chinese writer murong xuecun: a few moments in the china rising story

7/28/2019 Chinese writer Murong Xuecun: A Few Moments in the China Rising Story

1/21

1

@ 2012-6-22 13:00(3227)(0)(0):

A Few Moments in the China Rising Story

Murong Xuecun

Translated by Jane Weizhen Pan, Martin Merz, Ling Wang

Mention China and people think of the Great Wall, tofu, kung fu, and of course,

Confucius. They might also think of the skyscrapers in Beijing and Shanghai, and the

unforgettable 2008 Olympics which heralded Chinas rise as a great nation. People

started to believe that China had farewelled forever the era of humiliation and tragedy,

that China has truly become rich and powerful. And not just in terms of military

mightChina now has trillions of dollars in foreign exchange reserves and is

destined to become the centre of the world.

This, perhaps, is all true, but today I want to tell you some stories from another

perspective, stories that are well known in China and that have been widely reported

on. These stories do not represent all of China, but they all represent a part of China.

But like most hot topics, they were much talked about and caused a great deal of

excitement for a while, but in the blink of an eye they were filed away in the recesses

of public consciousness and forgotten. The rise of China has also led to a rise in

amnesia. Today, as China is rising to new heights I want to retell these stories in the

hope that you can learn something about the entirely different kind of life some

people in China are living.

1 The petitioner

At 2.40 pm on the 29th of June, 2009, fifty-four-year-old Wu Chandi squeezed on to a

number 14 bus in Beijing. She was heading to the Legislative Affairs Office of the


2/21

2

State Council to present a petition. In todays parlance, Wu Chandi is not a citizen,

shes a petitioner. And like most petitioners she had sought help from the government

because she did not receive fair treatment from the local courts. And like petitioners

who do not get satisfaction from the local government, she too embarked on long

pilgrimages to Beijing to lodge a formal complaint with the Petition Office of the

State Council.

This is a drama that has been played out countless times in China over the centuries

and the script is unchanged even in this the era of China rising. Petitioners naively

believe that they will find a place where people will listen to reason if they just try

hard enough.

As Wu and her fellow provincials squeezed onto the bus packed with a noisy throng

of sweat-soaked passengers she cherished but one humble hope: that she would be

treated fairly. But at that moment she had no inkling of where the bus would really

take her.

Ten minutes after Wu embarked, Cui Lin, the bus driver, closed the bus doors and

telephoned the Beijing Public Security Bureau to report that there were a lot of

petitioners on his bus, and requested the police send some officers to deal with them.

We do not know why Cui Lin made this call. Perhaps he was on a mission. Or

perhaps it was simply because he has a heightened sense of vigilance.

A quarter of an hour later five policemen arrived on the scene. They did not speak to

anyone nor did they check anyones ID. But they would not let anyone disembark

either.

After another half hour a dozen plain-clothed men arrived. Wu assumed they worked

for the Changzhou city government, and were tasked with persuading petitioners from

Changzhou to return home.

Wu and her associates ignored their counsel. They disembarked the bus, caught the

next number 14 bus, delivered their petition and then returned home to wait for a

response.


3/21

3

Wus hometown of Changzhou is located in Jiangsu province, one of the wealthiest

and most developed regions of China. On the journey home, as the train raced past

innumerable cities and villages, Wu saw that crops were growing well and that every

chimney along the way was belching smoke. As we now know, Chinas industry and

agriculture grew rapidly in 2009.

On the 7th of July, 2010, some three hundred and seventy two days later, Wu was

suddenly surrounded by a group of plainclothes police while she was out strolling

with her husband. The policemen took her straight to a police station for questioning.

That was a long day for Wu Chandi. Towards evening the police showed her a

document, a notification of administrative detention for nine days. The reason: whenWu took the number 14 bus in Beijing three hundred and seventy two days previously,

she had not purchased a ticket, which caused the bus to be delayed for over an hour.

The cost of a number 14 bus ticket is one yuanabout ten pence. There was no

CCTV on the bus and there is no way to verify the transaction. Apart from driver Cui

Lins testimony, there is no evidence to prove that Wu did not buy a one yuan ticket.

By the same token, Wu has no way to prove she did buy a ticket. As China rises, this

is often how the law works: apart from law enforcement agencies proving that you did

something, you also need to prove that did not do something. Otherwise you may be

found guilty.

A one yuan discrepancy led to a now fifty-five-year-old Wu Chandi being handcuffed

and incarcerated in a detention centre. Apparently the police felt that administrative

detention was insufficient punishment for her one yuan offence, because the next day

they rescinded the decision and changed it to one year of labour re-education.

