Yang Lijuan Sues Blogger Song Zude
If you don't know who Yang Lijuan is, please read You Won't Understand My Sorrow first. Song Zude is an 'entertainment' blogger who is more interested in speculations and conjectures than facts.
(Dayang Net) August 30, 2008.
Yesterday, a very dramatic defamation lawsuit was heard in the Liwan District Court, Guangzhou city. This lawsuit is drawing attention because the plaintiff is the super-fan Yang Lijuan and the defendant is the entertainment commentator Song Zude.
In order to fulfill Yang Lijuan's dream, her father sold all his assets and eventually killed himself by jumping into Hong Kong harbor. This case drew high attention at the time. Yang Lijuan was unhappy about certain media reports. She had previously filed a defamation lawsuit against <Southern Weekend>. After losing that trial, she and her mother are suing Song Zude. The court is hearing the case at this time, and a verdict will be forthcoming.
At yesterday's court hearing, none of the principals were present. Instead, they were represented by their lawyers.
According to the plaintiff, the basis for defamation was the defendant's three blog posts that appeared between March 29, 2007 and March 11, 2008 on his Sina.com, Sohu.com and QQ.com blogs. The three blog posts are titled: <Andy Lau fan Yang Lijuan, please don't embarrass yourself in public again!>, <Exposing the truth about the death of the father of Andy Lau fan Yang Lijuan> and <Strong appeal to the Lanzhou public security bureau not to issue visa to Andy Lau fan Yang>.
The plaintiff believes that these three widely read blog posts used vulgar language to insult Yang Lijuan and her parents. As such, this constitutes insult and libel that caused severe damage to their reputations.
The plaintiff demands that Song Zude apologize pubilcly, delete his blog posts and restore her reputation. The plaintiff demands that Song Zude must publish an apology of no less than 500 words that will be retained on his blog for at least two years.
Against these charges, Song Zude's lawyer questioned first whether the plaintiff is qualified to raise their questions. He said that the citizen registration database showed that there are 28,930 persons named Yang Lijuan in all of China. So the first step is to confirm that the Yang Lijuan reported on Song Zude's blog as well as the major media is truly the plaintiff herself. "By our calculations, there are 28,930 Yang Lijuan's in China. Can you prove that you have the right to sue us?"
The plaintiff's lawyer said, "I am me. What do I need to prove? If you have suspicions, you ought to offer the proof." The defendant's lawyer then read out a brief resumé of Yang Lijuan and asked whether this was the plaintiff. When the answer was yes, the two parties moved on to the next phase.
The defendant's lawyer acknowledged that Song Zude had written about Yang Ljun, but Song does not remember what he wrote. The plaintiff's lawyer had printed the pages from Song Zude's blog, but these have not been authenticated. Therefore, it was proposed that the court computer would be connected to the Internet and the plaintiff's lawyer would show how to access those pages.
When the plaintiff's lawyers went to the three blogs, all those blog posts had disappeared. "I checked several days ago and I saw them. I had been somewhat confident that Song Zude would handle this matter honestly. I did not dream that he would delete the blog posts before the court hearing."
"Does Song Zude have a personal website?" asked the judge. The defendant's lawyer said yes and he immediately entered the web URL. When it appeared, even the judge broke out in laughter. Song Zude's website was a white page with one line of words: "I came here too ... I want to mess you up, you piece of trash. By Xiaozhong [D.R.T.]" It seemed that someone had hacked Song Zude's website. So the plaintiff's lawyer was stuck, but she said that "the blog posts can be retrieved easily by searching, because many people had re-published it."
During the court hearing, the plaintiff's lawyer argued that the three blog posts used vulgar language that caused negative impact on the reputation and mental states of the Yang Lijuan and her mother. They could not leave home and they could not work. The plaintiff's lawyer believes that as long as Yang Lijuan did not do anything illegal, her character should be respected. But the essays of Song Zude caused society to increase their negative opinions towards Yang and her mother.
The defendant's lawyer responded by saying that Song Zude had written about the case of Yang Lijuan, possibly even more than three blog posts. But Song Zude tends to write according to his mood and he frequently deletes his blog posts. Therefore, Song Zude does not recall the titles and contents of his blog posts. Besides the language used in those three blog posts were merely critical, but not defamatory. The purpose of those blog posts was to make moral criticisms and condemnations, which do not violate the reputation of the plaintiff Yang Lijuan and her mother.
