As Grip of Censors Endures in China, A Satirical Poem Leads to Jail Time

In Chongqing, the provincial capital that administers Pengshui, authorities were becoming increasingly embarrassed. The Chongqing Propaganda Department ordered an investigation and, true to its mission, banned broadcast stations and newspapers in the Chongqing area from reporting on the fuss.

But the leaders of Pengshui were not to be deterred. The Propaganda Department refused to explain its determination to prosecute Qin, although Meng Dehua, a deputy party secretary, had earlier told reporters the poem could demoralize county workers if its author went unpunished. So the Public Security Bureau went to the People's Court here in the county seat Sept. 27 and asked for a quick conviction. The judge responded that there was no case. So the Public Security Bureau appealed to the No. 4 Intermediate Court in Chongqing. It got the same response: No case.

Twice frustrated, police offered to release Qin on bail but without dropping the charges. On his attorney's advice, Qin at first refused, demanding to be tried or exonerated. But eventually, he agreed to be released under the guarantee of a local middle school principal and distant relative. On Sept. 30, he walked out of jail and into the spotlight's glare.

By then, several Chinese newspapers and magazines with a national readership had weighed in with lengthy reports after visiting Pengshui. Even a magazine sponsored by the official New China News Agency had a story.

"You have become a famous international criminal," a co-worker joked to Qin.

Distressed by the furor, local police notified Qin that he should again get an attorney, implying that the case was still alive and that he could be arrested again if the reporters kept coming.

For his part, Qin, shaken by his time in jail, was trying without much success to resume his life as a quiet bureaucrat and father of a 5-year-old boy.

By the middle of October, according to a source in Chongqing, the central government sent an order to the Chongqing Communist Party secretariat saying the Pengshui problem should be fixed, and right away. Backing up the order, the party's Central Discipline Inspection Commission sent a team to Pengshui to look into the matter.

Feeling the heat, authorities informed Qin on Oct. 23 that the charges had been dropped and told him he could apply for compensation for the time he spent behind bars. The compensation, about $280, was handed over even before Qin had time to apply for it.

"It's impossible for someone who has experienced such a big thing, something that affected my life and work so much -- after that, it's impossible not to have feelings about this," Qin said, wearing a brown striped suit along with a blue plaid shirt and matching tie to receive a foreign journalist.

"But I just don't want to go into it," he added. "The thing is, I think, really, I wish you would go to the Propaganda Department and ask them. I hope you understand my problem."