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Kaixin001 v. Kaixin: Social Networking Goes to Court

Social networking site Kaixin001 has brought a lawsuit against Kaixin, a different social networking site that was created after Kaixin001. Kaixin001 is asking Kaixin to cease using the ‘Kaixin’ name and for compensation of lost advertising revenue.

From the Wall Street Journal China Journal:

The operator of one of China’s most popular social networking services, Kaixin001.com, has filed an unfair competition lawsuit against Beijing-based online entertainment company Oak Pacific Interactive, which started a competing service in October under the very similar name of Kaixin.com.

[...] The plaintiff’s site, Kaixin001.com, was launched in March 2008 and had recorded 20 million registered accounts and 700 million page views by April 2009, according to Chinese-language media. It is best known for its addictive online games, including some that are similar to Facebook’s “Parking War” and “Friends for Sale.” To monetize its traffic, in December Kaixin001.com began placing in-game advertisements in its Web game apps.

But the rapid growth of Kaixin001.com posed a direct challenge to Xiaonei.com, currently the biggest and most influential social networking Web site in China, which also happens to be owned by Oak Pacific Interactive. Created in 2005, Xiaonei.com, like Facebook before it, started out by focusing on college students (its name, in Chinese, means “on campus”). It was acquired by Oak Pacific Interactive in 2006 and currently has around 70 million registered users, half of whom use the site at least once a month.

See another look at the case, from People’s Daily Online:

“A domain name is just the door of a social networking site. People keep revisiting our website because it has a good reputation for games,” Xu Chaojun, vice-president of Qianxiang company, told China Daily yesterday.

“Kaixin.com is not a copycat! We will fight for our right and reputation in court,” he said.

For a comprehensive background of Kaixin001, please read the coverage at littleredbook.cn.
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- May 22, 2009 6:39 PM
Hangzhou Street Racing Victim Compensated 1.13 Million

The family of Tan Zhuo, the young man who was accidentally hit by street-racer Hu Bin, was compensated 1.13 million RMB for Tan’s death. chinaSMACK shares netizen views:

新浪河南网友手机用户:

I refuse to accept this! Without an agreement I will not believe it! The compensation was too quick, even before the courts have issued a sentence? Here, someone hits and kills 4 people and only paid 200,000! Everyone break up ["there is nothing to see here"]! Be careful when crossing the street, your father definitely does not have such good luck like old Tan [Tan Zhuo's father]!

新浪山东烟台网友:

Street-racing in busy city areas, this is not a simple traffic violation, it is a public safety endangerment crime. If this kind of crime is not punished severely, there will be even more cars racing on the streets and there will be even more people hit by street-racing cars. Are you willing to be hit? Are you willing to use 1 million to exchange your life? Perhaps 1 million is not a small amount of money for many people, but this probably cannot even pay for the car that was used to kill you. If a society sinks into using money to buy peace, giving money to make peace, then there are plenty of rich people, plenty of millionaires, plenty of billionaires, who can drive however they want and hit/kill however many people they want because they have plenty of money!!! If the perpetrator is not severely punished, then let’s wait for even more souls dying under the wheels of these street-racer groups.

TOM广东省惠州网友:

To speak my conscience, it is this society. If the media exposes it, and the leadership attaches importance to it, then the matter will go much more smoothly. [However] in most situations, the law stands on the side of those who have power because they have money!! This will be “dealt with leniently”!! This is the inevitable law of history!! Those with money will always be the boss, and those without money will forever be bullied by others! Poor people and rich people who have committed the same crime face different punishments. But if exposed, and everyone knows it, the leadership class, because of their goal of long-term development, will still however painfully impartially handle things!
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- May 22, 2009 6:11 PM
Sexual Harrassment Defined for the First Time in Beijing

Danwei translates a report from The Beijing News on amendments to the Law on Protection of Women’s Rights, which would define sexual harassment for the first time:

Using a mobile phone to send “yellow [pornographic] material” can possibly constitute as sexual harassment now. Yesterday morning, in Beijing new additions were made to the law for the Protection of Women’s Rights; now language, letters, pictures, electronic information, and physical conduct can all be cause for sexual harassment towards women. This is the first time that Beijing has defined the situations in which sexual harassment can happen in Beijing.

