There is no Church. There is no Criminal Law. Those are unavailable to Chinese as structures of legitimacy for accountability and judgment. A formal "truth and reconciliation commission" would need the imprimatur of some formal institution. The Center has the power to do it; it does not have the integrity to do it. It put on a show-trial with the Gang of Four.
Is formal structure necessary? Is formal judgment necessary? The Chinese people, and Song Binbin, have been doing this on the internet. The accusations against and suspicions of Song, and her defenses and apology, are no less powerful in the absence of formal structures. Song cannot be formally compelled to speak, but she is speaking. Individual Chinese, including Song, are speaking to one another about history, about judgment and accountability. The Center, royal or red, has never done that. Can the people accomplish this?
Are the Chinese people finally standing up?
