王江松是劳工方面的学者以及社会活动家。他在推特上为中国劳工权益发声，拥有两万多名粉丝。在推特上活跃了六年之后，他的发声行动终于被迫叫停。虽然该账号目前未被完全注销，但是在王江松与公安部门谈话后不得再继续发帖了。下文是王江松叙述的当日与公安人员交谈记录。
11月8日国宝笔录记//这场国宝整顿推特的行动持续一个多月了，本推未能幸免于难。这是本推在推特上发表的最后一篇文章了，完整地描述了一次国宝笔录的过程，喜欢它的朋友请保留。本推将于今晚11:59自杀身亡
我应召来到学校保卫处107办公室，迎面站起来我熟悉的大兴清源路派出所一个片警，满脸微笑叫我王教授，另一个满脸严肃、目如鹰凖、身着蓝偏黑制服的中年男子也伸出手，自称大兴分局的。想必这就是令人闻风丧胆的国宝了。保卫处一位女职员在一旁端茶倒水。
大兴国宝：王教授，我昨天夜里就联系过你，没打通电话，今天一早又打，还是不通。没办法，只好带队到你大兴的家里。你爱人接电话说正在洗澡，我们就在门外等。等她洗好后，不仅不给开门，还要求我们从你家门口退到单元门之外。我们是正常执法，穿着警服，带着执法仪来的，结果她让我们在零下十几度的寒风中熬了整整一小时四十分钟！最终我们还是不得其门而入！
我：我电话里没有任何你呼入的记录，你是专家，请你检查一下我的手机。
大兴国宝：你手机里的确没有显示，但我真的打过好几次，我没打我是孙子。
我：那真的太奇怪了。
大兴国宝：这是一个误会。
我：如果这样的话，你就应该理解我前妻的反应了。她们孤儿寡母的，人畜无害，你们没有正当理由，就通过物业公司开了单元门，直接敲她家的门，她当然感到害怕呀。你们要找的是我，她说了我不住在她那里，而是住中国劳动关系学院里，你们到那里去找，你们还坚持要进去，这不是私闯民宅吗？
大兴国宝：我们是依法入户访问，也不一定进门，说几句话就走，很简单的事。
我：第一，你们不是挨家挨户访问，而是选择性访问；第二，既是访问而不是搜查，就应该征得户主的同意，人家不同意，你就不能硬闯。再说了，这事你不能怪她，是她打电话跟我说了情况，我说不能开门，你要怪就怪我。此外，你们当中有一个胖胖的年轻警察，对我前妻极尽威胁恐吓之能事，明显违反了你们警察正常执法的规定，你们应该有个说话，否则我前妻有权利投诉你们。
大兴国宝：年轻警察觉得自己受了委屈，火气大了点。你知道今天天气有多冷吗？让我们冻了一两个小时！
我：但是我随时准备与你们合作呀，你们哪一次找我我拒绝见面了？
大兴国宝：刚才说了这是误会，电话没打通，我们认定你在你前妻家里。言归正传啊，今天找你核实点事情。你应该知道是什么事情吧？
我：不知道。
大兴国宝：你不可能不知道。你今年多大了？
我：五十五。
大兴国宝：我也五张了。你我头发白了，都别把对方当小孩子。
我：你就直说吧。
大兴国宝：你上次做笔录时告诉我们两个同志，说你的推特号已经转让给别人了。你也太小看我们了吧？告诉你吧，你推特上发的东西，信号发自哪里，来自哪部手机，我们全都知道！这高科技，我真的为咱国家感到自豪！
我：……这个推号的确还在我手上。那个推特我辛辛苦苦做了好几年，好不容易成了一个小有名气的劳工研究交流平台，一下子要求我注销，那的确舍不得，这个你们应该理解。而且我估计这一阵风过去后，还是会恢复正常的。怎么啦？事情很严重吗？
大兴国宝：很严重！这是我上面大领导的意思，不是我的意思。这个推号必须无条件注销，你抗拒不从的话，后果你自己掂量一下，信不信我能把你的养老金敲掉？
我：我信，我信。但问题在于到推特上说话违反哪条法律了？
大兴国宝：国内有的是正常渠道你不说，偏要跑到国外的网络上去说，参与到境外反华势力的大合唱之中。你这种行为，要在过去说，就是汉奸卖国贼的行为。
我：你这就不对了。第一，没有哪条法律说到推特等国际网络平台说话是违法行为，有的话，你给我看看；第二，几千万人翻墙出去说话，难道他们都是汉奸卖国贼？他们汉了什么奸卖了什么国？小红粉和五毛也翻墙，你本人也翻墙，这算不算违法，算不算汉奸卖国贼？