It is understood that “electronic information” basically means text messaging. The specific dividing line [of what is considered sexual harassment] will be decided during real situations. The director of the Law Department in Beijing Zhou Jidong (周继东) said that these actions were taken so that women will have a better idea of self-protection.

Also added into the draft was the responsibility of the work place in preventing sexual harassment.
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- May 22, 2009 12:26 PM
Hangzhou’s “Real-name Web Registration System” Is “On the Shelf”

Plans by the Hangzhou government to become the first city in China to require real-name registration for web users to participate in local chatrooms and forums are being shelved, according to Xinhua as reported by the China Media Project:

We can confirm what Xinhua is reporting — that users can, at present, get into major forums at Hangzhou portals, including Hangzhou Online, without providing any additional information.

After reading a statement in the registration section of Hangzhou Online stating that we would not “use this Website to harm national security, to twist or manufacture facts,” etc., we clicked “Accept” and went directly to the registration form.

Registering was as simple as typing in a username, setting a password and providing an e-mail address. There was no need whatsoever to provide valid proof of identity.
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- May 21, 2009 11:22 AM
Have You Left No Sense of Decency? How China’s Latest Internet Hero Will Test the Rule of Law

From the Chinaelections.org:

In the seemingly never-ending struggle of the common people vs. the corrupt officials, every once in awhile, there is a case that attracts nationwide attention. In 2003, there was the Sun Zhigang case, while last year protests in Weng’an, Guizhou surrounding the suspicious death of a high school girl attracted widespread attention online, and Yang Jia became famous for killing six police officers in Shanghai.

This year’s unlikely heroine is Deng Yujiao, a 21 year old waitress at an entertainment club in Badong County, Hubei. On Sunday May 10, she became the perpetrator in the stabbing murder of Deng Guida, a township level official, and she also injured his companion and colleague Huang Dezhi. The popular telling of the event starts with the officials Deng and Huang finding Deng Yujiao washing clothes in a service room right next to their leisure room and asking her to provide “special services,” a not so subtle euphemism for sexual services. The three got into an argument when she refused, saying she did not work for the hydrotherapy area. During the argument, Mr. Deng took out a pile of money and hit her with it, questioning, “are you afraid I don’t have enough money?” and pushed her down on to a sofa twice, which is when she took out a pedicure knife and stabbed him repeatedly, also stabbing Huang Dezhi when he moved towards her. However, reports from the official media have been slightly different, as they claim that the knife used in the stabbing was a fruit knife, not a pedicure knife, implying that it is possible that the murder was premeditated, because why would she be carrying a fruit knife? They also don’t mention that Deng Guida hit the young girl with his money. When the police arrested her the next day, they found depression medication in her bag and are currently keeping her in a mental institution[zh].

Also read: Legality Issue in Deng Yujiao’s Case from the Seagull Reference blog:

Twenty one years old Deng Yujiao is a staff in a small town resort in remote eastern Sichuan, until the evening of May 10, 2009. Three local officials, after dined with a local business (treated by the business because they helped to suppress a labor uprising), arrived the place and found Deng washing her clothing in the laundry room. The officials asked Deng to perform ‘Special’ service (sex). Deng refused. Then Deng ran to employee lounge to hide. The officials followed Deng to the lounge. One of the officials used a big stack of money bill to slap Deng Yujiao’s face, and firmly demanded special service as a self-claimed ‘wealthy customer’. Deng tried to run away, but was blocked by the other two officials. The first official lost his patience, and pressed Deng Yujiao to the bed. Deng managed to get away. The first official again pressed Deng Yujiao to the bed. While the second and the third officials pressing Deng Yujiao to the bed, the first official raped Deng. After the first official got off from Deng, Deng managed to grab a pedicure knife she used at work and struck the first official four times. Deng Yujiao called police while fencing the officials with her pedicure knife. After police arrived, the first official fell, and died later.

