有奶便是娘：说说那个投入洋人怀抱，和藏独分子沆瀣一气的王千源

        有关王千源的两篇旧文

        李牧
　　
　　王千源事件，是2008年4月比较著名的新闻之一。简单说,这位青岛女孩子在美国杜克大学留学，当她的同学们为了维护祖国统一努力时，她站在了对面。这之后一年，她又与一些反华团体和人士有过公开合作，领了一个什么奖。
　　
　　这里的两篇文章，是我当年写的旧文，发出来是因为围脖上因维基解密扯到2008年海外爱国运动，又扯到王千源。有脖友希望我谈一下细节，这两篇文章我想足够了。
　　
　　王千源的两幅照片均为多维刊出，计算机前面为王千源档案照，戏装照为王千源个人提供。本博客转载未经本人允许，如需要随时删除。此人情况当年即真假莫辩，我所采用的信息全部来自正规媒体并经核实。
　　
　　被迫站队是个悲哀
　　
　　李牧2008-04-25
　　
　　美国杜克大学王千源一举成名，这是不争的事实，也无需讨论。
　　
　　与王千源有关的另外一些事情，是一般国人不太好理解的。王千源的信息，在事发当时，就被杜克大学中国学生学者联谊会(DCSSA)公开了，国人也因此查到她是青岛二中毕业生。
　　
　　开动人肉搜索引擎，在中国人看来是正常的。中国传统的社会习俗，一般认为人是社会中人，你做了你就要负责。中国现代法理与西方国家接轨，反对诛连，但实际上国人还是认为，家人特别是父母，应该对孩子负责，即使孩子成年。而王千源既然站出来在国家民族根本利益上表态，她就得承担相应一切，包括死亡威胁。这一切在国人看来，合理又合法。
　　
　　在美国，个人隐私极其重要，把别人的资料透露出去，是涉刑案。以死亡相威胁更是反社会行为，一个人有权利表述她的政治观点，并且不受威胁。杜克大学中国学生学者联谊会应遵守美国法律，虽然联谊会迅速采取了措施把王千源的信息从网站上撤走，但后果已经形成。
　　
　　现在的事情是，因为王千源受到太多威胁，杜克大学校方开始追究中国学生学者联谊会的责任。严重到可能解散这个团体，相关新闻见本文附件。不需要我做特殊说明，稍有分析能力的人都会明白，杜克大学中国学生学者联谊会(DCSSA)是由中国大陆背景的人组成的，这些人是近来迎接奥运，高举五星红旗的主力，王千源当天站在西藏人一方，对面的就是这些中国人。换言之，王千源已经选择站在自己父母之邦的对面。
　　
　　王千源在成名后，接受了一些媒体采访。我观察的不细，但据我所知，她没有接触中国媒体及美国的亲中媒体。她接受了《纽约时报》和《华盛顿邮报》采访，这是两家美国数一数二的大报。《纽约时报》和《华盛顿邮报》最近一段时间都做了什么，恐怕是个人都能明白，没太出名，只是因为有个CNN在前面挡着。中文媒体里面，附件这家，叫多维新闻社。这个新闻社是所谓中立媒体，但肯定不会被北京接受。
　　
　　王千源做的事情，她自己再怎么解释，事实本身也是清楚的。她自称是调停，其实已经站队。而现在，随着事情的发展，她甚至要和来自同一个地方的中国大陆同学彻底分界——她的同学们为她而被调查。
　　
　　顺便说一下，就像中国人非常敏感西藏青年会接受美国民主基金会资助一样，美国人也非常敏感中国学生学者联谊会接受中国领事馆的资助。
　　
　　事情发展到这个地步，分析讨论都已经没有意义。太多的龙的传人手持五星红旗冲上街头，而西方媒体是如此众口一词。最西化的中国人，只有一丝良知，也没法替西方人讲话。
　　
　　具体到王千源事件本身，差不多没有选择余地了，在反对还是赞同之间，不再有中间地带。
　　
　　被迫站队是个悲哀。
　　
　　补充一下：我不知道王千源背后有没有高手策划。但她现在采取的一切，从向纽约时报谈到担心父母安全，到强调自己隐私被透露，以及她的政治表达权受损、她要充当对话调停人，都非常非常西化。她在用一种西方人非常认可的方式，谈中国人都不见得搞得懂的西藏。
　　
　　王千源事件反射出来的，也是达赖及其支持者长期在西方得势的主要原因。多数西方人跟本在地图上找不到TIBET，但一听说谁谁的言论自由被控制、信仰自由被损害、民族文化被侵蚀，当场就会表态。我看过一段美国人自己做的视频，电视台拿着地图当场调查，多数美国人找不着西藏。西方的主流民意，确确实实是支持达I赖的。法国总统萨克齐最终不出席奥运开幕式，原因就是他再向中国低头，也不敢有违国内民意。
　　
