2 Elderly Chinese Women Sent To Labor Camp For Protest Plans (Not)

Headlines such as the above are meant to inflame public opinion against China. It conjures up images of two poor elderly Chinese women, torn away from family and friends, subjected to the most brutal, unconscionable form of punishment, condemned to a sure death in a Chinese Gulag.

The reality, however, is quite different. The headline is a pure fabrication. As reported by the Guardian newspaper in the UK

On August 17 the two women received an order dated July 30 from Beijing's Re-education Through Labour Commission, sentencing them to one year for "disturbing the public order".

It places restrictions on their movements and warns that if they breach any of the requirements they will be sent to a labour camp.

The system does not require formal hearings or allow appeals.

Li told the Associated Press the women were now at home under the observation of a neighbourhood committee. No cause had been given for the order. When Wu and Wang returned to the PSB on August 18 officers said they could not apply to protest because of their sentence.

The key words here are "sentenced" and "restrictions placed on their movements". Contrary to the headline, which has been reproduced in media outlets worldwide, the women were not sent anywhere but home. They have basically been told to shut up and were put on probation.

Actually the story, as is usually the case, is more complicated than reported in the Western press. The two women have been protesting the expropriation of their homes, probably for some construction project (although that's speculation on my part) since 2001. They applied for a permit to protest at an Olympic staging area set aside for that purpose. A report in the Chinese language edition of Voice of America says that in the past they exploded firecrackers outside the government compound at Zhongnanhai, opposite the Forbidden City, to draw attention to their complaints. So in actual fact the Chinese authorities have been dealing with these two "trouble makers" for quite a while and have been rather indulgent of their activities, probably in deference to their age. The sentencing of the women to re-education was a formality which prevented them from receiving a protest permit as anyone who is under such a sentence cannot apply.

The whole fandango was, therefore, a bureaucratic attempt to get a couple of ornery old ladies to cool it. They've been making a fuss for over seven years and I guess the authorities just have had enough. So they got a slap on the wrist and were told to go home and behave or else.

Now this turns out to be the type of minor spat that is common anywhere in the world and can be read about in the local 'round about town column. It has been blown all out of proportion to the reality of the situation and become fodder for the hysterical Western press that wants to portray China as an evil ogre out to oppress its people. However you may want to criticize the Chinese authorities for their handling of the situation it doesn't constitute the type of action indicated by the headline. These women have not been shuttled off to some forlorn labor camp. The headline is misleading and false. It casts malicious aspersions on China as being some sort of barbaric miscreant country. So while I may have some questions about how the whole imbroglio started and how its been resolved I do not think it appropriate to distort and misrepresent the actual facts about how these two unfortunate women have been treated.