Written by 
by Tara Overzat
Tian Wenhua has pleaded guilty to the charges facing her in court, charges that hold a penalty up to (& likely) the death penalty. How does one come to the conclusion that their death is okay? Is her advanced age (Tian is 66) a factor? How do her children feel about this? Did she make enough money as SanLu’s chairperson to send them abroad and give them a chance at a more pure life? Does she feel like her work on this Earth is done and she has accomplished her goal of helping her family get ahead?
(AP Photo/Xinhua, Ding Lixin) Tian in court
Tian Wenhua rose up in one of the few ways available to Chinese people today. Now, she is being punished in a trial that is by nature slanted, villainized by the same press that had called her a “Woman of Excellence” just two years ago.
Tian Wenhua is a patsy, a fall guy for what is truly the fault of the SFDA and of a society where there is no way up and out for hundreds of millions of people, except for deceit, guanxi (cronyism), and out-and-out crime. She’s a person. Not a scapegoat, not a political tool, not the poster woman for evildoing. Yes, human life oddly takes on less significance in a society with 1.3 billion people it can scarcely support, but that does not change the fact that Tian has a soul and a life that was uniquely bestowed upon her at birth. With the assurance of these being fair trials against the twenty defendants, there would be no argument. But it is sincerely difficult to believe that within 3 months the judicial and prosecutorial powers have had time to deduce the exact people responsible for such a widespread crime and gather, rather than manufacture, factual evidence against them.
Recent Comments