　　王千源这件事，杜克大学的人及美国媒体，跟本不在意她做了什么，但非常在意她受到攻击和威胁，她的私人信息被披露，她的父母有巨大压力。在西方人眼中，王千源就为了讲几句话，就要承受如此之多，还累及父母，简直是不得了的事。而中国人呢，跟本不关心王千源有那些权利，她既然站到祖国的对面，那她就得享受掘坟之刑。
　　
　　西方人不会明白，中国人觉得王千源是活该。中国人也不见得懂，西方人觉得王千源是受害者。
　　
　　附件：
　　
　　王千源个人讯息遭公布杜克大学调查中国学生会 多维社
　　
　　杜克大学一年级学生王千源个人讯息遭人在网上公布的事件，引发该校多个学生团体的重视，多维社4月24日采访了支持王千源的学生团体，杜克保守联盟执行长迪尔认为，中国学生会在事件中所应负的责任便是没有管理好内部系统。
　　
　　杜克大学多个学生团体在事件爆发后，公开谴责恐吓行为，要求调查已杜克大学中国学生学者联谊会(DCSSA)，且主张应废除DCSSA。
　　
　　杜克大学主管所有学生团体的校方组织“学生政府”（StudentGovernment）日前已决定成立委员会，对杜克大学中国学生学者联谊会(DCSSA)进行调查与协商，杜克保守联盟（DukeConservativeUnion）执行长迪尔（JamesDeal）4月24日对多维社表示，虽然他并未深入参与此事，但他认为“学生政府”的调查重点应是在找出透过DCSSA电子邮件名单公开王千源个人隐私的成员。
　　
　　王千源先前接受多维社采访时表示，4月9日当天，她之所以走进支持西藏权的团体中，是为了促成该团体与支持中国团体领导的对话，王千源解释，虽然打着西藏雪狮旗，但该团体实际上是强调人权，因此她从头到尾讲的也是人权，并非西藏独立。
　　
　　然而事件后，DCSSA网站上却流传出王千源与家人的个人讯息，让王千源接到许多谩骂的电邮与电话。
　　
　　“我认为，每个学生会都应管控好网站或与团体相关的电子邮件内容，因此，学生会的责任在于，至少应确保传递出去的内容、仔细审视。”迪尔补充道：“我本身曾管理过一些社团，我们会保证寄出去的每一样东西都是合适的，因此（DCSSA）让讯息像那样公开，是个错误。”
　　
　　但迪尔也表示，若只是讨论这份包含王千源个人讯息的内容本身，他不确定DCSSA是否该为此负责。
　　
　　事件发生后，包括杜克保守联盟、杜克大学共和党、杜克民主党、学术自由学生、杜克人权联盟、杜克学生伦理与杜克以色列公共事务委员会等学生团体，均站出来要求校方调查中国学生会。
　　
　　4月22日杜克大学校方人员与几个学生组织同DCSSA主席进行了对话，参加了4月22日两方对话的杜克学生伦理组织(DukeStudentsforanEthicalDuke)主席莱瑞(KenLarrey)4月24日对多维社表示，目前“学生政府”正调查DCSSA在此事上是否有责任，以及是否该废除DCSSA，“学生政府”将在今年秋天做出决定。
　　
　　莱瑞表示，他目前并不就此认定DCSSA应对此事负责，他强调的是应对该学生会进行调查，好厘清他们是否需负责。
　　
　　莱瑞说，DCSSA的成员在22日的会议上面对其他学生团体成员显得犹豫，对某些问题小心翼翼，不愿直接了当说明。这六位成员担心的是DCSSA可能犯的错误以及可能引发的法律纠纷。
　　
　　莱瑞表示，DCSSA的主席还在会上承认，他们大约有一年或一学期的时间接受中国领事馆的资助。
　　
　　“我在前几天曾与王千源通电话，她目前还好，只是因为有许多课程没去上，需要努力追赶。”莱瑞说。
　　
　　杜克保守联盟执行长迪尔对多维社表示，他并未参与22日的对话，不过事件发生后，DCSSA方面也没有人向他表示希望对话的意愿。
　　
　　“我在事件发生之前并不认识王千源，但我认为每个人在我们的校园里都有示威的权力，而这件事的问题在于那些对王千源和她家人的恐吓，当你进入像杜克这样的大学，在校园中参与了一些示威活动，但你没有得到其他人的认同时，抛开一些成见应才是适当的，你应该尽量表达自己的意见，而不是去恐吓别人。”迪尔说。
　　
　　·全文完·
　　
　　王千源是个撒谎的人？
　　
　　李牧2008-05-08
　　
　　最近两个月的奥运火炬焦点和西藏焦点，引发了无数的争议与讨论。俺个人以为，如果在有关讨论中，中国与世界都能互相更了解自己，将是各方受益无穷的事情。
　　
　　美国杜克大学青岛留学生王千源，成为焦点中一颗突然出现的明星。这个女孩子本身是怎么回事，俺兴趣不大。这件事所反映的是什么，很有一些意思。此前我写过一篇《被迫站队是个悲哀》。
