Citizenship of Society and Woodpeckers of Forests——My Statement of Self-Defense 2018

Paul (Saul) was on his way to Damascus when he was illuminated by a great light from heaven on all sides and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" He asked two questions of the Holy Spirit: "Who are you, O Lord?" And after that asked, "Lord, what shall I do?" (Acts 22:10)

In 2011, I unwittingly caused an elderly man to prison, and in remorse, I joined the progressive cause of China. And in 2018, I was tried and sentenced to 3 years and 6 months in jail. The following is my self-defense statement in court.

Your Honor,

Please allow me to begin my statement with a fable. It is said that deep in the blue sea, there is a vast and endless continent. The land is covered with lush forests, birds, and animals of every kind inhabiting each forest, gradually forming their own independent biological society. Some woods are ruled by orangutans, while the central forest, which we will call China, has been led by dozens of tigers for a long time, let's say, 70 years. The societies of living things in each forest compare productivity, livability, and happiness, communicating and fighting with each other, but generally speaking, they live in harmony on the same continent. In the past 40 years, the forest of China has begun to emerge from the barren predicament of the past, and especially in recent years, due to the massive development of forest real estate, various indices have risen to the top, even gradually catching up with other highly developed forests. The tiger echelon believes that the results achieved by its own forest are based on its own particular circumstances to find out a road with its own characteristics, never to copy the experience of other woods, with strong macro-control, focuses on the power to do great things, only to awaken the sleeping potentiality of this forest. However, several neighboring forests are pointing their fingers at the forest of China, accusing its development is based on the violation of the rights of the lower echelons and the over-exploitation of forest resources, which is against the law of nature. In this respect, the tigers believe that they do not export revolution, and they do not give other forests any trouble; therefore, they have four sorts of confidence, viz., Confidence in Their Path, Confidence in Their Theory, Confidence in Their Culture, and Confidence in Their Institution, and they just put deaf ears towards the accusations of other forests. However, to maintain the trade surplus with different woods, especially the Western forests, they still deign to sign the Declaration of the Basic Rights of Joint Forests, committing themselves to continuously improve the welfare and rights of all species in China so that the fruits of progress will benefit all communities in their forest. Since the beginning of time, woodpeckers have been active in the woods and are the guardian angels of forest health.
Woodpeckers sometimes convey some discordant strepitous, but their actions appeared unusually active and noisy in the past few years. Those tigers believe that the woodpeckers’ behavior and thoughts are a serious infringement on their daily resting and hunting, so they manage the forest under their so-called jurisdiction with grids, network blockades, and an accurate name system…..The tigers are trying to compress the woodpeckers’ space to eliminate the panic of other species in the forest and stop the spread of this turmoil. One day, the Tigers received a tip-off that a woodpecker had gone to a public restroom to paint graffiti against their mainstream values, exposing the trend of forest pests and diseases and accusing the tigers of seriously violating and endangering the rights of various species. This woodpecker was arrested within a few days. Other woodpeckers in the forest were forced to keep quiet and became refugees……As a result, pests and diseases spread in the woods, the vegetation withered, the soil eroded, and the propertied class began to vote with their limbs or wings and migrated to other forests.

I am this woodpecker who launched the Toilet Revolution and scribbled graffiti in the toilet and now stands in court to be judged. 

In his grand speech for the 19^th National Congress, Dr. Xi Jinping proposed to pay attention to the political aspirations of the new social class. Professor Wang Huning explains this new social class as, among others, the emerging private business owners, the management of the private sector and foreign-invested enterprises, scholars, technicians, and scientific and technological entrepreneurs. Obviously, this new social class will become the mainstay of China's society shortly, as they have been thoroughly tempered in the torrent of the market economy, have a sense of independence, have the most personal demands for freedom, fairness, and justice, and have a natural rejection to the campaign-style and demagogic populism and charismatic political leaders. They are the backbone of the developing civil society, which is already taking shape. In retrospect, the dissidents with the spirit of woodpeckers were never exhaustible throughout China’s history. As this emerging social class gradually dominates the mainstream public opinion in Chinese society, more and more audacious “woodpeckers” will emerge among them to fight for the construction of a harmonious society.

