Liu Cheng-ch'ing: Elegy for a Hollow Tree—Commemorating the Tenth Anniversary of the Revocation of T'ang Chi-t'an's and Liu Wei's Licenses

I
April 30, 2010 marked the day lawyers T'ang Chi-t'an and Liu Wei had their licenses revoked. The hatchet man was the Beijing Bureau of Justice. I once wrote an article about this published in "China Rights Biweekly." Yet, the weak voices of a few scholars were like fireflies—unable either to awaken the sleeping populace or to illuminate the dim earth. My heart grew gradually numb from sorrow, and thereafter I was unwilling to mention it, hoping to forget as soon as possible.

Why was I like this? Was it fear of following in the footsteps of T'ang and Liu, or was it the sorrow of a heart deadened by grief? I cannot say clearly myself. Surviving to this day in a world that is neither human nor beast, am I desolate? Am I afraid? Both, I suppose! Yet, there is also the sorrow of refusing to merely survive, making it impossible to forget.

On this day that cannot be forgotten, images always float through my mind: a few woodpeckers pecking away with a "tap, tap..." sound, disturbing the grand cosmic dreams of snakes, rats, worms, and butterflies..., only to suffer a miserable retaliation.

Consequently, one wishes woodpeckers would mind their own business and let the snakes, rats, and worms cooperate sincerely to gnaw down this big tree with extra effort. After all, this big tree was puffed up with ammonium bicarbonate^{(Note 1)}, and its soft wood was naturally an ideal paradise for worms. How could its verdant green leaves not invite the applause and odes of butterflies? What an exquisitely flawless biosphere and food chain! You two, T'ang and Liu, were "a dog meddling in a rat's business, minding other people's affairs," imitating woodpeckers. If they don't punish you, who should they punish? Serves you right!

Yet, a few days ago, a young lawyer I deeply admire sent me a private message reminding me to check a certain lawyer chat group. In fact, I always check groups involving lawyers and human rights issues; I simply choose not to speak! I knew what he meant: this year marks the tenth anniversary of the revocation of lawyers T'ang's and Liu's licenses.

II
Yes, it is necessary for me to write something. Personally, so as not to betray my friendship with T'ang and Liu; publicly, even though the weak light of fireflies cannot illuminate a dark earth, it should at least be able to illuminate one's own heart! As for whether there are any other profound meanings, I am filled with trepidation.

Yet, where is the light in my heart? Silence, oh silence! Is silence safe? When the posture of silence is wrong, even a glance or a gesture becomes an excuse for the running dogs to present to their masters in exchange for favor. A few years ago, lawyer Li Chuang traded a glance in Chongqing for two years of imprisonment. To commemorate this, colleagues who imitated his posture of silence were also purged under suspicion of "picking quarrels and provoking trouble"^{(Note 2)}. What kind of world is this where heaven and earth are turned upside down? How could this fertile land produce such a monstrous tree? Fantasizing, waiting! What we have waited for is one worse and more stupid monster after another to ravage the land that birthed and raised me.

I used to laugh inwardly at the foolishness of T'ang and Liu, who failed to recognize the big tree puffed up by ammonium bicarbonate. Naturally low in calcium and high in nitrogen, the wood is soft. How could it not attract worms to bore tunnels, tunnels to invite rats to nest, and rats to lure snakes? Rats are naturally food for snakes, but now snakes and rats share the same nest, joyous and harmonious. Even the butterfly could not endure the loneliness, singing spring ditties around it. Yet, though the leaves are green, the roots are rotten, and the trunk is hollow. Even if you, T'ang and Liu, are too lofty to stoop to snakes and rats, imitating butterflies to beg for scraps would not have been out of the question—why did you need to disturb the spring dreams of the rat pack with your woodpecker "tap, tap..." sounds, leading to this wretched plight!

Laughter aside, the iron law of history will not change because of a butterfly's spring ditty. Once the wind blows, with a crash, the tree will fall. When the tree falls, the beasts will scatter. When the beasts scatter, you, T'ang and Liu, will be needed to plant trees again! Unexpectedly, while I laughed at their foolishness yesterday, today I have followed in their footsteps myself^{(Note 3)}. Thus I feel even more the necessity of writing to commemorate their foolishness. As for any deeper meaning that might be excavated, let this serve as testimony offered to the future!

III
My friendship with T'ang Chi-t'an began before his license was revoked. I saw his exploits handling cases involving religious groups online and communicated with him there. I truly heard his name and met him in person shortly after his license was revoked, when he came to Guangzhou with three other lawyers—Kuo Lien-hui and Chang Zan-ning—to exchange experiences on handling the Kuo Ch'üan case^{(Note 4)}. I specifically had him stay overnight at my residence for a private chat. Only then did I learn that he was originally a prosecutor within the system, but his nature could not be accommodated by the cesspool, so he had no choice but to leap out of the cesspool and become a lawyer. I made the same choice, so I deeply understood his sentiment. The ancients said the lotus "emerges from the filthy mud unstained." The filthy mud can tolerate the lotus being unstained, but is there any space for the lotus to survive among the maggots in the cesspool and the flies drawn to the stench? Thus both of us shared the secret joy of leaping out of the cesspool.

