Author: Li Huaping (Norwegian Forest)
“My wife claimed that I have a 60 something’s age, 40 something’s body, and 20 something’s spirit”
About
a year ago, during a banquet gathering, Zhu Chengzhi said the above
words with a smile. He looked much proud. Before that event, we never
met in face and only communicate through the internet.
Zhu
Chengzhi, a father figure, a Chinese citizen, was born in Shaoyao City
at Hunan Province in 1950. I also know that he is of the same age of Li
Wangyang, the late activist and one of the China’s longest -serving
political prisoners. Both Zhu and Li graduated from No. 4th Middle
School of Shaoyang. If you meet Zhu in a street, he is one of the
million ordinary elders of China. If you pay attention, you’ll notice
this elder possesses wisdom.
Photo 1: Zhu protests at the gate of Yunan Province admin.
2012 Spring Festival, Guangzhou
Zhu
Chengzhi speaks slowly. From the calm words, one can feel how firm his
belief is. We chatted the inescapable fear: our land, air and water are
all ruled by the only ideology. We agree that encouraging more and more
people to overcome the fear is an important task. A most important task
is that we should be role models. Through ourselves, we can encourage
more people to overcome their fear and break silence. When talking about
Li Wangyang’s sister Li Wangling, Zhu clearly stated that “The foremost
important task for us is to help Wangling overcome her fear.”
I
completely agreed with his idea. It is of great insight. Li Wangling
was sentenced three years of “labor and education” just because she
helped her brother to fights for the rights of living by speaking to the
foreign media after he was released from jail. The rulers crushed her,
an apolitical woman, by putting her into jail, banning her husband from
a decent job, and confiscating their house. Nobody can be unfearful
should he/she be treated the same way. (When Li Wangyang was released
from the jail on May 5, 2011, Zhu Chengzhi traveled from Yunnan Provice
to Shaoyang to pick him up from the jail. He and others arranged Li’s
life after the prison and informed me immediately.)
Photo
2: Feb. 22, 2012 Changsha. from left: Zhu Chengzhi, Liu Xiaoyuan,
“General Bao Jun”, Wei Zhongping, Liu Ping, Norwegian Forest, and Lin
Hongnan.
Zhu
said that just a few years ago ( before 2008), he should be counted as a
standard tamed Chinese ordinary person, who has no other thoughts but
following the Party’s words.
The change occurred due to a personal matter.
Zhu
Chengzhi started a manganese mine at Funing, Yunan Province. Due to
conflicts in terms of bringing funds to explore the mine with his
business partners, he and his partners were involved into two law suits.
In a civilized country with law abiding as the fundamental necessity,
such suits are pieces of a cake. Matters can be solved by the verdicts
of the court.
People
in a lawless country are not that fortunate. The simple rights issue
became a cruel game of torture with all parties involved. I listened to
the case once and can feel the pain from both the plaintiff and the
defendant caused by the unfair verdicts randomly reached by the court.
To the court, this is just another game and chance to collect money. All
involved in the case are victims and wasted their energy and money.
I
have no intention to discuss and judge this lawsuit which lasts many
years. All I wanted to say is, due to the dissatisfaction towards the
verdict, both parties wasted enormous time and money. To date, there is
no conclusion. Based on the “hidden rules”, Zhu Chengzhi has traveled to
the capital to spend funds, establish connections and seek help. The
other party did the similar things. After all, this is a case related to
tens of millions of RMB.
Due
to the case, Zhu Chengzhi became a petitioner in Peking and he was
illegally detained for 40 days. The most miserable protest happened in
the courtroom of Yunnan Province High Court: Zhu Chengzhi drank poisons
for agriculture use upon hearing the verdict. All acts did not change
the verdict because his opponent has more powerful economic and
political support. The lawyer said frankly, whatever the case is,
criminal or civil, there is no justice in the court. The winners of the
lawsuits are the most powerful, always. From this case, we can observe
the miserable life of Chinese ordinary people.
Jan. 28, 2012 Foshan, Guangdong Province
The
pioneers of rights protesters are ordinary citizens whose rights were
violated. Starting from his law suits, Zhu started to pay attention to
the dark side of the society. From his own fate he started to care about
others’ suffering. In the three netizens case of Fuzhou, Zhu told the
court police: I am Chinese citizen Zhu Chengzhi; When Ms. Wang Lihong
was detained and sentenced, Zhu traveled to Peking several time to show
his support. In mainland China, you can always find this slim built
elder who stood in the front.
When
encountering the secret police, Zhu uses plain language and speaks
calmly and patiently about common sense and facts. He told the secret
police that the activists are working/expressing publicly with open
hearts to make the society better. In such society, everyone including
members who now serving secret police can live with dignity.
Each
time I met Zhu, I would check how his lawsuit goes. After all, this
relates to tens of millions RMB. Zhu Chengzhi said with coolness: Norway
(that is what he called me), the lawsuit is no longer important to me.
The most important is that I got to know you people. It is okay to say
that because of this lawsuit, I know that life has more meanings. For
me, this is the Nirvana of the Phoenix. I have got a rebirth.
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