Zhang Ping, a magazine columnist, recently wrote a blog called ‘My Cowardice and Impotence’:
“I am afraid of other people praising me as a brave newspaperman, because I know I am full of fear in my heart. I did write some commentaries on current affairs, and edited some articles that exposed the truth. I lost my job and was threatened for speaking the truth. However, to be honest, these were exceptional cases.
”They were my miscalculations. In my various media positions in the past decade, what I’ve practiced most is avoiding risk. Self-censorship has become part of my life. It makes me disgusted with myself.”
Zhang Ping has just lost his post as deputy editor at the Southern Metropolis Weekly magazine because of a recent piece he wrote about Tibet for another publication. He is reportedly still employed as a lead writer at the magazine.
The China Digital Times describes how he was labelled a traitor on Internet forums and called a rumour monger by a Beijing Evening News journalist after he penned an op-ed called ‘How to find the truth about Lhasa’
A Beijing-based author and blogger called Woeser – who The Washington Post describes as the world’s best-known contemporary Tibetan writer – also continues write about her homeland despite the risks.
She’s already spent time under house arrest and been warned to stop writing about Tibet. Her books have been banned, and her blog sites hacked and shut down.
In their article this week, The Washington quotes Woeser saying:
"Sometimes I'm scared, especially when I hear my friends have been beaten up … But I feel I have a responsibility to do this. Some things are really hard to know now, but if I know something, I will write it."
Last month, a Mongol journalist, author and human rights activist known as Naranbilig was placed under house arrest for the term of a year after being held by authorities for almost three weeks, says Reporters Without Borders.
It also reports that Zhou Yuanzhi, a writer and journalist, was arrested in Hubei province on May 3 and hasn’t been seen since. They fear he may now be charged with “inciting subversion of state authority”.
Human Rights in China’s latest news brief blog has links to Radio Free Asia stories, in Mandarin and Cantonese, about a Buddhist Priest and an AIDS activist who have been taken away by police and whose whereabouts are unknown.
It links to other stories about a petitioner detained after he intercepted the Premier’s car and reports about the wife of an imprisoned rights defender who is worried for her husband’s health. That’s just a rundown from a day or so.
These are just some of the heroic people in China who continue to speak out about what they believe in spite of the risks. It has cost many of them and they are indeed brave and incredibly courageous.
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