　　
　　目前王千源事件有一些新的进展。这个新进展，提示了美国社会结构中“诚信”这一有趣的现像。在美国，谎言事实上无处不在，但社会运转系统中，对公开的谎言持零容忍态度。
　　
　　一个人一旦被认定撒谎，他她的信誉将被视为无效，所做所为的一切都将不被信任。一些特定职业，比如国家公职人员，政治活动家，记者，一旦被公众相信是撒谎者，将失去饭碗。政治活动家在美国，事实上是一种职业。
　　
　　现在美国关注王千源的人，无论是支持还是反对，都在熟练地使用美国的诚信规则。毕竟王千源的所作所为，是一种事实上的政治活动。
　　
　　4月28日杜克大学校报《纪实》，登出一篇为王千源打气的长文（英文原文见附录一），作者斯考特·萨米特，自称是杜克毕业生，长期在中国任美联社记者，现在是杜克的访问学者。此人以中国通的面目出现，又自称是王千源的朋友。他的长文驴唇不对马嘴，惹来大批以中国学生属名的跟贴，跟贴已达近四百个。
　　
　　这里说明一下，中国人数量众多，而且在网上打发时间的人成群结队，中文网上稍热门点儿的东西就有数以千百计的回贴，水贴无数。美国不同，人口总数量少，网站多，美国的闲人泡吧吸毒搞乱七八糟事儿也不太在网上灌。像杜克大学学报这样的媒体，跟贴量争论如此激烈本身就吸引人。
　　
　　不要以为只有王千源会和西人打交道，满嘴“死亡威胁、父母安全、表达自由”博得赞美声无数。在杜克大学读书的中国人，个个深谙美国人想听什么。
　　
　　很快有中国学生学者联谊会的高人，查到萨米特向人表述：“王千源到杜克大学的第一天，下了飞机来报道，她一个人坐在出租车里向我问路，我们就成了朋友。”
　　
　　海外留学的习俗，如果中国留学生初次抵达没有朋友家人迎接，往往给当地的留学生组织打个招呼，自有大哥大姐自愿迎接学弟学妹。王千源就是这么被接到杜克大学的。没费什么周折，接王千源的杜克中国学者出面了，还和萨米特通了信，讲述了当天迎接王千源的细节。充分证明王千源不可能一个人坐在出租车里到学校报道。
　　
　　杜克师兄，又是新闻记者的萨米特，只好正八经的现身、道歉。他承认自己搞错了，王千源当天顺利抵达，后来又自己坐出租车出来迷了路，向他问路。萨米特还把接王千源的学姐给他的信，登了出来。
　　
　　这下又不对了。写信人指责萨米特，我给你的邮件是私人信函，你未经允许怎么就贴了出来，而且你贴出来就贴全了，你怎么中间摘了段不贴全文？新闻记者萨米特，只好再道歉。这个脸可丢大了，堂堂杜克毕业生，居然不知尊重隐私保护，这可是美国人的基本修养啊。
　　
　　这一大圈闹下来，萨米特是什么主张已经不重要了。依美国人的规距，这萨米特先生的信誉和为人实在不怎么样，他的文章就那么回事吧，谁知道真的假的。
　　
　　美国人不是好讲规距嘛，王千源有表达自由，但她不能受到死亡威胁，她的个人信息不能登到网上。现在这位萨米特先生，也是表达自由不受干涉，但他不能说谎，也同样不能把别人私信登到网上。杜克大学还不至于为一个萨米特先生就建立双重标准。
　　
　　现在王千源这个小女孩儿，被杜克中国同学置疑的还有另外两件事。一件，是她和萨米特这样的支持者，仍然坚持她当天路遇双方游行对峙，临时站在藏独和中国学生之间是“调解，希望双方和谈”，可所有人都证明，她在对峙发生前就参与了藏独的准备工作，在双方筹备游行的许多天里，她也没有任何“调解”动作。她不是临时路过现场，毫无准备地充当什么调解人。
　　
　　另一件，王千源不断宣称杜克共有五名来自西藏的大学生，其中四位是她的好友。她在《华盛顿邮报》撰文称自己曾在2007年寒假时与四名藏人住了三星期，了解了许多事。但杜克中国学生坚持称，实际情况不是这样。王千源、《华盛顿邮报》以及自称是王千源朋友的萨米特，一直对此保持沉默。原文见附录二。
　　
　　上述事情可以有这样那样的解释，只不过这些事确实发生了。站在任何一个旁观者立场，和王千源打交道都会小心些。谁知道这小女孩儿说的话是真是假呢，涉及她的事儿很容易
　　
　　有好几种说法，呵呵。
　　
　　附录一：
　　
　　萨米特的英文文章
　　
Witchhunt
Scott Savitt
http://media.www.dukechronicle.com/media/storage/paper884/news/2008/04/28/Columns/Witchhunt-3352983.shtml

