家长们开始追究责任

Stung by their grief and anger, parents of children killed in two schools that collapsed in the May 12 earthquake are testing the limits of \"people power\" in China, challenging normally secretive authorities to give them an honest explanation of why their children died.
中国512地震中两所学校失去孩子的家长们，在悲伤和愤怒的促使下，正在冲击“人民力量”的极限。他们向一贯对事故遮遮掩掩的当局发出挑战，要求后者对他们孩子的死亡作出解释。

 

In Juyuang, where nearly 300 students died when their middle school crumpled, parents fed up with stonewalling by local officials plan to file a lawsuit against the school on Tuesday.
在聚源有三百名学生在他们的中学倒塌时丧生，家长们对当地官员的搪塞已经失去了耐心，他们计划在周二对那所学校提起诉讼。

 

In the village of Wufu, where 129 elementary school children died, protesting parents have won a promise from the local government that some of them will be allowed to sit on the official committee investigating the disaster and monitor its work.
在有129名小学生遇难的五福镇，抗议的家长们看到了一点获胜的希望，当地政府许诺他们将会允许官方的委员会进驻调查这场灾难，并监督这项工作。

 

Skeptics in both communities doubt that either strategy will give them satisfaction. But the pressure of public outrage gives some observers hope. \"If they win,\" says Liu Junning, an independent political analyst in Beijing, \"it would be very important progress in establishing the rule of law in China.\"
上述两地的质疑者不能肯定那种策略更有效，但公众的愤怒造成的压力也让一些观察家看到了希望。“如果他们获得胜利”，北京的独立政治分析人士刘军宁（音）认为，“这将是中国法制建设的一个重大进步。”

 

The schools in Juyuan and Wufu collapsed when all surrounding buildings stood firm. \"This was a tofu-dregs project,\" said one father at the Fuxin No.2 school in Wufu, using a popular Chinese term for substandard work. \"We are peasants, we know nothing about construction, but look at the evidence,\" he added, gesturing at the ruins of his son\\\'s school. \"Local officials made money off this.\"
当聚源和五福的学校倒塌时，周围所有的建筑物都安然无恙。“这是豆腐渣工程”，一位父亲说道，他的儿子生前就读于五福的复新（音）二中，他使用了一个多数中国人用来形容不合格工作的名词。“我们是家长，我们对建筑一无所知，但是你看看这里”，他指着他儿子学校的遗址。“当地的官员从这里捞了钱”。

 

Officials estimate that 7,000 schoolrooms collapsed during the 7.9-magnitude earthquake, which struck in the afternoon while classes were in session, killing thousands of schoolchildren.
在这次7.9级地震中，官方估计大约有七千间教室倒塌，那个下午学校正在上课，有成千上万学生遇难。

 

When parents from Wufu staged a protest march over the children\\\'s deaths last week, a top party official in the nearby town of Mianzhu dropped to his knees before them, pleading with them not to take their complaints to his superiors. Ignoring him, they won an audience with the deputy vice mayor of Deyang, the regional seat of government.
孩子去世一周之后，来自五福的家长们开始抗议，此时，附近一座城市的最高党务官员在抗议者面前跪下了双膝，请求他们不要把控诉带到他的上级那里。抗议者对此没有理会，最终，他们在地区政府所在地德阳得到了代理副市长的接见。

 

\"He promised they would investigate in a fair and open way,\" said Liu Yiguo, one of three representatives chosen by his fellow parents. \"He said that, if it turns out this happened because of bad work by a government department, that department will have to take responsibility.\"
“他承诺将以公开公正的方式进行调查”，刘宜国（音）说，他是这次随行家长中选出的三位代表之一。“他这样说，如果调查发现这件事情是因为某个政府部门的工作出现问题而导致的，那么这个部门将对此负责。”

 

