Justice better served late than never

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. ~MLK Jr.

Injustice is something that keeps me up at night. Injustice is something that is infuriating in every instance. There is no such thing as light injustice or injustice of the 2nd degree.

And this is what injustice on a motorcycle looks like. A few days ago, I and one of the Chicago Coffee staff were on our scooters riding in the complex where my home and coffee shop are. Mr. Chen was riding the opposite direction on his motorcycle on the wrong side of the road forcing me off the road and running straight into my staff and her bike. He paused for 5 seconds until we told him that her bike had been damaged and that something needed to be done about it. Thats when he bolted. No concern for her property or even to check if she was injured. No concern for owning up to his mistake. He lives in a world of one and there is no respect for anyone outside of his world.

Well I have reached a point now where I am not going to allow injustice to happen without standing up. I have reached a point now where I am not going to take this kind of disregard for human life. So I chased him.

I am a self-acclaimed scooter driving expert. (It seems like nothing but living in Asia driving with anything less than perfection can mean an accident and/or bodily harm. I would love to see the list of people that have used a scooter every day for 5 years in cities like Shanghai and Kunming without a single accident, brush-up, or fender-bender.) You can add "chased down a gas motorcycle" to my resume even though I still not sure how it was possible.

Head starts are never good for someone with the slower mode of transportation. Of course, not knowing you are going to be chased down by a crazy foreigner is never good for those who hit-and-run. A few blocks away I caught up with him and told him to pull over.

He kept going.

So I swerved in front of him forcing him off the road. I explained that he was going to wait because I was calling the police and he wasn't going anywhere until they arrived.

He went to restart his engine to back up and drive off.

So I did what anyone bordering insanity would do. I went for his keys. He took a swipe at me but not before I ripped his keychain from his bike. Lets just say he didn't appreciate that very much.

The police finally arrived and tried to get everyone's take on the situation. Here's a few highlights for time sake.

Mr Chen claimed we had in fact hit him on his side of the road. Airtight case if only he had not fled the scene and other witnesses didn't recall the opposite happening.

Note to criminals: If you want to appear innocent do not flee the scene. If you do end up fleeing, do not get caught because your are going to look guilty as hell.

Mr Chen claimed that the dirt on his pant's leg was proof that we hit him and now 1 hour after the fact he was worried he might of some broken bones in his ankle.

We didn't have to convince the police of too much since Mr Chen was doing a dandy fine job of establishing his guiltiness.

When Mr Chen began realizing that it was looking worse and worse for him, he switched to trying to use his "关系 guanxi" (relationships) to free him of this mess. He began dropping hints to the police of who his friends were and also inquired what department they were in and if they knew this guy or that guy. Thankfully it didn't work otherwise we would be talking a lot more about how corruption is still plays a large role in everyday life. Its sickening but at least in one instance justice prevailed.

After 3 hours of this nonsense, the police finally forced Mr Chen to pay for the repairs to the scooter. It wasn't much but in cosmic terms it was huge. Thank goodness for some justice that day. At least one person has learned a lesson regardless of how long it will last.

the Breaking Point

From gokunming.com:

(Kunming) Early in the evening this past Sunday, shoppers passing near the Xinhua Bookstore on Nanping Jie may have noticed a bloodied young man laying on the ground between roughly 5:30 and 8:00 pm.

image: news.kunming.cn

Who beat up this man and left him injured on the street? According to witnesses interviewed by local paper Shenghuo Xinbao (aka Life Times), the man had been beaten by plainclothes chengguan (城管) – literally 'city management' – the government employees who are charged with keeping the streets free of unlicensed commerce.

The man, Yuan Bangjin (袁帮金, pictured above), moved to Kunming from Sichuan in January of this year after a tragic 2008 in which the May 12 Wenchuan earthquake killed his wife and destroyed his shop. According to the Shenghuo Xinbao article, Yuan barely had more than a photo of his deceased wife when he arrived in Kunming.

According to Tong Dahong (童大洪), a friend of Yuan's, the two men had been playing cards with others before returning to Nanping Jie, where Tong was flogging goods at a makeshift street stall. When the chengguan arrived, Tong fled, leaving Yuan to face the chengguan alone.

The chengguan reportedly mistook Yuan for an illegal street vendor, leading to a quarrel that quickly turned violent, according to onlookers quoted in the Shenghuo Xinbao report.

"We change shifts at three, afterward I was sitting in our [chengguan] kiosk the whole time, we did not beat anyone – furthermore we didn't wear plainclothes today," Chengguan captain Yu Bing (余兵) told Shenghuo Xinbao.

"If you're going to say we're beating people, you need photographic evidence," Yu added. "At present we've undergone an investigation and we have no responsibility whatsoever.

A woman working near the Xinhua Bookstore on Nanping Jie told Shenghuo Xinbao a very different story. The woman, who did not give her name, said she and her coworker both saw plainclothes chengguan beat Yuan.

"[Chengguan] come here everyday, frequently in plainclothes," she said. "I know exactly what they look like."

After being taken to a hospital for treatment, Yuan went to the Huguo Police Station, where he was told that they could not deal with the matter. Yuan then went to the chengguan bureau for the Wuhua District, where he was told that they would only investigate if he provided photographs of him being beaten by chengguan.

"How can I obtain photographic evidence [of my beating] while I'm being beaten?" Yuan asked Shenghuo Xinbao.

Kunming's chengguan have a local reputation for frequently resorting to heavy handed tactics when dealing with street vendors and even registered businesses. Conflicts involving chengguan can also end up with chengguan suffering casualties. A chengguan was stabbed to death on Wenlin Jie in late 2005 while confiscating a tangerine vendor's cart.

In what may be an effort to improve the image of chengguan in Kunming, a "military-style" seven-day training program for thousands of chengguan around Kunming was launched on Sunday, according to a Yunnan Information News report.

Yang Zhaolin, an assistant chengguan captain, told the paper he was optimistic about the effect the training would have on Kunming's chengguan.

"I believe that later on, the team members who complete this training will definitely not enforce the law the way they wish to or enforce the law haphazardly, putting an end to any unhappiness that results from the process of law enforcement," Yang said.


After 7 years and 5 years continuous in China, there is something about the way things work here that pushes you to the breaking point. I am not a violent person, I am not one to react to quickly, lose my temper, or do things irrationally, but there is something here that builds up over time and feels like an unreasonable amount of pressure that weighs you down.

There is something about having everything out of your control, your business, your safety, your livelihood and your well-being that makes you want to snap sometimes.

There is something about people treating other people like animals (sometimes worse) and people in power abusing that power that makes you go absolutely crazy.

Its injustice and the sheer amount of it here pushes people to the edge. I admit even someone like myself. I understand why Chinese people sometimes lose it and do something they regret. It's not right but I understand. I feel that exact feeling growing consistently. It isn't one thing that does it; its hundreds of things that build up and give you an overwhelming feeling of hopelessness.

Maybe I am in a unique position or I see more injustice because of my role here, but there are times when I hold myself back from doing something I would definitely regret. Its the countless stories like this of someone being treated like crap and then told the only way they will get help is if they can produce photos of the attack, while being attacked. Its the "haves" taken advantage of the "have-nots."

Who will stand for the

have-nots

&

the broken

Who will speak up in defense of

the beat up

&

the unclothed

Who will give hope to

the helpless

Do not be fooled by those that say everything is well here because the economy is booming and the people are getting rich. There is still much left to be done.