{"id":69734,"date":"2010-05-10T14:43:41","date_gmt":"2010-05-10T21:43:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?p=69734"},"modified":"2010-05-10T15:04:15","modified_gmt":"2010-05-10T22:04:15","slug":"the-knife-that-killed-the-children-and-the-wheel-of-tragedy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/05\/the-knife-that-killed-the-children-and-the-wheel-of-tragedy\/","title":{"rendered":"The Knife that Killed the Children and the Wheel of Tragedy"},"content":{"rendered":"

The following essay<\/a> was written by a Beijing journalist and has been making the rounds under the radar of Internet censors. \u00a0While only very few copies of this essay can be found through Chinese search engines, copies can be found on social networking sites, closed email groups, private online forums, and the links are distributed by, yes, Twitter<\/a> and other Chinese domestic micro-blogging services. Translated by CDT:<\/p>\n

The Knife that Killed the Children and the Wheel of Tragedy<\/strong><\/p>\n

(Prepared to be Harmonized*) <\/strong><\/p>\n

From the time that Zheng Minsheng <\/a>repeatedly slit the\u00a0throats of those young children, a wheel of tragedy was put in motion.<\/p>\n

Very quickly, Zheng was sentenced to death to be carried out immediately.\u00a0 Two days after we reporters were sent out to cover this incident, the propaganda department sternly ordered us to return<\/a>.\u00a0 What they eventually told us was obvious from the start\u2014we could not conduct interviews, we could not editorialize, we could only publish drafts that had been prepared by Xinhua News.\u00a0 At times I really feel like it\u2019s so tragic but also so ridiculous.\u00a0 Even if we did conduct interviews, what would come of it?\u00a0 Even if we did editorialize, what would come of it?\u00a0 For a lot of things can there really by any harm caused by giving a full and clear accounting of what transpired?\u00a0 Can you establish peace on earth just by hiding things and covering them up?<\/p>\n

Of course you can\u2019t establish peace that way. After all the news media organizations were forced to castrate themselves, the second slaughter of young students occurred<\/a>, followed closely by the third, then the fourth<\/a>.\u00a0 If they weren\u2019t elementary school students, then they were preschool students.\u00a0 All were totally unarmed and defenseless children.\u00a0 For these incidents that followed, our instructions were the same.\u00a0 After the slaughter in Taixing, while a colleague was still on the plane, the order came once again.\u00a0 Propaganda department, fuck your mother hard 100 times over!<\/p>\n

In the beginning, I wondered whether the media\u2019s reporting caused more deranged lunatics to imitate the actions of others and recreate their own cold-blooded slaughter.\u00a0 Later [I] discovered this was not the case; it turns out that most media organizations didn\u2019t say anything about these incidents.\u00a0 Like us, they too were forced by this series of bloody murders onto the wall of shame\u2014unable to report and unable to editorialize.\u00a0 We are also all unable to just express our overflowing anger by cursing them bitterly.\u00a0 In this regard, we are just a bunch of shameless spectators watching these murderers take the stage one after another\u2014and during all of this spectacle forced to remain silent.<\/p>\n

When everyone, one after another, becomes silent, the wheel of tragedy is already set in motion.\u00a0 The first people it crushes are those poor children and the dreams of their parents.\u00a0 Next is Zheng Minsheng [the first murderer], followed by the second group of children, followed by the second murderer. . . until finally, finally those crushed will be the children of the propaganda department.\u00a0 Of course when the children of the propaganda department are slaughtered, we will also not say anything.\u00a0 We will just watch silently from the side as these young lives vanish.\u00a0 Then we will see the propaganda department go insane, just like how the parents in Taixing lost their sanity.\u00a0 Or perhaps, we in this process, have already been crushed [by this wheel of tragedy].<\/p>\n

At times, I am full of hope for this country.\u00a0 That is because while its 5000 years of history have been filled with twists and turns, the teachings of courtesy, justice, benevolence, and trust remain deeply inscribed in our bones.\u00a0 However, at other times, I am filled with despair for this country.\u00a0 That is because despite the fact that during our 5000 years of history we have had countless wise people use the rise and fall of dynasties to leave behind so many ancient teachings\u2014despite this, there are still those who stubbornly repeat the mistakes of history\u2014not letting people look, not letting people speak, not letting people think.\u00a0 Is this the way to establish peace on earth?<\/p>\n

