The Portrait of an unjust and Immoral "Olympic Host" -- Social Injustice
and Loss of Morality in China

Social Injustice and Loss of Morality in China

By Zhang Tianliang
New Epoch Weekly
Oct 10, 2007

http://en.epochtimes.com/news_images/2007-10-10-pigs2.jpg
(China Photos/Getty Images)

There is an episode in the martial arts novel The Dragon Chronicles
which describes how old Zhu vents his anger when he was beaten so badly
that he had a black left eye, half of his face was swollen and he looked
like a pig. He was forced to cook for his enemies. When old Zhu had so
much anger in his chest, he spat into the wok while cooking, rubbed some
old dirt between his hands, and then added some of his nasal mucus. Then
he laughed happily. He was making food with a "clear conscience" and the
joy of revenge was about to overflow.

Recently, the poisonous food in mainland China has attracted
international attention. Many people assume that vendors without
conscience and lack of supervision, etc. caused it. However, after a
careful analysis, we can see that there is a similarity between the
vendors and old Zhu in The Dragon Chronicles .

Mr. Zhou Qing, a scholar from mainland China, published "What Food Can
People Trust and Depend On?" last year. There is a story in his book,
which we can take as a moral or lesson:

"In central China, a provincial official accompanied the highest state
official in charge of agriculture on a visit to a hog farmer. They
officials found in the pigsty that some pigs―with shinny hair and plump
buttocks―really stood out from the rest. Out of curiosity, the senior
official asked about the difference. The farmer said, "Those pretty pigs
were fed with clenbuterol and will be sold to city folks. The ordinary
looking ones are for our own consumption." The senior official was
shocked and asked, "Do you know that clenbuterol is harmful?"

"Yes, but city folks have free medical care. They should be fine."

Farmers are the lowest level in the society and are the targets of
contempt and discrimination. With resentment in their hearts, farmers
acquire the old Zhu mentality naturally. Since they are the lowest, they
use the pigs as their objects. Feeding poison to the pigs is not only
more profitable but also helps them to vent their resentment. They
cannot wait to see the higher officials eating the poisoned pork.

Farmers probably are not aware that officials from the divisions of
finance, taxation, and quarantine are doing something against them out
of their own resentment towards their superiors who are engaging in
corruption, bribery and indulging themselves in wine, women, and
pleasure, etc. However, those officials cannot touch their superiors;
so, they vent their anger at the farmers.

Above that level, actually, the directors of various divisions have
resentment towards the mayors who are selling available jobs for profit.
According to the unspoken rule, the directors have to hand over half of
their bribes to the mayors as a "protection fee" to keep their jobs. In
order to keep their jobs, they remain quiet. The same kind of extortion
or blackmail repeats at higher levels. The higher the level the more
able one is to steal from the national banks.

Therefore, no matter what position they are in, how much power they
possess, how much they are able to steal, the officials are still angry.
Looking down from the pyramid of power, every level is extorting from a
lower level and every level is angry. When there is no upward avenue to
vent one's anger on, one vents it downwards. Thus, now the farmers are
putting poison in the food for retaliation.

Perhaps, we are surprised to find out that these farmers, while hurting
others, can sleep well at night, but that is because everyone has the
justification from a paralyzed conscience: "I am at least better than my
boss."

A society without justice is hopeless. The poisonous food is only a
manifestation of our system. If this system, which was created by the
Communist Party, is not eliminated, the bad phenomena can only escalate,
and the bad cycle will keep repeating.

Click here to read the original article in Chinese

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