Shen Zhen Red Song Club, a left-wing Maoist group will dedicate its weekly gathering on May 24 to ‘Heroine Deng Yujiao’. This is one of few moment when left and right in China’s political composition agrees and recognizes a common ground. Outside the political turmoil, people are outraged. The entire online presence of Chinese language are covered with petition to honor Deng Yujiao as a hero.

And China Daily’s Report: Official stabbed to death for ’special service’ request.

Also read “Sympathy for Waitress who Stabbed Official” from CDT.
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- May 21, 2009 7:16 AM
Wrongly-jailed Blogger Fights For Justice

From China Daily:

A netizen was wrongly jailed for lying and slander after his online writings exposed an allegedly fraudulent village election.

Shi Xizhao was later cleared and offered compensation and an apology after he drew attention to his plight through association with well-known blogger Wang Shuai, who has also falsely imprisoned for speaking out against the government.

Shi, who was standing as a candidate for village committee head but lost out to a rival, said he has strong evidence that the poll was rigged.
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- May 20, 2009 2:46 AM
New China News Agency: Guardian of Media Ethics

From the Wall Street Journal’s China Journal blog:

China’s Xinhua News Agency is lecturing Western media outlets for ignoring risks, covering up lies, protecting the powerful and clouding the truth.

The context: China’s state news agency says its newsgathering efforts will be an essential pillar in a reordered global financial landscape, since a “monopoly” of Western media shirked their duty to protect the system.

“I will underscore today that the information asymmetry and the non-objective, unfair and one-sided information order as another reason for the financial crisis,” Xinhua Vice President Lu Wei told bankers and policymakers gathered in Shanghai on Saturday (report in Chinese here).

In his spirited presentation, Mr. Lu echoed other conference delegates that the global recession resulted from lax regulators and greedy financiers, and he also laid fresh charges: “Under a situation where news gathering was monopolized, communication power was controlled, risks were hidden, the truth covered-up, market information was disseminated to represent selected groups, falsities clouded investor judgment and brought finance to the abyss,” Mr. Lu said.
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- May 19, 2009 11:33 AM
Sophie Beach: Blocked By The GFW With China Digital Times

Kai Pan at CNReviews recently interviewed me about the past and future of CDT:

CNR: So how has CDT grown and changed since then? Have your goals changed? Where are you going with it and what do you see CDT becoming?

Sophie: CDT has grown tremendously since then, both in terms of readership and in range of content we post. Even over the past six years, the quantity of China reporting has just exploded, as has the number of bloggers who cover various aspects of China news, politics, and society. We try to filter through this abundance of information to save our readers the trouble of doing it themselves. Over the past year or two, we have begun to focus more on providing content from the increasingly rich and dynamic Chinese blogosphere, both in Chinese and translated into English. We are constantly experimenting with new features to see what works and what doesn’t, and we are currently exploring ways to improve the aggregating process so we can focus more time and energy on original content and translation.
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- May 19, 2009 8:55 AM
Art From the People’s Republic of the Grass-Mud Horse

From Daihua’s Art Space:

National emblem of the People’s Republic of the Grass-Mud Horse. (Please see here.)

National slogan of the People’s Republic of the Grass-Mud Horse: “No, Flipflop!” (Please see here.)

National uniform of the People’s Republic of the Grass-Mud Horse.
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- May 17, 2009 3:29 PM
China Replacing CCTV’s Chief After Fallout From Fire

Three months after a fire at CCTV’s new headquarters, the head of the broadcaster is being replaced, the Wall Street Journal reports:

In a brief report, state-run Xinhua news agency said 61-year-old Zhao Huayong is being replaced because he had reached retirement age.

The report didn’t mention the February fire. It said Mr. Zhao is being replaced by top propaganda official Jiao Li, vice minister of the publicity department of the Communist Party’s Central Committee.

