An update on the Qian Yunhui affair. After initially trying to censor news of the incident, the authorities have stepped back and let public and media interest rip, perhaps realising that they are on a good wicket, since the emerging news seems to undermine previous accounts of Mr Qian’s murder.
Our reporter asked Huang Diyan whether she saw three men wearing surgical masks, white gloves and denim/white/green jackets shove Qian Yunhui underneath the truck? "I didn't see it. The people from Zhaiqiao village told me to say that." Huang Diyan said looking innocent, "I said that because the ghosts must have gotten to me at the nunnery."
An independent group of amateur investigators, comprising civil rights lawyers and other well known activists, have also headed to the village to conduct independent enquiries, which have apparently been tolerated. They too are now leaning towards the view that Mr Qian was accidentally killed, which has led to them in turn being accused of being part of the great cover up.
There seems to have been some intelligent behaviour on the part of the local authorities in this case. Given the hard power at their disposal, and given the common behaviour patterns among Chinese cadres in cases like this, then events would have been expected to proceed in the usual pattern of censorship/crackdown/ riot. As things stand, simply by standing back and making the relevant organs available to anyone who wished to interview them, they’ve allowed independent and critical voices to persuade themselves that the official version of the incident is probably correct. I wonder if the person responsible for that policy has given any further thought to the implication here that “liberty is the mother of order.”
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