Bullying is generally not tolerated in most societies, but it tends to be better tolerated in some societies than others. If you can’t beat them, join them. This applies to many people in China. They hate forced demolition yet they join the demolition team. So what? It’s not their house that is being demolished … well, until it is their house that is being demolished without neither notification nor reasonable compensation. It’s this sort of endless and ruthless “development” that is the main drive for China’s economy.
However, bullies are not immune to bullying because there are always bigger bullies who will bully the bullies. It’s horrible food chain and league of apex predator is too small and exclusive to accommodate the average man on the street who aspires to join the bullying club.
Whether it’s retribution or just plain bad luck, many of these bullies, whether they are demolition teams involved in forced demolition or security officers who beat up petitioning folks do end up getting a taste of their own medicine.
But if you think that others can learn a lesson from this, then you are wrong. There is always a queue to join the club. Some of the potential victims have resorted to an old trick to protect their property. During the Cultural Revolution, Mao’s image and slogans are often used to protect property from the Red Guards which are in turn divided into different sects, each claiming to be more loyal and authentic than the other. After they have put down the rightists and other counter revolutionaries, they started fighting among themselves.
Like I said, it’s actually an old trick. The following passage is taken from China Dream by Chinese exile Ma Jian. The book is obviously banned in China.
