Writer Xie Chaoping (谢朝平)'s non-fiction book The Great Migration had no sooner arrived in Weinan city of Shaanxi before it was immediately discovered by officials and banned from sale and distribution. On August 19th, Weinan police arrived in the home of Xie in Beijing to arrest him on the alleged charge of “illegal business operation”. The incident stirred up controversy in China about how the police force in some places have become a corrupted group of thugs that do as the political or business leaders tell them – to instill terror in the hearts of those that dare speak out against the mainstream run of things.

According to Beijing News reports on September 1st, 55-year old writer Xie Chaoping paid 50,000 RMB out of his own pocket to have his non-fiction work entitled The Great Migration published with a well-known social sciences periodical. The Great Migration is a research-based book that has documented the history and persistent problems associated with the large scale relocation of local residents in light of the reservoir construction at Sanmen Gorge in the 1950s. The book’s contents covered corruption and graft of local officials when relocating locals. The investigative book had been included as part of the 2010 extra edition of Fire Sparks periodical and the initial publication printed 10,000 copies.

  
Author Xie Chaoping                                Book The Great Migration

Fire Sparks is a magazine that is organized by Shaanxi Provincial Literature Federation and is a major periodical covering topics about social science in China. The publications were given as gifts to Weinan locals who had been dispersed in the forced relocation project. But only a day after it arrived in the homes of those that had been forced to relocate, Weinan city’s “cultural police” confiscated the “illegal publications” and removed any additional copies of The Great Migration from the homes of the locals.

Soon afterward, local government offices including Weinan Municipal Administration for News Publication and the city police arrived at the literary federation and publishing agency for Fire Sparks magazine in order to review legal basis for publishing the extra edition; they found out that the latest edition had not been checked and authorized for publication, and thus deemed it “illegal”. It is also reported on Beijing News that Weinan Police knocked on the doors of Xie's Beijing residence citing a census check. They then confiscated all of Xie's rough drafts, research material, laptop, recording pen and USB drive. In the whole process of the storming of his residence and the subsequent search, the police never showed a search warrant nor any papers to legally arrest Xie.

This is yet another example of the ongoing conflict between the jurisdiction of the police force and the rights of citizens to speak their minds and publish their writings. There have also been previous incidences where the police initiated nationwide hunts for reporters on account of publishing controversial writings. This latest incident has since stirred the public to ask questions about why the author was arrested when it was clearly the magazine publisher’s responsibility to apply for the book’s authorization. Moreover, the Administration for News Publication is the authority with direct jurisdiction over this matter and they have not yet initiated any actions; why then can Weinan Police make arrests?

Professor of Journalism at Beijing Foreign Studies University, Zhan Jiang (展江), has commented on the case saying that Weinan Police “had no legal grounds to make that arrest and had in essence violated Xie's rights to speech and publish his researched writings” and proper authorities should see to it that “the matter is corrected immediately.”

Professor Zhan Jiang

Zhan continued to say that there are three obvious facts which confirm that Weinan Police had no legal grounds to arrest writer Xie. Firstly, police deemed that The Great Migration is an “illegal” publication, but this conflicts with the constitutional rights of citizens to publish their writing. Secondly, “illegal business operation” is a criminal charge that is made against a proprietorship, not an individual. Thirdly, if there was an “illegal” process in publishing the extra edition, then the liability lies with the publisher, not the author.

The current Constitution of the People's Republic of China has stipulated rights of its citizens to speak their minds and publish their writings. The 17th National Congress of CPC (Communist Party of China) has specifically stressed their aim to “protect the rights of citizens of China to access information, to participate in current affairs, to express opinions and to supervise work of the government”. The central government has since proposed a plan to better protect the “four rights” of citizens, and this is something that has been broadcast by both domestic and international media.

But the reality of the fact is that incidents where people are arrested on grounds of expressing their opinions and publish controversial writings have been all too common. This conflict greatly with the country's aim to try to build a better society grounded on a just legal system. The fact that the police can arrest and track down reporters and writers on ground of “illegal” publication attests too well to this fact. Zhan Jiang continued to say that the police and enforcers of law cannot be allowed to turn into a gang of thugs that will do local political and business leaders' bidding at eliminating unwanted “bad publicity”.

According to Zhan, if one considers the current laws regarding publication, then even if The Great Migration has indeed been illegally published, liability does not lie with author Xie but with his publishers. All things aside, even if Xie had allegedly committed “illegal business operation”, then Weinan Police should have shown him arresting papers up front, not sneakily coerced him into cooperation through the guise of a “census check”.

“This is a writer who has remained true to his profession, and has taken upon himself as a conscientious citizen to report and investigate local authorities on possible cover-ups and corruption regarding the great migration at Sanmen Gorge.” Zhan continued to say. “He had spoken up on behalf of the victimized minority and is now jailed for acting on his conscience and professional integrity. This is really heartbreaking.” 

“Xie Chaoping is a freelancer and he investigated Sanmen Gorge migration and the related, unresolved problems all on his own, funded with money out of his own pockets. He is a citizen reporter documenting about a social problem he obviously cares about and his actions should have been better protected, not prosecuted,” Zhan explained.

Zhan stressed the fact that the case involving Xie should raise concerns with government offices and all citizens alike, as it is imperative that “citizens be able to exercise their stipulated rights in the constitution”. Zhan suggested that there should be specific legal grounds for prosecuting a citizen exercising their rights to speech and to publish their writings; unless there is “immediate and imminent danger.” Zhan also stressed that police should never have stepped in to intervene and make arrests.

Background information about the case:

Author: Xie Chaoping谢朝平

55-year old Xie Chaoping had served as a prosecutor at Dazhou Municipal Prosecutor's Office of Sichuan province; he had been a reporter for the local legal publication called Prosecutors' Daily News between the years 2005 and 2010 . He has written and published one book – The Great Migration – and has been arrested on account of this particular book.  >> Back to the top

Book: The Great Migration《大迁徙》

This is a book investigated and penned by Xie Chaoping; it documents the great relocation of locals in the 1950s, before the dam/reservoir construction at Sanmen Gorge in the Yellow River area. The book has also reports about underlying problems with the relocation project and how it affects some of the local farmers to this day, including residents of Weinan, Shaanxi.  >> Back to the top

Persistent problems still unresolved with the Sanmen Gorge Relocation Project:

The construction of the dam and reservoir at Sanmen Gorge (三门峡) forced many locals to relocate starting in 1956. The reservoir construction required the relocation of farmers from Huayin, Dali, Huaxian and Tongguan counties of Weinan city; they were to be moved to neighboring areas in Weibei and Ningxia. In 1965, water levels in the Sanmen Gorge decreased to a point where large expanses of land at the base of the reservoir started to resurface – causing waves of dispersed locals to scramble and begin migrating home. The chaotic situation and lives of dispersed locals have remained unresolved 44 years later.  >> Back to the top

“Official” Reason Given by Police for Arresting Xie:

Writer Xie Chaoping was arrested from his Beijing home on August 19th by Weinan city (Shaanxi Province) police who tracked him down all the away across the country. The “official” reason given for the arrest was that his book The Great Migration was “illegally” published and Xie is allegedly accused of “illegal business operation”. 

Publishers for the Fires Sparks magazine have since been protesting the claim by Weinan Police that their extra edition including The Great Migration is an “illegal” publication; the publisher admitted that there might have been a few unintended mistakes with getting authorization for publication, but denied that their actions had broken any laws warranting a ban of the book.  >> Back to the top  

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Source: ifeng.com

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Keywords: Weinan Police author arrest Xie Chaoping arrest