Chinese Voices

Chinese Protest Online: The Case of Sun Zhigang

“I just posted this news on each of the major chat rooms! They all deleted me!!!”
—Chinese Web user

One case that has marked the emergence of the Chinese Internet as a tool for mass social activism is that of Sun Zhigang, a 27-year-old beaten to death in policy custody in April 2003. As this tragic case, and the ensuing protest online, demonstrates, activists and writers increasingly use the Web and news reports to influence public sentiment, sometimes leading to government promises of political or legal reform. The exchanges below illustrate some of the ways that Chinese citizens use the Web to anonymously express dissent and to mobilize action.

In early 2003, Sun Zhigang went to Guangzhou in search of employment as a fashion designer. Like many other migrants at many levels of Chinese society, Sun was required to have a special “temporary residence permit” in order to look for work outside of his home town. Like many others, Sun was detained by police in a migrant detention center; he was severely beaten and died a few days later in police custody.

While this story was not a new one in China, it touched a raw nerve and sparked public action. Within days of the initial news article in Guangzhou’s Southern Metropolis Daily, thousands of Internet users had forwarded the article by e-mail and posted it to bulletin boards. Hundreds of thousands of protest messages appeared on popular sites such as sina.com and sohu.com, decrying Sun’s death and sharing their own experiences of police abuse.

One group set up a memorial page to Sun Zhigang on www.cn.netor.com. Many reported there that editors were rapidly deleting their messages on other pages. In the first day, the netor.com memorial site had hundreds of protest messages. On the second day, there were thousands of messages. On the third day, pages of the site began to be inaccessible. A week later, the protest page was blocked. Gradually, the great uproar was silenced.

But by then, senior Chinese legal scholars had begun to take up the cause, writing letters to government officials calling for abolishment of the temporary residence permits and reform of the migrant detention centers. Some of these reforms were enacted, making the Sun Zhigang case a breakthrough in China: for one, authorities did change the migrant detention centers into voluntary service centers.

The Sun Zhigang case showed how Internet activists and journalists could mobilize an online uprising that produced real change. But much remains to be done to end the problem of police abuse of migrants, and Chinese voices on the Internet continue to protest these and other human rights abuses. Today, the memorial page to Sun is accessible again, but not the original posts; instead, the page memorializes itself, telling the history of the Chinese Internet uprising around Sun's case.

E-mails sent to Human Rights Watch about Sun Zhigang (in English):
•"The following story is true and happened last month in China. I, as a common Chinese, I have no ability to get any justice….I am very sad. And I wonder if you can help his family."

• "I was astonished to know that a 27-year-old designer was beaten to death by the police in Guangzhou….I feel sad that only two newspapers in China dared to report this atrocity. I'm so ashamed to write this email because we have nobody to complain to in our country….the same thing is happening to a lot of other guys here and I could be one of them, or anybody without power or connections…. Maybe some international pressure will help."

• Please don't tell others my e-mail address, I am worried….By the way, I love my country and I want China to become better and for everyone here to be equal.

Sun Zhigang's Memorial Web Site
Most of the following messages were posted in the middle of the night on April 29 on the netor.com Web site. Many were decorated with images of flowers and flickering candles.

• "When will our beloved ancestral nation finally have a real legal
system, and not make our tears flow for the unlucky ones?" (unsigned, 4/29/03, 01:34)

• "1. If you are not the child of a leader, you must die;
2. If you are not the son of a police officer, you must die;
3. If you're flat broke, you must die;
4. If your family borrows money to send you to college, and you have to move far away from home to improve yourself, you must die;
5. If you don't own your own car and have to walk to the Internet cafe, you must die;
6. If you don't own your own computer, you must die.
7. If you don't have a temporary residence permit, you must die;
8. If when you've been arrested you cry out, I committed no crime, I
have been wronged, why do you hit me, why do you say things that make no sense, and each of your cries is louder than the one before, until your howls become whispers, and each of your cries is weaker than the one before, then you must die;
9. If while you are beaten you refuse to lower your head and admit your crimes, you must die."
(unsigned, 4/28/03, 15:55)

• "Little brother [Sun Zhigang], wishing you a safe journey. Hoping that this tragic drama never happens again. Really hoping that no one ever lives in fear again."
(Litai, 4/29/03, 1:43:27).

• "As soon as I saw the news here about Sun Zhigang's matter, I wrote to The Southern Metropolis Daily.... The Southern Metropolis Daily [responded], 'We have just been contacted by the Propaganda Department, and they will not permit continued reporting or discussion. Many apologies, thank you for your support, and we hope we can be of service in the future!' "
(Sieg, 4/28/03, 14:33:00)

• "It's really too bad!!! Condolences, condolences."
(Amy, 4/29/03, 4:55:39)

• "Same old stuff: I just posted this news on each of the major chat rooms! They all deleted me!!!"
(unsigned, 4/29/03, 05:43)

• "It is better that Sun Zhigang has gone! Pitiable Chinese people, are we weeping for Sun Zhigang? We weep for ourselves. This rotten, so-called 'democracy' and 'rule of law' should go to the devil!"
(Suncat, 4/29/03, 2:09:34)

• "May God exterminate 30 million Chinese rogue policemen, officials
and low life thieves"
(kkk, 4/29/03, 1:56:14)

• "A discussion of the effect of SARS on the economics of detention:
Because of SARS, there have been fewer migrant workers going to
Guangdong to look for work, so the income generated by police station and detention center bail payments is significantly decreasing.
There are fewer people going out and strolling around, so the income
generated by police station and detention center bail payments is
significantly decreasing. Do the math: the price of temporary residence permits, border permits and bail will significangly increase." (unsigned, 4/28/03, 23:56)

• "SARS is a virus that can kill. The matter of Sun Zhigang is also a
virus for Chinese society. If the government does not ... stop this
virus, the end result will be more serious than SARS, and it may even be the death of a race."
(HHHH, 4/28/03)

• "Why is it that in China, which calls itself a very democratic, very
legal nation, this kind of exploitation of the people often happens? Is
it inevitable that rights and privileges are only tools that enable the
strong to take advantage of the people?.... Where is heaven? Where is justice? Where is compassion?"
(Fennu, 4/28/03, 18:49)

• "Wait for results.... I just do not believe that in this whole country,
we cannot find one good and compassionate lawyer."
(unsigned, 4/29/03, 01:19)

• A fellow schoolmate of Sun's urges caution among those planning to march in protest in Guangzhou on May 1: "Do it this way: when you leave the house, take your papers with you, take the 'temporary residence permit' and display it prominently... and when you get to the main square... throw the 'temporary residence permits' in the trashcan, mourn for three minutes, leave quickly, do not assemble, and do not make a sound!"
(unsigned, 4/29/03, 04:20)

• "Who should come and investigate, the police?? But they were police themselves..."
(unsigned, 4/29/03, 01:17)

• "I love my ancestral nation, but I don't know if my ancestral nation
loves me."
(Zhang, 4/29/03, 00:19)

• "We wait for pressure from the international community. I myself have already sent many [messages] to foreign human rights organizations, and The New York Times got it too."
(H, 4/29/03, 00:11)

• From a migrant worker having difficulty transferring his household registration to Shenzhen: "When will we be able to live peaceful lives in our own country, are we asking too much?"
(Zhenxiang, 4/28/03, 13:59)