A simple study on "Wang Qian Yuan Incident" at Duke

This Wednesday when I attended an informal meeting, an American told me there is one incident happened at Duke Last Wednesday. This is related to both Tibet and a disobedient Chinese girl, Wang Qian Yuan (王千源). Usually the pro-China protests organized by CSSA, and endorsed by Chinese government are boring and ineffective, so they will not attract too much of my attention. However this time it is a little different, because we Chinese succeeded in transforming a conflict between Chinese and foreigners into a civil war between Chinese again. This Friday the proposed econometrics seminar is canceled. So I decided to study this incident and try to find the whole story.

By finding several videos from YouTube, and several articles from the Duke Chinese Scholars and Students Association, The Chronicle, an independent daily newspaper at Duke University, the whole process seems emerges.

The event begins with a candlelight vigil supporting freedom in Tibet organized by the Duke Human Rights Coalition on Wednesday evening. One leader of this coalition, Daniel Cordero said they reserved the Chapel Quad in advance, planing to advocate for Tibet's freedom from the People's Republic of China. However "crowds of upset protesters flooded the Chapel Quadrangle". They bear signs and Chinese flags, expressing patriotism and criticizing Western media through chants and song.

During this process, a Chinese female in yellow came to the central stage, presenting her idea on Tibet. We can here several Chinese yelling at her "Are you Chinese?" from the video I attached. Later she was surrounded and queried by many Chinese. Because the volume of background songs are so loud, I cannot hear their conversation clearly.

Anyway, in one video several of her "crimes" are listed. It is in Chinese, I tried to translate it into English as follows:

(1) Write the slogan "Free Tibet" on the back of one "separatist";

(2) Make counter-active gestures together with "separatists" (which is based on the gesture for "one world, one dream" but falsified by "separatists").

(3) Compare the Tibetan ensign with the Hong Kong ensign.

What is more astonishing happened later. Her name, her phone number and her Chinese identity were posted to the web site of the Duke Chinese Scholars and Students Association. Later these private information were posted in several popular Chinese-language forums, say, Tianya, Kaidi. Even worse, contact information of her parents were also posted.

Since she has received many harassing phone calls and e-mails, she filed a report with Duke University Police Department Friday and indicted DCSSA released her private information. The president of DCSSA denied such accusation consequently.

Though the story is not finished, because there might be more fights between Ms.Wang and DCSSA, I'd like to comment what Duke CSSA has done.

(1) The organization of pro-China protest is not effective at all.
They did not reserve the place to protest. They protest by chants and yelling is not pursuasive. They threat other people's right to free speech. Basically it seems that DCSSA does not know the rule in the US at all. Actually what they have done will hurt the image of Chinese eventually.

(2) It is illegal to release an individual's privacy, if DCSSA did that.

(3) Treat such a severe accusation that DCSSA released privacy by only denying is not sufficient at all. DCSSA need express their concern about the victim, need provide all necessary help finding the person who released the privacy, since it is released throught DCSSA's email system.

It seems that DCSSA abuse the freedom in the US. Their actions are not constructive. It does not know what their interests and purposes are, and how to protect their rights and deliver their opinions in the US.

PS:

http://www.dukechronicle.com/media/storage/paper884/news/2008/04/14/News/Student.Gets.Threats.After.China.Protest-3322848.shtml

http://media.www.dukechronicle.com/media/storage/paper884/news/2008/04/10/News/ProTibet.ProChina.Protesters.Clash.On.Quad-3316313.shtml

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4J6nfyb-3k





An Open Letter to Duke Community
Apr 14th, 2008

After last Wednesday’s high profile protest on Duke campus, a few subscribers to the mailing list
China@duke.edu
anonymously sent out messages verbally attacking one student using language we found troubling and heinous, as well as releasing this student’s private information. This mailing list was set up mainly for the purpose of helping students exchange information such as second-hand car or apartment sublease. It is open to the public, not limited only to Chinese students and scholars at Duke, for subscription and currently has more than 900 registered users, and like many other mailing list of this kind, we do not have a dedicated member to monitor it closely on a daily basis. However, we removed all the relevant messages once they were brought to our attention. And starting on Saturday, April 12, 2008, we have imposed stricter filter rules for messages sent through the mailing list. Duke Chinese Students and Scholars Association (DCSSA) hereby declares our unequivocal position that we strongly disagree and condemn the behavior of these few anonymous subscribers.

However, we are very disappointed by the story “Student gets threats after China protest” appearing on today’s Chronicle (Apr 14th, 2008). We feel regretful that this student considered it was DCSSA’s fault to release “all kinds of information” about her, and several other student organizations on campus blamed DCSSA for actions taken by certain subscribers to our mailing list, which, for the reasons stated above, we have to disagree with. We are sympathetic to this student’s situation, and as the representatives of DCSSA, we will try to contact this student to resolve any misunderstandings.

As one of the largest student groups on campus, DCSSA is an organization dedicated to promoting diversity on Duke Campus. We are always proud to bring the culture from China—our home country which has a glorious history of more than 5,000 years, to the Gothic Wonderland which we also call home. We hope that by learning from each other, we can work towards an even brighter future. We appreciate the increasing attention on China recently received from the Duke Community. In light of the recent events on and off campus, we welcome your constructive comments and healthy reflections on a wide range of topics, including the impartiality of media, freedom of speech, and effectiveness of cross-cultural communication. Please feel free to send us your email to:
dcssa2008@gmail.com
.

Thank you!

Zhizhong Li, DCSSA President
Weina Wang, DCSSA Vice President
Weining Bian, DCSSA Vice President