sweeping loose ends under the carpet.

miantiao
November 23, 2009, 08:36 AM posted in General Discussion

today 泸州 recorded a 4.8 earthquake. sitting here in a 网吧 in central chengdu one could just barely register it happen, and in fact to be honest i didn't feel a thing, but others said they did.

of greater rumbling significance in events happening today in sichuan was the three year sentence metered out to brave soul who dared to question the building standards of collapsed schools as a result of the 5:12 big one.

however, a quick peruse of the local qq news failed to unearth any information remotely connected with his story, or sentence. this reader had to aquire such news from the nytimes.   

his crime, possessing state secrets. can anybody here please provide a definition for what exactly is classified as a state secret in china? could knowing how many 烧烤摊's there are to be found in a certain popular nightspot district on a saturday night be one? or maybe guessing the percentage of local women who have black hair?

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changye
November 23, 2009, 09:13 AM

The truth is always a state secret, especially in the PRC.

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bodawei
November 25, 2009, 01:07 PM

The story of the guy who got three years got quite a lot of coverage in Australia.  I heard the story in several news bulletins on the ABC and I read about it in the Sydney Morning Herald.  There was a voice-over translation of his wife speaking about it.  Someone collects this stuff, where does it go?    

Actually, do you read John Garnaut, the SMH correspondent?  I try to read them all, he's very good.