大兴国宝：我没有说你就是，只是说客观效果是这样。每个公民都应当维护国家的利益，不能给敌对势力可乘之机。你们在推特上说国家这也不好那也不好，那就是给国家脸上抹黑。
我：呵呵，你嘴里说出的每个字儿都带着…那种气味。
大兴国宝：正义的气味！
我：不是，是满嘴权力的味道，强权就是真理的味道。你那么自信啊？你敢说你们警察就一定维护正义了吗？
大兴国宝：当然！国家安定团结繁荣昌盛，有我们警察无私忠诚的奉献。
我：周永康是不是警察？
大兴国宝：他不是。
我：他当然是，还是政法委书记，警察头子。王立军和孟宏伟是不是警察？
大兴国宝：那只是个别人，你不能以偏概全。
我：我当然不会以偏概全。但我们老百姓遇到穿警服的人时，的确难以识别谁是真警察谁是假警察，谁是好警察谁是坏警察。这就需要你们警察依照法定的程序办事，从而证明自己是真的和好的。现实中警察令人失望的情况太多了，比如有一次我遭遇网络诈骗，到你们清源路派出所报案，等了几个小时才做了笔录，一边做一边骂我们愚蠢，做完以后就永远没有回音了。还有多少刑事犯罪没有破啊？你们做好了这些本分事情，老百姓自然会拥戴你们。
大兴国宝：那是分工问题。我只管自己分内的事情。你在推特上不负责任的言论已经造成了很坏的影响。
我：我说的每句话都是掂量过法律依据的，你给我找出那句话违法那条发了？
大兴国宝：你从来没有发表过攻击党和国家的违法言论吗？
我：没有，有的话你给指出来。
大兴国宝：那你有没有转发过这样的言论。
我：转发的我就不能担保了。不过转发并不等于我就完全同意他说的，也许只是因为我赞成其中的一部分，也许只是想保存其中的某一个事实或故事。
大兴国宝：不管怎么说，你转发了就是站队了，并且扩大影响了，你就是站到党和国家的对立面了。
我：关于党和国家的区别我就不说了，免得引起无谓的争论。我只想指出，你的站队论太狭隘了：凡事表示拥护和赞美的就是爱党爱国的，凡事表示不满和批评的就是反党反国的。难道天天喊万岁就最爱最忠诚了？
大兴国宝：对，天天喊万岁当然就没事了。
我：那林彪天天喊万岁怎么就有事了？不满和批评，反而是一种更深挚的爱和更可靠的真诚，指出国家的问题是为了让国家变得更好。美国有没有问题？日本有没有问题？欧洲国家有没有问题？你看见过没有问题的国家吗？你看见这些国家因为有人批评、有人揭露阴暗面就被治罪的吗？
大兴国宝声色俱厉地说：揭露阴暗面可以通过正当合法渠道，不能到推特上去瞎说。中宣部会负责宣传舆论的，你算老几，你管得着吗？用得着你来说吗？你教好自己的书，写好自己的书，当好你的图书管理员就可以了。
我：（一万匹草泥马在心头奔跑）……算了，我们还是不争论了。老实说，讲道理，你肯定讲不过我。我今天不是跟你来讲道理的，而是来听你执行什么命令的。讲道理，你不行；碰到权力和命令，我不行。你讲不过我，自然会不服气，但面对足以伤害我的力量，我服气。
大兴国宝：好吧，我们正式做一下笔录，大约需要四五十分钟。（片警架起执法仪，开始做记录，前面照例问些个人信息。问到亲属关系时，我说父母已经去世，妻子已经离异，女儿跟妈妈过。大兴国宝再问她们具体情况时，我说可以不回答吗？他说可以）。
大兴国宝中间出去抽过几次烟，进来看看片警的记录，不太满意，片警表示业务不熟悉，不知道怎么问，大兴国宝就接过来自己做笔录了。做完后，给我确认，我觉得还算好，基本上停留在实施层面，没有把批判我的话或我反驳他的话写进去。
我：这就对了，警察应该只管把事实查清楚，至于对错以及是否有罪，应该由法官去判决。所以你不要试图在思想和精神上压倒我，这不仅是你力所不能及的，而且也超出了你的职责范围。
大兴国宝：随便你到哪儿去找判决，到国际法庭去也可以。其实你在微信和WhatsApp写了些什么我都知道。能不能把WhatsApp也注销了？
