From NetEase:

You may have seen the news reports that I made about the chopping of trees in Niujia Village, Lihe town, Dezhou/Linyi city during which I was shoved around by the village director.

Yesterday, the village director and other local government officials came to Qilu TV Station to apologize. The village director also said that he has repaired the outhouse destroyed by the fallen trees and paid compensation.

So I thought that this was how the issue was resolved. Since they apologized sincerely and I had no personal stake, this was good enough for the villagers.

But I was angry when I found out from villagers that the TV news program was scheduled to run at 6pm, but the Linyi government cut off the signal to Qilu TV at 5:55pm and restored it only at 9pm!

Also, the village director lied when he said that he repaired the outhouse. Up to this moment, the village director has neither apologized to the villagers nor repaired the outhouse.

Now I am really angry! What is this!? Did he come to apologize just to make the TV station not report the case anymore? How can this kind of village director do anything good for the villagers?

So this case is not finished. I will go back to that village and help the villagers win their rights back!

So let us take a look at the village director who hit me — Tan Zhuanhe.

It was like this: I walked out of the village government office and he was there waiting for me. I told him that I was going to the village with him. He said fiercely: “Go, let’s go to the village!” I asked, “What kind of attitude is that?” Suddenly he swung his fist and hit me in the temple. I was stunned. I reacted and yelled: “What are you doing!”

He raised his hand and slapped me. Here is the moment captured by the camera [note: which is about 3 minutes into the YouKu video].

Then he let a man wearing a t-shirt grab the camera in order to shut it off. My cameraman Wang Xiaolong hung on to the equipment, but that man snatched off the battery. During this period, the village director grabbed my throat and punched me twice again. He was later stopped by another village cadre.

During this episode, the town government party secretary named Ying stood on the side and watched with arms akimbo. He did not intercede. When I asked secretary Ying for help, he turned around and walked away.

I thought that this affair was over. But when I learned that they cut off the Qilu TV signal and neither apologized to nor compensated the villagers, I decided to struggle all the way with this Linyi village director!

The above translation was from EastSouthWestNorth. He report this news faster than me. This is the video of the attack:

The NetEase post was reposted from the reporter Wang Xi’s blog. Below are some comments that I had prepared last evening.

Comments from NetEase:

jason16816:

Right now is the Communist Party’s world, and when us ordinary citizens face this kind of situation, what can we do?

hw2006888:

Support Wang Xi!!! There are a lot of these kinds of land owners [village bosses/heads] in those remote places where law enforcement is lax. Next time you go interview, I recommend you bring anti-rape spray!!!

yuegangfb:

Village cadres have liability, rural cadres have administrative liability, resolutely investigate their legal liability. These two are both Party cadres, so our Party committee should come out to give an explanation.

leileihong16:

Such an loss of face for Shandong people, truly not a man…

zs-ht:

Reporters are even more powerful than gods, and you still dare hit her? Go ahead and hit her, otherwise the internet will not have anything to do. Make this bigger and you will soon become famous.

byy1023:

This is the consequence of you putting your nose in other people’s business! There are too many black [corrupt] places in China, so the problems of a village is a hair of nine cows [a drop in the ocean]. If you really have the ability, go find the problem at the root/source and then solve that problem.

wlbhlh:

This kind of village leader are the scum and trash of the civil servants. He has lost face for the Chinese Communist Party to foreigners.

Village secretaries need to be party members. Those who do not work for the people are all dogs.

He must be made to apologize to the entire country’s people!!! Especially to Shandong people.

dwh.gy:

Look at these officials, even daring to attack the media, so how much respect could they have for the ordinary common people? I think it the ordinary common people should raid/ransack/pillage his home!

yaoaihuagf:

If it were an ordinary person who attacked others, he definitely would have been arrested. However, the moment the assailant has some power, the police stands by and does nothing!

Hitting someone like this, why only an apology? Is it okay for me to first hit you and then just say sorry?

With this and we wonder why that little village’s leader is so arrogant/cocky? If it were a higher official, even beating you to death would be no big deal!

wdc347702600:

Everyone be strong. The strength of the netizens’ voice is great…poor Wang Xi [the reporter]…

龙翔八方:

This is not a small matter. If we want to reform social phenomenon like this, it must start from every little thing. I seriousl support!!!

duolingjiao:

Broadcast this on television! This village leader is not far away from his death/demise!

xujing305305: