Daily Life in China

Ke Dawei

Week 13, Zhong's Death, two articles with vocabulary

Article II: The Confucian renaissance

Zhang's death exposes contempt for life

Shanghai Star. 2005-04-07

A young man is dead, and Chinese officials at different government levels in Hunan Province apparently could have prevented it.

Their alleged callous indifference to 29-year-old Zhang Hengsheng -who lay helplessly dying in the freezing cold with both legs fractured after a motorcycle accident - shows there is need for reform and housecleaning in public agencies where regard for the public may be the last thing on civil servants' minds.

Zhang, from Hengyang City, had a fight with his father and decided to leave his house March 3.  A few days afterward, on the night of March 7, Zhang apparently took a walk along National Highway 107. It was shortly after 9 pm when things took a terrible turn from bad to worse. The college-degree holder who had no job was mowed down by a man driving a motorcycle. Yet, like the authorities, the hit-and-run cyclist didn't care enough about Zhang to lift a finger to help him, and fled the accident site.

According to a media report, a good Samaritan named Peng Shuping came to Zhang's aid just after the incident. Peng immediately called the county police hotline to seek assistance, but officials gave him the brush-off, referring him instead to the county's "traffic police."

Peng telephoned them, but again got nowhere. He was given yet another number for the town's traffic police. He called three times but no one answered.

Peng must have dialed a wrong number, police said, since there are no records showing a call was received. More likely, the officers were out enjoying a long dinner and left no one behind to answer the phone.

Along with another man who runs a bicycle repair shop nearby, Peng moved Zhang under a roadside tree. They covered him with dried leaves and grass and went home. In hindsight, they should have been more persistent. But perhaps they are not sophisticated and believed the authorities somehow, some way, would rescue Zhang.

The next morning, Luo Dongmei, 60, found the desperate Zhang drinking water from a dirty rice paddy. So Luo found a village clinician named Jiang Donglin. He bandaged Zhang, who gave the doctor his home number.

Jiang said he went to the town's police station, about two kilometres from the accident site, to inform the town's police officer Guo Xuejun about the accident and Zhang's terrible condition.

But rather than send anyone to assist the young man, unbelievably, Guo again called the county. And again the county police didn't send officers to the scene, but called the traffic police. Later, a county spokesman said a traffic officer was finally dispatched to take a look but he didn't spot Zhang.

Of course not: Zhang was probably lying in agony near a rice paddy.

Dr Jiang said he also told Wang Qingwen, head of the Cha'ensi Town civil affairs office, about Zhang's situation. Wang allegedly told Jiang to call his office after "Zhang dies". Wang denies he made the statement.

Jiang then called Zhang's home on March 8 but got no answer.

Over the next few days, local villagers said they had no trouble finding Zhang, delivering him food and a raincoat.

Did the traffic police officer even get out of his car to look for Zhang? During this time, it rained and the temperatures plunged to as low as minus 3 degrees centigrade. Zhang never had a chance in such weather. He was found five days later, still on the side of the road, frozen to death. No public official, no civil servant, no one paid from the taxes collected by the government, no representative of the people of China, ever cared to even visit him. Not one time.

If the accounts of a young man's death are true, then some civil servants in Xiangtan County must face justice. There was serious dereliction of duty here, or worse.

And Zhang's family is now suing Xiangtan County traffic and civil affairs authorities, looking for answers. Xiangtan Public Security Bureau officials say they have started an investigation.

But that is like asking a fox to guard a henhouse. This investigation should be conducted by Hunan Province prosecutors, not the local bureaucrats who committed the wrongdoing.

The following was taken from a second article.

The authorities said they were not to blame for Zhang’s death which caused considerable anger, not just among his family but also the local citizens. The parents have sued the Xiangtan County traffic and civil affairs authorities, claiming their dereliction of duty led to the death of their son. The family said traffic police and a civil affairs official refused to investigate or offer help after receiving reports of the accident. The Xiangtan Public Security Bureau said it had started its own investigation.

The county traffic police department maintains that they received no reports of any accident on March 7 before 11:30pm. Peng must have dialed the wrong number, said officer Liu Guangzheng. He said he was informed of the accident on March 8. He sent two traffic policemen to the site to investigate. No one was there, said Liu. So it seemed the victim must have left by himself.

Liu Jiangnan of Chaensi Town Police Station also professed innocence. I was very surprised when I was told that the dead youth was the one hurt in the accident. We are only in charge of the local security. It was not a big traffic accident, so it was supposed to be referred to the traffic police.  Meanwhile, Wang Qingwen of Chaensi Town Civil Affairs Office denied asking to be informed when Zhang was dead. I never said anything like that. That would be too ruthless. I am just too busy. There are only three people in the office, but we are in charge of thirty one villages.

Penalties?

On March 29, officials from the Department of Publicity of Xiangtan County Committee and Xiangtan Public Security Bureau notified journalists that according to their internal

regulations, 11 staff members would be disciplined, with penalties including being forced to resign.

However, when Beijing Youth Daily contacted some of the 11 people, they said they had not been told about any such penalty yet. The first person Beijing Youth Daily contacted was Liu Jiangnan, the vice director of Chaensi Town police station. Liu said that he had not received any notification of a penalty. Guo Xuejun, the town policeman on duty on the night of March 8 is being investigated and has not yet returned to work. Liu Guangzheng, director of the second team of Xiangtan County traffic police department, who got Guos call and sent two traffic policemen to the accident site without result, is being investigated too. He also said he was unaware of any penalty. The court of Yueyang District, Xiangtan City has decided to launch a new investigation starting April 28.

Respect for life?

Zhang Hengshengs death roused discussion about the service characteristics of administrative authorities and the basic respect for life. While the authorities are

supposed to bear the obligation of guaranteeing peoples safety and well being, Zhang’s case indicates a lack of willingness to take responsibility.  Readers wrote to China Daily expressing their anger towards the various departments after the case: The present emergency reporting system has been abused by the police personnel and departmental red tape. Someone will have to be punished for Zhang’s death, said one reader. Traffic police and civil affairs officials should bear responsibility for this accident. Officials should recognize everyone’s life is important, even a farmer’s, one student said. Although some of the local villagers tried to help Zhang, none of them dared to take him home. Most of them were afraid of legal trouble. It was also obvious that they had long since lost trust in the local officials. Zhang Hengsheng’s last words were Thank you for the food and care he received from the local villagers.

(sources from Beijing Youth Daily, Xinhua News Agency and China Daily)

Vocabulary:

Apparently

Prevented, something or someone stops something from happening.

Alleged, suspected, supposed, thought to be true but not certain.

Callous, very negligent, uncaring to a high degree,.

A terrible turn from bad to worse, turn here means change.

Indifference, not caring, selfish. (not different – no emotional change so uncaring).

Fractured, in pieces, broken badly, splintered.

Reform, change, remake, do better the next time.

Cleaning, 

Public agencies, group, usually government, who with or for the public

Regard, care for, consider.

The last thing on civil servants' minds, civil = public government.

College-degree holder, degree = graduation certificate.

Mowed down, cut down especially grass or hay.

Hit-and-run, hit with a motor vehicle and leave (run away).

Didn’t lift a finger to help him, would not help in any way.

Fled the accident site, leave

A good Samaritan, helps other people.  Ancient people call Samaritans were referred to as good people who helped others.

Hotline, direct telephone line between important people or places.  An easy to use line.

Brush-off, reject accusations, claims or charges.  To dismiss something completely.

Hindsight, hind = rear or inback of.  Looking back in time.

Persistent, steadfast, keep trying, continue making an effort.

Sophisticated, complex,

Desperate, in need of help, without options and needing them.

Clinician, clinic = small hospital, a medical person who works there.

Bandaged, dressing for a wound.

Assist, help

Dispatched, a vehicle or person sent by someone to another place.

He didn't spot Zhang. Spot = see.

Agony, tremendous pain, anguish, feel very bad and suffering.

Allegedly, supposed to be true but unproven.  Suspected to be the case.

Plunged, fell, dropped.

Zhang's family is now suing, demanding money in court.

Investigation should be conducted, carried out in an organized way.

Prosecutors, an attorney who brings a crime to court i.e. presents evidence. A person serving as an official of a county, district, or other government entity; prosecuting attorney.          

one who initiates a legal proceeding against a person or persons

Dereliction of duty, serious neglect of duty.

Professed innocence, claimed innocence.

Internal regulations, special rules or regulations for a group.

Roused discussion, caused, discussion.

Service characteristics of. Rules of action particular to an organization

The Confucian renaissance

By Todd Crowell

In his 19th-century classic, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, German sociologist Max Weber argued that Asian values were not compatible with the development of a modern economic system. He thought the type of Christianity practiced in northern Europe was the only ethical system with the attributes needed to make capitalism work.