On April Fool's Day, The Chronicle ran a spoof headline: "China Invades Duke, SAT Scores Rise." Now, I like a good joke as well as the next guy, but this headline made me nervous. I will explain why.

After graduating from Duke in 1985, I returned to China where I had studied abroad and lived and worked as a journalist there for the next 18 years. I

covered the events in Tiananmen Square in 1989 and did not return to the U.S. until I was finally put in jail for 30 days for my unwelcome reporting and then was expelled. So I know something about Chinese sensitivities.

Following the tragic events in 1989, in which I witnessed dozens of people shot and corpses in hospitals (I have photographic evidence) and in which the Chinese Red Cross told me 2,000 people had died before the Chinese military took over the hospitals and no more death figures were released, the Chinese government redoubled their efforts to inculcate a patriotic education in young Chinese, so that no large-scale movement like that led by the students of 1989 would repeat itself.

Throughout their education all Chinese are relentlessly reminded of China's "Guo Chi" [national humiliation]-almost two centuries of occupation, invasion, and colonization by foreign powers including the U.S.-that turned China into "the sick man of Asia" and only ended with the victory of Chairman Mao Zedong's Revolution in 1949, the founding of the Peoples Republic of China, and the expulsion of all foreigners from China. China had finally, in the words of Mao,

"Stood up," and would not be bullied by foreigners anymore. This powerful resentment against China's former colonizers is never far below the surface of every Chinese person I know. It is understandable, although I believe that the Chinese government has cynically manipulated the patriotism of this young generation to deflect criticism from their own failed policies in Tibet, on the environment, even in the planning of this present Olympics torch relay, and onto foreign countries and their "biased" media who are trying to harm, weaken and divide China just like they did beginning two centuries ago.

