Li Shufen – A Case of Suicide?

On Saturday June 28, 2008 in Weng’an, Guizhou, a rebellion arose. Raging crowds devastated the local government offices, police stations and cars, even setting them on fire.

The reason for the protest was the death of a 15-year old girl who had been found dead in a river on June 22. She had been seen in the company of two young men allegedly tied to the local government administration. The local population belive that she was raped and murdered, then thrown into the river. The son of an official was questioned, then cleared of all accusations.

The investigations following the discovery of the girl’s dead boy had in fact quickly dismissed the case as suicide. But Li Shufen, the young victim, had no reason to commit suicide. Relatives and friends of the girl disagreed with the suicide ruling. Li Shufen was a junior high school student. Her classmates say that she was a quiet girl and a good student – difficult for them to think of reasons for her to commit suicide. Authorities attributed the alleged suicide to sibling rivalry, but the parents strongly deny that they had in any way favored their other child, who in an interview with the newspaper China Daily declared that he had seen his sister's corpse and that she had signs of violent injury on her face. Even more serious, the dead girl’s uncle, who challenged the official version, was first beaten by police when he went to protest about the death of his neice, and was beaten violently by unknown assailants immediately after his realease. He was then hospitalized in serious condition. He had not accepted the official version given for the death of his young niece.

In this latest popular revolt in Wengan, almost 30,000 people took to the streets, attacked local government offices and sought local officials. The revolt lasted for 2 days, people set police cars on fire and burning about 160 government offices according to government news agency Xinhua. According to Hong Kong-based Information Centre for Human Rights, almost 200 were arrested.

Protests are nothing new in Wengan, many had previously taken place over dam resettlement, disputed mines, forced home removals and corruption. Former chief of the Public Security Bureau, Shen Guirong, told China Newsweek magazine "Our authority was gone long ago. Our offices were often attacked."

These spontaneous protests represent a clear sign of the people’s anger and mistrust of both the communist leadership and the local administration, especially in rural areas. Such popular rebellions are becoming more and more frequent in China. Tens of thousands are now taking place every year.

Social tension in China has increased since the recent catastrophic earthquake in Sichuan, where all over the country citizens have protested the lack of basic anti-seismic standards in the construction of schools, while the regime’s top priority is to maintain the façade of a nation in harmony, so as to receive what they imagine to be some kind of international "approval" during the Olympics. Due to the advancements in technology and communications, especially the internet, sweeping the dirt under the carpet hasn’t been too easy for the Chinese regime. The case of Li Shufen is now known all over China.

As usual, the official Chinese government version of events blames others for the problems that have created; in this case, the blame has been placed on other unspecified parties with ulterior motives and gangsters.

Sources:
http://www.khabrein.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15264&Itemid=57
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/feedarticle/7641812
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jul/01/china.internationalcrime http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2008-07/04/content_6817959.htm
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-06/30/content_8466981.htm
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/china/article4242694.ece http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5ibyTvBOFuxWZPKuYHLenMC0eZsrw http://www.euronews.net/en/article/30/06/2008/pre-olympic-stability-drive-in-china-after-riots/

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