Questioning the Chinese government's role in building of collapsed schools will land you in jail

by Amy Judd | June 20, 2008 at 02:17 pm

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A retired Chinese professor has been detained by the authorities after writing three essays for an American based Chinese website. In these essays he criticized the building standards of the schools that crumbled in the May earthquake, killing thousands of people, and most of them children.

Huang Qi, has also been detained again, for offering to help the families of the children killed in the Sechuan schools.

See previous NowPublic coverage about him here.

Zeng Hongling, 56, a former teacher at The Southwest University of Science and Technology in Mianyang was detained by Chinese authorities on June 9, charged with "inciting state subversion."

The essays, titled, "My Personal Experience in the Earthquake," echoed what many in China are wondering: Why did the schools collapse so easily while buildings around them remained intact?

The Australian, a news organization, reported that Hongling will go to trial.

The arrest comes after reports that the Chinese Government have worked to stifle the questions of grieving families as to why the schools seemed to fall so easily.

Huang Qi, a known dissident, was also detained for offering to help the families of children killed in Sechuan schools and other quake victims. He is director and co-founder of the Tianwang Human Rights Center in Chengdu, and has been arrested in the past for being outspoken about human rights abuses in China.

According to the International Freedom of Expression Exchange, Chinese authorities are working to keep tight control over the reporting that is coming out of the earthquake affected areas.

China's May 12 earthquake killed 70,000, and thousands more are still missing.