Chapters 3-4

I found the beginning of the story in Chapter 3 kind of hard to understand; I re-read over some parts a couple times but I still don't really get what the police force came into Gao Village and arrested the majority of the village people...but maybe that's the point...it seems like government officials didn't need much reason at all to mistreat the peasants.

Once again, I'm horribly disturbed that township leaders, this time Gao Xuewen, have the mettle to do such cruel things as hit an elderly, respected woman and destroy her house simply because she decided to challenge him and stand up for what is right. Did she break any laws? Nope. Did she call Xuewn out and belittle him in public? Yes, and that seems to be the repeating catalyst in these cases. These township leaders are all so pompous and egocentric that they deem it necessary to fall back on brutish, cruel shows of "power" whenever they are challenged by one that they deem inferior. The unfortunate thing is that, because of the corruption of the government, they can fabricate stories in order to get away with these actions. Most levels of government believe a version of a story presented by a village chief before they believe a version of a story presented by 50 eyewitness peasants. Although I'm still in disbelief that these officials will actually allow themselves to permit such low actions, I understand why they do it: It's the easiest option for them. I've learned that the Chinese officials think only of themselves. Whether its concerning money, reputation, or anything of the like, they will do what benefits themselves most before they even think about anyone else, especially those whom they consider "inferior."

Gao Zongpeng, the old man, is very noble. He ends up making many sacrifices for the benefit of his fellow community members--he risks his life by standing up to officials, he saves his money and travels to Beijing to try to fix the corrupted mess that is Gao Village's leadership, etc. Its a shame that his multiple trips to Beijing ended up wrecking his health. Plus, he's pretty cool. He says some funny things: "You sons of turtles..." and "...us country bumpkins." I thought it was great that the old man and Zhang Jidong connected. They both had a very like mindset concerning the treatment of the peasants by the government, and it was nice that they both had someone to share their ideas with. I think that they complimented each other very well--The young man was able to learn from the old one's experience and wisdom, while the old man was able to learn of new ideas and solutions devised by the younger generation. Unfortunately, the town leaders must have caught on to this as well; obviously, at the first hint that someone was planning on trying to fix the unfair situation, the officials deemed it necessary to eliminate this possiblity as soon as possible. The extent to which they will go in order to eliminate the possiblity, though, is just not right. Torturing Zhang Jidong's teenage son in order to try to find his father's whereabouts? That's disturbing. Was society even this cruel during the times such as the middle ages and earlier? China is a MODERN country; there is absolutely no excuse for the barbaric actions they've been taking.

I was very releived in Chapter 4 to finally see some justice being done. Unfortunately, it took an extremely long time, caused many hardships, worries, and even a peasant's suicide. Should it really take this much for a group of innocent people to be treated with some equality? Never. Nevertheless, I'm glad that the peasant's finally got a "victory," if you could call it that. Again, a group of men were willing to take a risk in order to help out their fellow people. This story was particulary interesting in that fact that, instead of just one or two people putting in a huge effort to fix things, a very large group sacrificed and contributed greatly. Fifty six peasants traveled all the way to Beijing in order to demand justice. Can you imagine how much more persuasive a huge group of 56 people working together and for one another would be than just one or two lone men representing a community. When this still did not work, they did not give up. Later, an even larger group made their way to Beijing. If you ask me, it is a very inspiring tale. This is the very definition of grit and determination. This time, unsurprisingly, their adventure paid off. I'm very glad that justice was finally had.

Fortunately, chapter 4 left off on a fairly good note. After all the suffering and defeats that the peasants experienced, it was heartwarming to read of a victory. Despite a lot of loss and hardship throughout the process, it was certainly a step in the right direction. As the book said, it drew the nation's attention to the problem's the peasants have been facing.