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Chinese Reactions to Government’s Handling of Wenzhou Train Accident

by on Tuesday, July 26, 2011 73 comments comments

2011 July 23 Wenzhou high-speed rail accident.

From Liba:

Today’s New York Times headline

The New York Times headline quoted a Weibo [microblog] message: “China, please stop your flying pace, wait for your people, wait for your soul, wait for your morality, wait for your conscience! Don’t let the train run out off track [derail], don’t let the bridges collapse, don’t let the roads become traps, don’t let houses become ruins. Walk slowly, allowing every life to have freedom and dignity. No one should be left behind by our era.”

New York Times screenshot: Train Wreck in China Raises Questions of Safety.

The original has already been deleted, but is reprinted here: This morning, the higher-ups issued directives to CCTV and the media: “Newest requirements regarding Wenzhou accident reporting: 1. Use death and casualty numbers issued by authoritative departments; 2. Reporting should not be too frequent; 3. Report more moving stories, such as people donating blood, taxis drivers not taking fares, etc.; 4. Don’t investigate the cause of the accident, use information issued by authoritative departments; 5. Don’t do reflections or commentary [on the accident/issues].

Comments from Liba:

海蓝深处:

If we say food safety can all be problems with evil or unscrupulous businesses

Then if the railways, trains, highways, the things that are funded by the country like are all like this, how are we expected to continue trusting this government?

幸福素儿:

Reported the feelings in the hearts of 1.3 billion Chinese people.

陆月侬:

Seeing this, I suddenly want to cry.

caiyian_223:

What people do, heaven watches, please don’t treat us like idiots.

陆璘杰:

The whole world is laughing at us.

avril宝:

Why is it that we can’t be allowed to know the truth, and not allowed to speak it it even when we know the truth? I still remember the political textbooks in middle school and high school! So it turns out they were are bullshit! Fuck, so infuriating!

格格的格格:

No wonder the even Southeast Asian countries have begun to bully China. Now the entire world knows this kind of state of affairs in China.

上海美丽:

It was written by a Chinese person, @童大焕

Even Guo Meimei has made headlines on the New York times, but didn’t that too end up being unresolved?

They simply have it in them, to not see or hear, to pretend to be crazy, to pretend to be stupid, pretend to be helpless, pretend to be innocent…shameless.

天天想飞的鱼:

Although I don’t feel very helpless about the current situation, I find it really annoying when Americans prattle on about this or that. No matter how bad our country is, we still have relatively peaceful lives to live. I sure don’t want my country to be ruined like Yugoslavia and Iraq.

ddmother2000:

Qie,, its all the same, okay? Whenever something happens in America, doesn’t our media also make a big deal about it? When have you seen our media talk about other people’s good things…?

焦糖ANGELA:

No mourning, no flying the flag at half-mast~
Just speed and overtaking developed countries~
Trampling on the hearts of the Chinese people~

2011 July 23 Wenzhou High Speed Train Collision.

From KDS (1 & 2):

Domestic journalists are already used to receiving this kind of garbage/junk text messages

Government instructions sent via text message regarding Wenzhou high speed train crash reporting.

Translation of the text in the above photograph:

Propaganda notice: The Wenzhou train accident will be uniformly referred to as the “7.23 Yong-Wen Line Exceptionally Serious Railway Accident”.

The Wenzhou train accident from now on will be reported with “great love in the face of great disaster” as the main theme. Don’t question, don’t expand, don’t associate, and don’t repost [about the matter] on individual/personal microblogs! Appropriate service [charity/volunteer] information may be provided during television programs, but be careful of the atmosphere created by music selection!

Comments from KDS:

摩天卵:

5 mao come in and explain this, what is this about~~~~~~

chinapanda:

That finger isn’t bad! This kind of garbage text message is one I often see!

Lionwoo:

When journalists aren’t independent and the media isn’t strong, the Heavenly Kingdom has no hope.

The problem is with the journalists and media today, where 99.99% are lacking calcium and lacking xinc [lacking backbone and heart].

辉耀:

When God wants to destroy someone, he will first make them crazy.

kinkid:

Freedom of speech is the most basic of rights.

蓝精灵:

That finger, a young, sexy reporter.

