Posted on January 12, 2008 at 11:51 pm | 
By 
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.
7 Comments
So far,
January 13, 2008 @ 
Christine
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.