From the Caijing Magazine’s chief editor – Hu Shuli:
June 28 marked both the first anniversary of civil unrest in Weng An County in Guizhou Province and a remarkably similar incident in Shishou County, Hubei Province. Each event began with an “unnatural” death, a contentious autopsy, and crowds gathered around a coffin.
But while the public generally approved the timely handling of the Weng An incident, for which the government assumed responsibility, the same could not be said for the Shishou incident. Shishou officials apparently failed to heed the lessons of Weng An. A paralyzed local government badly botched the affair, shirked responsibility and moved indecisively, leading to one of the most serious mass incidents in recent years, and climaxing with the use of a large police force to put it down. Commentaries by the official Xinhua news agency and The People’s Daily sided with public sentiments.
In fact, several mass incidents have occurred since Weng An and before Shishou. More than a dozen caught national attention, including taxi driver strikes in Xining and Chongqing, a clash between police and protesters in Huining, a bus driver strike in Bazhong, a tax protest in Nankang, and petitioning by rural school teachers in Zhengzhou. While local governments have made visible progress in handling such incidents, their attitudes, competency levels and methods have shown all stripes.
Yet the experiences should provide lessons. The dark cloud of economic crisis still looms, and the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China is upon us. For the sake of establishing rule of law and a harmonious society while modernizing China, we need to alleviate social discontent and reduce the frequency and seriousness of conflicts. It is high time to face reality and thoroughly review these incidents, with the goal of understanding why they occur.