This was the context in which the tragic events involving Duke freshman Grace Wang took place at the candlelight vigil for Tibet on April 9. To American eyes, what Wang did-try to get two sides in a protest/counter-protest who were shouting at each other to talk, was the most natural, harmless, constitutionally-protected action in the world.

What her Chinese classmates saw was a "traitor" (what they were calling her during the protest) who refused to unquestioningly and obediently toe the party line, join with her countrymen and point the finger of accusation at the suspected and mistrusted foreigner, as they have been drilled to do from childhood.

Therefore Wang was a threat to her classmates, an obstacle to China's rise to becoming a superpower and finally shedding the mantle of two hundred years of humiliation. She had to be made an example of.

Most Chronicle readers know what ensued. Wang received death threats, her family's address was publicized on a Duke University Web site, her home was
vandalized and a bucket of feces was dumped in front of the door and her parents have been driven into hiding-where they remain today. This is the extreme manifestation of this resentment and extreme nationalism that the Chinese government encourages to keep their youth focused on the shortcomings of others and

not turn their attention on the failings of their own unelected rulers. Indeed, the Communist Party's official mouthpiece, China Central Television, posted a photograph of Grace Wang on its Web site with the caption: "The Most Hideous Overseas Chinese Student." So the Chinese government is not just tolerating this vilification, they are actively inciting it.

What is happening to Wang is a witchhunt and it is being manipulated by the Chinese government. Chinese students have been protesting all over the U.S. in recent days-against CNN and against the Olympic torch relay being disrupted-and I sense a backlash against this activity in America coming. These people are not U.S. citizens but they are acting in this unaccustomed way in the U.S. It is a sad, scary realization of the Chronicle headline.

Background context of what happened to Wang is that since the recent tragic events in Tibet broke out starting on March 10 (the anniversary of the Dalai

Lama's 1959 fleeing into exile in India from Tibet after a failed uprising against Chinese occupation), there was an exchange of political views on the Duke Chinese Students and Scholars Association Web site, dukechina.org and their listserv, [email protected].

The messages got increasingly abusive and profane, many aimed at me for positing a less than rosy view of China's custodianship of Tibet over the past half-century and some Chinese friends of mine who dared to defend me (not all Chinese accept the Chinese government's sanitized version of history). I told DCSSA President Li Zhizhong as early as the middle of March-three weeks before the attacks on Grace Wang-that if he did not take some action and post a warning

that profane or personal attacks would not be tolerated on the listserv and enforce that and remove those messages from the archive on the Duke-China Web site where they were posted prominently on the home page, that it would just encourage more abuse and that the anonymous attacks would only escalate as the

Tibet-China conflict got more heated. Zhizhong told me that he would see what he could do, but he did nothing. And of course when the events at the protest on April 9 happened, my prediction proved true and those same people turned their anonymous attacks on Wang, and we have all seen the tragic results.

What we are witnessing here on the Duke campus is a microcosm of the international tension between the People's Republic of China and its western trading partners. It is a clash of world views, a conflict of values that many experts consider very dangerous and are very worried about. What was done to Wang in unacceptable, period.

But it is important for all sides to reflect on the complex factors that contributed to it happening, so it does not happen at Duke again. It is useful for as many people as possible to become aware of this specific sensibility and historical grudge of so many Chinese people because they are now our class- and community-mates.

Conversely, these Chinese guests must recognize that they are not in China but in the U.S., and come to understand that a very different standard of constitutionally-protected free speech and free expression pertains here. Only in this way can we avoid repeating the tragedy that has happened to our fellow Duke community member Wang, and promote international peace and harmony, in keeping with the "One World, One Dream" slogan of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Scott Savitt, Trinity '85, is a former foreign correspondent for United Press International and the Los Angeles Times in Beijing. He is a friend of Grace Wang and has been advising her as well as commenting on the case for the media.