Labour re-education doesnt sound all that bad, but actually its the same as going to

jail, just without the need for a trial. If the police consider it necessary, they can

unilaterally take away a citizens freedom. People who have gone through labour re-

education are marked for life. In the era of China rising, labour re-education alumni

like Wu Chandi number in the hundreds of thousands.

The 365 days of labour re-education were a very long nightmare for Wu Chandi. She


4/21

4

lost her freedom and lived in cramped quarters. Every day she had to recite rules and

regulations. She was forced to work without any compensation. The work was

making diodes. Wu Chandi lost count of how many diodes she made during that long

year, but one thing is certain: those diodes are used in electronic gadgets and these

gadgets are broadcasting the news of China rising.

A year after completing her labour re-education Wu Chandi is still terrified by her

experience. She often has nightmares about her time as an internee. Waking up in

fright she wails, I bought a bus ticket, please dont send me to labour re-education.

After being released from labour re-education, Wu Chandi embarked on a another sad

journey: she lodged an appeal to a local court challenging the administrative decisionto send her to labour re-education and applied for compensation. The judgment was

predictable: she lost. Wu then appealed to a higher court, and lost again. The

judgement states that the decision to send her to labour re-education was entirely

justified and broke no laws, and thus no one need shoulder any legal responsibility.

Wu Chandi is now fifty-seven years old and in poor health. She often feels dejected

and hopeless, despairing that she is but a weak woman who is old and infirm, unable

to fight any more. She has two plans for the future: she wants to regain her health, and

once she has regained her health, she wants to continue petitioning.

At 2.40 pm on the 29th of June, 2009, when Wu Chandi squeezed on to a number 14

bus in Beijing, she had no idea that the bus she was on traverses some of the most

impressive sights in the world. The number 14 bus provides a view of the wall of

Zhongnanhaithe Chinese Communist Partys leadership compoundbefore it

passes a corner of Tiananmen Square. You can see many ancient historicalmonuments as well as modern skyscrapers from the number 14 bus.

And then, of course, theres the imposing National Theatre. A few hours after her bus

passed by there was a grand concert with ticket prices ranging from 180 to 580 yuan

(18 to 58 pounds) for a performance that included classics such as Lay another brick

in the mansion of socialism and Chairman Maos words are forever engraved on my

heart. The performance was attended by numerous VIPs who were welcomed with

rousing cheers.


5/21

5

But Wu Chandi knew nothing of this as she sat on the bus trundling inexorably on her

troubled journey in the era of China rising. Wu Chandis name in Chinese sounds like

made in nowhere, but now we know she is made in the era of China rising.

2 The suicide bomber

At nine am on the 26th of May, 2011, Qian Mingqi parked a small silver coloured van

in front of the Procuratorate Building in the city of Wuzhou, in Jiangxi province. The

guard in charge of security told Qian he couldnt park there, but Qian said he was just

eating a bowl of noodles and would soon be on his way. It was a Thursday and the

sky was clear. Most of the shops in the area were open and office workers had just

started their days work.

No one noticed this unremarkable fifty-two year old man at that critical moment,

though he had given many hints of what he was about to do.

The van was a Changan brandChangan means eternal peacebut within half an

hour there was an explosion in the van, and in two other vehicles. The owner, Qian

Mingqi, died on the spot.

Qian Mingqi was born in Beijing in 1959, the year of the worst famine in Chinese

history. It was a year of low birth rates and high infant mortality. From this

perspective, Qian had a lucky start in life. Over the course of his fifty-two years, Qian

was by no means wealthy, though he certainly wasnt poor. It would be fair to say,

however, that Qian was better off than the majority of people in China. By the year

2000 he owned a five-story house with many rooms and floor space of about 700

square meters. That building was the result of a lifetime of hard work. It took his

entire life savings of half a million yuan (about 50,000 pounds) and some loans as

well. He expected to be able to live in his home for many years because he made it

known that he was building it to withstand earthquakes.

However, two years later the government decided to build an expressway from

Beijing to Fuzhou, and according to the plans Qian Mingqis house sat in the path of

the carriageway. The expressway was designated an important infrastructure project,


6/21

6

and in the era of China rising that means nothing can stand in its way. Not even a new

house that used up someones life savings to build.

The market value of Qians home was about two million yuan (over two hundred

thousand pounds) but the government valuation worked differently and they only

offered two hundred and fifty thousand yuan (about twenty five thousand pounds) in

compensation. Qian was unwilling to accept the package. He pleaded. He resisted. He

even got into ferocious fights with the demolition crew. But like so many other houses

in the era of China rising, no matter how many certificates the owner has applied for

and obtained, Qians home too could not escape the wreckers ball.

