CHINA, JOURNALISM AND THE STATE: When Can We Be Free to Tell?

[See Series Introduction -- the Editors]

By Leslie Sun

To be frank, I was not surprised when I read about Zhao Yan's case. I've known for a long time that the Chinese government does such things. I am quite used to it.

I used to dream of being a journalist who could let the majority hear the minority and let the minority hear the majority. But I don't have this dream anymore. They won't let me do that, will they? I may be thrown in jail like Zhao.

I wanted to introduce China to the world, but what to introduce depends on them. I may not know a lot about my own country's business, because there is no way for me to know. In other words, a journalist in China knows little about what's happening and there's little he can report to the public about what he does know.

I feel deeply sorry about my career and my countrymen. To some extent, I loathe the Chinese government because they don't respect their countrymen's right to know and speak. And for journalists it's not only a right but also a responsibility.

China has a very long history. All during this history the Chinese people have been treated like fools. There's an old Chinese saying: Be on alert for people's mouths, as they're even more dangerous than the flood. There's not been a minute in this history when Chinese people really had the right to know and speak. Maybe some people will argue that it's a problem of the whole of human society, not merely China, but you have to admit it's especially serious here.

In the Qing dynasty, there was a phrase, "Word Jail," to describe those people who were thrown into jail for saying bad words about the government. In almost every era people were killed or imprisoned because they said something bad about government. There is little difference now. I admit that we are way more free than they were; but there is such a long way to go.

China is now on a fast lane to develop, and I'm very glad and proud to see my country gain more and more respect from other countries--both from our friends and from those countries that don't take us as a friend. No one can deny that China is developing at an impressively high pace economically. In other fields, however, we haven't made such rapid progress. I'm deeply worried that in years to come China will be a country full of rich but ignorant people.

I know the government has its justifications. But I'm not talking about state secrets. I totally agree that the public should not know state secrets. But what can be defined as a state secret? A thing that is surely to happen in a few days, such as Mr. Hu taking the place of Mr. Jiang? That cannot be a state secret. If the explosion of an atomic bomb will take place Wednesday afternoon, you cannot tell other people about it Wednesday morning. That is a state secret. The Chinese government displayed its over reaction on a less than important issue. It acted like a moron on this issue, and on countless such issues.

As you can see, I'm still mad about it. I think that is good. I mean, it's good that I'm mad about it. I know a lot of people, and they are all mad about it. I sincerely hope these mad people--including me, of course--will make a change in the future. And I hope Mr. Zhao will come back soon.