A video showing four people being paraded through the busy streets of Jingxi, Guangxi, has triggered discussions on Weibo.
The incident happened on December 29 and was organized by local authorities to warn others of the consequences of breaking the law. The people paraded in the streets were allegedly being disciplined for helping others to illegally cross the border during the pandemic, violating China’s strict border health quarantine laws.
Jingxi (靖西市) is a county-level city in western Guangxi and it is under the administration of Baise city. Jingxi is on the border between China and Vietnam.
Besides being taken out into the streets in protective clothing, carrying placards with their name and photo on their chest and back, the offenders were reportedly also disciplined in other ways – their bank accounts were frozen, their homes were marked as offenders’ homes, their photos were spread around town, and the local media exposed them.
Chinese state media outlet Global Times reported that two suspects allegedly helped two foreigners illegally cross the border in October of 2021, leading to a local lockdown after one of them turned out to test positive for Covid19. About 50,000 Jingxi residents were quarantined at home.
Videos and photos of the event went viral on Weibo, where one hashtag about the issue received over 250 million likes (#广西多人涉嫌帮人偷渡被押解游街示众#).
“Dragging them to streets like this is a serious violation of human rights,” one person wrote on Weibo. Another person also commented: “Human rights sometimes really are a joke, that this is still happening today in the 21st century is astonishing,” with many also raising questions on whether or not the ‘shaming parade’ was actually legal.
“Not only is this illegal, it’s also not like we’re living 40 years ago,” another Weibo user wrote: This will be used by foreign networks to spread negative news about China. Please don’t do this again!”
But others applauded the move, arguing that public shaming is a more effective punishment for these local offenders than being sentenced to prison for a certain amount of time since their reputation is important to them.
This is not the first time for a ‘public shaming’ activity to go viral on Chinese social media. In the past, there have been other times when similar disciplinary actions triggered online discussions.
In 2018, for example, at least ten households in a Guangdong village were publicly shamed by having the words “Drug Crimes in Family” sprayed on their walls or doors as part of a local anti-drugs campaign.
While many commenters thought the punishment was unfair because it would also affect the families of offenders, others also criticized the method for being crude and outdated, connecting these shaming strategies to the movements of the 1960s and 1970s in China. During the Cultural Revolution, it was common for people to be publicly shamed for their alleged crimes, sometimes by wearing derogatory signs around their necks.
This is the 'public shaming parade' that happened on the 29th in the busy streets of Jingxi, Guangxi, and has since gone viral. These are 4 offenders who allegedly participated in illegal pandemic border crossings. The signs on their back and chest display their photos and names. pic.twitter.com/7EiSTMCOtj
— Manya Koetse (@manyapan) December 30, 2021
Local authorities have responded to the controversy surrounding the Jingxi ‘parade,’ saying the event is classified as a public crime prevention awareness activity.
By Manya Koetse
Spotted a mistake or want to add something? Please let us know in comments below or email us. First-time commenters, please be patient – we will have to manually approve your comment before it appears.
©2021 Whatsonweibo. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce our content without permission – you can contact us at info@whatsonweibo.com.
The post ‘Shaming Parade’ of Offenders Raises Discussions on Chinese Social Media appeared first on What's on Weibo.