中国:支持「南方週末」作家被毆打

Recently the Mainichi New on-line reported the following:

中国:「南方週末」支持の作家殴られる

毎日新聞　2013年01月15日　20時53分（最終更新　01月15日　23時43分）

　中国広東省の週刊紙「南方週末」の記事が地元当局の指示で改ざんされた問題で、同紙への支持を表明した中国の人気作家、李承鵬氏（４４）が１５日、北京市内のサイン会で男に「売国奴」とののしられて顔を殴られたことを自らのブログで明らかにした。インターネット上では南方週末や李氏を支持する意見が多いが、当局批判を暴力で封じ込めようとした行為を称賛する声もあり、中国社会の根深い対立を示している。

　サイン会は１３日に行われ、殴った男は警備員に取り押さえられた。その後、別の男が包丁を取り出して脅す騒ぎも起きた。李氏はまた、四川省成都で１２日に開いたサイン会で当局から「会場での発言や読者からの質問を許さない」と言われたことも明かした。

　李氏はブログで「禁止されたり襲われたりするのは私が本当の話をしたからだ」とつづり、「今後も書き続ける」と強調した。

　南方週末問題をめぐり、李氏は中国版ツイッター「微博」で「高層ビルや空母艦隊はなくてもいいが、本当の話をする新聞は必要だ」と書き込んだ。書き込みは削除されたが、改革派の知識人や学生らの支持を受けた。一方、改革に批判的な保守派サイトでは、名指しで批判されている。

(試譯文)

Chinese popular writer Mr. Li Chengpeng (44), who had announced his support for the "South Weekend" regarding the problem centering around the story about a report written by this weekly paper of Guangdong Province in China had altered under the direction of the local authorities, clarified in his blog on the 15^th that a man who spoke ill of him as a "traitor" had hit him on his face during the autograph session held in Beijing. Although in the Internet there were many opinions which supported the South Weekend, there were also voices which admired the act of the authority to restrict criticism using violence; a deep-rooted confrontation inside the Chinese society was shown.

The autograph session was held on the 13th and the man who did the hitting was arrested by the guard. Then, a commotion broke out when another man took out a kitchen knife to make a threat.  Mr. Lee also revealed that regarding the autograph session held in Sichuan of Chengdu on the 12^th, the authorities had said: "In the hall all utterance and questions from readers were not allowed".

Mr. Lee spelled out in his blog that "being forbidden to talk and being attacked were due to the fact that I tell the truth", and emphasized that "He would continue to write."

Centering on the South Weekend problem Mr. Lee wrote in the China version of the twitter, the "small blog" to say that "while we can afford to have neither skyscrapers nor an aircraft carrier fleet, we need to have newspapers that tell the truth." Although the writing was deleted, it gained popularity among intellectuals and students who support reforms. On the other hand, at the conservative sites that were critical of the reforms, it was criticized by name.

While it shows that some people in China are suspicious of reforms, it also seems that patriotic education is a huge success inside China.