Another melodrama is now unfolding in China with the escape from house arrest of Chen Guangcheng , the blind human rights activist who is now believed to have sought refuge in the US embassy in Beijing.
Chen, 40, is a self-taught lawyer who had been jailed for more than four years apparently over his exposure of forced abortions and sterilisations as a result of China's one-child policy. Since his release in September 2010, he had been confined to his home along with his wife, mother and daughter.
Chen's flight is the second time in three months that Chinese authorities have been humiliated. In early February, Wang Lijun, a former police chief of Chongqing, sought refuge in the US consulate in Chengdu, triggering an ongoing political crisis that has already ousted Bo Xilai, a rising Politburo member.
While Wang was a reckless cop caught in the jostling for power by party heavyweights, Chen was just an ordinary citizen voicing grievances of injustice. The pair perfectly paint a picture of today's China, where officials and people alike have little trust in government.
In recent years, Chen has become a symbol of defending human rights. Chinese internet users and foreign reporters risked physical attacks to try to visit him. Even official Chinese media outlets have paid attention. Last October, a commentary in the Global Times criticised the handling of his case, noting that 'people now even tout Chen Guangcheng's case as a mirror of human rights conditions in China'. Unfortunately, from the mirror, viewers can only see the rampant violation of human rights by local officials and a central government deaf to complaints.
Chen caught international attention early on. Newsweek featured the 'barefoot lawyer' in a cover story in 2002, and Chen and his wife toured the US the following year. In 2006, Time magazine listed him as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. After he had been jailed and put under house arrest, international campaigners and dignitaries frequently called for his freedom, including an appeal by US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton late last year.
