People knelt in front of local government building

May 28, 2010

Secret China Staff

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Chinese official’s ignorance angers thousands of people.
On April 13 over 1000 villagers from Zhuanghe City gathered in front of their local government building to appeal for an investigation into land compensation fees and the corruption of local officials. They asked for Sun Ming, the mayor of Zhuanghe, to come out and meet the people. The request was turned down even after dozens of villagers continued kneeling for over 30 minutes. An article with pictures was put on the Internet soon after the incident. In a very short period of time the story drew thousands of peoples’ attention.
The netizens were livid about the incompetence of the local government. The following comments are on netease.com.
A: You guys should be quiet and get offline! Otherwise you will be thrown into madhouses or labor camps soon. Be smart!
B: We need to import body bomb technology!
C: Only in such a "harmonious society" can this happen: over a thousand of people kneeling down to their government!
D: The whole judiciary is paralyzed when the people need the help of the voice of the Internet to get justice.
E: The government is too busy showing they do not care about the people at all.
F: Using kneeling as a way to appeal in the 21st century is shocking and stupid.
G: When we will see another Sun Yat-sen? (Note: Sun Yat-sen was a Chinese revolutionary and political leader. He played an instrumental role in overthrowing the Qing Dynasty.)

According to People's Daily, the official state controlled news website, by the time this article was published, Sun Ming was asked to resign by higher officials for his "mismanagement" of this incident.