That’s the headline China Radio International chose to describe Lin Jiaxiang’s (林嘉祥) dinner in a Shenzhen restaurant. The allegation is that Lin, former Communist Party chief and deputy director of the Shenzhen Maritime Safety Administration, attempted to force an underage girl into the men’s restroom.
It’s encouraging that the story emerged at all. But the way CRI is handling it kind of suggests that they’d kept it all under the carpet if there weren’t those human flesh search engines.
Cai Mingzhao (蔡名照), deputy director of the Chinese State Council’s information office, said on an Internet Convention in September:
“In recent years, spoofs, online violence, human search engines and other emotionality and irrational behavior have caused public concern. This kind of behavior harms online harmony, violates the rights of others, endangers public benefit and should be stopped.”
(近年来，网上恶搞、网络暴力、人肉搜索等情绪化和非理性行为，引起社会的广泛关注和担忧。这些行为损害网络和谐，侵犯他人权益，危害公共利益，应加以引导和制止。)
It’s true – human flesh search engines are uncontrollable and dangerous. They can hit innocent people just as well as villains, and stories like the one about Lin Jiaxiang would require further investigation. An online comment, according to chinasmack.com, goes like this: “I am willing to give a month’s salary/wages. Anyone else willing to give money? Hire an assassin, and murder him.”
Vigilantism (daydreaming about it included) is inappropriate. But who will conduct an investigation on him in China that anyone would trust?
Under circumstances as they are, a lot of things can get out of hand. Censorship isn’t the answer either. A free press could be. But it isn’t all bad news: as we can see from China Radio International’s headline, the radio station is still under the leadership of the party.
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