Sunday, May 25, 2008

Chinese police detain woman over quake video

Chinese police in the northern city of Shenyang have detained a woman who posted a video filled with angry comments directed at victims of the devastating earthquake that rattled Sichuan province last week.
The 21-year-old woman, Gao Qianhui, was angry over a three-day mourning period that saw online entertainment and games shut down in China out of respect for those killed by the quake, according to a Xinhua News Agency report carried on Netease, a popular Chinese portal. The report, which was highlighted by Blogging for China, did not make clear what law Gao was alleged to have broken in her online outburst.

In the video, Gao is shown sitting inside what appears to be an Internet cafe. After introducing herself as a "common young girl" from Liaoning province in northeastern China, Gao complains she has no interest in coverage of the quake or its aftermath.

"How many of you died? It was just a few," Gao said. "China has so many people, anyway."

The video and apparent lack of sympathy on Gao's part for those affected by the Sichuan earthquake provoked an outpouring of anger and criticism from Chinese Internet users. The Xinhua story carried on Netease alone had more than 17,000 comments at the time of writing.

"Have you no humanity?" asked one commentator.

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