Domestic Affairs

When abnormality is normal

By San Baipian (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2011-01-06 11:24

The beginning of 2011 sees the happy ending of Guo Yuanrong’s 14-year confinement in a mental hospital in Shiyan City, Hubei province.

Guo, a former worker with the Bureau of Construction in Zhuxi County of Shiyan, was reportedly sent to the hospital in 1996 by local police after he blew the whistle to expose corruption in his bureau.

He received this New Year's gift after an online article, posted in the name of Guo Hanyun on the popular Chinese online forum Tianya.cn on Jan 1, uncovered what she alleged was her father's "forced treatment." (In the post, the "daughter" who identified herself as a 24-year-old teachers college graduate with fair looks promised: "I'll be your woman if you can help rescue my father; and if you already have a spouse, I'll be your slave.")

As expected, the post drew tons of tears and views from online and offline readers, who threw their support behind the filial daughter. As a result, local officials offered to talk with relatives about the "patient."

On Jan 4, Guo returned home, his spirits and physical conditions were both "good," Beijing News reported on Wednesday.

So it is the same old story of a pitiable daughter offering to marry whoever can extricate her father from a dangerous situation. It is also the same old story of outrageous Internet forum posts empowering the powerless.

But Guo's drama concluded with a kicker. He does not have a daughter at all. The "daughter crying for help on Internet" episode, it turned out, was orchestrated by another Shiyan resident, Peng Baoquan.

Peng made headlines in April 2010, when he too was sent to the same mental hospital after he was found to have taken pictures at a protest site in Shiyan. The man was soon set free after his story aroused widespread attention on the Internet. It was there Peng met Guo twice and observed that the latter was not "insane" at all.

"He was admitted to the hospital when his son was only 10 years old, and he was divorced and couldn't look after his son, so he felt sorry for him," Peng told Beijing News.

"His family asked the hospital to discharge Guo, and was told that they must have permission from the police. I felt sympathetic...I should help the man who had a similar experience as I had."

In the second half of 2010, Peng began posting articles on Internet forums and on his own blog, telling the story about what he believed to be a normal person trapped in a mental hospital for more than 10 years. However, the postings received little attention.

"Then after obtaining more information from Guo's family, we decided to create a virtual daughter, Guo Hanyun," Peng said. Hanyun literally means "crying out grievances."

That explained why Peng is now accused of deceiving the media and netizens. . Peng admitted that inventing the daughter and describing her as young and pretty was a ploy to attract more attention.

He said the ruse was a way to tell the truth, and what he did was "an act of justice."

"If normal means works, (we) would not take this step," Peng told Beijing News.

In recent years, there has been an increasing trend for people to turn to the Web to address their woes, instead of turning to courts or related government departments, and there have been repeated cases of people forced to receive "insanity treatment" on various excuses.

It is time for us to be on alert when abnormality is normal.