Sometimes the peanut galleries on Chinese news portals can be spot-on. Days prior to Chen Liangyu’s downfall last week, even some some ordinary Netizens could tell which way the wind was blowing in Shanghai. Here’s one example:
On September 20, five days before the Shanghai party boss was dismissed, Xian’s Huashang Bao picked up a minor piece of official news: Party boss Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao had inserted a new People’s Armed Police Chief in Shanghai. The transfer of the PAP’s Hong Liangkai to Shanghai from Shaanxi, where he received plaudits from acting governor Yuan Chunqing – a key Hu prot√©g√©, incidentally – was a strong signal that a big bust was in the offing. International media have since observed as much. But before the fact, anonymous commentators drooled with anticipation on catching the report on Sohu.com:
Sept. 20 (Commentator #1): “Shanghai officials better be careful. A storm is approaching.”
Sept. 20 (Commentator #2): “It’s a big wave alright, I wonder whom it will drown.”
Sept 23: “Let the storm come in! The fiercer, the better!”
Sept 25: “Today it’s become a reality. Knew it.”
Besides their sheer excitement, note that they phrase their punditry in lyrical innuendo aping party speak (“storm”, as in an anti-corruption “storm”). Click here to see the full page of comments.
