At a discussion forum of the Guangdong People’s Congress in January 2012, delegate Zhong Keji (钟课枝) advocated more “positive news,” saying that it seemed to her that China’s media was too full of coverage about corruption and other matters. Chinese media quoted her as saying at the forum: “Supposing everything we see is about this Party secretary falling from grace today, and that city mayor falling from grace tomorrow, how sad would that be? That just shows that problems have appeared in our system. Just like with food safety. I don’t want to see that kind of stuff. I just can’t take it.” In response, Zhu Xiaodan (朱小丹), another delegate at the forum, said: “When cadres have committed wrongs and are handled by the justice system, we must let the people know this. . . Not wanting to see something doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. If we have problems within our [leadership] team, we cannot hide this from the people.” In this cartoon, “The Ostrich Delegate” (《鸵鸟代表》), posted to Sina Weibo by the inimitably bold Kuang Biao (邝飚), Zhong Keji is depicted as an ostrich with her head buried in the earth. She is identifiable by her red “delegate” badge. The text on the cartoon is her quote, as above.


David Bandurski

CMP Director

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