Thursday, October 14, 2010

Fang Zhouzi's Wife: Living Indignantly

The following is a translation of an essay written by Fang Zhouzi's wife, expressing her anger and frustration on how the Xiao Chuanguo case was handled. Fang Zhouzi posted the original in Chinese here.

Living Indignantly
by Fang Zhouzi's wife

Today I plan to take an act of rebellion forced by high officials.

I am a very good citizen. I live a normal life. In the subway, I offer my seat to those who are old, preganant, or very young. I am optimistic, always hoping for and pursuing a beautiful future. I live cleanly myself, and think about charity whenever I am able. I have never caused any trouble to society, never wanted to harm anyone. I am one of those who form the foundation of social stability, I am one of those for whom the ruling class is most at ease, never a need to worry or concern about.

However, Xiao Chuanguo spent 100,000 RMB to purchase an attack [on my family] -- considering that the perpetrators lived in a hotel across the street from my family for months and spent all day doing nothing but sitting on a stone bench or sidewalk in front of our building waiting for Fang Zhouzi, that was an expensive undertaking. Unless they are volunteers, this 100,000 sum is most likely only a down payment -- and planned [the attack] for half a year. When they took the action, Fang Zhouzi was lucky enough to be able to run away without serious harm only because of his quick reflexes, a result that led to the conspirator to claim as "impossible" on the Internet. Yet this very conspirator was only sentenced to 5.5 month of detention. This dramatic event became the last straw for me to live a silly and indignant life in this society.

I no longer want to use words like crazy, absurd, or emptiness. This rotten society does not deserve such emotion from me. I want to say it's buffoonery, for the ordinary people are slipping around in a giant, black and messy sauce jar, and splash, they are tripped and fell, and immediately submerged into the bottom. There is only a sound and everything will appear the same normal again. Life goes on. Only that too many people had drawned this way, the stench is unbearable.

"Social phenomena" much worse than this case of attacking Fang Zhouzi are happening every day. In the past, I have always hoped and believed that their exposure will lead to change. A net-friend had described me as "a woman desperately struggling in a sauce jar while her husband is making a great effort to smash it." Because of its symbolic importance, the attack has become national and even international news. But in the end, it is still able to be massaged and smoked into such a ball of mess without any true color. I congratulate the Political and Legal Committee of the city of Beijing.

You have successfully threatened a chivalrous fighter, encouraged criminals, and made obedient people desperate. You did a marvelous job.

Ever since that day of September 21, when Xiao Chuanguo was captured, a strong and mysterious power started to assert its force -- if this power had known it was Xiao Chuanguo's deed ahead of time, he would never have been arrested. So here I want to sincerely express my respect and gratitude to the Beijing police. Given the will and resource, you are able to recover all truth.

Guided by that mysterious power, in the short span of a dozen or so days, the investigation and questioning screeched to a halt. The case was sent to the prosecutors with a baffling charge. The prosecutors did not even take a break during the National Day holiday and forwarded it to the court with high efficiency. The court announced its verdict with lightning speed, without the presence of any "irrelvant" media. Xiao Chuanguo coorperated accordingly. Report shows that Xiao Chuanguo, who had been acting up "like a professional lawyer in questioning witnesses in court," behaved much unlike himself in the beginning, claiming that he did not understand the "causing disturbance" charge but if the court designates this charge to him, he would have no objections. Perhaps because all this had been planned too carefully and executed too smoothly, it actually led to a close call among themselves. When the defendant's side realized that the victim's side is helpless with the cover provided by the court, they wanted to enter a not-guilty plea instead. This sudden change must have not been planned ahead of time. At noon, the hungry judge had no choice but announced that he had to change the simplified proceeding back into a normal procedure. He announced an adjournment, the verdict would have to wait for another day.

The mysterious power realized that they could not afford to wait any longer and quickly took action to guide the events back into a preset track. So, the court was back to action in the same afternoon.

The defendants were then no longer making any troubles and an "intelligent" verdict was reached on time -- never mind that the victims' lawyer was not even present. Xiao Chuanguo said he would appeal. Yes, please continue your act, please continue to act diligently. The whole nation is watching with taste and excitement. They know what's at stake now. When the ruling class embraces sin, deception, and lies, the powerless has no choice but lowering their heads and accepting exploitation, cheating, and insults.

I can no longer trust the laws and courts of my motherland. I can not imagine what would be the result of the petition by more than a hundred victims of the surgical operation called "Xiao's Procedure". I can no longer believe that the Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, or any other "relevant" power institutes could take their responsibilities. They always pretend to see nothing and hear nothing. Reports say that "the Minsitry of Health may publish its opinion on Xiao Chuanguo within a week." Is it so difficult to say that we need to launch an investigation on the "Xiao's Procedure"?

On the day after the verdict, an abusive and threatening message showed up on my cell phone. I couldn't help but laugh. Look how desperate you guys were, did you want the Beijing Policial and Legal Committee to take another action and arrest the entire family of Fang Zhouzi and kill them? Would that help to ease the hatred of Xiao Chuanguo and the like?

My little baby often makes up stories with me. Lately she has been naming her hero "Little Tear Drop". She also calls her most faviorate toy Little Tear Drop... Why are there so many tear drops in your little heart? I recall the confession from one of the attackers. He had followed Fang Zhouzi all the way as he was carrying our baby to supermarket. I tremble with fear. I have also been unknowingly taken pictures by the spies hired by Xiao Chuanguo. I have not seen those pictures myself. They were most likely taken around my neighborhood. For a Mom who dedicated all her spare time to her baby, the pictures must have been clandestinely taken when I was playing with her. I had even smiled at Xu Lichun, one of the would-be attackers. He was sitting on a stone bench with a funny expression and stared at me. I thought he was a relative of one of my neighbors. Then I turned away to chase my baby. She was calling for me.

China could not tolerate Fang Zhouzi. I open my eyes waiting for the time when the burning lava could break through the ground. There is no need for Fang Zhouzi to change himself. Let the time distill his sincerity and his value.

So, Ah Min, shall we run away?

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