Source: NYT (3/1/21)
当代中国文字狱事件：从上访者到“侮辱英烈”
China Persecutes Those Who Question ‘Heroes.’ A Sleuth Keeps Track.
By 袁莉
中国中央电视台2月19日播放的画面：仪仗队抬着一名去年6月在中印边界冲突中死亡的中国士兵的棺材。 CHINA CENTRAL TELEVISION, VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS
At least seven people over the past week have been threatened, detained or arrested after casting doubt over the government’s account of the deaths of Chinese soldiers during a clash last year with Indian troops. Three of them are being detained for between seven and 15 days. The other four face criminal charges, including one man who lives outside China.
过去一周里，至少已有七人因怀疑政府对中国军人在去年与印度军队的冲突中死亡的描述而受到威胁、遭拘留或被逮捕。其中三人分别被拘留七至15天。其他四人面临刑事指控，包括一名居住在中国境外的男子。
“The internet is not a lawless place,” said the police notices issued in their cases. “Blasphemies of heroes and martyrs will not be tolerated.”
“网络空间不是法外之地，”警方发布这些案件的通告中写道。“英雄烈士不容亵渎。”
Their punishment might have gone unnoticed if it weren’t for an online database of speech crimes in China. A simple Google spreadsheet open for all to see, it lists nearly 2,000 times when the government punished people for what they said online and offline.
要不是因为有人建了一个中国文字狱的在线数据库，这些人受到的惩罚也许不会引起人们的注意。这是一个简单的谷歌表格，面向所有人开放，它列出了政府对近2000人因为他们的线上或线下言论所做的惩罚。
The list — which links directly to publicly issued verdicts, police notices and official news reports over the past eight years — is far from complete. Most punishment takes place behind closed doors.
表格直接给出了过去八年公开发布的判决书、警方通告和官方新闻报道的链接，但远非完整。大多数这类惩罚都是非公开的。
Still, the list paints a bleak picture of a government that punishes its citizens for the slightest hint of criticism. It shows how random and merciless China’s legal system can be when it punishes its citizens for what they say, even though freedom of speech is written into China’s Constitution.
尽管如此，这个表格描绘了一个政府对本国公民最轻微的批评暗示进行惩罚的万马齐喑局面，表明了中国的法律系统在惩罚本国公民言论上的随意和无情，尽管言论自由写入了中国宪法。
The list describes dissidents sentenced to long prison terms for attacking the government. It tells of petitioners, those who appeal directly to the government to right the wrongs against them, locked up for making too loud a clamor. It covers nearly 600 people punished for what they said about Covid-19, and too many others who cursed out the police, often after receiving parking tickets.
表格中有因抨击政府而被判长期监禁的异见人士，也有为纠正冤假错案直接向政府上诉的上访者，他们因为动静太大而被关了起来。名单上还有近600人因为他们与新型冠状病毒疾病有关的言论而受到惩罚，以及更多的因辱骂警察而受惩罚的人，这类事情常常发生在收到违章停车罚单之后。
2019年10月，在北京举行的庆祝中华人民共和国成立70周年的仪式上，一辆载着中国领导人习近平巨幅照片的彩车。 KEVIN FRAYER/GETTY IMAGES
The person behind the list is a bit of a mystery. In an interview, he described himself as a young man surnamed Wang. Of course, if the government found out more about him, he could end up in prison.
这个表格背后的人有点神秘。他在采访中把自己描述为姓王的年轻人。当然，如果政府找到了有关他的更多信息的话，他可能会进监狱。
Mr. Wang said he had decided to compile the list after reading about people who were punished for supposedly insulting the country during celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic, in October 2019. Though he is young, he told me, he remembers more freedom of expression before Xi Jinping became the Communist Party’s top leader in late 2012.
王先生说，他读到一些人在2019年10月庆祝中华人民共和国成立70周年期间因涉嫌侮辱国家而受到惩罚的报道后，决定编制这份名单。他对我说，虽然自己年轻，但仍记得，中国在2012年底习近平担任中共最高领导人之前曾有过更多的言论自由。
“I knew that there were speech crimes in China, but I’ve never thought it’s so bad,” Mr. Wang posted in August on his Twitter account, where he writes in both English and Chinese. He wrote that he had become depressed after reading more than 1,000 verdicts.