I come from Suzhou, a beautiful and affluent city in Jiangsu Province, and was born into a farming household. One of my ancestors, Ji Kaisheng, was a scholar in the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty and a minister of the Ministry of Rites. At that time, Emperor Kangxi wanted to select many beautiful girls in Yangzhou as his palace servants. In the meantime, Ji Kaisheng was aware that Yangzhou had just experienced the "Ten Days" massacre. Then, through this tormenting fear of the depletion of the population, he risked his life to advise Kangxi not to do so, was sentenced to exile, and died in the Northeast of China, later known as "the first Admonisher of the Manchurian Qing Dynasty." My grandfather, Ji Zi Pei, joined the Anti-Japan war for eight years under General Dai Li's command. After the Kuomintang's defeat and retreat to Taiwan, he took refuge in the countryside and died innocently during the so-called "Suppression Movement of Counter-Revolutionary" in the 1950s. My father taught me to read and write when I was only three years old. I was so strictly educated that I finished reading the classical version of The Complete Biography of Yue Fei, a famous national here who resisted foreign invasion 800 years ago, with the help of a dictionary when I was six years old. Growing up in such a family, I have been influenced by my family and history, and I have a sense of family honor, pursuing justice and righteousness, defying any misgovernment.

The philosopher Aristotle said that people are born to be political animals. With but some sense of justice and goodwill, one will undoubtedly be concerned about the society in which they live. If there is some sentiment about our country in their hearts, they will be worried about and even participate in politics, making the country prosperous and stable. In contrast, in the political ecology of China today, to coin some verses, everyone sweeps the snow in front of their own door and does not care about the frost on the tiles of other houses; they Do not Talk About The State Affairs, the general public keep silent about politics, shunning and ignoring social ills. Our society is giving birth to a large number of sophisticated egoists. As the old saying goes, "There was no China after Yashan (The battle of Yashan Bay 900 years ago led to the first complete replacement of a traditional Han Chinese regime by a northern nomadic dynasty)". Today, only a few righteous people exist in China.

Nowadays, many government officials have their families emigrated to the Western countries where they claim that they will never cease to destroy us. They always talk about the special conditions of China when the people who are forced to follow the path of China-Characterized Socialism want to have a piece of the welfare. At the same time, they enjoy the fruits of western civilization. In all the political consultative conferences and people's congresses at all levels, those specially appointed hypocritical delegates sit in a dignified manner, "represent" the people in charge of their livelihood and welfare. Isn't this force a hostile force outside of China, the actual Fifth Column? You, the communist officials, if you still have any sentiments for China, you should move all your families and properties back from foreign countries and stay on the same boat with the people!

On November 14, 2018, after signing the 17^th transcript of the interrogation made by the Public Security Bureau of Shanghai, I was asked if I would like to move overseas after my release from prison, which made me terribly apprehensive. My beloved fiancée, from South Korea, will undoubtedly take me to her hometown and show me around where she grew up. Still, this convenience will not inspire me any intention of becoming a permanent resident in South Korea. I’m Chinese and would not choose political exile if I did not have to. When the white reigned the US government decades ago, it also persecuted human rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. but still held the line and maintained the basic decency of a democratically elected government. Therefore, I, at this moment, demand the China authorities, especially the National Security Department. However, you have done a lot of coercion upon me during the whole interrogation process. In general, the law has been enforced moderately. I should remain decent and restrained, respect my family members, not interfere with the residence and work permit in China, and show the government’s sincerity in “the rule of law”.

As politics and everyone’s life are closely related, how can we avoid politics and talk about peaceful years? When I was just a teenager, I experienced a sizeable government-led relocation project in my hometown. At that time, I thought that if the government had been more democratic, open-minded, and even a bit slower in its decision-making, our economic development would be smoother and more harmonious. The people would have had fewer tears and bloodshed. How can the people be so discontented?