我：不能。
大兴国宝：为什么？
我：因为我是研究人员，需要关注墙外学术界和媒体界介绍的情况，需要听多方面的意见作出自己的学术结论。
大兴国宝：那你能不能打开WhatsApp让我看看？不敢了吧？
我：那倒不是，而是因为涉及其他人的隐私。如果你硬要逼我的话，我可以把客户端删除了。
大兴国宝：你在这份笔录上签字画押还不行，还要给我写一份保证书。
我：写什么保证书？
大兴国宝：保证马上注销推特，在微信和 WhatsApp上不乱说话。
我：做了笔录不就行了吗？不是答应你注销推特号了吗？
大兴国宝：不行，我信不过你王教授。如果你不兑现承诺，到时候我再来找你，那这份保证书打你的脸！
虽然心中有一万匹草泥马，我还是轻松地说，拿纸笔来。
保证
我保证在四天内注销推特号@劳工研究，同时不在微信和 WhatsApp里说不利于党和国家的言论。
王江松 2018年12月8日
我感觉到心像被刀子一样划过。我承认，我还缺乏足够的勇气，拒绝这种非法和无理的要求。我感到很羞愧。
我和片警走出保卫处后，听到大兴国宝在交代那位保卫处女工作人员不要外传这件事。在办公楼台阶上，他追上来，握着我的手说：“如果今天上午的事情让你前妻和女儿受到惊吓的话，我谨表示个人的歉意。”看上去挺真诚、挺有人情味的。
送他们到警车旁，大兴国宝说了一句，要不要搭顺风车回大兴呀？我迟疑一下说好啊，正好有点事需要处理一下。他说你还来真的呀，我不管他说什么，上了车。车里一股浓烈的烟味。问我抽不抽，我谢绝了。.
大兴国宝：你倒好，有车不开，喜欢坐地铁。不过地铁准点儿。你每周都回大兴吗？
我：有事才回。她患有骨髓增殖性肿瘤，俗称血小板升高，是恶性血液病的一种，需要服一种化疗药物控制指标，这种药物带来很多生理上和心理上的副作用，不能受刺激，否则血小板立刻升高，导致头痛目眩耳聋。当时，我受到组织上解除行政职务和解聘教授职务的处分，痛失福利分房机会之后，她被完全击倒了，坚决要求离婚，我不同意，不放心，但羞愧得无地自容，没有理由反驳她。最后她接受我对她尽终身照顾责任的条件后，办理了离婚。这婚离的固然因为我个人的问题，也有一半原因是客观原因造成的。所以今后我的事我承担，你们再也不能去惊吓她了。毕竟现在不是2500多年的商鞅时代了，对吧？
大兴国宝：所以你应该安安稳稳做学问、过日子，不要再给你的前妻和女儿增加负担了啊。
我：我心中的痛跟谁说去？你以为我是吃饱了撑的管闲事吗？
大兴国宝：你工资多少啊？一个月有两三万吧？
我：被处分前，课时津贴多，每月将近有两万。现在按副高最低一档开工资，一个月一万多出一点点。
大兴国宝：那还是比我高啊！我还没有房子，只能租房住。对了，你不是做劳工维权的吗？我们也是劳工啊，我们这样拼命为人民服务，谁来维护我们的合法权益呀？今天是周末，我还要出警，在寒风中冻了一上午。我家里还有生病的老人需要我照顾呢！
片警：我们警察不受劳动法保护，加班加点是常态、个个身体都有问题。王教授你应该替我们说话才对呀。
我：那得看你们有没有勇气站出来维权了。此外，制度的改变也很重要，欧美国家都有警察工会维护警察权益。
片警：我们也有工会。
我：我们都知道它是干什么的对吧？
大兴国宝：你们知识分子太书呆子气了，国家的改变不是像你们想象的那样。得一步一步来。和我打过交道的比你更牛更有名的人多了去了，都患有不切实际的毛病。有个在两所重点大学得了两个博士学位的马克思主义哲学教授……
我：也被你成功地制服了是吧？
大兴国宝：他不服不行啊。任何时候都要跟党中央保持一致，这是在中国（注：上午那个胖子警察也是这样对我前妻狂叫：你搞清楚啊！这是在中国，这是在北京！你要跟我玩，那我们就玩到底！你已经涉嫌妨碍了执行公务，我们可以对你实施强制传唤！）
我：我也很想跟党中央保持一致，但我不知道谁是党中央呀。
大兴国宝：这还不简单，明摆着就是习总书记嘛。