In 2005 the Beijing to Fuzhou Expressway opened to traffic. This 2,540 kmexpressway is one of the best in China. Connecting Beijing with the rich and populous

southeastern seaboard, it acts as an important artery for moving materials and

equipment. This expressway is vital to Chinas economic development.

As the government held a spectacular ceremony to mark the opening of the

expressway, Qian Mingqi was on a train heading to Beijing. By that time he had been

transformed from a prosperous businessman into a determined petitioner who still

embraced hope and had no intention of dying.

Qian Mingqi did not start out as an extremist as he pursued every legal avenue to

receive fair compensation. To equip himself in his numerous attempts to follow legal

procedures Qian took up studying the law. He tried negotiating with the

governmenthe failed. He applied for an administrative reviewhe failed again. He

took his case to courtyet again he failed. He appealed to a higher courtand that

too failed. In 2007 he joined a group of fellow evictees in reporting local officials forembezzling their relocation compensation funds. You can predict the resultit failed.

Over the course of almost ten years Qian Mingqi travelled many times from Jiangxi

province to Beijing in the hope of resolving his problem at the highest levels of

government. This legal remedy known in China as petitioning resulted, of course, in

an unending series of failures for Qian Mingqi.

Nobody remembers what happened to Qian Mingqi on those sojourns in Beijing:


7/21

7

perhaps he was forcibly repatriated to Jiangxi; perhaps dejected he returned of his

own volition. But we do know that Qian Mingqi and his friends are part of the scenery

in the rise of China, and have become the most significant waste products of a rising

China.

In 2006 Qian Mingqi began to use the internet to publicise his misfortunes online but

there was little response. As microblogging took off Qian Mingqi registered accounts

on numerous web portals. On the Tencent portal he pleaded for assistance from fifty

people but no one replied. He then implored 200 people on the Sina.com portal to

help him, and again no one replied. I was one of the people who did not reply.

After Qian Mingqi died I noticed for the first time that he had written to merequesting that I repost his testimonial but I did nothing. Well I came up many

reasons for my inaction but today I wish to confess that I did not respond because I

was selfish and indifferent to the plight of others. Qian Mingqi died because of his

own peculiar circumstances but he also died because this society is uncaring. And that

includes me.

During the Chinese New Year festival in early 2011, Qian Mingqi pasted traditional

couplets, written in gold characters on red paper on each side of the door to his house,

with a non-traditional theme:

Happy New Year? Nothing happy about it!

My wrongs righted? Not a chance for it!

By this time Qian Mingqi was utterly disheartened and was ready to die. He posted

messages online telling people to look out for some explosive news coming from

Jiangxi province. He said he was preparing to take his enemies to the netherworld

with him and frequently declared that he intended to blow up a government building.

No one believed him.

Shortly before the explosion Qian Mingqi posted his telephone number online with an

offer to donate all his organs, though only to the children of needy families. This wish

was not granted because soon after he died in the explosion Qian Mingqi was

cremated and his ashes were buried. The telephone number still works and it is


8/21

8

answered by one of Qians sons. The younger son is unwilling to discuss anything

about his father, but his older brother is a little more talkative. He is planning to write

a book about petitioners, modeling the main character on his father.

At 9 am on the 26th of May, 2011, Qian Mingqi decided to leave this world. He

packed three cheap vehicles with explosives. He had told a friend that he wanted to

give the government a present. In point of fact, the government did not receive his

present and Qian Mingqis death did not awaken the rising China. All it achieved was

an increase in policing and security checks, while petitioners still trudge along their

arduous path.

Qian Mingqis present was actually delivered to some people even less fortunate thanhimself: two security guards, He Haigen and Xu Yingfu, died together with Qian

Mingqi. They once had families and enjoyed normal life. He Haigens son was in

primary school and Xu Yingfus son was a university student. They were both poor,

having come from poor families, and, being engaged in low status work had low

incomes, less than 1,000 yuan per month. During the era of China rising, no one really

pays much attention to whether such people live or die.

3 The mental health patient

At two am on April 19, 2011, Xu Wu managed to bend the iron railings of the gated

mental health ward with wooden sticks and bed sheets and sneak out of the the 2nd

hospital of the Wuhan Iron and Steel Corporation, in the city of Wuhan. Outside was

a yard overgrown with weeds. The guards were deep asleep. Xu Wu gingerly pushed

the metal gate ajar and stepped back into the sane world he had been kept away from

for a long time.