“以前我也只是知道中国有因言获罪，但是没有想到这么严重，”去年8月，王先生在使用中英双语的Twitter账户上发帖称。他写道，读了1000多份判决书后他感到抑郁。
“Big Brother is watching you,” he wrote. “I tried to look for the eyes of Big Brother and ended up finding them everywhere.”
“老大哥一直在看着你，”他写道。“而我试着到处去找老大哥的眼睛，结果发现到处都是。”
The list, bluntly titled “An Inventory of Speech Crimes in China in Recent Years,” detailed what happened to those who questioned Beijing’s official account of the June clash between Chinese and Indian forces at their disputed border in the Himalayas. The Indian government said then that 20 of its soldiers had died. Last week, the Chinese government finally said four of its soldiers had died.
这份清单有一个直言不讳标题——“中国近年文字狱事件盘点”，它记录了一些人因质疑北京对去年6月中印军队在两国有争议的喜马拉雅山边界发生冲突的官方说法，而受到的处罚。印度政府当时说，有20名士兵在冲突中死亡。上周，中国政府终于公布了有四名士兵死亡。
State-run media in China called them heroes, but some people had questions. One, a former journalist, asked whether more had died, a question of intense interest both in and out of the country. According to the notice the spreadsheet linked to, the former journalist was charged with picking quarrels and provoking trouble — a common accusation by the authorities against those who speak up — and faces up to five years of imprisonment.
中国官媒把这些士兵称为英雄，但也有人提出疑问。其中一名曾任记者的人问是否有更多士兵死亡，国内外的人都对这个问题有极大的兴趣。据该表格链接的通告，这名前记者被指控寻衅滋事——这是当局对敢于直言的人惯用的指控，并将面临最高五年的监禁。
When you read the list, it becomes clear how well Mr. Xi and his government have tamed the Chinese internet. People once thought the internet was uncontrollable, even in China. But Mr. Xi has long seen the internet as both a threat to be contained and a tool for guiding public opinion.
阅读这份名单让人们清楚地看到，习近平及其政府是如何严格控制中国互联网的。人们曾认为互联网无法控制，即使在中国也如此。但一直以来，习近平把互联网既看作一种需要遏制的威胁，也看作一个引导舆论的工具。
“The internet is the biggest variant we’re facing,” he said in a 2018 speech. “Whether we can win the war over the internet will have a direct impact on national political security.”
“互联网是我们面临的最大变量，”他在2018年的一个讲话中说。“在互联网这个战场上，我们能否顶得住、打得赢，直接关系国家政治安全。”
Liberal-leaning voices and media were among the first to be silenced. Then internet platforms themselves — the Chinese versions of Twitter and YouTube, among many others — were punished for what they allowed.
有自由主义倾向的声音和媒体在最早被噤声的。后来，互联网平台本身——包括中国版的Twitter和YouTube，以及许多其他网站——也因它们允许发表的东西而受到惩罚。
Now, Chinese internet companies brag about their ability to control content. Nationalistic online users report speech they deem offensive. Of the seven people who were accused of insulting the heroes and martyrs, six were reported by other users, according to the police notices. In some ways, the Chinese internet polices itself.
如今，中国互联网公司吹嘘自己控制内容的能力。民族主义的网民们举报他们认为具有攻击性的言论。据警方的通告，被指控侮辱英雄和烈士的七人中，有六人是被其他用户举报的。可以说，中国的互联网在自我监督。
China’s police, who are widely disliked for their broad powers to lock people up indefinitely, are big beneficiaries. According to the spreadsheet, people have been detained for calling the police “dogs,” “bandits” and “bastards.” Most are locked up for only a few days, but one man in Liaoning Province was sentenced to 10 months in jail for writing five offensive posts on his WeChat timeline.
因拥有把人无限期关起来的广泛权力，中国的警察受到人们的普遍厌恶。警察是限制言论自由的大受益者。据这个在线数据库，一些人因称警察为“狗”、“土匪”和“混混”而被拘留。虽然大多数只被拘留了几天，但辽宁的一名男子因为发布了五条有攻击性的微信朋友圈而被判处10个月监禁。
Petitioners are among those who suffer the most. In one case on the spreadsheet, a woman in Sichuan Province whose son died at school and whose husband committed suicide was sentenced to three years in prison for charges that included spreading false information. The verdict listed the headlines of 10 articles she posted and the page views they garnered. The most got 1,615 page views, while the least got only 18.