This text message must’ve been sent by a reactionary force. The Heavenly Kingdom‘s news is the most free.

nbjnbc:

I really want to see the junk text messages for Guo Meimei and Da Vinci.

李逍遥:

Control public opinion! However, in today’s internet age, is this method of any use? Everyone can guess in their hearts, and the more they try controlling public opinion this way, the more the people become suspicious in their hearts.

马克兔:

It’s been 2 days now, but its still the same two images/footage that is being shown over and over on the news, whereas the stories of moving deeds are constantly playing and constantly changing.

Local villages and rescue workers working throughout the night to rescue people from the Wenzhou high speed train accident.

From KDS:

Weibo exposes officials going to Wenzhou’s most luxurious hotels/restaurants even in this time, reposted from Weibo

@天佑中华A： [Resharing one photo] At noon I posted a microblog update, asking the Railway Ministry whether or not the Railway Ministry officials will be eating boxed meals, and now this photograph proves that not only are they not eating boxed meals, they are not only dining in Wenzhou’s best hotel, they may also be drinking Maotai. This is what the Railway Ministry is like, this is what China’s politicians lives are like. Ma Ying-jeou can eat over 700 boxed meals a year, but the Railway Ministry officials must eat the very best even in this kind of situation.
Conscientious moderators don’t delete [this post]. It has already been reposted millions of times on Weibo.

Shangri-La Hotel sign indicating where Beijing, provincial, and city government officials will eat versus where regular workers will eat.

The following is supposed to be a microblog update made by Sina Weibo user @小狮子mymylion but the update can no longer be found on her profile page. Copies on Tianya or Baidu Tieba discussion forums have also been deleted, while there are still some copies on some smaller forums. It refers to the press conference held by the Railway Ministry last night involving spokesperson Wang Yongpin (pictured). He was criticized by many for some of his responses to reporters’ questions. For example, he infamously responded that to the effect that whether or not the people believe his explanations was up to them, but either way he believes them. Many netizens also commented that he needed a translator because his Putonghua [Mandarin] was so poor.

@小狮子mymylion： Latest development: At the press conference, the head of the Railway Ministry slipped away through the side door, causing public outrage. Reporters swarmed and then a large fight broke out, hand to hand combat!!!

Details: It was because this person first tried to slip away that caused public outrange and then the reporters rushed the guards. I don’t know whether or not that old man got hit in the end. There’s a [sound] recording but I don’t know if anyone else has video to share.

Railway Ministry Spokesperson Wang Yongping at a press conference following the 2011 July 23 Wenzhou high speed train collision.

Railway Ministry Spokesperson Wang Yongping at a press conference following the 2011 July 23 Wenzhou high speed train collision.

See also: “Latest on the Wenzhou high-speed rail collision” (Shanghaiist)

  • Sunshine

    First comes tragedy, then comes media censorship, then comes public outrage. 起来吧，不愿做奴隶的人们！

    • http://candosino.wordpress.com terroir

      ding, baby, ding

    • vic2u

      Yeah in the USA and Canada this kinds of things are on the news at 6pm and everyone is happy.

      Nobody in the west would bash the govt like the Chinese do in China and people in the west are happy to live in a free world.

      Look at Oslo, nobody blames the govt, but if that happened in China, the world of shit will be on the Chinese govt.

      Chinese are trying too hard to live like the west but are living too far in the world of stupidity.

      • Josh

        FYI, people in the west blame the government and specifically Obama for most things that happen. If you’re going to shitpost, at least have a finger on the pulse. This kind of story, however, would not be blamed on the government in America, you’re right about that and the reason is because American railways are privatized.

      • Sunshine

        You made a funny.

  • john digmeme

    Great article, interesting to see increasing calls for more freedom and placing greater value in human rights.

    • lonetrey

      if only it wasn’t deleted so quickly. a mark of how things are in China :(

    • vic2u

      Only in China.

      Anything happens in China and it’s all about more freedom.

  • Sunshine

    Nothing on the sacking of Shanghai railway officials?

    • Xiongmao

      THEY WERE TEMPORARY WORKERS YOU CAPITALIST LAPDOG! OK seriously, the Chinese way is to fire a handful of people who had little or nothing to do with the root problems, then consider the problem solved. If the people were good party members they’ll get another well oiled job within a year or two.