This is not his first attempt to escape. In March 2007, Xu had snuck out of the heavily

guarded hospital once before, after spending eight nights secretly sawing through the

iron bars on the window with a saw blade he had fortuitously found.

One month later, he was picked up by the police and put back into the prion-like

structure. In the following four years, he was kept in this fortress, forced to swallow


9/21

9

inedible food and to regularly take tablets with unknown effects. Sometimes he

received electric shock treatments and suffered physical abuse. For a long period, he

was held in solitary confinement. For two years, he did not see the sun and hardly

ever received visits from his family and friends.

It might surprise you to learn that, according to the official record, Xu Wu was not a

criminal. He was a mental health patient.

Xu Wu was born in 1968 to a workers family. If our political textbooks are not

mistaken, that would make him a member of Chinas ruling class. His father had

worked at the Wuhan Iron and Steel Corporation for decades. At the age of 21, Xu

entered the ranks of the same company after graduating from a technical institute.

According to the official record, Xu was not a good employee. He had taken

unauthorised leave and broken workplace regulations. But Xu disagrees. He believes

his only problem is that he takes things too seriously, which in China can be

interpreted as being too stubborn, or too obsessed with his rights. This is why Xu

was kept in the mental health ward for so long. But this is not surprising. In the era of

China rising, in a place where peoples rights are commonly neglected, taking rights

too seriously can be seen as an illness.

From 2003 to 2006, Xu Wu had over a dozen legal battles with his employer because

he believed the company had unfairly cut his wages. Initially, the dealings between

him and his employer were cordial. After a court conciliation, the company offered to

provide Xu with financial assistance on humanitarian grounds but denied any

wrongdoing on its part. Xu refused to accept this conciliation outcome. He said of

course money is important for him, but a court decision over right or wrong is evenmore important. The court decision soon was delivered. Xu lost the case.

Xu Wu was fighting against a business giant. The Wuhan Iron and Steel Corporation

is the fourth largest steel manufacturer in the world and ranked 340 among the

worlds top 500 enterprises. The companys headquarters occupy an area of 21 square

kilometres. The company employs several hundred thousand people and owns

hundreds of billions of yuan in assets as well as countless subsidiaries. The company

has its own schools, hospitals and law enforcement agencies.


10/21

10

Members of companys management team enjoy benefits of government officials, or

perhaps they are government officials. Also worth mentioning, is the company has

been named one of the nations best-managed enterprises. In the era of China rising, a

best-managed enterprise like this can bestow fortunes to some people, but such giant

corporations can also make some people very unfortunate.

Xu Wu belongs to the unfortunate group. He has to endure the harshest life in

contemporary China since he turned down his employers offer of assistance on

humanitarian grounds. He was physically attacked many times and his injuries

required hospital treatment. He was humiliated and locked up many times. He tried to

resist whenever he was persecuted but every act of defiance only resulted in even

more severe persecution. In the end, he had to flee the city of Wuhan.

On December 16, 2006, Xu Wu was arrested at the entrance of the Peking University

in Beijing. The official explanation for this event was that Xu had threatened to set off

a bomb at Tiananmen Square, and that he had been found in possession of a bomb-

making recipe, and an electricians cutter and bomb-making ingredients were found in

his backpack. But Xu denies it all. He said he went to Beijing simply to seek legal

assistance.

On December 31, 2006, the streets of Wuhan were full of festivity. People dressed up

to welcome the new year. CCTV, the state television channel, broadcast a new year

gala event to celebrate the time of happiness, to praise the wisdom and kindness of the

government. On that day, Xu Wu was taken to a concrete fortress and subjected to

1,571 days of mental health treatment. None of his family members was present when

he was admitted. Wearing a blue-and-white striped hospital uniform, curled up in a

tiny hospital bed, he looked like a forlorn zebra crushed under the weight of a rising

nation.

On May 1, 2007, clothed in rags, Xu Wu arrived at Tiananmen Square. This was after

he snuck out of the hospital for the first time. A month before arriving at the square,

he sought shelter under bridges in Beijing. He lived on money he earned from selling

recycled cans and bottles. He begged for help in front of the gate of many government

agencies. No one listened to what he had to say.


11/21

11

The 1st

of may was another large fesival in China. Tiananmen sqaure was swarmed

with tourists from every parts of China. Xu Wu found a relatively open space and

lighted a cander under the clear sunny sky. This action seemes to have its tradition as

forty seven years before, He Mingyuan, a man suffering from famine and oppression

did the same thing and was plunged into prison as a result. Xu Wus fate was slightly

better than He Mingyuans. he was thrown into a prison-like hospital. Xu Wus candle

is a riddle hard to fathom. When he held the lighted candle high in the Tiananmen

squre, he purported to convey the message: at the time Wuhan city, 1200 kilometers

awary from Beijing was in pitch-dark night.

