"Political Power Grows Out of the Barrel of a Gun" (With Apologies to Chairman Mao)

Courtesy of 6Park.com, some quotable quotes from officials in China:

(1) "Children, please stay still and let the leaders leave first!" (At the fire disaster of Kelamayi, Xinjiang, a city educational committee worker used a megaphone to address the frightened elementary school students) (Additional note: there were 323 deaths, of which 288 were elementary school students; more than 20 officials were evacuated safely but many were later sentenced to jail terms for dereliction of duty. The other deaths included school teachers who tried to use their bodies to shield their students).

(2) "Wasn't it just a few children who died? What is the big deal?" (After the Shalan flash flood, an official told the distraught victims) (Additional note: More than 100 students perished)

(3) "Let us know after he is dead!" (Before Hengyang resident Zhang Hengsheng was frozen to death on the roadside, a civil affairs bureau official told the peasant who came to ask for assistance).

(4) "Do not give this stuff. I have seen a lot of that already!" (A Dingzhou government official told the villagers who were kneeling in front of him to beg for help)

(5) "China is very safe. There is no SARS. You are welcome to tour!" (A Department of Health official told the outside world when SARS was around)

(6) "The surgery is good for them. We considered that this was a matter of public interest, and so we did the operation." (In Jiangsu province, Nantong city, two 14-year-old mentally handicapped girls at the Child Welfare Insitute was sent to the hospital for uterus excision. This was what the doctor said afterwards).

(7) "Whether there was injustice should really depend on the final outcome. This case began with a mistake and then it was rectified. Doesn't this show that the administration of justice was fair?" (The She Zhenglin case in which the man was jailed 11 years for a crime that he did not commit. A court deputy director gave that answer to the media)

(8) "I thought that I was a public servant. Therefore, my food, clothing and expenses should be paid by the public." (That was what former Guangdong province Shanwei deputy mayor Ma Hongmei said after being arrested for corruption)

(9) "If your heart is still there, then your dreams are there. But you have to start all over again!" (Words from a CCTV advertising song to encourage laid-off workers)

(10) "You should go and find whoever told you to work. The government does not owe you any money!" (An official in the Heilongjiang province Jixi city government said that to the migrant workers who were petitioning to get their wages paid)

[posted on ESWN].