      • Sunshine

        I.. what?
        I was referring to the fact that the article made no mention of these meaningless sackings.

        What about that high up official that stormed out of the conference and was chased by an angry mob wanting answers?

  • GodsHammer

    All the comments got harmonized already???

  • ander

    kinkid:
    Freedom of speech is the most basic of rights.

    Yep. It’s in the Chinese Constitution.

    • Jay

      Rule of law is only for those who are lower on the social scale.

      If you have enough guanxi, rules mean nothing.

      • http://candosino.wordpress.com terroir

        “Rule by law” isn’t the same as “rule of law”.

        • Jay

          What’s your point?

          • http://candosino.wordpress.com terroir

            I was pointing out the difference. Kind of like how you were pointing out the difference.

            We’re kind of the same except I got what you were saying.

          • Jay

            I wasn’t pointing out the difference.

            To rule by (via) law means that the ruler uses the laws (follows laws, creates new laws, etc.) of the land while ruling.

            Rule of law means that even the ruler respects the laws of the land as superceding the power of the individual or position and follows the laws.

            The various arms of the government in China, often do neither.

            They make up a “regulation” and when challenged on it, sputter and are deeply offended and angrily ask, “Why does a foreigner know the laws of China? Are you a spy?”

            I have since learned that giving face and using guanxi almost always gets a better result – even if I despise the person for giving in to that corrupt system of favors, and using that system makes me feel unclean.

    • Just John

      Chinese democracy?

  • Shanghairen

    The funniest part is this: “Propaganda notice: The Wenzhou train accident will be uniformly referred to as the ’7.23 Yong-Wen Line Exceptionally Serious Railway Accident’”

    You can’t make this stuff up!

    And I’m not sure why this is such a sensitive topic. Train travel in China is mostly safe and efficient. They should just compensate the victims fairly, find a few mid- and low-level people to fire and move on. Less corrupt countries can protect the higher-ups after an investigation, so I’m not sure why they are in “super-secret-don’t-even-mention-the-cause” mode.

    • Dawei

      Shanghairen,

      Its all relative, low speed train travel is the safest way to go in China, but there are still horrific train pileups every odd year or so. High speed is as yet unproven, but now we have the first accident (Jap and EU have only had one so far each in their entire operating history).

      The ire of the people has been engaged here because of all the party trumpeting about the new high speed rail line, its huge expense and the “unexpected” corruption garnered from building it. Not to mention the singular drive to accelerate China up to and beyond the evil foreigners technology.

      For these reasons it is sensitive but the more they squash the story the more people make up rumors and distrust what is said. I do think that the party is increasingly becoming distanced from the people it is supposed to serve, and is in fact being left behind when it comes to social and ethical thought.

      • anon

        Great comment, Dawei.

      • Rick in China

        It’s a good comment, but it’s like… universal.

        “I do think that the party is increasingly becoming distanced from the people it is supposed to serve, and is in fact being left behind when it comes to social and ethical thought.”

        This could truthfully be said about either of the current political parties in the US, too, for example. (either; teabaggers don’t count)

      • hexie

        This is the second high speed rail accident, the other one was in 2008.

    • anon

      What’s so funny about that part? It just sounds funny when the original Chinese is translated too literally into English. If you’re familiar with Chinese, the Chinese actually isn’t that awkward. It’s basically “7.23 Wenzhou Train Accident”.

  • Chinese Netizen

    Economic development trumps ALL. Naysayers in China that criticize the Railways Ministry or its officials are not patriotic Chinese!

    Thank goodness our agent in Oslo succeeded in his attack. RETRIBUTION for awarding Nobel Prize to Liu Xiaobo…!!

    • Danny

      Long live Chairman Mao!

    • Tengu

      Yeah 65 kids shot to death is a humorous event.

      The whole article pretty much bolsters the argument for giving him the Nobel Prize.

      Poor little trapped mockingbird just repeating tripe you hear from people who do your thinking for you.

      • vic2u

        Well they got freedom to say whatever and so nothing.

        But are they gonna get any big money settlement?

  • Hongjian

    All corrupt bastards and americans should be lined up and shot.

    The people should just walk into that luxury restaurant and pour boiling oil into the face of the official.