Mr. Jiao was previously propaganda director for the northeastern province of Liaoning, which borders North Korea. He is one of the principles involved in helping launch China’s first listed publishing group, the Shanghai-listed Liaoning Publishing Group, in 2007.

He will take the helm at a difficult time for the state broadcaster. The CCTV fire on February 9th ignited a storm of public questioning over the extent of the institution’s mismanagement. It was sparked by a display of illegal, industry grade fireworks near the nearly-completed headquarters, which didn’t yet have fire prevention systems installed.

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- May 17, 2009 1:23 PM
Bloggers’ Reactions to the 5.12 Earthquake’s First Anniversary

Today marks the 1st anniversary of the Sichuan earthquake. Netizens across the web have weighed in on this solemn day. The following is a brief selection from Chinese bloggers Chang Ping, Hecaitou, and Ai Weiwei. Excerpted and translated by CDT.

From Chang Ping, “How Should We Help the Disaster Areas?” (”我们应该怎样帮助灾区”). Chang Ping is a noted journalist and himself from Sichuan.

Officials have gone, journalists have gone, celebrities have gone, tourists have gone, volunteers have gone …… It will undoubtedly be bustling today in Sichuan’s earthquake disaster areas. In my mind, it should be quieter. After all, this is a memorial anniversary, not a celebratory one. However, I can’t speak and myself not ache. I know the hearts of those in the disaster zones: if it’s too loud, they’ll hate the noise, but if it’s too quiet, they’ll fear being left behind. Comparatively speaking, the latter is more dreadful, so they prefer the commotion.

Moreover, this commotion is being turned into a form of profiteering. To use the words of local officials, this is an important source of tourism. As a result, they’re eager to set up earthquake tourism spots and hope that visitors’ grief, inspection, and experience can become a source of sustained revenue. Some people are absolutely opposed to having 90,000 people’s tragedy be turned into destination sight-seeing spots. My attitude is not as resolute as theirs, but I think people should have at least waited for the dead’s bones to grow cold. Waiting until this time would make it seem more as if people were coming to more deeply understand and be alerted to people’s tragedy, rather than seem as if they were coming to take advantage and make profit of an unfortunate time.

[...] Then, how should we help those in disaster areas? As this year approached, my friends kept bringing up this question. To be frank, this is an incomplete question. If you want to think about how to go and help these areas, you must first know what kind of help these areas need, which is to say that you must first understand their current situation and existing problems. However, from media reports, we always see that their situation is great, that those in disaster zones have already received enough care, that they’re always smiling. If you just watch television, you might think that they’re happier than outsiders, or that they’re even happier than they were pre-earthquake. Now how can this be?

[...] In the media, the more important thing [than the initial outpouring of aid and later government-directed work] seems to be the newfound strength of civil society: the awakening of NGOs and the maturing of charity organizations makes up society’s “third division.” How have these strengths developed in this year? Actually, this is a situation that the media must summarize and review; information these organizations transmit about the current situation and needs of disaster areas is extremely important.

Society ought to grow in its response to helping disaster areas, and we ought to make progress, too. In this sense, by helping those in disaster zones, we are helping ourselves. They won’t always be disaster zones. When they cease to be, what else must we do?

官员去了，记者去了，明星去了，游客去了，志愿者去了……今天的四川地震灾区，一定非常热闹。在我的想象中，它应该更安静一点才好。毕竟，这是周年祭，而不是周年庆。但是，我不能站着说话不腰疼，我知道灾区人的心理，太热闹了嫌吵，但是太安静了又怕被遗忘。相对而言，后者更加可怕，所以他们宁愿忍受热闹。

何况热闹是可以转换成利益的。用地方官员的话来说，这是一个重要的旅游资源。所以他们急于建设地震旅游景点，希望外地人的哀悼、观察和体验能够成为一种可持续性的财政收入。有人坚决反对把九万人丧生的大悲剧当作景点供游览，我的态度倒没有这么决绝，但是认为至少要等到死者尸骨已寒，等到人们来到这里更多地感觉到人类的悲剧及警醒，而不是感觉到有人利用不幸牟利的时候。

