More Protests

Once again, almost too much has happened in the past 24 hours to remember, but I'll do my best. Please note, there are some reports going out in the Associated Press and in the Hong Kong newspaper Ming Pao which are not accurate: water cannons have not been used on the students; there have been no physical encounters between students and police although there are scattered reports of private security personel beating students (which I have not personally whitnessed although I have seen one student and one reporter with injuries); the students did not smash the windows in the library or any of the academic buildings, only in some of the dormatories and shops on campus (they didn't leave campus to destroy things outside); the student demonstrations since the night of the riot (6/16) have been almost entirely peacful...

In any case, I will pick up where I left off:

When I left the library to rejoin the students, they decided to march around campus insulting and admonishing the students who had gone to their exams (a small minority). Initially this was somewhat out of control, although I was able, with some help, to largely stop the students from throwing (plastic) bottles and the like. In the process I also had to keep them from attacking a private security person (incidently one who was trying to keep me from telling the students not to throw things) and several students who had taken exams and who are viewed as traitors. I did not want to become a central figure in this for a number of reasons, but especially because I don't want to open myself or the students to accusations of a forienger meddling in their affairs, but from this point onward I have largely been greeted with cheers and thumbs-up signs wherever I go.

In any case, the students completed their circuit a little after 11, whereupon they all dissappeared into their dorms for lunch and siesta (only in China). I watched the end of game 5 of the NBA Finals (great game, btw). Then I did some grading and took a nap. At about two in the afternoon, the students began to mass in front of the administration building again. Apparently a journalist from Xinhua, the official party newspaper had come to campus and was talking with the administrators. There had been reports of journalists parked outside and not allowed into the college the day before, as well as reports that a photographer had been attacked. The students pointed out a man who they claimed to be the photographer and who did have some nasty bruises around his neck. This, along with the report of an attack on one female student are the only ones that I have been able to confirm at all. Aside from these incidents the protests have been almost entirely peaceful, and even the bottle throwing has all but stopped.

The journalist left without talking to the students, reportedly breaking into a run as she neared the school gate. At that point, seven vans of riot police (who I mistakenly called SWAT in a previous post) and seven police trucks decended and formed a double line in front of the college gate. It was a very strange scene as the students went to the gate to see what was going on and began to taunt the police. After a little bit of bottle-throwing (which I quickly put an end to), the students began to sing songs (including the national anthem) and to say "Smile, one [of you]" to the riot squad. I escorted an older teacher out the gate, at which point the guards stopped allowing anyone to come or go. Along with several other students and teachers, I called the guards to open the gate, but they didn't do anything. Finally I just climbed over, admitedly not the smartest thing to do but the police didn't seem to care as long as things were orderly and the guards seemed to have dissapeared.

Finally, some time later the confrontation broke down. Part of this was apparently because another teacher (the same one I escorted out the gate) was standing and singing songs between the gate and the police. More, I think, was due to the PA announcement that the leaders had someting to tell the students. They all gathered in front of the administration building (at which point, I am told, the riot police backed off from the gate). The vice president started to make an announcement, but the students just started to yell "wrong!" and then the chant started for people to leave. Somehow the message was passed to go to the auditorium for another meeting.

Again, I managed to get a decent seat at the meeting (this time with a student to help translate). The vice president and some other official (reportedly from Zhengzhou University [Zheng Da]) were there but the president was not. They began to tell the students that they needed to calm down, that the administration had listened to their complaints and would respond. The Zheng Da administrator then started to talk about the problmes. First he responded to the accusation of students being beaten, basically by saying they would look into it and punish the guilty party. Then he began to talk about the problem of the diplomas but the students shouted that the first problem was not finished. He waited for the yelling to die down and then started on the diploma issue again. The long and short of it is that the students will not be getting Zheng Da diplomas because of a new law and there is nothing to be done about it. He then tried to dismiss the student complaints about the false advertising of Shengda as part of Zheng Da by claiming some ads only said Shengda College and as far as the others, "a mistake had been made."

The students were having none of this and started calling for a microphone. Their calls were ignored as a professor went to the table and began telling a slow story about his backgroung, presumably as an attempt to calm the students. They continued to get rowdy and call for him to step down. The leaders called for a meeting with student representatives, but the students are afraid (and justifyably so) of scapegoating. The vice president said the students need to find a legal way to air their greivances (protesting is basically illegal in China). This provoked more yelling. Finally one of my students stepped onto stage and began to say something, first into the mike and then to the vice president. Nothing really came of this and the students began calling for a mic again and when they were not given one, to leave.

That night there was a meeting of some of the foreign teachers (15 of the 25 that are left) to try to decide what our position should be, especially since the college told us nothing for the first two days and then sent an email telling us to stay out away from the students without a real explanation. There was a general consensus on final grades (to treat the final exam as optional and let the school fail the students if it so decided), but no real consensus on anything else. We decided not to send a message to the school from the foreign teachers as a group, and anything else was an individual matter.

This morning, I went again to the administration building where the students are gathered with the same purpose in mind (keeping things peaceful). At this point the president of the college confronted me; he said I should go home. I told him that I was only there to keep people from throwing things and from hurting anyone. Again, he yelled that I should leave. My response was to tell him that the students no longer listen to him, but they listen to me, which means that I am able to keep them from throwing things. At this, the students gave a yell and began to crowd around. They appeared to be thinking of attacking some teachers or staff members, so I ran up the steps to intervene.

At this point, Mr. Yang, the new head of the FAO arrived to essentially put me in "time out." I said I wouldn't speak to him unless Mr. Zhao (the old head of the FAO who I respect much more than Yang) came as well. When we got to the FAO I told them what I have been saying all along, that I am only there to stop the students from getting violent, to give them advice if they ask for it and to observe. Mr. Zhao seemed to calm down a bit and told me as a friend that this was a Chinese affair and I should be careful about it. I asked him if he had ever seen a protest or event like this and he replied that he had in fact been in one (presumably during the Cultural Revolution). I told him that I have been in protests too, but the students have not and so they need someone to help keep them in control of themselves. At this point, Zhao had to leave to do something else and Yang had a meeting, so I was given to another FAO worker to look after. I told her I wanted to go turn in my grades, but that I would come back and she let me go.

On my way to the appartment to get my grade books, I encountered a student who was almost hysterical because she wants to take the GRE and is afraid of how it will look if she doesn't take her tests but she is also afraid of her classmates and wants to support them. I told her that she'll probably be OK so long as she can explain the unusual circumstances to Universities. Then I went and turned in my grades and, accompanied by another foreign teacher, went back to the FAO.

In the FAO we were introduced to two representatives of the Public Security Bureau's Foreign Afairs Office. We, later joined by a third foreign teacher and a student, told them our side of the story as we see it. In addition to telling them about our understanding of the student riot and protests, we also mentioned several incidents that have happened to foreign teachers at Shengda (which I detailed several entries ago) and that the riots are being covered in the foreign press. They asked us what we thought about the riots and what should be done to solve the problem. Then we were assured that the police are here for our protection (as of now, I tend to agree, it has only been the private security personel who have been assualting students) and that they will look into what we have told them. They did not tell me that it was inappropriate to try to keep the students calm and in fact agreed that we are perhaps in a better situation to do so. I asked them for a copy of the report that they file, which I will try to post if and when I get it. The PSB also told us that the Henan Education Administrator or some such thing is here and will be making an announcement.

That is all as of now.