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R 140904Z APR 06
FM AMCONSUL GUANGZHOU
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 GUANGZHOU 011680 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EB, R, G, EAP/CM, EAP/PD, ECA, DRL 
STATE PASS USTR STRATFORD 
USDOC FOR 4420/ITA/MAC/MCQUEEN, CELICO, DAS LEVINE 
USPACOM FOR FPA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM KPAO SOCI SCUL PGOV PINR CH
SUBJECT:  "The Voice of Thy Brother's Blood Crieth Unto Me" 
 
Ref:  A) Guangzhou 11470, B) Guangzhou 10336, 
 
--    C) Guangzhou 6981,  D) Guangzhou 4104, 
--    E) Guangzhou 3991 and previous (all notal) 
 
(U)  This document is sensitive but unclassified.  Please 
protect accordingly.  Not for release outside U.S. 
Government channels.  Not for internet publication. 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  Senseless killing matters deeply to 
Chinese -- particularly when involving excessive 
governmental power (as in the "control" of public unrest). 
That's why governments, including those in south China, 
work assiduously to control and suppress public outcry, 
including that emanating from abroad, over, for example, 
the authorities' deadly riot suppression actions at 
Dongzhou.  Such government killings also reinforce the 
notion that rapid economic development "eats people" -- to 
use the words of Lu Xun, China's most prominent modern 
author.  Any fundamental change to this state of affairs 
has to ultimately come through the assertion of will by the 
Chinese citizenry.  U.S. public diplomacy programs on the 
rule of law and democratic institution-building inject 
important concepts about legitimate dispute resolution but 
they could and should be complemented by programs that tap 
into and reinforce the core values and the basic decency of 
the Chinese citizenry, including their appreciation of 
American humanity and humanities.  Such programs can help 
rapid economic development in south China to occur without 
"eating people."  End Summary. 
 
Dwelling in the South of Nod 
---------------------------- 
¶2.  (SBU) Killing people is not only wrong, but it is also 
embarrassing.  When Chinese officials or even academics are 
put into a position of having to defend the governmental 
killing of protestors at some scene of civil unrest (and 
septel deals with reports of possibly another incident), 
they clam up, hem and haw, or avoid meetings that 
inevitably have to touch on the subject (refs B and C). 
The intentional governmental killing of people differs from 
the killing of people that occurs through government non- 
feasance (such as in coal mine disasters and other 
accidents where the failure of regulation is often a 
contributing cause).  So while discussion, including with 
U.S. Consulate personnel, is permissible about the 
accidental deaths of people deriving in part from some 
faulty governmental action or non-action, once there is 
some official pronouncement in the aftermath of killings to 
suppress civil disorder no further discussion is 
permissible, as was the case in the fatal handling of the 
Dongzhou protestors.  This distinction is also very clear 
in how the central authorities have treated the topics; 
they have been forthcoming about the number of both major 
industrial accidents and civil unrest incidents, but while 
figures for the numbers of the deaths incurred in the 
former are available while the numbers of deaths in the 
latter are not.  Civil unrest incidents are also those that 
can call into the question the political viability of very 
highest leaders in the Province (ref E). 
 
"Diary of a Madman" 
------------------- 
¶3.  (SBU) This refusal by Guangdong provincial or local 
authorities to further address instances of civil unrest 
involving killing translates also to the suppression of 
foreign government and media commentary as well as to the 
sharp curtailing or banning of domestic commentators.  The 
effect domestically has not been, however, necessarily 
ideal from the standpoint of the authorities.  To be sure, 
there are undoubtedly those who believe -- as the 
government statement asserts -- that the Dongzhou rioters, 
for example, were a hoodlum mob bent on wanton destruction 
of energy facilities built for the greater good of all 
Guangdong citizens.  This might even have a high degree of 
accuracy, but once government killings come into play the 
far stronger impression is that rapid, relentless, 
government-planned and -led economic growth is responsible, 
thus reinforcing the arguments of those calling for less 
globalization by China and greater equality and fairness as 
determined by Communist Party dictate even at the expense 
 
GUANGZHOU 00011680  002 OF 003 
 
 
of slowing down market opening and reform. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) A large number of academics and journalists, not 
to mention many young business executives, do not want to 
turn back the clock to a more socialist, party-led model of 
equality, but feel that the government's overweening 
preoccupation with rapid economic growth needs to have a 
humanitarian component to offset the notion that such 
development "eats people" -- to use the words of Lu Xun, 
China's most prominent modern era writer (in his "Diary of 
a Madman" short story in which the supposedly mentally 
deranged narrator has looked at the whole of Chinese 
history and found its grandeur and power to be founded on 
the eating of people).  In fact, to this end there is a 
conscious attempt led in part by Guangzhou's most 
progressive and highly influential magazine, the 
"Nanfengchuang" (the "South Wind Window"), to revive the 
spirit of the New Culture Movement of the 1920s of which Lu 
was a key figure along with China's most prominent liberal, 
Hu Shi (a colleague and friend of the American educator and 
philosopher John Dewey) and Chinese Communist Party co- 
founder Chen Duxiu, then a leading Beijing University 
professor and an advocate of joining science and democracy 
to advance China (ref D). 
 
