China detains critic of schools collapsed by quake

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS | The New York Times
18 June 2008

A retired Chinese schoolteacher who criticized the construction of schools that collapsed in last month's powerful earthquake has been detained, a Hong Kong-based human rights organization said Wednesday.

Police detained Zeng Hongling in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, on charges of ''inciting state subversion,'' according to the Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy.

Zeng wrote three articles for an overseas Web site that criticized the shoddy construction of many schools that collapsed during the devastating 7.9-magnitude quake centered in Sichuan, killing hundreds of children.

The series of articles titled ''My personal experience in the earthquake'' appeared on www.ObserveChina.com, a Chinese-language Web site hosted in the United States. One was titled ''Earthquake relief efforts fully reveal the true face of Party officials,'' which questions the role of Sichuan officials in relief efforts.

School collapses have become one of the most heated issues in the earthquake recovery process -- and one that local communist leaders seem anxious to suppress.

State-controlled media have largely ignored the topic and parents and volunteers who have questioned authorities have been detained and threatened.

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