    • Adjutant

      Nice job sneaking ‘Americans’ into your list of people responsible for the Chinese train management.

      • staylost

        American’s control everything. They rule the world. Hu Jintao is just a puppet to make sure all the American’s who want to come to China and get girls will be safe and have a good time.

        Even Hongjian works for the Americans. His job is to make it look like American bashing is reserved for lower life forms. I think he does a good job of serving the American overlords.

        • Tengu

          I just came back from Shanghai, the new train between Beijing and Shanghai broke down a few times right after it was put into online or am I mistaken….

          You had a road that washed out two days after it was built.

          Longest bridge in the world is missing pieces.

          Best thing in Wuhan is a bridge the Russians built years ago,

          You can’t take peasants from the country and make them construction workers.

          BTW, keep spending all your time out here bashing Americans.

          We get all the good pussy while you’re stuck to your keyboards. Thanks for that!

    • Nyancat

      Lots of people are dead and this is what you choose to post? Smooth move dickhead, how’s that pickup line working with the ladies? Your bullshit is getting old, try something new.

      • Tengu

        “Thank goodness our agent in Oslo succeeded in his attack. RETRIBUTION for awarding Nobel Prize to Liu Xiaobo…!!”

        That was an appropriate comment?

        You nimrods are so one sided.

        BTW do you deny those are facts or does your inability to build quality infrastructure cloud your mind that much?

        • vic2u

          Norway is a welfare state the people there love their govt that is why the govt is not blamed for any of this disaster.

          China is a country of working people that why the Chinese hate to see their govt getting things done so cheap and fast.

          Or may be most of the Chinese have a death wish, they just like China to be getting bashed and put down worldwide.

        • Nyancat

          Umm just wanna clarify a few things @ Tengu, is your comment addressed to me? My comment was addressed to Hongjian. On a side note the comment by Chinese Netizen is obviously a troll comment and I can’t understand why anybody would want to ‘feed’ him.
          Hongjian is a permanent troll however and I would consider calling him out on his comments as he posts regularly. I’m not really sure whether I’m the nimrod u are referring to, if so then i would ask u to take a long walk off a short pier. If not then no harm no foul.

    • Jones

      Hongjian! What did I tell you about “variety”? You really need to come up with new execution methods for us Americans! This one is old and boring. Get creative!

  • Jess

    Its a case of Cao Ni Ma?!

  • Canadian_Skies

    “The original has already been deleted, but is reprinted here: This morning, the higher-ups issued directives to CCTV and the media: “Newest requirements regarding Wenzhou accident reporting: 1. Use death and casualty numbers issued by authoritative departments; 2. Reporting should not be too frequent; 3. Report more moving stories, such as people donating blood, taxis drivers not taking fares, etc.; 4. Don’t investigate the cause of the accident, use information issued by authoritative departments; 5. Don’t do reflections or commentary [on the accident/issues].”

    LMAO! See here? China “higher ups” are the best comedy writers in the world. Proving that the BEST comedy DOES come from real life experiences, and is made even better by restricting/altering/changing/editing/CENSORING

    PURE COMEDY!!!

    • Chef Rocco

      Even the directives do exist, though I doubt so, looks like CCTV is not following them. Watch CCTV “Today’s Watch”, the two commentators were pretty spoken-out and open.

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8FjtCUgZrY&feature=related
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=-6FlX85J3r0

      • anon

        I think a lot of people are missing what I think is the most important aspect about this incident: That there has been so much outrage and criticism in so many corners and much of it isn’t getting scrubbed by censors. The media is also doing some particularly daring things in light of the alleged propaganda directives.

        Of course, we can still see many instances where information is being controlled (party newspapers, the reporting or lack thereof on some news sites, etc.), but I’m genuinely surprised by how much is being left up. Part of me wonders if the central government is intentionally allowing the Railway Ministry to take so much heat as punishment even as it is getting criticized as a whole. But another part of me thinks its also being allowed because China’s leadership is in a transition period and all that may imply.

