Chinese sociologist Li Yinhe has written a commentary entitled “Viewing protection of human rights from the events at Taishi village.” Much of the Internet commentary about Taishi village has been purged from the Chinese Internet: Yannan forum, a popular academic discussion site, was closed down, and the Chinese version of Wikipedia was blocked inside China, due to, many believe, the publication of lengthy discussions of the Taishi events.
Following is an excerpt from Li’s essay, which is available in full (in Chinese) on Qian-Ming.net:
People are equal; the rights of individuals as citizens cannot be divided by hierarchical levels. But in today’s China, because of historical and cultural reasons, it is a cruel reality that the rights of rural and urban residents, while equal under law, are, in reality, not equal. The rights of urban residents are basically protected, but in comparison the rights of villagers lack protection. It is not so easy for urban residents to be mistreated, but it is relatively easy for villagers. It is rare for urban residents to experience violent treatment in their lives, but it is relatively common for villagers. In their effort to impeach a very small official, Taishi residents suffered too much pain. Moreover, after villagers suffer violent treatment, the chances of them receiving justice is very small.
UPDATE: Danwei has translated this essay in full.
