Harmonizing Yang Jia

Lauren Hilgers

Two months ago, a 28-year-old man from Beijing stormed a police station in Zhabei District. Armed with a knife, dust mask, a hammer and some bug spray (apparently the makings of a smoke-bomb), Yang Jia killed six policemen and wounded a handful of other people.

At first glance, Yang is an unlikely figure for public sympathy. When news first hit Shanghai that he had been apprehended, there seemed no question that the public would condemn him for the violence. Then something unexpected happened. Support started growing for Yang Jia over the internet.

Yang’s motive in the attack resonated with an audience across China. Nearly a year ago, Yang had had a run-in with the Shanghai police concerning a bicycle for which he couldn’t produce registration papers. In a Southern Weekend interview in July, Yang said he was beaten during the bicycle interrogation. Rumors spread that he could no longer have children due to injuries from the beating (someone on the internet has given this the name “genital gate”).

Interestingly enough, Yang first attempted to use the court system to seek redress for the bicycle incident. It’s unclear to me how far he made it in trying to sue the Zhabei police, but his claim was ultimately rejected. Attacking a police station was plan B.

Among my own Chinese friends, frustrations with corrupt police and lack of faith in the justice system have led to a surge in sympathy for Yang. It is no doubt helpful that he is from the capital city, rather than a far-flung and unfamiliar province, and has been presented as an educated man with no criminal history. His act of violence, some hope, could prove useful in pressuring police to reform. (Public scrutiny did prompt police to release a tape recording from their first interrogation of Yang, in a failed attempt to clear their name.)

The government reaction to growing internet chatter, however, has done little to encourage their hope. The trial was delayed until after the Olympics and posts and websites about Yang are frequently “harmonized” (a popular term for censorship). Although Shanghai’s court system is generally more transparent than other cities around the country, the one-day trial was closed to the public. Information on the case was not published on the court website, as is the general practice, and while a verdict was given last Monday, it was not made public until four days later that Yang had been sentenced to death. In the aftermath of the verdict, complaints about the fairness of the trial have blended with calls for the improvement of China's justice system. (Global Voices has translated some comments on the trial here.)

I think it is significant that the case took place in Shanghai, where residents have reaped all the benefits of China’s development. Shanghai residents, generally, are not poor, whereas Weng’an—the city in Guizhou where riots erupted early this summer over police corruption—is in one of China’s poorest regions. And still, Yang Jia struck a chord. I see this not so much as a contradiction, but a nuance. National pride is not always blinding--people who admire their country’s progress over the last 20 years may also feel frustrated with the poor behavior of their local police force.

Nationally, in a Pew poll conducted earlier this year similar trends were noted. More than 8 out of 10 people in China are happy with the direction that their country is taking, the poll found. The same poll, however, reported widespread complaints about corruption and the state of the environment in China. After the outpouring of nationalism during the Olympics, this is a wrinkle that is easily and often overlooked.

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Posted 1:01 AM by Lauren Hilgers [link]