As China’s governments at every level become more and more dependent on land finance, more and more people are experiencing the abuses of public power in their evictions and demolitions of private properties. And in the past few years, when I was providing legal assistance for their legitimate petitions, I have met with the shirking of responsibilities and tug of war between the complaint departments of every level, the inaction of government officials, and even the collusion with hooligans who were hired by the local governments to demolish innocent people’s houses. During these years, the various misconduct of China’s governments at every level has repeatedly refreshed the emotional bottom line of the people. 

In 2011, I was in a Hilton hotel and saw an elegant elderly man handing out leaflets on the guestroom floors, calling for attention to human conditions and enlightenment for the Chinese. I realized that I should do something more important than being a millionaire for the country as a citizen and a young intellectual. To coin a famous phrase, “when a country will rise, there must be an auspice. When it is going to perish, there will be a demon.” In the graffiti movement of the Toilet Revolution, I am a Woodpecker, vowing to peck out all the evil for the country. 

I heard a theory in economics called “Path Dependence” proposed by Douglas North, the Nobel Prize-winning economist in 2003. I think this theory can also be used to explain the current weird social circle in China; that is, we have to strongly question whether the ruling party and the government have fallen into a continuous state of public power arrogation out of control and it is difficult to return to the typical path.

In the 19th national Congress speech, Dr. Xi Jinping proclaimed, "Our work still has many shortcomings, we also face many difficulties and challenges……The whole party should be brave enough to face the problems and dare to scrape the bones to eliminate all factors that undermine the party’s advancement and purity and eliminate all viruses that erode the party’s healthy muscle”. The words still ring proper, showing that Dr. Xi Jinping and the party are aware that the current situation in China is not really as good as the various media have proclaimed and that the problems have become so severe that they need to be scraped and healed. But why are these problems only addressed in the Palace, while citizens are not allowed to openly discuss, criticize, and shout about them? Isn't this a trick to fool the people? Dr. Xi Jinping also pointed out that “Top-down supervision should be improved, as well as bottom-up supervision, and the masses outside the party should be encouraged to supervise the party”. How can we supervise? Are there sound channels? Today I criticized the authorities. I have to bear the criminal responsibility and be forced to admit my guilt!

Schopenhauer said that anyone would be chilled if he saw the pain and misery in the world with his own eyes. According to our current political context and mainstream values in China, he may be identified as a pessimist, a misanthrope, or a person full of “negative energy” as many mercenary civilians often say. I love this country, and I can perceive that we live in a society with beautiful sunshine, but there are also large pieces of ugly shadows in many corners, and I can’t do anything about them as I watch them spread so wildly. A legitimate government should have up to society's ills and gather social forces to eliminate them. How can it just promote the so-called “positive energy” and close up its ears and eyes to the ills? Social ills are just swept under the carpet with power and lie in building up a harmonious society.  No matter how magnificent is the façade, it is still deceitful. 

In the “Toilet Revolution”, a graffiti campaign,  I touched mainly on three issues: opposing the constitutional amendment at the 19^th National Congress in 2018, opposing the “Belt and Road” blind foreign aid, and holding the ruling party and government accountable for the fake vaccine incident in July 2018. 

As we all know, although 40 years have passed since the Cultural Revolution, the remnants are still haunting us, and the tragic circumstances of the Cultural Revolution are still vividly visible. Even today, the cult of the current leader and the inflammatory political slogans are still in abundance in public places, raping the people’s senses, especially in recent years. This, on the other hand, confirms the aforementioned theory of “Path Dependence”. Today, the government still uses the political context of “Learning from Dazhai in Agriculture” to mobilize the people, which is so common and ridiculous! The 19^th National Congress has amended the Constitution to include the leader's cult in it and revised the term limit. Hence the nightmare of the Cultural Revolution is in danger of repeating itself. Today, China does not need a clear emperor. The people are looking forward to an open, inclusive, and transparent political system, to political reform, to turning "sole rule" into "rule of the people", and to giving "woodpeckers" adequate room to roost.

