As it wrapped up the controversial milk scandal case last week by announcing convictions, there will be little rejoicing in China. The convictions, which include two death sentences, will do little to abate public anger over the tragedy that has rocked the country for the past two months. The deaths of six babies due to contaminated milk and the fact that about 30,000 others have been affected have seen a mass outpouring of rage as distraught parents have demanded speedy justice. The crisis has thrown up unlikely crusaders as ordinary citizens have mobilized, forming rag-tag coalitions to press their claims. The pressure to deliver effective justice is also a testimony to the slow but inexorable rise of the argumentative Chinese. 

The argumentative Chinese? Impossible, surely, given the image of the obedient, rule-abiding Chinese subject, one who knows his Confucius and knows his place in society. Yet China’s citizens have started arguing about nearly everything. There has been growing societal angst over pervasive corruption, layoffs, predatory taxation, a dramatic rise in inequality, environmental degradation and a crumbling social security system. The milk scandal has come in the wake of a series of similar tragedies in the last few years — the Harbin toxic spill, lead poisoning in Gansu and arsenic poisoning in Hunan. The part played by local governments in covering up scandals hasn’t helped.  As runaway growth imposes unwitting costs on its people, there are growing fears that the country could be “draining the pond to catch the fish.” For Jean Rostand, “the obligation to endure gives us the right to know”, and the Chinese people are demanding their right to know in increasing numbers and in increasingly loud voices. 

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