Qu Yuan and Li Wenliang
Li Wenliang was 34, forever young and now forever dead.
I don't like the rumors I've heard about him. The most pernicious being that Beijing had him killed. Utter nonsense. Don't believe it. Both Chinese and non Chinese alike have spread this rumor. It is silly and not true.
But a month ago no one had even heard of him and now his death is going to keep Beijing up at night.
Nevermind the laowai, their trade wars, their aircraft carriers, their sanctions. None of these can hurt China.
China can only change, feel threatened from within. Beijing doesn't fear a new American bomber as much as it fears tens of millions of nameless citizens using the death of one of China's best and brightest at the hands, albeit indirectly, of an unaccountable group of little emperors run amok.
It is not that Beijing knew what was going on. Of course it did not. Beijing cannot be blamed for this, in any direct fashion. However, decades of such behavior has created the environment for such a sad event to occur.
This young man was undoubtedly a man with the world in his hands. His future laid out before him. Someone China counted on to carry the torch of progress for the next generation. In the span of a few short weeks his untimely death has crystallized for all within the Heavenly Kingdom to see, the glaring arbitrary behavior of a few.
China's unbending attitude towards preventing instability, its unwillingness to attempt an understanding with a well meaning individual has brought us to this.
Li Wenliang is our modern day Qu Yuan, the poet that committed suicide after warning his king about impending doom, only to be ignored.
By the time of his WC on December 30, the virus had surely already run rampant within the confines of Wuhan for at least a month. Planes continued flying. Trains running. And people coughing.
Kudo's for Beijing's decisiveness. Jeers for the little emperors beyond the horizon, of which there are all so many, in every town and every village, too many to count, that wield the most power in people's lives. More than any group of men in Beijing ever could.
I don't like the rumors I've heard about him. The most pernicious being that Beijing had him killed. Utter nonsense. Don't believe it. Both Chinese and non Chinese alike have spread this rumor. It is silly and not true.
But a month ago no one had even heard of him and now his death is going to keep Beijing up at night.
Nevermind the laowai, their trade wars, their aircraft carriers, their sanctions. None of these can hurt China.
China can only change, feel threatened from within. Beijing doesn't fear a new American bomber as much as it fears tens of millions of nameless citizens using the death of one of China's best and brightest at the hands, albeit indirectly, of an unaccountable group of little emperors run amok.
It is not that Beijing knew what was going on. Of course it did not. Beijing cannot be blamed for this, in any direct fashion. However, decades of such behavior has created the environment for such a sad event to occur.
This young man was undoubtedly a man with the world in his hands. His future laid out before him. Someone China counted on to carry the torch of progress for the next generation. In the span of a few short weeks his untimely death has crystallized for all within the Heavenly Kingdom to see, the glaring arbitrary behavior of a few.
China's unbending attitude towards preventing instability, its unwillingness to attempt an understanding with a well meaning individual has brought us to this.
Li Wenliang is our modern day Qu Yuan, the poet that committed suicide after warning his king about impending doom, only to be ignored.
By the time of his WC on December 30, the virus had surely already run rampant within the confines of Wuhan for at least a month. Planes continued flying. Trains running. And people coughing.
Kudo's for Beijing's decisiveness. Jeers for the little emperors beyond the horizon, of which there are all so many, in every town and every village, too many to count, that wield the most power in people's lives. More than any group of men in Beijing ever could.
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