There has not been much news in China of the protest in Wukan, a small village in the city of Shanwei of Guangdong province, despite much ongoing news coverage by media abroad. The protest originated from disputes over the local government taking and selling land to property developers. At the height of the protests, the villagers forced the local government out of the village. In response, the local government sealed off the village, preventing food and supplies to enter the city.

Recently, the provincial government intervened in the situation and has arrived at a compromise with the villages. This news appeared in the Chinese media. However, perhaps what got more attention to the entire Wukan incident was a video clip featuring local Shanwei Municipal Party Secretary Zheng Yanxiong commenting angrily about the situation he ultimately failed to resolve, criticizing the villagers’ actions for the involvement of foreign media, and complaining about what hardships government officials endure.

This video was uploaded to many Chinese video sharing websites, including Youku [no longer available], and spread quickly on the Chinese internet through social networking services and discussion forums. However, discussion forum posts and the videos were then quickly removed as this post was being prepared.

A video clip on YouTube (not complete):

A more complete YouTube clip showing Zheng Yanxiong saying all of the following can be found here but the quality is poor.

Translation of the above excerpted statements by Zheng Yanxiong in the video:

“Let’s find a some foreign journalists to come make a fuss. The worse you (Zheng Yanxiong) look out there, the happier we are. Then you’ll be in a trouble and your superiors will dismiss you.” Well, what good can come from having me dismissed? They’ll just send another Municipal Party Secretary here, and he may not be much better than Zheng Yanxiong [referring to himself]. Ha, this is a joke, but it also has truth to it.

If outside media can be trusted, then mother pigs can climb trees.

Reasonable demands [and] unreasonable methods [results in an] out of control process.

If compensation is necessary then there will be compensation, and the government will pay for it, because of course, wool only comes from sheep.

If you don’t make any more trouble, if you don’t break the law again, and the government feels, “hey, [they’re] reasonable, I think they won’t use unreasonable methods again”, then I don’t even have to use the armed police! You think deploying the armed police doesn’t cost money?! There are hundreds of armed police and for the police to be stationed here means our mayor’s wallet becomes thinner and thinner by the day, I’m telling you.

Right now there is only one group of people, who feel each year is harder than the last. Who are they? Those who are government cadres, including me. The Municipal Party Secretaries in the past were never this tired having to handle everything. Every day, our powers become smaller than the day before, the methods available to us less and less, our responsibilities are greater and greater, while the ordinary common people want more and more, getting smarter every day, becoming more and more difficult to manage by the day.

With regards to national polices, I myself also have deep feelings. A responsible government like this, you don’t look to. Instead, you look to some lousy foreign media, lousy newspapers, lousy websites, completely confusing good and bad! They won’t take any responsibility, nor can they do anything, They’re all too eager for you to get into fights, for socialism to fall into chaos. That’s when they’ll be happy. If you have a problem, go to the government. Don’t let outsiders gossip about it.

From Sina Weibo:

@何兵: Shanwei City Municipal Party Secretary Zheng Yanxiong: “What good can come from having me dismissed? They’ll just send another Municipal Party Secretary here, and he may not be much better than Zheng [Yan]xiong… If outside media can be trusted, then mother pigs can climb trees.” “If compensation is necessary then there will be compensation, and the government will pay for it, because of course, wool only comes from sheep.” “A responsible government like this, you don’t look to. Instead, you look to some lousy foreign media, lousy newspapers, lousy websites, completely confusing good and bad.”

The above microblog post was made by He Bing, “Vice President of the Law School of China University of Political Science and Law. It also originally included a video clip (hosted on Sina) of Zheng Yanxiong uttering his now famous words but the video has since been deleted, as you can see from the comments below.

Sina Weibo is one of the few places on the Chinese internet where there is some Chinese discussion of this video of Zheng Yanxiong. For example, this post was forwarded over 5k times (not very much) but has over 1500 comments…

Comments from Sina Weibo:

睡眼又朦胧_Chu：

I just think one look and you know he isn’t a good person.

forever-林仔：

How come the video has been deleted? So despicable.

Tammy829-CHAN：

Is the same level as the Railway Ministry when it comes to public speaking. [Refers to Railway Ministry spokesperson Wang Yongping who famously told the reporters at a press conference following the 2011 Wenzhou Train Crash it didn’t matter whether they believed his explanations as long as he does.]

桃子1009：

Why are government leaders all the same these days? Fat-headed, pot-bellied, balding.

狐女有梦：

I think this kind of person is actually better than most, at least willing to tell us the truth. What’s more frightening are those who sound reasonable but stab you in the back.

準風月談三世：

First, I believe Zheng Yanxiong is definitely not the absolute most shameless government official in China’s most shameless government official circles. The absolute most shameless government officials in general left this place long ago. So I actually feel a certain kind of extremely despicable sympathy for Zheng Yanxiong.

JuntaoFu：

All he did was reveal what some “people’s public servants” think in their hearts.

RipAeolus：

Why delete the video?? Bullshit harmonious, you think doing this will make society harmonious? Truly TM ridiculous of you!

乡偶：

He’s used to being a tyrant, so he’s a little unaccustomed to being criticized. Normally doesn’t do his job properly and now his response in a crisis is even more of a failure, even more… And for him to actually say these things, and be filmed while he’s at it, he clearly didn’t learn anything while in government official circles.

有话好好说01：

Using this stupid cunts to govern, truly an embarrassment to the Party. How can the people not suffer?

名字都被抢没了：

He said what’s in his heart. The problem isn’t with him, it’s with the government.

heezi的小屋：