Chinese Blogger Beaten To Death By Government Officials
The killing of a Chinese blogger has sparked outrage in China, with thousands expressing outrage in Chinese Internet chat rooms, often the only outlet for public criticism of the government.
The incident has also alarmed advocates of press freedom, who say municipal authorities had no right to attack a man for simply filming them.
Police have detained 24 municipal inspectors and are investigating more than 100 in the death of Wei Wenhua, a 41-year-old construction company executive, Xinhua reported on Friday.
The swift action by officials reflects concerns that the incident could spark larger protests against authorities, whose heavy-handed approach often arouses resentment.
This is the type of disgraceful behaviour should encourage Google to do what’s right. That is, stop supporting the Chinese Government by filtering search results based on what it deems appropriate for its people. So, Google is in no way ‘evil’?
Source CNN via TechCrunch, thanks to Jeremiah Owyang via Twitter.
8 Responses to “Chinese Blogger Beaten To Death By Government Officials”
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Whenever China news breaks, a trusted resource I always turn to for more in depth coverage than mainstream media would be Global Voices Online. John Kennedy always scratches beneath the surface and often provides some really great translated insight from the Chinese chat rooms and blogs.
Also, it’s important to note that “municipal authorities” in China who often abuse their local power are often no more than a bunch of thugs who overstep the boundaries. The beating of this man was not an instinct sanctioned by the Chinese government to censor the passer by to videotape it. It appears it was an attempt by these local “municipal authorities” to ensure they weren’t exposed for their corrupt ways.
I just want to point out that what is often portrayed by generic coverage by CNN and reposted on blogs like TechCrunch often portray a shallow level of understanding that translates to “evil Chinese government cracks down on bloggers in China” — without a better understanding of what sparked the situation to begin with and what the outrage in China internet is about. The “municipal authorities” did not know this man was a blogger when they beat him to death. They were trying to keep from getting in trouble themselves for having their actions taped and exposed. This issue is more about growing outrage of corruption in China than it is about bloggers getting singled out and silenced.
Well, said, Christine! I completely agree that it is way too easy to fall into the “evil Chinese government” trap. I have friends in some of China’s top bureaucracies, (NDRC, CCPIT, etc.) and they are highly moral, and very, very smart people.
Power politics here, can turn deadly, though, and the time honored method of eliminating political competition by sending your goons to confiscate all of their cash in a surprise raid is still alive and well, especially at the local level. That type wouldn’t think twice about harassing a mere citizen if they stood in the way.
Having said all that, I’m typing this comment through a proxy service, because this blog has now been blocked by the Great Firewall of China for covering this story…
Christine, thanks for your clarification on the situation in China. I don’t think most of us on this side of the water can have an informed debate about such matters without the help from people like you and mOdOk.
Can we go back to the Web stuff? At end the of the day, what the Chinese Government is doing to block freedom of speech is wrong. I’m not saying either of you disagree, but I’d like to hear your thoughts about this.
Is this blog really banned in China? Perhaps you could try http://contentlabel.org ? If this is also blocked it proves that China isn’t filtering properly.
[...] speaking freely on his blog. In China, blogger and construction company executive Wei Wenhau was beaten to death by local authorities for shooting video of a protest. And as our journey takes us next to Egypt, [...]
I recently heard about this story, and I lived in China this summer. We videotaped our lives for a website and we were stopped multiple times for taping. However, the government officials allowed us to film because we are harmless!
we got all the tapes back and all the video is online at http://www.nihaoareyou.com
the Chinese people are not brutal like these incidents, they are so kind and genuine. It is the hope of our trip that we can spread the word of the kindness of the Chinese people. It is our goal to help bring the two countries together.
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[...] speaking freely on his blog. In China, blogger and construction company executive Wei Wenhau was beaten to death by local authorities for shooting video of a protest. And as our journey takes us next to Egypt, [...]