[...] 那么我们应该怎样去帮助灾区呢？这一年来，一直有朋友提出这样的问题。事实上，这是一个残缺的问题。要想知道怎么去帮助灾区，首先应该知道灾区的需要什么样的帮助，也就是说要先了解灾区的现状如何，存在什么问题。但是从媒体的报道中，我们总是看见形势一片大好，灾区人民已经得到足够多的关怀，他们总是笑逐颜开。你光看电视的话，会以为他们比外地人还要高兴，甚至比地震前还要高兴。这怎么可能呢？

[...] 在媒体看来，更重要的是民间的新生力量：社会的“第三部门”也就是非政府组织的觉醒，以及民间慈善的成长。这些力量在这一年时间里发展得怎么样呢？其实这是媒体应该回顾和总结的事情。因为灾区的现状如何，需要什么样的帮助，这些机构传递的情况非常重要。

社会应该在帮助灾区的过程中成长，我们也应该在帮助灾区的过程中进步。从这个意义上说，帮助灾区就是帮助我们自己。而灾区并不是始终需要被当作灾区帮助的，当它不是灾区的时候，我们还应该做什么？

Hecaitou writes on the year’s new challenges for those in Chengdu. This week, a man flying to Chengdu was found to be infected with the H1N1 virus.

Last year at this time, we were people in the disaster zone.
This year at this time, we are people in the infected zone.
Last year, we went out to avoid the [dangers of the] earthquake.
This year, we stay inside to avoid the flu.
Last year, we did not want to stay at home.
This year, we do not want hang around outside.
— Chengdu, the city you can’t escape

去年这个时候，我们是灾区人民。
今年这个时候，我们是疫区人民。
去年在外面躲地震，
今年在家里躲流感；
去年没事不要呆在房里，
今年没事不要到外面晃
—成都，一个来了就走不脱的城市

Ai Weiwei has written a hypothetical Q&A session for government officials, asked by himself and answered by himself.

Q: Why is it that you only released a student casualty figure once the May 12th earthquake’s 1st anniversary approached? How many students really died? Do you have this name list? Does your figure have any relation to the “citizen investigation” name list [Ai Weiwei's list]?

A: I will take responsibility in saying that we only produced the casualty number after a year of cross-checking. We don’t know how many died, but we do know who took money. You must believe us on this part. We will not publish a name list for these students, or publish any similar information. They touch upon “state classified information.” As for the specifics of that classified information, I don’t think you want to know them. I can also say that our numbers have no connection to other people’s investigations.

问：为什么在512地震一周年快要到来时，你们才公布学生遇难数字，？到底有多少学生遇难？你们有这个名单吗？你们这个数字与“公民调查”的名单有什么关系？

答：我很负责任地说，遇难学生的数字是我们经过一年的反复核对的结果，有多少人遇难我们不知道，谁拿了钱我们是知道的，在这一点上，你们要相信我们。我们是不会公布学生死亡的名单或是相关信息的，它们涉及到“国家机密”，具体是什么机密，我想你们也不想知道。我可以很负责地说，我们的数字与任何其它人的调查无关。

Q: Why is it that the student casualty figure went from 6376 to 5335 today? That is a 1041 person difference. Was the first figure correct, and will today’s number change again?

A: Publishing data requires a long process. At the time, we were too fast, and under such circumstances, it is hard to avoid errors. For example, if the student was not at school at the time, we later decided to take that into account.

As for the student casualty figure, we have no need to fabricate figures, nor will we fabricate such figures. In regards to other data, we may have this need, but we may not act upon it. The costs of fabricating figures is steadily increasing; we must carefully consider this. As for if other people have this need, and if they would also fabricate figures, please inquire with other departments.