我：习总书记是核心不错，但下面的人没准就把经给念歪了对吧？胡锦涛当时也是总书记，结果他却战斗在郭伯雄徐才厚等一大把敌人的心脏里！再往前看看历史吧：陈独秀、瞿秋白、向忠发、华国锋、胡耀邦、赵紫阳……都曾经代表党中央，后来都被废了。最牛的毛泽东，他搞的文革就被作为十年动乱彻底否定了。第二牛的邓小平，想在也有很多人否定他。所以我说，党中央是要跟，但也要保持距离，跟得太近，一不小心可能就掉坑里了。因为党中央自己也不一致，老百姓又如何跟党中央一致呢？党在历史上翻云覆雨，谁跟得上啊？没准你又跟上了一个像周永康那样貌似代表党中央的人咧。
警车风驰电掣，很快就到大兴了。最后大兴国宝冒出了一个终极的、形而上的问题：王教授，你说说，什么叫幸福？
我：我还真不知道什么叫幸福，只知道我现在很痛苦！你认为什么是幸福呢？你不会真的每次制服一个大教授，心里就会涌现出巨大的成就感、满足感和快乐感吧？
大兴国宝：你这是骂人了。我觉得幸福就是丰衣足食、身体健康、家庭和睦。你本来已经得到了这一切，却被你自私地毁坏了，怪不得别人。
我：你说的正是我想说的。这使我产生一种联想，如果你脱掉这身衣服，十有八九也是一个好人。请停车，我到了。但愿我们不再相见。
大兴国宝：好，不说再见！
（本文根据记忆写成，有不属实或不准确的地方，请大兴国宝和片警批评指正。2018年12月11日）
November 8th: transcript of Police conversation.
This whole ordeal with the police has lasted for more than a month, and unfortunately, this Twitter account did not survive. The article that I am tweeting now will be this account’s last tweet. This article comprehensively describes the incident with the police. Those who like the article, please save it. This Twitter account will stop tweeting at 11:59 PM tonight.
I arrived at the school’s security office, room 107. Immediately, the man who stood up was a police officer of the Daxing Qingyuan St. station who I was quite familiar with. The officer had a smile across his whole face when he called my name, Professor Wang. Another police officer was very serious, his eyes were watching me like a hawk. He was wearing a dark blue uniform and was middle-aged. He shook my hand and said he was from the Daxing sub-Bureau. He was a very terrifying police officer from the so-called public security department. In the school’s security office, a female worker poured me some tea.