        But whatever it is, it really feels like they could be clamping down more but aren’t or, if we’re optimistic, can’t. I’m forced to wonder if its because the people are fed up and refusing to be clamped down, where even site moderators and lower-level authorities who normally comply with “social management” directives are refusing to let this one go, but cynically I’m not sure that’s the case. But if it is, I’m going to then worry about how foreigners approach this, because they could fuck up this grassroots sentiment by becoming a distraction. We’re already seeing a lot of gloating from foreigners who don’t realize it really has to be the people on their own to take their own government and leaders to task.

        The big story here isn’t the incident itself or even what led to it, but how the public is responding. I’m not optimistic for big sudden changes, as some demand, but I’ll be happy if it results in some substantive absolute progress.

  • FYIADragoon

    Serves the companies and the CCP right for stealing Kawasaki’s designs. 2ch in Japan is having a hilariously good time laughing at this. Condolences to the citizens who had to prove the ineptitude of China’s companies and government.

  • staylost

    To me, this is just an example of less than perfect practices regarding standards in China.

    Let me explain: Chinese engineers are perfectly capable of creating and implementing high quality safety checked things, and they often do so. The unfortunate part is the inability of China to standardize such quality.

    Corruption will sink in somewhere along the line, and it will often be defended as, “this is China!”, and then something will fall apart later on and be buried by bulldozers ASAP, thus encouraging other to be corrupt too.

    You could write up processes for the whole thing too.

    1. Develop really great idea/technology/business plan.
    2. Create reasonable framework of rules/regulations/safety guidlines to ensure standard high quality across the board.
    3. Don’t follow those processes in point 2 whenever you feel like it because of some really lame excuse.
    4. Some misfortune occurs because point 2 wasn’t followed.
    5. Scapegoat and control public opinion rather than measuring reality against point 2.

    This process positively reinforces itself because the culture of accepting less than perfect practices regarding standards is continuously preserved through point 5.

    You find this in everything, from smoking in public places, to hospital sanitation, to food quality, to military hardware, to corporate bylaws.

    China desperately needs its own laws to be followed, and that won’t happen until those at the top model it successfully (not fake it through propaganda).

    • Matt smith

      My only consolation in this is that line from Kungfu Panda (which I realize is a much older saying, but that’s the first time I had heard it put that particular way): “One often meets his destiny on the road he takes to avoid it.” All of this attempting to harmonize, this propaganda intended to deter unrest and trying to cover up (often inane) things, will probably result in a much worse catastrophe (for the government) than that which *might* have been created had the government not tried to cover up all of its mistakes. The climate they have (seemingly unwittingly) created now makes it easy for the average citizen to blame things on the government, including things that they are not actually responsible for, and it’s all because of the lack of transparency with situations like this that other situations whose cause(s) is unclear are easily lumped together as the government’s fault. Truly, the government now is doing an excellent job of emulating The Chairman, and also doing an equally excellent job of disregarding all the ill-will they are generating along the way.

    • MonkeyMouth

      almost hate to say this…but….
      Is there proof that the railway people caused this?Is there a smoking gun? the train got struck by lightning. (ahh…..so its the Christians and their thunderbolts!). How often has a bullet train been struck by lightning?
      ….wait a minute……
      This is China.
      Of course it was caused by corruption.

      • anon

        If you’ve been following the reporting on the incident, you should have already seen that a lot of the blame directed at the government stems from 1) why they didn’t stop the second train from rear-ending the first train if they knew the first train was stopped, and 2) that power-loss incidents caused by lightning apparently have been happening quite often yet there doesn’t seem to have been anything done about it.

        That there is corruption in the Railway Ministry is already known but this is more about being angry with first negligence and then suspicion of how corruption and general organizational and government official incompetence contributes to such.

        There’s more, but I think that should be a good starting point response to your question.

      • staylost

        Sorry, I mean a broader use of the word corruption. Someone OKing building early or skipping safety testing simply because they are lazy would fit under my broad use of the word. Basically anything that makes the original person or group that is defaulting on their responsibility for any person gain, including letting them surf ChinaSmack personals for their own pleasure when they should’ve been hard at work.

        To address the details of your piece, lighting usually hits the tallest highly conductive thing around. That would be the train. And lightning is very common in Zhejiang. We have lightning storms nearly weekly in late spring and summer.

        If lightning actually caused the accident then the egg is on the “railway people’s” face, because frankly that is a pathetic reason for such a tragedy that should have been planned for from the beginning.

