June 17, 2008
For Jiang Xiaojuan, the female police officer who breast-fed quake orphans, the earthquake was not only a devastating natural disaster, it was also a turning-point for her career; she was recently promoted to vice commissar of police in Jiangyou City. While there is little doubt that Jiang should be praised for what she did, there is still a question of whether this action should be a basis for promotion in the police force.
Jiang’s picture is on the front page of today’s Wuhan Morning Post. In a striking contrast, the newspaper published her picture next to another quake celebrity, Fan Meizhong. Fan was a high school teacher, and when the quake hit, he ran for his life leaving his students behind in the classroom. His blog post attempting to justify his self-preserving behavior in the earthquake drew national condemnation and earned him the title “Runner Fan”. Under the picture, the caption reads: In the face of disaster, moral performances are as different as sky and the earth; after the disaster, the society knows who to love and to hate.
The newspaper says that the local education bureau has disqualified Fan from teaching and fired him from the high school where he used to teach.
- People’s Daily (Chinese): Can breastfeeding commissar be a good commissar ?
- Xinhua (Chinese): The reason of the promotion of the woman officer should not be simplified as “breastfeeding”
- Earlier on Danwei: Runner Fan: Is self preservation a firing offense?