From a certain perspective, Xu Wu was lucky. His fellow patients had to pay to

receive treatment, but Xu got his treatment for free. Perhaps the hospital authority

believed his condition was too severe to have visitors, so no one was allowed to visit

him. Again and again, his aged parents went to the concrete fortress attempting to

visit their son. Again and again, they were turned away at the gate. From 2007 to

2011, they were turned away 86 times. They appealed to the local court but the court

refused to hear their case. They approached medical experts in local hospitals to

review Xu Wus condition, but the hospitals refused to assist. They lived only a few

kilometres away from their son, but the distance for them was as far away as another

planet.

At two am on April 19, 2011, Xu Wu snuck out of the hospital. He borrowed 2,000

yuan (about 200 pounds) from a friend and took a train to Guangzhou in southern

China. He went to a mental health hospital and requested an assessment. Except

feeling unhappy and having low self-esteem, the assessment did not reveal any

severe mental illness. Xu Wu then sought help from the media. On April 27, after he

went on television describing his experience, he was taken away from the compound

of the TV station by seven plain-clothed men. One of them said he was surnamed

Zhou. Later, his true identity was revealed. He was a member of the law enforcement

agency under the Wuhan Iron and Steel Corporation. His surname was not Zhou.

This incident caused a media frenzy. Journalists interviewed Xus family and

neighbours. Everyone said Xu was mentally sound. Despite Xus request to receive an

authoritative mental health assessment in another province, the assessment report was

issued in his home province. This reports states that Xu suffers from paranoid mental


12/21

12

disorders and advised Xu to be treated as an in-patient. Xu Wus parents ignored

the advice and took their son home. After the assessment report was released, the

media lost interest in Xus case. As you would understand, the media are

overwhelmed by the number of stories they have to cover.

Going home for Xu Wu doesnt mean regaining freedom. According to Xu Wu,

problems are still following him. In August 2011, he escaped from his home but was

soon picked up by the people who were assigned to watch him and bundled back. In

December last year, he made it to Beijing again and stayed for 43 days. Every day he

pleaded for help online. Most of the time he talked about his own experience but he

also paid attention to others. He received few responses. Obviously, his story is no

longer hot. Forty-three days later, he was taken back to Wuhan. These days he is

teaching himself law at home.

Xu has two plans for the future. One is to endure whatever life brings him. The

other relates to the law. Legally, he has been deemed mentally unsound and no court

will take up his case. But he still has hopes for the law and wants to study law and

promote the law. I asked him if he wants to sit the National Judicial Exam. He said

no. He told me that he is not confident he could pass the exam and that he just wants

to do whatever he can to help others.

At 44, Xu Wu is still single and wants to find love in the near future. He met someone

he liked in 2006 but he thought that was far from falling in love. We just chatted for

a few times, Xu told me. However, he has lost contact with that woman after all the

years he spent in the mental health ward. Im sure she is already married and has

children, said Xu.

4 The black lung patient

At 8 am on the 29th of December, 2010, Zhong Guangwei was wheeled into the

operating theatre of the Nanjing Chest Hospital. Two hours later, 15 bottles

containing 8 litres of murky liquid, were lavaged from his left lung. The liquid

contained innumerable black granules and cottony substances. But the procedure was


13/21

13

not complete because the doctor only lavaged his left lung.

Born in 1973, Zhong Guangwei dropped out of school after five years and worked a

hard life digging the barren land, sweating and laboring under the sun just as his

grandfather and father before him had. In violation of Chinas One Child Policy

Zhong had three children. Because of government policy he could only obtain

legitimate residence certificates for the extra children by paying fines. This was an

unbearable burden for him.

For the past 60 years since the founding of the Peoples Republic of China, farmers

like Zhong Guangwei have been the most hard-working and the most destitute. They

are second class citizens in this country. They barely survive, toiling year after yearwithout regular incomes and pensions. In the era of China rising, the government

exempts farmers from land tax and as a result some farmers live slightly better lives.

However, for a destitute farmer like Zhong Guangwei, life has not improved.

In November 2006, Zhong Guangwei bade farewell to his wife and children to start a

job as a pneumatic drill operator for a coal mine in Datong, Shanxi province. Shanxi

is the largest coal-producing province in China. For decades it has been producing

tens of billions tons of coal, used in the generation of electricity for the rise of this

great nation.