Clearly, the murder of these children was despicable.\u00a0 People should at least know how those responsible had become so cruel.\u00a0 Why were all these people males, all around forty years of age, with low levels of education, and unstable incomes?\u00a0 Why would they take such extreme measures to seek revenge on society?\u00a0 What had society ever done to them?<\/p>\n

What was their housing like?\u00a0 I feel like if they had houses they probably were not very nice.\u00a0 They certainly could not afford to live in commercial real estate developments; they couldn\u2019t even hope of affording those.\u00a0 What about medical care?\u00a0 They certainly could not afford to pay any medical bills.\u00a0 What about education?\u00a0 None of them received very good education.\u00a0 It could also be said that the time they most needed education happened to be the time when things were most chaotic.**\u00a0 What about work?\u00a0 Without an education how could they hope to find a decent job\u2026\u2026<\/p>\n

What is most frightening is that during the 5000 years of this nation\u2019s history, while there has always been social stratification, there has never been a time like there is today where people unabashedly worship money, where people openly look down upon those in lower social classes, and where people do not even attempt to hide their scorn of the poor!<\/p>\n

Ideological heavy-handedness in post-1949 China nearly destroyed the collective wisdom and culture accumulated over the course of 5000 years of history.\u00a0 On the surface all you see is this fa\u00e7ade of a beautiful world with favorable winds and rains.\u00a0 All you hear about are things like how 115 coal miners were saved from the Wangjialing coal mine.\u00a0 But have I been a reporter for all these years without having learned a thing or two?\u00a0 After water had been seeping into the mine for eight days how could the \u201csurvivors\u201d emerge with such rosy cheeks?\u00a0 How could they still have strength to applaud their rescue?\u00a0 Even though their hands had been darkened you could still below their wrists areas of snow-white flesh.\u00a0 If you tell a lie one hundred times will you really start thinking it\u2019s true?<\/p>\n

Right now, China does not have a \u201cbuffer layer.\u201d\u00a0 Whenever there\u2019s an acute conflict, be it a social conflict or an ethical conflict, people treat it as a matter of life or death.\u00a0 There is no room given for a buffer.\u00a0 What is this buffer?\u00a0 It should be one\u2019s beliefs; it should be benevolence; even more than that, it should be heartfelt sympathy.\u00a0 And who should most possess this kind of sympathy?\u00a0 It should be our great and glorious government agencies.\u00a0 So then why is it that I always see the big fish eating up the small fish and the peoples\u2019 interests wrested from their hands?<\/p>\n

Once the wheel of tragedy is set in motion it is difficult to stop it\u00a0from moving.\u00a0 Who knows but that the last to fall will be those who sit atop the machine carried by this wheel of tragedy.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0\u201cHarmonized\u201d refers to an article being deleted by web censors in order to create a \u201charmonious society.\u201d<\/p>\n