问：为什么关于学生遇难的数字从6376人变为今天的5335人，有1041人的变化，第一个数字是不是不准确的，今天的数字还会有变化吗？

答：公布数据需要一个很长的过程，我们当时是快了一点。一快就难免出错。比如有的学生遇难时没在学校，我们后来也注意到这样的情况。[...]

但对于地震遇难学生的人数，我们没有任何造假的必要，也不会造假。对于其他方面的数据，我们可能有这个必要，但可能也不会造假。造假的成本越来越大，我们必须慎重考虑。至于其他人有没有这个必要，会不会这样做，请向其他的部门咨询。

Q: Why not publish the student casualty name list? Are there apprehensions that the dead may come back to life?

A: We are materialist, and do not know what you are asking. We are not publishing the name list so as to avoid great emotional distress for the relatives. As you can see, after Vietnam War and 911 name lists were published, America’s economy underwent a severe crisis; it is not as if there isn’t a link, here. We are a government that is very close to the people. We hope that victims’ families will be able to face the future: tourism [see Chang Ping's post above]. This way, calamity can become a great source for disaster sightseeing. Forgetting the past and rebuilding our homes, this is the spirit of our time.

问：为什么不公布死难者的名单？是不是有死后复生的顾虑？

答：我们是唯物主义者，我不知道你在说什么。死难者名单难以公布是避免因亲人太伤心。你看越南战争的名单和911的名单公布以后，美国的经济发生了巨大的危机，这不是没有关系的。我们是亲民的政府，我们希望遇难家属面向未来，什么是未来，是我们的旅游资源。这次灾难为人类造就了伟大的灾难景观资源。忘记过去，重建家园，是我们的时代精神。

Q: What do you think about the “citizen investigation”?

A: Our country is rich and powerful, so there will be some people who have eaten their fill and have nothing better to do. It is quite possible that 99% of them are mentally ill, as mentioned by the Peking University professor.

问：你对“公民调查”有什么看法？

答：我们的国家富强了，就会有人吃饱饭没事干。不排除他们之中百分之九十九有精神病的北大教授专家意见。

Kai Pan of CNReviews has posted on the top 6 most popular Sichuan earthquake-related videos on Youku. Below is one video taken during Qingming, or Tomb Sweeping Day. See CNReviews for more.

Alice Xin Liu of Danwei and David Bandurski of the China Media Project have been tracking today’s front page stories.

Please also read CDT’s translation post last year: Li Chengpeng: The True Story of the Miracle Survival of the Students and Teachers of Longhan Elementary School in Beichuan.
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- May 12, 2009 2:05 PM
As Hacking Hits Home, China Strengthens Cyber Laws

PC World reports on the state of anti-hacking legislation in China:

Although the Western media has been awash with stories of Chinese hacking for years, cybercrime was until recently governed by three articles added to China’s criminal code in 1997. The laws were out-of-date and “failed to correlate proportionately with the tremendous social harm” caused by cybercrime, according to a recent paper on Chinese cyber-law published in the International Journal of Electronic Security and Digital Forensics.

“China has made significant progress in cybercrime legislation and is putting in great efforts to strengthen it,” said Man Qi, one of the paper’s co-authors, in an e-mail interview.

However, the paper concludes that the country’s laws are still in the early stages of development. “Gaps and inadequacies exist in traditional offense provisions,” said Qi, a senior lecturer in the Department of Computing at Canterbury Christ Church University in the U.K.
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- May 12, 2009 11:42 AM
Photos: Hu Jintao’s High School Years

You never know when you will be searching the “wrong words” in the Chinese blogosphere. Searching “Hu Jintao, middle school” on Google’s Chinese blog search produces the message: Your search results may be related to content which does not accord with relevant laws, regulations or policy, and therefore cannot be displayed. 搜索结果可能涉及不符合相关法律法规和政策的内容，无法显示.

But the following photos do exist in the Chinese blogosphere and BBS; they are from bbs.Chinanews, blog.sina.com and bbs.voc.com.cn.

Hu Jintao’s middle school - Taizhou Middle School, Jiangsu Province.

Hu Jintao’s seat in a classroom.