        附录二：
　　
　　发表在《华盛顿邮报》署名王千源的英文文章，里面提到她与四个西藏学生的交往，提到她在4月9日当天路遇中国学生和西藏人对峙，她充当调解人。文章开头提到她正在学习意大利语、德语和法语。她的目标是在三十岁之前掌握汉语和英语以外的十种语言。
　　
　　MY CHINA, MY TIBET
Caught in the Middle, Called a Traitor
  
By Grace Wang
Sunday, April 20, 2008; Page B01

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/18/AR2008041802635.html

I study languages -- Italian, French and German. And this summer -- now that it looks as though I won't be able to go home to China -- I'll take up Arabic.
My goal is to master 10 languages, in addition to Chinese and English, by the time I'm 30.

I want to do this because I believe that language is the bridge to understanding. Take China and Tibet. If more Chinese learned the Tibetan language, and if Tibetans learned more about China, I'm convinced that our two peoples would understand one another better and we could overcome the current crisis between us peacefully. I feel that even more strongly after what happened here at Duke University a little more than a week ago.

Trying to mediate between Chinese and pro-Tibetan campus protesters, I was caught in the middle and vilified and threatened by the Chinese. After the
protest, the intimidation continued online, and I began receiving threatening phone calls. Then it got worse -- my parents in China were also threatened and forced to go into hiding. And I became persona non grata in my native country.

It has been a frightening and unsettling experience. But I'm determined to speak out, even in the face of threats and abuse. If I stay silent, then the same thing will happen to someone else someday.

So here's my story.

When I first arrived at Duke last August, I was afraid I wouldn't like it. It's in the small town of Durham, N.C., and I'm from Qingdao, a city of 4.3
million. But I eventually adjusted, and now I really love it. It's a diverse environment, with people from all over the world. Over Christmas break, all the American students went home, but that's too expensive for students from China. Since the dorms and the dining halls were closed, I was housed off-campus with four Tibetan classmates for more than three weeks.

I had never really met or talked to a Tibetan before, even though we're from the same country. Every day we cooked together, ate together, played chess and cards. And of course, we talked about our different experiences growing up on opposite sides of the People's Republic of China. It was eye-opening for me.

I'd long been interested in Tibet and had a romantic vision of the Land of Snows, but I'd never been there. Now I learned that the Tibetans have a different way of seeing the world. My classmates were Buddhist and had a strong faith, which inspired me to reflect on my own views about the meaning of life. I had been a materialist, as all Chinese are taught to be, but now I could see that there's something more, that there's a spiritual side to life.

We talked a lot in those three weeks, and of course we spoke in Chinese. The Tibetan language isn't the language of instruction in the better secondary

schools there and is in danger of disappearing. Tibetans must be educated in Mandarin Chinese to succeed in our extremely capitalistic culture. This made me sad, and made me want to learn their language as they had learned mine.

I was reminded of all this on the evening of April 9. As I left the cafeteria planning to head to the library to study, I saw people holding Tibetan and Chinese flags facing each other in the middle of the quad. I hadn't heard anything about a protest, so I was curious and went to have a look. I knew people in both groups, and I went back and forth between them, asking their views. It seemed silly to me that they were standing apart, not talking to each other. I know that this is often due to a language barrier, as many Chinese here are scientists and engineers and aren't confident of their English.

I thought I'd try to get the two groups together and initiate some dialogue, try to get everybody thinking from a broader perspective. That's what Lao Tzu, Sun Tzu and Confucius remind us to do. And I'd learned from my dad early on that disagreement is nothing to be afraid of. Unfortunately, there's a strong Chinese view nowadays that critical thinking and dissidence create problems, so everyone should just keep quiet and maintain harmony.

A lot has been made of the fact that I wrote the words "Free Tibet" on the back of the American organizer of the protest, who was someone I knew. But I did this at his request, and only after making him promise that he would talk to the Chinese group. I never dreamed how the Chinese would seize on this innocent action. The leaders of the two groups did at one point try to communicate, but the attempt wasn't very successful.