Daxing Officer: Professor Wang, yesterday, I contacted you in during the night, but I wasn’t able to get through. Today, early in the morning I tried to contact you again, but I did not get through again. So I didn’t have a choice but to bring a team to your home in Daxing. Your ex-wife answered the phone and said she was taking a shower, so we waited outside for her to be finished showering. When she was done, she not only didn’t open the door, but also demanded we leave her front door and go to the front gate of the building. We were just normally enforcing the law. We were wearing our uniforms and came with our official equipment, but your ex-wife made us stand outside in the freezing cold for more than an hour and 40 minutes! In the end, we weren’t even able to enter the apartment!
Me: My phone doesn’t have any record of you calling. You’re the expert. Please check my phone.
Daxing Officer: Your phone doesn’t say anything, but I’m certain I called you a few times. If I didn’t call you then I’m an idiot!
Me: Well, that’s really strange.
Daxing Officer: It’s just a misunderstanding.
Me: If it’s really like this, then you should really understand my ex-wife’s response. She’s just a single mother with a little kid. They are harmless. You guys didn’t have reasonable grounds to enter. And going through the building and going straight to her door obviously made her scared! The person who you were looking for was me. She told you I don’t live there but live on the campus China Labor Relations University. Why did you continue to insist on entering after she told you this? Isn’t that considered trespassing?
Daxing Officer: We enter homes and conduct interviews like we are allowed to do according to the law. Also, we don’t always need to enter the home. We may just need to say a few words then go. It’s a very simple thing.
Me: First, you guys don’t go door to door conducting interviews. You purposely pick certain people to interview. Second, what you are doing is interviewing not searching. So you need the head of the household’s permission. If they don’t agree then you cannot forcibly enter. Moreover, you really can’t blame her. She told me what was happening over the phone, and I told her not to open the door. If you are looking for someone to blame, blame me. In addition, there was one fat police officer who really terrorized my ex-wife. He obviously broke the law and violated regular law enforcement procedures. You need to say something to him, or else my ex-wife has the right to register a complaint about you guys.
Daxing Officer: The young officer felt like he was wronged. He got a bit angry. Do you know how cold it was? Making us wait 2 hours!
Me: But I was prepared to cooperate with you at anytime. Was there one time I refused to meet with you guys?
Daxing Officer: I just said it was a misunderstanding. Because you didn’t answer the phone, we thought that you were in fact at your ex-wife’s house. But to get back to the main point, today I found you to confirm a few things. You probably know what I’m talking about…
Me: I don’t know.
Daxing Officer: It’s impossible that you don’t know. How old are you?
Me: 55.
Daxing Officer: I’m also in my 50’s. You and I both have grey hair, let’s not treat each other like children.
Me: Please just be frank with me.
Daxing Officer: Last time you told two of our colleagues that you gave control of your Twitter account to someone else. Do you really underestimate us that much? I’ll tell you, the things you send on Twitter come from which phone? We all know! This is advanced technology. I’m really proud of our country!
Me: …….This Twitter account is really still on my phone. I tirelessly built up this account for the past few years. It’s not easy to build a big platform for labor research on Twitter. In one moment just erasing it all, that’s just really hard for me to do. I’m sure you can understand. Furthermore, I think that after this tension fades away, everything will go back to normal. How does that sound? Is this really such a big deal?
Daxing Officer: Yes it’s very serious! This is the opinion of my boss, not me. This Twitter account needs to unconditionally be shut down. If you refuse…I’ll let you think about what the consequences will be. Do you believe me that I can get rid of your pension?
Me: I believe you. I believe you. But going on Twitter to speak violates what law?
Daxing Officer: In our country we have proper channels to speak, but you’re talking about foreign channels and going through these channels to spread anti-Chinese thought. If we were in the past, you would have been called a traitor to the Chinese people.
Me: You saying this isn’t correct. Firstly, You didn’t mention a law which I violated by going on an international website. If there is a law like that, please let me see it. Secondly, millions of people use VPN technology to talk online, are they really all traitors to the Chinese people? The “little pinks” (those netizens who favor the CPC and the central government) and the “internet army” all use VPN. You use VPN. Does this count as breaking the law? Are all of you traitors?