Many people have made huge fortunes from coalmining, which also accounts for the

notoriety of Shanxi as the worst polluted province with the highest number of

industrial accidents. Many coal-miners work in extremely dangerous and unhealthy

conditions underground. Most of them are not covered by labor insurance or protected

from industrial hazards. Many die deep down in mine shafts and their deaths are anintegral part of the rise of China.

The place where Zhong Guangwei worked was once a Buddhist sanctuary, only four

kilometers from the renowned Yungang Grottos. To earn more money, Zhong worked

over ten hours a day in noisy and dusty conditions. Four months later, he felt pain in

his lungs and began coughing a lot. But he persevered with work, and only asked

doctors to administer intravenous drips when the pain was unendurable. The next day

he would continue operating the pneumatic drill, allowing coal dust sweep across his


14/21

14

face, and settle in his lungs.

In the spring of 2007, Zhong Guangweis health was totally destroyed. His weight

plunged and the coughing fits became worse. He feared that he had pneumoconiosis

and went to the Datong city Health Examination and Testing Center for an checkup.

The doctor, however, refused to examine him on the grounds that pneumoconiosis is

an occupational disease, and they could only give him a medical examination if they

had proof that Zhong Guangwei had an occupation.

This meant that Zhong Guangwei had first to provide a labor contract. But he was

only an off-farm worker, a typical designation with Chinese characteristics that

reflects his dual identity: farmer and worker. Farmer is an immutable class attribute,while worker is his actual occupation. In the era of China rising, the number of off-

farm workers exceeds 120 million. They build roads and mansions, they take on the

most onerous and dangerous work, but at the same time they are the most despised

people in China, and are routinely treated as criminal suspects. They sweat and labor

day after day, seldom aware of their legal rights. Many of them have no concept about

protecting themselves by signing a labor contract. When their rights are violated, the

only thing they can do is to endure, as they are not able to present labor contracts to

the law courts. Surely you must know that China is a country governed by the rule of

law.

Zhong Guangwei had to go back to the coal mine where he worked to ask his

employer to issue a certificate of proof of employment. But his request was refused.

In the eyes of his employers, he had become a nuisance. They felt no obligation to

help him.

Zhong Guanwei had no choice but to seek assistance from the government. He

applied for an administrative ruling from the South District Labor Bureau of Datong

city. This turned out to be an extremely arduous expedition. With forced smiles and

humble entreaties, he tottered back and forth on the citys roads coughing in agony

and waiting in vain. Three months later, he finally received the administrative ruling

of the Labor Bureau which simply denied that an employment relationship existed

between Zhong Guangwei and the coal mine owner. The reason was simple, and

typical of the era of China risingZhong Guangwei never worked in the coal mine as


15/21

15

he was not acquainted with the coal mine owner.

Now he had to file a complaint to the Peoples Court. The same expedition was

repeatedforced smiles, humble entreaties and tottering stepsover and over during

first trial at the Court of First Instance and second trial at the Intermediate Court. At

last, Zhong Guangwei won, with a decision adjudicating that there was indeed a de

facto employment relationship between him and the coal mine owner. After one

years painstaking effort, he finally won the right to receive a medical examination.

The medical report stated that he had stage II pneumosilicosis. His lungs were

severely damaged. With this medical report, he began to apply to the government for

an industrial injury appraisal. This was, again, an arduous expedition. His conditiondeteriorated and the treatment depleted his meager savings. He could only afford to

kill the pain with the cheapest pain killers on the market, taking the pills one by one at

first, and then by the handful.

Seven months later, he was appraised with stage III industrial injury, which means a

total loss of ability to work. Then he started to claim for industrial injury

compensation. He filled in the forms, copied the certificates and collected all the

necessary documents. Coughing wretchedly, he again called upon the Labor Bureau

of the South District of Datong city. Unlike their usual obfuscation, this time the

Labor Bureaus response was devastatingly concise. They told him that his

application could not be accepted because the coal mine he worked for was shut down

several months earlier.

Again he filed another complaint, the results of which this time only took several

months. The court ruled that he won the case and was entitled to compensation of490,000 yuan (about fourty-nine thousand pounds). He waited four months but

received not a penny. Then he had to apply for enforcement of the court order. In the

story of Zhong Guangwei, I have emphatically repeated the phrase arduous

expedition. But believe me, this time the expedition was more arduous than ever.