At the beginning of the 20th century, many Asian intellectuals might have agreed with him. Commenting on Confucianism, the Chinese leftist thinker, Chen Duxiu, said in 1916, "If we want to build a new society on the Western model in order to survive in

the world, we must courageously throw away that which is incompatible with the new belief, the new society, the new state."

History, of course, has proved Weber and Chen wrong. It is now plain that the most dynamic practitioners of capitalism at the dawn of the 21st century are to be found in Asia. More strikingly, all of them are located within what might be called a Confucian cultural zone.

It is clear the success of Japan and the "Four Tigers" (Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore) owe much to such essential Confucian precepts as self-discipline, social harmony, strong families and a reverence for education. That has led to unprecedented - and increasingly broad-based international interest in the creed. Yet the Confucian renaissance may only be in its early phases.

For most of the last century, Confucius (or Kongfuzi - Master Kong) has been under a cloud in his homeland. Everyone from late Qing dynasty reformers to revolutionary communists blamed his teaching for a host of problems, ranging from feudal oppression to economic backwardness. But recently, Beijing's leaders have begun to characterize the sage's philosophy as a national treasure that will benefit today's Chinese.

September's official celebration of the birth of Confucius was the biggest since the People's Republic of China was established in 1949. The state-controlled television broadcast festivities surrounding his 2,556th birthday on September 28 on a scale never before seen in China. More than 2,500, including many fairly high-ranking Communist Party cadres, made a pilgrimage to the philosopher's birthplace at Qufu in Shandong province.

The latest government line is that Confucianism can serve as a moral foundation to help build a more "harmonious society" in keeping with President (and Communist Party General Secretary) Hu Jintao's efforts to address social problems such as the polarization of society and a wide spread "money first" mentality.

It is little surprise that Chinese leaders are seeking to rehabilitate their country's most famous and influential thinker. In the moral void opened by the decline of Marxism and the abundance of material temptations, Confucianism can help provide the nation with a much-needed ethical anchor. And success in these endeavors would allow China's leaders to strengthen their hold on another Confucian bequest - the "mandate of heaven", or the right to rule.

What is the relevance of Confucianism in modern times? Which tenets have served East Asia well - and could help other nations and cultures? What are the pitfalls to be avoided? Of all the world's great canons, Confucianism is the most practical. What concerned him most were people's relationships with one another and with the state. He also focused on social justice and good government. Ren or benevolence was the pillar of the master's thought.

Another was learning. Whether East Asian countries include The Analects (sayings of Confucius) in their social curriculums, they all understand that education is the root of national strength and prosperity. The ingrained respect for knowledge - and for the teacher who imparts it - is the key factor in the outstanding academic performance of East Asians on a global basis.

One can see Confucianism alive in a modern way in Singapore when a secondary student is reprimanded for blogging about his teacher in a negative light. In a similar way, the Pennsylvania court was upholding Confucian values when it upheld a school district for expelling a student who, ranting on the Internet, called his teacher a range of bad names and displayed a picture with her head cut off.

Yet the long-time preoccupation with reciting the Nine Classics (ancient musical pieces) has also produced educational systems in Asia that stress memorization at the expense of creative thinking. This is a distortion of Confucian philosophy, which emphasized both knowledge and thought. The master said: "He who does not think is lost. He who thinks but does not learn is in great danger."

To the master, the family was fundamental to the social order. "If the family is properly regulated, the state will be too," he reasoned. No amount of legislation, Confucius taught, could take the family's place or perform its function as the most important element of a well-ordered society. In the master's world, children defer to parents, wives to their husbands and subjects to rulers in a natural progression.

He tended to relegate women to the margins of public affairs, though he may merely have been reflecting the prevalent values of his time. Today a nation shortchanges itself if it does not follow a saying of another Chinese thinker, Mao Zedong, "women hold up half the sky".

In return for the loyalty of subjects, Confucius demanded that a ruler display benevolence and unstintingly serve their interests. If he didn't, citizens had the right to complain and protest. Mencius, the second-most influential Confucian philosopher, later developed the concept of a "divine right of rebellion". If an emperor became a tyrant, he would lose the mandate of heaven and people would overthrow him. Today they might simply throw the leader out of office in an election. Confucius and democracy are not incompatible.