Daxing Officer: I’m not saying you’re a traitor. I’m just objectively saying the result of your behavior. Every citizen has the obligation to protect the interests of their country. You can’t give our country’s enemies any ammunition to attack us. But when you say all these bad things about China on Twitter it really defames the reputation of our country.
Me: Haha, The tone of your voice right now really makes me think you worship power.
Daxing Officer: My tone only implies that I worship justice!
Me: No. You’re just very authoritarian. You think power is truth. Are you really that confident? Are you really sure that you police are really protecting justice?
Daxing Officer: Of course! We policemen make loyal and selfless contributions to the nation’s prosperity and safety.
Me: Is Zhou Yongkang a police officer?
Daxing Police Officer: He is not.
Me: He obviously is. He was the Secretary of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, a police chief. Are Wang Lijun and Meng Hongwei police officers?
Daxing Officer: Those are just other people. You shouldn’t generalize.
Me: I’m obviously not generalizing. But when us commoners come upon those wearing a police uniform it really is difficult for us to distinguish who is really a police officer and who is fake, who is a good officer and who is a bad officer. We need you police officers to handle things according to the law so that we know you are a real and good officer. In reality, it is very common for police officers to make us feel disappointed. For example, there was a time I was a victim of an online scam. So I went to the Qingyuan St. local police station to report the crime. After waiting several hours, the police finally took my statement. As they were taking my statement, they also scolded me for my “stupidity.” After taking my statement, there was absolutely no response later on. How many crimes take place that you do nothing about? If you do something about all of this stuff, the public will naturally support you all.
Daxing Officer: It’s a problem of division of labor. I just concentrate on my job. Your irresponsible remarks on Twitter have already had a bad impact.
Me: Whenever I say things, I consider whether it has a basis in law. Are you able to identify one sentence I said which violates the law?
Daxing police officer: Are you sure that you never said anything that attacks the Party and violate the law?
Me: No. If you think I did, please find it for me.
Daxing police officer: Then have you ever reposted such speech?
Me: That I cannot guarantee. But reposting doesn’t mean that I totally agree with what they say. Maybe I repost them because I agree with part of their speech or I just simply want to make a record of a fact or a story.
Daxing police officer: Regardless of what you said, you still choose your stance when you repost their speech and actually expand the negative impacts. You choose to stand against the Party and the nation.
Me: I won’t argue with you now about the distinctions between the Party and the nation by definition. This would just start a pointless fight. I only want to point out that what you said about “choosing a stance” is too parochial. According to what you said, as long as people give compliments and support, they are patriotic and love the party. So am I the most patriotic and loyal person if I shout out loudly “Long live the party! Long live the nation!”?’
Daxing police officer: Sure. If you shout like this, of course you are out of trouble.
Me: Then why did Lin Biao fall into troubles when he did exactly the same thing? Critiques and dissatisfaction can be another form of patriotism and love for the party, with an intention to make this nation a better place. Does the U.S. have social problems? Does Japan have problems? Do European countries have problems? Have you ever seen a nation without social problems? And have you ever seen anyone who is convicted of a crime for criticizing and exposing the dark side of the society in these nations?.
Daxing Police Officer said very sternly: If you want to expose the dark side of this society, you can always do it in a legal way, rather than talking nonsense on Twitter. The Publicity Department is responsible for propaganda things. Why do you think you have a say? You are just a professor and what you should do is teach students well, write great academic books, and serve as an excellent librarian. That’s all.
Me: (cursing inside…) Never mind, there’s no need to argue. To be honest, you can’t expect to beat me when it comes to reasoning. But I’m not here to argue and to justify my arguments. Instead, I’m here to see what you are supposed to do with me. You lose when it comes to reasoning, while I lose when it comes to power and order. You won’t be convinced by my arguments, but I have to conform to your order when I’m at risk of being hurt.
