Letters and Blogs

Happy new face of State

Comments on "Hu, Wen meet Clinton in Beijing" (China Daily Website, Feb 21)

What a pleasure it is to see the bright and friendly face of the new Secretary of State. Let's hope the more open-minded group in the new administration would be more realistic and repair the damage done around the world by the previous administration.

Pleasure

on China Daily website

Trying to return stolen antiques

Comments on "Chinese lawyers apply for injunction to stop sale of stolen relics" (China Daily website, Feb 22)

I have just heard the news that the French judge refused to halt the auction of the stolen items and instead ordered the organization who filed the petition to pay the money. In the face of this outrageous injustice, Chinese people should keep cool and do this:

1) Keep speaking up and educating the public about the artifacts currently in European museums, which were stolen from China and other countries by imperialists. Make the world see the brutal and unjust way in which those thieves secured possession of those items.

2) Make public all the names of the institutions and individuals who have participated in preventing the artifacts from being returned to China and their rightful countries of origin.

3) Launch a campaign to encourage Chinese people to boycott those museums and organizations that use the artifacts for money.

The French judge made these patriotic lawyers pay a few thousand euros for their efforts to correct a historic injustice. In retaliation, the Chinese should unite to prevent further gain by the thieves by not supporting those places that make money from exploiting China's historical humiliation. Who knows, maybe one day, if they are not able to make enough revenue because of the historical baggage attached to those artifacts, they will have no choice but to return them.

Jack

on China Daily website

Yunnan treating the truth seriously

Yunnan authorities invited 10 netizens to join a committee investigating the death of a young man in custody who police said bumped into a wall while playing hide-and-seek with other inmates.

Li Qiaoming, 24, who was arrested for illegal logging, died from severe brain trauma.

Police claimed that Li sustained the injury when he accidentally head butted a wall while playing a game of blind man's bluff with other prisoners in the local detention center.

When Internet surfers expressed their suspicions about the circumstances of his death, the Yunnan government responded to netizens' calls for the truth by inviting some web users to join the probe into Li's death.

Authorities are somewhat inexperienced at confronting a heavy bombardment of public opinion (especially on the Internet).

The notorious South China Tiger case has made the Forestry Department in Shaanxi Province a laughing stock, after it stubbornly refused to admit that the rare animal that reportedly appeared in a farmer's photo, was a hoax despite netizens' clams it was just a mythical tourist lure.

Yunnan's unprecedented move is a giant step forward compared with previous cases when local authorities hid, disguised and manipulated the truth.

Albeit with several flaws in the process, Yunnan's move indicates that some Chinese authorities are taking grassroots opinions seriously now.

Wang Ting

Via e-mail

RIP victims of coal mine tragedy

Always so sad and heart-breaking news from coal mines. These coal mine victims are amongst the courageous heroes who have sacrificed their precious lives for the well-being of mankind. May their souls rest in peace.

Sorrowful

on China Daily website

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(China Daily 02/25/2009 page9)