In the era of China rising, enforcement of a court decision is a formidable task. Even

the most experienced lawyer will feel faint on hearing the word enforcement, let

alone a lowly, impoverished and dying farmer like Zhong Guangwei. He and his wife


16/21

16

stumbled back and forth between their domicile and the court, only falling further and

further into desperation. They kneeled on the ground, weeping and begging. As you

know, the court is obliged to follow the law, so the judges would raise many

reasonable requests of him, such as to bring the coal mine owner to the court and to

provide a warehouse to store heavy coal mining equipment. The judges must have

believed that meeting their demands would have been a piece of cake for Zhong

Guangwei.

At this time, Zhong Guangwei had become penniless and was heavily indebted. He

lived in an ocean of coal but he could not afford to burn coal to keep his family warm.

In the chilling winter of twenty degree below zero in northern China, his family of

five, including a two year old infant, huddled up under a thin blanket doing their best

to keep warm. Zhong Guangwei coughed throughout the night, and sometimes even

lost consciousness. He and his wife even considered suicide while his twelve-year old

daughter was preparing to sell her blood. At his nadir, Zhong Guangwei, a simple and

kind farmer, even had thoughts of blowing up this world of suffering.

Things took a favorable turn several months later. Some kind-hearted people extended

helping hands and there was wide media coverage of his misfortune. On the 28th of

October, 2010, the court summoned Zhong Guangwei and his debtors. Tough

negotiation ensued. In the era of China rising, the law has two versions: soft and hard.

For Wu Chandi, Qian Mingqi and Xu Wu the law was hard and non-negotiable. For

Zhong Guangwei, the law was soft and negotiable. Because the coalmine owner

refused to compensate the total sum, the judges mediated between the two parties.

Zhong Guangwei had to lower his price over and over, from 490,000 yuan down to

480,000, then to 470,000 yuan, then 350 000, and ultimately down to 270,000 yuan

(about twenty-seven thousand pounds) where the deal finally closed. For Zhong

Guangwei law is his last resort, but ultimately the law took a forty-five percent

discount from him.

At 8 am on the 29th of November, 2010, Zhong Guangwei was wheeled into the

operating theatre of the Nanjing Chest Hospital. Fifteen bottles of murky liquid were

lavaged from his left lung. Once again Zhong Guangwei was wheeled into the

operating theatre of the Nanjing Chest Hospital. Even more murky fluid was lavaged

from the right lung, filling some twenty-one bottles. The doctor said that lung


17/21

17

lavaging could only mitigate his symptoms and there was no cure for the disease.

In the era of China rising, there are tens of thousands of off-farm workers suffering

from pneumosilicosis just like Zhong Guangwei. However, most of them are not as

fortunate as him. In the absence of media coverage and attention from society, they

can barely protect their own rights. They toil in silence, and in silence they suffer, and

die.

Zhong Guangwei is still alive. At a height of 173 cm, he only weighs 52 kilograms.

He had his lungs lavaged, paid off his debt and even bought an old house. The money

he received in exchange for his lost health, is almost completely gone. Because he is

an off-farm worker Zhong Guangwei is ineligible for reimbursement of medicalexpenses.

To Zhong Guangwei, the future is beyond his reach. He cannot make any plans for

the future. He just wants to raise some pigs and goats, to feed his family, keep them

warm and strive to survive. He has learnt to use the internet. For the past two years,

Zhong Guangwei has posted over four thousand messages online. All of his posts are

about his concern for the disadvantaged. He said to me: I suffered and I know how it

feels. Theres not much I can do, but at least I can give people who are suffering a

little warmth.

5 The candidate

I also want to tell you the story of Liang Shuxin. Liang is in his 30s and is member of

the Communist Party. On September 8, 2011, at the venue to elect the local peoples

representatives, Liang crossed out the names of two candidates on the ballot, wrote

down his own name and cast his ballot. Despite having the support of many ordinary

people, Liang lost his bid to become a candidate, because some people had made

sure he couldnt become a candidate. The next election will be in 2016. He said he

will definitely participate if the election procedure is fair.


18/21

18

6 The online commentator

I also want to tell you the story of Xiao Han. By May 29, 2012, Xiao Hans account

on the microblog portal Sina Weibo had been shut down 131 times. Xiao Han is 43.

He is an academic at the China University of Political Science and Law. Xiao avidly

follows current affairs and regularly voices his opinion online.

In November 2009, Xiao Han first registered his user name on Weibo. He posted

messages about the law and freedom of speech. His account was quickly shut down.

He then registered a new account name, Xiao Han Weibo II. When that account was

shut down, he registered another account under a new name, Xiao Han Weibo III.

When I left China a few days ago, his latest Weibo user name was Xiao Han WeiboCXXXIIthats 132 times Xiao Han has had to register to have his voice heard.

In some ways, Xiao has died 131 times. He doesnt know how many more times he

will be allowed to be reborn, but he refuses to give up. Where there is no freedom,

freedom means everything.

