The PRC government is trying to suppress information about the Dongzhou incident. They are blocking websites (not to worry: this blog is already blocked in China, I believe). They are not allowing reports in the domestic media about the shooting and killing of villagers. They even took down the first official statement on the matter from the Xinhua website (I will copy that text below the jump since it now seems to have historical significance). In all, they seem to believe that if they do not talk about it, if they do not name it, it will somehow not exist.
Well, the Dongzhou killings are facts; they exist as facts regardless of CCP propaganda. And we who have access to the information need to publish it, say it, reproduce it and circulate as much as possible. We need to name it. For in naming it, political action is enabled. Here is a fairly famous passage from Confucius on naming, from the Legge translation:
"If names be not correct, language is not in accordance with the truth
of things. If language be not in accordance with the truth of things,
affairs cannot be carried on to success.
"When affairs cannot be carried on to success, proprieties and music
will not flourish. When proprieties and music do not flourish,
punishments will not be properly awarded. When punishments are not
properly awarded, the people do not know how to move hand or foot.
"Therefore a superior man considers it necessary that the names he
uses may be spoken appropriately, and also that what he speaks may be
carried out appropriately. What the superior man requires is just that
in his words there may be nothing incorrect."
So, what name should we give it? "The Dongzhou Killings"? "Massacre" seems a bit extreme, though if it is true that more than twenty people were killed, that may turn out to be the most appropriate name. How about: "The Dongzhou Suppression"? Maybe not. But I think "Dongzhou" needs to be in the name, as a continuing reminder of the place where ordinary people tried to resist the injustices forced upon them by corrupt officials and paid with their lives.
Remember Dongzhou.
Residents of Dongzhou, with white cloths of mourning on their heads for the victims of the police shooting, kneeling in front of riot police.
Here’s the full text of the Xinhua statement that has been taken down from its web site (you’ll notice they refer to Shanwei, which is the larger town near Dongzhou village, here referred to as Dongzhoukeng):
SHANWEI, Guangdong, Dec. 10 (Xinhuanet) — Hundreds of villagers incited by a
few instigators violently attacked a wind power plant on Dec. 6, and assaulted
the police, the Information Office of the city government of Shanwei in south
China’s Guangdong Province said here Saturday.
In an investigation report of the incident, the office called the armed
assault a serious violation of law.
According to the official recount, the instigators led by HuangXijun
engineered and organized some villagers in Dongzhoukeng and Shigongzhai to
illegally besiege and attack a local wind power plant at noon on Dec. 5 and
Dec. 6.
The first assault on Dec. 5 caused a seven-hour suspension of the plant’s
power generation.
In the second onslaught, over 170 armed villagers led by instigators Huang
Xijun, Lin Hanru and Huang Xirang used in the attack knives, steel spears,
sticks, dynamite powder, bottles filled with petroleum, and fishing
detonators.
Police moving in to maintain order were forced to throw tear shells to break
up the armed besiege, and arrested two insurgents.
However, Huang Xijun mobilized over 300 armed villagers to forma blockade on the road to Shigongzhai Village to obstruct the return passage of the police,
in attempt to threaten the police to release the arrested insurgents.
For a moment, many besiegers intended to quit following the persuasion
shouted by the police. However, they were forced to stay in protest under the
threat reinforced by the instigators, according to the report.
Instigator Lin Hanru shouted through a loudspeaker that they would throw
detonators to the police and blow the wind power plant, if the police refused
to retreat.
It became dark when the chaotic mob began to throw explosives at the police.
Police were forced to open fire in alarm. In the chaos, three villagers died,
eight were injured with three of them fatally injured.
Concerned government departments are still investigating in the exact cause
of the death.
The Information Office said that the instigators with Huang Xijun at the
core had incited villagers to join in armed protests since June, using
villagers’ discontents over a land requisition of a coal-fired power plant in
Dongzhoukeng Village as the excuse.
They frequently formed armed protests in the construction ground of the
coal-fired power plant, blocked public traffic, attacked government offices and
even illegally detained people and vehicles passing through the village to
threat the local government to approve more compensation fund in land
requisition.
In order to magnify the effect of their protests, the instigators hatched
the assault of the wind power plant in Shigongzhai Village, which had no
relations with their former request for fund concerning the land requisition in
Dongzhoukeng Village.
The provincial government of Guangdong pays great attention to the Dec. 6
Incident. A special work group has been established to investigate in the
incident, according to the Information Office. Enditem
The Useless Tree 
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