How were you unlucky enough to be born in China?

谁叫你不幸生在中国? (shéi jiào nǐ bú xìng shēng zài zhōng guó): How were you so unfortunate as to be born in China?

This is a statement made by He Zuoma, a 78 year-old professor at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in a heated exchange with a reporter. The reporter asked about deaths in coal mines and alleged that more than one hundred people die daily in China’s coal mines. He Zuoma countered that a much greater number died in car accidents. When pressed by the reporter as to whether the coal mine deaths were the result of government corruption or were otherwise avoidable, Mr. He denied this and claimed instead that the deaths were simply the unavoidable byproducts of poverty. He then asked, “How were you so unfortunate as to be born in China?” and then added, “In the process of development some sacrifices are unavoidable.”

Mr. He’s comments were seen to symbolize the sort of emotional detachment with which the government single-mindedly pursues its overarching goal of development at all costs. His comments also became a critique against the government’s mantra of “scientific development.”

Their original exchange in Chinese is below:

摄影师：中国煤矿每天死多少人您知道吗？

何祚庥：报纸上说100多人……

摄影师：您相信这个数字？

何祚庥：大体上是真实的……

摄影师：您看过《盲井》（注：一部反映小煤矿死人的电影）吗……

何祚庥：我告诉你中国死人最多的不在煤矿，在小轿车（交通事故），每年12万！

摄影师：交通事故死人，其他国家也是一样，是没法避免的……

何祚庥 ：你为什么认为小轿车（死人）是没法避免呢？为什么这就不是问题？哈，你这话就对了，没法避免！中国煤矿死人也没法避免！因为中国的老百姓太穷了。

摄影师：您认为是穷而不是腐败吗？

何祚庥：主要是穷，而不是腐败。为什么工人能接受较低的工资、较危险的条件？老百姓不是傻子，他们不是不知道啊。那为什么还接受？因为不接受活不下去。

摄影师：那他们就该接受这样的命运吗？

何祚庥：（怨就怨）谁叫你不幸生在中国了？

摄影师:但不应该死无辜者，有些是可以避免的……

何祚庥:谁是无辜的？谁是可以避免的？它有一个概率分布。何祚庥也不希望死人，但有时候发展过程中的牺牲是不可免的。你希望没一点牺牲，是很不切实际的想法。