There are thousands of Chinese netizens like Xiao Han. They are called members of

the Reincarnated Party. One party member was reincarnated 359 times. This is a

battle between a hard wall and soft tissue. Even though losing the battle is inevitable,

members of the Reincarnated Party never shy away from throwing themselves against

the iron wall.

7 The joker

Fang Hong is 44 year-old civil servant. On April 21, 2011, he posted a joke about Bo

Xilai and Wang Lijun, the now disgraced officials of Chongqing. The joke consisted

of merely 58 Chinese characters. As a result of posting the joke, Fang Hong became

probably one of the most highly paid writers in the worldhe was sent to a labor re-

education camp for one yearwhich equates to 6.3 days of his freedom per character.

People can now blame Bo Xilai for Fang Hongs plight. But Bo Xilai is not the

fundamental reason Fang Hong got into trouble.


19/21

19

Why is a rising China so scared of a joke? What kind of a system would throw

someone into prison for simply telling a joke? Why is it that the rights of a citizen can

be deprived so easily but are so hard to restore?

8 The bribe giver

Finally, please allow me to talk about my own China rising moment. When I was

thirty years old I applied for my first passport. At the time, I lived in Guangdong

province in the south, but had to submit my application in person in Sichuan province

in the far west of China where my household registration record was held. The

journey to Sichuan only takes two hours by plane, but the application process took

two weeks, during which time I had to make countless journeys between various

government offices. Every journey was a battle. I felt that obtaining a passport was no

longer my legal right as a Chinese citizen, but a gift bestowed by the government for

which I must be grateful. As part of the procedure, I was required obtain a certificate

from the neighborhood committee, confirming I was not a Falun Gong practitioner

and had not participated in the student movement of 1989.

It was a hot summer afternoon. I stood in line for two hours before finally being

allowed to speak to the busy neighborhood committee director. The director was

probably the lowest ranking official in Chinas bureaucratic chain, but he was as cold

as most of the government officials above him. I need proof that you have never

practiced Falun Gong and did not participate in the student movement, he insisted.

Its difficult for someone to prove he did not do something. Other people can only

testify if one has actually done something, I said, trying to reason with the man. I

told him that it was impossible for me to be part of the student movement in 1989

because I was just a junior high school student at the time. As for Falun Gong, I have

never had anything to do with them. All I said was true and the man knew it but he

still refused to issue the certificate. I didnt dare to argue with him because that would

mean the end of my passport application. Putting my pride aside, I pleaded and

begged. He would not budge.


20/21

20

In the end, I gave in. I bribed him with a carton of Chung HwaChina brand

cigarettes, which cost 400 yuan, about 40 pounds.

I proved my innocence through dishonorable means. The neighborhood committee

director gave up his principles for a carton of cigarettes.

I thanked him. Youre welcome, he replied. Thats what Im supposed to do. To

this day, I dont know if he meant he was supposed to issue me the certificate, or

supposed to take my bribe.

It took him only five minutes to issue the certificate. But obtaining the certificate was

only the first step of my long journey towards applying for a passport.

That was in 2003. At the time, people had just started to talk about the rise of China.

Conclusion

If we have time, I will tell you more stories. More stories about those who sweat in

fields under the sun, stories about other people who labour in mine pits and stories

about other humble, insignificant individuals who are struggling to survive. In recent

decades, it is these people who built the freeways and constructed the skyscrapers, it

is these people who have been carrying the 8% annual GDP growth every year and

created the China miracle, it is these people who bear the brunt of a rising China.

As a Chinese citizen, I of course hope my country will become prosperous. But this

prosperity should not just put money into government coffers. It should also bring

security, happiness and health to the Chinese people. This prosperity should not be

just about money, but also about prosperity in ideas, culture and art. Apart from

acquiring material prosperity, I hope my country becomes a greater civilization. Apart

from possessing military power, I hope my country embraces compassion for

mankind.

When my country rises, I hope my people can speak freely, instead of being

suffocated, I hope disadvantaged people can receive help, instead of being pushed


21/21

into the hell of suffering, I hope hard-working people can be rewarded, instead of

being exploited.

I hope the rise of my country benefits the entire population, instead of a handful of

families. I hope the rise of my country profits truly hard-working people, instead of

lining the pockets of corrupt bureaucrats.

I hope the rise of my country means power can be restrained, justice served and

peoples freedom protected, instead of more people being pushed into despair.

I hope the rise of my country is not at the expense of its peoples lives.

chinese writer murong xuecun: a few moments in the china rising story

Documents