上访者是受文字狱迫害最严重的群体之一。该在线数据库中有一个案子：湖北省一名女子的儿子在学校死亡，丈夫自杀，她被以传播虚假信息等罪名判处了三年监禁。判决书列出了她发的10篇文章的标题，以及这些文章的点击量，最高的点击量是1615次，最少的只有18次。
Perhaps the most depressing items are those about people who were punished for what they said about the Covid-19 pandemic. On top of the list is Dr. Li Wenliang, who was reprimanded on Jan. 1, 2020, along with seven others for trying to warn the country about the coronavirus. He died of the virus in early February last year and is now remembered as the whistle-blower who tried to warn the world about the outbreak. But the spreadsheet lists 587 other cases.
也许最令人沮丧的，是那些因发表有关新冠病毒大流行的言论而受到惩罚的人。位居榜首的是李文亮医生，2020年1月1日，他和其他七人因试图向全国发出新冠病毒的警告而受到训诫。去年2月初，李文亮死于新冠病毒，人们现在把他作为试图警告世界疫情暴发的吹哨人来纪念。但因新冠病毒言论受惩罚的还有其他587人。
去年2月，民众在武汉某医院外悼念李文亮医生。李文亮曾试图对新冠病毒发出警告。他去世后，政府加强了对言论的镇压。 AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES
Even cheesy skits by aspiring online influencers can be deemed offensive. Two men in northwestern Shaanxi Province livestreamed a funeral they held for a sheep. In the video, one man cried over a photo of the sheep while the other dug the grave. They were detained 10 days for violating social customs.
就连那些想当网红的人拍的拙略搞笑小品，也能被视为冒犯。陕西省西北部的两名男子直播了他们为一只羊举行的葬礼。视频中，一名男子拿着羊的照片哭泣，另一名男子为羊掘墓。他们因违反社会习俗而被拘留了10天。
But the spreadsheet also highlights inspiring cases in which people spoke out to challenge authority.
但文字狱也凸显了一些敢于站出来挑战当权者的鼓舞人心的案例。
In 2018, a 19-year-old man in the northwestern city of Yinchuan decided to test the newly passed law that prohibits questioning and criticizing heroes and martyrs. He posted on Weibo that two famous martyrs had died meaningless deaths and that he wanted to see if he would be arrested, showing a lack of free speech in China. He was detained for 10 days and fined $70.
2018年，西北城市银川一名19岁的男子决定对新通过的禁止质疑和批评英雄和烈士的法律以身试法。他在微博上发帖说，两个著名烈士的死亡毫无意义，他想知道自己是否会因此被逮捕，从而证明中国没有言论自由。他被拘留了10天，罚款500元。
One man, Feng Zhouguan, criticized Mr. Xi and was charged with picking quarrels by the local police in the city of Xiamen. He was detained for five days but appealed after his release, arguing that the police had improperly interfered in a potential libel cases between two individuals. The local police, he argued, are “not the military bodyguards or family militia of the national leader.” The court upheld the sentence.
一个名叫冯周管的厦门男子因批评习近平，被当地警察指控寻衅滋事，被拘留了五天。获释后，他提出上诉，称警方不正当地干预了两个人之间可能的诽谤案。他提出，当地的警察“不是国家领导人的禁卫军或家丁”。法庭维持了处罚。
Still, many people pay a steeper price.
尽管如此，许多人付出了更大的代价。
Huang Genbao, 45, was a senior engineer at a state-owned company in the eastern city of Xuzhou. Two years ago, he was arrested and sentenced to 16 months in jail for insulting the national leader and harming the national image on platforms like Twitter. He shared a cell with as many as more than 20 people and had to follow a strict routine, including toilet breaks. He and his wife lost their jobs, and he now delivers meals to support his family.
45岁的黄根宝是东部城市徐州一家国企的高级工程师。两年前，他被判处16个月的监禁，罪名是在Twitter等平台上侮辱国家领导人、损害国家形象。服刑期间，他与20多人一起住一间牢房，必须遵守严格的作息，包括上厕所。他和妻子都失去了工作，现在他靠送外卖养家糊口。
“My life in the detention center reminded me of the book ‘1984,’” he said in an interview. “Many of the experiences are probably worse than the plots in the book.”
“看守所的生活让我想到《1984》这本书，”他在接受采访时说。“很多情节比书里描写有过之而无不及。”