When a government expert came to the site last week to take samples from the ruins for examination, Mr. Liu said, \"We checked that he took real samples from this school and that he sealed the bags. When they open the seals, we will be there, and we will check the whole process of inspection.\"
上周，有一位政府的专家来到学校遗址，并带走了一些用于检查的样本。刘先生说，“我们已经做了检查，他拿走的是真实的样本，然后把它密封在一个包里。当他们要打开那个包的时候，我们也会在场，并且我们将会监督整个过程。”

 

Some parents are dubious. \"These local officials care about nothing but their position,\" complained Chen Yu, whose son died at Fuxin No.2. \"They say the investigation will take a month. They just want to take as much time as possible.\"
一些家长也表示了质疑。“这些当地官员只关心自己的乌纱”，一名抗议者陈玉认为，她的儿子在复新二中遇难。“他们说这次调查将会需要一个月的时间，他们只希望拖延更长的时间。”

 

It will take that long, claimed Zhang Qing, deputy head of a neighboring county government and a member of the investigating committee, \"because we need to track back 20 years through the files to find out everything about this school\\\'s construction, the budget, and quality inspections.\"
张庆（音）是邻近县的副县长，也是这次调查组的成员之一，他表示需要很长一段时间，“因为我们需要从二十年的档案中寻找每一件有关这座学校建筑的文件，预算和质检报告。”

 

\"If need be, the people responsible will be arrested and sentenced,\" she added. \"And if the parents are not satisfied with the results, we cannot rule out that they will file a lawsuit.\"
“如果有必要，事件的责任人会被逮捕并判刑”，她接着说。“并且如果家长对调查结果不满意，不能排除他们会提起诉讼。”

 

Ms. Zhang\\\'s regular presence at the site where the school stood, and where parents gather daily to grieve, appears to have contributed to the mood of relative calm in Wufu since last week\\\'s protest.
张女士经常在学校旧址附近出没，家长们依旧每天聚集在那里痛哭，但是看起来似乎上周在五福的抗议让他们的情绪平静了许多。

 

\"I\\\'ve been coming here for 10 days,\" she said. \"These parents need officials to be with them so they can see we really care about this case.\"
“我已经来这里十天了”，她说。“这些家长们需要政府官员和他们在一起，这样他们就会相信我们确实是在关注这件事情。”

 

The mood is very different in Juyuang, where a rowdy meeting between bereaved parents and local officials in a tent on Monday ended in pandemonium. When the town\\\'s Communist Party secretary, Zhang Bin, declared that local children\\\'s deaths were \"a small thing,\" according to one participant, a furious father ripped a gaping hole in the tent wall with his hands and raced away, pursued by some of the many policemen who had been standing by.
聚源的气氛则迥然不同，周一，一座喧闹的帐篷里政府官员和家长正在会议中争吵。当时，这座城市的党委书记张斌（音）声称这些孩子的死不过是“一件小事情”，据一名参与者说，一名狂怒的父亲用手在帐篷上撕开了一个大洞离开了，周围站着的大批警察把他追了回来。

 

\"We want to know who built the school and who was responsible for supervising the construction,\" said Chen Lin, one of the angry parents. \"They won\\\'t tell us.\"
“我们要知道是谁见了这所学校，并且当时是谁在监督这件事情”，一名愤怒的家长陈临（音）说。“他们不愿意告诉我们。”

 

Juyuang\\\'s local government appears to be widely despised. \"Wen Jiabao [China\\\'s prime minister] came here a few hours after the earthquake, but our mayor was nowhere to be seen,\" spat Zhou Xinyong, who lost her son when his school caved in.
聚源的当地政府看起来要遭到广泛的指责。“温家宝（中国的总理）在地震后几个小时便赶到这里，但我们的市长却不见人影”，朱新勇（音）往地上啐了一口唾沫，他在这次事件中失去了儿子。

 