** This probably refers to the fact the formative years of the murderers coincided with major disruptions in Chinese society such as the Cultural Revolution.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The following essay was written by a Beijing journalist and has been making the rounds under the radar of Internet censors. \u00a0While only very few copies of this essay can be found through Chinese search engines, copies can be found on social networking sites, closed email groups, private online forums, and the links are distributed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[99,7,10,100,5,4202],"tags":[330,609,16300],"class_list":["post-69734","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cdt-highlights","category-information-revolution","category-law","category-politics","category-society","category-translation","tag-media-censorship","tag-propaganda-department","tag-school-violence","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Knife that Killed the Children and the Wheel of Tragedy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/05\/the-knife-that-killed-the-children-and-the-wheel-of-tragedy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Knife that Killed the Children and the Wheel of Tragedy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The following essay was written by a Beijing journalist and has been making the rounds under the radar of Internet censors. \u00a0While only very few copies of this essay can be found through Chinese search engines, copies can be found on social networking sites, closed email groups, private online forums, and the links are distributed […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/05\/the-knife-that-killed-the-children-and-the-wheel-of-tragedy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"China Digital Times (CDT)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ChinaDigitalTimes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-05-10T21:43:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2010-05-10T22:04:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/CDT-logo.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"186\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"177\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Xiao Qiang\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@cdt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@cdt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Xiao Qiang\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/05\/the-knife-that-killed-the-children-and-the-wheel-of-tragedy\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/05\/the-knife-that-killed-the-children-and-the-wheel-of-tragedy\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Xiao Qiang\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#\/schema\/person\/7d71c527e3f4a4239ced8e932a64f8d4\"},\"headline\":\"The Knife that Killed the Children and the Wheel of Tragedy\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-05-10T21:43:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-05-10T22:04:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/05\/the-knife-that-killed-the-children-and-the-wheel-of-tragedy\/\"},\"wordCount\":1243,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"media censorship\",\"propaganda department\",\"school violence\"],\"articleSection\":[\"CDT Highlights\",\"Information Revolution\",\"Law\",\"Politics\",\"Society\",\"Translation\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/05\/the-knife-that-killed-the-children-and-the-wheel-of-tragedy\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/05\/the-knife-that-killed-the-children-and-the-wheel-of-tragedy\/\",\"name\":\"The Knife that Killed the Children and the Wheel of Tragedy\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-05-10T21:43:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-05-10T22:04:15+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/05\/the-knife-that-killed-the-children-and-the-wheel-of-tragedy\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/05\/the-knife-that-killed-the-children-and-the-wheel-of-tragedy\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/05\/the-knife-that-killed-the-children-and-the-wheel-of-tragedy\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Knife that Killed the Children and the Wheel of Tragedy\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/\",\"name\":\"China Digital Times (CDT)\",\"description\":\"Covering China from Cyberspace\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#organization\",\"name\":\"China Digital Times\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/CDT-logo.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/CDT-logo.jpg\",\"width\":186,\"height\":177,\"caption\":\"China Digital Times\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ChinaDigitalTimes\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/cdt\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#\/schema\/person\/7d71c527e3f4a4239ced8e932a64f8d4\",\"name\":\"Xiao Qiang\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/rockngo.org\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/author\/xiao-qiang\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Knife that Killed the Children and the Wheel of Tragedy","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/05\/the-knife-that-killed-the-children-and-the-wheel-of-tragedy\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Knife that Killed the Children and the Wheel of Tragedy","og_description":"The following essay was written by a Beijing journalist and has been making the rounds under the radar of Internet censors. \u00a0While only very few copies of this essay can be found through Chinese search engines, copies can be found on social networking sites, closed email groups, private online forums, and the links are distributed […]","og_url":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/05\/the-knife-that-killed-the-children-and-the-wheel-of-tragedy\/","og_site_name":"China Digital Times (CDT)","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ChinaDigitalTimes","article_published_time":"2010-05-10T21:43:41+00:00","article_modified_time":"2010-05-10T22:04:15+00:00","og_image":[{"width":186,"height":177,"url":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/CDT-logo.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Xiao Qiang","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@cdt","twitter_site":"@cdt","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Xiao Qiang","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/05\/the-knife-that-killed-the-children-and-the-wheel-of-tragedy\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/05\/the-knife-that-killed-the-children-and-the-wheel-of-tragedy\/"},"author":{"name":"Xiao Qiang","@id":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#\/schema\/person\/7d71c527e3f4a4239ced8e932a64f8d4"},"headline":"The Knife that Killed the Children and the Wheel of Tragedy","datePublished":"2010-05-10T21:43:41+00:00","dateModified":"2010-05-10T22:04:15+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/05\/the-knife-that-killed-the-children-and-the-wheel-of-tragedy\/"},"wordCount":1243,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#organization"},"keywords":["media censorship","propaganda department","school violence"],"articleSection":["CDT Highlights","Information Revolution","Law","Politics","Society","Translation"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/05\/the-knife-that-killed-the-children-and-the-wheel-of-tragedy\/","url":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/05\/the-knife-that-killed-the-children-and-the-wheel-of-tragedy\/","name":"The Knife that Killed the Children and the Wheel of Tragedy","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#website"},"datePublished":"2010-05-10T21:43:41+00:00","dateModified":"2010-05-10T22:04:15+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/05\/the-knife-that-killed-the-children-and-the-wheel-of-tragedy\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/05\/the-knife-that-killed-the-children-and-the-wheel-of-tragedy\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/05\/the-knife-that-killed-the-children-and-the-wheel-of-tragedy\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Knife that Killed the Children and the Wheel of Tragedy"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#website","url":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/","name":"China Digital Times (CDT)","description":"Covering China from Cyberspace","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#organization","name":"China Digital Times","url":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/CDT-logo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/CDT-logo.jpg","width":186,"height":177,"caption":"China Digital Times"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ChinaDigitalTimes","https:\/\/x.com\/cdt"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#\/schema\/person\/7d71c527e3f4a4239ced8e932a64f8d4","name":"Xiao Qiang","sameAs":["http:\/\/rockngo.org"],"url":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/author\/xiao-qiang\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69734","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69734"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69734\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}