by BI Yantao, China
Mr. Wu Heping, the spokesman of China's Minsitry of Public Security once openly advocated: Let the news media speak; the heavens will not fall. To this, I will applaud sincerely.
As a communication researcher, I would say: Let the people speak; the earth will not perish. But in practice, there are roughly two types of governmental officials: the liberalist and the conservative (I wouldn't label them the leftist and the rightist). Some of the conservatives will not accept any form of criticism. In fact, they will make every effort to browbeat the public into keeping silent.
A good case in point is as follows. From last evening to this early evening the water supply in my residential quarters was cut off. To make complaints I chose to publish a critical post in a discussion room at baidu.com. To my appreciation, the administrators didn't delete it. But one of the visitors to the discussion room was unhappy with it. He tried to intimidate me into stopping the complaints. Who is he on earth? So absurd!