Speaking of the "Belt & Road" strategy, let's take a look back at the so-called "old friends of the Chinese people" whom the Chinese Communist Party has assisted since the establishment of the regime of the Communist Party based on "ideology," in which the people had to tighten their belts to feed their greed. Where are they now? I do not deny that the "Belt & Road" aligns with China's long-term strategy. Still, it must comply with international rules, ensure fairness and justice, and prevent political and financial risks. The "Belt & Road" strategy should not involve state-owned enterprises. They are controlling the country's economic lifeline, challenging to resist international threats, and are too administrative with high management costs, low operational efficiency, and poor market competitiveness. The government should actively support the private sector to participate in international trading and escort them into the pool and strengthen their competitiveness, which is the only way to improve the overall global competitiveness of Chinese enterprises. Therefore, in implementing the "Belt & Road", the government should provide advice but prevent the state-owned sector from invading the private. "The "Belt & Road" blindly offers foreign aid, ignoring the reality that China is still a developing country and especially missing the medical and educational dilemmas of the poor regions. So overweening are you! This is equivalent to using the people's blood to make red robes for other hereditary countries. Therefore, I oppose it!

I think the fake vaccine incident (2018) should hold the ruling party and the government accountable. The reason is that counterfeit vaccines have killed a whole generation, the generation we have high hopes for. Even a tyrant like Yin Zhou, a tyrant 3000 years ago, would not have done such a terrible thing to the country and the people. Can you appease the people's anger by dismissing just a few officials? We haven't forgotten the melamine-tainted milk powder incident ten years ago, for which the authorities reportedly paid out 6 billion RMB. I followed up with some of the victims. I learned that, for example, Fuyang City in Anhui Province paid out only about 2,400RMB to children suffering from urinary stones and has not been heard of since, with no regular medical checkups or late healthcare measures. For example, a child in Linquan County who consumed tainted milk powder has urinary stones and is now about 10 years old, growing significantly later than his peers, and is 10 cm shorter and less active than his peers. It is estimated that there should be millions of such children nationwide. This time, the government's measures in handling the fake vaccines incident are still using the same old trick to excuse such fatal loss of the victims. Therefore, the ruling party should repent to the people for this! The government should repent to the people for this and take adequate measures to protect the rights and interests of the victims and implement reforms in the affiliated institutions to prevent similar vicious incidents from happening again.

On February 13, 2017, Dr. Xi Jinping pointed out at a symposium for central leading cadres at the provincial and ministerial levels that "the greatness of the Chinese Communist Party lies not in not making mistakes, but in never refraining from making mistakes, daring to face up to the problems head-on, daring to revolutionize itself, and having a powerful ability to repair itself."

Thus, I expect the court today to hear this case with an open mind, and I hope that the prosecution, the defense, and Your Honor will reach the following consensus to manifest the spirit of the rule of law.

 

1. based on morality and conscience.

2. with an eye to the health and progress of the nation and society.

3. reflecting the rights of speech, publication, assembly, and association granted to citizens in the Constitution.

4. to face up to the current social ills

5. to confront the reality of the rise of civil society and civic consciousness.

 

The following are my standpoints on the People's Procuratorate of the Pudong New Area's indictment against me for the crime of "Picking Quarrels and Provoking Trouble" for participating in the "Toilet Revolution" graffiti campaign.

 

• Willingly take responsibility for the fault I committed, unrelated to the crime.
• Beneficial to the country and reasonable of my actions.
• Various thoughts should exist in a civilized society.

Willingly Take Responsibility for the Faults I Committed, Unrelated to the Crime.

The so-called "Picking Quarrels and Provoking Trouble" is not among my intentions in launching the “Toilet Revolution”, a graffiti campaign, which was not to attract attention to my fame, and I did it anonymously, not expecting others to know that it was me who had done it. The content in the graffiti was to criticize and ridicule the current social ills, which are actually in line with the reality in our times, so there is no ground to accuse it of being inflammatory. Since Dr. Xi Jinping and the CCP dare to face the problems and encourage “bottom-up” supervision and accept the supervision by the public outside the party, I, as a citizen, should have the right to express my dissatisfaction. My action was to stimulate the public to think, how could you dare say that I “seriously affect the order of public places and cause bad social impact”? Thus, the prosecutor's accusation of me with “Picking Quarrels and Provoking Trouble” has no ground.

