, democracy and science (from the West) were exotic for the Chinese. Avant-garde urban intellectuals brought them in and personalized them as "Mr De" and "Mr Sai" because their literal translation in Chinese sound respectively like De-mo-ke-la-xi and Sai-yin-si. This triggered the New Culture Movement (1915-1921), which called for the creation of a new Chinese culture based on Western standards, especially democracy and science, and climaxed with the May Fourth Movement (in 1919).
For this year's celebration, general-secretary Hu Jintao of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China encouraged young Chinese to not only uphold excellent traditional Chinese culture but also absorb the fruits of world civilization.
In Guangdong, the front line of China's economic reform, provincial governor Wang Yang inspired youth to break off ideological shackles and emancipate their mind to blaze a new trail for scientific development.
"One reason for the May Fourth Movement to be ceremoniously commemorated lies in its everlasting value from holding high the banners of democracy and science. What China lacks most are democracy and science on its way from backwardness to modernization and prosperity," said Bao Xinjian, vice chairman of the Chinese Society of Political Science and professor of Shandong University.
Many problems facing contemporary China, he said, have gone beyond economic sphere, including bureaucratism, corruption, lack of credibility, personality cult.
Scientific manner
"When official ranks and wealth are used as the popular gauge to judge a person's social worth, I must say our society is at the risk of deviating from the objective of upholding science," Bao said.
"Science refers to not only technology to elevate productivity, but also the awareness to act in a scientific manner and having a scientific social system."
Huang Nansen, 87, a retired professor of philosophy of Peking University, said the repercussions of the May Fourth Movement were indelible among the people of his generation.
"There were twists and turns while the Chinese people sought for a decent life in the past century. But democracy and science have always served as the lighthouse, guiding the nation to stick to what was right and modify what was wrong," he said.
For instance, the solely state-owned economic system was eased to allow the existence and prosperity of private economy.
For another example, the governing Communist Party of China made a clear declaration in 2007 to promote inner-party democracy and inter-party harmony. The Party's Constitution was revised to make sure the development is for the people, relying on the people and shared by all Chinese.
In mid-April, the Chinese government put forth its first human rights action plan that forbids law enforcement officers to extort a confession by torture or exercise illegal detention. It pledges to strengthen supervision of law enforcement to protect the human rights of the detainees.
"These measures mark the awakening of the governing party. A scientific outlook will allow democratic systems to prosper and the people to seek and cherish truth. Otherwise, China's future development can hardly sustain itself," said Bao Xinjian.
(The authors are Xinhua writers.)
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