Caught in the Middle, Called a Traitor

The Chinese protesters thought that, being Chinese, I should be on their side. The participants on the Tibet side were mostly Americans, who really don't have a good understanding of how complex the situation is. Truthfully, both sides were being quite closed-minded and refusing to consider the other's
perspective. I thought I could help try to turn a shouting match into an exchange of ideas. So I stood in the middle and urged both sides to come together in peace and mutual respect. I believe that they have a lot in common and many more similarities than differences.

But the Chinese protesters -- who were much more numerous, maybe 100 or more -- got increasingly emotional and vocal and wouldn't let the other side speak.

They pushed the small Tibetan group of just a dozen or so up against the Duke Chapel doors, yelling "Liars, liars, liars!" This upset me. It was so
aggressive, and all Chinese know the moral injunction: Junzi dongkou, bu dongshou (The wise person uses his tongue, not his fists).

I was scared. But I believed that I had to try to promote mutual understanding. I went back and forth between the two groups, mostly talking to the Chinese in our language. I kept urging everyone to calm down, but it only seemed to make them angrier. Some young men in the Chinese group -- those we call fen qing (angry youth) -- started yelling and cursing at me.

What a lot of people don't know is that there were many on the Chinese side who supported me and were saying, "Let her talk." But they were drowned out by the loud minority who had really lost their cool.

Some people on the Chinese side started to insult me for speaking English and told me to speak Chinese only. But the Americans didn't understand Chinese.

It's strange to me that some Chinese seem to feel as though not speaking English is expressing a kind of national pride. But language is a tool, a way of thinking and communicating.

At the height of the protest, a group of Chinese men surrounded me, pointed at me and, referring to the young woman who led the 1989 student democracy
protests in Tiananmen Square, said, "Remember Chai Ling? All Chinese want to burn her in oil, and you look like her." They said that I had mental problems and that I would go to hell. They asked me where I was from and what school I had attended. I told them. I had nothing to hide. But then it started to feel as though an angry mob was about to attack me. Finally, I left the protest with a police escort.

Back in my dorm room, I logged onto the Duke Chinese Students and Scholars Association (DCSSA) Web site and listserv to see what people were saying. Qian Fangzhou, an officer of DCSSA, was gloating, "We really showed them our colors!"

I posted a letter in response, explaining that I don't support Tibetan independence, as some accused me of, but that I do support Tibetan freedom, as well as Chinese freedom. All people should be free and have their basic rights protected, just as the Chinese constitution says. I hoped that the letter would spark some substantive discussion. But people just criticized and ridiculed me more.

The next morning, a storm was raging online. Photographs of me had been posted on the Internet with the words "Traitor to her country!" printed across my forehead. Then I saw something really alarming: Both my parents' citizen ID numbers had been posted. I was shocked, because this information could only have come from the Chinese police.

I saw detailed directions to my parents' home in China, accompanied by calls for people to go there and teach "this shameless dog" a lesson. It was then that I realized how serious this had become. My phone rang with callers making threats against my life. It was ironic: What I had tried so hard to prevent was precisely what had come to pass. And I was the target.

I talked to my mom the next morning, and she said that she and my dad were going into hiding because they were getting death threats, too. She told me that I shouldn't call them. Since then, short e-mail messages have been our only communication. The other day, I saw photos of our apartment online; a bucket of feces had been emptied on the doorstep. More recently I've heard that the windows have been smashed and obscene posters have been hung on the door. Also, I've been told that after convening an assembly to condemn me, my high school revoked my diploma and has reinforced patriotic education.

I understand why people are so emotional and angry; the events in Tibet have been tragic. But this crucifying of me is unacceptable. I believe that individual Chinese know this. It's when they fire each other up and act like a mob that things get so dangerous.

Now, Duke is providing me with police protection, and the attacks in Chinese cyberspace continue. But contrary to my detractors' expectations, I haven't
shriveled up and slunk away. Instead, I've responded by publicizing this shameful incident, both to protect my parents and to get people to reflect on their behavior. I'm no longer afraid, and I'm determined to exercise my right to free speech.

Because language is the bridge to understanding.

Grace Wang is a fresh

　
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