However, looking deeper into the nature of my action, it is indeed against the social regulations. For one thing, I did graffiti on the premises and facilities without the permission of the hospitals concerned, and I behaved it many times, damaging public and private properties and causing a tremendous word burden to the cleaning staff of these entities involved. So I have obviously violated the Public Security Management Law, and I should be sentenced to administrative detention and additional fines under the relevant articles of the law. For another, I did harbor bigoted emotions in my graffiti, targeting the supreme leader Dr. Xi Jinping with insulting words, which may constitute the crime of insult. 

It’s heard that the “Domestic Political Defense” division, which is obviously the secret police of the Public Security Bureau of Shanghai, wanted to qualify my behavior under Article 105 of the Criminal Law, i.e., “inciting subversion of state power”, but after many heated discussions, the case was finally closed with “Picking Quarrels and Provoking Trouble”, which shows to some extent that Shanghai, as a cosmopolitan city at the forefront of China’s reform and opening up to the world, is more tolerant of civil speech and other rights than in other cities. It is clear that these young, well-educated, and humanistic civil servants, who have grown up in a market economy of a new era, unlike their conservative predecessors who are more rigid in treating the dissidents, have formed the mainstream judgment upon my case. Therefore, although the current judicial situation is generally bad, I still think there is a possibility of progress in China’s justice. 

After all, I see the light of humanity in this group of young people who will dominate China's future judicial and even political landscape.

At the very least, had it been 30 years ago, my actions might have resulted in capital punishment, for which my parents had to pay 1.5RMB for the cost of the bullet. 

I have been in custody for more than five months as of today's trial. Even though I am not guilty of the accused crime, I have matured into a substantial punishment for my transgressions. As you can see, after only five months in the Detention Center, my hair and beard have been graying, and the human rights situation in the facility is not encouraging. It is time for the authorities to accept the price I paid for the graffiti campaign of the "Toilet Revolution".

The American human rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said that when citizens encounter evil laws, they should willingly violate them and instead accept the punishment that comes with them. Only in this way can the government, which is in a powerful position, be motivated to face up to public opinion, promote democracy and the rule of law, and continuously improve itself. The forest needs woodpeckers, and a healthy society needs a group of citizens with a "woodpecker spirit".

In the history of the CCP, during a joint meeting of county governors in the Yan'an border region, lightning struck a county governor to death and killed a farmer's donkey at the same time. The peasant pointed to the heavens and cursed, "God didn't kill Mao Zedong!" Words soon reached the ears of Mao Zedong, who instructed his staff to release the peasant quickly and taught them, "Cursing is also a way to give advice!" The peasant was invited to Mao's kiln to listen to the peasant's views on the central leadership and the border region government. It turned out that the government of the border region had levied too much food, so the farmers were overburdened. Mao Zedong then adopted the suggestion of the democrats outside the Party to "streamline the army and simplify the administration" and launched a mass production campaign, which greatly facilitated the progress of the New Democratic Revolution.

The peasant who cursed Mao was invited to Mao's kiln and was invited to eat roast pork together. While I was in the detention center, I only got to eat one piece of roast pork every week.

With time racing by, your manner with the people has dramatically changed.

Beneficial to the Country and Reasonable of My Actions

The saying that “China is no more like China after the Battle of Yashan Bay” occurred 1000 years ago. Why? After the battle, the Chinese were subjected to nomadic subjugation, those who had the slightest spirit of resistance were slaughtered, and the core spirit of traditional Chinese scholars and officials collapsed. After the establishment of the regime by the Chinese Communist Party, it did not think about how to strengthen the people, instead, imposed Marxist-Leninist ideology on the people, stifled the individual consciousness of the people, pursued populism, and used the illusion of "harmony" and "positive energy" to intensify the dwarfing of the people and cultivate the servility of the people, to facilitate the ruling party's long-term rule. 

In contemporary China, the intellectual community is full of refined egoists, shamelessly seeking personal gain and disregarding public well-being. How sad that few citizens could be brave enough to pursue freedom and justice!

