若干年后，整个人类都会为今天å'ç"Ÿçš„事，而震惊！！！！！！！！！！！

This is a comment people left after a news story. It is a story about petitioning, protest and madhouse. Reading the story, I am almost drowned by a sense of desperation infused in what Mr. Sun has gone through all these years, but also very much touched by Mr. Shi’s courage to expose such a scandal to public. I know, this would be a story worth record, and translation.

In China, it’s a long tradition that people wronged by their hometown officials would trek to Beijing to appeal for justice. It is called petitioning, a mild way of protest. As mild as it is, however, no local government involved would easily let the petitioner go, and interruption, detain, threat are never unusual. And now, a more civilized way is employed, that is, asylum, or, madhouse. That’s where the story started.

57岁的农æ°'孙法武一下车，就四处张望寻找。约好的同伴还没到。

　　突然，一辆面包车“å-–”地停在老孙面前。车上下来三人，将他半包围了。

　　老孙认å¾-其中一人，新泰市泉沟镇信访办主任安士智。
　　“干什么去？”

　　“åŒ-京æ‰"工去。”

　　“æ‰"什么工！你是去上访。不能让你走！”

两ç"·å­ä¸€å·¦ä¸€å³ä¸Šæ¥ï¼Œè€å­™æŽå‡ºæ‰‹æœºæŠ¥è­¦ï¼Œè¢«åŠˆæ‰‹å¤ºä¸‹ã€‚随后被塞进面包车。

Sun’s nightmare started. The place he was sent to is exactly the City Asylum, where the mentally disordered stay. The government men left him there.

　老孙冲着那医ç"Ÿå¤§å–Šï¼šâ€œæˆ'没ç-…！æˆ'是上访的！”

　　那天很多“ç-…人”听到了这喊声，包括后来跟老孙关系密切的老æ-¶ã€‚

　　“医ç"Ÿè¯´ï¼Œæˆ'管你有没有ç-…，你们镇æ"¿åºœé€æ¥çš„，æˆ'就按精神ç-…来治。”

What he later went through was that:

“手脚全ç»'在床腿上，外å¥-è'™åœ¨äº†è„'袋上。”老孙听到有人说快灌药，接着脸部被捏住，嘴被动地张开了。

医ç"Ÿæäº†ä»–下颌，几ç²'药“自己下去了”。

å½"晚7点左右，主治医ç"Ÿæœ±é£Žä¿¡æ¥ç»™è€å­™æ‰"了一é'ˆï¼Œä¹‹åŽè€å­™â€œæ²¡äº†æ„è¯†â€

During his days there, Zhu has thought to escape, though he claimed time over time again he was normal. He pleaded the dean. But the answer was as cold as the patient room, that “only those sent you here sign an agreement, you are allowed to go”. And a “suggestion” followed, “ask your family to find the government.

But how to? Sun asked himself, with no phone with him.

Sun’s grief

Sun’s grief dates back to several years ago, when the land in his village sunk so much that it was no more arable due to the thriving mining at the place. Since 1988, the mine owners have compensated the affected villagers for a few times.

按补偿标准，老孙家可获4万多元。但据老孙及æ'æ°'徐学玲等人讲，全æ'300多户都没领到补偿款。

But the village officials insisted the fund has been distributed. Since 2001, villagers voted Sun as one of their delegates, to complain to the town government. The city inspection group, however, alleged that the fund has indeed been allocated after investigation. The villagers defied, sending more complaints and inquiry of further probe.

三天后，å½"å¹´10月1æ-¥æ™šï¼Œåå¤šäººé-¯å…¥è€å­™å®¶æ‰"砸。å½"æ-¶è€å­™æ²¡åœ¨ï¼Œè€å­™çš„儿子、新婚第äº"天的孙贵强被砍成重伤。据孙妻张学芳回忆，那些人喊着，“再上访弄死你们全家”。

Sun didn’t stop. He haunted around town, city, and provincial Petitioning Offices, and even to as far as Beijing. In 2004, he was detained for 14 days, the prosecution being “disrupting social order”. In 2005, he was sentenced to prison, again, but for over 1 year this time.

Then in 2007, a new weapon was put in use. He was put in the asylum.

“开始天天吃药，æ‰"é'ˆâ€ã€‚老孙对药物敏感，“头一直晕，站不起来”。

He stayed there for 3 months, 5 days. Only did he pledged that no more petitioning would he committed was he released.

In 2008, Oct, the story at the beginning of the article happened. This has been his second time to be a “mad man”.

A secret recorder

老æ-¶ç§˜å¯†è¿›è¡Œç€è‡ªå·±çš„“任务”，迄今，他记录了18名被关进医院的上访者

He used to go to Beijng to complain the negligence of duty of the local government. In 2006, he was sent by Tianbao government (another one) to the same hospital.

He was called to go out later, but he refused. He required an explanation of such a treatment, and holds that if there is none, he would stay.

No explanation was given, and he stayed. In the 2 years 5 months he spent there, he has been collecting evidence about the petitioners contained in the madhouse.

老孙做了许多记录，记在纸片上，ç"šè‡³æ-§è¯ç›'上。

老æ-¶è¯´ï¼Œä¸€åˆ‡éƒ½æ˜¯â€œç§˜å¯†è¿›è¡Œâ€çš„，因为护士不让“上访ç-…人”é-´äº¤è°ˆã€‚

æ-¥è®°å'Œè®°å½•çš„纸片，老æ-¶è-åœ¨è¤¥å­åº•ä¸‹ã€‚

One of his diaries writes:

“一些精神ç-…人老是æ‰"æˆ'，只要æˆ'å'ŒåŒ»ç"Ÿã€æŠ¤å£«é¡¶äº†å˜´ï¼Œç­‰ä»–们走后，几个ç-…人一定会æ‰"æˆ'，掐æˆ'脖子。肯定是这些医ç"ŸæŒ‡ä½¿çš„。”

进来第二天开始，每次吃药，他都将药压在舌下，等护士走了再吐掉。

　　护士很快å'现，后来吃药会检查舌头。老æ-¶å'Œâ€œä¸Šè®¿ç-…人”李元亮也这样说

This is the end of the news story. It was released by the well-known Beijing-based paper New Beijing on 8, Dec, and very soon, it has caught the attention of the Chinese blogsphere. The comment at the beginning gained as many as 10000 support clicks on 163.com, and what we see is a gloomy picture of a muzzled world by methods as ridiculous as you can expect. How long has this happened? Would this keep on going if it was not revealed? And we have enough reason to doubt how many more remain undiscovered.

And we are more than shocked. The days in madhouse is estimable formidable, that every words, every pleading, every complaints you yelled out would be considered a mad word. That's why those petitioners are more than admirable.

Or, the entire society has already been such a madhouse? And finally, will we lose our sense of judgment, that we ourselves would doubt “are we mad”? Is this what we are hoped to be?

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