@ChristianKl You mentioned that I didn’t provide evidence—so let me offer a real, chilling case:
The case of Wang Ciniu (1991, Henan Province): Her son was beaten to death while working in a gold mine. After exhausting all local petition channels with no result, Wang Ciniu made a desperate, horrifying choice: She cut off her own son’s head, wrapped it, and took it by train to Beijing, hoping to appeal directly to the central government.
This was not fiction. It was covered in domestic media at the time and triggered high-level attention: State Council Secretary-General Luo Gan personally ordered an investigation. Some local officials and the mine owner were sentenced. But Wang never received any civil compensation, and continued to petition in vain for years—until she died in despair.
What does this tell us?
Local petition mechanisms had completely collapsed, forcing her to resort to ritual-like shock to be heard.
Even when central authorities responded, there was no structural reform or justice, only symbolic punishment.
The petition system failed to deliver systemic feedback—it merely reacted to spectacle.
As I argued:
China’s petition system is not a channel for citizens to influence policy—it’s a pressure-release valve for the state to manage unrest.
Its purpose is not to solve problems, but to prevent them from becoming political incidents.
You mentioned that “China’s feedback system is better than East Germany’s”? Then let me ask you this:
Was Wang Ciniu’s act a form of feedback—or a human sacrifice to awaken a deaf state?
The fact that you can find examples of petitions that done nothing in no way implies that the petition system has no effect. If you look at Western nations most petitions that the government receives have no effect on public policy.
For your claim to be true, you would need to argue that no petition that filed has an effect on public policy that wouldn’t happen if the petition isn’t filed.
@ChristianKl You mentioned that I didn’t provide evidence—so let me offer a real, chilling case:
The case of Wang Ciniu (1991, Henan Province):
Her son was beaten to death while working in a gold mine. After exhausting all local petition channels with no result, Wang Ciniu made a desperate, horrifying choice:
She cut off her own son’s head, wrapped it, and took it by train to Beijing, hoping to appeal directly to the central government.
This was not fiction. It was covered in domestic media at the time and triggered high-level attention: State Council Secretary-General Luo Gan personally ordered an investigation. Some local officials and the mine owner were sentenced.
But Wang never received any civil compensation, and continued to petition in vain for years—until she died in despair.
What does this tell us?
Local petition mechanisms had completely collapsed, forcing her to resort to ritual-like shock to be heard.
Even when central authorities responded, there was no structural reform or justice, only symbolic punishment.
The petition system failed to deliver systemic feedback—it merely reacted to spectacle.
As I argued:
Its purpose is not to solve problems, but to prevent them from becoming political incidents.
You mentioned that “China’s feedback system is better than East Germany’s”? Then let me ask you this:
The fact that you can find examples of petitions that done nothing in no way implies that the petition system has no effect. If you look at Western nations most petitions that the government receives have no effect on public policy.
For your claim to be true, you would need to argue that no petition that filed has an effect on public policy that wouldn’t happen if the petition isn’t filed.