\"We believe in the [Communist] Party and in the State Council [the cabinet],\" added Li Dechang. \"But we definitely don\\\'t believe in the local government. We trusted them, and our children died.\"
“我们相信（共产）党和国务院（内阁）”，李德昌（音）接着说。“但是我们不相信当地政府，我们曾经信任过他们，结果我们的孩子死了。”

 

Frustrated by local officials\\\' apparent indifference, Juyuang Middle School parents have turned to a lawyer in the provincial capital, Chengdu. \"The local government hasn\\\'t talked to them, so they are going to sue,\" explained Yue Ming, the lawyer.
来自当地政府的挫败并没有让他们气馁，聚源中学的家长们转而求助省会成都的一名律师。“当地政府不理睬他们，那么他们只有诉诸法律”，这位律师岳明（音）解释道。

 

Representing 250 families, Mr. Yue said he will lodge a lawsuit against the school demanding \"justice and damages\" with the People\\\'s Court in the nearby town of Dujiangyan on Tuesday. The suit will be based on a 2002 Ministry of Education regulation holding school authorities responsible for injury or death sustained as a result of substandard school construction.
岳先生说，周二他就将在附近的城市都江堰提起诉讼，代表二百五十个家庭要求学校得到“公正的制裁”以及对家长们的损失做出“赔偿”。这件案子的根据是2002年国家教育部的有关规定，不达标的学校建筑造成的学生伤亡应由校方负责。

 

\"I don\\\'t know whether the court will accept the suit,\" he said, adding that if it does, the case is likely to take six months.
“我不知道法庭是否会受理这个案子”，他说，接下来他提到如果被受理的话，接下来很可能需要六个月的时间审理。

 

Yue, who said he is working pro bono on the parents\\\' behalf, appeared anxious during a phone interview not to give the impression that he is acting against the government, worrying that the case \"may not be good for the government\\\'s image.
岳先生称他为家长们工作是无偿的，在整个电话采访期间，他不愿给我们留下他反对政府的印象，此外他还担心这个案子“可能不会给政府留下好印象。”

 

\"But there is no better solution, because the government is not giving [the parents] answers,\" he said. \"If they don\\\'t sue, who will protect their interests?\"
“但没有更好的解决办法，因为政府没有给家长们做出答复”，他说。“如果他们不起诉的话，谁还会保护他们的利益呢？”

 

In China\\\'s judicial system, where local Communist Party officials exert great influence over court decisions, Yue acknowledged he is not certain of success. But he is counting on pressure from above. \"I think the court will try this case in a very fair way because the central government\\\'s attitude is very clear. They want this case investigated to the end,\" he said.
在中国的司法系统中，当地的共产党官员往往会给法庭判决施加很大的影响，岳先生承认他没有必胜的把握。不过他也指出了来自高层的影响。“我想法庭将会试图用非常公平的方法审理这起案件，因为中央政府的态度非常明确。他们要把这个案子一查到底”，他说。

 

\"The Chinese legal system is not independent,\" added Hu Xingdou, a professor of politics at Beijing Technical University. \"But right now, the whole of Chinese public opinion is focused on these schools, so the court will not dare make a wrong judgment. A fair judgment depends on public and media scrutiny.\"
“中国的法律体系不是独立的”，北京技术大学的政治学教授胡星斗（音）认为，“但在眼下，全中国公众舆论都聚焦在这些学校上，因此法庭不太敢在审判中做手脚。一个公平的判决有赖于公众和媒体的监督。”

 

How close that scrutiny will be, however, remains unclear. Chinese journalists said privately that their editors received a directive from the Communist Party\\\'s central publicity department late last week ordering them to refrain from reporting on the way so many schools collapsed in the earthquake.
无论这次检查如何收场，前路依然渺茫。中国的新闻记者私下透露，上周末他们的编辑接到了来自共产党中央宣传部门的指示，要求他们避免报道这次地震中众多学校倒塌的事情。

 

? Zhang Yajun contributed reporting to this article.