Daxing police officer: Alright. Let’s start to take your statement. This may last for forty to fifty minutes. (The police officer set up the equipment and started to record. They inquired about my personal information at first as usual. When they asked me about my family relatives, I told them that my parents passed away, I got divorced and my daughter lives with my ex-wife. When the Daxing police officer asked further information about them, I said “can I refuse to answer?” He said yes.)
The Daxing police officer went out of the room to smoke several times. When he came back, he read the records made by the other police officer but he was not really satisfied. That police officer responded that he was not familiar with this procedure so he didn’t know how to raise questions. So the Daxing police officer took the record and did it himself. He gave the records to me to confirm afterwards. I thought he was fair–he didn’t include what I said to rebut his words.
Me: That’s right. You as police officers are only responsible for collecting the facts. It is the judge who has the say to determine whether I’m guilty or not. So you shouldn’t try to change my mind, which you will never able to do and is beyond your duties.
Daxing police officer: I don’t care wherever you go to get your judicial verdict, you can even go to International Court of Justice. Actually I know everything you said on WeChat and Whatsapp. Can you cancel your WhatsApp account too?
Me: I can’t.
Daxing police officer: Why?
Me: Because I am a researcher. I need to follow and understand what is happening outside the wall in the field of academics and media. I need to listen to opinions from different aspects in order to achieve my own academic conclusion.
Daxing police officer: Then can you open your Whatsapp and show me? You dare not show me, right?
Me: That’s not the case. In fact it is because other people’s privacy are involved as well. But if you keep on forcing me to show you, I can delete my whole account.
Daxing police officer: Your signature on this statement itself is not sufficient, I will need you to write me a letter of guarantee.
Me: What letter of guarantee?
Daxing police officer: Promise that you will deactivate your Twitter immediately and not talk nonsense on WeChat and Whatsapp.
Me: Giving you a statement itself is not enough? Didn’t I promise you that I will deactivate my Twitter account?
Daxing police officer: No, I don’t trust you Professor Wang. If you don’t keep your promise, I will come find you again and slap this letter of guarantee in your face!
Despite feeling the urge to curse, I still said “give me a pen and paper” without any hard feelings.
Pledge
I guarantee that I will deactivate my Twitter account @JIangyingbinfen and not say anything against the Party and country on both WeChat and Whatsapp.
Wang Jiangsong December 8th, 2018
My heart felt as if a knife just cut through it. I admit that I still lack the courage to refuse to comply to these illegal and unreasonable requests. I feel ashamed.
When the police officer and I left the security office, I heard the Daxing officer tell the female office worker not to tell anyone else about what just happened. In the stairwell of the building, he grabbed my hand and said: “If what happened this morning to your ex-wife and daughter really made them feel frightened, then I really want to personally apologize.” It seems that he was sincere and rather caring.
We walked outside and got to the police car and the Daxing officer asked me if I wanted a ride. I hesitated a bit but I said “”yes that’ll be nice because I had a few things I needed to take care of back there”. He said: “I didn’t expect that you would actually say yes…” Anyway, I got in the car and immediately noticed the strong smell of cigarettes. He asked me if I wanted to smoke. I politely refused.
Daxing police officer: You’re nice. You have a car but you don’t drive. You like to take the subway instead. But the subway is more on time. Do you come back to Daxing every week?
Me: I only come to Daxing when I have a reason to. My wife suffers from myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN), more commonly referred to as thrombocytosis. It’s a terrible type of blood disease. You need to take chemotherapy medicine in order to control the platelet count. This medicine causes a lot of physiological and psychological side-effects. Therefore, she can’t become upset or provoked or else her platelet count will immediately rise, causing her terrible headaches and dizziness. I recently was fired and lost my housing benefits. After this happened, my ex-wife was completely distraught. She demanded that we divorce, but I didn’t agree. I was so ashamed, but I didn’t have a reason to refute her. After she accepted some of my conditions of how I will still take care of her, we got divorced. This divorce was obviously due to my problems but there were also some more objective problems. So from now on, I take responsibility for all of my problems. You guys will stop frightening her, right? Afterall, we don’t live in the ancient times of Shangyang (time of an extreme dictatorship) anymore, right?
