Detailed instructions to “LEAVE NO blood on the face, no wounds on the body, and no witnesses in the vicinity” do not bode well for a new era of human rights in China.
Photo: sherrattsam
According to an article in the Irish Times, a Chinese government manual has been circulating on “how to beat up troublemakers without leaving marks.”
Apparently, it’s not hard to obtain a copy of the manual; they are available in any bookshop or online.
Aimed at “urban management enforcement squads,” otherwise known as bruttish chengguan, the manual describes exactly how to go about beating up mostly unlicensed street sellers.
Tips include:
Urban management officials should seize the opportunity when there are not many onlookers around. Do not hesitate. Finish the job quickly, without giving your opponents time to prepare. The whole job should be completed within 10 seconds.
It also adds:
Several officials should always act together. Make sure to leave no blood on the opponent’s face, no wounds on the body, and no witnesses in the vicinity. Be calm and focused. Be a firm public official.
Coincidentally, China’s state council just introduced the nation’s first program on human rights called the National Human Rights Action Plan (2009–2010). The plan outlines measures to be implemented over the next two years around work, basic living conditions, social security, health, environmental, cultural and women’s rights, among others.
But activists say that recent arrests, including that of Tan Zuoren, an environmental activist from Sichuan that Amnesty International believes is at serious risk for torture, do not bode well for this enforcement of these rights.
It is believed that Zuoren’s detention was linked to “his intent to issue a list of the names of children who died in the May 2008 Sichuan earthquake along with a report blaming corruption in state officials for the collapse of a number of schools.”
How does this explicit government manual affect China’s stance on human rights? Share your thoughts below.
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5 Comments... join the discussion!
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Me neither. At the same time, I would not be at all surprised if similar manuals exist in the U.S and other places…they just don’t blatantly circulate them in public bookshops. Disturbing.
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I’m sure instructions of the same cut are par for course when dealing with enemy combatants…or leftist opposition to puppet governments…perhaps under the rule of El Presidente Obama that may change…
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My questions is this: why do people feel compelled to write speculative commentary with no bearing on reality?
Do you realize that this manual details the method of abuse for *civilian* citizens of China? These are not military combatants, these are neighbors, sisters, brothers of each other. This is the same country that mowed its own people down with tanks 20 years ago Beijing. Concede these points please: China is a dictatorship. Its citizens have no rights to free speech, to freedom of the presses, or to being presumed innocent until proven guilty.
With all of its flaws, please contrast this with the U.S., and tell me again how you can knowingly damage the reputation of thousands of law enforcement officers that risk their lives for your safety and are compelled to guarantee your civil liberties? By saying inflammatory, speculative, imaginative things like “I would not be at all surprised if similar manuals exist in the U.S”, it reflects poorly on you as well as the rest of us. There have been instances of police violence against civilians, I know. But it is not protocol, it is not standard procedure by any means and if you’d like to crucify this country for all of its flaws (which I concede in a heartbeat) and put it on par with a country already convicted of some of the worse human rights violations in history against its own people — then I suggest you move there. I’m sure you won’t notice any difference when you can’t even access your youtube.com account.
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I have read the introduce about you ,I think you may like to travel,But why don’t you travel to China ? if you do ,you will know what you say above is really stupid .You trust the news or introduce about China ,Obviously they deceive you .Because i am a chinese student of Xidian univesity in the city of Xian where you can find the miracle terra-cotta figures.What i see and feel is really different from what you think .Maybe it is time to come to China to find the truth.Welcome!!
I’m sorry my English is poor ,but i think understanding what i say is not difficult.↵
