The following post has been repeatedly deleted and reposted on various online forums, including the student social networking site Renren. The author is using deliberately vague and metaphorical language to express an opinion apparently about June 4th and the documentary Gate of Heavenly Peace by Carma Hinton. Despite the fact that university online forums are among the most heavily-censored, the repeated reposting of this comment shows that some students are still actively finding ways to discuss political topics. Translated by CDT:
Illness of Neutrality
In the past, an incident occurred. It was too sensitive to allow people to talk about it.
An American, who grew up in China, falls ill of neutralism. She thought: I should make a film about it. So she directed a film. She believes Duan Qirui* is wrong, yet Liu Hezhen** may not be good. All in all, she should stay neutral. People in Mainland China manage to download the film despite all difficulties. So they watched it. Duan Qirui was very evil, and so was Liu Hezhen.
He thinks, since the film was made by an American, it must be in favor of Liu Hezhen, so I should stay neutral between the film and Duan Qirui.
Therefore he’s more in favor of Duan Qirui, and often blames Liu Hezhen for inciting the students.
Some smart guy read his blog, thinking, he has watched the film made by an American, then he’s certainly in favor of Liu Hezhen. No. I should stay neutral between him and Duan Qirui. He even suspects that Liu Hezhen conspired.
Afterward many smart people learned about this sensitive incident. The version they all agree upon is: kind-hearted Duan Qirui was deceived by Liu Hezhen, and Liu Hezhen ended up being killed, going out for wool and coming home shorn.
However, people in Hong Kong don’t think so.
So people throughout China deride those in Hong Kong as idiots.
* Duan Qirui was a warlord and the Premier of China under the Nationalists in the 1920s. On March 18, 1926, Duan dispatched troops against student protesters, killing 47. This incident is known as the March 18 massacre.
** Liu Hezhen was one of the students killed in the March 18 massacre, and the subject of an essay by Lu Xun.