A flourishing forest needs a group of woodpeckers to guard it. A well-developed country also needs a group of active citizens rich in the "woodpecker spirit" to defend it, fight for it, and even sacrifice their lives for righteousness so that the country can flourish.

The ruling party in China today is well aware of the many ills and problems in the country, which are getting worse, such as the usurpation of public power and corruption. I would have to say frankly that the Chinese Communist Party does not trust the people to deal with the problems mentioned above, the left hand against the right hand, the right hand supervising the left hand, there is no sincere and effective action at all. Imagine Guan Yu, an ancient warrior, who invited a medician to scrape the bones to heal the poisoned wound. How can he use his left hand to rub the bones of his right hand by himself? It’s hard to bear and give up for the warrior himself. It is necessary to rely on external forces to heal the wound. Therefore, since the ruling party intends to eliminate all factors that undermine the party's advancement and purity and eliminate all viruses that erode the party's healthy body, there is an urgent need for bottom-up supervision from the people and people outside the party.

The graffiti of the Toilet Revolution is a kind of performance art. When the government carries out a network blockade to stifle public opinion and public sentiment and puts many media on a one-way street, you must consider how it could be possible to guard against the mouths of the people! So a marker pen is enough for me to write in the toilets, where there are no Skyeyes within, to break the wall you built with hundreds of billions of the people's taxes to guard against the people. 

You are a stubborn force in the ruling party, a reactionary force that hinders progress.

Therefore, I, at this moment, challenge you and take the initiative for the party and government to scrape the poisoned bones; so good is it for the country and your party, and so reasonable my actions!

Various Thoughts Should Exist in a Civilized Society

Fortunately, with the continuous development of the market economy, a new social class has begun to emerge in our country, which has never been seen in the history of China. China is inevitably entering a civil society!

 

As early as the Ming Dynasty, my fellow Suzhou native Gu Yanwu put forward the idea of "rule by all" instead of "rule by one". The advent of civil society will not necessarily impact the ruling party's position in power. Still, the obscurantist populism will not find its market as the CCP has expected, and the authoritarian style of "sole rule" will be eliminated shortly.

If the ruling party can respond to the trend of civil society and clarify the boundaries of rights upon urban-rural disparity and amongst the triple realms (state, community, and individuals), a harmonious and prosperous civil society will undoubtedly emerge. Citizens, based on the principle of voluntariness, cede to the government rights related to social security, forming state power such as military, diplomatic, and sovereignty, etc.; while in social functions, such as finance and public facilities, citizens' autonomy is the mainstay supplemented by government guidance; in the private domain, citizens enjoy complete freedom.

With trends like this, the Age of the Internet could usher in an era of unprecedented citizen enlightenment as each of us has become an endpoint on the Internet. Hence those formerly powerful government forces can hardly sway public opinion on the Internet. The Age of the Internet calls for citizen autonomy. 

Therefore, the ruling party can only respond to the current situation by reforming the contemporary paternalistic political discourse. Suppose government documents, reports, propaganda, and public images of government officials do not abandon this paternalistic, populist, charisma-like tone. In that case, citizens in the Internet age with a sense of individuality will be disgusted.

For a nation, only with freedom of thought can it be creative!

I now call for the CCP to open up their minds, immediately call off the ban on freedom of speech, take an open stance and build a civil society with us to make our nation full of various schools of thought, only through which birdsong and flowers might fall upon our nation. It would be vicious if only the Tigers’ whistle existed in China!

Remember never to be a sinner in history!

I will conclude my self-defense with a Greek myth mentioned in a history book of the Chinese Communist Party. Legend has it that the mighty God of War, Antaeus, the son of Gaia, the God of the Earth. In every battle, Antaeus received a constant source of power from his mother as long as he stood on the earth. When Antaeus' enemy, Geirgulis, learned of Antaeus' secret, he designed to lure Antaeus into the air during the battle and eventually strangled him.

 

This story warns all communists that they must not be detached from the people.

 

Preventing the mouths of the people is more fatal than preventing a galloping river.

 

(over)