        The spirit of your comment is well taken though. I have no idea whether money changed hands in an illegal way that caused this to happen, nor do I mean to implicate that strict bribery occurred.

        • da mao houzi

          lightning does not hit things, it arises from the ground and ascends

    • http://candosino.wordpress.com terroir

      Great point. I’ll simplify it by saying the most outrageous conclusion it obviously points towards: this horrible tragedy was a good thing for the reason that it highlighted all the corruption and dodgy business practices that is inherent within Chinese business/industry.

      China: an accident waiting to happen. You’d think that’s a racist thing to say, but it’s an accurate summation of business/industry/everything.

      Why can’t Chinese be uptight like Germans? That’s a whole other set of problems, but at least the trains would run on time and be well-designed.

  • eattot

    so disgusting!
    should kill several officials as for crime against humanity!
    they even have face to go to eat in good hotel, also that damn red cross, should just donate them a kick! even dare to ask for donate again!

  • mx

    the ministry is at work, where’s voldemort?

  • manusan

    Even if you buy 50% of the technology, next time, buy it made in Europe or Japan.

    • vic2u

      Yo moron, the bullet trains in both Germany and in Japan had accidents as well, you just didn’t hear much about them.

      May be your eyes were only on China, always looking for bad news in China all the time.

  • Justin

    Why don’t you busters read some real news for once? Great coverage on the China Media Project.
    http://cmp.hku.hk/2011/07/25/14036/

    • anon

      Psst, most of the people here aren’t interested in real news!

    • staylost

      Yes, here is a great example. A ten day directive to learn to drive the trains. It is just foolish.

      Why act in a way so void of intelligence?

    • Pong Lenis

      In case you didn’t notice, this isn’t a news site.

  • 大熊

    Seeing this quote just makes me sick…. “The original has already been deleted, but is reprinted here: This morning, the higher-ups issued directives to CCTV and the media: “Newest requirements regarding Wenzhou accident reporting: 1. Use death and casualty numbers issued by authoritative departments; 2. Reporting should not be too frequent; 3. Report more moving stories, such as people donating blood, taxis drivers not taking fares, etc.; 4. Don’t investigate the cause of the accident, use information issued by authoritative departments; 5. Don’t do reflections or commentary” [on the accident/issues].

  • Rick in China

    I find it amusing how they place so much importance on what whom is eating when something bad happens.

    Railway Ministry hires shady contractors who fucked up railway, cause accident….but that’s not all, THEY’RE EATING REALLY NICE SOUP! WHAT THE F***? THEY SHOULD BE EATING VEGETABLE LEAVES AND RAT MEAT LIKE THE REST OF US *online fury*.

  • Disgusted

    Makes you wonder about China’s newest stealth plane…no ejection seat for pilot…

  • Pingback: Wenzhou Train Crash Round-Up | Party and State

  • Simon

    We Wenzhounese people do not deserve this. My heart goes out to victims and families in mourn and in pains. May God bring ultimate retribution to those responsible commy scumbacks

  • http://unblockfacebookinchina.info/vpn-in-china Rod

    The train accident and general shit-attitude is typical of china. This is the reason everyone in the world thinks this is a crap place.

    But the attitude of the comments above (by Chinese people) show that there are people who care. There are people who are fighting for a better China.

    This is why I’m still here.

    • vic2u

      Shitheads have no say in any matter in China, join the party and see what you can f#ck up.

      “There are people who are fighting for a better China.”

      Terrorists and activists that bash China say the same thing in the USA and in Canada.

      No harm done they say, it just makes the Chinese look like crap in the world. Nice of them to help China that way.

    • Canadian_Skies

      I mock, because I believe the people of China deserve better.

  • Disgusted

    I wonder why there was no mention of the 2 americans killed in this accident…or was it buried along withe the trains?

    http://english.ntdtv.com/ntdtv_en/news_china/2011-07-26/chinese-rushed-construction-blamed-for-high-speed-train-crash.html

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  • vic2u

    In Canada it is allowed to have a say on this story now, 6 days later and some Canadians still don’t knows about this train crash until 3 days ago.

    So what’s China’s govt hiding or should that be what is Canada’s govt trying to hide?

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