The Plaintiff's Case
The plaintiff's lawyer said that Song Zude's three blog posts contained huge amounts of libel and insult. First of all, the so-called truth of the death of Yang Lijuan's father was fabricated. In the other two blog posts, there were large amounts of filthy language such as "ugly monster," "feces-generating machine" and so on. This is insulting to Yang Lijuan.
More significantly, Song Zude published these three blog posts at three different blogs. Many comments followed them, leading to more insults of Yang Lijuan. These additional insults were triggered by the three blog posts of Song Zude, and their total impact is inestimable. This is the reason why Yang Lijuan does not dare to step out of her home and she cannot find work.
The plaintiff's lawyer believes that people are born free. Yang Lijjun is free to chose her own lifestyle. She is free to lover Andy Lau. She has the freedom to not work at age 30. She has the freedom to ask her parents to accompany her on her 'star-chasing dream.' The most key point is that she did not break any laws. The law is morality. The greatest moral attribute is to obey and not break the law. Therefore, Yang Lijuan should not be criticized and condemned.
In an interview afterwards, the plaintiff's lawyer said: "What does it mean to be civilized? To be civilized means to respect and obey the law. The law is the essence of civilization. A civilization which cannot tolerate Yang Lijuan is a frightening society. A mentality which cannot tolerate Yang Lijuan is a mentality that is pale from loss of blood."
The Defendant's Case
The defendant's lawyer believes that the blog posts used mostly analogies. For example, when Yang Lijuan is described as "trash" or "feces-making machine," they are analogies which do not violate her rights. Nobody will misunderstand that she is a real piece of trash. When someone urinates or defecates everywhere, she is called an animal. But nobody will mistake her for a real animal.
"For example, Mr. Lu Xun writes that some people are 'running dogs.' This is a writing style. Lu Xun taught us how to write this way."
In the final analysis, people have the right to criticize. The defendant's lawyer believes that the blog posts are appropriate. The reputation of Yang Lijuan was not damaged by the blog posts. Instead, it was the result of her own actions.
"Yang Lijuan was able to to live a decent life for thirty years. Her parents enabled her to do so, but the nation and society also contributed to her protection and nurturing. She should pay back her debt to the nation while she is still young. Instead, she chose to subvert the morals and values of socialism and put entertainment above all else. This is against the "Eight Glories, Eight Shames." This is disloyal to the nation. For the sake of her own star-chasing dream, she drove her father to death. This shows a lack of filial piety. She even said that she has no intention of working and she is relying on these malevolent lawsuits to rake in undeserved money. The court should not abet her immoral act. Her actions should be subject to criticism and condemnation. It was brave and righteous for Song Zude to come forth to criticise her.
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Excerpt from <Andy Lau fan Yang Lijuan, please don't embarrass yourself in public again!>
Recently, that ugly monster Yang Lijuan must be concerned that people may think that she is dead, so she has sued a Guangzhou media in court. My guess is that Yang is going to lose that lawsuit. I advise Yang Lijuan not to cause more trouble. Isn't the death of your father enough already? Do you want your mother dead too? Your mother is old enough already and she has to worry about you. Don't you feel a bit of remorse?
Even more risible is that Yang has shamelessly said that she will sue Andy Lau. I don't understand what Andy Lau owes you? Suppose one day Andy Lau walks into a a forest, and a bird defecated right on his head. It is one thing for the bird not to apologize to Andy Lau. But what about the bird suing Any Lau for violating its right to defecate? Where is justice is this world? A person (or even an animal) has to have reason.
Excerpt from <Strong appeal to the Lanzhou public security bureau not to issue visa to Andy Lau fan Yang>
What a crazy duo of mother and daughter! When one goes crazy, they both go crazy. There are enough perverted women living in this world undeservedly. They use up social resources and they consume the country's food. In China, we have too many people and we have been having family planning for several decades. Trash like Yang and her mother are better off dead, because they can at least free two quota spots for others.
... Other people grow up eating rice and therefore they think normally. People like Yang Lijun may have grown up eating feces, so her thinking is completely different from others. I strong urge the Lanzhou public security bureau not to issue the visa for her to go to Hong Kong.
... Yang Lijuan is a sinner of mainland China. She is despicable and detestable. It would not be too much to drag her to face the firing squad. After all, even if she lives, she is only a stinking feces-making machine.
