China's criminal law system was on display this week. The "Beijing #1 Intermediate People's Court" heard the trial of Xu Zhiyong, a lawyer and legal scholar--like me!--who was charged with "disrupting order in public places,"--which I have also done!--a crime sounding similar to what in America is known as "disorderly conduct," a misdemeanor. Except apparently it's not a misdemeanor in China as Xu was convicted and sentenced to four years in jail, which exceeds by three years and ten months the maximum penalty in the U.S. for disorderly conduct. Xu's "crime" was  factually distinct from those with which the undersigned legal scholar is...personally familiar: no yelling, cursing, drinking, fighting, No, Xu did not do none of those character building exercises, Xu started the "New Citizens Movement," which, according to the verdict, was disorderly conduct because it sought, peacefully, to provide access to education to poor country children, and by exposing the practices of China's elite, who, like Song Binbin, take their families and their money abroad. Four years in the Gray Bar Hotel for that. Xu, who seems to be a Christian, gave a beautiful closing argument in his own defense, which I read courtesy of Dr. Jennifer Ruth. I thank Dr. Mo for putting Xu's plight on my radar last week and Dr. Ruth for acquainting me with the New Citizen's Movement, whose acquaintance I had not met before.