Chinese rice expert Yuan Longping died on Saturday (May 22) after a long illness, and his death was reported in high profile and highly praised by Chinese official media. At the same time, some netizens in Beijing and Tianjin were criminally detained by police for “insulting Yuan Longping” after they expressed their discontent or made mocking remarks. Radio Free Asia correspondent Qiao Long reports.
Yuan Longping, a 91-year-old member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and an expert in hybrid rice breeding, died in Changsha, Hunan province, on Saturday, and his body was cremated on Monday. Yuan was awarded the “Order of the Republic” by Xi Jinping and the title of “Pioneer of Reform” by the General Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council of China.
In an article published by Xinhua News Agency on Monday (24), Yuan and the Communist Party of China were closely linked, praising him for his firm support for the leadership of the Communist Party of China, his faithful implementation of Xi Jinping’s socialist ideology of the new era with Chinese characteristics, and his ideological, political and operational alignment with the Communist Party of China Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core.
In the private sector, the commentary on Yuan Longping is not exactly in line with Beijing. Internet police in Beijing and Tianjin reported the arrest of a total of five netizens for allegedly insulting Yuan Longping. In response, Beijing dissident Jifeng said in an interview with Radio Free Asia on Monday that the majority of netizens were not unhappy with Yuan’s contribution, but rather angry at the act of making a “god” out of a man.
The Chinese people are free from hunger mainly through food imports and reform and opening up
“The vast majority of commenters are rational people and will not go after Yuan Longping himself. It is fair to say that Yuan Longping, as a scientist, is qualified and deserves respect. People don’t want to see official god-making and mythologizing him, thinking that without him, the Chinese would starve. But that’s not the case, and now we’re still importing large amounts of food from Europe and the United States.”
Secondly, says Ji Feng, the Chinese people are able to eat well as a result of the reform and opening up of the countryside and the implementation of the “package production to the household”.
“Starting from Xiaogang village in Anhui, it is a system. The system has been liberalized, taking the road of market economy, where will not have enough to eat. In the absence of Yuan Longping, food in Europe and the United States has long been enough to eat, so these various reasons add up, resulting in a flood of comments online, but some people belong to the expression is not clear, and some people a mess.”
According to the Beijing police, on the afternoon of May 22, the netizen “Nanwang Shanxia” in the WeChat group released a number of discontent with Yuan Longping’s remarks, the same day at 9 pm, the netizen was Beijing Chaoyang Public Security Bureau criminal detention. The police in Rizhao City, Shandong Province, reported that on the afternoon of May 22, a man from Anyang, Henan Province, Jia Mou (male, 18 years old) posted three consecutive statements on his Sina microblog about his dissatisfaction with Yuan Longping, and was subsequently administratively detained for five days by the Rizhao City Public Security Bureau, Shanhaitian Tourism Resort Branch. Another netizen, Li Mou of Tianjin, Wang Mou of Xiamen, and “Shibai Taoyuan” of Jiangsu, were all criminally detained by police for posting abusive comments about Yuan Longping on the Internet, such as “finally dead”.
Liu Quan, an independent media personality in Fujian, told the station that officials prohibit people from commenting on so-called martyrs and punish them if they question them.
“Once a netizen questions them, the public authorities may move in to make arrests and even sentence them to jail. Many martyr figures, whose deeds are fabricated, are meant to promote her great, glorious and correct image. In fact, it is to highlight the Communist Party’s own great and glorious and correct image.”
Mr. Lv, an Internet writer, said that in China, not only can one be arrested for criticizing heroes and martyrs, but one can be punished for criticizing national leaders or winning “Republican Medals” or deputies to the National People’s Congress.
“Criticism and questioning of national leaders, including the late national leaders, can also be arrested. You criticize and monitor the government and the monitoring system, you will also be arrested.”
Weibo took the initiative to shut down three accounts whose comments involved Yuan Longping
After the announcement of Yuan Longping’s death, the official Sina Weibo community management microblog released a message saying that some accounts were found to have posted and spread rumors and insulting attacks against the meritorious heroic figure within Weibo, causing a bad social impact. Therefore, the accounts involved were closed for one year, and the subsequent punishment will be based on relevant laws and regulations. The accounts that were shut down include “Apicort has not happened yet”, “Painter Jiang Linyin”, “IShtaRose” and others.
The management of Sina Weibo said that once the harmful information is found, it will be seriously dealt with and announced, and stressed zero tolerance for the release and dissemination of content that “distorts, scandalizes, desecrates and denies the deeds and spirit of heroes and martyrs”.
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