Reinterpreting "Harmonious Society" 
----------------------------------- 
¶5.  (SBU) These sort of ideas have considerable resonance 
in an area in which Sun Yatsen remains a major local hero. 
Lu Xun, for his part, lived for a time in Guangzhou, and 
not only is there a statute of him, but also the Chen 
Family Shrine, one of Guangzhou's most popular and famous 
tourist sites, features a garden full of sculptures 
depicting scenes from Lu's "The Autobiography of Ah Q" and 
"Kong Yi Ji."  We have also been struck about how many 
university students in this area are familiar with the 
stories, even if, in this audio-visual media world, they 
may not actually have read the stories. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) It is this considerable resonance that gives 
impetus to attempts here by progressive academics and 
journalists to reinterpret the Communist leadership's own 
attempt to imbue its policies with a "humane" element with 
slogans such as "taking people as the base" ("yiren 
weiben").  In this vein, a recent "Nanfengchuang" editorial 
asserts that in the now ubiquitous slogan of building a 
"harmonious society" ("hexie shehui"), the "he" character 
is derived from components meaning "barley" and "mouth" and 
thus implies that everybody has the right to eat (or 
"livelihood") while the "xie" character is derived from 
components meaning "speech" and "all" and thus implies that 
everybody has the right to speak freely.  Therefore, the 
editorial argues, "harmonious society" can only be based on 
equitable economic development coupled with a genuine 
democracy based on equal rights -- something of an echo of 
Communist Party co-founder Chen Duxiu's formula of science 
and democracy leading China out of its predicament in the 
1920s. 
 
A Role for U.S. Public Diplomacy 
-------------------------------- 
¶7.  (SBU) In this climate of ideas, there is a role for 
U.S. public diplomacy even though our interlocutors and 
audiences are not able to talk directly and freely about 
the civil unrest incidents and killings themselves. 
Indirectly, however, our public diplomacy programs on the 
rule of law and democratic-institution building deal with 
this issue and have drawn in large numbers of people.  In 
addition to using speakers traveling from the United States 
or already on the ground in China, for example, Fulbrighter 
Scholars, Consulate Guangzhou's own self-generated and 
self-manned "legal series" on law topics and "town hall 
series" (conducted in the style of an American town hall 
meeting) on social, political, and economic topics enjoy 
great popularity, with local universities coming to us to 
hold such series on their campuses.  We anticipate that our 
"Bill of Rights" countdown series in which Consulate 
speakers will deal with each of the first ten amendments of 
the Constitution in the weeks leading up to our 
Independence Day celebration will play to similarly 
 
GUANGZHOU 00011680  003 OF 003 
 
 
enthusiastic audiences. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) We should not, however, underestimate the 
audience for American culture and humanities.  A discussion 
series on American movies (brilliantly revived by our 
colleagues in Consulate Shanghai and unabashedly emulated 
by us) revealed just how closely Guangzhou audiences 
connected with the basic humanity and decency of Americans 
as depicted cinematically.  While a first glance at 
audiences at Consulate Guangzhou's English pedagogy series 
might suggest that the primary interest is improving 
linguistic skills, a closer examination reveals that there 
is a very large audience for American literature and 
thought.  American literature specialist Ernesto Suarez, 
our Fulbright Scholar at Guangzhou's Zhongshan University, 
is in demand not only at Zhongshan but also at other 
institutions every weekend throughout China.  Recently, the 
Shantou University English Language Department approached 
the Consulate about strengthening the American literature 
component of its program in line with the desire of 
students to learn not merely the language but also the 
values of the American people speaking that language. 
Moreover, the huge amount of positive media attention 
attending the use of the Ambassador's Cultural Preservation 
Fund for a museum in Hepu reflected the great appreciation 
by many Chinese of American respect and understanding for 
the ancient Middle Kingdom's legacy (ref A). 
 
Concluding Comment 
------------------ 
¶9.  (SBU) The March 20 edition of the English language 
"China Daily" reported the majority of Chinese people liked 
Americans, with 63 percent of those polled deriving these 
views from mass media, 21 percent through movies, and 4 
percent through direct contact with Americans.  These 
numbers are probably higher in Guangdong, given the larger 
number of opportunities to see and interact with Americans 
in a relatively more open part of China.  To be sure, the 
degree of liking of Americans is related to the sheer 
success of the United States, with its technological and 
economic prowess, but it is also the case that there is a 
strong appreciation for our moral and humane values of 
tolerance, openness, and diversity.  For their part, the 
Chinese have had a long and strong humanist tradition that 
greatly values principles and human life.  There would seem 
to be substantial room for a strengthening of the humanity 
and humanities ties that can bind, and, with it, the 
reinforcement of a value system in China that will not 
tolerate the "eating of people" in pursuit of economic 
development. 
 
Dong