Daxing Officer: So you should continue calmly engaging in scholarship; live your life. Don’t increase the burden on your ex-wife and daughter.
Me: Who can I possibly complain to? Do you assume that I’ve got nothing to do so I waste my time doing this?
Daxing police officer: How much is your salary? At least twenty or thirty thousand a month right?
Me: I got nearly twenty thousand a month before I was punished. Then my salary was decreased to the lowest level of associate professor–a little more than ten thousand a month.
Daxing police officer: That is still a higher pay compared to me! I don’t have my own house, I only rent. Also, aren’t you a labor activist? We are also laborers. We spare no effort working for the nation and the people. But no one is protecting our legal rights! You see, I have to work even today on the weekend. I was freezing waiting for you outside the building for the whole morning. I have sick parents waiting for me to take care of them.
Police officer: We police officers are not protected by the labor law, working overtime is a common phenomena thus we all suffer from health problems. Professor Wang you should speak up for us.
Me: Then we’ll have to see if you have the guts to stand up and defend your rights. Besides that, systematic change is also important. Western countries have police union that protects the welfare of police officers.
Police officer: We have a police union too.
Me: We all know what it is for, right?
Daxing police officer: You intellectuals are all pedants. A country’s reform is not like what you imagine. You gotta take one step at a time. I have dealings with many people who are more famous and powerful than you. You share the same problem of being unrealistic. There was once a professor specializing in philosophy of Marxism who received two PhD degrees from two famous universities…
Me: And he was also subdued by you?
Daxing police officer: He had no choice. You have to be consistent with the Party because you’re here in China (the fat police officer who came to my ex-wife’s house this morning said the same thing– he shouted at her: “we are here in Beijing, China, keep that in mind! If you’re going to fight then I’ll fight with you as long as you want. You are suspected of impeding our work, in that case we can summon you under coercion.)
Me: I intended to be consistent with the Party. But the thing is I don’t know who “the Party” refers to?
Daxing police officer: Isn’t this easy. It’s obviously President Xi Jinping.
Me: President Xi is the core of the Party indeed. But we cannot be sure that people with lower ranks are doing what is expected. For example, Hu Jintao was president too but he fought at the center on the battlefield against a multitude of enemies. Looking back at historical events: Chen Duxiu, Qu Qiubai, Xiang Zhongfa, Hua Guofeng, Hu Yaobang, Zhao Ziyang…all of them had represented “the Party”, but they ended up being punished. Even the “greatest” man Mao, the Cultural Revolution he led was considered wrong eventually. The next “greatest” man Deng Xiaoping was the same–many people these days intend to prove him wrong. That’s the reason why I say even if we are supposed to conform to the Party, we ought to keep a safe distance, or else we’ll suffer from it. There is inconsistency within the Party, how could you possibly expect us to be aligned with the Party? No one’s able to keep up with the inconsistency within the Party. It’s totally possible that you’ve been consistent with someone like Zhou Yongkang who represented the Party.
The police car was fast and we soon arrived in Daxing. The Daxing officer asked me the ultimate question at last: Professor Wang, can you tell us, what is happiness?
Me: I really don’t know what is happiness. I only know that I am in pain right now. What is happiness to you? Do you really feel this sense of overwhelming happiness and great sense of achievement everytime you take down a professor?
Daxing Officer: Now you’re just scolding people. I think that happiness is having ample food and clothing, being healthy, and having a harmonious family. You used to have all these things but you destroyed everything with your selfishness. You have no one else to blame but yourself.
Me: What you just said is exactly what I wanted to say. This makes me think that, if you took off your uniform, you might be a decent person. Please stop here, I’ve arrived at my destination. I wish that we’ll never have to meet again.
Daxing Officer: Alright. Hopefully I won’t see you again!
(This article was written according to memory. If there is inaccurate or unverified information, the Daxing officer and police officer can point out the mistakes. 12/11/2018)
Translated by China Labor Watch