What are they looking at? Any photos?

Hu Jintao: first one on the right in the second row.
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- May 11, 2009 4:37 PM
China: Where Patience Meets Speed

Sarah Lacy of TechCrunch is reporting from China for a new book on entrepreneurship:

China has just exploded with entrepreneurship, funding and economic opportunity over the last five years or so, and unlike most of the world there doesn’t seem to be a slow down yet. In 2002, U.S. investors pumped $437 million into China. By 2007 that had grown to $2.8 billion. And last year, it swelled again to $4.2 billion. All numbers courtesy of Dow Jones/VentureSource which should be releasing its first quarter China figures this week. Imagine Silicon Valley in 1999 times a huge sprawling country and population, and that’s what I’m wading into for the next two weeks.

On one hand, it’s exhilarating. In the US, we’ve all heard so much about the amazing Chinese economic engine, looking on with a mix of terror, greed and awe. It’s stunning actually to be on the ground here. But sifting through hundreds- even thousands- of Mandarin-speaking entrepreneurs is also a bit like trying to do an estate sale for Howard Hughes. There are priceless old films, keepsakes from starlets and antique aviator equipment, but also stacks of milk bottles, newspapers and nail clippings- where do you start?

This mild panic I?m finding myself in has me thinking a great deal about two characteristics of China that people have been referencing in the last few weeks as I’ve been planning this trip and doing pre-interviews: Patience and speed. They’re seemingly contradictory, and perhaps part of that is the collision of tradition and modernity in China right now.
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- May 10, 2009 9:46 PM
Street Racing Rich Kid Kills Pedestrian, Netizens Outraged (Updated)

The latest cause of outrage on the Chinese Internet is a traffic accident in which a wealthy sports car driver hit and killed a young college graduate in Hangzhou. From Netease (translated by chinaSMACK):

According to Zhejiang Online’s May 8th report, on the 7th, several young people in Hangzhou City Wen Er West Road were street racing, and amongst them one red race car hit and killed a pedestrian crossing the crosswalk. Onlookers said the perpetrating boy’s attitude was very poor, hitting and killing a person yet treating it as if nothing happened. The perpetrator’s Mitsubishi sports car was labeled with two websites, and amongst the websites read “here gathers the country’s best drifting race car drivers”. A witnesses said, “A little after 8:00pm “rumble rumble rumble” came three cars, all very low very sports cars, going very fast very fast. The boy who was hit was crossing the crosswalk at the time, although at the time I did not see clearly if it was a boy or a girl. Upon being hit, his body flew into the air, flew very high very high, as high as that (Mr. Hu pointed to the Dejia Apartments front door/gate, the door/gate is over 5 meters high)! He flipped in the air, and then fell back down.” Onlooking pedestrians all indicated, 100 km/h? Up to 150km/h? Otherwise how could a person be hit so far? The report said the accident victim was from Hunan, born 1984, only son, graduated from Zhejiang University in 2006, and was working at Hangzhou Yisai Communications Limited Company, and prior to the incident had watched the movie “Nanjing! Nanjing! in the nearby cinema.

chinaSMACK also translates some reactions from netizens, including some who posted personal details and photos of the accused:

fcbillking:

I saw the news. This kind of people, they are all beasts/animals, all deserve execution. The person who was killed, anyhow was a Zhejiang University talent, such a waste, losing a person who could have contributed to the country.

songcatcher:

70km/h car speed, able to knock a person 5 meters high, throwing him over 20 meters far?

Hangzhou’s JC again insult the people’s intelligence!!! The perpetrator indeed has people in high places.

-照脸一板砖-:

Qie,
Simply spending some money can fix this,
in China, the thing that is worth the least is human life. [said in disgust]

Update: See also two posts from ESWN on the incident: “Hangzhou, Whose Paradise Is It?” a translation of a blog post by Hecaitou, and “How To Bury Hu Bin,” a post on RedNet expressing support for the driver.
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- May 10, 2009 2:58 PM