People have been patient and unflinching with the incident of "South China tiger photos" since the government of Shaanxi province in the northwest said it would have to suggest a settlement of the issue. Such firmness and tenacity stems from people's longing for truth and all the more proceeds from their faith, that is, they are convinced that justice has to be honored and the matter relating to the fake tiger photos is bound to be cleared up.
Therefore, on the morning of June 29, or last Friday, the Information Office of the Shaanxi provincial government circulated a notice on how they had handled the "South China tiger photos incident": The controversial photographs of a rare South China tiger in the wild were fake, and farmer Zhou Zhenglong, who fabricated the photos, had been arrested on suspicion of fraud. Upon hearing the verdict, people's first reaction is gratification.
People feel gratified not because whether the tiger photos are fake or not, and even not because whether individual officials are in connection with the scandal, but because persistent inquiry by netizens as well as queries flooded in such swarms that they seemed to block out the sky and how the government and public authority should deal with the issue.
From firm, adamant denials at the start to the ensuing dodging and sidestepping, and from responsibilities defined by departments concerned in their own names to the intervention of law to reach the conclusion during an eight-month-plus period, people have come to see the indecisiveness and hesitation of relevant departments and also their subsequent praiseworthy changes and progress.
When the fake (South China) tiger footage leaped out of Zhenping county (in Shaanxi province), it had become a symbol to indicate whether the government is trustworthy. People were puzzled and disappointed in their prolonged period of awaiting and revived their confidence after the provincial government tackled the problem at its root. -- There is no one in the world who has never erred, and the important thing is, however, for anyone to pluck up the courage and assume responsibilities in the face of blunders or mistakes.
People feel gratified because the "South China tiger photos incident", which was so complicated and elusive, has an ending today. This not only shows the strength of the internet, but also witnesses the civilization and progress of Chinese society.
What has been referred to repeatedly in the fake tiger footage issue is the rationale and maturing of netizens and, it is precisely owed to their scrupulous pursuance that the falsehood of the tiger photos has been surfaced and verified. When opinions of netizens spurred the "fake tiger photos" incident to a public affair from a science issue, it was eventually turned into a mutual inductance process between the government and public opinions.
Although such mutual inductance has some straitened circumstances at first and subsequent disconnections at times, we all feel the demand of the times to "know public opinions and collect the wisdom of people" and witness arduous efforts made to ensure the rights of the people for expression and supervision. --- With the attention of the whole nation, this endeavor represents not only a trying collective crackdown on "the counterfeits" in the current information age but also the self-uplift of a modern civilized society.
People feel gratified all the more because they are enabled to see the immediate significance of their orderly involvement in politics as the prolonged case regarding the fake tiger photos has been unmasked or "bottomed out".
Moreover, the "South China tiger photos incident" enables us to see that our society is saving bit by bit a thrilling power in an era in which the concept of"people come first" has gradually become a mainstream value outlook. Such a power stems from the gradual awakening of the awareness of citizens'obligations and all the more from the firm resolve of the party in power, namely the Communist Party, to extend the orderly political involvement to all social strata and all spheres. So we have an ample reason to believe that such a resolute resolve along the efforts and confidence of the ordinary people shall make the land underfoot ever more solid.
In this sense, the "South China tiger photos incident" has provided a pivot. It tells us that the fairness and justice arriving late also constitutes a type of progress in the process of historical development. Meanwhile, it also tells us that it is an inevitable demand set for the governments at all levels to remove doubts and answer queries with a positive approach in the course of developing democratic politics, so as to safeguard social justice with their definite and unequivocal actions.
As a matter of course, we cannot stop where we are at this critical moment. With such a great impact and such an extensive, far-reaching involvement, the truth cannot be revealed fully with the unmasking alone of "Tiger Zhou", or Zhou Zhenglong, the fabricator of fake tiger photos. So, we still need to go on marching along our way forward for fairness and justice.
By People's Daily Online, and its author is Senior PD desk editor Xin Ning
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