My friendship with Liu Wei began in the latter half of the year after her license was revoked, at an anti-torture seminar in Peihai, Guangxi. During that time, I had a brief exchange with her. Attorney Liu Wei, who was always smiling and amiable, gentle and cultivated, somehow ended up being labeled as someone who disrupted courtroom order—what an irony and tragedy this is! It is just that a certain clique tells so many lies that its deception of the world is no longer effective; instead, people view it as a badge of honor. Hearing of her heroic deed, I could not help but feel a deep sense of awe!

IV
According to the "Administrative Penalty Decision" issued by the Beijing Bureau of Justice to T'ang and Liu, the grounds for punishment were: "failing to obey the repeated injunctions of the judicial personnel, failing to obey the instructions of the judicial personnel, and disrupting courtroom order. During the court debate stage, withdrawing from the court without justifiable reason, causing the trial to be forcibly suspended for a period of time, and interfering with the normal progress of litigation activities." Party-state, oh party-state! Now you have progressed and become civilized! You even know how to play the game of procedure; even convicting and sentencing requires a trial, going through the motions. Except the procedure you play is not procedural justice, but a procedural fig leaf. Back when you were wandering bandits, you possessed the bandit nature of "trampling even upon the embroidered beds of local gentry and evil gentry's young mistresses" (see Mao Zedong's "Report on an Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan"). Once you plundered the mansion and became its masters, did the bandit chieftains have any procedures during their infighting when the mistresses on the beds weren't shared evenly? Did they ever ask for a fig leaf?

Now allowing lawyers to defend cases is considered a great achievement of the party-state in propaganda! Yet you took it seriously, actually speaking of "legal principles" and discussing "case characterization" in court. Lord Shang's art of hoodwinking the people, the blinds of Outer Confucianism and Inner Legalism, were completely shattered by you lawyers. These imperial arts of governing the people, which can only be practiced but never spoken of and cannot be brought out into the open—how could you lawyers not know what the ignorant masses do not? You played dumb while knowing the truth, eating the food of my party-state while smashing its pots. Rather than letting you smash the party-state's pot, the party-state might as well smash your rice bowl first.

Ten years ago, getting your rice bowl smashed was letting you off lightly. T'ang and Liu, be content. If you don't believe it, just look at today's "709" lawyers.

V
Lawyers T'ang Chi-t'an and Liu Wei had their licenses revoked. When I first heard it, I was angry; later I gradually became happy; now I greatly rejoice.

Angry, because this absurd act was utterly incomprehensible!

Happy, because only their bowls were smashed, not their lives taken. There was the secret joy of "as long as the green hills remain, there's no need to worry about firewood"!

Rejoice, because the Western proverb "Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad" was finally fulfilled. T'ang and Liu pulled down the emperor's last fig leaf, letting people see his withered loins, knowing his tricks were exhausted, and causing them to no longer feel fear!

VI
April's early sun is warm and gentle, precisely the best season for all things to grow.

I habitually pushed open the window to observe any slight changes in the big tree puffed up by ammonium bicarbonate. Ah! The emerald green leaves were beginning to wither, though the snakes and rats were still coupling.... Yet, the woodpeckers were nowhere to be seen, and the butterflies were much fewer. This could not help but remind me of the wings of a South American butterfly.

Driven by curiosity, I went downstairs and gently tapped the main trunk of the tree with my finger. "Tap, tap, tap...", sounding like a beating drum. Experience told me: the inside was already hollow! I felt a secret joy!!

This fertile land is the only place that birthed and raised me, and it must never be allowed to lie barren. May T'ang Chi-t'an and Liu Wei take good care of their health, and at any moment ready their hoes and shovels to plant trees!

Therefore, I write this to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the revocation of T'ang Chi-t'an's and Liu Wei's licenses, shared as mutual encouragement!

Liu Cheng-ch'ing, April 12, 2020

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Notes

1. Ammonium bicarbonate, a fast-acting chemical fertilizer commonly used in rural China in the last century, commonly known as nitrogen fertilizer. This type of fertilizer only promotes stem growth without yielding fruit, and does not help root development. Long-term use easily attracts pests and causes crops to lodge, so other fertilizers must be switched to once crops reach a certain stage.

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2. In 2009, then-Chongqing Chinese Communist Party Committee Secretary Bo Xilai launched a "anti-black" campaign, sparking controversies over political interference in the judiciary. Beijing lawyer Li Chuang was retained to defend the defendant, a man surnamed Kung, only to be sentenced to two years in prison for perjury by a judge on the grounds that "the defendant gave winks to the client and instigated perjury" after the defendant accused the police of torture in court. Afterward, lawyers from various places held a seminar on this case in Beijing, and lawyers who performed a skit titled "Blinking is Not a Crime" at the meeting were purged by judicial authorities.

3. Attorney Liu Cheng-ch'ing's legal practice license was revoked by the Department of Justice of Guangdong Province in January 2019 on the grounds that his defense statements in the second-instance trials of Xinjiang citizen journalist Chang Hai-t'ao and Guangdong Falun Gong practitioner Li Yen-ming contained remarks "subverting state power and slandering others.">

4. Kuo Ch'üan, former associate professor at the School of Literature of Nanjing Normal University and former judge of the Nanjing Intermediate Court, was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2008 for "subverting state power" after publishing remarks criticizing the Chinese Communist Party and organizing the China New Democracy Party. He was released upon completion of his sentence in 2018. In February 2020, he was arrested again by authorities on charges of "inciting subversion of state power" for exposing the inside story of the COVID-19 virus and speaking out for residents in the epicenter.